Category Archives: New Zealand

Air New Zealands cookie-and-chip combo is an institution, but itll be no sure thing on future flights and neither will the tea and coffee service.

After tests involving more than 7000 passengers across 100 flights, the airline has settled on a new range of in-flight snacks. Well be offered popcorn, crisps, muesli bars and chocolate in addition to the traditional cookie.

ALAN GRANVILLE/Stuff

Corn chips face an uncertain future on Air New Zealand flights.

Not all at once though. The new, New Zealand-made snacks will be rotated on a monthly basis, which general manager customer Leeanne Langridge reckons should satisfy customers craving for variety.

One of the things we got out of the trials was that customers want choice and change. So not just the corn chips or the cookie actually give us choice and we want to see more change. So dont wait five years to change your product.

READ MORE:* Air New Zealand unveils new inflight snacks* Air New Zealand is changing up its inflight snacks: Here's our wishlist* Air New Zealand to trial Eat My Lunch snacks on domestic flights; hints at signature chocolates

If youre a fan of the corn chips, the other half of the cookie-and-chips combo traditionally offered on domestic flights, there could be cause for concern. While the airline said the cookie and lollies would remain fixtures on domestic flights, it made no such promises as far as the corn chips were concerned.

Ryan Anderson/Stuff

Air New Zealand has trialled apple crumble-flavoured ice cream, popcorn, paprika-flavoured Proper Crisps, and mandarins on recent domestic flights.

If youre disappointed the ice cream and mandarins trialled didnt make the cut or that popular passenger suggestions such as wine and cheese, and croissants werent taken up dont despair. The airline will offer surprise snacks about two or three times a month.

Langridge said surprise and delight options could include champagne, ice cream, danishes, bliss balls, seasonal fruit, or snacks from social enterprises such as Eat My Lunch. Cookie Times Lolly Cake cookie is expected to make an appearance on board shortly.

Surprise snacks went down a treat on the few occasions they had been offered in the past, she said particularly the pain au chocolate offered one Mothers Day.

The airline will offer at least one gluten-free snack on every domestic flight, she said.

If you like a cup of coffee or tea in the early evening, prepare to be disappointed though. They will be removed from Koru Hour flights under 50 minutes following feedback that the food and beverage service felt rushed. Passengers will still be offered wine, beer, cider, L&P and Coca-Cola No Sugar along with cheese and crackers or a savoury snack.

The airline plans to offer different kinds of popcorn, crisps, muesli bars and chocolate, with a focus on New Zealand products.

Matty McLean/Twitter

Cookies will continue to be offered on domestic flights.

At the moment we have [Nelson made] Proper Crisps, which are amazing and Serious Popcorn personally I love the sweet-and-salty flavour. But we're going to see change there as well because we heard that was really important to people. Were not wedded to any one product or company.

Langridge acknowledged a Stuff poll that found a high percentage of people wanted Whittakers chocolate on flights. The airline has worked with the Kiwi chocolate company in the past and recently had a helpful conversation with Matt Whittaker, she said.

I cant say it'll all be Whittakers, but certainly they've been great to work with and were excited about opportunities in the future.

The airline would like to talk to any food company keen to showcase its products on board, she said.

It announced in June that it would introduce alternative snacks on domestic flights as part of a broader shake-up of its food and beverage service.

On a trial flight on June 10, the alternative snack choice apple crumble-flavoured Kapiti ice cream got mixed reactions.

Passenger Tony Zhang said he was pleased the airline was trialling ice cream on the new menu, although he thought spicy apple crumble-flavour was an odd choice.

Jeremy Tasker, by contrast, found the spicy apple crumble ice cream refreshing. Asked for his thoughts on the airline shaking up the snacks menu, he said: I think its about time. Getting sick of the old cookies and crisps, and the ice cream just adds a little bit of spice. It came as a surprise.

Ryan Anderson/Stuff

The ice cream trialled didnt make the cut, but Air NZs Leeanne Langride said surprises would pop up from time to time.

An Air New Zealand Facebook post asking people what snacks theyd like to see on board generated more than 1400 responses. Wine and cheese was a popular choice, while many said theyd like the airline to better cater for those with food allergies and intolerances. Others had quite specific requests.

Kumara wedges with sour cream drizzled with sweet chilli sauce, and dont forget the melted cheese, one person said.

Mini cheese board with nuts, crackers and maybe some dried fruits and grapes, another wrote.

A warm scone with butter to go with the cuppa. Or something like a hot mini savoury pie or mini sausage roll, a third suggested.

Should be getting Bluff oysters and caviar with champagne given the monopolistic pricing of some of the fares, another said.

Whittakers chocolate, Kpiti dark chocolate and berry sorbet, gluten-free potato chips, kmara chips, chips and dips, pineapple lumps, lamingtons, muffins and mini sliders filled with the likes of locally sourced lamb and smoked salmon were among the many other suggestions.

However, some said they didnt think snacks should be served at all on domestic flights, particularly while passengers are required to wear face masks.

