Morning Report for Thursday 8 September 2022

8:54 AM.New Zealand's market for house plants is busier than ever.

The demand is so high that the Government is considering letting 12 new species into the country.

Environmental Protection Agency general… Read more Audio

8:50 AM.Tensions are running high in Christchurch as the city council prepares to vote on controversial new national housing density rules.

Locals say the government is trying to force a… Read more Audio

8:46 AM.A new law regulating sunscreen comes into force today.

Sunscreen companies will be fined if they don't meet safety standards.

But the Cancer Society says it doesn't go far enough.

Its chief… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.A seven-week trial over political donations that took three years to reach the High Court in Auckland is drawing to a close today.

The Serious Fraud Office brought charges against seven people… Read more Audio

8:28 AM.So, how many students are wagging school? Yesterday National Party leader Christopher Luxon told us 100,000 children were chronically truant.

This is incorrect.

The figure he was referring to is… Read more Audio

8:27 AM.Tauranga has seen an influx of 20,000 young visitors this week for the most exciting event on a pre-teens calendar.

After a two-year hiatus the AIMS Games are back - a multi-code sporting event for… Read more Audio

8:24 AM.A mathematics professor isn't surprised that large numbers of year 10 students have failed NCEA numeracy tests in a trial run.

Schools have told RNZ of pass rates as low as zero for the writing… Read more Audio

8:21 AM.Doctors and nurses are being warned to stay out of Ukrainian combat zones, unless they are trained in battlefield medicine.

Huge numbers of foreign fighters have joined the war since Russia invaded… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.The Commerce Commission says companies promoting sales by warning of limited stock must be able to back up those claims.

The prominent online retailer One-Day, owned by the Warehouse Group, has been… Read more Audio

7:52 AM.Police have issued a warning to revelers against taking illicit substances at the four-day Snow Machine music festival in Queenstown after what they describe as serious incidents involving the… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.The government has announced the next steps in it plan to help strengthen Māori media over the three years. 

Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson says Māori media have a particularly vital… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.Many Greytown residents have been surprised to learn that a social housing development is planned for the Wairarapa township.

The Kāinga Ora website has information about its purchase of land there… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.Some tourists are waiting more than five weeks to find out if they can pay a visit to New Zealand.

Fewer than one in five visitor visa applications has been approved since August.

Families waiting… Read more Audio

7:34 AM.Police in Saskatchewan are still hunting for a man suspected of one of the most violent attacks in Canada's modern history.

Two brothers are suspected of committing dozens of stabbings; the rampage… Read more Audio

7:26 AM.A candid-camera style TV show from tech giant Amazon using doorbell footage is raising hackles in the US and eyebrows in New Zealand.

It is the latest twist on the Internet of Things - doorbells that… Read more Audio

7:22 AM.An Auckland doctor warns Covid-19 will be like a ship's anchor, dragging along and hard to dislodge from the nation's hospitals.

The Ministry of Health yesterday said Covid-19 cases and… Read more Audio

7:17 AM.The govenrment has announced the next steps in it plan to help strengthen Māori media over the three years. 

Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson says Māori media have a particularly vital… Read more Audio

7:11 AM.A Bay of Plenty company has been sentenced for its role in sending a dense cloud of lime dust across a motorway, that resulted in a deadly multi-vehicle crash.

The company was spreading lime at a… Read more Audio

7:08 AM.A New Zealand medic back from the front line in Ukraine is warning doctors and nurses here not to join the war effort unless they are trained to work in conflict zones.

Huge numbers of foreign… Read more Audio

6:49 AM.Napier councillors are divided over whether there are culture and leadership problems at the council as the local body election looms.

There has been a revolving door with the council's CEOs - with… Read more Audio

6:44 AM.Former National Party MP and Auckland council hopeful Maurice Williamson, says he's had more than 20 billboards destroyed and others defaced.

His comments come after concern was raised earlier this… Read more Audio

6:17 AM.Hamilton isn't getting a fair share of the national transport spending.

That's according to Hamilton city councillors Sarah Thomson and Dave Macpherson.

Hamilton's population is growing at a rate of… Read more Audio