Nine To Noon for Friday 9 May 2025

09:05 The first American Pope Leo XIV    

Catholics around the world and leaders in the US  are welcoming the first American Pope Leo XIV. Donald Trump said he was surprised and that it was a great honour to have an American Pope.  69-year-old cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected on the second day of the conclave.  He has been described as a moderate and most recently held senior roles at the Vatican after spending time as a missionary in Peru.  Kathryn speaks to New Zealand's Cardinal John Dew,  part of the conclave who chose Pope Leo, and then Miles Pattenden an historian of the Catholic Church based at Oxford University.

09:15 Pay equity expert on Government changes 

One of the country's leading experts on pay equity has described the government changes in one word - appalling. Amy Ross is the former head of the pay equity taskforce which sat within the Public Service Commission, it was set up in 2021 to help government agencies navigate the Equal Pay Act. It also worked to develop tools and the complex frameworks used to evaluate and compare roles and pay rates. Changes to the Equal Pay Act passed on Wednesday in Parliament include increasing the threshold for when a claim can be brought, a greater emphasis on "market factors", no ability to review a claim for at least 10 years, and no ability for workers to be paid equally any sooner than three years after a claim is settled. Nationwide protests are taking place today in response to the changes. Amy Ross runs her own consultancy firm Work Ethics.

09.35 Greenhouse growers put hope in geothermal heat

Greenhouse growers are frustrated with gas prices and availability, and hope geothermal heat can be a replacement. Industry body groups Vegetables NZ and Tomatoes NZ are collaborating with GNS Science to investigate the possibility of finding a new heat source for greenhouses. Energy costs can be up to 40 per cent of a grower's costs and Vegetables NZ chief executive Antony Heywood says they cannot get contracts that go further than the end of the year. Antony says one grower has told him their gas bill has gone up 200 per cent in the past five years. More than 90 percent of tomatoes, capsicum and cucumbers are grown as covered crops in this country and we have about 310 hectares of greenhouses, mostly in the North Island. GNS says it is working on a mapping and information tool to signal to growers where easily accessible geothermal heat will be found. Antony says growers need a secure and economic energy supply - and gas is not providing that. 

09:45 Pacific correspondent Koroi Hawkins

RNZ Pacific Editor Koroi Hawkins covers the Solomon Islands latest challenge to the Prime Minister. Jeremiah Manele has been challenged twice in four months, and he's only been in the role for a year.

10:05 Jo Haanstra on growing tech companies

Jo Haanstra is known in the tech world as a mover and a shaker and the startup she heads is launching an ambitious growth plan in Australia and the UK. She was a top netballer in the 2000s with the Capital Shakers, playing alongside the likes of Noeline Taurua and Irene van Dyk. The company she heads, Atomic IO, provides a secure messaging platform within a client company's app. Three of the big banks, Health New Zealand, the Transport Agency, and a large energy retailer, Mercury, are clients. It reduces the use of text and email messages for communications, which have been subject to imitation scams. The company, which has had the backing of Xero founder Rod Drury launched in Australia two years ago, and just opened in the UK.

10:30 The heart surgeon, his wife and the film maker: Paula Whetu Jones

Auckland film maker Paula Whetu Jones has spent nearly two decades working pro bono on a feature film about the Auckland cardiac surgeon Alan Kerr, which is finally now in cinemas. She is best known for co-writing and directing Whina, the feature film about Dame Whina Cooper. She filmed Dr Kerr and his wife Hazel in 2007, when he led a Kiwi team to Gaza and the West Bank to operate on children with heart disease.  What started as a two week visit became a 20 year commitment , involving 40 medical missions to Gaza and the West Bank and hundreds of operations. Paula Whetu Jones self funded six trips to document the work and the result is the feature film The Doctor's Wife, now being screened free in communities around the country.

10:35 Book review: The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce 

Kim Pittar from Muir's Independent Bookshop Gisborne reviews The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce published by Doubleday

10:45 Around the motu: Ian Allen in Marlborough

Construction work is under way at Marlborough Boys' College, a property owner has lobbied the council to remove three 'very healthy' CBD trees, a rare handwritten signature by the late Queen Elizabeth II is going to auction, and the Saint Clair Vineyard Half Marathon will be taking place this weekend.

Ian Allen is an editor for Stuff based in Marlborough.

11:05 Music reviewer Jeremy Taylor

Slowboat Records' Jeremy Taylor plays a debut from Christchurch's There's A Tuesday, reissues from INXS and Sly Stone, plus a slowburner from Mk.gee.

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Sam Ackerman looks at NZ Rugby's $19.5 million loss for the 2024 financial year, revealed yesterday by Chairman David Kirk, and he looks ahead to some of the big games across codes this weekend.

11:45 The week that was with Te Radar and Donna Brookbanks

Comedians Te Radar and Donna Brookbanks, with a few laughs to end the week.