Source: Radio New Zealand

Around a third of Gisborne vape stores subject to compliance checks last year were found to have broken the rules.

Of the 18 stores subject to controlled purchase operations (CPO), four failed for selling to minors and three failed for other reasons, including the sale of disposable vapes.

The results, from 1 February, 2025, to 28 February, 2026, were revealed in a Health New Zealand Official Information Act response to Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) questions.

According to the OIA, all 18 controlled purchase operations took place in June last year.

The data did not specify what each store failed for, and some retailers failed more than once.

Retailers told LDR they had since made changes to meet compliance, with one store saying they no longer sold vapes.

Which stores failed?

• Gisborne retailers that failed a vape-related CPO in June 2025:
• Friends Indian Takeaway & Dairy (61 Gladstone Rd)
• Elgin Vape Shop (signposted as Elgin Dairy, 683 Childers Rd)
• Grocery Hutt (384 Palmerston Rd)
• Roebuck Road Superette and Takeaways (141A Roebuck Rd)
• Bridge Store (19 Roebuck Rd)
• De Lautour Road Superette (92a De Lautour Rd)

Of the stores that gave comments to LDR, Pushwinder Kaur of Friends Indian Takeaways and Dairy said failing compliance was a one-off. It had not happened in the 16-17 years they had operated the store.

They had paid their fine and now checked every ID for those who looked like they could be under the age range of 18-25.

Owner of Roebuck Rd Superette and Takeaways, Simranjid Singh, also owned De Lautour Rd Superette. Singh said both of his stores failed because of a lack of staff training and awareness of the rule changes for the sales of disposable vapes.

Singh and Kaur both said they did not sell the fruity flavoured vape products.

Manager of Grocery Hutt, Sidharth Chawla, said they no longer sold vapes but were looking at applying for a licence in the future.

Owner of the Elgin Vape shop, Shao-Qing Li, said, through an interpreter, she believed there was a mistake in the CPO results but had paid the fines.

Vape sales compliance education ‘far more active’ – medical officer of health

Douglas Lush, a medical officer of health in the region, said vapes could be bought at 84 places (not only dedicated vape stores) within Gisborne city.

Lush said a store could be targeted for a CPO if there were any concerns from the public or a reason for suspicion.

Tai Rāwhiti now has a permanent compliance officer, who visits suppliers, educates them on the legislation and ensures they adhere to the rules.

“We’ve been far more active with vape sales than we have been in the past.”

On 17 June last year, intending to discourage youth from vaping, the government banned disposable vapes, which were cheap and had adverse environmental impacts, Lush said.

“Vaping has a small and declining role in helping long-term smokers kick smoking, but has no benefits for rangitahi who become rapidly addicted to the nicotine that is contained in the vapes.”

The National Public Health Service would continue to “investigate, educate and then prosecute retailers who do not adhere to the law”, he said.

The infringement fine is $2000 for each offence, and retailers can be fined for multiple offences.

Infringements ‘very concerning’ – mayor

Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said it was “very concerning” to see retailers failing to meet compliance checks.

“Particularly where young people may have been able to access vaping products.”

As a response to an increase in young people taking up vaping, the council’s smoke-free and vape-free policy was updated last July to include vaping and the city centre.

According to the council report, results from a 2024 survey undertaken by the Action for Smokefree 2025 revealed that 21.9 percent of Year 10 students in Tai Rāwhiti vaped daily – 63 percent of these Māori.

Stoltz said the policy was “focused on promoting healthy public spaces and taking steps to ensure harmful habits are less visible and less normalised, especially for rangatahi”.

“Compliance and enforcement at the point of sale are matters for health agencies, but as a community we should all expect better when it comes to protecting young people.”

What do schools say?

LDR approached some schools near stores that failed the CPO.

Ilminster Intermediate is near De Lautour Road Superette, which failed. Principal Jonathan Poole said it was concerning that children were able to get hold of vapes with “ease” and how the various flavours available appealed to young people.

“It’s the accessibility that our kids have to these things… they’re either buying them, they’re getting other people to buy them, or they’re just bringing them from home.”

He believed other principals were experiencing the same issues.

Poole said he had seen an increase in vaping last year, but the school seemed to be “on top of it” this year. It was not just at intermediate and high-school level.

“Kids are vaping at a very young age.”

Poole was concerned kids were addicted to their vapes, which is why they were bringing them into school.

“It’s because it’s become a long-term habit already.”

When asking some children last year why they vaped, they responded with: “Oh, we just like the taste.”

“It’s the flavour, it’s like a lolly,” Poole said.

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Northland community member helping with flood evacuations on Friday night says it was the worst weather he had seen so far this year.

The region has been in cleanup mode this weekend after intense flooding, causing slips and surface damage in communities throughout the Far North and the Bay of Islands.

Though the worst is likely over, MetService is currently forecasting rain and strong winds for Northland throughout Sunday.

Mita Harris leads the Kerikeri Cadet Unit, and with his military-grade Unimog, can access flooded properties that others cannot. A former reservist himself, he has owned the vehicle for around a decade, and has been able to help evacuate households and lift supplies.

He says this week saw the worst floods in the Far North so far this year.

“It was fast, it wasn’t slow, thank goodness for that,” Harris said. “If an event kept going like this for three or four days, we’d be in serious trouble.”

He said he had spent the week preparing the vehicle, following forecasts and keeping in close contact with low-lying areas where he had seen extreme flooding in the past. By the evening they were in the thick of it.

On a crumbled gravel road in a paddock in Waihou Valley, with flattened shrubbery and scattered debris everywhere, Harris said the high tide coupled with intense levels of rainwater had rendered the whole area submerged.

The area began to flood at around lunchtime on Thursday, rising with the tide at around 4pm until 10pm, he said.

“It just looked like a rippling moving desert, it’s ripped up the tarseal and just carried stuff off, it’s a huge volume that came in with a high tide as well which pushed everything out.”

