Nine To Noon

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks at an "aggressive increase" in defence spending amidst a push to further help Ukraine. Also Catherine talks to Lynn about Canada pulling back on most of its Covid restrictions. Catherine Cullen is a Senior Reporter on Parliament Hill for CBC News.

Some hats are already in the ring to replace Phil Goff, who are they and what are the most pressing issues facing Auckland? NZ Herald Supercity reporter Bernard Orsman has the latest. He's covered local government for more than 20 years.

A new report brings into sharp focus what needs to happen to prevent the current over a third of fifteen year olds from struggling with maths, reading and writing. Now I don't know my ABC: The perilous state of literacy in Aotearoa New Zealand is a new report from the Education Hub, a not-for-profit group aiming to bridge the gap between research and what actually goes on in education. It follows up on a set of statistics presented in a 2020 UNICEF report showing 35% of fifteen-year-old Kiwis struggle with maths, reading and writing, while the rest - 65% - have at least basic proficiency in reading and maths. To break it down further, 19% are illiterate and another 21% only have basic ability in literacy. These are devastating facts for Education Hub founder, and report lead author Nina Hood, who tells Lynn Freeman the report has attempted to understand more fully where we're at and how we got here, in order to address this literary crisis, and, though it acknowledges there is no quick fix, what needs to happen to affect positive change.

Comedians Te Radar and Gemma Gracewood.

Dana talks to Lynn about Super Rugby and crowd sizes, with Dr Ashley Bloomfield assuring the Super Rugby franchises that officials are looking into the rules around crowd restrictions at rugby games. Also the new women's competition Super Rugby Aupiki wraps up this weekend and a setback for the White Ferns losing their Cricket World Cup match to South Africa. Dana Johannsen is Stuff's National Correspondent specialising in sport.

Jenna Todd of Time Out Bookstore reviews The Love Songs of W.E. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, published by HarperCollins

Our next guest is on a mission to encourage and develop indigenous small business through a Te Ao Maori lens. Pat MacFie is the co-founder of tech companies and creative agencies Indigo, Manaaki & Chooice. He also spent many years at kiwi tech company Xero. It's been a very successful career, and is really just kicking into the next gear. But what's important now to Pat, his wife Jada and their partner Monty Betham is the work they have embarked on in the teeth of a pandemic to boost education and opportunity for people who grow up with fewer options than others. The MacFie foundation is committed to donating 100 $5,000 tertiary education scholarships over the next ten years. Pat and Jada are using all their companies now to try and encourage new people into small business, and help them flourish.

The latest on China's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including calls for Xi Jinping to use his leverage over Vladimir Putin to convince the Russian leader to back down. Ed says despite all of the mounting objections to Russia's actions, there are signs that western allies India and Pakistan are moving even closer to Russia since the invasion, meanwhile Taiwan is starting to take its own defence and security more seriously after being rocked by the events in Ukraine. And South Korea has a new president after a scandal ridden campaign which has enraged women voters. Ed White is a correspondent with the Financial Times.

Carolyn Cooper is the country's first ever Aged Care Commissioner, who began this month. She's a former nurse, who became the head of BUPA, a huge rest home and retirement village business with $1.6 billion of assets. The role of Aged Care Commissioner was first promised by Labour in the 2017 election, but the budget for it only confirmed last year. The Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall says Dr Cooper will be "leading much needed systematic change in the sector" as well as being an advocate on behalf of consumers and their whanau for better services. 36,000 New Zealanders live in aged residential care, while a further 75,000 receive home-based care.

The price of oil has settled in recent days after a surge in the past couple of weeks to levels not seen since 2008. Many experts predict the price of oil could reach $240 a barrel this winter if Western countries roll out more sanctions on Russian oil exports, in response to its war on Ukraine. Here, the government has lowered the tax on fuel for three months, to mitigate the impact of rising petrol prices which saw a litre of 91 go over $3. Lynn Freeman speaks with Mukesh Sahdev, Senior Vice President at energy research firm Rystad Energy, he's also former head of Global Crude Trading Analytics for Shell.