Nine To Noon for Wednesday 19 March 2025

09:05 Financial mentors raise concerns over debt collection practices

Financial mentors say people with debt are facing increasing levels of harassment and tactics from debt collectors that likely breach the Fair Trading Act. Financial hardship reached a peak in late 2024, according to data from credit reporting firm Centrix, and while things have eased slightly for households, some of those who took out loans, lay-buys and other credit in the preceding months and years are now fighting to pay back what they borrowed. There are laws to protect consumers from harassment and misleading behaviour under the Fair Trading Act. But those working with people in debt say the law is far from clear cut, and there are many grey areas where it becomes hard for consumers to know whether what they are being subject to is legal and in extreme cases debt collectors blatantly flout the law, in order to recoup funds. Tia Crichton is a financial mentor and Jake Lilley is senior policy advisor at FinCap.

09:20 Concern over ghost postboxes in Hastings 

The Postal Workers Union is outraged post boxes in Hawkes Bay have been sitting dormant for months, with members of the public continuing to put their mail in for collection. The media outlet Hawkes Bay Today has reported on six NZ Post  boxes across Hastings and Havelock North that are slated for removal, aren't well sign posted, and people aren't aware their mail won't be delivered. It reported on one woman who had just completed a free bowel screening test provided by Health NZ, and posted it in one of these boxes. Two weeks later she saw the post box was overflowing and realised her test had never been sent. NZ Post says it puts up signs on the boxes, but they keep getting taken down. Although it is unclear why it is taking so long for the boxes to be removed - in this case the post box had been out of order for nine months. We have invited NZ Post to come on the programme, it has declined. John Maynard is the co-president of the Postal Workers Union of Aotearoa.

09:30 Mass timber on the high rise 

The use of mass timber in building in New Zealand is minor compared to steel and concrete - but it is growing in its use and popularity. Mass timber is engineered by laminating thin sheets of wood together - most commonly  - to make a much stronger form of wood that can be used as beams, columns, floors or roofs. There are several recently completed major projects - including a Kāinga Ora housing complex in Auckland as well as a student accommodation building in Dunedin. Another proposed site hit the headlines this week after commissioners in Auckland declined a consent for a 10 and 11-story mass timber office block because of the scale of the development and its impact on the area. Proponents say as it needs no fossil fuels to build - it is seen as a more sustainable option than the more traditional steel and concrete. But there are concerns that mass timber production needs to be linked with good forestry practices. And insurers overseas have been reluctant to back projects , because of concerns around fire risk and water damage. Nate Helbach founded and is chief executive of Neutral - a sustainable building developer. His company is behind the 31-storey mass timber tower The Edison being built in downtown Milwaukee. Nate Helbach is in New Zealand due to speak at the New Zealand institute of building conference in the next couple of days. 

09:45 Australia correspondent Bernard Keane

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane looks at the latest revelations about the extent to which the construction union CFMEU was allegedly infiltrated by organised crime. Has the recent momentum of opposition leader Peter Dutton stalled? Labour's polling has been on the incline, while the Coalition's has fallen - Bernard discusses the cause. And it's Budget week next week.

Bernard Keane is political editor for Crikey.com

10:05 The 1980 siege of the Iranian Embassy in London 

Known for his gripping narratives that bring history to life, author and historian Ben Macintyre's latest work is centred around the 1980 hostage situation at the Iranian Embassy in London. Six armed gunmen seized 26 hostages, leading to a tense six-day standoff. Ben's book provides a minute-by-minute account of the event, through the hostages and rescuers, and explores the broader geopolitical implications. It is another classic of Ben Macintyre's style - blending archival research with novel storytelling - familiar in previous works like The Spy and the Traitor, Colditz and Operation Mincemeat. His work often uncovers the hidden lives of spies, soldiers, and resistance fighters. He will be in New Zealand in May for the Auckland Writers Festival. 

 

10:30 Winston Peters goes to Washington: High-level meeting wraps up

Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, has just wrapped up a meeting with his US counterpart Marco Rubio It comes part-way through his visit to Washington DC, following a range of other meetings with other key Trump administration officials. It been called by Mr Peters himself an "extraordinarily important" meeting, and comes as the threat of tariffs hang over New Zealand, and expectations of increased defence spending.

10:35 Book review: Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Renata Hopkins from Scorpio Books in Christchurch reviews Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie published by Fourth Estate

10:45 Around the motu: Piers Fuller in Wairarapa

Piers discusses the aftermath of the Masterton church arsons that took place in February, protests over poor rail performance, the council is considering stopping their use of Meta, and a fourth person has been hospitalised after ingesting an unknown substance.

Piers Fuller is the editor of the Wairarapa Times-Age, based in Masterton.

11:05 Music with Kirsten Zemke: Toon tunes

Music correspondent Kirsten Zemke looks at the composition of famous cartoon tunes - some with some surprising inspiration!

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

11:20 Rising opera star Michaela Cadwgan on taking the lead role in Mansfield Park

It's the 250th year of Jane Austen's birth, and New Zealand Opera is taking its production of Mansfield Park to the South Island. Kiwi soprano Michaela Cadwgan is about to star as Fanny Price when the production hits Christchurch and Dunedin from the 1st - 6th of April after a highly successful season last year in Wellington and Auckland. Michaela has had a stellar rise since she graduated from the New Zealand School of Music, moving on to the New Zealand Opera School - where she won the Dame Sister Mary Leo Foundation Award. Last year she performed in over 40 shows and concerts with Victorian Opera and will be back with them this year after winning the company's Opera Prize. Michaela joins Kathryn to talk about her career - and the continuing allure of Austen.

11:45 Personal finance: The hidden costs of online subscriptions

Money expert Lisa Dudson looks at how the hidden costs of online subscriptions include forgetting about them, unused subscriptions draining your finances, and automatic renewals after trial periods, which can lead to unexpected charges. 

 

Lisa Dudson is the owner of Acumen.co.nz. Her advice is of a general nature