Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Analysis – A flood of “fake NZ news” pages are swamping social media with misleading slop, including using AI to animate still photos of a Mount Maunganui landslide victim.

Dodgy Facebook pages devoted to churning out AI-generated images and videos are almost unavoidable on the site now – and they’re still fooling an awful lot of people.

In an investigation I conducted for the Australian Associated Press, a Facebook page calling itself “NZ News Hub” – which has no connection whatsoever to the now-defunct Newshub – has been pushing out dozens of posts a week that take the legitimate reporting by news organisations including RNZ, the New Zealand Herald, Stuff and others, and add sloppy AI-generated images or videos to them.

In one case, a video was posted that grotesquely animates a still photo of a 15-year-old Mount Maunganui landslide victim, making her appear to dance.

The page’s bio proclaims “NZ News Hub brings you the latest New Zealand news, breaking stories, politics, business, sport, and community updates”, but it does not appear to contain any original reporting.

For instance, on Waitangi Day, the page published a post that appeared to be a video of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Waitangi, but was clearly generated by AI.

Nevertheless, the page, which has nearly 5000 followers, has dozens of people “liking” and commenting on its posts as if they were real. Many of their followers appear to be business pages and even include a few politicians.

Attempts by AAP to get “NZ News Hub” to comment went unanswered.

Andrew Lensen, a senior lecturer in AI and programme director at Victoria University of Wellington, said that the “News Hub” page’s images were clearly AI-generated.

“These pages want to get as much engagement (reactions, comments, shares) as possible, in order to build their following/exposure and potential ad revenue,” he told me for my AAP piece.

The easy availability of AI tools now has made it possible for pretty much anyone to launch a “fake news” factory, with little moderation by tech giants to keep the flood at bay. Many fake pictures show a “SynthID” watermark indicating Google’s AI tools were used to create them – but you have to know how to find that watermark in the first place.

The Mount Maunganui disaster that killed six people led to a flurry of AI slop online, as RNZ has previously reported.

Many images circulating on social media don’t look like the actual site at all, another AAP investigation found.

False information about the victims has also been circulating.

A still photo that was provided by NZ Police to the media of victim Sharon Maccanico, 15, dancing was animated by NZ News Hub in a post to make it look as if the teenager was doing almost impossibly acrobatic dance moves, set to a jaunty soundtrack.

NZ News Hub has taken many recent RNZ stories and reposted large portions of the reporting while adding misleading AI tweaks to them.

One post took a recent press conference by Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis and used a still image taken by an RNZ photographer to create an AI video of them speaking about the upcoming November election.

Another recent post referred to RNZ reporter Tim Brown’s recent pieces on Tauranga parents mourning their daughter’s suicide, but used AI to animate an RNZ image so the couple appeared to be smiling at each other. Brown confirmed no such video was taken by RNZ.

Many images do bear the hallmarks of AI, but others are harder to discern. Still, there are typically tells.

An image claiming to be of police officers responding to recent anti-immigration protests in Auckland shows the “police” all have incorrect uniforms and extremely blurred and distorted faces. While another picture that claims to be from police operations to recover a drowning victim on the Mahurangi River last month has so-called police with “POPFIL” written on the back of their uniforms – and the river shown doesn’t look anything like the actual river.

Even the iconic NZ kererū isn’t immune to AI tinkering. A story RNZ ran last week about the dangers of the native wood pigeon running into windows was picked up, but the image was bafflingly replaced with an AI-generated bird that doesn’t look anything like a kererū.

It’s possible some of the AI images are being used to avoid copyright wrangles by stealing legitimate news websites’ photos, Lensen said.

“Trust in journalism is already a huge concern, and any source that presents itself as a fake source of news will just increase distrust further,” Lensen told me.

Many false Facebook pages also churn out stories about celebrities with enticing headlines promising “truths REVEALED” and scandalous information, which is rarely borne out in the actual copy. Such stories often link to exterior websites laden with pop-up ads and trying to build up traffic and clicks to eventually earn revenue.

This “NZ News Hub” is hardly alone out there in slop-land. Pretty much every news event you can think of, whether it’s a shark attack in Australia, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or the assassination of Charlie Kirk, has had fake news posts and images smothering social media within minutes of the event.

Many of these pages are actually run from countries that are nowhere near where the news came from, such as Vietnam or Malaysia, Facebook page transparency information shows.

Even if Facebook acts on these specific pages, dozens of copycats will likely crop up instantly.

There are multiple sites sharing fake NZ AI news images already. False images and videos can be widely seen on TikTok, Instagram, X and many more too, of course.

It’s part of the general social media platform decay that has been christened “enshittification” by author Cory Doctorow.

Lensen said he felt pages such as NZ News Hub showed traditional media should be very cautious on using AI in their reporting.

“As AI slop becomes more and more widespread online, people may turn back to these established platforms as a trusted source. But if the established platforms also use AI, then where do we go for the truth?”

RNZ has a series of AI principles that are available online and will generally not publish, broadcast or otherwise knowingly disseminate work created by generative AI.

