95bFM: The Wire

Today on The Wire we talked all about voter enrolment ahead of the October 25th enrolment deadline. For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about the importance of this election for Tāmaki Makaurau. For Politics with Whakaata Māori, they spoke to Daniel Perese about recent Whakaata Māori-Curia polling and rangatahi Māori voter enrolment. And they spoke to Malak Tamimi, National Secretary for Make It 16, about The Youth Debate on Tuesday night, and low voter enrolment amongst young people. Producer Flo spoke with Labour MP Shanan Halbert about youth enrolment, the Te Pati Maori and Greens meeting with the mongrel mob, social media ban for under 16s and opinion polling on the upcoming election. And Producer Eloïse spoke with Esther O’Donnell from On a Roll about the importance of rangatahi being enrolled to vote.

Whakaata Māori-Curia polling across Māori electorates in recent weeks has shown interesting, exciting, and unexpected results ahead of voting opening on Monday. And as the enrolment deadline approaches on Sunday, only 54.2% of rangatahi Māori are enrolled to vote, according to Māori voter participation data. For Politics with Whakaata Māori, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Daniel Perese from Te Ao Māori news about these issues.

For City Counselling this week, Wire host Caeden caught up with Councillor Shane Henderson about the importance of this election for the future of Tāmaki Makaurau, and why people should enrol and turn out to vote.

Make It 16 collaborated with Gen-Z Aotearoa, On A Roll, Tomorrow Together, and Social Change Collective to host The Youth Debate on Tuesday night. The debate included representatives from all parties in parliament, as well the Opportunity Party. The goal of the debate was to bring young people into the election conversation, especially in the context of low youth voter enrolment. Wire Host Caeden caught up with Make It 16 National Secretary Malak Tamimi about the event.

17 days out from the election, what does the elected official with the most votes in the muto think about the issues facing our city, and what will this election will mean for it? For our first ever in person interview with Mayor of Auckland Wayne Brown on The Wednesday Wire, Host Manny asks about Bed Levy's, the relationship between Auckland and the Wellington based government, and the mayors favourite song in his set.

The 17th United Nations conference for biodiversity has begun this week in Armenia. The meeting brings countries together to review the world’s progress towards the Kunming-Montreeal Global Biodiversity Framework which outlines targets for 2030 and 2050. New Zealand has made some improvements since the last conference in 2024, developing its own biodiversity strategy, however a lack of funding for this plan and other recent governmental decisions has left New Zealand’s biodiversity trajectory in doubt. To discuss the conference and the state of New Zealand’s biodiversity progress producer Thomas talked to University of Auckland Professor Cate Macinnis-Ng.

This week on the Tuesday Wire... For Dear Science this week, we chat with our expert Dr Cushla McGoverin, about the Nobel Prizes for Physics and Chemistry And for our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Alex speaks with MP Dan Bidois about tensions with local government over head-start proposals, and nationals LNG plans after the election. And Producer Thomas talks to University of Auckland Professor Cate Macinnis-Ng about the 17th United Nations Biodiversity Conference.

In the last week left before enrolments close for the upcoming general election, 95bFM Election Night Hosts Manny and Sara chat on the election, electorates and MMP. Consider this your reminder to enrol to vote before the 25th of October, and of course, to tune into bFM on election night November 7th for some very special election coverage!

University of Auckland Associate Professor and political theory expert Dr Stephen Winter published an article last week discussing how a pattern of short-term policy reversals in New Zealand contributes to instability and underinvestment in sectors like environmental, infrastructure, and financial policy. He highlights that kiwi should be better engaged in discussions around our constitution, and highlights that public reaction to the Treaty Principles Bill demonstrates that these decisions are crucial. Producer Sara spoke with Dr Stephen Winter about his article and the topic of constitutional stability in New Zealand

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, Wire Host Sara spoke to MP Simon Court about Resource Management Act reforms set to impact councils from the end of this month Sara also spoke to University of Auckland’s Dr Stephen Winter about New Zealand’s constitutional instability. Finally, Manny and Sara – who will be your Election Night Hosts on bFM, sat down for a little kōrero about the election.