NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government believes new quotas on beef imports to China are unlikely to have a major impact on New Zealand exporters.

China announced quotas following an investigation into the impacts of imports on its domestic beef industry.

From Thursday, New Zealand will have an annual duty-free quota of just over 200,000 tonnes, potentially worth up to $1.75 billion.

Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay said while the quota is larger than those of the past two years, it is nevertheless unwelcome.

McClay said he had made a case to Chinese officials that New Zealand exporters were not harming the Chinese beef market.

“I’ve been able to make the case to my Chinese counterparts on three occasions last year that New Zealand exporters are not harming the Chinese beef market and therefore should not be adversely affected by an safeguard measures.

“Our quota allocation means beef exports under the China NZ FTA are in practice unaffected,” McClay said.

China was New Zealand’s second-largest beef market after the United States.

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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 man is facing a number of charges following a crash in Levin just before midnight.

A car was seen driving erratically and crashed in Roosevelt Street, where the police arrested the driver.

The 31-year-old has been charged with failing to stop for police, reckless driving and threatening to kill.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A search and rescue operation is underway after cries for help were heard near a Dunedin walking track.

In a statement, police said they were appealing for information after receiving reports that someone was yelling for help near the Mackie Dackie track, off Flagstaff-Whare Flat Road in Dunedin earlier on Thursday.

A member of the public called police about 9.30am to report the cries for help as they could not find where the voice was coming from.

“Police have conducted initial enquiries and have walked the Mackie Dackie track but have been unable to hear or see anyone.

“A search and rescue operation is now underway, and police would like to hear from anyone who may have also heard someone in the area yelling for help, or if you know someone who was expected to be walking or biking this track and has not returned home, please get in touch.”

Call 111 and use the reference number P064988218 if you have any information.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A Dunedin woman is urging people to check they are not booking flights through a third-party agency, after her elderly mother paid $1300 for two one-way seats with bags from Wellington.

Penny, who did not want her last name used, said her mother thought she had booked with Air New Zealand directly, but she had actually booked through a website called Gotogate.

If she had booked directly, Penny said she would have saved about $600 on the flights on 3 January, for her and her grandson.

At the time of publication, RNZ found Wellington to Dunedin seat and bag fares on the Air New Zealand website for $436 per person.

“Normally, she’s really, really careful about these sorts of things. She’s aware of internet fraud and all of those sorts of things. So it was kind of distressing… it hit her confidence,” Penny said.

Penny said when her mother realised what she had done, she rang Gotogate to plead for a refund, explaining she had made an honest mistake.

Gotogate told her it was not a refundable fare, Penny said.

Penny said she and her mother contacted Air New Zealand to check the tickets were genuine.

They were, but her mother had unwittingly been charged an extra $20 for an exit-row seat located away from her grandson, Penny said.

“She’s not allowed to be in an exit row seat, because she needs wheelchair assistance to get to her seat,” she said.

Consumer NZ’s Head of Research and Advocacy Gemma Rasmussen said third party websites often paid generously to appear near the top of internet search results.

“When you go onto a search page, the top results that you’re seeing may not be genuine – it could be whoever’s willing to pay the highest dollar and actually market themselves…. and the way in which they’re worded can make flights look really appealing or affordable,” she said.

“While it’s very sad, unfortunately it is legal and it highlights the level of due diligence that you need to do when you are searching for flights online, particularly when you’re entering flights into Google.”

Air New Zealand was not responsible for the price that appeared on a website like Gotogate, she said.

“It is really unfortunate that there are these third-party sites that do engage in what we would say is price gouging. They are charging way more than they should be. We often see this quite a lot in the musical event space, particularly when there’s a scarcity of tickets, but unfortunately, that can extend to airlines as well.”

Penny said Air New Zealand advised it could not cancel the tickets because Gotogate was legitimately registered as a travel agent, but it had moved the seats so her mother and grandson were sitting together.

She and her mother were looking into whether their bank could refund the fares, she said.

Rasmussen said consumers could dispute transactions through a bank process called chargeback, but that might not cover unintended third-party bookings.

“Chargeback is really for things where a good or service hasn’t been provided adequately. What chargeback unfortunately doesn’t cover is remorse or regret, or perhaps making the wrong choice,” she said.

RNZ has contacted Air New Zealand, Gotogate and its Swedish owner, Etraveli Group, for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Repair crews are trying to restore electricity to hundreds of households and businesses in the North Island, after storms knocked out supplies this week.

About 10,000 properties lost power in the Tasman district on Tuesday after trees came down on powerlines. Network Tasman restored the vast majority by that afternoon.

Meanwhile, Powerco’s website showed about 1000 properties spread around the Coromandel Peninsula, Palmerston North and Taranaki also lost power.

On Thursday, Powerco said more than 160 properties are still without of power, mostly in the Manawatū and Thames-Coromandel regions.

