Three left-wing councillors typically viewed as part of Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau's council majority have said she can no longer rely on their unconditional support; an apparently crumbling of her support. But NZ Herald Wellington Issues reporter Georgina Campbell thinks this could be the making of Whanau as a mayor, now that she has to reach across political alliances to other councillors to pass her initiatives. She joined Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills to talk through the issue and a rise in Covid cases in the Wellington region. LISTEN ABOVE

June 19, 2024 12:49 UTC

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:30 pm, June 19th, 2024 - 10 commentsCategories: Daily review - Tags:Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …Share this: FacebookLinkedInRedditPinterestMastodonTwitterPrintEmail

June 19, 2024 10:37 UTC

It is typical of the conditions we see in general practice…could be this, could be that The issues raised offhandedly by the departing patient wi

June 19, 2024 10:13 UTC

Residential rents remained largely flat in April, with the national median rent barely moving since late last year. According to the latest bond data from Tenancy Services, the national median rent was $600 a week in April and has been unchanged at that level since December last year, apart from January when it crept up to $608 a week before dropping back to $600 in February. However, compared to April last year the national median rent was up by $25 a week (4.4%). Around the country the change in median rent over the 12 months to April ranged from zero in Nelson to $90 a week (16.4%) in Gisborne, which now has the second highest median rent in the country after Auckland. A similar trend is evident with rents in Hawke's Bay - refer to the table below for the full regional figures.

June 19, 2024 09:39 UTC

Emergency services were called to reports of a "sudden death" in Rānui at about 7.50am on Tuesday. Photo: StuffThe mother of the baby is Auckland woman Ayla Stanley-Hunt. Stuff can reveal Stanley-Hunt lost a baby at four months in April 2022 while living at the same address. "The Coroner also noted that methamphetamine could not be excluded as a factor in Tiana's death, either as an independent physiological effect or by exacerbating Tiana's vulnerability to death from unsafe sleeping practices." When police arrived after Tiana's death they also found the bassinet full of other household items.

June 19, 2024 07:04 UTC

Press Release – New Zealand Nurses OrganisationNew Zealand Nurses Organisation Tptanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) is extremely disappointed by Health New Zealand Te Whatu Oras decision not to match graduates into their nursing workforce. As part of its ongoing “cost-containment” cuts, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora is freezing the employment of graduate nurses into the hospital system. “Te Whatu Ora previously committed to the permanent employment of new graduates through the Safe Staffing Care Capacity Management Accord. “This move by Te Whatu Ora will reduce our current and future workforce and risks us losing these nurses to other countries. “We call upon the Government and Te Whatu Ora to reverse this short-sighted decision.

June 19, 2024 06:13 UTC

Despite the stress it caused those in the air and on the ground, bird strikes are not uncommon for pilots. "Bird encounters at altitude are rare, although, the highest ever recorded bird strike occurred over the West African coast when a jet collided with a bearded vulture at 37,000 feet!" The CAA said turbine-engine aeroplanes are more vulnerable to bird strikes than piston-engine aeroplanes because of the speed and lower noise level. Despite it being a scary experience for passengers, pilots are trained to handle bird strikes, wherever they collide. David Morgan, Air New Zealand's chief operational integrity and safety officer, said in a statement in 2023 that ''bird strikes are not uncommon''.

June 19, 2024 03:57 UTC

After 15 years of flying, a flight attendant is bound to pick up a few tips to pass on to passengers and those aspiring to follow in their footsteps. READ MORE: The scientific reason airplane food tastes so 'bad'Sofie Ayres is a jetstar flight attendant based in New Zealand. (Supplied)"I started as a flight attendant, and I quite quickly figured out I wanted to be running the cabin. Ayres, who was based out of Christchurch, was always sure to pack a spare pair of clothes in her carry-on bag. I take all my PPE that's required for work and snacks just in case you get a little bit peckish.

June 19, 2024 01:36 UTC

The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) is denying that New Zealand is experiencing 'stagflation' and expects domestic inflation to continue falling as "increasing spare capacity" occurs in the economy this year. Lower inflation expectations and a lower propensity for firms to make relatively large price increases will help lower inflation persistence," Conway said. "Second, we expect households and firms to increasingly build lower inflation expectations into their wage- and price-setting decisions. Because inflation expectations can become self-fulfilling, lower inflation expectations will help reduce inflation persistence." Conway said the RBNZ research had found that above-target inflation over recent years prompted people to pay more attention to recent inflation and to update their inflation expectations more frequently.

