We have local body elections every 3 years when we vote for members of local bodies or organisations. These local bodies include the mayor, city council, community councils and hospital board. Usually it is a postal vote – we vote at home and post the voting papers back to the council where they are counted.

Bob Parker has been mayor now for nearly 6 years. He would like another 3 years. At the end of his first 3 years, he nearly lost the election to Jim Anderton, an MP. Jim Anderton said he would be able to do both jobs. However, just at that time, Christchurch had the first earthquake and local people could see that it was impossible to do two jobs. After the earthquake, Bob Parker became very popular. He used to be a TV presenter so he is very confident in front of the media.

Lianne Dalziel is a Labour MP. She has been an MP for 20 years and has been a Minister. She was a lawyer before going into Parliament. Her home was in the east of Christchurch, the red zone where houses are now being demolished. She knows a lot about what it is like for Christchurch people living in houses that need repair. She said she will resign from Parliament in October before the local body elections in November.

Vocabulary

• candidate – a person who stands for election
• local body – local organisation
• TV presenter – he presented many popular shows
• media – TV, radio, newspapers, magazines
• demolished – pulled down

Dunedin and Christchurch have flooding in many parts of both cities. Rivers in both cities have flooded onto the land in some places. Some farms are covered with water and some roads are closed. State Highway 1 (SH1) north of Dunedin was closed today by flooding. People wanting to drive from Dunedin to Christchurch would have a long detour by an inland road.

The rain should stop tomorrow but snow is forecast for the next two or three days in Dunedin and Christchurch. Even people in the North Island will feel the cold southerly storm from the Antarctic on the shortest day of the year.

Vocabulary

• flood (n and v); flooding (n) Note pronunciation: flood rhymes with mud
• mud – water mixed with soil becomes mud. A mudslide happens when rain pushes the trees and mud down the hill
• detour – can’t go straight from A to B, have to go a longer way
• inland – not along the coast

Most ski areas, like The Remarkables in Queenstown and Cardrona in Wanaka, open next weekend. However, some ski areas are planning a later start to the ski season. Mt Ruapehu in the centre of the North Island has two popular ski fields: Whakapapa and Turoa. They plan to open at the end of the month. Many of the smaller club ski fields open early July. Of course it depends on the weather and the amount of snow that falls in early winter.

Mt Ruapehu has the highest ski field (2322m) and the longest vertical skiing area in Australasia. More than 60,000 young Australian skiers and snowboarders come to New Zealand during winter, mostly in July and August. Japanese skiers come here too because our winter is Japan’s summer.

The ski season is short. Usually by October the snow is starting to melt and Spring attracts skiers to other sports like surfing.

Vocabulary

• ski field – New Zealand word for ski area
• club fields – club members operate the ski field which usually has basic facilities but is cheaper skiing
• vertical – straight down
• Australasia – Australia and New Zealand

Grammar

Most of this text uses present simple.
Note present simple for a fact even when it is in the future e.g. Most ski areas open next weekend.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank sets the OCR 8 times a year. Today he said there was still some negative financial news in Europe but positive news coming from the US and Japan. Both the US dollar and the Japanese yen are stronger. As a result, the New Zealand dollar dropped a little. A few weeks ago, NZ$1 was buying close to US86 cents. Today the New Zealand dollar is buying only US79 cents. The Governor of the Reserve Bank believes that the New Zealand dollar is too high and is over-valued. A high dollar makes it difficult for exporters like dairy farmers. It also means that consumers buy more products from overseas and they save less money.

The OCR affects the price that banks pay to borrow money from the Reserve Bank for a short time. This then affects the cost that banks charge to lend money to consumers including money to buy a house. This bank loan for a house is called a mortgage.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank is worried about the high price of houses, especially in Auckland. Low interest rates make it easier for people to borrow money for a house so more people want to buy. This pushes up prices.

Type OCR into the search box to listen to more about the OCR.

