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.
Starting on May 2nd, Jono Ridler swam 99.1km from Karaka Bay on Aotea Great Barrier Island to Campbell's Bay. He did the record-breaking swim to raise awareness for the Hauraki Gulf and the state that it is currently in. Simon began by asking Jono what inspired him to undertake the mammoth swim.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing an uncertain future after the recent election ended in a stalemate. With no candidate reaching the 50% required to govern, the country is going back to the polls on May 28th. In his 20 year rule, this is the closest Erdoğan has come to defeat. PHD Candidate at Australian National University Khalid Al Bostanji is an expert on Turkish foreign policy and he began by discussing how the run-off election came to be.
The most recent food price report from Stats NZ hints at tough future for Kiwi’s wallets. The report says that annual food prices have increased by twelve point five percent, the largest increase in food prices since September 1987, which shortly followed the introduction of GST in 1986.
Some of the key numbers from the report show that over the recent period:
grocery food prices increased by 14.0 percent
fruit and vegetables prices increased by 22.5 percent
restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased by 9.0 percent
meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 9.5 percent
non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 8.0 percent.
To learn more about what food items substantially increased in price, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to James Mitchell, manager for Consumer Price Delivery at Stats NZ.
Dr George Laking is a cancer specialist and director for the Centre for Cancer Research at the University of Auckland. He believes Australia’s prescription-only model for vaping is overkill and will be ineffective at reducing harms in New Zealand.
Arno started the interview by asking if he was glad that the legislation had not passed in parliament this term to restrict vaping further.
Bridget Abernathy is the CEO of the Energy Retailers Association. They have recently launched a campaign called Energymate that shows Kiwis how they can reduce power usage during the energy-intensive winter months.
Arno had a brief chat with her about some common energy-saving tips. Arno started the interview by asking what Kiwis could do to reduce their power consumption.
Check out energymate.nz for more tips and tricks on saving power this winter.
Last Monday Rocket Lab launched the first two of four satellites under the banner "Rocket Like a Hurricane" to improve the monitoring of tropical storms. Alex Bonham spoke to Morgan Bailey of Rocket Lab to find out how these satellites will make an impact, and to discover the reasons why they are putting so much money into developing the medium size reusable Neutron Rocket.
Our chat with James Shaw is back again on The Wire for Wednesday.
Emilia Sullivan chats to the Green Party co-leader about yesterday’s hostel fire in Wellington, the inquiry into forestry slash on the East Coast, and the Budget ahead of its release tomorrow.
Climate change, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and lack of accessible support are some of the key concerns and issues highlighted in a youth wellbeing report. Ka Whakahuatau te Rangatahi mõ te Toiora or the Youth Wellbeing insights report has highlighted key issues affecting the mental health of young people throughout Aotearoa.
The report also outlines the disproportionate mental health struggles of minority communities including Māori, Pasifika and rainbow youth. The report emphasises that policymakers need to acknowledge the experiences of rangatahi within future mental health system reform and investment.
To speak more about the report, its findings and the reactions to it, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to Doctor Jessica Stubbing, research fellow in Koi Tū, The Centre for Informed Futures.
Emilia Sullivan chats to James Shaw in our weekly chat with the Green Party co-leader, this week they chat about the fire at Loafers Hostel, as well as a chat about the budget ahead of its release tomorrow.
On The Green Desk, Jack Marshall speaks to Michael Bunts from the Department of Conservation about the role that new and developing technologies have in solving Aotearoa’s biodiversity threats.
Host Andre Fa'aoso speaks to James Mitchell, manager for Consumer Price Delivery at Stats NZ about their recent report highlighting the largest annual increase in food costs since 1987.
Andre also speaks to Doctor Jessica Stubbing, research fellow at The Centre for Informed Futures about a report highlighting key things that are affecting youth mental health, and about a youth oriented approach to mental health reform.
Arno speaks with Dr George Laking, cancer researcher, about the effects of vaping and relative harms in Aotearoa, and Bridget Abernathy about ways to save power this winter.
Alex speaks to Morgan Bailey from Rocket Lab on the recent 'Rocket Like a Hurricane' launch and the development of the Neutron.
