But Hornell quickly built her own list of clients.
“I got to the point where I was like ok, I’ve got no more capacity to bring any more clients in, so what next?” she said.
She had always wanted to start her own hairdressing business, but thought that would happen in New Zealand.
However, with a bit of guidance from friends, Hornell found a space to rent in London, and even some Kiwi builders to help turn it into a hair salon.
More than a year and a half later, her Hackney salon ‘Peach Stories’ has continued to grow.
Hornell explains that there have been a few lessons along the way, including when she first opened to clients.
“I was working alone and I had double booked myself all day, because at the start you’re like, ‘Oh my god, now I’ve got to pay all this rent, so let’s just work 10 hour days’, and anyway I ended up overbooking myself, I ran late for every client by like an hour, the salon was a mess, I was here until 11 o’clock, but I feel like you have to have that day,” she said.
Hornell now employed six staff members, including several New Zealanders.
Eighty percent of the salon’s clients were Kiwis and Australians, and word of mouth had helped grow the business.
“I always get told by my Kiwi and Australian clients, they were so happy to find a Kiwi salon, because they also feel like we do the hair slightly different as well,” Hornell said.
New Zealander Regan McMillan believed the Kiwi reputation was a big part of his company’s success too.
He started his moving business, Kiwi Movers, 18 years ago.
What began as a bit of extra work on the weekend with one moving van, had grown into an operation with 20 staff.
“From just everyday people just wanting to move a few items, to billionaires, to movie stars – some of the guys have had, you know, sitting in the truck with a movie star for a few hours,” McMillan said.
Many of the staff were trained lawyers, engineers, teachers, or sportspeople who had left New Zealand for their OE (overseas experience).
“One of the refreshing things you get is the feedback, just about the attitude of the guys and how friendly and proactive they are,” McMillan said.
“New Zealand is a trusted brand in itself, and people feel comfortable with Kiwis, they go, ‘Right, ok, I know what I’m getting’.”
McMillan said starting a business overseas came with the extra challenge of figuring out how to do things in another country, but he believed the right attitude was a big help.
McMillan encouraged anyone who was in the position he was 18 years ago, to take the chance.
“Just go ahead and do it, give it a go, you’ve got nothing to lose. Being a Kiwi, you’ve probably got the right attitude, and people will be more open to giving you a shot as well”.
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On Thursday, the Professional Firefighters’ Union (NZPFU) said the specialised trucks in four cities were broken and communities faced hours of waiting for back-up if needed.
However, Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) said the claims were untrue and that it could provide alternative vehicles whenever they were needed.
It comes as union members are set to strike again today, stopping work for an hour at midday over their collective employment agreement.
What the union says
NZPFU said the Rotorua aerial truck broke down at a fire at Taupō-nui-a-Tia College on Sunday, resulting in an almost two-hour delay for back-up from Hamilton.
It said New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Gisborne’s aerial trucks were also all broken.
The union pointed to a national aerial strategy, which was meant to come off the back of a 2019 fire at Auckland’s International Convention Centre.
“Seven years later, that strategy is still to be completed. Instead, the organisation has prioritised corporate restructuring, cost-cutting, and the elimination of frontline emergency services to communities,” it said.
FENZ responds
However, FENZ said it was “not true that four Type 4 aerial trucks are out of action”.
It said Rotorua’s appliance was now back in service, and Gisborne’s was available despite being in the workshop for a minor issue.
Palmerston North’s truck was having a scheduled service and would be available again on Friday, while New Plymouth’s aerial truck was also in the workshop getting an intermittent electrical issue diagnosed and repaired.
“For scheduled services and minor repairs, we generally make arrangements that if a truck [is] in the workshop overnight it will be left in an operational state so the station can use it if needed. Similarly, if they need it during the day the workshop will endeavour to stop what they are doing and make it available,” a spokesperson said.
“It’s important to understand that we have 16 operational aerial appliances the same type as the Rotorua aerial, that get a proactive service 4 times a year. These services typically take 1-3 days each, plus any time for repairs. This means on average there is a Type 4 in the workshop for a proactive service for about 2.5 days for every week of the year. This is good maintenance practice, and demonstrates our investment in looking after our fleet.”
FENZ had a fleet of about 1300 trucks, the spokesperson said, and the agency was investing more than $20 million per year over the next three years to upgrade its fleet, plus an additional $12.5m on new heavy aerial trucks.
“Our firefighters are trained to use a range of tactics for different types of incidents. This means that if one particular type of fire truck is unavailable, they can adapt their tactics to the resources that they have.”
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Do you need words of affirmation? Quality time? Acts of service? Gifts? Or physical touch?
Figuring out your “love language” has become one of the most successful relationship ideas of the past two decades. Why? Because the idea is simple, flattering and easy to apply.
While incredibly popular and often used as a “go-to” tool on first dates, recent research suggests that the idea lacks strong scientific evidence for its central claims.
Gary Chapman’s five love languages – words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, or physical touch – are based on his reported experience working with couples as their pastor.
Moody Publishers
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Finance Minister Nicola Willis is urging the previous Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr to front up to the inquiry into the economic responses to Covid-19.
The government announced the independent review on Wednesday, saying it would identify key lessons from the spike in inflation and house prices.
The central bank’s actions – including official cash rate cuts and money printing – as well as its interaction with government policy, will all be in scope.
Willis said it was up to Orr whether he appeared, but had a message for him.
“Put New Zealand’s interests at the heart of your decision,” she said.
“It’s in New Zealand’s interests that you are candid about the decisions the Reserve Bank made in response to the Covid pandemic so that our country can learn from any mistakes that you made.”
Willis said she would still be going ahead with the inquiry whether Orr was still governor or not.
“Yes. I first sought advice on the shape of a potential inquiry when we first came into government. The decision I made at that time was to first focus on the legislating of a singular inflation-fighting target; the renegotiation of a funding agreement,” she said.
“At the point of Adrian Orr’s resignation, which occurred of course just a few months into our term as government, I determined it wouldn’t be appropriate while we were recruiting for a new governor to initiate the review, but the appointment of Dr Anna Breman has provided an appropriate juncture.”
Previous Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr’s resignation came more than a year after the government took office.RNZ / Dom Thomas
Opposition parties have criticised the timing of the review – with the findings set to be released in September, just weeks before the 7 November election – labelling it a politically motivated hit-job and an attack on the central bank’s independence.
Willis said the reviewers – former Cyprus central banker Athanasios Orphanides and former RBNZ assistant governor David Archer – would be travelling to New Zealand to carry out their work including conducting interviews.
They would have access to all Reserve Bank information, she said, and she expected it would also look at wealth inequality.
Orr led the bank during the pandemic but resigned unexpectedly last March over a lack of funding for the central bank.
His resignation came more than a year after the government took office.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s announcement about a plan to establish an LNG import facility, and the levy to fund it, has been badly received.Marika Khabazi / RNZ
Imported liquified natural gas could be a stopgap insurance policy against dry years – or an expensive, dirty fuel that will hit Kiwis in the pocket
“If it looks like a tax and it quacks like a tax, it’s a tax,” was the echo throughout parliament, and fiercely debated on talkback radio.
But behind the rhetoric sits a serious problem: New Zealand’s domestic gas supply is shrinking, electricity demand is rising, and officials warn the country risks shortages without backup fuel.
So imported LNG, most likely from Australia, is being pitched as that backup.
The plan would see New Zealand import super-cooled natural gas, shipped in from overseas, stored and regasified for use in electricity generation and industry.
