The Front Page podcast: Jacinda Ardern defends Govt record at Waitangi

Fatu Taua awaits his turn to board as the waka are readied by Waitangi Bridge. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Each weekday The Front Page keeps you up to date with the biggest news in New Zealand. Today it's politicians arriving at Waitangi, allegations a National MP is running an online trolling group, a 15-year-old sentenced for murder, and electrocuting weeds as a new form of pest control. Hosted by Frances Cook.

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Politicians from all parties were greeted with a rousing powhiri as they were welcomed onto Waitangi's Upper Marae this morning.

For the first time all MPs, including Jacinda Ardern and National's Simon Bridges, arrived in one group.

Last year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told those gathered to hold her and the Government to account.

Today she has acknowledged there's still more work to do.

She says she doubts anyone expected the Government to turn around decades of issues in 12 months.

But she says they have made progress, as Māori unemployment, and prison numbers, and young people not in education, jobs or training - have all come down.

National leader Simon Bridges has also spoken at the Upper Marae, the first time since 2015 that a National leader has gone to the Waitangi commemorations.

Bridges spoke of a New Zealand where "the sky is the limit" for young Māori .

He says Māori should be able to stop looking to Government, and stand on their own feet.

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Don Brash was also controversially invited to speak at Waitangi today, the first time in 15 years.

His speech didn't get far, as the former National leader cut it short just as his speaking area was taken over by protesters carrying a banner opposing racism.

The banner blocked out the stage, obscuring Brash from a crowd which had heckled him from the moment he opened his mouth.

Brash said he had no doubt some of them regarded him as as an out and out racist.

He tried to continue for a while, starting with te reo and questioning the value of the language.

However the crowd rebelled, starting to chant, and one woman using a megaphone to drown him out.

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Josie Butler, the activist who threw a sex toy at Steven Joyce at Waitangi in 2016, showed up at Te Tii marae today - and promptly served with a second trespass notice.

The Christchurch woman was already served with a trespass notice last week, banning her from attending the celebrations at Waitangi. She said the trespass would not stop her and she would still travel north for the occasion.

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New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Tracey Martin says she personally witnessed a National Party MP instructing online "trolls" to attack former Labour leader Andrew Little.

Martin will not name the MP, but says she watched him direct a group of supporters on Facebook to personally attack then-Labour leader Andrew Little while they were sharing a domestic flight during the election campaign.

The Internal Affairs Minister recalled the story at an event hosted by Netsafe in Auckland yesterday, saying that she was concerned about the role of social media in manipulating politics here and overseas. Addressing an audience of about 40 people, she said she had never spoken about it publicly.

She says the other MP was seated in front of her, and she watched them running a group of 15 trolls on Facebook, giving them the messages that they needed to start bombarding the Labour party.

She says they personalised the messages to try and make Little feel so uncomfortable about his position that he removed himself from it.

Little stood down as Labour leader just three months before the election following a string of poor poll results, saying that his party needed a campaign uncluttered by questions about his leadership.

Little, who is now Justice Minister, wouldn't comment on the allegations.

But National Party deputy leader Paula Bennett told the Herald that it was "an unusual accusation for a minister to make".

She says Martin should focus on NZ First's problems and doing her job.

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A damning report into Australia's banks could have a ripple effect that stretches across the Tasman.

The Royal Commission has called for tougher regulation, more scrutiny of pay and has made 76 recommendations to overhaul the industry.

In a final report released yesterday evening, the commission found 24 instances of corporate behaviour which it has referred to the regulators for possible prosecution.

Australia's corporate regulators will also be subjected to a new oversight body.

By 2022, mortgage brokers will no longer be able to pocket trail commissions from banks, and will be forced to act in a borrower's best interests.

The Australian Government's promising to action all 76 recommendations made by the banking royal commissioner.

A review will be undertaken in three years to ensure changes have been made.

Given that many New Zealand banks have their parent companies in Australia, it could also mean change is coming in New Zealand.

Massey Business School director, Dr Claire Matthews says the biggest change likely to come here is the scrapping of trail commissions.

Kiwibank CEO Steve Jurkovich says it will have an impact here, as this is a watershed for the entire banking industry.

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Recent turbulence in the markets wreaked havoc on KiwiSaver funds in 2018.

That's from investment research company Morningstar.

Much of the volatility came from the international market, which had a very difficult year.

New Zealand shares actually delivered a positive return of 4.9 per cent and was one of the best performing developed economy equity markets last year.

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A 15-year-old will spend at least 10 years behind bars for the murder of a Hawke's Bay man.

Haami Hanara has been sentenced to life in prison, for the murder of 40-year-old Kelly Donner at Flaxmere Tavern in March last year.

Hanara was found guilty by a High Court jury in November last year.

Crown prosecutor Steve Manning addressed the court saying the recent rash of teenagers appearing in the Napier High Court had much in common.

He says they were all from the same area, from a family with significant parental neglect, and one or more of them was affected by the reality of a mother who was drinking when pregnant.

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A New Zealander has died in a backcountry skiing trip in the Italian Alps.

The woman has been named by international media as Katherine Clarke, a New Zealand citizen based in London.

She is originally from Dunedin and was due to celebrate her ninth wedding anniversary tomorrow.

Clarke and three others had been missing since about midday on Sunday - the alarm was raised when the group failed to turn up at a meeting point with friends, according to the Telegraph.

The group were killed by an avalanche near the resort town of Courmayeur.

They were found under two metres of snow.

The New Zealand Embassy in Rome is assisting Clarke's family.

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A new guide is hoping to teach parents how to use Instagram, and keep their kids safe online.

And a 17-year-old who claims to be the most followed New Zealand teen on Instagram, is backing the idea.

"A Parent's Guide to Instagram" is an initiative by the social media giant and online safety organisation Netsafe. Published today, it gives parents tips on how to help their children protect themselves online - whether they have 20 followers or 200,000.

Dominic Taylor, from Auckland's Albany Senior High School, has 270,000 followers, just 20,000 fewer than Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

He says the new parents' guide is an important initiative.

He built up his enormous audience - which is mostly overseas - in just two years by creating memes and sharing pictures of superheroes.

Superhero fans are known for their strong views, Taylor says he has sometimes found himself in the firing line.

He says he's even had death threats, some of them from adults.

Netsafe head Martin Cocker says New Zealand parents generally supported their children's use of technology and social media.

The biggest tips include privacy, and to talk to children about whether their account will be public or private, and how they control who sees what they post.

It also includes a guide on blocking unwanted interactions, including blocking entire accounts, or just offensive words.

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A revolutionary weed control tool is to be trialled in Christchurch's Red Zone.

The electrothermal weed tool sends 5000 volts down root systems, killing plants outright.

Dr Charles Merfield from the BHU Future Farming Centre at Lincoln University says it's old technology but revolutionary.

If the trial's successful it will be rolled out to all of the council's parks and gardens.

Home gardeners won't be able to get their hands on the tool, though.

Dr Merfield says at the moment, it's too big to carry.

But he says backpack units could be available in five to 10 years.

For more on this story, tune in to Newstalk ZB

That's the Front Page for today, Tuesday February 5, making sure you're across the biggest news of the day. For more on these stories, check out The New Zealand Herald, or tune in to Newstalk ZB.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts here, iHeartRadio here, and Stitcher here.

If you like to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.