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.
A couple of weeks ago National Party Housing Spokesperson Chris Bishop indicated at an Auckland meeting that the party is open to making changes to housing zoning laws.
To get a clearer picture of National’s current stance on what policies are needed to allieviate the housing crisis, with a particular focus on Auckland and the discourse around special character areas and intensification, Casper spoke to National MP Dr. Shane Reti.
Casper first asked what major ongoing issues with the housing market could be alleviated by policy and how high a priority it is right now.
Māori are currently 31% more likely to die from liver cancer than non-Māori with the same diagnosis, but covering the travel costs associated with liver cancer surgery could help close this disparity.
Researchers analysed the distance travelled by Māori and Pākehā patients to receive their first primary surgery for liver cancer and found that on average, Māori liver cancer patients travelled twice as far than their Pākehā counterparts.
Joe spoke to Jason Gurney, from the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, about how travel costs being are a barrier for Māori in need of liver cancer treatment.
New video footage of the interior of the vandalised St James Theatre has been released by Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick, showing fungi growing on damp floors, damaged electrical fittings and roof, as well as an exposure to the weather and rain, and foundation-eroding dampness.
Swarbrick has written an open letter calling for the government to match the Auckland Council's $15 million commitment to restoring the building. She says this decision can't be kicked down the road any more and that the revival of the theatre will secure Queen Streets' status as a buzzing destination that will provide space and a place for Auckland's creative community.
Built in 1928, St James Theatre once hosted many shows and concerts. St James Theatre is also regarded as a Category 1 Heritage building, meaning it is a historic places are of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value.
However, Building owner Steve Bielby says thieves and vandals had 'gutted' the once historic site.
Joe spoke to the owner of St James Theatre, Steve Bielby as well as Green Party MP for Auckland Central Chlöe Swarbrick, about why the revitalisation of St James Theatre is so significant to Auckland.
In 1922, the tomb of the young king Tutankhamun was uncovered by Archaeologist Howard Carter, led by his patron George Herbert (5th Earl of Carnarvon), opening up widespread interest into Ancient Egypt civilization.
Since then, he has long been suspected of stealing it’s treasures before the tomb was officially opened. These claims have been hard to validify, but a newly discovered letter penned by renowned philologist Sir Alan Gardiner may hold the answer to the questions that have swelled up in the 100 years since the discovery of the tomb.
Gardiner’s letter was never published, but the letter details how Carter compensated his work translating the cave hieroglyphics with a ‘whm amulet’, which was historically used as an offering for the dead.
Despite being told by Carter that the amulet hadn’t originated from the tomb, confirmation came from the then-director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo Rex Engelbach after testing other finds transported to the museum.
To understand more about the controversy and history surrounding the tomb of Tutankhamun, and the surrounding context, I reached out to University of Auckland Professor Anthony Spalinger to discuss the news and more.
On this week’s regular segment in collaboration with OurActionStation, we’re discussing the call from Coromandel Watchdog for a Moratorium on Mining Permit applications on public conservation land.
Despite the commitment placed by the Government in 2017 to stop issuing mining permits on conservation land, it has failed to implement the measure and continue to issue permits under the ‘stewardship land’ reasoning’.
Trishil spoke to the organiser of the petition Catherine Delahunty on this issue, discussing the issue with stewardship land, and the harms that mining has on flora and fauna.
Joe speaks to Jason Gurney, from Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, about travel costs being a barrier for Māori in need of liver cancer treatment. He also chats to Steve Bielby, the owner of St James Theatre, and Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick on the revitalisation of St James Theatre.
Trishil speaks to Catherine Delahunty from Coromandel Watchdog about her petition calling for a moratorium on mining permits for conservation land. He also speaks Anthony Spalinger from the Ancient History Department at the University of Auckland about the recently resurfaced letter from Sir Alan Gardiner confirming the tomb of Tutankhamun had been raided prior to it’s official unveiling.
It’s not breaking news that the Cost-of-Living has been messed up across the country.
However, new reports are showing the affects the financial difficulties are having on our physical and emotional health.
The Southern Cross's most recent Healthy Futures Report has shown direct links through several measures, such as people having difficulty sleeping, feeling more stressed, and having more difficulty affording health care.
To learn more Liam spoke to Chief Medical Officer of Southern Cross Insurance Arm Doctor Stephen Child.
A new inquiry has recently been opened by the Transport and Infrastructure Committee, asking for submissions on how to improve inter-regional rail in Aotearoa.
The committee is particularly trying to understand how best to implement sustainable practices, and how to revitalise trains between big cities.
This comes after months of campaigning by Save our Trains, an organisation set up after minter-regional rail was minimised and plans to shift the trains to tourist transporters.
To understand what the new inquiry means, Liam spoke to Paul Callister from Save our Trains.
Earlier this week saw a march in the Octagon of Otepoti Dunedin, advocating for the safety of the Crown Hotel
The music venue has been at risk due to plans for a housing developer to build a new residential area nearby, banning the Crown Hotel from making the noise it needs to.
To learn more, Liam spoke to bFM’s own Taylor McGregor, also from Save Our Venues, about the venue and the issues of the new development.
