ENTER OUR LATEST COMPETITION!!School Holiday Giveaway with Annie Mellor from Ray White MatakanaAnnie Mellor from Ray White Matakana is giving away a prize pack for a lucky family during the school holidays.🧒🏼🔖Pack includes:$100 Matakana Books and Pigment Art vouchers 🎨📔$50 family pass to the movies🎞plus some extra goodies thrown in for keeping busy factor! 🍬🍬Competition closes 10th July so hop to it!

The family of five boys killed in a drink-driving accident say a two-and-a-half year prison sentence is far from enough to address the lifetime of suffering they'll endure without their loved ones.Tyreese Stuart Fleming, 20, was the driver and sole survivor of an overloaded car which smashed into a power pole near Timaru last year.The force of the crash split the car in two, instantly killing the five teenage boys in the car.Whānau of those who died delivered victim impact statements at the sentencing in the High Court at Timaru yesterday.Rata Hill, grandmother of 15-year-old Niko Hill who died in the crash, said she read about the accident on social media before she knew who had died.She felt heartbroken for the families affected, and couldn't sleep as she worried for them."I stood in the tears of rain and said 'I'm so sorry you boys died, stay together and comfort one another'."Just after 2.30am I thought families would be finding out their loved one had passed. I thought to myself 'it's okay, my phone hasn't rung'."She said the sadness she had endured since losing Niko had been unbearable."Our lives have changed, I have an emptiness."Police initially charged Fleming with five counts of manslaughter, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of dangerous driving causing death in April.The judge also disqualified him from driving for five years.Justice Rob Osborne told the packed courtroom the Crown's starting point of five or six years in prison had been reduced to recognise Fleming's young age and circumstances.He said the regret displayed by Fleming in restorative justice conferences also contributed to the reduced sentencing.Stephen Drummond, father of crash victim Javarney Drummond, said two-and-a-half years in prison meant nothing."I don't think a lot of it to be honest with you, he killed five kids."You choose to drink, and you drive and everything else, it wasn't just pure accident."But lawyer Steve Cullen, who deals regularly with cases involving drink-driving, said it was a relatively normal sentence given the circumstances."It's certainly within the parametres of normal sentencing for this type of offending. The judge has to look at ... the fact that he's dealing with a very young person who's simply being sentenced for an act of carelessness, not deliberate wrongdoing."The vast majority of the populous don't come before the court for charges of this nature, so the people who come before the court tend to be vulnerable, hurting people who've had difficult circumstances in their lifestyle, so the court has to recognise that."Students Against Dangerous Driving general manager Donna Govorko agreed that no sentencing would ever recognise the pain caused to the families."The decisions that were made that day obviously had tragic consequences, and unfortunately these decisions are being made by young men and women daily," she said.She said more education was needed for young people to understand the seriousness of illegal and impaired driving."This is a culture that needs to change within this country, you know we need to start asking ourselves some really serious questions about what do we want as a country to happen."Fleming told the victims' families through his lawyer that he was truly sorry, angry and ashamed of his decisions.

