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.
The Ministry of Education is seeking feedback for their proposal to ban the selling of sugary drinks in schools, which would mean students in Years one to eight would only be allowed to drink water, milk and plant-based milks.
While banning the sale of sugary drinks in schools is a good start in addressing New Zealand’s rising youth health issues, some believe that it doesn’t go far enough.
Ahead of submissions closing today, Emilia Sullivan spoke to Bodo Lang, Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Auckland about the issue.
Care and support workers are “gutted and disappointed” after a Ministry of Health recommendation that will not see workers get a pay rise of more than 70 cents an hour for at least a year. In May, workers rallied around the country and presented a petition with more than 10,000 signatures calling on the Government for a bigger pay rise as part of the renewal of the Care and Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlement Act to combat worker shortages and financial hardship.
Joe spoke with Kirsty McCully, the Director at E tū, Jocelyn Pratt, an organiser from the PSA, and Ruby Sayer, a healthcare assistant in residential aged care on the matter.
Work has begun to move rocks from Waiheke Island’s Kennedy Bay where there are plans to build a Marina consisting of 180 berths, a floating car park, and onshore facilities like sewage containment and a cafe. This is despite the immediate area having a large, but declining, population of Korora, or Little Blue Penguins.
Concerns have been raised over the council and the Department of Conservation’s handling of resource consent granting, and failures to consider tikanga and the protection of local species.
On Tuesday, Mayor Phil Goff discussed the issue on the Breakfast show, and Emilia Sullivan spoke to Bianca Ranson from Protect Pūtiki about their response to the mayor’s comments.
Happy Samoan Language Week! This week on the Wire for Aso Tofi, Tuva’a speaks to Labour Party’s Andrew Little about the Budget for 2022.
Joe looks at the Ministry of Health’s decision regarding worker pay and why it has been regarded as a major setback for healthcare workers. He speaks to Kirsty McCully, the Director for E tū , Jocelyn Pratt, an organiser for the PSA, and Ruby Sayer, a worker in aged healthcare on the matter.
Emilia is speaks to Bianca Ranson from Protect Putiki on Mayor Phil Goff’s comments about the Kennedy Point Marina. She also talks to Bodo Lang from the University of Auckland on Sugary Drinks in Schools
This week Frances speaks to European correspondent about the war in Ukraine, the EU's Russian oil embargo passed late last night, Sue Grey's report on the Partygate scandal and nine euro per month public transport in Germany.
On this week's Wednesday show, Stella starts off chatting to advocate Abbey Trewavas from APEX, allied scientific and technical about the document of crisis delivered to government about lab workers. They also touch on the future of the profession, given a generation of lab work students didn't get comprehensive access to labs during lockdowns.
Alex talks to ACT's Brooke Van Velden in their weekly catch up. This week, they cover China’s new cooperation agreements in the Pacific.
Stella talks to the Green Party's Ricardo Menéndez March about the government's actions on the supermarket duopoly.
Finally, Frances speaks with European correspondent Cameron Mulgan on Eurovision, this week covering the war in Ukraine, the EU's Russian oil embargo passed late last night, Sue Grey's report on the Partygate scandal and nine euro per month public transport in Germany.
Lab technicians carried us through the pandemic, diagnosing thousands of covid cases and working in arduous conditions to do so. Now there’s an exodus of professionals from the field, but the need for them hasn’t gone away. Stella spoke with Abbey Trewavas, an advocate at APEX whose portfolio is lab workers, about the future of the profession, given the experience of science students over the course of the past two years.
The supermarket duopoly has seen prices for essential items increasing sharply. The government has made a formal response to the commerce commission’s market study showing supermarkets earn $1million a day in extra profits. Today Stella spoke with Ricardo Menéndez March from the Green Party, about the recommendations.
Marcus Jones joined the team live in studio for Dear Science. This week, Christina and Marcus discussed gun violence research in the US, monkeypox, and the science behind why yawns are contagious.
Aneeka spoke to the National Party's Dr Shane Reti for their regular segment. This week, they discussed crime prevention measures and New Zealand's relations with the Pacific.
Christina spoke to Lara Greaves, a political scientist from the University of Auckland, about the latest political poll results that put National ahead on 39%.
And Jack did an explainer on the proposed Three Waters reform. He spoke to Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall and Waitakere Ward Councillor Shane Henderson.
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.
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.
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
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:
This past week the government announced plans to reinstate the prisoner voting ban. The ban was altered in June 2020 by the Labour led coalition government in a change which allowed prisoners serving a sentence of less than three years to vote in elections. This change followed a recommendation from New Zealand’s High Court, which found a prisoner voting ban was inconsistent with New Zealand’s Bill of Rights.
In 2025, the government is now looking at repealing the bill and reinstating the ban. The National Party has argued that there are certain responsibilities that members of society must uphold, and that those who do not fulfil these responsibilities will have their rights taken away. Asked about human rights concerns and the High Court ruling on the bill, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said “I do not care what anyone else says about it.” The bill is set to join others as part of this government’s “tough on crime” approach.
In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the prisoner voting ban and how the change would benefit the general public.
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