Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

It doesn’t matter where we get our oil from – in a globally connected world, New Zealand is at the mercy of wildly fluctuating prices as long as the Iran conflict continues

Where is the price of petrol heading?

Who knows.

“The market is so volatile, and so uncertain. I’ve never seen changes at the speed that is occurring currently,” says the AA’s fuel expert Terry Collins.

Brent crude is going up and down with every development in the Iran war, every utterance from the US president, and every move by oil-producing nations to either increase supply – or hoard it for themselves.

At the start of this week pundits were predicting we’d be paying $3 a litre for 91 at the pump, and that hit on Thursday afternoon.

Today on The Detail we speak to two people keeping an eagle eye on developments about what the drivers of oil prices are, how it gets into the country, and how secure our supply is.

Collins says in this environment, it’s near impossible to predict where the prices will land.

“Unpredictability means that oil companies have to price in risk as a premium. They actually don’t know what they’re going to be paying for their fuel in the coming weeks, because on one day it could be – as in the case between Friday and Monday – a $30 difference for a barrel of oil, which is about 30 cents retail at the pump.

“What we do know is we’ve got plenty of fuel in the country, and we’ve got plenty of fuel on the way.”

The key issue is that around 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed because of the war in the Middle East.

We don’t directly buy the crude oil that goes through the Strait – we get a refined product from Asian countries including Singapore and South Korea. But the oil those countries buy to refine passes through the Strait. And when other nations find their supplies constricted through war, they will be bidding for petrol in the same market as we are.

“And there’s other things that are making the market jump around,” he says.

“One minute the Americans are talking about releasing some of their strategic fuel reserves – okay that will only be for America but it will reduce demand globally.

“They’re talking about lifting sanctions with Russia, which would allow more Russian oil to come back on.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) yesterday announced it would release 400 million barrels of oil, the largest such move in its history, to try to rein in crude prices – New Zealand, as a member of the IEA, will contribute just under 1.6 million barrels, according to Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones.

“So every time an announcement’s made, the market seems to jump around, and until these things are settled that’s a very uncertain time.”

Collins still thinks petrol will be more expensive next week than this week, but says there’s no need to panic buy.

He also points out that it’s not petrol, but rather diesel, that drives our economy, especially at harvest time when all the rural farm machinery is in action … but diesel is in use for everything from bitumen to plastics manufacturing, and also of course for truck deliveries, including to our supermarkets.

And to all those people lamenting the loss of the Marsden Point oil refinery, Collins doesn’t believe keeping it in action would have made a difference – he explains why in the podcast.

The chief executive of Waitomo Group, Simon Pareham, advises drivers to shop around when it comes to petrol prices, and there are a couple of apps on which you can do that.

But he also says this isn’t a supply crisis.

“What we’re seeing … is that geo-political risk is being priced in,” he says.

Pareham says there’s no need for government action on prices yet, but if the crisis goes on for long it could always slice excise taxes and replace that funding with the extra GST income.

“The government’s asked the Commerce Commission to keep a watchful eye on the situation so we welcome that,” he says.

“High fuel prices are not good for anyone, and especially [as] we’re on the cusp of this economic recovery in New Zealand.”

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://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/13/uncertainty-over-the-fuel-that-drives-our-economy/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Five years after Who’s Eating NZ, this series revisits where our food goes but this time through the lens of Kiwi breakfast, lunch and dinner staples. We track how much of what we produce is eaten here, and who has a seat at our global table during meal times. Today, it’s dinner time.

American fast food consumers, elderly health-conscious Japanese, and middle-class Chinese families all have one thing in common: a taste for New Zealand beef.

Foreign consumers, as a group, buy about 89 percent of the beef from Kiwi farms. It’s good business – in the past five years export earnings have increased 36 percent from $3.6 billion in 2020 to $5b in 2025.

