Source: Radio New Zealand

A “hero driver” is being praised for helping return two dogs taken in a stolen ute in Central Otago.

Police said the man was travelling along State Highway 79 towards Fairlie on Monday morning when he saw a man on a bike with two dogs.

The man stopped and offered to drive the rider and the dogs to Fairlie.

But along the way, he started to become concerned that the dogs could be those that had been taken in the stolen ute from a Ōmakau address on Saturday.

Sergeant Cath Hone said the man continued to Fairlie but stopped outside a vet clinic where he called police.

“The male got out, but our hero driver kept the dogs – Jock and Nala.

“Constable Brad Morton immediately dispatched from Lake Tekapo, along with a Timaru unit, and the male was located and arrested.”

Hone said police wanted to thank the man for his actions and keeping the dogs safe.

“We also want to thank Aorangi Veterinary Services in Fairlie for promptly jumping into action when they got to call from police to assist with the dogs – allowing officers to focus on locating the male.”

A 35-year-old man has been remanded in custody and will reappear in Timaru District Court on 13 January.

He is facing charges related to driving, burglary and theft of stock.

The owners of Jock and Nala say they are “beyond thrilled” to have their dogs back.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A body believed to be missing tramper Connor Purvis has been found near Lake Ōhau.

Search and rescue teams looking for the 20-year-old in the South Island’s Mackenzie Basin said a body was found on the southern side of Mt Huxley about 9am on Wednesday.

Police said while formal identification was yet to take place, it was believed to be the body of Purvis.

Purvis had been missing since he went to climb the mountain on 30 December.

Otago Coastal Search and Rescue Coordinator Sergeant Matt Sheat said the search had been “hard work” in a remote, rugged and high-risk environment.

“Police would like to thank all those who assisted in the search efforts, including multiple local volunteers and search teams such as the Ōmarama volunteer fire brigade, also members of the public who reported information to help us understand our search area.”

It had been a long week for all involved, Sheat said.

“This has been a true team effort and the good people of Ōmarama and Mackenzie have been providing incredible support to the search teams.”

On Tuesday, police had said new radar technology was being used to help find Purvis.

Reco technology was used to locate people lost in the outdoors, detecting items such as head-torches and cellphones.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

One person is seriously injured after a two-vehicle crash in Auckland’s Dairy Flat.

Emergency services are at the scene on the rural Pine Valley Road.

St John said it was notified of the crash just before 1pm.

One patient has been transported to Auckland City Hospital in a serious condition.

Police said Pine Valley Road would be closed while they worked at the scene.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Traffic of up to 5 kilometres built up on Auckland’s Northern Motorway as police closed the highway over a “serious incident”.

Officers shut State Highway 1 northbound at Greville Road in Albany about 10.50am on Wednesday.

It has since reopened.

At the time, police and St John said they were responding to a serious incident.

Motorists were asked to delay their journey or use diversions put in place.

Just before 1pm, police said the incident had been resolved and the motorway was reopening.

“Police would like to thank motorists for their understanding while the situation was resolved.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

“This storm in a T-shirt” is how a climate activist who tried to pay a court fine using a hand-drawn $50 note has described being trespassed for wearing a shirt saying ‘It’s a Climate Emergency’.

Bruce Mahalski was convicted and discharged in December for trespassing at the Dunedin Airport after wearing the shirt and holding a protest sign.

The offender levy is paid by any person or company sentenced in the District or High Court.

But Mahalski objected to paying the fee, saying it implied he committed an antisocial crime when his motives were selfless.

“It is a climate emergency and there’s nothing controversial about that,” Mahalski said.

On Wednesday morning, he arrived at Dunedin District Court with his hand-drawn $50 note, which he did over the weekend, depicting Cabinet minister Shane Jones instead of Ernest Rutherford, a vulture instead of a kōkako and the Beehive instead of a marae.

When court staff questioned what he wanted them to do with it after he presented the note, Mahalski told them they could auction it off and donate the proceeds to victims of violent crimes.

They refused, and another climate activist stepped in to buy the note, covering the fee.

Mahalski said this all started with a collaborative art project where he would go to different places wearing the T-shirt and holding a tiny sign to photograph.

They had been to Christchurch Airport with no issues, but he said it went downhill when he was standing alone, with his sign, as people arrived off the new Jetstar Gold Coast flight at Dunedin Airport last year.

He had gone to the information desk to check he could be there and was told that was okay, but security staff asked him to leave. They had called the police and he had been trespassed when he asked to take photos first, he said.

Another trip to Christchurch Airport had been uneventful, but when he returned to Dunedin Airport, he was trespassed.

The airport was owned by the government and Dunedin City Council, both of whom had declared a climate emergency, he said.

“This storm in a T-shirt. I just can’t believe we’re standing here talking about it,” Mahalski said.

“It’s just absolutely ridiculous that we’re still talking about this stuff when the government in 2018 – ‘It’s a climate emergency, we’re going to do something. We’re going to reduce emissions. Here’s an emissions trading scheme, we’re going to put all of these mechanisms in place,’ and suddenly, bang – it’s all gone. Forget about it. Never happened.”

It was not the first time he had returned an unorthodox offender fee.

“Last time, I took the $50 note for my offender levy into the court in a bag of coal.”

