In a world of digital money, what’s the right etiquette to split the bill with friends?

December 31, 2025

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rhys Ashby, Lecturer in Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology

We’ve all been there – splitting a bill at dinner, covering a mate’s coffee, or sending a quick transfer for concert tickets. It’s part of modern social life. As money becomes increasingly digital and instantaneous, we no longer need to worry about doing maths in our heads or fussing about changing notes and coins.

Now, we’ve got an app for that. Yet the way we exchange money is changing more than just our bank balances. It’s reshaping trust, communication, and even the dynamics of friendship.

We often don’t think about it, but money does have an emotional weight. We experience what psychologists call the pain of payment, a negative emotional response to parting with money. It’s not just large amounts of money that feel uncomfortable or stressful – paying always carries some negative feeling.

So, the next time it comes to splitting the bill, what’s the best way to approach it? Just because we can ask for money with an app doesn’t mean it’s good for our friendships – sometimes there are better ways to go about it.

Money is the last taboo

Money is also one of those slightly taboo subjects, like religion or politics. When money comes up, we often prefer to change the subject, even with our partners.

While “I’ll get you next time” might seem harmless, new payment technologies like PayID, Tap and Go, and instant transfers mean there’s less excuse for delay, and more potential for tension when people don’t pay up. A quick transfer request can feel efficient and convenient to one person, but uncomfortable and impersonal to another.

When we ask for payment, we alter the social dynamic. A whole mix of psychological reactions and insecurities comes into play.

These reactions can also damage the image we want to project to others. If we see ourselves as generous and caring, we might not be comfortable asking for payment for that coffee.

Casual IOUs between friends often exist in a grey area – too small to make a fuss about, but significant enough to stick in our minds.

When we don’t mind shouting

Taking turns to pay when going out to dinner or coffee is more likely to make us happier, as we don’t mind paying for those closest to us. Spending money on experiences with others actually increases our happiness, making us feel good to give them a little treat or gift.

However, for someone we’re not close with, not splitting the bill can cause issues.

Reciprocity, the expectation of getting something in return, can be encoded as a type of debt. Being paid for, then having a social debt, can feel unpleasant. On the flip side, some people will feel they have been unfairly taken advantage of when there isn’t reciprocity.

Friends with drinks at a restaurant — In one survey, seven out of ten people said they had opted out of a social event because it was too expensive.
Negley Stockman/Unsplash

The fear of judgement can sometimes stop people being honest about financial struggles, even with a close friend. A recent survey revealed that one-third of people lied about being in a better financial situation than they really were to protect their social status.

The same survey found this can impact relationships, with one-third of people admitting they had ended a relationship over money. Moreover, nearly seven in ten people said they had opted out of a social gathering because they were concerned it was too expensive. Of those, four in ten did not tell the real reason why.

There can be a social cost

The social etiquette around money has struggled to keep pace with technology.

It can seem quite abrupt to message a close friend via an app like Beem (the Australian equivalent of Venmo) or even text to ask to be paid back.

PayID has allowed us to send money to registered mobile numbers since 2018, doing away with the barriers of swapping BSB and account numbers.

Although it’s quicker and easier than ever to transfer money, it’s the social barrier, not the admin barrier, that is really holding us back.

How to approach the bill

Ultimately, how we manage these exchanges, whether by politely reminding a friend or quietly letting it go, can reveal a lot about our social comfort zones. The closer the friendship, the more likely we are to ask in person, or just let it go.

It can help to briefly mention money upfront, for instance, “Do you mind if we split this?”. This is socially easier than a discussion after someone has paid or as you both go to pay. It feels natural to pay half the bill at a restaurant, but can feel uncomfortable to either hand over cash later or transfer money to a friend.

If we think of these exchanges as an investment, rather than a debt, we feel better about them.

So, the next time you’re anxious about asking to be paid back, think of it as an investment in a friendship or connection. That’s more likely to help you enjoy the experience and your friendship too.

Rhys Ashby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. In a world of digital money, what’s the right etiquette to split the bill with friends? – https://theconversation.com/in-a-world-of-digital-money-whats-the-right-etiquette-to-split-the-bill-with-friends-270971

New Year Honours: Xero co-founder Sir Rod Drury knighted

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Founder of accounting company Xero, Rod Drury. RNZ / Diego Opatowski

Founder of accounting company Xero, Sir Rod Drury, who has been made a Knight Companion in the New Year Honours, says he has loved using his business skills to help the community in recent years.

Drury has been made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business, the technology industry and philanthropy.

Drury co-founded Xero in 2006 and helped develop it into a billion-dollar global company.

Drury moved to Queenstown in 2019 after he retired as chief executive of Xero.

He said since then he has enjoyed using his business skills to help the community in Queenstown in a variety of ways.

“Working on getting a hospital down to the Southern Lakes, putting in a lot effort into that,” said Drury. “And working on solving the public transport problems with a new gondola, and those are projects that if you were sitting inside a normal company it would be hard to do, but if you have the time and resources to throw at thing, you can do things a lot more quickly.”

Drury has also been involved in environmental restoration through Mana Tāhuna and Project Tohu, funded equipment and facilities for Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, and supported Ngāi Tahu students and artists.

He established Southern Infrastructure to support Queenstown public infrastructure projects and Tāhuna Ride and Conservation Trust which supports regenerative planting along with creating mountain bike trails.

Drury said the accomplishment he was most proud of was twice taking his company public, with Xero listing first on the New Zealand stock market and then in Australia.

“One of the things I have learnt over time is if you take a company public it gives a whole lot of other people the opportunity for financial security,” said Drury.

“If you do list a company it creates a product that people can put money in, and they can move themselves ahead forward too.

“It’s a pretty noble cause. So of all the highlights I think creating a public company that still lives today, 20 years later, is something I am very proud of.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Drury was a titan of New Zealand business.

Christopher Luxon visits Xero’s London headquarters earlier this year. RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati

“While at the helm of Xero, it became New Zealand’s second largest tech exporter, generating thousands of jobs and supporting more than four million customers worldwide. The company were pioneers in mental health and diversity. Since 2020 he has spearheaded public good infrastructure and philanthropic projects. His entrepreneurial career has seen New Zealand benefit in the fields of education, the environment, and renewable energy.”

Sir Rod Drury is one of four new knights, and three new dames named in the New Year Honours.

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

How to party like an ancient Greek

By The Conversation -

December 31, 2025

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia

Harry Gouvas/Archaeological Museum of Nikopolis/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Parties in ancient Greece were wild, with evidence of copious alcohol and sex. That’s the popular idea that endures today.

But there were different types of parties at the time. Not all involved lots of alcohol and debauchery. Some featured moderate eating and drinking, and intellectual conversation.

So what actually went on at these parties? And how exactly do you party like an ancient Greek?

Different strokes for different folks

Ancient Greek historian Idomeneus of Lampsacus (4th–3rd century BCE) tells us the Greeks began partying in the 6th century BCE. He said that’s when two members of Athens’ ruling class started the trend:

Hippias and Hipparchus invented parties and wandering the streets drunk; this is why they were surrounded by a large number of horses and many friends.

The Greek writer Athenaeus (2nd century CE) provided more evidence for the role of alcohol at parties. He wrote that the Greek Macedonian nobleman Proteas (4th–3rd century BCE) declared at a party he once attended:

he who drinks most will be happiest.

There was also evidence of sexual debauchery at parties. Scenes of sex at parties, between male guests, and male or female prostitutes, appear on numerous vases.

Pottery showing man and woman at ancient party. — Party scene from the late 6th century BCE.
Gift of Rebecca Darlington Stoddard/Yale University Art Library

Other parties were regarded as a good venue for debating ideas with friends. In fact, a few of the greatest works of ancient Greek philosophy supposedly stem from intellectual conversations at parties.

For example, in Plato’s Republic (written around 380 BCE), the intellectual debate about the nature of justice takes place at a party hosted at the house of a wealthy man named Cephalus.

Mate, you should have been there

There’s one detailed eyewitness account of a party from the ancient Greek world. Hippolochus of Macedon (4th–3rd century BCE) left behind a letter containing a lengthy description of a party he attended.

It was the wedding party of Caranus, a wealthy Macedonian nobleman. There were 20 guests, all male.

The walls of the room are lined with white linen curtains and the room filled with couches.

When the guests enter, they receive many gifts and lie down on the couches, rather than stand up, and start drinking from bowls:

The moment they lay down, each of them was given a silver libation bowl to keep. Even before they came in, he had garlanded them all with gold tiaras, each worth five gold coins. After they drank the contents of their libation bowls, each man was given a loaf of bread on a bronze platter of Corinthian workmanship (the loaf was as big as the platter).

After guests receive more gifts, a prominent member of the group gives a toast.

By this time, says Hippolochus, “we had now happily escaped sobriety”.

Men lying down at a symposium (party) in ancient Greece — Come in, lie down and have a drink or two.
John McLinden/Flickr, CC BY-ND

The next stage of the party involves musical entertainment:

Some pipe-girls, female singers, and Rhodian harp-girls came in – they looked naked to me, although some of the guests claimed that they were wearing tunics – and after playing a prelude, they went out again. Other girls came in after them, each carrying two perfume-flasks, one made of gold and the other of silver […] and they gave a pair to all of us.

After this comes the first main dish. A “huge roast piglet” is brought in.

This is followed by more gifts: baskets and bread trays made of strips of woven ivory, as well as flower garlands and an additional pair of gold and silver perfume flasks.

After these gifts, there are more performances, including from naked female acrobats:

who did tumbling tricks among swords and blew fire from their mouths.

As the drinking continues, a chorus of 100 men started singing a wedding hymn. Then there were more dancing girls, followed by:

the clown Mandrogenes [… who] made us break into laughter repeatedly; after that he danced with his wife, who was over 80 years old.

The party ends with the guests filled with wine and drink and amazed at the expensive gifts they have received:

Finally the after-dinner tables came in, and everyone was given […] snacks in ivory baskets, along with flat-cakes of every kind […] along with the special cake-containers for each. After this we got up and left.

Hippolochus doesn’t mention the guests at this party playing games. Some parties, however, included games such as kottabos. This involved throwing dregs of wine at targets on top of poles to try to dislodge them.

Some ideas for your next party

You now have a blueprint for your next party, whether it features bowls of alcohol, lavish gifts of gold and silver, naked fire-breathing acrobats, or intellectual conversation.

Just remember one rule: absolutely no togas. The ancient Greeks would’ve raised an eyebrow – and then sent you to Rome.

Greeks wore a chiton (a type of tunic) and himation (a mantle or wrap, sometimes worn over a chiton). None of these looked much like a bedsheet.

Konstantine Panegyres does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. How to party like an ancient Greek – https://theconversation.com/how-to-party-like-an-ancient-greek-270060

Literature from Islamic societies embraced homoerotic love until the 19th century. What happened?

By The Conversation -

December 31, 2025

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Morteza Hajizadeh, Hajizadeh, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

An image of The Book of Kings shows a couple embracing with servants around them. Library of Congress, CC BY-SA

For centuries, literature from Islamic regions, especially Iran, celebrated male homoerotic love as a symbol of beauty, mysticism and spiritual longing. These attitudes were particularly pronounced during the Islamic Golden Age, from the mid-8th to mid-13th centuries.

But this literary tradition gradually disappeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, under the influence of Western values and colonisation.

Islamic law and poetic licence

Attitudes towards homosexuality in early Islamic societies were complex. From a theological perspective, homosexuality started to become frowned upon from the 7th century, when the Quran was said to have been revealed to the Islamic Prophet Mohammad.

However, varying religious attitudes and interpretations allowed for discretion. Upper-class medieval Islamic societies often accepted or tolerated homosexual relationships. Classical literature from Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Syria suggests any prohibition of homosexuality was often treated with leniency.

Even in cases where Islamic law condemned homosexuality, jurists permitted poetic expressions of male–male love, emphasising the fictional nature of verse. Composing homoerotic poetry allowed the literary imagination to flourish within moral boundaries.

The classic Arabic, Turkish and Persian literature of the time featured homoerotic poetry portraying sensual love between males. This tradition was sustained by poets such as the Arab Abu Nuwas, the Persian masters Saadi, Hafiz and Rumi, and the Turkish poets Bâkî and Nedîm – all celebrating the beauty and allure of male beloveds.

In Persian poetry, masculine pronouns could be used to describe both male and female beloveds. This linguistic ambiguity that further legitimised literary homoeroticism.

A form of mystical desire

In Sufism – a form of mystical Islamic belief and practice that emerged during the Islamic Golden Age – themes of male–male love were often used as a symbol of spiritual transformation. As professor of history and religious studies Shahzad Bashir shows, Sufi narratives frame the male body as the primary conduit of divine beauty.

Religious authority in Sufism is transmitted through physical closeness between a spiritual guide, or sheikh (Pir Murshid), and his disciple (Murid).

The sheikh/disciple relationship enacted the lover–beloved paradigm fundamental to Sufi pedagogy, wherein disciples approached their guides with the same longing, surrender and ecstatic vulnerability found in Persian love poetry.

Literature suggests Sufi communities developed around a form of homoerotic affection, using beauty and desire as metaphors for accessing the hidden reality.

Thus, the saintly master became a mirror of divine radiance, and the disciple’s yearning signified the soul’s ascent. In this framework, embodied male love became a vehicle for spiritual annihilation and rebirth within the Sufi path.

