Four people have been taken to hospital, one in a serious condition, after being struck by a car in the Upper Hutt suburb of Trentham this afternoon.
The scene of a pedestrian accident on Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue (Source: rnz.co.nz)
Two patients have been taken to Hutt Hospital, one in a serious condition and one with mild injuries.
Another two patients have been sent to Wellington Hospital with mild injuries.
A fifth person was treated at the scene.
Fire and Emergency said two cars were involved and a power pole has been hit in addition to several pedestrians.
The scene of a pedestrian accident on Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue (Source: rnz.co.nz)
Emergency services responded to the crash at 1.45pm.
The site is a few blocks from the Trentham Racecourse where Wellington Cup is being held. Fergusson Drive has now reopened after being closed for several hours.
An Australian pilot serving an 18-year jail term for his connection to drug trafficking has this week lost his appeal in the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court.
The Cessna twin engine aircraft crashed on an old airstrip outside PNG’s capital. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
David John Cutmore was the pilot of an aircraft trying to fly from Central Province to Australia, carrying 611kg of cocaine.
The plane crashed on take-off from a makeshift airfield outside Port Moresby in July 2020.
Cutmore was jailed for 18 years in October 2022 after pleading guilty to a charge relating to money laundering.
Last year, another four people — three Papua New Guineans and an Italian — connected to the so-called “black flight” were sentenced in the National Court.
The three-man bench comprising Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, Justice Ere Kariko and Justice Vergil Narokobi ordered that the appeal against Cutmore’s sentence be dismissed.
Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika said the sentence of 18 years’ jail with light labour was confirmed.
He said the majority of the bench agreed that the trial judge, Judge Teresa Berrigan, did not err in her consideration of Cutmore’s medical condition.
“The sentence of 18 years was not excessive in the circumstances,” he said.
“The use of the country as a transit point for drug trafficking and the use of PNG nationals as drug mules must be strongly opposed with stiff penalties.”
Cutmore was also convicted of illegally entering the country and breaching the Civil Aviation Act for flying without a licence and crashing.
He was fined 37,000 kina ($16,009 NZD) for the charges and detained at the Bomana Prison for being unable to pay.
Some residents in the Hahake district of Tongatapu (Tt) are without power after a vehicle crash.
A car collides with a power pole at Makaunga, Hahake. Photo/Screenshot
District Officer Siosifa Jr Lamipeti said the power was out after the incident at Makaunga.
It said the outage was caused by a vehicle hitting a power pole.
No injuries were reported.
The details of the car accident are still unknown.
It comes after a mother and her child reportedly sustained injuries in a car crash that occurred at the district’s village of Niutao early this month.
Reports said the victims had been rushed to the hospital.
Mr Lamipeti reported that crash on Facebook and alleged that high speed was likely the cause of the crash.
He said that incident marked the first road accident reported in the district since the beginning of the new year.
Officer Lamipeti emphasized the significance of this occurrence, highlighting the ongoing concerns surrounding road safety and the need for increased vigilance among drivers in the community.
(BBC) Most Hamas officials I have met or spoken to in recent weeks acknowledge that the main goals set by the movement after the 7 October attack on Israel have not been achieved.
These included stopping the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, establishing a Palestinian state, freeing all Palestinian prisoners and lifting the siege on Gaza.
However, they insist that Israel’s failure to eliminate Hamas or remove it from the political scene constitutes a victory.
“Israel promised to eliminate Hamas, but now they are sitting in the same building with Hamas leaders and negotiating with them,” a senior Hamas official told me in a phone call before the ceasefire was announced.
I put to him that Gaza was in ruins, Israel had killed tens of thousands and eliminated most of Hamas’s leaders – how did they consider this a victory?
The official replied: “In terms of numbers, Gaza has paid an unimaginable price. But in terms of gains and losses, Israel failed to break the will of the Palestinians, the resistance, or to push the people out of the country.”
He described the attack by the group, which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK and other countries, as the “biggest military and security blow” in Israel’s history. “Nothing can change that.”
In Gaza, people’s reactions are conflicted. Tears and jubilation intermingle, reflecting both relief that the death toll may soon stop rising and fear of the uncertain future which awaits 1.2 million people who have lost their homes, schools, universities and hospitals.
The debate in Gaza about 7 October, when around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage, has continued throughout the war and intensified after the ceasefire was announced.
Some defend Hamas, claiming its survival alone is enough to call it a victory, while others criticise the movement, arguing that the unprecedented price paid by Palestinians constitutes a defeat.
Mohammed Imad al-Din, a barber in Gaza City forced to flee to Khan Younis with his wife and children along with more than a million others, told the BBC: “If killing 46,000 people, displacement and destruction is a victory, then I hope the leaders of Hamas can explain the meaning of defeat.
“I’m relieved, but definitely not happy because the future is uncertain.”
Meanwhile, Saifjan Al-Shami, a doctor at the Islamic University of Gaza, said on Facebook she was “surprised by any Palestinian, especially a Gazan, who does not acknowledge the victory of his country and mocks those who say we won.
“Yes, Gaza won, and Hamas won. Hey, do you know the criteria for victory before you speak? You must review yourself, your patriotism and your loyalty to Gaza. Gaza won despite the spite of the haters.”
For now it is too early to judge whether the war will end after the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.
The majority of Gazans feel that the sound of gunfire may soon fall silent, but the sounds of suffering, regret and pain will continue for generations to come.
If you’ve ever told someone to ‘go to hell’, you probably didn’t have a real location in mind.
While most people no longer believe that hell is a physical place, that has not always been the case.
Scattered across the world, there are five terrifying locations that are claimed to be entrances to the underworld.
And experts now say that there could be some surprising scientific truths to back them up.
From the nightmarish location that inspired Jesus’ account of hell to the cave that mysteriously kills anyone who enters, these locations are as close to hell on Earth as you can get.
In Iceland, you can find the ever-burning brimstone of Hekla Fell, a volcano believed by Christians to be the real location of hell.
While in Belize, archaeologists are now piecing together the mysteries of the crystalised skeletons hidden within an eerie portal to the Mayan underworld.
Gehenna
In his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ Jesus famously warned that anyone who allows their hand or eye to sin will be cast into ‘hell’.
However, biblical expertsbelieve that isn’t really what Jesus said.
In the earliest version of the text, the word that Jesus uses is not ‘hell’ but ‘Gehenna’.
Rather than referring to a place of eternal torment, Gehenna is a real location just outside the walls of old Jerusalem.
A contraction of the name Valley of Hinnom, or ‘Ge-Hinnom’, Gehenna isone of the deep gorges which can be found to the southwest of the old city.
According to the Bible, this was the place where ancient Israelites practised child sacrifice, making offerings of their own young to the god Baal.
Jesus’ sermon on the mount is often translated as saying that sinners go to ‘hell’. However, the word he really used was ‘Gehenna’ which refers to a real valley to the south of Old Jerusalem (pictured)
Five locations scientists believe could be gateways to the hell
Gehenna, Israel
Hierapolis, Turkey
Hekla, Iceland
Actun Tunichil Muknal, Belize
St Patrick’s Purgatory, Iceland
For this reason, many believed that the location had been cursed by God and made unfit for worship.
Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, wrote in Time: ‘In the ancient world (whether Greek, Roman, or Jewish), the worst punishment a person could experience after death was to be denied a decent burial.
‘Jesus developed this view into a repugnant scenario: corpses of those excluded from the kingdom would be unceremoniously tossed into the most desecrated dumping ground on the planet.’
As the bible was translated into other languages, the word Gehenna was gradually swapped for the English word ‘hell’.
This means that, according to Christianity, Gehenna is literally hell on Earth.
The Valley of Hinnom might also be the origin of the fires of hell which have filled the popular imagination.
According to some accounts, the Valley of Hinnom was used by the people of Jerusalem as a landfill site where rubbish fires perpetually burned.
Some biblical scholars believe this could have inspired the idea that sinners would be cast into a place of eternal fire.
Gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom (pictured), was believed by Jews in Jesus’ day to have been a place of human sacrifice. By saying that sinners would be thrown into Gehenna, Jesus may have meant that they would not receive a proper burial. Over time, Gehenna became linked to the Christian idea of Hell and the underworld
However, while a Roman-era rubbish dump has been found in the North of the city, there is no archaeological evidence that Gehenna was ever really used to burn waste.
Hierapolis
It might not come as a surprise that passing through the gates to the underworld can be hazardous to your health.
But at Hierapolis, in modern-day Turkey, attempting to pass in through this ancient portal really could cost you your life.
The ancient Roman city of Hierapolis was built during the reign of emperor Tiberius between 14 and 37 BC.
In the ruins of this once bustling city, archaeologists have found extensive baths, a gymnasium, an agora or meeting place, and even a Byzantine church.
Discovered in 2011, the entrance to hell is a small door leading into a cave-like grotto built into one wall of an open arena.
In modern-day Turkey, scientists have found an ancient Roman portal to the underworld with the power to kill anyone who enters (pictured)
According to the ancient philosopher Strabo, the castrated priests of the underworld would carry sacrificial animals down through the door, known as the Plutonium.
To the shock of the spectators lining the surrounding amphitheatre, the animals would die on the spot as if struck down by an invisible assailant while the priests would remain unharmed.
In his account written 2,000 years ago, Strabo says: ‘[The] space is filled with a cloudy and dark vapour, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned … Animals which enter … die instantly.
‘Even bulls, when brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless.’
Shockingly, modern scientists have found that Strabo was completely correct about the Plutonium’s deadly properties.
In addition to warming the springs which drew tourists to the town, this geological activity produced thick clouds of CO2 which would rise up out of the cave.
At night, the CO2 pools thickly in an enveloping cloud of mist which the ancient Romans attributed to the breath of Kerberos, the three-headed guard dog of hell.
The ‘Plutonium’ in Hierapolis was believed to be an entrance to the underworld. In reality, scientists found that the temple had been built above a geological faultline which produced enough CO2 to kill animals brought near it
In a study published in 2018, researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen found that CO2 outside the temple entrance reached concentrations of 40-50 per cent.
The authors write: ‘Astonishingly, these vapors are still emitted in concentrations that nowadays kill insects, birds, and mammals.
‘They reach concentrations during the night that would easily kill even a human being within a minute.’
While the priests were tall enough to keep their heads above the gases, the sacrificial animals were trapped inside the toxic cloud and killed.
Even today, these gases are so toxic that visiting this entrance to hell unprepared really could be a one-way ticket to the afterlife.
Hekla
Even from afar, it is easy to see why Medieval Christians believed that Hekla might be the entrance to hell.
The snow-capped peak of this 1,491-metrevolcano towers above Southern Iceland.
Hekla in Iceland was once believed to be the gates of hell through which souls would pass on their way to the underworld
The Icelandic word ‘Hekla’ refers to a short, hooded cloak which could reflect the dramatic layer of clouds that gather about its peak.
The mountain’s demonic reputation first emerged around the year 1104 when Hekla burst out of dormancy with an enormous eruption.
Based on geological studies, it is believed that the eruption was a category VEI 5 – the same rating as the eruption of Mount St Helen in 1980.
The explosion was so violent that 21,000 square miles (55,000 km squared) – more than half of Iceland – was bombarded by rock and ash.
According to accounts written at the time, people could see the blast of lava, searing ash, and toxic gases from the sea as lava bombs weighing up to 12 tonnes rained down on the country.
The eruption was so violent that news of Hekla’s diabolic force soon spread around the ancient world.
In 1180, a Cistercian monk called Herbert de Clairvaux boasted that Helka was even more deady than Mount Etna in Italy.
He wrote: ‘The renowned fiery cauldron of Sicily, which men call Hell’s chimney … that cauldron is affirmed to be like a small furnace compared to this enormous inferno.’
