The Wire with Oto

Following the revised budget plan for 2024, the government has allocated $191 million dollars over the next four years for early childhood centers. This marks a significant decrease in funding from previous years and has sparked concerns about the neglect of early childhood education.

Rachel spoke with Professor at the University of Otago, Alex Gunn, to discuss the implications of the lack of funding in early childhood education centers. 

Rachel also spoke with the Excutive CEO of the Early Childhood Council, Simon Laube, to discuss their plans on how they will be assisting the early childhood centers and addressing the funding gap.

Last Saturday, thousands gathered in Central Auckland for the 'March for Nature Rally' led by Greenpeace, to demonstrate their opposition towards the government’s Fast Track Approvals bill and other policies involving environmental conservation.

Green Party MP Ricardo Menéndez-March was present at the rally, alongside many of his colleagues, and for their weekly chat, he and Oto discussed the implications of the rally and opposition to the government’s environmental policies. 

They also talked about the recently announced changes to the Emissions trading scheme, as well as the government’s decision to invest $4 billion dollars into a fund to repair potholes.

The Budget 2024 announcement was responded to with an outburst of protests across the motu, held in opposition to numerous aspects of the coalition government’s policies but largely focusing on the dissolution of organisations and funding dedicated to improving outcomes for Māori.

Preceding the budget announcement, Te Pāti Māori announced calls to establish a separate Māori parliament to protect the interests of Māori, based on the Kotahitanga movement originating in the 1800s. 

Oto spoke to Eru Kapa-Kingi, professional teaching fellow in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland and Vice-President of Te Pāti Māori, to talk about Kotahitanga, the Māori Parliament and what that might look like.

For Dear Science this week, Professor Allan Blackman chatted to us about a genome in tiny ferns, a retracted Alzheimers paper, and investigating success and failure. 

Wire host Castor spoke to the National Party’s Tom Rutherford about the March for Nature, Fast Track Approvals Bill, and the Ram Raid bill. 

He also spoke to Senior Exhibition Developer at Motat Esther Tobin about their new gallery, Te Puawānanga. 

Producer Sofia spoke to the National Chair of Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, John Minto, about the New Zealand government’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with regards to reinstating funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. 

And producer Elle spoke to the UNICEF Aotearoa Policy and Advocacy Manager Frances Cox-Wright about policy suggestions to reduce child poverty and involve youth voice in climate action, Following the release of Budget 2024 two weeks ago.