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A Canterbury photographer, who has a project that turns portraits into time capsules, is inviting new faces into his lens at a Christchurch studio next week.

For more than a decade, Charlie Fox has been creating time-lapse portraits. The full-size versions are a towering 1.2 metres-tall and rendered at a staggering 150 megapixels. The detail, in full on his website, is to the point out that viewers can see skin follicles.

“I encourage people to put their noses up against the paper and just drink in the quality,” Fox told Nights.

“The eyes of the images especially, you can see the reflection of me in the catch light. That’s the level of detail that we’re playing with…

“I think the subjects are very brave to participate because they’re shown in such extreme levels of detail and quality that I haven’t really seen it anywhere else.”

The project, Panochron, began in 2013 and has since captured 30 people, including 12 repeat participants.

Fox hopes to reconnect with his earliest subjects and photograph them again, building what one friend described as a “longitudinal study” of the human face.

Some participants under 18 return annually, which Fox hopes will serve as a mini-movie of their journey into adulthood.

“In life, you have a lot of choice about things, but you don’t have any choice at all about the passage of time, that’s just a steady fact.”

Alongside the portraits, he now records brief interviews, asking subjects what they would say to their younger selves and inviting them to leave a message to be heard in a decade’s time.

“Some really interesting conversations will be had between them with themselves, I think, through this.”

Fox, who has spent 25 years behind the camera, traces his fascination with this portrait style back to a black-and-white 35mm portrait that first captivated him.

“Ever since then, I’ve just been sort of driven to keep capturing images in this style.”

Bookings with Fox for Sunday and Monday are available through the Photosynthesis Studio website.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/18/photographer-invites-you-to-become-part-of-living-archive/

February 18, 2026

Willis calls $9 Auckland crossing toll a ‘completely hypothetical scenario’

Source: Radio New Zealand

Finance Minister Nicola Willis RNZ / Mark Papalii

National’s Nicola Willis says the government has not given any consideration to putting a $9 toll on both the Auckland Harbour Bridge and a new crossing, calling it a “completely hypothetical scenario”.

And Labour says any such move would have to be “thought through very carefully” given the cost of living.

The Infrastructure Commission this week suggested twin $9 tolls as way of funding a tunnel or a second bridge across Waitematā Harbour.

In response, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said any new crossing would be tolled, but the government was still seeking advice regarding the existing bridge.

Speaking on Morning Report‘s political panel, Willis played down the $9 figure.

“I just want to be really clear that that is a completely hypothetical scenario in the Infrastructure Commission’s plan. It’s not something that the government has given consideration to.”

Willis said both National and Labour faced a challenge in paying for the “essential” multi-billion dollar project as no funding had been put aside.

“How do you pay for it? And what the experts and advisers always say is, you should make sure that the users of roads are contributing the cost to them.

“And actually, that’s a road that would have so many vehicle movements a day that actually a toll to help pay for it would mean you could deliver it sooner.”

Labour’s deputy Carmel Sepuloni said her party was “not completely opposed” to the notion of tolling but said they needed to be “thought through very carefully”.

“For someone like me who doesn’t go over the the Harbour Bridge very often, and perhaps is in a better position to be able to pay the $9, it’s not a big deal, but for someone who’s travelling over that bridge every day and going to work and perhaps not on the highest income, that becomes quite a big deal.”

Sepuloni said the government needed to think about ways to ensure any tolls were affordable given the pressures of the cost of living.

“We need to make sure that any measure, including tolls, are fair and equitable.”

Willis said both political parties had made decisions in recent years to keep petrol taxes a bit lower, meaning that road funding had had to be topped up from general taxation.

But she said that also raised questions of fairness: “we used to have the concept that those who use the roads pay for them”.

Greater Auckland editor Matt Lowrie had told Morning Report that the estimated revenue from the toll is between $7 and $9 billion, while the projected costs of the crossing could exceed $20b.

He said while a second crossing is needed to provide more capacity, other payment options could be considered.

Lowrie agreed that tolling both crossings was necessary because just tolling the new one meant people would simply continue using the existing bridge, however he suggested a lower toll be implemented to see the impact of it.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/18/willis-calls-9-auckland-crossing-toll-a-completely-hypothetical-scenario/

February 18, 2026

Charging $9 toll wouldn’t cover cost of new Auckland harbour crossing, advocate says

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Harbour Bridge. 123rf

Imposing tolls on the existing Harbour Bridge won’t raise enough revenue to cover long-term costs of a new crossing, the editor of an advocacy website says.

