Nine To Noon for Monday 30 June 2025

09:05 Where to now for Polytechs?

Some polytech students are grappling with courses being cut or changed. This as Te Pukenga is in the process of being wound up, with individual polytechs around the country working to show whether or not they can stand on their own. Some students are finding their courses significantly changed, or are struggling to confirm they can transfer studies to a similar course, under restructuring proposals. Legislation to disestablish Te Pukenga had its first reading in May. Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds earlier this month criticised the polytechs for having too high staff-per-student ratios, saying that any institute with fewer than 18 students per staff member was in financial trouble. Third-year Whitireia performing arts student Aroha Morrison says one of the proposals is to cut the final year of her programme. She will finish hers, but current students in years behind hers would miss the final year. 

Following the interview, a Te Pūkenga spokesperson asked for a clarification of comments made by Dr Pim Borren that the mega-institute posted a '$90 million loss followed by an $80 million dollar loss'. She says when Te Pūkenga was created most polytechnics brought deficits with them. As a result, in 2022 the Te Pūkenga deficit was $105 million. "In 2023 we had reduced our deficit to $37.9m. With more cost savings and an increase in learners, we achieved a $16.6m surplus in 2024. The spokesperson also wanted to clarify that for students enrolled in courses being closed, such as Aroha Morrison's, Te Pukenga will confirm the situation later this year, once final decisions are made. 

09:20 Little change in gender based deaths - report

A report into deaths from gender based violence from the National Mortality Review Committee  has found there's been no significant reduction in the number of victims between 2009 and 2022. NZ Police data shows between 2007 and 2022 a third of the 1,169 homicides in New Zealand were women and more than half were killed by someone in their family. In a effort to get a clear picture of fatal violence against women and children, the update from the Committee has  expanded it's scope to include deaths that have not previously been included, such as homicide with no family connection. Dr Nicola Atwool, chair of the Family Violence Death Review expert group, says the new broader approach to examining femicide - the murder of women and girls - includes violence during pregnancy that contributes to deaths of mothers and babies. She joins Kathryn to discuss what's need to try to make a change.

Audio correction

In the interview Nicola Atwool misspoke and said in 68 percent of the cases of maternal suicide, there was a previous record of family violence. The actual figure is 63 percent. 

·         Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 TAUTOKO/0508 828 865 – suicide helpline

·         Crisisline: 0800 REFUGE/0800 733 843 – 24-hour Women’s Refuge national helpline

09:30 Google rolls out its Gemini chatbot to Kiwi kids

Kiwi kids can now access Google's Gemini AI chatbot, now the company has made it available to the under-13s. The tech giant emailed global users of its parental control device Family Link in May to announce the pending change - which was rolled out first to users in the US, and then worldwide. In the email the company acknowledged Gemini can "make mistakes" and parents should remind their children it "isn't human". The rollout's automatic - so parents have to opt-out if they don't want their child to use it. Should chatbots be part of children's learning? Kathryn speaks with Toby Walsh, author of the 2023 book 'Machines Behaving Badly', which investigated the pace of AI's rollout and the limited regulation or oversight into it. He's Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales and CSIRO Data61.

09:45 Europe correspondent Seamus Kearney 

Banned pride event in Budapest grows into anti-Orban rally, protests in Venice force change of venue for Bezos wedding, France introduces ban on smoking at beaches and parks, and heatwave warnings in Europe come earlier than usual.

10:05 A Dim Prognosis  - one doctor's diagnosis after a decade in the health service    

Ivor Popovich has spent a decade working his way through the health system on a mission to become an ICU specialist. During that time he has rotated though a whole range of departments getting an insight into many parts of health care,  and some almost impossible working conditions.  In his book "A Dim Prognosis" he celebrates colleagues and phlegmatic patients, but rails against staff shortages, lack of training opportunities to create more specialists, underfunding of primary health and the concentration of high quality care in the private sector. Ivor Popovich will qualify as a specialist himself later this year. He talks to Kathryn about his experiences and what change is needed

A Dim Prognosis by Ivor Popovich is published by Allen & Unwin NZ $37.99

10:35 Book review: Murderland by Caroline Fraser 

Phil Vine reviews Murderland by Caroline Fraser published by Hachette

10:45 Around the motu: Tom Hunt in Wellington

A council survey has revealed that the people of Wellington don't trust their city council, mayor Tory Whanau has released her Long Term Plan complete with a 12% rates rise, yet another Wellington Water report has come to light highlighting issues with the charging system between the utility and contractor Fulton Hogan, three Interislander ferries will no longer be crossing the Cook Strait, and resource consent for Sir Peter Jackson's plans for a museum at Shelly Bay has been applied for thirteen years after they were initially scrapped.

Tom Hunt is a senior journalist with Wellington paper The Post.

11:05 Political commentators Gareth Hughes and Fletcher Tabuteau

Gareth Hughes is the Director of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa is a former Green MP and is no longer a member of any political party.

Fletcher Tabuteau is a former NZ First MP from 2014 to 2020, former deputy leader of the party, and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and the then minister for regional development Shane Jones. He now works for lobbying and communications firm Capital Government Relations.

11:30 A juicy history of the fruit industry's evolution and politics

Chris Smellie spent 50 years in the orcharding and horticulture business - but never thought to write a book about it until development came to his door. He grew apples in Huapai in north-west Auckland for twenty-four years, as well producing roses from a high-tech glasshouse and running a small vineyard. But in the 2000s he watched as row after row of trees were removed from orchards to make way for more houses. The industry migrated to different parts of the country - fruit producing areas we now know around Nelson, Hawke's Bay and Otago. It's prompted him to write a history of orcharding called Where Have All the Apples Gone? beautifully packed with lots of photos and ads from different decades - it's a juicy expose of the fruit industry's evolution and politics.

11:45 Off the beaten track with Kennedy Warne

Kennedy brings us up to date on some mid-winter happening, including Glenorchy's 'creatures of the night' fancy dress community dinner, and the annual Garden Bird Survey, now in its 18th year.