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 guilty verdict for Dr Tony Hanne, who was prescribing drugs for ADHD without going through the full official process, is drawing attention to difficulties in getting diagnoses and crucial medication for New Zealanders with the disorder.
To get a sense of what these obstacles look like and how they’re posing such a problem that an expert in the field found himself undercutting the system to get people medication that they need, Casper spoke to Darrin Bull, chairperson of ADHD New Zealand.
The Melbourne Cup is held on the 1st of November every year. It’s a major annual horseracing event which attracts global attention. However, the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses believes that the event is unethical and is staging a protest along Auckland’s waterfront this afternoon, where many venues will be screening the race.
Casper spoke to Aya Oba from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, to discuss the protest and the group's views on what they call an exploitative and abusive industry.
The National party is drawing attention to declining pass rates for NCEA students taking literacy and numeracy tests, with only sixty-four percent passing for reading skills, fifty-six percent in numeracy tests and only thirty-four for writing.
For their weekly catch-up Casper discussed this issue with National party MP Shane Reti, as well as the possibility of reform to alcohol laws that the government has recently signalled.
Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has finally acquired Twitter after months of legal threats to go through with the deal. It’s only been a few days, but there are big changes already, he’s axed a number of executives and dissolved the board of directors.
Christina spoke to Dr Ethan Plaut, a communications lecturer at the University of Auckland, for his thoughts on the platform’s new owner.
Joel Rindelaub joined Christina over the phone for a spooky Halloween special of Dear Science, discussing zombie ants, being scared to death, and existing in a simulation.
Casper spoke to Dr Shane Reti from the National party for our weekly segment about NCEA pass rates and alcohol law reform.
Christina spoke to Dr Ethan Plaut, a University of Auckland communications lecturer, about Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.
Casper also spoke to Darrin Bull from ADHD New Zealand about the barriers preventing people from obtaining an ADHD diagnosis.
He also had a kōrero with animal rights activist Aya Oba from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses about their protest against the Melbourne Cup.
New AUT research offers surprising insights into how fathers are involved in childcare, and why their involvement matters. Commissioned by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), AUT’s NZ Work Research Institute (NZWRI) examined how, how much, and how well fathers were engaged in their young children’s lives, and the impact of that engagement on the children's outcomes.
Joe spoke to Lisa Meehan from the New Zealand Work and Research Institute about this research.
Joe looks at the need to engage with Māori on Aotearoa’s National Space Policy and Aerospace Strategy. He speaks to Dr Pauline Harris, Associate Professor at Te Putahi a Toi: School of Maori Knowledge, Massey University. Joe also looks at how a Fathers' involvement in childcare impacts their kids. He speaks to Lisa Meehan from the NZ Work Research Institute at AUT about their research on this matter.
Spike brings us a special report on Alcohol Reform.
We’ve got Tomorrow’s World today! Stella and Isla welcome their youngest guests yet, students from the Toitū te ngahere.
Public consultation on New Zealand’s Aerospace Strategy and Space Policy Review will close today, the 31st of October. The consultation documents highlight the need to engage with Māori on New Zealand’s space activities and engagements, though some commentators argue that the consultation has been too rushed for Māori to have meaningful input.
Joe spoke to Dr Pauline Harris, an Associate Professor at Te Putahi a Toi: School of Maori Knowledge, Massey University, on this matter.
The Fair Pay Agreements bill passed its third and final reading on Wednesday night.
Introduced to parliament earlier this year, the bill will allow workers in a certain industry to negotiate for better pay and working conditions industry wide.
Negotiations will be triggered if ten percent of workers or 1000 employees in an industry agree.
David spoke to Labour MP Camilla Belich about the subject.
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.
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.
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
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:
This past week the government announced plans to reinstate the prisoner voting ban. The ban was altered in June 2020 by the Labour led coalition government in a change which allowed prisoners serving a sentence of less than three years to vote in elections. This change followed a recommendation from New Zealand’s High Court, which found a prisoner voting ban was inconsistent with New Zealand’s Bill of Rights.
In 2025, the government is now looking at repealing the bill and reinstating the ban. The National Party has argued that there are certain responsibilities that members of society must uphold, and that those who do not fulfil these responsibilities will have their rights taken away. Asked about human rights concerns and the High Court ruling on the bill, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said “I do not care what anyone else says about it.” The bill is set to join others as part of this government’s “tough on crime” approach.
In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the prisoner voting ban and how the change would benefit the general public.
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