Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news and current affairs show. Jessica Hopkins, Castor Chacko, Nicholas Lindstrom, and Caeden Tipler focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere in independent-thinking bFM style. Monday-Thursday 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Iranian hip hop artist Toomaj Salehi has recently been sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic regime on charges of ‘corruption on earth’ for his songs criticising the regime.
He is one of the many Iranian political prisoners who have been sentenced to death for speaking out against the regime.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Aida Oryantal, from Voice of Iranians about the ongoing fight for democracy in Iran.
Halal Kiwi, an app that helps people find halal foods and products in New Zealand, has been called anti-Semitic by the ACT Party for creating a pro-Palestine boycott list.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Halal Kiwi founder, Mohammed Soliman, about ACT’s claim.
She started off the interview by asking Soliman about the intention behind their initiative to help Halal Kiwi users boycott pro-Israel and pro-Zionist businesses.
On May 9th the New Zealand Nurses organisation held a national day of action 2024, with rallies across the country calling for increased public health funding. While the government has introduced measures to increase the number of nurses in Aotearoa, staffing shortages are still frequent in wards across the country.
Additionally, there are worries that the recently scrapped Te Aka Whai Ora could impact the already struggling sector, taking focus away from those who need health support most and potentially increasing the workload for frontline health workers.
In our weekly catchup with the National party, Wire host Castor spoke to Katie Nimon about the government’s approach to public health policy and how the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora could affect the health sector.
On May 9th the New Zealand Nurses organisation held a National day of action 2024, with rallies across the country calling for increased public health funding. While the government has introduced measures to increase the number of nurses in Aotearoa, staffing shortages are still frequent in wards across the country.
Additionally, there are worries that the recently scrapped Te Aka Whai Ora could impact the already struggling sector, taking focus away from those who need health support most and potentially increasing the workload for frontline health workers.
Wire host Castor spoke to the president of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Anne Daniels, about nursing shortages and low health funding in Aotearoa from a frontline perspective.
For Dear Science this week, Professor Allan Blackman chatted to us about Beethoven’s deafness, the first ever vaccination, and researchers mapping a small part of the human brain.
Wire host Castor spoke to the National Party’s Katie Nimon about nursing shortages in light of rallies last week and how the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora could affect the health sector.
He also spoke to New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Anne Daniels about these health issues from a frontline worker perspective.
Producer Sofia spoke to Public Service Association Assistant Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons about the 325 job cuts to the Accident Compensation Corporation.
She also spoke to Professor of Disability Studies and Inclusive Education Missy Morton at the University of Auckland about a new report from the Education Hub about how schools and early childhood centres are failing neurodivergent children.
On May 13th, the Education Hub - a non-profit organisation that connects teachers with education research - released a report on neurodivergent children in schools and early childhood centres.
Gathering testimonies from 2,400 people, the report found that 15-20 percent of the population is neurodivergent, meaning they have conditions including autism, ADHD, dyslexia and anxiety.
Although the school system is supposedly inclusive, the Education Hub says schools and early childhood centres are failing neurodivergent children.
In response, it has called for more funding and a law change regarding specialist provisions or supports for children with special educational needs.
Producer Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Professor of Disability Studies and Inclusive Education Missy Morton at the University of Auckland about the report, and what support for teachers, neurodivergent children, and the families of these children should look like.
As a part of the coalition government’s cost saving measures, there are 325 proposed job cuts at the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).
ACC says client-facing teams will not be affected, although, roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety are on the chopping block.
The job cuts equate to a proposed 9 percent reduction of ACC’s total workforce.
Producer Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Public Service Association Assistant Secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons about the cuts to roles dealing with sexual violence prevention and the overall impacts these cuts to ACC will have on New Zealanders.
Amid global boycott movements in support of Palestine amid Israel's ongoing war on Gaza which has killed more than 34,000 people News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Alternative Jewish Voices Co-Founder, Dr Marilyn Garson, about the conflation of Judaism and Zionism and how this has come up in boycotting movements.
