Category Archives: New Zealand

Māori land rights leader calls on Jacinda Ardern to recognise Indigenous ‘crisis’

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Activist leading Ihumātao dispute calls on PM to visit site and act on Māori disadvantage

The leader of a major Indigenous land dispute in New Zealand has criticised Jacinda Ardern’s government for its lack of action on confronting systemic Māori disadvantage, and says the Māori nation is in “a state of emergency” and “crisis”.

Hundreds of activists camped out in tents and cars continue to occupy a sliver of land at Ihumātao in South Auckland – land they say is sacred to Māori, but which has been sold to a private developer and slated for private housing.

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‘Five Eyes’ nations discuss backdoor access to WhatsApp

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Countries focus on increasingly effective encryption of communications

British, American and other intelligence agencies from English-speaking countries have concluded a two-day meeting in London amid calls for spies and police officers to be given special, backdoor access to WhatsApp and other encrypted communications.

The meeting of the “Five Eyes” nations – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – was hosted by new home secretary, Priti Patel, in an effort to coordinate efforts to combat terrorism and child abuse.

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Henderson Island: the Pacific paradise groaning under 18 tonnes of plastic waste

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Rubbish has been washing up on its isolated beaches in the Pitcairn chain at a rate of several thousand bits of plastic a day

Henderson Island, uninhabited and a day’s sea crossing from the nearest sign of civilisation, should be an untouched paradise.

Instead its beaches, which were awarded Unesco world heritage status in 1988, are a monument to humanity’s destructive, disposable culture.

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South Korea: world championship athletes injured in fatal balcony collapse

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Two South Koreans killed and athletes from US, New Zealand, Netherlands, Italy and Brazil injured

Two South Koreans have died and several others, including athletes attending the world aquatic championships, have been injured after a structure collapsed in a nightclub in the city of Gwangju early on Saturday, a fire department official has said.

The deaths happened when a two-level structure in the club, which is next to the athletes’ village, collapsed at about 2am local time, hitting and pinning revellers, the official said.

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Jacinda Ardern accused by Māori of ‘lacking leadership’ in land dispute

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Row over plans to build 500 homes on sacred land in Auckland escalates with seven protesters arrested

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is being accused of a “lack of leadership” over an escalating land dispute between Māori and a construction company which plans to build 500 homes on sacred land in south Auckland.

Opposition to the project boiled over this week over when a group that had been illegally occupying the land was served an eviction notice.

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Jacinda Ardern prime minister of Australasia? If only it was that simple | Nicholas Reece

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New Zealand has a long history of outstanding policy innovation and political leadership. Australia could learn a lot from it

The good and the great of Melbourne packed in to the town hall on Thursday evening to hear the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, speak on the topic of why good government matters.

Since the tragic Christchurch mosque massacre, Ardern has come to be seen not just as one of the world’s youngest leaders of a nation, but also as one of the world’s great leaders.

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Dunedin rolls with it after losing world’s steepest street title

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Mayor of New Zealand city says a tweak to signage might be all that’s needed, while some living on Baldwin Street are relieved

The New Zealand city of Dunedin has sought to look on the bright side after losing its claim to have the world’s steepest street to a town in Wales, with its mayor saying: “The street certainly hasn’t got any less steep as a result of the decision.”

This week, Guinness World Records officially stripped Dunedin’s Baldwin Street of the title and instead awarded it to Harlech in Wales. Its street, Ffordd Pen Llech, has a gradient of 37.45% at its steepest point – 2.5% steeper than Baldwin Street.

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Street in Wales wins record for world’s steepest

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Ffordd Pen Llech in Harlech beats renowned Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand

A meandering street in north-west Wales that challenges the fittest of walkers and cyclists has been confirmed as the steepest in the world.

Ffordd Pen Llech in the historic town of Harlech – better known for its castle and rousing song, Men of Harlech – has been judged steeper than Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand.

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‘That was a bit of a shame, eh’: Kiwis endure understated agony of World Cup defeat

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New Zealand cricket fans suffered through the night as their team fell excruciatingly short of victory at Lord’s

They emerged tired and emotional in the predawn light. They shuffled from living room couches or from the New Zealand bars lucky enough to organise short-notice liquor licences. Then, they went back to their Monday mornings.

No teacher or manager in the whole country would be naive enough to believe them if they said they had come down with the flu. They would have to wear their decision to stay up all night and watch the most thrilling cricket World Cup final ever played.

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Jacinda Ardern’s neighbour reportedly admits to killing Paddles, first cat of New Zealand

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Man going by the name of Chris says he wrote condolence card for Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford

The man who killed New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s cat has reportedly broken his silence, a year after he ran over the first cat of New Zealand.

