Police are appealing for witnesses of an assault in Nelson earlier this month, to come forward.
On Saturday 10 January, Police received a report that a person had been assaulted the night before [Friday 9 January], around 11pm, on Collingwood Street.
The victim sustained serious injuries and is understandably very shaken by the incident.
Police are wanting to speak with a man and a woman who potentially witnessed the assault and tried to help the victim.
If this was you, or if you have any information that can assist Police in our enquiries, please contact 105, either online or over the phone, and reference file number 260110/8205.
The Minister of Social Development and Employment Hon Louise Upston has kicked off the new year meeting with Timaru employers and encouraging them to hire jobseekers in the first instance.
The Minister is reminding companies how the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) can support their businesses by helping them get staff with the right skills and who are the right fit.
MSD’s Timaru Business After 5 event was an opportunity to talk more about how MSD and local employers can work together to meet workforce needs.
Minister Upston said it was good to see a strong relationship between major employer Fonterra and MSD. The MSD team had worked at both a national and regional level to understand and meet Fonterra’s workforce needs.
“I’ve been pleased to see MSD build trust and confidence with local employers by understanding their business, and their goals and workplace culture to find a match with local job seekers.”
“Every person and every business is different. MSD will take the time to learn what matters, connecting with local and ready-to-work talent, from the country’s largest pool of job seekers.”
“Recruitment isn’t just about filling a role — it’s about unlocking potential and creating lasting opportunities. Partnering with MSD helps businesses succeed while achieving employment goals.”
“In MSD’s Southern region, 81 percent of people receiving Jobseeker Support for less than a year have previous work experience, and around 47 percent have worked in moderately to highly skilled jobs. This shows MSD has people ready to start work now.
Employers of any size or industry are encouraged to get in touch with MSD. They’re available to connect you with the right people.” Louise Upston says.
With clean up and rescue efforts underway in storm-damaged parts of the country, WorkSafe is urging workers to be aware of the risks associated with the aftermath of extreme weather events.
Many areas of the country are grappling with flooding, slips, downed power lines, debris and waterlogged ground.
WorkSafe’s Acting Northern Regional Manager Jason Gibson says workers need to be aware of how those changes can affect them.
“For floodwater, silt and debris there’s a high risk it’s contaminated with things like farm run-off, sewage and chemicals which can make you sick. For workers involved in the clean up, they need to take precautions like wearing appropriate PPE .”
He says there’s also an increased risk of outbreaks of the water-borne disease leptospirosis and if workers feel unsafe, they need to speak up.
There are also risks posed by households without power using portable generators and gas barbeques.
“These should be used in a well-ventilated place so exhaust gases can escape safely – we don’t want people breathing them in,” says Jason Gibson.
“The last thing we want is to have incidents and injuries in the aftermath of this serious weather event. We have a lot of guidance available on our website designed to keep people safe and get everyone home in one piece.”
If the work is not necessary, postpone it until conditions improve.
Always assume that debris, flood water and silt is contaminated and stay away from it, or if you do need to work with it then wear appropriate PPE.
Minimise the risk of exposure to leptospirosis by washing your hands thoroughly and wearing PPE.
Never use portable LPG stoves in a confined space and allow good ventilation for generators.
Even if you know the land very well, waterlogged ground can be very unstable. Ensure you’re using the correct vehicle to move around, especially on farms.
Make a plan to check in if out on a job, in case you run into trouble.
If comms are down, have an alternative means of communication.
Always assume downed power lines are live – stay away from them.
If you notice things aren’t working when the power comes back on, get an electrician to check it out.
Ensure fatigue is managed – businesses should monitor how long employees work, the sort of jobs they carry out and the conditions they’re working in.
Search efforts are ongoing across the Bay of Plenty as emergency services work to rescue people in slips the region.
Bay of Plenty District Commander, Superintendent Tim Anderson says two rescue operations are concurrently running at Mount Maunganui and Welcome Bay Road.
“Police, alongside Fire and Emergency New Zealand are working to locate and rescue people trapped in a landslide that came down off Mount Maunganui at 9:30am today.
“Work is also continuing to locate two people that are unaccounted for after a slip came down towards properties on Welcome Bay Road overnight.”
Members of the Mount Maunganui campsite have been evacuated and directed to the nearby Surf Club.
Police are urging members of the public to avoid the Mount to allow emergency services to have the space to work safely.
“The last thing we need is rubberneckers in the area.”
A number of roads around the Bay of Plenty remain closed, people are advised to not travel unless it is absolutely necessary to.
Superintendent Anderson commends the bravery shown by staff responding to these events described as ‘one in 100 years events.’
“We have already seen countless examples over the last 24 hours of Police staff putting their lives at risk to protect members of the public through evacuations.
“A number of additional staff were rostered to work overnight to assist with evacuations and our emergency response.
“This community is a very tight-knit community, and now more than ever, we need to band together to support one another.
“Police are offering ongoing support to those impacted by the weather, and will continue to provide necessary support for the community.”
We’re asking people to reach out to anyone they know in the Bay of Plenty to ensure they are safe and well.
