Source: Radio New Zealand

A convoy of recreational fishers have made their way across the Auckland Harbour Bridge as they to Auckland CBD for a rally on Saturday morning.

The One Ocean protest, co-organised by fishing enthusiast Ben Chissell, targets aspects of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act and other proposed fishing reforms.

The law, which came into effect in October, created a group of new marine protected zones while also allowing exclusive use of two highly protected areas by commercial ring-net fishing operators.

Chissell earlier said the protest was not against commercial fishing but his position was that if the Hauraki Gulf was so badly depleted that areas needed to be shut off, then no-one should fish them.

He said protesters would come from all over to join the convoy on its 30km journey from the Albany Park n Ride departing at 8.30am.

“We’ve got people coming from Kaitaia, Ahipara, Tauranga, Whitianga, Waikato, all over the show. We’ve got guys putting their boats on trailers, getting on the ferry from Waiheke and Great Barrier and coming over.

“So it’s going to be a lot bigger than I guess even when we initially hoped.”

A New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) spokesperson earlier said the convoy would be using the Oteha Valley Rd on-ramp and State Highway 16 Port off-ramp, when travelling to and from SH1.

“This could lead to congestion in those areas and may mean the Park ‘n’ Ride is busier than usual.

“NZTA and AT (Auckland Transport) will be closely monitoring the impact on the city’s network through our joint Auckland Traffic Operations Centre and will notify the public of any significant disruption through our usual channels, including the AT Mobile app and NZTA website Journey Planner.”

Despite concerns of traffic congestion, by 10am, the hundreds of people driving in part of the convoy had mostly passed over the Harboru Bridge with minimal disruption.

There was a police presence at the Albany Park ‘n’ Ride and police escorted the protest along the route while parking wardens were in place to manage the roll out, according to protest information.

There should be no “boat riding”, organisers said and banners and flags must be secured.

“This is a peaceful protest, and our goal is a safe and successful event. Please use common sense, look out for one another, and remember, we’re all in this together,” the One Ocean website said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The teenager who died in a crash on a Far North Beach a week ago has been named as Samuel James Herdman.

Police released the boy’s name on Saturday morning.

A spokesperson said the crash involving a 4WD on Tokerau Beach, on the Karikari Peninsula, was reported to police just before 7.30pm on 14 November.

Fire and Emergency NZ said at the time crews had to work to free one person from the wreck.

Sam, 17, of Pukenui, died at the scene.

The Houhora Big Game and Sports Fishing Club posted a heartfelt tribute to Sam on Facebook three days later.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of valued club member and local, Samuel Herdman,” the post read.

“Sam was an avid hunter gatherer, with fishing running through his veins. He landed some impressive fish through the weigh station over the years, such as a 131.2kg striped marlin when he was just 12 1/2 years-old.

“Sam, your enthusiasm for the sport will inspire many future generations of young anglers, for many years to come.”

A funeral notice on behalf of the Herdman and Gbric families said Sam was the loved son of Jason and Sharlene and treasured older brother of Isabella.

The family acknowledged the first responders and the Watson family for their care on the beach that day.

Two other people who were injured in the crash were taken to hospital in what was at the time understood to be critical and moderate conditions.

One was airlifted to Starship Hospital in Auckland, and the other transported to Kaitaia Hospital.

Both had now been discharged from hospital, the spokesperson said.

“Police extend our sympathies to Samuel’s friends and loved ones for their loss.”

Through the police Sam’s family had asked for privacy as they grieved his death.

Police were now conducting enquiries on behalf of the Coroner.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Thousands and thousands of kiwifruit pass between the gloved fingers of research technologist Megan Wood, and she reaches for them just as a consumer might.

“Essentially, I just feel them, and I think I would eat that one.

“We’ve been doing it for years, so my best guess is usually pretty good.”

She’s a dab hand at analysing the fruit inside and out, working in the sensory lab at the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre (KBC) in Te Puke where the focus is on developing the kiwifruit of the future.

But that first gut feel is followed by a thorough analysis of every bit of the fruit, followed by taste tests and off-site examinations for nutritional benefits.

A kiwifruit may have too big a knobbly bit on its bottom – “We have had people in the past crack a tooth on it”; and cavities – “If the cavity is too big, too many critters will live in there, and we can’t export it.”

Then there are other features like shape, colour and sugar levels to grade and record.

Established in 2021, the KBC’s Te Puke site is the headquarters for growing and testing new kiwifruit cultivars.

Kiwifruit is New Zealand’s largest horticultural export, worth $3.9 billion in the year ended June 2025, following 2024’s record crop.

KBC – which also has trial orchards in Kerikeri, Motueka, Gisborne and Italy – is a joint venture between Zespri and Plant and Food Research, now part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute.

It’s led by chief executive Matt Glenn.

“We’re sort of the grease in the wheels between the researchers in the laboratory and Zespri, who are the commercialisation partner, and that’s really why we set up the joint venture as well, because we can focus really on deploying the technology, implementing it, and then driving it through to a commercial outcome.”

And that process is a lengthy one – it can take up to 25 years from the initial idea to actual fruit on the shelf.

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Glenn said they start with a “concept” requested by Zespri and from there develop “elite parents” from raw germplasm originating in Sichuan, China, a process which takes four or five years.

It takes another five years for seedlings to grow and produce the required fruit at KBC’s orchards around the country.

“Out of those 30 or 40,000 that we plant as seedlings every year, there’s probably about two or 300 that go into the next stage, which is the clonal commercial testing.”

That can take another five years.

“After 15 years, we might go back to Zespri and say, ‘hey, do you remember 15 years ago you said you’d like a kiwifruit that look like this? Well, we think here are some candidates’, and we present them to the Zespri board, and they go … ‘they look pretty good, we think we’d like to have a bet on those’, because it’s quite a big bet they’re making at that stage.”

They then put them into the hands of the growers and grow them at hectare scale, before getting the fruit to market and saying “yeah, that’s a winner, we’re going to commercialise it”.

The Te Puke headquarters has 40 hectares of trial orchards as well as laboratories and a cool store which tests the harvested fruit’s resilience at the handling and storage stage.

Breeding for a future climate

Aside from improvements to existing varieties, KBC is also developing cultivars which will be able to cope with the changing climate, and its 30ha orchard in Kerikeri in Northland is an important testing ground, Glenn told Country Life.

“The modelling that we’re seeing is telling us that the climate in the Bay of Plenty, where 80 percent of kiwifruit are grown, will be like Northland by about 2050, 2060.

“We have put [the cultivars] under that pressure, that evolutionary pressure, effectively of warmer, wetter temperatures than we get down here in the Bay … so by the time the Bay looks like that we know that we will have cultivars that will work successfully down here.”

Increasing intense weather events are also considered in the breeding programme, with a trial orchard in Italy which is breeding new root stocks to deal with very wet heavy soils.

“At the same time, we’re going to have areas, that are going to have soils that are salinating, or soils that are very dry, so we’ve actually got to be looking at every extreme in just about everything that we do.”

Glenn said successful fruit pass tests in three different areas – they have all the things a consumer wants, good yield and resilience for the grower and are supply chain ready.

“We’ve got to make sure that the fruit don’t have spikes on them that so they [don’t] puncture other fruit as they go through the process, got to make sure that they’re really hardy, so you can pick them while they’re quite firm, but then they’ll go through the supply chain really well.

“If any one of those three things is missing, the likelihood is that the fruit won’t be successful.”

Glenn said they were also working on developing a green kiwifruit “that may not need some of the chemical inputs that the farmers use traditionally”.

Speeding up the process

Artificial intelligence and precision breeding, also known as gene editing, could help speed up the lengthy process, Glenn said.

AI will help in decision-making with the large amount of data they collect but “you’ve still got to ground truth all the things that you do, so you’ve got to put seeds in the ground and grow them, and look at the fruit, and look at multiple fruit, and see if that’s really going to be sustainable”.

“What we’re particularly interested in is the precision breeding. Some people call it gene editing, but we call it precision breeding, where you’re making really small base pair level changes.