In Horowhenua, there are close to 150 customers without power, mostly around Tokomaru and Shannon.

Residents are being urged to conserve water in Foxton and Foxton Beach.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland woman who is self-funding treatment for her rare, aggressive breast cancer is fed up after years of asking the government to fund a “life-saving” medicine for more patients.

Catherine Cook, 54, was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in November 2024 after her yearly mammogram.

Cook sold her business to pay for Keytruda (also known as pembrolizumab), the only targeted treatment to fight TNBC, given to patients alongside chemotherapy.

Around 10 to 15 percent of breast cancer diagnoses are triple negative, and it is the most challenging type of breast cancer to treat – particularly at the advanced stages, according to Breast Cancer NZ.

But despite Keytruda being recommended by Medsafe for both early and advanced stage of TNBC over two years ago, it had only been funded for advanced patients – not for patients like Cook with early-stage TNBC.

All up, Cook said she expected to pay about $100,000 for Keytruda, with one cycle every three weeks costing her $3000.

“We put the house and the business on the market to see if one or both would go. We ended up selling the business at a $700,000 loss because we simply couldn’t afford to pay for a business and treatment at the same time.

“It’s absolutely devastating. The guilt that I feel, I mean, basically, I’ve worked my whole life pretty much for nothing.”

Keytruda is funded for early stage TNBC in more than 40 countries, including Australia, the UK and Canada.

In New Zealand, Keytruda is only funded for patients with advanced TNBC, head and neck cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.

“You get this diagnosis, and you would think there’s treatment available because it’s standard worldwide to give people Keytruda for early-stage TNBC, and to not have it here is absolutely gut-wrenching,” Cook said.

“I had to make a decision to either pay to live or not pay and go Russian roulette, which is what most people have to do. Right now, only a handful, a minority with money, can access treatment through the private health care system.”

In November 2025, Cooke presented a 17,000-signature strong petition to widen access to funded Keytruda to the Petitions Select Committee.

She said the committee told her Keytruda for early-stage TNBC had been placed on the Options for Investments List, but there was no timeline for when or if it would be publicly funded.

She said she was told it could take up to a year for an update.

“That absolutely blew me away. In fact, it left me distraught and in tears, wondering why I’d even turned up.

“All we’re doing is moving a chess piece on the board. I want to know what the actual plan is.

“But I have to have hope that now it’s on the investment list for funding, the problem sits with the government and not with Pharmac.”

In November 2025, Pharmac [​https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/577655/pharmac-could-trim-list-of-medicines-awaiting-funding said it was considering trimming the list of over 100 medicines awaiting funding] to provide patients with more clarity.

Cook said she wanted Finance Minister Nicola Willis to meet with her in person.

“I want to sit down with her woman-to-woman to let her know that early intervention not only saves lives but will save the government money long-term.

“Dragging people on a journey where they can’t afford treatment and have to be a burden on the health system, the mental health system and welfare, is costing the government a huge amount of money.

“Nicola, if saving lives is not your top priority – which it should be, – let me show you how to save money.”

The Breast Cancer Foundation’s head of research and strategic programmes Mehdi Shahbazpour said New Zealand was missing an opportunity to save lives by not treating breast cancer earlier.

He said, unlike other countries, New Zealand only had funding to extend the life of breast cancer patients who had reached an advanced, incurable stage.

Kisqali (also known as ribociclib), a treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, started being funded for early stage patients in Australia in 2025. But in New Zealand, it was also only funded for advanced patients.

“A lot more targeted therapies are the standard of care internationally. Women have had access to these medicines funded in comparable nations for many years,” Shahbazpour said.

“If we get more funding for medicine for early breast cancer patients, we actually have an opportunity to reduce the chance of cancer coming back and spreading to the rest of the body and making it terminal.”

“Time is the enemy of breast cancer patients. This is our best chance to contain the cancer as early as possible.”​

Shahbazpour said the government needed to ensure Pharmac had the budget it needed, so women like Catherine were not forced to fork out thousands of dollars or go without.

“We have a medicines crisis. We are way behind comparable nations when it comes to funding medicines.

“It’s costing lives and destroying lives. People have to put their homes up for a mortgage or go to Australia to afford these life-saving medicines through private channels.”

In a statement, Pharmac pharmaceuticals director Adrienne Martin told RNZ they could not give any indication of when or if Keytruda specifically would be funded for early stage TNBC, or where it was ranked on the Options for Investment List.

“We understand how difficult it can be when someone is living with a serious health condition and needs access to medicines. We acknowledge there is a high unmet health need for people with breast cancer and a need for more effective treatments.

“Our team works hard to fund as many medicines as possible using the best available clinical evidence, expert advice, and the lived experiences of New Zealanders.

“In September, following a petition from a member of the public, Pharmac was invited to present a submission to the Petitions Select Committee. In the submission, Pharmac confirmed that it was close to finishing its assessment of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for early-stage triple negative breast cancer. After this, the application would be ranked on Pharmac’s Options for Investment List (OFI).

“Pharmac’s submission also included information about the length of time it had taken for the medication to be added to the OFI. The assessment process began in 2023, and the medicine was added to the OFI in 2025.

“We noted in our submission that when this funding application was considered by Pharmac’s Cancer Treatments Advisory Committee in October 2023, the Committee recommended that this medicine be funded for people with early-stage triple negative breast cancer with a low priority. This information was provided to help explain the length of time the assessment process had taken.”

In New Zealand, women between the ages of 45 and 69 years can get free breast screening every two years.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Pharmac Minister David Seymour both declined to comment directly.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A towel shortage at Waikato Hospital has left an elderly patient unable to shower for days, with the family feeling appalled by the lack of basic care.

Maureen Cruickshank, whose mother stayed at the hospital earlier this month, said the wards ran out of towels twice during her stay.

The first was a one-day shortage in mid-December.

But it was the latest three-day shortage in the Older Persons Rehabilitation ward that made her wonder whether something was broken in the system.

“On Friday she messaged me, I can’t have a shower today, there’s no towels. On Saturday morning, she rang me and said they’ve told us there’s no towels until Monday. Which meant she would’ve gone Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday without showers.”

Cruickshank contacted the hospital and asked if she could bring their own towels for staff to use and received a yes.

“It’s definitely not a staff shortage, because they were more than happy to give mum a shower, they just didn’t have towels, which is ridiculous.”

She said she does not have the professional skills and experience to shower her mother who’s only recently out of surgery.

“When a patient has been in hospital for so long, it just feels so good to have a shower. To have the water wash your hair, to actually feel like you are rehabilitating. You’re taking one step closer to going home.

“And when they go you’ve got stay in bed, we’ll give you a bed bath, it just doesn’t feel human really.”

Cruickshank said she only learned about the issue through her elderly mother and is concerned for patients without family nearby.

“How many people aren’t in a position to have family bring up towels? And also the hygiene factor, is it bringing in more germs into the hospital people having to bring in their own towels?”

In a statement, Te Whatu Ora Waikato acting group director for operations Rachel Swain said the towel shortage was an isolated event on 27 December and was resolved within 24 hours.

Swain said the shortage only affected the Older Persons and Rehabilitation ward, and the duty nurse manager sourced towels from other areas of the hospital.

“This occurred due to an unforeseen operational issue that resulted in available emergency linen being depleted. Patient care, hygiene, and access to showers were maintained during this time.

“Patients were advised of the situation and at no time were patients or families asked to provide their own towels.”

Swain said linen services are provided by a long-standing external supplier, and there have been no formal complaints about the supply in the past 12 months. Waikato Hospital does not consider linen availability to be an ongoing concern.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Two new primary schools are scheduled to open at the start of 2026 – one in Christchurch and the other in Auckland.

The Ministry of Education said the schools in Rolleston and Flat Bush would open with about 100 students each.

It said construction of Te Kura Rau Iti Primary in Flat Bush would finish at the end of January.

The school would have 30 classrooms and an initial capacity for 600 pupils, though it was expected to grow to 1250.

The ministry said construction of the first stage of Te Rau Horopito Primary in Rolleston would finish in late January.

The school would open with 12 classrooms and an estimated initial roll of 90-100 students in the first year of operation.

“This projection is subject to the pace of residential development and population growth during the year. The school will be appropriately staffed and equipped with facilities to accommodate additional students if required,” the ministry said.

It said construction of a further 12 rooms plus an administration and technology block would start in February.

The ministry said work on two further new schools in Christchurch was scheduled to begin in 2026 with opening dates in 2027.

The ministry said on-site construction of Prebbleton Primary in Selwyn would start in July.

The school would open at the start of 2027 with 12 classrooms, an administration space and hall for an estimated initial roll of 75-125 students in the first year growing to 275 student places.

The ministry said construction of the first stage of Milns Road School in Christchurch would start in 2026.

It would include 12 classrooms and open in term 1, 2027 with an estimated initial roll 75-125 students ingrowing to 275 student places.

Meanwhile two specialist schools for children requiring significant learning support would be rebuilt.

The ministry said the rebuild of Central Auckland Specialist School was completed in mid-December.

It had 14 teaching spaces.

It said replacement of buildings at Sommerville Base School in Auckland would start in February.

The school would have: “22 new teaching spaces across seven fit-for-purpose one-storey classroom blocks will be provided, as well as an indoor hydrotherapy pool, an outdoor sensory learning environment and two new pick-up/drop-off areas”.

The ministry said construction was expected to finish in February 2027 with the school opening to students in term 2 that year.

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