Source: New Zealand Police
One person has died after a single-vehicle crash on Mahuta Gap, Te Kopuru, this morning.
Emergency services were called to the scene about 7.15am.
Sadly, one person was located deceased.
The Serious Crash Unit has examined the scene.
The death will be referred to the Coroner.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: Radio New Zealand
Khawat, a sisterhood for ethnic women, hosting a run club. SUPPLIED
From watching homelands burn on social media to being stuck between cultures, there is one migrant community facing some of the worst mental health.
Middle Eastern, Latin American and African (MELAA) young people are an ethnic minority reporting unique challenges.
Having to navigate trauma, mixed identities and many other potential obstacles, some young people are also saying there is a gap in culturally sensitive mental health support.
In December 2024 the Ministry of Ethnic Communities released its ethnic evidence summary. As part of its findings, it stated that while most ethnic communities faced mental health challenges, MELAA people were reporting lower overall wellbeing with more than one third of the youth having seriously considered attempting suicide.
As heartbreaking as the statistic was, it had not come as a shock to some in the community.
Fatima Sanussi is a refugee and the founder of ‘Do You Still Dream?’, a creative platform for migrants and refugees.
She said she was not surprised that MELAA youth were reporting such low mental health.
“During this time where you can see what’s happening in Palestine, you can see what’s happening in Congo, you see what’s happening in Sudan, we have communities here that are impacted … that carry these narratives.”
Community advocate Fatima Sanussi SUPPLIED
Originally from Sudan and Ethiopia, Sanussi was a year and a half when she resettled to South Auckland with her family.
She said a significant portion of the MELAA community were in Aotearoa due to forced displacement, and they did not always receive enough support.
Many of the youth Sanussi had grown up with in Otahuhu had left a brutal conflict.
“That type of trauma was not addressed, the trauma that they carried from the conflict.”
Community advocate Fatima Sanussi SUPPLIED
Her own mental health had suffered because of the war in Sudan, especially with the exposure on social media.
“I watched my homeland be destroyed, a tremendous amount of death, displacement as well as the loss of my own and the worry of my family being in a war zone.”
At 28, Sanussi was still navigating her own mental health journey, recalling the first time she went to therapy following the passing of her father.
“It was hard to speak to the therapist, I remember I was about 14 or 15 and I felt like she couldn’t understand me,” Sanussi said.
She felt there was no cultural awareness in the process with little understanding for her struggles as a young ethnic person and the experience discouraged her from seeking help until recently.
It was only last year, more than a decade later, that Sanussi decided to give it another go after feeling the impact of the war in Sudan.
Eman Ghandour, an AUT career advisor and founder of Khawat, a network for ethnic women, said the poor mental health for MELAA youth was due to many layered factors.
Eman Ghandour SUPPLIED
Originally from Jordan, Ghandour said she had struggled with depression for many years and one of the main reasons was a flickering sense of belonging.
She identified as a 1.5 generation migrant, a term for migrants who moved from their country of origin during their childhoods.
Lost between the culture they were born with and the culture they were trying to adopt, she said young migrants could struggle with their identity.
“I always say to my parents you’ve never doubted that you were Arab right, you’ve never doubted that you’re a Muslim… but for us we’ve always tapped in and out of that.
“One of the biggest barriers for mental health is actually that in-between feeling.”
Khawat, a sisterhood for ethnic women, hosting a run club. SUPPLIED
Although most migrants can experience this feeling, MELAA youth are considered a minority within a minority, making up only 3 percent of the population.
The ethnic summaries report had also stated that MELAA people could face employment barriers “on a similar scale as Māori and Pacific peoples”, although the types of barriers were not necessarily the same.
Ghandour pressed the point that mental health was holistic and was linked to things like employment and education for young people.
As a career consultant, Ghandour said there was a high expectation for second generation immigrants to achieve employment and get into industries with the same ease as non-migrants.
However, this was often not the case, even with the many migrants who graduated with top grades.
“They don’t have an in, they don’t understand the recruitment process they don’t see themselves like they belong to a certain workplace so there’s massive barriers of even getting through the door.”
