New Zealand / History

Recap: Anzac Day updates from across Aotearoa

17:08 pm on 25 April 2024

Anzac Day has been marked around New Zealand today, with the Dawn Service in Gallipoli this afternoon featuring Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters.

The Foreign Affairs minister has told attendees at the Dawn Service in Gallipoli to draw their own lessons from being there, but to come together to honour those who paid with their lives.

Describing the world as "troubled" and "the worst in memory", Winston Peters said diplomacy had never been more needed to de-escalate conflicts and ease tensions.

Meanwhile, ACT MP Mark Cameron lashed out at protests and weather-related cancellations during Anzac Day commemorations in Wellington.

"How bloody lucky I am to live in rural New Zealand. Today's very well-attended dawn service in Dargaville was a perfect, dignified commemoration of the courage of the Anzacs.

"Meanwhile in Wellington... officials cancelled the National Commemoration Service because of a bit of wind, as if that would have bothered our veterans.

"Then when Kiwis gathered anyway, anti-Israel protestors showed up to promote their own agenda, and another group dyed the bucket fountain red and pasted demands to stop "normalising Anzac violence".

Look back at our live blog of the day's events here: