Sharon Maccanico who is originally from Italy is missing after the Mt Maunganui landslide.Avellino Today
An Italian town is waiting for news on a 15-year-old Italian girl, now living in Auckland, who is missing in the Mt Maunganui slip.
Sharon Maccanico, was originally from a small town called Picarelli in the municipality of Avellino.
RNZ understands her parents are at the scene.
Meanwhile, her Italian relatives have posted on Facebook asking their local community to pray at a church service with them in hope of a miracle.
Avellino Today reports that she is from a small town in Southern Italy called Picarelli.
The community gathered in the town’s local church as they waited for news of Sharon, with family nervously awaiting news from New Zealand, it reported.
She is widely known in the small community, it said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has confirmed that one Swedish citizen is unaccounted for in New Zealand.
It says it cannot comment further on this individual case due to consular confidentiality.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Sam Mennenga will be sidelined with a broken left wrist.Blake Armstrong / PHOTOSPORT
Breakers forward Sam Mennenga has been sidelined with a broken left wrist in the latest injury blow for the Auckland club.
Mennenga hit the floor at Spark Arena in the fourth quarter of a dramatic two-point loss to the Adelaide 36ers on Friday night.
A team spokesperson said the 24-year-old will undergo further scans after the heavy fall.
Mennenga finished the game with 20 points, 12 rebounds and two assists. His absence will likely hurt the Breakers’ chances of reaching the playoffs.
A post-game X-ray confirmed the fracture, and he’s booked for an MRI scan early next week to assess the damage.
“Unfortunately, he will be out for 6-8 weeks to allow the bone time to heal,” Breakers head of operations Dillon Boucher said.
The Breakers led in the final seconds before Adelaide’s Bryce Cotton, playing his first season for the Sixers, hit a 3-point buzzer-beater in overtime for the 112-110 win.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on January 24, 2026.
‘Thank God’ – parents of PNG conjoined twins grateful they defied medical advice By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist The parents of rare conjoined twins say doctors in Papua New Guinea told them to take the boys home as they were beyond hope. “Thank God we [defied them] and we are where we are,” the boys’ dad Kevin Mitiam, who is also a twin, said in Tok
Federal government’s crackdown on free speech affects all Australians ANALYSIS: By Paul Gregoire Australia’s two federal combating antisemitism bills, the New South Wales laws providing the means to shutdown street protests and move on stationary public assemblies, along with the envoy’s plan to combat antisemitism and the Royal Commission into the same prejudice, have all been set in place following two ISIS-fuelled killers murdering
OpenAI will put ads in ChatGPT. This opens a new door for dangerous influence Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raffaele F Ciriello, Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University of Sydney OpenAI, The Conversation OpenAI has announced plans to introduce advertising in ChatGPT in the United States. Ads will appear on the free version and the low-cost Go tier, but not for Pro, Business, or Enterprise
The Mount Maunganui tragedy reminds us landslides are NZ’s deadliest natural hazard Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Brook, Professor of Applied Geology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images The tragic events in the Bay of Plenty this week are a stark reminder that landslides remain the deadliest of the many natural hazards New Zealand faces. On Thursday morning, a large landslide
Tokelau airport project scrapped despite multi-million dollar design By Kaya Selby, RNZ Pacific journalist New Zealand has scrapped a project to build an airport in Tokelau after sinking NZ$3 million into the design phase. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told RNZ Pacific that the Tokelau government had been advised of their decision. Tokelau is completely inaccessible by plane,
Former army major Simon Strombom is the managing director of the NZ Remembrance Army.Supplied
A former army major is calling comments made by US President Donald Trump ill-informed and sensationalist.
Trump has angered allies, claiming NATO troops “stayed a little back” from frontlines in Afghanistan.
The comments have drawn ire from the likes of UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, who labelled the remarks “insulting and frankly appalling”, urging the president to apologise, according to CNN.
Roughly a third of those Allied personnel killed during the war came from non-US forces, including 10 New Zealanders.
The UK joined the US in Afghanistan from 2001, after it invoked NATO’s collective defence clause following the 9/11 terror attacks.
More than 450 British soldiers were killed.
Former army major Simon Strombom is the managing director of the NZ Remembrance Army and served in Afghanistan.
He also received a Distinguished Service Decoration.
Strombom told RNZ that he commanded troops from NATO nations and found them exceptionally professional.
“I was heavily exposed to the professionalism and the challenges that the NATO, particularly British and the Canadian, troops had,” he said.
The comments were ill-conceived, Strombom said.
US President Donald Trump claimed NATO troops “stayed a little back” from the frontlines in Afghanistan.Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
“What do you say, sensationalist comments to try and take a position that really is really ill-informed.”
Strombom said it would be hard for those who had lost loved ones in the conflict to hear those comments from a US president.
“I would be pretty upset if I had lost friends or a relative in those operations, particularly down in Kandahar,” he said.
“It’d be pretty hard for a family to have suffered such a loss and then to hear comments like that, just basically undermining the actual sacrifice of the families, it’s pretty poor form.”
Strombom said he had particular respect for British troops.
“I’ve always had a hell of a lot of respect for the discipline of British troops, and the professionalism of them, even down to their territorial army,” he said.
Trump hadn’t really understood the situation, Strombom said.
“The majority of the weight of the coalition headquarters, there were 48 countries in the headquarters we were in, America made up probably a quarter of those troops, but the rest of them were predominantly from NATO.”
Strombom doubted Trump would apologise for his comments.
‘Great pride’ in those deployed to conflict
Defence Minister Judith Collins said the country took great pride in the professionalism, courage, and commitment of all who served in Afghanistan.
“We responded to the call for assistance alongside our partners, and our people served willingly and with professionalism in challenging and often dangerous conditions,” she said.
“We continue to honour the memory of New Zealand Defence Force personnel who lost their lives in Afghanistan, and we acknowledge the enduring loss felt by their families, friends, and colleagues.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The parents of rare conjoined twins say doctors in Papua New Guinea told them to take the boys home as they were beyond hope.
“Thank God we [defied them] and we are where we are,” the boys’ dad Kevin Mitiam, who is also a twin, said in Tok Pisin.
Tom and Sawong — who were fused at the lower abdomen — had unplanned emergency surgery to divide them at Sydney Children’s Hospital on December 7.
The surgery was brought forward as Tom, the weaker twin, was deteriorating rapidly. A large multi-disciplinary team took seven hours to separate the boys but Tom died soon after he was detached from his brother.
The team spent a further five hours working on Sawong, who is doing well and could return home by the end of February.
“The Port Moresby General Hospital paediatrician team told us [twice] to go back home, that there was no hope for them,” their mum Fetima said in Tok Pisin.
“We were even told not to trust Jurgen Ruh [the family’s spokesperson] because they said he was giving us false hope.
“I am happy and I laugh when I see my baby Sawong and think about that advice,” she said.
“I am full of hope, I cuddle him and talk to him every day, as he grows.”
Hospital response RNZ Pacific has asked Port Moresby General Hospital for a response.
The two-month-olds were medivacced from Port Moresby to Sydney on December 4, following medical advice that they undergo urgent surgery.
The move followed weeks of tense wrangling over the viability of separating them, which country would accept the case and perform the operation, and how it would be financed.
The boys shared a liver, bladder and parts of their gastrointestinal tract, but had their owns limbs and genitals.
They also had partial spina bifida — a neural tube defect that affects the development of a newborn’s spine and spinal cord. Tom also had a congenital heart defect, one kidney and malformed lungs.
Doctors at Port Moresby General Hospital initially explored the possibility of transferring the twins to Sydney, but the plans fell through when funding from a charity was pulled.
The hospital later made a u-turn and advised the couple to stay in PNG or face the death of either one or both of the boys.
Final decision The Medical Director, Dr Kone Sobi, said previously that multiple discussions led to their final decision, and added: “The underlying thing is that both twins present with significant congenital anomalies and we feel that even with care and treatment in a highly specialised unit, the chances of survival are very very slim.
“In fact the prognosis is extremely bad and the twin’s future is unpredictable.”
Manolos Aviation pilot Jurgen Ruh with Sawong at Sydney Children’s Hospital. Ruh flew Sawong and his conjoined twin Tom to Port Moresby General Hospital from their home in remote Morobe Province after they were born. Image: Jurgen Ruh/Manolo Aviation/RNZ
Ruh told RNZ Pacific on Thursday that although Sawong remained in intensive care, monitored constantly by a specialist nurse, he was “strong and doing well”.
He was no longer on a ventilator, did not need supplementary oxygen and was gaining about 50 grams a day in weight, he said.
“The hose fitting on his nose is simply to monitor his breathing and to assist a little with extra pressure in his lungs.
“Doctors have now closed up a hole in his stomach with stretched skin and he is improving every day, but it will be another month or so before he is released, possibly by the end of February.
“Occasionally Sawong gives the biggest smile on earth; he is just happy with what he has.”
100 days old The hospital recently celebrated Sawong reaching 100 days old with a simple but touching celebration.
“It threw a little party for Sawong, his parents and all the staff who have been part of his journey. Fetima cut a frozen cheesecake on his behalf,” Ruh said.
A massive funeral for Tom was held a month ago at the Mega Church in Hillsong, Sydney.
The family are expected to scatter his ashes after they return home to their remote village in PNG’s Morobe Province.
While the complex surgery was a success, the results were bittersweet for the parents.
“I thought it was amazing, after the surgery a nurse gave Tom to them and they spent hours just cuddling him,” Ruh previously told RNZ Pacific.
The parents had been through a “rollercoaster” of emotions since the twins were born on October 9.
“They had accepted that they would lose Tom and there’s been many tears shed along the way,” he said previously.
Funding search Ruh said last month that at one stage during negotiations the Sydney Children’s Hospital requested A$2 million to do the operation, but funds and guarantees could not be found.
RNZ Pacific understands that the parents had approached the PNG government for funding, but Ruh would not confirm this.
The ABC had reported that the hospital had asked for payment before the twins were transferred from PNG; however Ruh said as far as he knew no money had changed hands.
When asked how it was financed he said: “It’s a mixture of funding which took too long to organise.
“It should never have taken eight weeks to get the twins separated, it should have happened in eight days, but no referral pathway [to a foreign hospital] exists,” Ruh said.
He laid the blame on the PNG health system, and said babies born prematurely or with birth defects were lost in the system.
“It was a very disappointing ride we had, in terms of overall support from Port Moresby General Hospital. Then there were delays in getting them to Australia.
“We were exploring faster options, but we did not have any support.”
Private hospital The boys were eventually moved from the public hospital to Paradise Private Hospital in Port Moresby, which provided them with free care.
The family felt the twins would be “safer” and have less chance of cross-infection from other babies, particularly of malaria.
A multi-disciplinary team from Sydney Children’s Hospital flew to Port Moresby on November 21 to assess the twins, amid growing public pressure in Australia and PNG.
At that point the boys only had a combined weight of 2.9kg, and Tom was relying on Sawong to keep him alive.
Sawong (left) and Tom while they were being treated in Port Moresby General Hospital’s neonatal unit last year. Image: Port Moresby General Hospital/RNZ
In a letter to doctors in PNG, the Sydney team said surgery was in fact feasible although Tom was not expected to survive it.
“The reason for the early separation is that Sawong is working hard to support Tom,” the letter said.
Urgent transfer The team had recommended the twins be urgently transferred in a specialised aircraft with intensive care facilities plus medical and nursing personnel.
The boys underwent multiple investigations at Sydney Children’s Hospital, including an MRI and CT scan to define their anatomy and vascular supply.
“Before the surgery, the medical team [in Sydney] said it was a miracle that Tom had survived for two months,” Ruh said previously.
A huge team including liver surgeons, colorectal surgeons and urologists, specialised cardiac anaesthetists, cardiologists, neonatologists and interventional radiologists were involved in the surgery, supported by a large team of nursing and allied staff.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Avellino Today is reporting that 15-year-old Sharon Maccanico who is originally from Italy is missing after the Mt Maunganui landslide.Avellino Today
The 15-year-old believed to be missing in the slip has been named as an Italian girl from Auckland.
Italian media are reporting her to be Sharon Maccanico, originally from a small town called Picarelli in the municipality of Avellino.
RNZ understands her parents are at the scene.
Meanwhile, her Italian relatives have posted on Facebook asking their local community to pray at a church service with them in hope of a miracle.
Avellino Today reports that she is from a small town in Southern Italy called Picarelli.
The community gathered in the town’s local church as they waited for news of Sharon, with family nervously awaiting news from New Zealand, it reported.
She is widely known in the small community, it said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has confirmed that one Swedish citizen is unaccounted for in New Zealand.
It says it cannot comment further on this individual case due to consular confidentiality.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
A man is mssing after falling into the Waioeka River in Ōpōtiki.
A search is continuing for a missing man who was swept downstream after falling from a boat in the Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki.
Police were called to the Waioeka River at about 5.30pm on Friday after reports of the incident.
Emergency services carried out a search of the area and found the vessel nearby.
Inspector Nicky Cooney, Eastern Bay of Plenty Area Commander, said police resumed the search Saturday morning in the Waioeka River near the junction with Waiata Stream.
Police said they were continuing to support the man’s family.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Police have launched a homicide investigation following the death of a woman in the Clutha settlement of Crichton, while another person remains in a critical condition.
Emergency services were called to a property on Adams Flat Road at about 6.10pm on Friday, after reports of a “serious incident”.
One person is dead and another seriously injured after an incident on Adams Flat Road.Google Maps
Detective Sergeant Hayden Smale said a woman died at the scene, while a man was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
A scene guard remains in place at the address as police conduct a scene examination.
Police said there is not believed to be any risk to the public, but residents can expect an increased police presence in the Crichton area.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The slip at Mauao, Mount Maunganui, as seen from the air on 22 January.Screengrab / Amy Till
Tauranga City Council has announced an independent review into the events leading up to Thursday’s landslide at the base of Mauao, as local iwi Ngāi Te Rangi say they are seeking a thorough investigation into the cause of the slip.
Mayor Mahé Drysdale and council chief executive Marty Grenfell confirmed the review on Friday, describing the landslide as an incident of “local, national and international importance”.
“The landslide and its impacts on those affected and their families clearly represents a serious and significant incident,” Drysdale said.
Tauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale at the scene of a landslide at Mount Maunganui on 22 January 2025.RNZ
“It is important that we have a clear and accurate understanding of the facts and events leading up to the landslide, so that we can ensure that the future safety of the community is appropriately safeguarded.”
The slip came down at about 9.30am on Thursday at the Beachside Holiday Park in Mount Maunganui, smashing into campervans, tents, vehicles and an ablution block near the Mount Hot Pools.
Police said six people, including two teenagers, remain missing, while they are seeking information on the whereabouts of three others believed to be overseas tourists.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and police continue to treat the operation as a rescue, with specialist Urban Search and Rescue teams working in what authorities have described as an unstable and high-risk environment.
A bird’s eye view of the slip at Mount Hot Pools, Mt Maunganui on 22 January.Alan Gibson – GIBSON IMAGES LTD
Drysdale said the scope of the independent review, who would lead it, and the timeframe for delivering findings were still being worked through.
“Given the gravity of this tragic situation, it’s important that a person with the requisite skills, experience, and level of public trust is selected,” he said.
Key aspects of the review would include establishing and reviewing all relevant facts in the lead-up to the landslide, he said, but it would not replace any other formal processes that may be initiated.
“This review is about establishing the facts independently, given the scale and seriousness of this event,” Drysdale said.
The aftermath of a landslide at Mount Hot Pools in Mount Maunganui on January 22.Dion Siluch
“As council, on behalf of the families and the whole community, we need to understand the facts and ensure that in the lead-up to this tragedy, everything was done that was appropriate in the circumstances.”
He said the council’s immediate focus remained on supporting affected families and those involved in the rescue operation.
Ngāi Te Rangi deputy chief executive Roimata Ah Sam said the iwi was heartbroken by the tragedy and had sent prayers and thoughts to those still missing.
“We hope everybody will be found alive and well.”
Ah Sam acknowledged the work of emergency services and said the iwi was deliberately staying clear of the site to allow responders to do their jobs.
“Everybody should be immensely proud of the fire service, police and the Civil Defence,” she said.
However, she said Ngāi Te Rangi expected a full investigation into the cause of the landslide.
“There has been a lot of work done on Mauao,” Ah Sam said.
“So, we look forward to a thorough investigation into why this occurred. And we look forward to working alongside authorities to rebuild our maunga.”
Police District Commander Assistant Commissioner Tim Anderson has said the number of people unaccounted for remains in single figures, and that police would reassess “day by day” when the operation may shift from rescue to recovery.
Police District Commander Assistant Commissioner Tim Anderson speaks to the media on 22 January.Calvin Samuel / RNZ
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell said the risk of further slips was a “massive consideration”, noting geoscientists were on site and nearby facilities had been evacuated as a precaution.
A wide cordon remains in place around the mountain, which is closed to the public, and a rāhui has been imposed. Authorities have repeatedly urged the public to stay away from the area to allow rescue teams to work safely.
The council review is expected to examine warnings, land stability, and any actions taken before the landslide.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Paora Glassie, Civil Defence lead for Ōtetao Reti Marae at Punaruku on Northland’s storm-ravaged east coast.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Lessons learnt during Cyclone Gabrielle three years ago have proved invaluable for marae on Northland’s east coast, leading the response to last week’s massive storm.
Marae were the first port of call for stranded travellers and evacuated locals, as well as a source of kai and power for communities cut off from the outside world.
One of the most isolated places was Punaruku, which was cut off by flooding and a washed-out bridge to the north, and a large slip just to the south of the settlement.
Punaruku was reconnected to the nearby beachside settlement of Ōakura early on Friday afternoon.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
That meant Punaruku residents couldn’t even get to Ōakura, which also remains largely cut off but at least has a well-stocked shop.
The slip was cleared on Friday afternoon, and work to reinstate Ngaiotonga Bridge – delayed because ongoing slips stopped contractors from reaching the site – is now underway.
Paora Glassie, Civil Defence lead for Punaruku’s Ōtetao Reti Marae, said the marae had undergone a major upgrade since Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.
Paora Glassie checks a container stocked with emergency equipment for Ōtetao Reti Marae.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
That included a solar power system, an improved water supply, shipping containers stocked with emergency equipment, and even an automated weather station to keep tabs on rainfall.
Glassie said a few homes in the settlement suffered damage from te mana o te āwhā (the power of the storm), but the real challenge was the isolation.
“Just being able to get in and out was difficult. We had flooding at one end, which stopped the north end whānau from going through, and we had a slip at the south side, which stopped whānau getting necessities from the shop.”
On the first night of the storm, 60 whānau members from Auckland were in the area for a hura kōhatu (unveiling), with the gathering supposed to take place on Sunday at the Ōakura Community Hall.
The hall tables had been set, and the fridges stocked with food, when a slip smashed through the back wall of the building and filled it with mud, trees and debris.
Ōakura Community Hall was devastated by a slip the night before an unveiling was due to take place.RNZ/ Peter de Graaf
Glassie said the whānau ended up staying at the marae for two days, and were able to head home between the storm’s two peaks.
He said Punaruku had about 150 residents, including many elderly and people with serious medical conditions.
The marae had provided them with food and was compiling a list of medications to be picked up in Whangārei, which was normally a 50km or one-hour drive south.
Glassie said the marae had received great support from Ngātiwai Trust Board and the Whangārei district and Northland regional councils.
That included deliveries of food brought in over an emergency “lifeline” road cleared by council contractors in recent days.
Ōtetao Reti Marae’s “Auntie Trish”, who is also a member of the local Civil Defence group, described the rain as “horrendous”.
“Auntie Trish” is the chief dispenser of hugs for those in need of support at Ōtetao Reti Marae.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
She said marae volunteers had opened the doors to anyone who needed help, delivered food parcels and carried out welfare checks of as many people as they could.
“We’re just here to manaaki [look after] anybody who needs some supplies, or needs support and a hug. I’m really good at hugging.”
She said the marae had enough food stored in its emergency containers for the first two big meals, and after that, Ngātiwai Trust Board had delivered two big bundles of food.
“People are still coming now, because they’ve stuck, they’ve got no toilets, they’ve got no supplies because they can’t get in and out,” she said.
Work to reinstate a washed-out bridge at Ngaiotonga started on Friday, once diggers could reach the area.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
“We’re just here manning the marae for anyone who wants to come, we’ve got a warm bed, we’ve got food, and like I said, hugs.”
Whangārei primary school teacher Katerina Linton, who lives opposite the marae, said the storm did not damage her home but left her “doomy, gloomy and anxious”.
She was also upset by the damage to the community hall and for people who had lost their homes in Ōakura.
Katerina Linton said the generosity of small communities like Punaruku is “amazing”.RNZ / Peter de Graaf
She had been to the marae for a shower during the storm, but mostly she went for the whanaungatanga (kinship or connection).
“The generosity of this little community is amazing, the way everyone pulled together to help people trapped here.”
Another Punaruku resident, Maureen Hing, said locals did not sit back and wait for help to arrive.
When diggers and trucks were unable to reach the area, about a dozen young men from Punaruku and Mokau got to work clearing slips with chainsaws and shovels.
“They just wanted to get out here and check on us, and bring things over for the marae.”
The young men cleared enough of the slips to create a four-wheel-drive track over the top.
A digger finished the job on Friday.
Paora Glassie said summer downpours were not unusual in Punaruku, but he believed climate change was making storms more intense.
“I don’t [know] what the answer will be to that, but I suppose making sure each marae and each community has a Civil Defence readiness plan in place, and they have the basic essentials ready, like generators and fuel, for whatever the weather throws at us,” he said.
“It also means we all must come together as a unit so we can overcome this challenge, and get ready for the next event … It might be next year, next month, or next week.”
Punaruku recorded the heaviest rainfall in Northland during the storm.
Regional council figures show intensities of about 80mm an hour between 3am and 5am on Sunday, 18 January.
