The Wire with Manny

On The Wire for Rāpare:

Spike speaks to Shane Henderson on City Counselling this week, covering the official passing of the Council budget, the Great North Road cycleway project finally being approved, and the Auditor-General report into Auckland Emergency Management. Spike also speaks to Tertiary Education Union national president Julie Douglas about the new university funding announcement, and Professor Paul Glue about a new trial into MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for cancer patients.

Rawan speaks to Taimi Allen about a recent Te Hiringa Mahara report on peer support in the mental health and addiction system, and Keith Gordon on the HMS Niagara shipwreck and the environmental risks it poses for the Hauraki Gulf.

Long COVID or long-haul COVID is a series of conditions characterised by long-term, multi-system, often severe health problems persisting or appearing after the typical recovery period of COVID-19. However there is little consensus on the definition of the term as of earlier this year. A new study by the Liggins Institute, headed by Rachel Jaros, sheds new light on the long-term health implications Covid can have, including heart disease and Parkinson’s. 

Arno started our interview by asking what clarifications the study focused on and to see what new research uncovered about Long Covid and its health effects. 

750 postal workers living in Auckland and Christchurch are set to be made redundant due to lowering volumes of mail globally. E Tu Union, representative of the postal workers, are putting in place a Just Transition program to help postal workers to transition to new jobs. They similarly did something in March earlier this year when the Manawatu postal centre closed down. 

Arno spoke to Joe Gallagher, E Tu Union representative, to find out more about the Just Transition plan. Arno started the interview by asking how the livelihoods of those workers would be affected.

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to ACT MP Karen Chhour about their new contractor policy, serious allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards children in Oranga Tamariki care, and ACT's opposition to ethnicity being one of the factors to consider for surgical waitlist prioritisation. 

She also spoke to  E tū Union Spokesperson Annie Newman about ACT’s proposal to ban contractors from challenging their employment status. 

Producer Caeden spoke to Ellie Hooper from Greenpeace about the UN Oceans Treaty. 

And Lecturer in Theatre Dr James Wenley and Senior Lecturer of Education Dr Margaret Gleeson discussed cuts to programmes and staff at Victoria University.