The hecklers interrupted his speech multiple times throughout, with some interruptions lasting up to 10 seconds.
“We’ve had enough,” one person yelled.
“Did you bring any KFC?” another asked.
One person can also be heard yelling “treason”.
Prime Ministers Christopher Luxon during his speech.RNZ / Mark Papalii
Luxon said it had been a challenging build-up to Waitangi, particularly for communities affected by severe weather.
“The atmosphere surrounding Waitangi Day and the Treaty itself have sometimes been very heated, and we’ve seen that again today, and that’s for good reason because part of national life in New Zealand is that we do debate difficult things.”
Luxon said attending Waitangi was a “tremendous privilege”.
He sought to reassure people the RMA reforms would contain strict provisions to respect Treaty settlements.
Defending the government’s approach to health targets, Luxon said “should not ask about their family tree but ask about their need”.
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Consumers were a shade more willing to spend at the start of the year, although stormy weather put a dampener on things in some parts of the country, according to payments firm Worldline.
Spending at core retail merchants rose by 0.6 percent in January compared with a year ago, with a continued mixed showing between regions and cities, and between the North and South Islands.
Worldline NZ’s chief sales officer, Bruce Proffit, said the modest but positive start to the new year for consumer spending would be welcomed by retailers after the tough past year.
“The annual growth rate seen in January 2026 compared to 2025 was not high but was at least a positive start to the year – but we also noted a sharp fall in spending on Thursday 21 January, the day of storms and heavy rainfall that had tragic impacts in some areas.”
Retail spending across the Worldline NZ network slumped by 5.6 percent that day.
Annual spending growth was highest in Whanganui (+2.5 percent), Hawke’s Bay (+1.9 percent) and Palmerston North (+1.9 percent), and lowest in the Bay of Plenty (-3.4 percent), Taranaki (-3.0 percent) and Gisborne (-1.0 percent).
“The net effect of the storms over the month resulted in Bay of Plenty and Gisborne being amongst the weakest regions in the country in terms of the annual change in spending,” Proffit said.
The negative effect on spending continued over the following Auckland Anniversary long weekend, including at hospitality outlets.
Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young remained cautious, saying the latest rise in unemployment to 5.4 percent, pointed to some time before consumers would stop focusing on just getting by.
“Retailers have been experiencing tough trading conditions for some time now, and while business confidence is largely positive overall, it is clear it could be some time before New Zealanders feel confident enough in the economic conditions to increase their discretionary spending.
“Many retailers will be feeling as though they are just treading water as the economy moves sideways, rather than forwards,” she said.
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A tourist boat that ran aground in Banks Peninsula’s Akaroa Harbour is now wrecked on shore after swells dislodged it from rocks near the heads.
New photos show the Black Cat Cruises boat wrecked on the shore in Banks Peninsula’s Akaroa Harbour after swells dislodged the catamaran from rocks near the heads.
The boat ran aground in the Akaroa Marine Reserve on Saturday, resulting in the rescue of more than 40 passengers and crew and a Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigation.
The boat was carrying 2240 litres of marine diesel fuel and around 120 litres of other oils in sealed containers and engines combined.
The earlier video footage above shows the boat when it was still grounded on rocks before it was dislodged by swells.
On Thursday Canterbury Regional Council staff were collecting debris and monitoring wildlife after they saw a crested penguin showing signs of potentially being unwell.
On-scene commander Emma Parr said the wildlife team tried to capture the penguin to assess its welfare and whether its behaviour was because of contact with oil.
“After several attempts they were unable to capture the penguin as it dived under water as soon as it was approached,” she said.
“After specialist advice from Wildbase, the decision was made to stop efforts to capture it as continuing could have caused distress to the animal. We continue to observe the penguin as part of our wildlife observation plan and will take any necessary action to help distressed wildlife.”
A plan to salvage the wrecked Black Cat Cruises boat has been adapted after swells dislodged it from rocks.Environment Canterbury
Parr said the boat was now sitting higher up the beach in Nīkau Palm Valley Bay and was expected to move further in the coming days, settling through the tidal cycle.
“This has changed the recovery options available and the salvage plan is being adapted accordingly. The good news is that we expect that less internal debris will be released, making collection more straightforward and minimising environmental impact,” she said.
“Once we have an approved salvage plan, recovery efforts will begin as soon as possible. All parties involved continue to be committed to the removal of the wreck in its entirety from this sensitive area.”
A 200-metre exclusion zone remained in place, with boaties being urged to respect the restrictions.
The regional council temporarily suspended recovery efforts for two days this week because of bad weather.
On Wednesday Black Cat Cruises said its Akaroa Nature Cruise and Swimming with Dolphins experiences had resumed.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers, crew and the marine environment is always our highest priority. Our team approaches every experience with care, respect, and responsibility,” the company said.
The tour operator has previously said the grounding was the first incident of its kind in more than 40 years.
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This year’s Winter Olympics will be held in northern Italy, starting on Friday.
They will be the most spread out in history: the two main competition sites – Milan and the winter resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo – are more than 400 kilometres apart.
Events are organised into broad categories, including ice sports (such as figure skating and curling), skiing and snowboarding (including moguls and halfpipe), Nordic events (such as cross-country and ski jumping) and sliding events (including skeleton and luge).
For the Milan Cortina games, the program has added eight new events designed to increase variety and genderparity.
The most significant addition is the sport of ski mountaineering, often referred to as “skimo”.
The sport requires competitors to ski uphill, transition to walking up steep climbs and then descend on skis.
The program will be the most gender-balanced winter games to date, with 47% women participation mainly thanks to the introduction of women’s double luge and a women’s large hill event in ski jumping.
Following the success of these events, and support from the father of the modern Olympics Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to hold a separate winter competition in 1924.
Since then, Australia has competed in every Winter Olympics and its team has grown from one athlete in 1936 to more than50 in recent games.
Speed skater Colin Coates has represented Australia at the most winter games: six times between 1968 and 1988.
It took 58 years for Australia to claim its first Winter Olympic medal in 1994. Steven Bradbury, Richard Nizielski, Andrew Murtha and Kieran Hansen won bronze in the 5,000m short track speed skating relay.
Bradbury also famously won Australia’s first Winter Olympic gold medal in the 1,000m speed skating in 2002.
Australia has won 19 Winter Olympic medals, including six gold.
It has achieved most success in freestyle skiing events such as aerials and mogul, led by multiple medal winners Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila.
Australia’s medal chances in 2026
Australia heads into these games with realistic medal chances in a small number of sports where it has consistently punched above its weight. This may seem surprising for a country better known for beaches than snow but targeted investment and athlete pathways have paid off.
Australia’s strongest gold medal hope is in freestyle skiing moguls, a fast downhill event where athletes ski over steep bumps while performing two jumps.
Jakara Anthony, who won gold in Beijing in 2022, has dominated international competitions since then, regularly winning World Cup events – the highest level of competition outside the Olympics.
Aerial skiing has also emerged as a genuine medal opportunity for Australia.
Laura Peel has continued her strong international form with recent World Cup gold, while Danielle Scott has also topped the podium this season.
With two athletes consistently winning at the highest level outside the Olympics, Australia is a genuine podium contender in this discipline.
Snowboarding also offers strong chances.
In snowboard halfpipe, riders launch out of a giant ice channel and perform aerial tricks while being judged on height, difficulty and style. Scotty James has been among the world’s best for almost a decade and has won multiple World Championship medals.
