Podcasts about whang

The Whangārei principal joins Emile Donovan to share his story.

EDITORIAL: When I first heard this story, I thought this is not right, this is not fair, and I didn't think it fitted with what the coalition government stood for. What am I talking about? Of course, I'm talking about the $60 million hand out. I have to say, if you'd asked me whether I'd ever see a centre-right government stepping in to financially support a publicly listed company, I would have said with a smile, "No chance." Not because governments shouldn't support business, but because I always believed governments like this preferred to let the market decide who succeeds and who fails. Yet here we go. The Government is preparing to provide financial support to Fletcher Building, one of New Zealand's biggest companies, through a deal designed to keep local cement production alive at Golden Bay Cement in Whangārei. Fletcher Building isn't some small family-owned business that's fallen on hard times. It's one of New Zealand's biggest publicly listed companies, listed on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges, with thousands of shareholders and operations across the country and Australia. Now, before anyone says this is about jobs, I completely understand that argument. Hundreds of people work there directly and indirectly, and New Zealand does need a reliable supply of cement. It's a critical product. I get all that. We need it to build houses, schools, hospitals, roads and major infrastructure. You don't want to wake up one day and realise we're completely dependent on imported cement if global supply chains are disrupted. Chris Bishop said Golden Bay is an exceptional case and of national interest. But here's the question I can't get past. When did governments start picking winners? Because that's exactly what this feels like to me. This coalition government talks constantly about reducing government intervention, letting markets work, encouraging competition and creating a level playing field. Those are all principles I generally support. If you're prepared to step in and financially back one of the country's biggest listed companies, where does it stop? What about every other manufacturer battling high energy prices? What about forestry? Steel? Food processing? Hospitality? Retail? Plenty of businesses have faced enormous cost pressures over the past few years without anyone offering them a government lifeline. Why is this one different? If this is genuinely about New Zealand's strategic resilience and making sure we continue producing cement here, then tell us that. Be upfront about it. Make the case that this is about national infrastructure and supply security. But don't pretend this isn't government intervention. Because it damn well is. 60 million, cash hand out. It's not having to be paid pack. Governments have every right to protect strategically important industries if they believe it's in the national interest. But once taxpayers' money starts flowing towards large, publicly listed companies, the public deserves a very clear explanation of why this company qualifies, what safeguards are in place, what taxpayers get in return, and where the line is drawn. This isn't just about cement. It's about the role of government in the economy. More importantly to me it's about fairness. And it's about whether this Government is practising the free-market philosophy it campaigned on, it sung from the rafters—or whether, when push comes to shove, it's prepared to back the biggest players while everyone else is left to fend for themselves. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour has announced their SolarSaver policy looking to make access to solar panels easier and more affordable. National has claimed Labour is copying them, but we wonder if this new policy by Labour is "GST off fruit and veggies Mark 2" leading to a pretty insignificant improvement in the weekly finances of those hit the hardest with the cost-of-living crisis.Christopher Luxon fronted up to a rare public meeting in Whangārei last night, where about 300 locals showed up to hear what he had to say. The National leader acknowledged it has been a tough few years, but pointed out areas where he felt his party had succeeded.Marama Davidson educates David Seymour and Ryan Bridge when the two of them were very flippant about the Greens Drink, Swim, Fish policy in a clam and precises manner which demonstrated exactly why right-wing talking points fall over after the slightest scrutiny++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck out our merch https://bhn.nz/shop/Donate to our work https://bhn.nz/shop/donation/

You'd be hard pressed to find anyone in Northland who doesn't want a better road linking Whangārei to Auckland - but at what cost? Apart from the hefty price tag, a new highway also comes with environmental and human costs, as reporter Peter de Graaf finds out.

Yesterday, I was talking about the amount of aid we're sending to places like Vietnam and Indonesia. Places I would venture to suggest that are showing more go ahead, more investment in infrastructure than we are. When you're looking at Vietnam, they're building one of the largest stadiums in the world, they've got fast rail underway, they're building a huge city to house much of its population – they're spending billions. It's also a place where New Zealanders travel to get first class healthcare that we can't access here. Now we've asked Winston Peters why we're sending money to Vietnam and Indonesia. He, or his people, referred us to MFAT. MFAT says they need time to tell us why Vietnam is in need of New Zealand money – we're waiting to hear back from them. They have been asked this before. Why are we sending money to places that don't really need it? It's the equivalent of donating to a Givealittle page for your neighbour to find out that they're building a swimming pool, but you can't afford to. I was asking this question yesterday, this morning there are two stories about the parlous state of two of New Zealand's hospitals. Could be any of the hospitals, but in this case it's Middlemore, the ageing maternity block, and Hutt Hospital. And staff are complaining about the multiple leaks and electrical faults and mould and water on the window as a result of the heavy rain – the buildings can't cope with it. And they accept that every now and then, at times of heavy rain, there will be the odd leak, but they say throughout winter this is what they and the patients have to put up with. Both of the hospital directors at Middlemore and Hutt Hospital say patient health was not compromised, services continued as usual, they're just leaks people, nothing to see here. But staff say they're fed up with working under sodden and collapsing roof panels, damp conditions and electrical issues. It might just be a leak on that one particular day and as a patient at the hospital you're only there for three days – the nurses, the doctors, the staff are working there all day every day and throughout winter they say it's miserable. There's a programme of works for our hospitals around the country, a 10 year plan, but the need is so great it's hard to know where to start. The average age of our public health estate —1,274 buildings across 86 campuses— is around 47 years. That's the average age, some will be much, much older, and the new ones, the brand new spanking new facilities, will drag that average up. The population is growing and ageing and demand for mental health services is growing. The pressure on government budgets and on the health staff trying to deliver services in decrepit infrastructure is immense. There is a 10 year programme of works, but Middlemore maternity hospital and Hutt Hospital don't feature as far as I can see on the plan. You've got Whangārei Hospital – and it's all built into stage one, two, three, and four. Waitākere, and God knows, despite the fact that wasn't in the news, according to locals, that needs a revamp. You've got Middlemore, but they're looking at targeted ED upgrades, and then stage two will be planning a new site. Stage three will be a new site or Middlemore expansion. Nothing about the maternities. Waikato, Tauranga, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, God knows that needs a revamp. Palmerston North, Wellington and Nelson. So nothing there for Middlemore or Hutt Hospital, so I guess they'll have to keep going to the paper. And if the average age is around 47 years, the need will be great. I don't know how they prioritise which hospitals get it first. Then you look at the last financial year, 24/25 New Zealand spent $943.81 million in foreign aid across 624 activities. I get that we want to be good global citizens and I get that we are wealthy compared to other nations and I'm not saying stop all aid, but come on. When household budgets tighten, you have to give less. There isn't that much money to go around, otherwise you are depriving your own family. And this is the case here on a macro scale. How can we justify donations to Vietnam, which is just thriving, and Indonesia? How can $943.81 million in foreign aid be justified when we have leaky ageing hospitals, some schools need to be completely and utterly revamped, and some of the police stations are just appalling. A lot of the public buildings in which our public servants work are just not suitable and not fit for people to be there. How can we justify that level of aid when New Zealand citizens are travelling to the very country that we're giving aid to for their medical and dental care? Do foreign aid officials realise how weird that looks? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This winter, Ani O'Brien is taking the Good Faith Yarns Tour around the country: honest, good faith conversations with locals in towns and cities across New Zealand, on the topics we usually just shout about. She sits down with Dane Giraud to walk through the full lineup, stop by stop, and explain why she wanted conversations rather than combat. No debates, no point scoring. Just a willingness to disagree well, listen properly, and stay in the room afterwards for a drink and a yarn. Tickets are $10. All dates, venues and booking: https://www.fsu.nz/events TOUR DATES Queenstown, Tue 21 July: Mayor John Glover and Mike Casey (Rewiring Aotearoa) on growth, infrastructure and energy. Christchurch, Wed 22 July: Professor Te Maire Tau (Ngāi Tahu) on the Treaty and partnership after the Treaty Principles Bill. Dunedin, Thu 23 July: Sir Ian Taylor on technology, AI, ethics and identity. Whangārei, Mon 27 July: Far North councillor Davina Smolders on co-governance and local democracy. Hamilton, Tue 28 July: Duncan Garner on the press gallery and the state of the media. Auckland, Wed 29 July: Rob Campbell on public service neutrality and where the line sits. Tauranga, Thu 30 July: Dr Alistair Reese and Professor Paul Moon on faith, spirituality and the Treaty in history. Palmerston North, Tue 4 August: Liam Hehir on politics and media beyond the Wellington bubble. Wellington, Wed 5 August: Todd Stephenson and Simon O'Connor debate assisted dying. More stops to be announced. ABOUT FREE TO SPEAK Free to Speak is the official podcast of the New Zealand Free Speech Union, uncensored conversations on free speech, civil liberties, and the people defending them. Hosted by Dane Giraud. Join: https://www.fsu.nz/join Donate: https://www.fsu.nz/donate Newsletter: https://www.fsu.nz/subscribe More from the FSU: https://www.fsu.nz All campaigns and links: https://t.mtrbio.com/FreeSpeechUnion Feedback or a guest suggestion? podcast@fsu.nzSupport the showhttps://www.fsu.nz/https://x.com/NZFreeSpeechhttps://www.instagram.com/freespeechnz/https://www.tiktok.com/@freespeechunionnz

