Terry Sheldrake News Today

Shanelle Barrett is a member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to triathlon.

Gisborne district councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown has apologised for comments aimed at the mayor but was absent at a council meeting where an in-person apology was expected.

Tairāwhiti has the highest hazardous drinking rate in the country according to a report presented to Gisborne District Council.

Gisborne can expect new faces around its council table this October for more reasons than the recent representation shake-up.

"Has this landed where we wanted it to?" That was Gisborne district councillor Kerry Worsnops question for the table as elected members deliberated the regions rates for the next 10 years. Worsnop pointed to an East Coast property worth $95,000 facing a rate increase of 4.3 percent, or $62, compared to a $1.22 million property in Gisbornes Lytton West, where rates would only increase by $55. Photo: LDR / Supplied She pointed to an East Coast property worth $95,000 facing a rate increase of 4.3...

East Coast MP Kiri Allan Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith Allan, who previously labelled the provision "discriminatory", said the move to enact legislation under urgency announced yesterday would rectify an "unjust and a significant barrier" to councillors establishing Māori wards. "Were not trying to impose how local communities run their affairs. All were doing is removing a grossly inequitable provision that wasnt applicable to any other forms of wards," she said. "This was just a fundamentally ...