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.
After eight years of research, a rare manta-ray nursery has been confirmed in the Raja Ampat islands in Indonesia by a team of researchers at the University of Auckland. The team’s research is the most comprehensive description to date of the manta ray anywhere and is prompting the Indonesian government to take extra measures to protect the area. The species has a special link with manta rays that hang out in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland. On the Wire this week, guest producer Frances Wright chatted to Edy Setyawan about the rays, Steve Irwin, and his work on this research project.
This week on the Thursday Wire! Emilia is away, so Frances is our Producer today.
Tuva’a speaks to Labour Party’s Andrew Little about a new National Bowel Screening, the New Baby Unit at Waitākere Hospital, and the record number of patients in the Emergency Department.
Joe will be speaking to Professor Warwick Bagg from the University of Auckland about increasing medical student places helping to address the medical practitioner shortage, he’ll also be talking to E tu about International Justice Day for Cleaners and Security workers. He’ll also be having a chat to the SPCA about their influx of puppies during Winter.
Frances keeps to the winter theme and talks to Natalie Wendzich about the Gratis initiative and their work providing meals for the Street Community in Auckland, and also talks to Edy Setyawan about his research discovering a nursery for manta rays in Indonesia.
Winter means a tough time for many in our city here in Auckland. With temperatures steadily dropping and the cost of living steadily rising, keeping warm and well-fed is a daily concern for many. Gratis is an initiative that takes leftover food from cafes around the city and helps to feed those who most need it in our cities. On the Wire this week, guest producer Frances Wright caught up with Team Leader Natalie Wendzich to talk about the initiative.
A recently published meta analysis of literature explores the roaming distance of feral cats. One of the authors, Cathay Nottingham, joined Stella to discuss the state of knowledge in the field.
Frances speaks to European correspondent Cameron Mulgan. This week they cover Boris Johnson’s survival through a vote of no confidence, the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, the UK looking to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, the first round of French Parliamentary elections, moves in Europe to combat e-waste from USB charger ports and limit the sale of petrol cars.
Welcome to another week of The Wire with Stella Huggins!
This week, the Tomorrow’s World segment makes a special guest appearance on the Wednesday Wire. This week Stella and Isla give us an 11 minute degree on genetics with Dr Anna Santure.
Alex speaks with ACT party deputy leader Brooke Van Velden about Fair Pay Agreements and ACT’s response to increasing gang violence.
Stella speaks to Cathy Nottingham, a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland about her recently published research on feral cat roaming distances.
Eurovision returns with an update on the war in Ukraine, Boris Johnson’s survival through a vote of no confidence, the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, the UK looking to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and much more. European correspondant Cameron Mulgan chats to Frances.
Finally, Stella speaks to Debra Ashton, SAFE's CEO, about a recent drowning of livestock during a live export off the coast of Sudan.
A tragic drowning occurred on Sunday, as an overladen ship crammed with 15,800 sheep capsized on Sunday off Sudan’s Red Sea coast. Today Stella spoke with Debra Ashton, CEO of SAFE, the nation’s leading animal rights organisation about it, and the state of live export regulations in Aotearoa.
On the Wire with Christina, Marcus Jones kicked off the show with Dear Science, discussing the end of particle physics and why the Tonga volcanic eruption was so explosive.
Christina spoke to political scientist Dr Lara Greaves about Labour’s Cabinet reshuffle on Monday.
She also spoke to End Conversion Therapy co-founder Shaneel Lal about allegations of homophobia at Bethlehem College and their treatment of LGBTQ+ students.
Aneeka had her regular catch up with the National Party’s Dr. Shane Reti, where they discussed gangs.
Christina talked to Dr Jarrod Gilbert, a sociologist from the University of Canterbury about New Zealand's war on gangs.
And finally, Jack spoke to Byron Clarke about the far-right's adoption of conservationist ideology.
Bethlehem College, a Christian school in Tauranga, has recently come under fire for asking parents to sign a statement of belief, saying marriage is between a man and a woman.
LGBTQ+ advocates have condemned this practice, calling it discriminatory and homophobic.
The Ministry of Education has since told the College that they must remove the anti-same-sex statement in their Charter, or they will consider a formal intervention.
However, several ex-students of the College have since come forward with allegations of homophobia and discrimination at the school.
Christina Huang spoke to Shaneel Lal, Co-Founder of End Conversion Therapy in NZ, who launched a petition that received almost 6000 signatures at the time of this interview, for the Education Review Office to investigate the school.
In mid-May, the world was shocked when an armed man entered a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and opened fire on ordinary shoppers. It soon became clear that the shooting was a white-supremisist terrorist attack. The shooter cited talking points from a new sector of the far-right to justify his actions: this ideology is called ecofascism.
Jack spoke to author and activist Byron Clarke, an expert on the far-right and disinformation, to find out what ecofascism is and why we should be concerned about it.
On Tuesday, Aucklanders checked the updated property valuations of their house, for many to find declines in value by 10s of thousands of dollars —- on average, by 9% from when they were last done in 2021.
According to the Council. rating valuations were based on market trends and recent sales activity, as of May 1 2024.
Wayne Brown said in response to the decreased values, “The economy's been faltering for a while, and It's really driven by government policies rather than Auckland's policies,”
Also, as we get closer to 2026 and the completion of the City Rail Link, Aucklanders have expressed various concerns about the standard of completion, including incorporation of public feedback.
