Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – With the Iran war leaving supply chains choked off, pain at the pump is rising, but you still need to drive. How can you get the most out of your tank? Here’s some options.

The price of 91 petrol has now heading towards $4 a litre in some parts of the country, the government is mulling weighing in and some have begun to hoard petrol ahead of possible shortages.

Feeling uncertain? Get used to it, for now.

“Nobody has a clue about future petrol, diesel and aviation fuel supplies and their costs,” Massey University Emeritus Professor in Climate Mitigation and Sustainable Energy Ralph Sims said.

There are plenty of other options – public transport, biking or walking if you can, pivoting to electric vehicles – but not everyone can easily take up those alternatives.

If you’re looking to ‘fuelmaxx’ your efficiency, here is more of what experts suggest:

Combine your errands

NZTA estimates that short trips use 20 percent more fuel when your engine is cold.

So if you can manage to tie together things like school runs with the grocery shop and a run to the chemist, you can save your overall petrol consumption, AA fuel spokesperson and former general manager of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Terry Collins told RNZ’s Afternoons.

“Do it all in one trip when the car’s warm – save the fuel, tick off all those little jobs, instead of making them independent trips every time.”

Steady on the acceleration, mate

Sims said that the majority of drivers can save up to 20 percent of fuel use with a few simple changes.

“Most people don’t understand how to drive a car efficiently,” he told RNZ recently.

“I see people accelerate to a red light and then brake heavily, and if you’re running on low tyre pressures, it consumes much more fuel.”

Collins said a lot of it boils down to how you’re driving.

“When we hop in a car what we really want is momentum – movement. So what we do is we use the fuel to gather momentum, but I see every day people wasting that momentum by braking unnecessarily.

“They’re not anticipating the traffic in rush hour, so they’re driving up behind the next car and putting the brakes on. If they could look ahead a number of cars and see that everybody already had their brakes on, they could just drift up behind the other car very slowly and brake.

“Every time you put your foot on the brake, you have lost that momentum for the fuel that you’ve paid for. So think that every time I put my foot on the brake, I’m spending money.”

It’s worth watching your speed on highways, too – Sims said that typically a car at 110km/h uses 10 percent more fuel per kilometre than when travelling at 90 km/h due to greater air friction.

Once upon a time, manual or stick shifts were typically more fuel efficient than automatic transmission vehicles, but thanks to improved technology that’s changing and modern automatics are often as good or slightly better than manuals.

The more you carry, the more you use

Carrying heavy loads will obviously slow your car down, but there are also smaller drags to be aware of.

Modern cars are carefully designed and put through wind tunnels to get the most aerodynamic shape possible, Collins said.

Even leaving roof racks on your car that you never use can add to the drag.

“The moment you put those roof racks on you’re disturbing all that air flow.

“People think ah, they’re OK, but you’d be surprised how much that aerodynamic change affects your fuel consumption.”

Keep up your maintenance

Don’t just think about car services as a way to get your next Warrant of Fitness ticked off. Regular care for your vehicle’s systems can save you money in the long run.

“One of the things we often overlook is just the simple thing of checking your tyres,” Collins said.

Under-inflated tyres can add 10 to 12 percent to your fuel bill, he said.

“You’re just adding drag. … It’s working harder to get that momentum I was talking about earlier.”

Your tyre’s correct pressure should be listed on the vehicle label inside the door or in the handbook. It’s best to check the pressure when the tyres are cold to see how yours are looking.

A dirty air filter or fuel filter can also compromise your efficiency, while old and worn spark plugs may mean you’re not getting enough ignition.

“Just that simple servicing on a regular basis to make sure those jobs are done are going to save you in the vicinity of 10 to 20 percent of your fuel bill,” Collins said.

To A/C, or not to A/C?

This is one of the great existential questions of driving – is it better to wind down your windows or pump up the air con? Studies have had conflicting results and ultimately it’s better to be flexible.

“While it’s more fuel efficient to have it on at 100km/h than it is to have the windows down creating drag, the air con can use around 10 percent more fuel,” the AA’s website states. “You may need to find that balance of comfort and economy.”

A lot may depend on how old your car is and how well maintained the engine and air con systems are.

It’s best to mix and match if you can – windows down and air con off when you’re at town speeds and windows up and air con on if you’re on the motorway.

In general any other unnecessary widgets on your car may also be creating a drag – such as leaving your rear window defroster on long after it’s done the job, or those heated seats when there’s no need to.

