Source: New Zealand Police
Motorists across the greater Wellington area, and particularly through the Hutt Valley, are advised to stay off the roads where possible due to heavy rainfall and flooding.
There is flooding across a number of areas.
If you must travel, please slow down and be prepared for surface flooding or obstructions on the road.
Anyone travelling should check NZTA’s Journey Planner website for the latest road conditions before heading out.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: NZ Department of Conservation
Date: 16 February 2026
Kākāpō Yasmine hatched an egg fostered from kākāpō Tīwhiri on Valentine’s Day, bringing the total number of kākāpō to 237 – though it won’t be officially added to the population until it fledges.
DOC Operations Manager for kākāpō/takahē Deidre Vercoe says the first chick of the breeding season is an exciting moment on the long road to recovery for this critically endangered species.
“These exceptionally rare taonga only breed every 2–4 years, so it’s a long time between chicks. We have more breeding-age birds than ever before this season, so we’re anticipating many more chicks to come.”
Deidre says fostering eggs and chicks between different kākāpō mums is one way to improve nest success rates.
“Kākāpō mums typically have the best outcomes when raising a maximum of two chicks. Biological mum Tīwhiri has four fertile eggs this season already, while Yasmine, an experienced foster mum, had no fertile eggs.”
Kākāpō face a range of challenges with low hatching success being a key obstacle. So far this season there are 187 eggs, and 74 of them are fertile. Of those, not all will hatch, and not all chicks will survive through to fledging.
“The kākāpō population was once down to just 51 birds which created a genetic bottleneck we are still managing today,” says Deidre.
“Kākāpō are one of the most intensively managed species in the world and while numbers are still so low, the breeding season requires a lot of intervention.
“Priority goes to the eggs and chicks that are less well-represented across the gene pool, and we have a more hands-off approach with those that are well represented. This approach helps us answer questions around what a natural breeding season might look like one day.”
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu representative on the Kākāpō Recovery Group Tāne Davis says the hatching of the first kākāpō chick of the season on Pukenui Anchor Island is a welcome milestone of special significance to Ngāi Tahu.
“Pukenui Anchor Island serves an important purpose in accommodating the growing numbers of not only kākāpō but other critically endangered taonga species.
“While it is wonderful to see the manu thriving on this island due to its predator free status, we need to continue our collective efforts to create other safe havens for the chicks of the future.
“One of our future aspirations through Predator Free Rakiura is to return the kākāpō back to its original home,” Tāne says.
Until that happens, the best way for people to see a kākāpō is Kākāpō Cam, a live camera streaming from the nest of a female named Rakiura, on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island.
The camera was first trialled in 2022, and Deidre Vercoe says the team is thrilled to have it up again for breeding season.
“Kākāpō cam is a great way for people to see conservation in real time and do their own little bit of naturing from their home, office or wherever in the world they might be,” she says.
Rakiura is currently sitting on two eggs, and all going well, her first egg is due to hatch in about a week, which could mark a world first opportunity for viewers to watch a chick from one of New Zealand’s most elusive species hatch, live in its nest.
The Kākāpō Recovery Programme has been supported since 2016 by National Partner Meridian Energy.
Meridian Energy CEO Mike Roan says it’s a privilege to stand alongside the Department of Conservation during this remarkable period of growth.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome the first kākāpō chick, beginning what we hope will be a bumper breeding season. Every chick is a milestone for the species, and we’re excited to play a part in helping these incredible birds thrive for generations to come.”
Since 1995, DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme and Ngāi Tahu have worked together to rebuild the population from just 51 manu (31 males, 20 females) and we’ve supported the species through 12 breeding seasons, reaching a population high in 2022 of 252.
This breeding season is the 13th season in 30 years of the programme. This is because kākāpō only breed once every two to four years. The only known breeding trigger for kākāpō is the mast (mass fruiting) of the rimu tree, which last occurred in 2022.
There are 236 adult kākāpō alive today and each wears a small backpack radio transmitter to help track their location and monitor their activity levels.
There are three breeding populations, on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island near Rakiura, and Fiordland’s Pukenui/Anchor Island and Te Kāhaku/Chalky Island.
