Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Te Kaka Keegan, from the University of Waikato Department of Software Engineering and Co-Director of the AI institute, about the report and the cultural impacts of AI for Māori. 

They also spoke to Professor Nirmal Nair from the University of Auckland Faculty of Engineering about how the report applies to a local context.

Producer Pranuja spoke with Dr Lisa Darragh from the University of Auckland about what the evidence actually shows, why the “crisis” framing has taken hold, and what the current reforms could mean for students and teachers.

And they spoke to both Professor Te Kaka Keegan from the University of Waikato and Professor Nirmal Nair from the University of Auckland about a new UN University report on the environmental impacts of AI.

And Tuesday Wire Host Alex spoke with Elliot Crossan, the co-chair of Auckland Action Against Poverty, about the changes made to social housing in the 2026 Budget.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about the 2026 Budget.

And she also spoke with Senior Lecturer Dr Lisa Darragh, challenging the idea that New Zealand is facing a maths education crisis

And last week, the Government announced the Budget for the next year. It includes investment in areas such as housing, health, and rail infrastructure in Auckland.

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about both of these topics.

The report for 2026, released last week, shows that New Zealand is far from on-track to meet its goal of reducing child poverty to 6% by 2028. One of the key measures of this - material hardship - was not even able to be estimated by the Treasury, but was calculated to be sitting at 14.3% in the financial year 2024/25.

With community providers, such as foodbanks, reporting increased hardship in the community, it seems highly unlikely that the government will meet previous targets for reductions in child poverty.

So, to speak on the government’s approach so far, and what the recent Child Poverty report tells us, Producer Theo was joined by Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Susan St John.

Key to the budget is the gutting of the public service, with an additional  9000 thousand Kiwi’s working in government services set to be gone by 2029 on top of the thousands the government let go earlier this term. 

Seemingly as a part of this, The Social Security (Modernisation) Amendment Bill will enable automated or ‘robo’ decision making within the Ministry of Social Development. Taking humans out of benefits and disability payment decisions, a practice that came to a dark end in Australia with many recipients wrongfully lumped with debt that the government eventually had to foot. Here in New Zealand it is made even more alarming by being sped through parliament under urgency, removing the oversight and guardrails that reforms would normally face.

And if they will have to foot the bill in the long run, is the government really making the savings they claim? The Green Party wants to ask this question in regards to our climate commitments. They say that poor caretaking of our Emissions Trading Scheme has led to the failure of recent auctions of credits, leading the government to be over a billion dollars behind and failing to meet our international commitments, which will cost the country even more.

So for our weekly catch-up w/ the Green Party, Host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the budget, do the numbers add up? And what are the consequences to cutting people out of the hard choices.

To discuss the issue of youth homelessness in the context of the government’s recent budget announcement, producer Toby spoke to Aaron Hendry—a youth development worker and advocate based in Auckland. Hendry works with the organisation Kick Back, which runs an open space on Karangahape Road called “the Front Door,” providing shelter and essential services for young people in vulnerable situations.

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, our host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the budget, a controversial government law that empowers MSD to automate decision-making, and how the government's failing climate policies are creating more costs.

Then Producer Toby spoke to youth development worker Aardon Hendry about the growing issue of youth homelessness and what he argues is an inadequate level of support provided by the government in the recent budget.

Following this Producer Theo spoke to Victoria Coleman, whose petition is calling for the scrapping of the Disability Support Services Bill currently making its way through Parliament.

Finally, Theo spoke to Honorary Professor Susan St John on the recent Child Poverty Report.

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Dr Cushla McGoverin, speaks with us about Tardigrades, Nanofibre drug delivery Implants, and Lengui the one handed gorilla.

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Alex spoke with MP Ryan Hamilton about the Government’s Budget, and what it means for Health, Students, and other parts of government spending

For Green World this week, producer Liam spoke to Richard Capie from Forest and Bird, about the effects that the government’s latest budget, which includes $38 million dollars of cuts to the department of conservation, will have on the environment. 

And Liam also spoke to Andrew Deutschle from Watercare, about the phasing of Puketutu Island and its biosolids project. 

And bus passenger numbers in Auckland are back to pre-Covid levels, with a record number of bus trips in March.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics.