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Last week, Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters revealed plans to purchase almost $3 billion worth of US aircraft to replace the Defence Force's ageing 757s.

The five MH-60R Seahawk helicopters involved in the purchase, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, would be procured directly through the United States' Foreign Military Sales programme.

This week, a legal challenge against the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, will be heard in the High Court in Wellington.

The case will be argued on the grounds that the government breached the Treaty of Waitangi and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act when making the decision to disestablish the Māori Health Authority.

And the Green party recently launched a petition calling on the government to restore adequate funding to Polytechnics and to reverse cuts to vocational education and training.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March to get the party’s take on all of these issues.

Happy Rāapa! Today on the show: What's Up with The National Party's Matt Doocey, Milly and Rosetta announce the Exploding Rainbow Orchestra Lineup, Emma Gleason judges the fashion of the 95bFM Office, and we talk all things syphilis for The Birds, The Bees and The Bugs thanks to Care HQ! Whakarongo mai nei!

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the government’s plan to purchase $2.7 billion worth of US-made aircraft to replace the Defence Force's 757s, The high court case against the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora - the Māori Health Authority and The Green party’s petition to restore funding to polytechnics.

Late last week The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC, declared a famine in Gaza, warning that 41,000 children are at a heightened risk of death. The report said that the number of people facing – what they referred to as ‘emergency’ conditions – is expected to rise to 1.14 million people, or around half of the total population of Gaza, which is currently about 2.1 million people. 

Under IPC criteria, a famine can only be formally declared when three conditions are met: at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, at least 30% are acutely malnourished, and two or more people per 10,000 die each day from hunger or hunger-related diseases.

To talk about what is only the fifth declared famine in the last 15 years, Producer Max spoke with ChildFund CEO Josie Pagani, to discuss what New Zealand can do to immediately help the situation.

In my house we're playing tech house, what about yours?

In this day and age, “just use AI” seems to be a common response when people need a quick and easy solution to make digital art. There’s currently no protection for AI-generated art in Aotearoa, but commercial law Professor Alex Sims believes such copyright laws could be possible. But whose art is it, really?

Producer Faith spoke to Alex about the complexities and grey areas of AI art, how copyright needs to be approached, and how artists who create their own works without being aided by AI are already affected.

Last week, thousands of secondary teachers went on strike demanding a better pay agreement from the government. 

The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association rejected the government’s offer for a one percent pay rise, which they say is the lowest in generations.

Amidst staff shortages forcing some schools to take days off with not enough teachers, in addition to a variety of recent curriculum changes, union leaders have said the education sector is stretched-thin. 

As well, the latest Security Threat Environment report has shown that New Zealand is facing the ‘toughest’ national security environment of late, with issues like global conflicts, violent extremism, foreign interference and espionage at the forefront of concern

Last week, thousands of secondary teachers went on strike demanding a better pay agreement from the government. 

The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association rejected the government’s offer for a one percent pay rise, which they say is the lowest in generations.

Amidst staff shortages forcing some schools to take days off with not enough teachers, in addition to a variety of recent curriculum changes, union leaders have said the education sector is stretched-thin. 

As well, the latest Security Threat Environment report has shown that New Zealand is facing the ‘toughest’ national security environment of late, with issues like global conflicts, violent extremism, foreign interference and espionage at the forefront of concern

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman will be talking to us about all things birds 

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Sara spoke to MP Carl Bates about pressures on the education system, and New Zealand’s diplomatic relations

Producer Faith spoke to commercial law professor Alex Sims from the University of Auckland about AI-generated art, who owns the copyright, and what laws need to be put in place

This episode of bLine is about NCEA and the recently announced overhaul. In discussions around a change that will directly affect students, there’s been very little time given to student voices and perspectives. This seems to be a change directed primarily at parents, despite the experiences of young people with NCEA and the needs of students who will be most affected. 

In this week’s episode we wanted to highlight the perspectives that have been mostly ignored in discussions about the change. We spoke to students Jed and Kenahemana, President of the Post Primary Teachers Association Te Wehengarua, Chris Abercrombie, and lecturer in Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury, David Pomeroy.

You can share your thoughts on the NCEA overhaul with the government here: https://www.education.govt.nz/consultation-ncea. Consultation closes on September 15th. 

Happy listening!