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.
Foodstuffs, in response to nationwide concerns about the price of groceries, has announced a 10% price cut on its 110 most commonly purchased items.
This announcement mirrors a recent price freeze that was imposed in the last week by foodstuff’s competitor Countdown on its own essential products.
Casper spoke to Jon Duffy, the chief executive of Consumer NZ about Foodstuffs’ announcement, what it will mean for consumers and what it tells us about the current state of competition in the New Zealand supermarket industry. Casper began by asking him how substantial the discount will be for New Zealand consumers.
A recent report has revealed that police have seized over 95 Million dollars worth of cannabis within this year's National Cannabis Eradication operation.
The operation was ended shortly after the 2020s cannabis referendum returned a “no” vote, but was revived by six police districts earlier this year.
The program costs seven hundred thousand dollars per year and saw 79 kilograms worth of cannabis captured.
To learn more about the scheme and its effectiveness, Liam spoke to Fiona Hutton, a Criminology Professor from Victoria University of Wellington,
He first asked her what the police were intending to achieve through the operation.
Researchers from UoA, AUT and the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research have recently discovered the levels of damage that anchors are causing to Picton Harbour.
Anchors are destroying parts of seabed, and producing amounts of sediment that could supposedly fill an olympic swimming pool.
The researchers believe that this issue could be seen in worse states around the world, Considering Picton harbour is generally lower congestion compared to ports of Wellington and Los Angeles.
Liam spoke to NIWA lead researcher and UoA professor Sally Watson about what the study means and what it could predict for anchor damage around the world.
Today on the Wire Casper had a chat with Jon Duffy from consumer NZ about Foodstuffs recently announced price cuts and what they say about the supermarket industry. He also talked to Bronwyn Hayward from the University of Canterbury about how the 2022 budget might address climate change.
Liam spoke to Anu Kaloti from the Migrant Workers Association about the government's two-tier migration system and the issues that come with it. He also spoke to Fiona Hutton from Victoria University of Wellington about the police reviving the cannabis eradication operation in 2022.
Lastly Liam had a chat with Sally Watson from the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research about the affects anchors are having on seabeds in Picton and the wider world.
The 2022 annual budget will set the direction of New Zealand’s efforts to combat climate change, allocating resources towards crucial areas such as transport, energy and infrastructure.
Casper spoke to Bronwyn Hayward, a professor in the political science department of Canterbury University and a member of the IPCC intergovernmental panel on climate change, about how the budget might address climate change. Casper began by asking what sorts of investments she is anticipating with regards to addressing climate change.
Yesterday Myeloma NZ called for Andrew Little to release the independent Pharmac report. Myeloma NZ regarded the report as buried due to it not being released yet. Joe spoke to Myeloma NZ Chief Executive Dr Ken Romeril, on the matter.
Recently in the news, we've seen an uptick of stories of youths committing crimes such as ram raids, burglaries and more. This has caused concern that New Zealand is facing a once-in-a-lifetime surge of youth offending.
However, statistics show that reported youth crime has dropped by about 65% over the past decade, and the narratives we often see in the media is shaped by reports that fail to contain information about the factors driving youth crime, or context on the overall statistics on youth offending.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Dr. Ronald Kramer, senior criminology lecturer at the University of Auckland about the media's portrayal of youth crime.
As Covid restrictions ease, more employers are trying to lure their employees back into the office.
Dubbed ‘the Great Hybrid Return to Work’, employers have to make decisions on how to implement a working schedule that offers the flexibility that workers had over the lockdowns.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Dougal Sutherland, Clinical Psychologist from Umbrella Wellbeing, about what employers should take into consideration when figuring out a hybrid working schedule.
This week on the Thursday Wire! Our regular chat with Andrew Little is back. Tuva’a speaks to him about reducing the backlog for surgery wait times.
Joe will be speaking to Myeloma NZ about their calls for Andrew Little to release the independent Pharmac review. He also speaks to Robert Poulin from the University of Otago about the taxonomic and gender biases in the etymology of new species names, as well as Nic Rawlence from the University of Otago about how ancient climate change events impacted Moa’s.
Emilia will be speaking to Dougal Sutherland from Umbrella Wellbeing about how businesses can find the right hybrid working model, and she’ll also be speaking to Dr. Ronald Kramer from the University of Auckland about how the media is portraying this so-called youth crime epidemic.
Each new species discovered need a name, however, how do researchers or scientists come up with a name for a species? That’s exactly what a recent study from the University of Otago was looking to find out. Researchers looked at naming trends for almost 3,000 parasitic worms over he last two decades and found some interesting trends surrounding the naming process of new found species. Joe spoke to one of the authors of the study, Professor Robert Poulin from the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago, on the subject.
Auckland Transport has announced another parking fare increase, pushing up parking across AT-managed lots 50 cents per hour.
