Nine To Noon for Friday 22 May 2020

 

 

09:05 Government urged to use new powers to help migrant workers

The government's being urged to hurry up and use new powers granted under legislation passed last week that would allow migrants to work in jobs outside their visa conditions. The fast-tracked immigration bill allows a 12-month time frame for the Minister to impose, vary or cancel conditions for groups of temporary entry class visa holders, extend expiry dates and waive any regulatory requirements for certain classes of application. There's about 350,000 temporary visa holders onshore and the government says over 200,000 of them have work visas with conditions that might need to be varied. Migrants who have lost their jobs are stuck in the country without the means to support themselves - they can't change jobs and they can't access the benefit. To discuss their situation, Lynn Freeman is joined by Scott Donaldson,  a senior associate with AWS Legal based in Queenstown, Anu Kaloti - President of the Migrant Workers Association and Sue Moroney, chief executive of Community Law.

09:20 Heightened risk of financial crime during Covid-19 downturn

There are warnings that bribery and corruption may become more attractive to struggling organisations and their executives during the uncertainty caused by COVID-19. Forensic accountant, Lorinda Kelly says during economic downturns there's always a heightened risk of corruption. That's because there are more opportunities to commit fraud and more pressure to do it, also people are more likely to rationalise their actions.

Lorinda Kelly was Deloitte's lead partner preparing its Australia and New Zealand's Bribery and Corruption Report 2020 which showed a 15% jump in the detection of fraud since its last survey in 2017.

09:45 Pacific correspondent Koro Vaka'uta 

The Prime Minister of Samoa continues to wrestle with dissenters within his party’s ranks and beyond. 

10:05  Luminaries designer: recreating colonial New Zealand

Kiwi production designer Felicity Abbott, talks with Lynn Freeman about the job of her life: recreating colonial New Zealand for The Luminaries TV series - an epic story of love, murder and revenge, set on the West Coast during the gold rush of the 1860s, and based on the Booker Prize winning novel by Eleanor Catton.

10:35 Book review - Phosphorescence by Julia Baird

Tamsin Martin of Scorpio Books, Christchurch, reviews Phosphorescence: on awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark by Julia Baird. This book is published by Fourth Estate.

10:45 The Reading

CK Stead's My Name Was Judas read by Stuart Devenie.  Part 10 of 13.  

11:05 Music reviewer Grant Smithies​

Grant is having flashbacks to Aotearoa's early rave scene this week, playing a few dopamine-addled deep techno tunes from the new album by Wellington producer Borrowed CS. We'll also hear some archetypal indie jangle from Birmingham's Felt and a seriously nostalgic UK club classic from Soul II Soul.  

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Sam talks to Lynn about speculation in cricket circles over Kane Williamson's captaincy, the NZ National Basketball League (NBL) is to play a condensed 6 week tournament with all teams based in Auckland and the NRL's soap opera season is set to restart next week.
 

11:45 The week that was - behind the scenes at the museum!

Our comedians Te Radar and Melanie Bracewell have a feast of funnies, including the tale of the Sydney man accused of breaking into Australia's oldest museum to snap selfies with the dinosaur exhibit.