Nine To Noon for Wednesday 18 March 2015
09:05 Government considers broadening GST on online purchases
The cost of buying goods from overseas looks likely to go up as the Government prepares to impose GST on more transactions and retailers say a change can't come soon enough.
Mark Johnston is the Chief Executive of the Retailers Association and Dan Lowe is a tax specialist at accounting firm and business consultancy Grant Thornton.
09:25 Should public money be used for large scale water storage for irrigation?
Irrigation New Zealand and Federated Farmers both say the nations economic future depends on water storage - because climate change is bringing more frequent acute and widespread dry periods. They want the government support for the building of new large scale regional water storage, including taking alpine water to help irrigate the Canterbury plains.
Environmental groups say irrigators are using the drought to get public money for large scale irrigation that will mainly just benefit themselves.
Andrew Curtis is the Chief Executive of Irrigation New Zealand; and Kevin Hackwell is the Advocacy Manager for the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.
09:45 Australia correspondent Karen Middleton
Correspondent Karen Middleton reports on a major insider trading case; how the Prime Minister Tony Abbot managed to offend the Irish community on St Patricks Day; and charges laid against the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, for concealing child sexual abuse, its the first such charge in Australia and he is denying the charges.
10:05 Bangladeshi-born novelist Zia Haider Rahman is a former Wall Street banker and international human rights lawyer
Zia Haider Rahman is a Bangladeshi-born novelist whose circuitous route to writing his first book included stints as a Wall Street banker and an international human rights lawyer. His book In the Light of What We Know is a cerebral and poetic journey in which two former friends, both of whom who are South-Asian and become friends at University, reconnect twenty years later.
10:30 Book review: 'After Hitler' by Michael Jones
Published by Hachette. Reviewed by Quentin Johnson.
10:45 The Reading: 'A Needle in the Heart' by Fiona Kidman
Esme has a sewing machine needle floating around her body. Over the years we trace the ups and downs of her life, a complex weave of heart ache and a lost childhood. Just as she composes herself, the needle stirs up old memories (3 of 5, RNZ)
11:05 Marty Duda's artist of the week: Pops Staples
Fifteen years after his death and one hundred years after his birth, Roebuck “Pops” Staples has released a new album. Pops Staples was, of course, the patriarch of The Staple Singers, the gospel/funk group who started out in the late 1940s and scored several hits for Stax Records in the 1970s thanks to the soulful lead vocals of Pops’ daughter, Mavis Staples. Pops himself was a direct link to early blues greats like Charley Patton, Son House and Robert Johnson, having played with both of them while growing up in rural Mississippi. Pops put out a series of bluesy solo albums in the 1990s leading up to his death in 2000. His new album, Don’t Lose This, consists of his final recordings, some with The Staple Singers, others featuring just him and his guitar. Mavis Staplers brought the tapes to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who prepared them for release, adding a bit more instrumentation where needed.
1. This May Be My Last Time – The Staple Singers taken from 1960 single (Sharp)
2. Why (Am I Treated So Bad) – The Staple Singers taken from 1967 album, 'For What It’s Worth' (Epic)
3. Down In Mississippi – Pops Staples taken from 1992 album, 'Peace To The Neighborhood' (Point Blank)
4. Nobody’s Fault But Mine – Pops Staples taken from 2015 album, 'Don’t Lose This' (Anti-)
11:30 Media law with Ursula Cheer
Ursula Cheers discusses the legal implications for media using drones for news gathering.
11:45 Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles
Microsoft is recruiting female scientists, the potential benefits of exercise to tackle breast cancer and harnessing science to stop men peeing in public!