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.
A select committee report has recommended going ahead with a referendum on four-year Parliament terms.
Māori health providers have brought a case to the High Court asking for a declaration of inconsistency between the Government's disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
And the Public Service Commissioner, Sir Brian Roche, is currently considering a “major shakeup” of several ministries, including those for Women, Pacific Peoples, Disabled People, and Māori Development.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, regular Wire Host Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about all of these topics.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, regular Wire Host Caeden spoke to MP Shanan Halbert about four-year parliament terms, the High Court challenge against the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, and the Public Services Commissioner investigating potential changes to several lived experience ministries.
For International Desk, they spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about the current experiences of international students in the United States, especially as the Trump administration targets Universities for funding cuts.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sanat spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about a new plan up for limited consultation to build higher-density housing within the city.
He also spoke to the University of Auckland’s Associate Professor of Pacific Studies Gordon Nanau about the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum and the surrounding geopolitical tensions between Pacific Island nations.
Late last week The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, declared a famine in Gaza, warning that 41,000 children are at a heightened risk of death. The report said that the number of people facing – what they referred to as ‘emergency’ conditions – is expected to rise to 1.14 million people, or around half of the total population of Gaza, which is currently about 2.1 million people.
Under IPC criteria, a famine can only be formally declared when three conditions are met: at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, at least 30% are acutely malnourished, and two or more people per 10,000 die each day from hunger or hunger-related diseases.
To talk about what is only the fifth declared famine in the last 15 years, Producer Max spoke with ChildFund CEO Josie Pagani, to discuss what New Zealand can do to immediately help the situation.
Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters recently unveiled plans to purchase almost $3 billion worth of US aircraft to replace the Defence Force's ageing 757s.
The five MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, would be procured directly through the United States' Foreign Military Sales programme.
Oto spoke with Valerie Morse from Peace Action Wellington about the government’s purchase plan, who said that the purchase was “disappointing” given the context of cuts to public services and infrastructure that have occurred within the government’s current term and it was indicative of New Zealand potentially being brought into a wider regional or global conflict by the United States.
Following on from our previous chat, recent events have led to Türkiye potentially pursuing a vote to suspend Israel from the United Nations.
Türkiye foreign minister Hakan Fidan has told the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Riyadh that Israel should be suspended from the crucial meeting of the general assembly next month due to its ‘genocidal aggression’. In response to this, Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa co-chair John Minto has urged New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters to take a stand on this issue.
To discuss a potential vote to suspend Israel from next month’s United Nations general assembly meeting, as well as New Zealand’s current stance on Israel and Gaza, Producer Max spoke with John Minto.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the government’s plan to purchase $2.7 billion worth of US-made aircraft to replace the Defence Force's 757s, The high court case against the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora - the Māori Health Authority and The Green party’s petition to restore funding to polytechnics.
And he spoke with Valerie Morse from Peace Action Wellington for a follow up conversation about the government’s plan to purchase almost $3 billion in military aircraft.
Max spoke to ChildFund CEO Josie Pagani, to talk about the recent declaration of a famine in Gaza.
And he spoke to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa co-chair John Minto, to talk about the potential vote to suspend Israel from the United Nations, led by Turkey
Last week, thousands of secondary teachers went on strike demanding a better pay agreement from the government.
The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association rejected the government’s offer for a one percent pay rise, which they say is the lowest in generations.
Amidst staff shortages forcing some schools to take days off with not enough teachers, in addition to a variety of recent curriculum changes, union leaders have said the education sector is stretched-thin.
As well, the latest Security Threat Environment report has shown that New Zealand is facing the ‘toughest’ national security environment of late, with issues like global conflicts, violent extremism, foreign interference and espionage at the forefront of concern
In this day and age, “just use AI” seems to be a common response when people need a quick and easy solution to make digital art. There’s currently no protection for AI-generated art in Aotearoa, but commercial law Professor Alex Sims believes such copyright laws could be possible. But whose art is it, really?
Producer Faith spoke to Alex about the complexities and grey areas of AI art, how copyright needs to be approached, and how artists who create their own works without being aided by AI are already affected.
For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman will be talking to us about all things birds
For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Sara spoke to MP Carl Bates about pressures on the education system, and New Zealand’s diplomatic relations
For Green Desk, Sara spoke to University of Auckland associate professor Maria Armoudian about a secret memo by the Ministry of Environment warning the government about the need to meet its global climate targets.
