The mayor of Wellington says free collection of flood waste in affected parts of the city will go on for the rest of the week and possibly into the next.

In the hard hit suburb of Berhampore on Tuesday, large white council supplied storm waste bags lined the streets alongside, furniture, beds, GIB board and building materials from flooded out homes and shops.

Mayor Andrew Little said the council was unable to say – at this stage – how many homes had been damaged by the sudden flooding which swamped homes and neighbourhoods in the early hours of Monday morning last week.

“We had drop off points over the weekend. We distributed the one tonne bags – they have been well used – they are ready for pickup from today. We also had collections of the bigger items – fridges, big furniture – and collection of that stuff started yesterday.

“For some households their insurance companies are providing skips but there’s a bunch of houses and businesses who don’t have access to to that. This is a way of helping them and a cost we are prepared to incur to help them at their time of need,” he said.

Little said initial estimates indicated up to 25 homes could be uninhabitable.

“The main thing is we want to provide assistance to houses and businesses who have been affected and do the best we can to get the flood damaged stuff off their properties so they can focus on what the recovery and restitution looks like,” Little said.

Little said the collections would continue throughout the week and “possibly into next week” depending on demand.

Storm water system didn’t cope

Little said the extent of the sudden flooding took him by surprise.

“I got woken up by the amount of rain. I expected there would be flooding I just didn’t think it would be as much as it was. When I see the video images of water flowing down [Island Bay] Parade – as if it’s a river – that took me by surprise,” Little said.

Little said he was seeking advice on what council actions should follow the initial clean up efforts.

“We know that the storm water system didn’t cope – that’s the second time in about 30 years that has happened in those particular areas that were affected last week. So I’m asking for advice on an assessment of our storm water system generally and what – if anything – we need to be thinking about in the longer term future.

Little said flooding in 1995 led to larger diameter pipes being installed in parts of the city’s storm water system.

“Some actions were taken then but I need advice on whether there is anything more we need to do or if this is such a freak event that we don’t expect that will happen for a long long time in the future,” Little said.

Earlier this week MetService told RNZ one Wellington monitoring station recorded an extreme burst, with 77 millimetres of rain falling in just one hour during the deluge.

“The amount of water that fell was just so great that the stormwater system couldn’t cope and because Wellington is a set of hills and valleys the water just all flooded into the bottom of the hills and valleys – included Berhampore and Island Bay. The question is whether there is anything that we can do for the storm water system to cope better or is it just a risk we now have to factor in,” Little said.

Homeless in half and hour

On Palm Grove in Berhampore Ian and Lena Walton were overseeing the “full strip out” of their home of 31 years.

Lena Walton said she awoke to an “awful smell” and put her feet out of her bed to find knee deep water throughout her home.

The water would later peak near hip height.

“Within half an hour we’ve become temporarily homeless, car-less – because both cars are written off – and scrambling for clothes that didn’t touch the water,” Walton said.

Walton said her insurance company had leapt into action including providing an $30,000 emergency accommodation grant to house the couple while their home was unusable.

She said their response as well as the waste initiatives by the council and “random acts” of generosity from locals had been a small silver lining in the otherwise hugely stressful time.

“Any help that we can get. We’ve had water people come over. We’ve had councillors come over, just knocking on the door. We’re pretty grateful that people – outside of what we’re immediately going through – they care enough to actually show up – see how we’re going – and offer whatever help,” Walton said.

She struggled to contain her emotion as she tried to describe the impact of the damage to her home.

“It’s just the memories. It’s our first family home. I get these moments – you never know when it’s going to hit – but we’re so busy with everything that often there’s no enough time to think,” Walton said.

Walton said she understood it would be three months or more before they could return to their home.

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A woman has been arrested after an alleged stealing spree targeting hospital patients in Auckland and Waikato earlier this year.

Police said patients had their personal belongings and credit cards stolen as they were undergoing treatment.

Waitematā East Area Prevention Manager Acting Inspector CJ Miles said they were aware of 16 offences committed between January 12 and March 24.

