Northern Advocate 27th October 2025

Road a ‘game-changer’

Expressway to cut 38 minutes off travel time

Denise Piper

Anew Northland Expressway will cut 38 minutes off the drive between Auckland’s Te Hana and Whangarei, according to a recently approved investment case

The new road will also reduce deaths and serious injuries on State Highway 1 by 66%

The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA)

board has endorsed the investment case for the Te Hana to Whangarei expressway.

The Government is funding $187 million to progress design, consent and route protection

Priority will be given to an alternative to the Brynderwyn Hills, due to the vulnerability of this route to weather and closures from slips

Designing, consenting and building the route is expected to cost between

$15 3 billion and $18 3b, with tolls likely to help construction and maintenance.

Northland MP National’s Grant McCallum said the investment case endorsement was a significant step forward “It endorses what the people of Northland have known for years: that this road is very much worth building from an economic standpoint, a safety standpoint and resilience improvements ”

A cost-to-benefit analysis found the expressway would have a benefit of $1 40 for every dollar spent, McCallum said “It shows it has a positive outcome for Northland, taking into account all of those factors road safety, time of travel and

resilience,” he said

The next step is for NZTA to conduct geotechnical tests and start engaging with landowners whose properties are on the preferred route, he said McCallum, whose family farm was on an earlier route proposed for the expressway, said he empathised with those impacted He advised landowners to engage constructively with NZTA and to get good legal advice at the appropriate time “I absolutely do [have sympathy] It creates uncertainty and the most important thing that anybody wants is certainty ”

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Losing time: Adementiainsight

Fear and stigma delay

Dementia is on the rise in New Zealand, but it is still a condition many are afraid to talk about. In the second of a Northern Advocate series, Denise Piper shines a light on how Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia types impact Northlanders, early warning signs and what help is available in the early stages.

Bruce Willis has plenty of fans in the Tikipunga headquarters of Dementia Tai Tokerau

Lead community adviser Cindy Faulkes says the Die Hard star s public battle with dementia has helped to remove the stigma of the progressive brain disorder, especially among men

The spotlight on the struggles of rugby stars such as Carl Hayman and Bruce Robertson has also helped

“There’s still a fair amount of stigma out there people don’t want to get dementia or ‘go doolally’ ” she says

“Notable figures in rugby who have been upfront with it and Bruce Willis that has helped open things up, for men in particular ”

Dementia has long been thought to be underdiagnosed in New Zealand, but exact numbers are only being quantified now

One study under way is the Impact of Dementia mate wareware and

Professor Ngaire Kerse, Universi of Auckland researcher and Joyce Cook chair in Ageing says a third to half of people to have dementia symptoms been diagnosed.

study, interviews with more than 1000 people have identified more than 100 with dementia symptoms, says lead researcher Professor Ngaire Kerse, a director of the University of Auckland’s Centre for Co-Created

Kerse says there could be many reasons for the underdiagnosis including stigma around dementia

“Maybe they aren t aware that there s an issue Maybe they re experienced quite significant stigma, or families wanted to protect their d ones from the stigma ” nother reason could be that ple feel they’re managing all right, ough Kerse’s team has been busy necting those identified as having

dementia with support services

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Northland Rescue Helicopter critical care paramedic Andrew Fergusson.

Faulkes agrees that many people put off getting a dementia diagnosis, either for themselves or for a loved one because of fear or stigma

Another problem is that the progressive condition can be hard for GPs to diagnose, with a need to rule

who went into cardiac

Northland Rescue Chopper’s 2025 Annual Appeal is under way and runs until mid-January. The funds raised go toward the life-saving operation. This year, Whangarei’s Eddie Hayes shares his story from 2023 when he collapsed on the Hatea Loop with Brodie Stone

On a winter’s morning in July, Eddie Hayes had just passed his family on his morning run with his dog, poking fun at how slow they were. Minutes later, they came across a man undergoing CPR. It was Eddie. Aged 53 at the time, he had gone into cardiac arrest and collapsed metres from the footbridge, whacking his head on the concrete as he went down. A nurse, physio and surf lifesaver

happened to be nearby they jumped into action and began CPR.

Wife Kellie said Eddie kept spluttering and foaming at the mouth while the trio worked away. The time he was being worked on felt like ages, she said.

Eddie was in cardiac arrest for 10 minutes before he was shocked back to life by Hato Hone St John paramedics, who had turned up within eight minutes of being called.

After being intubated and stabilised, he was placed into an induced coma at Whangarei Hospital. That was when the Northern Rescue Helicopter team came on board to transport Eddie to North Shore Hospital.

Critical care paramedic Andrew

vital early diagnosis

out other things that could be causing memory problems, such as delirium caused by infection.

on what the person could do and what they can do now.”

“And then there’s the problem that you can’t exactly get a living brain and open it up to see what’s happening inside. MRIs can help, with a combination of assessments based

Doctors are looking for not just a bit of memory loss, but significant changes in what a person can remember or can do.

Faulke says another difficulty is when a person knows there is some-

thing wrong with their loved one but cannot convince them to see a doctor.

These people are advised to encourage their loved ones to get a warrant of fitness test, or say they need support for their own check-up.

Whatever the case, putting your head in the sand and ignoring the

problem only works for so long, Faulke says.

“It makes it really difficult to plan for good health ahead.”

Despite the fear, it is better to be proactive and know sooner rather than later, says Faulkes, who is not only a community adviser but also helped to look after her father when he had dementia.

An early diagnosis allows the patient to have more say in their care, such as setting up an enduring power of attorney, and their spouses or caregivers can have support.

An age-old fear that people with dementia would be thrown in a care home is not a reality, she says, not least because there are not enough beds for everyone with the condition.

“The reality is we try to keep the person at home for as long as possible. It’s the most economical solution and also what the person wants.”

Help can include medication and day programmes, such as those run by Dementia Tai Tokerau at Alz House in Tikipunga.

There can also be in-home support for daily activities such as taking medication, preparing meals or personal care.

If you are worried that you, or someone you know, is showing signs of dementia mate wareware, see your GP or primary health care provider for a full assessment

Tomorrow: The ‘loving lie’ that helped calm a father with dementia

arrest fronts this year’s chopper appeal

Fergusson said getting Eddie south was vital. He was still in precarious condition, so any jolts could send him back into cardiac arrest, he said.

“I think the rescue helicopter provides a critical link between our area, our way of living, to the largest services that a lot of Northlanders end up needing,” Fergusson said.

Eddie spent four nights in the Intensive Care Unit and received a stent. A blood clot blocking 90% of an artery in his heart had caused his cardiac arrest.

Up until two weeks ago, he joked about the trip as “a taxi ride” to the hospital.

But meeting Fergusson earlier this month was what helped him put the pieces together.

An emotional Eddie shared how amazed he was at the passion and dedication of those involved.

“That’s when I became extremely grateful,” he said.

Fergusson said it was humbling to see Eddie turn up at the hangar in good health, particularly as it was often rare to hear how patients were after their involvement.

Eddie described the chopper as an “intensive care room that flies”, fitted out with everything needed to keep alive a person whose life might hang in the balance.

Two years on from his accident, he said with a choked-up voice that the work NEST does “keeps families together”.

The incident was particularly trau-

matic for his wife and daughter, having seen him holding on to life by a thread.

“I didn’t know what was going on, I just woke up and I didn’t really connect all of the dots between when it happened and everybody that was involved.”

Despite his near-death experience, Eddie suffered no permanent damage to his heart or brain.

“I thought egotistically that a lot of my recovery was due to the effort that I put in immediately after,” he said.

But really, it was down to the vital links in the very long chain that pulled him back to life.

“The result of me still being okay and everything was the case that was

given to me from the moment I fell over to being in the hospital, and postcare.”

Aside from having to run on a treadmill instead of outdoors for Kellie’s peace of mind, his life is pretty much normal.

Eddie was now one of more than 850 lives touched by Northland Rescue Helicopter this year.

He believed the work their crew did was ever-important especially considering the increasing number of people having cardiac arrests.

As for why people should support NEST, “that’s really easy to answer, simply because it saves lives”, he said.

To donate to NEST, use this link or email info@nest.org.nz to inquire about sponsorships.

a ‘game changer’ says MP

continued from A1

The $187m fund will allow for the route to be designated, which would provide certainty about the route, as well as allowing for some property to be bought McCallum said.

His property, west of the Brynderwyns, was considered as an alternative route before Cyclone Gabrielle exposed a large amount of land movement in the area, he said. McCallum said he was not involved in any decisions about the route.

Whangarei MP National’s Dr Shane Reti said the Northland Expressway will be a game-changer for the region”. it “will bring Northland closer to the rest of the country, boosting economic growth and creating job opportunities”.

The local MPs echoed comments by Transport Minister Chris Bishop, who announced the progress as part of an update about Roads of National Significance on Monday evening.

“The Northland Expressway represents a transformational opportunity to boost jobs and growth in a region rich with potential,” he said.

A report commissioned by the Northland Corporate Group in 2024 found the Northland Expressway would grow Northland’s GDP by $2.1b a year and New Zealand’s GDP by $1.2b a year.

Regional economic development agency Northland Inc chief executive Paul Linton was supportive of the “vital corridor” taking a major step forward, saying it would give Northland the infrastructure to match its potential.

“For too long, Northland’s growth and resilience have been held back by a highway that all too often stops us in our tracks,” he commented on social media.

NZTA will be writing to owners whose properties are within the study area for the preferred route, and will meet with affected landowners between late-2025 and mid2026.

It plans to lodge a Notice of Requirement the legal process to designate a route for the Brynderwyn Hills alternative, and lodge all other statutory approvals, by mid-2026. The Notice of Requirement for the rest of the route will be lodged by the end of 2026.

Meanwhile, the first stage of the Northland Expressway Ara Tuhono Warkworth to Te Hana is well under way with procurement started for a public-private partnership.

Building of the first stage is expected to start in late 2026 but McCallum said the work will take six or seven years to finish.

New $51.5m housi plan unveiled

‘Massive deal’ for Kaikohe to curb housing deprivation issues in North

Ling

A$51 5 million housing project planned for Kaikohe will “absolutely” make a difference to curbing severe housing deprivation in Northland That s what Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka reckons after announcing last week that 100 affordable rental homes will be built on Bisset Rd in a joint iwi-Crown partnership with Te Hau Ora o Ngapuhi

The project represents the Far North’s largest community-led affordable housing development and includes $34 1m from the Government and $17 4m from Ngapuhi

Potaka said Northland, along with the East Coast and Rotorua, had been “suffering from severe affordability issues and housing deprivation” for too long

The development would “directly address” Kaikohe’s toughest housing challenges including overcrowding and limited rentals, he said

“Putting in 100 affordable homes in Kaikohe is a massive deal

“The beauty of what we re [Government] doing is working with community and tribal groups to improve equal citizenship for all

“When people don’t have a home to live in that s tough there s a lot of people doing it hard here ”

Potaka made the comments at the Bay of Islands Airport in Kerikeri after

speaking at the National Maori Housing Conference in Waitangi, which ran from October 20 to 22

Hosted by Ngapuhi in partnership with Te Matapihi the conference brought together iwi Government and community stakeholders to address housing challenges and drive solutions

Potaka said the Kaikohe development would comprise single-storey duplex homes in a range of typologies”

Rents would be capped at 80% of market rates over 25 years, ensuring they stayed affordable, he said

The project would also create job opportunities including 100 fulltime equivalent roles during construction

When people don’t have a home to live in that’s tough there’s a lot of people doing it hard here.

