Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three years minimum to set them up for a better career – and then new graduates discover there’s nothing out there for them, thanks to our soaring jobless numbers

Dubbed ‘the job wars’ by one TikTok user, graduates are struggling to secure entry-level work thanks to a tough labour market.

Figures released by Stats NZ in February showed that the unemployment rate for 15 to 24-year-olds was at 16.5 percent, three times higher than the overall unemployment rate.

On Saturday’sThe Detail, we look at the grim realities of the job market for graduates.

Justin Tuburan recently graduated from AUT with a bachelor of communications and is still struggling to find work in his field.

He’s been living off his casual job as a security guard and says the lack of direction is taking its toll.

“I don’t know really what I am doing with my life. I don’t have this full-time job that I can see career progression and the next 40 years of what I’ll be doing.”

Tuburan said that his current casual position wasn’t meant to form his main income.

“[During university] I was also getting student loan and living costs. That’s $300 a week that I was using to pay rent or pay for public transport… trying to get that money from a job that I used during uni that was only meant to supplement my living cost and now it’s my main source of income. It’s kinda rough trying to find the hours to pay for everything.

“I’m definitely asking my parents for money every once and a while.”

Happier times could be on the horizon though, said Seek’s senior economist, Dr Blair Chapman – but graduates may need to hold out a bit longer.

“It’s good news, the labour market is picking up, job ad growth is picking up. But it can take time for that to flow to graduates,” he said.

Chapman may be getting that vibe at his work, but figures out this week show the number of people receiving Jobseeker support has risen by 5700 to 223,500 since September.

Some reports suggest that AI is cutting graduate and entry-level positions, but Chapman said whether that’s true is still unclear.

“We have seen a dramatic increase in the demand for AI-related skills but it’s not obvious that is eating into the number of those jobs.”

Professor Catherine Moran, the deputy vice-chancellor and academic at the University of Canterbury, said one sector that wants students to be up-skilled in AI is law.

Their law school completed a survey with law practices across the country and asked if students needed to have skills in AI – 92 percent of them said ‘yes’.

But is going to university to learn these skills still worth it?

Moran said getting a degree is more than just learning information.

“There can be a sense that university is all about just book learning as compared to skills learning… It’s through a degree you get deeper and deeper understanding of content.

“You’re more challenged where you’re starting to bring a whole bunch of different ideas together.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Second-rower Leka Halasima and winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak scored a try double each, as NZ Warriors overpowered Canberra Raiders 38-6 at Auckland’s Go Media Stadium.

The contest was locked at 6-6 at halftime, but the home side piled on 32 unanswered points to draw away in the second half.

Halasima was a late replacement into the starting line-up, after veteran Kurt Capewell strained a calf in warm-ups, but delivered the 80-minute performance predicted by coach Andrew Webster a week earlier.

The Raiders scored first through fullback Kaeao Weekes, but Watene-Zelezniak responded and halfback Tanah Boyd slotted a penalty for the halftime scoreline.

Centre Ali Leiataua had provided the final pass for his winger’s try and had one of his own after the break, when he intercepted a pass in midfield and scampered away to spark the onslaught.

Canberra beat the Warriors twice last season, en route to the minor premiership, but had no answer in the rain at Mt Smart.

Veteran wing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck couldn’t score a try in his 150th outing for the Warriors, but had the distinction of slotting the final conversion of Watene-Zelezniak’s second try.

See how the game unfolded in our blog:

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

After an error-ridden first 40, a disjointed looking Hurricanes side went to the sheds trailing the Force 8-5 at McLean Park.

Cue the cavalry.

Bolstered by their bench, the Hurricanes went on a rampage, notching 26 unanswered points to secure a 31-23 win which shoots them to the top of the Super Rugby Pacific table.

It was the Force who struck first through the boot of Ben Donaldon and then electric winger Darby Lancaster, standing up his opposite Bailyn Sullivan for the first try.

Cam Roigard got the Canes on the board, sniping from the base of the ruck, but it was not enough as they would trail the Force 8-5 at the break.

A Donaldson penalty opened things up in the second with another penalty before the floodgates opened, reinforcements arriving from the bench to immediate affect.

