Nine To Noon for Friday 28 February 2020

 

 

09:05 Deepening economic impact of Coronavirus

The country's biggest university has imposed a hiring freeze, Air New Zealand has asked staff to take voluntary leave without pay and small tourism operators are struggling to cope as the impact from the COVID 19 Coronovirus deepens. Kathryn talks with Chair of Universities New Zealand's international programme committee - Professor Grant Guilford  - who is also Vice Chancellor of Victoria University, spokesperson for the Tertiary Education Union, Dr Sandra Grey and Queenstown Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Anna Mickell.

09.20 Gun laws enter final negotiations

Founding director of GunPolicy.org, which compares armed violence, firearm injury prevention and gun law across three-hundred and fifty jurisdictions world-wide, Philip Alpers speaks with Kathryn Ryan as proposed law changes to establish a firearms registry and toughen up gun licensing - The Arms Legislation Bill - enters its final stages in parliament.

09:45 Pacific correspondent Koro Vaka'uta

Koro joins Kathryn to talk about the visit of Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape to New Zealand, and the visit of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to Fiji this week. He'll also look at the expulsion of Tonga from Rugby League's world body, a few months after upsetting Australia and Great Britain.

10:05 Camel whisperer. Margie Bale.

Margie Bale is one of Australia's leading camel vets. She is based out of Brisbane but travels all over the country doing everything from pregnancy testing and ultrasounds of pregnant camels, to castrating bulls, and performing post-mortems on camels using the array of powertools in the back of her car. Camels were introduced to Australia in the 19th century as part of the construction of the Ghan railway between Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin. Those animals were the beginning of the feral camel population - the world's largest - estimated upwards of one million. Margie Bale says she fell in love with camels for their intelligence, adaptablity and incredibly physiology.

10:35 Book review - Shakti by Rajorshi Chakraborti

Louise O'Brien reviews Shakti by Rajorshi Chakraborti, which is published by Penguin Random House.

10:45 The Reading

This week we have stories by Carl Nixon about members of a single family spanning a period of thirty years. The collection is titled 'Shingle Beach Stories'.

Today: The Bach, read by Phil Vaughan.

11:05 Tame Impala's new album out. Five year wait over.

Music reviewer Grant Smithies​ joins Kathryn to sample some key tracks from Tame Impala's generously trippy fourth album The Slow Rush. He'll also have gems from Chicago soul act The Impressions and the late, great English DJ and producer Andrew Weatherall, who died last week.

11:30 How coronavirus is casting a long shadow over some big sporting events

Sports commentator Sam Ackerman looks at growing speculation the Tokyo Olympics may have to be moved due to COVID-19 - but is it really safer anywhere else? He'll also talk to Kathryn about a big campaign focused on how to keep kids in sport, and what makes athletes change codes?

11:45 The week that was

Our comedians Te Radar and Melanie Bracewell with a feast of funnies, including why the World Taekwondo Federation is changing its name because of the negative connotations of its initials.

Music played in this show

Artist:   The Milk Carton Kids
Song: I'll Be Gone
Time: 10:46