Newsroom senior political reporter Marc Daalder tells The Detail it’s a proposed stopgap – insurance against dry years, dwindling gas reserves, and rising demand.
“Every once in a while, it rains less than you’d like it to, particularly in autumn and winter.
“That means our hydro lakes run low, and we can’t necessarily rely on things like wind, [as] it tends to be less windy when it’s less rainy; or solar in the winter when the sun isn’t shining, the sun’s gone down at the time we have our peak power demand, which is usually around 6 pm in July or August when people get home and turn on the heat and start cooking dinner, and suddenly the country’s power demand spikes.
“So renewables on their own aren’t able to fill that gap. We burn fossil fuels instead in dry years … but the problem is that we don’t have quite enough fossil fuel generation and quite enough supply, particularly of gas, to be able to reliably access it when you need it in a dry year.
“And that’s because of the second problem that’s going on, which is that our gas reserves are dwindling. They have essentially fallen off a cliff in the last few years.”
Not for want of trying, he says, with $1.5 billion spent on drilling 53 different exploration wells.
“A few of them have had small successes, but it’s turned out that the big, big fields that we have relied on for quite a long time have just started coming up empty.”
He says LNG is more expensive than domestic gas – about double the price.
“The theory is, on the government’s part, this is a backstop. The gas is available if we need it in a dry year, yes it’s more expensive, so it won’t be used otherwise.”
Daalder warns that, potentially, LNG could be dirtier than coal.
“There has been some research recently to suggest when you account for the emissions that go into producing the gas, into converting it to LNG, the leakages that occur while it’s being shipped across the ocean, and then it has to be regasified, and then distributed around a country like New Zealand, then actually LNG is potentially as dirty or dirtier than coal when you take that full supply chain into account.”
Questions remain
Martin Gummer, managing director of Optima, which looks at energy management solutions, tells The Detail that he largely supports the move, saying gas remains critical for manufacturing, food processing, and electricity reliability.
“You’ve got heavy industry, major manufacturers, steel, wood processors but also a wide spectrum of intermediate-sized businesses such as food products,” says Gummer. Schools and hospitals are also big gas users.
Gummer wrote an open letter to the prime minister that was published in the NZ Herald last December which was critical of the government’s handling of the energy problem and called for an urgent “bold, decisive” strategy.
As the country fast runs out of natural gas, Gummer says the LNG announcement won’t address all the concerns and there are still questions over the date of opening of a new plant and the price customers pay for the gas.
“While LNG is not a perfect answer, there is no perfect answer, it is probably the next best and most sensible interim step that needs to be taken.”
A missing part of the jigsaw is a funding stream – or subsidy – to assist industry to transition to renewable energy sources.
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A spooky image described a “grim reaper” has shown up in a medical scan of someone who’d just be in a car accident.
The person was actually unharmed, but the New Zealand Medical Journal has highlighted the case an an example of pareidolia.
That was the tendency of humans to see faces or figures in objects.
The image in the journal was from a radiograph of the atlas bone of the neck.
It looked like a skull surrounded by a black hood although, on closer inspection, it could also be perceived as a friendly skeleton.
The report, by Stephen Rowlands, said the tendency to spot faces in objects was evolutionarily advantageous but the interpretations could sometimes be humorous or eerie.
Supplied / New Zealand Medical Journal
“Cases of pareidolia in medicine are rare but not unprecedented, with reported examples including the Star Wars “Baby Yoda” character being seen in sacral magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scans,” it said.
The image was in fact created by a cluster of cysts in the neck.
Even though the patient was not seriously injured, the cysts could make them more susceptible to a neck injury.
The image was a good chance to reinforce anatomical knowledge but also to show the “cognitive pitfalls” that could come with radiology, the report said.
“Awareness of pareidolia is important for radiologists and clinicians alike, as it underscores the influence of subconscious visual biases on image.”
A University of Sydney study in 2021 concluded being good at spotting faces was part of human evolution – and that was why they tended to see them in objects.
Facial recognition happened in a few hundred milliseconds.
It was beneficial to be able to spot and assess a face quickly and the benefit of never missing a face outweighed sometimes getting it wrong, the study found.
Social media is full of examples of faces in gherkins or trees or power sockets and more.
More than 20 years ago a Florida woman made headlines when she sold a cheese sandwich for US$28,000 because it looked like an image of the Virgin Mary.
Judith Collins will remain an MP and continue to hold her portfolios until she moves to her new position as Law Commission president in the middle of the year.Nick Monro
Judith Collins was the only person considered for the role of Law Commission president – with no recruitment process, no selection panel and no rival candidates.
The appointment amounted to a simple “Cabinet confirmation”.
The revelation came on Friday in response to written questions to the government from the Green Party.
While the Law Commission Act 1985 requires only ministerial sign-off for the presidency, Cabinet guidelines state such appointments should follow “good practice” processes set out by the Public Service Commission.
Speaking to RNZ, Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said Collins’ effective anointment was “deeply concerning” and risked further damaging already “plummeting trust” in the coalition government.
“These independent processes are set up to protect against cronyism and corruption,” she said.
“How on earth can we possibly say that somebody was appointed because they were the best person for the job, when there was a decision to not even consider anybody else for that job?”
The responsible minister Paul Goldsmith told RNZ he was certain he had followed due process and rejected any suggestion of cronyism.
“Sometimes there’s been an external panel [for appointing this position]. Sometimes there hasn’t,” he said, adding there was a “long tradition” of former politicians serving on the Commission.
“We’re absolutely confident in the abilities of Judith Collins to do the job well. She’s obviously got hugely extensive… experience in justice roles across many many years.”
A spokesperson told RNZ Collins recused herself from the Cabinet decision.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced in January that Collins would step down from politics to take up the “prestigious” role at the Law Commission from mid-year.
University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis said past practice around such appointments appeared “pretty flexible”, but this example looked “nakedly political”.
“The worry is that if you’ve got very loose flexible processes… then it’s open to misuse to an even greater extent in the future.”
Geddis said Collins may well do a good job in her new position but would face a challenge convincing the public she could uphold its independence.
“I don’t think it’s conspiracy thinking to say that the government has chosen to reward one of its long-standing loyal servants with this role.”
Collins’ predecessor Mark Hickford was appointed to the Commission in October but given an unusually short six-month term as president, “pending the confirmation of a new president in the new year”.
Collins was unavailable for comment, having departed for Germany on Wednesday to attend the Munich Security Conference.
Last month she told media she intended to play “a straight bat” in the role: “This is too important. The Law Commission is not there to play political games.”
Lucas Casey and Ethan Blackadder. Graphic: Liam K. SwiggsPhotosport
Highlanders v Crusaders
Kick-off: 7:05pm Friday 13 February
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Live blog updates on RNZ
And we’re back. Super Rugby Pacific returns with a southern derby between the Highlanders and the Crusaders, two teams coming in with very contrasting situations right now. The home side has arguably their best player ruled out for the whole season this week, while coach Jamie Joseph may only have that title for a few more weeks. Oh, and the Highlanders came dead last in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders are defending champions after a remarkable comeback season last year. They tipped over the Chiefs in a tense final, after a highly entertaining Super Rugby Pacific competition.