The legendary love between Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni and his male slave Ayaz exemplifies this. Overwhelmed by seeing the beauty of a naked Ayaz in a bath, Sultan Mahmud confesses:

When I saw only your face, I knew nothing of your limbs. Now I see them all, and my soul burns with a hundred fires. I do not know which limb to love more.

In other stories, Ayaz willingly offers himself to die at Mahmud’s hands. This symbolises spiritual transformation through the annihilation of the ego.

This 17th century work shows the Sultan Mahmud (in red robe) to the right, shaking the hand of a sheykh, with Ayaz (in green robe) standing behind him.
Wikimedia

The relationship between Rumi and Shams Tabrizi, both 13th-century Persian Sufis, is another example of male–male mystical love.

In one account from their disciples, the pair reunited after a long period of spiritual transformation, embraced each other, and then fell at each other’s feet.

Rumi’s poetry blurs spiritual devotion and erotic attraction, while Shams challenges the idea of idealised purity:

Why look at the reflection of the moon in a bowl of water, when you can look at the thing itself in the sky?

Homoerotic themes were so common in classical Persian poetry that Iranian critics claimed

Persian lyrical literature is essentially a homosexual literature.

The rise of Western values

By the late 19th century, writing poetry about male beauty and desire became taboo, not so much on religious injunctions, but because of Western influences.

British and French colonial powers imported a Victorian morality, heteronormativity and anti-sodomy laws to countries such as Iran, Turkey and Egypt. Under their influence, homoerotic traditions in Persian literature were stigmatised.

Colonialism amplified this shift, framing homoeroticism as “unnatural”. This was further reinforced by the strict administration of Islamic laws, as well as nationalist and moralist agendas.

Influential publications such as Molla Nasreddin (published from 1906 to 1933) introduced Western norms and mocked same-sex desire, conflating it with paedophilia.

Iranian nationalist modernisers spearheaded campaigns to purge homoerotic texts, framing them as relics of a “pre-modern” past. Even classical poets such as Saadi and Hafez were reframed or censored in Iranian literary histories from 1935 onward.

A millennium of poetic libertinism gave way to silence, and censorship erased male love from literary memory.

Morteza Hajizadeh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Literature from Islamic societies embraced homoerotic love until the 19th century. What happened? – https://theconversation.com/literature-from-islamic-societies-embraced-homoerotic-love-until-the-19th-century-what-happened-266357

New Year Honours: ‘Fire still burns’ for Sir Scott Dixon

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Sir Scott Dixon. David Allio/Icon Sportswire / PHOTOSPORT

New Zealand’s most successful modern motorsport champion has been knighted – but Sir Scott Dixon is still a bit uncomfortable with his new title.

“Just Scott is fine.

“I thought it was maybe some spam or something,” the Indycar icon told RNZ.

“But then it instantly made me reminisce of a young Scott starting out, my dad and mum starting me on go-karts at the age of seven and then ballooning to what has become and what I’ve been able to be a part of throughout my career.

“I’ve been called a lot of things, but I never thought that ‘Sir’ was going to be one of them.”

Sir Scott has claimed six IndyCar Championships and three 24 hour of Daytona victories.

2008 Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon drinks the milk. LAT Photographic / PHOTOSPORT

He won North America’s greatest race – the Indianapolis 500 – in 2008.

He has competed for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams since 2001, the longest tenure for a driver in the team’s history.

Of the current IndyCar drivers, Dixon has the most wins with 59 victories, as well as the record of most career IndyCar podiums with 142. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in March 2024.

“I think what has enabled me through my career is such a widespread outlook on life. I’ve been lucky enough to have the longevity. But outside of that, whether it’s the community outreach programmes, it really makes you look at your own life and how fortunate you are and how lucky I’ve been.”

Outside of motorsport, he supports various charities and is an ambassador for CanTeen, St Jude and Teen Cancer America.

But he is not planning to leave the Indy scene anytime soon.

“I’d really like another Indy 500 or two. It’s still the largest one day sporting event in the world and I am going for title number seven, which will tie me with the amazing A.J. Foyt, the legend of our sport. The fire still burns strong, the passion is very strong at the moment.”

Dixon will spend a rare summer in Aotearoa to close out 2025 ahead of his 25th year in IndyCar.

“It’s so good to be back. The kids haven’t been back for about three years. We’re definitely going to have to start spending a lot more time in New Zealand.

“I miss the Big Ben mince and cheese, and the L&P. So it’s a good time to chill with some barbecues and all that kind of stuff. And have a hot Christmas. Typically we’re in the Northern Hemisphere so it’s either snowing or cold and damp in the UK.”

Scott Dixon after winning his sixth Indycars championship. Photosport / 2020 Michael L. Levitt

As for what lies beyond 2026 and a potential fulltime return home?

“I think it’s all about the right opportunities at the right time for me. I’ve wholeheartedly decided to focus on racing at the forefront.

“I think if you start looking into too much other stuff, then it’s a distraction and you’re not giving it your all.

“As for as coming back, we’ve always had a foothold in New Zealand. I love home and I’m always so proud to fly the flag of New Zealand wherever I can and hopefully produce some good results for it.

“I’m a proud Kiwi man and for sure at some stage we’ll be based out of New Zealand.”

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

New Year Honours: Recognition for Dame Coral Shaw – Teacher, lawyer, judge and head of a royal commission

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dame Coral Shaw has been recognised for her work, among other things, as a Commissioner on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Libby Kirkby-McLeod/RNZ

Teacher, lawyer, judge and head of a royal commission – Dame Coral Shaw’s career has always been about giving back to those most vulnerable.

The 78-year-old has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and is enjoying her second retirement, volunteering at her local Citizens Advice Bureau.

The first time she tried to retire, she was appointed a commissioner of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Partway through she was made chair.

The findings, released in June 2024, ran to 2500 pages and catalogued a litany of abuse inside state and religious institutions between 1950 and 1999.

She told RNZ she was accepting the honour on behalf of the various organisations she had worked with.

“I hope just by having this honour, I can continue to advocate for the systemic changes needed [that] are vital if we’re not to repeat the errors of the past.”

New Years Honours are shrouded in secrecy with strict embargoes being enforced until the last day of the year.

So, after learning she was being considered for the honour, Dame Coral kept it a secret from family – even from her husband. She said her family’s love and pride would have resulted in the secret getting out.

“I’ve kept it entirely to myself … In a way it has been very difficult, but in another way it has kept it very easy because I haven’t had to explain myself … just a few white lies about where I was going and what I was doing,” she laughed.

Coral Shaw during the Abuse in Care inquiry. Supplied / Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care

From Lyttleton to the big leagues

Dame Coral was born in Lyttelton in 1947 – before it was “the trendy place it is now”.

Her father, a returned soldier, married her mother who worked in the family drapery business on the main street.

