NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

State Highway 1 is closed at Rakaia Bridge in Canterbury after a serious crash on Friday.

The single-vehicle crash happened shortly after 1pm near North Rakaia Road in Bankside.

There were reportedly injuries.

Main South Road around the area was blocked and would be for a significant period of time, police said.

Motorists were advised to avoid the area and choose alternative routes as emergency services worked at the scene.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Neighbours have described the chaos in a suburban Christchurch street as they rushed to help a family whose house went up in flames, claiming the life of a child.

Two adults and four other children were taken to hospital following the blaze in Whitehall Street Mairehau on Thursday night, with one person in a critical condition.

Firefighters spent Friday morning investigating the cause of the fire, although police have said it is not believed to be suspicious.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, told RNZ she heard screaming and shouting from the house when the fire broke out.

Another said a man from the house banged on his door, asking for help.

He and his wife then gathered three of the children from the berm – a baby and two young children – and kept them at their house until ambulance staff arrived to collect them.

Other neighbours described big flames leaping from the house at the height of the blaze said the quiet street resembled a “war scene” as people hurried to help the family involved.

They said they were shocked and heartbroken by the child’s death.

Emergency services were first called at 8.25pm on Thursday with cordons in place on Whitehall Street and Hills Road.

Detective Senior Sergeant Jo Carolan said a scene guard was put in place at the property overnight.

“Police will be carrying out a scene examination today, including working with Fire and Emergency New Zealand fire investigators,” she said.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers visited the scene on Thursday night to support local staff.

“These tragic incidents are not easy for staff and whenever possible I do try to show up to offer my support for them,” he said.

Chambers was in the city to thank staff involved in the investigation and High Court trial for the man accused of murdering Nelson Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming.

Strike action called off

The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union cancelled a one-hour strike scheduled for 12pm on Friday out of respect for the whānau.

“Last night a Christchurch family suffered a devastating fire where one child has reportedly perished and left other members of the whānau in serious condition,” the union said in a social media post.

“The NZPFU national committee has decided to call off the nationwide one-hour strike (which was scheduled from 12 noon today) in recognition of the impact of the fire on the whānau, their wider support network and in recognition the loss and devastation will be widely felt by Christchurch and ripple through the country.

“We acknowledge the efforts of all those that responded including the 111 emergency dispatchers and the firefighting crews with work continuing today with fire investigation members and the impact this incident will have had on them all. We stand in solidarity with you and calling off the strike is just one way we can demonstrate that support.”

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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 70th edition of the Hutchwilco boat show got underway on Thursday, with no shortage of attendees. But like many industries, the marine sector is facing challenges from the sky rocketing price of fuel.

Helen Kay was general manager of Xpo Exhibitions, who run the show, she said the rising cost of fuel has impacted the industry in what was already a tough economic situation. She said in the lead up to the show manufacturers and retailers were looking at what deals they could offer to overcome the situation.

Auckland Marine centre’s AIan Coutts also acknowledged times were tough for consumers, but said the fuel crisis was driving an increase in sales in more fuel efficient engines, particularly as people look to upgrade from 2 stroke engines to 4 strokes.

“Even though the fuel costs are high, the people that are running those older engines have worked out that they need to upgrade them” he said.

Boaties were also looking at alternatives to petrol and diesel. Adam Wrightson was director of Evocean, his company sells electric boat motors. He said he’d noticed an increase in inquiries, but notes many of those had already been in contact before the fuel crisis hit “I think maybe the fuel thing spurred them on to finally do something”.

Wrightson also said there was more interest from the ‘bigger boat market”.

The cost of fuel wasn’t the only thing that’s changed over the years at the boat show, the demographics were also different. Helen Kay said there was a 10 percent increase in the amount of women last year.

Isabell Zitzelberger, founder of Wildchix, was determined to make sure those female visitors don’t miss out on the chance to learn about boating, fishing and hunting.

Before starting Wildchix, Zitzelberger worked in boats sales. “I was selling boats mainly to the guys and every time I was like, where’s your wife?” she said.

When First Up caught up with Zitzelberger, she was getting ready to present a seminar aimed at improving women’s knowledge of boat safety.

