The Wire with Castor

Wire Host Caeden caught up with Māni Dunlop from Te Ao Māori News ahead of today’s 2pm Budget announcement. 

After years of campaigning from advocates and victim-survivors, New Zealand has introduced a new anti-stalking law criminalising repeated behaviour intended to cause fear or distress. 

Producer Pranuja spoke with domestic violence researcher Dr Alison Towns from The Coalition for the Safety of Women & Children about the new law and what meaningful protection for victim-survivors should look like.

Two Green Party members' bills were drawn recently; the first would ban mining on conservation land. It comes at a time when parties in the government coalition seem to have their hearts set on turbo-charging the mining industry, with a key bill being put forward that would enable a range of new commercial activities on conservation land and potentially allow the sale of over 60% of the land.

The other green party bill aims to protect children leaving care in Oranga Tamariki from finding themselves without a place to live.

Finally, a landmark climate lawsuit against six major companies was stopped in its tracks by the government. The government says that it made the decision to prevent the suit to ensure businesses had legal clarity and certainty. However, it has now been revealed that the government and business lobbyests had been in contact, and knowledge of this contact may have been unduly withheld, prompting critics to raise the alarm that the government may be circumventing core democratic processes to satisfy business interests.

So for our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about their parties members bill, especially mining on conservation land, and what it means for the government to intervene in such as way with this case.

For over two centuries, political leaders in the United States of America have been fixated on the idea of bringing the island nation of Cuba into the American sphere of influence. Now, under the leadership of Donald Trump, direct military intervention in Cuba seems more likely that it has since the early ‘60s.

The former Cuban president Raul Castro has recently been indicted by a grand jury in Miami, leading to speculation that the Trump administration may use the same strategy deployed in the indictment and subsequent abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

To discuss the history of US-Cuba relations and the prospect of military intervention by Trump, producer Toby spoke to US history expert Dr. Paul Taillon.