Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Joel Armstrong, Castor Chacko, Oto Sequeira, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court and will be tried in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
This comes as the ICC faces criticism for other, more controversial current arrest warrants, including those against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about Duterte’s arrest and broader issues facing the ICC.
Last week, Green Party MP Tamatha Paul made comments about the police and the expansion of beat patrols in Wellington, saying they make a lot of people feel “less safe.”
The comments have been criticised by MPs across National, Act, New Zealand First, as well as Labour.
And Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking specialist external advice on what ways the supermarket duopoly could be restructured.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these issues.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about Green MP Tamatha Paul’s comments about the police and Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ recent announcement on the supermarket duopoly.
For International Desk, they spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about the arrest of former Philippines President, Rodrigo Duterte, by the International Criminal Court.
For City Counselling, Producer Sara spoke to Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson about Auckland Transport’s decision to increase parking rates by 50 cents per hour in lots across Auckland, as well as the latest development in Auckland’s ‘stadium saga’, in which councillors have voted to support the Eden Park 2.1 project.
She also spoke with Unite Union’s Co-President Xavier Walsh about their call to action for the government, after the minimum wage was only increased by 35 cents this week, the lowest increase in more than a decade.
The adult minimum-wage rate has been set to increase by just 35 cents from the 1st April, the lowest increase since 2013.
Announcing the move on Tuesday, Minister for Workplace Relations Brooke Van Velden says it reflects the New Zealand economy’s recovery from a “sustained period of high interest rates and recessionary conditions” and ensures that “employers and businesses can continue to grow and provide employment opportunities – which could be put at risk with a disproportionate increase in the minimum wage.”
Unite Union, who represent hospitality and other minimum-wage workers, disagree.
On Tuesday, Unite Union organised five rallies across Aotearoa demanding the government to provide real pathways to a living wage.
They highlight that the minimum wage increase is essentially a pay cut for thousands of workers as it falls below the inflation adjustment.
To discuss more about the what many believe is this less-than-sufficient wage increase and Unite Union’s call to action, Producer Sara spoke with Unite Union’s co-president Xavier Walsh this morning. Here is that interview
For their weekly catchup w/ the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about Brooke van Velden's changes to the health and safety at work act, The recent controversies over comments made by Greens MPs Tamatha Paul and Benjamin Doyle and The Greens’ call to scrap government changes to early childhood care.
For this week’s Green Desk, Producer Leilani speaks to the Hospital Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa; a rehabilitation hospital for native birds, Pooja Dorle, about how to care for a sick or injured bird. Producer Liam, and News and Editorial Director, Joel, also attended their EcoFest workshop to check out the hospital, prior to their next event on the 6th of April. Thanks to Ecofest 2025!
Tuesday Wire Host, Castor, speaks to the Movement Building and Advocacy Director for Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, Lisa Woods, about new research showing many are concerned for social cohesion in the country.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Clinical Psychologist Dr Kumari Valentine about a petition to the government to roll back plans to introduce a new associate Psychology role.
And he spoke to Rachel Mackintosh, Assistant National Secretary at E Tū, about a poll they conducted showing opposition to the government’s plan to cut living wage requirements for a number of professions.
New research, which has been commissioned by the Helen Clark Foundation shows that many are expressing concern for social cohesion in the country.
Tuesday Wire Host, Castor, spoke to the Movement Building and Advocacy Director for Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, Lisa Woods, about this research, and why people may be concerned for social cohesion in New Zealand.
This weekend at MOTAT is the STEM fair, celebrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. There’s plenty of exhibitions and activities to get engaged in, and to discuss the fair Wire host Castor spoke to MOTAT’s Te Puawānanga coordinator, Phoebe Drayton.
You can find more information about the STEM fair and book tickets here.
Approximately 14 million children are likely to experience disruptions in nutrition support and services due to recent and anticipated global funding reductions, according to analyses by UNICEF.
The funding shortfall arises amid children worldwide grappling with record displacement, ongoing and newly emerging conflicts, disease outbreaks, and the devastating effects of climate change - all of which are threatening their access to sufficient nutrition.
Producer Amani spoke with Director of Communications for UNICEF Aotearoa Tania Sawick Mead to find out more about what further cuts to global aid funding could lead to.
Archives New Zealand and the National Library announced last week plans to cut 30 roles within the organisations. The two organisations are responsible for the preservation and retrieval of both historical and legal records in Aotearoa. The National Library also assists libraries and schools across the country in initiatives to boost children’s engagement with literacy and reading.
To discuss the impact of the layoffs and what they say about the government’s broader approach to the situation Wire host Castor spoke to national secretary of the public service association, Fleur Fitzsimons.
For Dear Science this week, our expert, Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about a series of science related april fools pranks, including a local “Sheep Albedo Hypothesis”.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about Tamatha Paul’s recent comments on public attitudes towards police officers.
They also spoke to MOTAT’s Te Puawānanga coordinator, Phoebe Drayton about the STEM fair this weekend and what everyone can get up to.
And they spoke to National Secretary of the Public Service Association about job cuts at archives NZ and what this means for the preservation of our nation’s records.
