Source: PISA results continue to show more to be done for equity in education
Date:
Credit: Rohan Wells
Credit: Trevor James
The great hunt for hornwort
If you think you might have hornwort in a home aquarium or pond, you’re not in trouble — in fact, you will be helping us. Take a picture, record the location, and report sightings to us on 0800 324 636 or via reportpests.nz.
If it turns out to be hornwort, we will organise its removal and you’ll go in the draw to win a prize pack to put towards your pond/aquarium.
Hornwort was successfully eradicated from the South Island back in 2013. With these latest reports, it’s important we all do our part to protect Canterbury’s waterways for the future.
Source: Secondary teachers question rationale for changes to relationship education guidelines
Auckland Council is taking extra steps to reduce flood risk in Stanmore Bay by boosting maintenance of the stream that runs through the public reserve and soccer grounds.
Over time, overgrown plants and debris like road cones and soccer balls have built up in the stream, increasing the chance of flooding during heavy rain.
To help prevent this, the council is targeting a key section from the bridge near 150 Brightside Road to where the stream naturally ends. Weather permitting, clean-up crews will remove low-hanging mangrove branches, seedlings, and blockages by 15 May.
Regular maintenance is also underway, with crews now set to service the stream through the soccer grounds every three months. This includes trimming back vegetation along the banks and removing any new mangrove growth that could block water flow.
“We know how important it is for communities to trust that their local infrastructure is cared for,” says Andrew Skelton, Head of Operations – Healthy Waters & Flood Resilience.
“By stepping up stream maintenance, we’re helping reduce the risk of blockages and flooding during storms.”
What if the stream runs through your property?
While the council maintains public waterways, it’s up to property owners to keep private sections clear. This includes removing rubbish, debris, and excess vegetation to ensure water can flow freely. It’s all part of building a more flood-resilient community.
If you see a blockage or have an urgent concern about a public stream, call Auckland Council on 09 301 0101 or email HWcustomerandcommunity@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Together, we can help keep Stanmore Bay safer and better prepared for heavy rain.
Source: Secondary teachers question rationale for changes to relationship education guidelines
Local fishing management and public education about exotic caulerpa are key advocacy initiatives for Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board.
Sometimes local boards are not the decision maker when it comes to projects or important decisions that will affect locals significantly.
When this is the case, the board advocates for the community and does everything it can to make your voices heard.
After reading and listening to feedback from the Annual Plan consultation, the board submitted local input to the council in late April 2025. Part of that feedback included two key advocacy initiatives.
The first is a request for continued support for communications to keep educational public messaging on exotic caulerpa.
Caulerpa has been a problem for the marine environment around Aotea since 2021 and has more recently been found in other parts of the Hauraki Gulf including near Waiheke.
To limit the spread of this invasive weed, boat owners need to be aware of why it is such a threat to our marine life, and steps they should take to reduce the risk of transporting it to new areas.
The second advocacy initiative is establishing local management of Aotea coastline and fisheries.
“With the recent closure of the inner Hauraki Gulf to both recreational and commercial spiny rock lobster fishing, we are extremely concerned about fishing efforts being displaced to the outer gulf and heavily impacting Aotea,” says board chair Izzy Fordham.
“Residents have already noted an increase of fishing activities around the coastline.”
The board is beginning conversations with stakeholders including iwi, Fisheries NZ, central government and Auckland Council.
So far, the board has sent a letter to Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Hon Shane Jones, noting its disappointment in the decision not to include Aotea in the closure of rock lobster fishing in the Hauraki Gulf. The letter also seeks to provide local protection around the island’s coastline. A copy of the letter can be found on the April business meeting agenda.
Minister Jones has responded and is open to further discussion. His letter will be included on the May 2025 business meeting agenda.
The board will keep the community informed as talks progress.
Stay up to date
Sign up for Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board E-news and get monthly updates direct to your inbox.
To mark the release of the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) partnered with the agency The Good Company to launch a new awareness campaign that puts an ironic twist on the glossy advertising of the tourism industry.
Three out of six countries featured in the exposé are from the Asia Pacific region — but none from the Pacific Islands.
The campaign shines a stark light on the press freedom violations in countries that seem perfect on postcards but are highly dangerous for journalists, says RSF.
It is a striking campaign raising awareness about repression.
Disguised as attractive travel guides, the campaign’s visuals use a cynical, impactful rhetoric to highlight the harsh realities journalists face in destinations renowned for their tourist appeal.
Along with Indonesia, Greece (89th), Cambodia (115), Egypt (170), Mexico (124) and the Philippines (116) are all visited by millions of tourists, yet they rank poorly in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, reports RSF.
‘Chilling narrative’ “The attention-grabbing visuals juxtapose polished, enticing aesthetics with a chilling narrative of intimidation, censorship, violence, and even death.
“This deliberately unsettling approach by RSF aims to shift the viewer’s perspective, showing what the dreamlike imagery conceals: journalists imprisoned, attacked, or murdered behind idyllic landscapes.”
The RSF Index 2025 teaser. Video: RSF
Indonesia is in the Pacific spotlight because of its Melanesian Papuan provinces bordering Pacific Islands Forum member country Papua New Guinea.
Despite outgoing President Joko Widodo’s 10 years in office and a reformist programme, his era has been marked by a series of broken promises, reports RSF.
“The media oligarchy linked to political interests has grown stronger, leading to increased control over critical media and manipulation of information through online trolls, paid influencers, and partisan outlets,” says the Index report.
“This climate has intensified self-censorship within media organisations and among journalists.
“Since October 2024, Indonesia has been led by a new president, former general Prabowo Subianto — implicated in several human rights violation allegations — and by Joko Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as vice-president.
“Under this new administration, whose track record on press freedom offers little reassurance, concerns are mounting over the future of independent journalism.”
Fiji leads in Pacific In the Pacific, Fiji has led the pack among island states by rising four places to 40th overall, making it the leading country in Oceania in 2025 in terms of press freedom.
A quick summary of Oceania rankings in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index. Image: RSF/PMW
Both Timor-Leste, which dropped 19 places to 39th after heading the region last year, and Samoa, which plunged 22 places to 44th, lost their impressive track record.
Of the only other two countries in Oceania surveyed by RSF, Tonga rose one place to 46th and Papua New Guinea jumped 13 places to 78th, a surprising result given the controversy over its plans to regulate the media.
RSF reports that the Fiji Media Association (FMA), which was often critical of the harassment of the media by the previous FijiFirst government, has since the repeal of the Media Act in 2023 “worked hard to restore independent journalism and public trust in the media”.
In March 2024, research published in Journalism Practice journal found that sexual harassment of women journalists was widespread and needed to be addressed to protect media freedom and quality journalism.
In Timor-Leste, “politicians regard the media with some mistrust, which has been evidenced in several proposed laws hostile to press freedom, including one in 2020 under which defaming representatives of the state or Catholic Church would have been punishable by up to three years in prison.
“Journalists’ associations and the Press Council often criticise politicisation of the public broadcaster and news agency.”
On the night of September 4, 2024, Timorese police arrested Antonieta Kartono Martins, a reporter for the news site Diligente Online, while covering a police operation to remove street vendors from a market in Dili, the capital. She was detained for several hours before being released.
Samoan harassment Previously enjoying a good media freedom reputation, journalists and their families in Samoa were the target of online death threats, prompting the Samoan Alliance of Media Professionals for Development (SAMPOD) to condemn the harassment as “attacks on the fourth estate and democracy”.
In Tonga, RSF reports that journalists are not worried about being in any physical danger when on the job, and they are relatively unaffected by the possibility of prosecution.
“Nevertheless, self-censorship continues beneath the surface in a tight national community.”
