Saturday Morning for Saturday 14 December 2024

7.11 Coromandel fatal shooting

The residents of Coromandel are reeling after a fatal shooting on the 309 road yesterday.

Two pig hunters were shot, one later died and another was taken to Auckland City Hospital in a serious condition.

A person is in custody and the Police say charges are being considered.

120 children were also onsite celebrating the end of the school year. 

RNZ reporter Natalie Akoorie is in Coromandel and speaks to Mihi.

 

7:14 The latest from Syria

A half-century of dynastic authoritarian rule came to a shockingly abrupt end with the overthrow of Bashar al Assad.

The dictator and his family fled the country for Russia as his regime crumbled.

It's unleashed an outpouring of Syrians seeking answers about what happened to their relatives who had disappeared - with some confronted by horrors in the country's notorious jails.

Gregg Carlstrom is a Middle East correspondent for The Economist, talks to Susie about the latest.

 

7.22 Axe hanging over charity funding for at-risk youth

A nationwide charity, Stand Tū Māia says Oranga Tamariki tried to cancel the $63m contract it had, to deliver services to vulnerable young people, only one year into what was supposed to be a three-year contract.

Court action was avoided late this week through a negotiated agreement that Oranga Tamariki would delay the funding cut, from January until April.

Stand Tū Māia provides about 4000 at-risk youths nationwide with trauma treatment, family therapy and other wraparound support.

Board member Helen Eskett speaks to Mihi.

 

7.32 Fury over Marsden Fund cut

The axing of humanities and social sciences from the government's Marsden Fund, has continued to draw a furious response from many researchers with 80 scientists this week signing an open letter in opposition to the move.

Physics, chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences will still qualify but our next guest says, that in cutting out the humanities and social sciences, Māori will be disproportionately affected.

Professor Linda Waimarie Nikora is co-director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence and joins Susie.

 

7.40 The toxic chemicals from tyres

Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated six million tonnes of tyre particles.

Generated by the wear and tear of normal driving, they eventually build up in the soil, in rivers and lakes and even in our food.

But unlike other microplastics, hundreds of toxic chemicals go into making tyres and have been known to cause mass die-offs for fish.

A recent collaborative study Priorities to Inform Research on Tire Particles and Their Chemical Leachates: A Collective Perspective has called for more research into their effects.

Its lead author is PhD researcher Henry Obanya at the University of Portsmouth in the UK and he explains why tyre particles are so different.

7.48 The shake-up of the banking sector

Banks have been warned this week by the government that "competition is king".

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced the government would implement all 14 of the Commerce Commission's recommendations, for improving the banking sector.

This includes a potential $500 million investment into Kiwibank to bolster it to compete with the big Australian banks that dominate the market in Aotearoa.

RNZ's money correspondent Susan Edmunds breaks it all down.

 

7.54 Finding forever homes for greyhounds

The government's ban on greyhound racing this week has been met with doubt that thousands of dogs can be rehomed in under two years.

MPs rushed through legislation on Tuesday to stop the unnecessary killing of dogs after the announcement. 

There's a 20-month wind down with up to 3500 dogs needing to find a home.

Daniel Bohan is the spokesperson for Greyhounds As Pets, who place former racing greyhounds with foster carers, forever homes, and rehoming agents.

8.10  Rhys Darby - standing-up again

Almost ten years since Kiwi comedian Rhys Darby last toured, he's about to bring his unique brand of physical comedy back home, touring New Zealand before Australia, the U.K and Ireland with The Legend Returns.

The new show contemplates a world full of AI and robot tech.  So while Rhys proudly turns fifty and AI has become a force to be reckoned with, Mihi caught up with him to discuss the art of writing comedy these days, and the possibility of AI robots ever replacing stand-up comedians.                 

8.35 Kirsty Gunn: looking into the troubled human heart

For Kirsty Gunn, award-winning fiction writer and professor in creative writing at the University of Dundee, the ambiguities and complications of human life are grist to her storyteller's mill.

Kirsty says her new collection of thirteen darkly compelling stories, set in New Zealand and the UK consider 'how much a person's life can bear'. The final story in the collection All Gone was described by Newsroom as "the most disturbing short story ever to appear in Reading Room".

Pretty Ugly is the inaugural title in a new series of short story collections from Landfall Tauraka and Otago University Press, celebrating the art of short fiction.

9.05 Andrew Child - In Too Deep

Younger sibling of best-selling British thriller writer Lee Child, Andrew Child, is taking over writing duties from his brother, after their latest, and last Jack Reacher book together In Too Deep.

The last few installments of the series, including The Sentinel, Better Off Dead, and No Plan B, were co-written by the brothers.

Andrew Child is a pseudonym.  As Andrew Grant he is the author of several books, including the David Trevellyan series and the Paul McGrath series.

9.35 Plate tectonics: Graham Leonard

This week GNS released a high resolution update to the national Active Faults Database, detailing where the active faults are across the motu to support planning and engineering.

GNS Principal Scientist Graham Leonard tells Susie and Mihi why we have so many earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes, and why NZ is above water when the remaining 95% of the Te Riu-a-Māui Zealandia continent is underwater. What's driving this inside our planet, and what has the sun and moon got to do with Earth's origin?

Graham and his team have also developed a board game called 5 Minute Volcano, which you can win!

10.05 Nick Ut: The photo that ended a war

Pulitzer prize winning photo journalist Nick Ut is best known for his iconic image 'The Terror of War' (also known as the 'Napalm Girl') of children running from a napalm attack. The image is widely credited with contributing to the end of the Vietnam war.

Nick went on to join AP in Los Angeles covering riots, earthquakes and celebrity trials.

Jon Kroll is an Emmy award-winning producer ('The Amazing Race', 'Gordon Ramsy Unchartered') who has directed and produced a documentary chronicling Nick's life and career 'From Hell to Hollywood'.

Now retired, Nick's an avid bird photographer. Susie caught up with Nick and Jon at Wellingtons Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary to discuss Nick's career, the documentary, and to snap a few bird pics.

10.30 The undefinable C.W. Stoneking

Award-winning Australian singer-songwriter C.W. Stoneking is coming to New Zealand next month for a string of shows, including headlining the Auckland Folk Festival.

Critics have called him the 'Unexpected Hero of Southern Blues' - though he's one of those rare talents that doesn't quite fit into any one box or category.

Known for his unique voice and style which blends multiple genres, including the likes of New Orleans brass and drums, Traditional African music, early 20th century blues, jazz, and American folk. His albums have taken inspiration from being lost in the jungle to being shipwrecked off the coast of West Africa - the latter of which actually happened to him.

Mihi caught up with C.W. ahead of his upcoming shows to find out more about the man behind the well-pressed suit.

10.45 Everybody Eats: Feeding Bellies not Bins

Alicia Mendez is the head chef of Everybody Eats Wellington, a pay-as-you-can community restaurant on a mission to feed bellies not bins.

The team at Everybody Eats work to reduce food waste, food poverty, and social isolation here in Aotearoa New Zealand through creating three course meals prepared by chefs and volunteers, using surplus ingredients that otherwise would've ended up in landfill.

They took home the award for Outstanding Sustainability Practices at this years Welly Hospo Awards.

Susie visited the Wellington kitchen where Alicia showed her how a little culinary creativity can take ordinary ingredients and turn them into something special, while reducing food waste.

She shares a recipe for Grilled Courgettes, Blue cheese spread and Dukkah.

11.05 Mark Hadlow: Playing favourites in mid-life crisis

One of New Zealand's most prominent entertainers, actor, comedian, singer, writer, producer and director Mark Hadlow is bringing back one of New Zealand best-loved theatre productions MAMiL (Middle Aged Men in Lycra) for a one-night-only fundraiser at in Christchurch's Isaac Theatre Royal.

From dwarf Dori in The Hobbit to The Billy T James Show, Mark counts dozens of film appearances, television series, 130 plays, musical theatre, commercials and radio voice-overs in the thousands to his name.

 

Books featured on today's programme

Pretty Ugly
by Kirsty Gunn
Published by: Otago University Press
ISBN: 9781990048890

In Too Deep
by Lee Child and Andrew Child
Published by: Penguin Random House
ISBN 9780593725801

 

Music played in this show

Song: What's Going On
Artist: Marvin Gaye
Time played: 9.35

Song: The Jungle Swing
Artist: C.W. Stoneking
Time played: 10.43

Mark Hadlow's Playing Favourites

Song: Walking in Memphis
Artist: Marc Cohn

Song: The Kiss - sent to air
Artist: Faith Hill 

Song: A Groovy Kind of Love
Artist: Phil Collins 

Song: Warsaw Concerto 
Track: Martin Roscoe on piano with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Song: Escaping - Margaret Ulrich 
Artist: Margaret Ulrich  

Song: The Mission - Gabriel's Oboe 
Artist: Ennio Moriconi