Thieves are stealing copper wiring from North Canterbury power lines.123RF
Canterbury lines company MainPower is offering a $5000 reward for significant information relating to the tampering with or theft of copper earthing wires.
There have been more instances of copper theft in North Canterbury since January, compared to the whole of last year according to chief executive Sean Horgan.
“This year alone we’re up to well over 200. Over the last couple of days we’ve had another 11 that were stolen.”
Horgan said the copper that is stolen provides protection for MainPower’s equipment and for the public.
The stealing of the copper wiring impacts MainPower workers, because instead of their normal work they are also having to find and repair the power lines where the wire has been stolen, Horgan said.
And it is also costly to replace.
“We’re replacing these things. It’s about $1000 to $2000 a pop.”
The copper is on top of power poles, but not on every pole. Horgan said it is an integral part of the wider system, and it ensures the electricity runs safely to earth if there is a fault with the equipment.
Horgan said the copper runs down the length of the pole and is covered in a protective covering, and the thieves are cutting through it to take one-and-a-half to two metres of copper.
Horgan described it as an “agricultural operation”, and said thieves are using axes and wire cutters to get it out.
MainPower decided to offer a reward in the hope it would help the company find those responsible for stealing the copper, and have also enlisted the help of a private investigator.
“If you see something suspicious, our staff, the MainPower staff, are easily identifiable, they’ve got the full gear on, they look professional. If it’s somebody out the back of a car or truck with an axe, then chances are they’re up to no good, so please let us know.”
A man who claims he was sexually assaulted as a teen by an older man decades ago has been accused of making up the allegation to get a prison sentence reduced.
The accused, who has name suppression, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between 1994 and 1995.
A retrial of the alleged assailant started in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.
Yesterday, Crown prosecutor Penny Brown said the complainant, who was 18 or 19 years old at the time of the alleged offending, claims the pair drank and smoked cannabis at a bach in Lake Coleridge bach, before the complainant became so intoxicated he thought he might have been drugged.
The complainant said he was put to bed by the accused, and woke to find he was being sexually assaulted.
Brown said the complainant didn’t report it to the police until 2020, by which time she said his life had derailed and he was due to be sentenced for serious offending.
The complainant had earlier mentioned the alleged abuse to the writer of a pre-sentence report.
The accused’s defence lawyer, David Stevens, today asked the complainant about the timing of the complaint.
Stevens put to the complainant he told the pre-sentence report writer he had been abused in an attempt to reduce his sentence, and told his family about the allegation to try and explain his offending.
“No, I didn’t use anything. I don’t advertise my past, I don’t pity myself for what has happened to me over my life time. I don’t … poor me.”
Brown asked the complainant what led to him making the complaint when he did.
He said while in prison he encountered people who had experienced a lot of abuse in their lives, but he saw some of them had spoken up about what had happened to them and it had helped them.
“When you are brought up kids are supposed to be seen but not heard, you’re not meant to bring things up. And you live that life but seeing some of these old boys, and some of them are tough buggers, but to hear them come out and say you need to get it off your chest, you need to speak to someone.”
Brown asked him his response to the allegation he made up the complaint.
“What am I doing here now then? Why am I going through this now?” said the man.
“I’ve been sentenced and I’m a free man. If someone was in jail? Sure. But I’m a free man and this could have been knocked on the head ages ago. I wouldn’t be putting myself through this.”
The trial is continuing.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
More than 70 beds will be added to hospitals ahead of the colder months, which the government says will reduce wait times. File photo.Supplied/ Waikato Hospital
Millions in new government funding to meet winter demand is a drop in the bucket, healthcare unions say.
The $25 million funding will see 378 full-time staff and 71 beds added to hospitals ahead of the colder months, which the government says will increase patient flow and reduce wait times.
Health minister Simeon Brown said the goal was to keep people out of hospital by strengthening GP-level care, and improving patient flow by getting people out of those beds and into care in the community.
“Of course, this plan is not a silver bullet,” he said at the announcement at the Auckland Business Chamber on Tuesday morning.
“We know that demand will still be high and hospitals will face record levels of patients this winter,” he said.
“But by planning early, expanding capacity and supporting front-line teams we give our staff the tools, resources and flexibility they need to manage this pressure, and deliver the care when New Zealanders need it the most.”
The package included funding for 567 short-stay spots in aged care facilities, to free up space in hospitals.
Aged Care Association chief executive Tracey Martin said it was great to see the value of the aged care sector being recognised, but it was already at more than 90 percent capacity.
Finding beds to fund, and the staff to go with them, might be tricky, she said.
“So you might have money, but can you find a bed? And can you find a place that has the beds and the staffing that you need?” she said. “When you starve the sector for so long, you can’t just suddenly dial it up.”
It could be an option for aged care facilities – which were predominantly privately owned – to physically add more beds, but Martin said they might be reluctant to grow their footprint or hire staff on a short-term basis.
“I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to implement as they think it is,” she said. “There aren’t 567 short-term care beds just sitting empty right now, in New Zealand.”
Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said demand needed to be addressed in the community first.
“It’s a pretty standard winter plan, the sort that was rolled out under Labour governments,” she said.
“But the difference here is now we know 650,000 New Zealanders each year can’t afford to go to the general practitioner because of the cost. As long as that’s the case, demand will remain high in our hospitals, and they’ll continue to struggle.”
Meanwhile, the nurses’ union said any increase in staff was welcome, but this announcement severely underplayed the shortage.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter said it was not yet clear how much of the funding would go towards hiring nurses specifically, but the union’s own research estimated a business-as-usual shortage far beyond what could be met by this funding.
“We’ve got an ongoing shortage of nurses across the hospital system, and our research showed that our hospitals are short on average 587 nurses every shift, and then you’ve got the impact of winter coming.”
Sarah Dalton from the senior doctor’s union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, called it a drop in the bucket.
When that criticism was put to Brown, he stood by his announcement.
“We’re focused on putting more resource into the front line and actually making progress, and actually, this has been a plan put together by working with our local hospitals across the country, them highlighting what’s going to make the biggest difference.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
For about a year, an algal bloom in South Australian waters has had devastating effects on marine life. At my local beach, walks were a sad parade of dead sea life.
But what of the health effects of these algal blooms on humans? And what do a class of compounds called brevetoxins have to do with it?
I’m a toxicologist. Here’s what the evidence says.
ABC Four Corners’ Toxic Tide explores the health effects of South Australia’s algal bloom.
What are algal blooms?
Algal blooms are a rapid, explosive growth of algae. These blooms are complex and often contain a variety of algal species, some of which produce toxins. The mix of algal species and amount of toxins produced can vary considerably.
Brevetoxins are part of a large family of fat-soluble toxins. These are similar in structure to ciguatoxins, which cause shellfish poisoning in humans.
Brevetoxins and the related ciguatoxins act by indiscriminately stimulating nerves, causing nerve over-activity. For brevetoxins this results in gut illness, muscle cramps, seizures and paralysis.
This nerve activation also results in the smooth muscle in the trachea (wind pipe) to contract. The processes that lead to inflammation are also stimulated, worsening symptoms in people with asthma.
However, as brevetoxins are fat-soluble, they can accumulate in the food chain. High concentrations have been linked to food poisoning after eating shellfish, but not fish.
How about aerosol droplets?
While the levels of brevetoxins in sea water do not cause direct poisoning, these toxins can still have a significant impact.
Wave action can produce aerosol droplets containing the brevetoxins, which people can inhale. As brevetoxins cause tracheal contraction and inflammation, this can make people’s asthma worse.
We do not have information about brevetoxins from K. cristata and its effect on people with asthma. But we do have related evidence from the United States, specifically the effect of K. brevis blooms in Florida.
People with asthma who spent an hour on a beach during K. brevis blooms there said they had more asthma symptoms (wheezing, chest tightness and shortness of breath).
We also have evidence from exposing animals and humans to known concentrations of aerosolised K. brevis. These studies showed increased levels of asthma symptoms even at levels lower than you’d expect for brevetoxin poisoning.
It’s difficult to compare the US study with the South Australian one that identified K. cristata, as the latter didn’t measure aerosol levels of brevetoxin.
But sea water levels of algae are comparable between the two studies. This makes it likely aerosols containing K. cristata would trigger asthma symptoms.
All sites tested in South Australia by the authors of the study that discovered K. cristata also had substantial levels of K. mikimotoi, which can also exacerbate asthma.
What to do?
Health advice includes avoiding discoloured water and areas of the beach with foam. Try to avoid exposure to aerosolised algae or their fragments.
People with asthma are advised to carry their reliever medication (puffer) with them while on beaches, especially when there is abnormally thick foam or discoloured water. They’re also advised to take their preventive medication as prescribed and check their asthma management plan is up-to-date.
And what about long-term effects?
While exposure to aerosolised brevetoxins can exacerbate asthmatic symptoms during the bloom, there does not appear to be evidence for any long-term effects of exposure to these aerosols when the blooms are over.
A study of asthmatic people exposed to K. brevis blooms over a seven-year period found no chronic respiratory effects. However, further studies would be worthwhile.
Afghanistan says at least 400 people have been killed in a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul on Monday night, with potentially hundreds more wounded.
Pakistan has denied deliberately targeting the health-care facility. In a statement on X, the Pakistani Information and Broadcasting Ministry said the strikes “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban”.
Attacks on health-care facilities are surging worldwide.
On March 14, an Israeli airstrike hit a health-care facility in Lebanon, killing 12 doctors, nurses and paramedics. The strike brought the number of health-care workers killed in Lebanon in recent days to 31.
Since early March, the World Health Organization (WHO) has verified 27 attacks on health-care facilities in Lebanon alone, as Israeli strikes in Lebanon and joint US–Israeli operations in Iran have intensified.
So, what laws protect medical facilities, staff and patients during conflict? And do they lose this protection if facilities are used to shelter combatants?
What the ‘laws of war’ say about protecting hospitals
International humanitarian law contains detailed rules to protect medical personnel, facilities and the sick and wounded during armed conflict.
there are special protection for ambulances and transport used exclusively for medical purposes
these protections extend to the wounded and sick in their care. This includes enemy fighters who require treatment and are no longer taking part in hostilities
impartial humanitarian organisations must be allowed to provide medical assistance. Consent to their work cannot be refused arbitrarily
medical facilities must display the distinctive protective emblems of the Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red Crystal. Medical personnel must carry identification and armlets displaying these emblems
misusing these symbols to shield military operations is prohibited. Doing so may amount to perfidy, a type of deliberate deception which is a war crime under international law
deliberately attacking medical personnel or facilities displaying these emblems can also constitute a war crime.
Damage caused by US and Israeli attacks on Shahid Motahhari Hospital in Tehran.Anadolu/Getty
Where did these rules come from?
The laws protecting medical services in war emerged in response to the enormous suffering witnessed in 19th and 20th-century conflicts.
The first treaty protecting wounded soldiers and medical personnel dates back to 1864, when states adopted the original Geneva Convention.
Today, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, their Additional Protocols, together with a body of customary international law, form a near-universal legal framework binding all parties to conflict. This includes non-state armed groups.
These rules require warring parties to respect and protect medical personnel, facilities and the wounded and sick in all circumstances.
Why are attacks on health care increasing?
In January, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported attacks on medical facilities and personnel had reached unprecedented levels around the world. In 2025 alone, there were 1,348 attacks on health-care facilities, double the number reported in 2024.
The law itself has not changed. But warfare has. Recent conflicts in South Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza, Iran and Lebanon are taking place in densely populated urban environments. Armed groups operate within complex civilian settings, often near hospitals and clinics.
This has shifted the narrative used by some warring parties. What were once described as “mistaken attacks” are now frequently justified on grounds of military necessity. States often claim insurgents are exploiting hospitals or ambulances to gain military advantage.
Israel, for example, has accused Hezbollah and Hamas of using medical infrastructure for military purposes.
Can hospitals lose their protection if fighters are hiding inside?
Yes. Hospitals can lose their special protection if they are used, outside their humanitarian role, to harm the enemy.
However, the law sets a very high threshold for this.
If the warning is ignored, the attacking party must still comply with the core principles of international humanitarian law:
Proportionality
The expected military advantage must be weighed against the humanitarian consequences of the attack. This includes long-term impacts on health-care services. If the expected civilian harm would be excessive, the attack must be cancelled.
Precautions
All feasible precautions must be taken to minimise harm to patients and medical staff. This may include facilitating evacuations, planning for disruption to medical services, and helping restore health-care capacity after the attack.
