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.
This is the full version of Casper’s interview with Auckland mayoral candidate Ted Johnston, of which an abbreviated segment was played on the Tuesday Wire.
Ted Johnston is currently the co-leader of the New Conservatives party as well as a practising criminal lawyer. He is running on what he labels a centre-right platform, advocating for a revival of the centre city, with a particular emphasis on crime, and reigning in the Council Controlled Organisations.
Yesterday the government announced the scrapping of the traffic light covid-19 protection framework, as well as the easing of many key restrictions.
Mask wearing will now no longer be required outside of healthcare settings, household contacts don’t need to isolate and all vaccine mandates will cease at the end of the month.
In the same announcement the government dedicated a one-off public holiday to honour the passing of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
For Casper's regular interview with National MP Dr Shane Reti they spoke about this announcement and how it has been received by the National party.
Casper started off by asking him how he felt about the announced changes and whether there is anything he would have done differently.
This week on the Tuesday Wire with Casper Dr Allan Blackman came into the studio to talk science news for our Dear Science segment.
Casper spoke to Dr Shane Reti from the National party, as he does each week, this time discussing the government dropping the traffic light framework, as well as political responses to the death of Queen Elizabeth II
He also had a chat with Labour MP Rachel Boyack about her Plain Language member’s bill which is now going before parliament.
Over the course of this week 95bFM is airing a number of interviews Casper conducted with several of Auckland’s mayoral candidates, and this show's interview was with Ted Johnston.
This is the full version of Casper’s interview with Auckland mayoral candidate Viv Beck, of which an abbreviated segment was played on the Monday Wire.
Viv Beck is currently the chief executive of Heart of the City, a business advocacy group for Auckland’s city centre, and has been endorsed by the National-Party aligned Communities and Residents organisation.
Joe spoke to Alex James from University of Canterbury about their new research into gender pay equity within universities, and how it explores interventions that will improve the representation of women at higher levels of academia.
This week’s Wire shows will contain a series of interviews with Auckland’s mayoral candidates, which bFM has been putting together to provide our listeners with relevant information on the candidates and their policies. Today, Casper speaks to Auckland Mayoral Candidate Viv Beck.
Our regular fortnightly segment with OurActionStation is back! Trishil speaks to Protect Putiki about their recent petition calling for the Auckland Council to instigate a review of the resource consent for the marina at Putiki Bay.
Joe also speaks to Andreea Calude, a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at University of Waikato about the Plain Language Bill and why it’s important.
Our regular fortnightly segment with OurActionStation is back! Trishil speaks to Protect Pūtiki about their recent petition calling for the Auckland Council to instigate a review of the resource consent for the marina at Pūtiki Bay.
This week’s Wire shows will contain a series of interviews with Auckland’s mayoral candidates, which bFM has been putting together to provide our listeners with relevant information on the candidates and their policies.
Today, Casper speaks with Viv Beck, who is currently the chief executive of Heart of the City, a business advocacy group for Auckland’s city centre, and has been endorsed by the National-Party aligned Communities and Residents organisation.
With the new Plain Language Bill being brought to parliament, it aims to make comprehensible information from government organisations a basic democratic right.
Joe had the opportunity to speak to Andreea S. Calude, a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at University of Waikato, about this bill and why so it’s important.
New research into gender pay equity in Aotearoa New Zealand universities from the University of Canterbury explores interventions that will improve representation of women at higher levels of academia and therefore address pay equity. This research builds on the authors’ previous work published in 2020 which found that over her career, a woman employed on academic staff at a New Zealand university can expect to earn about $400,000 less than a man.
Joe had the opportunity to speak to Professor Alex James, from the University of Canterbury, who co-authored the study.
Last year, Auckland Council removed 30% of bins from public places with the hopes of saving about $9.5 million over an eight year period. While the council didn’t foresee an increase in littering, last week Stuff published an article sharing the frustrations of residents who observed a growing litter problem in council parks.
Illegal dumping has also been on the rise across Auckland.
With more than 1300 reports per month, the cost of retrieving illegally dumped items is about $2.7 million every year and rising.
Also Mayor Wayne Brown has announced that he wants to see Auckland become the “premier tech city” of New Zealand to boost our global influence and reputation—-- calling on the government to establish the new Advanced Technology Institute here, which he says could play a key role in guiding new start-ups, so ideas don’t ‘die on the vine’.
Beginning with the problem of rubbish in Auckland, Producer Sara started by asking Julie Fairey if she believed the removal of bins was to blame for increased littering
International pressure is mounting against Israel for the 11-week-long and ongoing blockade of aid into Gaza.
The few aid trucks that have been let into Gaza have not been distributed, according to the United Nations.
It comes as cases against Israel in the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC) for existing violations of international law remain ongoing.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Donald Rothwell from the Australian National University Law School about the aid blockade and response in international law.
Today is Budget Day, the day the government releases their spending plans for the next year.
The embargo on the budget lifts at 2pm, however, there have already been several pre-budget spending announcements.
Earlier this week, the debate on the Privileges Committee report into the Treaty Principles Bill haka, led by Te Paati Māori, was deferred.
Opposition MPs have raised concerns that because the debate has been deferred, the Te Paati Māori co-leaders may not be back in time to vote on the budget.
For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni, Wire Host Caeden asked about all of these topics.
Yesterday the debate in the privileges committee regarding the suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi was adjourned until after the upcoming budget announcement.
The Privileges Committee Report and recommended punishments for the three Te Pāti Māori MPs were issued last week for the Haka they performed during a parliamentary session in November 2024 in opposition to the ACT party’s Treaty Principles Bill.
In that same week, the Green party recently issued a call to the government to scrap the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.
And the government recently passed the Social Security Amendment Bill, which the government says would support people into employment and off benefits, however, opponents of the bill have said it could harm beneficiaries and lower income New Zealanders.
For our weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.
Just under two weeks ago the government passed the pay equity amendment bill under urgency. This bill would change existing pay equity legislation to make it more restrictive, which the government says will save billions of dollars.
The process was originally introduced to address issues of pay inequity between sectors. While the Equal Pay Act mandates that people working the same job are paid the same regardless of gender, Pay Equity is meant to ensure industries dominated by women are not paid less than similar industries dominated by men. The process has worked by allowing applicants to compare their positions with positions in other sectors with similar workloads, skills, or experience.
The government’s changes will limit the criteria for comparators, allow only industries with over 70% women in the workforce as opposed to the previous 60%, and removing the ability for the authority to award back pay, among other changes.
These changes have been met with criticism from rights organisations, advocacy groups, and opposition parties. In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the government’s reasoning behind the Pay Equity Amendment Bill.
The Waitangi Tribunal review into the controversial regulatory standards bill has found that the Crown would be in breach of Treaty principles if it were to introduce the regulatory standards bill to Parliament without more consultation with Māori.
Because of this the tribunal has called for an immediate halt to be put on the bill.
Despite this, the bill is set to be introduced to Parliament today.
The recommendation came after following a one day urgent hearing from the Waitangi Tribunal last week, which was pushed forward from June 6, after it was revealed the bill would be introduced to Parliament today.
Critics of the bill fear it will work against Māori rights and interests. However, the ACT Party, fronted by Minister for Regulation, David Seymour simply say the Tribunal is ‘incorrect’.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court to unpack this further. Discussing why they contest the tribunal’s review, and where they plan to take the bill from here.
We also spoke about the government launching a review into the Waitangi Tribunal, which is heavily backed by ACT - David Seymour saying the tribunal needs to be ‘put in its place’.
Last week, the Privileges Committee recommended Te Pāti Māori co-leaders, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, be “severely censured” with a 21-day suspension, with Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clarke facing a 7-day suspension for their haka during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.
Telling RNZ, Judith Collins - the chairperson of the Privileges Committee, says the ruling was unprecedented because the “situation was unprecedented” and said the decision was not taken lightly.
Te Pāti Māori’s lawyer says the punishment given to the MPs is an “absolute disgrace”.
For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to her about this, and how she is feeling heading into the debate of the report tomorrow.
We also discussed the Waitangi Tribunals recommendations regarding the Regulatory Standards Bill.
But first, we discussed the Privileges Committee's recommendations.
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:
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.
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