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The Wire

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.

The Wire with Louis: January 24, 2022

The Wire with Louis: January 24, 2022 The Wire with Louis: January 24, 2022, 98.35 MB
Mon 24 Jan 2022

Welcome.

On this week's Monday wire: 

Louis spoke to Child Matters' Chief Executive Jane Searle about the changes needed to reduce child abuse rates and Federated Mountain Clubs' President Jan Finlayson about their 90th anniversary. 

Charlie was joined by Make Good's founder Jacinta Fitzgerald and fair&good's Prasanna Nara about the impacts of fast fashion, as well as University of Victoria's Anton Hovius about a recent mosquito census. 

Enjoy. 

 

Fast fashion w/ Jacinta Fitzgerald and Prasanna Nara: January 24, 2022

Fast fashion w/ Jacinta Fitzgerald and Prasanna Nara: January 24, 2022 Fast fashion w/ Jacinta Fitzgerald and Prasanna Nara: January 24, 2022, 22.45 MB
Mon 24 Jan 2022

Fast fashion and over-consumption of fashion items has become a prevalent issue in the past few years. With hundreds of kilos of textile waste filling up New Zealand’s landfills each year, sustainable fashion is necessary for fashion to be an ethical product. Charlie spoke with Jacinta Fitzgerald, founder of Make Good regarding clothing wastage. Prasanna Nara, Communications Manager for fair&good, also spoke with Charlie to discuss sustainable fashion strategies.

Mosquito Census w/ Anton Hovius: January 24, 2022

Mosquito Census w/ Anton Hovius: January 24, 2022 Mosquito Census w/ Anton Hovius: January 24, 2022, 11.5 MB
Mon 24 Jan 2022

Despite New Zealand having 12 native species of mosquitos, little is known about these insects. Te Papa Museum is beginning its third year of the annual mosquito census to gather more information on these native creatures. Anton Hovius, a scholarship student from the University of Wellington, spoke with Charlie about the data, mosquito migration, and how you can turn an itchy bite into a valuable piece of information.

Salvation Army Tonga Tsunami Aid w/ Commissioner Mark Campbell

Salvation Army Tonga Tsunami Aid w/ Commissioner Mark Campbell Salvation Army Tonga Tsunami Aid w/ Commissioner Mark Campbell, 8.52 MB
Fri 21 Jan 2022

Following the severe Volcanic Eruption and Tsunami on January 15th, The Salvation Army is asking for donations to support its humanitarian and recovery efforts in Tonga and parts of Fiji. 

I spoke to Commissioner Mark Campbell about their long-standing relationship with Tonga, and the services and aid they provide through the Pacific Emergency Fund.

We started the interview with Commissioner Campbell providing an update on the wellbeing of their staff affected by the disaster.

The Dangers of Waterfalls w/ Drowning Prevention Auckland: January 21, 2022

The Dangers of Waterfalls w/ Drowning Prevention Auckland: January 21, 2022 The Dangers of Waterfalls w/ Drowning Prevention Auckland: January 21, 2022, 8.94 MB
Fri 21 Jan 2022

This summer, Drowning Prevention Auckland are highlighting why waterfalls are dangerous and not recommended for swimming.

I spoke to Chief Executive Nicola Keen-Biggelaar about their water safety initiative at Hūnua Falls that aims to raise awareness of these risks, and the importance of having water safety education from a young age.

Here is that interview…

The Wire with Jessica: January 21, 2022

The Wire with Jessica: January 21, 2022 The Wire with Jessica: January 21, 2022, 111.21 MB
Fri 21 Jan 2022

Welcome back to the Friday Wire for 2022!

This week on the show, host Jessica Hopkins spoke to Drowning Prevention Auckland's Chief Executive Nicola Keen-Biggelaar about the dangers of waterfalls.

She also interviewed Commissioner Mark Campbell of the Salvation Army about their aid work in Tonga.  

Our regular City Counselling segment is returning for the New Year. Today Jessica spoke to Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson about Auckland Transport’s reduced services and his plans for increasing transport choices for West Auckland residents

And our new Producer Liam spoke to Otago University Immunologist Dr Dianne Sika-Paotonu about the preparations our Government and schools are making in case of an Omicron outbreak in Aotearoa.

City Counselling w/ Shane Henderson: January 21, 2022

City Counselling w/ Shane Henderson: January 21, 2022 City Counselling w/ Shane Henderson: January 21, 2022, 13.7 MB
Fri 21 Jan 2022

Auckland Transport's reduced services affected many returning to work this summer, and there have been calls for public transport schedules to return to normal. 

Jessica Hopkins spoke to Auckland Counciller Shane Henderson about plans to increase transport options for West Auckland in 2022. But we started off our interview by catching up with Shane on what he got up to over the New Years break. 

Retooling the Traffic Light System w/ Professor Michael Baker: January 20, 2022

Retooling the Traffic Light System w/ Professor Michael Baker: January 20, 2022 Retooling the Traffic Light System w/ Professor Michael Baker: January 20, 2022, 18.49 MB
Thu 20 Jan 2022

Joe speaks to Professor Michael Baker from the University of Otago ahead of Cabinet's announcment today regarding the traffic light system in Northland, as well as whether or not we need to retool the guidelines in order to help protect us from the Omicron variant.

