Public Media – Page 564

The 240 Gull and NPD sites throughout the country would maintain their original distinctive brand if the merger goes ahead. Supplied/ NPD

Fuel companies NPD and Gull have announced plans to merge national operations.

While still subject to Commerce Commission approval, the move would combine NPD and Gull sites, teams and supply chains to form the largest independent, majority Kiwi-owned fuel company.

Each of their combined 240 sites would maintain it’s distinctive brand – Gull sites are most common in the North Island, and NPD in the South, the companies said in a statement released on Christmas Day.

The South Island-based Sheridan family would own fifty percent, with Barry Sheridan, the current NPD owner and chief executive, to become the head of the new company.

Australasian private equity firm Allegro Funds, which owns Gull, would hold the other half.

The Gull station in New Lynn, West Auckland Google Maps

The companies said the move should drive down pump prices, with Sheridan saying both companies were focused on making it easy for customers to pay less.

“NPD started doing so more than 55 years ago and Gull started shaking up the market 25 years ago,” he said. “Together, we’ll do even more, so motorists pay less.”

The companies had a combined staff of 130, and a combined buying power of one billion litres of fuel a year.

Gull chief executive Dan Gilbert said: “Joining forces means we’ll be everywhere, accelerating what we can do for more customers in more places.”

Duplicating systems and sharing services would help the new company continue to deliver market leading competitive pricing to motorists, the statement said.

The parties said they had already engaged with the Commerce Commission, and an application for clearance would be registered in January.

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

December 25, 2025

Christmas Day marked with reflection, fun and shared lunch

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealanders are celebrating Christmas Day throughout the country, with traditional family get togethers, shared meals, gift giving and Christmas trees.

Here’s some of what Christmas looks like this year.

Auckland’s Catholic bishop Steve Lowe says Christians at home and around the world have been gathering in places of worship to remember the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Day marks the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ in the Christian calendar.

“It’s a day for us which holds great hope, and I think at the moment our world needs a lot of that – and the Prince of Peace can bring that,” Lowe says.

It’s an important and hopeful time for everyone, not just Christians.

“Whether you’re a Christian, or whatever other faith – or no faith at all, it’s a great day to think about peace and the desire for peace, in our world and in our homes.”

Read more Christmas stories: Anchors, camels and kayaks – a less traditional Christmas for Kiwi travellers

Sharing the Christmas love

Auckland’s City Mission is providing Christmas Day lunch to scores more people than last year.

It will host hundreds of rough sleepers, City Mission residents, and people who would otherwise be alone.

The dining area was set up yesterday and the chef has been carving ham this morning.

Head of fundraising Joe Rich says there were about 450 people last year but the Mission is prepared for 600 later today.

It will be a traditional big Christmas meal of ham, vegetables, pavlova and treats, he says.

Servers dishing up lunch, at Auckland City Mission’s Christmas in 2023. RNZ / Felix Walton

Subdued pre-Christmas spending

Today, New Zealand houses are filled with the sounds of presents being unwrapped, Christmas meals being prepared and enjoyed, and toasts to the day. But yesterday, the ching ching of cash registers resounded everywhere.

Christmas Eve was the busiest shopping day of the year, with just under 10,000 sales a minute at its peak.

Payments company Worldline says the peak was midday to 1pm, when more than 563,000 sales were recorded on its network.

The company does not have a value for the spending, but says the peak number of transactions was the lowest in the past six years and well shy of the record 679,000 in 2019.

Worldline noted sales picked up last week, but overall pre-Christmas shopping was lower than a year ago.

Read more: ‘Easier to get growth out of an economic hole’ – Did we survive 2025?

Christmas Day power cut

More than 1000 Christchurch residents awoke to no power on Christmas morning.

Power company Orion said 1400 properties in the suburbs of Beckenham, Cashmere, Huntsbury, St Martins, and Sydenham were affected. But the lights and power were back on by about 9am.