This volcano earned its diabolical reputation thanks to a series of massive eruptions that began in 1104. Hekla produced so much lava and ash that medieval writers believed they had found hell
As one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes, Hekla has continued to earn its sinister status. The volcano most recently erupted in 2000 (pictured) in an explosion which created a 4.3 mile (7km) fissure
By 1120, a poem by the monk Benedeit called the mountain the eternal prison of Judas, referring to the lowest circles of hell.
In the early 14th century, one medieval author described seeing large birds flying into the volcano’s fires which were believed to be the souls of the damned entering inferno.
Most famously, the 16th-century German scholar Caspar Peucer wrote that the gates to hell could be found in ‘the bottomless abyss of Hekla Fell’.
Although the legends about Hekla’s connection to the underworld died off by the 19th century, the volcano has continued to earn its fiendish reputation.
The mountain has even erupted as recently as the year 2000 when it opened up a 4.3 mile (7km) fissure which sprayed ash and steam 9 miles (15km) into the air.
Actun Tunichil Muknal
In Belize, the cave of Actun Tunichil Muknal, meaning ‘Cave of the Stone Sepulcher’, is one of the best preserved entrances to the underworld anywhere on the planet. Its 3 miles (5km) long tunnels have been undisturbed for over 1,000 years and contain the grizzly remains of human sacrifices
While legends about hell vary wildly from culture to culture, one common thread that ties these stories together is that hell is often believed to be deep beneath the Earth.
In Belize, you can find one of the best contenders for an entrance to the subterranean underworld within the caves of Actun Tunichil Muknal, meaning ‘Cave of the Stone Sepulcher’.
Actun Tunichil Muknal (the ATM Cave) lay undiscovered and undisturbed for more than 1,000 years after the collapse of the Mayan Empire.
The cave extends more than three miles (five kilometres) beneath the Earth and archaeologists have found artefacts dating back to around 800 AD.
Most shockingly of all, the cave is filled with the grisly remains of the victims of human sacrifice.
When the cave was first discovered in 1989, archaeologists were shocked to find the remains of individuals as young as four years old who had been bludgeoned to death.
The most famous of these remains is so old that the bones have crystalised into glittering calcite, earning it the name ‘The Crystal Maiden’.
Researchers now think that the cave was revered as an entrance to Xibalba, the Mayan underworld and the domain of the death gods.
One of the victims has been there so long that their bones have crystalised, earning them the nickname ‘The Crystal Maiden’. Experts believe that the Mayans thought the cave was an entrance to Xibalba, the underworld, and made sacrifices there to appease the lords of hell
Based on the arrangement of the bodies, researchers believe that this was the site of ritual murders designed to reenact the ‘Popol Vuh’ creation myth.
During the 10th century, the Mayan empire was being blighted by droughts and natural disasters which culminated in the civilisation’s rapid collapse.
Their sacrifices were intended to appease the Lords of Xibalba who were thought to be responsible for the droughts.
Professor Holley Moyes, an expert on the caves from the University of California told the BBC: ‘Amongst the Maya, we hardly see any – almost no – human sacrifice until the late classic period.
‘And I think they start doing it because they are in the middle of a drought, and they are trying to up the ante.’
St Patrick’s Purgatory
On a little-known Irish island, you can find a supposed entrance to hell which has had an outsised impact on the Christian understanding of life after death.
St Patrick’s Purgatory, located on Station Island in northwestern Ireland, was considered by early medieval people to be the edge of the known world.
Station Island in Ireland is home to St Patrick’s Purgatory. In the medieval period, it was believed that the caves on the island could give visitors glimpses of hell
While St Patrick today might be better associated with shamrocks and green hats, he once had a much more terrifying reputation.
According to a 12th-century text written by a monk named H. of Saltrey, St Patrick prayed to God for a way to convert the Irish pagans.
His efforts were rewarded by a vision of a ‘pit of purgatory’.
This chasm filled the mind of anyone who entered with visions of hell fire and monsters, essentially providing a first-hand experience of the consequences of rebuking Christianity.
According to medieval texts, this pit is located on Station Island where a monastery founded by one of St Patrick’s disciples still stands today.
