Far North news in brief: Arbor Day; four injured and anti-Govt protests planned

Last year’s successful Summit Arbor Day planting at Lake Ngatu. The event is on again on June 5

Arbor Day planting

Up to 1400 native trees will be planted around Lake Ngatu on June 5 in the latest Summit Arbour Day planting event.

Summit Forest’s annual Arbor Day planting will see Paparore School, Bushland Trust, DOC, iwi, community groups and Summit Forests staff come together to plant trees to celebrate Arbor Day.

This is the 14th year and so far they’ve planted 13,000 trees - another 1000-1400 trees are planned for this year. They’ll start about 9am and eco-sourced seedlings will be planted within a couple of hours.

The prepared site is on the western side of Lake Ngatu, behind the DOC toilets, and they’ll plant kanuka, karaka, Houpara, Manuka, Harakeke, Tī kōuka, Kohekohe and Pohutukawa.

Protests planned

Police are expected to keep an eye on planned hīkoi and public gatherings across the country today, including Kaitāia.

Te Pāti Māori has organised a series of protests on Budget Day against “the Government’s assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.

A protest will be held at Te Tou Rangatira - land next to the marae on the Treaty Grounds - at Waitangi at 5am then in Kaitāia from 9am, opposite Orana Motel, on Commerce St.

Police said officers will be highly visible on roads throughout the morning, including in Kaitāia. Some locations will feature measures to prevent participants putting themselves and motorists in harm’s way.

Four injured

Four youths have suffered moderate injuries in a crash, after earlier failing to stop for police outside Paihia on Wednesday morning.

About 1.20am, police learned a stolen vehicle was travelling on Puketona Rd. A police unit later saw the vehicle travelling along Puketona Rd, towards State Highway 10.

The driver ignored police signals and headed towards the SH10 intersection.

The vehicle was later seen turning onto Te Ahu Ahu Rd and police came across the stolen vehicle after it had crashed into a ditch.

The occupants, aged between 14 and 17, were all assessed as suffering moderate injuries and were transported to Bay of Islands and Whangārei hospitals.

New No1

The team at Coast Northland is celebrating after winning over Northland listeners in a recent survey.

The radio station overtook its opposition More FM Northland for the first time ever, with the biggest share of audience; 15.4 per cent for Coast compared to More FM’s 13.6 per cent.

The results, which came out last Thursday, were from an independent GFK Commercial Radio Survey.

Coast FM’s Toni Street - who cohosts Feel Good Breakfast with Jason Reeves and Sam Wallace weekdays from 6am-9am - said being number one in Northland was ‘a real celebration’.

‘’Northland is a region we really target at Coast. To beat More FM is really exciting for us.’’