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Source: New Zealand Police (District News)
Emergency services are responding to a report of a crash involving two vehicles on State Highway 1 north of Marton, reported shortly after 2pm.
Indications are that there have been serious injuries.
The road is closed and diversions are in place. Motorists are advised to avoid the area and expect delays.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
As thousands of children prepare to head back to school, Police are urging parents to be diligent with their privacy settings before posting photos and videos online.
The start of the school year is often memorable, and many people like to mark the occasion by sharing images of their children on social media in school uniform and in front of either their home or school.
Unfortunately, sometimes these images unintentionally share more than just a picture of a happy child – they can share personal details that might put information about you and your family in the wrong hands.
While Police understand the importance of these milestones, parents and caregivers should remain cautious about the information that images posted on social media present and who can gain access to them.
While it’s rare for NZ Police to receive reports about children being located through information shared online in photos or videos, we know from our international counterparts that it does happen.
A few simple tips can protect your and your children’s privacy on social media:
Be proactive with online safety to keep your child and their information safe as they head into a new school year.
ENDS
Where to report cases if you think your privacy has been breached?
NEW ZEALAND POLICE
NETSAFE
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: New Zealand Government
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year.
“The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr Seymour.
“Our attendance goal for 2025 is to raise each school Term’s attendance rates higher than the same periods in 2024. This progress is essential for reaching the Government’s target of 80 per cent of students more than 90 per cent of the term by 2030.
In 2024, 61.7 per cent of students attended school regularly in Term 1, 53.2 per cent attended school regularly in Term 2, and 51.3 per cent attended school regularly in Term 3. Term 4 figures will be finalised and available shortly.
“Schools are now required to record and submit student attendance every day for public reporting. The publication process of attendance data from the new dashboard will be faster and allow quicker responses to low attendance.
In coming weeks, the Ministry of Education will publish daily attendance data on a new and improved interactive attendance dashboard. The new dashboard replaces the current attendance dashboard (updated weekly) on the Ministry’s Education Counts website.
“With more information about attendance we will improve educational outcomes for New Zealand children. We’re making this information publicly available and putting an emphasis on getting to school,” says Mr Seymour.
“Previously, schools were required to provide attendance data after the end of each term. The shift to daily reporting applies to all schools except for a small number of kura who will begin daily reporting in mid-2025.
“The shift to weekly reporting last year has already provided greater insights. For example, attendance on Fridays remains a particular problem, being frequently lower than any other day of the week. I encourage parents to think of the long-term impact of letting students skip Fridays, both in missed education and in setting good habits for future employment.
“This richer set of data will help us understand patterns in attendance and why some students aren’t attending. It will also ensure we can understand the effectiveness of interventions.
“This will not create extra work for schools as daily recording of student attendance is already a requirement when a school is open for instruction, the Government is now compiling the data and making it readily available. To support schools to provide more accurate data we have also reviewed and reduced the number of attendance codes that schools need to use when recording attendance, from 26 to 15.
“We all need to get behind schools so they can keep a strong focus on teaching and help as many students as possible to become regular attenders.
“If the truancy crisis isn’t addressed there will be an 80-year long shadow of people who missed out on education when they were young, are less able to work, less able to participate in society, more likely to be on benefits. That’s how serious this is.”
Note to editors:
Daily Attendance Dashboard: Daily attendance | Education Counts
Attendance data can be found here: Attendance | Education Counts
Refreshed Attendance Codes: Refreshed attendance codes from Term 1 2025
Daily Attendance Reporting: Daily attendance reporting – Ministry of Education
Amendment – School Attendance Rules 2025: Amendment – School Attendance Rules 2025
Source: New Zealand Government
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say.
“The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto a faster growth track,” Nicola Willis says.
“Tourism is New Zealand’s second largest export earner generating revenue of almost $11 billion and creating nearly 200,000 jobs.
“Making the country more attractive to ‘digital nomads’ – people who work remotely while travelling – will boost New Zealand’s attractiveness as a destination.”
Erica Stanford says updating the visitor visa reflects the realities of the modern, flexible working environment.
“This is a brand-new market of tourist New Zealand can tap into. We want people to see our country as the ideal place to visit and work while they do it.
“From today, visitor visas will allow people to work remotely for a foreign employer while they are holidaying here. Anyone who intends to work remotely for more than 90 days should look at possible tax implications.
“The change will enable many visitors to extend their stays which will lead to more money being spent in the country.”
Tourism Minister Louise Upston says digital nomad visas are becoming more common as ways of working become increasingly more digitised and flexible.
“Many countries offer digital nomad visas and the list is growing, so we need to keep pace to ensure New Zealand is an attractive destination for people who want to ‘workcation’ abroad.
“Compared to other kinds of visitors, international remote workers have the potential to spend more time and money in New Zealand, including during the shoulder season.”
The change applies to all visitor visas, including tourists and people visiting family, as well as partners and guardians on longer-term visas.
Only remote work which is based overseas is allowed. Visitors whose employment requires them to be in New Zealand such as sales representatives of overseas companies, performers and people coming to work for New Zealand employers must still obtain visas relevant to their circumstances.
“This Government is committed to supporting a smarter, efficient and predictable immigration system to grow our economy. Delivering economic growth is critical to improving our quality of life, strengthening local businesses, lifting incomes, and creating opportunities for Kiwis,” Erica Stanford says.
Source: New Zealand Police (National News)
Police can now name the two people who died following a two-vehicle crash on Milford Clandeboye Road near Temuka last week.
Benjamin Joseph Downes, aged 32, died in the crash on 22 January.
Shakana Ackroyd, aged 19, was critically injured and subsequently passed away in hospital on 24 January.
Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones at this time.
Enquiries into the circumstances of the crash are ongoing.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre.
Source: New Zealand Government
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says.
“I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I was pleased when the new Epuni development was announced by the previous National Government in 2017, and even more pleased to formally open the new homes today,” Mr Bishop says.
“This development, which will also include 30 affordable homes in partnership with Hutt City Council’s housing agency Urban Plus, more than triples the original number of homes on this site. It’s a sensible place for medium density housing, close to train stations, bus routes, schools and local shops.
“The development features a mix of one-bedroom apartments, accessible homes, and larger family homes to house Kāinga Ora tenants, as well as the affordable homes.
“I am pleased to see the support of the local community has given this project. Epuni School, Hutt City Council, and the Takiri Mai te Ata Whānau Ora Collective have worked with Kāinga Ora to ensure the development will lead to a strong community. Tākiri Mai te Ata will provide onsite support for tenants, including financial mentoring, health services, and mental health support.
“Today’s formal opening of this social housing development is another step forward as we work to end New Zealand’s housing crisis. Last week the Government announced that it had achieved its target to reduce households in emergency housing motels by 75% five years early, and under this Government the social housing waitlist has reduced by about 4,000. There is still a long way to go, but we are making good progress.”
Source: Auckland Council
A conservation effort led by Auckland Council rangers to assist one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most treasured native birds is delivering groundbreaking results.
At least 55 rare hihi chicks have hatched in Shakespear Regional Park’s Open Sanctuary this summer – a first for the species in more than a hundred years.
Auckland Council Parks Committee chair, Councillor Ken Turner, says the commitment from staff, local iwi, volunteers, and the Department of Conservation to reintroduce hihi to the Auckland mainland is a significant step to secure the future of this distinctive forest songbird.
“I’m hugely thankful for the work that our rangers and others do to build on the conservation of our region’s flora and fauna. The success of this project will give hihi the boost it needs to flourish again, and Aucklanders an opportunity to experience these little treasures in their natural environment,” Cr Turner says.
The new chicks have emerged following a carefully managed journey in June 2024 for 40 adult hihi, also known as stitchbirds, from predator-free Tiritiri Matangi Island to a new mainland home at Shakespear Regional Park.
Senior Ranger of Shakespear Open Sanctuary Matt Maitland says the council’s Regional Parks northern team, Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society (SOSSI) and Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, who all worked together on the translocation, have been thrilled to see so many of the birds breeding.
“The number of healthy chicks to arrive has exceeded all our expectations, given it’s the first breeding season in their new home,” says Mr Maitland.
“They are the first hihi – one of NZ’s rarest forest birds – to hatch and succeed in the area since disappearing from mainland Auckland in the 1870s.”
Mr Maitland credits an ongoing focus from partners involved in the project for its success, with translocation support provided by the Hihi Conservation Charitable Trust, the Department of Conservation Hihi Recovery Group, and Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi.
A couple of hihi were lost due to natural causes, but this is a great result compared with an unsuccessful translocation attempt in 2022, Mr Maitland says.
The hihi is nationally threatened, with Te Hauturu-o-toi Little Barrier Island holding the only naturally-surviving population since the 1880s.
Recovery efforts have recently established small populations in pockets around the North Island, including at Tiritiri Matangi. Shakespear Open Sanctuary now brings the total number of hihi habitats to eight.
There are thought to be around 2000 hihi in the country, making it one of New Zealand’s rarest native birds.
The council and SOSSI volunteers will continue to closely monitor the new population at Shakespear Regional Park, while working with other partners to provide enhanced protection to their habitat alongside education initiatives.
SOSSI volunteer Maree Johnston and Auckland Council ranger Bruce Harrison carefully undertake the task of banding a hihi chick.
Source: New Zealand Transport Agency
State Highway 2 between Speedy Road and the intersection with State Highway 50 in Central Hawke’s Bay is closed following a crash this morning.
Please follow the directions of emergency services on site and allow extra time for your journey.
Keep up to date with the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi Journey Planner.
Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health
Fatigue, poor concentration/memory, shortness of breath and loss of taste or smell are the most prevalent symptoms following COVID-19 infection in adults when compared with non-COVID-19 infected controls (either population controls or those with infective symptoms but testing negative for COVID-19). Children and adolescents present with similar symptoms to adults, but may also include cough and headache.
Given the heterogeneity of evidence to date, and in the absence of high-powered, robust studies, a meta-analysis could not be undertaken to accurately determine the overall prevalence of one or more of these symptoms three or more months after infection with COVID-19.
While a precise measurement of symptom prevalence remains a challenge, the knowledge that a narrower subset of symptoms can be confidently attributed to infection with COVID-19 has important implications. In the absence of definitive diagnostic criteria, this subset can inform a refined, iterative definition of long COVID-19, both internationally and in New Zealand.
The finding that four symptoms appear to be attributable to infection with COVID-19 will enable focused attention on these symptoms. This will facilitate accurate surveillance and targeted resourcing for clinical and wellbeing support where it is most needed.