From harem pants to scandalous hemlines, Auckland Library's latest exhibition showcases what we wore in the 1950s through 1990s Fashion, ephemera and Kiwi history at Auckland Central City Library's newest exhibition Zoë Colling's favourite piece in the That's So Last Century collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the 1960s. It's about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. "I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that man...
Apr 19, 2024•21 min•Ep 1035•Transcript available on Metacast The government's back-office public service job cuts are adding to Wellington's woes This is not the first time a government has targeted public servants for job cuts, but this time Wellington is really feeling it The thousands of government "back-office" job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today's episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on ...
Apr 18, 2024•24 min•Ep 1034•Transcript available on Metacast Secret lists and capped budgets - how does Pharmac make its drug buying choices? Pharmac holds the keys to New Zealand's medicine cabinet, and what it dishes out is never enough. Close to 3,500,000 prescriptions for paracetamol are written in New Zealand every year. It's just one of the treatments funded by Pharmac, the drug agency that barters with pharmaceutical companies to get medicines for us at the lowest cost possible. Currently its yearly budget is about $1.5 billion, but appar...
Apr 17, 2024•23 min•Ep 1033•Transcript available on Metacast The beauty industry in New Zealand is a wild west devoid of regulation, and the price people are paying can take the form of scars, burns and infections. No medical qualifications required - yet technicians in the rapidly expanding beauty industry are dealing with dangerous substances. There is nothing to stop someone from buying a laser machine online and setting up a shop offering treatments for skin. Or injecting dermal filler into a client's face. No qualifications are needed for either...
Apr 16, 2024•23 min•Ep 1032•Transcript available on Metacast Government fixes for truancy need to look at why kids aren't coming to school, rather than just shaming schools for their numbers. Principals are urging the government to take care in the way truancy data is published, saying if it's just going to be another set of league tables it won't be helpful. Bad parenting - or are there a million other reasons that a child might not make it to school? Ash Maindonald - the principal of Western Heights School, a primary school in West Auckland - ...
Apr 15, 2024•25 min•Ep 1031•Transcript available on Metacast The lights are on, the beds are ready, but no patients have stepped inside a brand new $320 million surgical hospital built on Auckland's North Shore. The state-of-the-art Tōtara Haumaru hospital looks like a show home for health - but just like a show home, you can't stay the night A healing garden with plants reaching up several floors is to be a unique feature of the newly built $320 million surgical hospital at North Shore, with studies showing it brings benefits of faster recovery and ...
Apr 14, 2024•21 min•Ep 1030•Transcript available on Metacast A Victim Support worker on what it's like to support victims on their worst days. A Victim Support worker explains how she provides 'psychological first aid' during the most traumatic times in people's lives. Victim Support's Melissa Gordon has spent more than a decade "walking beside" people who have suffered the most traumatic events in their lives. She's been on the doorstep with a police officer to give the news everyone dreads - the death of a loved one by...
Apr 12, 2024•23 min•Ep 1029•Transcript available on Metacast New Zealand is edging away from our long-held Independent Foreign Policy and towards old allies, and navigating it all is an old hand. Winston Peters is treading a delicate line as New Zealand balances the sensitivities of trading partners with a stronger Western alliance. The Honourable Winston Peters is back on the world stage, and showing every sign of relishing his new, old, job. But it won't be business as usual for him in spite of having held the Foreign Affairs role twice before. &qu...
Apr 11, 2024•23 min•Ep 1028•Transcript available on Metacast The heritage building debate: A balance between saving our history and building our future. The trade-off between keeping dilapidated heritage buildings and developing much-needed housing for the future. A loophole in the law may allow derelict heritage buildings to be demolished or renovated - pending ministerial approval - but it's caught the ire of architectural experts. While heritage buildings may be important to preserve, the reality is that they're often too expensive and compli...
Apr 10, 2024•22 min•Ep 1027•Transcript available on Metacast Coming soon to an inbox or letterbox near you is something shocking - your next rates bill. Paying for pipes and roads is stretching every council in the country right now, and ratepayers are going to have to foot the bill Councils are calling for constitutional change over high-rising rates bills. By the look of draft council long-term plans across the country, ratepayers are in for an average rise of 15.3 percent - the highest in more than 35 years. "Over my time in council, so since 2010...
Apr 09, 2024•22 min•Ep 1026•Transcript available on Metacast Two fact-finding projects on children and poverty are under attack by public service cost cutting. The uncertain future of two comprehensive studies on children and poverty has sparked fears the data gap will lead to leaky sieve policies. How can we fix problems we don't know about? Two long term surveys focussing on children and poverty are the casualties of public service cost cuts, raising fears that without the data there is no real measure of hardship afflicting families in Aotearoa. T...
