Nine To Noon for Monday 8 July 2019

 

 

 

09:05 Major medicines & medical devices shake-up

A rewrite of the Medicines Act, is likely to result in a new regulatory body for medical devices, as well as medicines. At the same time, the government is extending the role of its drug buying agency Pharmac, to the purchase of medical devices such as orthopaedic joints, heart valves, and surgical mesh, and MRI machines. What will these changes mean for patient safety, and for access to new treatments and technology? The Health Minister David Clark and Faye Sumner from the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand, discuss the shake-up.

09:20 The school holiday conundrum for parents

It's day one of the school holidays and for a lot of parents, making sure the kids are cared for over the next two weeks will have involved a great deal of co-ordination and juggling. There's always school holiday programmes and the range offered up these days seems endless. But they can be expensive. Glenda Hopkins helps run 4 kids and whanau in Glenfield, on Auckland's North Shore. She'll tell Kathryn about how they're doing something that's a bit different to ease the burden on parents in their community. Jarrod Haar, a professor of human resource management at AUT has helped research the impact of school holidays on working mums - is it time for employers to step up and offer more flexibility?

09:45 Seamus Kearney with news from Europe

Leftist rule in Greece looks like it is coming to an end, a second migrant rescue ship defies an Italian docking ban and will the European Commission get its first female President.

10:05 Amanda Little: The Fate of Food

As droughts, floods, storms and unseasonal temperatures affect the global food supply, what will humans eat in the future? Author and Professor of investigative journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University Amanda Little has spent four years travelling around the United States and the world researching what people, business and governments are doing to ensure humanity can be fed sustainably and equitably. Her book is called The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World. In it, she explores meat grown in labs from cultured animal cells, crop weeding robots that remove the need for pesticides and vertical indoor farms where vegetables are grown with neither sun nor soil.

10:35 Book review - Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson

Kiran Dass has been reading Constellations: Reflections from Life by Sinéad Gleeson, which is published by Picador.

10:45 The Reading

The Quiet Spectacular by Laurence Fearnley told by Katherine McRae (Part 6 of 10)
 

11:05 Political commentators Hooton & Mills

Matthew and Stephen look ahead at the factors which may determine an election result, and also examine where the parties are at with 12 months before election campaigning begins in earnest.

Stephen Mills is the executive director of UMR Research and former political adviser to two Labour governments. Matthew Hooton is the managing director of the PR and lobbying firm, Exceltium.
 

11:30 Nelson's Chia sisters, nutritious drinks 

A few years ago, when the market was particularly bombarded with energy drinks full of sugar and caffeine, Chloe and Florence Van Dyke aka "the Chia sisters" decided to develop their own range of beverages, using hydrated chia seeds and natural juices. Now their drinks range is sold in Australasia, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Chia seeds have many uses, here are some recipes for vanilla chia pudding, chia blueberry muffins and raw chia bircher muesli.

11:45 What's the Real Deal with Bunnings Flat Pack Houses?

Bunnings has introduced what they call a "flat pack" house. They sound affordable at $70-100k for a 2 to 3 bedroom/2 bathroom package. Mmore than 60 have sold in the last few months since launch. But is this a do-it-yourself solution to housing affordability, and are Bunnings flat-pack houses for DIYers? Bill talks to Kathryn about the pros and cons.

Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.

Music played in this show

Artist: Barrie
Song: Geology
Time played: 11.30