Source: Radio New Zealand

While vapes may cause cancer – as a recent Australian review of evidence concluded – they remain a far less dangerous vice than traditional cigarettes, a local anti-smoking lobby group says.

Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) looked at eight years of prior research between 2017 and 2025 – including human and animal studies, case reports and chemical analyses.

Lead author Bernard Stewart said it provided “by far the strongest evidence” vapes – like cigarettes – could cause lung and oral cancer. He said it could no longer be considered “safer than smoking”, urging a wider crackdown on black market products and more public awareness of the dangers.

But Ben Youdan, director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), worries the findings will promote the view that vaping is just as bad for you as smoking.

“There’s no question it does carry risk, and I think it doesn’t change the message that it’s much, much less harmful than smoking, but not completely risk-free, and that if you smoke, vaping is a very effective way to stop smoking and will substantially reduce your risk. None of that changes at all,” he told Morning Report on Thursday.

“But I think what the issue with this particular review is that it sort of makes a sweeping statement that ‘we found these things in vaping that may cause cancer’, but it doesn’t tell us anything about the levels that they are, whether they’re actually cancer-causing levels or what the dose exposure might be.”

For example, he said, the review noted some vapes will expose users to nicotine – but only about 2 percent of what a smoker would get, a “massive risk reduction” and not a cancer risk on its own.

The fear was studies like this – and the way they have been reported – will deter smokers from using vapes as a gateway to quitting altogether.

“We have really, really high quality evidence, much of which comes from New Zealand studies that vapes are very effective in helping people stop smoking. But we also have an increasing body of evidence that people believe vaping is as, if not more harmful than smoking, which is far from the truth.

“So there’s a real concern that when we have some quite alarmist studies that don’t face scrutiny like this coming out, that we might either encourage people to switch back to smoking or even to put them off using vaping as a stop-smoking act.”

The researchers noted there was still no epidemiological link between using vapes and cancer, but proving cigarettes caused cancer took a century, and vapes had only been around for two decades.

Youdan said there was no evidence that vapes were leading Kiwi youth towards smoking, though a study last year suggested it could be slowing the move towards the country’s smokefree goal for Māori and Pasifika.

The latest Ministry of Health data showed smoking rates for both youth and adults had dropped markedly in the past 15 years.

Just 6.8 percent of adults and 3.2 percent of people aged 15-24 were daily users in the 2024/5 survey.

There was evidence however vaping amongst teenagers is now more popular than smoking was in 2011/2.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An armed man sent a manifesto to schools, the police and the government promising to “kill everyone” and become the country’s “most deadly mass shooter”, police allege.

The man – who has never had a firearms licence – is accused of possessing a pump action shotgun with more than 350 shotgun cartridges, “suspected components of an improvised explosive device” and Nazi literature, it can now be revealed.

The 20-year-old faces an array of charges including two representative charges of threatening to kill, three charges of threatening to destroy property and four representative charges of unlawful possession of firearm/explosive.

He had also been charged with three representative charges of possessing an objectionable publication – including the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto and video – and two charges of failing to carry out obligations to computer search.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

The man, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has name suppression, is set to go on trial in July. RNZ has been granted access to a court document that details the police allegations against him.

The document accused him of sending a manifesto to various addresses at 1.40am on 12 March last year.

The recipients included Waiuku College, Rutherford College, Pukekohe Police Station, Te Atatu Police Station and Parliament.

Police said the email was titled “This is my manifesto” and stated that another person was the author. It made several claims, including that the author had been “subject to constant bullying and harassment”.

“I have finished making weapons, body armour and suicide vest that will be needed for what I will do to get revenge on bullies.”

The author said they had finished 3D printing and assembling a Rogue 9 submachine gun and had about 200-300 armour piercing bullets, some 3D printed Glock magazines, a pistol and about 100 bullets.

Police alleged the email said the submachine gun and pistol had been tested and the author knew “they will work for ‘what I am going to do tomorrow morning’”.

“I have body armour so that I will not die in a shootout with police,” the manifesto was alleged to say.

According to the police the email author claimed to also be in possession of Molotov cocktails and ingredients for explosives. The manifesto also said explosives had been sent in various packages to Waiuku College, Rutherford College, Pukekohe Police Station, Te Atatu Police Station and the Beehive.

“The rest of the … explosive was in the suicide vest that I will detonate even if defeated in a gun fight and kill everyone around me.

“I will go to Rutherford College or Waiuku College early and … become New Zealand’s most deadly mass shooter.”

It also promised “a big tragedy” if there were not enough police at the school, and threatened to set schools on fire and take hostages.

“The only way out of this is for a plane to be provided to me and safe passage out of New Zealand.”

Later that morning, police said they received an online form submission to a Police Service Improvement webform link, detailing the manifesto that had been sent.

When the schools became aware of the threat students and staff had already started to arrive for school.

As a result, Waiuku College put the school into lockdown for several hours, before staff and students were sent home.

Rutherford College restricted access to the property and had armed police posted at the school for the duration of the day.

Police said they spoke with a person who had been named as the author of the manifesto. They denied being the author and instead identified the defendant as a possible suspect.

On 13 March, police raided two properties associated with the defendant.

At one of the properties, police said they found a 12-gauge pump action shotgun under his bed, as well as 359 shotgun cartridges.

They said they also found a 3D printer, a machete in sheath, blueprints showing the assembly components of an AR15 rifle and Nazi literature.

The court document said “suspected components of an improvised explosive device” were also seized from the property. This included electrical chipboards, timers and household chemicals.

While searching the other property, police said they seized a phone, an iPad, two laptops, a USB drive, a desktop computer, 134 spent shotgun shells and a large knife.

When asked for the passcodes for the iPad and one of the phones, the defendant allegedly provided incorrect passcodes.

“When suggested that he was providing the wrong passcodes, the defendant claimed not to remember the passcodes,” the court document said.

Police analysed the defendant’s devices and said they found several objectionable materials, including a copy of Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto, a video of the Christchurch mosque attacks and a copy of a manifesto written by Ryan Palmeter, who killed three people in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2023.

There were also two copies of “an instructional book on how to make explosives, weapons, drugs and other dangerous or illegal activity” and videos of the Russian Moscow ISIS concert hall terror attack and the Buffalo, New York, mass shooting.

When spoken to by police, the defendant denied being involved in any of the alleged offending.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A former Navy ship commander faced an earlier complaint of unwanted touching before she was acquitted at a court martial of inviting a junior officer to kiss her on the cheek.

Bronwyn Heslop was the commander of HMNZS Canterbury when she was alleged to have encouraged a junior officer to kiss her by tapping her own cheek in a bar, during a deployment in Fiji in March 2023.

She was found not guilty of doing an act to prejudice service discipline at a court martial in February.

The earlier complaint of touching – revealed in documents released by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) to RNZ under the Official Information Act – alleged that Commander Heslop “placed her hands on a member of the NZDF’s neck and shoulders without their consent and made comments that made them feel uncomfortable”.

Military police found there was not enough evidence to lay a charge, but the complaint did result in “administrative action” taken by command.

The NZDF said a command investigation followed the two complaints against Commander Heslop in 2024, to determine whether there was a “pattern of behaviour” inconsistent with the NZDF’s core values. It concluded with administrative actions, which can range from counselling to warnings.

Commander Heslop’s lawyer Matthew Hague said she denies any wrongdoing in relation to all the allegations.

Heslop became the first female officer to be in charge of a Royal New Zealand Navy vessel, when she took command of HMNZS Moa in 1998.

She became the ship commander of HMNZS Canterbury in April 2022, and the NZDF said she had reached the natural end of that tenure by September 2025.

She is now in a shore-based role in Military Maritime Operation Orders.

Survivor: ‘They hung her out to dry’

A survivor of sexual assault said Commander Heslop was hung out to dry while more serious sexual allegations against men in the military were dealt with behind closed doors.

Karina Andrews had her statutory name suppression lifted to speak out about the sexual abuse by her father, former Air Force Sergeant Robert Roper, which started when she was six years old.

As a child, she was interviewed by members of the Royal New Zealand Airforce in the same room as her abuser.

Andrews, who was involved in the early stages of NZDF’s Operation Respect when it was launched in 2016, said things haven’t improved as much as they should have, and that the “old boys’ club” where men in the military looked after their own was still “alive and kicking”.