Many of the “NZ News Hub” posts have been reported to Meta, owner of Facebook, but as of this writing they’re still up.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Should primary and intermediate schools teach children to type so they are ready for online exams at high school?

A Qualifications Authority report shows the Minister of Education Erica Stanford last year pondered whether to include touch-typing in the school curriculum because of the rise of digital tests and other forms of assessment.

“Does the description in the English learning area between years 4 and 8 give enough emphasis, direction, and detail to support students with the skills they need to type fluently in an online assessment? Should we be teaching students to touch type?” the document said she had asked.

The authority did not provide a direct answer, but its response appeared to be ‘no’ – sort of.

It advised the minister that students needed to be competent at using a keyboard, but they also needed “social emotional” as well as cognitive and technical skills.

“…students are likely to benefit from understanding and utilising basic computer skills, such as using software, browsing the web, and creating digital content,” it said.

It said key skills and knowledge included “competent keyboarding skills” and the ability to construct tables and spreadsheets, including simple formulas.

It also said students need to know how to use AI appropriately and effectively.

The report said key “digital fluency” areas included higher-order thinking skills, collaboration and communication, digital citizenship including cultural and global awareness, and adaptability and lifelong learning.

NZQA is increasingly making exams available in digital form, and the critical NCEA reading, writing and maths tests are offered online.

Principals have warned some students from poor communities are not as computer-literate as other students and struggle with online exams.

NZQA said just 293 secondary school students achieved the most basic unit standard in typing last year and 317 completed the next level up.

Teenagers spoken to by RNZ said they did a lot of their school work and assessments on computers and felt they had good keyboard skills.

They said they had not had formal typing lessons but such lessons might be useful for students before they reached secondary school.

Hutt Valley High School principal Denise Johnson said teenagers developed good keyboard skills through frequent use of computers.

She said many were a lot faster than adults who had formal typing lessons when they were at school.

Whangaparāoa College principal Steve McCracken said the ability to type quickly and accurately was a definite advantage for students sitting online tests.

“Exams and assessments are about the students’ ability to display their knowledge and what they’ve learned. So those students who are able to type… do have an advantage over those who are unable to type or who have never been taught to type properly,” he said.

Schools did not commonly teach typing, and it was assumed students would figure out for themselves how to use a keyboard competently, he said.

“Schools have kind of relinquished the typing classes that I was subjected to as a student back in the day. The curriculum’s so full that schools just don’t have the ability to teach the actual skills and fundamentals of the ability to type,” he said.

“It is assumed that it is done kind of naturally through other curriculum areas and particularly around the computing and technology curriculum area, but I don’t think it’s probably sufficient… particularly as we’re moving into high-stakes assessments.”

McCracken said it might be time to rethink how teens learned to type, but schools would need to drop things from their curriculum in order to make room for typing lessons.

He said he recently spoke to parents who arranged online typing courses for their children, which was a good idea, but it raised equity issues for those who could not afford to do the same.

Ultimately, however, exams should not be a test of students’ ability to type, McCracken said.

“We’re getting right down into the purpose of assessments and the ability to actually assess knowledge, rather than the skill of being able to type at pace whilst under that exam or pressure situation,” he 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

A woman has been found dead at a house on the Kāpiti Coast and a man has been charged.

Police were called to the Matatua Road address in the community of Raumati Beach about 1.15am on Monday.

A 24-year-old man has been arrested, and charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He was due to appear in the Porirua District Court on Monday.

A scene guard was in place overnight.

A homicide investigation is underway and forensic examination will be carried out at the property on Monday.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact 105 and quote the reference number 260209/8606.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Southland man died trying to destroy old commercial explosives that he had not been able to safely dispose of elsewhere, a coroner has found.

Donald Woodford tried to return the Powergel to the manufacturer and then hand it to police after years storing the explosives in a shed on his Mossburn property.

In findings released on Monday, Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame said the manufacturer and police refused to take the Powergel and neither told him that he needed to contact the Defence Force to safely dispose of it.

Woodford died on his 79th birthday from blast and shrapnel injuries while trying to detonate the explosives near a remote hut on 1 February 2024.

The coroner said he had previously used the Powergel to blow up rocks in the ground while working as a fencing contractor.

“After he upgraded his equipment and no longer needed explosives, Mr Woodford stored the Powergel in a shed for many years,” she said.

When Woodford and his wife decided to relocate the shed to store firewood, they discussed a plan to move the explosives.

“As a child Mr Woodford had helped his father build a hut at Waterloo Station. The family had been going there ever since. Although they did not discuss it explicitly, Mrs Woodford understood that was where Mr Woodford planned to deal with the explosives from the shed,” she said.

Woodford left home on 31 January and planned to return the following day after 1pm, the coroner said.

When he did not return as expected, Woodford’s brother drove to the station where he found him lying a metre-and-a-half from a large hole in the ground.

“Most of the injuries were concentrated on the head and chest and the front of the thighs suggesting that Mr Woodford had the explosive in front of his chest while he was crouching down or sitting. Injuries to the left hand suggested that he was holding the explosive in that hand,” the coroner said.

The Defence Force bomb squad ensured the remaining explosives were safely detonated.

