Nine To Noon

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to look at how Covid infection rates remain stubbornly high at about 200 daily in New South Wales, while the situation is deepening the social divide between wealthier and more working class suburbs.

Allied health professionals who work alongside doctors, nurses and dentists say they are being under-utilised and could help deliver better health outcomes.

The multi million dollar court case against James Hardie has ended mid-trial, leaving homeowners with nothing. More than 1000 people were collectively seeking over two hundred million dollars against the cladding manufacturer, claiming Harditex cement and fibre cladding system caused problems including damp, mould and rot in their houses.

Canoeist Lisa Carrington may paddle her way into the history books today at the Tokyo Olympics. Yesterday she won two gold medals in less than two hours, and today she's targetting gold in the K1 500 and K4 500. Lisa Carrington is currently on a par with with two other legendary paddlers Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald, and equestrian Sir Mark Todd, as New Zealand's most decorated Olympic athletes.

Liz talks to Kathryn about how to set up a money management system that works!. She says the system can help you to look after your money automatically with minimal effort. This follows the report released last week by the Retirement Commission which shows that, of people who do budgets, only 1 in 4 make them work. Liz Koh is a financial planner and specialising in retirement planning.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the controversial Springbok rugby tour that divided the country, and a new book is helping young New Zealanders to understand the issues that made it so divisive. It's from former teacher-turned-author Anne Kayes, and starts out in March 2020 under lockdown when the main character, Liza, tries to explain to her children what a fraught time it was in 1981. The story is told in flashbacks to 15-year-old Liza, and Anne says she leaned on some of her own memories and experiences of the time, as well as extensive research and interviews with activists, including John Minto. The result, In Our Own Back Yard, is a snapshot of New Zealand society at two pivotal moments - pandemic and Tour.

Rebecca Stevenson is BusinessDesk's head of news.

Stella Chrysostomou of Volume Books in Nelson reviews Great Works by Oscar Mardell, published by Death of Workers Whilst Building Skyscrapers. Stella says: Oscar Mardell is an Auckland poet whose freezing works poems are a clever addition to the tradition of New Zealand gothic literature. With the nostalgia for the stink of the slaughter yards, the adherence to the architects of such vast structures on our landscape and the pithy analysis of our colonial pastoral history, these poems are delightful as well as contemplative.

Robert Hillman grew up in rural Victoria, Australia, where the practical job as a butcher's apprentice his father had helped to secure him failed to appeal. So, at the tender age of 16 he fled by boat to the other side of the world, bartering his way from Europe through the Middle East, all the while with typewriter in hand. His adventure is captured in his 2004 award-winning memoir The Boy in the Green Suit. With more than 60 works to his name, Robert has also helped give voice to many others. He helped Zahra Ghahramani detail her imprisonment in an Iranian jail as a college student in My Life as a Traitor. In The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif he helps Najaf Mazari tell of his early life as a shepherd boy in Afghanistan, his capture and torture by the Taliban and his time in an Australian detention camp. He's also written a number of works of fiction, and his latest novel is The Bride of Almond Tree, set in post-World War II Australia and Russia.

The government and Reserve Bank have agreed on new moves to tighten mortgage lending, including tougher loan to value ratios, debt to income ratios, to cool the housing market. The central bank says it will begin consultation with retail banks later this month and changes may be in place in October. Lynn speaks with RNZ Business Editor, Gyles Beckford.