He was inspired by American artist J.S.G. Boggs, who was charged with counterfeiting after hand-drawing bank notes and using them.

The hand-drawn note would now be auctioned off on TradeMe, with half the proceeds going to victims of violent crime and the other half to the climate movement. He hoped it would raise about $1000.

As to whether he would return to Dunedin Airport, he did not plan to but expected other activists would.

The government was contacted for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

“This storm in a T-shirt” is how a climate activist who tried to pay a court fine using a hand-drawn $50 note has described being trespassed for wearing a shirt saying ‘It’s a Climate Emergency’.

Bruce Mahalski was convicted and discharged in December for trespassing at the Dunedin Airport after wearing the shirt and holding a protest sign.

The offender levy is paid by any person or company sentenced in the District or High Court.

But Mahalski objected to paying the fee, saying it implied he committed an antisocial crime when his motives were selfless.

“It is a climate emergency and there’s nothing controversial about that,” Mahalski said.

On Wednesday morning, he arrived at Dunedin District Court with his hand-drawn $50 note, which he did over the weekend, depicting Cabinet minister Shane Jones instead of Ernest Rutherford, a vulture instead of a kōkako and the Beehive instead of a marae.

When court staff questioned what he wanted them to do with it after he presented the note, Mahalski told them they could auction it off and donate the proceeds to victims of violent crimes.

They refused, and another climate activist stepped in to buy the note, covering the fee.

Mahalski said this all started with a collaborative art project where he would go to different places wearing the T-shirt and holding a tiny sign to photograph.

They had been to Christchurch Airport with no issues, but he said it went downhill when he was standing alone, with his sign, as people arrived off the new Jetstar Gold Coast flight at Dunedin Airport last year.

He had gone to the information desk to check he could be there and was told that was okay, but security staff asked him to leave. They had called the police and he had been trespassed when he asked to take photos first, he said.

Another trip to Christchurch Airport had been uneventful, but when he returned to Dunedin Airport, he was trespassed.

The airport was owned by the government and Dunedin City Council, both of whom had declared a climate emergency, he said.

“This storm in a T-shirt. I just can’t believe we’re standing here talking about it,” Mahalski said.

“It’s just absolutely ridiculous that we’re still talking about this stuff when the government in 2018 – ‘It’s a climate emergency, we’re going to do something. We’re going to reduce emissions. Here’s an emissions trading scheme, we’re going to put all of these mechanisms in place,’ and suddenly, bang – it’s all gone. Forget about it. Never happened.”

It was not the first time he had returned an unorthodox offender fee.

“Last time, I took the $50 note for my offender levy into the court in a bag of coal.”

He was inspired by American artist J.S.G. Boggs, who was charged with counterfeiting after hand-drawing bank notes and using them.

The hand-drawn note would now be auctioned off on TradeMe, with half the proceeds going to victims of violent crime and the other half to the climate movement. He hoped it would raise about $1000.

As to whether he would return to Dunedin Airport, he did not plan to but expected other activists would.

The government was contacted for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

People whose GPs no longer use Manage My Health may still have had their historical data hacked.

Hackers are threatening to release 400,000 files from 120,000 patients, if the health portal does not pay a US$60,000 (NZ$103,000) ransom.

Manage My Health has begun telling general practices whether their patients have been affected, and it is working on telling individual patients via a Privacy Act notification.

A number of people have told RNZ their GP had previously switched from Manage My Health to another platform, but they can still log in to Manage My Health and see their information there.

Manage My Health chief executive Vino Ramayah confirmed the company holds on to records unless a patient cancels their account.

It was up to patients to cancel their account, not their GP, he said.

“When… a practice leaves Manage My Health, the patients have a choice to continue to use Manage My Health or they can close the application, in which case we will delete the data,” he said.

“It’s essentially patient data – we need their consent because we’ll be wiping out a lot of their historical data, so that is why it is stored.”

People can use the platform privately – they do not need to use it through their GP, he said.

Ramayah said people should have “a level of personal diligence” with their Manage My Health accounts. Users should change their passwords regularly, and use two-factor authentication, he said.

“I would encourage everyone to consider security as a very key part of your thinking, especially when you put sensitive information in an application, irrespective of whether it’s Manage My Health or… any other healthcare app.”

How long should medical records be kept for?

The privacy commissioner’s website said health agencies should not keep medical information for any longer than they have a lawful purpose for using it.

“The Health (Retention of Health Information) Regulations 1996 say that health agencies must keep any health records they hold for a patient for 10 years from the last time they provided services to that patient.

“However, this requirement doesn’t apply if the health agency has transferred the files to a new healthcare provider or if they have given the complete file to the patient (or, if the patient has died, to the patient’s executor).”

Informing affected patients, GPs

Manage My Health said on Tuesday it was beginning to tell GPs whether their patients were caught up in the breach.

It said affected GPs could log in to a portal to see which patients had their data stolen and what records were taken.

It would also inform practices that no longer use Manage My Health, and it was working on notifying affected patients.

“The Privacy Act requires individuals to be notified when their information has been accessed in an unauthorised way,” it said.

“[Manage My Health] is taking on this responsibility on behalf of the practices, to which the information is being provided so that practices can provide support after individuals have been notified.

“Privacy Act notifications will go to practices through Manage My Health, together with details of how more information and support can be accessed.”

