Nine To Noon for Monday 31 March 2025

09:05 Rural groups call for FENZ review 

Forest owners and farmers want a review into Fire and Emergency NZ, saying wildfire specialist skills and capability is being lost. In 2017  the National Rural Fire Authority, 12 rural fire districts, and 26 territorial rural authorities merged with the New Zealand Fire Service and the Fire Service Commission, to become Fire and Emergency NZ. The change gave the new entity - referred to as FENZ - the legal mandate to respond to a wider range of emergencies and weather events - something it was previously doing outside of its legislation. The change also promised better co-ordination across the country, centralised training and funding and better support for volunteers. But, eight years on forest owners and farmers say rural capability has been eroded in favour of  those wider emergency response capabilities as well as a priority to urban and residential firefighting. And with rural property owners soon to be forced to pay a levy towards Fire and Emergency's running costs, the question they have is - what's in it for us? Sean McBride is the chair of the joint Forest Owners Association and Farm Forestry Association fire committee and Toby Williams is a board member at Federated Farmers. 

09:20 Health NZ backs its focus on improving wait times after review finds access has sharply deteriorated.

Health NZ says its review into health care, that found access to health care had worsened, proves it is on track with plans to focus sharply on reducing waiting times. The Quality and Safety review not only found a deterioration in access, but also a jump in deaths of patients who left emergency departments without seeing a doctor and a worsening of people waiting more than 4 months for a first specialist appointment. Lester Levy, the out-going commissioner, who ordered the  report, said he wanted a transparent benchmark as a higher quality and more sustainable health system is built. He said many of the issues highlighted in the report are not new and have been grappled with for years by successive governments and health systems across the globe. Kathryn is joined by Health NZ 's Chief Clinical Officer, Richard Sullivan

09:35 Kea flock back to parts of Aoraki/Mt Cook after pest eradication

Work to eradicate pests in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park has led to burgeoning numbers of kea. The work to get rid of possums, stoats and other pests over thousands of hectares has been done by Te Manahuna Aoraki Project  - part of  Zero Invasive Predators. The average flock size in the Malte Brun area in 2024 was twice that seen two years before. Initial elimination operations have now been carried out across 30,000 hectares in the alpine zone and 4,000 hectares in the tussock dryland/farmland. The Project now hopes to scale up its efforts over a much wider areas. Kathryn talks to the Te Manahuna Aoraki Project technical lead for kea, Nick Foster.

09:45 South America correspondent Daniel Schweimler  

The Supreme Court in Brazil has unanimously decided that former president Jair Bolsonaro should stand trial accused of plotting a coup against his successor Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, the US has deported 238 supposed Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, armed criminal gangs in Haiti are reported to be close to taking control of the capital Port au Prince and the Argentine football team's 4-1 drubbing of their great rivals, the five-time World Cup champions, Brazil. It means Argentina, without Lionel Messi, have now qualified for next year's World Cup. 

10:05 Steve Williams on his 12-year partnership with Tiger Woods - the falling out, and back in

It was one of sports most remarkable partnerships. For 12 years legendary golfer Tiger Woods was guided on the green by Kiwi caddie Steve Williams, who would become his friend and confidant. The pair were together during Woods' stellar rise to the top of his game and 13 major titles, but famously fell out after Steve went to work for Australian golfer Adam Scott. Steve has now gone into detail about what happened at that time in his new book, written with Evin Priest, called 'Together We Roared'. It also looks at why they worked together so well, until they didn't, and how they reconciled. Steve joins Kathryn to talk about the book, ahead of his appearance at the Auckland Writers Festival, which is being held from the13-18 May. 

10:25 Commerce Commission report finds Auckland Airport overcharging

Auckland Airport is lowering its prices after the Commerce Commission said it was overcharging by $190 million. The Commission has today published its final report on Auckland Airport's 2022-2027 price setting event, concluding the Airport's forecast revenue is excessive and its targeted returns are unreasonably high. The Commission says businesses and consumers are the ones likely carrying much of this cost-burden. Last year Air New Zealand said the airport's charges were expected to add about $46 to the price of a domestic ticket by 2032. Last year the Commission issued a draft report suggesting prices were too high - and Auckland Airport said it would consider lowering them once the final report came through. Today, that report confirms the findings and as a result Auckland Airport said it would drop prices for the remaining two years of the price period. Commissioner Vhari McWha talks to Kathryn.

10:30 Alive III: Cambodian refugees remember Khmer Rouge regime

It was a a desire to keep his parents' memories alive that spurred Cambodian photographer Hak Kim to travel across the world, documenting others who'd faced the same struggles. Born two years after the Khmer Rouge regime, he grew up hearing the horrific stories of violence and terror his family witnessed in the 1970s. In 2018, he came to New Zealand to photograph Cambodian families who'd taken refuge here, along with the precious items they managed to smuggle across the world with them. The book of 40 photographs was received so warmly that sold out immediately. Now, thanks to the fundraising efforts of the local Cambodian community, Hak Kim has relaunched Alive III and he's back in the country to promote it.

10:45 Around the motu: Amy Williams in Auckland

Amy gives Kathryn the latest updates in Tāmaki Makaurau including the mayoralty race and Wayne Brown's social media feed, the ongoing flood recovery including returning four state houses in Mangere that started to float to a liveable state, Auckland Council has written to the government about homelessness while community groups held an emergency meeting on Friday, and a police eagle helicopter spots a man in dire need.

Amy Williams is a RNZ senior reporter based in Auckland.

11:05 Political commentators Tim Hurdle and Gareth Hughes 

Gareth Hughes is the Director of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa is a former Green MP and is no longer a member of any political party.

Tim Hurdle is a former National senior adviser, consultant and director of several companies. He is currently the Campaign Director for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.

11:25 Traditional French cheesemaking in Western Australia, Golden Bay

Gabrielle Kervella's life story is as rich and layered as the cheeses she crafts. And it was the story of her own grandmother's - about a hundred years ago -  regularly crossing Takaka hill on a Harley Davidson with her dress skirts flowing that made her want to tell her story. And so she has written a memoir for her grandchildren. Her journey includes growing up across four continents as the daughter of a British Army colonel and navigating the offshore oilfields alongside her French husband. Eventually settling in Western Australia, she turned her dream of farm life while raising her children into a reality. Despite it being a completely alien landscape to the French countryside where she mastered cheesemaking - she adapted what she knew to Australia. Eventually she twice won Australia's top cheese award. Now in Golden Bay, she and her partner, Alan Cockman, continue to handcraft unique cheeses using milk from a local farm. 

11:45 Urban Issues with Bill McKay

Fences are so ubiquitous in New Zealand that we don't even think about rules. Not so in many other places: its unusual in many American suburbs to have a street-front fence. In urban centres of Europe and the US you may see a low open fence and a little pocket-handkerchief garden (as we call them) in front of a stout stone townhouse. People want street-front property fences for obvious reasons; privacy, security, pets and kids. In urban areas we've seen a fondness for big stone or concrete walls which have a nick-name I can't say on radio- you know the sort with fortress gates and intercoms. So what are the rules around fences, especially street-front fences? And why are councils increasingly fussy about street-front fences?

Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.