On the Friday Wire this week, Te Roopu Nahinara, National Party Member, Denise Lee is joining us today to keep us all in the loop about all things National. Next, Louis speaks with Sarah Gerritsen of the University of Auckland about the Ministry of Health’s focus on food insecurity. Then, Dental Surgeon, Sha-Ron Zaks, joins Laura to discuss her work. She specialises in dental treatment for survivors of sexual trauma. We discuss the work she’s doing to change how survivors of sexual trauma receive care. And Finally Benjamin J. Goldson on this day in history.

This day in history goes back to the Grenfell Tower fire, which left 72 people dead and many more displaced.

Bronwyn speaks to Letitia O'Dwyer about the government's new "Vaping Facts" website and her concerns about its representation of the risks of vaping. 

Shocking statistics show almost 9000 Kiwi children and teens needed dental work under general anaesthetic last year for largely preventable conditions. It came at a cost of around 22 million dollars and has put a strain on the hospital system as operating theatres were often booked up. So, is this something that can be prevented? Or is it this where New Zealand is, and we just need to deal with it. Host Stewart Sowman-Lund spoke to Dr Bill O’Connor, President of the NZ Dental Association - and started by asking him if he was shocked by that figure of 9000 children.

Stewart's back and this week he's joined by Producer Bronnie in the bFM studio. 

This week on the show:

All that plus a flood of listener texts on vaping and fluoride. It's The Thursday Wire! 

Professor Jonathan Waters from the University of Otago has concluded that Dunedin was hit by a high magnitude earthquake around 1000 years. His unique method of measuring historic coastal earthquakes compares the genetic properties of uplifted kelp populations.This research bears domestic and international implications for detecting previously unknown locations that are prone to earthquakes. 

Sherry completes her final piece on Indonesia and brings the issue back home to question New Zealand's waste management with Environment Minister Eugenie Sage.

Sherry visits Bantar Gebang: South East Asia’s largest landfill and talks to Resa Boenard, the founder of BGBJ, the school on the landfill to discuss waste managment. In part one, Sherry talks to the trash-pickers of Bantar Gebang, and the dangerous work often undertaken to provide for their families. In part two, she interviews the women and children of the three thousand families who live on the landfill, and Resa shares the importance of education for the kids.

Sherry begins by asking Resa on the imminent closure of the landfill as it reaches maximum capacity, with no long term solution in place. You can find out more and support BGBJ by visiting their website. The hostel on site is open to hosting volunteers to help out with lessons.

On Dear Science with AUT’s Allan Blackman we talk marathon running, monitoring pharmaceuticals, pesticides and drugs, and the connection between finger length and personality.

Sherry brings us her final piece on Indonesia, tying back to our waste issues here at home.

We hear from Shakti NZ and the Khadija Leadership Network about the Trans-Tasman Conference for Racial Equity happening this Friday.

The organisations of Shakti, the Khadija Leadership Network and Auckland Peace Action have come together to host Let’s Deal With It: A Trans-Tasman Conference Towards Racial Equity. The beginnings of this event came out of the terror attacks in Christchurch. The groups say they want to create a safe platform to establish an open dialogue between Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to help build a society free of prejudice, racism and hate-based crime. The one-day conference focuses on 'creating awareness of the democratic and political processes, promoting active citizenship, encouraging active citizenship within the context of multicultural dialogue and promoting the self-development of refugee and migrant communities'. Tayyaba Khan is from the Khadija Leadership Network, and Arisha Chandra and Mengzhu Fu are both from Shakti. They are all involved in planning the conference and they joined Lillian Hanly this morning to speak more about what they hope to come of it. Lillian started by asking how the conference came about.

The event is on this Friday the 14th, at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall from 8-5pm. If you can't make it, it will be livestreamed, so you can find that on the Shakti, Auckland Peace Action and Khadija Leadership Network social media. The panels will also be filmed and available online, you can also get involved in the conversation online if you can’t be there in person.

A discussion on the field of Indigenous Archaeology. We were lucky enough to be joined by Makere Rika-Heke to learn about what it is, how it differs from mainstream archaeology and what it means to Aotearoa.