The first lunar mission to take off from NZ has launched successfully.Rocket Lab launched Nasa's Capstone micro-satellite on an Electron rockets from Mahia at 9.55pm tonight. (A month-long launch window opened yesterday, only to see a 24-hour delay for "last-minute system checks".)A small Rocket Lab spacecraft called the Photon will then ferry the microwave-size Capstone toward the moon, and place it in an experimental halo orbit lunar orbit (a lopsided ecliptical path that will take it as close as 1600km to the lunar surface and as far away as 68,260 km).If all goes to plan, Nasa will later put a small space station into the same orbit as a precursor to returning astronauts to the Moon under the US space agency's Artemis programme.The cost of Artemis is stunning - some US$93 billion over 13 years.Rocket Lab's Capstone launch will cost Nasa just $14 million, however, as the Kiwi-American company again seeks to showcase its high-tech but low-cost smarts.This launch is crucial for Rocket Lab because previous Photon has been used as a "space bus" that places micro-satellites into correct low-earth orbit. This will be the first time a Photon has headed to another celestial body.It also marks an increasingly close relationship between Rocket Lab and Nasa.Rocket Lab has a number of projects in the pipeline, including a contract (for an as-yet-undisclosed sum) to design and built two Photon spacecraft that will go into orbit around Mars in 2024, after being carried to the red planet by a Nasa-provided rocket. The mission's aim is to shed light on how Mars lost its once-habitable atmosphere.Rocket Lab also recently won a contract to make a radiation-hardened solar panel array for Nasa's Glide spacecraft, due to launch in 2025.Glide (an acronym for Global Lyman-alpha Imagers of the Dynamic Exosphere) will survey the exosphere, the little-understood outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere).Rocket Lab did not put a value on the Glide contract, but it's part of an ongoing push to diversify its revenue from rocket launches to a lot of business in "space systems" too. And it was possible because Rocket Lab bought SolAero, a New Mexico maker of solar components, for US$80m ($125m) last December - the fourth of a series of purchases of North American space system makers.And Rocket Lab's new Launch Complex 2 in Virginia - soon to see its first launch - sits inside Nasa's Wallops Flight Facility.The Capstone launch comes after a month of mixed fortunes for Rocket Lab's rivals.The Elon Musk-owned SpaceX managed two Falcon 9 launches within 15 hours (a rapid-fire capability Rocket Lab hopes to match with its recently opened second launchpad at Mahia), while a failed launch by Astra destroyed two Nasa satellites.Rocket Lab shares, which reverse-listed at US10 last August and shot to US18.69 the following month, were recently trading at US$4.10.While the Kiwi-American firm recently reported that its forward-bookings had fattened to US$550 million, and that it had won major funding from both the US military ($34m) and the state of Virginia ($69m) in support of its new, much larger Neuron rocket, due for its first launch in 2024, its stock has been caught up in the general Tech Wreck 2.0 downdraft.This story first appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in a US prison for helping disgraced former US financier Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls.Maxwell, 60, was convicted last December of five charges of recruiting and trafficking four teenage girls for abuse by Epstein, her then boyfriend.One of her accusers said outside the court earlier that she should remain in prison for the rest of her life.Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.He had been awaiting his own sex trafficking trial.Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes took place over a decade, between 1994 and 2004.Maxwell, dressed in prison clothes, apologised to the victims.She said she empathised with them and meeting Epstein was "the biggest regret" of her life."My association with Epstein will permanently stain me," she said, adding that she hoped her sentencing would allow the victims "peace and finality".Epstein, who mixed with some of the world's most famous people, killed himself in prison in 2019 as he awaited his own sex trafficking trial.Maxwell has been in custody since her arrest in July 2020, held mostly at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where she has complained of the stink of raw sewage in her cell.The case against the British former socialite has been one of the highest-profile since the emergence of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to speak out about sexual abuse.Annie Farmer, left, and her lawyer Sigrid McCawley arrive at court for the sentencing hearing of Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo: AFPThe judge allowed four women to speak at the hearing, as well as allowing a statement by Virginia Giuffre to be read by her lawyer in her absence.Annie Farmer, the only victim on the indictment to give evidence under her full name during the trial, was the first to speak.Maxwell chose not to look at Farmer throughout her statement, instead choosing to look straight ahead, occasionally sipping water.Farmer had to pause midway through her speech in order to contain her emotions but continued to read her statement to the court in full.Sarah Ransome, right, and Elizabeth Stein arrive at court for the sentencing hearing. Photo: AFP / Getty ImagesSarah Ransome, who did not testify at the trial but was due to give an impact statement, spoke outside court alongside fellow accuser Elizabeth Stein."Ghislaine must die in prison because I've been in Hell and back for the last seventeen years," Ransome said."I was 10 years old when Liz Stein was being trafficked. I was 10. That is how long this sex trafficking ring has been going on for. And it should have just taken one survivor to come forward for us to be taken seriously. It should not have been this hard."During the trial, Farmer and three other women, identified in court only by their first names or pseudonyms to protect their privacy, testified that they had been abused as minors at Epstein's homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands.They recounted how Maxwell had talked them into giving Epstein massages which turned sexual, luring them with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them.Maxwell's lawyers have tried to portray their client as a positive influence on other inmates in jail, offering to teach them yoga and help them learn English.Epstein's crimes were first reported in the media in 2005 and he served prison time in Florida in 2008-09 on a state charge of procuring a minor for prostitution.Following numerous lawsuits, he was arrested again in 2019 in a federal case in New York.

