Lawson Field Theatre was the centre of a musical extravanganza as Tairāwhiti’s young musicians performed in this year’s Smokefreerockquest and Smokefree Tangata Beats regional heats on Friday. The exhilarating performance by Boys’ High...
There are “huge concerns” that the forestry contracting industry is 12 months from collapse, after two long-standing East Coast businesses go into liquidation.
With the Government’s 2023 Budget behind them and the election just over four months away, the two largest parties seem to be settling down to a war of slogans. National will continue with its catchy “coalition of chaos” jibe that warns of...
Dr Melissa Derby The Second Academic Freedom Report released by the Free Speech Union is a chilling read for those of us who work in universities. It uses a phrase we hear often — that universities are the “critics and conscience of society”...
The rivers of Gisborne are being polluted with garbage and silt by us humans. Two years ago I was part of a clean-up of the Taruheru River and what we found was really disgusting — things like broken computers, old shoes and even a destroyed...
A healthy society is one where society in general sits squarely cradled within public healthcare and civil amenities. If we do not have that premise, we do not have a healthy social environment per se. Local headlines point to our hospital being...
The finalists for Surf Life Saving New Zealand’s (SLSNZ) Gisborne-Tairāwhiti Awards of Excellence have been announced. The awards recognise and celebrate the hard work, skills, and dedication that go into surf lifeguarding, education...
The second of two rocket launches to deploy a constellation of storm- monitoring satellites for NASA launched from Mahia on Saturday. The mission, named Coming To A Storm Near You, was originally scheduled to launch last Monday but was delayed —...
The success of the Tairāwhiti Driver Licensing Trial was celebrated last week. The trial involves a partnership between Tairawhiti REAP (Rural Activities Education Programme) McInnes Driving School and Waka Kotahi. It is an initiative being run by...
The last of a group of men who violently assaulted a bouncer and a patron outside Gisborne’s Smash Palace bar, has pleaded guilty. Kobra Royce Baucke Puhia, 27, had previously pleaded not guilty to to two charges of injuring with intent to cause...
Data about mud volcanoes, which are “almost unique to Gisborne” are likely to be included on LIM (Land Information Memorandum) reports. Gisborne District Council’s Civil Defence Emergency Management Committee has adopted a report noting it is...
Alexis Copland New international health regulation amendments are being introduced. The proposal will weaken the link between policy and evidence, further normalising the exclusion of qualified critics. Humans get their resilience from the wide...
After two cyclones, 35 years apart, devastated Wairoa, plans are finally being laid to stop the worst from happening again. Floodwaters ripped through Wairoa homes, businesses and farms during Cyclone Bola in 1988, and again three months ago during...
The traffic lights will be working again at the intersection of Peel Street and Gladstone Road from early next week. A temporary roundabout has been at the intersection since February 19, after water made its way into the underground cabling and...
A huge swathe of Gisborne, including the airport, would be inundated by extreme coastal flooding if sea levels rise, new research shows. New maps from NIWA and the Deep South National Science Challenge show areas across New Zealand that could be...
Turanga Health chief executive Reweti Ratu Ropiha received his New Year Honour from Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro at Government House on Thursday. Mr Ropiha (Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri) was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit...
Turanga Health’s senior researcher Dr Shirley Keown breathed a sigh of relief then rang her boss when this year’s Budget scrapped the $5 prescription charge for medicines. She knew the fee was damaging the health of vulnerable populations...
The cause of death of two Tairāwhiti residents has been attributed to Covid-19 in latest figures released by the Ministry of Health. The numbers cover the period of the week up to 1pm on Monday, May 22. They take the district’s total Covid-19...
A Gisborne company and a Wairoa business will receive $7.5 million in loans from newly announced government investment of $24 million aimed at boosting regional businesses across the country. Judds Ltd will receive a $4 million loan from the...
In the early hours of February 14, Marc Alexander and his wife Monica woke up in their Makaraka home to find it flooded by Cyclone Gabrielle. “It was two in the morning. We went straight through to our stuff and just started lifting it out of...
More than 20 Gisborne Boys’ High School students used their green thumbs to weed out undesirable overgrowth at Waikanae Stream on Thursday. Assistant head of science Summer Edwards said the weeding session was a collaborative part of the...
Students from Girls’ High and the wider community joined national action yesterday afternoon in a stand against climate change. GGHS prefect Helen Evans said the protest was to raise awareness of the growing concern about climate change. “...
Gisborne District Council has retained a relationship with regional forum Rau Tipu Rau Ora (RTRO) despite removing itself from the group in March. The forum was set up three years ago to lead a regional response to Covid-19, but the council left it...
It’s no surprise that roading makes up the lion’s share of the $1.168 billion requested from the Government in the Cyclone Recovery Plan released this week by Gisborne District Council — $820 million, or 70 percent of the total. The funding...
Kerry Worsnop It has been more than three months since Cyclone Gabrielle’s destructive rampage. Three months of mucking in, cleaning out, patching up, and reviewing myriad horrible things that have collided with people’s lives, the local economy...
Recently scientists warned our world is likely to breach the 1.5C climate threshold by 2027. The world is almost certain to experience new record temperatures in the next five years, and the global average temperature is likely to rise by more than...
The number of logging trucks that rumble along Ormond Road and around the Esplanade has increased so much. The first starts at 4.30am and the last is about 4.30pm. The noise and vibrations are constant. We get woken up every morning. Why can’t...
It was good news this week that teacher unions have suspended industrial action following a meeting with the Education Minister, but I really have been so disappointed to see the present era of teachers striking to get more pay. Sure, times are hard...
I had to continually pinch myself as I sat in the War Memorial Theatre the other night, to be reassured that I was in Gisborne watching an amazing amateur production. The production of Chicago by our Gizzy people could equally take its place on...
High inflation is not only reaching further into our pockets for almost everything we need to buy, the wage inflation it has engendered also has an insidious and perverse impact that is further worsening many family budgets in this cost-of-living...
Six entrepreneurial teams gathered this week, a month after they first got together, to give one-minute updates on their progress. They first met at the fifth edition of the Tairāwhiti Startup Weekend initiative at impact house Taiki e! on April...
Matawai dog triallist Samantha Shaw has qualified two dogs for the finals of the zig-zag hunt at the New Zealand championships at the Warepa Collie Club grounds near Balclutha. She and Rogue yesterday finished in third place in the South Island...
A Muriwai resident tired of having their property ransacked says there needs to be a police officer permanently in the community, and increased funding for infrastructure, to help keep the community safe. Two weeks ago, fences at Tanith Wirihana Te...
Places in Wairoa damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle have been assessed into three risk categories. Next week, the Wairoa District Council and recovery team will engage with property owners directly to share information around which category their...