Category: LiveNews

Source: Radio New Zealand

For as long as I’ve been around, the township of Burkes Pass has had a prominent place in my life.

With a population of less than 100, it is the gateway to the Southern Lakes and Mackenzie Country.

It is not as grand as the Lindis, Haast, Lewis or Arthur’s Passes but tens of thousands of tourists have passed through there.

The pass, on SH8 and named after Irish bullock driver Michael Burke, rises to 709 metres and opens up the whole of the Mackenzie Basin.

My father Dave Leishman grew up there as his parents were publicans at the Burkes Pass Hotel.

When his father died tragically, in 1932, in a drowning accident on Lake Alexandrina, Dave was shuffled off to boarding school in Timaru. He was nine years old.

His mother, Myrtle, was 29 when she became sole publican of the hotel for the next thirty years.

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I remember hearing stories about grandmother Myrtle being quite a force.

The pub was a very popular place for the local young farmers to come in after a hard day on the land.

Apparently she would always insist there was a designated driver, who’d be on free raspberry-and-lemonade all night, so all his mates could drink while that one guy remained sober.

She’d keep an eye on him and make sure he was fit to drive his mates home – forward thinking for the 1950s.

The hotel is no longer there at Burkes Pass. It burned down in the mid ’90s and the owner at the time, Dave Taylor, still lives on the property having built a house on the site using part of the hotel ruins.

Taylor decided if he couldn’t rebuild the hotel he would build a mini village instead.

He has done just that and named it Three Creeks, the original European name for Burkes Pass. The village area is at the confluence of Burgess Creek, the source of the Opihi River and Paddy’s Market Creek.

“I started to rebuild it, and yeah, [it] ended up turning into a shop instead,” he said.

“The original accommodation wing is our accommodation now, so we just added on to that and carried on.”

As you drive towards the southern lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki, you can’t miss Three Creeks at Burkes Pass.

It’s part museum, part store with a coffee cart perfectly positioned with the weary traveller in mind.

Three Creeks village has a 1950s Americana theme. It’s very eye catching and has become a rest stop for tourists and locals alike on the road to the southern lakes.

It feels like a section of the United States’ famous Route 66 has been transported here to South Canterbury.

Taylor confesses he has always been a hoarder.

“I had a museum when I was a kid. I was 10 years old and had a tree hut, and it was full of all the old stuff.

“I used to find everybody would give me stuff and so I’ve been collecting old stuff since then.”

He has also been making wooden outdoor furniture there for 20 years.

“We mill our own macrocarpa and make all our own furniture. It’s good, heavy stuff that doesn’t blow away in the wind.”

He has a workshop on site, with five workers creating outdoor furniture, tiny houses and traditional shepherd’s huts on wheels, complete with kitchenettes, bathrooms and solar power.

Arguably Three Creeks’ most glamourous personage is Taylor’s partner, Kirsty Burrows, who has immersed herself in the world of vintage dress.

Burrows is a vision of colour, with flaming orange hair and vibrant dresses and, like her partner, she has been an inveterate collector of all things vintage from a young age.

“I did rock and roll dancing and swing dancing for years, and grew up with my grandparents, so the vintage culture was always there, and the music.”

Her artful dressing and posing in front of the replica Texaco gas station at Three Creeks recently won her an international pin-up title.

“It’s sort of like that classic era that is kind of timeless, when you think of post World War Two, Betty Grable and Betty Boop.

“The fashion is really quite, quite timeless, we think, anyway, so you could wear it till you’re 80. Doesn’t matter what your age or body shape is.”

Burrows says there is quite a market for the dresses and it gets quite addictive.

“I’ve probably got 70 dresses, but then you’ve got your hats, your gloves, your handbags, your jewellery, make-up for Africa, it’s a lot of fun,” she told Country Life.

“We all just like playing dress up, and have never really grown out of it.

“My hair usually gets the most attention, but people just just like it and say you’ve brightened up my day with your colour and and they love it.”

For Burrows, being immersed in a bygone age with others means collective self esteem.

“These women really empower each other, and they lift each other up.