If you cannot get hold of somebody, or are worried about them, you can contact Police via 105, either over the phone or online at 105.police.govt.nz
You can also visit the Police website here to make a report if you cannot get hold of somebody, or report yourself safe if you are in an impacted area.
If you or anybody else is in a life-threatening situation, please call 111.
Update: 22 January 2026 – Consultation opens on South Island speed limit changes
Public consultation is now open on proposed speed limit changes on sections of state highways in Canterbury, Southland and on the West Coast (see more in the December release below).
From today, people can view the various proposals and have their say in short surveys here:
We encourage all those with an interest in these speed limits to have their say.
19 December 2025 – Speed limit changes proposed
Targeted speed limit changes are being proposed on state highways across the South Island after community concerns were raised about safety.
Next month, New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) will open public consultations for people to have their say on these proposed changes in Canterbury, on the West Coast and in Southland.
The proposed speed limit changes include the following:
State Highway 1 (SH1) at both ends of Temuka, South Canterbury – northern section 70km/h to 50km/h, southern section 80km/h to 60km/h.
SH1 south of Amberley (North Canterbury) – 80km/h to 60km/h.
SH1 south of Rolleston (near Christchurch) – 100km/h to 80km/h.
SH75 north of Halswell (Christchurch) – 60km/h to 50km/h.
SH73 Kirwee and Sheffield (Central Canterbury) – 70km/h to 50km/h.
SH67 and SH67A Westport south including Buller Bridge (West Coast) – 100km/h to 60km/h.
SH7 at Blacks Point (West Coast) – 70km/h to 60km/h.
Introduction of Intersection Speed Zones* on SH1 at Norwood and SH73 at Waddington (Central Canterbury), and SH6 at Five Rivers (Southland) – 100km/h to 100/60km/h variable.
*Intersection Speed Zones (ISZs) feature electronic signage thattemporarily lower the speed limit when a vehicle approaches to turn from or onto a side road.
“These proposed changes are highly targeted, covering just 12 kilometres of the South Island’s 5000km state highway network, but they will make a real difference where it matters most,” says NZTA director of regional relationships for the central and lower South Island, James Caygill.
“We’re focused on saving lives and reducing serious injuries without adding unnecessary delays for drivers.”
Each proposal meets the requirements of the Government’s Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024, which mandates six weeks of public consultation before decisions are finalised. New limits will become legally enforceable once signs are installed and uncovered.
NZTA’s targeted approach to state highway speed management under the 2024 Rule prioritises:
Schools Variable Speed Limits (VSLs)
ISZs for high-risk rural intersections
Speed changes and new speed limits needed for projects and seasonal speed limits
A small number of community requests that meet strict criteria.
Visit below for more information, including how to suggest a speed change. This website will be updated with full consultation details and feedback options for the proposed changes above, in late January 2026.
DOC manages dozens of popular visitor sites across the Coromandel Peninsula, including numerous campsites, tracks and the world-renowned Mautohe Cathedral Cove.
It is unclear what impact this week’s weather event has had on DOC’s sites, and with significant transport network issues DOC staff have not been able to carry out inspections to determine the scale of damage.
DOC’s Coromandel Operations Manager Nick Kelly says the idyllic north Coromandel campsites at Port Jackson, Stony Bay, Fantail Bay, Fletcher Bay and Waikawau have been closed immediately until assessments can be carried out.
“Customers with bookings for those four sites will be refunded or rebooked,” Nick says.
“Kauaeranga, Broken Hills and Wentworth campsites and the Pinnacles Hut in southern Coromandel are also closed for tonight (22 January) and will be reassessed in the morning. Bookings for the hut for 22 January are being refunded or rebooked.”
DOC staff instructed visitors at Pinnacles Hut and Kauaeranga Valley to self-evacuate on Wednesday 21 January. The track to Pinnacles Hut will need to be assessed by DOC staff before the hut is reopened.
Nick acknowledges the decision to cancel bookings and close the campsites will disappoint and frustrate some customers, but it is the right thing to do as Coromandel response services and national agencies work on the clean-up.
The popular track to Mautohe Cathedral Cove was closed on Tuesday and will not reopen for Auckland Anniversary Weekend as DOC staff cannot safely access it to undertake inspections. Visitors should not use the track.
Nick says Mautohe Cathedral Cove’s geology means slips, landslides and rockfall can occur several days after a rain event – a risk DOC must manage to ensure visitor safety.
Although other DOC tracks across Coromandel are not formally closed, anyone planning a walk on a track should be alert to the possibility of landslides, washouts, or downed trees. Damage should be reported to DOC via 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468).
“The scale of damage across DOC’s wider network of tracks in Coromandel remains unknown,” Nick says. “We will likely need several days to undertake inspections, assess, and plan for any repairs needed.”
People visiting DOC sites are urged to exercise caution and reconsider their plans given the Peninsula has been saturated by rain and will need several days to clean up.
Visitors should check the DOC website for alerts on tracks or facilities – these alerts will publicise closures as needed following inspections. People are also urged to check websites and social media channels for Thames Coromandel District Council, Hauraki District Council and NZTA.
