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.
For Dear Science this week, our expert Doctor Cushla McGoverin, chatted with us about applications of quantum technology in computing, communication, and sensing.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tim Costley about the new charter school program and the Dunedin hospital rebuild
Producer Athena spoke to Economist and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Dr Susan St John, about how cuts to social services will deepen inequality.
They also spoke to Brian Coote chair in private law and Professor at the University of Auckland, Jodi Gardner, about research into frameworks for addressing institutional child abuse.
Proper compensation for survivours of institutional child sexual abuse has long been a difficult issue to navigate, as current frameworks across commonwealth jurisdictions leave many questions regarding financial redress unanswered.
In light of New Zealand's recent Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, as well as Australia’s 2017 Royal Commission, and a 2022 independent inquiry from England and Wales, a team of legal experts from New Zealand, Australia, and the UK will be investigating, and comparing each jurisdiction to develop appropriate frameworks for addressing institutional abuse.
Producer Athena spoke to Brian Coote Chair in Private Law, and Professor at the University of Auckland, Dr Jodi Gardner, about the importance of this research, and what the team hopes to develop.
Following a year of Government Budget cuts in response to the current recession, economists and social service workers have expressed concern about the effects current fiscal policies will have on New Zealanders.
In December 2024, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, revealed that the government's plans to reduce social service spending could lead to 3900 jobs being cut. Around the same time, Auckland City Mission CEO, Helen Robinson, warned that food banks face closures in 2025.
Producer Athena spoke to Economist, and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Dr Susan St John, about how the recession, and cuts to social services will affect New Zealanders.
Last week the government announced their second climate target, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
The target outlines how much emissions need to be cut by 2035. The government has chosen a target of getting emissions down by 51 - 55% compared to 2005 levels. This is only 1% higher than their previous target.
The announcement has been slated as unambitious, particularly in relation to comparable nations, as well as developing countries.
However, with the proposed climate policies from the government, many of which aren’t even in place yet, Aotearoa isn’t forecasted to reach this goal.
On Friday, Producer Evie spoke to Massey University's Professor of Sustainable Energy and Climate Mitigation, Ralph Sims about the target and how realistic it really is.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party's Simon Court, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to him about issues with the government’s ‘revamped’ school lunches programme, oral submissions on the Treaty Principals Bill, and ‘xenophobic’ comments made by NZ First MPs in Parliament.
Joel also spoke to the Transport Planner for Movement; an alliance of national organisations advocating for safe and accessible active transport in Aotearoa, Bevan Woodward, about the government changes to speed limit restrictions.
Producer Evie spoke to Massey University's Professor of Sustainable Energy and Climate Mitigation, Ralph Sims, about the government’s second climate target for 2035.
Joel spoke to the President of Renters United, Zac Thomas, about the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill coming into effect as of Thursday last week, which would grant landlords the right for no-cause evictions.
And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins us in studio to discuss AI.
The government has announced the reversal of blanket speed limit restrictions in 38 sections of New Zealand’s road network with new Transport Minister, Chris Bishop, announcing a further 49 sections will be set to be reviewed during public consultation in the coming months.
This would increase the speed limits in multiple areas, from the Northland region to the top of the South Island.
These developments have faced mixed reactions, with many local leaders deeming this move “reckless”.
There are concerns that in certain regions, the reversal of speed limits would be on stretches of roads that have schools, a shared pathway, and communities.
On Friday, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Transport Planner for Movement; an alliance of national organisations advocating for safe and accessible active transport in Aotearoa that had previously placed an application for judicial review into the decision, Bevan Woodward, about the government changes to speed limit restrictions, and the group’s concerns regarding this.
They started off by asking if there was adequate reasoning for the reversal of speed limits in these sections.
As of last week, the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill came into effect, allowing landlords to end a periodic tenancy without needing to give a specific reason, changing legislation introduced by the previous Labour government in 2020.
The government says the bill, which passed its third reading in December, is aimed at enticing more rental properties to be in the market.
However, this move has raised concerns from those renting, due to concerns such as retaliatory evictions from landlords.
