Morning Report

A former police officer and crisis negotiator says sponge bullets would be a useful weapon for front line police but have to be trialled properly first.

The AOS already have them and the Police Commissioner Andrew Coster suggested on Morning Report yesterday they could more be widely available.

The police have refused to give any more information about what they have in mind.

Former officer Lance Burdett told RNZ reporter Hamish Cardwell the bullets are not a bad idea.

The Education Ministry is taking the blame for mistakes in delivery of modems and computers to school students during and after the lockdown.

Auckland secondary school principals say they have been sent modems for families who don't need them, and some students who were expecting to receive computers still haven't got them.

The government allocated $87 million for equipment to help students in poor communities learn from home during the lockdown.

Neil Watson from Otahuhu College told RNZ education correspondent, John Gerritsen, the scheme was a good idea, but it could have been better executed.

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

KiwiRail admits it hasn't made the final payment on the latest Chinese made locomotives it bought last year, because they haven't met their performance target.

Since 2009, KiwiRail has bought 63 of the D L-class engines In the past year none of the engines met KiwRail's own performance target of 80,000 kilometres between any faults that cause a delay of 15 minutes or more.

That includes the 15 new Generation 2.3 D L locomotives, which were only introduced in the first half of last year.

KiwiRail's chief operating officer Todd Moyle told RNZ reporter Catherine Hutton that wasn't unusual as they were working through teething problems, which is typical with new engines.

The police are refusing to say if they have any plans to let front-line officers use sponge bullets. The National Party is distancing itself from the controversial "Strike Force Raptor" proposal it floated last year. Politicians in the United States are being called upon by the brother of George Floyd to do the right thing. Auckland police are investigating a racist attack on a Maori woman who was walking on Owairaka (Oar-wai -raka), Mount Albert.

New Zealand will limit the number of people travelling to Scott Base this year. It's part of a strict isolation plan to keep the continent Covid-19 free.

Chief executive of Antarctica New Zealand Sarah Williamson speaks to Kim Hill.

The move to Covid-19 Alert Level 1 has put paid to a plan for pop-up bike lanes in Wellington that would have given cyclists more space.

The City Council says there's no longer a reason to push on with the $2 million project now that life is back to normal.

But while the pandemic threat might have reduced for cyclists, the risk from cars is as real as ever.

Charlotte Cook reports.

A campaign to stop Christchurch households from using their recycling bins to dump their smelly non-recyclable waste, is so far failing to change peoples' behaviour.

On Monday close to half of all recycling collected in Otautahi had to be taken to the landfill, up from a third of recycling on Friday.

Conan Young reports.

Peace activists say New Zealand shouldn't send a ship to take part in a major war games exercise off the coast of Hawaii.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise - or Rimpac - is the world's largest international maritime exercise.

It happens every two years and typically involves military from at least 20 countries.

New Zealand is planning to send 66 personnel on its new dive vessel, HMNZS Manawanui, to the event in August.

Those behind a petition against Rimpac say it's not essential business, promotes war, and also risks spreading Covid-19.

Rachel Thomas reports.