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.
The 2022 Ethical Fashion Report by Tearfund has been released and shows low standards overall in labour practices and sustainable production.
Footwear companies scored particularly poorly, with the Ngahuia group, which trades as Hannahs and Number One Shoes getting a zero on the report. This morning, they put out a press release blaming the challenges of covid for their refusal to take part.
Casper and Christina reported on these new numbers on The Wire, speaking to Morgan Theakston, advocacy specialist at Tearfund, and Lisa McEwan, a fashion and sustainability lecturer from AUT.
This week on the Tuesday Wire, Casper and Christina chatted science news with Joel Rindelaub for Dear Science.
Casper spoke to National's Dr. Shane Reti for their weekly segment about food prices and agricultural emissions.
Christina had a chat with Dr Lina Li about the benefits of having women on corporate boards.
And they both investigated Tearfund's Ethical Fashion Report with Casper speaking to Tearfund's Morgan Theakston and Christina having a chat to AUT's Lisa McEwan.
Although recent morning’s CPI numbers show that inflation may have peaked, the cost of food continues to be disproportionately high.
Statistics New Zealand is telling us that the increase to food prices is the highest it’s been in 13 years at 8.3 percent.
For Casper's weekly catchup with the National Party’s Dr. Shane Reti, they spoke about the issue of food inflation as well as last week’s He Waka Eke Noa announcement.
As Aotearoa holds one of the highest rates of family violence in the world, with an act of family violence reported every four minutes to the police, community workers are in urgent need for extra support out in the field.
Papakura marae in south Auckland is taking a frontline, ground-up approach to tackle this nationwide issue, trialling a ground-breaking family violence support and prevention programme.
Marae Chief Executive, Tony Kake, has enlisted the support of Sir Ray Avery, Founder of the charity Help@Hand trust, to trial a domestic violence support programme to protect his frontline social workers as they go about their work in the community, giving them instant access to help if they need it and ensuring all his frontline staff are safe from harm.
Joe speaks to Sir Ray Avery about his work with Papakura Marae surrounding a family violence support and prevention programme. He also be speaking to Nathan Joe, the Creative Director at Auckland Pride about their loss of funding.
Spike will be talking to Ellie Hooper from Greenpeace about the latest Marine Environment report and what it means for our oceans. Spike also speaks to Dr Tom Logan about urban density and the idea of the 15 minute city.
Finally, we've got Tomorrow's World! Stella chats to Dr Kim Handley, a microbiologist from the University of Auckland, about Macroscopic Microbes.\
The new role of Creative Director of Auckland Pride has recently received unfortunate news following Creative New Zealand Arts Grants funding round. The person in this role - Nathan Joe, award-winning playwright, actor, performance poet, producer and arts administrator, said in an open letter that "It is an astonishingly difficult thing to step into a role and realise there is no infrastructural support from your main arts funding body."
Joe speaks to Nathan Joe about this loss of funding, what it means for those in Arts and Culture community, and the importance of supporting local artists.
Multiple sub variants of the Covid-19 Omicron variant have recently made their way into Aotearoa, seeing new territory for the country having to deal with multiple sub variants at once.
In the final Covid-19 media response, the Head of the Public Health Agency Andrew Old has made it clear to New Zealanders that the pandemic isn’t over.
Covid cases are currently on the uptick, with Poneke Wellington leading the pack in having case numbers doubling over last weeks amount.
To learn more about the next few months of the pandemic, Liam spoke to Michael Plank from the University of Canterbury about the new wave.
Liam had their regular chat with city councillor Shane Henderson, chatting about his re-election to the Waitakere Ward seat, the local elections and his goals for this term of council.
We also have a report from David Liwei Shi, covering last week's tertiary education union strike.
They’ve also spoken to Caroline Mareko from NZCTU about the pacific pay gap inquiry and what needs to change about wealth inequality in Aotearoa.
We also have a kōrero with the green parties Ricardo Menedez March, on the government's re-opening of the migrant worker and parent visas, and some of the issues they’ve identified within it.
And lastly Liam spoke to Michael Plank from the University of Canterbury about the risk of new Covid-19 Subvariants.
This month, a number of council body reforms have come into effect in the Auckland Council, fulfilling Mayor Wayne Brown’s promise to address issues and implement community feedback into the council’s format.
The three new divisions in the Auckland Council to improve organisation include the Auckland Urban Development Office, the Property Department, and an Economic Development Office, each of which are intended to make decision making more effective and accessible to the public.
As well, with the persisting cold temperatures and rainy weather hitting Auckland this Winter, I wanted to discuss the topic of homelessness in Auckland’s city centre, and to what extent the council is working to support those rough sleeping in the CBD
Public hearings as part of phase two of the Royal Commission into COVID-19 took place in Auckland this week.
The second phase of the inquiry has a stronger focus on lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the impact of the Covid-19 response on business and the economy.
And yesterday, an independent reference group set up by the Ministry of Environment shared their recommendations for climate adaptation legislation.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Arena Williams about both of these topics.
Recently, a study was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton which uncovered a shift in the circulation of the Southern Ocean.
