Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Castor Chacko, Alex Fox, Emmanuel Orange, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Pharmac has announced its decision to fund the drug, Enhertu, used for slowing the advancement of the HER2-positive form of breast cancer, beginning on the 1st of January, 2025. Alongside this funding, two eligibility restrictions will be removed.
HER2-positive breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer, where the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 protein is present, and encourages the growth of cancer cells.
Producer Athena spoke to Chief Executive at the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand, Ah-Leen Rayner, about how Enhertu compares to other breast cancer medicines, the removal of eligibility restrictions, and how the Breast Cancer Foundation pushed for this change.
Pharmac recently announced its decision to bring back funding for the respiratory medicine, palivizumab, beginning on the 1st of January, 2025. Palivizumab is used to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children and babies, but went unfunded for a year after October of 2023.
Alongside the new palivizumab funding announcement, Pharmac also announced funding for a new triple inhaler for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Producer Athena spoke to University of Otago Professor, and Medical Director at the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, Bob Hancox, about the effectiveness of palivizumab, the benefits of the new triple inhaler, and what these funding announcements mean for Kiwis with respiratory issues.
Recently, findings from the study into student achievement in maths and science, TIMMS, otherwise referred to as the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.
New Zealand’s findings show that the achievement gap regarding maths results has relatively stayed the same since 2018, although the overall gap has increased since 2002.
This comes as the government has pushed heavily to increase maths statistics in the country, over concerns New Zealand’s maths statistics are not on par with other countries overseas.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand’s statistics in the TIMMS and whether the government is rightfully concerned about where our maths statistics are.
They also discussed Darragh’s thoughts on ability grouping in primary school maths, and how this practice can impact the achievement gap with high and low-achieving students.
As of last week the government's methane review report was slammed by Greenpeace for what they say is the coalition government manipulating of numbers of shirk responsibility in the fight against climate crisis.
This comes as a result of livestock being one of the biggest contributors for man-made methane within Aotearoa and especially within the meat & dairy industry.
Producer Yesenia spoke to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson Amanda Larsson about the impacts the review has on an agricultural scale, possible strategies to reduce methane production from the meat and dairy industry and the prospects of reducing methane for the future.
As of recently, X formerly known as twitter has seen an exodus of its artistic community ending their time and moving to a new platform called Bluesky.
The change comes as a result that X would be using visual art to train its AI programs leading many artists to end their time with the Elon Musk hosted app.
Producer Yesenia spoke to Associate Professor in Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, Neal Curtis, about artists moving to Bluesky for its moderation policies, How Bluesky is holding space for Artists of any medium to share and how the site is benefitting from this rise of new communities.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party's Simon Court, Producer Evie speaks to Simon about government bootcamp participants reoffending, proposed changes to employment law and David Seymour’s incumbent term as Deputy Prime Minister.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand's recent results in the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.
Producer Yesenia speaks to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson, Amanda Larsson, about the government's Methane Review and the impact it has on an agricultural standpoint.
Evie speaks to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe, about 30 years of research revealing that Aotearoa’s species are some of those at the greatest risk of extinction.
And Yesenia speaks to Associate Professor in Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, Neal Curtis, about artists ending their time on X, formally Twitter, and shifting to Bluesky for it's moderation policies.
New Zealand and Australian species are among the most vulnerable to extinction in a warming world, according to a global analysis of 30 years of research.
The research found that Amphibians; species from mountain, island, and freshwater ecosystems; and species inhabiting South America, Australia, and New Zealand face the greatest threats.
If global warming reaches 1.3°C, 1.6% of species are threatened globally, with risks escalating to nearly 30% of global species at 5.4°C.
Producer Evie spoke to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at the Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe about the research and what it could mean for Aotearoa’s ecosystem.
For State of the States this week, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa'aoso from the Yale Daily News about President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced next week for three felony charges.
They also discuss Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, who is the latest in a long list of unorthodox picks for government positions from Trump
The 2023 Census severe housing deprivation estimates released on Wednesday are the first in the world to have all-of-population data on LGBTQIA+ homelessness.
The numbers collected show at that time, 261 per 10,000 LGBTQIA+ people aged 15 and over were estimated to be living in severe housing deprivation.
For those who don’t identify as LGBTQIA+, the rate was 212 per 10,000.
Senior Research Fellow with He Kāinga Orana at the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Wellington, Dr Brodie Fraser’s research was the first in Aotearoa to look specifically at LGBTQIA+ and takatāpui experiences of homelessness.
Producer Sofia spoke to Fraser about these Census statistics and the significance of including takatāpui
132 nations are currently asking the International Court of Justice, the world's highest court, to recognise the harm caused by climate change and outline countries' climate obligations.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Justin Sobion from the University of Auckland about the case, who is at the court in the Hague representing Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia.
