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Category Archives: New Zealand

Back In Action: The New Zealand SailGP Team Hits The Waters In Plymouth | Scoop News – Scoop

Posted: July 29, 2022 at 5:04 pm

Saturday, 30 July 2022, 5:30 amPress Release: SailGP

PLYMOUTH, UK | 29 July 2022 BST - TheNew Zealand SailGP Team is feeling fired up ahead of thisweekends Great Britain Sail Grand Prix after takingfirst, third and fourth in practice racingtoday.

Located in Englands beautiful South West,Plymouth will host the third event of the 2022 season overtwo days of racing on Saturday and Sunday, 30-31 July BST /(Sunday and Monday NZT). The event marks the first in theEuropean leg of the championship.

In this morningspre-event media conference, Driver Peter Burling said thecrew was feeling good about their chances.

Werelooking forward to doing our best this weekend - greatforecast, beautiful place to sail. We cant wait to getout there and put our best foot forward, hesaid.

Light and shifty winds saw the team lead thepack from start to finish to take the win in the firstpractice race of the day, while consistency was the name ofthe game in races two and three. With winds expected to pickup on Saturday and again on Sunday, fans should be in for anexciting show as nine, identical, foiling catamarans maketheir way to the startline on the stunning waters ofPlymouth Sound.

Todays practice racing also markeda big debut for the teams latest addition, three-timeOlympian and former world champion Jo Aleh, who joined thecrew earlier this week. Aleh, who won Olympic Gold in London(2012) and Silver in Rio (2016) brings a depth of experienceand Burling says hes impressed with how shes beddedinto the team so far.

Jo is without a doubt amongNew Zealands top sailing talent and she brings a hugeamount of skill and determination to the team, hesays.

The role of strategist makes a big differenceon board and were embracing that. Liv [Mackay] has donean amazing job in the first two events and its good tohave Jo here for this one.

And hopefully, a meetingwith an extra special visitor helps to tip the scales in theKiwis favour, as they take on the Duchess of Cambridge ina one-on-one Commonwealth Race against rivals Great Britainon Sunday (Monday NZT).

With Her Royal Highness onboard with Sir Ben Ainslie and his crew, the New ZealandSailGP Team will be helped out by their own guest racer,endurance swimmer and UN Patron of the Ocean, Lewis Pugh,who dropped in to meet the team today. (photosincluded).

Dubbed the Sir Edmund Hillary ofswimming, Pugh is the first person to complete along-distance swim in every ocean of the world and - likethe New Zealand SailGP Team - is known for using his sportand platform to drive attention to vulnerable ecosystems andthe need for a healthy ocean in particular.

Thisweekends racing will be live on Sky Sport at 1.00 - 3.30AM on Sunday 31 July and Monday 1 August and will beavailable live and on-demand on YouTube. Kiwis can catch upon all the action with full replays both daysat:

07.30 AM on Sky Sport Select and 12.30PM on SkySport 3 on Sunday 31 July, and

07.30 AM on Sky Sportselect and 6.00PM on Sky Sport 3 and 7.30PM and Sky Sport2.

Scoop Media

Become a member Find out more

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New Zealand must follow through on promise to halve emissions, look at whether it could be strengthened – COP26 president Alok Sharma – Newshub

Posted: at 5:04 pm

You've just been in the Pacific, what are they telling you about their fears about climate change?

"The Pacific Islands, a small island developing states are very much at the front line of climate change, and these are not countries that are responsible for the situation they find themselves in.

"I had an opportunity to visit a village in Fiji and I saw for myself in the terrible impact of rising sea levels on the village, not just flooding, but the impact on farming, the ingress into clean water, this is something that they live with every day.

"And, you know, we talk about limiting global warming to 1.5C, but frankly, for these countries, it isn't about thriving, it's about surviving. And so the very clear message to me from the folks that I spoke to was that firstly, they need financial support to adapt to the changing climate, and obviously at COP 26 we got a commitment from developed nations to double the amount of adaptation finance by 2025.

"Secondly, they want to ensure that the money is actually getting on the ground to project - so Fiji and the UK are co chairing a group where we're looking at access to finance.

"And the third is we need to ensure that the biggest emitters, the G20 which are responsible for 80 percent of global emissions, absolutely have to step up to the plate and start to ensure that they are curbing their emissions.

"These people are on the frontline of climate change - they have moral authority to ask the rest of us to take action."

