Nine To Noon for Thursday 13 November 2025

09:05 What powers would an Inspector General of Police have?

Tuesday's damning IPCA report into how top brass at Police handled sexual assault allegations by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming has lead to the confirmation an Inspector General of Police role will be established. But Nine to Noon has spoken to current and former investigators within the IPCA who say it is unclear how the new role will work, what powers it might have and what it means for how the IPCA operates. The IPCA has long-agitated to be given great powers itself, so that it can undertake a wider range of investigations, and have prosecutorial powers. Questions remain about why the IPCA wasn't given these extra powers, and why instead they could sit with yet another oversight mechanism for Police. An Inspector-General of Defence was established following revelations out of Operation Burnham that Ministers and officials were not given the full story on events that had transpired in Afghanistan. And an Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security exists to oversee the GCSB and the NZSIS. Chris Finlayson is a former National Cabinet Minister who held multiple roles including Attorney General, and the Minister for the NZSIS and GCSB.

09:20 'Dark patterns' pushing people to spend more

People are spending more than intended online because of manipulative website techniques, research from Consumer has found. So called 'dark patterns' are design features that steer consumers to actions they might not actually intend or want to do. They look like hidden fees or add-ons at a website's checkout, or hard to cancel subscriptions and urgent prompts like 'only one left'. A survey of some 1500 New Zealanders by Consumer found about a quarter kept online subscriptions longer than they intended, while 40 per cent said they had difficulty cancelling something because of the dark patterns. Consumer is calling for a ban dark patterns as unfair trading among several other recommendations. Chris Schulz is Consumer’s senior investigative journalist.

09:30: Shoddy window products being passed off as compliant - Association

The Government's been warned substandard windows and doors are being sold to unsuspecting consumers - and no one's policing the issue. The Window and Glass Association has written to Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, concerned about the downstream effects of poor quality products. It says it has evidence a concerning number of imported window and door frames are non-compliant with the Building Code or applicable standards, and that fraudulent certification practises are being used to pass them off as compliant. The Association wants the Minister to direct MBIE to strengthen its enforcement capability and its certification audits. CEO Brett Francis joins Kathryn.

09:45 UK: Trump's BBC deadline, Starmer's leadership under pressure

UK correspondent Natasha Clark joins Kathryn with the latest on the BBC fallout as Donald Trump's litigation threat deadline looms. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure over how his office has handled a threat of a possible leadership challenge, with claims his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney was leading an attack against Health Secretary Wes Streeting. And the NHS has been given the greenlight to proceed with thousands of staff redundancies.

10:05 Pitch perfect: The choir that requires no experience - just a love of music

It describes itself as the "coolest choir in Auckland" and "Auckland's most epic rock choir". A choral group that you don't have to be pitch perfect to join...it's about pitching in, with a love of music. Stimmung Choir is a non-auditioned community choir of 90 regular members, who range in age from their early 20s to mid-80s. It made its debut a decade ago, thanks to founder Robin Kelly, and it's about to celebrate its anniversary with a concert at the Auckland Town Hall with some of Aotearoa's most celebrated musicians, including Julia Deans, Troy Kingi, Mikey Havoc and Paul McLaney. The draw for many members is the music; Robin takes his favourite rock anthems and turns them into songs you can sing your heart out to. He explains how Stimmung Choir has developed over the years, and the meaning behind the name.

10:35 Book review: Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent

10:45 Around the motu: Jonathan Leask in Ashburton   

Jonathan discusses a pilot of cameras in Ashburton  to help with parking enforcement, Selwyn councillors question parking tickets from recently introduced parking officers and the fate of some of Selwyn's community halls.

 

11:05 Tech: Chatfishing, Meta's scam profits, datacentres in space

Tech correspondent Bill Bennett joins Kathryn to talk about the rise of chatfishing - where people use AI to help them chat up prospective matches in relationship scams. Meta admits ten percent of its revenue - that's US$16bn - was generated from ads for scams or banned goods. And Google reckons solar-power satellites packed with orbital AI datacentres could be the way of the future....

Bill Bennett is an Auckland-based technology journalist

11:25 Parenting: Can learning to swim make your child smarter?

Some studies have shown not only is swimming great exercise and an essential safety and lifesaving skill, swimming can also positively impact a child cognitively, emotionally, and socially. But, despite the positives, Water Safety New Zealand says 130,000 children have never had a swimming lesson. Dr Robyn Jorgensen is an Emeritus Professor in Education at the University of Canberra. She has led a large, international study on the benefits of structured swimming lessons for under-5s. She says it clearly showed that children who have regular structured swimming lessons meet developmental milestones early - no matter what their socio-economic background.

11:45 Screentime: Train Dreams, Dead of Winter, Spinal Tap 2

Film and television reviewer James Croot joins Kathryn to discuss Train Dreams, an American drama film which stars Joel Edgerton as a railway worker developing the line across the US, and struggling with his place in a changing world. Dead of Winter is an action film starring Emma Thompson as a widow who stumbles across a kidnapping. And Spinal Tap 2 continues the original 1984's mockumentary about a fictional heavy metal band who reunite for one final show.

James Croot is film and television reviewer for Stuff