95bFM: The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady 04/03/09

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1220 – School Violence Summit, Frances Nelson NZ Educational Institute President

At 1220, (above) will be on the line to discuss the incident at Avondale College yesterday when a teacher was stabbed by a 17-year-old student. The PPTA (or teachers’ union) says this represents a loss of innocence for NZ schools, and points out that student violence is rising, and has been for some time. Later this month in Wellington, Ministry of Education representatives, police, principals and community groups will meet at a summit aimed at addressing increasing violence in schools. Frances was quick to point out to me this morning that the Avondale attack was a massive aberration and we should be careful not to sensationalise it. But, she told Radio NZ that routine searches for NZ students may eventually become a reality here.

1240 – Bill English ACC

I’m hoping to hear from Minister of Finance Bill English sometime around 1240, or one. We’ll be talking about this ACC mess. A ministerial enquiry found that the $1b shortfall in its non-earners account should have been disclosed in the pre-election fiscal update. Oops. Treasury have come out and said “their bad”, and the minister has kind of forgiven them. But now they say ACC is in trouble, and serious changes are afoot to enable its ongoing concern. If I do hear from him, and if we have time, I also hope to speak to him about Mascot Finance – it went bust, the government guarantee scheme (ie taxpayers) will foot the bill. Only now they’re saying Mascot shouldn’t have qualified for guarantee. Oops, again.

1300 – Act MP David Garrett

Depending on Mr. English, I’ll play an interview I did this morning with (above) either at 1240 or one. We were speaking about the 3 strikes law – his 3 strikes law – and the Attorney General’s findings that the law could breach the Bill of Rights by leading to disproportionately severe punishment. “So what” was Garret’s reply to the Herald yesterday, but he did give me a bit more than that today. I want to read a very well reasoned paragraph from Graeme Edgeler’s Legal Beagle blog at public address:

The main problem with any mandatory sentencing law is that there are just some offences, even though they are covered by the same section of the law, that are just less serious than others. Manufacturing a kilogram of meth is obviously worse than selling a few points of the stuff, but a second strike for either is a life sentence. Janine Rongonui's 150+ stab manslaughter of Pheap Im is obviously worse than Bruce Emery's killing of Pihema Cameron, and both are worse than a manslaughter charge that might result from dangerous driving. Both meth charges, and both homicides, are serious, but they aren't the same, and any two injuring with intents or two woundings can differ greatly too. It is only just that the law treats them differently.

1320 – Counterclockwise – NZ Aid

Selwyn’s back for counterclockwise at 1320 today – our weekly political insight thanks to the team at scoop.co.nz. Today we’ll be chatting about Foreign Minister Murray McCully’s review of our foreign aid agency NZAID. Currently a stand alone agency, McCully’s keen to see it back into the ministry. He also wants to change the agency’s goal from poverty elimination (too vague), to economic development (precision!). Oxfam reckons this’ll mean the poor will miss out on aid if a political agenda is tied to it.

1340 – Sam Trubridge, Sleep/Wake

And at 1340 Sam Trubridge, the creative force behind Sleep/Wake (playing at the AK09 festival) will join me in the studio. Described as an extraordinary journey into the unknown world of sleep, Sleep/Wake weaves the languages of movement, image and science into a truly original production. Out of it.

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