Some of the young women from Khawat, a community for ethnic wahine, at a gym session. SUPPLIED
The ethnic summaries report was the first of its kind in identifying how ethnic communities were doing across a range of sectors including mental health.
It had also highlighted that being a female, having a sexual or gender minority status were also some of the factors associated with higher suicidal and self-harming behaviour amongst MELAA youth.
Ministry of Ethnic Communities deputy chief executive Pratima Namasivayam said the statistics for MELAA youth mental health were concerning and the group was now one of the ministry’s priorities.
“It was the first time when we brought together Ethnic Evidence, we went, ‘Oh my God look at this particular finding for MELAA youth’.”
The Ministry of Ethnic Communities deputy chief executive Pratima Namasivayam. SUPPLIED
While young migrants contributed strongly to their communities’, factors like racism in schools, biases in workplaces, non-recognition of overseas qualification and trauma were still contributing to low mental health.
The report stated that for Asian and MELAA young people in particular, racial discrimination at school and low family support were “risk factors for self-harm”, however, high cultural self-esteem was a “protective factor”.
In 2023, the ministry worked with the Education Review Office to release a report which showed racism and ethnicity-based bullying in schools remain prevalent.
Namasivayam said nearly one in five MELAA learners had reported feeling that they did not belong and one in three reported loneliness, this was just one of the factors explaining the poor mental health statistics.
“We’re now doing a deep dive into it because we want to really understand what’s happening.”
Namasivayam said MELAA youth were now a top priority when it came to improving mental health for ethnic communities.
She said some positive movements had resulted from the findings of the report such as the Auckland, Kuwaiti community hosting a wellbeing event for young women.
Having spoken to the Ministry of Health, a search into MELAA youth mental health was now part of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Action Plan.
However, there was still work to be done and Namasivayam said the ministry was now focused on communicating with existing youth groups and service providers to further its knowledge of an underrepresented group.
“We’re thinking that what would be really good is we go and talk to existing youth groups, to talk about mental health, rather than doing a wide general community consultation.”
Ghandour said there was a need for a more holistic approach, that looked at improving physical and mental health while empowering communities and giving them shared spaces.
“If you have a really good sense of identity and understanding your whakapapa, who you are, your migration story … you have a better career outcome, you have better confidence”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Police recovered a knife at the scene and a 65-year-old man was arrested by responding staff. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A man has been arrested after a serious assault in Auckland’s CBD on Friday night that left two people with serious injuries.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ash Matthews said emergency crews were called to Lorne Street about 10.20pm.
Mathews said two people were hurt and that one was critically injured but is now stable. The other suffered serious injuries.
Police also recovered a knife at the scene and a 65-year-old man was arrested by responding staff.
The man was due to appear in Auckland District Court on Saturday on two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Cordons remained in place as investigations continued.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
123rf
A case in which an Australian house buyer lost more than A$100,000 because he was two days’ late with his deposit payment could happen in New Zealand, too, a banking expert says.
The Queensland Supreme Court ruled this week that Stephen Gary Evans had to forfeit his entire $98,500 deposit – plus interest.
He had tried to buy a property at Shailer Park, near Brisbane, in 2024 for A$985,000 from Yea Lan Jan.
Justice Michael Copley noted in his judgement, issued on Friday, that the contract to buy the house was subject to a building and pest inspection, and finance.
The parties agreed that the contract was formed on 23 January, 2024.
The contract required the deposit to be paid into the real estate agency trust account when both parties had signed.
But because of bank transfer limits, the full amount was not paid until two days later.
Evans was told by his bank that he had to visit a branch in person if he wanted to increase the limit on the amount he could transfer, which was set at A$50,000 a day.
There was not enough time to do so on the day the contract was signed so he rang the real estate agent that evening.
He received a text the next morning telling him he “may need to deposit today” and was able to transfer A$45,000. He sent a text saying the rest would be sent the day after.
The real estate agent replied, appearing to confirm that plan.
A building and pest inspection happened that day.
The next day, he transferred another A$50,000 and arranged for his brother to transfer the remainder of the deposit.
“In the meantime, at 1:17 pm that day the defendant’s solicitors sent an email to the plaintiff’s solicitors inviting comment about why [Jan] could not terminate the contract in view of the deposit not having being paid in accordance with the contract,” Copley noted.
“On 28 January 2024 the realtor informed the plaintiff via a text message that the defendant did not want to sell the house to him and was going to cancel the contract. On 29 January 2024 the defendant’s solicitors informed the plaintiff’s solicitors that the defendant terminated the contract because the plaintiff failed to pay the deposit by the due date in accordance with the contract.”
Evans told the court that he thought the real estate agent had the authority to represent the seller in all aspects of the sale.
“Based on the text message of 10:58 am on 24 January 2024 and the absence of any further message to the contrary, he believed the defendant had agreed to him paying the deposit on 24 and 25 January 2024. Had he not received this message from the realtor he would have attended his bank on 24 January 2024 and arranged to pay the deposit in full that day,” Copley’s judgement said.
Jan gave evidence that she never authorised the agent or requested that she agree to the extension of time for the deposit.
Copley said that the real estate agent did not have authority to agree to arrangement for the payment of the deposit that did not align with the contract.
Jan counterclaimed for the deposit plus interest from 29 January, 2024 and was successful.
“The counterclaim is based on the plaintiff having breached clause 2.2(1) of the contract by not paying the deposit by 23 January 2024. This was not a matter which was in dispute. Next, if the plaintiff failed to comply with an essential term of the contract, the defendant could terminate the contract under clause 9.1. This was not disputed … Then the defendant relied on clause 9.4(2) of the contract which provided that if the defendant terminated the contract under clause 9.1, the defendant may ‘forfeit the Deposit and any interest earned’.”
Copley ordered that the deposit be forfeited to Jan plus interest.
Banking expert Claire Matthews of Massey University said the same situation could happen here, but it was unlikely – and was likely to be an anomaly in Australia too.
“It seems the purchaser could have a case against the agent for not advising the seller.”
She said, as in Australian coverage of the case, it was “morally wrong even if legally correct”.
“I think the vendor has been unreasonable, and I wonder about their motives. However, the purchaser did have the option of visiting a branch to enable the full deposit to be made, and it’s not clear why that didn’t happen.
“It also appears the purchaser may not have had legal advice, and I’d strongly encourage both parties in a real estate transaction to get legal advice.”
Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said banks’ payment limits varied.
“If a customer knows they will need to make a large or unusual transaction, it’s a good idea to contact their bank in advance. This allows the bank to work with the customer to put appropriate arrangements in place, so the payment can be made safely and on time.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Blade shearers at work preparing for the Golden Shears in Masterton. RNZ/Sally Round
At Rewa Rewa Station’s woolshed in Tīnui shearers are at work, but it’s not as noisy as usual.
Over the clatter of sheep hooves on the floorboards, you can make out the snip-snip-snip of blade shears instead of the much louder whirr of machine shearing tools.
Holding the shears – which look like giant scissors – are 15 blade shearers from several countries – here to learn a few tips from world champion blade shearer Allan Oldfield, in preparation for the Golden Shears competition in Masterton next week.
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Blade shearing is slower than machine shearing but leaves a thicker layer of wool on the sheep, beneficial if they’re caught in spring storms, Oldfield said.
“Blade shears leave about half an inch, so 10 or 12 millimetres of wool on the sheep, and that just gives them some protection against the elements, whereas even the cover combs on machines, which are meant to leave more wool on, they only leave five or six millimetres of wool.”
It’s done over a short season but is a skill in demand, with only about 20 commercial blade shearers in New Zealand, he said.
“It takes a lot of time to learn to blade shear well. For three months of work a year, a lot of people aren’t willing to put that effort in.”
A shearer works his way with his blades over a sheep, leaving a thicker layer of wool on the animal, beneficial before spring storms. RNZ/Sally Round
Blade shearing tutors Allan Oldfield and his father Phil at smoko in the woolshed. RNZ/Sally Round
Blade shearing is valued for cultural as well as practical reasons, according to the multi-national group in the woolshed.
