Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Joel Armstrong, Sara Mckoy, Max Micheel, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
On Wednesday, the Commerce Commission announced it will be taking ticket resale site Viagogo to court, saying it breached the Fair Trading Act.
Since the start of last year, the Commission has received more than 400 complaints about the Switzerland-based website, primarily concerned with the selling of fake tickets. However, is Viagogo the only source of problems for promoters, performers and consumers in the entertainment industry?
Ian Magan is a member of the New Zealand Promoters Association. Stewart Sowman-Lund spoke with him following the Commerce Commission’s announcement, and started by asking him how good the news is.
Kitty Lin, founder of Vegan Restaurant, Green Time, speaks to Kelly about sustainability and food creativity. The restaurant is involved with two events this week, celebrating culture and food creativity with a climate conscious and vegan twist.
The first is known as 'the Night of Sevens', or Chinese Valentines Day, celebrates the Legend of 'The Cowheard and the Weaver Girl' where the seventh daughter of the heavens and a human boy fell so deeply in love they gave up their heavenly and worldly duties. This festivity is being held as part of American Express Auckland Restaurant Month. Kelly asked first, what traditions they are bringing to this celebration.
Senior Lecturer, Bruce Cohen explains what the process of cutting courses in the school of social sciences has been like and what he expects the ramifications will be for the deletions. To hear the full story click here.
Oscar spoke to Pippa Coom, the chair of the Waitemata Local Board about the proposed planning for the potential reinvigoration of Te Wai Orea Western Springs Park. Focussing in on it as the intersection of urban planning and democratic participation, We looked more into the processes than the details of the project itself, discussing the involvement of public in these processes, the health of our natural public spaces and the importance of holistic planning moving forward.
Maori students and staff of the University of Waikato flocked to the Office of the Vice-Chancellor Neil Quigley in their dozens on Tuesday, to protest the restructuring of New Zealand’s first independent school for Maori studies. The remodelling comes only 18 months after the faculty became independent. Both Maori students and their supporters gathered to sing waiata and protest peacefully, presenting their case to the Vice Chancellor with “aroha” and a Mana Maori that they hope will show they want to come to a resolution without any conflict. Truly Harding, a student at the University, spoke to reporter Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira today about what the restructuring means for those students taking Maori and Indigenous studies, and why the issue is so important for Modern Maori to get involved with.
This interview is a highly anticipated one. Lillian Hanly got to speak with Dr Cornel West and asked him to introduce himself with a one liner - he called himself a black intellectual freedom fighter. This encompasses his many roles as an American philosopher, political activist, author, social critic and commentator. He has been a professor at Harvard, Princeton and Yale Universities. He calls himself a jazz man in the world of ideas, and often speaks through his love of jazz and blues music. He’s even made a number of spoken word and hip hop albums. Other important things you might want to know about him is that he was in both the Matrix sequels. His work focuses on race, gender and class in American society. He is here in Auckland this week for an event called Polarised, a discussion between himself and Douglas Murray, a well known conservative and critic of Islam whose book The Strange Death of Europe gives firsthand accounts and criticisms of mass Islamic immigration and problems of multiculturalism in the EU. Lillian started by asking Dr. West about this event.
On The Wire today, Dear Science talks about Monsanto (and gets a bit heated) as well as breaking down spaghetti mysteries.
Next, Lillian Hanly spoke with Dr Cornel West ahead of his appearance in Auckland this Friday, we talked about free speech, democracy, utopian futures, and the importance of music. This one is a long one, but its a good one and we really recommend you tune in.
Darashpreet Johal talks to Liam Rutherford, one of the lead negotiators from the New Zealand Education Institute, about the teachers strike which was happening at the same time in Aotea Square. Then she spoke with Karl Vasau, principal of Rowendale School in Manurewa to find out how teachers are being affected.
95 bfm talks to fire scientist Grant Pearce about the record-breaking fire season being witnessed around the world in 2018. The future of wildfires in New Zealand is discussed.
Justin takes us to international news this week, he reports on China’s tightened control on its Muslims population. Mary-Margaret speaks to Emmy Rakete of People Against Prisons Aotearoa about a prisoner whose 9 boxes of legal documents were seized before he went to court about Corrections’ human rights record. Ella speaks to Fire Scientist Grant Pearce about this years unprecedented fire season. This week on the Greendesk, Jack looks how the housing insurance is changing along our coast lines because of climate change.
From Dec 27 to Jan 18, all train lines across Tāmaki will be shutting down for summer maintenance, a closure which is expected to be the last of its kind ahead of the opening of the City Rail Link.
