Source: Radio New Zealand

When rising teenage ballet star Tamison Soppet found out she had been selected as candidate for Switzerland’s prestigious Prix de Lausanne she jumped for joy.

Waiting with her parents to join a two-hour ballet class in Paris, the shocked but smiling Christchurch 15-year-old was bursting with excitement when her mother called her over to break the news.

“Mum told me and I just jumped in excitement, I just had so much excitement inside me. For the rest of the class I had the biggest smile on my face. It was such a dream,” she said.

Tamison is the only New Zealander and one of just two dancers from Australasia chosen to compete at what is often regarded as the “ballet Olympics” in Lausanne in February.

As part of the application process, Tamison supplied a 15-minute video audition featuring barre, centre and pointe work, as well as a contemporary dance, demonstrating her artistic versatility and technical precision.

The selection jury of nine dance professionals viewed videos from 444 dancers from 43 countries, choosing just 81 to participate in the 2026 competition.

During competition week, dancers are marked on contemporary and classical classes and one classical and one contemporary variation.

While she would be up against the “best of the best”, Tamison said she was grateful for the opportunity to perform on the world stage.

“It’s going to be pretty tough but I’m just going to go there and enjoy myself and do my best. We’ve worked so hard to get to this point so I need to let it all go and show everybody how much I love it,” she said.

“Just getting over there and getting seen by all of these incredible schools is definitely going to be something big. I’m hoping that something can come out of it.”

Tamison’s journey to Switzerland began long before she stepped into a studio or tied the ribbons on her first pair of ballet shoes.

Her mother Toni Soppet said Tamison danced from the time she could walk, in the living room, down the hallway, anywhere music could reach her, “flying around with butterfly wings and cuteness”.

Her childhood passion had developed into a dream that demanded discipline, resilience and countless hours of sacrifice, Soppet said.

Tamison trained at Convergence Dance Studios four days per week, all while managing studies at the correspondence school, Te Kura.

“She’s very determined. She works really hard. She’s not a typical teenager. She’s literally up at 7am, into the studio by 8am, and she’s training all day,” Soppet said.

“She comes home and she is exhausted – ice baths on the feet while having the computer on the lap to do school work – but she just has so much joy for it, she has so much love for it, that I can’t imagine her doing anything else.”

Soppet said it was always a moving, emotion-filled experience watching her daughter dance.

“Tears are in my eyes, she’s just breathtaking,” she said.

“I’m usually the side stage mum or in the dressing room or those kind of things but the moments that I do get to sit in the audience and actually watch her, it’s those awe moments. She’s a beautiful dancer and the expressiveness that comes from her is breathtaking.”

Tamison won the junior women’s title at the prestigious Youth America Grand Prix in New York last year at the age of 14, cementing her reputation as one of the most promising talents of her generation.

She has earned high distinctions in RAD and NZAMD exams, top placements in international competitions, gold medals, scholarships from elite institutions and is part of The Royal Ballet School’s international scholars programme.

Tamison has trained at Convergence under artistic director Olivia Russell since the age of 10.

Russell said the Prix de Lausanne was an extraordinary opportunity to make connections with elite ballet schools and companies.

“The Prix de Lausanne is an exceptional platform for dancers to launch their careers, to be seen by international directors, to really have their dreams come true and extend themselves as artists,” she said.

“I’m over the moon, obviously very excited for her, and it’s very deserving. I feel like it’s the perfect step for her to move forward in her career and see her on the international stage.”

Russell likened the audition process to training for the Olympics. The Prix de Lausanne jury would assess dancers out of 100, with 25 marks each for the classical and contemporary classes and classical and contemporary variations.

“It’s very well-rounded. The emphasis is on a versatile dancer so everything is even. It’s not just a ballet competition, everything is looked at,” she said.

At the end of the competition week, a networking forum would give candidates who were not selected for the finals another chance to be seen by international schools and company directors interested in offering further training or job opportunities.

Russell said Tamison was a beautiful dancer with a strong work ethic and huge potential.

“She has exceptional turn-out and exceptional leg line and feet. Ballet is very aesthetic and so is dance. Her natural sense of line is quite innate. It’s kind of like architecture,” she said.

“She can make shapes when she’s dancing that leave lasting images to the person viewing them, so when you close your eyes after she’s danced you can still see that image. It’s a beautiful gift to be able to make your dancing extend past the stage into someone’s memory.

“She is like another daughter to me, so it has been a beautiful relationship with her family and the journey that we’ve gone on together. I feel very lucky.”

Tamison’s pursuit of her dancing dream has also come at a significant financial cost, so the Soppet family has set up a Givealittle page to help with contributions to pointe shoes, custom-made costumes, private coaching, strength and conditioning sessions, physio appointments and international travel.

She will next perform as Cinderella at Convergence Dance Studios’ end-of-year production on 7 December.

Tamison dreams of one day joining The Royal Ballet in London or Paris Opera Ballet and becoming a principal dancer.

“I love it so much, it just brings so much joy, even on hard days. I just love coming to the studio and getting to express my feelings through dance,” she said.

“I try to put everything I’ve worked on in the studio and rehearsals all on stage at the same time and make it my best.”

The Prix de Lausanne 2026 will take place from 1 to 8 February at the Beaulieu Theatre in Lausanne.

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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 Airbus A320 is a “very good aircraft to fly” and has been safely flying for more than 40 years, an aviation expert says.

It comes after more than 6000 of its fleet were grounded at the weekend to repair a critical software issue, causing significant chaos for travellers.

The upgrade followed an investigation into a incident back in October where an Airbus aircraft experienced a brief loss of altitude, Ashok Poduval from Massey University’s school of aviation told Morning Report.

That flight was a JetBlue flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Newark, New Jersey in the United States, on 30 October.

The upgrade followed a report by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency into the incident.

Poduval said the delay in grounding the fleet following the incident was because of the time it took to do the investigation.

“They have to do an investigation because it could be so many factors and once the incident is reported, it takes some time to investigate it,” Poduval said.

“You can’t ground a fleet of over 11,000 aircraft based on something that happened. We all have read about turbulence incidents that have caused sudden drop in altitude etcetera, so once an investigation is done and if there is a cause that is determined to be related to the aircraft, then that’s when the action is taken immediately.”

As a result, more than 6000 aircraft went through a software upgrade, but Poduval was not aware of the technical details of what the upgrade was.

Air New Zealand said all A320 updates would be completed by Sunday evening, with the flight schedule expected to return to normal on Monday.

Poduval said he was no aware if such upgrades would become more necessary as the use of technology on planes continued to increase.

But he said the aircraft were very good.

“This is probably the first event where they’ve had to ground half the fleet and do a software upgrade. Nearly 40 years the aircraft has flown very safely, I’ve flown the aircraft,” he said.

