Nine To Noon for Friday 26 May 2023

 

09:05 Mental health academics call for apprentices to bolster workforce 

 A group of mental health academics says the workforce crisis in the sector is so significant, it must move to an apprenticeship model, where health care assistants and support workers learn on the job. Associate Professor James Foulds, Dr Ben Beaglehole and Professor Roger Mulder from the University of Otago,  have published an editorial in the Medical Journal this morning. They say ten percent or just over 800 jobs in the mental health sector are vacant - many of  them for registered nurses, and almost half the workforce is over 50 years old. The group say its time for practical actions, not words and more inquiries, blueprints or strategy documents, and they advocate a "earn as you learn" scheme for health care assistants and support workers, to bolster numbers. Associate Professor of Mental Health and practicising forensic psychiatrist, James Foulds, tells Kathryn that employing only clinicians with a tertiary degree is a luxury New Zealand can no longer afford.

 

09:30 Quick draw: Every-day online payment processing introduced

A big change to the way we pay the bills kicks in today - they'll now be processed 365 days a year, instead of just Monday to Friday. It'll apply to electronic payments - including APs, bill payments, direct credits - and the move is designed to speed up the processing system, with most banks that Kiwis use being involved.. It won't, however, apply to large payments - like a house settlement, for example. Payments NZ is the industry body behind the change, which it's described as a "significant modernisation" of the system that'll allow businesses and consumers to pay and be paid any day of the year, including weekends and public holidays.  To talk more about the changes - and how far away we might be from the next step - real time payments - Kathryn is joined by Steve Wiggins, CEO of Payments NZ. Also joining Kathryn is Xero's NZ Country Manager Bridget Snelling. Xero has issued a challenge to large Kiwi businesses to pay their invoices to small business within 10 days of invoicing. She says small businesses are missing out on $465m each year because bills aren't paid on time. 

09:45 Asia correspondent Ed White

A comedian in Beijing has found himself in serious hot water after joking about the Chinese military, in a case that highlights the deterioration of freedom of speech in China. Xi Jinping continues to steer China to closer ties with Russia despite rising international pressure. Meanwhile Joe Biden has signalled a ‘thaw’ in relations between the US and China but there are several new flashpoints emerging too, including China's hacking, computer chips sanctions and fishing. 

Ed White is a correspondent with the Financial Times.

10:05 Beating the biased bot: Tracey Spicer

Australian author, journalist and broadcaster Tracey Spicer's new book envisions living in an A.I. world of robot slaves. But this is no sci-fi.  It's an exploration of who the real slaves might be, if we fail to outsmart the biases inherent in artificial intelligence's algorithms: chatbots for the home having a female voice, an automatic soap dispenser that only works for white hands and self driving cars that won't stop at crossings for people of colour. Tracey has professional experience of AI: the book cover for Man Made: How the bias of the past is being built into the future was designed by it, in a flash. Here Tracey offers hacks for getting on with this seemingly unstoppable technology, and tells Kathryn she also learnt to love it. She lived with Long-Covid while putting this book out, during which time she came to appreciate smart houses.

10:35 Book review: Happy Place by Emily Henry

Mellissa Oliver from Unity Books Wellington reviews Happy Place by Emily Henry, published by Penguin

10:45 Around the motu : Peter de Graaf in Northland

 

Hokianga residents are angry about treated wastewater being discharged into the iconic Hokianga Harbour meanwhile an invasive seaweed is causing concern after being found at Rawhiti near Russell. And Peter has the latest on the Abbey Caves tragedy.

 

Northern Advocate Far North reporter Peter de Graaf is based in Kerikeri.

 

11:05 New music with Jeremy Taylor

New music from SZA, reissues of the Proud compilation and Space Waltz debut, plus farewells to the great Tina Turner and Smiths bassist Andy Rourke"
 

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Image is everything - or is it? Sam  looks at some of the images and reputations on the line in the world of sport, from beloved local heroes, to unexpected figureheads ,rebuilt careers and tarnishing an entire country’s good name. 

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11:45 The week that was with

Comedians Te Radar and Pinky Agnew have a few laughs