Government investment in two horticulture developments on underutilised Māori land will unlock economic potential in Northland and Waikato, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka say.
“These Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) investments will bring collectively owned Māori land into productive use in these regions. They will strengthen local horticulture supply chains and accelerate a shift in land use,” Mr Jones says.
The two initiatives being funded are:
The Mid-North Kiwifruit Project – a kiwifruit development in Te Tai Tokerau, to be delivered by Oromahoe and Rangihamama Omapere trusts – will receive a $4m loan and $200,000 grant.
Ngāti Hauā Horticulture – a horticulture development in Waikato, to be delivered by Ngāti Hauā – will receive a $2.05m repayable grant.
The Mid-North Kiwifruit Project will use its funding for orchard preparation and infrastructure including irrigation, drainage, access tracks, orchard structures and shelter belts.
“With a total project value of $20.7 million, the RIF’s $4.2 million contribution has unlocked major local co-investment from key players in the local horticulture sector,” Mr Potaka says.
“This opportunity transforms underutilised land into high value horticulture and delivers long-term economic benefits for whānau in Te Tai Tokerau.”
The Ngāti Hauā horticulture project will bring nine whānau-owned land blocks, totalling more than 90ha, into commercial production, growing asparagus, strawberries and blueberries. The RIF funding will be used to build infrastructure, expand packhouse capacity and support the first crop plantings.
“This project is helping build a sustainable horticulture industry to support whānau for generations in Waikato,” Mr Jones says.
The project has a total cost of $5.1m and has co-funding from investors and joint venture partners Peria LP under the Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust.
“These initiatives show what is possible when iwi leadership and government support align behind a shared vision. They are delivering productive whenua Māori, stronger regional economies and generational opportunities,” Mr Potaka says.
Note to Editors:
Funding is approved in principle and announced, subject to conditions being met, after which contracts are negotiated. Some funding may depend on updated information as agreed in contract negotiation. Payments are made once agreed milestones are met. These are set as part of contract negotiations and differ from project to project.
The Prime Minister and other parliamentarians have been welcomed to the lower Treaty Grounds at Waitangi.
A pōwhiri was held at 11am, before they gathered for speeches.
Christopher Luxon, who was absent from the Treaty Grounds last year, had promised to bring a message of unity.
After meeting with Māori leaders at the Iwi Chairs Forum on Wednesday, he said they were “aligned” on issues like localism, devolution and lifting Māori outcomes in health, education and law and order.
Follow how the day unfolded in our liveblog below:
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The boss of a health organisation believes a rural equivalent of Tinder targeted at health professionals could be the key to solving the doctor shortages in rural communities.
A Royal College of GP workforce survey in 2024 found 35 percent of rural GPs and 21 percent of rural hospital doctors intended on retiring in within five years.
There’s a shortfall of at least 130 rural GPs nationwide.
Federated Farmers, Rural Women and the Rural Health Network are backing the Golden Key, a project to attract health professionals to rural areas.
Its secret weapon is a well-organised welcoming committee and match-making could be the next step, according to Mark Eager, who is CEO of Mobile Health Group and on the board of Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network.
Eager told Checkpoint there was one commonality that keeps people in rural areas.
“You can recruit as much as you want, you can do a whole lot of things, but there’s got to be a connection with the town,” he said.
“Love and sex seem to go hand in hand, and it keeps people grounded in rural areas.”
Eager wants an app, similar to Tinder, to help doctors find their perfect match in rural towns.
“I’ve been speaking with Health New Zealand about it, but for some reason, they’re not keen. But I am sure we could get reasonably entrepreneurial about this and make that work because it would help.”
Eager said rural communities tend to get locum doctors that come in temporarily for six weeks or so, and it would be beneficial to get people to stay long term.
“We joke about the whole love thing, but just having an interest in a rural town and connecting to it. So, ultimately, we would love for someone to fall in love with someone and stay in a rural town long term, but it’s more than that. It’s about welcoming people to rural areas.”
He said the welcoming committee, which includes organised local support and hospitality, was important to make people stay and develop routes to the area.
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The beaches are off limits after Wellington’s Moa Point waste water treatment plant failed, flooding the facility and sending massive amounts of untreated waste into the city’s south coast and Taouteranga Marine Reserve.
There are plans to redirect the overflow much further out to sea during the plant’s repair, but that could take months.
Meanwhile the environmental impacts of the discharge could have significant consequences for marine life.
Department of Conservation’s principal marine science advisor Shane Geange told Checkpoint DOC were “extremely concerned”.
“From an ecological perspective, raw sewage and waste water entering a marine environment poses an immediate and serve threat to a wide range of ecological functions and species, but I think the primary concern is around the public health concern which greater wellington health authorities are actively managing.”
He said raw sewage carried bacteria, viruses and parasites that could impact sponges, muscles and fish that eat particles in the water.