The Infrastructure Commission has suggested a toll as high as $9 to help pay for a second crossing.

Greater Auckland editor Matt Lowrie told Morning Report that the estimated revenue from the toll is between $7 and $9 billion, while the projected costs of the crossing could exceed $20b.

When the bridge was first opened in 1959, motorists had to pay 2 shillings and 6 pence, a figure the Commission said equalled around $9 in 2025.

Tolls were removed in 1984.

Lowrie said while a second crossing is needed to provide more capacity, other payment options could be considered.

He also agreed that tolling both crossings was necessary because just tolling the new one meant people would simply continue using the existing bridge.

That would see a “multi-billion dollar piece of infrastructure … sit unused”.

Lowrie suggested a lower toll be implemented to see the impact of it.

He said the addition of the Northern Busway in 2008 had delayed the need to spend billions of dollars on a harbour crossing as the uptake from commuters had taken the pressure off the existing bridge.

Whether a toll was introduced or not, Lowrie said Aucklanders would end up paying the bulk of the cost through a road tax or fuel taxes being raised.

But the majority would come from Crown investment – and that had to be weighed up amongst the need for improvements to hospitals and schools, he said.

On Tuesday, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the new crossing would be the biggest infrastructure project New Zealand has ever done.

While the new crossing would be tolled, a question remained over whether the existing bridge would be tolled as well.

“We are working our way through that. That’s a very big decision for the country to make,” he said.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/18/charging-9-toll-wouldnt-cover-cost-of-new-auckland-harbour-crossing-advocate-says/

February 18, 2026

The wine industry headache

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s estimated that roughly a fifth of the potential crop may be left on vines this year due to a combination of factors. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Perfect growing conditions for grapes at a time when demand for wine is dropping is likely to result in more fruit left on the vine again this harvest

Kudos, Kiwis, for dramatically dropping your alcohol consumption – especially our younger generations.

But the wine industry wants words.

“In the last 10 to 15 years, each of us, on average, have slashed our consumption of New Zealand wine by 50 percent. I mean, that is dramatic,” says wine writer Michael Cooper.

He used to write best-selling wine bibles on the industry here – not so any more. There isn’t the demand.

Cooper describes the situation now faced by the industry as a crisis, and not just because of our more sober society.

Tariffs, an international drop in demand, and a couple of years of perfect growing conditions have led to grapes being left unpicked.

Some estimates suggest that last year 100,000 tonnes of grapes – roughly a fifth of the potential crop – was left withering and rotting on the vines. The 2026 harvest is upon us, and the same thing is likely to happen.

“Just imagine if you’re a wine maker, and suddenly your domestic market, the people who you’re pouring all your passion into catering for, they’re now drinking only a half of your wine [in terms of the whole industry] that they used to only 10 or 15 years ago,” says Cooper.

As well as that, nearly half (47.8 percent) of the wine we drink here is now imported. About a decade ago that figure was about a third of total consumption.

“Back in 1980, 95 percent of the domestic market was New Zealand (wines),” says Cooper.

It’s cheaper to drink imported wine. Plus, some very successful wineries have now been bought out by foreign-owned entities, including world-famous brands such as Montana, which is sourcing grapes more cheaply from Australia.

Wine writer Michael Cooper says the industry is in crisis. Sharon Brettkelly

“And more and more of those wines that are getting shipped are bulk wines, so what that means is that for the majority of vine producers in New Zealand is they’re small, they’re family-owned, and they’re confronted with the reality that the domestic market is halved. And for so many of them export is something that they’d love to do but really struggle to do. Scale becomes an issue … if you’re making a relatively small volume of wine, then to be traipsing around the world is a challenge.”

Such companies are looking to diversify their export attempts away from purely English-speaking markets, saying there’s been some complacency about export markets.

The state of the industry “truly is a crisis,” says Cooper. “I’ve certainly seen nothing like this in my time in and around the industry, which dates back to 1975. No one really saw this coming.”

Viticultural researcher and wine master Ross Wise, at the Bragato Research Institute in Blenheim, tempers that with some encouraging news about new developments where New Zealand is at the top of its game.

This includes helping wineries making lighter, fresher styles of wines; improving the taste of no and low alcohol wines; trying drought-resistant root stocks; and methods to help manage the costs of production.

He talks to The Detail about the innovation going on in this country, including new canopy systems and developments in pruning.

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/18/the-wine-industry-headache/

February 18, 2026

Homeowners shifting properties could be good news for the economy

Source: Radio New Zealand

First-home buyers were still a strong force in the market, but dropped to 26.2 percent of transactions compared to 28.3 percent at the end of 2025. Unsplash/ Jakub Żerdzicki

Homeowners becoming willing to brave the housing market and shift to a new property could be a positive thing for the economy, one economist says.

Cotality, formerly Corelogic, has released its latest property data pack.

It shows that sales volumes were down 10.7 percent on the same month in 2025. It followed a stronger-than-expected December.

Property economist Kelvin Davidson said, when taking the two months together, there was still an overall lift in transactions.

“We’d expect to see more sales growth activity in 2026 on the back of reduced mortgage rates and a recovering economy,” he said.

Values dropped 1 percent in the year to January but Cotality said while Auckland and Wellington were soft, areas such as Dunedin and Invercargill had more pressure on prices.

Nationally prices are still down 17.5 percent from their peak but Wellington’s are down 25.5 percent compared to 3.6 percent in Christchurch.

First-home buyers were still a strong force in the market, but dropped to 26.2 percent of transactions compared to 28.3 percent at the end of 2025.

Investors were also active. But chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said movers’ share of the market increased from 25.3 percent to 27 percent. These are people who own a home and are moving to another.

“To be fair, it’s early days. But this could be the first sign that as economic confidence starts to recover more owner-occupying households may start to look at the market again and relocate. Their activity has been quieter than normal lately, so some pent-up demand to shift is probably present.

“They’ve been relatively quiet for quite a long time, biding their time, Watching the economy still feeling a little bit cautious about taking that next step, trading up, moving house. You probably don’t necessarily want to do that if you don’t have to in an uncertain environment.”

He said it was not a trend yet but something he had been watching for.

“All that time that movers have been quiet, there’s still been life going on. People have been changing their circumstances yet not moving. So I suspect there’s probably a bit of pent-up demand there that will come out at some point.”

He said, if it did, people such as valuers and real estate salespeople would benefit, but so too would big ticket retailers. “A good time to move house might be a good time to get a new sofa, that sort of thing.”

Flat prices might disappoint sellers but were positive for buyers.

“The predictability of current conditions is reassuring for buyers, who are continuing to adjust to the recent experience of stable prices and lower mortgage rates,” Davidson said.

“With affordability gradually improving and employment conditions set to strengthen slowly this year, there’s a growing sense of cautious optimism, even if the recovery will be measured rather than sharp. Debt to income ratio caps remain important to watch.”

The data showed rents were subdued.

Prices were down over the year in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Wellington.

The median national rent fell 0.8 percent in the last quarter of the year compared to the same time a year earlier.

Davidson said it was likely behaviour would shift, activity would improve and 2026 would be a year of gradual growth for sales and prices.

“Affordability has improved to its best position in several years, mortgage rates have eased, and listings are gradually drifting lower. Those factors combined are helping to steady the market and should support a lift in sales activity through 2026,” he said.

“Other considerations include borrowers who are rolling off higher fixed rates onto cheaper loans, which will help free up cashflow for some households and should the labour market slowly gather steam as expected, that sets the scene for modest price growth rather than a sharp rebound.”

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/18/homeowners-shifting-properties-could-be-good-news-for-the-economy/

February 17, 2026

Watch: Father and kids flee large slip under their home

Source: Radio New Zealand

A father shouted to his children to get clear of a large slip as it fell away from the base of his home – rendering it uninhabitable.

People in the lower North Island were confronting the damage to their neighbourhoods after heavy rain and high winds felled trees, flooded homes and closed schools yesterday.

Aaron Pahl said he arrived at his home in Stokes Valley – north of Wellington City – after picking up two of his children when their school was closed on Monday morning.

