The Wire with Caeden

Yesterday afternoon we saw Associate Finance Minister James Shaw announce as part of the COVID-19 recovery fund, 11.7 million dollars going towards The Green School, a privately owned school in Taranaki, which focuses on providing schooling without exams and a focus on the environment. This is the second of its kind in the world, with the first one in Bali. Since the funding announcement, there has been backlash as there is need across the country for new buildings, repairs and renovations of schools, with anger that it went to a private school with fees reaching $43,000 for international students. There has also been criticism of Shaw as this goes against Greens policy, which states a complete movement away from private schooling. To understand the situation better, producer James Tapp talked to Chris Edwards, the CEO of The Green School, and Paul Gouter, the national secretary for NZEI Te Riu Roa.

Opening a new business in the midst of a pandemic might sound like a bad idea - unless you're in the bicycle business, which has seen ridership boom throughout the lockdowns.

T. White's is an independent, secondhand bike shop on Symonds Street specialising in repairing pre-loved bikes. And next week, after over a decade in the business they are opening a second shop in New Lynn.

Over the past decades, small owner-operator stores have closed down as 'big box' stores took over. Somehow, T. White's thrived. Producer Jack Marshall chats with Anae Brown from the shop about how the bicycle journey started.

This week on Dear Science, Allan Blackman talks a possible link between cannabis use during preganancy and a heightened risk of autism, a water beetle who can survive being eaten alive and excreted by a frog, and the rare element Astatine and its potential benefits for cancer treatment.  

On the Wire today Jemima speaks to the Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft about child offending system in Aotearoa and changing the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old to 14. 

Make It 16 is a group seeking to lower the voting age to 16 in New Zealand. Jemima speaks to member Thomas Pope Kerr about Make It 16's high court case claiming that the current voting age is discriminatory. 

With 20% of households in some areas of South Auckland without power, Jemima talks to Tania Pouwhare, the Social Intrapreneur at Auckland Council's Southern and Western Institutes. They discuss why internet access is important and how digital infrastructure might be used to rebuild the economy in South Auckland. 

Hanna looks into the pressure to be productive during lockdown. She speaks to Shaun Robinson, the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation about productivity and mental health during the pandemic.