Even when a facility loses protection, the wounded and sick must still be respected and protected.
The UN Security Council, WHO, MSF and the OHCHR have expressed concern attacks on medical personnel and facilities – and the lack of accountability for them – are becoming dangerously normalised.
The legal framework protecting hospitals and health-care workers already exists.
States and armed groups must disseminate the law and train their military forces.
National legal systems are expected to investigate and prosecute those perpetrating war crimes against the wounded and sick, medical personnel and their facilities, or misusing protective emblems for military advantage.
In practice, however, investigating attacks during active conflict is extremely challenging. Territorial states are often unwilling or unable to pursue prosecutions.
Can we reverse this trend?
Open-source investigative groups such as Forensic Architecture, Bellingcat, Mnemonics and Airwars now play a growing role in preserving satellite imagery, geo-location data, and videos uploaded to social media. These allow independent fact-finding missions to conduct credible investigations. They may pursue accountability even when territorial states are unwilling or unable to do so.
Without such accountability, places meant to save lives during conflict may increasingly become targets themselves.
A damaged car was seen after police cars swarmed central Auckland.Kim Baker Wilson/RNZ
Police have chased a stolen car across Auckland as it hit other vehicles following a home invasion in the east of the city.
The burglary in Howick was reported just after 3pm on Tuesday, with offenders reportedly armed with a machete. The offenders left the scene in a Ford Ranger taken from the property on Bleakhouse Rd, police said.
Police had seen the vehicle heading towards the East Tāmaki area.
“Eagle monitored the vehicle as it drove dangerously through Ōtara, Manukau and onto the Southern Motorway into the central city.” Superintendent Shanan Gray said
Police officers seen in downtown Auckland after an incident resulted in a pursuit.Kim Baker Wilson/RNZ
On multiple occasions it was seen driving on the wrong side of the road at high speeds.”
Gray said the Ford Ranger was the cause of several collisions with cars that belong to members of the public.
“Police vehicles were rammed on more than one occasion.”
Another damaged car at the scene of the incident.SUPPLIED
One lane of Karangahape Rd was blocked by police.
An RNZ reporter at the seen said two damaged vehicles can be seen, a small Honda with extensive damage to the front and its bumper ripped off and lying on the road, and a Ford Ranger nearby.
A damaged car was seen after police cars swarmed central Auckland.Kim Baker Wilson/RNZ
Because of the risk, Gray said the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) was deployed and followed the car on Queen St.
Several police cars were seen swarming downtown AucklandSUPPLIED
“AOS has carried out a non-compliant vehicle stop on Karangahape Road, immediately taking all four occupants into custody,” he said
“Police deployed a range of tactics including a distraction device, a non-lethal sponge round and a police dog to effect the arrests.”
It was lucky no-one was seriously hurt, he added.
Police also want to hear from anyone who had their vehicle damaged by the incident.
They will be laying charges on Tuesday afternoon.
Police officers seen in downtown Auckland after an incident resulted in a pursuit.Kim Baker Wilson/RNZ
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Donna Moon vaccinating a child.Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO)
A Bay of Plenty health team has had a big boost in childhood vaccination rates, saying “pressure free kōrero” and giving people space are the keys to success.
Over about 18 months, the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO) has lifted the vaccination rate for Māori under-twos in its care from 58 percent to 70 percent.
For all its under-twos, it has gone from 78 to 83 percent.
Childhood vaccination rates for diseases like whooping cough and measles took a hit in the Covid era and have been slow to recover in many parts of the country.
The Western Bay of Plenty team said a flexible and personalised approach was driving change.
It was holding night and mobile clinics, and had nurses who would visit people at home if they had not been able to contact them.
Donna Moon was one of the outreach vaccinators.
She got mixed reactions when she turned up at people’s homes but said face-to-face visits made a huge difference.
It was a privilege to be at someone’s home and she always tried to respect their boundaries, she said.
“I will always say ‘look there is no pressure in this conversation’ early in the conversation,” she said.
Donna Moon was one of the outreach vaccinators.Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO)
There were many reasons why people were behind on their vaccinations.
“It could simply be that they haven’t had time, they haven’t had petrol money, they’ve made appointments then the kids have been sick so there’s so many different reasons. Sometimes mum is needle-phobic and they just can’t face it,” she said.
Moon said she rarely vaccinated children at the first home visit, more often having a chat and listening to any concerns before leaving.
The nurses understood that patients had often been dealing with a lot of conflicting information on social media and it was hard for many to work out what was scientific and what was emotional, she said.
It was important to give people lots of space – many wanted to discuss it with their whānau, she said.
“We know that if we go at people with a whole lot of factual information, they’ll just close off. They need time to think about it, especially if they have been in that space of being reluctant,” she said.
The team never judged people on their decisions or the time they were taking, she said.
The Western Bay of Plenty PHO is a partnership between 23 GP practices and the Ngāi te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui iwis.
They also worked with the public health services and other iwi health organisations – it ran its overnight clinics alongside Ngati Kahu Health.
Tori Macartney oversees the outreach vaccination team and said, for the night clinics, the starting point was a “pressure free kōrero.”
Some people would choose to have their children immunised there, others would just glean information.
About 75 percent of the PHO’s vaccinations were done in standard clinics – but having options for the other quarter was crucial, she said.
“Is it easiest for us to come to the home? Would they prefer the immunisation done in their whare or in a van or in a night clinic?” she said.
The chief executive of the PHO, Sarah Stevenson, said the collaborative approach was key.
It was also working hard to take an equitable approach to its work and the team had been working on getting a better understanding of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori.
Stevenson said one of the keys was to be very tailored to what the community needed and it was fantastic to see that working.
“It’s kind of delivering healthcare out there on the road in a way that is just more convenient,” she said.
“It’s an important service I think in any healthcare delivery that we look at what is the easiest and best way to deliver healthcare – and immunisation is no different.”
The organisation had about 148,000 patients enrolled across its clinics.
There were more than 800 under-twos covered by the statistics in the 18 month period, just over 120 of them Māori.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Food prices are up 4.5 percent, one of several economic indicators that household budgets are being squeezed.RNZ
New Zealand could experience a real fuel choke point in a fortnight, and Treasury’s worst-case scenario for inflation is too optimistic, says a leading economist.
War in the Middle East has effectively closed the Hormuz Strait, one of the world’s major shipping routes for crude oil.
While the government says New Zealand does not have a supply problem, it has conceded that rising prices will be putting pressure on some households.
Economist Cameron Bagrie says the real crunch point will come in just a few weeks, with fuel destined for New Zealand currently being refined in SIngapore or Korea after going through the strait before it closed.
“What that means in practise is that we’ve got about 30 days supply stored here locally, there’s about another 20 days on the water
“But it’s anybody’s guess as to what ships are going to be in the water two weeks down the track.”
He said a realistic picture should start becoming clear in the next week or two – “The critical variable to watch is going to be despatches of vessels out of Korea.”
While Treasury has said a 3.7 percent rise in inflation was the worst case scenario facing the country, Bagrie said he thought inflation was going to be closer to 3.7 percent as a baseline, with rises in oil costs following through into general price rises.
But he added that there was still so much uncertainty in the global economy.
“Three point seven is an incredibly low number to be putting out there if you are talking worst case scenario.
“There is a big risk that we need to manage, but that risk is unquantifiable at the moment because it’s a moving feast, just have a look at the volatility we’re seeing across markets oil prices get up around $110-$120 and then they’re down to $90, then they’re back up to $105
“There’s so much uncertainty out there and so much flip-flopping in regard to putting pen to paper and coming up with numbers.”
But Bagrie said he had been impressed by the finance minster’s moves this week.
“Nicola Willis has actually done a really good job in the past couple of days, being very measured and pretty honest in regard to her responses. Do we have a problem? The answer is yes. How much of a problem is it going to be? We don’t really know because this thing could settle down quickly, oil prices are up and down like a yo-yo.”
He said there would be a return to normalcy “at some stage”.
“No one knows what stage or how long the duration of this thing is going to last. If anybody can give me an idea of the duration or when Hormuz is going to open, we’ll give you a pretty firm economic assessment in regard to what’s going to be the economic hit.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Fruit and vegetables are up 9.4 percent on last year, with meat, poultry and fish rising 7.5 percent.123RF
New Zealand would benefit from a regime banning “excessive” supermarket prices, Consumer NZ says.
The organisation says some supermarket shoppers are questioning how quickly food prices have risen, as conflict in the Middle East pushes up oil prices.
Consumer NZ head of research and advocacy Gemma Rasmussen said it was understandable that shoppers were worried about how high prices could go.
Stats NZ data for February showed even before the impact of the conflict on oil prices was felt, food prices were up 4.5 percent year-on-year. Fruit and vegetables were up 9.4 percent and meat, poultry and fish 7.5 percent.
“When you pick up an item off the shelf, countless factors contribute to the final price. That makes it extremely difficult for consumers to know whether they are paying a fair and accurate amount,” Rasmussen said.
“Whether you’re an everyday shopper or a seasoned economist, breaking down the true pricing of any food item in a supermarket is close to impossible.
“The question for shoppers is: Are the prices you’re paying for food fair and competitive, and are there instances when the supermarkets are using external pressures as a smokescreen to jack their prices?”
She said when Cyclone Gabrielle hit the Hawkes Bay, she spoke to a producer who provided an example of a produce item that was affected by the floods.
“This resulted in the store price going from $3.50 a kg to $9 to $14.
“They said, if it’s sold for $3.50 retail, the supermarket is buying it for around $1.99 wholesale. It ended up reaching $4.50 wholesale, but despite this, it ended up being sold in the supermarkets for as high as $14.
“One supplier spoke on an instance when the margin a major supermarket made on a frozen product was close to 60 percent. He’s currently selling frozen produce with an alternative retailer who is ‘a dream to work with’ and takes only a 25 percent margin.”
She said businesses could set or increase their prices as they saw fit unless there was some form of price regulation in place.
“Australia had a similar model. However, from 1 July 2026, it will introduce a specific excessive pricing regime for very large supermarkets that will ban prices considered excessive in relation to supply cost plus a reasonable margin. If one of the big players breaches these rules it will face penalties of up to A$10 million, three times the benefit gained, or 10 percent of turnover.
“In effect, this is a direct attempt to curb price gouging and hold major supermarkets accountable where mark-ups are excessive and unjustified.
“New Zealand could benefit from a similar regime. Long-term structural reform has so far done little to meaningfully reduce supermarket pricing pressure, and with cost-of-living concerns continuing, households remain exposed to pricing that may be difficult to justify.”
Rasmussen said cost-of-living concerns were rising and shoppers were “continually” affected by potentially unfair or excessive pricing.
“New Zealanders don’t have time to wait for long term structural changes to be implemented and take effect.”
Woolworths and Foodstuffs were approached for comment.
Separately, Foodstuffs provided an update that said it was still business as usual at its supermarkets but its suppliers were planning ahead.
“New Zealand sits at the end of global supply chains, so we’re always looking upstream and keeping an eye on international events that could have flow-on effects for us,” said managing director Chris Quin.
“A large proportion of our products are grown or manufactured locally in New Zealand or Australia, sourced from Asia, or travel from Europe around the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of Africa. So, right now our grocery supplies are largely unaffected by the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, and our normal offer’s available in our stores.
“The main issue at the moment is higher fuel, freight and packaging costs rather than product availability.
“We’ve seen the cost of diesel for our transport fleet rise significantly, but at this stage we’re absorbing that to help keep our food prices as steady as possible for customers.
“For every dollar on-shelf, around two-thirds goes to suppliers for the goods themselves.
“So if suppliers are facing higher freight, fuel, packaging or other input costs, those pressures flow through over time. As we’ve all seen, this is a fast-moving situation, with no clear timeframes or outcomes. The effects of what’s happening now with supply chains and fuel prices could still be felt months down the track.”
Woolworths said it was watching the situation closely. “At this stage our stock levels and pricing have not been affected but we continue to monitor it.”
When diesel prices jump, most Australians notice it at the bowser.
But in parts of remote Australia, diesel is what keeps the lights on. That makes it indispensable.
That’s why the federal government’s decisions to temporarily relax fuel standards and release some of Australia’s domestic reserves matters beyond transport.
And these measures raise a broader question: how can we protect diesel-dependent communities from future fuel price shocks?