Maureen Cadet from France has used her blades on flocks on remote islands where there is no electricity, and on milking sheep in the Pyrenees.
“It’s actually a pretty nice day, because everybody is gathering. We are, like, 20 or more shearers, blade shearing on that small flock for the day, and having a party at night.”
Wearing moccasins, tough jeans and a black singlet, she looks like shearers the world over, honing her blades on a sharpening tool in the corner of the woolshed.
Maureen Cadet holding a pair of blades. She has ten pairs at home in France. RNZ/Sally Round
In another part of the shed, shearers from The Netherlands and the Basque Country sort through a fleece, exchanging knowledge in a mixture of Spanish, Dutch and English.
Erik Bijlsma, from The Netherlands, likes the idea of practising an old craft.
“We’ve got those flocks that are grazing fields of heather, that are brought into the village, and then they make a sort of a festivity out of it to shear the sheep, and that’s all done in the traditional way.
“It’s much easier on the ears than machine shearing.”
Blade shearers from The Netherlands, France and the United States training at Rewa Rewa Station in Tīnui. RNZ/Sally Round
Being a social bunch, blade shearers enjoy the relative quiet of their craft, Oldfield’s father Phil said.
With half a century of shearing and wool handling under his belt, he was also in the woolshed imparting his knowledge.
Not having to shout above the machines, talk on the woolshed floor veers from politics to religion to relationships he said.
Also, according to Oldfield senior, blade shearing is way easier on the body.
“When you machine-shear a sheep, you pretty much turn it 360 degrees every time you shear them. And you’re shearing 200 or 300 or 400 a day.
“With the blade shearing, you walk around the sheep, and you might shear one or 200 sheep a day, so a lot less weight being carted around.”
Loren Opstedahl from South Dakota is in the United States’ two-person blade shearing team. He has competed at the Golden Shears twice before in machine-shearing.
His blades and his body were getting a good workout at the blade shearing school – good practice given he rarely took up the blades back home.
“If I practice, I’m shearing alongside my team. So they’re shearing with machines, and I’m over there shearing with the blades, slower, making less money, killing time.
“I just have to force myself to do the practice there, because it’s more nostalgic in the US.”
Allan Oldfield took his blade shearing school to Rewa Rewa Station in Wairarapa to give blade shearers some tips before competition at the Golden Shears. RNZ/Sally Round
New Zealand traditionally does well in the blade shearing, Allan Oldfield said, with South Africa the toughest ones to beat.
He was expecting good competition at the Golden Shears.
“The big thing for competition shearing, and that we’re working on here, is getting a really clean finish on the sheep.
“Blade shearing is probably 65 percent quality of the job, 35 percent speed.”
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Source: New Zealand Police
Attributable to Detective Senior Sergeant Ash Matthews:
One person has been arrested, and two people injured, after a serious assault on Lorne Street late last night.
Emergency services were called to the scene about 10.20pm.
One person reportedly sustained critical injuries, and is now stable. Another person received serious injuries. A knife was recovered at the scene.
A 65-year-old man was arrested at the scene by responding staff. He is due to appear in Auckland District Court today on two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Cordons remain in place today, and a scene examination will be carried out.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: Radio New Zealand
Sir Charles Godfray from Oxford University is a population biologist and director of its Future of Food programme. Rebecca McMillan / Supplied
It is time for the food sector to have difficult conversations about its emissions, particularly beef and dairy. That was the message from a top UK scientist at the Riddet Institute’s Agrifood Summit.
Sir Charles Godfray from Oxford University is a population biologist and director of its Future of Food programme.
Addressing food security and sustainability at the Wellington gathering this week, he said while there had been concerns about how to feed a burgeoning population – expected to hit over 10 billion people by the 2080s – the bigger issue was how to feed them while ensuring adequate nutrition.
“We now know that if you bring people out of poverty, if you provide them with education, especially for girls, then human population fertility goes down. So we can now intellectually think about a time when humanity’s demands on the planet to produce food will plateau and even go down.”