Early visitors reported finding a small cave where they would be bombarded with unearthly visions.
The 12-century historian Gerald of Walesof Wales wrote: ‘This part of the island contains nine pits, and should any one perchance venture to spend the night in one of them, … he is immediately seized by the malignant spirits.’
The cave was filled in and replaced with a more conventional chapel in the year 1790, but St Patrick’s vision of a temporary hell would go on to have a far wider influence.
The caves were filled in in 1790 and replaced with a large chapel. However, the reports of hellish visions went on to form the basis of the Christian understanding of hell and purgatory which persist today
After reports of the mystical powers of St Patrick’s caves were reported, the monastery became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe.
The idea that sinners might briefly experience suffering before reaching salvation formed one of the essential cornerstones of the idea of purgatory, a sort of waiting room for heaven.
By popularising these ideas, St Patrick’s Purgatory became a critical point for the evolution of Christian ideas about what happens after you die.
Just 100 years after the first accounts were written, purgatory was made official church doctrine in 1274.
Even today, pilgrims from around the world undergo notoriously gruelling visits to the island to get a taste of hell first-hand.
So, while you might no longer be able to take a day trip to the inferno in the cave beneath the island, you can still visit the place where our modern ideas of hell began.
Britain was a fractious nation in the 7th Century AD, still looking for stability several centuries after the collapse of the Roman empire.
At this point, various kings ruled over different regions of land and many languages and religions dominated certain locales.
The exact date of the church is not known, but it is though to be around 633AD, or shortly after, when Ethelburga, a native of Kent, likely returned to her homeland following the death of her husband, Edwin.
Edwin was the son of Ethelfrith, a Northumbrian king who was known for his warring prowess and repeated skirmished with the Gododdin, a fierce celtic-speaking people from the north-east area of the then-called ‘Britannia’.
King Redwalld of East Anglia dominated the centre of the country, and established the kingdom of Mercia while the Picts dominated modern-day Scotland.
Augustine (right, on bended knee), and a further 40 Benedictines, landed in Thanet and were met by Ethelbert and Bertha (left). The mission massed its litmus test in 602AD when the English king decided to join his wife’s beliefs and opted to be baptised.He then also donated a certain site in Canterbury which would be home to the first, and most important, cathedral in the country. Augustine duly became Canterbury Cathedral’s first archbishop
Another king ruled the south-east, with Ethelbert of Kent and his French Christian wife Bertha in command of the region.
These royals had been visited by a bishop from Rome in 597AD called Augustine after Pope Gregory sent him on a mission to take Christianity to the British isles.
The Pope’s sudden interest in the British isles is believed to stem from a chance encounter with two ‘Angli’ slaves in an Italian slave market.
Their blonde hair and fair skin captivated the Pope and he immediately said of the inhabitants of England, known as Angels at the time: ‘Non Angli sed angeli’.
Directly translated into English it means ‘not Angels but angels of God’.
His instant infatuation was the kickstarter for the Roman clergy to begin their efforts to bring Evangelicalism to the desolate and divided nation.
Augustine, and a further 40 Benedictines, landed in Thanet and were met by Ethelbert and Bertha.
The mission massed its litmus test in 602AD when the English king decided to join his wife’s beliefs and opted to be baptised.
He then also donated a certain site in Canterbury which would be home to the first, and most important, cathedral in the country.
Augustine duly became Canterbury Cathedral’s first archbishop.
Meanwhile, the feared Ethelfrith from the north died and was succeeded by his son, Edwin, who soon mounted a charge on the rest of Britannia.
His vast army descended from the north and swept through Mercia and into Kent.
The mission ended in the conquest of the south-east and Edwin seized Ethelburga, daughter of Ethelbert and Bertha, as his trophy.
She became his second wife and her devote Christian beliefs went with her to the north.
A Roman monk was also claimed as part of Edwin’s spoils and he performed a baptism on the young King Edwin.
This monk was then assigned the task of founding what is now one of the most iconic christian sites in the UK, York Minster.
