The Wire with Caeden

Today on the Wire, Joe Wickins speaks to University of Waikato Director of the Transgender Health Research Lab, Dr Jaimie Veale, about some of the issues surrounding the reaction to Laurel Hubbard's participation in the women's weightlifting event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They go on to discuss how this impacts the wider LGBTQI+ community.

Jemima Huston reports on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, which was introduced by the Government last week. 

Tomorrow’s World is back! This week Isla and Stella dive into the world of microplastics. Drawing on interviews with Dr Shinji Kihara from the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Auckland, they discuss how nanoplastics affect human cellular function, and how prevalent they are in Aotearoa. 

Joe talks to Mental Performance Coach David Niethe, who works with elite athletes, about the issue of the mental wellbeing for athletes and how this impacts the young people. 

Jemima wraps it up with an interview with Stephen Stockwell, who is the station manager of community radio station 4ZZZ based in Brisbane Australia. They speak about how the stop-start lockdowns taking place in Australia, due to the Covid-19 Delta variant outbreak, are impacting the creative industries across the country. 

With the recent backlash towards Kiwi Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Joe speaks to Dr Jaimie Veale, an expert in transgender studies and public health, about the global reaction. They discuss whether the argument over transgender athletes competing in the Olympics has turned into a hateful sentiment towards transgender people. They also touch on how this impacts the wider LGBTQI+ community.

A recent report by WorkSafe has found that long hours and poor pay is causing truck drivers to take more risks. Currently, truck drivers may be required to drive up to thirteen hours a day, while wages are between twenty and thirty dollars per hour. 

Producer Louis spoke to semi-retired truck driver Wayne Hill about the risks involved in the job and how it has changed since he began. 

This week, Ilena spoke with several people about conversion therapy and queerness in the Church, off the back of announcements made today solidifying the details of the conversion therapy ban legislation in NZ.

For those who might not have heard of the practise, conversion therapy is the- now widely considered- pseudoscientific practice of trying to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity to heterosexual or cisgender, using psychological, physical, or spiritual interventions. There is no clear evidence that sexual orientation can be changed, and medical institutions warn that conversion therapy practices are ineffective and harmful.

The government has pledged to ban conversion therapy by the end of the year, and announced today that they will criminalise conversion therapy with a maximum of five years imprisonment facing those who cause “serious harm”.

Ilena spoke to Neill Balantyne from Diverse Church, an LGBTQ+ affirming New Zealand church group, about the latest updates to the legislation on the conversion therapy ban.

Charlotte Moffat had some interesting things to say on growing up as a Christian and still identifying as a Christian, despite recognising, in some respects, a lack of transparency and openness towards queerness in the Church.  

Lastly, Ilena spoke with Steph Edlin, a former Head Girl of St Catherine's College and a candidate for the next Wellington City Council.