Beyond the bowser
Tighter global oil markets don’t only affect petrol stations. Instead, they impact every link in Australia’s complex fuel supply chain. And people in regional and remote communities are often the first to be hit by fuel shortages and delayed deliveries.
In many remote communities, these global pressures directly impact the electricity supply. About 500,000 people, or 2% of Australians, live off-grid. This means they are not connected to the main electricity grid.
In the Northern Territory, about 25 million litres of diesel are pumped into generators that supply electricity to remote Aboriginal communities. Some of these communities are not protected by consumer laws that aim to keep residents informed about disruptions to the energy supply, such as when electricity is disconnected. Given power is an essential service, that’s simply not good enough.
Fuelling regional communities
However, it’s not just remote communities that rely on diesel. Higher diesel prices have significant ramifications for regional economies more broadly.
In March, the federal government modified Australia’s fuel quality standards. This was primarily to get more fuel to farmers, fishers and regional residents. Agriculture is particularly reliant on diesel, with the National Farmers’ Federation warning of major disruptions to harvest and planting schedules. Diesel also powers key farm machinery including tractors and irrigation pumps. So as diesel prices surge, farmers are paying more to produce food and fibre.
Rising fuel prices also expose the weaknesses in regional electricity systems. This was shown by a government report examining the effects of a catastrophic storm event that swept across Victoria in 2024. It found at the peak of the event, more than 530,000 homes and businesses lost power after six transmission towers collapsed. That outage was not caused by a fuel shortage. But it reinforces the fact we cannot rely on complex electricity systems built on long supply chains.
The good news is Australia is already moving towards a more reliable, and local, energy system.
According to the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 2024 Integrated System Plan, the cheapest way to create a net-zero electricity system is to use renewable energy in combination with gas and battery storage. Under this plan, consumer energy resources such as rooftop solar, batteries and electric vehicles will become a crucial part of how we distribute electricity.
Microgrids often combine solar with other renewable energy technologies.Jim Mone/AP
Embracing microgrids
Microgrids could be another promising option. A microgrid is a small local power system that often combines solar, batteries and smart devices that help monitor energy use. In some cases, microgrids can keep generating power when the main grid is damaged or offline.
Some Australian communities are already experimenting with microgrids. On King Island, off Tasmania’s northeast coast, the local renewable integration project supplies more than 65% of the town’s annual electricity needs. As part of the First Nations Community Microgrids Program, South Australia is installing hybrid systems that combine solar, battery and diesel elements in remote Aboriginal communities. Both projects aim to generate renewable energy in a more affordable and reliable way.
Microgrids have multiple benefits. One is they are modular, meaning they are made of different parts that can be combined in different ways to meet each community’s specific needs. Microgrids are also relatively portable. This means we can put them in communities with the greatest energy needs, such as towns that rely on diesel or are located at the edge of large networks.
However, microgrids are not a silver bullet. Communities should consider several factors before installing a microgrid, including whether they have a suitable place to put it. Each community must also make sure it can afford the upfront costs of installing a microgrid. In some places, it may be more feasible to strengthen existing energy infrastructure.
Overall, microgrids could help us more effectively generate, store and distribute energy. They may be particularly suited to remote communities that rely on finite fuel supplies.
Unfortunately, we are living through a period of international conflict and fuel price shocks. So it’s time we prioritise making and storing power closer to the people who need it most.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University
As the Middle East war enters its third week, there is no sign from either Iran or the United States and Israel that they will stop the fighting any time soon. It is getting more violent and nasty by the day.
The Iranian Islamic regime is fighting for its survival, while the US and Israel want to substantially degrade or destroy it.
The Iranian side lacks the US and Israeli firepower, yet it has proved to be more resilient than its adversaries may have expected. It has resolved to fight for as long as possible and inflict as much economic pain regionally and globally as is necessary.
So where do things go from here? What do the US and Israel want to achieve in the war, and how might it end?
A building damaged by an Iranian ballistic missile in Ramat Gan, Israel, on March 15.Abir Sultan/EPA
Trump’s incoherent objectives
The US and Israel launched this “war of choice” against Iran on February 28. Trump evidently expected the formidable US air and naval power, as well as Israeli air power, would rapidly prevail.
At a minimum, Trump was anticipating the Iranian regime would then accept his demand for a favourable nuclear deal. But he was also suggesting broader aims aligned with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s objectives – to force Iran to forfeit its long-range ballistic missiles and sever its ties with regional proxies.
This would then open the way for Iran’s restless population to resume their protests, aiming to topple the regime and replace it with one acceptable to Washington and Jerusalem.
But this has not happened.
It is now abundantly clear the US and Israel started a war without a clear goal, strategy, timeline, end game or justification. There was also no adherence to international law.
The Trump administrations’s objectives have been confusing and contradictory, with different narratives being spun by the president and his main advisers.
They have included everything from freeing the oppressed Iranian people to removing a direct threat to America and destroying Iran’s nuclear program and missile capability. (Never mind Trump previously claimed he had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program in last year’s bombing campaign.)
Trump has also called for regime change, or as he put it, “a little excursion” to get rid of “some evil” leaders.
Trump attempts to clarify reasons for Iran war.
Trump has further claimed the human and economic cost of the war – including oil and gas shortages worldwide – will be temporary. But when the fighting will stop is anyone’s guess. Trump has insisted the war is already won, then said it will only end when he feels it in his “bones”.
In the meantime, the US has intensified its air bombardment of Iran, claiming to have hit 15,000 targets and destroyed every military site on Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, the main terminal for exporting 90% of the country’s oil.
Trump is now reportedly considering sending US forces to occupy the island, while inviting US allies, as well as China, to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil shipments.
Inviting China to such a coalition is a fanciful idea – it has good relations with Iran. Most other countries have thus far refused to commit.
Israel’s one clear goal
While Trump’s goals seem to change by the minute, Netanyahu has a more clear war objective. He wants to destroy not only the Islamic regime but also diminish the Iranian state, no matter the consequences for the Iranian people and territorial integrity.
He has also lately been vocal about his ambition for a Biblical notion of “greater Israel”, based on the Book of Genesis, spanning from the Euphrates River to the Nile River. The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, backed him on this in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson.
Although Netanyahu has been widely condemned for voicing these ambitions, he has not backed away from them.
Meanwhile, Israel has also just sent troops into southern Lebanon for what it calls “limited and targeted ground operations” against Hezbollah, though many fear this could lead to a prolonged occupation. Israel’s defence minister says residents will not be permitted to return until the safety of northern Israel is secured.
An Israeli soldier at an undisclosed position near the Israel-Lebanon border on March 15.Atef Safadi/EPA
Iran’s strategy: hold on
Whatever one’s view of the Iranian regime, it has been more goal-oriented and strategic than its adversaries. It has also displayed a remarkable degree of entrenchment and durability.
The regime rapidly replaced the slain supreme leader with his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, though he has not yet been seen in public.
Despite all the internal and external pressure the regime is facing, the members of its heavily armed and well-structured security and bureaucratic apparatus have remained solidly loyal.
And though thousands joined street protests against the regime before they were quashed in January, other Iranians have united behind the regime. Many Iranians have historically been motivated to support the regime against external aggression, due to civilisational pride, a Shia tradition of martyrdom and a strong sense of nationalism.
On the battlefield, the regime is pursuing a strategy of asymmetrical warfare, with the aim of outlasting the US and Israel and inflicting as much damage as possible. This entails turning the war into a regional conflict to pressure the Arab states in the Persian Gulf to push the Trump administration for an end to the war – and perhaps reconsider their reliance on the US as a security provider.
As the situation stands now, the scene is set for a long, bloody and destructive war. Each of the protagonists has painted itself into a corner and doesn’t know how to get out.
There are two possible ways the war could end.
The first is centred on hardware. Whichever side depletes its stocks of missiles and interceptors first could signal a desire to end the fighting.
The second possibility is that Trump claims he has degraded the regime sufficiently and declares a kind of victory. He has hinted at this already given the domestic opposition to the war (including some of his influential MAGA supporters), the growing economic costs of the war, and the impending midterm elections.
If this happens, the Islamic regime will also claim victory, given it has held on and remains intact.
Whatever the outcome, the Iranian and Lebanese civilians would have borne the brunt of this war, and the region will transition to another historical phase of uncertainty and instability in a highly polarised world.
The health of global democracy is regressing to Cold War-era levels. For the average global citizen, democracy is now back where it was in 1978, according to new research assessing more than 200 countries.
The 10th edition of the V-Dem report, released today, shows the level of democracy for the average citizen in Western Europe and North America is at its lowest level in more than 50 years, primarily because the United States is becoming more autocratic.
In fact, under the metrics used in this report, the US is no longer considered a liberal democracy. It’s instead been demoted to an “electoral democracy”.
So as other countries backslide, how does Australia stack up?
How do you measure democracy?
The report has been compiled by researchers at the University of Gothenburg’s V-Dem Institute in Sweden.
But let’s step back for a moment and understand what we mean by democracy. In an era in which even China claims to be a democracy, the term is more contested than ever.
V-Dem stands for Varieties of Democracy, acknowledging the many models of democracy and the need to measure how well the will of the people is represented and protected by a nation’s leadership.
V-Dem combines political science with five democracy-defining principles: electoral, liberal, deliberative, participatory and egalitarian.
These principles are measured across more than 600 different attributes annually by around 4,200 scholars and other country experts for 202 countries and territories from 1789 onwards. The result is the world’s largest dataset of democracies, with more than 32 million data points.
In the report, countries are classified as liberal democracies, electoral democracies, electoral autocracies or closed autocracies.
The global picture
The report shows just 7% of the world’s population live in liberal democracies. These are countries with free and fair multiparty elections and freedom of expression and association. They also have judicial and legislative constraints on the executive, along with protection of civil liberties and equality before the law.
Australians are among the lucky few.
By contrast, 74% of the world’s population, or six billion people, now live under autocracies: a form of government where power is concentrated in the hands of one person. This includes Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, India and China.
The remaining 19% live in a democratic shell in which multiparty elections are still free and fair, but key checks and balances are severely compromised. In these places, there are also limited protections for civil liberties and equality before the law.
Australia’s closest allies are affected by democratic backsliding, also called autocratisation. This includes the aforementioned US, the United Kingdom, Canada and several member states in the European Union.
The report also ranks countries using a measure called the liberal democracy index. The five countries with the best scores are Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Estonia.
Where does Australia sit?
Australia is ranked 12th best overall democracy. This position is unchanged from previous years.
There is no hard evidence showing whether Australia’s success can be attributed to compulsory and preferential voting, as is often argued. It could just as well be the high level of tertiary education of women or the unique composition of the Senate that keeps strongmen out of office.
Either way, remaining in the same rank amid global democratic backsliding is no cause for celebration. Australia is also gradually declining, just not faster or slower than other countries.
Australia is the world’s 12th best democracy overall, but it’s slipping.Richard Wainwright/AAP
It should act as a warning sign that when sorted by egalitarianism, Australia ranks just 26th. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has been growing wider for decades.
Trust in major parties has been declining. Despite compulsory voting, the primary vote for the two main parties has been steadily dropping, creating space for new forces to gain power.
There’s much Australia can learn from higher-ranked countries, especially on addressing inequality.
A third wave of autocracies
The past 25 years of autocratisation are described as the third wave in modern history.
While the first two waves were known for military coups and election fraud, this third wave is unique for its stealth mode. It hides behind a legal facade, and is slowly chipping away at democratic institutions.
The same authors who coined the term “third wave autocratisation” in 2019 and did not see reason for panic back then are now sounding the alarm bells.
In this light, it’s worth remembering what makes democracy so good in the first place.
The data show that democratisation leads to higher, sustained GDP (gross domestic product) per capita growth, better social protection, better health outcomes, lower infant mortality, greater access to safe water and electricity, and greater gender equality.
Also, researchers note democracies “do not wage wars against each other and see much lower risks of conflict and instability than autocracies. Autocratisation leads to more wars and conflicts.”
But the data also show democracy has one major Achilles heel: it does not, in general, lead to lower levels of economic inequality.
Research demonstrates this inequality harms the mental and physical health of citizens in a society and undermines overall social cohesion. It enhances the perception that society is breaking down and that only a strong leader can restore order (even when that leader wants to challenge democratic values).
Notably, most recent strongman leaders were first elected in open and fair elections before they began eroding the very democratic institutions that brought them to power, so as to remain in power.