Vocabulary

• Governor – number 1 person
• Reserve Bank – government bank
• Over-valued – the value of the dollar is too high
• Consumers – anyone who buys things
• Affects – influences, makes something change
• Borrow – opposite: lend; you pay to borrow, banks charge to lend; loan (n)

For Maori, it was a time of remembering those who had died during that year. It was also a time to enjoy a rest after the harvest. There was plenty of food stored for the winter so this was a time for preparing food for guests. It was also a time for relaxing by singing, dancing, weaving and carving, telling stories and flying kites.

Matariki is a reminder of the importance of the stars to Maori. They observed the night sky and used the stars to know which way to sail their waka. The first Maori who sailed to New Zealand from Hawaiki in the Pacific followed the stars at night to find a new land.

Listen to June 21st 2012 to hear more about Matariki.

Vocabulary

• dawn – sun rise
• iwi – tribe, large family group
• harvest – gathering food e.g. digging kumera to store for the winter
• weaving – Maori cloaks, mats and kete (baskets) were woven from flax (verb: weave, wove, woven)
• carving – Maori men carved wood
• observed – watched closely
• waka – open canoes

Of course this doesn’t tell us very much. New Zealand houses tend to be bigger than the average size house in the OECD countries with 2.3 rooms per person while the average for the OECD is 1.6 rooms per person. The OECD did not compare the size of houses or land.

House prices have risen more than 7% across the whole of New Zealand in the last year, especially in Auckland (12%) and Christchurch (9.4%). It is easy to explain why Christchurch house prices have gone up so much: so many houses have been demolished after the earthquakes. There is a shortage of houses in Auckland too. Many new immigrants and also people from other parts of New Zealand are moving to our biggest city for jobs. The cost of land has increased house prices. This is one reason for Auckland’s new housing plan. High-rise apartment buildings save on the cost of land.

Listen to May 1st 2013 to hear more the Auckland city plan.

Vocabulary

• OECD – Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development compares 50 developed countries
• mortgage – loan from the bank to buy a house (note pronunciation – the letter ‘t’ is silent)
• tend – move in that direction
• demolished – pushed down by bulldozers

Grammar

• Present tense for facts e.g. show, pay, spend
• Present perfect for something that started in the past and is true today e.g. have risen

Pronunciation

House (ends in s sound), houses (ends in ziz)

Questions

1. If you now live in New Zealand, how do houses here compare with houses in your country? Think of style, size, comfort level
2. What are some of the problems with average figures like average size or price?

More North Westerly winds affected the North Island bring warmer temperatures but more South Easterly winds affected the South Island, bringing cold temperatures.

Auckland was the warmest main city with an average temperature of 13.3 degrees Celsius whereas Christchurch was the coldest main city with an average temperature of 9.3 degrees. Auckland had 261 mm of rain which is 3 times the normal rainfall. It was also a record for May. On the other hand, Christchurch was the driest main city with 70mm of rain in the month.

In contrast, both islands felt the cold southerly blast from Antarctica on May 27th, bringing snow to main roads near the central mountains in the North Island and to mountain passes in the South Island.

Note: The mean (average) temperature for one day is calculated by adding the lowest and highest daily temperatures and dividing by 2. Add all these for the month and divide by 31 for the mean temperature for the month.

Pronunciation

Note south (rhymes with mouth) but southerly (rhymes with motherly)

Comparing

Note spelling: wet, wettest; dry, driest
Note this phrase: 3 times the normal rainfall
Words and phrases for comparing: but, whereas, on the other hand, in contrast

The Tuhoe land is in the Urewera area which includes the National Park, Lake Waikaremoana. The area is in inland Bay of Plenty. Tuhoe suffered in the past because in 1866, the Crown took much of their land, especially their most fertile land for growing crops. They also lost their access to the sea and sea food. Many people died of starvation in the 1890s.

