The Wire with Caeden

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has been re-elected for her second term after beating Kaohsing Mayor, Kuomintang's Han Kuo-yu and James Soong of the People First Party.  This election has been characterized as a generational divide, between the younger generation's sense of belonging to Taiwan and the older generation's desire to build stronger bonds with China.

Justin talks to Professor Tsai Chia-hung of the National Chengchi University in Taipei on this generational divide and what's next for the Kuomintang, and Professor Alex Tan of Canterbury University on how Tsai's re-election will change cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China.

Kangaroo Island, off the coast of Adelaide, was temporarily closed over the weekend with almost half of the island burnt through by the Ravine fire (around 170,000 hectares). The Victoria and New South Wales fires have also merged into a mega-blaze. 

Since the fires began in September, at least 28 people have died with thousands of homes damaged. According to the WWF, 1.25 billion animals have also perished. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison has been particularly criticised for taking a holiday while the country was struggling with the fires. In total 15 million acres have since been incinerated. 

Jemah Finn is a freelancer writer and journalist, currently based in Adelaide, South Australia. Sherry caught up with her to get an update on the Australian bushfires and how the community has been. She also attended the climate change protest in Adelaide on Friday the 10th, which saw almost 3 thousand attending protesting in response to the bush fires.

On the final wire of the year...

 The National Party’s, Denise Lee, joins Laura Kvigstad and, rather than keeping us up to date on National news they look back at what has happened in the world of politics for the National party.

Next, Producer Rachel Simpson is looking back to an interview she did with the University of Auckland politics professor, Maria Armoudian, about the Mueller Report. 

After that, Laura goes way back to a report in April on capital gain tax following coalition governments decision not to implement one. 

And Finally, Producer Benjamin J Goldson looks back at his favourite neutral corner of the year where he looks at the media coverage around Iran violating the nuclear deal.

Today on the wire we go through the best of 2019, snatching some interviews with big impact from throughout the year.
First up we have Lillian Hanly talking to Akala about race, class and division in the modern world you can listen to that on its own here 

Then we have Tuwherenoa's report on Ihumatao early this year as police involvement in the protests increased

Sherry Zhang looks into waste management issues in New Zealand and finds context overseas 

And finally, Felix discusses workers rights with activist Chloe Ann-King