“They go out there full of confidence, especially the young girls, and learn that you don’t have to be a size eight to be beautiful.

“And these girls go out there and they shake their stuff and they just look amazing, and they own it, and that’s what it’s all about.”

West of Burkes Pass you’ll find the bullock wagon trail heading up the pass, and the cemetery.

It is rich in history, too, and graves include those of CWF Hamilton, the local farmer who invented the jet boat.

Many of the gravestones are made out of local boulders and mark the burial sites of international climbers who died on our mountains.

“The mountains are here calling and I must go,” one plaque reads.

Another grave belongs to Kenneth Payne, an Australian geologist who loved the New Zealand mountains, and who tragically died in 1986 trying to arrest his companion’s fall on Mount Cook.

His gravestone includes a brass-mounted ice pick, some rope and rosary beads.

“He came to New Zealand for the love of the mountains, and he will remain here forever,” his plaque reads.

And on a personal note, my dear grandfather who I never met, is buried there.

David Mowat McGregor Leishman, the local publican, died in 1932, aged 41.

He had a heart attack while fishing one day at Lake Alexandrina and fell in the very, very cold waters of the lake and drowned.

He has been resting in the Burkes Pass cemetery ever since and our extended family all love to pay him a visit whenever we are passing this beautiful part of the world.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/country-life-a-bit-of-route-66-on-state-highway-8/

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Teen murderer remains behind bars after parole hearing
• Ashley Arnopp said to be struggling with his attitude and relationships with others
• Parole Board says questions about grisly 2006 murder remain.

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find upsetting.

A man who has spent almost two decades in prison for a gruesome murder that was likely a homophobic attack is struggling with a poor attitude behind bars.

Ashley Arnopp, along with Andre Gilling, beat Stanley Waipouri to death in his Palmerston North flat in December 2006.

Arnopp was 19 at the time and Gilling 17.

Arnopp was released from prison in June 2023, but was back behind bars six months later.

“His relationship with Corrections fell apart and he used drugs,” said a Parole Board progress report, released to RNZ.

Arnopp last appeared before the board in November, but he did not apply for release.

He was on the waiting list for a prison programme – exact details of this were withheld from the report – and his prison security classification was low.

However, the board was told he was no longer in Whanganui Prison’s inner self-care unit and he continued to have “issues in his relationship with others”.

When board members discussed this with Arnopp he admitted to, in the past, being sensitive to criticism.

“He said that this had led to him getting upset, angry and yelling,” the report said.

“He knows what physical signs to look out for when this is building up. He said inner self care became a high-risk situation for him.”

The week before the parole hearing Arnopp had an altercation with another prisoner, which Arnopp said was a miscommunication involving banter.

“He said that the banter related to comments made about the other prisoner’s eating habits, which may have upset him.

“The other prisoner claims to have been intimidated…

“[Arnopp] accepted that his attitude has been poor lately, and that is something he wants to work on.”

Arnopp had a history of poor behaviour in prison. In 2011, he was convicted of assaulting a fellow inmate.

The board also discussed Waipouri’s murder.

“There do seem to be still elements of that offending that nobody seems to understand,” the board report said.

“This may be something that Mr Arnopp still needs to work on with a psychologist.”

Despite being told psychological work with Arnopp was considered finished, the board thought more would be useful, especially given he was considered high risk of reoffending.

After the November hearing it was likely Arnopp would apply to transfer prisons so he could be close to the property he would be released to if granted parole. A transfer would allow him to have guided releases in the meantime.

Arnopp would next meet with the Parole Board in November.

Gilling was released on parole in 2024 and last year was making good progress, according to a report from a progress hearing with the board.

He was working, where he was well regarded, was taking driving lessons, and was enjoying outdoor activities such as tramping.

But, he had faced challenges. In January last year he drank alcohol, in breach of his release conditions.

Gilling told the board it was his first drink in 17 years, but he was again committed to stay away from alcohol.

On 23 December 2006, Gilling and Arnopp were found at the blood-spattered scene of Waipouri’s murder. They had drugs and alcohol in their systems.