Now, 40,000 Maori are Tuhoe but only a few live in the Urewera. Most have moved away from this area to find jobs but they want to keep their culture. Today, they received some compensation for their losses.

More than 1,000 arrived in Parliament today by bus to receive an apology from the Crown. Tuhoe want self-management of their area, including water and electricity. In the meantime, the government has given them joint management of Lake Waikaremoana, along with the Department of Conservation. The government also gave them a large cheque.

For more about Treaty claims, listen to June 26th 2008 or type “Treaty” in the search box. For more about Tuhoe and the police raids, type “Tuhoe” in the search box.

Vocabulary

• Treaty – the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between the Crown and Maori people. The treaty promised Maori they would not lose their land.
• settlement – final agreement
• suffered – had a very bad time
• fertile – good land for growing food
• crops – plants for food
• access – able to get there
• starvation – no food for a long time
• compensation – money instead of land
• apology – to say “sorry”
• self-management – govern their own area

A charity, Kids Can, also provides lunches, raincoats, shoes and socks to children in 279 schools. Many businesses and individuals donate money to help. The money now helps 4,500 children.

It is shocking that our country has many poor children who do not have enough food. The OECD, which compares 34 developed countries in the world, believes that as many as 25% of all New Zealand children – about 270,000 – live in poverty. More are Maori and Pacific Island children.

The report on Child Poverty from the Child Commissioner last December makes 78 recommendations to help poor families. One recommendation was to provide free food in schools for children who need it.

Vocabulary

• provide – give, supply
• decile – 10% (what other words begin with dec and mean 10?)
• range – amount
• donate – give money
• charity – an organization which helps people who need help e.g. poor people
• shocking – terrible, really bad
• OECD – Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
• poverty (n) – being poor
• Child Commissioner – a person whose job is to look after the rights of children, especially in education and health
• recommendations – strong suggestions

The families move too so suddenly schools find children have disappeared and the next day new children have arrived. Of course it doesn’t all happen in one day. Many farm workers moved their animals today.

Share-milkers are farmers who own the cows but not the land. They feed the cows in the winter, plant crops on the land, make hay for winter feed and milk the cows but the land belongs to another farmer, often a retired farmer. There are different business arrangements but often it is a 50 – 50 split in profits. The share-milker takes 50% of the profits and the land owner take the other 50%.

This is a very common arrangement in New Zealand. Many share-milkers are young people who want to buy their own farms and this is one way to earn enough money to buy land. It is good for the land owner also, especially a retired farmer. It is hard work milking cows twice a day, every day; milking starts very early in the morning. The share-milker does the hard work and the retired farmer earns a living from the land.

Vocabulary

• gypsy –a traveller who moves from place to place often
• crops – plants for food e.g. turnips, canola,
• arrangement – agreement
• split – divide
• profit – money left after costs have been paid

The news reached England on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation June 2nd 1953. This was a double reason for excitement for British people that day. Britain was excited because the successful expedition was British. New Zealand was excited because Hillary was a New Zealander.

Hillary returned to New Zealand and became a hero to most New Zealanders. He was admired for his character and for the work he did with the people in Nepal. He raised a lot of money to build schools and hospitals for the people of Nepal.

Today, Hillary’s son Peter, and Norgay’s son Jamling, will attend a celebration in London. There will also be celebrations in Nepal.

A new book of George Lowe’s letters has just been published. He was a member of that expedition and a good friend of Hillary. He wrote very detailed letters describing their climbs. He died 2 months ago.

Note: Mt Everest is on the border between Nepal and Tibet. It is 8850m high.

To hear more about Sir Edmund Hillary and Mt Everest, listen to March 22nd 2013, August 13th 2011, and April 3rd 2008

Vocabulary

• reach – get to a place e.g. reach the summit; news reached England
• summit – top of a mountain, peak
• expedition – an organised group of people wanting to explore a new place
• admired – people had a high opinion of him and respected him
• detailed – including all the small things that happened

Note: When we use the name of the mountain, we shorten the word to “Mount” e.g. Mount Everest (not Mountain Everest).

