95bFM: The Wire

Bay of Plenty Reggae festival One Love have announced their 2026 cancellation earlier this week, citing the ongoing cost of living crisis and unforeseen behind-the-scenes developments as the reason why. Speculation around the cancellation continues to tie the festival's legacy to its previous promoter and founder, Pato Alvarez, following his sex offending conviction in 2023.

Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to musician and sound engineer Lora Thomson, about what the cancellation of the festival indicates for Aotearoa’s live music scene, and the accessibility of venues and touring circuits for musicians in Aotearoa.

ActionStation Aotearoa, KickBack, and over 40 opposition leaders, community leaders, and organisations, launched an open letter on Monday regarding the government’s potential policy to ban rough sleeping in Auckland’s CBD.

The proposed ban, despite the proposal being in its early stages of discussions, has been heavily condemned across the sector, and has raised the question of where those rough sleeping would go?

News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Aaron Hendry, the General Manager and Co-Founder of KickBack, a youth development organisation responding to homelessness, about this open letter.

On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced a new National Party Kiwisaver policy, where they’re looking to further increase the default Kiwisaver contribution rate. Luxon said, if re-elected, National would continue to gradually increase the default contribution rates by 0.5% per year until 2032, when both employees and employers would pay 6% each.

The Government also announced that New Zealand would become the latest country to halt new prescriptions for puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria. In response to this, Ricardo Menendez March told RNZ that the government was “buying into imported culture wars”. 

And last week saw the end of the COP30 climate summit. One of the major outcomes of the summit was that more than 80 countries, including the United Kingdom and Pacific Island Nations, signed a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, but New Zealand chose not to.

For our Weekly Catchup with The Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March about The Green Party’s reaction to the COP30 summit, as well as their thoughts on the Government’s decision to halt new prescriptions of puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria.

But first, we started with National’s new Kiwisaver policy.

Following our previous discussion with The Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March, Wednesday Wire Host Max decided to further break down The National Party’s new Kiwisaver Policy with Robert MacCulloch, the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics, and Professor in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Auckland.

Here’s what he thought about the newly announced policy by National, and why he's disturbed by it.

This week on the Wednesday Wire:

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max, spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about The National Party’s newly announced Kiwisaver policy, The Green Party’s reaction to the COP30 Climate Summit, as well as their reaction to the Government choosing to halt new prescriptions for puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria.

Following this, Max also spoke with Robert MacCulloch, the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics, and Professor in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Auckland, to discuss The National Party’s new Kiwisaver policy.

Producer Castor spoke to James Russel, a Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Auckland, about the government considering adding feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 list.

And News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to Aaron Hendry, the General Manager and Co-Founder of KickBack, about an open letter they have signed over the government’s proposed policy to ban rough sleeping in Auckland’s CBD.

Last week, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced plans to add feral cats to the government’s list of pests to be eradicated by 2050. The decision follows a campaign promise from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made in a debate in 2023. 

Feral cats pose numerous wildlife risks when compared to other predators such as rats or stoats. In addition, their larger size makes trapping more difficult, meaning new techniques will need to be developed. To discuss the change, why it’s important, and how it fits in with the larger predator free 2050 mission, producer Castor spoke to Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Auckland, James Russell.

Last week, US President Donald Trump put forward a 28 point peace plan as a proposed resolution to the war between Ukraine and Russia — with an initial expectation of response by the 27th of November. 

The initial plan included an agreement by NATO to hold dialogue with Russia, to refuse current and future Ukrainian access to NATO, and not station troops in Ukraine, and Europe commit $100 billion to the investment into Ukrainian construction; also providing “financial compensation” for the role of the United States in mediation.

Following backlash from European leaders as well as negotiations between Trump and Zelenskyy, the plan has been refined, with further discussions to take place over the coming week.

Wire Host Sara spoke to University of Otago professor Robert Patman about Trump’s peace plan and the wider impact on international diplomacy

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Dr Cushla McGoverin chats with us about moss in space, a use for mosquitos, and how turtles detect magnetic fields

At COP30, New Zealand has not joined over 80 countries in signing a global plan to phase out fossil fuels.

Climate Minister Mark Mitchell has defended this move, saying that the government was already committed to “transition away” from fossil fuels, as of two years ago.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Sebastian Gehreke, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Climate and Energy Finance Group at the University of Otago, about COP30 and whether New Zealand’s climate policies are enough to justify not signing this roadmap

Recently, ACT MP Laura McClure has launched a member’s bill, proposing the disestablishment of the BSA, or Broadcasting Standards Authority.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to The Victoria University of Wellington’s Peter Thompson last week on the bill, who said this bill would “enable private media corporations to operate with impunity in pumping out propaganda and disinformation and the cost of that would be a further erosion of our democracy."

As well as this, Recently, the government has announced it will be halting new prescriptions for puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria pending a clinical trial in the UK, with the outcome of this trial set for 2031.

This move has seen backlash from a variety of LGBTQIA+ organisations and health experts working in gender-affirming care, who believe the move goes against the best interests of transgender youth.

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, Joel spoke to MP Simon Court about both of these topics, starting with Laura McClure’s member’s bill.