“They can also accumulate in shell fish which make them unsafe for consumption.”
He said the sewage could also impact penguin and how they regulate their bodies.
“Potentially you could get significant implication for the penguin population.”
‘Pretty disappointing’
Geange said DOC was working with Greater Wellington Regional Council to figure out how far the sewage had spread.
“In the process of undertaking a bunch of sampling to determine the concentration of contaminates within the sea water and how far they have spread at the moment…”
The marine reserve is 2km from the waste water pipe.
He said the sea water would “rapidly” dilute the sewage, but not enough to destroy the contaminates.
The environmental impacts of the discharge could have significant consequences for marine life.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Geange said mass fatality was his worst fear, but was highly unlikely.
“It’s pretty disappointing from an environmental perspective,” he said.
‘Environmental disaster’ – Wellington Mayor
Wellington’s mayor Andrew Little earlier told Morning Report there must be an independent inquiry into what happened, which he’s labelled a “catastrophic failure” and an “environmental disaster”.
“This is a sewage plant processing the sewage for a big city, and it has completely failed, it just completely stopped,” he said.
“Plants like this should not suffer the kind of catastrophic failure that we’ve seen.”
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It quickly became apparent the newly discovered object was a member of a group called the Kreutz sungrazing comets. These include many of the brightest and most spectacular comets ever seen.
Comet MAPS is moving on an extreme, highly elongated orbit around the Sun, and is diving towards a fiery date with our star. In early April the comet will pass within just 120,000km of the Sun’s surface.
If the comet survives, it could become a spectacular sight in the evening sky in early April. It may even become visible in broad daylight as it swings closest to the Sun – unless it falls apart before then.
So what makes these sungrazers so exciting, and what can we expect?
Fragments of a mega-comet
Over the past 2,000 years, a series of spectacular comets have graced our skies. Without fanfare, they appear seemingly from nowhere, shining remarkably close to the Sun in the sky. Some even become bright enough to be visible in broad daylight.
Historically, the brightest comets often become known as “Great Comets”. The Great Comet of 1965 – C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki) – was the brightest comet of the 20th century. Discovered just one month before its closest approach to the Sun, it got as bright as the full Moon, and was easily visible with the naked eye during the day.
The Great Comet of 1882, C/1882 R1, was even more impressive. At its brightest, it was a hundred times brighter than the full Moon, dazzling in the sky for several months.
We now know that all these bright comets from the last two millennia – the Kreutz sungrazing family – share a common origin. At some point in the past (potentially in the 3rd or 4th century BCE), a giant cometary nucleus, more than 100km in diameter, came perilously close to the Sun’s surface. Some time after that close approach, far from the Sun, that comet split into two major fragments and shed lots of smaller pieces.
In the eleventh century, the two largest remaining pieces of the ancient mega-comet swung by again, becoming the Great Comets of 1106 and 1138. Once again, the pieces fragmented – and the products of those fragmentations have been seen as a series of comets through the past two centuries.
Today, the Kreutz sungrazing family contains a vast number of smaller comets which fall apart en-route towards the Sun, as well as larger pieces that can put on a fantastic show.
NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, has spotted thousands of Kreutz fragments over the years – tiny icebergs just metres or tens of metres across. Larger fragments swing by more rarely.
Comet Lovejoy seen from the International Space Station, December 22 2011. NASA
That comet would be a sibling to the Great Comets of 1965 and 1882, and a fragment of the Great Comet seen by Chinese observers in 1138.
Enter comet MAPS
Which all brings us to the newly discovered comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS). It’s moving on an orbit typical of Kreutz sungrazing comets, and already holds one record. At the time of its discovery, comet MAPS was farther from the Sun than any previous newly discovered sungrazer.
That suggests it might be a larger-than-usual fragment – perhaps.
The previous holder of this record was comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965, which proved to be the brightest of the 20th century. However, technology has moved on significantly in the past 70 years, and it seems very unlikely the nucleus of comet MAPS is as large as that of Ikeya-Seki. In turn, that makes it unlikely comet MAPS will be as bright.
Nevertheless, the fact we’ve caught it so early means it’s either a reasonably large Kreutz fragment, or it’s currently in outburst – already falling apart. Fortunately, recent observations have shown it steadily brightening, which points to the former theory.
What can we expect from the new comet?
Overall, it’s too soon to tell. If – and that’s a big if – the comet survives its closest approach to the Sun (known as perihelion), it could put on a great show in early to mid-April.
If it holds together, it might get bright enough to be visible in broad daylight. Even if that doesn’t happen, the SOHO spacecraft will provide great images of the comet.
In the days following perihelion, the comet will move into the evening sky. Thanks to its orbit, like all Kreutz comets it will be far easier to see from the southern hemisphere.
If the comet survives until perihelion, then fragments as it passes the Sun, it could brighten suddenly and unexpectedly. A late break-up might therefore be the best-case scenario for a dazzling show.
