Nine To Noon for Wednesday 8 March 2023

 

09:05 Out for the count: What was the response to this year's census?

Yesterday was the official Census day  - but how many of us will actually have been counted? Just two million census forms had been received by Stats NZ by 9.30 last night. The 2018 Census had the lowest response in 50 years and prompted an independent inquiry into whether too much reliance was placed on people filling it in online. This year's census has had its own challenge in the form of Cyclone Gabrielle, with affected areas given an extension of up to eight weeks. Kathryn speaks with Simon Mason, Deputy Government Statistician and Census and Collection Operations deputy chief executive. Also Professor Tahu Kukutai from Te Ngira: Institute for Population Research at the University of Waikato.

09:25 Hybrid and plug-in hybrid EV's fail to meet fuel efficiency claims

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric cars are not nearly as fuel efficient as their manufacturers claims, according to a new trial by Consumer NZ. The trial found, when measured at the pump, PHEVs used on average 73% more fuel than the manufacturers' claims, while hybrids averaged 20% more fuel use. The trial was commissioned by the Ministry of Transport to assess the fuel use of five brands' PHEVs and hybrids to see how normal use compared with manufacturers' claims. Kathryn speaks with Consumer NZ test team leader, James le Page.

09:30 World-leading menstrual health resource launches online programme

A new online menstrual health resource is being launched today to address the gap in adolescents' knowledge about menstruation and common conditions like endometriosis. More than 27 percent of young women miss school each month due to severe period pain, and more than 70 percent of under 24 year olds have bad periods. Endometriosis affects one in nine women and girls, but most experience lengthy delays, an average of 8.7 years, to get a diagnosis. The online platform called What About me? has been developed by Deborah Bush, who founded Endometriosis New Zealand. It builds on a menstrual health and endometriosis programme which ran in schools from 1998 to 2019, and was a world first at the time. Deborah Bush is the director of What about me? and has spent the last two years focused on getting her resource to reach a wider audience, by going online. 

09:45 Australia: Gold scandal, rate hike, India pitch, women in flight

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to look at calls for a royal commission into how the only producer of gold in Australia sold diluted gold to China and allowed a prominent gang member to buy $27,000 worth of bullion without background checks. Perth Mint is owned by Western Australia and the situation gold bars could leave taxpayers with a $9b buy-back on their hands. Official interest rates were raised for the 10th consecutive time yesterday, PM Anthony Albanese heads to India today on an official state visit and Virgin Australia will become the first airline in Australia to dispatch a flight on which every job in the air and on the ground will be performed by a woman, right from the airline's CEO Jayne Hrdlicka to all the staff at Melbourne and Brisbane airports.

10:05 The power of song: why we need to sing

How often do you sing? Maybe you like to sing in the car, in the shower, with a choir, or even at a karaoke bar. Many people enjoy singing, but did you know singing is actually good for you? Julia Hollander is a singing therapist, teacher and performer. She's written a new book called Why We Sing, delving into all the reasons why we sing, the benefits of singing, and how it connects us to each other.

10:35 Book review: Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood

Louise O'Brien reviews Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood, published by Penguin Random House    

10:45 Around the motu : Matt Brown in Marlborough 

Hundreds of people have had their say in a survey on Marlborough's roading big fix, after extensive flood damage in weather events over the last two years. Stargazers are looking forward to the Omaka Observatory reopening after being closed over summer and a locally made gin has gone global, picking up a huge award and subsequently plenty of orders

11:05 Music with Kirsten Zemke: Unofficial national anthems

Kirsten joins Kathryn to look at the songs that have been turned into a rallying cry for people, or are more well-known than the official national anthems of a particular country. She shares some goodies from the US, Australia, Scotland, Korea - and the unofficial national anthem of New Zealand!

Kirsten Zemke is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences.

 

11:20 How animal science can inform human medicine

Welsh born, Matt Morgan is an intensive care doctor, researcher and author, currently working in Western Australia. Dr Morgan says we can look to nature to provide valuable lessons and solutions to solve some 21st century medical problems. During the early days of the Covid pandemic, while while working in intensive care, Dr Morgan  wrote "A letter from the ICU"  which has become one of the most read articles published in the British Medical Journal. His first book, Critical, has been translated into four languages, and his latest book One Medicine delves into how understanding animals can save human lives.

 

11:45 Science: Famous (female) scientists who didn't get their due

Science commentator Allan Blackman joins Kathryn on International Women's Day to look at scientists who didn't receive recognition for their work because they were women - highlighting the case of astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell. He'll also talk about a recent decision in Scotland to stop its hospitals using the anaesthetic desflurane because of the threat it poses to the environment.

Allan Blackman is a Professor of Chemistry, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology

 

Music played in this show

Track: Subterranean Homesick Blues
Artist: Bob Dylan
Time Played: 10:35

Track: Eye Know
Artist: De La Soul
Time Played: 10:38