RNZ: Sunday Morning

The first words of an MP in the House are an insight into their values, upbringing and plans for their time as an MP. The House breaks down Dan Bidois' maiden statement.

Each sitting day in the House MPs work through business which is set out on the order paper. Here's what they plan to get through this week.

Parliament is weird sometimes, like when it debates which hat you wear to put the cat out. No, really. It's part of the question... Is the Prime Minister always the Prime Minister?

Wallace Chapman reads listeners' feedback from this morning's show.

Witi Ihimaera - is one of the best known names in New Zealand literature - works such as Pounamu Pounamu, The Whale Rider and The Matriarch. He was the first Maori writer to publish both a book of short stories and a novel and was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 for services to literature. His 2016 memoir Maori Boy won the Ockham New Zealand Book Award for Non-Fiction and in 2017 he was honoured with the 2017 Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. Witi Ihimaera has worked as an academic and writer but these days, at 74, is writing full time.

Fiji-born Bert Jang spent years working as a chef around New Zealand, including at Auckland's Kai Pasifika, before deciding his love for cake making was too great. Now he's running an online cake business called Sweet and Me with the flavours of the Pacific. He's also part of a business accelerator programme called The Kitchen Project run by Panuku, part of Auckland Council.

Have you ever wondered how people get to become art collectors and have a knack of spotting talent before the works become valuable? Today Wallace, a keen collector himself, speaks to Jim Barr and Leigh Melville about what you need to know to start an art collection and what to look out for in terms of recognising up and comers. Both Leigh and Jim also share their picks of artists they say are believes are on the up and up.

The Prime Minister's chief science advisor officially starts her job today. Juliet Gerrard has taken over the role from Sir Peter Gluckman who was in the job for just over nine years. Professor Gerrard is an Oxford graduate who arrived on our shores in 1993. Since then she's worked in both ministry and academic jobs, experiences which sit well for her latest role. She joins Wallace in the Auckland studio to talk about what she's expecting to come her way and about the incredible research work she's led into nanotechnology of food and fibres. They will also talk about equality for women in science and where the sector needs to lift its game.

This week: Mediawatch asks if comment is free who's paying the bill? Talks to the CEO of a company dedicated to the facts and nothing but the facts. And looks at how a jokey interviewlanded the leader of the opposition in political hot water.

CNN's travel correspondent Lilit Marcus  believes Dunedin is the most underrated city in the country and has more to offer than the usual tourism attractions for overseas guests. 

Otago reporter Timothy Brown heads to Queenstown to find out what unintended consequences of the foreign buyer ban might lie ahead for the resort town.

125 years on since women in New Zealand fought and won the right to vote an Auckland Museum exhibition looks at how far, or not, we have come since then. The display pays tribute to women in Aotearoa throughout history who have continued to fight for and achieve equality across politics, business, sport, arts and many other fields. There is also short film by Gaylene Preston who has directed Women and Equality in Aotearoa specifically for the exhibition. The exhibition starts on July 6th and goes until October 31st. Victoria Travers is the head of exhibitions for the Museum and speaks to Wallace about the display, contributions and where equality is at in New Zealand.

Prefabricated houses are being billed as the solution to building affordable homes quickly. The government has announced it will beef up the sector to fulfill its Kiwibuild promise of 100 thousand new houses. The trend in recent decades in New Zealand has shied away from using prefabrication as a building method. Mark Graham who publishes The Building Guide and the Design Guide magazines believes they are ideal to address the current housing shortage.

The Auckland regional fuel tax comes into effect from today. The money is to go to funding transport projects around the region over the next ten year. Greater Auckland transport commentator Patrick Reynolds talks to Wallace about why the tax is a necessity and what it's going to be funding.

Radio New Zealand's correspondent in Russia for the FIFA World Cup Coen Lammers talks to Wallace about the upsets and surprises of the 2018 tournament. Two sudden death matches are playing on Sunday Morning. There's also more on the shock of the defending champions, Germany, being eliminated in the group stage by South Korea.