News

Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has defended the Government's quest to push through an urgent law next week to allow secret filming on private property by police. The move come after the Supreme Court ruled that evidence from covert filming on Maori land in the Ureweras was unlawfully...

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The Government plans to rush through an urgent law change next week to allow secret filming on private property by police. Prime Minister John Key says that without the change, some "very serious criminals" will go free. Mr Key said yesterday that a law would be passed under...

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An 18-year-old South Auckland man has been charged after threatening the goverment on YouTube. The threats, which were made in a video posted on the social media site, included claims that explosives had been hidden in New Zealand government buildings. He also said that government and...

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Mines Rescue has agreed to re-enter the crippled Pike River Mine but the mine manager will not send its risk assessment to be signed off by an advisory panel because he does not believe it is safe. In a gruelling cross-examination with families' lawyer Richard Raymond, Mr Ellis said a Mines...

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The Government bail out of AMI Insurance may cost the taxpayer $337 million, Finance Minister Bill English said this morning but the company said the cost may be avoided as it is hopeful of finding a new investor to recapitalise it. This morning AMI reported a $705 million net loss for the...

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An industry group is warning proposed new height restrictions for buildings in Christchurch's CBD could threaten the viability of future hotel developments, and see some hoteliers to steer clear of the city altogether. The New Zealand Hotel Council says the seven story height restriction...

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Justice Minister Simon Power is calling for public feedback on a discussion document into the Government’s ground-up review of the Family Court. The Family Court is the second busiest court, and deals with families and children at highly stressful times of their lives. In the 2009/10...

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The Government is about to begin a review of transport rules affecting agricultural contractors and vehicles, the Associate Transport Minister Nathan Guy has announced today. “We want to make sure these rules are ensuring public safety without imposing unnecessary red-tape....

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The Government is standing behind its support agreement for AMI Insurance policyholders, as Treasury continues to work closely with the company on recapitalisation options, Finance Minister Bill English says. Commenting on AMI’s annual results announced this morning, he says the...

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The Court of Appeal has concluded that the New Zealand Banker's Association ( NZBA) deed of priority does not apply to limit a mortgagees priority in circumstances where the mortgaged land is voluntarily sold by the mortgagor. Second Mortgagees will need to bear in mind that an NZBA deed of...

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A group of Irish Travellers facing eviction from their English campsite won a last-minute reprieve when a judge prevented bailiffs from removing any structures in their settlement. The tense standoff between residents of Dale Farm, 50 kilometres east of London, and local officials saw...

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A Hamilton registered nurse who defended his sleeping on the job by saying he was resting with his eyes shut has won an unfair dismissal case. But Ian Sigglekow will not be getting his job with the Waikato District Health Board back, and will receive only a tenth of the $20,000 in compensation...

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The owners of the now-defunct News of the World will pay about three million pounds ($NZ5.7 million) to the family of the murdered girl at the centre of the phone hacking scandal in Britain, reports say. Milly Dowler's family will receive two million pounds and News International will also...

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A secret deal between a would-be housing developer at Te Arai, near Mangawhai, and the former Rodney District Council has angered Auckland Council members who want the beach left to threatened bird species. They thought the joint venture of the Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust and a developer had...

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For much of the past five years, New Zealanders have heard about the so-called Urewera terror raids from only one side. A string of court suppression orders have created the opportunity for the defendants to hog the headlines. Maori and activist groups have heaped scorn on police claims that...

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The Government is over-riding the recommendations of the Caygill review of the emissions trading scheme, which would have seen agriculture treated the same as other export industries, and has deferred its entry into the scheme indefinitely. The review panel, chaired by David Caygill,...

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Child, Youth and Family will be required to keep schools better informed of cases of child abuse they are investigating that involve a school's student. And reports from teachers of suspected child abuse will be given higher priority under new processes announced yesterday. Read more

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A highway that has claimed 36 lives in the past decade may have its speed limit lowered. The Waikato's blackest stretch of road, State Highway 2 from the end of Auckland's Southern Motorway through Maramarua to the Thames turnoff near Mangatarata, has had 29 fatal crashes since 2001. In...

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Schools are being accused of going too far in what they teach children about sex. Children as young as 12 are being taught about oral sex and told it's acceptable to play with a girl's private parts as long as "she's okay with it". In other cases, 14-year-old girls are being...

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Not one warning notice has gone to internet users illegally downloading music, movies and TV shows - because of a $25 administration fee. The "three strikes" law came into effect on September 1, making internet piracy punishable by a fine of up to $15,000. It is up to internet...

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Ecuador's Secoya people, whose health was allegedly damaged by polluted water dumped by oil giant, take fight to courts Victims of what they say is one the world's worst environmental disasters will on Friday ask a New York court to free up billions of dollars in compensation awarded to them...

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Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has welcomed the sentencing of an American man who obtained a passport in the name of his dead step-brother to get permanent residence in New Zealand. Shawn Pitts, 51, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment in the Christchurch District Court today after...

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The Agriculture ETS Advisory Committee has produced its first report that will assist the Government’s thinking around agriculture in the Emissions Trading Scheme. Agriculture will enter fully into the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme from 2015. Compulsory reporting of emissions...

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It is now 115 years since New Zealand women have had the right to practise law. On 11 September 1896, three years after obtaining the right to vote, Parliament passed the Female Law Practitioners Act. Several months later, Ethel Benjamin on 10 May 1897 in the Dunedin Supreme Court, became...

