Midday Report

A staunch reo Māori advocate and social media influencer from the East Coast is walking from Gisborne to Hicks Bay of damaged State Highway 35 to raise awareness and money for cyclone-hit areas.

Much of the coast has been cut off since Cyclone Gabrielle tore through - with bridges collapsing, slips cutting off roads and some still unable to get to school and work.

Māni Dunlop spoke to Te Aorere Pāwhairangi from Tokomaru Bay on day 2 of his journey - on what he is calling Waewae The 35 - and asked him what prompted him to walk his whenua.

A large slip has come down in Lower Hutt, taking out powerlines and rupturing a gas line.

Wellington Water says the slip on Howard Road in Point Howard is due to a burst drinking water pipe.

75 houses are without power.

RNZ reporter Krystal Gibbens was at the scene and spoke to Māni Dunlop

News from the rural farming sector.

Midday Sports News for 14 March 2023. Black Caps all rounder Daryl Mitchell credits a solid grounding in the domestic game for his rich vein of form in the test arena.

News from the business sector.

New research has identified how severely under-represented Māori and Pasifika students are in the country's medical and health schools.

Māori make up about 17-percent of the population, and Pasifika about 8-percent - but in the 5 years to 2020, the two groups made up only 7-percent of those studying health professions, such as nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, and medicine.

The research was led by University of Otago Professor Peter Crampton at the centre for Hauora Māori.

He spoke to Māni Dunlop

The government is giving its strongest indications yet of a Commerce Commission study into banking after a record result in profits last year.

National's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said Labour should confirm its approach now, after it voted down her proposal for a shorter select committee inquiry.

She said it was a good-faith, pragmatic suggestion for a more public investigation.

But the Commerce Minister, Duncan Webb, said the government was actively considering the commission's advice, and National's "quick and dirty" approach would let banks off the hook.

Māni Dunlop spoke to Kiwisaver provider Simplicity director Sam Stubbs.

To Hollywood now, where the not- so red carpet has been rolled out.

The glitz and glam is already underway as the biggest stars prepare to celebrate the best in the business at The Oscars.

Māni Dunlop spoke to RNZ's Entertainment editor Lucy Corry.

The Early Childhood Council has warned that small early childhood centres will struggle to pay new pay parity rates for their teachers.

The council said its survey of centres shows smaller centres have the highest proportion of experienced teachers who get the biggest pay rises through pay parity.

It said those organisations could get into financial difficulty because government funding for pay parity is insufficient.

Māni Dunlop spoke to the Council's chief executive, Simon Laube. .

News from the rural farming sector