Farming households in the area who depend on those roads were effectively stranded, though Harris was occasionally able to access them on the Unimog. One farming family had been completely cut off after part of their road collapsed into a stream underneath.

“On the Unimog, those levels were up to the bonnet, which is six foot two (1.88m).”

Northland Regional Council said 410 cubic metres of floodwaters were flowing down the Awanui River every second, a record.

In a statement, Regional Councillor Joe Carr credited the upgrade Awanui flood scheme from stopping communities like Kaitaia from an outcome comparable to the infamous 1958 floods, which recorded nearly half as much floodwater.

“This was an extraordinary event with very intense hourly rainfall which tested the scheme to its limits,” he said.

“There was some costly flooding and associated evacuations as stopbanks did overtop both upstream and downstream of State Highway 1 Bridge Waikuruki and in the lower Whangatane Spillway, all of which are works in progress, but overall the $15 million-plus, multi-year scheme upgrade performed very well.”

Harris felt as though there was very little that could be done to future-proof the communities in the actual floodplains.

“The infrastructure has been like this for a long time since they started putting roads in off the state highway in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

“Technology’s giving us some early warnings about when these events are coming, so when to prepare… so families will do that, but the infrastructure, it is what it is.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

With prices at the pump rising and some having to choose between fuel or food, drive-off thefts have become a concern at gas stations.

The Motor Trade Association (MTA) is talking to its members over the increasing possibility of people driving off without paying for fuel.

The government has outlined the triggers that could force the country into fuel rationing but says for now there is sufficient supply and no need for stockpiling.

MTA spokesperson Simon Bradwell said drive-offs are nothing new, but could worsen because of tough financial times.

“Already people are feeling the pressure on their household budgets in their back pocket anyways.

So in a situation like that there’s always going to people that do try, you know, drive-off theft, try and alleviate the financial pressures on themselves.”

Bradwell said people need to remember station staff are not responsible for their fuel woes.

“The person behind the counter isn’t to blame for any of this, they’re just doing their job. Nobody deserves to cop an earful about what’s happening.”

He said businesses are doing what they can to keep prices down.

“It’s actually in their best interest to keep people coming to their businesses.”

Chief executive of Māngere Budgeting Services Trust Lara Dolan said some people can no longer afford the rising cost of fuel.

“Obviously additional costs for fuel [are] putting additional pressure [on] already struggling families.”

Dolan said demand for food had risen by a quarter in the last three weeks as fuel price rises hit, and most of their clients could not afford the increases.

“We are all hoping that the conflict is not going to go on for much longer because it does hurt and it does hurt everyone.”

She said people filling up can face paying nearly $20 more each time.

“It does hurt people with children, people without children – it just hurts everyone.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The mayor of Central Hawke’s Bay says the region has been hit hard by back-to-back announcements of factory closures.

On Friday Heinz Wattie’s confirmed it would go ahead with shutting its frozen packing lines in Hastings, as well as manufacturing sites in Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland.

The closures would affect about 300 jobs, although some people might be redeployed.

The decision came in the same week McCain Foods announced it would close its Hastings vegetable processing plant.

Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley said it was a huge blow.

“It’s just come at a really bad time when there’s a lot of bad news happening out there and a lot of pressure on households and businesses already with increased costs, uncertainty and now you’ve got people’s jobs that are lost, and associated businesses that would’ve lost a lot of work as well directly for this supply chain,” he said.

“I guess we’re all sitting here wondering why what we think is a pretty good food producing region is struggling to produce and compete with imported food products. That’s what we need to get to the bottom of and work out why is that happening and what can we do to address it.”

Buy NZ Made, an organisation that supports Kiwi-made products, said the closures were a stark reminder of the mounting pressures local producers faced.

Executive director Dane Ambler said they were facing rising costs, weaker demand and competition with international firms.

“I think now is really the time to get behind local producers. I think we need much stronger and more deliberate backing of New Zealand made goods and services both by government and consumers,” he said.

“The government can go a long way to ensuring that local industries survive by basically changing procurement practices that prioritise local suppliers and targeted support. I don’t think that New Zealand made businesses have needed as much support as they need right now.”

Canterbury vegetable grower Alastair Clemens, who grew processed peas and carrots for Heinz Wattie’s in Barrhill, said the closures were devastating for growers.

“A lot of guys in our area grow processed peas, there might be 30 or 40 growers in our area that grow processed peas that had gone to the factory in the past, so that’s quite a hole left there that’s got to be filled up with something,” he said.

“Processed carrots have been a significant part of our rotation for quite a number of years, we’re sort of investigating other options for them.

“The area we’re in is good for root crops, potatoes and carrots and that sort of thing, so we’d like to think we could find something for that but it does leave a pretty big gap and it is pretty devastating really.”

Clemens said he might end up growing food for the dairy industry, or becoming one of the “many people who are converting to cows” because that was where the money and demand was at the moment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Christchurch police are appealing for information after and aggravated robbery in the suburb of Hornby on Friday,

Detective Sergeant Rebecca Podmore said four masked people entered a store on Main South Road at about 7.30pm, stole items and fled in a car.

During the robbery, one staff member was assaulted and their arm was broken, she said.

They were taken to hospital in an ambulance.

The escape vehicle was later found in Ellesmere Road in Lincoln, but suspects have so far evaded police.

Police were urging anyone with information about the incident or the alleged offenders to come forward.

They were particularly seeking anyone who saw or has footage of a Grey Toyota Rav 4 around Main South Road between 7pm and 8pm Friday.

Information could be provided through the police 105 number or online, quoting the reference number 260327/8118, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand could be facing into a period of stagflation, economists are warning.

Stagflation describes a situation in which an economy experiences the unpleasant combination of high inflation, high unemployment and stagnant economic growth.

