Author: Press Room

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ New Zealand businesses owe more than $1.4 billion in unpaid GST and PAYE from the 2025 tax year, in what commentators say is a sign of the stress many parts of the economy are still under. Inland Revenue has provided a breakdown of PAYE and GST still unpaid for the tax years 2018 through to 2025. There is still almost $48 million unpaid from 2018 – and $1.471 billion from the most recent year. Of 2025’s number, $432.9m relates to employer activities and $1.047b to GST. Just over $66m of the debt was from businesses…

Police are investigating whether a man’s unexplained death in Mt Wellington early this morning could be linked to a burglary in the area 20 minutes earlier.Detective Senior Sergeant Anthony Darvill said officers were called to a hardware retail store on Ellerslie-Panmure Highway after an alarm had been activated around 1.30am. He said police units arrived on scene and established cordons around the store. “Eagle had also deployed and located a man lying in the grounds of nearby Sir Woolf Fisher Park,” Darvill said. “It appeared the man was not responsive, and units were directed to his location.”CPR was commenced but…

A Dunedin family is cobbling together a family dynasty by going against the grain of today’s disposable society. Greg Paul is taking over the Country Cobbler in Mornington after buying the business off retiring owner Greg Fox. Mr Paul, who was taught by his father to cobble, is taking the opportunity to buy the shop to teach his 17-year-old son George the trade. “My father taught me, he was a cobbler, so we’re third generation which is pretty unusual in this trade,” Mr Paul said. His son was taking to cobbling well, he said. “He likes it and his girlfriend…

Ozzy Osbourne died of a heart attack and had coronary artery disease in addition to suffering from Parkinson’s disease for years, his death certificate said.The singer had suffered from coronary artery disease as well as Parkinson’s, according to the certificate filed at a register office in London and obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday. Osbourne died on July 22 at 76.An email from The Associated Press requesting confirmation from the registry office in Hillingdon Council in northwest London, which covers the district where the Black Sabbath singer was reportedly officially pronounced dead, was not immediately returned. Osbourne’s representatives…

The body of a diver missing in Wellington Harbour has been found this afternoon.Police said in a statement they were called to Lowry Bay in Lower Hutt at about 11am after the diver failed to surface when they were due to.”The Police National Dive Squad searched the area and located the body of the diver around 5pm this evening,” a police spokesperson said in an update. “Police are providing support to the next of kin.”

Homeowners will soon be able to build small structures like garden sheds, sleepouts and garages closer to their property boundaries without requiring building consent following regulatory changes announced by the Government today.Cabinet agreed to remove the minimum distance required between single-storey buildings under 10sqm and a property boundary or other residential building, and reduce it to one metre for buildings between 10 and 30 square metres.Previously, these structures needed to be set back from boundaries by at least their own height unless a building consent was obtained.The changes, which would be made by amending Schedule 1 of the Building Act,…

The Government is forging ahead with plans to change the law governing New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed, despite a Supreme Court ruling last year that appeared to undercut the rationale for the change.The proposed legislation stems from a clause in National’s coalition deal with NZ First, which promised to revisit the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act.That commitment was driven by fears that a 2023 Court of Appeal decision could have made it significantly easier for Māori groups to win recognition of customary rights over parts of the coastline.The Government introduced a bill to Parliament last year to prevent…

A man was concussed and sustained facial injuries after being assaulted while walking with his wife last week in Ōtorohanga.Police were called to the Stopbank walking track on July 28 at around 5.10pm.”The victim and his wife reported that they were approached by an unknown male walking two dogs, one white and one brown,” a police spokesperson said.”The male has then assaulted the victim leaving him with facial injuries and a concussion.”Police said a number of inquiries had been made but that they were unable to identify the alleged offender.”We are asking anyone who has information about this incident or…

Published on 05/08/2025 – 16:30 GMT+2 ADVERTISEMENT Shortly before last year’s European elections, the parliamentary assistant of Maximilian Krah was arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying for China. The news rocked Berlin and Brussels alike, as the German MEP was the lead candidate of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AFD) party. His assistant, Jian Guo, who was dismissed shortly after his arrest, was accused of being employed by the Chinese secret services. German prosecutors allege he handed over around 500 sensitive files to China and provided information about the inner machinations of European lawmaking. Guo’s trial began in the…

After a West Auckland builder was yesterday sentenced to five years in prison for collecting what he thought was a shipment of 200kg of meth, Yvonne Tahana looks at the economics behind drug operations.The value of a large consignment of drugs quickly spirals when you start doing the maths, as Detective Superintendent Greg Williams, head of Police’s National Organised Crime Group, explains.Asked about the 200kg of meth that Joshua Auina-Anae thought he was picking up from a commercial unit in Hobsonville in November 2023, Williams said you’re looking at “about $130,000 a kilo… that’s a wholesale price”.Inside police’s fake meth…