Nine To Noon for Thursday 2 May 2024

09:05 Food support charities struggling to meet unprecedented demand

Charities supporting more than half a million New Zealanders have reported a 40 percent increase in food demand last year - 2023. The cost-of-living crisis - which rose an average of 6.2 percent for households in the year to April - and job layoffs so far this year, means the situation is now likely even worse, and providers will struggle to meet the soaring demand over winter. The New Zealand Food Network has more than 60 member organisations - including large City Mission and Salvation Army charities - who between them support roughly 12 percent of the population - 630,000 people. The network's recently released sixth monthly report to end of 2023, also found a third of clients were seeking food support for the first time. New Zealand Food Network chief executive Gavin Findlay says the survey "reveals a stark reality" and that "the number of Kiwis struggling to access food" is continuing to rise. He and Ian Foster - chief executive of South Auckland Christian Food Bank - speak to Kathryn. 

09:30 Frustration at delays to mediation

Rising unemployment is seeing more people in mediation - putting pressure on already stretched services. In an ironic twist, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) mediators are among staff taking voluntary redundancy in the government cutbacks. According to MBIE, around half of mediations involved dismissals, with demand for the service up 23 per cent on the same time a year ago. Wait times for mediation services can be as long as seven weeks and employment lawyers are concerned this could get worse. Bronwyn Heenan - a partner at Simpson Grierson's employment law group - says mediation is highly successful when it is used and the structure of the Employment Relations Act (ERA) means "all roads lead to mediation". Heenan says the benefit of solving disputes through mediation means parties involved can avoid publicity or a drawn out, expensive, court process. But the backlog of applications caused by covid has "gone into a tailspin" this year with increasing redundancies - including with the mediators themselves. MBIE said it is currently not advertising for more mediators. 

09:45 UK: Rwanda relocation, local elections, King back to work

UK correspondent Matt Dathan joins Kathryn to talk about the first migrant being relocated to Rwanda, but under a separate voluntary scheme as the UK gears up for the first official flights in July. Local elections are set to take place tomorrow - could it add pressure to Rishi Sunak's leadership? And the King has resumed official duties.

Matt Dathan is Home Affairs Editor at The Times

10:05 Spanish author Juan Gomez-Jurado on his best-selling 'Red Queen' series 

Journalist and author Juan Gomez-Jurado is one of Spain's most successful contemporary writers. His nine international best-sellers have been translated into 40 different languages and his Red Queen series - is being released in English. Black Wolf is the second in the series and is available in New Zealand booksellers now.  Its protagonist is Antonia Scott - a woman of unsurpassed intellect  - who works behind the scenes solving crimes considered highly sensitive to the state. The Red Queen series has been so successful it's been taken to the screen by Amazon and can be seen on Prime Video here. Juan joins Kathryn to talk about his influences and building the character of Antonia.

10:35 Book review: A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa Edited by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins 

Lissa Michell reviews A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa Edited by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins published by Auckland University Press

10:45 Around the motu : Libby Kirkby McLeod in Hamilton 

Over the next couple of months, up to 300 birds will move off the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari to other parts of the North Island in what is believed to be the country's biggest ever kiwi relocation project. In Hamilton the rates are rising, as the mayor is criticised for overseas travel. Libby has the latest on what's happening at the Ruakura Superhub development and also how a rodent's foot ended up in some garlic bread.

RNZ Waikato Reporter Libby Kirkby-McLeod  
 

11:05 Tech: Deepfake crime, headfake Meta AI, fox in the AI hen house?

Technology commentator Mark Pesce has a roundup of the weirdest AI news this week, including the Baltimore gym teacher accused of using an AI voice clone to get a high school principal fired for a racist rant he didn't make. Just weeks after Meta AI was rolled out to all the groups apps, it was caught impersonating being the parent of a disabled child in a chat group for parents of disabled children. Was Meta AI rushed out too soon? And the US Department of Homeland Security is establishing an AI Oversight Board, with the industry's biggest names involved - including Open AI's Sam Altman.

Mark Pesce is a futurist, writer, educator and broadcaster. 

11:25 Dial M for mobile: Helping kids navigate their first phone

As a cellphone ban comes into force this term for school kids, Nine to Noon looks at the issue of when to get a phone for your child. While many - if not most -  of us had a phone-free childhood, the pressure for children to get their own phones is creeping lower and lower. Many parents will opt for Year 7 and 8 - the intermediate school years - as a time when a phone can help kids navigate a little independence with the peace of mind being able to contact them can bring. Joining Kathryn to talk about this is Ellie Gwilliam is a content editor and presenter for the Parenting Place.

11:45 Screentime: Origin, Baby Reindeer, The Moon is Upside Down

Film and TV correspondent Perlina Lau joins Kathryn to talk about Origin (cinemas), a thought-provoking film based on Isabel Wilkerson's best-selling book Caste: The Origins of our Discontents. She'll also talk about Netflix's popular Baby Reindeer series and new Kiwi film from Loren Taylor The Moon is Upside Down.

Perlina Lau is host of RNZ's Culture 101 programme

 

TRACKS PLAYED

Geneva AM - Pikipiki

OMC - How Bizarre