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.
Sex-bias in healthcare and research has long been a prevalent issue for women, as clinical trials occurring as recently as 2023 have excluded women, in favour of testing men as “the average person”.
This has had consequences such as women being more likely to experience negative side effects to certain drugs, due to important differences in female bodies being unaccounted for in research.
As today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, producer Athena spoke to Associate Professor, Dr Kelly Burrowes, at the University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute, about the historic and current gender inequities in healthcare and clinical research, as well as The FemTech Revolution.
In her recent article on The Conversation, Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture at the Victoria University of Wellington, Christine McCarthy, discusses the lack of colour in prison spaces.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to her about her article, and what we could see in these spaces, if more colour were to be incorporated.
The latest unemployment figures were released last week, and now stand at 5.1% - this is the highest since September of 2020, and a number that has been steadily rising since 2022.
Economist and Policy Director at The New Zealand Council of Trade Union’s Craig Renney says that there are much more complex and worrying numbers behind this number of 5%.
Producer Evie spoke to Renney about why our unemployment numbers continue to rise, how the government can help people get back into work and whether we’re going to see an ease in these numbers anytime soon.
The Cook Islands and Winston Peters dominated news headlines over the weekend. With media reporting that Aotearoa’s relationship with the Cook Islands was ‘significantly worsening.’
The reason for this is an agreement that the Cook Islands is planning to sign with China. Winston Peters says the Cook Islands didn’t consult with Aotearoa about what was in the agreement - which the country is bound to doing under the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration.
However, the 2001 agreement is complex, and has certain clauses that means these rules don’t always apply.
Producer Evie spoke to Geopolitical Analyst at the University of Otago Geoffrey Miller about the complex relationship between us and the Cook Islands - as he broke down the topic and whether anyone has really breached any agreements in this situation.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about the ACT Party’s role at Waitangi Day, the latest unemployment figures and the government’s second emissions reduction target.
She also spoke to the New Zealand Council of Trade Union (NZCTU) Economist and Policy Director Craig Renney about the continuing rise in unemployment in Aotearoa.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture at the Victoria University of Wellington, Christine McCarthy, about the need for colour in New Zealand's prisons.
Evie spoke to Geopolitical analyst at the University of Otago Geoffrey Miller about Aotearoa’s relationship with the Cook Islands - which made news headlines over the weekend.
And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins us in studio to discuss using AI in a working environment.
This week, Global Innovator, Matt Hart, Joins News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, and Producer Evie in studio to discuss AI in a working environment.
Donald Trump, inaugurated nearly two weeks ago, launched his own meme coin, a cryptocurrency that originates from a personality or internet culture. The coin was launched on January 17th, two days before his entering into office, and has now accumulated close to 100 million in trading fees over this time.
The coin reached 14.5 billion dollars overall market value, now falling by two-thirds its original value. Questions have been raised about conflicts of interest, and intersection of business and government.
Sasha spoke to Professor of Law and Business at The University of Auckland, Alexandra Andhov, about the Trump Crypto Launch and the wider influence of meme coins and cryptocurrency.
Gene technology in the medical sector has been banned in New Zealand for nearly thirty years, however as of 2 months ago, a new bill lifting the ban has passed the first reading within parliament.
The legislation is based on Australia’s Gene Technology Act 2000. Similarly, a regulator will be established and will be supported by an office, a technical advisory committee and a Māori advisory committee. This regulator is to manage potential risks to human health and the environment.
Professor Justin O’ Sullivan from the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, welcomes the new changes. Sasha spoke to him about potential breakthroughs in cancer research, rare diseases, and a wider conversation of ethics.
For their weekly catch up with the Green Party Oto spoke to Ricardo Menendez March to Shane Jones’s new mining strategy and critical minerals list, as well as his and NZ First leader Winston Peter’s comments in Parliament about migrants and the Kāinga ora Turnaround plan introduced by Chris Bishop.
He spoke to Dulani Jayasuriya - A senior lecturer in the accounting and finance Department at the University of Auckland, about the Deepseek AI model developed in China and how it might impact businesses here in Aotearoa.
And he spoke to Antje Fielder, Senior Lecturer in Management and International Business at the University of Auckland, to discuss US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China and how they will impact exporters.
Sasha spoke to the Professor of Law and Business at The University of Auckland, Alexandra Andhov, about the idea of the Trump Crypto Launch.
And he spoke to Justin O’ Sullivan from the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, about the government lifting the ban on genetic research.
95bFM producer Castor spoke with President of the Post Primary Teachers Association, Chris Abercrombie, the effectiveness of the charter school model and what more the government could do for existing public schools.
Following a year of Government Budget cuts in response to the current recession, economists and social service workers have expressed concern about the effects current fiscal policies will have on New Zealanders.
In December 2024, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, revealed that the government's plans to reduce social service spending could lead to 3900 jobs being cut. Around the same time, Auckland City Mission CEO, Helen Robinson, warned that food banks face closures in 2025.
Producer Athena spoke to Economist, and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Dr Susan St John, about how the recession, and cuts to social services will affect New Zealanders.
