RNZ National. 2016-05-11. 00:00-23:59.

A 24-hour recording of RNZ National. The following rundown is sourced from the broadcaster’s website. Note some overseas/copyright restricted items may not appear in the supplied rundown:

11 May 2016

===12:04 AM. | All Night Programme===
=DESCRIPTION=

Including: 12:06 Music after Midnight; 12:30 Insight (RNZ); 1:15 Country Life (RNZ); 2:05 The Forum (BBC); 3:05 Closed, Stranger by Kate de Goldi read by Scott Wills (10 of 12, RNZ); 3:30 Diversions (RNZ); 5:10 Witness (BBC); 5:45 The Day in Parliament

===6:00 AM. | Morning Report===
=DESCRIPTION=

RNZ's three-hour breakfast news show with news and interviews, bulletins on the hour and half-hour, including: 6:16 and 6:50 Business News 6:18 Pacific News 6:26 Rural News 6:48 and 7:45 NZ Newspapers

=AUDIO=

06:00
Top Stories for Wednesday 11 May 2016
BODY:
An internet tycoon wanted by American authorities is found to be hiding assets in New Zealand. Greenpeace responds to John Key's revelation the environmental lobby group appears in the Panama papers data base. One of New Zealand's most notorious prisoners, convicted rapist Ronald Van der Plaat, is freed today.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 30'48"

06:06
Sports News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'21"

06:10
Neighbours not keen on notorious sex offender's return home
BODY:
One of New Zealand's most notorious criminals, paedophile rapist Ronald van der Plaat, will return to his Auckland home today having served his full sentence.
Topics: crime
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: Ronald van der Plaat
Duration: 2'18"

06:13
PPTA responds to NCEA literacy and numeracy problems
BODY:
The NCEA's literacy and numeracy benchmarks are under scrutiny after research showed some teens were getting the qualification even though they were not functionally literate or numerate.
Topics: education
Regions:
Tags: NCEA
Duration: 2'52"

06:21
Early Business News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
A brief update of movements in the financial sector.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'10"

06:26
Morning Rural News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sector.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'20"

06:38
Govt declaration about number of NZ trusts challenged
BODY:
The Prime Minister's declaration that Inland Revenue has checked the Panama Papers and found only 200 New Zealand trusts linked to Mossack Fonseca has been challenged by the Labour Party.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: Panama Papers
Duration: 2'44"

06:41
New housing data sheds little light on foreign buyers
BODY:
The Government says new data shows only 3 percent of property is being bought by foreigners, despite repeated warnings from officials the figures do not show the full picture.
Topics: housing, politics
Regions:
Tags: foreigners
Duration: 4'22"

06:45
Soldiers being tried for taking drugs
BODY:
Two soldiers who are being tried at Linton Military Camp for taking the psychoactive drug NBOMe say their drinks might have been spiked.
Topics: defence force, crime
Regions: Manawatu
Tags: NBOMe, hearing
Duration: 3'14"

06:50
Reserve Bank's financial stability report out today
BODY:
Hot housing markets and weakness in the dairy sector are likely to be key themes in the Reserve Bank's latest check-in on the health of the country's financial system.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: RBNZ, Reserve Bank
Duration: 3'36"

06:53
IRD making most of new laws for overseas property buyers
BODY:
The Inland Revenue Department says it is making the most of new laws requiring overseas buyers of New Zealand property to have a tax number.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: IRD
Duration: 1'18"

06:54
Ruth Richardson sees lazy thinking as barrier
BODY:
A former Minister of Finance from the early 1990s, Ruth Richardson, says sharper business leadership is what's required to help New Zealand lift its game when it comes to realising its full economic potential.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Ruth Richardson
Duration: 2'11"

06:57
Briscoe Group makes strong 1st qtr sales despite challenges
BODY:
The sporting goods and homewares retailer, Briscoe Group, says it's had strong first quarter sales, despite the impact of weak dairy prices, a lower exchange rate and warmer weather.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Briscoe Group
Duration: 1'00"

06:58
Morning markets for 11 May 2016
BODY:
Wall Street up more than 1 percent today, finance stocks making gains.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 43"

07:07
Sports News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'27"

07:11
Fugitive internet gambling tycoon has link to NZ
BODY:
One of America's most wanted fugitives has been able to stay ahead of justice and tax officials by hiding some of his assets in New Zealand.
Topics: crime
Regions:
Tags: Panama Papers, US
Duration: 4'03"

07:15
Greenpeace rejects foreign trust link
BODY:
In Parliament yesterday, the Prime Minister John Key went on the front foot over the Panama Papers, armed with the IRD's initial analysis of the documents.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: Greenpeace, Panama Papers
Duration: 6'39"

07:22
Notorious rapist to be released from prison today
BODY:
Notorious rapist Ronald Van der Plaat will be freed from prison today after serving his full sentence and move back home, with a GPS bracelet on his ankle and a host of conditions around him to protect the public.
Topics: crime
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: Ronald van der Plaat
Duration: 4'10"

07:26
Fraction of homes bought by overseas buyers
BODY:
The Government's move to clarify how many foreigners are buying properties in New Zealand has created even more confusion.
Topics: housing, politics
Regions:
Tags: foreigners
Duration: 6'11"

07:37
Reserve Bank to publish banking stability report today
BODY:
In little more than 90 minutes the Reserve Bank will publish its twice yearly report on the health of New Zealand's financial system.
Topics: economy
Regions:
Tags: Reserve Bank, RBNZ
Duration: 3'08"

07:43
British PM tells Queen most corrupt countries to attend summit
BODY:
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron has been caught on camera telling the Queen that some of the world's most corrupt countries are to attend an anti-corruption summit in the UK this week.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: UK, David Cameron
Duration: 2'55"

07:46
NCEA literacy and numeracy under review
BODY:
The Government has been told the level of literacy and numeracy required of teenagers getting the NCEA should be raised.
Topics: education
Regions:
Tags: NCEA
Duration: 3'03"

07:49
Labour - Chch shortchanged by ongoing delays to anchor projects
BODY:
The Labour Party says ongoing delays to key projects in the rebuild of central Christchurch have robbed the Canterbury economy of more than $150 million worth of investment.
Topics: politics
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Christchurch, rebuild
Duration: 3'29"

07:53
Treasury says delays in anchor projects slow govt spend on Chch
BODY:
Listening to that has been Gerry Brownlee -- he was the Earthquake Recovery Minister but is now the Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration.
Topics: politics
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Christchurch, rebuild
Duration: 4'39"

07:57
Tempers flare at log truck meeting
BODY:
Frustration boiled over at a public meeting in Whangarei last night over log truck crashes.
Topics: transport
Regions: Northland
Tags: logging trucks
Duration: 2'49"

08:07
Sports News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'27"

