A major resilience project on State Highway 73 (SH73) at Candys Bend between Christchurch and the West Coast is getting underway to repair a damaged retaining wall, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop.
“State Highway 73 (SH73) between Christchurch and the West Coast is relied upon for freight, tourism, business connections and the many communities that live along the highway,” Mr Bishop says.
“Because of this, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has put lots of effort into keeping the highway open and safe for road users. A big focus under this Government has also been building the longer-term resilience of important connections like SH73.
“Hunter Civil has been contracted to begin important repairs to a damaged retaining wall on SH73 at Candys Creek, between Arthur’s Pass Village and Otira. This concrete retaining wall was constructed in the 1950s and supports the highway and bridge above it but was significantly damaged by flooding in 2018.
“While the damage to the retaining wall does not present an immediate threat to road users, a significant flooding or seismic event in the future could cause the collapse of the retaining wall and the highway. If this happens, people will be at risk, and the South Island connection will be heavily impacted.
“The retaining wall is still in a state where it can be repaired, but if it deteriorates further, it will likely have to be rebuilt completely at a much greater cost. It makes sense to invest now into this important piece of infrastructure.
“The repairs will include filling voids behind the retaining wall with mass concrete, the installation of drainage and fixes at the top and face of the wall where Candys Creek discharges.
“This work is funded through the Crown Resilience Programme, with $419 million invested by the Government over seven years. It has a budget of around $8 million.
“Work on the ground is due to start later this month and is expected to be completed early next year.”
Notes to Editor:
The Candys Creek/Candys Bend area is recognised as a special area for native flora and fauna. NZTA will be working with local iwi and the Department of Conservation to ensure these are protected.
The Marlborough District Council has today started its consultation programme to fund Port Marlborough’s $110 million capped contribution to revenue-earning port assets in Picton, Rail Minister Winston Peters welcomed today.
“New Zealanders want two new ferries that serve road, rail and passengers long into the future with resilient infrastructure backing them up, and that is what we are delivering,” Mr Peters says.
“The consultation process is a required step under the Local Government Act, but it is also a progress milestone in the no-nonsense ferry replacement solution that is saving the taxpayer $2.3 billion.
“We encourage locals to have their say about a vital port and ferry business where a third of all passengers stop in Picton and spend locally.
“Picton has been the home to the Interislander for more than 60 years, and to Bluebridge since it started in the early 2000s. Earlier this year, Bluebridge extended its long-term agreement to 2064 with Port Marlborough. Today’s work sets the foundations for sixty-year port assets to serve the Interislander.
“We have approved a $531 million budget for all Picton works of which the proposed $110 million from Port Marlborough will pay for assets it owns – in turn the origin of dividends to be paid to ratepayers.
“The balance will be paid for by the taxpayer through Ferry Holdings, generating revenue that benefits the taxpayer long into the future.
“Supporting this proposal would come at no cost to ratepayers and underpins value in their Port company, but we don’t need to explain commonsense to the good people of Marlborough,” says Mr Peters.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop has welcomed completion of a new roundabout at the intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road near Ōpōtiki, making this key corridor significantly safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight.
“There were nine crashes at the intersection of SH2/Wainui Road between 2014 and 2023, three of them were injury crashes, one of which was serious. Delivering safe roading infrastructure is a priority for the Government, and I’m pleased the new roundabout is now completed,” Mr Bishop says.
“Carrying around 5,000 vehicles per day, with 15 per cent of that heavy vehicles, SH2 is a main route for locals, tourists and freight travelling between Tauranga and Gisborne. This new roundabout delivers a practical safety solution to a high-risk intersection that has seen too many preventable crashes.
“There is more work to do to improve safety on this important corridor. With the new roundabout at SH2/Wainui Road finished we are in the home stretch of completing the wider SH2 Wainui to Opotiki safety improvement project.
“In May 2025, around $10 million in funding was confirmed to deliver two new tear-drop roundabouts at high-risk intersections either side of Waiōtahe River Bridge. Construction started in January 2026 and and is expected to be completed in April 2027.
“Once finished, these roundabouts will complete the overall safety improvement project at a cost of around $37.5 million. In addition to the roundabouts, safety upgrades included road widening, new side barriers, and improved line marking.
“I want to thank local communities and road users for their continued patience while these safety upgrades are being finished, and the strong advocacy of local MP Dana Kirkpatrick. The new roundabout at SH2/Wainui Road will provide a much safer connection and I look forward to the two remaining roundabouts either side of Waiotahe River Bridge being completed as soon as possible.”
Notes to editor:
At a cost of around $10 million, construction of the SH2/Wainui Road roundabout began in April 2025, taking 12 months to complete. The work was carefully staged to keep traffic moving and maintain access for residents and businesses.
Previous statement on funding and delivery of new roundabout at SH2/Wainui Road is here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-state-highway-2-roundabout-improve-road-safety-eastern-bay-plenty
Previous statement on funding and delivery of two new tear-drop roundabouts either side of the Waiotahe River Bridge is here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/funding-approved-two-new-roundabouts-sh2-near-%C5%8Dp%C5%8Dtiki-improve-road-safety
Fijian Drua’s outgoing head coach Glen Jackson says the demise of Moana Pasifika is “devastating” news.
“It’s called Super Rugby Pacific for a reason,” Jackson said in response to RNZ Pacific’s question during his weekly press conference with reporters on Wednesday.
“Both Moana and the Drua have brought a different aspect to the whole competition. I know they have tried really hard … we are Pacific brothers and our hearts are with them.”
Reports first emerged on Tuesday that the owner of the club, Pasifika Medical Association, was cutting ties with the club due to a $10 million funding shortfall.
Earlier this year, Moana Pasifika’s CEO Debbie Sorensen told RNZ Pacific that the club was not going anywhere despite its financial struggles.
Researchers are designing chatbots to help make life online safer and more welcoming for seniors.
New research, co-authored by Dr Jade Brooks (University of Auckland), led by Dr Yenni Tim (University of New South Wales) with Delen Zeng (Beijing Jiaotong University) and Joshua Huynh (AMP Limited), explores how properly designed tech can help older people feel safe, confident and included when they go online, not just able to use technology, but comfortable doing so.
The project, in partnership with a major Australian humanitarian organisation, focuses on senior citizens who increasingly rely on digital portals to access essential services such as healthcare, banking and government support. Many of these seniors live in rural areas, where in-person support is limited.
Traditionally, the organisation relied on caseworkers, often older volunteers themselves, to help people navigate online systems at home. However, an ageing population and rising demand are straining this model, says Brooks, a lecturer in information systems at the Business School.
To address this challenge, the research team co-designed an AI-powered chatbot.
Drawing on interviews with senior citizens, volunteer caseworkers, and staff from the partner organisation, the study identifies the limits of existing ‘digitally inclusive’ design and proposes a new concept: ‘socially inclusive design’.