Nature isn’t scenery. Nature is a society that we rely on for everything, every day. It’s behind our identity and our way of life.
For media enquiries contact:
Email: media@doc.govt.nz
Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Contact Energy’s half-year profit is up 44 percent, despite a 5 percent dip in revenue.
The company has made a first half net profit $205 million in the six months ended December, with underlying profit up 24 percent to half a billion dollars ($500m).
Contact was also in a trading halt until Tuesday, as it looked to raise $525m to advance investment into new battery, solar and geothermal developments.
Contact said the improved underlying profit result was driven by a significant lift in renewable generation, with an output of 97 percent renewable energy in the first half (1H26).
“1H26 was transformational, with the completion of the Manawa acquisition and the welcoming of its people and assets to Contact,” Fuge said, referring to last year’s near $2b takeover of the generation company.
“The strong performance of the combined entity set us up well for the year ahead as we take significant steps to execute the Contact31+ strategy.”
As part of that strategy, the company’s planned to raise $525m* with potential to increase its renewable energy generation.
This included funding for development of a Tauhara 2 steamfield, the Glenbrook battery 2.0 and its investment in the Glorit solar farm.
The proceeds were also expected to accelerate development pipeline opportunities.
“We already we have plans for another $2.4b of renewable energy projects, and we will continue to invest in building this country.”
Fuge said the company was expanding to meet future demand.
“Contact is taking significant steps to ensure its readiness to support New Zealand’s growing electricity demand, with 3-5TWh (terawatt hours) of new grid demand expected in the next five years,” Fuge said.
“We’re investing in the infrastructure required to support a more renewable, resilient and affordable energy future for New Zealand.
“I think New Zealand can be incredibly proud of where they’ve got to on the renewable energy transition,” Fuge said.
“And I think for the country, the most important thing is that we continue to build the infrastructure that keeps this country resilient, and as well as that, we look to decarbonise those areas of the economy which are nowhere near 50 percent renewable yet.
“And I think that’s where we now have to turn our focus – really focus on the big things that kind of make a real difference, rather than the last 2 or 3 percent.”
Contact also separately announced it had made an offer to purchase the remaining 25 percent of King Country Energy from King Country Trust for $47m, which would give it full ownership if the the regional generator. The payment would be made by way of a new issue of Contact shares to the Trust.
Contact expected to make a full year underlying profit of $965m, with a full year dividend of 40 cents per share.
*Capital raise details
Contact planned to raise $450m with an issue of about 51.4m of new ordinary shares, representing about 5.2 percent of current issued capital, at a placement price of $8.75 per new share, which represented a discount of 7.2 percent of the last traded price, excluding the dividend.
Retail Offer
Contact intended to raise $75m through a non-underwritten retail offer of new shares to eligible existing shareholders in New Zealand and Australia, with the ability to scale applications, or accept over subscriptions at Contact’s.
The new shares to be issued at the lower of the placement price or a 2.5 percent discount to the five-day volume Weighted Average Price over the five-trading day period ending on the 6 March closing date of the offer.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is in Auckland and taking questions on the news of the day including the severe weather and the Prime Minister’s announcement of a State of Origin game at Eden Park.
More to come…
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File photo. Labour leader Chris Hipkins Samuel Rillstone
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Source: Auckland Council
In human years she wouldn’t quite qualify for a Gold Card but in kōkako years, Ruahine is a living legend.
At around 21 years of age, Ruahine is believed to be the oldest known active breeding female kōkako in New Zealand and this season she’s once again doing what she’s done best for decades: raising chicks in the Hūnua Ranges. Two fledglings currently trail closely behind her and her long-term mate, a quiet but powerful symbol of how far kōkako conservation has come.
Ruahine was translocated to Hūnua in 2006 as an adult bird of unknown age from Māpara, making her at least 21 today, although she could be older; a remarkable achievement for a species that was once perilously close to disappearing from the ranges altogether.
Principal Ranger and lead of the Hūnua Kōkako Restoration Project Miranda Bennett says that when Ruahine arrived, Hūnua would have looked very different through kōkako eyes.