For now, we watch and wait.
Jonti Horner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Untreated waste water is leaking onto the capital’s south coast beaches due to the Moa Point Treatment Plant flooding.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Some businesses along the Welington’s South Coast say the major sewage spill is a “kick in the teeth” and they are already losing business.
An equipment failure at the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday flooded the site and is sending raw sewage spewing directly into the ocean at Tarakena Bay – rather than through a longer pipe, nearly 2 kilometres into Cook Strait.
Wellington Water hopes the long pipe would be fixed by the end of the weekend, but said it would likely be months before the plant was fully repaired.
A graphic from Wellington Water shows the beaches that are affected. A rāhui has been placed on the area.Wellington Water
People are being urged not to enter the water, collect seafood, or walk their dogs on the beach, and a rāhui is in place from Ōwhiro Bay to Breaker Bay.
Some local businesses already seeing the impact
Jonathan Dunbar, who works at the Onepu Coffee & Icecream Shack, said he usually sees people surfing on his walk to work, but on Thursday he said it was “a ghost town”, and they had also noticed a “substantial drop in business.”
He expected business on Waitangi Day to be a bit dull.
“I would anticipate that we’ll probably be opening later and closing early because everyone’s going to be at Oriental Parade or Petone.
Jonathan Dunbar.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
“Since yesterday we’ve definitely noticed a decrease in customers,” said manager of the Botanist cafe and restaurant, Kais.
With good weather forecast, he hoped over the long weekend that people still came to the area for a walk
Cass, a barista at Centennial Coffee House, said they hadn’t noticed a reduction in customers but were concerned what foot traffic would be like over the long weekend.
“I think if people are staying away from the beach, then yeah, we’ll definitely lose customers.”
She said several customers she’d spoken to had been “appalled” by the situation.
Vicky Shen from Seaview Takeaways said she hadn’t noticed a difference in customer levels and hoped it would stay that way over the next few days.
Vicky Shen.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Josh Bird, manager at Dive Shop Ocean Hunter, said Moa Point was a a popular area for people to dive and gather seafood or shellfish.
He said people did appear to be steering clear of Moa Point and they were also telling customer to go other places.
“It’s just another kick in the teeth for us,” he said
“We’ve been smashed by bad weather and all that sort of stuff,” he said. “So we just haven’t had any opportunities to really get out.”
He said they’d been hoping the back half of summer would be good, because their business had been affected by the poor conditions.
“So we’ve already been quiet beforehand and now we’re finally starting to get some [good] weather and it’s just another factor as well on top of it, preventing people from getting out in the water and feeding their families.”
Where Wellington was lucky, he said, was in that they had quite a bit of coastline still that wasn’t affected.
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Divers deployed to investigate pipe
Wellington Water said it was deploying divers over the weekend to investigate the condition of a major pipe at the plant that got blocked up
The Moa Point 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.
Raw sewage is spewing from a five metre pipe directly into the southern coastline, closing beaches to the public.
In an update to media, Wellington Water said cameras will be sent down the beginning of the long outfall pipe, and divers will check the end of it underwater.
Teams were working “as quickly as possible” to divert as much sewage from the short outfall to the long outfall pipe, the update said, as well to put screening in pace to remove items like sanitary pads from the wastewater being discharged.
Wellingtonians could expect to see discolouration around the coastline for about a week as teams emptied clarifiers and primary settling tanks to reduce odour.
The main street of Island Bay.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
They can also expect an increase in smell due to the plant being offline and work taking place on site.
“We will do all that we can to mitigate the impacts of odour,” Wellington Water said.
Wellington Water said the rāhui is still in place and covers anything the water 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.”
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The Kapuni gas plant in South Taranaki.RNZ / Robin Martin
Five years after almost $20 million of funding was announced for a green hydrogen facility in South Taranaki construction is set to begin this month.
The project includes supplying renewable electricity to the Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ Kapuni facility – via four 206-metre wind turbines – and producing green hydrogen for emissions-free transport at Hiringa Energy’s refuelling operations.
Around 50 construction jobs will be created and seven permanent roles.
The former Provincial Growth Fund made the $19.9m investment in 2020. Its full cost is up to $112.3m with the additional co-funding supplied from the project partners.
In a statement, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones bemoaned delays to the project.
“We’ve waited more than five years for this project to begin, after it was delayed by years of red tape and appeals under the previous Resource Management Act consent process.
“A delay like this, for a project so important to a regional economy, shouldn’t have happened. I welcome the economic benefits, jobs, and alternative energy source this initiative will bring to Taranaki.”
Te Korowai o Ngāruahine Trust, the representative body for Ngāruahine iwi, including Ngāti Manuhiakai and Ngāti Tu, the two hapū with uncontested mana whenua over the land, appealed against the project on Treaty, cultural and environmental grounds, with support from Greenpeace.
