29 Aug 2025

Around the motu: Jimmy Ellingham in Manawatu

From Nine To Noon, 10:45 am on 29 August 2025

A New Zealand soldier stands at a makeshift courtroom at the Linton Military Camp located near the city of Palmerston North in New Zealand on August 18, 2025. A military court found a New Zealand soldier guilty of attempted espionage for a foreign power on August 18 -- the first spying conviction in the country's history. The man's name, the country he attempted to spy for and the name of the undercover officer who snared him were all suppressed by the court. The soldier was the first person to be convicted of spying by a New Zealand court and only the second to be tried after a former public servant was acquitted of espionage in 1975. (Photo by Adele Rycroft / POOL / AFP)

Photo: ADELE RYCROFT

The background to the spying court martial held at Linton Military Camp near Palmerston North, cuts to counselling service hours,child literature masters and candidates for local government elections.

Jimmy Ellingham is RNZ's reporter in Manawatu

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Around the motu: Jimmy Ellingham in Manawatu

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