Nine To Noon for Wednesday 29 January 2025

09:05 Government missing chance to prevent overheating homes

The Green Building Council says the Government's proposal to simplify insulation standards does not address the growing issue of overheating new builds. Auckland Council researchers last year found the upper levels of terraced houses and  semi-detached homes were so hot in summer they are almost unusable. The Green Building Council's chief executive Andrew Eagles says there are increasing reports of new builds being saunas in summer with indoor temperatures as high as 50 degrees. He says that style of building made up about 45 per cent of the housing being built in the last year. Mr Eagles says putting the design of a home into computer modelling systems to work out whether over heating would occur or not, would be a simple step. But he says the government is focusing on not adding any new costs to building. 

09:15 Return to the office expected to help as retailers hang on 

More foot traffic in the main cities is expected to be a significant boost  for retailers facing a much slower than hoped for economic recovery.  Stats NZ figures show that retail sales sales for all of 2024 were down 2.2% compared to the year before. But employers from big business to government departments, are requiring workers to be in the office more than they have been. Retail NZ's Chief Executive, Carolyn Young, says it is still a struggle for retailers to remain profitable, but more people downtown will help.     

09:35 Wānaka start up e-bike reaches German green award finals

A Wānaka start-up e-bike manufacturer is a finalist in a green award in Germany. Le Velo Studios was founded by Alex Guichard, and has developed what they believe to be the lightest e-bike on the market, designed with sustainability in mind. The bike weighs just over 12 kilos - meaning it can be used as a regular push bike - and its battery and motor are in the rear wheel. The design is a finalist in this year's Green Awards in Berlin. Alex tells Kathryn he believes his bike fills a gap in the market.

09:45 Australia: Holiday controversy, antisemitism and neo-Nazis, gangland hit

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton looks at the start of the political year with a plunge in the polls for Labor with an election due by mid-May. Australia Day was celebrated on Monday, but there's no celebration in some quarters with increasing calls each year to change the public holiday because it represents 'invasion day' to indigenous Australians. There's fears of a rise in antisemitism after a rally in Adelaide at the weekend, notorious underworld figure Sam 'The Punisher Abdulrahim has been shot dead and warnings over the toxicity of vitamin B6 supplements.

Karen Middleton is Political Editor of the Guardian Australia

10:05 Caroline Darian on how her rapist father Dominique Pelicot tore their family apart

It was the case that shocked the world. The nightmare endured by French grandmother Gisèle Pelicot, drugged and raped - not only by her husband in their small village - but by at least 72 other men over the period of a decade. Late last year Dominique Pelicot and 49 of those men were convicted after a months-long trial of her rape or sexual assault. In the immediate aftermath of finding out about her father's crimes, his daughter Caroline Darian, documented what she, her mother and brothers went through. Her book, I'll Never Call Him Dad Again, has just been published in English. She describes being told that in amongst the thousands of videos and photos, were naked images of herself. It led to a breakdown - and then, a determination to draw attention to how the system supports trauma victims, and the commonality of chemical submission in sexual assaults. She tells Kathryn how her mother Gisèle is recovering.

Where to get help:

Women's Refuge: 0800 733 843 

Safe to Talk: 0900 044 334, text 4334

It's Not OK:  0800 456 450

HELP Call 24/7 (Auckland): 09 623 1700, (Wellington): 04 801 6655 - push 0 at the menu

10:35 Book review: Three of the best from 2024

Louise Ward of Wardini Books reviews three of her favourite books from last year: The Writing Desk by Di Morris, published by Picador, When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson, published by Walker Books, and Three Wild Dogs and the Truth by Markus Zusak, published by Picador.

10:45 Around the motu: Simon Wilson in Auckland

SailGP spectacular, showtime at Eden Park, Devonport developments, and the Mangawhai tornado are just some of Simon's updates on the latest in and around Tāmaki Makaurau.

Simon Wilson is a Senior Writer for NZ Herald.

11:05 Music with Charlotte Ryan

Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan joins Kathryn with new music from Marlon Williams and Nadia Reid.

11:20 Zen and the art of bonsai 

Steven Yin is one of the country's leading bonsai growers. He's been working with the mini trees for 20 years and runs the country's biggest commercial bonsai nursery with some 5000 trees. Bonsai are associated with harmony and peacefulness and for many there is a spiritual side to growing and caring for bonsai. Steven's bonsai practice began as a hobby and has grown into a business where he and his mother spend hours every day pruning, checking, potting and doing other maintenance to their trees. He's also teaching classes in the practice. Steven talks to Kathryn about the value of having a bonsai garden and how the art can bring inner peace. 

11:45 Science: Carbon sinks turn into source, cancer dyes and storm 'surfing' bats

Science commentator Laurie Winkless looks at a new study which finds parts of the Arctic that have stored vast amounts of carbon dioxide are now letting it out, with emissions from wildfires having a big impact on the Arctic's carbon balance. A new dye created by researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University could help in cancer diagnoses and a new paper has found bats migrate ahead of approaching storm - surfing the winds and using up less energy to fly.

Laurie Winkless is a physicist and science writer