China’s burgeoning middle class saw it grow to become the number one buyer – in 2019 it bought 46 percent of New Zealand’s beef exports. That has eased to 18 percent in 2025 and a new 55 percent tariff suggests that’s unlikely to bounce back. The tariff only applies to exports beyond a quota amount, however, and New Zealand has supplied less than that amount in recent years.

Tariffs are also part of the picture in the US, another big buyer of our beef.

The US imposed a 10 percent tariff on New Zealand beef in April 2025, which it raised to 15 percent in August. In November it dropped the tariff to 1 percent. Despite the chaos, the US still accounted for 43 percent of export earnings from beef last year.

Outgoing Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva said domestically US beef production was at a 70-year low as consumption was climbing.

“This has resulted in North America overtaking China as our largest beef market. New Zealand is a complementary trading partner, being an important source of lean beef that is mixed with US domestic grain-fed beef to produce burger patties.”

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said cattle numbers in the US are low and there are biosecurity concerns related to the screwworm parasite, which has limited cattle coming in from Mexico.

“They’re having to look overseas. New Zealand’s got beef and the Americans are willing to pay some top dollar for it.”

Demand from overseas can push prices up at home, said Olsen. Farmers want top dollar for their produce and will sell to whoever is paying the most.

“Our prices have to trend domestically in line, to a degree, with international prices.”

It’s not a case of being fair.

“It’s economically rational. You find me a business that would say, ‘Well you know what, I’m going to leave a whole lot of money on the table by only selling domestically and ignore the international money’.”

The demand for dairy, which saw butter prices rise in 2025, is levelling off, but Olsen believes international demand will continue to grow for protein, such as beef.

A trend in healthcare for aging populations is a greater focus on protein, with countries like Japan suggesting older people eat more protein rich food. He thinks suppliers will struggle to keep pace with this demand.

The price of sirloin steak increased 27 percent last year, and mince by 17 percent, he said.

“New Zealanders will continue to face high protein costs.”

If you imagine New Zealand’s lamb meat as a plate of 10 meatballs, Kiwis would get to eat half of a meatball. If the meatballs were mutton, the amount left for Kiwis is even smaller, just 2 percent remains here and 98 percent is exported.

So who is gobbling all the meatballs off our plate? For many years, the United Kingdom was the biggest buyer. But since 2013, China has been top, increasing its spending from $119 million in 2010 to a high of $2b in 2021, when it was eating half of the lamb meatballs on our metaphorical plate. This has since dropped to approximately $1b – two-and-half of those meaty morsels. The US is now second, buying the equivalent of one-and-a-half of our 10 meatballs, ahead of the UK.

Just as they sit unassumingly on the plate of many Kiwi dinner go-tos, the hardy onion is a quiet achiever of New Zealand’s primary produce export earners. Their long shelf life, coupled with an opposite season to the northern hemisphere makes them a valued item on the other side of the world.

In 2025 we sent around 80 percent of our onions offshore, leaving just 20 percent to be eaten in Aotearoa. This amounted to 167,000 tonnes of onions exported, earning $143m.

Unlike other exports, where one country will often account for almost a third of all earnings, buyers for onions are more evenly spread. Indonesia and Malaysia are big onion buyers, along with Germany and the Netherlands, however in 2025 Taiwan took top spot.

If Kiwi onions are a sleeper hit with foreign diners, wine is the rockstar. For every 10 glasses we could fill, nine of them are sipped offshore.

The US, UK and Australia are the biggest buyers, though China’s spending on New Zealand wine has slowly increased.

Exports are down slightly from a high of $2.24b in 2022 to $2.17b in 2025.

NZWine’s latest annual report labels exports “sluggish”, citing a slow global economy and weak wine markets exacerbated by tariffs in the US and taxes in the UK.

The report identifies emerging markets, such as China and South Korea, as areas with the strongest growth.

Where the data came from

Beef: Beef + Lamb New Zealand from September 2019 to September 2020 and StatsNZ trade data for items with a harmonised system code between 201100000 to 202331999.

Sheep: Beef + Lamb New Zealand from September 2019 to September 2020 and StatsNZ trade data for items with a harmonised system code between 204100000 to 204431000.

