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.
Last week in a speech from ACT party leader David Seymour which he described as his own “State of the Nation” speech, he called for the privatisation of government assets. Seymour noted recent issues in public sectors such as health and housing, proposing that private organisations would manage operations better than the government.
The Public Service Association says the privatisation of the health sector will lead to the prioritisation of profits over health outcomes for individuals. Countries like the United States where the health system is almost entirely private see those with or without insurance rejected from hospitals, unable to pay for life-saving treatment.
Wire host Castor to National Secretary of the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about how a private health system would work in Aotearoa.
In the lead up to U.S President, Donald Trump’s second term in office, the United States has been in what academics, and observers are calling a state of “permacrisis”.
Since Trump’s inauguration, decisions such as the appointment of Cabinet members, the pardoning of convicts involved in the January 6th Capitol attack, and the signing of executive orders targeting immigrants, and transgender people, have uprooted political conventions, and normalised chaos as a daily occurrence.
Producer Athena spoke to Director and Associate Professor of Global Studies at the University of Auckland, Dr Chris Ogden, about how, and why Trump and his followers weaponise chaos, and manufacture crises.
A ceasefire ending Israel’s 15 month war on Gaza went into effect on Sunday.
However, top government Israeli officials have stated they reserve to resume the war if they feel they need to.
Israel has also ramped up attacks in the Palestinian West Bank, which is not included in any ceasefire terms. Ten Palestinians were killed in a recent raid in Jenin, and an additional dozen, including medical staff, were wounded.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s John Minto about the ceasefire and subsequent Israeli military activity.
The inauguration of Donald Trump has taken place, meaning he is officially President of the United States.
Many tech giant were at the event, including SpaceX and Tesla’s Elon Musk who appeared to do a nazi salute during his speech.
On his first day in office, Trump signed a series of controversial executive orders, including ordering the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organisation and Paris Climate Agreement.
For States of the States this week Wire Host Caeden spoke to Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso about the inauguration and Trump’s first few days in office, as well as the short-lived Tiktok ban.
And Producer Sofia spoke to honorary academic at the University of Auckland Faculty of Science and climate scientist Dr Kevin Trenberth about Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and what this says about his administration’s policy for climate change
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni about the first political poll of the year and National’s cabinet reshuffle.
For State of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about President Trump’s inauguration and the short-lived Tiktok ban.
And they speak to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s John Minto about the ceasefire in Gaza.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia speaks to Councillor Shane Henderson about new proposed restrictions on dog walking and the Māngere fires from over the weekend.
Also for State of the States this week, she speaks to honorary academic at the University of Auckland Faculty of Science and climate scientist Dr Kevin Trenberth about President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement.
For their weekly catch up, Oto spoke to Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez March about the National party’s recent cabinet reshuffle, as well as the government’s changes to free speech legislation in Universities and the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Hamas and the Israeli Defence Force.
He spoke to Michael Swanson, PhD Candidate in New Zealand Politics at the University of Otago, for a follow up kōrero on National’s cabinet reshuffle.
He spoke to Amanda Larsson from Greenpeace to discuss newly elected US President Donald Trump’s exit from the Paris Agreement.
And he spoke to Chris Ogden, an Associate Professor Cultures, Languages and Linguistics at the University of Auckland, to discuss Trump’s claims of annexing Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada.
Joel spoke to the Chair of General Practitioners Aotearoa, Dr Buzz Burrell, about the government’s ‘free vape kits,’ and the organisation's concerns surrounding using vaping as a cessation tool for smoking.
On New Years Eve, the government announced a ‘free vape kit’ initiative to combat tobacco usage rates, as a part of Smokefree 2025 plans.
Associate Health Minister, Casey Costello, says those involved with the initiative will be provided with a vape device and a one month’s supply of nicotine pods each month for a three month period, with additional support from an anti-smoking service.
Costello says vaping has had a "key role," in lowering smoking rates, and that the government is in support of this initiative, as she says that "vaping is far less harmful than smoking cigarettes."
However, the advocacy group for doctors working in general practice; General Practitioners Aotearoa, have expressed concerns about this vaping kit, as they say the government is funding this initiative without strong scientific evidence to back up their claims.
The group referred to a study of individuals undergoing a 'vape to quit' programme, with findings showing that only 16% of participants fully quit both smoking and vaping.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Chair of General Practitioners Aotearoa, Dr Buzz Burrell, about the ‘free vape kit’ initiative, and using vaping as a cessation tool for tobacco usage, as well as whether this move takes into account communities disproportionately affected by nicotine consumption.
They started off by asking him about how much evidence there is that vaping is an adequate method to limit one’s tobacco addiction.
This podcast has been edited to take out the claim "…so if you inhale nicotine through a vape you've got an equal chance of developing lung cancer. So you're not reducing the lung cancer risk at all," as well as mentions of 'vape lung' (EVALI) regarding consuming nicotine from vapes. Despite ongoing research into these claims, there is not currently adequate data to back these points.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a major reshuffling of ministerial portfolios within the National party.
Among the most notable portfolio changes was handing over Dr Shane Reti’s role as minister of health to Transport Minister Simeon Brown and the appointment of Nicola Willis as Minister of the newly created portfolio of Minister of Economic Growth, a title formerly known as the Minister of Economic Development.
