Nine To Noon

As Covid-19 border restrictions relax here and abroad, Kiwis are ready for international travel. But passports are taking almost three times as long as usual to process. Over half a million passports have expired in the past couple of years. The DIA says there's a high demand for passports with processing time shifting from 10 to 22 working days, equivalent to 32 calendar days, plus time for passports to arrive in the post. For peace of mind six weeks for processing in recommended. Department of Internal Affairs' Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery and Operations Maria Robertson joins Kathryn.

Should suspects who are subject to police or other investigations be able to keep that information out of the media using the law of privacy? Ursula Cheer is a professor of Law at the University of Canterbury.

Jacky McLaren spent ten years working as a teacher in Brunei, but it's her experiences outside the classroom that are a having a lasting impact.

David Hill reviews Raiment: A Memoir by Jan Kemp, published by Massey University Press.

Professor George Jelinek was 45 and at the peak of a distinguished medical career, when he was diagnosed with MS - the disease which had destroyed his mother's life. At the time, he was a Professor of Emergency Medicine and had been Editor-in-Chief of a major medical journal. So he set about learning everything he could about MS to prevent his life deteriorating in the same way his mother's had. Professor Jelinek's Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis Programme was detailed in his first book published in 2001. It combines a number of different elements, including diet - cutting out dairy and meat, and reducing fat intake; exercise, vitamin D and Omega 3. 23 years later, George Jelinek is symptom free, and is the founder of the Neuroepidemiology Unit within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne. The third update of his Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis Handbook has just been published by Allen & Unwin.

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn with updates from the election campaign, which got off to a rough start for Labor when its leader Anthony Albanese came down with Covid. He'll also look at the comments from Defence Minister Peter Dutton about the need for Australia to "prepare for war", as the country reevaluates its security threats following a pact between Solomon Islands and China.

A West Coast volunteer project to rid a lagoon of an invasive weed, is bringing people and businesses together across New Zealand. Okarito Lagoon is swamped by gorse. It's threatening biodiversity; choking native wetland plants, bird habitat and inhibiting whitebait breeding grounds. But once a year scores of sleeves are being rolled up to pull the gorse out. Over a hundred volunteers descended on Okarito recently, a settlement of some forty people, and plans are in place for Gorsebusting to happen again next year. Kathryn is joined by Gorsebusters organiser Baz Hughes, who runs Okarito Kayaks with his wife, Gemma.

The electric future for Auckland's ferries has ramped up a notch. Two publicly-funded electric ferries are planned for Auckland Harbour crossings, plus Auckland ferry operator Fullers plans to launch a privately funded hybrid ferry on the water next year.The Government says it expects the 200-person ferries for Auckland Transport's inner and mid-harbour services to be launched in 2024. They'll be built by Auckland martime technology company EV Maritime. Kathryn speaks with founder and CEO is Michael Eaglen.

Frustrated residents of the Christchurch suburb of Bromley say they're dismayed by the prospect of another six years living with the stench of a local composting plant. Christchurch City Councillors will consider a report recommending moving the city's organics processing plant at a meeting tomorrow. Stuff is reporting that could take up to six years. Residents of Bromley have been pleading with the council for years to do something about the smell from the plant, which turns green waste into compost. Meanwhile a waste water plant damaged by fire last November in Bromley has been causing a smell described as rotten, pungent and very unpleasant. Kathryn speaks with Yani Johanson, a councillor for Linwood Ward.

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.