Use the technology if you’ve got it

Many newer vehicles are equipped with Auto Stop-Start systems which automatically shut off the engine when a vehicle is in congestion or at traffic lights. As soon as you take your foot off the brake, the engine restarts without delay, Ford NZ explains on its website.

“Your climate control fan, audio system, and headlamps still work while your engine is off for your comfort,” Ford noted.

Collins said some people turn off these features on their vehicles, but it’s counterproductive if you want to save money.

“Some people find that annoying – it’s there for a reason. It’s because those cars have to meet energy efficiency standards. … So every time you turn (that feature) off, you’re actually defeating the purpose of saving fuel.”

Collins said he often commutes over a hill, and said there’s many tricks you can use to avoid consuming excess fuel. Gravity can help to be your brake when going up a hill, and going down, other methods can help keep your foot off the accelerator – such as using those other driving modes you may often ignore on the gear shift.

“I have an automatic but I put it in sports mode, which holds it in gear longer. That acts as an engine brake, so I don’t really need to brake on a lot of the corners. I just go through them smoothly, not touching, and my fuel consumption’s on zero.”

And if you can, avoid rush hour

Sitting idling in traffic will waste significant fuel, so – if your job allows it – consider off-peak travel to avoid those long queues, or working from home certain days a week if your employer permits.

Sims said that many of these steps are easy, but changing habits is harder.

“It’s all pretty basic and the science is well understood for cars, trucks, and buses. But to change human behaviour is always the challenge.”

He called for the government to step up fuel conservation messaging.

“What the government needs to do urgently is to run a national education campaign (similar to what was accomplished during Covid times using all media opportunities) to inform drivers how they can save both fuel and money.”

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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/2026/03/23/energy-crisis-how-to-max-your-fuel-efficiency-when-driving/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three people, one armed with a gun, broke into a home in the Auckland suburb of Wesley on Sunday night, police say.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk said the armed robbery took place in Gifford Avenue at about 10pm.

She said the trio demanded cash and other items before fleeing.

The police Eagle helicopter searched for them but couldn’t find them.

Police are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to contact them with information.

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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/2026/03/23/offenders-armed-with-gun-demand-cash-during-robbery/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tourism operators are being hit with international visitor cancellations due to flight disruptions as the Middle East war continues, an industry survey shows.

The Tourism Export Council’s “rapid snapshot survey” of tourism operators found 77 percent of about 70 respondents had visitors from the United Kingdom and Europe cancel travel during March and April 2026.

Many said the cancellations were linked directly to airline flight cancellations, route disruptions or reduced availability on flights transiting Middle East hubs.

Visitors from outside the UK and Europe didn’t appear to be affected, it said.

The council’s chief executive Lynda Keene said while it was not good news, it was a relief that the impact was only being felt at the tail end of the international tourism season, which runs October to March.

“If this had happened in October or November, members would be feeling very, very concerned about how they might get through the summer,” she said.

“We’ve only lost three weeks, really, of the season.”

Bookings for next season were largely unaffected, but concern would grow if travel disruption in places like Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi continued, said Keene.

However the country could also benefit since it’s seen as a safe travel destination, she said.

“There may be visitors, maybe from US or Canada or other countries that might see New Zealand as a safer haven.

“There’s always some form of opportunity that crops up when travellers still wish to travel, they still have the disposal income to travel, and they want to look for alternative destinations.”

It was important that New Zealand continued to welcome international visitors, she said.

“Strong communication with offshore trade partners will be key to ensuring the destination remains front of mind for travellers looking to adjust their travel plans,” she said.

The survey covered providers of accommodation, attractions, transport and guided tour experiences.

West Coast suffering

Development West Coast Chief Executive Heath Milne told Morning Report the region’s tourism industry had been growing before now.

“We have seen already international visitors are dropping, and looking at cancellations going forward,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s just about fuel prices, I think that’s about confidence in … geopolitics and what’s going on around the world.”

Westport is also losing its only air service, Originair, from May.

“They have struggled a little bit lately to make that profitable, and this has just tipped them over the edge,” said Milne.

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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/2026/03/23/uk-and-european-visitors-cancel-trips-to-new-zealand-amid-middle-east-conflict/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The upper North Island looks set for a wet end to the week, with a deep subtropical low bringing rain and strong winds.