The study showed that the shift would draw up more salt water from the deep ocean, subsequently accelerating the loss of ice in the Antarctic and leading to an increase of sea levels and global heating.
The week before, the government allowed the terrorist designation given to the far-right ‘Proud Boys’ group to expire, effectively decriminalising the act of funding or openly supporting the group here in Aotearoa.
And, just yesterday Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a number of changes to Family Boost which she said would help families with the cost of living.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.
The Southerner was a passenger express train in the South Island running between Christchurch and Invercargill from 1970 to 2002.
The train was eventually closed due a decline in passenger numbers and subsidies, although it was briefly revived in May this year for four days as part of a tourist experience.
Recently, a group of campaigners from Save our Trains launched a petition calling on the government to restore the Southerner train route as a more accessible form of travel for South Islanders.
Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with Dave Macpherson from Save Our Train - Southern, to discuss his petition and why the Southerner should be restored.
Hearings on the regulatory standards bill are currently underway, with around 23,000 total submissions both written and oral. Early analysis of the submissions estimated 88% percent are in opposition, while only 0.3% are in support.
The bill has been pushed by Minister for Regulation and ACT Party leader David Seymour, who says it should support the government to reduce regulation and ensure the protection of individual rights and private property. The bill has been criticised for not including clauses around Te Tiriti o Waitangi or environmental protections. It has also been criticised for potentially undemocratic elements, placing large amounts of control in the hands of the unelected Ministry for Regulation.
In our weekly catch-up with the National party, Wire host Castor asked Tom Rutherford about the regulatory standards bill in light of the select committee hearings and new criticisms.
Recently, the government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mayors of Auckland, Otago, and Western Bay of Plenty Councils over the government’s expectations of City and Regional Deals. These deals aim to tighten the partnership between central and local governments.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to MP Cameron Luxton about what to expect heading forward regarding the relationship between local, regional, and central government.
They also discussed last week's Youth Parliament.
Youth Parliament provides the opportunity for 143 rangatahi aged 16-to-24 as Youth MPs, representing MPs across the political spectrum, and Youth Press Gallery members, to understand the country’s political processes, understand how government works, and replicate the Parliamentary process.
Youth MPs had previously accused event organisers of ‘censoring’ their speeches. This follows the MPs being asked to remove elements of their speeches that were critical of government policies, such as the Treaty Principles Bill and pay equity.
However, The Ministry of Youth Development has come out saying the way they communicated their wishes with Youth MPs could have been clearer and more concise. The general manager of the Ministry, John Robertson, says reviewing speeches and suggesting changes was a part of the process, but these recommendations are not enforced.
They also spoke to Luxton about these accusations, and whether they are tantamount to censorship.
Finally, they discussed calls by over half of the Youth MPs represented in this year's Youth Parliament, from across the political spectrum, renewing calls for the voting age to be lowered, to allow 16-to-17-year-olds the right to vote.
5 ACT Youth MPs, including the Youth MP representing Cameron Luxton, Fletcher Brown, had signed a letter calling for the voting age to be reduced.
This follows the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that found the current voting age is unjustified age discrimination and goes against the Human Rights Act 1993.
They also discussed these renewed calls to lower the voting age.
As the youth parliament is set to take place this week, a number of youth MPs have spoken out claiming they have been asked to change or remove elements of their speeches which criticise certain political figures or current topics like environmental action, pay equity and the treaty principles bill.
Youth Organisation Gen Z Aotearoa founder Nate Wilbourne was asked to edit parts of his speech calling out Ministers Shane Jones, Tama Potaka and Penny Simmonds on their role in environmental destruction.
He said “When your voices are edited to remove criticism, when ministers are shielded from being named, when we're told that our lived experiences are too political, that is not neutrality – that is protection of the status quo.”
As well this week, on July 1st a number of changes came into effect including the government’s Kiwisaver contributions and eligibility, the rate in payments for sole parents and through ACC, Healthy Homes standards, and procedures for receiving the job seeker benefit.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Sara asked Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about both of these topics
Following Israel and the US’ large-scale attacks on Iran, and Israel’s continued war on Gaza, this has raised the question on the future of international order.
News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to the Executive Director of the Britain Palestine Project, Dr Brian Brivati, about this turning point in international order, and what we should expect heading forward.
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has suggested to the local government forum that regional councils may be abolished, stating that
"After the upcoming changes to the Resource Management Act, I doubt that there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist.“
Regional councils across Aotearoa are responsible for matters relating to natural resource management, flood control, and biosecurity.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said effectiveness between different councils is varied, and that councils generate too much bureaucracy and are “too focussed on vanity projects”.
As well, in order to make the most of local and central investment into Auckland’s growing city, the government is asking Auckland Council to increase the housing development allowance around key Central Rail Link stations in the lead up to the project’s completion.
Seeking to amend the resource management act, the government hopes to increase housing height and density around Mount Albert and Baldwin Avenue stations, allowing upzoning of ten stories around these areas, in addition to allowing upzoning of fifteen stories around Maungawhau, Morningside and Kingsland.
Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics, starting with the proposal to scrap regional councils.
95bFM 
