Latest news with #Plunket
Scoop
5 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
BestStart Raises $91,000 For Whānau Āwhina Plunket
BestStart early education centres around the country have raised a total of $91,000 to support Whānau Āwhina Plunket, thanks to their 2025 BestStart Butterfly Appeal. The money helps Plunket to deliver free community services for families, including home visits, new parent groups and parenting programmes. 'This is the 10th year that BestStart have supported us with this amazing appeal – and they generated a record-breaking total this year – we are so grateful for their efforts, '' says Fiona Kingsford, Whānau Āwhina Plunket Chief Executive. 'All sorts of fun activities for tamariki go into the BestStart Butterly Appeal fundraiser, from face- painting to teddy bear picnics and more, we truly appreciate it.' Over the past 10 years, BestStart centres around the country have raised an incredible $483,000 to support Whānau Āwhina Plunket's community services, Fiona says. 'BestStart and Plunket are both committed to making a positive difference in the lives of tamariki and their whānau. Our butterfly logo symbolises growth, care and transformation; values shared by both organisations.' BestStart Howick topped the appeal, raising $2,043. Each team member cooked a dish from a different culture, and they held a Friday takeaway night for local families. 'We are so happy to be this year's top fundraiser, as it so aptly matches with our philosophy of 'Bringing communities together from the heart'. This time it was bringing communities together through delicious food,' says Centre Manager, Philomena Lobo. About Whānau Āwhina Plunket: Pēpi, tamariki and whānau are at the heart of Whānau Āwhina Plunket. The charity is Aotearoa New Zealand's largest health and wellbeing support service for tamariki – seeing 290,000 under-fives in 2024. About three-quarters of newborns are enrolled with Whānau Āwhina Plunket each year. Our nurses provide clinical assessments, and along with Kaiāwhina and Community Karitāne, support whānau and families, through home and clinic visits, as well as PlunketLine 0800 933 922, a free 24/7 telephone advice service for parents. Our website is one of the country's most widely read digital child health resources, with 1.8 million visits each year. It is available data-free through the Zero Data portal at and you can choose to view it in English or te reo Māori.
Scoop
6 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
BestStart Raises $91,000 For Whānau Āwhina Plunket
Press Release – BestStart The money helps Plunket to deliver free community services for families, including home visits, new parent groups and parenting programmes. BestStart early education centres around the country have raised a total of $91,000 to support Whānau Āwhina Plunket, thanks to their 2025 BestStart Butterfly Appeal. The money helps Plunket to deliver free community services for families, including home visits, new parent groups and parenting programmes. 'This is the 10th year that BestStart have supported us with this amazing appeal – and they generated a record-breaking total this year – we are so grateful for their efforts, '' says Fiona Kingsford, Whānau Āwhina Plunket Chief Executive. 'All sorts of fun activities for tamariki go into the BestStart Butterly Appeal fundraiser, from face- painting to teddy bear picnics and more, we truly appreciate it.' Over the past 10 years, BestStart centres around the country have raised an incredible $483,000 to support Whānau Āwhina Plunket's community services, Fiona says. 'BestStart and Plunket are both committed to making a positive difference in the lives of tamariki and their whānau. Our butterfly logo symbolises growth, care and transformation; values shared by both organisations.' BestStart Howick topped the appeal, raising $2,043. Each team member cooked a dish from a different culture, and they held a Friday takeaway night for local families. 'We are so happy to be this year's top fundraiser, as it so aptly matches with our philosophy of 'Bringing communities together from the heart'. This time it was bringing communities together through delicious food,' says Centre Manager, Philomena Lobo. About Whānau Āwhina Plunket: Pēpi, tamariki and whānau are at the heart of Whānau Āwhina Plunket. The charity is Aotearoa New Zealand's largest health and wellbeing support service for tamariki – seeing 290,000 under-fives in 2024. About three-quarters of newborns are enrolled with Whānau Āwhina Plunket each year. Our nurses provide clinical assessments, and along with Kaiāwhina and Community Karitāne, support whānau and families, through home and clinic visits, as well as PlunketLine 0800 933 922, a free 24/7 telephone advice service for parents. Our website is one of the country's most widely read digital child health resources, with 1.8 million visits each year. It is available data-free through the Zero Data portal at and you can choose to view it in English or te reo Māori.
