Morning Report

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

There are calls for the Government to put more pressure on Vanuatu to repatriate the hundreds of seasonal visa holders stranded here due to Covid-19.

Five hundred people were in Central Otago for orchard and grape harvests and became stuck when Vanuatu closed its borders.

They're now desparate to get home.

Otago-Southland reporter Timothy Brown has more.

Some people who have been in hotel quarantine after arriving back in New Zealand are frustrated they're not able to get outside for exercise under alert level one.

The Ministry of Health says because there are now more people on the streets, they've had to re-think the exercise options on offer.

A woman about halfway through her two weeks in managed isolation at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in central Auckland  told RNZ reporter Sarah Robson how things have changed over the last week.

Manly have come back from 18-nil down to beat Brisbane 20-18 in their NRL game in Gosford. It is the Broncos' third straight loss since the competition started up again.

New Zealand First is calling for an independent review into the arming of frontline police officers with military-grade assault rifles, America's top general has apologised for innapropriately politicising the military by appearing alongside Donald Trump at a photo op, A review of Covid-19 clusters in New Zealand's aged care homes has described the period as "complete chaos".

Thousands of toy bears in windows and driveways greeted anyone walking the streets of New Zealand during lockdown. The bears were part of a movement kicked off by Christchurch woman Deb Hoffman, who launched the We're Not Scared - NZ Bear Hunt Facebook page out of concern about public mental health and wellbeing.

Some Hawke's Bay businesses are coming up with innovative solutions to survive in the post-Covid-19 world.

Like in most of the country, the region's hospitality and tourism businesses have been the sectors worst hit by the fallout of the pandemic, and they've had to get creative in order to entice more customers through their doors.

Anusha Bradley reports

KiwiRail says it has no choice but to buy more Chinese made diesel locomotives even though they've been troublesome and unreliable for more than a decade.

The corporation says it needs another 10 of the DL-class engines to cope with increasing freight volumes in the North Island, Catherine Hutton reports.

The community housing sector is ready and waiting to construct nearly 3000 homes but desperately needs public cash to get building.

Housing providers have submitted their projects to the government in a bid to get investment through the 'shovel ready' infrastructure project.

RNZ housing reporter Eva Corlett with this story.