Now the Forest and Bird organisation is going to the High Court to fight this. Forest and Bird members say that a coal mine could kill endangered animals like the Great Spotted Kiwi. Also conservation land is for everyone to enjoy, not for industry.

The new mine would be on the Denniston plateau, 14 km north of Westport. Already there is an open-cast coal mine at Stockton, 35 km north of Westport.

The owners of the mine say that an open-cast mine would bring 225 jobs and put about $30m into the local economy. There are many unemployed people, including coal miners, on the West Coast.

Coal will be shipped from the port at Westport to Asia, especially to China, where it is used for making steel.

Vocabulary

• to give permission – to say ‘yes’
• open-cast mine – not underground.
• conservation – protecting the environment
• endangered – in danger of becoming extinct
• plateau – flat area on top of a hill

Questions

1. Is it possible to protect forests and birds where there is a coal mine?
2. What is more important – jobs or protecting the environment?
3. Coal is a fossil fuel which produces carbon when it is burned. If New Zealand mines coal and China burns coal, which country should pay for carbon credits?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of open-cast coal mining?

Bluff is 30km from Invercargill, in the far south of the South Island. Fishing boats leave Bluff harbour to dredge for oysters in Foveaux Strait, between the South Island and Stewart Island. These oysters are dredged from the sea floor by a boat. A dredge is a large net made of metal. The oyster season starts March 1st and finishes in August. In that time, fishermen are allowed to collect 12 million oysters. These are sent all over New Zealand to fish shops, supermarkets, restaurants and fish and chip shops. Raw oysters cost about $2 each. Most oyster-lovers think Bluff oysters are the best.

Many years ago, fishermen used to collect 82 million oysters each year but in 1986, a disease killed many Bluff oysters. From 1991 to 1994, there was no oyster fishing. Now the numbers are starting to increase again but there is a quota to make sure that oysters will return to a healthy number again.

Vocabulary

• annual – every year
• record – the fastest
• to dredge – to scoop up
• Strait – sea between two islands
• quota – maximum number they can collect

After demolishing all the houses in one area, workers have to leave the area tidy. They remove fences, clothes lines, paths and driveways ready for planting grass. Landscape architects help to make decisions about which plants to keep. They try to keep trees. Smaller plants can be recycled by community groups.

Listen to April 2nd 2013 to hear more about people in the red zone selling their houses to the government.

Vocabulary

• demolish (v), demolition (n) – use a bulldozer or other machinery to break the house and push it down.
• residential – where people live
• landscape architects – design gardens and public outdoor areas
• recycled – sold or given to other people

The Minister for Primary Industries, Nathan Guy said that in the long term the government wants to invest $400m in regional water irrigation. In the short term, the Budget gave $80m to farmers for irrigation and water storage. Mr Guy said that only 2% of water from rainfall is stored and farmers needed some way of storing rain water. He also said that New Zealand is not short of water – we have many rivers and lakes, and most areas have plenty of rain during the autumn, winter and spring. The problem is when we have a dry summer like this last summer. If there was more irrigation, more land could be used for farming.

One dairy cow can drink about 70 litres of water a day, depending on the daily temperature. The average dairy herd size in the year 2010/11 was 386 cows so dairy farmers need a lot of water. Water is also needed on the land to make the grass grow.

Fruit and vegetable growers need irrigation too if there is not enough rain. Some crops, though, have done well this year. It has been a good season for apples and grapes. Wineries are expecting very good wine this year after a long, hot summer.

Vocabulary

• Primary Industries – industries from the land e.g. meat, wool, milk; (secondary industries are from a factory)
• drought – no rain so nothing grows
• regional –some areas
• irrigation – putting water on the land
• herd – group of cows
• crops – plants which produce food

Questions

1. Many New Zealanders are worried about taking water from rivers and lakes for irrigation. Why?
2. Many New Zealanders are worried about taking water from aquifers (under the ground) for irrigation. Why?

Councils have to pay for infrastructure in a city. Home owners pay rates to the council and councils use that money to provide transport, water and waste water systems. If the city spreads out too far into rural land, the infrastructure becomes more expensive.

Although the government and the Auckland City Council have spent 6 weeks discussing housing, the plan in the Budget shows that they cannot agree. Other councils like Hamilton and Tauranga are also worried about the government’s plan. They feel that a city plan is not the business of central government.

To find out more about the Budget, listen to May 26th 2012. To find out more about Auckland city plan, listen to May 1st 2013.

Questions

1. Do you think that cities should be allowed to spread out more?
2. Do you think the central government should have power over a local government?
3. Why does the government want to bring down the cost of housing?
4. In the US and Canada, it is believed that “affordable housing” should not cost more than 30% of the household income per month (for rent or mortgage payments). Many people in New Zealand pay more than this. What about in your country?

When we vote for Members of Parliament, we get two votes, one for the person and one for the party. If a party gets a minimum of 5% of the vote throughout the country, that party has 5% of the MPs. The threshold or minimum at the moment is 5%. For example, in 2011, the Green Party received 11% of the vote which is equal to 14 MPs (11% of 120 seats), all from their list. However, in 2008, New Zealand First had 4.1% of the party vote but no MPs. This does not seem fair.

The electoral seat threshold also seems unfair. In 2008, Rodney Hide won the seat of Epsom for ACT. The ACT party won 3.65% of the vote throughout the country which gave the party 4 list MPs as well as Rodney Hide. Compare that with New Zealand First’s 4.1% but no MPs. Is that fair?

However, the Minister of Justice, Judith Collins, today said that the government does not plan to make the changes recommended by the review. She said that all the parties need to agree.

If you want to know more about MMP, listen to September 8th 2009 or type MMP in the search box.

Vocabulary

• Electoral Commission – a government agency to control elections
• reviewed – looked at MMP again, studied it, asked people for their ideas and wrote a report
• recommended – a strong suggestion
• reduce – decrease
• electoral seat – we vote for an MP for each electorate (area) e.g. Epsom
• minimum – lowest number (compare maximum)
• list MPs – chosen by the party but not voted by the people

A list MP comes from a list of people chosen by the party. He was not elected. He was number 59 out of 59 National Party MPs in Parliament. National won 42 electoral seats in 2011 but 47% of all voters voted for National. The party therefore added 17 MPs from their list to give the party 47% of the MPs.

When Dr Lockwood Smith, left Parliament in January to become the New Zealand High Commissioner in Britain, Aaron Gilmore took his place as a National Party Member of Parliament.

Ten days ago, Aaron Gilmour had dinner at a Hanmer Springs hotel when the waiter refused to sell him more wine. The waiter thought Mr Gilmore had drunk enough wine. It is illegal to sell alcohol to someone who is intoxicated. Aaron Gilmore was rude to the waiter and suggested that the waiter could lose his job.

The Prime Minister was not pleased with the behaviour of this MP. It was obvious that Mr Key wanted Mr Gilmore to resign but in the past when a party leader tells an MP to resign, sometimes that MP decides to stay in Parliament and become an independent MP. That would be a problem for National because there are 121 MPs and only 59 of them belong to the National Party. When there is a vote in Parliament, National needs support from some smaller parties. However, sometimes these other parties do not want to support National.

The next person on the National Party list is Claudette Hauiti. She said she is ready to become an MP.

Listen to November 27th 2011 to hear more about the 2011 election results. Note that the results changed a little after special votes were counted.

Vocabulary

• New Zealand High Commissioner – like an ambassador
• electoral seats – there are 63 electorates in NZ
• intoxicated – drunk
• obvious – easy to see
• independent MP – does not belong to a party

Soon there were other volunteers working with the Women’s Refuge. They helped women with many problems – finding a new place to live, getting financial help and getting help with legal matters.

