Morning Report for Tuesday 23 May 2023

8:58 AM.New Zealand's ratio of sheep to people has fallen below 5:1 for the first time since records began in the 1850s.

Stats NZ's latest survey of farming production and practices found there were 25.3… Read more Audio

8:53 AM.The West Coast of the South Island is bucking the nationwide trend of falling job ads and massive household costs.

The SEEK employment survey released yesterday showed job ads had dropped 16%… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.Rancid meat or the worst boiled cabbage imaginable!

That's how residents in the Christchurch suburb of Bromley are describing the rotting smell they've been putting up with for years, coming from a… Read more Audio

8:43 AM.In a world-first, a team of local and international scientists have generated fire whirls in the unlikely Canterbury town of Twizel.

Fire whirls, also known as fire tornadoes, occur during extreme… Read more Audio

8:36 AM.The Aotearoa Legal Worker's Union says some lawyers are doing so much unpaid overtime they are effectively earning below the minimum wage.

It surveyed 300 of its members and found the average lawyer… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.It has been a week since the fatal fire took hold at Loafers Lodge in Wellington's Newtown.

The police investigation into the fire is expected to continue for much of this week.

Five bodies have… Read more Audio

8:23 AM.Prime Minister Chris Hipkins met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, the first meeting between the two leaders.

National Party agriculture and trade spokesperson Todd McClay says Mr… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.The Prime Minister is welcoming the United States' growing presence in the Pacific region.

Chris Hipkins has just returned from a 23-hour trip to Papua New Guinea, where a new security pact giving US… Read more Audio

7:56 AM.Tomorrow a team of 25 firefighters will head to Canada to join massive efforts to battle wildfires just north of the US-Canadian border.

There are roughly 90 active blazes in Alberta with more than… Read more Audio

7:51 AM.Urban marae across Auckland have been working tirelessly for their communities over the past few years.

The outbreak of COVID-19, New Zealand's subsequent lockdowns and a rising cost of living is… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.Fed-up Bromley residents say they are tortured by a worsening stench from Christchurch's compost plant.

They say rotten odours from the city council-owned plant are aggravating asthma and ruining… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann 16 years ago will begin searching a remote reservoir in Portugal overnight tonight (NZT). 

The search of the Arade dam, 50 kilometres from… Read more Audio

7:30 AM.A well known Wellington man known as "Mike the juggler" has been named as a victim of last week's Loafers Lodge fire.

67-year-old Mike Wahrlich frequented Wellington's Lambton Quay and Courtenay… Read more Audio

7:25 AM.The owner of the Windmill Dairy in New Plymouth says he feared for his life when three young people - one armed with a knife and another with a hammer - stormed his business at the weekend.

It's the… Read more Audio

7:21 AM.The stricken cargo ship MV Shiling is due to arrive in Wellington Harbour at around 11am today.

The ship has been anchored in Tasman Bay since losing power near Farewell Spit on 12 May.

Joining us… Read more Audio

7:16 AM.A hearing into whether Queenstown man John Beckenridge and his stepson are dead has been told the coastline where their car was found is notorious for bodies never being recovered.

On March 13 eight… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.The Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, returned from his trip to Papua New Guinea this morning where he met with leaders from the Indo-Pacific region, the United States Secretary of State and the Indian… Read more Audio

6:46 AM.Meta has been stung with a $2 billion USD fine ($2.07 billion NZD) for breaching European privacy laws.

It was found to have been illegally transferring data from Europe to the US, which caused… Read more Audio

6:19 AM.A shortage of donations is putting pressure on foodbanks across the North Island.

Foodbanks in Auckland, Tauranga and Kaitāia are having to turn people away empty-handed.

They say as the cost of… Read more Audio

6:06 AM.6 AM Sport for 23 May 2023 with Nathan Rarere Read more Audio