The Wire with Sara

This week on the Wednesday Wire Frances kicks off with her regular segment Dear Science with AUT Professor Marcus Jones, talking about Nobel Prizes and the highly topical Delta variant and COVID vaccines. Zazi then speaks with Jason Stephens, an Associate Professor in the School of Learning, Development and Professional Practice at the University of Auckland, about student motivation during lockdown. Frances talks to Forest and Bird’s Regional Manager for Auckland & Coromandel Lissy Fehnker-Heather about the upcoming Bird of the Year competition, followed by an interivew from Zazi with Communications Manager for Bike Auckland, Mary-Margaret Slack, about the Government scrapping Auckland’s Waitematā cycleway bridge. And finally Zazi has her regular talk with Act Party’s Brooke van Velden, about the Government’s planned roadmap for Auckland and New Zealand’s new vaccination certificate.

This week on Dear Science Frances Wright spoke with AUT Professor Marcus Jones about the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for how skin perceives heat, cold, and pressure, and in physics for work on complex systems. They also talk about the the highly topical COVID vaccine and its Delta variant effectiveness.

Today on the Wire, Jemima Huston speaks to Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu from the University of Otago Wellington and Professor Michael Plank from the University of Canterbury about for a catch up about the Government’s three-step roadmap to get Auckland out of Level 3. 

Joe Wickins talks to Sandra Gray, the National Secretary from Te Hautu Kahurangi, the Tertiary Education Union, on their most recent report about the increasing stress tertiary institutions are facing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jemima talks to Jamie Freeman, Branch President of Hospitality New Zealand Auckland, about what the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Auckland hospitality sector and what your local venues could look like once the city is out of lockdown. 

Joe also explores intrusive thoughts and how they impact mental health with Liesje Donkin, a Clinical Psychologist from AUT. 

The Auckland hospitality sector is seeking support from the government to get through the latest lockdown. Over the weekend, 300 members of the sector decided, during an online emergency meeting, that they need the wage subsidy at Level 2 and resurgence payments to get them through lockdown. However, this decision came before the government's three-step roadmap announcement and the assurance that Auckland will remain in Level 3 for the foreseeable future. 

Jamie Freeman, the President of the Auckland Branch of Hospitality New Zealand, says that the future feels uncertain with the government providing no clear plan to support the industry through the latest lockdown. News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to Jamie about what happened at the meeting, the sector's response to the three-step plan and what the Auckland hospitality industry could look like once the city is out of lockdown.