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Auckland Homelessness Spike, Nurses Strike, and the End to Same Day Enrollments w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 31 July, 2025

 Auckland Homelessness Spike, Nurses Strike, and the End to Same Day Enrollments w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 31 July, 2025 Auckland Homelessness Spike, Nurses Strike, and the End to Same Day Enrollments w/ Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni: 31 July, 2025, 16.28 MB
Thu 31 Jul 2025

According to outreach providers, Auckland has had a 90% increase in homelessness since September last year.

Auckland Council’s Community Committee Chair Angela Dalton says government policy changes have “made it harder for people to access emergency housing.”

The committee has called for the government to work with frontline agencies to address the issue.

Yesterday, nearly 36,000 nurses, midwives, and healthcare workers went on strike for 24 hours.

This followed the breakdown of mediation talks between the nurses' union and Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand.

The union says they are striking because of the ‘dire’ staffing situation.

And the government has announced a series of electoral law changes, including the end to same-day voter enrollment. 

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about all of these issues.

They started by asking about the increase in homelessness in Auckland.

International Desk: The Historical International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change w/ Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Counsel Justin Sobion: 31 July, 2025

 International Desk: The Historical International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change w/ Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Counsel Justin Sobion: 31 July, 2025 International Desk: The Historical International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change w/ Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Counsel Justin Sobion: 31 July, 2025, 15.41 MB
Thu 31 Jul 2025

The International Court of Justice has issued an advisory opinion that nations can be held legally accountable for greenhouse-gas emissions. 

The Court found that those who are harmed by human-caused climate change could be entitled to reparations.

The case was spearheaded by Pacific island students and the government of Vanuatu, and then backed by 105 sponsor countries.

For International Desk, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Justin Sobion, a University of Auckland Senior Tutor in Law who also acted as counsel for Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Here is that interview.

Auckland Council’s response to homelessness w/ Councillor Julie Fairey: 31 July Fairey

 Auckland Council’s response to homelessness w/ Councillor Julie Fairey: 31 July Fairey Auckland Council’s response to homelessness w/ Councillor Julie Fairey: 31 July Fairey, 17.16 MB
Thu 31 Jul 2025

On Monday, Auckland Council staff were sighted taking belongings such as tents and sleeping bags from rough sleepers at the Grafton United Cricket Club ground. 

This is happening at a time where the amount of rough sleepers on Auckland’s streets has increased 90 percent since last September and 15 percent of those leaving emergency housing are going straight to homelessness. 

On Tuesday, Auckland Council’s Community Committee received updates on the state of homelessness in the city and discussed what the Council’s response will be. 

For City Counselling this week Producer Sanat spoke to Councillor Julie Fairey about the worsening homelessness in the city. 

Sanat started by asking about the incident on Monday and whether Auckland Council is doing enough to respond to homelessness.

Get Action! Swap Out SodaStream w/ BDS Co-ordinator at PSNA Brandon Johnstone: 30 July, 2025

 Get Action! Swap Out SodaStream w/ BDS Co-ordinator at PSNA Brandon Johnstone: 30 July, 2025 Get Action! Swap Out SodaStream w/ BDS Co-ordinator at PSNA Brandon Johnstone: 30 July, 2025, 24.28 MB
Wed 30 Jul 2025

The Israeli founded and based company SodaStream is the most popular sparkling water maker in New Zealand, supplying sparkling water machines to over 400,000 households in Aotearoa, with around 30% of families using one to make beverages at home.

The company has also had involvement in the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, previously having a factory in the Ma'ale Adumim settlement in the internationally recognised Palestinian west bank.

For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke with Brandon Johnstone, a BDS coordinator at Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about a petition calling on retailers and stockists to swap out SodaStream for more ethical alternatives.

If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:

Can AI Predict Who Will Get Dementia? w/ Dr. Catherine Morgan: July 30, 2025

 Can AI Predict Who Will Get Dementia? w/ Dr. Catherine Morgan: July 30, 2025 Catherine Morgan: July 30, 2025, 27.81 MB
Wed 30 Jul 2025

About 70,000 people are currently affected by dementia in New Zealand. Because of this, the healthcare cost of the neurological condition is around $274 million per year and is expected to double by 2050. But what if we could predict who was most at risk, years before obvious symptoms appear?

