Source: Radio New Zealand

A dead possum in the Roxburgh reservoir has triggered a boil water notice for the area.

The Central Otago District Council (CODC) said the possum was found during an unrelated inspection on Wednesday, and it’s not known how long it’s been in the water.

It has since issued a boil water notice for Roxburgh and the Lake Roxburgh Village, which would remain in place until the network had been flushed.

CODC said three times a week sampling hadn’t indicated degraded water quality, and a full investigation was underway to find out how the possum got inside the reservoir.

It said the reservoir which would remain isolated until it had been fully disinfected and any possum entry points addressed.

CODC’s Julie Muir said the notice could be lifted as early as Thursday.

Two water tankers would be available at Roxburgh School and Lake Roxburgh Village Hall on Wednesday evening.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A child is in hospital after being hit by a bus while bike riding in Auckland.

Emergency services were called to the crash on Te Atatu Road around 6.30pm on Wednesday.

Police said officers responded to reports of a vehicle versus a cyclist on Te Atatu Peninsula, while Hato Hone St John dispatched one ambulance and a critical care unit.

A spokesperson for St John said one patient with moderate injuries was taken to hospital.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Recent severe storms have triggered more than 11,000 slips on the East Cape, according to satellite imagery.

Heavy rainfall caused widespread damage and flooding in parts of the North Island in January, with Te Araroa and Hicks Bay some of the hardest hit areas on the east coast.

The communities remain isolated from one another, with multiple landslides blocking State Highway 35, which remains shut to the public between Pōtaka and Te Araroa.

The Transport Agency said the ground was still moving, and further slips have been reported over the weekend near a large landslide at Punaruku – estimated to be 250,000 cubic metres.

Dragonfly Data Science said its before-and-after satellite imagery of the East Cape revealed the scale of the devastation, with comparisons providing a large-scale snapshot of where the land had moved.

It identified more than 11,000 landslips and silt damage covering 900 hectares.

The Wellington-based company said the recent storm caused significant, but concentrated destruction along the coastal northern end of the East Cape.

Dragonfly’s director Finlay Thompson said the map clearly illustrated what happened.

“It provides a birds-eye view of the area following an intense and highly localised storm event such as this, and offers an effective way of assessing how widespread and severe the damage is.”

The company developed a similar map following Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, and Thompson believed such tools were crucial for understanding the “true scale” of such disasters.

He said these types of storms highlighted the gap between disaster response and long-term climate preparedness, and said better tools were needed to plan ahead.

“While this map isn’t a predictive tool on its own, it is an important first step. By linking storm impacts with rainfall and terrain data over multiple events, we could begin to build models that help predict where slips and flooding are most likely to occur in future.

“People’s livelihoods are at stake. While response and recovery efforts are critical and effective, the reality is that communities are living through significant disruption and loss in the meantime – and that’s something we can’t afford to treat as normal.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A deadly crash involving a car and a school bus has devastated the town of Wairoa, says the local mayor.

The crash – at about 3pm on Tuesday – closed the intersection of Black Street and Archilles Street on State Highway 2.

Only minor injuries were reported from the driver and two passengers on the bus.

But a person in the car was killed, and two others critically injured.

Mayor Craig Little believed the people in the car were all from the same family.

“Wairoa’s a pretty unique place, we all get on, we all know each other,” he said.

“The families probably all know each other who have been involved, the first responders, my hat goes off to them, they would have come across something horrendous.

“The town was really quite sad yesterday and probably still is,” he said.

Police say the death will be referred to the coroner and that they would continue to investigate.

The mayor said that in itself would be a horrible job.

“No-one wanted this on anybody,” he said.

Little had been speaking with relatives who were struggling to cope.

“I don’t think they are, simple as that, you just will never ever get over something like this,” he said.

“Everyone is grieving, really.”

The Ministry of Education said it had engaged a traumatic incident team to work with the school that had its students on the bus.

“This support will be available for as long as it’s needed,” it said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Life is returning to a Far North bay once compared to an underwater desert, eight years after local hapū declared a fishing ban that makes up for its lack of legal clout with tikanga and staunch local support.

A no-take rāhui was declared at Maitai Bay in December 2017, covering the popular cove on the Karikari Peninsula and most of neighbouring Waikato Bay.

Annual monitoring since then has shown growing variety, numbers and size of fish, with a seven-fold increase in snapper leading the resurgence. In the past few years, crayfish have also started to reappear.

Te Rangi-i-Taiāwhiaotia Trust chairwoman Kataraina “Kui” Rhind said alarm about the state of the bay came to a head around 2014.

“We had a couple of whānau who’d spent their lives swimming in this bay and started realising there was absolutely no sea life left in here. It had become a kina barren.”

Rhind said over many decades all the bay’s big crayfish and snapper had been fished out, leaving the kina, or sea urchins, with no natural predators.

As kina numbers exploded, the creatures ate every last bit of kelp, leaving reef fish with nowhere to live.

The result was a kina barren, or bare rock populated only by hungry kina.

Rhind said local hapū Te Whānau Moana and Te Rorohuri held a series of hui to discuss what could be done.

At first, locals considered calling on the Ministry of Primary Industries to protect the bay, with an official marine reserve for example, but they soon had second thoughts.

“We had a vision ourselves of what we wanted to achieve and it didn’t include being told what we can and can’t do by MPI. So we decided we’d carry on by ourselves. We don’t have the law, but we have tikanga.”

That meant the no-take rāhui could not be enforced by way of warnings, fines or prosecutions.

However, Rhind said signs had been put up in prominent locations around the bay, pamphlets were handed out to campers, and locals kept an eye on the water.

A gate to neighbouring Waikato Bay, used in the past for launching boats, had been locked by the land owner over separate concerns about vehicles hooning on the beach.

Rhind said it was hard for would-be fishers to escape the sharp eyes of local kids.