Waipouri suffered head, neck and chest injuries, having been beaten for more than an hour in an attack likely motivated by homophobia.

The tip of his penis was missing, an ear was mutilated and there were bite marks on his nipples, although in court the question of cannibalism remained unresolved.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/stanley-waipouris-murderer-ashley-arnopp-remains-behind-bars-after-parole-hearing/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/yarns-pottery-woodwork-and-happy-mail-the-rise-of-analogue-hobbies/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington Water is working against the clock to get raw sewage out of its Moa Point Treatment Plant before it goes septic.

Early Wednesday morning the plant was flooded by raw sewage – causing it to shut down and be evacuated.

Some of that waste had been taken to landfill – while the rest of it was now being pumped out of the facility.

The water company’s board chair Nick Leggett said they’re working hard to get the material out of the plant prior to it becoming septic.

“That has been a focus from pretty much the moment that we knew there was something wrong.

“It was getting this place clean so it is a safe place to work and so it is not emitting obviously a stench.”

That sewage was being pumped from the plant’s 1.8 kilometre long outfall pipe to reduce harm to beaches.

Wellington Water believed some issue with that pipe had caused the major failure of the plant.

Leggett said divers had been inspecting it but were yet to find any form of blockage.

On Friday it was reported Wellington Mayor Andrew Little would be raising the Moa Point treatment plant failure with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday.

The meeting was scheduled already but Little said it would be a topic of discussion.

Little said one of the questions in the days ahead would be about setting up an appropriate investigation or inquiry into what happened.

“We can’t let this happen again,” he said. “We can’t let such a critical plant for a modern city fail in the way that this has and cause the environmental degradation that it has.

“It’s important we get the facts and it’s important we understand what we need to do to prevent it from happening again.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/removing-sewage-before-it-goes-septic-is-main-focus-of-wellington-water-company/

Source: Radio New Zealand

An explosion that put a forklift driver in hospital for nine weeks could have been avoided with basic safety controls, WorkSafe said.

The worker was seriously burned when several condemned, nine kilogram gas bottles exploded and their forklift caught fire in March, 2024 at Tank Test in Papatoetoe, Auckland.

The company was fined more than $300,000, including reparations of $5,000, in a reserved decision of the Manukau District Court.

In sentencing Tank Test, Judge Gus Andrée Wiltens described the hazard as “clear and obvious”. He noted the company could have eliminated the risk at no cost by ensuring forklift and degassing operations never happened at the same time.

WorkSafe principal inspector, David Worsfold said the case highlighted a significant gap between knowing what should be done and actually doing it.

“This worker ended up in hospital because his employer didn’t take simple steps to eliminate an obvious risk,” he said.

Worsfold added that every business, regardless of industry, could learn from what went wrong at Tank Test and that procedures that weren’t monitored and enforced were just paper.

“This case isn’t just about flammable gases. It’s about a pattern we see across industries,” he said.

“Businesses may identify risks but can fail to follow through with proper controls. They have procedures but don’t ensure they’re working in practice.”

WorkSafe said that manufacturing was a priority sector for the regulator, as injury rates in manufacturing had remained stubbornly high over the past decade.

Tank Test has been approached for comment.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/worksafe-says-explosion-that-seriously-burnt-a-forklift-driver-was-avoidable/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Waitangi Day celebrations started with a dawn service, which included a rowdy reception for the deputy prime minister, a waka flotilla and powerful haka.

Follow coverage on our live blog below.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/07/as-it-happened-waitangi-visitors-reflect-on-manaakitanga/

Source: Radio New Zealand

At least half a dozen Christchurch bottle stores have agreed to stop selling a vodka-infused guarana RTD in an effort to get or renew their liquor licences – the result of a campaign its manufacturer feels was driven by a “personally-motivated vendetta” against their product.

The alcohol shops have agreed to or suggested the condition during their applications to the Christchurch District Licensing Committee since 2022.

It prompted the owner of Nitro Vodka, National Brands, to take legal action, claiming the drink was being unfairly targeted. However, Justice Rob Osborne ruled the licensing committee was within its rights to grant liquor licences with the ‘no-Nitro’ condition.

