Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Jessica Hopkins, Castor Chacko, Nicholas Lindstrom, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Last week, the government announced that planned developments to Dunedin’s hospital may exceed the planned budget of $1.88 billion, and reach as much as $3 billion. As such, ministers Chris Bishop and Shane Reti announced that the plans may require reductions or an extended timeframe.
The announcement was met with mass opposition both on social media and in public, with some 35,000 protestors turning out on the streets of Dunedin on Saturday to march against the change.
Wire host Castor spoke to the Mayor of Dunedin, Jules Radich, about the state of public health in Dunedin, the necessity of upgrades, and how the public response may impact the government’s future decision-making.
For Dear Science this week, our expert Professor Allan Blackman chatted with us about potentially debunked neuroscience findings, the Franklin expedition, and cancer medication thalidomide.
Our weekly catchup with the National party was off this week, as our regular MP Katie Nimon was away.
Wire host Castor spoke to the Mayor of Dunedin, Jules Radich, about the state of health in Dunedin and how the hospital cuts have been received.
They also spoke to PhD candidate and researcher at The University of Otago, Michael Swanson, about the hospital cuts and placing them in the wider politics of the current government.
And on the Green Desk this week, reporter Jack Marshall spoke to Principal Scientist from Manaaki Whenua, Linda Lilburne, about changing crops due to climate change.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party's Simon Court, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about the government's crackdown on truancy, as well as public submissions on the oil and gas exploration bill.
Evie also spoke to Greenpeace Executive Director, Russell Norman, about concerns surrounding the four day submission time on the same bill.
News and Editorial Director and Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the spokesperson for Peace Action Wellington, Valerie Morse, about Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, addressing the UN General Assembly, and whether his calls are enough to address Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon.
Evie spoke to The University of Auckland’s Gavin Ellis about job cuts at Whakaata Māori, and what this means for our media landscape.
Joel spoke to Senior Lecturer at the School of Management at the Victoria University of Wellington, Stephen Blumenfeld, about a study showing the positives of a hybrid working model, as Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, urges public services workers to go back to the office.
And Producer Sofia from the Thursday Wire last week spoke to Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn, about Fonterra’s recent yearly profit announcement and Fonterra’s use of palm kernel.
The crown mineral amendment bill was introduced to parliament last Tuesday. Public submissions on the bill close tomorrow (Tuesday 1st October). This gives the public only four business days to make their submission on the bill, significantly shorter than the average submission time.
The bill is aiming to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, something the coalition government campaigned on.
The government has also cut down the normal six month select committee process, wanting the bill to be passed before the end of the year.
Greenpeace says the short public submission time on the bill shows the government has a complete disregard for people in New Zealand who care about climate change.
Producer Evie spoke to Greenpeace Executive Director Russell Norman about his concerns surrounding the four day submission time on the bill, and what impacts the ban reversal will actually have on the environment.
Last week job cuts were confirmed at Whakaata Māori as part of ongoing budget cuts to the organisation.
The national indigenous broadcaster is set to lose $10.3 million provided in the previous government’s budget.
The cuts have resulted in the probable axing of the broadcaster's TV bulletin, with a plan to move to online content by March of next year.
In parliament Former Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson pleaded with the government to invest in Whakaata Māori, calling the move yet another attack on Te Reo.
The cuts come off the back of a tumultuous time for Aotearoa’s media space, following the closure of Newshub and major cuts at TVNZ.
Producer Evie spoke to the University of Auckland’s Gavin Ellis about the cuts at Whakaata Māori, the effect they’ll have on te ao Māori media, public access to news and the direction our media sector is moving in.
Recently, Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters, addressed the UN General Assembly, regarding the New Zealand government’s stance on world affairs.
Peters’ discussed a variety of different topics, such as calling for a veto reform, and announcing New Zealand’s plans to petition for a seat on the UN Security Council for the 2039-2040 term.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the spokesperson for Peace Action Wellington, Valerie Morse, about Winston Peters at the UNGA, specifically regarding whether or not Peace Action Aotearoa believes the Foreign Minister adequately addressed Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon, following the country previously agreeing on a UNGA resolution, calling for Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories within 12 months.
Recently, the government has announced a push to get public services working back into working in the office, as opposed to current, alternative methods, such as through working-at-home models, and hybrid working models.
This comes as multiple academics from the Victoria University of Wellington are set to release an article in the New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, discussing the positive findings of a hybrid working model.
Further findings in the past have proven claims that a hybrid working model improves productivity, such as a 2023 study from Human Resources New Zealand, which has shown 40% of HR professionals noted positive productivity gains from a hybrid working model.
I spoke to the Senior Lecturer at the School of Management at the Victoria University of Wellington, and co-author of the article, Stephen Blumenfeld, about the government’s calls to get public services workers back to the office, and the findings from the article.
