Nine To Noon for Friday 6 April 2018

 

09:05 Push for post-grad allowances to be restored

Student unions are pushing for the Government to live up to its election promise and bring back allowances for post-graduate study. Weekly student allowances - which are means-tested and don't have to be paid back - were limited to undergraduate study by the previous Government in 2013. The New Zealand Union of Students' Associations President Jonathan Gee talks to Lynn Freeman.

09:20 Trials on medical marijuana 'urgently needed' for kids

Paedatricians say trials of medical cannabis in kids with behavioural disorders such as autism and ADHD are urgently needed. At the moment kids with behavioural and psychiatric disorders such as autism and ADHD are often prescribed drugs like anti-psychotics to control aggression or agitation. But they carry a risk of serious adverse effects, like induced weight gain, which in turn carry other health problems. Dr Daryl Efron, from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Melbourne, has just published a paper on this topic in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.

09:30 Bio-acoustic monitoring dispels 1080 'quiet forest' myth  

1080 drops are a major component of mammal control in New Zealand, and are supported by a wide range of conservation and farming agencies. Yet its use still courts controversy.  Roald Bomans has used bioacoustics, a developing area in ecology, to monitor native bird species in the Remutaka and Aorangi Ranges to investigate a claim by opponents that the aerial operations cause forests to fall silent. He did this by listening to recordings and developing a special detector for morepork calls. Collectively his bioacoustic monitoring showed no negative impact on the populations of native bird species.

09:45 Pacific correspondent Koro Vaka'uta 

Nauru cuts access to the Australian High Court for appeals without a suitable alternative, Fiji cleans-up after widespread flooding which has led to five deaths and a bill to raise the marital age for girls in American Samoa from 14 to 18 is defeated in the House.

10:05 Director Warwick Thornton: Australian western 'Sweet Country'

Inspired by real events, Sweet Country is Warwick Thornton's latest film, which explores the ugly history of Australia's outback. Set in 1929 in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal stockman Sam (played by newcomer Hamilton Morris) kills a white station owner in self-defence. Fearing they will be killed, Sam and his wife Lizzie (Natassia Gorey-Furber) go on the run. They are pursued by a posse of men including the local Sergeant, played by Bryan Brown. The film also stars Sam Neill as the god-fearing friend of Sam.

10:35 Book review

Niki Ward from Ekor Bookshop reviews Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane and Mary Poppins and the House Next Door by P.L. Travers, published by HarperCollins.

10:45 The Reading

The Long Way Home: Actor Bruce Hopkins is walking his father and brother’s ashes home to Rakiura/Stewart Island along Te Araroa – New Zealand’s Trail.

11:05 Music reviewer Grant Smithies​

Grant Smithies is smitten with the fourth Unknown Mortal Orchestra album, Sex and Food, released today. We also hear a storm-inspired collaboration between artist/composer Laurie Anderson and NYC string players Kronos Quartet, and a stone cold soul classic from New Orleans funkateers, The Meters.

11:30 Sports commentator Brendan Telfer

New Zealand has won a gold and two silver medals in cycling on day one of the Commonwealth Games. Brendan analyses the Black Caps' extraordinary win over England in Dunedin on Wednesday; and the Australian cricket team is once again caught in the middle of another unseemly 'sledging' row.

11:45 The Week that Was with Te Radar & Melanie Bracewell

The staggering cost of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding; a Canadian man 'pardoned' by hotel after a flock of seagulls trashed his room; and the rise of the "condom snorting challenge".