The Thursday Wire with Paul Deady

95bFM: The Thursday Wire with Paul Deady

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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1210 - ACC Backdown

At the top of the show Dr Kim McGregor, Director of Rape Prevention Education, joins us to take a look at the ACC back-down on sexual abuse victims. Last October ACC cut back on counselling for victims of rape and other sexual abuse. Funding became restricted to only those with a diagnosed mental injury resulting from sexual abuse or assault. Kim and her organisation said this was inhumane, and together with a number of other support groups, fought hard against the cuts. Today, they won that fight. ACC acknowledged that the move had "exposed gaps" in its services, and it announced it would provide extra support - 16 hours of counselling to be precise. Is this enough of a rethink? And does it undo the damage already done?

1225 - Sue Bradford

At 12.25 we’ll hear from long-time beneficiaries campaigner Sue Bradford. Earlier this week, the government-appointed Welfare Working Group released a report which basically said the system here is broken, and if it isn’t fixed the welfare bill could top 50 billion by the middle of the century. It said our welfare system is outdated, unsustainable and leads to many people becoming long-term beneficiaries, stuck in a poverty trap. Unsurprisingly, the government is using the report as justification for a welfare overhaul. But Sue says the group’s reports and recommendations are pre-determined by what the government wants to do anyway. She says there’s no welfare crisis in this country - instead there’s an employment crisis, as evidenced by unemployment figures we haven’t seen the likes of for years.

1235 - Dear Science

Peter Griffin from the science media centre will join us at 12.35 to delve headfirst into the strange, exhilarating and slightly terrifying world of science. Today: a new brain scan that can detect autism in adults, the oldest rocks ever found - they’re very old, and the upcoming, controversy-courting sceptics conference in Auckland this weekend.

1245 - Judge Neil MacLean

Then at 12.45 the chief coroner will share his thoughts on the way we report suicides in this country. Judge Neil MacLean says we need to rethink the way media are allowed to report on suicide, and in doing so, we could potentially save lives. He says little attention is paid to the fact that the number of New Zealanders taking their own lives is 50% higher than the road toll. Judge MacLean has released statistics on suicide numbers, and says media should be free to publish them. According to the ministry of health, “evidence suggests that some ways of reporting and portrayal of suicide in the media may increase rates of suicidal behaviour.” They have some pretty clear guidelines for media reports of suicide, but considering the figures, it does seem like now’s a good time to take another look at those.

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