The Gisborne Herald
Council slammed over 12yr-old disability plan
AGisborne resident is upset that the council’s disability strategy hasn’t been reviewed in more than a decade. This is despite holding a meeting between members of the disabled community and Gisborne District Council in 2024, at which they requested...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Verbal, physical assaults on hospital staff increase
More than 100 assaults on staff were reported at Gisborne Hospital in a year between 2024-2025 — a 36% increase on the previous year. The union for nurses says incidents are likely underreported, and the physical, emotional and mental impact of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Little Faith region’s first baby of the year
Gisborne’s first baby of 2026 is Faith Paumoli Hammond-Papuni. Faith, born at 8.56am on New Year’s Day, weighed 5.8 pounds (2.6kg) and was 48cm long. Joyous mother Irirangi Hammond-Papuni, aged 25, told the Gisborne Herald she and baby stayed at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Back in the driver’s seat
Sonya Smith had nearly forgotten about the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust raffle she had entered nearly two months earlier when she got the news she had won a Lamborghini. The Nuhaka resident was convinced the phone call was for a survey until they...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
No road deaths in our region for 2025
The provisional number of deaths on Tairāwhiti roads in 2025 is zero, a first since at least 1990. A road safety advocate from the region said the news is excellent, while police say all drivers still need to do better when it comes to safety. A...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GO GRANNY GO
An “electric four days” has come to a close with no significant police incidents and a newly minted Gisborne star at Rhythm and Vines. DJ SuperGran Molly Pardoe says she had an “amazing” stage debut on Tuesday but is not planning another performance...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Locals keep Rhythm and Vines humming
For locals working Gisborne’s Rhythm and Vines, the event can sometimes be a family affair. Amid an atmosphere not dampened by the lingering mud from a dousing of rain earlier in the week, the Gisborne Herald met Gisborne siblings Eruera Wharehinga,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Three receive New Year honours in Tairā whiti
Journalism’s loss was education’s gain when Kāren Johansen met Florence Duff in Gladstone Rd, Gisborne, in January 1970. Johansen, made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the New Year 2026 Honours List for services to education and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Couple’s race to tie the knot at Ellerslie
Modest wedding plans became something far larger for a horseloving Gisborne couple who said “I do” during the Ellerslie Boxing Day races. Steve Middleton and Louise Savage’s wedding was witnessed by some 15,000 racegoers when they tied the knot at the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Searches lead to four arrests in shooting case
Police have arrested four “people of interest” as part of their ongoing homicide inquiry into the death of Bill Maangi in Gisborne. Maangi, 36, was found critically injured on the front lawn of the Forrester House accommodation complex after he was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Big build underway as R&V readies for return
Up to 22,000 people are expected to flock to Gisborne’s Rhythm and Vines festival next week, and organisers say preparations are in full swing. “This is year 23 for us ... it’s what we do for a living,” Live Nation director of festivals Kieran...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A time to remember
AGisborne marae has marked another step forward in its Cyclone Gabrielle recovery journey with a ceremony burying lost taonga following the demolition of its wharenui and ka¯uta. “It was a time to reflect, to remember and to sit in the present with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Pillar of our iwi’
‘An extraordinary man” and “a trusted kaitiaki” are among the tributes that have flowed following the death of highly respected Tairāwhiti kaumātua Taina Ngarimu. Ngarimu (iwi Ngati Porou, hapū Te Aitanga a Mate), known to many as “Papa Taina”, passed...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
East Coast ‘forgotten’
East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick says her isolated electorate is often forgotten about by decision-makers, but great people among her constituents shouted “very loud” for their communities. The first-term MP, reviewing the past year and looking forward...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Yacht club warns loss of base could end it
Gisborne Yacht Club will cease to exist if it loses its Kaiti Beach base of over 50 years, a Gisborne District Council meeting was told last week. The council approved a plan earlier this year to investigate the return of ancestral land to Gisborne...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Councillors clash over traffic management
Gisborne District Council’s new local transport committee will receive “an anatomy of how temporary traffic management is calculated” after two councillors offered divergent opinions on the controversial issue. Committee chairman Colin Alder, at its...
Read Full Story (Page 1)