Tama Potaka, Associate Housing Minister

along with apprenticeships and business contracts across Te Tai Tokerau

Work was expected to begin later this year, with all 100 homes to be

completed by mid-2027

Potaka said the project, combined with Ngapuhi’s focus on local solutions for local people would “ease pressure” on Kaikohe’s housing market and keep investment in Te Tai Tokerau

“These homes will give whanau stability, connection and pride, building the foundation to plan for the future ”

Te Hau Ora o Ngapuhi chief executive Tia Ashby said it was “super exciting for Kaikohe and the wider North

These homes are designed to give families long-term stability and give them certainty of an affordable rental

“It’s quite challenging paying mar-

ket rent for some families as the cost of living has increased

“This will help significantly ” Ashby said the community-led approach “was doing more than just building homes”

“It means having the ability to build within the north; we can create local jobs and apprenticeships

“With this project we re committed to keeping the spend in the north It s about uplifting the whole community ”

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced more than 70 new social homes would be delivered in Northland by community housing providers (CHPs)

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had allocated the houses based on regional need

This was assessed using a range of factors including the housing register and emergency housing use

The CHP projects by Otangarei Papakainga, Ngati Rehia and Habitat for Humanity were expected to deliver at least 70 social homes in Whangarei, Maunu and Kerikeri

More than 80% of places were one or two-bedrooms, which would help address the greatest gap in social housing supply in Northland Bishop said Northland MP Grant McCallum said the right homes were being delivered in the right places for the people most in need

“Ngati Rehia are set to deliver six houses in the Far North, and I look forward to seeing them built ” Whangarei MP Shane Reti said it was “great news” for families across Northland

“We know first-hand the important role that community housing providers play to support those in need I look forward to seeing the new houses around the electorate ”

Ara Tōnui offers essential skills for rangatahi empowermentand support into job opportunities specifically for rangatahi aged 16-24 years

Pork sausage wins silver medal

First time entry for Omak Meat owners

Sarah Curtis

Apork sausage crafted in Te Kamo has taken silver at the Dunninghams Great New Zealand Sausage Competition

Omak Meats, which has been in business for 30 years, entered the national contest for the first time this year, submitting four products including black pudding Cumberland, beef, and pork sausages

The competition in its 28th year was fierce with 814 entries from around New Zealand vying for places in 13 categories

Omak’s pork entry earned second place in one of the most competitive categories the beef and pork sections which typically drew the highest number of entries Omak general manager Karina Chapman said And, the team was “pretty chuffed” with the result, she said

“We always knew we had a good product, Chapman said

“We get a lot of feedback from our customers but now we’ve got the certification to prove it ”

Omak operates from what Chapman described as a deceivingly small retail frontage on Te Kamo Rd ’

However, stretching out behind it is a large wholesale operation with 17 staff, supplying about 75% of the company s overall product to Northland cafes, bars and restaurants (for which it has previously won Northland Hospitality awards)

The pork sausage recipe was finetuned by one of the store s two owner/co-directors, Chris Martin, before submission He and his wife Sharon Martin have owned the busi-

ness for more than 30 years

Entries to the annual Dunningham s competition were submitted frozen and anonymously repackaged to ensure impartiality

Each sausage was judged in its uncooked state by a technical judge followed by an assessment by two aesthetic judges of the cooked product

Competition organisers said marks were awarded for visual appearance and technical composition but the most weight was put on taste texture and aroma

Because of the high volume of entries a standardisation system was introduced this year to ensure fairness across multiple judging panels the organisers said online Mystery shopping of category winners was used to determine the overall Supreme winner

Chapman said while Omak didn’t take a top place this year the silver award was a major achievement for its first time entering the competition

She believed other Northland entrants had included Mangawhai Meat Shop, Coopers Beach Butchery and Webster Family Butchery, but Omak was the only one to medal

The gold in the pork category went to Hellers, and Westmere Butchery in Auckland took out the Supreme Award for its Beef, Parmesan and Truffle sausage it’s fourth Supreme award in the past decade

The People s Choice award went to Pokeno Bacon for its Chicken Con Queso sausage

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Mother slams police and OT, who say it was necessary to ‘protect the child’

Joseph Los’e

Police and child wellbeing workers have carried out a 2am baby uplift, with claims the intervention included cutting off Wi-Fi and power at the property the baby s mother was staying in

Both police and Oranga Tamariki (OT) have defended the move; with police saying there were concerns for the safety of the baby, while OT said the uplift was carried out using a law “when it is critically necessary to protect a child”

In defending its actions, OT said the woman wasn t adhering to a safety plan put in place to “protect her child”, while also citing previous concerns “including maternal drug use, abusive and threatening behaviour, missing health appointments and lack of stable accommodation”

But the baby s mother, and her advocate, have both hit out at the early-morning action, with the mum stating her 6-week-old child was never at risk of harm

The dramatic incident began at 10pm on October 3 when police initially turned up at the South Auckland property the woman and her baby were staying in

The pair were staying in a Grace Foundation home in Mangere, the mother having recently been accepted into the programme provided by the foundation that helps reintegrate disadvantaged people and those recently released from prison or struggling with addictions and mental health into society

Four hours later police oversaw the OT baby uplift, during which time the 26-year-old mother claims Wi-Fi and power was cut so she could not livestream the intervention

The woman told the Herald her baby had been “ripped from me” while she held it in her arms

While the mum said she would never hurt herself or her child, Counties-Manukau Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va aelua said police uplifted the baby because of urgent safety concerns

Police had responded to a request from OT “for assistance regarding concerns for the safety and wellbeing of a 6-week-old baby” he said “Oranga Tamariki staff and the baby’s mother were present at the time of police attendance Police also spoke with members of the mother’s family on the night who were aware of the situation and the plan to remove the baby from the mother s care,” Va’aelua said

In addition to the concerns held for the safety of this baby, police considered a number of other factors in their determination as to the best course of action

‘Ripped from me’: Uplift of baby at 2am defended

“This included the behaviour of the mother that evening as described by Oranga Tamariki staff, threats of self-harm by the mother, the mother’s failure to adhere to a safety plan that had been put in place to protect her child, the mother s significant mental health issues, and her very recent eviction from her place of residence ”

Police would not discuss the specifics of tactics employed prior to the early-morning uplift

Julie Tangaere, Oranga Tamariki Acting National Commissioner North said the department was within their legal authority to uplift the child

Staff had been alerted to an incident where the mother did not adhere to a safety plan that was put in place to protect her child , she said “Oranga Tamariki acted swiftly taking into account previous concerns including maternal drug use abusive and threatening behaviour

missing health appointments and lack of stable accommodation

“These concerns, combined with the breakdown of the safety plan

meant Oranga Tamariki took emergency action alongside New Zealand Police Decisions to remove a child under these circumstances are never taken lightly and police has lawful authority under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 to intervene when it is critically necessary to protect a child ”

Tangaere said after careful consideration and consultation between OT and police police had “believed that it was critically necessary to protect this child”

“As a result of this police exercised powers under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 removing the baby from the care of his mother and placing the baby into the custody of the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki This was a difficult decision but considered the best given the circumstances ”

But the mother s advocate, Cherie Kurarangi, criticised the actions Kurarangi a Mongrel Mob Mana

Wahinetoa member travelled from Hastings to Auckland the day after the uplift to support the mother

She claimed police didn’t have the necessary paperwork when they first arrived at the property

“The mum is a state abuse victim, so doesn t trust authority, Kurarangi said “The tactic used by police was over the top and not needed on a defenceless mum and baby ”

She claimed the baby was “never in any danger” and the mother was trying to do the right thing by her son hence why she had reached out to the Grace Foundation

Kurarangi has been working with the mum and OT to try to regain custody of the child

The mum sees her son for supervised visits twice a week

“You just have to see the love this mum has for her son, who she sings to every visit,” Kurarangi said

Hopefully she can have full custody back with support from her whanau ”

Crackdown on shoplifting — when law and policy clash

The Government s effort to tackle rising retail crime has taken some odd turns One of the most controversial ideas is to decriminalise shoplifting removing it from the Crimes Act and making it an infringement offence, like a parking ticket The proposal hasn t yet reached Parliament, but critics argue it undermines criminal law principles and trivialises theft

At the same time, the Government is floating changes that would give citizens greater powers to arrest offenders The tension between the two moves softening penalties while encouraging citizens to intervene captures the confusion at the heart of the response to retail crime

Extendingcitizen’sarrest

Under current law, a citizen’s arrest cannot be made between 9pm and 6am unless the goods are worth at least $1000 In February 2025, the Justice Minister proposed removing those limits, allowing citizens to make arrests for any offence, at any hour

The plan would also permit suspects to be restrained “where reasonable”, provided police are called immediately and their directions followed

The law already protects anyone making an arrest who uses only the force reasonably necessary to overcome resistance Yet retailers supposedly the beneficiaries were unconvinced Shopkeepers have long faced confrontations when challenging thieves, and many warned the new powers would escalate violence “We re not trained to deal with armed offenders, said one retail association spokesman Police were equally sceptical They argued the changes could leave citizens with broader arrest powers than the police themselves Officers warned of low-level offending spiralling into violence and of the legal grey zone around what counts as “reasonable force” As usual when governments propose more powers for the public the spectre of vigilante justice appeared: people tackling someone who forgot to scan a chocolate bar

By September 2025, officials were already suggesting the proposals be reviewed to prevent abuse

TrespassActoverhaul

Another front in the crackdown is the 40-year-old Trespass Act It has long allowed retailers to issue two-year bans on suspected shoplifters Yet the Minister of Justice claimed that offenders “returned to rob businesses of their livelihoods That drew sharp correction robbery, unlike shoplifting, involves violence or threats and carries up to ten years’ imprisonment

Nevertheless the Government floated several amendments:

• Increase trespass bans from two years to three

• Let franchise chains bar offenders from multiple stores

• Double fines for refusing to leave or returning while trespassed

• Double fines for refusing to provide a name or giving false details

Originally the Minister wanted five-year bans, but Cabinet scaled it back to three Even so the proposals face criticism as disproportionate A court-supervised trespass period was suggested as a safeguard, particularly for people in rural areas with only one

supermarket, or for those with addiction or mental-health problems

The minister rejected that insisting businesses need stronger tools

The Ministry of Justice noted that region-wide bans could effectively block someone from accessing any supermarket with no right of appeal Police backed court oversight, saying it would simplify prosecutions

A bill has yet to appear, and questions remain about necessity

The act may be old, but it already works to bar shoplifters from retail premises Extending trespass periods won’t fix the real problem the difficulty of enforcing badly served notices

or even displayed to customers

Some stores have gone further, posting images online with captions like “Do you know this person?”

That crosses dangerous legal lines

Publishing someone s photo as an alleged offender is not proof of guilt it’s an accusation The Privacy Commissioner has warned that posting such material to cause embarrassment is likely a breach of the Privacy Act 2020

Three key principles apply

We’re not trained to deal with armed offenders

one retail association spokesman

Businesses must take reasonable steps to ensure any personal information is accurate (Principle 8)

Data collected for one reason such as security can t be repurposed for another, like public shaming

Privacyproblemsand the‘wallofshame’

Retailers frustrated by theft have experimented with another tactic: the “wall of shame” Photos of alleged shoplifters are pinned in staff rooms

(Principle 10) And disclosure is only allowed for legitimate reasons such as consent or legal obligation

(Principle 11)

CCTV footage makes the risk worse Once posted it can be copied

shared, and saved indefinitely, even if the original post is deleted

That s why the commissioner advises retailers to report theft to police rather than play detective online But if theft becomes an infringement offence a ticketable matter police interest may evaporate

Therisksofover-correction

Behind the legislative tinkering lies a deeper policy confusion On one hand, the Government proposes reducing the seriousness of theft by moving it out of the Crimes Act On the other, it wants to expand citizens arrest powers and lengthen trespass bans Both ideas clash with established criminal-law principles

The proposed test for criminal liability under the new trespass rules, for instance would cover anyone who “ought to have known” they were banned lowering the bar from actual knowledge to mere negligence That reverses centuries of doctrine requiring proof of intent or awareness

Meanwhile, information-sharing between stores to enforce multi-site bans would likely trigger privacy issues The Privacy Commissioner has already said the proposals lack

safeguards and are not necessary, proportionate or justified”

Acomplexproblem, simplisticsolutions

Retail crime is a genuine concern

Many shopkeepers face repeat thefts and aggressive offenders But the solutions offered so far deregulating theft while deputising citizens risk creating more problems than they solve

Extending arrest powers could provoke violence

Expanding trespass orders may punish the vulnerable And walls of shame risk breaching privacy law and damaging reputations without due process

A more constructive approach might focus on enforcement and deterrence rather than symbolic lawand-order posturing

Retailers want safety, not a return to frontier justice

Perhaps rather than weakening the law or pushing citizens into dangerous roles, the minister should concentrate on ensuring that existing laws are properly resourced and enforced and that the principles of justice, privacy and proportionality are not lost in the scramble to look tough on shoplifting

Pensione evicted rent unpaid

Woman had been in damp council unit for two years

An elderly council housing tenant who was awarded thousands of dollars in compensation after spending almost two years in a “freezing” cold and damp unit has now been evicted for not paying her rent

In May the Taupo District Council paid the woman $4127 in compensation after the Tenancy Tribunal ruled the unit breached the Healthy Homes Standards

The award arose from an April decision in which tribunal adjudicator Jeanette Maher took into account the tenant’s vulnerability, the period over which the breaches occurred and that the pension flat still didn t comply with draughts and heating standards

The initial Healthy Homes report was available to the Taupo District Council in November 2021 and was not acted upon or disclosed to the tenant ” it said

After that decision the council undertook the necessary repairs and paid the fine, but the woman, whose name is suppressed, stopped paying her rent

In August, the council sought to evict the woman for rent arrears, but the woman claimed she wasn t liable to pay rent because of the landlord s breaches

Those breaches included the level of rent which the woman had unsuccessfully argued earlier was too high

When the woman signed the tenancy agreement, the council incorrectly recorded the rent at $125 a fortnight, half of what it should have been

She maintained the council was bound to honour the amount in the agreement

When the council discovered its mistake, it proposed a rent increase to $170 and later imposed it

The woman argued the new amount exceeded market rent She also argued the increase breached social housing income-related rent rules and put many in her complex into significant financial hardship

But Maher ruled against her on both points, saying the error was a genuine one

The adjudicator also found that if the tenant had insisted the council be held to the written agreement, it in

turn could have issued a 90-day notice to terminate the contract

Had that option been provided to her, I am satisfied that she would have signed the amended agreement

The adjudicator found the council’s pensioner flats were heavily subsidised by ratepayers and the council’s rents weren’t incomerelated, but were determined by councillors who took into account the costs of running the units

At the latest hearing, the woman continued to argue she should be paying $125 a week, with the balance being deducted from what she now owed

She maintained the rent increase was unlawful and the new weekly rent rate exceeded market rent

Still, Maher wasn’t buying it, pointing out that because no appeal had been lodged she couldn t con-

sider the issues that were previously determined because the tribunal had no jurisdiction to do so

She also dismissed the woman’s claim the council had failed to notify her properly when it appointed a new property manager

The new property manager had hand-delivered letters to tenants and followed up with a face-to-face meeting

When the woman failed to attend that meeting, the new property manager visited her unit, introducing herself and providing her with another letter of explanation

But when the rent went into the new property manager s account, the woman complained to the bank and had the payment reversed in August

She hasn’t paid rent since

The woman also complained the council hadn t complied with the

draught-stopping ventilation and insulation requirements in the Healthy Homes Standards

In June, the council issued a final report confirming it had undertaken the work and the unit complied with the standards

It provided invoices for the work that was done and the correspondence on file showed a willingness on behalf of the council to investigate any further issues Maher said

She said while the tenant disputed aspects of the report, she d provided no evidence to support her claims and refused to allow an inspection

She also rejected a request for compensation because the colour of the blinds installed didn’t match or because there was asbestos in the flat

“The landlord said it had no knowledge that there was asbestos at the flat,” she said

Maher found the tenant’s persistent failure to pay her rent was the basis for terminating the tenancy, and she ordered the woman to pay the council $4111

In a statement, the council said it has a long waitlist for its Housing for the Elderly units and a limited stock, which, although dated, complied with Healthy Homes Standards

The units were rented at below market rates and were subsidised by general ratepayers It said applying to the tribunal for an order to terminate the tenancy was a last resort measure when all others had failed It confirmed the woman no longer lived at the unit

‘Significant storm' Severe weather watches upgraded

Authorities are warning of more extreme weather heading into Labour Day, with much of the country expected to be battered by a “significant storm”.

The storm is forecast to bring severe winds, heavy rain, snow and large swells, just days after severe weather caused chaos across the country and left thousands without power, causing a local state of emergency in Canterbury, Southland and Clutha.

Heavy rain watches were yesterday upgraded to orange warnings.

The warnings cover the central North Island hill country, Taranaki maunga, the Tararua Range, the Richmond and Bryant ranges, headwaters of the Canterbury lakes and rivers near and north of Arthur’s Pass, the ranges of the Westland district

north of Haast, and ranges of Grey and Buller as well as Tasman west of Motueka.

All will come into force throughout today.

An orange heavy snow warning is in place for the Canterbury High Country south of State Highway 73 from 2pm to 9pm today with people told to prepare for 10 to 15cm of snow settling above 500m and possible power outages.

Severe wind is also expected, with Wellington, Wairarapa and the Tararua district told to brace for northwest gales up to 120km/h in exposed places.

The orange wind warning comes into force from 2pm to 11pm today, but winds were expected to start strengthening from yesterday afternoon.

Snow is expected to fall on a number of key routes today, including Arthur’s Pass, the Crown Range, Dunedin to Waitati Highway (SH1), Haast Pass, Lindis Pass, Milford Rd (SH94), and Milford Rd (SH94).

Those near the Kapiti-Porirua Coast are being told to brace for

The West Coast was cut off this week following closures on State Highways due to damage from the severe weather.

extreme swells, with waves rising to up to 5.5m

The weather is the result of an active low pressure system moving over the country from the Tasman Sea throughout today and tomorrow.

Manawatu-Whanganui Emergency Management said staff across

the region were monitoring the situation and were ready to activate the Emergency Co-ordination Centre if required.

Emergency Management Southland said it was working with farmers and others in the rural sector to identify locations in need of generators for milking sheds and stock water.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand warned of a “high fire danger” this weekend, with even a small spark in windy weather capable of causing a fast-spreading fire.

The severe winds that helped fan flames in the Bay of Plenty and Canterbury this week have subsided, but a ban on fireworks and open-air fires is still in place in Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Wairarapa, Marlborough and Canterbury until 9am today.

EDITORIAL

Motorists can and should do better

Road rage is the not-sonoble Kiwi habit that routinely hits the headlines in some of the most outrageous ways

Last week, a person was caught on camera punching and kicking a car in Auckland, while men involved in a road-rage motivated shooting that wounded a 15-year-old girl are being sentenced in the courts

From threats to brandishing weapons and even assaults ending in hospital visits, there’s plenty of evidence that people will take their frustration at inconveniences on the road real or perceived, too far

So it sadly comes as no surprise that a new survey of road workers found nearly twothirds of traffic controllers were verbally abused weekly, and one in five had been physically assaulted over the past year

The survey by the Temporary Traffic Management Industry Steering Group, included 667 workers across New Zealand

It also highlighted other risks road workers faced

Steering group chairman Darren Wu said about 5% of road workers were struck by a vehicle in the past year, while about 50% had experienced near misses involving speeding or distracted drivers

It is not the first time a survey has highlighted the issues that road workers face, with another conducted by NZTA Waka Kotahi this year finding one in four road workers were verbally abused by motorists daily, with one in three saying it was taking a toll on their mental health

There was a record amount of road repairs on state highways over the last summer, which appears to be a factor

After a road worker was allegedly threatened with a firearm on State Highway 35 last summer, Richard Bayley, Transport Rebuild East Coast project manager, said abusive and threatening behaviour towards road workers was unfortunately not uncommon

He summed it up perfectly when he pointed out that the people are “local, your friends and whanau” They are helping to keep drivers safe

It is good that the most recent survey has brought the issue back into the public eye

The renewed attention could help push solutions or better protections for road workers

Meanwhile, drivers should do their part by remembering to treat road workers with the respect they deserve

It is very commendable of Wu to acknowledge that roadworks can be disruptive and frustrating, and identify an opportunity for the industry to improve the way it communicates

However, there is no excuse for the behaviour targeted at road workers, especially when they are out there improving things for drivers

That is not the industry’s fault

motorists can and should do better

COMMENT

PUT IT IN REVERSE?

Nadine Higgins

If the idea that I discussed in my last column horrified you selling your home and renting when faced with the “asset-rich rich cash-poor” conundrum in retirement read on; there are options that don t involve packing a single box

That doesn t mean there isn t a cost to them, but if giving up the security of your own home is a bridge too far, it s worth understanding the pros and cons of reverse mortgages and home reversion

While both let you stay put, neither is without cost They each have their own rules benefits and trade-offs and which, if either, is right for you depends on your timeframe need for certainty, and desire to leave an inheritance

They share some similarities both allow you to access the capital tied up in your home without actually moving out Both have fees, Ts and Cs (e g minimum ages, specific types of properties) and both will diminish the equity you have in your home so less will be available to fund your future accommodation, or for an inheritance

Crucialdifferences

A reverse mortgage involves taking out debt against your home possibly a scary prospect if you’ve spent decades paying it off! But unlike a regular mortgage, you get the loan but don’t make any principal or interest payments (which is how it helps a tight budget ) Instead that interest (currently 7 99%pa, but it’s a variable interest rate) is added to the loan, so you pay interest on that interest The older you are, the more of your equity you can access, and how much it grows depends largely

on how long you have it (and the prevailing interest rate) You can access it in a lump sum, in instalments or in an amount you can call on when needed It s repaid when you sell your home, or you die Home reversion differs because it’s not debt so there is no interest to compound over time which sounds very appealing Instead, you sell a percentage of your home gradually over 10 years, and you receive a payment lower than the proportion you ve sold Plus, you ve reduced your ownership, so you forgo any capital gain on the stake you ve sold Home reversion is newer to the New Zealand market Lifetime Retirement Income launched Lifetime Home’ a year ago so I think

that warrants further explanation Using their model if you had a $1m home, you would sell 3 5% of its 2025 value each year for 10 years In exchange you’d receive 2 5% of that value, less fees which nets you about $22 700 each year My modelling suggests the effective annual cost is about 7 3% a year After 10 years, you’ll have sold a 35% stake, so will only receive 65% of the proceeds when you sell, whatever its value is at that time so there is potential upside (and downside) for the lender

While home reversion is fairly new (to the New Zealand market at least) reverse equity mortgages have been available here for decades and sometimes when you mention them, people respond like you ve used a dirty word

Heartland, one of the few providers of reverse equity mortgages in NZ, told me Reverse mortgages are misunderstood in part due to how they were historically managed by other providers, including globally “Reverse mortgages are not what they used to be they are very well regulated ” Heartland also offers a “no negative equity” guarantee meaning you never owe more than the net proceeds of selling your home, and you could opt to protect a specific amount of equity

So,whichis abetterbet?

Economist and founder of Equity Release NZ, Cameron Bagrie, told me recently on The Prosperity Project podcast that “A reverse equity mortgage tends to be more

favourable financially out into about year eight

“After year eight the compounding of interest tends to kick in”

So how long you re expecting to need the money for is one way to determine which might be a better fit but there are variables

With a reverse equity mortgage, rising house prices help preserve equity in your home to some extent by offsetting some of the interest costs If house price growth is strong, it does a better job of that, but if house price growth is anaemic as it is right now less so

That said, you have to assume that if house price growth was rampant higher interest rates would soon follow! With home reversion if house prices are booming, there is a greater “cost” associated with the value of the stake you’ve sold, but you don’t have the concern of fluctuating interest rates and the loan growing rapidly

Of course, both house prices and interest rates are generally fairly difficult to predict accurately!

If you need a large, lump sum to fund something immediately, a reverse mortgage may be a better fit as long as you understand how fast interest can compound If you don t want to worry about compounding interest and want to know exactly how much of your equity you re giving up home reversion may the better option

Neither is to be entered into lightly and thankfully, both require you to seek independent legal advice but they both offer potential solutions to the same problem of freeing up cash in retirement, without leaving your home

Just don t confuse them with a free lunch consider your options with clear eyes and good advice

Ministers should stop meddling

Im a huge believer that you’ve got to stand up for yourself in this life, and for those who are unable to stand up for themselves

If you don t the powerful will walk all over you

So it was inspirational to see nurses, teachers, doctors, midwives, and allied health workers standing up in this week s mega-strike

It would be easy to buckle down and take the Government s attacks on the chin It would be easy to accept the ridiculous claim that a Government that could find $20b for tax cuts $2b for a few helicopters hundreds of millions to pay Hyundai to not build us ferries and billions for uneconomic road projects, can’t scrape together a fair deal for these essential workers

It takes bravery to stand up to those in power and call out their injustice It’s hard to take the loss of wages that comes with taking strike action It is a courageous act to stand up for fair wages and conditions

It’s rich for this Government to dismiss the striking workers as “political”

Is it political to stand up against having your wages cut in real terms while the cost of living keeps rising?

Is it political to demand pay equity?

Is it political to want adequate staffing levels in our hospitals and schools? Maybe it is If so, it’s politics most Kiwis support

I ll tell you what is political a bunch of well-heeled ministers, who just pocketed a 10% pay rise, thank you very much, rolling out coordinated messaging before the strike with the forlorn goals of turning the public against the

workers and the workers against their unions

Politicians usually wisely, steer well clear of getting actively involved in pay talks At the end of the day in our system it is the agencies that are the employers and who agree to the contracts Ministers aren t meant to get involved But this current Government seemingly can’t help themselves and see everything as a chance for a political attack on their enemies

What else is political is the normally neutral head of the public service running the same attack lines as the government of the day I think Sir Brian Roche has done a disservice

Photo of the day

to his office and sullied his reputation by joining in ministers false attacks on the workers

False claims about what health workers and teachers are paid to make them appear overpaid and greedy Falsely saying there s no money False statements that the unions have walked away from talks Falsely asserting unions refused to discuss issues with ministers

For starters, this is dumb politics

A low-polling Government that is seen as failing to deliver and uncaring is asking us to believe that, actually, it’s the doctors, nurses, teachers, and other essential workers (some of the most respected

members of society) who are the bad guys in this fight

The Talbot Mills poll shows 65% backed the strike and just 30% of voters buy the Government’s line All the Government is doing is damaging its own credibility and showing how out of touch it is with voters

But, worse, all these political attacks are doing permanent damage to the Government s relationship with the country’s health and education workforce

This is, at the end of the day, just a set of contract negotiations I ve been part of a fair few of those, on both sides of the equation And I ll tell you something I’ve learned no

matter how divided the two sides are, you need to work towards a solution in good faith, and you always have to remember that you’ve got to work together afterwards

National s ministers, for the most part lack experience in conducting pay negotiations and seemingly don’t realise or care to understand the damage they are doing

Because, when the Government eventually caves and allocates more money for salaries and staffing (and, make no mistake, that is how this will end) the damage won t be undone

Doctors, nurses, and teachers aren t going to forget that this Government made them feel unwanted and undeserving And who can then blame them if they go somewhere they are wanted?

