Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters are scrambling to contain a fire burning in Tongariro National Park.

Sixteen fire vehicles, 60 firefighters and nine choppers are battling the blaze, now mapped at more than 320 hectares, which as of 5.30pm Monday was uncontained.

It comes just a month after another mass of wildfire ripped through 3000 hectares of the national park.

State Highway 47 is closed between the intersections with SH46 and SH48. Drivers are being asked to avoid the area or to detour through SH1 and SH49

A Fire and Emergency (FENZ) spokesperson earlier said the fires were southeast of the devastating blaze that took hold in the area last month.

FENZ director of operations Brendan Nally told Checkpoint it was the second fire to hit the maunga region in the past month.

“It’s incredibly distressing for everyone who lives in and around and loves the maunga, and particularly mana whenua, so we extend our condolences and thoughts that there’s another fire on their beloved mountain.”

Nally said part of the blaze covered an area burned by last month’s fire, and may have had more than one ignition point, but was now “one fire”.

“There’s some unsubstantiated reports about how this fire has started, and it’s possible that there is more than one seat of fire. But that will be worked through in the appropriate way. But we are dealing with one contiguous fire boundary…

“So what we’re saying is we have had some very early reports that there may be more than one seat of fire… I know that there’s a lot of people on social media and there’s lots of speculation out there, but you know, I prefer to give the public hard news, hard evidence when I know it for sure. And at the moment we don’t know, so a fire investigation has commenced.”

The cause of the fire was not yet known.

“It’s not contained. We’re hitting it hard and we’re hoping to have it mostly contained by nightfall, but we are preparing for several days of operations.”

Nally said they had learned lessons from the previous fire.

“That’s why we’re heading it very hard, very quickly this time. We’ve put a lot more resources on it a lot earlier. So nine helicopters, you can appreciate that it’s a significant commitment when we’re still only a few hours after fire start.

“So we know that the fuel type is difficult. We know that the terrain is difficult. We know that there [are] significant sites of significance there, and we also acknowledge that it has a huge impact for people who live and work on the mountain – so we’re biffing everyone at it.”

But there was limited resourcing, with fires elsewhere in the country to deal with too.

“Because of where we are in the time of day, we’re focusing on those containment lines. And then over the next two days we’ll knock it and we’ll bring in fixed-wing aircraft which are more efficient in that role, and we’ll use a mixture of ground crews on the ground, supported by aerial attack from rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.”

Nally said people who could not evacuate should keep windows and doors shut.

Smoke visible

Elyse Schroder told RNZ she lives south of the fire in the Ohakune township, and said she could see smoke drifting towards Ohakune and Tūroa.

She estimated she was about 40 kilometres in a straight line over the mountain from where the fire actually was.

“It looks quite similar to how it looked to start with, with the previous fire a couple of weeks ago,” she said.

“It’s quite still at the moment and very, very hot and barely a cloud in the sky, so it’s just sitting there rather than blowing away.”

SH47 WAIMARINO TO TONGARIRO – FIRE – 1:50PM
Due to vegetation fires, the road is CLOSED between SH46 and SH48. Follow the detour and allow extra time for travel. If travelling southbound, detour via SH1 and SH49. Reverse for northbound. ^AG pic.twitter.com/eGC9evsFVS

— NZ Transport Agency – Central North Island (@nztacni) December 8, 2025

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said FENZ was leading the response and it was working to understand the extent of the fires.

Nally said there was little threat to DOC infrastructure, with most of the “fuel” in those areas already burned out.

Chief executive of Hillary Outdoors, Hillary Campbell, said all students and staff at its Tongariro centre were safe and accounted for.

It had 90 students and 24 staff on-site.

Campbell said Hillary Outdoors had been in contact with the schools involved and those schools had been in direct contact with the students’ families.

Campbell said safety was the priority and they were monitoring the situation closely.

“We have a robust emergency management system that we follow and we have evacuation plans in place. So if an evacuation is required, we are prepared to move immediately.”

Ray Goff of Summit Shuttles said he saw plumes of smoke as he made his way down from Whakapapa ski field this afternoon.

He said the fire and closure of State Highway 47 was the last thing the area needed.

Goff said with the detours adding a couple of hours’ travel time, his was one of many shuttle companies weighing up what to do next.