08:11
Labour: Foreign buyers' data selective and ineffective
BODY:
National says there'll be no land tax if foreign ownership figures stay low. Data published by Land Information yesterday showed only three percent of homes have been sold to overseas buyers.
Topics: housing, politics
Regions:
Tags: foreigners
Duration: 5'03"

08:16
Crown says Kamal Reddy tried to cast doubt
BODY:
The Crown says the man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend and her three-year-old daughter has told police about three other men in an effort to cast shadows of doubt.
Topics: crime
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: Kamal Reddy
Duration: 3'50"

08:20
Standard webmaster considering legal action against Slater
BODY:
The man who runs the Labour-aligned website, The Standard, says he is considering taking legal action against right wing blogger Cameron Slater.
Topics: politics, crime
Regions:
Tags: The Standard, hacking, Cameron Slater
Duration: 4'28"

08:25
Akls on track for lowest rates rise since Supercity creation
BODY:
Aucklanders are on track for their lowest rates rise since local body amalgamation more than five years ago.
Topics: politics
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: rates
Duration: 3'12"

08:29
Markets Update for 11 May 2016
BODY:
A brief update of movements in the financial sector.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 55"

08:35
All eyes today on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders
BODY:
With Donald Trump the only candidate left standing for the Republicans, all eyes are today on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in West Virginia.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: US, Clinton
Duration: 3'50"

08:39
Teens getting quals despite being functionally illiterate
BODY:
The NCEA's literacy and numeracy benchmarks are under scrutiny after research showed some teens were getting the qualification even though they were not functionally literate or numerate.
Topics: education
Regions:
Tags: NCEA
Duration: 3'36"

08:43
Kidnapped son of Pakistan's ex-Prime Minister relesaed
BODY:
The kidnapped son of Pakistan's ex-Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has been rescued, three years after his disappearance.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Pakistan, Ali Haider Gilani
Duration: 4'45"

08:49
NZ urged to play its part to stop child refugees being detained
BODY:
New Zealand is being urged to play a bigger role in stopping the detention of child refugees in the Asia Pacific region.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: refugees
Duration: 2'31"

08:52
Farmer and shearer wins top prize at Book Awards
BODY:
A farmer and shearer who didn't have his first novel published until he was 56 has won the 50-thousand dollar prize for fiction at the revamped New Zealand Book Awards.
Topics: books
Regions:
Tags: awards, Stephen Daisley
Duration: 3'57"

=SHOW NOTES=

===9:06 AM. | Nine To Noon===
=DESCRIPTION=

Current affairs and topics of interest, including: 10:45 The Reading: Where the Rekohu Bone Sings by Tina Makereti read by George Henare and Maria Walker (13 of 15, RNZ)

=AUDIO=

09:10
Silencing Scientists: Shaun Hendy on why science should be 'open'
BODY:
How are New Zealand's scientists being silenced and what can be done about it? Shaun Hendy is the former president of the New Zealand Association of Scientists who's investigated the question in a new book, Silencing Scientists. In the book Shaun examines how businesses, politicians, and even fellow academics can cut scientists out of public debate.
EXTENDED BODY:
Funding pressures and public expectations for perfect information means few New Zealand scientists speak out, an awarded scientist says in his new book.
Former president of the New Zealand Association of Scientists Shaun Hendy told Nine to Noon scientists were coming under pressure from businesses, funders, politicians and fellow academics, and not least the public themselves.
"A lot of scientists these days, and this is increasingly the case today, will have commercial contracts, they'll be working with businesses and even with government, and these contracts will often come with constraints about what you can say.
"There are often good reasons for this. You know, companies want to keep their competitive advantage, they don't necessarily want results immediately in the public domain, so they may ask scientists to check with them before they can talk."
New Zealand also had a limited pool of scientists available to speak on their field of expertise. One prime example was the Fonterra botulism scare.
"The story broke on a Friday, late on a Friday, and at least initially I think on the Saturday there were a number of scientists that were available to talk to the media.
"But then it's really interesting to see that suddenly on the Sunday, scientists had stopped talking, they were no longer making themselves available ... I saw that a lot of these scientists had been pulled into this advisory group [for the government].
"Suddenly the country found itself without scientists who could speak - we just didn't have the experts who weren't constrained. Perhaps inadvertently, because our science community is small and we push for impact from our science."
"What's happening on the Monday is that there's a real vacuum of information, and of course Gary Romano, who was a senior manager at Fonterra, went on Campbell Live and got the science horribly wrong."
Read more on Fonterra's botulism scare:
He said spin and message control had become stronger and scientists even tangentially linked to organisations were finding they had much more constraints than in the past.
"There is a sense that our funding, particularly from the government, is linked to our good behaviour."
He did not think it was a deliberate attempt to keep information from the public, but it was an attempt to control the information that was available to the government, he said.
"And really I think in retrospect the public interest should have been put first and the government should have ensured there were scientific experts who could talk to the media."
Good things take time - no perfect science in a crisis
However, it wasn't just funding and organisations that were causing scientists to keep quiet.
"There's both overt censorship where an organisation will step in and perhaps have a story pulled, but a lot of it is also self-censorship," he said.
That included a fear of getting the science wrong, but he said this could become an problem in times of crisis, such as in the Christchurch earthquake.
"Traditionally we do all that stuff behind closed doors, you know we do it at conference we exchange ideas and debate ideas and peer review, which is a closed process."
"And to some extent we've kind of built the authority of science on the fact we run all these careful checks and balances behind the scenes before we speak.
"But in a crisis that's really exposed, we don't have the time to run through the normal processes of science."
The science community was concerned, he said, that the public did not understand that a lot of the time there was discussion, different interpretations, and disagreement as a part of the scientific process.
"And I think the only way we can really adapt is that we have to be open all the time."
Public exposure - trolls and shills
There was also a fear of being attacked or being seen as pushing an agenda.
"To be honest, as a scientist, getting up and talking to the media is a little bit scary. You know if we can find other excuses for not doing it - often it's the safe thing to do ... the safe thing to do is keep your head down and get on with your science."
"You hear stories of people perhaps losing their funding or seeing the trouble that some scientists get into.
This included scientists being bullied on social media, sometimes because lobby groups or businesses had paid for it, he said.
It also created a gap in the public eye between the scientists who did speak out and those who did not.
"I think the scientists we do see that sort of fight these battles - Boyd Swinburn, Doug Sellman - they grow very thick skins. But the side effect of that is that we don't hear a lot of other voices.
"And the effect of that is that the public health researchers who are speaking out are seen as kind of extremists. They're seen as not representative because where are all these other voices that are not speaking out."

