Nine To Noon for Wednesday 24 September 2025

09:05 Two top age assurance experts on how social media bans for young users can work

 Yesterday Nine to Noon heard concerns from the Law Association about whether a social media ban for under-16s could work in New Zealand. The Association's Technology and Law Committee head Lloyd Gallagher said proposed changes in a private members' bill from National's Catherine Wedd would be extremely difficult to enforce because technology was moving faster than the law could keep pace with. Kathryn's guests are at the forefront of how technology can provide solutions for checking how old an online user is. Tony Allen is Co-Chair of the UK Government's Expert Panel on Age Restrictions and has led the team working on Australia's Age Assurance Technology Trial ahead of that country's social media ban, set to come in to effect on December 10. Iain Corby is executive director for The Age Verification Providers Association - a non-profit global body representing providers of such technology. They've been holding a series of events both here and in Australia to explore the findings of the Australian trial.

09:25 Auckland business' solution for construction waste

Alex Hawthorne and Dylan Bull were working in demolition services and decided not enough was being done to make use of building materials when a structure was taken down. Most of it was smashed by a bulldozer and thrown into the skip, adding to the construction industry's 50 per cent contribution to all landfill waste. Four years ago they launched Levela Deconstruction - a business offering demolition services where they are able to repurpose or recycle 80 per cent of a site's materials. Their best effort so far has been 94 per cent of a structure recycled. They use no machinery - sometimes the odd hiab to access higher locations - and since starting in 2021 they've grown their team to 11 staff. 

09:35 Parking providers asked to step up on policing mobility park abuse

Disability advocates say parking providers need to do more to prevent mobility parks being used by those who don't have a permit. In October last year the fine for someone caught using a carpark without a permit increased significantly from $150 to $750. The hope was that people would think twice about using the parks - after research commissioned by CCS Disability Action revealed one-third of people using the parks did not have a permit. Recently CCS Disability Action partnered with Wilson Parking to develop a new digital system that will allow real-time verification of Mobility Parking Permits - for the first time New Zealand. But advocates say there is still a lot more to do to ensure the 180,000 people who currently have a valid mobility parking permit, have access to parks when they need them.

09:45 Australia: Deadly outage, Trump snub, ban backlash

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton looks at the latest Optus outage that took the 000 emergency calls offline, and is thought to be responsible for three deaths. PM Anthony Albanese still hasn't managed to get a face-to-face meeting with US President Donald Trump - what's gone wrong with the relationship between two traditional allies and Five Eyes partners? And a men-only club in Melbourne is seeking to overturn a trial on letting women to dine with male members - a leaked email lamented "the loud boisterous Bohemian behaviour the club is famous for will now have to be tempered for fear of upsetting a 'Karen' at the other end of the dining room".

Karen Middleton is a political journalist based in Canberra

10:05 Geologist Anjana Khatwa on how rocks hold hidden mysteries and stories of ancient life on earth

While the rest of her cousins chose "sensible careers", Anjana Khatwa was the self-described "odd girl who studied rocks." The award winning earth scientist recalls her mother wringing her hands in despair asking: When will you give up this fascination for rock? Well - she never did. And her intrigue and interest only ever grew. With a bachelor of Earth Science and a PhD in Geography, Anjana was awarded the Geologists' Association Halstead Medal in 2023, their  Annual Award for Excellence in 2021, has worked at the iconic Jurassic Coast World heritage site and at Wessex Museum - and is also a regular contributor to natural history programmes including on the BBC, and the History Channel. Anjana says rocks tell the stories of what happened on earth millions of years ago and that by studying them one becomes a time-traveller - exploring the stories of ancient life on earth. Her book The Whispers of Rock takes the reader across the world from the bluestone megaliths of Stonehenge, Manhattan's bedrock of schist, and the pounamu of New Zealand. 

10:35 Book review: The Elements by John Boyne

Cynthia Morahan reviews The Elements by John Boyne, published by Penguin Random House.

10:45 Around the motu: Jimmy Ellingham

Jimmy covers the mayoral race in Palmerston North,  the latest on gang conflict in Levin and the transformation underway of what was one  of Palmerston North's grand sites, the Post Office building.

11:05 Music with Maggie Tweedie

Maggie Tweedie plays new tracks that push at the edges of genre and storytelling. Selecting songs by fiery new Irish pop star CMAT, world-building art-pop veterans Gorillaz, and Nashville’s introspective folk artist Al Nicol. 

Maggie Tweedie is a broadcaster and music commentator based in Spain.

11:20 Breaking down the data: what we make, sell, consume and earn

Rarely a day goes by without new releases from Stats NZ- the country's official data agency. They are pored over by economists, politicians, businesses, social researchers, the media and demographers. In the last week alone we had overseas merchant trade numbers, balance of payments, and quarterly gross domestic product, as well as the food price index - which tracks the average price of milk, cheese and butter. Next week will see data on the net worth of households and employment indicators. So it's a rich source of information about who we are, what we make, sell, earn and consume. Jason Attewell is head of macroeconomics at Stats NZ and breaks down some of the numbers.

11:45 Science: This year's top Ig Nobel winners

Each year scientists and researchers from around the world are honoured in the Ig Nobel Awards - a satirical competition designed to recognise "achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think". Allan looks at some of the winners this year - including the Japanese researchers that painted cows with stripes to see if it would reduce biting insects, how much alcohol bats can drink before they can't fly and the team who investigated what happens if you tell a narcissist that they're good at something.

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