Nine To Noon for Wednesday 19 April 2023
09:05 Wairoa floods: mayor pushes for inquiry
Photo: Supplied / Wairoa District Council
A month after the Wairoa mayor Craig Little asked the Hawkes Bay Regional Council to launch an inquiry into the February floods he's still waiting for an official response. Up to 400 homes on the north side of the town were inundated when the Wairoa River broke its banks during Cyclone Gabrielle. Some residents remain out of their homes. Mr Little says frustration is growing in the community over exactly what caused such a devastating event. In a letter to the Council last month he raised a raft of issues which he wants urgently investigated, including the role Genesis Energy may have played and the impact of forestry slash. He tells Kathryn the reasons for the severity of the flood need to be identified so history doesn't repeat.
09:30 Get them outdoors: 54% of kids don't exercise enough
Photo: Will Rodrigues/123RF
A new survey finds over half of our children are exercising less than an hour a day. That's under what is universally recommend by public health physicians for daily exercise. New Zealand, US and UK authorities recommend children and adolescents get a minimum of sixty minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity every day, including muscle and bone strengthening. Australian authorities recommend preschoolers be physically active for at least 3 hours each day, including an hour of energetic play. The survey, done by health insurer, NIB New Zealand, also finds parents are struggling to motivate children to get moving. To help with this Blues rugby players are behind a video to encourage more activity, and make it a life-long habit, starting with a relay where the winning school or junior rugby team can win $10,000. Kathryn speaks with NIB's Chief Medical Officer, Rob McGrath.
09:45 Australia: Voice referendum tweak, Melbourne bigger than Sydney
Australia correspondent Annika Smethurst joins Kathryn to talk about the Voice referendum and the Albanese government considering a possible tweak to the wording as it seeks to improve its chances of success. Meanwhile Indigenous elders and leaders from western New South Wales have labelled it an unexpected once-in-a-generation opportunity. Melbourne has edged Sydney out in the population stakes - the first time in 100 years. And Australia's and New Zealand's armies have committed to upgrading their historic trans-Tasman military partnership ahead of Anzac Day.
Annika Smethurst is political editor at The Age
Move over Sydney - Melbourne's taken the crown when it comes to being the most populous city in Australia. Photo: 123RF
10:05 High flyer - Tonga's first female airline pilot
When Silva McLeod was growing up on the Tongan island of Vava'u she dreamt of becoming an airline pilot, never imagining that one day that dream would be realised. Leaving island life behind after falling in love with her Australian husband Ken, her dream of flying took a back seat while the pair worked and raised a family in Melbourne. But with Ken's unwavering support and encouragement she eventually took to the skies and set out on a 30-year aviation career. Overcoming both sexism and racism, she became Tonga's first ever female airline pilot, working for Royal Tongan Airlines, and Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service before joining Virgin International, flying Boeing 777 jets around the world. Her book Island Girl to Airline Pilot is a story of love, sacrifice, and challenge. She joins Kathryn to talk about her remarkable life.
Silva McLeod Photo: Supplied
10:35 Book review: Ithaca by Alie Benge
Photo: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Ash Davida Jane reviews Ithaca by Alie Benge, published by Te Herenga Waka University Press
10:45 Around the motu: Robin Martin in Taranaki
RNZ Taranaki reporter Robin Martin joins Kathryn to look at the significant recent Treaty settlement in the region which, among other things, consigns the 'Mount Egmont' name for Taranaki Maunga to the history books. And he'll talk about the significance of a new whare opening at Taranaki Cathedral.
Taranaki Maunga today. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
11:05 Music with Charlotte Ryan
Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan joins Kathryn to play some music from last night's Taite Music Prize winner, Princess Chelsea.
Princess Chelsea Photo: Supplied
11:20 How a forgotten French diary led to a book on the memoirs of Major General Lindsay Inglis
It's 1917 in Messines and a shell-splinter has just hit the knee of Lindsay Inglis, a Kiwi soldier. He's given an anti-tetanus serum from a syringe the "size of a bicycle pump" and told he's just earned a ticket back to England. "Good Lord, Doc - I can't go to Blighty with a scratch like this." "Oh yes", the Doc replies. "Cushier ones than that are enough." This is the detail from the letters and memoirs of Inglis, who rose through the ranks to become a Major General and one of New Zealand's most prominent citizen soldiers. His words have been edited together in a book called "Death Among Good Men" by Nathalie Philippe, a French historian based at the University of Waikato who's also been a strategic advisor on the New Zealand Memorial Museum that will open later this year in Le Quesnoy. She tells Kathryn about the unusual way she came across Lindsay M Inglis and how it's helped shape the understanding of her own family's history in World War One.
Photo: Supplied
11:45 Science: Who's at highest risk of the flu? Penguin poo's vital role
Science commentator Laurie Winkless joins Kathryn to talk about a global view of who is most at risk of severe flu symptoms and even death. University of Melbourne did a meta-analysis of studies conducted in countries including New Zealand which found indigenous populations are five times more likely to be hospitalised than everyone else. How does vital nutrient iron get to the remote Southern Ocean for phytoplankton to grow? Spanish researchers have discovered the very vital role that penguin poo plays in iron recycling. And which parts of the brain are activated when reading? The role of the 'Jabberwocky' in the latest research.
Laurie Winkless is a physicist and science writer.
Photo: Pixabay, Wikipedia
Music played in this show
Track: The Fall
Artist: Rhye
Time Played: 09:44
Track: Home is where the hatred is
Artist: Esther Phillips
Time Played: 10:40
Track: Lady Day and John Coltrane
Artist: Gil Scott-Heron
Time Played: 10:43