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.
This week the Contraception, Steralisation, and Abortion Legislation Bill passed at its second reading, with a 108-12 result in favour.
Abortion Rights Aotearoa says that both patients and providers of vital healthcare services are being exposed to potential harm from increasing protest action.
Jessica spoke to Media Spokesperson Ella Shepherd, who says that the key issue is protecting people from intimidation and the threat of violence.
For the final time, Justin spoke with Health Minister Andrew Little on homeless communities under the home isolation scheme, National MP Matt Doocey's youth mental health summit, and making flu vaccines free for more people.
On their weekly chat, Justin and Health Minister Andrew Little talked about how does home isolation work for the homeless community, National MP Matt Doocey's proposal for a youth mental health summit, and free flu vaccines for more people.
International Desk reports on the situation in Ukraine.
Producer Joe Wickins talked to Netsafe's Chief Technology Officer Sean Lyons about cyberbullying, and the Drug Foundation's Chief Executive Sarah Helm on overdosing in New Zealand.
Neighbourhood Watch reports on NSW nurses striking, NT native title holders contesting the territoriy's largest water licence application, and Radio Adelaide finding a new home!
With online safety being in the news over the last week, Joe looks at the prominence of Cyberbullying over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and what are some ways to deal with it. Joe speaks to Sean Lyons, the Director of Technology at Netsafe NZ on the matter.
On Justin and Zoe's final Neighbourhood Watch, they talked about NSW nurses going on strike, envrionemental groups and native title holders in NT contesting the territory's largest water licence application.
They also touched base on Radio Adelaide's new home!
This week The Drug Foundation released a new report detailing how Aotearoa has not done enough in regards to preventable measures of overdosing. Joe speaks to Sarah Helm, the Executive Director of The Drug Foundation, on the matter.
On Monday evening, The Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill passed its third reading in Parliament. The Bill makes it illegal to attempt to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, and performing conversion practices on a minor can carry a prison sentence of up to three years. The Bill passed with near unanimous support, with the exception of eight National Party MPs.
Christina spoke to Auckland Pride's Executive Director Max Tweedie and Green Party spokesperson Dr Elizabeth Kerekere about the passing of the bill and what it means for the Rainbow community moving forward. Zoe also spoke to Dr Shane Reti, one of the MPs who voted no, about the bill.
Aneeka talks to National Board Member and Arable Chairperson of Federated Farmers New Zealand, Colin Hurst, about the widespread damage to arable crops currently faced by farmers. This has been a result of three weeks of unseasonable, intermittent rain followed by Cyclone Dovi which is having a huge impact on this harvest season.
Tonight at 11:59pm New Zealand will move to Phase Two of the government’s response to the Omicron outbreak. This does not make any difference to the red setting rules regarding access to public spaces, wearing masks in public, and contact tracing. Instead, this new phase will reduce isolation periods and narrow the meaning of a close contact.
News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to Lesley Gray from the University of Otago Wellington and Dr Dion O’Neale who is the Project Lead for Covid Modelling Aotearoa about what Phase Two actually means. They also discuss how New Zealanders should be responding to the increase in daily Covid-19 cases and whether the country is prepared for a shift to Phase Two.
The Ukraine crisis has been making international headlines for some weeks now. Most recently, thousands of Russian troops have positioned themselves on the border with Ukraine, NATO has increased their number of troops in Eastern Europe with the support of the US and the UK, and there has been a lot of talk about Russian invasion. However, Russia has consistently denied that they will invade and Ukrainan officials have called for the West to stop predicting an invasion because it is scaring people.
Rouben Azizian is a professor at Massey University in Security Studies and News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston speaks to him about the state of the Ukranian crisis right now. They also discuss the 'surface-level' media coverage of the crisis, whether Azizian believes Russia will actually invade, and what help Western powers are in finding a solution to a very long-standing, complex, violent relationship between Ukraine and Russia.
Last year, Auckland Council removed 30% of bins from public places with the hopes of saving about $9.5 million over an eight year period. While the council didn’t foresee an increase in littering, last week Stuff published an article sharing the frustrations of residents who observed a growing litter problem in council parks.
Illegal dumping has also been on the rise across Auckland.
With more than 1300 reports per month, the cost of retrieving illegally dumped items is about $2.7 million every year and rising.
