The Wire with Joel

Last week, a vote no confidence was made against Judith Collins as leader of the National Party and she was ousted from the position. Collins' Deputy Dr Shane Reti swiftly took over as interim leader and announced that a new leadership team would be voted on next week. 

The sudden party fall out came after a late night statement from Collins that Simon Bridges, MP for Tauranga and previous party leader, had been demoted due to an allegation of serious misconduct by a colleague. This allegation was clarified by Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean who said Bridges had made inappropriate comments five years ago that upset her and Bridges had apologised for this at the time and again on that day. 

Today, Tuesday 30 November, is the day that the National Party is expected to vote on their new leadership team. Reports are suggesting that the competition for the top position is really between Bridges and Christopher Luxon, MP for Botany and ex-CEO for Air New Zealand with a mere two years of political experience.

News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to political commentator David Slack about the National Party fall out last week, the vote expected later today, some of the core candidates, and why Dr Shane Reti is never considered to be in the running for the leadership role. 

UPDATE: Christopher Luxon has been named as the new leader of the National Party, following Simon Bridges withdrawing his ticket. 

This week on the Wire, Emily Bell speaks with University of Canterbury Epidemiology Professor Arindam Basu about the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron. 

Jemima Huston talks to political commentator David Slack about the National Party leadership vote expected later this afternoon. 

Emily discusses the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis and the call for the New Zealand aid with the World Christian Service Director Murray Ovetron.

Jemima interviews Maria Bellringer from the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre at AUT about gambling habits in lockdown, online gambling in New Zealand and gambling regulation. 

Finally, Jemima speaks to Peter Dickens, Chief Executive of the Prostate Cancer Foundation NZ, about Giving Tuesday and supporting the Foundation. 

This week on the Monday wire...

Louis spoke with the University of Canterbury's Michael Plank, the Green Party's Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, and the Restaurant Association's Marissa Bidois about the Covid-19 traffic light system. He also spoke to Metservice's Kevin Alder about newfound logbooks from early Antarctic expeditions and the University of Auckland's Dr Rajshri Roy about comfort food and lockdown. 

Charlie talked to Monash University's Dr Stella Talic about Covid-19 prevention strategies and Omar Hamed about the upcoming perfusionist strike. 

Have fun. 

A group of Auckland University students have created New Zealand Sign Language interactive cards which incorporate Te Reo Maori and English words.

Their aim is to promote the knowledge and use of New Zealand Sign Language within Aotearoa. 

Jessica Hopkins spoke to Harry and Ned from SLICNZ, about how their cards are helping deaf and hard of hearing kids in schools.