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.
Whanganui Youth Council members have recently publicly spoken about the potential axeing of their youth council, as well as similar proposals in other regions.
Wire Host Caeden speaks to Whanganui Youth Council leader Lola Fisher about the importance of Youth Councils and why they’re at risk.
Ralph Cooney is a former lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Auckland, where his career has developed into communicating Climate Change to his community.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to him about the importance of communicating climate science, especially to community groups and older generations, after he published a piece in Newsroom on this topic.
It’s been one month since TVNZ announced a massive restructuring process, cutting their Sunday and Fair Go current affairs segments and axing 68 jobs in a cost cutting plan that they attributed to a decline in advertisement revenue.
Employees at TVNZ were reportedly only given a few days to review the restructuring proposal after it was announced and offer feedback. E Tu, the union for media workers in Aotearoa, said that both the cuts and the rushed consultation process were unacceptable and violated the collective agreement between TVNZ and their staff, which requires the consultation process for such a massive restructuring to be more comprehensive and to begin at a much earlier stage. As such, E Tu has filed a claim against TVNZ with the Employment Relations Authority, to get TVNZ to go back to the drawing board and consult their staff more effectively.
Oto spoke to Michael Wood, the negotiation specialist at E Tu, to discuss the union’s claim and what it means for the wider media landscape in Aotearoa.
The government has proposed removing provisions which prevent new coal mining applications in natural inland wetlands and natural areas of significance.
Environmental advocates are warning this poses a threat to Aotearoa’s biodiversity and will contribute to the rise of global warming.
Producer Rachel spoke to New Zealand’s Association of Scientists Co-President, Professor Troy Baisden, about this.
It has been one month since the government announced the Fast Track Approvals Bill, which has seen widespread criticism from conservationists and the general public, who say the bill is undemocratic and will push the biodiversity of Aotearoa further into decline.
As we are in the last week of submissions to the select committee regarding the bill, the Green party have opened up a submissions page on their own website that citizens are welcome to add their signatures to, and published a guide on how to add their own Submissions.
Oto spoke to Greens MP Ricardo Menendez, about submissions for the Fast Track Approvals bill and the current state of the bill since it was announced.
They also had a conversation about the government’s recent changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa, and what they mean for migrant workers here in Aotearoa.
In a recent report card on Aotearoa’s laws and policies for vaping, the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand found the government still has significant areas for improvement to address the youth vaping epidemic.
Producer Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Chief Executive, Letitia Harding, about New Zealand’s current laws and policies for vaping, the importance of regulation and restriction, and what measures the Foundation would like to see the government take to better address these.
Last week, it was announced that 130 jobs at the Department of Conservation will be cut in a proposed restructure.
These are among the almost 2000 public service job cuts being made to meet the Finance Minister's cost-cutting target of a 6.5 percent reduction in spending.
Additionally, the cuts at DOC were announced the same day as the release of the Our Land 2024 report on Aotearoa’s natural ecosystems and landscapes.
Producer Sofia Roger Williams spoke to Group Manager of Conservation Advocacy and Communications at Forest and Bird, Richard Capie, about the impacts and significance of these cuts on the environment and the economy, in light of the Fast Track legislation, Our Land 2024, and the cuts to other departments contributing to the protection of Aotearoa’s environment
The missile attack launched by Iran on Israel drew responses from a number of Western countries, spreading concern and condemning the actions of Iran’s government.
The attack followed an airstrike by Israel on the first of April, on Iran’s embassy in Damascus, Syria.
While international organisations, including New Zealand’s government, were quick to respond to the recent response from Iran, few commented on this earlier attack. Wire host Castor spoke to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s chair John Minto about this and New Zealand’s response to Israel’s actions more broadly.
Early in April, the Department of Conservation faced criticisms for spending $500,000 to remove one stoat from Chalky Island in Fiordland.
Wire host Castor spoke to the University of Auckland’s Professor James Russell, about conservation and pest eradication broadly in Aotearoa, individual community efforts, and this specific case of one nasty stoat.
For Dear Science this week, Professor Allan Blackman chatted with us about ancient Roman wine, dating a solar flare using polar trees, and the brightest cosmic explosion ever.
Wire host Castor spoke to the University of Auckland’s Professor James Russell, about conservation and pest eradication in Aotearoa.
He also spoke to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa’s chair, John Minto, about recent hypocrisy from the government regarding Iran’s recent attack on Israel.
Producer Sofia spoke to the Chief Executive of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, Letitia Harding, about the government’s laws and policies for vaping.
She also spoke to Group Manager Conservation Advocacy and Communications at Forest and Bird, Richard Capie, about job cuts at the Department of Conservation.
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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