The Wire with Castor

Last week, resource consents were approved for a $3.5 billion AI Data Centre to be constructed near Invercargill. While most of the commentary around the data centre is discussing how it could benefit New Zealand’s economy or connectivity, few are discussing the potential environmental ramifications. 

While the consent applications aren’t public, data centres overseas have been known to have varying degrees of environmental impact, including pulling drinking water out of communities and farmlands and subsequently creating droughts and increasing temperatures.

To evaluate how a data centre could operate in New Zealand, News Director Castor spoke to director of Pūtahi research, a consulting firm specialising in water and climate resilience, Daniel Collins.

This week on the Monday Wire...

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, News Director Castor spoke to MP Simon Court about the second phase of the government’s COVID 19 Inquiry, and the creation of MCERT, the ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions, and Transport. 

They also spoke to spokesperson for NZEI Te Riu Roa, the union for Primary School Teachers, Liam Rutherford, about a recent dispute between the union and the government, where individual employment agreements were offered to non-union teachers before collective bargaining finished.

And they spoke to Director of Pūtahi research Daniel Collins about a proposed data centre to be built in Southland and concerns around its potential water use. 

Producer Thomas spoke to E tū Union Director for manufacturing and food Finn O’Dwyer-Cunliffe about Heinz Watties closing FOUR of its sites across the country and what can be done to protect workers from local producers shutting down.

And he also talked to Public Service Association National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons about the PSA calling on MPs to sign a pledge which promises to stop a bill that would cut holidays for thousands of workers.

Last year, the govenment announced siginificant budget cuts to the school lunch programme formerly known as Ka Ora, Ka Ako, reducing the funding available per meal and reshaping how the programme is delivered in schools. Now, New Zealand's Healthy School Lunch Programme covers only a quarter of schools based on the Equity Index, reaching about 240,000 students, so more than half of children experiencing food insecurity do not attend school that recieve the programme. 

New research by Dr Kelly Garton, a research fellow in the School of Population Health at the University of Auckland, and a spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa, compares New Zealand’s programme with Brazil’s national school meal system, which has been running for over 70 years and is considered a global gold standard.

Producer Pranuja spoke with Dr Garton about what New Zealand could learn from Brazil’s approach to school meals, and what a stronger programme here might look like.

In February, Australian politician Pauline Hanson made headlines for an interview with Sky News where she suggested there are no “good” muslims. 

Additionally, an independent report from last year found anti-Muslim incidents in Australia had “skyrocketed” since the start of the war in Gaza.

This has been amplified by the charged political environment in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack, and the government’s subsequent Plan to Combat Anti-Semitism, which conflated anti-Semitism with criticism of the state of Israel.

For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Research Fellow at Deakin University, Dr Ali Mamouri, about this rising Islamophobia in Australian politics and its consequences.