“You’re not introducing any DNA, and you might be just up-regulating or down-regulating particular genes within the genome, so what you’re doing is you’re maximising the potential of the genetics that are already in the plant.”

But he said they can’t use the technology, being used in contained greenhouses and labs at the moment, until there’s a change in legislation.

“We just think we need to be a bit more sophisticated than we’ve been over the last 30 years of having a really blunt legal instrument to deal with new technologies that are going to really help us advance the industry.”

Learn more:

• Find out more about the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre here

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A convoy of recreational fishers is expected to delay traffic as it makes its way across the Auckland Harbour Bridge, along Tamaki Drive and onto Mission Bay on Saturday morning.

The One Ocean protest, co-organised by fishing enthusiast Ben Chissell, targets aspects of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act and other proposed fishing reforms.

The law, which came into effect in October, created a group of new marine protected zones while also allowing exclusive use of two highly protected areas by commercial ring-net fishing operators.

Chissell earlier said the protest was not against commercial fishing but his position was that if the Hauraki Gulf was so badly depleted that areas needed to be shut off, then no-one should fish them.

He said protesters would come from all over to join the convoy on its 30km journey from the Albany Park n Ride departing at 8.30am.

“We’ve got people coming from Kaitaia, Ahipara, Tauranga, Whitianga, Waikato, all over the show. We’ve got guys putting their boats on trailers, getting on the ferry from Waiheke and Great Barrier and coming over.

“So it’s going to be a lot bigger than I guess even when we initially hoped.”

A spokesperson for the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) told the NZ Herald the protest could cause congestion across the city.

The convoy would enter State Highway 1 via the Oteha Valley Road on-ramp and head toward the Port via SH16 and then to Kohimarama Road via Tamaki Drive.

There would be a police presence at the Albany Park ‘n’ Ride and police would escort the protest along the route while parking wardens were in place to manage the roll out, according to protest information.

There should be no “boat riding”, organisers said and banners and flags must be secured.

“This is a peaceful protest, and our goal is a safe and successful event. Please use common sense, look out for one another, and remember, we’re all in this together,” the One Ocean website said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Clarification: RNZ has updated the copy to clarify the company dealing with DOC site parking hardware and fees collection and enforcement is Stellar, not Stellar Projects. RNZ received incorrect company name information from DOC.​

Explainer – Rolling up to some of New Zealand’s most popular tourist attractions will soon become a little more expensive, as parking fees begin at some of Aotearoa’s hot spots in December.

It’s starting as a trial run at three popular Department of Conservation (DOC) sites but if it’s successful it could expand further.

Here’s what you’ll pay and where it will take effect.

Where are parking fees being launched?

Parking fees are set to begin at Aoraki/Mount Cook, Punakaiki/Pancake Rocks and Franz Josef/Wairau in December.

It’s a pilot programme expected to last until June 2026.

“We expect a final date to be announced at the end of the month (November) following the install and testing on paid parking equipment,” Department of Conservation director of heritage and visitors Catherine Wilson said.

How much will parking cost?

Parking will be $5 per hour.

The first 20 minutes will be free to allow for drop-offs and pick-ups or people staying for a brief time.

• Read more: Department of Conservation information on the fees

For Aoraki Mt Cook there will be a daily rate of $25 per day, while at Franz Josef and Punakaiki there will be a daily rate of $20.

Commercial tourism operators who hold a valid concession will be granted a parking fee exemption during the pilot.

Will even locals have to pay to park?

Yes, but local district residents can get a reduced lower-cost annual pass.

There will be annual passes for locals – $10 per year per vehicle – which allows for unlimited access. For Franz Jozef and Punakaiki, Buller, Grey and Westland districts residents will be eligible, while for Aoraki Mt Cook it’s those living within the Mackenzie District.

Regular visitors to the regions who aren’t residents of those districts can also get an annual pass for $60 a year.

Wilson said free parking for locals was one of the options considered, but, “In the end, the cost of the local permit is set low to acknowledge the special relationship residents have with their whenua.”

The parking strategy was adopted after considering information from stakeholders, public submissions, market research and evaluating more than 40 car parks around the world, including 16 in New Zealand.

“The market research helped us understand typical rates and fee structures for paid parking at similar sites, and one finding was that the average hourly charge for car parking internationally is NZ$6.40 per hour,” DOC said in its analysis.

The group Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) consulted on the proposal.

“TIA supports user charges where they directly contribute to maintaining and improving infrastructure, but only when they are fair and enhance the visitor experience,” its chief executive Rebecca Ingram said.

Ingram said the TIA would “welcome the introduction of low-cost annual passes for New Zealand residents, which ensures Kiwis can continue to access public conservation spaces affordably”.

While the fees may surprise some, they aren’t the first parking fees for popular attractions. Milford Sound has charged $10 an hour for some of its parking lots since 2019, operated by Milford Sound Tourism.

Milford Sound has charged for some parking since 2019. Photo: MSeses / Creative Commons

What happens if you don’t pay?

There won’t be any towing or wheel clamps used, according to DOC’s engagement report.

Cameras will record the entry and exit of vehicles and their registration information.

Parking fees will be enforced by outside company Stellar, who are installing the paid parking hardware.

But considering many tourists will be from overseas, how exactly will breach notices be enforced?

Wilson said that DOC plans to make the parking process easy and understandable.

“The primary goal is to make parking payment as simple and accessible as possible for visitors, which will minimise the need for issuing breach notices. Measures in place include offering multiple payment options where feasible, providing clear and obvious signage, and using universal, icon-based messaging with large touch screens on the parking machines.”

If tourists are using a rental car and get a breach notice, Stellar can follow up with the rental company, she said.

“In terms of rental cars, standard car rental agreements typically enable the rental business to directly charge a driver’s credit card for parking, toll roads, petrol top-up and other miscellaneous items.

“Additionally, Stellar does have relationships and agreed methodology with some rental providers to collect breach fees.”

Franz Josef is one of the areas in the pilot programme. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton

How much will this new parking programme cost?

DOC has said the pilot programme will cost an estimated $3.8 million, funded from the International Tourism Levy.

But it also said the expected revenue over the pilot period from December to June 2026 would be approximately $1.5 million.

Wilson said there is some cost outlay involved in starting up the plan.

“There are several one-off costs: some investment is going into the carparks themselves and some investment has gone into developing processes and installing the hardware required. These are all initial one-off cost that won’t be ongoing.”

She said that if paid parking continues after the trial run, the plan would quickly pay for its start-up costs.

“Just under half of the $3.8 million sum is expected to be collected during the 7-month pilot. If the recommendation from the pilot is to continue with paid parking in certain sites, we expect the initial outlay to be easily made back in another year.”

What will the money be used for?

Although some have called for the funds to be used exclusively for the areas covered by the parking fees, they’ll be used throughout the wider conservation network.

“Biodiversity and visitor network projects exist throughout the country, and DOC will use this revenue where it is most needed,” DOC said in its feedback report.

Hasn’t the Department of Conservation had a lot of funding cuts lately?

Yes. As part of the government’s cost cutting directive, DOC was asked to find savings of 6.5 percent – $31.3 million per year.

The agency has also reported a shortfall in funding to maintain its tracks and huts throughout the visitors network.

There have also been dozens of job cuts at the agency.

At the same time, the government has pledged to boost events and tourism with an investment of about $70m.

The government also plans to unleash growth on conservation land, including opening up more concessions.

The Pancake Rocks walkway at Dolomite Point, Punakaiki. Photo: Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon

What do people think of the fees?

DOC heard from more than 150 submitters during a public engagement process, with the biggest concerns being that locals, volunteers and school groups shouldn’t have to pay for parking, and that the area eligible for local permits should be expanded to the entire West Coast.

At the moment, the area eligible for permits will be restricted to the local districts, however.

• Read more: The full DOC report on public feedback to parking fees

At Punakaiki’s Pancake Rocks, café owner Grant Parrett has protestedthat the parking charges will penalise locals and are essentially an unlawful fee to enter a national park.

“I suppose $5 an hour is not very much, but any paid parking is still enough to put the casual visitors off stopping and that will hurt local businesses.

“New Zealanders don’t like paying for parking,” Parrett said.