In Papua New Guinea, RSF reports journalists are faced with intimidation, direct threats, censorship, lawsuits and bribery attempts, “making it a dangerous profession”.
“And direct interference often threatens the editorial freedom at leading media outlets. This was seen yet again at EMTV in February 2022, when the entire newsroom was fired after walking out” in protest over a management staffing decison.
“There has been ongoing controversy since February 2023 concerning a draft law on media development backed by Communications Minister Timothy Masiu. In January 2024, a 14-day state of emergency was declared in the capital, Port Moresby, following unprecedented protests by police forces and prison wardens.”
This impacted on government and media relations.
Australia and New Zealand In Australia (29), the media market’s heavy concentration limits the diversity of voices represented in the news, while independent outlets struggle to find a sustainable economic model.
While New Zealand (16) leads in the Asia Pacific region, it is also facing a similar situation to Australia with a narrowing of media plurality, closure or merging of many newspaper titles, and a major retrenchment of journalists in the country raising concerns about democracy.
Pacific Media Watch collaborates with Reporters Without Borders.
Thank you to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs for organising this event, and for your efforts to foster New Zealand’s understanding of international affairs. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak here today.
As keen observers and practitioners of international relations, you will all be aware of the degree to which the global environment has changed, even in the past two years.
We in New Zealand have enjoyed for a long time the benefits of a strategic environment in which we could focus heavily on growing our economy, seeking trading relationships and pursuing our interests safe in the knowledge that the stable post-war, liberal, international rules-based order provided the guardrails.
We believe in that order, and we will act to preserve it. But it is not enough on its own. We rely on our ally, our friends and our partners to help make us more secure, and they rely on us for support. Few countries can go it alone, and we are no exception.
We are no longer in a world – and I would argue that maybe we never were – where prosperity and security are mutually exclusive. There is no economic security without national security.
As Minister of Defence, I am keenly aware that our Defence Force needs to be acknowledged for its core functions. It plays a vital in contributing to national defence and resilience, and helping deliver whole-of government security objectives.
But we have a Defence Force with military capabilities for a reason. We choose to hold at readiness a credible force of highly trained and capable men and women who are prepared and ready to act with force if needed, to defend our country.
Unfortunately 35 years of underinvestment has allowed this capability to deteriorate.
Defence Capability Plan
I was therefore very proud to last month launch with the Prime Minister, the Chief of Defence Force and the Secretary of Defence our new Defence Capability Plan – or, given the military’s fondness for acronyms, the DCP.
This plan sets out $12 billion of planned commitments over the next four years, including $9 billion of new spending, with a path to reaching 2 percent of GDP in the next eight years.
The release of the DCP represents the culmination of several years of focused work by the Defence agencies to ensure our defence policy settings and our defence capability investments best support New Zealand’s interests in a changed and changing world through to 2040.
As you can imagine, the content of the DCP was the subject of some intense discussions with my Cabinet colleagues. We know the critical importance of getting this right, of having a plan that is both appropriately ambitious and achievable, and firmly focused on what is in New Zealand’s best interests.
I am proud of the DCP, and I welcome the very positive reactions to it, both domestically and internationally.
New Zealanders understand that our world has changed, and the highly skilled and professional personnel of the New Zealand Defence Force need to be ready to do what the New Zealand Government and people ask of it, often at short notice.
Defence is not something that can be mothballed until you need it. Because when the chips are down, you need a force that is ready and equipped to do whatever is asked of it – and it needs to be able about to do it immediately.
That means it must be empowered and equipped appropriately.
I have been particularly pleased with the broad support the DCP has received from across Parliament. National security is one area of public policy that benefits strongly from a bipartisan approach, and I welcome the support for a more capable Defence Force.
I have been able to discuss the DCP with a number of my international counterparts, and I can tell you it has been received very positively by New Zealand’s security partners. Our partners have welcomed our updated approach and our intention to invest more in New Zealand’s defence capabilities.
The first step to turning the DCP into action was taken on Sunday, when I announced the Government is putting aside $2 billion plus to replace the Defence Force’s ageing maritime helicopters. Alongside that, we are investing $957 million over four years in Defence Force activities, personnel and estate in Budget 25. I will have more to say on Budget Day on additional defence investment.
The increase in defence investment has generated quite a range of questions about elements of New Zealand’s defence policy, both long-standing and newly introduced, that could usefully be explained in greater detail. And that is what I would like to do this evening.
I will talk in particular to our assessment of New Zealand’s strategic environment, our alliance with Australia, our approach to deterrence, the importance of combat capability, and opportunities for innovation.
New Zealand’s strategic environment
The first line in the first chapter of the DCP sets the scene well for the policy settings that follow: “New Zealand is facing its most challenging and dangerous strategic environment for decades.”
Security challenges that we are familiar with remain with us. At home and in our immediate region these include ongoing risks of natural disasters and maritime security challenges of all kinds. And some of these are becoming worse – for example, we are seeing increasing use of the Pacific as a transhipment route for illegal drugs.
And for our Pacific partners in particular, climate change and its wide-ranging security impacts continue to represent the primary security concern.
Increasingly, however, the defining character of our strategic environment is strategic competition.
Globally, in the wider Indo-Pacific and in our immediate region, we are seeing some states increasingly acting in ways that undermine existing international rules and norms, and seeking to reshape both regional orders and the global order as a whole.
Recent events in our immediate region – including the PRC Task Group operating in the Tasman Sea and last year’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile test – have demonstrated that New Zealand’s geographic location no longer shelters us from threats to the extent that it once did. Our region is of increasing strategic significance, and global challenges and tensions are having direct impacts on our security.
And the wider Indo Pacific contains a number of potential security flashpoints – be that cross-Strait tensions, the Korean Peninsula or competing claims in the South China Sea.
Perhaps the most acute – and still shocking – example of the deteriorating strategic environment is Russia’s ongoing illegal war against Ukraine.
New Zealand remains fully committed to supporting Ukraine’s self-defence and national resilience. The Prime Minister announced last month during his trip to the United Kingdom and Türkiye that New Zealand is extending its military assistance in support of Ukraine’s self-defence through to December 2026.
New Zealand welcomes efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace, and is following the negotiations on a potential ceasefire very closely.
Overview of DCP policy settings
As a government, we need to ensure we are employing our full range of tools of statecraft to best effect in service of New Zealand’s national interests.
We are a small island nation that relies on trade for its economic growth and – as I have previously said, we cannot have economic security without national security.
A compromised supply chain can lead to disruptions, financial losses, reputational damage and compromised products or services. And our supply chains rely on the security of maritime, air, land, space and cyber domains.
As Defence Minister, I need to ensure the Defence Force has the right capabilities, is using those capabilities to support peace and security, and is prepared for scenarios in which competition tips into confrontation and conflict.
That is why the DCP has three new defence policy objectives. These aren’t a radical shift in our policy, but they provide a sharper focus.
The first is to protect and promote New Zealand’s security, and that of our immediate region. New Zealand’s security is indivisible from the strategic situation our region is facing.
Defence plays a key part in ensuring the security, stability, and resilience of our immediate region by deterring actions contrary to the security of New Zealand and our regional partners and helping sustain wider regional conditions favourable to New Zealand’s security interests. An important part of this is delivering our defence and security constitutional responsibilities to the Realm.
Second is enhancing our alliance and other key security partnerships, which I’ll expand on shortly.
And third is to contribute to achieving our global interests, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. Defence will continue its pattern of operations in support of maritime security and the existing liberal international rules-based order, and we will work closely with our international security partners to promote collective security approaches in accordance with international law, in particular the United National Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), including freedom of navigation and oversight.
