Morning Report for Thursday 13 May 2021

6:09 AM.A ballot by nurses over whether they will strike over pay closes at midday today, with a result expected on Friday.

It comes hard on the heels of the government's stated intention last week - since… Read more Audio

6:16 AM.Two Auckland Covid-19 vaccination centres are pausing walk-ins from today due to high demand.

The sites at Mount Wellington and Highbrook have experienced heavy demand for walk-in vaccinations since… Read more Audio

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

6:22 AM.More than 1000 rockets have now been fired by Palestinian militants over 38 hours, according to Israel.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes, destroying two tower blocks in Gaza on Tuesday… Read more Audio

6:30 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:41 AM.Days out from the Cook Islands opening its doors to New Zealand, a group of experts have touched down to support the country's Covid-19 vaccination rollout.

Representatives from New Zealand's… Read more Audio

6:45 AM.Wellington's Mayor says the number of people living in temporary accommodation in the capital has tripled but there has been no strategy to manage the rise.

Politicians who hosted a 'safety in the… Read more Audio

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

7:09 AM.The latest blow up over race relations in Parliament has raised the question - can MPs call each other racist in the House?

Speaker Trevor Mallard says no, but MPs can describe policies and even… Read more Audio

7:17 AM.The United Nations has fears for a full-scale war breaking out between Israel and Palestine.

More than 1000 rockets have now been fired by Palestinian militants over 38 hours, according to Israel.

… Read more Audio

7:20 AM.An international panel co-chaired by former Prime Minister Helen Clark is calling for urgent reform of the world's pandemic preparedness.

In their review, the group identified a systematic failing to… Read more Audio

7:27 AM.Early childhood teachers should get pay rises of thousands of dollars thanks to extra funding.

The government is spending $170 million over four years to give teachers in their first six years of… Read more Audio

7:35 AM.Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi provided the flashpoint moment in a heated day in parliament yesterday - ejected from the House for taking aim at what he called "racist" rhetoric from the… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.The Wellington City Mission says a stark wealth divide is behind increasing levels of violence in the city - rejecting the theory it is fuelled by an explosion in emergency housing.

Violence and… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.About 180 people over 16 are in line to be vaccinated against Covid-19 at Reefton on the South Island's West Coast today.

The jabs will be delivered via the first mobile vaccination clinic on the… Read more Audio

7:52 AM.An independent report shows the Education Ministry is preparing to take a tougher line on fraud by early childhood services.

The review of a special unit that identified and raided high-risk early… Read more Audio

7:55 AM.The Cawthron Institute says a lack of restrictions on underwater noise is putting some of New Zealand's most endangered mammals at risk.

The independent science organisation has been monitoring the… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.Former World Rugby player of the year Black Fern Kendra Cocksedge says "mental fatigue" has made her reconsider her playing future ahead of the rescheduled Rugby World Cup. Read more Audio

8:13 AM.The latest blow-up over race relations in Parliament has raised the question - can MPs call each other racist in the House?

Speaker Trevor Mallard says no, but MPs can describe policies and even… Read more Audio

8:21 AM.About 200 people braved rain in Wellington yesterday to deliver a petition to Parliament demanding big increases to the budget of drug-buyer Pharmac.

They included 10-year-old Ryker Tolich, there to… Read more Audio

8:34 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:39 AM.Thursday is a red-letter day for cancer care in Southland.

Building consent for the new Southland Charity Hospital has arrived - on the day that would have been the 41st birthday of a high-profile… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.Both the police and government are claiming a successful firearms buy-back, despite having no up-to-date estimate of how many guns they expected to be handed in.

Figures supplied by the Police… Read more Audio

8:46 AM.Fiji's Government has put parts of the country into lockdown after nine new cases Covid-19 case were reported.

It will come into force in Suva and Nausori from eleven o'clock tomorrow night and run… Read more Audio

8:51 AM.Celebrated Christchurch poet Tusiata Avia has become the first Pacific woman to win the prize for poetry at the New Zealand Book Awards.

Avia won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry at last… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.A new report shows the once plentiful scallop beds on the Coromandel coast are in crisis.

As part of the report, which was backed by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council, a dive survey found that in… Read more Audio

8:57 AM.A species of fungi native to New Zealand has been found to be bioluminescent.

A photograph taken during the annual "fungal foray" at Stewart Island showed that Mycena roseoflava does indeed have a… Read more Audio