On Friday, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the President of Renters United; an advocacy group of renters, Zac Thomas, about the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill coming into effect.
They started off by asking how the organisation is feeling about this amendment as a whole.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni about the oral submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill and Luxon’s State of the Nation speech where he revealed National’s intention to campaign on asset sales next election.
For the final State of the States, they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about recent executive orders from Trump, the near-miss trade war with Colombia, DeepSeek AI, and the future of the Trump presidency.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia speak to Councillor Julie Fairey about Auckland Council’s progress on storm recovery, two years on from the Auckland Anniversary floods.
She also speaks to Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and te Tiriti o Waitangi expert, Margaret Mutu, about the Treaty Principles Bill oral submissions hearings which began this week.
Oral submissions to the Select Committee on the divisive Treaty Principles Bill began this week on Monday. This comes after the Bill’s submission deadline was extended earlier this month and over 300,000 written submissions were made. The committee is set to listen to 80 hours of submissions over the next month, from a variety of academics, legal experts, activists, and community groups.
Producer Sofia spoke to Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland and te Tiriti o Waitangi expert, Margaret Mutu, about this, firstly asking her about what her expectations were going into this week.
The Budget for 2025 came out last week on Thursday, with news for the nation on how funds will be allocated over the coming year. While some of the budget announcements were new news, the government had staggered others over the previous few weeks. In the new announcements were changes to Kiwisaver and the Jobseeker benefit.
The Kiwisaver changes involved a 50% reduction in the government’s Kiwisaver contribution, from around $500 a year to around $250. To compensate, the government increased the minimum employer and employee contributions from 3% to 4%. While this means people will end up with similar or greater amounts of money in Kiwisaver, it also means people will have access to less money right now.
The Jobseeker changes were also announced in the budget, with further restrictions added for 18-19-year-olds applying for the benefit. 18-19-year-olds applications will now be tested against their parents’ incomes, restricting large groups from accessing the support.
These changes both appear to primarily affect young people. While the government claims to care so much about education and schools, they seem comfortable with taking support away from Aotearoa’s young adults as soon as they finish high school. In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the Kiwisaver and Jobseeker changes in this year’s budget.
Last week, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced her ‘growth’ Budget for 2025.
In the Budget, multiple initiatives received a boost in funding.
Operational funding and capital funding for Māori education received a $54 million boost and $50 million boost respectively for Māori learner success, with a $14 million injection for Māori wardens, Pacific wardens, and the Māori women’s welfare league.
However, a variety of Māori initiatives have faced substantial cuts.
The Māori Development Fund has had $20 million cut over four years, $32.5 million has been cut from Māori housing initiatives, and $375.5 million cut to the Kāhui Ako programme.
Labour’s Māori Development spokesperson, Willie Jackson, claims that overall, in Budget 2025, Māori initiatives are seeing cuts of roughly $750 million.
For our weekly catchup, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about Budget 2025 and it’s impacts on Māori initiatives.
They also spoke about the debate on the potential suspension of Te Pāti Māori co-leaders, Rawiri Waititi, and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, and MP Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, being pushed back prior to the Budget debate.
As well as this, notably, during the Budget debate itself, both Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer were absent.
However, they first discussed the 2025 Budget and Māori initiatives
In Budget 2025, private schools will receive subsidies increasing the annual spend by $4.6 million a year, to $46.2 million. As well as this, the annual spend on charter schools will double to $57 million.
ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, says that independent schools are an important part of New Zealand’s education landscape that offers diversity of choice for parents.
For our weekly catchup, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about the additional support independent schools will receive, and how this will benefit the average taxpayer.
They also discussed changes to Jobseeker and emergency benefits for 18-to-19 year olds, as those receiving this benefit will now have their benefit tested against their parents income.
The move, which is set to come into effect in 2027, is estimated to impact almost 9000 young people.
They also discussed changes to Kiwisaver, where the government will halve subsidies and increase employer contributions to a minimum of 4% from 3%.
But first, they discussed the additional support for independent schools.
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.
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
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.
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