But Defence’s activities are truly global as well, as demonstrated by NZDF’s ongoing support to Ukraine and operations in the Middle East. Just last month, the Royal New Zealand Navy deployed the frigate HMNZS Te Kaha to conduct anti-smuggling operations in the Indian Ocean as part of the New Zealand-led Combined Task Force 150. The taskforce has already had very real impact, disrupting the trade of $600 million worth of illegal drugs so far.
Taken together, these three new objectives set the direction for Defence, as part of an all-of-Government approach, to promote and protect our national interests.
Our Alliance and security partnerships
But I want to expand specifically on our security partnerships. New Zealand has always valued the importance of collective security and supporting international mechanisms that enable collective action and support sovereign equality of states.
This is reflected in the policy settings in the DCP. We have always worked with others that share our values and our interests to shape the world as we would wish it to be, and to prepare together should the worst happen.
Indeed, since becoming the Minister of Defence, I have taken every opportunity to meet with my international defence counterparts, to demonstrate that New Zealand is internationally engaged and willing to step up to respond to new opportunities and emerging threats.
But within that, we will always maintain our independent foreign policy, making our own decisions about what is in New Zealand’s interests – just as other countries do.
It is worth saying more about our relationship with our closest friend and only ally Australia. For this Government, it was essential that the DCP reinforce the importance we place on our alliance with Australia, and the importance in our evolving strategic environment to speak directly about these issues.
I’ve been in touch with my Australian defence counterpart Richard Marles, who is also their Deputy Prime Minister, to offer my congratulations following the weekend’s election. Minister Marles and I both look forward to continuing to work together on a range of issues, including our shared security.
We have specifically referenced the ANZUS Treaty in the DCP, as it continues to underpin the strategic relationship between New Zealand and Australia and formalises the commitments that we have to each other as allies.
It has done so since 1951, and the DCP does not represent any change in its interpretation. And as the Prime Minister stated, our nuclear free policy has not, and will not, change.
We are working to create an increasingly integrated Anzac force, which means we will be better prepared, exercised and equipped to combine our Defence Forces to defend our shared interests. To enhance our interoperability, we have committed to removing tactical, technical and procedural information-sharing barriers where they restrict our ability to operate as an integrated force.
Of course, this Government is also committed to maintaining and investing in a range of other security partnerships, including with our Pacific partners and our Five Eyes partners. As the Prime Minister has indicated, we are also focused on strengthening our relationships across Asia.
Recently, we have signed a number of agreements with partner countries. These include the India-New Zealand Defence Cooperation Arrangement, which is a milestone bilateral arrangement facilitating closer defence relations – including the establishment of regular bilateral defence engagements and opening new areas for collaboration such as deploying and training together.
I was in the Philippines last week to sign a Status of Visiting Forces Agreement, which sets out the legal conditions for military cooperation between our countries.
And as part of the NATO Indo-Pacific 4 grouping, we’re working with NATO and Indo-Pacific partners to uphold the international rules-based order and democratic values that are fundamental to our security and prosperity.
Deterrence and combat capability
We’ve also observed commentary on the much more explicit inclusion of, and focus on, deterrence in the DCP.
Deterrence is a normal part of how states operate and what defence forces do. At its core it is about influencing behaviour, or denying opportunities, by making other actors aware of the risks and consequences of undertaking those unwanted activities. Deterrence can be delivered through various tools. But having a credible and capable military force is a key way states deter activities and behaviours they don’t want.
As the DCP itself points out, deterrence is underpinned by having the necessary tools to act. In that respect the DCP recognises the increasing importance of building greater lethality into the force to be able to achieve deterrent effects.
It’s also important here to be clear on what the purpose of a military is. And I referred earlier to the core functions of a Defence Force.
Of course, modern militaries carry out a range of functions. But with the challenging world we now face, we need to reinforce the primary purpose of the military. There is no opting out from today’s strategic realities.
That is why the DCP signals increased strike capabilities which will increase our ability to use force if needed to protect our interests. This will be achieved through the procurement of new missile systems, which will provide an ability to respond to hostile vessels at a greater range.
Options for this include arming existing air and maritime platforms with missiles, such as the P-8A Poseidon fleet and the Anzac frigates, or options such as land-based strike.
Opportunities for innovation
I’m very aware of the importance of innovation and new technologies in defence.
Experience in Ukraine shows that conventional systems are still needed, but we’ve also seen the use of new technologies in new ways. Tanks and drones in the same battlefield are a reality.
New technologies and innovations will help the NZDF with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities. In the short and medium term, Defence will focus on uncrewed technology, including long-range uncrewed aerial vehicles to provide more persistent maritime surveillance. The DCP also describes uncrewed surface and subsurface vessels to help monitor and protect our Exclusive Economic Zone, and support our Pacific partners.
There will also be a focus on strengthened cyber and information capabilities to protect the NZDF’s networks and systems, and provide defensive cyber, electronic and information warfare effects.
A two-yearly review cycle of this DCP will provide greater flexibility by adopting technologies earlier in their lifecycle, and by incorporating new but proven technologies. Defence is also exploring joint procurement opportunities with Australia, where it makes sense to do so.
A technology accelerator as part of the DCP will enable New Zealand’s high technology sector to quickly develop advanced platforms and systems specifically focused on New Zealand defence problems, and the ability to deliver these rapidly. It would help transition technology from the prototype phase to ‘service ready’ capabilities that could be readily acquired by the NZDF, albeit at limited scale.
We have an opportunity to partner in a better way with industry, and particularly New Zealand industry. How we intend to do this will be set out in a Defence Industry Strategy that will support implementation of the DCP.
One area we see innovation and scope to adapt is in the space industry. As you may know, I am also the Minister for Space.
I believe that here we have an opportunity to harness the incredible innovation across the New Zealand space industry to make contributions across all applications of space.
The world’s reliance on space technologies means that irresponsible behaviour in space has global impacts, and New Zealand has no protection from those effects.
Guaranteeing access to satellite communications and other systems that rely on space is critical to a range of new and existing technologies and systems used by the NZDF.
Part of supporting that access is ensuring we take broader action to support New Zealand’s interest in the safe, secure and responsible use of space. We are developing a new regulatory regime to ensure that operators of ground-based space infrastructure register their operations to deter foreign interference in New Zealand’s space infrastructure.
With partners and allies, New Zealand’s Defence agencies and our innovative space industry can contribute to international efforts to preserve and protect freedom of access to space and all the space-based services we need to prosper.
Closing remarks
I believe this DCP represents change. It is a change to a more deliberate defence policy and is a significant change in the level of investment in our defence.
It is a message to New Zealanders that we are prepared to invest in their security. It is a message to our partners and ally that we will contribute what we need to. And it is a message to the NZDF that we believe in them and what they do.
Change can be hard, and deciding to invest this amount of funding was difficult. We did not, and won’t ever, take that decision lightly.
A large-scale search and rescue operation has continued today in Milford Sound, for a man who has been missing since Sunday.
The solo tramper failed to return after a planned day trip to climb Mitre Peak.
The alarm was raised promptly, and a search and rescue operation began immediately, shortly before midnight on 5 May.
Detective Tracy Ward says a large number of resources have been working through arduous terrain, assisted by helicopter crews.
The search is being supported by Land Search and Rescue teams from Fiordland, Caitlins and Southland, Southern Lakes Helicopters, Heli-Otago, Southland Amateur Radio Emergency Communications, a Wakatipu Land Search and Rescue tracking dog team, a Dunedin Land Search and Rescue air scent dog team, and Wakatipu Alpine Cliff Rescue teams.
“There is also a huge amount of local support being provided by tourism operator Real NZ at Milford Sound. Roughly 60 volunteers, 10 Police staff and the various helicopter and tourism staff are working hard to find the missing man.”