“I was looking from my path down at my backyard and I’m like ‘something’s not right here’. I looked at the ground and it’s just dropped about a metre and a half.

“About half an hour later, I was outside and I heard it start cracking, like all the trees just start cracking and crunching. So I pretty much screamed out to my kids ‘get your arses up here now!’ and I watched the whole thing just slide down the bank,” Pahl said.

The view from Stokes Valley painter Aaron Pahl’s house after a slip left the house uninhabitable on Monday morning. Supplied

Pahl said it felt like slow motion as his back fence, a green house and a section of scaffolding slid down into the valley behind his property, leaving his deck and the rear foundation of his home hanging above the precipice.

He said he estimated an area of yard about 30 by 10 square metres disappeared over the edge.

“It was a pretty big storm, but we’ve never had anything like that happen to us, never thought it would happen. The bank that slipped away had like 30 metre tall manuka trees on it. They were there for forever, massive trees and the roots must have been huge but obviously not huge enough to retain the bank,” Pahl said.

Stokes Valley painter Aaron Pahl says he shouted to his children to get to safety when a large slip fell away from the base of his home – leaving the house uninhabitable -on Monday morning. SUPPLIED

Pahl said the family only had time to grab a handful of personal belongings before they had to leave the property.

Later in the day he heard from a neighbour that council staff had been at the site.

“I went back and there’s letters all over the door saying damaged buildings, do not enter, stuff like that. And then there’s something that says the remedial work has to be done or the building has to be demolished,” Pahl said.

Pahl said the family was now “in limbo” – staying at his in-laws – as they waited to hear how his insurance company could help with an accommodation supplement to house them ahead of any potential repairs.

“I’ve just spent thousands of dollars doing the house up, new kitchen, new bathroom, recarpeting, redecorating the whole interior.

“I’ve spent pretty much most of my free time, doing up my own house so I can sell it to do better for my family. It’s – hopefully – not all lost, but it’s very unclear right now. If that goes down the drain, I’m pretty much screwed,” Pahl said.

A Lower Hutt City Council spokesperson confirmed Pahl’s home had been issued with a dangerous building notice.

They said the building had been assessed as “damaged enough not to be safe to be in” and details of what next steps had to be taken where outlined in the notice to the owner.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/17/watch-father-and-kids-flee-large-slip-under-their-home/

February 17, 2026

Incoming law change so MSD can claw back welfare payments off ACC clients

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Minister moved a motion of urgency to introduce the bill. VNP / Phil Smith

The government has introduced legislation so the welfare system can legally claw back payments when someone has been backpaid for an ACC claim.

Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston moved a motion of urgency to introduce the Social Security (Accident Compensation and Calculation of Weekly Income) Amendment Bill shortly after 7.30pm.

It comes after a significant High Court ruling against the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) on the recovery of welfare payments late last year.

The ruling said MSD couldn’t require people to pay back supplementary assistance they’d received (like accommodation supplements and winter energy payments) once they had been paid back-dated compensation from Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

For context, many people claim support from MSD while they wait on cover from ACC and once ACC grants cover, it then pays the person backpay for weekly compensation.

In the meantime, the person may have received support from MSD while they were waiting on cover from ACC.

In these situations, ACC automatically reimburses MSD for the main benefit and up until now, MSD was also requiring people to repay any supplementary assistance payments received during the backpay period.

At the High Court Justice Grice held that while the law allowed ACC to reimburse MSD for the main benefit, it did not extend to supplementary forms of assistance designed to meet essential costs.

Speaking at the bill’s first reading this evening, Upston said the legislation clarified the law on the impact of ACC payments on welfare entitlements, given the High Court decision conflicted with “long standing policy intent and operational practice”.

She said there were two main main cohorts of ACC compensation recipients in the welfare system: people who receive ACC and welfare assistance at the same time and people who receive welfare assistance while they wait for ACC to decide on their entitlement

“Under the current situation, as interpreted by the courts, the latter group, who receive lump sum payments, are treated more generously than the former.

“They are in effect receiving two forms of income support to address one need. This also means these clients can remain eligible for assistance which only beneficiaries receive, such as the Winter Energy Payment.

“This would not result in fair treatment between these groups and isn’t in line with the policy intent.

