Category: Public Media

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Thirty-two more dairy farms for Canterbury; some grain growers go for milk

Source: Radio New Zealand

Cows being milked in a dairy shed in Taranaki RNZ/Sally Round

Canterbury grows most of the country’s wheat, barley and oat crops. But persistently low wheat prices coupled with a high milk payout are believed to be driving farmers out of the industry in hunt of the dairy dollar.

The Canterbury regional council said up to 25,000 more dairy cows could be added to the region’s herd this year, following an end to a temporary ban on intensive dairy farm conversions.

Environment Canterbury kept data on new dairy discharge consents as a proxy for conversions, which showed there were 32 new consents approved this year, and 15 more in progress.

It said the maximum number of cows that could be milked through the shed was 25,818 cows, among the approved consents.

Federated Farmers’ arable group chairman, David Birkett, said around half of those 32 consents would likely be arable farmers converting at least part of the farm into dairy.

“A number of arable farmers have gone down that path and are converting arable farms to dairy,” Birkett said.

He said low global wheat prices were hurting profitability locally, and animal feed was under increased pressure from imported feeds like palm kernel expeller (PKE).

“It’s a two-sided sword. I guess one, it tugs people out of the arable industry, which means there are less growers. But it also means that are we losing the critical mass of the industry?”

He said the arable industry required a lot of infrastructure collectively, including drying machinery.

“Do we get to a point where that infrastructure can’t be supported because we don’t have the critical mass of the number of growers?

“We’re not at that point yet, but I guess we’re as we lose growers, we are getting closer to that point.”

Farmer David Birkett. RNZ / Conan Young

The Leeston farmer integrated sheep into his own cropping farming system to diversify income, and said strong meat prices were a “godsend”.

“Most people we think are around that break-even point, but a lot of that additional income has probably come from the livestock that they’ve had on farm.”

The lobby group’s latest twice-annual farmer confidence survey in July found that general confidence soared to its highest level in more than a decade.

Eighty-one percent of dairy farmers surveyed were making a profit, versus just one percent making a loss.

However, for arable, 40 percent were making a profit, while 29 percent were making a loss.

This week, Fonterra dropped their farmgate milk payout price forecast for the current season to $9.50 per kilogram of milk solids from $10.

Despite the drop though, dairy could still be considered a strong industry to be in with DairyNZ’s breakeven forecast sitting at $8.68.

For arable, 40 percent were making a profit, while 29 percent were making a loss. ARNE DEDERT

Dairy cow numbers peaked a decade ago

The number of dairy cows nationwide dropped 0.5 percent in 2024/25 over the season to 4.68 million, that’s about 2 percent below the five-year average of 4.75 million, according to DairyNZ’s latest census of the dairy herd.

Meanwhile, milk solids production was up 2.9 percent.

New Zealand’s dairy cow numbers peaked in 2014/2015 at $5.02 million.

Just over 20 percent of the country’s dairy cow population were found in North and South Canterbury alone, at 940,583 cattle collectively.

Compared to the North Island, herd sizes were much larger in the South Island, covering 30 percent of the total dairy herds but 43 percent of the cow population.

What’s behind the temporary ban?

Legislation introduced in 2020 sought to temporarily restrict the expansion of intensive dairy farming, through the National Environmental Standards for Freshwater under the Resource Management Act (RMA).

It was expected that regional councils would introduce new freshwater plans or change existing plans before the dairy conversion moratorium expired in January, ECan said.

But in July, all plan changes were halted by the government in efforts RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said would “stop councils wasting their officers’ time and their ratepayers’ money on”, ahead of an overhaul to the RMA.

Henceforth, consents were no longer required for land use change to dairy, however, they were required for animal effluent discharge.

Legislation replacing the RMA was expected to be introduced to parliament in the next couple of weeks.

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Hot days but reprieve from humid nights coming

Source: Radio New Zealand

Sun and swimmers out in Mission Bay, Auckland. RNZ / Jordan Dunn

Much of the country will continue to experience warm temperatures over the coming days, but thankfully, a reprieve from the warm nights is coming, MetService says.

It was a sweltering day across much of the country on Thursday, with temperatures also exceeded 30°C at Christchurch Airport for a second consecutive day while 33.0°C in Hastings was the day’s hottest spot.

MetService said Auckland recorded its highest November temperate on record of 27.1°C at their Auckland Airport station.