Andrews said the alleged behaviour in both complaints against Commander Heslop were not fitting for a ship commander.

However, she said the alleged behaviour did not warrant a court martial, and she felts the military was prosecuting the less serious cases to show they were still doing something about the culture.

“Pretty pissed off that they would use that to say ‘hey, we’re doing something with Operation Respect’, they hung her out to dry, because they needed a win,” she said.

Andrews said if similar allegations were made against a male, it would not have resulted in a court martial.

“I know that there have been some women that have been rail-roaded into making a closed disclosure, because the military can deal with that, and nine times out of ten it is because it’s a high ranking staff member that has performed a sexual assault, that’s still the old boys looking after their own, and that hasn’t changed,” she said.

Andrews said she had spoken directly to two female NZDF staff who complained of sexual assault by male staff in the past two years, who had their complaints dealt with internally.

RNZ asked the NZDF about the allegations of its treatment of the two women, but the NZDF has not responded directly.

It said the sex of the accused person was not a factor in their decision to lay a charge in Commander Heslop’s case.

It also added that members of NZDF are free to report concerns to other independent agencies, such as the police.

Meanwhile, the Auditor General’s survey of more than 6000 defence personnel found that 78 people (1.3 percent of respondents) experienced unwanted sexual activity in the 12 months to March 2023.

It found junior uniformed women were particularly affected, with 7.2 percent of them among respondents reporting unwanted sexual activity, and 24.6 percent reporting some form of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

Andrews said she felt that the unwanted sexual behaviour was under-reported, based on her wide contacts in the military and people who had come to her for advice on how to proceed on a complaint.

NZDF said it had made significant progress with Operation Respect, since the review in 2020.

A refreshed Operation Respect strategy with a 20-year outlook was released in June 2024, it said.

NZDF: Charge needed to be laid in alleged kissing incident

The NZDF said there was a well-founded allegation of an offence under the Armed Forces Discipline Act (AFDA) regarding the alleged kissing incident, and that they were legally required to lay a charge.

It said the charge first went to summary trial, and Commander Heslop later was given the right to elect court martial – which she chose to do.

Commander Heslop’s lawyer Matthew Hague said her decision to select court martial was a necessary step to access her basic right to a fair legal process.

“A summary trial lacks the protections afforded to all other New Zealanders, such as the right to legal representation and a trial presided over by an independent Judge,” he said.

Following Commander Heslop’s electing court martial, a decision still needed to be made by the director of military prosecutions to proceed the case to court martial.

NZDF said allegations referred to the director of military prosecutions must satisfy both the evidential and public interest tests.

“If an accused at summary trial elects trial by court martial, this will normally weigh in favour of laying the charge or charges before the court martial, provided the evidential test is met,” it said.

“As the evidential test was deemed met in this case, the charges proceed to court martial,” said the NZDF.

Law professor: discretion needed in Armed Forces Discipline Act for lower level allegations

Retired Auckland University law professor Bill Hodge sat on court martial panels for sexual assault cases when he served in the US Army.

He said he was perplexed as to why Commander Heslop’s case ended up in front of a court martial.

“I wondered why it is at that level, that’s the most senior level, it’s a lot of valuable time of valuable experienced people, and it looked like they should not be spending their time on this type of case,” he said.

He said the allegations were at a relatively low level, and based on his knowledge of military courts, the allegation of soliciting a kiss on the cheek wouldn’t even have reached the level of a summary court.

Hodge however said he understands how a ship commander can be held to a higher standard.

Hodge said there needs to be more discretion in the Armed Forces Discipline Act, where even if a charge is well founded, there could be the option of selecting a form of punishment akin to “company level punishment” – such as training, warning and counselling.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington’s new Dorothy Spotswood Charity Hospital has found a home in a building on upper Cuba Street in the central city.

The Dorothy Spotswood Charity Hospital, for which the fit-out was being funded by Wellington philanthropist couple Dame Dorothy Spotswood and Sir Mark Dunajtschik, would provide surgical day services on a referral basis, mostly through GPs, for people who did not meet the criteria or faced long wait times to be seen in the public system and could not afford private treatment.

The property at 275 Cuba Street was recently purchased by local investor Mike McCombie, and the charity hospital board signed the lease just this week, with the hospital itself set to occupy its ground floor.

Hospital trust chair Dr Graham Sharpe said finding a suitable premises had been a five-year mission.

Of the three buildings they had scoped, two had turned out to be unsuitable, and the land under the third had been sold mid-process, Sharpe said, throwing their plans into disarray.

Finding a building with ample ceiling height, and which could draw the electricity required for all the medical equipment, had also been tricky.

The Cuba Street site had location on its side, near the public hospital and the main highway, which would make life easier for staff coming in from the Hutt – as would the more than 40 carparks underneath.

The fitout was set to cost $10-13 million, and running costs would be around $1.5m a year, Sharpe said.

It would be funded entirely by charitable donations, he said, and a number of philanthropic groups had already expressed an interest.

“We’ve had some very generous support from professionals, such as architects, planners and builders, many of whom have offered their services free or at a significantly reduced rate because they share our vision.”

Vito Lo Iacono, the hospital’s chief executive, explained they were leasing 900 square-metres of the 1100-square-metre floorplan, with other tenants able to lease the other floors.

The building was undergoing earthquake strengthening – set to finish in June this year – and in years to come, the hospital could consider expanding outwards and upwards within it, he said.

Right now, the space was cold and dark, the ceiling a jumble of dangling extractor tubes and wiring above a dusty concrete floor.

But Sharpe said it would soon be transformed into a reception and staff areas, two operating theatres, a recovery area catering for up to six patients, and consulting rooms.

It would only be performing day surgeries, no overnight stays, and would not be taking any patients under 18.

The concept was based on the success of the Canterbury Charity Hospital, and a similar one in Southland, with medical professionals offering their services for free around their paid schedules across the public and private sectors.

“Last time we checked, we had 42 specialist surgeons and anaesthetists willing to work for us for free,” Sharpe said.

The aim was to open next February, starting with one operating theatre for the first six months until systems were in place, Sharpe said.

At first, they would take on procedures like endoscopies and colonoscopies, before moving into eye surgery like cataracts.

The sorts of things he expected they would be doing long term were surgeries for hernias, varicose veins and cataracts.

“These sort of day-case, relatively straightforward, quick things are the very things that get dropped when there’s a problem at the hospital. Emergencies come in, or there’s illness in the staff … these sort of things just fall off the list,” Sharpe said.

“They’re not life-saving, but they are life-affirming and life-changing.”

General surgeon Dr James Tietjens, a member of the hospital’s board and among those doctors planning to volunteer their time, said he and other doctors were seeing increasing unmet need in the system.

“This is a way to try and give access to certain populations that can’t access secondary care, or even primary care at times,” he said.

“People that may meet a hospital waitlist, or meet the criteria and aren’t being seen in a timely manner, or are declined. But there’s also a large proportion of people who aren’t able to access GP care, or GPs aren’t able to get their patients into hospital.”

He expected to see a number of people with hernias and other minor surgeries through the door.

Signing the lease and locking in a location was “a big step”, he said.

“We’re very grateful for all the support we’ve had to date.”

Wellington mayor Andrew Little said signing the lease was “a fantastic step forward for the hospital and I’m delighted to see this progress”.

“Dame Dorothy and Sir Mark have been incredibly generous in their support of health in the Wellington region. Wellingtonians will be hugely grateful to Dame Dorothy and Sir Mark for backing this valuable contribution for the health of our people.

“Initiatives like this take extraordinary efforts, I commend everyone who has played a part in this great outcome.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The government has corrected a figure after being called out for overstating improvements in school attendance.

A member of the public complained to RNZ that two National Party advertisements claimed 150,000 more children attended school regularly in term four last year than at the same time in 2022.

They said Education Ministry roll figures indicated that was an over-statement.

When RNZ examined the figures it found the change between 2022 and 2025 was about 135,000 students – 15,000 short of the number claimed by the government.

But there were also a lot more children at school in the final term of 2025 than in the same term in 2022, and even if the rate of regular attendance had remained unchanged the number of regular attenders would have increased by about 65,000 students.

That meant only about 70,000 students could be attributed to improvements in attendance.

