A search and rescue operation is underway for a man missing on a yacht in the Cook Strait.

The Air Force, Navy and Police were searching for the vessel on Thursday night, following a mayday call made in the afternoon.

Harbourmaster Grant Nalder told RNZ the yacht had been near Baring Head and was having difficulties returning to Wellington.

He said two people had been on the vessel heading north from Wellington on Wednesday, when one became unwell.

CoastGuard and the Police Maritime Unit went out to Cape Palliser on Thursday morning and brought that person back to Wellington.

Nalder said the other person was still attempting to return to Wellington on Thursday night, with Police trying to locate where he was.

He said Police were the lead agency on the rescue operation.

Maritime NZ also referred queries to Police, saying “This is a CAT 1 SAR, meaning police is the lead agency.”

RNZ has approached Police for comment.

According to the New Zealand Search and Rescue website, Category 1 operations are locally coordinated by people who are familiar with the area, and can include close-to-shore marine searches (usually within 12 nautical miles of New Zealand).

A spokesperson for the Defence Force confirmed it was also involved in the search for the sailing vessel.

“Crew on a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A are launching an aerial search while Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Taupo is also in the area after responding to mayday broadcasts earlier this afternoon. The vessel with one person on board has reported becoming lost while en route to Wellington Harbour. New Zealand Police is the lead agency coordinating the search.”

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed a Philip Rescue Helicopter left Palmerston North shortly before 7pm and circled the area, before landing in Wellington at 8.30pm.

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Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/search-operation-underway-for-yachtie-near-baring-head-wellington/

A man on a yacht near Baring Head is having difficulties returning to Wellington, according to the harbourmaster.

Grant Nalder told RNZ that there were two people on the vessel, heading north from Wellington, but one became unwell on Wednesday.

CoastGuard and the Police Maritime Unit went out to Cape Palliser on Thursday morning, and brought that person back to Wellington.

Nalder said the other person was still attempting to return to Wellington on Thursday night, with Police trying to locate where he was.

He said Police were the lead agency on the rescue operation.

Maritime NZ also referred queries to Police, saying “This is a CAT 1 SAR, meaning police is the lead agency.”

RNZ has approached Police for comment.

According to the New Zealand Search and Rescue website, Category 1 operations are locally coordinated by people who are familiar with the area, and can include close-to-shore marine searches (usually within 12 nautical miles of New Zealand).

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/rescue-operation-underway-for-yachtie-near-baring-head-wellington/

The move-on orders legislation has passed its first reading, following a heated debate at Parliament.

Around 80 people were sat in the public gallery to watch the debate, following a call to action from the Green Party.

Even though the legislation has passed its hurdle, a long debate on when the select committee has to report back on the bill has to be extended into next week.

The Summary Offences (Move-on Orders) Amendment Bill would give police the power to issue move-on orders to people who are displaying disorderly, disruptive, threatening, or intimidating behaviour.

They will also apply to people who are obstructing or impeding someone entering a business, breaching the peace, begging, rough sleeping, or displaying behaviour indicating an attempt to inhabit a public place.

After being issued with such an order, the person has to leave a specified order for up to 24 hours, and what the officer deems to be a “reasonable distance” away.

People as young as 14 would be subject to the orders.

The legislation has been heavily criticised by opposition parties, homelessness organisations, and the Police Association.

Speaking at the first reading on Thursday, justice minister Paul Goldsmith said the bill was not criminalising homelessness, but would simply give police the power to issue move-on orders.

Only people who refused to follow the orders would face prosecution, and people lawfully protesting or conducting charitable or not-for-profit fundraising would be exempt.

Goldsmith said there had been “unprecedented” levels of disruption in city centres with businesses, residents, and visitors playing the price.

“Our focus is ensuring that we reclaim those streets and those town centres for the enjoyment of people who live there, who work there, who visit there,” he said.

He said many “disruptive, distressing, and potentially harmful” acts could occur before police had any means of intervention, and that was what the legislation sought to change.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find anybody who lives, works, or visits our city centres that hasn’t witnessed disorderly behaviour.”

Goldsmith insisted there were “many tools” to help people in need, including access to the welfare system, additional Housing First homes, more funding for frontline services, and expanded wraparound support.

“It’s often said, ‘oh well, what about your empathy for those who are in genuine need?’ And I’d just say this, my empathy lies particularly with those New Zealanders who have put their life savings into a small business, who get up every day to do their business, to provide for their family, for their community, and for their customers,” he said.

“And they find a number of people lined up outside their businesses abusing those who come and go, and make it difficult for them to succeed, and to live, and to provide for their families. That’s where my empathy lies.”

‘Would you like them to go sleep in a bush?’ – Opposition parties slam bill

Labour’s deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni said the bill was “purely ideological” and insisted it did criminalise homelessness.

