Daily Archives: February 5, 2022

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - New Zealand on Thursday announced a phased reopening of its border that has been largely closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but travel bodies said self-isolation rules need to be removed to revive the struggling tourism sector.

Vaccinated New Zealanders in Australia can travel home from Feb. 27 without a requirement to stay at state-managed quarantine facilities, while New Zealand citizens in the rest of the world will be able to do so two weeks later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

Foreign vaccinated backpackers and some skilled workers can come to the country beginning March 13, while up to 5,000 international students will be allowed to enter from April 12.

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Tourists from Australia and other visa-free countries will only be allowed in by July and travellers from the rest of the world will be kept out until October under the plan.

All travellers would still have to self-isolate for 10 days, Ardern said.

Opening borders in a managed way would allow people to reunite and help fill workforce shortages while ensuring the healthcare system could manage an expected increase in cases, Ardern said.

"Our strategy with Omicron is to slow the spread, and our borders are part of that," she told a business audience in Auckland. The highly contagious variant of the virus currently dominant around the world was recently detected in New Zealand, and case numbers are slowly mounting.

FORTRESS NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand has had some of the toughest border controls in the world for the last two years, as the government tried to keep the coronavirus out.

Foreigners were banned from entering, and citizens looking to return had to either make emergency requests to the government or secure a spot in state quarantine facilities, called MIQ, through a website.

Critics have called the system unfair. The opposition National party leader Christopher Luxon described MIQ as a "lottery of human misery".

The policies helped keep infections and deaths low. A country of five million people, New Zealand has had about 17,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far and just 53 deaths.

But it also left tens of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders cut off from families back home, led to job losses for residents and has been devastating for businesses dependent on international tourists.

A pregnant journalist who was trapped in Afghanistan highlighted the issue with the tough border controls last week. She has since been granted a place in MIQ and plans to return in March.

The travel and tourism sector slammed the self-isolation rules, saying it prevented any meaningful recovery in what had been the country's top earner of foreign exchange until recently.

"People do not want to fly to New Zealand if they have to spend their first week sitting in a hotel," said New Zealand Airports Association Chief Executive Kevin Ward.

He said analysis by Auckland Airport (AIA.NZ) showed demand from Australia's visitor market is estimated at just 7% of 2019 levels if the self-isolation requirements remain in place.

A spokesperson for Australian travel agent Flight Centre (FLT.AX) said isolation requirements would be a "dealbreaker" for the vast majority of potential travellers.

Tourism Export Council of New Zealand CEO Lynda Keene said the self-isolation rule was a "complete handbrake that will keep New Zealand disconnected from the world, not reconnected."

Ardern said the government will be reviewing the self-isolation requirements.

"It will be a much more meaningful reopening for tourists if they are able to enter with lesser self isolation," she told reporters.

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Reporting by Praveen Menon and Jamie Freed; Editing by Leslie Adler, Bill Berkrot and Lincoln Feast.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Fortress New Zealand delays full reopening until October ...

Reports of abuse were filed against hundreds of clergy members and others in the Roman Catholic Church in New Zealand dating back to the 1950s, according to figures released this week to a royal commission, which for the first time capture the pervasiveness of abuse accusations in the church there.

Between 1950 and 2021, there were 1,680 allegations of abuse reported against diocesan clergy and members of Catholic religious orders or associations, according to data from Te Ropu Tautoko, a group coordinating between the commission the highest form of investigation in New Zealand and the Catholic Church.

The sobering data uncovered the scale of abuse within the Catholic Church, Katherine Anderson, a lawyer assisting the commission, said in a statement. The research is startling, and the heartbreaking reality is that helpless and vulnerable children and adults sit behind these facts and figures.

Accusations were levied against 14 percent of all diocesan clergy in New Zealand, according to the figures, many of them between the 1960s and the 1980s, with a majority of instances involving children at educational or residential facilities under the churchs supervision. Over half of all abuse reported involved sexual harm or other physical, emotional or psychological abuses. Others involved the failure to act on complaints.

Still, a support network for victims called the data the tip of a huge iceberg.

We have no mechanism to verify the accuracy of those numbers. We cannot confirm what has been put in or left out, said Christopher Longhurst, a national leader for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Most of the groups members, he said, had not officially reported their abuse. According to the groups own estimates, for every complaint received, between six to ten people had a similar experience but never lodged a complaint.

An official for the Catholic Church said the statistics on abuse were horrifying and something we are deeply ashamed of. The official, Cardinal John Dew, who is president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, added, I firmly hope that facts like these will help us to face the sad reality. The Church will learn from this and affirm its commitment to the work of safeguarding.