The National Party told RNZ it sourced its figures from an announcement by Associate Education Minister David Seymour in January.

That announcement said the number of regular attenders improved by “about 150,000” children between term four 2022 and term four 2025.

RNZ asked the National Party if it would correct the ad and received a response from Seymour’s office saying the figure “was based on an error” and had been corrected.

There was keen interest in attendance figures.

Regular attendance, measured as children attending more than 90 percent of the time, reached all-time lows in 2022 with schools blaming the effect of covid lockdowns in previous years and on a particularly bad run of winter illnesses.

The government had overhauled the attendance system and set a goal of 80 percent of pupils being regular attenders by 2030.

For the record, here’s our working:

In term four of 2022 there were 329,499 regular attenders and in term four 2025 there were 464,498, an increase of 134,999.

But there were more students overall in 2025 than in 2022 – just 676,384 in the final term of 2022 and 810,652 in the same term of 2025.

If the rate of regular attendance in term four last year was the same as in 2022 (48.7 percent), there would have been 394,788 regular attenders, an increase of 65,288 due solely to the overall increase in the number of students.

That meant only 69,710 of the increase in the number of regular attenders could be attributed to the rate of regular attendance improving to 57.3 percent.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

[brightcove] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6392317895112

After 14 years, the Crusaders are bidding adieu to their Addington home before packing their bags for Te Kaha.

The team’s Super Rugby Pacific clash against the Fijian Drua on Good Friday marks their final game at Christchurch’s Apollo Projects Stadium.

Home games will then be held at the new $683 million New Zealand Stadium.

The long-awaited 30,000-seat stadium in the central city, also known as Te Kaha, was officially opened last week.

Ahead of the final Super Rugby game at Addington, contractors have reflected on round-the-clock efforts to get the temporary stadium ready for the 2012 Super Rugby competition.

The critical infrastructure assignment was called for after the devastating February 2011 earthquake caused irreparable damage to Lancaster Park.

Aotea Electric contracts manager Tim Kennedy said it was a “pretty intense” project.

“Most guys were doing 90-hour weeks, which puts strain on people and families and what not. I know Paul O’Connor from Hawkins did 66 days straight without a day off, and that was pretty common for most of the people that were working [at Addington],” he said.

“Everyone made a point of saying from the start, like, if you don’t think we can deliver this by the date that we need to have the Crusaders here, you know, we’ll find something else for you to do. Because if we didn’t have 100 percent commitment from everyone here, it’s just never going to happen.”

The stadium was built on the old Rugby League Park site which had also sustained earthquake damage.

The hectic schedule forced project managers to be nimble with materials.

The floodlight towers were previously in place at Dunedin’s Carisbrook before it was demolished.

“When we needed lights up here, Carisbrook was being decommissioned,” Kennedy said.

“So they grabbed them from down there, cut the poles up, altered them a wee bit and brought them up.”

Chattels from the old Lancaster Park were also recycled for the new stadium, which was originally known as AMI Stadium.

Kennedy said the project was a significant touchstone for him personally.

“There will never be another job like this, unless there’s a natural disaster,” he said.

“Anyone that’s worked on this job talks about it all the time as the shining light in their careers, because to do what we did for a community that was broken, in that amount of time, and for the impact that it had at that time, it’s really, really special.”

In the hours before the first post-earthquake Super Rugby game in Christchurch in March 2012, there were nerves about how the venue’s power system would cope.

The potential problems feared would never materialise.

In the ensuing years the stadium had been home to rugby, football, rugby league, and outdoor concerts.

It had also undergone multiple naming rights changes – AMI Stadium, Orangetheory Stadium and finally Apollo Projects Stadium.

Venues Ōtautahi assets and facilities manager Toni Jones said he recalled the reaction of dozens of contractors before kick-off in the Crusaders-Cheetahs game on 24 March 2012.

“The Crusader horsemen went round the park and I turned round, I was standing with about 30 contractors and there were tears of joy down their faces. They were emotionally tired, but it was a phenomenal thing.

“This has been home now for 14 years. It’s not a temporary venue by any means.

“We’ve invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears and some big bucks in here to make it a permanent home.”

The venue was not perfect.

Even some of the Crusaders management staff could attest to this.

Hardy supporters often braved freezing nights at games during the middle of the year.

But on the plus-side for staunch red-and-black supporters, the cold dewy conditions regularly proved to be awkward for teams not acclimatised.

It was a graveyard for visiting teams, with the Crusaders forging an imposing 86 percent winning record across their 14 year tenancy.

The side won all 19 of their playoff matches at the venue, including victory in four finals.

Despite this dominance, Crusaders logistics manager John “Foxy” Miles admitted he was looking forward to warmer conditions

“It’s home, but it’s not your ideal home,” he said.

“The fact it was built in a hundred days is really great and really impressive. And it served a purpose for us over all those years, which was a lot longer than we all thought.

“But to be honest I won’t miss going there.”

Friday night’s swansong would also mark 150 Super Rugby games for Crusaders and All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor.

The veteran said on Wednesday, the ground held many special memories for him, including his All Blacks test debut in 2015.

“It’s the only stadium I’ve known that I’ve called home, from my debut right through to this point. It’s a special place, it’s very unique, but it’s special to us as a community down here in Christchurch.

“It’s been a long time coming and it’s been an awesome journey.”

The Wellington Phoenix’s A-League clash with Western Sydney on 18 April will be the final event at the stadium.

The Christchurch City Council is yet to decide on future plans for the site.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

David Tamihere’s murder convictions have been quashed, after nearly four decades, re-opening wounds and calling into question whether justice has actually been served

It took a jailhouse lawyer and a justice campaigner to break open a 36-year-old case and push for another day in court for David Tamihere, exposing a system that doesn’t like to think it’s made a mistake.

That’s investigative journalist Mike White’s take on the news this week that David Tamihere’s convictions for murdering Swedish tourists Heidi Paakkonen and Sven Urban Höglin have been quashed in a “remarkable decision” by the Supreme Court.

“It’s not too often that you get one of the most controversial cases in New Zealand’s history turned on its head,” says White, a senior writer for The Post and Sunday Star-Times who has written extensively about the case.

The five Supreme Court judges in a “very strong”, unanimous decision directed a retrial should be heard. The Crown prosecutor now has to decide whether to proceed with a retrial.

“It’s basically saying the Court of Appeal, our second most powerful and second most senior court in New Zealand got it really wrong,” says White.

In 2024, the Court of Appeal found there had been a miscarriage of justice but declined to quash his convictions.

White says the Supreme Court has made it clear that it is not saying that Tamihere is innocent, it is simply saying that his trial was fundamentally unfair and that the new case that has been brought by the Crown with a new scenario about the location of the Swedish couple has not been tested by a jury.

“That’s a fundamental right that David Tamihere has.

“So they [the Supreme Court Judges] are saying that Tamihere might be found guilty but to do that you need a new trial.”

White says this week’s decision is the right one in the interests of justice because so much of the evidence has been knocked out or refigured. But it also means the families of the victims have to relive the terrible events.

In today’s podcast, White sets out what happened in 1989 when Paakkonen and Höglin were reported missing on the Coromandel Peninsula, the arrest of Tamihere, his conviction and sentence.

Over the years, White has interviewed Tamihere – who has always insisted he is innocent – and spoken to people in Sweden closely connected to the case. This week it is once again front page news in Sweden and White’s story on Saturday will give that perspective.

“We think this is a New Zealand case, but this is still a very important case in Sweden which a lot of people remember and the country over there is still fascinated with.”

White details how in 2023 he broke the story about the involvement of the late property developer, Sir Bob Jones. Tamihere was in prison for less than a year when the lead investigator in Operation Stockholm, Detective Inspector John Hughes, met Sir Bob at a function. The two knew each other through their mutual interest in boxing.

“John Hughes came up to him allegedly. John Hughes had had a bit to drink and Bob Jones said that he started poking him in the chest and said, ‘I got Tamihere. We stitched him up, but he was guilty.”

Sir Bob was “absolutely adamant” that it had happened and wrote an affidavit for Tamihere’s lawyers explaining it, says White.

He says the case attracted a lot of attention, partly because it reflected badly on New Zealand.

