Nine To Noon

Managed retreat is on the table for Dunedin's iconic southern coastline, which is being eroded by climate-related sea level rise. Dunedin City Council's recently released Whakahekerau-Rakiatea Rautaki Tai/St Clair-St Kilda Coastal Plan reviews four coastal management options, including coastal setback to shore-up the coast between these beaches. The plan also pays special attention to an old landfill site at Middle Beach, whose contents are at risk of being expose by the sea. Among the aims here are improving beach access, to plan for planting and sand stockpiling and to continue modelling for longer term solutions. The plan is out now for public consultation until December 17th. Kathryn is joined by Dunedin City Mayor Aaron Hawkins and City Council Coastal Specialist Tom Simons-Smith.

409 days from entering politics, Christopher Luxon is the new leader of the National party, promising a "reset" and to lead a party for all New Zealanders. The former Chief Executive of Air New Zealand and senior executive at Unilever, says he will bring his real world experience to the role, as he rebuilds the party torn apart by division and in-fighting since his mentor and friend John Key left office. Nicola Willis is deputy leader, but Mr Luxon is yet to allocate porfolios. He tells Kathryn Ryan his background in business rather than politics is a strength.

Andrew discusses the move by news publishers to collectively bargain with Google and Facebook for content usage.

Photographer Juliet Nicholas and writer Sue Allison have produced a collection of New Zealand's most magnificent gardens, and met the inspired gardeners behind them. In the Company of Gardener has enough botanical detail to appeal to the most experienced of gardeners, while its stunning photography will also inspire newcomers to don gardening gloves. Kathryn speaks with Juliet Nicholas, an acclaimed garden photographer, and Sue Allison an award-winning journalist and author.

Pattrick says the Trade Window listing last week must be the most successful on the NZX for a very long time. Not only did it actually get to listing in the face of so many falling over this year, but it provided the biggest 'stag' in recent memory. He also discusses the politics versus the economics of slow border opening, however a lot of skilled labour is likely to start leaving, particularly to Australia.

Paul Diamond reviews Too Much Money: How Wealth Disparities Are Unbalancing Aotearoa New Zealand by Max Rashbrooke, published by Bridget Williams Books.

Without water, we'd be nothing. It's something environmental writer David Young, is on a mission to remind us, through his new book Wai Pasifika.

America is gripped by Omicron panic, the latest Covid 19 variant. And Ron says inflation is also causing concern as dissent and disunity roils both major political parties. Eyes are also on the Supreme Court regarding the Texas abortion law.

World-leading New Zealand research hopes to provide a cheaper solution for earthquake strengthening in higher-risk buildings. Kathryn speaks with Dr Enrique del Rey Castillo, University of Auckland Civil and Environmental Engineering lecturer and lead researcher in a project to earthquake strengthen damaged or earthquake-prone concrete walls, columns, and in a world first, floors with carbon fibre patches. Looking at 'axial failure' in pre 1980s concrete buildings, Dr del Rey Castillo's team has already tested fifty-six different combinations of concrete, steel and carbon fibre to see when and how walls and floors break. The University of Auckland engineers have been wrapping danger-spots on at-risk walls in carbon fibre and testing whether this solution can bring the walls up to modern earthquake performance standards.

While the National Party was in the throes of its leadership crisis last Wednesday night, Parliament's Speaker had hours earlier taken the highly unusual step of lambasting the Labour government over the way it rushed through the far reaching traffic light system legislation, under urgency. The law that seriously curbs the freedom of unvaccinated people was rushed through in a 24-hour urgent session in order to be passed in time to take effect this week. The Speaker Trevor Mallard, himself a Labour MP, said the Government and the House had failed to fully scrutinise the bill. He made a specific ruling before the third reading debate started on the COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Bill yesterday, to lodge the criticism. One of a raft of critics of the way the legislation was rushed through is constitutional and public law lecturer Dean Knight, Associate Professor at Victoria University of Wellington School of Law. He tells Kathryn it is a 'constitutional disgrace.' She also speaks with litigator and public law specialist Andrew Butler.