RNZ

Brigitte and Lamia join Kathryn to discuss potential changes to the Covid traffic light system, whether New Zealand should follow Australia and have a ...

Blood cancer patients are urging Pharmac to fund a medicine that would restore the quality of life of those suffering with the disease.

"The reality is Pharmac needs a much bigger budget. We hope that means they will treat every life as worth the same, because currently they don't." The submission was the first of a number of initiatives designed to maintain the pressure until the medicine was funded, she said. The medicine can be found privately in the country, and it can cost up to $220,000 per year for its first year of use, she said. "You could never imagine say to a diabetic - 'Hey your disease it's incurable, so we are going to stop your treatment after a certain amount of time.' It's essentially what happened to the myeloma patients," she said. But the lack of affordable access to the medicine in New Zealand held back the more than 2500 people suffering with myeloma in this country, she said.

Gallaway says WorkSafe has a tough job as the watchdog of 557,000 businesses but the health and safety statistics are getting worse in some areas and that is ...

He did not reply to that but in a written statement says WorkSafe has had an increase in funding of nearly $32 million over the last five years. "The report sets out some key findings which will help WorkSafe as it continues to mature as a regulator. WorkSafe has 269 people authorised under the Health and Safety at Work to do enforcement, 174 of whom are actively doing inspections. Bradley says the Whakaari/White Island eruption shows that New Zealand has a long way to go in terms of workplace safety. [criticised for its part as a regulator](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/457528/whakaari-white-island-finger-pointed-back-at-worksafe) in the leadup to the Whakaari/White Island eruption and its subsequent handling of investigations and charges laid against companies. WorkSafe is also targeting resources to cases that are more likely to lead to prosecution. "WorkSafe itself admits that its remit is incredibly broad. Bradley says she started looking into WorkSafe while investigating ACC. As a safe place to work, New Zealand compares poorly with other developed countries like Australia, UK and Canada. It continues to be "That tells me that all is obviously not well in health and safety in New Zealand and if you go back to the Pike River Royal Commission it says that part of having an effective health and safety system is having an effective regulator and I don't think that WorkSafe is particularly effective at the moment." Gallaway says WorkSafe has a tough job as the watchdog of 557,000 businesses but the health and safety statistics are getting worse in some areas and that is not a good sign.

Danielle Kurtzleben is today's US correspondent. Abortion and inflation are top issues at the polls ahead of November's midterm elections and many eyes will ...

A family with four disabled children had their long-planned holiday ruined as they were turned away from their Jetstar flight after waiting in line to check ...

"The trip has caused quite a bit of pain, we didn't want to miss out on the accommodation which was another $1000. "We appreciate this situation was very frustrating and disappointing. The family had made the airline aware they would be travelling with a wheelchair.

A family with four disabled children had their long-planned holiday ruined when they were turned away from their Jetstar flight after waiting in line to ...

When Lorna Johnson was told the refugee sponsorship programme was being extended, she knew she wanted to get involved.

UNHCR will recommend a family to us, and that will be the family that we'll sponsor. Any aspect of resettlement you can think of - we've already had to research what's available locally and look at how we would support the family." "You have to put together a whole settlement plan, looking at every aspect of how you'll support the family when they arrived. "I just know how important it is for people to get a good start when they come to New Zealand, to have support, to be linked into services, to make friends, feel welcomed. So I got a group of friends together who were keen. She posted on her Facebook page and more than a dozen people responded.

Today we start a limited series of the popular Crimes NZ. To start the season, we're looking back to unsolved murder of young woman Elsie Walker.

The mantle to the end of the squid's head measured about 4m long, not including its tentacles - and appeared to have been gnawed at while in the sea.

AUT squid scientists, which are called teuthologists, have examined more than 50 giant squid in the past 20 years. We've had some in the last few years in Wellington, there was one in Kaikōura a few years ago. The females are larger than males at maturity, with males reaching about 10m and weighing about 200kg. But it turned out as we got closer, we could see it had tentacles and it turns out it was a giant squid." We are not sure which one it is." It's not unknown, but it's always exciting when it happens."

It's the first day of basically choosing whether or not you wear a mask after pretty much all Covid restrictions lifted at midnight on Tuesday morning.