Paul McMahon of Community Action on Youth and Drugs Otautahi, who championed the case against Nitro, said he wanted alcohol-and-caffeine-mixed drinks – not just Nitro – banned in New Zealand.

National Brands director Steve Shaw says that, as a Linwood Community Board member and a member of Christchurch Council, McMahon should be “fair and impartial”, but Shaw felt McMahon “chose a very biased, anti-competitive and a personally motivated vendetta against Nitro”.

McMahon told Checkpoint on Wednesday Nitro was particularly popular with young men, about university age.

He said the company’s social-marketing campaign targeted this demographic, and was associated with binge and harmful drinking.

“In my community, I’ve got footage of people drinking it in the middle of the day, outside bottle stores. One guy chugging some and throwing up out the back of one.

“It’s really associated with binge drinking, excessive and harmful drinking.”

Shaw took exception to McMahon’s comments Nitro was the “most well-distributed and well-promoted product”, as similar products like Smirnoff and KGB had been around “a lot longer, are owned by massive multi-national companies and have the largest distribution models in the country”.

“The marketing of Nitro is no different than many brands,” Shaw said to RNZ on Thursday.

“Nitro has not had a single complaint from Advertising Standards Authority complaint in since 2021. Even then, the complaints prior to 2021 were from anti-alcohol campaigners and not once from a normal member of the public.”

McMahon said mixing caffeine and alcohol is generally a bad idea.

“Mixing caffeine – a stimulant – and alcohol together elevates all the risks associated with alcohol. Apart from being harder on your nervous system, it also impairs judgement further and it impairs the perception of intoxication.

“It makes poor decisions more likely in every respect, and so it also makes people more likely to stay up longer and drink more,” he said. “Think of all the worst things about excessive and inappropriate use of alcohol, and compound those.”

“McMahon talks of harm from caffeine, but not once in any hearing or at any stage has [McMahon] provided any evidence of his made-up claims,” Shaw said.

While Nitro was legal, McMahon said the local district licensing committees retained broad statutory powers to tailor licensing conditions to control alcohol-related harm, which could include banning specific products.

“The reason for that is that the purpose of the act is to reduce harm from alcohol. There’s no, like, prior right to sell alcohol.

“The whole basis of the Sale and Supply Alcohol Act is that it’s a product that is different and only the act confers the right to sell alcohol, it’s not like a normal product.”

“McMahon should consider factual evidence-based criteria, before threatening hard-working, privately-owned liquor stores and manipulating the law to ban a legal alcohol beverage,” Shaw said. “Particularly as Nitro is no different than Smirnoff, KGB or at least six other products, with exactly the same guarana and alcohol content.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/06/christchurch-bottle-stores-ban-the-sale-of-popular-drink-nitro-to-renew-licenses/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little says he will raise what he has called a “catastrophic” failure of the city’s sewage plant with the prime minister.

Wellington Water has released its first batch of samples, since wastewater from its Moa Point treatment plant started spilling into the ocean close to the shoreline.

Screened wastewater is now being discharged straight into the Cook Strait again after days of being discharged near the shoreline on the South Coast.

On Wednesday the Moa Point wastewater plant’s lower floors completely flooded when sewage backed up in the 1.8km outfall pipe, which normally sends treated wastewater into the Cook Strait.

Since then raw sewage has been spewing from a five-metre pipe directly into the southern coastline.

Little said he wad already scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday before the failure of the sewage plant and would now discuss the issue with the plant during that meeting.

Little said one of the questions in the days ahead would be about setting up an appropriate investigation or inquiry into what happened.

“We can’t let this happen again,” he said. “We can’t let such a critical plant for a modern city fail in the way that this has and cause the environmental degradation that it has.

“It’s important we get the facts and it’s important we understand what we need to do to prevent it from happening again.”

Little said he had also enquired into how to ensure sample results published were more current.

“We’ve got to get that sorted out. People are expecting daily updates on the quality of the water, so we’ve got to get that right.”

Only three of the samples from Wednesday – the day the plant equipment failed – are above the threshold for safe swimming, but Wellington Water cautions that the samples do not reflect the current conditions and people still needs to follow public health advice and stay out of the water.

“Moa Point is continuing to discharge untreated wastewater,” it said. “Untreated wastewater poses a high risk to public health.”

The samples cover 18 sampling sites, from Ōwhiro Bay to Mahanga Bay. They were collected by Eurofins, an independent accredited laboratory, between 4-7pm on Wednesday, 4 February.

Wellington Water said the results from Hue Te Taka Peninsula, which was very close to the outfall, were many times over the safe limit.

“We are not able to draw any conclusions about the level of contamination or environmental impacts of the discharge from one set of samples. We will be conducting daily sampling and reviewing the results over several days to inform our response.”

Wellington Water said it would continue to sample around the eastern bays – Scorching Bay and Mahanga Bay – to confirm there was no indication of the discharge impacting the inner harbour.

“For clarity, while there were elevated levels detected in Wednesday 4th samples from Mahanga Bay and Ōwhiro Bay, these are considered to be caused by the rainfall earlier in the week, not the discharge from Moa Point,” it said. “These results may change.”

Wellington Water said discolouration in the inner harbour – Kilbirnie to Wellington CBD, around to Petone and Eastbourne – this week was very typical of rain and stormwater runoff being discharged by the Hutt River.

Wellington Water said reporting the results of water samples was delayed, because the bacteria needed 24 hours to grow in laboratory conditions.

“The results then need to be finalised to provide the most accurate data.”

It said sampling results could also be influenced by factors including wind, tide and rainfall.

Screened wastewater

In an discharge notice on Friday morning, Wellington Water said screened wastewater was now discharging to the long outfall pipe again.

Late on Thursday evening staff were able to get the long outfall pipe partially operating and the screens at the treatment plant working, Wellington Water said.

The screens remove items like sanitary pads and wet wipes from the wastewater, before it is discharged.

Wellington Water board chair Nick Leggett said currently they were only able to pump 900 litres per second of wastewater through the long outfall pipe.

“Which is most of the wastewater during an average day, but during peak flows throughout the day we will need to use the short outfall pipe,” he said.

Wellington Water said discharging screened wastewater out to sea via the 1.8km long outfall pipe allowed for greater dilution of the wastewater in the Cook Strait, reducing the amount of untreated wastewater flowing around the coastline, but the risk to public health still remained.

“For this reason, our advice to the public remains the same: we strongly advise that people avoid the coastal area along the south of Wellington until further notice. Do not enter the water or collect kaimoana from this area. Do not walk your dog along the beach,” said Leggett.

Leggett said while the situation remained serious, it was good to see progress.

“The team are working carefully throughout the weekend to increase the volume of flow through the long outfall pipe as much as possible, to reduce the use of the short outfall pipe,” said Leggett.

“However, the situation remains complex and at this stage we are unable to provide a timeframe of when this may be.”

Material being drained from longfall pipe, diver inspections taking place

Wellington Water said on Friday work was also being done to drain the clarifier tanks.

“There is some biological material that settles in the clarifier tanks that cannot be trucked, and the plan is to drain this via the long outfall pipe, where it is diluted.”

It said it was important to remove this material as soon as possible before it has a chance to become anaerobic and septic.

“This would cause an odour problem and pose a significant health and safety risk to workers onsite.”

However it cautioned that while the material was being drained people could see an increase of murky water in the area 1.8km out to sea.

Wellington Water said divers were also inspecting diffusers at the end of the outfall pipe on Friday.

“Shoreline inspections and clean-up of debris on the coastline around the short outfall continue three times daily, with a focus on completing these at low tide.”

A rāhui remains in place and covers anything the water touches/can touch with the high or low tides. While it is in effect, no public activities should be undertaken on or around the beaches on the southern coastline.

Mayor Andrew Little previously described the event a “catastrophic failure”, and said there must be an independent inquiry into what happened.

There were also concerns the leak could contaminate a nearby marine reserve and put several species at risk.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/06/wellington-mayor-andrew-little-says-he-will-bring-catastrophic-sewage-failure-to-pms-attention/