The Wire with Caeden

The government recently announced its climate strategy for 2024, including five pillars in the different areas they plan to focus on. This government has been criticised previously for its inaction or ignorance of climate issues, particularly through policies such as agriculture’s removal from the Emissions Trading Scheme, the scrapped clean car discount, and the Fast Track Approvals Bill. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire Host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the government’s new Climate Strategy for 2024, particularly its focus on businesses.

Artificial intelligence and generative AI have seen a major uptick in usage over the past two years, with impacts across society. Of particular note is the impact on education, with students using artificial intelligence to brainstorm, write, or edit their assignments. 

Wire host Castor spoke to the Doctor Sarah Bickerton from the University of Auckland about issues with generative AI in education and what educators can do about it.

After the far-right National Rally’s dominant victory in the European Parliament elections in France, French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections for the National Assembly to be held in two rounds on June 30th and July 7th.

In the first round, National Rally came in top, however, it did not pass the threshold of 289 seats for an outright win.

After a second round of voting, a loose alliance of left-wing parties, the New Popular Front, secured the most seats. However, again, no one group won an absolute majority. 

To win an outright majority, a party or coalition needs to secure at least 289 seats.

With France now left with a hung parliament, Wire host Sofia spoke to Associate Professor of French at the University of Auckland, Deborah Walker-Morrison, about these results and what’s next for the state of French politics. 

She began the interview asking her why President Emmanuel Macron called the snap election.

Last week, the Employment Court’s judgement found that Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles’ employer, the University of Auckland, breached its contractual obligations to protect her against ongoing threats, abuse, and harassment for her public commentary and science communication work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the many concerns Wiles raised with the university were verbal threats, being filmed without consent, and calls for her to be executed, all of which escalated both in volume and violence over time. 

In the Employment Court’s judgement, Wiles was awarded general damages of $20,000 to be paid to her by the university within 28 days.

Research director at the Disinformation Project, Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, was called upon as an expert witness, and provided the court with a brief of evidence in support of Siouxsie's case against the University of Auckland. 

Wire host Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Hattotuwa about the judgement and its implications.