95bFM: The Wire

On the ninth of February, the government announced its plans to incentivise migrants to invest in New Zealand. Foreign investment refers to when an individual, company or government invests money in businesses in another country. Foreign investment can bring economic benefits such as job creation, increased capital flow and access to new markets, which New Zealand is severely lacking.

The government aims to welcome more people to contribute to Aoteroa and make it easier to do so. The new “Invest NZ” agency is modelled off the success of Ireland’s Industrial Development Agency and Singapore’s Economic Development Board.

Sasha spoke to the University of Auckland’s Burt Burmester about the government’s foreign investment strategy. He claims that incentivising foreign investment from sovereign wealth funds does not grant New Zealand access to highly sought-after industrial knowledge. We also spoke about alternatives to foreign investment strategies and how to increase New Zealand’s capital. Here is that interview.

Sex-bias in healthcare and research has long been a prevalent issue for women, as clinical trials occurring as recently as 2023 have excluded women, in favour of testing men as “the average person”.

This has had consequences such as women being more likely to experience negative side effects to certain drugs, due to important differences in female bodies being unaccounted for in research.

As today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, producer Athena spoke to Associate Professor, Dr Kelly Burrowes, at the University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute, about the historic and current gender inequities in healthcare and clinical research, as well as The FemTech Revolution.

This week on the Tuesday Wire... 

For Dear Science this week, our expert Professor Allan Blackman chatted to us about cooking an egg perfectly, how fear works in the brain, and which gender tends to talk more. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the government’s commitment to Te Tiriti in light of Waitangi day last week. 

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Kaiwhakahaere of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Kerri Nuku (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) yesterday, about the organisations urgent calls for more Māori nurses in the country’s workforce.

Producer Athena spoke to Associate Professor at UoA, Dr Kelly Burrowes about gender inequity in healthcare and research.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation are urgently calling for more Māori nurses in the workforce, and that the health system could do a better job at incorporating tikanga into practices.

This comes as a new report was released by Nuku on Waitangi Day, emphasising “culturally safe” staffing levels, which should be developed by Māori nurses, and defined by hapū and iwi.

Despite making up 17% of the population, the organisation says Māori nurses only make up 7% of the workforce.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Kaiwhakahaere of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Kerri Nuku (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) yesterday, about these calls from the organisation.

They started off by asking her why the number of Māori nurses working in the country is such a concern.

This week on the Monday Wire...

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about the ACT Party’s role at Waitangi Day, the latest unemployment figures and the government’s second emissions reduction target.

She also spoke to the New Zealand Council of Trade Union (NZCTU) Economist and Policy Director Craig Renney about the continuing rise in unemployment in Aotearoa.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture at the Victoria University of Wellington, Christine McCarthy, about the need for colour in New Zealand's prisons.

Evie spoke to Geopolitical analyst at the University of Otago Geoffrey Miller about Aotearoa’s relationship with the Cook Islands - which made news headlines over the weekend.

And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins us in studio to discuss using AI in a working environment.

Whakarongo mai!

In her recent article on The Conversation, Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture at the Victoria University of Wellington, Christine McCarthy, discusses the lack of colour in prison spaces.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to her about her article, and what we could see in these spaces, if more colour were to be incorporated.

The Cook Islands and Winston Peters dominated news headlines over the weekend. With media reporting that Aotearoa’s relationship with the Cook Islands was ‘significantly worsening.’ 

The reason for this is an agreement that the Cook Islands is planning to sign with China. Winston Peters says the Cook Islands didn’t consult with Aotearoa about what was in the agreement - which the country is bound to doing under the 2001 Joint Centenary Declaration. 

However, the 2001 agreement is complex, and has certain clauses that means these rules don’t always apply. 

Producer Evie spoke to Geopolitical Analyst at the University of Otago Geoffrey Miller about the complex relationship between us and the Cook Islands - as he broke down the topic and whether anyone has really breached any agreements in this situation.

The latest unemployment figures were released last week, and now stand at 5.1% - this is the highest since September of 2020, and a number that has been steadily rising since 2022. 

Economist and Policy Director at The New Zealand Council of Trade Union’s Craig Renney says that there are much more complex and worrying numbers behind this number of 5%. 

Producer Evie spoke to Renney about why our unemployment numbers continue to rise, how the government can help people get back into work and whether we’re going to see an ease in these numbers anytime soon.

This week, Global Innovator, Matt Hart, Joins News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, and Producer Evie in studio to discuss AI in a working environment.

Donald Trump, inaugurated nearly two weeks ago, launched his own meme coin, a cryptocurrency that originates from a personality or internet culture. The coin was launched on January 17th, two days before his entering into office, and has now accumulated close to 100 million in trading fees over this time. 

The coin reached 14.5 billion dollars overall market value, now falling by two-thirds its original value. Questions have been raised about conflicts of interest, and intersection of business and government. 

Sasha spoke to Professor of Law and Business at The University of Auckland, Alexandra Andhov, about the Trump Crypto Launch and the wider influence of meme coins and cryptocurrency.