“You stand up in this House and say you’re not criminalising, despite the fact if they don’t move on they can be fined or they can be sentenced.”

Sepuloni said it was “crazy” that the government would talk about disorderly behaviour when two of the categories that would trigger a move-on order were homelessness and begging.

“It’s not nice, and it’s hard when you have to explain it to your kids, but it’s even worse for the people that are actually living as homeless people, because they have nowhere to lay down with a roof over their heads at night time.”

Green MP Tamatha Paul said the government was misleading the public by saying it was not criminalising homelessness.

“If they comply and go home, they’re not going to be charged. The minister realises they don’t have a home, right? Where exactly are they supposed to move on? Should they go to your house?”

Paul was particularly aggrieved that the orders applied to people as young as 14.

“Where exactly are these kids meant to go? Would you like them to go sleep in a bush? Would you like them to go sleep under a bridge? They have nowhere to go, they have no parents, they have no responsible adults, and now they will be caught up in the justice system for the rest of their life.”

Paul, who had organised to get people into the public gallery, said those watching on worked on the frontline, and urged the government to listen to them.

Both Paul and Labour MP Willie Jackson mentioned that Goldsmith had advocated for a similar policy as an Auckland City councillor.

Jackson said Goldsmith had now “got his wish” almost 20 years later.

“Congratulations Minister Goldsmith, well done, what a political achievement,” Jackson remarked sarcastically.

“Hold on to anger towards the poor long enough … and you too can be a National cabinet minister.”

Bill gets coalition backing

National’s coalition partners ACT and New Zealand First voted in favour of the bill.

ACT MP Simon Court said there had been “political gaslighting” around the bill, and all it did was equip police to deal with public disorder.

“You are denying the lived reality of young people who I’ve worked with, in the central city, in K Road and other business, who told me they were afraid to come to work until it was light because of the intimidation and fear they felt from people who they could identify as being regularly occupying places in public spaces,” he said.

“The Greens and Labour are denying the reality of people who choose to live in urban centres, with all the enormous investments and infrastructure like City Rail Link in Auckland, we want people to come and live.”

New Zealand First’s Casey Costello, said as minister for seniors she wanted older people to be able to feel safe and part of the cities they lived in.

“It is returning our streets to the communities that own them, not allowing us to be intimidated and to be frightened, to just be in our own cities.”

MPs debate report back timeframe

Goldsmith wanted the Justice Committee to report back on the bill by 3 September.

“The reason for this slightly faster turnaround of three and a half months, rather than the usual period, is because this government wants to get on with this legislation, and have it enforced quickly, and because we believe three and a half months does provide plenty of time for full consideration of the issues,” he said.

It prompted a filibuster attempt from the opposition.

Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan argued it should be moved to 22 September – two days before the House is expected to rise before the election.

Xu-Nan said the bill had a Section 7 report by the Attorney-General, which had found removing rough sleepers and beggars did not appear to be justified.

The Green MP said this deserved further scrutiny, and also noted the government could have introduced it sooner, given it received a Regulatory Impact Statement in November.

“If they introduced something like this earlier in the year, they could in fact allow for a full six month select committee, without having to have a truncated process. Instead the bill has decided to introduce bills of a lesser significance, despite knowing something like this would have an impact and undermine our Bill of Rights.”

Labour agreed the report back timeframe was too short, with Justice Committee member Duncan Webb tabling his own amendment to stop the committee from meeting while the House was sitting.

Because Parliament had to rise at 6pm, the debate on the report back date was interrupted.

It means, despite the bill passing its first reading, the debate on exactly when it will next appear before the House will resume next Tuesday.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/move-on-orders-bill-passes-first-reading-following-heated-debate/

The principal of a West Coast secondary school says there are too many barriers to hiring teachers who were trained or born overseas.

Sam Mortimer from Greymouth High said newly-qualified teachers weren’t paid enough to meet minimum pay rates for a “Green List” work visa, and the paper work is excessive.

She told RNZ nearly all the teachers she hired came from overseas.

“Our last one for a maths position, we didn’t have a single New Zealand resident application. We had some people that were training in New Zealand but not a single New Zealander applying for the roles,” she said.

Mortimer said hiring foreign teachers was challenging if they were beginning or early-career teachers because they often did not meet the threshold for minimum earnings.

“They just don’t reach the threshold to get a visa which tells you a little bit about our beginning teachers’ pay rates when they don’t even hit the minimum for getting a visa,” she said.

Mortimer said being an accredited employer did not help much.

“It’s just very difficult and challenging and time-consuming,” she said.

‘Why do we have to jump through so many hoops?’

Mortimer said the Education Ministry provided $4000 toward the cost of using recruitment companies but they tended to charge about $8000.

“So we take that hit every time as well,” she said.

Mortimer said she understood the need to ensure overseas recruitment was legal and above board, but schools should be trusted to offer genuine jobs and pay their teachers correctly.

“Why do we have to jump through so many hoops,” she asked.

Mortimer said the administrative load associated with hiring teachers was very time-consuming and she was lucky to be able to pass that job on to other staff.

She said teachers wanting registration to teach in New Zealand had to provide details of their qualifications and overseas registration to the Teaching Council and then go through a similar process to ensure they were placed on the right step of the salary scale.

“It doesn’t mean anything because when you actually get offered a job and you arrive you have to do something called salary assessment and then you again have to put all of your qualifications in,” she said.

“You don’t just have a seamless thing from one to the other. They have to be all looked at by me again, I have to verify everything, then it goes to salary assessment for them to decide where you are on the [salary] steps.

“For some of our teachers coming from overseas I know of instances of up to three months where they’re being paid on untrained teacher wages or right at the bottom of the trained-teacher wage if they can show that first before they can get their proper pay. And these are people that have already put out a lot of money to pay for visas, to pay for transport to come to New Zealand so it’s very unfair.”

Mortimer said teachers from the US and South Africa were keen to come to New Zealand.

The school’s executive assistant Emily Westacott said it had to estimate for Immigration New Zealand what teachers would be paid as part of the visa application.

She said in a recent case the school ended up with a lot of back and forth with Immigration New Zealand because a prospective teacher did not meet the minimum wage requirement.

“We ended up writing to the minister to just get her support because we needed this teacher to come in but even with a green list role, a secondary teacher, it wasn’t enough,” she said.

She said removing the minimum wage requirement for accredited employers would remove a lot of the stress.

“Secondary teachers are a green list role. It should just be a given that they’re coming to a New Zealand school, they’re going to be looked after, they’re going to be paid correctly and fairly because it goes through the Education Payroll system,” Westacott said.

“That process could be streamlined. Remove that requirement to put the salary in the job check, that would remove a lot of the stress.”

Administrative obstacles

Meanwhile, a New Zealander with Australian teaching qualifications told RNZ she nearly gave up because of the paperwork and fees.

Sophie Kemp said she decided to come back to New Zealand to teach this year but she nearly gave up because of the administrative obstacles.

Kemp told RNZ she assumed her qualifications and registration would be automatically recognised, but she had to pay about $850 for the Teaching Council to check she was registered in Australia and register her in New Zealand, plus the cost of an Australian police check.

Once she found a job, she had to provide information to Education Payroll to ensure she was paid at the right step of the salary scale, a process that included paying $750 for an international qualifications assessment by the Qualifications Authority.

She said the requirement seemed ridiculous.

“It’s not like I’m coming from some far away place where my qualification’s in a different language and it could be a culturally really different education system that I’ve trained in. It’s literally just Melbourne and pretty easy to look up if that Master’s of Teaching is an appropriate initial teacher education programme. Not $750-worth I would have thought,” she said.

Kemp said she assumed the trans-Tasman mutual recognition agreement would eliminate the need for so much paperwork and the charges.

She said the sums involved were a lot for someone on a New Zealand teacher salary.

“It just seems totally counter-intuitive to me that New Zealand is crying out for teachers, good qualified teachers, to come and help and they’re met not only with the admin that you have to go through,” she said.

“It takes months to get all these administrative jobs done and then for them to get back to you and then you finally start getting paid appropriately. It takes a long time, it’s incredibly expensive. Wouldn’t you want to make it easy?”

‘Still practical visa pathways’

Immigration New Zealand said it acknowledged that recruiting recently-qualified overseas teachers could present challenges for schools, particularly if they were on lower salary steps and could not meet some visa requirements straight away.

“For teaching roles eligible for the Green List Tier 1, Straight to Residence is designed for experienced teachers who are working at, or are offered, roles paid at the New Zealand median wage. It is not intended for newly graduated teachers or those early in their careers who are not yet earning at this level,” it said.

Immigration New Zealand said minimum pay thresholds were a core part of immigration requirements and were applied consistently across all sectors.

“They are used to reflect skill and experience and to ensure migrant workers are appropriately paid in line with the New Zealand labour market. These thresholds apply regardless of how salaries are funded, including in centrally funded school systems, which is why state and state integrated schools are not provided with a waiver from these requirements,” it said.

“While teachers on lower salary steps may not meet Green List thresholds immediately, there are still practical visa pathways that allow schools to recruit overseas teachers and support them to gain experience and progress over time.”

The Education Ministry said the International Qualifications Assessment ensured all overseas qualification holders were treated fairly.

