Nine To Noon for Tuesday 31 October 2023

09:05 Intervention in supermarket sector must happen: convenience stores

The failure of the online grocer Supie has renewed calls for structural intervention in the supermarket sector. Supie was set up two years ago to try and bring more competition into the market, but yesterday went into voluntary administration with debt of about 3-million dollars, after a key investor pulled out. Supie founder Sarah Balle says she is working with administrators on closing the business as efficiently as possible. Last year, the Commerce Commission published its final report into the grocery sector with one proposal, the structural separation of the wholesale food market and the forced sale of some sites - but in the end that option was not adopted. Instead, the Commission reccomended the establishment of a Grocery Commissioner and a Code of Conduct for the sector. Matthew Lane is the General Manager of the Night 'n Day chain of convenience stores, who says the only way real competition can happen is if it is forced upon the incumbent duopoly.

09:20 Decades-long battle to upgrade surf clubrooms leaves beaches short on lifeguards

As summer looms, one of the country's most dangerous beaches is at risk of being short of lifeguards, as the dilapidated surf clubroom awaits a much-needed upgrade. Auckland's Karioitahi Beach facilities are in such a state of disrepair, building committee co-chair Jim Coe says they're acting more as a storeroom than a congregation point for volunteers. After a push to reach a funding goal of 7.5 million dollars fell 1.6 million short, the Surf Life Saving Club there has started work on a scaled-down plan, which it hopes to get over the line early next year. However Jim Coe says the state of the current club, which is 50 years old, means fewer lifeguards are putting their hands up this year. While some beaches have modern facilities thanks to community and council funding, Surf Life Saving NZ has 147 which need work - ranging from maintenance, to a full rebuild. Several have limited capacity after the major flood events earlier this year, and two clubrooms - at Bethells Beach and Mangawhai Heads - are operating out of shipping containers. Kariotahi Surf Lifesaving Club building committee co-chair Jim Coe, and Surf Lifesaving CEO Steve Fisher, speak to Kathryn Ryan.

09:35 WEL Networks opens first utility-scale battery

Hamilton lines company WEL Networks has launched the country's first utility-scale battery storage system. The battery, which is near Huntly, can provide 35-megawatt-hours of energy - enough for about 2000 homes - and is capable of providing `fast reserves support' for the national grid in the North Island. The build of the site began in July last year,  and there've been delays that meant it took a year longer to complete than originally planned. The lines company has set up a subsidiary  - NewPower Energy - which will own and operate the battery, selling generation into the electricity reserves market.

09:45 USA correspondent Ron Elving

Ron Elving discusses the new Speaker of the House and Congress; a relatively junior member of the leadership, Mike Johnson. And the atrocity in Lewiston, Maine, with 18 people dead in a shooting, and a rash of shootings at Halloween parties over the weekend. 

Ron Elving is Senior Editor and Correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR News.

10:05 John le Carré's biographer Adam Sisman on the novelist's love affairs

After publishing his John le Carré biography in 2015, Adam Sisman has returned to the subject. One of the greatest novelists of the 20th century, John le Carré - who's real name is David Cornwell - died in 2020. The former spy, turned author, did not want his many love affairs in the 2015 biography, which Adam Sisman calls the truth, 'but not the whole truth'. Adam Sisman's new book The Secret Life of John le Carré identifies 11 women le Carré had affairs with, in the first 30 years of his marriage with wife Jane Cornwell. He writes that le Carré's pursuit of women 'was a key to unlock his fiction'.

10:35 Book review: Signs of Life by Amy Head 

Emma Hislop reviews Signs of Life by Amy Head published by Te Herenga Waka University Press

10:45 Around the motu: Peter de Graaf in Northland

Peter talks to Kathryn about the storm affected north, calls for clampdown on dogs in wake of fatal attack, the emerging summer problem of "Hoons on dunes" and kitten yoga debuts in the Bay of Islands.

RNZ Northland reporter Peter de Graaf is based in Kerikeri  

11:05 Business commentator Rebecca Stevenson

Rebecca discusses the demise of Supie, once a promising contender to the supermarket duopoly.

Rebecca Stevenson is a senior journalist at BusinessDesk.

11:30 What makes an iconic Kiwi pub?

Author George Lockyer has travelled the length and breadth of the country in pursuit of the classic Kiwi pub. He's pulled his findings together in a new book called 'Iconic Kiwi Pubs: From Mangonui to Bluff. The book explores the history of 25 pubs and their place within communities - and includes many memorable characters and moments. George is also the author of Kiwi Garages, Kiwis on Harleys and Tales and Trails Down Under.

11:45 Sports chat with Glen Larmer

Sports commentator Glen Larmer discusses the All Blacks' loss to the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup, and how much blame we can really pin on referee Wayne Barnes.