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.
Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand is calling on the New Zealand Government to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14 years old. This is one of the many changes needed to improve Aotearoa New Zealand’s youth justice system.
Lisa Woods, Campaigns Director for Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, mentions, "When a child does something seriously wrong, it is often because they have been seriously let down by society. What we then risk is using the criminal justice system to respond to issues caused by, for example, trauma and a lack of health and mental health support. This means that instead of solving problems caused by a lack of resources and services, our current laws are funnelling children into a system that can trap them for the rest of their lives. This does irrevocable damage to the child, their whānau, and to the rest of society."
The MBIE has granted $1.1 million in funding to University of Canterbury researchers to develop a hyper-realistic virtual therapy avatar to help high-functioning people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to better recognise emotions and reduce ‘social blindness’.
University of Canterbury Engineering researchers Distinguished Professor Geoff Chase and Lecturer Dr Lui Holder-Pearson have been awarded $1.1 million in funding through a partnership between MBIE and Soul Machines, an AI company in Auckland.
Their project, titled ‘AI-driven Two-Way, Feedback Controlled Emotional Recognition Training for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder’ combines three key elements:
Hyper-realistic and responsive avatars from Soul Machines Digital DNA Studio able to show detailed emotions
Computer vision to read subject emotional state, reaction rates in integrated tasks, stress levels (via heartrate, etc.), focus, and attention, incorporating critical subject feedback
Programmed standard, accepted therapeutic methods (behind the avatar) to respond to measured subject behaviour/actions
These technologies enable a virtualised true two-way therapeutic session, where current emotion recognition software has no subject feedback (is only one-way).
Trishil spoke to Professor Geoff Chase about his research and it’s potential.
Joe speaks to Lisa Woods, the Campaigns Director for Amnesty International about raising the age for criminal responsibility. Joe also speaks to Dr Nic Rawlence from the Paleogenetics Lab at The University of Otago about new research surrounding the evolution of the Wattlebird.
Trishil speaks to Professor Geoff Chase about his Research into AI driven emotional regulation training that will work to assist those with high-functioning autism with social blindness.
Finally, Isla and Stella look at Hormonal Birth Control and the Brain w/ Dr Rachel Sumner for this weeks Tomorrow's World.
DNA analysis has uncovered the evolutionary history of New Zealand's kokako, huia and tieke saddlebacks.
Researchers from the University of Otago explored the origins of the wattlebirds by analysing their DNA and found the birds' ancestors arrived in New Zealand about 20 million years ago.
Joe spoke to Dr Nic Rawlence, from the Paleogenetics Lab at The University of Otago, on the matter.
Attention, those with uteruses; if you’re taking a hormonal contraceptive pill, you’ll want to tune in to this. Stella and Isla speak to Dr Rachel Sumner from the University of Auckland about her research into hormonal birth control’s impacts on the brain, and the mind. They also include a quick explainer about how it works.
As access to international travel from New Zealand re-opens, conversations about human capital flight have become incredibly prevalent.
More colloquially titled “Brain Drain”, human capital flight refers to white collar workers leaving their home country for better opportunities overseas.
Conversations have recently touched on if New Zealand is receiving and adequate amount of migrants to stop our workforce from suffering.
First, Liam spoke to ACTs James McFarland, on why his party thinks Human Capital Flight is an issue and what needs to be done.
In popular discussion, the focus of human capital flight has largely been on the negative impacts new zealanders leaving the country has.
Kea New Zealand is organised around keeping New Zealand expats connected to their country.
Liam also had a chat to their global communications director, Kellie Addison, about their network and the benefits of New Zealanders travelling abroad.
Kea is currently looking for particapants in a survery of Kiwis thinking about leaving Aotearoa in the next 12-18 months - if this sounds lik you, you can fill it out here: https://survey.keanewzealand.com/zs/XjBUJH
Liam spoke to Shane Henderson on our regular city counselling segment about the Transporrt Emissions Reduction Pathway.
Liam also had a chat about the Human Rights Commission about their new conversion practices support services with the programmes manager, Andre Afamasaga.
Liam also spoke to Kellie Addison from Kea New Zealand, as well as Act MP James McDowall, about human capital flight and where the debate of the brain drain is coming from.
David has has a chat with Victoria Chen from Victoria University of Wellington on linguistics locating the beginnings of the Austronesian expansion.
As well as Stephen Judd from Fact Aotearoa on candidates bringing conspiracy theories into local elections.
Yesterday the Human Rights Commission launched an expansion of their Conversion Practices Support Services.
The pre-existing programme now includes a proces where victims of conversion therapy cna work with the HRC to recieve a formal apology or financial support.
