Five Big Things That Happened Today: Tuesday, October 22

Government steps in at Wellington City Council, dozens of arrests amid gang pad search warrants, and what’s in the Government’s new $3 school lunches?

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has written to Wellington City Council with a draft terms of reference and has given the council 10 working days to respond as required under the law.

The move follows months of wrangling over the council’s long-term plan. A planned sale of the council’s ownership stake in Wellington Airport, pushed by mayor Tory Whanau, was scuttled at the last minute following a vote by councillors earlier this month.

Thirty search warrants were executed today in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Auckland, Rotorua, Taupō and Hawke’s Bay as part of Operation Highwater – launched late last year following an increase in violent crime and other offending in Ōpōtiki.

Police said the “concentrated operation targeted members and associates of the Mongrel Mob Barbarian MC East Bay chapter”.

The search warrants come as the conclusion of a 10-month investigation which detected and prevented instances of serious violence, a police spokesperson said.

Former One Direction star Liam Payne reportedly had several drugs in his system when he died in Argentina last week, including ‘pink cocaine’, an illegal synthetic drug that’s become a growing concern in parts of the world.

According to High Alert, New Zealand’s drug early warning system, pink cocaine was first reported in South America in 2018 but has spread around the world since then.

Overseas, pink cocaine is usually a concoction of ketamine, MDMA and caffeine, says NZ Drug Foundation Executive Director Sarah Helm.

Oranga Tamariki alerted police to the incident in Wiri at about 6.40pm with 13 young people involved. A 1News camera operator at the scene overnight said the group were making KFC jokes, swearing and being disrespectful, adding they were damaging parts of the roof.

Minister for Children Karen Chhour called the incident “absolutely unacceptable”, but said “we’ve come a long way”

“The way the staff dealt with this incident, I’m really proud of.”

Tana left the party in July, following an investigation into what she knew about allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s business.

Last week, Green Party delegates agreed that she should be removed from Parliament using the so-called “waka-jumping” law.

Today, speaker Gerry Brownlee announced her seat had been vacated.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour said businesses had worked with the Government to “transform” the existing programme, “delivering for children and saving for taxpayers”.

“Every student receiving a school lunch today will continue to do so from day one of Term 1 next year,” he said.

“The programme will deliver nutritious hot and cold meals, such as butter chicken curry, chicken katsu, lasagne, chicken pasta salad and wraps. These meals will cost $3 each.

Lotto’s Powerball jackpot has hit $30 million for the fourth time this year — an “unprecedented” spell.

“Wednesday’s draw will see $30 million up for grabs once again, following three earlier big jackpot wins in April, June and August.

“This is a streak we’ve never seen before in our history,” said head of corporate communications Will Hine.

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