Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news & current affairs show, The Wire. Your hosts Jessica Hopkins, Jemima Huston, Frances Wright, Zazi Hewlett, Justin Wong and Noah Ferguson-Dudding focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere, in independent-thinking bFM style. Weekdays 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Since the current Level 4 Lockdown began this time last week, supermarket workers around the country have been under pressure from a continual stream of customers and high stock demands.
This morning, Frances spoke with Tali Williams, Secretary for Retail, Finance and Commerce at FIRST Union, the Union that represents many of the country’s supermarket workers.
They spoke about the pressure supermarket workers are under and the Union’s push for Living Wage for essential workers. Frances began by asking what life is like for supermarket workers at the moment.
This week on Dear Science, Frances was joined by AUT professor Marcus Jones where they talked about the effectiveness of COVID vaccines against Delta, massive volcanoes cooling the earth, and the genetic pattern which offers clues to the evolution of homosexuality.
COVID-19 has turned everyone’s lives upside down. Whether that be working from home, having to update safety measures at essential working places or waiting in line to get a test or vaccination, everyone has had to adapt. As Frances focussed on the Impact of the Lockdown on Supermarket Workers, today Zazi focussed on the impact COVID-19 has on nurses and health care workers.
First off, Zazi speaks with Kerri Nuku from New Zealand Nurses Organisations (NZNO). She begins by asking Kerri Nuku if, since the resurgence of COVID-19, there has been added strain on health care workers.
Zazi then speaks with a senior nurse who is currently working through New Zealand's Level 4 Lockdown, on their thoughts regarding COVID-19 and the current health care working conditions.
This week on the Wednesday Wire, Zazi Hewlett and Frances Wright are once again working remotely from home as the country remains in Level 4 Lockdown, with Jemima hosting the show and bringing us the news.
The show kicks off with Frances speaking to Tali Willliams, who is the Secretary for Retail, Finance and Commerce at FIRST Union, discussing the impact that the New Zealand lockdown has had on supermarket workers.
Frances also has her regular segment Dear Science with Marcus Jones. They discuss the waning effectiveness of COVID vaccines against the Delta variant; talk about massive volcanoes which could cool earth; and then last but not least talk about a genetic pattern thay offers clues about the evolution of homosexuality.
Zazi then speaks to Kerri Nuku from the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO), as well as a Senior Nurse who is working through the Level 4 Lockdown, about nurses and other health care workers working in the renewed COVID-19 climate. They discuss safety measures, understaffing and what the public can do to show their support to all health care workers.
Finally Zazi has her regular catch-up with ACT's Brooke van Velden, this week talking about the Parliament sittings being suspended for the week as well as an update on Brooke’s opinion regarding Level 4 Lockdown.
Today on the Wire, Jemima Huston speaks to Matthew Jenkins, a Research Fellow in Psychological Medicine from the University of Otago, about how the extension of Alert Level 4 yesterday could impact the mental health of New Zealanders.
Natasha Gallardo, the Chief Executive from the National Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, talks to Jemima about the lack of support the government has given her community throughout the pandemic.
With International Overdose Awareness Day coming up, Joe Wickins interviews Liesje Donkin, a clinical psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Neuroscience from AUT, on addiction, overdose awareness, and mental health.
Jemima talks to Dr Andrew Chen, Research Fellow for Koi Tū – Centre for Informed Futures at University of Auckland, about the government’s latest mandate for compulsory record keeping at large businesses and events at any alert level.
Finally, Jemima wraps it up with a piece about how you can support the elderly people in your life during lockdown. She speaks to Age Concern Auckland’s CEO Kevin Lamb and Otago University Geriatrician Dr Hamish Jamieson about this.
Yesterday, the Government announced that most of the country will stay at Alert Level 4 until Friday 27 August, while Auckland will continue in Alert Level 4 until next Tuesday 31 August. News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston talks to Matthew Jenkins, a Research Fellow at the University of Otago in Wellington in the Department of Psychological Medicine, about how the lockdown being extended might be impacting mental health. They discuss how people can support themselves and feel better during these uncertain times.
On August 14 2021, News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston spoke to Natasha Gallardo, the Chief Executive of the National Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, about what the government could do to better support those with hearing loss in lockdown. The Foundation called for closed captions to be used more widely, clear masks to be implemented, and for businesses to resource their staff with ways to communicate with the hearing loss community. However, a year later, Natasha says these calls have not been answered by the government.
Today Jemima speaks to Natasha again about how the deaf and hard of hearing community is being impacted by the latest lockdown and how you can support those who struggle with hearing loss through this lockdown period and always.
If you are an essential business owner or someone who wants to learn more about how they can better communicate with those with hearing loss, you can head to the Resources tab on National Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing website.
