The Week in Detail: Wool woes, parental leave, and political polls

Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories.

This week, the new therapeutic products law that's been decades in the making, the financial woes facing the wool industry, the pros and cons of public private partnerships, how we stack up internationally on paid parental leave, and can we can trust political polls this election season?

Plus, a special edition of the Long Read from RNZ investigative journalist Anusha Bradley.

Whakarongo mai to any episodes you might have missed.

The new therapeutic products law: What is it?

It's been years in the making, but there's finally a new law to regulate medicines, medical devices and natural health products.

The Therapeutic Products Bill passed its third reading in Parliament late last month. But it's been controversial – and the debate is far from over.

The new law will regulate natural health products for the first time in New Zealand, but the new framework has thrown up alarm bells for people importing prescription drugs, and for the free practice of rongoā.

Tom Kitchin talks to Otago University's department of preventive and social medicine professor Rhiannon Braund and Northland rongoā practitioner Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta).

The woes of wool

Backcountry farmer Dan Steele got messages from all over the world after he took to Facebook inviting people to come and pick up his wool for free.

He explained in his post that shearing cost him around $65,000 but he was getting paid just $9600 for the wool - a $55,400 loss.

Wool prices have been fluctuating for a long time, says Steele, but for most of the last decade he's been losing money on it in the face of rising transport, labour and compliance costs.

Reluctant to follow other big sheep stations converting to pine forests, or other farmers breeding wool out of their sheep, he's held on in the hope of a turnaround.

Steele and Hawke's Bay wool broker and retailer Philippa Wright take The Detail through the challenges they face, in a product that was once the darling of New Zealand industry.

Public private partnerships and big infrastructure projects

The new Puhoi to Warkworth motorway is one. So is Transmission Gully, the new Waikeria Prison development and several schools.

They are all public projects designed, built and managed by private investors. 

It's not new, and it's often controversial, but the public private partnership formula – PPP – is being seen as a way to help fund the multi-billion dollar road and transport projects announced in the last week by the Labour government and the National Party.

NZ Herald property editor Anne Gibson and RNZ senior reporter Ben Strang lay out how it all works.

How NZ's paid parental leave stacks up

Paid parental leave was back in the spotlight last week, after a member's bill from National's deputy leader Nicola Willis – that would've allowed parents to take leave at the same time – was voted down in parliament. 

New Zealand's had a paid parental scheme for two decades.

While the 26 weeks on offer is significantly more than the 12 weeks available when the entitlement was introduced in 2002, other countries are doing much better when it comes to access to paid parental leave, the amount paid and the duration of it.

Tom Kitchin speaks to parental leave researcher Dr Suzy Morrissey and Dr Ellen Joan Nelson, who works as a leadership consultant supporting parents in workplaces.

Taking the public pulse with political polls

Not so long ago, New Zealand was "nirvana" when it came to surveying people on which party they would vote for and who they preferred as their prime minister.

Not any more.

In the era of mistrust where social media is the single source of news for many, polling firms are under increasing pressure to produce data that represents what the population thinks – and that is becoming more and more difficult, says Murray Campbell, the New Zealand Research Association's polling spokesperson.

Despite the challenges, New Zealand leads the world in polling accuracy. And MPs, like it or not, need to pay attention to what the polls say.

"Without polling, you are left to effectively trust what parties tell you, what MPs tell you, what the so-called man or woman on the street tells you, social media, vibes - none of that really is scientific or reliable. Polls at least help us get a lot closer to the truth of the matter," says RNZ deputy political editor Craig McCulloch.

Long Read: What happened when two young Jehovah’s Witnesses quit the church

This is The Detail's Long Read – one in-depth story read by us every weekend.

This week, it's a special feature episode.

On Thursday, RNZ published an investigation into the practice of shunning from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

‘Something Evil’, by RNZ investigative reporter Anusha Bradley, details how people who leave, or are banished from the church, cannot be in contact with anyone who remains.

In this special episode of the Long Read, Bradley introduces us to two leavers, who share more about the church, its darker side and the harrowing path they’ve taken in leaving.

“I knew once I made the jump to actually leave, I was going to lose every support person I had in my life,” said Brad Miller, who left in 2021.

“When you're raised a Witness, you're not allowed to have friends outside of Witnesses, you're not allowed to do anything socially that is not Witness-related.

"They strip your identity once you are gone. You are not human any more, you are this evil thing."

Miller followed his cousin, Cassie Dean out of the religion. They have supported one another building new lives in the ‘outside world’.

You can read Something Evil – and watch a video interview with Miller and Dean – here.

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