They told police that explosives deteriorate over time, becoming less stable and more volatile and more sensitive to heat, shock and friction as they age.

“Had he taken advice from the NZDF Mr Woodford would not have tried to detonate the Powergel himself and the tragic consequence could have been avoided,” the coroner said.

Cunninghame said Woodford’s family wanted others to learn from the tragedy to prevent it happening again.

She wanted police staff to be reminded of the correct procedure for unused explosives.

When a member of the public sought advice on how to dispose of explosives, the Defence Force’s explosive ordnance disposal squadron should be contacted, she said.

Cunninghame said police advised they were developing all-staff guidance on police-issued devices, with an advisory notice also shared on the police intranet.

She commended the proactive approach.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two young people have been charged with arson over the large fire at Taupō’s biggest school.

Crews contained the blaze at Taupō-nui-a-Tia College that broke out on Sunday afternoon.

Police closed surrounding roads for approximately four hours while Fire and Emergency New Zealand worked to contain the blaze at the school on Spa Road.

“The block of classrooms was destroyed, along with everything inside,” Detective Sergeant Allan Humphries said.

“We acknowledge this will be devastating for college teachers, students and families.”

He said the two youths were due to appear in Taupō Youth Court this week.

The school will be closed on Monday.

Local MP Louise Upston said the school and the Ministry of Education would minimise the disruption to students.

The ministry will meet with school staff today to assess the damage.

Board chairperson Michelle Barnett said the building houses several classrooms.

Fire and Emergency NZ said scene guards have been in place overnight and crews will be returning during daylight hours.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Government interference in planning rules for Auckland housing has reached new heights with another u-turn frustrating the council

Sandringham residents Kristin De Monchy and Philip Bradley are walking around sodden, empty sections in their neighbourhood, wondering if the next homes to be built here will be swept away – again.

De Monchy’s home flooded in the 2023 anniversary weekend storms, and the impact on the suburb was severe. Since then both have been active trying to get better infrastructure in place so it doesn’t happen again.

“We made it clear right from the outset that this wasn’t about intensity,” says Bradley.

“In fact within the community we’ve been working with there seems to be a high level of support for intensification. But not when the infrastructure’s not there to support it. In our case the stormwater infrastructure is basically non-existent.”

Sandringham is a quick trip from the city and would be a great place to build up – if the pipes were in place. The government’s first attempt to force councils nationwide to increase housing options, the 2021 Medium Density Residential Standards, would have run over those objections.

“There’s never been a stormwater system built here,” says Bradley. “The system that exists, the piping under the streets around us now, is basically around delivering water to houses, and taking wastewater away, and maybe a little bit of stormwater into it where they can.”

There’s a massive infrastructure project being built practically under their feet – the central intercepter. But it’s for sewage, not stormwater.

“We do have a combined wastewater and stormwater system in our neighbourhood,” says De Monchy, “but what happens is once the flows get over much higher than a one in 10 year event they shut off connection to the wastewater network which means stormwater’s got to go somewhere – so it goes on the streets.”

Both say there’s no lack of knowledge on this issue – “there are hundreds of papers on this … dozens of studies,” says Bradley. “But they just seem to be reluctant to try and find a solution that doesn’t just involve people accepting that flooding happens.”

But the council is up against central government rules when it comes to rebuilding on those empty sections.

Richard Hills chairs the council’s Policy, Planning and Development Committee and deals with a slew of plans overlapping Auckland.

Lately those plans have been turned upside down by the government, as its quest to force councils to make way for more housing is pushed through in haste – failing to take into account issues such as the type of flooding the city experienced in January 2023, or where the most suitable place is for high-rise flats and intensity.

Now there’s another potential u-turn in the rules imposed by central lawmakers, the third in recent times. So far the chopping and changing has cost the council $13 million in wasted work, not including staff time, and it still doesn’t know where it stands.

This at a time when the government is lambasting councils for overspending, and plans to introduce a rates cap.

Meanwhile the council continues to work on the last iteration of the government’s law changes, because it has to – it’s the law.

At the moment “we’ve got hearings panel members already appointed with the government, they’re all raring to go and I’m not sure … do we change the direction? If it goes out to consultation again what does that even look like? Will people even engage because they just thought they engaged three months ago, four months ago? And a lot of people spend money on those submissions too, and time.”

“The frustration is I think we just need to stick on one path, understand what’s going on and then continue to address it.

“The other thing would just be nice if government worked with us before they jumped into new policies, new plan changes, new local government requirements.”

Aucklanders also seem to be hung up on a figure of two million more homes.

The number reflects capacity, not buildings.

“It would take every single person or property owner in Auckland to develop their property to the maximum possible available capacity on every single site in Auckland. Which we know that most people won’t. A lot of people will stay in their homes forever, a lot of people won’t sell, and there’s not the development community or the population that would build out every single property in Auckland,” says Hills.

The council’s data suggests Auckland can expect 300,000 to 400,000 new homes in the next 30 – 40 years, no matter what the plan is.