The High Court and subsequently the Court of Appeal ruled against the appeal.
Jones said the project would be one of the first in New Zealand to integrate wind, industrial renewable electricity supply and zero-carbon green hydrogen fuel production at scale.
“The initiative unlocks significant local investment and will be a vital contributor to long-term, development in the region and will help diversify the Taranaki economy by supporting new, innovative clean energy industries,” Jones said.
The project is a partnership between the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Ballance Agri-Nutrients Limited, Hiringa Energy Limited, Parininihi ki Waitōtara, and Todd.
Construction starts at the facility this month.
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A woman is before the courts accused of stealing more than $5000 from elderly women living alone in Hamilton and Auckland.
Police claim the 37-year-old targeted the women deliberately, entering their homes under false pretences and taking their bank cards to withdraw cash.
Detective sergeant Mike Mead said the woman faces four charges of burglary, three charges of using a bank card for pecuniary advantage, and shoplifting.
He said all the victims were in their 80s.
The woman is expected to appear in Waitākere District Court tomorrow.
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The view towards the proposed mine site between Bendigo and Ophir.RNZ / Tess Brunton
Fast-track panel members are expected to make a decision on a proposed open-cast mine near Cromwell by late October, while Kā Rūnaka has signalled that granting approvals could be in breach of Treaty settlements.
Santana Minerals applied in November for consent to tap into a gold deposit between Bendigo and Ophir.
When fast-track panel convenor Jane Borthwick sought the company’s views on a 110-120 working-day decision timeframe in December Santana Minerals insisted that officials aim towards the default timeframe of 30 working days.
In a statement released on Thursday, Santana Minerals said the panel convener had confirmed a 140 working-day timeframe.
In a memo posted online, Borthwick said the longer time frame was partly because of Kā Rūnaka concerns about potential Treaty settlement breaches.
“Kā Rūnaka say their concerns are significant and immutable,” she said.
A seven-member panel had been appointed to assess the application and would start work on 25 February.
Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring said while a shorter timeframe was preferable, the confirmation of a decision by 29 October was a “critical transition point”.
“This is an important step forward and confirmation of a firm statutory decision date which gives the project clear line of sight through the fast-track process,” he said.
The panel will be chaired by former High Court judge Matthew Muir KC and includes Gina Sweetman, Philip Barry, Roger MacGibbon, Tim Mulliner, Peter Kensington and Douglas Johnson.
Santana said the members had expertise across mining, environmental science, planning, hydrology and geotechnical engineering.
Borthwick said Kā Rūnaka had sought a hearing on cultural evidence and legal issues.
The timeframe also included six weeks for expert conferencing.
Borthwick said she had appointed seven panel members instead of the usual three because of the wide range of subject-matter expertise required.
If approved, the project would carve out a 1000m by 850-metre open pit, plus three smaller satellite pits and a tailings dam.
Santana previously told shareholders that the company planned to extract its first gold by about March 2027.
The project has had [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/571161/otago-locals-range-from-curious-to-staunchly-opposed-on-giant-gold-mine fierce pushback from some residents who argue it could threaten local tourism and viticulture, and cause irreparable harm to the environment, making it unsuitable for fast-tracking.
Santana Minerals said the work to support its consent application was “one of the most intensive and comprehensive studies ever conducted on the Dunstan Mountains”, with environmental considerations central to project planning.
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This mobile kauri education resource brings a unique multi-sensory experience to the people of Te Tai Tokerau and its visitors. The public are invited to visit from 9:30 am at the sports field, M1, opposite the Treaty Grounds.
The innovative advocacy and education platform results from a partnership between the Kauri Ora Iwi CoLab (a collective of four Te Tai Tokerau iwi), Northland Regional Council (NRC), and the Department of Conservation, with support from Ministry for Primary Industry’s Tiakina Kauri. The partners share a clear goal: strengthen community understanding of kauri protection and support action on the ground to keep kauri safe.
Debbie Martin from Kauri Ora Iwi CoLab says: “The partnership has been guided by the CoLab’s whakataukī / vision: E kore te kauri e tū mokemoke. Our kauri never stand alone. The forest ecosystem stands with kauri, as do all hapū, iwi and community. Unchecked, disease caused by the pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida (PA), would devastate kauri forests, and consequently the wellbeing of the ngahere and its people. We are all connected.”
Chair of NRC’s Biosecurity and Biodiversity Working Party Jack Craw says: “Protecting our kauri is something every one of us can play a part in. Te Ara Mātauranga o Te Kauri will help grow the awareness and know how our communities need to keep these taonga thriving.”
Martin Akroyd, Plant Pathogen Manager for DOC acknowledges the value of the partnership: “It has been fantastic working together in collaboration on an advocacy initiative to help our communities understand the impact the disease has on kauri, and the behaviours required to ensure the trees are protected when out naturing in the majestic kauri forests in Te Tai Tokerau,” he says.
