Vinzons is a quiet coastal town in the eastern Philippines province of Camarines Norte in Bicol. With a spread out population of about 45,000. it is known for its rice production, crabs and surfing beaches in the Calaguas Islands.
But the town is really famous for one of its sons — Wenceslao “Bintao” Vinzons, the youngest lawmaker in the Philippines before the Japanese invasion during the Second World War who then took up armed resistance.
He was captured and executed along with his family in 1942.
One of the most interesting assets of the municipality of Vinzons — named after the hero in 1946, the town previously being known as Indan — is his traditional family home, which has recently been refurbished as a local museum to tell his story of courage and inspiration.
“He is something of a forgotten hero, student leader, resistance fighter, former journalist — a true hero,” says acting curator Roniel Espina.
As well as a war hero, Vinzons is revered for his progressive politics and was known as the “father of student activism” in the Philippines. His political career began at the University of Philippines in the capital Manila where he co-founded the Young Philippines Party.
The Vinzons Hall at UP-Diliman was named after him to honour his student leadership exploits.
Student newspaper editor He was the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the student newspaper founded in 1922.
At 24, Vinzons became the youngest delegate to the 1935 Constitutional Convention and six years later at the age of 30 he was elected Governor of Camarine Norte in 1941 — the same year that Japan invaded.
In fact, the invasion of the Philippines began on 8 December 1941 just 10 hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbour in Hawai’i.
The invading forces tried to pressure Governor Vinzons in his provincial capital of Daet to collaborate. He absolutely refused. Instead, he took to the countryside and led one of the first Filipino guerilla resistance forces to rise up against the Japanese.
His initial resistance was successful with the guerrilla forces carrying out sudden raids before liberating Daet. He was eventually captured and executed by the Japanese.
The bust of “Bintao” outside the Vinzons Town Hall. Image: Asia Pacific Report
The exact circumstances are still uncertain as his body was never recovered, but the museum does an incredible job in piecing together his life along with his family and their tragic sacrifice for the country.
One plaque shows an image of Vinzons along with his father Gabino, wife Liwayway, sister Milagros, daughter Aurora and son Alexander (no photo of him was actually recovered).
A family of Second World War martyrs . . . their bodies were never recovered. Image: Asia Pacific Report
According to the legend on the plaque:
“Wenceslao Vinzons with his father disappeared mysteriously – and were never see again. The Japanese sent out posters in Camarines Norte expressing regret that on the way to Siain, Quezon, Vinzons was shot while attempting to escape. ‘So sorry please.’
“The remains of the body of Vinzons, his father, wife, two chidren and sister have never been found.”
The Japanese Empire as portrayed in the Vinzons Museum. Video: APR
Imperial Japan showcase One room of the museum is dedicated as a showcase to Imperial Japan and its brutal invasion across a great swathe of Southeast Asia and the brave Filipino resistance in response.
A special feature of the museum is how well it portrays typical Filipino lifestyle and social mores in a home of the political class in the 1930s.
The tourist author, Dr David Robie (red t-shirt) with acting curator Roniel Espina (left), Tourism Officer Florence G Mago (second from right) and two museum guides. Image: Asia Pacific Report
When I visited the museum and talked to staff and watched documentaries about “Bintao” Vinzons’ life, one question in particular intrigued me: “Why was he thought of as a ‘forgotten hero’?”
According to acting curator Espina, “It’s partly because Camarines Norte is not as popular and well known as some other provinces. So some of the notable achievements of Vinzons do not have a high profile around in other parts of the country.”
Based at the museum is the town’s principal Tourism Officer Florence G Mago. She is optimistic about how the Vinzons Museum can attract more visitors to the town.
“We have put a lot of effort into developing this museum and we are proud of it. It is a jewel in the town.”
The Vinzons family home . . . now refurbished as the town museum under the National Historical Institute umbrella. Image: Asia Pacific Report
Fall marks the start of Iran’s rainy season, but large parts of the country have barely seen a drop as the nation faces one of its worst droughts in decades. Several key reservoirs are nearly dry, and Tehran, the nation’s capital, is facing an impending “Day Zero” – when the city runs out of water.
The situation is so dire, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has revived a long-debated plan to move the capital from this metro area of 15 million people.
Previous administrations have floated the idea of moving the capital but never implemented it. Tehran’s unbridled expansion has created a host of problems, ranging from chronic water stress and land subsidence to gridlocked traffic and severe air pollution, while also heightening concerns about the city’s vulnerability to major seismic hazards.
This time, Pezeshkian has framed relocation as a mandate, not a choice. He warned in November 2025 that if nothing changes, the city could become uninhabitable.
How Iran got to the point of water bankruptcy
Drought has been a concern in this part of the world for millennia. A prayer by the Persian King Darius the Great that was carved in stone more than 2,000 years ago asked his god to protect the land from invaders, famine and lies.
However, today, Iran’s escalating water and environmental problems are the predictable outcome of decades of treating the region’s finite water resources as if they were limitless.
Iran has relied heavily on water-intensive irrigation to grow food in dry landscapes and subsidized water and energy use, resulting in overpumping from aquifers and falling groundwater supplies. The concentration of economic activity and employment in major urban centers, particularly Tehran, has also catalyzed massive migration, further straining already overstretched water resources.
Those and other forces have driven Iran toward “water bankruptcy” – the point where water demand permanently exceeds the supply and nature can’t keep up.
As water resource and environmental engineers and scientists, including a former deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment, we have followed the county’s water challenges for years. We see viable solutions to its chronic water problems, though none is simple.
Falling water reserves leave Iran vulnerable
Experts have been warning for years that the lack of foresight to tackle Iran’s water bankruptcy problem leaves the country increasingly vulnerable to extreme climate conditions.
Iranians are again seeing those risks in this latest drought.
Precipitation has been well below normal in four of the water years since 2020. That has contributed to a sharp decline in reservoir levels. Fall 2025 has been the hottest and driest fall on record for Tehran since 1979, testing the resilience of its water system.
The city faces mounting stress on already diminished groundwater reserves, with little relief in sight without significant rainfall.
Shrinking snowpack and shifting rainfall patterns make it harder to predict how much water will flow in rivers and when. Rising temperatures make the problem worse by boosting demand and leaving less water in the rivers.
There is no quick fix to resolve Tehran’s water emergency. In the near term, only significantly more rainfall and a reduction in consumption can offer respite.
Panicky moves to increase interbasin water transfers, such as the Taleqan‑to‑Tehran water transfer to pump water from the Taleqan Dam, over 100 miles (166 km) away, are not only inadequate, they risk worsening the water supply and demand imbalance in the long run. Iran has already experimented with piping water between basins, and those transfers have in many cases fueled unsustainable growth rather than real conservation, worsening water problems both in the donor and recipient basins.
The exposed shoreline at Latyan Dam shows significantly low water levels near Tehran on Nov. 10, 2025. The reservoir, which supplies part of the capital’s drinking water, has seen a sharp decline due to prolonged drought and rising demand in the region. Bahram/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
At its core, Tehran’s predicament stems from a chronic mismatch between supply and demand, driven by rapid population growth.
Whether relocating the political capital, as suggested by Pezeshkian, could meaningfully reduce the city’s population, and hence the water demand, is highly doubtful.
The sparsely populated Makran region in the country’s southeast, along the Gulf of Oman, has been mentioned as a potential option, touted as a “lost paradise,” though details on how much of the city or population would move remain unclear.
Meanwhile, other major Iranian cities are facing similar water stresses, highlighting the fact that this is a nationwide threat.
Agricultural water consumption can be reduced by producing higher-value, less water-intensive crops, taking into account food security, labor market and cultural considerations. Any water savings could be used to replenish groundwater.
Becoming more open to global trade and importing water-intensive crops, rather than growing them, would also allow Iran to use its limited agricultural land and water to grow a smaller set of strategic staple crops that are critical for national food security.
That’s a transition that will be possible only if the country moves toward a more diversified economy that allows for reduced pressure on the country’s finite resources, an option that seems unrealistic under economic and international isolation.
Kaveh Madani discusses the drought stress Iran is facing.
Urban water demand could be reduced by strengthening public education on conservation, restricting high-consuming uses such as filling private swimming pools, and upgrading distribution infrastructure to minimize leaks.
Taken together, these measures require bold, coordinated action rather than piecemeal responses.
Renewed talk of relocating the capital signals how environmental stresses are adding to the complex puzzle of Iran’s national security concerns. However, without addressing the root causes of the nation’s water bankruptcy, we believe moving the capital to ease water problems will be futile.
Nothing to disclose.
Mojtaba Sadegh receives funding from the US National Science Foundation, NASA, and the Joint Fire Science Program.
Amir AghaKouchak and Kaveh Madani do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
He said his proposal for the 2026/2027 Annual Plan would “stay the course” of settings outlined in the 2024-2034 Long-term Plan with a focus on savings and financial efficiency.
“We are going to stick to the plan that’s working, this is our contract with the community, and it is important that we keep our side of the agreement.
“The rates increase primarily pays for the additional costs of CRL. While that cost has been enormous, once it’s open we will see huge economic benefits – it will transform Auckland.”
Work began on the $5.5 billion CRL in 2017 and was expected to nearly double the city’s rail transportation capacity when it opened in the latter half of 2026.
Deputy Mayor and Value for Money Committee Chair Desley Simpson said an “unwavering focus on savings and financial efficiency” would continue as the city braced for the costs of operating the massive transport infrastructure upgrade.
“Having worked to achieve over $1b in financial benefits in the last six years, my commitment to Aucklanders is to continue strongly with that focus on financial efficiencies. Given the costs of operating CRL that we are expecting, it is vitally important we keep our focus on opportunities for revenue growth and continued savings,” Simpson said.
Deputy Mayor and Value for Money Committee Chair Desley Simpson.RNZ / Nick Monro
The plan upped the city’s savings target by an additional $20 million on 2025/2026 bringing the total goal to $106 million.
Brown said his proposal was focused on delivering smarter services and faster progress to strengthen communities and businesses – promising better use of public spaces, particularly the waterfront.
“We must also make sure Auckland is a vibrant, clean, safe and welcoming city centre that is open for business.
“The government has started working more closely with me on this, but we must remember where responsibility lies here: we do places, they do people,” Brown said.
He said he would prioritise transport reform with a focus on the new Public Transport council controlled organisation (CCO).
“The intention of CCO reform was to bring decision-makers closer to these decisions so they make sense alongside each other.
“We’re looking at transport investment that is cheaper and less annoying than currently under Auckland Transport. Land-use planning must sit alongside transport planning if we’re going to transform Auckland.
“We are now setting out the nuts and bolts of how Auckland Transport will become the public transport service provider alone, which they’re actually pretty good at, and all the other parts must be done better and will be within the council. I’m asking councillors to think regionally here, not just about their own patch,” Brown said.
A workshop to discuss the draft Mayoral Proposal for the Annual Plan 2026/2027 will be held this week and, if approved, public consultation is scheduled to take place early next year.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Tall Blacks Flynn Cameron (L) with Australia Jaylin Galloway during the FIBA World Cup Qualifier – New Zealand Tall Blacks v Australia Boomers at TSB Arena, Wellington, on 1 December 2025.Marty Melville / Photosport
A buzzer beater finish by the Boomers has left the Tall Blacks heartbroken, but a technical issue meant some fans missed out on the tense final moments.
Australia beat New Zealand 79-77 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers on Monday night at the TSB Bank Arena.
A last minute play by 26-year-old guard Davo Hickey banked in a tough trifecta from the wing just before time expired, helping the Boomers complete the escape after finding themselves staring at a 67-57 deficit early in the final period.
However, some fans on the edge of their seats missed the exhilarating final moments.
Viewers reported coverage cut out on ESPN channel 60, Sky and Disney+, with one commenting on social media the live stream on Sky Sport went to ads, “then to some guys in a boat”.
On its TikTok channel, ESPN Australia/NZ acknowledged the mishap: “We are aware that due to a technical issue at the end of the game was not seen for some viewers. We are investigating the cause and deeply apologise for the issue.”
But as one fan put it, the blunder “saved us from watching NZ choke again”.
As activist groups around the world observe December 1 — flag-raising “independence” day for West Papua today marking when the Morning Star flag was flown in 1961 for the first time — Kristo Langker reports from the Highlands about how the Indonesian military is raising the stakes.
SPECIAL REPORT:By Kristo Langker in Kiwirok, West Papua
While DropSite News usually reports on, and from, parts of the world where the US war machine operates, in this story, the weaponry in question is made by a multinational French weapons manufacturer and Chinese manufacturer.
However, you will see the structure is the same — the Indonesian government using drones and helicopters to terrorise and displace the people of West Papua, while the historical reason imperial interests loom over the region stems from a US mining project in the 1960s.
The videos in this story are well worth watching — exclusive interviews with the guerilla group fighting off the drones and airplanes with bows and arrows.
A still from a video of Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano bombing and strafing the mountains of Kiwirok on October 6, 2025. Video: Lamek Taplo and Ngalum Kupel, TPNPB
On 25 September 2025, Lamek Taplo, the guerilla leader of a wing of the West Papua National Liberation Army (Tentara Pembebasan Nasional Papua Barat, or TPNPB), left the jungle with his command to launch a series of raids on Indonesian military posts.
Indonesia had established three new military posts in the Star Mountains region in the past year, according to NGO Human Rights Monitor, with sources on the ground telling Drop Site News that nearby civilian houses and facilities — including a church, schools, and a health clinic — had been forcibly occupied in support of the military build-up.
5 Indonesian soldiers shot Despite being severely outgunned, the command shot five Indonesian soldiers, killing one, while suffering no casualties themselves, according to Taplo and other members of his group.
The raids continued for three more days. The command shot the fuselage of a helicopter and burned five buildings that Taplo’s group claimed were occupied by Indonesian security forces.
Taplo was killed less than three weeks later by an apparent drone strike. During an October 13 interview a week before his death, Taplo, a former teacher himself, told Drop Site why TPNPB targeted a school:
“It’s because they (Indonesian military) used it as their base. There’s no teacher — only Indonesians. I know, because I was the teacher there, too . . . Indonesia sent ‘teachers’. However, they’re actually military intelligence.”
School building set on fire by the TPNPB on September 27, 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
Indonesia has laid claim to the western half of New Guinea island since the 1960s with the backing of the US. For the past year, the Indonesian military has ramped up its indiscriminate attacks on subsistence farming villages, especially those that deny Indonesian rule.
The military presence has been growing exponentially after the October 2024 inauguration of President Prabowo Subianto, who is implicated in historic massacres in Papua from his time as commander of Indonesia’s special forces — called Komando Pasukan Khusus or “Kopassus”.
According to witnesses interviewed in Kiwirok and its surrounding hamlets, and documented in videos, there are now snipers stationed along walking tracks, and civilians have been shot and killed attempting to retrieve their pigs.
Indonesian retaliated Indonesia immediately retaliated against TPNPB’s September attacks by sending two consumer-grade DJI Mavic drones, rigged with servo motors, to drop Pindad-manufactured hand grenades.
