Midday Report

News from the business sector

The Green Party co-leader, Marama Davidson, has expressed regret to the Prime Minister for blaming one race for violence, clarifying violence happens in every community and overwhelmingly men are more likely to use family violence and sexual violence against women. The Prime Minister spent his media rounds this morning being questioned about the incident and says he believes there's some validity to the comments but the way she chose to express her points was unfortunate and Ms Davidson has apologised to him.. In a statement posted last night, Ms Davidson says it's important to talk about how people of all genders and backgrounds can be subjected to family violence or sexual violence.

Armed police are in a stand-off with a man in Stratford after a shooting last night.

The man failed to pull over his car when requested, and then fired at police.

He's since fled to a property where he's still holed up, and is refusing to engage with police negotiators.

Our Taranaki reporter spoke to Māni Dunlop.

Spray and walk away - that's the tactic being used by the Hamilton City Council in its fight against street racers. A new anti-skid spray is being applied to three streets, to make it harder to do burnouts. Frustration over the late-night meetups in the city has been ongoing for years. The council's network operations team leader Robyn Denton spoke to Max Towle.

Cuts to the arts sector would have a significant impact on independent creators in Auckland - that's according to the director of an annual Maori theatre festival. This is a proposed 36 million dollar trimming - by mayor Wayne Brown - feedback is out until tomorrow night. Amber Curreen from Te Pou Theatre says the industry is already struggling, and the cuts could be the death knell for some creations, and severely constrain others. Amber Curreen spoke to Max Towle.

News from the rural farming sector

Midday sports News for 27 March 2023 Former All White Fred de Jong says the team's attacking struggles may hurt interim coach Darren Bazeley's chances of taking over the team full-time.

News from the business sector

The Greens co-leader Marama Davidson has doubled down on comments she made at the trans-rights rally in Auckland on Saturday. Speaking after Posie Parker was shut down by protestors, the Violence Prevention Minister was confronted by the far-right platform Counterspin Media. Deputy political editor Craig McCulloch spoke to Max Towle.

The Pike River families are expected to be allowed access to documents showing why health and safety charges against former chief executive Peter Whittall were dropped, and a compensation payment was instead made.

RNZ has seen the Wellington High Court judgment - now the families are trying to clarify when exactly the full file will be released - that includes documents, audio, and transcripts.

The court judgment says it's important there's transparency, and not false speculation and misunderstanding.

Former ombudsman Leo Donnelly - who's been informally assisting the families - spoke to Max Towle.