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.
Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act was introduced in 2019, designed to amplify voices of Māori within Oranga Tamariki and ensure it aligns with its obligations under Te Tiriti. Section 7AA was particularly praised upon its introduction, given Oranga Tamariki’s poor relationship with Māori historically.
Wire host Castor spoke to the University of Auckland’s Kendra Cox about how the removal of section 7AA will impact Māori within Oranga Tamariki and state care.
The government is proposing the repeal of several speed limit changes introduced across the country under the previous government since 2020. Among these changes include the expansion of school zone speed limits to cover the full day. These changes have been criticised for their potential risk to particularly children and other young people.
The Emissions Trading Scheme is a program introduced in Aotearoa to reduce emissions in line with global standards. The program requires emitters to log and report their emissions, and limits the quantity of emissions. Emitters can sell or buy emissions units from others to allow them to emit more or less. By removing agricultural emissions, farmers would no longer be required to adhere to these requirements.
In our weekly catchup with the National party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Suze Redmayne about the speed limit changes and removal of agriculture from the ETS. Particularly, he touched on the speed limit risks to children and how the government will restrict farmers’ emissions without the ETS covering them.
The Coalition government is making amendments to the Resource management act 1991 through the resource management (freshwater and other matters) amendments bill. This includes changes to stock exclusion and intensive winter grazing regulations.
An OIA request shows that DoC advised against these amendments, specifically the removal of key freshwater protections.
Producer Elle spoke to Greenpeace Aotearoa Freshwater campaigner, Will Appelbe, about their response to the proposed changes. She began by asking what the amendments to the resource management act 1991 are.
The government has proposed several changes to speed limits across the country, notably removing several of the reductions implemented since the start of 2020.
Brake New Zealand is a charity that works to prevent road deaths and injuries across Aotearoa, through raising awareness and providing support for victims.
Producer Castor spoke to the NZ Director of Brake, Caroline Perry, about what the proposed changes could mean and the risks they pose to both pedestrians and vehicle users on our roads.
The government has announced $90 million in funding for specialist schools and facilities for students with disabilities.
Disability and Human Rights groups are concerned about how this investment may undermine inclusive education and our obligations under the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.
CCS Disability is New Zealand's largest support and disability advocacy organisation.
Producer Josef spoke with the National Disability Leadership Coordinator for CCS Disability Action, Debbie Ward, about what this focus on specialist schools could mean for disabled students.
The first of the boot camps promised by the coalition government will be operating by the middle of the year.
Bootcamps are military style academies for young people who commit serious offences.
However, lecturer in forensic psychology, Simon Davies, senior lecturer in clinical forensic psychology, Clare-Ann Fortune, professor of psychology, Karen Salmon, and PhD candidate in forensic psychology, Linda Fatialofa – all from Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University – have written an article about the psychological evidence that this form of intervention is ineffective and does not work.
Wire host Sofia Roger Williams spoke to co-author, Dr Clare-Ann Fortune, about the psychological evidence behind this and why bootcamps are still being seen as a viable option.
She started their interview asking her what bootcamps are and what their intended purpose is.
For the weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Wire host Sofia Roger Williams spoke to ACT MP Simon Court about taking agriculture out of the Emissions Trading Scheme, reports about the ACT Party’s mistreatment of staff, as well as the party’s 15% of the vote goal for 2026.
She also spoke with Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at Victoria University, Dr Clare-Ann Fortune, about boot camps for young people who commit serious offences.
Producer Castor spoke to New Zealand Director for Brake, the road safety charity, Caroline Perry, about the newly proposed speed limit changes.
And producer Josef spoke to Debbie Ward, the National Disability Leadership Coordinator for CCS Disability Action, about the government announcing funding for specialist schools and classrooms for students with disabilities.
In a recent study conducted by Dr Janine Swail and Dr Susan Marlow, 16 female entrepreneurs shared their experiences with starting their company. We discussed the perceived flexibility of entrepreneurship for women versus the harsh realities they face.
Rachel spoke with co-author of the “Entrepreneurship: why women quit” study, Dr Janine Swail, about the perceived flexibility of entrepreneurship for women versus the harsh realities they face.
The Government’s potential changes to the Intermediate and High School English Curriculums has been raising a lot of eyebrows with teachers, academics, and people in the Arts.
Discussions about representation and consistency have been key points talked about in relation to this process.
Wire Host Caeden talks about what we know about these changes and why they matter with the University of Auckland’s Dr Claudia Roza.
Following the revised budget plan for 2024, the government has allocated $191 million dollars over the next four years for early childhood centers. This marks a significant decrease in funding from previous years and has sparked concerns about the neglect of early childhood education.
Rachel spoke with Professor at the University of Otago, Alex Gunn, to discuss the implications of the lack of funding in early childhood education centers.
Rachel also spoke with the Excutive CEO of the Early Childhood Council, Simon Laube, to discuss their plans on how they will be assisting the early childhood centers and addressing the funding gap.
The debate around raising the retirement age has continued this week, with growing discussion around Superannuation. At the same time, NZ First’s proposed “Man and Woman” bill has reignited debate around gender identity, legal definitions, and abortion access.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about these topics.
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.
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.
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.
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