The Wire with Joel

This week on the Tuesday Wire, Allan Blackman joined Casper and Christina in the studio to talk science news for our Dear Science segment.

Casper spoke to Dr Shane Reti from the National party for our weekly segment about National’s proposed tax cuts as well as his proposal to extend free breast cancer screening

Christina spoke with David Pomeroy and Caitlin Soulsby about the practice of streaming in New Zealand schools, as well as Professor Karen Stockin from Massey University about the mass pilot whale strandings in the Chatham Islands in the past few days.

And Casper also talked to Climate Minister and Greens co-leader James Shaw about the government’s new proposal to reduce agricultural emissions.

Almost 500 pilot whales stranded on the beach of the Chatham Islands on Friday and Monday in two separate mass stranding incidents just days apart. Many of the whales could not be refloated due to the active shark risk to the animals and the rescuers in the region.

For more on mass whale strandings, and whether it’s a common occurrence, Christina spoke to Professor Karen Stockin, a marine ecologist at Massey University.

This week on The Wire for Rāhina Monday!

Joe looks at Local Government New Zealand’s call for a review of local government elections. He speaks Bonita Bigham, Chair of Te Maruata at LGNZ on the matter.

Spike will dive into cannabis decriminalisation here in Aotearoa, following Joe Biden’s pardoning of thousands of Americans who were convicted due to cannabis possession. 

Joe also look at the current state of our water infrastructures in Aotearoa New Zealand, he speaks to Dr Lokesh P. Padhye, Senior Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Auckland.

Finally, Joe speaks to Dr Nic Rawlence from the Paleogenetics Lab at the University of Otago about the recent discovery of Pterosaur-like creatures in Scotland.

That's us for this weeks Monday Wire!

Local Government New Zealand ran a multi-faceted campaign to increase the diversity of candidates as well as voter turnout this year, but preliminary results still indicate there is a massive gap to bridge between turnout for local elections compared with central government elections.

LGNZ says “To make a real difference, however, it will require a deliberate effort by councils and communities to better engage with each other in the decisions councils are making, so voters feel more connected to local government, as well as making the process of voting easier."

Joe is joined by Bonita Bigham, Chair of Te Maruata at LGNZ, to speak on the matter.