The Australia West Papua Association is pushing for action from Australia, authoring an open letter to Julie Bishop asking for her party to put pressure on the Indonesian government after around 150 Papuans have been arrested for peaceful protest with reports that both abuse and torture have occurred. Reporter Jack Marshall spoke with Joe Collins, a spokesperson from the Australian West Papua Association and began by asking what these arrests highlight in West Papua.
New Auckland University research has looked into the dangers of wearing headphones as a pedestrian and the link to pedestrian deaths. The research from the School of Population Health has shown that pedestrians who listen to music through earphones are significantly impaired in their ability to localise warning signals above the noise of traffic and trains around them. The research was co-authored by Associate Professor Grant Searchfield. Reporter Sam Smith spoke to him about the research.
Popular music streaming platform Spotify has been accused of filling its playlists with fake artists. Reporter Sam Smith investigates the accusations and what they mean.
Check out the full podcast for this week's Tuesday show, where we speak to Marama Fox about the Ture Whenua bill's setback, the Australian West Papua Association about their call to the Australian government following the arrests of 150 Papuan protestors, an expert in New Zealand aid policy about Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee's talk of removing the word aid, an Auckland University associate professor about new research into the dangers of pedestrians wearing headphones, and more.
With 122 member states in favour, the UN's Treaty to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons has been officially aproved. However, the treaty has been criticised, by countries with nuclear weapons, as well as their close allies.
For more, 95bfm producer Ben spoke with Dr Lyndon Burford, of the Disarmement and Security Centre.
With various studies and government statistics showing an increase in the prescription of Opioid-based painkillers, experts have warned NZ may be facing an epidemic similar to the United States.
For more, 95bfm producer Ben speaks with Susan Paton, of the Addiction Practitioners Association.
With the coming election in September, we're seeing a lot of new young people in the political scene. Producer Reuben McLaren spoke to Brooke van Velden, a public relations consultant standing in the Auckland Central electorate for the ACT party.
Ximena joins Ben & Reuben for the Monday show this week while Amanda is away. They take a look at the growing use of opioid-based pain-killers in New Zealand, a new UN treaty that bans nuclear weapons, and a young new Act Party candidate running in Auckland Central. Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei joins Ximena to discuss the party's new water policy, and Kendall Hutt from AUT's Pacific Media Centre comes up to the studio to tell Ximena about a kiwi Catholic missionary who has been deported from Papua New Guinea.