Onions: Onions New Zealand Inc and StatsNZ trade data items with a harmonised system description containing “Vegetables, alliaceous; onions”.

Wine: NZ Wine and StatsNZ trade data items with a harmonised system description containing “Wine”.

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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/2026/03/13/beef-lamb-onions-and-wine-kiwi-dinner-time-staples-in-huge-demand-offshore/

Source: Radio New Zealand

KiwiRail hopes to have a stricken Interislander ferry back in service by the end of the weekend.

The Kaiārahi has been out of service since an intermittent technical fault recurred on Tuesday night when the vessel was berthed in Picton.

On Thursday, afternoon sailings on the Connemara ferry owned by rival company Bluebridge, were also cancelled but resumed in the early hours of Friday.

Interislander said engineers had identified the cause and a replacement component from overseas was due to arrive on Friday.

It said operating with one vessel was challenging, particularly during a busy period, but the company has managed it before.

KiwiRail spokesperson Taru Sawhney said eight additional sailings of the Kaitaki would be put on, on Sunday and Monday, when the vessel was due for a scheduled layby.

Foot passengers on the cancelled sailings of the Kaiārahi had been accommodated on Kaitaki sailings, mostly on the same day.

Sawhney said around 1300 private vehicles were affected by the Kaiārahi outage and those customers were being offered a full refund, the opportunity to rebook at no additional cost and compensation for reasonable costs incurred as a direct result of the outage.

While Kaiārahi was out of service, Interislander was prioritising urgent freight that could not travel across the Cook Strait any other way.

“We have offered passengers booked on Kaitaki an incentive to rebook at a later date, to create more space for that freight. Some passengers have taken this offer up.

“We are actively monitoring capacity and working with all of our customers to move as many passengers and as much freight as we can as quickly as possible.

“Once again, we assure everyone we are doing all we can to minimise the disruption as much as possible and thank all our customers and passengers for their patience.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/13/kiwirail-hopes-to-have-stricken-kaiarahi-ferry-sailing-by-next-week-after-technical-fault/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Heritage advocates are warning shifting Dunedin to a higher seismic zone will damage the city’s economy and put its iconic heritage buildings at risk.

Under the proposed new earthquake prone buildings bill, Coastal Otago – including Dunedin – will shift from a low to a medium seismic risk area.

But on Thursday, the Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee was warned of the harm this could do to a city known for its historical architecture.

The bill’s aim was to target buildings that posed the greatest risk to life in medium to high risk zones, including concrete buildings three storeys or higher, and those constructed with unreinforced masonry.

Southern Heritage Trust trustee Jo Galer told the committee that Dunedin’s ornate heritage buildings were a big drawcard for travellers.

But she said the city’s iconic buildings were already in the firing line – a pre-1900 church and a 1820s landmark home near the Octagon were recent casualties.

The promise of common sense changes to the seismic rules was welcome, but she said they had been left bitterly disappointed.

“The legislation risks unintentionally accelerating the loss of the very buildings that give Dunedin its character,” she said.

“Instead of making it easier to repurpose and restore buildings, developers and people in the business of knocking down buildings for carparks will have a field day.”

Building in Auckland, along with Northland and the Chatham Islands, would be removed from the system entirely as they were deemed as lower seismic risk areas.

If Dunedin remained at a low seismic risk, Galer said it could be a lifeline for heritage buildings – if there were cost effective solutions offered.

Instead, she told committee chairperson Andy Foster that the new rules would make things worse.

“It’s tough enough and the costs are already sky high and they’re going to get even worse and I can not see how building owners can maintain their buildings in that environment, in that legislative environment. It’s just wrong for Dunedin.”

The bill said the shift from low to medium zone reflected the greater understanding of seismic hazard in that area.

That meant about 150 earthquake-prone buildings would remain in the system and more could be identified.

But councillor Russell Lund told the committee that figure was actually much higher and it was one of several flaws in the reports used as the foundation for the bill that made him question why Dunedin’s risk level was being increased.

