95bFM: The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady 23/07/08

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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1220 – Mark Goshe

Beginning the show today with an interview I did this morning with Labour MP Mark Goshe. He's the chair of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee which a few days ago reported back on the government's Immigration Bill. It's a massive piece of proposed legislation that has copped a fair bit of flak in some media circles. You may have heard scoop's Gordon Campbell lambasting the thing on Kim's wire yesterday for example. Well, this morning Mark told me that a number of the points raised by Gordon and others are misinformed, owing to the Bill's complicated structure. But Goshe says he's confident a fair balance has been stuck between the needs of the individual and those of the state in matters of national security as they pertain to immigration. We went through some of the nuts and bolts, and you can hear that interview at twenty past twelve.

1240 – Party Pills (again)

At twenty to one, Chief Executive of the Drug Foundation Ross Bell will join me to have a chat over the resurgence of those damned Party Pill's in our nation's media. What do you know, now that BZP's gone, there's concern that whatever replaced it is just as bad. Although, it;s hard to say because no one knows what's in these things, and the people that make them aren't obligated to disclose that information. Ross told me this morning the whole thing's a great non-event, or more of an I-told-you-so for him. Indeed, when I spoke to Ross a couple of months ago, this is pretty much what he predicted. So who dropped the ball? And more importantly, why is so much breath wasted on party pills when there are bigger drug-fish to fry?

1300 – Paul Buchanan

At one I'll play another interview I did this morning, this time with international security expert Paul Buchanan – now residing in sunny Florida. He has a very thought provoking piece on scoop that laments a lack of public discourse around NZ's military commitment in Afghanistan. That commitment is due to expire in September, and Paul reckons it needs to be reassessed in light of a resurgent Taliban, and a Nato-led force increasingly on the back foot. And with Condoleeza Rice set to touch down here Friday, the debate is as timely as ever.

1320 – Counterclockwise

Selwyn Manning from the illustrious scoop will be here for counterclockwise at twenty past one today, where he'll be looking at what exactly Ms. Rice's visit will entail. Is this a good chance for the NZ media to ask some hard questions – will they even get the opportunity? And what might she be looking for from our Aotearoa?

1340 – Book She Read

And we round out the show today with another installment of Book She Read with Sally. Today we'll be going through the winners and losers of the Montana Book awards held Monday night in Wellington. There was even a whiff or two of controversy, so I'm looking forward to picking over them bones.

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