“Here were two innocent travellers who’d come to New Zealand to enjoy what it offers and had disappeared and been murdered. All of a sudden it has sullied New Zealand’s reputation somewhat,” he says.

But there was much more to it.

“The police case against Tamihere had a lot of questions about it from the start and many more arose after Urban Höglin’s body was found, and they’ve continued.

“Everyone is trying to get to the bottom of it. It’s a whodunit in its most basic form. Like a lot of these cases, [the question is] have we got the right person and has justice been served?

“I think therefore it’s natural that journalists have continued to look at this and there have been some remarkably fine pieces of journalism written about the David Tamihere case including by Donna Chisholm, the legendary journalist, in North and South magazine.”

White says it’s not the first time a conviction has been overturned by journalists or others outside the system, like the jailhouse lawyer Arthur Taylor, private investigator Tim McKinnel and lawyer Nick Chisnall.

“What does it say? It says it’s a system that doesn’t like to contemplate that it’s made a mistake and it’s left to other people, not the authorities, not the police, not the Crown to push for the right questions to be asked and for another day in court for these people, leading to wrongful convictions being exposed,” White tells The Detail.

“This week’s decision is another example of how slowly and painfully the system works when it sometimes might have got it wrong.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The government has committed millions of dollars in extra spending to support polytechnic courses in Northland and on the South Island’s West Coast for the next five years.

Figures provided by Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds showed how the government would address concerns about the financial viability of polytechnic provision in both regions.

Simmonds announced earlier this week that the West Coast’s Tai Poutini would leave super-institute Te Pūkenga at the start of next year to become a campus of the Open Polytechnic, while NorthTec would become a stand-alone institute but within a federation model aimed at saving costs.

She said the Open Polytechnic would receive $2 million next year for its take-over of Tai Poutini, and a further $1m a year from 2028-31 to support its operations on the coast.

“This funding is intended to offset the high costs of delivery in a region with low learner demand and to ensure that essential workforce training remains available on the West Coast,” Simmonds said.

“As a condition of this funding, the Open Polytechnic must retain physical operations in the region.”

Simmonds said the polytechnic would also receive $3.1m this year and at least $2m next year from the Strategically Important Provision Fund for maintaining courses in areas where they were needed but might not be viable.

NorthTec would also receive money from the same fund – $3.6m this year, $2.75m in 2027 and a further $1.3 million per year from 2028-2031.

“While NorthTec has faced viability challenges in the past, significant progress has been made over the last year to strengthen its financial position and establish a pathway to sustainability,” Simmonds said.

She said the institute would receive $4.7m in ring-fenced reserves it had when it became part of Te Pūkenga, a further $4.5m for property consolidation, and “in-principle investment” of $34.7m for a new tertiary hub in central Whangārei, subject to a business case.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s that time of year again – but before you unwrap the chocolate bunnies, be sure you’re aware of what Easter weekend holiday closures and shop hours will be.

What will be open?

Good Friday is a public holiday, and so is Easter Monday.

However, the trading restrictions that mean many stories will close are only in effect on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The government requires retail stores to close for three-and-a-half days a year – Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and Anzac Day morning until 1pm.

Dairies, service stations and cafes are allowed to open under certain conditions.

However, to complicate things, local councils can also make some exceptions.

There are three types of exemption to the shop shutdowns:

• tourist resorts such as Taupō and Queenstown on Easter Sunday only
• places where the local council has said shops can open on Easter Sunday only
• certain kinds of shops (limited to “small grocery shops”, service stations, takeaways, bars, cafes, duty-free stores, “shops providing services” (and not selling things), real estate agencies, pharmacies, garden centres (only on Easter Sunday), public transport terminals, souvenir shops and exhibitions “devoted entirely or primarily to agriculture, art, industry and science”).

Everyone else has to keep the doors shut on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, including department stores and supermarkets.

Which means that if you’re going shopping on Thursday, you might face a horde of shoppers desperately stocking up for the prospect of a day or two without the shops open. Be prepared.

So the shops are open on Easter Monday?

Yes – although they can choose to close if they want, so check first. Supermarkets and such should generally be open though, if you need to stock up on your chocolate.

Wait, so why isn’t Easter Saturday a holiday? How come Monday is the public holiday and not Easter Sunday?

We don’t make the rules.

Will there be surcharges?

Shop owners typically cite increased wage costs for employees who work on public holidays.

Some places may add a surcharge over Easter weekend, but there are strict guidelines from the Commerce Commission about how much and when.

They’ve got to clearly disclose the surcharge in advance, not hidden behind the counter or on a note put back in the employee toilets.

Businesses can’t mislead about why they’re doing a surcharge – the Commerce Commission notes that “For example, a business must not claim it is applying a surcharge on Easter Sunday because it is a public holiday. This would be inaccurate because the only public holidays over the Easter weekend are Good Friday and Easter Monday.”

If a surcharge feels misleading, you can report it to the Commerce Commission.

What if you have to work?

You usually can only be required to work public holidays if it is stated in your employment agreement and the public holiday is on a day you will normally work.

If you’re working on a public hoilday, you generally must be paid time and a half and given a day in lieu.

Okay, so can I get a drink?

There have been restrictions about buying alcohol over Easter, but that is likely to change a little this year.

A member’s bill from Labour MP Kieran McAnulty that passed its third reading Wednesday would amend the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow premises that are already open on Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Anzac Day morning and Christmas Day to sell alcohol under normal licence conditions.

It is possible it may receive royal assent on Thursday, in time for Good Friday. However, the bill would not change rules around bottle shops or supermarket alcohol sales.

What else should I know?

While you’re at it, don’t forget that Daylight Saving time ends on Sunday, too. It’s all go this four-day weekend.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

An investigation into a near miss after a train driver ran through multiple stop signals while using his mobile phone has exposed a nationwide issue, accident investigators say.

A report released Thursday into the 2024 incident at Kereone, near Morrinsville, on the East Coast Main Trunk line found the freight train avoided collliding with another vehicle by three and a half minutes.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has called on KiwiRail to implement engineering controls that would stop trains automatically if they run red stop signals.

It said controls were already in place in some parts of the country, but had not been adopted nationwide.

The rate of Signal Passed At Danger (SPAD) incidents – where stop signals were not obeyed – across KiwiRail’s network had risen to 3.2 SPADs per million kilometres in 2025, compared to KiwiRail’s own benchmark of 1 SPAD per million kilometres, TAIC’s report said.

Records showed the rate had nearly tripled from 1.2 per million in 2020.

The commission called for stronger action from KiwiRail, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Ministry of Transport to address the high rate of SPADs.

TAIC’s chief investigator of accidents Louise Cooke said while there was evidence to suggest the driver was distracted by their mobile phone, the report was about a lot more than just distraction.

“It’s about distraction meeting a system when there’s just no safety backstop.”

Rules and procedures alone were not enough to prevent accidents, she said.

“People will make mistakes – that’s human nature – so the system must stop those mistakes before they turn into an accident.”

The near miss happened after the freight train, hauling 39 wagons, left Ruakura in Hamilton shortly after 11am, on its way to Tauranga.

Around 15 mins later, a hi-rail vehicle – a vehicle fitted wth retractable wheels that can travel on both road and rail – applying grease to railway lines, entered the tracks, travelling from Waharoa to Kereone.

At about 11.40am, the hi-rail arrived at Kereone station, entered the crossing loop – a section of double track allowing trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other – as arranged with train control.

The approaching freight train drove past a stop signal, entering Kereone station’s main line, narrowly avoided a collision with the hi-rail truck, then passed a second stop signal, entering the next section of track without authorisation from train control, who eventually raised the locomotive engineer on the radio and had him stop the train, more than two kilometres past the initial stop signal.

After stopping, the driver said he had seen “normal clear signals”, but testing found the signals were working correctly, there was nothing blocking the view, no mechanical issues, equipment faults, power outages or issues with the VHF radio system.

The commission concluded it was “virtually certain” the system was working correctly and the signals were red when the train passed, but the engineer had incorrectly interpreted them to be at ‘proceed’ instead of ‘caution to stop’ and ‘stop’.

The locomotive engineer had been employed by KiwiRail since August 2022. They completed their certification in May 2024, and passed a routine safety test in July 2024, a month before the incident.

