Nine To Noon for Wednesday 27 March 2024

 

09:05 House consents slump, builder liquidations up

Building consents have sunk to their lowest level in 5 years  - despite a huge need for new homes- and more construction firms are going to the wall. Over 100 construction companies have collapsed in the first two months of this year- according to the credit bureaux Centrix - up 21% on the same period last year. Over a quarter of all liquidations so far this year have come from the building sector.   Stats NZ says the number of new dwelling consents issued in the year to the end of January was down 26.3% compared to the previous 12 months - just over 13,000 fewer consents issued. The biggest decline was in Tasman District where new dwelling consents were down 45.8% followed by the Wellington Region down 40.6%.  Meanwhile net migration hit a record 133,800 last year. Kathryn speaks with Keith McLaughlin, Managing Director of the credit bureau Centrix and Peter Cooney - director of Classic Group, which includes Classic Builders  - one of the country's largest residential building firms.

09:30 The unusual art work that involves rope and rugby players 

Fans of rugby and art are bound to find a live art installation in Auckland this weekend fascinating. Over two and a half hours eight rugby players will be tied together with rope, recreating one half of an interlocking scrum with lighting and sound effects to create the feeling of being in a rugby stadium. The piece, called Still Lives: Auckland, is by artists Luke George and Daniel Kok, and will take place in the Auckland Town Hall on March 30. They were encouraged to tackle the project here in Auckland by producer Nisha Madhan, who talks to Kathryn about the unusual installation. Former player, sports journalist and Women in Rugby Aotearoa Trustee Alice Soper is a participant in the piece. She also joins Kathryn. 

09:40 New scheme helps workers get cheap e-bikes

Around 250 businesses around the country have signed up to a scheme helping their workers to get a new e-bike for half the price. Through WorkRide, employers purchase bikes, e-bikes or scooters on behalf of staff members and lease them to their employees. The employee pays the bike or scooter back over the following year through pay deductions. The agreement employers sign up to means staff members don't pay fringe benefit tax (FBT) on the bikes, and because the deductions are made pre-tax, the bike rider's taxable income is reduced, meaning they pay less in income tax. WorkRide co-founder Aidan Smith says nearly 500 employees have registered to recieve a WorkRide benefit so far. 

09:45 Australia: Assange win, emission pushback, detention controversy

Karen Middleton is political editor of the Guardian Australia

10:05 Saraid de Silva on her sweeping novel 'AMMA'

Saraid de Silva's debut novel AMMA was initially written as part of her masters in creative writing at the University of Auckland, for which she won the inaugural Crystal Arts Trust Prize in 2021. It focuses on three generations of South Asian women, with readers moving between 1950s Singapore, 1980s Invercargill, and modern-day London and Melbourne to understand how the trio have been shaped by events and culture - and driven apart by circumstance and misunderstanding. Saraid is a Sri Lankan Pākehā writer, actor and producer. She was also the co-host of RNZ podcast and video series Conversations with my Immigrant Parents.

10:35 Book review: The Night She Fell by Eileen Merriman 

Elisabeth Easther reviews The Night She Fell by Eileen Merriman published by Penguin Random House NZ

10:45 Around the motu: Samantha Gee in Nelson

It is very dry in Marlborough and there’s been no significant rainfall across parts of the top of the South Island for some time now. Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has met with farmers in Taimate calling the drought a medium-scale adverse event, which has opened up Government-funded support options. A City Revitalisation Summit hs just been held in Nelson to discuss the struggling city centre. And a reward is being offered in the homicide cold case of Jessica Boyce who disappeared five years ago from Renwick, near Blenheim.

11:05 Music: Experimentalism at The Stone in New York City

Music correspondent Dave Wilson joins Kathryn from New York, where he's been investigating the local music scene. The Stone is a small venue started by John Zorn in 2005 dedicated to experimental and avant-garde music. Dave digs into the operation and shares some of the music he's heard. 

Dave Wilson is a saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and interdisciplinary scholar, a Senior Lecturer in Music at the New Zealand School of Music–Te Kōkī."

11:20 Andy Buchanan's retirement mission to conquer 133 peaks

While some people look forward to putting their feet up in retirement, Andy Buchanan went entirely in the other direction. The former University of Canterbury engineering lecturer decided the time was right to climb the peaks he could see from his family home in the Cashmere Hills when he was a child. He used a panorama drawing of 133 peaks drawn by Ivan Pugh in 1967 and slowly, one by one, sometimes joined by friends or family - ticked them all off. The result is his book Alpine Panorama: A View to a Climb, which includes historical, botanical and topographical detail of the surrounding area of the peaks - as well as some stunning photography of the South Island.

11:45 What's happening in stock market, and what does that mean for investors?

Simran Kaur joins Kathryn to talk about why some big names have been selling up large amounts of their stock - and what that means if you're looking to invest right now.

Simran Kaur is the co-host of the podcast Girls That Invest. This discussion is of a general nature, and does not constitute financial advice.