Author: Press Room

Threatening to prosecute parents will not solve truancy issues, Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney says.Kearney said school attendance is “highly complex” and there could be any number of reasons why a student is not attending school.Associate Education Minister David Seymour recently proposed a stepped attendance response (STAR) system, where parents are contacted after five days’ absence and schools meet with parents after 10 days’ absence.After 15 days absence it would be escalated to the Ministry of Education, and prosecuting parents could be considered.But schools say they already have similar processes.”There are some amazing parents who truly care about their…

Commonwealth Bank has copped a fine after it sent 170 million emails to customers without an unsubscribe option. (Source: Getty)Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has been hit with a $7.5 million fine for breaching Australia’s spam laws. This is the second time in 18 months the major bank has come under fire from the communications watchdog.The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found CBA sent 170 million marketing emails to customers between November 2022 and April 2024 that did not include a way to unsubscribe. A total of 34.8 million messages were sent to people who had either not consented or withdrawn…

Fifty-four per cent of voters think Chris Hipkins should remain as Labour leader, according to the latest 1News Verian poll.The future of the former PM, who served in the top job for nine months, has been the subject of speculation as the opposition party looks to rebuild following its defeat at last year’s election.In the poll, around half the respondents were asked: “Do you think Chris Hipkins should now remain as the leader of the Labour Party or step down?”The poll asked if Hipkins should remain leader of the Labour Party, with 54% saying yes he should, while 26% disagreed.…

Scores of banks have closed branches across the country in the last year as more people prefer to do all their banking needs online. (Source: Supplied/Facebook)Australia’s push to be a cashless society has driven hundreds of banks into closing and ATMs to be ripped out of the ground. New research from Canstar has revealed 230 bank branches shut over the 2023-24 financial year, while the death toll for ATMs over the last half-decade stands at more than 6,000.Big banks have said it’s the dominance of digital banking that has sparked these decisions, but they have major real-world implications for customers.…

A Waikato Hospital directive that nurses only speak English in a clinical setting has caused outrage with claims it’s a bombastic over-reach.Now the Minister of Health has shot down the memo saying nurses can speak in their own language when appropriate.And on Tuesday afternoon Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora appeared to back down saying it was up to healthcare staff to exercise their professional judgement on the appropriate language.The memo, issued on Friday, said English was the spoken language in clinical settings, and the use of one language reduced misunderstandings and enhanced safety.But New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) board…

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ  About a million New Zealanders say they have purchased something from Temu – and the rise of the retail platform is forcing some local shops to rethink how they do business. A new survey by Tearfund New Zealand showed that 25 percent of New Zealand adults said they had shopped from Temu. Another 14 percent said they had bought something from Shein. “We have seen a huge increase,” said Tearfund fashion industry researcher Claire Gray. “We are seeing it skyrocket. It makes perfect sense, we are really feeling the squeeze financially so of course you look for…

Services Australia has revealed you soon won’t be able to make debt repayments via foreign currency or overseas cheques. (Source: Getty)Centrelink recipients who pay their debts with foreign cheques will soon have to find a new way to make their payments. Services Australia has revealed it will be phasing out the payment method from mid-DecemberThe government body announced the news via its Australian Pension News October newsletter. The directive has been handed down with a few weeks’ notice to allow Centrelink recipients enough time to find a new way to pay their debts.”From 19 December 2024, Services Australia will no…

Alan Mansfield, keyboardist with renowned New Zealand band Dragon, has died.Mansfield, 72 died in Sydney 16 October, with his partner of 40 years, musician Sharon O’Neill, and family by his side.He had been battling cancer, but succumbed to complications after his treatment.”Yesterday morning I lost the love of my life, Alan. His daughter Lauren and I were with him and he passed comfortably and peacefully.” wife, O’Neill wrote on Facebook.”Alan battled for three years and although he passed away cancer free, the ravages of his radiation treatment took a toll on his poor body. He was brave and fearless and…

An inquiry has been launched into the decision by Oranga Tamariki to axe or cut funding to nearly 400 community groups who support the country’s most vulnerable children and whānau.E Tipu E Rea Whānau, which helps hundreds of families and keeps tamariki out of state care, is among the organisations whose funding is being taken away.”We can show data — clearly — that we have stopped hundreds of our tamariki ending up in state care,” chief executive Zoe Witika-Hawke told 1News.”We’ve got them into mahi, we’ve got them into work, got them into housing.”To cut costs, as directed by the…

KiwiRail is offering voluntary redundancy to all staff from next week. In an email, KiwiRail Chief People and Communications Officer Andrew Norton said the move was designed to “reshape the business, lower our costs and create a solid footing for future growth”. The transport operator had been proposing job cuts for months in a bid to lower costs, and had previously offered some teams the opportunity to apply for redundancy. In the all-staff email, seen by RNZ, KiwiRail said it was extending the offer to all staff from Monday. Employees had two weeks to apply, and KiwiRail would decide which applications…