Author: Press Room

The coalition has directed Health New Zealand to say “women” instead of “pregnant people” in its communications about health issues.Associate Health Minister Casey Costello wrote to interim chief executive Dr Dale Bramley on March 27, telling the agency to use “clear language”.”Recent documents that have reached my office from the Ministry of Health have referred to women as ‘pregnant people’, ‘people with a cervix’ or ‘individuals capable of childbearing’,” she said in the letter.”Only women and people of the female sex can get pregnant and birth a child no matter how they identify.”Costello pointed to inequities and bias in the…

Wait times for GP appointments to get medical certificates signed off is costing ACC millions of dollars a year in needless compensation payouts, according to Physiotherapy NZ.The organisation is calling on the government to amend ACC legislation to allow physios to certify work capacity (both off work and to return to work), claiming it would get injured people back to work safely and quickly, and cut ACC’s weekly compensation bill.Gisborne nurse Robyn* is one ACC client who found herself in a legislative limbo.Six weeks after breaking her foot, she was keen to return to work, starting with light admin duties…

An advocate for storm-affected Aucklanders says abandoned homes are still a magnet for looters, even two years on.Auckland Council has approved a plan guiding its use of storm-affected land bought from homeowners following the 2023 storms.That included maintenance for houses which had been empty since their owners were forced to leave two years ago.West Auckland is Flooding chair Lyall Carter, who had now moved to Maraetai since the storms, said it was great news for those remaining in flood-affected areas.”The council said they would maintain the vacated land, that will be music to so many people’s ears in flood-impacted neighbourhoods…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ Exporters around the world are still digesting exactly what US President Donald Trump’s moving array of tariffs will mean for them and their businesses. But what are New Zealand’s biggest exports to the US, and how might they be affected? Last year, exports of goods to the US were worth just under $9 billion. That was 12.7 percent of all goods exported, the second highest. The US has become a much more significant destination for exports in recent years. In the 12 months ended December 2024, these were the most exported goods to the US.…

The Government has announced plans to fast-track a programme of new classrooms at a number of schools and a new school in Auckland. Education Minister Erica Standford said this morning the government had freed up $100 million for areas across the country with growing school rolls. “We can now provide an additional 67 teaching spaces in Auckland and in the Kaupapa Māori Education network to help meet growing demand,” Stanford said. The largest project to be fast-tracked was a new 600-student primary school in Massey, which would include two satellite learning support spaces for Arohanui School. A concept image of…

A person became pregnant and traumatised after a sexual health clinic failed to re-insert their contraceptive device.The person had a fear of becoming pregnant and had been diligent about contraception.The clinic and the doctor involved have been criticised in a Health and Disability Commissioner’s report, released on Monday.The person, who identified as non-binary and was referred to in the report as Mx A, went to have their old Jadelle contraceptive removed from their arm and another one replaced in 2021.But the doctor did not insert the new one, the report said.A few months later, while overseas, the patient became pregnant.”Mx…

ADVERTISEMENTAt least nine people were injured in overnight Russian drone strikes on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has said.The attacks sparked multiple fires and caused significant damage to residential buildings, commercial properties and medical facilities.Ukraine’s Air Force reported on its Telegram channel that Russia launched a total of 62 drones overnight, targeting the regions of Odesa, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv.Of those, 40 drones were intercepted and shot down, while 11 lost contact with radar systems.The latest wave of strikes comes just hours after a deadly attack on the northeastern town of Sumy, where at…

Around 150 homes in Wellington’s north are expected to be without power until midnight tonight after a transformer burst into flames this morning.Fire and Emergency responded to black smoke billowing from the electrical structure in Churton Park with two trucks at around 11.30am.Footage provided to 1News showed crews at the scene of the blaze on the corner of Halswater Dr and Burbank Cres.Black smoke issued from the burning transformer as firefighters moved in to tackle the situaton.Wellington Electricity said around 1000 customers were directly impacted by the outage while another 1600 had their power disconnected as repairs were made.By 3pm,…

ADVERTISEMENTA Cyprus court has sentenced a Syrian national to five years in prison for helping 31 Syrian migrants reach the Mediterranean island nation on board an overloaded boat, the attorney general’s office has said.The office said in a statement that the Syrian man, himself a migrant, was convicted on three charges including people trafficking and aiding migrants to enter Cyprus.The court ruled that he struck a deal with traffickers to captain the boat from an unnamed Syrian port in exchange for not having to pay the fee for the journey.The statement didn’t say when the boat reached Cyprus.According to the ruling, the…

Liquidators of Burns Group 2018 Ltd — which owes more than $2 million — are considering their options to enforce an agreement for the sale and purchase of its shares in a subsidiary company. An order was made in the High Court at Dunedin in March, 2023, to place Burns Group 2018 Ltd — of which beleaguered businessman Malcolm Burns is the sole director — into liquidation, on the application of Inland Revenue. The company’s shares are split between Mr Burns and Leonard Cheng. It operated as a holding company with passive investment of three subsidiary companies: Titan Bulk Haulage…