Nine To Noon for Wednesday 29 May 2024

 

09:05 $53m teacher training boost: will it deliver?

An extra $53 million has been earmarked for teacher training, for more in-the-classroom training as opposed to at university.Is this going to deliver quality, ready-to-teach graduates? The Education Minister Erica Stanford says there will be 1500 new teachers trained over the next four years. Trainee teachers will receive a $20,000 placement package, to go towards living expenses and tuition fees. Schools will also receive a contribution towards the cost of training and mentoring those new teachers. There will also be money for relocating overseas teachers, matching teachers to schools facing recruitment or retention challenges and more money for professional development.The announcement comes as new research finds large numbers of recently-appointed primary teachers lack the most basic school qualifications in science and maths, and weeks after a group of mostly high-decile Auckland secondary schools joined to launch their own in-school training programme. Kathryn speaks with the Chief Executive of the Teaching Council, Lesley Hoskin and Kyle Brewerton, President of the Auckland Primary Principals' Association.

09:25 Electricity infrastructure demands to push monthly bills up

The Commerce Commission says the average electricity bill is set to increase by $15 a month from April next year. The commission has just announced its draft decision on what the major lines networks - including national grid Transpower - can recoup from consumers to fund what they spend. It will make a final decision in November. Transpower will be able to take in $5.8 billion in revenue in the five years to 2030 - a 43 per cent increase to its revenue for the five years to 2025. Lines companies are allowed a 50 per cent increase in revenue over that period, which is $12 billion across 16 companies. Those include the country's biggest lines companies - Vector, Powerco, Wellington Electricity and Orion. Increased costs, replacing old infrastructure and higher demand are the key drivers to the increase. The commission says increases will continue after that. Monthly bills will likely increase by an average of $5 - every year from 2026 to 2030. That puts average yearly bills $420 higher than they are now. The commission's infrastructure regulation commissioner Vhari McWha speaks to Kathryn.     

09:35 Is red tape hindering methane busting livestock feed?

A New Zealand company producing a methane inhibitor from seaweed says poorly designed, onerous regulations mean it cannot work with farmers here to reduce emissions. CH4 Aotearoa was founded in New Zealand in 2018, and has developed a seaweed-based feed supplement to reduce methane emissions from livestock. Trials have shown the feed can reduce methane produced by cows by up to 90 percent. CH4 grows the seaweed in South Australia and near Bluff in Southland. But the company says current New Zealand law means the product would have to meet the same regulations as veterinary medicines even though the seaweed is naturally occurring and has been eaten by humans and animals for hundreds of years. Meanwhile, it says farmers in other countries are using methane inhibitors and marketing their meat as climate friendly. Dr Steve Meller, founder and President of CH4 joins Kathryn.

09:45 Australia: Down Under docs, bird flu-culled flocks, fossils in opal rocks

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn to talk about an exodus of doctors leaving the UK's health system and heading to Australia - there was a 67 percent increase in 2022-23 on the two years prior. What's the appeal? Chris looks at how authorities are taking action and enforcing quarantine measures after an outbreak of bird flu and there's been an exciting find of an egg-laying mammal, nicknamed an 'echidnapus' after fossils were found in an opal field in the New South Wales outback.

10:05 Zeinab Badawi digs deep into the overlooked and untold history of Africa

Zeinab Badawi will be a familiar voice to many from her time as a BBC journalist and presenter. Her new book: An African History of Africa emerged from a nine-part documentary series for BBC World News in which she spent seven years travelling to more than 30 countries. It digs deep into the overlooked history and culture of the continent - moving beyond a Western-centric view and bringing to life some of the colourful and powerful characters of Africa's past. Zeinab herself is of Africa - she was born in Sudan and has lived in England from the age of two. But this book, she says is for everyone - since everyone is originally from Africa

10:35 Book review: Landfall 247: Autumn 2023 Edited by Lynley Edmeades 

Holly Walker reviews Landfall 247: Autumn 2023 Edited by Lynley Edmeades published by Otago University Press 

10:45 Around the motu: Georgina Campbell in Wellington 

Wellington's Mayor Tory Whanau has established a new business group to advise her, Georgina discusses who is in the mix. Ryman healthcare is selling a parcel of land in Karori earmarked for a retirement village, this as their financial results show profit has plummeted. And a proposal to close Khandallah's pool isn't going down so well.

Georgina Campbell is the NZ Herald's Wellington issues reporter.

11:05 Census data released

The first tranche of data from the last census has just been released by Stats NZ. RNZ's reporter Ruth Hill with what the initial data reveals.

11:05 Music with Ian Chapman: Diamond Dogs turns 50

2024 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Diamond Dogs; one of David Bowie’s more unusual albums and a work that is widely regarded as the last of his glam rock era. While other more obviously ground/genre-breaking albums in the Bowie canon such as Low, Heroes and Blackstar rightly garner much attention – as does the breakthrough Ziggy Stardust album – Diamond Dogs tends to fly beneath the radar by comparison. Ian Chapman shines a spotlight on this album and demonstrates how it pre-empted the artist’s seemingly radical shift to Philadelphia soul the following year with the release of the Young Americans album (1975).   

Ian Chapman is honorary Senior Research Fellow in Music at the University of Otago

11:20 200 years since the invention of the Braille code

Workbridge Chief Executive and Assistive Technology consultant Jonathan Mosen speaks to Kathryn about Louis Braille's innovation, creating  the code which has enabled the literacy of blind people. Louis Braille was blinded in an accident when he was three years old, and at age 15 he invented the six dot system. Jonathan says the fundamental structure of Braille has not changed since it was invented in 1824. 

11:45 Science: Hottest summer, internal adhesive, Venus volcanoes

Science commentator Laurie Winkless joins Kathryn to talk about new research that's used tree rings to confirm last year's northern hemisphere summer was the hottest in 2000 years. Researchers at MIT have found a way to eliminate fibrosis or scarring that can happen around medical implants by using a hydrogel adhesive. And we've known since the early 90s that the surface of Venus was scattered with volcanoes - now new imaging technology and computer simulations has concluded they may still be erupting.

Laurie Winkless is a physicist and science writer.