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.
To discuss welfare policy for rangatahi on a wider level, in response to not just the National party’s recently announced plan but welfare proposals from across the political spectrum, Casper spoke with Zoe Hawke from E Tipu E Rea.
Over the weekend the National party announced their latest policy plan to shift young people off of the jobseeker’s benefit.
The policy includes the provision of dedicated job coaches to beneficiaries, a thousand-dollar bonus for young jobseekers who enter into and stay in work for a full year, as well as potential sanctions for those who fail to follow their prescribed plan.
For Casper'[s weekly chat with National party MP Dr. Shane Reti, he asked him about the policy, how it proposes to help young beneficiaries and how exactly it might function.
This week on the Tuesday Wire Casper spoke to Dr. Shane Reti from the National party and Zoe Hawke from E Tipu E Rea about Welfare policy the National party’s young jobseeker plan.
Emily spoke to Dr. Roshini Peiris-John from the University of Auckland about the challenges faced by Asian New Zealanders in accessing health services.
As well as Massey University marine biologist Dr Karen Stockin about the link between climate change and the movement of whales.
Barbie has released a series of dolls which honours historical and contemporary heroines, such as conservation activist and animal behaviour expert Jane Goodall, aviator Amelia Earhart, NASA mathematician and physicist Katherine Johnson and artist and political activist Frida Kahlo. However, can this be seen as the appropriation of heroic women of substance as plastic Barbies? A brand synonymous with the objectification of women.
Joe spoke to Katie Pickles, a Professor of History from the Univeristy of Canterbury, about Barbie’s ‘inspiring women’ series and how this could be an Antithesis of Feminism given the company’s controversial representation of women.
Joe speaks to Steven Agnew, a senior Lecturer from the University of Canterbury about ending persistent disparities for Pasifika students in regards to literacy skills. He also speaks to Katie Pickles, a Professor of History from the University of Canterbury, about Jane Goodall joining Barbie’s ‘inspiring women’ series and how this ties in with Barbie being an antithesis of feminism given the company’s controversial representation of women.
Liam will be chats to Michelle Johnstone from the Amalgamated Workers Union about dangerous housing conditions for migrant workers, as well as Rober Patman from the University of Otago about the United States Senate passing a major democrat climate and health package.
Tomorrow’s World is back! Isla and Stella speak to Keoni Mahelona from Te Pūnaha Matatini about using machine learning to revitalise Te Reo Māori.
New reports show migrant horticulture workers are enduring dire housing conditions, seeing upwards of six men a week in a single motel room that are each charged 150 a week. The accommodation has been detrimental to the workers physical health, with one worker reporting his illness wasn’t taken seriously unless it required hospitalisation. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner has recently investigated the conditions, calling it blatant economic exploitation.
To learn more, Liam spoke to Michelle Johnstone from the Amalgamated Workers Union about the conditions.
An analysis of ten years of data has found low English literacy rates in Pasifika students are a key predictor of exclusion from school. The findings of this study highlighted the importance of literacy on educational outcomes and the possibility that greater investment in support for Pasifika students in order to end persisent disparities for students.
Joe spoke to Stephen Agnew, a Senior Lecturer of Economics at the University of Canterbury, on the matter.
Democrats in the United States have passed their long standing economic package through the senate this morning. The seven hundred and forty billion dollar package will fund efforts to curb climate change, provide reforms to health systems, and raise taxes on major corporations. This package, however, is a far cry from the initial three trillion dollar domestic fund President Joe Biden envisioned when he first came into office due to several notable compromises.
Liam spoke to professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago about the fund.
Rejoice! While fuel prices have yet to return to pre 2022 levels, it has freefallen down to an average of $2.70 a litre at the pumps in Auckland.
For example, yesterday afternoon saw prices fluctuate across the country with Waitomo on Tinakori Road in Wellington charging $2.59 a litre; Caltex on Newton Road in Auckland charging $2.65; and in Christchurch, Waitomo on Fitzgerald Avenue charging $2.47.
Further drops are expected on the horizon, in part due to the crude oil stock price falling from 110USD to around 96 USD over the past week. Another factor could be the fuel tax excise, which has been extended to January.
To learn more, Trishil spoke to Economics Professor Basil Sharp about the trends and contributing factors to the fall in prices.
Auckland Council's recent planning committee meeting took place last night.
The focus was on mass housing reforms, which could see rates of housing re-intensification rise across Tamaki Makaurau.
To learn more about the decisions made, Trishil took over the segment from Liam this week and spoke with councillor Shane Henderson on our regular City Counselling segment. The conversation touched on the pay rise for bus drivers in Auckland in a measure to combat staff shortages.
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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