So managing and actively caring for democracy and democratic values is key to maintaining them. As much of the world goes backwards, Australia has work to do to not just to keep the liberal democracy we have, but to improve it.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is expected to respond to allegations made by his ex-wife at a media conference at 4.45pm today.
He arrived back in the country from Australia on Tuesday.
The claims – which do not relate to any unlawful activity – were posted on Jade Paul’s private Facebook page on Sunday evening but were since removed.
On Monday, Hipkins said “I reject the allegations entirely and don’t intend to make any further comment.”
In response to questions from RNZ, Paul said she stood by her comments.
Hipkins and Paul married at Premier House in early 2020 and separated in 2022. They have two children.
Hipkins publicly confirmed the split in January 2023, shortly after becoming prime minister, saying they had made the decision in the best interest of their family.
Later that year, Hipkins revealed during his election night concession speech that he had a new partner, Toni Grace.
TradeMe said Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Kona were the most searched electric vehicles.123RF
TradeMe says rising petrol prices are prompting more people to consider electric vehicles.
The site said it experienced a 142 percent spike in searches for electric vehicles in March compared to February.
The average price of 91 is now over $3.05 a litre according to price monitoring app Gaspy.
TradeMe said there were 125,000 searches for electric vehicles in the first half of March, compared to 50,000 in the same period of February.
TradeMe head of motors Brendan Hall said the end of the government’s Clean Car Scheme in December 2023 created a huge spike in demand previously.
“We saw EV searches peak at 111,000 in October 2023 as buyers rushed to take advantage of the rebate before it disappeared. As expected, interest cooled considerably after it ended, with searches declining in the beginning of 2024.
“The latest interest marks a significant turnaround, showing that while the rebate was a strong motivator, the current pressure of fuel prices has Kiwi drivers seriously considering whether an electric model would suit their needs.”
The average price of an electric vehicle on Trade Me is $39,000.
The most commonly searched cars were a Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Kona.
Hall said a 2015 Tesla Model S was the most viewed and watchlisted EV.
“At the same time, there is currently a 2013 Nissan Leaf with an asking price of $2,500, so there really is something for everybody.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Paul Canton served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1991-1998.Military.com/Facebook/Supplied
A New Zealander who has lived in the US for 25 years and even served in the US Marine Corps now faces deportation from the country.
Paul Canton was in Marines for seven years and had built a life for himself in Florida, with a wife and children, Military.com reported. But a judge has denied his bid to stay.
Born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, Canton first visited the US as an exchange student and said he “fell in love” with the country.
Orlando’s Channel 9 reported that he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1991 just weeks before the Persian Gulf conflict ended.
Canton said his recruiter promised him citizenship if he served and was discharged honourably, which he did in 1998.
He went on to marry a US citizen and have children who are also citizens, Channel 9 reported.
Canton had even voted in elections but while applying for a new driver’s license, he found out he had never become an American citizen.
He then hired a lawyer and spent years trying to navigate the immigration system.
Tampa Bay 28 reported that last month a federal judge denied Canton’s legal status.
This was due to a US law that grants naturalisation to veterans but only if they actively served during a time of hostility.
Canton’s attorney Elizabeth Ricci had previously told Tampa Bay 28, that even though he was recruited during Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf, Canton was not called to duty in the Selective Reserve until two weeks after the hostility ended.
She also told Channel 9 that his Australian citizenship was stripped when he joined the marines, so he is currently without a state.
Canton said he felt the US immigration system was flawed, according to Millitary.com
“I feel like I’ve been shoved through a crack.”
He said this was especially true when laws aren’t in the books to allow automatic citizenship to veterans who were honourably discharged with no criminal records.
Channel 9 also reported that Canton was not eligible for sponsorship from his partner due to his voting history.
He maintained that because he believed himself a citizen, he could vote but casting a ballot has prevented him from getting citizenship status even with his family’s help.
Canton’s family is now having to prepare for a potential, looming deportation back to New Zealand.
“My oldest boy is going to empty out the house and sell it,” Canton said in the report by Millitary.com.
“And that’s the end of my time in America. Because I can’t come back.”
“I have earned the title of United States Marine and they’re never going to take that from me,” he said.
His attorney told Channel 9 that Canton’s only pathway to remaining in the US is Congress passing a special naturalisation bill or US President Donald Trump getting involved.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rodrigo Praino, Professor & Director, Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies, Flinders University
US President Donald Trump speaks in a way unlike any of his predecessors. His distinctive and highly recognisable style may even play a role in his appeal to his political base. Since the infamous Access Hollywood tapes, he has got away with saying things none of his predecessors would have ever dreamed of saying in public. This is particularly striking in a country that was shocked to learn in the 1970s that Richard Nixon used dirty words in the Oval Office.
Scholars have described Trump’s rhetorical style as “unbalanced vituperation”, stressing his constant use of demeaning language, false equivalences and exclusion.
Even more strikingly, a recent study found Trump’s use of violent vocabulary, especially language linked to war and crime, represents a radical departure from US political tradition.
Since the beginning of the war with Iran, Trump’s rhetoric has become even more combative and outrageous, marking an even sharper shift from the language used by his predecessors in similar occasions.
What effect does this have and what does it tell us about the commander-in-chief’s state of mind?
Demeaning opponents
Trump announced the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by calling him a “wretched and vile man”. Later, in a Truth Social post, he called him “one of the most evil people in history” and referred to “his gang of bloodthirsty thugs”.
A few days later, he continued denigrating leaders of the Iranian regime, describing them as “deranged scumbags” whose killing was for him a “great honor”. He has also insulted Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father as Iran’s Supreme Leader, describing him as “unacceptable” and a “lightweight”. He also stated during an interview that he believes Mojtaba is alive but “damaged”.
Americans are no strangers to their presidents using strong language to describe adversaries. Ronald Reagan famously referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire”, and George W. Bush warned of an “Axis of Evil”.
Yet such rhetoric rarely extended to personal insults against individual foreign leaders. Leaders generally bring a mood to these speeches that recognises their words will be frightening for many people. It also acknowledges that in a war situation, lives will inevitably be lost.
George W. Bush, for example, simply stated that US forces “captured Saddam Hussein alive”. Barack Obama announced to the nation Osama bin Laden’s killing by addressing the mastermind of the worst terrorist attack on US soil simply as “Osama bin Laden, leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist”.
Constant threats
Trump has also shown little restraint in issuing threats. At the beginning of the conflict he stated in an interview that they had not even started hitting Iran hard and that the “big wave” was coming soon. He later posted on Truth Social that he was ready to hit Iran “twenty times harder” and threatened to “make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again”, adding that “death, fire and fury will reign [sic] upon them”. At one point, he even suggested that he might strike Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub again “just for fun”.
This language is not only vitriolic. It also is in sharp contrast with the rhetoric of past US presidents who often emphasised restraint in the use of force and showed willingness to de-escalate military conflicts.
Previous presidents have been very clear about the strength of the US military, but they have also tried to focus on diplomacy and negotiation.
Obama, talking about Syria, famously remarked that “the United States military doesn’t do pinpricks”. Yet, moments later, he asked Congress to postpone a vote authorising the use of force while his administration pursued diplomatic options.
Nixon stated during the Vietnam war that “The peace we seek to win is not victory over any other people, but the peace that comes ‘with healing in its wings’; with compassion for those who have suffered; with understanding for those who have opposed us; with the opportunity for all the peoples of this Earth to choose their own destiny”.
Trump’s threats of escalation also raise concerns about the safety of civilians and the protection of critical infrastructure. He recently stated he “didn’t do anything to do with the energy lines, because having to rebuild that would take years”. This remark suggests some awareness of the consequences of such actions.
Even so, earlier presidents often distinguished explicitly between military targets and civilian populations. George H. W. Bush, during the Gulf War, declared “our quarrel is not with the people of Iraq. We do not wish for them to suffer”.
In 2023, George W. Bush warned Iraqi military and civilian personnel: “do not destroy oils wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people. Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people”.
Words matter
It is still unclear why Trump’s rhetoric is so violent and so far removed from the language of virtually every US president before him. A 2020 study found Trump’s foreign policy rhetoric often aims to create a sense of crisis to mobilise his domestic base – or distract from political troubles at home.
Some observers argue Trump has used, or even manufactured, national crises as a mechanism to expand executive power through emergency declarations. Whether this is the case in the current war with Iran remains to be seen.
But words certainly matter.
On December 19 1945, US President Harry S. Truman issued a special message to Congress recommending the Department of War and the Department of the Navy be merged into a single “Department of National Defense”. Between 1947 and 1949, Congress and the executive branch implemented this proposal. Many other countries went through a similar process in the postwar period, replacing the language of “war” from the name of their departments and ministries with the more restrained term “defence”.
Seventy-six years later, in 2025, Trump reversed that tradition with an executive order renaming the Department of Defense as the US Department of War.
This same executive order clearly states that the new name demonstrates a willingness to fight wars at a moment’s notice. And the reason is not only to defend, but to “secure what is ours”.
Viewed in light of the current war with Iran, those words provide some insight into the administration’s thinking. They also invite reflection on other words coming out of the administration and its supporters, including the “Gulf of America”, the idea of Canada as the “51st state”, and even the far-fetched “Trump 2028” chant.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Mclaughlin, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia
The federal government has just released updated physical activity guidelines for adults and older adults (aged 65+) for the first time in more than a decade.
The Australian government first produced guidelines for adults in 1999, building on decades of strong evidence that physical activity delivers tremendous health benefits.
So, what’s changed with the new guidelines, and will they produce strong health outcomes?
What’s changed?
The guidelines “illustrate what a healthy 24 hours of movement looks like” and “aim to help people improve their health and wellbeing through movement”.
For the first time, Australia has adopted “24 hour movement guidelines” for adults, now including sleep.
Specifically, they recommend 7-9 hours a night of good quality sleep, with consistent bed and wake-up times.
New “practical guidance” on how to meet the recommendations are provided, for example: “for those who are able and track daily steps, aim for 7,000 or more steps per day”.
We commend the new guidelines – they provide evidence-based information on ways to get healthier.
But it is only information.
Without changes to laws, policies and funding, the guidelines tell people to do more – without more.
What’s missing?
The guidelines frame physical activity as your responsibility: they tell you to move your body and get a good night’s rest, regularly.
But making it our responsibility isn’t working at the population level. Since the first guidelines in 1999, national physical activity levels have remained stubbornly low.
Guidelines haven’t and won’t shift the needle on population levels of physical activity. They provide information, not supportive environments that can eliminate barriers to activity, such as lack of time and cost-of-living pressures.
Decades of research show population activity levels and sleep quality are primarily shaped by our physical and social environment, such as where people live, what is close by, what it costs and how much spare time we have.
Creating active neighbourhoods through supportive laws, funding and policies will shift the needle.
Here are four policy ideas that would actually increase Australians’ physical activity.
1. Redirect road funds to walking and cycling
The vast majority of Australians support redirecting road funds to walking and cycling.
Walking and riding deliver strong population health benefits, which translate into economic benefits. For example, for every one kilometre walked, it is estimated the national economy benefits by A$6.30, while every kilometre cycled benefits the economy by $4.10.
By comparison, we subsidise driving by $8 billion a year. That is, federal, state and local governments spent $44 billion last year on roads, but collected just $36 billion in road-related revenue.
That makes the subsidy for driving 300 times greater than the investment in walking and cycling.
Redirecting this driving subsidy to an investment in walking and cycling would make economic and health sense.
Rather, mass media messaging should highlight the many benefits of physical activity, which in turn may build public acceptance for better physical activity policies.
To boost walking and cycling, streets need to be safe and things people need – such as schools, jobs and shops – need to be close by.
Policies such as congestion charges and removing subsidised parking make it possible to change from car-centric cities to ones that support walking and cycling.
Making streets safer supports more people to move around by foot or bike. One way to do this is through default speed limits in built-up areas.
Currently, the default speed limit in built-up areas, in all jurisdictions, is 50 kilometres per hour. In the 1990s, it used to be 60kmh – and changing it to 50kmh has saved hundreds of lives.
Why are “local” shops so far away for many of us, or not accessible by foot? Because of several planning related laws that ingrain low-density housing without access to local shops.
Rethinking housing density limits, setback requirements, minimum parking requirements and single-use zoning laws will allow cafes and shops back into new residential areas.
This means more people will be able to walk, ride or scoot to where they need to go.
Lessons from overseas
Some 61 countries have shifted the dial and are on track to meet their national physical activity targets. Australia isn’t one of them.
