Morning Report

News from the rural and farming sector.

A Māori housing trust in Kaitaia says it will be able to house people in need two years sooner with a fast-tracked consenting process. 

The National Papakāinga Network, is one of the eleven projects included in the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Bill. 

Six iwi, hapū, and whānau housing projects are covered.

One of them, He Korowai Trust in Kaitaia, relocates and refurbishes old state houses, with twenty-four homes set to be done up over the next two years. 

It's chief executive Ricki Houghton told our reporter Meriana Johnsen it can now get whānau into warm, affordable homes faster.

A brief update from the business sector.

The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says it is "clear as daylight" Auckland light rail won't get Cabinet sign off before the election.

Jacinda Ardern promised light rail would be built from downtown Auckland to the airport within a decade in her first policy announcement as Labour leader ahead of the 2017 general election.

The project is also set out in the confidence and supply agreement between Labour and the Greens.

RNZ last week revealed the project was deadlocked due to coalition partner New Zealand First's objections, namely the project's cost and scale, as well as the potential involvement of Canadian institutional investors.

Peters told political editor Jane Patterson the first thing to look at was the costings.

Top Stories for Wednesday 17 June 2020.

Finally this morning, we thought we'd share this small behind-the-scenes vignette showcasing one of the difficulties of broadcasting from home.

Just as you might have heard Corin's dog Stanley while New Zealand was in lockdown, or Maja Burry the rurals presenter's dog others have had to deal with cats.

That was the case for one of our correspondents who we recorded early this morning, Laura McQuillan in Canada, who had to deal with her siamese cat before we were able to get into the nitty gritty.

Here's how that conversation went down.

The city at the centre of the name changing debate is Hamilton where former mayor and Waikato Regional councillor, Russ Rimmington, has now called for a public referendum.

He believes the public should decide whether to change Hamilton's name to Kirikiriroa.

Rimmington speaks to Susie Ferguson.

Some residents of Cromwell, a town in Central Otago, are suggesting that the name of the town be changed.

The town is named for Oliver Cromwell, the English statesman who led the armies of the Parliament of England against King Charles the first.

Cromwell was responsible, through his conquest of Ireland in the seventeenth century, for the deaths and enslavement of thousands of people.

Neil Gillespie is a Cromwell community board member.

New Zealanders aren't great at saving for a rainy day and the rainy day is here.

That's the verdict of the Financial Services Council who have surveyed 2000 people in the first of a three-part research project.

They found that more than a third of us will not be able to pay our mortgage or rent and bills beyond a month if we lose our jobs.

Richard Klipin is chief executive of the Financial Services Council.

A former US Marine has been sentenced to 16 years of hard labour on spying charges in Russia.

Paul Whelan was arrested in a Moscow hotel room in 2018 with a USB memory stick security officials say contained state sercrets.

The Moscow City Court has now him guilty of receiving classified information.

Whelan, who has Canadian, British and Irish citizenry, has always maintained his innoncence, saying he is more Mr Bean then James Bond.