Between them this Government s ministers are doing more for the recruiting efforts of the Aussie health and education systems than any ad campaign could ever manage

They re basically ushering our essential workers to the departure gate

We have big shortages of education and healthcare workers in this country Making those shortages worse by their political game-playing during these pay negotiations is the height of irresponsibility

All I can say to the workers is this: please don’t let the Government’s vitriol sour you on New Zealand Remember, instead all the Kiwis who are behind you in your demand for fair wages and conditions

We need you You deserve to be valued We stand with you Kia kaha

Quiz

1 Which element’s name derives from the Greek words for “sun” and “moon”?

2 What instrument is used to measure wind speed?

3 If you are described as “callipygian”, what do you have?

4 World War I began in which year?

5 Mazovia is a region in what country?

6 How many of Henry VIII’s wives were called Catherine?

7 Who was the ruler of Russia at the time of the October Revolution in 1917?

8 What is the capital of Ghana?

9 A dog primarily sweats through which part of its body?

10 Who was the first Roman Emperor?

This newspaper is subject to the NZ Media Council. First email a complaint to editor@ northernadvocate.co.nz. If not satisfied, go to mediacouncil.org.nz.

Trump makes MidEast stop

President meets Qatar leaders to discuss Gaza ceasefire

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds and Danny Kemp

Donald Trump met with Qatar s leaders to discuss the fragile truce in Gaza, stopping in the emirate on his way to Asia and talks with China s Xi Jinping that the US President pre-

dicted could yield a “comprehensive deal

Trump’s refuelling stop in Qatar, a key ally in the Gaza negotiations, came as Israel conducted an air strike targeting an alleged Islamic Jihad militant in Gaza, despite the ceasefire brokered by the US President Trump is set to meet Xi in South

Landslide win for left-winger in Irish presidential race

The veteran left-winger Catherine Connolly has been elected as Ireland’s new President by a landslide margin after her only rival conceded.

Connolly, 68, an independent candidate who won the backing of an alliance of Left-wing opposition parties, including Sinn Fein, had long been the clear favourite in a presidential race mired with controversy.

She was likely to win more than double the votes of her nearest rival, an official from one of the governing parties said, citing an incomplete tallying of votes.

A staunch advocate for a united Ireland and a fierce critic of Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, the “anti-Western” socialist blames Nato “warmongering” for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

Voters had the choice between Connolly, Heather Humphreys, the Fine Gael candidate, and Jim Gavin, who abruptly pulled out of the race after facing uncomfortable questions over an old debt of €3300 ($7644) owed to a tenant who had overpaid rent

It was Gavin’s dramatic implosion that made Connolly the favourite to be the first new head of state in 14 years and the successor to Michael Higgins.

younger voters during the campaign by appearing on popular podcasts and going viral with a video showing off her football skills.

Campaign-trail footage of the greyhaired Galway TD kicking a football up and playing basketball with schoolchildren spread like wildfire on social media.

The position of President is largely ceremonial, but it has become the platform for a more visible role in representing the Irish state at home and abroad in recent decades.

Because of this, Connolly’s divisive rhetoric on Nato and Europe, as well as her vocal belief in safeguarding Irish neutrality from the Western “military industrial complex”, has sparked fears she will alienate European allies.

Gavin’s decision not to run came so late that his name still appeared on the ballot papers. But not enough of his voters flocked to Humphreys, the candidate for Fianna Fail’s coalition partner.

Humphreys conceded defeat on Saturday, congratulating Connolly on “becoming the next president of Ireland” after early counting showed the independent candidate was on course for a landslide victory.

However, the election for the largely ceremonial role has been overshadowed by criticism that it lacked real choice, with tallies so far showing a record number of spoilt ballots and low turnout.

A slew of celebrities had considered running – including Conor McGregor, the disgraced MMA champion, Michael Flatley, the star of Riverdance, and Sir Bob Geldof – but their campaigns failed to materialise.

Connolly a lawyer and a critic of both the United States and the European Union, boosted her profile with

Korea on the last day of his regional swing in a bid to seal a deal to end the bruising trade war between the world s two biggest economies Trump has also said he would like to m Un

he returned to the White House in January in a blaze of tariffs and international dealmaking

Aboard Air Force One at Qatar s Al Udeid Air Base, when asked about ending the trade row with Beijing, Trump said: “I think we have a really good chance of making a really comprehensive deal ”

The former Deputy Speaker in the Irish Parliament previously faced controversy for accusing Nato of “warmongering” before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and comparing German arms spending to Nazi militarisation in the 1930s.

During the divisive presidential race, Connolly also came under fire for using expenses to fund a 2018 visit to EU-sanctioned Syria, where she was pictured with Fares Al-Shehabi, a pro-Assad commentator, and subsequently condemned Western intervention in the country.

Like Higgins, whose second term will end on November 11, Connolly is a vocal Israel critic, accusing the country of carrying out a genocide in the Gaza Strip facilitated by the UK and US.

It has been a major factor in her popularity in a country where almost 80% of people believe Israel is committing genocide.

However her hardline stance sparked criticism after she described Hamas as “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people”, saying that it should be allowed to maintain leadership in Gaza if elected.

Connolly, who was endorsed by Irish rappers Kneecap, is also a staunch advocate for Irish unity, saying that Northern Ireland is like a cutoff “limb of our body” and pledging to push for a border poll on Irish unity by the end of her first term. The Daily Telegraph

During the pit stop at the base which hosts the regional headquarters for the US military Trump greeted Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani

What we ve done is incredible peace to the Middle East and they

Dead soldiers’ teeth reveal

In the summer of 1812, the legendary French general Napoleon Bonaparte led an army about half a million strong to invade Russia.

The Russians retreated but burned the countryside as they withdrew, using scorched-earth tactics that eventually left Napoleon’s troops occupying a ruined Moscow.

By autumn, his ill-fated troops began to leave for encampments along the Russian border, where an estimated 300,000 of them were eventually mowed down not by military might, but by illness coupled with extreme cold and starvation.

Historical accounts of Napoleon’s campaign to invade Russia have focused the brunt of the blame on a louse-borne disease, typhus.

A new study of bacterial DNA preserved in the teeth of 13 soldiers adds two new diseases paratyphoid

fever and a relapsing fever to the ailments that plagued one of the most disastrous episodes in military history.

Embedded in the teeth of longdead soldiers, scientists found fragments of microbial DNA from Salmonella enterica, which is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and Borrelia recurrentis, carried by lice, according to research published at the weekend in the journal Current Biology. Modern gene-sequencing methods have already rewritten our understanding of prehistoric migrations, human ancestry and major events in more recent history. The study from a team led by scientists at Institut Pasteur shows how studying the ancient DNA of microbes that shape individual human lives and the destiny of entire nations can add to

historical narratives.

“There’s something perversely romantic about seeing typhus as the force that almost singlehandedly destroyed Napoleon’s army, as if it was a kind of judgment on his arrogance in attacking Russia, a natural enemy that even his brilliance couldn’t overcome,” Stephan Talty, author of The Illustrious Dead: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon’s Greatest Army wrote in an email

“Though the sample size is small, the new evidence makes a strong case that there were other infections at work. It’s not really surprising that such a large army, covering so much ground in such terrible conditions, would suffer from other illnesses,” Talty added.

In 2001, construction workers at a former barracks for the Soviet Army in Vilnius, Lithuania, unearthed a

on way to Asia, Xi talks

could meet Kim for the first time since 2019, saying: “I’m open to it.”

Asked if he would consider North Korea’s demand to be recognised as a nuclear state as a precondition for talks, Trump replied: “Well I think they are sort of a nuclear power They got a lot of nuclear weapons, I’ll say that.”

Kim has said he would also be open to meeting the US President if Washington drops its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear arsenal.

Trump’s first stop will be Malaysia, where he arrives on Sunday, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit a meeting he skipped several times in his first term.

Trump is set to sign a trade deal with Malaysia, and will witness the signing of a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia in his continued quest for a Nobel Peace Prize.

da Silva on the sidelines of the summit to improve ties with the leftist leader after months of bad blood.

The US President’s next destination is Tokyo. He will meet Japan’s first woman prime minister Sanae Takaichi.

unfair trade balances that are “ripping off the United States”.

The highlight of the trip is expected to be South Korea, with Trump due in the southern port city of Busan ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

Takaichi said that she had a “good and candid” initial conversation with Trump.

He said he also expected to meet Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula

Japan has escaped the worst of the tariffs Trump slapped on countries around the world to end what he calls

Trump will meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, address an Apec lunch with business leaders and meet US tech bosses for dinner on the sidelines of the summit in the city of Gyeongju.

He will then meet Xi for the first time since his return to office. Global markets will be watching closely to see if they can halt the trade war sparked by Trump’s sweeping tariffs, especially after a recent dispute over Beijing’s rare-earth curbs. Trump said he would also discuss fentanyl with Xi, as he raises pressure on Beijing to curb trafficking of the powerful opioid and cracks down on Latin American drug cartels. Washington Post

Tens of thousands protest on first anniversary of deadly floods

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people, and denounce the handling of the disaster.

Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional leader Carlos Mazon to resign over what they say was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades.

“People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old public servant who took part with her husband and two young daughters.

“Why weren’t people evacuated? It’s incomprehensible,” she added.

Mazon’s administration has been heavily criticised for not sending out flood alerts to cellphones until 8.11pm on October 29, 2024, when flooding had already started in some places.

That was more than 12 hours after the national weather agency had issued its highest alert level for torrential rains.

Residents told Spanish media that by the time they received the alert, muddy water was already surrounding their cars, submerging streets and pouring into their homes.

The floods hit 78 municipalities, mostly in the southern outskirts of the city of Valencia, killing 229 people in the region. One body was found as recently as last week.

Despite the warning signs, Mazon went ahead with an hours-long lunch

with a journalist on the day of the floods, also appearing in photos tweeted by his staff receiving a sustainable tourism certification.

“Mazon wasn’t where he should have been that day, he wasn’t up to the task,” said protester Gonzalo Bosch, a 38-year-old accountant from Paiporta, one of the towns worst hit by the floods.

More than 50,000 people took part in the protest, according to the central government’s office in Valencia. The groups that organised the protest did not provide their own estimate.

Demonstrators made their way through the streets of Spain’s thirdlargest city holding placards calling on Mazon to resign or even be imprisoned.

Under Spain’s highly decentralised system, disaster management is the regional administration’s responsibility.

But Mazon, a member of the conservative Popular Party (PP) which sits in opposition to the Socialist-led national Government, has argued his administration did not have the information needed to warn people sooner.

In a poll published earlier this month in the national daily El Pais, 71% of residents of Valencia said they felt Mazon should resign.

Almost half of the people who died in last year’s catastrophic floods in Valencia were 70 or older, a fact highlighted by some protesters.

They accuse the authorities of having failed to protect the region’s most vulnerable residents. Rosa Alvarez, who heads an association representing victims of the floods and was among those leading the march, blames the regional Government’s inaction for her 80-year-old father’s death. By the time it issued the mobile phone alert, he was already drowning after floodwaters knocked down one of the walls of his home in Catarroja, she said.

“Every minute counted that day. When the alarm sounded people had already drowned or were in real danger,” the 51-year-old social worker told AFP.

“All those deaths were completely preventable,” she added.

Campaigners have staged regular demonstrations against Mazon often on or near the monthly anniversaries of the disaster.

The PP’s national leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, has stood by Mazon despite his unpopularity because “he has no other choice”, Anton Losada, a politics professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, told AFP. Mazon’s resignation would trigger early elections in Valencia, which would likely be “catastrophic” for both the PP and Feijoo’s leadership, Losada told AFP.

The party is hoping a successful reconstruction effort will help restore its standing, he added. AFP

Demonstrators called on regional leader Carlos Mazon to resign over what they say was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades.

diseases that doomed Napoleon’s army

mass grave filled with the remains of more than 3000 of Napoleon’s troops.

An excavation revealed the grim conditions of their hasty burial

Horse skeletons were discovered alongside human bodies. Corpses appeared to have been thrown into the trench from the sides, with evidence that bodies in the middle had rolled down over others.

The positions of the skeletons suggested “the intense cold had frozen victims in the position of their death”, the research team reported in 2004. Bodies were buried with their boots on.

Historians have long reported that typhus outbreaks killed Napoleon’s troops.

This new study reinforces how impossible the whole enterprise was; in a time before railroads and antibiotics the invasion was doomed before it even began

author

Stephan Talty,

DNA fragments from the typhuscausing bacteria, as well as Bartonella quintana, which causes trench fever.

Remi Barbieri, a postdoctoral researcher at Institut Pasteur, had the idea of returning to these old samples to sequence the whole genome of the typhus-causing bacteria using modern techniques. With Nicolas Rascovan, head of the microbial paleo genomics unit, he set out to study the evolution of a pathogen.

searchers were able to sequence fragments of all the DNA in the teeth and match it to a database of all known microbes an unbiased approach.

“It does definitely give you a sense of how much the field has changed,” said Anne Stone, an anthropological geneticist at Arizona State University not involved in the study.

a lice-borne relapsing fever.

In a modern context, these diseases are not typically lifethreatening, but Napoleon’s army was in dire straits.

“We are talking about an army that was in such a very fragile situation a pathogen like this can really kill someone,” Rascovan said.