After Edwin abandoned his Pagan beliefs, his reflective approach was not matched by all his contemporaries.
His high priest was so inflamed by the king’s decision he hurled a spear into his own temple and ordered conflagration.
In 633AD King Cadwallen of Gwynedd and King Penda of Mercia invaded Northumbria and killed Edwin in battle.
He was defeated during the Battle of Hatfield Chase and left Ethelburga widowed.
Five people have been injured – one critically – following a two-vehicle crash on State Highway 2 south of Waihī.
(Source: 1News)
Emergency services, including six ambulances and two helicopters, were called to the crash near Tauranga Rd around 5.40pm.
One person was critically injured in the collision.
Another person is in a serious condition, while three others sustained moderate injuries.
Two people were airlifted to Waikato Hospital, while three others were taken by ambulance to Tauranga Hospital.
A St John spokesperson said nine vehicles responded to the incident, including five ambulances, two rapid response vehicles, and two operations managers.
The serious crash unit has been advised.
Part of SH2 is blocked and diversions are in place at the intersections of SH2, Trig Rd South, and Waihi Beach Rd.
“This section of SH2 is likely to remain closed for some time today. Delay your journey or allow extra time for a detour,” the New Zealand Transport Agency said.
A suspect Tonga police have arrested after an unlicensed pistol was pointed at a staff working at the Emerald Hotel in Nuku’alofa on Saturday 4 has been identified.
Koli Moa
Local media have alleged the suspect was 35-year-old Koli Moa of Kolofo’ou.
The Police said, “The suspect brought up a firearm and pointed at the victim’s forehead while speaking incoherently in English”.
“The police responded to the call and located the suspect shortly after”.
After threatening the staff, the suspect left the premises, got into his vehicle, and drove off.
He was later arrested on Hihifo Road at Hala’ovave with the handgun along with one pack of cannabis weighing 0.52mg.
No one was injured, and the victim reported the incident to the police, a statement said.
He was in police custody and has been charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, illicit drugs, and attempting to intimidate with a firearm.
Police investigations are still ongoing into the nature of this case.
The victim was safe and sound and thankfully, he was not injured during the encounter.
Tonga Police appealed to the public to report any criminal activities.
A flight attendant was fired from Alaska Airlines after twerking for a viral TikTok video during a two-hour delay.
Nelle Diala, a former flight attendant for Alaska Airlines, was sacked from her ‘dream job’ after the San Francisco-native posted a video to TikTok of her twerking on camera while she waited ‘two hours’ for a pilot
Nelle Diala, has been fired after a video of her twerking on the job went viral. The TikTok showed the crew member shaking her hips while waiting for the captain during a two-hour delay on a flight.
In the clip, Diala captioned, “ghetto bih till I D-I-E, don’t let the uniform fool you.” The incident occurred shortly after the flight attendant celebrated completing her probationary period, marking the end of her new hire phase.
“What’s wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before.” She included the hashtag #discriminationisreal, suggesting that she felt unjustly treated. In response to her firing, Diala has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money while she looks for new job opportunities.
She wrote: “I never thought a single moment would cost me everything. Losing my job was devastating.”
She went on to explain that her position as a flight attendant had allowed her to meet new people and see the world, and that she used her income to fund her growing lingerie and dessert businesses. The campaign has raised $182 of its $12,000 goal.
Some supported her, while others criticized her actions. One user on The Crew Lounge, an aviation-focused Instagram page, said: “You don’t respect the uniform, you don’t respect your job then.” Another commenter mocked her GoFundMe, stating, “Support for wrongly fired flight attendant?? Her GoFund title says it all. She still thinks she was wrongly fired. Girl you weren’t wrongly fired. Go apply for a new job and probably stop twerking in your uniform.”
Reports allege the prime minister-elect has nominated people who were not Members of Parliament for his new cabinet.
King Tupou VI. Photo/File
As we reported earlier this week, the king was expected to appoint the new Cabinet next week, according to the Prime Minister-designate.
