Morning Report

News from the rural and farming sector.

A brief update from the business sector.

Parents of disabled children have told the IHC their children are bullied at school, don't get enough support, and in some case have been blocked from enrolling altogether.

The organisation, which provides support and advocacy for children with disabilities, says nearly 300 parents and more than 140 education professionals responded to a survey last year.

Trish Grant from IHC told RNZ education correspondent, John Gerritsen, says there have been some improvements since the previous survey in 2014, but the results are not good.

The Black Caps have completed a comprehensive bounce-back in their one-day international cricket series against India.

The racing industry's given more than 100-thousand dollars to the New Zealand First Foundation. Hastings police want answers from the family of a severely beaten four-year-old boy and over 1200 New Zealanders are now in isolation as the global coronavirus death toll passes one thousand.

The fishing industry is failing to reduce the number of seabirds killed by commerical longline and inshore boats each year.

While it says the deaths have halved since reporting began in 2002, numbers have stagnated over the past four years and, in some cases, increased.

Rachel Thomas has the story.

A Taranaki bus company is being credited with helping to kickstart the cruise ship market in New Plymouth.

On average only three cruise liners dock at Port Taranaki each summer but plans are now afoot to grow that number by 10-fold.

RNZ's Taranaki Whanganui reporter Robin Martin has more.

A court has been told a man facing two dozen charges of slavery and human trafficking exploited his position as a Samoan Matai making victims to afraid to speak out.

Joseph Matamata, also known as Viliamu Samu, is the first person to face both types of charges in New Zealand and his trial began yesterday in the High Court in Napier.

He denies all counts of using 13 people as slaves between 1994 and 2017.

Hamish Cardwell reports.

Domestic violence victims say it is obscene they are being asked to pay their abusive ex-husbands hundreds of thousands of dollars in divorce settlements.

The Government is considering Law Commission recommendations to change the law - but some fear they do not go far enough.

One woman, whose voice we have altered to protect her identity, told RNZ reporter Gill Bonnett that her husband of 40 years was laughing all the way to the bank.

No washing the car, no watering the garden, no filling the paddling pool.

From Wednesday the Waipā District Council in Waikato is bringing in stringent rules to help conserve water.

In the absence of decent rainfall, the council is moving to a water alert, level 4, which means only essential water use is allowed.

Martin Mould is the council's water services manager.

He speaks to Gyles Beckford.