“We’ve got our children, all our mokos, along the beach, and if they see anybody fishing they say, ‘Hey, we got a rāhui in here’. And sometimes these people say, ‘It doesn’t matter, we’re taking’. That’s really sad for our mokos. We’re trying to teach them how to rejuvenate, how to restore this place. And then you’ve got arrogant people who just think they’ve got the given right to take whatever they want.”

The hapū took an “education over enforcement” approach, explaining to would-be fishers why the rāhui was in place rather than trying to physically stop them.

Despite some setbacks, Rhind said most visitors and locals backed the rāhui.

“I would go as far as saying 95 percent of the community totally support this kaupapa. They love the fact that they can come to the beach and go for a dive and see fish. Fish come up to them and are nearly kissing them.”

Rhind said people had started comparing Maitai Bay to Goat Island, a long-standing marine reserve at Leigh, north of Auckland.

“There was nothing here, but as the years progress with the rāhui it’s changing. What’s happening is immense.”

That was confirmed by diver Rhys Spilling, who said he had been coming to Maitai Bay since he was a boy.

Now living at nearby Rangiputa, he had seen big changes since the rāhui came into effect.

“The main thing I’ve noticed is the fish aren’t scared of you at all. They’re fine just swimming next to you, and that’s pretty cool. And there’s also much bigger numbers, much bigger fish as well.”

Diver Sofia Koch, from Mount Maunganui, was bubbling with excitement as she emerged from the bay.

“We saw lots of really friendly snapper. You could pretty much touch them by hand which is really cute. You can pat them. We saw moray eels, octopus, a little jellyfish, an eagle ray, and some really colourful fish.”

Koch fully supported the no-take rāhui.

“Like all the animals, they sometimes need protecting. We take so much. I think it’s a good thing.”

Samara Nicholas, founder of Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, started taking school groups snorkelling at Maitai Bay in the early 2000s, as part of the trust’s Experiencing Marine Reserves programme.

There they would see the bay’s near-lifeless kina barrens before heading to Goat Island, so they could compare it with a healthy marine ecosystem.

“So the kids were able to see the difference, and they were completely blown away by all the fish they could see at Goat Island.

And one of the hapū members approached me and said, ‘It’d be great to do something like this, you know, not a marine reserve, but we’d like to make a no-take area under traditional authority”.

Nicholas said the role of the trust since then had been to help the hapū set up their own trust and achieve their aspirations.

Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust also provided training for local rangatahi [youth] so they could help monitor marine life in the bay.

Nicholas said the changes since 2017 meant Far North schoolchildren could now see a thriving underwater environment without having to travel all the way to Goat Island.

“This is really about restoring the balance and restoring our underwater forests by protecting these predators that eat the kina, then the kelp forest can recover. And that makes much more habitat for reef fish that we’re now seeing. The end goal is that there is more fish for the community to harvest in the future as well.”

Nicholas said the Maitai Bay no-take rāhui had been a success because of its simplicity – some marine protection attempts had been overly complicated, with different rules for different species or types of fishing.

Ecologist Vince Kerr, of Whangārei, said he had led monitoring of Maitai Bay, on behalf of the hapū, since 2018.

During the past four years in particular he had observed increasing fish numbers across all age classes.

“That trend is the really important part. It means restoration is underway, and it’s significant. It’s not just a one-off blip in snapper numbers.”

He had been concerned by the absence of crayfish for the first five to six years but they, too, were starting to return.

“Snapper and crayfish are really the keystone predators that control the joint. They dictate what happens, because they’re the ones that control kina as the primary grazer. So their role is super-important.”

His most recent report described 2025 as “a turning point” with snapper biomass now seven times higher than in 2017.

Kerr said it was reasonable to expect that trend would continue until the Maitai Bay figures were comparable to, or even higher than, those at Goat Island, due to habitat quality in and around Maitai Bay.

However, Kerr said populations of reef fish such as red moki and butterfish remained low, suggesting the kelp forests would need to regrow before they returned.

Rhind said the rāhui was originally supposed to remain in place only until 2020 but the hapū soon realised that “didn’t even touch the sides”.

It was then extended to 2025, and had since been extended indefinitely.

Rhind said restoration efforts had stepped up in the past year with volunteer divers now culling kina, giving kelp forests a chance to regenerate.

The trust was also planning to build a matauranga pokapu, or education centre, for use by school groups and researchers. It would include a classroom, lab, museum and kitchen.

Rhind said the trust had held initial discussions with a major funding provider and hoped to open the centre in early 2028.

Long-term, she hoped the bay would act as a fish nursery for the surrounding area, repopulating waters right around the Karikari Peninsula.

Her dream was one of abundance, both for marine life and for future generations to be able to take the food they needed.

“If we do well within the bay, that will feed out all around the peninsula. You can’t ask for anything better than that, eh?”

Hapū member and keen diver Whetu Rutene was a key driver of the rāhui in 2017.

At the time he said concerns about declining fish numbers were not new, but the rapid spread of kina barrens gave the rāhui urgency.

He said Maitai Bay was not the only place in Northland with kina barrens but it was ideal for a rāhui because it was sheltered with water depth ranging from 1 metre to almost 100m, and it could be easily monitored.

Reaction to the rāhui had been for the most part ”very respectful”.

Before the rāhui, he saw spearfishers and kayak fishers in the bay almost every day, but within a month there were almost none.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• The Office of the Auditor-General has found no issue with the wait list numbers for first specialist appointments at Nelson Hospital.
• It comes after two unions raised concerns about placeholder clinics being booked for patients, who had not been seen. They still want to know why “dummy clinics” are being used.
• Health NZ welcomes the findings, which it says shows its administration approach had not affected first specialist assessment health target reporting.

