Author: Press Room

Chlöe Swarbrick has refused to apologise and has been kicked out of Parliament for the second time this week. During an urgent debate yesterday, the Greens co-leader called on the Government to pick up her party’s bill to “sanction Israel for its war crimes”.”If we find six of 68 Government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history,” said Swarbrick.Speaker Gerry Brownlee called on her to apologise, which she refused, so he ordered her to leave the House for the rest of the week.He later said she could return if she apologised. She has said…

Former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern and three other pandemic-era ministers have declined to appear at a public hearing of the Covid-19 inquiry next week.Grant Illingworth KC, the chairperson of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the pandemic response, said a second week of hearings was no longer justified as a resultThe decision by the inquiry followed the former ministers — Ardern, Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson and Ayesha Verrall — jointly declining the offer to answer questions in public.Illingworth said the ex-Labour government ministers had provided a “significant” amount of information via private interviews and that he was “confident” that…

PNP Farms Butchery Angus beef sausages. Photo: Supplied / MPI A batch of sausages sold at two South Island branches of a butchery has been recalled because they may contain glass. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has recalled PNP Farms’ Butchery brand Pure Angus Beef sausages with a best before date of 17.08.25. It says there has been a report of an injury. The sausages should not be eaten. “If you have consumed any of this product and have any concerns about your health, seek medical advice,” MPI said. The sausages are sold at PNP Farms Butchery, 84 High…

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has again been kicked out of Parliament after refusing to apologise for a comment she made yesterday in the House.Yesterday, Swarbrick was kicked out of Parliament during an urgent debate on recognising Palestine as a state.The debate was called after Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Government was weighing up its position on the issue.In recent times, the UK, Canada, France and Australia have announced plans to recognise Palestine as a state.During the debate on Tuesday, Swarbrick said MPs could “grow a spine” and support her bill which would impose sanctions on Israel.Green Party co-leader…

Public access to the Manukau Heads Lighthouse has been restored after a $4 million project to reopen the road, which was extensively damaged by a massive slip. The original Manukau Heads Rd was rendered impassable after a slip displaced 90,000 cubic metres of soil down a hillside. The old route was assessed as unstable and too costly to repair. Auckland Transport has since constructed a new section of road, metres away from the slip, under a government-funded project which cost $4 million. The project was completed within the expected timeframe of three to four months, Auckland Transport said, despite the…

Police immediately escalated allegations about the Prime Minister’s former deputy chief press secretary Michael Forbes to the police executive — including the police commissioner and the assistant commissioner — but Forbes was told the “onus was on him” to inform his employer, documents released under the Official Information Act reveal.Forbes, a former journalist, resigned after it emerged he recorded audio of multiple sessions with Wellington sex workers, and amassed a gallery of women working out at the gym, shopping and being filmed through a window getting ready to go out.Police earlier said they got a complaint from a Wellington brothel…

Property values ticked lower in the July quarter as the winter freeze continues, but the deep South continues to buck the trend. The latest house price index from Quotable Value (QV) showed the national average home value fell 0.5 percent in the three months ended June to $909,671. Values remained almost unchanged versus a year ago, but around 13.0 percent below the peak in late 2021. The biggest rises were in Queenstown-Lakes, up 2.4 percent to $1.86 million, while Tauranga City rose 1.7 percent to $1.03 million. Wellington recorded the biggest fall, down 2.3 percent to $818,274 followed by Nelson…

Locals across a large chunk of the Bay of Plenty’s coastline are being urged not to collect or eat shellfish due to the presence of biotoxins. A warning has been issued from Whakatāne to Mt Maunganui after routine tests on shellfish in the region showed levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxin over the safe limit. The affected shellfish included mussels, oysters, tuatua, pipi, toheroa, cockles and scallops, as well as pūpū (cat’s eyes), and Cook’s turban.“Please do not gather and eat shellfish from this area because anyone doing so could get sick,” NZ Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said.…

By Victor Waters of RNZ  A payment of about $10,000 has been deposited into the accounts of Mahurangi Harbour oyster farmers – the only catch is they don’t know what the money is for. The 10 marine farms have been in a seven-year battle with Watercare to stop sewage overflowing into the harbour north of Auckland, which contaminates their oyster crops with Norovirus. The farmers have been unable to sell any locally-grown oysters from Mahurangi Harbour since Christmas in 2024, leaving them on the brink all year. RNZ understands this week about 40 people that work across the oyster industry in the Mahurangi…

Te Kuha Mine on the West Coast has had its application for fast-track approval declined, after failing to meet seven of the application criteria.The project has raised concerns over its impact on the environment and had already been rejected multiple times by courts.Now, a letter sent to the company behind the plan, Stevenson Mining, in March but only recently published, showed the application never got as far as the minister for final approval, with the Ministry for the Environment finding it did not comply with seven requirements in the Act.Notably, it lacked an explanation of why the fast-track approvals process…