Whiley throws hat back in the ring
Andrew Whiley wants to return to the Dunedin City Council. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERYHaving broken his ankle, former Dunedin city councillor Andrew Whiley had some time to think over what he wanted to do next. He was rattled by missing out on a Dunedin City Council seat in October’s election and broke his ankle the next month. Mr Whiley is the latest candidate to announce he is standing in the council’s by-election. Mr Whiley was a city councillor from 2013 until last year.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 18:12 UTC
Assaults rise at Wakari Hospital
It is understood many of those incidents were from Wakari Hospital. The ODT has asked for a more detailed breakdown specific to Wakari Hospital. Public Service Association chairwoman Fleur Fitzsimons said it was time for Wakari Hospital to start treating its staff fairly. "Every health worker at Wakari Hospital should be safe at work and not exposed to assaults, violence and the chronic stress of working in unsafe conditions." "We remain committed to maintaining and strengthening our specialist mental health and addiction workforce at Wakari Hospital."
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 18:12 UTC
Tramping, climbing fatalities prompt police warning
Police are urging people to be better prepared when heading outdoors after a horror summer of large-scale back-country search operations and numerous fatalities. ‘‘Thankfully, the pair had sufficient ability to maintain their safety on the mountain overnight despite it being very uncomfortable and cold,’’ he said. Due to the weather conditions, rescue efforts were stood down overnight and the pair were rescued yesterday at 11.30am. One was an Australian citizen and the other was a dual citizen of New Zealand and Canada living in Australia. In early January, police recovered the body of Dunedin resident Connor Purvis, 20, who had died while tramping solo in the Mt Huxley region.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 18:12 UTC
Tourist charged after classic car crash
Brighton man Ian Armstrong’s 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite is badly damaged after a two-vehicle crash that left him with a broken foot and suspected broken knee. He had a broken ankle and a suspected broken knee as a result of the crash. Chinese national Guannan Gu, 30, has been charged with dangerous driving causing injury and appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday. Mr Armstrong’s car, a 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite, had been his "passion project" for the six years he had owned it. Mr Armstrong had been heading to Dunedin from Moeraki, where he had lunch with other members of the Austin-Healey Otago and Southland Car Club.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 17:06 UTC
Call for reflection as satisfaction still low
Dunedin's mayor has called on councillors to reflect on their conduct, as community satisfaction in their performance remains weak. "I think that all councillors need to look in the mirror and think about how their behaviour affects residents’ satisfaction." Public sentiment hardened against the council before the election in October and had since recovered somewhat, quarterly results from the council’s residents’ opinion survey indicated. Levels of satisfaction regarding the performance of the mayor and councillors had bounced around in the low 30s and lately went from "completely abysmal to just terrible", he said. Satisfaction about value for money from council services and activities in the same periods moved from 33% to 24% to 27%.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 17:02 UTC
US Congress impasse over migrant crackdown set to trigger partial shutdown
The lawmakers are seeking greater accountability for ICE agents, including upholding reasonable use-of-force standards already on the books. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed similar concerns on Thursday, warning that ICE was “completely and totally out of control”. “Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not brutalise or kill them,” he said, stressing that violence was occurring “whenever these masked and untrained ICE agents show up on the scene”. But ICE would be able to maintain operations during a partial shutdown because of funds already approved by Congress last year. The shutdown would be the third of Trump’s second term, including a record 43-day government closure last October and November.
Source:New Zealand Herald
February 13, 2026 16:43 UTC
Malachi Subecz murder: Why top doctor Patrick Kelly fears child abuse deaths will continue
Speaking on a personal basis, Kelly said he did not believe there was any method that could completely eliminate the kind of violence Subecz had endured. She identified five critical gaps and made 14 recommendations, which the Minister for Child Poverty Reduction recently announced the Government would implement. “While developing a full package of mandatory training will take time, swift action has already been taken to fill known gaps. These included staff from Health NZ, New Zealand Police, Ministry of Social Development (MSD), Ministry of Education, Department of Corrections and Oranga Tamariki. “Mandatory training is our first step and we will then move to introduce mandatory reporting.”Kelly said organisations working with children already had mandatory reporting.