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New Zealand must follow through on promise to halve emissions, look at whether it could be strengthened - COP26 president Alok Sharma - Newshub

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The changing face of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography – Stuff

Posted: at 5:04 pm

In a small library in the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's capital headquarters, senior historian and writer Tim Shoebridge proudly sits by a stack of well-maintained books.

These are the early physical copies of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, containing life stories of more than 3000 dead New Zealanders who shaped the countrys culture and history.

Originally produced as five print volumes between 1990 and 2000, the dictionary moved online in 2001, catapulting it from its specialist audience readership to the public sphere.

Since 2017 Shoebridge and a small team of researchers have been working to release new entries in small batches, beginning with Polynesian navigator Tupaia. Since then people the team have worked on include architect Ian Athfield, activist Tuiawa (Eva) Rickard, broadcaster Selwyn Toogood, sex worker and transgender personality Carmen Rupe, diver and aquarium entrepreneur Kelly Tarlton and photographer Marti Friedlander.

READ MORE:* Timaru inventor added to Dictionary of New Zealand Biography* Obituary: Angela Ballara, historian with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge* Schooling yourself up on the right te reo dictionary* Early Mori dictionary provides explanations of value* How it is decided who is Wikipedia-worthy

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

Tim Shoebridge is a senior historian at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage who helps run the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.

"It's both exciting and daunting," Shoebridge says.

Shoebridge was at high school in the 1990s when he first became interested in the printed dictionaries. The self-described history nerd regularly used copies in his schools library while writing essays, and he asked his parents to buy him volume one as a fifth form graduation present. They fascinated me, he says.

He eventually discovered that volume one contained entries on three of his own ancestors, Thomas Buddle, and Charles and Sarah Barraud.

Now out of print, the digital space has afforded richer entries and can be freely accessed by anyone with an internet connection. Whats more the biographies are accompanied by photos, videos and audio. It also means they can be updated easily and can run longer.

In 2010 the dictionary was merged with Te Ara, the online encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Collectively, they constitute the most extensive reference work covering all aspects of Kiwi life and society, and contain the largest body of te reo Mori content available anywhere. (The five English-language print volumes produced between 1990 and 2000 were accompanied by volumes featuring the 500 entries relating to Mori subjects in te reo Mori).

Monique Ford/Stuff

The first five volumes of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography were printed between 1990 and 2000.

While Shoebridge alone leads the work on the dictionary these days, he says entries are the product of years of work by hundreds of people. Those of us fortunate to be working on them today are keenly aware of our responsibility for maintaining the high standards of those who began them.

Entries are written by commissioned subject experts, specialists or professional writers before being fact-checked and edited by a team of ministry researchers.

The team tries to commission entries which illuminate different aspects of society and how it functions, rather than producing a listicle of saints and heroes.

Mostly, this means movers and shakers from a wide variety of fields. But other entries of less well known people are commissioned if its thought their lives can tell readers something interesting about their times. They dont have to be people the public admires.

The lives of people like anti-Semite activist Arthur Field, brothel-keeper Flora McKenzie or race relations campaigner Hilda Phillips tell us just as much about their society as people we might find more admirable, Shoebridge says.

Others might be chosen to help provide a balance of individuals from across society.

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

The dictionary is online and freely accessible to the public.

Selections are made by a committee which meets annually, drawing on the advice of subject experts. Only dead people have entries, however the living can be nominated for future consideration.

The print volumes covered people who had risen to prominence before 1960 and died before the late 1990s, so Shoebridges main focus now is on the post-1960 period, however entries occasionally are published from earlier times.

Up to 20 entries are released each year sometimes grouped by a particular theme, sometimes just an interesting mix of people.

Its most obvious competitor is internet biographical source Wikipedia, which features biographies of varying lengths on hundreds of New Zealanders both living and dead.

But unlike Wikipedia, which draws on anonymous volunteer contributors, the dictionary relies on specific subject experts whose work is rigorously checked. Entries are published with a named author to ensure accountability and accuracy, while Shoebridge oversees well-rounded and researched consideration of subjects lives, with an eye to the time in which the person lived.

Both models have their advantages and disadvantages, but I think therell always be a place for the more authoritative texts we produce, Shoebridge says.

MONIQUE FORD/Stuff

Shoebridge asked his parents to buy him volume one of the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography as a fifth form graduation present.