Santa fun run

Supplied / Ryan Watts Photo

Earlier in December, a sea of red flooded Hobsonville on 18 December, as hundreds of Santas in sneakers dashed for cash, for a good cause.

The inaugural 5 kilometre fun run and walk was organised by the Early Bird Run Crew and raised funds for West Auckland Hospice.

Nearly 600 runners showed up.

Club founder Duncan Oswald said themed runs and dressing up for events made it a lot of fun and the cause they had chosen to support touched a personal note with many of the crew who were involved.

Supplied / Ryan Watts Photo

Teo enjoying retirement and Christmas at home

Teo under the Christmas tree, back home. Supplied / NZ Police

Teo the police dog has worked to fight crime for seven years, but was retired after being injured in early October from falling into hot geothermal water during a search operation in Rotorua.

She has been nursed back to health by a team of vets and nurses, and her handler Constable Adam Johannsen.

Johannsen says Teo’s just about back to full health now, and is home for Christmas.

“She’s quite a remarkable dog and just doesn’t give up,” he said.

Christmas trees decorating city centres

Auckland’s Te Manaaki Christmas tree, has been lit up since early December. Supplied / Sacha Stejko

Auckland’s Britomart is home to the 18.5m Te Manaaki Christmas tree. This year it is bedecked with 10,000 LEDs, 200 stainless steel baubles, and thousands of flowers.

Reactions to it have been mixed, with some loving the decorations jollying up the city centre, and others not convinced.

People RNZ spoke to in Dunedin were also unconvinced by their city’s tree, in The Octagon.

While a tree constructed by volunteers in Featherston was destroyed by vandals.

The handmade, sustainable Christmas tree in Featherston, before it was damaged. Supplied

The tree display in The Octagon, Dunedin. RNZ / Tess Brunton

In Wellington, the city council has put up three large Christmas trees in different spots, including a film-themed tree in Courtenay Place, a sea-themed tree on Queen’s Wharf, and a more traditional tree in the city centre’s Midland Park. The city’s well-loved Bucket Fountain was also decorated for Christmas.

The Queen’s Wharf tree was decorated with seagull and sailboat ornaments. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

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

December 25, 2025

Aeroplane crashes into house in Pauanui

Source: Radio New Zealand

Supplied/ Paul Baker

A small plane has crashed into a house in the holiday hotspot of Pauanui, on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Police said about 9:10am on Christmas day they received reports of a small plane crashing into an unoccupied house on Harvard Court, next to Pauanui Airfield.

Two people are being treated for moderate injuries.

Fire and Emergency shift manager Lauren Sika says a crew is in attendance and all people involved are accounted for.

Supplied/ Paul Baker

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

December 25, 2025

Two injured in stabbing, police say

Source: Radio New Zealand

(File photo) RNZ

Two people are injured following a stabbing in Ngaruawahia, north of Hamilton, late on Christmas Eve, police say.

Emergency services were called to a commercial premises on Market Street, about 11 pm on Wednesday.

Two people were taken to hospital in moderate condition.

Police are investigating.

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

December 25, 2025

Christmas Day brings wet and windy weather for some

Source: Radio New Zealand

MetService said a front was moving northwards over the South Island into early Christmas morning. Screenshot / MetService

It’s set to be a wet and windy Christmas Day for parts of the South Island, with heavy rain forecast for the west coast, and gales expected in Canterbury.

MetService said a front was moving northwards over the South Island into early Christmas morning, but would then become slow moving around the northern parts of the island.

Orange heavy rain warnings are in place for the ranges in Buller, Westland and Grey districts (from Arthurs Pass northwards) and the Canterbury Headwaters (also from Arthurs Pass northwards) from early Thursday morning, with thunderstorms possible.

Heavy rain watches have been issued for the Tasman District, the ranges of the Westland District (from Mount Cook to Arthurs Pass), and the Canterbury Headwaters (also from Mount Cook to Arthurs Pass). There is a moderate chance these watches will be upgraded to warnings.