Otago Daily Times
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Letters to Editor: polytechs, learning spaces, right to vote
Cause for concern The government's announcement that it will abolish the long established right of special votes by people who enrol after the voting period has started is cause for concern. About 150,000 special votes were cast in the last general election and they strongly favoured left-wing parties. The coalition government should not be allowed to stack the electoral deck in this fashion as it is a serious assault on the democratic process. Bill Southworth Port Chalmers Something borrowed Golly, National is taking on Ingrid Leary's retirement village proposals as theirs. The ideas cupboard in the National camp must be almost bare. Maybe it's true then, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Robyn Bridges Roseneath Learning spaces Well said Bridget Davidson (principal of Otago Girls' High School) ''open-plan or not - the quality of teaching and learning remains if the school culture and relationships are rich and strong, and the thirst for learning and knowledge is there'' (ODT 22.7.25). Learning spaces vary from single-cell classrooms, open-plan/flexible, outdoors (on and off a school's campus), and spaces designed to support specialist subject learning (such as science laboratories, technology workshops, music studios, gymnasiums and all-weather turf). Each learning space has its purpose and contributes to broad and deep learning. Evidence affirms that positive school culture and relationships, along with effective teachers are the most influential factors that promote learning across learning (subject) areas. So much rich learning would be utterly constrained if we think single-cell classrooms are the magic bullet for student learning and achievement. Margie Campbell-Price Dunedin Crossing swords and turning around opinions Since crossing swords with Jean Balchin several years ago I have come to enjoy reading her column. I have re-visited the archive, however, and her memory (Opinion ODT 14.7.25) has played a scurvy trick - she did more than question Captain Cook's ''sainthood'', holding him largely responsible for all the ills of colonisation. And I certainly said if that was the best she could do I'd have failed her first-year history at Otago. I did not hazard a guess as to her likely fate at Oxford though I'd have undoubtedly sought her out for further tuition. Curious and even opinionated students are the lifeblood of universities. However, all that aside, I mainly want to reassure her, as a member of the distinguished club of School Certificate failures, that I have never considered falling at one of the hurdles along the way has much significance ... And may I add that I am delighted to know that Ms Balchin is planning to work on Truby King and the Plunket Society. I hope Ms Balchin will keep up her column while she works away on Sir Truby and Plunket. Erik Olssen Dunedin The Gaza blues Re the response to my own letter re the council writing a letter to a political party offering support. If Heinke Matheson had read my letter closely she would have seen that at no time did I actually mention any war by name. Nor was I addressing any personal feelings on any war, nor did I mention a political party. I was addressing the issue of Dunedin city councillors using their democratically elected positions to support a political party response. Councillors are not elected on the basis of party affiliation or the actions of a political party unless it affects the citizens of Dunedin. Council represents the citizens of Dunedin who voted for them to devote themselves to the running of our city regardless of their personal political and religious views. Discussing a world event is out of council business. Asking councillors to publicly vote on an issue of political, religious and moral grounds in any situation is putting peer pressure on a councillor. Any such vote should be done in a private and anonymous way. Lynne NewellDunedin [Abridged - Editor.] Winston fooled Winston Peters' statement to Israel (ODT 23.7.25) is misplaced and misinformed: he and foreign affairs ministers from 27 other countries have fallen for the ruse. The demand for an immediate unconditional permanent ceasefire and a return to the previous compromised UN and humanitarian aid, is naive. Israeli conditions for a ceasefire are reasonable: free the hostages and remove the perpetrators. It's not, and never has been, Israeli aggression that is the issue. It's not Israel taking and holding hostages, it's not Israel intentionally shooting civilians gathering for food, it's not Israel selling the aid, after taking it from civilians. Israel does not use civilians as shields. Israel did not build tunnels and purchase arms, using financial aid given to house, feed and educate civilians. Unfortunately 28 countries are now on the wrong side of history. Tony VinkAndersons Bay [Abridged - Editor.] Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@
The Spinoff
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Spinoff
A play-by-play of Ray Chung's train wreck interview with Sean Plunket
What's even worse than a days-long PR crisis as a mayoral candidate? Getting owned by Sean Plunket. Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung was under fire in a way he had never experienced before. Donors were abandoning him, and his support was cratering. The root cause: An email he sent to council colleagues two and a half years ago detailing salacious and unverified rumours about Wellington mayor Tory Whanau having a drug-fueled sexcapade with his neighbour's son. It was a wildly inappropriate topic for a work email and almost certainly defamatory. Whanau has denied the claims and said she can prove she was at a different event on the night in question. Instead of apologising, Chung doubled down. 'There has been a concerted campaign against me,' he said in a video released on Sunday. 'An email I sent privately over two and a half years ago was passed to the media. This was done deliberately to discredit me.' After being deliberately discredited with his own words, Chung desperately needed a way to shore up his base of support and focus everything in the right area. So, on Monday morning, he spoke to Sean Plunket live on The Platform. Chung would have fairly expected this to be a friendly interview, given that Plunket has previously broadcast an entirely different unfounded rumour about Tory Whanau. But as the interview went on, Plunket grew frustrated at Chung's complete inability to grasp why he was in trouble, and his repeated insistence on making everything worse. It was 17 minutes of mayhem and majesty. Here's the lowlights. 'It sounds like you've had a rugged weekend,' Plunket begins, lending a sympathetic ear. 'I have had a very rugged weekend. I've never had so many days in a row like this,' Chung replies. 'Joel MacManus [hey, that's me!] tells me you're a windbag and you've never been fit for office,' Plunket says. 'Have you seen The Spinoff's piece this morning? It's pretty remarkable. I'd have to say it's one of the most blatantly biased pieces of political writing I've ever seen in all my life, and coming from such a pimply faced little stuck-up millennial, it's amazing.' For the record, Windbag is the name of my column, not a comment on Ray Chung. But I stand by the rest. Also, I'm now feeling self-conscious about my skincare routine. Open to any and all recommendations from Plunket. Plunket wants Chung to go back to the start and explain the whole ordeal to his listeners: 'OK, three years ago, you're approached by a next-door neighbour of yours who tells you what?' Having just got himself into trouble for repeating an unfounded and probably defamatory story in an email – and trying to play the matter down because it happened two and a half years ago – you might think Chung would be smart enough not to repeat the same allegations live on air. But that's giving him far too much credit. 'We were walking with our dogs and [my neighbour] stopped me and as usual, you have a bit of a chat with your neighbours and he said 'oh, let me tell you about something',' Chung begins. 'A good story's a fast story, Ray,' Plunket urges, already losing patience. Chung continues: 'He said they met up with two women in a bar and went back to their apartment.' 'This guy did, your neighbour?' 'No, no, his son. They went back to the apartment and had a fun night.' Plunket can't resist calling bullshit. 'It seems odd that your neighbour would come up to you and say, 'Hey, my son scored the other night and here are the details. '' Ray's brain seems to short-circuit here. '….um…. weeeelll….. It was nothing that I expected.' Chung then fluffs around for a while until he finally gets to his big reveal that one of the women his neighbour's son supposedly slept with was the mayor of Wellington. 'Ray, what's wrong with that? She's not married,' Plunket says. At first, it seems like he is playing devil's advocate. But then it becomes clear that he is genuinely exasperated. 'Well, when we walked back, we thought 'My god, if this hits the news media…' 'What? That the mayor of Wellington is sexually active and she's a single woman, and she decides occasionally to have sex with people? Why is that a scandal?' Plunket is incredulous. Then, Chung decides to do the political equivalent of tripping over your shoelaces directly into a cow pat: 'Well it wasn't just sex, it was drugs as well.' That thumping you hear is Chung's lawyer concussing himself against his own desk. Plunket appears to roll his eyes and gives a barely audible sigh. 'Tell us about the drugs,' he says. Chung stumbles on. 'OK, as I was told, when they were at the pub, [Whanau] asked the two boys if they were interested in some drugs.' 'When you say boys, can we define boys?' Plunket says. 'I think about 21.' 'That's not a boy, that's a grown ass man,' Plunket says, crossing his arms. Chung argues for a while about the definition of a boy. Plunket is having none of it. 'Doesn't matter. 21. Get a beer, fight and die for your country, and sleep with who you want to.' Time to bring things back on track. 'OK, so she offered them drugs?' Plunket asks. 'Yep. And they went back to the apartment and, um, you know, had a good evening.' 'And did they do drugs, Ray?' 'Well, I don't know, but I assume they did because that's what they went back for.' The key quote there, of course, is: 'I DON'T KNOW.' 'Did you ever talk to the son to get the story firsthand?' Plunket continues. 'No, no, he wasn't there,' Chung admits. Chung spends a few minutes giving a meandering account about NZ Herald reporter David Fisher calling him for the story. Plunket gets bored and steers things back to the juicy bits. 'Where did pendulous breasts come from?' he asks. 'Where did what come from?' 'Pendulous breasts. Where did that phrase come from?' 'Oh, I was just told exactly what they said and how they described it.' 'So your neighbour's son told you she had pendulous breasts?' Plunket says with the withering tone of Kim Hill in her prime. 'That doesn't sound like the sort of language a 21-year-old would use, Ray. That's one part of the story that doesn't stack up'. Chung laughs. 'Heh heh, yep, I don't know, I was just repeating everything that I was told.' Repeating everything you're told without doing any effort to verify is exactly the problem. But understanding that seems beyond him. 'Would you send such an email again?' Plunket asks. 'Never, never. I've learned my lesson,' Chung says, after spending 16 minutes repeating all the problematic information that was in the original email, live on air. 'But I've also learned another even more important lesson, and that's don't trust anyone.' 'Oh, Ray, you can trust me,' Plunket croons. 'Can I? Can I?' Chung asks. He certainly shouldn't have. With that, Plunket ends the interview and turns to the text machine. He reads two messages from his loyal listeners: 'God, this Ray Chung sounds like a moron. Hopefully, Wellington has dodged a bullet.' 'Sean, Chung sounds like a loose cannon. He's the best the right have? God help you.'
Otago Daily Times
03-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Team project helps keep kids sun smart
Fairlie's Village Green playground is getting a makeover in order to make it safer for summer. Located on the corner of Main Rd and Talbot St, the playground has had a new safety fence put in place and will have much-needed shade sails installed before the end of the year. While the safety fence was a Mackenzie District Council-led initiative, the shade sail project was made possible by concerned parents with the help of several South Canterbury organisations. Parent Claire Dann said natural shade used to be provided at the playground by surrounding trees. "One got removed for the skate park and another came down in a really bad wind. So, that left us with no real natural shade around the playground. "In 2021 another mum, Hiltje Boysen-Anderson, started the project after being there with her little ones and realising you just couldn't get any shade, especially with babies that want to be on blankets. "She started looking for ways we could get some shade sails and I joined in as well to see if we could get something happening." The pair reached out to the likes of the local Cancer Society and Plunket to see if they would help with funding. "She [Hiltje] reached out to a local Cancer Society member and they were like 'this is right up our alley, we could help with some funding', so that was a great start. "Then we talked to the local Plunket group as they have a play session there once a week with lots of mums with under 5s. "They thought it was a cool thing to support as well, so we had the beginnings of a project." Plans for the shade sail were drawn up pro bono by Felipe Silva Valves, of Timaru architectural design firm Silva Studio, and were presented to the Mackenzie District Council and approved. The Fairlie Community Board then helped with the remaining funds and the support poles for the sails were installed by local builders at the end of May. Ms Dann said it was great to see so many different people and organisations join forces to make the project happen. "That's what small communities are often about, people chipping in. It's definitely been a team project. "We also have Allan from Kotuku Saddlery, he has donated the canvas for them and has put up a lot of shade sails. "He'll get those done up by springtime and that's when it will all start to look like something. "We're kind of aiming for a Labour Weekend to Easter Weekend kind of time frame for the sails to be up for." She said the sails would be hugely important for the area. "It's been really noticeable, last summer wasn't fabulous. "When we've had hot summers it's been hard for local families with young ones to go down to the playground. "It's just really hard to keep them sun smart and protected when they're always ripping their hats of and stuff like that," Ms Dann said. "I think having some shade protection is really going to help the local community and obviously it will be an asset for any visitors passing through as well. "Once those shade sails are up around October we'll have a little do and a little party to celebrate because it has been a couple of years in the making."
