Nine To Noon

New Zealand's pig farming sector says a new draft welfare code for pigs could spell the end of the country's pork industry. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee has drafted a new code, following a High Court ruling in November 2020 that deemed farrowing crates unlawful. It's proposing a range of changes to the way pigs are cared for, including increased space allowances, restrictions on farrowing crates and an increased weaning age. But New Zealand's pig farming body NZ Pork says the new code could lead to the deaths of 60,000 piglets every year and would require almost every indoor and outdoor pig farm in the country to be partly or totally re-built. Lynn speaks with Dr Gwyneth Verkerk, the chair of the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and Brent Kleiss, chief executive of NZ Pork.

Arts commentator John Smythe joins Kathryn to talk about Indian Ink's current tour with Krishnan's Dairy and Mrs Krishnan's Party. What's made these two plays so successful at home and around the world? He'll also talk about Nga Rorirori, opening this week at Wellington's Circa Theatre. John Smythe is Managing Editor of theatreview.org.nz.

Travelling to, and around, New Zealand was a major investment in time in the early 20th century. So what made tourists - mainly from Britain - undertake the journey? And how was the country sold to would-be travellers at the time? Historian Paul Moon has written about it in a new book called Touring Edwardian New Zealand. He looks at the Thomas Cook guidebook, first published in 1902, and how the fledgling tourism industry operated at a time when New Zealand was still dealing with tensions between Maori and Pakeha, and wrestling with its colonial ties to Britain.

Music commentator Kirsten Zemke joins Kathryn to play some duets. Traditionally a duet is a musical composition/performance for two in which the performers have equal importance. Today we look at some big mixed gender duets. Kirsten Zemke is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences.

Michelle Rahurahu reviews The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach, published by Simon & Schuster

Booker Prize-winning Scottish novelist Douglas Stuart speaks with Kathryn Ryan about his new novel, Young Mungo which is breaking hearts. Young Mungo develops into a romance between two teenage boys. Mungo is Protestant, James is Catholic. Their relationship is forbidden on so many levels. Set in the early '90s in hard-bitten Glaswegian tenements riven with sectarian violence, where unemployed former shipbuilders "rot in front of daytime tv" and real men prove themselves as thugs. Young Mungo is a story exploring the bounds of masculinity, the magnetism and disappointment of family, the violence experienced by many queer people, and the dangers of falling in love. Douglas Stuart is Glagwegian born and bred. He won the Booker Prize two years ago for his first novel, Shuggie Bain, finally trying his hand at writing age 40, after a glittering career in fashion design.

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane joins Kathryn with an update on the nation's energy crisis, as the national competition watchdog decides to investigate spiralling prices and accusations that power companies are gaming the market by withdrawing supply, leading to blackout warnings. Julian Assange's family and friends fear he could be on a plane to the US within weeks after the UK approved his extradition. And could a new attorney general stop the trial of Bernard Collaery and his former client, Witness K, for their alleged role in exposing a 2004 bugging operation targeting Timor-Leste?

An almost sold-out performance for Matariki is educating hundreds of Auckland school students about vulnerability and leadership, resilience and joy. Youth worker, choreographer and dancer Hadleigh Pouesi speaks with Kathryn about challenging troubled youth to turn from crime and live a better life by expressing themselves through dance as a physical expression of culture. Hadleigh's dance-theatre work MĀUI is being presented with three shows at the Aotea Centre tomorrow, as part of the Matariki Festival and Pacific Dance Festival programme. Hadleigh is a performer in the show, also director and choreographer. He is in charge of, and part of a cast of over thirty performers. He is also a director with Freshmans Dance Crew, which is responsible for creating employment opportunities for over 100 young performers. As a day job, Hadleigh is a manager at Zeal West Auckland - a dedicated youth centre in Henderson supporting young people through networking, korero and upskilling.

Fletcher Building says it plans to increase supply over the next few months and believes the plasterboard market will come back to equilibrium by October. In documents released ahead of its investor day, the company says supply will increase by 10 percent in the next four months, after it reconfigured its factory, increased imports and issued royalty-free licenses to 10-parties to import foreign made plasterboard, which might breach its trademark. It comes as the government has established a taskforce to look at alternatives to GIB board, which makes up 95 percent of the market. RNZ business reporter Nicholas Pointon.

GPs say they're at breaking point, and a recent funding offer from the outgoing DHBs and interim Health New Zealand is "insulting and insufficient". Primary Health Organisations have been in negotiations over a capitation percentage increase, which is the principal mechanism that sets the funding of general practice. GPs who are part of a PHO receive a base level of funding per patient visit and are allowed to charge a co-payment. Every year, GPs do more than 20 million consultations with patients, funded with around one billion dollars from the goverment. But family doctors say they're stretched to breaking point, and the three per cent increase that has been offered is way off the mark. Kathryn speaks with Dr Samantha Murton, President of the College of General Practitioners.