The Wire with Alex

At the end of last year, Australia introduced a ban on social media use for those under the age of 16. While the policy was discussed across the globe in multiple countries, Australia was the first to actually introduce it. 

New Zealand is one of the countries looking into introducing its own social media ban, despite a growing amount of evidence that the bans are ineffective. Young people are not only often resourceful enough to dodge the ban, but often the most significant causes of mental harm and distress run much deeper than just social media content. 

With New Zealand announcing a pause to development of our social media ban policy on Thursday last week, News Director Castor spoke to the Director of Wellbeing, System Leadership, Data, and Insights at Te Herenga Mahara, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Dr Ella Cullen.

Public submissions for the policing amendment bill are currently being made, and several privacy concerns have been raised. 

The bill is split into two parts, with the first focusing on intelligence gathering and the second giving police new powers to declare a wider range of public areas off limits earlier. 

The impact of the first part on privacy rights in particular has been up for debate, as new changes would allow police to take photos and record in public with a much lower bar of justification and are not required to provide a right to access or deletion. 

Originally, police were forced by the courts to stop taking photos unless they were directly related to a case, after it was revealed in 2020 that they had been taking photos of TENS of THOUSANDS of people not suspected of any crime, the majority of whom were Māori youth.

To discuss the policing amendment bill and its potential privacy impacts, host Thomas talked to University of Auckland Professor of commercial law Gehen Gunasekara.

A recent report from the Auditor-General found more than half of people leaving prison have an unmet housing need. Producer Pranuja spoke with Dr Alice Mills, Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Auckland, about why housing is central to reintegration, and what gaps exist in the current system.

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about the need for council to be involved in discussions about the details of an additional harbour crossing, and the number of job losses in the Auckland Transport restructure. 

And they spoke to Māni Dunlop from Te Ao Māori News for our new bi-weekly catch-up on the political issues of the week from a Māori perspective.

News Director Castor spoke to kaumatua and climate activist Mike Smith about his court case against Fonterra in the wake of the government removing its legal basis. They also spoke to Professor of Law at the University of Waikato, Alexander Gillespie, about the legal ramifications of such a decision. 

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about the Government disestablishing the BSA and scrapping the tertiary Fees Free scheme, as well as the Government’s new citizenship test.

She also spoke with Associate Professor Alice Mills about why secure housing is central to reintegration for those leaving prison.