Nine To Noon

Annika joins Kathryn to look at the Covid crisis in New South Wales, where a record 356 new cases were identified, 254 of whom were infectious while in the community. Hundreds of people have been lining up to get Covid vaccinations, particularly tradies, who from today will need to have at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine to return to work.

The Southern Hemisphere's first fully electric ferry is about to be launched on Wellington waters next month. The East by West Ferry company operates between Queen's Wharf in Wellington's CBD and Days Bay in Lower Hutt. After being delayed by a year due to the Covid pandemic, the electric ferry, built by Wellington Electric Boat Building Company, will under go a series of final trials this month before launching in September. Kathryn speaks with East by West managing director Jeremy Ward.

Beef and Lamb New Zealand is calling for limits on carbon offsetting as new research reveals over a third of sheep and beef farms sold have gone into carbon-only titles. Beef and Lamb NZ has commissioned this independent research, which shows the transition of pastureland to forestry by carbon farming companies is driven in large part by a speculated increase in the carbon price, and the amount of afforestation here has already exceeded levels recommended by the IPCC to meet the Zero Carbon Act. Instead, the report recommends an integrated approach, where parts of farms are given over to trees, as a preferable way of meeting climate change targets.Kathryn Ryan is joined by Beef and Lamb NZ's chief executive Sam McIvor.

The electricity generator and retailer Genesis says it's been unfairly singled out for blame by the Energy Minister over the widespread power cuts on Monday night - one of the coldest of the year. Thousands of households were unable to turn on heaters or lights after the national grid operator Transpower asked lines companies to reduce their load. The Minister Megan Woods blamed the power cuts on commercial decisions made by the electricity companies, in particular pointing the finger at Genesis Energy for failing to turn on its third generator at Huntly despite having been warned there would be massive demand. But Genesis CEO Marc England is pushing back, saying that is an unfair characterisation of the situation.

Media commentator Andrew Holden looks at the release last week of a report into the culture at Mediaworks and whether anything will change into its "boys' club". He'll also look at Hilary Barry being cleared by the Broadcasting Standards Authority over comments she made about vaccination. Andrew Holden is a journalist for more than 30 years including five as Editor of The Press (in Christchurch) and four as Editor-in-Chief of The Age in Melbourne.

Business commentator Pattrick Smellie joins Kathryn to look at the government's impending announcement this week about how New Zealand will open up to the world again. What decisions will need to be made about the balance between economic disadvantage vs the disadvantage of having a Covid outbreak? And the Commerce Commission has uncovered a lot of evidence about supermarkets' aggressive use of market power, but less notice has been paid to how restrictions on land use has created local monopoly provision. Pattrick Smellie is the editor and co-founder of BusinessDesk and has reported on the New Zealand economy and business since 1983.

The Energy Minister Megan Woods wants answers from the national grid operator Transpower after thousands of households were left without power on the coldest night of the year. Transpower has apologised for the outages which it said were necessary as demand hit an all time high last night. Megan Woods has spoken with reporters at parliament. Kathryn speaks with RNZ's deputy political editor Craig McCulloch.

Mary Wadsworth of Dorothy Butler Children's Bookshop in Auckland reviews Coastwatcher by David Hill, published by Penguin Random House NZ.

Transpower says power supply remains tight this morning, following last night's blackouts across the central North Island and Marlborough. The national grid operator says electricity demand touched an all-time high last night and asked lines companies to reduce their load. Thousands of people were without power for parts of the evening as companies responded to this request. Transpower has said it predicted the high demand but could not secure the supply from generators, and it will be asking questions as to why that was. Kathryn speaks with Graeme Peters, Chief Executive of the Electricity Networks Association, which represents 27 local electricity distribution businesses throughout the country.

Kelsey joins Kathryn to look at the bipartisan infrastructure bill which cleared a major hurdle in the Senate at the weekend, the US$3.5 trillion budget blueprint proposed by Senate Democrats, the ongoing drama with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and plans by the US postal service to go...slower? Kelsey Snell is a congressional correspondent for NPR, based in Washington DC.