Numerous political figures including Ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour have spoken out in the media this week with allegations that Auckland Council is trying to usher in ‘co-governance’ on a local level, with their proposal on the management of the Waitākere Ranges.
CEO of Te Kawerau ā Maki Edward Ashby called out the political lashback as “fear-mongering” and ‘misinformation’, affirming that the proposal is not actually a co-governance structure.
The proposal is for a decision-making committee of 50% representation from the Crown and tangata whenua to manage the land under a deed of acknowledgement.
The council says the deed of acknowledgement is in line with the Waitākere Ranges Heritage Act 2008, and follows on from the existing management structures in place.
Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson during his bus commute about this topic and the political commentary that’s been witnessed this week. Here is that interview
The Canadian election has been won by Mark Carney’s Liberal Party.
Despite losing the election, the Conservatives made significant gains in their levels of support, particularly with young people.
United States President Donald Trump also loomed large in the election, following his comments earlier this year that he would make Canada the “51st state” and the trade war he has started with Canada.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Aleksi Toiviainen, co-organiser for Vote16 Canada and democracy advocate, about the results of the election.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has announced a total ban on prisoners voting will be reinstated.
The move has been criticised by the opposition parties, as well as those working in criminal justice.
Today is May Day, also known as International Workers Day and unions across Aotearoa are taking action against what they say is an “anti-worker agenda” from this government.
Workers across a wide range of industries are stopping work and taking strike action.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these issues.
Last week Transport minister Chris Bishop announced steps towards improvements to public transport from the Northwest of Auckland. The plan involves three stages, each promoting faster and more consistent public transport from the region. While early stages are planned for the next few years, later stages will be coming over the next ten or more years.
The government has also announced $53 million towards subsidising teachers registration fees. This announcement follows extensive campaigning from teachers on this issue, eliminating a barrier for new and long-time teachers in Aotearoa.
In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, starting with the transport upgrades in Northwest Auckland.
In March this year, the government made the decision to reduce the benefit for hospital patients who remain hospitalised after 13 weeks.
After 13 weeks, those experiencing long-term hospitalisation would see their benefit reduced to their "hospital rate" which was $55.35 a week (after tax), unless the person has a partner and a child or is a veteran.
For this week’s Get Action! I spoke to Fiona Charlton, volunteer president of New Zealand ME Society, who’s started a petition calling on the government to roll back benefit cuts to people experiencing long-term hospitalisation.
If you’d like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
Just yesterday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis made her Pre-Budget speech, in the leadup to Budget 2025 which will be delivered next month.
During her speech, Willis said that the government would be halving the operating allowance from $2.4 Billion to $1.3 Billion, going to a select number of government departments that Willis has described as “the most important priorities.”
The week before, it came to light that Climate Minister Simon Watts had rejected advice to review the carbon subsidies given to polluting companies like NZ steel and Methanex.
And the Greens recently made a call to the government to ban the use of engineered stone products.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Wednesday Wire host Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.
In his role as regulation Minister, David Seymour is moving to simplify regulations for Early Childhood Education Centres by the end of this year.
This involves a review containing 15 recommendations, which cabinet has accepted. These recommendations concern a vast number of things, from simplifying licensing criteria for pre-schools to lowering qualification requirements for early childhood educators.
Both of these areas have sparked concern within the sector, with some educators concerned the review is simply a cost cutting exercise that will result in tamariki being put at risk.
For our weekly catch up Producer Evie spoke to ACT’s Simon Court about the review.
They also spoke about New Zealand First’s Members Bill aiming to have the biological definition of a woman and man defined in law.
And finally they discussed a clash between the party and National’s Scott Simpson over an ACC plan to reduce injury for Māori and Pasifika workers.
A cross-party delegation of MPs recently visited Tonga, Hawai’i and Vanuatu as part of a Pacific trip organised by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.
Earlier this week, New Zealand First proposed new legislation that would exclude trans communities from the definition of “woman” and “man” in law.
Winston Peters defended the bill on RNZ’s Morning Report, where he called interviewer Corin Dann a “disgrace” for raising the criticism against the bill that was brought forward by opposition parties.
During this interview, Peters threatened to cut RNZ’s government funding.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
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