A thunderstorm brought a burst of rain at 5:30am for western parts of the North Island. This will push eastwards but clear up in time for Saturday, MetService said.

MetService head of weather Heather Keats said “we’ve got summer knocking on our door”.

She told Morning Report a heat alert was in place for Napier, which has seen temperatures in the high 20s to early 30s, but are also experiencing warm nights.

“When we issue heat alerts from this time on, for not just warm days, but when it’s really warm over night and you don’t get much of a reprieve.” Keats said.

“… Prolonged heat, especially with the humidity, it makes sleeping very difficult. We know how important it is for temperatures to be at a low level for sleep to be healthy. So, it’s an indication for people who are vulnerable to heat exposure and heat-stroke, to keep them hydrated [and] a good indication to check on elderly… [and] pets.”

Keats said Hastings and Christchurch were close to heat alerts. She said we are still seeing massive swings in weather, for example Christchurch was 15°C on Monday and on Wednesday it was 30°C degrees.

She said Auckland on Friday will be slightly cooler with high of 25°C.

“November has been warm. We’ve seen some very high temperatures, especially out in the eastern side of the country. We’ve had these increased northerly flows, we’ve got humid air masses coming down from the tropics,” Keats said.

“But, we’ve also got warmer then normal sea-surface temperatures to the north and west. We are looking already at like 21 degrees in the Firth Of Thames – that’s around what we’d expect in summer – so, that fuels the temperatures as well.”

Keats said it will continue to be warm for the next few days.

Monday will be the first day of summer, and what that will bring is “anyone’s guess at the moment”, Keats said.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) declared a La Niña event is officially underway in the Pacific for the first time since 2023.

Keats said in New Zealand, we will see more difficult La Niña conditions as we move into December such as warm sea surface temperatures. La Niña, for New Zealand, typically sees more north-easterly winds, moist and rainy conditions for eastern North Island, and reduced rainfall for the lower and western South Island.

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NZ’s longest-serving meat worker retires after 64 years

Source: Radio New Zealand

Supplied

An Otatara man thought to be New Zealand’s longest-serving meat worker retired this month after 64 years in the industry.

Ken McLeod, 80, started in 1962 when he was only 16 at the now-closed Makarewa Meatworks in Southland.

“I was mostly a boner in all those years, and thanks to the Meat Workers Union we got very good money,” he told Morning Report on Friday.

“The money set me up for life and did everything else, and I’ve travelled a lot. I just enjoyed the good money and the hard work involved.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019014635/otatara-meat-worker-retires-after-64-years-on-the-job

He rarely took sick days, and worked his way up to boner, his favourite of the jobs. In the mid-1960s, when he was still a teenager, he was bringing home the modern equivalent of up to $4000 a week.

“I felt like I’d robbed a bank,” McLeod laughed.

“I saw a lot of people waste it. An old fellow who had worked in the works for years, he said, ‘Save half your pay and play out the rest, because he said, you’ll find it’ll be out.’ And that’s what I did.”

As the technology changed, so did the work – not to mention the conditions.

“I know this sounds horrible, but when I first started boning, I was 20 and we only changed clothes twice a week because they had to send the laundry into town or something like that.

“But then a couple of years later, they actually built a laundry and then we changed our laundry every day, which was what it has been ever since.”

Supplied

An early computer brought in to handle payroll was unable to handle the wages – McLeod saying their pay packets had to be split in two because the amounts were too high for the machine to handle.

“We used to laugh, and they had to give us a pay worth gross of £100, and then another one of £20 or £30.”

McLeod eventually ended up at Blue Sky Pastures in 1988, where he has worked ever since. He also rose to become president of the Meat Workers Union.

But preparing meat was not what he originally intended to do with his life.

“I really wanted to join the Army and go to Vietnam, but… my mother wouldn’t sign the papers because you had to have your parents’ consent… I was only 20 at the time.

“But in hindsight it was the best thing because three or four years later I met my wife and I’ve been happily married for 56 years and [had] two lovely girls and they’re happily married and gave us four lovely grandchildren. So I’ve been very lucky in that respect.”

Supplied

While the tough physical work has taken its toll McLeod has no plans to slow down, and intends to spend his retirement staying active with walking, fishing, deer hunting and maintaining his house.

While sheep farming is not what it once was in New Zealand, McLeod predicts a comeback.