One drone targeted a hut that Taplo claimed did not house TPNPB but belonged to civilians.
No one was killed as the grenade bounced off the sheet metal roof and exploded a few meters away. The other drone flew over a group of TPNPB raising the Morning Star flag of West Papua but was taken down by the guerrillas before a grenade could be dropped.
Ngalum Kupel TPNPB celebrating the capture of a drone. September 28, 2025.
Holding the downed drone and grenade, Taplo likened the ordeal to Moses parting the Red Sea for the escaping Israelites: “It’s like Firaun and Moses . . . It was a miracle.”
Then joking: “The bomb (grenade) was caught since it’s like the cucumber we eat.”
Lamek Taplo holding a downed DJI Mavic drone and Pindad grenade on 28 September 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
Over the next few weeks, a series of heavier aerial bombardments followed.
Video evidence Videos taken by Taplo show two Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft darting through the air, followed by the thunderous sound of ordnance hitting the mountains.
Despite the fact that thousands of West Papuans have been killed in bombings like these since the 1970s, Taplo’s videos are the first to ever capture an aerial bombardment from the ground in West Papua, owing to the extreme isolation of the interior.
In fact, many highland West Papuans’ first contact with the outside world was with Indonesian military campaigns.
Ostensibly a counter-insurgency operation against a guerrilla independence movement, these bombings are primarily hitting civilians — tribal communities of subsistence farmers.
The few fighters Indonesia is targeting are poorly armed lacking bullets, let alone bombs — and live on ancestral land with their families. The most ubiquitous weapon among these groups remains the bow and arrow.
Taplo told Drop Site the bombings began on Monday, October 6.
“Firstly they (Indonesia) did an unorganised attack: they dropped the bomb randomly . . . they just dropped it everywhere. You can see where the smoke was coming from.
“Even though it was an Indonesian military house, they just dropped it on there anyway. That was the first one; then they came back. The first place bombed after was a civilian house; the second was our base.”
Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano bombing and strafing the mountains. October 6, 2025
Former Dutch colony West Papua was a Dutch colony until 1962, when Indonesia, after a bitter dispute with the Netherlands, secured Washington’s backing to take over the territory.
Just three years after Washington tipped the scales in favour of Indonesia in their dispute with the Netherlands, the nationalist Indonesian President Sukarno was ousted in a US-backed military coup in 1965.
Hundreds of thousands of Indonesian leftists (or suspected leftists) were killed in just a few months by the new regime led by General Suharto.
Indonesia’s acquisition of West Papua is often treated as an event peripheral to this coup, yet both events held a symbiotic relationship that would become the impetus for many of the mass killings perpetrated by Indonesia in West Papua.
Forbes Wilson, the former vice-president of US mining giant Freeport, visited Indonesia in June 1966, and in his book, The Conquest of Copper Mountain, he boasts that he and several other Freeport executives were among the first foreigners to visit Indonesia after the events of 1965.
Wilson was there to negotiate with the new business friendly Suharto regime, particularly regarding the terms of Freeport’s Ertsberg mine, which was set to be located under Puncak Jaya — the tallest mountain in Oceania.
This mine eventually became the world’s largest gold and copper mine and Indonesia’s largest single taxpayer. The mine’s existence was one of the primary reasons Indonesia gained international backing to launch a vicious Malanesian frontier war against the native and then-largely uncontacted Papuan highlanders.
The “war” continues to this day, though it is largely unlike other modern conflicts.
Like frontier ‘wars’ Instead, the concerted Indonesian attacks are most comparable to the US and Australian frontier wars. Indonesia, one of the world’s largest and most well-armed militaries, is steadily wiping out some of the world’s last pre-industrial indigenous cultures and people.
West Papuans have fought back, forming the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, or OPM) and its various splinter armed wings, whose most prominent one is the TPNPB.
Due to the impenetrable terrain of the mountain highlands, the Indonesian military has difficulty fighting the TPNPB on the ground, often instead resorting to indiscriminate aerial bombardments.
The TPNPB’s fight is as much about West Papuan independence as it is an effort by localised tribal communities and landowners using whatever means to prevent Indonesian massacres and land theft.
“No army has ever come to protect the people. I live with the people, because there’s no military to protect my people,” Taplo said in a video sent just before his death.
“From 2021 until this year 2025, I have not left my land; I have not left the land of my birth.”
In October 2021, the Indonesian military launched one of these bombing campaigns in the remote Kiwirok district and its surrounding hamlets in the Star Mountains — deep in the heart of the island of New Guinea.
Little information Because of this isolation, very little information about these bombings trickled out of the mountains — save for a few images of unexploded mortars and burning huts.
Only a handful journalists, including the author of this article, have been able to visit the area, and it took years and multiple visits to the Star Mountains for the full scale of the 2021 attacks to be reported.
It was eventually revealed that the Indonesian assaults included the use of most likely Airbus helicopters that shoot FZ-68 2.75-inch rockets, designed by French multinational defence contractor Thales, and reinforced by Blowfish A3 drones manufactured by the Chinese company Ziyan.
These drones boast an artificial intelligence driven swarm function by which they litter villagers’ subsistence farms and huts with mortars improvised with proximity fuzes manufactured by the Serbian company Krušik.
A largely remote, open-source investigation by German NGO Human Rights Monitor revealed that hundreds of huts and buildings were destroyed in this attack. More than 2000 villagers were displaced, and they still hide in makeshift jungle camps.
“The systematic nature of these attacks prompts questions of crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute,” the report noted. Additionally, witnesses interviewed by this author gave the names of hundreds who died of starvation and illness after the bombings.
With little food, shelter, weapons, or even internet to connect them to the outside world, many of the thousands of Ngalum-Kupel people displaced since 2021 are displaced again — likely to die without anyone knowing — mirroring countless Indonesian campaigns to depopulate the mountains to make way for resource projects.
Long-term effects The impact of the latest wave of attacks in October 2025 is likely to be felt for years, as the bombs destroyed food gardens and shelters and displaced people who were already living in nothing more than crowded tarpaulins held up by branches, while having already been forced to hide in the jungle after the 2021 bombings.
“It is the same situation with Palestine and Israel — people are now living without their home,” said Taplo.
Lamek Taplo (standing) in jungle camp on 15 October 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
On 6 October 2025, Indonesia retaliated further, deploying two aircraft that aviation sources confirmed to be Brazilian-made Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano turboprops. These planes were filmed bombing and strafing the mountains.
Drop Site confirmed that some of the shrapnel collected after these attacks is from Thales’s FZ 2.75-inch rockets — the same rockets used in the 2021 attacks.
Shrapnel from Thales FZ rockets on 6 October 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
In January this year, Thales’s Belgium and state-owned defence company, Indonesian Aerospace, put out a press release titled: “Indonesian Aerospace and Thales Belgium Reactivate Rocket Production Partnership,” which boasted the integration of Thales designed FZ 2.75-inch rockets with the Embraer Supertucano aircraft.
Though these were not the only ordnance deployed, some of the impact zones measured over 20m, and the shrapnel found in these craters was far heavier and larger than that from the Thales rockets.
Shrapnel ‘no joke’ “It’s no joke. It was long and big. It could destroy a village . . . ” said Taplo before picking up a piece of shrapnel around 20cm long.
“This is five kilograms,” he said, weighing the remnants.
Inspecting Impact zone from bombings on 6 October 2025.
A former Australian Defence Force air-to-ground specialist told Drop Site that the large size of the shrapnel and nature of the scarring and cratering indicate that the bomb was not a modern style munition. It was most likely an MK-81 RI Live, a variant of the 110kg MK-81 developed and manufactured by Indonesian state-owned defence contractor Pindad.
“This weapon system is unguided, and given the steep terrain, it is unlikely that a dive attack could easily be used, providing the enhanced risk of collateral damage or indiscriminate targeting given the weapons envelope,” the specialist said. Pindad did not respond to Drop Site’s request for comment.
Shrapnel from MK-81 bombs on 12 October 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
Photos from a February Pindad press release about the development of the MK-81 RI Live show these bombs loaded on an Indonesian Embraer Supertucano.
An Indonesian Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano loaded with the Pindad MK-81 RI Live in February, 2025. Image: PT Pindad Public Relations Doc
A week later, Indonesia hit again. At around 3am, on October 12, a reconnaissance aircraft flew over the camp where Taplo’s command and their families were sleeping, waking them just in time to evacuate before another round of bombs were dropped == again, most likely the MK-81 RI Live.
Bomb strike on video Taplo captured the bomb’s strike and aftermath on video. Clearly shaken, he makes an appeal for help, saying “UN peacekeeping forces quickly come to Kiwirok to give us freedom, because our life is traumatic . . .
“Even the kids are traumatised; they live in the forest, and seek help from their parents, ‘Dad help me. Indonesia dropped the bomb on the place I lived in.’”
On the morning of October 19, a drone dropped a bomb on a hut near where Taplo was staying. Initially, the bomb didn’t detonate, leaving enough time for civilians to evacuate the area.
After the evacuation, Taplo and three men returned to remove the ordnance, which then detonated and instantly killed Lamek Taplo and three others — Nalson Uopmabin, 17; Benim Kalakmabin, 20; and Ike Taplo, 22.
The bodies of slain TPNPB members on October 19, 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
Speaking to Drop Site just hours after Taplo was killed, eyewitnesses say the drone was larger than the DJI Mavics deployed earlier and were similar in size to the Ziyan drones from 2021.
Photos taken of the remnants of the bomb show the tail of what was most likely an 81mm mortar.
“The presence of drones — similar to that of DJI quadcopters and [with] improvised fins for aerial guidance — have been employed [just as] ISIS used those weapons systems in Syria,” the former Australian Defence Force air-to-ground specialist told Drop Site.
The mortar piece that killed Commander Lamek Taplo and three others. October 20, 2025. Image: Ngalum Kupel/TPNPB
Plea to Pacific nations On October 26, civilians in Kiwirok sent an appeal to the government of Papua New Guinea and other Pacific Island nations. So far, there has been no response, despite these bombings occurring on Papua New Guinea’s border.
The last communication Drop Site received from Kiwirok indicated that the bombings were continuing and the mountains still swarmed with drones — limiting any chance of escape.
Pictures posted on social media in November by members of Indonesian security forces, those stationed in Kiwirok, give some insight into the level of zeal with which Indonesia is fighting this campaign.
An Indonesian soldier can be seen wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a skull wearing night vision goggles, a gun, and a lightning bolt forming a cross behind it. The caption reads “Black Zone Kiwirok.”
A “Black Zone Kiwirok” T-shirt on 19 November 2025. Souurce: Instagram post by Indonesian soldier
Another photo shows soldiers sitting in front of a banner which reads “Kompi Tempur Rajawali 431 Pemburu” — a reference to the elite “Eagle Hunter” units set up in the mid 1990s by then-General Prabowo Subianto to hunt down Falantil guerillas in Timor Leste.
As there has been no record of these units being deployed in Papua — nor of an “Eagle Hunter” unit made up of soldiers from the 431st Infantry Battalion — it is unclear whether these banners are just Suharto-era nationalism on display, or if they signify that these units have been revived.
A “Kompi Tempur Rajawali 431 Pemburu” regimental banner on 19 November 2025. Source: An Instagram post by Indonesian soldier
On his final phone call with the outside world, just before the signal cut out, Taplo vowed to continue the TPNPB’s fight: “We will fight for hundreds of days . . .
“We will fight . . . This war is by God. We have asked for power; we have prayed for nature’s power. This is our culture.”
Defence Minister Richard Marles has confirmed Australia is monitoring a flotilla of Chinese Navy ships currently in the Philippine Sea but with its destination unknown.
Marles volunteered the information while announcing a shakeup that will establish a new Defence Delivery Agency designed to improve military acquisition and sustainment operations.
The agency will be headed by a national armaments director, who will advise the government on strategies for acquisitions and the delivery of projects after they have been approved. The government says it is the biggest reform in defence organisation in half a century.
Marles, who is acting prime minister while Anthony Albanese is on his honeymoon this week, went out of his way to say the Chinese ships were being tracked, after a report about them in the Australian Financial Review last week.
He told a news conference the government did not yet have a sense of where the task group was going. “But we continue to monitor it as we monitor all movements until we know that the task groups are not coming to Australia.”
According to some sources, the Defence Department had alerted the government to that flotilla, but the government had decided not to say anything publicly, only to be thrown onto the back foot when the issue blew up. The flotilla later sailed around Australia.
Marles said on Monday:
We’re not about to give a running commentary on the movements of all Chinese Navy vessels, but in light of the report that was made on Thursday, we thought that it was important to make these statements and to make them in the proper context. So that Australians can be assured that we are monitoring our areas of interest and we are monitoring the movements of the Chinese Navy.
The change to acquisition advice and oversight is a reflection of discontent over a long period with the Defence Department. Defence projects have been notoriously behind time and over budget.
Marles said the new agency would be independent. It will report directly to the ministers of defence and defence industry.
It will begin operations on July 1 when three existing groups will be merged – the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordinance Group, and the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Group. The new independent entity will then become the Defence Delivery Agency on July 1 2027.
Marles said the establishment of the new agency “will see a much bigger bang for buck for the defence spend. And that is at the heart of the decision that we have made. It puts a focus on delivery and will ensure that it is much more sharp in the way in which it is undertaken.
“It will mean advice comes to government much earlier in the process about the challenges that are facing any particular program, any particular project, so that we can ensure those projects are delivered on time and on budget.”
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said the announcement was a matter of moving bureaucrats around. There was no increase in funds, he said.
Michelle Grattan 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.
The end of the year means holiday celebrations, summer breaks … and for us, one important thing: best books lists. We asked 35 expert readers for their favourite picks, ranging from novelists to anthropologists, scientists to criminologists – and experts in politics, publishing and philosophy. The only rule? The book had to be published this year.
And the Books & Ideas team are sharing our own best books of 2025.
Books & Ideas editor Suzy Freeman-Greene’s best book is Arundhati Roy’s memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me (Penguin Random House). Don’t be put off by the cheesy title – Roy re-enchants the genre, eyeing her dysfunctional parents and her political struggles with wit and poetic verve. (Honourable mention: Hasib Hourani’s charged book-length poem, Rock Flight).
Senior deputy editor Jo Case’s standout was The Transformations (Picador), Andrew Pippos’ big-hearted ode to the dying days of print journalism. It follows a wary, wounded, deeply kind subeditor as newspapers shrink and his solitary world widens to let people in – inviting rich complications. (Honourable mention: Olivia De Zilva’s blazingly original, smart-funny-sad debut autofiction, Plastic Budgie.)
We’d love to hear your best books of 2025 too – please share them in the comments at the end of this article.
Fiona Wright
Josephine Rowe’s Little World (Black Inc.) is a surprising, deft and quietly moving book: a novella about outsiders and exiles, told in triptych. It opens with the startling image of the incorruptible body of a child-saint arriving – in a horse float – at a remote desert property, before stretching out across time and space. Its characters are all relics of a kind, all struggling with contrition and connection. It is a technically brilliant, elegant work – one that has stayed with me all year.