Brad Shields kicked off the scoring spree from short range, the Hurricanes going back to back courtesy of a quick tap by Roigard which sent Devan Flanders away.

Callum Harkin stretched the lead, running a superb line to cross the chalk before Warner Dearns soared into the sky to charge down a Donaldson kick, regather, and streak away.

The Force pulled a couple back through Lancaster and Jetaya Faifua, but the deficit was too great, the Hurricanes closing out their third win of the season.

Follow the blog to see how the action unfolded

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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 child has been seriously injured after being hit by a car in Invercargill.

Police said emergency services were called to the McDonald’s on Dee Street at 7 pm.

The child was taken to the hospital in a serious condition, a spokesperson said.

“Police have spoken to the driver of the vehicle, and enquiries are ongoing into exactly what happened,” a police spokesperson said.

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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 pedestrian has died after being hit by a truck in Mauku, west of Pukekohe.

Police say he died at the scene.

The crash happened at 3.22pm on Titi Road.

The Serious Crash Unit and Commercial Vehicle Safety Team attended.

An investigation is now underway to establish what occurred, police say.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An energy sustainability expert thinks driving more efficiently could help the country get ahead of any future petrol shortages.

The war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed up fuel prices and caused concern about disruption to supply internationally.

Emeritus Professor in Climate Mitigation and Sustainable Energy at Massey University, Ralph Sims, says there are ways to reduce fuel consumption before extreme measures like returning to the car-free and fuel rationing days of the 1970s and 1980s are considered.

“We’ve got to anticipate that we need to take some actions now, ready for when we’ve got extreme situations, which might be in five or six weeks’ time.

“But people love their cars, and like driving them, and so enforcement is not the easiest of options I think the government has got.

“If this war continues and the oil price goes up and there’s a much higher cost when you fill your car up, then there will be an incentive there, not needing enforcement, for people to look at ways of saving on fuel.”

Sim suggested the government do a national education campaign on fuel-saving tips like avoiding heavy braking, checking tyre pressure, and taking things that add weight, like a roof rack, off their vehicle when they are not needed.

“Most people don’t understand how to drive a car efficiently. I see people accelerate to a red light and then brake heavily, and if you’re running on low tyre pressures, it consumes much more fuel.”

He said limiting how often people could use their cars or how much they could fill up at the pump would be difficult to enforce.

“Car-less days, for example, many people found ways to get around it by having a second car.

“We can learn from what we did before. Did it work? How successful was it? Are there other ways to do it nowadays that are better?”

He said nowadays we also have more transport options available.

“The world has changed a bit now in that we do have electric buses in various cities, and we’ve got electric cars, and electric scooters, and public transport is much better than it used to be.

“To encourage people to get out of their petrol or diesel cars and utilise public transport is one way to conserve fuel. But getting people out of their cars is very difficult.

“Unless you’ve got some extreme situation, then education is the only way to try and change public behaviour.”

Richard Bosselman, the editor of the website Motoring NZ, said electric vehicle (EV) sales had been dismal in recent years.

But he speculated that if people were paying more at the pump, that might change.

“We have to make some hard and fast decisions about what kind of transport we need in this country and how we do it. I think electric is something that we need to jump back onto again and promote.

“Maybe this war will be a wake-up call, and maybe New Zealanders will think more about their car choices going forward.”

He said bringing back the Clean Car Discount, which provided rebates for low and zero-emission vehicles, to encourage people to buy EVs might help the country curb fuel use if the war continues.

He said it could also be an opportunity to develop the country’s hydrogen technologies.

“We’re at the end of the world. We’re at the end of a very long supply chain, so everything that comes to us is going to become more expensive. But we are a very self-sufficient nation. We create a lot of electricity and we can create more.

“We have opportunities to create hydrogen, and there’s a whole hydrogen infrastructure that sits there that could work for transport.

“I think this is a good time for Kiwis to take stock, be creative, and try and be optimistic about the future and look for solutions rather than be worried about the ultimate doom and gloom scenario, no matter how dark it all looks just at the moment.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s first full rubber road has been laid in Glentunnel, in the Selwyn district.

The local council is trialling three rubber surfaces on Glentunnel Domain Road with the possibility of rubber-based roads being used in other parts of the district.

