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.
The National party has announced a new policy, Electrify NZ, claiming it will ‘turbo-charge’ wind, geothermal and solar power projects in order to replace coal and gas projects. This Tuesday Beth speaks to Amanda Larsson, Head of Campaigns for Greenpeace Aotearoa, about the policy and what National could be doing better.
Following the deaths of two infants, doctors and scientists worry that this winter could see a whooping cough epidemic unlike those seen in recent years. Helen Petousis-Harris is an associate professor of primary health at the University of Auckland, and she spoke to Simon about the low vaccination rates and those that are at the most risk in the community. Simon started by asking Helen what whooping cough is.
Spike speaks to Auckland University Associate Professor of Law Scott Optican about Trump's arrest in Manhattan this week, and the potential implications of the cases against him.
Morgan Donoghue is the spokesperson for Ours Not Mines, an organisation that is standing up against the mining company OceanaGold and the New Zealand government over a proposed gold mine on conservation land in the Coromandel. In 2017 the Labour government promised no more mines on conservation land, yet OceanaGold is in the process of acquiring resource consent for a gold mine under conservation land. Simon began by getting Morgan to explain what OceanaGold is doing in the Coromandel and the implications of the proposed mine.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s plan to address the budget shortfall includes cutting funding to many public services, while retaining expensive golf courses that ratepayers are paying for.
It also suggests selling public assets like shares in Auckland Airport to help fill a $295m budget shortfall.
FIRST Union, a union representing 30,000 workers in Aotearoa, recently made a budget submission to Auckland Council. They branded Mayor Wayne Brown’s Submission as insufficient and irredeemable, and made several suggestions for improvement.
Arno spoke to FIRST Union President Robert Reid, and started off by asking what FIRST’s position is on the proposed $21m budget cut for bus services.
Better housing, income equality, and better access to healthcare and education are some of the things researchers believe will improve the quality of living for Pasifika children in Aotearoa. The recommendations are in a report titled Tamaiti Ole Moana, and alongside the recommendations of the report is a 10-year-pacific health plan driven to provide better outcomes for Pacific children and families.
The health plan focuses on improving Pasifika’s access to quality housing, boosting incomes, improving access to quality healthcare, and finally, a quality education.
Andre Fa'aoso spoke with Dr Teuila Percival, Paediatrician and Director of Moana Connect in the studio this morning. I first asked her whether the government had been receptive to the report.
Mātai Medical Research Institute and the Auckland Bioengineering Institute are working on new research to generate complete computerised models of children’s physiology, particularly internal organs.
Currently, the only modelling data available is incomplete, from overseas, or of adult organs. Researchers hope to develop an idea of what normal physiology for New Zealand children looks like in order to allow for earlier detection of abnormalities.
Arno spoke to Dr Haribalan Kumar of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute to find out more.
Arno started our interview by asking why complete child physiology models were only now being created.
The National Party announced a new policy this week, showing a commitment to renewable energy, Electrify New Zealand. This week on the Tuesday Wire for Milly's weekly catchup with Dr Shane Reti, Milly questions him on what this policy will entail as well as delving in to the criticism.
Last month, Auckland Transport was criticised for encouraging people to travel at off-peak times during what they called “March madness”. Since then, we have also seen mass delays and cancellations across Tāmaki Makaurau.
News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Public Transport Users Association spokesperson John Reeves about this issue.
She started off the interview asking Reeves if he believes we are in a public transport crisis.
Nicola Willis recently took over responsibility for grocery regulation after recently appointed consumer affairs minister Scott Simpson identified a conflict of interest. Willis says she is interested in introducing a competitor to the New Zealand supermarket duopoly, though whether this competitor will come from overseas or internally remains to be seen.
Also in politics this past week are US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have had massive economic impact in the US and internationally. While New Zealand is minimally affected by the tariffs, our economy only recently exited a recession, so we may be in a position of vulnerability to further economic instability.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, beginning with plans to address the supermarket duopoly.
You can find the press conference referenced by Tom Rutherford here.
Three Te Pāti Māori MPs, Hana Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and Rawiri Waititi, did not attend the Privileges Committee over their contempt of the House, following their haka in Parliament protesting the Treaty Principles Bill.
The party instead are planning on holding their own hearing regarding the matter.
Privileges Committee chairwoman Judith Collins, called the no-show “unprecedented” and has given the MPs “one final chance” to attend the hearing.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about the party’s action, and why they are going about the hearing in their own manner.
We also spoke about the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act passing its final reading.
But first, we discussed the party not attending the Privileges Committee.
After months of hearings, submissions and debate, the Justice Select Committee has released its report into the Treaty Principles Bill, recommending that the bill not proceed.
The report found that of all submissions, nearly 90% were opposed, around 8% in support and just over 3% were unstated.
Despite this final damning backlash against the bill, David Seymour and the ACT party maintain that there is a place for the bill in Aotearoa, saying submissions often don’t reflect the majority view of the country.
For our weekly catch up, Producer Evie spoke to ACT’s Simon Court about the report, and what the ACT party intend to do next.
They also spoke about the tariffs imposed on trade by Donald Trump last week, and how the government expects them to impact New Zealand.
Finally, they spoke about an unfolding situation concerning ACT MP and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard. An RNZ investigation late last week found a potential conflict of interest between the minister and his sister who is the executive director of a dairy company. The investigation found that her company had lobbied against the minister's office introducing tougher regulations on baby formula.
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
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court and will be tried in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
This comes as the ICC faces criticism for other, more controversial current arrest warrants, including those against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about Duterte’s arrest and broader issues facing the ICC.
Last week, Green Party MP Tamatha Paul made comments about the police and the expansion of beat patrols in Wellington, saying they make a lot of people feel “less safe.”
The comments have been criticised by MPs across National, Act, New Zealand First, as well as Labour.
And Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking specialist external advice on what ways the supermarket duopoly could be restructured.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these issues.
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:
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