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.
Auckland council has released for consultation their proposal to rezone parts of the central suburbs for medium and high density housing development.
Casper spoke firstly to Auckland councellor Shane Henderson about proposal, what it will mean for Auckland’s housing development and how people can contribute to the feedback process.
Then, to bring in some wider perspective, Casper had a chat with Character Coalition chairperson Sally Hughes about a desire to preserve special character areas and how it might be reconciled with a need for more affordable housing.
Finally, to round out the discussion, Casper talked to Bill McKay from the Architecture department of the University of Auckland about the impact that the council’s proposal might have on the city in terms of livability, housing supply and the future of urban development.
A team of New Zealand researchers have recently released the results of the world's first bilberry genome sequencing project.
Bilberries, also known as European blueberries are an obscure fruit similar to Blueberries but with a consistently violet inner pigment compared to Blueberries green insides.
Liam spoke to Richard Espley from Plant and Food Research about their findings and the possible health effects of breeding bilberries and blueberries.
A campaign to give 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote has been granted leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.
While the Court of Appeal agreed that barring teenagers from voting was in fact unjustified age discrimination, they stopped short of making a formal declaration.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Sanat Singh, co-director of Make it 16 about his campaign heading to the Supreme Court.
We have our regular chat with Andrew Little. Tuva’a speaks to him about the new health system reforms.
Joe speaks to Jude Ball from the University of Otago about adolescent drinking trends. He also will be speaking to Breast Cancer Foundation Chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner about New Zealand’s lack of access to cancer drugs.
Emilia speaks to Sanat Singh from Make it 16 about their case to lower the voting age making it to the Supreme Court. She also speaks to Greg Treadwell from AUT about Twitter agreeing to a sale to Elon Musk.
Twitter has agreed to sell its platform to Elon Musk for a mammoth sixty seven billion New Zealand dollars.
Musk, who is a self-professed ‘free speech absolutist’ has given hints as to what he plans to do with the site regarding content moderation, user verification, and more.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Greg Treadwell, head of the journalism department at AUT about what this acquisition of twitter by Elon Musk could mean.
Cancer Control Agency Te Aho o Te Kahu released a report today aimed at measuring the gap that patients have been looking to close for years. The report found there were 18 cancer related medicines with significant benefits that New Zealanders did not have access to.
Joe spoke to the Chief Executive of the Breast Cancer Foundation, Ah-Leen Rayner, on the matter.
Earlier this week, researchers from the University of Otago released a report looking at substance usage amongst adolescents. The study found that rates of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis usage amongst Kiwi teens peaked about 20 years ago and have declined rapidly since, but our adolescents are still binge drinking at higher rates than their peers in similar countries overseas.
Joe spoke to Jude Ball, from the Department of Public Health, who co-authored the study on the matter.
Yesterday the honourable Megan Woods, Minister of Energy and Resources announced the third round of the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund will provide $13 million to 15 businesses to help them move away from fossil fuels. I spoke with Georgia Piggot, an environmental social scientist from the University of Auckland, starting by asking her if the funding will inspire other businesses to follow suit, even if they aren’t receiving that funding
The Healthcare exec Brian Thompson was shot dead by a masked assailant last week.
The crime has gained significant controversy and attention online, with many using it to restart the debate on the inequities of the United States healthcare system.
And this week Yale University was the latest college to commit to divesting from weapons manufacturing after a student vote.
For State of the States this week Wire Host Caeden speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about both of these topics.
The government as announced their plan for the Cook Strait ferry a year after they scrapped Labour’s plan, including cancelling the ferries the Labour government had ordered.
And a new report from the Ministry of Social Development has revealed nearly a quarter of beneficiaries are not receiving their correct entitlements.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about both of these topics.
For City Counselling this week, producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about proposed time-of-use charging to solve congestion problems in Tāmaki and Council selling their remaining Auckland Airport shares last week.
The Green party recently released He Ara Anamata - the Green party’s emissions reduction plan.
The document covers more than 10 areas of the economy and energy Sector that a Greens-led government would be looking to adapt to minimise carbon emissions and protect the natural landscapes of Aotearoa.
It also comes 5 months after the government released their own draft emissions plan. Numerous experts pointed out that the government is behind on their own plan’s targets to meet the crucial emissions budget for 2031-2035.
For their weekly catchup, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss the party’s new emissions reduction plan and how they would address climate and the economy in a greens-led government.
Last election, one of the National Party’s main campaign promises was to be ‘tough on crime’, promising to increase police coverage and penalties for crimes. A target was set to increase the number of police officers by 500 by November 2025, however some police leaders today say this goal is unrealistic.
The government also announced this week some shakeups to insulation standards, which they say should make houses more affordable.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor spoke to him about police staffing targets and new insulation standards.
This week on Dear Science, our expert Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about what latrines teach us about people, climate variation affecting Chinese dynasties, and invasive species becoming threatened.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
Last week it was revealed that two of the ten participants in the government's pilot bootcamp programme were on the run.
The youth were two months into the community rehabilitation phase of the programme, following the three month youth justice residence phase. Both teens were found in the weekend, but had allegedly reoffended, and are now set to come before the court.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, who have been heavily advocating for this programme, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about this incident.
She also talks to him about proposed changes to employment law which would give employers the power to dismiss workers earning over $180,000 without the employee refuting the decision.
And finally, she talks to him about David Seymour’s incumbent run as Deputy Prime Minister, which is set to begin in May of next year.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about changes to Auckland Transport’s responsibilities, nationwide bus and train fare hikes, and concerns over the opening of the City Rail Link.
For State of the States this week, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Andre Fa'aoso from the Yale Daily News about President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced next week for three felony charges.
They also discuss Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, who is the latest in a long list of unorthodox picks for government positions from Trump
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