The proposal, championed as a vision to transform John Street into a one-way "destination street", was unanimously rejected at a meeting of local business owners. They described it as a "terrible idea", disconnected from the realities facing a struggling city centre.
A storm has erupted on social
media following a story in the Northern Advocate reporting that the
Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre had been fined $400 for a breach
involving a kiwi. The "breach" was allowing a child to pat a kiwi
chick.
DOC's team leader for “wildlife crime” said kiwi permits require handlers to follow a best practice manual. The “crime” was that the child was not an approved handler, although Robert Webb is, and he was present at the time the offence was committed.
The release of the 2026 Labour and Green Party lists has
delivered contrasting fortunes for Northland’s parliamentary hopefuls. It has
created guaranteed safety nets for two high-profile MPs while leaving a local
challenger facing a near-impossible mountain to climb.
At 49th on the party list, Labour’s Whangārei candidate, Dr Gary Payinda, has virtually no chance of securing a list seat based on current polling. He now faces a must-win battle to wrest the Whangārei electorate from National.
The latest 1News Verian poll will be a
concern for National’s five list MPs, including senior ministers Nicola Willis
and Paul Goldsmith, and Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee.
The poll shows National slumping to 29% support, down from 38% on election night in 2023. At that level, the party would be entitled to 37 seats in Parliament, a loss of 11 from its current total of 48 seats (43 electorate MPs and five list MPs).
Party Switch
I have always been centre-right politically. NZ First aligns closely with my belief in personal responsibility, national sovereignty, equal citizenship, strong communities and practical solutions. As a proud Northlander and New Zealander, those values resonate strongly with me.
This follows the signing of a “Relationship Protocol” with Ngapuhi in August last year that recognises their status as “the sovereign people of Aotearoa/New Zealand” and acknowledges the 1985 Declaration of Independence, and includes open-ended payments to Ngapuhi.
“New Zealand’s coastal climate change planning system is built on a simple legal standard: councils must plan for the likely effects of climate change, using the best available evidence. But across the country, planning is being anchored to a future that scientists now say is implausible—and, legally, should never have been treated as “likely” in the first place.