Nine To Noon for Wednesday 7 June 2023

 

09:05 Cyclone Recovery Taskforce head Sir Brian Roche on the massive job ahead

Kathryn speaks with the man tasked with heading the government's Cyclone Recovery Taskforce on the massive and complicated job ahead.The devastation caused by the January and February flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle is still being felt in the North Island. It claimed 11 lives and destroyed properties with an estimated cost of up to $14.5 billion.Last week the Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson said 700 cyclone-damaged properties in Hawkes bay and Tairawhiti,  have been judged unrepairable and the cost of buying them out will be split between central and local government. 2500 homes will have to have more flood protection work. Sir Brian Roche chairs the Cyclone Recovery Taskforce - intended to be the bridge between local authorities, the government and the private sector as the long road to rebuild stretches ahead.

09:30 Massey University responds to students anxious over lack of tech for on-line, AI supervised exams

Anxious Massey University students say they are ill-prepared to sit exams on-line, supervised by AI, as now required by the university. Massey has recently introduced new rules, requiring thousands of undergraduates to sit exams on line, using an app called Remote Proctor Now which records and monitors students during on-line exams. It requires a webcam and microphone to be left on throughout the exam. Massey says it is providing laptops and quiet rooms, but student representatives say what’s being provided is not enough to meet the need. Kathryn speaks with Massey University Provost Professor Giselle Byrnes, and Massey's Student Association presidents Jake Law, Aniva Feau and Ramairoa Tawera.

09:45 Australia: Folbigg pardoned, 'unreliable witness', recession warning, Qantas share dump

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to talk about the decision to pardon and free Kathleen Folbigg, the woman once dubbed Australia's worst female serial killer for the deaths of her four baby children. Evidence showed Folbigg and two of her children carried a gene mutation which created reasonable doubt about her original conviction. She'll also talk about the judge making his 736-page judgment in the Ben Roberts-Smith case public, a further interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia to 4.1 percent - the 12th upward move in just over a year - and why the dumping of shares by outgoing Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has raised some eyebrows.

10:05 The Burned Letter: Helene Ritchie on her family's Holocaust mystery

When Helene Ritchie was young, her mother used to explain away their lack of relatives by saying "they just perished". The "they" was a mystery. So was "perished".  Her lack of understanding led to a 50-year journey to find out how her family came to be Jewish refugees in New Zealand, and to try to discover what happened to those left behind in Europe. Her mother Lidi once knew - courtesy of a letter she received five months after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps. But she burned it, something  - 70 years later - she admitted regretting. Helene travelled to Europe many times, researching and trying to fit pieces of her family's puzzle together. She spent 30 years with the Wellington City Council, becoming the longest-serving councillor and the first woman ever elected to be the city's deputy mayor. The result of Helene's meticulous research is The Burned Letter: A New Zealander's Holocaust Mystery. 

10:35 Book review: So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon

Harry Ricketts reviews So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon, published by Penguin

10:45 Around the motu : Matthew Rosenberg in Gisborne

Residents in rural Gisborne are feeling forgotten following Cyclone Gabrielle and upset over the state of the roads. Matthew has been speaking to 81 year old Jim who faces winter living in a caravan. Matthew has also spent some time travelling rough roads to Ruatoria where he met with the people behind iwi station Radio Ngati Porou, witnessing what a community lifeline they are - getting messages out during severe weather. And Gisborne is about to open multi-million dollar pool complex, but one local swimming club is upset after missing out on the contract

 

Local democracy reporter Matthew Rosenberg is based in the Gisborne Herald's newsroom.

11:05 Equine ecstasy: Music with Ian Chapman

Having previously explored musical depictions of chickens, goats, cats and dogs on Nine to Noon, this week it behooves Ian Chapman to turn his attention to horses. In doing so he finds that, far from having mere colt following, equine-inspired songs feature widely within popular music and beyond. 

Ian Chapman is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Music at Otago University.

 

11:20 Net migration rebounds: but are arrivals going where we need them?

Migration numbers have returned to pre-Covid levels. According to Stats NZ estimates released by New Zealand had a net migration gain of 65,400 people for the March 2023 year. In the month of March alone, 21,400 migrants arrived - the biggest monthly arrivals estimate ever - and the net gain was 12,100. But are these migrants going where we need them to? Kathryn discusses with Professor Paul Spoonley, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Honorary Research Associate in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Massey University. He says other countries, such as Canada, are being much more strategic about where arrivals go, with provinces recruiting to their needs.

11:45 Personal finance: The 'what if' question

Money expert Liz Koh joins Kathryn to talk about life insurance and how much you need. She says to the average person it can be a complicated and expensive issue, and something that's easy to cut when times are tough. Liz shares some tips for things to consider when buying life insurance - including asking 'What if" to a number of adverse events - and considering the financial impact of them.

Liz Koh is a money expert specialising in retirement planning. The advice given here is general and does not constitute specific advice to any person.