Morning Report

While incidents of family violence appear to be continuing at the same level as pre-Covid 19 lockdown, the number of victims seeking help has plummeted.

Ministry of Justice data obtained by RNZ reveals the number of without-notice protection order applications halved during the first week of level four lockdown.

The application of such a court order can prevent contact between parties for up to three months.

Some working on the frontline of social services say the decrease likely means that victims have simply stopped seeking help.

RNZ's court reporter Anneke Smith filed this story.

Internet access remains one of the biggest hurdles for distance learning among tamariki at kura kaupapa and Māori medium schools. 

Thousands of students will start learning at home from today, and many kura have sought government support or been innovative to ensure their tamariki don't miss out. 

Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports.

The Government has announced a new range of measures to provide support for businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It includes $3 billion worth of tax breaks for business.

That's on top of $20 billion in spending which has already been announced by the government.

Business commentator and former chief executive of Business New Zealand Phil O'Reilly speaks to Susie Ferguson.

A brief update of movements in the financial sector.

A New Zealander who's just arrived in Auckland on a government-assisted charter flight from Peru says it feels weird to come back home in such unusual circumstances.

The flight, with 60 New Zealanders and three Australians on board, landed at Auckland Airport at 5am on Tuesday. .

Peru has been in lockdown for a month and with no commercial services operating between New Zealand and South America, this was one of their last chances to get home.

Tahlia Loughlin had been in Peru since August last year - her biggest hurdle to getting on to the flight was actually making it to Lima.

She says while everyone was relieved to be going home, there was a weird feeling amongst the passengers on the plane.

With just over 60 people on the LATAM Airlines Dreamliner, Loughlin says they all got at least a whole row to themselves.

Once they landed in Auckland, there were extra checks at the border.

All of the passengers will now spend two weeks in managed isolation in an Auckland hotel, before they're allowed to return home. In the meantime, Loughlin says she's feeling grateful for the small things.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says ministers are discussing how they can support or repatriate immigrants who have lost their job during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The government has now suspended the skilled migrant category of residence visas, Pacific visa ballots and 19 working holiday programmes.

Immigration New Zealand told RNZ it's continuing to look at options for holders of temporary work visas whose work has been affected by the Covid-19 situation.

Immigrants already here say they have New Zealand jobs to go to and visa issues are blocking their way.

Gill Bonnett reports.

At least 400,000 people are living in stressful, overcrowded homes and the lock down is making life for many even worse.

Sharing small or average size homes with a large number people is known to cause health problems and often puts people in danger as tempers flare.

Nearly half of those living in such environments are in severely crowded homes and most are Pasifika families.

RNZ housing reporter Eva Corlett spoke to some families feeling the strain.

Kiwi kids will be turning on their laptops, chromebooks and tablets as term two begins today amidst the national lockdown.

Remote learning will take the place of the classroom and the government unveiled a large distance learning package to support it last week.

Minister of Education Chris Hipkins speaks to Corin Dann.

Schools reopen after two weeks of holiday today, but nobody is going to class.

More than 800,000 teachers and students will be doing the morning roll call from home because of the lockdown.

It's the start of at least two weeks of remote learning.

RNZ's education correspondent John Gerritsen has been talking to teachers about what to expect.

Jews, Christians, and Muslims are calling on people to fall silent for 51 seconds at 20 minutes to two this afternoon to remember the victims of last year's Christchurch mosque attacks.

National and local commemorations planned for the anniversary on 15 March were cancelled due to Covid-19.

Dave Moskovitz, is the Jewish Co-Chair of the Wellington Abrahamic Council of Jews, Christians, and Muslims and one of the organisers.

He speaks to Susie Ferguson.