A Police incident management team is in place in Invercargill, supporting a forward command base at Milford Sound.
Detective Ward said helicopter searches began on Monday and carried on into the night, before resuming this morning.
“Land Search and Rescue field and dog teams have been in the search area since Monday morning, as well as alpine cliff rescue teams due to the incredibly steep terrain in the area. Real NZ has assisted the operation with marine vessels and support staff, as well as helping the search staff at the forward control base in Milford Sound.
“We are looking at a wide search area in a very rugged part of New Zealand. We have yet to find any items that could help narrow the search area, but we are remaining positive.
“The man we are looking for is experienced in the outdoors and we believe he had suitable clothing and provisions, which can make all the difference. We are in contact with his next of kin, but at this stage are not in a position to release further details about him,” Detective Ward said.
“We are expecting a deterioration in the weather tonight and that may affect ongoing search efforts, but Police and volunteer staff will remain in Milford Sound until further notice.”
Police have spoken to a number of people who encountered the man in the vicinity of Mitre Peak on Sunday 4 May. Detective Ward said Police still needed to hear from anyone who was in the area on Sunday if they haven’t already spoken with Police. Please contact Police by making a report online, or by calling 105, referencing the event number P062448221.
A Land Search and Rescue team today joined the search for missing Masterton man John Rafferty, who was last seen about midday on Sunday 4 May.
Sergeant Anthony Matheson says it’s possible John is staying with a friend, but Police and his family want to know he’s safe.
“A reasonable amount of time has passed, and John doesn’t have his cell phone or wallet. A search team has been out looking for him, and a helicopter also helped us search several areas today. We are really keen to know that he’s safe.
John is 74 and was last seen at Masterton Railway Station about midday on Sunday. He did not board a train and left on foot about 20 minutes later. The CCTV image shows John on the station platform.
He was wearing sweatpants, black shoes, and a blue jacket with ‘NASA’ written on the back.
John may have left the Masterton area, and anyone who sees him is asked to contact Police via 111. Information after the fact can be provided online at 105. Please use the reference number P062453320.
Labour welcomes the Auditor-General’s inquiry into the Government’s school lunches programme.
“After months of chaos and kids going hungry, I’m glad that David Seymour’s school lunches mess is now being investigated,” Labour’s education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said.
“I’ve heard from schools who’ve shared their heartbreak at seeing kids going hungry following the government changes to the programme. It’s even more disheartening when the Minister’s response has been to blame and shame schools that speak out.
“It’s been a huge waste of time and resources for schools and has distracted many teachers from their classrooms as they dealt with David Seymour’s mess.
“We’ve seen reports showing the lunches are not up to nutritional standard and a procurement process that has raised many unanswered questions.
“Where Education Minister Erica Stanford has failed to act, I’m glad the Auditor-General is. David Seymour guaranteed that all will be fixed come Term 2, but the problems continue,” Willow-Jean Prime said.
The Luxon Government has just introduced a bill into the House that would make it legal to kill protected wildlife. Greenpeace understands the Bill is being rushed through all stages under urgency tonight, without public consultation or proper scrutiny.
The amendment to the Wildlife Act, New Zealand’s foundational wildlife protection law, would allow the Director-General of Conservation to grant companies permission to kill native animals if they get in the way of projects like roads, mines or dams.
Greenpeace has condemned the move as a clear and dangerous escalation of the Luxon Government’swar on nature.
“No one wants to see roading or mining companies handed a licence to kill kiwi – but that’s exactly what this Bill makes possible,” says Greenpeace campaigner Gen Toop.
“This is a law change no one asked for – except the corporations that see wildlife as an obstacle to profit. It’s being rushed through in the dead of night so the public can’t even have a say,”
“If this Bill passes, it will go down in history as the moment the Government chose corporate profits over protecting wildlife that is already on the brink of extinction,” says Toop.
Greenpeace is calling for the immediate withdrawal of the amendment and for the Government to strengthen, not weaken, protections for the country’s threatened wildlife.
The Bill comes after a landmark High Court decision inthe caseof the Environmental Law Initiative v The Director-General of the Department of Conservation (DOC) and others. The case challenged DOC’s decision to grant Waka Kotahi permission to kill wildlife during construction of the Mt Messenger Bypass in Taranaki.
The Judge ruled that the permit was unlawful, upending years of DOC’s practice of granting permits which authorised the killing of wildlife under the Wildlife Act.
“The Luxon Government is changing the law to legalise what the High Court just ruled is illegal,” says Toop. “We’re talking about the kiwi – our national icon – being sacrificed so a company can build a road faster. That’s just not who we are as a country.”
Greenpeace says the move is part of a wider pattern of stripping away safeguards for land,fresh water, and wildlife such as the repeal of the oil and gas ban, the introduction of theFast-Track Act, and the recently announcedRMA reforms.
“Once a species is gone, it’s gone forever. We should be strengthening protections for endangered wildlife, not making it legal to kill them,” says Toop.
The Government’s proposed amendments to the Equal Pay Act 1972 represent a major setback for pay equity and a breach of women’s fundamental rights, says leading gender advocate Dellwyn Stuart, co-founder of Mind the Gap and CEO of YWCA Auckland.
“This move takes us backwards, not forwards,” says Ms Stuart. “It remains a violation of women’s human rights to be paid unfairly, and this Government is dismantling decades of hard-won progress to close the gender pay gap.”
Female-dominated professions – including care work, nursing, and early childhood education – continue to be underpaid and undervalued compared to traditionally male-dominated sectors, despite their essential role in the wellbeing of Aotearoa.
“We saw during Covid-19 how vital these roles are to society. Nurses and carers were rightly recognised as essential. Now, those same workers are being told that fair pay is off the table – that their aspirations for financial security and dignity at work don’t count,” says Ms Stuart.
She warns that these changes will likely worsen the existing workforce crisis: “Skilled workers will continue to seek better opportunities overseas, leaving our health and social systems even more vulnerable.
“With many pay equity claims involving government-employed workforces, Ms Stuart points to the contradiction at the heart of current policymaking: “This coalition government is actively perpetuating pay discrimination. At the same time, the Minister for Women is travelling the country asking businesses to close their pay gaps. How can the Government expect the private sector to commit to pay equity when it is not leading by example?”
The gender pay gap remains a significant issue in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly affecting Māori and Pacific women, who are already over-represented in lower-income statistics. While the national gender pay gap sits at 8.2%, it rises to 15% for Māori women and 17.3% for Pacific women (Source: Ministry for Women, 2024).
“If we’re serious about fairness and decency in this country, we need to properly value the work of those who contribute the most to the wellbeing of our society,” say Ms Stuart.
More than a third of all firearms licence holders have registered their firearms, with New Zealand’s Firearms Registry recording its 400,000th gun now linked to an individual licence holder.
Te Tari Pureke – Firearms Safety Authority says the 400,000th firearm was one of more than 1000 guns added to the Registry in one day, on 1 May. These firearms are held by 81,400 individual licence holders, or 36 percent of licenced gun owners in New Zealand.
Acting Executive Director, Superintendent Richard Wilson, says the Registry is part of a broad response to firearms harm in our communities, and delivers greater transparency and accountability when firearms are bought and sold, imported, and manufactured. This is helping mitigate the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands.
The Registry was one of the reforms following the March 2019 terror attack in Christchurch.
“Only last month, Police arrested two unlicensed hunters in possession of a number of firearms after a complaint about illegal hunting. When the serial numbers of some of the guns were cross-checked with the Registry, it identified licence holders and investigations are continuing.
“This is a huge step forward, being able to trace firearms so quickly and easily. And remember, it’s still early days. Over time, as we get all licence holders in, the Registry will increasingly make it more difficult for firearms to move from lawful hands into the black market of unlicensed people, including gangs, extremists, or criminals.”