The locals will be allowed to park free of charge for 20 minutes, however.

“I think the majority of the (public) submissions would have come from Punakaiki,” Wilson has said.

“We understand that people might feel aggrieved – no one likes paying for parking – but we’re trying to work out how to run DOC facilities that are costing us increasingly more.”

Tourism operators say the parking costs should not be a major barrier.

“While operators are mindful of cumulative visitor costs, based on comparable international-visitor park-fee proposals (e.g., US$25/day), we believe the proposed charge is unlikely to be a major barrier to most international tourists,” the tourism group TIA’s Ingram said.

“The pilot is an opportunity to test how this goes, and we look forward to working with DOC on the insights it provides and any future changes.”

Other fees are in place or coming for foreign tourists. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi

Aren’t foreign visitors going to be charged additional fees to visit some places, too?

Yes, but that’s likely a year or two in the future.

The government has announced it is planning to introduce new foreign visitor charges at Milford Sound, Aoraki Mount Cook, Mautohe Cathedral Cove and Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

Foreign visitor fees are already common in many countries.

“I have heard many times from friends visiting from overseas their shock that they can visit some of the most beautiful places in the world for free,” Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said, calling it “only fair” that foreign visitors make an additional payment.

The earliest visitor fees would be introduced is summer 2027, a spokesperson for Potaka’s office has previously told RNZ.

In the announcement, a fee figure of between $20 to $40 was given.

“Access charging for international visitors is approximately two years away as legislation is yet to be drafted,” Wilson said.

Parking and access fees could be combined eventually, she said.

“There will be further engagement with stakeholders on access charging during that time, including the combination of international visitor entry fees and charging for car parks in certain sites.”

Parking fees and foreign visitor fees aren’t the only charges going up for tourists.

The International Tourism Levy the government charges to most overseas tourists was raised last year from $35 to $100.

The Tourism Industry Association spoke out against that rise at the time, warning it could “create a significant barrier” and lead to fewer tourist arrivals.

Are more places going to get parking fees?

Once the trial is completed in July, DOC will make a decision as to whether or not to continue and expand paid parking to other sites.

“This is standard practice at many national parks overseas,” Wilson has said about parking fees.

“Most international visitors accept this as a necessary contribution to support the amazing nature they come to New Zealand to enjoy.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

NZTA has postponed a road closure planned for this weekend on Transmission Gully after major congestion.

It originally said lane closures would be in place this weekend both north and southbound, but had now pushed back the southbound closure by one week to Friday, November 28 until 4.30am Monday, December 1.

“We are working through the key causes of last weekend’s problems so that we can make improvements,” Mark Owen, NZTA’s regional manager for the Lower North Island/Top of the South.

“We realise the congestion on Sunday afternoon and evening caused lengthy delays and frustration for drivers. We apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

Owen said while the work NZTA had planned this summer would cause some disruption and delays, it wanted to minimise that as much as possible.

He said revised plans were being developed and the public would be updated soon on expected improvements to reduce congestion and delays on the State Highway 59 detour route.

“Works continue throughout the summer period, so people must prepare for delays to travel in the upcoming months. Currently, there are lane closures in place in both northbound and southbound directions, and these will be in place 24/7 until mid-February, weather permitting,” he said.

Owen said NZTA wanted to return the road to full operation as soon as it could.

“This is so it is ready for expected peak traffic volumes immediately before Christmas,” he said.

There would be no planned roadworks along Transmission Gully during the Christmas and New Year period and the road would be fully open during this time.

Why are the closures needed?

NZTA said to improve the road surface and safety for road users, drainage works were being done to permanently fix water issues on three sections of Transmission Gully where potholes had been prevalent.

It said during the week, contractors were trenching alongside lanes to install underground drainage pipework.

However, the more significant works, where underground pipework was installed across the width of the road, required road closures.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Young trappers helping preserve biodiversity, a charity diverting hundreds of tonnes of waste from landfill and farmers leading the way with freshwater mahi and protecting ecosystems are among the winners of the 2025 Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Awards.

Eight winners and six highly commended recipients have been recognised for their inspirational efforts across the region.

Council chair Craig Williamson said they were leading by example in improving freshwater and indigenous biodiversity, cutting carbon emissions and inspiring a new generation of young environmental leaders.

“The scope of their work is remarkable and every recipient deserves our recognition and thanks. The 14 award winners are walking the walk when it comes to protecting our environment and it’s very pleasing to see they range in age from 12 to 75, showing how every generation is doing their bit.”

The winners in the seven categories were:

Environmental action in the community

Tupu ā Nuku – for its mahi building conservation pathways for rangatahi in Taranaki.

The work is restoring landscapes and strengthening iwi-led environmental work.

Delivered by Ngāti Maru, Tupu ā Nuku creates pathways into conservation work, seeding a future workforce committed to protecting the environment.

The mahi includes native tree planting, goat control, predator monitoring, eco-sourcing and seed collection and the release of kiwi.

The judges said Tupu ā Nuku exemplified excellence in hands-on, culturally grounded conservation education and the programme would have inter-generational impacts.

Employment advisor (pastoral care) Tumu Taituarā, Jayden Waiwiri, said: “It’s a huge honour to receive the award from Taranaki Regional Council which acknowledges some of the hard mahi that we do.”

Environmental leadership in farming

Nick and Sophie Brown – for integrating environmental best practice into their farm business.

They have a TRC Comprehensive Farm Plan and understand the importance of protecting soil and water quality. They have created a pole nursery, fenced and planted a wetland and left many steep areas to revert to native scrub.

The judges hailed the Browns’ exemplary commitment to environmental stewardship over a long period of time.

“We were honoured that the council picked us. We’ve been very fortunate to work with a number of great land management officers over the last 10 years we’ve lived here. I’ve really, really enjoyed working with the council to implement some really neat stuff on the farm which has made a difference,” says Nick.

Youth environmental leader (joint winners)

Vinnie Jackson – for his work leading Inglewood Primary School’s trapping team – the ‘Assassin’s Squad’ – and his efforts to trap possums on his family’s farm.

With support from the kura, the Year 7 pupil started a student team to set traps around the school’s bush learning area. He has also been a junior ambassador at the Rotokare Scenic Reserve where he learnt a lot about the bush and how important it is to eradicate pests for our native birds.

The judges were impressed with Vinnie’s dedication to improving native habitats.

“It’s great to see him grow and do a lot for conservation and the farm. We are really proud of him,” said mum Michelle Jackson.

Jahn Voschezang – for his outstanding mahi at two schools trapping predators across more than 21 hectares of bush to protect indigenous biodiversity.

He was helping to bring back native birds, lizards and flora and had plans to extend his trapping efforts.

Mum Michelle Voschezang said: “We’re very proud that he won this award. It kind of solidifies all the work that he’s done and celebrates all his work.”

Environmental leadership in climate action

WISE Charitable Trust – for its mahi at The Junction Zero Waste Hub diverting hundreds of tonnes of waste from landfill.

The charity’s Reuse Shop has been visited by more than 140,000 people in just four years.

WISE also worked with the Waitara community and government providers to recruit people and provide long-term meaningful employment.

“This means so much to us and we’re super stoked,” said general manager Paul Scouller.

Environmental action in biodiversity

The Newton family – for their work protecting more than 160 hectares of indigenous ecosystems in Urenui.

Stephen, Helen and Ed have worked closely with the council on setting up four Key Native Ecosystems on their farm. Their work includes excluding stock, restoration planting, pest control and invasive weed control.

The judges praised the Newtons for their unwavering commitment to environmental preservation over a long period of time and the wide scope of their work, which is improving native habitats on the property.

“For me, it’s a big sense of pride. I’m grateful for the recognition for the family and my brother Stephen’s efforts,” said Ed.

Environmental action in water quality improvement

Awatuna Catchment Group – as the first Taranaki Catchment Communities group to start freshwater mahi, they provided the blueprint for all the other groups in the region-wide initiative.

The judges were impressed by the breadth of the group’s work to understand water quality and efforts to unite its community toward the cause of enhancing water quality.

