Last year, about 60,000 babies were born in New Zealand and almost half of the mothers were not married. These are the numbers for last year: 32,019 mothers were married and 29,159 were not married. About 80% of Maori mothers, 50% of European mothers...
First listen to April 29th 2013 to hear about the death of Parekura Horomia and the need for a by-election. As a result of the death of the Labour MP Parekura Horomia, a by-election was held on Saturday to elect a new Member of Parliament for the eas...
A vet is a short word for veterinarian, an animal doctor. This year, Massey University in Palmerston North is celebrating 50 years since it opened the Veterinary school. Tomorrow, the school will celebrate this occasion with a day of speakers and a d...
The last two weeks have been very busy for the Christchurch City Council. First, there was a decision between the Council and the government about who was going to pay for major re-build projects like the sports centre, the library, the convention ce...
The Labour Party will not ban men from becoming candidates for election in some seats. The Labour Council wants to discuss the idea during the Labour Party conference in November of having 50% women MPs. However, David Shearer, the leader of the Labo...
An Auckland man was sentenced to 10 days in jail for refusing to do jury service. He said he was too busy at work to be on a jury. He is a self-employed engineer. The Minister of Courts said it was the duty of everybody in a democratic society to ser...
For the next two weeks, schools are closed and children have a holiday. Some are lucky to have a family holiday, perhaps skiing in the mountains. Some children visit grandparents in another town for the holidays. If parents are separated and live in...
An unusual Boeing 747 arrived in Christchurch at the weekend from California. It has a telescope on board. The plane will spend the next three weeks flying the skies of the South Island to study the Milky Way. It is called SOFIA, Stratospheric Observ...
First listen to June 23rd 2013 to hear about getting to Milford Sound. Dr Nick Smith, the Minister for Conservation, has now decided not to allow a tunnel to Milford Sound. Although the company wanting to build the tunnel is disappointed with this de...
Both the Christchurch Botanic Gardens and the Dunedin Botanic Gardens are celebrating 150 years this year. They were both established in 1863. This is quite amazing as the first European settlements were not until 1848 for Dunedin and 1850 for Christ...