Source:New Zealand Herald
February 13, 2026 16:42 UTC
PM celebrates opening of sporting facility
PHOTO: GERRIT DOPPENBERGPrime Minister Christopher Luxon was the surprise guest at Gore’s Māruawai College yesterday as the school celebrated the opening of its new covered sports facility. Mr Luxon was in Gore for the last day of the Southern Field Days and showed up to the school early in the morning to check out the amenities. Mr Luxon introduced himself as "the person who banned mobile phones across 2500 schools across the country" with a wry smile. The covered canopy is a part of large-scale renovations for the school and Mr Luxon said it was a fantastic start for the high school. Mr Luxon said the government was committed to investing in school infrastructure and helping to standardise buildings across the board.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 16:01 UTC
Golf course sells
The nine-hole Lake Hawea golf course has sold after more than a year on the market. The course, which covers 20ha, recently sold for an unknown price to unidentified buyers, who are continuing to lease the course to Lake Hawea Golf Course manager and previous co-owner Tim Lambeth. Mr Lambeth, who bought the course in 2017 with Nicky Mead of nearby Dingleburn Station, said this week he was pleased to continue running the course under its new ownership. The land’s most recent rating valuation, as of 2024, was $2.53 million. The rural-zoned property was advertised as "a strategic landholding that will appeal to golf enthusiasts, investors, land bankers and syndicates alike".
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 16:01 UTC
Unriddling Churchillian flourishes
This appeared in the Otago Daily Times on February 15, 1926 — 13 years before Churchill’s famous enigma-and-riddle flourish. In a radio broadcast on October 1, 1939, Churchill delivered his classic: "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Churchill — brilliant writer, speaker and wit — may not have been as original as we like to think. In Star Trek: Voyager, the Doctor calls the Vulcan brain "a puzzle wrapped inside an enigma housed inside a cranium".
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 15:56 UTC
Heat gun sparked golf course blaze
The cause of a fire at the Frankton Golf Centre last year has been revealed. PHOTO: TRACEY ROXBURGHA still-hot heat gun left near a wicker basket caused a fire that badly damaged the Frankton Golf Centre, a Fire and Emergency NZ report says. The SMS (safety management system) report into the December 13 blaze, supplied to Allied Media this week under official information law, said the heat gun was found under a workbench in the building’s workshop in "close proximity to a wicker/cane basket". The report said residual heat could remain in the nozzle of a heat gun — commonly used for peeling paint — after it had been switched off. No-one was hurt in the fire, which forced the temporary closure of the golf centre’s driving range, clubhouse and pro shop.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 15:32 UTC
Runners entering hurt locker
‘‘She’ll be my moral support for sure.’’Rob Lewis, 29, who’s originally from the UK, will also be out for redemption after having ‘‘a terrible experience’’ during Tarawera’s 100km run last year. He’s also twice run 100km in the Arrowtown Backyard Ultra but never a 100-miler. She’s hoping for under 30 hours and has a local pacer, Dave Pearson, who’s done the run before. Rogers says she and these other runners train with the Arrowtown Ice Breakers Run Club who meet for long runs around Arrowtown every Sunday. Legend has it it got its name when on one freezing day runners had to smash ice to get off the hill.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 15:18 UTC
Tourist numbers back to pre-pandemic levels thanks to Aussie surge
Photo: Gregor RichardsonTourist arrivals topped 3.5 million for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by a surge in Australian visitors. Stats NZ numbers showed overseas visitor arrivals hit 3.51 million in the year ended December 2025, up 6 percent from the prior year. However, total annual visitor arrivals were 90 percent of 2019 levels, before the Covid pandemic began globally. More than 1.5 million tourist arrivals were from Australia in 2025, followed by 385,000 from the United States, and 262,000 from China. The country's two main international airports both reported additional seasonal flights for the peak summer period for tourism in New Zealand.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 11:12 UTC
Chch mass murderer has made 686 complaints while behind bars
Photo: RNZThe Christchurch terrorist made almost 700 complaints about life behind bars but his claims of torturous prison conditions are exaggerated, a court has heard. Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant made the 686 complaints from 16 March 2019 until September 2024, amounting to more than one complaint every three days. The terrorist initially pleaded not guilty in June 2019 to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of committing terrorism. Crown solicitor Andrea Ewing told the court only four of the terrorist's 686 complaints related to accessing a lawyer. The terrorist's lawyers reiterated the conditions their client was confined in were unlike anything else present in the prison system.
Source:Otago Daily Times
February 13, 2026 11:04 UTC