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.
Congestion in the city centre last night held up vehicle traffic and delayed buses for up to an hour. This morning a number of organisations paid for a front page wrap around ad in the Herald promoting cycling.
Alex talked to Big Street Bikers' Cleve Cameron about how enabling cycling in the city might unclog the streets so everyone can get around quickly, cheaply and efficiently.
Scientists have been calling for a ban for light-polluting mass satellite groups like Elon Musk’s Starlink for some time now, and a series of papers and opinion pieces published in the journal Nature Astronomy have echoed these calls. Scientists are concerned that the light pollution from these so-called megaconstellations make it difficult to view objects in space for research, to see the stars at night, and to detect potentially hazardous meteors heading towards Earth.
Arno spoke to University of Auckland astrophysicist Professor Richard Easther to find out more about the call to regulate mass satellite groups.
Collaborators at several universities are testing a new faith-based smoking cessation method around the tradition of Ramadan and Muslim culture. Studies show Muslim men have high smoking rates, and this study seeks to implement a cessation method for the next Ramadan.
Arno spoke to Abdullah (Dilla) Kalantan, a doctoral researcher at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, to find out more about this project. Arno started by asking what the role of religion was in quitting smoking.
In the pursuit of meeting emissions reduction targets, the transition to electric vehicles is seeming like a bit of a necessity.
With battery range and charging stations a worry for EV owners, the government and research organisations from around the world are banding together to come up with new solutions to instil confidence in EV fleets.
Andre Fa’aoso spoke to Doug Wilson, Director of the Transportation Research Centre at the University of Auckland.
The research facility based in the Faculty of Engineering is designing and testing the possibilities of wireless charging roads in Aotearoa to remedy range anxiety for EV owners.
The partnership between Downer and the University of Auckland has been tasked with testing the resilience and application of this technology on our roads.
Andre started off by asking Doug about what this technology is and how it works.
In a follow up statement, Doug shared the idea of ‘power snacking’.
Doug says that power snacking “is very different to the current need to carry around a tank full of gas or a very large and heavy battery that takes longer to charge. For example, if you can charge your ‘EV on the go’ (at your origin, destination and on the way dynamically) then you can reduce the size of your battery as range anxiety is removed. This also has the significant environmental benefit of requiring less rare earth minerals (eg. cobalt, nickel and lithium) as the batteries are smaller in size and are also reduced weight. This can only be done with wireless charging but the wireless EV infrastructure will need to be in place for this to affect potential users purchasing behaviours.”
Emilia Sullivan interviewed Green Party co-leader James Shaw about a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shows we only have a small window remaining to avoid the planet warming 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
For their monthly catch-up News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Auckland University Students Association (AUSA) President Alan Shaker about how Auckland Transport disruptions are affecting students and more for their monthly catch-up.
And National Coordinator of Gender Minorities Aotearoa, Ahi Wi-Hongi, discussed anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker, being allowed to enter Aotearoa to hold a transphobic event in Tāmaki Makaurau this weekend.
Alex Bonham spoke to Cleve Cameron from Big Street Bikers about avoiding congestion by embracing cycling.
Andre Andre Fa'aoso talked to Doug Wilson from the University of Auckland about wireless charging roads.
Arno spoke to doctoral researcher Abdullah Kalantan from the University of Auckland about a new smoking cessation project during the month of Ramadan.
And University of Auckland astrophysicist Richard Easther discussed light pollution from Starlink and other satellites.
The Auckland Council and Immigration NZ are allowing anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull aka Posie Parker to enter Aotearoa and hold a transphobic event in Tāmaki Makaurau this weekend.
News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Ahi Wi-Hongi, National Coordinator at Gender Minorities Aotearoa about why Posie Parker entering Aotearoa is a danger to trans people.
For their monthly catch-up News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Auckland University Students Association (AUSA) President Alan Shaker about their Safe Zone’s initiative with the Auckland Council, which ran during University orientation week, how disruptions to the Auckland Transport network since the start of the semester has affected students ability to travel to and from campus, issues with University of Auckland infrastructure, particularly Wi-Fi connection issues, and students waiting up to three hours to access student services.
For their weekly catch-up, News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to ACT MP Karen Chhour about the government banning TikTok from all parliamentary devices, and reprioritising its spending to refocus on the cost of living and Cyclone Gabrielle recovery.
Aotearoa poet and writer Hera Lindsay Bird, author of infamous self-titled poetry book Hera Lindsay Bird, has begun an advice column in online magazine The Spinoff dubbed Help Me Hera.
Beth spoke to Hera about her new column and how it connects to her poetry and her previous works. They also spoke about her creative outlets and pursuits and even dug up some old tweets. Sweet. You can ask for Hera's advice at helpme@thespinoff.co.nz.
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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