“It is not possible to tell from the name that an overseas qualification is comparable to a New Zealand qualification. Not all Australian qualifications are equivalent to New Zealand programmes. The structure and programme requirements for qualification, such as master’s degrees, can differ between jurisdictions,” it said.

“The qualification content may also differ between individuals depending on their study pathway. Confirmation that the provider, programme of study, study pathway is officially approved and accredited helps to determine quality assurance measures are in place.”

The assessment also verified if the qualification was genuinely awarded to the holder and an additional evaluation confirmed it met this country’s initial teaching education programme standards.

Immigration and Education Minister Erica Stanford said newly-qualified teachers earned enough to qualify for a five-year Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).

“Newly qualified teachers who gain their teaching qualification in New Zealand will also be eligible for a Post-Study Work Visa and then a further five-year AEWV,” she said in a statement.

“The Green List Straight to Residence pathway is deliberately targeted at experienced teachers, not newly graduated teachers. This is a feature across Green List Straight to Residence roles in general which targets experienced people in a given role, not new graduates. People who are just starting or at the beginning of their teaching career have up to five years on an Accredited Employer Work Visa to reach the required wage rate for residence,” she said.

Stanford said accredited employer status was needed for either the Accredited Employer Work Visa or the Straight-to-Residence Visa and getting it was a straightforward process for schools that took on average two to four working days.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/too-many-barriers-to-hiring-overseas-teachers-secondary-school-principal-says/

An inquiry into the state of Fire and Emergency’s fire trucks has heard its troubles go deeper than thought and require a wider investigation.

The parliamentary select committee inquiry was triggered by MPs who were angry at getting mixed messages from Fire and Emergency (FENZ) amid truck breakdowns and new trucks not being put on the road fast enough.

Ray Deacon of the Taxpayers’ Union said FENZ’s lack of asset management had been “astonishing”.

“Failures to control expenditure, failure to efficiently construct rural fire stations, failure to efficiently manage assets, all suggest a major failure of governance by the board and Department of Internal Affairs,” Deacon told MPs on Wednesday.

He disputed FENZ’s contention that it had inherited fire trucks from rural brigades that were worse than expected in the 2017 merger of urban and rural services. Deacon said that did not wash with what was on record, and if it were true, why the cost-benefit analysis conducted at the time did not raise it.

“Would the merger actually even have gone ahead had the actual costs that have been incurred subsequent to merger been known at the time? I very much doubt it,” he said.

Other submitters also called for a wider inquiry, among them Alan Collett, speaking on behalf of the Professional Firefighters’ Union’s Wellington branch.

Citing the Loafers Lodge fire that killed five people in Wellington in 2023, Collett said when trucks broke down, crews could adopt different tactics, but options got more and more limited as time ticked by.

He said at the Loafers fire, the shorter ladder of a truck standing in for a broken-down long-ladder Newtown truck prevented firefighters from rescuing people jumping onto a roof on the south side of the building.

Collett pointed to other weaknesses, citing an unreleased review within FENZ that he suggested showed “systematic inconsistencies” in training.

Another submitter, Adriana de Souza, told the inquiry she had witnessed firefighters’ commitment to the job at a lodge fire in the central Auckland suburb of Parnell in 2024, and said they deserved better.

It was the second public hearing of the inquiry, which is ongoing.

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Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/mps-told-investigation-needed-into-state-of-fire-truck-fleet/

A family support service in the Hutt Valley is closing its doors tomorrow after 60 years of service.

Birthright Hutt Valley supports single-caregiver whānau in the region, and is the only specialist social service like it in the area.

Public Service Association national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the government has failed the Hutt Valley community.

“This closure is a failure of government. Birthright has served this community for 60 years and it’s closing because the government would not fund it adequately, said Fitzsimons.

“It’s heartbreaking. There has been no response from Oranga Tamariki, no plan, and no replacement. Hutt Valley families have been left out in the cold.”

Fitzsimons accused the government of not being serious about children and families doing well in New Zealand.

“This government has chosen tax relief for landlords over a 60-year-old organisation that support single-caregiver families.

“When you allow an organisation like this to close, you are not just failing the families in front of you today – you are failing generations to come.”

Birthright Hutt Valley manager Sarah Szabo said their social workers have helped families navigate Work and Income, supported survivors of family violence, advocated in family court and provided practical help through its Whānau Room.

“In the days since we announced our closure, whānau have been coming to us asking where they can turn to now. And I have had to tell them I do not know. There is nothing else.

“We have laughed and cried with these families. We have been there for some of the hardest moments of their lives. Saying goodbye to them is devastating.”

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Family Violence

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/hutt-valley-family-support-service-closing-doors-after-60-years/

The Citizens Advice Bureau says it’s “gut-wrenching” that Wellington City Council has decided to cut the bureau’s funding by around 60 percent.

