Nine To Noon

Business commentator Rebecca Stevenson joins Kathryn to talk about rent seeking - the act of a business or individual increasing their wealth without adding any value. She'll look at who's doing it, how they're doing it and why we're all paying for it. She'll also talk about the giant hydroponic vertical farm that's opened its doors in Dubai. Rebecca Stevenson is a senior writer at interest.co.nz.

Harry Broad reviews Giving for Good: The History of the J R McKenzie Trust by Stephen Clarke, published by J R McKenzie Trust.

Torrential rain in Christchurch overnight has now burst the banks of Christchurch's Avon and Heathcote Rivers. The council says 30 to 50 mm of rain has fallen across the city and a further 40 to 60 mills are expected. There's surface flooding in many city suburbs and the risk of slips on Banks Peninsula, with heavy rain warnings and watches in place for most of the South Island's east coast. Kathryn speaks with Helen Beaumont, head of three waters for the Christchurch City Council and RNZ reporter Niva Chitook.

Chrissy Metge is a London-based Kiwi who has been working as an animator and author for a number of years. She's worked with animation studios from Pixar to Weta, Marvel, and George Lucas's ILM - and on plenty of big films ...like Ironman, the Hobbit 1, 2 and 3, Hunger Games, Ron's Gone Wrong...the list goes on. Chrissy has a couple of new projects on the go: one is a new Netflix adult-animated music series called Entergalactic, with some big names in the cast, that will launch at the end of September. The other is a book: The Great Crown Mystery, which she wrote with her six year old son and is out in New Zealand from next week. Chrissy has a number of books to her name - including the popular Max and His Big Imagination series and the Amy's Dreaming Adventures series, which she publishes through her own company Fuzzy Duckling Media.

US correspondent Ron Elving joins Kathryn to talk about the last January 6 hearing ahead of the summer break, and why it may have done more damage to Donald Trump than the previous seven. Will his waning influence be evident in the August primaries? President Biden is recovering from Covid and this week the central bank will make a decision on a rate hike - the big question: has inflation peaked? Ron Elving is Senior Editor and Correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR News.

Record breaking floods which caused major damage in the Yellowstone National Park in the US have highlighted the challenges of climate change for park managers but have also forced a natural reset which is tipped to bring an abundance of new life. The Northern Director of American Rivers Scott Bosse joins Kathryn to discuss the lasting impact of the floods.

Maori data specialists say government agencies are ignoring them while carrying on extending the reach of facial recognition technology. An advocate of Maori data sovereignty, Janelle Riki-Waaka says crucial protections have been left out of a bill before Parliament. The Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill sets up a legal framework for how a person is identified online. Janelle Riki-Waaka tells Kathryn Ryan a requirement for partnership with Maori to be added to the accreditation regime had been asked for in a hui with officials. Janelle is MC-ing the Digital Trust Hui Taumata Summit 2022 at Te Papa.

Kennedy has been travelling in Iceland and Greenland where he says the weather has been unseasonably warm. It's estimated that the Greenland ice cap has lost the equivalent of 72 million Olympic swimming pools worth of water last weekend alone.

Argentinians Alex Gimenez and Lorena Giallonardo emigrated to New Zealand for their love of adventure sports. But after arriving in Queenstown they realised how similar it was to a Patagonian ski resort famed for its amazing chocolates. Alex explained to Kathryn that they recognised a gap in the market and Patagonia Chocolates was born.

Neale and Tim join Kathryn to talk about the rise in inflation and drop in consumer confidence - how are the major parties responding? They'll also look at the inner turmoil for the Green Party, with the weekend ousting of co-leader James Shaw and discuss the result of New Zealand First Foundation case.