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.
A study released this week revealed that Kiwis have concerning gaps in knowledge when it comes to the Holocaust. The Holocaust Centre in Wellington is the country's national Holocaust education and remembrance centre, and they say that the results of this study underline the need for a more comprehensive education on the Holocaust in New Zealand.
Emilia Sullivan spoke to Miriam Bookman, deputy chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand.
This week on the Thursday Wire, our regular interview with Labour’s Andrew Little is back. Tuva’a speaks to Little about new Covid-19 medications that New Zealand will be receiving soon.
Joe speaks to Dr. Caroline Shorter, a senior researcher from the University of Otago, Wellington, about a recent study looking at the price of keeping children warm at night.
Producer Emilia speaks to Miriam Bookman, deputy chair of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, about a study released this week revealing that Kiwis have concerning gaps in knowledge when it comes to the Holocaust. Emilia also speaks to Professor Robin Gauld, Pro-Vice chancellor of commerce and Dean of Business at the University of Otago, about the major reforms to New Zealand’s healthcare systems set to come into place in July.
Joe also speaks to Sophie Jones from Able on how subtitles can be to utilized to improve children's literacy. Finally, Joe talks to Dr. Monica Barrett from RMIT University in Melbourne about the phenomenon known as binaural beats.
A New study has shed light on the phenomenon of binaural beats, sounds which essentially evoke psychoactive effects within the brain. There is very little-known about binaural beats, so to gain some clarity, Joe spoke to the lead author of the study, Dr. Monica Barrett from RMIT University in Melbourne about what they are exactly.
A new report was released last week about the state of children’s literacy in New Zealand, demonstrating that it’s time to learn the wide-ranging benefits of using subtitles, in terms of improving literacy. New Zealand’s media accessibility organisation Able creates subtitles and captions for New Zealand TV and media, which have shown the benefits on children’s literacy
Joe talked to Sophie Jones from Able on the matter.
The cost of heating a child’s bedroom through the night in a Wellington winter would run through 46 per cent of the government’s Winter Energy Payment, a study by researchers at the University of Otago, Wellington has found.
Joe spoke to Dr. Caroline Shorter, a senior researcher from the University of Otago, on the matter.
Tuesday saw the introduction of the Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) Bill to Parliament. The bill will provide a regulatory foundation for setting pay and conditions across whole industries, through negotiations between employers and workers through their unions. On the Wire this week Frances speaks to Annie Newman from the New Zealand trade union E Tū about what the Bill will mean for workers and their in developing legislation.
On the Wire this Wednesday Cameron joined Frances from Berlin and spoke about the war in Ukraine, US President Biden’s tour in Europe, elections in Hungary and Serbia and developments in the world of digital tech over there.
Frances talks to Associate professor Erin Griffey from the University of Auckland who is taking popular beauty recipes from Renaissance Europe and working with a team in the science faculty to recreate and analyse them. They call themselves the Beautiful Chemistry Project, and have a great website where you can have a look at some renaissance beauty secrets.
https://www.beautifulchemistryproject.com/
Erin told Frances a bit about how the project began, what it entails and where it’s hoping to go in the future.
This week on the Wednesday Wire, Aneeka kicks off speaking with the ACT Party’s Brooke van Velden on our weekly catch-up. This week they’re talking about the call for a referendum on co-governance
Frances then speaks with Associate Professor Erin Griffey from the University of Auckland about the Beautiful Chemistry Project - taking beauty recipes from Renaissance Europe in art history and making them in the lab at the university
Alex then speaks with Pauline Cleaver, the Associate Deputy Secretary from the Ministry of Education about the new history curriculum and then Frances speaks with Annie Newman, the Assistant National Secretary from E Tu about the introduction of the Fair Pay Agreements bill to Parliament yesterday.
Finally we jump into this week’s EuroVision where Frances speaks with European correspondent Cameron Mulgan. This week talking further about Ukraine, Biden’s tour through Europe, some elections going on and some changes in the world of digital tech over there.
Last week, the government announced that they would begin an official review of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975.
The government has said that the review is to ensure the Waitangi Tribunal remains effective and relevant, however, a number of Māori and treaty law experts have referred to the review as an attack on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles.
In that same week, the government announced that they would be investing $774 million towards improving the redress process for survivors of abuse in state care in Budget 2025.
However, going against one of the key recommendations of both the Royal Commission and the Redress Design Group, the government will not be looking to set up a new redress scheme for abuse survivors.
And the government recently passed amendments to the Wildlife Act that would permit the “incidental killing” of certain native wildlife species by companies during lawful activities like construction and development.
For our weekly catchup with the Green party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March for the party’s take on all of these issues.
In 2014, Victoria University of Wellington made an official promise to divest $650,000 worth of investments in fossil fuel companies which, at the time, comprised of 2.1% of the University’s total investments.
However, more than 10 years on, a student-led investigation found that the university still held significant investments in companies like Exxon Mobil and SHELL through third-party investment managers.
A year after a successful petition by Students for Justice in Palestine Pōneke calling on the university to divest funding from Israeli companies, a group of students from Climate Action Victoria University of Wellington have made renewed calls to the university to divest from fossil fuel companies.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Hugh Acton, a member of Climate Action Victoria of University of Wellington, who’s launched a petition calling on the university to disclose their investments in companies involved in fossil fuel production and to divest from them immediately.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
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.
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
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.
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:
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