Australia is also building serious depth through younger athletes such as Valentino Guseli, who has already claimed World Cup gold and is emerging as a genuine podium contender.
In women’s monobob, Bree Walker’s recent World Cup gold shows Australia is now a genuine contender in one of the games’ newer disciplines.
In skeleton, where athletes race head-first down an icy track at speeds exceeding 120 kilometres per hour, Jaclyn Narracott won silver in 2022 – Australia’s first sliding sport medal. Another podium finish is possible for her.
Beyond these core medal prospects, sports such as short track speed skating could also feature in Australia’s medal mix if athletes peak at the right time, with potential for 2026 to rival Australia’s most successful Winter Olympics to date.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
It is a great privilege to return to this place, where modern New Zealand finds its origins.
I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the outstanding leaders our nation has lost in the past year.
In particular, Sir Tumu Te Heuheu, paramount chief of Tūwharetoa who was widely respected nationally and revered amongst his own people.
And Jim Bolger, who had interactions with so many of you here. New Zealand is a better place I think for Jim’s moral certainty, which led to the start of Treaty settlements – and we are deeply, deeply committed to continuing that work.
We will honour their memories, and we will reap the benefit of their foresight for generations to come.
E ngā rangatira, haere, haere, haere atu rā.
The lead-up to Waitangi Day this year has been tough.
It’s been a very challenging beginning to the year for many Kiwis hit by the recent weather events across the North Island – with families losing loved ones at Mount Maunganui, Welcome Bay and Warkworth.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few weeks visiting affected communities and had the privilege of meeting those families. And it is in these times of challenge we see New Zealanders at their best.
In every place I’ve visited I’ve met people who just get stuck in – helping with rescue efforts, cooking food, providing a roof for family and strangers alike, or just being a shoulder to cry on.
Whether it is emergency responders, marae, local sports clubs or volunteers, I’ve been incredibly proud of all the people I’ve met – and the care and manaakitanga they’ve shown.
Marae in particular have stepped up time and time again to support whānau and their local community – and that’s why my Government will continue to invest in their resilience as community hubs.
It speaks so highly of us as a country that we come together at times like this.
But it’s also relevant on Waitangi Day, as we think about how we have grappled and wrestled with other challenging issues.
Countries all around the world have battled with their own sense of identity – and New Zealand is no different.
The atmosphere surrounding Waitangi Day, and our conversations about the Treaty itself, have sometimes been very heated.
And that’s for good reason. Part of national life in New Zealand is that we do debate difficult things.
Yesterday as an example, was no different – when Government Ministers met with Iwi Chairs to talk about a range of issues – both challenges and opportunities to work on together.
But look around the world right now. In times where difference so often leads to violence and fracture, New Zealanders have decades of experience working through our differences with words, ideas and debate.
We do not turn on each other. We turn toward the conversation. I think we have the Treaty to thank for that. Because it has made us engage better with each other, and we should take immense pride in that.
The three articles of the Treaty are three distinct promises made in the founding of our country. I think these promises are even more relevant more than 180 years later, and as we approach our bicentenary in 2040.
Article One provides the right to govern. Not to dominate, but to deliver, for all New Zealanders.
It is the agreement that there is a Sovereign, and one government elected by and responsible for all New Zealanders.
It means we have a duty to govern well and to make decisions that serve the national interest, even when they are difficult.
That is why I have been unapologetic about lifting economic productivity, restoring law and order, and raising educational and health outcomes.
Because that is what ultimately raises the quality of Kiwis lives and gives us more opportunities and choices on how we get to live our lives.
That is kāwanatanga in action. A government that governs.
Then there is Article Two: Tino Rangatiratanga. Chieftainship.
The authority of iwi and hapū to fulfil their own obligations as partners to the Treaty.
Article Two is the source of our greatest debates about the Treaty. It is a recognition not only of property rights, but of responsibility.
The promise of chieftainship over taonga must mean something. It is why iwi and hapū have a significant contribution to make to the protection of our natural environment.
It is why the Crown has reached landmark agreements over the Whanganui River, Taranaki Maunga and other natural features throughout New Zealand.
It is why our reforms to resource management law contain strict provisions to uphold Treaty settlements and always will.
But rangatiratanga is also recognition of a wider responsibility and role for iwi and hapū.
Honouring Article Two does not mean creating separate, disconnected systems for Māori and other New Zealanders. It does not mean a fractured public service. But nor does it mean an overbearing Crown centralising functions in Wellington on behalf of Māori.
Honouring Article Two does mean devolution and responsibility.
During the past year, you have seen the Government ramp up social investment – shifting decision-making power out of Wellington and empowering communities, iwi and hapū to solve their own problems and to get results. And we have much more to do in that space together.
You see this in our commitment to Whānau Ora, to charter schools – many opened by Māori providers – and in community housing projects led by iwi.
And more broadly than iwi and hapū, when we empower a charter school, whether it be Whānau Ora or another service provider, we are doing more than just contracting out a service. The Crown is deliberately standing back to allow Māori to drive for and importantly deliver better results on the ground.
That, to me, is the promise of Article Two.
So let me turn to Article Three: Ōritetanga. Equal Citizenship.
Nearby us today is Te Rau Aroha, honouring the sacrifice of Māori in service of the Crown – what Sir Apirana Ngata called“the price of citizenship”.
Every New Zealander should know the story of those honoured in that museum, Māori New Zealanders who went through the hell of the First World War, and then the Second World War, fighting in the desert of North Africa and then in Italy for a country that didn’t always treat them as equals.
In 2026, that promise that we are all equal in the eyes of the state is essential.
Take the justice system. It shouldn’t matter if you are a lawyer or a school leaver. It doesn’t matter who your parents are. You break the law, you face the consequences. Same standard, same judgment.
Or take our hospitals. When a New Zealander arrives at a hospital in distress or is in line for an operation, the system shouldn’t ask about their family tree to decide how fast they’re seen. It should ask about clinical need.
Article Three must guarantee equality of opportunity. And while it cannot and should not guarantee equality of outcomes – because that is socialism – it’s the endless work to make the starting line in life more equal by improving education and health, expanding the opportunity to work, and increasing access to entrepreneurship.
It means a relentless and continual focus on education and health targets to ensure that the equal citizenship guaranteed in Article Three means something in practice.
And we are starting to see real results.
Late last year, Erica Stanford released the results from our first full year of structured literacy, and they were nothing short of transformational.
In just six months, the number of new entrants reading at or above expectation jumped from 36 per cent to 58 per cent. For Māori students, success rates nearly doubled.
These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet or targets or goals. They are thousands of Kiwi kids – Māori and non-Māori – getting the start in life to create the future they dream of and ultimately deserve.
This is how we give teeth to the promise of Article Three.
So, in closing, New Zealand must continue to evolve in a way that empowers iwi and Māori while steadfastly protecting the unity of the country.
Some people will take a different view of the Treaty to me. That’s fine. We can manage our differences without tearing the house down.
We are a small nation at the bottom of the world. But we are a mature nation. We don’t settle our grievances in the streets with violence. We settle them here, on the marae, and in our Parliament, with robust and sometimes passionate debate.
And we will continue to debate each other with the certainty that each and every one of us always will be, New Zealanders.
The Prime Minister and other parliamentarians have been welcomed to the lower Treaty Grounds at Waitangi.
A pōwhiri was held at 11am, before they gathered for speeches.
Christopher Luxon, who was absent from the Treaty Grounds last year, had promised to bring a message of unity.
After meeting with Māori leaders at the Iwi Chairs Forum on Wednesday, he said they were “aligned” on issues like localism, devolution and lifting Māori outcomes in health, education and law and order.
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Pia Vlok scored a triple on the weekend.PHOTOSPORT
Pia Vlok was sitting in the changing rooms still on a high after becoming the first Phoenix women’s player to score an A-League hat-trick on Sunday, when she received a phone call from the Football Ferns coach.
National women’s coach Michael Mayne told Vlok she was getting her first Football Ferns call-up for this month’s World Cup qualifying leg in Solomon Islands.
The 17-year-old high school student had just helped the Phoenix women crush the Jets 5-1 in Newcastle, recording their biggest ever road win.
“After the game in the changing room, Mayne called Bev [Phoenix coach] and then she gave me the phone …it was Mayne and he was like ‘you can come to qualifiers’, it was awesome,” Vlok said.
“So surreal, after the hat-trick I was on such a high and then to get the call-up it was like the best week ever.”
The exciting forward said she had received tonnes of messages since.
“It’s crazy all the people who reach out, my phone’s been going off but it’s so nice and all my old friends.”
It’s fair to say her first season of A-league football has surpassed all her expectations.
“I was kind of just hoping to get some minutes, play some football, get in the squad was a goal …to start games and score goals, I wouldn’t have thought that [this] would happen.”
Vlok said her national call-up has come far sooner than she dared dream.
“I didn’t think it would happen so fast. A goal for me for a couple of years has been the World Cup next year but I didn’t see [this coming].”
Since Vlok got her Phoenix debut she’s looked threatening in front of goal and said on Sunday everything felt open.
“I didn’t even feel like there was a goalkeeper in there you know but I think it’s taken a bit to get there, at the start of the season maybe I was a bit more shy to shoot.”
Vlok, who grew up in Auckland, primarily played for boys’ teams in 2025 but also made some appearances for Auckland United’s women’s team before joining the Phoenix.
Phoenix women’s coach Bev Priestman.Barry Guy RNZ
The power of Vlok’s shots has been impressive and the teenager said playing a lot of football with and against boys had helped her be physically ready for the league.
“It’s just so good for development, especially when I was really young …and having an older brother, I’m always trying to kick the ball harder, be better, stronger, so I think it just comes from that.
“Then going from Auckland United and National League to A-League I found it pretty smooth but definitely a step up, a lot a faster, more physical.”
Having more time to dedicate to training since joining the Phoenix had also made a big difference.
“I’ve got so much stronger, even just in pre-season the improvement’s been crazy.”
Vlok started her first day of the school year on Tuesday after the team got back from Australia.
She is part of the first intake of students at the New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa (NZPAA) which opened as a charter school for athletes in Upper Hutt this year.
Vlok was greeted with a lot of ‘that’s so sick’ from her new classmates.
On days when she is training with the Phoenix she heads to school early in the afternoon, otherwise she does a regular school day.
“They are super flexible … on training days I probably do about three hours and then try and catch up after school.”
A win against Perth in Wellington tomorrow would see the Phoenix women go to the top of the A-league table.
“Hopefully I can score again in front of the home fans because they’re great …so exciting being up there and we’ve got so much support now.”
Phoenix coach Bev Priestman said the 17-year-old had not exceeded her expectations.
“I think there’s more to her than probably what people have seen …the minute she got on the pitch with great footballers she was not out of place and she trains like an animal …she’s a competitor,” Priestman said.
Pia VlokMarty Melville
Priestman said expectations around the teenager would be high now.
“It’s early doors right, people are going to start scouting her now and ask different questions of her game and that’s the journey of a young player is to evolve and keep growing and stay humble and I’ve seen signs of that for sure.”
Does Priestman anticipate overseas clubs might start coming for Vlok?
“Yeah and I think we’ve got to be careful with that right, I think it has to be at the right time, we have Pia on a three-year deal, it’s very early in her career …you’re always advising minutes is the number one thing, young players want to play.
“Getting the right test at the right time can make a career, I’ve had young players in the past go to PSG (Paris Saint-Germain FC) and sit on a bench for an entire season, it’s cost them an Olympic Games. That’s the balance it’s developing players at the right time, I think Pia loves this environment.
“Players eventually go on and write a story of their own career but I think we have a really good environment to foster young talent.”
Priestman said Vlok was unique in that she had both technical ability as well as physical athleticism.
Priestman’s resume includes coaching in the English professional league, assistant coach of the England women’s national team, and head coach of Canada.
She was also an early mentor for Mayne when working for New Zealand Football more than a decade ago and naturally the Football Ferns coach sounded her out about Vlok.
“We have the discussions before selections and talk …that conversation [about Vlok] has been ongoing pretty early to be honest. It was nice …after the hattrick, I text Mayne and we arranged the call there and he got to tell her, which is always nice to see.”
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In December 2024, the council agreed to demolish the bridge, but works were paused while Wellington City Council awaited the outcome of the government’s earthquake-prone building review.
On Thursday, councillors voted unanimously to spend about $15m to “renew” the City to Sea bridge and “minimally strengthen and upgrade” the former Capital E building.
“The significant seismic vulnerabilities of the former Capital E building are addressed, with some remaining seismic issues,” meeting agenda documents said.
“Seismic resilience risks identified with the City to Sea Bridge would not be addressed.”
The Capital E building would become a “cold shell”, which is safe for the public but inappropriate for most commercial operations.
Specific types of operations could benefit from its simplicity and flexibility, council officials wrote.
“Potential tenants would complete a fitout at their own cost, protecting the council from cost escalations, delays, and budget and scope creep risks.”
They said the decision required a higher tolerance to seismic risk and was a “significant departure” from the council’s previous approach to resilience within Te Ngakau Civic Square, which the bridge is connected to.
City having ‘a heart transplant’
Councillor Nicola Young said she was happy with the decision, which was democracy in action.
“It’s impossible to please all of the people, all of the time,” she said.
“At last, Wellington’s premier public space is being returned to the city. The bridge has been reopened, the former Capital E structure will have a new life, the central library opens next month, the City Gallery later this year, and the beautiful Town Hall reopens next year.
“Wellington is having a heart transplant.”
The council’s city strategy and delivery committee chairperson, councillor Nureddin Abdurahman, said the decision was practical and made possible by the greater flexibility in the government’s proposed reforms to the earthquake-prone building system.
“This decision balances upgrading the bridge and the former Capital E building with affordability and delivering what Wellingtonians most need and value,” he said.
“We’re able to keep and refurbish the bridge, build a bridge with the community, upgrade the former Capital E site so it can be used, and ensure our investment reflects appropriate financial restraint.”
Officers advised councillors the option provided the best value to benefit ratio.
The work would lift the former Capital E building to the minimum level required under current regulations, and the strengthened building would be considered a non-earthquake prone building under new regulations.
Work would start this month, and be completed by April 2027.
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joel Scanlan, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Law; Academic Co-Lead, CSAM Deterrence Centre, University of Tasmania
In the 2024–25 financial year alone, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation received nearly 83,000 reports of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM), primarily on mainstream platforms. This was a 41% increase from the year before.
It is in this context of child abuse occurring in plain sight, on mainstream platforms, that the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, requires transparency notices every six months from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta and other big tech firms.
The latest report, published today, shows some progress in detecting known abuse material – including material that is generated by artificial intelligence (AI), live-streamed abuse, online grooming, and sexual extortion of children and adults – and reducing moderation times.
