The Wire with Jessica

As a new batch of freshers begin university, we return to the basic fundamentals of protests.

Sofia spoke to veteran activist and Head Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa John Minto about the hows, whys, and whens of protesting, narrowing in on the current Palestine protests occuring across the country.

They discuss historic legislation born out of protesting and how to get involved in protests if you haven't before!

Head to the PSNA website for resources in solidarity with Palestine.

Nicholas speaks up with the Green Party's Dr Shane Reti about the passing of Greens MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins.

Nicholas also spoke to Associate Professor at the University of Auckland Amy Chan on new research into vaccine hesitancy. 

Sofia spoke to veteran activist and Head Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa John Minto about the hows, whys, and whens of protesting, narrowing in on the current Palestine protests occuring across the country.

Oto spoke to John Crocker from Unite Union, a union that advocates for migrant workers amongst a number of groups, who said that there was more to the scheme than what was found in the review.

Nicholasalso speaks to AUSA president Alan Shaker about devolpements in the association.

In our weekly interview with National’s James Meager, producer Castor began with National’s promised ban on wearing gang patches in public. The ban is due to come later this year as part of a bundle of legislation aimed at reducing gang presence in communities. 

A similar law was passed by the Whanganui District Council in 2009, which was later reviewed by the High Court and found to be unlawful and in violation of the Bill of Rights. 

Castor then briefly discussed Labour’s clean car discount, which was repealed by the National government on the 31st of December last year. Ministry of Transport data shows that registrations of new electric vehicles have decreased from 1 in 4 in 2023 to 1 in 26 in January this year. 

For Dear Science this week, Dr Cushla McGoverin chatted with news and editorial director Jessica Hopkins about Northern Patagonian rock art, an inchworm-inspired robot with enhanced transport capabilities, and the FDA approving the first medication to treat severe frostbite. 

Producer Castor spoke to National’s James Meager about gang patch legislation and the clean car discount repeal.

And producer Sofia spoke to co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa, Lisa Te Morenga, about the repeal of the Smoke-Free legislation and current legal requirements for public policy-making transparency in New Zealand.