The council announced yesterday that Wellington’s CAB will go from receiving around $230,000 to $100,000 from the council.

Citizens Advice Bureau CEO Kerry Dalton told Checkpoint the bureau was already “cut to the bone” and now their “survival is at risk”.

She said what made the announcement even worst was that they had been effectively “blindsided”.

“We got about five hours’ notice before the agenda with that recommendation got posted on the council’s public website.”

She said while there had been some discussion prior around changing the councils’ funding priorities, there had been no indication of this type of funding cut.

“We had shown that we met the new criteria and we in fact asked for a small funding increase, not having had it signalled to us that there was this degree of a funding cut being thought of.”

She said last year CAB had helped 11,000 Wellingtonians including 1,130 people with employment issues and 400 people with income support issues.

“Someone came in recently who had lost their job and as a result of that drop in income, they couldn’t keep up their rent payments. They lost their house and they were coming to us because they were homeless”

When asked about the potential of AI replacing their service Dalton said they had found a lot of people come to them wanting to speak with a real person after being frustrated with AI.

“People often need the reassurance of interacting with a person. They also need that information to be accurate.”

“They’re coming to us because they’ve only been able to talk to a bot and it’s a very limited interaction with them.”

Dalton said the CAB was heavily reliant on trained volunteers with the Wellington bureau having a handful of part time staff who support 125 volunteers throughout the city.

She said while council needed to support CAB and its volunteers, there needed to be a contribution made by central government as well.

“At the moment, central government does not provide any direct funding to our frontline CABs.”

“That needs to be additional to council funding. It’s not a replacement for it.”

With the government also looking to cut thousands of public sector jobs, Dalton said Wellington needed the CAB now more than ever.

She said support for the CAB had already been flooding in through Facebook.

“We will be calling on people to support us to get our funding reinstated because our volunteers, they were devastated, now they’re angry.”

Dalton also noted this was not the first time that the CAB was at risk of a funding cut.

“The council had a go at cutting our funding before in 2018 and Wellingtonians said no in force.”

A petition in support of the CAB had received 5000 signatures at the time and council had commissioned a review which showed that council should make funding to the CAB non-contestable.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/wellingtons-citizens-advice-bureau-devastated-by-council-funding-cut/

Hawke’s Bay mayors have written to McCain asking the international company to pause its closure of the Hastings processing plant.

More than 100 growers are impacted by McCain closing its frozen vegetable factory in Hastings, a decision the company said it made after reviewing operations and being “unable to identify a sustainable pathway under the current model”.

However, a group of growers are now looking at whether they could take over the processing operation.

Hastings District Mayor Wendy Schollum and Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Will Foley wrote to McCain Foods requesting an eight-week pause on any major changes to the company’s Hawke’s Bay processing plant while growers explore the potential for an independent feasibility study into the future of the sector.

The proposed study would assess whether a viable pathway existed for a grower-owned processing operation that could retain large-scale food manufacturing capability in Hawke’s Bay, and protect the wider economic ecosystem built around McCain’s long-standing presence in the region.

Schollum said the request was intended to allow time for the study to be completed before decisions are made that could limit future opportunities.

“We are asking for a short period to complete the work while the facility remains substantially intact. This will help to determine whether there is a credible commercial pathway forward for the sector,” she said.

It follows a series of meetings between mayors, growers, government ministers and members of parliament.

Foley said the mayors respected McCain’s commercial position and were seeking a constructive and pragmatic process.

“We acknowledge the realities McCain is working through and this request is not intended to challenge the company’s right to make business decisions,” he said.

“However, given the significance of this industry to Hawke’s Bay, we believe there is value in allowing this assessment to be completed before key infrastructure or processing capability is lost.”

The proposed feasibility study would examine infrastructure requirements, market opportunities, logistics, energy and water considerations, workforce needs and overall commercial sustainability.

Government support

Foley and Schollum said government support would be critical to ensuring the work could be undertaken quickly, independently and with the level of commercial and technical rigour required.

“This is a significant piece of work with potentially important implications for Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand’s wider food production sector.

“Government support would help ensure growers have access to the expertise and analysis needed to properly assess whether a sustainable long-term future remains possible for the sector,” Foley said.

And they are hopeful, after meeting with central government and MPs from across Parliament in recent weeks.

“These discussions extend well beyond a single processing site. They go to the future of regional manufacturing, grower confidence and New Zealand’s broader food resilience and security,” Schollum said.

The mayors confirmed they remain committed to working collaboratively with growers, government and McCain Foods as discussions continue.

McCain has been contacted for comment.

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Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/hawkes-bay-mayors-ask-mccain-to-pause-plant-closure/

Queens Drive in central Lower Hutt has reopened after an earlier incident.

That incident had been resolved, police said.

The road had earlier been blocked while police were at the scene.

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Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/central-lower-hutts-queens-drive-reopens-after-police-incident/

NRL: NZ Warriors v St George-Illawarra Dragons

Kickoff 7.30pm NZT, Saturday, 23 May

Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah

Live blog updates on RNZ

With Tanah Boyd now officially sidelined for the season with a ruptured knee ligament, NZ Warriors must not only settle on a replacement halfback, they must also find another goalkicker.

After a spectacular start to the 2026 NRL campaign, Boyd injured his anterior cruciate ligament early against Brisbane Broncos on Sunday and faces surgery next week, followed by nine months of rehabilitation.

Originally regarded by most as merely keeping the No.7 jersey warm for Luke Metcalf’s return, Boyd’s form was so compelling, it kept the club’s marquee half – who suffered the same injury last year – out of the starting line-up and persuaded him to seek his future elsewhere in 2027.

Veteran utility Te Maire Martin came off the bench and contributed mightily to the Warriors’ 42-12 romp over the defending NRL champions at ‘Magic Round’ and will have first crack as Boyd’s replacement on Saturday against St George-Illawarra Dragons, although Metcalf remains an option beyond that.

Turns out there is also no shortage of volunteers for the kicking chores.

Fullback Taine Tuaupiki immediately stepped into the role against the Broncos, missing his first attempt – a sideline conversion of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak’s opening try – before slotting his next five.

Inexplicably, five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita assumed the job, banging over a penalty from in front of the posts, before converting Watene-Zelezniak’s second try from the sideline.

“I actually just had a little niggle,” Tuaupiki explained, pointing just below his knee. “When you’ve got other good goalkickers in the team and you’ve got a niggle, you can just dish it over.

“We’re all happy to kick and the same would happen if [Chanel] got a niggle, I’d take over from him.”

Until that point, Boyd had taken all but two shots at goal for the Warriors this season, connecting on 70 percent. Veteran Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was allowed to convert a try in his 150th game for the club against Canberra Raiders, while front-rower Jackson Ford was also on target in his 100th NRL appearance against Newcastle Knights.

Across his 19 games for the club over the past two seasons, Boyd had kicked with 73 percent accuracy.

Tuaupiki has kicked spasmodically in his limited first-grade appearances, but that sideline effort against the Broncos was his first miss from 12 attempts (92 percent).

His most memorable goalkicking performance came at 2024 Magic Round, when he converted his own late try for a 22-20 victory over defending champions Penrith Panthers.

Harris-Tavita kicked extensively for the Warriors during his early years in first grade, but hadn’t attempted one since 2024. He has made 65/83 (78 percent) across his career.

“I didn’t know at the time,” coach Andrew Webster reflected on the kicking handover on Sunday. “I thought, ‘What’s Chanel doing?’ but I was very happy when he slotted them over.

“Now we’ve got another headache – we’ve got Chanel who wants to kick goals – so that’s good depth again.”

The kicking ability goes way beyond those two. If Metcalf returns to the starting line-up, he brings a 63/92 (68 percent) return from his 36 games for the club, while centre Adam Pompey proved himself more than useful during the 2024 season and has a 51/68 (75 percent) success rate.

No-one is quite sure who will take the tee first this week.

“We probably haven’t had that discussion yet,” Tuaupiki confirmed. “We’ve got captain’s run tomorrow and that’s when we sit down with the goalkicking coach… we’ll see how we go.”

Meanwhile, the players and staff have supported Boyd, as he comes to grips with his predicament. With his current contract expiring this season, he had reportedly negotiated an extension with the Warriors, but it had not been officially announced before his injury.

“He’s upset,” Webster said. “He’s put a lot of hard work into his game and this club. He’s done a terrific job for us, and he’s done his family and himself really proud.

“He’s gutted, because he’s done all that hard work and will now miss the opportunity, but for a guy who’s gone through what he’s done, I haven’t seen a player go through an ACL and then reconnect with the team so quickly.

“He’s been in our meetings and telling Te Maire, if he needs any reps, he’ll help him with stuff – not physically, but mental reps. He’s been unbelievably good, but you can see the disappointment on his face.”

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/nrl-nz-warriors-audition-new-goalkickers-after-tanah-boyds-season-ending-injury/

Metlink is asking Wellington bus passengers to pay with cash or Snapper cards after contactless credit and debit card payments stopped working on a number of services.

A spokesperson for the transport provider said they were notified today of a fault with the system, which has only been in place since early March.

They said they were working to apply a software upgrade to fix the problem, but it could take until Monday morning as the solution had to be applied to each affected bus individually.

Metlink senior manager strategy and investments Tim Shackleton apologised for the inconvenience.

“We know more and more of our customers are choosing contactless payments for convenience, so we’re sorry for the disruption this will cause as buses stop accepting contactless payment from this afternoon onwards.

“Our teams are working closely with Snapper to implement a fix as soon as possible. In the meantime, passengers need to use a Snapper card or cash when travelling on our buses.”

Metlink said train and ferry contactless payments remained unaffected.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/contactless-credit-and-debit-payments-on-metlink-services-go-down/

Queens Drive in central Lower Hutt has been closed while police respond to an incident.

Police aren’t providing details, but say there there is no threat to the public.

Cordons are in place and motorists are advised to avoid the area.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/central-lower-hutts-queens-drive-closed-as-result-of-police-incident/

Analysis – Much like every other political party in Parliament, New Zealand First isn’t really planning to use taxpayer money to buy back BNZ.

The idea is a bold and bizarre one given the potential price tag of anywhere between $7 billion and $30b, depending on who you believe.

Winston Peters himself couldn’t say what it would cost when asked on Morning Report on Monday, but he doesn’t need to.

Be under no illusions: this is not a make-or-break policy for New Zealand First, and it won’t be an election bottom line.

The country has been feeling the effects of a cost-of-living crisis since late 2021 and for many it hasn’t got any better. For plenty, it’s got worse.

Add to that an international fuel crisis, business confidence tanking, and inflation struggling to get back into the desired 1 to 3 percent bracket.

There isn’t a political leader who would realistically prioritise spending billions of dollars to buy back an Australian Bank at this point in time, or anytime in the near future.

What New Zealand First set out to achieve at the weekend was much simpler than spending billions of dollars buying the country an expensive and potentially out-of-reach bank.

The clue is in its name – putting New Zealand First – and reminding voters less than six months out from an election that the party that believes in nationalism, “taking back our country”, and holding onto state assets isn’t National, nor is it ACT.

Peters is the political leader who has spent the past 33 years reusing large sections of the same speech at his public meetings where he talks about New Zealanders keeping more of their own money, profits not going overseas, and state-owned assets staying that – state-owned.

It’s all part of a wider strategy of getting everybody else to spend their time talking about New Zealand First.

It’s one Peters, for decades, has mastered far better than any other politician, and MPs new to politics, like the Prime Minister, time and time again fall into his trap.

Responding to these sorts of policies is exactly what Peters wants, and day after day Luxon, and a string of other National Party ministers and MPs, have done exactly that – for five straight days.

There have been stories ad nauseam about coalition partners and the opposition parties pooh-poohing the idea, never mind the economists, columnists and experts commenting and writing endless paragraphs about it.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis told media it was “attention-seeking” and not serious policy.

Willis has a point – Peters sought to get attention, but it’s his coalition partner who took the bait most of all.

New Zealand First has had a successful week notching up wins between the BNZ narrative taking flight exactly as planned, and convincing Willis to exempt his pet ministry – foreign affairs and trade – from her cost-cutting public service exercise for a third year running.

ACT has had its win too, with the public service cuts being centred on a head count reduction and department mergers – two ideas straight out of the party’s policy playbook making it easy for David Seymour to claim victory on saving the Budget for two years running.

The Budget is the pride and joy of any finance minister and the product of a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, sweat and at times, probably tears.

Thursday will be Willis’ day to shine and the National Party will hog most of the spotlight for that reason.

The week leading up to Budget Day has been all about New Zealand First and ACT.

Willis has seven days to wrestle the attention back.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/minor-parties-steal-spotlight-from-nicola-willis-budget/

Steve Corica has won the biggest prize in the A-League five times before and should he do it a sixth time it will be a piece of history that brings his journey in the competition full circle.

The Auckland FC coach has been unwaveringly positive in public as the side navigated the long way to the A-League grand final to be played against Sydney FC on Saturday.

Having won a grand final as recently as 2020, Corica knew the mindset and the skillset it took for a club to be crowned the best in the competition.

Corica did not want to claim the “favourites” tag for the first A-League grand final to be played in New Zealand, maybe because the underdogs tag has served the side well at the business end of the competition, but two days before the biggest game in Auckland FC’s history Corica was steadfast in his belief he had the right group to lift the silverware.

“I know my players and what they can produce,” Corica said.

“We’ve been going two years and we’ve won a premiership, a couple of semi-finals, they’ve always performed under pressure.

“There’s probably that added pressure that we didn’t have last week [in the away semifinal in Adelaide], everyone’s going to have their family and friends there watching, but they really have performed well under pressure when we’ve asked them to.

“It’s just maintaining focus, not getting too carried away in the lead up to the grand final.”

Sydney had also had to win an elimination final and a two-legged semifinal to get to the last game of the season.

It took a penalty shootout against the top team in the league for Sydney to lock in a grand final against a side coached by one of their club legends.

Corica was involved in every A-League title Sydney FC has won.

Over 19 years with the club from foundation player, captain, assistant coach and head coach Corica was also on the wrong side of the ledger in two grand finals.

He claimed two championships as a player in 2005-06 and 2009-10; two as a manager in 2018-19 and 2019-20; and was involved as an assistant coach in the 2016-17 season victory.

“It’s a long time in football to stay at one club for that long,” Corica said.

“I loved it there…I’m really proud of what we achieved there but I’m really proud of what we’ve done here as well in the first two seasons.”

Corica said it was “even more dangerous” to be going up against a club that had Sydney’s pedigree in finals but he was driven to win on home soil and make history with Auckland.

“For me just winning a grand final is very sweet.

“They don’t come along all the time, that’s the message to the players, you don’t know when the next one’s going to come, we’d like it to be next year, but who knows.”

Sydney’s current captain and the club’s most capped player of all time, Rhyan Grant, is a one club man who worked with Corica for more than a decade.

“I know the mentality of a couple of the boys that I worked with there,” Corica said.

“Rhyan Grant has been there a long time, he’s been there, done that. He’s scored in grand finals before. He’s a good leader for Sydney.

“So, obviously, they’ve got some experienced players that have played before in finals. We have a couple, but not many.”

Sydney has moved on since Corica was fired in 2023. Ufuk Talay replaced Corica and then Talay was replaced near the back end of this season by new manager Patrick Kisnorbo.

Auckland have never lost to Sydney across two seasons, but Corica’s record against Kisnorbo, who has coached at Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory before taking over at Sydney in late March, stands at two draws and three losses.

“We’ve played Sydney before, we know what they’re about. Obviously, they’ve changed coaches as well, six games ago, and they’re unbeaten under the coach as well.

“It’s difficult, but we have to be positive. The mindset is always positive and to win the game.

“Sydney like to have the ball as well and control the tempo of things, so I’m happy with that if that happens. But we need to have the ball as well and to create opportunities, score goals, obviously defend well as well.”

Corica brought to Auckland one of his former charges from Sydney, Jake Girdwood-Reich, who was part of the Australia Cup-winning squad.

Corica gave Girdwood-Reich his A-League debut in the 2022-23 season and the defender went on to play 45 times for Sydney FC before heading to Major League Soccer in the United States in 2024.

An arrival in Auckland this season has set up a showdown against the club the 21-year-old was a supporter of as a youngster and went through the academy system of.

“I was there for about eight years, grew up there, started my career there. It was pretty weird versing them during the season, but I’m used to it now.”

Girdwood-Reich said it was a “little bit emotional” preparing to face some players he knows well but said “I can’t talk to them this weekend”.

“It’s a little bit weird, but I want to be an A-League champion, so I’m going to do whatever it takes to do that.”

Some of the same players Girdwood-Reich will be avoiding are the same players Corica has a little bit of extra intel on as they were academy players during his time.

Alongside Corica and Girdwood-Reich are Auckland’s director of football Terry McFlynn and head of player recruitment Doug Kors who have both also been involved with Sydney FC.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/football-auckland-fc-coach-steve-corica-targets-sixth-a-league-title-against-former-side/

Healthcare professionals and border agencies are on alert for diphtheria entering New Zealand as an outbreak in Australia grows.

About 230 cases have been reported so far this year across Australia.

On Thursday, the federal government unveiled a $7.2 million package for more diphtheria vaccines, while authorities are still working for autopsy results on a death reportedly caused by the disease.

New Zealand’s director of public health Dr Corina Grey said the risk of diphtheria infection in New Zealand was low.

But in response to the outbreak in Australia, Health New Zealand has issued a public health advisory to healthcare professionals and an advisory to border agencies.

“The advisories are asking health professionals and border officials to be alert for diphtheria in returning travellers from Australia and areas where the disease is endemic, including Asia and the South Pacific.”

The Ministry of Health was in regular contact with Australian health authorities about potential health threats, including diphtheria, she said.

“The best protection against diphtheria is immunisation. In New Zealand the vaccines that protect against diphtheria are given as part of the childhood immunisation programme.

“Our child immunisations rates are improving with 82.9 percent of children fully immunised at 24 months as of 31 December 2025.”

Diphtheria often begins with mild, cold-like symptoms but could quickly become severe. Common symptoms included sore throat and mild fever.

Once one of the biggest killers of children in New Zealand, the last case of respiratory diphtheria was in 1998.

Immunisation was the most effective protection, the health ministry said, with vaccination free for children as part of the childhood immunisation programme at six weeks, three months, and five months.

Boosters were also delivered at four years and 11 years.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/health-professionals-border-officials-on-alert-for-diphtheria-amid-outbreak-in-australia/