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.
Following a year of Government Budget cuts in response to the current recession, economists and social service workers have expressed concern about the effects current fiscal policies will have on New Zealanders.
In December 2024, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, revealed that the government's plans to reduce social service spending could lead to 3900 jobs being cut. Around the same time, Auckland City Mission CEO, Helen Robinson, warned that food banks face closures in 2025.
Producer Athena spoke to Economist, and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Dr Susan St John, about how the recession, and cuts to social services will affect New Zealanders.
As of last week, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill came into effect, allowing landlords to end a periodic tenancy without needing to give a specific reason, changing legislation introduced by the previous Labour government in 2020.
The government says the bill, which passed its third reading in December, is aimed at enticing more rental properties to be in the market.
However, this move has raised concerns from those renting, due to concerns such as retaliatory evictions from landlords.
On Friday, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the President of Renters United; an advocacy group of renters, Zac Thomas, about the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill coming into effect.
They started off by asking how the organisation is feeling about this amendment as a whole.
Last week the government announced their second climate target, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
The target outlines how much emissions need to be cut by 2035. The government has chosen a target of getting emissions down by 51 - 55% compared to 2005 levels. This is only 1% higher than their previous target.
The announcement has been slated as unambitious, particularly in relation to comparable nations, as well as developing countries.
However, with the proposed climate policies from the government, many of which aren’t even in place yet, Aotearoa isn’t forecasted to reach this goal.
On Friday, Producer Evie spoke to Massey University's Professor of Sustainable Energy and Climate Mitigation, Ralph Sims about the target and how realistic it really is.
The government has announced the reversal of blanket speed limit restrictions in 38 sections of New Zealand’s road network with new Transport Minister, Chris Bishop, announcing a further 49 sections will be set to be reviewed during public consultation in the coming months.
This would increase the speed limits in multiple areas, from the Northland region to the top of the South Island.
These developments have faced mixed reactions, with many local leaders deeming this move “reckless”.
There are concerns that in certain regions, the reversal of speed limits would be on stretches of roads that have schools, a shared pathway, and communities.
On Friday, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Transport Planner for Movement; an alliance of national organisations advocating for safe and accessible active transport in Aotearoa that had previously placed an application for judicial review into the decision, Bevan Woodward, about the government changes to speed limit restrictions, and the group’s concerns regarding this.
They started off by asking if there was adequate reasoning for the reversal of speed limits in these sections.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party's Simon Court, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to him about issues with the government’s ‘revamped’ school lunches programme, oral submissions on the Treaty Principals Bill, and ‘xenophobic’ comments made by NZ First MPs in Parliament.
Joel also spoke to the Transport Planner for Movement; an alliance of national organisations advocating for safe and accessible active transport in Aotearoa, Bevan Woodward, about the government changes to speed limit restrictions.
Producer Evie spoke to Massey University's Professor of Sustainable Energy and Climate Mitigation, Ralph Sims, about the government’s second climate target for 2035.
Joel spoke to the President of Renters United, Zac Thomas, about the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill coming into effect as of Thursday last week, which would grant landlords the right for no-cause evictions.
And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins us in studio to discuss AI.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni about the oral submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill and Luxon’s State of the Nation speech where he revealed National’s intention to campaign on asset sales next election.
For the final State of the States, they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about recent executive orders from Trump, the near-miss trade war with Colombia, DeepSeek AI, and the future of the Trump presidency.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia speak to Councillor Julie Fairey about Auckland Council’s progress on storm recovery, two years on from the Auckland Anniversary floods.
She also speaks to Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and te Tiriti o Waitangi expert, Margaret Mutu, about the Treaty Principles Bill oral submissions hearings which began this week.
Oral submissions to the Select Committee on the divisive Treaty Principles Bill began this week on Monday. This comes after the Bill’s submission deadline was extended earlier this month and over 300,000 written submissions were made. The committee is set to listen to 80 hours of submissions over the next month, from a variety of academics, legal experts, activists, and community groups.
Producer Sofia spoke to Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and te Tiriti o Waitangi expert, Margaret Mutu, about this, firstly asking her about what her expectations were going into this week.
It is a fact that what makes Aotearoa New Zealand an amazing place to live is nature. Our export industries are built off the idea of a ‘clean, green New Zealand’, attracting tourists and food exports.
Greenpeace’s Executive Director Russel Norman claims that “Luxon’s relentless War on Nature burns the natural capital of Aotearoa for short term GDP growth.”
He has called it a ‘war on nature’, and says that the clean-up costs of a coal mine are greater than a full year of royalties that coal companies pay to the government.
Sasha spoke in depth about Christoper Luxon’s continued ‘war on nature’ with Russel, further speaking on international implications.
