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.
The coalition government is planning to continue with the passing of the Ram Raid bill which was originally introduced by the labour government.
This bill would mean that youth offenders as young as 12 years old, would be prosecuted more harshly with some potentially serving up to ten years in prison.
Many organisations and activists have been vocal about their position on this bill from the beginning and many have now started a petition to stop its continuation.
Rawan spoke with Aaron Hendry, co-founder of Kick back, an organisation that focuses on assisting youth in homelessness and has also been heavily involved in this petition.
Rawan asked Aaron about what the harmful impacts of this bill are and what this new opposing campaign is about.
The environment committee has unanimously recommended that the Hauraki Gulf Protection Bill should be passed in its entirety.
This means that if parliament votes for this recommendation there will be 19 new protection areas in the Tīkapa Moana Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.
Many environmental organisations have welcomed this possibility and highlighted its importance.
Rawan spoke with Bianca Ranson from forest and bird about what this new bill would mean, why it is important and how it incorporates local iwi and hapu values.
The government recently announced it would increase funding to the New Zealand Pharmaceutical agency, also known as Pharmac, by $604 Million over the next four years to fund the treatment of 54 new drugs, 13 of which are cancer treating medication.
The announcement comes after the government experienced widespread backlash when cancer treatment funding was left out of the annual budget announcement made last month, going against Nationals promise during the general elections to increase funding for cancer treatments.
For their weekly catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez-March to discuss the party’s take on the government’s recent announcement and decision.
They also talked about the government’s introduction of a new sentencing Category for Young Offenders and the implementation of check-in requirements for Jobseeker beneficiaries.
There are at least 150,000 children in Aotearoa living under the poverty line who come from households dependent on government assistance schemes like Working for Families.
However, as Susan St John, associate professor in economics at the University of Auckland Business School and spokesperson for Child Poverty Action group, said in a recent newsroom article, there are barriers in accessing support schemes for low-income families not found in those aimed at Kiwis over the age of 65, such as the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.
Oto had a chat with Susan about the state of government assistance for low-income families in New Zealand, and why she believes it’s better to be old than young if you’re poor in New Zealand.
As part of the ongoing discussions around the government’s recent decision to boost Pharmac funding for select drugs and cancer treatments - Oto spoke to Paula Lorgelly, professor of Health Economics and Population Health at the University of Auckland, for her perspective on the announcement as an economist.
As part of their pledge to fund 13 new cancer drugs the coalition government has given Pharmac at least $600 million.
This is welcome news to the 330,000 patients that are currently on the waiting list for medicines on Pharmac’s Options for Investment List.
I spoke to the chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa about the current state of Pharmac’s process, funding and what other reforms are needed on top of the recent changes.
Patient Voice Aotearoa is a collective of patients, caregivers, whanau, advocates and charitable organisations that campaign for the rights of New Zealand patients.
I began by asking about the state of Pharmac funding prior to the developments.
Wire host Caeden spoke to Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about last week’s Labour Party conference and scrutiny week in Parliament.
They also spoke to Kanak youth coordinator Viro Xulue about the struggle for decolonisation in New Caledonia.
They spoke to University of Auckland Lecturer Dr Emmy van Esch about the ethics of monitoring employees’ computers when they work for home.
And they spoke to World Vision’s Dr Olivia Yates about pacific migration due to climate change.
Producer Oto spoke to Dr Selena Shang from the University of Auckland about the government’s decision to remove agricultural emissions from the Emissions Trading Scheme.
He also spoke to Dr Jennifer Tatebe from the University of Auckland to talk about the impacts of urbanisation on rural schools.
For Dear Science this week, we chatted to Professor Allan Blackman chats to us about the environmental impact of green hydrogen, chimpanzees using drugs, and the 3 Nobel laureates born today.
Wire host Castor spoke to the National Party’s Tom Rutherford about the government’s proposed military style bootcamps for youth offenders and public sector job cuts.
Castor also spoke to chief executive of the Breast Cancer Foundation, Ah-Leen Rayner, about the government’s cancer drug announcements and what they mean for cancer patients.
Producer Elle spoke to the Chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa, Malcolm Mulholland about Pharmac’s recent funding for cancer medication.
On Sunday the government announced new measures to combat increased rates of youth offending. Along with increased police presence on Queen Street, they also promised the introduction of military style boot camps for youth offenders.
Military style boot camps have been implemented several times in Aotearoa, to minimal success. They have been met with criticism for their failure to address the root issues of youth offending, and the high rates of reconviction.
The government has also met recent criticism for its cuts in the public sector, particularly for ACT party leader David Seymour’s comments that more cuts should be expected.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the boot camps proposal and the impact of cuts in the public sector.
Fuck-knuckles, cock, and piss, balls. These are words that you may be hearing much more, or much less, on 95bFM after the government announced earlier this month that it will be scrapping the Broadcasting Standards Authority (or, BSA).
The Authority has responsibility over the broadcast of radio and television, but has long called for regulatory changes to be made given the shift toward digital media. The issue reached prominence last year, when the BSA decided to hear a complaint about the digital media company, The Platform.
The move was met with severe criticisms from the government, with the ACT Party and NZ First in particular calling for the abolishing of the authority.
In its place, the government has proposed the Media Council - a voluntary body - will be involved in self-regulation of the media. However, this proposal has been widely criticised as lacking regulatory teeth.
Instead of scrapping the BSA, the Better Public Media Trust has proposed that the government strengthens it with the recommendations from the government’s ‘Safer Online Services' research project, which would see greater regulation of online and digital spaces.
So, for this week’s Get Action, producer Theo spoke with the Better Public Media Trust’s Myles Thomas, to discuss their petition to reinstate and strengthen the BSA.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here.
Two Green Party members' bills were drawn recently; the first would ban mining on conservation land. It comes at a time when parties in the government coalition seem to have their hearts set on turbo-charging the mining industry, with a key bill being put forward that would enable a range of new commercial activities on conservation land and potentially allow the sale of over 60% of the land.
The other green party bill aims to protect children leaving care in Oranga Tamariki from finding themselves without a place to live.
Finally, a landmark climate lawsuit against six major companies was stopped in its tracks by the government. The government says that it made the decision to prevent the suit to ensure businesses had legal clarity and certainty. However, it has now been revealed that the government and business lobbyests had been in contact, and knowledge of this contact may have been unduly withheld, prompting critics to raise the alarm that the government may be circumventing core democratic processes to satisfy business interests.
So for our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about their parties members bill, especially mining on conservation land, and what it means for the government to intervene in such as way with this case.
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.
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