A High Court jury has listened to recordings of police officer Matthew Hunt's final radio communications and heard of the chaos when the young constable was shot dead on duty in Auckland.

Apart from wetlands, land above the treeline, coastal dunes and a few other exceptions, New Zealand was once covered in forests from Cape Reinga to Bluff.

The first two return flights from NSW to Aotearoa today are bringing around 100 stranded New Zealanders home - and they will not be charged for their 14-day stays in MIQ.

Two orca sightings have been reported today in what's now an international effort to keep a lost calf alive.

Paramedics have described arriving at a chaotic scene in Auckland last June, after the shooting of two police officers who had been carrying out a routine traffic stop.

The developer of a controversial marina on Waiheke Island has released a video showing more of last week's clash between protesters and security guards.

Animal welfare group SAFE have launched a campaign asking for colony cages to be banned in New Zealand.

In today's update, the ministry says all affected crew from the quarantined fishing vessel Viking Bay have now been transferred to an onshore quarantine facility in Wellington.

Wellington's bus timetable is being shaken up in an attempt to overcome a chronic staff shortage.

Taranaki District Health Board is working with Port Taranaki to test crew members of a fishing vessel for Covid-19, after they reported flu-like symptoms.

Working for free, one man is plugging away at his computer for 16 hours a day just to help people secure an MIQ hotel room.

Tens of thousands of young people are arriving home in Aotearoa due to Covid-19 and fewer than normal are leaving.

The Ministry of Health has received confirmation of an additional 13 positive tests to Covid-19 for crew from the quarantined fishing vessel Viking Bay

A new Defence Force engineering facility at Linton Army Camp will cost the government $47 million, and will replace existing workshops, Defence Minister Peeni Henare says.

A teenage girl is fighting to keep the national aquarium in Napier open after the government denied the council funds for a redevelopment.

This morning the hunt continues for the family of an abandoned baby orca north of Wellington.

Mt Ruapehu's crater lake - Te Wai ā-moe - typically goes through heating cycles, and GNS measurements show that early this month the temperature started building.

A proposal to open the doors to widespread harvesting of snapper off the west coast of the North Island for the first time in 16 years has been slammed by recreational fishers.