This could happen as a result of the Iran war because higher fuel prices are expected to create higher inflation, while the impact of those cost increases and the wider confidence blow could slow economic growth.

Mike Jones, chief economist at BNZ, said it was a “stagflationary-type shock” because it had hurt growth prospects and put pressure on people’s disposable incomes and business margins at the same time as it pushed up inflation.

“We’re also vulnerable given the economy going into this was only starting to find its feet,” he said.

“There are some buffers out there – most notably elevated commodity export prices and a falling NZ dollar – but it’s unlikely they will be enough to prevent a decent hit to the economy. I think, at this stage, it’s more a case of the recovery being disrupted or paused for a quarter or two, rather than being curtailed. So weaker growth but still growth.

“But there are still many scenarios in play. Much hangs on how long the conflict goes on for.”

Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said stagflation was discussed as a prospect three or four years ago but did not happen.

“It was inflation followed by ‘we need a recession to rein that back in’.

“I feel like this time is a little bit different because it’s a supply shock that is, one, pushing up prices and, two, going to negatively impact growth.”

He said businesses had told him they had to pass on cost increases.

“I’m not talking about transport businesses putting up their prices. I’m talking about everybody who is using the transport services then being forced to put up their prices, because we’ve had an economy where for the last three years, it’s gone sideways. And people have been trimming and trimming, and there’s nothing left to trim.”

He said while the Reserve Bank expected fewer price increases to be passed on because there was less demand, that was not the full picture.

“Sure, there’s no demand, but you’re going to put your prices up rather than simply just go to the wall because you don’t have any money left.”

He said even if the situation were resolved immediately, there would be another up to four months of flow-on effects.

“Who knows where oil prices would settle… you wouldn’t expect them to probably go back to US$70 a barrel… there’s got to be more risk associated with that. But the longer it stretches on, the bigger the impact is in terms of just delaying or preventing the economic recovery.

“It’s almost a bit of a repeat of 2025 where we had the tariff situation hit us and knock confidence and therefore knock growth. And this is looking like the same again, except probably worse, to be fair.”

But Westpac’s chief economist Kelly Eckhold said he still expected some growth in the economy this year – although there was the potential for that to change.

“In the forecast update that we put out a couple of days ago, that assumed that things were going to get better within a month. If that doesn’t happen then things get darker quite quickly. Confidence levels about forecasts are quite low right now because there’s a lot of things we don’t know.

“You can’t discount the possibility [of less economic growth]. The only thing is that we are coming from a starting point where we were expecting a pretty solid year. So we’ve got further to fall before you get into that genuinely negative growth environment that we experienced back in 2024.”

The big concern was how long the conflict lasted, he said.

“We have to keep in mind that significant damage has already been done and it won’t be fixed quickly. There may also be risk premia built into concerns about fuel availability, prices… I’m very worried. I think this is a very, very serious situation.”

He said the lower exchange rate would make the price of imported goods higher, and make travel overseas more expensive for New Zealanders. But it was a positive for exporters.

“Nobody in New Zealand can protect us from the loss of standard of living that has come from this shock. The government can’t buy our way out of this. They can smooth the edges off for the most vulnerable. But in the end, it’s just a cost that is going to sheet home to us.

“The way out of this is by having the external sector ultimately be able to export our way out of this. And a lower exchange rate is part of the adjustment that facilitates that to occur.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Weather-hit regions are set to get a reprieve as warnings lift and the rain moves to other parts of the country.

The red heavy warning which had been in place for parts of Northland expired 4am on Friday, but the Far North and Whangārei remain under a state of emergency until Thursday.

MetService meteorologist Juliane Bergdolp said the deep sub-tropical low had moved to the east and many parts of the country were now in the clear.

“There is still some rain coming into the West Coast of [the] South Island and we still have some showers making their way into eastern parts of Bay of Plenty.”

Bergdolp said rain was expected to develop in the west of the South Island on Sunday, spreading to the west of the North Island on Saturday night or Sunday.

There were no rain or wind warnings in place for any regions.

Far North community member Mita Harris had been using a Unimog to help evacuate people and lift supplies as heavy rain hit the region. Harris said the storm did not last for long, but had impacted the region.

“This has been the biggest one this year so far, came in hard and fast – it was kind of a day or two and that was it, it was all over.

“The ground is saturated now and any more water coming in would certainly raise the levels quite quickly.”

Northland Civil Defence teams were assessing the damage after the latest storm.

Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said it would be a costly recovery with heavy rain and winds continuing as the low made its way across the country.

“This one is going to cost a lot of money to recover fully from both for us as a council with the infrastructure that we own and look after on behalf of the people but also for whanau themselves.”

Tepania said he was expecting the level of need to far exceed that of the January storms.

The Far North District Council said up to 410 cubic metres of floodwaters were flowing down the Awanui River every second – a level not seen since 1958.

Hundreds of people were evacuated in Kaitaia on Thursday night and more than 400 households and businesses were still without power on Friday morning after the heavy rain.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Their story was intriguing: no tractors or cellphones, off-grid, subsistence and organic, relying on hand and bullock-power rather than fossil fuels to feed three generations of 25 people off a slip of land bounded by bush on the banks of the Whirinaki River.

So, with not a small measure of excitement, I found myself driving along a bumpy track leaving behind the main road through South Hokianga to meet the Land family.

Hmm – very timely, I thought, given the surging fuel crisis.

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“Part of our ethos here is to see how many people you can feed off a small piece of land,” Joseph Land told me as the family gathered in a cosy room lined with books and pictures.

“A policy of ours, or a value, is that once you start using fossil fuels, you actually use up more calories than you produce. So eventually that’s not going to sustain the world.”

They had motor vehicles “to stay integrated” but did not need fuel to farm, they explained.

The family’s Catholic faith and respect for Māori knowledge and values also infused their way of farming and living, Joseph said.

As members of the Catholic Worker Movement – founded in the 1930s out of the Great Depression – helping the poor and marginalised, farming communally, and pacifism, were principles they worked by.

