Nine To Noon for Thursday 25 February 2021

 

 

09:05 Calls to prioritise South Aucklanders for Covid vaccine

The Pasifika Medical Association says when rollout goes wider, consideration should be given to putting South Auckland near the top of the queue, particularly the most medically vulnerable.  The latest outbreak centred on Papatoetoe High School and its surrounding suburbs has added to the urgency for vaccinating vulnerable populations of South Aucklanders as soon as possible.  The South was also disproportionately hit by Auckland's large August cluster. With the airport based in Mangere and a high number of South Auckland residents working on the border and quarantine facilities - should a regional priority rollout be the next step?  Kathryn Ryan speaks with Dr Api Talemaitoga, a distinguished fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and Chair of the Pasifika GP Network, also Dr Vanshdeep Tangri, clinical director for Whanau Ora community clinics and Darryl Evans, chief executive of Mangere Budgeting Services Trust.

09:20 Shark and Ray sperm banking  

Underwater sperm banking sounds like a difficult system, but its proven popular with some female sharks and rays. A study by Marine biologist Adèle Dutilloy has discovered that some sharks and rays store sperm internally for years before conceiving. The initial study was part of her research for Masters degree trying to learn more about the deep sea world and its denizens. 

She investigated the sexual organs of 147 female sharks and rays, from nine separate species and found some had tiny tubes of sperm stored inside glands. Adèle has a suspicion the technique is more widespread than the current evidence suggests and she joins me now in our Wellington studio. 

09:45 UK correspondent Matt Dathan

The roadmap for the UK coming out of lockdown has been rolled out, but the four step process will take at least four months.

10:05 Sir Partha Dasgupta: GDP is not fit for purpose

Sir Partha Dasgupta is the author of a landmark review calling for transformational change in our economic approach to nature. He is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge and and Chair of the Management Board of its Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. He was appointed by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer to lead an independent global review to assess the economic benefits of biodiversity and the economic costs of its loss. That review, released earlier this month, finds prosperity has come at a "devastating" cost to the natural world. Sir Partha says nature must be recognised as an asset and that our traditional measure of economic prosperity - Gross Domestic Product - is no longer fit for purpose.

10:30 Reserve Bank must now consider house prices

The Government has decreed the Reserve Bank will now have to take house prices into account when making its decisions. The Finance Minister Grant Robertson wrote to the bank's governor Adrian Orr late last year suggesting this course of action. Mr Orr later warned against the option, saying there could be adverse trade-offs. Mr Roberston has pushed ahead regardless. Kathryn talks with RNZ's Business Editor Gyles Beckford.

10:35 Book review - An Exquisite Legacy by George Gibbs

Murray Williams reviews An Exquisite Legacy: The life and work of New Zealand naturalist G.V. Hudson by George Gibbs. This book is published by Potton & Burton. 

10:45 The Reading

Steve Braunias with the ninth part of his book 'How To Watch A Bird'.

11:05 New technology with Bill Bennett

Bill talks to Kathryn about Vodafone saying it’s pushing ahead with 5G and will sell fixed wireless broadband in competition with the fibre networks. Also, Chorus turning in a result with lower profit than last year. The competition from fixed wireless is heating up. And Sky is launching its internet service this year, and had much better than expected result, partly on the back of selling TV services to broadband users.

11:25 Getting unmotivated sons moving

Maggie Dent talks with Kathryn about how to "unstick" unmotivated sons. She is the mother of four boys, a former teacher and counsellor who has become one of Australia's foremost parenting experts - and self described "boy champion". Her latest book is called From Boys to Men, and she is also the host of the ABC podcast Parental as Anything. She is about to run a webinar series based on her book From Boys to Men.

11:45 Film review with Tamar Munch

Tamar has been watching Allen v Farrow which is streaming on Neon and SkyGo, also coming of age drama We Are Who We Are on TVNZ on Demand, and Scratched - Aotearoa's Lost Sporting Legends which streams live via The Spinoff.