“It was a very hard working life. Mum worked in the shop and dad was a carrier.”

The eldest of three children, she loved music and sang in the Lyttelton Main School choir.

“I also learned to be rather resilient because, let’s say, it wasn’t the most genteel of schools and I had to learn to hold my own in that environment. But, of course, I learned about difference and I learned about people who came from different lifestyles.”

After completing her education at Christchurch Girls High School, she spent a year volunteering in the Solomon Islands before returning to New Zealand to study teaching where she met her now husband.

While teaching in Thames, Dame Coral came across a newspaper article about a woman who studied law late in life.

“I thought: ‘Hmm, that’s something I’m interested in.”

She did some law papers by correspondence.

“I realised I really enjoyed that world of analysis, probing. The rigour of the law really appealed to me.”

The family moved to Auckland where her three children went to school and Dame Coral completed her degree.

Her law practice was varied, working with refugees and doing some treaty work with Māori.

In 1992, Dame Coral was made a judge, sitting in the busy, urban West Auckland District Court.

“Nothing really prepared me for the nature and volume of work in West Auckland.”

She soon saw areas in the justice system that needed immediate attention.

“I read once that to be a teacher you had to be an optimist because you stand in front of a group of children and you think, ‘what can I do to make their lives better and fulfilling and help them learn?’ So, you’re always looking for the future, for hope for them. And I think I carry that into my judicial work and my whole life, really.”

Dame Coral was instrumental in the founding of the Waitakere Anti-Violence Essential Services (WAVES) Trust which provided a voice for victims in court.

And with the help of the government and the local community, it raised funds and employed a “victim advocate” who supported victims.

Together, with later chief District Court Judge Russell Johnson, it created a fast-track court list for family violence cases and one of the first anti-violence court programmes.

“We gave balanced justice – with all the rights to the defendant to defend their case if they wished, to provide therapeutic programmes if they needed it but mostly that the victims felt supported through the process.”

The other area was young Māori men coming to court with little support or advocacy.

“They were just being shunted off to prison or periodic detention and it seemed when I spoke to them, it was just going straight over their heads.”

Dame Coral called Pita Sharples at the nearby Hoani Waititi Marae.

The phone call was the first step in hammering out an alternative marae-based justice programme that connected defendants to tikanga and lessons in te reo Māori and challenged them to improve themselves.

From there, Dame Carrol was asked to fill in on the bench of the Employment Court. She was the first woman to be appointed to the role.

“I wasn’t drawn [into it], I was kidnapped … it was a gradual, gentle kidnapping into the world which I was very happy to do.”

She went on to sit on an internal UN tribunal that heard disputes raised by the organisation’s staff of approximately 60,000.

The job took her to Geneva, New York and Nairobi while still being able to live in New Zealand.

After seven years, Dame Coral thought she was retiring.

“I didn’t want to become stale … and that’s when my real work started.”

She was appointed a commissioner of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and was made chair when Sir Anand Satyanand resigned.

Dame Coral Shaw and others at the unveiling of Validation Park. RNZ / Nate McKinnon

The inquiry heard hundreds of submissions from survivors of physical and sexual abuse in state and religious organisations.

“Many tears were shed, both by the commissioners and by the people, but what really overwhelmed that pain was the privilege of hearing … my wonderment at their courage and determination to finally be heard.”

She said although it was exhausting, it was worth it as the commission built a picture. That picture showed systemic failings of state and religious institutions to protect young people between 1950 and 1999.

“Every time I heard somebody I was thinking ‘what was I doing at that time? Where was I living?’ I was living a comfortable, loving, protected, and fulfilling life with lots of potential…

“And yet just down the road – sometimes in my school or in my church or in my community – there were people who were not having this life that I was having. And in fact they were being subjected to cruelty, violence, degradation, racism and all the rest.”

She said that revelation was a source of great shame.

Those experiences, were born out of post-war New Zealand where if a child was not being cared for at home, the church or state would step in.

“So the context was a rather narrow society that was trying its best to look after children but which was failing terribly because the great lesson was the state was no parent, the state should never be the parent to children.”

The inquiry found that at least 200,000 had been abused and many more neglected in state and religious institutions. It found that both state and faith-based institutions had failed to respond to abuse.

The commission called for widespread law reform and an overhaul of institutions.

A year and-a-half on, Dame Coral said despite some positive changes, many of the same problems remained.

“If you go into the records of the Independent Children’s Monitor, the rates of abuse remain high, that the proportion of Māori children who are still ‘in care’, still being abused and are still in that pipeline of poverty, disentitlement, ‘care’ and into the prison system is still happening,” Dame Coral said.

The inquiry’s report resulted in a formal apology from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in which he told survivors a new independent redress scheme would be created and promised the government would “do the right thing by you”.

However, there was no such scheme in the 2025 budget. Instead, the government increased redress payments for survivors by about $10,000 bringing the average to $30,000 – about a third of what survivors in Australia got.

Dame Coral said the report was “a pathway of hope” for survivors.

“We’ve got to keep momentum on changing the system that led to the abuse in the first place.”

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

‘Literally the worst nightmare’: Hundreds-strong hunt for beloved runaway horse

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Erin and her horse Scooter. Supplied

Auckland rider Erin Swainston knew she had to let go of the reins, or be crushed by her beloved horse when it lost its footing.

“Waves were kind of throwing us around, Scooter was thrashing and trying to get his feet up underneath him and started rolling a bit.”

All she could see after the sudden fall into the surf, and her horse Scooter’s desperate efforts to right himself, was his belly and feet.

“And I was like, oh my goodness, if I don’t let him go he won’t be able to really get up on his own and he could potentially end up rolling onto me,” she told RNZ.

“So I needed to let him go, so then I did.”

Swainston and Scooter were with a friend and her own horse on Auckland’s Muriwai Beach on Sunday for what would be the start of a 24-hour ordeal.

It would involve hundreds of people online and on the ground, frantically spreading the word and searching the beach and forest.

The weather was good, “a lovely day”, and Swainston had guided Scooter into the waves so he could cool down his legs.

“And then all of a sudden this massive rogue wave came out and hit us,” Swainston said.

They tried to get out as quickly as they could but the large wave had spooked 14-year-old Scooter and the pair crashed into water.

The waves, eventually, pushed Swainston away from the horse she’s had for seven years – the horse she calls her boy.

He took off on his own in fright.

Beloved horse Scooter before he went missing. Supplied

“Honestly it was the scariest thing, I felt my panic just rising and rising and rising… he was just so panicked that he just started to run around and then he started heading towards the dunes, and I was like ‘oh God, oh God, oh God… and then he just, he eventually found himself on the other side of the dunes.”

Swainston’s friend went after him and followed Scooter’s tracks for as long as she could, but to no avail.

Scooter was gone, and Swainston did not know if they would ever be reunited.