A judicial review of the government's vaccine rollout for children aged 5-11 has begun today at the High Court in Wellington.A group of parents - all of whom have name suppression - are seeking a judicial review on the basis that the provisional consent process for the children's vaccine was flawed and illegal.They claim the government cut corners in its decision to expand the rollout to children and ignored concerns about the adverse side effects of the vaccine.Earlier this year the group failed to achieve an interim halt to the children's vaccine rollout until the judicial review.The group say they have continued with their case because of their concern for the wellbeing and welfare of children.Addressing the court today, the group's lawyer, David Jones, said the government's decision making must be questioned."When one has the government bodies who are charged with making decisions that can affect young people, we have a situation where that must be given the closest scrutiny," he said."Government agencies tend to say they got it right and continue to say they got it right - but it doesn't mean they are right".Jones said the government's process to approve the vaccine was rushed and an "absence of data" of the effects on people who were going to be vaccinated was "concerning"."It is concerning that known issues with the mRNA technology and also the information that is being promoted and the information that is being withheld in some ways."He claimed the government's statements that it cut no corners in the consideration for the vaccine rollout "are simply incorrect".The group referenced the work of Dr Robert Malone in the hearing - an American who is vaccinated himself, helped invent mRNA vaccines, but whose claims of vaccine side effects have been long and widely disputed by the international community.Jones said that evidence shows "healthy children do not need synthetic product to protect themselves from Covid-19" to which Justice Warwick Gendall asked: "what about unhealthy children?"Jones referred to the ways in which children who were unhealthy could be protected from the virus, such as isolation."But if you're going to have a vaccine which could compromise the health of healthy children, then it should be further away as far as unhealthy children are concerned," he said.Nearing the end of the day of evidence from the applicants, Crown lawyers, representing the Minister of Health, were able to respond to some of the claims today.Lawyer Kate Weaver said that there has been plenty of time dedicated to a robust consideration of the rollout by the Crown.She said the government had a responsibility to treat the rollout with urgency, as it was dealing with the Delta outbreak."Fortunately for the vast majority of children, [Covid-19] is a mild illness, and the Crown does not dispute that, and all of the documents make that clear - but it can cause severe disease in children, including in healthy children," Weaver said.Responding to Jones' comments on unhealthy children's protections - being isolation - Weaver said that was a wholly unacceptable approach for the government to take."Children who are at high risk for whatever reason, their parents should have the option of choosing to vaccinate their child rather to have to keep them at home."The Crown said there clearly was a high need for the rollout and the decision was an urgent matter.Citing a report that was considered by Medsafe and previously presented to the Waitangi Tribunal, the Crown argued stripping the rollout would disproportionately impact Māori and Pacific children.The report highlighted Māori and Pacific children, much like adults of the same ethnicity, were disproportionately at risk of contracting the virus, and experienced worse health outcomes compared with other children.The court proceedings will continue tomorrow.

More than 100 firefighters are battling a large blaze with potentially toxic smoke in an industrial building in the Auckland suburb of Penrose.Residents in Onehunga, Māngere Bridge and Favona were being told to keep windows closed and stay indoors if possible.Crews were called to the industrial building in Neilson Street, which was well engulfed by flames, at 1.55am.Fire and Emergency said potentially toxic smoke was being carried by wind over nearby suburbs.Incident controller Brad Mosby said firefighters had contained the spread of the blaze but the building was still alight."Our firefighters did a really good job to contain the fire spread in the building," Mosby said."To start with, the smoke was going straight up, but the wind is now taking it across Onehunga, Māngere Bridge and Favona, so we're asking residents to keep their windows shut and stay inside if possible this morning."We would also advise people to stay away from the Neilson Street area of Penrose."