“Socially inclusive design asks, does this technology help people feel they belong, that they can act independently, and that any concerns about safety are taken seriously,” says Brooks.
“The chatbot is intended to complement and, in some cases, relieve caseworkers’ workload by guiding seniors step-by-step through online tasks, while also helping build skills and confidence over time.”
Tim, an associate professor at UNSW Business School, says the chatbot interface offers socially relevant and familiar interactions, making it feel trustworthy, personal, and reflective of users’ real-world social practices.
“We programmed supportive, reassuring, and adaptive settings that allow seniors to build confidence over time, enabling independent digital interactions.
“We also provided the system with positive feedback mechanisms and community-building features that encourage seniors to share experiences and develop a sense of belonging within its digital environments.”
Brooks, whose broader work examines digital inclusion and the changing nature of work, says the project is about more than making websites and apps accessible.
She says that while many older people are technically able to use online services, they often choose not to because they lack a sense of safety, confidence, or control.
Loyal, long-serving workers at MBIE’s Tenancy Bond Services are feeling betrayed by plans to axe their entire team, despite being promised at the start of the automation project that there would be no job losses.
MBIE is proposing to disestablish 28 permanent roles with two new permanent roles created resulting in a net loss of 26 roles. 12 fixed term roles have already finished, with two new fixed roles to be created.
“These workers were told point blank when the automation project began that their jobs were safe. They kept the service running while the new system was being built around them, and now they’re being thrown on the scrap heap of unemployment when they have more to give. It’s a betrayal,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“How can you get buy in for automation projects from workers critical to any digital transformation when they are treated this way?”
The Tenancy Bond Modernisation Programme will shift more than 500,000 tenancy bond transactions each year from a manual, paper heavy process to a streamlined, self-service, digital experience for landlords, property managers and tenants.
Most workers will be gone by early July, with the remainder out the door by October. Consultation with staff is now underway with final decisions due to be announced 14 May.
The people impacted are tenancy bond officers, and operations and administration staff, some with decades of experience, having spent their entire working lives in Tenancy Bond Services.
“This is not how you treat people who have given decades of dedicated service. They cooperated with this project in good faith because they were told their jobs were secure. MBIE has broken that promise.
“The idea that a three-month transition with just five staff is enough to transfer decades of knowledge and experience is fantasy. MBIE is setting this up to fail.
“There are already long wait times for tenants and landlords dealing with bonds. MBIE’s own documents admit they expect a spike of more than 20 percent in calls and enquiries when the new system goes live. How will there be enough staff to handle that when the people who know the system have been shown the door?
“Staff have serious concerns the automation is not ready. Pushing ahead regardless, while planning to sack the very people who could keep things running, is reckless.
“Staff also worry that some communities facing barriers to digital access will be disadvantaged by a fully automated system.
“The PSA does not stand in the way of progress, but we won’t stand by while workers are misled. These people deserve better. They deserve the jobs they were promised, or at the very least genuine redeployment pathways, not empty words and a march to the exit,” Fitzsimons said.
The PSA is calling on MBIE to honour the commitment made to staff, extend the transition period, and provide meaningful redeployment opportunities for affected workers.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahiis Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.
Source: Students for Justice in Palestine Canterbury (SJP)
At the University of Canterbury (UC) Graduation on 15/04/2026, UC Security ordered a student to remove a keffiyeh* from under their graduation regalia before they would be allowed to attend their ceremony. The mandate came from the Head of Security, who told the student that the cultural garment was ‘inappropriate,’ ‘did not count as cultural wear,’ and was ‘promoting protest.’ The student was told they would not be able to attend the graduation ceremony wearing the keffiyeh, where they were to receive their degree shortly thereafter. Their keffiyeh was then confiscated for the ceremony.
The student, who did not want to be named, said “I felt I had no choice but to comply with the request or be outright excluded. If the head of Security is comfortable forcing students to disrobe a keffiyeh at his request, then how can students’ rights to cultural expression exist at UC?”
Students for Justice in Palestine Canterbury (SJP) describes the move as “overtly racist- and an indefensible, conscious promotion of Islamaphobic ideology.” Spokesperson for the group Joseph Bray states; “Threatening to withhold the graduation of a student based on the wearing of a keffiyeh is a serious overstep of Security powers, and a disgusting display of cultural weaponisation by the University.” UC Security determined that this student could not wear their cultural attire based entirely on their physical appearance, in a disgusting form of racist overreach. Who is any member of the University of Canterbury to determine if somebody is ‘appropriate’ enough to wear cultural clothing?”
This incident follows from a continual stream of accusations of racism against UC Security. SJP has identified multiple instances in which students feel UC Security has acted in a racist manner towards them because of their Muslim faith, nationality, or appearance. Many of these students say they have attempted to seek support from both the University and the UCSA, but have been told the complaint would likely not result in any further action against Security. One student who wishes to remain anonymous, describes their experience: ‘The processes of complaints at UC are unproductive and discouraging […] there needs to be room for external investigation.”
SJP has too experienced the continual failures and lack of justice from UC’s internal investigations process. For example, In May 2025, UC Security Supervisor Daniel O’Sullivan broke a student’s arm and concussed two others while forcibly removing them from a peaceful SJP sit-in over UC’s $300,000+ investment in weapons and armaments (1). Similarly, in March 2025, UC Security sent surveillance footage of a legal anti-Police talk to the Police themselves without being presented a warrant, in a significant breach of attendees’ privacy (2). Further, in 2025 a student was sprayed in the face with a high-power pressure washer by a UC Security Guard for filming the removal of pro-Palestinian chalk on Campus. Spokesperson Joseph Bray states: “The lack of any substantial repercussions for these actions highlights the University of Canterbury’s wilful acceptance of both violence and racism within the institution. As long as UC refuses to acknowledge and rectify their biases, students will continue to experience racism and violence from their university, with no genuine redress.”
Students for Justice in Palestine Canterbury reiterates our call for the University of Canterbury to sever all ties with the apartheid state of Israel, and the companies which provide it material support. Additionally, they must condemn the intentional destruction of universities in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria by the Israeli Defence Force and United States Military, as well as work to provide active pathways to ensure the safety and academic freedom of students and academics within. Internally, we demand a truly independent investigation into the culture of racism and violence at the institution-level within UC and within UC Security.
Students for Justice in Palestine Canterbury
* The keffiyeh is a traditional West Asian article of clothing, and distinct variations have been adopted by numerous nations and peoples as both a form of protection from the elements, as well as a cultural symbol. One particular design has been used as a symbol within the Palestinian movement for liberation, though its association with the movement certainly does not undermine its cultural significance to the Palestinian people.
The New Zealand Health Survey (Health Survey) provides information about the health and wellbeing of adults and children in New Zealand. These data tables present key health indicators from all years of the continuous Health Survey, using a three-year rolling average. Statistics are updated annually to reflect the latest survey data.