Introduction: What About Speaking in Tongues? It's Not That Important. (1 Corinthians 14:1-19) Tongues Are FRUITLESS. (1 Cor 14:1-5) Tongues Are USELESS. (1 Cor 14:6-12) Tongues Are MINDLESS. (1 Cor 14:13-19) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What About Speaking In Tongues? - Part 1 Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. When I was a very young Christian 30 years ago-ish, I had a very strong conviction. I had a very strong conviction that the death penalty was a horrible thing. Why?01:06Why in the world should the government determine if someone lives or dies? I thought the death penalty was an absolutely horrible thing. And then someone lovingly challenged me to see what the Bible says on the subject. Do you know what I found? The first man-to-man law that God gave was the death penalty. The death penalty is in the Mosaic law, and the death penalty is after the Mosaic law.01:36Law, Romans 13.01:39So my convictions about the death penalty radically changed.01:46And I'm saying all that to say, look, it's okay.01:52It's okay after a closer study of the Word of God to let the Bible change your mind.02:04And the subject we're looking at today is the gift of speaking in tongues. And there are some of you that maybe have a very strong conviction about it. And I'm sure there are a lot of you that maybe didn't think very much about the subject at all. But if you've been coming here for any period of time, you know that we want the Word of God to shape our beliefs and convictions. So by God's grace, let's go after His Word today to see what He has to say about it. So just please pray for me to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately, and I'll pray for you to have a heart open to see and receive what it is that the Bible actually says.03:04on the subject. All right? Let's take a moment and just go before the Lord together. Father, please open our hearts to what Your Word says. Not to what we experienced growing up or heard somebody say about Your Word, but let's take some time and really look and examine what it is that You actually said. Father, let us shape our convictions on that. We thank You, Father. We thank You for Your Word. And even when it's challenging for us living in a different culture and a different time, the truths of Your Word are eternal. And I pray that You would give us the wisdom by Your Spirit today.04:05to really grasp and embrace what it is that you've said here. Thank you ahead of time, Father. For what you're going to do today, we pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, Amen. Amen. We go through God's Word verse by verse. Because context is important in anything you read. Especially.04:34the Word of God. And we're looking at one of the hardest chapters in the whole Bible today. This passage is so misquoted. And it is so misunderstood. But we're going to get through this together. Right? So before we look at the text, I want you to jot some things down. This isn't like the outline, but you can write it on your outline. But these are, I just want to give you four truths to help us understand 1 Corinthians.05:0414. With context in mind.05:11As we approach this, there's four absolute truths here that we have to keep in mind as we go to the text.05:21And this is the foundation that sets the stage.05:26All right?05:26So four truths.05:28First of all, we need to remind ourselves of the truth of what is the purpose of the gift of speaking in time?05:35It was a miracle, first of all, to affirm the apostles, and it was a sign of judgment against Israel. We talked about that last week, and we're going to talk about it again next week. But remember, tongues were real languages, not made-up gibberish words. They were actual real languages. And this is the way the gift operated in the early church.06:04The preacher gets up to preach and there are some unsaved Russians present. Well, the preacher never learned Russian, but he miraculously started speaking Russian. Well, the Russians were amazed. But then somebody else in the church had the gift of interpretation so they could translate what the preacher said for the non-Russian speakers in the church. That's the way the gift worked.06:34of tongues will cease. And we talked about that word means they will end by themselves.06:44Interestingly, tongues is never mentioned in the New Testament.06:48It's not mentioned at all after the book of Acts and after 1 Corinthians, which is the earliest epistle written.06:58It's just not mentioned at all.07:00But that was the purpose of the gift of tongues in the early church.07:04Second thing to help us understand this passage, let's talk about the gibberish prayer language. There are some people that believe the gift of tongues is speaking a gibberish prayer language, words that aren't any existing language. It's just a private, unknown language that you speak to the heavens. Where did that come from?07:34The truth is that practice came from paganism. And you can study this, but in Corinth, they had a temple to Diana, and that was how they worshipped. Everything there was about feeling and emotions. It wasn't about truth and engaging your mind. Everything in that worship was about experience and emotions. Right? Remember, the priestesses were prostitutes. It was about feeling something.08:02And part of their worship was shouting an ecstatic, gibberish language because they believed that was the way that you communicated to the gods. And church, that is never taught in the New Testament as a gift of the Holy Spirit. It's just not. Well, some people believe there are two kinds of tongues. You know, speaking known languages and them being interpreted and praying a gibberish.08:32language. But I can't see anywhere in the New Testament where tongues is redefined. From known languages to speaking gibberish. I just don't see it anywhere. So there was a gibberish prayer language that was part of paganism. All right? Third thing to keep in mind as we approach 1 Corinthians 14 is this truth. The Corinthians messed up just about everything. Have you noticed in our study?09:02They were like the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hitting, fielding, base running. Like, was there an aspect of their game that they didn't mess up? Well, if you've been through this study with us, that's what we have seen over and over and over. What the Corinthians did was they dragged paganism and worldliness into the church. That's been our whole year of studying this. Right?09:32Everything they did was from paganism and worldliness. Like hero worship, sexual sin, lawsuits, marriage fails, idolatry. Oh, and the pagan use of speaking gibberish language to communicate to the gods. They dragged that into church. Something else to keep in mind, very important. Last one. 1 Corinthians 11-14. These chapters are about church conduct, individual conducts. Do you notice that? People want to take these passages and sort of make them like an individual application, but these chapters are about the church collectively, the body of Christ. These chapters are more about us than me. So chapter 14 was written to correct the Corinthians, and Paul was saying the pagan way, the gibberish language isn't really a thing, and let me tell you how the real gift, the real spiritual gift of speaking in tongues works. Interesting thing to note. You're going to see throughout the passage here that sometimes Paul uses the word tongue singular and sometimes he uses the word tongues plural and he seems to be very specific and I spent so much time this past week studying this. He seems very specific about when it's plural and when it's singular.11:02scholars to believe that when Paul uses tongues in the plural, he's talking about the real spiritual gifts, speaking a real language that you never learn. Tongues, plural. Why? Because there's many languages, right? There's many languages, so tongues is plural. But when he speaks about tongue singular, he's talking about the pagan gibberish language because gibberish isn't something that can be plural. So just take a note of that. So this is going to feel like Sunday school today.11:32But this is so critically important to our understanding of a very sensitive subject to a lot of people. So on your outline, what about speaking in tongues? And here's the whole sermon. This is the whole sermon. You can leave after this statement if you want, but I'll unpack it for you. But here's what he says in chapter 14. What about speaking in tongues? He says, it's not that important. That's this whole passage. He says, it's not that important.12:05See, in Corinth, like in churches today, speaking in tongues was the thing. There are people today that believe unless you speak a gibberish prayer language, then you do not have the Holy Spirit. That is not true biblically. In this passage, you're going to see that Paul says, the gibberish really is nothing. And even the real gift of speaking known languages, the real spiritual gift that he's been talking about, he's like, even that's not that important. That's not that important. So let's look at it together. Number one, write this down. Paul says, first of all, tongues are fruitless. Meaning this, as far as accomplishing anything ministry-wise. He says it's fruitless. No spiritual fruit comes from speaking in tongues. That's the first point. That's the first five verses. What's the purpose of having a church service, by the way? The purpose of us having a church service is to edify believers. That's what church is for. The goal of church is to edify believers. Make note of that because he says that over and over.13:32and over in chapter 14. We'll talk about that in a few moments. Edification of believers. Look at chapter 14. He says pursue love. That's where we left off last week. Seek love. That's chapter 13. The love chapter. He gives your problem, church, is you're not loving each other. You need to go after that. Pursue love. Look at the rest of the verse. He says, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.14:06Paul says, yes, love each other, but also, yes, seek to use your spiritual gift, especially prophecy.14:13We talked about this.14:14Prophecy, the word literally means speak before.14:18It's just somebody that stands in front of people and says stuff.14:22And it's talking about saying the word of God, explaining the word of God.14:26That's what prophecy is.14:30See, Paul reminds us here again, church is to be the place where you hear the Word of God. If nothing else happens when we get together on Sunday morning, this has to happen. We have to get in the Word of God together. You see, tongues was never for that. That's why Paul comes right out of the gate and says it's better when you get together that you hear something that you can actually understand.14:59Look at verse 2. He says, For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God.15:11For no one understands him, that he utters mysteries in the Spirit.15:19Notice tongue is singular