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.
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.
In December of 2023, the government passed legislation to fully reinstate 90-day trials for employers, which was campaigned for by both National and ACT in the lead up to the election. The policy means that employees can be dismissed within 90 days of starting work without a given reason. Migrant workers are proving to be disproportionately affected by reforms in the employment sector. Just in the past week, A group of ten migrant workers, previously employed by S.E.A.L. Security have been made redundant months into their three-year employment agreement, after paying up to 70,000 dollars to secure employment in Aotearoa. Etū, one of the largest worker advocacy groups and unions in the country, has expressed serious concern about what new policies in the employement sector will mean for these workers.
Rosetta spoke to Director at Etū Georgie Dansey about what 90-day trials and the repeal of Fair Pay Agreements will mean for our most vulnerable Migrant Workers.
Neighbours Aotearoa is a community organisation that promotes fostering connections between neighbours and strengthening communities.
While the organisation operates all year round, Neighbours Aotearoa is particularly focused on the month of March, where they encourage people to get out and engage with their community.
Producer Castor spoke to Lucette Hindin, a Lead Connector for Neighbours Aotearoa, about the benefits of community and their upcoming March initiative.
Following coalition talks late last year, the new National led coalition government has proposed repealing anti-smoking legislation. In their statements and arguments supporting this position, they have repeatedly used common talking points from the tobacco industry.
A report released today by the Public Health Community Centre Aotearoa has highlighted this connection, and calls for our leading politicians to be more transparent about any connections they might have to the tobacco industry
Producer Castor spoke to the University of Otago’s Professor Janet Hoek about the influence of the tobacco industry on politics in Aotearoa.
The Wire is starting a new segment focused on deep diving into global human rights issues from Aotearoa to the world.
For the first edition Caeden focused on Aotearoa’s international law obligations to Palestine following the International Court of Justice ruling. First they spoke to University of Auckland Lecturer and International Law Expert Dr Treasa Dunworth.
They then spoke to Palestine Solidarity Network’s John Minto.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about Rātana and Pacific representation in government.
They also spoke to University of Auckland Lecturer Dr Treasa Dunworth and Palestine Solidairty Network’s John Minto about New Zealand’s obligation following the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel-Palestine.
Castor spoke to Lucette Hindin, a Lead Connector for Neighbours Aotearoa, about their yearly community initiative.
He also spoke to Professor Janet Hoek from the University of Otago about the influence of the tobacco industry on New Zealand politics.
For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni, Caeden asked about the mood at Rātana and the expected mood at Waitangi, as well as the lack of MPs from the Pacific in this government.
On Wednesday Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni dominated political headlines with news that she is believed to be a contestant on this year's season of Celebrity Treasure Island.
The last MP to compete on a reality TV show was David Seymour, who competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2018. This appearance resulted in a now infamous video of Seymour twerking in 80s getup.
Last years Celebrity Treasure Island also drew headlines for including famous political figures, notably Tame Iti.
Political news this week has also included an announcement from Paul Goldsmith that the Government is looking at stopping election day voter enrolment due to the administrative burden.
Caeden asked about both these topics for our weekly catch-up with Carmel Sepuloni. They started by asking if she would appear in Celebrity Treasure Island.
On the 19th of December 2022, Farzana Yaqubi, a 21 year old law student at AUT, was murdered by a man who had been repeatedly stalking her and sending her threatening messages on social media. In the months leading up to her murder, Farzana made multiple police reports with evidence of her experienced stalking, urging law enforcement to intervene. However, her reports were effectively disregarded and treated as low priority, as there are no official laws in Aotearoa that criminalise stalking.
Farzana’s murder triggered a call to the government from numerous women’s rights advocates across the motu to come up with more effective legislation to criminalise stalking and establish more effective preventative measures in law enforcement.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Leonie Morris from the Auckland Women’s Centre, to discuss a petition calling for the official criminalisation of stalking.
If you're interested, you can sign the petition here:
For Dear Science this week Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted to us about an orangutan treating its own injury, beluga whales changing the shape of their foreheads, and the development of skin burn healing bandages from plant based materials.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party’s Carmel Sepuloni I ask about MPs getting a pay raise, recent polling results that showed an increase in support for Labour, and a new policy from Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka which would prioritise whānau with tamariki for social housing.
Weekly Palestine protests have taken place in Britomart since last October, and an action in support of Palestine with several hundred students took place at the University of Auckland last night.
For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden asked Councillor Shane Henderson for his stance on the Palestine protests, as well as Council’s view more generally.
They also ask about the community impacts of half priced public transport for under 25s, which ended on May 1st.
The government recently made a series of changes to the licensing requirements for early childhood centres to be able to operate.
These include repealing the network approval provisions for people looking to establish early learning centres and removing the Person Responsible Staff requirements to have a full teaching licence.
The government justified these reforms by saying regulation cuts would make it easier for early childhood centres to operate, thus addressing Aotearoa’s teacher shortage.
However, many Kaiako working in early childhood education have said deregulation does not address the root causes of the teacher shortage, and that more focus is needed on addressing pay inequality for teachers within the sector.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Early childhood Kaiako and member of the New Zealand Educational Institute, Hayley Cross, to discuss a petition from the union to the government calling for pay parity in early childhood education.
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.
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