Nine To Noon

09:05 The live export trade backdown 

The man behind the 57,000-strong petition to keep the live export trade banned, John Hellstrom, says even if it was reversed there would be no viable export markets available. The National Party confirmed it has withdrawn its support for resuming live animal exports by sea, despite campaigning to reverse the ban last election. Reinstating the trade was a coalition agreement with both NZ First and Act. The Minister of Agriculture Todd McClay said National's support was conditional on a "gold standard" of animal care being implemented, but his party was not convinced such a standard existed. A review by Massey University of 44 live export sailings November 2020 and November 2022 confirmed it was not possible to ascertain what the standard onboard was, because record-keeping was so poor. And one of the final sailings - the Gelbray Express to China in April 2023 was supposed to be a gold standard trial run between the Ministry for Primary Industries and the live export industry - but again - no such standard could be assured. John Hellstrom is the former chair of the National Animal Welfare Advisory and retired veterinarian.

09:20 Data shows intellectually disabled living worse

A new report comparing health and wellbeing outcomes for New Zealanders with an intellectual disability and those without shows a complex picture of inequity and unmet potential. Advocacy organisation IHC's latest report titled 'From Data to Dignity' uses the Government's Integrated Data Infrastructure set, data from the 2023 Census and other administrative data to provide one of the clearest available pictures of the lives of people with intellectual disability in New Zealand. Intellectually disabled students are almost three times as likely to be suspended than their non-intellectually disabled peers. They are more likely to have coronary heart disease, diabetes, cancer, dementia and any type of mental disorder or mental health diagnosis. And more likely to be unemployed, a smoker, or the victim of a crime. Shara Turner is the report's author.

09:35 Plumbers warn Australia delay will make lead-free transition more difficult

Plumbers say it will be more difficult to comply with new lead-free product rules now that Australia is delaying their own lead-free regulations by another two years. Plumbing products containing lead will remain legal to install in Australia until 2028, after the national building authority decided the delay was necessary due to "insufficient" availability of lead-free certified products. In New Zealand the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment remains committed to the ban. It has delayed the ban once already to align with Australia. Master Plumbers chief executive Greg Wallace says while they agree with the decision to not further delay the ban, in the absence of a verification regime, it is pointless.

09:45 Correspondent Thomas Sparrow in Germany 

Europe overtakes Asia and the Middle East as the largest importer of weapons, and large WW2 bomb defused after Dresden evacuated. 

Thomas Sparrow is RNZ's correspondent in Germany. 

10:05 Influential planner Alain Bertaud: what makes cities work

Alain Bertaud's thoughts over what works in growing cities have been shaped by five decades as an urban planner and experience in forty cities around the world. He believes combining economic principles with planning practice leads to greatly improved productivity for cities and also improves the welfare of residents. In his writing he links cities' productivity to the size of its labour markets, which in turn means affordable housing and good transport to support the workforce. Alain Bertaud is a former principal urban planner at the World Bank and now works in urbanisation at New York University. He is in New Zealand as a guest of the New Zealand Initiative, the Infrastructure Commission and Victoria University and is delivering a seminar Making Cities Work.

10:35 Book review: A Tiny Book of 100 Big Things in Aotearoa New Zealand by Maja Zonjić

Mary Fawcett of Schrödinger's Books reviews A Tiny Book of 100 Big Things in Aotearoa New Zealand by Maja Zonjić, published by Floki Films.

10:45 Around the motu: Torika Tokalau in Auckland

Torika talks about how fuel containers are selling out in Auckland,  the local restaurant questioned over how much sisha being consumed, the ban on rockpool gathering has come into force and an animal adoption centre in Pukekohe marks its first birthday.

11:05 Political commentators Dale Husband and Ben Thomas 

Dale Husband is a long time broadcaster and Radio Waatea presenter hosting a Maori focused current affairs programme.

Ben Thomas is a former National government press secretary, a columnist and a director of public affairs firm Capital.

11:30 The community organisation boosting food resilience in the golden triangle 

The Grow On Katikati community group gives locals seeds and offers workshops to get them growing their own kai. The idea germinated during lockdown in 2020, when supermarket shelves became bare and the lack of food resilience became apparent. All this, despite being in a major agricultural area with lots of fruit growers, although most of it is exported. Each Saturday during summer the group's shed is open for seed swaps, but mostly good yarns. Kathryn speaks to Jizzy Green and Diana Donker, two of the brains behind the project. 

11:45 Urban Issues with Matthew Bradbury 

Is it possible to have a city made up of three distinct cities, separated by large areas of land, and still think of it as one coherent urban system? Matthew Bradbury asks the question of the so-called Golden Triangle of Auckland, Tauranga and Hamilton. He says the Netherlands has a remarkably similar structure and scale with Amsterdam to the north, Rotterdam to the south, Utrecht to the east, and in the centre sits an area they call the Green Heart—literally  farmland, and small towns.

Matthew Bradbury is an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at UNITEC, where he leads the Landscape Architecture programme.