there.15:23He says, when you speak the gibberish language.15:25Oh, by the way, he says, speaks not to men, but to God.15:29That's really not a great translation. It literally should be translated to a God. Little g God.15:41When you speak in a tongue you're speaking to, you think you're speaking to a God.15:47Also interestingly in the verse, he says, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. That's not a great translation of that either.15:55The Word for Spirit, he's not talking about the Holy Spirit here. The Word for Spirit is pneumatai, which literally is breath. He's saying you're speaking into the air. And I believe that because he says the exact same thing later in this passage. You're going to see it. All right? So what's he saying? He's saying this. Spiritual gifts were to edify man. All right?16:25Common Good.16:26Chapter 12, verse 7.16:27Spiritual gifts are for the common good.16:30Spiritual gifts were never given to speak to God, a God, the God, who's ever up there.16:36He's like, that was never the purpose of the true God giving us spiritual gifts.16:47God never teaches us to speak to Him in an unknown language.16:54You just don't see that in the Bible. Look at every prayer in the New Testament. Every prayer and every teaching about prayer, there's nothing about speaking to God in an unknown language. And I would say, look at Jesus Himself. We have accounts of Jesus praying. Did Jesus have a private prayer language with God? Did He? No.17:24How do you know? Because the Bible writers told us exactly what Jesus prayed. Jesus used regular language and in all of Jesus' teaching about prayer, nothing says pray in a private prayer language. Actually, in Matthew 6, verse 7, Jesus said, don't heap up meaningless phrases.17:55So what you have here in Corinth is you had some of the people who considered themselves elite. And they said, you know, you pray in church and you speak Greek and all that. That's all well and good. But you know, I pray to God in my own private prayer language. Aren't I spiritual? And Paul's like, spiritual gifts.18:24Gifts aren't about you. Spiritual Gifts are given to edify everyone else. Look at verse 3. He comes back to it again. He says, on the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. Paul says that's what needs to be happening in church. That's what prophesying is for. He says it's for edification. You're like, well, what's edification? He defines it right here.18:54upbuilding, encouraging you in your faith, encouragement, consolation. That word is comfort. You know, the Word of God should be challenging us and convicting us and encouraging us and comforting us. That happens when the Word of God is proclaimed. Look at verse 4. He says, the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself. But the one who prophesies builds up the church. Again, he says, When you show up and you're just speaking your private prayer language to God, all you're doing is putting the spotlight on yourself. Look how spiritual I am. Look, I'm God's favorite. He gave me this super spiritual gift that I communicate to Him in our own private secret language. Now, the true gift of speaking in tongues has an interpreter that benefits others. Spiritual gifts aren't for God. They're not for you.19:54You, therefore, other people. Right? Again, verse 5. He keeps hammering the same point. You're going to see it again. He says, no, I want you all to speak in tongues. But even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up.20:24Yes, this is the Pentecostal's favorite verse here. Look, right there, right there. Paul says, I want you all to speak in tongues. Paul was being sarcastic. He was saying, I wish you all did the real thing, but more so, I wish you all prophesied. You're like, wait, wait, wait, time out. Time out, Pastor Jeff. How do you know Paul's being sarcastic? How do you know that? Well, just go back a page. Look at chapter 12 and verses 29 and 30. Look at this. Paul says, are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? What's the answer to that? No. No. Paul just said in chapter 12, everyone doesn't possess one particular gift. He just said, do all speak with tongues?21:24No, obviously not. So Paul's not going to turn around and say, okay, now I want you all to do this. He's not contradicting himself. He's making a point in comparing. What he's saying in this verse is this. He goes, oh, I could wish that you all actually used the real spiritual gift and spoke in other languages. I could wish you all did that. But you know what's way more important than that? You know what would be so much better for the church than that?21:52is if you all were able to preach a real sermon. That would be better than everyone speaking other languages. He's being sarcastic here. So this private prayer gibberish language, Paul says here it's fruitless. He says, what does anyone get out of it? There's no edification, nothing's learned, no knowledge is given. It's fruitless because No one is being built up. And that is what has to happen in the church. All right? So what about speaking in tongues? He says, it's not that important. First of all, tongues are fruitless. They don't accomplish ministry purposes. But then he digs even deeper. Number two, he says tongues are useless. Tongues are useless. Look at verse 6.22:52He says, Now brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you?23:00Unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching.23:08He says, If I came speaking a foreign language, and again, assuming there's no interpreter when he does it, he says, What good would that do you?23:17If I came speaking Russian, you all speak Greek, it's not going to accomplish anything.23:22Verse 7, he says, he's illustrating his point. He says, if even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? See the illustration? He says, even musical instruments have to play a melody or it doesn't make sense, right?23:51Didn't the worship team do a fantastic job today? Yeah. Yeah. They absolutely did. But you know, let's pick on my man Miles up here. So good at the guitar. When Miles plays the guitar, he can play a melody. And did you notice when Miles played, we were all able to sing along because we recognized the song. It was a tune, right?24:22What would happen if you went back to Harvest Academy and brought a toddler out and gave that toddler Miles' guitar and says, okay, now you're leading worship.24:31How would that go?24:33Whang! Whang! Whang! Whang!24:36Like, would we be able to worship together?24:39No.24:40And that's Paul's point.24:42He goes, even musical instruments have to play a melody or you don't know what's going on.24:46But if it's just meaningless noise, he's like, nothing is happening.24:49It's useless. Right? Another illustration. He wants to make sure we get this. Look at verse 8. He says, and if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? Okay, now it's like a military illustration. Like the guy blowing the bugle for the military. It's like you better play a song that the soldiers recognize. Right? Because there's like a song for get up, a song for go to bed, a song for time to eat. How about a song for, It's time for battle. And if he just gets up there blasting the trumpet and nobody knows, wait a minute, what are we supposed to do now? I think we're either supposed to fight or go to breakfast. I'm not sure which sound that is. He goes, they're going to be so confused. It has to be a melody. You see, he's making a comparison between languages we can hear and understand versus any language.25:49We have no idea what's going on. What's his point? What's his point in all this? He explains in verse 9. He says, so with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There it is again.26:18You'll be speaking into the air. Paul's saying, look, gibberish is useless. Look, tongues are useless unless the real spiritual gift is used and someone is present that speaks that and someone interprets for the rest, it's useless. Do I believe that tongues happen today?26:48I do. I have heard many stories of people on the mission field that they were asked to get up and speak. And they're like, well, I don't speak their language. And they're like, well, just get up and say something in English and they'll just be glad to hear from you. And the guy got up and spoke and everybody heard it in their own language. I believe that. That's not what he's talking about here. And even that gift that I mentioned is not normative.27:18He's like the gibberish is useless. You show up in church and you just scream a bunch of syllables that aren't words. What are you doing? What are you accomplishing? Look at verse 10. He keeps hammering the same point. He says, there are doubtless many different languages in the world and none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker, Same point. Paul's like, if you don't talk to people in a language that they understand, it's kind of useless, right? We had dinner with Barnabas last Wednesday. If you were here, that was so fun. Our missionary in Thailand, Barnabas, he speaks ten languages. Ten. Seven fluently, and he says three about half. And I think he's being modest.28:18Why does he know ten languages? Because when he goes all over to these tribes, the Lisu, the Lahu, the Acha, he goes to China, he goes all over that area of the world, and he knows when he goes, he's going to have to speak a language that they understand. Otherwise, they're just making sounds at each other. That's Paul's point here. Right? Look at verse 12. He says, so with yourselves. Look at this. Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, to excel in building up the church. He's back to the exact same thing he said in verse 5. He goes, do you want the Holy Spirit to work through you? Christian, do you want the Holy Spirit to work through you? All in favor? Yeah! Like, isn't that the number one thing that a Christian desires? Is it the Holy Spirit? Is it work through them? That's what any true Christian wants. Paul's like, is that what you want? You want the Holy Spirit to manifest through you? Great!29:19Because whether it's a foreign language or whether it's speaking gibberish, speaking anything people don't understand is useless. Paul says in this section, if real communication isn't happening, it's just noise. It's useless. The tongues are useless. And finally, number three, Paul says tongues are mindless. Mindless. More sarcasm. Look at verse 13. He says, therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. Again, that's sarcasm. How do you know that's sarcasm? Because of what he already said. Didn't he just say that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives people gifts as he wills?30:18He just said that.30:20So we don't see any example in the Bible of, you know, God, this is the spiritual gift that I want.30:25Please give that one to me.30:26He made it clear.30:27The Holy Spirit determines who gets what.30:30So He's obviously being sarcastic here.30:32He's saying, hey, if you speak gibberish, you better pray that you can explain what you're saying.30:41Verse 14, He says, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.30:47What am I to do? He says, I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying?31:17Here, Paul's just saying, look, prayer and praise must be done with our whole being, spirit and truth. We've talked about that before, spirit and truth. Jesus said the Father is seeking those to worship Him in spirit and truth. And for that to happen, your mind has to be engaged. Your mind has to be engaged. You know, people that believe in private prayer language will say, well, no, My mind is just kind of shut off and it just comes from my spirit. And I would push back on that and say, when has God ever told us to turn our minds off? You have to have your mind engaged in what's happening. I think a little humor on Paul's part. He's like, you just get up and you speak as she speaks something people don't understand. He's like, how are you going to get an amen? Who's going to amen that? Somebody gets up and just says a bunch of nonsense words. Paul's like, that's not a good way to get an amen. Verse 17, he says, for you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. Again, you see, he keeps driving that nail down.32:47Again, there's no edification happening. You can't do that, church. You have to go to church with the mindset of edifying others with spiritual gifts. And someone would say, but prayer language is a private thing. Spiritual gifts aren't meant to be private. Spiritual gifts are to be used for the body. Verse 18. See, I heard an amen because somebody understood what I was saying.33:17saying. See how that works? Again, the Word of God is coming, just being fulfilled in your eyes. He says, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Paul had the true gift. Paul had the true gift. You think that came in handy on his missionary journeys? Traveling around all these different people. He had the true gift. God gave him the ability to speak in languages he didn't know. He says that he speaks in tongues.33:48And I'm so glad he said that here because what Paul's doing with that statement, he's like, look, look, look, I'm not saying the true gift isn't legit. I'm not saying the true gift isn't useful. Verse 19, he says, nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.34:20Back to that same point. He says, in the church, five regular words are greater than 10,000 words that no one understands. You know, the 10,000. In the Greek, that was the largest number that had a word. You know what I mean by that? What I mean is, that would be today like somebody saying, a bajillion. Is that a real number? No, it's just like a bajillion.34:47like a figure of speech. Like, oh, you know, I must have seen a bajillion of them. Like, 10,000 was their biggest word for a number. And Paul says five regular words. What he's saying is five regular words are greater than an infinite number of words that nobody understands. Right? You get that. I mean, if two guys get up here on a Sunday morning, And one guy speaks gibberish for an entire hour. Words that nobody understands. But for a whole hour you listen to gibberish words. Then you have the other guy get up and he says five words. Jesus died for your sins. Which person benefited the church?35:49The one that wasted everybody's time making his noises? Or the one that actually communicated the most glorious truth that there is? Jesus Christ died for your sins. If you'll turn from them and receive Him, you can be a child of God. That's the benefit.36:17here saying any edification is better than many words that no one understands. So some have made gibberish, unknown languages, private prayer language. Some people have really made that the thing. And after countless hours of studying these chapters, I'm less confused.36:47that it's a thing.36:50But look, here's the thing.36:55You can believe completely different than me about this.36:58And that's okay.36:58I don't want to fight with you.36:59I really don't.37:01And I'm not, I don't, I don't get any kind of like excitement trying to shot block people or pound people down.37:12I'm not at all.37:15All I want to do is clearly communicate the Word of God. If you want to have a nice discussion about this section and talk about some of these phrases and words and what it means, I'm always happy to do that. But I don't want to fight with you. Listen, whatever, whatever you believe about tongues. I think it's pretty obvious what Paul is saying about it.37:46Whether it's speaking gibberish privately in prayer to God, the pagan practice, or the biblical gift of speaking a known language, a real language that the speaker never studied or learned, whatever. I think it's pretty clear in this section. Paul's stance is, it's just It's not that important. Here's the thing, church. Tongues isn't even the real issue here. Sometimes I think we can look at this passage, we can quote this passage, or we can misquote this passage, and we miss what's really going on here. Tongues is not the real issue in this passage at all.38:45Do you see what the real issue is? The real issue is this. What do you go to church for? That's the issue. Why did you come here today? If you're like, well, I'm not coming here anymore. Okay. So if you go to another church next week, why would you go there? What do you go to church for?39:21This is the real point of this passage. Church is the place you go to give, not go to get. Church is the place you go to give, not go to get. You had to have noticed how repetitious this passage was. Do you notice how many times Paul talked about this passage?39:45He talked about edifying, building up. Did you notice? I went back several times and was counting. How many times in this passage did He keep going back to that concept? It's in verse 1, verse 3, verse 4, verse 5, verse 6, verse 9, verse 12, verse 13, verse 16, verse 17, and verse 19. Just in the passage we read today. All of those verses have something to say about the us thing in church. Building up.40:14Every one of those verses has something in them to emphasize serving other people. And look, I've been in ministry for a very long time, and this is the thing that we keep hitting in this culture, especially in this culture, as we have brought the consumer mentality into church. See, that was the problem in Corinth. They showed up to church to say, hey, hey, Church is a place where it's about me, more spotlight on me, look at me, what's in it for me. And we're like, oh, shame on those people. No, shame on us because we have brought the consumer mentality into church. We evaluate churches based on what is in it for me. You know, we've heard so many things, haven't we, Pastor Taylor? We've heard so many things. We've heard people say, well, yeah, oh, I love her.41:14and people there are super nice. But you know, we go to such and such church because they have a concert atmosphere. Okay. I guess if that's what you're looking for, a concert atmosphere. We want smoke machines and laser lights and I haven't been to a concert in a while. What else happens? They still do mosh pits, t-shirt cannons.41:44We want that stuff. People hop from church to church looking for the one that meets their needs. Another one that I've heard, oh, Pastor Jeff, we love this church, but you know, we go to such and such church now because they have better playground equipment for the kids.42:16I can't compete with that. Someday we're going to have a church on this property, New Swickly, and someday we're going to have like, what, 10 acres of green space for the kids to run around on. Someday we're going to have that. I hope it's someday sooner than later. We're praying. We're seeking the Lord. Things are in motion on that. But right now, I can't offer you great playground equipment. We can, you know what the kids do. They go out here and play David and Goliath and throw rocks at each other. They play Humpty Dumpty and get on that wall. They did fix the wall. That is not a pass. Don't tell your kids, hey, they fixed the wall. Let's see how many of you we can get up there. But that's how some people evaluate church. They've got better playground equipment. You know why people do that is because of the consumer mentality. Church is the place.43:15where I should get something.43:20Why go to such and such church?43:22Because they have better coffee.43:23Okay, whatever.43:25Whatever.43:28Church is where you go to give, not where you go to get.43:32Look, that's the problem in Corinth, and that's the problem in Wexford.43:41In church, we need to get to the place where we're like, The Church needs to be about how can I serve others? Not, hey, I'm here for what I can get. And do you know what the beautiful thing is about that? When everybody shows up to church with this mindset of, I came here to give. Do you know what's so beautiful about that? Is when everybody gives, everybody gets. Look, you have a spiritual gift.44:13a few weeks ago. We all need you to be pouring into the rest of us. Your knowledge of the Word of God, we need that. Your experience in walking with Jesus Christ, we need that. On Sunday morning, in our small groups, in our youth group, all of these little people back here, they need to see in you what it looks like to follow Jesus.44:43you married couples. They need to see from you what it looks like to love your spouse. They need to see from you what it looks like to have a Holy Spirit gift that is used in the church. These little people back here need to see what it looks like to live a life serving other people, not constantly seeking to be served. So if our worship team would make their way back up front, Yeah.45:19I pray that this passage changes your mind.45:25Maybe about tongues.45:29But definitely about why you come to church.45:35Let's pray.45:38Father in heaven Father we're sorry For all of the times we try to make it about us, that we can look at the Corinthians and we can wag our heads and we can tsk, tsk, and we're no better. We look at their worldliness. And so often, Father, we're no better. So I pray, Father, that we don't get So caught up in this one particular spiritual gift that we miss the point of this passage. The church should be a place where I go to build others up. Comforting, encouraging, loving one another. Father, you see the culture we live in. It's a consumer culture. And I pray, Father, that you would bring a great conviction on us. That we look at this as the place where we come to serve. Not just simply come to receive. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 14:1-19What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Before studying this passage, what was your personal belief on speaking in tongues? Did this passage change anything you believe about tongues? Why or why not?The theme of this passage is “tongues aren't that important”. What exactly does Paul say is more important?BreakoutPray for one another.

