Category Archives: New Zealand

‘Atrocious on every level’: sex case findings shame New Zealand’s senior police culture

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Inspector general will be inaugurated to oversee service after report on how top officers steered investigation of Jevon McSkimming, who went on to become deputy commissioner

New Zealand’s government will take the unprecedented move of appointing an inspector general of police after a damning report found “significant failings” in the way senior police officers handled serious sexual complaints against a former high-ranking officer.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a 135-page report on Tuesday detailing allegations made against the former deputy police commissioner Jevon McSkimming and the police’s response to them.

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Lee Tamahori, director of Once Were Warriors and James Bond movie Die Another Day, dies aged 75

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New Zealand film-maker became a Hollywood fixture in the 90s and 00s, including making Pierce Brosnan’s last 007 movie, before returning to his home country

Lee Tamahori, the New Zealand director of Once Were Warriors and Die Another Day, has died aged 75.

In a statement to Radio New Zealand, Tamahori’s family said he had Parkinson’s and died “peacefully at home”.

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Troubled New Zealand wildlife park euthanizes two lions, fate of five more unclear

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Members of the public have pleaded for a reprieve for the remaining lions, while former staff members hope the sanctuary will reconsider putting them down

A troubled New Zealand wildlife park says it has been forced to euthanise two of its elderly lions, with the fate of its remaining five lions unclear, after it ran into financial difficulties.

The privately owned Kamo Wildlife Sanctuary in the northern city of Whangārei closed its doors on the weekend.

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Backlash after New Zealand government scraps rules on incorporating Māori culture in classrooms

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Minister says obligations for school boards to ‘give effect’ to the treaty are unfair while critics argue the move will sideline Indigenous education

A plan by New Zealand’s government to scrap a legal requirement on schools to incorporate local Māori culture in classrooms has been condemned by teachers, principals and school boards.

Since 2020, school boards have been obligated to “give effect” to the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document signed in 1840 between Māori tribes and the British Crown and instrumental in upholding Māori rights.

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Surgeons remove up to 100 magnets from New Zealand teenager’s intestines

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Boy, 13, swallowed the high-power magnets after apparently buying them from the online retailer Temu

A 13-year-old boy in New Zealand swallowed up to 100 high-power magnets he bought online, forcing surgeons to remove tissue from his intestines, doctors said on Friday.

After suffering four days of abdominal pain, the unnamed teenager was taken to Tauranga hospital in the North Island. “He disclosed ingesting approximately 80 to 100 5x2mm high-power (neodymium) magnets about one week prior,” said a report by hospital doctors in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

This article’s byline was amended on 25 October 2025 to correct the news agency it was attributed to. An earlier version incorrectly attributed it to Associated Foreign Press; however the correct agency was Agence France-Presse.

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New Zealand ‘mega strike’: 100,000 public sector workers demand better conditions

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Teachers, nurses and public service staff among those walking off job and also pressing for more government investment in health and education

An estimated 100,000 nurses, teachers and public sector staff walked off the job in New Zealand on Thursday to call on the government to better fund and resource public services, in one of the country’s largest ever strikes.

The so-called “mega strike” brought together workers from multiple sectors, including more than 60,000 school teachers, 40,000 nurses and salaried medical specialists and 15,000 public service staff.

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‘A perfect coincidence’: rare red lightning captured in New Zealand skies

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Photographers capture extremely unusual phenomenon – also known as red sprites – against backdrop of the Milky Way

A trio of photographers in New Zealand have captured images of “red sprites”, or red lightning, one of the rarest light phenomena in the world, in which luminous crimson flashes appear in the sky.

New Zealand photographer Tom Rae and Spanish photographers Dan Zafra and José Cantabrana set out to shoot the Milky Way over the Ōmārama Clay cliffs in the South Island on 11 October, when they chanced upon the extraordinary event.

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Jim Bolger, former New Zealand prime minister who drove reconciliation with Māori, dies at 90

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Tributes flow from across political spectrum for man known for high ideals but also remembered for controversially slashing welfare and health spending

Former New Zealand prime minister Jim Bolger, whose political legacy was defined by his deep commitment to reconciliation with Māori as well as his brutal cuts to welfare and deregulation of the labour market, has died aged 90.

Bolger died peacefully surrounded by his wife, Joan, nine children and 18 grandchildren, his family said in a statement on Wednesday. Bolger suffered kidney failure last year and had been undergoing dialysis.

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Guaranteed Māori seats on New Zealand councils to be slashed by more than half

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Controversial law change that forced councils to put the fate of Māori wards to a public vote saw 25 vote to disestablish the guaranteed seats

The number of guaranteed seats for Māori representatives on New Zealand councils will be slashed by more than half, following a controversial law change that forced local governments to put the fate of hard-won Māori seats to a public vote.

Māori wards, which may have one or more councillors depending on local population numbers, were established in 2001 to give Indigenous voters the option to vote for a guaranteed Māori representative in local and regional authorities. Initially, councils could only establish a Māori ward by first putting it to a public vote in their area. Communities often spent years generating local support and pushing their councils to create Māori wards.

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New Zealand accused of ‘full-blown climate denial’ over cuts to methane reduction targets

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Farmers praised the move, but scientists and opposition parties criticised it as ‘weak’ and ‘unambitious’

Environmental campaigners have accused New Zealand’s government of “full-blown climate denial” after it slashed targets for reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

New Zealand’s right-leaning coalition government outlined plans on Sunday to reduce methane emissions by between 14 and 24% by 2050, compared to 2017 levels.