The investigation found the engineer had sent and recieved text messages – breaking KiwiRail rules – moments after two radio conversations between the hi-rail driver and train control, and was tooting his horn at a passerby while adjusting his speed during a third radio conversation as he passed another signal.

TAIC said administrative controls were inherently vulnerable to human error or rule breaking.

Complex systems like rail transport needed engineering controls – controls built into the design of the system, like technologies that could automatically slow or stop trains that went through stop signals – the report stated.

KiwiRail’s risk controls were largely administrative, and those areas that did have engineering controls were still reliant on human performance, TAIC said.

Engineering safety systems, such as the European Train Control System (ETCS), Train Stop Protections and geofenced track limits, which monitored speeds, relayed information and automatically stopped or slowed trains operated in some parts of the country, but were not in place across KiwiRail’s network.

Nor were there engineering controls installed on KiwiRail’s hi-rail or track maintenance vehicles.

The commission recommended KiwiRail install engineering safety controls across its network.

Kiwirail chief operations officer Duncan Roy said it was considering TAIC’s recommendation.

“We are always looking at ways to increase safety in our operations and we have a well-established programme of work underway to mitigate SPAD incidents.”

The commission also recommended NZTA increased its monitoring of KiwiRail’s high SPAD ratio.

NZTA told the commission it was already undertaking routine monitoring and that Kiwirail’s SPAD performance was “under ongoing review at NZTA’s highest levels”, which meant the recommendation was not necessary.

But Cooke said the Ministry of Transport accepted the recommendation to ensure NZTA was fulfilling its safety oversight role.

“The Ministry of Transport, in their response, say they do have safety concerns around NZTA’s performance to ensure the safety of the system,” Cooke said.

The ministry told TAIC the Minister of Transport had sought the NZTA board’s assurance in writing that it had adequate transparency and oversight of the agency’s rail safety regulatory functions.

It said the ministry would conduct a rail safety a reviewlooking at whether the regulatory system had kept pace with changing contexts, whether it was achieving intended outcomes and whether those outcomes were still fit for purpose, along with recommendations for change.

The ministry said the review had been been prompted by “several safety concerns” and performance matters raised by the Minister of Transport, TAIC, the rail safety regulator and the industry, including the frequency of SPAD incidents, and “unanswered questions about whether the current system and delivery of functions represent value for money”.

TAIC had no powers to enforce recommendations, Cooke said.

KiwiRail told the commission a SPAD mitigation programme focused on Auckland metro rail was underway and would be rolled out to its wider network, as well as a project to look at engineering solutions for hi-rail vehicles.

TAIC was concened the roll out was not happening fast enough, Cooke said.

“There are many engineering controls that could be put in place now to prevent a situation where a driver makes a mistake and it turns into an accident.”

It was frustrating to have to repeat the same recommendations found in earlier incidents, especially when the consequences were so great, she said.

In 2023, KiwiRail’s Hamilton to Auckland passenger train service Te Huia was banned from entering Auckland after drivers ran through red signal lights on two occasions.

At the time, the subsequent TAIC report called for a common engineering solution to be put in place across KiwiRail services, Auckland One Rail and track contractors.

Auckland One Rail – which was contracted to operate Auckland’s commuter train services on behalf of Auckland Transport – had European Train Control System technology fitted on its trains and infrastructure, and had a far lower SPAD ratio, the commission found.

In February 2025, Auckland Transport chair Richard Leggat wrote to KiwiRail expressing serious concerns about SPAD incidents on the metro rail retwork, warning of the potential for “catastrophic incidents” and multiple fatalities.

The frequency of SPAD incidents involving Kiwirail’s trains required “urgent intervention”, and Leggat called on KiwiRail to accelerate its project to implement ETCS.

AT understood Kiwirail’s SPAD frequency rate on the Auckland network topped 10 per million kilometres between February 2024 and February 2025, compared to international levels of less than one to two events per million kilometres, the letter said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

An armed man sent a manifesto to schools, the police and the government promising to “kill everyone” and become the country’s “most deadly mass shooter”, police allege.

The man – who has never had a firearms licence – is accused of possessing a pump action shotgun with more than 350 shotgun cartridges, “suspected components of an improvised explosive device” and Nazi literature, it can now be revealed.

The 20-year-old faces an array of charges including two representative charges of threatening to kill, three charges of threatening to destroy property and four representative charges of unlawful possession of firearm/explosive.

He had also been charged with three representative charges of possessing an objectionable publication – including the Christchurch terrorist’s manifesto and video – and two charges of failing to carry out obligations to computer search.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

The man, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has name suppression, is set to go on trial in July. RNZ has been granted access to a court document that details the police allegations against him.

The document accused him of sending a manifesto to various addresses at 1.40am on 12 March last year.

The recipients included Waiuku College, Rutherford College, Pukekohe Police Station, Te Atatu Police Station and Parliament.

Police said the email was titled “This is my manifesto” and stated that another person was the author. It made several claims, including that the author had been “subject to constant bullying and harassment”.

“I have finished making weapons, body armour and suicide vest that will be needed for what I will do to get revenge on bullies.”

He said he had finished 3D printing and assembling a Rogue 9 submachine gun and had about 200-300 armour piercing bullets, some 3D printed Glock magazines, a pistol and about 100 bullets.

Police alleged the email said the submachine gun and pistol had been tested and the author knew “they will work for ‘what I am going to do tomorrow morning’”.

“I have body armour so that I will not die in a shootout with police,” the manifesto was alleged to say.

According to the police the email author claimed to also be in possession of Molotov cocktails and ingredients for explosives. The manifesto also said explosives had been sent in various packages to Waiuku College, Rutherford College, Pukekohe Police Station, Te Atatu Police Station and the Beehive.

“The rest of the … explosive was in the suicide vest that I will detonate even if defeated in a gun fight and kill everyone around me.

“I will go to Rutherford College or Waiuku College early and … become New Zealand’s most deadly mass shooter.”

It also promised “a big tragedy” if there were not enough police at the school, and threatened to set schools on fire and take hostages.

“The only way out of this is for a plane to be provided to me and safe passage out of New Zealand.”

Later that morning, police said they received an online form submission to a Police Service Improvement webform link, detailing the manifesto that had been sent.

When the schools became aware of the threat students and staff had already started to arrive for school.

As a result, Waiuku College put the school into lockdown for several hours, before staff and students were sent home.

Rutherford College restricted access to the property and had armed police posted at the school for the duration of the day.

Police said they spoke with a person who had been named as the author of the manifesto. They denied being the author and instead identified the defendant as a possible suspect.

On 13 March, police raided two properties associated with the defendant.

At one of the properties, police said they found a 12-gauge pump action shotgun under his bed, as well as 359 shotgun cartridges.

They said they also found a 3D printer, a machete in sheath, blueprints showing the assembly components of an AR15 rifle and Nazi literature.

The court document said “suspected components of an improvised explosive device” were also seized from the property. This included electrical chipboards, timers and household chemicals.

While searching the other property, police said they seized a phone, an iPad, two laptops, a USB drive, a desktop computer, 134 spent shotgun shells and a large knife.

When asked for the passcodes for the iPad and one of the phones, the defendant allegedly provided incorrect passcodes.

“When suggested that he was providing the wrong passcodes, the defendant claimed not to remember the passcodes,” the court document said.

Police analysed the defendant’s devices and said they found several objectionable materials, including a copy of Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto, a video of the Christchurch mosque attacks and a copy of a manifesto written by Ryan Palmeter, who killed three people in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2023.

There were also two copies of “an instructional book on how to make explosives, weapons, drugs and other dangerous or illegal activity” and videos of the Russian Moscow ISIS concert hall terror attack and the Buffalo, New York, mass shooting.

When spoken to by police, the defendant denied being involved in any of the alleged offending.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s 9am on a Thursday as the rain hammers rooftops and a strong wind shakes down leaves.

Inside, Tasha Langi is busily preparing an order and chatting away with an audience of 64 on her phone screen.

“Do you still work with BBM? We don’t work with them, but we always see them,” she answered a question from one viewer.

“Nice and easy this morning. My baby wanted me to just sit with him last night, so I had to start the bulk orders a little bit later than usual,” she said as she gave the viewers a glimpse into her life.

Tasha is among a growing group of Kiwis who are turning to TikTok livestreams to promote their businesses.