Licence holders must record their details in the Registry no later than August 2028. However, if they have an activating circumstance before that time, such as renewing their licence, buying a firearm, or changing address, they must register their licence details and all their firearms and parts, and keep that information up to date. Most registered firearms, almost 89 percent, are so-called A-Category firearms, the standard rifles and shotguns used by hunters and farmers.
Superintendent Wilson says the Registry is on track to have all licence holders in by the 2028 deadline.
“We acknowledge all the firearm licence holders who have filled in the Firearms Registry so far. To those yet to register their firearms, Te Tari Pūreke is here to help. Go to the MyFirearms web page or call us on 0800 844 431 between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.”
Te Pāti Māori is demanding urgent changes to the draft Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) framework, calling it a dangerous step backwards for Takatāpui, trans, and rainbow rangatahi.
“This draft erases Takatāpui voices, ignores whānau diversity, and delays consent education. It’s not just inadequate, it’s unbelievably unsafe” said Te Pāti Māori Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
The draft excludes Takatāpui or trans identities, frames gender in binaries and postpones meaningful consent teaching to later years. It also makes no effort to affirm our same-sex or gender-diverse whānau.
Te Pāti Māori is calling for:
• Takatāpui-led co-design of the curriculum
• Consent education from primary school
• Explicit inclusion of rainbow whānau
• Tikanga-based, inclusive sexuality education
• Funding for kaupapa-led teacher training
“We need education that reflects all our tamariki. Silence is not safety” said Ngarewa-Packer.
Submissions close Friday 9 May. Te Pāti Māori urges whānau and communities to speak out.
Improving the resilience of state highways in the top of the South Island continues, with State Highway 63 at Howard Narrows near St Arnaud the next in line for improvements.
Improving the resilience of state highways in the top of the South Island continues, with State Highway 63 at Howard Narrows near St Arnaud the next in line for improvements.
Contractors will be on-site on the St Arnaud-Kawatiri Highway, from Monday 19 May until Friday 27 June to complete rock scaling and rock bolting.
Rock scaling site SH63 Howard Narrows.
Work will be underway on weekdays only between 7:30am and 5pm. No work will be done on weekends
Rob Service, System Manager Nelson/Tasman says contractors will be working on the top rock face about 30 metres above the highway, a section that hasn’t been strengthened before.
“Our team will use a 60-tonne crane with a cradle to provide abseilers access to the top of the rock face but due to the geography the loose rock and debris must be removed manually.”
“Approximately 120 rock bolts will be drilled to stabilise the face before mesh rock-protection is installed,’ Mr Service says.
He says that, as the location’s name suggests, this section of State Highway 63 is incredibly narrow, which makes the work extremely challenging.
“To ensure the safety of road users and our crew we must close the road while this work is completed.”
“Rock falls can pose a serious risk to road users and sometimes result in lengthy road closures. Reducing this risk is a priority.”
Mr Service says improving State Highway 63’s resilience is critical.
“We have seen from past severe weather events how crucial it has been in providing an alternative route when State Highway 6 has been closed between Nelson and Blenheim.”
“It is critical we continue to invest in the highway to improve the resilience and reliability of the regional state highway network,” Mr Service says.
Because rock scaling can only be done safely during the day, the work requires daytime road closures. Measures will be in place to reduce delays and disruptions for drivers, with regular openings planned to let queued traffic through the work site. They will be scheduled for 10 am, 12 noon, and 3 pm, for 20 minutes.
While the project is underway, Mr Service says road users will have to detour via State Highway 63 St Arnaud-Kawatiri Highway, Korere-Tophouse Road and State Highway 6 Kohatu-Kawatiri Highway.
“This is a significant detour and will require extra travel time. However, it is unavoidable as it is not safe to have traffic driving through the project site when rocks are being removed from the cliff face. We have to keep drivers safe from the risk of rockfalls.”
“Please bear with us. We know there will be disruptions and delays while the work is completed. But investing in these improvements now helps prevent bigger hassles in the future,” Mr Service says.
NZTA/Waka Kotahi is working with the freight industry, the local community to ensure those affected by this work can make arrangements in advance.
Works schedule
Monday 19 May, to Friday 27 June, 7:30am – 5pm (weekdays only) full road closure of State Highway 63 between Howard Valley Road and Kawatiri Junction.
During this time the road will reopen for 20 minutes at 10am, 12noon and 3pm to let queued traffic through. These times will be dependent on the weather and safe passage through site.
The road will operate under stop/go traffic lights and a reduced temporary speed limit outside of work hours.
During work hours the detour route for all vehicles will be via State Highway 63 St Arnaud-Kawatiri Highway, Korere-Tophouse Road and State Highway 6 Kohatu-Kawatiri Highway.
Allow an extra 30 minutes travel time when travelling on the detour route.
Emergency services will be accommodated through the closure.
This work is funded by the Crown Resilience Programme – a $419 million investment package of resilience improvement activities that will reduce the impact of severe weather events on our national roading networks. The total crown resilience programme comprises $279 million for activities on State Highways, and $140 million for activities on Local Roads – Crown Resilience Programme (CRP)(external link)
Other resilience works recently completed in the top of the South Island include rock scaling work on State Highway 65 at Higgins Bluff and flood prevention works on State Highway 1 at Dashwood in Marlborough, State Highway 6 at Dellows Bluff and State Highway 63 near the Wash Bridge in the Wairau Valley. Stage Two of the resilience work on State Highway 6 Whangamoa Saddle is also planned to begin in May.
Headline: Dynabook Launches Ultra-Light Portégé Z40L-N Copilot+PC with Self-Replaceable Battery
Dynabook ANZ launches the ultra-light Portégé Z40L-N, a 14” AI-powered business laptop featuring Intel® Core™ Ultra processors, Microsoft Copilot+ tools, robust security, and a self-replaceable battery—designed for mobile professionals needing performance, security, and portability.
Canterbury Police, New Zealand Customs and Police’s National Organised Crime Group (NOCG) have made a significant dent in the supply of drugs into Christchurch, with the seizure of more than 25kg of cocaine.
On 29 March, Police and Customs received information about a significant importation of cocaine that had come through Lyttelton Port.
More than 25kg of the Class A Controlled Drug was seized, with a street value in excess of NZ$9 million.
Search warrants have since been executed across New Zealand, utilising specialist teams to support investigators with evidence gathering.
The investigation has been ongoing over the past six weeks and has led to the arrest of four men, aged 30-36, from Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga and Auckland.
They will face multiple charges, including possession of cocaine for supply and burglary, and will appear in various district courts across a range of dates.
Detective Senior Sergeant Phil Sparks says this seizure equates to more than 250,000 doses of cocaine and $9 million of harm prevention.
“That is an enormous amount of damage and misery that had been heading into our communities that has now been halted through this investigation.
“Police and Customs continue to be committed to targeting those offenders causing the most harm, and are always looking for opportunities to disrupt the supply chain from organised criminal groups targeting New Zealanders.
“Part of the investigation’s success was also due to the target hardening of Customs Controlled Areas in Christchurch and the excellent partnership between Customs and Police.
“We continue to have a focus on engaging with businesses and supporting their legitimate services by keeping them safe with prevention advice to deter drug trafficking organisations’ attempts to exploit their people and premises.”
Customs Acting Investigations Manager Rachael Manning says this investigation was the result of quick action and close collaboration between Police and Customs as well as industry partners who are committed to working alongside law enforcement to help stop organised criminal groups from operating in our regions and ports.