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Air New Zealand settles on new in-flight snacks: Corn chips face uncertain future, while tea and coffee to be axed from some flights - Stuff.co.nz

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Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler of New Zealand celebrate winning the gold medal in the women's pair at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler have won New Zealands first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics.

On Friday, they'll seek to win a second.

The New Zealand women's pair rowers claimed gold in their A final at the Sea Forest Waterway on Thursday, heading home the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Canada.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Kerri Gowler, left, and Grace Prendergast hug after winning the gold medal for New Zealand in rowing's women's pair at Sea Forest Waterway.

It was New Zealand's fourth medal of the Games to date after triathlete Hayden Wilde captured bronze on Monday, and women's double scullers Brooke Donoghue and Hannah Osborne and the men's rugby sevens team gained silver on Wednesday.

READ MORE:* NZ's rowers line up medal charge as pair, eight make Tokyo Olympic finals* New Zealand pair win both races to be on track for rowing golds at Tokyo Olympics* Women's boats set to grab the New Zealand rowing spotlight at Tokyo Olympics* New Zealand's top medal prospects at the Tokyo Olympics: Our countdown concludes

The New Zealanders trailed Canada for the first half of the 2000m race before moving to the front in the third quarter. They staved off a surprise challenge from the ROC duo of Vasilisa Stepanova and Elena Oriabinskaia by 1.26 seconds, winning in a time of 6min 50.19sec.

Asked for her initial reaction, Prendergast told Sky TV: Honestly, I don't really know at the moment.

It's such a whirlwind, such a dream, but I'm just so stoked I'm just so happy.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF

Sally Prendergast went through every emotion under the sun as she nervously watched her daughter race for Olympic gold.

Gowler said: Same I can't believe it. I feel like we crossed the line and I just started yelling, Have we done it? But it's amazing. I'm so glad we've done it.

We crossed and I was like, 'Was someone ahead of us? I don't know, I was so focused on us ... I was like, 'Did we do it?' Honestly, I can't believe it.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Sally Prendergast, left, reacts to her daughter's gold medal win in Thursday afternoon's double sculls final.

Prendergast added: I'm just so stoked; it's been such a good season. Regardless of the result today, I was stoked with how our season went, but it's always a cherry on the top when you finish on top.

Gowler saluted their supporters, saying: It's been a long five years, and I'm really gutted that everyone can't be here with us. But, yeah, I'm just really glad you're there to support us, and we hope we did you proud.

It was New Zealand's first Olympic gold medal in the women's pair. It completed a full set after Lynley Hannen and Nikki Payne took bronze in 1988 in Seoul, Juliette Haigh and Rebeca Scown took bronze in 2012 in London, and Genevieve Behrent and Scown claimed silver in 2016 in Rio.

Prendergast and Gowler, who were dual world champions in 2019, are also part of the New Zealand women's eight who will contest their final on Friday afternoon (NZ time) as the duo seek a rare rowing double-gold return in Tokyo.

New Zealand women's single sculler Emma Twigg will contest her semifinal at 1:50pm on Thursday as she continues her quest for a first Olympic medal at her fourth Games.

more to come

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Tokyo Olympics: Women's pair rowers win New Zealand's first gold medal of the Games - Stuff.co.nz

A group of youngsters produce their own theatrical play. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

Declassified government documents show officials were struggling to debunk TV1 footage of the Kaikura lights UFO sightings in December 1978.

In a report submitted to the United Nations in January 1979, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) classified the objects as "UFOs until identified", but said the "prospect of extra terrestrial intervention being proved is regarded as extremely remote".

The document is one of a large group of declassified documents regarding "Unidentified Flying Objects" at Archives New Zealand, which came from New Zealand's post at the UN between 1977 and 1982.

In the briefing, DSIR debunks one film of the famous event, but has trouble in doing the same with TV1's footage.

"Both Crockett's and TV1's films are highly distorted," the briefing reads.

"Crockett's film now considered unmeritous because of visual discrepancies produced by filming through an argosy window. DSIR have actually duplicated Crockett's results by shining a torch light onto the plane's window.

"TV1's film proving more interesting as it was a straight shot free of any distortion produced by filming through glass and plastic.

"However, aberrations are apparent in the film which is making it difficult to analyse. DSIR are now converting the film to computer readout and are hopeful that distortions can be erased."

DSIR said atmospheric conditions could explain false radar readings at the time of the sightings, where both Christchurch and Wellington air traffic control registered signals.

They said the readings weren't consistent with the sightings of pilots, or ground sightings.

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"DSIR are not willing to make definite statements yet but their conjecture is that the objects filmed will turn out to be no more than general illumination (possibly produced by Jupiter or Venus) on the horizon.

"The objects remain classified as UFOs until identified. Prospect of extra terrestrial intervention being proved is regarded as extremely remote."

