Morning Report for Tuesday 23 February 2021

6:08 AM.Boris Johnson has set out his four-step roadmap to release England from lockdown.

The plan for reopening comes with four stages, with a minimum of five weeks before moving on to the next stage.

Step… Read more Audio

6:22 AM.A brief update from the business sector. Read more Audio

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

6:49 AM.The number of people needing help to have enough to eat and somewhere to live has soared in Bay of Plenty in lockstep with the cost of housing. 

Demand for food parcels has jumped by a third, while… Read more Audio

6:54 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

7:09 AM.The drug at the centre of an inquest into six epilepsy deaths was made at a plant in India which was investigated for significant quality control problems in 2017.

Medsafe knew and did its own… Read more Audio

7:14 AM.Details have emerged of the extreme precautions - described as "PPE on steroids"- that were taken to remove the body of a man from Wuhan who died on a cargo vessel on its way to New Plymouth.

Amid… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.From today New Zealand businesses can apply for the government's latest support package.

Announced in December, the Resurgence Support Payment was introduced to boost businesses when there is an… Read more Audio

7:24 AM.Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says NZ's vaccination roll out has started small and will scale up over the coming weeks and months.

The first results of the UK Covid-19 vaccination… Read more Audio

7:35 AM.After a day of remembering the terrible events of 10 years ago, Christchurch got to celebrate last night with an international T20 match between the Black Caps and Australia. It was the first… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.The Environment minister has slammed what he calls an "uncooperative" Tiwai Point aluminium smelter over the state of a stockpile of waste.

David Parker told Morning Report he is "incredibly… Read more Audio

7:51 AM.The US is on the brink of a devastating milestone - today the country will reach 500,000 deaths from coronavirus.

More Americans have died from the virus than World War One, World War Two and the… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.Workers will be eligible for a day's sick leave from day one on the job under changes to the Holidays Act.

The revamp will axe the current six-month waiting period for sick days. It's one of a swathe… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.An investigation into a gas leak on board a Cook Strait ferry reveals how an electrician had to be "coached through" identifying and isolating the leak as they lacked training and experience.

… Read more Audio

8:14 AM.On Tuesday we'll learn how Jacinda Ardern's government is faring in her own portfolio - child poverty.

Statistics New Zealand will release its second report into how many children are living in… Read more Audio

8:18 AM.Masks are now compulsory on all public transport. 3

After months of urging from public health experts, the government has now decided that mandatory mask wearing on buses, trains and planes will help… Read more Audio

8:20 AM.New Zealanders will be some of the first in the world to try a new digital travel pass when it is trialled by Air New Zealand in April.

The travel pass app has been developed by International Air… Read more Audio

8:25 AM.Wellingtonians are urging their elected councillors to quit the infighting, and get on with the job.

On Sunday, one councillor reported the capital's Mayor to the Auditor General, requesting an… Read more Audio

8:28 AM.Amnesty International says the treatment of a woman at Auckland Region Women's Prison could be considered psychological torture. 
 
Prisoner Mihi Bassett was left for four months "in the pound" in… Read more Audio

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

8:38 AM.If you thought the housing crisis was bad now, it's only going to get worse for the next generation, according to a new report.

The study from the libertarian think-tank The New Zealand Initiative… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.Education Ministry figures show a dramatic fall in the number of new early childhood services being set up and a long running spike in the number going out of business.

In the 12 months to the end of… Read more Audio

8:45 AM.A pod of whales have re-stranded at Farewell Spit.

The Department of Conservation said 28 of the whales are alive, and a group is working to re-float them. High tide was at 8am.

Local DOC ranger… Read more Audio

8:50 AM.The New Zealand women's cricket team are returning to action for the first time this summer today.

The White Ferns are taking on England in the first of three one-day internationals at Hagley Oval in… Read more Audio

8:53 AM.Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Myanmar in one of the largest demonstrations yet against the country's military coup on 1 February.

Businesses closed as employees… Read more Audio

8:56 AM.A New Zealand nun, based in Ireland, has breached local lockdown rules when she attended an exorcism.

Sister Anne Marie, along with Mother Irene Gibson, from the Carmelite Sisters of the Holy Face of… Read more Audio