NATURE LOOKS DIFFERENT FROM HERE
Nature isn’t scenery. Nature is a society that we rely on for everything, every day. It’s behind our identity and our way of life.
Police have arrested 18 people as part of Operation Thor, a targeted operation focused on burglary, theft, vehicle crime, firearms offending and drug activity in the Feilding area.
Over the last two months, Police have carried out a series of search warrants and enquiries and as a result, several arrests have been made, stolen property recovered as well as firearms, ammunition and drugs seized.
The operation, led by Sergeant Mike Linton, was launched in response to a rise in offending and information from the community about repeat criminal behaviour across the Feilding area.
Sergeant Linton says Operation Thor is about preventing harm and targeting those causing harm in our town and wider community.
“Our focus as a team is on identifying offenders who are driving crime in Feilding and disrupting that behaviour,” he says.
“This operation shows what can be achieved when crime is reported and Police work closely with the community. This is just the beginning, and we will continue to target and focus on those causing harm and offending here.”
Several male and females aged between 18-30 are facing a range of charges including burglary, theft, unlawful possession of firearms, possession of drugs and further charges are likely as enquiries continue.”
Police will continue working on Operation Thor and hold those to account who offend in our community.
Police encourage anyone with information about crime in their area to contact Police on 105 or report anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Associate Health Minister David Seymour welcomes public consultation on Pharmac’s proposal to fund Trikafta and Alyftrek for children with cystic fibrosis, regardless of their age.
Pharmac’s proposal, if feedback is positive, will be effective from 1 April 2026.
The proposal includes:
funding access to Trikafta for all children with eligible diagnosis (currently only funded for children 6 years and older)
funding access to Kalydeco for everyone with eligible diagnosis
funding access to a new treatment, Alyftrek
“Pharmac is now consulting the public on this proposal. It includes funding Trikafta and Alyftrek for children of all ages with cystic fibrosis. The proposal has had significant support from the cystic fibrosis community, so we are expecting positive feedback,” Mr Seymour says.
“Trikafta and Alyftrek would be funded for all age groups. Doctors would be able to use their clinical judgement to prescribe either of these medicines to any patient who would benefit.
“These treatments are lifechanging for Kiwis living with cystic fibrosis and their families. If approved, this proposal would give children access to these lifechanging treatments as soon as clinically appropriate. Cystic fibrosis can cause harm very early in life, so waiting to meet age-based eligibility criteria is not an option.
“In 2023 Pharmac funded Trikafta for children with cystic fibrosis who were 6 years or older in 2023. This left out children under 6 years old with cystic fibrosis. Parents had to choose; wait until children were old enough, pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for treatment privately, or move overseas.
“This has been made possible through Pharmac’s commitment to working with the cystic fibrosis community. It is a great example of what is possible when Pharmac works alongside patients.
“We’re making the system work better for the people it serves. When people can access their medicines easily, they stay healthier for longer. It also reduces pressure on other parts of the health system.
“Now Pharmac wants to hear from people with cystic fibrosis, their family, healthcare professionals, advocacy groups, and other interested people.”
Attributable to Inspector Simon De Wit, Acting Wairarapa Area Commander:
Police will maintain a highly visible presence in Masterton on Friday in response to a gang-related funeral scheduled to occur in the area.
We anticipate an influx of gang members travelling into Masterton from across the Wairarapa and other regions to attend the event.
Police have been clear in communicating expectations, ensuring there is no threatening or intimidating behaviour, and that gang insignia is not worn or displayed in any public place in breach of current legislation.
Officers will be actively monitoring the situation and will respond swiftly to any issues that arise. Any reports of unlawful behaviour will be dealt with appropriately.
We encourage anyone who witnesses illegal activity to contact Police immediately on 111. Non urgent matters can be reported via 105, either online or by phone.
Pharmac is proposing to fund new treatment options for people living with cystic fibrosis with eligible mutations, including young children, from 1 April 2026.
The proposal includes:
widening access to Trikafta (elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor) and Kalydeco (ivacaftor) for all people with eligible mutations,
funding a new treatment, Alyftrek (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor).
Around 35 people are expected to benefit in the first year, increasing to 47 people after five years.
“Trikafta has already changed the lives of hundreds of New Zealanders with cystic fibrosis,” says Pharmac’s Director Pharmaceuticals, Adrienne Martin.
“Since we funded it in 2023 for people aged 6 years and above, over 400 people have benefitted. We are now proposing to fund Trikafta for more people so it can be used as soon as clinically appropriate, regardless of age.”
Cystic fibrosis is a long‑term condition that affects around 500 New Zealanders, including children. There is no cure, and people with the condition often have shorter lives.
“Cystic fibrosis starts causing harm very early in life. Funding these medicines for all age groups would help more young children with Cystic fibrosis live longer, healthier lives,” says Martin. “It would also mean children could begin treatment as soon as clinically appropriate, giving families greater peace of mind.”
Currently, Trikafta has Medsafe regulatory approval for use in people aged two years and older, and Alyftrek for children aged six and older.