Heavy farming work was done by a team of four bullocks, and Archie and Buster, two Clydesdale horses.

The rest of the work to feed four households – from about six hectares – was done by hand.

In a paddock over the river, a crop of maize stands tall, almost ready for harvest.

One of Joseph’s sons Abraham hitches up his team of bullocks to lightly till the soil of a bare strip nearby for planting lupins – good for nourishing the soil after the potato harvest.

“When I first got into bullocks, I thought two would be enough, and when they were about four years old, they weren’t really pulling as much as I wanted, so I got a couple more, but they kept on growing for another two years. There were six before they stopped. And so now I’ve got much more power than I need.”

The Lands grow olives and a variety of fruit and vegetables, graze a few sheep and cows, make their own butter and rely mostly on their staple maize crop which they kibble and grind for bread and porridge.

A few things are bought in like wheat flour, sugar, tea and coffee, with money earned from part-time work off the farm.

Daughter-in-law Marissa, for example, works as a nurse, to pay for extras for her household.

“Two days a week gives us more than enough money, bit too much money – to live off.”

She enjoyed being part of the community and said the family was anxious not to be seen as survivalist or “exclusionary”.

With homeschooling her three children, cooking, gardening and helping build their new cob house, with husband Patrick, it was busy 24/7, she said.

“It’s very physical. Yeah, it is. And there’s never a moment in which your job is done. There’s always something you think, ‘oh, I could, should, probably be doing’.”

The Land family’s roots here were laid by Peter and Judith Land who bought a block of bush in the 1970s.

Joseph’s parents had been teachers in Fiji and were inspired by their life in a Vanua Levu village to recreate a similar subsistence style of living, alongside their Catholic faith.

“Dad was a visionary, not practical,” Joseph said, pointing out a photo of his late father who lived here into his 90s.

He did, however, set up a power source from a nearby waterfall. Now the Lands have solar power for lighting and biogas and wood-fired ranges for cooking.

Marissa shows me how she grinds the maize by hand using a Corona mill after it is kibbled – the kernels removed from the cob – at another hand-powered machine in the farmyard.

The corncobs are stored in elevated storehouses nearby, like small hutches on stilts.

“They were everywhere in Hokianga, every farm had big gardens, small herds of cows, like 10 cows, big gardens, pig sties and lots of corn for animals and people,” Joseph said.

He arrived here as a boy and remembered when the roads were much quieter.

The local kaumatua taught him gardening skills including the knowledge needed for growing kūmara. He nurtures several heritage varieties on his kūmara tāpapa.

“You get really attached to the different varieties.

“I learned all this from the last gardens in Whirinaki in the ’70s. They vanished within five years, but I just got a glimpse of the lifestyle. So, a lot of this is just copying what was everyone’s experience here up until the ’70s.”

Joseph and his wife Catherine have seven grown children, four of whom have remained on the farm.

“It was very hard to get rid of me out of the valley,” Patrick said. “I did travel a little bit, but I just always wanted to be back here. Yeah, I find it very hard to be somewhere where you’re just eating food that you don’t know where it’s come from.”

Joseph is regarded as a kaikarakia among the local people, leading blessings and prayers and spending a lot of time at the local marae.

He told me the Land family acknowledged the mana whenua of the local hapū, and that the Lands stayed here by their goodwill.

“I think the big thing is having a mindset, this is our base economy, our life here, and so it’s real. What we grow we really depend on.”

Life was “full and rich”, however he acknowledged “come a disaster, we can go and get money and buy food”.

“So, in that way, we’re not as real as a peasant farmer in other parts of the world who don’t have those other options. But we don’t avail ourselves of that option. We don’t need to. We continue here. The average wage to us is enormous.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Red, bell-bottomed tomatoes with green crowns growing on sprawling vines in a glasshouse along Wellington’s south coast help keep Nina and her mother Teresa Cuccurullo connected to their heritage.

The Island Bay family has been growing tomatoes originally sourced from seeds brought over from the Italian island of Capri in the 1960s, for more than six decades.

It is a rich tradition first started by Teresa’s father Luigi Ruocco and carried on by her husband Antonio, before daughter Nina took it up after his death.

“It’s part of our history and it’s a time where you think about your grandparents,” Nina told Country Life. “I think about my father and [how] we are now getting it out to the rest of the community and to the family.

“It’s great to see how some of the younger people are starting to grow these tomatoes too, because then that legacy has continued.”

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Their family was part of the “chain migration” from Italy to the Wellington suburb of Island Bay last century, Nina explained.

“They were coming here to better themselves, to start new families,” she said. “Nonno was one of the early ones in the 1920s, but there were others before him that were here as well.”

She said the family maintained its Italian identity by gathering as a community through its Catholic faith, via the cultural group known as Club Garibaldi, or by keeping up with family traditions – like eating octopus and tomato salad at Christmas time.

Food is also key to feeding their heritage. Particularly growing tomatoes to be used to make passata.

“The sauce is central to all the other food because … that’s the sauce for the macaroni, it’s the sauce for the lasagna, the ravioli, the parmigiana. So the sauce is used quite a lot in the cooking and that’s why it was sort of bottled so it could be used during the year.”

Nina said the type of tomatoes they grew were “quite identifiable”, mostly through their distinctive shape.

“They’re an elongated shape, and they sort of go a little bit green at the top. There’s not much seeds in them, and they’re acid-free, and the skin is quite thin, so it’s not a thick skin.”

They harvest the seeds from each season’s crop to keep the variety alive – growing them in the glasshouse to avoid cross-pollination with other tomato varieties.

“We get the best tomatoes on the crop – the bigger ones,” Teresa told Country Life. “Let them ripen on the stem, bring them in, cut them, take out all the seeds that there are – it’s not many – and separate them.”