According to TikTok, two million people watch livestreams across Australia and New Zealand, but exactly how many Kiwis are broadcasting their lives live remains unclear.

Tasha and her husband, James run a protein dessert company, Fit Prepp, from Manurewa.

James said they were social media savvy, but livestreaming was a new territory.

“We’ve only done live streaming for two weeks now and we’re still learning, but we enjoy it. When you’re putting your face and who you are behind (the business) it builds another relationship. It builds something better.”

They started going live after customers suggested it, and it’s already paying off with new orders and memorable interactions.

Tasha said recently, a customer and her father visited them after watching their content.

“She came down with her dad and got our tubs and that was really nice. She said her and her dad had been watching us for months and months. He’s been cheering us on from afar. And then she sent me a heartfelt email because she just felt like we were a part of her family in the way we just brought her into our home and expressed our gratitude.”

Palmerston North-based artist Emilie Geant who livestreams her art making process has a theory why livestreaming is different from other social media promotions.

“The issue with social media is everyone is only showing the shiny part of being an artist. I like that on TikTok that’s a little bit less shiny. People are a bit more real and genuine. I think people need to understand that running an art business, it looks really cool, but it’s actually a lot of work, a lot of admin work.”

She said showing the “less shiny” part of her work broke down the barrier between an artist and the customer.

“It’s not just a painting, it’s a person behind the painting. (In my livestreams) I’m explaining why I’m doing what I’m doing, why I’m making the choice visually. So people get attached more emotionally and I had more followers thanks to the livestreams, and also more sales online.”

And livestreaming itself has become an important revenue stream for some creators.

Lower Hutt musician Charles Humphreys has been livestreaming since 2022, showcasing his work up to five times a week.

“It’s multi-level rewarding. I will get paid from the TikTok stream. I will get rewarded by people listening to my original music, which is out there. I will get rewarded by the fan base growing. I’m also making great connections with other artists around the world.”

While most days he has an audience in the hundreds, one Tuesday he hosted a crowd of 9000 for 12 minutes.

His livestreams are so popular that they attracted the attention of TikTok, who asked him to be the opening act for this year’s TikTok Live Fest in Las Vegas.

Humphreys said some times, he can make close to $10,000 a month, while he made very little on others.

But he prepares for each streaming session equally with a full suit, professional sound equipment, and a studio filled with neon lights.

“I’m not there playing a game. I’m absolutely there 100 percent to perform. One day you got an audience of 100 and you make $6000. And another day you might find that you’re talking to some place in the world where money’s not so good. But you still perform anyway because they deserve it as well.”

Livestreaming has helped him reach audiences from all over the world, all walks of life. “Some of them can’t go anywhere. Some of them just feel like, you know what, I’m never going to make it to a concert hall. I can’t afford $200 to go and see whoever the artist is, but I can afford to give a little bit of time on TikTok to Charles. And he makes me feel like there’s a little bit of hope in the world and there is a place where I can be happy and we can have a laugh.”

And if you are aching to showcase your talent, Humphreys has a piece of advice.

“So if you’re one of those people who feels like they’d like to share something about themselves, just do it. Forget the intimidation, forget the feeling of not being able to or not being capable. Just do it.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Pharmac needs more staff and a bigger operational budget to speed-up decisions on drug funding, say patient advocates.

In a report released today, the agency has been criticised for a focus on cost efficiency over health outcomes, and for slow decision-making and backlogs.

The report – written by Patient Voice Aotearoa and Medicines New Zealand and titled “Valuing Life – Medicines Access Summit 2025 Report” – is based off the findings of a two-day hui at Parliament in October last year.

Hosted by Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Health responsible for Pharmac David Seymour, the event brought together 180 people, including patient groups, clinicians, government officials, academics, and pharmaceutical industry representatives for a series of panels and workshops.

The report highlighted progress and persistent gaps in the country’s medicines system, noting “while some progress has been made, delivery remains uneven” and several foundational reforms “have not been started or addressed fully”.

Key findings highlighted in the report include:

• Progress is fragile without political leadership and accountability
• New Zealand continues to lag behind OECD peers
• Pharmac continues to be greatly underfunded
• Patients’ groups and clinicians are calling for a system that values timeliness, transparency, and lived experience
• Global pressures are reshaping medicines access
• A call for partnership and long‑term reform

Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Dr Malcolm Mulholland said two thirds of those recommendations had seen progress made since the summit, but a third were yet to see action.

Mulholland is also the chair of the consumer and patient working group, which was set up last year to work alongside Pharmac’s board overseeing a 12-month reset programme currently underway, which is aimed at making Pharmac more open and responsive.

“[Pharmac] are going to need a bigger a bigger operations budget to do a lot of the work around the health technology assessment,” he said.

“If we’re looking to speed it up, ultimately they are going to need more staff in those positions, so that’s why the operations budget is so important.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis referred questions to Seymour’s office.

Seymour said while it was still a work in progress, for the first time in years Pharmac was “genuinely moving in the right direction”.

“We’ve given patients a stronger voice, appointed a consumer working group, and made Pharmac more transparent. We will continue to push Pharmac in the direction the patient community wants.

“Five years ago many of the Medicines Summit attendees would have been picketing outside Pharmac. This year, they were having genuine conversations with each other and Pharmac’s leadership about how to deliver the best service for Kiwis.”

This government had allocated a budget of $6.294 billion over four years, and a $604 million uplift.

“With that money, Pharmac has made 133 decisions to fund or widen access to medicines. This includes decisions on 46 cancer medicines. Over 200,000 patients have benefited.”

Pharmac chief executive Natalie McMurtry said Pharmac had appreciated the opportunity to attend the summit for the past two years, and it had provided an invaluable opportunity to hear first-hand from patients, advocates, suppliers and clinicians.

Since then, they had recruited more health economists to increase Pharmac’s capacity to assess funding applications, she said, and were trailing faster, more efficient assessment pathways which were showing early signs of success.

“We are also exploring how adopting a societal perspective can help us better demonstrate the value of new treatments, particularly when considering significant investments.

“Recently, we launched a review of our Exceptional Circumstances Framework, which allows Pharmac to consider funding medicines for certain individuals in special or exceptional clinical situations.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A return trip between Auckland and Whangārei could cost drivers $14.20 in tolls, if a proposal for the planned Northland Expressway goes ahead.

That means commuters travelling daily between Northland and the country’s biggest city would pay around $3400 a year in tolls.

The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi is currently consulting on tolls for the planned Warkworth to Te Hana section of the Northland Corridor, which is to be built as a public-private partnership (PPP) under the government’s Roads of National Significance programme.

The proposal is for two electronic toll gates on the 26km stretch of expressway, the southern one charging $3 and the northern one $1.50.

The Northern Gateway motorway, from the North Shore to Pūhoi, already charges a toll of $2.60.

Added to the new tolls, that would make a total of $7.10 each way or $14.20 return between Auckland and the Northland border.

Trucks would pay $6 and $3 on the new expressway and $5.20 on the Northern Gateway, adding up to $14.20 each way or $28.40 return.

For Anna Giddens – who lives in Mangawhai but works four days a week at the University of Auckland, it could mean around $2600 a year in tolls – if she had to pass through all three electronic gates.

If she could avoid the northernmost toll gate she would still pay $2100 a year.

“Obviously it’s an added cost. It just seems like everything keeps going up, it would be added on top of everything else.”

Giddens said she would have to absorb the extra cost herself, but it would not be “a deal breaker” that would force her to quit her Auckland job.

“It’s not ideal, but I could cope with it. But I can imagine it could affect some people more.”

She said it would also affect businesses using the highway, which would have to pass the extra costs onto customers.

Giddens questioned the equity of requiring Northlanders to pay tolls while other recently completed roads – such as the Waikato Expressway and Transmission Gully, both of which cost more than $2 billion – were toll-free.

“I understand that the cost of this is incredibly high. It’s probably the highest cost for a road construction project in this country ever, and I guess we don’t have the money. But it does seem disproportionate that the North is being tolled, compared to other parts of the country.”

Giddens said the answer for her would be to find work closer to home, but that was not easy in the current job market.

In any case, she did not have to worry about paying the extra tolls anytime soon – work on the first section of the expressway was due to start at the end of this year, and was expected to open around 2034.

The consultation document showed the new tolls could be levied for either 35 or 60 years.

