Nine To Noon for Friday 12 June 2020

 

 

09:05 Transmission Gully, calls for inquiry

Amalgamated Workers' Union Northern National Secretary Maurice Davis tells Lynn Freeman he wants an inquiry into PPP's (Public Private Partnerships) procurement process, suggesting there should be a single desk procurement agency in place. This follows concerns about Transmission Gully's cost blow out, its members' recent wait to get back to work on the billion dollar twenty-seven km stretch of motorway north of Wellington, NZ's biggest ever PPP, which has been troubled by contractors leaving before lock-down, and whose completion date is as yet unclear.

09:15 Church abuse survivors implore others to tell their story to Commission

Two survivors of abuse in the Catholic church are imploring others to come forward and share their stories with the Royal Commission of inquiry. After lobbying by religious groups and church abuse survivors two years ago, the Commission on Abuse in care was expanded  to include religious institutions - not just state. The first public hearings for these survivors have been set down for three weeks from late November. Mike Ledingham and Steve Goodlass experienced abuse in two Catholic diocese. They tell Lynn Freeman the Church and other faith-based institutions must be held to account for the abuse suffered by many, and that requires the weight of the voices of many survivors.

09:30 Building back better - and green - post-Covid

Governments around the world are spending trillons right now to save and repair their economies during the Covid-19 pandemic - but the big question is, how do you spend it wisely? The government's Budget last month included a $50b Covid-recovery fund, including $3b for "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects. There have been multiple calls for those projects to have a green focus , and that very issue - how to ensure New Zealand's recovery is well-balanced with key environment goals - was the subject of a meeting yesterday of 65 corporate and public sector leaders - called the Fenwick Forum. Lynn talks to the co-chair of the Aotearoa Circle which hosted the Forum, Vicky Robertson, and environmentalist Sir Jonathon Porritt, who's analysed what some governments are doing to reflate their economies - while taking climate goals into account.

09:45 Asia correspondent Elizabeth Beattie

In Japan protesters have taken to the streets to demonstrate against police brutality both in solidarity with Black Lives Matter but also to call attention to a recent case of alleged police brutality in Tokyo. Although Hong Kong's Tiananmen Square Massacre vigil was banned by police citing Covid-19 concerns, many flouted the rules and came together to light candles in streets and in parks, and North Korea and South Korea halt communication.

Elizabeth Beattie is a Journalist at Thomson Reuters, based in Hong Kong

10:05 Extracting venom from deadly snakes: Paul Rowley

Paul Rowley is the Herpetologist at the Centre for Snake Bite Research and Intervention at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and for the last 26 years has been the only person in the United Kingdom routinely extracting venom from deadly snakes. The venom extracted is used to develop therapies to treat snake bite victims around the world. Paul has been on the receiving end of a few bites but estimates the venom he's extracted has been responsible for saving tens of thousands of lives in Sub-Saharan Africa.

10:35 Book review - Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils by David Farrier

Tilly Lloyd from Unity Books, Wellington, reviews Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils by David Farrier. Published by Fourth Estate.

What will the world look like ten thousand or ten million years from now? From long-lived materials like plastic and nuclear waste, to the 50 million kilometres of roads spanning the planet, in modern times we have created numerous objects and landscapes with the potential to endure through deep time. Through literature, art and science, Footprints invites us to think about how we will be remembered in the myths, stories and languages of our distant descendants.

10:45 The Reading

Rocking Horse Road by Carl Nixon read by Jason Whyte (final) 

No web rights 
 

11:05 New music with Jeremy Taylor - an NZ playlist

An all-NZ selection, including a compilation of Kiwi primitive exotica, new music from the poptastic King Sweeties, and outtake gems from Kiwi rock royalty The Phoenix Foundation.

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman - Super Rugby and more

The start of the Super Rugby  competition, with NZ teams versus NZ teams only. Interest in playing Australian and South African  teams has been waning for years, but now thanks to COVID, it's all local. Also a joint NZ bid with Australia is the front runner to host the prestigious FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023, now in a head to head race with Japan.

11:45 The week that was with

Our comedians Te Radar and Irene Pink

Music played in this show

Track: Weekend in the Dust
Artist: David Byrne and St Vincent
Time: 10:34

Track: Humanised
Artist: Sola Rosa & Bajka
Time: 11.45