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Eased into the show with some Joni Mitchell, Nagisa Ni Te, and Ami Koita... working up to a bit of Strawpeople, Headache, and Massive Attack... gorg. Sof chats with Rita Mae about her newest single "Poster Child". You can listen back to that kōrero here! 

Ngā mihi nui to The Tuning Fork x

Last week, the government revealed statistics showing a drop in crime in Auckland’s CBD, the reduction accredited to increased police presence under this government. 

Crime isn’t the only issue facing the CBD, with recent data showing that hospitality spending in Auckland’s CBD is down compared to previous years. Challenges faced by hospitality businesses have been particularly evident since COVID lockdowns, with some heritage businesses permanently closing in recent months. 

The government has also been tabling discussions of increasing the parliamentary term from three to four years. While several previous governments have discussed such a change, some issues have prevented it from going ahead. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Katie Nimon, Wire host Castor asked her about these issues facing the CBD, and about the potential for a four-year parliamentary term, starting off with crime in the CBD. 

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science our expert Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted to us about pandas eating better in the past than they do now, using light to spot COVID, and separating liquids using other liquids.

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Katie Nimon about hospitality spending and the potential for a four-year parliamentary term. 

They also spoke to general manager of the Restaurant Association, Nicola Waldren, about hospitality spending in Aotearoa and what more the government could do. 

And on the Green Desk, Jack Marshall spoke to lecturer of sustainable architecture at AUT, Priscilla Besen, about solutions to Aotearoa’s energy crisis.

On Dear Science this week, our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about pandas' diets becoming less varied, concentrating COVID-19 in one place during testing, and the development of porous liquids. 

Abby chats to Jonny about the new book from Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui, Nga Rauru, Ngāruahine). Ngāti Pātea/Pātea Boys is a bilingual book in reo Māori and English about a group of boys growing up in Pātea and is a fantastic resource for those on their reo Māori journey - perfect for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. 

Thanks to Time Out Bookstore!

Featuring Loose Reads with Time Out Bookstore and Fashun with Penelope Noir. 

For their weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori, Oto spoke to Mariameno Kapa-Kingi about Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori last week, Gang patch legislation passing into law, and New Zealand supporting a UN resolution, calling for an end of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

He spoke to Nicole Wallace from the Tertiary Education Union to discuss a recent series of proposed cuts to short postgraduate courses at the University of Auckland.

And he spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa to discuss Israel’s exploding pager attack in Lebanon last week, as well as New Zealand voting in favour of the UN General assembly resolution demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

For their weekly catch up, Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about restricting contract workers from challenging their employment status, and the ban on gang patches passing into law. 

She also spoke to E Tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh about the same planned changes to the contractor employment law, why the Union opposes these, and what negative impact she believes it will have.

Last week, thousands of explosions erupted in Lebanon, both the capital of Beirut and other parts of the country. 

This was due to a coordinated attack caused by explosives that were planted in a number of pagers and walkie-talkie devices used by members of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, that Israeli Intelligence is confirmed to be responsible for.  

The attack resulted in thousands of people being injured, many of whom were civilian bystanders, and 32 people being killed, with two of the casualties being children.

Oto spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, to discuss his reaction to the pager attack in Lebanon and how this could lead to a wider conflict in the Middle-East. 

They also talked about New Zealand’s vote in favour for the UN resolution demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Unions say that the government's change to employment law restricting contractors from challenging their status in the employment court, is a step in the wrong direction. 

The change comes off the back of the landmark decision by the employment court to grant four contract uber drivers the status of an employee. The government now wants to prevent this from happening again. 

E Tū Union National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says this change will lock in the exploitation which Uber’s current model relies on. 

Producer Evie spoke to Mackintosh about why the government is implementing the changes and how it will negatively affect workers. 

Around mid-August this year, senior management at the University of Auckland made an announcement saying that they were looking to cut a number of small postgraduate and undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Arts with less than 60 and 30 students respectively. 

The University said that the cuts were being proposed to “optimise” course offerings and address classroom spacing issues. They also said that the cuts came about as a result of a routine review of courses regularly conducted by the University.

The announcement resulted in widespread outcry and condemnation by the University of Auckland’s senior academics and lecturers, saying that the University gave them a limited timeframe to review and contest the changes, and the decision to cut courses such as Huarahi Māori will have an impact on marginalised communities.

Oto spoke to Nicole Wallace, an organiser at the Tertiary Education Union who works with lecturers at the University of Auckland to discuss the course cut proposal and its implications for senior academics and lecturers.