Q+A with Jack Tame

Outspoken former Children's Commissioner cut short in role

Dr Claire Achmad was given around five weeks' notice that she would be exiting her role of Children's Commissioner. First appointed to a five-year term to advocate for young people in New Zealand, that became a one-year term in 2025, and when she signed off on Friday July 31st, she left office two years earlier than she’d expected.
She says that she has been a "fair and balanced critic" of Government policy when it comes to child poverty, and that she has not been told by the Minister for Social Development, Louise Upston, why she wasn't brought back.
Dr Achmad sat down with Jack Tame in her final week in the role.

Spy allegations: NZ's relationship with Russia in focus

Russia's principal security service says a Russian citizen has been detained in the country's far East. The man is accused of spying for New Zealand's SIS.
Jack Tame sits down with Russia's Ambassador Stanislav Krans at the Russian Embassy in Wellington to ask more about the case. And nearly four and a half years into the military invasion of Ukraine, and following 35 rounds of New Zealand sanctions against Russia, he asks about the relationship between Russia and New Zealand.

Most people want fewer cars, Dutch academic says

Twenty years from now, people will look back on high speed limits we have in cities now and find them just as unbelievable as smoking indoors - a relic of the past. That's the dream of a visiting Dutch academic.
Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet holds the Chair on Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam and spoke at the Public Transport Association conference at Te Papa this week. While there, he caught up with Jack Tame.

"Discriminatory" law focus of Green MP's bill

Migrant families can be split apart when family members are denied visas on the basis that their disability would be a burden to New Zealand's health system, a Green MP says.

Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan's members bill would remove the ability to discriminate and carve out a way for affected families to challenge these decisions: by making a complaint to the Human Rights Commission.

Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Migrant families can be split apart when family members are denied visas on the basis that their disability would be a burden to New Zealand's health system, a Green MP says.

Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan's members bill would remove the ability to discriminate and carve out a way for affected families to challenge these decisions: by making a complaint to the Human Rights Commission.

Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Twenty years from now, people will look back on high speed limits we have in cities now and find them just as unbelievable as smoking indoors - a relic of the past. That's the dream of a visiting Dutch academic.
Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet holds the Chair on Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam and spoke at the Public Transport Association conference at Te Papa this week. While there, he caught up with Jack Tame.
Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Dr Claire Achmad was given around five weeks' notice that she would be exiting her role of Children's Commissioner. First appointed to a five-year term to advocate for young people in New Zealand, that became a one-year term in 2025, and when she signed off on Friday July 31st, she left office two years earlier than she’d expected.
She says that she has been a "fair and balanced critic" of Government policy when it comes to child poverty, and that she has not been told by the Minister for Social Development, Louise Upston, why she wasn't brought back.
Dr Achmad sat down with Jack Tame in her final week in the role.
Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Russia's principal security service says a Russian citizen has been detained in the country's far East. The man is accused of spying for New Zealand's SIS.
Jack Tame sits down with Russia's Ambassador Stanislav Krans at the Russian Embassy in Wellington to ask more about the case. And nearly four and a half years into the military invasion of Ukraine, and following 35 rounds of New Zealand sanctions against Russia, he asks about the relationship between Russia and New Zealand.
Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.