Many of these countries are in Western Europe and Scandinavia, well known for having laws that create highly walkable environments.
Half of countries globally have a standalone national physical activity policy but Australia doesn’t despite calls to action by non-government organisations.
Policy changes must shift beyond individual motivation to move more – instead we must reshape our environment through laws and funding. We need more population approaches if we are to shift the dial on physical activity.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is expected to respond to allegations made by his ex-wife at a media conference at 4.45pm today.
He arrrived back in the country from Australia on Tuesday.
The claims – which do not relate to any unlawful activity – were posted on Jade Paul’s private Facebook page on Sunday evening but were since removed.
On Monday, Hipkins said “I reject the allegations entirely and don’t intend to make any further comment.”
In response to questions from RNZ, Paul said she stood by her comments.
Hipkins and Paul married at Premier House in early 2020 and separated in 2022. They have two children.
Hipkins publicly confirmed the split in January 2023, shortly after becoming prime minister, saying they had made the decision in the best interest of their family.
Later that year, Hipkins revealed during his election night concession speech that he had a new partner, Toni Grace.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 17, 2026.
As Israel keeps bombing Iran, Palestinians face growing violence in West Bank NERMEEN SHAIKH: This is Democracy Now!, I’m Nermeen Shaikh, with Amy Goodman. As we continue to look at the US and Israel war on Iran and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, we go now to Jerusalem, where we’re joined by Orly Noy. She’s an Iranian Israeli political activist and editor of the Hebrew-language news site Local
South Australians have truth in political advertising laws. Why doesn’t everyone else? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Todd Farrell, Senior Tutor, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Melbourne With South Australia in its final week of campaigning ahead of the state election, you may have noticed while there’s been a few scandals around mistaken identity of hospital patients and controversial candidates’
The West Gate Bridge disaster looms large over Melbourne. A new play can’t fully capture its grief Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Graffam-O’Meara, PhD Candidate in Theatre, Monash University Every Melburnian knows the West Gate Bridge, crossing the Yarra River north of its exit to Port Phillip Bay. It looms, it hums, it holds memory, it writhes. You know the feeling – that perceptible flex when you’re stopped
Pacific governments warn against panic buying as war on Iran threatens fuel supply RNZ Pacific Pacific Island governments are urging their citizens not to panic about the supply of fuels amid the conflict in the Middle East between Israel, the United States and Iran. The conflict has resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that carries around 20 percent of the world’s
Should e-bike riders be required to have a driver’s licence? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard J. Buning, Research Lead, UQ Micromobility Research Cluster, The University of Queensland E-bikes have been increasing in popularity – they make cycling more accessible than ever. However, they’ve also been linked to tragic accidents. In response, the Queensland government has conducted a parliamentary inquiry on e-mobility
Babies learn a lot in their first year. But their behaviour doesn’t always tell the full story Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eylem Altuntas, Researcher, Speech & Language Development, The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University Anyone who has spent time with a baby knows how unpredictable the first year can feel. One week a baby suddenly seems to “get” something new. The next week,
Does medicinal cannabis work for depression, anxiety or PTSD? Our study says there’s no evidence Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Wilson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney The number of Australians using medicinal cannabis has surged over the past five years. Around 700,000 Australians have used cannabis for their health in the past year.
NZ’s 9th COVID-19 wave: why infections are rising – and how booster shots still help Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Plank, Professor in Applied Mathematics, University of Canterbury Six years after COVID-19 first reached New Zealand, the country is experiencing its ninth wave of infections. But the virus we are living with today behaves very differently from the one that caused the global emergency in 2020–22.
What the 2026 Oscars revealed about the current political mood in Hollywood Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Freijo, Research Associate in Film Studies, King’s College London The 2026 Academy Awards revealed a striking contradiction. Many of the winning films grapple with urgent contemporary issues, or difficult questions of historical memory. Yet their makers avoided following up on that political character in their acceptance
Saint Patrick’s Day and the mystery of the second Patrick Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Doyle, Lecturer in Ancient and Medieval History, University of Galway Celebrated every year with swathes of green and pints of Guinness, Saint Patrick is the most famous of Ireland’s trio of patron saints (the others are Brigid and Colm Cille, aka Columba). Saint Patrick’s story is
Flesh-eating bacteria spread from possums and mozzies. But Buruli ulcers are preventable and treatable Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cameron Webb, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Medical Science & Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute; Principal Hospital Scientist, University of Sydney A number of cases of the flesh-eating Buruli ulcer have now been detected on the New South Wales south coast. There is growing evidence mosquitoes are at
Almost 80% of Australian uni students now use AI. This is creating an ‘illusion of competence’ Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason M. Lodge, Director of the Learning, Instruction & Technology Lab and Professor of Educational Psychology, School of Education, The University of Queensland In Australia, artificial intelligence is becoming a near-universal feature of education. As of 2025, nearly 80% of university students reported using AI in their
Seabirds struggled to raise chicks in the Hauraki Gulf this summer. What happened? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Dunphy, Associate Professor in Marine Biology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Some seabirds breeding in New Zealand’s largest marine park struggled to raise chicks this summer, most likely because climate change is forcing them to travel too far in search of food. The Hauraki Gulf
Australia claims it is ‘on track’ to save nature. We disagree Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Allan Elton, Doctoral researcher, Australian National University Without fanfare, the Australian government has published the latest snapshot on its progress toward halting and reversing the loss of Australia’s biodiversity – our unique wildlife, plants and nature – by 2030. This report on Australia’s progress under the
Real estate powered Dubai’s rise as a magnet for expats. Can its brand survive this war? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan F. Gholipour, Associate Professor of Property, Western Sydney University Once a small fishing and pearling village, Dubai has grown to become a major financial, commercial and tourism hub in the Middle East. It is the second-largest (behind Abu Dhabi) of the seven emirates that make up
All 5 fundamental units of life’s genetic code were just discovered in an asteroid sample Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kliti Grice, John Curtin Distinguished Professor of Organic and Isotope Geochemistry, Curtin University A new study reveals all five fundamental nucleobases – the molecular “letters” of life – have been detected in samples from the asteroid Ryugu. Asteroid particles offer a glimpse into the chemical ingredients that
US, Fiji intervene for Israel in South Africa’s Gaza genocide case at ICJ Asia Pacific Report The United States and Fiji have filed separate declarations of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging the country is committing genocide in Gaza. While the US explicitly rejects the allegation that Israel is committing genocide, Fiji raises issues about how the 1948
Regulator slaps restrictions on Kyle and Jackie O if they ever return to radio. Will it make any difference? Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Advancing Journalism, The University of Melbourne If the ARN radio network’s KIISFM stations want to resurrect Kyle Sandilands or Jackie “O” Henderson, either together, singly or in partnership with someone else, they will face significant new conditions on their broadcasting
Chris Hedges: The world according to Gaza – it’s only the start The new world order is one where the weak are obliterated by the strong, the rule of law does not exist, genocide is an instrument of control and barbarism is triumphant. ANALYSIS: By Chris Hedges The war on Iran and the obliteration of Gaza is the beginning. Welcome to the new world order. The age
Politics with Michelle Grattan: why Farrer is a key test for One Nation vs the Coalition Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Farrer by-election on May 9 will be a major test for new Liberal leader Angus Taylor and new Nationals leader Matt Canavan, as well as a real-time measure of One Nation’s surging poll numbers. One Nation’s David Farley and
From left, Nemani Tunidau, Eparama Tunidau and Laisa Waka TunidauSupplied
An inquest into the death of a Christchurch woman – who was killed by a forensic mental health patient while walking home from work – will be held in August.
Laisa Waka Tunidau, a mother of four, was fatally stabbed in June 2022 by Zakariye Mohamed Hussein, a patient at secure mental health facility Hillmorton Hospital.
Hussein was on community leave at the time of the killing outside Tunidau’s home in Sockburn, which happened while her then 11-year-old son looked on.
Earlier, Tunidau’s husband Nemani Tunidau told RNZ he wanted compensation for what he saw as carelessness by health agencies in the leadup to his wife’s death.
It is estimated that there are 5000-8000 native falcons (kārearea) in Aotearoa. File photo.Supplied / Paul O’Hagan
Native bush falcons are breeding at Auckland’s Hūnua Ranges after years of uncertainty about the species’ future.
It is estimated that there are 5000-8000 native falcons (kārearea) in the country. They are classified as ‘Threatened – Nationally Increasing’.
But a 40-day observation of kārearea at Hūnua this summer – commissioned by Auckland Council – led to the discovery of a breeding pair raising two fledglings.
Auckland Council spokesperson Paul Duffy said it was a significant finding.
“This study gives us the first clear evidence that kārearea are successfully breeding in the Te Ngāherehere o Kohukohunui Hūnua Ranges.
“It also shows that intensive predator management and ground-based trapping are giving this threatened species the chance to make a comeback in the Auckland region.”
Not to be mistaken with the more common swamp harrier (kāhu), which glides slowly, the smaller kārearea is New Zealand’s fastest bird, capable of high-speed pursuit through the forest canopy.
Kārearea nest on or near the ground in a simple hollow known as a ‘scrape’, leaving eggs and chicks vulnerable to predators such as cats, mustelids, pigs, and possums.
Kārearea specialist Chifuyu Horikoshi, who led the field work, said the result was “incredibly encouraging”.
“Watching kārearea hunt through native forest is breathtaking; they are exceptionally fast, agile, and intelligent birds truly built for pursuit.
“Seeing them deliver prey and continue caring for their young shows this habitat is supporting their full breeding cycle.”
The survey was undertaken between December 2025 and February 2026, and was the first formal assessment of kārearea presence and breeding activity in the park.
Residents are encouraged to report sightings through citizen science platforms such as iNaturalist or eBird, and to include photographs if possible to help with identification.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
NERMEEN SHAIKH: This is Democracy Now!, I’m Nermeen Shaikh, with Amy Goodman.
As we continue to look at the US and Israel war on Iran and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, we go now to Jerusalem, where we’re joined by Orly Noy. She’s an Iranian Israeli political activist and editor of the Hebrew-language news site Local Call.
She is also the chair of B’Tselem’s executive board. Her new piece for The New York Review of Books is headlined “Longing for My Tehran.”
Orly, welcome back to Democracy Now! If you could talk about this piece you’ve written and why you chose to write it now, “Longing for My Tehran”?
ORLY NOY: Yeah. I mean, as you can imagine, it’s been a very emotional time since the beginning of the war, not just because we are constantly running in and out of shelters, but because this time, the footage of the bombing that I grew accustomed to seeing for over two years from the genocide in Gaza was now coming from my homeland — from my hometown, Tehran, the city where I was born and grew up in.
The cries of people were in Farsi this time, which was — which hit, you know, much closer to my heart. And for me as a writer, as someone whose main tools to understand the world are words, I started writing mainly in order to make some sense of this madness, first of all, to myself.
And then I was asked to publish something, so I sent this. But this was really an attempt to, you know, bring some sense into this chaos that is now our lives here.
Report from Jerusalem. Video: Democracy Now!
AMY GOODMAN: Orly, you have talked about the majority of Israelis supporting the war at the moment. But there is opposition. Can you talk about the Israeli objective, and at the same time this threat to turn Iran into Gaza and this increasing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank?
ORLY NOY: Yeah, so, there is — I mean, like every circle of violence that Israel initiates, mostly against Palestinians, there is always a margin of protest and of objection. It’s not small, but it exists.
This time, any attempt — the very few attempts to protest against the war were brutally crushed and dispersed by the Israeli police, which have now become almost entirely — almost like the private militia of the Minister for Homeland Security, the Kahanist Itamar Ben-Gvir.
It is not against the law. It is not illegal to protest. Still it is not illegal to protest in Israel against the war. But trying to please the Kahanist minister, the police very brutally dispersed these protests almost immediately after they began.
In the West Bank, the situation is beyond — I mean, it’s terrifying beyond anything that words can express. You mentioned in your opening the execution of the four members of the Bani Odeh family, including the two parents and two very young kids, in the village of Tammun.
We published yesterday a heartbreaking, really disturbing, one of the most disturbing pieces I’ve edited in my entire career as a journalist, where in one of the villages in the north of the Jordan Valley, settlers gathered the entire inhabitants of this Palestinian little village in one tent and tormented them brutally, hit them, severely sexually abused one of the Palestinian men, and all the while forcing the children to watch them as they torture the older members of the community.
