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.
Conflict in Ukraine continues, with Russia using more military force in the area and putting nuclear weapons on “high alert”. Samuel Hickey, a Research Analyst at the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, spoke with Charlie about the current attacks on nuclear power plants in Ukraine. He further discussed the potential impacts of nuclear weapons and the distribution of them.
The critical workers exemption scheme was announced last month, meaning people working in sectors such as food production, supply chain, transport and news media can still come into work if they’re a close contact of Covid-19. However should workers be able to stay home if they feel unsafe?
Sam Clark spoke to Green Party MP and spokesperson for workplace relations, Jan Logie.
Last week, the Sunscreen Product Safety Bill was passed, which requires manufacturers to meet SPF ratings or face fines up to $600,000. This bill is from Bay of Plenty MP and former National leader, Todd Muller.
Sam Clark spoke to him this morning about the Bill, as well as further measures we could take in New Zealand for sun protection.
New Zealand’s tracing system of hazardous chemicals seems insufficient according to a new report released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Charlie spoke first with Dr Jennifer Gadd, Aquatic Chemist at NIWA, about the report and the current regulations around chemical importation. Secondly Melanie Kah, associate professor at the University of Auckland, spoke about the risk of not tracking chemicals and how the system can be improved.
Samuel Hickey from the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation discusses Russia’s weapons and nuclear power plants.
Dr Anna Brooks from the University of Auckland speaks about long covid.
Dr Jennifer Gadd from NIWA and Melanie Kah from the University of Auckland discuss hazardous chemicals in the environment
Greens MP, Jan Logie discusses the new 'critical workers exemption scheme' and labour rights.
And National MP, Todd Muller speaks about the passing of his sunscreen standards bill. It had unanimous support, which is rare for an opposition member.
Tomorrow’s World is back!
This week Isla and Stella look into "What's carbon neutral? The Sustainability of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics."
A report was released by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton which revealed startling gaps in how New Zealand monitors and records hazardous chemicals in the environment.The report found that New Zealand’s regulations can often overlook environmental effects and recommends that a common framework be developed to assess and track chemicals and their environmental impacts. Casper spoke with Nick Kim, a Senior Lecturer in applied environmental chemistry at Massey University about the significance of the findings of the report, and its recommendations.
On Friday morning, the United Nations announced the beginning of a project to see the minimization of plastic pollution throughout the planet.
The next few months will see negotiations made about how we can regulate plastic pollution and what the next steps are to combat the Climate Crisis.
GreenPeace has been campaigning for changes to be made for years, and many within the organisation calling this a historical moment. Liam spoke to Plastic Spokesperson for GreenPeace Aotearoa, Juressa Lee about the treaty.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is continuing to devastate civilian areas in an attempt to demoralise Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainians in Aotearoa are calling for the New Zealand Government to do everything it can to sanction Russia and offer military aid, humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
I spoke to Ukrainian student Veronika Orekhivska, who is studying in Auckland. In our interview, she gives a personal account of growing up in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, and shares what the war has been like for her friends and family who are there.
We also discuss Russia's history of agression towards Ukraine, the leadership of Ukrainian President Zelenksyy, and how disinformation has influenced people.
Auckland Transport has announced another parking fare increase, pushing up parking across AT-managed lots 50 cents per hour.
They justified the increase as necessary to cover ‘rising operational costs’ and to cover the Auckland Council’s increased resource commitment to supporting Aucklanders with “issues like blocked driveways, footpaths, and clearways”.
As well, Auckland Council have voted to endorse the redevelopment of Eden Park, in favour of a new waterfront stadium — bringing the latest development in a long-standing discussion about the best approach to attract tourism and financial productivity to Auckland.
All they need now is the government to pitch in $100 million dollars to fund the project.
Producer Sara started her interview with Shane Henderson by asking why raising parking prices was the preferred option for covering council operational costs
Just recently, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke Van Velden, announced sweeping changes to health and safety regulations for businesses that she described as “low-risk”.
Some of the changes involved: narrowing the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks only causing death, serious injury or illness, creating a hotline for the public to report “overzealous” road cone placement and reducing "tick-box and safety activities" such as psychosocial harm policies for small businesses.