Manage My Health would also establish an 0800 helpline for impacted patients, it 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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

August, Goldie and Hugo Field died last year. Photo: Supplied

A Sanson cafe owner says a memorial to the children of the Field family is a chance to let mother Chelsey Field know “her little ones’ lives mattered”.

August, Hugo and Goldie Field died late last year, in what is being treated as a murder-suicide. Their father, Dean Field also died.

The children’s mum, Chelsey Field, unveiled a plaque installed in front of a colourful picket fence in the playground at Viv’s Kitchen. Photo: Supplied

Emergency services were called to a fire at the family’s home on 15 November.

On Tuesday, Chelsey Field unveiled a plaque installed in front of a colourful picket fence which encircled a fairy garden in the playground at Viv’s Kitchen on the main road of the small Manawatū town.

In a statement, Field said the cafe was a local destination for her family and the support she had received from the community meant a lot.

“I am so thankful to those who have dropped off ornaments or painted rocks to add. It touches me that complete strangers would like to keep the memory of my children going and that does not go unnoticed,” Field said.

The memorial would be a focal point for herself, friends and family to visit and remember the children.

“I am also so appreciative of those who have offered me so much support over these last two months through the kind words, messages, cards. It was so heart-warming to unveil the new plaque and it felt very special,” Field said.

She said she hoped to find another way to honour her children and give back to the community in the future.

Vivienne Withers owns the cafe alongside her husband Kevan.

As she constructed the fairy garden on the cafe grounds, she said she decided she had to dedicate it to the children.

“I take things to heart and when this happened I was just starting this little fairy garden,” Withers said.

“I went out there to do a bit on it and it just came to me that ‘I’ve got to make this for the kids. They’ve got to be remembered.”

Photo: Supplied

She said she approached a local trophy engraver who was able to include images of the children on the plaque.

The fence was painted in the same bright colours chosen by the family for the children’s caskets.

The plaque also included the name of Iris – Field’s stillborn daughter whose ashes were lost in the fire that consumed the family home during the incident – as well as the family dog Marlo who also died.

Withers said the children’s deaths had shaken not just the tight-knit community but the nation.

“It’s like it touched the whole of the country. The whole country wrapped their arms around Chelsey. [This kind of thing] just doesn’t happen in New Zealand let alone in little Sanson. It’s just shocking,” Withers said.

Photo: Supplied

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A ‘serious incident’ has seen the full closure of part of State Highway 1 northbound in Auckland.

Police said the motorway had been closed at Greville Road in Albany as police respond.

Officers were called to the scene at 10.50am.

Google Maps shows significant traffic in the area.

“Police thank the public for their patience, and ask them to delay travel if possible and follow suggested diversions.”

St John said it was responding.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Plaques stolen from soldiers’ graves at an Invercargill cemetery have been recovered, and a man charged with their theft.

Nine plaques were taken in October and November last year from St John Cemetery. Four of them belonged to World War I and II personnel, police said.

While all have been found, not all of them could be restored to their original condition, Senior Constable Craig Colyer said on Wednesday.

“Theft at any time is appalling, but targeting a cemetery is a particularly low act.”

A 44-year-old man has been charged with theft, and will appear in the Invercargill District Court next week.

“We hope this arrest brings some comfort to the affected families, and we want to thank the public for their assistance with the investigation,” Colyer said.

Awarua RSA president Ian Becker told Checkpoint in December he was gutted by the theft, which he said showed a complete lack of respect.

“All they’re interested in is getting their grubby little hands on some easy cash, but I think they might [find] they’re now holding onto a wasp’s nest – and somebody, somewhere, is going to tell us who it was.”

One of the plaques belonged to Rose Hinchey, a nurse who served in WWII and Korea.

“I just feel gutted that some person just felt they had a bigger, a stronger need to take away somebody’s identity,” Becker said.

“She’s a real person and she’s one of ours.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Unusually hot weather may be on the way, with MetService warning above-average temperatures are projected across much of the country for the coming days.

The forecaster said people across the motu could expect a “great deal of sunshine and dry weather”, with the odd shower or thunderstorm for some areas.

Many areas including Tauranga, Masterton and Christchurch were predicted to be more than 4C hotter than usual over the next two days, while Blenheim was due the largest increase of 7.5C, bringing it to a projected 32C on Friday.

Meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said people should keep an eye out for heat alerts, and take extra precautions during the hottest parts of the day as the weather heats up.

“As we head towards Friday and into the weekend we are looking at quite hot temperatures. It is summer, but some of the temperatures that we are expecting are looking on the high side.”

The east coast of the country was projected to be particularly hot and dry, especially in Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and Canterbury, Makgabutlane said.

People in those areas should be prepared to be issued with a MetService heat alert, she said.

“Definitely take extra care if you’ve got any plans to be outdoors during the daytime … take those sun precautions. Wearing sunscreen and hats, sunglasses, drinking plenty of water.”

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued

Reminder: A Severe Thunderstorm WATCH shows where severe thunderstorms COULD form, a Severe Thunderstorm WARNING is when one has formed. Keep an eye out for updates this afternoon here: https://t.co/GeH6tLulff pic.twitter.com/V86gv1cP9Z

— MetService NZ (@MetService) January 6, 2026

Despite the largely clear weather, some areas of of both islands were still due patches of rain and thunderstorms with MetService issuing a severe thunderstorm watch for Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay from 1pm until 9pm Wednesday.