A drug expert says there is no evidence to suggest widespread underground fentanyl use in Aotearoa.A dozen people have been hospitalised due to suspected fentanyl overdoses in the Wairarapa region.National Drug Intelligence Bureau manager detective inspector Blair Macdonald said education was crucial to the opioid crisis.Macdonald told Morning Report police were making inquiries to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the supply of this drug, and to understand where it was imported from.He was confident it was imported because "the licit supply here in New Zealand is typically in liquid form, whereas this fentanyl was powder, and so highly likely that's ... generated from China".He said two of the victims over the weekend bought what they believed to be cocaine.Drug information website High Alert said 12 people displayed the same symptoms as an opioid overdose after consuming white powder sold as cocaine and methamphetamine."I actually handled the sample yesterday when we were testing it and to my eyes, it is indistinguishable from cocaine," he said."Upon the testing that we conducted yesterday, this drug was fentanyl only and didn't have any cocaine in it."He was encouraging users to get their powders tested."In North America alone for 2021, this particular drug killed over 60,000 Americans and there is quite a pandemic in relation to the substance fear."I don't believe we're looking at an uptake or something like that occurring here in New Zealand."However, he said the drug could cause harm because it was highly active in small doses."What it does is it decreases respiratory and heart function. What we saw over the weekend was most people very quickly losing consciousness."So if you happen to be an individual who's with someone who's taken something and they lose consciousness, they need to be ringing 111 and seeking an ambulance immediately. And again, be really open and honest with the ambulance or the first responding people, you won't get in trouble, but let them know."Macdonald said education about substance use was the priority."We are surprised that we've seen this drug pop up, particularly the Wairarapa area."It's really important that we create resilient communities, giving people the opportunity to understand the real risks behind the substance, such as fentanyl, and making sure that we are addressing some of the underlying issues that actually help people in a position where they choose or want to choose to use drugs."