Results are available for adults and children, and are grouped by health topic. Data is provided for a range of geographic areas: health region, district health board (DHB), regional councils, iwi Māori partnership board (IMPB), and Geographic Classification for Health (GCH). Within these areas, results are broken down by gender, age, ethnic group, disability status, and neighbourhood deprivation.
Data tables
The data tables are available for download below. Two types of statistics are provided, each serving a different purpose depending on how you wish to use results.
The datasets are provided separately for adults and children, and are grouped by health topic. The full set of indicators included in the tables is listed in the Indicator Reference Guide below, which should be used alongside to help locate and interpret results.
Indicator reference guide
The Indicator Reference Guide provides information to support interpretation of the data. It is a useful starting point for finding and understanding indicators.
Statistics (crude/unadjusted) show the results as they are observed in the population. These estimates reflect the actual burden of health conditions or behaviours, including estimated proportions, totals, and means. Where totals are provided, they can be used to understand the approximate number of people affected within a population.
These statistics are most appropriate when you want to describe levels of health outcomes within a region.
Age is an important risk factor for many health conditions so it can be useful to adjust for age when comparing populations with different age structures. These estimates have been age-standardised using the WHO World Standard Population.
Because age-standardisation is a statistical adjustment, these estimates should not be interpreted as the actual burden in a population. They are intended for comparing populations with different age structures rather than estimating actual rates.
Kia ora. In this video, we’ll explore the New Zealand Health Survey Regional Data Release: what it is, what’s available, and how to find and use a statistic. We’ll walk through an example in four simple steps: choosing the statistic type, locating the indicator, filtering the data, and interpreting the result.
The regional data release provides New Zealand Health Survey data broken down by geographic areas and demographics. The data is available as downloadable data tables, allowing you to explore health and wellbeing indicators for different regions and population groups across New Zealand. On the regional release page, you’ll find the data itself alongside some other useful information.
First, the indicator reference guide. This is your starting point. An indicator is something that is measured in the survey and indicators are grouped together under topics. For example, the mental health topic includes indicators on loneliness and psychological distress. The guide explains: what each indicator measures, who it’s for, what topic it relates to, and what years it’s available for.
Next, the statistics themselves. Statistics are provided separately for Adults and Children and in two types: “Crude or unadjusted statistic”, which show the results as they’re observed in the population. These reflect the actual burden of health conditions or behaviors and are best used to describe health outcomes within a region. Then there are “Age-standardised statistics” which are intended for comparing populations with different age structures rather than estimating actual rates. They help us understand whether the differences we can see are due to real health patterns, rather than one group being older or younger than another. Because they are age standardised, they should not be interpreted as the actual burden in the population, so if you want to see that, then use the unadjusted statistics.
All the statistics are available across five different geographies: Health region, District health board, Regional council, Iwi Māori partnership board, and Geographic Classification for health. They can also be broken down by demographics such as: gender, age group, ethnic group, neighbourhood deprivation, and disability status.
Let’s go through an example together. Suppose I’m interested in adults’ self-rated health in the Central Te Ikaroa health region, around 2018. I want to find out what proportion of adults consider their health to be good to excellent.
Here’s how I’d find the information: First, I decide what type of statistic I need. Because I’m not comparing populations with different age structures, I’ll use crude or unadjusted statistics rather than age-standardised statistics. If I wanted to compare an indicator across ethnic groups, I might use the age-standardised statistics to account for differences in age structure. In our example, I’ll select “Adult statistics”.
Next, I’ll check the Indicator Reference Guide to see where self-rated health is located. The guide shows that self-rated health sits under the topic also called “Self-rated health”. The indicator I’m interested in is called ‘health_goodvgexc’. This indicator measures adults reporting good, very good, or excellent health. The guide tells me that this indicator is available for all survey years.
Now I’ll open the self-rated health topic file and filter the data to match what I’m looking for. I’ve already identified the indicator I’m interested in, which is the ‘health_goodvgexc’ indicator. I’m interested in data around 2018, so let’s select the 2017/18 to 2019/20 three-year pool, because it’s around 2018. I’m interested in the Central Te Ikaroa health region, so I will select health region under geography type. And Central Te Ikaroa under geography value. I’ll select All under demographics, since I’m not focusing on any particular subgroup. If I were interested in, for example, self-rated health among adults aged 45 to 54, I could select that demographic group here. Lastly, the value type I’m looking for is a proportion, as I want to know what proportion of adults reported good, very good, or excellent health. If I wanted to know the number of adults who have good, very good, or excellent self-rated health, I can select total here.
The table shows a value of 86.0%. Using the indicator description from the reference guide, I can interpret this as: “An estimated 86.0% of adults in the Central Te Ikaroa health region between 2017/18 and 2019/20 reported being in good, very good, or excellent self-rated health.” The web page also includes guidance on how to cite the data correctly.
Thank you for watching. We encourage you to explore the Regional Data Release and make use of the resources provided to better understand the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders across different regions and communities. If you have any queries, please email healthsurvey@health.govt.nz
The video above explains how to use and interpret results. Further information is provided below.
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Breakdowns provided
Results are available for the total population, by geography, by demographic group, and for geographic-demographic combinations.
Geographic breakdowns include:
Health region
District health board (DHB)
Regional council
Iwi Māori partnership board (IMPB)
Geographic Classification for Health (GCH)
Further details about each geography are available in the Details of available geographies section.
Demographic breakdowns include:
Gender
Age group
Ethnic group (Māori, Pacific, Asian, European/Other)
Neighbourhood deprivation
Disability status
Ethnic groups are based on total response ethnicity, meaning people many appear in more than one ethnic group.
Disability status is available from 2018/19 onwards for adults, and from 2022/23 onwards for children.
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Details of available geographies
Geography
Description
More Information
Health region
Health New Zealand has four regions nationally, known as Northern | Te Tai Tokerau, Midland | Te Manawa Taki, Central | Te Ikaroa, and South Island | Te Waipounamu.
Iwi Māori partnership boards (IMPBs) play a crucial role in advancing their tino rangatiratanga aspirations that ensure the health needs and priorities of Māori communities are met.
The Geographic Classification for Health (GCH) is a rural-urban geographic classification designed to allow New Zealand’s health researchers and policy makers to accurately monitor rural-urban variations in health outcomes. This release uses GCH18. Due to small sample sizes in the most rural areas, GCH is provided in three categories, U1, U2 and Rural (an aggregation of R1, R2, and R3).
Estimates include 95% confidence intervals to show how reliable they are. Wider confidence intervals indicate greater uncertainty, often due to smaller sample sizes.
Most indicators are based on information people report themselves. In these cases, responses may be affected if people do not remember information accurately or report answers they think are more socially acceptable. Other indicators, such as height and weight, are based on direct measurements and are generally more reliable.
