The Wire with Oto

Last week, the Department of Corrections announced that it had axed four contracts with community organisations providing mental health support services to prison inmates. 

This comes amidst an internal review of mental health services within Corrections, leading to these contracts being the next set of public service initiatives to face cuts under the coalition government.

Oto spoke to Ti Lamusse, a Lecturer in Criminology at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, to discuss these cuts and mental health services for prisoners in general.

They also had a discussion about new figures showing that the prison population of Aotearoa had exceeded 10,000 inmates, for the first time in four years.

On the 11th of November, the Fonterra company announced that they will be selling customer-facing brands, which include Anchor, Mainland and others. Following this announcement, Greenpeace are calling for potential buyers to go palm-kernel free.

This comes after an expose of Fonterra’s dishonest marketing strategies, and claims that its milk is produced with ‘regenerative farming’, a blatant example of greenwashing.

Sasha spoke to Sinéad Deighton-O'Flynn, Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa about the new sale of companies associated with Fonterra, including potential implications for consumers and Greenpeace’s expectations for companies looking to purchase.

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about Hīkoi Mō te Tiriti, the 9-day Hīkoi opposing the treaty principles bill, as well as the government apologies to victims of abuse in care and the election of former US president Donald Trump.

He spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about the ongoing siege of Northern Gaza, as well as media coverage of the clashes between Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters and locals in Amsterdam and the implication of Donald Trump’s election on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

He spoke to Ti Lamusse from Victoria University of Wellington about the governments cuts to mental health services for prisoners and the increase in the prison population of Aotearoa to 10,000 inmates.

And he spoke to Kevin Lamb from Age Concern Auckland to talk about a study examining loneliness amongst older New Zealanders.

Sasha spoke to Lisa Woods, A Movement Building & Advocacy Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand about the treaty principles bill and calls for a codified constitution.

And he spoke to Sinéad O'Flynn, an Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, about the new sale of companies associated with Fonterra, including potential implications for consumers and Greenpeace’s expectations for companies.

A new study has been published showing that senior citizens in Aotearoa were experiencing record levels of loneliness and isolation.

The study - called The Breaking Barriers study, was commissioned by Age Concern Auckland, a charity dedicated to improving outcomes for Aotearoa’s elderly population, and it found that 59% of Kiwis aged 65+ had recently felt lonely or socially isolated. 

The study calls for an increase in holistic solutions to address loneliness amongst seniors, as wel as establishing a minister of loneliness in government, a move that has been adopted in the United Kingdom and Japan. 

Oto spoke to Kevin Lamb, Chief Executive Officer of Age Concern Auckland, to discuss the study and why older New Zealanders are experiencing increased levels of loneliness.