The Wire with Alex

Last week Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand announced they were offering voluntary redundancies to admin and advisory staff. This follows 268 roles already being cut from Te Whatu Ora’s commissioning team. 

The organisation has said that the “majority of their expenditure is on people costs, and Health NZ needs to review its size and structure.” Adding that “they are providing the opportunity for eligible staff to consider voluntary redundancy ahead of likely formal change consultation processes over the coming months.” 

However many health staff say a cut to admin will put more pressure on the already understaffed and overworked nurses, doctors and primary care workers. 

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Chief Executive Paul Goulter says Te Whatu Ora did not follow the correct consultation processes before arriving at the conclusion that there should be redundancies. 

He added that any reduction of staff will impact on the people who remain. Saying removal of supporting roles means that other staff must pick the work they’re doing, something he calls unacceptable. 

Producer Evie spoke to Goulter about Te Whatu Ora’s voluntary redundancies and the impacts they will have on other healthcare workers. 

Earlier this year, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith in a private meeting with Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones and seafood industry representatives discussed potential changes to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011, which is a piece of legislation that replaced the controversial Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. 

The Takutai Moana Act allows Māori to apply for certain customary rights over the foreshore and seabed under customary marine title. 

The government intends to change section 58 of the Act which currently requires an applicant group to prove they have "exclusively used and occupied it from 1840 to the present day without substantial interruption". The proposed changes would change the section 58 test to reduce the 100% of coastline subject to customary marine title to 5%.

As a result, an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim into the government’s proposed changes to the Act had its hearings this week. 

This is the seventh urgent inquiry by the Tribunal into the coalition government’s policies. 

Producer Sofia spoke to lawyer at Te Mata Law, Harry Clatworthy (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, and Ngāti Uenuku-Kōpako), about these proposed changes as well as the historical context of foreshore and seabed ownership in Aotearoa.

Amongst the numerous austerity measures the government implemented since coming into office are a variety of cuts that have impacted organisations and services for the disabled community of Aotearoa.

Some of these measures include the scrapping of a programme that would pay disabled workers the minimum wage, the restructuring of Whaikaha, the ministry for disabled people, and general austerity cuts likely to have an impact on the disabled community such as public transport fare increases and minimum wage stagnation. 

Oto spoke to Nicola Owen from Disabled People Against Cuts Aotearoa, who have been leading a number of rallies and campaigns across the motu advocating for the disabled community of Aotearoa and protesting against the austerity measures that directly impact them.

If you're interested in following Disabled People Against Cuts Aotearoa and keeping up to date with their rallies and campaigns, you can follow their Facebook page here: 

Last Sunday, the Cabinet proposed five changes they would make to the Fast-Track Approvals bill, which they recommended to the Environment select committee. 

Some of the changes included shifting the final say on fast-tracked projects from ministers to an expert panel, requiring an iwi authority representative to be present on the panel alongside experts in Māori development and the environment, and extending the timeframe for comments on fast-tracked projects.

However, despite Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones saying the changes were based off feedback from submitters to make the fast-tracking process more inclusive, many advocates and experts say the bill still poses a threat to the environment and that it still prioritises development over conservation. 

For their weekly catch up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March about the party’s take on the changes to the fast-track approvals bill. 

They also talked about the government's plans to remove natural gas import barriers, and arsenic contamination of the Ohinemuri river caused by mining