Over the coming months, two more groups of entries will be released. The first relates to Kiwis and the natural environment and features Don Merton who helped save the black robin and kkp from extinction, kiwifruit industry pioneer Roly Earp, mountaineer and ecologist Mavis Davidson, forestry administrator Lindsay Poole, botanist Joan Dingley and illegal fish breeder and polluter Stewart Smith.

After that two rounds of storytellers are being released people who made significant contributions to national dialogues and debates. These include Footrot Flats creator Murray Ball, novelist and broadcasting administrator Ian Cross, Otago poet Ruth Dallas, broadcaster Paul Holmes, academic and commentator Ranginui Walker, and Womens Weekly editor Jean Wishart.

The Holmes entry was particularly interesting to work on with the TVNZ-RNZ merger on the horizon, Shoebridge said.

Its only been 25 years or so, but a lot has changed since Holmes heyday, when most people were still tuning in to the nightly news on television, and broadcasters like Holmes were really influential. Its easy to forget how central he was to public debates of that time. Were no longer all watching the same thing and people get their news from all over the place.

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The most expensive place in New Zealand to rent a home – Stuff

Posted: at 5:04 pm

The Bay of Plenty may have one of the best beaches in the world and Te Puke may rival Hawaii as a holiday destination thanks to Christopher Luxon, but it is now the most expensive place in New Zealand to rent a home, with rents soaring up to $1500 a week.

Demand for houses is also skyrocketing. A two-bedroom house on Oropi Road, Tauranga, with a weekly rent of $400 received 169 watchlists in its first seven days on Trade Me, said Gavin Lloyd, Trade Me Property Sales Director.

READ MORE:* House attracts almost 100 enquiries in 48 hours as desperate renters compete* The best city suburbs to be a renter* Rents swell to record levels, landlords asking up to $2k per week

Trade Me/Stuff

A four-bedroom house in Te Puna, Bay of Plenty is currently listed on Trade Me at $1500 a week

A four-bedroom home in Te Puna listed at $1500 a week is currently the highest priced rental on the Trade Me site. There are also four-bedroom houses in tmoetai and Ppmoa for $1200 per week each.

Last month, the Bay of Plentys median weekly rent surpassed both Auckland and Wellington for the first time, making it the most expensive region for renters in the country according to Trade Mes latest rental price index.

In June, the median weekly rent in the Bay of Plenty region reached a new high of $610, marking an 11 per cent year-on-year increase. When compared with the month prior, this marks a 2 per cent increase.

Stuff/Stuff

Median weekly rents January-June 2022 in Wellington, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, nationwide (* - new record)

Lloyd said a shortage of property to rent is driving up prices in the area.

The rent growth in the Bay of Plenty comes down to June supply dropping by 5 percent in the region when compared with the same month last year, leaving renters with less options and pushing prices up. By comparison, the Wellington region saw supply increase by 51 per cent year-on-year in June, while Auckland saw a 15 percent jump, he said.

The most expensive district in the Bay of Plenty region in June was Tauranga, where the median weekly rent increased 11 per cent year-on-year to $640. In the Rotorua district, the median weekly rent was $550 in June, jumping 12 per cent year-on-year.

Trade Me/Stuff

A four-bedroom house in tmoetai, Tauranga is listed on Trade Me at $1200 a week

People desperately seeking rentals question how anyone can afford these prices.

Marnie, who did not want her last name used for privacy reasons, believes the government needs to intervene. She is hunting for a one or two bedroom property for her and her partner and has been shocked at the rise in prices in less than a year

The government needs to do something. Landlords are getting too greedy, hiking the prices up. We are lucky that we have jobs but most of peoples wages are going on rent. Add this to the rise in gas and food and everything else - you can understand why we are seeing more and more people - even families - just living in their cars.

She said she could not understand why rents in the region are the highest in the country.

There is a hype about the area with the Mount, but the prices are high all over - I saw a property in Pongakawa way out of Tauranga for $1100 a week. The beaches are great, but there are other beautiful areas of New Zealand that are not so expensive to live.

Marnie said there was so much competition over properties.

I went to a viewing of a simple two bed property in Ppmoa where the kitchen was so small the fridge was in the lounge, and one bedroom you would struggle to even squeeze a bed in there. That was $550 and every man and his dog was there looking at it.

Evans Property Management owner Janine Evans said people were teaming up with others to afford higher rents.

We are seeing more couples sharing accommodation now to help offset the increased expense. The dynamic is changing in the higher end properties as rents continue to grow.