A strong wind watch is also in place for the Canterbury High Country and near the foothills until 9am, with MetService warning that the northwest winds may approach severe gale in exposed places.

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

December 25, 2025

All alight: Final train departs Melling Station ahead of RiverLink upgrades

Source: Radio New Zealand

Melling Station. Supplied / Metlink

A Lower Hutt train station has seen its last service for about three years ahead of major infrastructure works.

The final service between Wellington and Melling train stations ran at 6.37pm on Wednesday.

Greater Wellington Regional Council said the infrastructure project, Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi RiverLink – which included flood protection, river restoration, and public transport upgrades – would also see the Melling station building relocated.

It said while the Melling Line would remain open during construction, trains would stop at the Western Hutt Station, where the 370 or so weekday Melling passengers would be met by public transport alternatives.

The council said the closure would result in short term disruption for passengers but would help revitalise the city.

It said the reopening of the new Melling Station was planned to coincide with a new City Link pedestrian and cycling bridge, to create a direct connection between Lower Hutt city centre and the station.

Greater Wellington chair Daran Ponter, who was on board for the final journey alongside several of the region’s politicians, said it was a bittersweet moment.

“Melling Station has served the Hutt Valley community for decades, and while we farewell its current location, we look forward to a future where the station is part of a modern, resilient transport network.”

The council’s public transport committee chair, Ros Connelly, said the regional council had anticipated increased bus and train use during construction, due to increased road congestion.

“Additional Park and Ride spaces will be available at Petone Station, and bus routes 145 and 149 will be rerouted to connect with Waterloo Station, where fares to Wellington remain the same.

“We’re also adding bike racks at key stations to support active travel,” she said.

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

December 25, 2025

Why it’s rare to give birth on Christmas

Source: Radio New Zealand

On Christmas morning in 1975, 20-year-old Lee Scanlon was partially sedated, in labour with twins, and flying in a light aircraft through a thunderstorm over the West Coast.

“I can remember a big bump at one stage and thinking, ‘oh, the plane’s crashed. Good’,” she says, laughing now.

After being in labour since the afternoon on Christmas Eve with no progress, she had to be airlifted to Greymouth Hospital, but helicopters weren’t an option then.

Lee Scanlon says she made sure Glen and Sean were at no disadvantage for having a Christmas birthday.

Supplied / Lee Scanlon

. Inside the hospital, they found a scene that feels unthinkable now.

“There was wine bottles and festive fare all around,” her husband told her. “I think they had to pull some of the staff out of the Christmas party for the delivery.”

That evening, twins Sean and Glen were born. Their birthday is one of the least common in New Zealand, second only to 29 February in leap years. Stats NZ insights analyst Rebekah Hennessey says about 11,000 New Zealanders celebrate such a birthday, compared with just under 15,000 on an average day.

Do you have a Christmas birthday? Share your story with us at life.ent@rnz.co.nz

Over the past decade, about 110 babies have been born each Christmas Day on average, compared with about 160 on a typical date. Last year, that figure for 25 December sat at 103. It’s a similar story for other public holidays that don’t shift (Anzac Day and Waitangi). Boxing Day ranks in third place for least popular, while New Year’s Day and early January are also quieter.

By contrast, the most common day to give birth was 27 March last year, when 213 babies were born. (Although, the most popular birthdays are usually clustered between late September and early October.)

Throw in the mix that twins make up a small percentage of pregnancies in New Zealand. There were just 561 sets of twins born in 1974 compared with 771 in 2024 – a 37 percent increase, according to Stats NZ.

Why are Christmas birthdays not common?

Auckland obstetrician Kathleen Antony says planned inductions and caesarean sections are often scheduled to avoid public holidays. C-sections alone made up about a third of births last year. But parents’ preferences may also play a part, she says.