“It’s a very good aircraft to fly.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

More than four decades after the first New Zealander was diagnosed with HIV, medical advances have completely changed the face of the once-fatal virus, but one man living with it says he doesn’t “think that the HIV stigma has changed radically”

Rodrigo Olin German was barely out of his teens when a blood test result threw his life into turmoil, and he faced what he thought was a death sentence.

“It was horrible, I have to say, it was very shocking and devastating for me at that time because I was just a child. I was 20 years old.”

He had just tested positive for HIV.

“I sat down and they said to me, ‘well, your results have come back positive, and this means you have got to make some changes in your life. We cannot really tell you how long you are going to live. You need to stop having sex, you really need to avoid crowded places, and you need to constantly be seeing your doctor’.”

He tells The Detail, there was no compassion, no support, and no hope. He felt like an inconvenience, with staff making it known they were having to delay their lunch break to tell him the devastating news.

He left the medical clinic in tears, fearing he would die.

That was in Mexico, 22 years ago. Today, Olin German is living in New Zealand and working at the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation), helping Kiwis who have been diagnosed with HIV.

“People with HIV, we work, we live, we love, we travel, we are active members of society,” he says.

Olin German is sharing his personal experience on World AIDS Day. This year also marks 40 years since the Burnett Foundation opened its doors.

What began as a grassroots network of volunteers has grown into a national force for education, health, and human rights.

Over the decades, the Foundation has led memorable high-impact campaigns: including Get It On!, Love Cover Protect, Love Your Condom, and Ending HIV, which have helped educate and support both patients and families.

“Information is power, and we need to give that to people because that can really change the reality for people living with HIV,” Olin German says.

But it should be remembered that 40 years ago, people living with HIV and AIDS in New Zealand faced intense fear, discrimination, and isolation. Early activists risked their lives simply by speaking out.

Today, things are very different – but the stigma hasn’t vanished.

“To be honest, I don’t think that the HIV stigma has changed radically,” says Olin German, who has been verbally abused by people he knows after speaking publicly about his diagnosis or when disclosing it before entering a relationship.

“The times when people have reacted negatively, it has been pretty bad, like ‘why are you having sex?’, ‘you should die’, ‘you are spreading the disease around’. They are calling me very despicable names.”

He says fear and misunderstanding remain powerful barriers: to testing, to treatment, and to honest conversations about HIV.

He wants people to know that with the right medication and education, HIV becomes undetectable, then untransmittable, which is known as U=U.

“The amount of virus is so low in the bloodstream that we can’t pass HIV to our sexual partners, even if we don’t use condoms … so, we are not a risk to anyone.”

And he says prevention has come a long way over the past 40 years. Condom campaigns, testing programs, and the availability of PrEP, an HIV prevention pill, have all contributed to fewer new local infections.

Last year, 95 people were newly diagnosed with HIV here, and that number is tracking to be even lower this year.

In total, about 3500 people live with HIV in New Zealand today, that’s mainly gay men, but also straight men and women.

Rodrigo says what would help those who have tested positive is a better range of HIV medication, like an injection given every two months, which is available in Australia but not here. In New Zealand, people take daily pills.

Burnett Foundation CEO Liz Gibbs agrees. She’s also campaigning for better funding, community engagement, and equitable access to testing and prevention.

The Foundation has, today, also announced an innovation challenge for entrepreneurs and innovators to come up with AI and med-tech solutions to help New Zealand eliminate local HIV transmission by 2030.

“We have made amazing progress over the last 40 years, since the Burnett Foundation was established,” Gibbs tells The Detail. “However, we have still got quite a bit of work to do to achieve the HIV action plan aspiration of getting to zero transmissions by 2030 and eradicating stigma and discrimination.”

On this World AIDS Day, she says the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa is both celebrating 40 years of activism, advocacy, and impact, and challenging New Zealanders not to become complacent.

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail 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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Weeks after a 1200-cubic-metre wastewater spill into the Mahurangi River, Auckland oyster farmers are dealing with the effects of another overflow, which they say has stuffed their Christmas season.

Watercare confirmed to RNZ that on 19 November, Warkworth experienced more than half the town’s average rainfall for the entire month, a total of 53mm overnight.

An estimated 86 cubic metres of wastewater mixed with stormwater overflowed into the river from a Warkworth pipeline, the engineered overflow point on Elizabeth Street.

The Ministry of Primary Industries instructed growers to suspend harvesting while it carried out testing, with results expected this week.

But Matakana Oysters’ Tom Walters said the spill had already ruined their plans for December, their busiest period of the year.

“It’s been pretty difficult the whole year, but this is our peak time. We’ve missed Christmas parties now and celebrations, we’ve got people who wanted to order for Christmas itself, and now we’re not even getting any orders from people because they know about the sewage situation. So they’ll be going elsewhere.

“My business relies on the Christmas-New Year period, and that’s what gets us through the months where we’re quiet. We’re basically stuffed.”

Matakana Oysters were set to begin harvesting on 20 November, before the rain derailed their plans.

“We’re hoping to be potentially back open early December at best, but that’s all going to be weather and and test results dependent,” Walters said.

He said that while farmers received compensation for the wastewater overflow in October, which Watercare admitted was caused by a technical failure, the agency was not required to compensate them for spills caused by rainfall.

“That money has all gone on debts that have occurred from all the spills over this year and the last couple of years.

“It’s not enough to keep us surviving, and Watercare won’t compensate us for wet weather spills.

“I can’t buy enough oysters from up north or other areas to cater to this time of the year, and I don’t have enough money for that either.”

Mahurangi Oyster Farmers Association president Lynette Dunn said farmers there would likely not be able to harvest until after Christmas.

“This is one of our biggest, most important times of the year prior to Christmas, getting a lot of product out before start spawning out, and we won’t be able to do that.

“All our customers are ringing up, and we can’t supply them.

“And when the Ministry of Primary Industries opens the harbour, there’s going to be scepticism about, you know, are they [the oysters] safe and everything like that.”

“It’s disheartening. It’s eating away at every farmer, and it’s devastating for each and every one of us.”

In a statement to RNZ, Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourne said it had upgrades planned to prevent more wet weather overflows from occurring, but they would not be completed until the end of 2026.

“Earlier this year, we completed network upgrades to reduce the frequency of overflows at this location while we deliver the final stage of a $450 million programme of work: a growth-servicing pipeline. These measures are performing well, but they were never intended to prevent overflows during severe weather events like last week’s.

“We really feel for the oyster growers, who have faced many challenges this year and are now in their peak harvest season.

