Nine To Noon for Tuesday 5 August 2025

09:05 How will Healthy Homes standards be enforced?

All rental homes in New Zealand should now meet healthy homes standards, but some are worried there will be landlords who flout the requirements and get away with it. The Healthy Homes standards, which came into place fully on July 1, introduced a new benchmark for heating, insulation, ventilation, moisture barriers and drainage, and draught stopping in rental properties.The Dunedin City Council has asked MBIE's Tenancy Services to share how it will monitor and enforce the standards in the city. That was after a group of Dunedin students were shocked to find a rental they had signed on to was mouldy and unprepared to have tenants. MBIE's head of Tenancy Services Kat Watson speaks to Susie about how the organisation will crack down on non-compliant landlords. Dunedin City councillor Marie Laufiso speaks about her concerns for the state of students' and other housing in the city. 

09:25 The Kiwi technology helping cardiologists cut their waitlists

A Kiwi company that's helping to speed up the diagnostic process for cardiologists has secured its first public health contract. HeartLab was launched back in 2020, harnessing AI to do some of the more menial tasks that follow a patient's echocardiogram - the test that uses soundwaves to produce live images of the heart. Not only does it save clinicians time - allowing them to see the relevant images more quickly, advanced analysis can be done remotely. More than one million patients are now on the HeartLab platform in Aotearoa, Australia and the United States. The new Health New Zealand contract in the Te Manawa Taki, or Midland region of the North Island will see the platform progressively rolled out in Taranaki. To talk more about the technology, a new $2 million dollar investment and how the technology is developing, Susie is joined by HeartLab's co-founder and CEO, Will Hewitt.

09:35 WasteShark device cleaning up rivers 

A company in the Netherlands has launched a plastic bottle-eating, river dwelling robot. The WasteShark is a product from Dutch company RanMarine and it's getting traction, recently being deployed in places like Leeds in the UK, where it has been embraced by locals. The device is a catamaran hull with a basket in the middle - it spots trash in the water, captures it and then brings it back to the user. The WasteShark has been used with a remote control but the company says it wants to expand to have artificial intelligence let the machine become autonomous. Richard Hardiman is the founder of RanMarine and speaks to Susie about the device and how he wants to develop it.  

09:45 USA correspondent David Smith

President Trump is being criticised for firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics chief Erika McEntarfer after accusing her of falsifying job data, prompting bipartisan condemnation. Texas Democrats fled to Illinois to block a Republican vote on redrawing congressional maps, triggering arrest threats from Texas officials and a promise of protection from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. The Smithsonian's quiet removal-then promised reinstatement-of Trump’s impeachments from its exhibits, and legal cases continue to push for the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related records.

David Smith is Washington bureau chief for The Guardian. 

10:05 Lawyer DeAnne Nicoloso's novel examines childhood secrets, lies and vigilante justice

When a little girl explains to her two best friends what her Great Uncle has been doing to her - they wrestle with what to do. In the end, they convince her to tell an adult and it goes to the police. But the result - in their eyes - isn't justice. This is the basis of a debut novel called Three Little Vikings from Queenstown-based lawyer DeAnne Nicoloso. Later in life the trio of friends use their various expertise to form a group called Practical Justice - tracking down and punishing sex offenders. Then one hit goes very badly wrong. DeAnne's drawn heavily on her own experiences as a defence barrister for the novel - something that had sat with her for a while, but couldn't be written until raising her eight children got a little calmer.

10:30  Dengue fever outbreak in Samoa claims children's lives    

Authorities in Samoa say the dengue fever death toll now officially stands at four - with the fifth death being deemed a probable case. All those who have died are children. An outbreak of the mosquito borne disease was declared in Samoa in mid April. Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific's news editor, joins Susie with the latest. 

10:35 Book review: My Father Bryce by Adam Courtenay

Quentin Johnson reviews My Father Bryce by Adam Courtenay, published by Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand.

10:45 Around the motu: Ché Baker,  editor of the Southland Times

Ché discusses the brothers divided over an Invercargill mayoralty bid, New Zealand's first liver transplant recipient turns 50 and the drones helping out with pest control.

11:05 Business commentator Rebecca Stevenson 

Boeing is facing another strike by more than 3,000 workers who rejected a proposed contract, despite the company offering significant wage increases and claiming improved financial performance. Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell is retiring after controversy over a car-less rebrand of Jaguar. A leadership battle is brewing at Rakon as former CEO Brent Robinson challenges the board’s preferred chair candidate, and Kim Kardashian’s Skims has sparked viral debate and high sales with a $100 face-sculpting wrap.

Rebecca Stevenson is a senior journalist at BusinessDesk

11:30 ​Widow wants men to be braver about going to the doctor

After Mike Riddell died in 2022 of complications from prostate cancer treatment, his wife Rosemary published his manuscript, hoping his humour would inspire more men to get checked.  It's a story people and their support going through cancer will be familiar with: constant check-ups and tests, difficult drugs and their side effects. But Mike tells the story in a typically blokey and funny way, making light of his life-threatening cancer. He was a writer with several published books. His widow, Rosemary Riddell, a former District Court Judge, said she wanted to publish the book in the hope other men would read it and feel more comfortable about going to get checked out. Wonky Ponk Down Under is available on Amazon. 

11:45 Sports-chat with Sam Ackerman 

The All Blacks lose a key player to injury, and coach Scott Robertson has made some changes from the France series as the team prepares for the upcoming Rugby Championship. A dramatic cricket test series between England and India is being called one of the greatest of all time. The Kiwi cyclists who achieved top results at the Tour de France Femmes.