“I’ve had a lot of patients or parents express to me that … they don’t wish for their child to have that particular birthday, because they don’t get as much attention or individual attention on their birthday, because it is a major public holiday.”

There’s also a more speculative theory: that large family gatherings over the holidays may affect hormone levels and the likelihood of spontaneous labour, Antony says, but this hasn’t been well studied.

How do you celebrate a birth-mas?

For those born on 25 December, the bigger question is often how the day is celebrated. Getting just one present and family or friends forgetting it’s your special day or away on holidays can be among the points of contention. But Scanlon, Westport News co-owner and chief reporter, says she was determined her twins wouldn’t miss out.

Glen and Sean Scanlon celebrating their seventh birthday on Christmas.

Supplied / Lee Scanlon

“They used to joke when they were getting older, they’d say, ‘Oh, we always missed out. We never got proper presents because our birthday was at Christmas’. That was rubbish. They always had their separate birthday, their separate birthday cake and their friends [invited] to that birthday…

“I made their birthday cakes, and they got exactly what any other kid would get.”

But as they got older, there was less of a fanfare, she says.

“Now the joke is in our family that, occasionally, people forget on Christmas Day and say, ‘oh, Merry Christmas’ and then they remember a couple of hours later, ‘oh, happy birthday!'”

Hennessey, from Stats NZ, has a friend whose son turns 12 this Christmas. They start the “birth-mas” with cake for breakfast before the day turns into a festive celebration for the family.

Antony, the Auckland obstetrician, has a cousin born on Christmas Day who loves it.

“He sees the celebration as a kind of extension of his birthday. He likes having everyone come around and that we gather together and we sing and we have a feast,” she says. “But I can see other people not wanting to share the birthday. I can see the different points of view.”

Even being born near Christmas can be tricky. Antony says one of her own children, born in late December, struggles to plan parties because friends are often away on holiday.

Christmas birthdays can certainly bring a unique set of challenges to an expectant mother and the child as they grow. But despite the chaos of that day in 1975, and having to spend a festive period in labour, Scanlon wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I think I was really lucky to have them on a special day,” she says. “Their brother was born on Labour Weekend. We only have babies on special days in our family,” she jokes.

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

December 25, 2025

What makes Chris Knox’s Seizure an essential album

Source: Radio New Zealand

Before suffering a serious stroke in 2009, Chris Knox was one of our most prolific and provocative music-makers.

It might say something about the nature of New Zealand that a person can go from being an iconoclast to a household name without having fundamentally changed anything about who they are or what they do.

Or does that just say something about the artist that is Chris Knox?

Chris Knox – Seizure

Essential New Zealand AlbumsSeason 5 / Episode 3

Chris Knox in 1996.

Barbara Ward (private collection)

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Knox had spent more than a decade alternately entertaining and terrorising his audiences when his song ‘Not Given Lightly’ first appeared in 1989.

It was a track on his album Seizure and went on to become one of this country’s favourite wedding songs, as well as the soundtrack to a long-running television ad for a well-known brand of bread.

But while ‘Not Given Lightly’ represents just one facet of his work, Seizure isn’t a bad place to start for a broader appreciation of this unique New Zealand voice.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

On the 1989 album, you’ll find all the elements that characterised Knox’s music throughout his career.

There’s lots of blaring barre chords and fuzz tone guitar, and songs that speak plainly, sometimes humorously, other times shockingly, about the human condition, all wrapped in the lo-tech DIY production that Knox favoured as a matter of principle.

But there’s also a strong melodic element to his music which harks back to the ’60s pop he grew up with, especially that of The Beatles, as you can hear in ‘Face Of Fashion’, the album’s opening track.

Chris Knox in the original album cover of ‘Seizure’.

Flying Nun

Interestingly, while Knox is regarded as the pioneer of home-recording, much of Seizurewas, in fact, made in conventional studios – though not necessarily in a conventional way.

