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Dec 2 2022

The Black Ferns are going on a victory tour

The Black Ferns are world champions (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty)

The Black Ferns are hitting the road around Aotearoa in the aftermath of their winning performance in the recent Rugby World Cup.

According to Stuff, the team will travel to Ōmokoroa next Monday, then onto Hamilton next Tuesday, New Plymouth next Wednesday, Palmerston North next Thursday, and Christchurch and Wellington the following Monday and Tuesday.

Further details are expected to be released shortly.

Directly after the World Cup victory, there were calls for public events to celebrate the Black Ferns’ success, akin to similar festivities often reserved for the All Blacks. It was noted during the tournament that public fan zones were in short supply, especially when compared with the men’s World Cup.

The Black Ferns are world champions (Photo: Hannah Peters/Getty)

Test your knowledge with The Friday Quiz!

The Friday News Quiz

It’s Friday, it’s a quiz – it’s The Friday Quiz. Test yourself below.


Wayne Brown suggests Auckland Airport share sell off plan to cut rates

Wayne Brown. Photo: Supplied

Auckland’s mayor has proposed selling off 18% of the council’s shares in Auckland International Airport with the aim of raising nearly $2 billion.

Wayne Brown said it would mean cutting next year’s rate raise by almost a third. “Next year, Auckland ratepayers are set to fork-out $88 million in debt servicing costs to maintain a non-controlling shareholding,” Brown said. “With interest rates rising, the cost of debt servicing could soon reach $100 million a year for ratepayers.”

It’s all part of Brown’s plan to address an estimated $295 million budget shortfall that has haunted the mayor since he took office earlier this year.

“The cost of holding these shares exceeds any return and forecasts suggest this situation will not be reversed for Auckland Council as a shareholder in the foreseeable future. There are better uses for ratepayer capital.”

Listen: How do we keep elderly renters out of poverty?

We hear a lot about young people struggling with housing affordability, but much less is spoken of how the housing crisis will impact pensioners. A new report shows we’re at serious risk of doubling the number of retirees facing rent and mortgage stress by 2048. While the debate around who should get NZ Superannuation and how much they should get has been mostly frozen in time since the late 1990s, the current landscape means the debate has now changed.

Retirement commissioner Jane Wrightson joins Bernard Hickey to discuss how we can keep elderly renters and those still with mortgages out of poverty, what this could mean for NZ Superannuation eligibility and what will happen if nothing changes.

Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts

Immigration NZ says Dizzee Rascal is approved to perform here

Dizzee Rascal arrives at Croydon Magistrates’ Court (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images)

Dizzee Rascal is approved to perform at Rhythm & Vines under the country’s visa waiver program, says Immigration NZ, and his right to headline two festivals won’t be revoked despite the rapper’s assault conviction earlier this year.

Controversy has erupted over Dizzee Rascal’s upcoming summer festival appearances after he was named as the headliner of Gisborne New Year’s festival Rhythm & Vines, and the Auckland festival Golden Lights, in December and January.

The artist, whose real name is Dylan Mills, was convicted of assaulting his former fiancee in March. Prosecutors claimed he pushed her to the ground during a “chaotic” argument about child care. He was sentenced to a 24-week curfew and 12-month restraining order. After his conviction, he smashed a photographer’s camera outside court.

Being named on local festival line-ups has been criticised by many, including the high profile Instagram account Beneath the Glass Ceiling. In an open letter, they asked festivals to remove Mills from their line-ups. “By choosing to platform a perpetrator of domestic violence, you are telling our country, particularly our rangitahi, that domestic violence is not a big deal.”

Dizzee Rascal arrives at Croydon Magistrates’ Court (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images)

When contacted by The Spinoff, Immigration NZ said Mills did not need its approval to perform here because of New Zealand’s visa waiver system with the UK, as long as he appeared at an approved festival. “Rhythm & Vines is an approved festival,” confirmed general manger border and visa operations Nicola Hogg.

When asked if the waiver included artists with assault convictions, Hogg said Mills’ sentence wasn’t enough for his visa to be declined. “We will decline applications … if the applicant has serious character issues,” the statement said, including someone sentenced to a prison term of 12 months or longer.

Rhythm & Vines founder Hamish Pinkham recently told Stuff Dizzee Rascal had “done the crime, he’s done the time, now it’s time to do the grime”.

The Bulletin: An ‘invisible child’

Stuff’s Michelle Duff reports on the investigation into the death of Malachi Subecz. Dame Karen Poutasi’s report identified critical gaps in the system that rendered Malachi an “invisible child” who was failed by multiple agencies and his community. The government has accepted nine of the 14 recommendations made by Poutasi. Minister for children Kelvin Davis is committing to look carefully at the other five, including mandatory reporting and wants to look at how mandatory reporting worked in Australia.

The first iteration of those laws, which require specified people to report suspected abuse and neglect to government child protection services, was introduced in South Australia in 1969.

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