The Office of the Auditor-General says it has found no evidence of wait list numbers being misrepresented at Nelson Hospital, but the unions which raised concerns say it does not explain why “dummy clinics” were set up to manage patients.

Last July, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation flagged that people at Nelson Hospital were possibly being removed from the waiting list despite not having been seen by a specialist.

At the time, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the hospital was booking “ghost appointments” to make it look like their targets were being met.

Assistant Auditor-General Russell Bates said it looked at the issue as part of its annual audit of Health NZ and found patients had been removed from the waiting list only when they attended a specialist appointment, or for another valid reason.

He said the Nelson Marlborough District had allocated 24 patients, who had been on a wait list for more than two years, to a “dummy clinic” with a “do not contact” marker.

It served as a holding code while actual additional clinics were arranged.

Bates said the explanation was that it changed the status of patients from “unbooked” to “booked” but it had found patients remained on the waiting list until seen, or until they were removed for another valid reason.

“We can confirm that all 24 patients allocated to a dummy clinic were still included in the first specialist assessment waiting list as at 31 March and 30 June 2025, and the ‘referral date’ had not been altered. These patients are removed from the waiting list only when they attend a specialist appointment, or are removed for another valid reason.

“In other words, the process of setting up a dummy clinic was an administrative action that did not affect patients’ waiting list status for the purpose of reporting on the health target.”

Health NZ said it welcomed the Office of the Auditor-General’s finding that there was no misrepresentation of waiting list numbers and its administration approach had not affected first specialist assessment health target reporting.

It had contracted consulting firm EY to conduct an independent review of the accuracy of the first specialist appointment health target reporting.

Unions still seeking answers

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton questioned why “dummy clinics” had been used and if other hospitals were also using them to manage patient numbers.

“Effectively they’re still explaining themselves by saying this is a way of grouping patients together who need to be seen, who are breaching the waiting times and who we can’t see because we’re not properly staffed and resourced to do this in a timely fashion.

“It doesn’t really matter what you call it. If people are still waiting somewhere on a list and there’s no ability to see them because of resource and constraints, and we know that’s the case at Nelson, they’re rationing access to care.”

She said that was not the fault of the clinicians but a decision made by the health system and the way it was funded and organised and that some people were missing out on care, or waiting “way longer” than was clinically advised.

Waiting lists were matters of public interest and decisions made by Health NZ on how they were managed should be open for public scrutiny, she said.

The Office of the Auditor-General said Health NZ had contracted EY to conduct an independent review of the accuracy of the first specialist appointment health target reporting and the union was yet to see a copy of it.

It is said to address some of the administrative challenges encountered by Health NZ arising from variations across districts.

“If you look at the distribution of access to care for certain conditions around the country, it’s not equitable, it’s not fair. There is further disadvantage if you’re a woman, if you’re Māori, if you’re Pasifika, if you live in a smaller centre, if you live rurally, your access to care is not as good,” Dalton said.

“We still don’t have any kind of a plan or answers from Health New Zealand about how they plan to properly staff and resource all of their hospitals so that people can access care in our public health system within a reasonable time frame.”

Dalton said she understood work was underway to improve wait times and access to care in Nelson and Marlborough, but there was still a lot to be done.

“Although there is some positive change, such as an uptick in numbers of junior doctors being employed at Nelson, there is a long way to go.”

NZ Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter said its members had raised the issue out of concern for their patients.

“Using an internal code of ‘do not contact’ with five minute appointments didn’t pass the sniff test and concerned the Office of the Auditor-General enough to investigate,” he said.

“It still makes little sense and Te Whatu Ora has yet to explain why Nelson Hospital had to set up ‘dummy clinics’ to establish additional clinics.”

Goulter said NZNO would continue to support its members to advocate for their patients.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A much-loved and long-running Auckland secondhand bookshop will live to write another chapter, having saved itself from closure.

Hard to Find Books was struggling to find a new location for its hundreds of thousands of titles after its landlord – the Catholic Church – decided to sell the famous former convent where the shop has traded for eight years.

Following months of hunting the shop has finally found a home, but as other secondhand bookshops close their doors it’s still facing a tough fight for survival.

After spending the past five months lugging hundreds of heavy boxes and sliding thousands of books on to the new shop’s shelves it is hard to believe that Warwick Jordan still wants to buy more.

It’s lucky, then, that Hard to Find’s new location is only a hop across the road, tucked away in the basement of Auckland’s vinyl haven – Southbound records – in Eden Terrace.

“If we don’t buy them who will? There’s less and less second hand bookshops out there and the ones that are out there, a lot of them aren’t buying at the moment because things are really hard. But I’m obsessive I’ll just keep going into debt or whatever and carry on.”

The huge new basement space can house about 250,000 books allowing Jordan to empty out shipping containers full of titles he couldn’t display at the current shop.

But despite its size, Jordan worries it will not be the same as the grand, 120-year-old convent provided by Catholic church eight years ago in what he hailed as a ‘miracle’ – when the shop left its Onehunga location due to steep rent rises.

“It’s got so much character and it’s got history. There’s the confessional which is the children’

s room, there’s little fittings in the walls where the nuns would get holy water before they’d go in for communion in the chapel. Just sort of the vibe of the place, it’s just a beautiful, amazing building.”

Despite the new space lacking these character features, Jordan is thankful to have somewhere to house his passion.

He said without the support built over the shop’s 43 years he was not sure it could have survived the uncertain times.

“I did debate about do I just take this as a hint of shut up and go away, but there was so many people who didn’t want us to close down. I mean there’s hardly any secondhand bookshops left, and we are a dinosaur and I know it’s not a very sensible economic model and all the rest of it, but I decided the amount of community support was kind of such that I’ve got to keep going.”

In the past three years two of Auckland’s longest-standing secondhand bookshops have closed their doors.

In 2023, Herne Bay’s Dominion books shut down after 37 years when new landlords put up the rent.

