09:05 Whistleblowers face retaliation: study

No caption

Photo: Flickr

New research has found that 42 per cent of those who've reported corruption or wrongdoing they've discovered at work have faced repercussions for speaking up. The research conducted by Victoria University and Australia's Griffith University draws on data from a survey of almost 18,000 people in both countries- across 46 organisations,  who were asked about the processes for reporting wrongdoing, actual reporting practice, and their observations of the process. Co-author, Michael Macaulay from Victoria University's School of Government, says the research gives impetus to the government's plans to change the law covering whistleblowers -  public submissions on that are currently being sought.

09:20 Are the National Science Challenges transparent enough?

Science technicians, laboratory generic

Photo: 123RF

Questions are being asked about why the government won't release a full review of the funding decisions for its National Science Challenges. $420 million in additional funding for the decade long series of major science projects has been approved, bringing investment so far to $680 million, but its midway review will not be released. While scientists support the continued funding of these important R & D  projects many would like to see more transparency.

Associate Professor Nicola Gaston, is the Co-Director, of The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at The University of Auckland. She is also a former president of The New Zealand Association of Scientists.

09:30 Local processing of soft plastic starts

The soft plastic recycling scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, has been operating since 2015 and now covers about 70 percent of the country.

The soft plastic recycling scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, has been operating since 2015 and now covers about 70 percent of the country. Photo: Facebook / Love NZ Soft Plastics Recycling

For the first time, soft plastic collected for recycling is being processed in New Zealand, and turned into fence posts and ducting for cables. Earlier this year, soft plastic such as bread bags, chip packets and confectionery wrappers was being stockpiled here, as the Australian plant which had been contracted to recycle it, refused to take any more. Lyn Mayes from the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, says there are now local processors. She says the packaging industry is trying to find alternatives to plastic.

09:45 Australia correspondent: Donna Field

Donna Field reports on the baby found dead on a Gold Coast beach and the state funeral of the Melbourne man who died in the terror attack on Bourke Street.

10.05 Dracul: new blood to the vampire genre

Dacre Stoker is a descendant (great-grand nephew) of Bram Stoker, who introduced the world to Count Dracula in the late19th Century. Dacre has teamed up with bestselling dark thriller writer JD Barker, and the result is Dracul.  Based on the revelations of a hidden journal, it's a prequel to Dracula - setting the scene for Bram Stoker's writing of what is considered to be one of the great Gothic novels. One reviewer has suggested reading Dracul with the lights on! Kathryn Ryan speaks with JD Barker and Dacre Stoker, who is also the manager of the Bram Stoker Estate.

10:35 Book review - Boys Will Be Boys by Clementine Ford

Carole Beu from the Women's Bookshop reviews Boys Will Be Boys by Clementine Ford, which is published by Allen & Unwin.

10:45 The Reading

Ghost Dance written and told by the late Douglas Wright, episode 3 of 10 

Douglas Wright - Ghost Dance

Douglas Wright - Ghost Dance Photo: supplied

11:05 Music With Graeme Downes

Graeme Downes asks why Beethoven's Symphony No 9 is still such a big deal? Ahead of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's performance on Friday and Saturday, Graeme takes Kathryn through the symphony and explains its enduring appeal.

Ludwig van Beethoven - Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler (1820).

Ludwig van Beethoven - Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler (1820). Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Graeme Downes is a musicologist and senior lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Otago.

11:20 Trial of Strength on the "Islands of Despair"

Wellington-based author Shona Riddell's great great great grandparents sailed from England in 1849 with three children under the age of five to be part of a new but ultimately doomed whaling and farming settlement on the Subantarctic Islands, 465 kms south of Bluff. Shona's great-great grandmother Harriet was one of very few people to have ever been born there. Shona has made her own pilgrimage there, resulting in new book Trial of Strength - Adventures and Misadventures on the Wild and Remote Subantarctic Islands, telling a tale of human endurance amid this little known, isolated, rugged and climatically challenging landscape.

11:45 Remembering the artist, Peter Peryer

Arts correspondent, Courntney Johnston pays tribute Peter Peryer, one of New Zealand's best known photographers, who died last weekend. Courtney says while Peter was a photographer, he was also an artist who took his craft to amazing heights.

 

Music played in this show

Artist:   Bad Bad Not Good & Little Dragon
Song: Tried 
Composer: 
Album: N/A
Label: 
Time: 11.07