- Shaun Hendy is director of New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence Te Pūnaha Matatini, and a professor of physics at Auckland University. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand since 2012 and has been given awards including the Prime Minister's Science Media Communication Prize and the E. O. Tuck Medal from Australia and New Zealand Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Related

Topics: science, politics, author interview
Regions:
Tags: Fonterra, Botulism, Canterbury earthquakes
Duration: 21'17"

09:31
Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability report
BODY:
Radio New Zealand's Economics Correspondent Patrick O'Meara gives his analysis of the RBNZ's latest moves.
Topics: economy, housing, business
Regions:
Tags: RBNZ, Reserve Bank
Duration: 10'33"

09:42
Transparency International on the Panama Papers
BODY:
Transparency International has been campaigning for 15 years for changes to the laws governing foreign trusts in this country. Chair Suzanne Snively discusses what we've learned from the Panama Papers this week, and why New Zealanders should care.
Topics: crime, politics, economy
Regions:
Tags: money
Duration: 10'58"

09:53
Australia correspondent Karen Middleton
BODY:
Karen Middleton in Canberra: the official federal election campaign is underway and it's neck and neck in the polls, shocking new revelations in the royal commission on child abuse, rain is falling in across South-Western Australia, and the social media storm over Logie awards going to non-white Australians.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Australia
Duration: 6'37"

10:07
Marty Duda's artist of the week
BODY:
Today Marty features the music of Marlon Williams. Marlon is the latest New Zealand musician to make it to the big time, having just made his first performance on TV's Later With Jools and scoring a spot on this year's Austin City Limits Festival. Marlon has been a fixture of the New Zealand music scene for many years, first as a member of The Unfaithful Ways, then as a duet partner with Delaney Davidson and now as a solo artist. His self-titled debut album was released in 2015 and was recorded at Ben Edwards acclaimed studio in Lyttleton. Last year, at the New Zealand Music Awards, Marlon won Best Male Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist Of The Year. Now he's breaking through to the rest of the planet.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 20'56"

10:10
Mind blowing! Unlocking emotions after decades of Asperger's
BODY:
''Free-range Aspergian'' John Elder Robison, tells the story of how cutting-edge neuroscience helped him develop the ability to read other people's emotional cues. His latest book, Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening chronicles his journey. He also writes a blog.
EXTENDED BODY:
What would you say if you were offered the chance to take part in an experiment to awaken your brain, and change who you are, possibly in dramatic ways?
John Elder Robison, a world-recognised authority on life with autism, said “yes” to just that.
He agreed to undergo a revolutionary brain therapy called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation which uses pulses of high-powered magnetic energy to stimulate small areas of the brain
Almost overnight, his emotional brain was '’switched on'’ ending the social blindness that had caused him pain throughout his life
But his newfound understandings had consequences - putting a different and at times difficult spin on his relationships with others, including things that had happened in the past.
His latest book, Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening, chronicles his journey.
He also scholar-in-residence at William and Mary College, leading neurodiversity initiatives.
Read an edited snapshot of John Elder Robison’s conversation with Kathryn Ryan
KR: You describe yourself as a 'Free-range Aspergian' – what does that mean?
JER: It means that I’m 58-years-old and I grew up in a time when autism wasn’t recognised in people like me – people who could speak. The only people who were called autistic when I was young were people who had obvious language impairment and obvious cognitive challenges.
Today we recognise that autism is a communication disorder and it may affect the ability to speak or understand language but it also may affect the ability to pick up obey unspoken social cues – gesture, expression, the meaning in your eyes. And those are the things I was blind to all of my life.
KR: What was it that brought things to point that you were diagnosed with autism?
JER: Well it all started with an Australian – with Dr Tony Atwood, we wrote a book in the mid-1990s called Asperger’s Syndrome. And the DSM, the American manual of psychiatric conditions was revised in the mid-90s. So psychologists and psychiatrists started talking about that, here in the United States, and Dr Atwood’s book came along and a therapists actually presented the book to me, and he said that I could be the poster boy for this new condition that they were talking about and it was actually reading his book that I realised that I was not stupid or defective, or all the things that people had said about me, but I was an autistic person – a person with Asperger’s Syndrome.
KR: Can you explain more about how this affected your life? As you say you were leading, what appears to be from the outside, a very full life working as a sound engineer for some top musos. Is it true, for example, that you invented the smoking guitar for KISS?
JER: Yes, that’s true... I also worked for Britannia Row – which is Pink Floyd’s sound company and I put together sound systems for a great many rock and roll bands that toured both North America and ultimately toured New Zealand and Australia and elsewhere in the world. But while I did that I was mostly alone. I was a kind of eccentric, crazy engineer and people respected me for what I could do, but it was very hard for me to make friendships and that’s what I wanted as I got into middle age. I wanted to make friends more successfully.
KR: How much emotion could you read in others or experience yourself before you had this treatment?
JER: See that’s the thing that sometimes misunderstood. There have been a number of studies that have shown that autistic people actually feeling emotions more deeply and for longer times than non-autistic people. But the things that trigger emotional responses in other may not trigger and emotional response in me. Though it wasn’t that I wasn’t emotional it was that I didn’t sense the emotional cues from you, or someone else I’d be talking to. So you would be speaking with me and you might conclude that I was arrogant or insensitive or I didn’t care about you, when I fact I cared very much, but I wasn’t picking up those signals, and that’s the really painful thing about it.
KR: What was involved in the neorustimulation? How was it explained to you in the first instance and second – how was it done?
JER: The TMS machine is a coil, it’s a box that’s perhaps the size of two packs of cigarettes and they hold it up to your head in the area that they want to stimulate and the pulse electricity into it and it generates powerful magnetic fields that cause tiny electrical signals in the area of the brain that’s underneath the magnet. And that’s what produces the transformative effects. So when you take a psychiatric medicine, the medicine goes all through your brain, when you use TMS the TMS is only delivered to the area of a marble or a golf ball in your brain.
KR: How long did it take, and how immediate were the results?
JER: The stimulations that they gave me were half an hour long and the results I describe in Switched On came to me that night after the stimulations and they were very, very powerful. It’s funny sometimes the stimulations would do anything and other times they would turn [my] world on its head.
And because it was scientific research we never really knew what to expect. That’s an important thing to remember, I wasn’t part of a treatment study, I was part of basic research.
Topics: health, science, author interview
Regions:
Tags: autism
Duration: 22'31"

10:38
Book review - The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
BODY:
Reviewed by Phil Vine, published by Penguin Random House (NZ).
Topics: books
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 7'17"

