Nine To Noon for Wednesday 27 August 2025

09:05 Huge unmet demand for hearing treatment

New research released today finds half a million people are not getting treatment for hearing conditions such as tinnitus,  and a leading audiologist says some people suffer so badly from the debilitating condition, they contemplate suicide. The NZIER research, commissioned by the Hearing Industry Association finds 500 thousand people with hearing issues such as tinnitus, vestibular vertigo and auditory processing disorder are missing out on treatment. The research forecasts demand for hearing treatment to grow steadily until 2055 - primarily due to age but also because of the growing number of people with tinnitus. Audiologist Duncan Hann says he sees two to three cases a week of people in severe distress.  He speaks with Kathryn, along with Barney Irvine, chief executive of the Hearing Industry Association, discusses the findings of the NZIER report. 

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Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357

Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO (24/7). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.

Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 (24/7) or text 4202

09:20  Departing Aged Care Commissioner says govt has no plan for ageing population

The departing Aged Care Commissioner says the government does not have a proper plan for the health of our ageing population despite data showing that in three years, there will be 1 million people aged 65 years or older living in New Zealand. Carolyn Cooper finishes the job this Friday - three and a half years into a five year term, in which she has been outspoken about the need for better aged care beds for older people, particularly in rural and provincial New Zealand. She's also drawn attention to the workforce shortages in aged care, long wait times for older people seeing GPs and a lack of home and community support services. No replacement for her has been named. Ms Cooper has been a senior manager in two DHBs and is a former Managing Director and Lead Nurse at Bupa NZ.

09:35 A new home in the Hutt for world's biggest marine collection 

The world's largest collection of New Zealand and Southern Ocean fishes will soon have a new home after a $155m cash injection from the government. Te Papa has signed off on the new Biodiversity Research Centre in Upper Hutt, which will house some 866,000 specimens when it opens in 2028. Sometimes known as 'spirit collections' or 'wet collections', they include fish, invertebrates, reptiles and even rats, with the oldest discovery - a hoki caught in Wellington Harbour Te-Whanganui-a-Tara - dating back to 1869. The building is designed for seismic resilience and sustainability and is crucial to New Zealand's scientific future. Andrew Stewart is the Curator of Fishes at Te Papa with over forty years of experience at the museum.

09:45 Australia: Iran expulsions, police murdered, mushroom victim impact

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to talk about the expulsion of Iran's ambassador and three other staff, after Iran was accused of being behind at least two firebomb attacks on Jewish buildings. Police are hunting for a gunman and self-proclaimed 'sovereign citizen' after two police officers were shot dead. Australia's joined other countries including New Zealand in stopping parcels to the US, mushroom murderer Erin Patterson has been back in court and there's been a big increase in meat thefts in supermarkets.

Karen Middleton is a political journalist based in Canberra

10:05 Natalie Kyriacou: Nine levers of change to help save the world

Few of us grow up believing we can save the world but Australian environmentalist and social entrepreneur Natalie Kyriacou believes that meaningful change is possible if we all engage in it together. Awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her conservation efforts in 2018 Natalie made Forbes' "30 Under 30" list for social entrepreneurship and has invested heavily in educating and engaging young people in environmental issues. But her latest venture - a book entitled Nature's Last Dance: Tales of Wonder in an Age of Extinction is aimed at everyone who inhabits this planet. In it, Natalie lays bare the damage that humans have done to the very place that sustains us but she also lays out a framework for change - and hope. Told with honesty and humour, it's a book about what we can learn from nature - a chance to see ourselves through nature's lens - before it is too late.  

10:35 Book review: Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts

Stella Chrysostomou from VOLUME Books reviews Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson, published by Auckland University Press.

10:45 Around the motu : Mike Tweed in Whanganui

The final cost of the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment, the candidates lining up for council and a final decision over the fate of the Whangnaui East pool

11:05 Music with Yadana Saw

Yadana Saw shares her picks from the much-anticipated second release from Baltimore's Nourished By Time, a slice of Lebanese swoony surf rock, and how Avantdale's man of many collectives is finally at peace with releasing music under his own name...

11:25 When the world came to Dunedin

In 1925, Dunedin hosted the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition – known as the South Seas Fair.  In just 24 weeks, over three million people visited the city for the fair. Historian Jock Phillips talks to Kathryn about how the event became such a blockbuster.

11:45 Money:  House price debate + the increasing cost of insurance

RNZ's money correspondent Susan Edmunds joins Kathryn to look at the discussion this week of what the nation wants out of house prices following new data that shows they're stuck for the most part, despite lower interest rates. And a new report from Consumer NZ shows a big increase in house price insurance - is there a risk some people simply won't be able to insure their homes?

Susan Edmunds is RNZ's money correspondent