Saturday Morning for Saturday 10 May 2025

7.11 The Waitangi Tribunal review

The government says it will launch a review into the Waitangi Tribunal to refocus the "scope, purpose and nature" of the Tribunal's inquiries back to its "original intent".

The review, announced yesterday afternoon, is part of the coalition agreement between New Zealand First and National and will be led by an Independent Technical Advisory Group, supported by Te Puni Kōkiri.

Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka and Labour MP Willie Jackson discuss the review.

7.19 Escalating conflict between India and Pakistan

We've seen the worst outbreak of violence in Pakistan and India in 30 years this week.

Both countries are accusing the other of carrying out drone attacks and Reuters is reporting that 48 people have been killed so far in the latest escalation of conflict.

India's cricket board has suspended the Indian Premier League tournament, one of the world's richest sporting leagues.

Meanwhile, world leaders are calling for calm amid fears of a further violence between the two nuclear powers.

Gaurav Sharma is RNZ's Indo NZ senior journalist and talks to Mihi.

7.25 Fighting for pay equity

Hundreds of people from Dunedin to Auckland took to the streets this week to protest the government's new Pay Equity Amendment Bill.

It was pushed through parliament this week under urgency.

There were 33 claims waiting to be heard, representing thousands of workers who say their mahi is undervalued due to being in careers dominated by women.

Susie speaks to Claire Preston, a High School teacher and one of the city's representatives on the Post Primary Teachers' Association national executive.

7.35 The ethical issues for donor conceived people

A couple of weeks ago, we covered a story about the ethics of sperm donors fathering up to 80 children each.

That happened in the Netherlands where several clinics breached guidelines.

A fertility industry conference held in Singapore last weekend considered some of the ethical issues for donor conceived people themselves.

Among the delegates were Associate Professor of Psychology at AUT, Sonja Goedeke and co-founder of Donor Conceived Aotearoa Sophie Turner.

Their work focuses on including the needs and perspectives of donor conceived people - as part of ethical practices, with evidence suggesting transparency and counselling for recipient parents and donors is essential. 

Susie started by asking Sonja what the ethical issues being discussed for donor conceived people at the moment.

7.44 Banning social media for under 16s

This week National introduced a members' bill to ban social media for people under the age of 16,

It wants to put the onus on social media companies to verify that someone is old enough to use their platforms.

The bill closely mirrors one in Australia which passed last December.

RNZ's Digital Explainer Editor Katie Kenny spoke to Susie in the Wellington studio.

 

7.50 Taking a look at taonga

It is New Zealand Archeology Week this week and Tūhura - Otago Museum has a Treasure of Tiwai event on. 

People can go along and see artefacts recovered by the McFarlane family at Tiwai in the 1960s - which they are looking to return to Te Rūnaka o Awarua.

And if you've found anything curious you can take it in for an expert to assess.

Dr Gerard O'Regan - is the Curator Maori at the museum and talks to Mihi.

 

8.10 Motorbikes and towers: Elspeth Beard

Back in 1982, the broken-hearted 23-year-old Elspeth Beard set out on the solo adventure of a lifetime - clocking up 35,000 miles and becoming the first British woman to circumnavigate the globe on a motorcycle.

Putting her life on hold, the architecture graduate hit the road. She started her journey in North America, before heading down through Mexico back to Los Angeles and then Down Under.

The route-less-travelled was packed with incident, with Elspeth crashing her beloved Yamaha YB100, fought hepatitis in Iran, and forged travel permits in India.

This was all before mobile phones, satellite navigation and Google Maps.

Elspeth now lives in the award-winning Victorian tower she redesigned in Surrey and rides the same bike that took her all around the world.

Elspeth Beard reflects on her lifetime's adventures with Mihi.

8.35 Sorrow for the Sami: Elin Anna Labba

Elin Anna Labba is a Sámi journalist and writer from Sápmi, the regional homeland of Sweden's indigenous Sami people.

Elin's nonfiction book The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow, the forced displacement of the Northern Sami blends history, memoir, poetry and images to depict a hard life and give voice to long-held grief.

Labba comes from a family that lived on seized land, and her writing echoes the displacement of other indigenous people around the world.

Labba has edited several Sámi magazines and has advocated to strengthen and emphasise Sámi literature.

As a writer she has won several prizes. She participated with Greta Thunberg on The Climate Book, and some of her recent writing has focused on the effect of climate change on indigenous life in the Arctic region.

Elin Anna Labba will be appearing at the upcoming Auckland Writers Festival as part of a delegation of Nordic writers.

9.05 Campbell Walker aka Struthless

Illustrator, best-selling author and mental health advocate Campbell Walker, better known as Struthless, has amassed over 50 million video views where he discusses mental health and creativity - and how the two go hand in hand.

Mental health is close to his heart - especially after hitting rock bottom in his early 20s and having to rebuild his life from the ground up.

His new book Doom and Bloom: The case for Creativity in a World Hooked on Panic is out next week and has been described as a self-help book unlike any other.

Campbell Walker AKA Struthless speaks to Mihi.

9.35 Couple's journey from 'disaster' hemp to award-winning soil mix

A next-generation living soil developed by a husband and wife in their Taranaki backyard has been named Germany's Garden Product of the Year.

Frank and Michelle Lachmann are the owner-operators of Herbi NZ, and their Living Soil Growing mix is made up of more than 40 natural ingredients, with no manmade synthetic chemicals.

Their journey into developing this potting mix started when they tried growing hemp, under license, because family members were suffering from cancer. Unfortunately, their soil was very compact and full of clay, Frank says growing it was "a disaster".

He then became obsessed with creating good soil and that is what led him and his wife to create their Living Soil Growing mix.

9.45 Tama Toki: Bringing the energy to Great Barrier Island

Entrepreneur Tama Toki's new venture Aotea Energy is solar energy project for rural communities on Aotea/Great Barrier Island.

The venture involves setting his community up to be energy independent, with a small network where power is captured by the sun, shared out and crucially, able to be stored for when it is needed

Tama believes small closed-circuit solar power networks could be a solution to further power crises - and rising prices.

Also under the Aotea umbrella is his therapeutic skincare range Aotea Skincare which is based on knowledge passed down from his grandmother.

Aotea founder and CEO Tama Toki speaks to Mihi.

10.05 Prime Minister's Science Prize Winners

Dr Linda Johnson and her team from AgResearch have been awarded Te Pūiaki Putaiao Matua a Te Pirimia, the Prime Minister's Science Prize.

The $500,000 prize is awarded for transformative scientific advances with significant economic, health, social, political, cultural and/or environmental impacts here in New Zealand or internationally.

The Endophyte Discovery Team's recognition comes from their work with endophytes - microorganisms, often bacteria or fungi, living within a plant which help rather than harm it.

Dr Johnson says endophytes provide a sustainable solution to agriculture, reducing inputs by controlling pests and diseases.

Susie speaks to Dr Linda Johnson, science group manager for resilient agriculture and principal scientist at AgResearch, and Dr David Hume, AgResearch senior scientist.

10.40 Diana Prazak: Going pound for pound with the doubters

Retired Australian professional boxer Diana Prazak stepped into a boxing ring for the first time age 27, having been told she'd never make it, and to forget boxing as a career.

She's recently retired having been admitted into the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame.

Diana moved to California to pursue a career that saw her become world champion. Retired Australian professional boxer Diana Prazak stepped into a boxing ring for the first time age 27, having been told she'd never make it, and to forget boxing as a career.

She's recently retired having been admitted into the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame.

Diana moved to California to pursue a career that saw her become world champion, in the ranking of best active professional boxer pound-for-pound.

In a sport where women are slowly gaining equity, she remains largely unrecognised by her own country of Australia, but continues to encourage anyone who's been told they can't pursue their dreams.

Diana has recently been in Vegas to participate in the Cleveland Clinic Professional Athlete Study, where the cumulative effects of repetitive concussions and sub-concussive impacts to the brain is studied.

Diana joins Mihi from California.

11.05 Catherine Chidgey: The Book of Guilt

Catherine Chidgey is one of New Zealand's best known and internationally critically acclaimed novelists. She has won pretty much every prize going. Her ninth novel The Book of Guilt is just out.

Rights to The Book of Guilt were the subject of an international bidding war, won by revered British publishing house John Murray (est. 1768), whose publishing canon includes Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, Jane Austen's Emma, Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and more recently Stephen Hawking's final book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions.

Catherine will talk about The Book of Guilt for the first time at the Auckland Writers Festival next week, followed by the Sydney Writers Festival, and will tour the UK before appearing at the Edinburgh Festival in August.

11:35 Altruism: How a simple hot chocolate can change your life - Nicole Karlis

What is altruism? And is there a particular personality type that naturally delivers acts of kindness to others?

Award-winning health and science journalist Nicole Karlis looks at the type of people who are more than happy to help

Her book Your Brain on Altruism: The Power of Connection and Community during Times of Crisis provides a blueprint for combating loneliness and building a better society.

Here she considers the psychological and biological benefits of altruistic acts - during times of crisis such as recession, pandemics, natural disasters, and wars.

Nicole Karlis has bylines in Salon, The New York Times and Marie Claire.

Mihi speaks to Nicole Karlis.

11.50 Kiwis on the move to Nelson

Tomorrow a new batch of Kiwi will be moved from Kapiti Island to their new home at the Brook Waimārama Sancutary in Nelson.

It's been a vision in the making for many years and follows the first translocation of these precious manu earlier this week.

Matt Hippolite is with Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira and is based in Nelson and he speaks to Susie.

 

Music played in this show

Song: Iđitguovssu - Dawn Light
Artist: Máddji
Time played: 8.59

Song: Take Me Home, Country Roads
Artist: John Denver
Time played: 10.35