The new specialised National Gang Unit is being described as the same policing with a different name. The latest gang-fighting tools to be introduced by police are part of a long line in a combat that's constantly evolving. With international organised crime groups reaching into New Zealand police and customs and law enforcement have had to lift their game with cops going back to their old methods of catching criminals. Police are returning to crime-fighting ways of old in their fight again...
May 26, 2024•24 min•Ep 1065•Transcript available on Metacast In 2024 more voters than ever in history are heading to the polls, but one of the most extraordinary elections happened this week Nearly half the world's population has or will be voting this year. The Detail takes a look at one democracy of vital importance - and it's not the United States or the UK Taiwan's new president William Lai was inaugurated on Monday. He's been branded a troublemaker by China and is President Xi Jinping's new number one enemy. Just days after T...
May 24, 2024•26 min•Ep 1064•Transcript available on Metacast Kiwi holiday makers have been air-lifted from New Caledonia, but what kind of mess have they left behind? France's fight to remain relevant in the Pacific is clashing with the desire of indigenous Kanaks to assert their independence - with flammable results French president Emmanuel Macron's priority on his rush visit to New Caledonia is to quell the unrest tearing at the territory for nearly two weeks. To that end he's announced today he will delay the voting reform that's b...
May 23, 2024•24 min•Ep 1063•Transcript available on Metacast Former charter schools are expressing caution about David Seymour's revival plans A return to charter schools is again a leap into the unknown, with educational institutions wanting to see the details of the new legislation before they change back By the time term one starts next year up to 35 state schools will be open as charter schools, six years after the model was abolished the first time around. They have just six months to get ready for the change but even the old charter schools haven&#x...
May 22, 2024•24 min•Ep 1062•Transcript available on Metacast Out with Reading Recovery; in with structured literacy. There's a big change coming for New Zealand's young readers The government's order that schools adopt structured literacy might sound high-handed, but the change is being welcomed by many educationalists Education is facing a bunch of changes, but the important ones are not banned cell phones or woke foods. The government has ordered teachers to adopt 'structured literacy' to get children reading. That means Reading Recovery,...
May 21, 2024•24 min•Ep 1061•Transcript available on Metacast Do influencers and celebrities with large social media followings have a responsibility to speak out on political and other issues? Celebrities are being blocked if they don't call out Israel in the war with Gaza. That might look like a social media-fed waste of time, but in an 'attention economy', maybe it's not #blockout2024 was launched to block celebrities who weren't using their resources to help those in dire need. The intensity of it, ironically, can feel like bul...
May 20, 2024•22 min•Ep 1060•Transcript available on Metacast Does New Zealand have a responsibility to address a problem it's created by snapping up seasonal workers from the Pacific? How a financial win/win situation over seasonal workers turned into a loss for Pacific Island nations watching their citizens leave for richer pastures One issue that all the leaders of the coalition government have agreed on is the expansion of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme. Established in 2007, the RSE scheme allows workers from participating Pacific countr...
May 19, 2024•20 min•Ep 1059•Transcript available on Metacast It's one thing to be encouraged to accept your body, no matter what size it is. But some 'fat activists' have gone too far in encouraging self-love The body positivity movement started off as a counter to skinny culture, but it's gone down a social media rabbit hole. Some aspects of it are now sending out dangerous messages Forget thin is in, apparently now bigger is better... or is it? After over a decade of body positivity, girls, teens and women are even more confused about what body pos...
May 17, 2024•23 min•Ep 1058•Transcript available on Metacast Our current drug laws are harmful, according to a group of experts who want to see the Misuse of Drugs Act overhauled A push to legalise all drugs in New Zealand hasn't come from stoners and the strung out - it's backed by 155 academics and experts who say the current regime doesn't work New Zealand's drug legislation hasn't been overhauled in nearly 50 years, in spite of a recommendation from the Law Commission in 2011 to do so. Our Misuse of Drugs Act was passed in 197...
May 16, 2024•23 min•Ep 1057•Transcript available on Metacast Energy experts doubt New Zealand will ever get to 100 percent renewable, and say incentives and rewards are the answer to bridging the gap Ordinary householders turned off the power last week and saved the country from cuts on the coldest day of the year so far. But there's no recognition or reward for that When householders and businesses pulled the country back from the brink of painful power cuts on the coldest day of the year, there was no reward for the sacrifices they made in turning ...