However, the report also reveals ongoing and serious safety gaps that still put users, especially children, at risk. It makes clear that transparency is not enough. Consistent with existing calls for a legally mandated Digital Duty of Care, we need to move from merely recording harms to preventing them through better design.
But the new eSafety “snapshot” shows an ongoing gap between what technology can do and what companies are actually doing to tackle online harms.
One of the positive findings is that Snap, which owns SnapChat, has reduced its child sexual exploitation and abuse moderation response time from 90 minutes to 11 minutes.
Microsoft has also expanded its detection of known abuse material within Outlook.
However, Meta and Google continue to leave video calling services such as Messenger and Google Meet unmonitored for live-streamed abuse. This is despite them using detection tools on their other platforms.
The eSafety report highlights that Apple and Discord are failing to implement proactive detection, with Apple relying almost entirely on user reports rather than automated safety technology.
Apple, Discord, Google’s Chat, Meet and Messages, Microsoft Teams, and Snap are not currently using available software to detect the sexual extortion of children.
The biggest areas of concern identified by the commissioner are live video and encrypted environments. There is still insufficient investment in tools to detect live online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Despite Skype (owned by Microsoft) historically implementing such protections before its closure, Microsoft Teams and other providers still fail to do so.
Alongside the report, eSafety launched a new dashboard that tracks the progress of technology companies.
The dashboard highlights key metrics. These include the technologies and data sources used to detect harmful content, the amount of content that is user reported (which indicates automated systems did not catch it), and the size of the trust and safety workforce within the companies.
The new dashboard provides an interactive summary of the transparency notices. This table shows which technology platforms are using tools to detect child abuse and exploitation within live streams. eSafety Commissioner
How can we improve safety?
The ongoing gaps identified by the eSafety Commissioner show that current reporting requirements are insufficient to make platforms safe.
The industry should put safety before profit. But this rarely happens unless laws require it.
This would make tech companies legally responsible for showing their systems are safe by design before launch. Instead of waiting for reports to reveal long-standing safety gaps, a duty of care would require platforms to identify risks early and implement already available solutions, such as language analysis software and deterrence messaging.
Beyond detection: the need for safety
To stop people from sharing or accessing harmful and illegal material, we also need to focus on deterrence and encourage them to seek help.
This is a key focus of the CSAM Deterrence Centre, a collaboration between Jesuit Social Services and the University of Tasmania.
Working with major tech platforms, we have found proactive safety measures can reduce harmful behaviours.
Such messages can be triggered when new or previously known abuse material is shared, or a conversation is detected as sexual extortion or grooming. In addition to blocking the behaviour, platforms can guide users to seek help.
This includes directing people to support services such as Australia’s Stop It Now! helpline. This is a child sexual abuse prevention service for adults who have concerns about their own (or someone else’s) sexual thoughts or behaviours towards children.
Safety by design should not be a choice
The eSafety Commissioner continues to urge companies to take a more comprehensive approach to addressing child sexual exploitation and abuse on their platforms. The technology is already available. But companies often lack the will to use it if it might slow user growth and affect profits.
Transparency reports show us the real state of the industry.
Right now, they reveal a sector that knows how to solve its problems but is moving too slowly.
We need to go beyond reports and strengthen legislation that makes safety the standard, not just an extra feature.
The author acknowledges the contribution of Matt Tyler and Georgia Naldrett from Jesuit Social Services, which operates the Stop It Now! Helpline in Australia, and partners with the University of Tasmania in the CSAM Deterrence Centre.
Joel Scanlan is the academic co-lead of the CSAM Deterrence Centre, which is a partnership between the University of Tasmania and Jesuit Social Services, who operate Stop It Now (Australia), a therapeutic service providing support to people who are concerned with their own, or someone else’s, feelings towards children. He has received funding from the Australian Research Council, Australian Institute of Criminology, the eSafety Commissioner, Lucy Faithfull Foundation and the Internet Watch Foundation.
The street was named after Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard, the commanding officer of British armed forces in the 1850s and acting Governor of New Zealand for a year.
Wynyard lived among other colonial officers in Officials Bay, which was visible from Wynyard Street back then. The Māori name for the bay is Te Hororoa, the “slipping away”.
It was a short stroll from Wynyard Street to Te Hororoa before extensive land reclamation between the 1870s and 1920s. Now, the shoreline is covered in asphalt and named Beach Road.
Despite the massive changes in the area over the past 160 years, stories have surfaced from the earth beside the cottage on Wynyard Street.
Lost history and reclaimed land
Around 2007, when buildings to the south of the cottage were demolished to make way for the university’s business school, an archaeological team found a midden containing traces of earlier Māori life: obsidian flakes, chert and greywacke tools, and a bird-bone awl that may have been used to make dog-skin cloaks.
The archaeologists noted that Te Reuroa pā once stood at the top of Constitution Hill, near where the Auckland High Court now stands.
In nearby Albert Park, there was also a significant settlement, the Ngāti Whātua kāinga (village) of Rangipuke, and a fortified pā called Te Horotiu.
Māori are believed to have valued the hilltop because the elevated site was good for growing crops and easy to defend, while two freshwater streams ran into the bays below.
In the 1840s, British military barracks were built at what became Albert Park. Albert Barracks grew to a nine-hectare military compound, which the early British used to secure their position against Māori.
Part of the basalt wall that once circled Albert Barracks still snakes through the university grounds.
Before European histories begin, the whenua (land) beside the cottage might have been used by Māori for preparing flax and food, and making garments.
The earth under our feet is full of fragments. But it’s difficult to reclaim the past in this part of Auckland because reclaiming land for a new shoreline involved digging up hills where Māori once lived and worked.
Parts of Tāmaki Makaurau were flattened beyond recognition, then concreted over in the process of becoming Auckland city.
The Wynyard Street cottage has also changed over the years. It was restructured in the 1920s by Malcolm Draffin, one of the architects of the Auckland War Memorial Museum in the nearby Domain.
The cottage in 1965 during its brief era as the Vivien Leigh Theatre. Anton Estie/University of Auckland, CC BY-NC-ND
The house later glimpsed the limelight during a brief season when it became a theatre. British movie star Vivien Leigh (who played Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind) visited in 1962 and the venue was named in her honour.
But the owner and manager of the Vivien Leigh Theatre was jailed for his homosexuality and the theatre doors slammed shut before a single show was staged.
Later in the 1960s, the university bought the building. Education and anthropology departments took over the space until it became a Māori research centre in 1993.
The official opening of the James Henare Research Centre in 1994. University of Auckland, CC BY-NC-ND
A door to the past and future
By a curious coincidence, the James Henare Research Centre is named after Sir James Henare, the great-grandson of Colonel Robert Henry Wynyard.
But hold on for a plot twist.
Sir James was the son of Taurekareka Henare, whose father Henare Wynyard was the son Robert Wynyard had fathered out of wedlock with a Maōri woman.
Taurekareka changed the family name from Wynyard to his father’s Christian name, Henare, as a means of aligning with his whakapapa (genealogy), which led back to the great warriors Kāwiti and Hone Heke.
In 1845, Taurekareka’s grandfather Robert Wynyard had fought in the British army that attacked Ruapekapeka pā in Northland. The Māori defending the pā included Kāwiti and Hone Heke.
That left Taurekareka looking back at a history in which his ancestors did battle. He chose the Māori side when he dropped the surname Wynyard and became a Henare.
Taurekareka’s son James (later Sir James) was a Ngāti Hine rangatira (chief) born in the Bay of Islands. He served as commanding officer in the Māori Battalion in World War II and later became a champion of Māori education and the kōhanga reo movement.