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In particular, there were challenges about feeding an ageing population, Sir Charles said.
“Old people demand different, a different type of food than the younger people.”
Addressing protein deficits and improving diets, particularly in low-income countries, was another challenge facing the food sector with the “fetishisation of protein” in recent years.
Sir Charles said high- and middle-income countries like New Zealand had to avoid the “hypocrisy” of lecturing lower-income countries on how to manage this in a warming climate.
He thought it likely the world would begin to see more and more extreme events associated with climate, so that the effects of the food system on the climate and the climate on the food system would become “undeniable”.
“We need to have proper conversations about livelihoods and just transitions and how sectors can transform.
“When we talk about the challenges of milk and dairy in high-income countries, we must be very careful not to transpose those worries onto low-income countries, especially low-income countries where animal-based agriculture are so important.”
Sir Charles said it was possible ultra-processed foods, or UPFs, may become an important tool in addressing these challenges.
“There will be challenges in the global food system that may require foods that would be categorised as ultra-processed foods. If you think that UPFs are just the devil and can never be improved, then that is to me worrying because we will need these foods to address, for example, environmental things.”
While many contained “a lot of fat, a lot of sugar, a lot of salt” and were designed to be eaten very quickly, thus making them “energy dense” and increasing the risk of overconsumption, he said more work was needed to better understand their possible benefits as well as the harm they can cause.
Food producers had also yet to grapple with the consequences of the rise of GLP-1s – medication which mirrored our natural hormone GLP-1 to suppress appetites and regulate blood sugar levels.
Sir Charles said figures suggested about 15 percent of people in the US were using GLP-1s, and food companies like Nestlé were starting to develop products tailored to these needs.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
The closure is from Broken Hutt Road and Old Faithful Road. RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The Lindis Pass/State Highway 8 has been closed and one person is seriously injured after a single-car crash.
The closure is from Broken Hutt Road and Old Faithful Road
Police said one person sustained serious injuries and was seen by ambulance services.
The Serious Crash Unit has been notified and the road is likely to be closed for a significant part of the day.
Police said motorists should consider delaying travel.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ Country Life’s Mark Leishman interviewing Colin Martin at Nicol’s Blacksmith Shop Duntroon Karan Lawrence
A visit to Duntroon’s original Victorian-era blacksmith shop is a visit back in time. Nicol’s Blacksmith Shop has been around for 125 years and, while these days it is a tourist attraction, it is still a hub for the Duntroon community of 100 or so residents.
Rather than making horseshoes, today it makes metal knick knacks, pokers for outdoor fires and key rings for children’s school bags.
The ramshackle wooden structure includes the original earthen floor. There is no need for a wooden floor because that could catch fire.
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Chairperson of the Nicol’s Blacksmith Historic Trust, Jan Keeling, said the shop had been lovingly restored and rescued.
She said the community had a dozen or so volunteers who kept the tourism industry going in the town and made sure the local businesses survived.
The pay off was locals were able to have a coffee and scone all year round.
She said there was much pride among locals at managing to keep the blacksmiths, built in 1900 featuring hand-pumped bellows, in working order.
“Prior to this building, a lot of the farms had their own forge, and the blacksmith would travel around working, shoeing horses or repairing or sharpening implements.”
Master saddler and farrier Steve Smith shoeing Brook the gig horse at Nicol’s Blacksmith Shop in Duntroon Karan Lawrence
Keeling remembers when Duntroon was well off the beaten track, but that all changed about a dozen years ago.
Cyclists started arriving as the Alps To Ocean Cycle Trail added Duntroon to its list of stops.
She said the cycle trail had been a game-changer and amazing for the community.
“We have volunteers working here, creating things to sell in our little shop because the shop still runs on the smell of coal dust.”
The Duntroon Heritage Trail was created to honour the 150th anniversary of Duntroon last year.
Keeling said the smithy’s recent history was as important as its original history, with four local farmers getting together to buy it in the 1960s when they realised the building might be demolished.