Shortly after Ardern became the prime minister-elect in October 2017, her polydactyl cat named Paddles shot to fame, and even had her own Twitter account.

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All Blacks coach criticised for saying domestic violence ‘not a gender thing’

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Steve Hansen made the comments after naming Sevu Reece, who admitted to assaulting his partner, to the side

The All Blacks head coach has been called out for saying that domestic violence is not a gendered issue after he named a player who pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner in his side.

Steve Hansen, a former police constable, made the comments after putting Canterbury Crusaders winger Sevu Reece in the latest All Blacks’ squad.

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Google accused of ‘flipping the bird’ at New Zealand laws after Grace Millane murder

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Justice minister Andrew Little says tech giant’s contempt for murdered backpacker’s family is unacceptable

Tech giant Google is “flipping the bird” at New Zealand laws by refusing to change any company policy after it broke suppression orders related to the murder case of British backpacker Grace Millane.

Last December, a 27-year-old Auckland man appeared in the city’s high court charged with murdering Millane. His name was suppressed but it appeared in Google’s “what’s trending in New Zealand” email that went out to thousands of subscribers.

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Austrian far-right leader searched on suspicion of forming terrorist group with Christchurch shooter

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Investigation widens to include Martin Sellner’s fiancee Brittany Pettibone following her contact with Australian far-right figure Blair Cottrell

The Austrian identitarian leader, Martin Sellner, has been subjected to further searches by Austrian police in connection with the Christchurch shooter, according to Austrian media reports and videos on Sellner’s own YouTube channel.

The investigation has also reportedly widened to include Sellner’s US-based fiancee, Brittany Pettibone, and her own alleged connections with Australian far-right figure Blair Cottrell.

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The Pacific is in danger of becoming a semi-narco region

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Caught in the middle of a drug trafficking route, island countries are in danger of falling under the control of drug cartels

Four years ago I stood in front of a top level security conference and warned that we have just a few years to get on top of the problem of drugs being trafficked through the Pacific region or it could turn into a semi-narco region, controlled by criminal syndicates.

In the four years since I gave that speech, things have gotten worse.

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Pacific nations are ‘victims’ of Australian and New Zealand appetite for drugs, experts say

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Australia urged to take action to stop cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking from Latin America through Pacific region

Australia and New Zealand have been urged to do more to fight the drug trade across the Pacific and take responsibility for the fact that the demand for drugs in cities such as Sydney and Auckland was having devastating effects on small Pacific nations.

Drug traffickers transport cocaine and methamphetamines through Pacific nations from the US and Latin America to Australia and New Zealand, where drug users pay the highest price per gram (about A$300 or £180) for cocaine and have the highest cocaine use per capita in the world.

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Wine and chauffeurs: ANZ under pressure after NZ boss’s $400,000 in expenses revealed

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Questions over how chief executive David Hisco was allowed to run up large expense accounts and over wife’s purchase of a bank property

Pressure is mounting on the ANZ bank board after New Zealand’s central bank ordered two independent reviews into the company’s conduct following the departure of its NZ chief executive who ran up expense accounts averaging more than $400,000 a year.

The bank’s chairman, former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key, last week announced the departure of David Hisco, who is an Australian, after the company learned of his spending for “non-monetary benefits” including a personal chauffeur service and wine cellaring.

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The new drug highway: Pacific islands at centre of cocaine trafficking boom

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Explosion in number of boats carrying cocaine and meth from Latin America to Australia is causing havoc for islands on the way

• Cocaine used as washing powder: police struggle with Pacific drug influx

It is the drug route you’ve never heard of: a multibillion-dollar operation involving cocaine and methamphetamines being packed into the hulls of sailing boats in the US and Latin America and transported to Australia via South Pacific islands more often thought of as holiday destinations than narcotics hubs.

In the past five years there has been an explosion in the number of boats, sometimes carrying more than a tonne of cocaine, making the journey across the Pacific Ocean to feed Australia’s growing and very lucrative drug habit.

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Cocaine used as washing powder: police struggle with Pacific drug influx

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Under-resourced but undeterred, Fiji’s officers battle surge in trafficking – with just one boat

• The new drug highway: Pacific islands at centre of cocaine trafficking boom

Sitiveni Qiliho, Fiji’s police commissioner, says he doesn’t watch films any more because, since taking on Fiji police’s top job two years ago, his life has enough drama.

Over the past few months he has found himself scuba diving in search of multimillion-dollar stashes of cocaine stored in huge underwater nets, arresting drug traffickers on the high seas and informing remote islands communities that the mysterious packages washing up on their beaches are full of cocaine and shouldn’t be baked into cakes or put in tea.

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