The Wire with Caeden

Anyone who has visited Queen street lately will have noticed the sea of roadworks as Auckland Transport seeks to transform the street to being more pedestrian and cycle friendly. Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in architecture and planning at Auckland University. Simon spoke to him about how Queen Street can become a vibrant and user friendly space. Simon began by asking Bill whether the recent changes have worked.

Kia ora, and welcome to The Wire for Rāpare!

This week, Spike speaks to:

- Andrew Little about the new defence deal with Fiji

- Lisa Woods from Amnesty NZ about a new report into Corrections' use of prisoner separation and solitary confinement

- and a report on City Impact's "Christian Summit" event held this week, serving as a meeting point for far-right and evangelical groups going into October's election, featuring activists Byron C Clark and Hannah Blake

Simon speaks to:

- Councillor Shane Henderson for City Counselling about the budget agreement reached last week, and the sale of airport shares and rates rises

- Alice Lake-Hammond about the AF8 roadshow in the South Island raising awareness about a potential Alpine Fault earthquake

- and Senior Lecturer Bill McKay about the ongoing revitalisation of Queen St   

To try minimise levels of youth vaping, the government has announced new regulations last week. These restrictions include regulating vape flavour descriptions, areas where vape stores can be constructed, and also regulating disposable vapes. 

To learn more about what these policy changes might do to help curb youth vaping, and uncover what more needs to be done, Andre Fa’aoso spoke to Janet Hoek, Senior Professor at the University of Otago, Wellington and co-director of ASPIRE25.

On the Wednesday Wire:

Simon has our weekly catch-up with Green Party co-leader James Shaw. He speaks with him about the Green’s tax-reform announcements and about Labour granting consent for an Australian mining billionaire to prospect on conserved land. 

Andre Fa’aoso speaks to Professor Janet Hoek of the University of Otago, Wellington about New Zealand's vaping restrictions and what more needs to be done to combat youth vaping.

On the Green Desk, Jack Marshall speaks to Remy Lesseur from AgResearch about VR technology that is helping farmers determine where and what trees they should plant as a part of the Emissions Trading Scheme. 

Alex speaks with Jenny Salesa about regulation of boarding houses, and councillor Angela Dalton about the Auckland Council’s Future Development Strategy consultation. 

Arno speaks to Adele Gautier from New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation about treatments for advanced breast cancer.