Sir James Henare with Queen Eizabeth II in February 1963 during the 123rd anniversary celebration of the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi. Henare Whānau Archive, CC BY-NC-ND
A man of great mana, he helped Ngāti Whātua Orākei during their Waitangi Tribunal claim in the 1980s. After he died in 1989, Ngāti Whātua leaders asked if his name might be given to the new centre.
Thus the name Henare returned to claim ground on Wynyard Street. Sir James’ son, Bernard Henare, is now chair of the centre.
In the 1990s, Ngāti Porou master carver Pakaariki Harrison created two pou and a lintel for the entrance to the centre.
The whakairo (carving) physically and symbolically transformed the house into a whare for its official opening in 1994. Several years ago, the pou were removed for restoration by Pakaariki’s son, Fred Harrison. The carvings will be returned to cloak the whare early in 2026.
Number 18 Wynyard Street is shrouded in layers of the past that build to the future. Maybe one day its doors will open onto Henare Street instead.
Ahmed Uzair Aziz has worked as a researcher and administrator at the James Henare Research Centre. He is a recipient of the University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship.
Fast-paced electronic music pumps in the background as a rapid montage of moving images flash across the screen.
In a 20 second video, French sailors hunker down in an inflatable speeding over swells.
Another sailor, in bright red shorts, is lowered from a helicopter onto the vessel’s back deck. Captured crew with faces blurred are held in a galley, as bags full of drugs are pulled from below deck and loaded onto pallets for lift-off.
“Throwback to the latest drug seizure at sea by the French Navy, as if you were part of it,” reads the social media caption from French armed forces, documenting last month’s drug seizure by the frigate Prairial.
What the video does not show French sailors dropping 4.87 tonnes of cocaine into the ocean near the Tuamotu group, north-east of Tahiti. Tossing drugs overboard may be a time-honoured tactic for drug smugglers at sea — but a new one for authorities.
“This record seizure is a successful outcome of the new territorial plan to combat narcotics developed by the High Commissioner of the Republic in French Polynesia,” reads a statement on their website.
Record seizure — worth at least US$150 million — and record disposal, in record time.
One raising questions worldwide.
Why? “Why won’t France open an investigation after the seizure of these 5 tons of cocaine?” reads the January 20 headline in the French edition of Huffington Post.
Prosecutors in Tahiti emphasised the costs faced by French Polynesia if it were to prosecute all drug traffickers.
Record seizure — worth at least US$150 million — and record disposal, in record time. Image: French Navy screenshot APR
“Our primary mission is to prevent drugs from entering the country and to combat trafficking in Polynesia,” said Public Prosecutor Solène Belaouar. As “more and more traffickers transit through our waters we must address the issue of managing this new flow.”
Belaouar told French media that prosecuting drug cases locally costs 12,000 French Pacific Francs a day, or about US$120 per person.
This new concern about costs came as the French territory winds up another drug trafficking case. Under those estimates, the conviction of 14 Ecuador sailors caught smuggling in December 2024 would represent around US$600,000.
Last Thursday, they had their appeal against trafficking 524 kilos on the MV Raymi dismissed, meaning their jail sentences of six to eight years are confirmed. Costs of this case compare with the US$93 million spent between 2013 and 2017 constructing a new prison, Tatutu de Papeari, with a capacity of 410 inmates in Tahiti.
A question sent via social media about the drug dump went unanswered by ALPACI, Amiral commandant la zone maritime de l’océan Pacifique.
Overall, drug seizures by French forces worldwide have increased dramatically.
A total of 87.6 tons of drugs were seized in 2025 in cooperation with state services, including local police, customs and the French Anti-Drug and Smuggling Office (OFAST), nearing twice the previous record of 48.3 tons set the year before, in 2024.
Those statistics seem unlikely to quieten concerns about the new cost-cutting strategy.
Sunny day Boarded on a sunny day on January 16, the MV Raider carried a crew of 10 Honduran citizens, with one from Ecuador. All faced lengthy jail terms if convicted.
Part of the drug haul on palettes . . . before dumping at sea near the Tuamotu group.Image: French Navy screenshot APR
Instead, French authorities let all 11 go, allowing the crew to resume their journey on the offshore supply ship. That decision contrasts with the high-profile approach sometimes taken when it comes to illegal fishing boats, with many captured and resold or set on fire and sunk at sea.
Dozens of public social media comments in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands questioned the disposal of the drugs at sea, with some calling for the ship’s seizure. Tahiti news media were the first to question the decision to catch and release.
At first, French authorities claimed the seizure took place in international waters or the “high seas”.
Lead prosecutor Belaouar told TNTV that “Article 17 of the Vienna Convention stipulates that the navy can intercept a vessel on the high seas, check its flag of origin, ask the Public Prosecutor, and the High Commissioner is involved in the decision, if they agree that the procedure should not be pursued through the courts, and that it should therefore be handled solely administratively.”
However, TNTV also quoted legal sources as stating the drug seizure of 96 bales took place within the “maritime zone” of French Polynesia.
Ten days after first reports of the seizure, Belaouar was no longer talking about the “high seas”, instead claiming the need for a new strategy to handle drug flows.
The MV Raider carried a crew of 10 Honduran citizens, with one from Ecuador . . . All faced lengthy jail terms if convicted. Image: JB
Drug ‘superhighway’ “The Pacific has become a superhighway for drugs”, Belaouar asserted, adding that “70 percent of cocaine trafficking passes through this route.”
Those differing claims raised questions in Tahiti, and 1100 km to the south-west, when the briefly seized vessel, the MV Raider, turned up off Rarotonga broadcasting a distress signal.
Customs officials told daily Cook Islands News the vessel was reporting engine trouble, and confirmed MV Raider was the same vessel that had been intercepted by French naval forces with the drugs on board.
Live maritime records also show the tug supply boat as “anchored” at Rarotonga.
Aptly named, the Raider caught official attention before passing through the Panama Canal, with a listed destination of Sydney Australia.
Anonymous company Sending a small coastal boat some 14,000 km across the world’s largest ocean drew attention on a route more usually plied by container ships up to nine times longer.
Also raising questions — the identity of the ship owners.
A signed certificate uploaded online by an unofficial source appears to show that the last known ownership traces to an anonymous Panama company named Newton Tecnologia SA.
That name also appears in a customer ranking report from the Panama Canal Authority, with Newton Tecnologia appearing at 541 of 550 listed companies.
Under Panama law, Sociedad Anonomi — anonymous “societies” or companies — do not need to reveal shareholders, and can be 100 percent foreign owned.
A review of various databroker services show one of the company directors as Jacinto Gonzalez Rodriguez.
A person of the same name is listed on OpenCorporates in a variety of leadership roles with 22 other companies in Panama, including engineering, marketing, a “bike messenger” venture, and as treasurer and director for an entity called “Mistic La Madam Gift Shop.”
However, Newton Tecnologia SA does does not show up in the same database, or searches of the country’s official business registry.
A similarly named company is registered in Brazil but is focused on educational equipment, not shipping, with one director showing up in search results at community art events.
‘Dark fleet’ Registered with the International Marine Organisation under call sign 5VJL2, the MV Raider is described as a “Multi Purpose Offshore Vessel” with IMO number: 9032824.
The Togo registration certificate for the MV Raider. Image: JB
Online records indicate that the ship was built in 1991 in the United States, with a “Provisional Certificate of Registry” from the Togo Maritime Authority dated only two months ago, on 19 November 2025. With a declared destination of Sydney, Australia, the Raider and its Togo certificate are valid until 18 May 2026.