An influx in people moving to the region both from overseas and other parts of the country was contributing to a rise in prices, she said.

We ask our tenants why they have chosen to move to the Bay of Plenty. The answer is either to come back to be with family, to experience our lovely climate and beaches, the people, and the central location the BOP has to offer. This influx causes a surge in rental demand which in turn, is pushing up prices.

supplied/Stuff

Janine Evans of Evans Property Management

Prices were also on the rise due to lack of supply she said.

Rents are now higher than ever in the BOP region. As demand continues to grow, this inevitability causes a decreased stock supply available. Add to that our current shortage of land supply, what we are seeing is this snowball effect of rent increases.

Until we have either more land and/or the resource consents available to build up (apartments/townhouses etc) in high density areas, the influx of people will continue to push prices up.

Evans said some landlords have been left with no option to increase rents due to changes in tax depreciation laws and high interest rates, which could even cause landlords to sell property meaning there was even less supply.

Evans urged people seeking rentals not to give up hope.

Keep putting your best food forward. Even though you may have missed out this time, we confirm with them there in nothing wrong with your application, it purely is a numbers game.

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New Zealand on track for worst year ever for climate-related insurance claims – Newshub

Posted: at 5:04 pm

"Any location exposed to a one-in-one-hundred-year flood is likely to lose insurance in the next 30 years," Climate Stigma's Belinda Storey told Newshub.

Storey said that's potentially tens of thousands of homeowners across the country.

"At least 10,000 houses, possibly as many as 40,000 houses are likely to lose insurance in the next 10-30 years."

Storey also added: "Some of those time frames are going to be sooner."

Research shows Christchurch and Wellington will be the cities first hit because of the tidal ranges but they will closely be followed by Dunedin and Auckland.

Christchurch City Council's Helen Beaumont said insurance is already challenging for some people.

"Insurance is already a challenge for those people in those flood-prone areas right across the country and a number of people already have very high excesses."

Climate research this year found New Zealand's sea level rise will be 30cm in some areas as close as ten years.

Despite all this building continues in hazardous areas.

The Government's National Adaption Plan is due to be released next month. The Insurance Council expects big things.

"Don't continue to issue consents to build in dumb places, that just adds to the problem," Grafton told Newshub.

Storey said people need to be discussing with each other what to do as these hazards continue.

"We need to be having difficult conversations about whether can we actually remain in harm's way given how fast these hazards are changing."

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Whnau Mrama: New Zealand International Film Festival: Six of the wildest rides – Stuff

Posted: at 5:04 pm

While known as a celebration of global cinema, the annual New Zealand International Film Festival also offers Kiwi movie-lovers the rare chance to see a few more offbeat titles.

Theres even a special section of the programme Incredibly Strange curated by Ant Timpson, devoted to some of the more out-there genre titles and slices of challenging cinema.

Stuff to Watch has had the opportunity to check out a number of titles ahead of their forthcoming festival screenings in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin and has come up with this selection of six cinematic stories that just have to be seen to be believed.

Supplied

Dual and My Old School are just two of the wilder movies screening in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin as part of the 2022 edition of Whnau Mrama: New Zealand International Film Festival.

READ MORE:* Whnau Mrama: New Zealand International Film Festival: Graeme Tuckett's top picks* Whnau Mrama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2022: Eight must see movies* Whnau Mrama: New Zealand International Film Festival: Eight great Kiwi films to check out* The filmmaker who helped tell the harrowing story of rapper Scribe's father

Supplied

Aaron Paul stars opposite two Karen Gillans in Dual.

Kiwi actor Beulah Koale, joins Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul and Theo James for this blackly-comedic sci-fi tale set in a world where cloning has become a part of everyday life.

Believing that she is going to die from a terminal disease, Sarah (Gillan) undertakes the procedure so that her boyfriend and mother wont be lonely. Unfortunately, it turns out there was a mistake and she finds herself in a fight to be the one to stay alive.

A bleak version of Apples Mahershala Ali-starrer Swan Song, it also has echoes of Michael Keatons Multiplicity in its twisted, table-turning narrative.

Supplied

The Humans features plenty of familiar faces.

While it doesnt always transcend its stage origins, Stephen Karams adaptation of his Tony-Award winning 2015 play offers plenty of dramatic meat and a magnificently assembled ensemble. Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein, Richard Jenkins, Jayne Hudyshell and June Squibb play members of the same family gathered together at Feldstein and partner Steven Yeuns less-than-salubrious inner-city New York apartment.