“When I started there was 70 million sheep in New Zealand. Now there’s only about 23 or 25 [million]. There’s been massive changes, in Southland three of the big works have all closed down… they’ve all closed and there’s only the big Alliance works with four chains left…

“But there is hopefully a revival of sheep meat because the price for lamb this year is very good and wool’s actually gone up in price, so there may be a swing back to more sheep farming and hopefully there is.”

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Business confidence rises to highest level in 11 years

Source: Radio New Zealand

123RF

  • Business confidence jumps as firms report better past activity
  • The closely followed measure of expected own activity also rose to its highest in more than a decade
  • One-year ahead inflation expectations steady

Business confidence has jumped to its highest level in 11 years.

The ANZ Business Outlook survey showed headline confidence rising nine points to net 67 percent confidence in November.

The more closely followed measure of businesses’ expected own activity also rose to the highest level in more than a decade – increasing eight points to net 53 percent.

ANZ said reported past activity, the best indicator of economic growth in the survey, also looked brighter for every sector except construction, although it too was off its lows.

“Green shoots are looking well established, if this month’s survey is anything to go by,” ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner said.

“It is particularly encouraging that the improvement in sentiment is rooted in an improvement in experienced activity, not just hope.”

Zollner said “things are looking up”.

Inflation expectations were steady, with one-year ahead inflation expectations at 2.69 percent.

“With the recovery underway and CPI inflation at the top of the target band, we don’t expect the RBNZ [Reserve Bank of New Zealand] to cut the OCR again this cycle barring unexpected developments,” Zollner said.

Other inflation indicators in the survey showed the net percentage of firms expecting to raise prices in the next three months rising to its highest level since March.

But those expecting cost increases eased marginally.

Regionally, ANZ said Wellington remained the weakest for both experienced and expected activity, although it also improved.

It said the lift in past activity was broad-based across the regions, but was strong in Auckland and the South Island outside of Canterbury.

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SailGP: Burling confident of competing in grand final despite serious finger gash

Source: Radio New Zealand

Black Foils skipper Peter Burling. Photosport

Black Foils driver Peter Burling is confident he’ll be on board for this weekend’s SailGP grand final in Abu Dhabi.

The New Zealanders are second in the standings, but Burling is in doubt after slicing a finger which required hospital attention.

Burling missed practice on Thursday (local time) as a precaution after cutting his right index finger while trying to fix an issue with a daggerboard during training on Wednesday.

Peter Burling, co-CEO and driver of Black Foils SailGP Team looks on after sustaining a finger injury, Abu Dhabi, 2025. Christopher Pike for SailGP / Supplied

Black Foils strategist Liv Mackay stepped in to drive the boat, while the team will assess Burling’s situation before deciding who will control the boat in Friday’s practice.

Burling admitted the timing was far from ideal as the Black Foils attempt to win their first SailGP title.

“We’ll just kind of monitor the situation as it goes. It’s not the ideal way to build up to the Grand Final, but we feel like the team’s in great shape and it’s now about doing everything I can to recover and make sure I’m ready to go,” he told SailGP.

Burling attended Thursday’s media conference with a heavily bandaged finger and was asked if there was a chance he could miss racing this weekend.

“It depends who you talk to, but I’m sure I’ll figure out how to be there.

“These kind of things can happen to anyone throughout the season and you’ve got to be able to deal with them, so that’s what we’re working through.”

The Black Foils lie second in the overall standings, three points behind leaders Great Britain and two points ahead of Australia.

To make the three-team Grand Final in Abu Dhabi this weekend the New Zealanders have to finish sixth or better in the fleet racing part of the Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Burling has been voted the winner of the MVP category in the 2025 SailGP Fan Awards.

Burling recently commented [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/579918/peter-burling-says-control-team-new-zealand-wanted-over-him-was-just-crazy on his departure from the Team New Zealand America’s Cup syndicate, saying the control Team New Zealand wanted over him was “just crazy”.

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Matildas v Football Ferns: What you need to know about Friday night’s game

Source: Radio New Zealand

Football Ferns will end the year against their most familiar rival. Photosport

Matildas v Football Ferns

Friday, 28 November

Kick-off 9.30pm

Polytec Stadium, Gosford, Australia

Live blog updates on RNZ Sport

The Football Ferns will end the year against a side brimming with stars and a nation that they have not beaten in more than 30 years.