Last week in a speech from ACT party leader David Seymour which he described as his own “State of the Nation” speech, he called for the privatisation of government assets. Seymour noted recent issues in public sectors such as health and housing, proposing that private organisations would manage operations better than the government.
The Public Service Association says the privatisation of the health sector will lead to the prioritisation of profits over health outcomes for individuals. Countries like the United States where the health system is almost entirely private see those with or without insurance rejected from hospitals, unable to pay for life-saving treatment.
Wire host Castor to National Secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about how a private health system would work in Aotearoa.
Last week, the council’s Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) Committee said they would be seeking to implement a number of recommendations that improve emergency readiness for disabled populations.
Following a hui last year where community members were invited to bring forward issues relating to future planning for natural disasters, Sara was interested to hear about how the council is taking suggestions on board.
As well, Auckland Council has been considering proposals to mitigate flood risks around the Wairau catchment, including one which would see the reduction of the size of the Takapuna Golf Course, to convert the space into a flood catchment.
Producer Sara spoke to Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson on both of these topics, firstly by asking him to discuss the desired outcomes relating to emergency preparedness for disabled people, and the council’s first steps to implementation
Zohran Mamdani has all but won the Democratic Primary in New York City after key competitor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race.
Mamdani will now be the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor.
His campaign was built on cost-of-living, where Mamdani presented himself as an authentic, Democratic Socialist, grassroots campaign leader.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to 95bFM reporter and South Asia correspondent Sanat Singh about Momdani’s win, what this means for the communities he represents, and where to from here.
A reported 131,000 submissions were made on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
The Bill, proposed by the ACT party, includes a set of principles outlining “responsible regulation.” Notably, it does not include any mention of either version of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Last weekend, hundreds of Destiny Church members marched on Queen Street in a rally that they called “in defence of faith, flag, and family.”
And the Labour Party has criticised the framing of a poll question by the Taxpayers Union/Curia on whether or not Cook Islanders should retain automatic New Zealand citizenship.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden asked Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Recently the Green Party commissioned independent legal advice to look into the government’s $200 million investment in new gas fields that was carried out last month and found out that the investment was in breach of the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS).
NZ First MP Shane Jones recently announced that he’d be drafting a member's bill to force Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement, which would prevent hapū from negotiating separate commercial redresses and remove any reference to hapū sovereignty from the settlement terms.
And the Green party recently issued a call to the New Zealand government to condemn the US strikes on Iranian Nuclear facilities, almost a week after Iran and Israel had both been trading missile strikes between each other.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke with MP Hūhana Lyndon to get the party’s take on all of these issues
Last week, Statistics Minister Shane Reti announced plans to scrap the nationwide census moving forward. The census is the largest statistical survey done in Aotearoa, and provides the bulk of population data used in research and decision-making. Reti says the census is “no longer financially viable” and will be replaced with a combination of smaller annual surveys and administrative data.
While the change looks good on paper, there are concerns around how the change in data collection could affect representation of marginalised and minority groups. Census data tends to be more protected from bias than administrative data and smaller surveys, meaning there are more opportunities for misrepresentation. Some statisticians are particularly concerned about the potential exclusion of marginalised rural communities.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked him about the census decision and its implications on marginalised and minority groups.
Associate Health Minister, David Seymour, has recently announced changes to Psilocybin and Melatonin availability.
Psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, will be available for certain patients suffering from poor mental health outcomes. Melatonin, which is used for insomnia and jetlag, is set to be available over the counter.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about this move, and the potential accessibility concerns with accessing these medications.
They also discussed taxpayers set to be funding newly-funded cancer medicines for private facilities.
Finally, they discuss opposition parties criticised Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, over a lack of transparency regarding the effectiveness of boot camps for youth offenders, especially as boot camps have received a boost of $30 million, despite the pilot programme still being ongoing.
But first, they discussed Psilocybin and Melatonin.
Last Saturday, over 2,000 protests took place across all 50 American States against President Donald Trump.
The protests coincided with Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the US Army, and they served as a direct response to the military parade in Washington, DC.
The organisers of the protests say they aimed to reject “authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarisation of our democracy.”
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Jeremy Pressman, Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut about the protests and the backlash towards them from the Trump administration.
Housing intensification is a key priority for Auckland Council as Auckland's population is forecast to reach 2.3 million by 2050.
But as planning for growth continues, some Auckland residents have expressed concern about the approval of developments in areas on flood plains or particularly prone to natural disasters.
With Kāinga Ora selling homes as ‘high risk investments’ in areas which were impacted by flooding in recent years, and 15 percent of all granted consents for new builds by Auckland Council being on floodplains, I spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about how the council is taking into account these issues for the coming years.
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