“To put a stop to these wet weather overflows as soon as possible, we have accelerated the first stage of the growth-servicing pipeline, bringing it forward by two years to have it in service by the end of next year. This comes at an additional cost of $2.5m. When it is in service, this pipeline will prevent an overflow in similar weather to what we experienced last week.”

Walters and Dunn said affected businesses needed more financial assistance to get them through until upgrades were done.

“This problem isn’t going to stop with wet weather spills and we’ve still got another year of it before the pipeline is ready,” said Walters.

“They’ve [Watercare] made a few little fixes which have helped with small amounts of rain, but anything over 30ml plus is going to affect us.”

Dunn said that even when the infrastructure improved, it would take a lot of work to re-build public trust.

“We need funding to keep us going. Our reputational damage is just going down the drain. Everyone associates Mahurangai Oysers with sewage. So, to try and sell our product, we’re going to have a huge battle.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Community-owned high-tech cameras were used to catch suspects in two killings, but the volunteer group involved can not afford to keep running the crime fighting kit.

Cameras that link to automated number plate recognition software run by private companies are spreading throughout the country.

Police are increasingly accessing the systems – more than half a million times a year – to identify plates from street or carpark footage that is hours, weeks or months old.

But police told RNZ there were no plans to cover costs of these cameras for councils or businesses.

Hisbiscus Coast is looking at more than doubling its cameras to up to 20 after multiple crimes, and Turangi is asking locals if they want to pay for a system.

Other councils are accessing more than $2 million in government funding for ANPR or straight CCTV cameras.

Featherston Community Patrol put four cameras in a year ago on the four main approaches to the south Wairarapa town.

Police wrote to Patrol secretary Vicky Alexander in June, praising the quick payback.

“Within seven days of operation, these cameras were utilised by police after a person wanted for murder in the Hutt Valley was seen driving through Featherston,” the police letter said.

“Within two days this male was arrested and is now before the courts.

“In March this year a male was shot and killed in the Fresh Choice car park in Featherston,” it went on. “The new cameras recorded the whole incident, and two males are now in custody facing murder charges.”

Police said they were grateful to the Community Patrol and South Wairarapa District Council for the “immediate effect” on crime.

‘We didn’t realise there was an annual fee’

Alexander said she was “definitely very pleased with the outcome, but disappointed with the financial burden”.

“It’s colossal.”

Police use of a major ANPR system leapt by more than 70 percent one year, then by 26 percent the following year to 2024.

“This is likely attributable to [ANPR supplier] SaferCities continuing to expand their network across the country, with the platform now becoming more relevant in parts of the country where they previously did not have much presence, leading to more staff becoming aware of its utility,” a police report said.

Police have encouraged communities to put in cameras. They wrote Featherston a letter in support of getting grants in mid-2024.

“Whether to install cameras, and how they will cover costs of the cameras, is a decision for councils, community groups and businesses to make for themselves. Police does not instruct entities to install this technology,” police told RNZ in a statement on Friday.

The Featherston patrol has no access to the actual footage but it must pay a service charge to the ANPR commercial provider.

This charge of $6500 this year is more than the entire budget of a tiny group that had to run garden tours to fundraise for a patrol car.

Alexander said it was their own fault for not asking enough questions.

“We didn’t do due diligence. We didn’t realise there was an annual fee. We just thought a big fee upfront.

“Some of us wanted to ask more questions, but we felt the camera proposal was a really good one and we should go with it.”

They would not have installed them had they known it was going to turn into a financial struggle, she said.

Police twice wrote letters to support Featherston patrol’s bids for funding.

But this year’s grant has nearly run out, leaving them hoping the South Wairarapa District Council will take the cameras over.

‘It’s important that we get the cameras in’

Hibiscus Coast, north of Auckland, has been looking at more than doubling its cameras, but that project has been held up as community groups work out who will pay for that upgrade.

Local community patrol leader John Redwood supported the use of the cameras, but his team just gave back about $12,000 to the community board and pulled out of the project.

“I would just say due to a conflict of interest, [there was] no possibility of getting ongoing costs involving the project.

“We didn’t feel that it was fair to the community or to the council to keep on barging on,” Redwood said.

Neighbourhood Support may pick it up.

Gary Brown – who is on the Hibiscus and Bays local board – said the need had grown in the past six months. After an arson and ramraids at shops in Orewa – cameras came up at a meeting of local business owners and police a couple of weeks ago.

“Now that these incidents have happened in Orewa, it’s important that we get the cameras in,” said Brown.

“There’s the odd business that isn’t keen on the cameras, I think basically because of the cost. So it’s important that we can get as much subsidy as we can to ensure that these cameras can be done.”

An application was being worked on for a million dollars, but it was too early to give any details, he said.

The costs were too high, he said. A charge by Auckland Transport to put in a camera pole at $4000 was “exorbitant”.

Charges waived temporarily

Auckland Transport said it acknowledged the concerns, but its charges reflected the legal and other costs of putting poles in the road corridor.

It said for the next six months it would waive the application fee and cover legal costs for business improvement districts across Auckland that wanted to put in cameras.

Spending between $500,000 and $1m has been recently accessed from a government fund for cameras around Whakatane, Waikato and Waipa districts. South Wairarapa’s share of this funding has been used up.

In Whakatane, a council report showed about half the 40 new cameras installed could read licence plates. The council had “significant input from NZ Police”.

Winton in Southland is this week debating what to do about its old cameras after an upgrade bid last year was rejected, partly due to cost worries. Turangi is looking at licence plate cameras – its community patrol logged more than 4000 hours on its patrol car camera last year.

The Community Patrols national body was now looking at coming up with guidelines for groups keen to install number plate cameras, said chair Chris Lawton.

‘Use of these sorts of cameras is growing’

National Criminal Investigations Group director Detective Superintendent Keith Borrell told RNZ that CCTV cameras with ANPR power were a valuable crime-fighting tool.

“We are aware that the use of these sorts of cameras is growing across the country as more councils, community groups, and businesses have seen their value for their security and decide to install them.

“These groups are not required to advise police when these cameras are installed and we are often only aware of them when they report a crime, or provide information during the course of an investigation,” Borrell said. “We do engage with the community and encourage them to provide us with information that may help us to prevent and solve crime.”

Police have previously engaged in promotional activity with another major ANPR provider, Auckland company Auror

The cameras’ spread continues even as a legal challenge against the police using them so much continues at the Court of Appeal.

Vicky Alexander of Featherston also saw some pushback online occasionally, but thought it was too late for that.

“They’re everywhere,” she laughed. “I think they are fighting a losing battle.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

People in New Zealand with family in Sri Lanka are describing the widespread devastation caused by severe flooding from Cyclone Ditwah.

The extreme weather system has destroyed homes, leaving thousands displaced A state of emergency has also been declared.

There are also reports that entire villages have been washed away in landslides and many villages have been completely cut off.

