Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Joel Armstrong, Sara Mckoy, Max Micheel, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
The deadline for enrolling to vote in Local elections and nominations for candidates closed last week, with last minute pushes across the country to make sure as many seats as possible were being contested.
There were concerns from the Electoral Commission and Local Councils across the country that some seats might go uncontested or only have one person running.
Producer Sanat wanted to understand what the state of local democracy is in Auckland and whether the council is doing enough to make sure it is healthy and thriving.
Also in today’s discussion is a conversation about Regional Deals. Recently Auckland Council signed a memorandum of understanding with the government in order to begin “negotiating” a regional deal.
Producer Sanat wanted to understand what a regional deal is and what it can do for Auckland, especially as recent unemployment and homelessness figures suggest that our city has been hit hardest by the recent economic downturn.
He started off by asking Councillor Shane Henderson about the state of Auckland's Local Democracy.
Recently, AI-enabled CCTV cameras, number plate recognition systems and other smart technologies have been rolled out in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.While information about these technologies is limited, what is known is that they’re primarily being used to detect traffic violations at the moment, although ethical concerns have been raised about how this technology could be used in the future.
Oto spoke to Dr Mohsen Mohammadzadeh, A senior lecturer in the school of architecture and planning in the faculty of engineering and design at the university of Auckland about the rollout this new AI enabled surveillance technology in Auckland and it’s ethical implications.
As Israel’s war in Gaza nears its second full year since October 7th, 2023, multiple aid agencies and humanitarian groups have said that the prevalence of famine within the strip has gone beyond critical levels, with elderly Palestinians now succumbing to malnutrition-related deaths alongside the deaths amongst children that were reported earlier this year.
Israel, who have maintained a blockade on the Gaza strip since 2007, began significantly restricting the amount of aid entering the enclave following the beginning of the war. While spokespeople from the government have told the international community they were allowing adequate levels of aid to enter the strip during humanitarian pauses, humanitarian groups have said the volume of aid entering the strip was far below the level needed, and that reported attacks on both aid workers and Palestinians waiting for aid by IDF personnel weakened Israel’s claims of distributing aid effectively.
Oto spoke to Dr Ritesh Shah, a Senior Lecturer Critical Studies in Education at the University of Auckland to discuss why Israel has been facing international condemnation for its handling of aid distribution in Gaza.
If you'd like to attend the seminar that Ritesh will be speaking at tomorrow, you can find the details for it here on eventbrite:
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the government’s plan to replace the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, The FBI office opening in Wellington and The party's call to the government to reverse changes to emergency housing access.
He spoke with Ritesh Shah, a Senior Lecturer Critical Studies in Education, about why Israel is facing international condemnation for how it’s handled aid distribution in Gaza.
And he spoke to Dr Mohsen Mohammadzadeh, A senior lecturer in the school of architecture and planning in the faculty of engineering and design at the University of Auckland about the rollout of AI enabled surveillance technology in Auckland.
Max spoke to Stuart McNaughton, a professor from the University of Auckland, to talk about the government’s decision to scrap NCEA by 2030.
On Monday this week it was announced by the government that they are planning to drop NCEA from the national curriculum by 2030, as a part of a new education overhaul.
Although the full details of the new program haven’t been released, the government is planning to replace the NCEA qualification, which has been in place for more than 20 years, with a new national system weighted heavily towards exams. Associate Education Minister David Seymour described the change as more “challenging” for students, which from his perspective can “only be a positive thing”.
Following on from our previous conversation with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Producer Max spoke to Stuart McNaughton, a professor in the faculty of arts and education at the University of Auckland, to talk about the new education reforms.
On Thursday last week, the coalition government passed legislation to reverse the ban on oil and gas exploration — a ban which had been initiated by the previous government in 2018.
Minister Shane Jones who drove the reversal, highlighted the impact of the ban on economic growth and energy supply in New Zealand. Opposition parties have voiced concerns about the impact of this decision for New Zealand’s climate commitments.
As well, yesterday Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford announced an overhaul of the NCEA system, to be replaced with qualifications that they say will be better to understand, and more aligned with international standards.
Finally, as the United States places 15% tariffs on NZ exports, the Labour party have said the government needs to do more to strengthen our trade relationships to avoid a rise in the cost of living for kiwis.
Host Sara spoke with National MP Carl Bates about all these topics. Sara started by asking him to explain the government’s decision to reverse the ban on oil and gas exploration in New Zealand.
They may be “green homes,” but there’s plenty of grey areas. Academics such as the University of Auckland’s Dr. Michael Rehm believe that the humidity standards on these eco-friendly houses need to be reassessed.