The setting itself is as much a character and talking point as the regrets and recriminations discussed over the course of an increasingly fraught evening.

Supplied

Drawing on unpublished diaries and interviews with family and lovers of the celebrated author, Loving Highsmith paints a portrait of a frustrated artist.

She might be most famous for her psychological thrillers, especially ones like Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr Ripley that became high-profile Hollywood movies, but there was another side to American author Patricia Highsmith, as Eva Vitjas enlightening and eye-opening documentary reveals.

Drawing on unpublished diaries and interviews with family and lovers, this paints a portrait of a frustrated artist. It was only five years before her death in 1995 that she was finally able to publish 1952 novel Carol (originally called The Price of Salt and authored by Claire Morgan) under her name. Thats because it was a rare literary lesbian tale with a happy ending one inspired by her own experiences.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

Alan Cumming has a significant role to play in My Old School.

Although ultimately the twist of this docu-drama isnt a massive surprise, Jono McLeods debut is still an astonishing look an extraordinary tale from his own childhood.

In 1993, Brandon Lee enrolled at Bearsden Academy, a secondary school in a well-to-do suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. He instantly rose to the top of the class, aced exams and took the lead in the school musical. However, while he gained plenty of admirers amongst his teachers and fellow students, he was nursing a jaw-dropping secret.

Alan Cumming, who was originally set to play Lee in a planned biopic more than 20 years ago, does a remarkable job of providing the face for the reclusive Lees voice.

Supplied

Charlotte Gainsborough headlines The Passengers of the Night.

A kind of a cross between Canadian coming-of-age drama C.R.A.Z.Y. and Cedric Klapischs The Spanish Apartment, this 1980s-spanning familial tale looks the big and little moments in the life of Elisabeth Davies (Charlotte Gainsborough) and her family.

When we first meet her, shes struggling to come to turns with being abandoned by her husband, only finding solace and purpose in working as a producer for Vanda Duvals (Emmanuelle Beart) cult talkback radio show. Its there that she also meets the free-spirited Talulah (Noee Abita), a young woman who adds a whole new dynamic to her, sometimes, fragile little family.

Supplied

Park Ji-min plays Freddie in Return to Seoul.

Reminiscent of the films of the intimate Japanese dramas of Hirokazu Kore-edu and Yasujir Ozu, French-Cambodian writer-director Davy Chous South Korean-set tale is a fascinating and heartrending story of identity.

Without telling her adoptive French parents, 20-something Freddie (Park Ji-min) has made a special trip to Seoul to try and find out more about the mother and father who gave her up. As Freddie struggles to adapt to the more constrained aspects of her new surroundings, she begins to meditate on where she now most feels at home.

Now underway in Auckland (until August 7), this years edition of Whnau Mrama: New Zealand International Film Festival will also visit Wellington (August 4-14), Christchurch (August 5-14), Dunedin (August 11-21), New Plymouth (August 11-21), Masterton (August 17-31), Matakana (August 18-28), Hamilton (August 18-31), Tauranga (August 18-28), Hawkes Bay (August 18-28), Palmerston North (August 18-28), Nelson (August 18-28), Timaru (August 18-28) and Gore (August 18-25).

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Scotland vs New Zealand, 2nd T20I, New Zealand tour of Scotland, 2022 – Cricbuzz

Posted: at 5:04 pm

Scotland have been humbled again. They just were never in the game as New Zealand handed them a shellacking. They are happy visitors indeed. Over to the ODI now on Sunday. We will exit the show and see you soon!

Mitch Santner: To get that many runs was special. Credit to guys for being agrressive from ball one. Different guys have stepped up at different times. We have had guys coming in and going for it from ball one. Chapman is a quality player. Rippon did a pretty goof job today.

Richie Berrington: Disappointing today. We knew it was a good batting surface. At this level, you can't miss oppurtunities. Credit to New Zealand. Few things we know we can work on. We didn't put Ne Zealand under pressure. We will take a stock of where we are. At times we did get it right. At this level, there is not much room for making errors. We need to reflect on these two games.

Mark Chapman: Just happy to be out there and be contributing. We pride ourselves on running hard and hitting gaps. We talked about the mindset of taking the game on.