“Dunedin has 323 earthquake prone buildings. There is a total of 6500 buildings that are going to be classified and there is still 3700 yet to be classified

He was one of six councillors calling for Dunedin and coastal Otago to remain a low-risk seismic zone, saying a change would pose a real economic risk to businesses and property owners.

The shift to a higher risk zone would take a toll on Dunedin, he said.

“Dunedin council has confirmed it’s unknown how many three level unreinforced masonry buildings there are in Dunedin. But they have confirmed that two levels plus a basement will be considered a three-level building and this is a critical point,” Lund said.

“Because under the new legislation, a three level unreinforced masonry building must have a full retrofit. There’s no partial or just facade securing, it’s full.”

Tourism contributed roughly $379 million to the city’s GDP last year and the city relied on its heritage look and feel to attract visitors, he said.

Dunedin already had many under-utilised heritage buildings due to the cost of remediation and this bill was expected to add even further cost and complexity, Lund said.

“As a heritage building owner and building contractor, I understand this intimately. It’s expensive and risky to do strengthening. Old buildings are frustrating. They’re not plumb, level or square. There’s often rot and decay uncovered during the work.

“They consume vast amounts of labour hours and supervision time. I have the scars and the job cost to prove it.”

They also advocated for Ōamaru and its wealth of heritage buildings to be exempted, saying the lower risk town would face significant costs because it was above the proposed small town population threshold of 10,000.

Structural engineer and heritage building developer Stephen Macknight said Dunedin has New Zealand’s best collection of heritage buildings.

“It’s a point of difference compared to other places. We didn’t have in the 80s all our heritage knocked down like many of the cities around the country, and also we had the gold rush at a time when they were building really significant heritage structures,” he said.

Dunedin was lucky to not have more demolition under the current rules as the main streets in some smaller towns had been decimated when earthquake prone buildings were left empty as it was too costly to strengthen them and it viewed as easier to bowl them over instead, he said.

He was left with questions over the proposed rules, and said what the city needed was more certainty.

“Developers who are trying to juggle money and borrow money, and banks and insurance companies, with all this doubt out there it makes it a lot harder to do,” he said.

“Everyone needs a bit of certainty so all these changes or the talk about medium (seismic zone) and so on is just creating a little bit more fear in people and making the easier option to build new rather than work on redeveloping.”

It was not necessarily a bad thing for buildings to be empty for a period, he said.

“It saved a lot of buildings in Dunedin. A lot of Ōamaru just wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for this kind of pause and wait so if we rush into anything under legislation, we lose things which in the future might be seen as really valuable and able to be saved.”

It was important to make sure the new rules were not used to take the easy option of demolition rather than protecting heritage, Macknight said.

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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/2026/03/12/heritage-advocates-warn-shifting-to-higher-seismic-zone-will-damage-dunedins-economy/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington Water has apologised to south coast residents after some complained of smells coming from its waste treatment plant late last night.

Crews at Moa Point wastewater treatment plant restarted its ventilation system to remove gases and smells from the facility yesterday, causing complaints from locals.

The plant had been forced to shut down in February a catastrophic failure in February, which has spewed tens of millions of litres of untreated sewage into the sea, and shut some south coast beaches for a period.

This was the first use of its fan since the flooding. Wellington Water had not anticipated smells to impact surrounding neighbourhoods.

Portable fans had previously been used to air the facility, with no noticeable odour for the wider community, Wellington Water said, and and the plant itself had been cleaned.

“We apologise for not notifying the community of this activity. We are committed to keeping the community informed of any operational activity that may have an impact on them, and we will do all we can to provide advance notice of any risk of increased odour,” it said.

The organisation warned locals that its odour-treatment systems were not “operational” and that there was an “ongoing risk of a low level of odour”.