These things have turned into almost daily events. Palestinians are now really — I mean, you know, up until now, our worry was about the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank. Now it is just about executing Palestinians, both by the army and by the settlers.
This is the reality now. They are just executing Palestinians in broad daylight, and nothing is being done about it.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, I’m afraid, Orly, we’re going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us. Orly Noy is an Iranian Israeli political activist and editor of the Hebrew-language news site Local Call. She’s also the chair of B’Tselem’s executive board. Her new piece, which we’ll link to, in The New York Review of Books is headlined “Longing for My Tehran.”
Motorists are being urged not to panic-buy fuel amid going concerns about rising prices, with the average 91 petrol price around country surging past $3.
The pressure on fuel priuces is being largley driven by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran launches attacks to halt maritime traffic. The area is critical because about 20 percent of the world’s oil consumption or 20 million barrels a day, usually passes through it.
The National Fuel Plan – published in 2024 – includes details on how the country could respond to a fuel supply disruption or emergency, with four levels of concern, similar to the levels seen during the fight against Covid-19.
The plan does point out that many events could disrupt fuel supply, including compromised overseas supply, pipes being sabotaged, earthquake or a damaged road network.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) says the country is not experiencing the types of sustained supply disruption that the would lead to the emergency measures outlined in the plan, and confirmed last week that Aotearoa remains at the lowest of the four levels.
But it has convened the Fuel Sector Co-ordinating Entity (Fuel SCE), which is comprised of officials and members from key fuel companies, and “increases lines of communications with the fuel industry and oversight of fuel imports”.
The fuel escalation process in the plan includes four levels. The plan says an emergency may progress from one level to the next – due to something like a damaged pipeline that is taking longer than expected to repair – or move straight to a high level, in the case of a “sudden, major infrastructure disruption expected to last longer than a few days”.
Level 1: Minor impact on fuel sector
The country is currently at this level. Under it, there is the potential for escalating fuel supply disruption to higher levels, but “minimal current impact on fuel distribution”.
The Fuel SCE is convened to monitor the situation and start planning for potential disruption and escalation.
Fuel companies are also directed to start planning for possible disruption.
Level 2: Moderate impact on fuel sector
In this level, “most” customers are still serviced, but there is a risk of shortages to critical fuel customers.
Critical fuel customers are organisations seen as “critical to response activities and have a reliance on fuel resupply to carry out response activities”, including emergency services, the Ministry of Health, Corrections and Defence.
The Fuel SCE monitors demand levels and resupply options, and also coordinates government support “as required” for the fuel sector.
This may include air or overland vehicle transport; a range of support by NZDF, where resources are available, such as NZDF ships, drivers, engineering resources or specialist aviation resources; assistance with sourcing key international resources including barges and fuel air transport capacity; and relaxation of regulations, such as allowing night-time fuelling to increase distribution.
Fuel companies are also required to take steps to ensure critical customers are supplied and government powers may be used to enforce this.
Nick Monro / RNZ
Level 3: Major impact on fuel sector
Under level three, there is a “serious impact on fuel distribution with severe resource and capacity constraints and multi region and/or major impacts to critical customers”.
Additional measures that may come into play at this level include:
Opening hour restrictions (reduced hours, only open on alternate days)
Setting maximum purchases at point of sale – either price or volume,
Restricting sales into containers (to discourage hoarding), and
Price limits can be set at unmanned fuel retail outlets (e.g. truck stops).
There will also be critical customer prioritisation measures under level three.
“Critical fuel customers will continue to source fuel from, and be supplied by, their regular fuel suppliers until it is no longer possible or practicable to do so.”
These additional actions will be implemented and coordinated through the Fuel SCE, which will also monitor fuel companies’ compliance with any directions issued by the Minister for Energy or CDEM Controller
Level 4: Severe impact on fuel sector
At this highest level, there is a severe impact on national fuel supplies
As well as all the actions seen in lower levels, fuel companies will be required to supply only critical fuel customers and these customers can be serviced by any supplier.
Fuel prices at a BP station in Auckland’s Botany on 9 March. Prices have risen dramatically since then.RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Public help
As well as the fuel escalation process, the National Fuel Plan also notes that the public can be encouraged by the government and the fuel sector to voluntarily reduce fuel consumption.
“This can be achieved through reducing speed on open roads, car-pooling, working from home, checking tyre pressure and reducing unnecessary trips or using other transport modes.”
The plan does note that this is “only considered a practicable option when managing a long-term supply disruption where immediate stocks are not at threat”, as it could cause panic buying.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
That’s partly because SA elections operate under a previously little-known law called truth in political advertising.
As governments across the world despair over misinformation turbocharged by AI and publish guides to spot misinformation, this law has attracted renewed interest 40 years after its adoption.
It sounds simple enough, but what is it? How is it enforced – and more importantly, does it actually stop politicians lying?
What is SA’s truth in political advertising law?
Section 113 of SA’s Electoral Act (1985) makes it an offence for anyone to publish an electoral advertisement that “contains a statement purporting to be a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent”.
Importantly, it only captures officially authorised electoral advertisements. That means political speech, commentary or opinion are not captured.
So while it sounds broad, the law applies to a narrow selection of material, and only to facts that are demonstrably misleading.
This is different from other jurisdictions, where the laws only apply to misleading voters about the literal act of voting. Advance’s bold “CCP says Vote Labor” campaign during the 2022 federal election attracted the Australian Electoral Commission’s warning, as the campaign used a tick on the ballot square. Advance had to change it to a number – not because the ad had outrageous content, but because it implied a tick on a ballot paper was a formal vote.
How does the SA law work?
If an objection is lodged, it falls to the state’s electoral commissioner to judge whether the material is inaccurate or misleading. If the commissioner determines it is, they can order the party to withdraw the advertisement and publish a retraction. The consequences of refusal include fines or even voiding an election’s results.
A simple example can be found from the 2022 state election. The Labor Party published an advertisement that ambulance ramping “is worse than ever”. The Liberal Party launched an objection as this was untrue – ramping rates in February 2022 (1,522 hours) were 47% lower than in October 2021 (2,868 hours).
So ramping was, in fact, not worse than ever.
Labor was ordered by the commissioner to withdraw the advertisement and publish a retraction.
Does it work?
While it does not prevent all dubious campaigning, research involving former political staffers has noted the tone of SA campaigns is better than in other jurisdictions. This is because parties must scrutinise every statement and provide evidence that the advertisement is verified before publication.
The electoral commission is trusted to be a fair umpire, but political parties have increasingly weaponised their rulings in their campaigns. In 2010, only 63 objections were lodged, resulting in just two requests for removal. 2022 saw this nearly doubled to 122 objections, with 12 requests for removal.
There does not appear to have been any reported retraction or even any objection lodged in 2026 (so far).
If it works, why doesn’t everyone do it?
So far, only the Australian Capital Territory has followed SA in adopting truth in political advertising laws. Beyond lack of political consensus, there is reluctance from electoral commissions to wade into the murky world of political fact checking.
There’s been considerable jurisprudence of what this “implied right” entails since truth in political advertising was upheld over 30 years ago in the SA Supreme Court. In 2022, for example, academic Kieren Pender wrote that laws that regulate “the truth” may unnecessarily burden this right.
More practically, the law is difficult to administer and labour intensive. Previous SA electoral commissioners estimated it took almost all their time to evaluate whether there had been a breach. The current commissioner has planned to double the number of staffers to investigate claims for 2026.
A global leader
Nonetheless, the law is popular. The Australia Institute has found nearly nine in ten voters across political parties want some kind of law to regulate truth in political advertising.
While not a silver bullet, truth in political advertising laws foster a culture where parties must think twice about their messaging. Its overall limited use this election and support among campaigners suggest it does work, to borrow a popular federal phrase, to turn the heat down during election campaigns.
Batting first at Bay Oval, New Zealand captain Melie Kerr and opener Georgia Plimmer piled on the runs in pursuit of a big score.
Kerr blasted 78 off 44 balls, with Plimmer scoring 63 in an impressive second-wicket partnership of 146 off 83 balls, after New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
The White Ferns scored 190/7 in their 20 overs, after losing wickets late in their innings.
First ball at Hamilton’s Seddon Park is at 2.45pm.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Two people have been seriously injured after two cars collided in North Canterbury.
Emergency services were called to the crash on State Highway 1 near Domett, between Christchurch and Kaikōura, about 10.40am.
One of the cars was towing a horse float but it was unknown if any horses were inside.
St John said two ambulances, two helicopters, two operations managers and a PRIME responder were sent to the crash.
“Two patients, in serious condition, have been airlifted to Christchurch Hospital. One additional patient, in minor condition, has been transported by road to Christchurch Hospital,” St John said.
A police spokesperson said the Serious Crash Unit were advised and the road remained closed.
The New Zealand Transport Agency said drivers should expect delays and consider avoiding travel through the area.
“SCU (Serious Crash Unit) will be attending the scene and their investigations can take several hours. Consider an alternative route.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Every Melburnian knows the West Gate Bridge, crossing the Yarra River north of its exit to Port Phillip Bay. It looms, it hums, it holds memory, it writhes.
You know the feeling – that perceptible flex when you’re stopped in traffic and the lanes moving the other way send a tremor through the deck. Unnerving. Oddly exciting.
For years I lived within walking distance, running beneath its great grey pylons in the early morning quiet, the city grinding awake above me. On the western bank, a memorial honours the 35 men who died when the bridge fell in 1970. It is part of Melbourne’s bones.
More than that, it’s an artery, one that for decades has carried the city’s working lifeblood from the west and back again, tens of thousands of times a day. The west is historically Melbourne’s labour country, home to tradies, nurses, warehouse workers, wharfies and migrant families who built this city with their hands. Cut that artery and the whole body suffers.
The collapse of the West Gate Bridge during construction in 1970 remains Australia’s worst industrial disaster. This history is now brought to the stage in Melbourne Theatre Company’s West Gate, directed by Iain Sinclair and written by Dennis McIntosh.
The organisational, and the personal
McIntosh’s drama unfolds across two registers.
The first is organisational: the bridge’s designer, Freeman Fox & Partners, is already a firm under pressure – their Cleddau Bridge in Wales had collapsed just four months prior, killing four workers. Company representative McAllister (Peter Houghton) arrives in Melbourne from Britain to steady the ship, assuring local crews he’s “no coffee sipping desk jockey”; he’s on the ground.
Meanwhile, he and other white-collar figures trade blame over mounting site problems while the labourers absorb the risk.
White-collar figures trade blame over mounting site problems while the labourers absorb the risk.Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company
The second register is personal, and it is where the play finds its warmth.
At its heart is the budding friendship between Italian migrant Victor (Steve Bastoni) and Young Scrapper (Darcy Kent), an English lad who carries his father’s appetite for confrontation while quietly changing his name on his union card to distance himself from the shame of having a father awaiting parole. Victor’s wife is pregnant with their fourth child.
(The play is a little too deliberate in signposting which of the two men will not survive what is coming.)
The first half unfolds before an enormous concrete pylon dominating an otherwise bare stage. A lighting rig ascends and descends to suggest the levels on which the crew labour, lending a visceral sense of scale.
Christina Smith’s set and costume design capture a strong industrial aesthetic of the period, while Sinclair carves the stage into shifting pockets of action. Working with lighting designer Niklas Pajanti and sound designer Kelly Ryall, he gives the construction site a genuine sense of buzzing, dangerous momentum.
The inevitable bridge collapse is a moment of theatrical brilliance: breathtaking and shocking. The house plunges into darkness, pummelled by flashing lights, the roar of 2,000 tonnes of steel and concrete falling, and the chaos of recovering bodies.
Yet the sequence exposes a difficulty inherent in staging a spectacle drawn from real tragedy. On opening night some audience members applauded – an understandable response to remarkable stagecraft, but awkward given survivors and families of the dead were likely in the room.
Too little space for mourning
The second half centres the relationship between Young Scrapper and Victor’s newly widowed wife, Frankie (Daniela Farinacci), as they grapple with grief and uncertainty. These scenes, along with others featuring surviving bridge workers, are the play’s most human moments.
Yet McIntosh moves through them with a restlessness that undermines the weight of what has just occurred, pivoting toward something closer to a resilience narrative.
This attempt to spin heroes from victims feels more redemptive than honest.