The seeds are then put through a sieve to separate them from the membrane before being placed on the window sill to dry for the next summer.

Nothing goes to waste, Teresa said.

“All the pieces that you’ve cut up to get the seeds, they can be made into a sauce.”

They share the seeds with friends, family and others in the wider community to help keep them going – and also sell small plants during the peak growing period.

Nina said it was a privilege to be able to continue the legacy first started by her grandfather, and carried on by her father.

She said he loved being out in the garden.

“As well as a vegetable gardener, he was a very good flower gardener.

“He had a lot of plants, up to about 60 inside the glass house, and then quite a few more outside. So he was kept very, very busy.

“It was a passion. He was happy there.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Concerns are growing among health providers and whānau about the governments proposed alcohol reforms, with warnings they could increase harm in vulnerable communities.

A young māmā from East Auckland says the reforms feel like “profit over people”, and “a slap in the face”, especially for advocates who have worked hard to decrease alcohol visibility in their rohe.

Twenty-five-year-old Tiana Kiro is calling for the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Improving Alcohol Regulation) Amendment Bill to be scrapped, after it was introduced to Parliament in March by Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee and Regulation Minister David Seymour.

Kiro, who was born and raised in Glen Innes, said liquor stores were part of “everyday life” growing up and she did not want the same for her pēpi.

“For my community, alcohol is everywhere,” she told RNZ.

“When I left my whare every day to go to school, it was at every corner. It was normalised like milk, sugar, bread.”

The mother of one, who is expecting another baby, said that environment shaped the people around her.

“I don’t want that around my babies. I don’t want it normalised.”

She said the proposed reforms risked embedding that even further.

“To me, that looks like putting profit before people.”

What are the proposed reforms?

The government says the bill aims to reduce red tape, make it easier for businesses to obtain licences, and trust adults to make their own choices.

Key changes include:

• Limiting objections to licence applications or renewals to only those living or working in the same council area, or within 1 kilometre of the proposed licensed premises.
• Allowing licence applicants to respond to objections
• Preventing licence renewals being declined due to local alcohol policies
• Expanding who can sell alcohol, including clubs and some restaurants
• Making it easier to host events with alcohol
• Allowing licensed venues to open outside normal hours for major events – like the Rugby World Cup
• Letting barbers and hairdressers offer limited alcohol without a licence
• Expanding tasting rules beyond wineries
• Simplifying rules for low and zero alcohol options
• Clarifying responsibilities for alcohol delivery services

McKee said the changes would make the system “fairer” and less bureaucratic, while Seymour said adults in a “free society” should be trusted to make their own choices.

The bill is expected to be considered by Parliament in the coming months.

A 2024 report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research estimated alcohol-related harm cost Aotearoa around $9.1 billion annually, including about 900 deaths, 1250 cancers, and tens of thousands of hospitalisations.

Māori experienced disproportionate harm and are more than twice as likely to die from alcohol-related causes than non-Māori. Māori were also more likely to be apprehended by police for an offence that involved alcohol.

Tamariki Māori were also exposed to alcohol marketing significantly more often than Pākehā children.

Research showed this was closely linked to environmental factors, including higher exposure to alcohol outlets, greater levels of deprivation and reduced access to health services.

In a statement to RNZ, McKee said the $9.1 billion figure cited by critics was “a gross cost estimate that tells us nothing about which specific policies reduce harm or at what cost.”

“Good policy requires that discipline. We should be asking whether each rule is delivering measurable harm reduction proportionate to its costs, and removing those that aren’t.

“The single biggest driver of that figure is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which accounts for $4.8 billion of the total. FASD is a serious harm and the government is taking it seriously, directing more of the alcohol levy toward identifying and funding cost-effective interventions to reduce it.”

McKee said licensed premises were controlled environments with trained staff and legal obligations, and making it easier for people to drink in those settings could reduce harm compared to unsupervised drinking.

She also rejected concerns the reforms would silence communities.

“Everyone will continue to maintain the ability to object to liquor licences and renewals in their local community,” she said.

“Our changes are about stopping those who are not impacted, such as people on the other side of the country, or even overseas, from objecting.”

McKee said the reforms also strengthened rules around alcohol delivery and aimed to improve access to zero-alcohol alternatives.

“Every New Zealander deserves policy focused on what actually reduces harm. That is the standard these reforms are held to, and it is the right standard for all New Zealanders regardless of their background.”

But critics say the reforms weaken safeguards and prioritise economic growth over public health, especially in communities where access “is already a problem.”

“In our town centre alone, there’s like three or four liquor stores, and we’re not even that big,” Kiro said.

She also raised concerns about proposals to allow alcohol in spaces like salons and barbershops.

“You go get your nails done, you get offered a drink, then another, and then you’re driving home,” she said.

“For some people, it’s not easy to say no.

“Someone might have a few drinks and then get behind the wheel, and then who do you blame? Profit over people, that’s what it feels like.”

For kaupapa Māori provider Ki Tua o Matariki, those experiences reflected what they were hearing across their communities.

Chief executive Zoe Witika-Hawke said the reforms risked deepening existing inequities.

“These changes might seem small on their own, but together they make alcohol more present in our everyday environments, and that matters.

“We know alcohol outlets are more concentrated in lower-income communities, while access to health support is often more limited.

“That imbalance shapes the environments our whānau are living in every day.”

She said alcohol harm was not just about individual choice.

“It’s shaped by how available it is, where it shows up, and what becomes normal.”

Witika-Hawke pointed to the impact on future generations, including FASD, a lifelong condition caused by prenatal alcohol exposure.

“Every increase in alcohol availability increases risk, particularly for māmā hapū navigating stress and systemic barriers.”

Te Whatu Ora estimated 1800 to 3000 babies every year may be affected by FASD. That’s roughly eight babies per day.

“We need to be clear, this is not about blaming māmā. Stigma has never prevented harm. Safe environments and strong support systems do.”

