The Wire with Max

First up, Associate Professor of Massey University, Grant Duncan discussesa what we should be looking out for in politics in 2019. He notes the rise of a conservative party that could take out ACT, local elections and living standards frame work impacting 2019 budget.

Then, Producer, Louis Laws spoke with John Shaver about the recent report on the endurance of religion. Researchers saying it's linked to better child care within religious communities.

After that, Author and Co-Founder of The Journey, Kevin Billet  discusses his stance on depression. He believes it is not a mental illness but is instead a mismanagement of emotions.

Then, Louis spoke with Helen Paterson on the recent study into where teenagers are learning about contraception.

Finally, Angie Harvey from Auckland's rescue reptile speaks about why she believes turtle breeding should banned.

Grace speaks to Hutt South MP, Chris Bishop, about how the Compensation for Live Organ Donors Bill has affected live organ donors.

TW: This involves discussion of sexual violence, including rape, and the criminal court process that follows when someone reports an assault.

In the latest Sunday Star Times, Allison Mau has conducted an investigation into the criminal court process of sexual violence cases. Mau spoke to a number of different people in this field to see what people thought of the current process. A number of people believe it is not only ineffective resulting in an extremely low number of convictions comparable to the number of assaults, but it is also spoken of as a process that re-traumatizes the victim. One of the issues that was raised is the judgment by jury, and the removal of a jury in these cases was floated as a solution.

Frances Joychild is a Queen’s Counsel Barrister in Auckland and has worked on human rights law for the past 33 years. Some of the areas she focuses on are refugee work, work for beneficiaries or housing corporation tenants, and sexual harassment and sexual violence. Joychild does not do criminal prosecution, but civil cases. This focuses on people who do not want to go through the criminal courts but want to seek justice through different methods. This could look like mediation between the accused and the victim and is still a legal process but does not end up in a criminal conviction. Instead, it looks like recompensation in whatever form is decided. Lillian Hanly spoke to Frances to find out more about these possibilities, what a civil legal process actually looks like, and why she prefers this method.

For Dear Science we look at some of the possible science-related headlines that could come up in 2019.

Lillian speaks to Queens Counsel Barrister Frances Joychild on the possibility of removing juries in sexual violence cases.

Lillian spoke with Julie-Anne Genter following the governments rural highways upgrade announcement.

And, Fletcher Tabuteau from NZ First is back with us this year and I speak with him about what he is planning for 2019