Two decades ago, a team of scientists decided to see if they could find evidence for Rickettsia prowazekii, the bacteria that cause typhus, using technology that was then state-of-theart.

“We started like this, but we found other stuff than expected,” said Barbieri, who is now at the University of Tartu in Estonia.

When people are ill with a systemic infection that gets into their blood, remnants of DNA from microbes can be detected in the dental pulp, fed by a network of blood vessels, inside their teeth. That team looked for and found

Pathogens hiding in ancient teeth

Two decades ago, scientists would hunt for specific pathogens with a suspicion about what they expected to find, then search for fragments of that germ’s DNA.

With modern techniques, the re-

“History buffs will be super interested. Technically, it’s very well done with very challenging samples because the preservation is terrible.”

In four of the samples, they found matches to a version of Salmonella enterica that causes paratyphoid fever, an illnesses that causes rash, fever and a slew of gastrointestinal symptoms.

In one and perhaps a second they found evidence of Borrelia recurrentis, the pathogen that causes

Barbieri and Rascovan say their study does not suggest typhus wasn’t present; it just shows that in the 13 individuals out of more than 3000 in this one mass grave there were other illnesses, too. It adds to the portrait of misery that unfolded that winter.

“This new study reinforces how impossible the whole enterprise was; in a time before railroads and antibiotics, the invasion was doomed before it even began,” Talty said. Washington Post

In Peru, driving bus can be

Marco Antonio Huaman, a bus driver was filling up with fuel in Lima last month when he got shot in the leg

Next time he’d be dead, the gunman told him, unless the bus company paid a shakedown

Huaman s employer and others in Peru are in the grips of an extortion wave that has claimed the lives of dozens of drivers, musicians and other professionals

Experts say the criminal practice has taken off amid high levels of postpandemic poverty and unemployment political instability following the 2022 ouster of President Pedro Castillo, and the domestic rise of gangs such as Venezuela s Tren de Aragua

In the capital Lima, at least 102 extortion-related killings were recorded in 2024 nearly 50 of them bus drivers, according to the Anitra carriers union

Being a bus driver is the riskiest job in Peru Huaman 49 said as he played a video of himself lying bloodied on the floor of his bus after the September attack

He spoke to AFP at his home in the poor neighbourhood of San Juan de Lurigancho, where he is recovering from his wounds

He is not planning on going back to work and is having doubts about a project to start his own small company He fears it too, would be a target

Huaman s employer, the bus company Santa Catalina, declined to comment

‘Youliveinfear’

Most attacks happen at night, without warning often in front of passengers

“You live in fear It causes you anxiety, even depression,” said Huaman

Many drivers wish to find other jobs, but options are limited in a country where 70% of work is informal

It is also the reason for the explosion of extortioners often young people with nothing more than a cellphone and of hitmen who kill for debt as small as US$5 ($8 70)

“I thought about resigning But I need this money,” said 48-year-old bus driver David who withholds his surname for fear of reprisal

The father of two earns about US$25 for a 14-hour shift

His 5-year-old daughter, he said, cries every time he leaves for work fearful as is he, that he will not return David told AFP he would like to emigrate but can t afford it

For Huaman, “I would prefer to live in El Salvador” where President Nayib

I thought about resigning. But I need this money. David a 48-year-old bus driver

Bukele has imprisoned thousands in a crackdown on gangs, he said I believe that today it is the safest country ”

Between January and September the police recorded 20,705 complaints of extortion in Peru, an increase of nearly 29% from a year earlier

Unpopular former President Dina Boluarte was impeached by Congress this month against a backdrop of mass demonstrations over her failure to tamp down crime

The interim Government of her successor, Jose Jeri, has declared a state of emergency in place since Wednesday in Lima and its outskirts and deployed soldiers in the streets AFP

Being a bus driver is the riskiest job in Peru, Marco Antonio Huaman says.

Mainfreightplays thelonggame

Logistics is an industry with low productivity growth, but

While many New Zealand companies have seen flat productivity growth over the past decade, a few niche firms in logistics manufacturing and food have quietly outperformed expectations

A BusinessDesk analysis of valueadded productivity (ebitda + wages per employee) among NZX50 companies found Mainfreight, Skellerup and Sanford have achieved some of the strongest real gains since the mid-2010s despite operating in sectors not typically associated with high productivity

Mainfreight s productivity increased by 39% in real terms between 2015 and 2024, reaching about $163,000 per employee

Fishing company Sanford rose 21% and Skellerup which manufactures rubber and dairy equipment, rose

28% since 2017

These gains came as several of the country s largest energy and infrastructure companies, including Meridian, Chorus and Vector, in sectors that have much higher valueadded productivity overall, were flat or went backwards, mirroring the broader NZ economy

That pattern, said Professor Rod McNaughton, head of entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland Business School, reflects growth built on operational discipline rather than technological disruption

“These firms are not reinventing the wheel; instead, they are getting better at turning it ” McNaughton told BusinessDesk “Their productivity gains come from disciplined execution, smart use of existing technology, and steady investment in people and systems rather than from

big research budgets ”

He said the companies were improving from a lower base, so their percentage gains looked larger

“But what really matters is that they are closing the gap through longterm capability building, not shortterm cost-cutting That s the foundation of sustainable productivity growth

BusinessDesk examined 10 years of annual reports (2015–2024) from 20 NZX50 companies Mainfreight’s public financial data reporting allowed an analysis for the period 2007 to 2025 This expanded analysis showed a 67% increase in valueadded productivity in real terms, compared with a 16% rise in NZ’s GDP per worker

Mainfreight chief executive Don Braid said the gains reflected organic expansion, cultural

consistency and a focus on performance measurement

“We have not only expanded here in New Zealand but also opened in other countries that have provided natural growth opportunities

Mainfreight began expanding overseas in the late 1990s, and by 2006, most of its revenue came from outside NZ By 2025 78% of revenue and 65% of net profit came from overseas operations

Braid said productivity rose further post-Covid helped by exposure to new customers and strong profit growth

Each Mainfreight branch is assessed weekly using a simple internal metric, return on revenue (ROR), which combines profit before tax, interest, and depreciation with all overheads and labour costs

A simple and effective way to

measure your returns and productivity,” Braid said “More freight, or higher freight costs, doesn t necessarily mean more team numbers ”

Profit and loss data are shared weekly across the company, reinforcing accountability and transparency

So a lot of emphasis on being better this week vs the same week last year ”

That openness, Braid said keeps productivity improvements tangible and team-driven

Mainfreight has also gained a reputation for its strong culture and emphasis on people

“Our culture is simply how we do things around here ” Braid said “We work together and assist each other

OPINION David Chaplin founded Investment News NZ in 2015 after almost 20 years covering the financial services business in Australia

The soon not-to-be Mercer has issued a polite warning about the increasing politicisation of private pension funds in its latest global review of more than 50 retirement savings regimes

“Governments around the world have regulated, restricted or influenced the investments of private pension funds in a variety of ways for many decades,” the Mercer report says In fact, most of the modern-age retirement savings schemes wouldn t exist without respective government interventions as per the Australian superannuation system and the New Zealand counterpart, KiwiSaver By that gauge, the distinction between “public” and “private” pension funds can be a woolly one

Strategicinfrastructure

But if retirement savings regime establishment-era politicians were content to set the regulatory framework for public-assisted private pension schemes and let investment specialists decide where the money goes (within a few bounds), the Mercer global study notes a rising appetite for government interference in previously outsourced services such as asset allocation

“Increased global uncertainty and the increasing size of pension fund assets are now leading some governments to consider encouraging more domestic investment by pension funds in areas of national priority for the longerterm benefit of society ” the report says Mercer indeed devotes a whole chapter of the 2025 version to the topic titled “Balancing government influence on private pension fund investments”

Only 12 of the 52 retirement savings systems covered in the report did not impose some kind of investment restriction on pension funds over and above the bogstandard limits on related party exposures and the like

During the past couple of years, government rhetoric on pushing private pension funds to invest more

The Government has shown an increasing interest in steering KiwiSaver investment choices in line with national interests.

Why governments can’t keep their hands off private assets

in local assets including venture capital has spiked higher in several jurisdictions from the UK to Australia and beyond

“In May 2023, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim urged the Employees Provident Fund to increase its domestic investments to 70% of its portfolio, with a focus on strategic infrastructure the Mercer report says

While not quite as extreme as the Malaysian Government-preferred pension fund asset allocation Kiwi politicians have also been prone of late to offering helpful suggestions of why KiwiSaver schemes should be investing more in local illiquid assets

The growing interest of the Government in steering KiwiSaver investment choices in line with national interests culminated last year in a Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) consultation on ways to make it easier for schemes to allocate more to private assets

“Private assets could include things like unlisted infrastructure (for example, transport projects,

renewable energy developments etc) or growing New Zealand businesses that are not listed on any stock exchanges,” the yet-to-be-wrappedup MBIE consultation paper noted In breaking news this Monday, the Labour Party proposal to bundle up a range of Crown assets into a new Future Fund is on-trend, if not directly related to skewing KiwiSaver portfolios to local infrastructure, etc

Details are scant on the Labour plan (except that it would involve another job for the NZ Superannuation Fund) it’s not clear, for instance, whether KiwiSaver schemes would be able to invest alongside the government

Alackofdiversification

The mooted Future Fund – likely to create confusion with both the Auckland Future Fund and the Australian Future Fund if it ever gets up – is intended to be managed at arm s length from the government Still, its political and investment objectives would be even more closely intertwined than in the KiwiSaver case

Regardless, the MBIE consultation

was mostly about technical tweaks to ease the way for KiwiSaver schemes to invest in private assets rather than mandating an allocation to NZ venture capital funds, for instance

Successive New Zealand governments have, to date, largely left KiwiSaver investment decisions to providers, except for the default funds where the state sets asset allocation limits and, in the 2021 reboot, required them to exclude certain fossil fuel stocks

The virtue-signalling move to scrub fossil fuel shares (but not bonds) from default KiwiSaver funds was a relatively mild example of governments forcing/enticing private pension schemes into investments based on environmental, social and governance criteria

As the Mercer report notes, “many countries are looking at rules and incentives to dose pension funds with ESG The political mood can swing both ways, of course, especially in the US where dozens of state pension funds have stripped billions of dollars off fund managers for alleged ESG overdoses

Whatever reasons governments may have for directing private pension investments this way or that the outcomes may not be ideal for either members or any wider political goals

“Restrictions on pension funds’ investment policies can cause a lack of diversification, price distortions, asset price bubbles and liquidity constraints ” the Mercer study says

As debate grows around whether governments should direct pension investments toward national priorities, the responsibilities of those who design and manage pension funds take on even greater significance ” NZ ranked 17th out of 52 countries in the 17th annual Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index garnering its highest score for systemic integrity

Will politicians eventually ruin the reputation of the (now $135 billion) KiwiSaver regime?

Find out next year when Mercer – due to be renamed Marsh People and Investments in 2027 – returns with Global Pension Index 18

Logistics company Mainfreight plays the long game

continued from A15

wherever we are able. As an example, where we may have peak freight volumes, all the team will assist with the handling and delivery.

“Often our sales and leadership teams are out delivering freight.”

The company promotes from within, building long-term capability from the ground up.

“Starting our team on the freight dock, in the warehouse or at the front line of our Air and Ocean business. Learning the business from the start. This helps our culture and provides a learning environment and a longterm career for those who like us.”

While Mainfreight invests in automation, Braid said technology plays a supporting role.

“There’s no doubt technology

assists, but how much is doubtful and could be better. We prefer a handson approach where our people directly influence customer service.”

Expansion into larger markets has also driven growth.

“Getting ourselves offshore and into larger economies has been a key initiative to help grow our network and to assist our customers across their supply chains,” Braid said.

“It has numerous benefits, not least more opportunity for growth than we ever envisaged. Have we taken advantage of all that growth? Not yet, but we will over time. Our horizon is always long-term; 100 years from today is our motivation.”

For Mainfreight, long-term thinking such as the 100-year vision implemented by the company’s founders in 1979 and decentralised

We have not only expanded here in New Zealand but also opened in other countries that have provided natural growth opportunities.

Mainfreight chief executive Don Braid

decision-making go hand in hand.

“Resisting the rise of middle management and bureaucracy will be key to improving productivity,” Braid said. “Decisions made close to the customer, giving people responsibility to thrive, is something we work hard at every day.”

McNaughton said the experience of Mainfreight and its peers holds wider lessons for NZ’s productivity challenge, long characterised by flat output per hour worked and capital

concentrated in low-growth sectors.

“Its 100-year vision anchors longterm investment in people, systems, and processes and has supported international expansion that forces performance up to global standards.

“That strategic horizon shapes recruitment, training, and systems across the network, which is exactly how operational productivity gets built over decades.”

The lesson for other New Zealand firms is that productivity comes from

“persistence, not miracles”

“These companies have shown that when you invest in people, systems, and long-term thinking, even low-margin industries can outperform their reputations.”

That message, he said, echoes the International Monetary Fund’s recent 2025 report on NZ’s productivity challenge, which warned that too much capital still flows towards property and finance rather than capability-building, internationally competitive firms.