According to maritime experts, provisional certification is a red flag that allows what industry sources term the “dark fleet” to exploit open registries. This “allows entry on a temporary basis (typically three to six months) with minimal due diligence pending submission of all documentation,” according to a 2025 review from Windward, a marine risk consultancy.
“Vessels then ‘hop’ to another flag before the provisional period expires.”
Where there’s smoke Windward listed Togo as being among ship registries that flagged ships with little to no oversight, along with Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belize, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Hong Kong, Liberia, Mongolia, Oman, Panama, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Vietnam.
In the Pacific, other registries noted by Windward as failing basic enforcement include Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Previously registered in Honduras, the July 2023 edition of the Worldwide Tug and OSV News reports that GIS Marine LLC, a Louisiana company, sold the Raider in 2021 to an “undisclosed” interest in Honduras.
Other records indicate GIS Marine acted as managers but the actual owner was a company called International Marine in Valetta, Malta. The only company with a similar name at that address, International Marine Contractors Ltd, is shown as inactive since 2021.
For now, though, the Raider is among tens of thousands of ships operating worldwide with “provisional certification” — allowing ships to potentially skip regulations requiring expensive maintenance and repair.
That may have been the case for the Raider, with Rarotonga residents filming what one described as “smoke” rising from the ship a day after issuing a distress call.
Where there’s drug smoke, there’s usually a bonfire of questions afterwards.
Including from José Sousa-Santos, associate professor of practice and head of the University of Canterbury’s Pacific Regional Security Hub, who told Cook Islands News that since the vessel was intercepted in French Polynesian waters “it falls under French legal jurisdiction”.
Jason Brown is founder of Journalism Agenda 2025 and writes about Pacific and world journalism and ethically globalised Fourth Estate issues. He is a former co-editor of Cook Islands Press.
Advocates for saving it argued [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/572994/protestors-battle-council-over-plan-for-wellington-city-to-sea-bridge-demolition
cheaper strengthening options were available].
In December 2024, the council agreed to demolish the bridge, but works were paused while Wellington City Council awaited the outcome of the government’s earthquake-prone building review.
On Thursday, councillors voted unanimously to spend about $15m to “renew” the City to Sea bridge and “minimally strengthen and upgrade” the former Capital E building.
“The significant seismic vulnerabilities of the former Capital E building are addressed, with some remaining seismic issues,” meeting agenda documents said.
“Seismic resilience risks identified with the City to Sea Bridge would not be addressed.”
The Capital E building would become a “cold shell”, which is safe for the public but inappropriate for most commercial operations.
Specific types of operations could benefit from its simplicity and flexibility, council officials wrote.
“Potential tenants would complete a fitout at their own cost, protecting the council from cost escalations, delays, and budget and scope creep risks.”
They said the decision required a higher tolerance to seismic risk and was a “significant departure” from the council’s previous approach to resilience within Te Ngakau Civic Square, which the bridge is connected to.
City having ‘a heart transplant’
Councillor Nicola Young said she was happy with the decision, which was democracy in action.
“It’s impossible to please all of the people, all of the time,” she said.
“At last, Wellington’s premier public space is being returned to the city. The bridge has been reopened, the former Capital E structure will have a new life, the central library opens next month, the City Gallery later this year, and the beautiful Town Hall reopens next year.
“Wellington is having a heart transplant.”
The council’s city strategy and delivery committee chairperson, councillor Nureddin Abdurahman, said the decision was practical and made possible by the greater flexibility in the government’s proposed reforms to the earthquake-prone building system.
“This decision balances upgrading the bridge and the former Capital E building with affordability and delivering what Wellingtonians most need and value,” he said.
“We’re able to keep and refurbish the bridge, build a bridge with the community, upgrade the former Capital E site so it can be used, and ensure our investment reflects appropriate financial restraint.”
Officers advised councillors the option provided the best value to benefit ratio.
The work would lift the former Capital E building to the minimum level required under current regulations, and the strengthened building would be considered a non-earthquake prone building under new regulations.
Work would start this month, and be completed by April 2027.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty says he had never seen damage like this before.Samuel Rillstone
Wellington Water’s chief executive says the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant is not in good shape, with 70 percent of it flooded and 80 percent of its equipment damaged.
An equipment failure flooded the site and is sending raw sewage spewing directly into the southern coastline – rather than through a longer pipe, nearly 2 kilometres into Cook Strait.
Doughtery said he hoped the long pipe would be fixed by the end of the weekend, but it would likely be months before the plant was fully repaired.
He said as a water engineer, he was used to seeing damaged plants but he had never seen anything like this.
Their priorities would be to get the sludge out of the plant so it did not turn anaerobic and stink, getting a camera in to look at the outfall pipe to understand what went wrong that caused a back-up into the building and working to get power on to parts of the building so they can start to use the long outfall, Dougherty said.
Today’s inspection showed the damage was “as bad as we feared”, he said.
But Dougherty said so long as they managed to get the long outfall pipe operating fairly quickly, the tides would take care of it and he did not expect there would be long term environmental damage provided they could get the outfall going.
Untreated waste water is leaking onto the capital’s south coast beaches due to the Moa Point Treatment Plant flooding.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Wellington surfers fear return of ‘turds in the waves’
Meanwhile, surfers and surf lifesavers are devastated Wellington’s south coast is off-limits while sewage spews into the sea, worrying it’s a return to a time when there were “turds in the waves”.
Wellington Water is focusing on cleaning up the flooding so it can safely restore power and allow sewage – still untreated – to be pumped through the long outfall pipe nearly 2km into Cook Strait, rather than into Tarakena Bay close to shore.
People have been told not to swim in the water,RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
In the meantime, people are being urged not to enter the water, collect seafood, or walk their dogs on the beach, and a rāhui is in place.
Jamie McCaskill from Wellington Boardriders told Morning Report he was gutted and devastated.
“We’ve got a few events coming up, this is a bad time for us … it’s just really not a good time, especially at this time of year.”
The worst part was not knowing when the water would be safe, McCaskill said. He wanted clear communication from Wellington Water about that.
McCaskill worried it would be a return to decades prior, before the long outfall pipe was built.
“I’ve been talking to a few of the legend surfers, and kind of before 1989 there was just … raw sewage, smells on the rocks, on the wall, surfing in barrels with turds in the waves,” he said.
“There were sicknesses, ear infections, skin infections, gastro, so we’re just trying to avoid that, that’s for sure.”
Wellington’s Moa Point wastewater treatment plant has been shut down and staff evacuated from the site, after an equipment failure flooded multiple floors.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
There were no other places nearby to surf, he said.
“We could go to Wainuiomata or over to the Wairarapa but it’s just such a long way, it’s a bit of a bummer that we just can’t go locally.”
‘It’s really concerning’
Lyall Bay Surf Lifesaving Club chairperson Matt Flannery said his members were as disappointed as the rest of the community.
“We can’t use what is a beautiful part of the city,” he said.
“It’s really concerning.”
The club has had to reschedule this weekend’s planned competitions, and it has disrupted members’ training for national competitions.
“We’re at the final part of the season where we’ve got very regular use on the beach, with probably 70 or 80 club members in the water on a daily basis, so that’s a fairly big impact,” Flannery said.
“It’s at a time of the year that we’re training for national championships four weeks out, and obviously the uncertainty about when the beach will reopen is of a major concern for us.”
