The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chats with us about characterising liquid carbon, Antarctic base cleanup, and plants making their pesticides. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about new investment in tourism marketing and New Zealand’s recent sanctions on two Israeli ministers.

They also spoke to professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland, Simon Schofield, about the proposed sick leave changes and how they could disproportionately affect women. 

Producer Faith spoke to Emeritus Law Professor Jane Kelsey from the University of Auckland about ACT’s regulatory standards bill, and whether the party should progress with it, after it failed three times.

She also spoke to Layba Zubair from Aotearoa Free From Stalking about the gaps in the anti-stalking bill.

The government has discussed potential changes to how sick leave is allocated, scaling sick leave days with the number of hours a person works. While this wouldn’t affect the days available to full-time workers, it could see part-time workers with reduced access to sick leave. This has raised some concerns around disproportionate outcomes for women and students, two groups that tend to be employed in more part-time roles. 

Wire host Castor spoke to professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland, Simon Schofield, about the proposed sick leave changes and how they could disproportionately affect some demographics.

This week on Dear Science our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about characterising liquid carbon, a New Zealand led cleanup in Antarctica, and plants making their own pesticide. 

Princess Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho of Tonga has called for legal personhood for whales, some of the most intelligent animals we share the Earth with.

This would not be the first time that governments have recognised personhood for non human things, New Zealand having done so with a mountain, Taranaki Mounga, and the Whanganui river.

Producer Samantha spoke with Dr Justin Sobion, Professor of Law at the University of Auckland about the legal and industrial implications of such a move.