Four years after Waka Kotahi was slammed for not doing its job of keeping roads safe, a core unit of it has been labelled so ineffective it is being pulled apart.The unit undergoing a restructure includes the road network safety team.The unit's head said in an internal report a month ago, obtained by RNZ: "Increasingly, our functions and ways of working are perceived as barriers to better regulatory outcomes."We have lost clarity of how we add value, why we are here, what we exist for."Transport industry sources question if the restructure will work, asking why it is getting rid of all of the unit's seven engineer jobs.Waka Kotahi has been struggling to meet its targets to make roads safer. RNZ has asked what role the network safety team played in that.Since 2018 the agency has installed just a fifth of the median barriers due by 2024 to prevent head-on smashes on state highways, and less than a fifth of the side barriers.The harm being done by trucks and utes on roads is the main item highlighted in WorkSafe's explanation last year for why work fatality and harm rates are not coming down.Waka Kotahi was ordered by the government in 2018, after various damning inquiries, to get its act together on the regulatory front.But the internal report says the four-team System Integrity unit has not done that.It labels it "not fit for purpose" and "no longer effective"."In many cases external parties and internal Waka Kotahi teams are finding ways to work around us - effectively shutting us out of the tent," the unit manager Chris Rodley wrote."Therefore, we are no longer effective in our roles or in the delivery of our functions."The four teams in the unit worked in silos and did not know what they were meant to do to deliver on the 2020-25 regulatory strategy."We do not have a risk-based and intelligence-led prioritised work programme," said Rodley, who came to NZTA from the Ministry for Primary Industries just over a year ago.By stark contrast, an external review last December that Waka Kotahi promoted to the media, found it had made "significant progress" on regulatory improvements.The agency has been telling partners this year that its regulatory function "is now clearly defined and understood, and we have a clear pathway forward".The external review found Waka Kotahi had clarified its direction, roles and responsibilities, and the changes needed to be a "highly effective" regulator, the agency said.Those changes included further work to be more responsive and focused on core purposes, and covered the restructure."It is important to note that network safety is not the responsibility of a single team within Waka Kotahi, it is at the heart of the work that all of our teams deliver," director of land transport Kane Patena said in a statement."The realignment of functions does not diminish the importance of network safety, in fact, it enhances it by ensuring the technical expertise required is well supported, aligned and focused on land transport system priorities."At the same time, an internal email said the System Integrity unit "has grown to the point that their current operating model isn't sustainable".Reducing risks on the road is proving tough.WorkSafe in its 2020-21 annual report said, "There has been an increase in truck accidents per kilometre driven since about the middle of the past decade."Road-to-Zero targets for new median barriers and side barriers are in danger of being undershot: 61km if medians have been installed against a 2024 target of 300km (not including new highway medians); 312km of side barriers against a target of 1700km.The latest stats on roundabouts are better: 77 safety improvements so far - versus none as of last year; and lower speed limits on 584km of highway.The agency said $3.6 billion was invested in safety from 2018-21, and another $2.9 billion would be up till 2024.The System Integrity unit's restructure was expected to be finished next month.As outlined in documents, it scuppers four teams - Network Safety, Vehicle Standards, Operational Policy, and Driver and Operator - and sets up four new teams - regulatory technical, implementation, programmes, and standards and guidance.Most of the positions within the old teams were to be scrapped or "redeployed".Seven engineering positions were to go in favour of new "technical advisors".A stated aim was to shift the focus of managers away from "technical knowledge", and towards leadership and management.One industry source RNZ agreed not to name, gave the restructure a one-in-10 chance of succeeding. "It is going to be worse 'cos I no longer know who to talk to," they said.Many sources over recent years have told RNZ Waka Kotahi lacks technical nous, an impediment to improving the likes of truck and brake rules.The restructure announced in May allowed for a two-week consultation period "to give everyone certainty as quickly as possible".Since the 2018 regulatory debacle, Waka Kotahi had more than doubled its number of inspectors from 82 to 184.Numbers have also soared away from the front line: HR staff have doubled from 57 to 122; admin up 60 percent to 509; accountants from 44 to 66; and communications almost trebled from 32 to 88, according to figures released to the National Party in response to written questions.Transport Minister Michael Wood told National, that increased numbers were a response to "an expanded mandate to meet government expectations and outcomes, improvement to capability in support services such as IT, and investment and resourcing in the regulatory function at Waka Kotahi, which was left in a state of disrepair by the previous National government".Road safety work also falls on police.Their numbers of officers warranted to do health and safety investigations including of truck accidents has dropped from 27 two years ago, to 23 now, though there are more trucks on the road.

OVERNIGHT MOTORWAY CLOSURES: 26 JUN - 01 JULA wide range of overnight closures are planned on the Auckland Motorway network for the upcoming week (Sun-Fri, 26 June to 01 July), including northbound lanes on the SH1 Southern Mwy between Bombay and Papakura on Mon night (27 June) between 9pm and 5am.Check here for the full list of overnight roadworks that may affect your late night journey next week: https://www.nzta.govt.nz/.../auckland-overnight-motorway.../Please note that all overnight motorway closures are subject to weather and other factors and may be cancelled or postponed at late notice.To check for the most current overnight closure information please visit our website (journeys.nzta.govt.nz/traffic) before you go each day.

Yesterday's brief power emergency is a good reminder for people to be prepared for power cuts, a consumer advocacy organisation says.National grid operator Transpower issued an alert to power companies just before 8am on Thursday, warning of a risk of insufficient generation and reserves to meet demand.Consumer New Zealand's Paul Fuge said complacency about power outages is the downside of having a generally reliable system."People kind of get used to their power being reliable and we're not prepared as we probably should be for situation... situations will arise despite best endeavours, you know there will always be a time when things don't go according to plan or the weather doesn't play ball or we get an emergency."Consumers should be aware of the risk of a power outage and ensure they're prepared for one to happen at any time, he said.The National Party said the vulnerability of power supplies was a huge concern.Opposition spokesperson Nicola Willis said the Energy Minister's main job was to keep the lights on, and the grid emergency showed that was at risk."National has been clear - we thought the decision to stop exploration for oil and gas was a bad one and we're now seeing the consequences of that."We are now importing more coal from Indonesia than ever before and we're seeing more insecurity in our energy supply as generators are less able to look to gas for a solution."Energy Minister Megan Woods said the national grid operator worked with power companies to cut the load - including switching off hot water - and no-one lost power, she said.

Events Roundup for this long weekend:Friday 24th June MatarikiMatariki Celebrations at the SculptureumSaturday 25th JuneMangawhai Tavern MarketBarfoot & Thompson - Charity Sausage SizzleCreative Carving Workshops The Matakana Village Farmer's MarketSunday 26th JuneWarkworth Country MarketCreative Carving Workshops

A woman ran screaming from Murrays Bay Beach this afternoon running from a man wielding a large knife. He chased the woman up the beach. The woman managed to stay out of reach and called police they arrived 10 minutes later .Local people apprehended the man believed to be in his early twenties. Several people were left hurt.Police are currently updating the incident.

A new weedkiller to target wilding pines has been approved for use in New Zealand.Wilding pines cover 1.8 million hectares of New Zealand land, threatening biodiversity, native bush and farmland.But the weedkiller Method 240 SL, which has just been approved by the Environmental Protection Authority, could help to stop their spread.The herbicide can be used to control wilding conifers and other woody plants on non-crop farmland, conservation land and recreational parks. Its active ingredient, aminocyclopyrachlor, is new to Aotearoa, but has been approved in Australia, Canada and the US.The hazardous substances manager at the Environmental Protection Authority, Dr Lauren Fleury, said Method 240 SL was a valuable addition to fight the pines' spread."I think we can see from the struggles that people are having at the moment and the fact that they [the pines] are still spreading, it really is important that we can approve new tools for dealing with problematic wilding conifers," she said.Dr Fleury said the herbicide can be applied aerially to better target hard-to-reach areas."That's one of the challenges in dealing with wilding pines is that are often in remote and inaccessible areas," she said."The aerial application can be done by spraying large areas, but it can also be used in a targeted manner. It can also be used on the ground and applied to individual trees."Unless stopped, wilding pines will cover 20 percent of New Zealand in 20 years, she said.Dr Fleury said strict controls will be applied to the herbicide and how it can be packaged, labelled, stored, disposed of, transported, handled and used.The EPA received three submissions supporting the new chemical and six against.

PLAN AHEAD: HOLIDAY TRAFFIC DURING MATARIKI LONG WEEKEND Heading away for the long weekend? Plan ahead for possible congestion on key routes across Northland State Highways with the help of our interactive holiday journeys map here:https://www.journeys.nzta.govt.nz/.../matariki-weekend-2022/ Popular holiday routes include, SH1 Whangarei and SH1 in Kawakawa. Consider leaving when traffic is lighter, either early in the morning or late at night, or look for an alternative route and always remember to drive to the conditions.

Although the weather was a bit cold and threatening rain with lightening predicted, this didn’t deter over 100 people from jumping in the water, many hooting and hollering as the cold hit them! There were just as many spectators on the shore encouraging the swimmers on!This year’s event was the biggest turn out yet, beating the 80 odd people last year. There were plenty of young ones and the oldest person was 94!Photos credited to Jane EnderbyThe Leigh primary school raised over $1000, beating last year so they will be pleased.The Leigh pre-school raised $150 providing tea and coffee donated by New World Warkworth.The Leigh Minimisation made about $60, selling products made from recycled wool and materials.The Leigh Community Patrol were there to support their new organisation and Pest Free Leigh was giving out more rat traps.This is a small community with big hearts, very supportive and all is done by volunteers! Well done to everyone involved and those brave enough to get in the water!  Written by Jan Scott and Anita Savin. 

Matariki is a time to gather with whānau and friends, to gaze at the stars, to reflect, hope and plan - and to celebrate. Here are nine ways you can embrace the kaupapa of the Māori New Year in Tāmaki Makaurau – one for each star in the cluster.1. ReflectIn te ao Māori, Matariki is about the reappearance of the constellation to the sky, honouring loved ones who have died in the preceeding year, and blessing the year ahead. Umu Kohukohu Whetū will be held at Ōrākei Marae on Takaparawhau / Bastion Point as Matariki reappears in the morning sky on 21 June. At home, you might like to light a candle to remember loved ones or try to do your own Umu Kohukohu Whetū. Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei have produced a booklet as a DIY guide.2. GatherMatariki is a time for coming together. Over the weeks of Matariki Festival, events in each corner of the region will unite Aucklanders in celebration. Check matarikifestival.org for events in your community.3. StargazeOn a clear night, head to your nearest maunga or north-east facing beach before dawn – the best time to spot the cluster - check out the 5 places we recommend here. Or take the tamariki to the Stardome at Maungakiekie in the evenings. Matariki Lights at Stardome is on until 25 June featuring an installation of moving pillars of light with the beautiful sounds of taonga pūoro. Or head to the Matariki on the Move shows in later weeks and take a virtual journey to the stars with live music performed by contemporary Māori musicians.4. FeastSeveral Matariki stars are associated with food, and it’s an excellent time to invite whānau and friends over for a Matariki midwinter hākari (feast) – perhaps a pork roast, served with rewena bread and hearty traditional kaiwhenua such as kūmara, taewa (Māori potatoes), taro, uwhi (yam) and pūhā, and kaimoana starters. After dinner, have a crack at mū tōrere, a Māori board game you can create yourself.5. NurtureA focus of Matariki is acknowledging nature’s gifts and planning for future harvests. Many community planting days are planned around Tāmaki Makaurau to coincide with Matariki. Or nurture your own garden and prepare it for the journey through to spring.6. Share storiesWhether through kōrero, waiata, dance or art, Matariki is a time to share our stories and those of Aotearoa and our tīpuna. Tell your stories to your whānau, your workmates and your friends. Here are some story thought-starters aligned with the kaupapa of Matariki: What made you happy this year and what have you enjoyed? What didn’t work out, and what won’t you miss about the year that’s gone? And in the spirit of looking to the future, what stories do you want to be telling this time next year?7. LearnThere’s so much more to Matariki than the appearance of the famous cluster in the sky, and the traditions that accompany it. Matariki is an ideal time to enrich your knowledge of the stars - starting with their names and the stories behind them - and deepen your understanding of its significance within te ao Māori, along with te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and a whole lot else! The very act of learning ties into the kaupapa of enriching the self for the year ahead.8. CreateCelebrate traditional crafts of Aotearoa by trying weaving or making poi, kites or kete. Many community hubs are offering Māori arts and crafts workshops during the weeks of Matariki. Check out our guide to making traditional kites as well as an easy-to-follow guide to home-made poi.9. Wish upon a whetūMatariki encourages us to look to the future. At the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson, manuhiri can write down a wish to Hiwa-i-te-Rangi, the youngest whetū (star) in the cluster and tie it to the whai (string game) installation by artist Penny Howard. At a dawn ceremony to mark the end of Matariki on July 16, the wishes will be burned and sent up to Hiwa to mark the new year.

