The Electoral Commission has revealed that this year's election had a huge increase in the youth vote and the Māori vote. Noah spoke to Chief Electoral Officer Alicia Wright about what the Commission did differently this year.

While Māori representation in Parliament is guaranteed by the Māori seats, no similar guarantee exists at the level of local government. In fact, the Local Electoral Act 2001 requires proposed Māori wards be put to referendum if 5% of local voters request it. General wards are not subject to such a clause. 

ActionStation and Te Rōpū Tautoko Māori are calling on the government to amend this provision, making the law governing Māori wards equal to that which governs general wards.

Hanna spoke to Toni Boynton from Te Rōpū Tautoko Māori about the group's mahi, and what Māori representation means for local government policy, partnership under the Treaty of Waitangi, and democracy itself.

I tēnei ata we spoke with Anna Coddington and festival director Shona McCullagh about the Auckland Arts Festival kicking off next March. Shona runs us through the programme for 2021 and Anna chats about her new album 'Beams' and what we can expect from her performance. 

Ihshan Gulimar, from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute at the University of Auckland, pops in to teach Rach and Tess about virtual reality and how that impacts our ability to connect with others. A topic that feels very timely with the increased use of Zoom and Skype, Ihshan talks about his research into the brains ability to synchronize.

His Worship dials in to talk about a bunch of big topics today. Rach asks the Mayor about the proposed congestion tax, climate change and of course the easing of water restrictions as we head into summer.

Today on Stage Direction we're joined not only by Zoë, but Frankie and Ayesha from The Vagina Monologues are here too. Rach and Zoë chat to Ayesha and Frankie about putting on this very famous play. This is definitely an important one to catch and you can grab your tickets here.

Today on your bFM Breakfast: It's a jam-packed show this morning to kick of December; Chris takes out Second Guessing with a can of beans with sausages; the Mayor dials in to talk water restrictions, climate change, and congestion tax; Anna Coddington and Shona McCullagh pop in for a kōrero about the Auckland Arts Festival; Zoë joins us with Frankie and Ayesha from The Vagina Monologues; and Ihshan Gulimar, from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute joins us to talk about virtual reality and empathy.

Today on the Wire with Zoë Larsen Cumming: 

Zoë speaks to the Green party co-leader about the Climate Emergency declaration and the Five Eyes Intelligence Network. 

Jess Hopkins speaks to Dr Julie MacArthur, a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations and Public Policy at the University of Auckland about environmental governance and policy in New Zealand.

Zoë speaks to the CEO and founder of KidsCan, Julie Chapman, on child poverty in Aotearoa.

Aneeka Moheed speaks to Caitlin Neuwelt-Kearns from the Child Poverty Action Group about the government’s inadequately slow progress on welfare reform.

Finally,  Zoë speaks to PhD Candidate Briar Meads, Ngāi Tahu on te Tiriti o Waitangi as opposed to the Treaty of Waitangi. 

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, national governments have shown distinctly different approaches with different levels of success. But it appears that nations lead by women have a better record than their male counterparts. Doug Becker speaks with four experts about the popular media narrative that countries led by women are performing better with COVID.

For more stories like this head to www.thebigq.org 

The Child Poverty Action Group has released a report regarding the Labour Government's unjustifiably slow progress on welfare reform in relation to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group's recommendations that were given to the government in February 2019. Aneeka speaks to Caitlin Neuwelk-Kearns who co-authored the report from the Child Poverty Action Group about the government's lack of action and changes we need to start seeing.