Apr 08, 2024•23 min•Ep 1025•Transcript available on Metacast The plan to get Kiwis moving - as long as it's along a motorway - has public transport experts fuming The government's releasing its policy statements that guide priorities and funding into the future, but one in particular has met with angry feedback The government's policy statements will leave no doubt as to what direction it wants to head in, but when it comes to transport, not everyone is on the same motorway. The GPS (not to be confused with Global Positioning Systems) are docume...
Apr 07, 2024•23 min•Ep 1024•Transcript available on Metacast Using the health star-rating for packaged food should be simple, but it's not New Zealand does have a healthy food ranking system, but it's full of flaws, confusing for shoppers, and easy for manufacturers to get around The Food Health Star Rating system is supposed to guide our choices when it comes to packaged food. But since its introduction 13 years ago it's faced a galaxy of issues, including manufacturers who've managed to get around it, and consumer confusion. Improvements ...
Apr 05, 2024•25 min•Ep 1023•Transcript available on Metacast Snow season is fast approaching but the North Island's only commercial skiing mountain has an uncertain future Along with the 2024 season's fresh snow comes a dumping of unwelcome information on the future of Mt Ruapehu's infrastructure, including the iconic Chateau Tongariro The ski season is fast approaching and the year's first snow has fallen but Mt Ruapehu's two skifields are still surrounded by uncertainty. The deal for Tūroa's new owner, Pure Tūroa, won't go ...
Apr 04, 2024•23 min•Ep 1022•Transcript available on Metacast On the field and off, rugby is fighting to keep the game alive Not since the upheavals of the 80s has New Zealand rugby faced such turmoil. The game of rugby is facing the same sort of crisis that nearly consumed it in the 1980s, according to Sky sport commentator Tony Johnson. There may be no Springbok protests, the new broom of professionalism has done its thing, and women are out of the tuck shop... but the list of issues the sport faces is vast. They include New Zealand Rugby chair Dame Pats...
Apr 03, 2024•24 min•Ep 1021•Transcript available on Metacast The line between freedom of expression, and suppression of other people's freedoms White paint over rainbow crossings and protests against rainbow story times have left LGBTQIA+ community and allies furious. After a series of protests and threats against both library staff and performers, multiple Rainbow Storytime events have been cancelled. It began in Rotorua, where councillors clashed over an upcoming library story time where drag queens Erika and Coco Flash were set to read books to childre...
Apr 02, 2024•22 min•Ep 1020•Transcript available on Metacast Service cuts from the disability ministry caused panic and stress. How did it all go wrong? Disability funding changes have caused stress, uncertainty, and fear among families. How was this controversial decision made, and what happens now? A shock announcement about service cuts from the Ministry of Disabled People, delivered via social media, caused panic and grief. That was just the beginning of a chaotic few weeks, involving condemnations of the move from outside and inside the government an...
Apr 01, 2024•24 min•Ep 1019•Transcript available on Metacast China has been caught spying on us. Forty billion dollars in trade might explain why it took three years and the support of two friends to announce. Calling China out for its 'cyber attacks' on our Parliamentary services took nearly three years of careful 'i-dotting and t-crossing'. Our biggest trading partner has tried to hack into our parliamentary network, and New Zealand has come out stronger than ever before with its condemnation. We've heard words such as "tot...
Mar 27, 2024•24 min•Ep 1018•Transcript available on Metacast The Gloriavale offshoot in India is home to Kiwi women and children. A former member of the sect says getting them out of there is urgent Grave fears are being raised over the fate of New Zealand women who are raising their children in a Gloriavale off-shoot community in India When Theo Pratt saw her sister in India's Gloriavale outpost last year, she was horrified. "She was just like a shell of the person I remembered as my sister. I was very taken aback, I didn't expect it to be...
Mar 26, 2024•22 min•Ep 1017•Transcript available on Metacast Are fiscal holes a real issue, or an easy headline? Fiscal holes, a double dip recession and a shrinking economy. How bad are the figures and what do they really mean? Fiscal holes, a double dip recession, inflation untamed, a weak manufacturing sector and a shrinking economy. Figures are starting to emerge that don't paint New Zealand in a flattering light. We're going backwards economically - but are things as bad as they sound? Today on The Detail we look at the terminology of econo...
