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.
Greenpeace Aotearoa has recently released their petition for the government to limit the amount of nitrates in drinking water to one milligram.
At the moment the legal limit of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is 11.3mg, which Greenpeace says is a major issue that has caused several illnesses and deaths.
The organisation has stated that water is a human right, and that the government must stand up for the health of our communities.
To learn more, Liam spoke to Steve Abel from Greenpeace about the petition and how Aotearoa got to this point.
Auckland council has released for consultation their proposal to rezone parts of the central suburbs for medium and high density housing development.
Casper spoke firstly to Auckland councellor Shane Henderson about proposal, what it will mean for Auckland’s housing development and how people can contribute to the feedback process.
Then, to bring in some wider perspective, Casper had a chat with Character Coalition chairperson Sally Hughes about a desire to preserve special character areas and how it might be reconciled with a need for more affordable housing.
Finally, to round out the discussion, Casper talked to Bill McKay from the Architecture department of the University of Auckland about the impact that the council’s proposal might have on the city in terms of livability, housing supply and the future of urban development.
A team of New Zealand researchers have recently released the results of the world's first bilberry genome sequencing project.
Bilberries, also known as European blueberries are an obscure fruit similar to Blueberries but with a consistently violet inner pigment compared to Blueberries green insides.
Liam spoke to Richard Espley from Plant and Food Research about their findings and the possible health effects of breeding bilberries and blueberries.
We have our regular chat with Andrew Little. Tuva’a speaks to him about the new health system reforms.
Joe speaks to Jude Ball from the University of Otago about adolescent drinking trends. He also will be speaking to Breast Cancer Foundation Chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner about New Zealand’s lack of access to cancer drugs.
Emilia speaks to Sanat Singh from Make it 16 about their case to lower the voting age making it to the Supreme Court. She also speaks to Greg Treadwell from AUT about Twitter agreeing to a sale to Elon Musk.
Cancer Control Agency Te Aho o Te Kahu released a report today aimed at measuring the gap that patients have been looking to close for years. The report found there were 18 cancer related medicines with significant benefits that New Zealanders did not have access to.
Joe spoke to the Chief Executive of the Breast Cancer Foundation, Ah-Leen Rayner, on the matter.
Earlier this week, researchers from the University of Otago released a report looking at substance usage amongst adolescents. The study found that rates of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis usage amongst Kiwi teens peaked about 20 years ago and have declined rapidly since, but our adolescents are still binge drinking at higher rates than their peers in similar countries overseas.
Joe spoke to Jude Ball, from the Department of Public Health, who co-authored the study on the matter.
Twitter has agreed to sell its platform to Elon Musk for a mammoth sixty seven billion New Zealand dollars.
Musk, who is a self-professed ‘free speech absolutist’ has given hints as to what he plans to do with the site regarding content moderation, user verification, and more.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Greg Treadwell, head of the journalism department at AUT about what this acquisition of twitter by Elon Musk could mean.
A campaign to give 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote has been granted leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.
While the Court of Appeal agreed that barring teenagers from voting was in fact unjustified age discrimination, they stopped short of making a formal declaration.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Sanat Singh, co-director of Make it 16 about his campaign heading to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday, the ACT Party held their annual rally, being called the “Free and Equal Rally”.
Notably, US author, James Lindsay, was a keynote speaker at the event.
Lindsay is the author of ‘Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody’ - among other titles, such as ‘Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis’ and ‘The Queering of the American Child: How a New School Religious Cult Poisons the Minds and Bodies of Normal Kids’.
Party Leader, David Seymour, says Lindsay is a “prominent advocate for free speech”. Prior to the event, a spokesperson for the party said Lindsay would discuss “reclaiming liberalism in an age of extremes”.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about the rally, why the party chose Lindsay as a keynote speaker, and we address some of the concerns with Lindsay’s previous comments.
They also discussed the first public hearings into the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the former government’s Covid-19 response, and what to expect heading into the next hearings in Wellington next month.
But first, they discussed ACT’s 2025 “Free and Equal” Rally.
This month, a number of council body reforms have come into effect in the Auckland Council, fulfilling Mayor Wayne Brown’s promise to address issues and implement community feedback into the council’s format.
The three new divisions in the Auckland Council to improve organisation include the Auckland Urban Development Office, the Property Department, and an Economic Development Office, each of which are intended to make decision making more effective and accessible to the public.
As well, with the persisting cold temperatures and rainy weather hitting Auckland this Winter, I wanted to discuss the topic of homelessness in Auckland’s city centre, and to what extent the council is working to support those rough sleeping in the CBD
Public hearings as part of phase two of the Royal Commission into COVID-19 took place in Auckland this week.