A front was also expected to move across areas of the lower South Island during the second half of Thursday and early Friday, prompting MetService to issue a heavy rain watch for the region.

Heading into the weekend, MetService was expecting a weather system bringing rain and strong winds to the South Island, eventually making its way up the country and reaching the North Island early next week.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington commuters have complained Metlink’s train network has been a shambles this week with limited buses replacing trains as people return to work.

Metlink is apologising to customers, and has made improvements.

Most train lines are fully or partially closed with buses replacing trains between 26 December to 11 January while works are done across the rail network.

On Monday, commuters criticised Metlink on social media saying the number of buses sent to replace trains have been inadequate, some buses haven’t turned up at all, and others have left earlier than scheduled.

One commuter who also spoke to RNZ said it had been a “shambles” and he wouldn’t be using public transport again until Metlink resumed its normal timetable.

The man said on his trip into Wellington from Petone on Monday he had to wait for a second bus replacement because the first one was full.

While on his way home, buses were leaving earlier than their scheduled time due to quickly filling up.

“My bus left, I think, almost 10 minutes early.”

He said Metlink needed to lift their game and that sending one or two buses to replace a typically six carriage service wasn’t enough.

“They’re clearly underestimating capacity.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Greater Wellington’s Public Transport Committee chairman Ros Connelly said Metlink had received 18 complaints since people returned to work this year, compared to 99 last year.

Connelly said councillors had also received a number of complaints and suggestions for improvement.

“It’s clear from this feedback that some of the stopping, timings and connections were stuffed up,” she said.

“As a result, Metlink has immediately moved to put supervisors at stations across the region to co-ordinate arrivals and departures better.”

Connelly said daily de-briefs between Metlink and its rail operator Transdev Wellington were also in place to “actively manage any issues and spot areas for improvement”.

Metlink acting general manager Paul Tawharu apologised to passengers who had experienced trouble with bus replacements and navigating summer timetables.

“While we know bus replacements are less than ideal, we want our passengers to know we take their concerns seriously and are working with our operators to improve these services,” he said.

Tawharu said Metlink thanked passengers for their patience and they were nearly at the end of this summer’s rail closure.

“All rail services return to normal from next Monday, 12 January, excluding the Melling Line which will be running between Western Hutt and Wellington stations.”

Customers were encouraged to continue to contact Metlink about their experiences through the formal complaints process.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The hackers who say they have stolen data from a health app have removed information about the data online.

The hackers, known as ‘Kazu’, previously published samples of the leaked information.

Last night, Manage My Health was granted a High Court injunction preventing anyone from accessing or sharing the stolen data.

This morning, all posts referring to the Manage My Health hack have been removed from an account purporting to be used by the hacker.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has ordered an urgent review into the breach, which happened just before New Year’s.

Brown told RNZ the breach was not acceptable.

“I think it’s a very serious breach, it’s not just the large number of New Zealanders impacted, over 100,000, but it’s the nature of the information that has been breached.

“New Zealanders have a right to expect that their data, which is being held by entities, whether public or private, is being held to the highest of standards,” Brown said.

“I think there’s certainly lessons that need to be learned, I think it’s pretty unacceptable what’s happened to be honest.

“I think many New Zealanders will be very concerned about this. “

Manage My Health has said between 6 and 7 percent of the approximately 1.8 million registered users were impacted.

In an interview with RNZ on Tuesday, Manage My Health CEO Vino Ramayah said the company was itself also the victim of crime.

He said patients should trust the company “even though we have dropped the ball”, and his own medical records were among those accessed.

On Tuesday, a cyber security expert told RNZ he could not see Manage My Health recovering from the breach.

“Look, this is a big hit on our reputation and I do not disagree with that observation,” Ramayah said.

“But whether we can recover, we’ve got an excellent team, we’ve got an excellent product and we have served Kiwis for a very long time well.

“We’re very confident that we can restore the confidence and we are doing the right thing to ensure that we put providers and patients ahead of our own interests.”

Ramayah said he took full responsibility for what had happened.

“That’s something for after the dust settles, whether I’m the current or continue to be the CEO,” he said.

“I’m not unprepared to step down if there’s a better person who can do a better job than I did.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A British World War expert is expected to reveal how Kiwi troops compared to their Australian counterparts in both World Wars.

Professor Gary Sheffield is one of 34 historians who will challenge and explore quirky, controversial and overlooked stories in New Zealand’s military history at the seventh conference, in Wellington, organised by the New Zealand Military History Committee (NZMHC).

According to the Professional Historians’ Association of New Zealand/Aotearoa, the subjects will be “crises, characters and controversies in New Zealand’s military history”.

NZMHC chair John Crawford said they will be “looking at all sorts of different aspects of New Zealand’s military history [ranging] “from the Zealand wars right through to defence policy controversies in recent decades”.

As for Sheffield’s supposed claim about Kiwi soldiers being better than their Australian colleagues, Crawford said “different” would be a better way to describe it.

“I think he thinks that they’re better in some regards, the Australians are better in other regards,” Crawford told Morning Report.

“From my own work, I know that some British commanders preferred the Kiwis because they were less trouble behind the front line than the Australians, who had perhaps a stronger larrakin culture. “

Asked if talking up New Zealand soldiers was in the Anzac spirit, Crawford said there was “an element of rivalry” in that spirit.

