Last week, the Employment Court’s judgement found that Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles’ employer, the University of Auckland, breached its contractual obligations to protect her against ongoing threats, abuse, and harassment for her public commentary and science communication work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the many concerns Wiles raised with the university were verbal threats, being filmed without consent, and calls for her to be executed, all of which escalated both in volume and violence over time. 

In the Employment Court’s judgement, Wiles was awarded general damages of $20,000 to be paid to her by the university within 28 days.

Research director at the Disinformation Project, Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa, was called upon as an expert witness, and provided the court with a brief of evidence in support of Siouxsie's case against the University of Auckland. 

Wire host Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Hattotuwa about the judgement and its implications.

The ACT party is introducing a bill which, in their words, will “ensure our nation’s founding document delivers on its promise of equal rights for all New Zealanders.” They claim they are only clarifying the Treaty and not rewriting it. 

However, academics are saying their interpretation distorts the language and meaning of the text and the bill could significantly alter the practical application of Te Tiriti.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Margaret Mutu from the University of Auckland about the intentional mistranslation of Te Tiriti in this bill and why it is so harmful.

They started by asking why the Treaty Principles Bill is “deeply misleading.”

Wire host Caeden speaks to Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about the Government’s new climate change strategy and former Green MP Darleen Tana.

They speak to Chris Ogden from the University of Auckland about the UK election result. 

They speak to Sam Morgan from the Disability Persons Assembly about Disability Pride Month.

University of Auckland’s Margaret Mutu about the mistranslation of Te Tiriti and in the Treaty Principles Bill

Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson on increasing speed limits and the local government review panel.

And they speak to University of Canterbury’s Bronwyn Hayward on the National-led Government’s new Climate Change strategy.

This month is Disability Pride Month, a month-long event celebrating disabled communities. It began in the United States to commemorate the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in July 1990, and now celebrates people with disabilities, their identities, their culture, and contributions to society across the world. 

The months aims to end the stigma of disability and ultimately change the way we think about and define the term.

Wire Host spoke to Sam Morgan from the Disability Persons Assembly about the month and what it means in an Aotearoa context.

They started by asking what Disability Pride Month means.

Last week the UK Labour Party won their election in a landslide result, giving the Tories their lowest election result ever.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to University of Auckland Global Studies Lecturer Chris Ogden about these results, including what led to them and what is expected to change in the UK.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has announced a new climate strategy. The strategy is based on five core pillars including:

This strategy has been met with strong opposition from Environmental organisations such as Greenpeace, and opposition parties in Parliament. 

Wire Host Caeden spoke to the University of Canterbury’s Bronwyn Hayward about this climate strategy and how it compares to Labour’s.

They started by asking what the strategy is.

Lung cancer is the largest cancer contributor to the life expectancy gaps between Māori and non-māori, being the leading cause of death for Māori women and the second leading cause of death for Māori and non-māori men. In spite of this, Aotearoa has no national lung cancer screening program at all, even though similar programs exist for Breast, cervical and bowel cancer. 

To address this, a team of researchers at the University of Otago started a series of projects in collaboration with Te Whatu Ora to help develop a lung cancer screening pathway in Aotearoa, which they’ve called Te Oranga Pūkahukahu. 

Oto spoke to study lead Sue Crengle, Senior Māori Health Researcher at the University of Otago of Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe and Waitaha descent, to discuss the project and the impacts of lung cancer on Māori.

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about the party’s calls to former MP Darleen Tana to resign and housing minister Chris Bishop’s new legislation to boost housing development.

He spoke to Dr Michelle McCrystal from the University of Auckland to discuss a project she led assessing the impacts of extreme weather events on hospitals in the Pacific Islands.

And He spoke to Professor Sue Crengle, from the University of Otago, to discuss a project she was involved in with Te Whatu Ora to create a national cancer screening program in Aotearoa.

Rawan spoke with Debra Ashton from SAFE animal rights group about their interception of the proposal to build intensive chicken farms in Waikato

She also spoke with John Minto from Palestinian Solidarity network about the illegal Israeli settlements in the west bank, what the government needs to do and solidarity rallies.

Former Green Party MP Darleen Tana was suspended from the party after claims of migrant exploitation surfaced at a business owned by her husband Christian Hoff-Nielsen, leading to subsequent allegations of Darleen’s involvement in, or awareness of the situation. 

Tana announced her official resignation from the Greens last weekend, a move which Chloe Swarbrick and her contemporaries in the party had been urging since the allegations surfaced, however Tana still maintains both her and her husband’s innocence and has not yet resigned as a member of parliament. 

Some experts have suggested that the Greens might subsequently invoke the “waka-jumping legislation”, a law requiring MPs to leave parliament if they switch parties, which the Greens have historically opposed.  

For their weekly catch up, Oto spoke to Green party MP Ricardo Menéndez-March, about the allegations surrounding Darleen Tana and whether or not the party will invoke the waka-jumping legislation to remove her as an MP. 

They also talked about Housing minister Chris Bishop's plans to boost housing development in Aotearoa with his new "Going for Housing Growth" policy. 

Pacific island nations, such as Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Tonga are facing some of the worst impacts of the global climate crisis. With a landmass close to sea level, coastal population centres and limited economic development, many pacific island nations face frequent extreme weather events that they often struggle to recover from. 

A group of researchers at the University of Auckland started a project to map out cyclone and extreme weather risks for hospitals and medical centres in numerous pacific island nations to assist in planning and recovery for future extreme weather events. 

Oto spoke to Dr Michelle McCrystall, Research fellow at the Faculty of Science in Physics at the University of Auckland and leader of the project, to discuss her research and the impacts of the climate crisis on Pacific Island nations.