To maintain data quality:
Estimates with a relative standard error (RSE) above 100%, a sample size below 30, or a numerator of zero are suppressed and marked with “Suppress” in the quality_flag column.
Estimates with an RSE between 30% and 100% are marked with “Low Quality Flag” and should be interpreted with caution.
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How to cite the results
Ministry of Health. 2026. Regional Data Release: New Zealand Health Survey [Data File]. URL: https://www.health.govt.nz/publications/regional-data-release-new-zealand-health-survey/ (Accessed [INSERT DATE])
Example: Ministry of Health. 2026. Regional Data Release: New Zealand Health Survey [Data File]. URL: https://www.health.govt.nz/publications/regional-data-release-new-zealand-health-survey/ (Accessed 16 April 2026).
Methodology
The design, data collection, weighting, and analysis methods for the Health Survey are described in the Methodology Report 2024/25: New Zealand Health Survey. For this release, some weighting and analysis methods differ slightly from those described in the methodology report. These differences are explained below.
To produce reliable estimates for detailed geographic by demographic breakdowns, data from multiple survey years are combined using a three-year rolling average. For example, results for 2022/23 to 2024/25 include responses from the 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 surveys.
Only indicators collected consistently across all three years are included. Weights are recalculated so the combined data reflects the average New Zealand resident population for the period. Reported proportions, totals and means therefore represent average values across the three years.
Updates to previously published estimates are a normal part of our continuous improvement and quality assurance processes. For this release, updates include minor improvements to indicator derivations, a population rebase to align to revised Stats NZ estimates, and adjustments to a small number of records following standard checks. Because the population rebase involved revising weights back to 2018, totals for some indicators, particularly those representing large population groups, may differ more. Estimates are based on a three-year pooling methodology, which helps smooth year-to-year fluctuations and means that the effect of any single-year change is reduced across the pooled period. Full details of these changes are provided in the methodology report. Overall, these revisions have not changed the narrative drawn from previously published results.
Source: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
Geneva 15 April 2026 – Government officials representing more than 20 nuclear-weapon-free nations in Asia and the Pacific will meet in Jakarta on Friday, 17 April 2026, to discuss the urgent need to eliminate nuclear weapons.
The one-day conference will be funded by Austria and co-hosted with Indonesia, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Indonesia served as a vice-president of the Bureau of the President of the negotiations during the General Assembly talks leading to the adoption of the TPNW in 2017 and ratified the TPNW in 2024. Austria chaired the first meeting of TPNW States Parties in 2022 in Vienna, coordinated the TPNW’s Security Concerns process and currently serves as a co-chair of its informal working group on universalisation.
The purpose of the conference is to take stock of the work achieved under the TPNW and advance the process of further states joining it, as well as raise awareness about the humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons.
Countries attending will include states parties and signatories to the TPNW, as well as those that have yet to sign the treaty.
H.E. Tri Tharyat, Director-General of Multilateral Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, said: “This Conference comes at a critical moment. With the Eleventh NPT Review Conference approaching and the First TPNW Review Conference later this year, the Conference can help shape both processes in a meaningful way.”
DG Tharyat continued: “The reality we face is clear. Nuclear risks are rising, driven by heightened geopolitical tensions and the continued reliance on nuclear deterrence. For the Asia-Pacific, this is not a distant concern. It is a direct and growing security challenge. The TPNW offers a principled response. It reinforces the global disarmament architecture, complements the NPT, and places humanitarian considerations at the center of security thinking. It also challenges us to rethink the role of nuclear weapons in ensuring security. “
Ambassador George-Wilhelm Gallhofer, Director of Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation at the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs of Austria, said: “In the current geopolitical climate with a renewed focus on nuclear deterrence and rearmament, the risk of nuclear weapon use is as high as it has ever been. Any such detonation – whether intentionally, by accident or inadvertently – would have catastrophic and far-reaching humanitarian and environmental consequences. The Pacific region has and continues to bear the consequences of large-scale nuclear testing. The only effective measure to eliminate the risk stemming from nuclear weapons is abolition. Five years ago, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) entered into force. Since then, it has reinforced the legal and normative taboo against the possession and use of nuclear weapons and given the majority of non-nuclear-armed states a united voice. The Treaty demonstrates that multilateral diplomacy can deliver and that we can make real progress towards a world without nuclear weapons through cross-regional cooperation.”
Ambassador Gallhofer continued: “I am therefore grateful for the in-depth discussions at the “Asia-Pacific regional conference on the TPNW and the security concerns related to nuclear weapons” in Jakarta with participants from 20 states. The Asia-Pacific and Central Asian regions brought their unique and important experience and perspectives to further our joint work towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Martin De Boer, the Head of the ICRC’s Regional Delegation in Jakarta, welcomed the meeting: “Nuclear disarmament is more than ever an urgent imperative. It is also a humanitarian duty and shared responsibility of the international community. The indiscriminate, disproportionate and long-lasting destructive power of nuclear weapons makes the use of these weapons’ incompatible with International Humanitarian Law. Simply put, the use of nuclear weapons cannot comply with the laws of war. The humanitarian impact of the use of nuclear weapons would indeed create a public health emergency of catastrophic, unimaginable and unprecedented proportions. We must not only remember the past but learn from it and take urgent action to prevent the unspeakable from happening again. The ICRC strongly encourages all States that have not yet done so to ratify or adhere to the TPNW without delay.”
ICAN’s Director of Government Relations and Advocacy, Céline Nehory, said that the Jakarta conference would help to solidify regional support for the TPNW at a crucial moment: “Building support for the treaty is more urgent than ever given the perilous state of the world, and the continued existence of more than 12,000 nuclear weapons in the hands of the nine nuclear-armed countries”.
Five of the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations are in Asia: China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. Most nations in Asia and the Pacific, however, are strongly opposed to nuclear weapons, having joined the TPNW and treaties that establish nuclear-weapon-free zones in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the South Pacific.
In February, Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, warned that a war involving the use of nuclear weapons would have devastating, widespread consequences, including for nations with no direct involvement. He highlighted the potential for “nuclear winter” – a period of prolonged darkness, resulting in global agricultural collapse and famine – if a large number of nuclear weapons were used.
Background to the TPNW
The TPNW was adopted by 122 countries at the UN in 2017 and came into force five years ago, in January 2021. It now has the support of 140 states in the UN General Assembly and more than half of the world’s states (99) have already signed, ratified or acceded to the treaty.
The states parties to the treaty held their first meeting in Vienna in 2022, where they issued a landmark multilateral condemnation of nuclear threats that are specifically banned by the treaty, and they also agreed upon the Vienna Action Plan to implement the treaty. In 2023 and 2025, the states met again in New York and among the measures they agreed was to call out nuclear deterrence doctrine as a threat to human security and an obstacle to nuclear disarmament. (ref. https://www.icanw.org/vienna_declaration_action_plan_overview?utm_campaign=media_advisory_jakarta_conf&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ican )
In November and December 2026, the states parties will convene the treaty’s first Review Conference, under the presidency of South Africa, to evaluate the progress that states parties are making to implement the treaty.
