Paige Turner

When Lauryn Pinckney lost her first apprenticeship to redundancy, she nearly wrote off her chances of finding another one. Instead, she ended up somewhere better. Pinckney, who grew up on a farm near Edendale, graduated top of her class from Southern Institute of Technology's heavy automotive engineering programme

ACT wants disruptive students removed from classrooms — and is proposing a law to make it happen. ACT candidate Paul Henry announced the policy on Sunday, pitching it as straightforward: if a student disrupts the class and won't stop, the teacher directs them out. Refuse, and consequences follow. "

A Winton-raised military chaplain has been recognised for building a support system for SAS families that the New Zealand Defence Force has now adopted across its operations. Chaplain Class 3 Rich Lander received a Chief of Army Commendation in Auckland last week, following four years attached to the 1st New

New Zealand's long-troubled Holidays Act is finally being replaced, after the Employment Leave Bill passed its third and final reading in Parliament this week. Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden described the reform as the delivery of something workers and businesses have been asking governments to

Invercargill is getting its own international undersea cable — the first to land anywhere in the South Island. Datagrid New Zealand has signed contracts with Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) and OMS Group to build the Tasman Ring Network, a 2,300 km optical submarine cable running between Invercargill and Melbourne. ASN

A Southland seafood company has been fined $39,000 for illegally shifting thousands of live oysters and mussels into the Bluff area — repeatedly, and in full knowledge of the rules. Fresh is Best NZ Limited was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court today on 13 charges under the Biosecurity Act.

Police were called twice in June after staff at Invercargill City Council were subjected to abuse — the latest sign that anti-social behaviour towards council workers is getting worse, not better. The council's most recent health, safety and wellbeing report recorded 23 incidents involving verbal abuse and threatening behaviour

Something went wrong at Greenpoint Cemetery. A councillor is angry about it. And no one will say what happened. Cr Andrea de Vries raised the incident at a council meeting on Tuesday, telling staff she had been contacted about a "pretty traumatic experience" at the cemetery near Bluff.