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.
Recently, a study was published by Australia’s Museums Victoria Research Institute, examining deep sea ecosystems around Aotearoa’s waters.
The study mapped the global distribution of brittle stars, which are closely related to starfish, the links between deep-sea ecosystems from Iceland to Tasmania and the impacts of climate change and deep sea mining on said ecosystems.
95bFM Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Sadie Mills, invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand, to discuss what this research means for understanding biodiversity beneath the waves especially within the context of climate change and deep-sea mining
The Israeli founded and based company SodaStream is the most popular sparkling water maker in New Zealand, supplying sparkling water machines to over 400,000 households in Aotearoa, with around 30% of families using one to make beverages at home.
The company has also had involvement in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, previously having a factory in the Ma'ale Adumim settlement in the internationally recognised Palestinian west bank.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke with Brandon Johnstone, a BDS coordinator at Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about a petition calling on retailers and stockists to swap out SodaStream for more ethical alternatives.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
The growing usage of AI deepfakes has been for a number of different reasons… Whether it’s just for fun, or to jeopardise someone’s career, these AI-generated images, videos, and voice recordings have become more accessible and easy to make.
Deepfakes have been used for financial fraud, during election campaigns to taint the reputations of mostly female candidates, and also to spread propaganda and misinformation.
However, Denmark has proposed a law to grant individuals copyright over their own face, body, and voice. Although the move has been hailed as world-leading, and a step forward to address the harms of AI deepfakes, it has drawn criticism for not being effective enough. It has also provoked concerns about the act of copyrighting one’s likeness to the same degree as intellectual/artistic property. Producer Faith spoke to Professor Alex Sims from the University of Auckland’s commercial law department about the proposition, and its effectiveness.
On Friday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced various changes to the electoral system in New Zealand which he says seek to make the process of voting more efficient and effective for future elections.
These include the closing of enrolment 13 days before the official election day, prohibiting the provision of food and drink at polling booths, and a reinstatement of a total prisoner voting ban.
A number of Labour and Greens party politicians have been among those to criticise the changes as a disenfranchisement of voters which will make democratic engagement in New Zealand more difficult.
As well, last week the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development released the latest iteration of the Homelessness Insights Report which reveals that there has been a quantifiable rise in homelessness across Aotearoa.
For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chats with us about an astronomical discovery, the passing of the great Tom Lehrer, and the latest estimate on your required daily step count
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, I ask about the government’s recent electoral reforms, and the latest Homelessness Insights report
In light of this homelessness report, I also speak with Manaaki Rangatahi spokesperson Brooke Stanley about her views on addressing homelessness in Aotearoa, as well as Dr Madeline Shelling from Ihi Research about the health impacts of housing insecurity for Māori and Pacific populations
Finally, Faith spoke to commercial law Professor Alex Sims from the University of Auckland about the ongoing problems caused by AI deepfakes, and what Denmark is doing to tackle them.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's latest Homelessness Insights Report shows that there has been an increase in homelessness across Aotearoa.
In particular, the report — like other research including a report from Ihi Research last year — highlighted a disproportionate impact of homelessness on Māori and Pacific populations, as well as women and younger demographics.
Tuesday Wire Host Sara was interested in delving into the correlation between these findings about homelessness and health outcomes for the populations who face exacerbated impacts.
She spoke with both Manaaki Rangatahi spokesperson Brooke Stanley, and Māori health researcher Dr Madeline Shelling about the impact of homelessness on Māori and Pacific health.
Her first interview is with Brooke from Manaaki Rangatahi.
She also spoke with Madeline Shelling. I started by asking her to talk about how this latest report connects to previous research on the impact of homelessness on Māori.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to MP Simon Court about the scrapping of same-day election enrolments, as a part of the government’s changes to the Electoral Act, and ACT Party Leader, David Seymour’s comments that those who enrol late are “drop-kicks”.
Joel spoke to Gen Toop — a senior campaigner at Greenpeace, on NZ First’s support of ACT’s Overseas Investment Bill, and Greenpeace’s concerns with the bill.
Joel spoke to Calvin Cochran — a spokesperson for the Smokefree Expert Advisory Group, about a recent RNZ investigation alleging close connections between NZ First Party Leader, Winston Peters and multinational tobacco company, Philip Morris, and what needs to be done to combat tobacco industry lobbying.
And Joel spoke to Dr Saira Raza Khan — a Lecturer of Marketing at the University of Auckland, on the need to move away from ‘scare tactics’ in health advertising.
Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith, recently announced a proposal to the Electoral Act and Constitution Act, removing the ability for an individual to enrol on election day.
Alongside this comes the proposal of halting the ability to enrol during the advanced voting period.
This move has received backlash - including from within the government. This morning, Attorney-General, Judith Collins KC, says the move goes against the Bill of Rights Act.
During the 2023 general election, over 450,000 enrolled in the 12-day period, with 110,000 enrolling on election day.
A significant proportion of those later enrolments consist of young people, and in areas of bigger Māori, Pacific, and Asian communities.
In light of this move, ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, says those who have left voting to the last minute are “drop-kicks”. As well as this, the ACT Party’s justice spokesperson, Todd Stephenson, added to this, saying “Democracy works best when voters are informed, engaged, and take the process seriously,” and that “It’s outrageous that someone completely disengaged and lazy can rock up to the voting booth, get registered there and then, and then vote to tax other people’s money away.”
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel spoke to him about this move.
Recently, NZ First has helped pass ACT’s Overseas Investment Bill through its first reading.
The amendment bill, if passed, will make it easier for multinational corporations to purchase land in the country, which has raised concerns over the environmental consequences of such as move.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Gen Toop — a senior campaigner at Greenpeace, on NZ First’s support of ACT’s Overseas Investment Bill, and Greenpeace’s concerns with the bill.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
95bFM 