“There were just 23 adult kōkako in the entire ranges, all descended from a single remaining matriarch. Ruahine is part of the generation that helped turn that around.”
She was one of 14 Māpara kōkako brought in to boost both numbers and genetic diversity. Settling in the area known as Flat Bush – not flat, but flatter than most of Hūnua – Ruahine first paired with a Māpara male, Taranga. After his disappearance around 2010, she partnered with a local male and has held the same territory ever since. Whether it’s been the same male all these years remains one of Hūnua’s quieter mysteries.
Ruahine’s contribution goes well beyond longevity. More than ten of her chicks, banded as nestlings, have gone on to join the breeding population. In 2012, she also played a starring role in a conservation first, becoming the only kōkako to successfully foster eggs transferred between sites, from Tiritiri Matangi to Hūnua.
“That egg transfer was incredibly delicate work,” says Bennett.
“Ruahine sat patiently on plasticine eggs for a full day while her own eggs were relocated, before the Tiritiri eggs were flown in and placed under her. It worked and it’s still the only successful kōkako egg swap of its kind.”
Today, Ruahine and her mate are surrounded by more than 250 kōkako pairs across the ranges, a powerful indicator of sustained pest control, habitat protection and long-term commitment.
Councillor Richard Hills says success belongs to many hands.
“Auckland Council has proudly supported this mahi for decades, working alongside mana whenua, community groups and ecologists to restore the mauri of the Hūnua Ranges.
“Ruahine’s story shows what’s possible when we invest in nature for the long term.”
For mana whenua, kōkako are taonga; their return restoring not just biodiversity, but whakapapa connections to the ngahere.
And Ruahine?
She’s still out there, still singing, still raising the next generation. Not bad for an ‘old bird’ who’s nowhere near done yet.
Source: Radio New Zealand
Luca Harrington of New Zealand at the Winter Olympics, 2026. www.photosport.nz
Wānaka freeskier Luca Harrington has qualified for the final of the big air at the Winter Olympics.
Harrington finished fifth after three rounds of qualifying, with the top 12 from the 29 entrants progressing through to Wednesday’s final.
The 2025 big air world champion was in 12th place after the first run with a score of 84.25 after completing a right double cork 1440 and back with a 1260 with safety grab.
The 21-year-old followed that up with a switch right triple cork 1800 with a two handed grab in his second run to score 92.00 and move up to fifth overall.
He then finished with a right-side triple cork 1980 safety grab in his third run to score 87.75.
His combined two best runs scored 179.75 while American Mac Forehand finished top with 183.00.
“Felt really good, came in with a plan and executed the plan,” Harrington told Sky Sports afterwards.
“I’ve been really working hard on that first trick I put down and it didn’t get rewarded the way I wanted it to. It’s been one of the hardest tricks I’ve ever worked through so that was a bit of a shame to see.”
Harrington admitted his bronze in the slopestyle last week did affect him.
“It was hard to mentally get back into the swing of things and focus up to work my hardest in big air, but by the third night of training I was feeling really good again.
“No matter how this goes I’m just so honoured to be here and hopefully put down a good show in finals as well.”
Fellow New Zealanders Ben Barclay finished 19th and Lucas Ball 24th in qualifying.
Earlier on Monday Queenstown skier Alice Robinson finished eighth in the giant slalom.
And Dane Menzies and Zoi Sadowski-Synnot topped their respective snowboarding slopestyle qualifying.
The women’s slopestyle final is scheduled for 1am Wednesday morning (NZT) with the men’s on Thursday at 12:30am (NZT).
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Du’Plessis Kirifi of New Zealand celebrates his try, New Zealand All Blacks v France. Brett Phibbs/www.photosport.nz
The Hurricanes have named All Blacks Du’Plessis Kirifi and Jordie Barrett as co-captains for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.
It marks the first time that Barrett has been named in a captaincy role at the Hurricanes, adding to his leadership credentials as All Blacks vice-captain.
Kirifi, who has picked up an injury in training and is set to miss the Hurricanes opening match of the season against Moana Pasifika on Friday night, returns to the role after he was named as a Hurricanes co-captain for the first time last season.
