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 government has released its consultation document on He Waka Eke Noa, the system of farmgate pricing that has been in the works for almost three years. However, not everyone is pleased with the government’s announcement.
Starting in 2025, farmers will start to pay a price for their methane emissions. Consultation will run until near the end of the year with Cabinet expected to make final decisions in early 2023.
Host Emilia Sullivan first spoke to Christine Rose, lead agriculture campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, and started by asking her what she made of the government’s decision.
News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Federated Farmers Climate Change Spokesperson Andrew Hoggard who says the amendments to He Waka Eke Noa are “unacceptable.”
Casper speaks to Brooke van Velden in our weekly chat with the ACT Party.
Emilia chats to Christine Rose from Greenpeace Aotearoa, and our News and Editorial Director Jess chats to Federated Farmers Climate Change Spokesperson Andrew Hoggard about what they make of the amendments to He Waka Eke Noa.
Emilia also chats about the latest updates on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Otago Uni’s Robert Patman.
And lastly, Jess speaks to John Crocker from Unite Union about a fair pay agreement for hospitality workers.
That's us for the Wednesday Wire! See you next week.
Ukraine won’t be intimidated by Russia following a wave of missile strikes on urban populations this week, that is according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russian strikes targeted the country’s capital Kyiv, as well as in other civilian centres, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls ‘retaliation’ for an explosion over the weekend that damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge between Russia and Crimea.
To discuss these recent escalations, Emilia Sullivan spoke to Professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago.
Almost 500 pilot whales stranded on the beach of the Chatham Islands on Friday and Monday in two separate mass stranding incidents just days apart. Many of the whales could not be refloated due to the active shark risk to the animals and the rescuers in the region.
For more on mass whale strandings, and whether it’s a common occurrence, Christina spoke to Professor Karen Stockin, a marine ecologist at Massey University.
Streaming, or putting students into high, middle, or low ability groups, is a common practice in schools across Aotearoa.
In theory, streaming matches students’ needs to the appropriate resources and attention from teachers, but in reality, it can be discriminatory and lead to low self esteem.
Christina spoke to Dr David Pomeroy, a University of Canterbury education lecturer, and Caitlin Soulsby, the head of Maths at Mana College, about what streaming actually means for rangatahi in Aotearoa.
This week on the Tuesday Wire, Allan Blackman joined Casper and Christina in the studio to talk science news for our Dear Science segment.
Casper spoke to Dr Shane Reti from the National party for our weekly segment about National’s proposed tax cuts as well as his proposal to extend free breast cancer screening
Christina spoke with David Pomeroy and Caitlin Soulsby about the practice of streaming in New Zealand schools, as well as Professor Karen Stockin from Massey University about the mass pilot whale strandings in the Chatham Islands in the past few days.
And Casper also talked to Climate Minister and Greens co-leader James Shaw about the government’s new proposal to reduce agricultural emissions.
The government announced a ‘pragmatic proposal to reduce agricultural emissions’, a scheme formulated in consultation with the agricultural sector which will see it be brought into a kind of parallel to the emissions trading scheme, putting a price on farming emissions.
Casper had a chat with green party co-leader and climate change minister James Shaw about the proposal and what his role was in creating it.
The National party is proposing a set of tax cuts should it get into government next year. These cuts would index tax brackets to inflation but also reduce the overall tax burden of top earners in particular, raising many concerns about a similar scheme which was recently walked back in the UK after causing economic damage and drawing warnings from the IMF.
For Casper's weekly catchup with National MP Dr Shane Reti he asked him about the tax cuts, as well as a call he’s put forward as the party’s health spokesperson to increase free breast cancer screening up to the age of 74.
Joe looks at Local Government New Zealand’s call for a review of local government elections. He speaks Bonita Bigham, Chair of Te Maruata at LGNZ on the matter.
Spike will dive into cannabis decriminalisation here in Aotearoa, following Joe Biden’s pardoning of thousands of Americans who were convicted due to cannabis possession.
Joe also look at the current state of our water infrastructures in Aotearoa New Zealand, he speaks to Dr Lokesh P. Padhye, Senior Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Auckland.
Finally, Joe speaks to Dr Nic Rawlence from the Paleogenetics Lab at the University of Otago about the recent discovery of Pterosaur-like creatures in Scotland.
US President Biden announced last Friday he would be pardoning thousands of cannabis possession charges, signalling a change of course in drug policy from the home of the War on Drugs, and a path towards decriminalisation of cannabis in the States.
Cannabis has been completely banned in Aotearoa since 1961 after the signing of the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs, a treaty pushed heavily by the US. Between 1980 and 2022, over 120,000 people have been convicted of cannabis use or possession. In the wake of Biden’s announcement, the New Zealand Drug Foundation has renewed calls for reform and launched a petition calling on the government to decriminalise cannabis and pardon possession charges.
Spike Keith spoke to New Zealand Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm about the effects of cannabis criminalisation here, and what decriminalisation would look like.
The Healthcare exec Brian Thompson was shot dead by a masked assailant last week.
The crime has gained significant controversy and attention online, with many using it to restart the debate on the inequities of the United States healthcare system.
And this week Yale University was the latest college to commit to divesting from weapons manufacturing after a student vote.
For State of the States this week Wire Host Caeden speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about both of these topics.
The government as announced their plan for the Cook Strait ferry a year after they scrapped Labour’s plan, including cancelling the ferries the Labour government had ordered.
And a new report from the Ministry of Social Development has revealed nearly a quarter of beneficiaries are not receiving their correct entitlements.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about both of these topics.
For City Counselling this week, producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about proposed time-of-use charging to solve congestion problems in Tāmaki and Council selling their remaining Auckland Airport shares last week.
The Green party recently released He Ara Anamata - the Green party’s emissions reduction plan.
The document covers more than 10 areas of the economy and energy Sector that a Greens-led government would be looking to adapt to minimise carbon emissions and protect the natural landscapes of Aotearoa.
It also comes 5 months after the government released their own draft emissions plan. Numerous experts pointed out that the government is behind on their own plan’s targets to meet the crucial emissions budget for 2031-2035.
For their weekly catchup, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss the party’s new emissions reduction plan and how they would address climate and the economy in a greens-led government.
Last election, one of the National Party’s main campaign promises was to be ‘tough on crime’, promising to increase police coverage and penalties for crimes. A target was set to increase the number of police officers by 500 by November 2025, however some police leaders today say this goal is unrealistic.
The government also announced this week some shakeups to insulation standards, which they say should make houses more affordable.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor spoke to him about police staffing targets and new insulation standards.
This week on Dear Science, our expert Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about what latrines teach us about people, climate variation affecting Chinese dynasties, and invasive species becoming threatened.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
Last week it was revealed that two of the ten participants in the government's pilot bootcamp programme were on the run.
The youth were two months into the community rehabilitation phase of the programme, following the three month youth justice residence phase. Both teens were found in the weekend, but had allegedly reoffended, and are now set to come before the court.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, who have been heavily advocating for this programme, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about this incident.
She also talks to him about proposed changes to employment law which would give employers the power to dismiss workers earning over $180,000 without the employee refuting the decision.
And finally, she talks to him about David Seymour’s incumbent run as Deputy Prime Minister, which is set to begin in May of next year.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about changes to Auckland Transport’s responsibilities, nationwide bus and train fare hikes, and concerns over the opening of the City Rail Link.
For State of the States this week, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa'aoso from the Yale Daily News about President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced next week for three felony charges.
They also discuss Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, who is the latest in a long list of unorthodox picks for government positions from Trump
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