Author: Press Room

Severe thunderstorm watches were in place for the upper North Island with downpours and flash flooding possible throughout Friday.1News weather presenter Dan Corbett warned conditions in the mid-afternoon were likely to provide a “sucker’s gap” where a lull in the rain might deceive people into believing the worst of the weather had passed.He said there would be more heavy rain to come around the afternoon commute time and Auckland workers making their way home should be prepared.Within the hour to 5.30pm, 23mm of rain had fallen on the North Shore suburb of Birkdale and 22mm of rain had dropped at…

Police have arrested four people and have seized drugs and a firearm after intercepting a drug run headed for communities in the South Island. Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Dye said the drug operation was allegedly supplying methamphetamine.“Intelligence gathered by district staff suggested one or more individuals were frequently travelling to Auckland to collect methamphetamine, then they and their associates were selling it into the Blenheim and West Coast communities, particularly the community of Westport.”He said police on Tuesday commenced an operation to intercept two men as they travelled down the country.When the men were met in Picton and their vehicle…

An estimated 157kg of cocaine — worth up to $60.9 million — has been seized at the Port of Tauranga from two separate ships. Customs officers, joined by colleagues from the police and navy, made the seizures from three separate shipping containers.On May 4, authorities searched a container vessel that had arrived in Tauranga from Balboa, Panama, carrying an “assortment of containerised cargo”. After navy divers searched the ship’s hull, customs officers went aboard to search. One of the cocaine bricks seized by customs officers. (Source: Supplied)Several shipping containers were risk-assessed as “suspicious”. X-rays and physical examination led to the…

The Government has announced a $774 million investment in Budget 2025 to improve the redress process for survivors of abuse in state care and strengthen protections for vulnerable children and adults.It won’t, however, set up a new independent redress entity, as recommended by a Royal Commission and Redress design group. The Royal Commission, which conducted a six-year investigation into abuse across state and faith-based institutions, revealed widespread systemic failures and made 138 recommendations.Erica Stanford, the Minister in charge Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care, made the pre-Budget announcement on Friday.”We know there is…

Most of the tarseal is down, many of the barriers are up, and there’s fresh paint lining the route.The long-awaited new road connecting the lower North Island’s eastern and western sides is just weeks away from opening.The views from the lower slopes of the Ruahine Range are breathtaking, as RNZ experienced on a drive over the four-lane Te Ahu a Turanga – Manawatū Tararua Highway on Thursday.We started at the Ashhurst, Manawatū, end, beginning about where the old State Highway 3 through the Manawatū Gorge ran, before crossing the Manawatū River on the first of two viaducts, and then entering…

Tauranga’s Māori ward councillor Hemi Rolleston plans to prove to the community that having a Māori ward is a “good thing”.Rolleston was sworn into his Te Awanui ward seat on Thursday after a pōwhiri at Hangarau Marae in Bethlehem.He won the recent Māori ward byelection with 543 votes, taking up the seat his nephew Mikaere Sydney was unable to fill.The byelection was triggered after Sydney resigned from his position in January.Sydney was elected to the council in July 2024 but was unable to take up his position due to illness.Sydney was one of many of Rolleston’s whanau and friends at…

Businesswoman   Punctuality was one of the principles Sue Berry inherited from her parents. So when legendary British actor Sir Michael Caine asked the young New Zealand physiotherapist out on a date in London and then turned up late, she promptly gave him his marching orders. That is just one example of how Mrs Berry’s sparkling personality opened the doors to some extraordinary encounters during a life which has aptly been described as a “cracker”. Mrs Berry, who died in Queenstown on April 6, aged 81, was the co-founder of Oamaru business success story Whitestone Cheese, a devoted wife of…

More than $150 million in undeclared income tax and GST has been uncovered by Inland Revenue (IR) from the property sector.Funded by last year’s Budget, which allowed it to increase its compliance work, IR said it has been taking a closer look at the tax affairs of developers, people with rental properties, and those covered by the bright-line test.The discrepancy found in undeclared tax adds up to $153.5 million from 1283 closed cases – an average of $119,643 per case. The figures cover the first nine months of the current financial year, but comes close to the $156.8 million amount…

After widespread backlash, Tasman District Council has reversed its decision to remove some rubbish bins and close a few public toilets.”We don’t always get it right,” councillor Glen Daikee said.In March, the council narrowly voted to remove some rubbish bins; reduce the frequency of cleaning some public toilets, while closing three others; reduce garden bedding displays; and reduce shrub maintenance.The measures would have come into effect for the last quarter of the financial year – from April to June — to save about $22,000 as the council grappled with a forecast overspend of $2.9 million for its community infrastructure maintenance.However,…

A review into the Treaty of Waitangi Act – which established the Waitangi Tribunal – will begin in the middle of the year, the Government confirmed today.The review was part of the coalition agreement between National and New Zealand First, which included a commitment to “amend the Waitangi Tribunal legislation to refocus the scope, purpose, and nature of its inquiries back to the original intent of that legislation”. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said today a review of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 was “timely” given the “progress of historical claims and settlements and concerns about the Tribunal’s current…