Two games against the Matildas in Australia would be a stern test for the New Zealanders as they look ahead to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027, for which qualifying starts early next year.

Fifteenth in the FIFA rankings the Matildas were a long way ahead of the 33rd ranked Football Ferns and history is on the Australians’ side.

The Football Ferns have faced Australia 53 times, which was more than any other opponent, with the Australians winning three times as often as the New Zealanders over the years. The last time New Zealand beat the trans-Tasman rivals was in 1994 in Port Moresby.

This series would be a homecoming for one of the Matildas’ biggest names, Sam Kerr. Kerr returned to the national side in October after a lay-off with an ACL injury and the Football Ferns games will be her first games at home in two years.

Australian footballer Sam Kerr. PHOTOSPORT

Form

The last time the two sides met was in a 2022 two-match series, with the Matildas winning 2-1 and 3-1 on their home soil.

Both teams were active in the last international window last month with the Football Ferns playing Mexico, twice, and the Olympic champion United States for three losses.

New Zealand failed to score a goal and conceded nine.

The Matildas beat Wales in the last window 2-1 and then lost to England 3-0.

Bigger picture

The games against Australia would be the Football Ferns’ final hitout before the Oceania qualifiers for the Football World Cup which kick off in February and March next year.

The Football Ferns play Samoa and Solomon Islands in the early part of the qualification process.

Whereas, for the Matildas this international window was the last before next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup which will be hosted in Australia. For that 12-team tournament Australia were grouped with South Korea, Iran and Philippines.

What they are saying

Football Ferns coach Michael Mayne said he wanted his side to avoid the “trap” of the pressure of chasing the first win over the Matildas in many of the players’ lifetime.

“Once you start to get into that the emotion starts to play the game as opposed to sticking to what I’m wanting to see from the players.

“They hold all of the cards in terms of previous performances, you can look at their squad, look for where their coach as come from, on paper they are a very strong group and we know that but we spend very little time focusing on them because that only drives the things I don’t want to drive within this group and how they approach it.”

Matildas coach Joe Montemurro said that this was an important window for the squad.

“We have selected a squad of experienced leaders who know what it means to represent Australia, as well as younger players who will be crucial to our ongoing success.

“The goal is to create a strong and competitive environment where we can test combinations and ensure that each time we step onto the pitch, we are ready to perform at our best.”

Squads

Football Ferns: Liz Anton, CJ Bott, Kelli Brown, Claudia Bunge, Olivia Chance, Milly Clegg, Victoria Esson, Michaela Foster, Ally Green, Maya Hahn, Jacqui Hand, Betsy Hassett, Deven Jackson, Katie Kitching, Anna Leat, Annalie Longo, Meikayla Moore, Emma Pijnenburg, Gabi Rennie, Indiah-Paige Riley, Alina Santos, Kate Taylor, Lara Wall, Grace Wisnewski.

Matildas: Mackenzie Arnold, Ellie Carpenter, Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross, Caitlin Foord, Katrina Gorry, Charlotte Grant, Winonah Heatley, Michelle Heyman, Clare Hunt, Kahli Johnson, Alanna Kennedy, Sam Kerr, Chloe Lincoln, Holly McNamara, Teagan Micah, Courtney Nevin, Hayley Raso, Amy Sayer, Remy Siemsen, Kaitlyn Torpey, Emily Van Egmond, Clare Wheeler, Tameka Yallop

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Hong Kong high-rise fire: Similar renovations at Kiwi’s apartment building

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents check clothing donated for them after a major fire swept through several apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on November 27, 2025. AFP / Dale De la Rey

A New Zealander living in Hong Kong says the deadly apartment building fires have left him feeling he’s had a lucky escape.

The blaze that spread throughout a massive Tai Po housing complex ripped though bamboo scaffolding and mesh netting put up for renovations, [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/580234/hong-kong-s-deadliest-blaze-in-decades-kills-at-least-83-scores-missing

killing more than 80 people, with hundreds more still missing.

In Hong Kong, bamboo has long been the material of choice for scaffolding because it’s cheap, abundant and flexible.

Michael Rudman said he and his family live in a high rise that’s part of group of nine buildings which have recently been renovated.

“They were also clad in bamboo and the net scaffolds for about a year and a half, that was only taken off three or four months ago,” he said.

“When the bamboo’s up, you don’t really think about that, it’s only when a disaster happens you think … that could have been my building.”