Fiona Wright was the 2024-2025 Judy Harris Writer in Residence, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.
Sandra Phillips
So much spoke to me in Angie Faye Martin’s debut crime novel, Melaleuca (Harper Collins). Martin is of Kooma, Kamilaroi, and European heritage. A writer and editor, she delivers a clever insider understanding of racialised Australia, with a speciality in small-town cop culture. Melaleuca has staunch and loving Blakfella characters – and not one, but two crimes to solve. Sad at times, funny at others, it is intricate and well-paced in plot and subplot. Right up until the very end, it’s a thrilling read.
Sandra Phillips is associate dean, Indigenous and professor of publishing and communications, University of Melbourne.
Andrew Pippos
The title of Dominic Amerena’s debut, I Want Everything (Summit Books), neatly specifies the farcical ambitions that poison its characters. The interplay between the book’s two narrative strands is an impressive achievement: the Brenda Shale chapters carry a sober emotional weight, while the contemporary framing is playful, biting and fast-paced. This is a comic novel with serious things to say about art and gender.
Andrew Pippos is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney.
Vijay Mishra
Heart Lamp (Scribe) by Banu Mushtaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, was originally written in Kannada, a “minoritarian” language spoken by over 65 million people in India. This collection of 12 stories offers an extraordinary tapestry, principally of the quotidian lives of anxiety-driven Indian Muslim women under the unwavering sign of patriarchy. Written in near-minimalist prose, the collection offers delicate accounts of cultural practices, from the rituals of worship, marriage, childbirth and circumcision, to the desire for a funeral shroud dipped in the holy Zamzam waters of Mecca. Deepa Bhasthi’s uplifting and aesthetically accomplished translation transforms Banu Mushtaq’s stories (phenomenal as they are in their source language) into a great work of art.
Vijay Mishra is emeritus professor of English and comparative literature, Murdoch University.
Emma Shortis
Less than a year into the second Trump administration, I am haunted by a line written by Canadian songwriter Rufus Wainwright: “I’m so tired of you, America.” We are all of us, I think, tired. Writing a book on the history of the US that cuts through the tiredness is always a Herculean task; this year, of all years, it should have been impossible. Somehow, with The Shortest History of the United States of America (Black Inc.), Don Watson has done it.
Emma Shortis is adjunct senior fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University.
Intifar Chowdhury
After watching the Netflix adaptation of The Thursday Murder Club, I was hooked by its fresh, witty take on ageing, friendship and crime. So, when Richard Osman’s latest book in the series dropped, I couldn’t resist diving back into the world of Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron and Ibrahim. The Impossible Fortune is everything from quirky clever to utterly heartwarming. A wedding guest with a dangerous secret vanishes, pulling the club back into a whirlwind of mystery and unexpected twists. Osman delivers a page-turning thriller that balances suspense with humour and tenderness. It’s a story about loyalty, resilience and the thrill of chasing answers – even when life insists on slowing you down.
Intifar Chowdhury is lecturer in government, Flinders University.
Carol Lefevre
I read Joan Didion’s posthumous Notes to John (Fourth Estate) with enormous guilt for the invasion of privacy. But guilt aside, Notes reveals a new side of Didion. It documents a woman struggling amid the complex fallout of adoption, a mother who lives in daily terror that her adopted daughter will be lost. It explains the fear of loss that haunts Didion’s fiction, and shows the raw material she worked from in the more poetic Blue Nights. Didion may not have given her blessing to this book, which is an account of her sessions with a psychiatrist, but those who ushered Notes into the world did a good thing for those of us who adore her. It may be a source of solace, too, for many engaged in ongoing struggles with adoption.
Carol Lefevre is visiting research fellow, English and creative writing, University of Adelaide.
Peter Mares
Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling (Columbia Global Reports) is a vivid case study of the harms wrought by online sports betting in the United States after the Supreme Court greenlit the industry in 2018. A landmark parliamentary report chaired by the late Peta Murphy MP documented similar damage in Australia. Yet two years on, the government has not acted on its bipartisan recommendations. Sometimes it helps to understand your own mess by studying someone else’s, so this is the book Australian politicians should read over summer.
Peter Mares is adjunct senior research fellow, School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University.
Elizabeth Finkel
Ian McEwan is my go-to writer for portraiture. In What We Can Know (Jonathan Cape), his canvas widens to civilisations – our current “deranged” one, hurtling eyes wide shut to imminent ecological collapse and AI-triggered nuclear wars – and the archipelago civilisation that follows, where scholars rely on electronic texts, rife with disinformation, to know (and ache for) the prelapsarian world. The title holds the key to the book: a meditation on the inherent murkiness of human knowledge, made infinitely worse by 21st-century tech.
Elizabeth Finkel is adjunct senior research fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University.
Jumana Bayeh
Omar El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (Text Publishing) is confronting to read for a range of reasons. Some will see themselves in the heartache and confusion Akkad outlines. Others – perhaps most – will see themselves uncomfortably reflected in the complacency that caused Akkad his heartache. Providing insights into what it means to confront the genocide as an Arab in the West, this book outlines how liberal responses to the decimation of Gaza and its inhabitants are experienced by people like Akkad as betrayal, harmful silence and pain.
Jumana Bayeh is associate professor, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University.
John Quiggin
“Enshittification” is the process by which once-useful parts of the internet, like Google, are degraded by the corporations that control them. It was Macquarie Dictionary’s Word of the Year in 2024. Cory Doctorow, who coined the term, has now written the definitive book on this disease, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It (Verso), describing its pathology, epidemiology and possible cures.
John Quiggin is professor of economics at the University of Queensland.
Joëlle Gergis
Few writers are skilful enough to articulate the complexity of the turbulent times we are living through. Even fewer provide genuine hope. There’s barely a page of Rebecca Solnit’s No Straight Road Takes You There (Granta) that I haven’t flagged to revisit her wisdom and insight. Solnit’s nuanced view of social change reminds us that every chapter in human history has challenged our moral integrity. These lyrical essays are inspiration for world-weary readers who know that giving up isn’t an option.
Joëlle Gergis is honorary associate professor of climate science at the University of Melbourne.
Tony Hughes-d’Aeth
My favourite book published this year was Evelyn Araluen’s The Rot (UQP). I’m tempted to call the book a fever dream, yet there is also something icily cold in the vision of these poems. The “rot” appears in the world as cascading injustice, from the bloodied rubble of Gaza to the escalating misery of the housing crisis. But the rot is also intimate and interior. Once we would have called it our soul.
Tony Hughes-d’Aeth is a professor and chair of Australian literature at the University of Western Australia.
Alice Grundy
Salvage (Picador) by Jennifer Mills is the perfect book to read on your summer holidays. It’s pacey and keeps you turning the pages, while you reflect on how you’re cooking on a heating planet. Salvage is a new genre for Mills, but it has the visceral descriptions readers will remember from her earlier novels, Dyschronia and The Airways, and characters you would love to road-trip with.
Alice Grundy is visiting fellow, School of Literature, Language and Linguistics, Australian National University.
Nick Haslam
“We are not getting sicker,” writes Suzanne O’Sullivan, author of The Age of Diagnosis (Hodder) – “we are attributing more to sickness.” A neurologist working at the clinical coalface, the author of this powerful book argues that over-diagnosis is rampant. Ranging from autism to ADHD to cancer screening, she finds our tendency to pathologise is doing more harm than good. Bracing without being polemical, The Age of Diagnosis pushes back against our diagnostic culture, offering practical remedies for health professionals and the wider public.
Nick Haslam is professor of psychology, University of Melbourne.
John Long
Goliath’s Curse by Luke Kemp (Viking) is both a sobering and utterly engaging account of the historical rise and fall of states. “Goliath States” succeed through violence or threatening it. Inequality leads to autocracy, which fuels Goliath States. Today, 71% of the population lives under autocracy, with more countries heading towards it. The conclusion is that the world will succumb to nuclear war or environmental collapse, unless more states become democratically governed and collaborate to avoid the apocalypse.
John Long is strategic professor in palaeontology, Flinders University.
Melanie Saward
Weaving Us Together (Hachette) is the Blak, queer coming-of-age story I wish I’d had as a teenager. The story follows shy Aboriginal teen, Jean O’Reilly, as they adjust to life in a small, northern New South Wales town. Lay Maloney’s beautifully written novel (which won the 2022 blak&write! fellowship), somehow manages to be a gentle, safe place to land for young people exploring gender, sexuality and identity, while not shying away from inter-generational trauma, stolen children, police violence and racism. A must-read for schools, educators and young people.
Melanie Saward is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Queensland.
Jindan Ni
Without any hesitation, my favourite book for 2025 is Ocean Vuong’s second novel, The Emperor of Gladness (Jonathan Cape). In the fictional US town of “East Gladness”, no one is “glad”. Along with the protagonist Hai, a college drop-out whose attempted suicide is interrupted by an elderly lady with dementia, Vuong compels readers to witness the vulnerable lives of many disadvantaged people. Yet despite their deep precarity, solace and love are generously provided beyond family ties. A heart-wrenching story with an incredible healing power.
Jindan Ni is senior lecturer, global and language studies, RMIT University.
John Woinarski
My best book this year was Nicolas Rothwell and Alison Nampitjinpa Anderson’s Yilkari: A Desert Suite (Text Publishing). There is mystery and meaning in the Australian landscape. Most of us are outsiders in this country, seeing only its superficialities, blind to its spirit, poorer for that lack of connection. At a glance, the western deserts are featureless, inhospitable, best travelled through on the unbending Gunbarrel Highway. Here, accompanied by quixotic guides and encumbered by the gift and genius of western high culture, a narrator recounts his quest to find the essence of this country, to fit into the land. The result is a haunting dream about our nature.
John Woinarski is professor of conservation biology, Charles Darwin University.
Sophie Gee
James Baldwin was a literary provocateur and also a crowd-pleaser; a Black radical and activist who loved Dickens and Dostoevsky; a gay man who lived in Paris, and a public voice for American civil rights. Nicholas Boggs’ extraordinary new biography of one of America’s greatest writers, Baldwin: A Love Story (Bloomsbury Circus), captures all these aspects of Baldwin’s life and writing, giving us a deep and moving account of a person whose life was riven by violence and filled with joy and glamour.
Sophie Gee is vice chancellor’s fellow, English literature, University of Sydney and professor of English at Princeton University.
Euan Ritchie
“Nature is not the backdrop to our lives; it is our lives.” This sentiment and insight from the preface of Nature’s Last Dance (Affirm Press) perfectly frames the strength and vital importance of Natalie Kyriacou’s book. The natural world is under siege, and Natalie describes heartbreaking examples. But ultimately, this book inspires – through thoroughly entertaining, sometimes joyous, well-researched examples of the extraordinary wonders and complexity of nature. Practical advice for readers to enact personal changes of their own fosters hope and empowerment. Bravo.
Euan Ritchie is professor in wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin University.
Mia Martin Hobbs
Sunil Amrith’s The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years (Penguin) tells the story of how humanity has changed the planet we call home, untangling the environmental costs of empire, war, revolution and “progress” and revealing the devastating effects for the world’s poorest and most marginalised. Amrith shows how the human desire to control nature has, ironically, made our world less safe. The historical craft here is extraordinary: mind-bending and kaleidoscopic, The Burning Earth traverses the sweeping effects of colonisation, resource extraction, agriculture and development across every corner of the globe – while retaining individual stories of suffering and survival in the face of monumental environmental changes. Amrith’s work generates an urgent call to action to recognise the “crisis of life on Earth” before it is too late.
Mia Martin Hobbs is research fellow and historian of war and conflict, Deakin University.
Alexander Howard
Pierre Guyotat was one of postwar France’s most radical writers. Associated with the Tel Quel group and known for dense, hallucinatory prose that stretched language to breaking point, he made his name with Eden, Eden, Eden (1970) – a violent and apocalyptic text composed of a single, unbroken sentence running across 163 pages. At first glance, Idiocy (New York Review Books), his prize-winning coming-of-age memoir newly translated into English, seems formally restrained. However, a closer look reveals it to be just as intense and uncompromising. Spanning the years 1958 to 1962, the book traces his formative time in Paris and his experiences as a soldier in Algeria, where he was imprisoned for inciting desertion. Bearing witness to the atrocities of colonial conflict, Guyotat’s book feels disturbingly relevant right now.
Alexander Howard is senior lecturer, discipline of English and writing, University of Sydney.
Lynda Ng
Can we call it a genocide? Who was there first? Are we allowed to talk about this? In a year when Gaza dominated the headlines and yet public discussion was decidedly curtailed, Pankaj Mishra’s The World After Gaza (Fern Press) made a fearless foray into Zionism and the question of Palestine. Mishra’s decision to tell the history of Israel as a settler-colonial state has been highly contentious. By defamiliarising Middle Eastern politics, he forces us to reflect on how the legacy of European colonialism continues to play out in the world today.
Lynda Ng is lecturer in world literature (including Australian literature), University of Melbourne.
Eve Vincent
The Seal Woman (Giramondo), republished in 2025, was originally published the
same year as the Mabo decision: 1992. Dagmar, a Dane, is the novel’s protagonist. Living in a Victorian coastal town, Dagmar is filled with grief, desire and an obsessive interest in Norse mythology. She also undergoes an awakening about Aboriginal relations to ancestral Country. Beverley Farmer’s prose is incredibly focused and intricate. Reading of rockpools, seaweed, caves, spiders in the house, duplicity and selkies nourished and enlarged my imagination.
Eve Vincent is associate professor, anthropology, Macquarie University.
Tom Doig
Luke Kemp (originally from Bega, now based in Cambridge) has written an epic, sobering account of how and why human societies fall apart in Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse. Drawing on an exhaustive data set of 324 collapsed states, synthesising archaeology with psychology and political economy, he concludes that inequality, caused by corrupt elites, is the uniting feature. Any lessons for the present moment? Um, yep. While I’m usually sceptical of brief-history-of-everything books, Goliath’s Curse is a genuine joy to read. Pity about the ending (for us).
Tom Doig is a creative writing lecturer at the University of Queensland.
Juliet Rogers
Plestia Alqaad’s book Eyes of Gaza is not an easy read. It’s sad, painful and sometimes excruciatingly so. It is a book as witness; documenting the moments of trauma and violence in Gaza in the 45 days after October 7 2023. It shows this world through the eyes of a 23-year-old Palestinian journalist, describing a devastated landscape with nuance, with care and with the eye of someone who can read more than pain on people’s faces. Alqaad tells us of the occupation and the genocide but also the stories of camaraderie, of care, of collaboration between those who had lost everything. How can you share when you have nothing? It seems you can. Space, warmth, love and sometimes laughter are generated in proximity, even among terrible loss.
Juliet Rogers is a professor in criminology and director of the law and justice minor at University of Melbourne.
Natalie Kon-yu
Home – its myths and impossibilities – was at the heart of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, and is also the knotted centre of Mother Mary Comes to Me. In this memoir, Roy reveals the slippages that occur between fiction and nonfiction in writing a life. Roy’s mother, her country and her self form a set of nesting dolls that cannot nest, but cannot be understood without one another. A beautiful, generous book.