Timeline

• 2016: Auckland Council introduces its Unitary Plan. This is its ‘planning rulebook’ on building in Auckland.
• October 2021: Labour and National jointly announce their Medium Density Residental Standards [MDRS] (also known as the “3×3” law). Three dwellings, three stories tall, would be allowed by default to be built on most city properties across New Zealand.
• August 2022: Plan change 78 (PC78) introduced. MDRS came into effect.
• January 2023: Auckland anniversary floods, resulting in widespread destruction. Brought into sharp focus the perils of building in flood zones.
• June 2025: Auckland Council and government come to an agreement that more land will become avaliable for housing, especially around the new City Rail Link. Auckland would be exempt from the MDRS and permission is granted by the government to scrap Plan Change 78 – as long as the new plan creates the same number of houses (that two million figure).
• October 2025: Plan change 120 introduced.
• November/December2025: Round one of consultation.
• January 16 2026: Government confirms to RNZ it is looking into weakening housing intensification laws which might reduce the controversial two million figure and Auckland council confirms it has heard nothing.
• January 27 2026: Housing minister Chris Bishop says some tweaks in the legislation are expected “in the next month or so”.

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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 District Court judge will have her actions scrutinised by a Judicial Conduct Panel today, as she faces accusations of disrupting a New Zealand First event.

Judge Ema Aitken will appear before the panel, after allegedly disrupting a function at Auckland’s exclusive Northern Club in 2024.

She is accused of shouting that NZ First leader Winston Peters was lying.

Judge Aitken said she didn’t shout, did not recognise Peters’ voice when she responded to remarks she overheard and did not know it was a political event.

A judicial conduct panel will determine facts and write a report to the attorney-general, including whether the removal of the judge is justified.

It is being led by retired Court of Appeal Judge Brendan Brown KC, and includes sitting Court of Appeal Judge Justice Jillian Mallon and former Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae.

Judge Aitken is being represented by David Jones KC.

Presenting the allegations of misconduct to the panel are special counsel Tim Stephens KC and Jonathan Orpin-Dowell.

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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 leaders are calling for an investigation into Moa Point Treatment Plant’s failure.

The local MP says concerns have been raised over whether the plant’s privately-owned operator Veolia was fulfilling its contract.

Crews have spent the weekend trying to clean up Wellington’s wastewater plant so they can assess the damage after it was shut down due to being flooded by raw sewage. It’s likely to be months before the Moa Point plant is back in operation.

In the meantime, millions of litres of untreated sewage continue to spill out into the Cook Strait since early Wednesday.

Green MP Julie Anne Genter, who is the local MP, told Morning Report it was devastating.

“It’s really disappointing. I know so many people in Wellington love our south coast, and this is precisely the time they would be out there on a beautiful day on the beach,” Genter said.

“… It’s bad for us, but it is even worse for our wildlife.”

She said there were little blue penguins, or kororā, in the bay and a pod of dolphins there on Sunday.

“We can do better, we have to do better.”

Genter said the council was putting enormous amounts of money into Moa Point, with an upgrade happening at the wastewater treatment plant.

She said concerns have previously been raised over the performance of Moa Point plant’s privately-owned operator Veolia.

“There seems to be some separation between the private company, Wellington Water and the ability of the elected people to get the results that we need,” she said.

Genter said there needs to be a full investigation.

Wellington mayor Andrew Little said last week that he would raise what he has called a “catastrophic” failure of the city’s sewage plant with the prime minister. He is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Monday.

Little said one of the questions in the days ahead would be about setting up an appropriate investigation or inquiry into what happened.

“We can’t let this happen again,” he said. “We can’t let such a critical plant for a modern city fail in the way that this has and cause the environmental degradation that it has.

“It’s important we get the facts and it’s important we understand what we need to do to prevent it from happening again.”

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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 parents of a 3-year-old Dunedin girl with hip dysplasia say she has suffered unnecessary pain and trauma from a delayed diagnosis and then being subjected to the wrong kind of operation.

They plan to take her to Europe for further treatment, saying they no longer have trust in the New Zealand health system.

Despite her ordeal, Lubomira Weyland rarely stops smiling, a limp is currently the only sign that things are not quite right.

It was a Plunket nurse at the five-month check who first noticed her hip creases were not even, and suggested her parents consult their GP.

Her father, Marvin Weyland, said the doctor consulted a specialist at Dunedin Hospital’s orthopaedics department in April 2023.

“The only thing he did was look at the photo and decide based on that photo and fact that her hips were checked when she was born, he assumed everything would be OK.”

If the problem had been picked up then, it could have been treated with a harness.

However, it was two years later that her pre-school teacher noticed Mira was limping.

An X-ray showed she had hip dysplasia, where the “ball” (femoral head) of the thigh bone does not fit snugly into the “socket” in the pelvis.

Without treatment, it causes uneven leg length, pain, early arthritis, dislocations and even necrosis, where the tissue in the hip dies.

In October 2024 Mira had a procedure called a “closed reduction” under general anaesthetic, where the surgeon manipulated the hip back into the socket.

Her mother Agnieszka Sieradzka had just given birth to Mira’s little brother, who spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit after being born prematurely.

“It was also very difficult because Mira slept very badly in the cast and having also a little baby who on principle don’t sleep very well, the nights were very difficult. The whole time was difficult.”