The second half centres the relationship between Young Scrapper and Victor’s newly widowed wife.Pia Johnson/Melbourne Theatre Company
Throughout, the writing leans on familiar types: the proud migrant, the larrikin labourer, the blustering company man. The actors struggle to build emotional nuance for their characters given the script’s tendency toward archetypes over individuals. Even Sinclair’s skilled direction can only do so much.
This, ultimately, is where West Gate falls short. The play keeps returning to cataloguing institutional failure – the jurisdictional disputes, the engineering errors, the accumulating warning signs of impending disaster. But documentary film handles this terrain more naturally; a 2020 50th anniversary documentary covers it with the rigour such material demands.
What theatre can do that documentary cannot is render loss at a human scale, asking audiences to sit with the emotional consequences of catastrophe, the grief that settles into families, the futures that never unfold. A death of this nature is not only a statistic; it is a traumatic rupture in a life and community.
West Gate gestures toward this dimension, but its return to procedural explanation leaves too little space for mourning to take hold. The production powerfully reconstructs the event, yet stops short of fully confronting the human devastation that lingers and marks the bridge’s legacy today.
West Gate is at Melbourne Theatre Company until April 18.
Pacific Island governments are urging their citizens not to panic about the supply of fuels amid the conflict in the Middle East between Israel, the United States and Iran.
The conflict has resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route that carries around 20 percent of the world’s oil (20 million barrels a day), by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The IRGC has warned that any ship passing through the strait would be attacked, triggering a near-total halt in vessels attempting to pass through the waterway, causing a surge in oil prices.
However, according to Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the Strait of Hormuz is closed only to Iran’s “enemies and their allies”, the IRGC-aligned Tasnim News Agency reported.
The Fiji government said on Monday that fuel supplies in the country were sufficient to meet energy needs for the next few months.
“There is no need to indulge in ‘panic buying’ at the service station,” it said in a statement.
Leading shipping companies have suspended operations through the Strait of Hormuz amid escalating Middle East crisis. Map: OFI Magazine
Closely monitoring the war It added that the government was closely monitoring the US-Israel war on Iran, and meeting with local suppliers who had already secured fuel supplies.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and his cabinet were meeting today “to firm-up on the plan of action for the long-term, if there is no resolution to the conflict in the near future”.
Tonga’s government has also called on Tongans not to queue at petrol stations.
“There is no immediate need for concern or panic buying of fuel,” the Tonga Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
“We are assured by the energy sector that there is sufficient fuel available for now.”
Samoa’s Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt said his government’s immediate priority was to ensure that the country had enough fuel supply to meet its needs.
“What is happening . . . we can’t control, but we are working to ensure we have enough fuel for the next one or two years because we do not know what’s going to happen next,” La’auli said during a joint press conference with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon yesterday.
Current stocks sufficient Vanuatu’s government said it has engaged with Pacific Energy, Vanuatu’s primary fuel importer and supplier, to assess potential impacts on national fuel supply.
“Pacific Energy reports current stocks are sufficient to cover usual consumption, the company’s supply programme, based on a three-month rolling forecast, is secured, and no shortages are anticipated in the foreseeable future,” the Ministry of the Prime Minister in Vanuatu said in a statement.
In the Solomon Islands, the country’s central bank said that while the fuel prices at the petrol stations were currently stable, “the impact of the oil price shock is expected to be felt from April 2026 onwards”.
“Preliminary assessment indicates that sustained increases in global oil prices are likely to push up domestic fuel costs, thereby feeding into higher imported inflation and overall headline inflation,” the Central Bank of Solomon Islands said in a statement.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
In response, the Queensland government has conducted a parliamentary inquiry on e-mobility devices, including e-scooters and e-bikes.
The inquiry aimed to improve safety and address community concerns. It examined benefits, risks (crashes or battery fires), existing regulations compared to other jurisdictions, enforcement approaches, and importation laws.
The resulting report recommends banning all e-bikes for riders under 16, and requiring at least a learner driver’s licence to operate them.
If implemented, Queensland would become only the second jurisdiction in the world to mandate a driver’s licence for riding a standard e-bike, joining New Jersey, which passed similar legislation in January to much condemnation.
If Queeensland adopts this rule, it will quickly become the worst state for cycling in Australia – and set a dangerous precedent.
How risky are legal e-bikes?
Legal e-bikes (also known as pedelecs, short for “pedal electric cycles”) don’t pose greater risks than conventional bicycles. On average, e-bike crashes are equally as likely and severe as conventional bike crashes. And research from Denmark even shows e-bike riders are more likely to follow traffic laws and are more safety oriented than conventional cyclists.
A pedelec is defined under the European Union EN 15194 standard as a bicycle in which the motor provides assistance only when the rider pedals, power is limited to 250 watts, and the maximum assisted speed is 25km/h. This is the standard recognised in Australia.
To be clear, 250 watts is roughly the power an avid cyclist can generate with their body. Professional cyclists easily produce well over 400 watts.
About 7.5% of Queenslanders aged 16 and over – more than 340,000 people – don’t hold a driver’s licence. Across Australia, an estimated 1.5 million adults are without a licence.
These include:
people with certain types of disabilities (visual, neurological or cognitive)
children under 16 riding to school
migrant workers from countries with licences not recognised in Australia, or who are in the process of transferring overseas licences. Many delivery riders fall in this category
urban youth, who increasingly rely on alternative transport and delay obtaining a learner’s permit
older people who have given up driving for age-related reasons
low-income people for whom the costs associated with lessons, testing, and car ownership are prohibitive
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly in regional and remote areas. These communities often face practical barriers to licensing, such as high cost, difficulties obtaining identity documents, and limited access to training
individuals who are car-free by choice for lifestyle or environmental reasons
people who have temporarily lost their driver’s licence, such as for speeding.
In short, legal e-bikes provide an important way to get around and maintain independence for many people. They can travel to work, education, or social activities without relying on a car.
For Queensland locals, even requiring a learner’s licence would impose a significant burden. Obtaining one costs about A$77 and requires passing an online test which typically takes four to six hours. Test questions focus on motor vehicle laws, not rules specific to cycling or e-mobility. The test is offered only in English and requires proof of identity and residency in Queensland.
Visitors from countries where driver’s licences are far less common than in Australia would be impacted too. For example, only about half of Chinese adults have a licence.
Queensland hosts more than 2 million international visitors annually, and Brisbane is expected to welcome more than 100,000 international visitors during the 2032 Olympic Games. Unless they hold a licence from their home country, these visitors would be forced to rely on ride-hailing services or risk penalties for using a legal e-bike.
What should be done instead?
A more effective approach would focus on clear vehicle classification, targeted regulation, safe cycling infrastructure, and education. This is the model used in the European Union.
Regulators should maintain a clear distinction between standard e-bikes and higher-powered devices.
EN 15194 compliant e-bikes should be legally treated as ordinary bicycles and integrated into everyday mobility. They shouldn’t require a driver’s licence, registration, or insurance. Riders should simply follow the same rules that apply to cyclists.
Only the more powerful models should require licensing and insurance. E-bikes that reach up to 45km/h should be classified as mopeds. In this way, regulation can reflect the actual risk level of the vehicle.
Enforcement is key. Authorities should focus on ensuring that devices sold in the market actually comply with power and speed limits. Regulators should keep targeting non-compliant imports and illegal modifications.
Beyond product standards, much more emphasis should be placed on infrastructure. Investments in protected bike lanes, traffic calming, and well-designed intersections are crucial to improving safety for all road users.
Finally, Australia should start investing heavily in education and communication campaigns. Cycling education should be provided through schools, local councils, and road safety programs. These should focus on responsible riding, interaction with pedestrians, and visibility in traffic.
Importantly, they should also encourage a mindset that moves away from an “us versus them” stance between drivers and cyclists. Children should learn early that, as adults, they may occupy both roles – sometimes driving, sometimes cycling.
In combination, these policy approaches would allow e-bikes to expand while remaining a safe, accessible and inclusive mobility option.
Shannon Mato celebrates a try for the Māori All Stars against the Australian Indigenous All Stars in Sydney, 2025.NRL PHOTOS
The Kiwi Ferns’ stocks have been boosted with Jillaroos’ 10-test cap powerhouse forward Shannon Mato’s availability after her decision change allegiance from Australia to New Zealand.
Mato, 27, wants to play for New Zealand at this year’s Rugby League World Cup.
She debuted for Australia at the 2022 World Cup in England and could not represent New Zealand as a result.
But a change this month in rugby league’s international rules allows players from Australia, New Zealand and England to switch to another of those countries to represent their heritage or homeland.
Players can now represent a nation for which they qualify through birth or if a parent or grandparent was born in that country, nrl.com reported. They can’t though represent more than one nation in a calendar year.
The Whangarei-born player lived in Upper Hutt before moving to Australia at the age of 13.
Mato said the birth of her son Charnze-Pati in October led to her decision.
“I get a bit emotional because my son is half-Samoan, half-Māori and Kiwi, so I want him to represent both of those if he was to grow up and follow that pathway,” she told nrl.com.
She is keen to play for the Kiwi Ferns in the World Cup, which is being held in Australia and Papua New Guinea in October and November.
“If I was given the opportunity I would take it in a heartbeat and I think that is because I am in a different part of my life now.”
Another rule change allows players who represent New Zealand or England and qualify for New South Wales or Queensland to be available for State of Origin.
The furore over Christopher Luxon’s new matai title is refusing to go away, after local media in Samoa reported there was a late night phone call saying he didn’t want to go ahead with it after “too much interference on social media”.
Luxon refused to answer questions about the reports on Tuesday, saying he wanted to move on from the issue.
The Samoan Observer reported on Tuesday morning Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt said he’d received a phone call at about 3am from Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs CEO, informing him Luxon didn’t want to proceed with the bestowal of the title Tuisinavemaulumoto’otua.
Prime Minster Christopher Luxon attends a ceremony in Apia to bestow a matai title.RNZ / Giles Dexter
The report stated Schmidt was told Luxon had decided not to go ahead because of “too much interference on social media”. It also said there were discussions that continued into the night, and early Monday morning before the ceremony eventually proceeded.
Schmidt had said he’d told those involved that Samoa had prepared for the ceremony and that he’d urged Luxon not to be concerned about online criticism.
Samoa’s government had to clarify on Monday morning that neither Luxon nor his representatives had requested he be given an honour, shortly before the presentation.
Luxon’s since said it was a “miscommunication” and both he and the Samoan prime minister had moved on.
Asked on Tuesday about the Samoan Observer report, Luxon wouldn’t say if a phone call had taken place, instead saying he had “nothing further to add”.
Christopher Luxon attends a gift giving ceremony in Samoa, where he received a portrait painted by a local Methodist college.RNZ / Giles Dexter
“The prime minister issued a statement yesterday,” said Luxon, “I’m going to leave it there”.
“Again, I’m sorry guys, I’m just not going there.”
Asked if it had damaged trust between the two nations, Luxon said a very good relationship had been established through this visit, calling it a very successful trip.
Luxon said there’d been conversations around health, education and the border, and good connections made between the counterparts and cabinet ministers.
Luxon rejected the notion there was “confusion”, saying in the conversations that had occurred, “we’ve moved our conversation to things that actually matter for the Samoan people”.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
His name is Khabane Lame, but he is known worldwide as Khaby Lame. Born in Dakar, Senegal, he is the most followed content creator on TikTok.
He became famous for video clips in which he reacts to absurd “life hack” videos with a blank, slightly annoyed face, showing the hack wasn’t needed.
At the time of writing he has over 160 million followers: a world record achieved without uttering a single word. In January he sold his brand rights for nearly US$1 billion.
Khaby Lame attending the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating.
As Project Hail Mary‘s amnesiac hero problem-solves his way around the spaceship he’s woken up on alone, he asks: “Am I smart?”
It’s a bold question to put in the air at the start of a film that fuses a silly, human-alien buddy comedy and a deeply earnest tale about how science and cooperation may yet save humanity.
And while the answer is that this sci-fi spectacular is perhaps a smidgen goofier than it is clever, it’s also charming, looks stellar, and is non-stop ride fuelled by a message of hope and powered by a star.
This video is hosted on Youtube.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
A deeply unglamorous and rarely seen creature that spends most of its life in mud has pulled off a last-minute upset by winning the title of Fish of the Year.
The Northland mudfish was not even in the top ten at the competition’s halfway point, but surged ahead in the final 24 hours – bumping the longfin eel, or tuna kūwharuwharu, out of the top spot.
Just under 6000 people around the country voted in the contest, which is organised annually by Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust.