“But I think the overriding element of the Anzac spirit is mutual regard and respect and a great tradition of working together. So I don’t think anything Gary’s going to say at our conference is going to impact on that at all.

“The thing about New Zealand military history is that many important subjects have not really been dealt with in any depth at all, so we have the fruits of really interesting new research being presented by a whole range of people – from graduate students through to leading military historians.

“We try to get, you know, have a very inclusive approach and get people involved so we’ve got all sorts of papers being presented.”

New Zealand had a unique military history compared with other nations, Crawford said.

“Of course it’s the Māori element which stands out. It makes New Zealand military history unique. We’ve got both the New Zealand Wars with Māori fighting on both sides, we have the strong involvement of Māori in the New Zealand Armed Forces from a very early date, so that’s something that really stands out.

“But there are also other aspects of our military history which are quite unique and of particular interest. I think particularly of the strong history of military service in Taranaki dating back to the mid-19th century. There’s things that happened at Taranaki [that were] quite quirky.”

The conference is set to take place in Wellington next month.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hundreds of people from around the motu are expected to descend on a Northland pā this weekend to remember one of the most famous battles fought on New Zealand soil.

The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā, the final engagement of the 1845-46 Northern War, pitched an estimated 400 Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine defenders against a force of about 1600 British troops and Māori allies.

Despite its inconclusive ending, the battle’s effects are still felt in Northland today – and the military innovations it spawned were used for decades afterwards, even in the trenches of World War I.

Te Ruapekapeka Trust chairman Pita Tipene said the first two days of commemorations would be centred on Kawiti Marae at Waiomio with a series of pōwhiri, wānanga and site visits.

The final day – a Sunday, like the last day of the battle 180 years earlier – would start at 4am with the blessing of a towering new pou ihi, or wayfinder pou, next to State Highway 1.

That would be followed by the blessing of 12 new tūpuna (ancestor) pou representing combatants in the battle, then a mass haka, a flag-raising ceremony and karakia at the pā itself.

Tipene expected hundreds would attend, including government ministers, the defence force and the British High Commission.

“It’s a time of year where many people will be away from Northland, but nonetheless, it is capturing the imagination of the people,” he said.

“Ruapekapeka is one of the few historic battle sites in New Zealand where we still actually have a pā. Many battle sites have been completely obliterated but this is still intact, and it’s very symbolic for not only the people of the North, but Māori people throughout the country. It is a nationally significant site.”

The origins of war

The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā was the last of a series of battles in the Northern War (previously also known as the Flagstaff War) that raged from March 1845 to January 1846.

Tipene said there was still conjecture about the cause.

Anger over broken promises made in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, five years earlier, and He Whakaputanga (The Declaration of Independence), was a key motivator – but economic factors also played a part.

When the Treaty was signed, New Zealand’s capital was at Ōkiato, near Russell, but it was moved to Auckland just a year later.

“When the British went to Auckland, they took all of that British trade with them. The economic ability of the local people was diminished greatly.”

The fighting begins

Tipene said the Northern War started when chiefs Kawiti, Pumuka and others attacked Kororāreka township (later renamed Russell), allowing Hone Heke to cut down the flagstaff for the fourth time.

The British evacuated to Auckland and called in reinforcements from Sydney.

They arrived in late March to April 1845 and set about taking control of the Bay of Islands, starting with a bombardment of Ngāti Manu’s Ōtuihu Pā (opposite present-day Ōpua).

From there the fighting shifted inland to the shores of Lake Ōmāpere, then to Ōhaeawai – a military disaster for the British – and other battles such as Waikare and Te Ahu Ahu, some of which did not involve British troops at all.

It culminated at Ruapekapeka, about 20km southeast of Kawakawa, a site chosen by Kawiti for its commanding view over the surrounding area.

It also had a well, vital if the battle turned into a lengthy siege, and an escape route if needed.

“It also gave all the warriors in the front lines in the trenches a good line of fire when the British started charging towards them,” Tipene said.

Kawiti designed the pā specifically to withstand canon fire with a complex system of trenches and palisades made from pūriri – famed for its hardness – lined with bundles of flax to absorb the projectiles’ impact.

Inside the walls, a network of underground tunnels and bunkers protected the defenders and lent the pā its name, which translated as “the bats’ nest”.

Tipene said the first British scouts arrived around 14 December 1845 with the full force in place by 29 December, after an arduous overland journey pulling 30 tonnes of provisions and artillery.

The first salvos started that day.

“On the night of 10 January, 1846, they opened up with everything they had and they created a breach in the front palisade. Early the next morning, Sunday 11 January, they entered the pā.”

By that time, only Kawiti and a small number of defenders remained inside the pā. Fighting ensued until they also withdrew into the bush.

The British did not follow Kawiti’s men, fearing an ambush.

The war ended in a truce of sorts with Kawiti famously telling Governor George Grey, “If you have had enough, then I have had enough. But if you have not had enough, then I have not had enough either.”

The battle’s lasting effects

Tipene said one of the most important results of the battle was that Ngāti Hine and their allies retained their land. (Land was usually confiscated by the Crown after conflicts with Māori.)