The search with hundreds online and scores on the ground

What began as a few desperate messages snowballed into a groundswell of support and help, her lost horse took over social media.

Swainston, who is president of the Massey Pony Club, messaged close friends and family asking if they could come to help look for him.

She put a message into the club committee’s online chat, and club members soon joined the hunt.

“And then posts were starting to go up as well on social media, like my friends were posting on social media and they started going into community groups and things like that as well, so then it just started really growing and growing and growing,” Swainston said.

She was blown away by the response, soon there was a Facebook group created to help find Scooter with about 200 members with many joining the search on the ground.

About 150 were searching on Muriwai Beach and combing nearby Woodhill Forest.

Posts with photos of Scooter, pleading for any sightings, kept popping up on social media.

“Honestly, how the community banded together, like the horsey world, the horsey community and the locals and non-locals and the iwi, and everybody that came together and also, like, how much awareness everybody had about it, everyone throughout the country knew about it and people from Aussie and the UK knew about it,” Swainston said.

“It was so scary because we went for over 24 hours without spottings, the only thing we really found was fresh horse poo on the ground which, we’re like, ‘oh this is a good sign’, but there was no sightings for hours.

“And so I was starting to really lose hope, this is such a massive area, there’s so many places he could have gone,” Swainston said.

“But then, I think it was really pure luck and just a miracle really, I was trying to find him, a needle in a haystack.”

Scooter is found

Two women among those looking for Scooter in Woodhill Forest, Liz and Rachel, found him down one of its trails in some undergrowth, and he came rushing down a path.

Rachel and Liz, the women who found Scooter, leading him out. Supplied

It was only about 20 minutes from an equestrian park but roughly two hours or so from where this story started at Muriwai Beach, Swainston estimated.

“Once they’re scared they go into full flight mode and they just run blind for hours so then once he kind of regained a little bit of sense he would have been just really lost and turned around, so he wouldn’t have known how to get back, so he just kind of kept wandering around really.”

The two women led Scooter out, and a call was made to Swainston’s mother.

Swainston, still desperately searching for him herself, was in the forest on an e-bike at the time.

“So then my mum just told me ‘he’s back, they’ve got him’, and honestly we both started bursting into tears when we found out that news.”

Swainston called local iwi who picked her up and drove her and her friends through the forest.

“And once I got there, I started crying again, put the halter on him and walked him back,” she said.

“Every horse owner knows it, it’s literally the worst nightmare that you could ever be in.”

Scooter doing well

Swainston said riders and their horses had a special bond and connection, and that they were loved like children.

“He’s like my heart horse, when I lost him it was just the most devastating thing ever and then going the whole 24 hours with no sightings, it was really hard to kind of keep hold of hope and stay strong, and then I had maybe two hours sleep that night, it was exhausting.”

Scooter after he was safely back and reunited. Supplied

But what Swainston called a nightmare was now over.

Scooter had been checked by a vet and was in good condition with no cuts, no scrapes and no dehydration, despite his ordeal.

“He’s great, he was super happy in his paddock grazing with his friends, he gave me a little neigh when I walked up to him and then got him out.”

He has been pampered with a massage rug back at the pony club.

Swainston said she and Scooter would probably not venture into waves again.

“We might just stick to the estuary or the lakes.”

She wanted to thank the hundreds of people who spread the word or tried to find him, saying she and her mother could not thank them enough.

“The kindness, time and care shown going above and beyond in rain and shine meant more to us than we could ever explain,” she said.

“We are incredibly grateful.”

She also said the sharing of posts and messages being sent helped them hold onto hope when it felt impossible to do so.

“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you again.”

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2026 New Year Honours: Seven New Zealanders named Knights and Dames

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Professor Graham Le Gros, Coral Shaw, Dorothy Spotswood and Scott Dixon are four of the seven being named Dames and Knights. RNZ

Seven new Knights and Dames have been named on the New Year Honours list.

They include Dames Helen Danesh-Meyer, Carol Shaw and Dorothy Spotswood and Sirs Scott Dixon, Rod Drury, Graham Le Gros and Chris Parkin.

They were among 177 people who received recognition in the honours list this year.

Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer became a Dame Companion to the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to opthalmology , with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon noting she was ranked among the top ten glaucoma specialists in the world this year.

Professor and surgeon Helen Danesh-Meyer was now a Dame. (File photo) Supplied

“Her contribution is significant globally,” Luxon said.

Dame Carol Shaw was recognised for her services to public service, the judiciary and the community. She chaired the Royal Commission of Inquiry into historical abuse in state care and in the care of faith-based institutions from 2019 to 2024.

She had been involved with voluntary initiatives including prisoner rehabilitation, services to seniors, marae based and local community services and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

“Dame Coral’s work on the Royal Commission of Inquiry was the culmination of a lifetime of service to the judiciary and the community. She has chaired sector reviews of the Human Rights Commission and Fire and Emergency New Zealand and has served as a judge on the District Court, Employment Court and United Nations Disputes Tribunal,” Luxon said.

Coral Shaw at a hearing of the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care inquiry. (File photo) RNZ / Patrice Allen

Dame Dorothy Spotswood was recognised for services to philanthropy and together with her partner, Sir Mark Dunajtschik, had contributed to causes and charities for more than 50 years.

The couple contributed $53m to build the Wellington’s Children’s Hospital and a further $10m for the Dorothy Spotswood Charity Hospital.

Sir Scott Dixon, one of New Zealand’s most successful drivers, was recognised for services to motorsport. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in the US in 2024 and outside of racing regularly supported various charities.

“Sir Scott is a hero to young New Zealand motorsport fans and his work fundraising for children’s charities is invaluable,” Luxon said.

Scott Dixon celebrating his Indycar win in Detroit. (File photo) Indycar

Sir Rod Drury, the founder of global small business accounting platform, Xero, was recognised for services to business, the technology industry and philanthropy.

Luxon said he was a “titan” of New Zealand business and through Xero, he had generated thousands of jobs and supported more than four million customers worldwide.

“The company were pioneers in mental health and diversity. Since 2020 he has spearheaded public good infrastructure and philanthropic projects. His entrepreneurial career has seen New Zealand benefit in the fields of education, the environment, and renewable energy.”

Founder of Xero Rod Drury. (File photo) RNZ / Diego Opatowski

Professor Graham Le Gros, was named a Sir for his services to medical science. He had been director of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research from 1994 until 2024.

The institute developed major new programmes in cancer immunotherapy, vaccine development, inflammatory disease and RNA technologies.

Luxon said he had helped shape a generation of scientific leadership in New Zealand.

Sir Chris Parkin was recognised for his services to philanthropy and the arts. He established the Parkin Drawing Prize which was an art competition which had awarded more than $30,000 in prize money to mostly emerging artists and was the principal financial supporter of the arts funding website Boosted which had raised $16m to fund more than 2000 projects.

