The Wire with Sara

High levels of nitrate have been found in water supplies in New Zealand, especially in rural regions such as Canterbury, these levels of nitrate can pose significant dangers, especially to children.

Traditional nitrate removal methods produce carbon dioxide and other waste material, Producer Flo spoke to University of Auckland Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Wei-Qin Zhuang about the dangers of nitrate, his newly developed methodology and its potential usage in Aotearoa New Zealand.

On Monday, the government announced that they’d be introducing a rates rises cap, which is expected to be legislated by the end of 2026. The cap would be a minimum of 2% and a maximum of 4% nationwide.

When talking about the reasoning for the introduction of a rates cap, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that ratepayers in New Zealand were “fed up”.

Along with this, The Labour Party announced that if they were to be elected in next year’s election, they would offer doctors and nurse-practitioners low-interest loans to set up new practices or buy into existing ones. In their policy, Chris Hipkins stated they would hand out up to 50 loans per year, which would be up to 90% of the cost of buying into a practice, capped at $500,000 dollars. They also specified they’d be prioritising areas that had no general practitioners or practices with closed or partially closed books.

And last week, the Government announced a proposed major shake-up of local council. Where Mayors of cities and district councils would take over the duties of regional councils.

For our Weekly Catchup with The Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about the Government’s regional council’s announcement and Labour’s low-interest loans for family GP practices.

But first, they discussed The National Party’s rates rises cap.

According to new guidelines by the World Health Organisation, Ozempic-style weight loss drugs are now recommended to combat obesity.

The recommendations in the new guidelines are conditional for now, as the WHO have emphasised that medication alone can’t tackle the worldwide problem of obesity. They’ve also suggested behavioural therapies such as changes to diet and exercise. Overall, the WHO says these medications could play an important role in tackling a condition that affects millions of people globally.

To break down this announcement by the WHO, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke with Peter Shepherd, a Professor in the department of molecular medicine at the University of Auckland.

Recently, the government has announced some major reforms to how regional councils operate, with regional councillors proposed to be replaced by boards made up of city and regional mayors, and potentially even Crown-appointed representatives, called combined territories boards, or CTBs.

As well as this, Health Minister, Simeon Brown, has called for the decentralisation of Health New Zealand, with the expectation that the entity focuses on deliveries closer to the front-line, additionally expecting a plan to do so by the end of the year.

For our weekly catch up with the National Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to MP Stuart Smith about these topics, starting with the regional council.