As the election gets closer, parties are starting to release their policies. And after a slow start, keeping their cards close to their chest, Labour's building up steam. We already had the three free doctors visits for all, now we've got free maternity scans and a promise to scrap the $5 fee on prescriptions and make them universally free. Add that to the free public transport, well, up to a point, $20 in the major cities and $10 everywhere else, and that capital gains tax is going to be working overtime to pay for it all. So far, so Labour. But I'm not really sure about the Oprah-fication of Labour's policies. "You get a doctor's visit, and you get a doctor's visit, and here's one for you too. You get a free bus ride, and here's a free bus ride for you, and one for you as well." I understand that universal allowances, free bus rides for all, means less admin as opposed to targeted assistance, which if the administration and the paperwork for that didn't exist, would be a faff. But it does. The admin's already been done to reach those who need help the most. We have the community services card. So why not link the three free GP visits, the free bus trips, the free maternity scans to the community services card? And when I say free, I mean taxpayer funded. There is no such thing as free. So why would the taxpayer be funding free public transport, free doctor's visits, free prescriptions for people who don't need it? I don't think anybody would object to trying to keep pregnant mums healthy, to trying to keep the community healthy, to trying to prevent people from going into hospital because they can't afford to go to the doctor or pick up prescriptions. We're all in it for that, and even if you don't care about people, you only care about the sums, if you do the sums, it pays off for people to be seen by their primary healthcare provider so they don't end up in hospital. All makes perfect sense. What doesn't make sense is why the taxpayer is funding all of these things for people who do not need it. And you can't even say no thank you very much to some of them. I totally get that one of the platforms of Labour's policies is health, and they want to make sure that we keep people out of hospitals. Absolutely fine. But when Chris Hipkins was talking to Heather du Plessis Allan yesterday afternoon about the 150,000 people who aren't picking up prescriptions, I am not convinced that all of those people were avoiding picking up their prescriptions because of cost. Some of them can't be bothered. You know, buses are put on to remote areas to take people to their hospital appointments. Short of picking them up in a sedan chair and carrying them on the shoulders of the healthy and the hale to get them to their hospital appointments, you could not make it any easier. But I've heard from nurses and doctors and people themselves that they don't go. They take the free bus and then they go shopping in Whangārei, even though they've got an appointment. They don't bother telling people they're not going to turn up. So there'll be people who just can't be bothered. They don't prioritise their own health, they've got other things they're prioritising and it's not their own health. There are people who don't like taking pills, thinking oh for heaven's sake, you're asking me to take another pill, I'm already taking three, I don't want to take a fourth. There are people who'll be feeling better, think nah, don't need this one. I am not entirely convinced that when he says 150,000 people aren't picking up prescriptions, that a) those numbers are right, because we're hearing a lot of numbers being thrown around by every party over all of their policies. I'm not entirely convinced about that. I'm not convinced about the cost. All I would like is targeted assistance to people who need it. As a taxpayer, I am perfectly happy to fund any kind of policy that will help make life a little bit easier and ultimately save us money in the long run by looking after people. The community services card exists to help those who need a little bit extra. Use that. The rest of us are fine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us a question/idea/opinion direct via text message!Welcome to a special regional guest edition of the New Zealand Property Market Podcast. This week, Head of Research Nick Goodall returns to his hometown roots to interview Jemma Scott-Davidson, owner and mortgage advisor at Loan Market. With over 20 years of commercial banking experience before launching her independent advisory firm, Jemma provides an invaluable, boots-on-the-ground temperature check of the winterless north.Moving past the mainstream media's "boom or bust" narratives, Jemma explains why the current environment is actually a return to a "normal" market driven by fundamental life choices. We analyse the distinct activity occurring within the $650,000 to $750,000 sweet spot, expose the pricing standoff affecting properties purchased at the late-2021 peak, and break down the three clear interest rate fixing strategies currently emerging among New Zealand borrowers navigating the post-MPS landscape.This week we discuss:The Whangārei Sweet Spot: Why properties priced between $650,000 and $750,000 are seeing steady, healthy transaction volumes from regular families.The Million-Dollar Value Gap: Navigating the lack of quality stock in the $800,000 to $1,000,000 bracket and why overpriced listings are distorting buyer expectations.The Peak COVID Standoff: Why un-capitulated vendors who bought in late 2021 are stalling market velocity.Three Emerging Fixing Behaviours: 1. The Confident Can-Kickers: Rolling on 6-month fixes to capture short-term savings while waiting for geopolitical oil conflicts to settle. 2. The Long-Term Securers: Locking in 5-year terms to protect fragile household cash flows from further volatility. 3. The Risk Splitters: Tranching debt across 2 and 3-year terms to avoid total structural exposure.Why DTIs are Stalling: Why high bank test rates are capturing debt-to-income limits by default, leaving equity and deposits as the primary hurdles.Innovation in Commercial Lending: Real-world examples of Northland businesses navigating tight cash flows through clever asset diversification and labour hoarding.Sign up for news and insights or contact on LinkedIn, X @NickGoodall_CL or @KDavidson_CL and email ngoodall@cotality.com or kdavidson@cotality.comThis podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. The hosts are not licensed Financial Advice Providers in New Zealand. All information is of a general nature and does not take into account your personal situation or goals. Please consult a qualified professional before making any financial decisions.

