Masterton

Kieran, it's interesting that Mike brought up the hospital.

Now, I read a lot about the hospital and the issues that they've got.

Who is going to do a better job for the Masterton Hospital, which is so important for that great big area?

You asked me earlier around what the biggest issue was, and yes, it is cost of living.

But the local issue that keeps coming up when I knock on people's doors is the hospital.

I noticed, Nick, that he didn't actually make that guarantee because he can't.

Because this government does have a hiring freeze in place.

There are 40 nurses short at Wairarapa Hospital and they are not allowed to hire.

Yeah, yep.

So we go to Masterton, New Zealand in March for the Trans-Tasman to represent Australia.

And I know you say a lot of your preparation for competitive shearing is done on the boards day-to-day when you're doing your job, but do you have to put in a little bit extra now you're going to the World Championships?

Probably, yeah, want to knuckle down a little bit more.

Good morning.

Hey, great story out of Masterton, or wider Upper, I should say, about the garden gnomes.

Yeah.

So police in Wairarapa basically have finally solved something of a crime spree after locals around the town of Masterton started to notice garden ornaments going missing, particularly a few hundred garden gnomes.

Over the past six to 12 months, a thief or thieves have been going around households.

Taking, and this is according to police, people's bird baths, outdoor furniture, gazebos, trolleys, windmills, solar lights, children's wheelbarrows, metal birds, pot plants, statues, sculptures, a concrete giraffe and even a few Buddha and 200 garden gnomes are also going missing from people's gardens.

All finally discovered by officers at one Masterton residential property.

Nothing from the cops about what sort of punishment this thief or kleptomaniac or sprite might face, but police are urging anyone around Wairarapa to come forward and collect their gnomes and ornaments because they're all at Masterton Police Station clogging up the building.

Straight sun for you today, 17 degrees.

Masterton, windy.

You're not even getting a temperature read here from MetService.

So I guess that's a little wait and find out for Masterton today.

Windy in Palmerston North, 13 degrees.

You're high.

expected in the evening, 17 degrees your high there.

Napier, it will be 27 degrees rick dog today over there, bit of a steamer in Hawke's Bay, a little bit of wind up to 30km as well in the afternoon.

As I said earlier in the show, uh, my mother, I remember having a big stack of floppy disks to save everything for her cash manager, which of course, uh, the rural software became familiar across a lot of farm offices around New Zealand, helping with managing GST, cashflow budgets.

The evolution to Farm Focus, the... now turns 45 today, marking a journey from a Masterton software business, uh, back then in 1981, to, to now supporting 10,000 farmers and growers across both New Zealand and Australia.

We are currently sitting as our CEO of Farm Focus, Marie-Claire Andrews.

Uh, congratulations, and happy birthday, Marie.

You know, to make it to 45 in the software business is pretty impressive.

Yeah.

To do it from Masterton is, is even more impressive.

Um, but yeah, it's, um, it is a heck of a legacy, so I'm very proud to be, be able to celebrate the birthday with the team this week and with our customers.

The bus ride will include a very windy and hilly segment through Remutaka Hill, which one councilor describes as vomit-inducing.

Greater Wellington Councilor Quentin Duthie says that bus replacements are challenging due to, due to the long journey between Masterton and Wellington, and that the council would endeavor to make the coaches as comfortable as possible.

There are additional concerns that the buses are not accessibility compliant and are not linked to the Snapper ticketing system.

Ka whakawhiti ki tāwāhi ināianei.

There has been a big, um...

There's, something's gone down in the Wairarapa in Masterton.

It was about half past 5:00, but details are very sketchy.

It doesn't say it's a car accident, so it's hard to know just what it is.