Last week, NZ First MP Jenny Marcroft put forward a bill that would seek to define the terms “man” and “woman” in law. The bill has been supported by coalition parties through its first reading. Its primary supporters in parliament, ACT and NZ First, say the bill is about prioritising biology over ideology, or about maintaining common sense.
Its opponents, however, say the bill is unnecessary, and that the ideology pushed by its supporters does not align with evidence. Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, the human rights commission, says that the bill is “not necessary”, and “risks harm to communities who continue to experience discrimination on the basis of their gender identity”.
Disability Rights Commissioner and Rainbow rights spokesperson at the Human Rights Commission, Prudence Walker, sez the bill will not only “trample on the mana of trans and intersex people”, but it also “attempts to completely erase non-binary people”.
Despite the strong opposition, the government is pushing for the bill to be considered in select committee.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News Director Castor asked about the bill and why the government is bringing it about.
DISCLAIMER: this interview covers multiple anti-trans talking points, and briefly discusses sexual violence.
A survey of Automobile Association members' views on time-of-use charging has been presented to the Auckland Council’s Transport and Infrastructure Delivery Committee.
The survey found that members were open to congestion charging if it worked, even if they thought it was unfair.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins gave a ‘State of Auckland’ speech last week, focusing on the need for cross-party collaboration on infrastructure projects.
Wire Host Caeden spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about both of these topics.
Crypto investment schemes are spreading across the Pacific, often through trusted family, church, and community networks. While they are promoted as offering financial freedom and fast returns, regulators have warned that some schemes carry serious risks and limited protections for investors.
Producer Pranuja spoke with Associate Dean Pacific Sione Taufa about how trust can be exploited in Pacific communities, why endorsement matters, and what people should know before investing.
The Government is heading into Budget week with plans to cut the core public service, and RNZ reports public servants' fears that their jobs are once again on the line. At the same time, questions have been raised over MFAT being spared from cuts, and the Government has unveiled major changes to secondary education through its proposed NCEA replacement.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about public service cuts, Budget priorities, and what the education overhaul could mean for students and teachers.
This week has seen discussions on New Zealand Firsts announcement that if they win the election they plan to buy BNZ and nationalise it into kiwibank, a plan some estimate to cost $30,000,000,000 and has been completely ruled out by their coalition partner in the National Party. Despite this, it’s sparked conversations around how we should be engaging with our banking sector, the vast majority of it dominated by Australian owned banks.
And critics fear that National party changes to the accommodation supplement is going to hit poor working families at a time they’re already doing it rough, nullifying other support that they are offering the rest of the country more broadly, repeating a pattern of policies that hurt poorer communities worse than the rich.
So for our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March on what impact he thinks will come from restrictions to the accommodation supplement, particularly for the poor, they then discussed New Zealand Firsts policy to buy BNZ bank, and whether minor parties tend to over promise if they are constrained by the major parties who they will inevitably have to work with if they make into parliament.
Last week, National MP Catherine Wedd’s members bill for an Under-16s social media ban was paused. Instead, Education Minister Erica Stanford has pledged to, before this years election, bring a wider and more robust proposal for a ban in a larger bill.
Last week also saw Prime Minister Christopher Luxon make comments about the National Party’s stance on immigration, amidst criticised changes to compliance officer powers, and previous spats and comments over immigration policy between government coalition partners.
And with the budget expected next week, promises have begun to be made by the government for where funding can be expected, particularly within education.
Host Alex spoke with National MP Ryan Hamilton about these topics, starting with the Social Media ban.
Since 1986, the Ministry for the Environment has been the central policy advising entity in New Zealand for environmental issues. The government has recently proposed the Environment Amendment Bill, which seeks to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment, which would be amalgamated into a larger Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport.
For Green World this week, Wire producer Liam spoke with Professor Nicolas Lewis, of the University of Auckland’s School of Environment, about these proposed changes, how they fit in with the government's current priorities around the environment, and the impact this may have on New Zealand in the short-term and long-term.
Recent weeks have seen the government adopting a series of policies targeted at immigration. Some of these policies are set to be introduced immediately, while others are proposals for the upcoming election. What all of these policies have in common is that they aim to respond to an idea that there is a subset of immigrants who are making society in New Zealand worse.
This is a narrative that we’ve seen dominate conversations about immigration overseas, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. It often leads to gross displays of racism, with mass riots and crackdowns on people who have done nothing wrong. With these recent policies and media attention towards the anti-immigrant rhetoric in Aotearoa this month, concerns have been raised over whether those overseas developments could be seen here.
For this week’s catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News Director Castor planned to ask about both immigration and the move-on orders for rough sleepers, though we ran out of time to discuss both. They began by asking Simon about the government’s recent stance on immigration.
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