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.
OraTai-ao, the NZ Climate and Health Council have joined the Free Fares Coalition – the Aotearoa Collective for Public Transport Equity.
News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Dermot Coffey, a Co-Convenor of the Climate and Health Council, who represents health workers and students around the motu, about why they are joining the call to make public transport free and accessible for all.
This week the Supreme Court has made a judgement on lowering New Zealand’s legal voting age.
The court has accepted the claims made by members of the Make It 16 campaign that the current voting age limit of 18 is inconsistent with section 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. Essentially, preventing 16- and 17-year-olds from voting discriminates against them on the basis of their age.
The decision means parliament now has to defend the 18 age limit if it wants to keep it.
Joe spoke to Dr Nick Munn, a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy from the University of Waikato on the matter.
Today is White Ribbon Day, an annual campaign aiming to prevent men’s violence by teaching and role modelling ‘healthy masculinity’.
This year the day is focused on tackling the causes of violence.
News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to White Ribbon Day ambassador Floyd Ormsby who is encouraging people to show kindness towards our young men, and to let them know that men can be caring, supportive, ethical, respectful, friendly, generous and awesome.”
They discuss White Ribbon Day and the message Ormsby wants people to take from his own experience.
Last week Greenpeace activists peacefully confronted a deep sea mining ship off the coast of Manzanillo, México as it returned to port from the Pacific.
Joe spoke to James Hita, Greenpeace Aotearoa campaigner on the matter, to get some insight into the impact of deep sea mining.
A brief warning that this story contains multiple mentions of suicide.
A new Ipsos study has revealed that three quarters of New Zealands youth has experienced immense mental distress and fourty percent have seriously considered self harm or suicide over the past year.
This issue isn’t only taking place for young people, though - 61% of people between the ages of 35 and 49 said they were stressed to the point they couldn’t cope, and 30% reported feeling suicidal.
With Aotearoa holding one of the highest youth suicide rates in the world, the mental health foundation sez that the current system is in crisis, and urgent action needs to be taken.
Liam Hansen spoke to the MHF CEO, Shaun Robinson, about the Ipsos survey and what needs to change in Aotearoa to improve our suicide rates.
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.
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.
Tuva’a has his regular chat with Health Minister Andrew Little
Liam talked to Mental Health Foundation CEO Shaun Robinson about mental health infrastructure in Aotearoa
They also have a chat with Climate Minister James Shaw about the COP27 Summit
News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins speaks to Shaneel Lal about the exclusion of women, disabled people, and queer people from the government’s expansion of hate speech laws.
And lastly Liam spoke to bFM European Correspondent Cameron Adams about what’s been happening with the war in Ukraine, the UK’s economy, and more.
The COP27 summit has recently concluded, resulting in some more plans to tackle climate change being put in place but less effort on wide scale action with the urgency needed.
The international conference took place in Egypt, and saw a new focus on implementation and the way climate change disproportionately affects developing nations.
Liam had a chat with Climate Minister and Green Party Co-leader James Shaw about his outlook after attending the conference, and the current state of climate policy in NZ.
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.
From Dec 27 to Jan 18, all train lines across Tāmaki will be shutting down for summer maintenance, a closure which is expected to be the last of its kind ahead of the opening of the City Rail Link.
The current measles outbreak in Tāmaki is being continually monitored, with exposure sites being updated daily on info.health.nz. The public are encouraged to track whether they’ve been in possible contact with the virus, and get up to date on any vaccinations to limit possibilities of transmission.
Auckland Council are supporting arts initiatives across the summer months, with Music in the Park kicking off in early January, and Movies in the Park following in February.
Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about these topics, and also asked for comment following the attack by two gunmen at Bondi Beach earlier this week.
Yesterday, the latest six-monthly survey of housing support providers under the National Homelessness Data Project, or NHDP, showed that homelessness in Auckland has more than doubled in the year to September. The report also found that 14 of the 21 agencies interviewed reported an increase in homelessness.
As well as this, Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16 has taken effect. And according to an interim report into social media harm, a social media ban for children in New Zealand is worth exploring further.
And last week the Government announced the replacement of the Resource Management Act, or RMA. The coalition said its replacement will slash red tape and supercharge growth.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about the Government’s new RMA reforms and a potential social media ban in New Zealand.
But first they discussed the latest report on Auckland homelessness.
The Parliament’s Workforce and Education Committee has released an interim report on an inquiry into the harm young New Zealanders face online. The government has recently announced an overhaul of the Resource Management Act and introduced two new bills in its place, the Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill.
For our weekly catch-up with the National Party, Producer Vihan spoke to MP Carl Bates, who is also the Deputy Chairperson of the Workforce and Education Committee, about the new findings of the interim report, the new Natural Environment Bill, and the Fast Track Approval Amendments Bill.
The government has announced the overhaul of the Resource Management Act (RMA), which will be replaced by two different bills, the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill. The RMA is set to be fully replaced by 2029.
The RMA, which has been in effect for 34 years, is polarising across the political spectrum.
In announcing the reforms, RMA Reform Minister, Chris Bishop, says that “pretty much everything” will be quicker and less costly under the new regime.
For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about this overhaul of the RMA.
They also discussed The Education and Workforce Committee’s interim report on the harms young people experience online, with a majority recommending a ban on social media for under-16-year-olds.
But first, they discussed the overhaul of the RMA.
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
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
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