Nine To Noon

09:05 Full-time work for free: students call for placements to be paid

There's a push for student trainees to be paid while on their compulsory job placements - as many drop out due to cost of living pressures. The New Zealand Association of Social Workers says 45% of students who start a qualification don't finish it, in large part due to the 120-day placement required. Many vocations, including nursing, medicine, midwifery, social work and teaching, require some on-the-job experience before one can become qualified. This work is unpaid. Masters student Bex Howells is leading a petition to change that, saying students are doing full work weeks for free - leaving little time for a paying job, to cover the bills. As well as the 45% dropout rate for social work students, 25% of those who start a nursing qualification also don't finish it. The rate for Pasifika nursing students is 37%. Petition organiser Bex Howells and Medical Students Association president Indira Fernando speak with Kathryn Ryan.

09:30 Big four banks to hit minimum open banking deadline

The four major banks are moving toward a system allowing customers to make payments via third parties, using bank-approved software. Payments NZ - the bank-owned governance body that oversees payments systems, has set a May 30 deadline for the four banks to have minimum standards for stage one - known as payments initiation. There are more than 300 fintech companies that have indicated interest to Payments NZ, that they want to be involved in more open banking. This third party involvement would in time go beyond account to account payments systems, to include budget analysis apps, and other personal banking tools - whose use would be approved by a customer's bank. Steve Wiggins is chief executive of Payments NZ.

09:45 USA correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben

Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen is testifying at the former President's hush money trial in New York. President Joe Biden says he will stop sending weapons to Israel if the country proceeds with a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. And Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson remains the speaker of the House after fellow Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene put forth a motion to oust him.

Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

10:05 Former Black Seed Andy Christiansen on his music buses and new album

May is, of course, New Zealand Music Month and Kathryn's feature guest is an established musician who's helping the next generation develop their skills and fuel their passion. Andy Christiansen was given a cornet at the age of three, sowing the seed of his love of music - which saw him study jazz at the New Zealand School of Music. He didn't quite finish though - a phone call and the offer of a tour to Europe with the Black Seeds set him up for the next five years. When he did finish university it was with a business degree - and again, a phone call toward the end of his studies saw him become part owner of a music school on the Kapiti Coast.  He later took over ownership of Lower Hutt's Goodtime Music Academy. Children can have lessons on site, but the school also has five buses which visit over 40 primary schools around the Wellington region. As if that didn't keep him busy enough, Andy's also teamed up with former Black Seeds bandmate Barnaby Weir on a new collaboration called 'Trips' due for release in late July.

10:35 Book review: Table For Two by Amor Towles 

Louise O'Brien reviews Table For Two by Amor Towles published by Penguin Random House

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

Peter looks at a Kaikohe housing project that's on track to be the biggest of its kind in the Far North, as well as the first complex co-built and co-owned by an iwi and council organisation. Why has a health provider got into the housing business? Kumara are back on the menu after disastrous weather in 2023 wiped out the crop. Motorua Island in the Bay of Island has too many kiwi and another eco-disaster is unfolding under the surface of Northland's waters - this time it's because of killer kina.

11:05 Business commentator Rebecca Stevenson

The Warehouse has pulled the pin on its online retailer TheMarket, announcing it will close the website in June. A Treasury report has found TVNZ's commercial performance "lags behind" rival stations including NZME, Sky, and Australia's Nine Entertainment, on several key metrics. And Wayve, a London-based start-up co-founded by Auckland University engineering graduate Alex Kendall, has raised NZ$1.7b to further develop its AI technology for self-driving cars.

Rebecca Stevenson is a senior journalist at BusinessDesk

11:30 New book details New Zealand's biggest environmental battles

For over five decades the Environmental Defence Society has been involved in legal battles to help protect New Zealand's unique natural assets. The organisation's history has been captured in a new book by Raewyn Peart, who has herself been part of the organisation for over 20 years. Environmental Defenders looks at how the EDS was set up in the 1970s - a time of big project development, heavy government regulation and little environment law protection. From raw sewage pumped into the Waikato, deadly chemical production in Taranaki and a second aluminium smelter planned for Dunedin - to later battles over protecting Te Mata Peak, the MacKenzie Basin and the Tukituki River - a dedicated group of people have marshalled the law to help protect the environment. Raewyn joins Kathryn to talk about the organisation's history and her place in it.

11:45 Sports correspondent Joe Porter

New All Blacks coach Scott Robertson will talk to media this morning after captain Sam Cane announced his retirement from test rugby, Lisa Carrington has been beaten by fellow Kiwi Aimee Fisher at the Canoe Sprint World Cup, in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics. And as the ANZ Premiership Netball continues, who is setting the early pace?