“Funding these treatments would also benefit the health system,” says Martin. “People wouldn’t need to visit the hospital as often and they’d need less treatment.”
Pharmac is seeking feedback on the proposal from people with cystic fibrosis, their whānau, healthcare professionals, advocacy groups, and other interested people.
“Your feedback will help us make sure the proposal is workable, and improves access to treatment,” says Martin.
Consultation closes at 5pm, Wednesday 11 February 2026. Feedback can be submitted through the online form. All feedback received before the closing date will be considered before a decision is made.
All three medicines are CFTR modulators. CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) proteins play a key role in cystic fibrosis. For people with cystic fibrosis, these proteins do not work as well as they should, causing thick, sticky mucus to build up in the body.
These medicines work by helping the faulty CFTR protein function more normally, which makes the mucus thinner and less sticky. This helps reduce the damage caused by cystic fibrosis and improves overall health.
Trikafta combines three active ingredients (elexacaftor, tezacaftor, ivacaftor) to target the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis. It improves lung function, helps people gain weight, and reduces the risk of hospitalisation.
Kalydeco (ivacaftor) works for people with specific mutations by improving how the CFTR protein functions, helping to clear mucus and reduce symptoms.
Alyftrek (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor) is a newer CFTR modulator that works in a similar way to Trikafta, helping people with eligible mutations who may not respond to other treatments.
These medicines do not cure cystic fibrosis, but they treat the underlying cause and can help people live longer, healthier lives.
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on January 24, 2026.
‘Thank God’ – parents of PNG conjoined twins grateful they defied medical advice By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist The parents of rare conjoined twins say doctors in Papua New Guinea told them to take the boys home as they were beyond hope. “Thank God we [defied them] and we are where we are,” the boys’ dad Kevin Mitiam, who is also a twin, said in Tok
Federal government’s crackdown on free speech affects all Australians ANALYSIS: By Paul Gregoire Australia’s two federal combating antisemitism bills, the New South Wales laws providing the means to shutdown street protests and move on stationary public assemblies, along with the envoy’s plan to combat antisemitism and the Royal Commission into the same prejudice, have all been set in place following two ISIS-fuelled killers murdering
OpenAI will put ads in ChatGPT. This opens a new door for dangerous influence Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Raffaele F Ciriello, Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University of Sydney OpenAI, The Conversation OpenAI has announced plans to introduce advertising in ChatGPT in the United States. Ads will appear on the free version and the low-cost Go tier, but not for Pro, Business, or Enterprise
The Mount Maunganui tragedy reminds us landslides are NZ’s deadliest natural hazard Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Brook, Professor of Applied Geology, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images The tragic events in the Bay of Plenty this week are a stark reminder that landslides remain the deadliest of the many natural hazards New Zealand faces. On Thursday morning, a large landslide
Tokelau airport project scrapped despite multi-million dollar design By Kaya Selby, RNZ Pacific journalist New Zealand has scrapped a project to build an airport in Tokelau after sinking NZ$3 million into the design phase. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told RNZ Pacific that the Tokelau government had been advised of their decision. Tokelau is completely inaccessible by plane,
The parents of rare conjoined twins say doctors in Papua New Guinea told them to take the boys home as they were beyond hope.
“Thank God we [defied them] and we are where we are,” the boys’ dad Kevin Mitiam, who is also a twin, said in Tok Pisin.
Tom and Sawong — who were fused at the lower abdomen — had unplanned emergency surgery to divide them at Sydney Children’s Hospital on December 7.
The surgery was brought forward as Tom, the weaker twin, was deteriorating rapidly. A large multi-disciplinary team took seven hours to separate the boys but Tom died soon after he was detached from his brother.
The team spent a further five hours working on Sawong, who is doing well and could return home by the end of February.
“The Port Moresby General Hospital paediatrician team told us [twice] to go back home, that there was no hope for them,” their mum Fetima said in Tok Pisin.
“We were even told not to trust Jurgen Ruh [the family’s spokesperson] because they said he was giving us false hope.
“I am happy and I laugh when I see my baby Sawong and think about that advice,” she said.
“I am full of hope, I cuddle him and talk to him every day, as he grows.”
Hospital response RNZ Pacific has asked Port Moresby General Hospital for a response.
The two-month-olds were medivacced from Port Moresby to Sydney on December 4, following medical advice that they undergo urgent surgery.
The move followed weeks of tense wrangling over the viability of separating them, which country would accept the case and perform the operation, and how it would be financed.
The boys shared a liver, bladder and parts of their gastrointestinal tract, but had their owns limbs and genitals.
They also had partial spina bifida — a neural tube defect that affects the development of a newborn’s spine and spinal cord. Tom also had a congenital heart defect, one kidney and malformed lungs.
Doctors at Port Moresby General Hospital initially explored the possibility of transferring the twins to Sydney, but the plans fell through when funding from a charity was pulled.
The hospital later made a u-turn and advised the couple to stay in PNG or face the death of either one or both of the boys.
Final decision The Medical Director, Dr Kone Sobi, said previously that multiple discussions led to their final decision, and added: “The underlying thing is that both twins present with significant congenital anomalies and we feel that even with care and treatment in a highly specialised unit, the chances of survival are very very slim.