They’ve also undertaken fish passage assessment training with NIWA, recognising the importance of native fauna to maintaining ecosystems and freshwater quality.

Group co-ordinator Nicola Bryant said: “Winning the award means a lot to us as a group. It celebrates the work that we’ve done and it’s really great to see that our work hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

Environmental action in education

Te Ara Taiao – This collaboration between hapū, the Department of Conservation and Sustainable Taranaki works with 14 schools around the region.

The judges were impressed with the exemplary work with tamariki and rangatahi which demonstrated how meaningful partnerships between hapū, schools and conservation organisations could nurture the next generation of environmental kaitiaki.

The group’s work included kiwi releases, plantings on dunes, beach clean-ups and students had built seven shadehouses at schools, using them to grow native plants from eco-sourced seeds.

“We are humbled by this. This award reflects on all of those people that have contributed to our young people and the aspiration that we can improve the Taiao,” said Kairuruku (education co-ordinator) Jane Bowden-Dobson.

Highly commended recipients

Environmental action in education

Stratford Community Childcare Centre – for its mahi helping tamariki learn about and care for the environment.

Peter McNamara – for his environmental mahi in Stratford. Peter’s work with schools, community groups and others is changing attitudes to waste and sustainability.

Youth environmental leader

Western Institute of Technology student Joshua Judson – for his conservation work across Taranaki.

Nathan Hills – for his conservation and environmental work across Taranaki.

Environmental action in biodiversity

Murray Dixon – for his mahi trapping predators in Ahititi near Tongapōrutu.

Environmental leadership in farming

Faull Farms – for the family’s sustainable land management work and environmental responsibility.

Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Awards have been running since 1993 and a total of 394 groups, individuals, charities, farmers, large, small and medium businesses, schools and kindergartens, and iwi and hapū had been recognised.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

From memoirs to biographies, autobiographies – both authorised and unauthorised – to the mid-career manifesto, the documented lives of politicians come in many forms.

This year has seen two well-received memoirs from high profile politicians – Dame Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson.

They’re among the legions of former MPs and prime ministers who’ve penned their thoughts (or had others pen for them) either mid-career or after stepping back from public life.

While history is said to be written by the victors, sometimes it’s told by the losers – and often those are much more interesting.

The Detail talks to a political history professor and a seasoned political journalist who both have voracious reading habits, when it comes to the political tome.

They talk about their favourite books, what makes a good yarn and which politicians they’d like to see a book written about.

Victoria University’s Jim McAloon has read his fair share of such works, but says there are two standout leaders who haven’t had books written about them – Sir Sid Holland, National Party Prime Minister 1949-57, and William Ferguson Massey, Reform Party Prime Minister 1912-25.

“Neither of them have had substantial biographies at all and that’s a great gap,” he says.

“Holland was instrumental in making the National Party a modern, liberal conservative party, contributed greatly to their long-term success, a very wily character, pragmatic, not regarded as an intellectual, but very, very shrewd.

“Then Massey, of course, ended that long period of liberal hegemony, really helped created the first mainstream conservative party in New Zealand, led the country through the First World War into the 1920s, very hard politician, very tough, uncompromising, firmly committed to the British Empire, a villain to the organised labour movement – but perhaps not as bad as he’s always painted to be.”

Did they have colourful personal lives that would keep a reader gripped? Not really, but the political purist would still be interested in their political lives.

McAloon says he would also look forward to reading a book on Pita Sharples and says Sir John Key deserves a more searching analysis than the book that’s already landed.

“The other person who I think in that government is really interesting is Bill English,” he says.

“Quiet, self-effacing, but very much an achiever and I think with a very coherent intellectual vision as well.

“In many respects, he’s a classic example of that farmer-politician, like Keith Holyoake, like Massey himself, like Jim Bolger, and I think it gives them a certain relatability, if you like.

“Even if you might disagree with them, it’s hard to dislike them.”

McAloon also talks about the best time to write a memoir. Listen to the podcast to find out which textbook of biographies had the cast-iron rule that “you had to be dead”.

Newsroom co-owner Tim Murphy says former Labour leader David Shearer is top of his wishlist for politicians who haven’t already been written about.

“International aid worker and leader of big humanitarian gains for civilisation, really, in the last couple of decades… not so much his initial family upbringing, but his formation and what led him that way. He was sort of an anti-politician.”

When it comes to political works, Murphy says he wants to know “stuff that only they know”.

“I want them to take us in behind the closed doors. Nothing more unsatisfying in a political biography or memoir – and Jacinda Ardern’s was a bit like this – where… at crucial parts they say ‘caucus has always had a rule that what goes on in caucus stays in caucus and I’m not about to break it now’.

“To me, you might as well turn the page, close the chapter and move on.

“Grant Robertson’s book is really good for that – he actually tells you some things, including observations from around the Cabinet table, sitting next to Winston Peters and what Peters was kind of looking at on his laptop, and the kind of moments and motivations that Peters would spring out of his stupor, and have a go about something New Zealand First-like.

“[He] described it in a way you could relate to. I want to be taken where none of us get to see.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Transport operators are warning of a looming driver shortage in the lead-up to Christmas after the NZ Transport Agency revoked hundreds of commercial licenses earlier this month.

NZTA revoked 440 commercial driving licenses after discovering false or altered documentation that converted overseas licences to New Zealand equivalents.

Employers of the drivers have warned that the crackdown could leave a lot of trucks sitting in warehouses instead of transporting goods at the busiest time of year.

Navjot Sidhu, a transport operator who is advocating for affected drivers, said many of the drivers were of Indian origin and had been working in the United Arab Emirates before moving to New Zealand after borders reopened in 2022.

“The Indian community has been disproportionately and severely affected, as many drivers of Indian origin form the backbone of New Zealand’s transport, logistics and courier workforce,” Sidhu said.

“Long-serving, law-abiding drivers have suddenly found their livelihoods at risk.”

Sidhu said the drivers’ families had been unfairly caught up in the crackdown.

“It’s not only 440 individuals,” he said. “These are 440 families, including thousands of people with small children involved. Very soon, everyone will be on the streets.

“In addition – something the authorities probably haven’t realised yet – this means 440 less trucks taking essential supplies all around the country.

“This impending commercial drivers’ crisis would mean a lot of trucks would be sitting in garages, instead of running on roads, leading to potential supply shortages closer to Christmas season.”

Ranjit Singh is a transport operator based in Tauranga.

Singh employs four truck drivers, two of whom migrated from the UAE and faced losing their licenses.

“One already got the letter, and another may get it anytime,” Ranjit said.

“The impact of this decision by NZTA will be huge for the transport industry, for the drivers’ families and for the wider economy.

“These drivers can’t be replaced overnight. Firstly, getting commercial drivers is not easy in New Zealand. I advertised on TradeMe for one year but couldn’t find a single driver locally. That’s why we recruited from overseas.

“Secondly, training a new driver takes at least three months. This crisis suddenly came upon us out of nowhere and that, too, at the busiest time of the year. I don’t think anyone has thought through the huge impact it will cause to the wider economy.”

ACT Party MP Parmjeet Parmar met representatives of the affected drivers last weekend.

Parmar also voiced concern about the crackdown’s impact on the wider economy.

“Hundreds of experienced [heavy vehicle] Class 5 drivers being stood down just weeks before Christmas will place enormous strain on freight and supply chains,” Parmar said.

“Businesses are depending on this period to recover financially, and they cannot operate without qualified drivers.”

The Indian-origin lawmaker also weighed in on what she understood might have led to the revocation of the commercial licenses in the first place.

“After meeting with representatives of the affected drivers, it’s clear many of them acted under pressure and believed they were following the correct process,” Parmar said.

“While any misuse of documents is unacceptable, these drivers have all passed New Zealand’s own theory and practical tests, and they have demonstrated their competence on our roads,” she said.

“I have written to the minister of Transport to advocate for a solution that upholds the integrity of the licensing system while ensuring that well-qualified and competent drivers are able to keep doing their jobs.

“My hope is that we can protect the system without causing unnecessary disruption to workers, employers and the freight sector at this critical time.”

System weaknesses

Sidhu said an audit by NZTA in July uncovered 440 commercial licenses that had been acquired through conversion appeared to be based on documents the agency now deemed invalid or non-verifiable.

Most affected licences were in heavy vehicle commercial categories, he said.

Sidhu said the document in question was a Dubai-issued supporting letter, commonly provided by companies in which drivers had worked, that had been accepted by NZTA for almost two decades as part of the licence-conversion process.

“I want to stress this is not a new document that was demanded after 2022,” Sidhu said.

“Drivers coming from the UAE have routinely submitted it over the years. As such, the new lot [of drivers] that came after reopening of the borders submitted the same [document], trusting NZTA’s past approval processes,” he said.

“The issue appears to stem from a recent shift in the interpretation or verification standard of these documents, not from intentional wrongdoing by applicants,” he said.

“For 20 years, no indication was given that the document might be unacceptable.”

Onkar, who goes by his first name and runs PB07 Transport Ltd employing eight drivers, four of which came from the UAE, said authorities in the Middle East nation did not issue the type of verification letter NZTA required to approve a licence conversion.

Under current regulations, NZTA requires supporting documents to state the tonnage of vehicle a driver is qualified to drive.

“For years, NZTA routinely accepted a widely used Dubai supporting letter issued by employers as part of the official conversion process,” he said.

“Many applicants submitted this document in good faith, relying on NZTA’s long-term acceptance and established practice.

“Now that NZTA is not accepting this supporting letter, a mismatch has happened between UAE’s system and New Zealand’s evolving standards.”

Sidhu said the drivers were not deliberately engaged in fraudulent activity.

Some drivers had also been scammed by a Dubai-based supporting letter provider, which he said had added to the confusion.

“The overseas provider openly advertised that they could supply the required supporting letter for a fee, suggesting this was the standard practice,” he said.

“Lured by the impression created that this was the official letter recognised by New Zealand authorities, many drivers paid him the money and got the letter. This letter is now deemed [to be] fraudulent by NZTA.”

Ranjit said many drivers had operated heavy vehicles exceeding 40 tonnes for many years in the UAE.

“We have submitted documents from their employers and their driving schools in the UAE verifying this experience,” Ranjit said.

“After they moved here, they cleared all the requisite theory and driving tests,” he said.

“Moreover, they have been driving on our roads for one or two years now without any issues.

“The only issue is the supporting letter and [the fact that it mentions] tonnage, which has provoked the mass revocation of 440 commercial driving licenses.”

Families caught up in the crackdown

Hundreds of drivers attended a rally with their families at South Auckland’s Takanini Gurdwara last weekend.

Amritpal Singh, who drove trucks in the UAE for 15 years before relocating to New Zealand two years ago, said the revocation of his licence had hurt his family hard.

“They have taken away our family’s only source of income,” he said. “How will I feed my kids now?”

Parminder Singh said he did not have sufficient income to pay rent after now finding himself unable to drive any vehicle in New Zealand.

“We have to rely on the generosity of friends even to come here to attend this meeting,” he said.

Kiranpreet Singh said the drivers had simply followed long-accepted practice by NZTA when converting their heavy vehicle licences.

“Now, our wives and children are being penalised for no fault of theirs,” he said.

Sarfaraz Khan, a commercial law specialist who is advocating for the drivers, called for a case-by-case remediation pathway.

“We are meeting representatives of the NZTA soon to put forward the drivers’ case,” Khan said.

Jitendra Singh, who runs Haryana Driving Academy in the South Auckland suburb of Wiri, claimed the letters the drivers had been receiving from NZTA were also causing confusion.

“Some drivers have been told their Class 5 license is cancelled and they can’t drive any vehicle in New Zealand,” he said.

“They are being told to apply for overseas license conversion from scratch,” he said.

“This is problematic as, in many cases, the UAE driving license they once held has expired. So how can these drivers apply for conversion?

“In some cases, NZTA has cancelled the Class 5 license of the driver but granted him a Class 2 license. Now that driver must go through the entire process of getting a Class 3 or 4 license first, before applying for a Class 5 license.

“We need to understand from NZTA how it is determining which clause applies to which driver.”

NZTA responds

RNZ approached NZTA for comment on the drivers’ claims they had genuinely followed an NZTA-approved process that had been unchanged for decades.

RNZ also asked NZTA for comment on the drivers’ claims the issue stemmed from system gaps in the application of policy in licence conversions.

“[The agency] is taking action on these licences following the discovery that false or altered documentation was provided during the process of converting these overseas licences to New Zealand heavy vehicle licences,” an NZTA spokesperson said in a statement.

“Irregularities in the documents provided during the conversion process were discovered during an audit undertaken by NZTA in July 2025. This action follows a thorough investigation of issues identified during the audit,” the spokesperson said.

Questioned whether he was worried about potential driver shortages ahead of Christmas, Transport Minister Chris Bishop referred RNZ to NZTA, citing it as an operational matter for the agency.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A person has been injured when a car crashed into a house in Hamilton.

Emergency services were called to Wellington Street in Hamilton East about 6.40pm on Friday.

Police said the car rolled into a house door.

The driver has been treated for moderate injuries.

No one inside the home was hurt.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

It is hoped rams’ brains may help researchers better understand the long term consequences of repeated head blows on sports people.

Rams, which frequently butt heads, will provide Auckland University’s centre for brain research a model population to study.

Sheep have been used for brain research before, but not like this.

Repeated blows to the head often experienced in contact sport have been found to increase the risk of brain diseases, like CTE and forms of dementia.

Auckland University senior research fellow Dr Helen Murray told Checkpoint the idea was first pitched to her at Fieldays, making it “quite the Kiwi” origin story.

“Some asked me, have you had a look at sheep before, because they usually do quite a lot of head butting.”

It is sheep’s brain structure that makes them ideal when trying to mirror the human brain.

“One of the great reasons that we use sheep for modelling a few different degenerative brain diseases is because they have this wonderful, folded brain structure like we do as humans,” Dr Murray said.

“That’s really important when we’re studying brain injury because the physics of how that injury actually impacts the brain is quite similar in sheep as it is to humans.”

Murray said the study is in its early days, with researchers currently monitoring the variability and frequency of ram’s head butts.

“We’re going to be monitoring them with video cameras and some collars… then we can use that to then plot a bigger study that we’ll look at longer term, what’s happening in their brain.”

While sheep have much thicker skulls than humans, making them more protected from head knocks, their brains are situated similarly to humans.

“We would probably end up with a skull fracture if humans tried to do this, but the sheep are still the same in the sense that their brain is floating around inside their skull, just like a human. So, the force that’s going through the brain and those impacts is pretty similar.”

Murray said the main challenge researchers are facing when it comes to degenerative brain disease is not being able to establish at what point changes are occurring in the brain.

“Most of the work that we’re doing right now is looking at the brains of people after they’ve passed away. We’re trying to understand what is changing when someone’s had these repetitive head impacts and how is that leading to an increased risk of degenerative brain disease – but that’s at the end of someone’s life.”

“If we want to understand the timeline of those changes with these rams, they’ll give us an idea of at what point are things going wrong, and when can we intervene, and when can we potentially pick up that there’s changes happening.”

The main goal of the research is to be able to establish early on whether someone is suffering from a degenerative brain disease.

“What the families of our brain donors tell us is that they wish they had a diagnosis, something they could have measured to say, look, my loved one is actually going through something that’s a progressive brain disease,” Murray said.

“We’re trying to what we call biomarkers, something that we can measure something from, say the blood or an MRI scan that will help us determine that what’s going on is actually potentially going to get worse over time. Hopefully the rams are going to give us an idea of what those biomarkers might be.”

Murray said that it was currently hard to know what sort of degenerative diseases sheep were developing due to their short lives in farming situations.

However, researchers have previously concluded that sheep do have the same brain structure to develop Alzheimer’s disease if you let them live long enough.

“So now the question is, is that accelerated in the rams? Which is what we think is happening.”

This study is still in its early stages but once researchers have finished monitoring how frequently head butting is happening among the rams, the next step will be to take blood samples and put them in the MRI to examine what the effects have been.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Air NZ cabin crew will strike on next month after months of negotiations failed to secure a fair deal on pay and conditions.