With its forge, anvil and bellows, everything was in place and ready to go, but it sat there until 2005 when newcomer Mike Gray saw the potential and formed a trust.
It found a well-known restoration builder, Dave Barkman, who offered to come and live in Duntroon for a year. He literally pulled it to bits and rebuilt it like a jigsaw puzzle.
Judy Waterstone was the present-day chief blacksmith at Nicol’s shop with 25 years experience.
As “bellows boy” Colin Martin pointed out, the blacksmiths was predominantly run by women.
“This is quite a unique blacksmith shop. When you look around, we’ve got two lady blacksmiths with Mary an apprentice, and I’m just a bellows boy,” he said.
“And there’s a reason for that old saying about too many irons in the fire,” Waterstone added.
“Many a time I’ll try and do two pieces at once, and it’s fine as long as you keep that momentum up, but the moment you don’t, one burns, and is ruined because there’s too many irons.”
Leaving the huff and puff of the blacksmith shop, I headed over the back fence to meet Steve Smith, who, at 74 is a Master Saddler, one of only six in New Zealand.
The former freezing worker loves Clydesdale horses and decided, after having trouble finding suitable riding tack, he would try and make the harnesses and saddles himself.
So he travelled to Salisbury in the United Kingdom and learned from the best saddlers in the business.
Duntroon’s Master Sadler Steve Smith Jo Raymond
Just like a Savile Row suit-maker, Smith made each saddle to measure and it all started with a wooden tree or frame.
It was covered with heavy, bovine skirting leather, sheepskin padding and more softer leathers for the seat, skirts, and fenders or flaps.
Rather than using a sewing machine, Smith hand sews the leather onto the tree, finally stamping or carving designs into the leather and adding silver trim and stencilling his name on the flap.
Each saddle was worth around $3000 and took 50 hours to create.
Smith would like to retire.
“I’d love to be able to teach somebody, but nobody seems to be interested. For a young fellow or woman who had a bit of skill with their hands and motivation, it would be a pretty good sort of career.”
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Source: New Zealand Government
Transport Minister Chris Bishop says a newly completed roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 5 (SH5) and State Highway 28–Harwoods Road east of Tīrau will significantly improve safety on a key regional route.
“The SH5/SH28 Harwoods Road intersection had a poor safety record and is part of a corridor that has seen far too many serious crashes. Completing this new three-leg roundabout is an important step in making this stretch of highway safer for everyone who uses it,” Mr Bishop says.
“SH5 is a critical route for locals, tourists, freight, and agricultural vehicles travelling between Waikato and the Bay of Plenty. Improving safety and efficiency on this corridor is essential, and I am pleased to see another project delivered that helps achieve that.
““Between 2014 and 2024, 18 people died and 64 were seriously injured on this stretch of highway.
“Construction of the $6 million roundabout began in August last year, and I am pleased to see it completed on budget and several weeks ahead of schedule. Traffic was flowing through the site today, with temporary speed restrictions lifted as works were cleared.
“This roundabout is one of several safety improvements being delivered along SH5 between Tīrau and Tārukenga Marae Road on the Rotorua side of the Mamaku Range. NZTA has also built a right‑turn bay at nearby Waimakariri Road, and funding has been allocated to complete the design for a similar roundabout at the SH5/SH28–Whites Road intersection. While construction funding for that project has not yet been confirmed, design work ensures it is ready to progress when funding allows.
“We are also making SH5 safer by widening sections of the road to allow the use of wide centrelines, which have proven to be very effective in reducing crashes. The first section east of Whites Road was completed this summer and will be extended to Harwoods Road as funding allows.
“In addition, a section of SH28–Whites Road south of the SH5 intersection is currently being rebuilt, and the intersection itself will receive a new asphalt surface.
“I also want to thank the local MP Tim van de Molen, and other community leaders for their continued strong advocacy for this important project.
“Delivering practical safety improvements like this roundabout helps save lives and ensures the state highway network continues to support regional growth, tourism, and reliable freight connections. I am pleased to see this project completed and making a difference for road users.”