“Devastating. Shit happens, unfortunately. We can’t predict what’s gonna happen with Mother Nature… I’ve got 30-odd customers that we need to get back from the end of Tongariro Crossing and we can’t do that, so we’re just waiting.”

It comes after a week-long rāhui was lifted on 17 November following another wildfire that ripped through 3000 hectares of the national park.

The large fire on the Central Plateau broke out on previous Saturday afternoon, triggering evacuations of trampers and residents, including Whakapapa Village.

Meanwhile, a stretch of State Highway 2 between Napier and Wairoa is shut as crews battle a fire at a pine plantation in Mohaka.

Fire and Emergency sent two helicopters and two trucks to the blaze, while 32 forestry industry firefighters were also responding.

FENZ said the fire measures about a kilometre by 300 metres.

Police said the road was shut between Mohaka Township Road and Te Kumi Road, and people should avoid the area and delay travel.

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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 government would still have the numbers to stay in power, according to the latest 1News Verian poll.

After three 1News polls in a row on 34 percent, National is up two points to 36 percent.

ACT is up two points to 10 percent, while New Zealand First is steady on nine percent.

Looking at the opposition, Labour is up three points to 35 percent, but the Greens have had a four point drop to seven percent. Te Pāti Māori is on one percent.

Translated into seats in the House, National would have 44, Labour 43, ACT 12, New Zealand First 11, the Greens nine, and Te Pāti Māori six.

The poll assumes Te Pāti Māori would keep its six electorate seats, despite the recent changes to its membership.

It means the coalition bloc would have 67, while the current opposition would have 58.

Christopher Luxon remains ahead as preferred Prime Minister on 23 percent, while Chris Hipkins is on 21 percent. Winston Peters is on nine percent, David Seymour is on five percent, and Chlöe Swarbrick is also on five percent. Chris Bishop enters the poll, on two percent.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A second person has been arrested over the fatal stabbing of a man in the Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington on Friday afternoon.

The 33-year-old victim was attacked on Harris Road, before going to a medical centre on Lunn Avenue, but he later died in Auckland City Hospital.

Police arrested a 21-year-old man yesterday and charged him with murder as part of Operation Hawkin.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard, of Auckland City CIB, said two men were taken into custody near Te Awamutu without incident.

Beard said police were currently speaking with the second man.

The 21-year-old man appeared in the Auckland District Court this afternoon. He stood with arms crossed in the dock before Judge June Jelas.

No pleas were entered.

Police asked for the names of the victim and the accused, as well as other details, to be suppressed, saying they had safety concerns.

The application was heard in closed court due to police’s concerns with safety, but the media and the accused’s father was allowed to attend.

The accused’s lawyer Bradley Moyer said his client had no concerns for their safety or their family’s safety.

The interim orders were made by Judge Jelas.

She remanded the accused man in custody, to appear next at the High Court in Auckland in January.

A coroner had also made wide-ranging suppression orders, preventing the media from reporting the victim’s name and other details.

Duty Coroner Erin Woolley made the order without the media being given the opportunity to be heard.

Beard said investigators had made “extraordinary progress” to find those allegedly responsible for the violence.

“The community should take some reassurance that we have arrested two men we believe are the primary offenders in this case.

“There is still a lot of work ahead of us and we cannot rule out further arrests, so this is not over.”

Police would still like to hear from anybody who has any information that might assist the investigation, including anyone with dashcam or CCTV footage around Harris Road or Laud Avenue from about 12pm on Friday.

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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 sister of a man killed at work by slipping on to a conveyor belt says she has had assurances the minister is taking action.

Wesley Tomich died in 2023 at a fertiliser plant in Mt Maunganui.

The woman who has name suppression asked for and got a meeting with Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden recently.

“We did speak to her about the levels of fine and reparation and how it didn’t align especially in this particular circumstance and that the judge’s hands were tied,” Tomich’s sister said.

“And so she told us that she would bring that up” during the workplace safety law reforms.

Tomich’s sister said van Velden told her the focus would be on critical life-threatening risks and not on box-ticking, and on high-risk sectors such as forestry, construction and manufacturing, and there would be more focus on telling companies their obligations and prosecuting them even if that was before things went wrong.

“I would like to see all the things that we spoke about at the meeting with Brooke implemented and see what sort of difference this would make,” the sister said.

