Sunday Morning for Sunday 23 September 2012
8:12 Insight: Weight loss surgery – worth the cost?
Special government funding for bariatric, or weight loss, surgery comes to an end next year. But what has been achieved with the $2m a year dedicated to stomach reducing operations since 2010? Among the range of health benefits from the procedure is a remission in Type 2 diabetes. With more than 200,000 people in New Zealand already suffering from this illness, is it worth investing in weight loss surgery to prevent escalating health costs associated with diabetes later on such as dialysis? Philippa Tolley follows those who have had the surgery and considers whether District Health Boards will be able to continue funding such operations.
8:40 Richard Towle – Mass Arrivals
Richard Towle, UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) Regional Representative for Australia, New Zealand, PNG and the Pacific says some of the measures being considered by Parliament in the Immigration Amendment Bill – also known as the Mass Arrivals Bill – are reasonable. But he tells Chris that others are punitive and disproportionate to the risk.
9:06 Mediawatch
Mediawatch looks at the media's mixed messages prompted by the prurient publication of pictures of a prince and a princess in private; and a major daily paper that seems to be doing okay without trying to re-invent itself. Mediawatch also looks at how shots were fired across the blurring boundary of the old and new media this past week; and revisits the riddle of the paper that first put the ruler of Russia in his place.
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.
9.45 Elisabeth McDonald – Real Justice
Dr Elisabeth McDonald this week delivered the 2012 Suffrage Day lecture at the University of Otago. She says that despite law reforms over the last 30 years, there’s been little real change in the level of sexual violence, conviction rates for sexual offending, or the distressing impact of prosecution experienced by complainants. She’s been investigating the problem and talks to Chris about how things might change so real justice is served.
Elisabeth McDonald is associate professor from the School of Law at Victoria University.
From ‘Real Rape’ to Real Justice, edited by Elisabeth McDonald and Yvette Tinsley, is published by Victoria University Press.
10:06 Ideas: Children and Democracy
Earlier this week children as young as five took to the streets of Christchurch to protest the Government’s proposed closure of their schools. Depending on your point of view it was either a legitimate case of children participating in democracy or kids being used as political pawns. Ideas explores the place of children in a democracy with: Jessica Palairet – a member of the Commissioner of Children’s Young People’s Reference Group; Caleb O’Fee – the president of Feilding High School’s student council; Cindy Blackstock of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada; and Bronwyn Hayward, the author of ‘Children, Citizens and the Environment: Nurturing a Democratic Imagination in a Changing World.’
Presented by Chris Laidlaw
Produced by Jeremy Rose.
10.55 Today’s Track
Van Morrison’s 35th studio album as a solo artist, ‘Born To Sing – No Plan B’, is due for release at the end of next week. We have an advance copy and we’ll feature the title track, Born to Sing.
11.05 Down the List
Where does the real power in New Zealand lie? That’s right, with a bunch of bureaucrats, underlings, officials, and lowly-ranked list MPs that you and I have never heard of. Whether it’s in sport, politics, commerce, education or the arts, the only way to find out what’s really going on in this country is by going ... Down the List. Written by Dave Armstrong and produced by Radio New Zealand’s Drama department. Today, in an attempt to save money, government departments are cutting staff. But when some of the departing staff turn up as highly-paid consultants, where are the savings?
11.12 Adrian Macey – Dealing with Climate Change
Adrian and Chris take a big picture look at the way the international community has dealt with climate change since the 1980s and where it’s headed now.
Dr Adrian Macey is from Victoria University’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies. He was New Zealand’s first climate change ambassador from 2006-2010. He is vice-chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Kyoto Protocol negotiations.
11.40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
Wayne Brittenden has been Radio New Zealand’s correspondent in several capital cities over the years. Each week he gives fresh insights into a wide variety of topics of national and international concern, followed by Chris Laidlaw’s discussion of the issue with guests. This week Wayne looks at an extraordinary citizens’ case against certain provisions in the US National Defense Authorization Act. A few days ago a law suit by a group of academics, journalists and activists resulted in a New York Federal judge permanently enjoining the controversial Section 1021 with its allegedly Orwellian measures. The Obama administration swiftly appealed. After Wayne’s analysis of the NDAA, Chris talks with two of the plaintiffs, Chris Hedges and Tangerine Bolen.
11.55 Feedback
What the listeners have to say on today’s programme.