Natalie Kon-yu is a teaching and research associate professor in creative writing and literary studies.
Edwina Preston
My best book of 2025 is Shokoofeh Azar’s The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen (Europa). Azar’s second novel filled me with wonder and horror, and gave me entry to a strange, beautiful and wondrous world: that of the ancient Zoroastrian culture as it butts up against the murderous modern regimes of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ali Khamenei. A profoundly beautiful and harrowing work.
Edwina Preston is a novelist and PhD candidate in the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne.
Julian Novitz
I Want Everything (Summit Books), Dominic Amerena’s blackly funny and acutely well observed satire of Melbourne literary life, struck close to home for me this year. I Want Everything explores Australian literary history and contemporary writing lives with an uncompromising eye as Amerena’s unnamed narrator attempts to extract material for an “eminently fundable” book from his chance encounter with a famously reclusive and mysterious author. Brilliantly funny, it develops the pace and tension of a thriller, as gambits and deceptions start to pile up. Best debut and best novel of 2025 for me.
Julian Novitz is senior lecturer, writing, Swinburne University of Technology.
Jen Webb
My pick is Omar Sakr and Safdar Ahmed’s The Nightmare Sequence (UQP). In a year marked by global levels of violence, both discursive and physical, Sakr and Ahmed use poetry and graphic art to express anger, truth-telling and tenderness. They remind readers that we humans are all in this together – and though “History is an angel with seven faces / All of them are turned away from us”, we can turn towards each other.
Jen Webb is distinguished professor emerita of creative practice, University of Canberra.
Matthew Sharpe
Most people are happy enough to accept the latest gadgets coming to us from Silicon Valley without asking too many questions about what the people who run the companies might think. Science journalist Adam Becker is not one of those content to “wait and see what happens”. In More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity (Basic Books), he probes the ideas of the “techbros” and their cheerleaders. And the news is not comforting. Claiming the mantle of science and backed by billions of dollars, these ideas are often troubling melanges from sci-fi, futurism and racist pseudoscience, whose implications for life as we know it are far from beneficent.
Matthew Sharpe is associate professor in philosophy, Australian Catholic University.
Allanah Hunt
Moonlight and Dust (Allen & Unwin) by Jasmin McGaughey is a fantasy novel that’s enticing from its first page with its dark academia and ecological themes. Set in stunning Cairns, the author’s strong voice weaves together a mystery about a young Torres Strait Islander girl who comes to life in the words, along with her endearing family.
Allanah Hunt is lecturer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland.
Wanning Sun
In Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future (Allen Lane), Dan Wang gives you a new lens through which to view China and US-China competition. Conceptualising China as an engineering state and America as a lawyerly society, Wang shows that China’s strengths are as impressive as its weaknesses are disturbing. But Wang does not take sides: Breakneck argues China has learned from the West, and now the West should learn from China. Whether or not you agree with him, it is likely to be a thought-provoking – even eye-opening – read.
Wanning Sun is professor of media and cultural studies, University of Technology Sydney.
Julienne van Loon
A yoga teacher, a poet and a long-time reader of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, Antonia Pont has delivered us an idiosyncratic and delightful new non-fiction book. With A Plain Life: On Thinking, Feeling and Deciding (New South), Pont advocates for plainness. That is, for a stance in which we decide for ourselves “that one’s life is intrinsically ‘enough’”. It’s a book about expectations and about capacities, including “unlearning meanness” in the context of our neoliberalist age. I believe the best books become not just an accompaniment, but a living companion: this is one such book.
Julienne van Loon is associate professor in creative writing, University of Melbourne.
Police at the location of one of the campsites just off the Te Anga Road near Waitomo where Tom Phillips had been hiding for the last four years.Dean Purcell/New Zealand Herald via Getty Images
A hearing challenging extensive restrictions that prevents the media from publishing certain details related to the investigation into Tom Phillips is under way.
Phillips died following a shootout with police after they were called to reports of a burglary in the early hours of 8 September.
On 8 September lawyer Linda Clark, acting for Tom Phillips’ mother, went to the High Court in Wellington seeking an urgent injunction.
The injunction – which prevented media, police and Oranga Tamariki from publishing certain details related to the case – was granted by Justice Helen Cull.
A further hearing was held in the Hamilton High Court on Monday.
Media are only permitted to report the fact of the hearing, which continues on Tuesday, and the fact that it involves challenges to existing reporting restrictions including those ordered by the Family Court.
Last week, the government announced an inquiry into the handling of the case by authorities and whether all “practicable steps” were taken to ensure the safety and welfare of the Phillips children.
Attorney-General Judith Collins said the decision to establish a public inquiry “reflects the significant public interest and concern for the children’s welfare over the almost four years they were missing”.
“It is important that we establish the facts and determine whether agencies could take steps to prevent, or resolve similar situations more quickly and effectively in the future,” Collins said.
Attorney-General Judith Collins.Nick Monro
The terms of reference had been developed with the privacy and welfare of the children in mind. The inquiry would therefore be conducted in private and without public hearings.
A spokesperson for the Phillips family released a statement to RNZ.
Collins said the inquiry must also respect the independence of the courts and would not include findings on judicial decisions.
Police have also welcomed the announcement of the inquiry, saying they “recognise the significant public interest in this matter and the decision that a robust and independent review is required”.
The Honourable Justice Simon Moore, KC, has been appointed as the sole member of the inquiry, with a final report and recommendations to be delivered by 21 July 2026.
Family court injunction
A second injunction was granted in the Family Court in Hamilton on 15 September.
A redacted version of Judge Garry Collin’s judgement was earlier released to RNZ.
Judge Collin said there was a “great deal of public interest in the Phillips’ children”, which he said was reflected in media reports and posts on social media.
“It is not in their short or long-term welfare that their experiences are subject to public curiosity or scrutiny.
“They should not be the subject of speculation, nor is it in their welfare and best interests that any information is released.”
He said the media and “public appetite” must be subject to the children’s right to privacy, their protection as vulnerable young victims, and their ability to integrate back into society “without everyone knowing their story”.
“Their views, and rights to participate in the making of decisions about what is written and said about them, needs to be respected. The children need to be able to do this in private, and in their own time.”
Judge Collin said the court was the “guardian of the children”, and had responsibilities “akin to those of a parent”.
“A responsible parent would resist the publication of private sensitive information unless for good reason they considered it to be advantageous.
“In the modern age, information does not disappear with time. What is published may never be removed and may follow these children throughout their lives.”
He said without the children, “there would have been no more than a passing interest in Mr Phillips”.
“This story is not about Mr Phillips but about his children. They were young children when they went in and were young children when they came out. Currently no child in New Zealand is likely to be more vulnerable than they are.”
He understood no-one in the family consented to any further information about the children being published.
Judge Collin said although there may be jurisdictional issues which were better resolved by the High Court, he made interim injunction orders.
He said there may be an issue as to whether he could grant an injunction when the High Court had already done so, or make a restraining order “on more restrictive terms” than made by the High Court.
“These are not issues I intend to deal with today because I do not have the time, and they are in my view, more rightly determined by the High Court.
“Consequently, I intend to make wide ranging restrictions on publication and leave it to the High Court to resolve any jurisdictional issues that exist when the proceedings are next called, or by way of judicial review.”
He made several orders, including an appointment of the court as the guardian of the children to remain, and an interim injunction.
The injunction included restraining anyone from the publication of any documentary, film, or book that referred to the children.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has requested a pardon in his long-running corruption trial – a move that has set off alarm bells among his critics that he’s trying to circumvent the rule of law.
In a video message, Netanyahu says Israel’s current “security and political” situation makes it impossible for him to appear in court several times a week.
His request for a pardon from Israel’s president is just the latest twist in a case that has dragged on for years. It could have significant implications for Israel’s legal system – and Netanyahu’s political future, with elections due next year.
What charges does he face?
Netanyahu is indisputably the most important political figure of modern Israeli politics. He was first elected prime minister in 1996 and is now in his sixth term.
He has been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, related to investigations that date back to 2016. There are three cases now known by numbers – Case 1,000, Case 2,000 and Case 4,000. The trial began in 2020.
In Case 1,000, Netanyahu is alleged to have received some US$200,000 (A$305,000) worth of gifts, including cigars and champagne, from Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer.
Case 2,000 is related to alleged meetings Netanyahu had with Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the prominent Yediot Ahronot newspaper. Prosecutors say Mozes offered Netanyahu favourable coverage in exchange for restrictions being imposed on one of his rival newspapers.
And the final case, Case 4,000 is related to a communications conglomerate, Bezeq. The attorney-general alleges another reciprocal agreement: Netanyahu would be portrayed positively on the online platform, it’s alleged, in exchange for him supporting regulatory changes that would benefit Bezeq’s controlling shareholder.
Netanyahu has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the cases, saying he’s a victim of a “witch hunt”. In 2021, he characterised the charges as “fabricated and ludicorous”. When he took the stand in 2024, he said:
These investigations were born of sin. There was no offence, so they found an offence.
Experts have pointed out that a pardon can only be given once someone’s been convicted of a crime. But Netanyahu is not offering to admit any responsibility or guilt in the case, and he likely never will. He’s simply asking for a pardon, so that he can get on with his job.
Independence of Israel’s judicial system
Since the trial began in 2020, many witnesses have testified in the case, including some former Netanyahu aides who entered into plea bargains and became state witnesses. So, there’s been some pretty damning material brought against Netanyahu.
But he’s been extremely savvy and politically intelligent to use other issues – particularly the Gaza war – at every opportunity to try to postpone or interrupt the proceedings.
And after the Hamas attacks of October 2023, the number of trial days was limited because of security. According to media reports, Netanyahu has frequently requested his hearings be cancelled due to his handling of the war.
Netanyahu’s supporters don’t seem to have a problem with his request for a pardon, but it is shining a light on broader questions around the independence of the Israeli legal system.
In early 2023, the Netanyahu government put forth plans to overhaul the judicial system, which critics said would weaken the Supreme Court and Israel’s system of checks and balances. Netanyahu wasn’t involved in the effort because the attorney-general said it would be a conflict of interest due to his corruption trial, but other ministers in his cabinet were pushing it.
Massive protests happened on a regular basis throughout Israel in response to this move. Critics saw this as a frontal attack on the basic foundations of the Israeli legal system.
The request for a pardon is now part of this wider story, even though the two issues are not formally linked. Netanyahu’s opponents say it’s yet another indication of him and his coalition having a fundamentally different conception of the rule of law.
Netanyahu’s political survival
This is all about Netanyahu’s personal and political survival. He was re-elected leader of the Likud Party this month and he has declared his intention to run again for prime minister in next year’s elections – and that he expects to win.
The Israeli Basic Law suggests Netanyahu couldn’t run if he’s been convicted of a serious offence, though it’s not clear if he would actually be blocked at this point.
Media reports have suggested Netanyahu wants to move up the elections from November to June in the hopes he’ll be able to secure deals to normalise relations with both Saudi Arabia and Indonesia by then. This fits a pattern of him trying to use foreign policy gains to offset his domestic problems.
With elections coming, he’s now trying every possible manoeuvre to improve his position – and the pardon is just one of them. It’s likely the only option he has now to make the case go away because the trial has gone on for so long and at some point the court will have to make a decision.
Michelle Burgis-Kasthala 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.
Those wanting to chart who’s in the prime minister’s inner sanctum need go no further than the political guests invited to his Saturday wedding.
The list of about 60 attendees for The Lodge nuptials of Albanese and Jodie Haydon included a modest but notable batch of political heavyweights (and their spouses), who form overlapping circles of the prime minister’s inner cabinet, political intimates and praetorian guard.
Perhaps not since the March 2013 marriage of Jim Chalmers, who had just moved from the office of then-treasurer Wayne Swan, and Laura Anderson, adviser to then-prime minister Julia Gillard has a wedding guest list sent such interesting political messages.
But in a dramatic contrast in circumstances and atmospherics, the Chalmers’ wedding, held near Byron Bay, came when a Labor government was spectacularly falling apart. The guests were visibly at sixes and sevens, and the seating plan had to be redone to keep things under a semblance of order.
On Saturday, the only sign of angst seems to have come from Albanese’s dog Toto, apparently reluctant to follow down the aisle. Of skittish disposition, Toto may have also been in revolt against her owner’s decision to put her in a white dress.
At the Chalmers nuptials, Gillard held a “council of war”, repairing to a room to draft a new ministry. One of those reportedly in the room was Penny Wong, who is now at the very heart of Albanese’s circle of intimates. Wong was finance minister at the time of the Chalmers’ wedding and is now foreign minister.
There was no intrigue on Saturday. But if they’d wanted. they could have held a slimmed-down meeting of the expenditure review committee on the sidelines, its membership was so well represented. Chalmers was there (with Laura), as were Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Wong, Health Minister Mark Butler and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
As well as Wong, Butler and Gallagher are among Albanese’s closest confidants.
Those looking into the distant future might have noted that the guest list showed no favouritism on the matter of leadership succession. All three frontrunners had invitations: Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, as well as Chalmers and Marles.
Albanese’s factional back is always well-covered, even on his wedding day. Apart from Burke (from the new South Wales Right), on The Lodge lawns were Don Farrell (the man they nickname “the godfather”, from the right), and Industry Minister Tim Ayres (a close Albanese mate from the New South Wales left who was promoted to cabinet after the election).
Labor’s national secretary, Paul Erickson, a key player in Albanese’s re-election, certainly deserved reward and received an invitation.
Michelle Grattan 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.
Tonga Island Marine Reserve in the Abel Tasman National Park.Unknown
A boat has been seen fishing in a marine reserve off the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park as newly released data shows similar offences spike during summer.
The two reserves in Tasman Bay featuring prominently in the data on marine reserve rule breaches.
Motueka-based Department of Conservation (DOC) marine ranger Stew Robertson said a boat was seen off the Abel Tasman coastline on 16 November inside the Tonga Island Marine Reserve.
A member of the public alerted DOC to the black 6.5 metre Stabicraft, with a distinctive blue trim, whose occupants were seen catching fish about 12.45pm.
A 14-metre white launch was also seen anchored in the Horoirangi Marine Reserve, near Nelson on 5 November.
It was detected on a recently installed camera which monitors the marine reserve, anchored for 90 minutes, which Robertson said was unusual and suspicious boating activity in this particular reserve.
Fishing is banned in marine reserves. Taking and damaging marine life, removing natural materials, polluting and feeding fish are also prohibited.
Roberston has urged for the skipper of either vessel to make contact, or for anyone who saw them in the marine reserve to get in touch with DOC. Information can be provided anonymously and is treated confidentially.
He said there were now more people keeping an eye on the two marine reserves, through the launch of a new Coastwatch group comprising staff from several central and local government agencies and local residents.
Anyone who sees or suspects illegal activity in a marine reserve should call 0800 DOC HOT. Information valuable to DOC includes details of any fishers on land, or any boat involved, descriptions of those aboard, where and when it was seen – and the nature of the alleged activity. Any information offered by the public is valuable, including photographs and videos.