The current measles outbreak in Tāmaki is being continually monitored, with exposure sites being updated daily on info.health.nz. The public are encouraged to track whether they’ve been in possible contact with the virus, and get up to date on any vaccinations to limit possibilities of transmission.
Auckland Council are supporting arts initiatives across the summer months, with Music in the Park kicking off in early January, and Movies in the Park following in February.
Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about these topics, and also asked for comment following the attack by two gunmen at Bondi Beach earlier this week.
Yesterday, the latest six-monthly survey of housing support providers under the National Homelessness Data Project, or NHDP, showed that homelessness in Auckland has more than doubled in the year to September. The report also found that 14 of the 21 agencies interviewed reported an increase in homelessness.
As well as this, Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16 has taken effect. And according to an interim report into social media harm, a social media ban for children in New Zealand is worth exploring further.
And last week the Government announced the replacement of the Resource Management Act, or RMA. The coalition said its replacement will slash red tape and supercharge growth.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about the Government’s new RMA reforms and a potential social media ban in New Zealand.
But first they discussed the latest report on Auckland homelessness.
The Parliament’s Workforce and Education Committee has released an interim report on an inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders face online. The government has recently announced an overhaul of the Resource Management Act and introduced two new bills in its place, the Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill.
For our weekly catch-up with the National Party, Producer Vihan spoke to MP Carl Bates, who is also the Deputy Chairperson of the Workforce and Education Committee, about the new findings of the interim report, the new Natural Environment Bill, and the Fast Track Approval Amendments Bill.
The government has announced the overhaul of the Resource Management Act (RMA), which will be replaced by two different bills, the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill. The RMA is set to be fully replaced by 2029.
The RMA, which has been in effect for 34 years, is polarising across the political spectrum.
In announcing the reforms, RMA Reform Minister, Chris Bishop, says that “pretty much everything” will be quicker and less costly under the new regime.
For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about this overhaul of the RMA.
They also discussed The Education and Workforce Committee’s interim report on the harms young people experience online, with a majority recommending a ban on social media for under-16-year-olds.
But first, they discussed the overhaul of the RMA.
On Sunday, “Block the Ban” held a protest against the government’s decision to ban new prescriptions of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria.
The United Nations’ committee for the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination has released a report warning that New Zealand is at serious risk of weakening Māori rights.
And last week, the government rejected the recommended methane emissions targets.
This is despite officials warning against the government doing so, stating that lowering methane emissions targets could increase New Zealand’s contribution to global warming.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about all of these topics.
Safety measures on public transport are of growing concern this week following the fatal and unprovoked attack that took place on route 76 in East Tāmkaki on Monday night.
Earlier this week there were also multiple critical incidents that occurred simultaneously across Auckland’s West Coast beaches and waterways, seeing an unusually high deployment of emergency services and surf lifesavers for this early in the summer.
Swedish home and furniture retailer Ikea opened in Sylvia Park a week ago today, drawing huge excitement for many.
Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about these topics.
Last week was scrutiny week, where Parliament focuses entirely on holding government agencies and ministers to account, to check-in on how well the Government is performing.
Many of the questions surrounding scrutiny week have been focused on climate change, with many recent reports highlighting the Government’s questionable decision-making.. The biggest headline was that the coalition had chosen to reject all three of the climate change commission’s recommendations to strengthen New Zealand’s emissions targets.
Along with this, the United Nations released a new report, where they’ve warned that New Zealand is at serious risk of weakening Māori rights and entrenching disparities for the indigenous population. In the 14-page report, the UN expressed concerns over multiple government policies affecting Maori, including the disestablishment of the Maori Health Authority, cuts to public funding for Maori services, and minimising the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about the report released by the United Nations, but first they discussed Scrutiny Week and the Government’s recent climate change decisions.
The government is pausing the new prescriptions of Puberty Blockers to gender diverse and transgender young people from the 19th of December onwards, following a similar move by the UK after the results of the NHS’s Cass Review.
Wire Producer Flo spoke to activist Lauren Craig about the effects of the legislation, her petition “Reverse the decision to deny transgender and takatāpui young people access to puberty blockers” against the changes and the wider political motivation for the policy.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here
The biannual Scrutiny Week took place in Parliament last week, with meetings across select committees and government departments focussed on scrutinising the outcomes of government work.
These include hearings on ministries like Health, Housing, Environment and Justice.
Wire Host Sara spoke to National MP Carl Bates about Scrutiny Week, firstly by asking him to talk about the meetings he was involved in
95bFM 