Tamaiti Williams scores the winning try during the Crusaders v Highlanders, Super Rugby Pacific match, Apollo Projects Stadium, Christchurch.Joseph Johnson/ActionPress
Team lists
Highlanders: 1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Jack Taylor, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 4 Oliver Haig, 5 Mitch Dunshea, 6 Te Kamaka Howden, 7 Sean Withy, 8 Lucas Casey, 9 Folau Fakatava, 10 Cameron Millar, 11 Jona Nareki, 12 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 13 Jonah Lowe, 14 Caleb Tangitau, 15 Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens
Bench: 16 Henry Bell, 17 Josh Bartlett, 18 Rohan Wingham, 19 Will Stodart, 20 Veveni Lasaqa, 21 Adam Lennox, 22 Reesjan Pasitoa, 23 Tanielu Tele’a
Crusaders: 1 Finlay Brewis, 2 George Bell, 3 Seb Calder, 4 Antonio Shalfoon, 5 Jamie Hannah, 6 Dom Gardiner, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 9 Noah Hotham, 10 Rivez Reihana, 11 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 12 David Havili (c), 13 Braydon Ennor, 14 Sevu Reece, 15 Chay Fihaki
Bench: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tahlor Cahill, 20 Corey Kellow, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Taha Kemara, 23 Will Jordan
Highlanders team news
Lucas Casey.Michael Thomas/ActionPress
Fabian Holland is the big name missing, with the All Black lock suffering a shoulder injury that’ll keep him out of rugby till the test season. Pumas import Tomas Lavanini has not been adjudged fit to take his place so Mitch Dunshea and Oliver Haig pair up in the second row.
All eyes will be on young number eight Lucas Casey after his standout NPC season last year, while the backline has Timoci Tavatavanawai and Jonah Lowe pairing up in midfield.
The depth that Rob Penney has available to him is on show in this Crusaders side, with Codie Taylor and Will Jordan set to come off the bench. Ethan Blackadder is the most intriguing starter in the pack, can he stay injury free and regain his spot in the All Blacks? He’ll have the help of a dependable crew around him, George Bell is coming off a big NPC season and test recall, while out in the backs Noah Hotham has been given the start at halfback over Kyle Preston.
Key stats
Sevu Reece scores a try during the Crusaders v Force, Super Rugby Pacific match, Apollo Projects Stadium, Christchurch.Martin Hunter/ActionPress
The Crusaders have won four of their last five matches against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium, with the only blip being a 32-29 defeat in their horror 2024 season.
The Highlanders have lost their last six Super Rugby Pacific matches against New Zealand opposition teams by an average of 15.8 points per game.
Crusaders wing Sevu Reece has been directly involved in 23 tries across his last 23 Super Rugby Pacific games (16 tries, seven assists).
What they’re saying
“I’m thinking about the Highlanders, that’s been my focus. The publicity around the (All Black) job has been surprisingly simple for the players, there hasn’t been a lot said. This is my first game this season, I’m really focused on the Highlanders.” – Jamie Joseph.
“I hope (the starting players) are relishing it deeply. It’s a great opportunity for them, in a number of areas. For them to get this much time to play, it’s awesome for us to see how they cope with it … it’s up to them to take it.” – Rob Penney.
The last time they met
Crusaders 15 – 12 Highlanders
[embedded content]
After a wretched season, the Highlanders almost pulled off a massive upset in Christchurch. Unfortunately, Cam Millar’s usually dependable kicking form deserted him on the last play of the game, as he pushed a penalty attempt that would’ve sent the game to extra time wide of the posts.
What’s going to happen
The Crusaders will probably win, and comfortably too, but this still stands as the Highlanders’ best chance to pull off an upset. They started the season well last year but now have to contend with injuries and the Joseph situation, so that will be playing on their mind. The Crusaders just need to pick up where they left off, with Leicester Fainga’anuku and Sevu Reece sure to come off the wings and cause havoc.
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Pat Gray (right) and Ange Jones (left) are “proud Tangata Tiriti” and belong to Network Waitangi Whangārei – an organisation that provides information, education and support to implement Te Tiriti o Waitangi.Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
More Pākehā are enrolling in Treaty education workshops and seeking out information about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, according to long-standing Treaty educators.
Waitangi Network Whangārei, a community-based rōpū said membership enrolments have tripled in the last year, alongside increasing attendance at its public workshops introducing people to Te Tiriti.
“We’ve had big numbers in the last few years, so there’s a lot more interest in people trying to understand about Te Tiriti,” Network Waitangi Whangārei member and educator Ngaire Ray told RNZ.
“There’s a real movement for people to understand what does Te Tiriti mean for all of us.”
Network Waitangi Whangārei has been operating since 1985. Originally known as Project Waitangi, the group was established to educate non-Māori about the Treaty in the lead-up to the 150th anniversary of its signing in 1990.
Ray said the group had been travelling to Waitangi for decades, focusing on encouraging Tangata Tiriti to see Te Tiriti as relevant to them.
“It’s our partnership, it’s a relationship,” she said.
“Te Tiriti is for all people and if we embrace Te Tiriti, it sets out the path and the future for Aotearoa.”
She said Te Tiriti was an agreement between two nations – Māori and the Crown – and that non-Māori had a responsibility to understand the historical context and the commitments made in 1840.
“It’s really important that my people, that Pākehā people and non-Māori are present in the relationship and understand Te Tiriti, we understand the historical context of where that was signed, what was agreed in Te Tiriti and what does it mean for us and the future of Aotearoa.”
Network Waitangi Whangārei member and Educator Ngaire Ray says enrollments have tripled over the past year.Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Kathryn McKenzie, a Pākehā Treaty educator who has been running workshops for 32 years, said many people were only now beginning to learn a history they were not taught at school.
“If it was happening in our schools, we wouldn’t need to be here. If our people knew our history, we wouldn’t need to be here,” she said.
“We’ve got a history of colonisation, and we have for many, many years tried to hide it. And that doesn’t create stable partnership if we don’t acknowledge our past.”
McKenzie said Treaty education gained momentum following the 1981 Springbok Tour protests, when Pākehā protesters were challenged by Māori activists to “go and educate your people” about racism and Te Tiriti.
Project Waitangi emerged from that period of activism, alongside other anti-racism movements. It later became Network Waitangi, with autonomous regional groups continuing the education kaupapa to this day.
The group describes itself as an independent, voluntary community organisation providing information, education and support to help people understand and implement Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
McKenzie said people attending workshops included Pākehā, Māori and newer migrants – often referred to as tangata Tiriti – who had come to Aotearoa after 1840.
“Everybody needs to learn because they’ve all come through the standard education system where the Treaty has not been taught,” she said.
She said terms such as “Pākehā” and “Tangata Tiriti” were often misunderstood.
“Tangata Tiriti, we’re the partners that signed the Treaty. Because we have signed the Treaty, that was what gave us permission to settle here.”
Tangata Tiriti Annie and Carol attend the nationwide activation hīkoi mō Te Tiriti in Dargarville.Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Recent national data suggests the growing interest in Treaty education reflects wider public attitudes.
For the third year running, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission surveyed New Zealanders’ awareness, understanding and attitudes toward Te Tiriti, human rights and the constitution.
The December 2025 survey, conducted by Horizon Research, found strong support for protecting Te Tiriti and fostering respectful discussion.
Seventy percent said it was important that Te Tiriti is protected in New Zealand’s laws and constitution, while 78 percent said respectful discussion of Te Tiriti was important for the country’s future.
Eighty-seven percent said it was important that everyone knows the country’s history, 83 percent said positive relationships between Māori and the Crown is important, and 79 percent supported protecting and celebrating Māori culture, language and identity.
The survey also found 93 percent believed it was important that everyone feels a sense of belonging in Aotearoa.
Commission Indigenous Rights Governance partner Dayle Takitimu said the findings challenged narratives of division.
“Many of the results tell a different story to the narrative of division we have been fed over the past two years,” Takitimu said.
