The Wire with Joel

This week on the Thursday Wire:

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to MP Shanon Halbert about the re-establishment on TEN polytechnics that were previously merged under Te Pūkenga, and Te Pāti Māori members accusing the party of being ‘greedy’ for running MP Peeni Henare in the upcoming Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.

For this week’s City Counselling, Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about her recent biking accident and her hopes for road safety in Auckland, as well as the recently released State of the City report.

For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Natasha Lindstaedt from the University of Essex on the backslide of democracy in Georgia, particularly due to Russian influence, and the public response.

Joel spoke to Tom Wilkinson, a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Auckland, about Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, nominating US President, Donald Trump, for a Nobel Peace Prize.

And on Monday, Producer Sam spoke to Peter Adams, a Professor in the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, about the government’s alcohol levy, in light of recent lobbying by the alcohol industry.

Whakarongo mai!

Extreme weather events such as the recent Tasman floods, are becoming more common in New Zealand. With that, the risk of severe flooding is only increasing.

The question is: how prepared is Aotearoa for the next severe flood and what action is needed to prepare for it? 

Producer Max spoke to Dr. Iresh Jayawardena, a lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Auckland, to talk about New Zealand’s lack of awareness when it comes to floods and why short term planning has left many areas vulnerable to severe weather.

Last week, The Green party issued a statement calling on the government to drop the Regulatory Standards Bill after the bill went through hearings at the select committee, with only 19 out of the total 208 submissions heard supporting the Bill.

This week, the government confirmed their plan to re-establish 10 polytechnics that had been merged into Te Pūkenga under the previous labour government as part of the government’s plan to gradually disestablish the wider institution.

And the Greens recently announced that they wouldn’t be standing any candidates of their own in the Tāmaki Makaurau by-elections, which are happening in September this year.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about lightning created by peeling tape, links between talc and cancer, and a new form of Nitrogen. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the government’s health contributions in light of recent strikes.

They also spoke to Emeritus Professor Tim Hazledine about David Seymour’s plans to address the supermarket duopoly in Aotearoa. 

On the topic of the recent Economy of Genocide report released by UN Special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, producer Sara spoke with both University of Otago’s Professor of International Relations Robert Patman, as well as Amnesty International Aotearoa’s Margaret Taylor.