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A 19-year-old Canadian man has been arrested after Customs officers found 15.17 kilograms of methamphetamine in his luggage at Auckland Airport on Sunday.
Customs said the man was identified as a ‘risk passenger’ during its standard pre-arrival screening. Upon arrival from Vancouver, he was taken questioning and a baggage check.
Fifteen vacuum-sealed packages containing a crystal-like substance, which tested positive for meth, were found hidden among clothing in his suitcase.
Customs estimated the potential retail value of the meth was $4.55 million.
The man appeared at Manukau District Court on Monday morning, charged with importing a Class A Controlled drug.
Auckland Airport acting customs manager Ben Wells said customs had robust processes in place to catch drug couriers.
“Customs uses several tools including intelligence and passenger targeting through data and the use of sophisticated technology to identify high-risk passengers such as this individual. Further questioning and a search by front-line officers at the airport clearly indicated that something was not right.
“As we head into the summer season, with higher traveller volumes, every intercept customs officers make further feeds our intelligence and targeting mechanisms to help ensure that only legitimate travellers can pass through, closing the door on opportunities for criminal behaviour.”
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Local Government vice president and Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz.RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The national voice for local councils is relieved that the government is taking a more flexible approach to capping the amount local councils can increase rates.
The government announced on Monday that its long-awaited rates cap law would be a variable target band.
From 2027, councils would not be able to increase rates beyond the upper end of the government’s set range without permission.
The cap was expected to start with a maximum increase of four percent.
Local Government interim chief executive Scott Necklen said it was somewhat reassuring that the government had chosen a more flexible rates model.
But he wanted assurance that the policy would not affect local councils’ ability to invest in core services like roads, bridges and public transport.
“We need a common-sense, fast-track process for exemptions that enables investment in key infrastructure in economic growth in the regions, or when responding to natural disasters.”
Local Government vice president and Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said keeping rates low was a priority for all local councils.
But she said several councils, including the Gisborne District were rebuilding infrastructure after multiple severe weather events.
“Our community’s expectation is also that we deliver the critical infrastructure and services they rely on in a timely way.
“These are the sorts of considerations we will be working with the government to implement.”
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On Monday, media were given a first look inside the 34,000sqm store which had been in the works for seven years.
What is it like?
IKEA is well known for its bright colours and staged home environments – both of which could be found in the Auckland store.
Customers will be greeted by multiple rooms set up including lounges, kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and even patios. Each room was adorned with artwork and furnishings down to fake vegetables in the fridges and fake meat on a barbecue.
The colours of IKEA.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Everything in the rooms has price tags along with the Swedish name for each item.
After wandering through the showrooms, shoppers would come across the restaurant – complete with IKEA’s famous Swedish meatballs.
Customers were advised to download the IKEA app which would help them navigate the store which was across two levels and hep them find where to pick up flatpack items.
What will the roads be like?
Motorists have been told to expect 40-minute queues in the area along with potential hour-long waits for carparks.
Auckland Transport and NZTA have encouraged road users to plan ahead for the day and allow plenty of extra time for their journeys.
Auckland Transport Operations Centre (ATOC) Manager Claire Howard said substantial crowds were expected at IKEA for weeks or even months which would have a substantial effect on the transport network across Auckland.
“Surrounding streets in Mt Wellington will also be busy, with forecast delays of up to 40 minutes on Mt Wellington Highway in peak traffic.”
ATOC – a joint Auckland Transport and NZTA venture for managing the network in real time – has been working with the retail giant to ensure their traffic management plan minimises the traffic impact as much as possible. It would be actively managing light signals and diverting traffic where possible as congestion levels increase.
Congestion was expected to be at its worst during peak hour during the week and on Saturdays between 1 and 4pm – particularly heading northbound from South Auckland toward Mt Wellington.
Staff would be on the ground at Sylvia Park Train Station to help direct people to the store who were travelling by train.
IKEA’s NZ manager Johanna Cederlöf, said for anyone who wasn’t in Auckland or who wanted to avoid the opening day crowds, they could shop online from midnight as a way to beat the crowds.
A place to park the kids.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
In terms of when traffic in the area would ease, Cederlöf said she hoped the crowds at the store would not die down for “quite a while”, but it usually took a couple of months for the initial excitement to die down.
Shelf after shelf of flatpack all ready to go.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
She urged anyone travelling to the store to try taking public transport.
Fans of the IKEA meatballs can buy bags to take home.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
What time does the store open?
Cederlöf said the store would open at 11am on Thursday and the carpark would not open to shoppers until 8.30am.
Anyone who arrived earlier than 8.30am would be asked to leave and come back to make sure everyone stayed safe.
“We chose to open at 11am so that we avoid the morning traffic,” Cederlöf said.
The iconic blue shopping bag is also for sale.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
“Normal work traffic should be already gone and then you can hopefully, conveniently, come to IKEA and we will monitor the situation.”
The regular IKEA opening hours from 5 December onwards would be 9am to 9pm, seven days a week. The carpark and queue would open daily at 7.30am.
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It was a “bittersweet” moment when Melissa Stokes learned she was to be the new lead presenter of TVNZ’s 1News at Six.
“Because my mum died two years ago and she would have loved to have known that I’d got the job.”
He family knew when she found out, but were on strict orders to keep it under wraps until the official announcement, she told RNZ’s Afternoons.
“My Dad was quite keen to tell the Bowls Club but there was a very, ‘no Dad, no, we’ve got to keep this tight’.”
Dallow warned her to be prepared when the announcement was made, she says.
“Simon had said to me, we had a really nice talk on the phone on the Friday before the Monday it was announced, and he said to me, ‘you need to be braced’ and I, probably in my typical way, was like, ‘oh yeah, whatever, I’ll be fine’.
“But it was on the day a little bit overwhelming.”
Dallow has had a formative role in her career, Stokes says.
“I talked to Simon or Wendy [Petrie] down my earpiece for many years as a reporter. And then when I wanted to get into presenting, Simon was the person that I went to because I believe he’s the best at it.
“He’s the best at the craft of news reading and I wanted to learn from the best.”
Breaking news still excites her, Stokes says.
“I really enjoy having to think on my feet or feeling like I’m treading water underneath, but being very still and composed at the top, and that’s important.”
While she’s calm at work, her home life is a different story, she says.
“I’m in a flap quite often. I’m very flappable. But behind the desk, you know, I know what I’m doing. I’m in control.”
A traditional TV news bulletin still has a valuable place in the media landscape, she says.
“You turn to 1News when you want good, fair, balanced and factual reporting. You’re not getting that from your TikTok feed or your Facebook feed.
“I guess when you watch the 6 o’clock news, you’re seeing a product that many eyes and many ears have looked at and have decided what is the most important things of the day and what you need to know.”
Stokes has been with TVNZ for more than two decades, including a stint as Europe Correspondent. She has been presenting 1News at Six on the weekends since 2019.
She will anchor the TVNZ’s main bulletin five nights a week from Sunday to Thursday.
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Two former police houses were unexpectedly taken from a Shannon property after a miscommunication involving government departments.
Ngāti Whakatere, the local iwi, had offered to fix up the old homes as part of a land banking application in a Treaty claim.
Instead, without warning in May this year, the houses were trucked off the land.
Te Meera Hyde, who had applied on behalf of the iwi to land bank the properties, said he only learned they were being removed by chance when a visitor dropped by his house.
“I’m like, you’re joking. And yeah, I just jumped in my car, come straight up here (to) have a look.”
Te Meera HydeMATA
It started with ‘pene raupatu’
The story dates back to 1865, when the land the houses would later be built on was lost to iwi by “pene raupatu” – confiscation by pen.
Under the Native Land Act, the whenua was carved up into small parcels held by just one or two owners, undermining Ngati Whakatere’s collective rights.
Years later, the Manawatu Wellington Railway Company took over the land. The company acted like “speculators for the government,” says Hyde.
“That’s how that land was initially moved from Māori ownership to European ownership.”
Part of the block was later acquired under the Public Works Act and two police homes were built in 1989.
But in 2016 it was decided the town didn’t need a full-time police officer anymore and the homes were vacated. The empty houses fell into disrepair.
Divesting the properties proved a long process, but in July 2024, they were finally listed by the office for Māori Crown Relations Te Arawhiti, (now Te Tari Whakatau) as surplus land and invited Ngāti Whakatere to register their interest in land banking the properties.
In October 2024, Hyde did just that, applying to have the whenua returned to Ngāti Whakatere.
“As part of the application I suggested that our iwi would be prepared to help bring [the houses] up to spec and that they would be made liveable. That was in my application, and you can read all of that, it’s all clear,” Hyde says.
But then in May this year, Hyde rushed to the site after hearing of the house removals. One was already gone and the other was being prepared for relocation.
Hyde says a workman told him they were surplus government houses for demolition.
“He said to me that there’s a crowd of people who are house movers that they regularly have contact with and they said then that they have a list of prospective buyers. So they told me they were on-selling them to this other crowd.”
Precisely what happened next isn’t clear.
The more damaged of the two homes now sits down the road in Shannon township. A local house mover on site told Mata Reports he acquired both houses from the demolition company. He said: “The other one is sitting in our yard… I’ve got a block of land over in Pahiatua that that one might end up on.”
Mata Reports asked how much a house like this would cost. The response was: “Ah, this one was about 60 or 70 grand I think.” He had bought them from a demolition company which had ended up shifting and selling them.
The demolition company says no money changed hands between them and the removal company.
None of the companies involved have acted improperly. But it does raise the question: how did houses that should have been land banked for a Treaty claim end up being onsold at the taxpayer’s expense?
Police director of property and fleet Brian YankoMATA
A costly ‘misunderstanding’
Police told Mata Reports it paid around $138,000 for the houses to be demolished. The process involved at least four different companies – the demolition company says it received only a portion of that amount. Saving the houses from landfill reduced overall costs, the company says.
It appears police only became aware of the houses being on sold instead of demolished after the iwi and locals began asking questions.
Police director of property and fleet, Brian Yanko, says it was a complete surprise that the houses had ended up being sold to private owners.
Police were under “time pressure” with it being the end of the financial year and neighbours had been complaining about the properties being in a state of disrepair and vandalised, Yanko says.
A police report into the divesting of the houses blamed “a communication misunderstanding, Police did not appreciate that there was iwi interest in the property.”
Yanko acknowledges Police made a mistake and he takes personal responsibility for it.
Te Tari Whakatau declined to be interviewed but in a written statement said it gave advice to the Police’s property agent about the process that needed to be followed due to the land banking applications.
“We also asked that they notify us if they decided to remove the houses, so we could let the applicant know before any work commenced. Ultimately, we did not proactively inform the applicant that the houses were being removed, because we were unaware of this ourselves.”
Whatever the cause of the misunderstanding, many in Shannon are upset that two state houses that could have housed whanau wound up sold off.
Sharon WilliamsMATA
Community disappointment
The whole saga has angered Sharon Williams, the community navigator for Hapai Te Hapori. In 2021, Williams called for the houses to be restored and rented out because there was and is a shortage of housing in Shannon.
“We’re not happy at what’s happened. We’re not happy about the way that the Iwi have been treated, especially in the process,” Williams says.
“We need housing here in Shannon. We need available housing. We need affordable housing. And we the iwi to be respected and due process to be followed”.
Te Meera Hyde says they have since received an apology from Te Tari Whakatau.
“We apologise to you for what has occurred. The site has now been cleared and the bare land will be considered for land banking in June.”
A decision about Ngati Whakatere’s land banking application is expected soon, and Hyde is still optimistic for the future.
“We’re always hopeful, we’re always looking for tino rangatiratanga, put it that way,” he says.
“We know who we are, we know where we are and we have whanau that know where we should be going. Prosperity, tino rangatiratanga, kotahitanga”
Hundreds of empty state-owned houses
A survey of agencies by Mata Reports found there are hundreds of state-owned houses sitting empty, in addition to those owned by Kāinga Ora. Of the agencies contacted, at least 400 vacant houses in state ownership were reported, even as families wait for homes.
Land Information New Zealand has 175 vacant houses and 24 earmarked for demolition.
Ministry of Education has 89 vacant homes.
Police has 52 vacant houses.
Corrections has 5 vacant homes.
Oranga Tamariki has 6 empty homes with 1 set for demolition.
Fire and Emergency has 4 empty homes.
MBIE has 7 portable and 29 cabins sitting idle, held for Civil Defence emergencies.
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The city’s 150-odd parks and reserves had been hit hard by damages.RNZ / Calvin Samuel
The damage caused by the storm that swept through Invercargill in October has cost the local council about $2.4 million, but it expects much of that cost will not be able to be recovered through insurance.
A local state of emergency was declared when gales caused widespread damage and thousands of power outages in October, downing trees, power lines and tearing roofs off buildings.
The Invercargill City Council reviewed the initial financial impacts report at a recent meeting, saying it was focused on the recovery efforts in the wake of significant damage.
In a report tabled at the meeting, the council said it was working with insurance assessors to confirm how much coverage it had.
Council chief executive Michael Day said the current cost estimates were expected to change once more assessments were completed and the sale of timber was finalised.
“The amount of damage inflicted on some of our facilities and infrastructure was significant and, unfortunately, completely outside of our control,” he said.
“We know how important these spaces are for our community, and it’s critical that we undertake substantial repair efforts to get Invercargill and Bluff back to normal.
“The costs associated with undertaking this work are unavoidable, as we need to ensure our community’s safety is prioritised.”
The council expected much of the cost would not be recoverable from insurance so it would likely to debt-fund the shortfall through a five-year loan, Day said.
The city’s 150-odd parks and reserves had been hit hard with an estimated $930,538 price tag that did not include the cost of tree replanting, he said.
Close to $300,000 needed to repair damage to street lights and traffic signals with a further $294,687 earmarked to damaged roofs and windows at council-owned buildings including Splash Palace.
“These facilities are a real lifeline for many people in our community, so we are working as hard and as fast as we can to carry out the repairs they need,” Day said.
Between the 23 October, when the wind struck, and 7 November, when the state of emergency was lifted, council employees had tallied up 525 hours of work at Emergency Management Southland.
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It’s only the first day of summer but already a code brown is casting an unwanted shadow over Auckland’s beaches.
Sewage overflows from thunderstorms over the weekend have impacted water quality at beaches across the central city, with swimmers being warned to stay out of the Waitematā – or risk a nasty bug.
At Auckland’s Herne Bay Beach, friends Chris and Lauren were making the most of their day off.
But danger lurked under the surface. The beach was one of 13 to be marked black by Auckland Council on Monday, denoting a wastewater overflow.
Dozens more were marked red, meaning poor water quality.
Chris was relieved they hadn’t been swimming.
“[We] just wanted to enjoy the sun at the beach on our day off,” she said.
“I had no idea. I think I’m not going to swim right now, actually. I think we’re going to have to maybe drive further down to be able to swim in the sea.”
