The Wire with Max

Kia ora, and welcome to The Wire for Rāpare Thursday!

Spike speaks to:

- Labour MP Andrew Little about his visit to the Shangri-La Indo-Pacific defense summit, and the Taumaru review of intelligence laws and services

- TEU organiser Ben Schmidt about the proposed job cuts at Massey University

- Natalie Vincent from Good Shepherd about the prevalance of Buy Now Pay Later debt

Simon speaks to:

- City Councillor Lotu Fuli on the budget negotiations starting today, abusive emails from Mayor Brown and the much contested sale of airport shares

- Associate Professor Grant Duncan on the new independent electoral review and its recommendations around term limits, prisoner voting rights and the "coattails" rule

- Professor John Townend about the risk of a major earthquake along the Alpine Fault over the next 50 years  

Spike speaks to Ben Schmidt, an organiser with the Tertiary Education Union, about the staff cuts recently announced at Massey University, and its potential impacts for the institution. 

Michael Baker, University of Otago professor and epidemiologist, joins us today from Oslo, Norway, to talk about the latest updates on Covid in New Zealand, following an article published in the New Zealand Herald on Sunday. 

Although New Zealand has done comparatively well in managing the health crisis, hospital admissions are still high and a number of people are expected to die from Covid this year. 

Arno started the interview by asking Michael if people still needed to be worried by Covid.

Auckland Council urban regeneration agency Eke Panuku, Beca, Koi Tu: the Centre for Informed Futures, the NZ Infrastructure Commission Te Waihanga and Ngati Whatua Orakei are making the case for digital twin pilot in Auckland’s city centre. Digital twins already exist in Singapore, London, Wellington and Christchurch. I spoke to Simon Oddie of Eke Panuku and Matt Wheeler about what digital twins are and what opportunities they provide  for productivity, resilience and engagement.