The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Thursday Wire:

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to MP Shanon Halbert about the re-establishment on TEN polytechnics that were previously merged under Te Pūkenga, and Te Pāti Māori members accusing the party of being ‘greedy’ for running MP Peeni Henare in the upcoming Tāmaki Makaurau by-election.

For this week’s City Counselling, Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about her recent biking accident and her hopes for road safety in Auckland, as well as the recently released State of the City report.

For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Natasha Lindstaedt from the University of Essex on the backslide of democracy in Georgia, particularly due to Russian influence, and the public response.

Joel spoke to Tom Wilkinson, a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Auckland, about Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, nominating US President, Donald Trump, for a Nobel Peace Prize.

And on Monday, Producer Sam spoke to Peter Adams, a Professor in the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, about the government’s alcohol levy, in light of recent lobbying by the alcohol industry.

Whakarongo mai!

As the climate and sustainability crises continue to worsen and corporations and governments refuse to act the question must be asked, do we need to rethink our entire society? From one built on resource extraction for profit, to one built around sustainable local living.

Producer Sam spoke to Professor of geology at the University of Auckland, Phil Shane, about the sustainability of our society.

Last week, The Green party issued a statement calling on the government to drop the Regulatory Standards Bill after the bill went through hearings at the select committee, with only 19 out of the total 208 submissions heard supporting the Bill.

This week, the government confirmed their plan to re-establish 10 polytechnics that had been merged into Te Pūkenga under the previous labour government as part of the government’s plan to gradually disestablish the wider institution.

And the Greens recently announced that they wouldn’t be standing any candidates of their own in the Tāmaki Makaurau by-elections, which are happening in September this year.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.

Back in April, American company Colossal Biosciences had announced a successful project, from their point of view, to de-extinct the Dire Wolf. Now, the company has teamed up with Sir Peter Jackson, Canterbury Museum and the Ngai Tahu Research Centre, to begin the de-extinction of the South Island Giant Moa.

In April, we conducted an interview with Associate Professor and Director of the Paleogenetics Lab at the University of Otago, Nic Rawlence, who was displeased with the American company’s attempts at the Dire Wolf.

Now, to talk about the recent news of Colossal Biosciences' attempts to de-extinct the Moa, Producer Max spoke to Rawlence once again.