Morning Report for Friday 29 October 2021

8:53 AM.With events being struck from the calendar all around them, the Taranaki Garden Festival has defied the odds to get to the start line on Friday.

It's promising a celebration of spring colour, perfect… Read more Audio

8:49 AM.A Taihape school is rejecting the Education Ministry's apology for taking its students' farm away.

The school accuses the bureaucrats of incompetence and letting the farm's facilities degrade into a… Read more Audio

8:43 AM.Former All Black Bob Burgess is one of more than one hundred Kiwis denouncing New Zealand Rugby for its six-year sponsorship deal with the global chemical group INEOS.

Critics say the company is… Read more Audio

8:39 AM.Momentum is building ahead of the All Blacks versus Wales game in Cardiff on Sunday.

The teams were named on Friday.

Welsh rugby reporter Simon Thomas spoke to Susie Ferguson. Read more Audio

8:27 AM.Iwi are increasingly taking stock of the impact that climate change will have on customary and cultural practice. 

For Māori, a connection to the sea and land is felt and celebrated as a natural… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.Vaccine passports will soon be the ticket to a trim at the hairdresser and a gym workout, but should they also be required for travel between regions?

The Government is currently considering making… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.Mark Zuckerberg has announced Facebook is changing its name to Meta.

It's demoting the Facebook brand to just one of the company's subsidiaries, alongside Instagram and WhatsApp.

Facebook was… Read more Audio

7:54 AM.It is Halloween on Sunday but traditional trick or treating will be off the cards for thousands of children this year.

Despite the restrictions, many families are in Auckland and Waikato are still… Read more Audio

7:52 AM.The Black Ferns are set to notch up a century on Monday when they play their hundredth test match, in England.

Almost as significant is the time that has elapsed since their last test match: 28 long… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.More than 2000 Great Walk bookings have been cancelled in recent months as Covid-19 continues to take a toll.

In Fiordland, some Milford Track operators are describing it as one of the quietest… Read more Audio

7:44 AM.Banks are coming under fire for their big profits. 

Yesterday ANZ  reported a profit of $1.92 billion, up 44 percent on last year.

Kiwisaver provider Simplicity chief executive Sam Stubbs says it's… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.An advocacy group for Kiwis stuck overseas says changes to managed isolation stays will benefit those with existing bookings, but not those without one.

From 15 November most international travellers… Read more Audio

7:36 AM.More than a thousand fake bookings are hampering vaccination efforts in Gisborne and the East Coast.

Tairāwhiti is the region with the lowest Covid-19 vaccination rates.

Reporter Tom Kitchin has… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.The government and Auckland Council have just released their recommendations on Auckland's controversial light rail plan, a year after New Zealand First put a halt to the project. 

There are three… Read more Audio

7:16 AM.Reports that one of the two Covid-19 positive cases in Christchurch is a truck driver who carried out deliveries around the city for four days during their infectious period has many South Islanders… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.A public health expert thinks officials have dismissed the need for tighter internal border controls and may fail to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Christchurch as a result.

Two unvaccinated people… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.Christchurch residents are upset and angry the virus is back in their city after nearly a year of being free of it. Two positive cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the suburb of Bishopdale yesterday.

6:48 AM.Two people have been arrested in the anti-vaccination protest at the Auckland border.

The so-called hikoi started on Tuesday night, when the convoy left Rotorua, hoping to cross Covid-19 alert level… Read more Audio

6:44 AM.Trucking companies say a vaccine mandate at regional borders would be a problem because they are already struggling with a driver shortage and fragile supply chain.

The government is looking at… Read more Audio

6:41 AM.Residents in the Christchurch suburb of Bishopdale where the Covid-19 infected couple live, are upset and angry the virus is back after nearly a year of being free of it.

Business was brisk at a… Read more Audio

6:21 AM.An Austrian museum believes creative expression is being stifled in the social media age, after their Instagram and TikTok accounts were suspended for showing nude art.

So, they've taken to one of… Read more Audio

6:17 AM.Baby kiwis that hatched in Taupo and Rotorua are settling into their new lives on Rotoroa Island, after being granted travel exemptions to cross the South Auckland boundary.

Newborns Will, Nena… Read more Audio