Nine To Noon for Tuesday 6 August 2024

09:05 Health Czar Lester Levy

Health Commissioner, Lester Levy - the man in sole charge of the public health system. He is three weeks into a two year term, tasked with fixing the system many describe as broken. A massive budget blowout, a shortage of clinicans, overworked and burnt out staff, long waiting lists, and provinces and regions without adequate cover and left with telehealth. He says his priority is to get waiting times down and improve productivity. Profesor Levy promises clinical service won't be impacted as he attempts to deal with an estimated $1.4 billion overspend. He tells Paddy Gower how he plans to do this.

09:25 Golden clams spread to thousands within a square metre in Waikato waters

It's now been more than a year since invasive golden clams were found in the Waikato, and a new study has shown just how much they have spread. In its worst spots, there are more than 4000 clams per square metre and they were found in all habitats tested.  The clams - known as Corbicula fluminea - were first found in May last year at Bob's Landing at Lake Karapiro. They come from southeast Asia and are known to spread rapidly in waterways because of their rapid reproduction - able to produce 400 juveniles a day and up to 70,000 juveniles a year. They can clog hydro dams and cause havoc for irrigation systems and water treatment plants. Eradication of the golden clam has never been achieved. MPI had NIWA divers survey five sites at lakes Maraetai and Karapiro. MPI's director of pest management John Walsh has seen the results of those surveys and speaks to Paddy about what could be done to suppress them.

09:35 Could fungi provide a solution to plastic packaging waste?

The problem of plastic is a truly global headache - every day 2000 garbage trucks' worth of plastic is dumped into the world's rivers, lakes and oceans. A large chunk of that  - 40 percent - comes from packaging. That's where a Kiwi company is hoping to make a difference - with a natural solution: fungi. Mushroom Materials has just secured $8.5 million in funding to set up a pilot plant in Auckland where it'll make fungi-based pellets that can be shaped into customised packaging solutions. To explain more about how the process works and the company's plans to grow, Paddy is joined by Shaun Seaman - Mushroom Materials' CEO.

09:45 USA correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben

All eyes are on the race to the White House - and the battle between Democratic nominee and current Vice President, Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump. Danielle discusses the fallout from Donald Trump's comments about his opponent's heritage. JD Vance is Trump's running mate and attention is now turning to who Kamala Harris will choose as hers.

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

10:05 Kiwi veterinarian working with a Noah's Ark of animals

Marcus Taylor graduated from Massey University 11 years ago - his life as a vet has been pretty action packed since then. He's about to move from Christchurch to Finland for a year, along the way he's worked in  England, Newfoundland and carried out an animal-health research project in the Middle East. Marcus has a YouTube channel, Lord of the Vets and his latest venture is a memoir :  The Ones that Bit Me, camels, cows and other young-vet stories. This includes looking after a cow with ketosis, an arthritic pet lamb, nursing birds back to health and having to tell pet owners that their domestic animals are not long for this world. Marcus has also had a personal battle back from severe injury.

10:35 Book review: Voyagers by Lauren Fuge 

Gail Pittaway reviews Voyagers by Lauren Fuge published by Text Publishing

10:45 Around the motu: John Freer covering Coromandel Peninsula
 

Thames motorists have been experiencing some of the highest fuel prices in the country - a month ago it was $2.99 a litre for 91 when 25 kilometres away out on the Hauraki Plains and up the Thames Coast, it was 37 cents a litre cheaper. Over the past four weeks,there been protest marches, social media campaigns and John says even politicians are becoming involved. He also discusses a move to have Mercury Bay declared a World Heritage Site.

CFM local news reporter John Freer.

11:05 Business commentator Rebecca Stevenson

Rebecca talks to Paddy Gower about the turmoil on the international sharemarket, US stock markets have recovered slightly after falling sharply on the opening of trading. Concerns about the US economic outlook have provoked the global selloff, with tech shares recording the greatest declines.

Rebecca Stevenson is a senior journalist at BusinessDesk.

11:30 Black Sheep returns with new season on New Zealand's darkest characters 

The Surafend massacre is perhaps New Zealand's darkest military story. Some 200 members of the Anzac Mounted Division killed upwards of 40 male Arab civilians in a small village in southern Palestine in December 1918. It is a shocking story that kicks off the latest season of the Black Sheep podcast. Creator and presenter William Ray says 100 years later, much of the story around the massacre remains a mystery. The latest season of the podcast will also traverse stories about early missionaries in the 1810s as well as a famous teenage highwayman in Taranaki. Black Sheep is among RNZ's longest-running podcasts. It won podcast of the year at last year's NZ Podcast Awards.  

The latest Black Sheep episodes can be found here.

11:45 Sports correspondent Sam Ackerman

After a double dose of unexpected medals, the New Zealand flag has been flying again in Paris. Sam revels in our latest Olympic medalists, looks ahead to the next great chances on the horizon and assesses the legacy of Shaun Johnson after he announces his Warriors and NRL retirement.