Lauren said she preferred to keep her distance from faeces, but she had seen a lot worse.
“I have very sensitive skin, especially with like folliculitis and like skin irritations, so water quality is important to me,” she said.
“I did yoga training in Bali and there was literal trash and like faecal matter in the water and I wouldn’t want to do that again. Wouldn’t recommend it.”
RNZ/Felix Walton
Thunderstorms over the weekend had filled Auckland’s wastewater infrastructure to the brim and spilled out into the harbour.
Victoria University freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy told Midday Report the warming climate would cause more frequent spills over time.
“You’ve got climate change, which means warmer temperatures, which means more growth of, you know, dangerous bacteria, but also more extremes in weather,” he said.
“So we get these flooding events and high rainfall events.”
He said the ageing wastewater infrastructure across New Zealand couldn’t handle the volume.
“Huge amounts of water that shouldn’t be in a sewage system that gets in through, you know, old broken infrastructure plus illegal connections, meaning massive flows, you know, additional flows coming into wastewater treatment plants and they just can’t handle it,” he said.
“They don’t have storage. They open the gates and let it out.”
At Sentinel Beach in Herne Bay, beachgoer Michael wished he could just go for a swim without ending up waist deep in waste.
“Yeah, I think that’s pretty bad… It would be nice to be able to like come down here, have a swim and know it’s safe without checking,” he said.
Auckland Council’s SafeSwim technical lead Dr Martin Neale said swimmers risked catching a nasty bacterial infection.
“The source of the contamination is pathogens in the water. So, that’s the risk you’re exposing yourself to,” he said.
“Generally, those will manifest as either respiratory or tummy upsets. But sometimes if you have a cut or something like that, it can infect the cut.”
He warned of similar interruptions throughout the rest of summer.
“During summer is when we get these sort of intense thunderstorm situations like we had yesterday, there was thunderstorm warnings out and we’ll see them in summer,” Neale said.
“We don’t know how many, but when those things do happen, we would encourage people to check out SafeSwim.”
Neale expected the contaminated waters to clear over the following two days.
In a statement, Watercare noted that it was already investing in upgrading wastewater infrastructure to reduce spills.
“We are investing $8 billion in new and upgraded wastewater infrastructure in the next decade, which includes $4.8b specifically in wastewater networks to reduce overflows,” head of wastewater Jon Piggot said.
“For Herne Bay and St Marys Bay, the real results will come around 2028 when we finish the Herne Bay Collector tunnel.”
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Football Fern Annalie Longo will end her international career against the Matildas in Adelaide.www.photosport.nz
Football Ferns legend Annalie Longo knew the end of a career spanning nearly 20 years at the top was coming this year and she is thankful to walk away on her own terms.
Longo will retire from international football after Tuesday’s match against Australia’s Matildas at Coopers Stadium in Adelaide.
The midfielder will finish her Football Ferns career on 144 caps, the fifth-highest total in the team’s history, and 15 goals.
Longo made her senior international debut as a teenager, before appearing at five FIFA Women’s World Cups, including the home tournament in 2023, and four Olympic Games.
Scoring her first goal against Japan to level the game in 2013, the 2012 Olympics where the Football Ferns won their first match at a Games and winning the opening game of the 2023 Football World Cup in Auckland, were among the highlights from a senior career which began in 2006.
The decision to hang up her boots follows her retirement from professional club football with Wellington Phoenix in April.
“It comes with mixed emotions. I can proudly say I have given everything for the Fern and this team,” she said.
“Football has shaped who I am.”
Longo said entering the senior national team as a 15-year-old she was “full of dreams and hopes that I would get to represent my country”.
“The journey it has given me and the memories and experiences and the rollercoasters its given me, it’s been part of my life for so long so obviously a tough decision but when I look at the future of the team and what they need going forward I think it’s the right time to step away.”
Longo was “tempted” to stay with the national team with the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup on the horizon but said there were several reasons why it would be better if she did not.
“When I look at my heart, I think if I’m still around playing in 2027 we’ve got a bit of a disservice to the system we’re growing in New Zealand. So, I have to look at it both ways and what’s best for the team and if I continued to stay around, just with my age and the toughness that it is to play professional football and the stage of my career, also where my body is at, a number of factors that kind of play into the decision I think the best thing for the team is that they get ready and work towards that 2027 campaign.”
Football Ferns head coach Michael Mayne was not ready for Longo to retire when she stepped away from the Phoenix so he asked her to fill a role with the national team this year.
“It’s been a challenge to work hard and not have a professional team but I try, as I have always done throughout my career, to keep my standards high and do whatever I can to be on that pitch,” Longo said.
“Timing-wise it felt right being able to build and create some structures in the way we want to move forward under Mayne so it was a privilege and I’m grateful to have that opportunity.”
Longo was emotional in recognising the likes of former captain, Ali Riley, who did not get to leave football on their own terms.
Riley retired in October after a prolonged battle with a chronic nerve injury.
“I know not everybody who has been part of the Ferns has had the perfect send-off… I hope [her experience] is set in stone of what it should be and when players retire, who have committed so much to the Ferns, that we can celebrate the amazing legacy that past Ferns previously maybe didn’t get the opportunity to do.”
Football will still be a big part of Longo’s life. She is already in a player development role with New Zealand Football and she was looking forward to dedicating more time to “inspiring and growing” the next generation.
She said coaching was a route she wanted to pursue.
Mayne said the link to former Ferns was important and he planned to keep in touch with Longo into the future.
“You can see everything you need to know about her by looking at her journey in the shirt. She has seen and experienced it all, but throughout her career she has always played her role, put the team first, and promoted excellence for herself and the side,” Mayne said
“Having seen Annalie come through the coaching pathway and where she is at in that, I think between her role, the coaching, there is no doubt in my mind the character she is and belief in our country, the drive for things to be better – all those things line-up to someone who can have a massive impact in the next phase of her career and life and that’s what we need more of going forward.
“That’s probably a gap I’ve seen for different reasons where we can do a lot better.
“That’s part of my belief system in this role is how do we put things in place to make sure we’re retaining good people and people that can shift the game because we need more than what we’ve got at the moment. So, I will be definitely be a regular still talking to her and picking her brain because you can’t just let experience and knowledge disappear in our system we don’t have the luxury to be able to do that.”
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More than 900 people are dead, thousands more missing and millions affected by a band of cyclones and extreme monsoonal weather across southern Asia. Torrential rain has triggered the worst flooding in decades, accompanied by landslides. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have been hit hardest. The death toll is likely to rise significantly.
Normally, cyclones don’t form close to the equator. But Cyclone Senyar formed just north of the equator in the Malacca Strait. It triggered lethal flooding in Sumatra and peninsular Malaysia last week.
It wasn’t alone. Other tropical cyclones formed along a zone of converging trade winds north of the equator. Typhoon Koto caused severe flash floods and landslides in the Philippines before weakening as it neared Vietnam. Tropical Cyclone Ditwah devastated Sri Lanka. One reason Sumatra was hit by such severe flooding was due to the unusual interaction between Typhoon Koto and Cyclone Senyar, which has now weakened.
The near-simultaneous emergence of these intense storms isn’t unheard of, and equatorial cyclones are rare but known. But the devastation is extraordinary. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake described the floods as the “most challenging natural disaster” in the country’s history. Is there a climate link? We don’t know yet, but we do know climate change is projected to trigger fewer cyclones overall, but with higher intensity.
Why are cyclones rare near the equator?
Cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes are different names for the same strong, spinning tropical storms. These storms form over large expanses of warm water – but not usually on the equatorial seas.
This is because there’s not enough Coriolis force from Earth’s rotation at the equator to spin storms into their classic cyclonic structure.
The closest cyclone to the equator was the 2001 Tropical Storm Vamei which formed at just 1.4°N. Cyclone Senyar formed at 3.8°N.
While tropical cyclones can form in any month, they’re more common between July and October in the northwest Pacific and North Indian oceans. Cyclone Senyar and Typhoon Koto formed in the Northwest Pacific Basin, which has the largest, most frequent and most intense tropical cyclones in the world. Several devastating typhoons have hit the Philippines and parts of southern China this year.
One reason these cyclones have caused widespread damage is because they have hit countries where cyclones are rare, such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Tropical cyclones are often smaller and much less common in the North Indian Ocean, including the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. But Cyclone Ditwar tracked directly down Sri Lanka’s east coast, magnifying the damage.
Is there a climate link?
As the world’s oceans and atmosphere warm at an accelerating rate due to the rise in greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, tropical cyclones are expected to become more intense.
This is because cyclones get their energy from warm oceans. The warmer the ocean, the more fuel for the storm.
We can’t immediately say climate change made these storms worse, as it takes time to pinpoint any link.
What does this mean for Australia’s cyclone season?
Many Australians will wonder whether these devastating cyclones across Asia are a warning for northern Australia’s monsoon season.
The wet season has started with a bang in northern Australia, after Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina caused damage and disruption across the Top End and Kimberley last week. It was very early for a cyclone in the south Pacific and Indian oceans, as the season runs November to May.
Last week also saw the most damaging spring storms in more than a decade in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. Giant hail and destructive winds did major damage, costing one insurer an estimated A$350 million.
This doesn’t mean a bad cyclone season is guaranteed. It’s not possible to predict individual tropical cyclone events far in advance.
All indicators point to a mixed wet season across the north this year, with below-average rainfall across much of the northwest and average to above-average rainfall across the northeast.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has just declared a La Niña in the Pacific. La Niña typically bring cooler, wetter weather to northern Australia and a stronger monsoon and higher risk of cyclones. This La Niña is likely to be relatively weak and short-lived, which is why rainfall predictions are largely average.
Across most of the Coral Sea, sea surface temperatures are up to 2°C above normal. This unusual warmth increases the risk of cyclone formation as well as more intense monsoonal rains and flooding in coming months.
The Bureau of Meteorology recently ended seasonal cyclone forecasts as it’s no longer possible to do so reliably. Until now, meteorologists have used historic data to reasonably accurately model the total number of cyclones in a season. But the climate is now changing so fast it’s no longer possible to do this. As rescue attempts continue in many countries in the region, it’s clear we are now entering uncharted territory.
Steve Turton has previously received funding from the Australian and Queensland governments.
The government’s long-awaited rates cap will be a variable target band, and would be enforced by a new regulator.
Likely starting with minimum increases of two percent and a maximum of four percent, the cap would take effect from 1 January 2027.
It was not clear from the initial written statement how often the target might change, or exactly how it would be calculated, only that this could include “indicators like inflation at the lower end and GDP growth at the higher end”.
Local Government Minister Simon Watts said councils will need to seek permission from a new regulator to go above the maximum, and that permission would only be granted in “extreme” circumstances.
Water charges and other non-rates revenue will be exempt from the target range, but all general rates, targeted rates and uniform annual charges would be subject to the limits.
Watts indicated the ranges would likely start at between 2 percent and 4 percent per capita, per year, based on analysis.
“This means rates increases would be limited to a maximum of 4 percent,” he said.
Local Government Minister Simon WattsRNZ/Mark Papalii
Consultation on the changes announced at the post-Cabinet briefing on Monday opened immediately, and set to close in February 2026 with the legislation expecting to be passed by the end of that year.
The target would begin from 2027, with the “full regulatory model” in place by 1 July 2029.
The announcement follows last week’s unveiling of the government’s plan to abolish regional councillors, replacing them with panels of mayors from city and district councils.
In a statement, Watts said rates increases that recently had been in double digits was “unsustainable and is only adding to the cost of living for many Kiwis”.
“Ratepayers deserve councils that live within their means, focus on the basics and are accountable to their community. The Government’s decision to introduce a cap on rates will support that ambition and protect local government’s social license for the long term,” he said.
“A minimum increase is necessary so councils can continue to provide essential services like rubbish collection, council roads maintenance and the management of parks and libraries.
“From 2027, councils will be required to consider the impact of rates caps on their long-term plans and report on areas of financial performance, like the cost of wages and salaries, council rates as a percentage of local house prices and estimates of local infrastructure deficits.
“The full regulatory model will take effect by 2029. However, officials will be monitoring rates rises nationwide as soon as the legislation is enacted. Where councils propose increases beyond the proposed cap, this may present grounds for intervention under the Local Government Act.”
He said councils should not wait for the full enactment of the rates capping model before controlling rates increases for their constituents.
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The Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa has filed an application for an urgent injunction to prevent the ban coming into effect on 19 December. File photo.RNZ // Angus Dreaver
An urgent legal injunction has been filed to stop the incoming ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria.
The drugs – known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues – would remain available for people already using them.
The Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) said it had today filed an application for an urgent injunction to prevent the ban coming into effect on 19 December.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Simeon Brown said as the matter was now before the courts, “it would not be appropriate to comment”.
RNZ has also approached the Health Ministry for comment.
The move has been highly controversial, with a number of clinical groups criticising the government decision.
PATHA said it was asking for an urgent judicial review on the grounds that the incoming regulation was “illegal and unethical”.
President Jennifer Shields said the regulations were being enacted “based on politics, not on clinical evidence or best-practice decision making”.
“We won’t let transgender children in Aotearoa be subjected to harm just to ‘win a war on woke’.
“We’re taking this to court because we know what’s right, and we believe the law is on our side.”
Dr Rona Carroll – a GP specialist in gender affirming healthcare – said there was no evidence to justify this “extreme regulation”.
“Only a small number of young people in Aotearoa are prescribed reversible pubertal suppression, but for those who need it the negative impacts of this regulation will be huge. Politicians are ignoring the advice of health professionals, and are not acting in the best interests of children and young people who have a right to access healthcare free from discrimination.”
The coalition government’s move follows a major shift in Britain following the Cass Review – a four-year investigation commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS).
That review, spearheaded by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, found there was “not enough evidence to support their safety or clinical effectiveness”, and there were unanswered questions on their long-term impact on brain development and bone development.
In response, the NHS stopped routine access to puberty blockers for new patients. Other countries – including Sweden, Finland and Norway – had already tightened access and guidelines.
The Cass Review split opinion among clinicians and academics world-wide. While some endorsed the call of higher evidence standards, others criticised the report’s methodology and warned it downplayed the risk of denying treatment to young people.
New Zealand’s Health Ministry last year also released a report finding “a lack of high-quality evidence” on the benefits or risks of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria.
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ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on December 1, 2025.