Brain Tumour Support NZ is a charitable trust established in 2019 to promote awareness for brain tumour diagnoses in New Zealand. During their "Make May Better" month, Brain Tumour Support NZ has launched the “No Going Back” fundraising platform where participants can embark on fundraising challenges to support brain tumour patients and their families.
Producer Ezra spoke to Chief Executive at Brain Tumour Support NZ, Sarah Verran, about their newly launched campaigns, the importance of brain tumour awareness and the incredible work the charity is involved in.
For our regular interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court, about the government continuing the Ka Ora Ka Ako, Healthy School Lunches Programme, power shortages across the country, his comments on boycotting pro-Israel and Zionist businesses, and NZ First introducing a bill that would ban transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
She also spoke to Halal Kiwi founder, Mohammed Soliman, about the intention behind their initiative boycotting pro-Israel and Zionist businesses and Co-Founder of Alternative Jewish Voices, Dr Marilyn Garson, on pro-Palestine boycotting movements and ACT MP Simon Court’s comments on the topic.
She spoke to Aida Oryantal, from Voice of Iranians, about Iranian hip hop artist Toomaj Salehi, who has recently been sentenced to death by the Islamic Republic regime, and many others facing brutal oppression and human rights abuses in Iran.
Producer Ezra spoke to Chief Executive of Brain Tumour Support NZ, Sarah Verran, about their newly launched fundraising platform “No Going Back” which marks the start of their awareness month campaign “Make May Better”.
On Wednesday Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni dominated political headlines with news that she is believed to be a contestant on this year's season of Celebrity Treasure Island.
The last MP to compete on a reality TV show was David Seymour, who competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2018. This appearance resulted in a now infamous video of Seymour twerking in 80s getup.
Last years Celebrity Treasure Island also drew headlines for including famous political figures, notably Tame Iti.
Political news this week has also included an announcement from Paul Goldsmith that the Government is looking at stopping election day voter enrolment due to the administrative burden.
Caeden asked about both these topics for our weekly catch-up with Carmel Sepuloni. They started by asking if she would appear in Celebrity Treasure Island.
On the 19th of December 2022, Farzana Yaqubi, a 21 year old law student at AUT, was murdered by a man who had been repeatedly stalking her and sending her threatening messages on social media. In the months leading up to her murder, Farzana made multiple police reports with evidence of her experienced stalking, urging law enforcement to intervene. However, her reports were effectively disregarded and treated as low priority, as there are no official laws in Aotearoa that criminalise stalking.
Farzana’s murder triggered a call to the government from numerous women’s rights advocates across the motu to come up with more effective legislation to criminalise stalking and establish more effective preventative measures in law enforcement.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Leonie Morris from the Auckland Women’s Centre, to discuss a petition calling for the official criminalisation of stalking.
If you're interested, you can sign the petition here:
For Dear Science this week Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted to us about an orangutan treating its own injury, beluga whales changing the shape of their foreheads, and the development of skin burn healing bandages from plant based materials.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party’s Carmel Sepuloni I ask about MPs getting a pay raise, recent polling results that showed an increase in support for Labour, and a new policy from Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka which would prioritise whānau with tamariki for social housing.
Weekly Palestine protests have taken place in Britomart since last October, and an action in support of Palestine with several hundred students took place at the University of Auckland last night.
For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden asked Councillor Shane Henderson for his stance on the Palestine protests, as well as Council’s view more generally.
They also ask about the community impacts of half priced public transport for under 25s, which ended on May 1st.
The government recently made a series of changes to the licensing requirements for early childhood centres to be able to operate.
These include repealing the network approval provisions for people looking to establish early learning centres and removing the Person Responsible Staff requirements to have a full teaching licence.
The government justified these reforms by saying regulation cuts would make it easier for early childhood centres to operate, thus addressing Aotearoa’s teacher shortage.
However, many Kaiako working in early childhood education have said deregulation does not address the root causes of the teacher shortage, and that more focus is needed on addressing pay inequality for teachers within the sector.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Early childhood Kaiako and member of the New Zealand Educational Institute, Hayley Cross, to discuss a petition from the union to the government calling for pay parity in early childhood education.
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