The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Monday Wire:

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party's Simon Court, Producer Evie speaks to Simon about government bootcamp participants reoffending, proposed changes to employment law and David Seymour’s incumbent term as Deputy Prime Minister.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand's recent results in the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.

Producer Yesenia speaks to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson, Amanda Larsson, about the government's Methane Review and the impact it has on an agricultural standpoint.

Evie speaks to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe, about 30 years of research revealing that Aotearoa’s species are some of those at the greatest risk of extinction.

And Yesenia speaks to Associate Professor in Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, Neal Curtis, about artists ending their time on X, formally Twitter, and shifting to Bluesky for it's moderation policies. 

Whakarongo mai!

As of last week the government's methane review report was slammed by Greenpeace for what they say  is the coalition government manipulating of numbers of shirk responsibility in the fight against climate crisis. 

This comes as a result of livestock being one of the biggest contributors for man-made methane within Aotearoa and especially within the meat & dairy industry. 

Producer Yesenia spoke to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson Amanda Larsson about the impacts the review has on an agricultural scale, possible strategies to reduce methane production from the meat and dairy industry and the prospects of reducing methane for the future. 

For State of the States this week, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa'aoso from the Yale Daily News about President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced next week for three felony charges.

They also discuss Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, who is the latest in a long list of unorthodox picks for government positions from Trump

Just less than two weeks ago, two new drug use surveys have been released, showing significant increases in drug use and availability, especially cocaine.

In the past five years, drug prices have continued to fall and in turn use for some substances have almost doubled. The nearly fifty-year-old drug law is outdated and has resulted in greater supply and addiction. The government’s current approach of infrequent drug busts and supply restrictions are ineffective at preventing that.

Sasha spoke to The New Zealand Drug Foundations Executive Director, Sarah Helm, about the new survey results and issues surrounding safe use.