Automobile Association senior policy analyst Sarah Geard said equity was one of the issues members raised most often about the tolling proposal – especially given Northland’s low median income.

Only two other roads were currently tolled in New Zealand, both in Tauranga.

“A point to make here is that in 2024 the government instructed NZTA that they do need to consider tolling on every new road … so we expect that will be the norm from this point.”

Geard said the AA was open to tolling if it meant new roads would be built sooner.

“And that means people who choose to use the road will benefit earlier than they otherwise would. I also note that under legislation, there must always be a feasible, untolled alternative route available to people who don’t want to use the toll roads, so that’s always an option,” she said.

“But we’re very mindful that tolls do mean extra cost to motorists, and we recognise there is already a toll road between Auckland and Whangārei.”

Geard said the AA had yet to decide its position on the Warkworth to Te Hana proposal.

The organisation was still working through information from NZTA to understand why the proposed toll was $4.50, why it was split into two tolls of differing amounts, and how the tolls would affect the number of vehicles using the new road.

New Zealand’s trucking industry also supported tolling if it sped up roading projects – but had reservations about the details of the Warkworth to Te Hana plan.

Paula Rogers, commercial transport specialist for the National Road Carriers (NRC), said about 1000 heavy trucks travelled between Auckland and Northland every day, transporting everything from food and fuel to logs and building materials.

She said the industry was pleased the new route would bypass Dome Valley, which was notorious for crashes and delays.

If tolling brought forward the project and its safety and efficiency benefits, that was a positive for all road users, Rogers said.

However, NRC had concerns about the methodology used to arrive at a toll of $9 for heavy vehicles.

Including the existing toll, that added up to $28.40 per return trip.

“Given the high frequency of freight movements along this corridor, these cumulative costs become significant for transport operators and are ultimately passed through to customers and the wider economy.”

Rogers said NRC wanted greater transparency around how NZTA had arrived at the proposed tolls, and whether the cumulative impact of multiple tolls on freight costs had been considered.

According to the NZTA’s consultation documents, the new Warkworth-Te Hana road would shave 7-10 minutes off travel times compared to the existing road.

It would also reduce the number and severity of crashes, especially in the Dome Valley, which was known for its “safety and resilience challenges”.

NZTA said tolling would allow the PPP to get started sooner, and free up money for other roading projects.

The reason for proposing separate toll points north and south of the Wayby Valley interchange was to make it fairer – motorists would pay according to how much of the new road they used – and to prevent congestion caused by large number of drivers diverting onto free local roads.

The new road would run west of and parallel to Dome Valley, before crossing the existing State Highway 1 and passing east of the notorious summer chokepoint at Wellsford.

It would rejoin the existing highway at Te Hana, just south of the Northland border and about 20km south of the Brynderwyn Hills.

The existing section of State Highway 1 would be reclassified as a local road and would be free to use.

Eventually two more sections of Northland Expressway would be built, from Te Hana over the Brynderwyns to Port Marsden Highway, and from Port Marsden Highway to Whangārei.

Each section was expected to have its own tolls.

The tolls being consulted on are based on 2025 prices, so could be adjusted for inflation.

NZTA documents show the Northern Gateway, which opened in 2009, is expected to be tolled until about 2045.

Public consultation on the Warkworth to Te Hana proposal runs until 15 April.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A section of a central Auckland street has been blocked after a car caught fire.

The blaze in a hatchback vehicle happened outside the ferry terminal building on Wednesday evening.

Firefighters had extinguished the flames and were monitoring the car.

Video from the scene showed flames and smoke billowing from the car.

A reporter at the scene said the car had been “destroyed” by the fire.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

West Coast families are being left to manage complex health needs at home because of a shortage of aged care beds, the Aged Care Association says.

The association is calling on the government to establish a dedicated infrastructure fund to increase bed numbers and to recognise aged care as a critical component of the health system.

Chief executive Tracey Martin said there were providers ready to build and expand bed numbers but they were unable to do so because of a lack of funding support.

More than 50 aged residential care beds had been lost in the Buller district in the past decade after the withdrawal of Health New Zealand services in Reefton and Westport.

The impact was being felt across the health system and the problem was entirely fixable, Martin said.

O’Conor Home, Westport’s only aged care residence, had 20 people on its waiting list, including eight who had been assessed as requiring residential care but could not access it locally.

Ziman House, Reefton’s 12-bed aged care residence, permanently closed in 2024 – two years after it shut suddenly because of unsustainable staffing levels.

Martin said with no beds available, older people remained in hospital unnecessarily or were forced to leave their communities to receive care.

Recently an older person nearing the end of their life spent more than a month in a West Coast hospital assessment, support and rehabilitation unit because no aged care bed was available and they could not return home.

“This is what happens when aged care is not recognised as health care,” Martin said.

“These are people who have been clinically assessed as needing care. When there is no aged care bed available, they don’t stop needing care – they stay in hospital or families are left to manage complex health needs at home.”

The consequences extended beyond individual families and placed additional pressure on already stretched hospital and emergency services, she said.

West Coast had one of the oldest populations in the country with more than a quarter of residents aged over 65 – almost double the national average.

Beds would not be built and hospitals would continue to carry the cost until aged care was treated as core health infrastructure and funded accordingly, Martin said.

“If aged care is health care – and it is – then it must be planned, funded and invested in as part of the health system,” she said.

“Right now we are seeing the consequences of not doing so. People are stuck in hospital beds, families are under pressure and communities are losing the ability to care for their own.”

Last year Westland mayor Helen Lash told RNZ people in need of aged care support often left the West Coast because there were no facilities for them.

Radius Residential Care was granted approval in principle by Westland District Council last September for a new aged-care home and village on part of the former Hokitika racecourse site.

It will include an 80-bed care facility, 50-villa retirement village and home care services along with a rest home, hospital and specialised dementia care.

Lash said it was a win for all generations and would benefit the entire community.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A body has been found in a central Otago lake during the search for missing French national Antoine Richard.

Richard, 21, was last seen on 21 March, about 11.45pm at the Victoria Arms Hotel on the corner of Achil St and Melmore Terrace in Cromwell.

A police spokesperson said a body had been found at Cromwell’s Lake Dunstan by a member of the public just after 2.30pm on Wednesday.

While no formal identification had been completed, the spokesperson said it was believed to be Richard.

The death would be referred to the Coroner.

“The community support and search efforts have been extremely appreciated. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this difficult time.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A rush to deliver police new powers has not been matched by promised government funding for the technology needed to carry out those powers.

Police need two new or improved tech systems – one to handle the photos of people and other data generated by enhanced intelligence gathering; and one to issue new infringements under a Bill before parliament.

Official papers say enhanced data management will be “essential to building and maintaining public trust and confidence” and to “establish appropriate constraints” around what data police collected and how they used it.

RNZ inquiries show police are paying for the new infringements system out of an “underspend” last year, and there is no funding for a new data management system.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell was told by police last year that “an important complement to the immediate statutory reform we are progressing, will be the need to consider opportunities to enhance police information management and data protection and security measures”.

Another official paper, written six months ago, said: “This work is likely to be significant and will likely require a business case to be developed, for consideration in a future Budget cycle.”

But Mitchell’s office told RNZ this week: “To clarify, the aim is for police to find solutions through enhancing existing technologies. No additional funding has been sought at this stage.”

Mitchell said he could not comment on any work underway on the development of a newly funded Digital Evidence Management System “as clearly an investment of this kind would require additional funding, likely through a Budget process”.

Legislation and technology ‘in parallel’

Official papers mentioned the significance and complexity of the proposed law changes, and how building better data systems to implement them was a matter of trust.

“Police will progress enhancements to data management controls and assurance processes in parallel with the development and progression of the bill and will continue

following commencement of the legislation,” said one.

“These enhancements will be essential to building and maintaining public trust and confidence in police’s information management practices and treatment of personal information and helping ensure compliance with relevant Privacy Act obligations and principles.”

Police told Mitchell in a proactively-released briefing in May: “It is important that, as we establish lawful authority to record visual and other information, we have information systems that enable us to ensure effective storage, retention, searching and destruction of these images.”

This was partly because it was poor data and evidence handling by police that led to a 2022 inquiry and a Supreme Court ruling last year that constrained their powers.