Witika-Hawke said communities had already been clear about what they wanted.

“They don’t want alcohol shops everywhere in their communities.”

Hāpai Te Hauora chief operating officer Jason Alexander said the reforms ignored strong evidence linking alcohol availability to harm.

“Anything that makes alcohol more accessible and visible will inevitably cause more harm,” he told RNZ.

“We know that people’s hauora is affected by the environment in which they live. If alcohol is more accessible, then people will access it more.”

He said alcohol harm extended beyond just the individual.

“Alcohol harm doesn’t happen in isolation. It is shaped by the environments we create, how widely alcohol is available, how it’s marketed, and how many outlets operate in a community.”

Restricting objections to licences, he said, limited community voice.

“That is essentially silencing those communities.”

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway told RNZ the scale of alcohol harm was significant in Aotearoa, and that the reforms appeared to remove effective protections.

“It does seem like that is giving the alcohol industry a wish list of changes,” he said.

“We know that when alcohol becomes more available, these increases are strongly linked to increased hazardous drinking.”

“We also see higher rates of cancer, and we know there is no safe limit.”

Polling commissioned by Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Cancer Society found 76 percent of respondents supported limits on the number of alcohol outlets in neighbourhoods.

“So changes that reduce community say, go directly against that support,” he said.

“We’re really disappointed that this package introduces very few restrictions and more liberalisation.”

Galloway said the direction of the reforms contradicted other government strategies, including suicide prevention efforts that put an emphasis on reducing alcohol harm.

“It just makes logical sense that we would look to restrict alcohol, not make it more available.”

Pre-colonisation, Māori were among the few known societies not to have manufactured or used alcohol – or psychoactive substances.

Quoted by Rev. W J Williams, ‘In the Beginning. Period up to 1886’, “The white man and the whisky bottle came to New Zealand together.”

The Māori word for alcohol is ‘waipiro’, translating to ‘stinking water’.

Witika-Hawke told RNZ, alcohol was used as a tool to take away their land – specifically in their iwi Ngāti Paoa.

“We’ve worked really hard to tell another story about our relationship with alcohol. And the alcohol industry has really, I think, picked on us in regards to ensuring that we’re trapped in the thinking of alcohol as part of who we are.

“It’s not part of who we are. It wasn’t part of who we were prior to colonisation. And returning to that state of health where it isn’t in our communities, I think, is the journey that we all want, and need, so that we remain healthy and don’t go back to a place where alcohol is thought to be who we are.”

At a time where fuel prices and the costs of living increases, Kiro said many whānau are already under pressure, and changes like these revert away from the issue.

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about, rent, food, petrol,” she said. “And now you’re adding more alcohol into the mix.”

She said addiction was a reality in many communities.

“Unless you’ve actually been around it, you don’t understand how hard it is.

“We’re not saying no alcohol forever… We’re saying stop oversaturating communities that are already struggling.

“Do I need seven liquor stores in my community? No, not really.”

She said whānau had spent years advocating for change, only to feel ignored.

“It’s a bit of a slap in the face. We did the mahi. We showed up. We told them what’s happening in our communities.

“And now it feels like they’re not listening.

“If they don’t listen now, by the time they realise something’s gone wrong, it’s going to be too late.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A sector of gamers are trading in their consoles and visual effects for real live company, turning to a centuries-old social version of entertainment

In a world where digital spaces seem to have taken over everything, it seems counter-intuitive that board games, of all things, would be making a comeback.

But those within the very much alive and growing board game playing scene in New Zealand and across the globe will tell you that the world of tokens and dice is not what it used to be.

One of them is James McFadgen, the owner of Cakes and Ladders, an Auckland based board game cafe where customers can rent space to try out any of the almost 1000-strong selection of board games collected over the years.

“A lot of people my age grew up with Scrabble, Monopoly, Connect 4 and some of them still think that’s what board games is; and they think ‘Oh, isn’t that just 15 minutes of fun and done? And then you’re kind of like: ‘oh, I don’t want to do that again’,” he said.

McFadgen first encountered the idea when on holiday with his family in Toronto, Canada.

“It was a really, really diverse crowd just having a good time and we were like, ‘wow, it would be really cool if something like that was in Auckland’.”

Things have only grown since then and there are many reasons why.

Crowdfunding and social media mean that individuals with new ideas can now bring those ideas to the marketplace without requiring connections to major corporations. The digital landscape, rather than being the final nail in the coffin for analogue gaming, is one of the primary causes for its resurgence.

“A lot of that started with a kickstarter boom… and board games really took off in that space. Previously if you wanted to get your board game funded you needed to be part of the board game publishing industry already,” said McFadgen.

But equally responsible is the human element. Spending time online is one thing, but Wellington board game enthusiasts Ezra and Emerald Mautner will be the first to tell you there is no replacement for sitting across the table from friends enjoying yourself. Board games, Ezra argues, can act as a form of socially lubricating structure, preventing the conversation from going stale.

“You’ve got this tool that you can kind of focus on for a bit and dip in and out of the conversation as you are comfortable; it really promotes a social environment especially for people who don’t necessarily fall towards that.”

The games also are a far cry from Snakes and Ladders; often complex role-playing scenarios that can take months or even years to wind up.

Emerald points out that like everything else in the modern day, Covid-19 had had an impact.

“It has to be said, Covid did, probably, assist more with the hobbies that can be tried at home… I don’t think it’s the only reason, but I think it has assisted.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Concerns are growing among health providers and whānau about the governments proposed alcohol reforms, with warnings they could increase harm in vulnerable communities.

A young māmā from East Auckland says the reforms feel like “profit over people”, and “a slap in the face,” especially for advocates who have worked hard to decrease alcohol visibility in their rohe.

Twenty-five-year-old Tiana Kiro is calling for the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Improving Alcohol Regulation) Amendment Bill to be scrapped, after it was introduced to Parliament in March by Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee and Regulation Minister David Seymour.

