Emergency services attended a crash at New World Warkworth this afternoon, when a car collided with a pillar at the store's main entrance. A helicopter has lifted the driver to hospital.Police said at 3.55pm that the elderly driver's condition was critical.We hope the driver is okay.

Fuel taxes will be slashed by 25 cents a litre for the next three months - and public transport fares halved - as the government acts to counter soaring petrol prices.Speaking after today's Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the invasion of Ukraine has unleashed a "global energy crisis", with all three fuel types rising for the highest amount on record. Prices have increased 13 percent in the past month."We are in a wicked perfect storm and it's a storm that's impacting many people's lives."She says the impact of Russia's war on Ukraine is expected to mean "continued volatility" for fuel prices.Ardern says Labour has reduced cost pressures on New Zealand families since day one of taking office. She says what is happening now warrants a specific response.She listed the changes expected from the last Budget's Families Package, minimum wage changes and the winter energy payment.Ardern says the government has been working on additional policy over the past week, but says current transport projects and legislative changes - expanding public transport, and making public transport cheaper, and supporting fuel-efficient, hybrid or electric vehicles - must continue."This must continue and I'm signalling today that you will see in the Budget in May greater investment in this area through the climate emergency response fund."Cabinet has agreed to reduce fuel excise duty and road user charges by 25 cents per litre, for 3 months, she says."This means a potential saving of between $11.50 and $17.25 per tank of fuel."In additional all public transport fares will be halved for the next three months. "We hope this ensures that where the option of shifting how we travel is available, this makes it more affordable to take that public transport option up."Finance Minister Grant Robertson says the fuel excise change will come into force from 11.59pm tonight, and it will be reviewed before the three months is up."We cannot influence the global oil price and so therefore if we want to relieve some pain at the pump we need to look at the things we can control."He says the change can be made within hours, rather than the months it typically takes to make changes to the tax system such as GST.Petrol prices are expected to continue to rise and is not over yet, he says, and the government will also outline over the coming days the means by which the change will be reversed, but it is likely to be gradual.He says the road user charges will take longer to implement, but he says it will last for three months.It's possible this could include a change to legislation. The three-month period for road user charges would begin from whenever the order comes into effect, he says.Local authorities in practice set public transport fares, but Robertson says they will be reimbursed. He says the government is unable to set fare reductions but he is confident councils will "welcome this change and implement it speedily".This will feature in Budget 2022, so he thinks it is appropriate for it to last for the three months which would take us up to the May Budget.Robertson says the situation could get worse, stabilise or get better. He says if it got worse the government would not necessarily increase the amount of the reduction, but it could be extended for a longer time.Fuel excise goes directly into the National land transport fund, which pays for roads, public transport and walking and cycling infrastructure across New Zealand. Robertson says this work cannot afford to be delayed so the fund will be topped up for the expected loss of revenue. This is expected to be $350 million."We will be meeting the cost of this through savings and reprioritisation from the Covid response and recovery fund, in particular the reduction in costs related to MIQ."The public transport fare subsidy is expected to cost between $25m and $40m, which will also be met from the Covid fund. Because it is a reprioritisation from the existing fund, it is already factored into the Budget forecast so can be met without increasing debt.He says the situation highlights the shift to decarbonising."The reasons for us to need to do so as a country have never been more stark."Secondly, it highlights the importance of support for those most affected by cost-of-living increases, he says, and the measures outlined by Ardern are intended to address this.Energy Minister Megan Woods says she has been speaking to fuel company chief executives and most are indicating they are ready to reduce the price of petrol from midnight tonight."The government wants clear evidence that the 25 cent a litre reduction in fuel excise duty is passed on to consumers and not absorbed into fuel company profits. To this end I'm writing to all of the companies this afternoon outlining our expectation that the full amount of the excise duty relief is passed on to consumers... in addition I'm seeking daily information disclosure from fuel companies on their rolling seven-day average fuel margins to monitor industry profits."Shes says she intends this information to be publicly available and the companies have indicated they are willing to do this.There are options to pursue more data disclosure after the legislation which resulted from the fuel market study, she says.Ardern says the New Zealand economy overall is well positioned to recover, and she's confident we will get through.Ardern agrees the cost of living now "represents a crisis for many families, absolutely".Asked why it's taken so long to admit we have a cost of living crisis, Ardern says she has "always acknowledged that families have been experiencing pain as a result of the cost of living".She says after three months, the government will assess where prices are, "and then we'll ease off, so we will be careful to make sure that we don't have a jolt at the pump for families".

Statement from Kaipara mayor Dr Jason Smith following release of the Recommendations Report of the Three Waters Working Group into Representation, Governance and Accountability 09 March, 2022 Kia ora.It was an honour to represent all the people of Northland on this Three Waters Working Group. Gaining new insights into the proposed Three Waters Reforms was helpful to me, as Kaipara District Council had, and still has, many questions about the proposed reforms. The other two District Councils of the North had opted out of the reforms last year, Auckland Council is also out. I was seeking greater understanding, in the hope that I would be able to then share that with others. Being on the Working Group I got many new understandings, but regrettably they sit uncomfortably with me. I now join my fellow mayors of northern New Zealand in not supporting these reforms. Here are some key reflections about the Three Waters Reforms for me now: Strengthen democratic institutions I believed the reforms could be an opportunity for mana enhancement for councils and for iwi, that strengthening our democratic institutions is vital. I’m saddened that I believe the output of the Working Group does not seek to strengthen our democratic institutions or the work those institutions do with and for their people. I will set out my basis for this thinking below. Accountability Accountability is a key matter of the utmost importance in good governance and democracy. In Kaipara District we know the importance of accountability, as our elected Council in 2012 made itself accountable for a bad situation and resigned en masse, to be replaced by a Commission. Local democracy ended for a time in this place, restoration of faith and confidence in elected members was badly damaged and it’s slow to come back from that. With that sensitivity I approach the idea of accountability here with a principled view that public systems must be accountable to everyone when they are for everyone. This Three Waters Review has not demonstrated that will be the case. Participation and belonging The “belonging to everyone” part is core to what makes accountability tick. People who are able to actively engage with and participate with an idea or in a process put themselves into the story, creating a personal sense of belonging with that thing. They share the idea, hold others to account for it. People denied the opportunity to participate have less chance of belonging with an idea or process, no matter how worthy it may be. Te Mana o Te Wai is a worthy idea but with the Working Group recommendations not everyone is able to participate equally. I feel this is both a missed opportunity and a risk. It is a missed opportunity not to have participation and engagement of all people into the same presentations locally of these ideas that clearly affect everyone. Considering the size and scale of problems to be fixed with the Three Waters tasks we need the ideas of everyone to help lift us out of the mud. There’s a risk if people aren’t allowed to participate in the input and creation of all the plans and, instead, plans and directives are imposed on them by others, then they are more likely to reject what’s imposed. Public engagement and everyone being allowed to participate equally in the creation of plans or ideas is simply good governance. If this is done with transparency and integrity then the ideas belong to all the people. And, later on, those people can hold the leaders to account to follow through with those ideas. In these recommendations, with not everyone/only some people participating in the creation of Te Mana O Te Wai Statements as recommended, there can be no accountability in this system, as public accountability is about everyone together not only some people, as a core principle of democracy. The recommendations in the report relating to this are not constructive for our democratic institutions. Trojan Horse As a Doctor of Public Policy, at the end of the work on this policy with the Working Group, I’m reflecting that the Three Waters Reforms are most likely a Trojan Horse for “ending the tyranny of the majority”. I’d never heard of such an idea before being involved in the Working Group but I’ve heard it frequently now and it makes sense of many things that were unclear before. In August 2020 I was interviewed by TVNZ Sunday programme as the Government’s Three Waters Reforms came into view. I said at the time that I believed the Three Waters Reforms were probably a Trojan Horse for something else that wasn’t in view at the time, that we couldn’t see then. Now, here it is. Looking at the proposed reform programme in its entirety, including its new recommendations which have potentially increased the geographic scope away from local broken pipes now to every square inch of New Zealand and 12 miles out to sea, these reforms are becoming about something much larger than infrastructure. Based on the current direction, the Three Waters Reforms bring New Zealand to an extraordinary moment. New Zealand deserves to have a national conversation about what happens next because we have been led to a place between an immovable object and an irresistible force where we can’t stay. While this has started to become clear, I see it as bad policy and a recklessness of the Government to allow this situation to develop. “Ending the tyranny of the majority” is potentially a revolutionary development for New Zealand society, as the majority is where the safe seat of society is found and to up-end that is a very uncertain path. Ending the tyranny of the majority could well mean stopping democratic institutions from doing their best for all the people and I can’t support that. ConclusionsI participated in the Working Group in good faith. There is much that’s good in this journey but at the end it’s become clear to me that while there is a need for some kind of water system reform, this one fails to address the fundamental issue of funding investment in our infrastructure and seeks to adjust governance in a way that limits the ability of all people and communities to engage. In light of this I don’t support the direction of the reforms and believe these Three Waters Reforms are the wrong answer to the right question. At the end of all this journey I’m sad to say these Three Waters Reforms get a “yeah, nah” from me and on behalf of the people I represent I reject these proposed reforms. Nga mihi,Dr Jason SmithMayor of Kaipara District, Chair of Northland Mayoral Forum, Member Council of Communities 4 Local Democracy (C4LD), Member of the Three Waters Working Group on Representation, Governance and Accountability

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with Groundswell protest leaders after previously declining their requests to speak to her.The group organised protests around the country last year against environmental regulations, the 'ute tax' and a seasonal worker shortage.The demonstrations caused widespread disruption nationwide.Ardern has twice declined protest organisers' requests for a meeting.A spokesperson for Ardern has confirmed she will meet with protest organisers, who were contacted about the development earlier this week.A date for the meeting has not yet been set.The spokesperson said the meeting will be held with other farming leaders.

