The West Coast of the South Island has been the centre of coal mining since the 19th century. The economy of the West Coast in recent years, has been dependent on mining, fishing, forestry, dairying, and tourism. Forestry has reduced because native forests in that area have trees which are several hundreds of years old, so they cannot be cut do ...…

This month is excellent for finding the five planets which we can see with the naked eye. Mercury and Venus are in the sky soon after sunset and then start to disappear. Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible later and if the sky is clear, they are very easy to see. Mars is the red planet. Venus is the brightest. Neptune and Uranus are visible e ...…

Hate speech is a crime. You can’t say thing like, “All blue people are murderers.” However, it is sometimes hard to draw the line between hate speech and free speech. Two Canadian speakers, Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux, are touring Australia at the moment and planned to come to New Zealand next. Both speakers have far-right views about r ...…

Yesterday, July 12th 30,000 nurses went on strike for 24 hours from 7am. It was quiet in most hospitals as non-urgent surgery was cancelled. Appointments to see specialists were also cancelled. A number of nurses volunteered to work while their colleagues marched in the streets, carrying signs. Nurses say it’s not just more pay that is needed b ...…

Nurses have voted to go on strike on Thursday for 24 hours. An earlier strike was cancelled after the District Health Boards (DHBs) managed to make some changes to their working conditions. However, nurses still feel they are not being paid enough. They also want an increase in staff numbers, like another 500 nurses. The acting Prime Minister, ...…

The Minister for Defence, Ron Marks, announced that the Royal New Zealand Air Force will buy four Boeing P8 Poseidon aircraft at a cost of $2.3bn. They will arrive and be in use by 2023. $2.3bn is a large sum of money for a small country with a population of less than 5m people. However, these planes will replace the old Orion aircraft which ha ...…

AirNZ has been criticised by Beef+Lamb New Zealand and by some MPs (Members of Parliament) for serving fake burgers on the flight from Los Angeles to Auckland. The burgers were made by an American company, Impossible Foods. One MP said that AirNZ should be serving our beef and lamb to show that our country has first class meat. Our economy is b ...…

Earlier this year, a number of women lawyers made a complaint about sexual approaches from some male lawyers. Often this was when the men were drunk. Some complaints were about drunken behaviour at the Christmas party in 2015 but it seems inappropriate sexual behaviour was a common part of the male culture of the law firm. Complaints came from ...…

A Wellington transgender woman, called Penelopy, visited a women’s gym and asked about joining. She chose this gym because it was the closest to her home. The receptionist asked her if she was transgendered. Then the receptionist said that only transgendered women who had had surgery could join the gym. Penelopy replied that there was a 30 to 4 ...…

If you live in New Zealand or have visited New Zealand, you know about our Biosecurity checks at the airport. Airports have dogs which can smell food in your hand luggage, and Biosecurity staff X-ray all luggage to check for suspicious items. Because we are an island country, we try to keep out insects and diseases which affect other countries. ...…

Parents will receive $60 a week for a baby born from July 1st. The payment will continue for one year. However, families who earn less than $79,000 a year will receive that payment for a further two years. The average salary two years ago was $48,800. However, for workers in main cities, the average is much higher because of the higher cost of ...…

The annual winter festival started on Thursday and finishes tomorrow. Events are in Queenstown and Wanaka. They include fun events on the snow, music, comedy shows and fireworks. The event opened on Thursday with 3 waka (large Maori canoes) being paddled across the lake. This was followed by a parade of people carrying fire torches. There are m ...…

The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, gave birth to a baby girl at 4.45pm this afternoon. The baby weighed 3.31kg. That is all we know at the moment. Jacinda and her partner, Clarke Gayford, arrived at Auckland public hospital around 6am so it was a long day for them. However, we have seen the three of them in a photo she posted on Instagram. It ...…

Today is World Refugee Day. It’s a day to remember the 22 million people or more who have had to leave their homes, because their lives were in danger. This is usually because of their political or religious beliefs which are not allowed in their country, or because of war. New Zealand has a quota for the number of refugees we accept. The quota ...…

NZ has a population of about 4.7m people. Last year we had more than 3m visitors. That’s a lot of visitors for our small population. Small communities in places like Franz Josef, Akaroa, Tongariro struggle to provide facilities like a good water supply and sewerage system, and sufficient parking. The previous government talked about a possible ...…

