The Panel with Jennie Moreton and Mike Williams Part 1
Tonight on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Jennie Moreton and Mike Williams. They note the passing of Te Pati Maori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp before tackling the subject of legal aid and how it's becoming harder to access for some parts of society. They also discuss the growing abuse of politicians and the measures being taken to curb harrasment.
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RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
NZSIS head reminds ethnic communities to be vigilant about foreign interference
Andrew Hampton, director-general of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen The head of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has reminded people to stay vigilant to foreign interference and ask questions if in doubt. About 300 ethnic community leaders from across the country gathered in Auckland on Saturday for the fourth Ethnic Advantage Conference organised by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities. The discussions were centred around social cohesion with foreign interference as one of the featured topics. In a panel discussion, director-general of NZSIS, Andrew Hampton, explained what foreign interference was and reminded people to be vigilant. Ethnic community leaders at the Ethnic Advantage Conference on 28 June, 2025. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen Hampton said remembering democratic principles could be helpful, for example, people can have different views but working for a foreign state to influence New Zealand was problematic. He said community leaders had an important role to play in maintaining dialogue between each other and sharing information. His department would continue to build trust and relationships with the ethnic communities, Hampton said. "It's not a destination, it's a journey, but the consequences of us not continue this journey are dire when it comes to national security." NZSIS would continue to shed light on foreign interference, provide information to community leaders, make sure the department was accessible and approachable, and its workforce reflected the communities, Hampton said. Mark Mitchell and ethnic community leaders at the Ethnic Advantage Conference. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen Mark Mitchell, the minister for ethnic communities said New Zealand can't be naive and believe that it's invincible from foreign inteference. "We do have countries that try to interfere with their diasporas," he said. "But here in New Zealand, we have to make sure as a government we're doing everything we can do to protect them and to call out those nations when they engage in that sort of behavior." Speaking of social cohesion, the minister called for people to endorse peace and tolerance. Mitchell said with the current geopolitical tensions, New Zealand was facing serious headwinds and was in a more challenging environment compared with decades ago. Ethnic community leaders at the Ethnic Advantage Conference. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen "One of the primary messages that we have had ministry and myself, is that we're entering a phase now where our conversation should be around social cohesion and peace and tolerance," Mitchell told the audience. He alluded to the Destiny Church march in central Auckland a week ago, and said people should be united, condemn and not buy into the provocation it tried to incite. He said New Zealand should be proud of where it was but people needed to make sure they don't lose ground. "...Recognising always the ability to engage in peaceful protest and freedom of speech, but with that comes great responsibility, and with that also comes a clear message to do it whilst in a peaceful and tolerant way." Individuals should also take responsibility for the way they receive and process information, as there was a lot of disinformation and misinformation around, he said. Chief executive at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, Mervin Singham Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen Chief executive at the ministry, Mervin Singham, said social cohesion and countering foreign interference are interconnected. "From my perspective, the first line of defense [against] foreign interference is community cohesion," Singham said. "So if people in New Zealand, wherever they come from in the world, if they feel they belong here, they matter, they enjoy the equitable environment that they live in..., then they will be less susceptible to being influenced to doing things that they shouldn't in this country and that's not in the interest of New Zealand." Singham said people could be a little bit nervous about this topic because their connection with a foreign country or their sense of pride in their country of origin. "What we don't want as the panel just discussed is people becoming involved in coercive activities that are not in the interest of the country," he said. "For example, stealing intellectual property, not for New Zealand's interest, for foreign state or pressuring people to doing things that they don't want to do, but they feel they're obliged because of the threat of oppression from an offshore state." There were resource tools on the ministry's website which people could use to educate themselves about the topics, for example where to go to report an interference, Singham said. Soon, the tools, launched earlier this year, would be available in 30 languages, he said. "They might be able to be more vigilant about how influence is slowly leading into interference, those sorts of things. This is where the power of the community lies." Community advocate Eva Chen. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen Community advocate Eva Chen said the discussion on foreign interference was a good reminder, but more information and clarity was needed from the government. "I always felt that the topic of foreign interference is far away from our day-to-day lives but today hearing from the panel, I got to know that it isn't that far away." However, she would appreciate more guidance from the officials about the specific activities and what kind of information they need from the community. "It's good that we're reminded to be vigilant, but for grassroots people like us, it feels far away and something that isn't likely to happen... we might not know how to be vigilant." Chen agreed social cohesion and foreign interference were interlinked. "If we're living in a loving society, being helpful to each other, then there is less likelihood of foreign interference. "However, if we have our own agendas... especially when the New Zealand government is not providing us with enough resources, and we need to seek help from the outside world, we might be susceptible to foreign interference when we're not vigilant enough." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
New Plymouth resident claims moral victory over fate of overgrown pohutukawa
