13 Jun 2011

Morning Report: local papers

7:02 am on 13 June 2011

Monday's headlines: Ash could cast shadow over Queenstown winter festival; 'one stop shop' planned to handle all public dealings with govt departments; thousands take a peek inside Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald describes the travel disruption being caused by the Chilean volcano.

More flights are threatened on Monday, with the Civil Aviation Authority saying there's no immediate end in sight to the disruptions.

There's a diagram showing how the ash is being carried around the southern hemisphere by the Roaring 40s wind current.

The other story on the front page is the death of David Gaynor, the fourth Kings College student to die in less than 18 months.

Prominent businessman Craig Norgate - who hosted a pre-school ball event for students including David - says it was professionally supervised and none were drunk when they left his home.

Dominion Post

The Dominion Post leads with David Gaynor's death. Its headline reads 'Our beautiful boys,' with one despairing mother asking why the tragedies keep happening.

Also on the front page: a 'one stop shop' is planned to handle all public dealings with government departments could affect thousands of state servants.

The new ServiceLink organisation is being described as a mega call centre.

The Press

The front page of The Press is dominated by a photograph of Sunday night's ash-tinged sunset over Canterbury, along with the headline 'Red sky at night, travellers fright'.

More than 70000 travellers were affected on Sunday, with both Jetstar and Qantas flights in and out of Christchurch cancelled.

ODT

The Otago Daily Times says Queenstown and Dunedin airports were also thrown into disarray and the ash could yet cast a shadow over the Queenstown winter festival.

A network of cycle routes in Dunedin connecting key destinations has been identified in a 20 - 30 year vision costing up to $30 million.

Thousands of people had a peek inside Dunedin's newest sporting arena on Saturday. Forsyth Barr Stadium is due to be completed by 1 August.