Rnz: Morning Report

The Prime Minister is refusing to give any assurances the government will be able to get back into surplus by 2027. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has indicated she's not confident the government will be able to achieve that commitment.  Christopher Luxon told Morning Report he won't be able to give any concrete guidance until the Budget in May. He says the country is facing economic headwinds. Luxon says the Budget will address wasteful public spending, refocus spending on the frontline, and deliver tax cuts.

A group wanting wider and tougher restrictions on illegal sexual content on the internet says Aotearoa is falling behind in protecting children from online harm. The voluntary system, administered by the Department of Internal Affairs, blocks just over 400 websites depicting child sex abuse. But in some countries, thousands of these URLs are blocked every day.  Ashleigh McCaull reports. 

A rāhui is in place in Porirua for the Kenepuru Stream and part of the harbour, after a wastewater pipe burst on Sunday.  Wellington Water says it is using pumps to stop overflows into the area, and has conducted a geotechnical assessment.  It expects those pumps to remain in place for the next fortnight.  Wellington Water was unavailable for an interview.  Porirua's mayor Anita Baker spoke to Corin Dann.  

Authorities have confirmed that two New Zealanders have been killed while skiing in Japan. A man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s were part of a group of six backcountry skiing in Hokkaido when an avalanche hit. The Japan Times reports the pair were taken to hospital and were later pronounced dead. A third person was injured. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says following the avalanche, Japanese Police has confirmed that two New Zealanders have sadly passed away. The New Zealand Embassy has offered consular support to the families of those involved.

Palestinians besieged in Gaza by Israel's war against Hamas are facing a bleak start to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.  Some had hoped for a ceasefire in time for Ramadan but talks in Cairo have largely stalled. Sarah Schiffling is the deputy director of humanitarian supply chain organisation HUMLOG Institute, she said the aid being let in to Gaza doesn't stretch very far. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also said he will push ahead with a military offensive in Rafah, despite global concern for the one and a half million people sheltering there. Correspondent Alex Cadier spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss from Jerusalem, where many Muslims traditionally gather for Ramadan.

We don't want to become another America - that's the message the Linwood Islamic Centre's Imam will share with the prime minister today in a private meeting today ahead of the fifth anniversary of the March 15th terror attacks.  Fifty-one men, women, and children were murdered with high-powered firearms at Masjid An Nur and the Linwood Islamic Centre in 2019.  The Labour-led government announced a ban on military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles less than a week later.  The National-led coalition is now re-writing those laws to allow competitive sports shooters access to semi-automatics.  Linwood Islamic Centre Imam Lateef Alabi, and secretary Said Mostafa spoke to Corin Dann

A chronically-ill Rotorua woman suspects some GPs are reluctant to enrol her because she needs a lot of care. That's backed up by new research showing that under-funding means some clinics are cherry-picking healthy patients. Ruth Hill reports.

Many passengers were injured during a LATAM flight from Sydney to Auckland when it had what the airline describes as a 'technical problem which caused a strong movement." A passenger told RNZ the plane suddenly dropped in the sky.  Fifty people were treated by paramedics, twelve were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious.   It included a child who is in a moderate condition in Starship hospital. St John District Operations manager, Andy Everiss, says about 50 people needed to be assessed on board when the Boeing Dreamliner landed. One of those passengers was Brian Jokat. He spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

The Black Caps captain Tim Southee has no hard feelings towards Rachin Ravindra who dropped a costly catch off his bowling the in the second test loss to Australia.

Business news for 12 March 2024

Ambulance crews were put to the test yesterday when they boarded a plane on Auckland airport's tarmac to assess and treat about fifty passengers who were injured when the plane they were in suddenly dropped while on a flight from Sydney to Auckland. Fourteen units including seven ambulances were on the scene and St John took twelve passengers to hospitals. Their injuries ranged from minor to serious. St John's District Operations manager, Andy Everiss spoke last night to Morning Report producer Sally Wenley about what happened.

An update on what's happening in the sports world with Nathan Rarere.

The New Zealand Initiative is again calling for urgent action to secure the GP workforce and expand their role. It says a paper published in this month's New Zealand medical journal about GP's taking a tougher line on accepting new patients shows how broken the system is. The paper says more than three-quarters of practices surveyed have closed their books to new patients or limited enrolments in the last four years Emeritus professor and co-author of the report, Des Gorman, spoke to Corin Dann.

News from the rural farming sector.

Latest news from Radio New Zealand's business team.

The Princess of Wales has apologised for the confusion over a photo of her and her three children. The photo was taken down by several news agencies after they recieved a 'kill' notification with concerns it had been digitally edited. In a post to X, she wrote "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. " UK corerspondent Julia Chapman spoke to Morning Report.

For the first time in a year-and-a-half the average home value has increased - to $925,812- according to the latest QV House Price index out this morning. But over the last three months homes in some regions have dropped in price. With us now is QV's Operations manager, James Wilson.

An aviation expert says it's too early to say about what caused a Latam flight to lose altitude, injuring dozens of passengers. Terrified passengers on board the flight from Sydney to Auckland yesterday reported people being flung from their seats about 50 minutes before it was due to land. Peter Clark says the next steps will undoubtedly be an investigation into the incident. He spoke to Igrid Hipkiss

Passengers aboard a LATAM flight from Sydney say the scene was terrifying when their plane lost altitude fifty minutes from Auckland yesterday afternoon. The jolt sent people, not belted-in, flying to the ceiling. Ambulance medics treated fifty people at Auckland Airport, with twelve - including a child - being taken to hospital. RNZ spoke to passengers at the airport.

The Australia captain Pat Cummins says he was always confident they'd win the second test in Christchurch. The visitors wrapped up a 2-nil series sweep over the Black Caps with a three wicket victory at Hagley Oval. The visitors were on the back foot heading into day four, but Cummins says that's when they're at their best.