With a busy tape loop and barre chords played on a fuzz-tone guitar, ’Statement Of Intent’ articulates his position in terms of the music business.

‘The New Zealand music industry just don’t have a clue/they have a low (or no) opinion of poor geeks like me and you…‘ the song begins, while in the chorus he sings: ‘I won’t be led astray/I won’t be damned/I won’t be held in thrall by your multi-national hand’.

In the song he calls ‘Voyeur’, Knox gestures towards a full-scale pop production with little more than his own multi-tracked voice. At times, he seems to be suggesting parts with his vocals that one can imagine played by a whole range of other instruments.

Chris Knox in a promo shot for the Beat album, 2000.

AudioCulture

For Knox, making music was always more than just entertainment. It was personal expression and a platform for his own obsessions and fascinations, which weren’t the typical stuff of songs.

One of his recurring fascinations is with body parts and bodily functions. You could call it grotesque realism. It’s as though he’s holding a mirror up to humanity and saying, ignore the images you see on television, billboards or magazine covers: this is what we really look like, how we think, and who we really are.

Chris Knox with his Bolex camera filming ‘Turning Brown and Torn in Two’ in Auckland, 1983.

Alec Bathgate (private collection)

Yet more often, he turns the mirror on himself.

Knox is epileptic, a fact he references in the album’s title. And he evokes the experience of a seizure, and more broadly discusses his feelings about his own epilepsy, in ‘Grand Mal’.

But his concern with bodies and their functions also leads him to thoughts about gender and the roles that conventions around gender impose on us.

In 1989, there weren’t many people writing songs like ‘The Woman Inside of Me’, or the starkly titled ‘Rapist’. If he is essentially declaring himself a born-again feminist here, he is also acknowledging the potential predator within.

Chris Knox performing at the Mainstreet Cabaret on Auckland’s Queen Street.

Murray Cammick

The other side of these dark ruminations is ‘Not Given Lightly’, not only his best-known song but surely up there with ‘Pōkarekare Ana’ as one of Aotearoa’s greatest love songs.

Never one to settle for glib sentiment, in the song’s closing verse, he memorably sings that writing a love song wasn’t easy and that he may never write another one.

But in fact, Seizure does have other love songs. And through the wall of looped percussion and fuzzed guitar of ‘Filling Me’ you will hear him declare that the changes romantic and domestic partnership have imposed on him have ultimately made him a better person.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

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

December 25, 2025

What to watch on Christmas Day

Source: Radio New Zealand

The house is covered in torn wrapping paper, you’ve been eating and drinking since the moment you woke up, the family bickering has begun and you forgot to buy spare batteries for the kids’ toys.

Honestly, the wind down from Christmas day is both exhausting and a little dull. So before anyone hits play on that Bublé Christmas album for the fifth time, I’ve scoured the TV guides to curate a (very much non-exhaustive) list of Christmas day viewing, from the classics to the creepy and slightly bonkers.

You’re convinced Christmas viewing peaked in the 1980s

Gremlins (1984)

supplied

. Stream it on DisneyPlus.

While we’re on the topic of the greatest films ever made, the 1984 horror comedy, Gremlins, is streaming on Prime. Fall in love with Gizmo and get that ridiculously catchy theme song stuck in your head until New Years.

You want a classic without the holiday vibe

Wikimedia Commons

It’s been a month of dodging Mariah and Band Aid, so as the big day finally starts winding down often the last thing you want to see is more festive cheer and a running theme of big city girl meets small town boy and finds the magic of the season.

That’s where E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial can save Christmas. The 1982 Steven Spielberg heartwarming story about a loveable alien and its protective buddies airs on TVNZ 2 at 4pm.

This year’s wind-down could also be the perfect time to watch and reminisce over the many influential and brilliant films the late Roy Reiner made.

