The Wire with Alex

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour’s Shanan Halbert about the Treaty Principles Bill submissions, Regulatory Standards Bill, and Labour’s plans for 2025.

For State of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about the devastating Los Angeles Fires and president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to annex Greenland and Canada and take back the sovereign Panama Canal for the United States.

For City Counselling this week producer Sofia speaks to Councillor Julie Fairey about Council’s submission on the Local Government New Zealand issues paper exploring electoral reform and Auckland Council’s plans for 2025. 

She also speaks to President of PATHA - the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa - Jennifer Shields, about public consultation on puberty blockers closing next week.

Last week Meta made an announcement that it was going to ditch its third party fact checkers, and replace them with a ‘community notes’ system similar to X. 

This means all content would be moderated and fact checked by its own users. The move has received a large amount of backlash amid concerns that it will cause a rise in hate speech, disinformation and fraud. The move has also been slated as catering to Donald Trump’s attitude to online moderation, ahead of him taking office as President next week. 

Shortly after this announcement, Meta also announced it was ditching its Diversity, Inclusion and Equity program.  

Evie spoke to the University of Waikato’s Joe Ulatowski about these changes, what he thinks it means for the future of misinformation on social media, and what impact it may have in Aotearoa.

This week on the Wednesday Wire... 

For our weekly catch up with the Green Party Evie speaks to Ricardo Menendez March about the Treaty Principles Bill submissions and the Regulatory Standards Bill. 

Sasha speaks with Sarita Divis, Executive Officer of the Child Poverty Action Group about the recent social security bill amendment and its implications for New Zealand’s human rights.

And Evie also speaks to  the University of Waikato’s Joe Ulatowski about Meta deciding to ditch its third party fact checkers, and the risk of disinformation on social media as a result. 

Whakarongo mai!

A study published this week in the European Journal of Public Health has revealed 87% of children in Aotearoa have experienced significant trauma before the age of 8, which is much more than previously thought.

The study observed the effects of 8 kinds of traumatic childhood experiences, and found there can be a link between childhood trauma and obesity. It was also revealed that positive experiences can mitigate the effects of trauma.

Producer Athena spoke to Senior Researcher at City University of London and Honorary Researcher at the University of Auckland, Ladan Hashemi, about the effects of childhood trauma, its links to obesity, and ways to prevent and mitigate its effects.