Visitors to Te Ara Mātauranga o Te Kauri can engage with both visual and hands on immersive learning activities, including:
Kauri bark rubbing activity
The relationship between kauri and tohorā, brothers of land and sea as told by Ngātiwai
Kauri hygiene protocols to prevent the PA disease from spreading
Get to know the flora and fauna that live and interact with kauri as whānau
Virtual reality experiences within kauri ngahere
Te Ara Mātauranga o Te Kauri will travel across Te Tai Tokerau to kura, schools, and community events Northland. Please email matauranga@kauriora.org.nz for more information.
Background information
The Kauri Ora Iwi CoLab is a collective of four Te Tai Tokerau iwi represented by Te Roroa Commercial Development Limited, Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa, Ngātiwai Trust Board and Ngāti Kurī Trust Board. Together, these iwi are mana whenua over approximately 60 percent of the remaining kauri whenua in Te Tai Tokerau. The CoLab exists to ensure the survival of kauri through iwi led biosecurity, governance, and operational leadership and excellence.
Te Ara Mātauranga o Te Kauri was inspired by the Waikato Regional Council’s (WRC) kauri trailer resource — an initiative that has proven impactful in community and school settings. We gratefully acknowledge the support and sharing of WRC of resources and guidance.
Featuring Tane Mahuta, Rakau Rangatira from Waipoua, we acknowledge Te Roroa for allowing us to represent their taonga on Te Ara Mātauranga o Te Kauri.
Partners acknowledge the permission to share the Ngātiwai korero of Kauri and Tohorā: Brothers Of Land And Sea.
Partners acknowledge the funding and visuals provided by Tiakina Kauri.
Phytophthora agathidicida
Kauri is threatened by a soil-borne pathogen called Phytophthora agathidicida (PA).
PA is spread by soil movement, including by: – footwear, clothing or equipment that touches the soil – vehicles that have driven through infected areas – animals, including wild pigs and stock, that have walked through infected areas.
PA infects kauri trees through their roots and restricts their ability to transport water and nutrients between their roots and the leaves. This causes the condition known as kauri dieback disease, which eventually starves the kauri.
There is no proven way to cure a kauri tree that has been infected by the PA pathogen, and there are limited treatment options.
To date, the PA pathogen has been detected in the Northland, Auckland, and Waikato regions, but we do not yet know how many kauri trees have been infected by it.
Ensuring the survival of kauri for future generations depends on all of us taking actions and doing everything we can to stop the PA pathogen from spreading.
Green PartyMP Teanau Tuiono has launched his Member’s Bill to recognise whales as legal persons with inherent rights, including the right to freedom ofmovement, a healthy environment, and the ability to thrive alongside humanity.
“Ourtohorāare sacred ancestors for many communities across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa, but they are under threat from commercial fishing, pollution, and climate change.” says Teanau Tuiono.
“This Bill represents a transformation in how we protect our marine species and the wider moana, to create a law that would protect whales by legally recognising their mana.”
The Bill describes te mana o te tohorā through five fundamental principles: Freedom of movement and migration, protection of natural behaviours, protection of social and cultural structures, right to a healthy environment, and the right to restoration and regeneration of habits and ecosystems.
“Indigenous peoples are the enduring kaitiaki of our moana. When we follow their lead, we can protect our precious species and the places they call home.”
“TheTohorāOrangaBill will recognise the inherent mana oftohorāand require decision-makers under a range of environmental law to recognise and provide for the rights oftohorā.
“By recognising the mana oftohorā, this Billrepresentsa transformation in how we protect our marine species and the wider moana.”says Teanau Tuiono.
A new Pacific Media research publication and outlet for academics and community advocates has now been added to the Informit database for researchers.
Two editions of the new journal, published by the Aotearoa-based independent Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) and following the traditions of Pacific Journalism Review, have been included in the database’s archives for institutional access.
Most university and polytech journalism schools in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific subscribe to Informit which delivers expert-curated and extensive information from sectors such as health, engineering, business, humanities, science and law — and also journalism and media.
Informit also offers an Indigenous Collection with a broad scope of scholarship related to Indigenous culture, health, human geography in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
Pacific Media offers journalists, journalism academics and community activists and researchers an outlet for quality research and analysis and more opportunities for community collaborative publishing in either a journal or monograph format.
While associated with Pacific Journalism Review, the new publication series provides a broader platform for longer form research than has generally been available in the PJR, featured here at ANU’s Development Policy Centre. The full 30-year archive of PJR is on the Informit database.
Earlier editions of Pacific Journalism Monographs have included a diverse range of journalism research from media freedom and human rights in the Asia-Pacific to Asia-Pacific research methodologies, climate change in Kiribati, vernacular Pasifika media research in New Zealand, and post-coup self-censorship in Fiji.