At the moment, health professionals can struggle to assess whether a person is likely to get dementia, based on reports of their memory loss and ability to function from patients and families. As a result, a $4 million project, which includes a team of experts from the University of Auckland and Singapore, has begun to create an AI tool that can identify a person’s dementia risk.

To talk about how this new AI tool would work, as well as how it might impact the future of prevention and treatment of the neurological condition, Producer Max to Dr Catherine Morgan, a senior research fellow from the University of Auckland.

The Wire w/ Oto: 30 July, 2025

 The Wire w/ Oto: 30 July, 2025 The Wire w/ Oto: 30 July, 2025, 78.37 MB
Wed 30 Jul 2025

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the government’s move to scrap same-day election enrolments, the Climate Change Commission’s recent annual monitoring report on emissions reductions and the Greens petition to reinstate passenger rail services across the country.

And for this week’s Get Action! He spoke with Brandon Johnstone, a BDS coordinator at Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about a petition calling on retailers and stockists to swap out SodaStream for more ethical alternatives.

Max spoke with Dr Catherine Morgan from the University of Auckland, to talk about the new project to develop an AI tool that can predict dementia risk.

Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Sadie Mills the invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand about a study looking into deep sea species in Aotearoa’s waters

Weekly Catchup w/ The Green Party's Ricardo Menendez March: 30 July, 2025

 Weekly Catchup w/ The Green Party's Ricardo Menendez March: 30 July, 2025 Weekly Catchup w/ The Green Party's Ricardo Menendez March: 30 July, 2025, 21.91 MB
Wed 30 Jul 2025

Last week, the government announced that they’d be scrapping same-day election enrolments, alongside a number of other changes to electoral laws.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said that current electoral laws were “placing too much strain on the system” and increased the time needed for the vote count.

Earlier this week, the Climate Change Commission released its annual monitoring report on emissions reductions,  which showed that Aotearoa New Zealand was on track to meeting its first emissions budget for the period of 2022-2025, but not towards meeting future budgets around the 2050 period.

And the Greens recently launched a petition calling on Rail Minister Winston Peters to reinstate passenger rail services across the country.

For our weekly catchup with the Green party, Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.

New Zealand part of hidden global deep-sea network beneath the waves w/ invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand Sadie Mills: 30 July, 2025

 New Zealand part of hidden global deep-sea network beneath the waves w/ invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand Sadie Mills: 30 July, 2025 New Zealand part of hidden global deep-sea network beneath the waves w/ invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand Sadie Mills: 30 July, 2025, 20.14 MB
Wed 30 Jul 2025

Recently, a study was published by Australia’s Museums Victoria Research Institute, examining deep sea ecosystems around Aotearoa’s waters.

The study mapped the global distribution of brittle stars, which are closely related to starfish, the links between deep-sea ecosystems from Iceland to Tasmania and the impacts of climate change and deep sea mining on said ecosystems.

95bFM Tuesday Wire Host Sara spoke with Sadie Mills, invertebrate collection manager at Earth Sciences New Zealand, to discuss what this research means for understanding biodiversity beneath the waves especially within the context of climate change and deep-sea mining

Dear Science w/ Professor Allan Blackman: 29 June, 2025

 Dear Science w/ Professor Allan Blackman: 29 June, 2025 Dear Science w/ Professor Allan Blackman: 29 June, 2025, 39.09 MB
Tue 29 Jul 2025

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chats with us about an astronomical discovery, the passing of the great Tom Lehrer, and the latest estimate on your required daily step count

Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow!

Electoral reforms & the Homelessness Insights report w/ National Party MP Tom Rutherford: 29 July, 2025

Electoral reforms & the Homelessness Insights report w/ National Party MP Tom Rutherford: 29 July, 2025 Electoral reforms & the Homelessness Insights report w/ National Party MP Tom Rutherford: 29 July, 2025 , 20.84 MB
Tue 29 Jul 2025

On Friday, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced various changes to the electoral system in New Zealand which he says seek to make the process of voting more efficient and effective for future elections.
These include the closing of enrolment 13 days before the official election day, prohibiting the provision of food and drink at polling booths, and a reinstatement of a total prisoner voting ban.

A number of Labour and Greens party politicians have been among those to criticise the changes as a disenfranchisement of voters which will make democratic engagement in New Zealand more difficult.

As well, last week the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development released the latest iteration of the Homelessness Insights Report which reveals that there has been a quantifiable rise in homelessness across Aotearoa.