I discuss the incorporation of the wider neighbourhood in Mt Eden at the Maungawhau station and the dismissal of public perspectives at the K Road station
New Zealand and key allies have imposed sanctions on two “extremist” Israeli politicians for their role in “inciting violence against Palestinians” in the West Bank.
However, opposition parties, including Labour as well as the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, are calling for further action to be taken against Israel.
It comes after Israel kidnapped 12 pro-Palestine activists on international waters, who were intending to break the aid blockade and reach Gaza.
And earlier this week, the National Business released their annual rich list.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, I spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these topics.
Los Angeles is approaching a week of protests against ICE, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Over 200 protestors have been arrested since the protests began, and restrictions have been placed on protestors, including a curfew.
The White House has sent 2,000 members of the National Guard to the city already, and another 2,000 are expected to be deployed. This is despite California Governor Gavin Newsom attempting to stop their deployment.
For International Desk, I spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about the protests.
The Green party recently made renewed calls to the government to sanction Israel for its illegal occupation of Palestine following the seizure of the Madleen, a vessel that aimed to deliver food and medical aid to Gaza.
The vessel, which was en route to Gaza, was intercepted in the Mediterranean by the Israeli Defence Forces before being rerouted to Israel with all those on board, among whom was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Immigration Minister Erica Stanford recently announced the Parent Boost Visa, part of the government’s self-described commitment to supporting parents living overseas to visit and stay with their families here in Aotearoa.
And, over in the United States, 2000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines have been deployed to Los Angeles in response to protests opposing the city’s recent immigration raids.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about all of these issues
Currently, 19 out of 38 OECD countries use incineration as a form of waste management.
With the process leading to a range of negative impacts, such as air pollution, Co2 emissions and respiratory illnesses, Aotearoa has luckily remained incinerator free.
However, calls have been made by some activists to strengthen New Zealand’s legislation to ensure that incineration facilities are not opened up in Aotearoa.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Sue Coutts from Zero Waste Network New Zealand to discuss a petition calling on the government to keep New Zealand Incinerator-free.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
These past few weeks in politics have seen various issues that we spoke about in our weekly catchup with the National Party.
First up, at the Aotearoa Music Awards, National MP Chris Bishop was heard making disdainful remarks such as “what a load of crap” during a performance by singer Stan Walker.
Second, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngārewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi were recently suspended from parliament for 21 days for their haka protesting the Treaty Principles Bill. The penalty is far harsher than any previous penalty for an MP, raising questions about whether it is justified or sets a dangerous precedent.
Finally, the government recently announced a new visa for parents of migrants, allowing them to come to New Zealand for a longer period of time than traditional visitors without having to acquire residency.
Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues in our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, starting with Chris Bishop’s comments at the AMAs.
As per coalition agreements, ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, has been sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, taking over from NZ First Leader, Winston Peters.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about Seymour’s new position, and what this means for the party.
They also discussed accusations Seymour made regarding submissions to the Regulatory Standards Bill.
In an interview with Guyon Espiner, Seymour claimed that 99.5% of the submissions against the Regulatory Standards Bill were driven by ‘bots’ and were ‘fake’ submissions.
Seymour later clarified to RNZ that by bots, he was meaning “online campaigns” creating “non-representative samples” that do not represent the public’s opinion.
The Ministry of Regulations received roughly 23,000 submissions on the bill. Of the submissions. Of the submissions, 0.33% were fully or partially supporting the bill, with 88% being against the bill.
Finally, they discussed the recommended suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs’ Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke standing.
But they, we discussed David Seymour as Deputy Prime Minister.
The recommended suspension for Te Pāti Māori MPs, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi, and Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, over the MP’s haka in Parliament during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill last year.
Co-leaders Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi will be suspended from the House for 21-days, with Maipi-Clarke facing a seven day suspension. This is Parliament's harshest sanctions in the country’s history. Prior to this, the longest suspension an MP had faced in Parliament was three days.
The debate had previously been delayed so that the MPs could participate in the Budget debate — however, both co-leaders were not present at the debate.
During the debate MP Tākuta Ferris said that the debate was not about the haka, but at the heart, it was the House continuing to ignore Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori sovereignty, and that the “racism” in the House is hardly being hidden.
For our weekly catch-up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about the suspension, and what’s next for the party.
They also discussed NZ First Party Leader Winston Peters’ comments regarding Waititi’s moko, referring to the MPs moko kanohi as “scribbles”. He was asked to apologise by the Speaker, which he did.
But first, they discussed the suspension of the MPs.
Auckland Transport are seeking community feedback on a proposal for a new T3 transit lane on Mount Smart Road to relieve congestion during peak times heading towards the Royal Oak roundabout.
Between better public transport systems, a ‘time of use’ charge, and different ways of managing Auckland traffic, Producer Sara asks Councillor Julie Fairey about how Auckland Council hopes to reduce peak-time congestion as the city’s population grows.
She also talk to Julie Fairey about the recent allocation of funds to community-led projects through Ngā Hapori Momoho. This year, the grant which aims to “improve financial security, improve health outcomes, and grow community and intercultural connection” has approved funding for eleven community groups, six of which are either Māori organisations or delivering ‘strong Māori outcomes’.
Sara begins with questions about Auckland central congestion.
*unfortunately the audio quality on Julie's end is poor
95bFM 