17:47 Local Time, 16:47 GMT, 22:17 IST: NZ win the second T20I and take the series 2-0. They were absolutely brilliant with the bat. And the bowlers just backed the batting effort with a clinical show with the ball. Chapman and Bracewell were the stars with the bat. They were astounding with their shots and Scotland didn't have much answers. Scotland put up a few cameos but none really paid off.

Ben Sears to Hamza Tahir, 1 run, back of a length delivery, Hamza Tahir slaps the pull down to long-on. That is it. NZ wrap this up and win by a huge margin of 102 runs

Ben Sears to Gavin Main, 1 run, outer-halves the back of a length delivery and the ball lands short of the man at deep cover for a single

Ben Sears to Gavin Main, no run, slaps it down to mid-off and the man at mid-off dives to stop it

Ben Sears to Hamza Tahir, 1 run, fuller length delivery, heaved down wide of long-on for a single

Ben Sears to Hamza Tahir, no run, short one, outside off, Hamza Tahir looks to cut and misses

Ben Sears to Hamza Tahir, no run, push drives the ball away to mid-off

Ben Sears [3.0-0-22-1] is back into the attack

Jacob Duffy to Gavin Main, no run, and gets that down into the off-side

Jacob Duffy to Gavin Main, no run, mistimes it away to find the man at mid-off

Jacob Duffy to Gavin Main, no run, well delivered slower ball and he misses

Jacob Duffy to Gavin Main, no run, slower short ball, Gavin Main looks to reverse scoop and gets cramped

Jacob Duffy to Hamza Tahir, 1 run, punches off the back foot to deep cover for a single

Jacob Duffy to Gavin Main, 1 run, back of a length delivery, slaps it down to long-on for a single

Jacob Duffy [2.0-0-22-0] is back into the attack

Rippon to Hamza Tahir, no run, defends it off the front foot into the deck

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New Zealand to Keep Hiking at Pace After Third Half-Point Move – Bloomberg

Posted: July 13, 2022 at 9:24 am

  1. New Zealand to Keep Hiking at Pace After Third Half-Point Move  Bloomberg
  2. New Zealand central bank hikes benchmark rate to 2.5 percent  Al Jazeera English
  3. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raises cash rate by 50 basis points  CNBC
  4. New Zealand's central bank lifts benchmark cash rate to 2.5%  CTPost
  5. The Reserve Bank can look across to New Zealand for a hint on Australia's economic future  ABC News
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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No fear: the New Zealand virtual reality app helping conquer phobias – The Guardian

Posted: at 9:24 am

In the days leading up to an injection, Julie Raines mind would fog over with fear she was convinced the needle would harm her.

On the day of the injection, after a sleepless night, she would try to calm herself with sugary drinks, music, and soothing words. As the needle went in, she would turn away panic-stricken; and when it was over she would crumple in tears and take a full day to recover. Most of the time, she would skip her appointment altogether.

The New Zealander has battled with trypanophobia a phobia of needles for as long as she can remember.

It stopped Raine getting blood tests, prevented her from being vaccinated against Covid-19 and caused her to flee the room where her teenage daughter was about to have a procedure.

Had someone told her that she would be able to get a Covid-19 vaccine without fear and without support, she would have never believed them. But confronting her phobia using virtual reality has transformed her life.

A six-week clinical trial of a phone-based app called oVRcome, which is designed to treat phobias using a combination of mindfulness modules and virtual reality exposure therapy, has been successful, researchers at the University of Otago report in a paper published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry.

Tech entrepreneur Adam Hutchinson came up with the app idea in 2020 after discovering there was a treatment gap for anxiety disorders and other mental health problems just 15-25% of disorders are treated globally in low-middle income countries, while up to 50-65% are treated in high income countries, according to the World Health Organization.

Meanwhile, New Zealands mental health system is in crisis due to understaffing and a lack of resources, and its youth suicide rates are the highest in the developed world.

There is a two to three times higher chance of someone developing a more serious condition like depression, alcoholism or even suicide as a result of leaving an anxiety disorder untreated, Hutchinson said.

If we can provide an effective, low-cost solution that people can use in the privacy of their own home earlier on in the evolution of their mental health treatment, we can potentially reduce the chance of more serious conditions popping up.

Hutchinson consulted clinical psychologists, put together a prototype and began testing between May and October 2021. The app relies on the behavioural treatment exposure therapy a treatment that safely exposes a patient to a situation that would usually cause them anxiety, or that they would try to avoid.

