Nine To Noon for Monday 19 August 2024

09:05 Parents and schools run out of patience for promised learning support

A mother of two children with additional learning needs is exasperated by the lack of in-school specialist support after wrestling with the education system for over a decade. Anna's children don't meet the threshold for any support, despite having dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and an auditory processing disorder between them. She's turned to private screening and tutoring to get her kids through school - a luxury which many families she's spoken to can't afford. The government has named learning support in it's top six education priorities and is overhauling the programme, but no new funding has been attached to it. Meanwhile schools are grappling with an array of curriculum changes, which teachers say will only take away from one-on-one time with kids who need it. Kathryn speaks to Anna, as well as Hayley Read, an executive member of the Principals Federation and principal of Whangārei Intermediate.

09:20 Lawrence Yule appointed to solve Wairoa's flooding problems 

Former long-time Hastings mayor and electorate MP Lawrence Yule has been given the role of solving Wairoa's flooding problems. Wairoa has been dogged by floods for years - most notably during Cyclone Gabrielle when it was cut off completely from other connected towns and cities. In late June the town flooded again - and Mayor Craig Little had led a chorus of criticism directed at the Hawke's Bay Regional Council for its inaction. The regional council had admitted that Wairoa would have flooded less if a channel to let the rising river release into the sea had been dug sooner. A government inquiry into the June disaster is expected back potentially this week. Lawrence Yule was earlier this month appointed by the Government to be Crown Manager - focussed on settling the relationship between the Wairoa District Council and the Hawke's Bay Regional Council.

09:35 Māori Millionaire is a financial literacy champion and changemaker

Growing up, Te Kahukura Boynton's (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tuhoe, Te Whakatōhea) bedtime stories were far from the world of Hogwart's witchcraft and wizardry. Instead, she was turning the pages of personal finance bestsellers, dispatching 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad' by the time she was 8-years-old. These days, she is the director and founder of 'Māori Millionaire' - a podcast and platform with over 30,000 followers - dedicated to educating others, particularly rangatahi Māori, on how to achieve financial freedom. The platform also documents Boynton's own progress towards her goal of becoming a millionaire by the time she is 25. Her passion for creating change for under privileged communities and reducing the wealth gap has seen her recognised in this year's Y25 list - a programme acknowledging our nation's young trailblazers and changemakers. 

09:45 Germany correspondent Thomas Sparrow

It was a jewellery heist that shocked Germany: in 2019, thieves stole 4,300 diamonds and other precious stones from 21 jewellery items from Dresden's Green Vault. Most have been recovered and are now back on display. The German government last month banned a magazine called Compact which it called a central mouthpiece of the extreme right-wing scene. But this week a top court overturned the ban. And German state prosecutors trying to solve the mystery of who blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea in 2022 have issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor. 

10:05 'The Forest Maker' Tony Rinaudo

Niger is a dry, landlocked country in the Sahel in northwest Africa, which - after decades of land clearing for crops - was a country struggling to reforest. It was in 1981,  as Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo was dropping trees off to be planted, that he was struck by the despair of a mostly hopeless task - most planted trees were failing. However, he saw thriving weed-like plants that were actually the tree known as the native Kaligo tree. They were young stems growing from a previously cleared tree stump. Tony realised that pruning competing 'suckers' off the stump - and letting one stem grow - would lead to the tree reestablishing itself quickly and strongly. It required little - just a matter of pruning the stems away - and was easy to teach to local farmers. The method called Farmer Managed Natural Revegetation has now been credited with adding some 200 million trees, over about 35 years  Re-establishing millions of acres in Niger with trees has helped make soils more fertile and moist, and as a result, crop yields are up. The method has spread to 25 countries in Africa. Tony spoke to Kathryn on his recent visit to New Zealand with charity World Vision, to promote the documentary about his reforesting exploits Forest Maker.

10.30 The Moutoa floodgates opened after heavy rain in Manawatū

The Moutoa floodgates between Foxton and Shannon are now open to relieve pressure on the Manawatū River. Horizons Regional Council opened the gates at 4.15am after concerns of flooding, following a weekend of heavy rain. The open gates divert water down a spillway, a shortcut to the sea, to prevent excess silt deposits in the lower channel of the Manawatū River. Horizons Regional Council incident controller Sarah Carswell speaks to Kathryn. 

10:35 Book review: A House Built on Sand by Tina Shaw 

David Hill reviews A House Built on Sand by Tina Shaw published by Text Publishing

10:45 Around the motu: Diane McCarthy in Whakatane

Ngāti Awa is seeking a Mātaitai reserve - this will be discussed at a public meeting on Wednesday, The creation of a mātaitai reserve would ban commercial fishing surrounding Moutohorā-Whale Island and the Rurima island group. The Eastern Bay councils are all sticking with Māori wards, and the Whakatāne District Council has plans to recognise its Olympic medal winners. Four athletes from the Eastern Bay won medals in Paris : Lisa Carrington, Stacey Waaka, Mahina Paul and Hayden Wilde.

11:05 Political commentators Neale Jones & Brigitte Morten

Neale, Brigitte and Kathryn discuss the mounting pressure on the Health Minister, Dr Shane Reit as pressure ramps up in his portfolio. Also Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s visit to Canberra to meet his counterpart, and can the Government take any credit for the OCR cut?.

Neale Jones was Chief of Staff to Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, and prior to that was Chief of Staff to Andrew Little. He is the director of public affairs firm Capital.

Brigitte Morten is a director with public and commercial law firm Franks Ogilvie and a former senior ministerial advisor for the previous National-led government, a National Party member and currently volunteering for the party's deputy leader, Nicola Willis.

11:25 The toasties business growing out of Picton 

The lords of toasties have taken Picton and its many transit visitors by storm. And now they have their eyes set on expansion. Toastie Lords was started in the small town in 2021 by co-founders Emma Faith, Taylor Hamilton and Brendan Faith. Their toasties include the classic red onion and cheese 'Goldie' and the 'Pete from Picton' - a toastie with salmon, caper cream cheese and pickle. The popular toastie makers have been asked to open stories elsewhere in the country and they have had pop up stores. They are now looking to expand the business into a franchise. Taylor Hamilton - of Toastie Lords - speaks to Kathryn.  

11:45 Off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne

Kennedy joins Kathryn to talk about recent research into humpback whales, and how researchers are now able to use an AI tool to identify individual whales using an online platform called Happywhale. He'll also talk about atoll-nesting seabirds and the far-flung materials from the Taupo super-eruption.