The service has grown over the years and other cities in New Zealand now have safe houses. However, now the Christchurch Women’s Refuge has changed its name to Aviva Family Violence Services. Now the organisation works with men as well as women to stop violence. Aviva believes that everyone, with the right support, can overcome family violence. The 24-hour phone number is 0800 AVIVA NOW.

Aviva has a street appeal next Friday and Saturday to raise money for the work it does. This date is close to the International Day of the Family (May 16th in New Zealand).

Note that Shakti is an organisation to support migrant women. Shakti has four safe houses in New Zealand for migrant women who need to escape from domestic violence. The 24-hour phone number is 0800 SHAKTI.

Vocabulary

• violent relationship – domestic abuse
• refuge – a safe place
• overcome – stop the violence
• street appeal – standing on the street with donation boxes

Many Wellingtonians – especially the Mayor, Celia Wade-Brown – say that Wellington is a wonderful city. It is the home of the national museum of New Zealand – Te Papa – as well as the NZ ballet, opera, drama school, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It has a beautiful harbour. It has a busy downtown area because so many people work in the central city. They walk to shops and cafes at lunchtime. The city also has a good public transport system – trains and buses – to encourage people to leave their cars at home.

The economic growth of Wellington has been 1.5% for the last 5 years, whereas the growth for the whole of New Zealand for the same period was 0.4%.

The Prime Minister lives in Auckland and it is true that Auckland is growing fast but it is not the only city in New Zealand.

Vocabulary

• The government – people who work in Parliament and in the public service e.g. education, justice etc.
• Weta workshops – designed many of the characters in Lord of the Rings
• apologised – said he was sorry
• Wellingtonians – people who live in Wellington (compare Aucklanders)
• drama – theatre
• whereas – in contrast

Questions

• What other things make a city interesting?
• If you live in Wellington, do you agree that it is an exciting city? Why or why not?

It starts with a sore throat and about 20 days later, can develop into rheumatic fever. Parents need to take children with sore throats to a clinic to check for streptococcal bacteria.

The Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, announced today an extra $21.3m over the next four years for Auckland and Porirua, an area of Wellington where many Maori and Pacific Island families live. The money will be used for
• free drop-in clinics where children with sore throats can be checked,
• for better housing,
• for home visits,
• for more education about rheumatic fever and
• for research into a possible vaccine.
This money will be part of the government’s Budget on May 16th.

Vocabulary

• permanent – forever, not temporary
• valve – opens and closes to let blood pass in and out of the heart
• affects – influences, brings a change
• damp – a little bit wet
• conditions – situation e.g. the house, location
• infectious – spreads the disease
• research – scientific studies
• vaccine – an injection which can stop the disease
• Budget – every year the government has a Budget which tells us how tax money will be spent

New Zealand music month began 13 years ago. At that time, 1.6% of the music played on commercial radio stations was New Zealand music. Within 5 years, that rose to 20%. It is a similar story with albums. In 2000, 6% of the albums sold were New Zealand music. Within 5 years, that became 29% and today New Zealand bands and soloists have become very popular amongst young people.

New Zealand music month began with a lunch-time performance by East Tamaki primary school children, singing and playing Titanium’s song “Come on Home”. The children played ukuleles and violins. The band Titanium helped them sing. The children are learning to play musical instruments through a programme called Sistema Aotearoa. It is adapted from a programme begun in Venezuela. Sistema Aotearoa gives children from year 2, in low decile schools, the chance to learn a musical instrument.

Vocabulary

• commercial radio – has advertising
• soloist – a singer (one person)
• adapted – copied and changed to suit our country
• low decile – poor children; parents are in the bottom 10% of wage earners

Electricity costs have risen faster than inflation in the last few years. A report in 2009 showed that electricity companies have been over-charging for years and that has continued up till today.