Welcome to The Thursday Wire! Today, Stella speaks to Vice President of the Auckland Branch, Genna Hawkins Boulton from Thursdays in Black about their open letter to the Department of Corrections. She also speaks to Eugenie Sage from The Green Party on their call to ban bottom trawling on seamounts. Finally, Stella speaks to Associate Professor Grant Searchfield on his recently published Tinnitus research.
Tuva’a has his weekly catch up with Andrew Little, and Frances brings us Greendesk, speaking with Predator Free Rakiura's Project Director, Campbell Leckie. And that's it for The Thursday Wire.
Auckland Transport has announced another parking fare increase, pushing up parking across AT-managed lots 50 cents per hour.
They justified the increase as necessary to cover ‘rising operational costs’ and to cover the Auckland Council’s increased resource commitment to supporting Aucklanders with “issues like blocked driveways, footpaths, and clearways”.
As well, Auckland Council have voted to endorse the redevelopment of Eden Park, in favour of a new waterfront stadium — bringing the latest development in a long-standing discussion about the best approach to attract tourism and financial productivity to Auckland.
All they need now is the government to pitch in $100 million dollars to fund the project.
Producer Sara started her interview with Shane Henderson by asking why raising parking prices was the preferred option for covering council operational costs
Last week, Green Party MP Tamatha Paul made comments about the police and the expansion of beat patrols in Wellington, saying they make a lot of people feel “less safe.”
The comments have been criticised by MPs across National, Act, New Zealand First, as well as Labour.
And Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking specialist external advice on what ways the supermarket duopoly could be restructured.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these issues.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court and will be tried in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
This comes as the ICC faces criticism for other, more controversial current arrest warrants, including those against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about Duterte’s arrest and broader issues facing the ICC.
For a number of years, Aotearoa has been dealing with a shortage of psychologists and similar professionals to deal with the growing mental health needs of the wider population, with estimates suggesting that an additional 1,000 more psychologists are needed to fill gaps in the profession.
In response to the country’s growing mental health needs, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announced a new Associate Psychologist role, consisting of recent post-graduates, to work alongside fully trained Psychologists.
However, a number of Psychologists and experts have criticised the introduction of this new role, saying that these associate Psychologists may be expected to take on the responsibilities of clinical Psychologists despite being underqualified.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Dr Kumari Valentine, a clinical psychologist based in Dunedin, who’s launched a petition calling on the government to roll back the introduction of the new Associate psychology role and look to other methods of filling gaps in the Psychology profession.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
BirdCare Aotearoa is a wild, native bird hospital that works to rehabilitate sick and injured birds back into the wild.
For their upcoming event: ‘Bird Heros,’ a part of EcoFest 2025 on the 6th of April, the workshop will look at the best practices on rescuing wild native birds, and will include a tour of their bird hospital, which is not usually open to the public.
For this week's Green Desk, Producer Leilani spoke to the Hospital Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa, Pooja Dorle, about the rehabilitation processes of birds within their hospital ahead of their next workshop.
Fellow Green Desk Producer Liam, and News and Editorial Director Joel, went to the previous workshop over the weekend, and spoke to the Chair of the organisation, Kevin Furgeson, and volunteer Marina, and had a tour of their facilities. Thanks EcoFest!
BirdCare Aotearoa also has a fundraiser running to shed light on seabirds affected by street lights and brightly lit buildings across the city, affecting their migration patterns and causing birds, such as the protected Petrels, Shearwaters, and Prions, to fall and injure themselves. To support their clinical rehabilitation practices, you can support their campaign on givealittle.
Just recently, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke Van Velden, announced sweeping changes to health and safety regulations for businesses that she described as “low-risk”.
Some of the changes involved: narrowing the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks only causing death, serious injury or illness, creating a hotline for the public to report “overzealous” road cone placement and reducing "tick-box and safety activities" such as psychosocial harm policies for small businesses.
Around this same period of time, Greens MPs Tamatha Paul and Benjamin Doyle received intense media and political scrutiny for comments they made at a university panel and on social media respectively, with the backlash towards Doyle forcing them to abstain from parliament this week.
The Greens recently issued a call to the government to scrap their proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, which involve recognising qualifications other than early childhood teaching qualifications, removing up to 74% of ECE licensing criteria and removing requirements for regular updates and family.
In their weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the party’s take on all of these issues.
This week on Dear Science our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about various April Fools pranks in the world of science, including the 'Sheep Albedo Hypothesis' from here in Aotearoa.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central.
The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.
On Sunday, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced plans to combat the supermarket duopoly between Foodstuffs and Woolworths. This could include breaking-up or restructuring the current chains, with Cabinet also announcing a formal request for information, or RFI, into the matter.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about this announcement, and whether she, and the party, thinks this will be enough to address food accessibility in Aotearoa.
We also discussed the comments made by Green MP, Tamatha Paul, about the police, and whether she believes these comments have become sensationalised.
Finally, we discussed the party’s calls for mandatory police body cameras.
But first, they started off by asking Kemp about how the party are feeling about Nicola Willis’ most recent announcements into the supermarket duopoly.
Last week, the government announced its plans for reforming the Resource Management Act, or the RMA, introducing two acts to replace the current RMA. The plan is to bring the two acts before the select committee next year, passing them just before the next election.
For our weekly catch up News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about this reform, working with the opposition, and the lack of a Treaty clause.
We also talked about concerns that the health and police system in Aotearoa are failing, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police and being administered antipsychotic drugs.
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