Nine To Noon for Wednesday 16 June 2021

 

09:05 Wellington Regional Council wants buses back in public ownership

The Wellington Regional Council is pushing the government to put buses and bus infrastructure back into public ownership. The capital's bus system continues to struggle with driver shortages - which have led to cancelled buses and changes to the timetables. There have also been strikes amid recent pay talks between NZBus and the union - a deal was reached yesterday, confirmed to RNZ by the Tramways Union. The Government is reviewing the Public Transport Operating Model which was introduced in 2013 to encourage competition between companies for long-term council contracts for bus services.  Submissions close on Friday, and the Wellington Regional Council will be pushing for a return to public ownership.  Kathryn talks with Chair of the Wellington Regional Council Daran Ponter.

09:20 Ski industry pleads for visas for skilled workers

Ski industry leaders are pleading with the Government to cut red tape and allow skilled overseas workers in for the winter, saying the economic revival of regional areas is at stake. Ski operators say they're in urgent need of highly-skilled groomer operators and don't understand why Immigration New Zealand is declining those visa applications.  Meanwhile other specialised workers -- ski instructors -- are having visas approved, but are facing huge wait times to have them processed. They say the current restrictions are hampering the recovery of the country's ski industry and the winter tourism market. Kathryn speaks with Paul Anderson, the chief executive of NZSki, which manages three ski fields in the South Island; the Remarkables and Coronet Peak, and Mt Hutt, and Jono Dean, the chief executive of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, which runs Whakapapa and Tūroa skifields in the North Island. 

09:45 New research: bus-sized rocks swamped Kaikōura Canyon

New data revealing the sheer unseen power of an earthquake, indicates a "mega flood" of  rocks swamped Kaikoura's seabed during 2016's 7.8 quake. On-going research undertaken by NIWA using Swedish robots, shows boulders the size of a doubledecker bus, in a hundreds-of-metres high avalanche, have fundamentally altered Kaikoura canyon's geography and exceptional ecology. Before the earthquake the Kaikoura canyon was an acclaimed biodiversity hotspot.  Just hundreds of meters off the coast, it contained more life than ever seen before at its depth. An online international Canyon Conference has been taking place this week. Keynote speaker NIWA marine geoscientist Dr Joshu Mountjoy tells Kathryn about his team's latest research findings.

09:45 Australia correspondent Bernard Keane

Bernard joins Kathryn to talk about the free trade deal announced between Australia and the United Kingdom, with 99 percent of Aussie goods able to enter the UK duty free once the deal comes into force next year. The deal was agreed while Scott Morrison was at the G7, where he was denied a one-on-one meeting with US President Joe Biden - was that a consequence of his support for Donald Trump and his climate denialism? And a Tamil family locked away on Christmas Island and under threat of deportation have been reunited at a Perth hospital where the youngest child is receiving treatment.

10:05 Steve Biddulph: why we need to listen to our gut instinct

Psychologist and author Steve Biddulph is a best known for his very popular parenting books Raising Boys and Raising Girls. His latest book takes on a slightly bigger subject: the human race in general!  Steve Biddulph says humans have a kind of super-sense, often called a gut instinct, which we need to learn how to tap into in order to become fully human. He argues if we pay attention, this super-sense can offer us daily guidance on all manner of decisions - from whether to leave a relationship, to whether to have that second cup of coffee. By learning to read our bodies, emotions and brains, he says we can all become more present, steady and calm. His book is called Fully Human.

10:35 Book review: Party Legend by Sam Duckor Jones

Faith Wilson reviews Party Legend by Sam Duckor Jones, published by VUP   

10:45 The Reading

Seduction, by Carl Nixon. Read by Jed Brophy.

11:05 Music with Yadana Saw

With recent news that pop music producer Joel Little has sold his music catalogue for undisclosed millions to music service Hipgnosis, Yadana Saw will be taking us into the world of songs management – where songs may be treated like commodities such as gold and oil.  We’ll hear a posthumous release from Prince, the artist who brought this issue to the fore by once going as TAFKAP (the artist formerly known as Prince).

11:20 New book challenges Kiwi farming stereotypes

Asked to think of a "typical Kiwi farmer" and your mind might stray to a Fred Dagg or a Wal Footrot, but a new book has captured the diversity of those making a living off the land. The Kiwi Farmers Guide to Life: Rural Tales from the Heartland  has been written by agricultural journalist Tim Fulton. It includes 25 stories of those in the agri-field, mostly farmers or farming families  - but also agri-business entrepreneurs and scientists. The book doesn't shy away from examining farming's modern day challenges - like waterway pollution, or its historical issues - including discrimination against migrants. Tim joins Kathryn from Fieldays, along with Gurnek Bindra - who runs a dairy farm in the Waikato.
 

11:45 America's cup hosting offer rejected

The next America's Cup looks very unlikely to be raced in New Zealand. The Board of Team New Zealand has this morning rejected the joint Crown-Auckland Council offer of just under $100 million in cash and support to host the next regatta. The Auckland mayor Phil Goff has just been speaking to media. RNZ reporter Sarah Robson.

11:45 Science with Allan Blackman

Allan joins Kathryn to talk about why it's taken 20 years to sequence the human genome - but there's still more to be done. Why have three experts resigned from the US Food and Drug Administration over the approval of an Alzheimer's drug? And could a mosquito hack cut the rates of Dengue Fever?

Allan Blackman is a Professor of Chemistry, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology