Nine To Noon for Monday 8 December 2025

09:05 Figures show addictions court is slashing reoffending rates for graduates

As drug-related crime escalates, new Ministry of Justice figures show the specialist addictions court is improving re-offending outcomes at rates far higher than the prison-based initiatives. Last week local and international experts convened at the Alcohol and Other Drugs Treatment Court conference to discuss best practice, foster collaboration, and present the newest research into the courts' effectiveness. An aim of the conference was also to encourage the further rollout of these courts in other parts of Aotearoa. Since the court's inception in 2012 about 300 people have graduated, and latest Ministry of Justice figures show that within the first year graduates reoffend at a rate 50 percent lower than comparable offenders and long term re-offending rates remain lower at 20 percent. One of the court's founders Judge Lisa Tremewan, and graduate of the programme Shannan Hill speak to Kathryn. 

09:20 Sir Geoffrey Palmer sounds the alarm over growing ministerial power

The coalition government has this year pushed on with a large programme of new legislation amid growing concerns about increased power being handed to ministers and a reduced level of public scrutiny. A significant number of bills, including a large number of amendments have been passed under urgency, which enables the government to push through bills quickly. Under urgency, the government can  skip steps such as public consultation, select committees and proper debate and it is possible to move a bill through all stages and pass it in a single day. Former Labour Prime Minister and constitutional law expert, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, has told a select committee carrying out a regular review of standing orders urgency should be limited to genuine emergencies. Separately he has talked of urgency being a quick and dirty way for the government to get its own way. He talks to Kathryn about his concerns that consultation and public opinion are becoming all but irrelevant, while the Minister's powers grow

09:45 Foreign correspondent Daniel Schweimler 

US President Donald Trump has been ramping up pressure on Venezuela's leader, President Nicolás Maduro, Trump grants a pardon to former Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who a US court last year sentenced to 25 years in prison, and the countdown is on for the football World Cup.

10:05 The teachers who blew the whistle on sexual exploitation in PNG in the 80s

John and Elisa Mendzela were a young couple in search of adventure when they got teaching jobs at Keravat College in a newly-independent Papua New Guinea in the early 1980s. When they uncovered evidence of abuse of students and sexual misconduct by other teachers, their efforts to blow the whistle pitted them against school leaders and the education department. John and Elisa have published a book, In the Best Interests, which documents the struggle to get their evidence taken seriously, their sacking and efforts to stave off deportation. Yet they persisted, aided by local journalists and their students who barricaded themselves on campus. Kathryn speaks to them about what drew them to PNG and why they wanted to write the book.

10:35 Book review: How to end a Story: Collected Diaries 1978 - 1998 by Helen Garner

Jane Westaway reviews How to End a Story: Collected Diaries 1978–1998 by Helen Garner, published by Text Publishing.

10:45 Around the motu: Tom Hunt in Wellington 

11:05 Political commentators Dale Husband and Ben Thomas 

Dale Husband is a long time broadcaster and Radio Waatea presenter hosting a Maori focused current affairs programme.

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

11:30 40 years of Jazz and Envy apples 

Back in 1985, the New Zealand apple growing sector was doing well. But looking to grow New Zealand's standing in the global apple market, government scientists needed to innovate. It took over 20 years of development to produce Scifresh and Scilate apples, later commercialised in 2008 and 2008 as Jazz and Envy. The apples were bred from a cross between Royal Gala and Braeburn - and grown in the fertile soils of Hawke’s Bay, Nelson and Otago. Now, 40 years down the line, 120,000 Jazz and Envy apples are harvested in multiple locations annually - and they are sold in more than 50 countries. Kathryn speaks to Shane Kingston, who is T&G’s chief operating officer for Apples, and Dr Richard Volz, who has been the Bioeconomy Science Institute apple breeder since 2001.

11:45 Off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne

Today, with holidays just around the corner, Kennedy does a whistlestop south-to-north tour, offering 10 of his favourite off-the-beaten-track localities.