Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news & current affairs show. Your hosts Joe Wickins, Christina Huang, Stella Huggins, Joe Wickins and Casper McGuire focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Weekdays 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Various art groups from throughout New Zealand have recently had their funding cut back by Creative NZ, in the midst of the government entities extension of their Kahikatea Scheme.
This includes the Shakespeare globe theatre, an artist residency at the home of painter Colin McCahon, and the Arts On Tour NZ .
The scheme has brought in important new talent for funding, but the letting go of groups who’ve received funding in the ast has raised questions about expanding arts funding.
To learn more, Liam had a chat with Steve Thomas, the artistic director of Arts on Tour, about how they’re planning to adapt.
Liam spoke to Pippa Coom on their regular City Counselling Segment, chatting about her final report of this council term and the upcoming local elections.
David spoke to Rebekah Graham from Parents of Vision Impaired about food insecurity amongst some of our country’s poorest people.
Liam also had a chat with Steve Thomas from Arts on Tour about arts funding in Aotearoa New Zealand.
David talked to Corrine Sales from Victoria University of Wellington about the Ukrainian language.
And finally Liam had a chat with the University of Canterbury’s Michelle LaRue about her research using satellites to understand wendell seal populations.
As per usual, Tuva’a brings us our regular chat with Labour's Andrew Little.
Joe speaks to Mohamed Elkharboutly from Massey University about traditional knowledge being the key to building cyclone-resistant homes in Fiji. Joe also talks to the Chief Executive of Alzheimers NZ, Catherine Hall, about global research indicating concerns in Alzheimers post diagnostic care.
Frances brings us Greendesk! She speaks to CEO Heather Saunderson from Keep New Zealand Beautiful about Clean Up Week.
Joe also speaks to SAFE for Animals CEO Debra Ashton about new data revealing the failure of the international live export trade to protect New Zealand’s animals.
Newly elected Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell came under scrutiny last month after Stuff revealed he had been involved in a serious assault on a 13-year-old boy when he was a student at King's College. Later, his female flatmate from when he was attending Otago University came forward with allegations of threatening and abusive behaviour.
Uffindell was suspended from caucus while an independent inquiry by Maria Dew KC took place. On Monday, National announced the findings of the investigation: aside from the King's College incident, the other bullying allegations were unsubstantiated.
For her analysis on the affair and how it was handled by National, Christina spoke to political commentator Dr Lara Greaves.
Voting for this year’s local body elections has begun, which is bringing increasing scrutiny to the issue of voter engagement.
Particularly for young people, Maori and Pasifika, but also for the general population, voter participation in local elections is relatively low and on the decline.
In regards to next year’s national election, the Independant Electoral Review Panel has begun seeking public input on potential changes to the electoral system that could benefit New Zealand’s democracy.
For Casper's weekly catch-up with National MP Dr Shane Reti, they discussed this topic of voter engagement as well as what might be expected from this electoral review and which changes he might believe to be useful.
Content warning: this next story contains details of rape and sexual assault.
Christina sat down with Layba Zubair to talk about her petition to reform consent laws in Aotearoa, which had received 12,000 signatures by the time it closed and will now head to Parliament.
This week on the show Joe speaks to Ingrid O’Sullivan, a Senior Adviser in Environmental Law at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington, about turtle bycatch mitigation. He also speaks to Wayne Macpherson from Massey University about how employers can improve workplace flexibility.
Trishil speaks to Darrin Bull from ADHD New Zealand about the ADHD healthcare improvements.
And Stella and Isla speak with Rebecca Trelease about Reality TV and Audience Psychology for our regular fortnightly segment, Tomorrow's World!
As we are in the midst of local election voting, councillors are beginning to wrap up their terms with Final Reports.
Pippa Coom, the councillor for Waitematā and Gulf, has recently released her own report on the achievements she’s made and issues she’s encountered over the past three years.
As a part of their fortnightly chats on City Counselling, Liam and Pippa had a kōrero about the report and what she’s looking to do if re-elected.
They also spoke more broadly about the local elections, as well as ongoing climate strikes happening around the country today.
This week on Dear Science, Dr Joel Rindelaub from UoA dropped into the studio to chat about the weird and wacky world of science. On this episode, Joel, Casper and Christina had a yarn about ants and the Cheerio effect, listening to music to test cognitive decline and the prevalence of microplastics all throughout the food chain. Listen back!
Earlier this week the City Rail Link reached a milestone, breaking through the end of its final tunnel.
The tunnel boring machine created space for the new rail system by breaking through fifteen metres of cement per day.
The machine was Named after Dame Whina Cooper, the Maori Rights activist who led the hikoi to parliament.
For this week’s segment of City Counselling, I had a chat with Shane Henderson about the City Rail Link milestone as well as the 2022 Mayoral conservation awards.
This week on The Green Desk, Frances catches up with Jess from Reparation Studio to talk about her mahi and vision for the future of fashion in Aotearoa.
On Monday the government announced the scrapping of the traffic light covid-19 protection framework, as well as the easing of many key restrictions.
Mask wearing will now no longer be required outside of healthcare settings, household contacts don’t need to isolate, and all vaccine mandates will cease at the end of the month.
For Casper's interview with ACT Party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, which he has taken over from Alex, they spoke about this announcement and how it has been received by the ACT Party.
Today, Alex chatted with ACT’s Brooke van Velden about the Government’s new youth crime strategy and ACT’s call for ankle bracelets on youth offenders, as well as the GST sharing members bill to fund housing infrastructure.
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