The Wire with Caeden

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, speaks with us about molecules on mars, Schrödinger's cat, and the link between learning and living a longer life.

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Alex spoke with Ryan Hamilton about the derogatory comments made last week by NZ First Minister Shane Jones, and other barbs traded between Winston Peters and the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, the Treasury revisiting forecasts for the budget, and changes to infrastructure oversight.

Thursday Wire host Caeden spoke to Benjiman Law from the University of Auckland about an email he mistakenly sent to all undergraduate students. 

And Producer Liam spoke with Scott Burnett, Regional Conservation Manager for the Top of the South Island and Forest and Bird’s climate spokesperson, about the Climate Change Commission's recent advice to the government that the Emissions Trading Scheme is in a precarious state and in need of reform, what the consequences of the government's current approach are for New Zealand and what can be done to improve the situation.

Last week, NZ First MP and Government Minister Shane Jones was criticised over using derogatory language towards Indian Immigrants. These comments were condemned by the National Party and Christopher Luxon, who labelled NZ First’s belief system as ‘anti-immigrant’, and saidd Jones was ‘scaremongering’.

That was not the extent of criticism between NZ First and National, however, with tensions between the two sparking after NZ First Leader Winston Peters calling out Luxon for not giving coalition partners prior notice of his confidence vote during a national party caucus meeting last week. In turn, these comments have been dismissed, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Luxon accused NZ First and Peters of putting Labour Governments, like Arderns, into power. Despite all of this, however, Peters has insisted the coalition is as stable as a ‘three-legged stool’.

Last week also saw the Treasury announce that they would revisit their forecasts for the economy ahead of the impending government budget. The Government also announced some changes to the way Infrastructure is run by the government, giving more power to the Independent Infrastructure Commission, increasing their oversight and changing the way that Ministers receive advice and information.

This week, Host Alex spoke with National MP Ryan Hamilton about these developments, beginning with Shane Jones’ comments.

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about Community Committee Grants for 2026, and a proposal from Mainfreight to open bus lanes to trucks. 

They also spoke to Associate Professor Theuns Henning of the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Engineering about the challenges for New Zealand’s infrastructure in the face of increasing extreme weather events. 

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke to Shanan Halbert about leadership pressure on the government, inflation, and the response to recent flooding.

She spoke with Emeritus Professor Tim Hazledine about New Zealand First’s proposal to break up the supermarket duopoly.

And she spoke with Dr Christopher Cornwall about the environmental impacts of sewage discharge following flooding in Wellington.

New Zealand cities are having to make new, tough decisions about infrastructure as extreme weather intensifies. 

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Theuns Henning of the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Engineering about New Zealand’s infrastructure challenges and what the potential solutions are.