Against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical tensions and the undermining of international law by some states, including nuclear-armed countries, the TPNW stands out as an example of successful multilateral cooperation where countries have come together to promote global security by working to end the existential threat to the whole world from nuclear weapons.
About ICAN
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations in one hundred countries promoting adherence to and implementation of the United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty. This landmark global agreement was adopted in New York on 7 July 2017. The campaign was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, for its “groundbreaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition” of nuclear weapons. More information about ICAN can be found at: www.icanw.org
Great news for Northcote! The new community hub has been awarded a 6-Star Green Star Design rating and As-Built v1.1 Certified Design Rating – the highest possible Green Star rating representing world leadership in sustainable building practices.
Green Star, operated by the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), is Australasia’s leading voluntary sustainability rating system for non-residential buildings, fit-outs, and communities.
Projects are rated from 4 to 6 stars, with six stars recognising buildings that demonstrate global leadership in sustainability.
The programme aims to transform how buildings are designed and built, significantly reducing carbon emissions while improving health and wellbeing.
World-leading sustainable design
Kate Cumberpatch, Priority Location Direction at the Auckland Urban Development Office at Auckland Council, says, “We’re delighted the Northcote community hub has achieved the highest sustainability rating for its design, in recognition of its strong sustainability features.
“From solar panels and rainwater reuse to thoughtful material choices and waste management, we’re delivering environmental and health and well-being benefits for the neighbourhood now and into the future. We’re thrilled for the community to have their new community hub recognised as a leader in sustainable design”.
The sustainability features of the new community hub include:
An energy-efficient building design to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Solar panels to help power the building.
Recycled rainwater systems and smarter stormwater management.
Natural ventilation and other low-energy building technologies.
Dedicated bike parking to support active transport.
The use of low-impact, locally sourced materials and New Zealand-made components wherever possible for their beneficial health and environmental benefits.
Deconstruction of portions of the building, avoiding waste and saving materials for use.
Reuse and upgrading of the existing library, celebrating its heritage, and avoiding waste and embodied carbon emissions from its removal.
Construction of the new community hub is scheduled to begin from late April 2026 and is expected to be completed in late 2027
A modern hub for the whole community
Kate says, “The multi-purpose hub will modernise and extend the existing heritage-listed library, with the addition of a new wing. Once completed, it will bring together the library, Citizens Advice Bureau, Hearts & Minds, NorthArt and Plunket, all under one roof. The development will also include shared community spaces, rooms available for hire, a large, covered veranda connecting to an upgraded Puāwai Cadness Reserve, and a larger, more welcoming front plaza.”
Alongside the community hub,Puāwai Cadness Reserve will be upgraded at the same time. Improvements include a new basketball court, two play spaces, gardens, a pavilion, toilets, and extensive new planting — creating a greener, more inviting place for people of all ages.
Kate says, “Both the new hub and reserve have been designed with and for the community, ensuring they are welcoming, accessible, and flexible spaces that support everyday use.”
Police have arrested a man over offensive graffiti located outside a Papatoetoe school last weekend.
Enquiries have been ongoing throughout the week.
Inspector Dave Christoffersen, Counties Manukau West Area Commander, says a local man has been arrested this morning.
“Given the threatening nature of the graffiti, our team has been making enquiries throughout the week which has led to a quick arrest,” he says.
The 61-year-old Papatoetoe man has been charged with offensive behaviour and wilful damage, under the Summary Offences Act.
He will be appearing in the Manukau District Court today.
Inspector Christoffersen says Police is aware the incident has caused concern amongst communities.
“I can reassure the community that we have assessed this particular event as an isolated incident and that tere is no wider risk to the community,” he says.
“We have made this assessment with information obtained through the investigation and after interviewing the man who has been charged.
“I am unable to go into the specifics of this, as we now need to let the court process take its course.”
Great news for Northcote! The new community hub has been awarded a 6-Star Green Star Design rating and As-Built v1.1 Certified Design Rating – the highest possible Green Star rating representing world leadership in sustainable building practices.
Green Star, operated by the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), is Australasia’s leading voluntary sustainability rating system for non-residential buildings, fit-outs, and communities.
Projects are rated from 4 to 6 stars, with six stars recognising buildings that demonstrate global leadership in sustainability.
The programme aims to transform how buildings are designed and built, significantly reducing carbon emissions while improving health and wellbeing.
World-leading sustainable design
Kate Cumberpatch, Priority Location Direction at the Auckland Urban Development Office at Auckland Council, says, “We’re delighted the Northcote community hub has achieved the highest sustainability rating for its design, in recognition of its strong sustainability features.
“From solar panels and rainwater reuse to thoughtful material choices and waste management, we’re delivering environmental and health and well-being benefits for the neighbourhood now and into the future. We’re thrilled for the community to have their new community hub recognised as a leader in sustainable design”.
The sustainability features of the new community hub include:
An energy-efficient building design to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Solar panels to help power the building.
Recycled rainwater systems and smarter stormwater management.
Natural ventilation and other low-energy building technologies.
Dedicated bike parking to support active transport.
The use of low-impact, locally sourced materials and New Zealand-made components wherever possible for their beneficial health and environmental benefits.
Deconstruction of portions of the building, avoiding waste and saving materials for use.
Reuse and upgrading of the existing library, celebrating its heritage, and avoiding waste and embodied carbon emissions from its removal.
Construction of the new community hub is scheduled to begin from late April 2026 and is expected to be completed in late 2027
A modern hub for the whole community
Kate says, “The multi-purpose hub will modernise and extend the existing heritage-listed library, with the addition of a new wing. Once completed, it will bring together the library, Citizens Advice Bureau, Hearts & Minds, NorthArt and Plunket, all under one roof. The development will also include shared community spaces, rooms available for hire, a large, covered veranda connecting to an upgraded Puāwai Cadness Reserve, and a larger, more welcoming front plaza.”
Alongside the community hub,Puāwai Cadness Reserve will be upgraded at the same time. Improvements include a new basketball court, two play spaces, gardens, a pavilion, toilets, and extensive new planting — creating a greener, more inviting place for people of all ages.
Kate says, “Both the new hub and reserve have been designed with and for the community, ensuring they are welcoming, accessible, and flexible spaces that support everyday use.”
Two Hawke’s Bay marae damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle will be rebuilt in safer locations following a $27.6 million Government investment, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says.
Through the Whenua Māori and Marae Pathway, the Government has approved
$11.54 million for Petāne Marae and $16.06 million for Tangoio Marae to relocate and rebuild after both sites were severely affected by flooding in 2023.
“Marae play a vital role in supporting whānau and communities, particularly during
emergencies,” Mr Potaka says.
“During Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events we saw marae step up to provide shelter, food and care for whānau and the wider community.
