Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Castor Chacko, Alex Fox, Emmanuel Orange, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party's Simon Court, producer Evie spoke to Simon about his members bill to change alcohol laws in West Auckland, Mike King’s controversial comments surrounding alcohol and mental health and the government’s funding of King’s Gumboot Friday initiative, as well as police pulling back from mental health call outs.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago, Dr Rose Crossin, about a briefing she co-authored regarding the correlation between suicide and alcohol, following controversial statements made by I Am Hope and Gumboot Friday campaigner, Mike King, in which he claimed alcohol is a solution for people with mental health problems.
They also spoke to Associate Professor in the School of Health at the University of Waikato, Sarah Gordon, about the police’s phased approach to attending fewer related mental health callouts that are not correlated with a level of high risk or crime.
And Evie spoke to climate scientist and honorary academic at the University of Auckland, Kevin Trenberth about calls for world leaders to scrap net zero targets that look to offset emissions, and instead endeavour to remove all emissions in a ‘real zero’ initiative.
The Police have announced a new phased approach to attending lesser mental health-related callouts, that are not of high risk or are related to crime, with the next phase aimed at handing over these responsibilities to health staff.
The first phase is beginning this month, with the fourth and final phase set to begin from July to September 2025.
Police Commissioner, Andrew Coster, in a statement, sez Police received one mental health callout every seven minutes, taking up half a million hours of Police frontline time per year, of which of these callouts, only 11% are given a priority response.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Associate Professor in the School of Health at the University of Waikato, Sarah Gordon, about what this phased approach will look like heading forward.
On Wednesday, the 30th of October, prominent mental health advocate, Mike King, during an interview with Newstalk ZB, claimed that alcohol is a solution for people with mental health problems.
The interview stems from a suicide prevention fundrasing event in Dunedin struggling to obtain a liquor license.
Following the statements and subsequent controversy, a briefing was released on the Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa, providing the facts and evidence around the correlation alcohol can have with mental health concerns.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to co-author of the briefing and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago, Dr Rose Crossin, about the briefing, and Mike King’s claim.
Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111, go to your nearest emergency department, or phone your local DHB Mental Health Crisis Team (find your local number by ringing Healthline on 0800 611 116)
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News and political commentator Tom Unger about Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally and the feeling on the ground ahead of next week’s United States election.
The Israeli parliament recently passed a law that would ban the United Nations Relief and Works agency, more commonly known as the UNRWA, from operating in Israel and East Jerusalem.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, Dr Ritesh Shah, about this ruling, and what this will mean for those relying on the services of the UNRWA amidst the humanitarian crisis in Palestine.
Sustainability, recycling, carbon emission etcetera are terms commonly overused by corporations and companies who engage in greenwashing to make consumers feel less guilt. However, new groups of architects are dedicated to creating homes which meet all the standards of style and comfort without compromising the environmental impact that comes with construction.
Through a newly developed carbon calculation technology, architects can integrate carbon offsets to prioritise sustainable housing, which can greatly reduce a project’s environmental footprint.
Sasha spoke to Dr Sarosh Mulla, senior lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning, about the new carbon calculation tech and the future of sustainable housing. Additionally we also discussed what generates the greatest amount of waste during a construction project and how carbon calculation aims to fix that.
For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to Samoa for CHOGM, as well as a new partnership between Germany and New Zealand to combat agriculture emissions and the Green party’s call to close youth justice residences.
He spoke to Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata - The Human Rights Commission, to discuss the government’s recent changes to the Migrant Exploitation Protection Visa and its impact on Migrant workers in Aotearoa.
And he spoke to Airam Magpantay, a BA Honours student in Politics and International relations at the University of Auckland to talk about the limitations in housing options for Aotearoa’s disabled community.
Sasha spoke to Senior Lecturer Dr Sarosh Mulla, senior lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning about new carbon calculation techniques within construction and building planning.
Airam Magpantay is a BA (Hons) student in at the University of Auckland in Politics and International relations at the University of Auckland who recently released a report on the state of housing for the people living with disabilities in Aotearoa after completing an internship at the disability advisory service - Disability Connect.
In her report, Airam revealed that there was a significant deficiency in the availability of housing for those living with disabilities, with disabled New Zealanders struggling to find accommodation with accessible infrastructure in a market already heavily impacted by a nationwide housing crisis.
Oto spoke to Airam about her internship, her subsequent report and the state of housing for people living with disabilities in Aotearoa.
About two weeks ago, the government announced a series of changes to the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa.
Some of the changes included updating the definition of migrant exploitation to specify incidents occuring only under an official employment contract and excluding measures falling under lawful employment terminations.
Immigration minister Erica Stanford has said that the new changes would specify the terms of the visa and reduce the time migrants may be in vulnerable situations, however a number of human rights advocates have disagreed with this reasoning, saying the changes to the visa would reduce support for migrant workers and put more power in the hands of employers.
Oto spoke to Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata - The Human Rights Commission, to discuss the recent changes to the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visas and how it’ll impact migrant workers.