On average, most places in Northland get around 80mm of rain during the entire month of January.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
ACC is trying to avoid a $26 billion deficit by 2030.Unsplash / RNZ composite
A lawyer who helps people with ACC claims says the agency’s plan to get its finances in order appears to be a social licence to remove people from the long-term claims pool.
The agency said it would hire nearly 300 more claims management staff, with a focus on getting non-serious injury clients back to work or independence.
Lawyer and advocate Warren Forster said data for the last five years shows only 10 percent of people taken off long-term claims returned to work.
“It’s not only going to cost ACC more, it’s going to cost taxpayers more and it’s going to transfer the long term cost of injury to society and the whole purpose of ACC is to reduce that cost.”
He said people who could not return to work who were removed from the long-term claims pool instead sought benefits or support from family.
“Once someone’s been off work for two years it’s very difficult to get that person back to work for a while variety of reasons.”
Forster said the agency had made hundreds of people redundant over the years.
“ACC spent 20 years training and developing fantastic people who were really good at rehabilitation. Then they invented this new computer system, they spent $1 billion on it and fired nearly all of them.
“Now they’re saying they’re going to bring in 300 and it’s going to solve it, absolutely not.”
ACC exited more than 8000 long-term clients in the year to June 2025 and planned to exit 11,000 more by June 2026, using AI to help decide which long-term claimants should go back to work.
The cull came as ACC’s rehabilitation performance was in decline, with more people getting injured and taking longer to recover.
With looming debts and liabilities on its books, ACC Minister Scott Simpson instructed his agency to reduce the number of people receiving compensation for more than a year, which was about 25,000 – the highest it had ever been.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
ACC is trying to avoid a $26 billion deficit by 2030.Unsplash / RNZ composite
A lawyer who helps people with ACC claims says the agency’s plan to get its finances in order appears to be a social licence to remove people from the long-term claims pool.
The agency said it would hire nearly 300 more claims management staff, with a focus on getting non-serious injury clients back to work or independence.
Lawyer and advocate Warren Forster said data for the last five years shows only 10 percent of people taken off long-term claims returned to work.
“It’s not only going to cost ACC more, it’s going to cost taxpayers more and it’s going to transfer the long term cost of injury to society and the whole purpose of ACC is to reduce that cost.”
He said people who could not return to work who were removed from the long-term claims pool instead sought benefits or support from family.
“Once someone’s been off work for two years it’s very difficult to get that person back to work for a while variety of reasons.”
Forster said the agency had made hundreds of people redundant over the years.
“ACC spent 20 years training and developing fantastic people who were really good at rehabilitation. Then they invented this new computer system, they spent $1 billion on it and fired nearly all of them.
“Now they’re saying they’re going to bring in 300 and it’s going to solve it, absolutely not.”
ACC exited more than 8000 long-term clients in the year to June 2025 and planned to exit 11,000 more by June 2026, using AI to help decide which long-term claimants should go back to work.
The cull came as ACC’s rehabilitation performance was in decline, with more people getting injured and taking longer to recover.
With looming debts and liabilities on its books, ACC Minister Scott Simpson instructed his agency to reduce the number of people receiving compensation for more than a year, which was about 25,000 – the highest it had ever been.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
RNZ’s money correspondent Susan Edmunds answers your questions.RNZ
Got questions? RNZ has a new podcast, No Stupid Questions, with Susan Edmunds.
We’d love to hear more of your questions about money and the economy. You can send through written questions, like these ones, but – even better – you can drop us a voice memo to our email questions@rnz.co.nz
I have a question that has always bothered me, and I’m yet to get a satisfactory answer. Why do we pay tax on our pension when it is coming from the tax that we have already paid? I was always of the understanding that you can’t be taxed twice. After all, isn’t that double dipping?
There are two parts to my answer.
The first is that I think a lot of people have the idea that they paid tax into a pool through their working lives, from which they will be paid the pension when they retire.
That isn’t the case – pensions are paid by people who are paying tax now, as part of general government expenditure.
The second part of it basically comes down to why we pay tax on benefits at all.
Tax is paid on all income earned in New Zealand, even when it is money that comes from the government.
Although it’s essential an administrative exercise for benefits, the money you receive is calculated a gross payment and then the tax you pay is determined according to your individual situation and the current rules.
In the case of NZ Super, if you’re working and claiming the benefit, for example, you could end up with a higher marginal tax rate on your pension because your overall income is higher.
There are some people who are argue that it should be a taxfree grant but that’s potentially a separate conversation!
How do I check how much is in my KiwiSaver? And how can I increase the amount of contributions from my pay? Does my company have to match that amount to what I increase to?
You can check your KiwiSaver balance any time through your KiwiSaver provider. Most have an online platform to do this, or you could give them a call to find out what options are available. If you don’t know who your provider is, Inland Revenue can tell you.
You can change your contribution rate through IRD’s myIR system, by contacting your KiwiSaver provider or by giving your employer notice.
Your employer usually only needs to match your contribution at the default rate (currently 3 percent but slowly increasing to 4 percent by 2028). So if you contribute more than that, they might not need to. Some employers are willing to match higher amounts, though.
Can you please advise if there is a ceiling on how much you can get before the pension would be affected? ie… if a family member were to put into our bank $1000 per week would this affect the pension?
No there’s no ceiling. Other amounts could mean you can’t access things like the accommodation supplement, and you could end up on a higher marginal tax rate depending on where the money is coming from but there is no income test for KiwiSaver.
What if I retire aboard a yacht, with no residence in country with reciprocal agreements?
If you are going to be overseas for more than six months, you need to apply to MSD if you want to keep your pension going.
You will need to do this at least six weeks before you leave New Zealand. If you haven’t notified MSD and you are away more than six months, they may ask for the sum to be returned.
What you can get if you are eligible for New Zealand Superannuation but living overseas depends on the country that you’re going to live in. Some countries like Australia have reciprocal agreements with New Zealand which means that applications for New Zealand Superannuation can be made while you are resident in that country and NZ residence can count for pension eligibility in the agreement country.
MSD advises that if you’re going to a country that doesn’t have a reciprocal agreement with New Zealand, you might be able to get your pension. The amount you receive would depend on the number of months you’ve lived in New Zealand between the ages of 20 and 65.
The best thing to do in this case will be to get in touch with MSD well before you leave to find out how the rules apply to your case.
The British High Commission has provided more information to dual-national travellers about new rules around travelling back to the UK.Gill Bonnett
High Commission offers more information to NZ-based Brits on rules for their children
UK migrants report on passport processing times
Emergency passports are possible, but have conditions
British citizens living in New Zealand will have to get UK passports for their children before they can fly there – as they are automatically citizens, authorities say.
The British High Commission has provided more information to dual-national travellers, who have said they were blindsided by new rules around travelling back to the UK. Similar rules will also come into force for Irish New Zealanders.
In a month’s time, anyone classed as a British citizen will need a UK passport to fly there – but citizenship status rules are complex.
Likely to add to travellers’ worries, the Wellington-based High Commission has also said it cannot provide timeframes for how long passport processing takes.
For families due to travel soon, many are learning for the first time that automatic citizenship for their children – considered a positive in the recent past because of access to visa-free travel in the EU, and long trips to Britain – now means getting passports urgently or risk not being able to fly.
“For those who are already British citizens automatically, for example through birth or descent, but who have never applied for a passport, the requirement is the same,” said the High Commission. “If they are British citizens, they cannot use an ETA and will need a British passport (or Certificate of Entitlement) to travel to the UK from 25 February 2026.”
It has advised anyone unsure about their citizenship to check online.
“For those who are already British citizens automatically, for example through birth or descent, but who have never applied for a passport, the requirement is the same,” a spokesperson said in a written statement.
“They are not eligible for an ETA as they are not classed as visitors and already have an automatic right of entry to the UK. That right must be evidenced by travelling on a British or Irish passport, or on another passport with a Certificate of Entitlement. This applies regardless of the length or purpose of travel.
“There is no alternative mechanism within the ETA system for British or Irish citizens, including dual nationals, because the ETA is designed specifically for people who require permission to enter the UK, rather than those who already have a right of entry.”
Passport delivery times
Anyone who has had a British passport or is entitled to have one and plans to travel to the UK should apply as early as possible, the spokesperson said.
“Processing times for UK passports from New Zealand can vary depending on application type and demand, and there is no guaranteed expedited timeframe for overseas applications.”
One man has been tracking the delivery of his old passport document from New Zealand.Supplied / Screengrab
British dual citizens told RNZ they have applied and found the expense unpalatable, but the service times efficient.
One woman sent away for two passports on 15 January.
“Just a little bit of info that might ease some very stressed travellers around the new UK passport requirements,” she said. She and her husband both had UK passports – and his had expired.
She was told on Tuesday that her forms had arrived in the UK, and on Friday that they were issued and being sent back – that part could take three weeks, she added.
“If it does take that long, it means we will have received passports in four weeks from application. So this gives people time if their travel is in six weeks.”
Others reported delays – not in passport issuing, but mailing.
“Not helped by NZ Post!” one man reported. “Passport docs couriered from Parnell at 10.54am 15 Jan at cost of $62. Left Auckland 8.34am 20 Jan!! Still no sign of arrival in the UK.”
Sending NZ passports, emergency passports
Some were desperate at the unforeseen obstacle of needing a new passport so quickly, when they had planned to fly to the UK with their New Zealand passport.
“We haven’t been able to take our family home in 10 years, and will not be able to get a passport for kids before then, and cannot afford to rebook for a very long time,” said one woman, who has flights booked in six weeks’ time.
“I cannot get hold of anyone from the embassy and at a loss as what to do.”
Internal Affairs stresses that information suggesting the UK Passport Office can cancel a New Zealand passport – sent to it as part of verification for a new British passport – is incorrect.
“The UK Passport Office has no power to cancel a NZ passport. Only the New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs has authority to recall New Zealand passports.”
UK government websites detail how its embassies can issue emergency passports, and under what circumstances. That, too, has some potential caveats.
“If you have not had a passport issued on or after 1 January 2006, you’ll usually need to apply for a UK passport instead of an emergency travel document,” it says. Not every country will accept a traveller who is using an emergency passport.”
There are exceptional circumstances cited, for when an emergency passport could nonetheless be issued.
“An emergency travel document lets you travel from abroad if you need to travel urgently and cannot use your UK passport,” it says. “It is usually only valid for one single or return journey. You can travel through a maximum of five countries.”
You can apply for an emergency travel document if all the following apply:
You’re a British national;
You’re outside the UK;
You need to travel within six weeks;
Your UK passport has been lost, stolen, damaged, is full, has recently expired or is with HM Passport Office or a foreign embassy;
You cannot renew or replace your UK passport from abroad before you travel;
You have had a valid UK passport that was issued on or after 1 January 2006.
The exceptional circumstances listed include a close relative’s funeral or urgent medical treatment.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The Wellington Phoenix’s unbeaten start to 2026 has come to an end.
The Phoenix have been beaten 4-1 at the Newcastle Jets.
The Jets led 1-0 at half-time after scoring their opener just one minute into the game.
