Midday Report

The government is revisiting how and if rongoā Māori - or traditional Māori medicine - is being incorporated and protected in legislation which aims to regulate natural medicine.

The Therapeutic Products Bill will regulate how pharmaceutical and natural health products are manufactured, tested, imported, promoted, supplied, and exported - including anything created from native plants. 

But rongoā practitioners are frustrated it's an over-reach, which will limit how they do their work and protect the knowledge of these practices. 

I asked Associate Health Minister, Peeni Henare - who introduced the bill - about what the Act aims to do and why he has established a workstream - or essentially a review - of how and if rongoā Māori is protected.

Aftershocks are rocking Taupo, after a shallow magnitude 5.6 quake struck nearby just before midnight last night.

It's the largest shake to hit the area since Geonet reported minor unrest at the volcano marked by an increasing number of earthquakes since May this year.

Taupō's mayor David Trewavas spoke to Māni Dunlop.

News from the rural farming sector

Midday sports News for 1 December 2022 New Zealand referee Matthew Conger has become embroiled in football World Cup controversy after disallowing France a last gasp equaliser in their World Cup match against Tunisia.

News from the business sector

The government is likely to shelve its work on co-governance.

It's part of this country's response on how to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples or UNDRIP.

The issue has been intensely politicised, particularly by the National and ACT parties, despite the fact they were in power when New Zealand signed the UNDRIP in 2010 and committing to a declaration plan in 2014. 

The Māori development minister Willie Jackson told Newsroom the earlier drafts of the declaration plan would not have got through cabinet, and while work's being done on a new draft -- it could all be put off for the election year. 

Auckland University political scientist Dr Lara Greaves - Ngāti Kuri, Ngāpuhi - spoke to Māni Dunlop.

The first person convicted of sabotage in New Zealand will spend the next three years behind bars.

Some of the suppression orders preventing the publication of details about Graham Philip's actions lapsed at the High Court in Hamilton this morning. 

RNZ reporter Andrew McRae spoke to Māni Dunlop about the case.

The baby in urgent need of a heart operation is still waiting for a resolution on his parents' request that only blood from unvaccinated people can be used if he needs a transfusion.

A hearing at the High Court over Te Whatu Ora's application for the Court to let doctors make decisions on the baby's healthcare is set down for next week, but both sides are prepared to try and talk it out before then. 

RNZ health correspondent Rowan Quinn spoke to Māni Dunlop about the latest developments.

Countries throughout the Pacific are in Vietnam discussing the future of the world's largest tuna fishery this week.

The 26 members range from small island climate vulnerable states, such as Tuvalu and Kiribati; to the superpowers China and the United States, their vessels traverse huge spans of ocean to get to the fishing grounds.

RNZ Pacific's Koroi Hawkins is at the conference in Vietnam and spoke to Māni Dunlop.

A petition to lower the age for bowel cancer screening to 45 years old is being handed over to parliament this lunchhour.

The national screening programme is free for people aged 60 to 74 years old.

Earlier this year it was announced the screening age for Māori and Pacific people would be lowered from 60 to 50, starting with trials in Waikato and Tairawhiti, then nationwide by July next year.

Petitioner Peter Marra says screening people younger will catch more cancers early when they are most easily treated.

He spoke to Māni Dunlop about his own experience with bowel cancer, and how New Zealand's screening compares to other countries.