Morning Report

The New Plymouth District Council has pushed ahead with an average rates rise of 12.4 percent despite being faced with an - at times - hostile Civic Centre crowd. They were fired up by revelations… Read more Audio

The dysfunction at the Gore District Council has been on display again with a petition calling on chief executive Stephen Parry to resign. The petition was rejected by all councillors at a meeting… Read more Audio

Police are warning of travel disruption in eastern Bay of Plenty as hundreds of gang members follow the hearse carrying the body of Mongrel Mob President Steven Taiatini from Opotiki to the Hillcrest… Read more Audio

Cheap public transport for young people, a big pledge in the latest Budget, has hit a snag with some councils unable to verify passengers' age. The plan, which will see riders aged between five and… Read more Audio

Thousands of people in emergency housing motels are without higher fire safety protections, despite Cabinet promises six months ago to set standards for the first time. The government - which was… Read more Audio

Thousands of Hawkes Bay people with cyclone wrecked homes can start sitting down with council officials from today to nut out what exactly is going to happen to their properties. 236 are in the… Read more Audio

More than forty iwi organisations have voted overwhelmingly to reject the plan, saying an indigenous led approach is the only way forward. Former Prime Minister Sir John Key announced the sanctuary in… Read more Audio

National Party leader Christopher Luxon has described New Zealand as a "very negative, wet, whiny, inward-looking' place. A spot-poll published on the news site Stuff had most respondents agreeing… Read more Audio

Dozens of Chinese migrant workers have been left jobless and destitute after paying thousands of dollars for work visas - only to be left with no work or dismissed by their employer shortly after they… Read more Audio

New property price figures out today suggest the market could be bottoming out. CoreLogic's interactive Mapping the Market tool shows that around twelve percent 12% of the suburbs it tracks saw… Read more Audio

The board of RNZ are this morning releasing details of an independent review into how pro-Russian sentiment was inserted into a range of online stories. One staff member has been stood down while the… Read more Audio