Business New Zealand is worried about the policy of Labour and the Greens. They say that competition is the best way to bring electricity prices down.

The announcement of this policy came just after people started buying shares in Mighty River Power. John Key said that if anyone wanted to change their minds about buying shares, they could do this.

The next national elections will probably be held in November 2014. If Labour and the Greens win more than 50% of the seats together, this would be a coalition government.

Vocabulary

• policy – a plan the parties believe in
• generating companies – companies which generate the power in power stations: Mighty River, Meridian and Contact Energy
• consumers – people who buy things like electricity
• inflation – rise in prices of goods; in the last 13 years, inflation has been 2.7% a year.
• over-charging – charging too much; prices are too high
• coalition – two parties working together in Parliament

• congestion – too many people or cars which means they can’t move easily
• urban sprawl – city spread out too much
• infrastructure – water, sewage, electricity, transport etc
• metropolitan – city
• submissions – write your opinions and send them to the council

Auckland has a new plan for how the city will grow. About 600 people move to Auckland each week and in the next 30 years that means 1million more people. Already Auckland has a problem with traffic congestion. During rush hours, cars on the motorways get stuck in traffic and cannot move. It takes people a long time to drive to work and home again after work. Should the city build more motorways? Who would pay? What about a congestion tax for anyone driving into the central city?

Many of Auckland’s problems come from urban sprawl. The city extends over a large area. This makes infrastructure expensive – underground water pipes, electricity, roads and public transport are expensive over a large area. More people need to live closer together.

The Auckland plan has more high-rise buildings, especially around metropolitan centres like Albany or Botany where buildings could be 18 storeys. Town centres like Pakuranga could have 8-storey buildings. The idea is to create work places in these centres so local people would not have to travel into the city for work or to do business. There would be mix of different kinds of housing: high apartment blocks, town houses and single houses, giving people a choice.

The city council is asking Aucklanders for their opinions on the city plan. People can attend meetings or send their submissions to the council by the end of the month.

He had been a Labour Party MP in the Eastern Maori seat since 1999. Under the last Labour government, he was Minister of Maori Affairs for 8 years. Helen Clark, the Prime Minister at that time, said he was well respected among Maori and had a huge knowledge of Maori issues. She said he was one of the kindest people she knew. He was hard working and did his best to improve the life of Maori people.

David Shearer, the Leader of the Opposition, said he had Mana and dignity. He was loved and respected by his Labour Party colleagues and will be missed.

It is very unusual for an MP to die while in office. There will be a by-election some time in the near future to elect a new MP in the Eastern Maori electorate.

Vocabulary

• Mana – a Maori word meaning respect, honour, importance
• dignity – someone you admire because of the way they behave, similar to Mana
• Opposition – not the Government – the other parties
• in office – while still an MP in Parliament; office means job
• by-election – not a main election. An election for just one electorate seat because the MP has died or left Parliament.
• electorate – one MP for each electorate (area)

When oil spilled from the ship the Rena in Tauranga in 2011, many sea birds had oil on their feathers and died. Many penguins were saved by volunteers who found them and took them to experts who cleaned the feathers.

However, the rough seas this morning meant that the oil quickly disappeared out to sea. The fishing boat was able to continue to a safe port for repairs.

Listen to October 27th 2011 to hear more about oil spills or type “Rena” in the search box.

To find out about a marine reserve, listen to Akaroa Marine Reserve on April 15th 2013.

New Zealand soldiers have been involved in peace-keeping in many places in the last 60 years: Bosnia from 1992 to 2007, Timor-Leste from 1999 to 2012 and both the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan for the last 10 years. Ten New Zealand soldiers died in Afghanistan.

Fifteen New Zealand soldiers are serving with United Nations peace-keeping forces in the Middle East and in other hot spots.

The New Zealand Defence Force has almost 9,000 people in the army, navy and air force. Now that we have finished in Afghanistan, the UN is likely to ask New Zealand for more peace-keepers.