Are UN climate summits a waste of time? No, but they are in dire need of reform Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arthur Wyns, Research fellow, The University of Melbourne The United Nations’ global climate summit has finished for another year. Some progress was made in Brazil on climate finance and adaptation. But efforts to end reliance on fossil fuels were stymied by – you guessed it – fossil
A global tax crackdown is coming for crypto – including NZ trades worth billions Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olena Onishchenko, Senior Lecturer in Finance, University of Otago Getty Images For over a decade, cryptocurrency has been synonymous with a promise of freedom: access to a decentralised digital realm operating beyond the reach of traditional banks and governments. That promise is about to be broken. A
Passing on a family business isn’t easy. Here’s why – and what factors predict success Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesco Chirico, Professor of Strategy and Family Business, Macquarie University Maskot/Getty Earlier this year, the world watched with interest as the Murdoch family’s real-life Succession drama came to a close. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s children – eyeing an empire estimated to be worth more than US$20 billion
‘It’s wanting to know that makes us matter’: how Tom Stoppard made us all philosophers Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fergus Edwards, Lecturer in English, University of Tasmania Tom Stoppard, who has died at 88, was one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful playwrights of our age. He won his first Tony Award for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1968, and his last for
56 million years ago, the Earth suddenly heated up – and many plants stopped working properly Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vera Korasidis, Lecturer in Environmental Geoscience, The University of Melbourne Around 56 million years ago, Earth suddenly got much hotter. Over about 5,000 years, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere drastically increased and global temperatures shot up by some 6°C. As we show in new research
Four Papuan activists jailed on treason charges – NZ advocate says ‘abuse of law’ By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific reporter Four Papuan political prisoners have been sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment on treason charges. But a West Papua independence advocate says Indonesia is using its law to silence opposition. In April this year, letters were delivered to government institutions in Sorong West Papua, asking for peaceful dialogue between Indonesia’s
‘Make the platforms safer’: what young people really think about the social media ban Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Osman, Senior Research Associate, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology Canva/Pexels/The Conversation, CC BY-SA From next Wednesday, thousands of young Australians under 16 will lose access to their accounts across ten social media platforms, as the teen social media ban takes effect. What do
Is Australia in a youth crime crisis? Here’s what the numbers say Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Associate Professor in Criminology, Macquarie University Youth crime is never far from the public consciousness, but Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s announcement of “adult time for violent crime” has brought the issue back into sharp focus. The proposed changes would see children as young as 14
Why dating your therapist is never OK Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chelsea Arnold, Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow (Lead Clinician), Monash University taylor hernandez/Unsplash In the Netflix show Nobody Wants This Morgan begins a relationship with her therapist Dr Andy. Morgan’s sister Joanne and the rest of Morgan’s family are concerned about the relationship. But the TV show
NZ now has a narrow window to stop the Asian yellow-legged hornet – here’s how everyone can help Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phil Lester, Professor of Ecology and Entomology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Jonathan Raa/Getty Images The first Asian yellow-legged hornets observed in Auckland in winter were two old and slow males. Many people were concerned and worried. Now, at the end of spring, what
Should anti-bullying approaches encourage kids to be ‘upstanders’? The evidence is not clear Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karyn Healy, Honorary Principal Research Fellow in Psychology, The University of Queensland Wander Women Collective/ Getty Images School bullying is one of the most serious issues facing Australian schools. Students who are bullied can be left psychologically and emotionally devastated for years afterwards. Last month, the federal
David Robie’s Eyes of Fire rekindles the legacy of the Rainbow Warrior 40 years on A transition in global emphasis from “nuclear to climate crisis survivors”, plus new geopolitical exposés. REVIEW: By Amit Sarwal of The Australia Today Forty years after the bombing of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour, award-winning journalist and author David Robie has revisited the ship’s fateful last mission — a journey that became
Tucker Carlson ‘tuckered out’ with Donald Trump and Israel – insights for New Zealand rightwing politics COMMENTARY: By Ian Powell The origin of the expression “tuckered out” goes back to the east of the United States around the 1830s. After New Englanders began to compare the wrinkled and drawn appearance of overworked and undernourished horses and dogs to the appearance of tucked cloth, it became associated with people being exhausted. Expressions
Police said they are investigating the thefts from grave sites at St Johns Cemetery between 28 October and 22 November.RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Several burial plaques of First and Second World War soldiers have been stolen from grave sites in Invercargill.
Police said they are investigating the thefts from grave sites at St Johns Cemetery between 28 October and 22 November.
“Several of the stolen plaques were taken from the graves of Returned Service personnel who served in the First and Second World Wars, making this a particularly distressing crime for families and the wider community,” Acting Inspector Mel Robertson said.
Anyone with information on the stolen plaques are urged to contact the police via 105 and quote event number 251125/6603. Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
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The school has recalled the lunches, but some had already been eaten by students.Unsplash
A Christchurch school says it has been provided with contaminated school lunches in a significant health and safety breach.
Haeata Community Campus, which covers from Year 1 to 13, has put up a post on Facebook saying they have recalled all of the lunches due to the contamination, but some had already been eaten by students.
It is asking parents to watch for symptoms of food poisoning such as vomiting and diarrhoea, and says more serious symptoms could include bloody diarrhoea, fevers and dehydration.
The Facebook post said the school will be complaining to the provider.
The school has been approached for comment.
More to come…
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Police said a car had collided with a tree between Harwoods Road and Tapapa Road.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
A person has died after a car crashed into a tree and caught on fire.
Emergency services were called to the crash on State Highway 5 near Tapapa, Waikato at 10.45am on Monday.
Police said a car had collided with a tree between Harwoods Road and Tapapa Road.
The car caught on fire after the crash and the fire is reported to have spread to nearby vegetation, a police spokesperson said.
They said one person died in the crash.
The road remains closed while the Serious Crash Unit examines the scene.
Motorists are advised to expect delays and should take alternative routes where possible.
Trucks and heavy vehicles heading north between Rotorua and Tīrau will not be able to go past the intersection of Harwoods Road and State Highway 5, and a diversion has been put in place.
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The Sky City Convention Centre’s foyer.RNZ/Nona Pelletier
The opening of the New Zealand International Convention Centre (NZICC) is just around the corner and expected to contribute an initial $90 million a year to the economy over the next three years.
The convention centre had been nearly 17 years in the making, from a government feasibility study in mid-2009 to official opening scheduled for Wednesday, 11 February.
Casino operator SkyCity made a deal with the government to build the NZICC in exchange for an extension of its gambling concessions. It then commissioned Fletcher Construction to build it for just over $400 million in 2015.
The construction was expected to take up to three years to complete, by it was clear by 2017 the project was running behind, as costs quickly ballooned.
A 2020 completion day was finally in site by mid-2019, but was not to be after a massive fire caused extensive damage to building in October 2019.
The centre’s theatre.RNZ/Nona Pelletier
NZICC general manager Prue Daly, who has been on the job for nine years, said the handover of the keys a few weeks ago was the highlight of her tenure.
“It’s fair to say it’s not a traditional journey to opening that we’ve had,” she said. “We thought it was going to be three years. It’s ended up being 10.
“For us as a team, we’re honestly just looking forward now.”
She said the team had been been busy unpacking more than 100,000 pieces of equipment and furnishings over the past four weeks, with more to come.
“So, at the moment, we’ve got about 70 permanent team members, but we are on a bit of a casual recruitment drive,” she said.
The centre’s main event floor.RNZ/Nona Pelletier
The NZICC was looking to employ up to 500 casuals over the next couple of months.
“We will probably start with about 300 casuals and build up to 500 once we are opening and at full steam.”
The centre was looking to recruit ushers for the theatre, people serving food and beverage, the Coffee Pop Up, setup teams, chefs, stewards and audio visual team members.
“We’ve got quite a breadth of roles across the building.”
The centre’s board room.RNZ/Nona Pelletier
The building has a capacity of about 4000 people at any one time.
New Zealand-based events are expected to account for about 70 percent to 80 percent of the events, which included conventions, award ceremonies, concerts, another other large events, with international events accounting for between 20 and 30 percent.
She said the international events could attract many thousands of people at one time, with a standard-sized board room providing seating for 20.
A waka in the centre’s foyer area.RNZ/Nona Pelletier
The public will get a first look at the facility at a public open day in February.
Daly said the facility will be a “real step-change” for Auckland and New Zealand, with the the City Rail Link also expected to open next year.
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The United Nations’ global climate summit has finished for another year. Some progress was made in Brazil on climate finance and adaptation. But efforts to end reliance on fossil fuels were stymied by – you guessed it – fossil fuel powers.
It left many observers with a question: is this really the best we can do? Nearly every country (except the United States) joined the COP30 summit in the Brazilian city of Belém. The meeting showed the best and the worst of multilateralism – when countries try to address global problems beyond the capacity of an individual nation.
On one hand, COP30 managed to draw world leaders to the heart of the Amazonian rainforest to highlight the global issue of deforestation. And it maintained political momentum on climate action despite an unprecedented year of geopolitical turbulence, wars, finance cuts and UN job losses.
But the protracted climate negotiations failed to acknowledge the main drivers of climate change in the final text, including fossil fuels. And the UN’s decision-making process broke down on the final day of the summit. Many countries objected to the opaque and undemocratic way Brazil pushed through the final decision text.
A decade on from the Paris Agreement, there’s a growing sense climate summits are disconnected from real-world climate action. This begs the question: are the UN climate negotiations still fit for purpose? Or do they need to be reformed?
Consensus is too slow
Unlike most UN meetings, climate negotiations don’t use a majority voting rule, where the proposal with the most votes wins. Instead, decisions are always adopted by consensus. Every nation has to agree. This is a historical quirk that has been in place since COP1, where members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) successfully argued that all UNFCCC decisions should be taken only by consensus.
Focusing on consensus has arguably led to slower, more incremental progress on global climate action. There’s a long history of climate summit decisions being abandoned, watered down or delayed because of a handful of objections.
This means climate summits reflect the lowest common denominator. Decisions must be acceptable to every single country, including countries deeply dependent on revenue from fossil fuel exports.
The reliance on consensus led to political drama at the COP30 closing plenary. Some African and Latin American countries, and the European Union, raised objections after Brazil rattled through the adoption of watered-down COP decisions without allowing other countries to intervene.
The introduction of a majority voting rule in the UN climate negotiations – a common practice across the UN – could effectively unblock this situation and drive meaningful political change on climate.
Refocus on implementation
Over the past ten years, government representatives have negotiated the Paris Agreement rulebook. COP30 finalised the only remaining work on global carbon markets and how to measure global progress on adaptation.
With the rules now fully established, climate summits have shifted into the implementation phase. At COP30, this manifested as a flurry of new climate initiatives and coalitions, such as the launch of a new fund to end deforestation, commitments to tax luxury travel, and efforts by a group of countries to speed up the phase-out of fossil fuels.
These are a sign governments are moving away from negotiating global consensus statements and instead progressing climate action in smaller “coalitions of the willing”. Future climate summits might need to redesign their format so they are less focused on negotiating international rules and more geared towards implementation. This would provide a chance for improved collaboration, accountability and the tracking of progress.
Clamping down on vested interests
A third area ripe for reform is the presence of vested interests. Fossil fuel industry lobbyists freely participate at COPs and have a long history of undermining ambition. By one account, COP30 saw the participation of 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists. Previous Australian governments have promoted fossil fuel companies such as Santos at climate summits.
Media reports have revealed how the COP28 and COP29 presidencies of the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan leveraged their roles to facilitate oil and gas deals, while COP30 relied on a PR firm that also works for oil and gas company Shell.
A step towards reform was taken in September when the UN climate secretariat announced new voluntary disclosure requirements for people attending the climate talks. Additional reforms could include mandatory disclosure requirements, clear rules for managing conflicts of interest and a code of conduct with transparency criteria.
The best we have
Many proposals have been put forward for improving how COPs work, from streamlining the bloated negotiation agendas to providing clearer expectations on the role of COP presidencies. These proposals recognise the many flaws of the global climate summits and point to the need for a major overhaul.
But this does not mean we should get rid of COPs altogether. They remain a crucial tool for driving political decision-making and international collaboration on the largest global challenge of our time. For example, new figures released by the UNFCCC at the start of COP30 showed that the global emissions curve is beginning to bend downwards for the first time, while a scenario without the Paris Agreement in place saw emissions continue to rise by 20–48% in the next ten years.
The global transformation of energy systems and economies is a deeply political process and requires an ongoing political platform. Importantly, COPs are also the only political space where the smallest island countries carry the same weight as the most powerful economies.
Despite being messy and complicated affairs, COPs will remain necessary for years to come.
Arthur Wyns has received funding from the University of Melbourne, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank.
Former Pharmac chief executive Sarah Fitt.RNZ / LUKE MCPAKE
The Minister for Pharmac says the departure of its former chief executive – which appears to have come with a $357,000 payout – was “very well managed” by the board.
She had been in the role since 2018 and faced criticism over interactions with and about a journalist.
When the agency came under criticism over changes to hormone replacement therapy patches in 2024, Pharmac’s board chair Paula Bennett and Associate Health Minister David Seymour – who has responsibility for Pharmac – refused to express confidence in Fitt.
Labour Party health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall.VNP/Louis Collins
Labour’s Ayesha Verrall at the Health select committee on Monday afternoon questioned Bennett about the $357,000 payout to a single employee, asking if it was made to Fitt.
Bennett acknowledged the payment was made under an employment contract, noting she has not notified Seymour of the figure.
“I don’t think I ever gave the minister a number, it’s confidential and it’s what’s to be expected in negotiations for… cessation payment for someone leaving,” she said.
“The truth is we were in negotiations as you would with someone exiting. They had an employment agreement, we negotiated that, we did everything within our powers to actually do the best for New Zealanders and New Zealand taxpayers but that was the terms of the agreement that I inherited and that’s – that’s what it is.”
Verrall responded that it was “well beyond the norm in the public sector”.
Seymour had appeared to confirm the assumption that the payment was made to Fitt was correct, saying Pharmac was a $2b a year operation for buying medicines for New Zealanders.
“Having the right leadership at the head is absolutely critical and I think the board’s managed it very well,” he said.
Minister in charge of Pharmac David SeymourRNZ / Mark Papalii
Verrall questioned whether it was a good use of taxpayer funds, considering the exit payment amounted to at least eight months salary for the highest-paid individual at Pharmac in that time.
“Well, you know, my views about employment law are on record and fairly expansive but we are bound by the laws of this country and we have done everything that we need to under them.”
Verrall asked if the matter had been “bungled”, but Seymour said he wasn’t involved and “as far as I’m concerned the board has operated very effectively in challenging circumstances”.
He pointed to having brought Malcolm Mulholland, a senior researcher and cancer patient advocate, on board as the chair of Pharmac’s advocacy committee after Mulholland previously protested against the agency’s decisions.
When Fitt resigned in February, Seymour thanked her, saying he was impressed by her commitment to Pharmac on its core role of expanding opportunities and access for patients.
Verrall had earlier asked about why a review into Pharmac’s culture had not been released in full.
Bennett said the report looked into “staffing issues”, and the advice the board received was that releasing the executive summary was enough.
She said a series of meetings and patient workshops had been run face-to-face and efforts were made to “genuinely not run it the Pharmac way, actually run it their way”.
“There was such a divide … I felt for us to do that we had to look eye to eye, we had to take the honesty and the bluntness of some of the hurt that had gone on.”
Bennett said she was present to “be the buffer if needed”.
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Northland Coastguard Air Patrol conducting the aerial search for a fisherman who was swept off the rocks at Tapotupotu Bay near Cape Reinga.Northland Coastguard Air Patrol
The Police Dive Squad is searching the water near Cape Reinga for a fisherman swept from rocks at Tapotupotu Bay.
The man was fishing at the remote location with friends when he was washed into the sea around 3pm on 23 November.
Police, Search and Rescue, Coastguard Air Patrol, Customs, Surf Lifesaving and the Northern Rescue Helicopter were all involved in the initial search.
It’s understood high winds in recent days have hampered the search but conditions at the Cape on Monday are fine with light seas.
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For over a decade, cryptocurrency has been synonymous with a promise of freedom: access to a decentralised digital realm operating beyond the reach of traditional banks and governments.
That promise is about to be broken.
A global tax crackdown is coming for crypto, and New Zealand is very much part of it. Starting in 2026, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will gain unprecedented access to trading histories, whether investors are using local exchanges or offshore platforms.
The Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a new international standard, takes effect from April 1 next year. This will close a major gap in global tax transparency for crypto.
The CARF is the crypto cousin of the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard which requires financial institutions to identify and share information about accounts held by foreign tax residents. This makes it far more difficult to hide assets offshore to evade taxes.
Until now, the major challenge has been the sheer volume of unreported offshore crypto activity. A recent IRD report revealed 80% of cryptocurrency transactions by New Zealanders occur on overseas trading platforms. The IRD simply couldn’t access this data.
The scale of what’s been invisible is significant. The same IRD report identified 188,000 New Zealanders who traded NZ$7.2 billion in cryptocurrencies through local exchanges alone between June 2024 and June 2025.
The market is highly concentrated, with just 1.5% of traders responsible for 79% of that total. As of June 30 this year, more than 150 high-value customers remained under review, with tens of millions of dollars in tax at risk.
From April 1, New Zealand-based crypto service providers must begin collecting information on specified transactions. By June 30 of 2027, that data goes to the IRD.
Crypto-asset service providers report trades to their own country’s tax authority. Those authorities then share the data automatically with others in participating OECD countries.
So, IRD will receive information from local providers about trades executed on their own platforms, and about offshore trades through international data-sharing.
The CARF captures three key transaction types:
• crypto-to-local-currency exchanges: converting your crypto into New Zealand dollars or your New Zealand dollars into crypto triggers a report
• crypto-to-crypto trades: swapping one digital asset for another (for example, Ethereum for a stablecoin) gets captured too
• significant transfers: moving crypto assets from one wallet to another.
Service providers – exchanges, brokers and crypto wallet operators – will collect your name, address, date of birth and tax identification number, then report your transaction data.
That information flows to the IRD, then to tax authorities in other CARF countries. Meanwhile, New Zealand receives data on foreign investors using local platforms.
The effect is simple: crypto transactions become as visible to tax authorities as your bank account and share portfolio.
Understanding your obligations
The core rules have not changed. The IRD treats cryptocurrency as property, not currency. Every realised capital gain from crypto activities creates a potential tax liability.
Selling for cash, trading for another token, or using crypto to buy a car all count as taxable events. Your gain – the difference between the sale price and the cost price of your crypto – is treated as taxable income.
For example, suppose you buy a fraction of one Bitcoin for $10,000 and later sell it for $15,000. The $5,000 gain counts as taxable income. At a 33% tax rate, you would owe $1,650.
However, crypto’s volatility can also work to your advantage through a strategy called tax-loss harvesting. When you sell an asset for less than you paid, the resulting loss can generally be deducted from other taxable gains or income, lowering your overall tax bill.
So, if you sold that Bitcoin for $9,000 instead of $15,000, your $1,000 loss is deducted from other taxable income. At a 33% tax rate, your tax bill drops by $330.
The price of getting it wrong
The IRD doesn’t distinguish much between deliberate evasion and sloppy record-keeping.
Deliberate tax evasion can attract penalties of up to 150% of the unpaid tax. In extreme cases, it can lead to criminal prosecution and imprisonment.
Even honest mistakes are expensive. The IRD can charge use-of-money interest on unpaid tax from the day it was due. Penalties for lack of reasonable care range from 20% to 40% of the amount of tax you should have paid but didn’t.
The burden falls entirely on investors. They need to keep records of the date, type, amount and dollar value for every crypto trade, transfer and disposal.
Every transaction and swap counts. Investors will need to estimate what they will owe and set aside funds in a dedicated tax account.
If those records are incomplete or nonexistent, there is only a narrow window to fix it. The 2026-27 income year is closer than it seems, and when CARF takes effect, the IRD will finally see everything.
Olena Onishchenko 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.
Earlier this year, the world watched with interest as the Murdoch family’s real-life Succession drama came to a close.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s children – eyeing an empire estimated to be worth more than US$20 billion (A$30 billion) and control of the Fox Corporation and News Corporation – had disputed a change to their trust that would put control squarely in the hands of only one of his heirs, Lachlan.
A settlement was reached in September, giving Lachlan control and paying three of his siblings to exit.
But the very public and bitter battle was a classic example of the factors at play in succession planning for any family business. In addition to the business implications, it’s often fraught with emotion and power struggles.
For a country such as Australia, which is heavily reliant on family firms, these tensions matter far beyond the headlines. Understanding why succession is difficult – and how to get it right – is essential.
Powerhouse of the economy
Family-owned businesses are a crucial part of Australia’s economy. Small and medium-sized firms account for about 99% of all businesses, with about 70% being family-owned.
Surviving over time can be challenging. The “30-13-3” statistic (30% of firms transition to the second generation, 13% to the third, and 3% beyond that) is well known, despite some researchers now calling it into question.
A major part of what sets family businesses apart from other types of firms relates to what I and other family business scholars call “socioemotional wealth”.
This describes the emotional value families place on their business: legacy, identity, reputation, continuity and the comfort of keeping decision-making “in the family”.
These emotional bonds can be a source of strength. Research has shown family firms can be remarkably steady during moments of upheaval, including mergers and acquisitions and periods of financial distress because they prioritise long-term stability and trust.
But they also explain why successions can become so fraught. When leadership transitions threaten a family’s legacy, identity or long-standing traditions, emotions intensify.
Parents and earlier generations can feel they’re not just losing a role, they’re also losing a part of themselves. They may also make strategic decisions driven only by emotions, leading to conflicts, financial disruption and potential failure.
Kendall, second-eldest son of the fictional Roy family tries negotiating with father Logan in the HBO series Succession.
Openness to change
A recent study of mine adds another important layer, suggesting families adopt one of two mindsets.
One sees reality as relatively fixed, with families cautious of risks that might destabilise their legacy. The other views the business as flexible and adaptable.
These contrasting mindsets may help explain why some successions unfold smoothly – and others erupt into conflict. Families with the latter mindset tend to be more willing to let the next generation reshape the business.
The next generation
Australia is heading for a A$3.5 trillion generational wealth transfer, one of the biggest shifts of assets in its history. This will include many family businesses.
At the same time, digital transformation is reshaping every industry – from agriculture to construction to retail.
Younger successors tend to be digital natives. They often arrive fluent in data analytics, automation and artificial intelligence (AI). Many grew up in environments where constant change was the norm, meaning they naturally lean towards adaptability and flexibility.
Older leaders, particularly founders, often lean the other way. Deeply connected to the business they built, they are shaped by decades of experience and success.
The same socioemotional wealth that sustained the firm can make them reluctant to hand over control or adopt untested digital tools.
Soon-to-be-published research of mine with Nidthida Lin at Macquarie University Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship (ISE) Research Centre has explored the way in Australian family firms, founder influence and long periods of stability often reinforce a mindset that favours tradition and caution. In contrast, family control and a strong desire for dynastic succession, together with the involvement of later generations, tend to encourage change and the adoption of AI technologies.
That tension, between preserving the legacy and the desire to reinvent it, is now one of the biggest challenges Australian family firms face in ensuring “the show goes on”.
Getting it right
Succession planning is not just a financial or legal process. Families need to acknowledge the emotions and feelings involved, including love, fear, grief, pride and ambition.
Avoiding these conversations only increases the risk of misunderstanding and resentment.
Other important steps for success include:
creating a governance structure – a clear set of rules and roles that guide how the family and the business make decisions
empowering the next generation to lead the digital transformation, and
testing the succession plan before a crisis.
Preparing early
The good news is businesses can prepare for this change well in advance. A good example of succession planning comes from family-owned Australian office supplies company, COS. COS has an annual revenue of A$300 million and more than 600 employees, as well as warehouses in every state.
When founder Dominique Lyone died suddenly in 2024, his two daughters, Amie and Belinda, had already stepped into positions as co-chief executive officers, thanks to a smooth succession plan he had initiated many years earlier.
Getting succession right is not just about choosing the next leader. It is about understanding the emotional foundations of the family, recognising the mindsets driving decisions and creating a path that makes room for the future.
Francesco Chirico receives funding from Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant, and from Macquarie Business School. He is affiliated with Macquarie University, Macquarie Business School (Australia) and Jonkoping University, Jönköping International Business School (Sweden). Professor of Strategy and Family Business, and Co-Director of the Macquarie University Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship (ISE) Research Centre
A man who was taken to hospital with fractured ribs and bruised lungs was left paraplegic after a chest drain was inserted incorrectly.
The man had been admitted to Auckland City Hospital following a car crash in 2022 where, four days into his stay, he was assessed as having a build-up of fluid between the tissue lining his lungs and chest and would require surgery.
Health NZ’s Chest Drain Management policy stated, unless in an emergency, all chest drains for fluid aspiration should be guided by real-time radiology imaging.
However, said the request for real-time radiology imaging was not accommodated by the Interventional Radiology team, for reasons Health NZ were unable to determine, according to a Health and Disability Commission (HDC) report released on Monday.
Two attempts were made to insert the chest drain using the different technique, before other doctors took over.123rf.com
A chest ultrasound was scheduled to indicate where the drain should be inserted, but the patient was in pain and could not be moved for the scan, the report said.
A different technique was used, that was deemed to be less painful and invasive.
Two attempts were made by a registrar to insert the chest drain using the different technique, before other doctors took over.
Dark, old-looking blood was drawn from the patient, and he began to sweat. His condition deteriorated and a code red was issued, the report said.
“The code red response was described in the [Serious Adverse Event Review] as chaotic, noisy, and without a clear code leader or any detailed communication or indication of the volume of blood that [the patient] had lost.”
“Sadly, as a result of hypovolemic shock and cardiac arrest, [the patient] developed ischaemic bowel and spinal cord injury, which resulted in paraplegia from the level of the T9 vertebrae, and suspected mild hypoxic brain injury,” the report said.
The investigation by the HDC revealed the chest drain was inserted incorrectly, which led to a hepatic vein injury and massive bleeding.
Other issues had arisen from the resuscitation efforts, it said.
“…the procedure room was cluttered, and there was a lack of code leader to determine when a code red and subsequent code blue was required.”
“In addition, the communication among the staff present was poor, and the equipment required for a code red and/or code blue was not readily available as it should have been.”
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell recommended Health NZ’s chest drain policy be updated.RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell recommended Health NZ’s chest drain policy be updated, encompassing environmental safety, training and education requirements, as well as technical guidelines, and oversight of relationships.
She wanted a copy of the updated policy within six months of the report.
Caldwell also recommended the senior clinician who made the decision to perform the procedure without real-time radiology, write an apology to the patient.
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Auckland-based Kick Back has released its first State of the Street report which it says is an SOS to the government and community at large (file image).RNZ / Luke McPake
Young people are sleeping on the streets and in cars as a youth homelessness support service says the problem is getting worse.
Auckland-based Kick Back has released its first State of the Street report, which it says is an SOS to the government and community at large.
“And what we’ve observed is children couch-surfing, sleeping in and out of transitional housing or hostels, moving around constantly,” general manager Aaron Hendry said.
The report comes up with hard figures, the first Kick Back has been able to show in a report like this.
Aaron Hendry.RNZ/ Eva Corlett
It revealed 22 percent of young people were sleeping rough when they first sought support.
Couch-surfers made up 22 percent, 12 percent were sleeping in cars while 27 percent were living in housing classed as unstable, overcrowded or insecure.
The report said 62 percent of young people turning to the organisation for help were under 19 years old.
Sixteen and 17 year olds made up 20 percent, and 17 percent were aged 15 or under.
The latter figure had shocked Hendry.
“It is not something that we expected to see as large as we did,” he said.
“We knew that there would be a significant portion there but it was much larger than we’d first anticipated.”
He said there were no resources to help children who were sleeping on couches, in cars or in the likes of transitional housing or lodges and hostels.
“And I guess this has also been an outcome, in our view, of the cuts that have happened within the public sector and the community sector is that our feeling is that there has been less capacity within the community to respond at the pace that these children require to ensure their safety and to ensure that they get the support that they need,” Hendry said.
“Kick Back is extremely concerned about the growing number of tamariki and rangatahi coming through our front doors ever week,” he said.
He said it is a crisis, and one that is growing.
What Kick Back’s report says needs to happen:
Roll back emergency housing reforms and invest in immediate housing solutions
Implement Duty to Assist Legislation to clarify the states obligation to provide essential support to people at-risk of homelessness
Implement legislation to prevent young people being transitioned from state care into homelessness
Review the Youth Services contract and ensure providers are equipped to provide intensive supports to rangatahi on the Youth Payment
Build more public housing
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Widespread rain and possible thunderstorms for the North Island Tuesday and Wednesday
Strong winds possible for upper North Island mid-week
Humid air ahead of a low, followed by a cooler southerly change
Improving weather for most areas on Thursday
The start of December might mark the beginning of summer but the upcoming week is not all sunshine and clear, blue skies.
MetService reports a broad range of weather including heavy rain, thunderstorms, strong winds, and sunny spells to finish the week off.
The North Island is in for a warm and humid start, while the south will see cooler temperatures throughout.
The week is set to start with comparatively settled conditions, some cloud and showers for western areas, with sunny spells elsewhere.
Gisborne and Hastings are making the most of their sunny start to the summer season, with temperatures expected to top out at 29 and 31 degrees respectively on Monday.
On Tuesday a low is expected to develop in the Tasman Sea and move toward the country through Tuesday evening.
MetService forecast for Wednesday December 3.MetService
MetService forecast for Wednesday December 3.
This will bring a period of unsettled weather for many regions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and into early Thursday, with heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms likely across the North Island.
“That low deepens rapidly and pulls a warm moist sub-tropical airmass across the county during Tuesday afternoon and evening,” MetService Meteorologist Devlin Lynden said.
“It’ll bring widespread rain, strong southwesterly winds and the risk of thunderstorms for many parts of the North Island, including Northland, Auckland and Coromandel.”
While the North Island may be in for the brunt of it, the South Island gets its share of rainy weather too.
A trough is expected to bring rain through Monday night and Tuesday, followed by cool southwesterlies.
The upper parts of the South Island may also see a period of heavier rain on Wednesday associated with the low to the north.
The low gradually moves off to the southeast on Wednesday night, and conditions will ease behind it, before starting to clear through Thursday morning, with many places seeing drier weather and some sunshine return.
However, strong to gale southwesterly winds will persist, particularly for Wellington, Wairarapa, Northland and Auckland; they will keep the temperatures capped towards the end of the week.
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