RNZ: Sunday Morning

People smugglers will use any opportunity to get more 'bums on boats' a select committee has been told.

The Prime Minister has made a ministerial statement to update the House on support for Pacific countries affected by Tropical Cyclone Gita.

The Leader of the House outlines what MPs will get up to this week including the first reading of the Prime Minister's Child Poverty Reduction Bill. 

Listeners' feedback about the show from Sunday Morning with Wallace Chapman.

Hinekakaho Manuel-Kohn, known as Hine Kohn, is one of those people who doesn't like having a fuss made about what she does. She was awarded the Queen's Service Medal in the New Year's honours for her community work in the Wairoa District for more than 30 years. She works at the ground roots, involved in counselling, victim support, she's part of the region's Maori women's welfare league and was involved in the first kohanga reo in Wairoa, set up in 1981.

The hype around A J Finn's new psychological thriller, The Woman in the Window, is extraordinary. Stephen King calls the book "remarkable", and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn says it's "astounding". The movie rights were bought before the ink had dried on the story of the agoraphobic Anna Fox, a child psychologist who sees something nasty happen to one of her neighbours from the window of her New York home. Since its release, The Woman in the Window has been sitting atop the New York Times best-seller list - extraordinary for a debut novel. AJ Finn, who quit his day job as a book editor, talks about the book - and one of his favourite crime writers of all time, Dame Ngaio Marsh.

The Jim Crow Museum of racist memorabilia at Ferris State University in Michigan uses objects of intolerance to teach tolerance. It holds more than 10,000 items of racist memorabilia collected from various generations, but also holds workshops and lectures about racism and race. Dr David Pilgrim is its founder and director and vice president for diversity and inclusion at Ferris State University in Michigan. 

Lyttelton-born singer-songwriter Marlon Williams' second album Make Way for Love is out on February 16. It's a lovelorn album written in the wake of his break-up with Aldous Harding.

This year marks 100 years since the most deadly epidemic in NZ's history claimed nearly 10,000 lives. The influenza pandemic of 1918, at the end of WW1, hit hard and fast killing four times as many Maori as pakeha. There are only a handful of memorials around the country - the devastation is often overlooked because it occurred at the same time as the war in Europe in ended. Ryan McLane, a communicable diseases specialist who's a health advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, explains why it was so lethal.

Increasing the peace at Waitangi; is sports journalism on the ropes?; tunnel vision and a bridge to nowhere.

With recent summer downpours, the question has turned to how our infrastructure can cope with such deluges. Flooding has ensured big questions need to be asked - such as, what will this mean for repairing or replacing our homes? Will we be able to insure our homes in a world with rising sea levels? Catherine Iorns is at Victoria University's Faculty of law, and researches the law in relation to sea-level rises.

In the weeks leading up to Waitangi Day, there was much talk on the future of te reo Maori. It was the same in Wales, where there's now a Welsh language revival. Heledd Gwyndaf is Chair of the Welsh Language Society and has some ideas about what could be done to revitalise Maori.

MPs can seem like distant decisions makers but they are keen to hear the public’s views on proposed laws so here are some of the bills open for submissions.

For the past seven days the Croquet World Championships have been held in Wellington. Competitor and sport development officer for Croquet NZ Greg Bryant dispels misconceptions about the sport, ahead of the final being played on February 11 in Kelburn. 

The Hobson Street Theatre Company was created in 2010 and the performers have all used Auckland's City Mission and have all been homeless at some point. This year's production, 'The Race' will run in both the Auckland and Wellington Fringe Festivals. Co-director of the play, which tackles racism, is Borni te Rongopai Tukiwaho who explains why the group needs to crowdfund on Boosted to get to Wellington's Bats Theatre.