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.
Last week the government announced it was working on legislation to address modern slavery.
World Vision and Tearfund previously put out an open letter to the government calling for this.
For Get Action! News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to World Vision Advocacy Campaigns and Communications Manager Morgan Theakston about the government's proposed legislation and why it is important to address supply chain exploitation.
News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Labour’s Andrew Little about New Zealand’s first National Security Strategy, the proposed Immigration (Mass Arrivals) Amendment Bill, and reports that complaints of migrant exploitation have increased under Labour.
For City Counselling, councillor for Waitākere Shane Henderson spoke about the State of the City Report comparing Auckland to nine other cities globally and the government's plans for 19 new marine protection areas for the Hauraki Gulf.
World Vision Advocacy Campaigns and Communications Manager Morgan Theakston discussed the government's proposed legislation to address modern slavery and supply chain exploitation.
Producer Olivia talked to Climate Justice Taranaki researcher, Catherine Cheung, about the recently announced BlackRock green energy investment deal.
She also spoke to Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Equity at the University of Auckland Law School, Hanna Wilberg, about issues with our social welfare system.
Recent drugs misrepresented as pure MDMA have caused hospitalizations in the Hawke’s Bay region, with four men admitted and two in critical condition.
Arno spoke to the NZ Drug Foundation’s executive director Sarah Helm to find out more. Arno started the interview by asking what the MDMA was laced with.
A recent report called ‘State of the City’ examines Auckland City in a global context, comparing it to developed cities in other countries. The report draws both comparisons and highlights potential areas of improvement.
The report was commissioned by the Committee for Auckland, in partnership with Deloitte and Auckland Council’s economic and cultural agency Tātaki Auckland Unlimited.
Arno spoke with Greater Auckland editor Matt Lowrie to find out more about the findings in the report. Arno started by asking how Matt viewed Auckland prior to reading the report.
In the upcoming election there have been many discussions on all sides in regard to tax policy. A Newshub-Reid research poll in May found that a majority of Kiwi’s support implementing a wealth tax, although Labour, National and ACT have been reluctant to touch the subject with Labour still making no major tax reform announcements in the run-up to the election.
Union’s in Tamaki Makaurau have become vocal and have organised a protest advocating for tax reform targeted at New Zealand’s wealthiest. To talk more about the protest that is happening next week, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to protest organiser with Unite Union Joe Carolan.
This year ConsumerNZ launched a campaign to rid our Supermarket shelves from “Dodgy Specials”.
The campaign asked for examples of misleading pricing in our supermarket aisles.
The Labour Government has just announced new regulations around Unit Pricing that could help combat these “Dodgy Specials”
The regulations mean that all similar products will have to be displayed with a consistent unit price, making it easier to distinguish which products are cheaper by unit.
Nicholas spoke to Consumer NZ’s Jessica Walker about these new regulations, as well at ConsumerNZ’s campaign to rid New Zealand’s supermarket of quote “Dodgy Supermarket Specials”
Andre Fa’aoso spoke to Professor Boyd Swinburn, co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa about political parties' positions on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food policies and how they should weigh-in on voters' decision making come election day.
Andre Fa’aoso also spoke to Joe Carolan about a Tax the Rich protest that is being held in Tamaki Makaurau next Saturday.
Arno spoke to Greater Auckland’s Matt Lowrie about the new State of the City report. Arno also spoke to Sarah Helm from the NZ Drug Foundation about laced MDMA in the Hawke’s Bay area
Nicholas, spoke to Jessica Walker from ConsumerNZ about new Unit pricing regulations for supermarkets
This is the last Wednesday Wire with Andre as he heads off to America to begin his studies at Yale University, so enjoy!
The Government has just announced that they will honour an independent arbitration panel’s recommendations, regarding a pay offer agreement with the Post Primary Techer’s association.
As part of the pay offer the base salary of secondary teachers will rise 14.5 per cent.
However, the latest offer will mean cuts to other parts of the ministry of Education's budget, including deferring planned school infrastructure projects.
Nicholas spoke to PPTA acting President Chris Abercrombie to discuss the association's thoughts on this pay offer.
On Tuesday, Health Coalition Aotearoa held a forum in Wellington for political parties to front their health policies over tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food. Political parties present at the forum were Labour’s Ayeesha Verrall, the Green’s Chlöe Swarbrick and National’s Shane Reti to share their party’s policy positions.
To talk more about how important parties’ health policies are in voters' decision making in the upcoming election, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to Professor Boyd Swinburn, co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa.
