Nine To Noon for Thursday 12 May 2022

09:05 Nurses furious over omission from fast-track to residency

Nurses are astounded and angry that the profession has been left off a new list for a fast-tracked path to residency, that allows overseas doctors, scientists and engineers to apply from September. A new 'green list' was announced at the same time the government revealed the border will fully reopen from the end of July. The green list aims to make it easier for employers to hire highly-skilled migrants in hard-to-fill jobs. A second list, offering 'work to residency', allows other listed occupations to apply for residency, but only after being in New Zealand for two years, and registered nurses are on that second list. Anne Daniels, President of the Nurses Organisation says the policy is sexist and discrimatory.

09:15 Businesses welcome border reopening

Kathryn speaks with Leeann Watson,  Chief Executive of the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce about the reopening of the border and the immigration changes announced yesterday. She says it's a boost for tourism, hospitality and retail as well as for exporters and manufacturers. But she says it'll be a challenge to get the 10,000 additional workers per year needed in the Canterbury region to fill gaps.

09:30 Boom in demand for seaweed-based biostimulants

 Demand for a local seaweed-based biostimulants jumped 200 percent this autumn compared to the same time last year, partly driven by price hikes for synthetic fertilisers, as the war in Ukraine affects global supplies. AgriSea has been making biostimulant products for 25 years, and says demand is also growing as farmers become more conscious of where farm inputs come from.  AgriSea collects seaweed from remote shores of coastal New Zealand and brews the harvest into a nutrient-rich concentrate at a factory in Paeroa. The company is also developing a seaweed farm in the Hauraki Gulf. The final product is a bio-stimulant, which enables farms and orchards to improve outcomes for soil, pasture, plant and animal health. Seaweed is a burgeoning sector in New Zealand, and globally, the seaweed sector is estimated to be worth more than $20 billion. Kathryn speaks to the chief executive of AgriSea, Clare Bradley about the industry. She also speaks with Fonterra's Chief Science and Technology Officer, Jeremy Hill, initiatives Fonterra is exploring to reduce greenhouse gases, including trialling a supplement for cattle containing Asparagopsis seaweed

09:45 UK: Inflation woes, Labour pains, European security, Queen's (son's) Speech

UK correspondent Hugo Gye joins Kathryn to look at how British politics is dominated by questions over the cost of living and a meeting called by Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his Ministers to come up with ways to combat it - without spending any more money. Labour's Keir Starmer is under investigation for his lockdown brew - will his promise to quit if found guilty backfire? The UK has signed a security agreement with Sweden and Finland and the Queen's Speech officially opened Parliament - but was delivered by her son instead.

10:05 Geriatrician Dick Sainsbury on a lifetime in later-age medicine

If you're a fit 84 year old and you have a heart attack - should you be sent to the cardiologist or a geriatrician? Kathryn's guest Dick Sainsbury argues it should be the former - even though he's spent decades working in geriatric medicine. Based in Christchurch, Dick is a retired geriatrician and emeritus professor at Otago University, who spent 6 years on the New Zealand Medical Council and eight on the Artificial Limb Service. His anecdotes, thoughts, papers and teaching points from his career have formed the basis of an engaging book about aging called All Experience is an Arch - in which he infuses his love of literature. A keen cricketer, Dick had his own health scare 25 years ago - going into cardiac arrest on the cricket pitch and being revived by his teammates - who were all doctors.

10:35 Book review: Another Beautiful Day Indoors by Erik Kennedy

Harry Ricketts reviews Another Beautiful Day Indoors by Erik Kennedy, published by Te Herenga Waka University Press

10:45 The Reading

In the reading today we finish If There is No Shelter from The Devil's Trumpet written by Tracey Slaughter. 

11:05 Technology with Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh

Technology correspondent Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh joins Kathryn to look at the role artificial intelligence plays in digital addiction, by doing things like creating immersive and personalised spaces that constantly catch user attention. She'll also look at research into why AI still struggles with the nuances of human language - can studying the human brain help to build AI systems that can  learn and reason like people do?

11:25 Parenting: anchors to Māori and Pasifika students' success at school

New research from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research looks at what gives Māori and Pasifika students the best chance of success at school.  Through four studies, the Conceptualising Maori and Pasifika Aspirations and Striving for Success COMPASS project has identified critical factors that serve as important punga/anchors in the educational journeys of ākonga/students. Senior Researcher at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Mohamed Alansari speaks with Kathryn Ryan.

11:45 Film & TV: Ozark finale, The Staircase, Lego Masters NZ

Film and TV reviewer Chris Schulz looks at whether the final seven episodes of Ozark lived up to the show's hype, new drama series starring Toni Collete and Colin Firth that's based around a high-profile murder trial in The Staircase and the local version of Lego Masters.

Music played in this show

Track: Try
Artist: Obongjayar
Time played: 11:25am