Other documents show the lobbying New Zealand received from the nation of Grenada, which wanted the United Nations to "initiate, conduct and coordinate research into the nature and origin of unidentified flying objects and related phenomena".

New Zealand was chairing the Western European and Other States Group in November, 1978, when Grenada wanted to table their suggestion, and was not pleased at the suggestion.

"We are disenchanted with Granada resolution and would hope that the item can be disposed of without vote," one document reads.

"If put to the vote our inclination would be to vote against."

Another document said: "A number of countries who were members of the Outer Space Committee (particularly Austria) were unhappy at the proposal. They felt it would damage the Committee's credibility and divert resources from more important work."

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it shared the opinion of the committee.

"The matter is not appropriate for discussion in a United Nations context.

"We would hope, therefore, that the matter would be disposed of without vote."

Grenada eventually pulled its pursuit of UFO investigations in the UN, at the urging of the United Kingdom.

See the rest here:

UFO sightings over Kaikoura baffled NZ Government - New Zealand Herald

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While the border remains shut, the tourism sector struggles to remain solvent and fill core roles to provide a premium service to New Zealand and, when the time is right, the world. (File photo)

OPINION: While we deal with the challenges of Covid-19, there is no doubting the political wisdom of a closed border to help manage the threat of the virus getting into and running rampant in New Zealand.

The management of Covid propelled the Government to become the first post-MMP majority Government, and it must feel comforted that a recent UMR poll found around 66 per cent of New Zealanders remain supportive of this policy and will probably continue to feel that way until a much greater proportion of the population is vaccinated.

We have low unemployment, most people are in some way connected to work, and the economy has rebounded remarkably strongly after a couple of stuttering quarters.

Right now New Zealand, along with the rest of the world, is trying to figure out how to get the lights back on safely after lockdowns, and how to get production under way to meet continued strong demand for our goods and services.

READ MORE:* Record number of job opportunities as employers struggle to find qualified staff* What's next for interest rates?* New Zealanders rate economy as among world's strongest* There is still plenty of Covid pain to come

So far this is good news.

But the pain of living with a closed border persists. While the border remains shut, the tourism sector struggles to remain solvent and fill core roles to provide a premium service to New Zealand and, when the time is right, the world.

SUPPLIED

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope.

While tourists arent flying here, taxpayers are having to subsidise the exports flown out of the country. And until the planes are full of passengers again, that will remain the case.

The exports that travel on those planes have been reduced since Covid hit exports overall are down some 25 per cent but that isnt related to demand for the products, its because we simply dont have people to pick the fruit, or tourists to populate the planes that carry the fruit, or workers that used to holiday here, or students that used to study and work here.

Despite the best efforts of the industries concerned doing all they can to find, train and pay locals, there are still critical skills shortages in almost all parts of the economy. Employers in primary industries in regional New Zealand are now thinking about what the next season might look like. Similarly, the designers, architects, engineers and constructors of new infrastructure are thinking twice about whether to compete for contracts when they dont know if there will be the skills available to complete projects.

The theme overwhelmingly coming through key business surveys is that businesses are having to constrain their output because of lack of staff to do the work.

The implications of continued labour shortages on future inflation could be substantial, with increased costs passed on to households as higher prices for everyday goods and services. There will be increased pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates, and with high levels of household debt, those higher interest rates will eat away at households disposable income.

Probably the biggest pain right now is at the personal level. We have a workforce that is working at full capacity, businesses report high level of stress among owners, staff, suppliers and customers, and the mental health of the workforce operating at this pace is at risk.

Helpfully, there are signs they are listening and have already taken some steps. Many temporary visa holders have had their visas extended for two years. These people work in critical and essential industries such as our aged care sector, and in our productive sectors, and it is good that they now have some certainty over their future and the value New Zealand places on their skills.

The Government also pushed back the timing of the overly bureaucratic employer-assisted visa programme as they work with industries to more thoroughly assess the balance between the skills that are available and what will be needed to ensure our people dont burn out.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi. The government recently announced they had extended many visas for temporary visa holders. (File photo)

Here are seven suggestions that could shift the dial in the short term while borders are shut, and in the medium term when hopefully the borders are open:

Allow family reunifications and pathways to residency, acknowledging that for those already here, this will not significantly increase housing and infrastructure pressures.

Look at immigration in terms of workforce priorities and integrate these with education and welfare needs. Improve the capacity of the health and education workforce to cope.

Improve the capacity of the essential services workforce allow more critical workers to come here.

Keep as many businesses and workers operating as possible reduce the number of unhelpful regulations and provide government services more efficiently.

Help growth industries lead the recovery primary industries, construction, infrastructure and technology companies.

Open up investor category visas for border exemptions to allow more foreign investment into the country, to build the infrastructure thats so badly needed.

Make a plan for business travel to be able to safely resume, as a priority export and other businesses need this urgently.

Our prospects for continued health, prosperity, and the sustainability of our workforce depend a great deal on the good work the Government has done in keeping us Covid-free, but these prospects also require the Government to listen to business to help reduce the ongoing pain of our closed border and ensure New Zealand can remain internationally competitive.