In 1,296 of the cases, accusers named a person when reporting abuses. In one instance, 74 allegations of abuse were made against the same person, the figures said. About 14 percent of all reports documented were linked to Marylands Special School and Hebron Trust, two Christchurch facilities for disabled or at-risk young people.

The inquiry comes as countries around the world have been investigating allegations of sexual abuse by clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church. An independent commission in France last year estimated that more than 200,000 minors over the past seven decades were sexually abused and in many cases silenced when they spoke up about their experiences. In Australia, a similar commission in 2017 found an epidemic of sexual abuse of children and urged Roman Catholic officials to abolish mandatory celibacy for priests.

The work of the New Zealand commission, which started in 2018, will continue with a public hearing, set to begin next week, that will hear accounts of those who say they experienced abuse under the care of the Catholic Church. The commission is expected to deliver a full report on the abuses by next year.

Two Catholic Church brothers, Rodger Moloney and Bernard McGrath, have already been convicted of abusing children at Marylands Special School and Hebron Trust.

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New Zealand Inquiry Finds Hundreds of Reports of Abuse by Priests - The New York Times

Heavy mist covering the lush meadows, thundering waterfalls and pristine landscapes and an absolute lack of human population give this faraway land the appeal of an Impressionist painting in green and blue. With no insects or predators roaming the land and crystal-clear lakes defining the geography, this land is where surviving species were fairly few, until some sea-faring voyagers stumbled upon it.

They witnessed it from a distance, this island of mist, and named it Aotearoa, or the land of the long white cloud. These settlers were the Maoris, the indigenous tribe of New Zealand, whose careful stewardship of their land has preserved its natural beauty, and have ensured its purity and pristinity till date.

Since that timeapproximately the 1200sNew Zealand has remained verdant as ever, though the mist has cleared considerably, and the land has now been occupied. According to popular belief, when the Europeans arrived, they named it Niew Zeeland, after New Sealand in Holland, another paradise of blue-green lakes and fields.

Even though it has become a full-fledged country with a remarkable presence on the global tourism map, the imprint of the Maori culture remains strong, and weaves its way through myths and legends, ancient forest rituals, tattoo art, and even the afterlife. The Maoris felt a strong spiritual connection with the land and tended to it with devotion and by worshipping nature and all its elements. The Maori heritage is reflected everywherein the local cuisine, folklore, and even the bioluminescent paua shell jewelrybut nowhere is it more visible than at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. This historic site is where the eponymous agreement between Maori Chiefs and the British Crown was signed, leading to the birth of New Zealand as a nation.

The sprawling estate is beautifully landscapedand the place is prided to be home to a massive 116-feet-long waka or canoe, exemplifying and reminiscing of the one in which the first Maoris arrived, led by their Chief Kupe. The wood-carving studio, state-of-the-art museum, and maori pou (carved wooden posts) pay silent homage to the rich indigenous culture.

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However, the true Maori spirit springs forth in the fiery welcome ceremony that feels more like a war dance with guttural cries, threatening looks, and brandishing of weapons. Once you enter the traditional hut or a wharenui, you can relax and enjoy a lively cultural performance, click photos with the dancers, and enjoy a mouth watering meal cooked on a hangi or the earthen stove.

The north-west tip of New Zealand, jutting into the Pacific, is named Cape Reinga, which holds enormous significance for the Maoris. They say that the souls of the departed ones take a leap from here to start their voyage back to the ancestral homeland of Polynesia. It was prophesied that a great light would shine here somedayand sure enough, the lighthouse that stands here now guides ships to safety.

Another fascinating legend is the tale of Tane Mahuta, the forest God. It is a towering Kauri pine tree in Waipoua Rainforest that is a national treasure and is protected against insects, termites and any other possible threats. At 2,000 years it is believed to be as old as Jesus Christ himself.

The legend goes that Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (Earth Mother) were locked in a tight embrace for millions of years but their children were tired of the darkness, so Tane Mahuta being the strongest of them all, pushed his parents apart with his legs, thus flooding the world with light and life. When it rains, the Maori believe that it is Ranginui crying for his wife.

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Elevated walkways lead the way to the majestic 148-feet-tall tree. Gazing up at it will give you a crick in the neck. The indigenous forest tour guide prepares a Cocktail of the Forestmade of three leaves of Kawa Kawa, a teaspoon of Manuka honey and boiling water. He then sings a stirring paean in front of the God, as members of the tour group raise a toast, and drink to his long life. It is a strange but, at the same time,moving ritual.

