The Wire with Caeden

This year, The Twinning Project debuted its pilot programme in Aoteaora. The global initiative offers incarcerated persons the opportunity to upskill by obtaining football coaching qualifications over the course of six weeks.

The near-end-of-term certification is paired with supported rehabilitative pathways to involvement in community and sport, including employment opportunities upon release. 

The first cohort of 16 inmates graduated in Tāmaki Makurau last week, delivered in partnership with local organisations Auckland FC and Kohuora Auckland South Corrections Facility.

Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Hilton Freund, Global CEO of The Twinning Project, who was in Aotearoa to visit the first round of graduates last week.

She started by asking him to tell us a bit about the project, which began in the UK in 2018.

We’re constantly hearing of geopolitical tensions raring their heads across the world, with talks of ‘great powers’ flexing their dominance - commercially, economically, militarily - brazenly.

One arena of such confrontation is the Pacific. But when we discuss this region, are we sidelining the peoples and nations who actually live there?

Recently, the Associate Dean Pacific at Auckland’s Law School, Professor Guy Fiti Sinclair, hosted a workshop foregrounding Pacific-centred understandings of how the Pacific is contending with international law and governance amidst these tensions.

So how should we think of the Pacific as a region? Who are the organisations representing the ‘blue continent’, and is Aotearoa New Zealand a facilitator of Pacific interests, or just our own? Producer Theo spoke with Professor Guy Sinclair to understand more.

Two brutal attacks across the motu have returned public attention to the issue of dog maulings that stubbornly refuses to be resolved. Since 2020, we’ve seen a 20% increase in injuries to people from dogs, coming to nearly THIRTY THOUSAND dog-related injuries reported per year (half of which are bites), and these are the numbers collected without mandatory reporting in Aotearoa.

In the wake of these dog attacks, which saw one woman in Northland lose her life and a father and son in Christchurch severely injured, many people are looking for the government to act to address this issue that frequently flies under that radar until tragedies like this strike. 

But how to respond, and what changes should be focused on, remain open questions.

To get his opinion on how we should approach the issue, Wire Host Manny spoke with Associate Professor at Auckland Law School Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere on the issue of animal control legislative reform.

The Government has introduced new move-on orders for rough sleepers across the country. The new orders give police the authority to ask rough sleepers to relocate from an area for 24 hours, and leaves support for them up to the police. If rough sleepers fail to comply with these orders, they are liable to pay $2000 in fines. 

Producer Vihan spoke to Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences, Dr Emmy Rākete, on what the rationale is behind these new orders and their impact on the social landscape of Aotearoa.