Kirk Hope is Chief Executive at BusinessNZ.

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Covid-19: The cost of keeping New Zealand safe - Stuff.co.nz

OPINION: About a year ago, North American friends started looking to New Zealand as an early glimpse of their own potential post-Covid world.

They were still stuck in lockdowns; we had emerged from ours. They wanted to know what their future might look like. Would working from home prove sticky? Or would everyone go back to their offices?

The answers mattered for thinking about whether firms might relocate to places where rents were lower, with obvious consequences for real estate prices.

The geographic time-vortex has since changed direction.

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New Zealand is not the worlds post-Covid future. Covid now seems globally endemic, with no prospect of the rest of the world eliminating it as much as we desperately hope they would.

North America instead provides visions of what a post-vaccination world may look like. If our luck holds, New Zealand will join the post-vaccination world without ever having to endure any real Covid outbreak like Australias. If our luck does not hold, New Zealand will get there the harder way.

Canadas vaccination rates are now among the best in the world. As of last week, 52 per cent of Canadas population was fully vaccinated and a further 18 per cent had had their first shot.

Cameron Burnell/Stuff

Dr Eric Crampton is chief economist with The New Zealand Initiative.

Those who are not vaccinated still impose risk. Vaccines sharply reduce the likelihood of serious illness with Covid, but some risk remains. Canadians support measures helping them to stay safe, and to avoid passing the virus on to others who are vulnerable, by staying clear of those who are unvaccinated.

Majorities of Canadians surveyed in late May, when only 54 per cent of Canadians had had at least a first vaccination dose, and again in July, supported proof-of-vaccination requirements to board commercial airline flights; to travel internationally; to attend public events or large gatherings; to visit public places like restaurants, movie theatres and churches; and, to attend ones own place of work.

Quebec will be requiring proof of vaccination for entry into high-risk places like gyms, concerts, and festivals in any fourth wave. And, last week, the University of British Columbias alumni association urged the university to require vaccination for students in the residence halls a measure supported by 82 per cent of students.

Across the US border, vaccination rates have plateaued at about 56 per cent and the costs of low vaccination rates are more obvious.

Americas National Football League last week set a new policy. If a vaccinated player returns a positive test, without symptoms, he can return to play after two negative tests a day apart; unvaccinated players must quarantine for 10 days.

If a game is cancelled due to a Covid outbreak among unvaccinated players, the team with unvaccinated players does not just forfeit the game. It also bears responsibility for any resulting financial losses.

The leagues policy does not mandate vaccination. It simply ensures that the costs of not being vaccinated fall where they should.

Some American universities are requiring that their students be vaccinated. Indiana Universitys mandate survived a court challenge last week.

Looking ahead to New Zealands post-vaccination future, we might expect similar preferences here if New Zealand has taken the hard road and endured the kind of real outbreak that makes the risk of the unvaccinated more tangible.

Some businesses and employers might cater to the more risk-averse who, like me, would strongly prefer shopping, eating, commuting and working in places where there are no unvaccinated people around. Other venues could cater to the less risk-averse, like restaurants that were once allowed to cater to smokers.

Lukas/Unsplash

Might our vaccine passport be ready in time for our post-vaccination future?

Canadas vaccine passport enabling reliable checking of vaccination status might only be ready by December. Might ours be ready in time for our post-vaccination future?

On the other side, some measures that make sense in a pre-vaccination world prove sticky afterwards.

Last week, economist Josh Gans excellent newsletter on Covid and economics highlighted University of Toronto rules restricting people against sharing offices, and mandating mask wearing indoors, even for vaccinated faculty alone in their offices.

Borders can also prove sticky.

Canada aimed to reopen the border when Canadian vaccination rates hit 75 per cent. The re-opening of the Canadian land border to vaccinated and tested travellers from the United States is scheduled for August 9, but Americas land border is remaining closed to Canadians despite Canadas much higher vaccination rates.

If New Zealand luckily avoids outbreaks before we reach the post-vaccination world, our border may prove stickier than it needs to be.

The Government has signalled that border policy will change in the post-vaccination world. But, quietly around the edges, we hear signals that nobody should really be able to expect to travel for another year.

New Zealand needs to be able to join the rest of the post-vaccination world in 2022. If the Government believes that world still to be too risky, then improving border quarantine now, so it will be able to accommodate a lot more vaccinated travellers for much shorter stays, will be important.

Dr Eric Crampton is chief economist with The New Zealand Initiative. The NZ Initiative is a research group funded by a range of corporates, universities and other organisations. You can view the full list of its supporters here.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this column said that Quebec already required proof of vaccination. (Updated 26/7, 9.49am)

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New Zealand is not the world's post-Covid future - Stuff.co.nz

NZ-born Suhayra Aden (right) and her two children will be repatriated to Aotearoa. Photo / Getty Images

By Leith Huffadine for RNZ

IS-linked New Zealander Suhayra Aden is coming to New Zealand because Australia revoked her citizenship, but Aotearoa didn't do the same thing, and there are good reasons for that.

