Author: Press Room

The Waitangi Tribunal has recommended the Crown immediately halt the advancement of the Regulatory Standards Bill to allow for meaningful consultation with Māori.The recommendation comes from the Tribunal’s interim report into the bill, which follows a one-day urgent hearing earlier this week.Māori rights group Toitū te Tiriti have warned the introduction of the bill into law would diminish the Crown’s obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi.Around 18,000 people signed their online petition.The bill is part of the National and ACT party’s coalition agreement to pass a Regulatory Standards Act to ‘improve the quality of regulation’ and introduce principles of ‘good…

Hundreds of close contacts of the measles case in Auckland have been contacted by Health New Zealand over the past week, in an attempt to contain the risk of the virus spreading in the city.On May 11, Health NZ announced that it had identified a measles case in Auckland which was linked to overseas travel. The case was first confirmed on May 10.Measles is highly contagious and up to 90% of non-immune people (those who have not been vaccinated or have not already had it) will be infected if they are exposed to the virus.About 80% of New Zealanders are…

Violence is becoming “normalised” in understaffed emergency departments, forcing more experienced staff to quit, warn doctors.About 85% of emergency department leaders in a new survey had at least one incident of violence in the past week, but many are not officially reported.The survey by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine showed:Eleven out of 13 (85%) responding Directors of Emergency Medicine reported that there had been an incident (or multiple incidents) of violence within the past week.More than three-quarters (77%) reported that verbal violence occurred daily or frequently (one or more times a week) in their ED.More than one-third (38%) reported…

ADVERTISEMENTUkraine and Russia began their meeting in Turkey on Friday in the first attempt at a ceasefire negotiation and a format that also includes representatives of US and Turkey. Attending the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Antalya, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington does not have high expectations for the Friday meeting outcome. “Frankly, at this point, I think it’s abundantly clear that the only way we’re going to have a breakthrough here is between President (Donald) Trump and President (Vladimir) Putin,” Rubio said.But until that point is reached, this is how the Friday agenda looks: Rubio has…

Re: News asked recent school leavers and a high school teacher what they think about the proposed changes to sex education, which could mean students no longer learn about gender identity in their health classes. Watch the full video on TVNZ+ In 2020, Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) guidelines were introduced for teachers. They were an optional resource and included detailed information about gender identity and sexual orientation. One school leaver Re: News spoke to said some of the topics included in those guidelines “could definitely be seen as inappropriate, especially at a young age”. Another said the topics should…

ADVERTISEMENTAmbassadors from India and Pakistan to the EU have told Euronews how the bloc can support their two countries to overcome the current tensions between them, although the emphasis differs in both cases.At the end of April 26 civilians – mainly Hindu tourists – were killed in a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, in India’s Jammu and Kashmir province, in the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks. India accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, expelled Pakistani diplomats and closed borders. Pakistan rejected the claims and retaliated by suspending the Simla Agreement, restricting trade, and closing airspace.Both…

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has unveiled a new $190m Social Investment Fund designed to transform the way the social services are delivered to vulnerable New Zealanders.It forms the centrepiece of a $275m commitment over four years to the government’s social investment approach, with more details expected in next week’s Budget.Speaking in South Auckland on Thursday morning, Willis said the funding would target deeply entrenched issues by investing in services that deliver “measurable improvements” in people’s lives.The fund would be governed by the new Social Investment Agency and was expected to invest in at least 20 initiatives in its first year.The…

Cars decked out in sirens are parking up in parts of West Auckland and blasting out short clips of songs in the early hours, a councillor says.Waitākere ward councillor Shane Henderson wants tougher powers for the police and is contacting the Transport Minister to see if new legislation will include penalties.A Local Democracy reporter who met some of the adherents for a story wrote that participants were mainly young Pacific people who have become fans of a style of music known as siren jams or beats.The genre consists primarily of remixes of high-pitched reggae music played over horn speakers or…

ADVERTISEMENTOne week into his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has already found himself in the middle of multiple false narratives, much like Pope Francis before him.A social media post, for example, claims that an attached video shows the new pontiff deliberately snubbing and turning away from the LGBTQ rainbow flag as he greets onlookers at the Vatican.However, the flag in the video isn’t the LGBTQ flag — it’s the Italian peace flag, first used in 1961, which predates the LGBTQ flag.We can see that the lettering on the flag, while back to front, says “Pace”, the Italian word for “Peace”, and…

Butter, milk, and cheese led the rise in food prices in the year to April 2025, new data shows. Stats NZ figures released today reveal food prices rose 3.7% annually last month, with increases across all food categories.”Price increases were widespread, with all five food groups recording an increase.” It follows prices rising by 3.5% in the 12 months to March, by the same measure.Prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said dairy products led the increases in the latest data, with the average price for 500 grams of butter hitting $7.42.”That’s nearly $3 more expensive than this time last year,”…