Producer Amani spoke to Director of Communications for UNICEF Aotearoa Tania Sawick Mead about the recent and planned cuts to global aid funding, which leave 14 million children at an increased risk of severe malnutrition and death.
Auckland Transport has announced another parking fare increase, pushing up parking across AT-managed lots 50 cents per hour.
They justified the increase as necessary to cover ‘rising operational costs’ and to cover the Auckland Council’s increased resource commitment to supporting Aucklanders with “issues like blocked driveways, footpaths, and clearways”.
As well, Auckland Council have voted to endorse the redevelopment of Eden Park, in favour of a new waterfront stadium — bringing the latest development in a long-standing discussion about the best approach to attract tourism and financial productivity to Auckland.
All they need now is the government to pitch in $100 million dollars to fund the project.
Producer Sara started her interview with Shane Henderson by asking why raising parking prices was the preferred option for covering council operational costs
Last week, Green Party MP Tamatha Paul made comments about the police and the expansion of beat patrols in Wellington, saying they make a lot of people feel “less safe.”
The comments have been criticised by MPs across National, Act, New Zealand First, as well as Labour.
And Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking specialist external advice on what ways the supermarket duopoly could be restructured.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these issues.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court and will be tried in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
This comes as the ICC faces criticism for other, more controversial current arrest warrants, including those against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about Duterte’s arrest and broader issues facing the ICC.
For a number of years, Aotearoa has been dealing with a shortage of psychologists and similar professionals to deal with the growing mental health needs of the wider population, with estimates suggesting that an additional 1,000 more psychologists are needed to fill gaps in the profession.
In response to the country’s growing mental health needs, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announced a new Associate Psychologist role, consisting of recent post-graduates, to work alongside fully trained Psychologists.
However, a number of Psychologists and experts have criticised the introduction of this new role, saying that these associate Psychologists may be expected to take on the responsibilities of clinical Psychologists despite being underqualified.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Dr Kumari Valentine, a clinical psychologist based in Dunedin, who’s launched a petition calling on the government to roll back the introduction of the new Associate psychology role and look to other methods of filling gaps in the Psychology profession.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
BirdCare Aotearoa is a wild, native bird hospital that works to rehabilitate sick and injured birds back into the wild.
For their upcoming event: ‘Bird Heros,’ a part of EcoFest 2025 on the 6th of April, the workshop will look at the best practices on rescuing wild native birds, and will include a tour of their bird hospital, which is not usually open to the public.
For this week's Green Desk, Producer Leilani spoke to the Hospital Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa, Pooja Dorle, about the rehabilitation processes of birds within their hospital ahead of their next workshop.
Fellow Green Desk Producer Liam, and News and Editorial Director Joel, went to the previous workshop over the weekend, and spoke to the Chair of the organisation, Kevin Furgeson, and volunteer Marina, and had a tour of their facilities. Thanks EcoFest!
BirdCare Aotearoa also has a fundraiser running to shed light on seabirds affected by street lights and brightly lit buildings across the city, affecting their migration patterns and causing birds, such as the protected Petrels, Shearwaters, and Prions, to fall and injure themselves. To support their clinical rehabilitation practices, you can support their campaign on givealittle.
Just recently, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke Van Velden, announced sweeping changes to health and safety regulations for businesses that she described as “low-risk”.
Some of the changes involved: narrowing the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks only causing death, serious injury or illness, creating a hotline for the public to report “overzealous” road cone placement and reducing "tick-box and safety activities" such as psychosocial harm policies for small businesses.
Around this same period of time, Greens MPs Tamatha Paul and Benjamin Doyle received intense media and political scrutiny for comments they made at a university panel and on social media respectively, with the backlash towards Doyle forcing them to abstain from parliament this week.
The Greens recently issued a call to the government to scrap their proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, which involve recognising qualifications other than early childhood teaching qualifications, removing up to 74% of ECE licensing criteria and removing requirements for regular updates and family.
In their weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the party’s take on all of these issues.
This week on Dear Science our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about various April Fools pranks in the world of science, including the 'Sheep Albedo Hypothesis' from here in Aotearoa.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central.
The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.
On Sunday, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced plans to combat the supermarket duopoly between Foodstuffs and Woolworths. This could include breaking-up or restructuring the current chains, with Cabinet also announcing a formal request for information, or RFI, into the matter.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about this announcement, and whether she, and the party, thinks this will be enough to address food accessibility in Aotearoa.
We also discussed the comments made by Green MP, Tamatha Paul, about the police, and whether she believes these comments have become sensationalised.
Finally, we discussed the party’s calls for mandatory police body cameras.
But first, they started off by asking Kemp about how the party are feeling about Nicola Willis’ most recent announcements into the supermarket duopoly.
Last week, the government announced its plans for reforming the Resource Management Act, or the RMA, introducing two acts to replace the current RMA. The plan is to bring the two acts before the select committee next year, passing them just before the next election.
For our weekly catch up News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about this reform, working with the opposition, and the lack of a Treaty clause.
We also talked about concerns that the health and police system in Aotearoa are failing, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police and being administered antipsychotic drugs.
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