Nine To Noon for Tuesday 9 September 2025

09:05 LIM warning for homeowners from property lawyer 

09:20 Tech hub in the capital creates jobs    

A tech hub based at Victoria University in Wellington is proving to be a success in its first year - contributing $11.9 million to the economy and supporting 127 fulltime jobs in that time. Opened in June last year, the start up-hub was developed in conjunction with  Wellington City Council and WellingtonNZ - the region's  economic development agency'. An Infometrics economic impact assessment was based on nine businesses operating out of the Taiawa hub in March this year, where they have access to a workspace without long term leases,  access to university research and  investor and peer networks.The Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University - Te Herenga Waka, Professor Nic Smith, has described the hub was a positive influence across the university.

09:30 How author school visits can boost kids' reading and writing

Yesterday Nine to Noon interviewed Joy Cowley - prolific author, but one who - even at the age of 89 - still shares her love and knowledge of writing with young Kiwis in schools. Now new research has found bringing authors into New Zealand schools can bolster children's enthusiasm for reading and writing. AUT's LitPlus research group studied a StoryLines Trust tour of 13 schools in Taupō and Rotorua last year, with participating students in years 1 to 8. StoryLines has been operating these tours for nearly 10 years, helping to support local writers and illustrators, while promoting literacy. Susie speaks with AUT senior education lecturer Ross Bernay and Libby Limbrick - who is a life member of the Friends of Storylines and former principal lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland.

09:45 USA correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben

President Trump continues to threaten Chicago with Federal troops. He has been threatening to send troops there as well as Baltimore and New Orleans in a bid, he says, to curb crime and carry out deportations. Senators grill Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while the President attempts to rename the Department of Defense. 

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

10:05  'The Vanishing Place' -  Zoë Rankin on her thriller novel attracting international attention

It's an author's dream, getting signed to a publisher with only the first chapter of your first book written. But it's been a dream come true for Zoe Rankin who has just published her psychological thriller, The Vanishing Place. She sold her debut book to Moa Press on the strength of just 4000 words. Two years later, she had expanded that sample into a 95,000 word novel and which has also picked up publishing deals in the US and UK. Originally from Scotland, Zoe Rankin is now based in Rotorua, where love of the outdoors and time spent in remote landscapes helped inspire the novel's setting. 

10:30 Marakopa update

Police at the highest levels are on the ground following the fatal shooting yesterday of Tom Phillips, the serious injury to a police officer, and the return of the child who have been missing for nearly four years. RNZ reporter Kate Green is in Hamilton.

10:35 Book review: The Traitors Circle by Jonathan Freedland

Quentin Johnson reviews The Traitors Circle by Jonathan Freedland, published by Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand.

10:45 Around the motu: Kelly Makiha on Rotorua

Kelly discusses parking tickets, a local police officer and a haircut, a family urging action over driving while tired after daughter is killed in crash and a netball tournament marks 90 years.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist with the Rotorua Daily Post

11:05 Business commentator Oli Lewis

Several fast-track listed projects have hit stumbling blocks as the Government seeks a list of businesses that can transition off natural gas. Oli also discusses which company might have received the new Cook Strait ferries contract and the moves for a new terminal at Clifford Bay. 

Oli Lewis is the Infrastructure Editor at BusinessDesk.

11:30 US author Bonivon Dyer's book reimagines our world 600 years after nuclear war

Bonivon Dyer spent 13 years creating her version of what happens to Earth after the world as we know it is destroyed by nuclear warfare. What she's constructed is so elaborate she's constructed guides on her website - and QR codes in her book - that help detail the lands and people who've evolved 600 years in the future to a planet now known as Elusis. In this future, humans have genetically unlocked their potential - it's a world based on perfection. But as her book - called Lest They Have Eyes - reveals, the long-buried legacy of the world's destruction is about to catch up with the present. Bonivon is based in the US, but currently in New Zealand and joins Susie to talk about her writing journey.

11:45 Sports correspondent Glen Larmer

The All Blacks win a tight encounter with South Africa at Eden Park, while the Black Ferns top their group at the Rugby World Cup with a triumph over Ireland. In the NRL the Warriors prepare for their playoffs, while Erin Routliffe wins another tittle in the tennis doubles at the US Open.