95bFM: The Monday Wire with Will Pollard

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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1210 – Report: Federated Farmers calls for MAF to ban artificial pollination in wake of Psa crisis.

1215 – Rachael Le Mesurier, Executive Director of the NZ Aids Foundation

The world’s media is abuzz this week with reports that the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, appears to have softened his stance on condom use in some circumstances. In comments made to a German journalist for an upcoming book, the Pope has said that the use of condoms may sometimes be justified, for example, when used by a male prostitute to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV. The Church’s official stance has been that the use of condoms is sinful, as a form of artificial contraception. This view has been criticised in the past by campaign groups around the world who see it as a barrier to dealing with the AIDS crisis. While the Pope’s latest comments might not be revolutionary, they have been welcomed by the NZ Aids Foundation. Executive Director Rachael Le Mesurier says the new comments are ‘the first sign we have had that the Vatican is aware of the real need for condom use to prevent the HIV epidemic.’ Le Mesurier will be joining us on the show first up at around 12.15pm, to discuss the issue.

1225 – Dr Jan Wright, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright, has this week warned the government it could face costs of around $1 billion if it fails to meet the emissions reduction targets it has set for itself. After this year’s Copenhagen Climate Conference, New Zealand committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 by 10 to 20 per cent below 1990 levels. But based on current projections, our emissions levels are predicted not to fall, but to rise by up to 26% over the next ten years. If this is the case, Dr Wright says we will have to spend a lot of money on carbon credits. The government’s Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, says the commissioner’s $1 billion figure is mere speculation, and that the Copenhagen commitments are not binding in any event – but what message does that send about how seriously we take the issue of climate change? I’ll speak to the Commissioner at around 12.25pm.

1235 – Media Rage with James Coe

In the latest instalment our semi-regular ‘Media Rage’ feature, bFM’s resident rage-filled-man James Coe lets loose at his pick of the media’s news-mangling mess-ups.

1245 – Doug Gordon, CEO NZ Minerals Industry Association

And lastly on the show today, we’ll be hearing from Doug Gordon, CEO of the New Zealand Minerals Industry Association. We’re still awaiting further developments in the Pike River situation, but we will be speaking to Mr Gordon about safety in the mining industry more generally. Along with what is happening on the West coast, we’ve had the Chilean miners’ story all over the news in the last month, and there are ongoing reports of accidents in Chinese mines. What does this kind of publicity mean for an industry that is also coming under pressure from environmental campaigners, and how can mines be made safer? Mining simply seems to be risky business, is this just something we need to accept? We’ll have the NZMIA CEO on the show at around 12.45pm to tell us more about the dangers of mining and how we deal with them.

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