Statistics from the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre [DMC] showed 212 people had died and 218 people were missing as of Sunday evening.

Aucklander Sachindra Amarasekara grew up in Sri Lanka and has family in Hanwella near the capital of Colombo.

“They are surrounded by flood water. Fortunately, their house itself has not been severely damaged, but they are in complete isolation.

“And also, the electricity lines are destructed [damaged], leaving them without power, and all internet connections are down due to damage to the service providers.

‘We heard reports that the flooding has affected the main water treatment plant in Colombo at the moment, which means they may soon lose access to drinking water as well, unfortunately.”

Amarasekara said it is a really hard time for many people.

“I’m very sure many people have seen their entire lives swept away in a single night. There’s a sense of helplessness, that’s what I felt from my father when I last I spoke to him.

“And also most of my friends and families, when I speak to them or when they’re receiving the text messages, I felt like they are quite feeling like hopeless.

“I’m sure many of them are mentally scattered, trying to understand what comes next.”

Amarasekara said many communities are isolated due to landslides, making it hard to get supplies and rescue teams to some areas.

“All three forces and the police are working really hard to reach the affected areas and get people out, and communities are also stepping to collect dry food and preparing warm meals to distribute.

“Unfortunately, most of the places, they can’t reach still because of the severe landslides, and also, the roads are not there some places and there is still floods going on.

“So many people trapped inside, so many people missing at the moment.” she said.

She said it is hard to see, as her country had already been through so much recently.

“I feel so sorry for my people because we’re just coming out from the economic crisis and we’re just about to stand on our own feet, and this is the worst we faced so far.

“We have faced wars, we have faced tsunamis, we have faced so many things, we lost so many people along the way.”

Amarasekara said as a nation, the country always comes back stronger but: “This is the very first time in Sri Lanka, I have seen that we are seeking for international help,” she said.

Samith Hettiarachchi lives in Mulleriyawa, and was told to evacuate, leaving everything behind, and said water would reach up to 20 feet and was rising 1 foot an hour.

Hansana Yaddehige also told RNZ his friends entire village was flooded, causing homes to collapse, power to go out, with no access to water.

Nipun Fernando said it was hard to get access to food.

“There is a shortage of grocery supply due to transportation issues. Devastation is pretty bad.

“Access to some areas totally blocked due to landslides and bridges been damaged. No more rain but as a result of all that rain rivers are overflowing, this is the worst ever flooding in the recent past,” he said.

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is providing consular assistance to a family travelling in Sri Lanka.

There are 200 New Zealanders registered on SafeTravel in Sri Lanka.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The death of a Dunedin woman who shot herself while deer hunting in an Otago forest was a terrible accident, a coroner has ruled.

Kate Aynsley, 48, died in Beaumont Forest’s Blue Mountains Conservation Area in June 2023 after being shot in the head by her own rifle.

In findings released on Monday, coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale said Aynsley’s gun likely went off by accident as she either fell or fumbled in steep, slippery terrain.

While no-one saw what happened, Aynsley had likely removed the safety catch while preparing to shoot a deer, the coroner found.

Aynsley had gone hunting with her fiancé but the pair had split up after hearing a buck deer barking.

Borrowdale said her body was found in an area that presented “a significant trip and slip hazard”.

She ruled out Aynsley intentionally taking her own life or any third-party involvement, saying it was a reminder to hunters to know their weapon and chamber a cartridge only when they were ready to fire.

A driven and focused mother

The report said Aynsley worked as an administrator at Target Accounting in Dunedin, where she was held in very high regard.

She had one son and was due to marry in February 2024.

Borrowdale described her as a very competent, precise and energetic person with a high level of fitness.

“She was very driven and focused, having previously become proficient at motorcycling, mountain biking and bodybuilding,” she said.

Aynsley took up hunting after meeting her fiancé four years earlier and became proficient, even publishing articles about women’s hunting, she said.

“She also participated in instructing members of the NZ Deerstalkers’ Association and mentored women’s tahr hunts,” the coroner said.

Many witnesses attested to her safety-conscious hunting methods and her fiancé confirmed she only took her firearm safety catch off when she was about to fire.

The day of the hunt

On 3 June 2023 Aynsley and her fiancé were in the Tramway Block of the Blue Mountains Conservation Area where they had won a ballot to shoot on Department of Conservation land.

Borrowdale said the area consisted of moderately steep, beech-covered hills with several streams.

Both Aynsley and her partner had previously hunted the block but not the eastern skid site where they went that day.

Aynsley had a Marlin 336 lever-action 30/30 rifle, which she had bought six months before the outing.

The pair was equipped with Garmin GPS communication devices, bum bags and packs, and were accompanied by their gun dogs.

Borrowdale said they were pursuing a buck deer when Aynsley told her fiancé she was going to wait to see what the animal did across the creek, while he moved on.

“About 20 minutes later, he heard a shot. He could see on the GPS that Ms Aynsley’s last location was 350 metres away. [He] could not get a response from Ms Aynsley on the radio, despite repeated efforts,” she said.

Aynsley’s fiancé followed her gun dog and eventually found her body 10 metres above a creek on a damp and slippery slope.

Emergency services found the gun three metres above her with the scope cover up and three rounds of ammunition in the magazine.

Aynsley’s cap was one metre away, with a gunshot wound through the right temple.

The police officer who led the scene investigation described the slope as steep and “very difficult to walk without assistance while holding onto something such as tree trunks or branches”.

Rifle could fire if hammer was knocked

Police confirmed each hunter’s movements through their GPS devices at the request of the coroner.

A police armourer also undertook ballistics analysis to determine whether and how Aynsley’s rifle could have fired accidentally.

Borrowdale said the gun was working correctly without mechanical fault and could not accidentally discharge while the safety catch was on or if it was dropped.

However, the armourer found it was possible for the rifle to accidentally discharge by a knock to the hammer with the safety catch off.

The Mountain Safety Council later found if Aynsley had sighted a deer and moved into position for a shot, she could have been reluctant to return her firearm from the “instant state” to a safe “load state” for fear of startling the animal.

The council noted that Aynsley was left-handed and the safety catch was awkwardly positioned for left-handed people.

The council also found that the safety catch could have bumped against her waist and inadvertently moved into the “fire” position if she had the rifle slung over her left shoulder, which was likely.

Three possible scenarios

Police found three possible scenarios for Aynsley’s death – two of which involved her losing her balance and one in which the hammer was knocked with enough force to fire the weapon.

Borrowdale said she had no basis for finding a most-likely scenario of the three, but was convinced Aynsleys death was accidental.