They took her for several follow up appointments at the hospital and she had another anaesthetic to change the cast.

“And they never saw anything wrong until we noticed she was limping again,” the father said.

“We had a second X-ray and again it was obvious that her hip was dislocated. So it looked exactly like before the surgery.”

The parents assumed this set-back was just bad luck – until they did some more research and consulted specialists in Europe, who told them a closed reduction would never have worked because Mira was already too old.

By the age of 2, an open reduction is needed.

Sieradzka said it was devastating that Mira went through surgery and spent months in a cast “for nothing”.

“It didn’t have any chance to succeed and everything we went through was… I don’t know, I can’t even express the feeling of that.”

Internal investigation

ACC has recognised the delayed diagnosis as “a treatment injury” and Health NZ has apologised to the family for the distress suffered by them because of that and the subsequent complications.

In a written response to RNZ’s questions, the Southern Group Director of Operations for Health NZ, Craig Ashton, said Health NZ “acknowledged the distress the family has experienced”.

“Our aim is always to provide excellent healthcare, and we take these matters extremely seriously.”

“Our staff work extremely hard to provide the best possible care for our patients.”

Health NZ had undertaken an internal investigation to understand what occurred and “establish any necessary procedural changes”, he said.

“We have shared review findings with the family.”

Scans showed surgery had failed

The report, which Mira’s parents have shared with RNZ, includes comments by two orthopaedic surgeons who reviewed the post-operative scans of Mira’s hip and could see the hip was not properly aligned.

“In retrospect, the imaging suggests that the hip may not have been perfectly concentrically reduced, which would increase the risk of treatment failure,” one noted, while conceding that interpretation of this imaging was “subjective and not an exact science”.

“Mr A [who did the surgery] who has significant expertise in this area, reviewed the imaging at the time and was satisfied that the hip was reduced.”

The other specialist said “on retrospective review of the arthogram, I am concerned that the femoral head was not sitting concentrically in the acetabulum and hence potentially not stable”.

Weyland said the surgeon who operated told them everything went perfectly but it should have been clear to him that it had not worked.

That specialist no longer works at Dunedin Hospital and did not take part in the review.

The review found the GP had not made a formal referral regarding Mira’s hip creases, but just sought advice.

The specialist said asymmetrical creases alone were “not a good indicator” of hip dysplasia, but if he had known there were other problems, he would have seen Lubomira promptly in clinic and he was “personally very sorry” for the impact the delay had.

Health NZ concluded there was no fixed age at which closed reduction surgery should no longer be done, and the treatment decisions in Mira’s case “appear to be consistent with appropriate clinical judgement at the time”.

Family fundraising for overseas surgery

Mira has been on the wait list for corrective surgery at Starship Children’s Hospital since August.

However, her parents are planning to take her to Poland for treatment.

“Even the doctors at Starship don’t do the surgery often, they know one of several different techniques that might be necessary,” Marvin Weyland said.

“They also tell us that the surgery if they do it there will take five hours, whereas the overseas clinics, with them it takes two hours.

“That gives you an idea of the difference in experience.”

Sieradzka said she blamed herself for not asking more questions.

“It’s caused a complete failure of trust in the healthcare professions.”

The couple, who are both academics at Otago University, hope to take Mira to Poland for surgery in the next couple of months.

They are fundraising to help cover the cost of the surgery (about $50,000) plus travel and accommodation, which is likely to cost more than $20,000.

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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 parents of a 3-year-old Dunedin girl with hip dysplasia say she has suffered unnecessary pain and trauma from a delayed diagnosis and then being subjected to the wrong kind of operation.

They plan to take her to Europe for further treatment, saying they no longer have trust in the New Zealand health system.

Despite her ordeal, Lubomira Weyland rarely stops smiling, a limp is currently the only sign that things are not quite right.

It was a Plunket nurse at the five-month check who first noticed her hip creases were not even, and suggested her parents consult their GP.

Her father, Marvin Weyland, said the doctor consulted a specialist at Dunedin Hospital’s orthopaedics department in April 2023.

“The only thing he did was look at the photo and decide based on that photo and fact that her hips were checked when she was born, he assumed everything would be OK.”

If the problem had been picked up then, it could have been treated with a harness.

However, it was two years later that her pre-school teacher noticed Mira was limping.

An X-ray showed she had hip dysplasia, where the “ball” (femoral head) of the thigh bone does not fit snugly into the “socket” in the pelvis.

Without treatment, it causes uneven leg length, pain, early arthritis, dislocations and even necrosis, where the tissue in the hip dies.

In October 2024 Mira had a procedure called a “closed reduction” under general anaesthetic, where the surgeon manipulated the hip back into the socket.

Her mother Agnieszka Sieradzka had just given birth to Mira’s little brother, who spent several weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit after being born prematurely.

“It was also very difficult because Mira slept very badly in the cast and having also a little baby who on principle don’t sleep very well, the nights were very difficult. The whole time was difficult.”

They took her for several follow up appointments at the hospital and she had another anaesthetic to change the cast.

“And they never saw anything wrong until we noticed she was limping again,” the father said.

“We had a second X-ray and again it was obvious that her hip was dislocated. So it looked exactly like before the surgery.”

The parents assumed this set-back was just bad luck – until they did some more research and consulted specialists in Europe, who told them a closed reduction would never have worked because Mira was already too old.

By the age of 2, an open reduction is needed.

Sieradzka said it was devastating that Mira went through surgery and spent months in a cast “for nothing”.

“It didn’t have any chance to succeed and everything we went through was… I don’t know, I can’t even express the feeling of that.”

Internal investigation

ACC has recognised the delayed diagnosis as “a treatment injury” and Health NZ has apologised to the family for the distress suffered by them because of that and the subsequent complications.

In a written response to RNZ’s questions, the Southern Group Director of Operations for Health NZ, Craig Ashton, said Health NZ “acknowledged the distress the family has experienced”.

“Our aim is always to provide excellent healthcare, and we take these matters extremely seriously.”

“Our staff work extremely hard to provide the best possible care for our patients.”

Health NZ had undertaken an internal investigation to understand what occurred and “establish any necessary procedural changes”, he said.

“We have shared review findings with the family.”

Scans showed surgery had failed

The report, which Mira’s parents have shared with RNZ, includes comments by two orthopaedic surgeons who reviewed the post-operative scans of Mira’s hip and could see the hip was not properly aligned.

“In retrospect, the imaging suggests that the hip may not have been perfectly concentrically reduced, which would increase the risk of treatment failure,” one noted, while conceding that interpretation of this imaging was “subjective and not an exact science”.

“Mr A [who did the surgery] who has significant expertise in this area, reviewed the imaging at the time and was satisfied that the hip was reduced.”

The other specialist said “on retrospective review of the arthogram, I am concerned that the femoral head was not sitting concentrically in the acetabulum and hence potentially not stable”.

Weyland said the surgeon who operated told them everything went perfectly but it should have been clear to him that it had not worked.

That specialist no longer works at Dunedin Hospital and did not take part in the review.

The review found the GP had not made a formal referral regarding Mira’s hip creases, but just sought advice.

The specialist said asymmetrical creases alone were “not a good indicator” of hip dysplasia, but if he had known there were other problems, he would have seen Lubomira promptly in clinic and he was “personally very sorry” for the impact the delay had.

Health NZ concluded there was no fixed age at which closed reduction surgery should no longer be done, and the treatment decisions in Mira’s case “appear to be consistent with appropriate clinical judgement at the time”.

Family fundraising for overseas surgery

Mira has been on the wait list for corrective surgery at Starship Children’s Hospital since August.

However, her parents are planning to take her to Poland for treatment.

“Even the doctors at Starship don’t do the surgery often, they know one of several different techniques that might be necessary,” Marvin Weyland said.

“They also tell us that the surgery if they do it there will take five hours, whereas the overseas clinics, with them it takes two hours.

“That gives you an idea of the difference in experience.”

Sieradzka said she blamed herself for not asking more questions.

“It’s caused a complete failure of trust in the healthcare professions.”

The couple, who are both academics at Otago University, hope to take Mira to Poland for surgery in the next couple of months.

They are fundraising to help cover the cost of the surgery (about $50,000) plus travel and accommodation, which is likely to cost more than $20,000.

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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 mental health patient who stabbed a stranger while on escorted leave had a history of violence and had previously stabbed two relatives.

He’s now been made a special patient which means he is detained in hospital.

The judge says it’s concerning that the latest attack happened while the man was in the care of mental health services and his traumatised victim says it should never have been allowed to happen.

She was walking home at the time and says both she and the offender have been “failed by a system that was meant to keep us all safe”.

Poutama Rawiti Clarence Owen appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court before Judge Michael Mika on Wednesday after earlier being found not guilty by reason of insanity on a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

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

Court documents obtained by RNZ reveal that on 14 November 2024, Owen was on escorted leave in Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt.

About 7.40pm he walked along a street with “clenched fists” holding a black handled knife, with a sharp blade.

“Upon coming across the victim, the defendant has lunged towards her.”

Owen struck the woman in the left side of her neck with the knife. He then tried unsuccessfully to stab her a second time in the back before striking her a third time on the right side of her upper back.

The knife penetrated the victim’s neck and back.

At the beginning of Wednesday’s hearing the victim, who has name suppression, read a victim impact statement to the court.

In her statement, which she wrote more than a year ago, she said she had just got off a bus and was walking home with her dinner in her hand when she was stabbed in the neck, back of her head and back by what she thought was a flathead screwdriver by a man she did not know.

“Once I knew I was safe in the ambulance and had finally let the emotions hit I felt a lot of sadness, sad because I realised something must be seriously wrong for someone to stab someone who they did not know and to walk away as if nothing had happened.

“Sad because I couldn’t help but think both he and I had been failed by a system that was meant to keep us all safe.”

She said she was struggling to walk on the street where she was assaulted.

“I find it hard to be out in public spaces. I feel distrusting of others and uncomfortable in places with strangers. I find myself being easily startled, and this in itself has negatively impacted my sleep which has had its own knock-on effects.