11:28
The search for Chairman Mao's lost son
BODY:
Auckland author, Richard Loseby has traversed China on a quest to find the rumoured lost son of Mao Tse Tung.
Motivated by a story about the son of Chairman Mao and his third wife, who was given away when he was two years old, Mr Loseby says he was intrigued. A few years ago he set out to find him. The result is his latest book. A Boy of China - in search of Mao's lost son. Richard Loseby is currently Creative Group Head at Marketing and Communications Agency, Ogilvy NZ Limited - and his previous books are Blue is the Colour of Heaven, and Looking for the Afghan.
EXTENDED BODY:
Auckland author, Richard Loseby has traversed China on a quest to find the rumoured lost son of Mao Tse Tung.
Motivated by a story about the son of Chairman Mao and his third wife, who was given away when he was two years old, Mr Loseby says he was intrigued.
A few years ago he set out to find him. The result is his latest book. A Boy of China - in search of Mao's lost son.
Richard Loseby is currently Creative Group Head at Marketing and Communications Agency, Ogilvy NZ Limited - and his previous books are Blue is the Colour of Heaven, and Looking for the Afghan.
Topics: author interview
Regions:
Tags: Richard Loseby, A Boy of China, Chairman Mao's Lost Son
Duration: 17'44"

11:47
Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles
BODY:
This week, Dr Wiles explains the science behind a prototype synthetic biology diagnostic test for the zika virus, and talks about what happened to the contestants who shed large amounts of weight on extreme dieting reality TV shows.
Topics: science
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 12'48"

=SHOW NOTES=

[image:68072:half] no metadata
09:05 Silencing Scientists
How are New Zealand's scientists being silenced and what can be done about it? Shaun Hendy is the former president of the New Zealand Association of Scientists who's investigated the question in a new book, Silencing Scientists. In the book Shaun examines how businesses, politicians, and even fellow academics can cut scientists out of public debate.
09:25 Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability report
Radio New Zealand's Economics Correspondent Patrick O'Meara gives his analysis of the RBNZ's latest moves
09:35 Transparency International on the Panama Papers
Transparency International has been campaigning for 15 years for changes to the laws governing foreign trusts in this country. Chair Suzanne Snively discusses what we've learned from the Panama Papers this week, and why New Zealanders should care.
09:45 Australia correspondent Karen Middleton
[image:68059:third] no metadata
Karen Middleton in Canberra: the official federal election campaign is underway and it's neck and neck in the polls, shocking new revelations in the royal commission on child abuse, rain is falling in across South-Western Australia, and the social media storm over Logie awards going to non-white Australians.
10:05 Mind blowing! Unlocking emotions after decades of Aspergers
'Free-range Aspergian' John Elder Robison, tells the story of how cutting-edge neuroscience helped him develop the ability to read other people's emotional cues.
His latest book, Switched On: A Memoir of Brain Change and Emotional Awakening, chronicles his journey. He also writes a blog
10:35 Book review The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
reviewed by Phil Vine, published by Penguin Random House (NZ)
10:45 The Reading
Where The Rekohu Bone Sings by Tina Makereti (Part 13 of 15)
read by Maria Walker, George Henare and Kura Forrester
11:05 Marty Duda's artist of the week
Today Marty features the music of Marlon Williams. Marlon is the latest New Zealand musician to make it to the big time, having just made his first performance on TV’s Later With Jools and scoring a spot on this year’s Austin City Limits Festival. Marlon has been a fixture of the New Zealand music scene for many years, first as a member of The Unfaithful Ways, then as a duet partner with Delaney Davidson and now as a solo artist. His self-titled debut album was released in 2015 and was recorded at Ben Edwards acclaimed studio in Lyttleton. Last year, at the New Zealand Music Awards, Marlon won Best Male Solo Artist and Breakthrough Artist Of The Year. Now he’s breaking through to the rest of the planet.
11:20 The search for Chairman Mao's lost son
[image:67987:half] no metadata
Auckland author, Richard Loseby has traversed China on a quest to find the rumoured lost son of Mao Tse Tung. Motivated by a story about the son of Chairman Mao and his third wife, who was given away when he was two years old, Mr Loseby says he was intrigued. A few years ago he set out to find him. The result is his latest book. A Boy of China - in search of Mao's lost son.
Richard Loseby is currently Creative Group Head at Marketing and Communications Agency, Ogilvy NZ Limited - and his previous books are Blue is the Colour of Heaven, and Looking for the Afghan.

11:45 Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles
This week, Dr Wiles explains the science behind a prototype synthetic biology diagnostic test for the zika virus, and talks about what happened to the contestants who shed large amounts of weight on extreme dieting reality TV shows.

=PLAYLIST=

Artist: Lorde
Song: Team
Composer: Little/Yelich-O'Connor
Album: Pure Heroine
Label: Lava/Republic
Time:10:06
Artist: Fat Freddys Drop
Song: This Room
Composer: Fat Freddy's Drop
Album: Based on a True Story
Label: Fat Freddy's Drop
Time: 10:32

Artist: The Unfaithful Ways
Song: Katie My Darling (3:12)
Composer: Marlon Williams
Album: Free Rein (2011)
Label: Aeroplane
Artist: Marlon Williams
Song: Hello Miss Lonesome (3:15)
Composer: Marlon Williams
Album: Marlon Williams (2015)
Label: Caroline
Artist: Marlon Williams & Melody Pool
Song: Heaven For You (Prison For Me) (2:48)
Composer: Marlon Williams
Album: NA
Label: NA (13th Floor Live Session)

===Noon | Midday Report===
=DESCRIPTION=

RNZ news, followed by updates and reports until 1.00pm, including: 12:16 Business News 12:26 Sport 12:34 Rural News 12:43 Worldwatch

=AUDIO=

12:00
Midday News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
Fairfax Media and APN are in merger talks which could result in job losses, the Reserve Bank says New Zealand's financial system is sound.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 15'11"

12:17
SkyCity raising $263 million, won't sell new Hobson St hotel
BODY:
Casino operator, SkyCity Entertainment Group, has decided to raise $263 million through the issue of new shares, rather than sell its new five-star hotel.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: SkyCity
Duration: 1'18"

12:19
RBNZ to hold the line for now on rates and bank risks
BODY:
Pressure on the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates further has eased given the risks in the latest report on the health of the banking system.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Reserve Bank
Duration: 1'49"

12:20
REINZ data shows house prices on the rise throughout NZ
BODY:
The Real Estate Institute says a number of regions in New Zealand are seeing record growth in prices, but eased back a bit in Auckland over the past month.
Topics: business, economy, housing
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: real estate, Auckland housing market
Duration: 1'29"

12:22
APN and Fairfax discuss merger
BODY:
The Australian parents of New Zealand's two biggest newspaper and digital players - APN and Fairfax - are looking to merge the two businesses.
Topics: business, economy, media
Regions:
Tags: Fairfax, APN
Duration: 1'03"

12:24
Hellaby announces clear path ahead
BODY:
The diversified investment company, Hellaby Holdings, says it is now on a clear path with a focus on core businesses.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Hellaby Holdings
Duration: 1'28"

12:25
Midday Markets for 11 May 2016
BODY:
For the latest from the markets we're joined by Brad Gordon at Macquarie Private Wealth.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 1'36"