“In fact the prognosis is extremely bad and the twin’s future is unpredictable.”
Manolos Aviation pilot Jurgen Ruh with Sawong at Sydney Children’s Hospital. Ruh flew Sawong and his conjoined twin Tom to Port Moresby General Hospital from their home in remote Morobe Province after they were born. Image: Jurgen Ruh/Manolo Aviation/RNZ
Ruh told RNZ Pacific on Thursday that although Sawong remained in intensive care, monitored constantly by a specialist nurse, he was “strong and doing well”.
He was no longer on a ventilator, did not need supplementary oxygen and was gaining about 50 grams a day in weight, he said.
“The hose fitting on his nose is simply to monitor his breathing and to assist a little with extra pressure in his lungs.
“Doctors have now closed up a hole in his stomach with stretched skin and he is improving every day, but it will be another month or so before he is released, possibly by the end of February.
“Occasionally Sawong gives the biggest smile on earth; he is just happy with what he has.”
100 days old The hospital recently celebrated Sawong reaching 100 days old with a simple but touching celebration.
“It threw a little party for Sawong, his parents and all the staff who have been part of his journey. Fetima cut a frozen cheesecake on his behalf,” Ruh said.
A massive funeral for Tom was held a month ago at the Mega Church in Hillsong, Sydney.
The family are expected to scatter his ashes after they return home to their remote village in PNG’s Morobe Province.
While the complex surgery was a success, the results were bittersweet for the parents.
“I thought it was amazing, after the surgery a nurse gave Tom to them and they spent hours just cuddling him,” Ruh previously told RNZ Pacific.
The parents had been through a “rollercoaster” of emotions since the twins were born on October 9.
“They had accepted that they would lose Tom and there’s been many tears shed along the way,” he said previously.
Funding search Ruh said last month that at one stage during negotiations the Sydney Children’s Hospital requested A$2 million to do the operation, but funds and guarantees could not be found.
RNZ Pacific understands that the parents had approached the PNG government for funding, but Ruh would not confirm this.
The ABC had reported that the hospital had asked for payment before the twins were transferred from PNG; however Ruh said as far as he knew no money had changed hands.
When asked how it was financed he said: “It’s a mixture of funding which took too long to organise.
“It should never have taken eight weeks to get the twins separated, it should have happened in eight days, but no referral pathway [to a foreign hospital] exists,” Ruh said.
He laid the blame on the PNG health system, and said babies born prematurely or with birth defects were lost in the system.
“It was a very disappointing ride we had, in terms of overall support from Port Moresby General Hospital. Then there were delays in getting them to Australia.
“We were exploring faster options, but we did not have any support.”
Private hospital The boys were eventually moved from the public hospital to Paradise Private Hospital in Port Moresby, which provided them with free care.
The family felt the twins would be “safer” and have less chance of cross-infection from other babies, particularly of malaria.
A multi-disciplinary team from Sydney Children’s Hospital flew to Port Moresby on November 21 to assess the twins, amid growing public pressure in Australia and PNG.
At that point the boys only had a combined weight of 2.9kg, and Tom was relying on Sawong to keep him alive.
Sawong (left) and Tom while they were being treated in Port Moresby General Hospital’s neonatal unit last year. Image: Port Moresby General Hospital/RNZ
In a letter to doctors in PNG, the Sydney team said surgery was in fact feasible although Tom was not expected to survive it.
“The reason for the early separation is that Sawong is working hard to support Tom,” the letter said.
Urgent transfer The team had recommended the twins be urgently transferred in a specialised aircraft with intensive care facilities plus medical and nursing personnel.
The boys underwent multiple investigations at Sydney Children’s Hospital, including an MRI and CT scan to define their anatomy and vascular supply.
“Before the surgery, the medical team [in Sydney] said it was a miracle that Tom had survived for two months,” Ruh said previously.
A huge team including liver surgeons, colorectal surgeons and urologists, specialised cardiac anaesthetists, cardiologists, neonatologists and interventional radiologists were involved in the surgery, supported by a large team of nursing and allied staff.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Australia’s two federal combating antisemitism bills, the New South Wales laws providing the means to shutdown street protests and move on stationary public assemblies, along with the envoy’s plan to combat antisemitism and the Royal Commission into the same prejudice, have all been set in place following two ISIS-fuelled killers murdering 15 people at Bondi Beach six weeks ago.
While some of these measures were drafted in a hurry immediately post-Bondi in a theatrical attempt to prevent what had already occurred, much of the “combating antisemitism” smorgasbord of laws that serve to clamp down on free speech and the right to political communication in general, appear to have been waiting in the wings for the right political moment to enact.
These dramatic changes that have been foisted upon the country’s public square have been central to a broad campaign that the Zionist lobby has been progressing both locally and throughout the Western world, which is difficult to pin down as most of this advocating takes place behind closed doors, while when featured in the media, these positions are increasingly reflected as the norm.
A key outcome of the doctrine of Zionism is the displacement and genociding of Palestinians. And it is these truths, and the fact that the Gaza genocide is in progress, that make it necessary to progress the lobby’s agenda right now.