“The majority of New Zealanders value Māori culture and traditions, care about the real histories of Aotearoa, and want respectful discussions about Te Tiriti.”
Network Waitangi Whangārei was established in 1985 and have been attending Waitangi ever since.Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Ray said education is central to what happens next.
“We aren’t going to get to a better future unless we talk to people, educate people, inform people, help them to understand our history,” she said.
“It’s a beautiful document, it’s a simple one-page document, it’s a peaceful agreement, and it has held so much potential for how we can be together as a country and as a people.”
McKenzie said facing the past was necessary to build stronger relationships in the future.
“We can build a better future if we face our past,”
“Don’t be scared, because Te Tiriti o Waitangi is actually good for us all.”
Paul Davison KC has been named to help Tauranga City Council’s external review.RNZ
Hundreds of thousands of files have been identified by Tauranga City Council that it thinks could be relevant to a review of what it knew and how fast it acted before the deadly landslip at Mount Maunganui that left six holiday-makers dead.
The review, while separate to a government inquiry also confirmed the same day, would aim to work alongside it and try to cut any duplication.
Davison has been tasked with delivering his findings by the end of June, a target both he and Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale were confident of reaching.
“It really depends on once he gets into his work and understands the scale,” Drysdale said.
“It is quite a narrow scope, but with the ability for him to go wider if he feels it’s relevant, so we’ll trust his judgement on that.”
But the mayor told RNZ it was a big job ahead.
“The total documents that we’re looking at the moment is in the hundreds of thousands,” he said.
It was based on search terms staff had used to scour through documents.
“So, just literally searching every file we have, every e-mail, every conversation that’s recorded,” Drysdale said.
Tauranga mayor Mahé Drysdale at a media stand up after the Mount Maunganui landslide.Lauren Crimp
The mayor said all of these now had to be waded through to see if they were relevant to Davison’s review.
Drysdale said Davison was “the right man for the job” given his extensive experience, and what he said was a reputation for rigorous analysis.
Read RNZ National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood’searlier reportof who knew what, and when.
The mayor was asked if he had considered any future actions if Davison’s report found any fault with the council.
“Look, at the end of the day we lost six lives and it’s important that we understand what happened, whether that’s good, bad or indifferent,” Drysdale said.
“I’m sure that there’s going to be some things that are found that we could have done better and it’s important that we know that so we can put those processes in place going forward to enable that we don’t go through a similar situation.”
Fire and Emergency (FENZ) previously confirmed it got a 111 call at 5.48am before the tragedy, from a person reporting a slip near the holiday park.
It said at the time it contacted Tauranga City Council at 5.51am, given it owned the camping ground.
The council confirmed it received a call from FENZ.
Davison told RNZ he would need unrestricted access to “any” information the council held.
“If I didn’t have unrestricted information or access to it, then clearly I wouldn’t be able to undertake an effective review,” he said.
The deadline for the review was able to be extended with agreement from the mayor.
“But … we need this in a timely manner, because we don’t want to wait,” he said.
“We’re hopeful we can get the report as quickly as possible.”
Davison said he would work to complete the report as soon as he possibly could.
Who is Paul Davison?
Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1975
Made a High Court judge in 2015 and retired in 2023 before continuing work in law as a mediator, arbitrator and consulting
Has sat as a member of a Divisional Court of Appeal
Has acted as counsel in several major commissions of inquiry, notably the Royal Commission into the Air New Zealand Erebus disaster
In 2025, undertook a government-appointed role of independent arbiter to determine financial redress for Lake Alice survivors
Appointed Kim Dotcom’s lawyer soon after his arrest
Lead defence lawyer in 2009 for Mangere MP Taito Phillip Field
Appeared as Crown counsel in the case against David Tamihere.
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Regulations mean only specialised vape retailers are allowed to sell the full range of vape products and flavours.Unsplash
Vape stores within stores like dairies and petrol stations are allowing retailers to get around flavour restrictions, and a new study has found they’re far more common in low socio-economic areas.
The authors of this new research out of Massey University say it goes against efforts to limit the exposure of young people to vape products.
Regulations mean only specialised vape retailers (SVRs) are allowed to sell the full range of vape products and flavours – and a store can only qualify as an SVR if vaping products make up 70 percent of their sales.
Convenience stores, petrol stations and supermarkets, which don’t meet that bar, can only sell mint, menthol or tobacco flavoured vapes.
But by opening a vape shop as a store within a store, these retailers could stock the full range, and then market those products to their existing foot traffic – for example, someone who has popped in for a bottle of milk.
A new paper out of Massey University, titled “Scoping the vape retail environment and retailers’ responses to vape control measures in selected Auckland suburbs with different levels of socio-economic deprivation” by Robin van der Sanden, Chris Wilkins, Marta Rychert, Jude Ball, Janet Hoek, Penelope Truman, Geoff Kira, El-Shadan Tautolo, has analysed the locations of these vape shops.
Out of 160 specialist vape retailers in 14 Auckland suburbs, 44 percent were stores within stores, and they were concentrated in suburbs with higher socio-economic deprivation, and residential areas rather than commercial centres.
High-deprivation suburbs had a median of 8.5 store-within-a-store outlets, compared to just two in low-deprivation areas.
In addition, 56 percent of all speciality vape retailers were located within 300 metres of at least one educational institute – be that primary, secondary, or tertiary.
The Auckland CBD had the highest total number of specialist vape retailers at 43, while some low-deprivation suburbs like St Heliers had none.
‘Stores within stores undermined efforts to curb exposure to youth’ – researcher
Study author and public health researcher Dr Robin van der Sanden told RNZ:
“It really is about wanting to maintain access to what are essentially the most appealing vape products, and the products that sell the best and most widely, which really are your fruit flavours [and] your lolly flavours.”
Regulations needed to balance accessibility for people who wanted vapes to quit smoking, while limiting exposure to young people and non-smokers.
Moves to set up vape stores within liquor stores drew concern from alcohol harm prevention groups last year, while the vaping industry argued liquor store age restrictions would likely limit exposure to young people.
Van der Sanden said stores within stores undermined efforts to curb exposure to youth, particularly in areas already facing greater health inequities.
“Kids are popping in and out of the dairy to buy an ice cream after school and as a result, they are coming into contact with that vape retail environment, and they’re seeing people exiting that little vape store carrying quite a cool, brightly coloured looking vape package,” she said.
From a policy perspective, she said, changes to close this loophole could have “a really noticeable impact”.
Associate Health Minister Casey Costello, whose portfolio vaping falls into, told RNZ specialist stores were not supposed to have products displayed outside them, nor were under-18s allowed in them.
“If they’re breaking those laws, that’s an enforcement issue and there has been a significant increase in enforcement capacity and activity over the last two years to back up these changes.”
“Overall, the latest statistics show that youth vaping is continuing to reduce, as are our smoking rates. However, we need a more coherent and sensible regulatory regime around tobacco and nicotine products to better address the harm from smoking and I’ll be interested to see this research and any suggestions.”
Vaping Industry Association also wants loophole addressed
The Vaping Industry Association (VIANZ) told RNZ they, too, thought the loophole needed to be addressed.
In a statement, chairperson Jonathan Devery said the group supported the intent of regulations to reduce youth exposure, while maintaining access for adults seeking an alternative to smoking.
He said it was clear the store-within-a-store model had emerged as an unintended consequence of the current framework, “and we believe this loophole should be addressed to ensure the regulatory system operates as originally intended”.
