新西兰英语 585 Oysters

Bluff oysters are now on sale in fish shops and supermarkets, if you can afford them. They cost $26 a dozen which is just over $2 each. Bluff oysters come from the clean, cold waters of Foveaux Strait in the far south of New Zealand. The boats go out

新西兰英语 583 Rena report

The ship, the Rena, hit a reef near the port of Tauranga on October 5th last year. As a result, containers fell into the sea and oil polluted the beaches, killing many sea birds. This week, a 20 page report gave the facts of what happened. The ship h

新西兰英语 584 International Women’s Day

Today is International Womens Day. In many countries it is a holiday but not in New Zealand. In fact, New Zealand women often choose to celebrate September 19th instead. That was the day in 1893 when women were given the right to vote for Members of

新西兰英语 604 Smokers help the economy

The cost of cigarettes has increased by 40% since 2010. The cost will increase by $1 a year for the next four years to $20 a packet of 20 cigarettes. Will this make smokers quit smoking? Probably not, says a Treasury report, because smoking is addict

新西兰英语 603 Bodies will stay in coal mine

Families of the 29 miners who died in the Pike River coal mine heard the news this week that the bodies probably cannot be recovered. It is too dangerous for anyone to enter the mine. There is a risk of another explosion if the mine is opened. Solid

新西兰英语 602 Manukau Rail Station

The Auckland mayor, Len Brown, opened the new Manukau rail station today. It is the first new railway line to be built in 82 years. It will link Manukau city centre with the southern rail line at Middlemore and continue to Auckland city. The trip int

新西兰英语 601 Bridgecorp directors guilty

Bridgecorp was a finance company started in 1993. It went bankrupt in 2007, owing $490m to 14,500 investors. Many investors lost all their savings. They may get back 10c for every dollar they invested. The company offered high interest rates and seem

新西兰英语 600 Warbirds over Wanaka

This Easter weekend vintage planes fly over Wanaka for three days. These are the warbirds. Some are old, some have been rebuilt and some are copies of old planes like the Fokker D-8 flown by the Germans in World War 1. It was called The Flying Razor

新西兰英语 599 SkyCity’s Plans

SkyCity is the casino in Auckland. It is situated in the Sky Tower in the centre of the city. Auckland wants a new convention centre and SkyCity has offered to build it, opposite SkyCity with an overhead walkway between the two buildings. It will sea

新西兰英语 598 Paid Parental Leave

Paid parental leave means money paid to a parent mother or father when a woman has a baby. At the moment, the tax payer pays a woman to stay at home for 14 weeks to look after her baby. The father can receive the money instead of the mother if he cho

新西兰英语 608 Demolition Rubble

Each day, millions of tonnes of rubble go by truck to Bottle Lake Forest in Christchurch. Demolition companies are working seven days a week to demolish buildings in the CBD after the earthquakes caused so much damage. Cranes, bulldozers, excavators,

新西兰英语 605 Workers caring for elderly people

Workers who care for elderly people in rest homes are poorly paid. A report by the Human Rights Commission to the Prime Minister recommended better pay. Many are paid the minimum wage of $13.50 an hour while carers in public hospital get $3 to $5 an

新西兰英语 606 No Dam for Mokihinui River

This years Budget is a zero Budget. The Minister of Finance, Bill English, said there is no more money. To find money for new programmes, it has to come from present programmes. For example, to find money for more teacher training, it has to come fro

新西兰英语 607 Manawatu Gorge Rd Open Day

The Manawatu Gorge Rd follows the Manawatu River along a deep valley. On one side of the river is the railway line and on the other side is the road. This road is a main highway for people travelling from Highway 2 to Palmerston North. However, in Au

新西兰英语 609 Changes for teachers

The Minister of Education, Hekia Parata, today announced changes which will affect teachers. She said that class sizes for Years 2 to 10 will average 27 students. This means that some classes will be slightly bigger while others will be slightly smal

新西兰英语 610 Families with Disabled Children

Today families with disabled children won an Appeal Court decision to be paid for looking after their children. Many of these children are now adults and caring for them is hard work. Many disabled adults are in special homes with workers to look aft

新西兰英语 611 Queensland Fruit Fly in New Zealand

One male Queensland Fruit Fly was found in a trap in Mt Roskill, Auckland this week. Biosecurity New Zealand is worried that there could be more of these insects. In the meantime, people who live in that area and nearby Avondale cannot take fruit out

新西兰英语 612 Contraception for single mothers

Single mothers can receive free contraception if they want it. The new policy is that a single mother on a benefit has to look for part-time work when the child is five. However, if she has another child while she is on a benefit, she has to look for

新西兰英语 627 Agriculture Fieldays

Every year in June, Mystery Creek near Hamilton is the place to go for farmers and city people interested in the rural community. This year is the 44th year for the New Zealand National Agriculture Fieldays. The event opened today and continues until

新西兰英语 626 Official Cash Rate

First listen to September 15th 2011 to hear about the Official Cash Rate. Dr Bollard again kept the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 2.5%. It has been the same since 10th March 2011. He also said that economic growth until the end of March next year will