12:26
Midday Sports News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
The Warriors forward Ben Matulino says he feels fortunate to be back in the side to take on Penrith in the National Rugby League this weekend, and New Zealand will send its largest gymnastics team to an Olympic Games in over 50 years.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'35"

12:35
Midday Rural News for 11 May 2016
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sectors.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 8'24"

=SHOW NOTES=

===1:06 PM. | Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm===
=DESCRIPTION=

An upbeat mix of the curious and the compelling, ranging from the stories of the day to the great questions of our time (RNZ)

=AUDIO=

13:10
Seismic shift in print media
BODY:
Fairfax Media Limited and and APN News & Media Limited have told the New Zealand Stock exchange that they are in merger talks. If completed, the combined company would cover newspapers like the New Zealand Herald and the Dominion Post as well as the radio network NewstalkZB. Merja Myllylahti is an expert in media ownership at AUT, who says this is potentially a seismic shift in media in New Zealand.
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags: Fairfax, APN, mergers
Duration: 9'15"

13:25
Tax expert answers your questions about the Panama Papers
BODY:
Deborah Russell is a senior lecturer in taxation at Massey University. She has two blogs, Left Side Story and A Bee of a Certain Age, and her twitter handle is beefaerie.
EXTENDED BODY:
Foreign trusts and New Zealand's rules have been under the spotlight since the release of the Panama Papers, which revealed how the Panamanian law firm orchestrated a worldwide web of companies designed to let people hide money and avoid taxes.
Deborah Russell is a senior lecturer in taxation at Massey University. She has two blogs, Left Side Story and A Bee of a Certain Age, and was the Labour candidate for Rangitikei in the 2014 election.
Following her live chat on rnz.co.nz, Deborah talks to Jesse about the areas of confusion and answers more listener questions.

Topics: media
Regions:
Tags: Panama Papers, Monsack Fonseca
Duration: 8'11"

13:30
Tourism and the Rena wreck
BODY:
It's been almost five years since the Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef. It was desribed as the worst maritime environmental disaster in New Zealand, and one of the world's most complex clean-up's. Waikato University marine ecologist, Dr Phil Ross, has just published research on the environmental effect of the shipwreck.
EXTENDED BODY:
It's been almost five years since the Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef. It was desribed as the worst maritime environmental disaster in New Zealand, and one of the world's most complex clean-ups.
Waikato University marine ecologist, Dr Phil Ross, has just published research on the environmental effect of the shipwreck.
He's done more than 100 dives at the Rena site over the past four years and photographed the undersea world around the wreck.
His first dive was a year after the ship grounded in 2011, and his most recent just this week. He said it had changed incredibly during that time.
"The first dive was a sensory overload. It's a huge ship, you're in the water and you can hear the creaking, groaning of everything rolling around."
In subsequent dives he found so much metal and cargo.
"Imagine if you went to a scrap metal yard then transposed that to an underwater scene, that's the sort of thing you're seeing.
"There was nothing alive under the giant pile of metal."
A lot of work had gone into the wreck in the years since and a lot of the scrap had been removed, he said.
"The areas that were formally covered in debris are starting to be recolonised.
"Apart from the odd piece of metal you wouldn't even know there was a shipwreck there."
There's now about 25 boats visiting the wreck each day, since the cordon was lifted earlier this year.
Dr Ross expected it would be a popular tourist attraction in the future.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: The Rena, tourism, Rena shipwreck, shipwreck, Astrolabe Reef
Duration: 10'02"

13:40
Sound archives - the huia
BODY:
The Sound archives of Nga Taonga Sound & Vision hold recordings about the huia, including eye witness descriptions and a re-creation of the bird's call - with Sarah Johnston.
EXTENDED BODY:
If you have been to see Taika Waititi's film ""The Hunt for the Wilderpeople" you will remember the two main characters discover the long-believed-extinct huia bird, while they are deep in the bush.
In real life, the last authenticated sighting of a huia was in 1907 in the Tararua Ranges north of Wellington.
The Sound archives of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision hold recordings about the huia, including eye witness descriptions and a re-creation of the bird's call.
Sarah Johnston talks to us about them.

Topics: history
Regions:
Tags: Nga Taonga Sound & Vision, huia
Duration: 8'13"

13:45
Favourite album - Collective Soul
BODY:
Collective Soul's self titled album from 1995.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 9'16"

14:08
Who are the young athletes going the Rio Olympics?
BODY:
RNZ sports reporter, profiles some of the younger athletes heading to Rio in August.
EXTENDED BODY:
RNZ sports reporter, Matt Chatterton profiles some of the younger athletes heading to Rio in August
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Olympics, Rio Olympics 2016
Duration: 7'17"

14:20
Mathematics and Black holes: Professor Roy Kerr
BODY:
Emeritus Professor Roy Kerr who has just received the highest academic title the University of Canterbury can bestow - Canterbury Distinguished Professor. He is one of only three in the university's 143 year history to achieve such status and it comes after the announcement Professor Kerr will receive the prestigious Crafoord Prize in Sweden later this month. As Professor of Mathematics at Canterbury, Prof Kerr's studies in the formation of black holes earnt him praise from Stephen Hawking in the book A Brief History of Time.
EXTENDED BODY:
Jesse's guest on Bookmarks is Emeritus Professor Roy Kerr who has just received the highest academic title the University of Canterbury can bestow - Canterbury Distinguished Professor.
He is one of only three in the university's 143-year history to achieve such status and it comes after the announcement Professor Kerr will receive the prestigious Crafoord Prize in Sweden later this month.
As Professor of Mathematics at Canterbury, Prof Kerr's studies in the formation of black holes earnt him praise from Stephen Hawking in the book A Brief History of Time.
Topics: science, history
Regions:
Tags: mathematics, black holes
Duration: 38'31"

15:10
Geoffonomics: The economics of 1080 vs trapping
BODY:
Geoff Simmons an economist at the Morgan Foundation discusses the Conservation Minister's announcement of the largest ever 1080 drop to try to reduce pest numbers.
Topics: economy, environment
Regions:
Tags: conservation, 1080
Duration: 12'47"

15:23
The Wireless - Ellen Falconer
BODY:
Ellen Falconer joins us for our catch-up with what's going on at The Wireless.
Topics: media, life and society
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'49"

15:27
Business scandals in NZ - The Historical Context
BODY:
The Panama Papers scandal could be a risk to NZ's squeaky clean reputation, but is our reputation really that squeaky clean? New Zealand has actually experienced a number of business scandals over the years, some connected to trusts and overseas investors. With Grant Morris.
Topics: history
Regions:
Tags: Panama Papers, tax havens, Foreign trusts
Duration: 8'05"

15:45
The Panel pre-show for 11 May 2016
BODY:
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 14'45"