“I find people coming from behind me frightens me and strangers coming towards me makes me feel anxious.”

The woman said it had been “incredibly exhausting” both mentally and emotionally for her and her family.

Upon learning of the “escorted leave mental health dynamic” the woman felt “incredibly sad and angry”.

“I am incredibly aware of how severe my situation was and how fortunate a number of my past experiences, current capabilities and know how prevented this from being a much worse situation and perhaps even saved my life.

“It is with that in mind that I never want anyone else to experience and go through what I did, I don’t want blame and the additional harm that often comes with that, but responsibility which leads to actions which improves things, to ensure such things never happen again, because I want to be able to feel safe in my local community.”

The woman had recently updated her victim impact statement to include that over a year on her journey to heal from the trauma continued.

“It is extremely difficult to be able to move on from such harm on a street that I continue to walk most days, which serves as a regular reminder of what happened and what could have been much worse.

“We should all be able to feel and be safe in our neighbourhoods, which on that Thursday evening, we unfortunately were not. I hope for my own continued healing and wholeness, to be able to move on and find greater peace. But I also hope for healing and wholeness for the man who stabbed me.”

‘Severe treatment resistant illness’

Owen’s lawyer told the court the 26-year-old had a “very basic understanding” of what was going on in terms of the court process.

“I’ve explained to him prior to call today that it’s recommended that he be made a special patient, I don’t think he really understands it.

“I’ve done my best to explain that he will, if an order was made, he’s going to stay in hospital for quite some time… his capacity to understand that is very limited.”

The lawyer said his position was to neither consent nor oppose the making of a special patient order.

The Crown prosecutor said she agreed with the recommendation that Owen be made a special patient.

Judge Mika told the court he had earlier found Owen not guilty on account of insanity.

“Mr Owen has a severe treatment resistant illness, namely schizophrenia. He is currently presenting with chronic psychotic features including persecutorial delusions and somatic hallucinations, his current offending… reflects a well established pattern of violence, violent behaviours where Mr Owen acted on delusional compulsion to protect himself or others from perceived threats.”

In September 2021 Owen stabbed a relative, the following year he stabbed another relative, Judge Mika said.

“Mr Owen’s violence is increasing in diversity of victims, initially family and now unprovoked attack on members of the community and also in diversity and severity.

“It is concerning that the current charge occurred whilst Mr Owen was in the care of mental health services. This highlights the difficulties and challenges for the mental health service of accurately predicting and identifying Mr Owen’s violent behaviours. The threshold for detention as a special patient is high, but in my view, in this case, that threshold has been met.”

Health New Zealand (HNZ) regional director mental health and addiction for Central Region Paul Oxnam said in a statement that HNZ acknowledged the incident and the impact it had on all those involved.

“We are committed to providing safe, high-quality mental health care.

“An in-depth Serious Incident Review of this event is in its final stages. The purpose of the review is to identify areas for improvement to avoid such an incident happening again. We have already taken steps to improve our services, including changes to the way escorted leave is managed.”

In a statement to RNZ, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said any serious incident was a “cause for concern”.

“I have made it very clear to HNZ that public and patient safety must always come first. It is important that when incidents do happen, investigations and reviews are triggered and that recommendations are acted on.

“I am informed that an in-depth Serious Incident Review of this incident is in the final stages. It is my expectation that Health New Zealand will implement the recommendations of that review as quickly as possible. I am also informed that while the review is ongoing steps have already been taken steps to improve services.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fewer doctors than you might think are offering ADHD diagnosis and prescription services, despite rule changes at the start of the month.

There are hopes more will come on board, but for now, industry leaders say GPs could be slow to train up in an area most haven’t worked in for decades.

Luke Bradford, the president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, told RNZ he would put the number about 15 to 20 percent currently.

“But that will steadily grow,” he said. “In my own surgery, for instance, the GP who wants to do it has identified that she wants to do it, she’s been on a couple of courses, and she feels she’ll be in a position to start in a couple of months.”

GPs were well placed to manage this kind of medication, he said, often having long-term relationship with patients.

But their ability to prescribe ADHD drugs was removed in 1999, amid fears people were misusing them.

Bradford explained that, while doctors were technically allowed to a range of things, from minor surgery to skin cancer assessments to menopause medication, they had to recognise their own limits – and it would be negligent for them to do something they weren’t trained in.

While one in six doctors didn’t sound like many, it added up, he said.

“That is massive numbers – if you look across the nation, we’ve got 6000 GPs and the prevalence of ADHD is somewhere around 5 percent, of which we’re already managing 2 percent.

That equalled, conservatively, about 750 GPs for about 250,000 people with ADHD – of which less than half were on medication.

These rule changes were meant to provide more people with access to medication, to help close that gap.

Bradford said he expected GP numbers to grow, as more doctors took up the courses and more new grads emerged with an interest in the field.

Some 600 attended one of the college’s eight-week courses late last year.

Dr Kim Hurst, a GP in Whakatipu and clinical director at Green Cross Health, was one of them.