Alana Brough is the daughter of first-term councillor Max Brough. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin The daughter of a New Plymouth councillor is claiming a victory of sorts, after facing a hefty fine and a years-long battle with council over who was responsible for a massive pohutukawa outside her home. Lines company Powerco has sent in contractors to remove the 15m-tall pohutukawa at no cost, after it had grown through powerlines on Ballance St. Alana Brough, who is the daughter of first-term councillor Max Brough, was overjoyed and baked for the contractors, who were bringing down the tree in the rain. "The tree's coming down, whoohoo," she said. "I had a phone call from Powerco to say it was in the lines, and then [the contractor] Asplundh said they could come and cut it out at no charge." Brough got into a stoush with council, after asking it to trim the branches of the pohutukawa, which had grown in the leafy suburb of Vogeltown for decades, Council said no, because the tree straddled Brough's property and the footpath, and it had not planted it, while she argued it was in the berm and the NPDC's responsibility. After discovering the pohutukawa would cost $10,000 to trim, Brough planted dwarf fruit trees and a vegetable garden in her berm against council rules in an act of defiance, but was threatened with a $1000 fine, plus $50 for each day the garden remained, so pulled it out. She remained defiant as the tree came down. "It's a council tree on council land, it's up to the council to take care of it," Brough said. "Then Powerco have come in and said it is hazardous, because it's up above the power lines." Brough would still have to pay a $1300 bill to mulch the remnants of the tree, but was still happy with the outcome. The pohutukawa would cost $10,000 to trim, but Powerco removed it for free. Photo: RNZ/Robin Martin "I think it's amazing what Powerco are doing, although it makes sense, because it's under their powerlines and, if there's a storm and it comes down, it is a hazard. The contractors have been amazing, working in the pouring rain to remove this tree." Not everybody was thrilled, with one neighbour expressing their frustration on social media. "Absolutely gutted this is happening," they said. "The beautiful pohutukawa tree that we have seen out our lounge window for 25 years is being removed today." NPDC parks and open spaces manager Conrad Pattison said work on trees was prioritised according to the safety risk they posed, either to the public or infrastructure. "We've found no immediate safety issues regarding this pohutukawa, but we'd relook at it if that changed," he said. "This tree straddles the boundary between the public pathway and the private property, but we didn't plant it. If the property owner wants it removed, she can do that, but at her cost." In a statement, Powerco said it monitored trees growing close to powerlines, but it was the property owner's responsibility to keep their trees a safe distance from overhead lines. "Tree owners are sent a 'cut or trim notice', if their tree is encroaching on power lines, which is a safety risk. Powerco will cover the reasonable cost of the first cut, if the tree has not previously been cut by a Powerco contractor. "The tree on Ballance Street is being removed today to eliminate the risk to Powerco's network." Powerco said property owners were legally required to keep trees a minimum safe distance away from overhead power lines under the Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003. For more information about trees near powerlines, including Powerco's first-cut policy, click here . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.


Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
The Bill and the trees
Something which often surprises those whose only glimpse of Parliament is a few seconds on the TV news of MPs shouting at each other, is that most politicians — just like most people — actually get along fairly well. In my experience, very few MPs are malevolent figures: they genuinely are in the job to make New Zealand a better place (as they see things) and it is not at all unusual to see friendships made across the aisle. Parliament is a workplace, albeit a very unusual one, and like most workers MPs just want to get on with their colleagues and get the job done. Hence the genuine expressions of shock and grief in the House on Thursday when the news of the death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp was announced. She is the second MP to have died during this term: both she and the Green MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins were young, first-term MPs with their abundant potential unfulfilled. The unexpected adjournment was a reminder that while politics is proposition and opposition, those advancing their ideas are real people with genuine human concerns. Before Parliament came to a shuddering halt the House did get through the first reading of the snappily entitled Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme — Forestry Conversion) Amendment Bill, one of those rare pieces of legislation where Labour and National — mostly — see eye to eye. In 2002 the then Labour government passed the well-intentioned Climate Change Response Act 2002 which — among many initiatives — allowed farmers who swapped their entire property over from tending cows and sheep to tending trees, to register for the emissions trading scheme. Farmers, like most businesspeople, are practical. Once it eventuated that there was more money in lumber than livestock, pines started proliferating and productive farmland stopped generating food. New Zealand First Taieri list MP Mark Patterson offered the Bill his full-throated endorsement. Advancing this law change is part of the National-NZ First coalition agreement and is an issue close to Mr Patterson's heart: he has seen many properties in the vicinity of his Lawrence farm given over to trees. "This is the most consequential Bill to come before this House in this term of Parliament for our rural communities," he said. "Whole-of-farm conversions of some of our most productive land, if left unchecked, are in the process of shuttering large swathes of rural New Zealand. Action is both necessary and overdue." Beef and sheep farms were doing decent business at the moment, but the current price for carbon credits meant trees were far more profitable. What's more, on current trends trees were about to become competitive with dairy farming — the backbone of New Zealand's economy. "I know: I planted some myself; I've taken advantage of this scheme," he confessed. "Why would I not? It would be looking a gift horse in the mouth." Mr Patterson said he came not to damn forestry — a $6 billion export sector in its own right — but to encourage the right trees being planted in the right place. "It does create opportunities to integrate forestry in with sheep and beef farming primarily, in a mosaic-type approach, and it can help cash-flow farm succession. It's not all down side, by any means, for our rural communities." Dunedin Labour MP Rachel Brooking said while Labour thought it was slightly ambitious to hope this Bill could solve the woes of rural communities, we could all (well, apart from the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, who voted no) agree there was a problem. "We think that some more fixing will be needed in addition to this Bill," she said. "We heard the Hon Mark Patterson speak before about a piece of farmland that he owns where he planted some trees because that is what the economics were telling him to do. "He didn't have to do it, but it made good financial sense, and people will follow the incentives." Ms Brooking noted the issue was not trees per se, but how to disincentivise carbon forests on good food-producing farmland. "These are pine trees that are planted to stay put. They might be harvested once, but then they're going to stay in the ground. "It's different from plantation forestry whereby foresters are out there planting the trees and then planning to cut them down." While broadly backing the stated intent of the Bill, Ms Brooking took issue — as the opposition has with other pieces of legislation — with the short time the environment select committee will have to consider the legislation. "The report back is only August 20, which is not much time, but it is better than all stages under urgency, which, of course, this government likes to do." Not quite peace in our time, but it was a start.