95bFM: The Friday Wire with Hamish Fletcher

95bFM: The Friday Wire with Hamish Fletcher

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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12:00 bFM news, weather and surf

12:07 bFM news report

Michael McClelland looks into yesterday’s protest against our cannabis laws that saw activists lighting up outside Parliament.

12:10 Bernard Hickey, economic commentator - Interest.co.nz.

The New Zealand dollar’s strength against the greenback has dominated the business pages of late. Recently, the Kiwi dollar could just about buy US 80c, which is good news for any New Zealanders travelling to North America or importing U.S products. However, the situation is not as rosy for our exporters and economy, especially since Reserve Bank governor Allan Bollard is reluctant to dip his hand into the currency mix to devalue our dollar. But just why is the Kiwi doing so well against its US counterpart? Bernard Hickey from Interest.co.nz joins me on the show to discuss what’s going on behind the scenes and the implications it could have.

12:30 David Small, lawyer and academic at the University of Canterbury.

The Government’s planned reforms of New Zealand liquor laws have jumped their first hurdle, with the Alcohol Reform Bill passing its first reading in Parliament yesterday. Included in the raft of reforms are changes to the police’s ability to enforce liquor bans. In this area, Canterbury lawyer and academic David Small is urging caution. He argues that before we extend powers, we need to examine the way police currently enforce these bans. Small believes current procedure “amounts to the criminalization of youth” with police unfairly targeting young people who are breaching the bans while letting off older New Zealanders for the same offence. He’ll be joining me on the show to discuss this and what he’d like to see change.

12:40 Jane Kelsey, Professor of Law at the University of Auckland and editor of No Ordinary Deal.

In December, New Zealand will host the next round of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, a free trade compact which includes countries such as Brazil, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. While the Government is keen to sort out an agreement in the hopes New Zealand will be able to enter into the lucrative North American dairy market, a number of academics, lawyers and commentators are wary of the TPPA. Their analysis and criticism of the agreement has been pooled together in new book, No Ordinary Deal, and I spoke to the editor of the collection Jane Kelsey this morning. Kelsey is a professor of law at the University of Auckland and says there needs to be more open debate and dialogue around the TPPA, something politicians are not initiating or engaging in.

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