RNZ: Sunday Morning

The Property Council's Property Industry Awards were held in Auckland on Friday night. Around a dozen awards were handed out to developments in categories from Industrial to multi-unit residential properties. Head judge Andrew Evans talks about the winners and the trends. [

Wellington Regional Councillor Roger Blakeley was at the meeting of residents in Seatoun on 13 June arranged by the ReVolt campaign group who wants to speed up the introduction of electric buses to Wellington.

A campaign group called ReVolt Wellington met with a group of Wellington City and Regional Councillors on Wednesday night in Seatoun to express their concerns about the switch from trolley buses to diesel in their neighhourhoods. They say the diesel buses are not the clean green vehicles promised and there is a 300 percent increase in noise over trolley buses since they started running their routes. Seatoun resident Herwin Bongers says he's had to spend $30,000 to soundproof his home since the trolley buses were taken out of service. And he says the council is full of half-truths about the pollution levels.

Jan Logie's Member's Bill offering help to victims of domestic violence took another step in Parliament this week, but it has lost some support along the way.

MPs have held the first ever debate on the Investment Statement - an analysis of Government assets and liabilities - in yet another debate about money.

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.

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

The Secret Life of Butterflies exhibition at Auckland museum opened on 9 June and showcases a lifetime's worth of butterflies collected by Ray Shannon. He bequeathed the 13,000 butterflies to the museum. Entomologist John Early has curated the display talks about Ray's life and the collection.The exhibition runs until May next year.

Prof Roly Sussex is intrigued by the Kiwi accent, vernacular and vocab and how it's changing. He says we can expert more Chinese words to come into Kiwi English as  China becomes a dominant cultural and economic force in our part of the world. Sussex is an emeritus professor of Applied Language Studies at the School of Languages at the University of Queensland. He was born in Melbourne, spent his teens in New Zealand and did his PhD in at the University of London. 

We all like to impress people with New Zealand trivia - surprising facts about Aotearoa we drop into conversation. Auckland writer Rosemary Hepözden has spent years reading and writing about New Zealand and her latest book is called "Sorted: A Curious Kiwi Book of Lists".

Dr Katharina Lederle is a sleep expert, a human fatigue and sleep specialist. She's also the author of Sleep Sense and says sleep deprivation has become a health epidemic in the Western world.

The Museum of Modern Art has acquired three works by Kiwi artist Susan Te Kahurangi King. The acquisition follows the increasing awareness of her works around the world. Susan, who is 66, grew up in Te Aroha and stopped speaking when she was four but communicates through her drawings. US-based art curator Chris Byrne talks about her talent, influence and rising popularity.

Bringing the big meth myth mess to light; pokie turn-off turns on the media; news goes to the dogs.

In the '90s, Mark Lynas was an anti-GMO activist, but over time, the British science writer came to question whether our fear of GE food is irrational. His latest book Seeds of Science argues that we've got it wrong on genetic modification.

As more New Zealanders are initiated into gangs, Philippa Tolley asks, what future lies ahead for those in them and those dealing with the fall out.