The Front Page

There'll be a two-minute silence on Friday, to remember the victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks. Jacinda Ardern made the announcement in Christchurch today, following a meeting with St John first responders and addressing an assembly at Cashmere High School this morning. Ardern also met with Muslim community leaders, and acknowledged their "resolve" to support those who are grieving. Ardern...

The families of the fallen will have justice. That's the vow of our Prime Minister in the wake of the mosque massacre. In delivering her message of condolence in the House, Jacinda Ardern says the man at the centre of this attack will face the full force of the law. She says he sought notoriety - but New Zealand will give him nothing, not even his name. Ardern says she will never mention his name....

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced there will be reform of gun laws. She says Cabinet has made "in principal" decisions about the changes, and there will be change within 10 days. She did not say what those changes would be, but said media would be told within a week. A total of 50 victims have been confirmed dead after Friday's terror attack on two Christchurch mosques, with the dead ran...

Gunmen have opened fire at mosques in Christchurch, with reports of between nine and 27 people killed and police urging residents to stay indoors. One man is in custody. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called it "one of New Zealand's darkest days". One of the gunmen broadcast live as he shot victims. Ardern described the event as "extreme and unprecedented violence". Police were "actively managing t...

Greens co-leader James Shaw is "shaken" after being injured in a violent attack on his way to Parliament this morning. Shaw was punched in the face in an apparently unprovoked attack as he walked to work through central Wellington. A party spokesperson says Shaw was confronted by a man who stepped out, spoke to him and identified him then hit him in the head. Shaw suffered a black eye in the attac...

Elderly lives are on the line as overworked rest home workers are resulting in residents not even bothering to ask for help. A shocking new report, In Safe Hands, has been released by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and E tū, after surveying over a thousand people working in aged care. It's revealed some rest home residents are dying as a result of just six minutes of care an hour. Patients ar...

Police have referred Jami-Lee Ross' complaint about National's election donations to the Serious Fraud Office. Ross was kicked out of the National Party last year. In October he went to police with details of alleged donation fraud in which he claimed leader Simon Bridges was a "corrupt politician with no moral compass". The Botany MP claims Bridges had asked him to collect a $100,000 donation fro...

The first signs of a thaw in the relationship between New Zealand and China, with China-New Zealand Year of Tourism back on. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has just announced at her post-Cabinet press conference that the new opening ceremony be held on the 29 of March. When the delay to the launch of the New Zealand/China year of tourism was revealed by The Herald last month, Ardern said it was bec...

It's International Women's Day - but as many of us know, there's still a lot of work to be done. And that sentiment's been echoed today by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Speaking at an event in Parliament this morning, she says the work will be done, when gender doesn't feature in the minds of girls and young women. She says as long as we have a country where women are over-represented in intimate...

District health boards have anti-vaxxers in their sights, saying diseases almost eradicated in New Zealand are being seen again. DHB members went to Parliament to answer health select committee questions, including why increasing numbers of parents are refusing to have their children immunised. Bay of Plenty DHB chief executive Helen Mason says they have achieved five of the six health targets set...

The New Zealand Medical Association is the latest to join the chorus of voices pleading for more affordable dental care. The association represents doctors including GPs and specialists. On Monday the Herald revealed Waitematā DHB wants a "comprehensive dental service for all New Zealanders", after concern about desperate Kiwis queuing at hospital pain clinics, showing up at ED, or even performing...

The Kiwi jihadi Mark Taylor has sparked a political backlash, with Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters particularly going on the offensive. Taylor, a former New Zealand soldier who only has New Zealand citizenship, is being held in a Syrian prison. He surrendered to Kurdish forces because life under Isis had become unbearable. Taylor previously earned notoriety and was dubbed the 'bumbling jih...

