The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Monday Wire:

For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to her about Finance Minister, Nicola Willis’ plans to combat Aotearoa’s supermarket duopoly, Green MP, Tamatha Paul’s comments about police, and Te Pāti Māori’s recent calls for mandatory police body cameras.

For our weekly catch up with The ACT Party’s Simon Court, Joel speaks to him about the Resource Management Act, or RMA reforms and concerns about the country’s health and police system, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police, and administered antipsychotic drugs.

On Friday, they spoke to the spokesperson for People Against Prisons Aotearoa and Criminology Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Dr Emmy Rākete, about Tamatha Paul’s comments about police practices in the country, the reaction they have received, and whether the reaction has been justified.

They speak to the Chief Executive Officer of Consumer NZ, Jon Duffy, about Nicola Willis’ plans to combat the supermarket duopoly and how the organisation are feeling about these developments.

On Friday, they also spoke to a Senior Politics and International Relations Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Tim Fadgen, about US President Donald Trump’s ‘overreach’ in American universities, and if we should expect similar occurrences at New Zealand universities.

And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins Joel in studio to continue our discussion around the Netflix series ‘Adolescence,’  fandoms, and exploring the role of soft power.

Whakarongo mai

Changes to how the supermarket duopoly in the country have been put forward by Finance Minister, Nicola Willis.

Currently there are only two major supermarket chains in the country: Woolworths and Foodstuffs, with this move aiming to establish alternative options to how these companies operate.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Chief Executive of Consumer NZ, Jon Duffy, about these developments, and how the organisation are feeling about them.

They started off by asking him how much of a concern the current duopoly is.

New findings have shown that vaping has not lowered smoking habits in young people in Aotearoa.

The study, published in The Lancet, looked at the daily smoking rates of 14 to 15 year olds, from 1999 to 2023, and shows that the introduction of vaping and subsequent popularity of the smoking device has not helped in lower daily smoking rates in Aotearoa.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Chief Executive of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, Letitia Harding, about this study, and how the organisation hopes the government will react to these findings.

They started off by asking if the findings in the study were surprising to her.

National MP Joseph Mooney has introduced a members bill that would remove people’s right to take legal action against companies for their impact on the climate.

The most prominent case this would impact is Mike Smith’s (Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu) Smith v Fonterra. 

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Smith about this proposed legislation and the potential impact on his case, which remains ongoing.