Around the motu: Tess Brunton in Dunedin

The Dunedin City Council has voted to take a proposed 17.5 percent rates hike for the coming year to the public. Tess backgrounds what is driving the rise. The council is also considering a proposal to sell its lines company, Aurora Energy. Asbestos has been found in a Southland dump that is eroding into the sea at Bluecliffs. Rapid erosion means the area remains under a state of emergency. And Otago can now lay claim to its own population of the rare and nationally threatened Smeagol sea slug following a discovery in the Akatore Creek estuary.