Around this same period of time, Greens MPs Tamatha Paul and Benjamin Doyle received intense media and political scrutiny for comments they made at a university panel and on social media respectively, with the backlash towards Doyle forcing them to abstain from parliament this week.
The Greens recently issued a call to the government to scrap their proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, which involve recognising qualifications other than early childhood teaching qualifications, removing up to 74% of ECE licensing criteria and removing requirements for regular updates and family.
In their weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the party’s take on all of these issues.
BirdCare Aotearoa is a wild, native bird hospital that works to rehabilitate sick and injured birds back into the wild.
For their upcoming event: ‘Bird Heros,’ a part of EcoFest 2025 on the 6th of April, the workshop will look at the best practices on rescuing wild native birds, and will include a tour of their bird hospital, which is not usually open to the public.
For this week's Green Desk, Producer Leilani spoke to the Hospital Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa, Pooja Dorle, about the rehabilitation processes of birds within their hospital ahead of their next workshop.
Fellow Green Desk Producer Liam, and News and Editorial Director Joel, went to the previous workshop over the weekend, and spoke to the Chair of the organisation, Kevin Furgeson, and volunteer Marina, and had a tour of their facilities. Thanks EcoFest!
BirdCare Aotearoa also has a fundraiser running to shed light on seabirds affected by street lights and brightly lit buildings across the city, affecting their migration patterns and causing birds, such as the protected Petrels, Shearwaters, and Prions, to fall and injure themselves. To support their clinical rehabilitation practices, you can support their campaign on givealittle.
For a number of years, Aotearoa has been dealing with a shortage of psychologists and similar professionals to deal with the growing mental health needs of the wider population, with estimates suggesting that an additional 1,000 more psychologists are needed to fill gaps in the profession.
In response to the country’s growing mental health needs, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announced a new Associate Psychologist role, consisting of recent post-graduates, to work alongside fully trained Psychologists.
However, a number of Psychologists and experts have criticised the introduction of this new role, saying that these associate Psychologists may be expected to take on the responsibilities of clinical Psychologists despite being underqualified.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Dr Kumari Valentine, a clinical psychologist based in Dunedin, who’s launched a petition calling on the government to roll back the introduction of the new Associate psychology role and look to other methods of filling gaps in the Psychology profession.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central.
The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.
This week on Dear Science our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about various April Fools pranks in the world of science, including the 'Sheep Albedo Hypothesis' from here in Aotearoa.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
On Sunday, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced plans to combat the supermarket duopoly between Foodstuffs and Woolworths. This could include breaking-up or restructuring the current chains, with Cabinet also announcing a formal request for information, or RFI, into the matter.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about this announcement, and whether she, and the party, thinks this will be enough to address food accessibility in Aotearoa.
We also discussed the comments made by Green MP, Tamatha Paul, about the police, and whether she believes these comments have become sensationalised.
Finally, we discussed the party’s calls for mandatory police body cameras.
But first, they started off by asking Kemp about how the party are feeling about Nicola Willis’ most recent announcements into the supermarket duopoly.
Last week, the government announced its plans for reforming the Resource Management Act, or the RMA, introducing two acts to replace the current RMA. The plan is to bring the two acts before the select committee next year, passing them just before the next election.
For our weekly catch up News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about this reform, working with the opposition, and the lack of a Treaty clause.
We also talked about concerns that the health and police system in Aotearoa are failing, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police and being administered antipsychotic drugs.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave a “State of the Nation” speech last weekend where he strongly criticised Labour and announced his party was declaring a “war on woke.”
The government has announced a new replacement for the Resource Management Act, looking to pass it before the next election.
And Labour Foreign Affairs spokesperson David Parker has criticised the government for not condemning Israel in the context of recent military action and the blocking of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal group chat with top United States security officials who were discussing military plans for strikes on Yemen.
The group chat discussed operational details, and officials, including the Vice President JD Vance, seemed unaware of Goldberg’s presence.
Jeffrey Goldberg initially left out some of these sensitive details in his article on the group chat but has released more specific information after the Trump administration downplayed the situation and said no classified information was shared.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about this issue.
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