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.
David brings us City Counselling with Shane Henderson as they talk about clean up efforts in West Auckland after last week’s floods.
Joe looks into Acute Mental Health units remaining in the shadows, he speaks to Associate Professor Ruth Cunningham from the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington on the matter. Joe also looks into mammogram coverage targets missing for the third year in a row, he speaks to Adele Gautier, Research manager at The Breast Cancer Foundation on this issue.
Joe also speaks to Alexandra Xanthaki a UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights and Professor of Laws at Brunel University London, United Kingdom, about the commending of the IOC for considering admission of Russian and Belarusian athletes as neutral contestants.
Daniel looks into ChatGPT and how AI impacts humanity, he speaks to Nir Eisikovits, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts in Boston on the topic. He also speaks to Kyle Lewis, founder and researcher at Think Tank Autonomy about a 4 day work week.
The shorter working week is a powerful and practical solution to problematic trends. For example Burnouts, automation, gender inequality and climate change. The shorter working week is a simpel ideal to give us an utopian perspective for a better world. Working 4 days with the same pay, so people can enjoy their free time and still be more productive.
Daniel spoke with Kyle Lewis. Writer of the book Overtime, why we need a shorter working week and founder of think tank Autonomy.
Launched by OpenAI in November 2022, ChatGPT can do a lot of things. It can write coherent paragraphs of arguments and stories. It can write movie scripts, poems, make lectures for teachers, write essays and lyrics for songs. Recent research shows it Can even write scholarly articles that would be accepted by journals. Then there is also Dall-E an AI system that generates images and artwork
How should we value these technologies? What will be the effects of such technologies on our creative process?
Daniel talked with Nir Eisikovits, professor in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts to reflect on these questions.
Acute mental health care units remain in the shadows, neither fully integrated into general hospitals nor part of the community, researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington, say. Joe spoke to the lead researcher of this study, Associate Professor Ruth Cunningham on this matter.
Auckland is still reeling from last week’s intense rainfall and subsequent flooding. Damage from the weather event has left many without possessions and housing.
The community is beginning to rally around those affected providing support in anything from food to housing to towels. David spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about the subject.
Aotearoa's breast screening programme has now missed its mammogram coverage targets for three consecutive years. National Screening Unit stats show as of the end of last year, 65% of eligible women were being screened, which was short of the targeted 70%
Joe speaks to Adele Gautier, Research manager for The Breast Cancer Foundation on this matter.
As people continue to struggle with rising cost of living, some economists have suggested raising unemployment rates to tamp inflation. However, doing so would further increase hardship for those laid off, and job losses would concentrate among low-income workers. Are gentler deflationary tools available?
Hanna spoke to Professor Robert MacCulloch, Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at the University of Auckland, about why unemployment remained low despite market shocks, the theory behind raising unemployment to tackle inflation and its critique, and the disciplinary effect of unemployment on workers.
Liam has a package re-evaluating the Three Waters Reform in the wake of the Auckland flooding. They’ve spoken to the University of Auckland's Dr Timothy Welch about stormwater infrastructure, E Tū Union director Mat Danaher about why they support Three Waters and ACT Party local government and infrastructure spokesperson Simon Court about why they continue to oppose it.
Hanna spoke to Professor Robert MaCulloch about Aotearoa's unemployment rates.
And Liam had a chat with bFM European Correspondent Cameron Adams about what's been going on in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and the UK!
The mass flooding in Auckland has renewed conversations and calls for the three waters reform to continue, to completion.
The controversial Labour policy has been speculated to be on the chopping block of new PM Chris Hipkins, further supported by the appointment of new cabinet minister Kieran McAnulty to the local government portfolio.
However, the devastation caused by the flooding reinstated how badly Tamaki Makaurau needs updated stormwater infrastructure.
To learn about where the reform currently stands and what stormwater infrastructure needs to be put in place, i’ve spoken to UoA’s Timothy Welch, E tū Unions Mat Danaher and ACT MP Simon Court about their respective opinions on the policy.
The Auckland floods have been devastating for many, but will this extreme weather become our new normal?
Today Troy Matich spoke with Victoria University Professor James Renwick about how the future of climate change could bring more extreme weather, and disaster.
Last week, the government announced that they would begin an official review of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975.
The government has said that the review is to ensure the Waitangi Tribunal remains effective and relevant, however, a number of Māori and treaty law experts have referred to the review as an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles.
In that same week, the government announced that they would be investing $774 million towards improving the redress process for survivors of abuse in state care in Budget 2025.
However, going against one of the key recommendations of both the Royal Commission and the Redress Design Group, the government will not be looking to set up a new redress scheme for abuse survivors.
And the government recently passed amendments to the Wildlife Act that would permit the “incidental killing” of certain native wildlife species by companies during lawful activities like construction and development.
For our weekly catchup with the Green party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March for the party’s take on all of these issues.