“It’s a great honour to be backed by the coaches and playing group to co-captain the side alongside Du’Plessis this season,” Barrett said.
“Playing for the Hurricanes has always meant a lot to me and I’m confident we have the squad to have a successful season. We have a great group of leaders who I know will support Du’Plessis and I throughout the season, and we can’t wait for the competition to begin.”
Jordie Barrett dives over but the try is disallowed. Wallabies v New Zealand All Blacks, 2024 Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup test match, Accor Stadium, NSW, Australia, Saturday 21st September 2024, Copyright David Neilson / www.photosport.nz David Neilson
Kirifi is looking forward to captaining the team alongside his fellow former St Francis Douglas Memorial College student.
“Leading the Hurricanes alongside Jordie is not only an honour, but extremely humbling. The love I have for this team, the region, and its people is immense, and I’m excited for the challenge that’s in front of us and what we can do together.
“O le ala i le pule o le tautua. The pathway to leadership is through service. We can’t wait to serve this team and its people to the best of our abilities.”
Barrett, 28, first played for the Hurricanes against the Sunwolves in 2017 and has made 111 appearances and scored 794 points for the club.
Kirifi, also 28, made a try-scoring debut against the Waratahs in 2019 and has since become a mainstay in the Hurricanes squad, featuring in 93 matches.
“The co-captains are an exciting pair,” Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw said.
“They are two outstanding professionals, Hurricane men through and through, who are super competitive around their performance. They connect really well across the team on and off the field, and they bring a different lens to our environment.”
Together, Kirifi and Barrett head a five-man leadership group known as Ngā Kaitiaki, alongside last year’s co-captains Brad Shields, Asafo Aumua and Billy Proctor.
“We feel Ngā Kaitiaki needs to lead the club between the five of them. With Jordie and Dupes as the co-captains, we believe it’s a really strong leadership model,” Laidlaw said.
“We’re all working well together behind-the-scenes in pre-season to drive the group forward. Jordie’s come back in with a real enthusiasm after being away, and Dupes is quite similar, apart from picking up a little niggle in pre-season.
“He came back early from his All Blacks rest and was training particularly well, so once Dupes is fit again and they’re both on the field and leading the team, it will be exciting. We’re looking forward to it.”
The Hurricanes open their 2026 Super Rugby Pacific campaign against Moana Pasifika in Wellington on Friday night.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
George Beamish of New Zealand in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase at the 2025 Tokyo Athletics World Championships in Japan Athletics New Zealand / Photosport
World champions are likely to dominate the 63rd Halberg Awards in Auckland on Monday night.
Athletics and snow sports dominate the finalists in the two individual categories.
High jumper Hamish Kerr and 3000m steeple chaser Geordie Beamish are both included among the five nominees for the men’s award after winning gold medals at the world athletics championships in Tokyo.
Other men’s contenders are golfer Ryan Fox, who won twice on the PGA Tour, All Whites captain Chris Wood, who scored 20 goals for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and free-skier Luca Harrington, who clinched Big Air world championships gold.
There are six women’s finalists, including free-skier Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who bagged a third snowboard slopestyle world title and alpine skier Alice Robinson, who won New Zealand’s first medal at an alpine ski world championships – silver in the giant slalom.
Cyclists Niamh Fisher-Black (world championships road race silver medallist), Sammie Maxwell (mountain bike world series cross country champion), Jorja Miller (Black Ferns sevens world series winner) and Erin Routliffe (US Open women’s doubles tennis champion) are also in contention.
All finalists for sportswoman, sportsman, team and para-athlete/team are eligible for the supreme award.
The 2024 sportsman of the year was Hamish Kerr, with Dame Lydia Ko named the supreme winner.
Snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand. JAMIE SQUIRE / AFP
Sportswoman of the Year: Niamh Fisher-Black (cycling road), Sammie Maxwell (cycling-mountain bike), Jorja Miller (rugby union), Alice Robinson (snow sports-alpine ski racing), Erin Routliffe (tennis), Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (snow sports-snowboarding).
