Central District Police are on a mission – to make sure the festive season is merrier by taking impaired drivers off the roads.
As the Christmas period approaches, Central District Police’s Operation Rudolph has taken off, to remind motorists that drinking and driving is simply not okay.
Between Wednesday 26 November to Saturday 29 November, Taranaki road policing staff tested more than 18,000 drivers.
Manawatū Road Policing Services Team Leader Senior Sergeant Andy Reid is urging all motorists to take responsibility in keeping the roads safe.
“In the lead-up to Christmas and New Year’s Eve, please remember that alcohol limits are designed to ensure anyone can enjoy social time with family, friends, colleagues or mates while also getting home safely.
“It’s simple – if you’re planning to drink or feel like you shouldn’t drive, use alternative transport,” Senior Sergeant Reid says.
In this phase of the operation alone, Police identified 25 drivers who should not have been behind the wheel.
“If you’re impaired by alcohol, drugs or fatigue, don’t drive,” says Senior Sergeant Reid. “We all need to do better.”
The impaired drivers were forbidden to drive for up to 12 hours, with some suspended from driving for 28 days due to their high breath-alcohol levels. Ten received instant fines of $200 and 50 demerit points, and 15 have been referred to the courts.
While they were there, Police also discovered over 50 other infringements and offences.
“We found all sorts of things like cellphone usage, people not wearing seatbelts, vehicles speeding and other infringements, so we dealt with those too.”
While most drivers are doing the right thing, Police make no apology for targeting dangerous driving behaviour including restraints, impairment, distractions and speed.
Senior Sergeant Reid says, “Don’t risk causing a horrible crash. It’s just not worth it – this should be a season to remember for all the right reasons”.
As Operation Rudolph continues, motorists can expect to see checkpoints all around the entire Central District as police are wanting everyone to feel safe and be safe on our roads.
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Pharmac is proposing changes to expand access to funded emergency medicines for community-based health services, aiming to reduce inequities and support faster, safer emergency responses across rural and remote areas in New Zealand.
Currently, some trauma and emergency services in the community do not have the same access to funded medicines as Health NZ hospitals and ambulance services. This can affect people’s ability to get the medicines they need, when they need them.
“The proposal would allow rural nurses, GPs, and community-based midwives to access the same funded emergency treatments as hospitals and ambulances, says Pharmac’s Director Strategy, Policy, and Performance Michael Johnson.
“It would mean that New Zealanders who live in rural and remote areas will have access to the same standard of emergency care as those who live in urban areas,” says Johnson.
If approved, from 1 March 2026, the following medicines would be funded for use in community emergency care:
PRIME services: droperidol, glucose (5% 100ml bag and 10% 500ml bag) ketamine, methoxyflurane, intravenous tranexamic acid, and enoxaparin 100mg.
Home births: intravenous tranexamic acid for postpartum haemorrhage.
These medicines would be available through Practitioner Supply Orders (PSO), allowing authorised health professionals to stock them in advance so they are available for emergencies.
Primary Response in Medical Emergency (PRIME) services are provided by specially trained GPs and nurses from rural general practice, who are first responders for trauma and medical emergencies in rural areas where ambulance services are not readily available.
As part of this proposal, Pharmac is also looking to fund ketamine for uncontrollable pain in people receiving palliative care in their communities.
“Ketamine is currently funded for palliative care in hospitals, but not in the community,” says Johnson. “If this proposal is successful, ketamine will be available by prescription or pre-stocked in rest homes and hospices so that people can get it when they need it.”
Pharmac is working with Health NZ, ACC, ambulance services, rural GPs, midwives, and palliative care providers to understand how the proposed changes would work in practice.
“We want to make sure this proposal works well for the people and services it affects,” says Johnson. “We’re keen to get feedback from across the health sector so that we understand the practical impacts of this proposal.”
Pharmac is seeking feedback to ensure the proposal is fair, workable, and improves emergency care across the country. Consultation is open until Friday 19 December. Feedback can be sent to: consult@pharmac.govt.nz or you can fill out our online feedback form.
