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.
On the show last week, in our weekly catch up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court we discussed comments he had made about period products.
Court came under fire in the media following a hearing on benefit sanctions. During this hearing a female submitter was outlining concerns about period poverty and the impacts menstrual products can have on a low-income family budget.
In response to these concerns Court asked if she was aware of, or had people around her aware of, a menstrual cup - outlining its cost and where to buy it. He was heavily criticised by Te Pati Maori, and later Labour for ‘mansplaining’, calling his comments ‘deeply offensive’ as he continued to double down.
During our interview last week he stood by his comments.
Period poverty action group, Dignity NZ says that Court’s comments were misplaced, and ignore a variety of issues that come with periods.
Producer Evie spoke to Dignity NZ interim CEO Taslim Parsons about period poverty in Aotearoa and how it needs to be addressed.
Concerns have been raised regarding Aotearoa’s tax model, regarding charities also operating as businesses.
Despite the current model requiring all profit obtained through a charity's business not be used for personal gain, this is a little bit of a grey area.
For example, any profit from weet-bix cereal products is tax exempt, due to Sanitarium Health Food Company being owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which results in the company having an advantage over their competitors.
However, with the 2025 Budget set to be released later this year, changes may be made to this system.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to a Senior Lecturer in the Accounting Department at AUT, Ranjana Gupta, about this tax model, and what she hopes will come out of the 2025 Budget regarding this.
They started off by asking her about what purpose a charity may have to run a business as well.
The Cook Islands and China have released the details of their recent partnership agreement.
The agreement has raised concern amongst the New Zealand government, who have close constitutional ties with the Cook Islands, as they felt they were not adequately consulted before the agreement was signed.
The controversial agreement, and New Zealand’s opposition to not being adequately consulted, have gained international attention.
For International Desk this week, Wire host Caeden spoke to AUT Law Senior Lecturer Sione Tekiteki about the agreement and the controversy surrounding it.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire host Caeden spoke to Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni about Destiny Church’s Pride Protests and the new tourism ad campaign.
For International Desk, they spoke to AUT Senior Law Lecturer Sione Tekiteki about the controversial Cook Islands/China agreement.
And they spoke to University of Auckland Commercial Law Professor Alex Sims about the Right of Repair Bill that passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday.
For City Counselling this week, producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about Auckland Council’s submission on the Treaty Principles Bill and the Destiny Church protests at pride events over the weekend.
A family-friendly Auckland Pride Event was stormed by about 50 protestors in Te Atutū on Saturday.
The event, involving a Drag King talking to children about the science of Rainbows, was invaded by members of Destiny’s Church. Later the same day Destiny’s Church intimidated attendees at Auckland’s Rainbow Parade.
And the government has launched a new tourism ad campaign with the tagline “Everyone Must Go!”
The tagline has had a mixed reception, however, it aims to boost Australian tourism numbers, which haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni, Wire host Caeden asks about both of these topics.
Kids have recently gone back to school, which means they will be “bombarded” with ads for junk food whilst commuting, according to researchers.
Senior research fellow at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa, Dr Kelly Garton, has published a comment on this in a recent Newsroom article and is advocating for Aotearoa’s local councils to eliminate junk food advertising from public transport spaces due to the impact they are having on young people.
Producer Amani spoke with Garton about what other major cities around the globe have done to tackle this issue and the further repercussions these ads could have on Aotearoa and its health system.
For their weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Ricardo Menendez March about the government’s recent tourism and biodiversity fund, as well as Destiny Church’s protests at recent pride events and the deportation notice given to 18-year-old Daman Kumar.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Vanessa Cole from public housing futures to discuss a campaign of hers calling for the government to construct more public housing for people on the “true waitlist”.
And he spoke to Carrie Leonetti - an associate professor in Law at the University of Auckland at the University of Auckland, to discuss the government’s new anti-stalking legislation, and why it falls short of protecting stalking victims.
Sasha spoke to Dr Chanelle Duley, a lecturer in Business at the University of Auckland, about the introduction of a new bill that will aim at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses.
Amani spoke to University of Auckland’s School of Population Health and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa, Dr. Kelly Garton, on why we should give kids a break from junk food ads.
She also spoke to Professor at Lincoln University’s Department of Soil & Physical Sciences and Co-Director of Bioprotection Aotearoa, Amanda Black, on how the use of pesticides is worsening the “biodiversity crisis.”
In December last year, the government introduced the stalking and harassment amendment bill, the first official legislation in Aotearoa to criminalise stalking.
Calls for an official stalking bill became widespread in Aotearoa, following the murder of 21-year old Farzana Yaqubi, who’s calls to the police leading up to her murder were effectively ignored as stalking was not yet a crime at the time.
However, Carrie Leonetti - an associate professor in Law at the University of Auckland who helped create the original draft legislation, said that the new stalking and harassment bill was too weak to actually protect victims of stalking and that the number of acts that constitute as stalking in the bill didn’t cover the full range of potential offenses.
Oto spoke to Carrie about why the new Stalking bill was ineffective and what was needed to improve it.
Last week a major study was published by Nature Communications which discovered that pesticides are causing significant harm to numerous species which they are not intended to harm.
The review examined over 1700 experimental studies, including a handful from Aotearoa. It found pesticides can reduce plant and animal growth, and affect animals' ability to find a mate or catch prey. However, the researchers note that cutting pesticide use could affect global food supply.
Producer Amani spoke with Professor at Lincoln University’s Department of Soil and Physical Sciences and Co-Director of Bioprotection Aotearoa, Amanda Black, on how this could have an impact on Aotearoa’s produce and economy, and what we can do to avoid harming non-target organisms whilst using pesticides.
Last week the Green Party’s Tamatha Paul made comments about police presence in Wellington, particularly how increased police activity made some feel unsafe. She also noted some discriminatory and harmful behaviour from police officers towards Wellington’s homeless population. These comments, presented at a panel hosted by the University of Canterbury’s Greens and Peace Action Ōtautahi, were Paul restating feedback she had received from her constituents in Wellington central.
The response to Tamatha Paul’s comments was extremely critical from all sides of the political spectrum, involving feedback such as “insane” from prime minister Christopher Luxon, “unwise” and “stupid” from Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and “just weird” from ACT leader David Seymour. The comments and their responses lead to a series of articles across all major New Zealand news networks.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the substance of Tamatha Paul’s comments and whether the seemingly disproportionate reaction is appropriate.
This week on Dear Science our expert Dr. Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about various April Fools pranks in the world of science, including the 'Sheep Albedo Hypothesis' from here in Aotearoa.
Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!
On Sunday, Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, announced plans to combat the supermarket duopoly between Foodstuffs and Woolworths. This could include breaking-up or restructuring the current chains, with Cabinet also announcing a formal request for information, or RFI, into the matter.
For our weekly catch up, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp about this announcement, and whether she, and the party, thinks this will be enough to address food accessibility in Aotearoa.
We also discussed the comments made by Green MP, Tamatha Paul, about the police, and whether she believes these comments have become sensationalised.
Finally, we discussed the party’s calls for mandatory police body cameras.
But first, they started off by asking Kemp about how the party are feeling about Nicola Willis’ most recent announcements into the supermarket duopoly.
Last week, the government announced its plans for reforming the Resource Management Act, or the RMA, introducing two acts to replace the current RMA. The plan is to bring the two acts before the select committee next year, passing them just before the next election.
For our weekly catch up News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about this reform, working with the opposition, and the lack of a Treaty clause.
We also talked about concerns that the health and police system in Aotearoa are failing, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police and being administered antipsychotic drugs.
Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a Signal group chat with top United States security officials who were discussing military plans for strikes on Yemen.
The group chat discussed operational details, and officials, including the Vice President JD Vance, seemed unaware of Goldberg’s presence.
Jeffrey Goldberg initially left out some of these sensitive details in his article on the group chat but has released more specific information after the Trump administration downplayed the situation and said no classified information was shared.
For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about this issue.
Public submissions regarding Auckland Council’s annual plan from 2025/2026 are set to close tomorrow at 11:59pm, with the plan set to take place from the 1st of July.
These submissions give the public the opportunity to provide feedback on proposals from the coming year.
News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about this, and the council’s ‘bed tax’.
They also spoke about the recent discussions regarding ensuring fair and equal representation in the upcoming 2025 local election.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave a “State of the Nation” speech last weekend where he strongly criticised Labour and announced his party was declaring a “war on woke.”
The government has announced a new replacement for the Resource Management Act, looking to pass it before the next election.
And Labour Foreign Affairs spokesperson David Parker has criticised the government for not condemning Israel in the context of recent military action and the blocking of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these topics.
Ever wondered what it would be like to bike in an Art Gallery? Well now you can, for the city is your gallery. In collaboration with EcoFest 2025 and various New Zealand artists, Bike Hubs have set up a Street Art Bike Challenge. Now, anyone can ride around the city, discover amazing works of art and win great prizes.
This week, Green Desk Producer Liam speaks to Brent Bielby, manager of EcoMatters’ Bike Hubs, a community project aimed at encouraging more people to take up cycling. He explains the goal behind the challenge, as well as how cycling can contribute to a healthy lifestyle and provide a source of freedom and fun.
You can take part in this challenge yourself. All you need to do is take out your bike, pedal over to the artworks, and upload a photo of you and your bike. The challenge will run until the 22nd of April, and you can find a map of all the locations and trails on the EcoMatters website.
A petition was launched by Te Taiao o Kawhia Moana, a group dedicated to the protection and conservation of the Kāwhia harbour, calling on the Ōtorohanga District Council to remove vehicle access from vulnerable areas of the inner harbour and to Support the development of new alternative access infrastructure.
The group says that local taonga species and ecosystems are being put at risk by current vehicle access and that The proposed Ocean Beach access way would provide a sustainable alternative that balances community access needs with environmental protection.
For this week’s Gert Action! Oto spoke to John Forbes, founding Chair of Te Taiao o Kāwhia Moana, to discuss the petition and the importance of protecting the harbour.
If you're interested in signing this petition, you can find it here:
Just two days ago, the government announced a complete overhaul of the Resource Management Act.
The RMA as it is would be dismantled and then split into two acts; a planning act regulating the use and development of land, and a Natural Environment Act focusing on the use and protection of land, air, water and other natural resources.
Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court said that the reforms were intended to streamline development more efficiently while also protecting the environment.
The week before, the Greens issued a call for the compassionate release of 77-year old inmate Dean Wickliffe, who is currently on a hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility after being arrested for being made houseless in violation of his probation conditions.
And Green Party Co-Leader Chloe Swarbrick made a renewed call to the government calling on them to support a members bill of hers that would sanction Israel for their occupation of the Palestinian territories.
For their weekly catchup, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March for the party’s take on all of these issues.
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