The Wire with Caeden

Ta Rē Morori is the language of the Moriori people who, according to oral history, travelled to Aotearoa New Zealand hundreds of years ago from Eastern Polynesia and settled in Rēkohu - the Chatham Islands. The last fluent speakers of ta rē Moriori passed away in the very early 1900s but a lot of work has been done to preserve the language. 

Last week, the Ministry of Education published five e-books written entirely in ta rē Moriori on their website. News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston heard about this project and wanted to speak to someone about how it came about.

Jemima interviews Susan Thorpe, who is the Cultural Projects Manager at the Hokotehi Moriori Heritage Trust about how the e-books were created. The interview becomes a broader conversation about the efforts that have been made in the past and the present to revive ta rē Moriori, as well as the battle to have the history of Moriori recognised and better understood by people in Aotearoa and across the world.

If you are interested in reading or looking at the ta rē Moriori e-books, please head to the Ministry of Education website here. 

This week on the Wednesday Wire, Zazi Hewlett and Frances Wright are once again working remotely from home as the country remains in Level 4 Lockdown, with Jemima hosting the show and bringing us the news. 

The show kicks off with Frances speaking to Tali Willliams, who is the Secretary for Retail, Finance and Commerce at FIRST Union, discussing the impact that the New Zealand lockdown has had on supermarket workers.

Frances also has her regular segment Dear Science with Marcus Jones. They discuss the waning effectiveness of COVID vaccines against the Delta variant; talk about massive volcanoes which could cool earth; and then last but not least talk about a genetic pattern thay offers clues about the evolution of homosexuality. 

Zazi then speaks to Kerri Nuku from the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO), as well as a Senior Nurse who is working through the Level 4 Lockdown, about nurses and other health care workers working in the renewed COVID-19 climate. They discuss safety measures, understaffing and what the public can do to show their support to all health care workers.  

Finally Zazi has her regular catch-up with ACT's Brooke van Velden, this week talking about the Parliament sittings being suspended for the week as well as an update on Brooke’s opinion regarding Level 4 Lockdown.

This week on Dear Science, Frances was joined by AUT professor Marcus Jones where they talked about the effectiveness of COVID vaccines against Delta, massive volcanoes cooling the earth, and the genetic pattern which offers clues to the evolution of homosexuality.

On Monday The Prime Minister announced that the sitting of Parliament will be suspended for a week, due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Other political parties since, have spoken publicly about this decision, so Zazi asked Brooke about the ACT Party's opinion in a little more detail. 

She began by asking Brooke if the ACT Party thinks it was the right decision that Parliament sittings be suspended for a week.