Newcastle then added another two in the second half before the Phoenix were able to respond when new Norwegian attacking midfielder Sander Kartum scored just a handful of minutes into his club and A-League debut.
Wellington remain eighth, two points outside the top six, while the result moves Newcastle level with Auckland FC at the top of the ladder.
Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano was disappointed with the final result.
“Always disappointed when we lose, especially when it was pretty even in terms of big chances created,” Italiano said.
“It was a 50-50 game in terms of possession, we just got punished for some sloppy defending.
“But in fairness they probably deserved the points.”
Corban Piper of Wellington PhoenixAAP / Photosport
Italiano doesn’t believe his side has taken a step backwards after two wins and a draw to start the year.
“If we didn’t make any chances, we got torched 4-1 and we weren’t in the game then I would be a little bit worried.
“On a better day honestly it could have been four-all. If we defend a little bit better we could have won the game 4-3.
“I’m still positive with how the team played in certain periods.”
Italiano named the same eleven which started Sunday’s 2-0 win over Sydney FC and included Kartum on the bench following his arrival from Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts.
The Phoenix play Melbourne City at home next Friday.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Adelaide 36ers celebrate victory over the New Zealand Breakers.David Rowland / PHOTOSPORT
A disastrous last few seconds has cost the Breakers as they were beaten by the Adelaide 36ers in their NBL game in Auckland.
The top of the table 36ers won the game 112-110 with a buzzer-beater in over-time.
The Breakers trailed by 10 points with three minutes remaining in regulation before captain Parker Jackson-Cartwright inspired his side and sent the game into extra time.
The Breakers were well placed for most of the overtime period, however they conceded a turnover when they failed to inbound the ball in time with just ten seconds remaining and leading by one.
Bryce Cotton then stepped up with a three-pointer with one second remaining to clinch the game and silence the local fans.
Karim Lopez, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Izaiah Brockington all scored 21 points for the Breakers while Sam Mennenga had 20.
The Breakers are seventh on the table with a 10 and 17 record.
They play Melbourne United at home next Friday.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
A healthy sex life can look different for everybody, but for many couples, the thing they look to is how often they are having it.
“It’s probably the number one measure that people use to assess relationship success,” explains Kassandra Mourikis, a sex and relationships therapist in Naarm/Melbourne.
“And it’s not necessarily an accurate indicator, but an indicator that almost everybody goes to.”
Couples are sometimes surprised when desire drops off, or fluctuates, as a relationship progresses, Isiah McKimmie says.
123RF
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The landslide at State Highway 35, Punaruku, on the way to Hicks Bay.Supplied
It will take weeks of work to clear part of State Highway 35 on the East Cape where a “massive landslide” collapsed the road down the hill.
The section in Punakaru, near Te Araroa Camp and on the way to Hicks Bay, was one of multiple hit in the ferocious storm which ripped across the North Island this week.
It’s the biggest challenge the area faces following the storm, NZTA regional manager for maintenance and operations Rua Pani said.
Slips across SH35 above Hicks Bay Motor Lodge.Supplied
“There has been a landslide, and it has completely overrun the road and collapsed State Highway 35 down the hill.
“The recovery job for this one is a big one. This is not days of work, this is weeks of work, to clear that slip.”
Despite the size of the landslide, Pani said she believed the road was fixable.
It meant coastal communities between Pōtaka near Hicks Bay and Tikitiki remained cut off. Crews were working to reopen access either side of Hicks Bay, Pani said.
NZTA estimated about 500,000 cubic metres of material would need to be removed across the whole of State Highway 35, with multiple other slips along the route.
Debris on SH35.Supplied
That included another large slip at Hicks Bay which swept across the state highway and into the motel lodge.
Pani said Taurangakoau Bridge over Mangaowira Stream had partially washed away, with work underway to secure contractor access across the bridge.
She urged people to be cautious about driving in the open sections of State Highway 35, where workers were still clearing debris, trees and culverts.
“If you don’t need to travel up there it’s not a good idea to go tiki-touring to have a look. It is still a construction zone.”
State Highway 2, between Gisborne and Ōpōtiki through the Waioeka Gorge, was still closed – forcing a long detour through Napier, and State Highway 5 to Taupō for those heading north, Rua said.
“We do acknowledge that detour is really problematic for the community, for businesses, for freight, which is why we are working really hard to reopen state highway 2 at Waioeka, to reopen that link.”
State Highway ‘critical lifeline’ for communities
Tash Wanoa, Te Araroa civil defence co-ordinator, said State Highway 35 is a “critical lifeline roading network” for communities on the East Cape.
“It’s what connects us to health services, lifeline utilities and supplies like Pak’n Save, supermarkets, even fuel, gas, generators, we need State Highway 35 to survive.”
Te Araroa was cut off right now – and Wanoa said she was hoping access would be restored soon.
She said once State Highway 35 on both ends reopened, Hicks Bay residents would have the option to go to Ōpōtiki, and Te Araroa residents could go to Gisborne.
But Wanoa said the Hicks Bay and Te Araroa communities were closely connected, with Hicks Bay needing Matakoa Health Centre, in Te Araroa, for health services and fuel.
The volunteer fire brigades also worked together, and Te Araroa would now have to access St John services from Ruatoria, about 30-45 minutes away on a good day.
“It’s really critical that that hill is reinstated, so that we can key lifelines in.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
NZ First leader Winston Peters speaking at Rātana.RNZ / Pokere Paewai
Analysis – Whether it was the prime minister’s absence, the demise of the Treaty Principles Bill, or the coming election, rhetoric at Rātana was cooler this year.
The weather was out to match, with thunder and heavy rain pouring down on what had been a sunny day before the politicians spoke.
The annual event sees political parties, other than ACT, make an appearance at the small settlement south of Whanganui in a pilgrimage to honour the birthday of the church’s founder Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, who was known for his political mission as well as his spiritual one.
The past four years have led to fiery exchanges.
In 2023, Jacinda Ardern had just announced her resignation and Christopher Luxon was on the warpath – criticising Labour over co-governance for what he said was a “a “divisive and immature” debate.
Some would no doubt argue Luxon’s coalition deals later that year opened the door to yet more division and immaturity by allowing ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill to progress.
Politicians welcomed to Rātana.RNZ / Pokere Paewai
Having been named prime minister just the previous month, his reappearance at Rātana in 2024 saw him directly warned that Māori would fight any attempts to meddle with Te Tiriti.
That promise came to fruition that November with the hīkoi mō te Tiriti – believed to be New Zealand’s largest protest – for the bill’s first reading.
It was no surprise, then, that Luxon faced more anger when appearing at Rātana in 2025.
Kiingitanga representative Rahui Papa at the time warned Luxon Te Tiriti was “sacrosanct” and the Māori nation was “at the highest level of concern that it has been for a number of years”.
The bill was then defeated in April, although its main proponent David Seymour had vowed to continue campaigning for it in the coming election.
Kiingitanga spokesperson Rahui Papa speaks to political parties.RNZ / Pokere Paewai
In a move supported by opponents like Chris Hipkins and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Luxon chose to survey storm-damaged regions instead of returning to Rātana this year.
Doubtless that took some of the heat out of the exchanges at the pae, where Papa committed to working with any political party but that there were some times politicians should not get involved.
Another Kiingitanga representative, Tukoroirangi Morgan, said Māori had realised in response to the coalition that they had to stand on their own two feet.
“We can’t rely on the Crown to do everything for us… our people know that’s our reality,” he said.
“When you’re pushed into a corner and when you’re marginalised and minimised the way we have been – for all the pieces of legislation that have been demolished by this government – it makes us much more united… so that we can survive in the long term.”
He said if the election resulted in “more of the same” it would be challenging, but that this also reflected a maturation of the relationship between Crown and Māori.
That said, the relationship was not healthy.
“It’s pretty fractured right now,” Morgan said. “There’s a lot of separation. There’s huge division… we have a far greater desire to do things for ourselves.”
A separation; a relationship grown frosty. With all Seymour’s railing against the idea of the Treaty as a partnership, the Kiingitanga seems to have got that message.
The stance may be led by Kuini Arikinui Nga Wai hono i te po whose name signifies a connecting of peoples, and whose coronation in late 2024 has been followed by economic initiatives including a summit and a seed investment fund.
It points to a more independent Māoridom cutting any government purse strings that could lead to potential entanglement.
Or it may also show an inclination to turn over a new leaf, to turn the page, to draw a line under the divide – or simply to wait out the election to see how the chips fall.
“If you’re strong in your spirit and you’re strong in your wairua, then your physical ailments can be overcome,” Papa said.
The 7 November election date would also have been weighing on the minds of all those at Rātana, not least because of Papa pointing out that the following day, was the date Rātana received his vision.
But with nearly a full year of campaigning ahead, political parties are keeping some of their rhetorical gunpowder dry – and Papa knows this.
“Over the next wee while, we are expecting to hear your strategies, your procedures and your processes to be able to bolster, support te ao Māori – because when it’s good for Māori, it’s good for everybody,” he said.
“We want to go into a better tomorrow, and we can only do that when we sit down and talk with each other.”
Whether it’s Luxon sitting down for talks as prime minister again in a year’s time is anybody’s guess with the polls this close.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
A search continues by local emergency services for missing people following a landslide at Mount Maunganui in Tauranga.AFP / Ben Strang
Search teams are still trying to find six people who are believed to be buried under a landslide in Mt Maunganui following this week’s devastating storms.
Emergency services are also trying to track down three other people who may have been at the campsite at the time the landslide hit.
An independent review into “all aspects leading up to” the landslide had been ordered on Friday, Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale said.
“It is important that we have a clear and accurate understanding of the facts and events leading up to the landslide, so that we can ensure that the future safety of the community is appropriately safeguarded.”
Work was underway to determine the review’s scope, what expertise was needed and the timeframe for delivery.
Follow the RNZ liveblog at the top of the page for the latest updates.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The damaged property at Welcome Bay.RNZ / Calvin Samuel
A vigil was held at a church in Tauranga on Friday night for a young boy who died in a Pāpāmoa landslide.
Two people, including the boy, had been confirmed dead in Welcome Bay, while six people were known to be missing in a separate landslide at the base of Mt Maunganui.
St Peter’s Anglican Church musical director Chalium Poppy said the boy – who died with a relative in a house on Welcome Bay Road – was due to come to a piano lesson at the Mt Maunganui church on Thursday.
“It’s all just very raw, like it’s just happening, there are still people that are missing,” he said.
“We’re just responding the only way that… the church knows how, and that’s to sort of open up our doors, provide sanctuary, provide a place for people to come and pray and sit in silence and light a candle. We’re here to serve the community, so that’s exactly what we do, and especially in times of need.”
Poppy said the boy only recently began learning how to play piano with him.
“He was just really bright and incredibly talkative… asked lots of really great questions, like a really cool, sort of inquisitive mind, and obviously talented musically.”
A Chinese woman, believed to be the boy’s grandmother, also died when a landslip hit the house they were in.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the losses were “deeply shattering” and New Zealand was “heavy with grief”.