May 15, 2024•24 min•Ep 1056•Transcript available on Metacast We're never going to let go of our notes and coins - so the Reserve Bank is not only looking at digital currency for the future, it's also trialling cash services for small towns With banks deserting small towns and leaving just an ATM behind, the Reserve Bank is starting to think about how communities can get better access to money. What happens when cash is king - and then your bank leaves. A businessman in a town which hasn't had a bank for three years says the Reserve Bank's plans ...
May 14, 2024•24 min•Ep 1055•Transcript available on Metacast There are five Pacific languages listed as endangered by UNESCO. What's the point of reviving them? The loss of a language is also the loss of knowledge, histories and connections. But if there are no native speakers, should we let them die? According to UNESCO, the Rotuman language is listed as endangered along with four other Pacific languages - Tokelauan, Niuean, Cook Islands Māori and Tuvaluan. More than 160 languages are spoken in New Zealand. Week-long events celebrate the unique languages...
May 13, 2024•23 min•Ep 1054•Transcript available on Metacast New Zealand's aged care sector faces huge inequities - while the flashiest ever has just opened in Auckland, many in smaller towns are closing How's your aged care set-up looking? Because it can run from a butler and caviar service, to having to trot down the corridor at night to the loo A rest home with a concierge, iced tea fountain, hybrid Jaguars to drive, and caviar on the menu. That's not imaginary or from some far-flung country - it's reality here in Aotearoa. Oceania Healt...
May 12, 2024•24 min•Ep 1053•Transcript available on Metacast The body positivity movement started for women but in a warped sort of equality, men now appear to be just as miserable about their looks What's prompting some men to achieve an idealised version of masculinity that's doing them more harm than good? The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren't part of it ... their bodies hadn't been sexualised to the same ...
May 10, 2024•24 min•Ep 1052•Transcript available on Metacast A journalism cadetship programme promised to transform New Zealand's newsrooms. But then the media landscape shrank What does the future hold for aspiring Māori and Pacific journalists who've graduated with the skills, only to find the opportunities in mainstream media have gone? In 2021 the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) launched the Te Rito Journalism Project, a $2.4 million initiative to boost diversity in New Zealand's newsrooms. The initiative was in response to the decade...
May 09, 2024•18 min•Ep 1051•Transcript available on Metacast There's evidence New Zealanders are getting more trigger-happy when it comes to using courts to stamp down on competition Tough times, and raised post-Covid levels of impatience, could be the reason NZ is seeing a rise in a number of people suing for justice. One of the country's top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of about 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so lo...
May 08, 2024•23 min•Ep 1050•Transcript available on Metacast There are traffic jams at the young end of driver licencing and fear and trepidation at the other end. After you turn 75 you might be asked by your doctor to do a cognitive driving test - we put two of these exams through their paces What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don't worry, we're not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today's episode of The Detail. "We ask a patient...
May 07, 2024•26 min•Ep 1049•Transcript available on Metacast New Zealand has so far managed to dodge the H5N1 virus, but it's becoming increasingly concerning to scientists, and it's on our doorstep Avian flu is mutating and adapting to spread beyond poultry farms to wildlife and mammals, including humans. It's not here yet, but it's coming closer Highly pathogenic avian influenza - H5N1, or bird flu - has been flying around the world since the late 1990s. New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands are so far free of it, but now it has been ...
May 06, 2024•22 min•Ep 1048•Transcript available on Metacast Are stadiums a joyful symbol of a thriving city - or a wasteful excess draining ratepayer finances? The stadium debate in Auckland has been raging for decades and may be close to a final decision. That doesn't mean the argument is over If building one of Auckland's possible waterfront stadiums was funded privately, it would need to hold a sold-out Ed Sheeran concert every weekday for 25 years. That's Rob Hamlin's finding - he's a senior marketing lecturer at the Universi...
May 05, 2024•24 min•Ep 1047•Transcript available on Metacast Steroid use will be out in the open at the Enhanced Games, and testosterone won't be banned. But is it taking away from the sport? The Enhanced Games aim to test the limits of drug-assisted human potential Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced Games, but he won't start taking performance-enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he ...
