Morning Report for Wednesday 17 May 2023

8:57 AM.Health workers all over the country - and lots of their patients - have their fingers crossed for a big budget boost. Massive staffing shortages are contributing to huge waits for care - whether it's… Read more Audio

8:52 AM.Support agencies are concerned about the re-housing of those living in the Wellington hostel which caught fire on Monday night. The top floor of Loafers Lodge was engulfed in flames for hours as… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.The tourism industry says i-site visitor centres still have an important role to play, despite the ease of accessing information online. Pre-Covid, there were more than 80 centres dotted around the… Read more Audio

8:44 AM.In the early hours of Tuesday morning dozens of people emerged from the fire engulfed Loafers Lodge in Wellington's Adelaide Road - choking on smoke and wondering about the fate of their neighbours… Read more Audio

8:38 AM.The National Party says climate change and reslience needs to become a primary focus when funding decisions are made in the transport sector. Waka Kotahi's National Resilience Programme Business Case… Read more Audio

8:34 AM.The controversial advertising agency Topham Guerin which was handpicked for a $500,000 contract to make memes for the covid information campaign in early 2020 ended up working just three weeks in the… Read more Audio

8:21 AM.New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom says if Ben Bell was older, perhaps as old as 76-year-old Auckland mayor Wayne Brown, the whole affair would have been reported differently. He spoke with Corin Dann Read more Audio

8:18 AM.The dust has settled in Gore and its young, embattled mayor now has a freshly united council behind him. His deputy had called on him to resign, leading to an extraordinary council meeting where it… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.In the wake of the Loafers Lodge fire, questions are being asked about the Fire Service's ability to fight fires in high rise buildings in the capital. On Monday night firefighters confronted… Read more Audio

7:53 AM.Wellington City Council says most of those evacuated because of the Loafer's Lodge blaze yesterday have new temporary accommodation. Only a handful of residents from the hostel were still at an… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.The National Party leader Christopher Luxon visited the scene of the Loafers Lodge fire and met with some of the survivors. He says the scene was shocking, and bigger questions will need to be asked… Read more Audio

7:36 AM.Sam Altman, the CEO and co-founder of Open AI, the company which created the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT, has called for tighter regulation of AI technology. On Wednesday, Altman told a US… Read more Audio

7:28 AM.There are concerns in Papua New Guinea that the country could be dragged into the militarisation of the Pacific if it signs a new security pact with the United States. According to a draft copy of the… Read more Audio

7:24 AM.Waka Kotahi hasn't been factoring climate change and resilience into many of its transport projects. A major report produced for the Transport Agency found a lack of future planning in its roading… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.Urban search and rescue team stabilized the building yesterday and will be on site this morning to ensure it is safe to enter. 11 people remain unaccounted for after yesterday's early morning blaze… Read more Audio

7:12 AM.Fire and Emergency, or FENZ, was at the scene throughout yesterday but will hand over to police today. Bruce Stubbs is Wellington region manager and spoke with Ingrid Hipkiss. Read more Audio

7:08 AM.The police are hoping to finally get into the fire wrecked Wellington hostel today to confirm the number of dead and start recovering at least six bodies. 11 people remain unaccounted for after… Read more Audio

6:41 AM.Questions are emerging about the state of the Wellington hostel where at least six people died in a fire on Monday night. The 92 room Loafers Lodge was near capacity when a fire broke out on the top… Read more Audio

6:20 AM.The Mayor of South Waikato says it gives him no joy to be suggesting an 18.5 percent rate rise - one of the biggest in the country. Gary Petley says it's the best option to get the council through the… Read more Audio

6:19 AM.Dogs are threatening - and in some cases killing - native and migratory birds on a Canterbury estuary. Conservationists want dogs banned from Avon-Heathcote Ihutai Estuary, which is a crucial stop-off… Read more Audio

6:07 AM.Investigations continue this morning into the deadly fire at Wellington's Loafers Lodge. The blaze killed at least six people and others are still missing. Dozens of people who lived in the building… Read more Audio