Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Castor Chacko, Alex Fox, Emmanuel Orange, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Through a mixture of seasonal migration, deportations and cost of living pressures, Pacific Island nations are facing an unprecedented influx of meth into their communities.
Producer Sanat spoke to Sir Colin Tukuitonga, Associate Dean Pacific and Professor of Public Health at the University of Auckland about this crisis in health.
He says that “Meth poses a dire health threat in the Pacific. It’s extremely addictive, devastates people’s mental health, and is driving the spread of HIV in Fiji at an alarming rate, through needle and blood sharing. “
According to Sir Colin more needs to be done by international health organisations and law enforcement to help fund better rehabilitation services and stop the inflow of meth into Pacific Island nations.
On Monday, Auckland Council staff were sighted taking belongings such as tents and sleeping bags from rough sleepers at the Grafton United Cricket Club ground.
This is happening at a time where the amount of rough sleepers on Auckland’s streets has increased 90 percent since last September and 15 percent of those leaving emergency housing are going straight to homelessness.
On Tuesday, Auckland Council’s Community Committee received updates on the state of homelessness in the city and discussed what the Council’s response will be.
For City Counselling this week Producer Sanat spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about the worsening homelessness in the city.
Sanat started by asking about the incident on Monday and whether Auckland Council is doing enough to respond to homelessness.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni on the spike in homelessness in Auckland, yesterday’s nurses strike, and the end to same-day voter enrollment.
For City Counselling this week, Producer Sanat spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about reports earlier this week of Auckland Council staff taking tents and sleeping bags from rough sleepers in the CBD and more broadly what Auckland Council’s response to homelessness looks like.
For International Desk, Joel spoke to Justin Sobion, Senior Tutor in Law at the University of Auckland and counsel for Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’, on the recent International Court of Justice ruling on states' climate change obligations.
And Sanat spoke to Associate Dean Pacific of the University of Auckland Sir Colin Tukuitonga about the growing drug crisis in the Pacific.
The International Court of Justice has issued an advisory opinion that nations can be held legally accountable for greenhouse-gas emissions.
The Court found that those who are harmed by human-caused climate change could be entitled to reparations.
The case was spearheaded by Pacific island students and the government of Vanuatu, and then backed by 105 sponsor countries.
For International Desk, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Justin Sobion, a University of Auckland Senior Tutor in Law who also acted as counsel for Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to outreach providers, Auckland has had a 90% increase in homelessness since September last year.
Auckland Council’s Community Committee Chair Angela Dalton says government policy changes have “made it harder for people to access emergency housing.”
The committee has called for the government to work with frontline agencies to address the issue.
Yesterday, nearly 36,000 nurses, midwives, and healthcare workers went on strike for 24 hours.
This followed the breakdown of mediation talks between the nurses' union and Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.
The union says they are striking because of the ‘dire’ staffing situation.
And the government has announced a series of electoral law changes, including the end to same-day voter enrollment.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these issues.
They started by asking about the increase in homelessness in Auckland.
The Israeli founded and based company SodaStream is the most popular sparkling water maker in New Zealand, supplying sparkling water machines to over 400,000 households in Aotearoa, with around 30% of families using one to make beverages at home.
The company has also had involvement in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, previously having a factory in the Ma'ale Adumim settlement in the internationally recognised Palestinian west bank.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke with Brandon Johnstone, a BDS coordinator at Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about a petition calling on retailers and stockists to swap out SodaStream for more ethical alternatives.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
About 70,000 people are currently affected by dementia in New Zealand. Because of this, the healthcare cost of the neurological condition is around $274 million per year and is expected to double by 2050. But what if we could predict who was most at risk, years before obvious symptoms appear?
At the moment, health professionals can struggle to assess whether a person is likely to get dementia, based on reports of their memory loss and ability to function from patients and families. As a result, a $4 million project, which includes a team of experts from the University of Auckland and Singapore, has begun to create an AI tool that can identify a person’s dementia risk.
To talk about how this new AI tool would work, as well as how it might impact the future of prevention and treatment of the neurological condition, Producer Max to Dr Catherine Morgan, a senior research fellow from the University of Auckland.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the government’s move to scrap same-day election enrolments, the Climate Change Commission’s recent annual monitoring report on emissions reductions and the Greens petition to reinstate passenger rail services across the country.
And for this week’s Get Action! He spoke with Brandon Johnstone, a BDS coordinator at Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about a petition calling on retailers and stockists to swap out SodaStream for more ethical alternatives.
Max spoke with Dr Catherine Morgan from the University of Auckland, to talk about the new project to develop an AI tool that can predict dementia risk.
Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Sadie Mills the invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand about a study looking into deep sea species in Aotearoa’s waters
Last week, the government announced that they’d be scrapping same-day election enrolments, alongside a number of other changes to electoral laws.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said that current electoral laws were “placing too much strain on the system” and increased the time needed for the vote count.
Earlier this week, the Climate Change Commission released its annual monitoring report on emissions reductions, which showed that Aotearoa New Zealand was on track to meeting its first emissions budget for the period of 2022-2025, but not towards meeting future budgets around the 2050 period.
And the Greens recently launched a petition calling on Rail Minister Winston Peters to reinstate passenger rail services 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.
Recently, a study was published by Australia’s Museums Victoria Research Institute, examining deep sea ecosystems around Aotearoa’s waters.
The study mapped the global distribution of brittle stars, which are closely related to starfish, the links between deep-sea ecosystems from Iceland to Tasmania and the impacts of climate change and deep sea mining on said ecosystems.