From herbal tattoo ink; made of mountain gum, fish oil, and burnt bark, to Manuka honey face packs and pounamu(jade) carvings, the Maoris rich legacy is closely interlinked with nature.

It is this ancient indigenous wisdom that lies at the core of taikitaking care of culturewhich is summed up in this saying:

He aha te mea nui o tea o?(What is the most important thing in the world?)

He tangata, he tangata, he tangata(It is people, it is people, it is people.)

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Land of the White Cloud: Exploring New Zealand's Maori Heritage - Outlook India

The New Zealand convoy protests follow similar gatherings overseas. In Canada, more than 200 trucks and other vehicles have been blockading downtown roads in central Ottawa in a nearly week-long protest of coronavirus vaccine mandates.

Protest organiser Tamara Lich said the demonstrators would stay in place until all mandates had been dropped.

"Our movement has grown in Canada and across the world because common people are tired of the mandates and restrictions in their lives that now seem to be doing more harm than good," she told a news conference.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the protests were "unacceptable" and that it was "time for these people to go home".

Organisers said drivers planned to hold similar protests in Toronto - the country's most populous city and its financial hub - and Quebec City amid growing frustration over almost two years of restrictions imposed to fight COVID-19.

A group of American truckers are also planning similar protests. They're trying to get some of the Canadian anti-vaccine mandate campaigns across the border as they plan a protest in Washington DC.

US organizers call themselves Convoy to DC 2022 on Facebook, which has gained over 100,000 members.

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Police aware of NZ convoy anti-vaccine mandate protest over Waitangi weekend - Newshub

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We are now starting to see a very worrying increase in disease in most regions of the world. We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines and because of Omicrons high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary. Nothing could be further from the truth. More transmission means more disease. We are not calling for any country to return to so-called lockdown. But we are calling on all countries to protect their people using every tool in the toolkit not vaccines alone. Its premature for any country, either to surrender or to declare victory. This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes.

Nightclubs in Denmark are reopening, and the government no longer considers Covid a socially critical disease. Norway is dropping its coronavirus test requirements for fully vaccinated travelers. France is ending its outdoor mask mandate. Unvaccinated Austrians are no longer confined to their homes.

In several European nations, pandemic protocols are being eased as public support for them has waned and the approach shifts instead to treating the virus as endemic, or a manageable part of life. Now some parts of the United States, where the Omicron wave has crested, are heading in that direction, with several state leaders saying it is time to be realistic about pandemic fatigue.

Were not going to manage this to zero, Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat, said on Sunday on the NBC News program Meet the Press. We have to learn how to live with this, he said.

Norways easing of restrictions may be the most drastic. There is no longer a limit there on how many people can gather at events, either indoors or outdoors. At movie theaters, churches and elementary schools, social distancing rules are gone. Restaurants can once again serve drinks past 11 p.m. Colleges and universities are being urged to strive for full in-person instruction. And working from home is no longer required.

As of Tuesday, fully vaccinated travelers entering Norway are exempted from testing requirements, easing a rule that has been integral to international travel since the pandemic began. (Travelers who are not fully vaccinated still face testing requirements.) Norway also shortened its minimum isolation period to four days for people who test positive but show no symptoms.

Also on Wednesday:

France eased outdoor mask rules and capacity limits for concert halls, stadiums and other events.

Switzerland said it would relax its remote work and quarantine edicts, effective Thursday.

The prime minister of the Czech Republic said the country would end its testing requirements for schools and workplaces on Feb. 18.

Finland said earlier in the week that it intended to lift all its restrictions this month, and England is expected to roll back restrictions soon as well.

Several Asian governments are moving to ease rules for arriving international travelers:

On Tuesday, Thailand resumed allowing fully vaccinated travelers into the country without quarantine, after a five-week suspension.

The Philippines said it would reopen to tourists from most countries on Feb. 10, and no longer require fully vaccinated travelers to quarantine in a government facility.

Hong Kong is reducing its quarantine period for international travelers to 14 days, down from 21, effective Saturday.

Indonesia will open the tourist island of Bali to all international travelers on Friday.

But public health leaders at the World Health Organization have urged caution about relaxing restrictions too hastily. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.s director general, said at a Tuesday news conference that it was premature for any country either to surrender, or to declare victory over the virus.

Were concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines, and because of Omicrons high transmissibility and lower severity, preventing transmission is no longer possible, and no longer necessary, Dr. Tedros said. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the United States, indoor mask mandates have recently expired in several cities, including Denver, Hartford and San Francisco. New York States mask requirement is effective through Feb. 10, and it is unclear whether it will be extended; Gov. Kathy Hochul has said no decision has been made.

