Nine To Noon for Wednesday 4 October 2023

 

09:05 Reaction to new forestry slash regulations

Tighter regulation have announced for forestry slash - will it be enough for communities fed up with a debris deluge in severe weather? We hear from the Grant Dodson of the Forestry Owners Association, the Environmental Defence Society's Gary Taylor and Bridget Parker - a farmer whose land was devoured by slash after Gabrielle.

09:25 The battle for milk supply in Waikato

Competition for milk supply in Waikato is intensifying as a new international player sets up shop. Singapore-based Olam Food Ingredients - known as OFI - has been door-knocking at dairy farms surrounding its new Tokoroa dairy processing facility. The multi-national agricultural organisation sources and supplies food products from around 50 countries, including cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts, and spices. It's prompted some long-established Fonterra farmers to erect billboards, declaring themselves a "proud Fonterra farmer". One of the signs is right across the road from the new plant, which will open later this year. Fonterra says the idea for the signs came about from group discussions with farmers and anyone who wants to erect a sign will get support to do so. Federated Farmers Waikato dairy spokesperson Matthew Zonderop, and senior agricultural economist at Westpac Nathan Penny speak to Kathryn Ryan.

09:40 Walkway to nowhere: The stoush over a popular Auckland track

A popular coastal walkway in Auckland will remain partly closed to the public amid a battle between the owners of a neighbouring heritage cottage and Auckland Council. The owners want to give part of their property to the Council for the walkway - which has been used for years - but they want the heritage status removed. Until the issue's resolved that section of the path - which is also part of Te Araroa trail - is sectioned off. Kathryn speaks with Devonport-Takapuna Local Board Member Toni van Tonder and Alex Witten-Hannah, a lawyer representing the family.

09:45 Australia: Foreign student exploitation, bushfires, Voice vote

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane joins Kathryn to talk about a new report that shows Australia has over 650,000 foreign students - a new record. But there are concerns they're being used to prop up universities and end up in low-paid roles. Bushfire season has begun, with blazes across Victoria and Tasmania and there's just a week and a half to go of voting in the indigenous Voice referendum.

Bernard Keane is politics editor of Australia's Crikey website.

10:05 McCarthy ousted as speaker

U.S Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been voted out as speaker of the House of Representatives. The Republican is the first speaker to have been removed from office. The vote was 216 in favour and 210 against. The move was led by Republican hard-liner, Matt Gaetz. It follows a war of words between the two men over a deal reached at the weekend to avoid a U.S government shutdown. NPR politics reporter Ximena Bustillo speaks to Kathryn.

10:10 Luke Newman on being a third generation Dracula

Now to a story you can really sink your teeth into. It all starts back in 1964 with John and Tikki Newman opening a small late-night coffee house in Melbourne, with the aim of catching people heading home as they left the theatres. It evolved into Australia's first theatre restaurant, featuring gangster and vaudeville acts through the '70s on its original site. In the 80s, it was time for a change - it became 'Dracula's Cabaret' in an old warehouse in Melbourne's back streets, heavily influenced by the popular Rocky Horror Picture Show, with a second Dracula's opening on the Gold Coast. Dracula's has had more than five million attendees - many Kiwis among them. And some of the best acts from the show will be included in Dracula's: The Resurrection Tour which kicks off tomorrow night in Auckland. CEO Luke Newman joins Kathryn to talk about what's in the show, and what it's like being a third-generation Dracula - as the grandson of John and Tikki Newman.

10:35 Book review: Snorkelling the Abyss by Jan Jordan

Harry Ricketts reviews Snorkelling the Abyss by Jan Jordan published by The Cuba Press

10:45 Around the motu: Chris Hyde in Hawke's Bay

Chris joins Kathryn to talk about the other Hawke's Bay rugby team that's creating history - and it's not the Magpies. Instead all-girls team Mana Kotiro played their first game in the mainly-boys Wakely Shield tournament in Taradale and had a win 24 hours later. He'll also look at the number of red-zoned Category 3 properties in Hawke's Bay being finalised at 287 properties and how Hawke's Bay's fire services are looking at ways to deal with a dry season and heightened wildfire risk.

 Chris Hyde is editor of Hawkes Bay Today

11:05 Music as interspecies interaction: humans and birds 

Music correspondent Dave Wilson joins Kathryn to talk about the sonic interaction between humans and other species - particularly birds. Birdsong is often imitated in music, but how have musicians attempted to foreground the actual relations between humans and birds? Dave shares a track from his own upcoming album, as well as one from a 2022 album called For the Birds: The Birdsong Project and another from British composer and musician Shabaka Hutchings. 

Dave Wilson is musician, composer, and ethnomusicologist, a senior lecturer at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington

11:25 Colourful and characterful fish of Aotearoa

Paul Caiger has spent much of his life in the depths chasing the fish of Aotearoa. A marine ecologist by trade, Caiger can usually be found at the University of Auckland's Marine Laboratory in Leigh, where he works as the dive safety officer and provides research support to academics and students. Caiger has also been an academic and holds a PhD on the evolutionary ecology of New Zealand triplefin fishes and he's also had post-doctoral positions in the USA researching fish acoustics and deep-sea fishes. Photography is another passion of Caiger's and it goes hand in hand with the depths he goes to in his search for interesting fish. His new book Fishes of Aotearoa is a celebration of fish life in New Zealand.

11:45 Science: Anti-matter falls 'down', first Nobel winners announced

Science correspondent Allan Blackman looks at how physicists at CERN have shown that antimatter falls down due to gravity just like regular matter. So why does that...matter? He'll also look at the Nobel Prizes being announced for 2023. The first, medicine, went to two scientists whose research led to the first MRA vaccines to fight Covid-19. The second, in physics, has been announced overnight.

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