Specialist vape retail should reflect genuine, standalone specialist premises with robust age-verification and compliance standards, not hybrid formats that blur the line with general retail, he said.
“We are committed to working constructively with regulators to strengthen the integrity of the specialist retail model while continuing to protect adult access to regulated, smoke-free alternatives.”
PARIS, FRANCE – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 February 2026 – On February 10, the day of China’s Little New Year, An Encounter with China: Chinese New Year was held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The millennia‑old ancient capital Nanjing presented a “condensed version” of Chinese New Year through folk customs, art dialogues, and other forms. Representatives from permanent delegations of over 100 countries and international friends gathered to celebrate the Spring Festival, building a bridge for mutual learning among civilizations.
An Encounter with China: Celebrating Chinese New Year
In December 2024, the Spring Festival was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Khaled El-Enany, Director‑General of UNESCO, stated that the Spring Festival has become a globally shared cultural event, and its inscription highlights the global influence of Chinese culture. Yang Xinyu, Ambassador of China’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, praised Nanjing, calling this “City of Literature” a city that brings the charm and warmth of the Spring Festival to Paris, showcasing the profound heritage and contemporary value of Chinese culture.
Nanjing is home to the Nanjing City Wall, the largest existing ancient city wall in the world, and its Yunjin brocade weaving technique has been inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. At the event, the 2026 Spring Festival Temple Fair, hosted by China’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, kicked off with great excitement. Inside the headquarters hall, the Nanjing Cultural Symbols Exhibition drew large crowds: Fuma lanterns and Yulong lanterns glittered with brilliance, while Yunjin brocade and velvet flower crafts dazzled with their exquisite artistry. At the interactive area titled “Rubbing to Transmit Cultural Heritage,” guests personally took rubbings of inscriptions from Nanjing City Wall bricks.
In Nanjing itself, the Qinhuai Lantern Fair, with a history of over 1,700 years, illuminates the Confucius Temple; around the Ming City Wall, people “climb the city wall to walk off ailments,” visit temple fairs, and attend exhibitions, making the stories of the city wall a bond connecting the world.
During the event, Nanjing intangible cultural heritage inheritors, design scholars, and world‑leading designers gathered at the Manufacture Nationale de France for a dialogue titled “Reshaping and Interweaving Heritage.” Nanjing upholds the principles of “living heritage and two‑way empowerment,” through authentic restoration, international exchanges, and artistic co‑creation, allowing millennia‑old craftsmanship wisdom to serve the present, and enabling the world to appreciate the charm of Chinese New Year and the enduring power of Chinese civilization.
Hashtag: #Nanjing
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
WENCHANG, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 February 2026 – China recently launched a Long March-12 carrier rocket from Wenchang, successfully sending the 19th group of low-orbit internet satellites into preset orbit. This mission marked the 12th launch since the country’s first commercial spacecraft launch site entered service, signaling that the facility has entered a phase of high-density, routine operations.
An aerial drone photo shows seaside homestays and coffee shops in Longlou Town, Wenchang, south China’s Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)
Wenchang benefits from distinct natural and geological advantages. As China’s southernmost launch site, its proximity to the equator improves payload efficiency. The expansive surrounding sea areas ensure safety for launch drop zones, while accessible maritime transport solves the logistical challenge of shipping large rocket.
The steady launch capacity, together with Hainan Free Trade Port policies such as zero tariffs, low tax rates, and a simplified tax system, is attracting aerospace companies from around the world. To date, more than 700 space-related enterprises have settled in the Wenchang International Aerospace City (WIAC), covering the entire industrial chain from rocket manufacturing and satellite design to data applications.
In 2025, the WIAC recorded annual revenue exceeding 20 billion yuan (approximately 2.9 billion U. S. dollars). With core infrastructure facilities gradually put to operations, a complete industrial chain—from manufacturing and assembling to launch operations—is rapidly taking shape.
“What attracted us here is not only the launch capability, but the entire industrial ecosystem,” said a senior executive of a satellite-related company based in the WIAC. “Finding partners and testing solutions here is extremely efficient.”
Space launches are also reshaping the local tourism landscape. According to official statistics, Wenchang recorded more than one million tourist trips in 2025. Many of the tourists were “rocket-chasers.” Launch viewing areas and the local aerospace science and education center have become popular destinations, boosting business for nearby homestays, restaurants, and related services.
“We used to live by the weather, now we live by the rockets,” a local homestay operator remarked, which highlighted the area’s transition from a traditional fishing community to a modern aerospace hub.
It was revealed that multiple launch pads are under construction at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. As infrastructure continues to improve, a “Space Town” featuring the aerospace industry and themed tourism is taking shape along China’s southern coast.
Hashtag: #Wenchang
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 February 2026 – When you think of the Chinese New Year, lively lion dances and vibrant red lanterns surely come to mind. But this time, in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, you might brush past an adorable panda mascot, run into trendy IP characters on street corners, and discover themed artistic lanterns and festive markets. All these are available at the “Trendy Chaoyang, Trendy Temple Fair” event unfolding at the Chaoyangmen Outer Street area.
“Trendy Chaoyang, Trendy Temple Fair”
From February 10 (Little New Year in northern China on the Chinese lunar calendar) to March 8, the UIC block in the Chaoyangmen Outer Street area transforms into an open-air New Year playground. The most eye-catching are the nearly 100 “pandas” scattered throughout the block—not real giant pandas, but art installations, lanterns, pop-up IPs, and interactive photo spots inspired by various trendy characters. Top panda celebrities like Beijing Zoo’s Meng Lan, Chengdu’s He Hua, Hu Hu from the movie Panda Plan, Bing Dwen Dwen (a mascot of Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games), Pang Anda (a mascot of Air China), and 52TOYS’ Panda Roll, among others, have all gathered here. Additionally, over ten renowned domestic and international IPs, such as MOLLY from Pop Mart and WAKUKU from HERE, have also “traveled” here, creating a warm, healing, fun-filled, adorable universe.
Apart from trendy toy IPs, the event offers diverse Spring Festival experiences: Yingge Dance from the Chaoshan area of Guangdong Province makes its debut in Beijing, beating majestic New Year drums; folk song and dance performances from Guangxi and other ethnic areas showcase the diverse flavors of Chinese New Year. Visitors can enjoy specially crafted drinks from AI-powered unmanned beverage stations while appreciating intangible cultural heritage crafts and designer brands at the market. At THE BOX shopping mall, you can try VR tennis, visit a pet market, and interact with roaming non-player characters (NPCs) to receive red envelopes. After nightfall, lights, woven tree covers, and themed lighting effects turn the entire street into a dreamy open-air “art gallery.”
At historic sites such as Dongyue Temple and Ritan Park, Chaoyang District leverages local cultural heritage to create all-ages-friendly fairs combining exhibitions, fun activities, markets, and performances. This is not just a revival and celebration of Chinese New Year but also a cultural exchange that bridges tradition and modernity, folk customs and fashion, the local and the global.
Chaoyang’s “Trendy Temple Fair” welcomes everyone, no matter where you are from, with open arms, creative and heart-warming celebrations, inviting all to experience a Chinese New Year that is tangible, interactive, and full of surprises and happy memories.
Hashtag: #TrendyTempleFair
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 February 2026 – The 21st century is no longer measuring cities by height or GDP growth, but by their capacity to anticipate, absorb, and regenerate. “Resilience” has shifted from a policy buzzword into a survival metric. Governance is no longer a background function, it is the nervous system of urban life.
