The Wire with Manny

The government has announced that it will introduce legislation for a four year parliamentary term - subject to referendum. 

Most parties are largely in favour of a four year term - feeling that it gives more opportunity to develop policy and make changes. 

However, exempt from this bill is Local Government, which also currently operates on a three year term. 

Local Government New Zealand are now also calling for a four year term, saying the legislation provides a strong opportunity for central and local government to become aligned. 

On Friday, Producer Evie spoke to Chair of Local Government NZ’s electoral reform working group, Nick Smith about why they are continuing to call for these changes.

Earlier this week, an investigation was launched into the school lunch programme after baked-in plastic was found in several lunches. 

However, principals say the programme has already had various issues since Associate Education Minister David Seymour switched providers as a cost-saving measure last year.

And the coalition government is set to introduce legislation that would give the option of 4 year parliamentary terms.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy LeaderCarmel Sepuloni about both of these topics.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following his clash with US President, Donald Trump, has once initiated discussions to move forward a minerals deal with his US counterpart.

During the original discussions, Trump, alongside US Vice President, JD Vance, berated Zelenskyy, which resulted in the Ukrainian President walking out of the Oval Office without signing a minerals deal between the two nations, which the White House says is a precursor to peace talks.

This all comes as the US has abruptly halted US military aid to Ukraine.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the honorary academic and retired Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland, Stephen Hoadley, about this clash, and his opinion that Trump will do a u-turn and start providing military aid to Ukraine, despite the US aligning closer to Russia.

They started off by asking how important this minerals deal is regarding the relationship between the US and Ukraine.

As global temperatures continue to rise through unprecedented global warming, the risk of urban and wildfires continues to expand. Many countries continue to fight increasing global warming by phasing out the sale of petrol cars. These countries include most in the European Union, and additionally Canada and China are expecting to do so by the 2030’s.

However, with the United States leaving the Paris Agreement following president Trump’s inauguration, the future of mitigating global warming becomes more unlikely. A temperature rise of four degrees is projected should we not take any action to reduce it.

Producer Sasha spoke with Professor Bruce Glavovic from Massey University about these issues in addition to urban fire planning in New Zealand. We talked about how we can avoid urban fire scenarios and the world’s state of global warming.