Chris Parkin was now a Sir due to his services to philanthropy and the arts. (File photo) Photography By Woolf

“To Dame Helen, Dame Coral and Dame Dorothy – and to Sir Scott, Sir Rod, Sir Graham and Sir Chris, thank you for your dedication, hard work, and service to New Zealand,” Luxon said.

“I would like to congratulate all 177 recipients of this year’s New Year honours and on behalf of the thousands of people who have benefited from your efforts, please accept my personal thanks.”

Breakdown of Honours list

Of the 177 recipients this year, 55 percent of them were men and 45 percent were women.

The largest area of contribution was community, voluntary and local services.

Most of the recipients were from Auckland (43 percent) and some of the prominent names included racer Scott Dixon (KNZM), women’s health academic Professor Bev Lawton (CNZM), investigative journalist Donna Chisholm (MNZM), former All Black Eroni Clarke (MNZM), former Black Caps batter Martin Guptill (MNZM) and Commodore Andrew Gilchrist Brown (DSD) who led the recovery operation of the wreck of the Manawanui.

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‘Quite heavy in localised areas ‘: More rain on the way for New Year’s Eve

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Festival goers at Rhythm and Vines are off to a soggy start after the region was wiped with heavy rain. Lucy Parkinson

Much of the country is in for another rainy day on Wednesday, after severe wind and rain battered the North Island and upper South Island.

Tuesday’s wild weather downed trees and powerlines, causing road closures and widespread power cuts.

MetService meteorologist Alec Holden said a calmer day was in store, but showers were still forecast for both islands.

“It does look like they could be quite heavy in localised areas all the way up from Northland in a seatbelt down through the spine of the North Island all the way to the bottom of the North Island.”

A heavy rain warning is in place for the ranges of Tasman District west of Motueka from 6am Wednesday, heading into Thursday. Thunderstorms are also possible.

MetService predicted 100-130 mm of rain for the region, with peak rates of 10-25 mm/h on Wednesday morning, and again from Wednesday night.

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New Year Honours 2026 – the full list

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Supplied/ Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Here is the full list of everyone receiving a 2026 New Year Honour:

Dame Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM):

DANESH-MEYER, Professor Helen Victoria, CNZM – for services to ophthalmology

SHAW, Coral May – for services to public service, the judiciary and the community

SPOTSWOOD, Dorothy Myrtle – for services to philanthropy

Knight Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (KNZM):

DIXON, Scott Ronald Glyndwr, CNZM – for services to motorsport

DRURY, Rodney Kenneth (Rod) – for services to business, the technology industry and philanthropy

LE GROS, Professor Graham Stephen, CNZM – for services to medical science

PARKIN, Christopher Wilton (Chris), CNZM – for services to philanthropy and the arts

Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM):

BARCLAY, Gregor John (Greg) – for services to sports governance

BATEUP, Neil Frank, ONZM – for services to the rural sector

COMER, Leith Pirika, QSO – for services to Māori, governance and education

DE VILLIERS, Professor Charl Johannes – for services to accountancy

HAYWARD, Dr Bruce William, MNZM – for services to geology, particularly micropaleontology

LAWTON, Professor Beverley-Anne (Bev), ONZM – for services to women’s health

MARTIN, Distinguished Professor Gaven John – for services to mathematics and education

MOUGHAN, Distinguished Professor Paul James – for services to science

QUINN, Anthony Zan (Tony) – for services to motorsport and the community

ROA, Professor Thomas Charles (Tom), JP – for services to Māori language and education

TAULELEI, Rachel Emere, MNZM – for services to business, Māori and governance

TROTT, Donald Stanley Mackintosh, ONZM, JP – for services to opera

Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM):

ALLAN, Reverend Dr Patricia Ann – for services to survivors of abuse

CARR, Graham – for services to the deer industry and the community

CORNER, Matthew David (David) – for services to people with intellectual and learning disabilities

COWAN, Christina (Chrissie) – for services to Māori, particularly blind and low vision people

DAVIES, Brian Rex – for services to motorsport

DIXON, Rodney Phillip Mathew (Rod) – for services to athletics

DOWNING, Lloyd Walker – for services to agriculture and governance

EGAN, Anthony Richard (Tony) – for services to the agricultural industry and the community

ESPINER, Deborah Ann – for services to people with disabilities and education

GARDINER, Ian Donald – for services to the communications industry and mountain safety

GERMANN, Stewart Lloyd – for services to franchise law

GREENWOOD, Neville Charles – for services to the sheep industry

HAMILTON, Judith Helen – for services to rowing

HARMAN, Richard Michael Arthur – for services to journalism and broadcasting

HART, Julie Anne – for services to women and victims of family violence

HARTNETT, Frances Margaret (Fran) – for services to people with disabilities

HAZLEHURST, Sandra Glenis – for services to local government

HETARAKA, Te Warihi Kokowai – for services to Māori and art

HODDER, Jack Edward, KC – for services to the law

HOOPER, Shirley Gail – for services to netball and artistic swimming

HOTERENE, Waihoroi Paraone (Waihoroi Shortland) – for services to Māori and Māori language education

LLOYD, Lynley Elizabeth (Lyn) – for services to renal nutrition

MACFARLANE, Andrew Webster (Andy) – for services to the deer industry

MACLEOD, Professor Roderick Duncan (Rod), MNZM – for services to palliative care

MILLER, James Bruce – for services to corporate governance

MOLLER, Lorraine Mary, MBE – for services to athletics

MUELLER, Professor Dr Jens Helmut Friedrich, MNZM – for services to education

PORTER, Suzanne Jane – for services to the arts and event management

POTTER, Iain George – for services to sport and health

POWELL, Tenby George Bolland, ED – for services to business, governance and humanitarian aid

RITCHIE, Karen (Karen née Campbell) – for services to people with HIV/AIDS and Rainbow communities

ROBINSON, Cecilia Charlotte Louise – for services to business and women

SAEID, Dr Mohammad Arif (Arif) – for services to refugees and youth

SMITH, Valerie Christine (Val) – for services to outdoor bowls

WRIGHT, Paul Bertram – for services to the real estate industry and philanthropy

Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM:

BURGESS, Kevin John – for services to governance, the community and sport

CHISHOLM, Donna Elise – for services to journalism

CLARKE, Eroni – for services to the Pacific community and rugby

CULLEN, Peter John – for services to law, governance and youth

DIXON, Rosemary Helen – for services to schools debating

DRUMMOND, Roger Bruce Douglas – for services to rugby and Māori

DYNES, Dr Robyn Ann – for services to agricultural science

EADE, Dr Lorraine Shirley (Lorr) – for services to Māori, governance and the community

EDGAR, Judene Louise, JP – for services to governance, local government and the community