Vinhomes Green Paradise in Can Gio exemplifies this strategic shift. At its core, the project places the governance (G) factor at the center of the ESG++ model, aiming to build a city capable of regeneration and proactive long-term adaptation. The project is positioning itself not as a late entrant but as a re-architect of coastal urban logic.
When Governance Defines Quality of Life
For decades, Asian urban development prioritized growth speed and capital attraction. However, climate-related pressures, urban flooding, rising operational costs have exposed the limits of those indicators. International research, including “Happiness in urban environments,” now links quality of life not only to amenities but also to safety and environmental resilience. Even technical standards such as ISO 37120 increasingly emphasize public service delivery and transparency over purely economic metrics.
This rebalancing is most visible in coastal cities, where high economic potential coexists with direct exposure to sea-level rise. Jakarta’s subsidence crisis and the challenges faced by Bangkok and Manila illustrate the long-term costs of prioritizing speed over adaptive capacity. In this context, urban governance must extend beyond routine administration to function as an integrated system of risk management, forecasting, and proactive response.
Can Gio as a Strategic Test of Adaptive Capacity
As Ho Chi Minh City expands southward, Can Gio presents a concentrated version of the challenges facing Southeast Asian coastal urbanism. The peninsula contains a dual ecological structure: a large marine interface and a UNESCO-recognized mangrove biosphere reserve. This configuration imposes high sensitivity on any development decision. The economic use of marine resources must align with conservation requirements and regional ecological safety.
From an international perspective, Can Gio serves not only as a green buffer but also as a governance test case, where development can proceed without repeating the costly lessons observed elsewhere.
Vinhomes Green Paradise responds to this challenge by expanding the conventional ESG framework into an ESG++ model structured around two additional pillars: regeneration and resilience.
Marc Townsend, Senior Advisor at Arcadia Consulting Vietnam, observed that prioritizing environmental protection over short-term profit targets represents a strategic choice that positions the project as a distinctive model worthy of regional discussion. The defining feature is the placement of governance (G) as the central layer, enabling consistent execution of environmental (E) and social (S) objectives through international benchmarks such as BREEAM and ISO 37122.
Data Infrastructure and the Urban Operating System
At the core of the governance model is the ESG Hub, an AI-integrated platform designed for continuous monitoring of environmental indicators, energy consumption, and emissions. The system generates automatic alerts when risk thresholds are breached and transmits data directly to public display screens and residents’ mobile devices.
In the long term, the ESG Hub also plays the role of a data platform for synthesizing ESG reports, managing emission reductions and tracking the carbon footprint throughout the super project’s lifecycle, a key factor for sustainable commitments to be verified by actual operational data.
Alongside data-driven governance, the ESG++ urban area incorporates infrastructure solutions tailored to coastal conditions. These include sea reclamation techniques, active flood warning and drainage regulation systems, and materials resistant to saltwater corrosion. Such features reflect a risk-prevention approach embedded from the design stage.
This smart city model, with the application of IoT, artificial intelligence and big data application, is integrated into core operational layers such as security, traffic, fire prevention and energy management. The residential experience is supported by an automated ecosystem comprising self-driving vehicles, delivery robots, and service robots. Within individual apartments, a centralized smart management interface allows residents to control lighting, temperature, and security systems.
The operating model does not rely solely on technology. A professionally trained management team and 24/7 resident services form a “soft governance layer” that reinforces system stability and consistency.
Broader Implications
From an investment perspective, urban governance capacity is consistently linked to the ability to accumulate long-term asset value. Once infrastructure linkages between Can Gio, central Ho Chi Minh City, and the international seaport system are completed, the area will transform from an ecological space to a marine tourism and logistics hub.
Practice from cities developed according to ESG standards like Hammarby Sjöstad or Sentosa shows that real estate value is always more stable and durable against fluctuation cycles.
At a broader level, Vinhomes Green Paradise Can Gio illustrates a shift in Vietnam’s approach to coastal urban development. The integration of governance with data systems and technology sends a signal to international observers: the future value of a city will be determined not by its physical mass but by its governance capacity and adaptive flexibility against market fluctuations.
Hashtag: #Vinhomes
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
HANOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach Newswire – 12 February 2026 – Vingroup and Vinhomes have been recognized by TIME (USA) in the ranking of ASIA-PACIFIC’S BEST COMPANIES OF 2026, placing both companies among the Top 500 enterprises in the region.The simultaneous presence of Vingroup and Vinhomes with impressive rankings in TIME’s prestigious list not only affirms the global scale and stature of their ecosystem, but also underscores the growing influence of Vietnam’s economy on the international stage.
Vingroup and Vinhomes have been named among the Top 500 Best Companies in Asia-Pacific 2026 by TIME Magazine.
This year’s ranking honors 500 outstanding companies that are elevating the Asia-Pacific region’s role on the global economic map under the title ASIA-PACIFIC’S BEST COMPANIES OF 2026. Vingroup achieved a total score of 89.68, ranking 57th. Vinhomes ranked 352nd with a score of 80.69.
The results are based on a rigorous and transparent evaluation process conducted by TIME in collaboration with Statista. The assessment draws on comprehensive data collection and in-depth analysis across three key criteria: Financial Performance, Sustainability Transparency (ESG), and Employee Satisfaction.
Under the Financial Performance criterion, Vingroup received high recognition from TIME, recording consolidated net revenue of VND 332.77 trillion in 2025, up 76% year-on-year, the highest in the Group’s history. This exceptional performance was driven by the simultaneous launch of large-scale real estate mega-projects nationwide, alongside strong breakthroughs in its technology and industrial segments.
Vinhomes reported consolidated net revenue of VND 154.102 trillion in 2025. Its total consolidated net revenue (adjusted) reached VND 183.923 trillion, while consolidated profit after tax amounted to VND 42.111 trillion, representing year-on-year increases of 30% and 20%, respectively, compared to 2024. These figures not only exceeded business targets but also set new records, securing Vinhomes’ place among the region’s most prestigious Top 500 companies.
Under Sustainability Transparency (ESG), Vingroup continued to demonstrate meaningful contributions across environmental, governance, and social dimensions. ESG principles are integrated across all of the Group’s operations, from advancing green industrial development and building a comprehensive electric vehicle ecosystem centered on VinFast, to developing Vinhomes’ large-scale urban projects based on sustainable planning standards from inception.
A standout example is Vinhomes’ mega-project, Vinhomes Green Paradise, located in Can Gio. The project aims to achieve international certifications including BREEAM Communities and ISO 37122. Beyond merely adhering to global standards, Vinhomes Green Paradise pioneers an upgraded ESG++ urban model built upon five pillars: Environment – Social – Governance – Regeneration – Climate Change Adaptation. This ESG++ framework is set to become the benchmark for all future Vinhomes developments.
With a forward-looking vision, Vinhomes Green Paradise has also become the first Official Participant in the “7 Wonders of Future Cities” campaign initiated by New7Wonders, affirming its global aspiration in shaping a model city of the future.
Under the Employee Satisfaction criterion, Vingroup ranked 55th globally, while Vinhomes placed 335th, reflecting a dynamic working environment that fosters creativity, dedication, and continuous personal development.
In Vietnam, Vingroup and Vinhomes have consistently led national rankings of “Best Workplaces” announced by independent organizations, reinforcing their human capital strategy as a core foundation for sustainable, long-term growth.
This marks the third consecutive year that Vingroup and its subsidiaries have been honored by TIME in prestigious global rankings. Previously, VinFast was named among the world’s Most Influential Companies 2024 and included in ASIA-PACIFIC’S BEST COMPANIES OF 2025. Also in 2025, Vingroup became the first and only Vietnamese company to be honored among the World’s Best Companies 2025.