“Because I do believe we have a lot more to do in that space but we have to start somewhere.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A driver smashed into an oncoming car on SH1 in North Otago yesterday because they were distracted by their cellphone, police say.

The drivers of both vehicles suffered moderate injuries and State Highway 1 was closed for several hours near Hampden after the crash yesterday afternoon.

Inspector Sarah Thorn said the driver admitted they were distracted changing music on their cellphone.

“They drifted completely onto the other side of the road in a 100km/h area, colliding with an oncoming car,” Thorn said.

It was lucky the injuries were not significantly worse, she said.

“It appears that a moment of recklessness could’ve killed them.”

Charges were likely and it was a reminder to always drive without distractions and impairments.

“Roads all over Aotearoa are only going to get busier as we get closer to Christmas and the summer holidays,” Thorn said.

“It’s extremely important we all drive safely to reduce the risk of hurting anyone on the roads.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have been called in to back up firefighters at an Auckland house fire.

Fire and Emergency says it was alerted by multiple calls at about 1.25pm to the fire on Kohekohe Street, New Lynn.

The crew first arriving to the two level home escalated the response to call in more firefighters.

FENZ says five fire trucks, and about 20 firefighters were there at the blaze’s height.

The fire has been put out and investigators are there to try to find out what caused it.

Police say there are there to assist Fire and Emergency, but have not said why.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Children’s Commissioner has launched an urgent nationwide campaign against child abuse, calling on every adult to “front up” to the problem.

Dr Claire Achmad said the ‘Dear Children’ awareness campaign, launched on Monday, called on the community to stand against physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect of children.

The campaign is centred around a letter she wrote to the 1.23 million children in New Zealand, in which she said: “You have the right to be safe.”

She said she was calling on the community to sign the letter on the Dear Children website.

“It is a really strong call to action for every adult in our country in our community at flaxroots level, and I want them to get on board, sign this letter, to send that clear message to children – that we won’t let child maltreatment happen in this country.”

Police data showed over the past decade, 113 under-17s were killed by homicide, and two-thirds of those were under five.

The data showed a child was killed every four to five weeks by homicide in New Zealand.

Achmad said international data from 2023 showed New Zealand had one of the highest rates of deaths of children under five compared with similar countries, about three times higher than Australia.

“The first change is that really every adult in New Zealand fronts up to the fact that this is a problem. We have a problem with child maltreatment in all its forms in New Zealand.”

She said there were practical ways to look out for child abuse, including actively listening to children if they were alleging abuse, as well as normalising asking for help.

Achmad said she was launching the campaign ahead of the summer holiday period, following last summer when two children in Hamilton and Auckland were allegedly murdered in the first week of January.

She said the government could continue to devote resources and policy-making to the systemic causes of child abuse.

“Things like poverty, we need to see that significantly reduced, we need to see unmet health and addiction needs – we need to see those addressed.”

Eighteen-year-old Anaru Mihaere said he and his siblings grew up affected by violence. He said he thought the campaign launched on Monday would make a difference.

“I think this is a very proud campaign, something that mokopuna, rangitahi, and adults alike should sign and take pride in.”

He said while his own experience of violence would take a long time to recover from, he was convinced people could break a cycle of violence.

“As someone who is breaking my own cycle of violence that I’ve endured and that my siblings have endured, if one rangitahi can – and thousands of [other] rangitahi can – a country can.”

Rosie Overcomer from the Gloriavale Leavers Trust said the campaign was an important step in changing the culture of violence against children.

Overcomer, who left Gloriavale in 2013, she could relate to many of the issues of abuse raised at the campaign launch. She said it was a passion for her to see the children in Gloriavale have the same rights as all other children.

Earlier this year Gloriavale’s former leader, Howard Temple, admitted a dozen charges including indecent assault and common assault involving complainants ranging in age from nine to 20 years old.

Overcomer, who left Gloriavale in 2013, she could relate to many of the issues of abuse raised at the campaign launch.

“A lot of the issues inside Gloriavale, for me, growing up in there, are similar to domestic violence situations out there, the coercive control and the learnt behaviours passed down in traumatic households.”

A spokesperson for the Minister for Children and for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour said the minister supported the Dear Children campaign.

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