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Environment Minister Nick Smith today referred an application for the Transmission Gully roading proposal to an independent Board of Inquiry under the Government’s new national consenting process with the Environmental Protection Authority. The New Zealand Transport Agency, Porirua City...

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Transport Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed a decision by the Minister for the Environment to direct matters lodged for the Transmission Gully to a Board of Inquiry. He says the milestone is a great step forward for the project, and means it remains on track for a construction start in...

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The United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) completed public hearings today of a German complaint against Italy over Italian court awards of damages to victims of Nazi war crimes committed nearly 60 years ago, and said it will soon render its verdict. Germany said it had already...

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The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia today convicted a man of contempt of court charges and sentenced him to two months in jail for refusing to answer questions on two occasions during trials related to Kosovo in 2007. The International Criminal...

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Member States were today invited to sign, ratify or accede to various international treaties during this year’s high-level General Assembly session next week, with a special focus on multilateral accords that deal with United Nations priorities, including human rights, disarmament, the...

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It's a great Kiwi tradition - but a Taupo man who flashed his headlights to warn another driver of a speed camera was pulled over by police. As police yesterday announced a big increase in speeding tickets last year, Paul Gamble was driving to work on State Highway 1 between Taupo and Tokoroa...

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Justice Minister Simon Power has raised the white flag on his criminal justice reforms with a commitment to preserve the right to silence and substantially watering down other aspects to gain cross-party support. The concessions - which include accepting several Labour Party suggestions -...

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The soft start to New Zealand's carbon pricing regime is set to get softer still. The Government yesterday released a review of the emissions trading scheme chaired by David Caygill and its own preliminary response to it. The review had generally endorsed the choice of an ETS as the most...

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The Commerce Commission says mobile users are beginning to benefit from wholesale price cuts, but 2degrees claims the industry is taking too long to respond to regulation. Yesterday, the commission said the cuts it made to mobile termination rates five months ago were starting to have an...

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Australian passports will now have three gender options - male, female and indeterminate - under new guidelines to remove discrimination against transgender people. Transgender people and those of ambiguous sex will now be able to list their gender on passports with an 'X' if their choice is...

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Australia is increasingly at risk from an onslaught of internet crooks, hackers and cyber-bullies, a new Government paper warns. It says billions of dollars are being lost, confidence is being eroded and the threat is growing to the nation's social wellbeing, economic prosperity and broader...

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Britain is breaking international law by evicting hundreds of people from an illegal travellers' camp where they have lived for years, says a former UN adviser. Yves Cabannes of the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions said moving the Irish Travellers from their Dale Farm site infringes their...

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Shoestring heritage fighters have been rocked by a court's order to pay for the Masonic Hotel owner's defence of a proposed apartment development. The Environment Court says it is fair and reasonable for Devonport Heritage Inc and the Masonic Friendly Society to each pay $22,350 to Redback...

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Paintings, construction diggers, lifestyle blocks and boats - just your everyday list of drug bosses' assets. Police Minister Judith Collins yesterday made public a list of the latest cash and assets seized by the police asset recovery unit. Under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act, which...

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The four Urewera accused were members of a criminal organisation which planned to commit murder, arson, wounding with intent and other crimes, the Crown alleges. Crown prosecutor Ross Burns filed a new indictment at the High Court in Auckland today. Read more

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The independent review of the NZ ETS has been completed and the Panel's report has been published by the Minister for Climate Change Issues. The Climate Change Response Act 2002 requires a review of New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to be completed before the end of 2011....

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The Government has won a marathon leaky school battle after a court decision went against a builder and in favour of the Ministry of Education. Glen Innes Primary School's once-leaky hall cost $345,000 to put up but was estimated to cost $760,000 to fix, the Court of Appeal said, finding for...

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A Human Rights Commission discussion paper on Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy might evoke more rewarding discussion if it also questioned the fundamentals of the current parliamentary and law making processes, the New Zealand Law Society says. In a submission to the Commission, the Law...

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People accused of child-smacking or domestic violence crimes could keep the right to have their cases heard by a jury, under an eleventh hour proposal to make the Government's criminal justice reforms more palatable. Justice Minister Simon Power continues to talk to parties about the Criminal...

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Cash and assets worth around $48 million have been seized under new legislation enabling Police to confiscate the proceeds of crime, Police Minister Judith Collins said today. The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act, which took effect in December 2009, enables Police to seized assets believed to...

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Justice Minister Simon Power today announced that the final stage of DNA expansion, under the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Amendment Act 2009, will take effect from 5 December. The expansion of DNA has been in two stages to ensure Police had time to finalise training and...

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The Government today released the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Panel’s report – Doing New Zealand’s Fair Share – that recommends the implementation of the scheme be slowed down. “This is a good report on which to base future decisions on the ETS. Climate change...

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A bill that gives the public assurances about the safety and efficacy of natural health products passed its first reading in Parliament today, says Associate Health Minister Jonathan Coleman. The Natural Health Products Bill, one of the shared policy initiatives agreed to by the National and...

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Parliament today passed a bill that further protects vulnerable children from abuse and neglect. The Crimes Amendment Bill (No 2) creates an offence of failing to take reasonable steps to protect a child or vulnerable adult from the risk of death, grievous bodily harm, or sexual assault. The...

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The Government has secured broad-based support for the Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill, and intends to pass it before the election, Justice Minister Simon Power said today. The bill contains the most significant reforms of criminal procedure in 50 years which will modernise...

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The Government is signalling it will hit the brakes on New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme by delaying full entry of the energy, transport and industrial sectors and covering agricultural emissions only if technologies are available to reduce the burden on farmers. The Emissions Trading...

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