Desperate construction companies are poaching workers off each other at a destabilising rate.Omicron is making labour shortages worse, with many projects already fiercely competing for staff.Major Auckland firm D&H Steel Construction - which has 100 workers at home out of its 150-strong workshop - blames the government for overcooking the market with too many projects.It had 20 riggers, welders and crane drivers poached in the last eight months."We are being attacked on all sides," said managing director Wayne Carson.In central Auckland, the $4.4 billion City Rail Link (CRL) is struggling to keep workers vital for building stations."The biggest one for us is steel fixers," said CRL chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney.Fixers typically work on a daily or hourly rate, tying steel rebar together, ahead of pouring concrete."I turned up one day in January to a worksite and there was no work happening because the whole steel fixing crew had been poached to another company overnight," Sweeney said.Wellington steel fixer 'Bornch' Davies said he had to raise wages but still couldn't find workers - and the three migrant Filipino workers he employed had been poached."An extra dollar down the road and they were just gone. That was a shame 'cos I looked after them," said Davies.The Construction Sector Accord told RNZ it was talking to Ministers about freeing up entry for critical migrant workers such as steel fixers, though there had been no decision yet.From Monday, the salary threshold for the "Other Critical Worker" border exception will be lowered to 1.5 times the median wage, and there'll be no need to prove the skills aren't readily available here. But that doesn't help fixers, who on $25-45 an hour, might not meet the threshold.The fixers are at the sharpest of the many pinch points in a building sector under seige from Omicron.Waka Kotahi said there had been "significant increases" in labour lost from its road projects across the country in the past week.D&H Steel Construction's major loss of staff early on to Omicron, was "just killing us", Carson said."Production is hugely compromised."City Rail Link had one site with half of workers gone, though overall its loss is 450 out of 2000 workers.Luckily it's not tunnelling just now; but nearby Watercare is, and has had to halt its boring machine, contributing to an "inevitable" delay in completing the project, until 2026, it said.At CRL, Sweeney said Omicron would cause as yet uncalculated but "absolutely material" delays.However, he expected Omicron to peak and pass quickly - in perhaps a month. Resequencing work during Delta last year produced an "amazing"result of losing just six days once the 11 weeks of unworkable Level 4 was factored in, he said.Yet Omicron was now exacerbating a problem likely to have longer legs - worker poaching."The biggest culprits are actually the quasi-government-funded public infrastructure works like CRL," Wayne Carson said."They are high profile, and definitely paying above the market to simply try to secure the limited resources available in the market."An extra $4-$6 an hour was being offered; matching that was a counterweight to having a forward-order book that had never looked better."We can't bring resources in from offshore, Government has... really overcooked it in our opinion, which has created a perfect storm of massive demand," Carson said."All that might be achieved at the end is a short term unsustainable increase in labour rates and a hell of a lot more spending offshore to try to resource projects."Sean Sweeney said poaching had been an acute problem for the last six months. However, relief was in sight."The bigger issue for us is steel fixers tended to come from... the Philippines, and on short-term visas, and that all stopped," he said."Now, that's all going to free up again with the changing of the borders. So even the current problem... it's going to go away in the next three to six months."The Omicron squeeze is not landing evenly, with designers and engineers less hard hit as they can work remotely more."We're not seeing major impacts in terms of projects yet," said head of the Association of Consulting and Engineering Helen Davidson."Businesses are managing it well, they have the right procedures in place."However, Construction Sector Accord transformation director Dean Kimpton, said of the labour pressures, "I think it's a foretaste of what will come".The forecasts were for a shortfall of 120,000 construction workers by 2025, and the only way through was to build confidence that projects would happen, so companies would invest in people and technology, Kimptons said."The sector is a confidence sector."He is in monthly forums with Government and scores of industry leaders, with the last two focused on Omicron.They had raised the problem epitomised by steel fixers - of the immigration bar confronting badly needed workers, who might nevertheless not meet the threshold of earning 1.5 times the median wage."That's an area where the accord is engaging with Ministers."There's been no decision yet, to be fair, but the Ministers are well aware of our concerns," Kimpton said.'Bornch' Davies would hope so.He has had to patch up his 10-man steel fixing crew hit in Wellington, by using five from a crew his brother has."Since they shut the borders, you know, you can't get any migrant workers. I've been trying to get steel fixers for the last three years... you just can't get them. It's nationwide."

The National Party has overtaken Labour in the latest political poll released this evening, with 39 percent support compared to Labour's 37 percent.National is up seven percentage points, while Labour is down three percentage points.The latest 1News/Kantar Public Poll also showed the Green Party had 9 percent support and Act was down three points on 8 percent.The poll result for choosing between Jacinda Ardern and Christopher Luxon for Prime Minister was close, with Ardern on 46 percent and Luxon on 45 percent.In the preferred PM category, Ardern was on 34 percent (-1) and Luxon was on 25 percent (+8), while Act leader David Seymour was on 5 percent (-1)

New Zealanders are being warned to expect fuel prices to keep climbing as long as the war in Ukraine continues.Petrol is now hitting $3 per litre in some regions.Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told First Up he did not see prices going to $4 per litre "but I don't think we've seen the end of petrol price rises"."We'd seen a 30 percent rise in the last quarter of the last year ... that was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine."We do need to understand that the longer the conflict goes on in Ukraine, the biggest impact economically for New Zealand will be around the cost of fuel."He said every cent collected from petrol tax went straight back into roads, so making changes there would have long-term consequences.Robertson acknowledged there was a lot of pressure on households' finances."We've got huge pressure to build roads, to reduce congestion in Auckland, so there's a balance to be struck there."Automobile Association principal advisory Terry Collins said the short-term outlook was that things would only get more expensive.He told First Up the last time barrel prices were this high was back in 2008, around the global financial crisis.He said last week a barrel of oil was $92, today it is $128 - a 37 percent increase in a week."I am seeing 91 petrol in Wellington ranging from $3 and to $3.33."Collins said generally larger towns and cities had cheaper fuel.He said the high price of petrol would be reflected in higher prices across all products that were made using petroleum like plastic, tyres, and in the pharmaceutical industry.And fuel retailers are rapidly increasing prices at the pump, as sanctions prevent the purchase of Russian crude oil.Russia is the third largest oil producer in the world; and the BBC says oil and gas made up 60 percent of Russian exports in 2019 and funded about 39 percent of the federal budget.Now, energy companies are seeking assurances they are not inadvertently funding Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime.Gull general manager Dave Bodger told Morning Report about 5 percent of world crude oil supply would become unavailable for countries that were abiding by the ban."It's effectively stopped now for future flows."But does Iran come online? They have large floating storage. Is there a leak of Russian crude into the likes of China and India, and that enables supply to flow to other places."He was certain that supply would flow into Aotearoa."I think overall from the New Zealand point of view, supply will continue to flow."This is about a ... very unpleasant price effect, but supply will continue to come through."He said he was optimistic about refined oil prices a few days ago when they stabilized in Singapore for a day."Let's cross fingers that there is some stabilization ... but I'm not optimistic at this stage, unfortunately."He was hoping prices did not reach $4 per litre.Bodger said it could take up to five days for the impacts of barrel costs to reach the fuel pump here.However, looking at world markets Reuters reported that energy, which has been the standout sector performer in 2022, fell 4.3 percent as benchmark brent crude slid to about US$110 a barrel from over US$130 earlier in the week.And there are reports that Iraq and the United Arab Emirates are ready to increase production to offset bans on Russian imports.

Critics hoping for sweeping changes to the supermarket sector to bring down the cost of groceries are unimpressed with the Commerce Commission's final recommendations.Its final report into the $22 billion industry out today said Foodstuffs and Woolworths have been making profits at the expense of consumers, small food retailers and manufacturers.The commission's report highlighted that New Zealand's retail grocery prices appeared comparatively high by international standards and the profitability of major retailers also appeared high.The government is not ruling out forcing supermarket chains to sell stores if the recommended changes fail to reduce prices for consumers.The Commerce Commission's preliminary report floated some big ideas - forcing the big two supermarkets to sell some stores, and even possibly government intervention to get a third operator into the market.But its final recommendations out today are much tamer - making more land available for new stores and improving access to wholesale supply for third party retailers.Changes may not reduce prices - Food and Grocery CouncilMeanwhile, Food and Grocery Council chief executive Katherine Rich said the changes tipped the balance back towards suppliers."Certainly over the last 20 years we've just seen a shift of risk and cost onto suppliers and profits to the retailers and bad behaviour with that as well."Ideally, there would be four or five major players in the sector rather than the duopoly, Rich said.Until there was genuine competition there might not be much movement on prices for consumers, she said.And the government is not ruling out forcing supermarket chains to sell stores if the Commerce Commission's recommended changes fail to reduce prices for consumers.Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark said he unequivocally accepted the findings, but would go further if needed.He told Checkpoint that as a result of government pressure, the supermarkets had promised to make their pricing more transparent, end land banking and look at introducing a code of conduct."Those things weren't happening before, the supermarkets have accepted them ...and that will mean that people get fairer prices and a more competitive sector."He expected that if the supermarkets acted immediately on recommendations such as making loyalty programmes and promotions easier to understand, it would lead to cheaper prices.Asked why the government did not force the main two players to sell some of their assets so that a third retailer could be set up, he said it was not something that could be achieved overnight.A new big player would need to have access to the wholesale suppliers who were working with Woolworths and Foodstuffs at present. Clark has asked for a new regime to be set up so that this could happen.Clark denied that the final report meant that Labour had broken a pre-election promise to break the supermarket duopoly and fairer food prices."There is a very big sea change in the way those supermarkets are behaving."He expected to have a new law introducing changes before Parliament this year."This stuff is too important not to get right for consumers."The supermarkets respondWoolworths said it was good to have clarity about the path ahead.Managing director Spencer Sonn said it supported the recommendations."Like the government, we want New Zealanders to be confident that our supermarkets are good places to shop, and that as a business we are good to work with."As we've heard through the market study process, we know that some changes are not only required, but expected of us."Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin said competition could work better for consumers."As a result, we accept that the sector does need to change and we are committed to our role in doing that."Work to implement the recommendations in the final report is a priority for us and has already started."We've been clear throughout this process that [Foodstuff's] strategy is to become one of the most customer driven retailers in the world. This process has shown that we need to do more and we will continue to focus on improving value for customers, investing in innovation and delivering on our customer promises."

Aucklanders can see their updated property values from today, with homes in Great Barrier Island soaring by 59 percent.Auckland Council valuations show an average increase of 34 percent since 2017, with individual information by address found here.The valuation process is a statutory one, used to work out each property's share of the city's rating burden, which will be carved-up using the new data next year.It's usually every three years but was deferred in 2020 due to Covid-19 uncertainty. An audit conducted by the Office of the Valuer General in 2021 determined that the council and its valuation partner Quotable Value needed to do more work on the values before they would be ready for release, but the figures have been certified since that work was completed.The property valuations reflect the likely sales price in June last year and will be used to determine the share of rates next year.It's therefore a double edged sword - residents' homes are worth more, but for some that could bring with it a big hike in rates.The council says local board areas which saw high rises - between 41 and 49 percent in Māngere-Ōtāhuhu, Henderson-Massey and Maungakiekie-Tāmaki - had all undergone intensification in recent years.Its chief economist Gary Blick said the effects of the Unitary Plan implemented in 2016 can be seen in the valuations."We started to see these impacts in the 2017 revaluation but realistically the effect is showing now," he said."The value increases have moved out from the city centre, which is what we would expect as housing in those areas becomes more desirable."Standalone dwellings have increased by 34 percent while increases for already intensified housing types like apartments (8 percent) are slightly lower.Waitematā, which has a large share of apartments, has a lower overall average increase of 15 percent.Group Treasurer John Bishop explains that percentage increases aren't the only consideration. "It's worth noting that though we are seeing the highest value increase on Aotea Great Barrier this year, it is still one of the lowest valued areas in the region at around 43 percent of the average".Council's financial policy manager Andrew Duncan told a briefing yesterday it was not yet clear whether Three Waters reforms would change its plans to charge a targeted rate."Council will be working with the government to carry out the water reforms in the way directed and final decisions by the government haven't been announced yet, they're still working through it. And so the final form of the water reforms will then affect what the council does with its various funding instruments for stormwater."

Two Covid-infected women who put Te Tai Tokerau into a 12-day lockdown and hid from police, won't be charged.They were so uncooperative, investigators were forced to rely on CCTV footage to trace the Aucklanders' movements to hotels, petrol stations, shops and a campsite last October.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called their actions "irresponsible," "dangerous" and "extraordinarily frustrating".Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai was "ropeable" the region had to go from level 2 to 3.One of the women spent days evading police, before she was taken into custody.Both were forced into MIQ.The Ministry of Social Development https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018816152/covid-19-ministry-of-social-development-approved-border-crossing-for-northland-case-hipkins mistakenly approved business travel documents] allowing the pair to enter Northland from Auckland's Delta lockdown.They were later revoked.RNZ can reveal police finished "a thorough investigation which was also the subject of a legal review," last month.They concluded, "there was insufficient evidence to prove that the women obtained their business travel documents by deception or that they crossed the alert level border for a purpose other than what was stated on those travel documents".They said there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute.No Northland cases were connected to the women.

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck is standing as an independent candidate for the Auckland mayoralty at this year's local government elections.In a statement Beck said she was standing for mayor because the city needed "someone with local and central government experience, business understanding, and someone who can work constructively with people to get the best results for Aucklanders".The city was in an important time and needed the right choices made for its future, she said."There are many great things about our city. However, the reality is that we have crippling congestion, we have people stuck in a housing emergency and our streets are less safe. At the same time, Auckland has borne the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic with many of our small businesses and communities struggling to survive."Now, more than ever, Auckland needs a mayor with the passion, determination and skills to get things done. To be Auckland's greatest champion, to tackle our biggest challenges while making sure we spend wisely as we invest in the future of Auckland."The supercity we were promised is ours to make happen. We can't accept that things are as good as they get. Aucklanders deserve better. They deserve more say in decisions that affect them, transport that meets their needs, affordable housing and safe streets. They need to see that their rates are delivering value in their community."She would work across across the city's diverse communities to earn their trust and confidence, she said.Efeso Collins, Leo Molloy and Craig Lord are also confirmed candidates. Collins, a councillor representing Manukau since 2016, has been endorsed by the Labour Party.Two-term mayor and former Labour Party leader Phil Goff last month confirmed he would not seek re-election.The local government elections will be held on Saturday 8 October.

A bush fire in Auckland's north is threatening nearby houses as fire crews work to get it under control.The fire in Selman Rd, Dairy Flat started up just before 1pm on Sunday.The fire has spread through bushland over "four or five hectares", says Fire and Emergency New Zealand shift manager Colin Underdown.He says getting the fire under control is a "work in progress"."Right now we're protecting houses as the wind is blowing the fire towards them," Underdown says.There are three helicopters as well as a number of fire trucks on the scene.Underdown says the heat and strong winds are not aiding the fire fighting efforts.

FIRE in the Pine Valley Road / Kahikatea Flat Road areaSuggest using Wainui Road if you are in a hurry because there’s the 30km zone for road works on Kahikatea Flat Road

The head of Tourism New Zealand says 2022 looks like the year of reopening, but he acknowledges it will be a bumpy road ahead. The borders have been closed for nearly two years with only a few attempts at a trans-Tasman bubble.In response - and at the request of the then tourism minister - the organisation began honing in on the domestic market, including launching the campaign 'Do Something New, New Zealand'.Its chief executive René de Monchy said Tourism New Zealand would continue to play a role in domestic marketing and supporting the industry and regions, but its primary focus would be back on international markets."The group of people that are most likely to travel outside of the peak season and are most likely to travel furthest afield in New Zealand are New Zealanders so we'll be certainly focused on that as well, continuing to entice ourselves to travel around this beautiful country,When it came to enticing overseas travellers back, he said removing self-isolation requirements would be key."As we think about off-shore customers and off-shore trade partners, absolutely that's the news they're looking for is when those isolation requirements will come down so that people start to have the confidence to make the bookings for a trip to New Zealand."The announcement of the phased border reopening meant the long haul travellers would have time to start preparing and be able to confidently book their summer trips, he said.De Monchy did not anticipate that the lack of certain border reopening dates would impact future bookings from visitors, despite the uncertainty causing concern in the tourism industry.In recent weeks, several tourism operators have described the state of their industry as decimated.He acknowledged the hit the industry had taken and that scaling back up would be a challenge, but said it was a positive challenge."I think the industry will be focused on reopening, coming out of being dormant, reopening their doors, rehiring and hiring new staff."Bear in mind for some of these operators, they're going to have to start hiring people and spending more money before they actually start getting money through their tills so it's going to be quite challenging for them to get restarted."Last year, Tourism Minister Stuart Nash unveiled his vision for the future of the industry, including attracting more high-value tourists and a greater focus on sustainability.It was a vision that de Monchy said was playing a strong role in how Tourism New Zealand moved forward and its marketing."We talk about high-quality visitors, so part of that is going [to be] how much money do they have to spend when they come here on a holiday."But on that is also, what time of year do they like to travel, do they want to go off the beaten path, and it's really about having a portfolio of different markets and audiences that you can promote within that."For Tourism New Zealand, part of their plans was a ramp up in travel trade with the organisation training up to 80,000 travel agents to ensure they were ready to sell Aotearoa, he said.Pre-Covid, close to three quarters of arrivals in New Zealand from long haul markets would book that travel through an intermediary.

There was a true kiwi welcome at Auckland Airport this afternoon for the first group of New Zealanders returning home under the easing of Covid isolation rules.New Zealanders on board the Emirates flight will not have to go through managed isolation or self-isolate.They are receiving a warm welcome with a haka being performed and goodie bags handed out.John, who is waiting for his wife, said it is a wonderful day."Just overwhelmed, really. It's pretty emotional being apart, yeah, and just all the uncertainty. It's just brilliant."John said he just wants to hug his wife when she emerged from the Customs area.Another passenger said it is overwhelming."I can't believe it. It feels surreal, it feels really surreal," she said."It's been so long. It's been over two years since I've been able to come home."I booked my flight three days ago and now I'm here. It's amazing, I'm so happy."The first flight from Dubai was delayed for around an hour and a half but due to touch down shortly after 1pm, and be followed by a flight from Singapore.Auckland Airport arranged for the group, Haka the Legend, to perform in the arrivals area and goodie bags filled with seven iconic Kiwi food items will be handed out.About 900 New Zealanders are expected to touch down today and will not have to undergo MIQ or self-isolation.More than 30 overseas flights are scheduled to arrive in the next week.

About 900 New Zealanders from around the world are expected to touch down at Auckland Airport tomorrow.From midnight tonight, fully-vaccinated New Zealand residents and citizens travelling to Aotearoa will no longer need to complete an isolation period for the first time in nearly two years.It follows the lift of isolation restrictions for Australian travellers earlier in the week.New Zealanders can now also head to 120 countries without having to isolate on return.However, travellers will still be required to have a negative pre-departure test, and undertake two rapid antigen tests (RATs) on arrival and on day five or six.If anyone returns a positive result, they are required to report it and isolate for the same period as a community case.In a statement, Auckland Airport said it had 14 airlines flying to 25 international destinations - roughly half of its pre-pandemic levels.Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Fiji Airways and Air New Zealand will be operating the first long-haul flights.Flooring Xtra Warkworth Auckland Airport service manager Mary-Liz Tuck said many carriers were in planning phases, including seasonal operators who only flew during the peak summer season."We've already seen Air New Zealand release its plans for restarting long-haul passenger services, plus LATAM Airlines has announced it will re-establish its connection between Santiago, Chile and Auckland at the end of March," she said.Tuck added that what was below deck was equally important."Extra air cargo capacity and reopened routes will no doubt be welcomed by Kiwi exporters who rely on fast, efficient connections for their high-value, perishable goods."Prior to 2020, New Zealanders made around three million trips overseas every year, with around a quarter of New Zealanders born overseas, and an estimated one million New Zealanders living offshore.Auckland Airport is expecting 34 long-haul flights over the next week.

