Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters have cordoned off ACG Senior College Parnell in Auckland following a “chemical spill”.

A police spokesperson said Fire and Emergency New Zealand were at the scene of a chemical spill on Monday.

A reporter at the scene said a decontamination shower had been set up outside the school on Parnell’s Titoki St and three fire trucks were at the scene.

An ambulance was also present.

Yellow tape which said “hot zone” had been put on the front steps to the college.

More to come…

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Six people have now been arrested in relation to the murder investigation of a Kāpiti man, as police call for the public to come forward with information.

Michael Kenneth Tofts was found with critical injuries at home on November 19, and died at the scene in Kākāriki Grove.

Police said a gun was used in the alleged targeted home invasion.

The gun has not been found.

Several attackers were injured during the event, police said.

Six gang associates had been charged with murder, and one with being an accessory.

Detective Inspector Jamie Woods was calling for the public for any information, and for sightings of four cars.

“We believe there are people who knew this was going to happen and assisted those who carried it out,” Woods said.

Police also wanted to hear from anyone who saw or had dashcam or footage of the cars pictured between 1 and 7pm on November 19.

All cars were believed to have been in and around Paraparaumu and Waikanae around the time of the homicide and travelled to Kāpiti from different locations in the Wellington Region including the Hutt Valley.

“We also believe that after the alleged murder, the white Suzuki Swift travelled over Akatarawa Road towards Upper Hutt and the silver BMW travelled towards Paraparaumu and may have disposed of items,” Woods said.

The people in the cars were believed to be involved either directly or indirectly in the alleged home invasion and the lead-up to it, he said.

All those charged were remanded in custody to appear in the High Court in Wellington on January 23.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters, helicopters and heavy machinery are back at a large forestry fire near Whanganui trying to get it under control before winds pick up in the afternoon.

It has so far ripped through more than 100 hectares at Lismore Forest, after being first reported at 5.15pm on Sunday.

The blaze has burnt through cutover forest across several gullies and by 10pm had reached standing trees and was burning in several locations.

Crews had to scale back their response when it got dark because of the steep terrain.

A small crew remained to patrol through the night and put out spot fires on the access road.

By Monday morning the response was back in full swing.

“The fire has meandered into the ground fuels underneath the tall trees so this morning we’ve had helicopters and we will follow with ground crews,” incident controller Renee Potae told RNZ.

“Working in the area of the tall trees just to ensure it stays along the ground, we don’t want it to move up the trunks into the tall trees, which it hasn’t yet, so we’re working really hard to contain the fire into a manageable state,” she said.

Five helicopters are at the scene and further ground crews will be added later in the day to stagger the attack.

“The temperature is starting to heat up already but we’ve got light winds,” Potae said.

“After lunch however we’re expecting a north-westerly to be stronger, perhaps 20-25km an hour and maybe gusting stronger, and low humidity after lunch which makes quite a big difference, so we’ve got the aircraft and the ground crews working really hard while we’ve got this period of relatively low fire behaviour.”

Potae said the fire fight was a strategic one.

“There are areas in the cutover where there is active fire but we can sort of let that burn for a little while we concentrate on our more pressing tasks, and then move to those secondary tasks once we’re on top of what we think are the priorities, it just requires a lot of strategy and prioritisation with different types of fuel in the same fire ground,” she said.

Potae said it was not yet known what caused the fire.

No properties have been evacuated.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Security measures have been increased for the Jewish community across New Zealand after the Bondi Beach terror attack in Sydney, Australia.

Sixteen people died and dozens were injured after two gunmen opened fire on the beach where a large group was gathered for a Hanukkah celebration called Chanukah by the Sea on Sunday evening.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Morning Report police are meeting Jewish community leaders now over security in New Zealand on Monday morning.

A police car could be seen stationed outside a Wellington synagogue on Monday morning.

Major cities around the world like London, Berlin and New York are stepping up security for Hannukah events after the attack.

Luxon said the government has been funding security upgrades at Jewish and Muslim places of worship in New Zealand from the Prime Minister’s Emerging Priorities fund since late 2024.

He said the government had also been part of inter-faith dialogues with different faith groups to offer support.

Luxon said police were meeting with Jewish community leaders to give extra reassurances around security and patrols.

He said he had contacted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to offer support and condolences.

“Terrorism, antisemitism and hate have no place in society,” he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is not aware of any New Zealanders involved in the fatal shooting.

The New Zealand High Commission and Consulate staff are safe and are urgently working to seek more information from authorities.

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand is shocked and distressed by what he says was a vile terrorist attack.

“Our deepest condolences are with all those who have lost loved ones,” Peters said on social media.

“We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community in Australia, New Zealand and around the world.

“Terrorism, antisemitism and hate have no place in our societies.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The birds are calling in Cannon’s Creek reserve, and strands of Raupō flax wave tall fingertips in the breeze.

Members of the Wesley Community Action group Ngahere Korowai are measuring the water clarity at the pond, peering at a blue magnet down a large tube.

The group meets fortnightly, testing water, or helping to plant in the reserve, or up in the western side of Belmont Regional Park.

They want to see another Zealandia nature reserve created in Porirua.

Founding member John Mu said when Wesley Community Action’s Aotearoa Pasifika Men’s group visited Zealandia in 2019, they were stunned by what they saw.

“We looked around there and when we came back, we were fascinated by how we saw all the trees up there, beautiful trees, and insects – and we said, why can’t we have that out here, and that’s how Ngahere Korowai started.”

Agencies including Greater Wellington Regional Council and Porirua City Council backed the vision.

Since 2022, Greater Wellington has planted 120 hectares of land with native plants and trees on the western side of Belmont Regional Park, a spokesperson said.

This past winter, 88,000 plants covering about 35 hectares in the Takapu block were planted, along with 1800 in Waitangirua as infill, and volunteers planted about 5000 plants.

Porirua resident Roger Shore said he was initially sceptical about joining Ngahere Korowai.

“I was actually part of a walking group walking round Aotea Lagoon, and one of the guys there, who’d been part of that walking group for a while, said, well do you want to come and join our mens group?

“Well my picture of a men’s group is your usual bunch of old fellas, young fellas, grumpy fellas, grissly fellas, having a hard time fellas.”

He said he’s discovered a diverse movement involving biodiversity, conservation and pest eradication.

“It’s like I walked through a different doorway into a different realm of the society we live in. And all I can say is, before that – my knowledge of what’s been going on is probably about, a quarter of an inch.”

Riparian operations advisor for Porirua City Council, Dougal Morrison, said there’s a wide network of planting going on through the Porirua catchment too, with a goal to restore Porirua harbour.

Morrison said about 167,000 native plants have gone in the ground this winter – work done by contractors and community groups.

He points to some of the planting done by the lake in the reserve.

“So, we’ll just come to this area that’s just been planted – just about two weeks ago – quite late for our planting, but as you can see it’s very very wet here. These are sedge kind of type species, carex, cyperus, there’s some flax… just anything that can tolerate the wet ground.”

He said the plants provide a filter for pollutants, and are bringing back fish and bird life to the city.

“In Titahi Bay, I was down there a few weeks ago and this older guy pulled up and sort of knocked on the window, and put the window down and said ‘it’s great what you guys are doing the tuna (eels) are back’ – it’s really good in terms of the change that’s been bought about.”

Shore said it’s about restoring Porirua’s environment for future generations.

“You and I can come with our grandkids for instance and go, we got rid of all that flax for instance, it’s a beautiful lake there now, you can paddle boat on it, you can watch the fish and things underneath, and enjoy it.”

“And that would be a real plus… if you’ve got a legacy – money doesn’t leave anything, environment does.”

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