Author: Press Room

Gisborne District Council wants the city centre to be vape-free and smoke-free to curb the “epidemic” of young people taking up the habit.Tairāwhiti has the highest smoking rates in the country, and there has been a sharp increase in youth vaping.In 2018, the council adopted its smokefree outdoor areas policy, which is not legally enforceable but encourages residents to refrain from smoking in specific areas.On Thursday at its sustainable Tairāwhiti committee meeting, the council revised its policy to include electronic cigarettes and expand its smoke-free area to include the city centre.Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga said the inclusion of vaping “sends…

“You look better bald… said no-one ever.” That’s the sentence on a digital billboard in Auckland that’s dividing views with one critic calling it cruel and “body shaming”.The owner of the contentious ad, an Australian-based medical tourism company called Asthetica, says it is their most successful campaign globally.But the digital billboard on display in Auckland has been slated online by New Zealand based author Sarah Ritchie as harmful and outdated.In a LinkedIn post Ritchie says the ad for hair transplants in Turkey, is not clever, nor aspiration.”It’s body shaming, plain and simple, and – frankly – quite cruel.”The message implies…

Foreign visitors will soon need to pay a charge to access some of New Zealand’s most famous tourist destinations on conservation land, the Government announced today. It was also announced that concessions would be widened to allow for more business activity on conservation land. The charges announced today would mean foreign tourists visiting Cathedral Cove / Te Whanganui-a-Hei, Tongariro Crossing, Milford Track, and Aoraki Mount Cook would need to pay between $20 and $40 per person. New Zealanders would not be charged for access. Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said foreigners made up 80% of all visitors at the destinations. Conservation…

Comedy star Magda Szubanski is set to be inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame for her contribution to Australian TV. She becomes the fifth woman inducted since the award was established in 1984, joining Ruth Cracknell, Noni Hazlehurst, Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Rebecca Gibney.Szubanski was best known for winning the hearts of Australians and New Zealanders as the unconventionally sporty, unlucky-in-love Sharon Strzelecki in sitcom Kath and Kim.That sparked roles in the smash-hit movies Babe and Happy Feet, along with both sequels, among others.She first burst onto Australian screens in the mid-1980s after being picked up by ABC talent scouts…

A baby boy was born last week to an Ohio couple developed from an embryo that had been frozen for more than 30 years — in what is believed to be the longest storage time before a birth.Lindsey and Tim Pierce — in what’s known as embryo adoption — used a handful of donated embryos that have been frozen since 1994 in pursuit of having a child after fighting infertility for years. Their son was born from an embryo that had been in storage for 11,148 days, which the Pierces’ doctor says sets a record.It’s a concept that has been…

Health NZ is promising bonus payments to senior doctors who work in hard-to-staff areas, although the union is accusing it of failing to consistently pay allowances now.The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, which represents 5500 senior hospital doctors and dentists, has criticised Te Whatu Ora’s new offer to its members as amounting to “an effective pay cut” for 90% of them.Union head Sarah Dalton was also sceptical of Health NZ’s proposal to ring-fence $32 million over two years for an incentive to doctors to work in areas or specialities with particular shortages.The agency was already paying $384m a year on…

A “catastrophic failure” of a fire truck responding to a Hamilton fire highlights how under-resourced firefighters are, the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) says.But Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) says issues like this can and do occur, and crews are trained and highly skilled to cope.Six fire crews responded to a garage fire in Flagstaff late Thursday night. On arrival they were met with a fully involved house fire.Hamilton local secretary for the NZPFU Jay Culhane said that while in the middle of fighting the fire, Te Rapa’s pumping appliance lost the ability to pump water.”There was a…

A man who pretended to be his brother for 25 years and entered a sham marriage to get citizenship has been handed the longest jail term in New Zealand history for passport fraud.Bangladesh-born Jahangir Alam – whose true name is not known – was found guilty of 29 offences, which included applying for visas for his wife and mother with his false identity, earlier this year.He was jailed for four years at the Auckland District Court on Friday for producing forged documents, supplying false information and using a false passport, where the judge Peter Winter denounced the two-decade-long passport and…

A man, found critically injured after a reported street fight in Auckland’s Ōtara overnight, has died in hospital. A homicide investigation has been launched, while a second man is still in hospital with serious injuries. Police were called to Wymondley Road shortly before midnight after reports of a group of people fighting in the street. “Upon arrival, two men were located with critical injuries,” Senior Sergeant Simon Taylor said. Both men were taken to hospital, “however sadly, one man died a short time later”.The second man remains in hospital in a serious condition. “Police are now working to establish the…

A last-minute uptick in candidates means all councils will have an election for some or all of their seats.Just 48 hours out from local government nominations closing, 47 regional council seats across the country’s 16 regional and unitary councils faced either not having an election or triggering a by-election because of a lack of candidates.Following nominations closing on Friday, a Te Uru Kahika – Regional and Unitary Councils spokesperson said now just 20 seats would be filled without contest.Local Government New Zealand said of the 11 regional council chairs, six were standing for re-election (55%) while five had opted not…