One part of the road uses rubber chips, another uses rubber in the bitumen, and a third combines the two.

Selwyn District Council transportation delivery manager Steve Guy said the rubber came from recycled tyres – a lot of them.

“So this trial is … saving 29 tonnes of waste tyres – so tyres that would normally get sent from here up to the North Island, shredded and sent abroad. So that 29 tonnes of tyres if that had got incinerated, for instance, would equate to between 20 to 30 tonnes of carbon emissions. So we’ve saved that,” he said.

“And ultimately there’s about 1797 mostly truck tyres that have gone into this trial, into this road.”

Cars, trucks, bikes and other road users would put the surfaces to the test over winter.

The rubber-based surface was longer lasting and cheaper over its lifetime despite a higher upfront cost, Guy said.

The product was produced by Treadlite.

Operations and engineering manager Richard Upperton said the company was in a position to rapidly increase production if demand increased.

“We could do hundreds of kilometres now, it’s just a case of how fast can the industry take it up and I’m confident we can keep up,” he said.

Cost would probably prevent the product from ever becoming the standard surface on state highways, but it had applications due to it producing a quieter road surface, Upperton said.

But Selwyn Mayor Lydia Gliddon said there were financial reasons to be excited about rubber roads.

“If we can take this trial and this can be implemented across the country, there’s savings for everyone,” she said.

“This is a circular economy as well. So we’re not having to export tyres off anywhere else, we can make use of the product we have and we can import less bitumen.”

Gliddon said the project reflected Selwyn’s commitment to smart, innovative thinking.

“Selwyn is always looking for fresh ideas that improve value for money and stronger results for our communities. We are determined to not just be building more infrastructure but building better, smarter infrastructure,” she said.

More than six million tyres reached end of life in New Zealand each year while around 180,000 tonnes of bitumen – almost all imported – was used on roads annually.

The council would look to trial the surfaces in other locations and on wider stretches of road if Glentunnel Domain Road was a success.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow all the NRL action, as NZ Warriors take on Canberra Raiders at Go Media Stadium in Auckland.

The Warriors will be looking to secure their second win of the 2026 season, after beating Sydney Roosters 42-18 in round one in front of a home crowd last Friday.

Kickoff is at 8pm.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wastewater testing is showing an increase in Covid cases, and hospitalisations are on the rise as New Zealand enters it’s ninth Covid wave.

National Clinical Director of the Public Health Service Dr Susan Jack told Checkpoint many people aren’t testing for Covid, and the best way to track numbers is through wastewater.

“It is a good reflection. These days we know that testing is not so available, so wastewater testing is a really good indication of if we have got a surge in cases.

“There has also been an increase in hospitalisations, correlating with what we are seeing in the wastewater.

“It does look like we are going into a wave. Maybe more a ripple than a wave compared to previous years.”

Dr Jack said many people can’t afford rapid antigen tests (RATs), and there is a reduced amount of people who are able to test. But Dr Jack said the wastewater testing does provide accurate information.

“It is good if you can afford it, please keep some RATs at home and test. But if not, we have the wastewater testing to fall back on.”

While wastewater testing provides an accurate account of Covid cases in the community, Dr Jack said one issue is that individuals do not know if they have Covid, and so the advice is to stay home if you have a runny nose, cough, or any sort of respiratory symptoms.

“If you do need to go out then we ask people to wear a mask.”

While Covid cases are on the rise, so to are vaccination numbers.

Dr Jack said last week around 20,000 Covid vaccinations were administered.

“Vaccinations have increased since this latest burst of media focus on Covid, and we are really encouraging people as we head into winter, if you are due for your Covid vaccination please get it at the same time as you get your Flu vaccination, and that will be widely available from the first of April.”

Dr Jack said over time immunity does wane, and the best way to counter this is by keeping up with Covid boosters.

While there is not one dominant strain of Covid at the moment, Dr Jack said that older vaccines will still provide some immunity against newer Covid strains.

“They have tweaked the vaccine variant and we have got a new one that has just been released. But the older one still provides good protection against what we have got circulating.”

Dr Jack also said it was a good idea to call your pharmacy ahead of getting your vaccine to ensure they have stock, but that the vaccine is widely available.

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