Excavators have been working on moving piles of rubble while support workers on foot point out the next spot for them to dig.Calvin Samuel / RNZ
Kate, who was in an apartment near the slip, said she could hear the crews working.
“They had spotlights on, so the whole side of the mountain was pretty bright, you could hear sort of people obviously working all night… they were there all night,” she said. “The families that must be waiting, it must be horrific for them.”
Robyn Leech said the huge of scale of the slip felt “unreal” – she had seen four diggers working at the scene on Friday morning.
Emergency workers close a road following the landslide.DJ Mills
Rachel and Brooke Baldwin came to the cordon near the campsite on Friday with several trays of muffins to feed emergency services and the locals who had gathered.
The disaster had left them shocked, and baking was how they knew they could help.
“We’re not professionals in terms of surveying the land, or you know, testing the earthworks, we can’t help physically but what we can do is bake and we can show out appreciation and our gratitude for the people all over New Zealand that are coming to Mt Maunganui to help our community,” she said.
Mother and daughter bakers dropping off muffins at the scene at the landslide.Alan Gibson / Gibson Images Ltd
Angela Rangi, a Mt Maunganui local, said she visited the hot pools every morning. She had been there the morning of the slip, too, but left before it came down.
Nothing was amiss when she left, she said, but 15 minutes later, she heard a lot of sirens and returned to a disastrous scene.
Local MP Sam Uffindell said it was a sombre day and appeared visibly upset after meeting with families inside the cordon.
Police and fire leaders said it would not be possible or appropriate to discuss the details of anyone rescued or recovered, until identification takes place and families have been informed.
They repeated the message to a media conference on Friday afternoon.
Aassistant national fire commander David Guard at the scene.Calvin Samuel / RNZ
‘Still very much a rescue operation’
“We are in the middle of a rescue operation, and it would be insensitive on families to talk about that openly in the public arena,” assistant national fire commander David Guard said.
“We are continuing to treat this as a rescue operation.”
Luxon said waiting families were dealing with “high anxiety and deep distress”, and the emotions were hitting them all differently.
A man whose relative was among those missing, said she had been running around telling everyone to go before the landslide.
Meanwhile, police were asking anyone with video footage of the slip to send it to them.
As emergency crews swapped shifts and fresh search and rescue staff came in, police district commander Tim Anderson said they were “living in hope” of pulling people out alive from the landslide, as survivors had sometimes been safely rescued in similar circumstances overseas.
*Six people remain unaccounted for, but the whereabouts of three others is also unknown – though it’s believed they are tourists and may have already left the area. Police have appealed for video footage anyone has to be uploaded via the police’s online portal.”
Anyone with information that could help could contact police via the 105 service, referencing Operation Sunbrae.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Australia’s two federal combating antisemitism bills, the New South Wales laws providing the means to shutdown street protests and move on stationary public assemblies, along with the envoy’s plan to combat antisemitism and the Royal Commission into the same prejudice, have all been set in place following two ISIS-fuelled killers murdering 15 people at Bondi Beach six weeks ago.
While some of these measures were drafted in a hurry immediately post-Bondi in a theatrical attempt to prevent what had already occurred, much of the “combating antisemitism” smorgasbord of laws that serve to clamp down on free speech and the right to political communication in general, appear to have been waiting in the wings for the right political moment to enact.
These dramatic changes that have been foisted upon the country’s public square have been central to a broad campaign that the Zionist lobby has been progressing both locally and throughout the Western world, which is difficult to pin down as most of this advocating takes place behind closed doors, while when featured in the media, these positions are increasingly reflected as the norm.
A key outcome of the doctrine of Zionism is the displacement and genociding of Palestinians. And it is these truths, and the fact that the Gaza genocide is in progress, that make it necessary to progress the lobby’s agenda right now.
But while the Albanese government is implementing the envoy’s plan and a Royal Commission into antisemitism, which both include a definition of antisemitism that serves to block criticism of Israel at the behest of the lobby, the scope of the federal hate laws further reveal desperate Labor and Liberal parties attempting to shore up power in the face of a drastically shifting political climate.
McCarthyite Zionism While the Israel lobby has long been understood to have an excessive influence upon the US political establishment, the sway of the Zionist lobby in Australia had not been common knowledge among the broader public until Gaza, as over the past 26 months of the mass slaughter and starvation programme, the lobby’s propaganda machine has been actioned in an attempt to hide this.
As the internet filled with footage of Israeli state actors perpetrating horrific acts in the Gaza Strip in late 2023, the Australian public sphere became a place to attack constituents for speaking out about this worst atrocity since the genociding of Jewish people during the Second World War, and the key way to silence these critics was to charge them with antisemitism — the hate that stoked the Holocaust.
The central target of the local Zionist lobby has been the Palestine solidarity movement, which has been a loud secular voice sprung from a diverse constituency.
Yet, federal and state Labor leaders have been labelling these people, who have been calling for an end to the practice of exterminating humans to obtain land, as outright antisemites and further implied they’re somewhat terroristic.
According to US professors Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler, the Israeli state and the Zionist lobby commenced framing criticism of Israel as antisemitic in the late 1960s.
This idea is predicated upon Israel being a Jewish state. It denies the fact that many Jewish people globally don’t adhere to the doctrine of Zionism. And it rests on a flimsy link that only holds because of the force of the lobbyists.
This had appeared to be spurred by the moral panic around antisemitism, however it has since come to light that the envoy programme exists across the Western world, with the first US envoy appointed in 2004.
At its heart, the plan inserts the IHRA definition of antisemitism that blocks criticism of Israel into every level of Australian government and all its institutions. Further aspects involve the monitoring of tertiary institutions and the media for antisemitism or rather, anti-Israel sentiment.
The IHRA working definition of antisemitism comprises of two lines and 11 examples of hatred towards Jewish people, seven of which involve criticising Israel.
The body that produced it has never officially adopted it. However, as one of its drafters has been warning over the past decade, the Zionist lobby has been weaponising the definition to silence anti-Israel criticism globally.
The determination to hold a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion is the result of an all-pervasive campaign to see it established post-Bondi massacre, with the suggested reason being to understand how such a terrorist action was able to come to fruition.
Further moral panic However, the criminal case against one shooter rules this out, so the inquiry will likely serve to stoke further moral panic.
So, the blanket ban on protests, or the public assembly restriction declaration regime rolled out post-Bondi, can be understood as not only placating the Zionist lobby, via the silencing of Palestine solidarity rallies on Gadigal land in the Sydney CBD, but it’s also as a continuation of the closing of the public sphere.
The 50 pages of hate crime laws the Albanese government whipped out of its back pocket last week, appeared so broad that the suggestion is the measures were in the works long before the antisemitic attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025.
ASIO boss Mike Burgess hinted at a need for these last year, so as to stamp out groups, like the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network and Islamic group Hitz ut Tahrir, as they had both been understood to be hovering just beneath the threshold of criminal activity.
But further, these laws sitting on the books could likely be used by a future “true blue” führer, so that their opposition can be eradicated on taking office.
The fallacy of necessitated free speech denial NSW premier Chris Minns’ favoured mantra over the period of the Gaza genocide — or the rise in antisemitism in Australia if one is being “politically correct” — has been along the lines of “the reason NSW does not have free speech protections like they do in the United States, is that this state has a multicultural society and therefore, divergent voices must be tempered”. Yet, this is a lie.
During the 1890s drafting of the Australian Constitution, those involved determined not to enshrine rights in the founding document, as it might result in discriminatory laws already on the books that specifically applied to First Nations people and Chinese people becoming invalid, former High Court Justice Micheal Kirby has noted on occasion.
The premier is not only progressing this line when the moral panic around antisemitism is in full flight, but he is also suggesting that the right to free speech should not be protected in NSW, over and over again, after NSW MP Jenny Leong introduced the Human Rights Bill 2025 last October, which seeks to protect free speech, or “freedom of opinion and expression”, among other rights.
The failure to protect free speech in this country was initially about maintaining power when attempting to establish an ethnostate. But the ongoing denial of rights protections since Australia embraced multiculturalism commencing in the 1970s, has really been about politicians maintaining power, and not an attempt to save various ethnic groups living here from annihilating each other.
The idea progressed by Minns is that the broad free speech protections in the United States, which are contained in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, would be a problem in our community because it is multicultural.
However, while the US has traditionally been understood to have been a melting pot of different ethnicities, what is operating as societies in both countries today are based upon multiethnicities, and they’re pretty much the same.
The progression of the “combating antisemitism” laws and policies right now is all about placating the Zionist lobby, while Israel takes as many pounds of flesh as it desires upon occupied Palestinian territory, in order to prevent the ongoing mass civil society outcry over this ethnic cleansing, the mass starvation and mass murder, along with the genocidal tactics that are ongoing in the Gaza Strip.
Yet, the federal listing of prohibited hate group regime also provides the ability to the major parties to criminalise their political opponents as hate groups — think, the Greens — at a point in time when the long-term capture of holding government office by the majors is now under threat.
Conjoined twin Sawong from PNG wears a party hat as his family and staff at Sydney Children’s Hospital celebrate him reaching 100 days old.Supplied/Jurgen Ruh/Manolos Aviation
The parents of rare conjoined twins say doctors in Papua New Guinea told them to take the boys home as they were beyond hope.
“Thank God we [defied them] and we are where we are,” the boys’ dad Kevin Mitiam, who is also a twin, said in Tok Pisin.
Tom and Sawong – who were fused at the lower abdomen – had unplanned emergency surgery to divide them at Sydney Children’s Hospital on 7 December.
The surgery was brought forward as Tom, the weaker twin, was deteriorating rapidly. A large multi-disciplinary team took seven hours to separate the boys but Tom died soon after he was detached from his brother.
The team spent a further five hours working on Sawong, who is doing well and could return home by the end of February.
“The Port Moresby General Hospital paediatrician team told us [twice] to go back home, that there was no hope for them,” their mum Fetima said in Tok Pisin.
“We were even told not to trust Jurgen Ruh [the family’s spokesperson] because they said he was giving us false hope.
“I am happy and I laugh when I see my baby Sawong and think about that advice,” she said.
“I am full of hope, I cuddle him and talk to him every day, as he grows.”
RNZ Pacific has reached out to Port Moresby General Hospital for a response.
The two-month-olds were medivacced from Port Moresby to Sydney on 4 December, following medical advice that they undergo urgent surgery.
The move followed weeks of tense wrangling over the viability of separating them, which country would accept the case and perform the operation, and how it would be financed.
The boys shared a liver, bladder and parts of their gastrointestinal tract, but had their owns limbs and genitals.
They also had partial spina bifida – a neural tube defect that affects the development of a newborn’s spine and spinal cord. Tom also had a congenital heart defect, one kidney and malformed lungs.
Doctors at Port Moresby General Hospital initially explored the possibility of transferring the twins to Sydney, but the plans fell through when funding from a charity was pulled.
The hospital later made a u-turn and advised the couple to stay in PNG or face the death of either one or both of the boys.