The continued recognition of Vingroup and its ecosystem companies by TIME underscores the rising strength and expanding global influence of Vietnamese enterprises.
TIME, headquartered in New York, USA, is one of the world’s most respected publications, with a history spanning 103 years and a broad international presence. Its annual rankings are widely regarded for their objectivity, rigorous evaluation methodology, and comprehensive criteria, earning strong credibility within the global business community.
Hashtag: #Vingroup #Vinhomes
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Household Economic Survey population rebase: Year ended June 2019 to 2024 – methods paper
12 February 2026
We have revised the Household Economic Survey (HES) weights for the years ended June 2019 to 2024, based on the most up-to-date estimated resident population. This is a standard process that follows statistical best practice and occurs roughly every five years – after the latest census-based population estimates are available.
New Zealand’s Alice Robinson competes in the Women’s Super G event of the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup 2025-2026, in St. Moritz.FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
Alpine skiier Alice Robinson’s hopes of securing a medal at the Super Giant Slalom finals have been dashed after a great start to the season.
However, Robinson did manage to compete the run – a feat which eluded favourites like Germany’s Emma Aicher and Italy’s Sofia Goggia – on Thursday night at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.
The 24-year-old is competing in her third Olympics, securing her first career win in the opening event of the season in St Moritz, followed by a second-place finish a week later in Val d’Isère.
She became New Zealand’s youngest-ever Winter Olympian when she attended the 2018 games in South Korea at the age of 16.
Italy’s Federica Brignone sealed an astonishing comeback from career-threatening injury to win gold on home snow.
Known as the “Tiger” for her ferocious determination, the 35-year-old had looked doubtful for the Games after a crash last April but fought back to fitness and produced one of her greatest runs on a foggy Olimpia delle Tofane piste.
France’s Romane Miradoli took silver, 0.41 of a second slower, with Austria’s Cornelia Huetter third, according to provisional results.
– RNZ / Reuters
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Citizen journalists bring to our attention the truths that we need to know. Being a witness to such truths is different to doom scrolling. It is about awareness.
This is about knowing the truths that the people who run this deteriorating world, want to hide.
Victims everywhere are begging to be heard and seen. And some people are revealing these truths. Some are trained in journalism, some are freelancing because the mainstream is not the clear clean truth stream, and some are self-trained.
The role of filming and reporting the truth is vital in an era when books are banned, when the names of predators are redacted, when the people at the top are part of an oligarchy that supports murder and rape.
A couple of years ago — almost to the day — I was pepper sprayed by a frontline policeman for filming police brutality against peaceful protesters standing on the footpath in Lyttelton Aotearoa New Zealand.
In that situation police seized people and hurled them to the ground. In other instances, as with human rights activist, John Minto, they seized baffled people and hauled them onto the road.
The men and women in blue vests and black gloves, formed a scrum over each seized civilian. They pummelled and beat them viciously, and hauled them into vans. Minto suffered a gash down his forehead.
Nightmares last longer Others had similar wounds and thanks to the direct illegal use of pepper spray, many suffered a sense like glass in their eyes. In my experience, those painful symptoms lasted weeks. The nightmares lasted longer.
Early last year, I was banned from my own Town Hall for witnessing the State of the Nation speech by Winston Peters. One of that leader’s loyal fans complained that I was taking notes. I produced my press card. Made no difference.
I witnessed a leader inciting hatred. Witnessing. The security guards banned me. The police upheld the ban. I am a multi-award winning reporter who has reported from conflict zones around the world. And I see the conflict increasing.
In the United States, in Europe, in Australia, in Aotearoa New Zealand, what are we learning?
The right to support the right of all human beings to live on their land is decreed a crime by our leaders. Why? Because some have more than others and they want to protect their “more” and push others to have less, even nothing.
These are the actions of totalitarian capitalist regimes intent on retaining power over the land, the rivers, and all the waterways.
We see it in the US with ICE killing a woman who was poet and a mother, we see it in the killing of a nurse, and all the disappearances, people — including children — hauled off streets and “disappeared”.
Police kicking 2 women We see it with police kicking and beating two women wearing abayas in the Netherlands. If they are assaulting women in public we can be certain they are also molesting women behind the public gaze.
We see totalitarian push back against human rights in Germany and France, Australia and New Zealand.
Let’s call this flagrant attack on democracy what it is.
It is imperialism. Yes I know, it sounds like I’m recalling Thatcher. But hey she never went away. Her Daddy abused her friends and she loved him. Thatcher was an abuse enabler.
Like Blair. Like Trump. Like other abusers who hold power. It is no surprise that many of these leaders who were raised by power hungry predators, become predators. They exploit others.
Really it is a very simple equation. Democracy is impossible under financial imperialist capitalism.
Imperialism upholds the right of one people to reign supreme over another. We aren’t talking about something that ended over a hundred years ago. We are talking about something that is being perpetuated now.
Shameful exploitation And by now, those of us who are descended by people who usurped and enslaved, are coming to a difficult conclusion — that it is shameful, this history of exploitation.
As one Quaker researcher said: “What I have learned is that if my ancestors were not as radical for human rights as I have hoped, I can at least be different, be radical for human rights now.”
Greed, predatory behaviour is handed down from predator to predator. It used to favour the oldest son. Now it just faces those prepared to sell out to buy in.
Mercenary capitalist entrepreneurs control society and they govern our countries. The brutes who exploit are connected.
So back to the streets. Back to what some reporters saw and reported and what others who aren’t real reporters, failed to report.
Let’s pick apart the claims of incitement. Incitement for what?
Chanting crime The authorities in NSW deem that it should be a crime for any citizen to chant these words.
From.
The.
River.
To.
The.
Sea.
What next? Will Jews be told they can no longer chant in Hebrew: le shana haba b’yerulashaem. See the parallel.
Next.
Year.
In.
Jerusalem.
Every year Jews around the world chant — as they have for decades and decades — the vow that next year they will be in Jerusalem. They lived in Europe. They lived in the US.
And this they chanted.
Perhaps that is why it bothers Zionists and supporters of genocide. But it wasn’t a return.
Jews who recite this are Europeans and Americans, New Zealanders and Australians.
When they talk of exile, they are talking in mythological proportions, invoking the Bible and tribalism, Goliath and David.
Zionist regime supreme But one group is reigning supreme. The Zionist regime has pushed thousands of Palestinians out of their homes, and murdered tens and tens and tens and tens of thousands, and still this genocide continues.
But has New South Wales deemed it a crime for Jews to chant “next year in Jerusalem”?
No.
Nor should it. People have the right to chant.
But let’s understand the real history, rather than the propaganda pumped out by a multi million dollar US-Israeli think thank.
Thanks to very real anti-semitism, Europe did not want to rehome Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. Britain helped out with an imperialist Zionist strategy that pushed Palestinians out of their homes.
Some Jews fled, refused to do what had been done to them. Good on those Jews. And good on those Jews around the world who stand for societies that care and share, that don’t steal and kill.
I am worried about the implications of any law that bans a chant by exiled people. Will it become a crime for any group of people to chant about their desire to return to lands from which they were exiled?
Governments around the world are leaning that way. They stomp down on Indigenous people, on refugees, on immigrants. They protect their excessive power and privilege.
Blaming immigrants It’s very popular among these regimes to blame immigrants who come from land that was raped and raided by imperialism. Just tune into our ageing playboy Winston Peters.
Make no mistake under regimes such as this, no one is safe. No one.
