The Wire with Joel

Oral submissions to the Select Committee on the divisive Treaty Principles Bill began this week on Monday. This comes after the Bill’s submission deadline was extended earlier this month and over 300,000 written submissions were made. The committee is set to listen to 80 hours of submissions over the next month, from a variety of academics, legal experts, activists, and community groups. 

Producer Sofia spoke to Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and te Tiriti o Waitangi expert, Margaret Mutu, about this, firstly asking her about what her expectations were going into this week.

It is a fact that what makes Aotearoa New Zealand an amazing place to live is nature. Our export industries are built off the idea of a ‘clean, green New Zealand’, attracting tourists and food exports.

Greenpeace’s Executive Director Russel Norman claims that “Luxon’s relentless War on Nature burns the natural capital of Aotearoa for short term GDP growth.”

He has called it a ‘war on nature’, and says that the clean-up costs of a coal mine are greater than a full year of royalties that coal companies pay to the government.

Sasha spoke in depth about Christoper Luxon’s continued ‘war on nature’ with Russel, further speaking on international implications.

In the lead up to U.S President, Donald Trump’s second term in office, the United States has been in what academics, and observers are calling a state of “permacrisis”.

Since Trump’s inauguration, decisions such as the appointment of Cabinet members, the pardoning of convicts involved in the January 6th Capitol attack, and the signing of executive orders targeting immigrants, and transgender people, have uprooted political conventions, and normalised chaos as a daily occurrence.

Producer Athena spoke to Director and Associate Professor of Global Studies at the University of Auckland, Dr Chris Ogden, about how, and why Trump and his followers weaponise chaos, and manufacture crises.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert Professor Allan Blackman chatted with us about good old Ernest Rutherford and why his mug is on our 100 dollar bills. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about National’s recent cabinet reshuffle and Christopher Luxon’s state of the nation speech. 

They also spoke to National Secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about ACT party leader David Seymour’s calls for privatisation of Aotearoa’s health sector. 

Producer Athena spoke to Director of Global Studies at the University of Auckland, Chris Ogden, about how and why Trump weaponises chaos.