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.
National Science Challenges were established in 2014 with the aim to tackle New Zealand’s biggest science-based issues and opportunities.
They are funded through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The challenges have invested over $680 million dollars of funding over ten years, however, they are due to expire at the end of June this year.
Producer Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Co-President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists and honorary professor at the University of Auckland School of Environment, Professor Troy Baisden, about the impending expiry, the significance of this loss, and the future of science research funding in Aotearoa.
For Dear Science this week, Professor Alan Blackman chatted to us about daylight savings, handwriting for students, and a strange development for ladybugs.
Wire host Castor spoke to CEO of SAFE, Debra Ashton, about the organisation and their recent petition against the potential repeal of the Live Export ban.
Castor also spoke to Dr Rob Beaglehole, a spokesperson for the New Zealand Dental Association about sugary drinks in schools going into world oral health day.
Producer Sofia spoke to haka expert and University of Auckland Professional Teaching Fellow of Māori Studies, Paora Sharples, about political expression through haka.
Sofia also spoke to Co-President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, Professor Troy Baisden, about the impending expiry of National Science Challenges and the future of science research funding.
Homeowners across the motu are facing an average rates rise of 15 percent in the next year.
Councils say they need to balance the need for investment with affordable rates increases, but that budgetary pressures have reached a “tipping point”.
For their weekly interview, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to ACT’s Simon Court about their party’s stance on investing in local infrastructure, amid the government reducing funding for public transport.
During his State of the Nation speech in Palmerston North this weekend, Winston Peters compared co-governance in Aotearoa to Nazi Germany.
In a statement, Dayenu: New Zealand Jews Against Occupation, called the Deputy Prime Minister's comments anti-Māori and anti-Semitic.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Jewish New Zealander and Dayenu Co-Founder Justine Sachs, about what she believes the consequences are of a statement like this coming from a senior politician like Peters.
Earlier this month, the government outlined its plans for transport, including scrapping free public transport for children and half-price fares for young people under 25 by the end of next month.
News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to advocacy group, The Future is Rail Spokesperson, Suraya Sidhu Singh, about their opposition to this, as well as a collective protest action happening tomorrow, calling on the government to centre transport in planning and funding.
She started off the interview asking Singh for their thoughts on the government’s transport plans.
Auckland Council has proposed a change from weekly to fortnightly rubbish collections in its Waste Management Plan 2024.
Ezra spoke to the General Manager of Waste Management at Auckland Council, Parul Sood about how the proposal will affect Aucklanders, particularly those with large households.
For their regular catch-up, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, speaks to ACT’s Simon Court about rates increases facing home-owners across the country and investment in public transport infrastructure.
She also speaks to Jewish New Zealander and Co-Founder of Dayenu: New Zealand Jews Against Occupation, Justine Sachs, about Winston Peters comments comparing co-governance in Aotearoa to Nazi Germany.
And she speaks to The Future is Rail Spokesperson, Suraya Sidhu Singh, about their opposition to the government’s plans for transport.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Caeden speaks to Labour spokesperson for Education and Women Jan Tinneti.
For City Counselling they speak to Auckland Councillor Lotu Fuli about feminist cities.
And they also speak to E Tū negotiation specialist Michael Wood about the job losses at TVNZ.
Jessica spoke to World Vision New Zealand’s Head of Advocacy and Justice, Rebekah Armstrong, about their report on the rising cost of basic food items in Aotearoa.
And Jasmine speaks to Dr. Hayden McRobbie from Te Whatu Ora and Sharon Pihema from the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation about Youth Vaping Culture in Aotearoa and the efficacy of current prevention initiatives.
The Government is introducing a new bill to Parliament today aiming to fast track consent processes for economic activities such as farming and mining.
Caeden talks about the bill with Greenpeace Spokesperson Genevieve Toop while she was outside Parliament protesting it going ahead.
Associate Education Minister and ACT Party Leader David Seymour has indicated that Ka Ora, Ka Ako Healthy School Lunches Programme is under review as the government puts together their new budget.
Ka Ora Ka Ako was introduced under the Labour Government in 2019. The programme currently provides lunches for 220,000 students at a cost to the Government of around $325 million a year.
Seymour has claimed that there is no hard evidence that the programme positively affects academic performance, a claim that is disputed by Health Coalition Aotearoa.
A petition has been launched by the Health Coalition Aotearoa, to advocate for the government to continue supporting the programme.
Nicholas spoke to Co-chair of the coalition Professor Lisa Te Morenga about the programme's benefits, as well as their new petition.
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.
The coalition government has made changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, including allowing landlords to charge an additional bond of up to two weeks rent on top of the standard bond of up to four weeks, if a tenant wishes to have a pet on the property.
No-cause evictions have also been reintroduced, allowing landlords to evict tenants without providing a reason, provided they give them 90 days notice.
For our weekly interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court about these changes.
Disability communities have been rallying against a surprise change in purchasing rules in the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha. Communities have said the changes will have massive impact, despite no consultation on these changes or a formal announcement.
The Department of Conversation also recently proposed staffing cuts to meet funding demands. DoC controls a third of Aotearoa’s landmass which is all conservation land. It remains uncertain how job losses in the Ministry could impact conservation land management.
For weekly catch-up with the Labour party Wire Host Caeden spoke to Labour spokesperson for Disability Issues and Conservation Priyanca Rahdakrishnan about both of these issues.
For our weekly interview with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to MP Simon Court about the government’s proposal to increase student attendance rates and his post on X last week, in which he stated he stands with Israel.
The Ministry of Social Development is not immune to job cuts seen in other public service departments, with MSD calling for voluntary redundancies after cost-saving efforts failed to meet Government targets. For our weekly catch-up with Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni Wire Host Caeden asks her about the impact of cuts at MSD, especially amongst other Government policies disadvantaging beneficiaries.
They also ask about the Samoan Citizenship Bill led by Teanau Tuiono, and the impact of losing independent media giants such as Newshub for democracy.
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