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.
Caeden spoke to Labour Deputy Leader, Carmel Sepuloni, about the government increasing benefit sanctions and scrapping Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority.
Producer Jasmine reported on the reaction to the government passing legislation under urgency to dis-establish the Māori Health Authority.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Head of Journalism at AUT Greg Treadwell about the closure of NewHub.
And she spoke to Doctoral Candidate, Cristal Salatas, about her research aimed at reducing the prevalence of premature birth in Aotearoa.
Producer Jasmine reports on response to the government's urgent disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority:
This week there has been widespread criticism shared over the government’s decision to axe the Māori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora. Many public health experts, human rights organisations and fellow politicians have expressed concerns over what this move signals for Māori communities, social and political inequities, human rights, and Aotearoa’s democratic processes more broadly.
The Pae Ora Amendment Bill (that is seeing the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority) passed its third reading yesterday after being introduced to Parliament under urgency on Tuesday. This move has meant that the Waitangi Tribunal claim set to challenge the disestablishment bill was not able to be heard before the decision to axe Te Aka Whai Ora was passed. The Waitangi Tribunal claim was also called under urgency and was originally scheduled to take place today. However, an inquiry can now only go ahead after the disestablishment bill has been passed into law, preventing any consideration of recommendations that would’ve been made by claimants Lady Tureiti Moxon and Janice Kuka.
Alongside the immediate and ongoing concerns around what the removal of the Māori Health Authority signals for Māori healthcare and health outcomes, predominant outcries today centre around political implications of this unconstitutional course of government action.
Janice Panoho, Te Kaihautū for Aotearoa’s Public Service Association, emphasised that "for such an important Constitutional issue it is vital that Parliamentary processes are used to allow proper public scrutiny and debate rather than to lock out people with dissenting voices." She and the organisation state they are “deeply disappointed in this government’s lack of respect and regard to their Te Tiriti partner.”
Earlier this week, organisation ActionStation hosted a petition to Minister of Health Shane Reti, calling to protect The Māori Health Authority. The petition has now reached almost 14,000 signatures over a three day period, meaning it has now surpassed the threshold needed to warrant a formal response from government.
The coalition is yet to announce any new formal or proposed plans that will fill the gap left behind by Te Aka Whai Ora’s removal.
This week for our regular catch-up with Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni, Caeden asks about the Ministry of Social Development’s questioning on benefit sanctions by members of the Social Services and Community Select Committee and the laws the Government has passed under urgency over the past week.
Yesterday, Newshub, one of Aotearoa's largest commercial newsrooms, announced it is shutting down.
Up to three hundred people, including journalists and support staff, are expected to lose their jobs
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Senior Lecturer Communication Studies and Head of Journalism at AUT, Greg Treadwell, about what this indicates about the state of journalism in Aotearoa.
The public service commission recently conducted a review into the Accredited Employer Work Visa, a visa scheme given to foreign workers with job offers from New Zealand-based employers. The review was conducted following a number of incidents, where migrant workers in Aotearoa were found to have been exploited by their employers, with some paying upwards of SIXTEEN-THOUSAND New Zealand dollars to receive visas for non-existent jobs.
The review found that the visa scheme reduced the number of checks Immigration officers were required to perform on employers, which was done to reduce processing times so more workers could be brought into Aotearoa, which ultimately led to the exploitation of workers across the country.
Oto spoke to John Crocker from Unite Union, a union that advocates for migrant workers amongst a number of groups, who said that there was more to the scheme than what was found in the review.
New research looking into vaccination hesitancy in Aotearoa has been released from the University of Auckland.
The research was prompted by lower rates of vaccination following the covid-19 pandemic. The research aimed to uncover what was most important to Kiwi’s considerations around vaccination.
Nicholas spoke to lead investigator Associate Professor Amy Chan, about the study’s findings.
On Wednesday the 21st of February New Zealand was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Greens MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins.
Efeso began his career as a youth worker before joining the Auckland Council as a councillor for the Manukau ward.
He later ran for Mayor with the endorsement of both Labour and the Greens, before campaigning for the Green party in last year's election.
In his maiden speech Collins highlighted his wish to be a champion for underserved and underprivileged members of our society;
"The government cannot be a bystander to people suffering confusion and disenfranchisement. New Zealand must close the divide between those who have and those who have not, because the reality for my community is that those who have more money often wield more power, more health, more housing, more justice, more access, more canopy cover, more lobbyists with swipe cards, and more time,"
Nicholas spoke to Green Party co-leader James Shaw about the passing of his friend and colleague Fa'anānā Efeso Collins.
As a new batch of freshers begin university, we return to the basic fundamentals of protests.
Sofia spoke to veteran activist and Head Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa John Minto about the hows, whys, and whens of protesting, narrowing in on the current Palestine protests occuring across the country.
They discuss historic legislation born out of protesting and how to get involved in protests if you haven't before!
Head to the PSNA website for resources in solidarity with Palestine.
Nicholas speaks up with the Green Party's Dr Shane Reti about the passing of Greens MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins.
Nicholas also spoke to Associate Professor at the University of Auckland Amy Chan on new research into vaccine hesitancy.
Sofia spoke to veteran activist and Head Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa John Minto about the hows, whys, and whens of protesting, narrowing in on the current Palestine protests occuring across the country.
Oto spoke to John Crocker from Unite Union, a union that advocates for migrant workers amongst a number of groups, who said that there was more to the scheme than what was found in the review.
Nicholasalso speaks to AUSA president Alan Shaker about devolpements in the association.
The coalition government has made changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, including allowing landlords to charge an additional bond of up to two weeks rent on top of the standard bond of up to four weeks, if a tenant wishes to have a pet on the property.
No-cause evictions have also been reintroduced, allowing landlords to evict tenants without providing a reason, provided they give them 90 days notice.
For our weekly interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court about these changes.
Disability communities have been rallying against a surprise change in purchasing rules in the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha. Communities have said the changes will have massive impact, despite no consultation on these changes or a formal announcement.
The Department of Conversation also recently proposed staffing cuts to meet funding demands. DoC controls a third of Aotearoa’s landmass which is all conservation land. It remains uncertain how job losses in the Ministry could impact conservation land management.
For weekly catch-up with the Labour party Wire Host Caeden spoke to Labour spokesperson for Disability Issues and Conservation Priyanca Rahdakrishnan about both of these issues.
For our weekly interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court about the government’s proposal to increase student attendance rates and his post on X last week, in which he stated he stands with Israel.
A proposal to merge the Ōtara-Papatoetoe and Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local boards has been met with criticism, with consultation opening at the end of next month.
A new report has also been released on the quality of living in Tāmaki Makaurau with our city receiving mixed results by scoring high on some areas (the environment), and lower on others (education).
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Counsellor Lotu Fuli about both these topics for City Counselling.
The Ministry of Social Development is not immune to job cuts seen in other public service departments, with MSD calling for voluntary redundancies after cost-saving efforts failed to meet Government targets. For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni Wire Host Caeden asks her about the impact of cuts at MSD, especially amongst other Government policies disadvantaging beneficiaries.
They also ask about the Samoan Citizenship Bill led by Teanau Tuiono, and the impact of losing independent media giants such as Newshub for democracy.
For this week's Get Action! Sofia spoke to petitioner Abdul Safi and his campaign to place sanctions on Israel amidst genocidal acts that are widely considered war crimes.
If you want to sign this petition, you can find it here:
95bFM 