Few people have had a front-row seat to the genetic improvement of New Zealand sheep quite like our guest this week, Simon Buckley.After growing up in Whangārei and starting his farming career at Castlepoint Station, Simon joined Wairere Romneys and has never left. Four decades later, he has helped one of New Zealand's most influential sheep breeding programmes through the transition from visual selection and paper records to EID, genomics and data-driven breeding.In this episode, Simon chats with Mark to discuss the history of Wairere and the long-term thinking required to make meaningful genetic progress. They also discuss maternal instinct, breeding sheep for commercial conditions, the challenge of balancing innovation with market demand, and the lessons he's learnt from those who have travelled through the "University of Wairere".Grab a coffee and sit back and enjoy this one - it's a goodie! Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: info@nextgenagri.com.Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, Heiniger Australia and New Zealand, and ProWay Livestock Equipment. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.Check out the MSD range HERECheck out Allflex products HERECheck out Heiniger's product range HERECheck out ProWay's product range HERE

As far as Budgets in economically precarious times go, I thought it was a pretty good one. And save yourself the 20 cents, anonymous texter. I can see you typing from here. "Well, you would say that, Tokyo Rose, wouldn't you?" Well yes, come on, be fair though – what on Earth were they supposed to do? We were warned that there would be very little money to spend. The Government resisted throwing lollies, instant sugar hits to voters and did concentrate on spending what money there is where it will get the most returns. Not on policies like Fees Free third year of education for tertiary students, which was not delivering on the metrics, but on things like capital works that have been sorely, sorely needed for so many years and will provide pipelines of work for years to come. So there'll be jobs, there'll be increased spending and there'll be necessary upgrades that so many communities have been waiting for, like the new 158 bed tower block at Whangārei Hospital, plans for a new hospital in Drury for the South Auckland population, the Cambridge to Piarere expressway, redevelopment programs for Tauranga, Palmerston North and Hawke's Bay hospitals, the rail network investment program, building 232 new classrooms across the country, new police stations in Greymouth and Whanganui, 2,250 additional social houses, new courthouses in Rotorua. You cannot argue that this is a poor use of what money there is. It feeds into the Keynesian school of economic thought, which I've always thought was really sensible and I don't think any other better alternatives exist, that during tough economic times, consumers and businesses will typically hoard cash and spend less. So, the theory argues, Governments should then step in and break that cycle because once you close everything down, it just gets worse. You can't make consumers and businesses spend money, but governments can. So they fund public works and infrastructure, the sort of sensible kind of spending, the long-term spending, spending with a long-term outcome. It will create jobs by doing that, inject money directly into the economy and provide the sort of capital infrastructure that the country so desperately needs. And the workers who work on these projects spend their money on goods and services and that creates jobs and income for others. It's called the multiplier effect – it brings an economy out of a slump. And I think that's what we've been asking for and arguing for a while, isn't it? The tax cuts, not so much, but that's okay, that was back then. So, you know, we'll draw a veil over that. But this kind of spending where you're spending on works that have to be done. There are no ifs or maybe one days or these are not nice to haves, these are essential works that need to be done. I thought it was, as far as Budgets in tough times go, I thought it was a pretty good Budget. I'd very much like to get your feedback on this. I thought the that old school style of reporting of “there was nothing in it for you, was there?”, to the beneficiaries and to the state housing tenants and the “what about me's”, is lazy. I think that's really lazy reporting. You have to look at the bigger picture and you have to have an expectation that when people are on benefits, it doesn't mean they might have lost their job or they might have lost their ability to work for a time, doesn't mean they've lost their minds or their brains. They can understand too that you've got to fix the economy, it's got to improve, it's got to get better before their chances of finding work improve. And if they're unable to work, you know, they're going to get improved services and improved benefits if we are financially prosperous, if we're in a position to spend extra money. We're not in that position right now and it's going to take a few more years yet. For the first time, I felt a little bit of hope. A little bit of hope that you could actually see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's not the train bearing down upon you. There is a way out. It was sensible spending for the most part. I'd give it an eight out of ten, but I'd love to hear from you. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Government ministers gave councils an ultimatum yesterday: come up with your own plans for amalgamation within three months, or the Government will do it for you. Local Government Minister Simon Watts and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop said there was broad support from councils – some were already gung-ho and proceeding with plans to amalgamate. One of them is Nelson Mayor Nick Smith. He's long held the view that merging with Tasman is the right thing to do for his city and cites common interests and unnecessary duplication. Back in 2012, Nelson voted in favour of amalgamation, Tasman voted against it. Tasman Mayor Tim King still prefers an arranged marriage – he wants to wait for the Government's backstop process, which would force reform before the 2028 local elections. King says he'd rather have central government just do it, decide on the country's local government model, rather than have all the arguments that come with trying to hash out, thrash out these sorts of governance arrangements for themselves. As King pointed out, the biggest problem councils face right now is financial pressure, and amalgamation won't necessarily save money, and it won't necessarily make everything magically better. Come on in, Auckland Super City! A prime example of amalgamation. Did it make things better? Back in 2010, the 1st of November to be exact, eight councils became one. And from that one big Super City Council, 21 local boards were created to focus on community issues. The council managed regional issues like transport and planning. The aim was, as Nick Smith said, to avoid unnecessary duplication and improve services. And I guess on paper it makes sense but back in 2020, on the 10 year anniversary of the Super City, some districts felt amalgamation hadn't really worked for them. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, former Franklin District Mayor Mark Ball said his community felt like a cash cow for the big smoke, that they had specific regional interests that weren't being represented at council level. He conceded that the water had got a lot better, the drinking water under the new structure was a lot better, but he said vital infrastructure like upgrading roads down south had been passed up in favour of bike paths in Auckland's CBD. He said elected members all love to build the shiny things, they love to have their Aotea Squares and go to the openings of this and that. Nobody ever wants to bury pipes. And he said, as an example of where your own region's specific needs are overlooked or misunderstood or not taken into account, some roads that had been built were too narrow for farming vehicles. Why would you possibly need a wide road? Says somebody driving a smart car in inner city Auckland. Because I've got a whopping great combine harvester, you numpty, would be the answer – and he said the town centres have been stripped of car parks. The thing that concerns me is that so few people take an interest in local body politics. So few. People could be getting up to God knows what with God knows who and you wouldn't have a clue until it's all too late because nobody takes an interest, nobody goes to the meeting – well, very few. I'm exaggerating for effect. Very few people go along to the council meetings, very few people bother to vote. So they can decide what you like and you go, oh, I don't think this is very good, I don't like this, and well, too bad. You didn't care. You care now. I find it really interesting that when it comes to amalgamation, trying to get these disparate interests all working together as one, and the case that Mark Ball cites is a really good one. Franklin needs new roads. Right then, let's build them. Oh, they're not big enough for farming vehicles – you know it's because nobody knew. The Far North seems to be quite keen to amalgamate. They're first out of the blocks. Far North, Whangārei, Kaipara, and the Northland Regional Councils are looking to merge into one or two authorities. But the difference between the West Coast and the East Coast is phenomenal. There's a line you cross when you're driving from Hokianga to Kerikeri and you know that you've crossed it, that you're on the East Coast now. How do you get fair representation and, and manage to lobby for what's important in your area when the needs in the other area are so, so different? On the West Coast of the South Island, they're also keen. Grey and Hokitika District Councils are considering merging into a unitary authority with Westland Regional Council. Buller's like, no thanks very much. Not for me. They'll go at it alone. So if you are one of the few in the country that is taking an interest in local body politics, if you are one of the few in the country that cares about what happens in your region, where your rates go, how they're spent, whether you'll get fair representation when a merger happens because it's a matter of when, not if. Is it going to work for your area? Can you see a case for it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says the Government's still looking into how to get more fuel into the country. It's put 20-million dollars towards an extra diesel storage tank at Marsden Point, south of Whangārei. Chris Luxon says it will be built and completed in seven weeks. He says told Mike Hosking they're considering offers for extra diesel, to fill the new tank. Luxon says there are currently high levels of fuel in the country - about 53 to 63 days of each different fuel type. But he says they want to additional diesel supply above and beyond that. LISTEN ABOVE OR WATCH BELOW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The representation and inclusion of indigenous models of hauora (health) in mainstream medicine is vital to ensuring culturally-safe health services. In this episode, we delve into Māori mental health specifically from the lens of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. We discuss the importance of whakapapa; knowing who you are, where you come from and your sense of belonging to hauora and ways that services can shift to a preventive care model for whānau, hapū and iwi.Our guest speaker, Tūrakawa Bartlett, addresses common narratives about Māori wellbeing and offers insights on how te ao Māori (Māori worldview) is beneficial for everyone, not just Māori. Together, we discuss what signs to look out for when someone you know may be struggling or how to know when you are struggling yourself.In this episode, we dive deep into answering the following thorny questions:00:00 – Introduction03:05 – Framing today's session from a Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi lens06:00 – Mental health from a Māori worldview12:40 – Barriers preventing Māori from connecting with their true identity19:00 – What help is available for Māori experiencing mental health challenges22:50 – How support services can make it easier for Māori to reach out25:00 – Signs to look for when checking in on someone who may be struggling27:50 – Internal signs that you might be struggling yourself30:50 – What non‑Māori can do to create culturally safe support spaces39:00 – Definitions of kawa and tikanga42:35 – Differences in how Māori and non‑Māori experience health services46:50 – Why a bicultural Māori and non‑Māori health model is essential49:30 – Signs someone may need professional help52:30 – Rose, Letica, and Turaukawa's personal wellbeing practicesLeticia, from Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Kaipara, has completed her training as an Intern Clinical Psychologist and is currently working on research. Her approach to psychological well-being and oranga is shaped by clinical expertise and lived experience, with a strong focus on Māori mental well-being and previous experience in community alcohol and drug (AOD) services. Tūraukawa, from Ngāti Whātua ki Tāmaki, is the CEO and Director of MANAVATION, a kaupapa Māori hauora service supporting Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti in achieving their wellbeing goals through cultural and language revitalisation. Tūraukawa has received numerous recognitions, including the Bob Henare Award for Individual Excellence in Māori Mental Health and DAPAANZ Best Newcomer to the Addictions Sector. He also facilitates reo Māori wellbeing retreats to enhance cultural foundations and promote holistic wellbeing. Rose, a graduate Enrolled Nurse from Ngāti-Whātua Ōrākei and Ngāti Kahu ki Whangāora, draws from her lived experience of losing two siblings to suicide, which drives her commitment to providing compassionate care.  

