95bFM: The Wire

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about Budget Day today and the suspensions of three Te Paati Māori MPs over the Treaty Principles Bill haka. 

For International Desk, they spoke to Professor of International Law at Australian National University, Donald Rothwell, about the ongoing famine in Gaza due to Israeli blockades and the response under international law.

And ahead of Budget 2025 being announced, they spoke to University of Auckland Associate Professor Susan St John and Isaac Gunson from the Child Poverty Action Group about the potential social impact of the budget.

For her interview with Julie Fairey for this week’s City Counselling, Producer Sara discusses the issue of littering in Auckland, including the rise of illegal dumping. They also talk about Mayor Wayne Brown’s interest in transforming Auckland into the ‘premier tech city’ of New Zealand.

She also interviewed Chief Scientist at Toha, and founder of Te Pūnaha Matatini about the recent global pandemic treaty adopted by the World Health Organisation.

Today is Budget Day 2025, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis is calling it a “no BS” budget that will create growth for New Zealand.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Susan St John, Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland Faculty of Business, about the potential social impact of the Budget.

They also spoke to Isaac Gunson from the Child Poverty Action Group about the particular impact of the Budget on child poverty.

International pressure is mounting against Israel for the 11-week-long and ongoing blockade of aid into Gaza.

The few aid trucks that have been let into Gaza have not been distributed, according to the United Nations.

It comes as cases against Israel in the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court (ICC) for existing violations of international law remain ongoing.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Donald Rothwell from the Australian National University Law School about the aid blockade and response in international law.

Is it time for New Zealand to shine in the space economy?

Dr. Denis Odlin, of the Management and International Business Department at the University of Auckland, as well as other co-authors, have published an analysis that looks into how the space race is being reshaped due to current ongoing geopolitical tensions.

They analyse how Aotearoa New Zealand has found itself in an ideal position to take advantage of the situation, because of its historically neutral position in the space economy.

To talk about New Zealand’s space history, the benefits of neutrality, and the current reshaping of the global space economy, Producer Max spoke with Dr. Denis Odlin.

Last week, UNICEF published their latest child wellbeing report, comparing childhood experiences, child poverty rates and mental wellbeing in OECD countries.

In the report, Aotearoa New Zealand was ranked 32 out of 36 OECD countries for child wellbeing and at the very bottom of this list for child mental health.

The report also showed that New Zealand had the highest suicide rate amongst rangatahi in the developed world and the second highest rate of children experiencing bullying.

Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad, said that the findings in the report were unacceptable, that they were attributed to the ongoing issue of child poverty in New Zealand and called on the government to act immediately to combat child poverty and invest in mental health services for tamariki and rangatahi.

Wednesday Wire Host, Oto, spoke to Achmad about this.

The United Nations recently received permission from Israel for 100 more emergency aid trucks to enter Gaza, after International humanitarian experts warned of looming famine due to Israel’s renewed blockade of the strip since March.

On Monday this week, Israel cleared nine trucks of goods to enter Gaza, however, only five of those trucks actually entered Gaza and haven’t distributed their aid yet.

However, even if all nine of those trucks were to enter Gaza, that still wouldn’t be nearly enough to attend to the needs of the strip’s 2.1 million population, 47% of whom are children under the age of 18.

Oto spoke to Maher Nazzal from the Palestinian Forum of New Zealand about why the clearance of aid trucks into Gaza isn’t enough, and the additional steps that the New Zealand government could take to put pressure on Israel.

Disclaimer: As of the 21st of May, 2025, Israel claims that 93 trucks had entered into the Gaza Strip, however, aid is yet to be delivered.

This week it was announced that a visualisation tool was being developed, which would help young people with cancer who are undergoing radiotherapy.

The visualisation tool is being developed by Dr. Annie Jones, a Research fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. Dr. Jones said that “stress can affect the way our body responds to treatment”, and that “if we can reduce people’s anxiety, that should have positive benefits for their physical recovery as well.”

The visualisation will provide clear information for children, as well as their families and friends, about how radiotherapy works. While making it clear that it’s normal to feel worried and offering coping strategies.

To talk about this, Producer Max spoke with Dr. Annie Jones.

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the suspension of three Te Pati Maori MPs, The Waitangi Tribunal's recommendation to halt the regulatory standards bill and the impact of the social security amendment bill on beneficiaries.

He spoke to Dr Claire Achmad, Chief Children’s Commissioner about New Zealand ranking 32nd out of 36 countries for child wellbeing in UNICEF’s recent childwellbeing report.

And he spoke to Maher Nazzal from the Palestine Forum of New Zealand about how the recent clearance to bring aid trucks into Gaza won’t be enough to address the needs of affected Palestinians

Max spoke to Dr Annie Jones, a Research fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, to talk about a new visualisation tool that is being developed for children during cancer treatment.

And he spoke to Dr Denis Odlin, of the Management and International Business Department at the University of Auckland, about the potential for New Zealand to take advantage of the new space economy.

Social media use among young people has been the subject of recent conversation, sparked by National MP Catherine Wedd’s private members bill. While the bill hasn’t been drawn, the proposal to restrict social media from those under sixteen was met with criticism and support from other political parties. 

Wire host Castor spoke to Professor Terryann Clark from the University of Auckland about how a social media ban might affect young people and address the issues they face around mental health.

We’ve all heard about NFTs, AI, crytpo, and all those buzzwords... but do we really know what financial technology is, and how prevalent it is in our daily lives? 

Producer Faith spoke to Dr. Chanelle Duley from the University of Auckland about financial technology– or the “fintech” frontier.