Last week, Fonterra announced it is returning a total dividend of 55 cents a share for the past financial year, off the back of a $1.1 billion net profit.
In response to Fonterra’s profit announcements, Greenpeace Aotearoa has called out Fonterra for ‘profiting from rainforest destruction’.
Since last week, Greenpeace has also announced the organisation are suing Fonterra, over allegations Fonterra are also misconstruing the claim that their dairy product is 100% New Zealand grass-fed, when findings show that a potential 20% of a cow’s diet could come from palm kernels importanted from rainforests in Southeast Asia.
On 26 September, Wire Producer Sofia spoke to Greenpeace Aotearoa Agriculture Campaigner, Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn, about this topic, asking her firstly about how concerning the profit announcement was to Greenpeace.
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News on the latest United States election polling numbers and the execution of Marcellus Williams for State of the States.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour’s Mental Health spokesperson, Ingrid Leary, about Mental Health Awareness Week.
For State of the States, they speak to Andre Fa’oso from the Yale Daily News about recent presidential election polling numbers and the execution of Marcellus Williams.
And they speak to Daniel Benson-Guiu, Assistant National Secretary of the Tertiary Education Union about today’s strikes across four universities. I also speak to University of Auckland’s Queer Rights Officer Artie Ho about what the strike means for students.
For City Counselling this week, Sofia speaks to Councillor Julie Fairey about Council’s working from home policies and a rubbish bin graveyard found near Auckland Domain following Council removing public rubbish bins as part of its cost-saving drive
She also speaks to UNICEF Aotearoa Communications Director Tania Sawicki Mead about an open letter launched with the Global Coalition for Youth Mental Health calling for a multi-sectoral approach to tackle the global mental health funding gap.
For States of the States, 95bFM’s United States election coverage, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from Yale Daily News about the only vice presidential debate of the election.
For our weekly catch up with the Labour Party Wire host Caeden speaks to Labour education spokesperson, Jan Tinetti, on education unions opposition to charter schools, the reallocation of te reo Māori funding towards the maths curriculum, and the government’s new plan to lift school attendance rates.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about Council's progress on emergency response systems and the buyout scheme for homeowners impacted by floods.
Last week, infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Health Minister Shane Reti announced that the planned redevelopment of the new Dunedin Hospital would need to be scaled back, based on projections that the upgrade costs could reach or exceed $3 billion New Zealand dollars.
Advice given to Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand, has been to either reduce the scale of the hospital’s infrastructural development or to develop the project in stages.
The decision has been widely criticised, both by the general public and local government officials in Dunedin, who say that the announcement contradicts the coalition’s promise to continue a project started by the previous Labour government to rebuild Dunedin hospital to full capacity and capabilities.
For their weekly catchup, I spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss the decision to roll back on the development of Dunedin Hospital.
They also had a kōrero about the end of free covid test distribution and the government’s sign off on changes to increase speed limits.
The government has finally delivered on a long talked about policy, a major crackdown on truancy in schools.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced a three part ‘STAR’ plan, to be put in place by the beginning of the 2026 school year. There are various consequences for students absent between five and 10 days, but for students absent for 15 days, parents may be fined and prosecuted.
Many schools and teachers have taken issue with the policy, saying everyone wants their child at school, but the root of the issue can often be much deeper.
For their weekly catch up Producer Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about the crackdown, and why the government believes it will be effective.
They also talk about public submissions on the oil and gas ban reversal bill, which are open for only four business days, considerably shorter than submission time for most bills.
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News on the latest United States election polling numbers and the execution of Marcellus Williams for State of the States.
For our weekly catch-up the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary on Mental Health Awareness Week and broader mental health policy in Aotearoa.
Public Service Minister Nicola Willis has directed ministry bosses to tighten up on working from home.
Heart of the City has said workers returning to the office will help struggling businesses in Auckland's city centre and that Auckland Council could lead the way to revitalising the CBD.
However, after reviewing its working from home policies, Council has decided it is not going to change its flexible working arrangements.
Additionally, this week a large rubbish bin graveyard in central Auckland has sparked public outrage.
This comes after Council’s removal of public bins as a part of Council’s cost-saving drive, promising to save ratepayers $9 million by getting rid of 30% of the region’s public bins.
Sofia spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics.
Over the last two years, there have been a multitude of mechanical failures regarding the inter-islander ferries between the North and the South Island, which has brought great attention to the government. KiwiRail has requested a one-point-seven billion dollar funding request for a project to see the ferries repaired and ensure capacity for train transport as well.
Unfortunately, the government has declined the funding request, which could seriously impact the travel potential of goods and services, not to mention general transport, between the North and South island.
For this week’s Get Action! Sasha spoke to Dave Macpherson from The Future is Rail about a petition he started to ensure replacement Cook Strait ferries can carry trains.
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