Iron Deficiency: head spins, forgetfulness, fatigue, mania, metallic taste in your mouth... all a recipe for some great tunes. 

Happy Cancer Crab Season! Happy Winter Solstice! Happy to be Back!  Happy Happy Happy! 

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about the consultation process for local board plans and New Zealand First campaigning on scrapping the Independent Māori Statutory Board.

For Politics with Māni Dunlop, they caught up about the Conservation Amendment Bill, the Nelson Tenths Trust bill introduction, and recent polling. 

And they spoke to Dr Antje Deckert, Associate Professor in Criminology at Auckland University of Technology, about the impact tougher penalties for theft would have on women and children.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, News Director Castor spoke with Shanan Halbert about the government’s environmental policy and the Green Party’s tax announcement. 

And Producer Pranuja spoke to Professor Andrew Shelling about a new breast cancer treatment that poses an alternative to chemotherapy.

Auckland’s local boards have opened consultation on their 3-year plans. Feedback received during this process will inform final plans that will be adopted later this year.

And New Zealand First is calling for the Independent Māori Statutory Board to be scrapped due to its influence on Council decision-making.

However, Mayor Wayne Brown called this campaign “dumb, racist stuff”. 

For City Counselling this week Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics.

The conservation amendment bill is set to allow the government to sell large sections of conservation land. The bill has been criticised, not just for the sales that the government has confirmed, but also for its potential to open further sales of large swathes of native bush. The policy joins others by the government, such as a reduction in environmental reporting and the Fast Track Approvals Bill, which each continue to threaten the environment for short-term financial gain. In addition, while each of these policies are unpopular with the public, the government appears not to care. 

Also this past weekend saw the Green Party announce its tax policy for the upcoming election, with a range of new taxes and a cut to income tax for the first $10,000 of earnings. 

For this week’s catch-up with the Labour Party’s Shanan Halbert, News Director Castor asked about the government’s environment policies and the Greens tax policy, beginning with the latter.

Mōrena! Milly is off sick but Rosetta is holding it down on Brekkie today, with plenty of tunes + prizes, and Isthmus'n That with Desley Simpson. Whakarongo mai nei!

Thanks to eighthirty coffee roasters!

Ata mārie! Rosetta and Milly have a great show for you lined up, with plenty of tunes, prizes, and a special takeover from Caru and Brandn Shiraz for the last hour of the show! Whakarongo mai nei!

Thanks to eighthirty coffee roasters!

Rosetta chats with Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson about the Auckland Council's stance on the Government's proposed move-on orders, and NZ First's proposal to scrap Auckland’s Independent Māori Statutory Board. Whakarongo mai nei!

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has now been detected in two dead birds that washed up on Australian shores. The first positive detection last week marked a major milestone - the avian influenza strain has now been found on all continents across the globe.

For New Zealand, and its already threatened population of endemic avian wildlife, the virus poses a potentially catastrophic threat. Given the virus’ jump to mammals, including dairy cows in the United States, our primary industries may be placed in a potentially perilous position as well.

However the finding also brings with it an important reminder, that New Zealand cannot rely on its geographical isolation and become complacent with the transmission of global viruses.

However, that isolation has brought us some time. So, to learn more about the steps New Zealand is taking, and the trajectory of the virus so far, producer Theo spoke with the University of Otago’s Professor Jemma Geoghegan.

If you do spot three or more sick or dead wild birds, marine mammals or other wildlife, call the exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66.

This week on the Wednesday Wire...

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, News Director Castor spoke about the party’s newly announced tax policy.

Then Host Manny spoke to Visiting Fellow at the Australia University’s Crawford School of Public Policy, Dr Jacob Priergaard about the Australian Robodebt controversy and how we can watch out for the tragic mistakes they made as we automate decision making in our welfare system.

After this Producer Theo, spoke to Professor Jemma Geoghegan on the arrival of the H5N1 bird flu in Australia.

And we round off with Dr Timothy Fadgen on a proposal for an emergency protection framework for refugees that he coauthored.

Following the release of the budget and the reports that thousands more civil servants would be losing their jobs to ‘right size’ the government, a bill quickly passed under urgency to allow automated decision making through out the social security system in NZ.

The Social Security (Modernisation) Amendment Bill 2026 was passed in two days, circumventing the usual processes that would enable public consultation and lacking the parliamentary discussion intended to catch issues that before they arise and build in guardrails.

The unleashing of automated decision making in welfare and the lack of consultation has risen fears that we may be setting ourselves up to catastrophically fail our most vulnerable with several pundits bringing up similarities to Australia's experience doing something similar - the Robodebt scandal.

So Wire host Manny spoke to Visiting Fellow at the Australia University’s Crawford School of Public Policy, Dr Jacob Priergaard to learn about what happened in Australia when automated decision making went so wrong, and how we could avoid that here.