The number of nobility MPs, previously claimed to be three in the new Cabinet, now allegedly dropped to only one.
The latest preliminary unofficial cabinet lineup paper seen by Kaniva News this morning claimed Crown Prince Tupouto’a was still the potential Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs.
It alleged that three other Cabinet ministers were nominated outside of the parliament.
The preliminary nominations appeared to show that the only MP chosen from the nobility’s bench was made because of the cultural assumption that a noble in that position represents the fonua (lands) better than a commoner.
We previously reported a preliminary unofficial Cabinet lineup.
Kaniva News contacted the Prime Minister-designate and sent him that leaked list for confirmation and an update.
His communication officer, MP Taniela Fusimālohi, said they would release the new Cabinet ministers’ names in a press conference.
Seeking the king’s support
The apparent multiple alterations in the Cabinet lineup nominees since the unofficial lineup we previously reported may signify a carefully considered strategy by Eke, designed to guarantee that his nominations gain the essential backing and support from the king.
The constitution does not contain any provision granting the king the authority to participate in the Prime Minister’s process of selecting and nominating Cabinet ministers.
However, the prime minister has to submit them for the king to appoint, according to the constitution.
The latest leaked provisional Cabinet lineup comes after a delay in the Prime Minister’s and new Cabinet’s royal appointment, which was reportedly due to the king’s already booked schedule.
Former Prime Minister Hon Hu’akavameiliku was elected on December 15, 2022, and was appointed by the king less than two weeks later on December 27.
Eke was elected on December 24, 2024 and is expected to be appointed on Tuesday 21,2025 about a month since his election.
Current appointment protocol
The king’s reactions to recent nominations of Cabinet Ministers and meetings with prime ministers reflect a recurring pattern of protests from him.
As Kaniva News reported last year, Hu’akavameiliku had nominated an MP to replace former and late Minister for Fisheries Semisi Fakahau. The king did not appoint that nomination. No information was publicly provided to explain why.
When Hu’akavameiliku was later asked for an update, he said during a press conference that he was still awaiting an update from the royal palace’s office.
However, when Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola was later nominated to replace outgoing Minister of Health Saia Piukala, the king spent no time appointing him.
There were also complaints by former Prime Ministers accusing the king of breaching the constitution by refusing to meet with them regularly.
Former and late Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa told us in an interview that the king had revealed in one of their meetings that His Majesty later refused to meet with former Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva. Tu’i’onetoa claimed the king thought ‘Akilisi did not correctly convey their meetings to the public. Tu’i’onetoa did not say whether or not the king informed Akilisi of his concern.
Kaniva News understands thatthe king took a similar stance towards Tu’i’onetoa and Hu’akavameiliku by allegedly refusing to meet them following a series of meetings that took place previously.
It is the first time Labour has led National in their poll since April 2023.
The Greens are up as well, by 1.2 points to 9.5 percent, while ACT is down 2.2 points to 10.8 percent.
New Zealand First is up 2.7 points to 8.1 percent, while Te Pāti Māori is down 0.2 to 5.3 percent.
These numbers would give National 38 seats in parliament, down six from last month.
Labour would have 39 seats, up five seats since last month.
The Greens would have 12 seats, up by one, while ACT would lose three seats at 14.
The Preferred Prime Minister numbers has seen a decrease in support for both major party leaders. Photo: RNZ
New Zealand First would rise three seats from last month to 10 while Te Pāti Māori would remain on seven.
Preferred Prime Minister numbers have seen a decrease in support for both major party leaders.
Christopher Luxon is down 2.6 points at 24.5 percent, while Chris Hipkins is down 4.6 points to 15.3 percent.
Winston Peters and Chlöe Swarbrick have gained the most support with the New Zealand First leader up 3 points to 8.8 percent and the Green Party co-leader up 4 points to 8.5 percent.
ACT leader David Seymour has risen to 6.3 percent, gaining 0.5 points.
The poll was conducted between 9 and 13 January, and surveyed 1000 adult New Zealanders.
It has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.
Curia – which conducted the poll – is no longer a member of the Research Association NZ body.
