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.
There have been reports recently that indie promoters across the city have been told to immediately cease postering in the city by Auckland Council.
Auckland Council has cited a higher number of complaints and their signs bylaw which technically makes these posters promoting indie gigs illegal. However, an informal arrangement between both parties meant that enforcement action was rarely taken
At the same time Auckland is a UNESCO city of music with the city’s independent music scene being renowned globally, so today I wanted to ask Councilor Shane Henderson about Auckland Council’s rationale and see why they have suddenly changed their approach when it comes to gig posters.
There has also recently been some commentary from Auckland Business Chamber head Simon Bridges about the state of Auckland’s regional economy.
He wants the central government to renew investment to stimulate the economy and extend a helping hand to struggling industries. At the same time regional economies in the South Island seem to be showing signs of economic recovery while Auckland still contends with the country’s highest unemployment rate.
So I asked Councilor Shane Henderson about how Auckland Council can stimulate that growth and how that growth can have equitable benefits across the entire city.
Promoters in Auckland’s independent music scene have been “shocked” after Auckland Council has started taking enforcement action against gig posters in the CBD.
These posters are often self designed and self printed by promoters in order to ensure that there is a high level of engagement in Auckland’s independent music scene which has often been described as the “lifeblood” of the CBD.
However, the council has been receiving an increased amount of complaints about posters and has cited the signs bylaw as reason enough to take this enforcement action.
They have also been told that promoters can pay to use advertising space and use social media to advertise their gigs.
Producer Sanat wanted to understand how the community was feeling about this action and whether the alternatives posed by council are actually feasible, so he spoke to promoter Lara Marie about gig postering in the CBD.
Last week the World Health Organisation declared a polio outbreak in Papua New Guinea.
The Papua New Guinea government has activated its emergency response supported by the Australian Government, the WHO and UNICEF.
The government has modified it’s response after a similar outbreak in 2018. The new response involves mass vaccination campaigns, enhanced surveillance of transmission and better localised community engagement.
I spoke to the University of Auckland’s Associate Dean Pacific Sir Colin Tukitonga about the outbreak, what the response looks like on the ground and what lessons we can take from the Pacific when it comes to vaccinations at a time where New Zealand’s vaccination rates are the lowest in the OECD.
Yesterday, secondary teachers took part in a one-day strike due to stalled pay talks.
Teachers have rejected the government’s offer for a 1% pay increase per year for three years, and a doubling of the number of days teachers can be called to work when schools are closed.
The 15th of August marked India's Independence Day, and celebrations across Indian communities in Tāmaki Makaurau took place over the weekend.
And a new watchdog report has revealed 62% of Mt Eden prisoners are in voluntary segregation due to feeling unsafe.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden asked Shanan Halbert about all of these topics.
Last week's United Nations talks to negotiate a global plastics treaty failed after a consensus couldn’t be reached.
This led to major disappointment from several countries, as well NGOs, who called the failure a “blow to multilateralism.”
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Olga Pantos, a research scientist at PHF Science with a PhD from Newcastle University, about the failure to negotiate.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the party's support for the five unions taking the Government to the High Court over their pay equity law changes, The final cost of the iRex ferry project’s cancellation and The Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill passing in Parliament.
And he spoke to Stephen Hoadley, a retired professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland about the outcomes of the Trump-Putin summit that happened over the weekend.
Max spoke to Dr I-Ting Chuang from the University of Auckland, to discuss why people in Auckland and Hamilton aren’t walking as much as they should.
And he spoke to Gordon Nanau from the University of Auckland, to talk about the ongoing situation between the autonomous region of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.
In November 2019, the autonomous region and island of Bougainville held a referendum to decide whether they should express a desire for independence, instead of continued autonomy as a part of Papua New Guinea. The result of the vote saw a landslide 97.7% majority vote for independence and would see Bougainville seek to replace South Sudan as the newest country in the world.
Yet, despite this, Bougainville remains an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea six years later. The difficult transition period has resulted in political tensions rising between the island and Papua New Guinea. However the recent signing of the Melanesian agreement in June is seen by experts as a significant step towards independence for Bougainville.
To talk about why this situation has dragged on for so long and what we can expect moving forward, Producer Max spoke to Gordon Nanau, the head of Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland.
Wherever you’re listening to this, it’s quite unlikely that you arrived at that location by walking there. How do we know this? Because, according to a 2018 census, 82.8% of trips made in Auckland were by car. And that’s despite most New Zealanders understanding that walking has many benefits. It keeps us healthy, reduces stress, and produces zero carbon emissions.
So why don’t we walk more? Well, Dr. I-Ting Chuang, a Senior lecturer at the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland, conducted a study to look into why people in Auckland and Hamilton are so dependent on cars, despite many areas fitting the conditions of being an ideal walking location.
Producer Max spoke to Dr. I-Ting Chuang, to understand what her research found about our dependence on cars and what we could do to build a walking culture.
Over the weekend, the highly discussed summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was held in Anchorage, Alaska to discuss the terms for an end to the war in Ukraine.
The summit, lasting of total of less than three hours, resulted in no ceasefire terms or any formal deals being achieved. Putin’s conditions for an end to the war remained unchanged, with Trump walking away from the summit ruling out Ukraine’s NATO membership or reacquisition of Crimea.
Ukraine, who were excluded from the summit, criticised it’s direction, with many critics describing it as an optics victory for Putin.
Oto spoke with Stephen Hoadely, a retired professor in international relations and politics at the university of Auckland, to discuss the outcome of the summit, as well as the possibility of another summit between Putin and Zelenskyy to be held in the future.
In recent weeks, the central government has pushed through numerous amendments to the Resource Management Act, in an effort to help streamline consent processes for corporations.
However, these changes— in particular ones surrounding freshwater planning and waterway pollution requirements — have been criticised especially by environmental advocates as disregarding the negative impacts to the environment and affording too much power to financial interests in the case of natural resource management.
As well, this past week Education Minister Erica Stanford announced a proposal to ban books with “too much” reo Māori in them from early learning materials in the ‘Ready to Read phonics scheme’.
While she justifies the changes as being of genuine literary necessity for children’s learning, many have contended the changes as an act of racism against te reo Māori which asserts white supremacy in the education system.
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.
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.
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 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, 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.
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