Managing editor Dr David Robie, who founded both the PJR and PM, welcomed the Informit initiative and also praised the Tuwhera DOJ platform at AUT University.
“There is a real need for Pacific media research that is independent of vested interests and we are delighted that our APMN partnership developed with Informit is continuing with our new Pacific Media journal,” he said
The first edition, themed on “Pacific media challenges and futures”, was partnered with the The University of the South Pacific and edited by Associate Professor Shailendra Singh and Dr Amit Sarwal and published last year.
The second edition, themed on “Media construct, constructive media”, was partnered with the Asian Congress for Media and Communication (ACMC) and edited by Khairiah A Rahman and Dr Rachel E Khan, and was also recently published.
Bad Bunny is on a roll. Among the three wins at the 68th Grammy Awards, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (I should have taken more pictures) became the first Spanish-language record to win Album of the Year. On Sunday, Bad Bunny will be the first Latino and Spanish speaking artist to perform as solo headliner at the Super Bowl halftime show.
Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and raised in Borinquen (the Taíno-language name for Puerto Rico), Bad Bunny’s life and music has been marked by political, social and economic crises affecting the archipelago: government corruption, failing infrastructure and debt.
Bad Bunny has used his voice to protest in both his music and public statements against national crises and the ongoing effects of colonialism, while celebrating Latinx and Puerto Rican identities.
Bad Bunny started posting songs on SoundCloud in 2016. In 2018, he released his first album, X 100PRE. Sung in Spanish, the album reached number 11 on the Billboard charts.
His third album, 2020’s El último tour del mundo (The Last World Tour), became the first Spanish-language album to reach number one in the Billboard charts. His fourth record, 2022’s Un Verano Sin Ti (A Summer Without You) also topped this chart, this time for 13 weeks.
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS stands out against Bad Bunny’s previous albums for its focus on Puerto Rican identity and ongoing fight against colonisation. This is reflected in the album through national symbols, genres and, of course, language. Bad Bunny addresses these themes through companion videos explaining central aspects to the collective memory of Puerto Rico.
In the current climate in the United States of interventionism and mass deportations, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS has made the domestic Puerto Rican experience resonate among global audiences.
Language and genre
Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory that belongs to the US, and Puerto Ricans are US citizens, but the territory is not counted as one of the country’s states. The US exerts control over the military, politics and economy of the archipelago.
Spanish plays a complex role in Puerto Rico, as a colonial language that was imposed in the archipelago. More recently, Spanish has been embraced as a resistance to English dominance.
Bad Bunny speaks Puerto Rican Spanish, which combines influences from indigenous Taíno language, African languages, Spanish and English. Studies have found Spanish speakers may consider this variety as incorrect because its characteristics are seen as distant from the Castilian Spanish norm: perceptions anchored in colonial ideologies that privilege Castilian Spanish.
Among other genres, Bad Bunny sings reggaeton, a Caribbean genre that draws on Jamaican dancehall, American hip-hop and Dominican Republic dembow.
Reggaeton is popular music with underground roots and explicit lyrics. In the 1990s, Puerto Rican reggaeton was subject to government prosecution (including confiscation, fines and negative media campaigns) due to its alleged obscenity. That did not stop its increasing popularity among young audiences in the Caribbean, and beyond.
The international popularity of reggeaton artists such as Don Omar, Daddy Yankee, Young Miko, Ozuna and Bad Bunny has changed the perception of Puerto Rican Spanish from a history of deficit views to more social prestige. In the past, the distance from the Castilian Spanish norm was considered something negative, but there is now a strong interest among students of Spanish to learn this variety.
Fluid use of language
Bad Bunny’s language does not reflect a purist vision of language with rigid boundaries. Instead, he embraces a creative use of language with fluid boundaries.
The Puerto Rican slang Bad Bunny uses on DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS features numerous Anglicisms, or words borrowed from English – a feature of Puerto Rican Spanish.
He uses unadapted borrowings – such as the words shot, pitcher, flashback, follow, blondie, glossy, brother, bestie, eyelash, underwater and movie. And he also uses hybrid realisations, compound words that combine English and Spanish components such as janguear (adapted from the English “hang out”), girla (girl), ghosteó (ghosted), stalkeándote (stalking) and kloufrens (close friends).
Bad Bunny embraces his Puerto Rican identity in the pronunciation of lyrics and in public commentary. For example, he pronounces the letter “r” as the letter “l” in songs like NUEVAYoL (New York) and VeLDÁ (Truth).
The letter “l” becomes a strong identity feature of NUEVAYoL when compared to other iconic renditions to the city, such as from Frank Sinatra.
By using his voice to celebrate characteristics of Puerto Rican Spanish previously not perceived as prestigious, Bad Bunny is contributing to the values of linguistic diversity and fighting language ideologies inherited from colonialism.
