Sunday Morning for Sunday 23 June 2013
8:12 Insight
In the past few months, the media has focused on cases of abuse involving at least four disability support service providers. Back in 2006, another support provider was under the spotlight facing allegations that two residents had choked to death and of medical mistreatment. Reviews were carried out then and now, seven years later, another review into the more recent incidents will be finished in September. But will this review really change anything? Philippa Tolley speaks to families, providers, staff and advocates to find out how good the support offered now is and what needs to change to prevent abuse of the vulnerable in the future.
Produced by Philippa Tolley.
8:40 Richard Towle – Forced to Flee
Richard Towle is the UNHCR – the UN Refugee Agency – Regional Representative for Australia, New Zealand, PNG and the Pacific. The organisations’s annual Global Trends report, released this week, covered displacement that occurred during 2012 and found that more people are refugees or internally displaced than at any time since 1994, with the crisis in Syria having emerged as a major new factor. Richard talks to Chris about the need for a peaceful, political solution to the crisis as the humanitarian response struggles to meet the needs of those forced to flee.
9:06 Mediawatch
Mediawatch looks at a turbulent week for the media industry: A major broadcaster hit the financial skids, a new player in sport outbid Sky TV and one of the country’s longest-lasting national newspapers shut up shop. Also on the programme – why some female journalists feel they're suddenly under attack; and mixed messages in the media about this week's wild weather.
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.
9:40 Anton Blank – Ending Maori Child Abuse
Some of New Zealand’s best reggae artists are joining forces to help fight child abuse, with the release of the Herbs' song, 'Sensitive to a Smile' . All proceeds from the single by Aotearoa Reggae Allstars will go to Mana Ririki, a charitable organisation with a mission to eliminate Maori child abuse. It was set up in 2007 after the death of Nia Glassie. Today Chris talks to Mana Ririki executive director Anton Blank who believes Maori must take responsibility for the issue, and solutions must be Maori-led.
10:06 Ideas: Refugees – Time to Double the Quota?
Wellingtonian Murdoch Stephens this week launched the Doing Our Bit Campaign, aimed at convincing New Zealanders of the need to double our refugee quota from the current 750 to 1500. Murdoch tells Chris about how stumbling across a stash of 1000 photos of Afghan refugees in an abandoned detention centre in Iran led him to the conclusion that New Zealand wasn’t doing its bit. The photographs are part of a forthcoming exhibition at Pataka in Porirua. And Mary Mowbray, who came to New Zealand after surviving the Holocaust in hiding in Budapest, reflects on adapting to life in New Zealand and being one of the many Kiwis who volunteer to help out newly arrived refugees.
Produced by Jeremy Rose.
10:55 Today’s Track
Young and Beautiful, by Lana Del Rey, from 'The Great Gatsby' movie soundtrack. (Warner)
11:05 Down the List
Corporate hospitality turns uncomfortable for Labour MPs in Down the List this week.
Down the List is written by Dave Armstrong and produced by Adam Macaulay and Duncan Smith from the RNZ Drama Department.
11:12 Gillian Green – Persona Non Grata
Michael Green, who died last year, was a former NZ High Commissioner in Fiji. His tour of duty coincided with shifts in Fiji politics that would lead to the 2006 military coup that established Commodore Frank Bainimarama as the country’s leader. Michael wrote a book about his experience and his wife, Gillian Green, talks to Chris about their years in Fiji – until the unexpected announcement of Michaels’ change in diplomatic status to Persona Non Grata (unwelcome person) in 2007.
Persona Non Grata - Breaking the Bond: New Zealand and Fiji 2004-2007, by Michael Green, is published by Dunmore Publishing Ltd.
11:40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
Edward Snowden’s latest revelations were a huge embarrassment for the UK Government. Foreign politicians and diplomats attending two G20 Summit meetings in London in 2009 had their phone calls monitored and their computers intercepted, on UK Government instructions. Wayne looks at the background of spying, British style, and raises some new questions. Chris follows up with Thomas Beagle of the NZ Council for Civil Liberties and American history professor Norman Pollack.
