Nine To Noon for Monday 21 February 2022

09:05 Exporters shoring up against Covid cargo crisis

New Zealand's key exporters are chartering private ships to ferry produce to foreign markets, amid a Covid-driven cargo crisis. Meat producers and fresh fruit and vege producers are struggling to get goods to overseas buyers because of on-going container ship congestion.  As more goods are being shipped, and delays lay siege to best-by dates, meat company Affco has resorted to chartering private vessels to get exports - valued at close to $120m - to their overseas markets. The company's third ship recently set sail from the Port of Tauranga, carrying 6,000 tonnes of frozen meat, destined for California and America's emptying meat aisles. And it's not just Affco. Rival meat companies and other primary producers are on board.  In fact half the space in the first export vessel chartered was taken up by pip fruit exporters.  Kathryn is joined by Simon Beale, both Logistics Manager for Turners and Growers, and Chair of the NZ Council of Cargo Owners and Mark de Lautour, Head of Affco sales and marketing, who have chartered three ships so far, and predicts this predicament is set to continue for three more years.

09:30 Marae health centre stepped in to provide care during Delta

 A community health clinic in Auckland says during last year's Delta outbreak, it became the default provider of medical and welfare care for self-isolating patients, because the Ministry of Health was failing to provide adequate care. Papakura Marae Health Centre serves a community of more than 3,200 people, with at least 95 percent identifying as Māori or Pasifika. When the government moved to a mixed MIQ and Community Supported Isolation and Quarantine (CIQ) model, the Ministry of Health contracted Whakarongorau Aotearoa to carry out a remote check-in service for patients. However the Papakura Marae Health Centre soon observed issues with the service, including reports of whānau isolating in unsafe homes and a failure to consistently perform timely check-ins and reviews. The Papakura Marae Health Centre decided to step in and take over the role of the Ministry of Health's system. Kathryn Dr Matire Harwood is a GP at the Papakura Marae Health Centre. She is also Associate Professor at the University of Auckland and senior researcher at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.

09:45 Africa correspondent Debora Patta

The drought in Horn of Africa, Debora outlines how it is affecting Somalia and Ethiopia. She also looks at instability in many parts of the continent, including coups in Sudan and Burkina Faso, and the French military has pulled out of Mali. All this is against a backdrop of 18 different extremist groups on the rise across Africa. Meanwhile the the Omicron wave is subsiding in South Africa where it was first discovered, with scientists saying this could be the country's pandemic exit wave 

Debora Patta is based in South Africa.

10:05 Dayna Grant: Real-life Wonder Woman

Today Kathryn speaks with an accomplished horse rider, archer, martial artist, gymnast and sword fighter who can fall from high places and emerge from fire unscathed! If she sounds like a modern day Wonder Woman, that's actually fitting, because that's probably where you've seen her last. Dayna Grant is a Kiwi stuntwoman with multiple film and TV credits to her name: from the early days on Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess to Max Max: Fury Road, Snow White and Huntsman, Underworld 3, The Meg, Adrift and yes, Wonder Woman 1984. Her work on that last production netted her a Screen Actors Guild Award last year for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture. The Ngapuhi performer and mother of three is also the founder of the New Zealand Stunt School, which helps to train the next generation of stunt artists.

10:35 Book review: Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz

Sally Wenley reviews Dark Horse by Gregg Hurwitz, published by Penguin Random House

10:45 The Reading

We begin the 15 part adaptation of "Live Bodies" by Maurice Gee, read by Stuart Devenie. 

11:05 Political commentators Jones & Thomas

Neale, Ben and Kathryn will discuss the future of the mandates and look at the political management and messaging around the ongoing and growing protest at Parliament .  

Neale Jones was Chief of Staff to Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, and prior to that was Chief of Staff to Andrew Little. He is the director of Capital Government Relations.

Ben Thomas is a PR consultant and a former National Government press secretary.

11:30 Eating the right food for gut health

We are looking at fibre - how to consume it and why it's good for you. Australia's national science agency has a new publication The CSIRO Gut Care Guide. The book contains information about how the gut assists wellbeing, what role diet plays, information about foods that are high in fibre and resistant starch and also some recipes. CSIRO Research Dietitian, Megan Rebuli is one of the book's contributors and says a healthy gut is pivotal to a healthy body.

11:45 Off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne and kereru

Kennedy has the story of "Lucky," a kereru chick that is being raised by its parents on photographer Rod Morris's property in Broad Bay, on the Otago Peninsula. He also talks to Kathryn about a kereru restoration project being conducted in the Auckland suburb of Kohimarama. 

 

Music played in this show

Track: In the Eyes of Our Love
Artist: Yumi Zouma 
Broadcast time: 10:40am

Track: Beach Boy 
Artis: Benee
Broadcast time: 11:35am