Before Omicrons arrival, Seema Lakdawala, a respiratory virus expert at the University of Pittsburgh, estimated that masks could come off by February. Now, she said, she is surprised that more states havent put new mask mandates in place.

Im not sure anywhere at the moment is in a place that there is sufficient decrease in cases, at least in the U.S., to warrant taking off mask mandates, Dr. Lakdawala said, adding that she was hopeful weve turned a corner, but wanted to see more weeks of the virus trending down.

The U.S. has recently been averaging about 424,000 new cases a day, a figure that is falling but remains far higher than in any earlier surge in the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. Nationwide, about 140,000 patients are hospitalized with the virus, another figure that remains higher than in any previous surge. The nation is averaging more than 2,600 deaths a day, fewer than the peak last winter but still rising.

An earlier version of this report incorrectly included Baltimore in a group of cities where indoor mask mandates have ended. A mask mandate ended in Baltimore County, not the city of Baltimore.

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Covid News: New Zealand Plans to Fully Reopen - The New York Times

Penzance Bay Rd in Marlborough is closed because of damage. Photo / Supplied

Heavy rain in Marlborough has closed part of a major highway as the rain band moves up the country.

Over the past several days the West Coast region has received an "extraordinary" amount of rain up to a metre in places in a weather event that is today passing through Marlborough.

The Marlborough region is under a heavy rain watch until 11pm.

MetService is advising residents to expect periods of heavy rain, falling at a rate of up to 10-20mm per hour.

At midday, rain was still falling in the central and Eastern Marlborough sounds, but the rain event was expected to move north.

Marlborough District Council issued an update at midday saying road closures were in place on State Highway 6 between Hira and Rai Valley, northwest of Blenheim.

Penzance Bay Rd and Kaiuma Bay Rd are also closed, and a large slip is blocking Duncan Bay Rd.

Council said Marlborough Civil Defence and Emergency Management is in contact with Penzance Bay and Duncan Bay residents, and all are fine. They will continue to stay in close touch with them.

In a warning issued by council yesterday, Marlborough CDEM controller Richard MacNamara urged people to think carefully about their travel plans - whether by road or water - to the Sounds this Waitangi weekend.

"If you don't need to travel on the roads or by boat this long weekend, please consider staying home."

4 Feb, 2022 04:00 PMQuick Read

3 Feb, 2022 09:26 PMQuick Read

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Marlborough Civil Defence and Emergency Management is on standby in case a response is required.

"At this stage we are hopeful the storm will pass through relatively quickly and any effects will be localised to one or two bays and not any more widely."

"If you think that your life or property is in danger, please dial 111."

He advised residents to bring inside or tie down anything that could be picked up by strong winds, to bring pets indoors and check on neighbours or anyone who may need help.

Earlier today MetService Meteorologist Dan Corrigan said the rain band had moved north from the West Coast region and was passing over central New Zealand.

"The main rain band has moved northwards onto Wellington, Marlborough and the Kpiti Coast, and we have heavy rain watches out for those regions," he said.

"Because it's moving slowly it has a lot of time most of the day to be raining heavy on those areas.

"So it is likely we'll see some impact from that as it rains over the lower North Island and shifts gradually north towards central New Zealand."

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Heavy rain closes SH6 in Marlborough as weather event moves up NZ - New Zealand Herald

Opinion: I don't care that our Super Rugby Pacific franchises have moved to Queenstown.

After New Zealand's exit from the 2019 Rugby World Cup, senior All Blacks Sonny Bill Williams and TJ Perenara (pictured) talked of the need for coaches, who better-reflected the squad itself. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

I won't care if, as has been mooted, they end up relocating to Australia either.

In fact, I couldn't care less about the entire competition.

What interests me this week, is events in America's National Football League (NFL) where a black head coach, Brian Flores, filed a class-action lawsuit against the governing body and three of its teams, alleging racial discrimination.

The NFL has what's known as the Rooney Rule, which mandates that franchises must interview ethnic minority candidates for head coaching and senior management roles.

Flores, who was fired by the Miami Dolphins during the current NFL season, accuses teams of conducting sham interviews with him, in order to meet the Rooney Rule, but with no intention of actually hiring him.

As it stands, just one of the NFL's 32 teams has a black head coach. That is Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now I don't want to go too deep into the weeds on the topic of the NFL or Flores. His lawsuit is potentially seismic for that sport and its ripples could be felt for generations.

What intrigues me here is the notion of affirmative action which, if applied correctly, can provide sports organisations with a greater diversity.

I think it's time for some in New Zealand sport.

