Author: Press Room

A 15-year effort to fill gaps in the Taranaki health workforce has almost doubled the proportion of Māori working for the region’s public health service.As New Zealand struggles to attract doctors and nurses in a global shortage, and regions are forced to compete with the big cities for health workers, Taranaki has nurtured a homegrown response.Whakatipuranga Rima Rau (Generation 500) was set up in 2010 to attract 500 Māori into the region’s health sector over a decade.Back then, Māori were 6.6% of the workforce at Taranaki District Health Board.These days, 11.3% of Taranaki staff are Māori at what’s now Te…

ADVERTISEMENT The European Commission unveiled a record €2 trillion budget—its largest ever—signalling significant changes and reductions to EU agricultural funding compared to the current 2021–2027 period. The proposal confirmed earlier reports that agricultural subsidies and regional development funds would be merged into a single mega-fund worth €865 billion. Within this new single fund, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is ringfenced—meaning a fixed amount is protected from reallocation—for income support totalling €300 billion. The term income support no longer refers exclusively to direct payments, which have traditionally made up the bulk of the CAP, but it also includes co-funded initiatives that…

Members’ bills from opposition MPs are more often than not doomed to fail, but there have been exceptions to the rule this term.Tracey McLellan’s Evidence (Giving Evidence of Family Violence) Amendment Bill received unanimous support at its second reading, with all six parties in Parliament voting in favour.Deborah Russell’s Companies (Address Information) Amendment Bill is being supported by National and ACT, but not by New Zealand First.Others, like Camilla Belich’s Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill, have passed thanks to the support of one of the smaller coalition parties (in this case, New Zealand First).But only one opposition bill has…

The body of a man who went missing after his car crashed in the Whanganui River has been found by police. Twenty-year-old Kahukura Dilpreet Wati Woods Gill, also known as Kahu, was reported missing by his family on July 1. He was last seen on June 27, and a car matching the description of one owned by Kahu was found in the river on July 2. Police recovered his body from the river near Cobham Bridge on Monday, July 14.  “Our thoughts are with his family at this sad time,” police said. His death would be referred to the coroner.  

Slash and sediment polluted an important stream in Waihī for over a year and despite six inspections, and two abatement notices, a logging company refused to change its behaviour and continued to cause environmental damage.Forestry company Seaview Logging Limited and company director, Graeme Howard Savill, who carried out the harvest, were convicted and sentenced by Environment and District Court Judge Lauren Semple in the Huntly District Court in April on five charges of breaching National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry and fined $112,500.After the conviction, the defendants appealed the sentence to the High Court. However, this week that appeal has…

The defence has chosen not to call any witnesses, nor will Julia DeLuney give evidence, in the trial in which she is accused of murdering her 79-year-old mother, Helen Gregory.DeLuney denies the charge and faces a jury in the High Court in Wellington, with the trial nearing the end of its fourth week.Cross-examination of the Crown’s final witness, Detective Senior Sergeant Tim Leitch, who led the police investigation, wrapped up earlier this afternoon.Defence lawyer Quentin Duff then told Justice Peter Churchman that the defence would not call any witnesses, nor would DeLuney give evidence herself.The court has also not heard…

ADVERTISEMENTThe European Parliament’s members are deeply unsatisfied with the proposal for a seven-year budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) put forward by the European Commission on Wednesday and have threatened at the outset not to enter into negotiations on the paper.The level of information provided by Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin in a briefing to MEPs from the Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (BUDG) on Wednesday was deemed unsatisfactory by most. “Commission President’s Ursula von der Leyen is giving a press conference and she is giving to the press more information than you to us,” lamented Belgian MEP Johan Van Overtveldt, the committee’s chair.Some…

A man is under police guard in hospital after he allegedly assaulted a man, stole his car, drove the wrong way onto the Auckland motorway network with deflated tyres and caused several minor collisions.Police began investigating on Tuesday afternoon after a man at a Māngere address was assaulted by a man who then stole his vehicle at about 2pm.Inspector Dave Christofferson said police received additional information later that evening that the vehicle was in Papakura and that a firearm might be in the vehicle.Police then saw the vehicle on Mahia Rd in Manurewa and sent the police Eagle helicopter to…

The Government will stop building open-plan classrooms, the Minister of Education announced today. In a statement, Education Minister Erica Stanford said she had received “overwhelming feedback” from schools that the classrooms were not meeting the needs of students. “While open-plan designs were originally intended to foster collaboration, they have often created challenges for schools, particularly around noise and managing student behaviour.”Modern Learning Environments (MLEs), which utilise flexible layouts, fewer walls, and at times have multiple classes and teachers, were introduced by the Ministry of Education in 2011 under John Key’s National Government. They were designed to promote collaboration and flexibility.…

The Commerce Commission has moved to lower interchange fees paid by businesses to accept Visa and Mastercard payments. The regulator has issued a final decision, saying the cost was too high, and their decision would save businesses around $90 million a year. It said the average business would save around $500 each year in lower fees, but individual businesses could save more or less, depending on the mix of transactions they accept. The commission put the overall cost of interchange fees at about $1 billion for businesses, which were often passed on to customers through surcharges and higher product costs.…