The Wire with Castor

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about New Zealand First’s declared “war on woke”, proposed Resource Management Act reform, and Labour’s calls for the government to condemn Israel for their recent military assault on Gaza.

For International Desk, they spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg accidentally being added to a group chat top US officials were using to make war plans. 

And they spoke to Mike Smith (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) about National MP Joseph Mooney’s members bill that would abolish people’s right to take legal action against companies over damage to the climate. 

News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey on submissions for Auckland Council’s long-term plan, ‘bed tax,’ and discussions around equity in the upcoming election.

And they spoke to Chief Executive of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, Letitia Harding, about a recently released study showing vaping has not lowered smoking habits in young people in Aotearoa.

National MP Joseph Mooney has introduced a members bill that would remove people’s right to take legal action against companies for their impact on the climate.

The most prominent case this would impact is Mike Smith’s (Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu) Smith v Fonterra. 

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Smith about this proposed legislation and the potential impact on his case, which remains ongoing.

The free school lunch program has been in the headlines here in Aotearoa for several weeks after facing significant impacts to their quality and delivery following a complete restructure of the program led by associate education minister David Seymour.

Many schools have reported late deliveries of meals beyond the lunch period, plastic packaging melting into the food and one student even experiencing burns from the packaging that required medical attention.

This, of course, has the greatest impact on the more than 150,000 Tamariki living in severe poverty, who relied on programs like Ka Ora Ka Ako to receive daily meals.

In response, the Child poverty action group has made a call to senior government ministers and Finance Minister Nicola Willis to restore the funding that was cut from the school lunches program so that schools across the motu could receive meals from local community suppliers.

Oto spoke to Rich Greissman - Deputy Chair of the Child Poverty Action Group's Governing Committee, to discuss the group’s call and why it’s important for the government to ensure the provision of healthy school lunches to Tamariki.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about seal blood oxygen levels, phrases boosting citations, and an Australian man importing plutonium.

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, I ask about Sam Uffindell’s new private members bill and Winston Peters’ war on woke. 

They also speak to Senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, Dr. Charlotte Oyston, about a proposal to increase the maternity hospital stay period. 

And producer Amani spoke with former NZ Herald editor Dr Gavin Ellis on why he believes a digital-only strategy could shatter the future of the NZ Herald, and how he feels about the recent board-overhaul