The rules around citizenship are laid out in the Citizenship Act 1977, but the issue is also tied up in the Declaration of Human Rights and a responsibility to not leave people stateless.

So how can someone lose New Zealand citizenship? What sort of thing do you have to do for that to happen, and what are the consequences?

A New Zealand citizen aged at least 18 years, who is recognised by the law of another country as a citizen, can renounce NZ citizenship.

There's a bit of a process to follow, but it involves action from the minister of internal affairs.

In fact, the minister can essentially deny their renouncement for a couple of reasons, including if we're at war with any other country.

There is a process under which someone who has renounced citizenship can regain it.

You can be "deprived" of citizenship for a number of reasons.

You can also be deprived of citizenship in case of "fraud, false representation, or wilful concealment of relevant information" - although there are a few other details to be considered, too.

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But you can't be deprived of citizenship if it was acquired by mistake, or if removing it would leave you stateless.

As a side note, even if you lose citizenship, you're still bound to "any obligation, duty, or liability in respect of any act or thing done or omitted to be done" before ceasing to be a citizen of Aotearoa.

Victoria University of Wellington political science lecturer Julija Sardelic is an expert on citizenship and statelessness, and says the importance of citizenship can be highlighted by the Holocaust.

"All the countries in this world that are members of the UN have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 15 says that nobody should be arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. So basically it says that everybody has the right to nationality.

"Now why is this so important? Because the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been created after World War II and in Nazi Germany according to 1935 Nuremberg laws, all the Jews before the Holocaust started, they were all stripped of citizenship and that actually made it much easier for them to be killed in concentration camps.

"Basically, because they were not legal persons in front of the law ... it was much easier for them to get killed because it seemed as if they never existed without citizenship, because [of] being stateless.

"And that is why we have this international law and all the countries have agreed that every, each person has the rights to nationality and that people should not be stateless, given what kind of ramifications that has."

New Zealand was an original signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Sardelic says.

"New Zealand also signed the '61 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. And this says that basically nobody should be deprived of citizenship if they don't have any other citizenship.

"So what that means that you can only basically take away citizenship of people who have any other citizenship.

"A lot of countries have this standard in their citizenship laws that like, they can take away citizenship away under certain conditions, however, only if that means that this person would not become stateless.

"In New Zealand you can lose your citizenship if you have citizenship of another country.

"[Or if you] got New Zealand citizenship ... through fraud, or if you falsely represent it yourself or if you like deliberately hide information about when you apply for citizenship or - and that goes for like terrorist organisations - if you have a citizenship of another country, and you act against the interest of New Zealand (and this is usually interpreted if they joined like certain terrorist organisations).

"This is something that like many, many different countries have but it's in really, really rare circumstances that somebody's citizenship can be just taken away, and only in cases where there is dual citizenship."

Between 2012 and 2019, 15 people had their New Zealand citizenship removed.

It's a measure that only affects a small number of people, Sardelic says.

She adds that this means people with dual citizenship - often minority migrant groups - are discriminated against because it's easier to deprive them of New Zealand citizenship.

Sardelic says they "legally don't exist".

"You cannot apply for a job, you cannot access health care. You cannot, for example, access education. Because all this requires certain legal identity.

"Like I said in the Second World War, that meant that it was much easier to kill people who were without citizenship and put them into concentration camps.

"Nowadays, usually what that means is that there's no state that would actually offer you a certain protection. And that means you wouldn't be able to access all of these things that we just take for granted on everyday basis."

Sardelic says if you're a liberal democracy, you would strive to not make people stateless because having nationality is a basic, fundamental human right.

"The international community does not approve of leaving anybody stateless," Sardelic says.

"That's the first thing, and if you do that, you can no longer consider yourself as somebody who is abiding by human rights, including liberal democracy. If you're a liberal democracy, if you want to have your standing, then you do not leave people stateless."

As for consequences, Sardelic says "the problem with international law is that it is usually a soft law, so the consequences outside New Zealand, it's really, really difficult to measure them.

"Basically, if you left somebody stateless, New Zealand would be breaking its own domestic law, which is something that ... would go to court and actually be disputed.

"There's no international UN police that would come but there are committees that like do report on human rights and UN committees on human rights and this would not look good [for] New Zealand and its international standing with other countries.

"So it is possible that if there was many, many people who were left stateless it would affect a relationship with other countries for trade and so on.

"Basically, leaving somebody stateless signals that you are no longer a liberal democracy and [no longer] equal partner in discussions and so on in the international arena."

It would involve a court process, Sardelic says.

"You would need to look at this case by case. It's not easy to get citizenship back because the process is lengthy.

"But it is possible and according to different national laws, you should be able to gain citizenship back."

Sardelic says many citizenship experts - including her - argue that stripping someone of citizenship is not a just punishment, nor does it make countries safer.

