Nine To Noon for Wednesday 26 October 2022

 

09:05 Farms to forests: Minister for Agriculture on farmers facing tough choices

Minister for Agriculture Damien O'Connor talks with Kathryn Ryan about the tough choices farmers are facing, including looming emissions pricing, and the temptation to sell into carbon farm forestry.  Land use conversion has already occurred at pace on the East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, South Otago, Clutha Southland and other parts of the country. This month the government confirmed there would be a price on agricultural emissions from 2025 - they will be levied at the farm gate level.  However if the government's own systems are not ready for that in time, levies will begin at the processor level. Federated farmers says proposed emissions pricing will "rip the guts out of small-town New Zealand" and accelerate the conversion of sheep and beef farms into forests. The government's own official advice suggests a twenty percent reduction in the sheep and beef sector alone. The Climate Commission had earlier warned the government against an over-dependence on tree planting as a means of offsetting gross emissions.  According to an independent report commissioned by Beef and Lamb NZ two-thirds of all farm sales (92,000 ha) between the start of 2017 and the end of 2020 were whole farm conversions to forestry.

09:30 Outward Bound at 60: Still pushing people to their limits 

Outward Bound in New Zealand turns 60 this year - and in the time it's been running, some 70,000 Kiwis have gone through the programme. Based in Anakiwa in the Marlborough Sounds, it offers participants the chance to step out of their comfort zone by stepping into the bush - learning or developing skills in the outdoors that will have application to their daily lives. Does the New Zealand school still have a life changing impact on students? And does it still have cut-through in an increasingly digital world? Kathryn is joined by Outward Bound's CEO Malindi Maclean and Darryl Carpenter, who was an Outward Bound instructor in the 1990s.

09:45 Australia: What was in the 4th Budget in two years?

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane joins Kathryn to look at what was included in the latest Budget, the fourth in two years. Some clear priorities were outlined for the Albanese government: cheaper childcare, expanded paid parental leave, cheaper prescription drugs and more affordable housing. The $7.5b plan is designed to help ease the cost of living ahead of new inflation figures out today.

10:05  The story of Aotearoa through 100 objects

Historian Dr Jock Phillips' latest work tells the story of New Zealand using 100 objects. Objects such as the sewing kete of an unknown 18th-century Maori woman; cannons from the Endeavour; the shields used by Springbok tour protestors and the soccer ball given as a tribute to a victim of the Christchurch Mosque shootings. Jock Phillips has spent a career uncovering and documenting Aotearoa New Zealand's past, and is the author of 15 books. He says the items he's chosen represent a dramatic, full-of-life history for everyday New Zealanders.

10:35 Book review

Cynthia Morahan reviews A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E. Grant, published by Simon & Schuster.

10:45 The Reading

Elizabeth McRae with a short story by Jackie Davis, that goes by the title 'Pull'.

11:05 Music with RNZ's Charlotte Ryan

Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan joins Kathryn to talk about three concerts planned for next year by acclaimed jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, the release of 'Sweetheart' this week - the ninth album by SJD and a return of the legendary Warratahs.

11:30 Your rights when buying on Facebook Marketplace, TradeMe  

Andrew Hubbard, the acting chief executive of Citizens Advice Bureau joins Kathryn to look at private sales, like buying of Facebook Marketplace, and what your rights are if something goes wrong. 

11:45 Arts: Frida Kahlo packs the crowds into Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery's Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Art and Life in Modern Mexico exhibition opened a week and a half ago and saw the highest visitation numbers on record for a ticketed exhibition's opening weekend since 2011. Guests were even queuing out the door and down Wellesley Street to get into the gallery at 10am on Saturday. Kathryn is joined by Kirsten Lacy, who's the director of the Auckland Art Gallery, to talk about the pair's popularity.