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.
On the 22nd of April 2025, the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa, or PSNA, wrote to the New Zealand Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, requesting that New Zealand initiate the call for an internationally enforced "no-fly" zone over Gaza.
PSNA Co-Chair, John Minto, said that it would be "a small but practical step to blunt Israel's continuing genocidal attacks on Palestinians".
Producer Max spoke with John Minto, to talk about the appeal to Foreign Minister Winston Peters, New Zealand's commitment to the region, as well as the impact it would have if New Zealand were to take action.
Yesterday, at the age of 88, Pope Francis passed away from stroke and heart failure. As head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis was also known for being outspoken on various rights issues, including around immigration, refugees, climate change, and the occupation of Palestine.
The next pope is expected to be decided over the coming weeks, with multiple people seen as frontrunners for the position.
To discuss the life, accomplishments, and death of Pope Francis, Wire host Castor spoke to senior lecturer of theological and religious studies, Dr. Nick Thompson.
For Dear Science our expert Professor Allan Blackman chatted with us about dimethyl sulphide found on the exoplanet k2-18b, plants farming nickel, and turning rain into electricity.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about reserve bank budget cuts and new classroom developments in Auckland.
They also spoke to Senior Lecturer in theological and religious studies, Dr. Nick Thompson from the University of Auckland about the passing of Pope Francis and its implications.
Producer Amani spoke with the Environmental Protection Authority’s Shaun Prescow about the manufacture of tattoo inks in New Zealand.
And News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Great Place to Work New Zealand and Australia’s Rebecca Moulynox about a new study showing poorer working conditions in Australia compared to New Zealand.
The Environmental Protection Authority is gathering information on how tattoo inks are manufactured, distributed, and used in Aotearoa to determine whether existing regulations are appropriate and effective.
In 2020, the European Union restricted and banned several substances commonly found in tattoo inks due to the potential risk of adverse effects.
Although such effects are very rare, the Environmental Protection Authority Te Mana Rauhī Taiao wants to examine whether their regulations should better align with international standards.
Producer Amani spoke with Manager of Hazardous Substances Reassessments at the Environmental Protection Authority, Shaun Presow, to find out more on this.
A recent study of 156,000 has shown that New Zealanders should be aware of the differences between Australian work culture, before considering crossing the ditch.
The study has found that Australia pales in comparison to New Zealand regarding a workplace being fair regardless of race, age, and sexual orientation, with only 51% of those saying they consider their workplace as a psychologically and emotionally healthy environment to work in.
This comes as there has been a surge in New Zealanders leaving to Australia, with Stats NZ findings from 2023 showing a net migration loss of 44,500.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the general manager of Great Place to Work New Zealand & Australia; a global human resources research and certification organisation, Rebecca Moulynox, about these findings, and what New Zealanders should consider before working in Australia.
Kāhui Ako is a government programme providing funding to teachers and schools identified by the government as having greater educational quality. Recent government leaks have revealed that the programme may be cut.
While the programme did provide funding for the education sector, its implementation was inconsistent.
To discuss the programme, why it's being cut, and what the government could do for education, Wire host Castor spoke to Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Arts and Education at the University of Auckland, Camilla Highfield.
As artificial intelligence systems including the likes of chatbots and art generators become more advanced, their use has begun to pervade the political arena.
Across the world, political leaders and parties including Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and now New Zealand’s own ACT Party, have used AI images to promote a certain political agenda or message.
In the case of the ACT Party, an artificial stock image from Adobe AI titled “happy Māori couple sitting in a living room” was featured in a social media post underneath the tagline “Kiwis are saving over $150 per week on their mortgages since ACT entered government”.
Producer Sara spoke with University of Otago Media, Film and Communications Professor, Dr Olivier Jutel about this new era of AI political content.
To begin, she asked him to discuss why ACTs recent social media post was so problematic.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to MP Shanan Halbert about Casey Costello’s Te Whatu Ora language directive, consultation opening on the new relationship and sexuality education draft framework, and the Treaty Principles Bill being voted down at second reading.
For International Desk, they spoke to Jean Lantz Reisz from the University of Southern California Law School about the removal of Kilmar Abrego García from the United States without due process.
Wire Producer Sara spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson for City Counselling about council amalgamation and the roles available in Auckland Council in this year’s local elections.
And she spoke to Dr Olivier Jutel from the University of Otago on the use of AI in political content, specifically ACT’s recent social media post.
Kilmar Ábrego García, a man legally in the United States, was wrongly deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador earlier this month.
The Trump administration refuses to bring Ábrego García back to the United States despite a Supreme Court ruling stating that Trump must “facilitate” this process.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Associate Professor Jean Lantz Reisz from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California about Ábrego García's removal from the US and what this means for the rule of law.
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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