That uncertainty made their rejigged training plans “a bit of a guessing game”, Flannery said.
Lifeguards would not be patrolling the beach this weekend, and a red flag would fly at the club to show the beach was unsafe.
The mayor told Morning Report he shared residents’ anger and frustration.
“This is my neighbourhood, this is where I take my dog for a walk, and along that coastline is where I spend my time, that’s where I go kayaking and swimming,” Andrew Little said.
Wellington Water is taking water samples from a wide area and expected to provide an update later on Thursday.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
On 3 February a Pōwhiri was held at Open Polytechnic’s Lower Hutt campus to formally welcome new Chief Executive Sharon Cooke as the organisation returns to standalone governance.
The Pōwhiri was led by local Ahi Kaa (Mana Whenua) and Open Polytechnic’s Kaiwhakahaere Matua, Executive and Senior Leadership team. Also formally welcomed at the Pōwhiri were Ministerial appointed Council members, Darren Linton; Chair, Dr Neil Barns; Deputy Chair, and Maea Puriri-Pivac (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Ngātiwai, Ngāti Hine).
Ms Cooke joins the Open Polytechnic, New Zealand’s specialist provider of open online and distance learning, at a significant time as the organisation celebrates its 80th Anniversary year.
Previously Chief Executive at Airways International Ltd, she brings over 20 years executive leadership experience across aviation, technology, and higher education, with a focus on strategic growth, digital transformation, and improving customer and learner outcomes.
During her first day on campus, Ms Cooke took the opportunity to meet with the Open Polytechnic’s wider leadership team, and host an all kaimahi (staff) hui to introduce herself and hear what was top mind for kaimahi as the organisation begins its standalone journey and as an anchor polytechnic in the Federation under the Government’s redesign of vocational education.
“The Open Polytechnic has a long and successful history of delivering vocational education throughout all of Aotearoa New Zealand. There are great opportunities ahead of us to build on that legacy,” says Ms Cooke.
Council Chair Darren Linton says, ” On behalf of the council and Open Polytechnic NZ I would like to warmly welcome Sharon to the organisation. We are privileged to have Sharon’s extensive leadership experience from the public and private sector, and I look forward to working with her.”
The recruitment to fill the remaining three Council roles in the six-member Council will be carried out later this year.
About Open Polytechnic
Open Polytechnic is New Zealand’s specialist provider of open and distance learning, enrolling around 40,000 mainly part-time learners per year. The majority of learners are adults, combining work and study.
Greenpeace says it has identified a “kiwi-killing clause” in the 300-page Natural Environment Bill (NEB), which is set to replace the country’s primary environmental law – the Resource Management Act.
Last year, the Government legalised killing kiwi for commercial activity with a permit from DOC, under the Wildlife Act. The Government is now proposing to override the Wildlife Act, bypass its safeguards, and give Councils the power to issue permits to companies to kill protected wildlife in the new planning system.
“Legalising killing kiwi was bad enough, but now the Government wants to make it even easier for companies to get permission to kill native wildlife, ” says Greenpeace Aotearoa campaigner Gen Toop.
“So many of our native species are already on the brink of extinction, yet the Government is proposing to dramatically weaken remaining legal protections for wildlife in Aotearoa.”
New Zealand has one of thehighest extinction rates in the world. In the Cabinet paper on the Bill, the Government dedicates just two paragraphs to its proposed overhaul of the nation’s wildlife protection and states they inserted the override clause to“reduce the burden on developers“. Greenpeace says that framing is “chilling”.
“This kiwi-killing clause shows just how far the Government’s overhaul of the RMA has strayed from what New Zealanders value.
“Millions of dollars are spent and thousands of people volunteer their time trying to save Kiwi every year across the country. This Government plans to undermine all that effort by letting roading and mining companies kill them off to make a quick buck.”
Under clause 128 of the NEB, Councils would replace DOC as the decision-maker on killing and harming wildlife. The protective purpose of the Wildlife Act and its safeguards would no longer apply to permit decisions, which would instead be made under the new and more permissive planning system.
“The purpose of our new environmental law should be to protect and restore nature, not allow corporations to kill it off, ” says Toop.
“The Government’s RMA reforms are specifically designed to allow more environmental harm, and nowhere is that made clearer than in this kiwi-killing clause.
“Decisions about protected wildlife must stay with DOC, under the Wildlife Act, where protection is the clear and sole purpose. Councils simply do not have the specialist, species-by-species expertise or national oversight needed to make those decisions.”
Greenpeace is calling on the Government to remove the Wildlife Act override from the Natural Environment Bill.
Covering period of Thursday 5th – Monday 9th February
– North Island: Mostly fine and dry for the long weekend, with high temperatures for eastern areas
– South Island: More changeable, with rain at times as weak cold fronts move north
– Waitangi Day: Dry for most in the north, including Waitangi itself, with some morning cloud. Rain in parts of the south
It’s a split weather story as we head into Waitangi Weekend, with many North Islanders enjoying settled, summery weather, while the South Island sees more cloud and rain at times as weak cold fronts brush the country.
For the North Island, a weak ridge of high pressure persists through the long weekend, bringing plenty of fine spells. While western areas may see occasional cloud and the odd shower, eastern regions such as Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, and Wairarapa are expected to stay mostly sunny, with temperatures climbing, and potentially nudging into the low 30s on Saturday and Sunday in Hawke’s Bay.
Waitangi is expected to be mainly fine for the big day, but there may be some patchy cloud through the day and the chance of a shower before dawn.
MetService meteorologist Devlin Lynden says the contrast between the islands will be noticeable.
“It’s a tale of two islands this Waitangi Weekend. The North Island is shaping up well, with just the odd shower for western areas and high temperatures in the east, while the South Island will be more variable as several weather systems move north, bringing periods of rain.”
The South Island has a bit more weather to contend with. A cold front approaches the south late Thursday, then tracks north on Friday, gradually weakening but still delivering periods of rain for many areas south of Ashburton at the start of the long weekend. Another weak front follows late Saturday, keeping conditions unsettled at times, especially for Fiordland and Southland, where daytime temperatures are likely to stay in the teens.
For the northeastern South Island, there will be more dry breaks, but a passing shower remains possible, so keeping an umbrella handy is a good idea.
Overall, it’s a weekend of contrasts, so checking the local forecast before making outdoor plans is recommended. For the latest updates, head to metservice.com
Friends and family members from all over New Zealand celebrated with their loved ones at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua today, when Wing 392 graduated from their initial course.
Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Pannett addressed the wing alongside members of the police executive and wing patron, Raelene Castle, Ngāpuhi ONZM.
“Once you’re in your district and in your community, you will be focusing on being visible, reassuring and responsive. Through this you will deliver on our mission – to prevent crime and harm.
I want you to think about the privileged position you will be in as you go about that work.
You will be in other people’s homes, lives and situations, dealing with people who are at their most vulnerable so it is vital that you uphold the Police Values throughout your work and be the best you can be. Congratulations to you all.”
The top award winner for the wing, former Royal New Zealand Airforce Aircraft Technician, Constable Joel Fraser is excited to be heading to Bay of Plenty District to start his new career. He also won the award for Firearms Skills and Safe Practices.
“Joining police has always been a lifelong goal for me. The journey hasn’t been easy, but the training has shown me just how much I am capable of. I feel confident and excited to step into the job and make my family and community proud.”
Leadership Award Winner, Constable Wilem Tipene, Ngāpuhi is thrilled with his success and spoke to the wing at the end of the ceremony.