To learn more, Liam spoke to the programmes manager, Andre Afamasaga about the changes and what they mean.
A linguistic study has found an origin of Austronesian language expansion across the Indo-Pacific region.
Researchers have found the indigenous people called the Amis [ah-miss] people from Eastern Taiwan are a close relative of Malayo-Polynesian people in the Austronesian language family.
David spoke to Victoria University lecturer Victoria Chen about the findings.
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.
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:
National Party MP Catherine Wedd recently filed a private members bill that would look at restricting social media use for young people, mainly those under 16. While the bill has received some criticism from the ACT party, other parties such as Labour have agreed that legislation around this issue is important.
At the end of April New Zealand First MP Jenny Marcroft put forward a private members bill forward that would seek to define the word ‘woman’ in New Zealand law. The bill was received with criticism from opposition parties and the general public, who say the bill is drawing on transphobic sentiments to distract from more important issues.
In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, starting with the potential social media restrictions.
Last week, the controversial Pay Equity Amendment Bill passed under urgency.
The bill makes drastic changes to the Equal Pay Act 1972, making the criteria for equity claims stricter, and could can the 33 existing claims, affecting 150,000 female workers.
The passing of the bill has faced significant opposition from the Labour Party, Green Party, and Te Pāti Māori, over concerns this bill would set women back, and resulted in nationwide protests.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about the passing of the Pay Equity Amendment Bill, and how this would impact marginalised communities.
They also spoke about the Ministry of Education releasing the draft relationships and sexuality education, or RSE, framework, for students years 0 to 13, and the party’s concerns regarding this.
But first, they discussed the Pay Equity Amendment Bill
The ACT Party has defended the Government’s controversial move to pass changes to pay equity law under urgency — a move that immediately halted all current claims and raised the bar for future ones. The Government argues the new rules will provide more “clarity” and prevent costly legal disputes, while unions and advocates say the bill is a rollback of hard-won gains for women in low-paid sectors.
Critics also slammed the lack of consultation and the speed of the legislative process, while questions are raised over whether the move was made to plug a hole in the upcoming budget. For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about why ACT supports the Pay Equity Amendment Bill, and whether it risks undermining efforts to close the gender pay gap.
They also discussed a National Party member’s bill that would ban under-16s from using social media — a proposal ACT has declined to back for now. National says the ban would protect young people’s mental health, while ACT argues it raises serious questions about freedom of speech and parental responsibility.
International relations experts are fearing a major conflict between India and Pakistan after sharp, escalating tensions, following a deadly terrorist attack in militarised Kashmir that killed 26 people.
Kashmiris have a long history of oppression. In modern times, this has been as India and Pakistan fight over the region while Kashmiris fight for independence.
Human Rights Watch reports on Kashmir reveal examples of forced displacement, sexual violence, disappearances and allegations of torture and death in custody.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Rohan Davis about the recent terrorist attack and ongoing military escalation, as well as the historical and political context of the Kashmir crisis.
Davis is a video essayist on YouTube from Kerala, India, who covers Indian history and politics.
The government has changed pay equality laws, halting all existing claims and reducing the number of workers who can argue for better pay based on gender discrimination.
New figures show the unemployment rate has remained unchanged from last quarter at 5.1%.
And National has put forward a member's bill proposal that would ban social media for under-16s.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke with Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Earlier this week, defence Minister Judith Collins announced that $2 billion would be set aside in this year’s budget to replace the Defence Force’s maritime helicopters.
This would be outside the additional $12 billion dollars that the government will be investing in the Defence Capability plan and would include another separate $1 Billion investment in the defence force over the next four years.
In that same week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith recently announced that Cabinet had reinstated a total ban on prisoners voting in general elections, overturning laws under the previous Labour government allowing prisoners serving less than three years to vote.
And Green Party MP Steve Abel recently added The Animal Products (Closing the Welfare Gap) Amendment Bill to the biscuit tin, which would ensure that imported products in New Zealand met our animal welfare standards.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Greens MP Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss all of these issues.
Winter is coming, and so is a projected increase in respiratory illnesses and COVID cases. Schools are particularly notorious breeding grounds for such diseases with children being more susceptible to respiratory illnesses.
Ultimately, this results in teachers also being subject to COVID and respiratory illnesses at a higher rate than other professions, and an increased number of teachers leaving the profession due to long COVID symptoms is worsening Aotearoa’s already severe teacher shortage.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Tara Forde from Aotearoa Covid Action, to discuss a petition of hers calling for the government to prevent the spread of COVID in our schools by making improvements to school air quality and improving accessibility to Booster Vaccines and Rapid Antigen Tests.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
95bFM 
