Nine To Noon for Tuesday 20 October 2020

 

 

09:05 Infrastructure projects - massive spend and massive challenges

Billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects are planned for around the country from major transport and energy projects to large scale construction,  hospital and school upgrades and climate resilience and flood protection. Kathryn talks with chair of the Infrastructure Commission Dr Alan Bollard, about the challenges to delivering these.

 

09:20 DC/AC - adapting the grid to renewables

Professor Neville Watson from the University of Canterbury's school of Electrical and Computer Engineering is leading the 'Architecture of the Future Low Carbon, Resilient, Electrical Power System' project, which has just secured over thirteen million dollars of MBIE funding to research the feasibility of a hybrid grid, and how high levels of DC generated by solar and wind power, electric vehicles and battery storage can be integrated into the existing AC grid.

09:45 USA correspondent Susan Davis 

The state of the presidential race with Donald Trump campaigning in places he won handily in 2016, suggests weaknesses in the firewall, but the US President says 'they're going to win and win big'. Also he calls Anthony Fauci a disaster.

Susan Davis is a congressional correspondent for NPR and a co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast.10:05

10:05 How author Tania Roxborogh is luring kids into Māori mythology

Tania is an award-winning author whose latest work draws young readers into the world of Māori mythology  - through a rollicking tale of adventure. Tania Roxborogh has written more than thirty published works, including the Banquo's Son Trilogy and Bastion Point, 507 days on Takaparawha which netted her the 2017 Esther Glen Award for children's literature. She balances her writing career with her day job as a high school English teacher, and her studies toward a Masters in Te Reo Maori. She's of Ngati Porou descent and her latest work, Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature of the Sea is set in that iwi's rohe at Tolaga Bay. One-legged 13-year-old Charlie is about to learn that his grandfather's tales of warring gods and mythical sea creatures might not be so crazy after all. She tells Kathryn about where she found inspiration for Charlie.

10:35 National's caucus gathers post its election defeat

The National Party caucus is holding its first meeting since its election trouncing by Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party at the weekend. In total 21 MPs lost their seats as a red wave swept the country. So how to rebuild for the next election?

10:40 Book review - The Survivors by Jane Harper

Catriona Ferguson reviews The Survivors by Jane Harper, published by Macmillan.

10:45 The Reading

The Mesmerist, episode 12. Written and read by Barbara Ewing.

11:05 Business and the government in the new term

Business commentator Rod Oram joins Kathryn to talk about the challenges facing Labour in its second term, including pandemic-induced uncertainty, business-related climate deadlines, environmental and ecosystem legislation reform and fair pay agreements.

11:30 Tamatea/Dusky: The birthplace of New Zealand conservation 

 It's remote and rugged, an archipelago of over 700 islands - and the birthplace of New Zealand's conservation efforts. Tamatea or Dusky Sound's beauty and history have been captured in a new book by Peta Carey, which also documents the lengths to which people have gone to protect the wildlife living within it. Resolution Island, the biggest in the area and named for the ship sailed by Captain James Cook as he charted "Dusky Bay" and its surrounds in 1773, became New Zealand's first sanctuary just over a century later. Groundbreaking work on predator control continues in the area today, as Peta found out during her research for Tamatea Dusky: Conservation and history in Fiordland's Dusky Sound.

11:45 Media commentator Andrew Holden

Andrew casts an eye over the election coverage, looking at how the media performed across the long campaign covering policy and fact-checking.

Andrew Holden was a journalist for more than 30 years including five as Editor of The Press (in Christchurch) and four as Editor-in-Chief of The Age in Melbourne. 

Music played in this show

 

Track: Nobody Knows My Name

Song: Laura Mvula & Chris Bowers

Time: 11:50