Justin's International Desk: January 20, 2022

Justin's International Desk: January 20, 2022 Justin's International Desk: January 20, 2022, 7.74 MB
Thu 20 Jan 2022

International Desk reports on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson facing severe pressure on his leadership as more Conservative MPs are supporting a no-confidence motion after it was revealed he attended lockdown-breaching parties.

Vaximate w/ Dane Dougan: January 20, 2022

Vaximate w/ Dane Dougan: January 20, 2022 Vaximate w/ Dane Dougan: January 20, 2022, 18.09 MB
Thu 20 Jan 2022

Joe speaks to the Chief Executive of Autism New Zealand, Dane Dougan, about a new online tool called Vaximate. Vaximate supports autistic people navigate the vaccination process.

AT parking price increase & the Eden Park redevelopment project w/ Councillor Shane Henderson

AT parking price increase & the Eden Park redevelopment project w/ Councillor Shane Henderson: 3rd April, 2025 AT parking price increase & the Eden Park redevelopment project w/ Councillor Shane Henderson: 3rd April, 2025, 19.24 MB
Thu 3 Apr 2025

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

Weekly Catchup w/ The Green Party's Ricardo Menendez-March: 2 April, 2025

Weekly Catchup w/ The Green Party's Ricardo Menendez-March: 2 April, 2025 Weekly Catchup w/ The Green Party's Ricardo Menendez-March: 2 April, 2025, 25.71 MB
Wed 2 Apr 2025

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.

The Green Desk: Bird Heros w/ BirdCare Aotearoa’s Pooja Dorle: 2 April, 2025

The Green Desk: Bird Heros w/ BirdCare Aotearoa’s Pooja Dorle: 2 April, 2025 The Green Desk: Bird Heros w/ BirdCare Aotearoa’s Pooja Dorle: 2 April, 2025, 11.36 MB
Wed 2 Apr 2025

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.

Get Action! Protect Public Safety and Psychology in New Zealand w/ Dr Kumari Valentine: 2 April, 2025

Get Action! Protect Public Safety and Psychology in New Zealand w/ Dr Kumari Valentine: 2 April, 2025 Get Action! Protect Public Safety and Psychology in New Zealand w/ Dr Kumari Valentine: 2 April, 2025, 28.55 MB
Wed 2 Apr 2025

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:

Police and Public Safety w/ the National Party’s Tom Rutherford: 1st April, 2025

Police and Public Safety w/ the National Party’s Tom Rutherford: 1st April, 2025 Police and Public Safety w/ the National Party’s Tom Rutherford: 1st April, 2025, 18.03 MB
Tue 1 Apr 2025

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.

Dear Science w/ Doctor Cushla McGoverin: 1st April, 2025

Dear Science w/ Doctor Cushla McGoverin: 1st April, 2025 Dear Science w/ Doctor Cushla McGoverin: 1st April, 2025, 32.04 MB
Tue 1 Apr 2025

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!

Supermarket duopoly developments, Green MP, Tamatha Paul’s comments about the police, and Te Pāti Māori’s calls for mandatory police body cameras w/ Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp: 31 March, 2025

Supermarket duopoly developments, Green MP, Tamatha Paul’s comments about the police, and Te Pāti Māori’s calls for mandatory police body cameras w/ Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp: 31 March, 2025 Supermarket duopoly developments, Green MP, Tamatha Paul’s comments about the police, and Te Pāti Māori’s calls for mandatory police body cameras w/ Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp: 31 March, 2025, 6.86 MB
Mon 31 Mar 2025

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.

RMA Reforms and Concerns about Health and Police System w/ The ACT Party’s Simon Court: 31 March, 2025

RMA Reforms and Concerns about Health and Police System w/ The ACT Party’s Simon Court: 31 March, 2025 RMA Reforms and Concerns about Health and Police System w/ The ACT Party’s Simon Court: 31 March, 2025, 7.25 MB
Mon 31 Mar 2025

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.

But first, we touched on the RMA reform.

NZ First’s “war on woke”, proposed RMA reforms, and New Zealand’s support for Palestine w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 27 March, 2025

NZ First’s “war on woke”, proposed RMA reforms, and New Zealand’s support for Palestine w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 27 March, 2025 NZ First’s “war on woke”, proposed RMA reforms, and New Zealand’s support for Palestine w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 27 March, 2025, 8.99 MB
Thu 27 Mar 2025

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. 

International Desk: The Atlantic editor-in-chief was accidentally texted war plans by top US security officials w/ Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso: 27 March, 2025

International Desk: The Atlantic editor-in-chief was accidentally texted war plans by top US security officials w/ Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso: 27 March, 2025 International Desk: The Atlantic editor-in-chief was accidentally texted war plans by top US security officials w/ Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso: 27 March, 2025, 11.23 MB
Thu 27 Mar 2025

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.