EYNON-RICHARDS, Jane Frances, JP – for services to the community

FARRAR, Jade Carlo – for services to people with disabilities and the Pacific community

FORRESTER, Beverley Riverina – for services to the wool and fashion industries

FRASER, Deborah Kaye (Deb Fraser-Komene) – for services to mental health and youth

GEDDES, Donald George (Don) – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Land Search and Rescue and the community

GILLIES, Malcolm John – for services to business

GUPTILL, Martin James – for services to cricket

HADLEE, Martin John – for services to the community

HARRINGTON, Janine Michelle – for services to education

HARRISON, David John – for services to the insurance industry and the community

HOBBS, John Gordon (Jack) – for services to horticulture

HOBBS, Susan (Sue) – for services to people with disabilities

HOPE, Gerald Anthony – for services to local government, business and the community

JOHANSEN, Kāren Eirene, JP – for services to education and human rights

KENNETT, Richard William, JP – for services to conservation and Search and Rescue

KERR, Jillian Anne (Jill) – for services to choral music and music education

KING, Dr Murray Alexander – for services to transport, logistics and railway heritage

LIMACHER, Mark Henri – for services as a restaurateur and to the hospitality industry

MAFILE’O, Professor Tracie Ailong – for services to Pacific and tertiary education

MASKELL, Terence Ronald – for services to choral music

MCARTHUR, Nichola Rosemary (Nicky) – for services to conservation and the community

MCKEE, Malcolm Ian – for services to sport

MCMILLAN, Dawn Mary – for services to children’s literature

MILFORD, Katharine Eleanor (Kate) – for services to people with aphasia

NAHU, Jennifer Louise (Jenny) – for services to rugby league

NAPIER, Vivien Lewanna (Viv), JP – for services to local government and the community

NEVILLE, Dr Stephen John – for services to gerontology research and seniors

NIELSEN, Kevin – for services to the community and people with disabilities

OLIVER, Dr Caroline Ann – for services to cancer research and the community

PARATA, Hori Te Moanaroa – for services to conservation and Māori

PASLEY, Alexandra Anne (Sandy) – for services to education

PLUCK, David Stephen – for services to education

POKAIA, Andrew Ruawhitu (Pāpā Ruawhitu) – for services to Māori and education

POOLE, Gaye Annette – for services to the performing arts and education

POULTER, Ian Douglas – for services to education

POWAR, Ravinder Singh, JP – for services to ethnic communities

ROBINSON, John Dempster – for services to orienteering

ROBINSON, Valerie Jean – for services to orienteering

ROUGHAN, John Francis – for services to journalism and the community

SAEID, Dr Fahima – for services to refugees

SHALDERS, Bruce Douglas – for services to railway heritage

SMITH, Leighton Irwin – for services to broadcasting

SMITH, Mokafetu (Matafetu) – for services to Pacific art

STIRLING, Arihia Amiria, QSM, JP – for services to education and Māori

STOCKLEY, Professor Andrew Peter – for services to schools debating

TAN, Dr Audrey Melanie – for services to mathematics education

THOMPSON, Gail Henrietta Maria – for services to Māori and conservation

TUTEAO, Helena Audrey – for services to people with disabilities and Māori

WATTS, Senior Constable Grant William – for services to the New Zealand Police and youth

WELCH, William Ian (Ian) – for services to rail heritage

WHITING, Elizabeth Robyn – for services to costume design

WHITTLE, Gary Selwyn – for services to rugby league

WICKENS, Sarah Jane – for services to business

ZINTL, Shirley Jane (Jane) – for services to youth

Companions of the King’s Service Order (KSO):

HARAWIRA, Mark Joseph (Joe) – for services to Māori education, arts and conservation

NICKELS, Kerry Ann – for services to the Red Cross

The King’s Service Medal (KSM)

ANGLAND, Carol – for services to the community and theatre

BIGHAM, Bonita Joanne – for services to local government and Māori

BRENSSELL, Douglas James – for services to the community

BRUCE, Robyn Ann – for services to youth and sport

BURGESS, John Randall (JR) – for services to the community

BURGESS, Marin – for services to heritage preservation and education

CALDWELL, Emily Myra (Myra) – for services to the community and music

CARR, Marjorie Eleanor – for services to netball and the community

CLAUSEN, Lloyd Bertram, MStJ – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community

COOKE, Edwin Frederick Ruthven (Ed) – for services to music

COOKE, Juliet Anne – for services to music

COOPER, Helen Rose – for services to the community

CRAIG, Richard John – for services to the Coastguard

DINNINGTON, Anneke Jacoba – for services to seniors and the community

DRAKE, David Alyn – for services to the community

EADEN, John Matthew – for services to the arts

ELLIOT, Graeme Leslie – for services to the community and outdoor recreation

ELLIS, Marion Kennedy – for services to hockey

FLETCHER, Elizabeth Mary (Libby) – for services to the community, particularly wastewater advocacy

FULLER, William Robert, JP – for services to the community

GAMBITSIS, Leonidas Angelos (Leo) – for services to the Greek community

GOUDIE, Trevor James – for services to theatre and the community

GRANTHAM, Jocelyn Mary – for services to education and the community

GUNDRY, Sheridan Isobel Patrice – for services to historical research and heritage preservation

HARRIS, Paul David, JP – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community

HENRY, Elizabeth Janet (Liz) – for services to the community and sport

JURLINA, David John – for services to rugby and the community

JURLINA, Nada Linda – for services to rugby and the community

KAUR, Gurpreet – for services to the Indian community

KNOWLES, Barbara Joy, JP – for services to the community and to Members of Parliament

MAUNDER, Peter Alan – for services to athletics

MAUNDER, Sylvia Mary Joyce – for services to athletics

MILLS, Laurie Owen – for services to theatre

MISTRY, Mohan Durlabh – for services to the Indian community

MYER, Gordon Leonard, JP – for services to the community

NICHOLAS, Aere Anne, JP – for services to the community

O’ROURKE, Patrick Gerard – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community

PINFOLD, Dr Tania Anne – for services to youth health

POLIMA, Enatuleni Ikitoa (Ena) – for services to the Niuean community

ROBERTSON, Jacqueline (Jackie) – for services to science education

SCOTT, Stanley Donald (Don) – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and civil defence

SHARP, Christopher (Chris) – for services to Search and Rescue and outdoor recreation

SHAW, Ruth Philliss – for services to conservation

SINCLAIR, Dr Leonie Kaye – for services to health

SINGH, Harjinder (Harjinder Singh Basiala), JP – for services to the Punjabi community

SMITH, Brian Douglas – for services to rowing

TALAMAIVAO, Cheryl (Sailauama Cheryl), JP – for services to the Pacific community and education

TOLEAFOA, The Reverend Wayne Saunoa Moegagogo, JP – for services to Pacific communities

TOMS, Paul Gregory (Tomsie) – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and football

TROW, Russel Walter – for services to wildlife conservation

TROW, Teresa Anne (Tee) – for services to wildlife conservation

USHER, Jonathan – for services to the community and entertainment

VAN DE RHEEDE, Norma-Jean, JP – for services to the community

WATTS, Ian Arthur – for services to Land Search and Rescue

WHEELER, Henry Joseph – for services to Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the community

WHYTE, Delano Shane De Graffe (Del) – for services to sport and the community

WILSON, Isabella (Ella) – for services to the community and theatre

The New Zealand Distinguished Service Decoration (DSD)

BROWN, Commodore Andrew Gilchrist – for services to the New Zealand Defence Force

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

Essential New Zealand Albums: The Warratahs – The Only Game In Town

By Evening Report -

December 31, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

Think about how a great album is made, and it’s hard to escape the image of musicians notching up hundreds of hours of studio time crafting their masterwork, or engineers hunched over mixing boards, deliberating over every beat and chord.