They justified the increase as necessary to cover ‘rising operational costs’ and to cover the Auckland Council’s increased resource commitment to supporting Aucklanders with “issues like blocked driveways, footpaths, and clearways”.
As well, Auckland Council have voted to endorse the redevelopment of Eden Park, in favour of a new waterfront stadium — bringing the latest development in a long-standing discussion about the best approach to attract tourism and financial productivity to Auckland.
All they need now is the government to pitch in $100 million dollars to fund the project.
Producer Sara started her interview with Shane Henderson by asking why raising parking prices was the preferred option for covering council operational costs
Last week, Green Party MP Tamatha Paul made comments about the police and the expansion of beat patrols in Wellington, saying they make a lot of people feel “less safe.”
The comments have been criticised by MPs across National, Act, New Zealand First, as well as Labour.
And Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking specialist external advice on what ways the supermarket duopoly could be restructured.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these issues.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court and will be tried in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
This comes as the ICC faces criticism for other, more controversial current arrest warrants, including those against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about Duterte’s arrest and broader issues facing the ICC.
For a number of years, Aotearoa has been dealing with a shortage of psychologists and similar professionals to deal with the growing mental health needs of the wider population, with estimates suggesting that an additional 1,000 more psychologists are needed to fill gaps in the profession.
In response to the country’s growing mental health needs, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announced a new Associate Psychologist role, consisting of recent post-graduates, to work alongside fully trained Psychologists.
However, a number of Psychologists and experts have criticised the introduction of this new role, saying that these associate Psychologists may be expected to take on the responsibilities of clinical Psychologists despite being underqualified.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Dr Kumari Valentine, a clinical psychologist based in Dunedin, who’s launched a petition calling on the government to roll back the introduction of the new Associate psychology role and look to other methods of filling gaps in the Psychology profession.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
BirdCare Aotearoa is a wild, native bird hospital that works to rehabilitate sick and injured birds back into the wild.
For their upcoming event: ‘Bird Heros,’ a part of EcoFest 2025 on the 6th of April, the workshop will look at the best practices on rescuing wild native birds, and will include a tour of their bird hospital, which is not usually open to the public.
For this week's Green Desk, Producer Leilani spoke to the Hospital Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa, Pooja Dorle, about the rehabilitation processes of birds within their hospital ahead of their next workshop.
Fellow Green Desk Producer Liam, and News and Editorial Director Joel, went to the previous workshop over the weekend, and spoke to the Chair of the organisation, Kevin Furgeson, and volunteer Marina, and had a tour of their facilities. Thanks EcoFest!
BirdCare Aotearoa also has a fundraiser running to shed light on seabirds affected by street lights and brightly lit buildings across the city, affecting their migration patterns and causing birds, such as the protected Petrels, Shearwaters, and Prions, to fall and injure themselves. To support their clinical rehabilitation practices, you can support their campaign on givealittle.
Just recently, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke Van Velden, announced sweeping changes to health and safety regulations for businesses that she described as “low-risk”.
Some of the changes involved: narrowing the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks only causing death, serious injury or illness, creating a hotline for the public to report “overzealous” road cone placement and reducing "tick-box and safety activities" such as psychosocial harm policies for small businesses.
Around this same period of time, Greens MPs Tamatha Paul and Benjamin Doyle received intense media and political scrutiny for comments they made at a university panel and on social media respectively, with the backlash towards Doyle forcing them to abstain from parliament this week.
The Greens recently issued a call to the government to scrap their proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, which involve recognising qualifications other than early childhood teaching qualifications, removing up to 74% of ECE licensing criteria and removing requirements for regular updates and family.
In their weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the party’s take on all of these issues.
This week on Dear Science our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about various April Fools pranks in the world of science, including the 'Sheep Albedo Hypothesis' from here in Aotearoa.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central.
The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.
On Sunday, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced plans to combat the supermarket duopoly between Foodstuffs and Woolworths. This could include breaking-up or restructuring the current chains, with Cabinet also announcing a formal request for information, or RFI, into the matter.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about this announcement, and whether she, and the party, thinks this will be enough to address food accessibility in Aotearoa.
We also discussed the comments made by Green MP, Tamatha Paul, about the police, and whether she believes these comments have become sensationalised.
Finally, we discussed the party’s calls for mandatory police body cameras.
But first, they started off by asking Kemp about how the party are feeling about Nicola Willis’ most recent announcements into the supermarket duopoly.
Last week, the government announced its plans for reforming the Resource Management Act, or the RMA, introducing two acts to replace the current RMA. The plan is to bring the two acts before the select committee next year, passing them just before the next election.
For our weekly catch up News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about this reform, working with the opposition, and the lack of a Treaty clause.
We also talked about concerns that the health and police system in Aotearoa are failing, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police and being administered antipsychotic drugs.
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