“We are doing all we can to monitor odour onsite and mitigate the impact of odour on the community,” a spokesperson said.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/12/wellington-water-apologises-for-smell-after-turning-fan-on-at-moa-point/

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Police Association and Retail NZ warn that people could die if new powers for citizens’ arrests and detaining criminals pass into law
• Ministerial advisory group chairman says retailers need more powers to protect themselves
• Supermarket giant worries about weapons.

Politicians considering wideranging changes to the Crimes Act, including widening the powers of citizens arrests and allowing retailers to detain suspected offenders, have received a stark warning.

Some of the proposed changes could result in deaths, the Justice Select Committee was told today.

The Police Association and Retail NZ say that as well as potentially ending in tragedy, this could see retailers in the dock charged with manslaughter.

The proposals stem from the work of the Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime, whose chairman Sunny Kaushal today made a plea for tougher laws.

‘A licence to assault’

Police Association president Steve Watt didn’t mince words when conveying the organisation’s concerns should ordinary citizens have more powers to detain suspected criminals.

“We’re trained to recognise positional asphyxiation where general members of the public are not, and we still do not get it right every time.

“The reality of the bill passing as it is it could actually result in death.”

When questioned Watt agreed manslaughter charges could be laid.

A law change would raise serious legal questions, too.

“This is seen as giving a licence to assault and a perception of legal protection for risky behaviour, for which an onus would be placed on those using such force to prove that it was reasonable.

“There is little to no understanding amongst ordinary citizens around the legal definition of reasonable force,” Watt said.

At the moment citizens arrests can only be carried out in very specific circumstances, such as when an offence happens at night or when a crime is being carried out that’s punishable by at least three years imprisonment.

More powers needed – Sunny Kaushal

Kaushal was asked by Labour’s police spokeswoman Ginny Andersen about the Police Association’s concerns.

“Wasn’t the Police Association concerned for the gang patch law as well, right? Here we need to be sensible. We need to see what works for New Zealand,” he said.

Kaushal was staunchly on-message about why retailers needed more powers to protect themselves, saying retail crime cost $2.7 billion a year.

“In 2019 we had 4000 monthly reports of retail crime. By the end of 2023 there were over 11,000 monthly reports.

“It went from one ram raid every three days to three ram raids every day.

“It leaves behind destruction, trauma and pain.”

Kaushal appeared at the committee alongside Upper Hutt retailer Suraj Parkash Sund to illustrate his point that the law doesn’t favour victims.

Sund slept on the floor of his business to ward off robbers, after his shop was repeatedly targeted, Kaushal said.

“Last month police caught the offenders – a 20-year-old, a few teenagers and a 9-year-old.

“Recently Suraj received an invitation to attend a family group conference. The purpose of the meeting? To see how to best support the offenders who have destroyed his life, not support for him.”

Worries about weapons

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young was until a couple of months ago a member of the ministerial advisory group alongside Kaushal.

Even then she criticised the citizens’ arrests proposal, and doubled down on that today.

“Retail NZ members have major concerns that the citizens’ arrest provisions within this bill would expose retailers, staff and their customers to increased risks or physical danger, and could result in serious harm or even death.”

Young said stores weren’t properly equipped to hold people, and there could be problems if police couldn’t immediately respond if an offender were detained.

Woolworths head of safety, health and wellbeing Denva Wren said retail crime cost the supermarket giant $30 million a year.

It was spending millions more than that on improved security measures, such as better CCTV. However, it did not support widening citizens’ arrests powers.

“We do believe that offenders will likely escalate much more quickly with the pre-emptive expectation that, potentially, citizens’ arrests could be used, and therefore they come in greater prepared with weapons.

“We have edge weapons and iron bars, and our team are being threatened by these on a weekly basis – generally about 60 to 70 serious events a year.”

Woolworths was also concerned customers would expect workers to intervene in dangerous situations, even if that was against company policy.

Employers and Manufacturers Association head of advocacy Alan McDonald said allowing retail workers to physically detain someone could cause problems under health and safety laws.

“There’s also another part of the law that says that if you feel you are being unlawfully restrained you may resist and use reasonable force to resist.