June 19, 2024 01:17 UTC

From Elvis Presley-inspired pens to alien-shaped pens — there's something for everyone in Margaret Lemm's vast collection. The 86-year-old woman from Gore told Breakfast she had spent more than 30 years collecting pens from New Zealand and overseas. She said the collection of around 38,000 was displayed in her garage, in alphabetical order and said many were unused. She said she had been "swapping and collecting pens" from Dunedin, Timaru, Oamaru all the way to Blenhiem and could not pick a favourite. I've also got television pens and Lotto pens."

June 18, 2024 22:29 UTC

Hayden Paddon (Credit: Tayler Burke)A full 20 years since the roads of Southland, New Zealand, hosted top-tier competition, this weekend’s 21-22 June Transport World Southern Lights Rally will be headed by defending European Rally Champion and seven-time New Zealand Rally Champion Hayden Paddon. Paddon is fresh from contesting the latest round of the European Rally Championship, finishing third overall at last weekend’s Royal Rally of Scandinavia (Sweden). Returning to Southland has special significance for Paddon, who, in 2003, started his first-ever New Zealand Rally Championship event at the age of 16. Since then, he has amassed a Production World Rally Championship title, the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, and the FIA European Rally Championship crowns, plus a total of seven New Zealand Rally Championship wins. The now 37-year-old is currently the only Kiwi to win a round of the World Rally Championship.

June 18, 2024 22:04 UTC

Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Benjamin KearA 246-million-year-old fossil discovered in Canterbury upends long-standing theories about Earth's natural history, researchers say. Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Johan_EgerkransGNS Science held onto the fossil after palaeontologist Dr Hamish Campbell discovered it in 1978, but it was not properly studied until this year. Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Benjamin Kear"We [now] know the age of this fossil, and it's a lot older than the oldest known similar fossil from the Southern Hemisphere," Dr Campbell said. Photo: Supplied / GNS Science / Stavros_KundromichalisNothosaurs were predecessors to plesiosaurs, massive swimming lizards with long necks and flippers. "It's a sauropterygian, so to translate that it means 'lizard flipper,' a marine reptile," Dr Campbell said.

June 18, 2024 19:49 UTC

A sports star accused of dishonestly taking a vehicle and intentional damage in an incident after Christchurch’s annual Cup Day last year has pleaded guilty to a single lesser charge of wilful damage. An interim suppression order prevents the Herald from reporting his name and any other details that may identify him. However, last week he entered a guilty plea to one charge of wilful damage. According to the police summary of facts, on Wednesday, November 15, last year – the day after Cup Day in Christchurch – the man was at a suburban address. “The defendant crashed the vehicle into the victim’s garage, causing substantial damage to the garage and the vehicle,” police said.

June 18, 2024 19:19 UTC

Sir Ian McKellen has been taken to hospital after falling during a theatre production. Photo / APSir Ian McKellen has been taken to hospital after falling during a theatre production. Photo / APSir Ian McKellen is in hospital after falling off the stage during a theatre performance in London. McKellen reportedly “cried out in pain” and theatre staff hurried to help him. McKellen was playing Falstaff in the production and thus wearing a fatsuit costume, which may have cushioned his fall.

June 18, 2024 17:05 UTC

Through most of the last 40 years, the dairy sector has been seen as the way to get rich, in stark contrast to the increasingly threatened red meat industry. The dairy industry was regarded as more fortunate than meat because during the 90s and the first part of the 21st century global demand for New Zealand’s dairy production grew strongly compared with our grassfed lamb and beef. Farmer-owned cooperatives were one structure favoured as an effective way of preventing overseas ownership of production facilities, although British companies Vesteys and Borthwicks controlled a substantial part of the North Island meat industry. This suggests the dairy industry’s latest rationalisation has started about 30 years later than the meat industry. The rest of the dairy industry concentrates on a narrow range of added value products, mainly directed towards food service, nutritional and consumer end uses.

June 18, 2024 13:31 UTC