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.
American singer, Katy Perry, recently had a court win in a long-running trademark dispute with Australian fashion designer, Katie Perry. The singer successfully appealed a 2023 Federal Court decision, resulting in the fashion designer having her trademark cancelled, and being ordered to pay costs.
Producer Athena spoke to Associate Professor at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Law, Rob Batty, about what gave rise to the case, how trademark law was applied, and what the recent decision might mean for smaller names.
With his return to the oval office in the United States, Donald Trump's second presidential term has begun to flesh out fears of an authoritarianism like countries such as China and Russia.
Producer Yesenia spoke to University of Auckland Associate Professor of Global Studies, Chris Ogden about the 45th President of the United States Donald Trump returning to the oval office, the upcoming concerns people should be aware of and the reduction of freedom of speech happening as a result.
Producer Evie speaks to Te Pāti Māori's Mariameno Kapa-Kingi about the thousands who have enrolled in the Māori Roll following the hīkoi mō te tiriti, the gang patch legislation coming into effect, and the COP29 climate summit talks.
Evie also catches up with the ACT Party's Simon Court about the party marking one year in government and how they think they’ve done so far, along with the gang patch ban legislation officially coming into power.
Producer Yesenia speaks to the PSA’s National Health Sector lead, Ashok Shankar, on the Government planning to axe 1500 public health care roles.
She also speaks to Associate Professor of Global Studies at the University of Auckland, Chris Ogden, about Donald J. Trump's return to the oval office and his push to authoritarianism.
And finally, producer Evie speaks to senior research fellow at the University of Auckland Dr Anna Brooks on the just released Royal Commission Inquiry into Covid-19 and how it fails to address the long term impacts of the disease.
The government plans to axe 1500 roles within public health care that would affect Data & Digital media groups responsible for managing outdated IT systems.
Producer Yesenia spoke to the PSA’s National Health Sector lead, Ashok Shankar regarding the upcoming fears that come with these roles no longer being available, how this massive cut will affect nurses and health care workers and the impact of this axing of 1500 roles will affect the general public.
Last week the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 was released.
The report delved into the lessons learnt during the pandemic, featuring 39 primary recommendations within the 713 page report.
These recommendations explored a number of social, economic and health impacts of the pandemic, how the government responded and how the country could be better prepared for future pandemics.
The report explores the good and not so good moves by the government, and how they could have been more efficient in their response.
However, research fellow at the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute, Dr Anna Brooks says that the report fails to consider the long term impacts of Covid-19 that continue to affect many New Zealanders today.
Producer Evie spoke to Dr Brooks about these concerns, and how realistic it is that the recommendations will actually be implemented.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour spokesperson for Auckland and Rainbow issues Shanan Halbert about the new Federal Street Police Station in the Auckland CBD, a potential 70% surge in Public Transport pricing, and an evidence brief on Puberty Blockers from the Ministry of Health.
For State of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about new targeted tariffs proposed by Trump, the case against Trump for election interference being dropped, and the new Attorney-General Nominee.
For City Counselling this week, Sofia speaks to Councillor Shane Henderson about the new police station on Federal Street in Auckland CBD which was announced earlier this week.
She also speaks to Professor of Law at the University of Auckland, Mark Henaghan, about calls to reform children’s housing rights.
And she speaks to Researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Dr Olga Pantos, who is on the ground in Busan, Korea for the final International Plastics Treaty negotiations.
The University of Auckland’s Professor Mark Henaghan and researcher Christian Poland argue that children’s rights to a stable home are neglected by laws that prioritise adult interests.
In 2022, world leaders made a historic agreement to negotiate a global and legally-binding treaty on plastic pollution by 2024. This week, negotiators from across the globe are in Busan, Korea for the final negotiations on this International Plastics Treaty to end plastic pollution.
Producer Sofia spoke to Researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Dr Olga Pantos, who is on the ground in Busan for these final negotiations
Last week, Judges at the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister - Benjamin Netanyahu, former defence minister - Yoav Gallant and the military commander of Hamas - Mohammad Deif.
