The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Wednesday Wire Frances kicks off with her regular segment Dear Science with AUT Professor Marcus Jones, talking about Nobel Prizes and the highly topical Delta variant and COVID vaccines. Zazi then speaks with Jason Stephens, an Associate Professor in the School of Learning, Development and Professional Practice at the University of Auckland, about student motivation during lockdown. Frances talks to Forest and Bird’s Regional Manager for Auckland & Coromandel Lissy Fehnker-Heather about the upcoming Bird of the Year competition, followed by an interivew from Zazi with Communications Manager for Bike Auckland, Mary-Margaret Slack, about the Government scrapping Auckland’s Waitematā cycleway bridge. And finally Zazi has her regular talk with Act Party’s Brooke van Velden, about the Government’s planned roadmap for Auckland and New Zealand’s new vaccination certificate.

After months of deliberation and discussion, the Government has decided not to move forward with the cycle bridge that was planning to go across Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour, in light of many Aucklanders not feeling like their city is cycle friendly.  

The cycleway bridge project came about after many years of protesting, including Bike Auckland’s Liberate the Lane protest earlier this year, a campaign calling for a 3 month trial this summer to convert a lane of the Harbour Bridge for cycling. 

This morning Zazi spoke with Communications Manager for Bike Auckland, Mary-Margaret Slack, to hear her view on this decision, and see whether Bike Auckland is upset with the change or have other alternatives that could solve this goal of wanting to connect these parts of Auckland.

Joe talks to Sandra Grey, the National Secretary from Te Hautu Kahurangi, the Tertiary Education Union, on their most recent report about the increasing stress tertiary institutions are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yesterday, the Government announced its three-step roadmap to get Auckland out of Alert Level 3. The first step will begin tonight at 11:59pm and will allow people to catch up outdoors in groups of 10 people from no more than two households.

To get a clearer understanding of how the roadmap works, as well as address some of the critiques of the decision, News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu, an immunologist at the University of Otago Wellington, and Professor Michael Plank, a Covid-19 mathmatical modelling expert from the University of Canterbury. They discuss initial reactions to the announcement, critiques of the plan putting vulnerable communities at risk and whether the vaccination roll out will be able to keep ahead of a wider delta outbreak.