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.
The government has announced an expansion of citizen arrest laws. These new laws would allow retailers to detain suspected shoplifters using “reasonable force.”
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Retail New Zealand Chief Executive Carolyn Young about the proposed law change and how it could put retail workers in danger.
Roughly 47,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the nation’s 20-year war from 2001 to 2021, despite international agreements to avoid ‘unnecessary’ civilian casualties.
In the recently released book: ‘Weaponizing Civilian Protection: Counterinsurgency and Collateral Damage in Afghanistan,’ the author, and Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland, Dr Thomas Gregory, investigates how the war played out in regards to these ethical affairs at stake.
Last week, Producer Sasha spoke to him about the findings in his book.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Active Investor Plus Visa, commonly known as the “golden visa”, has proposed changes by the government taking place from April 1st, which aim to "make it easier for foreign investors to invest in the country."
Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland’s Department of Management and International Business, Dr Brent Burmester, opposes the changes and says they “miss the mark.”
Producer Amani spoke with Dr Burmester to find out more on why he thinks this, and which suggestions he has in order to improve it.
An international report published last week by The Lancet Global Health Commission, co-authored by the University of Auckland, has revealed hundreds of thousands are dying each year through a lack of access to medical oxygen.
“Oxygen delayed is life denied,” said one survivor of Covid-19 in Kenya.
Associate Clinical and Medical Health Sciences Professor at the University of Auckland, Stephen Howie, one of the co-authors of the report, offered producer Amani his precious time away from the hospital for an interview, where he shared with us his personal experiences in overseas hospitals where he’s seen a lack of medical oxygen be the cause of many preventable deaths, and his thoughts on what needs to be done for this issue to be fixed.
For their weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Ricardo Menendez March about ongoing protests at lake Rotokākahi, Stats NZs recent child poverty report, and Marama Davidson’s Consumer Guarantees Right to Repair Amendment Bill.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Glenn Barclay, Chairperson of Tax Justice Aotearoa and the better taxes coalition, about a campaign of his calling for tax reform in Aotearoa.
Amani spoke to Associate Clinical and Medical Health Sciences Professor at the University of Auckland, Stephen Howie, about the current widespread suffering and death around the globe due to a lack of medical oxygen supply.
And she also spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management and International Business at the University of Auckland, Brent Burmester, on why he thinks the coalition government’s recently revised Active Investor Plus visa, in his words, “misses the mark.”
And, Last week, Producer Sasha spoke to the author of ‘Weaponizing Civilian Protection: Counterinsurgency and Collateral Damage in Afghanistan,’ and Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland, Dr Thomas Gregory, about the ‘unnecessary’ civilian casualties from the recent Afghanistan war.
For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about a new nuclear fusion record, plastic ice, and how aromatherapy may be linked to pollution.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about Destiny Church’s charity status and issues with the new school lunch program.
Producer Athena spoke to Dr Victor Dieriks from the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research, about his research team's recent breakthrough in understanding Multiple System Atrophy.
They also spoke to Academic Staff in the University of Auckland’s German program, Mareike Schmidt, about her perspective on Germany’s recent federal election results.
A team of researchers, led by Senior Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, Dr Victor Dieriks, have made a breakthrough in understanding the cause of the neurodegenerative disorder, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).
It was previously believed the effects of MSA were caused by oligodendrocyte cells, responsible for producing protective covers for nerve fibres. However, the study, conducted by the Universities of Auckland, and Sydney, has revealed the cause resides in the neurons themselves.
Producer Athena spoke to Dr Victor Dieriks about this breakthrough, the importance of research into MSA, and what the team hopes will develop from this discovery.
Germany’s federal elections took place on Sunday, and the preliminary results show right leaning parties dominated the election— with the Conservative Alliance claiming most seats in the federal Parliament, as well as the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party (AfD) winning 20.8% of the vote.
According to researchers in far-right extremism, from the University of Tübingen, writing for The Conversation— the AfD’s breakthrough in Germany’s 2017 federal election shattered the nation's stigma against far-right extremism.
Producer Athena spoke to Professional Teaching Fellow for German at the University of Auckland, Mareike Schmidt, about the rise of the AfD, and her perspective on the federal election results, as a German citizen living in New Zealand.
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.
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.
Despite a tenuous ceasefire, the fuel crisis - resulting from the US and Israel bombing of Iran, and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz - drags on. Prices have remained high, hitting low-income households hard, and while fuel stocks in or on-the-way to the country sit comfortably above a month’s cover, approaches to conserving fuel remain front-of-mind for many.
One strategy that New Zealanders have been urged to adopt is switching to public transport, which would put fewer cars on the road. However, access is often dependent on location and affordability.
Over the past few years, the Ministry of Education has reviewed numerous rural school bus routes, cancelling some, cutting off students from ready access to their education.
For this week’s Get Action, producer Theo spoke to Alicia Hall from Parents for Climate Aotearoa, on their petition to restore rural school bus routes and make public transport free for children, and students under 25.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here.
Last week, the Green Party leaders, Marama Davidson and Chloe Swarbrick, hosted their state of the planet address, where they launched their call to electrify the nation.
On top of that, events this week have led the party to criticise the government. The first critique, instigated by the floods that swept the nation, hitting the Coromandel and causing a state of emergency in the Wellington Region, led the Greens to question the government's decreased funding of flood responses as harsh weather increases.
The second critique came with a cabinet paper this week that shows the government is planning on moving ahead with reforms to legislation that will see references to the Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti o Waitangi redefined, in what the government sez is about ‘standardisation’ but what the Green Party sees as dishonouring Te Tiriti.
So for our weekly catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March, we discuss their criticisms of the government but start with a discussion of their electrification policy.
Last week, fuel stocks in the country went down by three or four days across each fuel type. The government recognised this as not enough to change to phase two in the national fuel plan, drawing some concerned comments from the political opposition around the state of our stocks, and when the government plans to actually move up phases.
Following a week that saw both Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon comment on the state of the Strait of Hormuz, and the way the United States has handled the ongoing conflict, Willis also travelled to the US to meet with White House advisors.
This week, Host Alex spoke with National MP Ryan Hamilton about these fuel crisis developments, and what the government’s approach going forward may look like.
To start our discussion, however, we spoke briefly about the confidence in Christopher Luxon’s Leadership.
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 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.
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.
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.
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