Former British TV presenter Noel Edmonds has put his Matakana mansion up for sale. Edmonds used to host Deal or No Deal and Noel’s House Party and heavily involved in Radio One programming.Noel only brought the Sharp Road estate last year but has decided to sell up. Perhaps him and his wife will move into one of the many properties they have been buying up around NZ since gaining residency in 2020. They came in under the Investor1 category, which requires $10 million of investment over three years. They reportedly have at least three properties just in Nelson.Ray White Matakana / Omaha agent Annie Mellor is selling the home. For all the details call Annie on 027 929 7767

Six young people who were playing with BB guns have been let off with a warning after sending an Auckland mall into lockdown.Armed police rushed to Glenfield Mall around 8pm after a report a person had what appeared to be a firearm. Instead, police say officers found a group of youth in an underground car park with three toy guns. The six young people were taken into custody and the BB guns were recovered by police.Police soon let the youths off with a warning. Police said the mall went into lockdown on its own accord.Many customers reacted on social media to the scare. "Everyone avoid Glenfield mall at all costs and all surrounding areas," one wrote on Facebook. "We've just left there as we were trying to enter we were informed by the mall security that (there) are gunman on the ground floor."Shanan Halbert, the MP for Nortcote, also reacted on his official Facebook page."I am pleased that no one has been hurt but it is very frightening for the public Glenfield community. Thank you to our police for acting swiftly on this."

Matariki is the Māori name for the cluster of stars called Pleiades or The Seven Sisters. This group of stars rises midwinter here in NZ and for Māori symbolises the start of a new year.Traditionally Matariki was a time to acknowledge the dead - honouring those who have passed on since the last rising of Matariki; to release their spirits to become stars! A similar tradition exists in Mexico with Day of the Dead celebrations where they dress up, sing, dance and make offerings to people who have passed. Matariki is also a time to reflect and look forward to the promise of a new year. An opportunity to give thanks for what we have; to share and feast with family and friends. Sounds like an amazing potential for merriment and gratitude!Matariki celebrations were once popular before the 1940s but fell out of favour until the 2000s where it was revived. Hopefully with it officially becoming a public holiday this month, more of us will get involved and celebrate its true essence.The Matariki public holiday will always fall on a Friday and will shift slightly each year to align with the Maramataka (Māori stellar-lunar calendar). The first official Matariki public holiday is on June 24th this year. However, the date will be 14th July in 2023, and different once again for 2024.Matariki Public Holiday Bill passed its first reading on 30th September 2021 with 77 votes to 43. A total of $10 million is provided by the government for Matariki and Waitangi Day celebrations and events. New Matariki educational resources will be available for schools and Kura.According to MP Kiritapu Allan (Minister of Justice) “research shows there are many benefits to public holidays, with business representatives themselves noting Matariki would give a much-needed mid-year boost to the hospitality and tourism sectors….And we all know holidays contribute to employee well-being by reducing stress, helping to prevent burn-out and promote work-life balance.”We know for ourselves the benefits to our wellbeing of having public holidays…but what about the costs?The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has said the cost will be “something in the order of $400 million per annum and that cost has to be picked up somewhere along the line.” ACT party puts the cost at about $450 million. Much of these costs will be put on employers to cover employees who would be away from work; with increased payments for employees who work the public holiday. Both ACT and National have called for an existing holiday such as Labour Day to be dropped to compensate for Matariki being picked up, otherwise they believe the cost is too great. But could Kiwi’s adjust to not having Labour Day when it has been a public holiday since 1900?MBIE estimates that the net financial impact of a new Friday public holiday is between a net positive (benefit) of $25.7m and a net negative (cost) of $133m depending on the assumptions made about the value of people’s leisure time. It is a difficult one to know the true cost to taxpayers, but we know business owners will bear the biggest brunt and will have to pass that cost on to consumers.The timing of this first Matariki statutory holiday could be better, with many businesses already stretched financially (and emotionally) after an incredibly challenging few years due to lockdowns. However, hopefully it will bring benefits to businesses and the economy with the tourism and hospitality industry benefiting from increased spending.Money aside, perhaps for this new and true Māori public holiday, we can really appreciate what it truly represents: honouring our loved ones (e aroha ana) that have passed; spending quality time with our loved ones who are still on Earth; being grateful we are still here and for all that we have, and perhaps remembering businesses who are doing it tough in order for us to have this new public holiday to enjoy.References available upon request.