“We know that transnational and serious organised crime groups are actively targeting New Zealand to drive up both demand and supply of illegal drugs such as cocaine for maximum profit. They’re using every method possible to exploit any vulnerabilities within international supply chains, whether that’s at seaports, in secure areas or on vessels themselves.
“This result highlights that we are determined to find them, and we will not let legitimate businesses falling victim to these criminals’ methods. Everyone has a role they can play in protecting our country and communities from harm. Customs urges our industry stakeholders and public to remain vigilant at all times. You can raise any suspicions about possible smuggling behaviour by calling 0800 WE PROTECT (0800 937 768) in confidence, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111,” Ms Manning says.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Pati Gagau as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to Kiribati.
“Our diplomats play a critical role in advancing New Zealand’s interests overseas,” Mr Peters says.
“Nowhere is this truer than in the Pacific, where we strive to work with our Pacific partners to forge a more secure, more prosperous and more resilient future for our region.”
Mr Gagau has held a number of senior roles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, managing development programmes and working across many of New Zealand’s important bilateral relationships in the Pacific.
Mr Gagau has previously served as New Zealand’s Deputy Head of Mission in Samoa.
Responding to proposed legislation to ban under-16s from social media, ACT Leader David Seymour says:
“ACT shares the concern of many parents, teachers and experts: social media is doing enormous harm to young people. We also know what H.L. Menken meant in saying: For every problem there is a solution that is simple, neat—and wrong.
“ACT opposes National’s bill banning under-16s from social media because it is not workable. Instead, we ask the Education and Workforce Committee to hold an open, transparent inquiry. The inquiry should hear all voices to find a workable solution that respects parental responsibility.
“ACT is concerned about the practicalities of a ban. For example, requiring all social media users to provide government identification to social media companies would raise privacy issues.
“The Bill’s definition of ‘social media’ more or less includes the entire internet, for example the Bill says social media could be anything that ‘allow[s] end-users to link to, or interact with, some or all of the other end users.’ Such a poorly drafted definition is unworkable.
“Similar legislation has been passed in Australia, but hasn’t come into effect yet, and no-one yet knows how the ban will be implemented. We would be better to learn from the Aussies’ mistakes than make the same mistakes at the same time as them.”
David Seymour’s speech to the Tauranga Business Chamber has been widely praised. More would get done if the Government had fewer Ministers. Parliament comes out of a three-week recess into three weeks of sitting that will culminate in the Budget on May 22nd. For years ACT published Alternative Budgets showing how the Government could afford two per cent of GDP on Defence. Now two per cent is happening and the weekend’s helicopter announcement is just the beginning. Meanwhile a journalist wrongly accused Free Press of ‘misinformation’ while trying to defend media standards. We are not making this up.
Once were (AI) sceptics
The future’s always been a bit disappointing when we get to it, like for those of us who are STILL waiting for flying cars. (Nerdy) children of the ‘90s grew up watching Beyond 2000, a weekly program devoted to the technologies that would change our lives in the next millennium if we survived Y2K. The same program wouldn’t work today, people would roll their eyes at the earnestness of it all.
At Free Press, we’ve kept off the Artificial Intelligence bandwagon, maybe because we’ve lived long enough to be a little sceptical. We never lost hundreds of thousands of lives to COVID, and neither did countries with far more relaxed policies towards it. Climate change was supposed to bring apocalypse by 2010, and 2020 was too scary to think about, according to the usual suspects. Yet, here we all are.
Most of the people who go on endlessly about AI couldn’t even give you a short, sharp definition of what it is. They can’t explain why it is more than just another software development. The eighties gave us spreadsheets, the nineties email, and the noughties social networks. All of them had an effect, but they haven’t transformed life as we know it.
What’s more, it was kind of a toy, as recently as a year ago, the hype of ChatGPT had come and gone. People found it too often ‘hallucinated’ firing out such crazy solutions that you definitely wouldn’t use it for anything important. So, what’s changed?
In the last year the progress has been staggering, and it’s the rate of change itself that stands out. By now MPs could ask Chat GPT, Perplexity, or Grok for advice, on say, a briefing to a select committee from officials. It could produce a set of policy proposals according to different levels of political ambition while the officials are still speaking. The level of intelligence and nuance is extraordinary, and the rate of change more so.
For business, the opportunities are extraordinary. We don’t pretend to give businesspeople advice, too many people in the political world think they’re business experts. What we do know is that tasks such as interacting with customers can have massive labour savings. An online doctor consultation can be summarised with perfect notes produced before the patient is out the clinic door. It’s all very exciting.
What about education? Twelve-year-olds are saying their main source of information is ChatGPT or Perplexity. If they want to know something they don’t Google it, they don’t watch the news and they certainly don’t get a book from the library. They ask an AI program and talk to it like a virtual friend.
That sets off a lot of questions. Where is the ability to think for themselves? If they can get an answer to any question in seconds, do they need to know anything? If AI can solve all their problems, what space remains for humans? Is it schools’ jobs to prepare them to live in this world, and are schools remotely equipped to do so?
Where do the blunt bans on mobile phones and social media for young people fit in? Do they preserve a human sphere so kids can get to know themselves without dependence on machines, or do they leave kids even more naive and unprepared to live in that world?
If that’s education, how about the public service? They’ve always been slow to take on technology. They’re sclerotic thanks to fear of privacy laws. Yet at the same time the public sector has been eating money for too long and badly needs productivity growth.
We once were sceptics, but the last year of progress has changed our mind. AI is big. It’s at least as big as spreadsheets, emails, and online social networks. With the Chinese Government reported to be making AI a compulsory subject for six-year-olds this year, New Zealand policy will need to raise its sights from its usual debates and ask what our philosophy on AI is…
A leading Cook Islands environmental lobby group is hoping that the Cook Islands government will speak out against the recent executive order from US President Donald Trump aimed at fast-tracking seabed mining.
Te Ipukarea Society (TIS) says the arrogance of US president Trump to think that he could break international law by authorising deep seabed mining in international waters was “astounding”, and an action of a “bully”.
The order states: “It is the policy of the US to advance United States leadership in seabed mineral development.”
NOAA has been directed to, within 60 days, “expedite the process for reviewing and issuing seabed mineral exploration licenses and commercial recovery permits in areas beyond national jurisdiction under the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act.”
It directs the US science and environmental agency to expedite permits for companies to mine the ocean floor in the US and international waters.
In addition, a Canadian mining company — The Metals Company — has indicated that they have applied for a permit from Trump’s administration to start commercially mining in international waters.
The mining company had been unsuccessful in gaining a commercial mining licence through the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
‘Arrogance of Trump’ Te Ipukarea Society’s technical director Kelvin Passfield told Cook Islands News: “The arrogance of Donald Trump to think that he can break international law by authorising deep seabed mining in international waters is astounding.
“The United States cannot pick and choose which aspects of the United Nations Law of the Sea it will follow, and which ones it will ignore. This is the action of a bully,” he said.
“It is reckless and completely dismissive of the international rule of law. At the moment we have 169 countries, plus the European Union, all recognising international law under the International Seabed Authority.
“For one country to start making new international rules for themselves is a dangerous notion, especially if it leads to other States thinking they too can also breach international law with no consequences,” he said.
TIS president June Hosking said the fact that a part of the Pacific (CCZ) was carved up and shared between nations all over the world was yet another example of “blatantly disregarding or overriding indigenous rights”.
“I can understand why something had to be done to protect the high seas from rogues having a ‘free for all’, but it should have been Pacific indigenous and first nations groups, within and bordering the Pacific, who decided what happened to the high seas.
“That’s the first nations groups, not for example, the USA as it is today.”
South American countries worried Hosking highlighted that at the March International Seabed Authority (ISA) assembly she attended it was obvious that South American countries were worried.
