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.
Earlier this week the government announced a major policy overhaul, they called it a reshuffle, which included dropping some of the less popular or seemingly viable intitaitives like the TVNZ/RNZ merger to focus more on ‘bread and butter’ issues.
Also announced was a $1.50 hike to the minimum wage, a delay to the income insurance scheme and hate speech reform, the scrapping of the biofuel mandate, and ambiguous future changes to three waters.
Casper had a chat with National MP Dr Shane Reti about the announcement and how it’s been received by National.
To get a sense of what’s driving the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle and what makes in an unprecedented weather event, Casper talked to Dr Dáithí Stone, climate scientist at NIWA.
For this week's Tuesday Wire, Allan Blackman joined Casper and Milly over the phone for Dear Science. Casper spoke to National’s Shane Reti about the government’s policy reshuffle announced this week and Dáithí Stone, climate scientist at NIWA about what’s driving Cyclone Gabrielle.
Milly speaks to Assad Shamseldin from the University of Auckland about improving our stormwater infrastructure. And Milly also spoke to epidemiologist Michael Baker about the new measles case identified in New Zealand.
Recently an imported case of measles has been detected in New Zealand, Milly speaks to epidemiologist Michael Baker from the University of Otago regarding the risks of an outbreak and what we can do to stop the spread of measles, which has mostly been eliminated in New Zealand.
On 8 February Chris Hipkins announced work on the TVNZ-RNZ public media entity "will stop entirely". This comes several years after the bill was first tabled by former broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi as a way to address declining audience numbers. Arno speaks to Dr Gavin Ellis, affiliate of think tank Koi Tū, “the centre for informed futures”. He started by asking what the difference between public and private broadcasters meant for the public.
- Spike speaks to Unite Union National Secretary John Crocker about the latest minimum wage rise
- Arno speaks to Dr. Gavin Ellis from Koi Tu about the TVNZ-RNZ merger
- Arno speaks to Peter Reynolds from the New Zealand Disability Support Network about a lack of government funding for support workers
- And on Tomorrow's World today, Stella and Isla speak to Professor Pauline Norris about new research that shows removing the $5 cost of prescriptions reduces hospital admissions and time spent in hospital
Arno speaks to Peter Reynolds, CEO of the New Zealand Disability Support Network - a society of organisations that provide support to disabled people. The industry of disability service providers is an entirely government-funded collection of entities that provide free-of-charge services to those in need. Recent increases in costs of providing services have made it difficult for these organisations to provide the same level of care for a given budget.
Cabinet, as part of its policy reset on Wednesday, announced minimum wage would be rising $1.50, up to $22.70 an hour to match inflation. Many are welcoming the increase, but Unite Union says it’s not enough for workers to just match inflation. Spike speaks to the National Secretary, John Crocker, about this latest rise.
The industry of disability service providers is an entirely government-funded collection of entities that provide free-of-charge services to those in need. Recent increases in costs of providing services have made it difficult for these organisations to provide the same level of care for a given budget.
Arno spoke to Peter Reynolds, CEO of the New Zealand Disability Support Network - a society of organisations that provide support to disabled people. He started off by asking if the government was doing enough to meet rising inflation by funding disability worker organisations.
On 8 February Chris Hipkins announced work on the TVNZ-RNZ public media entity "will stop entirely". This comes several years after the bill was first tabled by former broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi as a way to address declining audience numbers. Arno spoke to Dr Gavin Ellis, affiliate of think tank Koi Tū, “the centre for informed futures”. He started by asking what the difference between public and private broadcasters meant for the public.
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.
95bFM 
