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.
Public hearings as part of phase two of the Royal Commission into COVID-19 took place in Auckland this week.
The second phase of the inquiry has a stronger focus on lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the impact of the Covid-19 response on business and the economy.
And yesterday, an independent reference group set up by the Ministry of Environment shared their recommendations for climate adaptation legislation.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Arena Williams about both of these topics.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Arena Williams about Phase Two of the Covid-19 inquiry and advisory group recommendations on climate adaptation legislation.
For International Desk, they spoke to Charles Hunt from Boise State University about United States President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill”.
For this week’s City Counselling, Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about Mayor Wayne Brown’s recent council body reforms, as well as concerns around homelessness in the CBD this Winter
Regarding Phase Two of the Covid-19 Inquiry, she spoke with both Restaurant Association Chief Executive Marisa Bidois, and public health expert Sir Collin Tukuitonga
This week’s second phase of the national covid-19 inquiry has seen public hearings from the community and experts talking about the wider impacts of mandates and lockdowns during the pandemic.
As health experts are urging the government to anticipate and better prepare for a future pandemic, and people in all sectors across New Zealand still work through the ongoing effects of Covid-19, this inquiry needs to inform critical decision making and processes for the central government.
Speaking more about the inquiry and the general effects of Covid-19, I spoke with public health expert Sir Collin Tukuitonga about his research findings and the importance of pandemic preparedness, as well as Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois about the need to support businesses and hospitality in New Zealand
The Southerner was a passenger express train in the South Island running between Christchurch and Invercargill from 1970 to 2002.
The train was eventually closed due a decline in passenger numbers and subsidies, although it was briefly revived in May this year for four days as part of a tourist experience.
Recently, a group of campaigners from Save our Trains launched a petition calling on the government to restore the Southerner train route as a more accessible form of travel for South Islanders.
Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with Dave Macpherson from Save Our Train - Southern, to discuss his petition and why the Southerner should be restored.
For the first time in its history, staff at the government drug-buying agency, Pharmac, are going on strike. The action will happen this week, after Health economists, Māori health experts, and medical practitioners, who are members of the New Zealand Public Service Association, received what was described as an “unacceptable pay offer” and a “clawback of conditions”.
Pharmac is responsible for deciding which medicines and medical devices are publicly funded in New Zealand – an important part of the country’s healthcare system.
To talk about the details surrounding the first-ever strike, Producer Max spoke with the Public Service Association’s National Secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the recent study showing the increased speed of Antarctic ice melt, the removal of the Proud Boys designation as a terrorist group and The government's recent Family Boost announcement.
For this week’s Get Action! Wednesday Wire host Oto spoke with Dave Macpherson from Save our Trains Southern about a petition of his calling for the restoration of the Southerner Train line.
Producer Max spoke with PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons, to talk about the historic strike that is occuring at Pharmac this week.
Oto spoke with the co-head of Maori and Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland Gordon Nanau about French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to grant New Caledonia associated statehood.
And Monday Producer Sam spoke to the Deputy Director Māori at the Centre of Brain Research Te Huinga Hinengaro, Dr Makarena Dudley, about her kauapapa to support rural Māori communities with members suffering from mate wareware, or dementia.
Recently, a study was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton which uncovered a shift in the circulation of the Southern Ocean.
The study showed that the shift would draw up more salt water from the deep ocean, subsequently accelerating the loss of ice in the Antarctic and leading to an increase of sea levels and global heating.
The week before, the government allowed the terrorist designation given to the far-right ‘Proud Boys’ group to expire, effectively decriminalising the act of funding or openly supporting the group here in Aotearoa.
And, just yesterday Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a number of changes to Family Boost which she said would help families with the cost of living.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.
Dementia, or mate wareware is a devastating and life changing condition that affects 70,000 New Zealanders today.
There have been calls to support rural Māori communities with members who have the condition, as Māori are more likely to experience mate wareware than other groups in the country.
A kaupapa has been launched by the University of Auckland’s Dr Makarena Dudley and Sir Richard Faull to better provide rural Māori communities with better education, guidance, and support.
On Monday, Producer Samantha spoke to Dudley, who is the Deputy Director Māori at the Centre of Brain Research Te Huinga Hinengaro, about the research, and what support is needed for these communities.
At a recent summit in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a number of options for New Caledonia’s potential statehood, following island-wide unrest last year over voting reforms that led to 14 deaths.
One of the options proposed by Macron involved granting New Caledonia “associated statehood” status, where the island would be largely self-governing while still being linked to the French state.
Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with Gordon Nanau, co-head of Maori and Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland, about Macron’s proposal to grant New Caledonia associated state status, and what this would mean for the Island’s indigenous Kanak population who have largely been seeking independence from France.
For Dear Science, our expert, Daniel Thomas chatted with us about rice arriving in the Pacific, native forests sinking carbon, and seaweed used for grooming orcas.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the regulatory standards bill in light of it going to select committee.
Producer Faith spoke to Larisa Hockey from the Long COVID Kids organisation about the effects of Long COVID on children, and how the issue should be addressed.
She also spoke to the CEO of Cannabis Clinic NZ, Dr. Waseem Alzaher, about the stigma around medicinal cannabis.
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.
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