On Sunday, the government announced that record keeping for busy businesses and large events will be mandatory at all alert levels. News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston talks to Dr Andrew Chen, Research Fellow for Koi Tū – Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland,about the mandate and some of the technical concerns around it such as supermarkets not being included and digital exclusion.
Lockdown is a particularly difficult time for the elderly community. It can be very lonely for people and it becomes even harder to access the services like the supermarket, the pharmacy or the doctor.
News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston wanted to find out how we can support the older people in our lives and make sure that everyone gets through lockdown as best they can. She interviewed Kevin Lamb, the CEO of Age Concern Auckland, and Dr Hamish Jamieson, a Geriatrician with the University of Otago, for them to provide some advice on this. They discuss how lockdown has impacted older people in the past, whether the vaccine roll out has alleviated anxieties around Covid-19 and how people can support elderly people.
If you need support during lockdown or want to help out, you can head to www.ageconcernauckland.org.nz or call Age Concern Auckland on 09 820 0184 or 09 489 4975.
If you want help from the Student Volunteer Army with grocery delivery, head to shop.sva.org.nz or call 09 801 2122 if you’re in Auckland. If you want to volunteer you can download the Student Volunteer Army App on your phone or contact help@sva.org.nz.
With Overdose Awareness Day being next Tuesday, August 31st, Joe takes a look at the problems surrounding addiction and mental health during the current COVID-19 pandemic. He speaks to Liesje Donkin, a clinical psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Neuroscience from AUT, on addiction, Overdose awareness, and how the situation with mental health in New Zealand is impacted.
Noah Ferguson-Dudding caught up with National MP Christopher Luxon for their weekly chat. They discussed what Luxon would like to see the government to do around their recent Three Waters proposal. They also touched on a recent poll which has put National at 21.3%, and the controversy around Judith Collins' criticism of Siouxsie Wiles.
Today, Pippa and Ilena talked about how Auckland Council will be helping local businesses move down through alert levels- in particular, how the Council can help the hospitality industry with licensing requirements so that they can do trading on the footpaths and allow more space between customers.
They also talked about Vision Zero, an ethics-based transport safety approach that was developed in Sweden and is now being implemented in Auckland. The vision states that there will be no deaths or serious injuries on our roads by 2050. Ilena asked Pippa about how realistic this goal is, what concrete steps have already been taken to make our roads safer and what future plans are in place.
Justin spoke to Health Minister Andrew Little about New Zealand's Covid-19 strategy post lockdown and the vaccine bus to boost vaccination rates in Auckland.
Justin talks about the Canadian federal election with Professor Daniel Béland of McGill University. The election will take place on September 20 after Prime Minister and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau called a snap election in August.
Justin talked to Victoria University's Professor Robert Ayson on the new Ausuk defence pact between Australia, the US, and the UK. Part of the pact would see Australia acquire its first nuclear-powered submarines to replace its aging fleet with the US and UK sharing technology.
On this week's Dear Science, Frances Wright was joined by AUT Professor Allan Blackman. They began by talking about the serious but hilarious Ig Nobel Prizes and then moved onto research on toilet training cows from the University of Auckland. They finished up by talking about the food scientists who have found the key to perfectly smooth chocolate.
This week Zazi spoke to Brooke about the Māori Party's petition to to change New Zealand's official name to Aotearoa as well as John Tamihere's comments in a Newshub interview yesterday.
Zazi asks Brooke about the Māori Party's petition - whether she supports it, thinks it’s important, or believes official titles don't make much of a difference.
In the second half, Zazi and Brooke talk about comments made by Māori Party's John Tamihere, saying that ACT members contacted him, appalled and apologetic of Seymour’s Māori priority vaccine tweet, posted last week.
The Māori Party's co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also spoke with Zazi about the Aotearoa petition in today's Wednesday Wire show. If you would like to listen to that interview as well, click the link here.
In another week of level four lockdown, Isla and Stella look into how intermittent isolation could be affecting young kiwis. They chat with Maria Corkin from the University of Auckland about her research on 'technoference' and its influence on child development, executive functioning in kids, and the differences in outcomes depending on input.
Noah Ferguson-Dudding caught up with National MP Christopher Luxon for their weekly chat. They discussed the government's potential plans for booster vaccines against Covid-19, Auckland's ongoing Level 4 lockdown, and the National Party's identity given the current strength of the government.
This week, Ilena spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson about what he calls the ‘week from hell’ for West Auckland. The week started with extensive flooding and ended with a terror attack at the LynnMall Countdown, all while the region was in level 4 lockdown. He gives some updates on where flooding emergency and support efforts are at now, and how West Aucklanders are coping.
On another note, Ilena and Shane also talked about bin tags and how a proposal to streamline Auckland’s rubbish service might look like.
95bFM 