Music as defiance
The way Bad Bunny uses language has been described as an act of defiance and survival. Bad Bunny does not break down language and make it easier for listeners. Rather, listeners have to make the effort of decoding it.
Notably, the lexicographer Maia Sherwood Droz created a Spanish dictionary for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, including definitions of words, phrases and cultural references to decode the meanings in the album.
In an album loaded with references to the ongoing fight to preserve Puerto Rican identity, he evokes community symbols of “pitorro de coco” (homemade clandestine rum) to “la bandera azul clarito” (the light blue flag, referring to a 1895 Puerto Rican emblem.
When accepting an award at the Grammys, Bad Bunny said:
We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.
Bad Bunny’s acceptance speech is explicitly rejecting dehumanisation in a ceremony where, finally, music in language other than English and, importantly, in Puerto Rican Spanish, was honoured and celebrated as the best album of the year.
Beatriz Carbajal-Carrera does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
When the World Wide Web went live in the early 1990s, its founders hoped it would be a space for anyone to share information and collaborate. But today, the free and open web is shrinking.
The Internet Archive has been recording the history of the internet and making it available to the public through its Wayback Machine since 1996. Now, some of the world’s biggest news outlets are blocking the archive’s access to their pages.
Major publishers – including The Guardian, The New York Times, the Financial Times, and USA Today – have confirmed they’re ending the Internet Archive’s access to their content.
While publishers say they support the archive’s preservation mission, they argue unrestricted access creates unintended consequences, exposing journalism to AI crawlers and members of the public trying to skirt their paywalls.
Yet, publishers don’t simply want to lock out AI crawlers. Rather, they want to sell their content to data-hungry tech companies. Their back catalogues of news, books and other media have become a hot commodity as data to train AI systems.
Robot readers
Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini require access to large archives of content (such as media content, books, art and academic research) for training and to answer user prompts.
In response, some tech companies have struckdeals to pay for access to publishers’ content. NewsCorp’s contract with OpenAI is reportedly worth more than US$250 million over five years.
Similar deals have been struck between academic publishers and tech companies. Publishing houses such as Taylor & Francis and Elsevier have come under scrutiny in the past for locking publicly funded research behind commercial paywalls.
Now, Taylor & Francis has signed a US$10 million nonexclusive deal with Microsoft granting the company access to over 3,000 journals.
Publishers are also using technology to stop unwanted AI bots accessing their content, including the crawlers used by the Internet Archive to record internet history. News publishers have referred to the Internet Archive as a “back door” to their catalogues, allowing unscrupulous tech companies to continue scraping their content.
The Wayback Machine has also been used by members of the public to avoid newspaper paywalls. Understandably, media outlets want readers to pay for news.
News is a business, and its advertising revenue model has come under increasing pressure from the same tech companies using news content for AI training and retrieval. But this comes at the expense of public access to credible information.
When newspapers first started moving their content online and making it free to the public in the late 1990s, they contributed to the ethos of sharing and collaboration on the early web.
In hindsight, however, one commentator called free access the “original sin” of online news. The public became accustomed to getting their digital editions for free, and as online business models shifted, many mid- and small-sized news companies struggled to fund their operations.
The opposite approach – placing all commercial news behind paywalls – has its own problems. As news publishers move to subscription-only models, people have to juggle multiple expensive subscriptions or limit their news appetite. Otherwise, they’re left with whatever news remains online for free or is served up by social media algorithms. The result is a more closed, commercial internet.
This isn’t the first time that the Internet Archive has been in the crosshairs of publishers, as the organisation was previously sued and found to be in breach of copyright through its Open Library project.
The past and future of the internet
The Wayback Machine has served as a public record of the web for more than three decades, used by researchers, educators, journalists and amateur internet historians.
Blocking its access to international newspapers of note will leave significant holes in the public record of the internet.
Today, you can use the Wayback Machine to see The New York Times’ front page from June 1997: the first time the Internet Archive crawled the newspaper’s website. In another 30 years, internet researchers and curious members of the public won’t have access to today’s front page, even if the Internet Archive is still around.
Today’s websites become tomorrow’s historical records. Without the preservation efforts of not-for-profit organisations like The Internet Archive, we risk losing vital records.
Despite the actions of commercial publishers and emerging challenges of AI, not-for-profit organisations such as the Internet Archive and Wikipedia aim to keep the dream of an open, collaborative and transparent internet alive.
Tai Neilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Oli Sail’s Auckland FC debut was shortlived after he was stretchered off the field with a knee injury on Saturday.Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
In one fateful hour, Auckland FC went from having goalkeeping riches to needing to go to market in a global search for a new shotstopper.
All White Oli Sail had played back-up to Michael Woud between the sticks for 14 consecutive games in the A-League this season.
Sail finally got a call-up off the bench on Saturday, against his former side Perth Glory, a game he was subbed out of just after the hour mark with a season-ending knee injury.
