Meremere fire, Fast-track Approvals Bill and kākāpō: The big stories of October 2024

Fire and Emergency New Zealand crews fought a large vegetation fire near Meremere, which includes the Whangamarino Wetland. Photo / Fire and Emergency New Zealand

As the year draws to a close, the Waikato Herald is taking stock of 2024. What moved readers most? As part of a 12-day series, Waikato Herald reporter Danielle Zollickhofer looks at the top stories from each month. Welcome to day 10: October.

Nationally, October 2024 was the month in which the Government appointed a Crown observer to Wellington City Council in response to the council’s budgetary problems.

The Green Party voted to initiate waka-jumping legislation against former MP Darleen Tana, who was then expelled from Parliament.

The HMNZS Manawanui caught fire and sunk off Samoa after running aground. All 75 people aboard were rescued.

The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy increase from $35 to $100 came into place and TVNZ proposed a second round of restructuring, including closing the 1News website and investing more in its TVNZ+ streaming service.

The Government revealed a list of 149 projects that would be included in the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill. Of those, 19 major projects are in Waikato, including the Rotokawa Solar Farm just east of Taupō, the Waikato Expressway extension from SH1 Cambridge to SH29 Piarere, and the controversial underground mining operation in Waihī.

OceanaGold purchased the Waihī gold and silver mine in 2015.

Meanwhile, a wildfire near Meremere in north Waikato burned a big part of the protected Whangamarino Wetland.

The fire appeared to have started on private land before spreading and ended up burning 1039ha of vegetation across several days.

The Department of Conservation estimated plants in the internationally recognised habitat could take 10-30 years to grow back, while carbon could take hundreds or even thousands of years to recover.

October was also a big month for the local visitor sector as Waitomo and Ōtorohanga District councils left local tourism operator Hamilton and Waikato Tourism (HWT).

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari operations manager Dan Howie conducts a health check on this kākāpō, Bunker. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer

With those two councils leaving, plus a further three councils making cuts to their funding, HWT said it was being forced to make changes to its operations and Waikato would no longer promoted overseas.

Despite this, the region earned New Zealand its first spot in Expedia Group’s global travel trends.

Meanwhile, motorists travelling from Auckland to Wellington were advised to avoid State Highway 1 as New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s largest section of work on the SH1 Tīrau to Waiōuru accelerated maintenance project began.

Also, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari rangers revealed how they keep up with the kākāpō and Jason Momoa had the region in a frenzy as he and his band Öof Tatatá were playing a gig at the Coroglen Tavern as part of their nationwide tour.

Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined NZME in 2021 and writes for the Waikato Herald.

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