Producer Faith spoke to Michael about these standards, and whether they’re effective.
For Dear Science this week, our expert, Dr Daniel Thomas on history, pre-history, and the search for Atlantis
For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Sara spoke to MP Carl Bates about the reversal of the oil and gas exploration ban, yesterday’s announcement of an NCEA overhaul and US tariffs.
Sara also spoke with Greenpeace executive director Russel Norman, about the oil and gas ban reversal in New Zealand, and the plans in the US to repeal the finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health.
Producer Faith spoke to Professor Treasa Dunworth from the University of Auckland about the government’s statement on Gaza.
Faith also spoke to the university’s Dr. Michael Rehm about the humidity standards in green homes, and what needs to change about the rating system.
The government has recently rejected all of the Climate Change Commission’s recommendations regarding strengthening the country’s methane targets recommendations.
The commission’s recommendations include strengthening the county’s 2050 methane emission targets, continuing lowering emissions after 2050, and that international shipping and aviation, which represents 9% of the county’s total emissions, should be included within targets.
Despite the commission saying that there would be upfront costs, many of the changes would result in cost savings over time, however, the government rejected this claim.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about the government rejecting these recommendations.
The Trump administration has caused issues of significant food waste due to a range of its policies, including immigration raids, tariffs, cuts to food assistance programmes, and the destruction of food for programmes like USAID.
This has had huge consequences, including environmental impacts, as well as impacts on the estimated more than 47 million people in the US who don’t have enough food to eat, and those who have relied on US foreign aid that has been cut.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, Provost Associate Professor in Environment, Development & Health at American University, about these issues.
Tāmaki Makaurau’s council budget is among those impacted by the proposal of a rates cap, considering Tāmaki’s average 5.8% annual rates increase across the 25/26 financial year.
Youth homelessness is a growing concern as discussions continue around “move on” orders for those without housing in Auckland’s CBD.
And the Skycity Convention Centre is set to open in 2026, with high hopes for what it may bring for Tāmaki Makaurau after its prolonged development.
Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Counsellor Fairey about these topics.
On Monday, the government announced that they’d be introducing a rates rises cap, which is expected to be legislated by the end of 2026. The cap would be a minimum of 2% and a maximum of 4% nationwide.
When talking about the reasoning for the introduction of a rates cap, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that ratepayers in New Zealand were “fed up”.
Along with this, The Labour Party announced that if they were to be elected in next year’s election, they would offer doctors and nurse-practitioners low-interest loans to set up new practices or buy into existing ones. In their policy, Chris Hipkins stated they would hand out up to 50 loans per year, which would be up to 90% of the cost of buying into a practice, capped at $500,000 dollars. They also specified they’d be prioritising areas that had no general practitioners or practices with closed or partially closed books.
And last week, the Government announced a proposed major shake-up of local council. Where Mayors of cities and district councils would take over the duties of regional councils.
For our Weekly Catchup with The Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez March about the Government’s regional council’s announcement and Labour’s low-interest loans for family GP practices.
But first, they discussed The National Party’s rates rises cap.
From today until the 4th of December, a conference will be held in Queenstown that will look into pest management and how best to protect native species.
The event not only brings experts in the sector from Aotearoa, but will also involve Australian experts as well.
Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke to Dr Sze-Wing Yiu, a Wildlife Ecologist at the Bioeconomy Science Institute, about this week’s conference, and what to expect.
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Recently, the government has announced some major reforms to how regional councils operate, with regional councillors proposed to be replaced by boards made up of city and regional mayors, and potentially even Crown-appointed representatives, called combined territories boards, or CTBs.
As well as this, Health Minister, Simeon Brown, has called for the decentralisation of Health New Zealand, with the expectation that the entity focuses on deliveries closer to the front-line, additionally expecting a plan to do so by the end of the year.
For our weekly catch up with the National Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to MP Stuart Smith about these topics, starting with the regional council.
The government has recently announced some major reforms to how regional councils operate, with regional councillors proposed to be replaced by boards made up of city and regional mayors, and potentially even Crown-appointed representatives, called combined territories boards, or CTBs.
The ‘shake-up’ of regional councils has left concerns that the move would water down environmental regulations at a local level, reduce Māori and iwi voices in decision making, and would result in central government overreaching into local politics.
As well as this, Parliament’s Justice Committee has recommended passing the Electoral Amendment Bill, albeit with some amendments
For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about both of these topics, starting with the changes to regional councils.
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