People watch the still burning Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on November 27, 2025. AFP / Peter Parks

Rudman lives on Lantau Island, on the opposite side of Hong Kong.

“I was just relieved that my family was safe, but I really feel for those guys and everyone in Tai Po,” he said.

Rudman’s neighbours are renovating their property at present, and they have bamboo scaffolding up while the air conditioning is being replaced.

He understood the bamboo scaffolding industry was on its way out, and there would be a transition to metal, but he was not sure when.

During renovations it was normal for the entire building to be clad, he said.

“They basically block all the windows so you have to look through nets,” he said.

In March, the Hong Kong government announced half of all new public works contracts would use metal scaffolding, following the deaths of more than 20 bamboo scaffolders between 2019 and 2024.

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Why New Zealand failed to reach its Smokefree 2025 target

Source: Radio New Zealand

“If you match a tobacco cigarette in a joint in terms of the same size and smoked in the same way, cannabis results in five times higher levels of carbon monoxide” – physician and academic Richard Beasley. Elsa Olofsson

New Zealand was once a world leader in getting people to give up cigarettes, but we seem to have pulled up the brakes

In 34 days we hit the deadline for our world-leading ambitions to get our smoking rate down to less than five percent of the population.

To reach that Smokefree 2025 target we need 120,000 people to quit smoking pretty much immediately.

“That’s about 63,000 Māori, 21,000 Pasifika, 35,000 Europeans needed to quit,” says Chris Bullen, Auckland University public health professor and a leading researcher in the smokefree Aotearoa sector.

We’re not going to make it, but have we failed?

It depends on who you are, says Bullen.

“It’s come down and spectacularly so for certain populations,” he says.

Pākehā women living in high income suburbs have already reached the goal – that demographic is well below five percent.

For Māori it is three times the five percent target, Pasifika smokers are double the desired number.

Should we aim for Smokefree 2030?

Today, The Detail looks at why we missed the goal, the impact of this government’s removal of smokefree protections introduced by the previous Labour government under the Smokefree Action Plan, and what is next in the tobacco control battle.

When Smokefree 2025 was launched around 2011/2012 after a recommendation from the Māori Affairs Selection Committee, around 16.4 percent of adult New Zealanders smoked.

The latest figures from the annual NZ Health Survey show that figure is now 6.8 percent, similar to the previous year but down from 11.9 percent in 2019/20.

Some say we should celebrate what we’ve achieved, and they rubbish the latest rankings in the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, which has seen us plummet from second to 53rd place.

But dig into the numbers and they reveal deep inequities with Māori smoking rates at 15 percent and Pasifika at 10.3 percent.

“It’s an absolute failure and I think the present government’s been particularly bad in doing it,” says Anaru Waa, associate professor at Otago University based in Wellington. His research focuses on how we can eliminate tobacco-related harm among whānau Māori.

He’d like to see our Smokefree aim shifted out to 2030, and for it to be not just smoke-free but nicotine-free, because of all the new nicotine products on the market.

Bullen says the launch of Smokefree 2025 around 13 years ago was a breakthrough.

“It was an important lesson for me was that setting goals and targets can be very powerful,” says Bullen. “But it was also a lesson in that it seemed so far away, that for politicians on a three-year electoral cycle it was somebody else’s issue to grapple with.”

“So I guess they thought they’d just get a free ride because smoking was going out of fashion and by 2025 it would be a thing of the past. Of course it’s not.”

Bullen says there’s been cross party support for the idea and ongoing tobacco tax increases and regulations such as smokefree cars and indoor spaces all add up to incremental changes.

“But it was not until Ayesha Verrell (former Labour Health Minister) took up the cause and said 2025 is almost upon us, we need to do something. And that’s where the action plan was promoted and became law, very briefly, until it was repealed when the coalition government took power.”

Labour’s Smokefree 2025 Action Plan included three key measures; banning the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2009, slashing the number of tobacco retailers and cutting 95 percent of the nicotine from cigarettes.

But before the measures came into force the legislation supporting them was repealed by the Coalition Government.

Bullen says the policy was supported by the majority of New Zealanders in polling and by the vast majority of healthcare professionals. The repeal mobilised protestors with placards to the streets.

He says the repeal cannot entirely be blamed for the failure to hit the Smokefree target across the population but it sent a subtle message to smokers, “to say, you know our foot’s gone off the accelerator pedal, maybe it’s not so bad”.