It is clearly a crime for others to stand alongside those who have been oppressed and exiled, so will it one day be deemed a crime to talk about ALL the stolen children? Like the stolen indigenous children? The children born in a certain place, on certain land, near a river, near the sea.
Will it be a crime to talk about those abused in state homes?
“No peace without justice, no justice without return.” Image: SE
Will the imperialist histories be redacted? Oh they are. The narrative is changed. The victims can barely survive.
I witnessed some of this so I can remind myself and I can remind you.
When I first went to Israel in 1982 the Begin regime invaded Lebanon. Desecrated people dreaming under cypress trees.
The Israeli Offence Force assisted then, in the genocide, of around 3000 children, women, and men — Palestinians — in refugee camps.
Evil massacre It was a bloodbath, an evil massacre carried out under stealth, at night. The victims did not have a chance. They had no one to defend them. They were murdered by mercenary Israeli soldiers.
One Israeli soldier, Ari Folman, later made a film, Waltz with Bashir which depicts how he came to realise he was among the soldiers who surrounded the camps and fired flares to illuminate the area for the Lebanese Christian Philangist militia.
Like most soldiers, he was only “following orders”. It haunted him.
The ghosts of every massacre carried out by every totalitarian state like Israel haunt the world. And every regime that supports it is responsibile.
Imperialism is the bloodstain that won’t wash out until the notion of super and special entitlement due to race or class or religion is extinguished.
It is racist and classist and it is wrong.
I wrote my novel The Seasonwife because I wanted to show the truth — that people down the bottom rungs of the class system were exploited by those at the top to exploit indigenous people.
Criminalised the poor We need to know these truths. And they can be proved. Settler colonialism is not a pretty policy, it was dreamed up by a country that created poverty and criminalised the poor. It sent them out to do its dirty work. Oh some rode on those waves but others were submerged. And Indigenous people lost their rights.
Here in Aotearoa a Treaty was forged, a treaty which clearly gives Indigenous people the right to rangatiratanga. And successive legal acts pushed indigenous people down, breached the principles of that partnership.
When one partner is the abuser the partnership is not equal.
We must remember the crimes of imperialism. We must. Because the past is now.
The massacres of Palestinians is an extension of every colonial crime. The crimes are connected: slavery; forced servitude; exile due to poverty; apartheid, assimilation, extermination.
It is a thread from this ocean to that river to that ocean. From here to there. From Europe to the Levant and the Middle East. All the greed-mongers benefit.
The crimes against Palestinians have been going on for more than seven decades. Research the Nakba. Before the British aided and mounted a violent rape-and-kill takeover, Muslims and Jews and Christians worshipped alongside each other in Palestine. It is easy enough to find documentary evidence of this pleasant land on YouTube.
Look at it now. Look at the difference between Haifa or Tel Aviv and Gaza.
Standing against supremacy Any Jew who has a soul, who has a conscience, will not stand for the slaughter of innocents or for the creation of a white apartheid supremely state. In the US most Jews are against this, and increasingly so are Jews in Australia and New Zealand, standing up against the supremacy of Zionism.
And Christians need to stand too. It is KKK fundamentalist to support the extermination of people. There is nothing holy in supporting theft and expulsion and the gunning down of women, children, and men.
When we invoke laws that support genocide we create a soul-less compassionless society.
A truly Humanist, Animist, any Values-based system will create a society with laws that uphold rather than extinguish, human rights.
It was a white Australian male who used his inheritance to kill 51 people praying at two mosques in Christchurch New Zealand. The Iman who greeted him at the door welcomed him as “a brother”.
It was a Muslim man who risked his life and suffered terrible injuries while tackling two ISIS-inspired extremist gunmen at Bondi Beach in Sydney. That Muslim man stepped in front of a gun to defend Jewish children, women, and men.
I met many such kind, brave, peace-loving men when I lived in the Middle East and I experienced the utmost hospitality from Muslims.
I differentiate between all people and their regimes.
Greed in common The regimes that uphold human rights violations are all connected. They all have one thing in common: greed.
Their rulers are predators.
Israel is a US-supported state responsible for mass murder, for genocide, for apartheid, for stealing children decade after decade.
Every government that has failed to denounce that State of Hate is acting against the right of people — all people — to real and precious freedom.
Once again, I call down my Jewish ancestors who experienced, as I have, anti-semitism — in standing against the supremacism that is Zionism.
I stand with Jews Against Zionism. I stand with Jews for Peace. I stand with Jews Against Genocide.
I stand with Jews who support the right of Palestinians to return. Yes to the land, yes to that beautiful river, and to that precious sea. I stand with their right to live where they want to live.
Right to protest And I stand with the right of all citizens to protest. I stand with the right of citizen journalists to film and report human rights violations.
In my social media posts I continually put aggressive impulsive patriarchal police on notice. I let them know that violence by people who are supposed to protect, is unacceptable. Their actions could lead to them being incarcerated.
Maybe not now, not yet, but one day. Their violent actions could certainly lead to them being jobless.
Their violent actions will be seen over and over again. The truth won’t be erased.
And I say this to mainstream reporters, please do your job. Join a union and oppose the patriarchy that presents propaganda as truth. Some reporters on the ground in Sydney who said they saw violence by the police and no violence from protesters, but the BBC and RNZ changed that narrative.
News presenters who were not present at the scene presented a skewed version provided by their government. They became a mouthpiece for propaganda. And in doing so they supported totalitarianism.
Reporters must not be mouthpieces for what one commentator so aptly described as the Broligarchy. Predators.
Out of police The policeman who pepper sprayed me, two years ago, when I took footage of assaults against peaceful civilians by violent police, is no longer in the force. Perhaps he has joined the great raft of unemployed.
I would like to think he can be educated into compassion, that he can learn, that the hard look in his eye will one day be softened when he holds a brown grandchild in his arms.
Think twice police. Think twice reporters. Think twice every one who reads this.
Would you want your children to support all human rights? Do you think words like river and sea and return should be banned? Do you think the colour of the grass and the colour of a rose should be denounced as evil?
Do you think people should have the right to live on their land unmolested? Do you think the land and the waterways should be respected or bombed to dust, drained for its minerals?
Do you believe in freedom? If you do, then know that those who are upholding the right of one people to strip the rights of others, will not leave it there.
These totalitarian leaders are united. As one commentator put it, they are the broligarchy. They are connected. They are predators. And they will use force to shut you up and shut you down.
But I hold hope.
Moral weapon — the truth Every citizen journalist who films human rights crimes being carried out by the arm of the government is armed with a valuable moral weapon: the truth.
Every citizen journalist reporting these truths is a hero.
The truth might be redacted, those who speak it or shout it might become victims, but in calling it out, they fall on the side of freedom and they will be remembered.
Freedom will come. Because it must. The greed mongers who rule must not prevail.
When the truths of victims is heard, the predators lose the narrative, and then they lose their power.
We are all connected in the lifestream of this tiny, precious blue planet. A spark is born and that spark is creativity, it is the spark that rises from destruction and despair.
Never stop witnessing Harmony. Peace, and Tranquility is possible if our goal is cooperative living.
So be a witness, and never stop witnessing. Raise your voice, raise your heart and your soul. We are all connected and related because we are all brothers and sisters and cousins, spinning on this spinning orb, sparks in the eye of the universe.
Sparks of creativity are born in societies where nurturers are valued rather than predators and exploiters.
In such a world, peace will prevail.
One fine day.
Saige England is an award-winning journalist and author ofThe Seasonwife, a novel exploring the brutal impacts of colonisation. She is also a contributor to Asia Pacific Report.