Some albums are made that way, but it isn’t the only way. The Only Game In Town by The Warratahs is one that could hardly have come together more quickly or simply.

What’s interesting about that The Warratahs’ debut album is that it wasn’t originally intended to be an album at all.

The Warratahs – The Only Game In Town

Essential New Zealand AlbumsSeason 5 / Episode 7

The original Warratahs line-up. Left to right: John Donoghue, Wayne Mason, Barry Saunders (seated), Marty Jorgensen, Nik Brown.

Trevor Reekie Collection

.

Almost four decades on, The Warratahs are still making music, and in 2025 were given their rightful place in the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

But back when The Only Game In Town was made, no one was looking that far ahead.

In fact, when the Wellington group went into Radio New Zealand’s Broadcasting House studios to make their first recordings, they weren’t even sure they were making an album.

Barry Saunders performing with The Orange in Christchurch, 1969.

Kevin Hill

Since first getting together a year or so earlier, The Warratahs had been playing a weekly Thursday-night residency at the lower bar of Wellington’s Cricketer’s Arms Tavern, and they just thought it was time to hear what they actually sounded like.

The offer to record some of their material for a radio programme gave them that opportunity.

At a time when drum machines and synthesisers were starting to become common in local music, The Warratahs took a giant step in the opposite direction. Using mostly acoustic instruments, they essentially had the instrumental palette of a Hank Williams record from the 1950s.

Though they sounded like they had been playing this kind of music all their lives, individually, they came from a range of musical backgrounds.

Nik Brown playing with The Warratahs at a Hastings show in 1990.

Glen Moffatt collection

Violinist Nik Brown had been playing gypsy jazz with Hot Cafe. Bass player John Donohue had been with Loxene Golden Disc finalists Timberjack before making a pair of acclaimed solo albums as a singer-songwriter.

Barry Saunders had fronted rock bands in Christchurch and Irish bands in London. Wayne Mason was the keyboard player and main songwriter for ’60s hitmakers The Fourmyula, and both he and Saunders had played electric boogie with Rockinghorse.

Rightly yet reliably supported by drummer Marty Jorgensen, who chose to play with brushes rather than sticks, it wasn’t a sound that was especially fashionable. Even contemporary country music didn’t sound anything like this.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

But The Warratahs’ music seemed to connect with a diverse yet enthusiastic crowd, which included ballet dancers, advertising agents and all types in between. It was hardly a formula anyone would have dreamed up on paper, yet Thursdays at the Cricketers added up to a real scene. Now it was time to see if the sound at the centre of that scene could be captured on tape.

Studio Two in Radio New Zealand’s Broadcasting House was perhaps the finest studio in the country. With a floor space of 140 square metres, it was designed to accommodate a small orchestra or a live band.

At this point, the recordings were still destined for a one-off radio broadcast. It was only when the band got to hear the final playbacks that they started to think this could be something more.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

Even then, The Warratahs had no record deal or label behind them. It was local fan, record retailer and former RNZ music producer John Pilley who put them in touch with Trevor Reekie, an old friend from school days, who was now running his own independent label, Pagan Records.

Through various line-up changes, The Warratahs would carry on through the decades that followed, with Barry Saunders and Nik Brown the two constant members.

They would write many more songs and make many more albums, arguably all more sophisticated than The Only Game In Town.

Yet listening to this album today, it’s clear that this is where their identity was formed, and it remains a template and a touchstone for everything they have done since.

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

Te Arawa Lakes Trust battles invasive gold clams

By Evening Report -

December 30, 2025

Source: Radio New Zealand

The invasive gold clams. Supplied / MPI

Te Arawa Lakes Trust and local councils are banding together in the battle against invasive gold clams.

The trust is worried about the lakes in its area and the boaties coming to use them.

A hui at Lake Ōkāreka has resolved to stand up volunteers at boat ramps at several lakes to guide and greet visitors and help make sure boaties are playing their part.

The volunteers will not, the trust says, be restricting access.

“We’re not saying saying to anybody, look, you can’t come onto the lakes,” Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairperson said.

He said volunteers would help ask if boats were clean and if they had been on the Waikato River.

That’s where there is now a large stretch of the clams, after they were first found in May 2023 at Lake Karāpiro.

They have since been found elsewhere – in November at Lake Rotomanu in New Plymouth, which was then drained.

The find prompted a warning for boaties on the Whanganui River.

Adam Hartland has written for The Conversation about why the clams pose such a danger.

It’s all hugely concerning for Te Arawa Lakes Trust which oversees 14 lakes in the Rotorua area.

“Given the significant number of boats that come into our area we have decided to be proactive to prevent any carriage of this invasive species into our lakes, because the impact is quite significant,” Haumaha said.

Lake Ōkāreka, where the hui was held, has a number of boats taking to it for wakeboarding, water-skiing and other recreation activities, he said.

The meeting was between the Trust, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Rotorua Lakes Council with government minister Todd McClay also in attendance.

The councils will be pitching in, Haumaha said.

“So we decided that, you know, this is about a community action… this is about the future of our lakes and protection of our waterways.”

On the lake having to be drained in New Plymouth, “God forbid we ever have to do that here in Rotorua,” he said.

Volunteers will be put at boat ramps to tell people of the importance of checking their boats and cleaning and drying them before coming onto the water.

Boaties will also be asked if they have been on Waikato River.

“We’re not saying to anybody, look you can’t come onto the lakes,” he said.

Haumaha said the area’s lakes were pristine and needed to be safeguarded for future generations.

He also urged arriving boaties to be kind to volunteers.

“People have just come out of the woodwork ready to step up, to make sure that they can stand alongside everyone for the protection of our lakes over the Summer period.”

A roster will be drawn up for volunteers.

He said 11 lakes that are used by boaties have been identified, with about 29 boat ramps.

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

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