The Wire with Caeden

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Willie Jackson about an independent commissioner being appointed to Wellington City Council, the government’s review of Ihumātao, and cuts at Whakaata Māori. 

For States of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about polling numbers less than two weeks out from the election and they speak to Tom Unger, political activist and former political show host at Radioactive, about political violence in the US ahead of the election.

And they speak to Amanda Turnbull, Lecturer in Cyber Law at the University of Waikato, about the negative environmental and social impacts of AI. 

News and Editorial Director, Joel, speaks to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, about the concerns surrounding New Zealand's lax regulations regarding cross-breeding companion animals.

And for City Counselling, Tuesday Wire host Castor speaks to Councillor Julie Fairey about progress on Maungawhau train station and power outages on the Western line. 

The coalition government has recently been debating cutting funding entirely for school lunches, but instead have made a significant cut while continuing to keep lunches. 

There have been concerns raised by Health Coalition Aotearoa about the new supplier, Compass Group, stating a potential worse quality of food and inadequacy of future supply.

Sasha spoke to policy researcher from The University of Auckland and the spokesperson of Health Coalition Aotearoa, Kelly Garton, about the new supplier of school lunches and the implications this has for schools and children’s nutrition.

Oto reached out to Sinead O’Flynn, the agriculture campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, for the organisation’s take on the government’s recent changes to Freshwater management policy.

This was after a number of ministers announced a new amendment to the Resource Management Amendment Bill covering Freshwater and Other Matters that would prevent local councils from notifying their freshwater plans until the Government replaces the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management.

Advocates and local government spokespeople have criticised the move, saying that it will strip power away from local councils and that the current freshwater management policy statement isn’t sufficient enough to protect Aotearoa’s water resources. 

Social media is blamed for many ill effects that plague modern life, and unsurprisingly a recent research conducted on New Zealand women aged eighteen to twenty-four has found that social media use correlates with poor body image.

At this period of life, it is common for debilitating eating disorders to develop. The research has found there to be a weak link between social media and poor body image, however this still raises questions about future legislations and the complexity of the relationship between young people and social media.

Sasha spoke to Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nutrition Rajshri Roy, from the University of Sydney Australia, about her recent study and other implications.