The annual event called Fieldays at Mystery Creek in Hamilton began yesterday and will continue until Saturday. Last year 133,588 people attended over the 4 days. This is the event where farmers come to see what new products, machinery, technology and new ideas are available. Each year, official visitors from many countries visit to find out mo ...…

The Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, was at the University of Auckland today to announce that the new Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor will be Professor Juliet Gerrard. Professor Gerrard was educated at Oxford University in England. She came to New Zealand 21 years ago to work as a scientist at Crop and Field Research, then became a profes ...…

This week you will probably find the Maori New Year, Matariki, is celebrated in your district. Most public libraries have activities and you can find out more about this celebration. Listen to and watch a video to help you find the cluster of stars called Matariki in the sky. This video starts with locating the Southern Cross and if you now liv ...…

We have certainly been reminded in the last few days that winter is here. Central Otago drivers have to watch out for snow and ice on the roads. Two days ago, some schools were closed because icy roads were too dangerous. Alpine passes like the Lindis Pass in the South Island had heavy snowfalls. In some places like the Lewis Pass, only cars wi ...…

Listen to June 5th 2017 to hear about the Queen’s Birthday Honours and type Honours in the search box to hear more about our Honours system. The Queen’s Birthday Honours list was announced today. The Honours list is a list of New Zealanders who have performed extraordinary services to our country. Bill English, who had been the last Prime Minis ...…

Today is Gypsy Day, the day when cows often move to a new property. Listen to Gypsy Day last year and follow the links to understand more about it. This year will be difficult for some farmers and sharemilkers if their cows are possibly infected with Mycoplasma Bovis. When farmers are waiting for test results, they are not allowed to move their ...…

Did you listen to the previous post? The Prime Minister announced the decision yesterday afternoon to make a huge effort to completely eradicate the disease. The government has the support of the President of the Federated Farmers, Dairy NZ and Beef+Lamb NZ. We know that already 23,000 cows will be killed but this new decision means that probab ...…

First listen to New Disease in Cows to hear more about the disease Mycoplasma Bovis. There are now more than 39 farms where the cows have tested positive for this disease, and 300 other farms where farmers cannot move their cows until tests are completed. These are often farms next door to those infected. Meanwhile, 23,000 infected cows have to ...…

New Zealanders use 1.6 billion plastic bags each year. The whole world must know about the problem of plastic getting into the ocean and the effect this is having on sea animals. What is New Zealand doing about this? For some background, you could listen to Plastic Bags and Countdown Will Stop Using Plastic Bags . Now 10 Countdown stores in New ...…

Why is the royal wedding New Zealand news? It is probably news in every Commonwealth country. New Zealand is closely tied to the UK for a number of reasons. One is the Commonwealth. New Zealand was once a British colony and most of the first European settlers in the 19th century came from Britain. Young New Zealanders who have a parent or grand ...…

If you listen to 25th May, 2017, you will hear what a government’s Budget means. The Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, read the Budget in Parliament yesterday afternoon. It took him 40 minutes to read it which is a much shorter time than some Ministers of Finance have taken in the past. Perhaps this was a short Budget. In fact, it is the fi ...…

This is a 21-year study of 7,000 children born in Auckland and Waikato 10 years ago. Yesterday, the Social Development Minister, Carmel Sepuloni, announced a grant of nearly $2m dollars to continue this study. This is a longitudinal study which means the researchers follow the same children for many years. This study follows them until they are ...…

The government is making $21.5m available over the next 4 years for special needs children in early childhood. These are children who have an intellectual or physical disability. Special needs children include those who are deaf or blind, who are in a wheelchair, who have autism or Down Syndrome, who have behavioural problems or have delayed sp ...…

This week is Sign Language Week. The Prime Minister launched the week on Monday on television, by giving a brief message in Sign Language. She signed, “My name is Jacinda Ardern. I’m the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Aotearoa.” After that, an interpreter, Alan Wendt, stood alongside her and interpreted her talk in Sign so that deaf people coul ...…

This year, growers of kiwifruit say they have a much bigger crop of fruit this year, but not enough pickers and packers. They need 1200 more workers. The warm summer this year has led to a good season for kiwifruit with an extra 22m trays of fruit expected this year. Last year, 120m trays were packed but this year, 142m trays are likely. Now 45 ...…

A large sinkhole – or tomo – opened in a dairy farm near Rotorua a week ago. It happened after heavy rain – 170mm of rain in 38 hours. The sinkholes in this area are along earthquake fault lines which make pathways for water to fall along the fault lines. The hole underground swells and opens up. The result is a big crack in the land, 200m long ...…