The cabinet reshuffle has led to concerns about the fate of Health NZ and Aotearoa’s healthcare sector, noting that Shane Reti had over 20 years of experience working in medicine, whereas Simeon Brown has none.
The reshuffle also comes shortly after a recent poll by the Taxpayers Union showed that National’s approval rating had fallen below 30%, the lowest rating they’ve received while in government since 1999.
Oto spoke with Michael Swanson, a PHD candidate in New Zealand politics at the University of Otago, to discuss why National made the decision to shuffle their portfolios at this point in time and the impacts of the portfolio changes for the wider economy, particulary for the healthcare system and constituents in the South Island.
Yesterday marked the inauguration of the newly elected President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
Trump’s election marks the second non-consecutive term for any US president, with him winning both the popular vote AND electoral college, contrasting his previous election victory in 2016.
However, despite running on one of his campaign slogans of ‘ending all wars’, Trump frequently made promises to annex a number of territories in North and South America, namely Greenland and the Panama Canal, and made comments about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.
Oto spoke to Associate Professor in Cultures, Languages and Linguistics at the University of Auckland - Chris Ogden, to discuss the validity of these claims, why Trump was making them and what military expansion during his presidency could hypothetically look like.
Last week, Statistics Minister Shane Reti announced plans to scrap the nationwide census moving forward. The census is the largest statistical survey done in Aotearoa, and provides the bulk of population data used in research and decision-making. Reti says the census is “no longer financially viable” and will be replaced with a combination of smaller annual surveys and administrative data.
While the change looks good on paper, there are concerns around how the change in data collection could affect representation of marginalised and minority groups. Census data tends to be more protected from bias than administrative data and smaller surveys, meaning there are more opportunities for misrepresentation. Some statisticians are particularly concerned about the potential exclusion of marginalised rural communities.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked him about the census decision and its implications on marginalised and minority groups.
Associate Health Minister, David Seymour, has recently announced changes to Psilocybin and Melatonin availability.
Psilocybin, the compound found in magic mushrooms, will be available for certain patients suffering from poor mental health outcomes. Melatonin, which is used for insomnia and jetlag, is set to be available over the counter.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about this move, and the potential accessibility concerns with accessing these medications.
They also discussed taxpayers set to be funding newly-funded cancer medicines for private facilities.
Finally, they discuss opposition parties criticised Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, over a lack of transparency regarding the effectiveness of boot camps for youth offenders, especially as boot camps have received a boost of $30 million, despite the pilot programme still being ongoing.
But first, they discussed Psilocybin and Melatonin.
Housing intensification is a key priority for Auckland Council as Auckland's population is forecast to reach 2.3 million by 2050.
But as planning for growth continues, some Auckland residents have expressed concern about the approval of developments in areas on flood plains or particularly prone to natural disasters.
With Kāinga Ora selling homes as ‘high risk investments’ in areas which were impacted by flooding in recent years, and 15 percent of all granted consents for new builds by Auckland Council being on floodplains, I spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about how the council is taking into account these issues for the coming years.
Last Saturday, over 2,000 protests took place across all 50 American States against President Donald Trump.
The protests coincided with Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the US Army, and they served as a direct response to the military parade in Washington, DC.
The organisers of the protests say they aimed to reject “authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarisation of our democracy.”
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Jeremy Pressman, Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut about the protests and the backlash towards them from the Trump administration.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently spoke to media saying that the government would announce reforms to the Holidays Act that would impact sick leave entitlements for part time workers.
Under the suggested changes, sick leave entitlements would be processed under an accrual system, meaning that part-time workers working half the hours of their full-time counterparts may only earn half of their previously entitled sick leave.
In that same week, a directive was recently given to Te Whatu Ora - Health NZ to give private hospitals 10-year outsourcing contracts to perform elective surgeries.
And earlier this week Associate Education David Seymour announced a review of the funding for early childhood education.
For our weekly Catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.
Last week, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced plans to double the tourism value by 2034, with increased funding to support the country in reaching this goal. The funding is primarily targeted at increasing the marketing of New Zealand tourism overseas, which has been met with mixed reactions from tourism operators in Aotearoa, many of whom have been struggling with existing tourist numbers.
Also this past week, the New Zealand government imposed sanctions on two Israeli ministers for ‘inciting extremist violence’ against Palestinians. While the move has received cross-party support, opposition parties such as the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have criticised the government for not taking further action against Israel.
In our weekly catchup with National's Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, beginning with the new tourism funding.
This week on Dear Science our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about characterising liquid carbon, a New Zealand led cleanup in Antarctica, and plants making their own pesticide.
The ACT Party has recently announced that candidates standing in local elections, if elected, will oppose attempts to mitigate emissions at a local level.
ACT Local Government spokesperson, Cameron Luxton, says council’s should “focus on what they can control,” and not “costly symbolic declarations”.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about this move.
We also discussed the government’s sanctions on Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
New Zealand has joined countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, and Norway, in banning Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over allegedly “inciting extremist violence" against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and “undermin[ing] peace” for a two-state solution.
Finally, we discussed changes being made to the proposed anti-stalking laws.
But first, we discussed ACT candidates opposing attempts to mitigate emissions at a local level.
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