Last week, Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono placed his Restoring Citizenship Removed by the Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act of 1982 Bill in the parliamentary ballot. Rosetta had a chat to him about what the bill means for our Pasifika community, and what more needs to be done to amend dawn-raid injustices.
Last week, the council’s Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM) Committee said they would be seeking to implement a number of recommendations that improve emergency readiness for disabled populations.
Following a hui last year where community members were invited to bring forward issues relating to future planning for natural disasters, Sara was interested to hear about how the council is taking suggestions on board.
As well, Auckland Council has been considering proposals to mitigate flood risks around the Wairau catchment, including one which would see the reduction of the size of the Takapuna Golf Course, to convert the space into a flood catchment.
Producer Sara spoke to Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson on both of these topics, firstly by asking him to discuss the desired outcomes relating to emergency preparedness for disabled people, and the council’s first steps to implementation
Zohran Mamdani has all but won the Democratic Primary in New York City after key competitor Andrew Cuomo conceded the race.
Mamdani will now be the Democratic candidate for New York City mayor.
His campaign was built on cost-of-living, where Mamdani presented himself as an authentic, Democratic Socialist, grassroots campaign leader.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to 95bFM reporter and South Asia correspondent Sanat Singh about Momdani’s win, what this means for the communities he represents, and where to from here.
A reported 131,000 submissions were made on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
The Bill, proposed by the ACT party, includes a set of principles outlining “responsible regulation.” Notably, it does not include any mention of either version of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Last weekend, hundreds of Destiny Church members marched on Queen Street in a rally that they called “in defence of faith, flag, and family.”
And the Labour Party has criticised the framing of a poll question by the Taxpayers Union/Curia on whether or not Cook Islanders should retain automatic New Zealand citizenship.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden asked Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Recently the Green Party commissioned independent legal advice to look into the government’s $200 million investment in new gas fields that was carried out last month and found out that the investment was in breach of the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS).
NZ First MP Shane Jones recently announced that he’d be drafting a member's bill to force Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement, which would prevent hapū from negotiating separate commercial redresses and remove any reference to hapū sovereignty from the settlement terms.
And the Green party recently issued a call to the New Zealand government to condemn the US strikes on Iranian Nuclear facilities, almost a week after Iran and Israel had both been trading missile strikes between each other.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke with MP Hūhana Lyndon to get the party’s take on all of these issues
Last week, Statistics Minister Shane Reti announced plans to scrap the nationwide census moving forward. The census is the largest statistical survey done in Aotearoa, and provides the bulk of population data used in research and decision-making. Reti says the census is “no longer financially viable” and will be replaced with a combination of smaller annual surveys and administrative data.
While the change looks good on paper, there are concerns around how the change in data collection could affect representation of marginalised and minority groups. Census data tends to be more protected from bias than administrative data and smaller surveys, meaning there are more opportunities for misrepresentation. Some statisticians are particularly concerned about the potential exclusion of marginalised rural communities.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked him about the census decision and its implications on marginalised and minority groups.
Associate Health Minister, David Seymour, has recently announced changes to Psilocybin and Melatonin availability.
Psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, will be available for certain patients suffering from poor mental health outcomes. Melatonin, which is used for insomnia and jetlag, is set to be available over the counter.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about this move, and the potential accessibility concerns with accessing these medications.
They also discussed taxpayers set to be funding newly-funded cancer medicines for private facilities.
Finally, they discuss opposition parties criticised Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, over a lack of transparency regarding the effectiveness of boot camps for youth offenders, especially as boot camps have received a boost of $30 million, despite the pilot programme still being ongoing.
But first, they discussed Psilocybin and Melatonin.
Last Saturday, over 2,000 protests took place across all 50 American States against President Donald Trump.
The protests coincided with Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the US Army, and they served as a direct response to the military parade in Washington, DC.
The organisers of the protests say they aimed to reject “authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarisation of our democracy.”
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Jeremy Pressman, Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut about the protests and the backlash towards them from the Trump administration.
Housing intensification is a key priority for Auckland Council as Auckland's population is forecast to reach 2.3 million by 2050.
But as planning for growth continues, some Auckland residents have expressed concern about the approval of developments in areas on flood plains or particularly prone to natural disasters.
With Kāinga Ora selling homes as ‘high risk investments’ in areas which were impacted by flooding in recent years, and 15 percent of all granted consents for new builds by Auckland Council being on floodplains, I spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about how the council is taking into account these issues for the coming years.
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