She believed this was important so women could either act as a back up on the water, or take the helm themselves.

Another feature of this year’s show was the arrival of Seneca big game reels.

They were the brainchild of kiwi Sam Connor, who spent 8 years working at Rocket lab “I was managing a team of manufacturing engineers building the processes that build the rocket, essentially” he said.

Connor used his aerospace background to design a product he said was much lighter than traditional big game reels.

Normally big game reels were constructed with an aluminium frame. Connor’s frames were made of carbon fibre, while other components were titanium.

Connor said the lighter weight helped reduce angler fatigue when they’re fighting large fish.

The Seneca reels were priced at $3000 each, although Connor said 40 percent of the small batch of reels produced for the boat show pre-sold before the event started.

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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 has confirmed legislation aiming to ban under-16s from social media is now on hold.

Parliament debated the matter on Wednesday after a select committee inquiry into the harms the online platforms cause.

Labour agreed to support National’s proposal for a ban – while the Greens and ACT were opposed to the idea, saying it would be too easy to get around the rules, that at-risk groups could become more isolated as a result, and that social media harms more than just young people.

National’s Catherine Wedd’s bill – which would impose the under-16s ban in line with Australia’s – was drawn from the biscuit-tin ballot in October, having been lodged last May.

When RNZ sought an update on how the committee’s findings would affect the legislation, Education Minister Erica Stanford – who had been tasked with reviewing legislation to reduce those harms – said it was on hold.

“The government is undertaking a wider programme of work in this area and Wedd’s bill is on hold for the moment. We are continuing to work through the process and will have more to say soon,” Stanford said.

“Papers are still working their way through Cabinet and we are aiming to introduce legislation this year.”

National had pushed ahead with the member’s bill rather than bringing the ban to Parliament as a government bill due to ACT’s refusal to support it.

On Thursday, Wedd’s bill remained at third among the member’s bills on Parliament’s order paper.

Stanford did not respond to requests for further clarification.

Wedd did not respond to requests for comment.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in November reiterated he was “deeply supportive” of a ban for under-16s, suggesting one would be introduced before the election.

“Certainly before the term, yes we’ll have our first go at making sure we can put the ban for under-16s in place. And then I suspect it will be one of those issues that require ongoing work as well.”

Australia’s ban, which came into force this month, requires specified social media platforms to take “reasonable steps” to ensure under-16s do not access them, with fines of up to $AU49.5m for serious or repeated breaches.

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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 $348 million walking and cycling path between Ngauranga and Petone will open to the public on Saturday.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said for people in Wellington and Lower Hutt, the opening of Te Ara Tupua was a long-awaited milestone.

“Construction on this path began in 2022, following site investigations, community engagement, design and consenting that took place from 2013,” he said.

The project was jointly funded by the Crown: ($80m), National Land Transport Fund: ($261.7m), Wellington City Council ($5m), Greater Wellington Regional Council ($2m).

Bishop said previously there was no safe walking and cycling route between Wellington and Lower Hutt.

“The new shared path provides more ways for people to move around our region, with over 2100 trips on bikes, 360 walking or running trips, and around 290 trips on e-scooters or similar devices on the path each weekday expected by 2032 compared to approximately 450 daily trips estimated before the project got underway.”

He said the Te Ara Tupua project also protected State Highway 2 and the Hutt Valley rail network from the impacts of severe weather.

“This new 4.5 kilometre-long, 5 metre-wide shared path is built on a foundation of extensive resilience works and coastal improvements. This includes 0.8 hectares of reclaimed land, 2.7 kilometres of sloping coastal defences, more than 6000 interlocking concrete blocks, and six vertical seawalls to strengthen the shoreline.”

Bishop said parts of the coastline had been damaged by severe weather in the past, most recently in 2013 when land under the rail line was washed out.

“This resulted in millions of dollars in recovery work and days of travel disruption for commuters.

“The new shared path will prevent this from happening and has already demonstrated how it protects critical infrastructure in recent wet weather.”

He said the new coastal path also provided an important lifeline connection for emergency services, should the highway ever be blocked after an earthquake or heavy rain.

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