Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Jessica Hopkins, Castor Chacko, Nicholas Lindstrom, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
The Australian government has announced plans to implement legislation that would ban under 16 year olds from social media, with Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, saying the bill will be introduced to Parliament within the next few weeks.
This move has been criticised, including by the The Australian Child Rights Taskforce; an organisation made up of 100 academics and 20 civil society organisations, which have written to the Australian government opposing the bill, rather calling for the government to impose “safety standards” on social media.
However, Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland, Dr Samantha Marsh, supports Australia’s move, and is calling for New Zealand to implement similar restrictions.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to her about Australia’s move, and why she supports it.
Producer Sofia spoke to Distinguished Scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States and honorary academic at the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland, Dr Kevin Trenberth, about the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) and the possible impact on climate action progress following the re-election of Republican Donald Trump in the United States.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about the joint press release from Labour, the Greens, and Te Paati Maaori against the Treaty Principles Bill and the formal apology to survivors of abuse in state care.
For State of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about the republicans winning the house of representatives and Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments.
For State of the States they also speak to political commentator and former Radioactive political host Tom Unger about the mood on the ground in Washington D.C. and the Democrat’s response to losing the election.
For City Counselling this week, Sofia speaks to Councillor Shane Henderson about Hīkoi mō te Tiriti passing through Tāmaki Makaurau yesterday and Auckland Council’s Christmas tree spending.
She also speaks to Distinguished Scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States and honorary academic at the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland, Dr Kevin Trenberth, about the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly known as COP29, which started this week.
Last week Donald Trump and the Republican Party won a decisive victory in the United States election, taking both the presidency and the senate. Over the past week the Republicans have also taken the house of representatives, and president-elect Donald Trump has announced some key cabinet appointments. Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa’aoso about these developments.
They also speak to political commentator, Tom Unger, about the mood on the ground in Washington D.C. as well as how Kamala Harris and the Democrats have responded to the election over the past week.
Just last week, on the Seventh of November the new Treaty Principles Bill was announced in parliament. The development of the bill excluded any consultation with Maori and does not reflect the texts or meaning of Te Tiriti, according to the Waitangi Tribunal. Principle 2 within the Bill, if enacted, would revoke the promises made by the queen to Maori in 1840.
Hikoi protesting the bill began three days ago and has moved from Cape Reinga to Northcote and Bastion Point today, with its eventual goal to protest at parliament on the 19th. The first reading occurs this week in parliament, afterwards being sent to the select committee for a six-month hearing process.
Sasha spoke to Lisa Woods, a Movement Building & Advocacy Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, about the Treaty Principles Bill and its opposition.
On the 11th of November, the Fonterra company announced that they will be selling customer-facing brands, which include Anchor, Mainland and others. Following this announcement, Greenpeace are calling for potential buyers to go palm-kernel free.
This comes after an expose of Fonterra’s dishonest marketing strategies, and claims that its milk is produced with ‘regenerative farming’, a blatant example of greenwashing.
Sasha spoke to Sinéad Deighton-O'Flynn, Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa about the new sale of companies associated with Fonterra, including potential implications for consumers and Greenpeace’s expectations for companies looking to purchase.
For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about Hīkoi Mō te Tiriti, the 9-day Hīkoi opposing the treaty principles bill, as well as the government apologies to victims of abuse in care and the election of former US president Donald Trump.
He spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about the ongoing siege of Northern Gaza, as well as media coverage of the clashes between Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters and locals in Amsterdam and the implication of Donald Trump’s election on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
He spoke to Ti Lamusse from Victoria University of Wellington about the governments cuts to mental health services for prisoners and the increase in the prison population of Aotearoa to 10,000 inmates.
And he spoke to Kevin Lamb from Age Concern Auckland to talk about a study examining loneliness amongst older New Zealanders.
Sasha spoke to Lisa Woods, A Movement Building & Advocacy Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand about the treaty principles bill and calls for a codified constitution.
And he spoke to Sinéad O'Flynn, an Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, about the new sale of companies associated with Fonterra, including potential implications for consumers and Greenpeace’s expectations for companies.
Last week, the Department of Corrections announced that it had axed four contracts with community organisations providing mental health support services to prison inmates.
This comes amidst an internal review of mental health services within Corrections, leading to these contracts being the next set of public service initiatives to face cuts under the coalition government.
Oto spoke to Ti Lamusse, a Lecturer in Criminology at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, to discuss these cuts and mental health services for prisoners in general.
They also had a discussion about new figures showing that the prison population of Aotearoa had exceeded 10,000 inmates, for the first time in four years.
A new study has been published showing that senior citizens in Aotearoa were experiencing record levels of loneliness and isolation.
The study - called The Breaking Barriers study, was commissioned by Age Concern Auckland, a charity dedicated to improving outcomes for Aotearoa’s elderly population, and it found that 59% of Kiwis aged 65+ had recently felt lonely or socially isolated.
The study calls for an increase in holistic solutions to address loneliness amongst seniors, as wel as establishing a minister of loneliness in government, a move that has been adopted in the United Kingdom and Japan.
Oto spoke to Kevin Lamb, Chief Executive Officer of Age Concern Auckland, to discuss the study and why older New Zealanders are experiencing increased levels of loneliness.
Since October this year, as part of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, Israeli Defence Forces have imposed a siege on the Northern Gaza Governate in the Gaza strip.
The IDF has designated the entire Northern half of Gaza as a combat zone, blocked the movement of all aid heading into the area and sent evacuation notices to all of Northern Gaza’s Palestinian inhabitants, effectively declaring everyone in Northern Gaza to be an enemy combatant.
Oto spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, to discuss the implications of Israel’s ongoing siege of Northern Gaza for the area’s Palestinian inhabitants.
They also had a discussion about the implication of Donald Trump’s election victory for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, as well as the media coverage of the clashes between locals in Amsterdam and supporters of the Israeli football team - Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Last week Donald Trump and the Republican Party won a decisive victory in the United States election, taking both the presidency and the senate. Over the past week the Republicans have also taken the house of representatives, and president-elect Donald Trump has announced some key cabinet appointments. Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa’aoso about these developments.
They also speak to political commentator, Tom Unger, about the mood on the ground in Washington D.C. as well as how Kamala Harris and the Democrats have responded to the election over the past week.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about Auckland Council's response to Hīkoi mō te Tiriti and Council's $1.3m Christmas tree that is being put up in downtown Auckland.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about the joint press release from Labour, the Greens, and Te Paati Maaori opposing the "divisive" Treaty Principles Bill and this week’s formal apology from the Government to survivors of abuse in state care.
The Treaty Principles Bill is being tabled this week as part of the National Party’s coalition agreement with the ACT Party. The bill was one of ACT’s main campaign promises, attempting to clarify the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi under the law.
The bill’s changes have been criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, which found that the consultation process deliberately excluded Māori, the proposed content does not reflect Te Tiriti, and that if passed would cause significant prejudice to Māori.
In response to the bill, a national hīkoi has been organised. Today the hīkoi is stopping in Kaiwaka, and it will make its way to parliament on Tuesday next week. In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the bill and the hīkoi.
The Treaty Principles Bill, which sets to redefine the principles of the Treaty, has been introduced to Parliament, two weeks earlier than what had previously been planned.
This moved has faced significant backlash including from the political parties the Labour Party, Green Party, and Te Pāti Māori, banding together in opposition.
As well as this, a hīkoi from the top of the North Island: Cape Reinga, and the bottom of the South Island in Bluff, the Toitū te Tiriti hīkoi, will meet in Wellington at Parliament in opposition of the bill.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to Te Pāti Māori’s Tākuta Ferris about the Treaty Principles Bill being pushed forward, and the subsequent Toitū te Tiriti hīkoi.
The ACT Party’s Treaty Principles Bill was introduced to parliament last week, pushed rapidly forward, with its first reading set to happen this week.
Because of the move, Prime Minister won’t be present for the bill's first reading. Which the National Party and New Zealand First have both repeatedly said they won’t support it past.
Labour, The Green Party and Te Pāti Māori also banded together in opposition against the bill, urging the Prime Minister to block it. and today a nationwide hikoi in opposition to the bill kicks off.
For their weekly catch up, Producer Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about the early introduction of the bill and the hikoi. They also speak about David Seymour saying he won’t support a ban on Nazi symbols, despite the huge government crackdown on gang patches.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has criticised Auckland Council’s cultural and economic agency, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, for spending $737k to boost positivity about the city through their ‘Happy Guide’ campaign.
Additionally, last week Auckland Council voted to move all speed racing to Onehunga, meaning nearly 100 years of speedway racing at Western Springs is coming to an end.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics.
Last night Republican Donald Trump won the United States election, sweeping battleground states and taking more than the 270 electoral college votes required to win.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about who voted for Trump yesterday and students’ reactions to the election outcome.
They then spoke to political commentator and former political show host at Radioactive Tom Unger, who is on the ground in New Jersey, about the reaction from both campaigns and the general public to Trump’s win.
And they spoke to Associate Professor in Law Scott Optican from the University of Auckland about the ramifications of Trump winning as a convicted felon, as well as the potential impacts of a Trump presidency in Aotearoa.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Willow-Jean Prime about Gumboot Friday’s Mike King making a controversial comment about mental health and alcohol, the government bringing forward the introduction of the Treaty Principles Bill, and a leaked cabinet paper revealing physical force can be used against youth offenders at the government’s military style bootcamps.
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