“The government has a duty to fix this situation and clarify the law, so it aligns with the longstanding intent of policy,” Upston said.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/17/incoming-law-change-so-msd-can-claw-back-welfare-payments-off-acc-clients/

February 17, 2026

Banks Peninsula still cut off after floods hit Canterbury

Source: Radio New Zealand

Little River Cafe and store owner Cameron Gordon RNZ/Nathan McKinnon

The town of Akaroa on Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula will remain cut off overnight, with State Highway 75 closed because of slips and flooding that swamped Little River.

A local state of emergency was in place for the peninsula, where several hundred people remained without power and many more affected by telecommunications outages.

Little River flooding in Canterbury RNZ/Nathan McKinnon

Little River Cafe and Store owner Cameron Gordon has lived in the settlement for 20 years but told RNZ he had never seen flooding so bad.

“This is the worst, significantly the worst by far”, he said.

“It’s the deepest water we’ve had and the most damage around town as well, no doubt.”

Gordon said the cafe had flooded five times, most recently last May when a foot of water washed through some businesses.

Flooding at the Little River Cafe on Tuesday. RNZ/Nathan McKinnon

“We can’t do much yet, everything’s covered in water. We’re just sitting and waiting, feeling very frustrated and just over it. Well and truly over it. We’ve done this too many times,” he said.

“Our house also floods regularly with any heavy rain. We just seem to be in low land with pour drainage and seem to cop it. We’ll see what happens, see what the damage is and just go from there.”

A boil water notice was in place for Little River and Wainui, while about 250 households and businesses were expected to be without power overnight.

A damaged fibre line meant One New Zealand and Spark services were off-line but Two Degrees was working.

Civil defence chiefs said people should still call 111 in an emergency because it would go through the Two Degrees network.

Little River flooding in Canterbury RNZ/Nathan McKinnon

Little River Campground owner Marcus Puentener said more than 300 millimetres of rain had fallen in the area, twice what forecasters had predicted.

“Two bridges are down, the driveway is pretty wrecked. A lot of water has come down off the road, out of the river and through the camp area,” he said.

“We’re trapped in Okuti Valley. There’s no power in Okuti Valley. There are slips on the roads blocking some residents in and at the bottom of the road there’s at least a foot, if not more, of water blocking any exit.”

Some tourists had international flights to catch but no way of making them, Puentener said.

Further down the road in Cooptown, Tim Wilson questioned whether there should have been more warning or greater urgency.

“This is right up there,” the long-time local said.

“Maybe it should have been a red weather watch instead of an orange but I don’t know if that makes any difference to the outcome. It’s going to be a big clean up.”

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger said the the council was talking to the government about getting a Defence Force Unimog into the area.

“Cars can just not get through,” he told RNZ on Tuesday.

“It’s just a matter of just being able to get there with emergency services and get people out safely as well, so that’s the main concern.

“As well as getting power and comms on. People are feeling really isolated so we’ve got to sort that out as quick as we can.”

Heavy rain also caused widespread flooding in Christchurch, where the Heathcote River broke its banks.

People who lived near the river in suburbs like Opawa and Beckenham said they were used to the river flooding but the water was lapping ever-closer to their homes.

Stacey Hurst was not one of the lucky ones.

For the second time since she moved to Eastern Terrace two years ago she was mopping up in her garage after floodwater rushed in on Monday night.

Flooding in Eastern Terrace. Tim Brown/RNZ

“Once we realised it wasn’t going to slow down we moved everything upstairs to minimise the damage,” she said.

“We had an almost identical experience last year with about a foot of water coming into the shed.”

The wake from cars driving down the road made the problem worse, Hurst said.

“It just sends a big wave in here,” she said.

Hurst’s neighbours had avoided water getting into their homes but were shocked by the speed at which the river broke its banks, especially because last year’s floods followed days of heavy rain and coincided with king tides.

Georgia Sytema said the water rose quickly.

“This morning our whole yard was flooded, which doesn’t usually happen, it was up into the driveway. It’s a lot higher than usual,” she said.

Emeline Sales was also nervous as the water rose on Tuesday morning.

“We woke up to a big moat,” she said.

“This is the worst it’s been. It came all the way up to my husband’s car, it was quite deep this time around. It was cutting it close this time.

“It was the drains that started flooding first before the river actually broke. We haven’t had issues with the drains before but that’s what caused all the quite intense surface flooding and then the banks broke.”

