Planned protests in Wellington City
***UPDATED: Protests have ceased and roads have reopened. Buses have resumed their regular routes.***
Wellington Police have advised they will be in and around the city today (Tuesday, 23 August) monitoring The Freedom and Rights Coalition protest and the likely presence of a counter-protest group. As a precaution, additional Police staff have been called in from outside of the Wellington Police District setting up a base in the Parliament buildings.
A detour is in place for Metlink bus services in the Wellington CBD and all road closures will be in place until the conclusion of the protest.
Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell shares that their primary mission today is to maintain law and order, ensuring that the public feels safe and free to move around. Structures will not be permitted to be erected on Parliament grounds and any behaviour deemed unlawful or that disrupts people from going about their lawful business will not be tolerated.
What you need to know:
- Roads in the city area, including the Parliament end of Lambton Quay, lower Molesworth Street, and Kate Sheppard Place have been closed to unauthorised vehicles today.
- Buses that would normally use Lambton Quay and Wills Street will detour along Jervois and Waterloo Quays.
- Bus routes 14, 32X, 22, 81, 84, 744, 745 heading toward Molesworth Steet will travel along Bowen Street and Tinakori Road to avoid the Parliamentary precinct.
- Any concerning behaviour can be reported to Police by calling 105.
Poll: Do you think NZ should ban social media for youth?
The Australian Prime Minister has expressed plans to ban social media use for children.
This would make it illegal for under 16-year-olds to have accounts on platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X.
Social media platforms would be tasked with ensuring children have no access (under-age children and their parents wouldn’t be penalised for breaching the age limit)
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Do you think NZ should follow suit? Vote in our poll and share your thoughts below.
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86.2% Yes
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11.5% No
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2.3% Other - I'll share below
OCTOBER'S WEATHER IN KĀPITI
This third spring month in Kāpiti was milder and sunnier than average, and for three weeks we also seemed to be heading for a record dry one, but rain here and over most of the country on the last week changed that.
We ended up with 110mm of rain (airport), but this was only 12mm above the historic average for this month that is frequently our wettest. Despite the rain, we had the equivalent of 15.5 sunny days, slightly above average.
Our daily average maximum temperature was 17.8, almost 0.4C above average and 0.7C above last year, and our overall mean temperature was 14.2C, 1.3C above last year, and the warmest in central New Zealand.
November could average around 20C, as it often does, so we can look forward to the possibility of enjoying our first summer month.