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.
Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, and Producer Evie in studio to discuss students starting/going back to university!
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about government legislation for a four year parliamentary term, and the government giving further powers for citizen arrests.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to the Director of Advocacy at IHC New Zealand; an intellectual disability advocacy group, Tania Thomas, on the recently released Stats NZ figures showing a large number of individuals with a disability are needing better care in at least one aspect of their life.
Joel speaks to an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, on his doctoral research, calling for Aotearoa to adopt an animal welfare police unit.
And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins us in studio to discuss students starting university for the year
Concerns have been raised regarding Aotearoa’s animal protection system.
In his doctoral research, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, comparing our system with Alberta, Canada’s, Ferrere refers to our system as being ineffective, underfunded, and at risk of collapse, and has called for an animal welfare police unit to address the concerns with our current system.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, started off by asking him how grave of a concern our current system is.
Recently, Stats NZ have released findings from the 2023 Household Disability Survey (HDS), collected during the 2023 Census, that found that 63% of those with a disability in Aotearoa have called for better care in at least one aspect of their lives, such as with better support, reasonable accommodation, home modifications and equipment, and medical care.
The HDS found that in New Zealand, roughly 10% of children have a disability, with this being 18% of adults, equating to roughly 851,000 people.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Director of Advocacy at IHC New Zealand; an intellectual disability advocacy group, Tania Thomas, about these recently released findings, specifically for those who have an intellectual disability.
This comes as the organisation is set to release a report using these findings in the coming months, highlighting the significant hardship faced by those with an intellectual disability; reinforcing the need for urgent policy to address these concerns.
Joel started off by asking her if these findings were surprising to her.
Research from a new study of 185 countries has found that New Zealand and Australia have some of the highest rates of breast cancer diagnoses in the world.
However, our mortality rates from breast cancer were at the lower end of the scale, and reducing by 2.1% per year - well on our way to meeting the World Health Organization Global Breast Cancer Initiative goal of 2.5% a year.
Sofia spoke to cancer genomics researcher and data analyst, Dr Annette Lasham, from the University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences about the study and how we respond to breast cancer diagnoses in Aotearoa.
StatsNZ has released new data showing the government has missed all its child poverty targets, and that the number of children in material hardship has risen from 144,100 to 156,600.
The government’s proposal to expand citizen arrest laws has been met with a mixed response. The proposal has been criticised by business groups, First Union, and the Labour Party, largely for the risk to workers.
And protestors against a sewerage pipeline being installed through the tapu Lake Rotokākahu have committed to staying at the site after facing off with police.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni about the new Stats NZ child poverty stats, the government’s proposed changes to citizens arrest laws, and the protests at Lake Rotokākahi.
For International Desk, they spoke to Red Tsounga, President of the Aotearoa Africa Foundation, about the ongoing conflict in the Congo.
And they spoke to Carolyn Young, Chief Executive of Retail New Zealand, about the proposed expansion of citizen arrest laws.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Julie Fairey about Auckland Council’s proposal to move Kumeū due to flood risk and bed night visitor levy to fill a budget gap for major events.
She also spoke to Dr Annette Lasham from the University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Science about new research from 185 countries showing New Zealand and Australia have the highest breast cancer incidence rates in the world.
And Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke to University of Auckland health researcher Dr Joanna Hikaka about a new study on older Māori experience with ACC.
Conflict has escalated in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, driven by ethnic tensions and access to mineral resources.
The conflict has been marked by murder, violence, and forced displacement. Over 6.9 million people in the Congo were displaced by the end of 2023, and 7,000 have been killed since January this year.
For International desk this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Aotearoa African Foundation President Red Tsounga about the ongoing violence in the Congo and what more the international community can do to support those who have been displaced.
The government has announced an expansion of citizen arrest laws. These new laws would allow retailers to detain suspected shoplifters using “reasonable force.”
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Retail New Zealand Chief Executive Carolyn Young about the proposed law change and how it could put retail workers in danger.
An international report published last week by The Lancet Global Health Commission, co-authored by the University of Auckland, has revealed hundreds of thousands are dying each year through a lack of access to medical oxygen.
“Oxygen delayed is life denied,” said one survivor of Covid-19 in Kenya.
Associate Clinical and Medical Health Sciences Professor at the University of Auckland, Stephen Howie, one of the co-authors of the report, offered producer Amani his precious time away from the hospital for an interview, where he shared with us his personal experiences in overseas hospitals where he’s seen a lack of medical oxygen be the cause of many preventable deaths, and his thoughts on what needs to be done for this issue to be fixed.
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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