Also Mayor Wayne Brown has announced that he wants to see Auckland become the “premier tech city” of New Zealand to boost our global influence and reputation—-- calling on the government to establish the new Advanced Technology Institute here, which he says could play a key role in guiding new start-ups, so ideas don’t ‘die on the vine’.
Beginning with the problem of rubbish in Auckland, Producer Sara started by asking Julie Fairey if she believed the removal of bins was to blame for increased littering
International pressure is mounting against Israel for the 11-week-long and ongoing blockade of aid into Gaza.
The few aid trucks that have been let into Gaza have not been distributed, according to the United Nations.
It comes as cases against Israel in the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC) for existing violations of international law remain ongoing.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Donald Rothwell from the Australian National University Law School about the aid blockade and response in international law.
Today is Budget Day, the day the government releases their spending plans for the next year.
The embargo on the budget lifts at 2pm, however, there have already been several pre-budget spending announcements.
Earlier this week, the debate on the Privileges Committee report into the Treaty Principles Bill haka, led by Te Paati Māori, was deferred.
Opposition MPs have raised concerns that because the debate has been deferred, the Te Paati Māori co-leaders may not be back in time to vote on the budget.
For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni, Wire Host Caeden asked about all of these topics.
Yesterday the debate in the privileges committee regarding the suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi was adjourned until after the upcoming budget announcement.
The Privileges Committee Report and recommended punishments for the three Te Pāti Māori MPs were issued last week for the Haka they performed during a parliamentary session in November 2024 in opposition to the ACT party’s Treaty Principles Bill.
In that same week, the Green party recently issued a call to the government to scrap the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.
And the government recently passed the Social Security Amendment Bill, which the government says would support people into employment and off benefits, however, opponents of the bill have said it could harm beneficiaries and lower income New Zealanders.
For our weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.
Just under two weeks ago the government passed the pay equity amendment bill under urgency. This bill would change existing pay equity legislation to make it more restrictive, which the government says will save billions of dollars.
The process was originally introduced to address issues of pay inequity between sectors. While the Equal Pay Act mandates that people working the same job are paid the same regardless of gender, Pay Equity is meant to ensure industries dominated by women are not paid less than similar industries dominated by men. The process has worked by allowing applicants to compare their positions with positions in other sectors with similar workloads, skills, or experience.
The government’s changes will limit the criteria for comparators, allow only industries with over 70% women in the workforce as opposed to the previous 60%, and removing the ability for the authority to award back pay, among other changes.
These changes have been met with criticism from rights organisations, advocacy groups, and opposition parties. In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the government’s reasoning behind the Pay Equity Amendment Bill.
The Waitangi Tribunal review into the controversial regulatory standards bill has found that the Crown would be in breach of Treaty principles if it were to introduce the regulatory standards bill to Parliament without more consultation with Māori.
Because of this the tribunal has called for an immediate halt to be put on the bill.
Despite this, the bill is set to be introduced to Parliament today.
The recommendation came after following a one day urgent hearing from the Waitangi Tribunal last week, which was pushed forward from June 6, after it was revealed the bill would be introduced to Parliament today.
Critics of the bill fear it will work against Māori rights and interests. However, the ACT Party, fronted by Minister for Regulation, David Seymour simply say the Tribunal is ‘incorrect’.
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court to unpack this further. Discussing why they contest the tribunal’s review, and where they plan to take the bill from here.
We also spoke about the government launching a review into the Waitangi Tribunal, which is heavily backed by ACT - David Seymour saying the tribunal needs to be ‘put in its place’.
Last week, the Privileges Committee recommended Te Pāti Māori co-leaders, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, be “severely censured” with a 21-day suspension, with Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clarke facing a 7-day suspension for their haka during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.
Telling RNZ, Judith Collins - the chairperson of the Privileges Committee, says the ruling was unprecedented because the “situation was unprecedented” and said the decision was not taken lightly.
Te Pāti Māori’s lawyer says the punishment given to the MPs is an “absolute disgrace”.
For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to her about this, and how she is feeling heading into the debate of the report tomorrow.
We also discussed the Waitangi Tribunals recommendations regarding the Regulatory Standards Bill.
But first, we discussed the Privileges Committee's recommendations.
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:
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.
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