Sam Guerin moved to nearby Hunter Terrace about three months ago.

He knew his home was in a flood management area and it was part of the reason he and his partner planned to knock down the house and rebuild further up the site.

Guerin said the scale of flooding was worse than anything he had prepared for.

“We were told that in one of the worst floods in the last 10 to 15 years, the water lapped at the driveway but it’s quite a lot worse than that and it happened so quickly,” he said.

“We were told the last time it flooded was before the council had done a lot of resilience measures, so it was surprising for the water to get as high as it did.”

The family had returned from a night out to find the river had burst its banks, the road was flooded and water was rising about 100 millimetres every hour.

“It was a bit of a sleepless night because we were coming out to check it wasn’t getting too close to the floor level and throughout the evening it was up on our verandah deck,” Guerin said.

“It was getting quite high, so that was a little concerning. It was under the house.”

Woolston was also affected, with Clarendon Terrace residents nervously watching the water as it washed over the riverbanks, onto the road and towards their properties.

Emily Jensen said she moved her cars on Monday night because the road had already flooded.

“I haven’t seen it that high up. I’m really surprised by how much flooding there is just after a day’s rain,” she said.

“It feels a little scary because if you were to think multiple days of rain and king tides on top of that, I don’t know what we’d be looking at.

“I would love to know the council are thinking about what to do in these areas because with climate change and everything’s that happening, it doesn’t feel so good to be down here. Five or six years ago we had a really big flooding event but the water didn’t come up the driveway at all, but now it’s coming up so it’s getting worse.

“It just creates anxiety about what you’re going to wake up to.”

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/17/banks-peninsula-still-cut-off-after-floods-hit-canterbury/

February 17, 2026

‘World Rugby needs to help more’ – Umaga on Moana resources

Source: Radio New Zealand

All Black legend and Moana Pasifika coach Tana Umaga is calling for more financial support from World Rugby. Photosport

The Pacific Islands have long been a breeding ground for some of the world’s greatest rugby players – in Aotearoa alone, 40 percent of the playing pool is Pasifika.

But while other nations are happy to pilfer the Pacific for players, the same level of interest is not always shown when it comes to growing the game in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.

Moana Pasifika – a franchise born to provide more Pasifika players with another professional pathway – no longer receives any funding from World Rugby, a move which disillusions coach Tana Umaga.

“We just want to be on a level playing field around the funding that goes out to all the teams, you can just see what we bring to the competition, world rugby probably needs to help out a bit more, when you look around the world and how many Pacific island players are playing in all these different countries, you don’t want to lose sight of what we represent and what we can do for this game.”

Umaga pointed to the Pacific renaissance in rugby league as a prime example of how the islands can impact the sporting landscape.

“We saw it with Tonga and Samoa who got their best players playing, our Pacific people will get in behind it. We saw it with Moana Pasifika last year, everyone likes us when we come visit because they get good crowds, we are pulling people, we have pulling power and I think that needs to be supported.”

He said it was critical for Polynesian players to be visible.

“You can talk about it, you can’t watch it on TV but if you can see it, touch it feel it, people that look like me, its easier to believe it and achieve it. A lot of our guys come from the backgrounds these kids come from, they think ‘if he can do it why cant I?’ and there is no reason why they cant, its just about getting onto those pathways.”

The former All Black captain said purpose underpins everything the side stands for.

“I feel like our guys understand why we’re here for, we’re very strong around purpose, be that you know your personal purpose or our collective purpose and how that all aligns. They’re under no illusion about what we represent and who we represent. We talk a lot around Pacific excellence and what it takes. What are those sacrifices that we have to make and we’ve made a lot, and we don’t have to look too far from our parents and those around us who’ve sacrificed a lot to give us this opportunity.”

Moana Pasifika picked up a stunning upset win on Saturday, defeating the Fijian Drua at one of the toughest places in Super Rugby to win – Lautoka.

Their next assignment sees them head to the capital to face the Hurricanes who had the bye in week one.

Umaga and his men are weary of the last time they were in Wellington, where they were hammered 64-12.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/02/17/world-rugby-needs-to-help-more-umaga-on-moana-resources/

February 17, 2026

Father and kids flee large slip under their home