Author: Press Room

A licensed immigration adviser with an “extensive history of wrongdoing” has had her licence cancelled and has been ordered to repay $58,500 following a string of breaches of the law. Tzu-Tong Jane Ma has previously had 51 breaches of her obligations, involving advice provided to five clients referred against her, upheld by the Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal. It included six counts of dishonesty involving provision of false information and documents to Immigration New Zealand as well as other serious breaches of the Licensed Immigration Advisers Code of Conduct 2014, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) said.In…

Christchurch Hospital workers are sleeping in their cars before work to try to secure a car park, mayor Phil Mauger says.Christchurch City councillors have voted to consider making overnight car parks available at Parakiore Recreation and Sport Centre when it opens in October — and to potentially provide free transport to and from the building and the hospital a few hundred metres away.Hospital workers had been pleading for better parking because of unaffordable fees at nearby car park buildings and due to staff safety concerns.Mauger told a council meeting on Wednesday that it was clear the problem had not gone…

An investigation has found a police officer engaged in sexual activity with a member of the public while on duty.The Independent Police Conduct Authority oversaw a police investigation into the conduct of two officers after it received information about “inappropriate activity” between them and a civilian on duty. The findings of the investigation were released on Wednesday.The officers, referred to as Officer A and Officer B, were working a night shift when the incident occurred.In the early morning on an undisclosed date, the officers conducted a routine traffic stop of a woman, identified as Ms Z, and queried her in…

After years of controversy and delays, three new potential sites for an Erebus memorial have been announced.All 257 people lost their lives in 1979 when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing tour.Families have been waiting for a permanent location in New Zealand to honour their lives ever since. In 2018, Auckland’s Parnell Rose Gardens was selected as the spot for it, but the land was damaged by poor weather in 2023. Then, on the 45th anniversary of the disaster in November last year, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture advised a…

Two people and a dog have been rescued from a houseboat after it began sinking near Kawau Island north of Auckland last night.Kawau Volunteer Coastguard said crews helped two people from a houseboat when the pontoons on one side took on water and the vessel began to sink.Skipper Thelma Wilson said the team maneuvered alongside the vessel, avoiding debris and sharp fittings in wind squalls of around 30 knots.”Our helmsman and the crew did a sterling job, enabling the crew to get both occupants and a wee dog safely across onto Kawau Rescue.”The vessel was already settling on the seabed…

Two Dunedin club rugby players have been suspended after both admitted to secretly filming and posting an intimate video of a female student.Green Island RFC division 2 player Thomas Ryan, 24, has pleaded guilty to two charges of making an intimate visual recording and posting the video without consent.Court documents revealed he covertly filmed himself and the woman during a sex act during the early hours of June 8.The pair had met up “after a few alcoholic drinks” before going back to Ryan’s home.He then shared the five-second video to more than 30 people on the Green Island club’s social…

Claimants in a class action law suit against the ANZ and ASB banks have offered to settle a four-year case for breaches of credit laws for more than $300 million.The offer has been disclosed at the finance and expenditure select committee hearing into proposed amendments to the credit contracts and consumer finance act (CCCFA), to close loopholes which might expose banks and other financial services companies to action for historic minor breaches of the laws.The law suit involved more than 150,000 customers of the two banks affected between 2015 and 2019 over breaches of the laws for not making proper…

Defence Minister Judith Collins has been taken to hospital after a “nasty bout of vertigo”.In a social media post this evening, Collins said she “found out the hard way” that taking several flights after the flu can lead to vertigo.”So don’t be alarmed if you see me with a little support,” Collins said.The minister described her symptoms as “like seasickness multiplied”.Symptoms of vertigo, a type of dizziness, include feeling sick (nausea) and throwing up (vomiting), tinnitus or ringing in the ears, loss in hearing, and ear pain, according to Health NZ.She said she was now “on the mend thanks to…

ADVERTISEMENTUrsula von der Leyen has unveiled her much-anticipated proposal for the new budget of the European Union, worth €2 trillion between 2028 and 2034, a sizable increase compared to the €1.21 trillion approved by leaders in the summer of 2020.”It’s a budget for a new era that matches Europe’s ambition,” the president of the European Commission said on Wednesday afternoon.”That addresses Europe’s challenges. That strengthens our independence.⁩”Her blueprint remodels the budget’s structure along three main pillars.€865 billion for agricultural, fisheries, cohesion and social policy.€410 billion for competitiveness, including research and innovation.€200 for external action, including €100 billion for Ukraine.While direct…

The Justice Minister is defending the amount of money spent on the Government’s retail crime advisory group in 100 days, saying the group has come up with ideas the Government will implement to better deal with retail crime.The Labour Party says the half-million dollar sum is hard to stomach, and that ideas the group came up had previously been dismissed as being too dangerous.But the group’s chairman says its budget is strictly managed and controlled, and he had robust checks and accountability measures in place.The Government has announced a suite of law-and-order reforms designed to crack down on retail crime,…