Jason Books, in the city centre, closed after 55 years at the end of 2024.

Rachel Lynch – the manager of the Open Book, an oasis of pre-loved novels in Ponsonby – agreed that running a secondhand bookshop is hard work.

“It’s not easy, I mean just straight up money is difficult, we try and pay our staff fairly and foot traffic especially in this particular part is quite difficult, especially on those poor weather days the money is just not there at all.”

Lynch said it was lucky to have generous owners.

“Basically our goal is to break even, ideally, but basically the shareholders, the owners are really enthusiastic about having a bookshop that stays open and serves the community and sometimes that requires extra input from the shareholders.”

With hundreds of kilometres of shelving to shift, along with hundreds of thousands of books, Jordan said the backing of the community and donations to a Givealittle page played a large part in making Hard to Find’s move happen.

“For example we had to paint the floor because it was concrete, we couldn’t have afforded to paint it if it hadn’t been for give a little, and the shelving, we’ve had to get a lot of shelving.”

With the shop now once again safe from closure Jordan hopes the new, slightly harder-to-find location can thrive within a tough retail climate.

“I just hope they’ll like it. Where we are is iconic, where we were before that was iconic. Can I do iconic again, that’s kind of a big ask, I would hope I create something that people like, and want to come back to and get a buzz out of.”

The shop is expected to open at its new location around mid-March.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is yet to front questions on a scathing coroner’s report into the death of Malachi Subecz.

Coroner Janet Anderson report found everything possible went wrong for the 5-year-old in the last six months of his life.

Senior Cabinet Ministers have expressed shock at the report; Child Povery Reduction Minister Louise Upston taking a series of questions on it before Question Time this afternoon.

Chhour, who has responsibility for Oranga Tamariki, has declined requests for a short interview on the coroner’s report today.

RNZ first contacted her office to arrange an interview this morning, given the minister does not walk through reporter scrums at Parliament due to hearing issues.

In response to a follow-up query a few hours later, a spokesperson said they were “struggling to find even a free 2 mins in the Minister’s diary”.

Chhour was seen at a promotional event, showcasing the red meat sector for National Lamb Day, on the Speaker’s Lawn about lunchtime.

When that was raised with her office, the spokesperson replied: “Sorry she needed to eat”.

Anderson’s report highlighted serious concerns about the pace at which Oranga Tamariki has improved its system in response to Malachi’s death.

“They are not happpening fast enough,” she said.

She pointed out a previous system-wide review, led by the late Dame Karen Poutasi, recommended Oranga Tamariki run a public awareness campaign to help anyone identify possible signs of abuse and how to take action – but that had still not happened.

“It is hard to understand why this has not yet happened given the Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive’s statutory duties, and the previous recommendations that have been made about this matter, including by Dame Poutasi over three years ago.”

She recommended Oranga Tamariki prioritise and roll out an awareness campaign, and that “it must no longer be delayed”.

Chhour’s office provided a statement just before 6pm Wednesday night.

“I agree with Coroner Janet Anderson assessment that Malachi Subecz was the victim of unspeakable cruelty and deliberate evil, which no child should ever have to endure.

“My heart goes out to everyone who loved and cared for Malachi, for whom today’s findings will be incredibly painful.

“The Centre for Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention (the Centre) and Oranga Tamariki are supporting the work being led by MSD to implement recommendations from Dame Karen Poutasi’s report into the death of Malachi Subecz.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A panel investigating the behaviour of a judge accused of disrupting an NZ First event has heard from its first witnesses today, members of the NZ First party.

District Court Judge Ema Aitken is before a Judicial Conduct panel over allegations she yelled at party leader Winston Peters, calling him a liar, and saying comments he made were disgusting, during an event at Auckland’s Northern Club in 2024.

The judge said she did not shout, did not recognise Peters’ voice when she responded to remarks she overheard, and did not know it was a political event.

The Judicial Conduct Panel was responsible for reporting on the judge’s conduct, finding the facts, and ultimately recommending if the judge should be removed.

On Wednesday, the panel heard from NZ First party secretary and deputy chief of staff Holly Howard, who provided details on the night in question and who allegedly blocked the judge from entering the event.

Later in the afternoon, panellists heard evidence from Dorothy Jones, an NZ First board member and the person who organised the event.

She spoke not only about the disruption not just of a “woman in yellow” yelling, but also that of Auckland lawyer Michael Reed KC.

In a video played to the panel, Reed can be seen trying to film inside the NZ First event, despite being told numerous times it was not allowed to.

At one point in the video, Reed cautions those trying to stop him they shouldn’t touch him, else they ‘be sued for a lot of money’.

Jones rang the Northern Club the following day to report the disturbances of the night prior.

“Primarily, it was in relation to Mr Reed wasn’t it […] because you understood him to be a litigious man,” asked Aitken’s lawyer David Jones KC.

“Hostile,” Dorothy Jones replied.

Aitken’s lawyer asked if Reed was the main concern for the party over what had happened that evening.

“Correct,” Jones replied.

Jones also recalled seeing a woman at the door of the event, yelling.

“I recalled the woman yelled words to the effect that the speaker was a liar, ‘how could you let him lie,’” she said.

“At this point Holly and I managed to escort the woman away from the doors.”

Dorothy Jones said she and Howard had been tried to usher the woman away at the event.

Jones KC pressed the witness on whether she and Howard put hands on the woman.

“We didn’t physically do anything, we just asked her to leave and we escorted her with our open arms,” Dorothy Jones said.

Jones KC asked what she meant by open arms.

“As in we were [ushering],” she said, “not touching.”

Jones KC scrutinised the witnesses recollection of events, where people were standing and the timelines of the evening.

He asked about a report of the incident made by NZ First to the Northern Club following the incident.

Jones KC said mention of the woman who yelled wasn’t in the Northern Club report, despite the witness saying she had mentioned it.

