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 Dear Science, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about discounting claims of life on k2-18b, stories of a mysterious ninth planet, and 'The Blue Danube' heading to outer space.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the new defence spending in 2025's Budget and where everything’s going to go.
They also spoke to the General Manager at Forest and Bird, Richard Capie, about the disestablishment of Predator Free 2050.
Producer Faith spoke to Professor Robert MacCulloch from the University of Auckland’s School of Business and Economics about the official cash rate (OCR), and whether or not it should drop.
She also spoke to Professor Jodi Gardner from the University’s Faculty of Law about how the government’s Budget 2025 will invest in abuse redress and care reform.
One of the less discussed announcements in 2025’s budget was the disestablishment of Predator Free 2050. The project was announced by former Prime Minister John Key in 2016, with the ambitious goal of complete pest eradication in Aotearoa.
The government’s contributions to the mission were funneled through ‘Predator Free 2050’ a government-funded organisation created to support conservation projects and technologies. These projects funded through Predator Free 2050 will not be affected by the organisation’s closure, and will instead be passed on to the Department of Conservation. Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says the change will increase efficiency and reduce duplication.
While it’s good news that the funding won’t be affected on paper, the Department of Conservation is already struggling to manage its existing commitments. With these additional responsibilities, the future of the Predator Free mission has become less certain.
To discuss conservation in Aotearoa and how this cut will affect the Predator Free mission, Wire host Castor spoke to General Manager at Forest and Bird, Richard Capie.
The government’s 2025 budget still seems to be very topical. Despite many academics criticising the budget for taking money out of of the pockets of those less well-off, the government has also received praise for their investment in abuse redress and care reform- with them allocating $774m to the victims of abuse in state care.
Producer Faith spoke to Professor Jodi Gardner from the University of Auckland’s Law Faculty about how the investment will benefit this victims, and what she thinks the government should do to ensure practical solutions are put in place
Like the rest of the world, we are currently living in a time of economic uncertainty. Economists are forecasting the NZ dollar’s decrease in value, and there have been debates about whether the official cash rate should decrease.
Professor Robert MacCulloch is one of the academics that believe the OCR should stay as is. Producer Faith spoke to MacCulloch about his stance.
From 9th June, the United Nations Ocean Conference is being held in France, which is co-hosting the event with Costa Rica.
More than 50 world leaders are expected to attend, with 1500 delegates from almost 200 countries.
The conference follows the world’s first deep-sea mining application for the international seabed, which was submitted to the United States government as opposed to the United Nations regulator.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Juressa Lee (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Rarotonga), seabed mining campaigner at Greenpeace, about the conference.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about Budget 2025, particularly its impact on rangatahi, and the Regulatory Standards Bill.
For International Desk, they spoke to Greenpeace campaigner Juressa Lee about the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference.
For this week’s City Counselling, Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson on Auckland Council’s recent approval for new development in the city centre, as well as the latest updates in the Western Springs speedway v stadium debate
For her second topic, of national and global military spending, she spoke with Massey University Defence and Security Associate Professor Anna Powles, as well as Peace Movement Aotearoa coordinator Edwina Hughes.
Global military expenditure reached a record high of two point seven trillion dollars in 2024, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. This is the tenth consecutive year that military spending has increased across the world.
Last week’s Budget announcement, as with declarations of investments earlier this year, in which $12 billion was committed to defence over the next four years, with an aim to reach 2% of GDP, demonstrate the New Zealand government’s interest in keeping up with global standards.
Peace Movement Aotearoa have called this central government decision “deplorable”, as the same budget made cuts to crucial social services, and has underinvested in urgent issues within sectors like health, climate action, and infrastructure.
Producer Sara spoke with Massey University’s Associate Professor in the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Anna Powles, about why both global and national military spending is increasing despite other crucial areas needing investment.
Sara also spoke with Peace Movement Aotearoa co-ordinator Edwina Hughes about the effects of this increased militarisation taking priority over efforts to address humanitarian issues.
She began her interview with Associate Professor Anna Powles, by asking what some of the key drivers of this increased global military spending are.
Chris Hall, an Associate Professor at the department of molecular medicine and pathology at the University of Auckland, has led a study that looked into the impact that daylight has on our immune system.
The research identifies that many people could be experiencing what is scientifically described as “social jet lag”. The term describes the misalignment between our internal body clock, or circadian rhythm, and our social schedule.
Chris Hall led the study to look into how important our circadian rhythm is to our immune system, and how regular exposure to daylight can support a healthy immune system as well.
To talk about this, Producer Max spoke to Chris Hall.
Could a water crisis be in the pipeline for Aotearoa?
Sewage contaminating Oyster farms in Auckland, as well as more periods of extreme rainfall due to climate change, has highlighted the lack of investment in water infrastructure over the past couple decades.
Dan Hikuroa, an associate professor at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, upholds a traditional Māori view of water as a sacred taonga, as something to be treasured, rather than being framed as a property right and commodity.
To talk about what we should change to protect our water in Aotearoa, Producer Max spoke to Dan Hikuroa.
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.
Crypto investment schemes are spreading across the Pacific, often through trusted family, church, and community networks. While they are promoted as offering financial freedom and fast returns, regulators have warned that some schemes carry serious risks and limited protections for investors.
Producer Pranuja spoke with Associate Dean Pacific Sione Taufa about how trust can be exploited in Pacific communities, why endorsement matters, and what people should know before investing.
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.
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 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.
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