The government has released its consultation document on He Waka Eke Noa, the system of farmgate pricing that has been in the works for almost three years. However, not everyone is pleased with the government’s announcement.

Starting in 2025, farmers will start to pay a price for their methane emissions. Consultation will run until near the end of the year with Cabinet expected to make final decisions in early 2023.

Host Emilia Sullivan first spoke to Christine Rose, lead agriculture campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, and started by asking her what she made of the government’s decision.

Then News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Federated Farmers Climate Change Spokesperson Andrew Hoggard who says the amendments to He Waka Eke Noa are “unacceptable.”

Figures from the hospitality job platform Barcats have shown the industry is short by 30,000 workers.

But John Crocker from Unite Union says the industry's current wages do not reflect this critical need for staff. 

"What the industry needs to do to attract workers is lift wages and conditions. The industry has had forever to do this, and it simply hasn't."

The Government's proposed Fair Pay Agreements Bill, currently awaiting its second reading, would provide a framework for collective bargaining for fair pay agreements across industries like hospo. 

News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Crocker about the union's campaign for a Fair Pay Agreement for hospo workers, which they say is the best way to resolve ongoing shortages in the sector.

Ukraine won’t be intimidated by Russia following a wave of missile strikes on urban populations this week, that is according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russian strikes targeted the country’s capital Kyiv, as well as in other civilian centres, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls ‘retaliation’ for an explosion over the weekend that damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge between Russia and Crimea.

To discuss these recent escalations, Emilia Sullivan spoke to Professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago.

The National party is proposing a set of tax cuts should it get into government next year. These cuts would index tax brackets to inflation but also reduce the overall tax burden of top earners in particular, raising many concerns about a similar scheme which was recently walked back in the UK after causing economic damage and drawing warnings from the IMF.

For Casper's weekly catchup with National MP Dr Shane Reti he asked him about the tax cuts, as well as a call he’s put forward as the party’s health spokesperson to increase free breast cancer screening up to the age of 74.

You may have been part of it when you were in school, and maybe you’ve never noticed, but streaming, or putting students into high, middle, or low ability groups, is a common practice in schools across New Zealand. In theory, matches the students’ needs to the appropriate resources and attention from teachers, but in reality, it has had discriminatory ramifications and can lead to low self esteem. 

Christina spoke to Dr David Pomeroy, a University of Canterbury education lecturer, and Caitlin Soulsby, the head of maths at Mana College, about what streaming actually means for rangatahi in Aotearoa.

This week on the Tuesday Wire, Allan Blackman joined Casper and Christina in the studio to talk science news for our Dear Science segment.

Casper spoke to Dr Shane Reti from the National party for our weekly segment about National’s proposed tax cuts as well as his proposal to extend free breast cancer screening

Christina spoke with David Pomeroy and Caitlin Soulsby about the practice of streaming in New Zealand schools, as well as Professor Karen Stockin from Massey University about the mass pilot whale strandings in the Chatham Islands in the past few days.

And Casper also talked to Climate Minister and Greens co-leader James Shaw about the government’s new proposal to reduce agricultural emissions.

The government announced a ‘pragmatic proposal to reduce agricultural emissions’, a scheme formulated in consultation with the agricultural sector which will see it be brought into a kind of parallel to the emissions trading scheme, putting a price on farming emissions.

Casper had a chat with green party co-leader and climate change minister James Shaw about the proposal and what his role was in creating it.

Almost 500 pilot whales stranded on the beach of the Chatham Islands on Friday and Monday in two separate mass stranding incidents just days apart. Many of the whales could not be refloated due to the active shark risk to the animals and the rescuers in the region.

For more on mass whale strandings, and whether it’s a common occurrence, Christina spoke to Professor Karen Stockin, a marine ecologist at Massey University.

This week on The Wire for Rāhina Monday!

Joe looks at Local Government New Zealand’s call for a review of local government elections. He speaks Bonita Bigham, Chair of Te Maruata at LGNZ on the matter.

Spike will dive into cannabis decriminalisation here in Aotearoa, following Joe Biden’s pardoning of thousands of Americans who were convicted due to cannabis possession. 

Joe also look at the current state of our water infrastructures in Aotearoa New Zealand, he speaks to Dr Lokesh P. Padhye, Senior Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Auckland.

Finally, Joe speaks to Dr Nic Rawlence from the Paleogenetics Lab at the University of Otago about the recent discovery of Pterosaur-like creatures in Scotland.

That's us for this weeks Monday Wire!

Researchers have settled the mystery of a tiny, enigmatic reptile that left an impression on Scottish sandstone nearly a quarter of a billion years ago after more than a century of debate. 

The Scleromochlus taylori, was discovered near Elgin in Moray in the early 1900s, however due to a lack of remaining evidence, paleontologists were unsure of its features. In hopes of solving this mystery, researchers led by Davide Foffa at National Museums Scotland turned to computed tomography (CT) scans to reveal the creatures features in detail.

Joe spoke to Dr Nic Rawlence from the Paleogenetics Lab at the University of Otago, to get some insight into this fascinating discovery!