Police were criticised in 2022 for the haphazard storage and handling of tens of thousands of casually-taken photos of Māori youth and others. Attempts by police to put better technology in place missed a deadline set by the Privacy Commissioner.

Not looking – or looking?

Police told RNZ last week they were not looking at any data tech options.

“As this bill has only just begun going through the parliamentary process police has not yet commenced work to investigating supporting technologies that may be required in preparation for implementation,” they said.

But this week they said they were “continuing” to work on the most effective means of managing data. “We are looking at our existing technology and at additional opportunities presented via things such as our Digital Notebook app.”

The papers showed that police had been pushing since last May for “urgent” law change – the earliest date put forward to enact it was by December 2025.

Mitchell responded enthusiastically, but police had to ease up when early engagement with the Justice Ministry and Privacy Commissioner “highlighted the level of challenge likely to be encountered” while noting that “Police has not been well positioned to respond to those concerns to date.”

Freeing up new intel-gathering tech

One driver of the Bill – and of the need to upgrade to a digital evidence management system – was so that new technologies such as body-worn cameras could be introduced more easily.

“The methods and channels by which police collects personal information have changed as a result of technological developments,” said the regulatory impact statement.

“New technology capabilities are supporting policing practices here and internationally, and are creating new opportunities for more effective policing.”

The papers listed other intelligence-gathering tech police might want to harness more: “Mobile phones, high-resolution cameras, drones, Police Eagle helicopter footage, Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera networks in urban and rural locations, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), retail camera convergence platforms (for example, Auror and SaferCities), online open-source search tools, waste-water testing, and geospatial and geolocation tools.”

They also noted how “some of this personal information may have an unknown specific intelligence use at the time of collection” – so the Bill sought to give police the freedom to use it in future.

Critics have voiced concerns that this opens the gate too far, without setting up strong safeguards.

Enhanced information systems were seen as a safeguard. “Further information management investment will assist with strengthening these safeguard [sic], ensuring police is meeting its current requirements, and maintaining public trust and confidence,” said the impact statement.

“Whether any investment required will be met through existing baseline, or through a Budget bid, would be addressed through any necessary assessment.”

New infringement system this year

Lack of funding has also delayed replacement of the Police Infringement Processing System (PIPS) for at least eight years, despite it being overloaded and unable to process anything other than traffic offences.

It had to be replaced for the amendment Bill to be implemented this year.

The Bill would give police new powers to detain and fine people in areas they have declared temporarily off-limits, and the old PIPS could not handle this.

Mitchell told RNZ its replacement would be completed this year, but gave no firm date.

The government aims to enact the policing amendment Bill after the select committee reports back in July.

“Police is developing a phased programme of work to transition to the new system which will support enforcement of the new infringement offences as well as existing infringements,” Mitchell said.

“No new funding has been allocated to this development. The system has been funded from Vote Police underspend from the 2024/5 financial year.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Waitaki District Council has been welcomed back into the Southern Waters partnership it abandoned last year.

The council announced its plans to team up with Central Otago, Clutha and Gore district councils again to deliver drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services after the Department of Internal Affairs rejected its in-house water services plan.

On Wednesday, the Clutha District Council approved the Waitaki’s return – the last of the partnership to sign off the addition.

Mayor Jock Martin said it made sense for southern district councils to be in this together.

“There’s a real opportunity to share expertise and develop longer-term strategies as the different entities invest in better infrastructure,” he said.

The next step will be for the Waitaki District Council to consider and adopt the partnership paperwork later this month.

If the council agrees to adopt the documents, it will become the fourth shareholding council in the partnership less than a year after backing out.

Southern Waters will kick in from July next year.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say it is extremely unlikely that a man who went overboard from the Interislander ferry earlier this week has survived.

The man had not been located and searchers had been stood down.

Wellington District Commander Superintendent Penny Gifford said police were advised of the missing man at 2.20am on Tuesday morning.

“This was a full ferry sailing, and the vehicle disembarkation process took about 50 minutes. At the end of that process, the ship’s crew found that a vehicle was still onboard and began a search of the ship for the person associated with it.

“Initial enquiries were undertaken, including further searches of the vessel and attempts to contact the man,” Gifford said.

Gifford said CCTV camera footage from the Kaiārahi ferry confirmed the man went into the water just after 11pm – about two hours after the ship departed Picton.

“Following confirmation of this, the Police Maritime Unit and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) were formally engaged shortly after 4am, and a co-ordinated maritime search and rescue operation was initiated,” she said.

Gifford said multiple Police, Coastguard and aerial assets were deployed to find the man and drift modelling was used to guide search activity.

“Weather conditions deteriorated throughout the day, reducing the effectiveness of surface searching. Expert advice received indicated survivability was extremely unlikely,” Gifford said.

She said the Maritime surface search in the area had been completed but broadcasts requesting vessels in the area to keep watch for the man would continue.

Police were in contact with the man’s next of kin and the Coroner’s office had been advised.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Larvae from a type of exotic mosquito that can carry deadly diseases have been found in downtown Auckland.

The National Public Health Service had launched a surveillance and interception programme after the discovery of the aedes aegypti larvae in a trap near Queens wharf.

The mosquito breed could carry diseases including dengue fever, yellow fever, zika virus and chikungunya virus.

The service said exotic species were occasionally found at ports and airports.

It said the larvae was not considered a public health or biosecurity threat yet because there was no indication they had become established.

But it was doing intensive monitoring for at least three weeks.

The monitoring would take place within a 400m radius of the site where the larvae was identified. Health Protection Officers would place mosquito traps in the survey area.

“These have been hidden away from plain sight so they are not disturbed, for example in old tyres, bushes or pools of water. We ask members of the public to avoid touching or disturbing these traps if they find them, as it may disrupt our monitoring and trapping efforts,” medical officer of health Dr David Sinclair said.

If anyone saw dead mosquitoes near Queens Wharf or within the survey area, for example in puddles or pools of water, they should report it to 0800 669 943.

Sinclair said New Zealanders were most at risk from diseases transmitted by mosquitoes when travelling overseas, including to Pacific Island countries and territories where dengue fever was known to be present.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Council spent more than $100,000 fighting a group of aggrieved dog owners in court.

After a local board removed an off-leash dog area at Monte Cecilia Park in central Auckland, locals created the Dog Lovers of Monte Cecilia Incorporated Society to challenge the decision with a judicial review, which took place at the High Court in February.

Information supplied by the council under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), which RNZ has seen, shows the council spent $109,768.41 responding to the legal action brought against it between July 2025 and March 2026.

That included hiring a King’s Counsel, Katherine Anderson, to represent them in court.

The Dog Lovers Of Monte Cecilia were represented by lawyer George Barton, who took on their case pro bono.

The group raised almost $13,000 to cover other legal fees.

Justice Andrew Becroft is yet to release his judgment on the matter. But in court, he urged the two sides to find a resolution outside of the courtroom.

“For what is an area the size of a running track, there is vast resources being sunk into this by the Council, and there’s a huge amount of work going into this.

“I don’t want to diminish anybody’s emotional connection to the area or to their dogs. But you’d think for what is a reasonably small area, that there might be a way of resolving it short of both sides throwing the legal kitchen sink at the decision-making.”

Auckland Council’s general counsel, Meredith Webb, said the council would attempt to recover costs should a ruling fall in their favour.

“Judicial reviews, like this one, are litigation brought against the council, so we have no choice but to respond and incur costs to defend the claim.

“We have sought to deliver this litigation as cost-effectively as possible, using our internal team who appeared together with an external barrister at the hearing.

“Costs were larger than initially anticipated due to an interlocutory application that was later withdrawn by the applicant, the need to respond to lengthy legal submissions filed by the applicant and unexpected procedural steps.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was critical of the Dog Lovers group and their legal bid.

“It’s a disgraceful waste of money brought by a small group of people who don’t understand the costs that they inflict on society.”

Spokesperson Jonathan Sweeney said while he was frustrated by the amount of ratepayers’ money spent, the Monte Cecilia community had a right to speak out against what they considered to be an overwhelmingly unpopular decision.

“Eighty-eight percent of people disagreed with the local board as part of the council’s public consultation.

“The council’s own staff said to maintain the status quo.

“All we have done is stand up for ourselves and say, we don’t agree with what you’re doing.”

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