The second phase of the inquiry has a stronger focus on lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the impact of the Covid-19 response on business and the economy.
And yesterday, an independent reference group set up by the Ministry of Environment shared their recommendations for climate adaptation legislation.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Arena Williams about both of these topics.
Recently, a study was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton which uncovered a shift in the circulation of the Southern Ocean.
The study showed that the shift would draw up more salt water from the deep ocean, subsequently accelerating the loss of ice in the Antarctic and leading to an increase of sea levels and global heating.
The week before, the government allowed the terrorist designation given to the far-right ‘Proud Boys’ group to expire, effectively decriminalising the act of funding or openly supporting the group here in Aotearoa.
And, just yesterday Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a number of changes to Family Boost which she said would help families with the cost of living.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.
The Southerner was a passenger express train in the South Island running between Christchurch and Invercargill from 1970 to 2002.
The train was eventually closed due a decline in passenger numbers and subsidies, although it was briefly revived in May this year for four days as part of a tourist experience.
Recently, a group of campaigners from Save our Trains launched a petition calling on the government to restore the Southerner train route as a more accessible form of travel for South Islanders.
Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with Dave Macpherson from Save Our Train - Southern, to discuss his petition and why the Southerner should be restored.
Hearings on the regulatory standards bill are currently underway, with around 23,000 total submissions both written and oral. Early analysis of the submissions estimated 88% percent are in opposition, while only 0.3% are in support.
The bill has been pushed by Minister for Regulation and ACT Party leader David Seymour, who says it should support the government to reduce regulation and ensure the protection of individual rights and private property. The bill has been criticised for not including clauses around Te Tiriti o Waitangi or environmental protections. It has also been criticised for potentially undemocratic elements, placing large amounts of control in the hands of the unelected Ministry for Regulation.
In our weekly catch-up with the National party, Wire host Castor asked Tom Rutherford about the regulatory standards bill in light of the select committee hearings and new criticisms.
Recently, the government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mayors of Auckland, Otago, and Western Bay of Plenty Councils over the government’s expectations of City and Regional Deals. These deals aim to tighten the partnership between central and local governments.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to MP Cameron Luxton about what to expect heading forward regarding the relationship between local, regional, and central government.
They also discussed last week's Youth Parliament.
Youth Parliament provides the opportunity for 143 rangatahi aged 16-to-24 as Youth MPs, representing MPs across the political spectrum, and Youth Press Gallery members, to understand the country’s political processes, understand how government works, and replicate the Parliamentary process.
Youth MPs had previously accused event organisers of ‘censoring’ their speeches. This follows the MPs being asked to remove elements of their speeches that were critical of government policies, such as the Treaty Principles Bill and pay equity.
However, The Ministry of Youth Development has come out saying the way they communicated their wishes with Youth MPs could have been clearer and more concise. The general manager of the Ministry, John Robertson, says reviewing speeches and suggesting changes was a part of the process, but these recommendations are not enforced.
They also spoke to Luxton about these accusations, and whether they are tantamount to censorship.
Finally, they discussed calls by over half of the Youth MPs represented in this year's Youth Parliament, from across the political spectrum, renewing calls for the voting age to be lowered, to allow 16-to-17-year-olds the right to vote.
5 ACT Youth MPs, including the Youth MP representing Cameron Luxton, Fletcher Brown, had signed a letter calling for the voting age to be reduced.
This follows the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that found the current voting age is unjustified age discrimination and goes against the Human Rights Act 1993.
They also discussed these renewed calls to lower the voting age.
Following Israel and the US’ large-scale attacks on Iran, and Israel’s continued war on Gaza, this has raised the question on the future of international order.
News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to the Executive Director of the Britain Palestine Project, Dr Brian Brivati, about this turning point in international order, and what we should expect heading forward.
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has suggested to the local government forum that regional councils may be abolished, stating that
"After the upcoming changes to the Resource Management Act, I doubt that there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist.“
Regional councils across Aotearoa are responsible for matters relating to natural resource management, flood control, and biosecurity.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said effectiveness between different councils is varied, and that councils generate too much bureaucracy and are “too focussed on vanity projects”.
As well, in order to make the most of local and central investment into Auckland’s growing city, the government is asking Auckland Council to increase the housing development allowance around key Central Rail Link stations in the lead up to the project’s completion.
Seeking to amend the resource management act, the government hopes to increase housing height and density around Mount Albert and Baldwin Avenue stations, allowing upzoning of ten stories around these areas, in addition to allowing upzoning of fifteen stories around Maungawhau, Morningside and Kingsland.
Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics, starting with the proposal to scrap regional councils.