Nights for Monday 13 October 2025

8:10 Could compulsory voting be an answer to dismal turnout for Local Body Elections?

Two thirds of eligible voters did not turn out to vote in this year's Local Body Elections, the lowest national turnout in thirty-six years.

Local councils control much of the important minutia of daily life, like rubbish, roads, pipes and parks.

But lack of engagement is still a real problem.

Do we need a national voting day? Should we do what Australia does and make voting compulsory? Or do we just need better candidates?

Andy Asquith is a keen local politics watcher and governance scholar, a New Zealander but residing in Australia and he joins Mark Leishman.

8:25 Dame Gaylene Preston on Pike River film

A film based on the Pike River Mine disaster of 2010 is set to open in cinemas across the country this month.

The movie is having its New Zealand premier in Greymouth tonight.

Pike River tells the story of the West Coast mining disaster, and the following years-long battle for justice led by Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse.

The women lost their husband and son respectively, along with 27 other workers in the mine explosion.

New Zealand filmmaker and documentary expert, Dame Gaylene Preston has seen the film - and she joins Mark Leishman for her thoughts.

8:35 Sports with Jamie Wall

RNZ's Jamie Wall joins us to take a look at the weekend that was in sport.

8:45 BBC World News

Rob Hugh Jones from the BBC World Service joins Nights to take a look at some of the events making international headlines.

Tonight, the latest on the Middle East and the "peace plan" put forward by President Trump, arguments in the House of Commons this coming week over an extraordinary story involving an espionage case, and China and French politics is in a spin.
 

 

9:05 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quizmaster hat.

If you get an answer right, you move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, your time in the chair is up, and the next caller will be put through. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the run goes in the draw for a weekly prize.

9:25 New report recommends decriminalisation of illicit drugs

A new report from the New Zealand Drug Foundation is calling for the total decriminalisation of illicit drugs.

They say running drug users through the criminal justice system has exacerbated addiction, overdoses and deaths, and it was time to change New Zealand's fifty-year-old Misuse of Drugs Act to focus on a health-support response.

But in 2020, New Zealanders rejected decriminalising cannabis at the polling booth - is there the appetite for such a huge, cultural change to be made?

Professor Joe Boden is a professor in psychological medicine at the University of Otago and the principal researcher in the Christchurch Health and Development Study, which has tracked New Zealanders' drug use habits.

9:45 Pacific Waves

A daily current affairs programme that delves deeper into the major stories of the week, through a Pacific lens, and shines a light on issues affecting Pacific people wherever they are in the world. Hosted by Susana Suisuiki.

Follow this podcast

10:17 The Detail

Tonight - the contraceptive pill is under fire on social media. Why birth control is being called "poison" online - and what doctors say

Follow this podcast

10:45 The Reading: 'Dove on the Waters'

In Henderson, there's a small grassy park called Swan Arch Reserve - named for one of its features - a brick arch that once spanned a creek in the area.

It's called Swan Arch after a yachting solicitor Henry Charles Swan - Lawyer and gentleman - who practiced in Auckland in the early 1900's.

The writer, Maurice Shadbolt, weaved a charming tale around Mr Swan's fascinating story. How much is fact and how much is fiction - we don't really know, but the story is worth re-telling.

John O'Leary reads part one of 'Dove on the Waters" by Maurice Shadbolt.

 

11:07 Nashville Babylon

Every week on Nashville Babylon Mark Rogers presents the very best in country, soul and rock 'n' roll.

On this week's show there's a Cajun take on a Dire Straits classic, a ska cover of a Beatles favourite, blues from CW Stoneking, Sue Foley and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, soul courtesy of Irma Thomas plus new music from Greazy Alice.