Author: Press Room

The Government has outlined its “turnaround plan” for Kāinga Ora after a 2024 review found the Crown entity was “underperforming” and struggling financially. The Government-commissioned review of the nation’s biggest landlord, led by former Prime Minister Bill English, was released in May last year and identified several issues with the organisation.Operational deficits were forecast to balloon from $520 million in 2022/23 to more than $700 million in 2026/27. In addition to the financial issues, the review suggested that the broader social housing system was underdelivering, lacked transparency and accountability, and had a “poor understanding” of tenant outcomes.More than 300 social…

Video appears to show the moment a truck crossed the centre line and clipped the side of an oncoming tanker shortly before the latter crashed.The incident took place on State Highway 1 at Topuni, north of Auckland, mid-morning yesterday.Police said yesterday no injuries were reported, but there were major delays and detours for motorists.In a video posted online a NZ Post truck is seen to cross the centre line on a road curving to the left as a milk tanker comes in the opposite direction.The truck moved back into its lane, but not before clipping the side of the oncoming…

Retailer Briscoe Group continues to defy economic trends by improving its sales over its fourth quarter.The company — which owned Briscoes and Rebel Sport — said group sales for the three months ended January 26 were up nearly 1% on a year ago.Full-year group sales were almost on par with the previous year’s record result at $791.5 million. The company’s performance continued to be an outlier compared to other struggling retailers.Group managing director Rod Duke hailed the company’s performance.”In a year which proved to be exceptionally difficult for retail, to deliver positive growth for the final quarter and drive full…

Two police officers used excessive force when arresting young people in an 2022 incident in Auckland, the police watchdog has found. On September 26, 2022 police arrested five young people, aged between 10 and 14, after pursuing and stopping them in a stolen car in southeast Auckland.The end of the pursuit was recorded by two bystanders, who shared it on social media and prompted some people who saw the footage to complain to the Authority about the officers’ use of force. The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) today revealed the arrests of the five youths were justified to prevent them…

By Eloise Gibson of RNZ The Climate Change Commission has given support to a campaign to end free carbon credits for big polluters such as Methanex, Rio Tinto and NZ Steel. In a letter released overnight, the independent body pointed to serious problems with the subsidy scheme, after MPs asked it to comment on a 6000-signature petition before Parliament. The ‘Don’t Subsidise Pollution’ petition seeks an end to hundreds of millions of dollars in free carbon credits given each year to manufacturer/exporters under the Emissions Trading Scheme. The commission’s reply said: “The petitioner has raised a number of valid policy issues with…

More than 21,000 lifejackets have been recalled due to a fault in a mechanism which may prevent them from inflating correctly. The faulty Halkey-Roberts mechanism is installed in the Hutchwilco Classic 170N Manual Inflatable Lifejacket and Hutchwilco Super Comfort 170N Manual Inflatable Lifejacket, which were manufactured from June 2021 to May 2022. In a statement, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) spokesperson Ian Chaplin said “we want to make sure this fault doesn’t cause any preventable accidents”. “It only takes a couple minutes to check your lifejacket. This voluntary recall is a precautionary step to make sure we can…

The Commission estimates that the EU needs to invest €500 billion in the sector over the coming decade so that it can continue to support Ukraine but also ensure it is in a position to defend itself following decades of under-investments. ADVERTISEMENTEU leaders on Monday didn’t appear to have coalesced around key options to boost common spending in defence, calling for the European Commission to first explore ways they could increase their own national investments in the sector. Leaders urged the Commission to look into the flexibilities the Stability and Growth Pact could offer to allow for national boosts in…

A man has been arrested in relation to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Kyle Jenkins on a Northland roadside last week.The accused appeared in the Whangārei District Court on Tuesday morning on a charge of murder with a firearm.The 20-year-old was granted interim name suppression and remanded in custody. He did not enter a plea and was next due in the High Court at Whangārei on February 21.Jenkins’ body was found in a creek next to Otaika Valley Rd — or State Highway 15 — on the morning of January 29.His motorcycle was found parked nearby in a layby, opposite…

A federal judge presiding over the heated public feud between actors Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over whether sexual harassment occurred during the making of It Ends With Us warned lawyers to obey court rules about public statements meant to ensure a fair trial.Judge Lewis J. Liman suggested he could make the March 9, 2026, trial happen sooner if lawyers were unable to stop making fiery public comments that could contaminate a potential jury pool.Neither actor attended the Manhattan federal court hearing where lawyers again repeated their claims that their adversaries weren’t playing fair.Attorney Michael Gottlieb, representing Lively, complained that…

The centre-right CDU has been accused of breaking ‘taboo’ by putting forward a motion to the Bundestag for a stricter migration policy which was backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD). ADVERTISEMENTThe front-runner to become Germany’s Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, says his centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) party will “never” work with the AfD, calling the far-right party his “most important opponent” in the country’s upcoming election.”I can assure voters in Germany very clearly of one thing: we will not work with the party that calls itself Alternative for Germany – not before (the election), not after, never. This party…