"I don't think it actually addresses radicalisation of people at all," Sardelic says.

In Suhayra Aden's case, Sardelic believes the New Zealand approach is correct.

The Islamic Women's Council says helping her resettle into the community with her children will be the best outcome for her and New Zealand.

"Citizenship stripping would not actually solve a problem ... if you think about suppressing terrorism you do need to have much more comprehensive [deradicalisation] programmes to do that than just saying 'okay, I'll just take this person's citizenship.'"

Plus, it's not clear that the threat of citizenship stripping is a greater penalty than convicting someone as a terrorist in a judicial process, she argues.

She also points out that you can't strip the citizenship of home-grown terrorists.

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Losing citizenship: What you need to know - New Zealand Herald

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Emily Court is the General Manager at Pkaha National Wildlife Centre, Wairarapa.

A quick chat with Emily Court, General Manager at Pkaha National Wildlife Centre, Wairarapa.

Thats easy I think every visitor to New Zealand should spend some time in our native forests. Preferably guided by local experts because its so easy to miss the extraordinary and beautiful tiny creatures within.

Pkaha is just one of a number of reserves that can offer this guided experience. In September 2019 we launched Te Hkoi o Pkaha, a two-hour cultural tour that offers unique insights from traditional Mori storytelling and culture. Visitors who go on the tour consistently tell us that everyone should do it.

READ MORE:* Why everyone should visit Nelson * The one place this travel guru desperately wants to visit * What Fat Freddy's Drop star misses most since moving to Hawke's Bay

Im lucky enough to have the Ruamahanga River right at my front yard. We have a pretty special swimming spot and a barbecue stationed under one of the trees for lazy hot summer afternoons.

SIOBHAN DOWNES/STUFF

The Clareville Bakery just outside Carterton is always packed.

No two ways about it, the lamb cutlet pie at the Clareville Bakery in Carterton is the best in the world and their coffee is up there too!

Rakiura, Stewart Island. Ive been around most of our great country but still havent managed to make it down there. To visit a part of Aotearoa where kiwi (the bird) outnumber humans would be just magical. We have juvenile kiwi in our Kiwi House at Pkaha and you cant help but be awestruck by these unique birds.

Originally posted here:

Where every visitor to New Zealand should spend some time - Stuff.co.nz

OPINION: While National demands debate, the Mori Party argues such a debate would only ever suit the majority.

STUART SMITH: There is no doubt that the Mori language has a significant place in New Zealand. I like using Mori place names, and I am an enthusiastic student of te reo. I take regular classes, as is my individual choice, but I might add my ability does not match my enthusiasm.

However, I am well aware that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for learning languages nor sees the role of te reo exactly as I do.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Kaikura MP Stuart Smith is concerned that moves towards co-governance are happening without democratic process.

In the past few months, there has been an increasing spotlight placed on significant changes to how our Government enacts the Crown responsibility to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi.

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While there are those who vehemently support the notion of co-governance and, of course, those who oppose it, it is my opinion that most New Zealanders fall into a third group. This group is more concerned with the lack of transparency from the Government in implementing co-governance policies without consultation or engagement with the whole of New Zealand.

National Party Leader Judith Collins has been labelled a racist by the Mori Party for bringing this conversation to the table and inviting Kiwis to have their say on these matters.

My view is that asking legitimate questions about the future of our country is not racist.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff

Leader of the National Party, Judith Collins and her deputy, Shane Reti, attend the launch of their new Demand the Debate campaign on Carbine Road in Auckland.

Parliamentarians are voted in by the people and work for the people. If we sit back, dont ask questions, and let the Government advance what are pretty radical changes, without advocating for adequate consultation, then we are not doing our jobs properly.

There is a particular change that, while seemingly nominal, has sparked some controversy; the de facto changing of New Zealands name to Aotearoa New Zealand by the Government and in the media.

Now, I am not seeking to make a judgement call about whether we should change our name or not. That is neither here nor there. I am simply giving voice to the argument that perhaps before the shift began to be put in motion, New Zealanders themselves should have been consulted.

It is presumptuous and disrespectful to make a decision of such cultural importance for the country without engaging all who live there.

David Walker/Stuff

The George Hotel in Park Avenue, Christchurch, displays the five proposed flag options during the 2015 referendum.

Sir John Key had the courage to stand by his convictions and let New Zealanders decide whether we should change our flag. No matter where you stood on the issue, you still had the opportunity to have a say. Sir John lost that debate when New Zealand voted to retain the existing flag, and he accepted this verdict.

Arguably changing the name of the country is even more significant than changing the flag, and it is my belief that the right thing for the Labour Government to do is to advance an open conversation on this.

For some people, for example those who have represented or fought for New Zealand, there is a very strong connect with our existing name. For others, the te reo name Aotearoa holds greater significance.

As I see it, there is no right or wrong perspective. However, it is wrong for a public service and Government to decide a way forward with no regard for how New Zealanders think or feel about it.