The removal of targets for GPs and hospitals to give brief advice and support to people to quit smoking, also had an impact.

“Different governments do these things for various other reasons but that has had a measurable decline in the number of referrals coming to smoking cessation services from GPs.

“The whole system has to work together and I don’t think we’ve had a co ordinated, focussed system that’s really messaged loudly that we have got a goal as a nation and it’s something we can do collectively to support each other to get to that goal. That voice hasn’t been shouted loudly enough.”

The associate health minister Casey Costello has defended the government’s policies and called the Smokefree target ‘ambitious’. She has pointed to the latest figures that show that smoking among young people is below 3.2 percent as the best news.

“That’s exactly what we wanted our young people to see. We wanted our young people not to start,” she has said.

But Anaru Waa says New Zealand’s policies are not keeping up with the new products that are constantly being developed by the tobacco industry designed to hook young people.

“Nicotine drinks, nicotine gummy bears, you name it, just shove nicotine in it and you’ve got a hooked population.

“These aren’t nicotine replacement therapies with low nicotine ….. nicotine is a very highly addictive drug and the industries are awfully good at making it palatable and easy to get addicted to very quickly, then you tend to have the addiction for life.”

He says to achieve the Smokefree goal the measures that were scrapped by this government need to be returned but he also wants strict policies to extend further to products including vapes, with the ultimate aim of shutting out the tobacco industry.

“For some people who can’t quit it (vaping) might be an alternative but we also know that most of the people taking up vapes are youth and young adults and a lot of them have never smoked at all.

“These are the new generation of people using nicotine products and I’m thinking in 20 or 30 years time they’ll wonder why they were thrown under the bus at a time we could have prevented that.”

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

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‘There’s nothing we opposed’: Board responds to outrage over Eden Park events

Source: Radio New Zealand

Six60 perform the first concert at Eden Park. Supplied/Six60

Albert-Eden Local Board’s chairperson says they’re are not opposed to more events at Eden Park after being put in the firing line by businesses.

The government is seeking feedback from the public and the council on its plan to increase the number of gigs at the venue to 12 large and 20 medium concerts a year.

On Thursday, the Dominion Road Business Association criticised the Local Board for not supporting the proposal.

The Local Board’s Margi Watson, however, told Morning Report on Friday that the business community and the public’s reaction was based on an incomplete record of information.

“We very much supported a lot that was in the proposal, there was nothing that we opposed,” Watson said. “What we raised was some concerns that we had about some of the things that pop up on a regular basis related to large events at Eden Park, and we asked that was considered and looked at.”

She said the mix-up may have arisen from people seeing an initial document put up on the council website, but did not read what the board’s view was in totality that was later loaded on the website.

“I think there’s some hysteria about what we’ve said and the views,” she said.

Watson raised concerns about traffic management during events.

Watson said large events would often blocked off access for some people in the neighbourhood, and required the diversion of key bus routes.

She said she’s not sure if Eden Park’s suggestion to provide carparking to 1500 cars on site would improve congestion.

Watson said they want to see a review of the traffic management plans, and they’d like to see more done around “integrated ticketing” – such as when tickets to big events would include bus and train fares.

She said she understands that Eden Park is planning to have conversations next week about reviewing the traffic management plan, and she looks forward to what comes out of that discussion.

Watson said Auckland Council will be sending feedback to the minister, including the Local Board’s view around noise and traffic, and an economic report – covering “assumptions about economic growth in the area” – and a noise report abut the impacts of moving from 12 large events to a greater number of small to medium events.

She said the Local Board has historically supported a range of changes at Eden Park, including the increase to 12 concerts which was approved last year, the later finishing of sporting events and concerts, and the diversifying of the use of the venue.

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Advocate rejects MPs claims schools were pressured to reaffirm commitment to Te Tiriti

Source: Radio New Zealand

The tino rangatiratanga haki (flag) outside Parliament on the day of the Treaty Principles Bill introduction. RNZ / Emma Andrews

Campaigners have rejected statements from the Education Minister that schools are being pressured to reaffirm their commitment to Te Tiriti.

As of 27 November, more than 1300 schools have publicly reaffirmed they will continue giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi – despite the government removing school boards’ Treaty requirement from the Education and Training Act.

The movement of support for Te Tiriti from kura has grown rapidly in recent weeks through Te Rārangi Rangatira, a list compiled by lawyer Tania Waikato.