The medical director Dr Kone Sobi said previously that multiple discussions led to their final decision, and added: “The underlying thing is that both twins present with significant congenital anomalies and we feel that even with care and treatment in a highly specialised unit, the chances of survival are very very slim.
“In fact the prognosis is extremely bad and the twin’s future is unpredictable.”
Manolos Aviation pilot Jurgen Ruh with Sawong at Sydney Children’s Hospital. Ruh flew Sawong and his conjoined twin Tom to Port Moresby General Hospital from their home in remote Morobe Province after they were born.Supplied/ Jurgen Ruh/ Manolo Aviation
Ruh told RNZ Pacific on Thursday that although Sawong remains in intensive care, monitored constantly by a specialist nurse, he is “strong and doing well”.
He was no longer on a ventilator, did not need supplementary oxygen and was gaining about 50 grams a day in weight, he said.
“The hose fitting on his nose is simply to monitor his breathing and to assist a little with extra pressure in his lungs.
“Doctors have now closed up a hole in his stomach with stretched skin and he is improving every day, but it will be another month or so before he is released, possibly by the end of February.
“Occasionally Sawong gives the biggest smile on earth; he is just happy with what he has.”
The hospital recently celebrated Sawong’s reaching 100 days old with a simple but touching celebration.
“It threw a little party for Sawong, his parents and all the staff who have been part of his journey. Fetima cut a frozen cheesecake on his behalf,” Ruh said.
A massive funeral for Tom was held a month ago at the Mega Church in Hillsong, Sydney.
The family are expected to scatter his ashes after they return home to their remote village in PNG’s Morobe Province.
While the complex surgery was a success, the results were bittersweet for the parents.
“I thought it was amazing, after the surgery a nurse gave Tom to them and they spent hours just cuddling him,” Ruh previously told RNZ Pacific.
The parents had been through a “rollercoaster” of emotions since the twins were born on 9 October.
“They had accepted that they would lose Tom and there’s been many tears shed along the way,” he said previously.
Ruh said last month that at one stage during negotiations the Sydney Children’s Hospital requested AUD$2 million to do the operation, but funds and guarantees could not be found.
RNZ Pacific understands that the parents had approached the PNG government for funding, but Ruh would not confirm this.
The ABC had reported that the hospital had asked for payment before the twins were transferred from PNG; however Ruh said as far as he knew no money had changed hands.
When asked how it was financed he said: “It’s a mixture of funding which took too long to organise.
“It should never have taken eight weeks to get the twins separated, it should have happened in eight days, but no referral pathway [to a foreign hospital] exists,” Ruh said.
He laid the blame on the PNG health system, and said babies born prematurely or with birth defects were lost in the system.
“It was a very disappointing ride we had, in terms of overall support from Port Moresby General Hospital. Then there were delays in getting them to Australia.
“We were exploring faster options, but we did not have any support.”
The boys were eventually moved from the public hospital to Paradise Private Hospital in Port Moresby, which provided them with free care.
The family felt the twins would be “safer” and have less chance of cross-infection from other babies, particularly of malaria.
A multi-disciplinary team from Sydney Children’s Hospital flew to Port Moresby on 21 November to assess the twins, amid growing public pressure in Australia and PNG.
At that point the boys only had a combined weight of 2.9kg, and Tom was relying on Sawong to keep him alive.
Sawong (left) and Tom while they were being treated in Port Moresby General Hospital’s neonatal unit last year.Supplied / Port Moresby General Hospital
In a letter to doctors in PNG, the Sydney team said surgery was in fact feasible although Tom was not expected to survive it.
“The reason for the early separation is that Sawong is working hard to support Tom,” the letter said.
The team had recommended the twins be urgently transferred in a specialised aircraft with intensive care facilities plus medical and nursing personnel.
The boys underwent multiple investigations at Sydney Children’s Hospital, including an MRI and CT scan to define their anatomy and vascular supply.
“Before the surgery, the medical team [in Sydney] said it was a miracle that Tom had survived for two months,” Ruh said previously.
A huge team including liver surgeons, colorectal surgeons and urologists, specialised cardiac anaesthetists, cardiologists, neonatologists and interventional radiologists were involved in the surgery, supported by a large team of nursing and allied staff.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Politicians welcomed to Rātana on Friday.RNZ / Pokere Paewai
The government has announced $10 million for Ringatū marae in Bay of Plenty.
Making the announcement at Rātana, regional development minister Shane Jones said the funding would boost resilience in the Wainui Marae infrastructure near Ōhope.
It followed similar previous investments at Waitangi, Rātana and Parihaka.
Jones said the build would create 71 jobs, and afterwards the marae complex would include a wharenui, wharekai, wharetāonga, wharepaku, and a modern safe space for worship, cultural events and learning.
“I acknowledge our Finance Minister [Nicola Willis] because we are short of putea, but she supported this,” he said.
“And no, this is not an attempt to get votes. If I was going to get votes, Waikato would have voted for me when I gave them $30 million for the Ruakura infrastructure.”
Earlier, Winston Peters also pushed back on the idea such funding could constitute a political bribe.
“No… you should understand that when we’ve come here, we’ve always left a gift. It’s the Māori way and we’ve done it for decades in successive governments,” he said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Around a dozen people from Mauao Trust and local iwi representatives gathered at the base of Mt Maunganui at 6pm on Friday, joined by the families of the missing – together they held a karakia ceremony.
Authorities believed there were six people missing in the landslide, while police were seeking the whereabouts of a further three.
Tracy Ngatoko, mana whenua from Ngati Ranginui and Ngai Te Rangi, she did what she called an “apakura.”
The rescue operation at Mt Maunganui on Friday night.Kim Baker Wilson
“An apakura is a lamental cry, of sorrow, and basically I called upon our mountain, Mauao, to help all the servicemen that are there and the women that are trying to find those that are still unaccounted for.”
After that, three men said three different incantations.
“Evoking the gods to help with the search, evoking the gods to clear the pathway so that it enables them to do the work that they still need to do across the next few days and ahead of us.
“But more importantly, to be with the families that at this stage, a lot of uncertainty, sorrow, anguish.”
Ngatoko said the three karakia were different -one was directly to the mountain, another was a historical prayer, connecting to the events of the past and its history as a burial ground.
The final karakia was to the elements, asking for the weather to stay good to help the workers with the search.
An ambulance at the scene.RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
She said all the machinery stopped during the ceremony, the only noise was the incantations.
“There’s a saying in Māori that goes, he kanohi kitea he hokinga mahara, which basically means a lot of images brings back multitudes of memories. And so it was quite emotional, just walking around the corner down there and seeing the devastation.”
Ngatoko held back tears as she spoke of the emotion she felt watching the families of the missing crying during the silence and prayers.
She spoke to a man who was missing both of his children in the landslide.
“He’s trying to be as positive as possible because his wife isn’t in a good state at the moment, knowing that the children are still stuck there and just can only but send heaps of aroha and empathy to him”
During the ceremony the skies opened up and drenched the area around the mountain. As soon as the ceremony had finished, the sun returned.
Ngatoko said it was a cleansing.
“In one instance, it was a cleansing in terms of what needs to be done and needs to continue to happen. And the other part of it was the spiritual realm which bestowed itself upon the physical realm.
“When those two powers meet, it was a phenomenal feeling.
“It was also a tohu for us, a symbol of the tears of our ancestors. And no doubt, those of the affected families as well.”
There continued to be restricted access to the area and a rāhui in place.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Lyon Farrell competing in 2019 in Atlanta.Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images/AFP
With an average age of 20 in the NZ Winter Olympic team, Lyon Farrell is probably considered over the hill in snowboarding years for a first Winter Olympics.
At 27, Farrell is three year’s older than the next oldest members of the 17-strong team, which has been confirmed for next month’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
Farrell achieved a long held dream when his selection in the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle and Big Air disciplines was confirmed on Friday.
Mentally, Farrell said he felt like a 20-year-old.
“Just staying in it, riding with a bunch of 19-year-olds …I’m still learning new tricks and giving these young guys a run for their money,” Farrell said.
Farrell grew up in Maui, Hawaii but first learned to ski at Coronet Peak in Queenstown with his parents and siblings.
His Mom was American, and his Dad a Kiwi. His grandparents live in Arrowtown and Farrell spent a lot of his childhood in the South Island.
He switched to snowboarding, following in his big brothers footsteps and entered his first competition in 2011.
He first started training with the New Zealand team in 2014 when he was just 15, then got the opportunity to ride with the USA team.
Farrell was with the US team from 2015 to 2022 but missed out on the last Olympics after tearing his ACL in the lead-up and thought that dream might be over.
Things were very different in 2014 when no New Zealand male athletes were sent to the Sochi Winter Olympics that year.
“So that conversation was never really there, there wasn’t really a structured team around slopestyle riding…I didn’t really see it as something that could happen.
“And then 2018 was when Zoi [Sadowski-Synnott] and Nico [Porteous] really started crushing it and I was like whoa all the guys that I’d been snowboarding with when I was 15-16 years old are doing amazing, I’d love to see what’s going on.”
New Zealand had its most successful Winter Olympic Games at Beijing 2022, where Kiwi athletes claimed two gold medals and a silver.
Sadowski-Synnott made history, winning New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold medal in Snowboard Slopestyle, alongside a silver in Big Air. She also won a Big Air bronze medal at PyeongChang 2018 and is off to her third Olympics next month.
Farrell had worked with Sean Thompson, Sadowski-Synnott’s coach, when he was as young as 13. He finished second in the Snowboard Halfpipe at the 2014 Junior World Championships under Thompson.
Four year’s ago Farrell started thinking about switching his allegiances back to New Zealand.
“That friendship and connection I had with the Kiwi team was still super strong and at the time it made the most sense to go back to where I started …really paying homage to the place that I learnt how to snowboard.”
Farrell said he didn’t want to look back when he eventually retired and wonder if he could have been a better snowboarder.
“Didn’t really have to do with the Olympics, it more had to do with could I reach my full potential as an athlete. When I started to look at it I saw that the people I was riding with back in 2014 had created something incredible and that was what I wanted to be a part of.”
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has been an inspiration to Lyon Farrell.Miha Matavz / www.mihamatavz.com
He said a big drawcard was to work with coaches Tom Willmott and Thompson again.
“I believe that they are the best in the world and that the New Zealand team was the best place I could possibly be, so I chose to step away from the US team and go where what I thought was better and I feel it continues to show me that it is.”
After watching a new generation of New Zealand snowboarders emerge, Farrell said he felt lucky to just be involved.
“They’ve kind of lifted me to a level now where I feel like I’m not just a good Kiwi but I’m good on the world stage and I can actually do better than I probably ever have before.”
Growing up, professional sport was a part of Farrell’s household.
His mother Angela Cochran was a professional windsurfer for a couple of decades and still competes, so it was no surprise that Farrell ended up competing in an extreme sport.
“I think it was kind of unavoidable being that my Mum was in a freestyle kind of sport where flipping and spinning and pushing yourself was part of the programme.”
Cochran, who still lived in Maui, competed against New Zealand Olympic medallist Barbara Kendall in the 1990s and 2000s.
The Windsurfing Hall of Famers were still great friends.
