When Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau heard Wellington’s mosques were seeking permission to broadcast the Call to Prayer, her response was offensive and irreligious. Whanau was on air at the time talking to The Platform’s Sean Plunkett. “The Platform has received quite a bit of feedback regarding the district plan vote Thursday on the broadcast of Read more
The new high pressure electric boiler operating at Mataura Valley Milk is another “great example of Southlanders showing initiative and leadership”, Joseph Mooney says. Last week, the Southland MP, Gore District Mayor Ben Bell and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority chief executive Marcos Pelenur were among the guests invited to an event to celebrate the Read more
An aspiring St Peter’s College film-maker considers himself privileged to have his film premiere at the SBS St James Theatre in Gore. Thirteen-year-old George McFadzien’s home-made movie Granvia Country Calendar Part Two will have its own screening at the theatre on Sunday. The film tells a story of twoboys, one who has just got out Read more
Food for Faith podcast producer Fr John O’Connor is about to tackle a new opportunity presented by disconnected or no-religion Catholics. He’s starting by taking a sabbatical and collecting food for his faith. After more than a decade of providing written and audio reflections for the popular Food for Faith podcast, the Christchurch priest (pictured) Read more
New Zealand’s Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Novatus Rugambwa, has returned to Rome. The archbishop left the country on Saturday and has arrived safely after a “smooth” journey, the NZ Catholic Bishops Conference says. Rugambwa (pictured) is recovering from a stroke he suffered in Wellington last October. He will continue his rehabilitation at a Catholic facility in Read more
Three major Catholic aid agencies are urging Australia, Canada and New Zealand’s leaders to take immediate diplomatic action over the “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip The agencies working in the area are warning that starvation and famine threaten hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians. Catastrophic conditions in Gaza In a joint statement, the Read more
Westpac Bank says New Zealand will need to ramp up its house building machine to about 125,000 homes over the next five years if it hopes to keep up with rampant migration and mitigate the post-pandemic slowdown. Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod said while some parts of the country were catching up with longer-term underbuilding Read more
The Government has set in place a new “cloud first” policy requiring all its agencies to store their information on the cloud. “Do not invest in on-premise ICT infrastructure unless information meets specific criteria,” chief executives are told. Ideally, it says, information classified as “restricted” should be hosted in a New Zealand-based data centre, where Read more
New Zealand Volunteer Services Abroad (VSA) workers are volunteering to support training opportunities for detainees as they reintegrate into society. The husband and wife team Rob Wait and Katy Buess are putting their Invercargill-based business on hold in April to return to Vanuatu and continue their VSA work. Skills for life From leading building and Read more
Catholic advertising on the back of Nelson’s new eBuses has left some residents feeling “uncomfortable”. Deputy mayor, Rohan O’Neill-Stevens, says a few people had contacted councillors about advertising which depicts a Divine Mercy image of Jesus. “Having religious advertising on buses is not something that everyone is comfortable with” he says. O’Neill-Stevens doesn’t think the Read more