Morning Report for Thursday 9 July 2020

8:56 AM.Waimate residents are jumping at the chance to try Wallaby pie at a local eatery.

The signature dish is now top of the menu at The Barn Cafe and Bar. It's gaining popularity but some punters still… Read more Audio

8:52 AM.Rio Tinto has announced it has started planning for the wind-down of operations and the eventual closure of the Tiwai Point Aluminum Smelter.

Rio Tinto says the business is no longer viable given… Read more Audio

8:47 AM.Rio Tinto has announced it has started planning for the wind-down of operations and the eventual closure of the Tiwai Point Aluminum Smelter.

Rio Tinto says the business is no longer viable given… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.A concrete dome full of nuclear waste in the North Pacific has been deemed safe by the US government and no threat to nearby communities.

Few in the Marshall Islands, where the Runit dome is, believe… Read more Audio

8:38 AM.Iwi are furious the government failed to consult them before quietly recommending two of the country's best food-growing areas be exempt from new water pollution limits.

The government says it's… Read more Audio

8:29 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:26 AM.This morning Melbourne residents woke up to their first day in strict lockdown.

Panicked shoppers have once again stripped shelves of toilet paper as another 134 cases were confirmed in the state of… Read more Audio

8:23 AM.Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker won't be seeking re-election after confessing to leaking the details of Covid-19 patients to media.

Walker admitted to the act on Tuesday, but since then has not… Read more Audio

8:18 AM.Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker has decided not to run for re-election after it was revealed he leaked the details of Covid-19 patients.

Former National Party President Michelle Boag has resigned… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.Rio Tinto has announced it intends to wind down operations at the NZ Aluminium Smelter, best known as the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in just over a year's time.

In a statement to the Australian… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.A man left managed isolation in Auckland for seventy minutes on Tuesday only to find out the next day that he has Covid-19.

The government is now scrambling to ensure that further escapes don't… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.The coach of Sydney FC Steve Corica is confident the three A-League clubs stuck in Victoria will make it into New South Wales for next week's resumption of the competition. Read more Audio

7:52 AM.Marian Hobbs has been ousted as Chair of the Otago Regional Council yesterday in a successful leadership coup.

Andrew Noone, who was one of nine councillors who signed a letter to roll Hobbs as… Read more Audio

7:46 AM.The government has announced a multi-million dollar investment to upgrade under-pressure water systems across the country, but there's a catch.

A $760 million package will kick-start urgent work to… Read more Audio

7:42 AM.Some truck drivers have spent a cold night sleeping in their cabs in the central North Island as snow blocks the main highways.

Sixteen centimetres of snow has accumulated overnight and State Highway… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.The Countdown supermarket where the latest absconder from managed isolation browsed the health and beauty aisle, bought toothpaste, body wash and razors, and took selfies has just reopened.

The… Read more Audio

7:33 AM.A California family have an underwater drone ready to go to look for the body of their son, drowned when a skydiving jump went wrong over a South Island lake.

But the police won't let them.

RNZ's… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.Michelle Boag says she was provided a list of people infected with Covid-19 from the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health, in turn, is refusing to confirm if it supplied the list to Boag.

Kim… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.The Ministry of Health is refusing to confirm if it supplied the former National Party President Michelle Boag with a daily list of people infected with Covid-19 and their private information.

In an… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.He bought razors, toothpaste and body wash at Countdown, but then where did he go?

Authorities are still trying to work out what exactly a man, later found to have Covid-19, did during his 70-minute… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.A witness to the latest Covid-19 border debacle has described how the man absconded from the isolation hotel by casually strolling through a gap in the fence the wind had blown open.

The government… Read more Audio

7:06 AM.Next week's scheduled resumption of football's A-League is under threat after three Melbourne-based clubs failed to leave the city for a second straight night due to Covid-19 restrictions. Read more Audio

6:53 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

6:50 AM.Fishers say the money on offer from the government to help some of them adopt more dolphin friendly methods, falls well short and will put some out of business.

The government estimates the cost to… Read more Audio

6:46 AM.The police are stopping an American family from searching for their drowned son's body in Lake Wakatipu.

Tyler Nii's body was never found after a tandem skydive went wrong in early 2018. His… Read more Audio

6:42 AM.Shockwaves continue to ripple through National MP Hamish Walker's electorate in the wake of revelations he's behind the leak of Covid-19 patient details to media.

He won Clutha-Southland comfortably… Read more Audio

6:40 AM.A witness to the latest border bungle says the absconder just walked out a through a gap in the fence, apparently unfazed that he could be caught.

The government's now undertaking a rapid review to… Read more Audio

6:22 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:20 AM.A brief update from the business sector. Read more Audio

6:16 AM.A funding boost for freshwater and environmental project is being called a little bit of hope at the end of a very dark tunnel.

The government is investing $162 million towards 23 projects through… Read more Audio

6:06 AM.The A-League's hopes of resuming its season next week remained in the balance after another failed attempt to get Melbourne-based football clubs out of the city amid tightening coronavirus… Read more Audio