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, thousands of explosions erupted in Lebanon, both the capital of Beirut and other parts of the country.
This was due to a coordinated attack caused by explosives that were planted in a number of pagers and walkie-talkie devices used by members of the Lebanese group Hezbollah, that Israeli Intelligence is confirmed to be responsible for.
The attack resulted in thousands of people being injured, many of whom were civilian bystanders, and 32 people being killed, with two of the casualties being children.
Oto spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, to discuss his reaction to the pager attack in Lebanon and how this could lead to a wider conflict in the Middle-East.
They also talked about New Zealand’s vote in favour for the UN resolution demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Unions say that the government's change to employment law restricting contractors from challenging their status in the employment court, is a step in the wrong direction.
The change comes off the back of the landmark decision by the employment court to grant four contract uber drivers the status of an employee. The government now wants to prevent this from happening again.
E Tū Union National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh says this change will lock in the exploitation which Uber’s current model relies on.
Producer Evie spoke to Mackintosh about why the government is implementing the changes and how it will negatively affect workers.
For their weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori, Oto spoke to Mariameno Kapa-Kingi about Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori last week, Gang patch legislation passing into law, and New Zealand supporting a UN resolution, calling for an end of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
He spoke to Nicole Wallace from the Tertiary Education Union to discuss a recent series of proposed cuts to short postgraduate courses at the University of Auckland.
And he spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa to discuss Israel’s exploding pager attack in Lebanon last week, as well as New Zealand voting in favour of the UN General assembly resolution demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
For their weekly catch up, Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about restricting contract workers from challenging their employment status, and the ban on gang patches passing into law.
She also spoke to E Tū National Secretary Rachel Mackintosh about the same planned changes to the contractor employment law, why the Union opposes these, and what negative impact she believes it will have.
Around mid-August this year, senior management at the University of Auckland made an announcement saying that they were looking to cut a number of small postgraduate and undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Arts with less than 60 and 30 students respectively.
The University said that the cuts were being proposed to “optimise” course offerings and address classroom spacing issues. They also said that the cuts came about as a result of a routine review of courses regularly conducted by the University.
The announcement resulted in widespread outcry and condemnation by the University of Auckland’s senior academics and lecturers, saying that the University gave them a limited timeframe to review and contest the changes, and the decision to cut courses such as Huarahi Māori will have an impact on marginalised communities.
Oto spoke to Nicole Wallace, an organiser at the Tertiary Education Union who works with lecturers at the University of Auckland to discuss the course cut proposal and its implications for senior academics and lecturers.
Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa have formally requested an amendment to the principal treaty of the International Criminal Court to add ecocide alongside genocide, war crimes, and aggression to the international community’s list of most serious crimes.
If successful, ecocide would become the fifth recognized international crime.
As one of the founding members of the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, Aotearoa New Zealand has and continues to advocate for the importance of the court’s role as a last resort to try the most serious crimes against humanity.
Sofia spoke to Professor of Law at the University of Waikato and former judge of the Supreme Court in Samoa, Leilani Tuala-Warren, about this proposal, what criminalising ecocide could look like, and how Aotearoa New Zealand should respond.
She began the interview asking her firstly what ecocide is.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour’s Ginny Anderson about retail crime in the CBD, banning gang patches, and the Minister for Firearms not ruling out bringing back high-powered semi-automatic firearms.
For States of the States this week they speak to Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso about the situation in Springfield, Ohio after several weeks of Republican-led anti-immigrant rhetoric and the second assassination attempt against former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump.
And they speak to University of Otago Senior Lecturer Leon Goldsmith about the device explosions in Lebanon that have killed at least twenty-six people and injured thousands more.
For City Counselling this week, Sofia speaks to Councillor Shane Henderson about Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposal for a second harbour bridge from Point Chevalier to the North Shore as well as Council spending over 250K on beach stairs on Milford Beach.
She also speaks to Professor of Law at the University of Waikato, Leilani Tuala-Warren, about a recent proposal by Vanuatu, Fiji and Samoa to recognise ecocide as a crime against humanity and whether Aotearoa should support the proposal.