A Kiwi who joined Islamic State has surrendered to Kurdish forces and is being held in a Syrian prison. Mark Taylor, a former New Zealand soldier, says he was a border guard for Isis after joining the terror group in 2014. The former Hamilton resident was infamously dubbed the "bumbling jihadi", after mistakenly revealing his location in the Middle East on social media. Now there are questions ove...

A police officer has been charged with indecently assaulting a fellow cop. The 28-year-old accused appeared this afternoon in the Auckland District Court before Judge David Burns. The policeman was arrested this morning and charged with indecent assault and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection. He pleaded not guilty to both charges. The alleged offences occurred on February 5 in Northlan...

Police have charged almost five people a day with strangling or suffocating their partners since a new family violence law came into force criminalising such acts in December. New Zealand has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the developed world and police are called to an incident every four minutes. The new legislation criminalising strangulation and suffocation was broug...

Residents have been told to evacuate immediately as a new fire spreads rapidly in the Tasman region. The new fire near the Moutere Highway is north of Pigeon Valley where huge wildfires began three weeks ago. Earlier today, Mayor Richard Kempthorne confirmed a decision has been made to allow the state of emergency to expire. Pictures posted on social media show a section of forest engulfed in larg...

Former Prime Minister Dame Jenny Shipley has been found liable for millions in damages by the High Court, along with other Mainzeal directors The failed building giant had been trading while insolvent despite its high profile - and creditors would have been better off if the company had been put into liquidation earlier, according to the High Court. The four directors have been found liable for a...

Opinions are divided on the Government's new healthy home standards, with landlords saying they need exemptions or will go elsewhere, while renters and advocacy groups applaud it. New Government rules will require every rental home in New Zealand to have a heater in the living room and an extractor fan in the kitchen and bathroom. The standards set minimum requirements for heating, insulation, ven...

Malcolm Rewa, after an almost unprecedented third trial, has been found guilty of murdering Susan Burdett in her South Auckland home in 1992. The jury took just under four hours to return their unanimous verdict today after hearing two weeks of evidence and arguments in the High Court at Auckland. Rewa will now be sentenced on March 26. Burdett was raped and bludgeoned to death in her Papatoetoe h...

The Tax Working Group has recommended the Government implement a capital gains tax - and use the money gained to lower the personal tax rate. The suggested capital gains tax (CGT) would cover assets such as land, shares, investment properties, business assets and intellectual property. Any profit on the sale of these assets would be added to the seller's overall yearly income, and then be taxed un...

The Government's announced a new builder for KiwiBuild - and another 100 homes in West Auckland and Christchurch Home builder and developer Mike Greer has been given the contract to build 104 homes, including the first in Canterbury, which are also the cheapest KiwiBuild announced so far. That will include 11 two-bedroom standalone homes in Kaiapoi, for $360,000 dollars each. Other homes will be b...

An acknowledgement from the Prime Minister today that there are issues with China. The Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Madam Wu XI said in Wellington last night both countries needed to build a more resilient relationship and handle differences properly to avoid the rocks. Madam Wu Xi alluded to news headlines about strained relations while speaking at a reception hosted by the New Zealand – Chi...

Google and Facebook are among the internet giants facing a surprise tax. That's news that has just been broken by the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB, and confirmed by the Prime Minister. The issue is multinational companies selling good or services online, and then running profits through low-tax countries. It's been a looming issue in New Zealand for several years. The Herald tax gap investig...

New Zealand's biggest seafood exporter Sanford is having issues getting salmon through Chinese ports. It comes as suspicions grow that China is turning up the heat on this country because of the Huawei saga. Sanford is not attributing its recent administrative issues getting shipments cleared to the deteriorating New Zealand-China relationship, but chief customer officer Andre Gargiulo says no rea...

Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is warning the Government's flagship KiwiBuild policy could "crowd out" the private sector. But Finance Minister Grant Robertson disagrees, saying Orr's forecast was "certainly challengeable". This morning, the Reserve Bank published a discussion document. It says KiwiBuild could contribute 100,000 affordable houses over 10 years, but it's unlikely that will be ach...