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. 

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about former MP Darleen Tana’s removal from Parliament, updates to the Three Strikes Law and the government’s changes to freshwater protections.

He spoke to Sinead O’Flynn from Greenpeace Aotearoa for a follow-up conversation about the changes to freshwater policy.

And he spoke to Dr Steffen Albrecht, Research Fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, to discuss about a study of his analysing the use of A.I in predicting respiratory disease outbreaks during flu seasons.

Sasha spoke to Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nutrition Rashjiri Roy from the University of Sydney about her recent research linking poor body image with social media use

And he spoke to Kelly Garton, Policy Researcher from the University of Auckland and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa about cuts to funding for school lunches.

Recently, a study was conducted at the university of Auckland analysing the use of A.I in predicting the prevalence of respiratory disease outbreaks during flu seasons in Aotearoa.

Forecasting models are essential for hospitals in predicting admissions and subsequently allocating resources and beds.

However, during peak flu periods, and, most notably the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals across Aotearoa have been largely underprepared for respiratory disease outbreaks, hence why experts have called for improvements to be made to traditional forecasting models. 

Oto spoke to Dr Steffen Albrecht, a Research Fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland and author of the study, to talk about the study and how A.I could help disease forecasting models in hospitals across Aotearoa. 

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.