“You can see how that’s going to ramp up, because the people, particularly often those underage people who are doing these raids, know exactly what they can and can’t do.”

The Crimes Amendment Bill also includes provisions about tougher penalties for shoplifting and assaults on first responders, as well as coward punches and modern slavery.

The select committee will write its report on the bill, before it goes for its second reading in Parliament.

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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/2026/03/12/police-association-and-retail-nz-warn-dangers-of-potential-changes-to-crimes-act/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Increased fuel costs could drive some trucking businesses under, according to an industry association.

War in the Middle East has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane, meaning oil prices are volatile.

On Thursday, the price of oil again rose to more than US$100 per barrel.

The rise in oil prices could cause the cost of goods to rise as more than 90 percent of freight in Aotearoa is moved by road.

The New Zealand Trucking Association said fuel’s now overtaken labour as the highest cost for trucking companies. It said fuel now accounts for 30 percent of operating costs, up around eight to 10 percent from before the recent conflict in the Middle East.

NZ Trucking Association CEO David Boyce told Checkpoint the increase in fuel was concerning.

“It’s pretty tough out there… For some, this will be the straw that breaks the back, so to speak,” he said.

“But it’s a pretty resilient industry. There will be plenty that will hang on and hope that this is only a short-lived blip on the radar.”

Boyce said there has been a “wild fluctuation” in price, with diesel up 35 percent this week.

He said it won’t take long for the increase in costs to trickle down to consumers.

“Transport operators run pretty lean and mean on their pricing. There’s not much wriggle room for them to absorb costs, so they really have to pass it on to their customers straight away,” he said.

Boyce is confident we won’t run out of diesel, saying there was around 25 days supply of diesel in New Zealand, and another 29 days supply being shipped here.

“Assuming that supply that’s coming here is not interrupted or compromised, we’ll be covered. But if some of those ships get redirected or some untoward act happens, things could change quickly.”

Meanwhile, the Commerce Commission said it is ramping up its monitoring and scrutiny of fuel prices and will react to any pricing behaviours that are cause for concern.

Commissioner Bryan Chappel said the commission won’t hesitate to call out unjustified price hikes at the pump.

He said the commission would provide updates on retail fuel price movements and compare them with changes in the cost of importing fuel on its website.

Chappel said motorists should shop around and use tools like the Gaspy app to compare prices.

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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/2026/03/12/fuel-costs-could-drive-new-zealand-trucking-businesses-to-the-ground/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rush hour traffic is a familiar sight to most in the city, but the latest data from Auckland Transport (AT) confirms some roads are more snarled than others.

Central Auckland is arguable the worst spot, but the outskirts of the city, from the North Shore to Manukau, were not spared.

AT’s data – compiled from February – looked at average speeds during the peak times of 8am and 5pm as compared to the actual speed limit of the roads.

It also considered the total travel times and determined Auckland’s 16 most congested roads from February.

All of the roads had either a 50 or 60 km/h speed limit, but during peak hours the average speed of drivers on some roads was at or below 30 percent of the limit.

Experts say the congestion boils down to a constraint in the transport network and road capacity.

AT also reported a spike in public transport use this month with last week being the busiest for buses, trains and ferry services.

Auckland’s most congested roads

Manukau Rd/Broadway and Ponsonby Rd/Newton Rd faced some heavy congestion at 8am with average speed limit sinking to 8km/h.

Raleigh Rd/Lake Rd was at 9km/h in the morning and a total travel time of 8.2 minutes.

The highest speed limit average in the morning was 15km/h on the Albany Highway and St Lukes Rd.

The speed limit average seemed to ease in some areas during the 5pm peak time with Raleigh and Lake roads being at 28 km/h and Meola Rd 34 km/h.

However, some locations were not so lucky, with Ponsonby Rd/Newton Rd still being at a low of 9 km/h and a travel time of 6.21 minutes.

Why is this happening and what can be done?