Trust founder Samara Nicholas said the humble, secretive Northland mudfish – which was found only in a few wetlands around Kaikohe and Lake Ōmāpere – benefited from strong campaigns by the regional council and a local radio station.
“Even the Northland Rugby Union claimed they may actually change the Northland Taniwha name to the Northland Mudfish,” she said.
“I think people just got really fascinated by the fact that it’s so rare, it’s highly threatened. Not a lot is known about it. And it’s just was just so quirky that it seemed to capture the imagination of people.”
The secretive, wetland-dwelling Northland mudfish has been named Fish of the Year 2026.Supplied / Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust
Until the late surge by the mudfish, the longfin eel, the seahorse and the whale shark – the world’s biggest fish – appeared to be top contenders.
“It was just the buzz and the sheer amount of people getting behind the mudfish. And that’s what we want to do. We want this competition to create friendly competition between different organisations campaigning for their fish. The campaign went crazy in those last 24 hours, and the mudfish completely took it out.”
New Zealanders’ love of the underdog was also a likely factor.
Nicholas said the purpose of the competition was to shine a spotlight on creatures that were usually “out of sight, out of mind” – as was the case with many of New Zealand’s native fish.
With a maximum length of 15cm, the Northland mudfish was the smallest winner to date. It was also the first freshwater fish to take out the title, and so obscure it was only discovered in 1998.
Map showing the distribution of Northland mudfish.Supplied / Earth Sciences NZ
Its unique talents included the ability to survive droughts by burying itself in mud and breathing through its skin, Nicholas said.
That skill helped mudfish survive when a fire ripped through 15ha of conservation land next to Kerikeri airport in 2010.
However, the main threat to the survival of the Northland mudfish – and the four other species of mudfish around the motu – was the destruction of wetlands.
“We’ve drained around 90 percent of our wetlands in the last 150 years, and that has had a disastrous impact on our native galaxiids, including mudfish,” Nicholas said.
“We urgently need to protect and restore wetlands and riparian areas across the country to give freshwater fish, like the Northland mudfish, a fighting chance.”
It was the fifth time Mountains to Sea had run the Fish of the Year competition.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eylem Altuntas, Researcher, Speech & Language Development, The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University
Anyone who has spent time with a baby knows how unpredictable the first year can feel. One week a baby suddenly seems to “get” something new. The next week, that same response may disappear.
Parents often describe this as progress coming in bursts rather than in a straight line. These changes can be exciting to watch, but they can also raise questions. Did my baby forget? Did something go wrong?
Our new research, published in Language Learning and Development, suggests early language learning unfolds in much the same way. We found babies can pick up how speech sounds are made as early as four months old.
But this early ability does not simply grow stronger month by month. Instead, as babies move through the first year, the way they show what they know can change, even while learning continues quietly in the background.
Learning about speech
In earlier research, we showed babies as young as four months can learn patterns about how speech sounds are made.
After a short game involving two made-up “mini-languages”, four-month-olds could link what they had heard with what they later saw, even when the test was completely silent.
This told us babies were not just remembering individual sounds. They were picking up something more general about speech, such as whether sounds were made with the lips or with the tongue tip.
For many researchers, and for parents following this work, that raised a natural question: if babies can do this so early, what happens next?
Watching learning change over time
To find out, we followed the same babies over time and tested them again at seven and ten months. We also tested a separate group of ten-month-olds who had never seen the task before.
This allowed us to watch how learning changed within the same children, while also seeing how babies at the same age responded when everything was new.
The task itself was designed to be simple and engaging. Babies first learned links between made-up words and cartoon animals. For example, a word like “buviwa”, made using the lips, might always appear with a kangaroo, while a word like “dazolu”, made using the tongue tip, appeared with a kookaburra. Each “language” followed a clear pattern based on how its sounds were made.
Later, babies watched silent videos of a person speaking new words and then saw an animal image. Because the videos were silent, babies had to rely on what they had learned earlier, rather than matching sound and sight in the moment.
At four months, babies showed a clear response, paying closer attention when the talking face matched the animal they had learned. At seven months, this clear response was no longer there, which at first surprised us.
But at ten months, a different pattern emerged. Babies paid more attention when something did not match what they had learned. This response was especially clear in babies who were seeing the task for the first time, and became stronger when results from both ten-month-old groups were considered together.
Reorganising language systems
When we look at these findings together, the pattern starts to make sense.
Younger babies often prefer what feels familiar, while older babies tend to focus more on what is new or unexpected. Seven months appears to be a transitional period. Learning is still happening, but it is not expressed as a clear preference in either direction. Rather than signalling a loss of ability, the shift we see reflects a change in how babies respond as they mature.
This period of change fits with what is happening more broadly in babies’ lives. Between about seven and ten months, babies are becoming increasingly tuned to the sounds of the language they hear every day. They are also beginning to recognise common words and link sounds to meaning.
During this time, their language system is not just growing, it is reorganising. When that happens, learning can look uneven from the outside.
Many parents notice similar moments at home. A baby who once turned immediately toward a familiar voice may suddenly seem less responsive, only to show new signs of understanding weeks later.
These moments can be worrying, especially when progress is expected to be steady. Our findings suggest some of these changes may reflect learning in motion rather than learning lost.
Behaviour doesn’t always tell the full story
For parents, this work is a reminder that behaviour does not always tell the full story. If a baby doesn’t show a clear response at a particular age, it does not necessarily mean they have stopped learning or missed an important step.
For researchers and clinicians, the findings highlight the limits of relying on single tests at single ages. Early language learning is flexible and changing. To understand it properly, we need to look at how babies develop over time, not just how they perform at one moment.
Importantly, the results show babies don’t learn in a straight line, and quiet moments are not empty ones. Even when progress is hard to see, learning may still be unfolding, preparing the ground for what comes next.
The terms of reference, released on Tuesday, task him with investigating how the landslides occurred and whether relevant agencies took appropriate steps to manage any risk.
That includes whether they missed any opportunities to warn or evacuate people.
Investigators will consider evidence including what agencies already knew about the risk of landslides, as well as the weather forecasts, storm alerts, and any warnings from the public.
The inquiry has no power to determine criminal or disciplinary liability, but can make “findings of fault”.
The government said it does not expect the inquiry to hold public hearings and can seek evidence from overseas, but without travelling itself.
In a statement, the responsible minister Chris Penk said the government recognised the significant public concern surrounding the tragic events and the importance for the families and wider community of determining exactly what happened.
“Those responsible for the Inquiry will be required to communicate with the families of the victims about its progress. It is my expectation that this engagement will be conducted with respect and sensitivity, and that the work will proceed as efficiently as possible,” Penk said.
Sir Mark will be assisted by a former public sector boss Helen Anderson and lawyer Steve Symon.
They will start considering evidence at the end of the month, to report back with recommendations by early December.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Wilson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
The number of Australians using medicinal cannabis has surged over the past five years. Around 700,000 Australians have used cannabis for their health in the past year.
And since 2022, medicinal cannabis sales have increased four-fold. But the majority of products prescribed in the Australian market are not registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration. This means they have not been rigorously tested.
So, is medicinal cannabis safe? And is it actually effective?
Our new research, published today in Lancet Psychiatry, is the largest ever review to look at the safety and effectiveness of medicinal cannabis for mental health and substance use disorders.
These make up six of the top ten reasons cannabis is prescribed, specifically: anxiety, sleep disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, depression, and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
But we found little evidence medicinal cannabis effectively treats these conditions. And while most side effects were mild to moderate, some serious questions about safety remain.
What evidence was available?
Between 1980 and 2025, we found 54 randomised controlled trials that looked at whether medicinal cannabis reduced or treated mental health disorders (including psychotic disorders, anxiety, insomnia, anorexia and PTSD) or substance use disorders (including cannabis, cocaine and opioids). This kind of trial is the gold standard for understanding the direct effects of a medicine.
The most common cannabinoid being evaluated was cannabidiol (CBD), followed by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and a combination of THC and CBD.
We found cannabis medicines were no more effective than a placebo at treating symptoms of psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia), anxiety, PTSD, anorexia or opioid use disorder.
However, there were promising findings that medicinal cannabis may be effective in reducing cannabis use among those with a cannabis use disorder.
While this may sound strange, the medicines largely consisted of an oil-based combination of CBD and THC that was taken orally. As these medicines reduce craving, patients may use less of their usual cannabis. So for people who regularly smoke high-THC cannabis, using medicinal cannabis instead may reduce their risk of related health problems, such as lung conditions.
But there are limitations
We must be careful when interpreting the positive findings.
For example, some evidence suggested medicinal cannabis could help treat symptoms associated with tic or Tourette’s syndrome, insomnia, and autism spectrum disorder. But only a small number of studies focused on these conditions and many were low quality.
In randomised controlled trials, we don’t want participants to know whether they are consuming the medicine or placebo. But as cannabis is often intoxicating, participants may be aware of what they have been given, and this can introduce bias.
Some of these studies also reported conflicts of interest, which may have influenced their results. So it may be too soon to tell whether medicinal cannabis is effective in treating these conditions.
How about safety?
The combined data showed cannabis medicines were linked to mild side effects such as nausea, dry mouth and fatigue.
But the risk of serious side effects, such as a psychotic episode, was no greater among those taking cannabis medicines or a placebo.
The data alone seems to suggest cannabis medicines are relatively safe. But this may not be reflected in real-world use.
The average length of treatment in these studies was only five weeks – and we know regular cannabis use can cause long-term harms.
One 2024 review found around one-quarter of those using medicinal cannabis will develop a cannabis use disorder. This is similar to the rate among those using cannabis for non-medical use.
The cannabis medicines used in these studies were also low in THC. But data from the TGA shows Australians have access to a wide range of cannabis medicines that are often high in THC content. Chronic consumption of high THC cannabis has been linked to a greater risk of worsening mental health symptoms, particularly among young people.
So what does this mean?
Similar reviews have been conducted in the past. But many focus on a smaller number of health conditions and have not combined data to reveal a single estimate.
Reviews have also commonly drawn conclusions on cannabis as a treatment for mental health when it was being used to treat other conditions, such as chronic pain.
Nevertheless, our findings are largely consistent with previous reviews: there is little evidence medicinal cannabis is an effective treatment for mental health and substance use disorders.
Currently, there is a mismatch between the research evidence on medicinal cannabis – mainly short-term trials and CBD formulations – and real-world use, which is longer term and often using high-THC products.
We need more research on cannabis medicines, particularly for conditions with limited alternative treatments, and monitoring over longer periods.
As the TGA conducts a review of medical cannabis prescribing in Australia, these findings should inform future regulation. The long-term use of these medicines could result in harm and delay the use of more effective treatments.
The takeaway
For those who believe their medicinal cannabis is beneficial for these conditions, our review does not mean to contradict your experience.
However, we encourage you to regularly discuss your circumstances with a doctor, and if possible, consider alternative evidence-based treatments.
My Food Bag is forecasting its full-year net profit will be between $6.4 million and $6.8 million
Strong sales in the second half of the year have helped put My Food Bag on track to deliver year-on-year profit growth.
The NZX-listed company is forecasting its full-year net profit will be between $6.4 million and $6.8 million, up from $6.3 million in the 2025 financial year.
Revenue is tipped to grow 4.9 percent on the previous year, with the level of retained customers in the meal kit business up year-on-year, according to chief executive Mark Winter.
“We’ve prioritised providing our customers with greater flexibility, offering the more convenience and reiterating the value of our offering,” he said.
Winter says the meal kit business has expanded in the past year to target more health-conscious customers, and now offers a high protein option, a diabetes plan and meals tailored to those taking weight loss drugs.
My Food Bag chief executive Mark Winter.Supplied
Rising cost of ingredients a headwind
Ingredient price inflation is still a challenge for My Food Bag, said Winter, with food prices generally up 4.5 percent in the year to February, according to Stats NZ.
But Winter said the company has managed to improve its gross margin for the second half, compared to the prior year.
“We’ve always prioritised what we can do internally to take unnecessary cost out that the customer doesn’t value and that includes at assembly sites around productivity.”
“We invested a substantial amount of money a couple of years ago in implementing light automation, so initiatives like that have allowed us to partially offset the food price inflation costs that we’re seeing come through.”
With the Middle East conflict generating an uncertain outlook for inflation, Winter said the company is keeping a close eye on developments and staying in contact with suppliers.
The company expects to release its confirmed full-year results in May.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
