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.
For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni Caeden kōrero about the Budget and what more the opposition can be doing for Palestine.
For City Counselling they talk to Councillor Lotu Fuli about Māori Wards and renewed discussions for a national stadium in Tāmaki Makaurau.
And they speak with 350 Aotearoa’s Adam Currie about an oil conference happening in Taranaki next week.
Joel spoke to National PSA Organiser, Ashok Shankar, about a report into mental health challenges and addiction challenges, and what this means for the mental health and addiction workforce.
Caeden and Joel will also kōrero about their recent excursion to Canada for the Vote16 National Conference
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Director at Kick Back, Aaron Hendry, about 20+ organisations coming together to urge the government to cull the Ram Raid Bill.
They also spoke to Greenpeace Aotearoa Programme Director, Niamh O’Flynn, about this weekend's March for Nature protests.
And Producer Castor spoke to one of the national presidents from the Tertiary Education Union, Julie Douglas, about budget announcements and how they will impact the tertiary education sector.
A collective of over 20 organisations have joined to deliver an open letter and petition to Parliament on the 26th of June, urging the Government to get rid of the Ram Raid Bill.
These groups are advocating for an alternative approach to tackling youth offending rates, by ensuring all political parties in Parliament work together, using grounded evidence and being informed by lived experiences to reduce these statistics.
I spoke to the Director of Kick Back, a youth development and advocacy organisation and a member of the collective, Aaron Hendry, about this petition.
Over the weekend, 20,000 people protested along Queens Street against the government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill and other legislation that they have deemed ‘a war on nature’.
Joel spoke to Greenpeace Aotearoa Programme Director, Niamh O’Flynn, about the protests, and what the organisation are hoping for in the future.
The Public Service Association (PSA) has called for a meeting with Mental Health Minister, Matt Dooecy, regarding a mental health and addiction report released yesterday.
The report shows significant problems workers are facing when it comes to caring for individuals with moderate to severe mental health challenges and addiction challenges.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to National PSA Organiser, Ashok Shankar, about what the report shows about the mental health and addiction workforce.
The Government’s 2024 Budget has proposed cuts to areas in public services and social support.
Such cuts include: removing half price public transport, removing $5 universal prescription fees, removing the treaty clause in the Oranga Tamariki law, and changes to the public housing system.
Producer Joel spoke to Coordinator of Auckland Action Against Poverty, Brooke Stanley, about these cuts in the 2024 Budget.
Last Thursday, the coalition government revealed its annual budget for 2024.
While the announcement highlighted the government's efforts to lower income tax and expenditure, the budget came under fire from many for what they say were cuts that would put our public services under even greater pressure, and created disappointing outcomes for Maori and marginalised communities across Aotearoa that failed to uphold the government’s obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
For their weekly catch up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez-March to talk about budget 2024, with a specific focus on the areas of: Environmental Conservation, Tax and Te Tiriti obligations.
In the Government’s 2024 Budget, over FIVE BILLION dollars has been allocated to military spending.
Despite this being a slight decrease from the actual number spent on the military over the past few years, this still equates to over ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN MILLION per week.
Producer Joel spoke to Coordinator of Peace Movement Aotearoa, Edwina Hughes, about the 2024 Budget and her thoughts on the money allocation to military services as opposed to other services.
They started off by asking her how much the military has been allocated in previous years.
For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about the recent Budget 2024 announcement, specifically regarding the areas concerning the Environment, tax and Te Tiriti o Waitangi
For this week’s Get Action! Oto also spoke to President of the Criminological Society at Otago University Clara Donne about a petition to the government to roll back Youth Offender Boot Camps
Producer Rachel and Joel spoke to Coordinator of Peace Movement Aotearoa, Edwina Hughes, about the allocation to the military in the 2024 Budget.
They also spoke to Coordinator of Auckland Action Against Poverty, Brooke Stanley, about cuts to public services and social support in the Budget.
For Dear Science this week, Doctor Cushla McGoverin about microbes in the baths of Bath, genetically isolated trout, and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Wire host Castor spoke to the National Party’s Tom Rutherford about the first home buyers bonus and last week's budget announcements.
Producer Sofia spoke to Executive Director of Greenpeace Aotearoa, Russel Norman, about funding cuts to environmental sectors in Budget 2024 and the March for Nature in Tāmaki Makaurau this Saturday
She also spoke to Tatau Urutahi shared leader at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, the Human Rights Commission, Julia Whaipooti, about the Budget in terms of whether it upholds te Tiriti o Waitangi.
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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