Our Changing Word heads to Whangārei to speak to a Northland Regional Council scientist whose been using stormwater drains to estimate the scale of our plastic pollution problem. Plus, just outside Christchurch, one of New Zealand's biggest lakes is home to the ‘canary in the coalmine' of wetlands. The secretive and elusive Australasian bittern seems to be in trouble - how can we help? Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.Learn more:Join Alison Ballance on a kayak across a lake to listen to some booming bittern crooners.Listen to the nine to noon interview with John Sumich about the 2025 Matuku muster.The research into microplastics was part of the AIM2 project, which was reported on in 2021 as part of the OCW episode ‘Unwelcome visitors'.Another source of microplastics is textile waste, but an international project is looking to a future where our clothes are fully biodegradable.Guests:Richard Griffiths, Northland Regional CouncilPeter Langlands, Bittern Conservation – New ZealandHarry Caley, Department of ConservationGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

They bought in a “rough” street no one else wanted… got burgled… had a tenant deliberately flood their rental… and faced a cancer diagnosis — all while building a property portfolio.In this Case Study Sunday, Broc and Abi from Whangārei share how they kept going through some of the toughest setbacks, and what they've learned along the way. You'll learn:How this couple built a property portfolio anyway How a cancer diagnosis reshaped their approach to money, risk, and priorities How buying in a “rough” street became a cashflow-positive winThis episode is a raw look at what real investing looks like when life doesn't go to plan ... and why sticking with the long game can still pay off.Don't forget to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠create your free Opes+ account and Wealth Plan here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.For more from Opes Partners:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the weekly Private Property newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠

It's been a wet and wild 24 hours for the top of the country, with some areas seeing more than 200 millimetres of rain. Whangārei District Council and the Far North District Council have each declared states of emergency. The deluge has closed roads, including the two routes that connect the tip of the Far North to the rest of the motu. Locals are now bracing for another night of rough weather, with Civil Defence warning the worst could be yet to come. Teuila Fuatai reports. 

A Northland farmer in the flooded Hikurangi Swamp, just north of Whangārei, updates the biblical rainfall numbers falling in his region.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Civil Defence in Tolaga Bay East Coast says low-lying households near Hikuwai River should evacuate now. Surface flooding has stranded several East Coast communities - with no easing yet of the tropical storm battering the North Island. Tairawhiti has now joined Whangārei, Hauraki, Thames-Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty in declaring States of Emergency. Red rain warnings for Northland, Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty and parts of Gisborne will start expiring between 11pm and 11am tomorrow. Hauraki District Council says some homes in Whiritoa have been evacuated, and the Surf Club has been set up as a Civil Defence site. In Thames Coromandel, Mayor Peter Revell says Whitianga, Cooks Beach and Pauanui are cut off, with near record rain already last night. "There's going to be significant volumes of rain in the next four or five hours, so that will certainly load up the rivers and threaten slips on roads and what have you." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this third episode exploring what it means to be second or third-generation Italian in New Zealand, Carla Rotondo talks to Vincenzo Cocurullo, the Mayor of Whangārei from 2022 to 2025 and District Council Councillor for the previous six years. His Italian side originated from his nonno, grandfather, who was born in Piano di Sorrento and settled in Whangārei. The Cocurullo family mixed with a small group of Italians, particularly with Dora and Vincenzo Russo, who owned a café and had emigrated to NZ encouraged by Vince's grandfather. Vince has visited Piano di Sorrento and his relatives there, and even though in his growing up in NZ the Italian influence was limited, he discovered that he had lots of mannerisms and non-verbal communication similar to his Sorrentina family. In Whangārei Vince lives in the house that his nonno built, makes limoncello, grows grapes from the grapevines planted by his nonno, makes mozzarella cheese….he is definitely an Italo-kiwi. Per il supporto alla realizzazione di questo programma Ondazzurra ringrazia l'Ambasciata d'Italia a Wellington, https://ambwellington.esteri.it/en/ che promuove la lingua e cultura italiana in Nuova Zelanda, e il Ministry for Ethnic Communities che promuove la diversità ed inclusione in Aotearoa. https://www.ethniccommunities.govt.nz/

More details are emerging about data compromised in the Manage My Health portal breach. The privately-owned platform has started notifying affected GP clinics. College of GPs President Luke Bradford says much of the information is eight to nine years old. He told Andrew Dickens Northland appears to be the most-affected region. Bradford says although it doesn't have anything to do with Whangārei Hospital, it seems be predominantly files out of its systems. He told Dickens they mostly don't appear to include lab results, medicines, or notes of personal conversations with doctors. Bradford says they've been told its inwards letters, predominantly coming from specialist appointments in the hospital system. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ehhh kia ora e te homies! Here's what you missed on the show today: HAPPY IKEA OPENING DAY Also happy spotify wrapped day Only in Whangārei would someone plug a hair straightener into an E bike Someone in the Mai whānau almost killed Denzel Washington Tegs does stand up Who is in IKEA traffic right now? Cookie stealing out in the office …who is it? Shot for listening, From Eds AKA Eric AKA Edith AKA Eteni

Drawing from Matthew 11:28–30, Ps Symon Drake (Renew Church, Whangārei) reminds us that following Jesus is a carrying faith — not a heavy one, but a holy one. We are called to: Carry our cross, Carry one another's burdens, Carry the yoke of Jesus, and Carry the presence of God into the world. It's an invitation to walk closely with Jesus, to live purpose-built, and to bring His life and love wherever we go.

On today’s show: LIVE from Whangārei! Why is Ben frustrated he didn't make his mum cry? We chat about partner pressure points, including sweaty partners and the excessive use of bleach. Jono shares how the medium claimed his grandfather’s spirit follows him around all the time. Juniper (Jono’s AI) joins in on a live radio break. Our everyday scaries include needing to poop on a long walk. We reminisce about the pointless job we gave Producer Grace when she dressed as a doctor for an interview and we didn’t even acknowledge her. Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recorded live from the Mass State Lottery (2025) RV during the film tour with LowRes Wünderbred, Hans Lam Barboza, Jerry Jensen, Simian Jimmy, and Egg White in person and Michael Louis Hassiepen, Justin Whang, Jessie Cosmic, and The Kino Corner phoning in. Get tickets to upcoming screenings to Mass State Lottery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Could a triangle of land at the entrance to Whangārei Harbour hold the key to Northland's future prosperity? Peter de Graaf reports.