Sportsman of the Year: Geordie Beamish (athletics-track), Ryan Fox (golf), Luca Harrington (snow sports-freeskiing), Hamish Kerr (athletics-field), Chris Wood (football).
Para Athlete/Para Team of the Year: Lisa Adams (Para athletics-field), Danielle Aitchison (Para athletics), Devon Briggs (Para cycling-track), Cameron Leslie (swimming), Nicole Murray (Para cycling-track).
Team of the Year: Auckland FC (football), Black Ferns Sevens (rugby sevens), New Zealand Black Sox (softball), New Zealand Kiwis (rugby league), Men’s Team Pursuit: Nick Kergozou, Tom Sexton, Keegan Hornblow and Marshall Erwood (cycling-track), Ben Taylor and Oliver Welch (rowing).
Coach of the Year: Brendon Cameron (Para cycling-track), Hamish McDougall (snow sports-freeski), Mike Rodger (rowing), James Sandilands (athletics), Cory Sweeney (rugby sevens).
Emerging Talent: Lily Greenough (cycling-BMX), Finley Melville Ives (snow sports-freeski), Zoe Pedersen (swimming and surf lifesaving), Sam Ruthe (athletics), Braxton Sorensen-McGee (rugby union).
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s announcement about a plan to establish an LNG import facility, and the levy to fund it, has been badly received. Marika Khabazi / RNZ
Christopher Luxon has continually ruled out a bed tax, despite frequent calls from Auckland mayor Wayne Brown to implement one.
Brown’s argument has been that a bed night levy on visitors, separate to the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism levy, would help fund destination marketing and events.
Luxon was speaking to Morning Report after the announcement a State of Origin match will be played at Eden Park in 2027, co-funded by Auckland Council Events and the government’s Major Events Fund.
He said a bed tax was something the government would take a look at in a second term.
“We’re not considering it for this term, but we’re open to looking at it, again, next term. So we’ll do that process,” Luxon said.
Luxon said the country needed to “step up our competitiveness” on major events, and the government was putting in an amount of money comparable to Australian states.
“As you can see, we’re winning major events, and we’ve got quite a few coming right across the whole of New Zealand.”
Luxon said every dollar spent led to around $3.20 back into the local economy.
Brown was still making calls for a bed tax as recently as last week.
“The government can’t bring itself to do that yet, so that they’re raiding tourists at the border. And then central government will tell us how we spend on things, which is something we don’t like,” Brown told Morning Report.
“All these big events want some money up front. And if we have the bed night levy we will have the money up front.”
Brown has previously said a 2.5 percent bed tax would raise $27 million, and allow Auckland to compete with cities like Sydney, which has a bed night levy.
Wayne Brown MARIKA KHABAZI / RNZ
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), Tourism Holdings chief executive Grant Webster, [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/574936/hotel-bed-tax-in-auckland-could-boost-tourism-fund-major-events Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck, and former Air New Zealand chief executive [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/571315/air-new-zealand-s-profit-falls-amid-rising-costs-and-engine-maintenance
Greg Foran], have also expressed support for a bed tax.
In August 2024, a Curia poll commissioned by LGNZ found strong support for a bed tax.
One thousand people were asked “How should the local infrastructure and services that tourists use should be paid for?”
Only 8 percent said rates should pay for the lot, with 34 percent saying tourist fees and charges should be used instead, and 45 percent wanting a combination of the two. Another 13 percent were unsure.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Castle Street in Dunedin on a Sunday morning during O-Week. RNZ / Tess Brunton
Police and the University of Otago will be monitoring student behaviour, with concerns about another year of out-of-control and dangerous behaviour during Orientation Week (O-Week).
It has prompted the university to start meeting with some of the larger, named flats to discuss expectations for the year and how to party safely.
By Sunday afternoon, Castle Street was quiet, but the signs of Saturday’s pre-O-Week ‘Flo-Week’ blow-out remained with shattered glass, bottles, boxes and rubbish lining the road.
Some Castle Street flats had cardboard on their lower windows in what appears to be an attempt to protect them from damage RNZ / Tess Brunton
Second year students Charlie, Hunter and Hugo hosted Saturday night’s Castle Street bash, saying hundreds of people attended.