=SHOW NOTES=

1:10 First song: Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Dark Necessities
1:15 Seismic shift in print media
Fairfax Media Limited and and APN News & Media Limited have told the New Zealand Stock exchange that they are in merger talks. If completed, the combined company would cover newspapers like the New Zealand Herald and the Dominion Post as well as the radio network NewstalkZB. The announcement follows a halt in trading in shares of APN announced on Monday by the company managers in Sydney. It also follows years of financial strife that has led to widespread job losses in the industry in both Ausralia and New Zealand.
Merja Myllylahti is an expert in media ownership at AUT, who says this is potentially a seismic shift in media in New Zealand.
1:25 Tax expert Deborah Russell answers your questions about the Panama Papers
Deborah Russell is a senior lecturer in taxation at Massey University. She has two blogs, Left Side Story and A Bee of a Certain Age, and her twitter handle is beefaerie.
1:30 Tourism and the Rena wreck
It's been almost five years since the Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef. It was desribed as the worst maritime environmental disaster in New Zealand, and one of the world's most complex clean-up's. Waikato University marine ecologist, Dr Phil Ross, has just published research on the environmental effect of the shipwreck.
He's done more than 100 dives at the Rena site over the past four years.
[gallery:2011]
1:40 Favourite album: Collective Soul
2:10 Who are the young athletes going the Rio Olympics?
RNZ sports reporter, Matt Chatterton profiles some of the younger athletes heading to Rio in August
[gallery:2013]
[image:68143:quarter]
2:20 Bookmarks with Professor Roy Kerr
Jesse's guest on Bookmarks is Emeritus Professor Roy Kerr who has just received the highest academic title the University of Canterbury can bestow - Canterbury Distinguished Professor. He is one of only three in the university's 143 year history to achieve such status and it comes after the announcement Professor Kerr will receive the prestigious Crafoord Prize in Sweden later this month.
As Professor of Mathematics at Canterbury, Prof Kerr's studies in the formation of black holes earnt him praise from Stephen Hawking in the book A Brief History of Time.
[thumbnail:68217:full]
3:10 Geoffonomics: The economics of 1080 vs trapping
Geoff Simmons an economist at the Morgan Foundation discusses the Conservation Minister's announcement of the largest ever 1080 drop to try to reduce pest numbers.
3:20 Business scandals in NZ - The Historical Context
The Panama Papers scandal could be a risk to NZ's squeaky clean reputation, but is our reputation really that squeaky clean? New Zealand has actually experienced a number of business scandals over the years, some connected to trusts and overseas investors.
3:25 The Wireless
3:35 New Zealand Society
Tales of life in Aotearoa.
3:45 The Panel Pre-Show

=PLAYLIST=

JESSE MULLIGAN 1- 4pm
Wednesday May 11th
JESSE'S SONG:
ARTIST: Red Hot Chili Peppers
TITLE: Dark Necessities
COMP: Flea, Anthony Kiedis, Josh Klinghoffer, Chad Smith
ALBUM: The Getaway
LABEL: Warner
FAVOURITE ALBUM:
ARTIST: Collective Soul
TITLE: The World I Know
COMP: Ed Roland, Ross Childress
ALBUM: Collective Soul
LABEL: Atlantic
ARTIST: Collective Soul
TITLE: Smashing Young Man
COMP: Ed Roland
ALBUM: Collective soul
LABEL: Atlantic
ARTIST: Collective Soul
TITLE: She Gathers Rain
COMP: Ed Roland
ALBUM: Collective soul
LABEL: Atlantic
THE GREAT NEW ZEALAND ALBUM: Second Hand Planet - Opshop
ARTIST: Andrea Bocelli
TITLE: Oh Mio Rimorso! - La Traviata
COMP: Giuseppe Verdi
ALBUM: Verdi
LABEL: Phillips
ARTIST: Janis Joplin & The Full Tilt Boogoe Band
TITLE: Cry Baby
COMP: Jerry Ragovoy, Bert Berns
ALBUM: Pearl
LABEL: Columbia
THE PANEL - HALF TIME SONG:
ARTIST: Lily Allen
TITLE: Alfie
COMP: Lily Allen, Greg Kurstin
ALBUM: Alright, Still
LABEL: Warner

===4:06 PM. | The Panel===
=DESCRIPTION=

An hour of discussion featuring a range of panellists from right along the opinion spectrum (RNZ)

=AUDIO=

15:45
The Panel pre-show for 11 May 2016
BODY:
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 14'45"

16:05
The Panel with Lisa Scott and Steve McCabe (Part 1)
BODY:
Topics - John Key was ejected this afternoon for not listening to the Speaker David Carter, Fairfax, APN Business commentator Bernard Hickey discusses the merger of New Zealand's two biggest print media outlets - APN and Fairfax, debt, debt-to-income ratio, mortgage lending, mortgages Bernard Hickey explains what a debt-to-income ratio for mortgage lending would achieve, and .The investigation into alleged sex abuse by singer Cliff Richard has been a drawn out process.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 25'02"

16:06
The Panel with Lisa Scott and Steve McCabe (Part 2)
BODY:
Topics - More human worker bees will be replaced by drones by 2020. Lawyer Duncan Webb explains why a Napier District Court ruling had any influence on Mt Hutt College students' after-ball party. The number of parents supplying alcohol to their children has halved in the last decade. Does the Bachelor reflect women's life path?
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 25'35"

16:07
Panel Intro
BODY:
What the Panelists Lisa Scott and Steve McCabe have been up to.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'37"

16:08
PM kicked out of the House
BODY:
John Key was ejected this afternoon for not listening to the Speaker David Carter.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: John Key, parliament
Duration: 38"

16:10
Major media merger
BODY:
Fairfax, APN Business commentator Bernard Hickey discusses the merger of New Zealand's two biggest print media outlets - APN and Fairfax.
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 9'19"

16:25
Lending and debt-to-income ratio
BODY:
debt, debt-to-income ratio, mortgage lending, mortgages Bernard Hickey explains what a debt-to-income ratio for mortgage lending would achieve.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 9'11"

16:30
Cliff Richard allegations
BODY:
The investigation into alleged sex abuse by singer Cliff Richard has been a drawn out process.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Cliff Richard
Duration: 2'09"

16:34
Panel Says
BODY:
What the Panelists Lisa Scott and Steve McCabe have been thinking about.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 6'54"

16:35
Drones to commandeer more human work
BODY:
More human worker bees will be replaced by drones by 2020.
Topics: technology, life and society
Regions:
Tags: drones
Duration: 4'15"

16:40
Mt Hutt after-ball under the influence of District Court
BODY:
Lawyer Duncan Webb explains why a Napier District Court ruling had any influence on Mt Hutt College students' after-ball party.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 8'07"

16:44
Parents withholding drinks from teens
BODY:
The number of parents supplying alcohol to their children has halved in the last decade.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 1'58"

16:58
The Bachelor finale
BODY:
Does the Bachelor reflect women's life path?
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'16"

=SHOW NOTES=

===5:00 PM. | Checkpoint===
=DESCRIPTION=

RNZ's weekday drive-time news and current affairs programme

=AUDIO=

17:00
Checkpoint with John Campbell, Wednesday 11th May 2016
BODY:
Watch Wednesday's full programme here.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 00"

17:08
APN consider merger with Fairfax Media
BODY:
Two of New Zealand's largest media heavyweights - APN and Fairfax Media - have confirmed they are in talks to merge, putting some of the largest media outlets into the country under the same roof.
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags: APN, Fairfax Media
Duration: 4'05"

17:14
Is there still a market for newpapers?
BODY:
If APN and Fairfax do decide to merge, what will be the outcome for both organisations' newspapers? Maja Burry asked Wellingtonians how they get their news, and whether they buy papers at all.
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags: APN, Fairfax
Duration: 57"

17:15
Former Herald boss on possible Fairfax APN merger
BODY:
Former NZ Herald Editor-in-Chief Tim Murphy joins Checkpoint to discuss the implications of an APN Fairfax merger on audiences and the wider industry.
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags: APN, Fairfax
Duration: 6'51"

17:20
PM thrown out of the House
BODY:
During a heated exchange on the Panama Papers, Prime Minister John Key was kicked out of the house for the first time ever, after he failed to stop talking when told to by the Speaker.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: John Key, parliament
Duration: 3'08"

17:24
RBNZ signals more lending restrictions
BODY:
Home buyers may be met with more restrictions, as the Reserve Bank struggles to rein in a surging housing market. Economics correspondent Patrick O'Meara reports.
Topics: housing, economy, business
Regions:
Tags: Reserve Bank
Duration: 3'18"

17:27
Hurricanes under fire over curfew breach
BODY:
The Hurricanes rugby team may see some of their players stood down for the team's Wellington game on Sunday over a team curfew breach over the weekend.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: The Hurricanes, rugby
Duration: 5'32"

17:39
Evening Business for 11 May 2016
BODY:
News from the business sector including a market report.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'54"

17:40
Maori running for Council in Taranaki say racial abuse is rife
BODY:
Last night we spoke to Andrew Judd, the current Mayor of New Plymouth, who's decided to not seek re-election after receiving abuse for campaigning for greater Maori representation in Taranaki. Bill Simpson and Chris Manukonga are two Maori men running for Council in the upcoming Local Body elections.
Topics:
Regions: Taranaki
Tags: racsim, Maori, New Plymouth
Duration: 7'04"

17:45
Academic says media rhetoric reinforces racist attitudes
BODY:
A Massey University researcher says the way Maori are talked about in the media is wider than Taranaki and reinforces racist attitudes in society. Mohamed Hassan reports.
Topics: life and society, identity
Regions:
Tags: racism, Maori
Duration: 4'00"

17:49
Changes suggested in wake of four Flaxmere suicides
BODY:
After four teenage suicides in just over a year in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere, a Coroner is calling for a multi-agency crackdown on family violence.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: family violence, suicide
Duration: 3'33"

17:53
Tourism NZ to stop advertising in summer
BODY:
Tourism New Zealand will stop promoting the country in the high season because tourism operators cannot cope with any more tourists in summer. Sharon Brettkelly reports from the tourism industry's annual conference TRENZ in Rotorua.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: tourism
Duration: 3'12"

18:10
Independent media worried media merger could spell their end
BODY:
Small and independent media companies across New Zealand are worried that a proposed merger between heavyweights APN News & Media and Fairfax Media could cause their demise. Pier Smulder is the chief executive of the Star Media Group.
Topics: media
Regions:
Tags: independent media, Fairfax, APN
Duration: 5'35"

18:14
Akld Council marked down for slow progress tackling inequality
BODY:
Five years on from the country's biggest local body merger, the Auckland Council is being marked down for failing to tackle social inequality in the city. Auckland Correspondent Todd Niall has more.
Topics:
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags:
Duration: 3'22"

18:17
NZ man named in Parliament denies any wrongdoing
BODY:
The New Zealander named in Parliament today in connection with one of America's most wanted fugitives says he is surprised his name has come up, and denies doing anything wrong.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: offshore companies
Duration: 2'47"

18:22
Businesses fear impact of pedestrian-friendly plan
BODY:
Some business owners in central Christchurch fear a plan to deter motorists from their street, and make it more pedestrian friendly, will be the death of their shops.
Topics:
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Christchurch, Christchurch City Council
Duration: 2'42"

18:25
17-year-old gymnast off to Rio
BODY:
Christchurch teenager Courtenay McGregor was today named in the New Zealand Olympic team alongside fellow gymnasts Misha Koudinov and trampolinist Dylan Schmidt.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Courtenay McGregor, Rio Olympics 2016
Duration: 4'19"

18:50
Today In Parliament for 11 May 2016 - evening edition
BODY:
John Key becomes the first prime minister to be thrown out of the debating chamber since Margaret Wilson ordered Helen Clark to leave in June 2005. Mister Key got carried away when answering questions about the Panama Papers after refusing to apologise for revealing that they contained the names of Greenpeace and Amnesty International. His departure leaves a question from New Zealand First unanswered and the leader of the House, Gerry Brownlee, declines to put up another minister. The Speaker, David Carter, reminds him of the purpose of Question Time and says his actions will be judged by the public. Deputy prime minister, Bill English, breaks ranks and rises to answer the question which, like the others, required the prime minister to stand by his answers to yesterday's questions about the Panama Papers.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'51"

=SHOW NOTES=

===6:30 PM. | Worldwatch===
=DESCRIPTION=

The stories behind the international headlines

===6:55 PM. | In Parliament===
=DESCRIPTION=

===7:06 PM. | Nights===
=DESCRIPTION=

RNZ's weeknight programme of entertainment and information

=AUDIO=

19:10
Ocean Energy
BODY:
Making power from motion in the ocean. Gareth Gretton is the chair of the NZ wave and tidal energy association, or AWATEA.
Topics: environment, technology, science
Regions:
Tags: wave and tidal energy
Duration: 22'17"

