95bFM: The Wire

Last month National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, or NAWAC, member Sandra Faulkner confirmed that despite being elected as Vice President of the Federated Farmers she would continue her role on the committee.

This has raised serious concerns of conflict of interest, NAWAC is meant to provide independent advice to the minister responsible for animal welfare while Federated Farmers is a lobby and advisory group which often pushes for policies which try impact the commercial use of animals.

To discuss the decision to allow Faulkner to remain on the committee and what impacts the conflict of interest could have producer Thomas talked to SAFE Campaign Manager Emily Hall.

This week on the Monday Wire...

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News Director Castor spoke to MP Simon Court about tensions in the National Party leadership, and ACT Party proposals for a local tourism dividend and voluntary student services fees.

Also on voluntary student services fees, Castor spoke to president of the Victoria University of Wellington’s Students Association, Aidan Donoghue, about what such a policy could do to student life on campus. 

This week, Producer Pranuja spoke to University of Otago public health researcher Dr John Kerr about medical misinformation, distrust in the health system, and how social media and generative AI can shape treatment decisions.

She also spoke to University of Auckland marketing lecturer Katherine Jensen about how AI and platform algorithms influence who sees political advertising, and what that could mean for voters heading into the election.

An RNZ analysis of election-year Facebook and Instagram advertising has found a clear gender divide in who is seeing different parties’ ads, with National and ACT reaching more men and the Greens reaching more women.

But political parties do not have complete control over those audiences, with Meta’s algorithms also deciding who is most likely to see and engage with particular messages.

Producer Pranuja spoke to University of Auckland marketing lecturer Katherine Jensen about how AI and platform algorithms are shaping political advertising, whether voters are being shown increasingly different versions of the same campaign, and whether New Zealand’s election rules are keeping up.

Last week saw the National Party go through a period of suspected internal conflict, after a leadership challenge was mounted against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Following a multi-hour long caucus meeting, Luxon spoke to media, claiming he has the full support of his caucus. National MP and former minister Chris Penk was subsequently stripped of his portfolios. The incident has raised concerns over Luxon’s ability to lead both his party and the country, especially as this is not the first leadership vote this year. 

Also last week, the ACT Party proposed two new policies they would campaign on in the leadup to this year’s election. First, thanks to calls for a bed levy in Auckland, ACT has instead posed a local tourism dividend that would come directly out of central government funding. They say this dividend would be better suited to address the problem of local government funds for tourism and arts/culture, though some have been sceptical. 

The second ACT party proposal is to make student services fees at universities voluntary, so that students can choose the services they’d like to pay for from a checklist. 

To discuss each of these issues News Director Castor spoke with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, beginning with the National Party leadership. 

A recent New Zealand case report has highlighted the potential consequences of medical misinformation, after a nine-year-old developed serious complications when prescribed antibiotics were not used as directed.

But the case may point to something broader than a single false claim online, with distrust in doctors, the health system and government institutions also shaping how people make decisions about treatment.

Producer Pranuja spoke to University of Otago public health researcher Dr John Kerr about how medical mistrust develops, the role social media plays in amplifying it, and how health professionals can respond without pushing hesitant patients further away. She started by asking about the case and how medical misinformation played a role in it.

The ACT Party has announced plans to campaign on a policy of making student service fees voluntary. These fees contribute to student events, student media, and various other services across campus. The ACT Party believes it is unfair to charge students for services they may not use, instead offering a tickbox system so that people can opt to pay for the services they prefer. The policy is one ACT says would benefit students, though multiple student organisations across the country have pushed back. 

To discuss their concerns, News Director Castor spoke to President of VUWSA, Aidan Donoghue, about how making these fees voluntary could impact student life on campus.

AI pops up everywhere in our daily lives, ranging from AI summaries of emails or texts, to AI overviews when googling something, to recommending movies, making memes, and so much more. 

And while seeing it everywhere may be annoying to most of us, AI has provided good solutions and made life easier on some other grounds.

AI has shown to be a tremendous help to cancer screenings, climate forecasting, creating medicine and in finding ways to make systems more efficient.

But where does the line get drawn? AI is being used by kids, students and even teachers. 

Furthermore, the creation of AI agents has created issues that we have never faced previously; such as rogue AI agents.

To learn more about the extent to which AI should be used and about how AI agents go rogue. Producer Jude spoke to University of Auckland, Computer Science Senior Lecturer, Dr Ulrich Speidel.

As we recorded our Green Party Catchup this morning, the National Party was just about to sit down for a Caucus Meeting to once again test the support for sitting party leader, Chistopher Luxon..

But what has motivated such a crisis in the party leadership?

Was it the seemingly spur-of-the-moment captain calls by Luxon to rule out the Opportunity Party and put forward a third Referendum on MMP? Or was it the lack of pushback against comments from their coalition partner, NZFirst.

Two weeks ago, NZFirst Leader directed comments in the House against Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan, targeting his Chinese heritage, suggesting everyone in China lied. This created a huge amount of criticism both locally and internationally, making headlines across the Globe, not least as Peters is the coalition's Foreign Minister. But consequences the minister who unleashed sho much damage? Nill.

So for this week’s catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March, we discuss the ructions within the National Party, the fallout from New Zealand First's racially charged comments targeting him and his colleague, Lawrence Xu-Nan, and changes to jobseeker that he’d like to see.

This week on the Wednesday Wire...

A National Party leadership vote casts its vote over the show.

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the ructions within the National Party, the fallout of New Zealand First's racially charged comments targeted at him and his colleague, Lawrence Xu-Nan, and jobseeker policy changes that he’d like to see.

Producer Jude spoke to the University of Auckland, Senior Lecturer, Dr. Ulrich Speidel about what AI should be used for. 

And for this week’s Get Action, producer Theo spoke to Layba Zubair on her campaign to progress affirmative consent law reform.

Last week, on Tuesday the 4th of August, the NZ Bakel’s Supreme Pie Awards were held for 2026. Tuesday Wire host Alex and producer Liam went along to investigate these awards, which have established themselves as an iconic celebration of New Zealand’s favourite food. At the awards, we spoke with MC Jeremy Corbett, multiple-time winner Patrick Lam from Patrick’s Pies in Tauranga, winning apprentices Beau Corric and Dara Chhom from Euro Patisserie in Torbay, celebrity judge Gareth Stewart, and longstanding Pie Awards attendee Jeremy Wells about the awards, why the ceremony is so great, and why they matter.