Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Joel Armstrong, Sara Mckoy, Max Micheel, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
New reports have recently revealed that, despite the government's investments into mental health, there are the same number of acute mental health beds available in Aotearoa as there were five years ago.
This report has also come as new ministry of health figures have shown some improvements to the general health sector since 2017, as well as new possibilities for pharmacists to treat minor ailments.
All that and more was covered in Tuva's chat with Health Minister Andrew Little for this week.
Since the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack, the Labour Government has been looking to expand our hate speech laws.
Under the Human Rights Act, people in Aotearoa are protected from hate speech on the basis of colour, race, ethnic or national origins.
The Government initially proposed extending this to other groups who are vulnerable to harmful speech, including women, disabled people, and queer people.
But the government announced this week that they will only make one amendment to hate speech laws to include religious communities and are seeking broad support across parliament.
95bFM News & Editorial Director spoke to Activist Shaneel Lal about the changes.
News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins brings you the Wednesday Wire.
She spoke to ACT Party Deputy Leader Brooke van Velden about lowering the voting age and the National Party's plan to combat youth crime during their weekly chat.
Dermet Coffee, a Co-Covenor of the NZ Climate and Health Council, who represents health workers and students around the motu, spoke about them joining the Free Fares Coalition.
And Rachel Mcintosh Vice President of the NZ council of trade unions shared their calls for the Government to follow Australia’s commitment to eliminating violence and harassment in the workplace.
Last week the National party released their Youth Offenders policy, which would designate a serious youth offender category for children as young as 10 years old and create military academies to send some serious young offenders to.
For Casper's weekly catchup with National MP Dr Shane Reti, he asked him to run through the policy and how it would work, as well as respond to some criticisms of these measures.
This week on the Tuesday Wire, Allan Blackman joined Casper and Milly in the studio for our Dear Science segment.
Casper spoke to National Party MP Dr Shane Reti about their new Youth Offenders policy announced last week.
Daniel put together a package on the movement to lower the voting age to 16, speaking to Make it 16 cofounder Sanat Singh and Greens MP Golriz Ghahraman.
And Milly had a chat with Kristina Hillock about a new Hector dolphin sighting and updated dolphin recording methods.
On the Tuesday Wire Milly Spoke with Kristina Hillock from the Department of Conservation regarding a recent Hectors Dolphin sighting in the North Island and new sightings reporting methods that DoC has introduced.
This week on OurActionStation, Spike speaks to Hayden Eastmond-Mein from the New Zealand Drug Foundation about their petition calling for cannabis decriminalisation and pardoning in Aotearoa.
As conflict rages on in Ukraine, Save the Children is keeping tabs on the well-being of children in the region and leaving the region due to the conflict. Stella speaks to advocacy director Jacqui Southey about their recent reports on the state of education and mental well-being of Ukrainian children.
On Sunday, “Block the Ban” held a protest against the government’s decision to ban new prescriptions of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria.
The United Nations’ committee for the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination has released a report warning that New Zealand is at serious risk of weakening Māori rights.
And last week, the government rejected the recommended methane emissions targets.
This is despite officials warning against the government doing so, stating that lowering methane emissions targets could increase New Zealand’s contribution to global warming.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Shanan Halbert about all of these topics.
Safety measures on public transport are of growing concern this week following the fatal and unprovoked attack that took place on route 76 in East Tāmkaki on Monday night.
Earlier this week there were also multiple critical incidents that occurred simultaneously across Auckland’s West Coast beaches and waterways, seeing an unusually high deployment of emergency services and surf lifesavers for this early in the summer.
Swedish home and furniture retailer Ikea opened in Sylvia Park a week ago today, drawing huge excitement for many.
Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about these topics.
Last week was scrutiny week, where Parliament focuses entirely on holding government agencies and ministers to account, to check-in on how well the Government is performing.
Many of the questions surrounding scrutiny week have been focused on climate change, with many recent reports highlighting the Government’s questionable decision-making.. The biggest headline was that the coalition had chosen to reject all three of the climate change commission’s recommendations to strengthen New Zealand’s emissions targets.
Along with this, the United Nations released a new report, where they’ve warned that New Zealand is at serious risk of weakening Māori rights and entrenching disparities for the indigenous population. In the 14-page report, the UN expressed concerns over multiple government policies affecting Maori, including the disestablishment of the Maori Health Authority, cuts to public funding for Maori services, and minimising the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about the report released by the United Nations, but first they discussed Scrutiny Week and the Government’s recent climate change decisions.
The government is pausing the new prescriptions of Puberty Blockers to gender diverse and transgender young people from the 19th of December onwards, following a similar move by the UK after the results of the NHS’s Cass Review.
Wire Producer Flo spoke to activist Lauren Craig about the effects of the legislation, her petition “Reverse the decision to deny transgender and takatāpui young people access to puberty blockers” against the changes and the wider political motivation for the policy.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here
With the rise of fast fashion outlets like Shein and Temu alongside the wider mainstream options available that contribute substantial amounts of clothing waste to landfill, experts are calling for an urgent response on a governance, business, and individual level.
Wire Host Sara spoke to Mindful Fashion Chief Executive Jacinta Fitzgerald about the problem, and the industry response to sustainability, as well as University of Auckland Marketing Professor Mike Lee about the importance of ethical consumption.for individuals.
First, is the interview with Fitzgerald, where she begins by talking about the organisation Mindful Fashion.
Following this, Sara spoke to Marketing Professor Mike Lee about the research he has undertaken around consumerism.
The biannual Scrutiny Week took place in Parliament last week, with meetings across select committees and government departments focussed on scrutinising the outcomes of government work.
These include hearings on ministries like Health, Housing, Environment and Justice.
Wire Host Sara spoke to National MP Carl Bates about Scrutiny Week, firstly by asking him to talk about the meetings he was involved in
The government has recently rejected all of the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations regarding strengthening the country’s methane targets recommendations.
The commission’s recommendations include strengthening the county’s 2050 methane emission targets, continuing lowering emissions after 2050, and that international shipping and aviation, which represents 9% of the county’s total emissions, should be included within targets.
Despite the commission saying that there would be upfront costs, many of the changes would result in cost savings over time, however, the government rejected this claim.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about the government rejecting these recommendations.
Tāmaki Makaurau’s council budget is among those impacted by the proposal of a rates cap, considering Tāmaki’s average 5.8% annual rates increase across the 25/26 financial year.
Youth homelessness is a growing concern as discussions continue around “move on” orders for those without housing in Auckland’s CBD.
And the Skycity Convention Centre is set to open in 2026, with high hopes for what it may bring for Tāmaki Makaurau after its prolonged development.
Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Counsellor Fairey about these topics.
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