“The suspect targeted vulnerable people, allegedly stealing personal items and credit cards from their hospital bedsides,” Miles said.

“She then used the stolen credit cards for purchases totalling approximately $50,000.”

Do you know more? Email finn.blackwell@rnz.co.nz

Miles said the offending exacerbated the existing hardship of the victims, describing it as predatory.

The woman actively avoided police, and a warrant for her arrest was issued, police said.

“Despite trying to avoid detection, Waitematā East Police located the offender in Māngere last Tuesday, and she was subsequently arrested.”

The 30-year-old woman was expected to appear in Waitākere District Court in May, charged with six counts of burglary, one of property theft, and nine charges over the use of stolen credit cards.

She was also awaiting sentencing on 17 theft related charges from open homes across the Waitematā District last year.

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Some early childhood education centres in Auckland are offering steep discounts – in some cases up to 12 months of childcare free of charge – in a bid to lift enrolments.

Operators say the incentives reflect a deepening affordability crisis in early childhood education. For some centres, it’s one of the few options they have to stay afloat.

However, others warn that offering aggressive discounts is unsustainable, risks intensifying financial pressure across the sector and may force more centres to close.

Enrolment discounts

Go Bananas Childcare in the Auckland suburb of Beachlands is offering 12 months of free early childhood education for new enrolments, including meals, for children of all ages.

Manager Nadine Cilliers said that, as a newly opened centre in the area, the discount was an effective way to build relationships in the community while making childcare more affordable.

“Offering incentives and discounts has become more noticeable in recent times because of our economic climate,” she said.

“We know some families are struggling to pay daycare fees because it is very expensive,” she said.

“Some promotions have always existed, and centres are looking for ways to remain accessible to families while trying to maintain enrolments.”

Early childhood education in New Zealand is funded through a mix of government subsidies and parent fees.

The government covers part of the cost, including 20 hours of free early childhood education for children aged 3 to 5, while parent fees help cover the remaining operating expenses.

Cilliers said that, because her centre did not charge newly enrolled families any fees in the first 12 months, most of its operating costs were now covered by government funding and support from the franchise.

She said other childcare centres in the area were also offering discounts, such as three months free or 50 percent off fees.

However, Cilliers said many centres were concerned that families might leave once the discounts ended.

“It is a worry that parents find better promotions elsewhere, that they move to other areas that offer better promotions than yours,” she said.

“But we do hope that after the 12 months, children are settled, they’re happy, our families are connected and they’ve formed strong bonds with our centre,” she added.

“We hope they won’t want to leave.”

Cilliers said discounting could add pressure to early childhood education centres, particularly smaller, independent providers that may not have the same level of financial backing from a franchise.

However, she said it also reflected a broader community need for more affordable childcare.

“It does put pressure on us to maintain a higher standard, because we want to keep our families with us even after the 12 months,” she said.

RNZ has reported that early childhood education costs rose by 2.5 percent between the March and December 2025 quarters.

Some parents returning to work are facing childcare bills of $15,000 to $20,000 a year, while the sector has warned that fees could rise further.

Rising costs

Little Dinosaurs, a family-owned early childhood education centre in Epsom, is offering free childcare over autumn for newly enrolled families, helping them save up to $3800 per child in childcare costs.

The centre’s owners, Sean and Margarita Sampayo, said the promotion was a response to the childcare affordability crisis and a decline in the centre’s roll.

Sean Sampayo said the centre was licensed for 27 children and currently had 21 on its roll. But enrolments fell last year to about 12 or 13 children, which worried the couple.

“We were really keen to get our numbers up and to a more suitable sort of rate again,” Sampayo said.

“Our parents are facing an affordability crisis at the moment. People are very price sensitive. We want to meet families where they are, and we want to make it affordable for them to send their children to childcare.”

Sampayo said the discounts were also a response to added pressure and competition from nearby kindergartens and childcare centres offering similar programmes.

“When one centre runs a programme like this, it almost forces the hand of other nearby centres to run similar programmes as well,” Sampayo said.

