Nine To Noon for Thursday 5 May 2022

 

09:05 Record low unemployment leaves most sectors crying out for workers

New Stats NZ's figures show the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.2 percent, in large part this is due to the closed borders and lack of flow of skilled migrants and workers. However, this is having a serious effect on businesses struggling to fill vacancies. Accordant is the country's largest recruitment firm, working across all sectors from blue collar to IT and executive level. Kathryn talks to Accordant Chief Executive, Jason Cherrington who says almost every sector is short staffed. We'll also hear from Puke Pine General Manager Jeff Tanner. Parts of his family run Te Puke sawmill are choking due to unfilled vacancies, and that's impacting on how much product can be processed.

09:30 Applying technology from low-methane sheep to cattle

Technology behind breeding low-methane emitting sheep has the potential to be applied to cattle, with huge potential for reducing New Zealand's greenhouse gasses. Scientists at AgResearch have found that lower methane emissions are a heritable trait in sheep. Emissions are measured using portable accumulation chambers, with the lowest emitting sheep producing close to 13 per cent less methane than the highest emitters, per kilogram of feed eaten. It's now hoped that this will be transferable to cattle, with a single chamber being used to test this. Thirty-five percent of New Zealand's greenhouse gases come from grazing livestock; with sheep accounting for one third of that, and cattle 70 percent. If New Zealand's entire flock were to become low methane emitting, it's estimated the country could reduce methane emissions by one percent per year. Kathryn speaks to Dr Suzanne Rowe, a geneticist and senior scientist at AgResearch. She'll be speaking at at E Tipu: The Boma Agri Summit, being held 21-22 June in Christchurch and online.

09:45 UK: Inflation woes, Starmer's 'beergate', Elizabeth Line on track to open

UK correspondent Matthew Parris joins Kathryn to talk about rising inflation and a Cabinet Minister's suggestion that struggling families should buy budget brands, which has not gone down well. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer says the police have not been in touch about his office beer with staff under lockdown, local elections could be a real indicator of Boris Johnson's popularity and the long-awaited Elizabeth Line is nearly open in London.

10:05 Indelible City: Louisa Lim on the demise of democracy in Hong Kong

Three years ago Hong Kong was rocked by protests that shook it to its very core. It began with concerns about an extradition treaty with China; was fuelled by the disappearance of five booksellers and ended with a crackdown on freedom of expression. It also made Louisa Lim realise it was time to go back to the place she was raised and unearth key stories about the identity of Hong Kong. Louisa is an award-winning journalist who reported from China for a decade and now teaches journalism at the University of Melbourne. Her new book about the history, people and culture of her childhood home is called 'Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong'.

 

10:35 Book review: The Lighthouse Princess by Susan Wardell, illustrated by Rose Northey

Joanna Ludbrook of the Chicken and Frog Bookstore in Featherston reviews The Lighthouse Princess by Susan Wardell, illustrated by Rose Northey, published by Penguin Puffin

10:45 The Reading

In the reading today we continue with our series of stories from The Devil's Trumpet written by Tracey Slaughter. Today's story is Holding the Torch, told by Mel Dodge.

11:05 Tech: Override Panda's new phishing attack, Cozy Bear targets diplomats

Cyber-security expert Tony Grasso joins Kathryn to talk about the new spear-phishing email doing the rounds from Chinese state-sponsored hacking group Override Panda. He'll also look at how Russian hacking group, Cozy Bear, has been targeting diplomats around the globe and how the CIA is using a variety of social media platforms to give instruction on how Russians can send information to them via a secure browser over the Dark Web

11:30 Deb Rewiri: traditional Māori parenting

Neuroscience educator Deb Rewiri says it has never been so important to get on board with traditional Māori parenting practices.  Help is at hand to take whānau back to when a village raised the children. Deb tells Kathryn about a whānau support initiative called Tākai which embraces mātauranga Māori and indigenous parenting approaches.

11:45 Film & TV: 1883, The Essex Serpent, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn

Film and TV correspondent James Croot joins Kathryn to talk about the Yellowstone prequel 1883 (Amazon), a new series starring Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston called The Essex Serpent (Apple+), a new comedy in cinemas called Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and a series coming to TVNZ called The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe.

Music played in this show

Track: Big Time
Artist: Angel Olsen
Time Played: 09:33am

Track: All Your Ships Have Sailed 
Artist:  Troy Kingi
Time Played: 10:40am

Track: Bruises 
Artist: Jordan Rakei 
Time Played: 11:25am