The Wire with Jemima Huston

National leader Judth Collins has backed calls on a referendum for calling New Zealand Aotearoa. This comes after MP Stuart Smith posted a column on Tuesday saying New Zealanders should be consulted on the use of it by Government. On the Wire this Wednesday, Fances Wright spoke to Professor Pare Keiha from AUT about the the significance of calling New Zealand Aotearoa, and his hope for the future of the word as a natural and cultural identifier.

New Zealand’s increase in coal imports has been a major topic of discussion over the past two weeks, with last week's announcement informing New Zealand that we are likely to import more coal this year than in any year prior. The government estimates an additional 150,000 tonnes of coal being imported by the shipload, which is 14% more than last year's one million tonnes. 

Last week Frances Wright spoke to Forest and Bird’s regional manager for the top of the South Island, Debs Martin, and this week Zazi spoke with Gavin Evans, who is the Group Editor at Freeman Media, producing Energy News, Inside Resources and Capital Letter. Gavin and Zazi also spoke about New Zealand’s coal. Gavin discussed why New Zealand hasn't moved away from coal as of yet, if it will have any major effects on climate change and global warming, and where New Zealand stands with coal in comparison to other countries around the world.

With the recent backlash towards Kiwi Olympic weightlifter Laurel Hubbard competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Joe speaks to Dr Jaimie Veale, an expert in transgender studies and public health, about the global reaction. They discuss whether the argument over transgender athletes competing in the Olympics has turned into a hateful sentiment towards transgender people. They also touch on how this impacts the wider LGBTQI+ community.

Today on the Wire, Joe Wickins speaks to University of Waikato Director of the Transgender Health Research Lab, Dr Jaimie Veale, about some of the issues surrounding the reaction to Laurel Hubbard's participation in the women's weightlifting event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. They go on to discuss how this impacts the wider LGBTQI+ community.

Jemima Huston reports on the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, which was introduced by the Government last week. 

Tomorrow’s World is back! This week Isla and Stella dive into the world of microplastics. Drawing on interviews with Dr Shinji Kihara from the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of Auckland, they discuss how nanoplastics affect human cellular function, and how prevalent they are in Aotearoa. 

Joe talks to Mental Performance Coach David Niethe, who works with elite athletes, about the issue of the mental wellbeing for athletes and how this impacts the young people. 

Jemima wraps it up with an interview with Stephen Stockwell, who is the station manager of community radio station 4ZZZ based in Brisbane Australia. They speak about how the stop-start lockdowns taking place in Australia, due to the Covid-19 Delta variant outbreak, are impacting the creative industries across the country.