“This investment provides certainty for trustees and whānau so they can rebuild in safer locations and continue serving their communities for generations to come.” Petāne Marae has selected 253 Onehunga Road, north of Napier, as the location for its new marae, with design work currently underway.
Following land acquisition and site assessments, 139 Beach Road in Tangoio has
been identified as the preferred location for Tangoio Marae.
“Marae are a key part of how communities respond during emergencies. Relocating
and rebuilding these marae will strengthen resilience across Hawke’s Bay.”
Cyclone Gabrielle caused widespread damage across the region in February 2023. Petāne and Tangoio Marae were later assessed as Category 3, meaning the original sites face unacceptable future risk from flooding or landslides.
Note to editors
Background:
Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke’s Bay on 14 February 2023, with record rainfall,
Six Māori communities in Hawke’s Bay were severely affected by the weather event: Tangoio, Petāne, Waiohiki, Ōmāhu, Moteo, and Pōrangahau.
Two of the marae in these communities – Petāne and Tangoio, sustained significant damage during the weather event.
The Petane and Tangoio marae were later assessed as Category 3 — meaning they face unacceptable and unmitigable risk to life from future flooding or landslides. Homes and community facilities in these areas were not considered safe to rebuild.
As part of the Whenua Māori and Marae Pathway (WMMP) process, trustees for both marae entered into a Relationship and Funding Agreement with the Government and National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (NIFF) to relocate and rebuild the marae.
The WMMP is jointly overseen by the Ministers of Finance, Emergency Management and Recovery, Māori Development, and Māori Crown Relations. Its purpose is to support the relocation of marae and culturally significant assets that have become unsafe due to land instability, inundation, or structural compromise.
Long serving chiefs assistant coach Roger Randle will leave the club after the Super Rugby season to join his former boss Clayton McMillan at Munster.
Former All Blacks wing Randle, who has been a coach at the Hamilton based franchise since 2018, will link up with former Chiefs head coach McMillan in Ireland in July.
Randle, 51, played two games for the All Blacks in 2001 and won sevens gold at the 1998 and 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Clayton McMillan and Roger Randle.Martin Hunter/ www.photosport.nz
He played 59 games for the Chiefs between 1998 and 2003.
He has coached Waikato in the NPC and has been a part of the Māori All Blacks coaching team since 2018. He also helped coach the NZ Barbarians against the British and Irish Lions in 2017.
The Chiefs have figured heavily in Randle’s life and he said it will be hard to leave.
“I have loved my time at the Chiefs,” Randle said.
“It is a club my whānau and I hold very close to our hearts. But this is an exciting opportunity and one I am looking forward to.
“Coaching internationally will be a new and exciting challenge for me, and it will be good to reunite with Clayton. But I still have a job to do at the Chiefs, and that is helping this group win another Super Rugby title.”
Chiefs head coach Jono Gibbes said Randle would leave a lasting legacy.
“Through his innovative and creative lens on the game, and his unparallelled work ethic, he is constantly chasing improvements in our attacking game,” Gibbes said.
“Roger isn’t just part of the fabric here at the Chiefs; he’s been instrumental in weaving it. He’ll leave a massive hole, and we wish him and his whānau all the best in Ireland.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
It followed reports Moana’s Pasifika’s owner, the Pasifika Medical Association (PMA), was cutting ties with the club in the face of a $10 million funding shortfall.
Debbie SorensenPasifika Medical Association Group
However Debbie Sorensen, who is chief executive of both the club and PMA, is still hopeful someone could step in to save the club.
“We’re very hopeful that additional investors may come forward because often in this situation people who have extra resources haven’t really thought about taking a franchise,” Sorensen told Morning Report.
“We have previously gone out to market for investors and that didn’t bear any fruit for us which leaves us in the position we are in now.
“It’s not 100 percent that we are done and dusted, I think over the next few weeks it will become clear whether there are other parties that are interested.”
She added: “I think we’ve got God on our side … we are hopeful and we’ll see over the next couple of weeks how that rolls out.”
Sorensen said she had already been contacted by a potential party from overseas who could be interested.
“I think we’ll see a bit of this movement over the next 10 days … we’re still exploring all financial options.”
Sorensen, who is also the chief executive of the Pasifika Medical Association, which took over the club last year, said it was important that the team survived.
“We really believe this is a movement that needs to carry on. For Pacific communities and Pacific young men and women it provides hope, it provides a pathway to success.”
Sorensen said running a Super Rugby team was tough.
“There needs to be a new funding model if Super Rugby is to survive in the long term.”
Sorensen said the official announcement on Wednesday was particularly difficult for the players but they had a good mental health team to provide support.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talar Moukhtarian, Assistant Professor in Mental Health, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
It’s 3am. The room is dark, the house is silent, but your brain is suddenly wide awake.
Many people find themselves waking at roughly the same time each night and start to wonder whether something is wrong with their sleep.
Waking during the night is actually a normal part of sleep. Most people wake briefly several times, but usually fall back asleep so quickly they do not remember it the next morning. It becomes more of a problem when those awakenings last longer, or start happening at the same time every night, leaving you less refreshed the next day.
Sleep does not unfold in one long, uninterrupted stretch. Throughout the night, the brain moves through repeating sleep cycles that last around 90 to 110 minutes. Each cycle includes several stages: light sleep, deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when most dreaming occurs. Most adults go through four to six of these cycles each night.
Towards the end of each cycle, sleep becomes lighter, making brief awakenings more likely. Deep sleep also occurs mostly in the earlier part of the night and becomes less frequent as morning approaches. That means waking in the early hours is not unusual.
Stress can make these awakenings feel much more noticeable. In the early morning, the body begins preparing to wake up and levels of cortisol, a hormone involved in alertness, start to rise. This increase is part of the body’s normal daily rhythm and helps us feel more awake as morning gets closer.
But if your mind is already crowded with worries about work, relationships or everyday pressures, a brief awakening can quickly turn into a full spell of overthinking. At night there are fewer distractions, so thoughts that might seem manageable during the day can feel louder and harder to escape. Unsurprisingly, stress and rumination are strongly linked to insomnia symptoms, and can make it much harder to fall back asleep after waking.
Other factors matter too. Irregular sleep schedules, going to bed much earlier than usual to catch up on rest, late-evening light or screen exposure, or a bedroom that is too warm or too cold can all reduce sleep quality and make waking during the night more likely.
For some people, repeated awakenings can become part of a vicious cycle and, if they persist, develop into insomnia. After enough nights spent lying awake and worrying about sleep, the brain can start to associate nighttime with stress and alertness rather than rest. The more someone worries about being awake, the harder it can become to drift off again.
Small habits can strengthen this pattern. Checking the clock during the night, for example, can increase frustration and make the mind more alert. Treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia aim to break this cycle by changing the thoughts and behaviours that keep the brain switched on at night.