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso on the anti-immigrant rhetoric from the Trump campaign towards immigrants in Springfield, Ohio as well as the apparent second assassination attempt against Donald Trump this campaign.
For our regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez-March about the government’s recently proposed changes to the Employment relations act, the Waitangi Tribunal’s findings regarding the marine and coastal area act and the release of a draft list of 35 minerals considered essential to New Zealand’s economy.
He spoke to Marama Muru-Lanning from the University of Auckland, to discuss the idea of establishing Maori-led hospitals.
And he spoke to Robert G. Patman from the University of Otago to discuss New Zealand’s ambiguous stance on the war in Gaza, and the steps we should take to clarify our position.
Sasha spoke to Associate Professor Mark Thomas of Molecular Medicine and Pathology from the University of Auckland about the emerging MPOX vaccine.
He also spoke to associate professor Laslzo Sajtos at the University of Business School about the recent implementation of facial recognition technology in Woolworths stores.
The New Zealand government has recently provisionally approved the Monkeypox, or MPOX vaccine in New Zealand. This comes after two new cases being linked to the Queenstown Winter Pride festival.
The overall risk of MPOX to New Zealand still remains low, despite the World Health Organisation Director-General declaring MPOX outbreak a public emergency of International Concern. Despite this, the virus may still prove deadly without proper vaccination or treatment.
Sasha spoke to Associate Professor Mark Thomas from the University of Auckland Molecular Medicine and Pathology about the recent adoption of an MPOX vaccine.
Facial Recognition Technology is an emergent biometric payment system that intends to simplify the process of paying for groceries, similar to Amazon’s ‘just walk out’ initiative a few years ago.
There are issues to this being actually adopted, mainly with fears of private security being violated in addition with information related to your face being stored within the company’s database. Additionally, with the rise of Artificial Intelligence Deepfakes, scammers could utilise this technology which is inherently linked to your face.
Sasha spoke to Associate Professor Laszlo Sajtos at the University of Auckland Business School about facial technology being at New Zealand’s doorstep.
This month, a number of council body reforms have come into effect in the Auckland Council, fulfilling Mayor Wayne Brown’s promise to address issues and implement community feedback into the council’s format.
The three new divisions in the Auckland Council to improve organisation include the Auckland Urban Development Office, the Property Department, and an Economic Development Office, each of which are intended to make decision making more effective and accessible to the public.
As well, with the persisting cold temperatures and rainy weather hitting Auckland this Winter, I wanted to discuss the topic of homelessness in Auckland’s city centre, and to what extent the council is working to support those rough sleeping in the CBD
Public hearings as part of phase two of the Royal Commission into COVID-19 took place in Auckland this week.
The second phase of the inquiry has a stronger focus on lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and the impact of the Covid-19 response on business and the economy.
And yesterday, an independent reference group set up by the Ministry of Environment shared their recommendations for climate adaptation legislation.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Arena Williams about both of these topics.
Recently, a study was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton which uncovered a shift in the circulation of the Southern Ocean.
The study showed that the shift would draw up more salt water from the deep ocean, subsequently accelerating the loss of ice in the Antarctic and leading to an increase of sea levels and global heating.
The week before, the government allowed the terrorist designation given to the far-right ‘Proud Boys’ group to expire, effectively decriminalising the act of funding or openly supporting the group here in Aotearoa.
And, just yesterday Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a number of changes to Family Boost which she said would help families with the cost of living.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.
The Southerner was a passenger express train in the South Island running between Christchurch and Invercargill from 1970 to 2002.
The train was eventually closed due a decline in passenger numbers and subsidies, although it was briefly revived in May this year for four days as part of a tourist experience.
Recently, a group of campaigners from Save our Trains launched a petition calling on the government to restore the Southerner train route as a more accessible form of travel for South Islanders.
Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with Dave Macpherson from Save Our Train - Southern, to discuss his petition and why the Southerner should be restored.
Hearings on the regulatory standards bill are currently underway, with around 23,000 total submissions both written and oral. Early analysis of the submissions estimated 88% percent are in opposition, while only 0.3% are in support.
