MP sorry for violence crack
National MP Tim Macindoe has apologised for appearing to joke about domestic violence during a Facebook livestream. Macindoe said the joke was a reference to a British political television show and had “nothing remotely” to do with domestic violence. During the Justice Select Committee livestream, Macindoe was caught joking: “I did push my first two wives off the balcony of our upper-floor apartment.” Macindoe, a former chief whip, said: “I’d suggest you listen to the context, because clearly we were having a bit of banter”. He said the reference was to the show House of Cards, in which Chief Whip Francis Urquhart pushes his lover off the roof of the House of Commons.
Campfire blamed for blaze
A person who lit a campfire is believed to have started a blaze that destroyed a piece of Raglan coastline. And days after the fire began on Wednesday night, firefighters remained at the scene yesterday to put out hot spots. Deputy principal rural fire officer Matt Cook said the intensity of the blaze proved just how susceptible some areas of the country still were to fire, despite regular rainfall over the past couple of weeks.
Drownings up, rescues down Drowning numbers might be up, but cooler ocean temperatures and the Covid-19 lockdown also led to a
20 per cent drop in rescues this season, Surf Life Saving says. Overall,
34 Kiwis have died in preventable drownings in 2020, through to April 17, up on 29 drownings at the same time last year, Water Safety NZ statistics showed. Life guards were tested early in the Kiwi summer as beaches thronged with people and fatalities were up, including four people dying in three days over Christmas.