As a result of the warrants, any countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court would be required to arrest those charged and hand them over to the court in the Hague.
The move is considered to be particularly significant, as it’s the first incident in which the leaders of a western-allied country are receiving warrants from the court.
Wednesday Wire Host, Oto, spoke to Treasa Dunworth - An Associate Professor in the Faculty of :aw at the University of Auckland, to discuss the warrants, their significance and efficacy.
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as COP29, concluded in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku last week.
This year’s climate change conference was particularly controversial, with the host - Azerbaijan, being a major oil producer, with almost 2,000 lobbyists from the oil and gas industry attending and with many small island nation states in attendance objecting to the conference’s $300 billion financial agreement to help them address the impacts of extreme weather events.
Wednesday Wire Host, Oto, spoke to Bronwyn Hayward a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, to discuss the outcomes of the COP29 conference and the New Quantified Goal in Climate Finance that came from it.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about changes to Auckland Transport’s responsibilities, nationwide bus and train fare hikes, and concerns over the opening of the City Rail Link.
For State of the States this week, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa'aoso from the Yale Daily News about President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced next week for three felony charges.
They also discuss Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, who is the latest in a long list of unorthodox picks for government positions from Trump
This week saw the Labour Party’s annual conference, during which party leader Chris Hipkins spoke about the party’s goals and criticised the current National-led government.
Hipkins named the Dunedin hospital delays, interislander ferry fiasco, and tax breaks for tobacco companies as several issues that would be targeted by a future Labour government. Hipkins then called the government divisive and suggested their policies are taking the country backwards, both due to the Treaty Principles bill and this government’s approach more broadly.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked him about these issues and how the government would respond as it moves into 2025.
For Dear Science this week our expert Doctor Joel Rindelaub chatted to us about fungi recognising patterns, trees reducing inflammation, and how to give good gifts.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
Last week officially marked one year since the coalition government came into power.
It’s been a busy year for all three parties, with many new bills introduced, and many more repealed or abolished.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie checks in with Simon Court to see how well the party thinks they’ve done this past year. We explore what they have and haven’t been able to do, and whether they’ll continue to push for these things throughout the rest of their term in government. As well as how well the coalition parties have been working together.
She also asks about the government's gang patch ban legislation coming into effect, and how effective it’s really going to be.
Following the recent hīkoi mō te tiriti, statistics show that thousands of people have joined the Māori Roll; either switching from the General Roll, or signing up for the first time.
As a part of hīkoi efforts, organisers pushed for participants of the hīkoi to use their voices and vote, with co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, Rawiri Waititi, saying “if supporters were not enrolled to vote, nothing would change”.
For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori, Producer Evie spoke to Mariameno Kapa-Kingi about this shift in enrollments to the Māori Roll, and why this shift is important to the party.
They also discussed the gang patch legislation recently coming into effect, as well as the COP29 climate summit.
President-elect Donald Trump has announced a plan to enact tariffs that target China, Mexico, and Canada.
Prosecutors have dropped the election interference case against Trump, with the reasoning it will not be completed ahead of Trump taking up the presidency.
The cases against Trump’s co-defendants are continuing, although it is unclear if these charges will continue under Trump’s new nominee for Attorney-General Pam Bondi.
For States of the States this week Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about all of these topics.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about the new police station on Federal Street in Auckland CBD which was announced earlier this week to be opened in mid-2025.
Last week, the government’s ban on wearing gang patches in public went into effect. The legislation was debated heavily from its inception, with some questioning whether it was necessary or raising potential human rights concerns. The legislation passed regardless.
The annual COP29 talks also concluded last week, with countries discussing measures to reduce global emissions to reach climate change targets. The discussions bring about an opportunity to assess our national efforts to reduce emissions, and make projections for our Paris Agreement targets.
This week in our catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire Host Castor speaks to him about the gang patch ban and Aotearoa’s emissions targets in light of COP29.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Shanan Halbert, spokesperson for Auckland and Rainbow Issues, about the recently announced new Auckland CBD police station, a potential surge in public transport pricing, and the Ministry of Health evidence brief on puberty blockers.
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