Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Jessica Hopkins, Castor Chacko, Nicholas Lindstrom, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
For our weekly catch up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about Waitangi, and the government’s announcement yesterday that it will no longer fund cultural reports used in sentencing.
With the U.S. presidential election on the horizon, the stakes of the fight for the youth vote are higher than ever.
Beth spoke to Professor of History at the University of Auckland, Jennifer Frost, about the historical suppression of the youth vote in the United States, including grassroots movements fighting for the vote, past bills and the significance of the 26th Amendment.
In recent years Aotearoa has seen a rise of far-right-wing ideologies and Trumpian thinking.
Beth spoke to Professor of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Ian Hyslop, about this phenomenon. She began by asking him whether different factors can be attributed to this regression or if we’re seeing a natural pendulum swing.
For our weekly catch up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about Waitangi, and the government’s announcement yesterday that it will no longer fund cultural reports used in sentencing.
Beth spoke to Professor of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Ian Hyslop, about this phenomenon. She began by asking him whether different factors can be attributed to this regression or if we’re seeing a natural pendulum swing.
She also spoke to Counsellor for Waitakere, Shane Henderson, about the government's intentions to roll back usage of Te Reo Māori in the public sector, and whether this affects Auckland Council.
Producer Castor spoke to HIV Prevention researcher at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health and one of the report’s authors, Peter Saxton, about the current legislation and what change could mean.
And finally, Beth spoke to Professor of History at the University of Auckland, Jennifer Frost, about the historical suppression of the youth vote in the United States, including grassroots movements fighting for the vote, past bills and the significance of the 26th Amendment.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Green Party Co-Leader, James Shaw, about his announcement he will be stepping down as Co-Leader, Waitangi, and New Zealand deploying a NZDF team to the Red Sea.
She spoke to Action Station Director, Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa), about Waitangi yesterday.
She spoke to Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Auckland and convenor of the NZ Privacy Foundation’s surveillance working group, Gehan Gunasekara, about how we can improve our privacy laws in Aotearoa.
And for Get Action! she spoke to Common Grace Aotearoa Co-Director, Kate Day, about their campaign for the Electricity Authority to better protect families struggling with power prices.
For their first weekly catch-up since his resignation, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Green Party Co-Leader, James Shaw, about his decision to leave politics, his experience at Waitangi, and their opposition to New Zealand deploying a NZDF team to the Red Sea.
When it comes to our privacy laws in Aotearoa, according to experts, we may be lacking behind.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Auckland and convenor of the NZ Privacy Foundation’s surveillance working group, Gehan Gunasekara, about why he believes we need to pressure politicians to keep our privacy laws current, especially concerning children.
She started off the interview by asking Gunasekara about his work with the Privacy Foundation’s surveillance working group.
The largest hikoi protest to Waitangi Grounds in modern history took place this Waitangi, with thousands gathering to voice their concerns about the new government’s proposed policies, including a referendum on the principles of Te Tiriti, ending co-governance, and removing Te Reo from the names of public services.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Action Station Director Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa), about what this significant show of solidarity against their policies means for the government and her reflections of the day.
The government has recently announced a 5 million dollar aid programme for Palestinians in Gaza through UNICEF and World Food Programme. This comes as funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees is still halted from New Zealand, as the organisation is under investigation for staff involved in the October 7th Hamas attacks. Prior to halting this funding, New Zealand was contributing 1 million dollars annually to UNRWA, and with this new aid, the government has contributed a total of 15 million dollars since October through UNICEF, WFP, International Committee for Red Cross, to civilian humanitarian aid.
Several Palestinian advocacy groups in Aotearoa have been highly critical of the decision to cut UNRWA funding due to its direct link to civilians in Gaza. UNRWA has also stated that due to suspended funding from the UK and USA, they may be forced to cease operating in the Middle East by the end of the month. UNRWA not only runs schools and refugee camps across Gaza and The West Bank, but also Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Rosetta spoke to John Minto, Chair of Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, about what the New Zealand government aid will mean, the importance of UNRWA, and issues that Palestinian advocacy groups in Aotearoa are noticing with media coverage of the situation in Gaza.
As part of its 100 day plan, the government is currently processing reforms to resource management, and one of these changes is introducing what it calls a “fast-track consenting one-stop shop regime” for speeding up infrastructure developments. The plan forms part of the New Zealand First and National coalition agreement, with Minister for Resource Management Act reform Chris Bishop and Minister for Regional Development Shane Jones at the forefront of this movement. They argue that the current frameworks that infrastructure developments are operating under are inefficient and costly, as current consenting processes cost infrastructure projects 1.3 billion dollars every year. However many groups have been highly critical of how a widespread fast tracking approach could cost our environment and place the power of big infrastructure decisions in the hands of cabinet ministers.
Rosetta spoke to Forest and Bird General Manager of Conservation Advocacy Richard Capie about his concerns with the policy, and how he feels infrastructure planning needs to change moving forward.
The coalition government has made changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, including allowing landlords to charge an additional bond of up to two weeks rent on top of the standard bond of up to four weeks, if a tenant wishes to have a pet on the property.
No-cause evictions have also been reintroduced, allowing landlords to evict tenants without providing a reason, provided they give them 90 days notice.
For our weekly interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court about these changes.
Disability communities have been rallying against a surprise change in purchasing rules in the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha. Communities have said the changes will have massive impact, despite no consultation on these changes or a formal announcement.
The Department of Conversation also recently proposed staffing cuts to meet funding demands. DoC controls a third of Aotearoa’s landmass which is all conservation land. It remains uncertain how job losses in the Ministry could impact conservation land management.
For weekly catch-up with the Labour party Wire Host Caeden spoke to Labour spokesperson for Disability Issues and Conservation Priyanca Rahdakrishnan about both of these issues.
For our weekly interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court about the government’s proposal to increase student attendance rates and his post on X last week, in which he stated he stands with Israel.
A proposal to merge the Ōtara-Papatoetoe and Māngere-Ōtāhuhu local boards has been met with criticism, with consultation opening at the end of next month.
A new report has also been released on the quality of living in Tāmaki Makaurau with our city receiving mixed results by scoring high on some areas (the environment), and lower on others (education).
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Counsellor Lotu Fuli about both these topics for City Counselling.
The Ministry of Social Development is not immune to job cuts seen in other public service departments, with MSD calling for voluntary redundancies after cost-saving efforts failed to meet Government targets. For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni Wire Host Caeden asks her about the impact of cuts at MSD, especially amongst other Government policies disadvantaging beneficiaries.
They also ask about the Samoan Citizenship Bill led by Teanau Tuiono, and the impact of losing independent media giants such as Newshub for democracy.
For this week's Get Action! Sofia spoke to petitioner Abdul Safi and his campaign to place sanctions on Israel amidst genocidal acts that are widely considered war crimes.
If you want to sign this petition, you can find it here:
95bFM 