“Many have called for a moratorium. Portugal rightly pointed out that we were all there, at great cost, just for a commercial activity. The delegate said, ‘We must ask ourselves how does this really benefit all of humankind?’
Looking at The Metals Company’s interests to commercially mine in international waters, Hosking said, “I couldn’t help being annoyed that all this talk assumes mining will happen.
“ISA was formed at a time when things were assumed about the deep sea e.g. it’s just a desert down there, nothing was known for sure, we didn’t speak of climate crisis, waste crisis and other crises now evident.
“The ISA mandate is ‘to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment from the harmful effects that may arise from deep seabed related activities.
“We know much more (but still not enough) to consider that effective protection of the marine environment may require it to be declared a ‘no go zone’, to be left untouched for the good of humankind,” she added.
Meanwhile, technical director Passfield also added, “The audacity of The Metals Company (TMC) to think they can flaunt international law in order to get an illegal mining licence from the United States to start seabed mining in international waters is a sad reflection of the morality of Gerard Barron and others in charge of TMC.
‘What stops other countries?’ “If the USA is allowed to authorise mining in international waters under a domestic US law, what is stopping any other country in the world from enacting legislation and doing the same?”
He said that while the Metals Company may be frustrated at the amount of time that the International Seabed Authority is taking to finalise mining rules for deep seabed mining, “we are sure they fully understand that this is for good reason. The potentially disastrous impacts of mining our deep ocean seabed need to be better understood, and this takes time.”
He said that technology and infrastructure to mine is not in place yet.
“We need to take as much time as we need to ensure that if mining proceeds, it does not cause serious damage to our ocean. Their attempts to rush the process are selfish, greedy, and driven purely by a desire to profit at any cost to the environment.
“We hope that the Cook Islands Government speaks out against this abuse of international law by the United States.” Cook Islands News has reached out to the Office of the Prime Minister and Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) for comment.
Republished from the Cook Islands News with permission.
Hon Chris Bishop, Leader of the House, made a statement about the business of the House for the sitting week commencing on Tuesday, 6 May 2025.
Government motion
A motion acknowledging Claire Trevett’s service in the Press Gallery was agreed to.
Introduction of bills
The following bills were introduced:
Oral questions
Twelve questions to Ministers were answered.
Government Business
The second reading of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill was not agreed to.
The Medicines Amendment Bill was read a first time and referred to the Health Committee to be reported by 4 months and 1 day after the bill received its first reading.
The United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill was read a first time and referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.
The report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, International treaty examination of the NZ – UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and Agreement between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on the Promotion and Protection of Investments, was noted.
The debate on the first reading of the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No 2) was interrupted with 10 speeches remaining.
Attributable to Inspector Nick Thom, Wairarapa Area Commander,
A 25-year-old man is before the courts following an incident in Masterton.
On Monday 5 May, Police were called to Lincoln Road about 12.40pm, after a report of a firearm having been discharged at another person in a Ministry of Social Development office.
There were no reports of injuries in relation to the incident.
Following Police’s initial enquiries, one person was taken into custody a short time later nearby.
A 25-year-old man appeared in Masterton District Court today, charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and conducting a dangerous act with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Police would like to commend to Ministry of Social Development staff for their prompt actions in following their lockdown procedures, as this enabled Police to provide a swift response to resolve this incident quickly.
Masterton Police would like to thank the community for their understanding and patience while cordons were in place around the Lincoln Road area.
We believe this is an isolated incident and there is no further risk to the public.
Police continue to make enquiries and would like to hear from anyone who may have information relating to the incident.
If you have information that could assist Police in our enquiries, please contact us online at 105.police.govt.nz, clicking “Update Report” or call 105.
Entities and individuals that thrived under the previous government with public relations contracts now want to be part of the media or run media organisations, says Fiji Media Association (FMA) secretary Stanley Simpson.
He made the comments yesterday while speaking at a World Press Freedom Day event hosted by the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific.
“We were attacked by fake accounts and a government-funded propaganda machine,” he said.
“It is ironic that those who once spinned and attacked the media as irrelevant — because they said no one reads or watches them anymore — now want to be part of the media or run media organisations.”
“There are entities and individuals that thrived under the previous government with PR contracts while the media struggled and now want to come and join the hard-fought new media landscape.”
Simpson said the Fijian media fraternity would welcome credible news services.
“We have to be wary and careful of entities that pop up overnight and their real agendas.”
“Particularly those previously involved with political propaganda.
“And we are noticing a number of these sites seemingly working with political parties and players in pushing agendas and attacking the media and political opponents.”
Source: E-Commerce arrangement with China to boost Digital Exports
MEDIA RELEASE – 6 May 2025
Family First welcomes the introduction of a Social Media Age-Appropriate Users Bill by Catherine Webb, the National MP for Tukituki, which makes it a legal requirement for social media companies to verify users are sixteen years or older.
However, with the supposed backing of the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and the National Party, Family First is asking why this Bill is being left to the luck of the members bills’ ballot and not made a government Bill?
“If as Ms Webb and Mr Luxon say in their introductory comments that this is intended to protect young people from bullying, inappropriate content and social media addiction, then why is it not a government priority which would actually see the idea made into law, or at the very least have a parliamentary & public discussion via a Select Committee process?” asks Bob McCoskrie, CEO of Family First.
Family First has long advocated for better regulation of social media and support for parents so as to protect young people.
“First and foremost, there needs to be a community response where parents unite to ensure their young children are not exposed to social media, but there is also room for government support to empower parents,” says Mr McCoskrie.
Dr Jonathan Haidt – author of “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness” – notes in his acclaimed research that there is a clear correlation between the introduction of smart phones and a significant decline in young people’s mental health. (Dr Haidt was a guest at last year’s Forum on the Family and he called on New Zealand and other countries to do more to protect young people from the harms online.)
In Australia, a Guardian newspaper poll last year found that almost 70% wanted age limit raised from 13 years to 16 years when it came to social media. Of this, 44% strongly supported the idea and 24% were somewhat supporting it. Only 14% opposed the notion and 17% were unsure.
In the US State of Virginia, legislation has just passed ensuring social media companies limit under sixteen year olds to a maximum of one hour of scrolling a day.
Family First thanks Catherine Wedd for drafting the Bill but once again calls on all the coalition parties in the Government (ACT and NZ First) to adopt the bill as a Government bill and ultimately walk the talk when it comes to protecting children online.
“This important discussion needs to be a priority for the Government and not left in a biscuit tin.”
This Government is taking the women’s movement backwards, ensuring women will continue to be paid less into the future.
“Instead of continuing the good work of successive governments to close the well-documented gender pay gap in our country, the Government is making it harder for women to get ahead,” Labour workplace relations and safety spokesperson Jan Tinetti said.
“Women have historically been paid less, currently it’s at around 92 cents to every dollar a man earns.
“Government absolutely has a role to play to reduce the gender pay gap over time, and yet this one is about to push through legislation under urgency to stop women from making pay equity claims when they are paid less than their male colleagues doing a similar job.
“Not content with trashing workers’ rights, Brooke Van Velden is now going after women on Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis’ behalf.
“She thinks teachers don’t have the right to feel angry with the government, but 94,000 teachers who have equal pay claims would disagree. “This is a Government that is choosing to ignite a debate around women’s bathrooms, while destroying a women’s right to be paid the same as men. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so gross and backwards in my life.
“Funny how they can find money for tax cuts for landlords and the tobacco lobby but not for women.
“If this is how Nicola Willis is planning to pay for her Budget then I suspect many people are going to let her know pretty quickly that she’s made the wrong decision,” Jan Tinetti said.
Source: It’s time to fix the secondary teacher shortage
The Green Party has called out the Government’s latest attack on workers with the announcement that it is halting all pay equity claims.