There’s The Princess Bride on TVNZ 2 at 2:10pm, Misery on Prime for starters. Stand By Me and A Few Good Men are also available to rent on various streaming services.

You’re down for festive, but you want familiar

Miracle on 34th Street.

Supplied

The turkey coma has hit and you want something to doze in and out of without losing track of the plot?

Enjoy the somewhat problematic romantic Love Actually subplots of Prime Ministers falling for junior employees, husbands cheating with their secretaries and guys creeping on their best friends’ wives. ‘Tis the season, after all. Stream on Netflix.

It’s also hard to go past the much-loved Miracle on 34th Street. Choose from the 1947 original or the 1994 remake, both on DisneyPlus.

Prefer all the Home Alones? You can find them on DisneyPlus, too.

You just want to keep the young kids entertained

This video is hosted on Youtube.

Jump on Neon for a couple of Christmas-themed hits for the younger kids, with The Wiggles Sound of Christmas and a Paw Patrol Christmas.

For family time with the older kids

7pm on Whakataukī Maōri is where you’ll find the 2021 fantasy film, A Boy Called Christmas. A young boy called Nikolas sets out with a loyal mouse and a reindeer called Blitzen to find Elfhelm.

Prefer laughs, familiarity and Will Ferrell? Stream the 2003 hit Elf on Netflix.

We’re finally allowed to stop avoiding Wham!

George Michael with Andrew Ridgeley performing as Wham in 1984.

YouTube

Managed to survive Whamageddon and avoid hearing ‘Last Christmas’ throughout December? Celebrate with Wham! Last Christmas Unwrapped, a documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of the song so quintessentially Christmas that people globally compete to try to avoid it. Airing on TVNZ 2 at 9:20pm.

You want Christmas, but in bite-sized form

DisneyPlus has pulled the holiday episodes of all your favourites, from Ally McBeal to Family Guy, The Bear and Bob’s Burgers. Watch as many or as few as your heart desires.

You’re the kind of family that turns everything into a competition

Friendly competition on Christmas Day? How about The Chase special?

Hear me out. His Majesty’s The King’s Christmas Message is the perfect opportunity to take friendly wagers on what colour tie or handkerchief Charles’ will don before his annual message airs. Entry is mandatory. Winner gets the last unopened box of scorched almonds. Watch it on TVNZ 1 at 6.50pm.

The Chase Christmas Special on TVNZ 1 at 5pm is also the perfect opportunity to prove you’re smarter, shoutier and faster than any of your family members.

If it’s just not Christmas without the royals

If tradition and pomp is your thing, 1 Royal Special: Together at Christmas may be up your alley. A carol service in Westminster Abbey, hosted by the Princess of Wales at 8pm on TVNZ 1.

Down for some bonkers Christmas behaviour?

‘Twas The Fight Before Christmas is streaming on Apple+ and will make you grateful that your own neighbour only has a mildly excessive amount of Christmas house lights. A doco about a Christmas-obsessed American who enters a legal battle with his neighbours to have a Christmas light show that brings in hoards of strangers and noise to the street.

Because, you know … Freedom.

Christmas but with serial killer vibes

Check out the 1974 slasher flick Black Christmas, about a serial killer stalking sorority girls on Christmas. Find it, and a handful of other festive horrors on Shudder.

It’s far too hot for a real fireplace

It’s the middle of summer and you’re spending Christmas by (and in) the pool, but you, too, can spend your Christmas watching logs burn for an hour on the telly. Netflix has a range of settings, from traditional winter fireplaces to Stranger Things, Wednesday and K-Pop Demon Hunters vibes.

It’s still Christmas somewhere…

Technically the latest installment of Stranger Things Season 5 episodes doesn’t drop on Netflix in New Zealand until 2pm on Boxing Day, but that’s Christmas somewhere, so it makes the list.

COURTESY OF NETFLIX

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

December 25, 2025

All alight: Final train departs from Melling Station ahead of RiverLink upgrades