Latest news with #Morrinsville
RNZ News
29-06-2025
- RNZ News
Whānau of missing 17-year-old Whetu Bennett 'distraught'
Whetu Bennett at age 14, ready to attend her school ball. The 17-year-old went missing in Auckland six days ago. Photo: Supplied / Police The sister of a missing Waikato 17-year-old says it's out-of-character for Whetu Bennett to run away without keeping in contact with whānau. Janet Jones said she is distraught at her "baby sister's" disappearance from outside an Auckland mall at midday last Tuesday. Whetu grew up in Te Awamutu and had been living with her mother in Morrinsville before moving to Auckland three weeks ago with her 28-year-old boyfriend. Speaking to RNZ from Auckland on Sunday, where the family is gathering to search for Whetu, Jones said the couple had been in a relationship for more than two years. "They were going to start a life up here and they were both looking for work. Their aim was to move up here, get a home and get a job and start a life together." She said the pair were living together in Kelston but on the day Whetu went missing they did not go home together from LynnMall where they'd been shopping. "He's [Whetu's boyfriend] told me... they went out in the morning and around lunchtime they had an argument outside of the mall so he said he has gotten on the bus to go home to take the stuff home and Whetu went a separate way to what he went to, and that was the last time he seen her is when he got on the bus and she walked in a different direction." Whetu's phone broke recently, Jones said, and before she vanished she'd been using her partner's phone to contact whānau. "He's just as distraught as we are. He's been really assistant with me in trying to locate [her]. He's been out there every day walking around the New Lynn mall, catching buses, looking down streets, looking at parks, all of that. "Yesterday he and his son were out there going to the mall, asking if police had been in contact with them for the [CCTV] footage and if they've seen Whetu come back around and showing photos and stuff to shops." Jones said Whetu had been a stepmother to her partner's 7-year-old son, who was staying with his mother when Whetu disappeared. The day after the argument Whetu's partner contacted the teen's mother in Morrinsville to inform her that her daughter was missing. Police were alerted on Wednesday and Jones was contacted by her mother on Thursday morning, she said. Jones said Whetu ran away once to a friend's house for three days but kept in constant contact with whānau and this disappearance was out-of-character. She was concerned that Whetu was reportedly "distressed" at the time she was last seen. At the time Whetu was wearing a beige top, a black dress and sunglasses. Jones understood it was a 30-minute walk home for Whetu from the mall and the teenager also had access to money. "I had asked him [Whetu's partner] if he could check the bank account to see if the money's been used but he can't check it so I said maybe we could pass that onto the police to see if she used her account." Whānau travelled to Auckland to begin their own search and were hopeful of finding Whetu with another sibling in South Auckland, she said. Jones, 37, was the eldest of 10 children and Whetu was number eight - the youngest daughter - and Jones said she helped to raise her. "We're going to have a meeting - a hui - to see what we can do to go forward, as we don't know what to do." She described Whetu as a very creative person. "She was just really bubbly. She loved babies, she loved all her nieces and nephews. She just loved being around family. "We come from a family of Christians so they've all been praying for us and praying for Whetu to come home safe, but because we're on day six now they're getting so worried that they're just coming up to Auckland now because it's been too long." Jones told police about a possible sighting inside the mall at 12.38pm that she was alerted to on social media, but police said Sunday morning there was no update in the case. A spokesperson said police reviewing CCTV footage was one avenue of enquiry. They have appealed for anyone who knows Whetu's whereabouts to contact police on 105.
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Heat on Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to deliver KiwiSaver farm promise
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The heat is on the Agriculture Minister to deliver this term on a pre-election promise to unlock KiwiSaver so it can be used to buy a first farm, a flock of sheep or herd of cows, and not just a house. At the moment, if you have been contributing to KiwiSaver for three years, you can withdraw almost all the money to buy a first home to live in, although there are a few exceptions. As a general rule, you can't have owned a home or land before. But there are some exceptions for second chance buyers who, for example, might have been through a relationship breakup. Federated Farmers has launched a petition urging the government to loosen the rules for accessing the retirement scheme, saying it will turbo charge the next generation of farmers and deliver on a commitment that Agriculture Minister Todd McClay made during a meeting in Morrinsville prior to the election. The minister has now said that his comments were a National Party promise, rather than a coalition promise. But McClay told Checkpoint he does intend to uphold the promise before the end of the government's term. "I hope to have an announcement later this year and yes, that would be before the end of this term. But the work is underway now," he said. "We're gonna work pretty hard on it. If there is a reason not to, I'll front up and tell them. But I'm confident that it will be done before the election" McClay said that while he is determined to stick to the pre-election promise, he wants to ensure that it does not come with any unintended consequences. "You've gotta make sure that it's fair cause there will be others in the economy that say, well, you know, I want to use my KiwiSaver to buy a business that also allows me to get into a farm," he said. "Secondly, it's around whether if you get a flock of sheep and what happens if you decide that you don't wanna go any further, and then purchase a home... then money might go back into KiwiSaver." McClay said that because of these scenarios, the overall policy responsibility lies with another minister. "As Agriculture Minister, I'm focused on what we can do for farmers... I think there's a much broader conversation than I'm willing to have as the Agriculture Minister." Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Richard McIntyre told Checkpoint the changes would help young farmers get on the property ladder. "This is a chance to allow young farmers to actually progress their way up the ladder, investing in in small scale business ownership with ultimately the goal of buying a farm," he said. "A tangible asset like a flock or herd that gets young farmers progressing up up the ladder within the agriculture sector makes a huge amount of sense." He said although the promise hasn't yet been delivered, he still has faith in the Agriculture Minister to deliver. "We've still got a lot of confidence that we're gonna get this over the line. It's just taking a little bit more work and a bit more pressure than we'd like it to." McClay said that this government has already delivered the majority of what Federated Farmers had called for prior to the election, as well as intending to fulfil this final promise in some form. "We announced probably 25 pieces of policy and [Federated Farmers] had a list of 12 that we had already put out. Of those, 11 have been delivered on fully or are now underway with law changes." National MP for Rangitīkei Suze Redmayne submitted a members bill late last year, which will achieve some of what Federated Farmers is calling for, but it is yet to be drawn from the ballot. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Pressue on Agriculture Minister to deliver on KiwiSaver promise
The heat is on the agriculture minister to deliver this term on a pre-election promise to unlock KiwiSaver so it can be used to buy a first farm, and not just a house. At the moment if you have been contributing to KiwiSaver for three years you can withdraw almost all the money to buy a first home to live in, although there a few exceptions. Federated Farmers has launched a petition urging the government to losen the rules for accessing the retirement scheme saying it will turbo charge the next generation of farmers and deliver on a committment that Todd Mclay made during a meeting in Morrinsville. Agriculture Minister Todd McClay spoke to Lisa Owen. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
