Author: Press Room

The Department of Conservation is reminding fishers to be mindful of marine reserve rules this summer after a spike in breaches over the season last year.Last month, 1News reported new figures which revealed illegal fishing in New Zealand’s marine reserves is showing no sign of slowing.Nationwide, DOC recorded 105 confirmed offences last summer, alongside 126 reported alleged incidents across the 44 no-take marine reserves — areas where fishing was completely banned to protect and restore sea life.One of the worst cases last year involved claims that between 100-200 fish were taken from the Goat Island Marine Reserve in December.Another breach…

Nearly 100 new homes and a suite of commercial units are planned for a prominent Christchurch block, currently occupied by a former Mitre 10 store and a hotel. The owner of the 0.3ha Sydenham site and the Sandridge Hotel and Motel has lodged a resource consent application with Christchurch City Council outlining a large-scale redevelopment bordered by Colombo, Huxley and King Sts, Stuff reported. While most of the land would be rebuilt, existing businesses on the corner of Colombo and Huxley Sts – including a dairy, takeaway outlets and residential units – would remain. The project would comprise 21 buildings and could…

Māori Queen Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po has launched the ‘Kotahitanga Fund’, a new multi-million-dollar Māori investment platform.Te Arikinui made the announcement at the inaugural Ōhanga ki te Ao Māori Economic Summit in Hamilton on Saturday.In her closing address, Te Arikinui said she was proud to launch the initiative as a “declaration” that Māori were ready to invest in “ourselves, in our brilliance and in the future we choose”.”This fund is more than an investment tool,” she said. “To me, it’s an answer – at least the partial one – to the challenges of leveraging the…

Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes will play the entirety of his smash album For The Working Class Man, as well as other hits, on a two-date NZ tour next year.Barnes will perform at Christchurch’s Wolfbrook Arena on April 17, followed by Auckland’s Spark Arena on April 19.The 1985 recording was Barnes’ second solo album after the disbanding of Cold Chisel and debut outing, Bodyswerve. For The Working Class Man sold more than 500,000 copies in Australia.“For The Working Class Man was such a significant album in my life,” Barnes said.”I got to make the record with some amazing people, and it…

Health New Zealand has today reported one new case of measles, bringing the total number of cases nationwide to 22.Of that number, 21 cases were no longer infectious.The new case in Wellington was linked to an earlier case.Locations of interest included New World Wellington City on Wakefield St from 6.05pm to 7.35pm on Saturday, November 22; BP 2Go Berhampore on Luxford St from 12.40pm to 2.10pm on Monday, November 24; and and New World Newtown on Riddiford St from 8.55am to 10.20am on Thursday, November 27.Te Whatu Ora said further locations of interest will be added to its locations of…

On Ken Syeb’s first day of work he was told to hurry up and get started on scraping paint off a window — 50 years on he is now a director of that same company. On Saturday, over 100 people gathered in Dunedin to celebrate Mr Syeb’s 50th anniversary working at the Commercial Vehicle Centre. Mr Syeb said the company was now akin to family, but on his very first day in 1975 as a 16-year-old “broom-boy”, the sentiments were a bit different. “I had to scrape paint off a frigging window … I thought, what’s going on here? What…

The Banking Association is criticising social media, technology and telecommunications companies for not doing enough to prevent scams.Payments NZ reported about $265 million had been scammed out of New Zealand bank accounts in the past year.The Code of Banking Practice was updated on Sunday, with new protection measures introduced, including:pre-transaction warningsa “confirmation” of payee serviceidentification of and response to high-risk transactions or unusual account transaction activity, and the ability to delay or block transactions in some casesproviding a 24/7 reporting channel for customers who think they’ve been scammedsharing scammer account information with other banks to help prevent criminal activity, and…

New Zealand women start working for nothing from this week. Although the country’s gender pay gap improved this year, campaigners say there is much work to be done to bring pay equality for New Zealand women. Still Minding the Gap spokeswoman Jo Cribb said for every $1 earned by a Pakeha man, a Pacific woman would earn 79c, a Maori woman 82c, an Asian woman 84c and a Pakehā woman 93c. This would be the week all women started working for nothing for four weeks. “Research shows women’s education levels, occupation or experience account for less than 20% of why…

Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds won’t be drawn to explain how exactly her party would address New Zealand’s structural deficit if elected next year, telling Q+A details won’t come until after Budget 2026.She spoke to Jack Tame yesterday shortly after addressing party faithful, having told Labour conference-goers that “getting the economy growing and balancing the books means we can’t say yes to everything, and I make no apology for that”.But her party has already detailed a series of policy ambitions — such as reversing the coalition’s pay equity changes, bringing back its more expensive school lunches, and remaining committed to…

A visiting defence expert is urging New Zealand to rethink how additional money for defence gets spent.Sam Roggeveen, the International Security programme director at the Lowy Institute, told Q+A that rapidly developing technology and geopolitical changes should change the calculus around defence spending. He said the great defensive advantage enjoyed by Australia and New Zealand was distance, with any potential attacker facing near-insurmountable challenges in getting military assets across the Pacific Ocean.“What I would argue for is for both countries to think in terms of protecting their air and maritime space, by having the capability to shoot down aircraft, and…