Skye Wishart
Maori businesses look to an innovative future
Growing Maori businesses and cultivating iwi assets is the focus of the Maori Business Growth Programme, run by business development group The IceHouse. Twenty-two individuals gathered for a workshop in Auckland recently, made up of Maori business directors from small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) and iwi trustees, and coming from as far north as Kaitaia and as [...]
Building New Zealand’s future – literally
The Auckland Council paints a busy picture of the future. According to its long-term plan thousands of houses need to be built for the hundreds of thousands of people expected to swarm the country in the years to come, roading is needed to connect the far flung among them to the rest of the city, [...]
Glitz and glamour among the fur crowd
A long, clawed paw bursts out from between metal bars, raking at a passerby. A low growl follows from another cage next door. An elderly woman in a grey woolly jumper opens the cage containing the outstretched paw and takes out a Sphinx. Its hairless grey body writhes in her arms and she coos. “They’ve [...]
Humble start for high-end fashion leather
This year’s Auckland Fashion Week rejoiced in leather. Skin-tight leather shorts, bronze leather bustiers, supple leather pouches and wrist-length leather gloves all caught the eyes of the catwalk crowds. The softest of those leathers, coveted by major fashion houses in Europe and the USA, will likely be calfskin – something which often has a humble [...]
Gout research receives a $117,000 grant
The pain, like electricity searing through his leg from his little toe with every step, meant some days he had to crawl just to reach the shower. He wanted to cut his foot off. Reynald Castañeda, at just 23, had gout. It seems this condition, which is generally thought to affect the older, male and [...]
On-land fish farmers hope for obstacles to fall
Land-based aquaculture players are hoping obstacles to a billion dollar industry are falling away. A recent meeting involving the Minister of Conservation, Kate Wilkinson, discussed reducing the number of permits necessary to set up on-land fish farms. With current legislation, farming hopefuls must go through a lengthy process involving the district and regional councils for [...]
Online meet-ups a ‘powerful tool’ in the real world
Going online to improve your social life offline is all the rage in 2012 — whether you’re a rock climber, raver, writer or just tired of sitting at home. Meetup’s social network of 9.5 million users in 45,000 cities worldwide had unprecedented spikes in new members this year in January and February — according to [...]
VIDEO: Sunday’s Jersey Boys performance will cater for blind patrons
Blind theatre-goers can now “see” as well as hear the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons thanks to a team of audio-describers. The June 3 performance of Jersey Boys at Auckland’s Civic Theatre will cater especially for blind or visually impaired theatre-goers. The Signal programme, run by The EDGE Centre for Performing Arts, [...]
Kiwis urged to think about what they want at the end of life
Death comes to all – and New Zealanders are being increasingly encouraged to plan for it. New Zealand doctors and other healthcare specialists are being trained in Advanced Care Planning, an end-of-life healthcare concept that has gained momentum in New Zealand over the past two years. ACP — which has been around internationally since the [...]
Pregnant asthmatics court danger by shunning medication
Many severely asthmatic Kiwi women are jeopardising their babies’ development during pregnancy by stopping their medication without advice from their doctors. This is according to Dr Bob Hancox, Medical Director of New Zealand’s Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, after a survey by Monash University scientists revealed last month that this was the case in Australia. Dr [...]
Organ transplants focus of emotional service at cathedral
For one member of the choir Heaven Bent, last Sunday’s service to honour organ transplants had an extra special meaning. Chorister Tania Wilson received a kidney transplant in 1990, and on Sunday she sang with her community choir in an emotional thanksgiving service at Parnell’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. The service, organised by Organ Donation New [...]
Kiwi kung fu kids head to Thailand for training with expat master
Two lucky Auckland children will pack their bags for Thailand this September to train in martial arts with a kung fu master. The Sir Gee Dorr Kung Fu Club in Mt Albert, run by Charlie Tamati, is applying for funding from sports foundations to take two young students — yet to be named — with [...]
Moss Burmester’s mum steps up to race
It’s not every day an Olympic swimmer looks over his shoulder to see his mum hot on his tail. But Bronwen Burmester, 56, followed her son Moss in the 2.8km King of the Bays swim from Milford to Takapuna Beach last week. They finished together at 56m 48s, placing them at 587th and 588th and [...]
27km of Waitakere tracks in lockdown from July
Hikers in the Waitakeres can expect track closures in July, to limit the spread of kauri dieback disease. The closure of 27km of the Waitakeres’ 260km of tracks is to be approved imminently, says principal biosecurity advisor for the Auckland Council, Nick Waipara. The goal is to create disease-free sanctuaries and cut off areas infected [...]
Auckland film-makers ask for help to explore the truth about fracking
Two award-winning Auckland documentary makers are calling on the public to help to fund a film about the contentious oil and gas extraction method known as fracking. Sumner and Thomas Burstyn are using the crowd-funding website Pledgeme to fund a film exploring all sides of a controversial oil-extraction story set to play out in Whatatutu, [...]
Abused migrant women lack help as domestic violence grows
Abused women in New Zealand’s migrant and refugee communities are running out of support as domestic violence continues to rise. Women’s Refuge is reporting a 12 per cent increase in domestic violence in New Zealand in the year ending June 2011. But Shakti Asian Women’s Centre is still hard-pressed to finance services such as advocacy, [...]
Heavensent? Kiwi takes voice-to-text technology to the cloud
A New Zealand entrepreneur has developed a smartphone app that can convert voice to text cheaply and in just a matter of hours. Alexei Dunayev’s app, Transcribeme, uses voice transcription technology to organise recordings of meetings, for example, into logical chunks, such as between breaks in conversation or with a change of speaker. The app [...]
The Pacific Media Centre
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- AUDIO: PNG free trade critic Gary Juffa explains bad impact on Pacific
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- VIDEO: Dame Susan Devoy speaks out on NZ ethnic affairs
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Pacific.Scoop
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- NZ trade mission aims to boost infrastructure projects in PNG
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- Pacific Scoop challenges political elites over health, human rights, social justice