Widespread rain and possible thunderstorms for the North Island Tuesday and Wednesday
Strong winds possible for upper North Island mid-week
Humid air ahead of a low, followed by a cooler southerly change
Improving weather for most areas on Thursday
The start of December might mark the beginning of summer but the upcoming week is not all sunshine and clear, blue skies.
MetService reports a broad range of weather including heavy rain, thunderstorms, strong winds, and sunny spells to finish the week off.
The North Island is in for a warm and humid start, while the south will see cooler temperatures throughout.
The week is set to start with comparatively settled conditions, some cloud and showers for western areas, with sunny spells elsewhere.
Gisborne and Hastings are making the most of their sunny start to the summer season, with temperatures expected to top out at 29 and 31 degrees respectively on Monday.
On Tuesday a low is expected to develop in the Tasman Sea and move toward the country through Tuesday evening.
MetService forecast for Wednesday December 3.MetService
MetService forecast for Wednesday December 3.
This will bring a period of unsettled weather for many regions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and into early Thursday, with heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms likely across the North Island.
“That low deepens rapidly and pulls a warm moist sub-tropical airmass across the county during Tuesday afternoon and evening,” MetService Meteorologist Devlin Lynden said.
“It’ll bring widespread rain, strong southwesterly winds and the risk of thunderstorms for many parts of the North Island, including Northland, Auckland and Coromandel.”
While the North Island may be in for the brunt of it, the South Island gets its share of rainy weather too.
A trough is expected to bring rain through Monday night and Tuesday, followed by cool southwesterlies.
The upper parts of the South Island may also see a period of heavier rain on Wednesday associated with the low to the north.
The low gradually moves off to the southeast on Wednesday night, and conditions will ease behind it, before starting to clear through Thursday morning, with many places seeing drier weather and some sunshine return.
However, strong to gale southwesterly winds will persist, particularly for Wellington, Wairarapa, Northland and Auckland; they will keep the temperatures capped towards the end of the week.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Auckland-based Kick Back has released its first State of the Street report which it says is an SOS to the government and community at large (file image).RNZ / Luke McPake
Young people are sleeping on the streets and in cars as a youth homelessness support service says the problem is getting worse.
Auckland-based Kick Back has released its first State of the Street report, which it says is an SOS to the government and community at large.
“And what we’ve observed is children couch-surfing, sleeping in and out of transitional housing or hostels, moving around constantly,” general manager Aaron Hendry said.
The report comes up with hard figures, the first Kick Back has been able to show in a report like this.
Aaron Hendry.RNZ/ Eva Corlett
It revealed 22 percent of young people were sleeping rough when they first sought support.
Couch-surfers made up 22 percent, 12 percent were sleeping in cars while 27 percent were living in housing classed as unstable, overcrowded or insecure.
The report said 62 percent of young people turning to the organisation for help were under 19 years old.
Sixteen and 17 year olds made up 20 percent, and 17 percent were aged 15 or under.
The latter figure had shocked Hendry.
“It is not something that we expected to see as large as we did,” he said.
“We knew that there would be a significant portion there but it was much larger than we’d first anticipated.”
He said there were no resources to help children who were sleeping on couches, in cars or in the likes of transitional housing or lodges and hostels.
“And I guess this has also been an outcome, in our view, of the cuts that have happened within the public sector and the community sector is that our feeling is that there has been less capacity within the community to respond at the pace that these children require to ensure their safety and to ensure that they get the support that they need,” Hendry said.
“Kick Back is extremely concerned about the growing number of tamariki and rangatahi coming through our front doors ever week,” he said.
He said it is a crisis, and one that is growing.
What Kick Back’s report says needs to happen:
Roll back emergency housing reforms and invest in immediate housing solutions
Implement Duty to Assist Legislation to clarify the states obligation to provide essential support to people at-risk of homelessness
Implement legislation to prevent young people being transitioned from state care into homelessness
Review the Youth Services contract and ensure providers are equipped to provide intensive supports to rangatahi on the Youth Payment
Build more public housing
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand