Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Joel Armstrong, Sara Mckoy, 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.
Recently, NZ First has helped pass ACT’s Overseas Investment Bill through its first reading.
The amendment bill, if passed, will make it easier for multinational corporations to purchase land in the country, which has raised concerns over the environmental consequences of such as move.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Gen Toop — a senior campaigner at Greenpeace, on NZ First’s support of ACT’s Overseas Investment Bill, and Greenpeace’s concerns with the bill.
Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith, recently announced a proposal to the Electoral Act and Constitution Act, removing the ability for an individual to enrol on election day.
Alongside this comes the proposal of halting the ability to enrol during the advanced voting period.
This move has received backlash - including from within the government. This morning, Attorney-General, Judith Collins KC, says the move goes against the Bill of Rights Act.
During the 2023 general election, over 450,000 enrolled in the 12-day period, with 110,000 enrolling on election day.
A significant proportion of those later enrolments consist of young people, and in areas of bigger Māori, Pacific, and Asian communities.
In light of this move, ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, says those who have left voting to the last minute are “drop-kicks”. As well as this, the ACT Party’s justice spokesperson, Todd Stephenson, added to this, saying “Democracy works best when voters are informed, engaged, and take the process seriously,” and that “It’s outrageous that someone completely disengaged and lazy can rock up to the voting booth, get registered there and then, and then vote to tax other people’s money away.”
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.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to MP Simon Court about the scrapping of same-day election enrolments, as a part of the government’s changes to the Electoral Act, and ACT Party Leader, David Seymour’s comments that those who enrol late are “drop-kicks”.
Joel spoke to Gen Toop — a senior campaigner at Greenpeace, on NZ First’s support of ACT’s Overseas Investment Bill, and Greenpeace’s concerns with the bill.
Joel spoke to Calvin Cochran — a spokesperson for the Smokefree Expert Advisory Group, about a recent RNZ investigation alleging close connections between NZ First Party Leader, Winston Peters and multinational tobacco company, Philip Morris, and what needs to be done to combat tobacco industry lobbying.
And Joel spoke to Dr Saira Raza Khan — a Lecturer of Marketing at the University of Auckland, on the need to move away from ‘scare tactics’ in health advertising.
The United Kingdom is passing significant electoral reforms as part of an effort to “boost public trust in democracy.”
One of these reforms is to lower the voting age to 16 for all elections, aligning voting rights with Scotland and Wales which already have lowered their voting ages.
The reforms also include expanding acceptable voter IDs, a new automated system to register to vote, and a tightening of rules surrounding political donations.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Ralph Hall, advisor for the Electoral Reform Society, about these changes.
Earlier this week New Zealand Parliament voted to support a joint statement with 27 other countries calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
On Wednesday, Labour MP Camilla Belich’s members bill titled the “Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill” passed its second reading.
And 50,000 people have made withdrawals from their KiwiSaver for the reason of financial hardship this year.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden asked Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about the war on Gaza, Labour MP Camilla Belich’s pay secrecy bill, and the increase in KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals.
For International Desk, they spoke to Ralph Hall, advisor at the Electoral Reform Society in the United Kingdom, about the significant electoral reform in the UK.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the New Zealand Principal’s Federations’ Blair Dravitski, on the government stopping the construction of open-plan classrooms.
For this week’s City Counselling, Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about the liquidation of council chief of staff’s business, calls for stronger powers to respond to roaming dogs, and Auckland’s local alcohol policy.
Last week, Education Minister, Erica Stanford, announced that the construction of open-plan classrooms would be halted.
The National Party had previously petitioned for the classroom design in 2011, with the idea of pushing for flexibility in the way students were taught, and to accommodate a shift in how technology is used in educational spaces.
However, the classroom design has received a mixture of responses.
Some say the classroom design resulted in a noisy and distracting environment. Despite this, surveys by the Council for Educational Research showed that most teachers liked open-plan classrooms, adding that students benefitted from the classroom design.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Blair Dravitski about the government’s move regarding open-plan classrooms.
Dravitski is a spokesperson on the topic for the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, and Tumuaki/Principal of Te Uru Tarata | Lemonwood Grove School in Rolleston.
This week, Auckland council is facing scrutiny as Council chief executive Phil Wilson investigates the liquidation of a company owned by chief of staff, Jaswant Singh.
His property company which called in for liquidation in June, has no assets and owes sole creditor Inland Revenue just under $560 thousand dollars.
In other news, Auckland Council is reinvigorating calls for stronger powers and the dog control act, as community leaders report a crisis of abandoned and roaming dogs across Auckland.
Both the local council and community organisations like SPCA are urging the central government to take action and support on-the-ground efforts with legislative change.
As well, a recent survey has found that local alcohol policy changes enacted at the end of 2024 have had a positive impact in Auckland. But one community advocate believes the council should not be complacent about improving policies to make the community safer against the harms of alcohol.
Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Shane Henderson about all of these topics, starting with Singh’s company liquidation
Freshwater quality across Aotearoa has been in decline for some time, with almost 70% of monitored groundwater sites failing to meet drinking water standards for E. coli and almost half of the country’s rivers being unsuitable for recreational activities like swimming due to bacterial contamination.
Many concerns about the future of Aotearoa’s freshwater have been exacerbated by the government’s recent changes to Freshwater National Direction, with experts speculating that many of the proposed policy changes would favour commercial activity and lead to the further contamination and pollution of freshwater sources.
Oto spoke with Marnie Prickett - A research fellow at the department of public health at the University of Otago in Wellington and a member of the Public Health Association about a freshwater policy statement put out by the Public Health Association calling for urgent action to protect freshwater in Aotearoa and outlining freshwater protection as a critical public health priority.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the recently published inflation statistics, The Greens call to lower the voting age to 16 and The most recent unemployment statistics on beneficiaries.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke with Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab from Thyme for Action about a petition of hers calling for the Palmerston North City Council to adopt a ceasefire motion and ethical investment policy in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
And he spoke with Marnie Prickett from the University of Otago in Wellington and the Public Health Association about the Public Health Association’s freshwater policy statement.
News and Editorial Director Joel, spoke to Richard Jackson — a Professor in Peace Studies at the University of Otago, about the government’s potential overhaul of the Terrorism Suppression Act, and how this could potentially impact free speech and political participation.
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced that the government would be announcing its position on the recognition of a Palestinian state over the next month.
This announcement was made in the lead up to the UN general assembly in September, where world leaders such as the prime ministers of France and Australia promised to recognise a Palestinian state.
Also this week, Green party Wellington MPs Julie Anne Genter and Tamatha Paul recently launched a petition calling for Māori place names to be restored to Wellington electorates after the Rongotai electorate was recently renamed to the English name Wellington Bays.
And the latest Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll was recently released, which showed that Labour had overtaken National as the largest party, gaining 2 points to 33.6 percent, while National’ dropped 2.1 points to 31.8 percent.
For our weekly catchup with the Green party, Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March to get the party’s take on all of these issues
Last week, Treasury delivered the Long Term Insights Briefing entitled ‘Te Ara Mokopuna’ which examines the use of fiscal policy in New Zealand to respond to challenges and economic shocks.
The report used stakeholder feedback and consultation to underscore how the government can seek to promote “fiscal sustainability and improving wellbeing for future generations of New Zealanders”.
Of particular interest, the report highlights the effect of spending decisions made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As well, Transportation Minister Chris Bishop has announced the government’s plans to change up the road user charges system in what he says is the ‘biggest change to how we fund our roading network in 50 years’.
The changes are aimed at making charges fairer across road usage, reflecting the evolution in the types of cars now available.
Legislative work will be carried out in 2026, with changes expected to come into effect in 2027.
Last week, the government announced a proposal to replace NCEA with an alternative educational curriculum.
NCEA, which has been in place since 2002, has received mixed responses. In announcing the move, Education Minister, Erica Stanford, says that due to the flexibility of NCEA, this has “come at a cost” for young people to develop critical thinking skills and knowledge for future pathways.
The proposed changes include replacing NCEA level 1 with a foundational test, solely focusing on numeracy and literacy, replacing NCEA’s level 2 and 3 with two new qualifications, requiring students take five subjects, and having to pass at least four to obtain a certificate.
This move is not without its criticisms and concerns, however. For example, Many teachers have told RNZ that the changes, which are set to be phased in from next year, are too swift, with teachers saying they will need additional support during the transition process.
For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about potentially moving away from NCEA.
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.
“When Genocide Wasn’t News” is a recently released Canadian book that documents major Canadian news organisations' reporting on Gaza.
The book claims the media has “whitewashed Israeli violence, dehumanised Palestinians and smeared a growing protest movement.”
Gabriela Perdomo Páez, Assistant Professor of journalism at Mount Royal University, says journalists who support peace efforts can easily be accused of being “biased” in favour of those promoting peace.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Perdomo Páez about Canadian news coverage of Gaza.
Earlier this week the government announced they’d be replacing the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) with a new set of national secondary school qualifications.
Minister of Education Erica Stanford says the current NCEA system was failing to help students develop critical thinking skills and was difficult for parents to navigate as well.
In that same week, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the FBI would be opening a dedicated law enforcement attaché office in Wellington. Defence Minister Judith Collins and Police Minister Mark Mitchell said that the new office would strengthen our ties with the five eyes alliance, with Patel additionally saying the move would counter Chinese influence in the region.
And the Green party recently launched a petition calling on the government to reverse policies of theirs related to emergency housing access that the Greens say have led to an increase in homelessness across the country.
For our weekly catchup with the Green party, Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.
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.
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