The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Wednesday Wire...

For our weekly catchup, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to The Green Party's Ricardo Menéndez March about recent changes to the treaty principles bill to include acknowledgements to Iwi and Hapu, government pay parity cuts for relief ECE teachers and concerns over Nicole McKee’s gun law reforms.

For our bi-weekly segment Get Action! Wednesday Wire Host, Oto, spoke to ActionStation’s Kareana Kee, about their petition calling for TVNZ to review their coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Producer Sasha spoke to spokesperson from Student Justice for Palestine Pōneke, Frank Mackenzie, about the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation divesting in Israeli bonds.

and Oto spoke to Associate Professor in Commercial Law at the University of Auckland, Gehan Gunasekara, to discuss the implications of the IRD sharing taxpayer data with social media firms.

Last week the government announced its new transport plan, focusing primarily on car and road developments and their flagship ‘roads of national significance’. This focus on roads and car developments has led the government to pull funding from other areas, such as public transportation, walkways, and cycleways. 

Last week, the commerce commission also released its first annual grocery report, identifying issues with a lack of competition in Aotearoa’s grocery sector and increased prices faced by consumers. The report advises that the problems stem from a lack of regulation, which enables the supermarket giants to act as they please. 

This week in our catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to Katie Nimon about the government’s new transport plan and the commerce commission’s first annual grocery report. 

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, we chatted with our expert Professor Allan Blackman about genetic fingerprinting, mobile phones not being linked to brain cancer, and how eating habits can make you live longer. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Katie Nimon about the government’s newly announced transport plan and last week’s grocery commission. 

They also spoke to Professor of Māori Studies Margaret Mutu of Ngāti Kahu, Te Rarawa, and Ngāti Whātua, about Cabinet’s reviewing the first draft of ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill. 

On the Green Desk, Jack Marshall talked to Dung Beetle Innovations’ Dr Shaun Forgie about dung beetles and New Zealand's issues with manure.

And producer Josef spoke to Professor of Health Economics, Paula Lorgelly, about the economic impacts of Long COVID.

Dementia is expected to double in the next 20 years in Aotearoa, but for Pasifika and Māori, it’s expected to triple. 

New research shows the risk of developing dementia is 60% higher for people living in the most deprived areas of NZ compared to those in the least deprived areas.

Because of the disproportionate representation of Māori and Pasifika in lower socio-economic groups, the risk of those developing dementia also sits at a disproportionately high level. 

Senior lecturer in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, Etuini Ma’u led the public health expert briefing that took a deep dive into the research. 

Producer Evie spoke to Ma’u about the factors of poverty that lead to this increased dementia risk, and how these can be combated on both an individual and wider structural level.