The 30-year-old had surgery on Wednesday and coach Steve Corica said Sail could be sidelined for six to seven months.
With Sail out and the team’s other contracted goalkeeper, Joe Knowles, also injured, as well as Reserves goalkeeper Eli Jones battling glandular fever and the club’s OFC Pro League keepers in Papua New Guinea, Corica said the club was actively looking for another goalie to join the ranks.
“There’s a lot of goalkeepers around, but a lot of them are unavailable at the moment,” Corica said.
A-League experience was not critical in the search for the replacement, but if they knew the league, Corica did see that as a bonus.
“The window’s open so we can bring players in. We can look overseas as well to bring a young goalkeeper back, the search is wide.”
After getting dropped, Woud was not benched for long and could now be crucial to turning around Auckland’s defensive lapses.
“He had a good start to the season, I think the last couple of games he’s made a couple of errors which was the decision to change him.
“But he knows what he’s done and how good he can play. I spoke to him [on Thursday] and he seems in good spirits and he’s going to have to be.
“He’s got his second chance really quickly so it’s up to him now.”
Confidence as a cure-all
Logan Rogerson is being called on by his coach to get on the scoresheet this season.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Corica sees confidence as a cure-all to the situation Auckland FC are in.
Third on the A-League ladder with one win from six games in January, the team has conceded 10 goals in the calendar year and scored eight.
Corica has identified the next three games on the schedule – Sydney FC home, Sydney FC away and Wellington Phoenix away – as important for the team’s spirits.
He believed double success against Sydney would buoy them for the third and final New Zealand derby of the season.
Auckland’s leading goalscorers look different this season from last.
Jessie Randall, Lachie Brook and Sam Cosgrove are joint leaders on the club’s goalscoring tally this season with six each.
Guillermo May and Logan Rogerson who were leading that tally last season, have yet to make much of an impact on the scoresheet, with May slotting one goal and Rogerson still goalless.
Corica wanted more from that duo to ease the load on Randall, Brook and Cosgrove.
Sam Cosgrove of Auckland FC celebrates his goal with Jesse Randall.Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
“Football is all about confidence and some players are confident players and if they’re feeling a little bit hard done by or not getting in the right positions to score that’s up to them to change that.
“We can try and help them in that department as well but we do have players that can score more goals and the more goals we score then we maybe aren’t in that situation that we let teams back into games.”
In Auckland’s first season in the A-League the club was known for scoring late winners or salvaging results after the 90-minute mark. In season two, late in the game is where Auckland have dropped points, especially of late.
“It really only started against Melbourne City, which was three weeks ago and that was the first time we’ve ever lost from a leading margin but since then the Central Coast game they came back and got a draw out of it but we expected to win that game at home and obviously against Perth it happened again so it’s a confidence thing as well.
“It’s like winning, when you’re winning games it just comes naturally and when you’re conceding goals late on and that period comes again this weekend they’ll start to think about it and it’s how we deal with it and the mentality and the strength we have to get through that period.”
Corica rued some missed opportunities to put distance between them and the other clubs earlier in the season but was up for the challenge of getting back to the top of the ladder with 11 games still to play.
“We’re still in a good position right now and I think the league is a lot closer this year from top to bottom, so the team that wins the league probably won’t get as many points as we did last season because everyone is beating everyone.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Thrift it, borrow it or make it was the motto for this year’s Laneway festival -goers.
Some wore cowboy hats and sparkly clothes that paid tribute to headliner Chappell Roan, known for her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
Others, who were more thrilled to see artists such as Lucy Dacus and Geese, ignored the cowboy princess theme and opted to prioritise their comfort, favourite colour schemes and sun safety.
Auckland’s Western Springs hosted Laneway this year.
RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Police said Alexander Bennett was walking on Leeston Road near Springston when he was hit about 3.30pm on Wednesday.
He died at the scene.
Bennett was a pupil at Springston School.
In a statement, the Springston School Te Kura o Makonui board said its thoughts were with the child’s family, and staff and students were being supported.
“We have had a tragic passing of a student of our school. We are unable to provide any further details at this point as the police investigation is continuing,” they said.
Police said enquires into the circumstances of the crash were ongoing.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The quick action of Police has resulted in the arrest of one person following an investigation into a suspicious fire at a commercial premises on Oruanui Street in Taupō.
The fire was reported to emergency services around 10.30pm on Tuesday 3 February.
One property sustained substantial damage, and spread to the adjoining building, which sustained minor fire damage.
Thankfully, the premises were unoccupied, and no injuries were reported.
A fire investigator inspected the scene on Wednesday morning, indicating the fire was lit deliberately.
Evidence led to a 53-year-old man being charged with arson. He appeared in the Taupō District Court today and is remanded in custody until 17 March.
As the matter is now before the courts, Police cannot comment further.
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