95bFM: The Wire

An international report published last week by The Lancet Global Health Commission, co-authored by the University of Auckland, has revealed hundreds of thousands are dying each year through a lack of access to medical oxygen.

“Oxygen delayed is life denied,” said one survivor of Covid-19 in Kenya.

Associate Clinical and Medical Health Sciences Professor at the University of Auckland, Stephen Howie, one of the co-authors of the report, offered producer Amani his precious time away from the hospital for an interview, where he shared with us his personal experiences in overseas hospitals where he’s seen a lack of medical oxygen be the cause of many preventable deaths, and his thoughts on what needs to be done for this issue to be fixed.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s Active Investor Plus Visa, commonly known as the “golden visa”, has proposed changes by the government taking place from April 1st, which aim to "make it easier for foreign investors to invest in the country." 

Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland’s Department of Management and International Business, Dr Brent Burmester, opposes the changes and says they “miss the mark.”

Producer Amani spoke with Dr Burmester to find out more on why he thinks this, and which suggestions he has in order to improve it.

Germany’s federal elections took place on Sunday, and the preliminary results show right leaning parties dominated the election— with the Conservative Alliance claiming most seats in the federal Parliament, as well as the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party (AfD) winning 20.8% of the vote.

According to researchers in far-right extremism, from the University of Tübingen, writing for The Conversation— the AfD’s breakthrough in Germany’s 2017 federal election shattered the nation's stigma against far-right extremism.

Producer Athena spoke to Professional Teaching Fellow for German at the University of Auckland, Mareike Schmidt, about the rise of the AfD, and her perspective on the federal election results, as a German citizen living in New Zealand.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chatted with us about a new nuclear fusion record, plastic ice, and how aromatherapy may be linked to pollution. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about Destiny Church’s charity status and issues with the new school lunch program. 

Producer Athena spoke to Dr Victor Dieriks from the University of Auckland’s Centre for Brain Research, about his research team's recent breakthrough in understanding Multiple System Atrophy.

They also spoke to Academic Staff in the University of Auckland’s German program, Mareike Schmidt, about her perspective on Germany’s recent federal election results.

A team of researchers, led by Senior Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, Dr Victor Dieriks, have made a breakthrough in understanding the cause of the neurodegenerative disorder, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).

It was previously believed the effects of MSA were caused by oligodendrocyte cells, responsible for producing protective covers for nerve fibres. However, the study, conducted by the Universities of Auckland, and Sydney, has revealed the cause resides in the neurons themselves.

Producer Athena spoke to Dr Victor Dieriks about this breakthrough, the importance of research into MSA, and what the team hopes will develop from this discovery.

Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, and Producer Evie, in studio to discuss kiwis moving overseas to work!

Recent Stats NZ findings have shown that there is likely an additional 36,300 children living in material hardship, compared to 2022.

In 2018, the Child Poverty Reduction Act passed, which received cross-party support, helped in creating a downward trend in these statistics. However, these Stats NZ findings show that there has not been any substantial changes to the nine poverty measures from June 2022 to June 2024.

Overall in Aotearoa, an estimated 156,600 children are living within these conditions, which is roughly 1/7th of the population.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Executive Officer for Child Poverty Action Group, Sarita Divis, about what has caused this increase, and what the government should be doing to tackle these concerning findings.

Firstly, they started off by asking her about what reasons there might be for this upward trend in recent years.

On the show last week, in our weekly catch up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court we discussed comments he had made about period products. 

Court came under fire in the media following a hearing on benefit sanctions. During this hearing a female submitter was outlining concerns about period poverty and the impacts menstrual products can have on a low-income family budget. 

In response to these concerns Court asked if she was aware of, or had people around her aware of, a menstrual cup - outlining its cost and where to buy it. He was heavily criticised by Te Pati Maori, and later Labour for ‘mansplaining’, calling his comments ‘deeply offensive’ as he continued to double down. 

During our interview last week he stood by his comments. 

Period poverty action group, Dignity NZ says that Court’s comments were misplaced, and ignore a variety of issues that come with periods. 

Producer Evie spoke to Dignity NZ interim CEO Taslim Parsons about period poverty in Aotearoa and how it needs to be addressed.

Concerns have been raised regarding Aotearoa’s tax model, regarding charities also operating as businesses.

Despite the current model requiring all profit obtained through a charity's business not be used for personal gain, this is a little bit of a grey area.

For example, any profit from weet-bix cereal products is tax exempt, due to Sanitarium Health Food Company being owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which results in the company having an advantage over their competitors.

However, with the 2025 Budget set to be released later this year, changes may be made to this system.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to a Senior Lecturer in the Accounting Department at AUT, Ranjana Gupta, about this tax model, and what she hopes will come out of the 2025 Budget regarding this.

They started off by asking her about what purpose a charity may have to run a business as well.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire host Caeden spoke to Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni about Destiny Church’s Pride Protests and the new tourism ad campaign.

For International Desk, they spoke to AUT Senior Law Lecturer Sione Tekiteki about the controversial Cook Islands/China agreement. 

And they spoke to University of Auckland Commercial Law Professor Alex Sims about the Right of Repair Bill that passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday.

For City Counselling this week, producer Sofia caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about Auckland Council’s submission on the Treaty Principles Bill and the Destiny Church protests at pride events over the weekend.