Sunday Morning for Sunday 5 May 2013

8:12 Insight: Farming in a Changing Climate

The recent drought in many parts of the country has raised questions about whether New Zealand's farmers and growers are prepared enough for a changing climate. Experts warn of serious consequences if primary producers don't take climate change into account as they plan for the future.
Written and presented by Andrew McRae
Produced by Gareth Thomas

8:40 Sandra Grey – Dissent and Democracy

Dr Sandra Grey and her colleague Dr Charles Sedgwick asked NGOs if democracy, as measured by the ability of civil society organisations to have a voice in political debate, is flourishing or languishing in New Zealand. The response indicates that democracy is being ‘strangled’ by the way in which this and the previous government administer funding via contracts, with over half of the NGOs surveyed saying that organisations which dissent against the government line are likely to lose their government funding.
Dr Sandra Grey is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Victoria University.
A pdf of the report, Fears, constraints, and contracts: The democratic reality for New Zealand’s community and voluntary sector, can be downloaded from Sandra’s page on the VUW website.

9:06 Mediawatch

A recent survey of media freedom around the world ranked New Zealand as one of the top 10 nations. So this weekend, Mediawatch asks: Do we need to fret about press freedom here at all? We also look at local newspapers coming back into local ownership in the South Island; why the media were staking out dairies this week; and are text votes on TV shows good value for money?
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.

9.40 Ans Westra – Damning Pictures

In a new book, photographer Ans Westra delivers a strong message to New Zealanders to consider the environment we are leaving for our children. The book includes photographs that show a damning picture of what the landscape has become. There’s also text from a number of poets and politicians including Hone Tuwhare, Russell Norman, Brian Turner, David Eggleton and former Prime Minister David Lange, who wrote a short piece for Westra as part of an unrealised book project in 1987.
Our Future Ngā Tau ki Muri, by Ans Westra, is published by Suite Publishing.

10:06 Ideas: The Public Service – Past, Present and Future

Last year was the 100th anniversary of the passing of the Public Service Act – an Act that defined the public service for the best part of a century. This year it’s the turn of the Public Service Association to celebrate its centenary. Jeremy Rose talks to historian Mark Derby about his most recent book on one of the union’s most effective leaders –  White Collar Radical: Dan Long and the Rise of the White Collar Unions; and Chris Laidlaw speaks to former government statistician Len Cook and Bill Ryan, an associate professor at Victoria University’s School of Government and the co-author of Future State: Directions for Public Management in New Zealand, about the state of the public service today and how it might evolve in the future.
Produced by Jeremy Rose.

10.55 Today’s Track

Today we feature Thames Soup, a track from the newly-released double CD, Fandango, the fifth album from Wellington group The Phoenix Foundation. The band begins an extensive UK tour next Thursday in Glasgow, then on to Europe.

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, the Government is accused of cronyism with the appointment of former squash star Susan Devoy as Race Relations Commissioner.

11.12 Gerald Hensley – ANZUS Under Fire

Gerald Hensley has written a book telling the insider story of the collapse of the ANZUS military alliance. Gerald, who was involved in events at the time, has since interviewed key protagonists, who have spoken to him frankly about what was going on behind the scenes – what Bob Hawke and George Schultz really thought of David Lange; the internal machinations within the Labour Party; and the cultural loyalties, strategic objectives, and personal relationships that led to the collapse.
Gerald Hensley’s book, Friendly Fire: Nuclear Politics: & the Collapse of ANZUS, 1984–1987, is published by Auckland University Press.

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: The film industry celebrates a number of centenaries this year. The name ‘Hollywood’ was formally adopted a hundred years ago. The Danish film Atlantis was one of the first-ever feature movies, filmed off the coast of New Zealand. And Edison’s ground-breaking projector was also born in 1913. Wayne looks at the extraordinary world of projectionists, and Chris follows up with two projection box veterans.
A few years ago Wayne wrote a book on the old cinemas in NZ and their role in our social history. It’s called The Celluloid Circus: The Heyday of the New Zealand Picture Theatre 1925 – 1970, and is published by Random House.