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.
Over the past few years, the government has indicated plans to introduce a container deposit scheme, where consumers can return bottles or cans for a small refund. Similar schemes are used around the world and significantly reduce waste and encourage recycling. While the proposal is still in Select Committees, there are concerns that lobby groups for producers of these products may try and stop the scheme from taking place. Noah Ferguson-Dudding spoke to Juressa Lee from Greenpeace on what the proposal means for Aotearoa.
This week, Noah Ferguson-Dudding spoke to MP for Botany Christopher Luxon as part of their regular catchup. They discussed potential new travel bubbles, increasing funding in healthcare, New Zealand's mental health crisis, and the recent news that Luxon is using his accommodation allowance to rent out properties to himself.
Neighbourhood Watch could be live across the ditch soon with quarantine-free travel!
But still over the phone (for now), Justin and Zoe talked about Australia significantly failing to hit their COVID-19 vaccination targets and a legal battle over drilling in South Australia's Lake Torrens.
Justin spoke to Health Minister Andrew Little about HPV vaccines, his experience in getting the first Pfizer-Biontech COVID-19 vaccine, and a report from Stuff saying that Ministry of Health officials deliberately delayed and edited out negative statistics from a mental health auditing report.
On their weekly chat, Justin and Health Minister Andrew Little discussed about his experiences on getting vaccinated, HPV vaccines, and controversies on the Ministry of Health removing negative statistics from a mental health report.
ACT MP Chris Baillie joined the show on the line to talk about his members' bill to remove trading hours and alcohol sales restrictions on Easter.
Justin spoke to Victoria University's Dr Bev Lawton on methods to prevent cervical cancer.
Neighbourhood Watch reports on Australia underperforming on COVID-19 vaccinations and a lawsuit over drilling in South Australia's Lake Torrens. (Also featuring chat on potential trans-Tasman travel!)
Turns out it's not only women that needs to be proactive in conducting smear tests or taking the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer - men also has a role in this. Victoria University's Dr. Bev Lawton spoke to Justin Wong.
ACT Party MP Chris Baillie has put forward a members' bill to scrap Easter restrictions on trading hours and alcohol sales. He joined Justin live to explain why.
In the second installment of, 'What's the Buzz?' with the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Aneeka talks to Executive Director, Sarah Helm, about methamphetamines and their place in Aotearoa.
Last week Pharmac workers announced their first-ever strike over cuts to annual pay increases and deteriorating work conditions. Also last week, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation announced plans to strike on July 30th. The nurses' strike follows concerns around understaffing and overcrowding, with many staff members facing burnout.
These two issues have been attributed to similar causes - not enough funding in the health sector, which is forcing redundancies, increased hours, and understaffing. While the government has committed extra funding to the health sector in the last two budgets, critics say the funding is inadequate and barely catching up to existing deficits.
In our weekly catch-up with the National party, Wire host Castor asked Tom Rutherford about health funding and the government’s plans moving forward in light of the two recently announced health workers' strikes.
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.
95bFM 