“Did you raise that with the Northern Club, ‘hey the report isn’t accurate because I mentioned these other things as well,’” he asked.

“No, I didn’t,” Dorothy Jones responded.

“Is that because the incident so called with the woman in the yellow dress was really a nothing,” Jones KC said.

Dorothy Jones denied that, to which Jones KC did suggested she hadn’t mentioned it because it wasn’t important enough to actually say.

“I did mention it,” she reiterated.

Dorothy Jones said she had privacy concerns for the donors present at the event.

“Not physical safety,” David Jones KC asked.

“No,” said Dorothy Jones.

The inquiry continues tomorrow.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Teaching Council needs to focus more on children’s safety and less on being liked by teachers, according to an independent review.

The review of the teacher registration body has called for significant transformation and more emphasis on its role as a regulator.

It has been published while the council’s chief executive Lesley Hoskin is on leave during a Public Service Commission review of the council’s procurement and conflict of interest practices, and amid widespread opposition to a government overhaul of the council.

The document – provided to RNZ by the council – said the council’s current statutory purpose was “to ensure safe and high-quality leadership, teaching, and learning in early childhood, primary, and secondary education through raising the status of the profession”.

It said the government was moving to cut the reference to raising the status of teaching and the review was aimed at establishing future opportunities in light of wider education reforms.

The report said those opportunities included shifting the council’s mindset “from the current focus on promoting respect for the profession and being liked by the profession to a prevention and stewardship mindset, focussed on improving child safety and the quality of teaching, and growing public trust and confidence in the profession”.

“The current focus on the mana of teachers and the profession must be properly balanced with the council’s’ statutory responsibilities to protect children from the sorts of competency and conduct breaches that create lifelong harm and trauma,” the report said.

“The council needs to lead the education sector to improve performance in preventing incompetence or misconduct while simultaneously shifting its focus from managing the consequences of misconduct to addressing the causes.”

Education Minister Erica Stanford told the Education and Workforce Select Committee on Wednesday the review vindicated the government’s moves to overhaul the council and take greater control over teacher education.

The review said the council appeared to have the culture of an advocacy body rather than of a regulatory or membership body.

“While there may be times when the council advocates for the profession, these must be balanced with its other roles and functions,” the report said.

“In spite of the statutory requirement to have regard to the policy of the government of the day, the agency does not appear to see itself as part of the wider state sector, within which the teaching profession sits.”

The review said the council should use its rich data about teachers to identify patterns and help tackle negative trends and risks.

“For example, the council’s registration teams can see the current trend towards increasing numbers of foreign trained teachers, which if extrapolated, will see up to 30 percent of the workforce foreign trained by 2035. They might also see patterns about where in the system probationary teachers are not reaching the standards required for permanent registration, or where leaders may appear to be ‘tick boxing’ certification applications.”

The report expressed concern that the council had recently lost qualified teachers and expert investigators from its staff.

It said the council had a strongly mission-driven and committed culture, but there were signs of dominant cliques that might “freeze out” those who did not agree with it.

“The executive has sometimes appeared, to some interviewees, to prioritise pliability over relevant experience and technical expertise,” it said.

The report warned that the level of change required at the council was significant and would need careful planning and management.

Last year the council’s acting chief executive [. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/581901/teaching-council-interim-ceo-resigns-from-board-for-avoidance-of-doubt-chair-says resigned his seat] on the council’s governing board after RNZ inquiries into the legality of the dual roles

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Gore’s famous giant brown trout statue is angling for an official name.

The sculpture – designed by local artist Erroll Allison and built by a local engineering firm – has proudly stood in Gore for almost 40 years.

The statue, capturing a trout mid-leap, is finally getting a name as part of a competition to promote the Southland town’s On The Fly Festival on the Mataura River later this month.

Gore District Council senior events co-ordinator Florine Potts told Checkpoint that there had been “heaps” of suggestions, with Trouty McTroutface one of the first to come through – “Someone had to do it.”

Potts said the list of initial names had been slimmed down to five finalists – Trixie, Scout, Trevor, Gordon or Finn.

“Voting has only opened on Monday, so people still have a lot of time to vote.

“Everyone can vote, they can go on our socials or text our local radio station. If you come to Gore, you can have an opinion on it.”

Potts said they were hoping other towns with giant statues of local animals and produce will follow suit and name their own statues.

She said locals were looking forward to being able to stop referring to it as just “the trout”, but said whatever the name, it would always be a true Gore icon.

“People come and visit and take photos with the trout. Everyone knows the trout.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Some mayors in the Wellington region have weighed in on the Moa Point sewage plant failure and who should pay for it.

The facility started pumping raw sewage into the ocean off the south coast after it completely failed early Wednesday morning last week.

On the following Thursday evening, the raw sewage was diverted from being dumped near the coast to a 1.8km outfall pipe.

Wellington Water had warned it may need to use the short outfall pipe if it were to rain in the city.

Mayor Andrew Little said the Moa Point plant was a Wellington City Council asset, and it would deal with who pays once the plan to get the plant back online was in place.

In the meantime, the council would foot the bill.

“If there’s been a breach of obligations, a breach of duties, then that – to me – has to be sorted out between the parties. In the meantime, the critical thing is to get the [plant] recovered, fixed and back operating. The Wellington City Council will no doubt underwrite that cost.

“We want to know what went wrong, where the responsibility lies and if we can recover any costs, then obviously we want to do that.”

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said councils were waiting to see what an independent inquiry into the meltdown revealed – and who should pay – to repair the plant.

Baker supported Wellington Water and said the failure could have happened to almost any plant in the region. She said the problems at Moa Point reflected nearly 50 years of councils declining to invest in water infrastructure.

Upper Hutt Mayor Peri Zee supported calls for an independent inquiry into the facility’s failings.