In 2014, Victoria University of Wellington made an official promise to divest $650,000 worth of investments in fossil fuel companies which, at the time, comprised of 2.1% of the University’s total investments.
However, more than 10 years on, a student-led investigation found that the university still held significant investments in companies like Exxon Mobil and SHELL through third-party investment managers.
A year after a successful petition by Students for Justice in Palestine Pōneke calling on the university to divest funding from Israeli companies, a group of students from Climate Action Victoria University of Wellington have made renewed calls to the university to divest from fossil fuel companies.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Hugh Acton, a member of Climate Action Victoria of University of Wellington, who’s launched a petition calling on the university to disclose their investments in companies involved in fossil fuel production and to divest from them immediately.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
National Party MP Catherine Wedd recently filed a private members bill that would look at restricting social media use for young people, mainly those under 16. While the bill has received some criticism from the ACT party, other parties such as Labour have agreed that legislation around this issue is important.
At the end of April New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft put forward a private members bill forward that would seek to define the word ‘woman’ in New Zealand law. The bill was received with criticism from opposition parties and the general public, who say the bill is drawing on transphobic sentiments to distract from more important issues.
In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, starting with the potential social media restrictions.
Last week, the controversial Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed under urgency.
The bill makes drastic changes to the Equal Pay Act 1972, making the criteria for equity claims stricter, and could can the 33 existing claims, affecting 150,000 female workers.
The passing of the bill has faced significant opposition from the Labour Party, Green Party, and Te Pāti Māori, over concerns this bill would set women back, and resulted in nationwide protests.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about the passing of the Pay Equity Amendment Bill, and how this would impact marginalised communities.
They also spoke about the Ministry of Education releasing the draft relationships and sexuality education, or RSE, framework, for students years 0 to 13, and the party’s concerns regarding this.
But first, they discussed the Pay Equity Amendment Bill
The ACT Party has defended the Government’s controversial move to pass changes to pay equity law under urgency — a move that immediately halted all current claims and raised the bar for future ones. The Government argues the new rules will provide more “clarity” and prevent costly legal disputes, while unions and advocates say the bill is a rollback of hard-won gains for women in low-paid sectors.
Critics also slammed the lack of consultation and the speed of the legislative process, while questions are raised over whether the move was made to plug a hole in the upcoming budget. For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about why ACT supports the Pay Equity Amendment Bill, and whether it risks undermining efforts to close the gender pay gap.
They also discussed a National Party member’s bill that would ban under-16s from using social media — a proposal ACT has declined to back for now. National says the ban would protect young people’s mental health, while ACT argues it raises serious questions about freedom of speech and parental responsibility.
International relations experts are fearing a major conflict between India and Pakistan after sharp, escalating tensions, following a deadly terrorist attack in militarised Kashmir that killed 26 people.
Kashmiris have a long history of oppression. In modern times, this has been as India and Pakistan fight over the region while Kashmiris fight for independence.
Human Rights Watch reports on Kashmir reveal examples of forced displacement, sexual violence, disappearances and allegations of torture and death in custody.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Rohan Davis about the recent terrorist attack and ongoing military escalation, as well as the historical and political context of the Kashmir crisis.
Davis is a video essayist on YouTube from Kerala, India, who covers Indian history and politics.
The government has changed pay equality laws, halting all existing claims and reducing the number of workers who can argue for better pay based on gender discrimination.
New figures show the unemployment rate has remained unchanged from last quarter at 5.1%.
And National has put forward a member's bill proposal that would ban social media for under-16s.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke with Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Earlier this week, defence Minister Judith Collins announced that $2 billion would be set aside in this year’s budget to replace the Defence Force’s maritime helicopters.
This would be outside the additional $12 billion dollars that the government will be investing in the Defence Capability plan and would include another separate $1 Billion investment in the defence force over the next four years.
In that same week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith recently announced that Cabinet had reinstated a total ban on prisoners voting in general elections, overturning laws under the previous Labour government allowing prisoners serving less than three years to vote.
And Green Party MP Steve Abel recently added The Animal Products (Closing the Welfare Gap) Amendment Bill to the biscuit tin, which would ensure that imported products in New Zealand met our animal welfare standards.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Greens MP Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss all of these issues.
Winter is coming, and so is a projected increase in respiratory illnesses and COVID cases. Schools are particularly notorious breeding grounds for such diseases with children being more susceptible to respiratory illnesses.
Ultimately, this results in teachers also being subject to COVID and respiratory illnesses at a higher rate than other professions, and an increased number of teachers leaving the profession due to long COVID symptoms is worsening Aotearoa’s already severe teacher shortage.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Tara Forde from Aotearoa Covid Action, to discuss a petition of hers calling for the government to prevent the spread of COVID in our schools by making improvements to school air quality and improving accessibility to Booster Vaccines and Rapid Antigen Tests.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
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