Nine To Noon for Monday 24 November 2025

09:05 Fears over the future of community pharmacists

Pharmacists around the country are opposed to plans to deregulate ownership saying it could spell the beginning of end of community chemists. Last month, the Associate Health Minister, Casey Costello, announced a plan  to allow non - pharmacists to own chemists, something that would be brought in under the Medical Products Bill. She has described the current rules, which require pharmacists to have effective control over each pharmacy, as antiquated and outdated. But community pharmacists say similar moves in the UK have led to severe declines in the number of community providers, especially in rural and less well off areas. Kathryn speaks to Lanny Wong  a community pharmacist/owner in Mangawhai and Andrew Gaudin, the Chief Executive of the Pharmacy Guild.

The Associate Health Minister Minister Casey Costello declined an invitation to to join the programme, but in a statement said the Ministry of Health had considered international evidence on pharmacy ownership and found no evidence of a link between ownership and patient safety, or service quality.  She said we believe the goals of patient safety were better addressed through professional standards and fit-for-purpose modern regulation rather than pharmacy ownership structures. She said  there real benefits to be had, especially in rural, harder-to-serve areas, from removing the current restrictions that prevent models such as health clinics with integrated pharmacies unless the clinic is owned by pharmacists.

09:30 Can roadside drug testing really detect impairment?

As New Zealand gets set to rollout roadside drug testing, an Australian expert says it's a scattergun approach that doesn't reliably pick up impairment. Wellington will next month become the first location to see police use a saliva test on drivers, with the rest of the country set to follow by mid-2026. The tests will screen four key drugs: THC, which is found in cannabis, methamphetamine, MDMA or ecstasy and cocaine. The government says 30 percent of all road deaths now involve an impairing drug - and that greater screening will improve road safety. But Dr Michael White, an adjunct senior fellow at the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide who's researched road accidents involving cannabis, says the tests are nearly worthless when it comes to picking up if someone is impaired. 

09:45 Foreign correspondent Seamus Kearney 

Seamus discusses the latest in the US proposed plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Kyiv and its European allies have voiced strong reservations about the plan, which reflects the key demands of Moscow. Also Italian prosecutors investigate claims of “sniper tourism” during war in Bosnia, and could it be the end of "veggie burgers" in the EU?

10:05 Sir Richard Faull and the wonders of the human brain 

The human brain has more than 90 billion cells, which generally work together in harmony. Sir Richard Faull has spent his career studying them. He's the country's pre-eminent neuroscience, and next month will retire as Director of the Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland which he founded in 2009. Sir Richard was also behind the establishment of the brain bank, and groundbreaking research into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinson's and Huntington's. So what do we know now about the incredible organ that is the brain? And what remains a mystery? 

10:35 Book review: New Zealand Photography Collected by Athol McCredie

David Hill reviews New Zealand Photography Collected by Athol McCredie, published by Te Papa Press.

10:45 Around the motu: David Williams in Christchurch 

David discusses increased pressure on council owned companies, such as Lyttleton Port Company, to lift dividends to help ease rates rises, investigations reveal the mega landlords of Christchurch, a big win for a local family in Lotto and a reprieve, for now, for iconic surfer homes

11:05 Political commentators Gareth Hughes and Ben Thomas 

Gareth Hughes is the Director of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa is a former Green MP and is no longer a member of any political party.

Ben Thomas is a former National government press secretary, a columnist and a director of public affairs firm Capital.

11:30 Experiencing food in India

Sarah Meikle has been travelling around India for more than 25 years and now runs small group tours for those really interested in life and culture in the world's most populous country. As the Director of All India Permit Tours, and visiting cities from  Delhi, Kolkata and Varanasi in the north to Kerala in the south, she is well versed with the world famous cuisine in all its forms and regional variations - from street food to top rated restaurants. She joins Kathryn having  just returned from a two month trip.

11:45 Off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne

Kennedy Warne joins Kathryn from Northland, where he's been visiting a marae teaching traditional weaving. Kennedy also talks about two of the double-hulled waka of the Hawaii-based Polynesian Voyaging Society which are in New Zealand at the moment as part of a five-year circumnavigation of the Pacific. And cats have been included in the Predator Free 2050 target list - he talks about how hard it is to trap them.