Waikato previously told RNZ the surge of support from kura sent a clear message that “everything this government is doing to try and remove Te Tiriti…is being resisted”.

“It’s totally organic. It’s not being led by any particular person or movement. It is a wonderful expression of kotahitanga.”

A map of schools who are committed to giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been described as “disgusting behaviour” by the Education Minister. Supplied

In recent days, the list has drawn criticism from the government MPs.

Education Minister Erica Stanford previously told media that while the Treaty requirement was being removed from legislation, kura were “absolutely welcome” to uphold Te Tiriti if they wished.

However, she also said she had heard from principals who felt “very unfair” and “nasty” pressure to sign the statements.

“Quite often they’re signing up when in fact it wasn’t something that they particularly wanted to do,” she said.

“But they feel that there’s pressure on them from certain people in society. And I think it’s frankly disgusting the behaviour, creating maps around the country and lists that people feel that they have to be on otherwise, you know, they’ll be maligned.”

She said “that kind of behaviour is awful”.

National Party MP for Tauranga Sam Uffindell’s Facebook social media post has sparked backlash online from Te Tiriti o Waitangi advocates. Supplied / Screenshot facebook

In a Facebook post on Thursday, National MP for Tauranga Sam Uffindell described the statements from schools as “frankly disgusting” and alleged that unions were “standing over principals” to pressure them to sign.

“Unions are standing over principals and school boards pressuring them to sign their anti-govt pledge. Frankly disgusting,” he wrote.

Waikato said kura, boards and principals’ associations had been sending in statements from across the motu of their own accord, and rejected suggestions of union involvement.

“My response to claims that the schools on Te Rārangi Rangatira were somehow pressured into signing up by imaginary union standovers or ‘nasty’ pressure is that the minister is now grasping at straws because the extremely unpopular policy that she didn’t consult widely on is being very firmly and very publicly rejected,” she told RNZ.

“Every single teacher, principal and proud parent that has contacted us… has done so voluntarily. Nobody forced them or pressured them.”

She compared the criticism to ACT leader David Seymour’s earlier suggestion that thousands of submissions opposing the Regulatory Standards Bill were written by “bots”.

“But even he has now backtracked… and recognised the right of these schools to exercise their freedom to choose to give effect to TeTiriti.”

Waikato said comments by Stanford and Uffindell characterising the growing list as “frankly disgusting” or “anti-government” were “concerning” and did not reflect what she was seeing.

“This isn’t the unions. It’s the people. They are speaking.

“None of the statements I’ve received have come from unions… they’re from schools, boards, churches and principals’ associations, including many in Tauranga,” she said.

“To say this is some anti-government pledge ignores what the minister herself has said – that schools are free to continue giving effect to Te Tiriti if they choose.”

A growing number of schools across Aotearoa are reaffirming their commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, despite the government removing school boards’ Treaty requirement from the Education and Training Act. Supplied

She noted 21 collective statements on the list represented large principals’ associations, including more than 400 Auckland principals.

“What I can say with 100 percent certainty is that this list is voluntary and nobody has, or could, force a school to sign. The entire notion is preposterous.”

Waikato said people only had to take a moment to read a few of the hundreds and hundreds of letters from the schools on the growing list “to understand what it signals about those schools and their stance on Te Tiriti”.

“The core theme repeated over and over again is that Te Tiriti is our founding constitutional document. Period.”

Waikato said Te Tiriti o Waitangi “is not a political football or a compliance task”.

“‘It is a living covenant that calls us into right relationship with one another – a moral partnership grounded in justice, dignity and respect for the mana of all peoples’. That is a direct quote from the letter written by Aquinas College in Tauranga. And I think it speaks volumes about what Te Tiriti means to these schools.”

Education Minister Erica Stanford. RNZ / Mark Papalii

RNZ approached Stanford for further comment and was referred to her stand-up on Tuesday where she reinforced her commitment to “fight for our kids”.

“My message to schools is what we expect is achievement to improve, especially for our tamariki Māori and if those schools are doing all of the things that we’re asking of them in section 127, including offering to being culturally responsive and ensuring that tamariki Māori have equal outcomes, and then if they wish to… honour the treaty or uphold the treaty over and above that, then they’re absolutely welcome to do that.”

RNZ has also gone to Uffindell for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand