Nine To Noon for Thursday 30 November 2023

09:05 How can we train enough mechanics to repair growing electric vehicle numbers? 

The motor industry is warning there are not enough mechanics trained to service and repair a surging number of electric and hybrid vehicles on our roads. Pure battery electric vehicles make up about 1.5 percent of the country's total fleet - with 68,853 EVs on the roads as at the end of October. There are a further 230,000. The Ministry of Transport is forecasting the pure electric fleet to more than double to up to as much as 150,000 by the end of next year. The Motor Trade Association says the number of mechanics being trained is not enough to keep up. Hamish Miller, automotive and engineering academic leader at Otago Polytechnic, says he wants a nationwide framework similar to what he has seen in Australia.

9:25 Auckland's food waste to renewable energy scheme

An Auckland food scrap collection service has saved nine million kilograms of organic food waste from landfill, with the scraps converted into renewable energy and liquid fertiliser at New Zealand's only anaerobic digestion facility. The first food scraps begin in Waitakere in April - with 440,000 bins delivered to residents so far. Parul Sood is Auckland Council's waste solutions general manager.

09:45 UK: PM's immigration woes, Marbles spat, Gove on Covid

UK correspondent Matt Dathan looks at the trouble facing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over immigration as he tries to find a way of reviving the Rwanda plan and slash migration figures. Relations with Greece are in a slump after comments by the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis over the infamous Elgin Marbles, which prompted Mr Sunak to cancel a planned meeting. Michael Gove has given evidence at the Covid inquiry that the UK should've gone into lockdown sooner, and a new book on the royal family has been pulled over libel concerns.

10:05 Saving St David's: Paul Baragwanath on transforming the church into a centre for music

Until 2014 St David's Memorial Church sat on an unassuming spot on an ever-busier Kyber Pass Road in Auckland. But it was up for demolition after failing stronger earthquake regulations. Paul Baragwanath's family had been involved in running the church across two generations, and the news spurred him into action. Over the next nine years with the Friends of St David's Trust he helped the building secure heritage status, and then the funds to be bought from the church.  Kāhui St David's has secured another lease on its life as a centre for music. On Monday night a series of commissioned works by artist Sara Hughes will be unveiled inside the Great Hall and North Chapel, with more details available here.

 

10:30 Homes destroyed, school closed after South Auckland fire

A South Auckland church community is rallying around people whose homes have been destroyed by fire early this morning. Firefighters were called to the major fire, at the Akoteu Faka-Kalisi-tiane Ko Namoa church complex, on Coronation Road in Māngere Bridge around 3am. Nobody was injured in the blaze but at least four homes have significant damage... the Tongan church and pre-school nearby have not been affected. And the nearby Mountain View School has closed for the day due to asbestos possibly being in the burned buildings. Spokesperson for the church Frank Koloi speaks with Kathryn.

10:35 Book review: Rugby League in New Zealand: A People's History by Ryan Bodman 

Dean Bedford reviews Rugby League in New Zealand: A People's History by Ryan Bodman published by Bridget Williams Books

10:45 Around the motu: Susan Botting in Northland

Susan Botting is in Northland, where authorities are gearing up to throw money and time at the region's busiest tourist lake as the threat of a new invasive freshwater pest - the gold clam - grows. And Northland Regional Council has elected a new chair, Geoff Crawford, at an explosive meeting which saw both tears and accusations. 

11:05 Tech: ChatGPT + 'scientific' data, Telsa flaws - known, but not fixed

Tech correspondent Mark Pesce joins Kathryn to look at a report in Nature that notes ChatGPT can be used to generate fake, but reasonably good-looking, scientific data to support a hypothesis. What does that mean for reviewers in how they approach data sets? And evidence presented at a court case suggests Tesla engineers  - and the company's CEO Elon Musk - were aware of flaws with their auto-pilot system but failed to fix or update it. And a Spanish AI model is earning thousands from her "work" - and getting asked out by celebrities who don't realise she's not real.

11:25 Parenting: New podcast aims to help keep disabled kids safe from sexual harm

A new podcast that's helping parents of disabled children navigate the tricky issues of sexuality, sex and sexual harm. The Courage Club brings parents of medically disabled or neuro-divergent kids together with experts over five episodes, seeking to encourage conversations that might normally be taboo or down the pecking order in terms of things to worry about. It's designed as a resource to help keep disabled kids safe. Kathryn is joined by Emily Writes, the Courage Club's host and mother to two high needs children. Also with me is Kathryn McPhillips, from Help - an organisation that supports Aucklanders who have been sexually abused and is one of the podcast's partners.

11:45 Screentime: Doctor Who, Fargo, Under Pressure

Film and TV reviewer James Croot joins Kathryn to talk about the first of three 60th anniversary specials for Doctor Who (Disney+), starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. The new series of Fargo (Neon) stars Jon Hamm and Juno Temple and Under Pressure (Netflix) breaks down the US women's football team and their time at the World Cup in New Zealand this year. James will also look at Brollie, a new free Australasian streaming service.

James Croot is Stuff's Stuff to Watch editor