The Wire with Castor

As a result of Israel’s war on Gaza, almost 2 million people in the Gaza strip are at risk of famine and disease and are in urgent need of food and medical aid, as a result of Israel’s mass destruction of civilian infrastructure. 

This is on top of the 39,400 Palestinians who have been killed throughout the course of the conflict. 

With the government set to implement it’s new tax cut policy today, a campaign was launched by organiser Hayden Eastmond-Mein calling for Kiwis to donate their tax cuts for to aid organisations in Gaza, aptly named “Give your tax cut to Gaza”. 

Hayden came down to the station earlier today to tell us about the campaign and how Kiwis can donate their tax cuts.

If you're interested, you can donate to the campaign here:

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about resignation of the party’s key Pasifika members following the investigation of former MP Darleen Tana, as well as the changes to the government’s child poverty reduction targets.

He spoke to Hayden Eastmond-Mein, an organiser discussing a campaign of his calling for New Zealanders to donate their tax cuts to fund aid in Gaza

He spoke to Emmy Rākete from the University of Auckland to discuss how the abuse in care inquiry unveiled a care-to-prison pipeline for Māori Rangatahi.

And for this week’s Get Action! He spoke to Synteche Collins from End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, talking to us about a petition calling for a dedicated helpline for survivors of exploitation.

Sasha spoke to Greg Waite of the Child Poverty Action Group to discuss the decrease of affordable rental shares and the need to develop more public housing.

The most recent figures from the Global slavery index estimated that there were 8,000 people in Aotearoa who were victims of some form of labour exploitation and who legally fit the definition of being modern day slaves.

In spite of this, there are alarming gaps in providing victims of exploitation and trafficking with the resources they need to get assistance from organisations such as police, medical agencies and helplines. 

For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Synteche Collins, acting director of the NGO End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, talking to us about a petition of the organisation calling for the New Zealand government to establish an official helpline for victims of exploitation and trafficking.

If you're interesed, you can sign the petition here:

The final report from the abuse in state care inquiry was published on Wednesday, 24th July. The report discussed historic and present issues of abuse in state care, particularly how it affects marginalised groups such as Māori, Pasifika, and disabled children and young people. The report then provided several recommendations to parliament on potential policy or funding changes. 

In our weekly catchup with the National party’s Katie Nimon, Wire host Castor asked her about these recommendations and how the government would respond to the report. 

The government also recently made the decision to put some new school developments on hold. These developments, initially proposed to address overcrowding in schools across the country, have been split into three groups, with some going ahead as planned, others going ahead with small changes, and others put on hold indefinitely. 

This decision has met criticism from teachers and principals, particularly due to existing overcrowding issues. While the schools with the highest need will still receive the necessary developments, others slightly lower on the priority list will have to wait. 

For our weekly catchup with the National Party Castor spoke to Katie Nimon about both of these issues, starting with the abuse in state care report.