“I am persuaded by the evidence that Ms Aynsley was hunting in very difficult terrain, uneven, wet, slippery and with trip hazards in the form of roots and broken branches. Ms Aynsley was likely to have been preparing to shoot a deer and had likely removed the safety catch, which allowed for the rifle to be fired accidentally as she fell or fumbled with the weapon,” she said.

“Ms Aynsley did not intentionally take her own life and I am satisfied that there was no third-party involvement in her death.”

The coroner’s recommendations

Borrowdale urged hunters to always follow the seven basic firearms safety rules.

She said hunters should remember to chamber a cartridge only when they were ready to fire and should always have an empty chamber when crossing an obstacle of any kind, including dense bush.

“Even in a hunting area where you are expecting to see game, your firearm must be in either a ‘load state’ or an ‘unload state’ until you are ready to fire,” she said.

Hunters should also know their firearm and ensure the safety catch could not be easily switched into the “fire” position.

Borrowdale offered her condolences to Aynsley’s family and to all of those who felt her loss.

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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

A woman whose brother was killed by a group of Mongrel Mob members says she feels revictimised, after a judge stopped her from reading out all her pre-approved victim impact statement.

Paula Beilby was not only stopped, but was also chided by Justice Mary Peters, after suggesting the defendant was given special treatment, because he had a separate trial from his nine co-accused.

“My apologies,” Beilby replied, “I’m only reading what I’ve got.”

“I don’t care what you’re reading, it’s totally unacceptable for you to say that,” the judge responded, before telling her to sit down at the back of the court.

Eventually, after a second victim impact was given by another person, the courtroom was put into chambers. When it was re-opened, Beilby was told she was not allowed back in.

The move left Beilby feeling frustrated and revictimised.

“I felt being pulled aside and made an example of… it was a bit rich, considering why we were there, and I feel like justice has not been served in this case.”

Beilby’s brother, Mitchell Te Kani, was killed, after being struck with a crowbar, during a brawl at their family home in Tauranga in 2023.

Nine people stood trial last year and were sentenced in relation to his death earlier this year.

At a separate trial, a 10th person – Hamiora William Jack-Kino – was found guilty of manslaughter, and four other charges relating to the serious assault of the victim’s brother and father.

He was tried on his own, because there was doubt over his fitness to stand trial, along with his cognitive issues, which would have caused delays, due to an increased number of breaks required each day.

He was then deemed mentally fit and given a communication assistant throughout his trial, which was held in the High Court at Rotorua earlier this year.

‘I feel we’ve been further victimised’

Beilby was the first of two people to read a victim impact statement at Jack-Kino’s sentencing in the High Court at Hamilton on 16 October.

After Justice Peters invited Beilby up to the front of the court to read it, she told the judge she wanted to read the parts that had been redacted before the hearing.

“I felt the whole justice system… and the way it’s worked, it’s just further victimised our whole family,” she told the judge, explaining why she had wanted to read the unredacted version. “I felt it was just something that needed to be said, that wraps up the whole of the trial and what we’ve gone through.”

Justice Peters then explained to her how victim impact statements were permitted under the Victims’ Rights Act.

“It’s got very clear controls on what can be said and what cannot, and I’m not in charge of that. I can tell you what the law is, but I don’t make it.

“If the redactions were made, they weren’t made by me, but they will have been made because that’s what needed to happen if they were to be read.”

Justice Peters said she could read the full statement herself or Beilby could read the redacted version out loud.

She then asked her what she wanted to do.

“I’d prefer it if I was able to read the whole statement, but since you have set that precedent for us…” Beilby said.

Justice Peters replied: “I haven’t set any precedent for you, I’ve told you what is in the legislation.”

Beilby then started reading her approved statement, but when she mentioned how Jack-Kino had a separate trial, “at the taxpayer’s expense, because you or your counsel deemed you special enough to warrant one”, the judge stopped her.

“That’s actually not correct, so I don’t want those kinds of offensive remarks made in court,” Justice Peters said.

“I’ve listened to you politely, you don’t know the first thing about why Mr Jack-Kino had a separate trial and I’m not prepared to have you say those things.

“They are incorrect and [Crown prosecutor Daniel Coulson] should have corrected it for you. If he didn’t, the detective should have.”

Beilby apologised, saying she was only reading what she had in front of her.

Justice Peters replied she didn’t care what she was reading and it was “totally unacceptable” for her to make that comment.

Beilby was responding, when the judge interrupted her and told her to sit at the rear of the court, and she would finish reading her statement on her own.

Bebe Hewitt, whose son was a victim in the brawl, then read her statement, before Justice Peters closed the courtroom, ordering a chambers discussion.

Shortly afterwards, Justice Peters decided to take the rare move of not letting Beilby back in.

‘I almost expect it out of the system now’

When approached by NZME outside court, Beilby said she did understand why there had to be two trials, but her point was that didn’t serve them as a whānau for those involved to have to give evidence again.

“To have my 74-year-old father sit and recall everything of those horrific events of the night, you know, that’s why you see so many of us here, because we are all affected.

“I felt being pulled aside and made an example of, it was a bit rich considering why we were there, and I feel like justice has not been served in this case.”

She said, when she wasn’t allowed back in, she was led into another room and given the option of watching proceedings from there, via an audio-visual link.

She turned it down and instead waited outside, as Justice Peters jailed Jack-Kino for nine years and issued a minimum non-parole period of four years.

Beilby said she wasn’t threatening or physically attacking Jack-Kino or his family, like he and his co-offenders did to their whānau that fateful night.

“They have no idea how they made my family feel.”

Upon hearing Jack-Kino’s sentence, Beilby said she felt it wasn’t a deterrent.

“It’s laughable. I’m past actually feeling offended, because I have almost expected it out of the system.”

Beilby said she felt “a bit hard done by, but I’m just not surprised”.

‘The hearings are often tense and emotional’

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Office of the Chief Justice confirmed that it was the responsibility of the prosecutor “for putting victim impact statements before the court”.

While redactions were not expressly addressed in the Victims’ Rights Act, they were not uncommon.

They could be used, because of abuse being directed at the offender, references to unrelated matters or offending other than that before the court.

A judge must approve the reading of a statement in court.

Asked whether it was normal practice for a judge to read a victim impact statement before a sentencing hearing, the spokesperson confirmed it was, but she was unable to comment on specific cases.

However, the statement didn’t address Beilby specifically being removed from the courtroom. Instead, the spokesperson said sentencing hearings “are often tense and emotional”.

“The presiding judge is responsible for managing proceedings in court in a way that is orderly and safe for the people in the courtroom.

“To do this, judges are required to make decisions in the moment, consistent with what they consider necessary to ensure a hearing proceeds in a safe and orderly way.”

The spokesperson said judges increasingly saw victim impact statements that contained material outside the scope of the legislation, including comments directed at offenders and abuse.