“We absolutely need to see accountability and in principle costs apportioned by who is at fault.”

South Wairarapa Mayor Fran Wilde said there was no reason her district should help pay to repair Moa Point. Wilde said her council had stopped Wellington Water from running its assets, and the two would part ways in June.

She said capital works had already been delivered more swiftly and at lower cost without Wellington Water.

A Hutt City Council spokesperson said they fully supported an independent review.

“It’s early days, and at this point we haven’t been provided with any information regarding the potential repair costs or if that cost would be shared across the wider Wellington region.”

The spokesperson said the council would not speculate on what might happen until the facts were on the table.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Otago University is urging students to “stay off roofs” after a young man was critically injured falling from a building at the Dunedin campus.

The man was in Dunedin Hospital, after being found by campus staff shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

Police said the injured man was not a student at the university.

The Otago Daily Times reported the young man fell from the Centre for Innovation building near the intersection of Cumberland and Saint David streets.

In a statement, university vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said staff acted quickly and alerted emergency services after finding the man.

“Staff are continuing to work closely with police and providing assistance where possible. As this is a police investigation, we are unable to provide further details about the incident,” he said.

Ahead of Otago University’s O-week celebrations, the university was outlining the importance of safe decision-making.

“With students returning to the city, we strongly encourage everyone to look out for one another, make safe choices and seek help early if they have concerns. Our Campus Watch staff are available 24/7 to assist students in the North Dunedin community,” Robertson said.

Campus Watch staff had begun door-knocking flats in North Dunedin, Robertson said.

“We provide practical information on personal safety, property security, safe behaviour in two-storey flats, avoiding climbing on roofs, waste and recycling requirements and other matters important to a safe start to the year.

“I cannot stress enough about the importance of staying off roofs. The tragic outcomes of that are well-known and we do not want anyone, or their friends and whānau to have to experience that.”

Otago University student and age-grade rugby representative Jayden Broome was still recovering from a critical brain injury, after falling from the roof of a two-storey Dunedin flat in September last year.

The 19-year-old spent four months in hospital and was unable to eat for 115 days following the fall, The Southland Tribune reported last week.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington Water will not answer any more questions about anything that could be included in a public inquiry into the Moa Point meltdown.

The facility completely failed last Wednesday morning, flooding the building with waste and sending raw sewage into the nearby coast.

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little has called for an independent inquiry into the matter.

Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty said in a statement that the water supplier fully supported an inquiry to the failure.

“It is now clear that the inquiry will begin as soon as possible, and we will cooperate fully alongside our work to bring the plant back into operation.”

Dougherty said given the review had been signalled, it meant Wellington Water was not able to provide “any further public statements regarding aspects of the Moa Point incident and response that may be included in the inquiry”.

He said the water provider was committed to transparency while meeting its legal obligations.

“We also appreciate the high level of public and media interest in this incident.”

Wellington Water would still provide regular operational updates, public health advice and water sampling results.

Dougherty told Morning Report on Monday that Wellington Water may have missed early warning signs of the plant’s failure.

RNZ has asked what those red flags were, but Wellington Water has not responded.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

There is concern that some behaviour at Dunedin’s annual ‘Flo’ and ‘O’ weeks is out of control and highly dangerous, with students clambering onto roofs.

A young man was critically injured on Wednesday after falling about 10 metres from an Otago University building, with a wine bottle found on a ledge.

While he was not a student, police were calling for others to avoid rising similar injuries – which were becoming more common.

“Unfortunately, it seems to be becoming more and more prevalent,” senior sergeant Craig Dinnissen told Checkpoint.

“Flo Week never used to be a thing. It has become more of a thing in the last couple of years and the climbing on roofs has been around since the Hyde Street unmanaged events, which just leads to absolute significant risk and injury when it does go wrong.”

Dinnissen said police had engaged with numerous people to get off roofs and passed their details onto their university for further discussion.

He suggested that students had too much time to get into trouble, with classes yet to start.

“There’s absolutely nothing to do with university … there’s no classes, nothing at all,” Dinnissen said.

It is seven nights of various street parties, excessive drinking and just some poor behaviour and poor decision making, he said.

He said it was the first time away from home for many students, and with nothing else to do, evenings could often get “feral”, with illicit substances also a factor.

Dinnissen said wastewater testing indicated that this time of year was “high use”, with police resources stretched to ensure the safety of everyone.

“It takes a huge amount of time from us, from normal court policing,” he said.

Out of towners joining the parties was another factor.

“We have people travelling all the way from Auckland to come down to partake in the festivities here, both Flo and O Week,” Dinnissen said.

“Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, university students, people from all around the area as well.”

Dinnissen said while police could generally handle local students, people that come from outside the region often had no respect for the environment and the situation they put themselves in.

Without putting an end to the parties, he called for a “significant culture change” and for students to embrace social responsibility.

“These are supposed to be new young adults that are going to lead us into the future,” he said.

“We can’t really hold their hand in that sense, to realise that things are getting out of hand.”

Dinnissen said the last thing police ever wanted to do was to knock on somebody’s door and say your daughter or your son was in hospital.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The white supremacist who massacred 51 people in the Christchurch terror attack attempted to engage a leading human rights lawyer to act as his “mouthpiece”.

Australian Brenton Tarrant wants the Court of Appeal to overturn his convictions and sentence for the March 2019 shootings at Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre.

The 35-year-old now claims he pleaded guilty only because he was irrational due to the solitary nature of his prison conditions.

On Wednesday afternoon, the court heard from Dr Tony Ellis, who represented the terrorist for about six months in 2021, and Ron Mansfield KC, who represented him for just over a year from late 2021.

Ellis told the court he was primarily engaged by Tarrant to obtain a copy of the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s report into the terror attack.

He obtained a copy of the report and sent it to the prison, however, it did not reach the terrorist.