Around 1250 E tū cabin crew across the international, domestic, and regional fleets will stop work for 24 hours on Monday, 8 December.

Unions have been negotiating with Air NZ since April.

Crew are unhappy with Air NZ’s latest offer, saying it does not reflect the responsibilities, pressures, or fatigue risks that come with their work.

An anonymous crew member said Air NZ was expecting more from crew without addressing core safety and fatigue concerns.

“Air New Zealand is prioritising efficiency over crew wellbeing,” they said.

“They’re asking us to be more productive when our rosters are already stretched, and that increases the risk of fatigue. Fatigue in aviation is dangerous, affecting the safety of both crew and passengers.”

“We’re also being asked to trade away hard-won conditions just to get an inflation-level pay rise, and that isn’t a fair deal.”

The staffer said the overall mood across the fleet has been steadily deteriorating.

“Right now, morale is low. Crew feel disconnected from management, undervalued, and ignored. The company talks about people being its biggest asset, but the offer on the table doesn’t show that.”

Air NZ said it received formal strike notices from E tū and FAANZ on behalf of around 80 percent of its cabin crew.

Air NZ chief executive officer Nikhil Ravishankar said strike action on regional fleets is planned to take place at various times between 5am and 11pm on 8 December. For domestic and international fleets, strike action would take place at various times between 12.01am and 11.59pm on 8 December.

“We deeply value our cabin crew and acknowledge the important role they play in our airline,” Ravishankar said.

“They deliver the experience our customers love and represent the warmth and professionalism of Air New Zealand. We remain committed to working with the unions to reach a fair and sustainable outcome that recognises the valuable contribution of our crew while balancing the affordability of travel for our customers and the challenging economic environment we’re operating in.”

Ravishankar said Air NZ is doing everything it can to minimise disruption for customers.

“If the strike goes ahead, the airline is committed to supporting any impacted customers. This will include rebooking, and may include providing meals and refreshments and accommodation if required. We will do everything we can to get customers to their destination as soon as possible while keeping them informed throughout their journey.”

Affected travellers would be contacted directly as soon as more information becomes available, Ravishankar said.

“We remain hopeful that we can reach a fair agreement.”

E tū said negotiations will continue next week.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man has been arrested and charged after a baby was injured in Hutt Valley.

Police were called to a home in Avalon on Thursday morning after a report of a disorder.

Upon arrival, officers were made aware of a baby who had allegedly been intentionally injured.

The baby was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene. He is due to reappear in Hutt Valley District Court on 1 December, charged with four counts of injures with intent to injure.

“We would like to thank members of the community who are supporting the family and who have come forward with information already,” Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Wescott said.

Police would like to speak with anyone else who may have information in relation to the incident or witnessed any unusual behaviour.

Hutt Valley Area Commander Inspector Wade Jennings would like to remind the community that it’s not just whānau who are living in the house that can report concerns of harm to tamariki, but anyone who suspects or witnesses behaviours that are concerning.

Inspector Jennings encourages those who have thought about reporting, and haven’t, to do so. This can be done anonymously through to Oranga Tamariki or to police.

Information can be provided through 105, please reference file number: 251120/0124. You can also make a report anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fire and Emergency has extended the consultation period for its proposed restructure by two weeks, delaying its final decision.

The restructure aims to cut about 140 non-firefighter jobs and affect about 700 roles.

Unions protested that the original 26 November feedback cutoff was too short, so FENZ now says its staff have till 10 December.

Despite saying people needed certainty going into Christmas, its goal of making final decisions by 17 December has now been pushed out to 29 January.

“The feedback we have received so far has been detailed and thoughtful, and we want to make sure that everyone who wants to have a say is able to,” FENZ chief executive Kerry Gregory said. “These proposed changes are about delivering a modern and responsive emergency service.”

Fears have been raised that jobs slated to go in the wildfire and fire risk reduction teams would make FENZ’s talent pool shallower not deeper.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A union is calling for the government to take on the “large and unforeseen costs” of removing asbestos-tainted sand found in schools and early childhood centres.

Schools and health authorities have been scrambling, and students at about 40 schools were forced to stay home earlier this week, after asbestos was found in coloured play sand.

The product has been sold in both New Zealand and Australia, and subject to safety recalls.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education told schools they needed to cover the costs of safely removing the asbestos and cleaning contaminated areas.

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Ripeka Lessels said told Education Minister Erica Stanford the clean-up could be expensive and potentially financially cripple schools.

“Not only is this a question of budget deficits, more importantly, it may divert funding away from essential supports to learning,” Lessels said.

She also called for “swift and decisive intervention”, including a formal investigation into how asbestos-tainted sand had entered the country.

Disgraceful

May Road School principal Lynda Stuart, who is also a member of the principals’ council of NZEI Te Riu Roa, said it was “disgraceful” schools and early childhood centres should have to pay for the removal sand and decontamination.

Coloured sand at May Road School had tested positive for asbestos, forcing students to work from home from Tuesday, Stuart said.

Stuart told Midday Report the school would likely spend $30,000 when the costs of testing, removal and decontamination were all added up.

“It’s a big cost for a small school, where actually our operations grants don’t even meet the cost of inflation,” she said. “We’re trying to ensure that every single dollar we spend is spent in the best interests of our children.”

The unforeseen cost was the last thing that the school needed, when it was already dealing with temporarily closing 15 classrooms, Stuart said.

“The ministry should pay for remediation. Instead, they are leaving us in the lurch and making us deal with it all.

“Instead of telling us how and what to teach, they should be helping us in this situation.”

RNZ has approached the office of the Education Minister for comment.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Flipping burgers, stacking shelves and folding clothes, the work that students used to dread is now becoming a pipe dream for many.

Students are applying for record numbers of jobs, but there just is not enough work to go around.

With student allowance and loan payments wrapping up for the year, some are unsure how they will survive over the next few months while others are being forced to move home or even drop out of university in order to stay afloat.

As the final week of exams wrapped up at the University of Auckland, a fun filled summer break was not forefront of mind for some, but instead how they would get by over the next four months.

Namrata, who has two years of her undergraduate study and a masters degree ahead of her, is yet to secure summer work.

She has been consistently looking for a job since last year.

“I’m looking for a job and it’s so difficult…I’ve been looking since last year [for] any, any [job], seriously just working in the mall or just being just a part time salesperson, just anything.”

She said for her and many others she knew with little work experience, competition made it incredibly hard to find a job.

Like Namrata, Sara Szulakowski has also struggled to find work despite searching for the past few months.

Szulakowski has now decided to move back home to the Bay of Plenty, where she hopes it’ll be easier to find something.

But if she had it her way, she wouldn’t be moving at all.

“I don’t have a job, I’ve been looking for one but there’s too much competition in the market, you can’t out compete… I have some work experience, a couple [of] years, but not enough to compete with actual adults so I’m going back home.”

After a grueling job hunt in Auckland Erelyn Lunjevich has also decided to move back home to Waipu, where she has managed to find work.

“It was really hard, because I was looking for one for since the start of the year and I’ve been applying but all of these casual jobs have over hundreds of applicants and it’s been actually insane.

“I would like to stay in the city because I think we’re about to find a flat, but it’s just not looking like it because there’s no full time work down here for students.”

‘It’s depressing’: 100 applications and no interview

Down in the country’s vibrant capital, Lexa Kathro, a 23-year-old student, has been looking for part time and summer work for the past six months with no luck.

She said she has applied for more than 100 jobs without securing a single interview.

Now she is having to put her degree on hold and move back home to Christchurch.

“I can’t afford to live in Wellington off 60 bucks a week for groceries and every other life thing after my rent is paid so I have to leave.

“I wish the decision had been mine and I had not been forced into it by the lack of any kind of job market here.”

After giving up a hairdressing qualification due to the lack of available apprenticeships, Kathro took on an Anthropology degree.

But with dwindling job opportunities in that field she began training to become a speech therapist.

Now that dream has been crushed, too.

“It’s depressing but at this point I just want to be able to regularly afford vegetables and be able to get the break pads on my car changed because they haven’t in years because I haven’t been able to afford any of this.

“I just want to regularly have food on the table and not be worried about where it is coming from.”

Applications at an all time high

Student Job Search said between January and November of 2025 it received more than 360,000 applications, a record number, and a 21.2 percent increase from 2024.

Over the past five years applications shot up by 52 percent.

RNZ was not able to ascertain how many of these applications were successful, but the sheer number comes as no surprise to Lexa Kathro.

“We’re going to end up with an entire generation of people who haven’t been able to do what they need to do with their lives, we’re going to have people that haven’t found their niche or their specialty and we’re going to end up with a massive skill gap.”

Many of the major employers that have traditionally taken on large numbers of students now do not have enough jobs to go around.

Foodstuffs, which operates New World and Pak n Save, said in the South Island, applications for summer and part time jobs have risen 117 percent year on year, with nearly 55,000 applications received between August 2024 and August 2025, compared to just over 14,300 applications in the previous year.

A similar trend was also seen in the North Island.

McDonald’s spokesperson Simon Kenny told Checkpoint the restaurant had also seen a significant increase in applications over the past few years, while turnover rate had dropped significantly.

While McDonald’s employs 11,000 people nationwide, the restaurant has a further 10,000 applications in its hiring platform.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

All power and muscle, their spear-shaped snouts piercing the water as they leap and writhe above the waves, for the serious angler, there is no greater thrill than hooking a mighty marlin.

But recreational fishers fear this could become a thing of the past as the government looks to allow the fish to be sold as by-catch by commercial fishing companies.

Fisheries New Zealand has proposed a package of 19 regulation changes, which include dropping protections for marlin and 19 reef-fish species outside the Quota Management System.

Currently, if the species are caught by commercial fishers, they must be returned to the water dead or alive.

But the proposal aims to change this. If marlin or the 19 species of reef fish are caught as by-catch, they will be able to be kept and sold.

Advocates say it’s putting a target on Aotearoa’s vulnerable and slow-growing species and will further diminish an already dwindling public fishery.

Fisheries NZ said it will reduce waste but LegaSea’s Sam Woolford is worried marlin will be targeted anyway, like broadbill swordfish bycatch after they were approved for sale in 1991.

“We’ve seen this pattern before, they were allowed to sell broadbill if they were brought on-board dead,” Woolford said.

“Because they suddenly started targeting, although the amount of broadbill being landed grew, they realised that the only way to manage the growth in that area was to introduce it into the Quota Management System.”

Woolford said the marlin could be a repeat of what happened with broadbill.

“We’ve seen this happen with other species, so we haven’t been given any confidence that this isn’t going to happen with marlin,” he said.

“If you monetise anything then suddenly there’s a return on investment there’s an economic opportunity, so there will be people out there that will try to leverage that.”

It’s one of 20 species that would be able to be kept and sold on, as well as reef fish such as red moki and boarfish, if they’re caught by trawl, longline and Danish seine fishers.

Another proposal is to increase the length of nets that commercial fishers can use from 3000 to 4500 meters in open waters.

This isn’t the first time the government has tried to drop protections for marlin. In 2013, the same idea was proposed, but it was scrapped after public backlash.

“If the fishing industry can’t make money out of what’s currently being harvested, it seems concerning that we would actually open up new species for exploitation,” Woodford said.

“Surely we’ve got to be able to work within the current system to make money, rather than move from fishery to fishery, because the current systems are failing.”

Bay of Islands local Andrew Johnson said the proposed changes will hit Northland massively.

“For 100 years in the Bay of Islands people have been fishing for marlin and chartering boats, buying boats, buying fishing equipment,” he said.

“[They’ve] been spending money in our local communities, tackle stores, motels, hotels and our clubs, to come here and catch marlin.”

Johnson is on the committee of the Bay of Island’s Swordfish Club. He said fishing for marlin is a big part of Northland’s tourism industry.

“That’s the value we get out of fishing, is when we go out there and catch a marlin. If we can’t do that, our clubs start to die, our communities start to die, not as many people go out and by fishing boats, lures, charter boats and buy fuel.”

Andrew Johnson is also worried about the identity of the north.

“When you get over the Brynderwyn’s and you’re heading north, next time you do that, you look at how many businesses have a marlin in their logo.”

“It’s everywhere, our lines company Top Energy’s logo is a marlin. This ingrained culture of marlin fishing and game fishing is part of the Northland identity.”

Sydney Curtis, who runs a fish tagging programme across Aotearoa said the proposal is a backwards step for the population of marlin.

She said 50 percent of marlin are currently tagged and released.

“It’s moving out of an overfished state, but it’s assessed as being overfished. But the level of fishing that’s occurring right now is not contributing.”

Fisheries NZ is inviting the public for feedback on the proposal, which they can do until 28 November.

Emma Taylor, the Director Fisheries Management for Fisheries New Zealand told Checkpoint they are not proposing to bring marlin or any other species into the Quota Management System.

“The proposal to allow commercial fishers to retain and sell marlin relates only to bycatch of dead marlin, and it is not intended to incentivise or create a target fishery.”

She said if the proposal is approved, they are not expecting an increase in dead marlin.

“The proposal only relates to vessels that are monitored either by a fisheries observer or onboard cameras and subject to electronic catch reporting.”

“If approved, Fisheries New Zealand would monitor commercial fishing activity and marlin catch through our systems. If significant changes were identified, further management action would be considered.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Details of the funeral for the three children who died in a house fire in the Manawatū town of Sanson have been released.

August, Hugo and Goldie died last weekend, in what was being treated as a murder-suicide.

Their father, Dean Field, also died.

The service for the children would be a day to celebrate their lives and attendees were asked to wear bright colours.

In a funeral notice released by Beauchamp Funeral Home in Palmerston North a service for the children was announced for next Tuesday at 10.30am.

The funeral home would be livestreaming the service for those who could not attend in person.

The notice said the siblings were “beautiful angels taken too soon”, who would be sadly missed by their mother and grandparents.

“United with big sister Iris in heaven. Loved beyond measure.”

Mother speaks out for first time

In a statement released on Friday morning, Chelsey Field said her children were her world and she doesn’t want their deaths to be the most defining factor of their lives.

“My babies were my absolute world. I have been a stay-at-home Mum since I had Hugo in 2020. Before that, I was an early childhood teacher and August came to work with me every day, and I am so glad I got this time with my darlings.

“I enjoyed so much quality time with them; trips to gymnastics, music groups, playgroups and play dates with friends. We had so much fun together and many holidays away. I will forever cherish all these special memories.”

She said she would cherish the special memories she had with her children.

Her dog also died in the blaze and the ashes of her stillborn daughter, Iris, were lost with the destruction of her house.

“Not only did I lose my children and my home that day, but I also lost our beloved miniature schnauzer, Marlo, who would have been six this Christmas. She was the children’s best friend, and one of Goldie’s first words was dog,” she said.

“This incident has left me heartbroken and devastated. My children did not deserve this,” she said.

Field acknowledged the first responders to the fire and those who had helped her since saying their support had been greatly appreciated.

She also extended thanks to all the New Zealanders who had helped her during such a difficult time.

“I have felt the aroha of those around me, in my community and around the country. This support has given me the strength to carry on in honour of the short lives my children lived and the impressions they left on so many people’s hearts.”

Field went on to pay tribute to each of her three children.

She said her eldest, August, was “a happy, kind and outgoing boy” who loved sport, particularly football.

August would have turned eight next Thursday, she said, and “was looking forward to his birthday party at Timezone with five of his best friends”.

“He loved going to the stock cars, fishing at the beach and playing with his best friend Levi.”

August loved his siblings and would get his baby sister Goldie out of bed in the morning and give her a bottle, she said.

He and his brother Hugo “were always glued at the hip, either wrestling or playing outside making huts, digging in the sandpit or playing on the trampoline”.

Hugo had started school at the beginning of term two and “was taking it in his stride”, she said.

“He was so kind, thoughtful and considerate, he would always come and tell me ‘Mum I got Goldie’s nappy and wipes ready for you, Mum I put your bag by the car for you’.”