“Maui was kind of the mecca of windsurfing and she did a lot of racing and wave sailing with Barbara, so Barbara was kind of my main connection whenever I was in the North Island flying through to see my grandparents in the South Island I’d always be with Barbara and her family, it’s pretty cool to have that connection.
“I don’t windsurf but I picked up a couple of other wind sports along the way, little bit of winging, little bit of stand up paddle, downwind foiling, all sorts of random stuff when I have time in the summer.”
The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games would take place from February 6-22 across iconic Italian alpine venues.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
OpenAI has announced plans to introduce advertising in ChatGPT in the United States. Ads will appear on the free version and the low-cost Go tier, but not for Pro, Business, or Enterprise subscribers.
The company says ads will be clearly separated from chatbot responses and will not influence outputs. It has also pledged not to sell user conversations, to let users turn off personalised ads, and to avoid ads for users under 18 or around sensitive topics such as health and politics.
Still, the move has raised concerns among some users. The key question is whether OpenAI’s voluntary safeguards will hold once advertising becomes central to its business.
Why ads in AI were always likely
We’ve seen this before. Fifteen years ago, social media platforms struggled to turn vast audiences into profit.
The breakthrough came with targeted advertising: tailoring ads to what users search for, click on, and pay attention to. This model became the dominant revenue source for Google and Facebook, reshaping their services so they maximised user engagement.
Large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) is extremely expensive. Training and running advanced models requires vast data centres, specialised chips, and constant engineering. Despite rapid user growth, many AI firms still operate at a loss. OpenAI alone expects to burn US$115 billion over the next five years.
Only a few companies can absorb these costs. For most AI providers, a scalable revenue model is urgent and targeted advertising is the obvious answer. It remains the most reliable way to profit from large audiences.
What history teaches us about OpenAI’s promises
OpenAI says it will keep ads separate from answers and protect user privacy. These assurances may sound comforting, but, for now, they rest on vague and easily reinterpreted commitments.
The company proposes not to show ads “near sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics”, yet offers little clarity about what counts as “sensitive,” how broadly “health” will be defined, or who decides where the boundaries lie.
Most real-world conversations with AI will sit outside these narrow categories. So far OpenAI has not provided any details on which advertising categories will be included or excluded. However, if no restrictions were placed on the content of the ads, it’s easy to picture that a user asking “how to wind down after a stressful day” might be shown alcohol delivery ads. A query about “fun weekend ideas” could surface gambling promotions.
These products are linked to recognised health and social harms. Placed beside personalised guidance at the moment of decision-making, such ads can steer behaviour in subtle but powerful ways, even when no explicit health issue is discussed.
Similar promises about guardrails marked the early years of social media. History shows how self-regulation weakens under commercial pressure, ultimately benefiting companies while leaving users exposed to harm.
Advertising incentives have a long record of undermining the public interest. The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed how personal data collected for ads could be repurposed for political influence. The “Facebook files” revealed that Meta knew its platforms were causing serious harms, including to teenage mental health, but resisted changes that threatened advertising revenue.
More recent investigations show Meta continues to generate revenue from scam and fraudulent ads even after being warned about their harms.
Why chatbots raise the stakes
Chatbots are not merely another social media feed. People use them in intimate, personal ways for advice, emotional support and private reflection. These interactions feel discreet and non-judgmental, and often prompt disclosures people would not make publicly.
That trust amplifies persuasion in ways social media does not. People seek help and make decisions when they consult chatbots. Even with formal separation from responses, ads appear in a private, conversational setting rather than a public feed.
Messages placed beside personalised guidance – about products, lifestyle choices, finances or politics – are likely to be more influential than the same ads seen while browsing.
As OpenAI positions ChatGPT as a “super assistant” for everything from finances to health, the line between advice and persuasion blurs.
For scammers and autocrats, the appeal of a more powerful propaganda tool is clear. For AI providers, the financial incentives to accommodate them will be hard to resist.
The root problem is a structural conflict of interest. Advertising models reward platforms for maximising engagement, yet the content that best sustains attention is often misleading, emotionally charged or harmful to health.
This is why voluntary restraint by online platforms has repeatedly failed.
Is there a better way forward?
One option is to treat AI as digital public infrastructure: these are essential systems designed to serve the public rather than maximise advertising revenue.
This need not exclude private firms. It requires at least one high-quality public option, democratically overseen – akin to public broadcasters alongside commercial media.
Elements of this model already exist. Switzerland developed the publicly funded AI system Apertus through its universities and national supercomputing centre. It is open source, compliant with European AI law, and free from advertising.
Australia could go further. Alongside building our own AI tools, regulators could impose clear rules on commercial providers: mandating transparency, banning health-harming or political advertising, and enforcing penalties – including shutdowns – for serious breaches.
Advertising did not corrupt social media overnight. It slowly changed incentives until public harm became the collateral damage of private profit. Bringing it into conversational AI risks repeating the mistake, this time in systems people trust far more deeply.
The key question is not technical but political: should AI serve the public, or advertisers and investors?
Raffaele F Ciriello is a voluntary, temporary member of the eSafety Commissioner’s Parent Advisory Group, advising on caregiver and youth responses to Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age laws. This article draws on his independent research.
Kathryn Backholer is Vice President (Policy) at the Public Health Association of Australia. She receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, UNICEF, The Ian Potter Foundation, The National Heart Foundation, VicHealth, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, QUIT, the .auDA Foundation and the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety for work related to the health-harms of online advertising.
The tragic events in the Bay of Plenty this week are a stark reminder that landslides remain the deadliest of the many natural hazards New Zealand faces.
On Thursday morning, a large landslide swept through the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park at the base of Mauao, triggering a major rescue and recovery operation that will continue through the weekend.
Hours earlier, two people were killed when a separate landslide struck a home in the Tauranga suburb of Welcome Bay. As of Friday evening, six people remain missing at Mount Maunganui.
These events occurred at the tail end of a weak La Niña cycle, which typically brings wetter conditions to northern New Zealand. At the same time, unusually warm sea-surface temperatures have been loading the atmosphere with extra moisture, helping to fuel heavier downpours.
In parts of northern New Zealand, more than 200 millimetres of rain fell within 24 hours in the lead-up to last week’s events – well above the typical thresholds known to trigger landslides.
Regions such as the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Northland and Tairāwhiti are especially vulnerable to intense rainfall, which weakens surface soils and the highly weathered rock beneath them, allowing shallow landslides to detach and flow downslope.
Most landslides in New Zealand are triggered by heavy rainfall, through a complex interplay of intrinsic factors – such as slope angle, soil and rock strength, and vegetation cover – and extrinsic factors, including rainfall intensity and how wet the ground already is from prior rainfall when a storm arrives.
Much of this risk is invisible, accumulating quietly beneath the surface until a sudden collapse occurs.
This helps explain why landslides have long proved so dangerous. Since written records began in 1843, they have been responsible for more deaths than earthquakes and volcanic eruptions combined.
Much of New Zealand’s steep, geologically young landscape is pockmarked by the evidence of millions of past landslides, most occurring on pasture and remote areas, far from people.
When landscapes tell a story
At Mount Maunganui, the shape of the land itself tells a story. The surrounding hill slopes are riddled with the scars of past landslides, revealing a landscape that has been repeatedly reshaped by slope failure over time.
New high-resolution mapping now allows scientists to see this in unprecedented detail. A 2024 LiDAR-derived digital elevation model, which effectively strips away vegetation to reveal the bare land surface, shows numerous landslide features across the slopes.
Many cluster along the coastal cliffs, but two particularly large ancient landslides can be seen directly above the holiday park.
A high-resolution elevation map of Mauao and surrounding land at Mount Maunganui, drawn from Land Information New Zealand data, showing landslide features. Two ancient landslides, or paleolandslides, above the campground site are labelled L1 and L2. Author provided, CC BY-NC-ND
These older slips left behind prominent head scarps – steep, crescent-shaped breaks in the hillside – indicating where large volumes of material once detached and flowed downslope onto flatter ground below.
Subsurface evidence reinforces this picture. A geotechnical investigation carried out in 2000, near the northern end of the campground’s toilet block, found a 0.7 metre layer of colluvium – loose debris deposited by earlier landslides and erosion – buried beneath the surface.
In other words, the site itself sits atop the remnants of past slope failures.
This image provides two views of the slopes above the campground at Mauao (Mount Maunganui). On the left (A) is a 2023 aerial photo showing the steep hillside and the location of earlier ground testing. On the right (B) is a detailed elevation map revealing two ancient landslides (L1 and L2) hidden in the landscape. The star marks the approximate starting point of the January 22 landslide. Author provided, CC BY-NC-ND
The January 22 landslide appears to have initiated in the narrow zone between the two earlier slips. This is a particularly vulnerable position: when neighbouring landslides occur, the remaining wedge of land between them can lose lateral support, becoming unstable, like a rocky headland jutting out from a cliff face.
Over long timescales, this kind of progressive slope collapse is a normal part of landscape evolution. But when it unfolds in populated areas, it can turn an ancient geological process into a human disaster.
From prediction to prevention
Predicting how far a landslide will travel, and which areas it might inundate, is critically important – but it remains an inexact science.
At its simplest, this can involve rough rules of thumb that estimate how far a landslide is likely to run based on slope height and angle. More sophisticated approaches use advanced computer models, such as Rapid Mass Movement Simulation (RAMMS) which simulate how landslide material might flow across the landscape.
These models were used, for example, to assess landslide risk at Muriwai, Auckland, following Cyclone Gabrielle.
By adjusting inputs such as rainfall intensity and soil properties, scientists can explore a range of possible scenarios, generating estimates of how far future landslides could travel, how deep the debris might be, and which properties could be affected.
The results can then be translated into landslide hazard maps, showing areas of higher and lower risk under different rainfall conditions. These maps are not predictions of exactly what will happen, but they provide crucial guidance for land-use planning, emergency management and public awareness.
New Zealand has made major progress in mapping floodplains, and most councils now provide publicly accessible flood hazard maps that influence building rules and help communities understand their exposure.
In the future, developing similarly detailed and widely available maps for landslide hazards would be a logical – potentially life-saving – next step.
Martin Brook receives funding from the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tu Ake.
The cancellation of the school’s registration was due to take effect today.RNZ / Jean Edwards
Gloriavale Christian School will remain open for now after its board sought a judicial review of the Ministry of Education’s decision to cancel its registration as a private school.
Secretary for Education Ellen McGregor-Reid informed the school of the decision last month.
The cancellation was due to take effect today.
However, McGregor-Reid confirmed the ministry has agreed to allow the school to remain open after the High Court yesterday granted interim orders preventing the cancellation from taking effect.
She said the community and the ministry have agreed that the school will remain open until the matter is heard.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
RBNZ governor says shes committed and confident get inflation back to target
A stronger economy will add further price pressures
Experts bet on one, possibly two cash rate increses by year’s end
The odds of the Reserve Bank (RBNZ) raising its benchmark interest rate by the end of the year have narrowed after the latest inflation numbers.
Stats NZ data showed a 0.6 percent rise in consumer prices in the three months ended December, pushing the annual rate to an 18-month high of 3.1 percent, just above the RBNZ’s target band.
The RBNZ has been betting on the slack in the economy caused by recession and weak activity to put downward pressure on inflation, with domestic price pressures of wages, rents, rates, insurance, and electricity expected to ease gradually through the year.
RBNZ governor Anna Breman reaffirmed her commitment and confidence in getting inflation back into the target band.
“We still have favourable conditions in terms of reaching 2 percent because we have spare capacity and wage growth is still subdued, and our job is to do a balancing act going forward to ensure that we reach that,” Breman said in a pre-arranged interview with the Reuters news agency.
Her comments about a current data release were highly unusual, although they were similar to those made before the end of last year. She made no mention of any move in the official cash rate.
Next rate move higher
Economists interpreted the latest data as a sure sign that the next move in the OCR was higher, the only issue being when.
The RBNZ’s own calculation of core inflation edged higher to 2.8 percent, which ASB senior economist Mark Smith said showed the fall in domestic inflation has stalled.
“If anything, underlying pricing pressures look to be picking up.”
“There is the risk that annual inflation over 2026 will not cool to the circa 2 percent RBNZ expectation. Today’s CPI data and the RBNZ estimates for core inflation supports this view,” Smith said.
He said ASB was now picking a 25 basis point OCR rise to 2.5 percent in December, and another couple of hikes in the first half of 2027 to 3 percent.
“Rather than tapping on the monetary policy brakes, the moves should be interpreted as the RBNZ easing off on the accelerator,” Smith said.
ANZ senior economist Miles Workman agreed the next OCR move was higher and most likely in December.
He said the RBNZ had to balance between wanting to get inflation lower and not squashing the signs of economic recovery that have been showing through.
“The RBNZ will be aware that if it comes out too hawkish in February and thereby tightens monetary conditions before current green shoots have a chance to get established, those shoots could easily wither.”
In her interview, Breman confirmed the mixed outlook with some “weak signals” such as the fall in December retail sales and lack of strong recovery in the labour market, but a pick up in growth.
“We will get some data on the labour market coming out now in early February, so that will also be important.”
“We have to take all of this information into account when we go into the next meeting.”
The RBNZ makes its next monetary statement on 18 February.
Financial markets are pricing in the first increase in the OCR by October, and a second by year’s end.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Emergency crews have been searching the Mahurangi River for any signs of a man who was swept away on Wednesday.RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Emergency crews spent the day scouring the Mahurangi River north of Auckland for any signs of a man swept away earlier this week.
The 47-year-old Kiribati man was last seen on Wednesday when he and his vehicle were washed away near Falls Road in Warkworth.
The man’s nephew was able to escape and sound the alarm.
On Friday, emergency crews made up of about 30 people resumed their search.
Police say additional resources were deployed to the area.RNZ / Finn Blackwell
A number of people wearing hi-viz were wandering the banks of the river Friday morning, searching through dense bush and debris left by the storm.
Drones were also deployed during the day. A large drone flew high above the river while a smaller drone flew close to the bank.
Later, a fire and Emergency rescue raft was seen making its way down the river.
Those on board were searching under large piles of branches and detritus left behind by this week’s earlier severe weather.
Police said additional resources had been deployed to the area.
Searchers have been going through dense bush and debris left by the storm.RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Senior sergeant Carl Fowlie said 17 Land Search and Rescue staff as well as the water rescue crew from Fire and Emergency were assisting in the search.
“Police is continuing to support the man’s family through this difficult time,” Fowlie said.
“We thank all other agencies who have been called upon in recent days for their assistance.”
Fowlie said everyone involved in the search operation was focused on finding the man.
On Friday evening police said they will continue to monitor conditions over the coming days and deploy resource accordingly.
Meanwhile, the wife of the missing man, who RNZ agreed not to name, told a reporter on Thursday she was still holding out hope her husband was alive.
The Mahurangi River north of Auckland where the search has been taking place.RNZ / Finn Blackwell
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Black Caps coach Rob Walter said the players all feel for pace bowler Adam Milne, who has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup because of a torn hamstring.
Milne suffered the injury while bowling in South Africa’s SA20 league on Sunday, with scans later revealing it was bad enough to prevent him from playing in next month’s World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Milne, 33, has been replaced by all-rounder Kyle Jamieson, who is playing for the New Zealand white-ball teams in India as they prepare for the World Cup.
“We’re all gutted for Adam,” Milne said.
“He’d worked so hard to get himself ready for the tournament and was looking back to his best in his eight games for the Eastern Cape Sunrisers.
“It’s unfortunate timing for Adam, and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
Jamieson would be a worthy replacement, Walter said.
“It’s great that Kyle is already with us here in India.
“He’s an integral member of our pace-bowling group and has hit the ground running on this tour.
“He’s a hard worker with a good set of skills and experiences that will hold him [in] good stead for the tournament.”
Walter confirmed a replacement travelling reserve for the T20 World Cup would be confirmed later.
The Black Caps are playing India in the second of five T20 internationals in Raipur on Saturday at 2.30am (NZ time).
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
RNZ understands they were a grandmother and grandchild.
St Peter’s Anglican Church director of music Chalium Poppy said the boy was due to come to a piano lesson at the Mt Maunganui church on Thursday.
Poppy said he was contacted by a friend of the family to say the boy was missing in one of the slips.
“I’d been teaching all morning, so I hadn’t heard the news about the slips yet, and so I was a little bit caught off guard and on the back foot, but it became obvious during the day that it was a lot more serious,” he said.
“Then I found out again from a friend of the family, whose son also takes piano from me, that it was confirmed today that he was one of the two victims.”
Poppy said the boy had recently started taking piano lessons with him.
“He had only sort of just started, so he had a few lessons… but like with all my students, I always sort of do a meet and greet first and make sure that it’s going to be a right fit for the student and the parents and everything and so I got to know him through sort of the meet and greet more than his lessons, but he was just really bright and incredibly talkative… asked lots of really great questions, like a really cool, sort of inquisitive mind, and obviously talented musically.”
The church had opened its doors on Friday and were holding a vigil.
“It’s all just very raw, like it’s just happening, there are still people that are missing,” he said.
“We’re just responding the only way that… the church knows how, and that’s to sort of open up our doors, provide sanctuary, provide a place for people to come and pray and sit in silence and light a candle. We’re here to serve the community, so that’s exactly what we do, and especially in times of need.”
Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson confirmed on Friday afternoon one of the people who died at Welcome Bay was a Chinese national.
An aerial photo of Welcome Bay Rd where a landslide came down.Supplied
He confirmed six people were currently unaccounted for, including two teenagers, following the landslide at Mt Maunganui.
The youngest of those missing was 15-years-old.
“We have been unable to establish the whereabouts of three further individuals.
“While we do not currently believe they were involved in the slip, further enquiries are required to rule it out.
“Those three parties are believed to be tourists, and we believe it is likely they left the area.”
Police were asking anyone with video footage of the slip at Mt Maunganui yesterday to upload it via this online portal.
“Additionally, anyone who might have information that could help our enquiries into the three parties whose whereabouts are yet to be determined is also asked to get in touch,” Anderson said.
People could do so through the 105 service, referencing Operation Sunbrae.
“We are wrapping support around the families of those whose loved ones are unaccounted for,” Anderson said.
“We would also like to acknowledge the wider community, who have similarly shown such an outpouring of support and empathy for those affected, including the family of those who died in Welcome Bay.”
Anderson said there were still thousands of people across the region affected by the weather event, and Police, alongside other agencies, were working to support the communities.
“In Welcome Bay, where a number of evacuations were carried out, Police are carrying out additional patrols around those vacant properties until residents can return.
“Police will continue to work with our partners to support the ongoing operation at Mount Maunganui as the first priority, and will also continue to deploy our staff across the region where they are most needed.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The chief chef at Hicks Bay Motor Lodge said two feet of deep silt, water and debris surrounded the motel after a large slip crashed into the back of rooms on Thursday morning.
Georgina Taiapa said water was still flowing down from a nearly 200-square-metre slip that crossed SH35 and swept down into the lodge.
Helicopters have been air-lifting help and supplies into Te Araroa and Hicks Bay today after slips and flooding cut off the East Cape community on Wednesday night.
Taiapa – who is also a member of the Hicks Bay rural fire brigade – was staying at the lodge to keep an eye on guests – and receive any local evacuees – when the slip came down at about 3am Thursday.
She moved about five guests into the lodge’s restaurant and looked after them with food and coffee until daylight.
When the sun came up, she was able to see the extent of the devastation.
Slips across SH35 above Hicks Bay Motor Lodge.Supplied
“There was just water and debris and silt everywhere, and then when I went up around the back, [and] there was just sludge and all the water running off the slip. Where the slip had come down, there were just big trees. We were quite lucky, actually,” Taiapa said.
She said the flooding in recent days was the worst she’d seen in nearly 16 years in the area.
Her own home – near the Wharekahika river – had been “flooded out” and she would be staying at the lodge until she could find somewhere to live.
Slips across SH35.Supplied
“I haven’t been able to get down here and have a look, but I’ve been sent videos of it. It is what it is.
“Just until they can sort something else with the house, but that’s going to be a long time. You’ve got to carry on. Can’t do anything about it. I’m just making sure that the guests are all safe and well, and they all get evacuated and get back where they need to get to. I’m okay.”
She said the lodge was well equipped for food for the next couple of days, and power had come back at about 1.30 pm on Friday.
The owner of the lodge, Tony Holden, said about eight rooms had been yellow stickered by the council following the slip.
Gisborne District Council said at least 90 households were cut off in the Tai Rāwhiti district, but not all would require assistance at this stage.
By midday Friday, there had been four helicopter drop-offs across the area, which had been used to deliver two building assessment teams, conduct welfare checks and move people to other locations.
Another four flights were scheduled to deliver medical supplies and food to parts of Hicks Bay and Te Araroa later in the day.
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz told RNZ on Friday morning that at least seven communities were cut off and more information would come to light about their needs during the day.
“After today, we’ll be able to know who is there. It is a small community, but still, they have real needs – especially for this weekend with no access. We have to look at their water and food needs, their electricity needs. All of that is what we will take into account today,” Stoltz said.
Gisborne District Council chief executive, Nedine Thatcher Swan, said the exact number of isolated communities – needing supplies flown in – was likely to grow as the day progressed.
The Gisborne District Council says flooding and slips have severely impacted Onepoto, Wharekahika and Te Araroa.SUPPLIED
“It’s been really hard to try and understand the number that are impacted, so that’s why we’ve got people deployed in there this morning to really get a grip up on how many,” she said.
“Speaking to our community link teams in there yesterday, they’re talking like they’re cut off from Tai Rāwhiti, but – within there – we’ve got pockets that are cut off from one another.”
Slips and unstable land could cause problems in the area for weeks to come. She was urging people to stay clear of any landslips in the district.
“Just be very, very careful. Do not go near those landslides. The ground may still be unstable – no matter how much we may think we know that area – they are unpredictable and could move without warning.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