But while the Albanese government is implementing the envoy’s plan and a Royal Commission into antisemitism, which both include a definition of antisemitism that serves to block criticism of Israel at the behest of the lobby, the scope of the federal hate laws further reveal desperate Labor and Liberal parties attempting to shore up power in the face of a drastically shifting political climate.
McCarthyite Zionism While the Israel lobby has long been understood to have an excessive influence upon the US political establishment, the sway of the Zionist lobby in Australia had not been common knowledge among the broader public until Gaza, as over the past 26 months of the mass slaughter and starvation programme, the lobby’s propaganda machine has been actioned in an attempt to hide this.
As the internet filled with footage of Israeli state actors perpetrating horrific acts in the Gaza Strip in late 2023, the Australian public sphere became a place to attack constituents for speaking out about this worst atrocity since the genociding of Jewish people during the Second World War, and the key way to silence these critics was to charge them with antisemitism — the hate that stoked the Holocaust.
The central target of the local Zionist lobby has been the Palestine solidarity movement, which has been a loud secular voice sprung from a diverse constituency.
Yet, federal and state Labor leaders have been labelling these people, who have been calling for an end to the practice of exterminating humans to obtain land, as outright antisemites and further implied they’re somewhat terroristic.
According to US professors Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler, the Israeli state and the Zionist lobby commenced framing criticism of Israel as antisemitic in the late 1960s.
This idea is predicated upon Israel being a Jewish state. It denies the fact that many Jewish people globally don’t adhere to the doctrine of Zionism. And it rests on a flimsy link that only holds because of the force of the lobbyists.
This had appeared to be spurred by the moral panic around antisemitism, however it has since come to light that the envoy programme exists across the Western world, with the first US envoy appointed in 2004.
At its heart, the plan inserts the IHRA definition of antisemitism that blocks criticism of Israel into every level of Australian government and all its institutions. Further aspects involve the monitoring of tertiary institutions and the media for antisemitism or rather, anti-Israel sentiment.
The IHRA working definition of antisemitism comprises of two lines and 11 examples of hatred towards Jewish people, seven of which involve criticising Israel.
The body that produced it has never officially adopted it. However, as one of its drafters has been warning over the past decade, the Zionist lobby has been weaponising the definition to silence anti-Israel criticism globally.
The determination to hold a Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion is the result of an all-pervasive campaign to see it established post-Bondi massacre, with the suggested reason being to understand how such a terrorist action was able to come to fruition.
Further moral panic However, the criminal case against one shooter rules this out, so the inquiry will likely serve to stoke further moral panic.
So, the blanket ban on protests, or the public assembly restriction declaration regime rolled out post-Bondi, can be understood as not only placating the Zionist lobby, via the silencing of Palestine solidarity rallies on Gadigal land in the Sydney CBD, but it’s also as a continuation of the closing of the public sphere.
The 50 pages of hate crime laws the Albanese government whipped out of its back pocket last week, appeared so broad that the suggestion is the measures were in the works long before the antisemitic attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025.
ASIO boss Mike Burgess hinted at a need for these last year, so as to stamp out groups, like the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network and Islamic group Hitz ut Tahrir, as they had both been understood to be hovering just beneath the threshold of criminal activity.
But further, these laws sitting on the books could likely be used by a future “true blue” führer, so that their opposition can be eradicated on taking office.
The fallacy of necessitated free speech denial NSW premier Chris Minns’ favoured mantra over the period of the Gaza genocide — or the rise in antisemitism in Australia if one is being “politically correct” — has been along the lines of “the reason NSW does not have free speech protections like they do in the United States, is that this state has a multicultural society and therefore, divergent voices must be tempered”. Yet, this is a lie.
During the 1890s drafting of the Australian Constitution, those involved determined not to enshrine rights in the founding document, as it might result in discriminatory laws already on the books that specifically applied to First Nations people and Chinese people becoming invalid, former High Court Justice Micheal Kirby has noted on occasion.
The premier is not only progressing this line when the moral panic around antisemitism is in full flight, but he is also suggesting that the right to free speech should not be protected in NSW, over and over again, after NSW MP Jenny Leong introduced the Human Rights Bill 2025 last October, which seeks to protect free speech, or “freedom of opinion and expression”, among other rights.
The failure to protect free speech in this country was initially about maintaining power when attempting to establish an ethnostate. But the ongoing denial of rights protections since Australia embraced multiculturalism commencing in the 1970s, has really been about politicians maintaining power, and not an attempt to save various ethnic groups living here from annihilating each other.
The idea progressed by Minns is that the broad free speech protections in the United States, which are contained in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, would be a problem in our community because it is multicultural.
However, while the US has traditionally been understood to have been a melting pot of different ethnicities, what is operating as societies in both countries today are based upon multiethnicities, and they’re pretty much the same.
The progression of the “combating antisemitism” laws and policies right now is all about placating the Zionist lobby, while Israel takes as many pounds of flesh as it desires upon occupied Palestinian territory, in order to prevent the ongoing mass civil society outcry over this ethnic cleansing, the mass starvation and mass murder, along with the genocidal tactics that are ongoing in the Gaza Strip.