20:10
Overseas report from RNZI
BODY:
RNZ International senior journalist Johnny Blades has the latest news from our Pacific neighbours – changes proposed for the Australian detention centre at Manus Island and drama on sleepy Norfolk Island.
EXTENDED BODY:
RNZ International senior journalist Johnny Blades has the latest news from our Pacific neighbours – changes proposed for the Australian detention centre at Manus Island and drama on sleepy Norfolk Island.
Read an edited snapshot of the conversation:
One of the big stories that RNZI has been talking about is the decision by the Supreme Court in PNG to declare the Australian detention centre for asylum seekers illegal. The PNG government said ‘Yes, we’ll close it’, but it’s not closed, is it?
Johnny Blades: It is still open, but we’ve just ascertained today, in fact, from Immigration PNG… they’re now saying that the people detained there are now free to walk around the island, to move around. So they’re not being detained against their will, so to speak, according to them. But it’s all very dubious. So the ruling two weeks ago that holding people against their will was against PNG’s constitution and the PNG and Australian governments must immediately release these people… The response to that, as you said, was PNG said ‘We will close the centre’, but [PNG and Canberra] are both buying time, saying we’re going to take stock of this decision.
They were very different stories. The PNG president said ‘Yes, we’re going to close it, it’s closed tomorrow’. And at the same time the Australian Immigration Minister said ‘It’s not going to close’.
Johnny Blades: It’s a bit of an arm wrestle. Peter Dutton, the Australian immigration minister, is standing firm on this. There are negotiations going on between those two governments. I think it’s going to take a while. They’re looking at what their options are, and one of them may be that they make Manus an open facility where people can move around.
Bear in mind that some of the people who’d been sent there against their will... have already been found to be genuine refugees by the refugee claims processing system. They had already been – some of them – moved to a transitional centre on Manus Island, where they were theoretically being prepared for integration into PNG society. And some had also been able to move around in Manus freely, anyway. But the vast majority of them, as we understood it, are still locked up.
Can anyone leave Manus Island? Where is it, actually?
Johnny Blades: No, it’s very remote. It’s way up the top, underneath the equator, quite remote to the mainland of PNG. It is its own province, it’s very hard to get to. You can only really get there by plane, or boat, but you know, let’s not talk about boat people, because that was half the problem, wasn’t it? Australia a few years ago decided anyone arriving in Australian waters by boat would be processed offshore and would never make it to Australia – so they sent them either to Manus Island, PNG – that’s where a lot of the males went – or Nauru, some went to Christmas Island, which is part of Australia.
How long has Manus been running as a detention centre?
Johnny Blades: In this latest incarnation it’s been three or so years. But it was earlier used as a processing centre by the John Howard government, and that’s when they originally forged this so-called ‘Pacific Solution’ of offshore processing.
In 2007 when Kevin Rudd came to power, one of the things he said was ‘We’re going to dismantle this.’ And he did. But then a few years later he reopened it because all the boats started arriving again, or it became an issue for the Australian public. It’s still a very big issue.
There have been numerous reports presented to the Australian senate which have shown how both on Nauru and Manus on PNG how the detainees have been in terrible conditions, a sort of mental torture. There’s been multiple cases of self-harm.
Who runs the centres?
Johnny Blades: Ostensibly, up in Manus, the PNG immigration department was doing the processing, at a glacial pace. But managing the day to day operations was Broadspectrum – it’s an Australian company which had Wilson Security as one of its contractors, so Aussies.
I’d see some of these people at the PNG airport coming through, big lads who do mining work. Some have called them pretty thuggish because some of the responses to the protest actions by the detainees has been brutal. We saw early in 2014 an Iranian asylum seeker was brutally murdered by guards at Manus.
Norfolk Island doesn’t often get into RNZI bulletins, but just recently there’s almost this kind of war of independence going on – not with guns, thankfully.
Johnny Blades: Yes, so far not violent. Since ’79 they’ve had limited self-government, but last year Canberra foisted this plan on them that there was going to be a transition process put in place and by July this year Norfolk island’s administration will be the equivalent of a local council within New South Wales. And the people there are really unhappy about it. Right now they’ve been protesting for two or three weeks outside the Norfolk legislature, really angry about this because they all feel that it’s just been railroaded through without much consultation.
What’s the situation with Lord Howe Island, the other inhabited island between [New Zealand and Australia]? Are they a separate territory or are they part of New South Wales?
Johnny Blades: They didn’t have the limited self-governing abilities that Norfolk had until now. Lord Howe has got its own problems ‘cause they’ve got that massive rat eradication system which has divided the island. They’ve got rats there and the authorities want to drop some sort of poison, an aerial drop. Half the residents don’t want it and half do. The half who don’t want it think it’s going to endanger their health and so forth.
If Norfolk Island declared independence – is that one of the options the locals are thinking of?
Johnny Blades: Since all this stuff came up and they felt Canberra wasn’t responding fairly to their grievances about this and their request for it to be put off until it had been fully consulted over, they have taken their matter to the undecolonisation committee. They want to get this decolonisation process underway, so Australia has got a bit of a situation on its hands here.

Topics: Pacific, environment, politics
Regions:
Tags: Pacific Islands, current affairs
Duration: 18'02"

=SHOW NOTES=

[image:68216:full]
7:12 Ocean Energy
What is the potential for harnessing New Zealand's tidal and wave energy? We'll talk to Gareth Gretton about making power from motion in the ocean ahead of the Aotearoa Wave And Tidal Energy Association conference.
7:30 Spectrum
Sonia Sly looks into an international project called Seawalls which recently came to Napier. It's part of a global movement towards marine conservation, giving visual artists a platform to paint for a purpose.
[image:68218:full] no metadata

8:12 Nights' Overseas Reports - The Pacific
Drama on sleepy Norfolk Island, plus the effect of Australia's refugee policy on the Pacific. We're talking to RNZI senior journalist Johnny Blades about the latest news from our neighbours.

8:30 Window on the World
Kastner story - Mark Lawson explores the varied cultural retellings of the Rudolf Kastner story - is he a hero or villain of the Holocaust?

9:07 The Drama Hour
'Watermark' by Olwynne Macrae.
A radio journalist attempts to uncover the activities of an elitist organization bent on steering society by targeting, for special treatment, those with exceptional mental abilities.
10:17 Late Edition
A round up of today's RNZ News and feature interviews as well as Date Line Pacific from RNZ International.
11:07 At the Eleventh Hour
John Coltrane. This week in The New Jazz Archive it's the life and music of John Coltrane. We'll talk with our jazz historian and renowned Coltrane scholar Lewis Porter about Trane's early roots growing up in rural North Carolina, and get to know the softer side of John Coltrane the balladeer. And we'll explore John Coltrane's redemption story and his transformation from heroin addict to spiritual icon, and sit down for a conversation with Ravi Coltrane about how his father's music unexpectedly inspired him to carry on the family legacy.

===7:35 PM. | Spectrum===
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Top artists from New Zealand and around the world converged on Napier to paint large-scale murals in support of our oceans with the intention to bring awareness to depleting species of marine life. Sonia Sly meets some of the artists and volunteers to gain a perspective on the global street art movement and to find out why these artists are happy to paint for a purpose. (RNZ)

===8:30 PM. | Windows On The World===
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International public radio features and documentaries

===9:06 PM. | None (National)===
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A radio journalist attempts to uncover the identity and activities of a secret elitist organisation which believes it knows best how to run society (Word Pictures)

===10:00 PM. | Late Edition===
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RNZ news, including Dateline Pacific and the day's best interviews from RNZ National

===11:06 PM. | None (National)===
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