Author: Press Room
The Green Party is criticising the $8 million cost to set up the Government’s traffic-light system for beneficiaries, which includes new non-financial sanctions, calling it “smoke and mirrors”.The Greens have drawn attention to the number, after Ministry of Social Development (MSD) bosses revealed, during Scrutiny Week, that just 12 people had received non-financial sanctions in the six months they’ve been available.Nearly 13,000 sanctions were issued in total in the September quarter this year.Green social development spokesperson Ricardo Menendez March said Minister Louise Upston had been “wasting everyone’s time” and money to create more layers of bureaucracy and “effectively unworkable” new…
Te Pāti Māori will gather for its long-awaited Annual General Meeting in Rotorua today, after months of turmoil that led to the expulsion of two of their six MPs.Mariameno Kapa-Kingi will now attend the full AGM following a high court ruling reinstating her to the party, while Tākuta Ferris remains expelled and won’t be in attendance.Ferris told RNZ he wasn’t surprised Kapa-Kingi was reinstated, and it was just “the next step in unfolding this big fat mess”.He said the AGM agenda was “sterile”, suggesting it would be shut down following the updates provided.In a letter, the former leaders said the…
A 3m macrocarpa picnic table at a Department of Conservation campground in Wairarapa was installed for just two days before most of it was sawn off and stolen.The table, put in at Bucks Road Campsite west of Greytown on Tuesday, was found on Thursday with around 2.4m missing – an amount of dressed wood worth an estimated $4000.Department of Conservation principal ranger Briggs Pilkington said the theft was “hugely disappointing” and “disheartening” for staff and volunteers who worked on the table.”We’ve been working with the community to improve the facilities at this site, and a significant funding donation has been…
With the climate agenda taking a back seat after the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine hit the economy and changed priorities, the European Greens arrived in Lisbon with a message, presented at an event attended by several personalities: they declared the European People’s Party of Ursula von der Leyen and Manfred Weber to be enemy number one. Faced with the dilemma of continuing to ally with the centre-right group, even if it means making concessions whenever it allies with far-right groups, or distancing themselves, the Greens chose the first option. At the start of the second day of…
Christmas has come early for an Auckland man who’s been reunited with his cat who went missing 14 years ago.Paul Myburgh’s family adopted Mo from the SPCA in 2010. The ginger tabby quickly charmed just about anyone he met, according to Myburgh.”He was an incredibly friendly cat. Very charismatic, loved human beings, would always walk up to the bus stop when he knew we were coming home.”Mo had a tendency to follow anyone who showed him attention or gave him treats. Myburgh said that friendliness toward strangers could have led to his disappearance.”Normally he’d come home but then, one day…
A 16-year-old has been arrested after allegedly attempting to steal more than $20,000 worth of clothing from an Auckland store overnight.Police received reports of several alarms going off at JD Sports in Albany at around 2.54am on Friday.Senior Sergeant CJ Miles said police attended the job immediately and found the glass shop front smashed and the roller door pulled up.”Officers also located a stolen vehicle parked in front of the store, full of stolen merchandise. A person, in the process of loading further stolen goods into the car, exited the store and was taken into custody immediately.”More than $20,000 worth…
The 2026 national broadcast for Matariki celebrations is set to take place in Tāmaki Makaurau with the theme Matariki Herenga Waka – For Everyone, a nod to host iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s waka traditions and Auckland’s slogan as the city of sails.Matariki, Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith said the theme is about people coming together to celebrate in Auckland or “wherever they may be in New Zealand”.“The Māori New Year is a time of reflection, celebration, and preparation. It is a time to remember loved ones, come together with whānau to give thanks to what we have and…
A controversial piece of artwork that prompted 101 complaints in a week has now been stolen from a Hastings art gallery.The installation, Flagging the Future, at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery asked gallery visitors to “please” walk on top of a quasi-NZ flag.Councillor Steve Gibson expressed his displeasure with the exhibition earlier this week. Since then there have been small protests outside, 101 complaints to the Hastings District Council and the gallery and at least one trespass notice issued.The flag was stolen from the Civic Square gallery on Thursday, a Hastings District Council spokesperson confirmed.A spokesperson for…
A Christchurch daycare has expressed their “shock” and “deep regret” after five children and two adults were taken to hospital after a corrosive chemical was mistaken for detergent and put on a water slide this afternoon.In a statement this evening, Kindercare Woolston said initial indications suggest the children and staff were “potentially exposed to a chemical detergent used for the centre kitchen steriliser unit, which was mistakenly believed to be dishwashing liquid and poured onto a slide with water for the children’s ‘slip ‘n slide’ activity”.All children were showered following the incident. Five children and two employees were taken to…
The mother of a Dunedin man who died after falling from a moving trailer is still haunted by the decision to turn off his life support, a court has heard.Robert Douglas Ralston died in hospital almost two weeks after the fall in Brockville in March, following a heated argument with his partner Andrew Jayden Mercer who was at the wheel of the car.Mercer was sentenced to almost three years in prison for the 32-year-old’s manslaughter at the High Court on Friday.The court heard Mercer was driving erratically and aggressively when he swung onto Brockville Rd as Ralston clung to the…