Supplied

Mori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi says Smith will be left behind if he will not embrace a Te Tiriti centric Aotearoa.

RAWIRI WAITITI: I want to mihi to MP Smiths opinion piece for not only giving his view but also allowing the opportunity for reply. Not only does the piece make mention of Te Paati Mori (the Mori Party), but it also makes mention of the changes being made to uphold our obligation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Take a deep breath, perhaps a gaze outside to clear your mind. Then ask yourself this - have we really, ever upheld Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the first place?

You see, the document has been around for 181 years but still Mori remain worse off when it comes to health statistics, dying seven years younger. We are worse off when it comes to educational achievement, homelessness and incarceration, the list goes on.

KATHRYN GEORGE/STUFF

Stuff's NZ Made/N Nu Treni project: When the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Mori owned more than 66 million acres of land. By 1975, almost 97 per cent had been sold or taken.

The intergenerational effects of these outcomes for Mori are engrained from kaumatua (elders) to mokopuna (grandchildren), except now there is a new horizon on the rise the rise of a Te Tiriti centric Aotearoa, the changing of the tides.

I applaud MP Smiths quest in taking up te reo Mori and using Mori place names, however, demanding a debate that Mori have never really been part of to determine the outcomes best for us, will only ever suit the majority. Demanding a debate will only keep Mori as second-class citizens on their own whenua (land).

Te Tiriti o Waitangi was never about the democratic process in this country, it was always about rowing our waka alongside each other.

This is not about change, this is about the return to the true intention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as consented by our tpuna (ancestors). Sharing of the whenua for the greater good of both tangata whenua (people of the land) and tangata tiriti (people of the treaty), moving together in a Te Tiriti centric Aotearoa.

Mori TV

Mori youth are the key to ending high Mori prison population numbers believes Justice Sir Joe Williams. (Video first published in May 2021)

Its also not about race. It should, however, be all about our right. Nine times out of 10, Mori have never been involved in the debate and the creation of systems and solutions suited for us.

But lets also not be afraid, because as Kura Kaupapa, Khanga Reo and Whnau Ora have proven when Mori are given the opportunity to create solutions for us, we all succeed.

You can feel the change in the air, you can read the messages and posts from tangata tiriti on social media, you hear it on the street change is occurring.

STACY SQUIRES

With the support of a Te Ora Hou Whanau Ora navigator, Dave and Joanne Conrad and their children have settled into school, work and a home.

This is not about inciting hatred, division and dare I say it, apartheid these words dont belong to us. This is all about living up to the expectations of Te Tiriti as signed 181 years ago in Waitangi.

Perhaps MP Smiths identification of the third group of people has been wrongly mistaken for those who arent afraid of that new sunrise and change in the tide those embracing and committed to a true Tiriti centric Aotearoa.

So my question to MP Smith, and yourself is, as the next sunrise occurs and at the changing of the tide what will you do? Will you go with the sunrise into a new tomorrow and so naturally as tides change, or will you be left behind, in the archaic dark day and age and struggle to stay afloat against the changing tide?

Perhaps youre already living in the aspirations of a Tiriti centric Aotearoa nau mai, haere mai.

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'Aotearoa New Zealand': What if it went to a vote? - Stuff.co.nz

Immigration New Zealand has lost track of someone due to be deported to the Pacific, as the number of criminal deportees to the Pacific is banking up.

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It comes as the number of criminal deportees to the Pacific backs up because of Covid, with several stuck here waiting to be sent home. Source: 1 NEWS

Since the border closure, 32 people are on the list to be deported to the Pacific, with the majority for violent offences.

As of this week, 27 remain in detention and three have been deported. One is in the community and is being monitored.

Immigration NZ say theyre working with police to track the missing deportee down.

Pacific Policy fellow Jose Sousa-Santos said it would not be very neighbourly of New Zealand to send deportees back during this time,

To deport such a number of deportees back to their countries of origin will only put countries that are already under duress at further risk.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi declined to be interviewed and said in a statement agencies work closely together to monitor those individuals who are released into the community.

Nationals immigration spokeswoman Erica Stanford said the Government should at least keep an accurate tab on where violent offenders are.

Deportations have been backing up for a number of years under this government, this is not a new problem and we are dealing with violent offenders, the very least they could do is keep an accurate tab on where they are, she said.

The Immigration Minister is overseeing a department that is completely broken right now.

According to a Cabinet paper, another issue is getting police escorts because of the long MIQ stays.

Immigration New Zealand said the main barrier is lack of flights.

In 2019, 509 people were deported to their country of origin.

Last year, it was less than half that and this year only 142.

Sousa-Santos says once we un-pause we'll need to do it slowly because many don't have connections to the Pacific anymore.

Read more from the original source:

Immigration New Zealand loses track of someone due to be deported to Pacific - 1News

Queenstown is the most spectacular place in New Zealand to fly into, a Boeing 787 takes off at between 260km and 300km an hour, and you need to return to your assigned seat before landing so the planes centre of gravity isnt out of whack.

