The Wire with Castor

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about New Zealand First’s proposed Bathrooms Bill.

For City Counselling Caeden speaks to Shane Henderson about continued flood recovery and new public transport funding in council’s Long Term Plan.

They speak to Dr Lida Ayoubi and Dr Andrew Geddis about the Karen Chhour/Waitangi Tribunal case.

And they speak to Dr Neal Curtis about the origins of the term ‘woke’.

Jasmine speaks with Chief Executive of Hospice New Zealand, Wayne Naylor, about Hospice Awareness Week, which is taking place this week.

It’s almost been a month since protests began at Columbia University in New York, where students established a Gaza Solidarity encampment to demand that the university divest from companies associated with the State of Israel. 

With similar protests subsequently springing up at campuses across the globe, calling for universities to divest from Israel, the issue of ethical and responsible investment has become widely discussed in academic institutions across the globe. 

In the wake of the international student uprisings, an open letter and petition has been sent to the University of Auckland Foundation to divest from companies that are involved in gross human rights violations and weapons manufacturing. The Letter has been signed by a number of Professors, faculty members and students who are concerned about the University of Auckland’s possible investment ties, and are calling for the University to adopt a more ethical investment framework. 

Oto spoke to Dr Ritesh Shah, a senior lecturer in Critical Studies in Education and co-author of the letter, to discuss the calls for divestment to the University, as well as the current situation in Rafah, which he had also been researching.

If you'd like to sign the petition to the University of Auckland Foundation, you can find it here:

For their regular catch-up, host Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about: The recent cross-party inquiry into climate adaptation, The Roads of Regional Significance Project and boosts to our defence budget. 

He also spoke to Dr Ritesh Shah from the University of Auckland about an Open Letter to the UoA foundation calling for the university to divest from companies involved in arms sales and human rights violations.

Producer Rachel spoke to Senior lecturer of Critical Studies in Education at the University of Auckland, Dr Jude MacArthur, about the funding disparity for neurodivergent and disabled students within New Zealand’s education system.

On 9 May the New Zealand Nurses organisation held a national day of action 2024, with rallies across the country calling for increased public health funding.

While the government has introduced measures to increase the number of nurses in Aotearoa, staffing shortages are still frequent in wards across the country. 

Additionally, there are worries that the recently scrapped Te Aka Whai Ora could impact the already struggling sector, taking focus away from those who need health support most and potentially increasing the workload for frontline health workers. 

Wire Host Castor spoke to the president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Anne Daniels, about nursing shortages and low health funding in Aotearoa from a frontline perspective.