Yet, the federal listing of prohibited hate group regime also provides the ability to the major parties to criminalise their political opponents as hate groups — think, the Greens — at a point in time when the long-term capture of holding government office by the majors is now under threat.
OpenAI has announced plans to introduce advertising in ChatGPT in the United States. Ads will appear on the free version and the low-cost Go tier, but not for Pro, Business, or Enterprise subscribers.
The company says ads will be clearly separated from chatbot responses and will not influence outputs. It has also pledged not to sell user conversations, to let users turn off personalised ads, and to avoid ads for users under 18 or around sensitive topics such as health and politics.
Still, the move has raised concerns among some users. The key question is whether OpenAI’s voluntary safeguards will hold once advertising becomes central to its business.
Why ads in AI were always likely
We’ve seen this before. Fifteen years ago, social media platforms struggled to turn vast audiences into profit.
The breakthrough came with targeted advertising: tailoring ads to what users search for, click on, and pay attention to. This model became the dominant revenue source for Google and Facebook, reshaping their services so they maximised user engagement.
Large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) is extremely expensive. Training and running advanced models requires vast data centres, specialised chips, and constant engineering. Despite rapid user growth, many AI firms still operate at a loss. OpenAI alone expects to burn US$115 billion over the next five years.
Only a few companies can absorb these costs. For most AI providers, a scalable revenue model is urgent and targeted advertising is the obvious answer. It remains the most reliable way to profit from large audiences.
What history teaches us about OpenAI’s promises
OpenAI says it will keep ads separate from answers and protect user privacy. These assurances may sound comforting, but, for now, they rest on vague and easily reinterpreted commitments.
The company proposes not to show ads “near sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics”, yet offers little clarity about what counts as “sensitive,” how broadly “health” will be defined, or who decides where the boundaries lie.
Most real-world conversations with AI will sit outside these narrow categories. So far OpenAI has not provided any details on which advertising categories will be included or excluded. However, if no restrictions were placed on the content of the ads, it’s easy to picture that a user asking “how to wind down after a stressful day” might be shown alcohol delivery ads. A query about “fun weekend ideas” could surface gambling promotions.
These products are linked to recognised health and social harms. Placed beside personalised guidance at the moment of decision-making, such ads can steer behaviour in subtle but powerful ways, even when no explicit health issue is discussed.
Similar promises about guardrails marked the early years of social media. History shows how self-regulation weakens under commercial pressure, ultimately benefiting companies while leaving users exposed to harm.
Advertising incentives have a long record of undermining the public interest. The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed how personal data collected for ads could be repurposed for political influence. The “Facebook files” revealed that Meta knew its platforms were causing serious harms, including to teenage mental health, but resisted changes that threatened advertising revenue.
More recent investigations show Meta continues to generate revenue from scam and fraudulent ads even after being warned about their harms.
Why chatbots raise the stakes
Chatbots are not merely another social media feed. People use them in intimate, personal ways for advice, emotional support and private reflection. These interactions feel discreet and non-judgmental, and often prompt disclosures people would not make publicly.
That trust amplifies persuasion in ways social media does not. People seek help and make decisions when they consult chatbots. Even with formal separation from responses, ads appear in a private, conversational setting rather than a public feed.
Messages placed beside personalised guidance – about products, lifestyle choices, finances or politics – are likely to be more influential than the same ads seen while browsing.
As OpenAI positions ChatGPT as a “super assistant” for everything from finances to health, the line between advice and persuasion blurs.
For scammers and autocrats, the appeal of a more powerful propaganda tool is clear. For AI providers, the financial incentives to accommodate them will be hard to resist.
The root problem is a structural conflict of interest. Advertising models reward platforms for maximising engagement, yet the content that best sustains attention is often misleading, emotionally charged or harmful to health.
This is why voluntary restraint by online platforms has repeatedly failed.
Is there a better way forward?
One option is to treat AI as digital public infrastructure: these are essential systems designed to serve the public rather than maximise advertising revenue.
This need not exclude private firms. It requires at least one high-quality public option, democratically overseen – akin to public broadcasters alongside commercial media.
Elements of this model already exist. Switzerland developed the publicly funded AI system Apertus through its universities and national supercomputing centre. It is open source, compliant with European AI law, and free from advertising.
Australia could go further. Alongside building our own AI tools, regulators could impose clear rules on commercial providers: mandating transparency, banning health-harming or political advertising, and enforcing penalties – including shutdowns – for serious breaches.
Advertising did not corrupt social media overnight. It slowly changed incentives until public harm became the collateral damage of private profit. Bringing it into conversational AI risks repeating the mistake, this time in systems people trust far more deeply.
The key question is not technical but political: should AI serve the public, or advertisers and investors?
Raffaele F Ciriello is a voluntary, temporary member of the eSafety Commissioner’s Parent Advisory Group, advising on caregiver and youth responses to Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age laws. This article draws on his independent research.