“Women deserve fair pay. This move to undo years of pay equity progress is a monumental step backwards from the Government,” says the Green Party’s spokesperson for Women, Kahurangi Carter.
“Workers should be valued and treated as equals regardless of their gender, ethnicity or age. We can and must ensure that women are paid fairly, are treated with respect and are safe – things this Government is actively undermining.
“The gender pay gap is one of the glaring shortfalls of our workforce. Employees and unions have been working towards pay equity for a long time. The Government is undoing this progress – women, and particularly Māori and Pacific women, will be the worst affected.
“Make no mistake: this is a cost-cutting measure to fund tax cuts for the rich, a bill our communities will have to pick up. Rather than paying women what they deserve, this Government is shifting these costs onto our communities.
“We know that reducing the gender pay gap and the gap other minorities face requires a concerted effort. Pay equity settlements had begun to deliver positive outcomes for some groups, but there is much work to do.
“We can afford to pay people what they deserve. We can do this by making the super rich pay their fair share and choosing our communities over corporate greed,” says Kahurangi Carter.
The Speaker advised the House that he had received a letter from Hon David Parker resigning his seat in the House with effect from 4pm on Monday, 12 May 2025.
Government motion
A motion acknowledging the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis is being debated.
A homicide investigation has been launched following the death of a man in Manurewa this morning.
Emergency services were called to a Mahia Road property just before 10am following a report of a person seriously injured.
Detective Inspector Shaun Vickers, Counties Manukau CIB, says upon arrival, a man was located in a critical condition but despite the best efforts from emergency services, he died at the scene.
“Police are continuing to gather information from the scene and there will be an increased Police presence in the area.
“A scene examination will continue throughout today as we work to understand the exact circumstances surrounding this tragic incident and who was involved.”
Detective Inspector Vickers says Police are working hard to identify and locate the person or persons responsible.
“Police would ask anyone who saw what happened, who has not yet spoken to us, to please get in touch.”
If you have any information that could assist the investigation, please make a report via 105, using the file number 250506/4011 and quote ‘Operation Gully’.
Alternatively, information can be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111 or www.crimestoppers-nz.org
Further information will be provided when we are in a position to do so.
6 May 2025 – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has published the results from the 2024 General Insurance Industry Stress Test. The exercise assessed insurers’ responses to a major earthquake and severe but plausible cyber-risk incidents.
The seismic scenario was based on a magnitude 8.7 earthquake along the Hikurangi Subduction Zone off the east coast of the North Island. The scenario was designed to simulate an event well beyond our solvency requirements to enable testing of insurers’ preparedness and recovery plans. This scenario would result in widespread damage and a sharp decline in GDP. Participating insurers modelled property losses of $62 billion, which rose to around $100bn if extrapolated out to cover the whole market.
“Despite the severity of the scenario, policyholder claims would have been met,” said Kerry Watt, Director of Financial Stability Assessment and Strategy. “This is a sign of the resilience that’s been built into the system since the Canterbury earthquakes, including strengthening of solvency requirements, increased coverage by the Natural Hazards Commission and improved loss estimation modelling.”
The severity of the test did mean substantial mitigating actions were required to return insurers to required solvency positions. Capital injections from their parent companies and ongoing availability of reinsurance were identified as critical to enabling insurers to continue to offer cover following such an event. The exercise provided valuable insights to feed into our review of solvency standards and our recovery planning.
The stress test noted the significant impacts beyond the insurance industry. This includes costs to the Crown through funding of the Natural Hazards Commission and meeting recovery costs for damage to uninsured assets and any economic support programmes. This highlights the importance of the government maintaining sufficient fiscal buffers to manage such shocks.
“The exercise was challenging and required a significant collaborative effort across industry and government. Ultimately, the scenario highlights the importance of all stakeholders, individually and collectively, understanding the risks and preparing for these types of severe events,” said Mr Watt.
The stress test also included a number of cyber scenarios, including a major data breach, a critical cloud services outage, and a ransomware attack. Insurers demonstrated resilience to claims arising from large cyber events, though these could have a significant impact on profitability.
“Cyber risks are growing and evolving quickly. This exercise helped insurers identify where they are most exposed, and where more work is needed to understand and model these risks. We encourage the industry to build on these insights to improve resilience in this rapidly changing space,” Mr Watt said.
The Reserve Bank will continue to work closely with insurers and relevant government agencies to support New Zealand’s preparedness for seismic and cyber risks.
What is a Stress Test? – Stress Tests are a critical tool we use to assess potential vulnerabilities, support risk management, and inform policy and supervisory decisions. The May Financial Stability Report (FSR) will be released on Wednesday 7 May 2025 at 9:00am. There will be a media conference on the same day at 1:00pm. The Reserve Bank worked closely with the Treasury, the Natural Hazards Commission, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the National Emergency Management Agency when producing this Bulletin.
BusinessNZ supports amending the pay equity process to make it more transparent, evidence-based, and more able to achieve robust settlements.
BusinessNZ Chief Executive Katherine Rich says the current process is bringing large anomalies between the public and private sectors, in effect leading to new equity problems – between those employed in the public sector and those in the private sector.
“Increases in public health sector remuneration have created difficulties in the private sector where they can’t afford those pay rates. Where those private sector employers receive government funding for some services, it is not enough to cover the contracted services they provide. As a result, they are losing staff, suffering from industrial action and face problems in delivering their contracted work.
“These outcomes indicate that the pay equity process needs attention.
“Current problems include unclear evidence for some pay equity claims, a lack of transparency around choice of comparators for the pay equity process, and insufficient incentives for the bargaining parties to resolve pay equity claims themselves, without recourse to the government.
“BusinessNZ supports a review of the settings for pay equity claims, in the interests of fairness and a more balanced economy,” Mrs Rich said.
The BusinessNZ Network including BusinessNZ, EMA, Business Central, Business Canterbury and Business South, represents and provides services to thousands of businesses, small and large, throughout New Zealand.
Workers First Union has described today’s announcement that the Government will attempt to shut down existing pay equity claims and make it harder to file new ones as a “national embarrassment” that will worsen inequality in New Zealand and continue the flood of experienced professionals in historically female-dominated professions to countries overseas.
Sheryl Cadman, Workers First Central Region Secretary, said that the plan announced today by Minister Brooke Van Velden reneges on decades of bipartisan work on pay equity because the current Government cannot manage the economy ahead of Budget 2025/26.
“Minister Van Velden has decided to make tens of thousands of women pay for her Government’s next austerity budget,” said Ms Cadman.
“As a policy decision, it achieves the ambitious trifecta of worsening the long-term health of our economy, exacerbating worker shortages in health, education and other historically female-dominated industries, and embedding unfairness throughout our society.”
Ms Cadman said pay equity claims like Workers First’s case on behalf of veterinary nurses across the private sector could be jeopardised by the Government’s “fast-tracked” changes to the system that deals with pay equity claims.
“We’ll regroup and assess our options, but the problems do not go away just because the legislative pathway for change has been willingly broken by the Government,” said Ms Cadman.
“Entire industries rely on the pay equity claim process to have an expert court consider their historical underpayment and make recommendations for redress – not an ignorant Minister whose main experience of female workers is as people who bring her things.”
“Using parliamentary urgency to force a law change like this that demands careful scrutiny is especially foolish, short-sighted and authoritarian.”
Ms Cadman said she reserved particular disdain for Minister Brooke van Velden.
“Minister Van Velden is a politician who’s incapable of listening and barely capable of thinking clearly about the present moment, let alone considering the decades of unfairness in the past that has made pay equity a priority for anyone who wants to make New Zealand a better place to live.”
“The union movement has dealt with worse and we will fight this again.”