I'd like to see more Mori and Pasifika head coaches, just as I'd like to see more females ascend to these types of roles.

It's not happening by what you might call conventional means, so perhaps it's time to artificially ensure our coaching net gets cast wider.

We've dipped our toe in the water here already. After New Zealand's exit from the 2019 Rugby World Cup, senior All Blacks Sonny Bill Williams and TJ Perenara talked of the need for a coach, or coaches, who better-reflected the squad itself.

The All Blacks boast - and have long-boasted - teams made up of Mori, Samoan, Tongan and Fijian players, yet have been continually coached by white guys.

It is heartening that Ardie Savea had a spell as fill-in All Blacks captain in 2021, but Sam Cane and Sam Whitelock still rank above him in the hierarchy.

I think it's a crime that men such as Pat Lam and Tabai Matson don't have a coaching pathway in New Zealand. Matson's Harlequins sit near the top of the English Premiership table, while Lam's Bristol team topped the round-robin standings last year.

Dave Rennie coaches Australia, for heaven's sake, because he'd reached a bit of a dead-end here.

Filo Tiatia can get head-coaching jobs in Wales and Japan, but is forever cast in a support role in New Zealand. Having been assistant coach of Auckland, he'll now do the same for Moana Pasifika.

Culture is a big word among sports teams, particularly in rugby. In basic terms it's about feeling like you belong and are valued and important, that you and your background and beliefs matter.

Respect is paid to those things, but only to a point. At the end of the day, players invariably report to coaches and management with whom they sometimes struggle to relate.

We are forever having to convene panels and conduct reports to examine the treatment of female athletes. Overwhelmingly, the common denominator is that these women have been made to feel uncomfortable - or worse - by male authority figures.

The argument from sports organisations is that there just aren't the candidates. Sure, we'd love greater diversity, but we can't go promoting people for the sake of it or beyond their competency.

Well, maybe you do. Maybe actual legislation or quotas are going too far, but these organisations simply have to go to greater lengths to identify and nurture and appoint people to appropriate positions.

We can't forever put square pegs in round holes and then act surprised when they don't fit. Save yourself the hassle and expense of a cultural review after the fact and just get the right people involved in the first place.

Imagine being Flores and taking on the might of the NFL. Imagine the prospect he faces of never working in the industry again, as happened to elite quarterback Colin Kaepernick when he declined to stand for the pre-game national anthem.

It's hard to see a female or Pasifika coach ever alleging racial discrimination here, partly because outfits such as New Zealand Rugby are so powerful. But if it can happen in the NFL, then who knows?

Trailblazers such as Bryan Williams, Michael Jones, Rita Fatialofa and Murphy Su'a inspired a generation of aspiring athletes to believe they could compete for New Zealand too. Tana Umaga and Pat Lam have proved you can ascend to prominent coaching roles, if only briefly.

But for every Haidee Tiffen who becomes White Ferns head coach, there are 10 different blokes waiting to take that job should she fail.

We can do better and, frankly, we have to.

We've always prided ourselves on being a nation where everyone gets a fair go, so why should the coaching and administration of elite sport be any different?

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New Zealand sport in need of some affirmative action - RNZ

Saturday, 5 February 2022, 2:09 pmPress Release: New Zealand Government

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta and AssociateHealth Minister Aupito William Sio today announced that NewZealand is donating further Pfizer vaccines to Tonga andSamoa.

Aotearoa New Zealand is donatingan additional 9,300 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine toTonga, and 10,000 doses to Samoa, Nanaia Mahutasaid.

These donations are part of AotearoaNewZealands ongoing commitment to globalvaccination efforts and are part of our plans to supportvaccine rollout in the Pacific.

Thesevaccines will enable frontline workers and vulnerablepopulations to access a booster as early as possible,Aupito William Sio said.

Both Samoa and Tonga havedone an impressive job of vaccinating their people againstCOVID-19.

With Tonga now in lockdown andCOVID-19 detected at the border in Samoa, ensuringpopulations are boosted will play a key role in mitigatingthe impacts of an outbreak, Nanaia Mahutasaid.

Following the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apaivolcanic eruption and tsunami, New Zealand has provided $3million to Tonga in humanitarian funding. A Royal NewZealand AirForce C-130 Herculeshas departed BaseAuckland Whenuapai earlier today carrying the vaccines,rapid antigen tests, and equipment to supportre-establishing the electrical network.

This donationbrings New Zealands total vaccine donations to over47,000 for Tonga and 94,000 forSamoa.

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New Zealand To Donate Further COVID-19 Vaccines To Tonga And Samoa - Scoop.co.nz