1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,880
Speaker 1: Dan Mitchison. Is that US correspondent Dan, Good afternoon to you.

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:05,840
Speaker 2: Well, you know what kind of photo a turtle loves

3
00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,280
Speaker 2: to take, right shelfy? Nothing?

4
00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:15,800
Speaker 1: Okay, Thanks, thanks Dan. I don't know if anyone's better

5
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:18,480
Speaker 1: off for you telling that joke, but I appreciate the sentiment.

6
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,840
Speaker 1: This is some quite very unfunny news, actually some night

7
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,720
Speaker 1: breaking news out of the US. The Education Department is

8
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:27,440
Speaker 1: going to lay off half its stuff.

9
00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:30,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this is this is just a huge

10
00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,040
Speaker 2: sweeping layoff that has begun tonight. They're going to cut

11
00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,800
Speaker 2: about fifty percent of the workforce right now. They began

12
00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:40,680
Speaker 2: this evening. They employ about four thousand, maybe forty five

13
00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,479
Speaker 2: hundred people or so. And what was interesting earlier today,

14
00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:46,559
Speaker 2: they just sent out this email to all the employees

15
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,800
Speaker 2: saying the offices are going to be closed tonight and

16
00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,440
Speaker 2: tomorrow for unspecified security reasons. They didn't say what it

17
00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,319
Speaker 2: was going to be, but they told everybody to take

18
00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,200
Speaker 2: their laptops. So I think most people could see the

19
00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,440
Speaker 2: riding on the wall. And you know, there have been

20
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,400
Speaker 2: reporters that have been saying that they can't remember a

21
00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,119
Speaker 2: time that all the offices were closed like this, even

22
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,800
Speaker 2: for VIPs that are going to be on the site.

23
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,840
Speaker 2: So the layoffs looks like i'll take effect in about

24
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:13,800
Speaker 2: ninety days, and I think this is going to affect

25
00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,080
Speaker 2: and impact just a lot of day to day operations

26
00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 2: with the department.

27
00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:19,920
Speaker 1: Trump wants to get rid of that department altogether, though, right,

28
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:21,920
Speaker 1: some of they just buttering it up for the end.

29
00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,480
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's I think that's what you're I think

30
00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,520
Speaker 2: you're right between him and Elon Musk. I mean, his

31
00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,240
Speaker 2: whole goal is to get rid of this department completely.

32
00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,200
Speaker 2: I don't know whether they'll be able to do that,

33
00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:35,800
Speaker 2: but I mean at this point in time, with the

34
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:38,040
Speaker 2: number of cuts they've been going through with the government

35
00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:39,800
Speaker 2: so far in the last ninety days, I mean, anything

36
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:40,520
Speaker 2: seems possible.

37
00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, because presumably you would need someone left standing to

38
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,039
Speaker 1: run the Education Department, wouldn't you do, right?

39
00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,920
Speaker 2: I mean yeah, unless you get Unless you get Trump,

40
00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:50,760
Speaker 2: who says I'm going to take this over like he's

41
00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:52,760
Speaker 2: taken so over so many other agencies.

42
00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,640
Speaker 1: All Right, How Ukraine is on board with this proposal

43
00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,240
Speaker 1: for a sea spy. What's Trump saying about him?

44
00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,440
Speaker 2: Well, I think there that things are moving forward, Like

45
00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,440
Speaker 2: you were talking about in the world wires theremy Marko

46
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,440
Speaker 2: Rubio said that after all this this meeting, right now,

47
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,960
Speaker 2: the ball is in Russia's court to take steps to

48
00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,560
Speaker 2: end the war. The President has said he's going to

49
00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,560
Speaker 2: speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about a plan potentially

50
00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,720
Speaker 2: this week, and they've also agreed that you know, this,

51
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,080
Speaker 2: this minerals deal, which was kind of what blew up

52
00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:21,600
Speaker 2: in the Oval Office a week and a half ago

53
00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,240
Speaker 2: or so or so, is going to be done as

54
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,960
Speaker 2: soon as possible. And you know, Trump is saying this

55
00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:29,360
Speaker 2: is going to expand Ukraine's economy and at the same

56
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:32,560
Speaker 2: time it's going to guarantee their long term security, which

57
00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,320
Speaker 2: is you know, something that the President of Ukraine had

58
00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:37,200
Speaker 2: been adamant about.

59
00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,480
Speaker 1: Dan. We are five years on from the pandemic, but

60
00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 1: here in New Zealand, we still have big problems with

61
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,280
Speaker 1: our education, with school attendance, all that kind of stuff.

62
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:46,839
Speaker 1: How are you guys fearing over there?

63
00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:48,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of the same way. I mean, it's

64
00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:51,240
Speaker 2: hard to believe it's been five years this month since

65
00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,919
Speaker 2: this kind of first hit and our kids were kind

66
00:02:53,919 --> 00:02:55,799
Speaker 2: of caught up in my kids, I say, or were

67
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:57,400
Speaker 2: caught up in their first year of high school and

68
00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,680
Speaker 2: they had to do remote learning here, and as a

69
00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:01,640
Speaker 2: parent it was challenging, and then as a reporter it

70
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,800
Speaker 2: was challenging too. And what we've learned from studies that

71
00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,639
Speaker 2: have just come out is basically, kids got behind over

72
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:10,600
Speaker 2: the next couple of years, you know, math and English

73
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:13,840
Speaker 2: and science scores dropped, and unfortunately they still have not

74
00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,640
Speaker 2: caught up five years later. And what they're saying is,

75
00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,040
Speaker 2: and a lot of this is stuff that we'd heard before,

76
00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:22,360
Speaker 2: but a number of kids didn't have the adequate tools

77
00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,320
Speaker 2: and they didn't have the right spaces to learn, and

78
00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,440
Speaker 2: as a result, students are seeing their levels of learning

79
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,440
Speaker 2: compared to the predecessor's fall. Now, the one good thing

80
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:32,960
Speaker 2: real quick, I will say, Ryan, is that, Okay, we

81
00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:35,120
Speaker 2: know we can make remote learning work if we have to,

82
00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,880
Speaker 2: but most importantly, we know that the kids are actually

83
00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:40,800
Speaker 2: learning things in school and the environment is better than

84
00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,200
Speaker 2: trying to separate them. And you know, a lot of

85
00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,200
Speaker 2: socioeconomic hurdles that we had to face, you know, during

86
00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:47,640
Speaker 2: the last few years of the pandemic.

87
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,560
Speaker 1: Dan, thank you very much for that. Dan Mitchton, how

88
00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 1: US correspondent For more from hither dupless Yellen Drive. Listen

89
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,960
Speaker 1: live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,

90
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,280
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iheidra Vidio