A heavy rain watch is in place for Northland for 53 hours, from 10am Wednesday until Friday at 3pm.

MetService is forecasting periods of heavy rain, cautioning there is a moderate change this will be upgraded to a heavy rain warning.

A strong wind watch is also in place for the region, from 6pm Wednesday, with winds that could approach severe gale levels in some places.

The watch is in place for 48 hours, until 6pm Friday.

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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/2026/03/23/weather-stormy-end-to-week-for-upper-north-island/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three people, one armed with a gun, broke into a home in the Auckland suburb of Wesley on Sunday night, police say.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk said the armed robbery took place in Gifford Avenue at about 10pm.

She said the trio demanded cash and other items before fleeing.

The police Eagle helicopter searched for them but couldn’t find them.

Police are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to contact them with information.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/23/offenders-armed-with-gun-demand-cash-during-alleged-robbery/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Commuters on Auckland’s Southern Motorway should expect delays following a multi-vehicle crash.

Emergency services were at the scene on State Highway One, near Ōtāhuhu.

Police said the crash happened near the northbound Princes St off-ramp, about 9.30am on Monday.

Multiple people were taken to hospital with moderate injuries, a spokesperson said.

The Princes St on-ramp was closed.

Motorists were advised to expect delays and avoid the area if possible.

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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/2026/03/23/delays-on-aucklands-southern-motorway-after-multi-vehicle-crash/

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s a conservation story unlike any other.

How did a high-profile crime that had the nation’s farmers up in arms and a visit to an out-of-the-way rubbish dump lead to the discovery of critically endangered native bats in a Northland forest?

The tale begins late one night in 2002, when Kawakawa farmer Paul McIntyre disturbed three men trying to steal a quad bike from his shed.

As the would-be thieves sped away, McIntyre fired a shot at their ute – he said he was aiming for the tyres – but hit Sam Hati in the neck instead, leaving him critically injured.

The two other offenders fled, leaving their injured cousin behind.

Among the police officers who responded that night was Senior Constable Wayne Mills, then the officer in charge at Paihia station.

Mills was guarding a cordon on Oromahoe Road, a winding, unsealed road that runs through the middle of Ōpua Forest.

“I was on the roadside in the forest and I was standing outside my car, and that’s when I heard some noises, which were unusual,” he said. “I couldn’t describe them now, but as I looked around, I could see these very small things darting around the trees.”

Mills was flummoxed at first.

“It was the early hours of the morning, but you could see them flapping around. I wasn’t aware that there were bats up here, but I didn’t think that what I was seeing or hearing was birds, and that’s why I thought, ‘What else could it be?’

Then I thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s bats’.”

Mills never reported what he saw, but he did tell a few mates.

Years later, the story finally reached the ears of Brad Windust, a founder of local conservation group Bay Bush Action.

Windust heard the tale in the most unlikely place – Whangae Transfer Station, near Kawakawa.

“I was at the dump one day and I was chatting away to the guy there, and he said to me, ‘Oh yeah, there’s bats in Ōpua Forest. A policeman was here once and he told me there’d been a shooting, where a farmer had shot an intruder, and he was waiting to see if there were any other intruders trying to make a getaway’.

“‘Then he had the strangest thing happen, he’s sure he saw little bats flying around him’.”

That casual chat at the dump was a revelation for Windust.

“I was just absolutely thrilled to hear it, because we’d been doing pest control in Ōpua Forest for years and we didn’t know these critically endangered bats were in there.”

The tale had grown during the intervening years – in the version Windust heard, the bats were flapping around the police officer who, alarmed by the mysterious creatures, had his hand firmly on his gun.

Mills said the story had been embellished over time, but the bats did leave a lasting impression on him.

By then, a decade had passed since Mill’s sighting and Windust feared Ōpua Forest’s bats may have become extinct.

“We got some bat recording devices and we put them up where the cop car had been sitting. After two weeks of recording, we picked up one bat flying past, so we knew they were still there.”

Since then, Windust said, Bay Bush Action had rolled out multi-species pest control to all 1700 hectares of Ōpua Forest, greatly reducing the numbers of rats, feral cats and stoats that were the bats’ greatest threats.

Right now, a band of volunteers, with support from DOC, was installing bat detectors throughout the forest to find out if the bats had managed to survive – and hopefully multiply.

Windust said the survey was concentrating on the edges of wetlands, where long-tailed bats, or pekapeka-tou-roa, like to feed.

