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 chats with us about personalised gene therapy treatment, using molecules to crack passcodes, and Olympic pool bombing.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about Pay Equity in light of the government’s recent changes.
They also spoke to Professor Terryann Clark from the University of Auckland about social media use among young people.
Producer Faith spoke to the Dr Chanelle Duley, an economics lecturer at the university of Auckland, about how financial technology can be used for good, and what we need to be cautious of.
She also spoke to Professor Frederique Vanholsbeeck from the university’s physics department about deep tech, and how NZ can better utilise it.
Many experts believe that New Zealand should also be grabbing more opportunities to keep up with the rest of the world, and invest more in “deep tech."
Producer Faith spoke to Professor Frederique Vanholsbeeck from the University of Auckland’s physics department about deep and quantum technologies, and their benefits.
We’ve all heard about NFTs, AI, crytpo, and all those buzzwords... but do we really know what financial technology is, and how prevalent it is in our daily lives?
Producer Faith spoke to Dr. Chanelle Duley from the University of Auckland about financial technology– or the “fintech” frontier.
For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to her about the Privileges Committee’s recommendations to suspend co-leader’s Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer for 21-days and MP Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for their haka during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, and the Waitangi Tribunals recommendations regarding the Regulatory Standards Bill.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie speaks to Simon Court about the Waitangi Tribunal recommending an ‘immediate halt’ to the Regulatory Standards Bill and the government opening a review into the Waitangi Tribunal.
Evie also spekas to The University of Auckland’s Tom Baker about the government’s newly announced Social Investment Fund.
Joel speaks to Mark Thomas, an Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of Auckland, about the World Health Organisation declaring an outbreak of Polio in Papua New Guinea.
Recently, the World Health Organisation has declared an outbreak of Polio in Papua New Guinea.
Previously, the nation had been declared polio-free in 2000. However, Papua New Guinea faced an outbreak in 2018. This was eradicated in the same year.
Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, said that New Zealand is ready anytime to assist Papua New Guinea if needed, however, he says he has not received a formal request for help as of this morning.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Mark Thomas, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Auckland, about the World Health Organisation’s declaration, and what needs to be done to mitigate future outbreaks heading forward.
Last week Finance minister Nicola Willis announced a $190 million social investment fund that will invest in at least 20 social service initiatives over the next year.
Three projects will receive initial funding: an Autism New Zealand programme providing early support to 50 families; an expansion of Emerge Aotearoa’s work with at-risk youth; and He Piringa Whare, a data-informed programme to support at-risk Māori.
Social Investment is a policy that has been seen from previous National governments, largely associated with former prime minister Bill English.
Under English, the policy involved using data to calculate which groups of people cost the government the most over a lifetime. Interventions aimed at reducing that cost are then targeted at those people.
However critics say this often leads to fiscal outcomes being valued over social outcomes, or profit over people.
This time around the government claims they’ll focus on social outcomes over financial ones - but the policy’s real effects are yet to be seen.
Producer Evie spoke to the University of Auckland’s Associate Professor in Environment Tom Baker about the fund, and how we can expect it to take effect this time around.
This week the government announced some of its education funding allocation in advance of next week’s budget. The announcement included $100 million for expert maths teachers and new maths tests in school.
$4 million has been allocated for a new maths test for students in their first two years of schooling. Education Minister Erica Stanford sez the test will help teachers identify students in need of additional support, with these additional needs to be met by the new team of specialist maths teachers.
These tests join a series of other tests introduced by the current government across all levels of primary and secondary education. To discuss how tests like this work for students and teachers on the ground, Wire host Castor spoke to PhD student in Education at the University of Auckland and primary school teacher, Tom Pearce.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Labour’s Shanan Halbert about Chris Hipkins pre-budget speech at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, the government’s review into the Waitangi Tribunal, and the cost of National’s FamilyBoost policy.
For International Desk, they spoke to Associate Professor in Political Science at Paris Cité University, Speranta Dumitru, about Pope Leo XIV’s views on migration and what this means for the papacy more broadly.
For City Counselling, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson, about how much of an impact the climate crisis will have on voters heading into local elections and incorrectly recycling lithium-ion batteries.
And Tuesday Wire Host Castor spoke to PhD student in Education at the University of Auckland and primary school teacher Tom Pearce about the government's stance towards testing in schools and his concerns of over-testing.
Yesterday, the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, delivered a petition, which was signed by more than 16,000 citizens. The petition calls on the government to stop the Police’s hasty withdrawal from mental health callouts, until an alternative service is up and running.
Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, Shaun Robinson, has said that “The Police are a critical safety net for people in distress needing urgent access to mental health support”, and that the government removing the support of the police without an alternative in place is comparable to removing the engine of a car while it is running. Robinson believes that both situations are “dangerous, and likely to lead to an accident”.
To talk about the dangers of this development, Producer Max spoke with Shaun Robinson
Recently, the US military indicated that it wants to increase the number of space launches from Rocket Lab’s launchpad on the Mahia Peninsula, including launching satellites that are involved in Nuclear command-control-and-comms.
Valerie Morse from Peace Action Wellington, has questioned this development over the lack of transparency from the US military about what they are launching into space, and urged New Zealand to stay firm on it’s stance on Nuclear Weapons.
To talk about this, as well as what it means for New Zealand’s independence, Producer Max spoke with Valerie Morse.
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.
95bFM 