“At the policy level, the message echoes the IMF’s findings: we need to back firms that build capability and compete internationally, not just those that borrow against property. New Zealand’s productivity problem is as much about where we direct capital as how hard we work.”

The Chase 0

6pm 1News at Six 0

7pm F Border Security 0 Officers raid a house looking for homemade weapons, interrogate a passenger with a history of tobacco smuggling, and Biosecurity is not fooled when pork is concealed

7.30 M Crocodile Dundee 2 M 0 1988 Comedy An Australian outback expert protects his New York love from gangsters who have followed her to Australia Paul Hogan Linda Koslowski

9 40 Would I Lie to You? PG

10.15 Hard Quiz PG Tom Gleeson puts four self-proclaimed experts through the wringer on Duke Kahanamoku AC/DC Mean Girls, and the Australian Dung Beetle Project

10 50 Deal or No Deal Australia 3

11.20 Shortland Street PG 3 Marty’s guilt grows

11.50 Skin A&E MC

12.40 HMP: Behind Bars MVC 3

1 30 Te Karere 3

2am Infomercials

5 30 Te Karere 3

6am Les Mills Born to Move 3 0

6.25 Children’s Programmes Kiri and Lou; Toi Time; Night Eyes; Lego Ninjago – Dragons Rising; Brain Busters; Lu and the Bally Bunch; Takaro Tribe

9.05 Infomercials

9.35 Les Mills Adult Classes 3 0

10.05 DrewBarrymoreShow PG 0

11am Home and Away PG 3 0

11 30 Home Economics 0 Tom and Marina deal with a bombshell revelation

Noon Tipping Point Australia 3 0

1pm Come Dine with Me 0

1.30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine PG 3 0 A new captain at the Nine-Nine attempts to ingratiate herself with Jake and the squad by inviting them to a dinner party

3pm Seinfeld PG 3 0 Jerry takes a first class seat on a flight, leaving Elaine to suffer in coach; George and Kramer rush from JFK to LaGuardia to pick them up

4pm Tipping Point Australia 3 0

5pm The Big Bang Theory PG 3 0

6pm The Simpsons 3 0

6 30 Home and Away PG 0 David hunts for a wanted man; Justin confides in Bree; Jo gets a kick out of watching Tane squirm

7pm Shortland Street PG 0 Marty s guilt grows

7.30 MKR PG 0

9pm RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service PGC 0 After the crash, Eliza second guesses herself, while Pete and Wayne struggle to separate their personal grievances from the job at hand

10pm Fire Country PG 0 The station 42 crew responds to a wellness check at the home of a hoarder that escalates into a house fire

10 55 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 16VC 3

11 50 Killer Siblings M 3

12.45 Wentworth ML 3 0

1.35 Emmerdale PG 3 0

2.25 Infomercials

3.25 Wreck 16VL 0

4.10 Neighbours 3 4 35 Closedown 0 5am Infomercials

7.50 The Royal Tenenbaums M 2001 Comedy

9.40 Blair Witch 16VLC 2016 Horror

6am Beachfront Bargain Hunt:

Renovation 3 0

6 55 Beachfront Bargain Hunt: Renovation 3 0

7 55 Homestead Rescue PG 0

8 55 Infomercials

10.30 Animal Cribs PG 3 0

11.30 Pretty Little Liars PG 0

12.30 Flipping 101 with Tarek El Moussa 0 Tarek helps a flipping couple who bought a firedamaged house next door to their own home

1 30 Flip or Flop 3 0

2pm Botched PG 0 A woman has a rare intestinal condition that left her with stomach scars and she needs Dr Dubrow’s help

2.55 Parental Guidance PG 3

4 30 Island Life 0

5pm House Hunters International 0 A newly engaged couple are looking for a place in his hometown of Dublin

5.30 House Hunters International 0

A California high school pupil enrols in an elite tennis academy and relocates to Provence-AlpesCôte d’Azur, France

6pm Three News 0

6 30 Beach Cops PG 3 0

7pm Bondi Rescue PG 3 0

7.30 Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders M 0 A Paul Gascoigne look-alike is pulled over for speeding and bullying other drivers, and a reckless driver reacts to being stopped with a foul-mouthed tirade

8.30 M Fool’s Gold M 0 2008 Adventure An estranged couple rekindle their romance when they discover a clue to a long-lost treasure Matthew McConaughey Kate Hudson

10 45 The Real Housewives of Orange County M The women are on duelling trips as Tamra invites Shannon, Jenn and Gina to Temecula in an effort to rebuild her friendship with Shannon while Heather hosts an adult sleepover

11 45 Human Error M 3

12 45 Infomercials

8am The Drawing Show 3 0

8.10 My Favourite Dead Person 3 0

8.35 Kiri and Lou 3 0

8.40 Extreme Cake Sports 3 0

9.05 The Breakdown

10am Infomercials

Noon Designing Dreams 3 0

Architect Anna-Marie Chin takes Matthew on a winter tour of spectacular homes in Queenstown, Arrowtown and Dunedin

1pm Gary Barlow’s Wine Tour: Australia PGC 3 0

2pm The Breakdown

3pm Rugby Nation 3

3 30 Motorsport: Supercars (HLS) Gold Coast 500 From Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland

4.30 Motorsport: F1 (HLS) Mexican Grand Prix From Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Mexico City

5.30 Suddenly Susan PGC 0 Susan and Maddy’s former classmate is seeking revenge; the gang worries that Vicki has not grieved properly for Ben

6pm The 100K Drop 3 0

7pm Crowd Goes Wild PG

7 30 The Hunters Club MVLC 0 The team puts Antos new jet-boat duck-blind to use in the deep South, but the ducks are a lot savvier than usual

8 30 FBI MV 0 Multiple people are killed in a gas attack and the team believes the killer is an eco-terrorist; Maggie continues to explore motherhood

9.30 FBI: Most Wanted M 0 The team helps apprehend an shooter on a college campus in Queens; Barnes and Charlotte attempt to work on their relationship

10.30 The Irrational MVC 0 Alec takes Rose on a date to a magic club, but the evening turns deadly when an audience volunteer is killed onstage, seemingly by magic

11 30 Crowd Goes Wild PG 12am Infomercials

heiress to a family fortune believes she is haunted by the vengeful souls trapped in her mansion Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke 10.15 Gremlins PGV 1984 Fantasy A boy breaks important rules concerning his new pet, and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters

alt-country, Americana, folk soul and blues 12am All Night Programme 5am First Up With Nathan Rarere

6am Mornings With Andrew Clark 10am Days With Nick Tipping. 3pm Three to Seven With Bryan Crump

7pm Evenings With David Morriss 8pm Music Alive With Clarissa Dunn Visit rnz co nz/musicalive for more information.

10pm Evenings Continued. 12am Music Through the Night Details available on rnz co nz/concert

Puzzlesandhoroscopes

Negligent

(8)

A bird that sounds like a hawk when decapitated (3)

11. Get new people in to tire RUC out (7)

12. Vegetable one gets on either hand (5)

13. Brilliant present lend it out (11)

17. Sign for one to take off in entering the whole lot that’s backed (5)

ARIES (Mar 21-Apr 19): You'll have an audience. Whether you perform for one person or a thousand, your aim is the same – to be your best. And actually, in the end, scale doesn't matter The effort will be identical.

TAURUS (Apr 20-May 20): When people feel judged, they pull away. And when you judge yourself, it's the same, leaving you feeling torn and lonely But when you stop grading and scoring, tension dissolves Connection is possible again.

GEMINI (May 21-Jun 21): Some dismiss a minor opportunity, but not you. You treat the small stage like the main event. A few attendants, a casual chat, even a walk down the street can be a chance to show the world your vitality.

CANCER (Jun 22-Jul 22): You put more thought into things than the others do. Because you make the most of small moments, you're given bigger ones

LEO (Jul 23-Aug 22): Today you'll be like the butterfly whose style is to travel lightly You switch directions quickly, notice more, and enjoy movement itself. It keeps you from wasting energy on grudges or drama.

VIRGO (Aug 23-Sep 22): Like the sugar high of candy, what's immediately pleasurable isn't always the healthiest Wanting what's good for you? That's harder, if only because you're human.

LIBRA (Sep 23-Oct 23): It is never possible to fully know a person, but as long as you keep paying attention, that counts for a lot Stay present and curious, avoiding assumptions based on yesterday because no one wants to be trapped in past versions of themselves.

SCORPIO (Oct 24-Nov 21): Your imagination soothes you with daydreams to buffer you from harsh realities and sparks you with exciting ideas to propel you toward a better reality.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22-Dec 21): The day features an invigorating background noise. The chatter, the movement and the people around you all contribute to a sense that all the spokes in the wheel are rolling into the future together

CAPRICORN (Dec 22-Jan 19): A balance is struck today. It's not the kind of perfect equilibrium that lasts forever, but a sweet moment of harmony that reminds you that calm is possible, peace waits for you, and love lives in you.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20-Feb 18): Sometimes it feels like others just don't care about the same things you care about. Whether it's true or not, it's out of your control. Your passion is what matters You'll fight indifference with small rebellions like kindness, art and beauty

PISCES (Feb 19-Mar 20): You've been steadily improving a situation and it shows. Others may not notice every little adjustment, but the cumulative effect is undeniable. Your knack for refinement will be a source of pride and not just your own.

E P E U I O T S T M N Y A O E P E H J E E O P S R I M A E R B P T B M S H C S R B H H D P E Y O U U S L A

I E O D O C W E P F N N O R S Y T H

F R R L V P H E G U I R I Z Y O R I

T R L A S F R M Q T G S P D G R O M A I B E I A K C O D D A H Q R S U A

C N L W S V L F L O U N D E R A T H

S G P H B S A M D R A H C L I P S I

T Y X W V D U C O C K

BONITO BREAM

CATFISH CAVIAR

CLAM COCKLE

CRAB

CRAYFISH

DOGFISH

EEL

FLOUNDER GROUPER HADDOCK HERRING HAKE JOHN DORY LOBSTER MAHI MAHI MUD SNAIL MULLET MUSSEL OCTOPUS OYSTER PERCH PILCHARD SALMON SARDINE SCALLOP SCAMPI SHARK

SHRIMP SNAPPER SOLE SQUID SWORDFISH TROUT TUNA TURBOT WAHOO WHITING

P M U D K A I P

H C I O K M L U E L I D E A L H O N E Y M O O N G C E M L U

F D G W Z I J O S H I L I E M

A S T E N Q X I

TRIO

Find the threeletter sequence which will complete all these words

3 LETTERS AVE BAA BEE CUD CUE DAG

GILT GNAT HALO HEIR LAIR LASS LOAD LUST MASS MATT SHOP SMUT STAG STIR SWAG TERM TIME TORE TUBA VEAL WITH WOOS Fit the words into the grid to create a finished crossword

YEN 4 LETTERS AEON AIRS ALMS AURA AXED AXIS BEDS COAL DAGS DALE DEAF DISC EARL EARS EDGY EMIR ERGO EVER EYED FOIL FORD GEMS

5 LETTERS ABEAM ALIBI ALLOW CURES DOSED DUSTS ENDED ENSUE ERODE GAVEL HALAL INLAW IRONY LORES MANSE NOOSE OGIVE PONCY REEDS RIDER SCARE SCONE SLEET SLOES SNORE TAILS TEPEE TIBIA TSARS UNCUT 6 LETTERS LAPSED OPENER SWEATY TSETSE 7 LETTERS CHAFING ELITISM PLODDED REALIGN

A N C E

O Y O I I J R Y O J A W K E N

R A V I O L I W P O P I I P V E T E F N E A F E X T O N T O T S D A E N L G S X G U G

NORTHLAND WEATHER

Rain with heavy falls, clearing to fine in morning. Strong W winds.

THE SITUATION

A complex trough of low pressure from the Tasman Sea moves onto New Zealand this morning, then across the South Island later in the day Its associated fronts move northeast over central and northern New Zealand late in the day, followed by cold southwesterlies over the South Island. The showery southwest flow prevails across New Zealand as the front moves away to the east tomorrow On Wednesday, a ridge of high pressure extends over the far north, while westerlies continue over central and southern New Zealand.

NORTHLAND FIVE DAY FORECAST

Today: Cloudy periods. Rain from late afternoon, possibly heavy with thunderstorms about and north of Kaikohe from evening. Northwesterlies strengthening.

Tomorrow: Rain with heavy falls, easing to isolated showers and fine breaks in the morning Westerlies, becoming strong Wednesday: Partly cloudy Southwesterlies, easing. Thursday: Rain, possibly heavy Easterlies developing Friday: Partly cloudy Southerlies

NEW ZEALAND TODAY

Hamilton cloudy 20 14

Tauranga cloudy 21 16

Rotorua cloudy 18 14

Taupo cloudy 17 13

Napier mainly fine 23 15

New Plymouth rain 18 10

Palmerston Nth rain later 19 13

BAY OF ISLANDS MARINE FORECAST

Today: NW 15kt. Changing N 20kt gusting 30kt in the morning, rising to 30kt gusting 40kt in the afternoon, then to 35kt gusting 45kt in the evening. Sea becoming very rough in the evening. N swell 1m developing. Poor visibility in rain developing afternoon.

Tomorrow: N 35kt, becoming W 25kt early, easing to 15kt late. N swell rising to 2m for a time. Rain, easing.

Wednesday: SW 15kt, easing to variable 5kt late. N swell 1m dying out Partly cloudy

Thursday: Variable 5kt, becoming E 10kt early Rain developing WHANGAREI MARINE FORECAST

Today: NW 15kt. Changing N 20kt gusting 30kt in the morning, rising to 30kt gusting 40kt in the afternoon, then to 35kt gusting 45kt in the evening. Sea becoming very rough in the evening. N swell 1m developing. Poor visibility in rain developing afternoon.

Tomorrow: W 30kt. N swell 1m dying out Rain, easing. Wednesday: SW 25kt, easing to 15kt later Partly cloudy

Thursday: Variable 5kt, becoming E 10kt early Showers developing

Pouto

H L 12:26pm 6:01am 6:31pm H L 12:14pm 5:49am 6:18pm H L 12:10pm 5:47am 6:16pm H L 11:55am 5:37am 6:06pm H L 12:10pm 5:51am 6:20pm

H L 12:13pm 5:53am 6:23pm H L 12:07am 12:40pm 6:17am 6:46pm H L 2:14am 2:38pm 8:24am 8:49pm H L 12:53am 1:14pm 7:08am 7:35pm H L 1:44am 2:09pm 7:55am 8:21pm H L 3:24am 3:45pm 10:19am 10:46pm

Fine, but becoming cloudy in the morning. SW winds, easing

H L 12:33am 1:07pm 6:40am 7:16pm

H L 12:22am 12:57pm 6:29am 7:04pm H L 12:18am 12:53pm 6:27am 7:02pm H L 12:03am 12:38pm 6:17am 6:52pm H L 12:18am 12:53pm 6:31am 7:06pm H L 12:22am 12:58pm 6:35am 7:10pm H L 12:48am 1:23pm 6:57am 7:32pm H L 2:57am 3:24pm 9:07am 9:39pm H L 1:40am 2:05pm 7:53am 8:30pm H L 2:25am 2:54pm 8:35am 9:07pm H L 4:11am 4:36pm 11:04am 11:41pm

H L 1:17am 1:54pm 7:24am 8:05pm H L 1:07am 1:45pm 7:13am 7:54pm H L 1:03am 1:41pm 7:11am 7:52pm H L 12:48am 1:26pm 7:01am 7:42pm

1:03am 1:41pm 7:15am 7:56pm H

1:08am 1:49pm 7:22am 8:03pm

1:33am 2:11pm 7:41am 8:22pm H

3:48am 4:18pm 9:58am 10:38pm H L 2:37am 3:08pm 8:48am 9:36pm H L 3:15am 3:48pm 9:24am 10:05pm H

5:08am 5:39pm 11:59am

Michael Morrah Senior Investigative Reporter

Deaths

HODKINSON, Alun Ronald. 1 June 1966 - 25 October 2025 Very much Loved and Treasured Dad of Zach and Ethan. Youngest and loved son of Taff and Lorraine (deceased) and much loved Brother of Kevin, Ian, Bronwyn, Tom and Glynn (deceased). The Service for Alun will be held at Maunu Crematorium at 1030 on Wednesday 20 October 2025.

Personal

LOOKING FOR A GOOD WOMAN TO MARRY BETWEEN

AGE of 40 - 87

Seeking nice woman between 40 - 87 years with view to marriage. Only sincere persons. Please email peterdavis1996 firm@engineer.com

For Sale

CLOTHES dryer Simpson 4kg in ex condition, $350ono Phone Tom at Maungawai 027 605 8723.

GARDEN BEDS, raised, Macrocarpa, made-toorder flat packs. Easy assembly, very strong construction with holes pre-drilled and nails supplied - trellis and capped edges optional. Delivery wpossible. Ph 09 439 4509.

WEAVING loom, floor standing, 6 pedal, 1.4m x 1 4m, assembled $100 Phone Doug 09 432 1220

Wanted to Buy or Exchange

WANTED: Old 1960’s Longboard Surfboard Any Condition. Phone 0211087273

Caravans\Motorhomes & Trailers

CAMPERVAN 1998 Ford Transit diesel, automatic, 2 berth, shower/ toilet New WOF. $30,000 Ph 0272655910.

CAMPERVAN Transit 06 High Roof, 35,000km, 2 berth, 5sp manual, solar panel, tanks, shower, toilet, fridge, diesel heater, awning, s/c, wof, $35,000 Ph 027 563 0273.

WHANGAREI

STROKE CLUB

Meets every Wednesday to support survivors Club Inc. in 1983. We have lots of fun from playing ten-pin bowls, petanque, exercises, shared lunches, guest speakers, etc Phone 022-065-6418 or Email: junecross11@yahoo.co.nz

Local Classifieds

Public Notices

NGATI HINE FORESTRY TRUST UNCLAIMED SHAREHOLDER PAYMENTS

At the 2024 AGM, the Trustees recommended, and the shareholders approved, a one-off koha to shareholders, as follows:

To shareholders that hold 1,00010,000 shares the sum of $500;

To shareholders that hold 10,00120,000 shares the sum of $1,000;

To shareholders that hold 20,001 or more shares the sum of $2,000

Eligible shareholders that appear on the Maori Land Court register can claim the payment which must be uplifted by 30 June 2026 or it will be forfeited. Please contact us to obtain a form by email: info@ngatihine.maori.nz or at the details provided below.

We encourage all shareholders and uri to ensure the contact details we hold for you are up to date so you can receive panui from the Trust. Please contact us to advise of any changes or complete the registration form on the website www. ngatihine.maori.nz.

Ngati Hine Forestry Trust

P O Box 108

5 Walton Street Whangarei 0140

Phone 09 459 6425

NGATI HINE FORESTRY TRUST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Trust’s Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 29 November 2025 at Akerama Marae, 19 Haile Road, Akerama Agenda:

8.00 am Owner registration commences

9.00 am Karakia, Mihi and AGM starts 12.30pm AGM concludes and Lunch

Matters to be considered will include the presentation of the Trust’s annual report, annual accounts, auditor s report, the appointment of an auditor for 2025/2026, proposed variations to the Trust and an election of one Trustee if required.

Please refer to the Trust’s web site www. ngatihine.maori.nz for further information or contact the Trust at the address below.

Nau mai – Haere mai – Piki mai

Pita Tipene – Chairman

Ngati Hine Forestry Trust P O Box 108 5 Walton Street Whangarei 0140

Phone 09 459 6425

Walsh

Broncos star scores two and saves two as Australia maintain ‘Ashes’ dominance

LEAGUE

Reece Walsh lived up to his star billing as he helped guide Australia to a dominant 26-6 victory over England at Wembley yesterday in the first test of the rugby league Ashes Series

The Brisbane Broncos fullback who was man-of-the-match in the Australian NRL Grand Final, scored two tries and produced two try-saving interceptions in a display that showcased both his attacking prowess and his defensive nous

Angus Crichton scored two secondhalf tries and Nathan Cleary hit all four conversions and a penalty

The hosts scored a late converted try in front of a 60,812-strong crowd a record for an Ashes match in Britain

“It was pretty surreal for myself being at Wembley being among world-class players,” Walsh told the BBC

I m probably happier with the two tries I stopped (than the two I scored) I think that goes a long way to getting the result tonight

“They got that late try there that we re pretty disappointed with ” England coach Shaun Wane said the

best team had won

“They made how many line breaks and scored? We made line breaks and didn t score, Wane said

“We weren’t clinical enough but the positive thing is we can correct that We can be miles better than that and that’s what we aim to do

England started brightly Herbie Farnworth one of five NRL regulars in the English team and Dom Young causing problems down the right Australia, who have notched up a record 13 consecutive Ashes series between 1973 and the most recent in 2003, suffered an early blow when captain Isaah Yeo was forced off for a head injury assessment after a collision with Young in the 14th minute

In the first Ashes Series in 22 years, Walsh drew first blood crossing for the opening try after England halfback Mikey Lewis was caught out defensively Cleary kicked the conversion to hand Australia a welcome lead as Yeo failed his concussion assessment He will also miss next week s second test in Everton’s new Hill-Dickinson Stadium

England seeking a first test victory over Australia by a British side since 2006, responded through skipper George Williams

The playmaker took the game to the Kangaroos, first running on a fifth tackle and then sending in a probing grubber but the covering Cleary tapped the ball over the line

Australia were denied a second Crichton try when the referee ruled that Young had been taken out by Josh AddoCarr going for a Cameron Munster bomb Jez Litten tackled the omnipresent

form

Walsh without the ball and Cleary kicked the penalty to leave the world champions 8-0 up at the break

The second half had barely started before Walsh escaped from Lewis attempted tackle to scurry past a clutch of England players 60 metres upfield, Farnworth just managing to tap tackle Addo-Carr and stop the attack

Australia scored their second try minutes later, Crichton stepping inside Alex Walmsley and driving over fullback Jack Welsby to the line

Cleary kicked the conversion to leave England facing a truly uphill battle at 14-0

It was not only Walsh impressing on his Australian debut Centre Gehamat Shibasaki came up with a vital tackle on Young to force a knock on

Cross-code winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, who played for the Wallabies at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, showed off his aerial technique with aplomb and was a danger with ball in hand

Australia turned the screw with 15 minutes to play the influential Cameron Munster dummying wide before finding Crichton on the inside, the loose forward going over for his second Walsh skipped over for his own second and Australia s fourth after interlinking passes with Shibasaki in a slick attacking set Cleary converted both

Jake Wardle managed to bring down Nawaqanitawase in a try-saving tackle before Daryl Clark barged over for a late England consolation try, converted by Lewis AFP

Japan take confidence to Wembley

RUGBY

Japan’s narrow loss to Australia showed they can compete with the best rugby teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 defeat.

The contest was the visitors’ first against their former coach Jones, who quit the Australia job to return to Japan soon after their calamitous 2023 World Cup campaign.

“What I’m super pleased about is that now we (Japan) are a team that stays in the fight,” Jones told reporters.

“We kept going, we could have won the game in the end, but we weren’t quite good enough.”

Australia coach Joe Schmidt said of Japan’s performance: “There was

nothing surprising about how competitive they were, how combative they were.”

Australia scoredthree tries in the match, through captain Nick Champion de Crespigny, Josh Flook and Carlo Tizzano, while Shuhei Takeuchi and Ben Gunter scored Japan’s tries, both in the second half.

Former All Blacks prop Aidan Ross debuted for the Wallabies, to become just the fifth man to play for both New Zealand and Australia.

Australia, who lost two locks to injury early on Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and his replacement Josh Canham will look to bring in replacements before facing England at Twickenham next weekend.

“With England’s strong pack, it means

we may be light in the second row,” Schmidt said. “We might need to get some reserves from Australia.” Japan also travel to London, to take on South Africa at Wembley Stadium next week.

“We’re going there thinking we’re going to win,” Australian Jones said.

The Brave Blossoms pulled off a legendary upset at the 2015 World Cup in England, beating the Springboks with a last-gasp try.

“South Africa are like everyone, if you put pressure on and get in their face, they make mistakes,” Jones said.

“Imagine beating South Africa at Wembley, that would be iconic.”

Clean sheet pleases Auckland FC

First home game ends in 1-0 victory

FOOTBALL

Christopher Reive

Auckland FC returned home with a bang that bang being delivered from the right boot of Jesse Randall, whose 21st-minute effort was enough to separate them from the visiting Western Sydney Wanderers in their second-round A-League clash

It was a deserved 1-0 win for Steve Corica’s side on Saturday after a goalless draw in their season opener last week away to Melbourne Victory

It s the second clean sheet in as many games to start the season for Auckland goalkeeper Michael Woud, who spent the entirety of the club’s debut campaign on the bench behind Alex Paulsen

“I was really pleased with the game [and] the way it went, Corica told Sky Sport

Two clean sheets for us now in two games, that’s really good for the confidence defensively and I thought we put on a really good performance ”

Auckland were the more aggressive team at Go Media Stadium in front of a 14 767-strong crowd constantly testing the Wanderers’ defensive line and forcing goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas into action

After having twice as many shots as the Victory in round one Auckland almost matched that output against the Wanderers getting 19 shots away to the visitors’ 10 with nine of those 19 on target

Randall s was the only one that got the better of Thomas; he took advantage of the space given to him by two

Wanderers defenders to set up and place the ball into the bottom corner with a powerful strike from just outside the box

It came after fellow midfielder Louis Verstraete cleverly picked off a goal kick from Thomas after a delay in play where VAR was called upon to determine whether or not Verstraete had been fouled in the box

Not long before that, Francis de Vries had a great opportunity to open the scoring with a break through the middle After winning possession in midfield, de Vries carried the ball into the box with support from Sam Cosgrove to his right He opted to take the shot on himself, sending his leftfooted effort wide of the post It was an opportunity resulting

from strong defensive work, which was a big factor in the game for the hosts as they made everything difficult for their visitors

It has been a solid, albeit unassuming, start to the campaign Corica s side came into the season with plenty of expectation on them after finishing their first season in the competition at the top of the ladder

Head online to nzherald. co.nz for coverage of yesterday’s Wellington Phoenix home game, hosting Brisbane Roar.