Kiro, who was born and raised in Glen Innes, said liquor stores were part of “everyday life” growing up and she did not want the same for her pēpi.

“For my community, alcohol is everywhere,” she told RNZ.

“When I left my whare every day to go to school, it was at every corner. It was normalised like milk, sugar, bread.”

The mother of one, who is expecting another baby, said that environment shaped the people around her.

“I don’t want that around my babies. I don’t want it normalised.”

She said the proposed reforms risked embedding that even further.

“To me, that looks like putting profit before people.”

What are the proposed reforms?

The government says the Bill aims to reduce red tape, make it easier for businesses to obtain licences, and trust adults to make their own choices.

Key changes include:

• Limiting objections to licence applications or renewals to only those living or working in the same council area, or within 1 kilometre of the proposed licensed premises.
• Allowing licence applicants to respond to objections
• Preventing licence renewals being declined due to local alcohol policies
• Expanding who can sell alcohol, including clubs and some restaurants
• Making it easier to host events with alcohol
• Allowing licensed venues to open outside normal hours for major events – like the Rugby World Cup
• Letting barbers and hairdressers offer limited alcohol without a licence
• Expanding tasting rules beyond wineries
• Simplifying rules for low and zero alcohol options
• Clarifying responsibilities for alcohol delivery services

McKee said the changes would make the system “fairer” and less bureaucratic, while Seymour said adults in a “free society” should be trusted to make their own choices.

The Bill is expected to be considered by Parliament in the coming months.

A 2024 report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research estimates alcohol-related harm costs Aotearoa around $9.1 billion annually, including about 900 deaths, 1250 cancers, and tens of thousands of hospitalisations.

Māori experience disproportionate harm and are more than twice as likely to die from alcohol-related causes than non-Māori. Māori are also more likely to be apprehended by police for an offence that involves alcohol.

Tamariki Māori are also exposed to alcohol marketing significantly more often than Pākehā children.

Research shows this is closely linked to environmental factors, including higher exposure to alcohol outlets, greater levels of deprivation, and reduced access to health services.

In a statement to RNZ, McKee said the $9.1 billion figure cited by critics is “a gross cost estimate that tells us nothing about which specific policies reduce harm or at what cost.”

“Good policy requires that discipline. We should be asking whether each rule is delivering measurable harm reduction proportionate to its costs, and removing those that aren’t.

“The single biggest driver of that figure is fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which accounts for $4.8 billion of the total. FASD is a serious harm and the government is taking it seriously, directing more of the alcohol levy toward identifying and funding cost-effective interventions to reduce it.”

McKee said licensed premises are controlled environments with trained staff and legal obligations, and making it easier for people to drink in those settings could reduce harm compared to unsupervised drinking.

She also rejected concerns the reforms would silence communities.

“Everyone will continue to maintain the ability to object to liquor licences and renewals in their local community,” she said.

“Our changes are about stopping those who are not impacted, such as people on the other side of the country, or even overseas, from objecting.”

McKee said the reforms also strengthen rules around alcohol delivery and aim to improve access to zero-alcohol alternatives.

“Every New Zealander deserves policy focused on what actually reduces harm. That is the standard these reforms are held to, and it is the right standard for all New Zealanders regardless of their background.”

But critics say the reforms weaken safeguards and prioritise economic growth over public health, especially in communities where access “is already a problem.”

“In our town centre alone, there’s like three or four liquor stores, and we’re not even that big,” Kiro said.

She also raised concerns about proposals to allow alcohol in spaces like salons and barbershops.

“You go get your nails done, you get offered a drink, then another, and then you’re driving home,” she said.

“For some people, it’s not easy to say no.

“Someone might have a few drinks and then get behind the wheel, and then who do you blame? Profit over people, that’s what it feels like.”

For kaupapa Māori provider Ki Tua o Matariki, those experiences reflect what they are hearing across their communities.

Chief executive Zoe Witika-Hawke said the reforms risk deepening existing inequities.

“These changes might seem small on their own, but together they make alcohol more present in our everyday environments, and that matters.

“We know alcohol outlets are more concentrated in lower-income communities, while access to health support is often more limited.

“That imbalance shapes the environments our whānau are living in every day.”

She said alcohol harm was not just about individual choice.

“It’s shaped by how available it is, where it shows up, and what becomes normal.”

Witika-Hawke pointed to the impact on future generations, including FASD, a lifelong condition caused by prenatal alcohol exposure.

“Every increase in alcohol availability increases risk, particularly for māmā hapū navigating stress and systemic barriers.”

Te Whatu Ora estimates 1800 to 3000 babies every year may be affected by FASD. That’s roughly 8 babies per day.

“We need to be clear, this is not about blaming māmā. Stigma has never prevented harm. Safe environments and strong support systems do.”

Witika-Hawke said communities had already been clear about what they wanted.

“They don’t want alcohol shops everywhere in their communities.”

Hāpai Te Hauora chief operating officer Jason Alexander said the reforms ignored strong evidence linking alcohol availability to harm.

“Anything that makes alcohol more accessible and visible will inevitably cause more harm,” he told RNZ.

“We know that people’s hauora is affected by the environment in which they live. If alcohol is more accessible, then people will access it more.”

He said alcohol harm extended beyond just the individual.

“Alcohol harm doesn’t happen in isolation. It is shaped by the environments we create, how widely alcohol is available, how it’s marketed, and how many outlets operate in a community.”

Restricting objections to licences, he said, limited community voice.

“That is essentially silencing those communities.”

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Andrew Galloway told RNZ the scale of alcohol harm was significant in Aotearoa, and that the reforms appeared to remove effective protections.

“It does seem like that is giving the alcohol industry a wish list of changes,” he said.

“We know that when alcohol becomes more available, these increases are strongly linked to increased hazardous drinking.”

