Kiwirail is on track to complete the first stage of Auckland’s rail network rebuild (on time!) by Sunday, March 19. The completion of stage one means that six train stations from the Onehunga and Southern lines will soon reopen: Ellerslie, Greenlane, Onehunga, Penrose, Remuera and Te Papapa.

However, AT said the Onehunga line has some changes. “During peak hours, the line will run between Onehunga and Penrose. Customers will need to transfer to a Southern or Eastern line train at Penrose. At off-peak times, including on weekends, trains will travel to Britomart.”

Stage two of the rebuild is set to commence the following day and is expected to finish in January 2024. During stage two, part of the Eastern line will be under construction, with the following stations being closed: Glen Innes, Meadowbank, Ōrakei, Panmure and Sylvia Park.

The Eastern line’s other stations will remain open, with services being rerouted via the Southern line at peak times, but users will have to transfer to Southern line services during off-peak times (including weekends). AT is also suggesting the following buses as substitutes for Southern line users:

For further information about how the rail network rebuild visit the Auckland Transport website.

Rob Campbell has been sacked from the Environmental Protection Authority – the second government posting he’s lost this week.

It follows a LinkedIn post Campbell made where he criticised National and its leader over a proposed three waters alternative policy.

That quickly triggered him being dumped from the board of Health NZ on Monday night and now, almost two days later, from the EPA.

Environment minister David Parker said the decision was made following advice from the public service commissioner that noted Campbell’s comments were a breach of the code of conduct requirements to remain politically neutral.

“Also, his subsequent public comments in the media suggest he does not accept the constraints he is under as a member and chair of a Crown Entity Board,” said Parker.

“That has eroded my trust and confidence in his ability to effectively undertake his role at the EPA.”

The Herald has published the full letter from Parker to Campbell and you can read it here.

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A year after the occupation of parliament grounds in Wellington ended in a major police operation, police have confirmed that the vast majority of those arrested have had charges withdrawn. Over the course of the occupation and up until March 4, police arrested 253 people. Since then, 172 have had charges dropped. Thirty received diversion, 20 pleaded guilty, two youths were issued warnings, and one was found not guilty, according to information provided by police to The Spinoff. There remain 26 people still facing active prosecutions for one or more charge.

Of a further 48 people arrested since March 4 in relation to the occupation, most prosecutions are proceeding, with a handful of guilty pleas and warnings but no charges withdrawn as of today.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority, which has received almost 2,000 complaints in relation to the occupation, is nearing the end of its investigation into the police response. “We hope to finalise the work and publish a report by the end of March 2023,” a spokesperson told The Spinoff.

More than 150 police officers were injured during the occupation, which ended with a rump of protesters hurling bricks and lighting fires. “None of us wanted that kind of ending,” said commissioner Andrew Coster at the time. “But you would not see a more professional, restrained, courageous response to a situation then you saw there.” Nine officers were hospitalised. Thirty-five police staff were referred to psychologists as a result of their work at the event. More than a third of those involved, about 750, were referred for wellness support.

Read more: Parliament grounds occupation of 2022: Figureheads and factions, one year on

A one-day film festival celebrating Māori cinema will help support the recovery after Cyclone Gabrielle.

The “Made by Māori” rebuild fundraiser will be held at Silky Otter Cinemas across the country on March 12, with films like What we Do in the Shadows, Boy, Muru and the reo Māori versions of The Lion King and Frozen on offer.

In a statement, Chelsea Winstanley and Tweedie Waititi from Matewa Media thanked filmmakers for donating their films to the case. “Ko te rau o te aroha e takoto nei.”

On Instagram, Oscar winner Taika Waititi shared the fundraiser.  “You probably know, a lot of our areas on the coast were hit HARD by that bitch, Cyclone Gabrielle,” he wrote. “A lot of people lost everything and here’s something we can do to help.”

You can see the line-up, buy tickets, or donate here.

In an interview with Newsroom’s Jo Moir (paywalled) National party leader Christopher Luxon has again insisted the party’s water infrastructure policy won’t result in rate hikes. When pressed, Luxon then went on to accept that councils increasing water charges could be one of the options on the table. “That may be one of the options, I don’t know … there’s a number of ways they can work it out,” he said.

The policy gives councils the ability to form council-controlled organisations (CCO) where councils can merge their water infrastructure assets. Luxon said that in instances where some of those councils have managed water assets poorly, they could end up needing to contribute more to the CCO and one of the mechanisms for doing that would be to increase water charges.

Newsroom’s Jono Milne reports on a warning from S&P Global where the international rating agency says “No matter who delivers the required [water] infrastructure, the cost of such investment is astronomical. If councils fund the investment, general property and targeted rates will likely soar to record levels. If water services entities fund the investment, water charges will likely soar instead.”

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If there’s one thing the government has been roundly criticised for in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle, it’s been for downplaying reports of crime in the worst affected areas.

In the days after severe weather slammed the East Coast of the North Island, there have been claims of looting, gun violence and gang activity. But, at least initially, prime minister Chris Hipkins refused to definitively accept that these events were happening as described.

At a press briefing on February 20, Hipkins said he had only been made aware of “third or fourth-hand accounts” of guns being pulled on workers at traffic checkpoints. In the days following, and after meeting with police in Hawke’s Bay, Hipkins acknowledged he had since been told of first hand accounts but, after being asked by The Spinoff during a visit to Napier, wouldn’t say go into detail about the nature of the crimes.

Police commissioner Andrew Coster has since owned up to a mistake in which the PM was provided incorrect intel about what was going on in the most cyclone-devastated regions – and explained what happened.

In an interview with the Herald today, he said while officers had spoken to a person on February 17 regarding allegations of a firearm threat, it was agreed more information would be provided to police – and as such, was not recorded by officers as per standard protocol.

“The lesson for me in this is where we have people strongly asserting that something occurred, then there needs to be an extra layer of checking to validate that or not,” Coster said.

“We had a range of things being reported in the community, many of which appear to have been simply untrue, so sifting between those things is not necessarily all that easy.”

Coster remained confident in his ability to perform his duties and has apologised to the prime minister.