Latest news with #NewZealand
RNZ News
24 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Missing 17-year-old last seen at a mall in Auckland's New Lynn
Police are looking for missing 17-year-old Whetu Bennett, who was last seen at LynnMall in Auckland on Wednesday. Photo: Supplied / Police Police are seeking the public's help to find a 17-year-old girl who was last seen at an Auckland mall. Police said Whetu Bennett hadn't been seen since about 12pm on Wednesday when she was at LynnMall, in the suburb of New Lynn. However, a family member who posted on Facebook said her "baby sister" hadn't been seen since Tuesday. The woman said Whetu was wearing a black dress, beige top and sunglasses. "Her partner has called my mum in Morrinsville to inform her that he hasn't seen her since yesterday," the sister posted on Wednesday morning. "She isn't from Auckland and hasn't got anyone up there she knows. Please share my post. I'm absolutely [heartbroken emoji]. She said Whetu had no phone to call or message her family on. The post had been reposted by a New Zealand Missing Persons page and other family members had friends had also made desperate pleas for Whetu to contact them or go to a police station. A police spokesperson said on Saturday night, Whetu was still missing and police would assess information as it came in. The spokesperson said a family member reported Whetu missing and that the teenager had recently moved to Auckland from Waikato. Police re-posted the appeal three hours ago and asked anybody who knows the whereabouts of Whetu to contact police on 105 and quote the police reference number 250626/5181. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
24 minutes ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Rugby live updates: Māori All Blacks v Japan XV
The Māori All Blacks players perform the haka, Toyota Stadium. Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura/Action Press The Māori All Blacks return to action with another trip to Tokyo, where they will face a tough local selection before their upcoming match with Scotland in Whangarei. Kick-off is at 9:05pm NZT.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Tā Māui Pōmare day: Sir Richard Faull pays heed to Māori health pioneers
Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), Apirana Ngata, and Maui Pomare at Avondale camp on 20 October, 1914. Photo: public domain Cars lined the streets leading to Ōwae Marae in Waitara on Saturday to celebrate Tā Māui Pōmare, a 20th century medical doctor and New Zealand's first Māori Health Minister. Sir Māui Pōmare Annual Commemorations happen every third Saturday in June at Ōwae Marae, sometimes at Urenui Pā (Ngāti Mutunga). "[He] was a local rangatira and a doctor who was concerned for our people and the infrastructure around how we lived," Manukorihi Pā Reserve trustee and Marae Kaitiaki Roina Graham said. Pōmare (Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Toa) graduated the American Medical Missionary College in Chicago in 1899 and returned to Aotearoa the following year to give back to Māori. In 1911, he was elected to Parliament representing Western Māori and in 1923 he became the Minister of Health. Sir Māui Pōmare died in 1930 in Los Angeles, but was buried at Ōwae Marae. Tā Māui Pōmare statue during the Ōwae Marae carving restorations in 2024. It is where Pōmare was buried Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews Surrounded by mana whenua, Māui Pōmare's great-grandaughter Miria Pōmare, and current Māori doctors, New Zealand's leading neuroscientist Sir Richard Faull (Te Atiawa) gave an impromptu speech paying homage to his heroes Tā Māui Pōmare and Te Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck). Although Pōmare was New Zealand's first Māori doctor, Te Rangi Hīroa was the first Māori doctor to have graduated in Aotearoa. Te Rangi Hīroa was a Māori medical officer under Pōmare, both came together to improve the sanitation of Māori settlements and the health of the tangata Māori. Faull, a Waitara High School alumni of 1963, said he was a 'book nerd' and was awarded dux and received the Te Rangi Hīroa medal in his final year "That medal is a beacon for me," Faull said. It gave him a nudge into health care. "You can only look after the health of your people by having your people as your leaders, your doctors." Growing up, Faull knew he was Māori, but when he was doing medicine and brain research in the USA at Boston's MIT and Harvard, he needed more financial assistance to continue, so he asked for it in a letter to his