The Wire with Caeden

While the rest of the country moves to alert level 2 this week Aucklanders remain home in their bubbles under level 4. With the reduction of cars on the road, native birdsong has become easier to hear and a welcome silver lining of the lockdown for many. For a bit of Covid news relief on the Wire this week, Frances Wright spoke with Professor Jacqueline Beggs from the University of Auckland about New Zealand's native birds, focussing on the beloved kererū which won Bird of the Year in 2018 and are known to occasionally fill themselves up with fermented fruit and fall out of trees…

Frances and Professor Beggs spoke about how kererū survive in urban environments and what we can do to encourage them, and other native birds, into our gardens.

Earlier this week, on Monday morning, the Leader of the ACT Party, David Seymour, tweeted out the vaccine access code for Māori people, that allows them to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at Whānau Ora locations, without needing to book in advance. 

The code was sent by Māori health provider Te Whānau o Waipareira through email, as part of a push to lift Māori vaccination rates that are less than two thirds of the non-Māori rate. 

David Seymour has been under scrutiny since tweeting this post. However, he stands by his tweet, and believes that the access code divides New Zealanders against one another. Other politicians, including those from the Māori and Green party disagree, and say that this decision from David Seymour to tweet the access code has resulted in putting people’s lives at risk.

Zazi spoke with Green Party’s Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere to get her perspective on the tweet. 

Zazi began by asking Dr. Kerekere what her reaction was to David Seymour’s tweet.

ACT Party's Brooke van Velden also spoke with Zazi about Seymour's tweet in today's Wednesday Wire show. If you would like to listen to that interview as well, click the link here.

This week was the last week that the public could submit their say on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, which proposes to ban conversion therapy practices seeking to change or supress a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. In fact, today is the final day to make a submission on the Parliament website. 

Te Hapori Whai Takiwātanga o Aotearoa and the Autistic Collaboration Trust support this Bill, but believe it should go further to protect all New Zealanders subject to conversion therapy practices, not just those relating to sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression (although these protections are very much welcome).

Zazi spoke to Trustee and Spokesperson for the Autistic Collaboration Trust, Jorn Bettin, about why the autistic community is seeking the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill to include a ban on all conversion therapies, including those practices that are inflicted on the autism community. 

This week on Dear Science, Frances Wright talked to AUT Professor Marcus Jones about US President Biden's COVID origins report, how arctic warming links to cold winters and about the Mars rover ‘Perseverance’ collecting its first rock sample to bring back to earth.