So said Air New Zealand chief pilot, Captain David Morgan, in a question and answer session with members of the public on the airlines Facebook page this week.

SUPPLIED

Morgan said flying into Queenstown Airport on a nice day is spectacular.

Asked which route is his favourite, Morgan said that was a tough one as hes flown the airlines entire network since he started with it in 1985.

Still, he conceded: The most spectacular flight Id say is flying into Queenstown on a beautiful day.

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Several people asked which New Zealand airport was the most difficult to fly into, but Morgan refused to be drawn, saying all airports can be challenging in bad weather.

However, he acknowledged that some have a unique set of challenges, such as windy Wellington and Queenstown when there are crosswinds.

Air New Zealand flight attendant Nicole Astle chipped in, saying her roughest-ever landing was in Dunedin followed by Queenstown and Wellington respectively.

Ross Giblin/Stuff

Morgan said windy Wellington presents a unique set of challenges for pilots.

To the question of why passengers are distributed to balance smaller planes, Morgan said aircraft are loaded so the pivot point (the central point at which the plane balances or turns) falls within its centre of gravity range.

That pivot point moves during the course of the flight. Because we calculate this before we depart, we ask passengers to return to their original seat prior to landing so that the centre of gravity is where it should be.

Morgan also explained that the window blinds need to be up for landing so cabin crew can see out the window if there is an emergency.

If youre travelling on an Airbus A320, look out for a small back triangle on the sidewall. It marks the spot crew stand to look outside if necessary.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Morgan said Queenstowns crosswinds can make it tricky to fly into.

Air New Zealand flight attendant Paige Valentine added that open window blinds also enable crew to see if there is fire or smoke outside in the event of an emergency evacuation.

Fire = dont open that emergency exit!

Morgan handled a lot of questions about turbulence, with many asking whether it posed a real danger.

His standard answer was No. The atmosphere is energetic, so its always moving. Its the moving of air layers that cause turbulence. Our aircraft are designed to fly through it and our pilots use our flight simulator to practice flying through turbulence.

A self-described terrible flyer asked whether it was true that pilots decide to cancel flights in bad weather because of the discomfort it would cause passengers rather than the planes capabilities.

Morgan gave his standard turbulence response, but Kiwi pilot Matt Wilcock said it was not.

(W)e cancel for unsuitable weather conditions normally at the destination airport or if any alternate airports are also unsuitable. Passenger comfort isnt a consideration as everyones comfort levels are different.

One person wanted to know how pilots remember which button does what in the cockpit when there are so many, asking whether they ever forget and press a button at random to see what happens.

Morgan said pilots use only about 10 per cent of the buttons on a Boeing 787 in-flight.

Most switches concern aircraft systems, which are used at the start and end of flights, he said.

During the flight, most switches are associated with the flight management computer and the autopilot of the aircraft I fly.

Spirit Airlines pilot Chris Reopelle said its a myth that planes can practically fly themselves on autopilot.

We utilise the autopilot to manage workload when things get busy. Its more a tool to help us manage an incredibly complex and diverse environment.

Morgan said the best seat on a plane is the captains, but passengers after a smoother ride should select a seat somewhere near the centre of gravity, which is typically over the wing.

Asked whether it was strange not being able to see out the windscreen when flying through cloud, Morgan admitted it was at first.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Air New Zealand has apologised for the way the situation was handled.

It was quite unusual actually because when you learn to fly, you learn by flying with reference to the ground.

However, he said pilots are trained to be able to fly using their instruments alone. When a plane flies through cloud, their eyes are solely on their instruments.

To the question of why a plane can feel like it is losing power after take off, Morgan said levelling off at low altitude can give the illusion that the aircraft is descending.

I tend to raise this in my pre-departure PA to ease any concerns.

As for whether planes can speed up if a flight is delayed to make up the time, Morgan said they can to a degree.

Matty McLean/Twitter

Cookies will continue to be offered on domestic flights.

However, its the same as a car if you speed up, you burn more fuel more quickly. We very rarely do this.

A couple of people enquired about pilots stamina on long-haul flights, asking whether they flew the whole journey or put the plane on autopilot for some of it.

Morgan explained that there are four pilots on long-haul flights who work in pairs.

We rotate regularly and take breaks, he said.

Many questions went unanswered. Among them: Do you ever get bored on a long-haul flight?, Do you avoid the fish?, and How is it that plane manufacturers can make a plane fly yet they cant make the announcements from the cockpit clear and legible a matter of metres back?

With the post generating more than 520 comments, you cant really blame him though. And, to be fair, he did take the time to answer arguably the most burning question of all: Whether the cookie or the chips are the best in-flight snack.

Morgan declared himself a cookie man, but said hes looking forward to the alternatives being trialled.

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The best New Zealand airport to fly into, according to Air New Zealand's chief pilot - Stuff.co.nz