Christchurch Metro-Mart ram-raid
MPs face record suspensions, uncertainty surrounds Ukraine peace talks, and NZ's net migration drops sharply.
Meet Auckland's newest action stars! Reporter Hailey is checking out a real-life stunt school where kids of all abilities are flying through the air and crashing through zombies.
The biggest night on New Zealand's literary calendar is here.
Kiwi flyweight Kai Kara-France will fight for the UFC world title against Alexandre Pantoja in Las Vegas in June.
Christopher Luxon has slated the Green Party's alternative Budget , saying the whole thing is madness. Video / Mark Mitchell
A group of workers claimed they paid between $10,000-$50,000 in cash to Indian agents for visas to work in NZ. Video / Ben Dickens
The ACT minister was responding to a question from Labour when she used the word. Video / Mark Mitchell
Watch a heated back and forth around the topic of pay equity. Video / Parliament TV
Greens promise $88b taxes including 33% inheritance tax for massive social safety net expansion. Video / Mark Mitchell
"I think it was, you know, a heroic effort on her part," says Kardashian's lawyer, after the reality TV star appeared in Paris court.
An ambulance was stolen and taken for a joyride in Timaru while medical staff were preparing a patient for transfer. Video / Supplied
NZ Herald Live: David Seymour speaks to media on budget 2025
David Seymour speaks with Mike Hosking about the new $140 million Getting kids in School programme. Video / NZ Herald
NZ drug markets shift online, Covid-born kids face school challenges, and Trump meets Saudi leaders on visit to Middle East.
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RNZ News
28 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Public health group report calls for wealth tax
Despite being focused on New Zealanders' health, the report's main focus is on the link between health and the wider environment. Photo: 123RF A new report by a public health group led by a former Green MP is calling for a wealth tax and a cross-party focus on wellbeing, saying it's needed to support the health system. The Public Health Advisory Committee - established by the Ministry of Health - is led by former Green Party list MP Kevin Hague and released the report on Friday morning aimed at reviewing progress in New Zealand health since 2000 and looking ahead to improvements needed out to 2040. The report warns of "significant new challenges to our wellbeing, at a time when our health system is already over-stretched". It points to a diverse, growing, and ageing population, an uncertain political situation, increasing effects of climate change and the impact of AI on employment and society. Despite being focused on New Zealanders' health, its main focus is on the link between health and the wider environment. "Health starts in our homes, schools and communities," it says, "this report focuses primarily on factors outside health care, as these contribute significantly more than health care to our health and wellbeing." Wellbeing goals supported by multiple political parties are needed, it says, and urges the government to work with communities to achieve their own solutions. Strengthening "our bedrock" would require a national conversation about Te Tiriti o Waitangi; embedding human rights into laws and public policy; and developing a more "equitable and redistributive" economic system, it says. "Further use of income and wealth tax levers is needed to reduce income and wealth inequities, and to support adequate investment in social and health services." It also demands investment in "win-win solutions that nourish the soil" like finding solutions for the climate crisis and other social problems outside the health system. It warns of inequities in life expectancy, saying although the gap between Māori and Pākehā has narrowed over 25 years regional differences have worsened. "A Pākehā baby boy born in Waikato today can expect to live eight years longer than his Māori neighbour. Pākehā children can expect to live to 84 years in the northern region, seven years longer than Pacific peoples' children. This gap has increased since 2000." Cost of living pressures also make an appearance, with the report highlighting that financial stress was the greatest immediate concern for young people the authors spoke to. Rising rates of complex long-term conditions like diabetes is coupled with lower physical activity and worsening mental health - particularly among young people - while the ageing population is expected to add further pressure. Other topics covered include child poverty, education, unemployment, income inequality, racism, ableism, climate change and housing quality. "Despite absolute gains across many determinants such as income and education, and reductions in some absolute inequalities, there have been limited or no change in the relative differences (privilege or disadvantage) between ethnic and socioeconomic groups for many socioeconomic indicators." It says large reductions in smoking rates have contributed significantly to reduction in cardiovascular disease, stroke, chronic lung disease, lung cancer and other conditions over the past 30 years, but inequities remain in other health indicators like infant and child mortality in Pacific populations, and "no real change in inequities for Māori and Indian people, compared with all other ethnic groups". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Newsroom
6 hours ago
- Newsroom
Downfall of the clueless, wannabe, soldier spy
At first glance, it reads like a Tom Clancy spy thriller. A disloyal, far-right soldier, an undercover officer posing as a foreign agent, and the passing on of secret army information which could put the safety and defence of the country at risk. But this time, it isn't fiction. It's real life, in New Zealand. For the first time, a serving soldier has been convicted of attempted espionage, sent to a military prison, and dismissed from service for attempting to spy on the Defence Force. At his long-awaited trial, in front of a court martial at Linton Military Camp, the man – whose name is currently suppressed – pleaded guilty to three charges of attempted espionage, dishonestly accessing a computer system, and possessing an objectionable publication. Newsroom journalist Marc Daalder broke the story six years ago, and attended the court case this week. He tells The Detail 'this isn't James Bond, it's not the Hunt for Red October either … what we have here is maybe more like a bumbling wannabe-spy'. 'As the judge put it in his sentencing decision, 'How could you be so naive as to think this is the way forward, this is the right thing to do?'' Daalder says the soldier did have ties to far-right groups and 'it's a serious, serious issue, but you don't want to overstate it either'. So how and why did a Kiwi kid grow up to be a would-be spy? Daalder says the soldier had a troubled childhood; he was a loner and didn't make friends easily. 'Even once he joined the NZDF, he was not particularly well liked, and that's part of what drove him, he says, to these far-right groups.' Daalder says in social media posts the soldier would boast that he 'joined a Nazi organisation and [he said that] it's the best thing that ever happened to me, I used to be a loser, no job, no fitness or social skills. Now I'm working a decent job, have plenty of friends and a half-decent life, all thanks to the mentoring I got from older Nazis, and I have no regrets.' Before the March 15 terror attacks, the soldier founded a far-right group, 'The Dominion Movement', which meant that after the attacks he was on the radar of police and pulled in for questioning several times. In an affidavit presented at his court-martial hearing this week, the soldier said, 'The investigators were incredibly aggressive towards me, often getting in my face and shouting. To me, their approach was actually violent.' The soldier said he was terrified, and felt he had to leave New Zealand and get to another country where he thought he would be safe. 'He frames himself as a victim of political persecution,' Daalder says. The soldier then contacted a third party, indicating he wanted to defect. 'Following the New Zealand government learning of the contact with that third party, an undercover officer, posing as an agent of the foreign country, reached out to him and asked to meet … and the soldier was asked to provide a letter asking what he could provide that would assist that foreign country,' Daalder tells The Detail. 'From there, it's a mixture of spy thriller and maybe a bumbling spy version.' Among the items the soldier provided were documents, including maps and aerial photographs of various defence force bases, along with passcodes, access codes, login details to its IT system, and telephone directories. He also passed on handwritten assessments of the vulnerabilities of the Linton Military Camp, where he was stationed. The soldier was eventually arrested at the Linton Military Camp in 2019, and put under open arrest, living in defence-subsidised housing and receiving full pay. He initially faced 17 charges, including espionage. This week, he pleaded guilty to attempted espionage, accessing a computer for a dishonest purpose, and knowingly possessing an objectionable publication, and was sentenced to two years in military detention – the longest possible sentence of detention available under the law. Otago University law lecturer Sean Whittaker, who moved to New Zealand from Scotland a year ago, told The Detail he was very surprised by the spying conviction. 'New Zealand has a reputation of being a safe place to live, to work, and not being vulnerable to such an action – either by external forces or by people within the country itself. 'I think that it's important to mention that the limited number of instances of espionage being detected and prosecuted is not indicative of the lack of quality of New Zealand's security intelligence services. 'Ultimately, I think they are doing a good job; they have detected espionage in this particular instance, and I think that's overall because New Zealand isn't exceptionally vulnerable to espionage.' But does New Zealand really have anything worth spying on or information worth selling to foreign countries? 'Despite New Zealand's small size, it is a decent-sized player in the international community … we do have things that are worth [spying on], as it were, things that are valuable, both intrinsic to us and to the global system as well.' Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
RNZ News
6 hours ago
- RNZ News
Israeli-made drones not ruled out by NZ Defence Force
Roboteam unmanned ground drone. Photo: Roboteam The NZ military has not ruled out buying drones from Israel during the Gaza conflict. Many countries are shopping for drones, and Israel has some of the most advanced and lethal in the world. In 2019, the NZ Defence Force bought bomb-clearing robots from Israeli firm Roboteam, well before drones went off as a warfighting essential. A few days ago, Roboteam talked about the Gaza war letting loose an "orchestra" of drones. "We connect the drones with the unmanned ground vehicles [UGVs], and then you get a new orchestra of UGVs talking with each other and shooting," [ it told Breaking Defense media]. This was a "huge change" from when weaponising drones was banned before the war, it said. The military here said government procurement rules did not allow bans on firms based on country of origin. "The NZDF will exclude a supplier from the tender process, if it has sufficient grounds to believe there is evidence of human-rights violations by the supplier or in the supplier's supply chain," it said. It had "no specific process" to assess that, but concerns might be raised during due diligence checks (listed below). "Accordingly, the NZDF would not exclude Roboteam based on the fact they are an Israeli-owned company, unless this was a central government direction (for example, if a supplier's country of origin is on a relevant sanctions list)." As drones rapidly become more crucial to warfare and more lethal, the questions around buying and using them increase in significance. However, the Defence Force admitted to RNZ it had neither a doctrine nor a strategy for drone development. "The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) does not have drone development strategies nor does it have doctrines around drone development," it said in response to an OIA. Asked what documents it had about drone rules of engagement in warfare, it provided nothing. It also lacked any centralised purchasing system for drones - individual units bought their own "as needs require", it said. It followed the government's "approach to drone regulation and development", but the force last briefed Defence Minister Judith Collins about drones 19 months ago. On Thursday, Collins unveiled plans to buy $2.7 billion of US maritime helicopters and large planes from Europe, as signalled in the Defence Capability Plan in April. Asked later if it would get some drones next up, she said: "Oh, absolutely." Asked if she would rule out buying them from Israel, given the Gaza war, Collins said: "You know, what I can really say, I hope we are buying from New Zealand." During the media conference, Collins stressed she wanted a more lethal defence force. Tauranga company Syos makes surveillance and cargo drones used in the Ukraine war, while other companies also make non-weaponised drones. Before October 2019, government procurement ruless contained no specific reference to human rights issues, the NZDF said. Budget 2025 provided unspecified funding for counter-drone systems. There are many such systems , including Israeli ones, that shoot drones using roboticised rifles, which can themselves be mounted on drones as an offensive weapon. The $12b defence capability plan envisages New Zealand buying many more air and sea drones by 2029. Defence's most recent purchase of four types of surveillance drones did not include any Israeli ones, it told RNZ. Asked how it applied the procurement rules for these, it said: "In accordance with the government procurement rules, the NZDF has not excluded Roboteam from tendering for any of its procurements on the basis of Roboteam's country of origin." It emphasised to RNZ Roboteam's civilian credentials. Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters front a defence-spending media conference. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone "Roboteam is an entrepreneurial business run from Israel, which is built upon the company's core expertise in design of mobility systems and controls. Much of its business is involved in personal mobility solutions for disabled persons and medical applications," it said. Roboteam supplies many countries' militaries. RNZ contacted Roboteam for comment. On Thursday, Collins re-iterated New Zealand wanted to buy the same military systems as Australia to stay interoperable. A few days ago, the Australian government laid out plans to spend more than a billion dollars on drones and counterdrones in the next decade. It launched Project LAND 156, which had already granted more than $50m in contracts for counterdrones to local firms. The project adopted a "continuous modernisation model" critical to ensure investments today would be useful in future , it said. . Canberra stressed it would buy local, if it could, but in 2022, the Australian army bought Skylark drones from Israeli firm Elbit. An Elbit Skylark reconnaissance drone crashed in a street in Gaza city last weekend, before an assault by the Israel Defence Force on the city. The Jerusalem Post reported that Skylarks could help co-ordinate artillery fire . Last year, Australia [ did a controversial deal with Elbit] to buy turrets worth abouot a billion dollars. Reuters has reported on "many" Israeli firms getting "a boost from Israel's war needs". "Unfortunately, war is good for business and Israel has been a major partner," it quoted Boeing Israel growth and innovation head Ayal Somech on a panel at a conference . NZDF said due diligence could include, but was not limited to: Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