Mar 25, 2024•23 min•Ep 1016•Transcript available on Metacast Today from The Detail: When the money dries up, gains made by a wave of Covid-inspired funding are likely to be lost. They have the newly gained skills, the training and willingness to do one of the country's most vital jobs, but the funding has run out and there's no one to pay for jobs for nature. A funding bonanza for nature that was seeded during the Covid pandemic is approaching its end date. In the King Country's ancient Pureora Forest Robert John Muraahi and his small team ...
Mar 24, 2024•24 min•Ep 1015•Transcript available on Metacast The Japanese art forms that have shaped more of the West's story telling than you may realise Manga and anime are no longer the preserve of those in the know. A recent Oscar win, and the death of a Japanese story-telling legend, have caused global ripples Hayao Miyazaki's beautiful hand-drawn film The Boy and the Heron won Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards this year. The film will be streamed around the globe on Netflix. Earlier in the month Akira Toriyama, the creator of some of ...
Mar 22, 2024•24 min•Ep 1014•Transcript available on Metacast In the wake of a change in the way power bills are calculated, The Detail helps you understand the bottom line. Power prices are rising, and not just because of inflation. But it's hard to work out how to save money, if you can't understand your bill. A major change in the way power bills are being calculated will mean rising costs for huge numbers of New Zealand households. Those affected most will be smaller homes using less electricity. That's because the ratio of fixed daily c...
Mar 21, 2024•23 min•Ep 1013•Transcript available on Metacast A team of New Zealand scientists has just returned from studying the sea ice factories in Antarctica, in a joint expedition with Italy A scientific Antarctic expedition is an expensive undertaking, but one we can't afford to skip if we want to know what's happening with the world's oceans If you want to study the health of the world's oceans, you need to get to their heartbeat. That's deep in the Ross Sea, where the sea ice factories of Antarctica - or polynyas - live. B...
Mar 20, 2024•23 min•Ep 1012•Transcript available on Metacast The Holidays Act is complex and has led to years of problems. But fixing it seems just as challenging. Complications with the Holiday Act have caused years of pay problems for employees and businesses. The government promises to fix it. Impossible calculations, incomprehensible entitlements - it's widely agreed across the political spectrum that the Holidays Act is a mess. "We are doing non-stop audits trying to help our members with the issues in the act," New Zealand Payroll Pra...
Mar 19, 2024•23 min•Ep 1011•Transcript available on Metacast The proceeds of crime laws have traditionally been used to target gangs and drug dealers. Now police have their eyes on a new target, and that's left businesses feeling vulnerable. A workplace death and health and safety rule violations sees a business facing the same confiscation laws as gangs When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009, it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can...
Mar 18, 2024•24 min•Ep 1010•Transcript available on Metacast A sector that's had rules piled upon it is welcoming moves to cut the red tape The early childhood education sector is the first target of David Seymour's red tape attack. Day care centre owners swamped by a mass of rules and regulations welcome the change. A new ministry to regulate... regulations. To draw up laws around drawing up laws. ACT leader David Seymour is in charge of his pet project, a ministry for regulation, and its first target will be an area he is also responsible for - the...
Mar 17, 2024•24 min•Ep 1009•Transcript available on Metacast The Detail's Davina Zimmer discovers she's sitting across from a quiet music legend. Trevor Reekie is the force that's driven some of New Zealand's greatest music. The Detail sits down to hear about his life in the industry. What do the Warratahs, Tex Pistol, Shona Laing, Holidaymakers and The Parker Project all have in common? Trevor Reekie. He's been the driving force of Pagan, a record label created with the intention of being an outlet for the soundtracks of Mirage Films. Reek...
Mar 15, 2024•24 min•Ep 1008•Transcript available on Metacast Critics of a new electoral law in Samoa say it could allow overseas voters to decide elections. New laws will allow the Samoan diaspora to vote. Opponents say the change could give more power to overseas citizens than those in the country itself. Changes to electoral laws in Samoa will allow overseas voters for the first time, and opponents say it could shift the balance of power, allowing the Samoan diaspora to decide elections. Most countries allow citizens living abroad to vote, albeit with s...
Mar 14, 2024•19 min•Ep 1007•Transcript available on Metacast Auckland Council is calling it a 'bin optimisation drive', but residents say the move to remove their litter receptacles is rubbish Councils are slicing every dollar they can manage, but when it bites into the core business of rubbish, is there a chance they've gone too far? The weirdest thing he's found is an octopus. "A whole rotting octopus. I would say stretched out it would have been a good five to six feet long. That was bizarre." Jason Valentine-Burt is a rubbish picke...
Mar 13, 2024•24 min•Ep 1006•Transcript available on Metacast 
