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.
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.
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.
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.
Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, and Producer Evie, in studio to discuss kiwis moving overseas to work!
Recent Stats NZ findings have shown that there is likely an additional 36,300 children living in material hardship, compared to 2022.
In 2018, the Child Poverty Reduction Act passed, which received cross-party support, helped in creating a downward trend in these statistics. However, these Stats NZ findings show that there has not been any substantial changes to the nine poverty measures from June 2022 to June 2024.
Overall in Aotearoa, an estimated 156,600 children are living within these conditions, which is roughly 1/7th of the population.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Executive Officer for Child Poverty Action Group, Sarita Divis, about what has caused this increase, and what the government should be doing to tackle these concerning findings.
Firstly, they started off by asking her about what reasons there might be for this upward trend in recent years.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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