Nine To Noon for Wednesday 18 December 2024

09:05 ComCom set to slash credit card surcharges 

The Commerce Commission says it wants to slash credit card surcharges it says are excessive. The commission's chair John Small says the draft decision out this morning should cut about $260 million from the $1 billion being charged to businesses. He says he expects savings to be passed on to consumers and to see the fee for using a credit card - now averaging 2 per cent - drop to something between 0.7 and 1 per cent. So if you are paying for a surprise bill at the mechanic or the dentist of $1000 - the fee might drop from $20 dollars to swipe your card to as low as $7. But it will depend on what the shop is paying in transaction fees to offer the service. The commission says consumers spend about $95 billion each year using Visa and Mastercard credit cards, while New Zealand businesses incur around $1 billion in fees to provide these payment options. The commission will set caps for what businesses can charge to recoup fees for customers using credit cards. John Small is the chair of the Commerce Commission. 

09:15 Lack of transparency over extreme-risk prisoners' records

A lawyer for most of the clients currently being kept in New Zealand's only extreme-risk prison unit, says the destruction of records and lack of record keeping is of concern, calling it an active avoidance of scrutiny by Corrections.The Ombudsman Peter Boshier has released a report outlining concerns about human rights abuses at Auckland Prison's Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit  - also referred to as PERU -  which houses people with convictions for terrorism, violent extremism, transnational organised crime and significant, repeated violence. There are currently 13 inmates in the PERU, which was establised in 2019, including the Christchurch mosque terrorist. Boshier, whose team visited PERU four times over the past 18 months, found that records of how decisions were made to place individuals in the PERU were either absent, incomplete or lacked necessary detail. Also that records, including body-worn camera footage was deleted following a " large-scale use of force incident ". The report raises concerns over how prisoners come to be in the unit in the foirst place, why a prisoner might be segregated, and what the plan is for leaving the unit. Amanda Hill represents nine of the 13 people in PERU, she speaks to Kathryn. 

09:20 From senior ranks of the NHS to Health NZ Chief Medical Officer

Dame Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard has held some of the most senior positions in the UK public health system - and is now Health New Zealand's National Chief Medical Officer.She has worked for decades in senior roles within the NHS and was honored in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to general practice. She's a former Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges,  Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners,  a Professor at the University of Birmingham and a frontline NHS GP throughout the pandemic. She has seen NHS funding cuts, balooning waiting lists, doctor burn-out and workforce shortages.  Dame Helen recently took up the role of National Chief Medical Officer based in Auckland. She talks to Kathryn about what she hopes to achieve.

09:45 Australia: Bali 9 returns, Fiji poisonings, Qantas combo, flesh-eating bug

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton looks at the return of five of the nine Australians who were convicted over heroin smuggling in Bali. Travel advice to Fiji has been upgraded following suspected poisoning of a group of holiday makers, Qantas has paid out $120m to a group of former ground staff sacked during the Covid pandemic whose jobs were then filled by outsourced workers and a popular holiday town on the NSW coast is the epicentre of a new scare involving a flesh-eating bacteria.

Karen Middleton is political editor of the Guardian Australia

10:05 Miles Hurrell on getting Fonterra back to basics

Miles Hurrell has been at the helm of Fonterra for five years now, and to say he's conducted a turnaround job is probably an understatement. The year he took over - 2019 - Fonterra reported a net loss of $605 million. The co-op did not pay a dividend. Since then, the company sold off Tiptop as well as its farms in China, its business in Chile and the joint venture in Brazil and set up a new capital structure. Earlier this month it raised its forecast price range to $9.50 to $10.50 a kilo of milk solids and recently it confirmed plans to sell its well-known consumer brands businesses - including Anchor and Mainland. Miles Hurrell speaks to Kathryn Ryan about getting the company back in the black.

 

10:30 Vanuatu quake: Red Cross on needs across the island nation

The aftershocks are continuing to rattle Vanuatu following yesterday's deadly 7.3 magnitude earthquake. Recovery efforts to free people trapped under buildings in the capital Port Vila continued over night, and at least 14 people are known to have died. More than 200 people were treated for injuries. To give us a sense of what response is needed,  Dickinson Tevi, Secretary General of Vanuatu Red Cross, joins Kathryn.

10:35 Book review: Venetian Lessons in Love by Jenna Lo Bianco 

Lisa Finucane reviews Venetian Lessons in Love by Jenna Lo Bianco published by Macmillan

10:45 Around the motu: Logan Savory in Southland

Logan talks to Kathryn about a Southlander winning the inaugural space award, Southland Regional Development Agency calls for government investment, racing punters are tightening the belt, and the looming financial gap from greyhound ban.

Logan Savory is a Southland Tribune editor, based in Invercargill. 

11:05 Music: Songs based on Pachelbel's Canon in D Major

Exactly when German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel wrote his Canon in D isn't known, but suggested dates range from 1680 to 1706. Like many of his other works, it languished in obscurity for centuries until a 1968 recording of it by the Jean-Francois Paillard chamber orchestra helped it gain popularity. Music correspondent Kirsten Zemke explores how it's been used in modern music.

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

11:20 Taskforce Kiwi founder finalist in NZer of the Year

The disaster relief charity Taskforce Kiwi was founded two years ago by Richard Adams and since then it has been on the ground, supporting local communities and emergency services at many of our major weather events  - the Auckland Anniversary floods, post Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes bay and the Port Hills fires,  as well as disaster zones abroad. Richard Adams is a serving officer in the New Zealand Army - a former British Army Officer who served in Afghanistan  He spent five years working in rural fire in Victoria, as well as with Disaster Relief Australia. Taskforce Kiwi is largely made up of Defence Force veterans and others with key skills. He's a semi finalist in the New Zealander of the Year Awards.

11:45 Science: 'Mirror life' warning, ring fingers and alcohol, why red wine gives you a headache

Science commentator Allan Blackman looks at a recent study that has scientists warning about "mirror life" - a category of synthetic organisms that could pose unprecedented risks to human life and eco-systems. Got long ring fingers? They could hold a vital clue about your alcohol consumption. And red-wine headaches have been well documented - now scientists are digging in to which enzymes could be responsible for it.

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