University of Auckland associate professor and director of transportation research Doug Wilson said Auckland’s congestion is a classic “supply and demand problem”.

He said it was fundamentally caused by too many cars with low vehicle occupancy trying to use too little road space at the same time.

“Auckland is growing and the existing transport network is currently constrained in both road and Public Transport options especially when also using the same road space.

“This results in capacity being exceeded during peak periods – the outcome being traffic users during these periods – experience significant travel time increases.”

He also said Aucklanders tend to be bad at ‘sharing’ when it comes to using the private motor vehicle and struggle to use alternative options.

But Wilson stressed alternative options cush as public transport or cycling and walking could provide some relief for busy roads and Auckland was in need of more investment into

“Auckland does need more investment in transport infrastructure, funding is however constrained as we will collectively as a country still need to pay for it and not at the expense of other essential utilities, infrastructure and services.”

Wilson said congestion charges could be one of the solutions that would do well to manage the demand for transport and not just the supply

The Land Transport Management (Time-of-Use-Charging) amendment bill to bring in the charges passed its final reading in Parliament last November.

“Time of use charging is a very important tool to encourage the required behavioural change, but it needs to be implemented equitably. “

He added public transport is improving in Auckland with the promised City Rail Link and on-going improvements in bus rapid transit.

AT director of public transport Stacey van der Putten said they were always looking to optimise the network.

This included looking at public transport routs, adding bus or T3 lanes, different pay schemes or methods and promoting cycleways.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount in terms of uplifting what we call a frequent route in recent years. And with that, making it much more easy for people to access and increasing where things, a particular flow is going.”

The ‘busiest’ time of year

With March Madness also upon us, the congestion is not likely to get better anytime soon.

AT’s data for March so far showed traffic on routes like Manukau Rd/Broadway and Ponsonby Rd/Newton Rd moving at an average speed limit of 9km/h at 8am.

And the top average speed on Great North Rd had been 16km/h in the morning.

Director of transport advocacy website, Greater Auckland, Matt Lowrie told Nine to Noon last month it’s the busiest period of the year on the roads and public transport.

“It’s basically the highest level of transport demand that exists.”

He said there were a number of factors behind the march madness rush including students going back to school and University, people fully back at work from holidays and a drop in sickness compared to the winter months.

This has also meant a spike in public transport use.

AT said last week had been the busiest time on public transport so far this year with Aucklanders taking 2.217 million trips on buses, trains and ferry services.

“This is more trips than during our busiest week last March when our passengers took 2.174 million trips.”

Last Wednesday (March 4) had marked the busiest day on Auckland public transport since 2019 with AT reporting passengers taking 389,000 trips.

AT’s van der Putten said they were expecting public transport to get busier.

“We know with the rising cost of petrol at the pump, it does impact, you know, families and how they decide to move about.

“We’ve got plenty of capacity available on public transport to be able to support people to get on board.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/12/aucklands-most-congested-roads-and-peak-travel-times/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents have been evacuated from a suburb near Christchurch Airport after a “high-risk explosive” was found.

Cordons are in place around Sheffield Crescent in Burnside after police were alerted to the substance shortly before 2.30pm on Thursday.

Police sent an emergency mobile alert to people nearby.

“All members of the public are advised to immediately evacuate the area in the vicinity of Sheffield Cres Burnside Christchurch and surrounding area due to high-risk explosive substance located,” the alert said.

Senior Sergeant Craig Ellison said people should avoid the area.

“An increased police presence can be expected as safe removal of the substance is arranged. Cordons will be removed once the area is safe,” he said.

Cordons will be removed once the area is safe, he added.

Some businesses have been evacuated, including Orion and a dance studio on Sheffield Cres.

Kate Limuloa, of Silhouette Studios, told RNZ she left just after 3pm. She said none of her 15 dance students received the alert.

A nearby gym told RNZ that only one client received an emergency alert.

Christchurch Airport has confirmed it was not affected.

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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/2026/03/12/christchurch-residents-told-to-evacuate-after-high-risk-explosive-found/