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‘Humanitarian’ visa must be created for Pacific Islanders displaced by climate crisis, experts say

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Calls for reform to allow people across the Pacific threatened by climate crisis to more easily migrate, particularly to New Zealand

Climate and migration experts are calling for urgent action to create legal pathways for people displaced by the climate crisis, as a new report highlights the scale of the problem across the Pacific.

Research by Amnesty International released on Thursday found current immigration systems are inadequate for Pacific Islanders seeking safety and stability, as rising seas threaten to make their homelands uninhabitable.

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New Zealand oceans warming 34% faster than global average, putting homes and industry at risk, report finds

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NZ$180bn worth of housing and $26bn of infrastructure at risk of flooding and storm damage, new government report finds

New Zealand’s oceans are warming 34% faster than the global average, with NZ$180bn (US$104bn) worth of housing at risk of flooding, a new report about the nation’s marine environment has revealed.

The ministry of the environment and Stats NZ’s three-yearly update, Our Environment 2025, collates statistics, data and research across five domains – air, atmosphere and climate, freshwater, land, and marine – to paint a picture of the state of New Zealand’s marine environment.

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New Zealand foreign minister Winston Peters’ home vandalised ‘during a protest’

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Man charged as police allege a window was smashed in a rare act of violence targeted at a New Zealand politician’s home

A man who allegedly used a crowbar to smash in a window at the home of New Zealand’s foreign minister “during a protest” has been charged, police confirmed on Tuesday.

Winston Peters posted to social media on Monday evening saying “a disgusting coward” had smashed a window in his Auckland home and left a sign on the door.

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Gaza flotilla passengers allege poor conditions in detention as Israel prepares to deport dozens of activists

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Families of some aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla say they are being held without access to clean water or legal representation

Activists from New Zealand detained in Israel after they were removed from vessels carrying aid to Gaza are being held in poor conditions without access to water and legal representation, their families have said, as dozens more passengers from the Global Sumud Flotilla were set to be deported.

Rana Hamida, Youssef Sammour and Samuel Leason were among 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers travelling aboard the flotilla, a coalition of more than 40 vessels carrying humanitarian aid whose goal was to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade of Gaza.

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Kash Patel allegedly gives New Zealand officials guns illegal to possess under local laws

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New Zealand destroyed pistols the FBI director gifted to security chiefs after finding the guns potentially operable

On a visit to New Zealand, Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told the Associated Press.

The plastic 3D-printed replica pistols formed part of display stands the FBI director presented to at least three senior New Zealand security officials in July. Patel, the most senior Trump administration official to visit the country so far, was in Wellington to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand.

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Threatened kārearea falcon wins New Zealand’s 2025 bird of the year

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The country’s fastest bird has taken out the top prize in a scandal-free year for the annual poll

New Zealand’s fastest bird, capable of flying 200km/h in its pursuit of prey, has been crowned bird of the year – a long-running annual competition that has previously been a lightning rod for scandal and hijinks.

The threatened kārearea is New Zealand’s only falcon. It is small and tawny, with impressive talons and large dark eyes. Kārearea are powerful aerial hunters and watch other birds, lizards or small mammals – sometimes larger than themselves – from a high vantage point before diving at high speed to snatch their prey.

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Threatened kārearea falcon wins New Zealand’s 2025 bird of the year

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The country’s fastest bird has taken out the top prize in a scandal-free year for the annual poll

New Zealand’s fastest bird, capable of flying 200km/h in its pursuit of prey, has been crowned bird of the year – a long-running annual competition that has previously been a lightning rod for scandal and hijinks.

The threatened kārearea is New Zealand’s only falcon. It is small and tawny, with impressive talons and large dark eyes. Kārearea are powerful aerial hunters and watch other birds, lizards or small mammals – sometimes larger than themselves – from a high vantage point before diving at high speed to snatch their prey.

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Wealthy investors from US, China and Hong Kong top applications for New Zealand’s ‘golden visa’ scheme

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Since new rules for the Active Investor Plus visa came into effect in April, applicant numbers have almost tripled

Wealthy investors from the US, China and Hong Kong are the leaders in applications for New Zealand’s “golden visas” after the government relaxed the scheme’s requirements in a bid to boost the flagging economy.

The new rules for the Active Investor Plus visa came into effect in April and lowered investment thresholds, removed English-language requirements and cut the amount of time applicants must spend in the country to establish residency from three years to three weeks.

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Mother in New Zealand’s ‘suitcase murders’ found guilty of killing her two children

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The bodies of Hakyung Lee’s children were discovered inside suitcases bought at a storage unit auction in Auckland in August 2022

A mother accused of murdering her children and hiding their bodies in suitcases, in a case that has become known as New Zealand’s “suitcase murders”, has been found guilty by an Auckland court.

The bodies of Yuna Jo and Minu Jo, aged eight and six at the time of their deaths, were discovered inside suitcases bought at a storage unit auction in Auckland in August 2022. Authorities believed they had been dead for three to four years by the time their bodies were found.

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New Zealand loosens residency restrictions as record number of citizens leave

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Minister for economic growth said visas for skilled and experienced migrants could help plug gaps in the workforce

New Zealand is making it easier for migrant workers to come and live in the country, in its latest attempt to bolster the workforce and economy.

Announcing two new residency pathways, the minister for economic growth, Nicola Willis, on Tuesday said skilled and experienced migrants could help plug gaps in the workforce.

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