Nine To Noon for Wednesday 11 September 2019

 

09:05 Hydro schemes exempt from water cleanup plan

Why are six hydro power schemes exempt from the government's new fresh water quality plan? The plan, announced last week by Environment Minister David Parker, is now out for consultation and would introduce a national 'bottom line' across 23 water quality measures. But hydro schemes like the Manapouri Power Scheme are explicitly exempt. That has campaigners in Southland concerned about the impact it'll have on an already sick Waiau River. Kathryn Ryan talks to Waiau Rivercare Group member and environmental scientist Clare Jordan, Southern Scenic Jet owner/operator Joyce Kolk and Mahina-a-rangi Baker from the Kahui Wai Māori advisory group, which is strongly opposed to the exemptions.

09:20 Whakarongo mai ki a Scotty rāua ko Stacey Morrison​

Bringing te reo Māori into the family home and into workplaces is a mission for Scotty and Stacey Morrison. The couple is at the forefront of a resurgence in te reo. Both have new books out; Stacey's is My First Words in Māori  and Scotty's - Māori at Work. They talk to Kathryn about how to introduce te reo to children and encourage your work colleagues to engage with the language.

09:45 Australian government plans to drug test beneficiaries

Australia correspondent Annika Smethurst looks at plans to trial the drug testing of welfare recipients, starting with those on the Newstart and Youth Allowance. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he's "puzzled" by widespread opposition to the plan. 

10:05 Dr Anne Aly - Australia's first female Muslim MP

Dr Anne Aly is the first Muslim woman to be sworn in to the Australian Federal parliament. Born in Egypt, her family moved to Australia when she was a young girl. Growing up, she says she perfected the art of straddling two worlds, "masquerading as the typical Aussie teenager or the dutiful Egyptian daughter and gliding seamlessly between the two." After September 11, she was drawn to study radicalisation and what drives people to it, becoming a leading commentator on counter-terrorism, before standing for the Australian Labour party in the 2016 election and winning the seat of Cowan in Western Australia. Dr Aly has written her life story, Finding My Place, in which she opens up about her first marriage to a violent man, life as a single mother, and being the victim of racist attacks and death threats after 9/11.

10:35 Book review - Dead Letters by Jared Davidson

Jonathan West reviews Dead Letters by Jared Davidson, published by Otago University Press.

10:45 The Reading

Part two of A Sense of Belonging told by Tina Cook from the series Waitapu by Helen Margaret Waaka.

11:05 Music with Yadana Saw

Music reviewer Yadana Saw plays some old and new releases to showcase the language of Aotearoa during Te Wiki o te reo Māori.

11:20 Carrie Gibson - El Norte

America's Spanish roots with historian Carrie Gibson. Her book, El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic
history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present. 

 

11:45 Supercool organs, good sleep genes and smart parasites

Science correspondent Siouxsie Wiles looks at how an improved supercooling method could extend the life of donated organs by a day, the genetic mutation that makes people feel rested on just six hours sleep and how Toxoplasma gondii is a successful parasite that infects nearly a third of humans - now researchers have figured out how the parasite knows it's in a cat and not another mammal so it can perpetuate its life cycle.