Nine To Noon for Wednesday 22 November 2023

09:05 Young people wanting to quit vaping need more support - Asthma Foundation

With one in five high school students vaping regularly there are calls for support to help teens quit their addiction. The Asthma and Respiratory Foundation says there has been little support for young people wanting to quit. It has released the first set of guidelines for health professionals to follow. Meanwhile the Royal College of GPs is calling for a major crackdown on the availability of vapes, wanting them out of dairies, supermarkets, and service stations. 

09:30 New scholarship for women business leaders

A new scholarship aims to give women who lead their own businesses a boost. Frank Accounting and business incubator The Icehouse have just launched the scholarship aimed at women with equity who lead mid-size businesses. The Icehouse Chief Growth Officer Olivia Blaylock tells Kathryn Ryan women in business face more barriers than their male counterparts,  from accessing capital to prioritising themselves and their careers.

09:40 Akahu launches 'confirmation of payee' service

Over the course of the year, Nine to Noon has dipped in and out of stories about people being scammed out of their money through online fraud, exploring criticism that banks could and should be doing more to help protect customers. One suggestion was a confirmation of payee service, where account names are verified against bank records, providing greater assurance the payment is going to the right place. Now, open finance infrastructure provider Akahu has launched New Zealand's first "confirmation of payee" service through payments platform Dolla. Kathryn is joined by Akahu COO Josh Daniell, to talk though how it works and how much of a dent it could make to the so-called 'scamdemic'.

09:45 Australia: China fracas, chicken sandwichgate, cricket miracle, rugby schemozzle

Australia correspondent Karen Middleton joins Kathryn to talk about the short-lived detente between Australia and China, with the two governments now clashing over an incident involving military vessels in the East China Sea. Australia says a PLA destroyer was aggressive during a confrontation with an Australian ship near Japan - now the incident is causing ructions at home for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Karen digs deep into the case of the Kiwi pensioner fined more than $3000 for failing to declare a chicken sandwich upon arrival in Australia. She'll also look at Travis Head's magic catch that helped secure Australia's victory in the Cricket World Cup and why has Rugby Australia ousted its chairman Hamish McLennan just hours after he insisted he was digging in?

Karen Middleton is chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper. 

10:05 Tony Townsend: 50 years as a GP

When Dr Tony Townsend began his career in medicine in 1969, being a general practitioner wasn't considered a specialty. That change would come two and a half decades later, in 1995, after much pushback from the medical profession. It's one of many changes Dr Townsend has seen over his 48 years as a GP in Rotorua. Not only has technology, the understanding of disease and the diagnostic process evolved, but also how doctors interact with patients. Dr Townsend became a Member of the Order of Merit for his services to health in 2015. He retired in Matakana in 2018, and speaks to Kathryn Ryan about his just-released a book, Not just a GP: More than just a memoir.

10:35 Book review: The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez 

Ash Davida Jane reviews The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez published by Hachette

10:45 Around the motu: Logan Savory in Invercargill

Stewart Islanders are awaiting the formation of a new Government to help address the 'urgent' electricity situation, with prices on the island three times as high as in Invercargill. On the mainland, discussions are being had over what to do with a prime piece of land in the city centre, following the closure of the iconic H&J Smith building. And a warning from police, amid a spike in vehicle thefts across Southland.

11:05 Music: David Harrison - an unsung musical hero

This week Ian Chapman shines a well-deserved spotlight on Hawkes Bay-born David Harrison, a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Otago. A highly skilled guitarist, vocalist, song-writer, producer and engineer, Harrison goes above and beyond in his mentoring of young talent, often taking aspiring acts into the studio in his own time to record and produce them. Several such acts have featured on Nine to Noon this year and he has just unearthed a significant new talent in Kate Ella. Her debut track, 'Messy Boys’, is to be launched on Friday but will be previewed on the show today. Beyond this mentoring role, Harrison has an intriguing track record of his own including a near miss with international success in the late 90s with DNE, a dance duo that also featured singer Aly Cook, now a country music star.

Ian Chapman is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Music at Otago University.

11:20 The digital tools assisting people with visual impairment 

Workbridge Chief Executive and Assistive Technology consultant Jonathan Mosen on the technology that helps vision impaired people vote in elections and an app that helps people to hear in noisy surroundings.

11:45 Personal finance: A tsunami of wealth - and where it goes

Baby boomers are not only getting older - they are getting wealthier. As they reach retirement age, they bring along with them a tsunami of wealth that needs to be invested, spent, and finally bequeathed to their heirs or charity. Liz Koh is along to talk about where their money is going and some of the issues it raises.

Liz Koh is a money expert specialising in retirement planning. The advice given here is general and does not constitute specific advice to any person.