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.
New research shows providing vegetables as an infant’s first food is an effective strategy for improving intake and may help children to develop a preference for vegetables.
The study by Massey University Human Nutrition PhD student Dr Jeanette Rapson suggests providing vegetables as first foods increased a baby’s intake of vegetables at nine months of age.
The results of this trial suggest that the start of complementary feeding is an ideal time to introduce vegetables as a first food since infants are willing to try new foods, even those with more bitter tastes such as green vegetables.
Aneeka chats with our European correspondent Cameron Adams about Ukraine, as well as the upcoming elections in Italy and England.
Alex speaks to ACT Party deputy leader Brooke van Velden about the new Smokefree Amendment Bill and petition on Multiple Sclerosis handed to Parliament this week
Emilia speaks to Dr Jeanette Rapson from Massey University about her research to get infants to eat more vegetables
And Emilia will also be speaking to Sarah Helm from the Drug Foundation about their calls to the government to make Naloxone more widely available to reduce fentanyl overdoses.
The proposed government Data and Statistics bill has been criticised for its potential to threaten the political independence of the role of the government statistician.
The reforms would allow the government statistician to defer powers at will to other agencies, allowing for wider data collection.
To get a sense of why experts are wary of such changes, Casper spoke to one of the most prominent critics of the bill, former government statistician Len Cook.
For this week's episode of Dear Science Marcus Jones joined Casper and Emily over the phone to discuss prior Omicron infections protecting against BA.4 and BA.5 variants, Ear fossils revealing the origin of warm-blooded mammals and how cleaner air can contribute to global warming.
This week on the Tuesday Wire Casper and Emily were joined remotely by Marcus Jones who caught them up on the latest science news. Casper had his weekly chat with the National Party’s Dr. Shane Reti, talking this week about the elective surgery waiting list.
Casper also spoke to Len Cook, the former government statistician, about the dangers of a proposed Data and Statistics bill.
Emily spoke with Jason Young from the New Zealand China Resarch Institute about New Zealand’s relationship with China- past, present and future. She also chatted with Water Safety New Zealand’s Chief executive Daniel Gerrard about their new report on drownings in Aotearoa
The waiting list for elective surgeries has skyrocketed in the last year, with many experts pointing towards ongoing workforce shortages as the cause.
Thousands of people on the waiting list are in intense, ongoing pain, requiring essential operations such as hip or knee replacements.
For Casper's weekly catchup with the National party’s Dr. Shane Reti, they discussed the causes of the growing waiting list and the National party’s proposed solutions to the problem.
A Water Safety New Zealand report has revealed ninety people died by drowning just last year, the worst year for drowning fatalities since 2011.
Emily chatted with Water Safety New Zealand’s Chief executive Daniel Gerrard about the report’s findings and risk factors associated with drownings in Aotearoa.
Ukraine and Russia have agreed on a deal that would reopen blocked Black Sea routes for grain exports.
The major diplomatic breakthrough aims to ease the world shortage of Ukrainian grain sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has left millions at risk of hunger.
Trishil Dahya spoke with Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations Stephen Hoadley on the matter, about his perspective on the deal.
A meteor’s sonic boom was heard across South Canterbury at around 8:00pm on Thursday night. It didn’t take long for reports to come through on social media by people from across the South Island. The arrival was caught by at least four specialised meteorite detection cameras, as well as on CCTV and by at least one lucky astrophotographer.
This is New Zealand’s second meteorite this month. On July 7th, a meteor crashed near Wellington during the day with a force equivalent to 1,800 tonnes of TNT, creating a sonic boom heard across New Zealand. Two weeks on, Canterbury experienced its own meteor strike.
Joe spoke to Dr Michele Bannister, a Senior Lecturer from the University of Canterbury, on the matter
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:
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