Morning Report

Community Boards are the smallest units of representation within many councils. Many are worried proposals to amalgamate councils will mean smaller communities struggle to be heard. Golden Bay Community Board chairperson Grant Knowles spoke to John Campbell.

EDs swamped as winter illness takes hold; Redevelopment of Scott Base to get underway; Leading cancer research institute struggles with funding; Biometric EFTPOS payments on the way; Ryan Fox success reaches local bakery

A celebration is underway at New Zealand House for some of the medalists, including 100m gold medalist Zoe Hobbs.

The bakery Ryan Fox gave a shout out after his British open win is being inundated with customers from far and wide. Rollers in Auckland's Northcote had queues out the door at opening yesterday and was forced to close early having gone through their stock for today too. They're now focusing just on pies - with the Foxy - a combination of steak, bacon jam and cheese - flying out of the pie warmer. Co-owner Tamara Tait spoke to John Campbell

The latest market updates and news from RNZ's business team.

An early morning sports news update.

Why pensioner households have had fastest inflation.

The iwi of Tauranga Moana say the recent landslides on Mt Maunganui Mauau is their mountain telling them he is not ready to accept people yet. Six slips have been recorded since the weekend, near where severe storms and record rainfall in January sent a deadly load of mud and debris into the campsite below. Work is being done to repair the tracks and give the public access to the jewel of the region, but opinions are divided on when it should be open. Waikato, Bay of Plenty reporter Rachel Moore reports.

Kiwis could soon be able to make purchases using their face or hand. EFTPOS New Zealand is rolling out new biometric payment terminals that will allow people to pay with their faces or palms. The new tech can also act as an age verification tool. Ingrid Hipkiss spoke to Retail NZ's chief executive Carolyn Young.

The CEO of New Zealand's biggest independent medical research organisation, the Malaghan Institute, says the ongoing challenge of funding the organisation keeps her up at night. Professor Kjesten Wiig oversees research into groundbreaking cancer treatments and RNA technology, but says it's juggling the institutes' sources of income that remains a constant concern. In 2015, for example, 61 percent of the institutes' income came from government grants, but last year that had fallen to just 26 percent, even as Malaghan brings the game-changing CAR T-cell cancer therapy ever closer to New Zealand patients.