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.
This week on Dear Science, Christina caught up with AUT Professor Allan Blackman. They talked about the anniversay of Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin heading up to space (being the first ever person to do so), Researchers finally completing the genomic sequence for the first time, and a confounding physics puzzle that has the potential to change how we understand the universe.
Aotearoa has the third highest rate of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD in the world, but essential medication is still unavailable due to Pharmac’s budget. Ustekinumab, otherwise known by its brand name – Stelara was approved by MedSafe in 2018 and is already funded in Australia. Crohn’s & Colitis NZ petitioned to get Stelara funded here last year - receiving 30,000 signatures. This led to Pharmac testifying before the petitions committee in October last year – where they said Stelara is needed but they still don’t have the funding. Sam Clark spoke to the Chair of Crohn’s & Colitis NZ, Dr Richard Stein about what has happened since.
Today on the Monday Wire, amongst a few tunes, we bring you:
A new fortnightly segment begins in collaboration with OurActionStation. Every fornight Charlie will speak about a new interviewee about their campaign. this week, she spoke to Patrick Rooney about the Save Our Trains Campaign that wants for done for New Zealand's intercity rail network.
Sam speaks to Dr Richard Stein, The Chair of Crohn’s & Colitis NZ, about IBD medication and how New Zealand isn't putting enough funding into the medication, despite other countries doing so.
Dr Matt Rayner is also with us today, speaking with Charlie about the upcoming T-Rex exhibit that the Auckland War Memorial Museum will be hosting.
Here is the first of a new fortnightly segment on the Monday Wire, in collaboration with OurActionStation. Today we discuss intercity trains and why they're being neglected, in relation to the Save Our Trains Campaign. Charlie speaks to Patrick Rooney, one of the creators of the campaign, about why we should care more about this type of transport.
Peter the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton will be shown in the Auckland War Memorial Museum from Friday 15th April.
Peter is one of the most complete T-Rex fossils ever discovered and is being shown for the first time to the public right here in Auckland. The exhibit is free to all visitors.
Dr Matt Rayner, Curator of Land Vertebrates at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, spoke with Charlie today about the exhibit and the curation of the fossil.
Amid hikes in rent prices across the country, the Green Party has launched an open letter calling for a rent freeze and stronger rent controls.
This is the latest in a series of calls from the Greens to revitalise the renting system in Aotearoa, previously including a warrant of fitness for homes and a registrare for landlords.
To learn more, Liam spoke to Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson about what the open letter contains and why the issue is so important.
This week on the Friday wire Casper had his fortnightly chat with Auckland city councillor Pippa Coom, this time about AT’s proposed speed limit changes.
Liam spoke to Green Party co leader Marama Davidson about their calls for a rent freeze and rent controls, as well as Crystal Olin from sustainable cities Aotearoa about how to make city centres more green.
Jess talked with a Dr Anthony Hoete, a professor of architecture at the University of Auckland about the future of housing, and with Dr Rob Beaglehole from the NZDA about the government's proposal to ban fizzy drinks from primary schools.
This week saw the release of another major IPCC Climate Report, stating that without immediate action we will reach a one point five degree rise in climate and beyond by 20300.
Several new contributors to climate change were highlighted, including the cumulative impact of big cities and towns on the climate.
Efforts to turn our cities more green have been taking place across Aotearoa for several months, so Liam Hansen spoke to Crystal Olin from Sustainable cities Aotearoa about what’s being done and what needs to come next.
Aotearoa has a housing crisis. However, Auckland alone has 40,000 unoccupied houses.
Dr Anthony Hoete, a professor of architecture at the University of Auckand and director at QuakeCoRE, New Zealand Centre for Earthquake Resilience talked about issues with housing availability, how Māori housing needs can be rethought, and how different materials might solve construction issues.
Consultation on Auckland Council’s proposed changes to Auckland’s dog rules opened on Monday and close on the 23rd February. Additionally, over the weekend, a large vegetation fire broke out on the slopes of Auckland's Māngere Mountain.
Producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about both of these topics.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a major reshuffling of ministerial portfolios within the National party.
Among the most notable portfolio changes was handing over Dr Shane Reti’s role as minister of health to Transport Minister Simeon Brown and the appointment of Nicola Willis as Minister of the newly created portfolio of Minister of Economic Growth, a title formerly known as the Minister of Economic Development.
The cabinet reshuffle has led to concerns about the fate of Health NZ and Aotearoa’s healthcare sector, noting that Shane Reti had over 20 years of experience working in medicine, whereas Simeon Brown has none.
The reshuffle also comes shortly after a recent poll by the Taxpayers Union showed that National’s approval rating had fallen below 30%, the lowest rating they’ve received while in government since 1999.
For their Weekly Catchup, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March about the Cabinet reshuffle and the implications it may have for the healthcare sector and economy.
They also discussed the government’s new free speech legislation for Universities and the ceasefire between Hamas and the Israeli Defence Force.
Aotearoa has recently faced multiple wildfires across the motu, from West Auckland, all the way to Bulls.
For our weekly catchup with the National Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Tom Rutherford about these recent blazes, and what needs to be done in the future to mitigate these events.
As well as this, they also discussed the country’s second highest ranking police officer: Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, being suspended amidst an investigation, as well as the recent ceasefire in Gaza.
For Dear Science this week, our expert Dr Cushla McGover chatted to us about lost photos being unveiled of a giant horned dinosaur, analysing for the restoration of a 2100 year old Alexander the Great mosaic, and cartilage similar to bubble wrap.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
The Eaton and Palisades fires, the two major fires making up the Los Angeles fires, are now the two most destructive wildfires in Southern California history.
The fires have sparked significant debate about insurance in high-risk natural disaster areas as thousands of Californians lost their home insurance not long before the fires.
And president-elect Donald Trump has returned to the centre stage of United States foreign policy in the weeks leading up to his inauguration.
Trump has threatened to annex Greenland and Canada as well as reclaim the Panama Canal for the United States.
For States of the States this week Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about both of these topics.
As part of its submission on a Local Government New Zealand issues paper exploring electoral reform, Auckland Council has expressed its support for a four-year electoral term.
In exploring local government reform, the LGNZ paper also looks at public understanding of local government, public awareness of candidates and policies, and voting methods for local elections, raising questions about who’s responsible for improving these areas and what the future of local government voting might look like.
For the first interview of 2025, producer Sofia spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about Council’s LGNZ submission as well as Council’s general plans for 2025.
Submissions on the controversial Treaty Principles Bill were set to close last week, when on the final few days of submissions the portal to submit suffered technical difficulties.
Due to this, many people were unable to send in their submissions on time. Parliament made the decision to extend the submission period to make up for the issue. With thousands also handing their submissions in person.
The bill is estimated to have had more than 300,000 submissions prior to the original deadline, making it the most highly submitted on bill in history.
For the weekly catchup with the Green Party Evie spoke to Ricardo Menendez March about the submission process.
They also talked about the contested Regulatory Standards Bill which has also recently come into the spotlight.
The submission period for the Treaty Principles Bill was due to close last week, however, due to mass amounts of last minute submissions leading to software issues, the deadline was extended to 1 pm on Tuesday, 14th January.
Similarly, the submissions for the consultation period on the regulatory standards bill ended yesterday, another bill primarily pushed by David Seymour and the ACT party that would change how the government processes legislation.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor spoke to him about these bills and how the party plans to operate in 2025.
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