Auckland transport/Waka Kotahi has advised the following regarding a serious crash that has occured in the Dome Valley near Wilson Road.The road is currently blocked and will likely be closed to allow for a clean up of an oil spill.Expect delays in both directions and consider using SH16 as an alternative route.Roads

Severe disruption to coastal livelihoods is inevitableA large proportion of the world's population and critical infrastructure is already concentrated along shorelines. Nearly 11 percent of the global population, about 896 million people, live on low-elevation coasts directly exposed to climate and non-climate coastal hazards. These cities and settlements are growing rapidly as people move to the coast.Prospects for climate-resilient development are dismal because of accelerating sea-level rise and rapidly worsening climate-driven risks in a warming world. But coastal settlements nonetheless play a key role in advancing climate-resilient development because they are critical for national economies and global maritime trade.The IPCC's earlier report showed that global mean sea level has risen faster since 1900 than during any preceding century in at least the past 3000 years. This latest report reiterates that unavoidable sea-level rise will cause cascading and compounding impacts. This includes the loss of coastal ecosystems and their services, groundwater salinisation, flooding and damage to coastal infrastructure.Globally, we expect about a billion people will be at risk from coast-specific climate hazards under all emissions scenarios. In coming decades, the risk of coastal flooding will increase rapidly. It could be two to three orders of magnitude greater by 2100, without effective adaptation and mitigation.Historically rare extreme sea-level events (that occurred once in 100 years in the past) will happen annually by 2100. Some atolls will become uninhabitable by 2050. If global mean sea level rises by 0.15m relative to current levels, the population at risk of a 100-year coastal flood increases by about 20 percent. This number doubles at 0.75m and triples at 1.4m, assuming present-day population and protection.Sea-level rise as existential threatBy 2100, the value of global assets within one-in-100-year coastal floodplains is projected to reach $US7.9 to $US12.7 trillion under a mid-range emissions scenario. In a high-emissions world, it could rise up to $US14.2 trillion.These impacts will be felt well beyond coastal cities. Damage to ports could severely compromise global supply chains and maritime trade, with potentially major geo-political and economic ramifications.Sea-level rise constitutes a chronic adaptation challenge. It requires dealing with slow-onset changes in parallel with increasing frequency and magnitude of extreme events that will escalate in coming decades. At centennial timescales, projected sea-level rise constitutes an existential threat for many island nations, low-lying coastal zones and their communities, infrastructure and cultural heritage.Even if we stabilise global warming at 2-2.5C above pre-industrial levels, coastlines will continue to reshape over millennia. This will affect at least 25 megacities and, by 2100, inundate low-lying areas currently home to 600,000 to 1.3 billion people.Global aspirations for climate-resilient developmentExtensive adaptation planning has taken place since the IPCC's previous assessment. But widespread implementation is lacking and this has created a pronounced "coastal adaptation gap".We need to close this gap quickly. The report finds we already have effective ways to prepare for impacts and to cut emissions, but they must be embedded in development planning to reduce vulnerability and restore ecosystems.This depends on governments, civil society and the private sector making inclusive choices that prioritise risk reduction, equity and justice. We will also need to integrate decision-making processes, finance and actions across all governance levels and timeframes.International cooperation will be crucial. We will need to strengthen partnerships with traditionally marginalised groups, including youth, Indigenous peoples, local communities and ethnic minorities.This will require us to reconcile divergent interests, values and worldviews. We need to reduce structural vulnerabilities to climate change through carefully designed and implemented legal and policy interventions, from the local to global level, that take into account prevailing inequities.Rights-based approaches that focus on capacity building, meaningful participation of the most vulnerable groups and their access to key resources, including finance, play a crucial role in reducing climate risk and enabling transformative adaptation.Planning and decision-making processes should identify "low regrets" options that allow us to reduce emissions and prepare for impacts in the face of deep uncertainty and contestation. Governance for climate-resilient development is most effective when supported by formal and informal institutions and practices that remain flexible enough to respond to emergent risks.As sentinels on the climate change frontline, coastal cities and settlements play a pivotal role in global efforts to adapt to unfolding climate change impacts and to navigate perilous times ahead.This report deepens the findings of the IPCC's earlier report about the world's oceans and icescapes. It identifies five core conditions for coastal cities and settlements to fulfil their role in climate-resilient development.Take a long-term perspective when making short-term decisions by keeping options open to adjust as sea-level rises and avoiding new development in high-risk locationsenable more effective coordination by establishing networks across different governance levels and policy domains to build trust and legitimise decisionsreduce social and climate injustice by taking historical conditions, including past emissions, and prevailing political realities into account and proactively reducing vulnerability and inequitystrengthen local democracy by facilitating participation, involving stakeholders early and consistently through to implementation, with particular attention to engaging Indigenous people and marginalised and vulnerable groupsdevelop governance capabilities to tackle complex problems by drawing on multiple knowledge systems, including Indigenous, local and scientific knowledge to co-design more acceptable and effective responses.*Bruce Glavovic is a Professor at Massey University and receives funding from a variety of bodies that provide academics with research funding usually through contested grant processes.By Bruce Glavovic* of

Aotea Great Barrier islanders fear they will go the same way as Waiheke Island with lots of helicopters buzzing their skies.The isolated island has had five applications for helipads in five months.The local board chair Izzy Fordham said she did not know what was behind the "flurry" but they needed to find out."We're just feeling we need to look at this issue more deeply than what we ever have had to before, and if possible, try to remedy it before it blows the beautiful serenity of Aotea," Fordham said.She wonders why four of the five resource consent applications are for helipads along a short stretch of Greensides Rd, east of Medlands Beach and just 6km from Claris airport.Auckland Council has so far granted one of the five.That's the same as at Waiheke to the south, where one of the five applications that have been made in the last year has been approved, while one has been withdrawn, by the new owner of Obsidian Vineyards, Charlotte Lockhart. "It was like, clearly this is something that the community don't want," said Lockhart, who dropped the bid after she bought the business in November.Three other bids are still in the works, to add to the almost 50 helipads already consented on Waiheke since 2012, mostly from 2013-15.The new applications have galvanised opposition - a local councillor Pippa Coom says she's had "hundreds of emails" - all the way to Parliament.The Waiheke local board chair Cath Handley told MPs at a select committee hearing on the Civil Aviation Bill this week: "Our airspace is not uncontrolled, it's out of control."It's extremely dangerous."Her board, and a lobby group Quiet Sky Waiheke, have been pushing on many fronts for months: Seeking tighter council planning rules, more monitoring of flights, for the Civil Aviation Authority to declare 'special use airspace' over the island, for intervention by the Environment Court - and now for legislative change.CAA said the airspace application was being looked at.The islanders have so far failed to plug the many regulatory gaps, and even attempting to was really too big a job for a mere local board, Handley told the MPs.Helipads have proliferated on Waiheke for use by vineyards, tourism operators and wealthy holiday home owners."Most of my neighbours have helipads - only one of them really uses it," Lockhart said.She said she could see why someone who lives on the North Shore or in Coromandel might want one, but added: "There is no denying that a large noisy machine flying overhead and landing relatively near you has an impact."They had only just bought the vineyard, when the council told them that while helipad applications were not usually notified to the public, the growing opposition meant their bid lodged by the former owner, would have to be.This made abandoning the bid easier, and not being able to fly in a few wealthy customers should not impact Obsidian, the vintner said.The council has till now, considered applications case-by-case - and the threshold to put a helipad on a front lawn has not been high, with little if any building involved."There's probably consultants advising, you know, 'get in there while you can' while it's kind of quite easy to get a consent for a helicopter pad," Pippa Coom, a councillor for the Waitematā and Gulf ward, said.But perhaps not for much longer."It's at tipping point," Coom said.In Auckland city, the Waitematā local board has now asked council planners to ban all recreational helicopter landings and take-offs in urban and suburban residential areas.This was in part spurred by two high-profile bids to put in helipads at glamorous homes in Herne Bay and Westmere, Waitematā local board member Graeme Gunthorp told RNZ.The planners have so far been resistant.They told Waiheke locals last December: "Based on existing consents, complaints and conditions, a review of consents is not warranted at this time."They said their resources were under pressure from central government demands, so islanders should wait for choppers to be looked at as part of a review of the Auckland Unitary Plan in 2026.That is not an option, according to Quiet Sky Waiheke's Kim Whitaker."Within five years there could be over 100 helipads-stroke-heliports on the island," he warned MPs on Tuesday."Even more concerning is there's no official monitoring, regulation or control of any of them."Izzy Fordham has been "keeping a watchful eye" on this, thinking Aotea may need to unite with Waiheke. She had already asked the council to reverse its position on not notifying helipad applications to the public, but did not get a response, she said."Not even in the applications have I been able to find [out] why" people want the helipads, though she suspects they are for the convenience of wealthy holidaying mainlanders.But the pressure appears to be paying off, with council planners recently agreeing to take a fresh look at the controls and report back at the end of March.Councillor Coom expects them to move to make helipad consent applications notifiable, and begin giving more weight to concerns about the cumulative impact of so many choppers.Next, Civil Aviation needed to step up to regulate, and not leave it up to the council, she said.Handley and Whitaker claim the council does little to check on operators, citing a case where one was flying in three times more a month than allowed (30, instead of 10 flights) as one of the few times the council has intervened.The council told RNZ that each consent has conditions for recording, monitoring, and reviewing helipad use.