Small changes in routine can help the body settle into a steadier rhythm. These are often referred to as good sleep hygiene: habits that support healthy sleep. Keeping a consistent wake-up time, even after a poor night, helps anchor the body clock and stabilise sleep patterns.
Sleep hygiene refers to healthy daily habits that can help promote high-quality sleep.marekuliasz/Shutterstock
Allowing time to unwind before bed, limiting caffeine and alcohol later in the day, and creating a calm sleep environment can also reduce night awakenings. If you lie awake for a long time, it can help to get out of bed briefly and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy again. That helps break the link between bed and wakefulness.
Managing stress during the day can also make a difference, reducing the chance of going to bed already tense and alert. Journaling, yoga, meditation, breathing exercises and mindfulness can all help calm the mind before sleep.
So while waking at 3am can feel unsettling, occasional nighttime awakening is part of how sleep works. Understanding what is happening in the body, and how stress and daily habits can shape sleep, can make those middle-of-the-night moments feel a little less alarming.
At some point in the next several months, I am hoping to receive a modest check as a member of the class covered in the class-action settlement Bartz v. Anthropic.
In 2025, the artificial intelligence company Anthropic, best known for creating the chatbot Claude, agreed to pay up to US$1.5 billion to thousands of authors after a judge ruled that the company had infringed upon their copyrights.
When I first learned about the settlement, I assumed that Anthropic was primarily interested in teaching Claude about the subject of my stolen work, former socialist activist, British Labour politician and feminist Ellen Wilkinson.
It did not initially occur to me that Claude might also be learning about how I, Laura Beers, political historian, craft my sentences and translate my voice to the page.
Yet there is increasing evidence that chatbots like Claude can be trained not only to regurgitate an author’s content, but also to mimic their voice. In March 2026, journalist Julia Angwin filed a class action suit against the owners of Grammarly, alleging that the company misappropriated her and other writers’ identities to build its “Expert Review” AI tool, which offers to give editorial feedback in the voices of various authors, living and dead.
That a machine might use my writing not only to learn about my subject matter, but also to analyze and ultimately mimic my authorial voice, points to a future that George Orwell envisioned with eerie prescience. In his 1949 dystopian novel “1984,” Orwell imagined “novel-writing machines” capable of mass-producing literature, employing programmed mechanical “kaleidoscopes” as substitutes for individual artistic process.
‘In place of a human mind, a statistical average’
To what extent, I wondered, could Claude mimic my own voice?
I prompted the chatbot to write an essay “in the style of Laura Beers” about an early 20th-century politician. I struggled to recognize myself in the resulting prose. But maybe Claude, having only consumed one of my books, didn’t have enough to go on to really nail my tone.
I decided to try again. This time, I would ask it to write a brief essay in the style of Orwell. The subject of my book “Orwell’s Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century,” Orwell is one of the most distinctive literary essayists and prose stylists of the 20th century.
Most of Orwell’s work is in the public domain, meaning it could have legally been used to train Claude.
I prompted Claude to write an essay “in the style of George Orwell about the threat to individual identity and freedom of thought posed by AI and particularly by the ability of ‘novel writing machines’ to produce literature.”
Primed with ample source material, the AI did a passable job:
“Here is a type of comfort, familiar to anyone who has ever been slowly dispossessed of something, that consists not in denying the loss but in not yet noticing it. The frog does not leap from the gradually heated water. The citizen does not protest the gradual narrowing of the permitted thought. And the reader, it seems, does not mourn the novel until the novel has already been replaced by something that resembles it in every outward particular – same chapters, same characters, same approximate sequence of feeling – yet contains, in place of a human mind, a statistical average of all the human minds that came before it.”
The final sentence about the statistical average rings false. But Orwell would, I suspect, have liked the image of the slowly boiling frog. “Here is a type of comfort” is also a phrase that Orwell might well have written.
Trained on vast collections of text, chatbots can convincingly imitate the prose of the literary greats.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
I am skeptical that anyone would classify Claude’s efforts as indistinguishable from Orwell’s prose. But when it comes to machine-produced “literature,” perhaps it doesn’t really matter whether it can fully approximate original art, as long as it’s good enough to function as entertainment and distraction for the masses.
Jam, bootlaces and books
This was Orwell’s own dispirited suggestion in “1984.
With the help of “novel-writing machines,” the employees of the Ministry of Truth – the government department responsible for controlling information and rewriting history – are able to mass-produce not only novels, but also “newspapers, films, textbooks, telescreen programmes [and] plays.” They churn out “rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes” and “films oozing with sex,” along with cheap pornography intended for the “proles,” as the uneducated working classes of Big Brother’s Oceania were known.
In George Orwell’s ‘1984,’ literature is a mass-produced commodity no different from a jar of jam.The Royal Mint/PinPep via AP
The technology disgusts Orwell’s protagonist, Winston Smith, who pointedly decides to purchase a diary and pen to write down his own independent thoughts. But to Julia, Winston’s nymphomaniac, anti-intellectual lover who works as a mechanic servicing the machines, “Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.”
In other words, today’s AI is also being used to mass-produce literature like jam or bootlaces.
Many of these works are not fully machine-written. Instead, they’ve been, as the AI writing tool Sudowrite advertises, “polished by AI.” With its “Rewrite” function, the company promises to give users an opportunity to “refine your prose while staying true to your style, with multiple AI-suggested revisions to choose from.” The service is akin to the “touching up” provided by the Ministry of Truth’s Rewrite Squad in “1984.”
Other books for sale on Amazon are, however, entirely machine-generated. The AI writing tool Squibler promises that if you give it an overarching prompt, it can produce “Full-Length Novels in Seconds.”
The potential of AI-generated “literature” to turn a quick-and-easy profit ensures that readers will continue to encounter more of this content in the future, especially as AI’s large language models become more refined. Already, studies have shown that readers cannot easily distinguish AI-generated forgeries from original prose.
Last year, I had lunch with a screenwriter friend in Los Angeles. He told me that his colleagues are particularly nervous about the use of AI to produce sequels. Once you have an established cast of characters for a movie franchise like, say, “Fast & Furious,” audiences will likely see the next installment whether it’s written by man or machine.
Yet my own brief experiments with Claude give me at least some hope for the future of literary art. A chatbot like Claude might be able to absorb and analyze “a statistical average of all the human minds that came before it,” but without the input of actual human experience and sensibility, it is hard to envisage them ever producing true art.
Whether AI can produce the next George Orwell novel or essay remains to be seen. That it can and will churn out an increasing volume of popular fiction and screenplays like “Fast & Furious 25” seems less in doubt.
Plants are often seen as passive organisms, rooted in one place and largely unable to react to the world around them.
But a new field of research is challenging these assumptions and showing that plants are as sophisticated as animals in detecting and adjusting to environmental signals.
My own research focuses on how plants detect the passage of time as part of their seasonal cycle, but that it merely one aspect of a major reconsideration of their sensory capacity – and the parallels with animal senses.