There were 109 participants in the six-week trial, which treated five common phobias the fear of needles, spiders, flying, heights and dogs.

A core part of the trial required participants to use a virtual reality headset to come face-to-face with their worst fears. The videos which are filmed in the real world start off lightly and gradually develop into more anxiety-inducing situations.

The participants must record their levels of anxiety before, during and after watching the videos, and can only move on to the next level once their anxiety falls below a certain threshold.

For Raine, it meant first entering a virtual medical room and watching a nurse prepare an injection not administering one but merely unwrapping a needle from the plastic, or setting up a metal tray with supplies.

It took me 15 tries to get through this video she said.

And then something quite remarkable happened my whole mindset changed and I couldnt wait to watch the VR. Raine had realised she had never actually watched the whole procedure and in doing so, she was able to think of an injection in a new way.

When I think about needles now, my mind instantly goes to: this is helpful and the nurses are here to help me.

Raine decided to participate in the trial because she wanted to take her children to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

I wanted to be a good mum, to be able to at least sit with them in the room without running out, she said, adding that since the trial she has not only been able to sit with her children during their vaccinations, but receive the jab herself.

Dr Cameron Lacey an associate psychology professor at the University of Otago and lead investigator on the trial said the app was hugely successful.

There was a very clear, positive signal that the use of the oVRrcome app significantly reduced [a persons] level of specific phobia symptoms, Lacey said.

That was indicated in the way people reported the severity of their phobia both immediately after the program concluded, and again another six weeks later. At the beginning of the trial participants averaged 26 out of 40 on the scale, indicating a moderate to severe phobia. After the program, that number reduced to seven and stayed there.

After the trials success, the app, which is now commercially available, has included new phobias and will expand into a new program for social anxiety disorders, panic disorders, addiction and depression. People in New Zealand can register their interest in participating in the new trials.

Part of the programs success is that it is accessible, Lacey said.

With virtual reality, you can be in your own home, be transported to an environment which has those feared stimuli be it heights or spiders in a predictable way, at your convenience.

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No fear: the New Zealand virtual reality app helping conquer phobias - The Guardian

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New Zealand reports second monkeypox case, unrelated to first – The Guardian

Posted: at 9:24 am

New Zealand has reported its second monkeypox case in a matter of days, but health authorities say the second has no link to the first.

The latest infection comes shortly after New Zealands first case, which was reported over the weekend, but the ministry of health said there was no evidence so far of community transmission.

Worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) had reported 6,027 cases as of 7 July, with infections up 77% since the previous report on 27 June.

Monkeypox is already spreading in Australia, with 11 cases reported in New South Wales, but the largest outbreaks are in Europe, which accounts for 80-90% of current cases. According to the UK Health Security Agency, there had been 1,552 confirmed cases of monkeypox as of 7 July a figure that suggests case numbers are doubling every 15 days.

The WHO is due to meet by 18 July to consider whether monkeypox constitutes a global public health emergency. That designation the highest level of global alert applies only to Covid-19 and polio at present.

According to WHO guidelines, monkeypox symptoms are often mild, and usually last from two to four weeks. Severe cases can occur, however, and estimates of case fatality ratio range from less than 1% to 6%. The WHO has reported three deaths since the start of the year.

A spokesperson for the ministry of health said the first case, a person in their 30s, lives in Auckland and had recently returned from overseas travel in a country with reported cases of monkeypox. The second case, also with a record of overseas travel, is isolating in the northern region.

We have already taken steps to prepare for the arrival of monkeypox. Last month monkeypox was officially listed as a notifiable disease, enabling us to utilise the tools needed to contain any possible spread of the disease including isolation orders and readying contact tracing capabilities, the spokesperson said.

While anyone can catch the virus through close contact, the outbreak in Europe so far has been clustered around men who have sex with men. According to the latest WHO update, more than 99% of the cases for which gender information was available were among men.

International cases have been clustered around events where this occurs, the ministry spokesperson said. As such we are asking anyone whos been overseas and attended events connected with the spread of monkeypox to be aware of any symptoms and seek advice.

Smallpox vaccines offer protection against monkeypox, and in the US and UK governments are making plans to distribute vaccine doses to try to stem the spread and protect those most at risk.

In New Zealand, the health ministry said it would explore options for access to smallpox vaccines that can be used as part of the targeted prevention of spread of monkeypox in certain situations.

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New Zealand reports second monkeypox case, unrelated to first - The Guardian

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