Producer Faith spoke to commercial law professor Alex Sims from the University of Auckland about AI-generated art, who owns the copyright, and what laws need to be put in place
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.
The Wire is starting a new segment - Politics with Māni Dunlop for Te Ao Māori News.
We’ll be catching up on the big political issues of the week and goings on in the House from a Māori perspective.
Wire Host Caeden caught up with Māni Dunlop about the new Te Tai Tokerau Party, the Conservation Amendment Bill passing first reading, and the submissions made as part of the Mana Wāhine inquiry this week.
The Government has confirmed plans to disestablish the Broadcasting Standards Authority and move toward a self-regulation model for media complaints, raising questions about accountability, misinformation, and audience protection.
It has also been confirmed that the Fees Free tertiary scheme will be scrapped in the upcoming Budget, while the new citizenship test has sparked debate over whether it strengthens civic knowledge or creates another barrier for migrants.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about these topics.
Last week, the government announced plans to scrap a policy that gave university students one free year of study, known as fees free, with commitments to reallocate that funding to trades training. This comes at a time when an increasing number of young people are absent of employment, education and training.
And an OECD report spelled bad weather for the New Zealand economy. To correct course, they urged for reforms to increase the age of eligibility of Superannuation all the way up to 72, among other policies. This was picked up by the National Party, who are campaigning on moving forward with their previous plans to raise the retirement age up to 67.
So for our weekly catch-up with the Green Party, host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the scrapping of fees-free and raising the eligibility age for superannuation, but as we called in, Mr Menéndez March was just leaving an extended sitting of parliament to scrutinise Erica Stanford's Immigration Amendment Bill, and we began with a discussion on how he believes it will hurt vulnerable migrant communities.
This week on Dear Science our expert Professor Allan Blackman chatted with us about the science behind football players choking, the chemistry behind the taste of beer, and the woman behind determining the structure of insulin.
Last week the government announced plans to scrap the Broadcasting Standards Authority, the entity that serves to ensure television, radio, and internet broadcasters remain accountable to members of the public.
While the government saysit trusts broadcasters to self regulate, it’s unclear what this regulation could look like, especially without the all encompassing BSA to ensure that a universal standard is met.
In addition, ACT Party Leader David Seymour has expressed dismay at some of the recent publications by state funded broadcasters TVNZ and RNZ. Since Seymour is one of the ministers responsible for appointing the board for each organisation, his comments and criticisms are being compared to threats of censorship.
Lastly, the government has announced a new test for prospective immigrants to New Zealand, which would see them quizzed over topics relating to New Zealand values, our Bill of Rights, and our system of government. While the government is proposing this standard of knowledge for immigrants, many New Zealand citizens could be unable to answer the questions.
For this weeks catchup with the National Party's Ryan Hamilton, News Director Castor asked about these topics, beginning with the BSA.
Last week, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka submitted the Conservation Amendment Bill to parliament. Among various changes, the bill has drawn criticism for its proposals to change the role of the Department of Conservation and make it easier for government ministers to exchange or sell off up to 60% of conservation land.
For Green World this week, producer Liam spoke with Richard Capie, Chief Advisor for Forest and Bird about what the Conservation Amendment Bill really means, the impact it might have and the importance of preserving our conservation land for future generations.
Last week the ACT Party announced a new health policy that would see the responsibilities of pharmacists expanded to move pressure away from GPs. The idea of the policy is that for less significant health issues, people could see their local pharmacist instead of their GP, reducing wait times and costs for the public.
Also last week, the government announced plans to scrap the broadcasting standards authority. The announcement follows a period of complaints from the government over the BSA, which had ruled on online broadcaster The Platform. The government (and The Platform) say that the BSA shouldn’t be able to make rulings on online broadcasters, but some others disagree.
Without the BSA, many of the restrictions and rules that broadcasters are held to could disappear. In addition, the BSA offers a vehicle for members of the public to hold said organisations to account. Without the BSA, avenues for public feedback on poor conduct are minimal.
For this week’s catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News Director Castor asked about each of these issues, beginning with the party’s new health policy.
Auckland Council has approved their first-ever transport policy statement, which, together with the central Government’s Policy Statement on Land Transport, will shape the future of transport funding in Auckland.
And a petition is being hosted on Our ActionStation that calls on the Government to strengthen protections for the Waitākere Ranges.
For City Counselling, Wire Host Caeden spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about both of these topics.
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