The bill has been pushed by Minister for Regulation and ACT Party leader David Seymour, who says it should support the government to reduce regulation and ensure the protection of individual rights and private property. The bill has been criticised for not including clauses around Te Tiriti o Waitangi or environmental protections. It has also been criticised for potentially undemocratic elements, placing large amounts of control in the hands of the unelected Ministry for Regulation.
In our weekly catch-up with the National party, Wire host Castor asked Tom Rutherford about the regulatory standards bill in light of the select committee hearings and new criticisms.
Recently, the government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mayors of Auckland, Otago, and Western Bay of Plenty Councils over the government’s expectations of City and Regional Deals. These deals aim to tighten the partnership between central and local governments.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to MP Cameron Luxton about what to expect heading forward regarding the relationship between local, regional, and central government.
They also discussed last week's Youth Parliament.
Youth Parliament provides the opportunity for 143 rangatahi aged 16-to-24 as Youth MPs, representing MPs across the political spectrum, and Youth Press Gallery members, to understand the country’s political processes, understand how government works, and replicate the Parliamentary process.
Youth MPs had previously accused event organisers of ‘censoring’ their speeches. This follows the MPs being asked to remove elements of their speeches that were critical of government policies, such as the Treaty Principles Bill and pay equity.
However, The Ministry of Youth Development has come out saying the way they communicated their wishes with Youth MPs could have been clearer and more concise. The general manager of the Ministry, John Robertson, says reviewing speeches and suggesting changes was a part of the process, but these recommendations are not enforced.
They also spoke to Luxton about these accusations, and whether they are tantamount to censorship.
Finally, they discussed calls by over half of the Youth MPs represented in this year's Youth Parliament, from across the political spectrum, renewing calls for the voting age to be lowered, to allow 16-to-17-year-olds the right to vote.
5 ACT Youth MPs, including the Youth MP representing Cameron Luxton, Fletcher Brown, had signed a letter calling for the voting age to be reduced.
This follows the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that found the current voting age is unjustified age discrimination and goes against the Human Rights Act 1993.
They also discussed these renewed calls to lower the voting age.
As the youth parliament is set to take place this week, a number of youth MPs have spoken out claiming they have been asked to change or remove elements of their speeches which criticise certain political figures or current topics like environmental action, pay equity and the treaty principles bill.
Youth Organisation Gen Z Aotearoa founder Nate Wilbourne was asked to edit parts of his speech calling out Ministers Shane Jones, Tama Potaka and Penny Simmonds on their role in environmental destruction.
He said “When your voices are edited to remove criticism, when ministers are shielded from being named, when we're told that our lived experiences are too political, that is not neutrality – that is protection of the status quo.”
As well this week, on July 1st a number of changes came into effect including the government’s Kiwisaver contributions and eligibility, the rate in payments for sole parents and through ACC, Healthy Homes standards, and procedures for receiving the job seeker benefit.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Sara asked Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about both of these topics
Following Israel and the US’ large-scale attacks on Iran, and Israel’s continued war on Gaza, this has raised the question on the future of international order.
News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to the Executive Director of the Britain Palestine Project, Dr Brian Brivati, about this turning point in international order, and what we should expect heading forward.
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has suggested to the local government forum that regional councils may be abolished, stating that
"After the upcoming changes to the Resource Management Act, I doubt that there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist.“
Regional councils across Aotearoa are responsible for matters relating to natural resource management, flood control, and biosecurity.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said effectiveness between different councils is varied, and that councils generate too much bureaucracy and are “too focussed on vanity projects”.
As well, in order to make the most of local and central investment into Auckland’s growing city, the government is asking Auckland Council to increase the housing development allowance around key Central Rail Link stations in the lead up to the project’s completion.
Seeking to amend the resource management act, the government hopes to increase housing height and density around Mount Albert and Baldwin Avenue stations, allowing upzoning of ten stories around these areas, in addition to allowing upzoning of fifteen stories around Maungawhau, Morningside and Kingsland.
Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Julie Fairey about both of these topics, starting with the proposal to scrap regional councils.
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