Northland has been dealing with bad weather as a heavy rain band moved across the region. Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Sir Michael Hill's being remembered for his love of the arts. He died yesterday aged 86, after a cancer battle. Hill's chain of self-named jewellery stores began in Whangārei, before becoming a global brand. Former Queenstown Mayor Jim Boult says he's well-known for his Queenstown golf course 'the Hills', and the international violin competition he founded. He was also a cartoonist, publishing a weekly cartoon in the local newspaper, 'The Mountain Scene'. Boult told Mike Hosking Hill was one of those people who was never satisfied until they'd actually achieved something. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi business icon Sir Michael Hill is being remembered as one-of-a-kind. He died today aged 86, after a cancer battle. He opened his first jewellery store in Whangārei and grew the brand globally to Australia and Canada. He's well-known for his championship Queenstown golf course 'the Hills' and for founding an international violin competition. Company chair Rob Fyfe says Hill was always a student and never stopped learning. "Whatever he turned his mind to, he brought a vision, a creativity, a sense of aesthetic and design." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sad news today - Sir Michael Hill, jeweller, has passed away. Again, he's another larger-than-life figure in New Zealand business - the likes of which we don't seem to be making anymore. Now, I don't know if you realize - I mean, we've all grown up with Michael Hill just being a name we knew - but I don't know if you realize how amazing his story was. He did not start his jewellery business until he was 40 years old. Up til then, he'd been working as a manager in his family's jewellery business. He left school at 16 and headed straight there. He was there for 23 years, got married and had a couple of kids. But one day, his house burnt down. And the story goes that when he was watching his house go up in flames - literally - he decided he needed to change things. So he started his own shop and it was a success. It was more successful than his uncle's business. So he opened seven shops in seven years, and that was a success. So he then decided to open another 70 in seven years. And now, his business is global. It's in New Zealand, it's in Australia, it's in Canada. He's worked with Kim Kardashian, he's designed his own golf course, he has a luxury super yacht, he's got himself a knighthood. And isn't it remarkable, when you think about it, that all of those things happened after he took a massive risk when he turned 40? I mean, 40 is an age when most of us are either at the peak of our careers or absolutely firmly settled in what we're doing. Imagine just tipping it all up and deciding to start your own business at 40. What I love about Michael Hill's story the most was that he did the same thing that many successful people do: he set goals and he visualized them. He wrote his goals down for years in advance - seven years, sometimes even as many as 30 years. And then he imagined what it would be like when he was actually doing that and had achieved those goals. Successful people tell you to do this time and time again. But before you even get to the point of setting that goal, you have to believe that you can achieve it. And he clearly believed it in spades, and he thinks not enough of us believe what we can achieve. He was more, obviously, than just a man who was into money. He promoted art. He was very good at violin - in fact, so good, he founded an international violin competition for young players. He donated to health research. He took his New Zealand business to the world. And he showed, yet again, that you can dream big from a small place like Whangārei. He is an inspiration and he is a loss. But more importantly, he is an example to us all. We just need to set our goals and then go for it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tales as old as a 404 page score! Our hosts Chefs Brian and Paul, sit down with the internet's lore master, Justin Whang, to talk about his years on YouTube, cursed content, the evolution of online culture, and the stories behind some of his most viral videos. FOLLOW & CHECK OUT JUSTIN! https://www.youtube.com/@JustinWhangYt/featured https://www.instagram.com/justinwhangyt/?hl=en (JYNX Band) https://www.instagram.com/wearejynx/?hl=en Let's Heat Things Up! Check Out Our Youtube Channel @SYWGFPodcast and remember to like and subscribe! SEND US CLIPS soyouwannagetfat@gmail.com PATREON https://www.patreon.com/chefbriantsao JOIN DISCORD! Discord https://discord.gg/WdM7tGTHhG MERCH https://downrightmerchinc.com/collections/chef-brian-tsao FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA https://www.instagram.com/sywgfpodcast https://twitter.com/sywgfpodcast https://www.tiktok.com/@sywgfpodcast https://www.facebook.com/SYWGFpodcast FOLLOW CHEF BRIAN TSAO! Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chefbriantsao Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ChefBrianTsao Twitter https://twitter.com/chefbriantsao FOLLOW FRENCHY https://www.instagram.com/lechefpaul https://www.instagram.com/lerivagenyc https://shop.lerivagenyc.com VISIT THE WEBSITE! https://soyouwannagetfat.com/ Follow Mission Sandwich Social https://www.instagram.com/missionsandwich/ Executive Producer: Madelyn Grimes / YEA Media Group Editor: Joshua Burns / YEA Media Group If you are interested in advertising on this podcast or having Brian & Frenchy as guests on your Podcast, Radio Show, or TV Show, reach out to podcast@yeanetworks.com. 0:00 - Intro 1:43 - Tale of Two Shops 4:20 - Distinguished Mohawks 6:55 - The Sauces Per Usual  9:09 - Check Us Out On Spotify  10:30 - Welcome back, Justin Whang! 11:49 - Started With Odd Jobs 14:27 - When Viral Became Real 16:19 - An Internet Mythkeeper 18:33 - 20% Inspiration, 80% Pinworms 23:20 - Are There Demonetization Secrets? 25:46 - What The Future Holds 29:29 - Don't Be Afraid To Try  34:45 - Not So Current News 54:08 - Definitely The Part That Will Get Demonized *sigh* 57:10 - Frenchy Clips With Guest 1:04:10 - Outro  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dateline New Haven: Mom-Son Authors Christine J. Ko & Owen Whang by WNHH Community Radio

Burgess v. Whang

Over the next four years $164 million will go towards setting up urgent care clinics in Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin. Health Minister Simeon Brown spoke to Corin Dann.

In today's episode, the Parliamentary debate of unprecedented suspensions handed down to three Te Pāti Māori MPs has the potential to bring the House to a grinding halt ahead of Thursday's Budget, over the next four years $164 million will go towards setting up urgent care clinics in Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Dunedin, children as young as six, are being adopted from overseas and forced into domestic slavery, being beaten, threatened, raped and abused, Auckland FC have taken a significant step towards a dream Grand Final appearance in their debut A-League season, beating Melbourne Victory 1-nil in a tense semi-final first leg at AAMI Park, and we have the latest from Kerry-Anne Walsh in Australia.

Good news for Northlanders - as the Government settles on the Northern Expressway option. The new route will run from Warkworth, and be built over the Brynderwyn Hills east of the current route, then through Whangārei. The road across the Brynderwyns has suffered continued closures, since 2023's severe weather. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan says it's tipped to be a costly project - but a new road is needed. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some more Whangārei slander from Nickson.

Tropical Cyclone Tam is making its way south towards New Zealand, as stormy weather is already starting to hit the country. Far North District Council mayor Moko Tepania and Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo spoke to Corin Dann.

Nickson wants to delete Whangārei.

Violi Calvert felt something extraordinary when she met the legendary tattoo artist, Apo Whang-Od. - Ayon sa 75-year old writer, retired broadcaster at public servant Violi Calvert kakaiba ang kanyang naramdaman ng masilayan ang legendary tattoo artist na si Apo Whang-Od.

The Whangārei District Council has backed down from its bid to keep fluoride out of the city's water. Mayor Vince Cocurullo spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Councillors in Whangārei have been called to a confidential meeting on Tuesday to discuss the ramifications of refusing to fluoridate the city's water supply. Felix Walton has more.

Bryan Carey, CEO at Benevis, and Dr. Jane Whang, DDS, Regional Director of Clinical at Benevis, discuss the adoption of new technology in dentistry and the ongoing challenge of a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals. They highlight how Medicaid benefits Americans and the role of Dental Support Organizations (DSOs) in increasing access to care. Additionally, they explore strategies for offering greater work incentives to encourage more professionals to serve in rural areas, helping to address staffing shortages.

Bryan Carey, CEO at Benevis, and Dr. Jane Whang, DDS, Regional Director of Clinical at Benevis, discuss the adoption of new technology in dentistry and the ongoing challenge of a shortage of qualified healthcare professionals. They highlight how Medicaid benefits Americans and the role of Dental Support Organizations (DSOs) in increasing access to care. Additionally, they explore strategies for offering greater work incentives to encourage more professionals to serve in rural areas, helping to address staffing shortages.

Whangārei's fight against fluoridation has drawn a stiffly written seventeen-page warning from the country's top health official. Whangārei Mayor Vince Cocurullo spoke to Corin Dann.

Researcher Jindong Wang and Associate Professor Steven Euijong Whang explore the NeurIPS 2024 work ERBench. ERBench leverages relational databases to create LLM benchmarks that can verify model rationale via keywords in addition to checking answer correctness. Read the paperGet datasets and codes

Whangārei councillors have voted seven to six - with one abstainer - to reject the Director-General of Health's directive to fluoridate its water supply. Whangārei mayor Vince Cocurullo spoke to Corin Dann.

More than 1000 participants arrived in Whangārei on Monday night, after their first day of travel towards Wellington. Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

More TCAF interviews! In this episode, Jimmy talks to up and coming cartoonist Sarah Whang. They talk about her online comics, the importance of lifting others up, Korean food, her children's picture book debut and why Jimmy thinks her capybara character could make her millions. Jimmy also catches up with old pal Andy Belanger. They chat about MOTHER TRUCKER, the formation of Lethal Comics, video game work, Andy's wrestling alter ego The Animal and so much more. Thanks to TCAF for a great time and to all of my interviewees for taking the time to hang and talk. More TCAF interview specials will be released over the next few weeks! Also, get a hold of us! Thanks for listening!

IDLES - "Dancer (feat. James Murphy & Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem)" from the 2024 album TANGK on Partisan Records Today's Song of the Day teams up two powerhouse KEXP faves: UK band IDLES and LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Nancy Whang. It's the first single from IDLES' forthcoming fifth full-length, Tangk, due for release on February 16th via Partisan Records. IDLES frontman Joe Talbot says the new album will be full of enchantment. "I needed love. So I made it," he says in a press release. "I gave love out to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. All is love." This cross-Atlantic collaboration came to be following some shows the two bands played together. As Talbot told NME, "If you don't ask, you don't get. By that point we'd been touring with them for a few weeks and knew they were lovely human beings. They took time out of their day off and took us to their studio. They were really accommodating and lovely, so hard-working, patient and awesome. They're sick.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.