The Wire with Joel

New Zealand’s employment court recently rejected an appeal by taxi and delivery company Uber to reverse its earlier ruling regarding the status of Uber drivers. In 2022, the employment court ruled that Uber drivers should be classified as employees rather than contractors. Uber then appealed the decision, with the employment court reaching its final verdict this week.

Alongside this decision are discussions by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke Van Velden, surrounding potential changes to how workers are classified. 

Wire host Castor spoke to national secretary of the E tū union, Rachel Mackintosh, about the appeal and potential upcoming legislation.

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie speaks to Simon Court about the ACT Party's absence from the Māori King’s Koroneihana, questions about the ministry of regulation and changes to the the Fast Track Approvals Bill

For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori, News and Editorial Director and Wire Host, Joel, speaks to Mariameno Kapa-Kingi about the increase in Māori vaccination rates, comments PM Christopher Luxon had at Koroneihana at Tūrangawaewae, report into Māori being disproportionately targeted by police.

Joel also spoke to Criminology Lecturer at the University of Auckland, and spokesperson for People Against Prisons Aotearoa, Emmy Rākete (Ngāpuhi) about the recently released Understanding Police Delivery report, which shows that Māori are disproportionately more likely to be persecuted by police.

Evie speaks to Socio-Cultural Teaching Fellow in Physical Education, Sport and Exercise sciences at The University of Otago, Sebastian Potgieter about Israel’s place in international sporting competitions.

And finally, Joel speaks to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science, and geologist, Phil Shane, about a new vent being discovered at Whakaari / White Island, which has resulted in various flights being delayed, and what this means for the volcano.

Last week, multiple flights were delayed, due to an eruption, dubbed by scientists as “minor eruptive activity,” of Whakaari / White Island.

This comes as GNS Science discovered a new vent in the volcano, as the volcano has been experiencing ongoing volcanic activity since the beginning of this month.

News and Editorial Director and Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland and Geologist, Phil Shane, about this new vent and the disruption Whakaari has caused to air travel, and whether this should be viewed as a concern.

The Democratic National Convention is taking place in Chicago this week. The event is where Minnesota Governor Tim Walz officialy accepts the nomination for Vice President. 

Former Aotearoa Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke on a side panel at the convention, organised by progressive think tank the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The panel also featured former prime minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson, MPs from Germany and the Netherlands as well as some US political figures, including prominent Democratic strategist Patrick Gaspard.

Republican candidate Donald Trump is under fire for posting AI generated images of pop star Taylor Swift on his social media platform “Truth Socials.” The images were of Taylor Swift wearing American red, white and blue while endorsing Trump for president. He captioned these photos “I accept.”

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about the DNC and Trump sharing AI images.