Nine To Noon for Monday 29 September 2025

09:05 Mayor says aged care crisis in Wairoa being ignored

The Mayor of Wairoa says the town's lack of aged care beds is an emergency that has been ignored by everyone from the Prime Minister down. Two and a half years after Cyclone Gabrielle closed the only rest home, the Hawkes Bay town with a population of 9000, still has no residential beds. Craig Little, who is standing for re-election as Wairoa mayor, says there are an estimated 50 families in Wairoa providing hospital in-home care without access to equipment, specialist advice or medications. He says he has written to the Prime Minister and Health Minister, and has met face to face in Wairoa with Casey Costello, the Associate Minister of Health and Minister for Seniors - but nothing has changed. Mr Little says the elderly in Wairoa are losing their dignity and the situation is a form of elder abuse. Kathryn also speaks with a local resident whose father has dementia, and the family is struggling to care for him.

09:20 Financial Ombudsman sees spate of complaints about adding guarantors 

The Financial Ombudsman says her office has received a recent spate of complaints from people who've been added as a guarantor for a loan without their knowledge. Susan Taylor says the cases have all been with different lenders, and involve those lenders accepting the electronic signature of someone supposedly agreeing to being a guarantor, when they haven't. Ms Taylor says The Financial Services Complaints office has also received more complaints about business loans than ever before.

09:30 The special facade protecting the nation's archival treasures

An independent assessment has found the country's new Archives building achieves air-tightness far beyond national and international archival standards. The $290 million dollar building is near the National Library in Wellington and has been built on a site of a former defence building that had to be demolished after the Kaikoura earthquake and will open to the public next year. The facade of the new building - named Te Rua - is central to meeting both UNESCO Memory of the World obligations and legislative requirements that compel Archives New Zealand to safeguard documents and taonga in perpetuity. 

09:45 South America correspondent Daniel Schweimler

The United States has revoked the visa of Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, Bolivian authorities have arrested the former head of the country's anti-drug agency after a cocaine lab was found on his premises, young demonstrators have clashed with police in the Peruvian capital, Lima, and other cities angry that all residents over 18 have been told to join a pension scheme, and in Brazil where scientists say the biggest trees in the Amazon are growing larger and in greater numbers than previously thought.

10:05 Shaun Johnson's life in league

Put a blindfold on Shaun Johnson and stick him on the field at Mt Smart Stadium and he'll know immediately he's at home. Shaun says it's the smells of the panel beaters, the recyclers, the laminate factories and the steel and pipe warehouses in the streets around the stadium that stand out most to him. The Warriors halfback retired at the end of last season, after some 268 games in the NRL as well as 35 international appearances for the Kiwis. Shaun has written a book recounting his early life, how he broke into the Warriors first team in 2011 and some of the highs and lows of a career that included an NRL grand final and a small stint leaving his beloved Auckland team to play for the Cronulla Sharks. His book Perspective - written with Scotty Stevenson - hits shelves tomorrow.     

10:35 Book review: What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Elisabeth Easther reviews What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, published by Penguin Random House.

10:45 Around the motu: Tess Brunton in Dunedin

Tess talks about progress on the Dunedin Hospital rebuild, opposition in Lake Hawea to a liquor licence application and huge interest in a vintage toy car sale.

11:05 Political commentators Peter Dunne and Lianne Dalziel 

Peter Dunne was the leader of United Future and is a former MP and Minister who has worked within both National and Labour governments.

Lianne Dalziel is a life member of the Labour Party and a former MP and Cabinet Minister. She ran as an independent for Christchurch's mayoralty in 2013 and was the city's mayor for three terms. She writes a regular column for Newsroom.co.nz.

11:30 The all-woman team behind NZ's original macaron bakery, J'aime

Back in 2008 Bridget O'Sullivan had a stall at the Christchurch farmers market selling a sweet little treat that some people mistakenly thought were soaps. They were actually the colourful meringue-based French cookie, the macaron. Fast-forward to 2025 and Bridget's business J'aime  - French for "love"  - has just expanded from its home base in Merivale Christchurch to Auckland's Commercial Bay. Bridget is J'aime's co-owner, along with Denise Morreau, but she's also got an all-woman team pumping out those delicious macarons in flavours that range from pistachio and cherry blossom to champagne and peach bellini. She talks about the challenges of making these tiny treats, but also how the business has thrived through earthquakes, pandemics and an economic downturn.

11:45 Urban Issues with Bill McKay

Bill looks at Simplicity Living's model and says it can produce apartment buildings cheaper, faster and better.

Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.