Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news & current affairs show, The Wire. Your hosts Jessica Hopkins, Jemima Huston, Frances Wright, Zazi Hewlett, Justin Wong and Noah Ferguson-Dudding focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere, in independent-thinking bFM style. Weekdays 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Another locked-down show, with Jemima in studio and Noah and Ilena at home.
Noah spoke to Christopher Luxon about the National Party, Professor Lynette Sadlier about CBD gels for kids with epilepsy, and Professor Nikki Turner about booster vaccines for Covid-19.
Ilena then chatted about kākāpō with Professor Bruce Robertson, and caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about the recent flooding in West Auckland.
In this final piece investigating Climate Change in New Zealand, Conor looks beyond Earth into space - to New Zealand's MethaneSAT space mission. He speaks to two familar voices, NIWA's Dr. Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher and the University of Auckland's Professor David Noone about the topic, going into detail about what the mission is and it's overall goals. They also speak about international connections and putting New Zealand on the world stage, scientifically.
For the first piece with Dr. Mikaloff-Fletcher, click here.
For the second piece with Professor David Noone, click here.
Level Four lockdown is difficult for everyone, but especially for students. Needing to study from home puts additional pressure on students, and there is not enough support out there for students, both mentally and financially. Conor speaks to Ishie Varma, Welfare Vice-President with AUSA, on the support options for students and the struggles they are facing.
Justin talked to Health, GCSB, and SIS Minister Andrew Little on the positive Covid-19 case in Middlemore Hospital, follow-up efforts to the Lynnmall terror attack, and support for mental health services under Auckland's Level 4 lockdown.
Neighbourhood Watch reports on the Covid-19 outbreak in the community of Wilcannia in rural NSW, potential vaccine passports for international travel, and the NSW government's plan to reopen the economy.
Justin talked to Health, GCSB, and SIS Minister Andrew Little about the Covid-19 case in Middlemore Hospital, follow-up to the Lynnmall terror attack, and mental health support for Auckland.
A further $20 million is being put into student hardship funds by the Government.
A new satellite could help New Zealand monitor its methane emissions.
Neighbourhood Watch reports on the Covid outbreak in rural New South Wales, vaccine passports, and New South Wales' plan to reopen the economy.
Earlier this week, on Monday morning, the Leader of the ACT Party, David Seymour, tweeted the vaccine access code for Māori people that allows them to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at Whānau Ora locations, without needing to book in advance.
The code was sent by Māori health provider Te Whānau o Waipareira through email, as part of a push to lift Māori vaccination rates that are less than two thirds of the non-Māori rate.
David Seymour has been under scrutiny since tweeting this email. However, he stands by his tweet, and believes that the access code divides New Zealanders against one another. Other politicians, including those from the Māori and Green party, disagree, and say that this decision from David Seymour to tweet the access code has resulted in putting people’s lives at risk.
Zazi spoke with ACT Party’s Brooke van Velden to hear her opinion on the tweet and hear whether she believes it was harmful.
The Green Party's Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere also spoke with Zazi about Seymour's tweet in today's Wednesday Wire show. If you would like to listen to that interview as well, click the link here.
Earlier this week, on Monday morning, the Leader of the ACT Party, David Seymour, tweeted out the vaccine access code for Māori people, that allows them to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at Whānau Ora locations, without needing to book in advance.
The code was sent by Māori health provider Te Whānau o Waipareira through email, as part of a push to lift Māori vaccination rates that are less than two thirds of the non-Māori rate.
David Seymour has been under scrutiny since tweeting this post. However, he stands by his tweet, and believes that the access code divides New Zealanders against one another. Other politicians, including those from the Māori and Green party disagree, and say that this decision from David Seymour to tweet the access code has resulted in putting people’s lives at risk.
Zazi spoke with Green Party’s Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere to get her perspective on the tweet.
Zazi began by asking Dr. Kerekere what her reaction was to David Seymour’s tweet.
ACT Party's Brooke van Velden also spoke with Zazi about Seymour's tweet in today's Wednesday Wire show. If you would like to listen to that interview as well, click the link here.
