The Wire with Alex

The government has unveiled plans for an unemployment insurance, which would see people who were laid off or lost their jobs having as much as eighty percent of their former income for up to seven months.

While it is supported by Business New Zealand and the Council of Trade Unions, welfare advocates have questioned that it would drive inequality.

Associate Professor Mike O'Brien is the Child Poverty Action Group's social security spokesperson, and Richard Wagstaff is the President of the Council of Trade Unions.  They spoke to Justin Wong.

Today, the government announced that $121 million of relief funding for the Arts and Culture sector had been made available to sector workers. News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni about what the funding entails, how people can access it and whether this funding relief is enough to provide sustained support for arts and culture workers. 

For the last two weeks Jemima has been speaking to people working in arts, music and events who lost their jobs and income when Aotearoa moved to 'red' and felt that there was very little support made available by the governement. To hear these podcasts, click here. 

With tonnes of edible food being thrown out yearly, food waste is a massive issue to tackle. Leading the fight against food waste are academics and organisations aiming to reduce the burden on our planet.

Reporter Christina Huang spoke with Ellen Fogarty from Flinders University in Adelaide, about a recent study she conducted on food waste recycling in the hospitality sector. She also spoke to some of the people leading the fight against food waste: Nick Loosley, founder of Everybody Eats; Madeleine Cull from For the Love of Bees; and Gavin Findlay, CEO of KiwiHarvest. They discussed their vision for reducing food waste in Aotearoa and society's shifting mindset towards sustainability.

Aneeka Moheed interviews Liam Rutherford, President of NZEI Te Riu Roa, about pay parity between teachers across different sectors and how this is negatively impacting the early childhood sector.