“We also see higher rates of cancer, and we know there is no safe limit.”

Polling commissioned by Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Cancer Society found 76 percent of respondents supported limits on the number of alcohol outlets in neighbourhoods.

“So changes that reduce community say, go directly against that support,” he said.

“We’re really disappointed that this package introduces very few restrictions and more liberalisation.”

Galloway said the direction of the reforms contradicted other government strategies, including suicide prevention efforts that put an emphasis on reducing alcohol harm.

“It just makes logical sense that we would look to restrict alcohol, not make it more available.”

Pre-colonisation, Māori were among the few known societies not to have manufactured or used alcohol – or psychoactive substances.

Quoted by Rev. W J Williams, ‘In the Beginning. Period up to 1886’, “The white man and the whisky bottle came to New Zealand together.”

The Māori word for alcohol is ‘waipiro’, translating to ‘stinking water’.

Witika-Hawke told RNZ, alcohol was used as a tool to take away their land – specifically in their iwi Ngāti Paoa.

“We’ve worked really hard to tell another story about our relationship with alcohol. And the alcohol industry has really, I think, picked on us in regards to ensuring that we’re trapped in the thinking of alcohol as part of who we are.

“It’s not part of who we are. It wasn’t part of who we were prior to colonisation. And returning to that state of health where it isn’t in our communities, I think, is the journey that we all want, and need, so that we remain healthy and don’t go back to a place where alcohol is thought to be who we are.”

At a time where fuel prices and the costs of living increases, Kiro said many whānau are already under pressure, and changes like these revert away from the issue.

“We’ve got bigger things to worry about, rent, food, petrol,” she said. “And now you’re adding more alcohol into the mix.”

She said addiction was a reality in many communities.

“Unless you’ve actually been around it, you don’t understand how hard it is.

“We’re not saying no alcohol forever… We’re saying stop oversaturating communities that are already struggling.

“Do I need seven liquor stores in my community? No, not really.”

She said whānau had spent years advocating for change, only to feel ignored.

“It’s a bit of a slap in the face. We did the mahi. We showed up. We told them what’s happening in our communities.

“And now it feels like they’re not listening.

“If they don’t listen now, by the time they realise something’s gone wrong, it’s going to be too late.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Four people are in hospital after “violent” incident in Mount Albert on Friday evening.

St John said it was called to the Auckland suburb at 9.24pm. It responded with eight vehicles, including three critical care units, four transporting ambulances and an operations manager.

One person was taken to Auckland Hospital in a serious condition, along with three others who were moderately injured.

A spokesperson for the ambulance said it was liasing with other emergency services.

The nature of the incident remains unclear. RNZ has approached Police for comment.

A Phyllis Street resident, who did not want to be named, said she was woken by the sounds of a “violent” altercation involving a large group of people.

“There was so many people out there screaming and shouting at each other and they were kicking the gates and fences of random houses down Phyllis Street. It sounded like people were getting really hurt.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are continuing their search for Antoine Richard, who has been reported missing from Cromwell.

The 21-year-old was last on Saturday, 21 March around 11.45pm at the Victoria Arms Hotel on the corner of Achil Street and Melmore Terrace.

Police said Cromwell residents could expect to see water and land-based searches operating over the weekend.

Richard was last seen wearing light coloured knee length shorts, a black t-shirt and light grey rubber sandals, police said.

A grey rubber sandal was found by search teams from the shore of Lake Dunstan.

Police are appealing to anyone that may have seen a person matching that description.

People are also asked to check CCTV footage for pedestrians matching the person in the photo.

If you have relevant footage, register your camera system with Community Cam to help with the search for Richard.

If you have seen Richard or have information regarding his whereabouts, please contact police through 105 online or by phone, and use file number 260324/5771.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A retired Northland couple’s home has been damaged by flooding once again while still being repaired following the January storm.

Linda and Roger Kelsall, both 80, had only just moved back into their Ōakura home before Thursday’s rain.

Linda Kelsall told Checkpoint, the latest bout of heavy rain had left the bottom story of their home with more water damage, and a lot of sludge and damage down each side of the house.

“It’s very disappointing… nothing we could do.”

Linda Kelsall said as the rain poured down water began seeping into the house and the couple had to put down towels in the bathroom and laundry area.

“Quite a lot seeped through… the rain was quite severe and the winds were very harsh. It just kept on raining on and off all day.

“We were wondering whether to go to our friend’s house or not when it started pouring. We went outside a few times to try and divert the water a bit, but no, it was too severe.”

There was a natural spring at the back of their property which had poured into their home with the excess rain.

Someone would be coming to look at the home on Monday and assess the new damage, Linda Kelsall said.

The couple’s home had been yellow-stickered in January and since then all the gib had been replaced along with the skirting boards.

“It was getting to the stage it was ready for painting.”

The couple spent three weeks in a motel and they then rented somewhere else until they were able to move back home last week.

Linda Kelsall said they had discussed moving in the past, but talked themselves out of it as it was a lovely spot with a very close community of “lovely people who were very supportive”.

“We do wonder what’s going to happen next I guess it’s just mother nature, what can you do? Not a thing.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Heavy rain and winds continue as a deep sub-tropical low continues to make its way across the country, particularly from Northland to Bay of Plenty.

A period of large northeast waves is also expected with strong to gale-force winds.

Northland east of Kaikohe from Doubtless Bay to Whangārei remains under a red heavy rain warning, with the remainder of Northland under an orange heavy rain warning.

Auckland, Westland District, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Tasman, Canterbury and North Otago are also under orange heavy rain warnings.

Orange strong wind warnings are in place for Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Taihape, Whanganui and parts of Taranaki.

It comes after Northland and Auckland received more than a month of rain since wild weather hit the regions on Wednesday.

A number of highways and local roads were closed across the upper North Island.

Further flooding and slips were still possible, MetService warned.

Follow what happened today in our liveblog.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand