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.
With the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party wrapping up, President Xi Jinping has been handed a third term in power. It breaks the unofficial precedent established since Mao Zedong’s death in 1976, where presidents have traditionally ruled for just two terms.
For more on this monumental event in recent Chinese history, Christina spoke to Dr Stephen Noakes, a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations from the University of Auckland.
News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins speaks to Executive Director of The New Zealand Initiative, Dr Oliver Hartwich and Associate Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Auckland, Dr Neal Curtis about Liz Truss resigning after just six weeks as UK Prime Minister.
Victoria University student and disability advocate Alice Mander talks about the panel set to lead a review of Aotearoa’s electoral law.
And for our Bird of the Year special, Jessica interviewed Forest and Bird's Ellen Rykers and several campaign managers about the competition.
Forest and Bird’s annual Bird of the Year competition, Te Manu Rongo-nui o te Tau, is underway, with 71 candidates vying to be 2022’s top bird.
News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Ellen Rykers from Forest and Bird about why Bird of the Year is so important for raising awareness about Aotearoa’s diverse bird species, 80% of which are facing extinction.
And to help you make your decision, Jessica spoke to several campaign managers about why their bird should get your vote, and why Bird of the Year is important to them.
The Gary Ware Legacy Award, run by Amnesty International focuses on facilitating our rangatahi to advocate for human rights. Applications for the next round are open currently! Stella spoke to Sabrina Manu from Amnesty about their work in the space of empowering youth, and a past recipient of the award about her project being created with the grant.
Welcome to the Thursday Wire! This week on the show...
Stella speaks to Sabrina Manu from Amnesty International and one of the winners of the Gary Ware Legacy Award about their work on a documentary about human trafficking in Aotearoa.Tuva’a has his weekly catch up with Labour’s Andrew Little, and Stella speaks to Juressa Lee from greenpeace Aotearoa about their calls for the UN to drop sponsors like Coca Cola from COP27 climate change talks. On Greendesk this week, Joel Armstrong speaks to Professor Craig Stevens from NIWA and University of Auckland about the state of Aotearoa's Marine environment. Finally, Stella speaks to Ariel Macaiah Heswall about her research into light pollution’s effects on seabirds.
Ahead of COP27, set to begin 6 November, Coca-Cola has been announced as a corporate sponsor. Greenpeace is among those calling for the UN to drop Coca Cola as a sponsor.
Stella spoke to Juressa Lee, Greenpeace Aotearoa plastics campaigner, about their organisations’ calls for the UN to drop Coca Cola as a sponsor for the event.
Today on Green Desk, Joel Armstrong spoke to Professor Craig Stevens from NIWA and the University of Auckland about the state of Aotearoa's marine environment.
A new study from UoA by PhD student Ariel-Micaiah Heswall has tracked collisions that seabirds have as a result of light pollution in Auckland. Stella spoke to Ariel this morning, about her findings.
News and Editorial Director Jess Hopkins speaks to Brooke van Velden in our weekly chat with the ACT Party.
Joe looks at a recent study which shows ocean warming rates being predicted to quadruple by 2090 if we don’t mitigate climate change. He spoke to Dr Kevin Trenberth, from the University of Auckland, who co-authored the study. Joe also speaks to Ariel-Micaiah Heswall from the University of Auckland about the toll light pollution takes on Seabirds.
We have Eurovision with our European Correspondent Cameron Adams, who tells us about The War in Ukraine, Liz Truss and Swiss Chocolate Bunnies. Cameron also speaks to Radical Aid Force, an aid group operating in Ukraine.
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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