This week on Dear Science, Frances Wright talked to AUT Professor Marcus Jones about US President Biden's COVID origins report, how arctic warming links to cold winters and about the Mars rover ‘Perseverance’ collecting its first rock sample to bring back to earth.
While the rest of the country moves to alert level 2 thise week Aucklanders remain home in their bubbles under level 4. With the reduction of cars on the road, native birdsong has become easier to hear and a welcome silver lining of the lockdown for many. For a bit of Covid news relief on the Wire this week, Frances Wright spoke with Professor Jacqueline Beggs from the University of Auckland about New Zealand's native birds, focussing on the beloved kererū which won Bird of the Year in 2018 and are known to occasionally fill themselves up with fermented fruit and fall out of trees…
Frances and Professor Beggs spoke about how kererū survive in urban environments and what we can do to encourage them, and other native birds, into our gardens.
Noah Ferguson-Dudding caught up with National MP Christopher Luxon for their weekly chat. They discussed what Luxon would like to see the government to do around their recent Three Waters proposal. They also touched on a recent poll which has put National at 21.3%, and the controversy around Judith Collins' criticism of Siouxsie Wiles.
Today, Pippa and Ilena talked about how Auckland Council will be helping local businesses move down through alert levels- in particular, how the Council can help the hospitality industry with licensing requirements so that they can do trading on the footpaths and allow more space between customers.
They also talked about Vision Zero, an ethics-based transport safety approach that was developed in Sweden and is now being implemented in Auckland. The vision states that there will be no deaths or serious injuries on our roads by 2050. Ilena asked Pippa about how realistic this goal is, what concrete steps have already been taken to make our roads safer and what future plans are in place.
Justin talks about the Canadian federal election with Professor Daniel Béland of McGill University. The election will take place on September 20 after Prime Minister and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau called a snap election in August.
Justin spoke to Health Minister Andrew Little about New Zealand's Covid-19 strategy post lockdown and the vaccine bus to boost vaccination rates in Auckland.
Justin talked to Victoria University's Professor Robert Ayson on the new Ausuk defence pact between Australia, the US, and the UK. Part of the pact would see Australia acquire its first nuclear-powered submarines to replace its aging fleet with the US and UK sharing technology.
On this week's Dear Science, Frances Wright was joined by AUT Professor Allan Blackman. They began by talking about the serious but hilarious Ig Nobel Prizes and then moved onto research on toilet training cows from the University of Auckland. They finished up by talking about the food scientists who have found the key to perfectly smooth chocolate.
This week Zazi spoke to Brooke about the Māori Party's petition to to change New Zealand's official name to Aotearoa as well as John Tamihere's comments in a Newshub interview yesterday.
Zazi asks Brooke about the Māori Party's petition - whether she supports it, thinks it’s important, or believes official titles don't make much of a difference.
In the second half, Zazi and Brooke talk about comments made by Māori Party's John Tamihere, saying that ACT members contacted him, appalled and apologetic of Seymour’s Māori priority vaccine tweet, posted last week.
The Māori Party's co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also spoke with Zazi about the Aotearoa petition in today's Wednesday Wire show. If you would like to listen to that interview as well, click the link here.
In another week of level four lockdown, Isla and Stella look into how intermittent isolation could be affecting young kiwis. They chat with Maria Corkin from the University of Auckland about her research on 'technoference' and its influence on child development, executive functioning in kids, and the differences in outcomes depending on input.
Noah Ferguson-Dudding caught up with National MP Christopher Luxon for their weekly chat. They discussed the government's potential plans for booster vaccines against Covid-19, Auckland's ongoing Level 4 lockdown, and the National Party's identity given the current strength of the government.
This week, Ilena spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about what he calls the ‘week from hell’ for West Auckland. The week started with extensive flooding and ended with a terror attack at the LynnMall Countdown, all while the region was in level 4 lockdown. He gives some updates on where flooding emergency and support efforts are at now, and how West Aucklanders are coping.
On another note, Ilena and Shane also talked about bin tags and how a proposal to streamline Auckland’s rubbish service might look like.
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