The Wire with Caeden

The fast-track application for the Northwest Busway project has been halted over a dispute between Auckland Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Funding could be paused for the business association Heart of the City following mass resignations from the organisation and calls for an audit.

And Mayor Wayne Brown says underestimated disaster recovery costs are partly to blame for Auckland's higher rates this year. 

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden asked Councillor Shane Henderson about all of these topics.

Back in March, the Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in Parliament, and is currently in the select committee phase, with a report due by mid August.

The bill makes some significant changes to how Aotearoa New Zealand’s immigration system operates - particularly for refugees and those seeking asylum.

Some key points include the prevention of individuals from applying for a further visa while in New Zealand after withdrawing an asylum claim, and greater restrictions on the rights of those seeking asylum for humanitarian appeals.

However, particular attention has been drawn to new powers that would be given to immigration officers, which would allow them to request information of those they may suspect of being in breach of their visa conditions or that may be liable for deportation. These powers have been compared by critics to those wielded by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (or, ICE) in the United States.

Many of the organisations who work with refugees and asylum seekers in Aotearoa are greatly concerned at the consequences that the proposed legislation will have for those who live in this increasingly precarious position. 

So, for this week’s Get Action, Producer Theo spoke with the Advocacy Lead at the Asylum Seekers Support Trust, Becky Little, on their petition to stop the proposed Immigration (Enhanced Risk Management) Amendment Bill.

If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it on the ActionStation website, or just here.

Prediction market sites are becoming an increasingly popular way to gamble online. The two main sites, Kalshi and Polymarket, offer users a wide variety of different issues to bet on, from politics to sports to military confrontations. 

While the sites are illegal in New Zealand, many continue to use them. Regulating online gambling has been particularly difficult in New Zealand, with these new companies creating a new dimension in need of attention. 

Atop all of this, CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg recently announced the company’s intention to establish its own prediction market app called Arena. The announcement has raised concerns from gambling advocates and regulators, who say it could bring prediction markets further into the mainstream and make them harder to legislate. 

To discuss prediction markets more broadly and how they operate in Aotearoa, News Director Castor spoke to Principal advisor for advocacy and engagement at the problem gambling foundation Andrée Froude. 

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Dr Cushla McGoverin, chats with us about the oldest meteorite crater, peptides and antimicrobial resistance, and great ape laughter.

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Alex speaks with MP Ryan Hamilton about NZ First Leader Winston Peter’s comments on the India Free Trade Agreement and disagreements over the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill

And for Green World today, Producer Liam speaks to Dr Kevin Trenberth, Honorary Academic from the Department of Physics at the University of Auckland, about the extreme heatwaves experience in Europe, the causes and consequences of these extreme weather events, and what we might expect to see in the future.