Mary Williams

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Children sleeping on floor in Oranga Tamariki offices

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Children sleeping on floor in Oranga Tamariki offices

Children are sleeping on Oranga Tamariki office floors due to a desperate shortage of emergency foster caregivers, including in the South.

‘Privilege’ to help expand shelter

Dunedin Night Shelter manager David McKenzie (left) and board chairwoman Jenny Turnbull (centre)...

‘Privilege’ to help expand shelter

Building works to double the capacity of Dunedin’s Night Shelter can start soon after a local businessman read about its funding appeal in the ODT and stumped up a fat cheque.

‘New crowd’ attends South D Future expo

Lennon, 4, and Courtney McNeill, of Dunedin, place Lego on a map of South Dunedin at the South...

‘New crowd’ attends South D Future expo

About 200 people attended a council-organised community exhibition about managing South Dunedin’s water challenges at the weekend.

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Boreholes reveal potential for springs to emerge in South D

GNS Science’s principal scientist Dr Simon Cox shows off a core of earth from South Dunedin,...

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Boreholes reveal potential for springs to emerge in South D

Pulling up a core sample of the earth below South Dunedin pavements is like pulling up a piece of spaghetti as long as a football field, said GNS chief scientist Dr Simon Cox.

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Water from ‘above, below, sideways’

The flat, low-lying suburb of South Dunedin is surrounded by a harbour, the Pacific Ocean and...

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Water from ‘above, below, sideways’

A watery future looms for low-lying South Dunedin.

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New report says uni finances worse than forecast

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New report says uni finances worse than forecast

The magnitude of Grant Robertson’s challenge to bring the University of Otago out of its money woes is highlighted in a new financial report.

Approach to climate change hailed by watchdog

Climate Change Commission chief executive Jo Hendy. PHOTO: ODT FILES

Approach to climate change hailed by watchdog

South Dunedin has been heralded by New Zealand’s climate watchdog as a shining example of people working together locally to tackle climate change, as the low-lying suburb gears up for more...

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More funding needed to protect kea

Kea are in desperate need of help as their numbers dwindle. Mary Williams reports on the threats to the survival of the cheeky parrots and efforts to secure their future.

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Family fight eviction from temporary housing

A family facing eviction by the charity Emerge Aotearoa say they desperately need a social home...

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Family fight eviction from temporary housing

A move by a charity to evict a Dunedin family from their temporary house is being fought by the family and condemned by friends as "baseless and cruel bullying".

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Wanted - a place they can call their home

The family’s transitional house is perched high above a busy road, with no fenced garden for the...

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Wanted - a place they can call their home

A safe haven in Dunedin has not come with stability for a former refugee family who have bounced around different properties in a stressful quest for a home of their own. Mary Williams investigates.

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Told to scam way into home

An adviser from a government-funded housing charity tried to get a desperate Dunedin family to leave the city and scam their way into a social home in the North Island.

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Driving the risky road

Dire warnings about dangerous driving on the road to Milford Sound preceded another death and two injuries last week.

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Bus travel would solve Milford route’s ‘problems’

Long-standing tour operator Trips & Tramps demonstrates the relaxation of taking a tour...

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Bus travel would solve Milford route’s ‘problems’

A Fiordland tourist operator believes shifting more Milford Sound day trippers from cars on to buses would fix "90% of Milford’s problems" on the route.

‘Ridiculous’ delays threatening flying schools

Phil Kean, of Mainland Air, is worried about the future of the aviation training industry and is...

‘Ridiculous’ delays threatening flying schools

Challenges attracting student pilots, including "ridiculous" delays processing foreign student visa applications, are causing a shortage and the risk of southern flight schools closing, aviation training chiefs say.

Analysis: uni’s debt spiralling while costs rising

The University of Otago is facing a challenging financial situation in which its spending...

Analysis: uni’s debt spiralling while costs rising

Where are University of Otago’s finances heading?

Vice-chancellor defends plan to end year with bigger deficit

Silhouetted students frame the University of Otago registry building as attention focused on the...

Vice-chancellor defends plan to end year with bigger deficit

The acting vice-chancellor of the University of Otago has defended its plan to end this year with an even bigger deficit and is comfortable with the risk of deepening debt.

Homelessness’ perfect storm

Homelessness includes people in desperate conditions in substandard boarding houses, as well as...

Homelessness’ perfect storm

Soaring population growth and cost-of-living hikes have created a perfect storm for Dunedin’s homelessness crisis, requiring leadership and social housing, say community leaders.

Oval death ‘inevitable’; warning more to come

Tents are pitched in the makeshift homeless encampment in Kensington Oval, where a man died on...

Oval death ‘inevitable’; warning more to come

The death of a homeless man in a makeshift encampment at Dunedin’s Kensington Oval is an "inevitable" consequence of a lack of social housing and more deaths are likely, charity campaigners warn.

‘We aim to be homely, not an institution’

The night shelter is crying out for funds to help people in a "broken" system, its manager, David...

‘We aim to be homely, not an institution’

There is a relentless need for Dunedin’s night shelter. Mary Williams talks to manager David McKenzie about his work at the frontline of homelessness.

South Dunedin plan: Plain language 'key'

South D plan: Plain language 'key', project leader says

Talking in plain language will be key for consulting the community, the leader of the project to make South Dunedin more resilient says.

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Mary Williams