Hunter said there was a bit of pressure to host, so the six flatmates pooled their money and paid a company for the gear and set up.
Charlie said they also had security and wristbands to control who could go inside.
Hugo said out-of-towners could be okay, but not when they got too rowdy.
Someone had smashed a bottle into a window because they thought they could, he said.
Hunter said people did not seem to understand that people lived in these flats.
They acknowledged the street was in a sad state, with Charlie saying the red rubbish bin was full in a day between the six flatmates and the glass bin might only last 30 minutes on a night out.
Charlie said the flat had met with university staff as part of the new initiative.
“It was actually real good, and they kind of just were like ‘we know what you’re here to do’. They’ve got it run pretty well.
“They know it’s not the tidiest place to live. No one’s living in the best conditions but we’re all choosing to be here and they told us they can give us more rubbish bins, talked about obviously getting on roofs with what happened last year, and couch fires and stuff.”
Castle Street in Dunedin on a Sunday morning during O-Week. RNZ / Tess Brunton
Second years Kyra and Pippi were excited for O-Week.
Police have called some of the behaviour “feral”, which Pippi reckoned was fair.
“I think it’s definitely feral. But I think that’s just how everyone wants it to be. People know that Flo-Week you kind of just like go all out for a couple of weeks. But then tame it out throughout the rest of the year,” Pippi said.
Since September, two young men have been critically injured from falls – including from the roof of a Castle Street flat.
Pippi said people liked the thrill of climbing on roofs.
“It definitely is dangerous and bad… but it is very common. You just see people on roofs at almost every house but I think people get a bit of a shock once they hear the bad stories about it. Like, we heard a pretty tragic story and so it’s honestly scared us all.”
Kyra was glad the university shared information about staying safe.
“It’s also really good that there’s like police around, controlling everyone… when it gets really rowdy and stuff, so it like makes people feel more safe.”
They both had friends down for Flo-Week, and said it was good to have visitors and others to meet as long as they did not trash the flats.
First years Amy and Ruby just moved into a uni hall, saying there has already been meetings about safety.
Amy was glad the university was proactive about it, saying it meant they felt more comfortable asking for help.
“I think it’s real cos they know exactly what we’re doing and I mean they help us do it safely rather than turn their heads the other way and pretend it’s not happening,”
Ruby was not surprised about the state of Castle Street, describing it as disgusting and filthy.
“I guess that’s just what Castle Street’s all about.”
Castle Street in Dunedin on a Sunday morning during O-Week. RNZ / Tess Brunton
University vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said they proactively told students about safe partying and how they were expected to behave. That included staying off roofs.
“We’re really clear that students need to stay off roofs. The tragic consequences of that are clear for everybody. We make that clear in all of our communications with students.”
He was pleased that flatmates from about 40 of the larger, named flats had met with the proctor as part of the new initiative, which he said made sure they were all on the same page.
The university did not support out-of-towners joining the frivolities as they could be difficult to manage, Robertson said.
“Many times they behave quite differently than students who know that Dunedin is their home.”
Flats were made aware this could be an issue and there was support for them if there were any issues, he said.
“Police have obviously got a role to play there because ultimately what is facilitated and allowed comes down to what the police are prepared to put up with given that these are private residences where these parties are being held.”
A major step forward would be to take out the glass, and the university had submitted to the local Alcohol Plan for that to happen, he said.
Castle Street in Dunedin on a Sunday morning during O-Week. RNZ / Tess Brunton
More than 4000 first-year students were welcomed over the weekend.
The Otago University Students’ Association is hosting a range of events for O-Week, which kicked off on Monday. Association president Daniel Leamy said they would be safe, inclusive environments for all students.
“Student Support is also always open to assist students as needed, and will have the Are You OK teams on the ground at events,” he said.
“We must also be cognisant of a select few creating a bigger story for the masses. Most students have a great week.”
The association actively encouraged students to choose cans over glass and recycle responsibly, promoted registering parties in advance in partnership with Good One and actively participated in clean-up days as a signatory to the Sophia Charter, he said.
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