Auckland Transport has announced another parking fare increase, pushing up parking across AT-managed lots 50 cents per hour.
They justified the increase as necessary to cover ‘rising operational costs’ and to cover the Auckland Council’s increased resource commitment to supporting Aucklanders with “issues like blocked driveways, footpaths, and clearways”.
As well, Auckland Council have voted to endorse the redevelopment of Eden Park, in favour of a new waterfront stadium — bringing the latest development in a long-standing discussion about the best approach to attract tourism and financial productivity to Auckland.
All they need now is the government to pitch in $100 million dollars to fund the project.
Producer Sara started her interview with Shane Henderson by asking why raising parking prices was the preferred option for covering council operational costs
Just recently, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke Van Velden, announced sweeping changes to health and safety regulations for businesses that she described as “low-risk”.
Some of the changes involved: narrowing the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks only causing death, serious injury or illness, creating a hotline for the public to report “overzealous” road cone placement and reducing "tick-box and safety activities" such as psychosocial harm policies for small businesses.
Around this same period of time, Greens MPs Tamatha Paul and Benjamin Doyle received intense media and political scrutiny for comments they made at a university panel and on social media respectively, with the backlash towards Doyle forcing them to abstain from parliament this week.
The Greens recently issued a call to the government to scrap their proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, which involve recognising qualifications other than early childhood teaching qualifications, removing up to 74% of ECE licensing criteria and removing requirements for regular updates and family.
In their weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the party’s take on all of these issues.
BirdCare Aotearoa is a wild, native bird hospital that works to rehabilitate sick and injured birds back into the wild.
For their upcoming event: ‘Bird Heros,’ a part of EcoFest 2025 on the 6th of April, the workshop will look at the best practices on rescuing wild native birds, and will include a tour of their bird hospital, which is not usually open to the public.
For this week's Green Desk, Producer Leilani spoke to the Hospital Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa, Pooja Dorle, about the rehabilitation processes of birds within their hospital ahead of their next workshop.
Fellow Green Desk Producer Liam, and News and Editorial Director Joel, went to the previous workshop over the weekend, and spoke to the Chair of the organisation, Kevin Furgeson, and volunteer Marina, and had a tour of their facilities. Thanks EcoFest!
BirdCare Aotearoa also has a fundraiser running to shed light on seabirds affected by street lights and brightly lit buildings across the city, affecting their migration patterns and causing birds, such as the protected Petrels, Shearwaters, and Prions, to fall and injure themselves. To support their clinical rehabilitation practices, you can support their campaign on givealittle.
For a number of years, Aotearoa has been dealing with a shortage of psychologists and similar professionals to deal with the growing mental health needs of the wider population, with estimates suggesting that an additional 1,000 more psychologists are needed to fill gaps in the profession.
In response to the country’s growing mental health needs, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announced a new Associate Psychologist role, consisting of recent post-graduates, to work alongside fully trained Psychologists.
However, a number of Psychologists and experts have criticised the introduction of this new role, saying that these associate Psychologists may be expected to take on the responsibilities of clinical Psychologists despite being underqualified.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Dr Kumari Valentine, a clinical psychologist based in Dunedin, who’s launched a petition calling on the government to roll back the introduction of the new Associate psychology role and look to other methods of filling gaps in the Psychology profession.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central.
The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.
This week on Dear Science our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about various April Fools pranks in the world of science, including the 'Sheep Albedo Hypothesis' from here in Aotearoa.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
On Sunday, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced plans to combat the supermarket duopoly between Foodstuffs and Woolworths. This could include breaking-up or restructuring the current chains, with Cabinet also announcing a formal request for information, or RFI, into the matter.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about this announcement, and whether she, and the party, thinks this will be enough to address food accessibility in Aotearoa.
We also discussed the comments made by Green MP, Tamatha Paul, about the police, and whether she believes these comments have become sensationalised.
Finally, we discussed the party’s calls for mandatory police body cameras.
But first, they started off by asking Kemp about how the party are feeling about Nicola Willis’ most recent announcements into the supermarket duopoly.
Last week, the government announced its plans for reforming the Resource Management Act, or the RMA, introducing two acts to replace the current RMA. The plan is to bring the two acts before the select committee next year, passing them just before the next election.
For our weekly catch up News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about this reform, working with the opposition, and the lack of a Treaty clause.
We also talked about concerns that the health and police system in Aotearoa are failing, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police and being administered antipsychotic drugs.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave a “State of the Nation” speech last weekend where he strongly criticised Labour and announced his party was declaring a “war on woke.”
The government has announced a new replacement for the Resource Management Act, looking to pass it before the next election.
And Labour Foreign Affairs spokesperson David Parker has criticised the government for not condemning Israel in the context of recent military action and the blocking of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal group chat with top United States security officials who were discussing military plans for strikes on Yemen.
The group chat discussed operational details, and officials, including the Vice President JD Vance, seemed unaware of Goldberg’s presence.
Jeffrey Goldberg initially left out some of these sensitive details in his article on the group chat but has released more specific information after the Trump administration downplayed the situation and said no classified information was shared.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about this issue.
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