Recently, research into the legal rights of sex workers in New Zealand, Ireland, and Scotland, was undertaken, following 20 years since Aotearoa decriminalised sex work.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, Lynzi Armstrong, about how sex workers are treated here in New Zealand compared to Scotland and Ireland, and if there are still any concerns participants in the survey have about their profession.
Since its inception in 2008, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (or ETS) has been, according to the government, its primary tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tackle the climate crisis. As part of the scheme, the government sets a price for carbon units, which companies must pay to offset their emissions. The Climate Change Commission has recently highlighted that the scheme was not stable and susceptible to changes in the market, and did not have sufficient carbon units to last until 2030, requiring urgent reform.
For Green World, Wire producer Liam spoke with Scott Burnett, the Regional Conservation Manager for the top of the South Island and Forest and Bird’s climate spokesperson about why Forest and Bird has called the system broken, what impact this has on Aotearoa and what reforms should be implemented.
Last week, NZ First MP and Government Minister Shane Jones was criticised over using derogatory language towards Indian Immigrants. These comments were condemned by the National Party and Christopher Luxon, who labelled NZ First’s belief system as ‘anti-immigrant’, and saidd Jones was ‘scaremongering’.
That was not the extent of criticism between NZ First and National, however, with tensions between the two sparking after NZ First Leader Winston Peters calling out Luxon for not giving coalition partners prior notice of his confidence vote during a national party caucus meeting last week. In turn, these comments have been dismissed, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Luxon accused NZ First and Peters of putting Labour Governments, like Arderns, into power. Despite all of this, however, Peters has insisted the coalition is as stable as a ‘three-legged stool’.
Last week also saw the Treasury announce that they would revisit their forecasts for the economy ahead of the impending government budget. The Government also announced some changes to the way Infrastructure is run by the government, giving more power to the Independent Infrastructure Commission, increasing their oversight and changing the way that Ministers receive advice and information.
This week, Host Alex spoke with National MP Ryan Hamilton about these developments, beginning with Shane Jones’ comments.
Despite a tenuous ceasefire, the fuel crisis - resulting from the US and Israel bombing of Iran, and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz - drags on. Prices have remained high, hitting low-income households hard, and while fuel stocks in or on-the-way to the country sit comfortably above a month’s cover, approaches to conserving fuel remain front-of-mind for many.
One strategy that New Zealanders have been urged to adopt is switching to public transport, which would put fewer cars on the road. However, access is often dependent on location and affordability.
Over the past few years, the Ministry of Education has reviewed numerous rural school bus routes, cancelling some, cutting off students from ready access to their education.
For this week’s Get Action, producer Theo spoke to Alicia Hall from Parents for Climate Aotearoa, on their petition to restore rural school bus routes and make public transport free for children, and students under 25.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here.
Last week, the Green Party leaders, Marama Davidson and Chloe Swarbrick, hosted their state of the planet address, where they launched their call to electrify the nation.
On top of that, events this week have led the party to criticise the government. The first critique, instigated by the floods that swept the nation, hitting the Coromandel and causing a state of emergency in the Wellington Region, led the Greens to question the government's decreased funding of flood responses as harsh weather increases.
The second critique came with a cabinet paper this week that shows the government is planning on moving ahead with reforms to legislation that will see references to the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti o Waitangi redefined, in what the government sez is about ‘standardisation’ but what the Green Party sees as dishonouring Te Tiriti.
So for our weekly catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March, we discuss their criticisms of the government but start with a discussion of their electrification policy.
Last week, fuel stocks in the country went down by three or four days across each fuel type. The government recognised this as not enough to change to phase two in the national fuel plan, drawing some concerned comments from the political opposition around the state of our stocks, and when the government plans to actually move up phases.
Following a week that saw both Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon comment on the state of the Strait of Hormuz, and the way the United States has handled the ongoing conflict, Willis also travelled to the US to meet with White House advisors.
This week, Host Alex spoke with National MP Ryan Hamilton about these fuel crisis developments, and what the government’s approach going forward may look like.
To start our discussion, however, we spoke briefly about the confidence in Christopher Luxon’s Leadership.
Earlier this week, Councillor Julie Fairey moved a resolution to investigate Auckland Council’s involvement with companies that are complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
And this week, Auckland Council launched an AI virtual assistant to report issues such as graffiti, roaming dogs, and noise complaints.
For City Counselling, Wire Host Caeden spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown announced the signing of a new ‘City Deal’.
The deal will see closer partnership between the central government and Auckland Council, coordinating planning in areas such as infrastructure and transportation.
The deal will see a long-term partnership between the government and council, with regular meetings and cooperation on strategies for innovation and transportation, with reviews of sporting venues such as Eden Park and the Auckland Tennis Centre.
However, the deal has been critiqued by some as being a collection of promises without any new funding.
So for our weekly catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March, he and producer Theo discussed the signing of the Auckland City Deal, and how the Green Party would work with Auckland Council on issues such as transportation and infrastructure.
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