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.
National's newly elected leader Christopher Luxon has publicly stated that he has a pro-life stance when it comes to abortion. ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa's Emma Shepherd responded to Luxon's opinion and discussed with Charlie why this stance still comes as a concern despite abortion being decriminalised in New Zealand in 202.
One of New Zealand’s most famous and most significant artists, Robert Ellis, passed away last week. Ellis contributed a prominent body of art, and was crucial in promoting Maori artforms and bringing pop art to the fore of New Zealand’s creative scene.
Louis spoke to the University of Auckland’s Linda Tyler about Robert Ellis, his legacy, and the impacts his work has had on New Zealand culture.
Released today, the Child Poverty Monitor has found that poverty targets for Maori, Pasifika, and disabled children are not going to be met. It claims that there are still major structural barriers, such as racism and ableism, that have led to differentiated results of poverty alleviation schemes.
Louis spoke to the Maori Children's Commissioner Glenda Philip Barbara and NZEI's Liam Rutherford about the monitor, the challenges that child poverty pose, and what changes need to be made.
Louis spoke to the Maori Children's Commissioner Glenda Philip Barbara and NZEI's Liam Alexander about child poverty in New Zealand. He also talked to the University of Auckland's Linda Tyler about the legacy and passing of artist Robert Ellis.
Charlie was joined by ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa member Ella Sheperd to discuss Christopher Luxon’s pro-life stance. She also chatted with SPCA scientific officer Dr Alison Vaughan about responsible pet adoption.
Host Jessica Hopkins speaks to registered Clinical Psychologist and Chief Executive at Umbrella Wellbeing Gaynor Parkin about navigating the our traffic light system.
The Auckland Council's Shane Henderson joins us to discuss the proposed Climate Action Targeted Rate and how Auckland Council facilities will operate under the traffic light system.
Tara Singh from UN Women President speaks to Jessica about their 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence.
And Jemima Huston intevriews the National Party’s Maureen Pugh on the Government’s proposed freedom camping legislation.
Psychologists have suggested that entering the new traffic light system may cause some uncertainty for people around Aotearoa as we determine our own comfort levels with mingling with others, travelling and using public spaces
Jessica Hopkins spoke to Gaynor Parkin, Registered Clinical Psychologist and CE at Umbrella Wellbeing about navigating the new normal.
Parkin encourages people to set their own boundaries for social interactions and to have conversations with whanau about what they are comfortable with.
The global campaign began on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until December 10, Human Rights Day.
Jessica Hopkins spoke to UN Women Aotearoa NZ President Tara Singh about ending domestic violence here in Aotearoa.
You can find out more about hosting your own Orange Breakfast or Morning Tea on their website.
The government said children aged five to eleven could soon be eligible for a pediatric version of the Pfizer vaccine before the end of next month, pending Medsafe approval.
Professor Graham Le Gros is an immunologist and the Programme Director of Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand and he told Justin it is important for vulnerable young children to get the jab.
With the International Day for People with Disabilities being tomorrow, NZEI’s campaign surrounding the underfunding of the learning support sector comes timely. Joe speaks to Liam Rutherford, Chair of NZEI on the matter.
On their weekly chat, Justin and Health Minister Andrew Little talked about the traffic light system and the Government's plan for the Omicron variant.
International Desk reports on the unrest in the Solomon Islands.
Justin also talked to Professer Graham Le Gros of the Malaghan Institute on the pediatric Pfizer vaccine.
Producer Joe Wilkins spoke to NZEI's Liam Rutherford on funding for learning support.
He also talked to the New Zealand Initiative's Roger Partridge on changing the way to teach children reading, and the New Zealand Hostel Association chair Brett Duncan on the future of backpacker hostels in New Zealand
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
Last week, Green Party MP Tamatha Paul made comments about the police and the expansion of beat patrols in Wellington, saying they make a lot of people feel “less safe.”
The comments have been criticised by MPs across National, Act, New Zealand First, as well as Labour.
And Finance Minister Nicola Willis is seeking specialist external advice on what ways the supermarket duopoly could be restructured.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about these issues.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested by the International Criminal Court and will be tried in the Hague for crimes against humanity.
This comes as the ICC faces criticism for other, more controversial current arrest warrants, including those against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria from Curtin University in Perth about Duterte’s arrest and broader issues facing the ICC.
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:
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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