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.
Airam Magpantay is a BA (Hons) student in at the University of Auckland in Politics and International relations at the University of Auckland who recently released a report on the state of housing for the people living with disabilities in Aotearoa after completing an internship at the disability advisory service - Disability Connect.
In her report, Airam revealed that there was a significant deficiency in the availability of housing for those living with disabilities, with disabled New Zealanders struggling to find accommodation with accessible infrastructure in a market already heavily impacted by a nationwide housing crisis.
Oto spoke to Airam about her internship, her subsequent report and the state of housing for people living with disabilities in Aotearoa.
Recently, research into the legal rights of sex workers in New Zealand, Ireland, and Scotland, was undertaken, following 20 years since Aotearoa decriminalised sex work.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, Lynzi Armstrong, about how sex workers are treated here in New Zealand compared to Scotland and Ireland, and if there are still any concerns participants in the survey have about their profession.
Last week, the Christchurch City Council voted to sanction Israel.
This follows calls from the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa to stop purchasing merchandise from companies that have links to funding Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The staff report on Wednesday shows that council did not have any business with companies identified on this list, with recommendations passed by council members that amended the policy to prevent future business with these companies.
Despite passing, councillors Aaron Keown, and Kelly Baber voted against, with councillors James Gough, Victoria Henstock, and Mark Peters abstaining.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the National Chair of the Palestinian Solidarity Network, John Minto, about the sanctions, and why these sanctions are so important.
On the 29th of October, worker’s unions across the country held rallies over concerns of what they have dubbed this government’s “anti-worker” agenda.
These concerns stem from elements such as the government’s cuts on public services, scrapping fair pay agreements, and re-introducing 90-day trials.
Attendees of the rallies included Labour leader, Chris Hipkins, and several members of Te Pāti Māori, including co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, with the Public Service Association sayingroughly 10,000 individuals showed up to the rallies overall.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Assistant Secretary for the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about the rallies, and what the atmosphere was like for those attending the hui.
For Dear Science this week, our expert Doctor Allan Blackman chatted to us about the largest known prime number, Carl Djerassi, and recycling e-waste.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to MP Katie Nimon about Christchurch becoming the first city in the country to sanction Israel, and the rest worker’s rally, which was attended by thousands.
They spoke to the Assistant Secretary for the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about the recent workers' strikes.
They also spoke to the National Chair for the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, John Minto, about Christchurch sanctioning Israel.
And finally, they spoke to Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, Lynzi Armstrong, about a study into sex work in New Zealand compared to Scotland and Ireland.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Willie Jackson about an independent commissioner being appointed to Wellington City Council, the government’s review of Ihumātao, and cuts at Whakaata Māori.
For States of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about polling numbers less than two weeks out from the election and they speak to Tom Unger, political activist and former political show host at Radioactive, about political violence in the US ahead of the election.
And they speak to Amanda Turnbull, Lecturer in Cyber Law at the University of Waikato, about the negative environmental and social impacts of AI.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, speaks to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, about the concerns surrounding New Zealand's lax regulations regarding cross-breeding companion animals.
And for City Counselling, Tuesday Wire host Castor speaks to Councillor Julie Fairey about progress on Maungawhau train station and power outages on the Western line.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about polling numbers two weeks out from the election and former Radioactive host Tom Unger about the threat of political extremism this election.
Concerns have been raised about the ethics of cross-breeding animals, due to the negative implications that can arise through these breeding practices, following the popularity of a Sphinx and Munchkin cat hybrid overseas, called the XL Bully Cat.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, about the ethics of cross-breeding, and how lax New Zealand's regulations are about the practice.
For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about former MP Darleen Tana’s removal from Parliament, updates to the Three Strikes Law and the government’s changes to freshwater protections.
He spoke to Sinead O’Flynn from Greenpeace Aotearoa for a follow-up conversation about the changes to freshwater policy.
And he spoke to Dr Steffen Albrecht, Research Fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, to discuss about a study of his analysing the use of A.I in predicting respiratory disease outbreaks during flu seasons.
Sasha spoke to Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nutrition Rashjiri Roy from the University of Sydney about her recent research linking poor body image with social media use
And he spoke to Kelly Garton, Policy Researcher from the University of Auckland and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa about cuts to funding for school lunches.
Social media is blamed for many ill effects that plague modern life, and unsurprisingly a recent research conducted on New Zealand women aged eighteen to twenty-four has found that social media use correlates with poor body image.
At this period of life, it is common for debilitating eating disorders to develop. The research has found there to be a weak link between social media and poor body image, however this still raises questions about future legislations and the complexity of the relationship between young people and social media.
Sasha spoke to Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nutrition Rajshri Roy, from the University of Sydney Australia, about her recent study and other implications.
Last week, the government announced that it would intensify AI usage in the public sector, in a move to further reduce spending in the sector. The government have defended this move, but concerns have been raised about the safety, regulation, and vulnerability of AI services.
Last week also saw the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill pass its first reading. The member’s bill would seek to, in New Zealand law, define genders, in a move that has been criticised by many as transphobic.
Last week also saw the change of government agencies’ names to give primacy to their English names, rather than te reo Māori first.
This week, Wire Host Alex spoke with National MP Ryan Hamilton about these topics.
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.
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.
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.
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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