Plants can see colours
Anyone who has noticed a flower turning its head to track the sun knows plants can detect light. Like animals, plants sense light signals using specialised receptors, each for a different wavelength (or colour) of light.
Emerging research suggests trees can even identify the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. This cue may act as a seasonal switch, triggering a transition in key physiological processes such as leaf ageing and bud setting.
My research identified a specific gene, known as Early-Flowering-3, in European beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) which seems to control seasonal responses such as energy storage, changes in plant hormone signals and preparing for winter.
But light detection is only one sense plants use to perceive their world.
Plants, such as this kawakawa, can detect the vibrations caused by chewing insects.Getty Images
Plants can also generate their own vibrations. When under stress, tobacco and tomato plants emit ultrasonic clicks that provide information about the plants’ condition, including the level of dehydration or injury. These clicks can be heard using a sound recorder.
Scientists also documented what happens when they play sounds to plants. They observed changes in the membranes of their cells and the chemical signalling along ion channels. While plants do not have nerves, these channels functions in a similar way, acting as tiny gateways to transmit information in and out of cells.
Beyond vibrations, plants also respond directly to physical touch, often in striking ways.
Familiar examples include the touch-me-not plant (Mimosa pudica) or the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), which respond to touch by rapidly closing their leaves.
The Venus flytrap will shut its leaves, triggered by touch.Getty Images
These examples illustrate plants’ ability to perceive and respond to mechanical stimuli. But beyond these rapid movements, plants also detect rain and damage caused by browsing herbivores. The latter prompts plants to activate defence responses such as the production of toxins or depositing lignin to make themselves less palatable.
Just like animals, plants contain specialised proteins that detect these physical forces. These mechanical sensing proteins convert physical stimuli into biochemical signals, often through calcium signalling.
Plants remember the past to decide the future
Changes in temperature provide a good example of plants remembering that winter has passed. Remembering cold temperatures helps them flower at the right time when spring arrives.
As observed in animals, these memories are stored through epigenetic mechanisms – chemical changes to DNA that don’t affect the genetic code.
Epigenetic changes alter the way genes are packaged and read, creating a molecular record of past conditions.
In New Zealand, for example, trees remember temperatures from previous summers to synchronise their reproduction across entire forests – a phenomenon known as masting.
Masting triggers widespread seed production – and subsequent pest outbreaks that can threaten native wildlife. Researchers revealed that removable markers generate temporary chemical tags that can switch genes off. This allows masting plants to carry information from one year to the next.
Together, these findings show that plants can see, hear, feel and remember in ways parallel to our own sensory systems. Far from being passive or unresponsive, plants respond to environmental clues in sophisticated and complex ways.
Rethinking plant life in this way challenges long-held ideas about intelligence, awareness and communication in the natural world.
The fuel price crisis “is no longer a short-term situation” for airlines while the government is promising to hold oil companies accountable.
The Board of Airline Representatives chief executive Cath O’Brien told Morning Report that New Zealand does not have a supply problem, it has a price problem as uncertainty in the Middle East continues to spike all fuel costs and disruptions to air travel.
She said airlines that fly to New Zealand are very committed to the market, but hard decisions will have to be made where route profitability is unsuccessful, or if demand drops away.
“This is certainly no longer a short term situation,” O’Brien said. “We are starting to see this fuel price as something that is going to be quite elevated for quite a long time.”
On Wednesday the latest government update showed that fuel supplies in New Zealand dropped by three or four days across each type but remained stable.
O’Brien said cutting routes was “among the last things” that the airlines wanted to do but difficult decisions would have to be made as this was now an ongoing issue.
“Airlines could reduce services, frequencies, they could hypothetically come off routes. I don’t really see that I think airlines will do all they can to actually stay connected to New Zealand, that’s really what we’re in the business of.”
At the end of last month, a Jetstar NZ spokesperson said 12 percent of scheduled services had been impacted, including some services between Auckland and Christchurch as well as Auckland and Wellington, and some international flights between Auckland and Sydney and Auckland and Brisbane.
Air New Zealand also earlier said that it would cancel around 1100 flights from early March through until early May, but that most passengers would be moved to flights on the same day.
On Tuesday ABC reported Quantas also announced it will cut domestic flights due to higher fuel costs and the uncertainty of the Middle East war, with as much as AU$800 million (NZ$966m) in extra fuel costs.
O’Brien said it was difficult to predict what ticket prices were going to be in the future as it was also difficult to predict the costs of Jet fuel.
“I think it is reasonable to say that we’ve already seen some price increase in ticketing, and it is likely that we will see more of the same.”
She said airlines are coming into the period where they are planning their routes for 2027 and will be doing this in the knowledge that fuel prices are potentially going to be 100 percent higher.
O’Brien had worked through the Covid period as well and said the current fuel crisis presents one or two main issues, whereas Covid had multiple.
“In New Zealand we do not have a supply problem for jet fuel we have availability of supply here and out into the future months, but we do have a price problem for fuels not just jet fuel.
And I think that is the problem that we are going to have to manage is the price issue.”
‘Continuous price problem’- Shane Jones
Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones told Morning Report that the main issue was with the cost of fuel and it was going to be a “continuous price problem”.
The latest fuel stock figures – accurate to midday Sunday – showed 56.3 total days of petrol, 45.4 days of diesel, and 47.0 days of jet fuel either in country or expected to arrive in the next three weeks.
That was down from the 59.7 days of petrol, 49.1 days of diesel and 50.7 days of jet fuel reported on Monday – which was also a decrease.
Jones said that in 2024, oil companies pledged New Zealand would not suffer any major crisis because of an absence of fuel and the government would hold them accountable.
“If they do not obey and maintain the law, the punitive fiscal costs on them are enormous.”
He said the government had put money forward for additional storage capacity which will come online at Marsden Point in about four or five weeks at the end of May.
“So it’s really important for the credibility of these major players, one of them is an Australian listed company, Ampol, that they abide by their word, because the public has a great deal of trust invested in the system.”
He said while the issue was mainly with the cost of fuel, the government had explored the options for the Crown to work with the import companies and bring “more molecules” to New Zealand.
Jones said the government was working closely with Australian advisers and politicians and the Prime Minister has been in “regular contact” with leaders in Singapore as part of the fuel response.
He believed the government was doing all they can.
“I do genuinely believe that we’ve left no stone unturned… And I’ve seen no information that would cause me to believe that the actions of the fuel companies means that they are failing their statutory test.”
Prime Minister Chris Luxon said on Wednesday that fuel importers were continuing to report “no material issues with future orders or future shipments”, and the government had reassurances about orders to the end of May, as well as planned orders through to end of June.
“We are staying at phase 1 of the national fuel response plan, but the ceasefire is fragile and the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed, so the risks to New Zealand’s fuel security is still elevated.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand