09:05 Lessons from Christchurch earthquake recovery for flooded upper North

Images show damage and debris following torrential rains across Auckland and the upper North Island in January 2023. Clockwise from top left: A slip is seen below a house in Beach Haven on Auckland's North Shore, debris piled up on the roadside in Browns Bay, trees at the bottom of a slip on Ngapipi Road in Ōrākei, damage to SH25A on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Images show damage and debris following the recent torrential rains across Auckland and the upper North Island. Clockwise from top left: A slip is seen below a house in Beach Haven on Auckland's North Shore, debris piled up on the roadside in Browns Bay, trees at the bottom of a slip on Ngapipi Road in Ōrākei, damage to SH25A on the Coromandel Peninsula. Photo: Supplied / RNZ

As Auckland and Northland brace for more atrocious weather, city leaders are calling for funding to repair the city's broken infrastructure to be along the lines of the help given to Christchurch after the quakes.  Auckland deputy mayor Desley Simpson says that the damage so far is equivalent to the biggest non earthquake event the country has ever had and should be treated accordingly. The Opportunities Party says the "alliance" model established after the earthquakes, was effective and would work for Auckland's rebuild,  because it provides a structure that the Central Government can fund directly. ToP leader Raf Manji was a Christchurch councillor after the quakes and closely involved in the rebuild.  He tells Kathryn Ryan it is vital to ensure water and transport infrastructure is repaired quickly and efficiently, especially with a view to future extreme weather events - and there is much to learn from the post-quake rebuild.

09:30 Why escaped pet parrots are threatening native species

Australian king parrot

Australian king parrot Photo: 123RF

A Professor of Ecology says vulnerable native birds are threatened by a "staggering" number of escaped exotic parrots, and a ban on imports should be introduced. Auckland University's Professor Margaret Stanley and colleagues have just published a study on how many pet birds, particularly parrot species, are reported as lost by their owners. Listings from two popular websites were monitored daily for over three and a half years. Professor Stanley says from the results they believe at any one time in Auckland, for example, there are at least 491 escaped birds, including 136 potential breeding pairs. She says this is terrible news for native species.

09:45 Pacific correspondent Koroi Hawkins

EMBARGOED until 1.40pm on February 8
New Zealand authorities have intercepted more than three tonnes of cocaine from a vessel in the Pacific Ocean. Operation Hydros - a joint mission by police, Customs and the Defence Force - seized 81 bales of the drug, totalling 3.2 tonnes, with an estimated street value of half a billion dollars. The shipment is destined for destruction, having since made the six-day journey back to New Zealand aboard the Royal New Zealand Navy vessel HMNZS Manawanui.

Photo: NZ Police / Supplied

A transnational crime expert says although the record seizure of cocaine announced by New Zealand authorities on Wednesday is significant it is still just a drop in the ocean. There have been reports of unrest in Solomon Islands' Malaita Province where the outspoken provincial premier Daniel Suidani has been ousted in a motion of no confidence. An international law expert believes Japan is passing the risk of its upcoming release of treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean onto Pacific leaders. And the Oceania Football Confederation and the Asian Football Confederation have signed an agreement they say will see more matches between countries from the two FIFA regions.

RNZ Pacific Journalist Koroi Hawkins 

10:05 Whānau-written play to hit stage at unique Māori theatre

Ten-year-old Te Rongopai Curreen Tukiwaho leads a cast of 9 actors in the new play, Hemo is Home.

Ten-year-old Te Rongopai Curreen Tukiwaho leads a cast of nine actors in the play, Hemo is Home. Photo: Supplied

When Auckland went into Covid lockdown in 2021, Auckland actor Tainui Tukiwaho wanted to find a way to keep his five tamariki busy and help them with their written English. The result was an award-winning play. Hemo is Home will premier next month as the first production to be staged at Te Pou Theatre - a unique home for Māori performing arts. The ghostly comedy features a number of well-known Māori actors and stars the youngest of the play's creators, 10 year old Te Rongopai Curreen Tukiwaho. Te Rongopai and his mother - producer and actor Amber Curreen - tell Kathryn about the whanau-inspired play and the project to create a purpose-built, kaupapa Māori performing arts facility in west Auckland.

Tainui Tukiwaho and his five children in his blended whanau, and writers of the new play, Hemo is Home.  

From left:  Jade Fernandez, 12, Mia Curreen-Poko, 17, Te Rongopai Curreen Tukiwaho, 10, Tainui Tukiwaho, Letoya Fernandez, 16, Paku Fernandez, 16.

From left: Jade Fernandez, 12, Mia Curreen-Poko, 17, Te Rongopai Curreen Tukiwaho, 10, Tainui Tukiwaho, Letoya Fernandez, 16, Paku Fernandez, 16. Photo: Supplied

10:35 Book review - Dinosaurs: A Novel by Lydia Millet

Photo: W. W. Norton & Company

Marcus Greville from Unity Books Wellington reviews Dinosaurs: A Novel by Lydia Millet, published by W. W. Norton & Company.

Millet's exquisite new novel is the story of a man named Gil who walks from New York to Arizona to recover from a failed love. After he arrives, new neighbors move into the glass-walled house next door and his life begins to mesh with theirs.”

10:45  Around the motu : Matt Brown in Marlborough

No caption

Photo: RNZ / Tracy Neal

Matt has the latest on a recent crime wave in Blenheim where there's been a spike in house burglaries and car thefts. Also there's a fire ban in place across south Marlborough, a volunteer group has stepped in to provide vital health transport and the region's Wine and Food festival is on tomorrow after back to back cancellations.
 

Matt Brown is a reporter for Marlborough News based in Blenheim

11:05 New music with Grant Smithies

Album Covers

Album Covers Photo: Album covers

Winter Of Discontent is a great new compilation of key singles from the early British DIY post-punk scene of the late 70s. We'll hear key tracks from Zounds and Scritti Politti today, alongside an 80's funk/ jazz gem from New York keyboardist Bernard Wright and some classic Jamaican rocksteady from Carlton and His Shoes

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Crusaders coach Scott Robertson talks to media

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Sam examines the Razor show and how Scott Robertson's got the whole rugby world's attention, what to make of the upcoming All Black exodus, a big weekend for Māori rugby league and American sport's balance between pageantry and performance.
 

11:45 The week that was with

Comedians Te Radar and Michele A'Court with some of the lighter stories of the week, including the Australian man who pumped $600 dollars worth of petrol into his rod holder, rather than his fuel tank.

A motorist uses a pump as they re-fuel their car with unleaded petrol at a filling station in central London

Photo: AFP or licensors

 

 

Music played in this show

Track: Rock Pools
Artist: Saint Saviour & Willy Mason
Time played: 09:44