Defensively-challenged Liverpool off the rails

FOOTBALL

Kieran Canning

Liverpool lost for the fourth consecutive game in the Premier League as Brentford beat the champions 3-2 yesterday, while Manchester United climbed into the top four with a 4-2 victory over Brighton.

Less than a month since starting the season with five straight wins, Liverpool’s title defence has come off the rails as defensive frailties in Arne Slot’s side were brutally exposed.

Dango Ouattara hooked in from a long throw after just five minutes to set the tone and Kevin Schade added a second just before halftime at the end of a slick counter-attack that cut the visitors wide open.

Milos Kerkez halved Liverpool’s deficit before Igor Thiago’s penalty restored Brentford’s two-goal cushion.

Mohamed Salah ended his sixgame Liverpool goal drought in spectacular fashion late on, but could not dig the Reds out of trouble.

Liverpool slip to sixth and could be seven points adrift of Arsenal by later today should the leaders beat Crystal Palace.

Mbeumo gives United momentum It took nearly a year under Ruben Amorim for United to win back-toback league games but they have now won three in a row after ending Brighton’s run of success at Old Trafford.

The Seagulls had won on their previous three visits amid a run of six wins in seven league games against United.

There are signs of the Red Devils’ £200 million trio of attacking

SUNDAY SCORES

CollatedEnglishPremierLeague

resultsyesterday:

Chelsea 1 (Garnacho 4) Sunderland 2 (Isidor 22, Talbi 90+3)

Manchester United 4 (Cunha 24, Casemiro 34, Mbeumo 61, 90+6)

Brighton 2 (Welbeck 74, Kostoulas 90+2)

Newcastle 2 (Murphy 18, Guimaraes 90) Fulham 1 (Lukic 56)

Brentford 3 (Ouattara 5, Schade 45, Thiago 60-pen) Liverpool 2 (Kerkez 45+5, Salah 89)

PlayedSaturday

Leeds 2 (Aaronson 3, Rodon 15) West

Ham 1 (Fernandes 90)

Playingtoday

Wolves v Burnley, Bournemouth v Nottingham Forest Arsenal v Crystal Palace, Aston Villa v Manchester City, Everton v Tottenham.)

additions in the transfer window, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, beginning to click.

Cunha curled in his first goal for the club from outside the box before Casemiro’s deflected effort doubled United’s lead before halftime.

Sesko then teed up Mbeumo to fire in at the near post.

Danny Welbeck’s brilliant free-kick and Charalampos Kostoulas’ header set up a nervy finale.

But Mbeumo smashed home his second goal to seal the points in the 97th minute.

“The performance was important but it would not be Manchester United without suffering a bit,” said Amorim.

United surge ahead of Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham into the

Champions League places and within three points of leaders Arsenal.

Chelsea ‘not good enough’ Sunderland’s dream return to the top flight after an eight-year absence goes on after a 2-1 win at Chelsea lifted the Black Cats up to second.

Chelsea looked like they would be the side to go second on the table when Alejandro Garnacho drilled in his first goal for the club after just four minutes.

Sunderland levelled midway through the first half when Wilson Isidor bundled in from close range after Chelsea failed to clear a long throw-in.

The visitors comfortably held the Club World Cup winners at bay in the second period before landing the sucker punch on the counter-attack in the 93rd minute when Brian Brobbey teed up Chemsdine Talbi to curl perfectly into the bottom corner. Defeat leaves Chelsea in seventh with their title challenge fading fast

“We were not good enough and in the Premier League the consequences can be bad,” said Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.

“If you want to be there (challenging for the title), you need consistency.”

Newcastle beat Fulham 2-1 thanks to captain Bruno Guimaraes’ 90th minute strike at St James’ Park.

Saka Lukic had cancelled out Jacob Murphy’s opener for the Magpies. But Marco Silva’s men fell to a fourth consecutive defeat that leaves them hovering just above the relegation zone.

Guimaraes swept home the rebound after Bernd Leno had saved William Osula’s initial effort to propel Newcastle up to 11th. AFP

Grey around Taurua

Netball New Zealand has refused to pinpoint exactly what changes will be made to the Silver Ferns environment after reinstating Dame

Noeline Taurua as coach

While Saturday’s press release said Taurua will return effective today , she will not attend the Northern Tour when New Zealand will play tests against Scotland and England to minimise disruption

Board chair Matt Whineray has confirmed no one at NNZ will stand down or resign as a result of the saga, which dates back to player complaints about feeling “unsafe” at a training camp in Sydney in January

The release said “Netball NZ and Dame Noeline have agreed to implement enhancements to support

Canterbury pounce in powerful second half

Canterbury have won their first NPC title in eight years with a storming second-half performance to deny Otago 36-28 in Christchurch.

The red-and-blacks trailed by four points at halftime, but three tries in quick succession set the platform for victory in the South Island showdown on Saturday.

In a pulsating first half in front of a sellout stadium, both sides traded blows in a physical battle up front, with Otago setting the pace.

They struck inside the opening five minutes through Thomas Umaga-Jensen, after a slick build-up involving Will Tucker, Christian LioWillie and Dylan Pledger.

Canterbury hit back soon after, Dallas McLeod powering over in the corner, before Lucas Casey crossed for Otago and Brodie McAlister responded for the home side.

With the wind at their backs in the second half, Canterbury began to take control of territory and possession.

They struck early through Manasa Mataele, who finished brilliantly in the corner, after quick hands from Braydon Ennor and McLeod. Ennor crossed soon after, before Mataele and Louie Chapman combined to extend the lead with a superb counterattack try.

wellbeing and performance, including strengthening the player voice”

However Wyllie has been unable to confirm specifically what the changes are saying they will be determined “between now and Christmas”

“We’ve given ourselves a really good understanding what needs to be true in the environment over the next few months That allows us all, without the heat of test match netball, to step back and have a look at the range of areas that we want to strengthen and grow the game in

“Those will be developed over the coming months ”

Wyllie said they have not determined whether there will be any personnel changes

“We have to minimise disruption in the environment We have collectively agreed that the interim

coaching setup remains, and that s so there is certainty for everyone

“We can work on the steps and frameworks in the meantime and then we can determine the coaching setup in the new year ”

Whineray has full faith in Wyllie and the rest of NNZ s senior leadership

“No one works harder for the sport than Jennie and her team her commitment to the sport, her deep belief in the importance of the sport, and her experience in the game ” When Wyllie was asked if she believed she had the backing of her staff the coaches and players she said the drama had tested everyone s leadership

“We’re playing this out in the public eye and we are having to take really hard decisions for a sport that is not only growing and changing as a result of what is needed in the high-

performance environment, but the entire landscape ”

“For that reason, we have to lead with strength and I m confident I can run the long game ” Neither Whineray nor Wyllie pinpointed any specific regrets from their handling of the saga dating back to January

Whineray said they will do a review

“We ll look back at this process, and we ll see what we can learn from this As it stands today, we’re still in it We ve got a chunk of work to do Wyllie wss confident they handled the situation appropriately

Otago weren’t done yet, as Ben Lopas muscled over to keep them in touch, but Canterbury’s relentless pressure told again, when Gus Brown powered over to all but seal the result heading into the final stages.

Canterbury’s control through their kicking game and their ability to execute with precision in key moments made the difference. Their forwards were immense at the breakdown and in contact, while

their backs were sharp and clinical with every opportunity.

Fijian winger Mataele was outstanding for Canterbury with his second-half try igniting the home side’s attack.

Family first as Williamson winds back his commitments

Batting great Kane Williamson said a changed “life situation” would reduce his availability for New Zealand as he prepared for his first international match since March.

Former captain Williamson began a three-match ODI series against England in Mount Maunganui yesterday having been unavailable for New Zealand in any format since they lost the final of the Champions Trophy against India in March.

In that period the 35-year-old missed a test series in Zimbabwe and home T20 series this month against Australia and England.

Speaking ahead of the England series, Williamson said his international availability was limited by a desire to spend more time with his young family, as well as play in lucrative professional leagues.

“As your life situation changes, as mine has, the balance between where you spend your time and give your attention is really, really important,” Williamson told New Zealand Cricket.

“So still being able to play for New Zealand and play the sport that I love at the highest level is great. But the balance is the most important thing for me.”

Since his debut in 2010 Williamson has scored 9276 test runs at an average of 54.88 to be comfortably New Zealand’s most prolific batsman.

He has gradually reduced his commitments over the last two years, relinquishing the captaincy in all formats.

His “casual” contract with the national body requires him to commit to only certain series and tournaments.

Williamson has spent much of this year in England, where he was captain of London Spirit in the men’s

Kane Williamson said ahead of yesterday’s ODI series opener against England that cricket was still important to him, but so were maximising time with his family and his earning potential.

Hundred competition, as well as playing for Middlesex.

Until yesterday, he was yet to play under new national coach Rob Walter but had spoken with him extensively about availability.

“It’s just an ongoing communication with New Zealand Cricket and with Rob, and I’m grateful for that,” Williamson said.

“It’s a lot about the balance, with family and time away, but also the delicate balance of being a part of this team that I’ve really loved and enjoyed for such a long period of time.” Williamson is one of five Black Caps on casual playing agreements, including Lockie Ferguson, Devon Conway, Finn Allen and Tim

Sport

ROCKED AND ROLLED

Joseph Parker’s hopes of a heavyweight title shot were snuffed out in a TKO decision

BOXING

Liam Napier in London

Joseph Parker is adamant he could have fought on when the referee waved off his shot at another world title

But after his devastating defeat by Fabio Wardley yesterday, he accepted the loss with grace and vowed to fight on

Referee Howard Foster drew the ire of many boxing fans when he stopped, perhaps prematurely, an engrossing war between Parker and Wardley in the 11th round at London s 02 Arena

Comfortably ahead on the

scorecards after largely dominating the middle stages of the absorbing contest Parker was rocked by Wardley’s right hand and trapped on the ropes when Foster stopped the fight 1m 54s into the penultimate round

Foster determined Parker had absorbed enough punishment to end the Kiwi s hopes of finally securing a crack at undisputed heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk

A fourth loss, his first in three years, is a huge setback that will force Parker to take time to consider his future

Despite the obvious disappointment in the immediate aftermath of

this defeat he was typically magnanimous

“Congratulations to Fabio Wardley

He s a warrior,” Parker said “At the end of the fight I thought I was fine

“I wanted to carry on but I’m not the referee I m not the one controlling the fight We gave it our best and he won so he’s the better man

“He won the fight fair and square and now he’s moving on to a bigger fight

Parker’s trainer Andy Lee refused to begrudge the way in which the fight finished

Joe was taking a lot of shots but a lot of them he was blocking and slipping ” Lee said

He was taking some and there was an opportunity for the fight to be stopped

“Do I think it was fair? It was a battle wasn t it? It could have been the other way around That’s the nature of the sport Heavyweight boxing, that’s the way it is

“I thought Joe was ahead in the fight and boxing very well but you have to give credit to Fabio, he found a good punch

“You can have the best game plan in the world but that s why they call it the equaliser because it equalises everything I m very proud of Joe He fought his heart out ”

NZ Herald

Good toss to win

Cricket:

The Black Caps took early advantage of captain Mitch Santner winning the toss and choosing to bowl in the first one-day international against England at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui yesterday. Opening bowlers Matt Henry and Zak Foulkes had six English batters back in the hut for 56 runs but a stunning display of clean hitting by captain Harry Brook saw England make 223 all out off 35 overs.

● Full report at nzherald.co.nz

Norris takes pole

Motorsport: The McLaren of Lando Norris had pole ahead of the Ferraris for today’s Mexican Grand Prix, with Kiwi Liam Lawson 15th on the grid. While Lawson had been sixth in the opening stage of qualifying, mistakes in the second session saw Lawson unable to set a time. Lawson’s Red Bull rival, Yuki Tsunoda, was eliminated in 11th place, with both drivers expected to learn their 2026 fate in the coming week.

Hope springs eternal

Speedway: A $20 million plan’s being pitched to save Auckland’s Western Springs Speedway. Terry Michaels, owner of Morningside’s Health & Sports Fitness Club, has joined forces with Western Springs Speedway Association to propose a major redevelopment of the site. It includes reinstating the speedway track and building a health and sports facility that could potentially accommodate Ponsonby Rugby. Chairman Lance Anderson says they also want to establish a trust that oversees the venue’s operations It comes after two American billionaires, along with former All Black Ali Williams and his wife Anna Mowbray, walked away from a proposed $200 million to $300m football stadium at Western Springs

Fighter’s eyes poked

UFC: Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall retained his title after his bout against Ciryl Gane was declared a “no contest” due to an eye poke at UFC 321 yesterday. Gane caught Aspinall in both eyes with an extended hand in the first round, with the Brit unable to continue after complaining he couldn't see. With Aspinall still struggling after five minutes, the referee ruled a “no contest”.