“The British were already preoccupied with uprisings in other parts of the country, and they were given advice by Māori who were loyal to the British that it wasn’t going to be a good idea to confiscate the land. Immediately after the battle, Kawiti made it very clear that if Governor Grey wanted to fight on, he was willing to fight on too – but if he wanted peace, peace would be had.”

“People were still angry and frustrated at what the British were doing, but effectively, peace was made. Kawiti said fighting with weapons was over, but it would continue in other ways, basically with the pen.”

The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā, regarded as the pinnacle of Māori military design, influenced the way wars were fought for decades afterwards.

The British surveyed the site, made a model of the defences, and applied the innovations in the Crimean War and in the trenches of the World War I.

In 2008, the New Zealand Institute of Professional Engineers formally recognised Ruapekapeka Pā as a site of national engineering significance.

An excrement-smeared club

In January 1845, a few months before the war, Hone Heke visited Kawiti and presented him with the gift of a fine greenstone mere (club) smeared with human excrement.

The gift came to be known as Te Mere Whakakopa.

Tipene said the greenstone mere symbolised the rangatiratanga, or authority, of Māori, while the excrement was a symbol of how it was being defiled by the British.

“Kawiti understood that immediately, and his response was, ‘Me poroa ngā ringaringa me ngā waewae’. He was saying, ‘We will chop their hands and legs off’, which is a metaphorical declaration of war. It was a pact to wage war on the British and their allies.”

Tipene said Te Mere Whakakopa was the theme of this year’s 180th anniversary commemorations, and was still relevant today.

“A whole lot of legislation that’s coming out of the current government continues to contaminate the authority of the Māori people,” he said.

Sacrifice and reconciliation

Another ongoing effect of the battle was bitterness between Māori who fought for the British and those who fought under Kawiti.

Tipene said some reconciliation had happened naturally – the daughter of Te Aho, a prominent defender, had married a British corporal and their descendants were now one of the most prominent families in the area – but this weekend’s commemorations were another chance to continue healing those old wounds.

It would also be a chance to remember the sacrifices ancestors had made for future generations, Tipene said.

“We’re holding this to acknowledge their sacrifice, and for reconciliation between those who fought so many generations ago. But we’ve got to move on. We live in the same country. We’ve got nationhood to think about, and nobody’s going anywhere. We’re only nine years away from the bicentennial of He Whakaputanga and 14 years from the bicentennial of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, so we need to be really purposeful about moving towards the nationhood that was envisaged when those documents were first signed.”

Te Ruapekapeka 180 programme

Friday 9 January

10.30am: Pōwhiri for hapū from Te Tai Tokerau.

3.30pm: Waiomio pā site visit.

Saturday 10 January

10am: Pōwhiri for ngā iwi o te motu (iwi from around the country).

2pm: Pōwhiri for dignitaries including government ministers, Defence Force and British High Commission representatives.

4pm: Wānanga.

All events on Friday and Saturday take place at Kawiti Marae, Waiomio.

Sunday 11 January

3am: Buses depart Whangārei, Kaikohe, Waikare, Kawiti Marae and Whangaroa.

4am: Blessing of pou ihi (wayfinder pou), intersection of SH1 and Ruapekapeka Rd.

5.30am: Blessing of 12 tūpuna pou, located at the British forward position, honouring those who took part in the battle.

7.30am: Mass haka, flag raising ceremony, speeches and karakia, at the pā.

10am: Breakfast.

11-12.30: Guided tours of Ruapekapeka Pā.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Citizens Advice Bureau is dealing with what it calls a “growing crisis” of people struggling to meet their basic living costs.But with hundreds of thousands of requests each year, volunteers are helping people all over the country to advocate for themselves and get the support they’re entitled to. Lauren Crimp visited the Porirua branch to watch the team in action.

The doorbell sounds, and an elderly man tentatively pokes his head in.

“Hello, I don’t have an appointment…”

“No problem,” a volunteer says. “How can I help?”

While the doors at Porirua’s Citizens Advice Bureau are open, anyone can stroll in, at any time, and ask a question about… well, anything.

When RNZ paid the team a visit, Francell Felise and her husband Peter Logovii had just finished up their appointment.

It was the day after they officially became New Zealand citizens – thanks to volunteers who guided them through the process – and they were getting help with the paperwork for their New Zealand passports.

“We always come here for help,” Felise said.

“Even though we’re not good at speaking English … they really help us [find out] how to get what we want to do.”

It’s an important service for people like the Logoviis who don’t know where to start, she said.

“And it’s good for people who migrate to New Zealand, because … we know nothing about New Zealand, but these guys help us through how to manage and how to do our living here in New Zealand.

“We’re so happy with them and their service.”

Saw Tha Du Paul had called in to ask for help with getting a ‘P’ endorsement on his driver licence, so he could apply to become an Uber driver.

Volunteer Francesca Black said he had to prove he had no convictions.

“He came to New Zealand as a refugee, so there is no evidence, he can’t go back to Myanmar and there are no records,” she said.

She called the Transport Agency to find out what he needed – evidence he came in as a refugee – and she was helping Paul fill in the relevant form, copy his documents, and get them signed by a Justice of the Peace.

It was the third time Paul had visited the CAB, with volunteers also helping him find a place to live. Without them, he and other migrants he knew would feel “helpless”, he said.

Black said she enjoyed helping make life that little bit easier for someone in need.