May 03, 2024•22 min•Ep 1046•Transcript available on Metacast Fans fear Shortland Street's 32 years of soapy drama could be coming to a close if TVNZ's cost-cutting knife hovers over it for too long It's our own soap opera, telling New Zealand stories to a loyal audience. But Shortland Street may be starring in its own drama Anna Thomas had a cameo as a marriage celebrant A warning - suicide is discussed in this podcast New Zealand's own long-running soap Shortland Street doesn't hesitate to kill off its much-loved characters. But would TVNZ...
May 02, 2024•25 min•Ep 1045•Transcript available on Metacast A vital part of our healthcare - palliative care - has been sidelined by our health system, largely because we don't like to talk about dying NZ Hospice relies heavily on donors, fundraising and its network of op shops to make up for a shortfall in government funding, but it's falling behind. Why has New Zealand slipped from three on Quality of Death Indexes nine years ago to 12th? NZ Hospice chief executive Wayne Naylor has a list of reasons. "We don't have a current national str...
May 01, 2024•23 min•Ep 1044•Transcript available on Metacast A new review of New Zealand's response to crisis is blunt about the inaction of the past, and sceptical that much will change in the future The climate may be changing but our response to disaster has remained the same - with a hopeless lack of willingness to step up on emergency management. After the Christchurch earthquake, the then-national Civil Defence boss compared his experience to "putting a team on the rugby field who have never ever played together before". Eight years later ...
Apr 30, 2024•23 min•Ep 1043•Transcript available on Metacast The new fast-track approvals bill has been described as 'government by amateurs', with no checks and balances Supporters say it will cut through red tape and get big infrastructure projects off the ground, but critics say the new fast-track legislation is nuclear war on the environment When it comes to talking about the government's controversial fast-track consenting process, political scientist Richard Shaw refers to the famous Chinese sci-fi novel Three Body Problem, while RNZ's In ...
Apr 29, 2024•23 min•Ep 1042•Transcript available on Metacast It's hoped a new GNS Science lab can crack open the door to cheaper green hydrogen production Green hydrogen power is inching forward with more trial projects and research on the boil Crown research institute GNS Science is about to officially open its new green hydrogen lab in Lower Hutt. One day it could contribute to making sure that small rural communities cut off by disaster can still power through, with stored green hydrogen used to establish a kind of micro-grid. Michelle Cook helps lead ...
Apr 28, 2024•24 min•Ep 1041•Transcript available on Metacast On Great Barrier Island the media landscape is bucking the national trend - it's flourishing Five media outlets for fewer than a thousand people. Find out about the outer Hauraki Gulf island where there are news and views for everyone There's an island in the far reaches of Auckland's territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of less than a thousand peo...
Apr 26, 2024•24 min•Ep 1040•Transcript available on Metacast When our Gallipoli soldiers landed at the historically significant site they occasionally paused to admire the sunsets, birds and flowers; and to souvenir treasures A new book sheds light on part of the Gallipoli campaign a world away from the horrors of battle You can't have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this ANZAC Day the Auckland War Memorial Mus...
Apr 25, 2024•24 min•Ep 1039•Transcript available on Metacast The government's hit pause on strict new building regulations over earthquake strengthening, and even its usual opponents are happy with the move Earthquake building strengthening rules could change, perhaps bringing some relief for those facing huge bills to upgrade their homes There's relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules - and costs - that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a schedul...
Apr 23, 2024•24 min•Ep 1038•Transcript available on Metacast KiwiRail's future could be veering more towards mothballs than mega-ferries, but the government's not sending out any hints Rail in New Zealand looks to be following a dead-end track with no firm plans to replace the Cook Strait ferries, and a government preference for roads. In the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans, worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, frei...
Apr 22, 2024•23 min•Ep 1037•Transcript available on Metacast New technology available to abuse victims aims to change the figures on unreported sexual assaults. Two #MeToo campaigners are about to introduce a new reporting system for sexual assault survivors they hope will turn around shocking figures around this crime. Alison Mau had two choices when she was laid off from Stuff - carry on in journalism but not her specialist #MeToo reporting or quit the industry and try to make a meaningful difference in that area. She chose the latter and teamed up with...
Apr 21, 2024•25 min•Ep 1036•Transcript available on Metacast 