95bFM Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Sadie Mills, invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand, to discuss what this research means for understanding biodiversity beneath the waves especially within the context of climate change and deep-sea mining
Earlier this week, Councillor Julie Fairey moved a resolution to investigate Auckland Council’s involvement with companies that are complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
And this week, Auckland Council launched an AI virtual assistant to report issues such as graffiti, roaming dogs, and noise complaints.
For City Counselling, Wire Host Caeden spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown announced the signing of a new ‘City Deal’.
The deal will see closer partnership between the central government and Auckland Council, coordinating planning in areas such as infrastructure and transportation.
The deal will see a long-term partnership between the government and council, with regular meetings and cooperation on strategies for innovation and transportation, with reviews of sporting venues such as Eden Park and the Auckland Tennis Centre.
However, the deal has been critiqued by some as being a collection of promises without any new funding.
So for our weekly catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March, he and producer Theo discussed the signing of the Auckland City Deal, and how the Green Party would work with Auckland Council on issues such as transportation and infrastructure.
Last week, the Government and Auckland Council agreed on the ‘Auckland City Deal’, which seeks to enhance co-ordination between the two bodies to enable better investment in the city to get the most out of what Mayor Wayne Brown has called the ‘Engine’ of the economy. This will see better communication between the mayor and prime minister, co-operation on certain legislation, and funding.
The weekend also saw Cyclone Vaianu hit the country, with parts of the country facing damage and flooding. The government now has the job of responding to the damage, and deciding what needs to change, looking forward to future cyclones.
This week, Host Alex spoke with National Party MP Ryan Hamilton about each of these topics.
Last week, the Ministry for the Environment together with Stats New Zealand released Our Freshwater 2026, a major report on the state of Aotearoa’s freshwater systems based on decades of data. The report highlights both long-term improvement and deterioration of waterways nationwide, with particular focus on groundwater sources and the impacts of agricultural land use and the climate crisis on water quality.
I spoke to Troy Baisden, co-president of the New Zealand Association of Scientists and Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, about what the findings of this report mean and also about the strengths and limitations of freshwater reporting.
Over the past week, the conflict in Iran has seen consistent U-turns as the United States continues to change its strategy in the war. On Wednesday morning, US President Donald Trump threatened Iran, saying "a civilisation will die tonight", just hours before agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran.
This ceasefire is now in doubt, however, as Israel has escalated its bombing campaign in Lebanon, killing hundreds since it was signed, and Trump announced this morning that the US will block the Strait of Hormuz after failed peace talks with Iran in Pakistan.
Amidst all of this, New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the day of Trump's threats and wouldn't condemn the comments. Some New Zealanders are concerned by the country's limp response to these illegal threats and actions against Iran.
Also this month, the Act Party has continued to call for the abolition of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, after it was announced that a complaint about online site The Platform and its host, Sean Plunkett, would be looked at by the authority.
For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party's Simon Court, producer Thomas asked him about the ceasefire in Iran, the US blocking the Strait of Hormuz and the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Over the past few weeks, the government has been hesitant to call out the US and Israel for their role in the recent conflict in Iran. While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has called for all parties to comply with international law, he refrained from explicitly addressing either aggressor. Only in the past week has Luxon offered any criticism, calling Trump’s Iran policy “unhelpful” and Finance Minister Nicola Willis “alarmed” at Trump’s comments around destruction of civilisation in Iran. Labour has criticised the government for its lack of a hard stance.
Also this past week has seen funding for the Tukituki water security project secured, which could see flooding for significant amounts of conservation land in the Hawke’s Bay. The project could also see acceleration under the Fast Track Approvals bill, which Labour has also criticised since its inception.
Lastly, Auckland Council has repeatedly called for additional support for public transport amidst the fuel crisis. Despite these calls, the government has yet to deliver.
To discuss each of these topics and what the Labour party could bring to the table, News Director Castor spoke to Labour MP Shanan Halbert.
A record number of Aucklanders are using public transport amidst rising fuel costs. The average number of users is up 10% from the same time last year.
And yesterday, Watercare lifted its boil water notice for the suburbs of Hillsborough, Mt Roskill, Royal Oak, and Three Kings after 2 days under the notice.
The notice was due to a detection of bacteria on Monday, which a Watercare investigation found was caused by a single water quality monitoring tap.
For City Counselling this week, The Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about these topics.
This morning, with negotiations continuing to stall and his own deadline for ending the war approaching, US President Donald Trump threatened civilisational destruction on Iran if they did not concede to the US demands. Whether a sincere threat or an act of brinkmanship may remain unclear, as just before Trump’s deadline, Trump claimed a two week ceasefire had been agreed to.
Last week, the Green Party released their housing policy - a home for everyone. It takes a welfare-based approach, pitching rent controls, reversing tax breaks on the bright line test, and a public housing building program.
For our weekly catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March, Wire host Manny asked about the gravity of Trump's threats on Iran, but began with the Greens' housing platform.
Cabbage, mull, buds, dak, smoke, skunk, hash, chronic, grass, pot, cannabis. It’s the fourth most used recreational drug in New Zealand, coming in behind caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. Back in 2020, alongside the general election, voters were asked in a non-binding referendum whether they supported a proposed cannabis legalisation and control bill. The result was a vote opposing the legalisation of cannabis by a thin margin.
Currently, medicinal cannabis is available via prescription, but cannabis otherwise remains illegal to use, distribute, or produce.
For this week’s Get Action, producer Theo spoke to Patrick and Colden from the Reeferendum 2026 campaign, on their petition to legalise cannabis and reform drug laws and policing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here.
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