‘I have significant concerns’

Ruth Money, chief victims adviser to the government, said while she couldn’t comment on an individual case, she did have some concerns.

“I am certainly very concerned when any victim and whānau are asked to leave a courtroom.

“Not only does it go against open and transparent justice, it’s not how anyone, let alone victim survivors, should be treated.”

Money said she’d heard of victims being warned “for going off-script and discussing justice issues, as opposed to the impact of the offending, but in my 13 years I have never had a victim removed from a courtroom”.

“I have significant concerns for any victim who is asked to leave a hearing.”

Speaking generally, Money said she expected victims to be spoken to with respect and any issues to be explained well.

The writing of a victim impact statement involved either a victim support person, a court victims adviser or a police officer sitting down with the victim.

Once drawn up, it went to the prosecutor to be checked, before it was edited or approved by the sitting judge.

She said it was then returned to the victim, who was told why certain portions may have been changed or edited out.

Money said there was no consistency around the country about what was acceptable in a statement.

“What one prosecutor or judge will allow is completely different to another.”

Money said she was currently working with the Ministry of Justice on making improvements to the Victims’ Rights Act.

“It does need to be improved in terms of responsibilities and process.”

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Raglan woman orchestrated a horrific attack on a group of local teenagers, after a righteous road-rage interaction on the seaside town’s one-lane bridge.

While Te Hina Rehua-Whare may not have laid a hand on the five victims, a judge has laid the full blame of the assault at her feet.

At sentencing in the Hamilton District Court this week, Judge Philip Crayton told the mother-of-two that the attack would never have happened had she not involved her partner, 25-year-old Kaedyn James Broughton Lee Wiremu Barber-Salvation.

The pair were both sentenced to home detention for their roles, although two others, who also unleashed punches and kicks on the victims, have still not been identified.

Judge Crayton said it was pure “luck” that nobody died that night.

‘Get f*****, I’m not moving’

The somewhat unusual incident began after the group of teenagers decided to drive to the Ngarunui Beach lookout at 9.30pm on Friday, 9 August, last year.

At the same time, Rehua-Whare, 27, was heading to pick her partner up from Primrose St.

When the victims were a third of the way along the bridge, Rehua-Whare drove her Toyota onto the bridge from the southwest, ignoring the give-way rule.

Both vehicles stopped in the middle of the bridge.

Two of the victims, who were in the backseat, got out of the car to talk with Rehua-Whare about who had the right of way and asked her to reverse off.

“Get f*****, I’m not moving,” she replied.

One of the victims said they were legally in the right, but she replied, “Get f*****, you don’t know who you are messing with”.

The argument was witnessed by a person walking on the bridge, who also told Rehua-Whare to reverse off the bridge.

Rehua-Whare refused, forcing the victims instead to reverse off the bridge, along with other road users.

She then drove off the bridge and the victims headed to the Ngarunui Beach carpark.

‘I think I’ve found them’

Shortly afterwards, Rehua-Whare arrived and parked behind the victims’ car, before leaving again.

At 9.42pm, she sent a series of texts to her partner, saying, “I think I’ve found them” and “I’m at the reserve”.

Having seen the same vehicle and with the main gate to the carpark being due to close, the victims became concerned and decided to leave.

However, by the time they got to the gate, it was shut and Rehua-Whare was parked in such a way that it blocked them from leaving.

The victims got out of their car and had another chat with Rehua-Whare, who told them they had to stay there until morning.

They then tried to drive through the gate, after unwrapping a chain, but Rehua-Whare cut off their path using her vehicle and forced them onto the grass verge.

The victims drove around the corner onto Ngarunui Beach Rd, only to find their way blocked by another vehicle. Rehua-Whare drove up behind them.

Three large men got out of the second car, including Barber-Salvation, who approached them aggressively, before hitting the bonnet of the vehicle with his fist and yelling something.

He opened the driver’s door and asked, “Are you the ones on the one-way bridge?”, before punching the driver with a closed fist.

The victim lost consciousness, causing him to slump forward in the car, which then started rolling forward down the hill.

However, Barber-Salvation kept hitting him on the back of the head, as a rear-seat passenger yelled at him to stop, because he had a previous head injury.

“I don’t give a f***,” Barber-Salvation replied, as he continued punching the victim.

Barber-Salvation then demanded that another victim get out. He complied, putting his hands up, and was punched in the back of the head.

After walking him over to his partner to apologise, Barber-Salvation punched him to the jaw, causing the victim to fall down a bank.

Rehua-Whare then told her partner the victims had a video recording of the earlier incident, so Barber-Salvation walked a victim back to his car and demanded he delete it.

At this time, one of the unknown men opened a cardoor and punched another victim several times in the face and head, while the other opened the other door and said, “Who do you think you are, doing this shit in our town?”

He then demanded “all your cash, drugs, everything”, before throwing a bottle of soft drink at him and saying, “I will teach you not to do that shit around here”, and bashing him more than 10 times.

He then held the roof, and kicked and stomped the teen victim repeatedly. The victim eventually lost his vision.

As Barber-Salvation left, he returned to the driver’s door and said, “If any of you tell the police, I will find you and kill you”.

The victims were too scared to call police, but a concerned mother rang them the following day.

The victims suffered injuries, including concussion, a broken eye socket, bruising and pain.

When spoken to by police, Rehua-Whare said she was “in a mood” before she left home that night and admitted refusing to move off the bridge, but denied any involvement in the attack.

‘She should have let it go’

Rehua-Whare’s counsel, Mark Sturm, said his client had struggled to accept some of the charges, because she didn’t take part in any of the violence.

However, he had explained her role in the bridge confrontation and then texting her partner.

“She does contend that the young victims were a little more confrontational than the prosecution presented its case, but be that as it may… the reality is the defendant, as the older person… had the option of just letting it go and moving on, and she didn’t and that’s led to the charges that she faces, and indeed charges that her partner faces.”

Neither his client nor Barber-Salvation had appeared in court before.

Sturm said her offending “appears to be an aberration, out of character”.

She was highly thought of, not just by her work colleagues and whānau, but the wider community, he said.

‘It should have been a non-event’

Judge Crayton accepted that, were it not for his partner, Barber-Salvation would never have got involved.

On charges of injuring with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure, threatening to kill and intentional damage, he was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention.

Barber-Salvation also offered $8000 in emotional harm reparation, which the judge ordered be paid.

Judge Crayton said Rehua-Whare put herself “in a situation where you couldn’t take a breath”.

“From what should have been a non-event became a nuclear option. The only fortune… is that nobody died.

“One of those young men had a significant head injury. It’s luck that he didn’t die, another one was knocked unconscious.”

She was sentenced to nine months’ home detention.

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Plymouth residents are warned to not swim at Waiwhakaiho River and Bell Block Beach, after an overflow of the council’s wastewater system.

New Plymouth District Council said the overflow was discovered at 11am Saturday and was stopped 15 minutes later.

“Our team has responded, and are correcting and monitoring the situation.”

Although the volume of the overflow was small, it had the potential to reach an unnamed tributary of the Waiwhakaiho River, it said.

“Permanent warning signs east and west of the Waiwhakaiho River mouth and at Bell Block Beach have been changed to warn against swimming, and will be in place for 48 hours.”

The cause of the overflow was a blockage in the line coming into the wastewater treatment plant, the council said.

The location of the signs and other current water quality warnings can be viewed on New Plymouth District Council’s Can I Swim? page.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The British Fashion Council has named a New Zealander Kiwi Kate Hawley as its inaugural Costume Designer of the Year.

The Fashion Awards will take place in the United Kingdom on 1 December, where Hawley has flown from Wellington to attend.

Hawley has been recognised for her work as a costume designer for the Netflix film Frankenstein, which was released last month.

“It feels more than a little fabulous and, admittedly, a little overwhelming,” she said.

Hawley studied at the Wellington School of Design, before being trained at London’s esteemed Motley School of Theatre Design.

“I will always be grateful to New Zealand for the opportunities that were afforded me that might not have been so easily created elsewhere.

“I have a long list of those to thank, but it has also been many years of learning, being inspired by so many wonderful people around the world – and through my working life.

“Every experience, individual, culture… every project shapes my approach to costume design.”

Before Frankenstein, Hawley had worked for director Guillermo del Toro on Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim.

She was also a costume designer for the television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and worked for director Peter Jackson on The Hobbit trilogy, as well as The Lovely Bones.

She worked for director Doug Liman on Chaos Walking and Edge of Tomorrow, director Chris Sanders on The Call of the Wild, director Christian Rivers on Mortal Engines and director David Ayer on Suicide Squad.

“Although this is the first time a costume designer has received this award from the British Fashion Council, I am very conscious of the legendary director-designer partnerships that came before and impacted our culture in the past – and indeed have inspired me greatly.”

The British Fashion Council said Hawley was acclaimed for her innovative, narrative-driven approach to costume design.

“Her ability to create costumes that define character, elevate story and resonate beyond the theatre are especially visible in Frankenstein, where she blends historical authenticity with a contemporary eye, and incorporates technical research to inform custom patterns and fabrics.”

Hawley was also awarded the Special Achievement in Costume Design Award at the Middleburg Film Festival in the United States last month and has been nominated for Best Costume Design at next year’s Astra Film Awards in Los Angeles.

She told RNZ that Frankenstein was director del Toro’s passion project.

“All of us are elevated under his vision and artistry. He wanted to push each and every department to their maximum – to elevate the craft of filmmaking – so we did.”

Hawley said del Toro was her inspiration for the costume design in the film.

“It’s all there in the script – themes of religion, mythology, nature unbound.

“If every part of the process has the same intention and energy of what you’re trying to do, then it’s working, and that’s how Frankenstein always felt.

“With Guillermo [del Toro], there was love in every part of the process.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Another yellow-legged hornet queen has been found in Auckland’s North Shore, as Biosecurity New Zealand escalates its attempts to eradicate the invasive insect.

To date, 27 queen hornets, seven workers and 17 nests have been successfully located and removed from the Glenfield and Birkdale areas, Biosecurity NZ said.

Genetic testing indicated the hornets were closely related, suggesting a small, contained population.

Biosecurity New Zealand North commissioner Mike Inglis said the fact they were finding more hornets showed surveillance efforts were working.

The organisation had further expanded its surveillance and on-the-ground search operations across the North Shore.

“In recent weeks, we’ve put in five times as many traps – now more than 600 – across a 5km radius from detection sites, and property-by-property searches under way within 200m of confirmed finds,” Inglis said. “We are adding additional traps, as more hornets are found.

Biosecurity teams had so far searched more than 2100 properties and continued to search across the region.

“Those ground searches are paying dividends, with many of the nests and queens being detected through those intensive ground sweeps.”

Teams from Auckland Council, Pest Free Kaipātiki, Plant & Food Research and Kiwifruit Vine Health had joined in the search.

Electronic tracking gear had also been purchased from the Netherlands to aid in the hunt, following advice from countries that had successfully managed hornet incursions.

“That technology arrived in New Zealand this week,” Inglis said. “Under the guidance of a UK expert, we plan to use the technology to trace nests, if worker activity increases over summer.”

The trackers would be attached to captured free-flying worker hornets, so that on release, they could be followed back to the hive.

Other recent Biosecurity response activities included:

• Using different trap designs and lures (sugar and protein-based)
• Ongoing inspections of beehives close to detection sites, along with ground surveys in reserves and residential areas
• A national advertising campaign launched this week, urging the public to report suspected sightings
• Continuing to raise public awareness by visiting markets, schools, local businesses, libraries and community centres

Biosecurity stressed that ongoing vigilance by the public and beekeepers was the best detection method.

“We’ve had more than 4000 public notifications so far – an incredible contribution – and we’re very keen for this to continue,” Inglis said.

Biosecurity New Zealand wanted to hear from anyone who had a suspected hornet specimen, had located a possible nest or taken a clear photo.

Sightings could be reported:

• Online at report.mpi.govt.nz
• By calling Biosecurity New Zealand’s exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66
• More information can be found at mpi.govt.nz/yellow-legged-hornet-2025

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Health New Zealand has confirmed one new case of measles in Wellington, which it says is linked to an earlier case.

This brings the number of known measles cases to 22 since 8 October 2025, with 21 no longer infectious.

New locations of interest have been identified in Wellington.

Wellington locations of interest

[L1]Saturday, 22 November – New World Wellington City, Wakefield St (6.05-7.35pm)

[L2]Monday, 24 November – BP 2Go, Berhampore (12.40-2.10pm)

[L3]Thursday, 27 November – New World Newtown (8.55-10.20am)

Any new locations of interest will be updated on the Health New Zealand website, as they are confirmed.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Air New Zealand’s Airbus A320 aircraft are returning to normal operations, after receiving software updates during a global recall.

About 6000 aircraft from the Airbus A320 family were affected, after a recent incident revealed that intense solar radiation could corrupt elements of the planes’ flight control systems.

Air New Zealand chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw said 27 flights were cancelled during the weekend and thanked customers travelling over the weekend for their patience.

“We know changes to travel plans are frustrating and we are grateful for the understanding shown to our teams, as they worked to minimise disruption, complete the updates as quickly as possible and keep people moving wherever they could,” he said.

McGraw said the airline expected no “ongoing impact” from the weekend’s disruption.

