Nine To Noon for Tuesday 5 November 2024

09:05 Cabinet signs off late payment rules for government departments

It will soon be mandatory for government departments to pay invoices within ten days, a move the government says will help small businesses and improve productivity. Businesses have long complained about the hundreds of millions of dollars lost through late payments from both public and private sector. The rule change will be limited to just the public sector. Announcing the move, the government says its 33 central agencies are a large client for businesses, sending and receiving 1.6  million invoices annually, supplying everything from stationery and furniture, through to services such as software, security and research. From January 1 next year 135 government agencies will be expected to pay 90 percent of all domestic invoices within 10 business days with this proportion to increase to 95 percent from January 2026. The government has also established a small business advisory group to give the Minister Andrew Bayly ideas and insights for other ways to make life easier for smaller firms. David Downs is the chairman of business consultancy Icehouse, and is the newly appointed chair of the Minister's small business advisory group.

09:15 BNZ offers open banking tech to cut merchants' costs

BNZ is to launch an app it says will slash the costs merchants face to take electronic purchases. Known as Payap and expected to launch in March next year, the app will also work as a digital wallet for consumers. Meaning they can do things like easily split a bill and manage spending. The bank says it will be lower cost for both merchants and consumers. It will work through scanning QR codes - which will replace the EFTPOS terminal - to directly transfer cash from a bank account to a merchant. The technology is being supplied to BNZ via the fintech Centrapay. It is a foray into open banking from one of the big four Australian-owned banks. They have been heavily criticised for their lack of innovation, including by the Commerce Commission. Jonathan Dale is head of payment development at BNZ. Kathryn also speaks to Retail NZ head of advocacy Ann-Marie Johnson, and RNZ's money correspondent Susan Edmunds.

09:35 Kiwi Caitlin O'Reilly on becoming the youngest to swim the Ocean's Seven

As far as feats go, it's impressive and one that only 33 other people have managed to achieve. Twenty year old Kiwi swimmer Caitlin O'Reilly has become the youngest person ever to swim the Ocean's Seven - that is, the seven open water channel swims that are considered the equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. Caitlin logged her first swim of the Ocean's Seven, Cook Strait, at the age of just 12. The 42 kilometre Moloka'i Channel in Hawaii defeated Caitlin last year - but in late October she managed it in 13 hours and 18 minutes. She joins Kathryn to talk about the challenge - which included a wicked bout of seasickness and encounters with sealife.

09:45 USA correspondent Ron Elving

It's the final countdown to the US election with both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris spending time in Pennsylvania before the polls close.

Ron Elving is a Senior Editor and Correspondent, Washington Desk for NPR news.

10:05 Blue Wiggle Anthony Field on his struggle with mental health

Anthony Field is a founding member of the children's musical supergroup The Wiggles.  He's the blue one - and the of the original group of four remaining. The band has had phenomenal success:  selling more than 30 million albums and DVDs, and more than eight million books, and having almost four million subscribers to their YouTube channel. For more than 30 years, Anthony Field and his bandmates have toured the world, entertaining children. But through much of that time, he has experienced chronic pain and at times debilitating depression. He's just released a book - called "Out of the Blue".

10:35 Book review: New Stories by Owen Marshall 

Harry Ricketts reviews New Stories by Owen Marshall published by Penguin Random House NZ

10:45 Around the motu:  Chris Hyde in Hawke's Bay

Chris has an update on a  Pākōwhai  couple who have refused a voluntary buyout of their Cyclone Gabrielle red zoned property, and how many eligible Category 3 property owners have accepted .Also, the lab diamond discussion used to be on the periphery for Hawke's Bay jewellery customers but now there’s demand for the lab grown jewels.

11:05 Business commentator Maria Slade

The Commerce Commission has fired  shots across the bow over building products rebates. Maria also looks at whether are developers are using the Fast-track Approvals Bill it as a quick way to get a plan change. And an update on Du Val, with the statutory manager starting to sell properties:

BusinessDesk Property Editor Maria Slade.

11:20 Debt collection and repossession: What are your rights?

Andrew Hubbard from the Citizen's Advice Bureau says the organisation's fielded more than 2000 enquiries this year about debt collection - an increase of more than 50 percent. One woman's debt of $3200 included a 25 percent collection fee and another 25 percent interest, another woman was chased for a debt she said she'd paid in full nine years before. What are your rights with debt collection and having your items repossessed? What are attachment orders? Andrew talks about what the law says and where the CAB feels it could be made fairer.

Andrew Hubbard is deputy chief executive of Citizen's Advice Bureau. 

 

11:45 Sports-chat with Marc Hinton

Marc discusses the Black Caps series victory over India, how Liam Lawson is faring after breaking into the Formula One ranks and the Auckland football clubs making waves in the Aussie leagues.