The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2023. Here’s what made headlines in May
Warning: Sexual assault is mentioned in one of these pieces
May 1
From when Taini Jamison was a child, she was destined for great things.
So it’s little wonder that at the age of 95, she still held the record of being New Zealand’s most successful Silver Ferns netball coach.
The trailblazing sportswoman, coach and netball administrator was farewelled by family and friends at her funeral today inside a packed St Faith’s Anglican Church at Ohinemutu in Rotorua.
The netball legend, who led the team to their first world title at the 1967 Netball World Cup, died early on Friday morning.
Jamison was remembered for her tenacity, wisdom, beauty, vision, and passion for people. She was thanked for her ability to spot talent on a court and admired for not only her top-level coaching, but as someone who would make a difference to the vitality and future of the sport.
May 5
More than 28,000 Kiwis have moved to Australia in a year - a net migration loss of 10,200 and the biggest exodus since 2014.
The lure of higher wages, better job incentives and a generous superannuation scheme are major attractions. Combine these with a new direct pathway to citizenship, and wine corks are popping over the Tasman.
Carmen Hall spoke to New Zealanders who made the move across the ditch over the years about how their lives changed.
May 11
A “dire shortage” of teachers has forced some Bay of Plenty high school principals to hire “unqualified” educators and one to cancel a class.
Those teachers held a Limited Authority to Teach (LAT), which the Teaching Council said enabled a person without a teaching qualification to teach in positions requiring specialist or hard-to-find skills.
It comes as teachers begin a new round of strikes, and after a Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) annual staffing survey found 48 per cent of 127 secondary principals nationwide had to appoint “untrained or unqualified” teachers because they could not find qualified or trained staff.
The Ministry of Education would not comment on the survey but said some subjects had long been hard to staff and nationally, the teaching workforce was in a “good position”.
May 12
Warning: Sexual assault is mentioned in this article
Jodie Nicoll was 3 when her sexual abuser – stepfather Bernard Stothers – touched her for the first time.
She was 8 when he started raping her repeatedly.
The offending went on for nearly three decades and she became pregnant after one of the rapes.
She took the extraordinary step of asking the High Court to lift her automatic name suppression so she could speak publicly for the first time. Kelly Makiha told her story.
May 20
A solo mother of six who has lived in four motels in five months and applied for countless Rotorua rentals is desperate for a landlord “to give me a chance”.
“It would mean the world to me to have a home.”
Her story comes as Trade Me figures show the median weekly rent in Rotorua skyrocketed to $580 last month from $500 in April last year. In the Bay of Plenty, it increased to $650 – the same as Auckland and Wellington.
The mum, whom NZME has agreed not to name for safety reasons, says she has six children and is living in her fourth motel despite applying for “every four-bedroom or five-bedroom house that is in my price range”.
In her view, a bad credit rating, the size of her family and being on a benefit are the main reasons she has found it impossible to get a house.
May 22
Rotorua households bin about 157kg of food waste each per year, the council says.
The weekly average for the district is 84 tonnes – roughly the equivalent weight of about 170 cows or 47 Toyota Corollas.
It follows a study finding that Kiwi households lose more than $1500 a year throwing out uneaten food – and a Rotorua food rescue programme believes high food prices are adding to the wastage problem.
Rotorua Lakes Council this month signed off on a plan to add a food and garden waste collection to its kerbside service.
May 29
Rotorua businesses are calling for greater investment for a vibrant city, the chamber boss saying that is what will secure the city’s future.
The desire was expressed in a recent business survey, with some suggestions wanting to focus on making the city a quality business area, while others wanted to see more money funnelled into projects such as the lakefront redevelopment.
One business leader, however, says this has already been happening and believes money would be better spent on core infrastructure.
Rotorua Business Pulse is an anonymous survey aimed to collect perspectives from the business community. It is a joint initiative between Rotorua Business Chamber and Rotorua NZ.
May 31
A Rotorua man with a disability who feared homelessness after being told to leave his Habitat for Humanity rental to make way for a Government housing development has finally found a new home.
It went down to the wire for Richard Hazeldine-Barber, who signed the papers for his new rental on the same day his tenancy was to end.
The solution was found after the Rotorua Daily Post revealed Hazeldine-Barber’s plight last month and his story caught the attention of Rotorua MP Todd McClay and his office staff.
The Government has no concerns about the development on state land in Ngongotahā.