He described New Zealand’s native bats as “absolutely incredible”.

“They’ve evolved on these islands for millions of years and they’re tiny. They’ve got long fur to keep them warm when they’re hibernating in the winter.

“They’re incredible fliers. They fly like a swallow, catching their prey on the wing.”

Windust said bats used sonar to find insects, sending out 100-200 clicks a second and listening for the rebound to locate their prey.

He said the short-tailed bat was “like a Transformer”, able to fold up its wings and turn them into an extra set of legs to walk around the forest floor.

Native bats had just one pup a year, which made them highly vulnerable to introduced pests, as did their habit of roosting in the hollows of old puriri trees or northern rata.

Forest and Bird Northland conservation manager Dean Baigent-Mercer said bats were New Zealand’s only native land mammals.

“They used to be very common from the 1800s back into time, but as soon as the mammalian pests came and people started chopping down native forests, they disappeared really rapidly. What is left now is the last of the last.”

Baigent-Mercer said one of the three species of native bat was already extinct.

“The other two are very, very rare now and we’re lucky enough to find them popping up in all sorts of places, but in very low numbers. They are critically threatened with extinction.”

That would be a tragedy, Baigent-Mercer said.

“They’re just wonderful creatures and part of the whole diversity that was here before humans came. They give us a view into the past, but also what the future could be.”

The two surviving species differed in size, the length of their tails and their feeding habits.

“Long-tailed bats are insectivorous and they’ll fly up to 20km from their roosts. They dart out at dusk and go along streams, and eat mosquitoes and moths and whatnot.

“The short-tailed bats have really large communal roosts and also eat nectar. They’ll fly down to the ground and walk along on their elbows, feeding on a parasitic flowering plant called dactylantus.”

Baigent-Mercer said bats clung on in small numbers around the country, from the slopes of Mt Ruapehu to Henderson on the edge of Auckland city.

In Northland, they were known to survive at Omahuta, Herekino and Maungataniwha, among other places.

If you were wondering what happened to the farmer Paul McIntyre, he was charged with shooting and injuring Sam Hati with reckless disregard for the safety of others.

He was found not guilty in a jury trial at Kaikohe District Court.

In a separate retrial, he was also found not guilty of a lesser charge laid under the Arms Act.

Upset that McIntyre had been charged for what they saw as an attempt to protect his property, Northland farmers raised more than $20,000 to help cover his legal costs.

Moerewa man Sam Hati pleaded guilty to theft and possession of a firearm without a licence, and was sentenced to 250 hours’ community work and 12 months’ supervision.

Hati told the court the incident had changed his life and he had vowed to steer away from crime.

The judge said he would have gone to jail, had it not been for his life-threatening injuries.

He died of an unrelated medical issue five years later, according to a report in the Northern Advocate.

Co-offenders Raymond and Ned Brown were sentenced to six months’ jail and 150 hours’ community work respectively.

As for former police officer Wayne Mills, he said he was stoked to play a part in the discovery of a rare species.

“I think it’s awesome, just awesome,” he said.

The results of the Ōpua Forest’s first-ever formal bat survey will be known in the next 2-3 weeks.

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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/2026/03/23/strange-chain-of-events-leads-to-important-ecological-discovery-of-native-bats/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A crash has blocked lanes on Auckland’s Southwestern Motorway at Onehunga, and northbound drivers are being warned to take another route.

Two vehicles were involved in the crash on State Highway 20, police said.

One person had serious injuries and two were moderately injured.

“Motorists are advised to avoid the northbound motorway at this time, or delay travel,” they said.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said the Queenstown Road offramp was closed as a result of the crash. Motorists should instead use the Hillsborough offramp.

“Allow extra time for diversions. Please follow the directions of emergency services,” NZTA said.

In Southland, Winding Creek Road in Southland was blocked following a single-vehicle crash between midnight and 1am.

Police said injuries were reported, and the Serious Crash Unit was advised.

“Motorists should avoid the road as emergency services work the scene or delay travel. The road is expected to be blocked for most of the day.”

And Invercargill’s Leet Street was closed following a single-vehicle crash around 3am.

“The Serious Crash Unit has been advised, and the road is expected to remain closed for most of the day while emergency services work at the scene,” police said.

“Diversions are in place, and motorists should account for extra travel time.”

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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/2026/03/22/multiple-crashes-block-lanes-people-injured/