Sampayo said 70 percent of the families enrolled at the centre were currently on discounted rates.

He said discounts could help families pay for childcare during an affordability crisis, but they could also put significant pressure on smaller providers.

“When you’ve got centers that are privately owned by individuals like ours, we can make a loss in a year or two,” he said.

“But over time, those losses start to stack up, and it just makes it impossible.”

Sampayo said family-run centres had tough decisions to make at that point.

“Do we continue to run the centre in a way that’s just enough to keep it up and running, barely profitable and unable to [reach] the service level that you’d expect?” he said.

“Or do you decide to shut down the centre and move on?”

Sampayo said the government could do more, through both policy and funding, to ease the pressures driving widespread discounting and provide greater oversight of drastic discounts.

Funding shortfall

Reach for the Stars on Auckland’s North Shore is another early childhood education centre advertising enrolment discounts, offering three months free for new enrolments, including meals and nappies, if families stay with the centre for at least a year.

Manager Carole Liang said the discount strategy began after Covid, when the centre found more families were struggling to pay for childcare.

Liang said enrolment discounts had become increasingly common across Auckland after Covid, and that her centre was feeling pressure from aggressive discounting by other providers.

“There are many centres [opening] in the same area. Some people just think childcare is a good business to make money,” she said.

“They think that as long as they have children, they would get funding and, with that funding, they can make money,” she said.

“Childcare is education. It is about caring for children and their future,” she said.

“We are nurturing children and providing them with a good environment to grow and learn. It is not just a business.”

Liang said many early childhood education centres were trying to keep their services affordable for families, but that it was increasingly difficult to maintain quality under current government funding levels.

She said Budget 2025 included a 0.5 percent funding increase for the early childhood education sector, but that it was clearly not keeping pace with the real costs of running a centre.

“Everything has increased by 5-10 percent,” she said. “But we can’t increase parents’ fees because they can’t afford it.”

Liang said large promotions could widen the financial gap between what centres needed to operate sustainably and what they received in funding.

She said early childhood education should prioritise quality, rather than affordability alone.

“That’s not healthy competition,” she said. “We should emphasise quality and what children and families can get from [early childhood education].

“If you just focus on affordable childcare, but neglect the other factors which are more important, then I don’t see the hope in our childcare education in the future.”

Discounting raises closure fears

Simon Laube, chief executive of the Early Childhood Council, which represents early childhood education operators, said steep enrolment discounts were becoming more common in the sector but were unsustainable, especially when centres asked for no contribution from parents and government funding became the only source of income towards operating costs.

According to the Early Childhood Council, 443 early childhood services nationwide closed between March 2022 and July 2025.

More than half of those closures were education and care services, with Auckland the hardest-hit region, accounting for 44 percent of education and care closures.

Laube said centre closures appeared to be rising again this year, with 20 centres closing in the latest quarter, according to Ministry of Education data from March 2026. That followed a high rate of closures in 2023, when an average of nine centres closed each month.

“That’s the hard end of discounting,” he said. “You don’t want to become one of those statistics.”

Laube said the Early Childhood Council was extremely concerned about aggressive discounting, saying it showed the level of desperation among providers.

“The fact that you’re seeing discounting happening across lots of centres just shows that there are lots of centres [operating] below the occupancy level they need to be financially viable,” he said.

Laube said that if centres were unsuccessful with their discounting and revenue did not increase as occupancy rose, they could be forced to cut staff and other costs.

He said centres that chose not to compromise on quality could be forced to close.

He said the Early Childhood Council had been advocating for a higher cost adjustment for providers in this year’s Budget.

“We do need things like a Budget uplift just to keep the sector going,” he said. “Otherwise, there will be quite a few centre closures that occur if things stay the way they are.”

Funding system under review

Rebecca Barnes-Clarke, acting general manager of System, Connections and Early Learning Policy at the Ministry of Education, said discounts offered by early childhood education and care service providers might make early childhood education more affordable for parents and caregivers, as well as increase children’s participation in the short term.

“However, education and care service providers would need to consider and decide whether they can sustain such discounts,” she said.

Barnes-Clarke said early childhood education services could determine the level of fees they charged families beyond the hours covered by government subsidy.

She said the ministry recognised the early childhood education funding system was no longer fit for purpose, with concerns about affordability, access, the need to support children who stood to benefit most from early childhood education, and the complexity of the current settings for parents and services.

The government established a ministerial advisory group in June to review funding for early learning.

Barnes-Clarke said the group had completed a discovery phase, hearing people’s experiences and views on the challenges and opportunities in the early childhood education funding system.

She said the group intended to consult on indicative options in the middle of this year before finalising its advice and recommendations to the minister, which were due by the end of the year.

“The government will then make decisions on this advice,” she said.

“Any changes to funding provided to the sector will be subject to future government and Budget decisions.”

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

A Dunedin man has been charged with trying to strangle a police officer in the central city.

Three police officers received medical treatment after the confrontation on Hanover Street at 3.40pm on Monday.

Police said the 67-year-old intervened while officers were speaking to a group of young people following earlier reports of fighting at a fast food restaurant on George Street.

Sergeant Matthew Lee said the man became involved because he did not think police were allowed to speak to them.

He said the man – who was unknown to police or the young people – ignored multiple warnings to move or face arrest.

“He did not move and continued to obstruct officers. When the man was advised he was under arrest, he pushed an officer and began resisting arrest,” he said.

“An officer deployed pepper spray and the pair fell to the ground where the man attempted to impede the officer’s breathing.”

Police called for back-up and the man was arrested and later charged with obstruction, resisting police, assaulting police and impeding breathing.

The man was bailed and was due to appear at the Dunedin District Court at a later date.

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A police investigation is under way after a baby suffered unexplained injuries at a Christchurch property.

Several police officers could be seen on Tuesday at a property on Barbadoes St.

RNZ understands the investigation relates to a baby who is in Christchurch Hospital.

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

It’s understood the baby’s injuries are being treated as unexplained.

Police have been approached for comment.

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More than 40 percent of people with home loans are paying more than the minimum required, which can save them significant amounts of money over the life of their loans.

Data from the NZ Banking Association shows that total home lending rose 17.5 percent in the six months to December, and almost a quarter of new home loans went to first-home buyers.

There were 70,811 new home loans in the period, up from 60,249 in the first half of 2025. The average value of all new home loans was $392,519, down 3 percent from the previous period.

In total, 42.9 percent of home loan customers were paying more than the minimum repayment, up from 40.3 percent. Only 1.4 percent were behind on their payments, the same levels as previously.

“The fact that over 40 percent of people with a home loan are ahead on their repayments shows a high level of financial capability among New Zealand homeowners. Managing your money well, especially during a time of economic challenges, is a great skill to have,” said NZ Banking Association chief executive Roger Beaumont.

Mortgage adviser Jeremy Andrews, of Key Mortgages, said most people who were rolling over on to lower interest rates kept their repayments the same.

“In some cases clients are increasing a little higher again… The impact of choosing this are huge. For example when comparing how much additional repayments are required to change for example a 30-year loan term to a 27-year loan term to a 25-year alone term is less than a 5 percent in repayments in each case.”

How you can save

With a $500,000 mortgage and a 30-year loan term it could look like this.

At the average variable rate of 5.59 percent, fortnightly payments are $1323 and the mortgage will cost roughly $1.03 million to repay, including $531,709 of interest.

Fixing it for two years at 5.09 percent would lower the fortnightly payment to $1251. The overall bill would be $975,732, including $475,732 of interest.

At the peak of the most recent interest rate cycle, two-year rates were about 7 percent, making a $500,000 mortgage about $1535 a fortnight and costing a total of $1.196 million to repay.

If you kept your repayments at that level, though, when rates dropped to 5.09 percent, you’d only pay $796,815 in total, and $296,816 of interest.

An extra hundred dollars of fortnight would cut the amount of interest to $263,256.

An extra $200 a fortnight would reduce it to $236,765. It would also be clear 13 years earlier.

This isn’t a perfect comparison because rates will move over the course of your home loan.

The data also showed 68 percent of credit cards were paid in full without incurring any interest.

Just over 60 percent of loans were on fixed interest rates, 17.7 percent ton variable and the remainder a mix.

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The government is considering easing weight restrictions for heavy vehicles in a bid to save fuel amid the global crisis.

Four changes are being worked on in case of a move up to Phase 2 of the national fuel plan.

This included allowing more weight on some trucks to facilitate fewer trips, allowing normal licences for heavy electric utes, relaxing time and access restrictions for over-dimension vehicles and removing some restrictions on the routes that over-dimension vehicles could travel.

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The capital markets operator NZX has launched a futures index, which gives equity investors a more efficient way to manage risk.

The S&P/NZX 20 Index Futures supports efficient pricing, enables effective hedging, and helps market participants mitigate risks.

NZX cash and derivatives markets general manager Nick Morris said the introduction of the index was a significant milestone for NZX and the capital markets, which hadn’t had a futures index since the early 1990s.

“New Zealand has been an outlier among comparable developed economies in not having a liquid domestic equity derivatives market,” Morris said.

“With today’s first trades in the S&P/NZX 20 Index Futures, investors now have an efficient way to manage risk and gain exposure to New Zealand equities, closing that longstanding gap.”

The S&P/NZX 20 index tracked the 20 largest and most liquid companies in New Zealand.

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The Defence Force (NZDF) said Tuesday its spy plane had spotted an at-sea transfer of illicit goods as part of its monitoring of North Korean attempts to evade international sanctions.

Royal New Zealand Airforce Air Commodore Andy Scott said the P-8A Poseidon aircraft had spotted the potential sanctions busting in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.

In addition to the “possible ship-to-ship transfer of illicit goods”, New Zealand had reported 35 vessels of interest to the United Nations.

“The upholding of international law is critically important for regional security and we are proud of our ability to contribute to this important work,” Scott said.

North Korea is subject to multiple United Nations sanctions banning its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology, restrictions it has repeatedly flouted.

The NZDF has patrolled the Yellow and East China seas since 2018 as part of multilateral efforts to enforce those sanctions.

It said it reported vessels suspected of trafficking refined petroleum to North Korea, as well as exports of commodities such as coal, sand and iron ore used by Pyongyang to fund its nuclear weapons programme.

China this month complained the New Zealand patrols amounted to “disruptive and irresponsible” surveillance in Chinese airspace.

Beijing accused an aircraft of engaging in “close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace” in the Yellow and East China seas.

Wellington dismissed Beijing’s complaints.

– AFP

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The New Zealand Breakers have lured two-time NBL champion and proven leader Dejan ‘DJ’ Vasiljevic to the basketball club on a one season deal.

The guard is a marquee signing for the club that has yet to sign a coach for next season.

Vasiljevic joins the Breakers from the Adelaide 36ers, where he served as a leader and co-captain.

He has established himself as one of the most accurate offensive threats in the NBL, and has suited up for the Australian Boomers national team.

He is widely regarded as one of the NBL’s most lethal marksmen with a career three-point percentage consistently near 38 percent.

“DJ is a proven winner and a player who thrives under pressure, in big moments.” Breakers president of basketball operations Dillon Boucher said.

“His ability to stretch the floor and his leadership perfectly align with the style of play we have established here in Auckland.”

Vasiljevic has averaged 14.9 points per game over his prolific NBL career.

“I am incredibly excited to join the BNZ Breakers and become part of the whānau. This club has a prestigious history and with a clear vision for the future that I want to be a part of,” Vasiljevic said.

The signing of Vasiljevic adds to a Breakers roster which includes Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Tall Blacks big man Sam Mennenga.

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The Finance Minister says she shut down an event in her office last year after “offensive language” was used during a function she hosted for press gallery journalists.

Nicola Willis held pre-Budget drinks in her office in May last year where an incident between two journalists is alleged to have happened.

Political commentator Ani O’Brien wrote on her Substack page on Tuesday morning that TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman allegedly used a homophobic slur against Stuff journalist Lloyd Burr, which led to the drinks in Willis’ office being shut down.

Nicola Willis told RNZ in a statement on Tuesday that she was “out of the room for a few minutes and returned to hear offensive language being used”.

“I ended the event at that point,” she said.

“The following day I checked in on the welfare of the reporter at whom the language was directed. He advised me he did not want to take the matter any further. I respected his decision.”

In response to the allegations a spokesperson for TVNZ says, “we do not comment on employment matters”.

Stuff has also responded to the allegations in a statement saying, “Stuff Group stands by, and has complete faith in, Lloyd Burr’s account of the events and his conduct in Minister Willis’ office last May”.

“We will continue to respect his wishes not to comment further on what occurred that night,” a spokesperson told RNZ.

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Former Black Caps fast bowler Geoff Allott has been appointed chief executive of New Zealand Cricket, replacing Scott Weenink, who resigned in December.

Weenink left the role at the end of last year after months of escalating tension over the future direction of the game.

Allott, played 10 Tests and 31 ODIs for New Zealand between 1996 and 2000.

A founding board member of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association in 2002, he served on the Canterbury Cricket board (2011-2013) before joining the New Zealand Cricket board in 2013 and serving as a Director for eight years, retiring in 2021.

He was awarded NZC Life Membership the following year.

Allott will be NZC’s sixth chief executive, following Chris Doig, Martin Snedden, Justin Vaughan, David White, and Weenink.

He was General Manager of Cricket from 2008 to 2010.

Allott said he was excited to be returning to NZC.

“Having worn the silver fern as a player, served as General Manager of Cricket, and contributed for over eight years as a board director, I have a deep connection to this organisation and our game,” he said.

“I look forward to working collaboratively with the board, players, staff, member associations, and our commercial partners to build strong relationships, foster a positive and constructive culture, and deliver outstanding results both on and off the field.”

NZC chairperson Diana Puketapu-Lyndon said Allott was well qualified for the role.

“Geoff brings a rare and highly-relevant combination of attributes to the role: deep cricket expertise as a former New Zealand representative, invaluable experience within NZC as former General Manager of Cricket and Board member, and strong commercial leadership as Executive Director of his company QualityNZ,” Puketapu-Lyndon said.

“We’re confident his playing background, institutional knowledge, business acumen, and international outlook make him exceptionally well placed to lead NZC through the next phase of growth and development.

“On behalf of the Board, I welcome Geoff and wish him every success. We’re confident he’ll be a strong, collaborative leader who will work closely with all stakeholders to deliver an exciting future for New Zealand cricket.”

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Fire and Emergency (FENZ) is investigating the cause of a house fire that led to the evacuation of neighbouring homes in Rolleston in Canterbury.

Four fire trucks were called to the blaze on Lowes Road about 11.17am on Tuesday.

Police evacuated nearby homes as a precaution.

FENZ said crews were in the final stages of extinguishing the fire and no one had been hurt.

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The New Zealand economy is expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars better off each year once the Indian free trade agreement has fully come into force.

Analysis of the economic benefits of the deal has been released along with the full text.

While many Indian import duties are gone from day one, some key sectors will have duties phased out over 10 years.

Economic modelling for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said once fully implemented in 2037, more than 80 percent of exports to India would be duty free.

The Ministry noted that “given the current income and consumption profiles of India, and that increases in trade are off a very low base, the initial gains from the FTA were modest.

“By 2037, approximately 10 years after entry into force when all tariff phasing is complete, annual GDP (in 2024 dollars) is expected to be 0.07 percent $401 million higher than non-FTA baseline GDP,” the National Interest Analysis report said.

Trade expert Stephen Jacobi said while the agreement is unlikely to match the immediate gains of the China FTA, it is still a welcome boost for exporters and for economic growth.

“You have to think about what the world is today, it is not easy to get these agreements, the world is closing up, India is the last big one out there assuming we never get one with the United States,” he said.

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