Type ANZAC in the search box to listen to more about this important day.

Vocabulary

• traditionally – custom, the way something has always been done
• hot spots – countries where there is civil war
• Defence Force – army, navy, air force who defend a country

Interpreters who worked with New Zealand could be in danger from the Taliban now that New Zealand has left Afghanistan. The New Zealand government offered all those who worked with the soldiers or police in the last two years a chance to live in New Zealand or to move to another place in Afghanistan with 3 years salary.

These 94 people are not part of our UNHCR quota of 750 refugees a year. They are a special case. However, they will stay at the Mangere Refugee Centre in Auckland for 8 weeks to learn more about New Zealand before moving to Hamilton or Palmerston North.

Vocabulary

• UNHCR – United Nations High Commission for Refugees
• quota – the number of refugees we take each year.

Facts. This gives you a map of NZ with some pictures on it. Hold the mouse over the pictures and it tells you some information about that area. For example, if you hold your mouse over the signpost saying Beach, on the West Coast of the South Island, you will see that people living there are close to the coast but also 65% of Kiwis in 2006 lived within 5km of the coast. Another fact is that Auckland has 2757 cafes and restaurants while Wellington has only 810.

Every year, Stats New Zealand prints a small booklet of useful information about New Zealand. You can ask them to send you a copy or you can find it on the website New Zealand in Profile. You can find the top 10 imports and exports and our top 5 trading countries. You can see that we have 31.2 million sheep and 6.5 million dairy cows.

Vocabulary

• statistics (stats) – mathematics which organises data from surveys etc
• census – see February 19th 2013
• profile – summary of main ideas
• dairy cows give milk

A crowd of people queued to get into the public gallery in Parliament tonight to watch the final vote on the Marriage Amendment Bill. The bill passed with 77 votes to 44. The crowd in the gallery cheered and sang the National Anthem when they heard the result of the vote. Hundreds more people watched on closed-circuit TV in Parliament and on TV in bars.

New Zealand is now the 13th country in the world to allow people of the same sex to marry. It will be August before the law is changed though.

This was a conscience vote which means that MPs could vote the way they wanted to. It was a free vote. Usually, they vote the same way as their party. Conscience votes are only used for religious or moral issues such as the death penalty.

Vocabulary

• queue (n or v) – a line, to stand in a line
• public gallery – members of the public can sit upstairs and watch MPs in Parliament
• Amendment – a change to a law
• National Anthem – God of Nations
• closed-circuit TV – by video in the same building
• conscience – your own idea of right and wrong
• moral – what you believe is right
• death penalty – death as a punishment for crime (This was abolished -stopped – in New Zealand in 1961.)

Question

The Deputy Prime Minister, Bill English, said that at a time when marriage is not so popular, he thought it was that strange gay couples want to marry. Do you agree with his two opinions?

A marine reserve is like a park for recreation in the sea. It means that nobody can catch fish in that area. The reason for the reserve is give fish numbers a chance to increase. Fish species in Akaroa harbour have decreased in recent years. For example, it is very difficult now to catch a good-size blue cod in the harbour. Akaroa harbour is home to the endangered Hectors dolphin. It is important to protect the food for these small dolphins.

The Akaroa Marine Protection Society has been trying since 1996 for a 530 ha marine reserve. The group had the support of 2334 people who made submissions to Parliament. 709 submissions, mostly from fishermen, were against a reserve. Dr Smith thought about the needs of people wanting to fish so he cut the size of the reserve by 55ha to 475ha.

This part of the harbour is a beautiful area with high rocky cliffs, caves and many sea birds. After meeting local people, Dr Smith went for a paddle in a kayak to enjoy the reserve.

Vocabulary

• marine – sea
• conservation – protecting the environment
• recreation – play, leisure
• species – different kinds e.g. cod, snapper, kingfish
• endangered – in danger of being extinct
• submissions – letters to Parliament
• kayak – type of canoe