The Wire with Caeden

NZ First MP Shane Jones recently announced that he’d be drafting a member's bill to force Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement.

Under the proposal, hapū would be prevented from negotiating separate commercial redresses, and any reference to hapū sovereignty would be removed from the settlement terms.

Professor of Māori studies at the University of Auckland, Margaret Mutu, said that, while the bill’s announcement wasn’t uncharacteristic of the Crown or Shane Jones’s approach to treaty settlements, attempts to force Ngāpuhi into a single settlement claim would be met with fierce opposition, by Ngāpuhi, northland hapū and Iwi all across the Motu.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about the Regulatory Standards Bill, last weekend's Destiny Church protest, and the Taxpayers Union-Curia Poll on Cook Islands Citizenship.

For International Desk, they spoke to 95bFM reporter Sanat Singh about Zohran Mamdani’s all-but-confirmed primary win that has made him the Democratic nominee for the New York City mayoral race.

For this week’s City Counselling, Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about the council’s emergency preparedness plans for the disabled community, and the proposals for flood mitigation at the Takapuna Golf Course

She also spoke with far-right extremism expert Byron Clark about last weekend’s Destiny Church protest

Finally, she spoke with University of Auckland doctoral student Tom Wilkinson about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, in light of tensions between Israel and Iran.

In light of recent tensions between Israel and Iran, as well as the involvement of global superpower the United States, academics have raised concerns about nuclear proliferation and its consequences in the Middle East as well as on a global stage. 

As the need for nuclear deterrence is critical, the latest exchange of attacks between involved parties risks escalating conflict in the region and presents an urgent challenge for diplomatic relationships to diffuse the situation.

Producer Sara spoke to University of Auckland International and Political Relations doctoral student Tom Wilkinson about this topic, including the risk of nuclear proliferation in the region.

She began by asking him to explain the recent events between Israel and Iran in the broader context of global militarisation and history of nuclear armament.

Newly released data from StatsNZ, taken between 2019 and 2024, has revealed a growing crisis. Almost half of New Zealand’s monitored groundwater sites have shown contamination levels that exceed national health standards. The findings raise several concerns about the safety of New Zealand’s drinking water, particularly in rural communities.

StatsNZ's data shows particularly high levels of both, E. coli and Nitrate, both have been linked to serious health risks, with Nitrate contamination being linked to certain cancers and preterm births.

This comes just weeks after the government proposed changes that would further roll back freshwater protections.

To talk about the latest StatsNZ report, Producer Max spoke to Will Appelbe, a freshwater campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, to discuss what these figures mean and why he believes the government is putting public health at risk.