“It can be really daunting when you have, in this case, a form to fill in … and you think, ‘I’ve got no idea how to manage this’,” she said.

“So coming to Citizens Advice, we can help … find ways, find out options and sort of give confirmation so people can go away feeling more confident about what they’re doing.”

Empowering clients who are ‘at their wits’ end’

Black is one of more than 30 volunteers who give up three hours of their time each week at the Porirua branch, filling a roster of two three-hour shifts each day. Nationwide, there are 2500 volunteers across 80 branches.

Natalie Vermaak – the Porirua branch manager and sole staff member – coordinates her crew of volunteers, and describes them as the bridge between clients and government agencies.

“Lots of clients, when they walk in, we are their last resort, so they’re kind of at their wits’ end,” she said.

“Our volunteers are empowering them, and giving them the tools to help them manage their situations, and helping them advocate for themselves so when they leave here, they’re feeling more confident in themselves and confident about what they’re entitled to.”

This year, most people who visited needed financial help, said Vermaak.

Their budgeting advisor often had back to back appointments with people whose whose benefits did not cover the bills, who needed budgeting advice to help them stay afloat, or who wanted to make KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals.

“Clients are trying to get those funds out to pay for power bills, to try and pay rent that is in to stop them from sleeping in their cars,” she said.

Volunteers were well trained, she said, thanks to a six-week induction course and time spent with a mentor volunteer.

“We do ongoing learning and development for our volunteers, so that they’re aware of what community organisations are around here and what’s available to people, so that … our volunteers know who to contact to get our clients the right help.”

It’s a free, independent service – funded by donations and grants, not the government.

Vermaak said grants were increasingly harder to come by, and with inflation biting it was tougher to cover overheads. But the volunteer system remained strong, she said.

“I’m always proud of the work our volunteers do because I know that our team here puts in over and above their three-hour shift per week, and they go above and beyond,” she said.

“We’re changing lives every day.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

On a mild evening in November, Dave Howard and John Wellington were out with their machetes and some pink ribbon bush-bashing a route for a new bike trail beside the Hawea River in Upper Clutha.

They tied ribbon on scrappy broom bushes and laid low the pigfern as they went.

“That’s kind of a fun part of it, just cutting a track, going, ‘What are the cool things that we can see along here?’, whether it’s little plants or view-corridors,” Howard said.

“So you might take them past cool rocks or trees or just, how the landform will feel when you move through it, thinking about what’s the experience someone’s going to have when they travel through here.

“So that’s quite a fun stage despite the matagouri and the bush lawyer (two types of plants) and everything else that wants to kill you and prick you.”

Up until recently he had thornier problems to deal with. He had helped design the Kawarau Gorge trail from Queenstown to Cromwell, and the Roxburgh Gorge extension. By 2018 they were ready to go.

Instead, they went nowhere, running smack-dab into a long-forgotten policy suddenly reactivated at the Department of Conservation (DOC).

“Until recently, the current Conservation General Policy was applied quite rigidly in Conservation Management Strategies (CMS),” DOC told RNZ. “This meant that unless the CMS listed a proposed location for biking, a (costly, multi-year) partial review or amendment process for the CMS was required, simply to consider the application on its merits.”

While the policy had slumbered, trail building had cracked on, the network and patronage expanding rapidly in the decade after John Key’s government latched on to cycling in 2009 as a way to create jobs.

‘Silly little thing written on a bit of paper’

In 2019, DOC shifted suddenly and question marks appeared over existing trails’ compliance, while new builds hit a brick wall. Many regions had few potential trails listed on the schedules in their various CMSs. They were going nowhere.

“It was horrendous,” Howard said. “It was all consuming, all consuming. DOC was supportive of so many of the trails, but they just had to pull the handbrake on them because of this silly little thing written on a bit of paper.”

Pete Masters at Bike Taupō hit the wall too. So he joined with others to use a trail in Tongariro as a test case to help break the rigid grip.

It worked – 11 out of the 16 DOC regions began easing up on trail building in the last year or so – but it took time and money.

“So we won that,” Masters said. “Interesting thing is after the six years, they turned around and agreed on what we said on day one.

“Instead of having to be rigid, to have it on a schedule, it could be on ‘effects-based’, which is what we’d been arguing all the time.”

For trail builders in Te Anau and Gore the battle was far from won, but their experience was now more an exception than the norm. Rowan Sapsford at Bike Taupō sawthe flipside: He helped Masters with the test case, and now things were at “half full”, he said.

“All our trails in Taupō are OK… we were able to secure access… we can carry on,” Sapsford said.

The application process had sped up.

“The last one I was involved in professionally, it went through an under 12 months, which was a bit of a record really.

“It can also be the difference between whether we’re able to secure funding or not, and often, you know, the permissions process is seen as one of the key risks… for new trail development.”

Officials now saw biking in the bush as legitimate, not just tramping, he said.

Recently he went to the annual national trails forum.

“It was probably the best representation from DOC in the odd 13 or 14 years I’ve been going to these forums.”

In a report in July, the Department of Conservation said its backlog of concession applications for cycling had been cut from 1300 to 550, and processing times were three times faster.

It was now able to tap into co-funding too for new trails from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, that also had $8m a year to maintain the 23 Great Rides.

