The Wire with Max

Last weekend, the Labour Party hosted their annual general meeting in Auckland.

This week is the second scrutiny week of the year in Parliament, focused on scrutinising Government spending throughout this year. 

And the Government has announced a 4% council rates rise cap.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wie Host Caeden asked Shanan Halber about all of these topics.

Tāmaki Makaurau’s council budget is among those impacted by the proposal of a rates cap, considering Tāmaki’s average 5.8% annual rates increase across the 25/26 financial year. 

Youth homelessness is a growing concern as discussions continue around “move on” orders for those without housing in Auckland’s CBD.

And the Skycity Convention Centre is set to open in 2026, with high hopes for what it may bring for Tāmaki Makaurau after its prolonged development.

Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Counsellor Fairey about these topics.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about the recent Labour Party annual general meeting, scrutiny week, and the government’s proposed 4% rates rise cap. 

For International Desk, they spoke to American University Provost Associate Professor Garrett Graddy-Lovelace about the level of food waste caused by Trump administration policies, and the significant consequences of this. 

And they spoke to Professor Meihana Durie, WIPCE 2025 Co-Chair, about his reflections from the conference. 

Producer Jasmine talked to Councillor Julie Fairey about the government’s proposed rates cap, action on youth homelessness and the upcoming opening of the Skycity Convention Centre

She spoke to Dr. Alex Beattie about his thoughts on the incoming U16 social media ban in Australia, and what it means for us in Aotearoa

And she spoke to Dr. Ying Wang about her research into the increased support needed for Asian Communities in the sexual violence support sector

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.