Northland

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard said funding for caulerpa control in the Bay of Islands was based on earlier project success.

Hauora Hokianga said donors - both local and from afar - had been very generous.

The Waipoua River fire remained at 91 hectares with a 5.8km perimeter.

Crews have ramped up to 96 firefighters, along with aircraft and heavy machinery working to keep the blaze contained. Audio

The bizarre wildlife encounter, which occurred around lunchtime off Cape Brett, knocked one of the boaties over and left him bruised.

It comes as a massive blaze continues to burn in the Waipoua Forest

The number of firefighters will be doubled to 100 tomorrow to help "hit this very hard".

A community is shocked after a shooting at a Whangārei waterfront park that has left one woman dead and another person critically injured.

Police have cordoned off Whangārei's Onerahi's Beach Road and people are being warned to avoid the area.

Dozens of residents from the Waipoua Settlement could be out of their homes for a week. Audio

It could be up to seven days before firefighters get the blaze completely contained and extinguished.

The young boy who died after being hit by a vehicle in a driveway in the Whangārei suburb of Te Kamo on Sunday has been named.

Speculation in the Far North as to what happened ranges from an amateur house-moving attempt gone horribly wrong to an extraordinarily brazen theft attempt.

Emergency services were called to an address in Whangārei on Sunday.

All three - aged between 11 and 15 - targeted a retail store, dairy and petrol station.

Police said they received reports of four males entering a store on Broadway, Kaikohe armed with a hammer and tyre iron, who jumped the counter taking items including cigarettes and cash.

"For seven years I've endured lies and rumours about what happened to me in 2017 when I was just 16 years old," the former leader's victim told the court.

Jake Hamlin was sentenced to 12 months' home detention in the Whangārei District Court for driving drunk causing the death of Samantha Williams at Uretiti in 2023.

Making a council fluoridate its water is being slammed by New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters.

Frustrated residents complained to Kāinga Ora 13 times about a noise coming from the property, including continuous barking from a dog, several parties and loud music.