Kathryn Backholer is Vice President (Policy) at the Public Health Association of Australia. She receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Research Council, UNICEF, The Ian Potter Foundation, The National Heart Foundation, VicHealth, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, QUIT, the .auDA Foundation and the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety for work related to the health-harms of online advertising.
The tragic events in the Bay of Plenty this week are a stark reminder that landslides remain the deadliest of the many natural hazards New Zealand faces.
On Thursday morning, a large landslide swept through the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park at the base of Mauao, triggering a major rescue and recovery operation that will continue through the weekend.
Hours earlier, two people were killed when a separate landslide struck a home in the Tauranga suburb of Welcome Bay. As of Friday evening, six people remain missing at Mount Maunganui.
These events occurred at the tail end of a weak La Niña cycle, which typically brings wetter conditions to northern New Zealand. At the same time, unusually warm sea-surface temperatures have been loading the atmosphere with extra moisture, helping to fuel heavier downpours.
In parts of northern New Zealand, more than 200 millimetres of rain fell within 24 hours in the lead-up to last week’s events – well above the typical thresholds known to trigger landslides.
Regions such as the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Northland and Tairāwhiti are especially vulnerable to intense rainfall, which weakens surface soils and the highly weathered rock beneath them, allowing shallow landslides to detach and flow downslope.
Most landslides in New Zealand are triggered by heavy rainfall, through a complex interplay of intrinsic factors – such as slope angle, soil and rock strength, and vegetation cover – and extrinsic factors, including rainfall intensity and how wet the ground already is from prior rainfall when a storm arrives.
Much of this risk is invisible, accumulating quietly beneath the surface until a sudden collapse occurs.
This helps explain why landslides have long proved so dangerous. Since written records began in 1843, they have been responsible for more deaths than earthquakes and volcanic eruptions combined.
Much of New Zealand’s steep, geologically young landscape is pockmarked by the evidence of millions of past landslides, most occurring on pasture and remote areas, far from people.
When landscapes tell a story
At Mount Maunganui, the shape of the land itself tells a story. The surrounding hill slopes are riddled with the scars of past landslides, revealing a landscape that has been repeatedly reshaped by slope failure over time.
New high-resolution mapping now allows scientists to see this in unprecedented detail. A 2024 LiDAR-derived digital elevation model, which effectively strips away vegetation to reveal the bare land surface, shows numerous landslide features across the slopes.
Many cluster along the coastal cliffs, but two particularly large ancient landslides can be seen directly above the holiday park.
A high-resolution elevation map of Mauao and surrounding land at Mount Maunganui, drawn from Land Information New Zealand data, showing landslide features. Two ancient landslides, or paleolandslides, above the campground site are labelled L1 and L2. Author provided, CC BY-NC-ND
These older slips left behind prominent head scarps – steep, crescent-shaped breaks in the hillside – indicating where large volumes of material once detached and flowed downslope onto flatter ground below.
Subsurface evidence reinforces this picture. A geotechnical investigation carried out in 2000, near the northern end of the campground’s toilet block, found a 0.7 metre layer of colluvium – loose debris deposited by earlier landslides and erosion – buried beneath the surface.
In other words, the site itself sits atop the remnants of past slope failures.
This image provides two views of the slopes above the campground at Mauao (Mount Maunganui). On the left (A) is a 2023 aerial photo showing the steep hillside and the location of earlier ground testing. On the right (B) is a detailed elevation map revealing two ancient landslides (L1 and L2) hidden in the landscape. The star marks the approximate starting point of the January 22 landslide. Author provided, CC BY-NC-ND
The January 22 landslide appears to have initiated in the narrow zone between the two earlier slips. This is a particularly vulnerable position: when neighbouring landslides occur, the remaining wedge of land between them can lose lateral support, becoming unstable, like a rocky headland jutting out from a cliff face.
Over long timescales, this kind of progressive slope collapse is a normal part of landscape evolution. But when it unfolds in populated areas, it can turn an ancient geological process into a human disaster.
From prediction to prevention
Predicting how far a landslide will travel, and which areas it might inundate, is critically important – but it remains an inexact science.
At its simplest, this can involve rough rules of thumb that estimate how far a landslide is likely to run based on slope height and angle. More sophisticated approaches use advanced computer models, such as Rapid Mass Movement Simulation (RAMMS) which simulate how landslide material might flow across the landscape.
These models were used, for example, to assess landslide risk at Muriwai, Auckland, following Cyclone Gabrielle.
By adjusting inputs such as rainfall intensity and soil properties, scientists can explore a range of possible scenarios, generating estimates of how far future landslides could travel, how deep the debris might be, and which properties could be affected.
The results can then be translated into landslide hazard maps, showing areas of higher and lower risk under different rainfall conditions. These maps are not predictions of exactly what will happen, but they provide crucial guidance for land-use planning, emergency management and public awareness.
New Zealand has made major progress in mapping floodplains, and most councils now provide publicly accessible flood hazard maps that influence building rules and help communities understand their exposure.
In the future, developing similarly detailed and widely available maps for landslide hazards would be a logical – potentially life-saving – next step.
Martin Brook receives funding from the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tu Ake.