Nine To Noon for Wednesday 17 June 2020
09:05 Health shakeup: What's the Government going to do?
The Health and Disability Review has recommended the biggest change to the health system in a generation, including cutting the number of DHBs, scrapped elected representative and setting up two new health bureaucracies to work alongside the Ministry of Health. Kathryn asks Health Minister David Clark which recommendations might make it to the Cabinet table.
09:20 Major change within court system must happen: Chief Justice
The Chief Justice says major change within the court system must happen, and the Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted the issues. Jury trials were suspended in March because of the virus, and will only resume in August. At last estimate, 60-thousand events were backlogged across the court system. The Chief Justice, Dame Helen Winkelmann, says people on remand, awaiting trial or sentencing are most affected. She says the remand population is unacceptable, the court system too complex, and the cost of litigation too high. Justice Winkelmann describes the experience of pandemic as a 'cauldron' but maintains significant change can happen quickly.
09:45 'Branch stacking' claim against Victorian Labor Minister
Australia correspondent Bernard Keane joins Kathryn to look at the career-ending allegations against Victoria's Labor Minister Adem Somyurek, including that he recruited people into the party to boost his own standing. A video has also surfaced of him abusing his ministerial colleague. Bernard will also talk about Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comment that there was no slavery in Australia.
10:05 Stories from the saddle. Jo Haines
Cycling adventurer Jo Haines is traveling the world, 3 months at a time, on a bike. Each autumn she sets off from Albert Town, to explore another unique corner of the earth. She talks to Kathryn Ryan about her stories from the saddle, including her latest bike trip through Georgia and Armenia.
This year she'll be at the 18th New Zealand Mountain Film & Book Festival in Wanaka and Queenstown and broadcast online nationally.
10:35 Book review - Upturned by Kay McKenzie Cooke
Chris Tse reviews Upturned by Kay McKenzie Cooke, published by The Cuba Press.
10:45 The Reading
Fainting and the Fat Man by Vincent O'Sullivan, read by David McPhail. Part one of two.
11:05 Music with RNZ's Yadana Shaw
Yadana shares new songs from near and far. Including a little lo-fi number from Manawatu, a ditty from Indigenous Australia and a new rework of a Billie Holiday standard in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.
11:20 Scott Bainbridge on his new book, New Zealand Mysteries
If you like a good mystery, you're in luck. Author Scott Bainbridge has turned his attention to detailing some of New Zealand's most enduring tales. He's previously written about cold cases and disappearances, but in New Zealand Mysteries outlines some of the country's well-known legends, and some lesser-known, but equally intriguing - tales.
11:45 Rare narwhal sound recorded, Lancet's hydroxychloroquin confusion
Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles joins Kathryn to talk about the elusive narwhal and the unusual sounds they've been recorded making, the confusion surrounding a Lancet paper on hydroxychloroquin - promoted by Donald Trump - that has had to be pulled and the brain cells in mice that trigger a hibernation response.
Associate Professor Dr Siouxsie Wiles is the head of Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland.