Author: Press Room
New Plymouth’s mayor threw councillor Murray Chong out of a meeting for calling a new policy racist, and questioned a Hobson’s Pledge founder’s motives for stoking division.Would-be mayor Max Brough and his running-mate councillor Gordon Brown also faced criticism after defending Chong at this week’s New Plymouth District Council meeting.Kevin Moratti – a founding board member of Hobson’s Pledge – last week denounced the council’s new buy-local plan as “race-based”.Moratti said he wanted the New Plymouth Ratepayers Alliance given access to council decision-making “just as some other un-elected parties are”.The council’s procurement plan aims to save money while making local…
Published on 14/08/2025 – 14:44 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT The number of requests for European solidarity to help tackle wildfires this week reached the same tally as for the entire 2024 fire season, the European Commission announced on Thursday. “Overall, the mechanism has been activated 16 times during the current season and we are in mid-August,” European Commission spokesperson Eva Hrncirova told reporters on Thursday. “This is already equal to the total amount of activations during the whole summer season last year.” Spain became the latest country on Wednesday to turn to the mechanism, making its first-ever request for European solidarity against…
The Auckland eye surgeon found not guilty of killing his wife after a lengthy murder trial last year may give evidence at her coronial inquest next year.Pauline Hanna, who managed the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine as an executive director at Counties Manukau Health, died in her Remuera home on April 5, 2021.Her husband, former Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne, was found not guilty of her murder after an eight-week trial.A pre-hearing conference has taken place in the North Shore District Court this morning with a number of key figures from the trial appearing in court once again.Polkinghorne and his…
One person has been flown to Waikato Hospital in critical condition following a crash between a truck and a pedestrian on Te Poi Road today. St John was alerted to the incident at 1.03PM and responded with one helicopter, two ambulances and one rapid response vehicle. A police spokesperson said “Te Poi Road is closed between the State Highway 24 and State Highway 29 intersections. The serious crash unit will be in attendance”Motorists have been asked to avoid the area.
A Gisborne hapū has blocked a road and attempted to stop work at a wharf in their latest move to reclaim ancestral lands.Since a hīkoi on May 5, the hapū Ngāti Oneone has been calling on the council, Trust Tairāwhiti and Eastland Port to return ancestral lands not used for core business.For over three months, they have taken day and night shifts to keep a fire burning at a shed they inhabit as part of their movement, “Reclamation of Whenua”.Yesterday, at the dawn of the 101st day, the hapū blocked Hirini St from 5.15am until 7am.Chairwoman Charlotte Gibson said the…
Two teenagers have been arrested after a school staff worker was allegedly robbed on her way to work in Whangārei.Police said a laptop the believed had been stolen, which contained irreplaceable study material had also been recovered.It’s understood the Mandarin language assistant was threatened with a knife while walking through an alleyway near Onerahi School about 3pm on Friday.At the time, police said the offenders, who were clad all in black, made off with a bag containing the woman’s laptop, wallet and other items.The woman was not physically harmed but the daylight incident rattled the harbourside suburb of Onerahi.In a…
Westpac is now the fourth major bank to drop some of its fixed home loan rates this week.It comes after Kiwibank lowered some of its rates this morning – and ANZ and BNZ did earlier this week – ahead of next week’s official cash rate decision by the Reserve Bank. Effective from tomorrow, the bank’s one-year special rate for those with 20% equity would drop 10 basis points to 4.79%, its lowest rate on any term since June 2022. Its six-month and 18-month fixed special rates would drop to 5.09% (down 20 basis points) and 4.79% (down 16 basis points),…
A 28-year-old man and 38-year-old woman have been charged with defrauding more than $1 million over the past two years for cancer treatment that police say was never needed.Police said a search warrant was executed today at an address in Wānaka after an investigation into the pair.Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Dye said they had recently moved from the West Coast to Wānaka where “they had been living the high life with rented properties and high end European cars”.”Their lavish lifestyle has been funded with money allegedly defrauded from family, friends and associates, for cancer treatment that inquiries show was never…
By Felix Walton of RNZ The cruise sector hopes crisis talks at this year’s industry conference will help chart a course through rocky financial waters. The theme of this year’s NZ Cruise Association Conference – ‘This is Not a Drill’ – speaks for itself. Passenger numbers have fallen year on year, down 20 percent last summer and projected to fall another 20 percent this year, but NZCA chief executive Jacqui Lloyd maintains an optimistic outlook. “It is a little [like] crisis talks, but there is also a lot of positivity,” she told RNZ, between panel discussions from the conference in Napier.…
An Auckland dog owner has been sentenced to community service and ordered to pay reparations after her rottweiler attacked and seriously injured a passerby. The incident occurred in October 2023 in the Auckland suburb of New Lynn. The victim had stepped aside to let the dog pass as it was being walked by the owner’s 15-year-old son. However, the rottweiller attacked, leaving the victim with a 10-15cm wound on her arm that required surgery. The dog was put down at the owner’s request four days after the attack. The woman was charged and pleaded guilty at the Auckland District Court…