He had begun to read confidently, was learning to count and loved writing stories, she said.

Hugo loved dinosaurs and Hot Wheels, as well as going to the beach, fishing and riding his motorbike.

He also loved his little sister and was “a doting big brother to Goldie”.

Chelsey Field described Goldie as “my special little girl I had waited so long for”.

“She had just gotten her top two teeth and was pulling herself up to standing and attempting to coast around furniture.

“Her first words were ‘Hi’ and ‘dog’, she even said ‘Marlo’ the dog’s name before she said Mum.”

Goldie loved going to a weekly music group and dancing.

“She loved to have big snuggly cuddles and her brothers were the best things in the world to her.”

She went to the boys’ school each morning and afternoon and “had a massive fan club with the younger girls there”, Field said.

A Givealittle page set up by friends of Field has raised more than $348,000 on Friday morning.

On Tuesday, police said a forensic examination of the scene was ongoing, and it would take some time to get the results once that examination had been completed.

“A team of Police staff are working hard to get answers for the family, but I want to stress to the public that we will not have these answers immediately,” police said.

“We would like to hear from anybody who may have information that could assist with our investigation.”

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357.
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202.
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666.
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz.
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds.
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254.
• Healthline: 0800 611 116.
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155.
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463.

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Family Violence

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

There are two new cases of measles, bringing the national total to 21.

Health New Zealand said the two new cases were in Nelson and were closely linked to an existing case there.

Of the 21 cases, 18 were no longer infectious.

Health NZ had identified some new locations of interest in Nelson, Waikato and Auckland.

Nelson

• Sunday 16 November – Richmond Mall (12.50pm to 1.50pm)
• Sunday 16 November – Farmers Richmond, Richmond Mall (12.55pm to 2.10pm)
• Sunday 16 November – BP Connect Richmond (1.15pm to 2.15pm)

Waikato

• Saturday 15 November – Woolworths Pokeno (9am to 10.15am)

Auckland

• Saturday 15 November – BP Connect Māngere (5.30pm to 6.50pm)
• Saturday 15 November -Airport Takeaways, 741 Massey Road, Māngere (6:00pm to 7:15pm)
• Sunday 16 November – Stampede Restaurant and Bar, Papakura (4.45pm to 8.45pm)
• Monday 17 November – Unichem Clevedon Road Pharmacy (2.45pm to 4pm)

Earlier this week Health NZ said another 10,000 people had been vaccinated against measles, after an immunisation drive earlier this month saw an extra 15,000 people vaccinated.

But, experts are warning more coverage is needed to help those with immune deficiencies.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fire and Emergency says it received 17 callouts during the firefighters’ union’s strike today.

Members of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) were striking on Friday for an hour.

Only eight of the callouts were in areas impacted by the strike.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) said four were callouts to fire alarms, two were vehicle crashes, with the remaining two a hedge fire and a small fire in a rubbish truck.

It said volunteers responded as normal to incidents within their brigade areas.

“Thank you to our more than 11,000 volunteers across the country, and their employers for supporting them to respond over today’s strike hour,” Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said.

“I would also like to thank our Operational Commanders and Communication Centre Managers, who contributed to the response.”

Stiffler said FENZ was disappointed that the NZPFU had issued further strike notices for one-hour strikes at 12pm on 28 November and 5 December.

“I urge the NZPFU to withdraw these latest strike notices and not issue any more, so we can get back around the bargaining table while we wait for our application for facilitation to be considered,” Stiffler said.

“Fire and Emergency ‘s goal is, and has always been, to reach a fair, sustainable, and reasonable settlement with the NZPFU. We are bargaining in good faith and doing everything we can to achieve an agreement without disrupting the services communities rely on,” she said.

It said FENZ had also been investing in replacing its fleet, with 317 trucks replaced since 2017 and another 78 on order.

The Fire Service and NZPFU have been negotiating a collective employment agreement for career firefighters since July 2024.

FENZ said it had improved its original offer of a 5.1 percent pay increase over the next three years, as well as increases to some allowances.

It said for the 2025/26 financial year FENZ’s operating budget was $857.9 million. Of that operating budget, it said 59 percent would be spent directly on the frontline, while another 32 percent would be spent on frontline enablers.

The NZPFU said when it met with FENZ in bargaining this week it put up two different proposals for discussion. It said FENZ rejected both and did not move at all from their position.

“That is not negotiating. That is disrespectful to our members and the work and service they provide,” it said.

It said FENZ filed an urgent application in October and last week the hearing was adjourned until 25 November, 2025.

“The NZPFU is opposing the application for facilitation as that will only serve to delay any hope of proper negotiations and settlement.”

“We do not need facilitation. We need FENZ to genuinely bargain.”

It said FENZ rolled that dice on risk every day “with aging and failing fleet and equipment and insufficient staffing which results in fire trucks responding under-crewed, or not responding due to lack of staff”.

FENZ rejected that.

“Our primary focus is on keeping the community safe and responding to all calls for help. Where we have people away with illnesses, training or leave, we utilise overtime, callbacks and move people and resources as needed to ensure we prioritise community safety. Our stations support each other to respond to incidents, or to provide cover for each other, depending on the incident type and location.”

It said it also applied for facilitation under urgency with the Employment Relations Authority because of the protracted nature of bargaining and the impact on public safety from prolonged and repeated strike action.

“If granted, facilitation would assist in trying to progress bargaining to conclusion, which is in the best interests of the New Zealand public and our people.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A person has been arrested in Katikati after the search for them sent multiple schools and a medical centre into lockdown.

Police told the Katikati Medical Centre, local schools and a preschool to go into lockdown while enquiries were conducted, police said in a statement.

“Armed Police were present as a precaution and to ensure public safety,” it said.

Police confirmed the lockdowns have now been lifted.

Katikati College posted on its social media page shortly after 3pm that they’ve been allowed to release students from the Dave Hume Pool backfield entrance.

“Please do not enter the school site from Beach Road,” the post said.

Katikati Primary School also posted on social media that police have allowed them to release children from the school.

Police said the person arrested will be facing charges.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A former senior leader at police has quit his role at the Civil Aviation Authority following the police watchdog’s scathing report into how police handled allegations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

RNZ earlier revealed the identities of some of the senior leaders referred to in the IPCA’s 135-page report.

Among them is Chris de Wattignar, referred to in the IPCA’s report as Deputy Commissioner PLC, who is now the Upper North head of aviation security at the Civil Aviation Authority.

After the report was released he went on leave.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

On Friday, a spokesperson told RNZ de Wattignar “has decided that it is best for him to step away from his role to minimise any reputational impact on CAA and the safety and security services we provide”.

“As a result of his resignation, Chris is no longer employed by the Civil Aviation Authority.

“As an employer, we are bound by legal and privacy obligations and are unable to comment further on individual employment matters.”

The CAA would now begin the process of appointing a replacement as soon as possible.

“Chris and the Civil Aviation Authority will not be making any further comment on this matter.”

The IPCA said de Wattignar had an obligation to exercise independent judgement and take any necessary action to ensure senior officers were acting in an appropriate way.

“Despite his Director of Integrity and Conduct raising her concerns with him in the clearest language, he clearly failed to fulfil that obligation.”

The IPCA acknowledged his responsibility was “to a degree mitigated” by the fact he sought advice from former Commissioner Andrew Coster.

“His failing lies in the fact that he simply relied upon Commissioner Coster’s and Deputy Commissioner [Tania] Kura’s assurances without further enquiry of his own, despite the continued expressions of concern from Officer M.”

De Wattignar’s perception that once he became aware of concerns he lacked the necessary authority was proof of the “inadequate status and independence of Police Integrity and Conduct”.

“While we do not doubt there was significantly more he could have done, the status of Integrity and Conduct within Police no doubt needs reframing.”

RNZ earlier asked a spokesperson for Associate Minister of Transport James Meager for comment on de Wattignar’s suitability for his role at the CAA.

The spokesperson said it was a question for the CAA to respond to.

“It’s an operational employment matter so would be inappropriate for Minister Meager to comment.”

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