Jetstar cancelled about 90 flights, but confirmed earlier today that all software upgrades had been made and the planes had returned to service

Air New Zealand’s affected customers are able to make one free change within seven days of their original travel date, hold the value of their fare in credit for 12 months or request a refund, including for non-refundable fares.

Jetstar said their teams were working on options and were contacting affected customers directly.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A torrential downpour has literally rained on the Auckland’s parade, as MetService issued a raft of alerts, including a severe thunderstorm warning for the region.

As thousands headed home from the annual Santa Parade in Queen Street, they had to dodge a downpour that may have even greater implications around the city.

The thunderstorm warning applied to Auckland City, Kaipara, Waikato, Hauraki, Waitakere, Franklin, Rodney, Gulf and Albany, and was expected to settle in between 4.30-5pm, MetService said.

The thuderstorms were also expected to be accompanied by heavy rain.

“Torrential rain can cause surface and/or flash flooding about streams, gullies and urban areas, and make driving conditions extremely hazardous,” MetService warned.

Parts of the lower South Island were also due some rain and strong winds.

A heavy rain watch was in place for areas in Tasman, Canterbury, Otago, Southland and Fiordland from earlier on Sunday and into the evening.

A strong wind watch was also in place for Wellington, parts of Canterbury and areas of Southland into the evening, and in some areas, into the early hours of Monday morning.

More to come…

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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 new billion-dollar-plus system to better ensure cellphones get through in emergencies is being opened up to a raft of community groups.

About 25,000 frontline responders are already using the Public Safety Network’s (PSN) cellular service, which extends coverage and gives extra back-up. It shows cellphone outages in real time.

The government has now opened up the service to central and local government entities, not-for-profit organisations, and infrastructure and lifelines companies.

“They all need to use their mobile phones and other tools to get good information to do their jobs, co-ordinate with each other and stay safe,” said Steve Ferguson, who heads up the Next Generation Critical Communications unit delivering the PSN.

“We can now help them with that,”

The expansion is timed to begin from the middle of next year, via a new limited liability company.

“With top-tier emergency communications in place, New Zealand will be better prepared to respond to the variety of disasters we have seen over the past few years, such as Cyclones Gabrielle or Tam,” said Emergency Management and Recovery Minster Mark Mitchell.

Another leg of the $1.4 billion PSN system to roll out digital radios is still being worked on.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Lifeguards will start patrolling Tauranga waters a week early, due to a spike in serious accidents.

Surf Life Saving warns that the warm weather has created a perfect storm of hidden hazards, such as rips.

A man drowned at Mount Maunganui beach on Wednesday evening.

Regional manager Avan Polo said the hazards had prompted Surf Life Saving to approach the Tauranga City Council to start paid lifeguard patrols on 1 December, rather than 8 December, as originally planned.

“We’re experiencing quite a different type of water movement than we’ve had in a number of years, which is creating a number of rips and channels, all forming and moving the water around,” he said.

“It may look calm on the top, but water moving underneath is just creating a lot of problems.”

He said the hidden risks were catching swimmers by surprise.

“We’ve already seen multiple serious incidents in the past few days alone, including one fatal drowning,” he said. “Bringing the service forward will help save lives.

“Given the rising number of people heading to our beaches and the serious incidents already occurring, early coverage from surf lifeguards is both necessary and urgent.”

Polo said Surf Life Saving would deploy three mobile patrol teams every afternoon from Mount Maunganui to Papamoa.

He said the patrols usually continued for 11 weeks, but this season would last 12 weeks, given the early start.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A survey of more than 30,000 of New Zealand’s Year 10 students has indicated that the perception of vaping is changing.

The number of teenagers who vaped regularly – once a month or more – had tripled between 2019 and 2021, peaking at 20.2 percent.

But the latest Action on Smoking and Health survey has found that number has halved since then.

“Vaping is not as cool as it used to be,” chairperson Emeritus Professor Robert Beaglehole told RNZ.

The number of teenagers who vape on a daily basis has also dropped to 7.1 percent, down from “peak vape” of 10.1 percent in 2022.

Fewer than a third had ever tried vaping too, Beaglehole said, “which is great news”.

He believed regulation had also made an impact – vaping products were widely available for teenagers until 2020, when the government banned the sale to those under 18 – but feared that overregulation could push people back to smoking.

“Vaping helps adult smokers quit and is much, much less harmful than smoking.”

Beaglehole said the country was raising a smoke-free generation, with a “negligible” number – about 1 percent – of young people smoking on a daily basis since 2021.

“This is a major global success which we should be celebrating … we are leading the way.

“Youth smoking has almost disappeared, and vaping continues to fall.”

However, Beaglehole has called for more to be done to address the vaping rates for rangatahi Māori.

There was a significant decrease within the last year, he said, but 16.5 percent of Māori teenagers still vaped on a daily basis.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A record number of Christmas Boxes have been packed this year with around 2500 volunteers packing more than 35,000 boxes for the charity initiative.

Each Christmas Box has $70 worth of food and can feed a family of four to six.

Head of Community Response Rebecca So’e said Christmas was supposed to be about celebration, but it puts some families under more pressure to figure out how they’re going to pay for the presents and treats that most families have during the Christmas season.

She said this year had been even tougher than last year for people in the communities they work in.

So’e said it was also harder this year for them to raise funds due to government cuts, but they were able to just exceed their target packing a record breaking 35,269 boxes.

“We’ve designed the box with a Christmas breakfast of pancake mix and maple syrup, things that they can take to a Christmas lunch and dinner, and then stuff that will just last through the week, all the essential items.”

She said many of the items in their box wouldn’t have gone into people’s trolleys this year because they couldn’t afford it.

“Because of what’s inside [the box], the essential items, the treats, it’s actually helping families to take the pressure off their financial stress so that they can have these extra things this Christmas.”

In Auckland alone almost 20,000 boxes were packed, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and son William, former All Blacks Pita Alatini and Eroni Clark, and MasterChef judge Michael Dearth joining volunteers to help on Saturday morning.

“One of the great things about New Zealand is the way we roll up our sleeves and help out our fellow Kiwis. It was heartwarming to see so many people give up their Saturday to share goodwill with their neighbours at Christmas, and it was a privilege to help out alongside them,” Luxon said.

“I love the community. I love New Zealand, and you know no one should go hungry on Christmas Day,” Dearth said.

“For me, food is my universe. I love food. It’s a way that we connect as a people, that we’ve always connected as a people. So food is at the centre of it all really.”

Christmas Box, which is marking 25 years, began in 2001 with the simple idea of providing gift-wrapped food to neighbouring families in need at Christmas.

It was now one of the largest Christmas charity initiatives, partnering with more than 500 organisations to deliver food essentials and festive cheer to more than 30,000 Kiwi families every year.

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