Ellis said the terrorist had also raised the possibility of launching an appeal. But the lawyer was not willing to act for him.

“If I was going to act for him on appeal he wanted me to do precisely as ordered and basically act as his mouthpiece,” he said.

“I told him I wasn’t prepared to act in those circumstances.”

Ellis had spoken to the terrorist a dozen times on the phone and the conversations were often lengthy.

“Many clients who have been detained in solitary confinement, they want to have a chat with somebody because its psychologically harmful to be left in solitary confinement and you need human interaction,” he told the court.

Mansfield had primarily been engaged to assist the terrorist in preparing for the coronial inquiry into the deaths of the 51 people murdered on 15 March 2019.

He then assisted the terrorist with taking steps towards seeking judicial review of his prison conditions.

Mansfield found the terrorist’s prison conditions to be unsatisfactory.

The terrorist had also raised the possibility of appealing his convictions and sentence, Mansfield said.

However, the terrorist had discussed the possibility of representing himself.

The terrorist dispensed with Mansfield’s services in April 2023 after becoming frustrated at the time it took for his legal matters to progress.

The Court of Appeal will hear legal arguments on Thursday and Friday.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Salvation Army is warning that families are starving and it wants the government to urgently increase food aid.

Its latest State of the Nation paints a dire picture of worsening child poverty and unemployment, rising family violence and stubbornly high cost of living pressures.

An annual deep dive into Aotearoa’s social wellbeing, the report shows that child poverty is rising, with 156,000 children living in hardship last year.

Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit director Dr Bonnie Robinson said the statistics were getting worse, rather than better – and it showed on the front line at food banks.

“Families are coming in, and some of those families have got jobs, sometimes several jobs … it’s just not enough,” she said.

“They’re one crisis, or one extra need, one doctor’s visit, one bit of school uniform, away from not being able to afford to feed themselves.”

Report co-author Paul Barber said an increase in food insecurity came as access to government support was being tightened.

Food grant limits had not been changed since 2008, he said.

“And you wonder why people aren’t managing to get by.”

Ministry of Social Development (MSD) acting client service delivery general manager Steph Voight said the “overwhelming majority” of food grant applications were approved.

“The amount someone can receive for a food grant varies depending on their circumstances,” she said.

MSD cannot grant someone more than $200 in food grants over a 26-week period, unless they determine there are exceptional circumstances.

“Any decisions on food grant limits would require legislative change and would be for Ministers to make,” said Voight.

Social Development minister Louise Upston said the government was focused on lowering inflation, easing interest rates and cutting taxes.

“$15 million of government funding was announced in Budget 2025 to support community food providers while the economy continues to recover,” she said.

“In addition to the Food Security Communities Programme, MSD also supports other initiatives such as the Kickstart Breakfast and provides Special Needs Grants for food.”

Upston could not comment on further funding ahead of this year’s Budget.

Poverty stats ‘scandalous’ – Greens

Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said it was “scandalous, completely unacceptable” that children live in poverty in New Zealand.

The party’s social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said tens of thousands of people accessed food hardship grants on a regular basis and they were often the last option for families living week-to-week.

“People wouldn’t be calling, or walking into a Work and Income office effectively begging for food if they didn’t need to,” he said.

“The limit that we currently have means that many people are turned away, and when you are homeless, when you may be transient in emergency housing, being asked to show receipts and to prove exceptional circumstances when it’s clear that you’re struggling to make ends meet, is simply just not a reality that people can comply with.”

Māori, Pacific children dealing with effects of colonisation – report

The report showed that tamariki Māori and Pacific children continue to experience disproportionately high rates of hardship.

Salvation Army Te Ao Māori policy analyst Charm Kataraina Skinner said many whānau were dealing with the ongoing effects of colonisation.

“We have children that are starving, and we have whānau that can’t meet their basic necessities.

“Everybody deserves kai on the table.”

Family violence at highest level in eight years

The report also revealed that family violence was at its highest level since 2018, despite an overall drop in violent crime.

Barber said that was a sign of families under pressure.

“A lot of the violence is concentrated on a few people who experience multiple victimisations,” he said.

Authorities needed to work with those families to understand what help they needed to address the “multiple pressures” they faced, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A fire in New Plymouth’s Bell Block has spread smoke across the suburb and the neighbouring town of Waitara.

The fire began on Wednesday afternoon near Bell Block Beach, according to locals.

A helicopter could be seen overhead in Bell Block.

MORE TO COME…

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An overnight house fire in Auckland that has left a home unliveable was caused by the reckless use of a flare, police believe.

Crews responded to the home at Vino Cina Heights in Rānui after midnight and found the roof fully ablaze.

Police said the home was extensively damaged and it was lucky that nobody died.

“We believe this fire has been caused by a flare, which is commonly used by boaties and one that launches a projectile,” acting Detective Inspector Megan Goldie said.

“Based on enquiries so far it appears this is an accidental fire as a result of reckless actions.”

Residents have told police they saw two people running from the area after a loud bang.

“If you have any information, we need to hear from you,” Goldie said.

“I would also call on those people who are involved to do the right thing and own up to what has happened.”

A scene examination was done after the blaze alongside a fire investigator.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The hot weather across much of the country is expected to cool off this weekend with the possibility of heavy rain and strong winds forecast for some.

MetService meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said warm, moist air coming over the country from the north had been bringing warm days and muggy nights.

For the next couple of days temperatures were expected to remain in the mid to late 20s, with the nights also warm as temperatures are forecast to stay in the high teens or even the 20s.

Muggy overnight temperatures on the way for the second half of the week as a warm-moist airmass pushes over us

Parts of the upper North Island will have overnight low temperatures around 20°C.

Meanwhile, Southland could have maximum temperatures in the high 20s on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/GexGcCsgyY

— MetService NZ (@MetService) February 10, 2026

MetService has severe thunderstorm watches in place for Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Taihape until 9pm on Wednesday.

A front is forecast to move across the South Island on Friday leading to cooler temperatures on Saturday and a period of heavy rain and strong winds.

MetService said a low may bring heavy rain to parts of the north-eastern North Island on Saturday, with the possibility of it hitting warning criteria in eastern Bay of Plenty, Gisborne/Te Tai Rāwhiti and the Wairoa District.

Makgabutlane said a cooler dryer air mass was expected to bring a chill on Saturday for the South Island, then the lower and central North Island on Sunday.

MetService said there was still a high degree of uncertainty in the forecast but it could bring heavy rain and strong southerly winds to parts of the eastern and southern North Island on Sunday.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A Fiordland amateur fishing charter company has been fined for illegally catching and serving an estimated close to $250,000 worth of crayfish to customers.

Fiordland Cruises Limited has been sentenced and fined $60,000 on one charge under the Fisheries Act in the Invercargill District Court after being prosecuted by the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The company will not have to forfeit its vessel, Southern Secret, if it pays a redemption fee of $47,000.

The ministry received several complaints about charter vessels working in the Fiordland Marine Area including allegations that seafood meals were used to encourage paying passengers to take part.

An investigation found Fiordland Cruises Limited took and served 1630 crayfish onboard the 162 amateur fishing charters it ran between January and October 2023.

They would have cost an estimated $239,610 to $244,500 on the domestic market.

Fisheries New Zealand compliance regional manager south Garreth Jay said all charter operators were given clear information on the rules.

That included only passengers who caught fish recreationally could have it served to them on the vessel as a commercial business could not catch fish recreationally to serve to customers, he said.

When fishery officers boarded the Southern Secret, they found that passengers were served crayfish for lunch despite not taking part in fishing, and guests saw crew members clearing cray pots.

“The skipper told us that along with the chef, they would lift the craypots while passengers watched. This is illegal behaviour from a company that does not hold a commercial fishing licence and is not a Licensed Fish Receiver,” Jay said.

“We expect those rules to be followed.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Nine people have been killed in a secondary school shooting in the province of British Columbia.

Canadian police say a shooter has been found dead with what’s thought to be a self-inflicted injury.

In a statement, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said they received an active shooter report at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School at approximately 1.20pm local time.

Police entered the school and found six deceased victims, and another died on the way to hospital.

“An individual believed to be the shooter was also found deceased with what appears to be a self-inflicted injury,” Superintendent Ken Floyd, North District Commander, said.

He said in a press conference that police had determined the person’s identity, but were not releasing it at this time.

However, Floyd confirmed it’s the same person described in the active shooter alert sent to phones in the area during the shooting.

In the alert, police described the suspect as a woman in a dress with brown hair.

Police had identified a residence believed to be connected to the shooting, where two additional victims were located deceased.

Officers were conducting further searches of additional homes and properties to determine if anyone else was injured or linked to the shooting, police said.

Two people had serious injuries and another 25 were being assessed and triaged at the local medical centre for non-life threatening injuries.

Police said all remaining staff and students were safely evacuated from the school and a reunification process was underway for the school families.

The active shooter alert had been lifted by 5.45pm local time, because police “did not believe there were any outstanding suspects or ongoing threats to the public”.

Floyd said additional RCMP resources continued to be deployed into the community to support the response and investigation.

“This was a rapidly evolving and dynamic situation, and the swift cooperation from the school, first responders, and the community played a critical role in our response,” he said.

“Our thoughts are with the families, loved ones, and all those impacted by this tragic incident. This has been an incredibly difficult and emotional day for our community.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A blaze at a Waikato landfill may have have been caused by wrongly disposed lithium batteries.

The fire broke out at the Tirohia Landfill, near Paeroa, on Wednesday morning.

Fire and Emergency sent firefighters from several stations.

The fire was now under control and nobody was hurt, the tip’s owners WM New Zealand said.

“Initial reports suggest the fire started when a compactor drove over an item that ignited,” it said.

“It is too early to confirm the cause, but incidents like this are often linked to lithium batteries that have been disposed of incorrectly.”

An investigation was underway, the company said.

WM said there was no risk to workers or the public from the fire.

“Battery fires are becoming more common across the waste sector. When batteries are crushed or damaged, they can ignite and create safety risk.”

The company was urging people to properly get rid of batteries and not throw them out in household rubbish or recycling bins.

Fire and Emergency have been approached for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have arrested a man after another man was stabbed at a Christchurch block of flats on Monday.

Emergency services were called to the Fitzgerald Avenue property where the man was found critically injured shortly after midday on Monday.

A 40-year-old man appeared in the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday, charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The victim remains in hospital in a stable condition.

Police said they were not looking for anyone else.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman has been arrested over an alleged 18-year romance scam which saw a Dunedin man lose half a million dollars.

Police in Auckland and Dunedin worked together to make the arrest, with Dunedin police carrying out a search warrant and an Auclland home on Wednesday.

The Auckland City Financial Crime Unit helped out, police said.

A 44-year-old Ellerslie woman was arrested and faced a representative charge of obtains by deception.

Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Ali Ramsay, from the Auckland City Financial Crime Unit, said police would allege in court the scam had been running for 18 years after beginning online in 2006.

The woman had allegedly been given $525,537 during that time by the Dunedin man.

The woman was expected to appear in the Auckland District Court on 17 February.

“Our colleagues in Dunedin have been investigating this case, and we’re glad to have assisted in this result,” Ramsay said.

“Romance scams are usually perpetrated by offshore offenders, making prosecutions difficult for law enforcement.

“At the very heart of this are victims whose good nature is taken advantage of, causing emotional and financial stress.”

Police couldn’t comment about specifics in the case as the matter was now before the Courts.

Police reminded the public to be extremely cautious when meeting new people online or through dating applications.

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