‘We’re through the dark days’

Otago was unusual among the 11 newly flexible regions, alone in undertaking a $500,000 review of its conservation strategy that ran for several years. This ended up last year in it designating a lot more potential trails, though only after volunteers spent thousands of hours mapping them out.

Now those lines were down on paper, that allowed Howard and Wellington to bash them out for real along a simple 5km trail south beside the Hawea.

“We’re through the dark days,” Howard said.

“All those particular trails, they were part of connecting Wānaka, Queenstown through Dunedin, so they’re all back on track and underway, which is fantastic. So there’s been a massive swing, you know.”

The much-anticipated Kawarau Gorge ride would be steeper and more exciting than other Great Rides thereabouts, he said. E-bikers would love it, he predicted.

The bill would be steeper, too: They had had to go back to where they got to in 2018 and “do a bunch of stuff again” which probably added several million dollars in costs.

There was an up-side to this – Kawarau had become a bit of a test case for new thresholds around wildlife permits, lizard studies and relocations, and the like, Howard said.

Yet the inflexible grip of the Conservation General Policy still held in five of the 16 regions.

“We can’t consider new proposals for bike tracks for Waikato, Canterbury (Waitaha), Stewart Island/Rakiura, Otago and Southland,” the July DOC report said.

“We appreciate this is frustrating,” DOC told RNZ, “but it underpins the importance of progressing modernising and updating the legislation.”

Those changes would not deal just with CMSs – likely dumping them – but also with constraints other trail builders still face when they veer into national parks.

The Mountains to Sea trail had the funding to build Te Hangāruru and Te Ara Mangawhero sections of Ngā Ara Tūhono Great Ride, but needed to go through 200m of Tongariro National Park.

“That held us up for a number of years,” central North Island trails promoter Lynley Twyman said.

“It meant that the value of the funding we secured diminished in its value. So that’s been really, really tough… in a region where cycling and walking are the resilience for our tourism industry.”

‘Totally broken’

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon seized on barriers to biking when in August he called the concessions regime on public conservation land “totally broken”.

“Outdated rules mean we’ve got examples of modern e-bike users being turned away from potential touring opportunities because they have to be considered as proper vehicles,” Luxon and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said in a statement..

One high-profile example is a ban on e-bikes on the Timber Trail near Taumarunui, though that is widely ignored and not impinging on business, operators said.

The ministers’ statement collided with DOC saying processing times had sped up by three times.

And the press statement’s title, ‘Unleashing growth on conservation land’, appears to invite a fight over the government’s plans to reform the Conservation Act next year.

DOC said this was about striking a balance.

“These improvements are aimed at making the system more enabling and easier to navigate, while ensuring any development does not compromise conservation values.”

Guided biking and e-biking might be allowed as part of low-impact activities exempt from needing a concession or pre-approved with a simple online application process, it said.

The likes of the Timber Trail’s e-bike ban looked likely to fall under the definition of “unnecessary and outdated restrictions” set for removal, plus the way trail plans could be amended would be streamlined under the reforms.

A bill is due from ministers in the first quarter of next year. A new National Conservation Policy Statement might end up doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

‘Correct tracks in the correct places’

Cycle trail builders and operators would not want any part in a fight over the reforms. The way they tell it, the argument over the economic benefits of trails to the regions has been well won, DOC is far more on board than it was, and the ongoing disquiet over environmental impacts is turning in favour of them being no greater than from tramping and needing to be assessed the same way.

“Really, the debate of a [new] trail or an existing trail being used by bikers and walkers should be on social interaction,” Masters, who is also acting chair of New Zealand Cycle Trail Ngā Haerenga, said.

Federated Mountain Clubs was watching the changes being made.

“Hopefully the new [flexible] rule interpretation allows the environment to continue to be cared for and make sure that the tracks are the correct tracks in the correct places,” president Megan Dimozantos said.

The Clubs group had not been consulted on by DOC about new trails being put in, but perhaps they had not needed to be.

“They don’t consult us on every single concession. I would hope that if the particular track that was being built was going to affect other user groups, that they would come and ask us for our opinion. And I’d generally trust them to do that.”

“We are super supportive of people to get out and enjoy the ngahere, but our view has always been the right trail in the right place.”

‘We’re in a lot better space’

The incredibly messy rules around trail building based in regulations and legislation not changed in decades have not done anyone any favours, yet even so the Great Rides alone had grown into a $1.3 billion industry that mostly benefitted the provinces.

The system has reached a new, still messy halfway house where some regions remain largely locked up, while in others new trails are being assessed on a “case-by-case basis by district teams with strong local knowledge” about local needs, conservation considerations, and whether community or third-party partners bring forward proposals, according to DOC.

It is not any sort of stable equilibrium though, and next year promises more, bigger changes.

“We’re very pleased with what we’ve managed to achieve in the last few months, but we’ve still got some gaps and we need a sustainable, resilient solution,” Twyman said.

“We’re in a lot better space, they’re [DOC] in a good space, and we want to work together to have good outcomes for all the cycling and walking community, because there’s as many walkers on the cycle trails as there are cyclists,” Masters said.

Howard was just “super-stoked” to be route-blazing again.

“Someone was saying passion is the degree of suffering you’re willing to endure towards a cause. So, if the amount of suffering and persistence required to pull a trail off, then I’m certainly passionate.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand