95bFM Thursday Wire with Hamish Fletcher 26.11.09

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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Coming up on the show:

1215: The government’s Climate Change Response (Moderated Emissions Trading) Amendment Bill passed into law yesterday following days of debate and a rather controversial deal between National and the Maori party. The new scheme is a rather watered down version of the one passed by Labour and is less harsh on polluters than many would have liked. The Greens and Labour have been outspoken critics of National’s climate change plans, and so has the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright, and she joins me at quarter past twelve to discuss the scheme and the problems she sees with it.

1245: The National Government is once again up to their old tricks, and like their predecessors have allowed the private sector access to our prison system under new legislation passed this morning under urgency. Corrections Minister Judith Collins says she isn’t planning "wholesale privatisation" and that private prisons will still be answerable to the Department of Corrections. However, many are not swayed by Collins’ assurances, and one such sceptic is Bevan Hanlon the National President of Corrections Associations New Zealand who is joining me at quarter to one to discuss his concerns.

1315: If research from the Cawthron Institute is to be believed then the Manawatu River is among the most polluted in the world. Under a system measuring oxygen changes in water (a measure of pollution), the Manawatu has a tremendously high reading, almost twice as much as the next worst waterway in a list of over 300 rivers and streams across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. This questions New Zealand’s status as a clean, green nation, and we must wonder how it’s been possible for things to get this bad. Environment Minister Nick Smith said it was widely known the Manawatu River was polluted and we can only wonder why something hasn’t been done about it. Alarmingly, the pollution is being blamed, for the most part, on farming run off and so to discuss the Manawatu pollution problem, I’ve got Don Nicholson the President of the National Board of Federated Farmers on the show.

1330: It’s time for Dear Science with Peter Griffin from the Science Media Centre in Wellington, keeping you informed with the best news in the scientific and technological communities. Today we’ll going over a range of issues including the “climategate” hacker emails and the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

1340: At the end of the show, Pennie Papercuts will be joining me for the feature of the same name. Papercuts is a feature where each week Pennie reviews a different magazine or other such publication. Today, it’s Papercuts with a bit of a twist, and Pennie is reviewing some of her favourite fashion blogs.

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