dad. His dad wrote back and said kaumātua from Te Atiawa wanted to give him $1000. It was like gold to him, but he didn't "feel Māori" back then and didn't want to accept the offer. Faull recalled the letter from his dad that read 'they have said that you will come home, and they want you to take this [koha]." It stirred his Māori whakapapa. Richard Faull Photo: University of Auckland / CBR In 1986, Faull delivered a speech about Parkinson's and Huntington's disease to a group of people in Taranaki where he noticed a group of Māori from Te Atiawa. The group asked Faull to help them with their Huntington's disease which is an inherited gradual decay of nerve cells in the brain affecting movement, thinking, and emotional problems. "I didn't know how I was going to help them, but they were asking me home." Every year he had met with the whānau from Te Atiawa, but it was during Friday's 'special' hui with them that he was able to deliver assurance. Faull, and other researchers have been working to find a way to 'turn the gene off' that causes Huntington's. "For the first time I gave them hope, for the first time it felt like Māori helping Māori. "We have come home to help our whānau, nothing is going to stop us." Faull had spent 50 years on brain research, and for the past five years he and Dr Makarena Dudley - a clinical neuropsychologist and 'expert' on dementia in kaumātua Māori - have been to 17 different marae to talk to iwi Māori about what they're finding in the neuro space. "We're not there to tell them what to do. We're there to listen to what they need and then we help them," Faull said. Faull was one of many who developed MAPAS (Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme) at the Auckland Medical School to support and increase the number of Māori and Pacific health professionals. According to the Medical Council for New Zealand's most recent data from 31 March, 2025, it's a steady incline for Māori who now make up 5.11 percent of current practicing doctors in Aotearoa. Faull was proud to say his son was a second-year health surgeon in Whangārei who aimed to form a general practice with Māori. "We have to have our Māori doctors to look after our Māori people and that is non-negotiable." "Māui Pōmare knew that. He went out and he turned health around for Māori. Māori were declining in population and Māui Pōmare, Te Rangi Hīroa, Apirana Ngata, they changed the horizon... and that horizon is still threatened." Sir Māui Wiremu Piti Naera Pōmare while a student at Battle Creek College in Michigan, USA, in 1899. Photo: Supplied / Alexander Turnbull Library Te tiriti is the 'goal standard' Faull pleaded to politicians. "It's about partnership. Partnership is not about one partner being dominant over the other partner, it is about shared values, a shared vision, it is about equality for all. "Never forget what partnership is about, it's not about dismantling te tiriti, we are here to honour the words of our ancestors, our tīpuna." He said Māori look to their tīpuna to chart for their future. "Their words, their actions, they did this to guide us. Māui Pōmare did it [and] Te Rangi Hīroa - Sir Peter Buck." Although Faull said it's wonderful to see the number of Māori doctors celebrating the life of Tā Māui Pōmare, there was a big task ahead. "It's not a task that's special or different for Māori, it's a task about giving equity to Māori. About self-expression helping them to determine their future. That is a partnership. "We've come a long way, but we've got so much further to go." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- Politics
- 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
2 hours ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Person dies after reportedly being hit by tree while clearing flood damage south of Nelson
The Waimea River near Brightwater in Nelson in flood yesterday. Photo: RNZ/Mark Papalii Nelson Tasman Civil Defence says houses in Motueka flooded last night and the main worry now is the Motueka River. Civil Defence will fly over a number of areas at the top of the south this morning to assess the damage and to identify areas in need, focusing on the Motueka Valley. MetService is investigating reports of a tornado after more than dozen homes in Waitara, north of New Plymouth, were damaged when strong winds ripped through shortly after midnight. Fire and Emergency says there were no injuries, but the fierce winds blew out a sunroom, lifted roofs, and downed fences and solar panels. As it happened: Take a look back at RNZ's live blog from Saturday.
