The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady

95bFM: The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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1207 - Vollie Report

At the top of the show Imogen Barrer from bFM's crack news team takes a look at Energy And Resource Minister Gerry Brownlee's $7.6 million research project to map New Zealand's oil and gas resources. Good timing...

1210 - 3 Strikes Law: David Garrett

Just after that at 1210 we'll hear from David Garrett, the Act MP who introduced the controversial Sentencing And Parole Reform bill to Parliament. That bill, also known as the 3 strikes bill, is now law after being passed last night. The law means repeat violent offenders will face maximum jail terms with no parole for a third conviction of one of 40 specified offences. It will apply to people over 18 and it is not retrospective. Offenders who commit one of the 40 crimes will be sentenced as normal, with the usual parole eligibility, for a first strike. A second strike will bring a sentence under normal criteria, but the jail term must be served with no parole unless doing so would be manifestly unjust. A third strike will bring a maximum sentence for that crime, with no parole. When I spoke to him this morning, Garrett was understandably chuffed at seeing the law passed, and told me New Zealand's ALREADY safer, that was quick.

1225 - Dr Paul Rainey - creating/patenting synthetic life

At 1225 we'll be talking about man playing God. Last week, researchers at the J Craig Venter Labs in the US announced a breakthrough that sent shock-waves through the scientific community, not to mention the breathless mass media. "Scientists make Artificial Life" ran the BBC headline, and similar headlines like "Meet God" heralded new research which for all intents and purposes - to the layman anyway - looked as though synthetic life HAD indeed been created. But it's not quite that simple, as I was told earlier today when I spoke to Dr Paul Rainey - a professor of evolutionary genetics at the NZ Institute for Advanced Study and Principle Investigator at the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology & Evolution. In a fascinating discussion, Paul also shared his thoughts on how patenting the technology could damage the study of biology and why the public is right to be wary of these kinds of breakthroughs.

1235 - Counterclockwise

Selwyn Manning steps out of scoop's petri dish to join us for counterclockwise at 1235. Today, Selwyn will follow up on a conference he mentioned a couple of weeks ago all about war reporting. Apparently it was a massive success, and threw out some very interesting discussion points.

1245 - Is Capitalism Working debate - Joe Carolan, UNITE

And at 1245 we take a look at a debate that Unite On Campus are putting on tonight in the Library Basement Theatre at the Auckland University. And boy do they have a moot for you! Teams will argue is capitalism working? There's a red team and a blue team featuring some big names from both the socialist and capitalist sides of the spectrum who will square off in a winner takes all death match. And refreshments will be provided!

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