“My favourite part of being at college has been looking back on my time here and seeing the character built amongst wing members and the values everyone has adopted to uphold in each of our communities.”
Wilem will also be based in Bay of Plenty.
Deployment: The new constables will start their first day of duty in their Police districts on the week beginning Monday 16 February 2026 and will continue their training on the job as probationary constables. Tāmaki Makaurau a total of 32 and broken down into the three districts: Auckland City 15, Waitematā 6, Counties Manukau 11, Waikato 10, Bay of Plenty 8, Eastern 2, Central 6, Wellington 7, Tasman 1, Canterbury 11, Southern 11.
All Awards: Minister’s Award recognising top student and the award for Firearms Skills and Safe Practices: Constable Joel Fraser posted to Bay of Plenty District.
Commissioner’s Award for Leadership: Constable Wilem Tipene posted to Bay of Plenty District.
Patron’s Award for second top student: Constable Joshua Kellett posted to Southern District.
Driver Training and Road Policing Practice Award: Constable Caitlin Oliver posted to Bay of Plenty District.
Physical Training and Defensive Tactics Award: Constable Aiden Toder posted to Wellington District.
Demographics: 18.0 percent are female, 82.0 percent are male. New Zealand European make up 65.2 percent of the wing, with Māori 6.7 percent, Pasifika 7.9 percent, Asian 16.9 percent, LAAM 3.4 percent.
Patron: Raelene Castle, Ngāpuhi is the Group Chief Executive of Sport New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ). She joined HPSNZ in December 2020 and was appointed Group Chief Executive in April 2022. Before this, she spent seven years working in Australia as Chief Executive of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and then Chief Executive of Rugby Australia. She was previously Chief Executive of Netball New Zealand from 2007 to 2013. Before beginning her career in sports administration, Raelene built a successful corporate career in communications, sales and marketing. This included general management and other senior roles at Telecom New Zealand (now Spark), Bank of New Zealand and Fuji Xerox. Raelene has held several governance roles in sport, previously serving as a board director of the ANZ Championship Netball, International Federations of Netball Associations, SANZAAR Rugby and the World Rugby Council. She also has a rich sporting background as a former representative-level netball, tennis and lawn bowls player. Raelene was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in 2015 for services to business and sport.
Watch out for our Ten One graduation story coming soon with more images and details.
If you’re interested in joining police, you can find out more on www.newcops.govt.nz
Taiātea Symposium at Waitangi 2026 – all photo credits to WAI 262 – Kia Whakapūmau / wai262.nz / projects@wai262.nzWAI 262 – Kia Whakapūmau / wai262.nz / projects@wai262.nz
As Waitangi Day commemorations continue drawing people from across Aotearoa and around the world to the Bay of Islands, Te Tii Marae has become a gathering point for Indigenous ocean leadership from across the Pacific.
Taiātea: Gathering of the Oceans held its public forum on 4 February, uniting more than 20 Indigenous leaders, marine scientists and researchers from Canada, Australia, Hawai’i, Niue, Rapa Nui and the Cook Islands.
The forum forms part of a wider 10-day wānanga taking place across Te Ika a Māui (North Island).
Taiātea Symposium at Waitangi 2026.WAI 262 – Kia Whakapūmau / wai262.nz / projects@wai262.nz
With a focus on the protection and restoration of Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean, kōrero throughout the day centred on the exchange of knowledge, marine protection, ocean resilience and the accelerating impacts of climate change.
A key message remained prevalent throughout the day – the moana is not separate from the people, but a living ancestor, and a responsibility carried across generations.
‘Continue that path of conservation, preservation’
Hawaiʻi’s Solomon Pili Kaho’ohalahala, co-founder of One Oceania, a former politician, and a respected elder, framed his kōrero around the belief that there is no separation between human and nature – we are all one.
For Kaho’ohalahala, being present at Waitangi has been a powerful reminder of the links between past, present, and future.
“Waitangi is a very historical place for the Māori people,” he said. “It is where important decisions were made by your elders. So to be here in this place, for me, is significant.”
“We are talking about historical events that have happened to our people across Oceania, preserved by the elders who had visions to create treaties … decisions that were going to be impactful to the generations to follow,” Kaho’ohalahala said.
“It brings the relevancy of these conversations. They are what we need to negotiate and navigate the challenges we face in the present. The purpose for this is, ultimately, no different to the kupuna (Hawai’ian elder), that this was intended for the generations yet unborn,” he added.
Kaho’ohalahala also reflected on the enduring connections between indigenous communities across oceans.
“To be a part of this conversation from across the ocean that separates us, our connection by our culture and canoes is to help us understand that we are still all connected as the people of Oceania.
“But we need to be able to reiterate that, and understand why we need to emerge from that past to bring it to our relevancy to these times and issues, to continue that path of conservation, preservation, for those unborn.”
Cook Islands environmental advocate and Ocean Ancestors founder, Louisa Castledine, reiterated the responsibility of indigenous peoples to protect the ocean and pass knowledge to future generations.
She said Waitangi was the perfect backdrop to encourage these discussions. While different cultures face individual challenges, there is a collective sense of unity.
“One of our key pillars is nurturing our future tamariki, and the ways of our peu tupuna, and nurturing stewardship and guardianship with them as our future leaders,” Castledine said.
“It’s about reclaiming how we perceive our ocean as being an ancestor, as a living organism, as whānau to us. We’re here at Waitangi to stand in solidarity of our shared ancestor and the responsibility we all have for its protection,” Castledine said.
She said people must be forward-thinking in how they collectively navigate environmental wellbeing.
“We all have a desire and a love for our moana, our indigenous knowledge systems of our oceans are critical to curating futures for our tamariki and mokopuna,” she said.
“We want to ensure that generations that come after us will continue to be able to feed generations beyond all of us. It’s about safeguarding their inheritance.”
Learning about shared challenges
Wuikinuxv Nation Chief Councillor Danielle Shaw with the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative.CFN Great Bear Initiative
Canadian representative Chief Anuk Danielle Shaw, elected chief councillor of the Wuikinuxv Nation, said the challenges and goals facing Indigenous peoples were often shared, despite the distances between them.
“This is [an] opportunity to learn about common challenges we may have, and how other nations and indigenous leaders are facing those challenges, and what successes they’ve been having,” she said.
“It just makes sense that we have a relationship, and that we build that relationship.”
She noted the central role of the marine environment for her people.
“It’s not lost on me that my people are ocean going people as well. We rely on the marine environment.
“Our salmon is the foundation and the backbone of our livelihood and the livelihood of all other beings in which we live amongst. I’m a world away, and yet I’m still sitting within the Pacific Ocean.
“So the work I do at home and how we take care of our marine environment impacts the people of Aotearoa as well, and vice versa. And so it just makes sense that we have a relationship, and that we build that relationship, because traditionally we did,” she added.
Following the public forum, indigenous leaders will visit haukāinga in the Tūwharetoa and Whanganui regions for further knowledge exchanges and to discuss specific case studies.
A sunrise sets over Te Tii beach as Waitangi commemorations commence.Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The Prime Minister and other parliamentarians have been welcomed to the lower Treaty Grounds at Waitangi.
A pōwhiri was held at 11am, before they gathered for speeches.
Christopher Luxon, who was absent from the Treaty Grounds last year, had promised to bring a message of unity.
After meeting with Māori leaders at the Iwi Chairs Forum on Wednesday, he said they were “aligned” on issues like localism, devolution and lifting Māori outcomes in health, education and law and order.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