“I think the thing that surprised me is the uptake across my peers and colleagues has been lower than I expected, and I think that is largely due to the pressure that primary care is under at the moment.”

She compared it to the introduction of insulin prescription services

“Some of us felt way more comfortable doing it than others,” she said. “That transitional period took probably six to twelve months, and now that it’s bread-and-butter, we wouldn’t even think about sending a patient who needed to start insulin to hospital.”

Now, her team was working collaboratively to assess people for ADHD, with any doctor able to start the conversation, and then match the patient with a GP within the wider company who was happy to diagnose and prescribe.

“What I really didn’t want to see was kind of a sign up on the door saying, ‘We don’t do ADHD,” Hurst said. “I think that’s a disappointing message for patients with neurodiversity to hear.”

“We know ADHD is an under-diagnosed condition, and has a significant social and economic cost burden associated with it, so we really wanted to ensure we had open doors for that initial assessment, and then a means to navigate to GPs and nurse practitioners who have done the additional training.”

She said she had been heartened to see how many psychiatrists were approaching GPs to offer their advice or support.

Lewis Roscoe, who lives in Stanmore Bay, was one of those patients who had turned up at an appointment in early February, and left disappointed.

He got a diagnosis from a clinical psychologist, at a cost of $1500, in November.

He was told: “You can go to a psychiatrist, get them to prescribe you the medication, but that’s about $800, and so since we’d literally just coughed up $1500 already, it wasn’t really our go-to.”

But on hearing GPs would soon offer that service, he booked an appointment for February.

He even checked in multiple times to make sure his GP could prescribe that medication.

But, last week, he left his double appointment after only 10 minutes with a $150 bill, and a referral to a psychiatrist – which was what he’d been trying to avoid.

“I mean it’s still going to be cheaper than 800 bucks, but I guess if you want to compare price to stress levels, it would be nicer if it was a lot more clear-cut – see one person, get prescription, go to chemist,” he said.

He was still going to pursue a prescription through his GP, but if that didn’t work out by the end of the month, he’d start looking elsewhere.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters are set to return to the scene of a large fire at Taupō’s biggest school.

Crews have contained the blaze at Taupō-nui-a-Tia College that broke out on Sunday afternoon.

It’s left a teaching block significantly damaged.

The school will be closed today.

Local MP Louise Upston said the school and the Ministry of Education would minimise the disruption to students.

The ministry will meet with school staff today to assess the damage.

Board chairperson Michelle Barnett said the building houses several classrooms.

Fire and Emergency NZ said scene guards have been in place overnight and crews will be returning during daylight hours.

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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 Court of Appeal will this week consider an application by the white supremacist who murdered 51 people in the Christchurch terror attacks to vacate his guilty pleas and stand trial.

Australian Brenton Tarrant is seeking leave to appeal his convictions and life sentence for the massacres at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre on 15 March 2019.

In March 2020 he pleaded guilty at the High Court to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one terrorism charge.

In August that year he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, which was the harshest sentence available to the court.

The terrorist now wants to appeal his convictions and sentence although the appeals were filed late and the Court of Appeal must now decide if they should proceed.

The 35-year-old is expected to give evidence during the week-long hearing.

The court is primarily considering the application to vacate his guilty pleas with the central issue being whether the terrorist was incapable of making rational decisions at the time of his pleas because of what he claims were torturous and inhumane prison conditions.

If the court grants the application to vacate the pleas, the case will be sent back to the High Court for the terrorist to stand trial.

If the court declines the application then a further hearing will consider the sentence appeal later this year.

The application will be heard by Court of Appeal president Justice Christine French, Justice Susan Thomas and Justice David Collins.

Court buildings will be under increased security with the courtroom limited to lawyers, media, officials and other authorised people.

The hearing will be streamed to an adjoining courtroom at the Court of Appeal and to the Law Courts in Christchurch for victims and their families to view the hearing via a delayed broadcast.

The terrorist is also expected to give evidence to the Coroners Court after the High Court cleared the way for him to be called as a witness, despite objections from survivors and victims’ families.

He was previously interviewed by a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terror attack.

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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 priest admitted sexual abuse to leaders of his religious order nearly 20 years before he would be convicted of sexually abusing four boys, RNZ can reveal.

However, at the time in 2007, he was unable to identify the anonymous complainant and instead of notifying police, the order sent him to Australia for a six-month programme that provided “professional risk assessment and therapy” for people accused of sexual abuse.

RNZ earlier revealed Fr Rowan Donoghue had admitted six charges including indecent assault on a boy aged 12-16, indecent assault on a boy 16 and over and sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection.

The offending related to four boys who were boarding at St Bede’s College in Christchurch between 1996 and 2000.

RNZ also revealed that the Society of Mary was made aware of allegations against the priest nearly 20 years ago. The religious order was unable to verify the allegations from the anonymous complainant, but removed Donoghue from public ministry and enacted a “safety plan”.

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

In response to further questions by RNZ a Society of Mary spokesperson said a complaint alleging offending by Fr Donoghue was received by the priest via an anonymous Hotmail account in October 2007.

“He advised Society of Mary administration and in a conversation with leaders of the Society of Mary, Donoghue admitted that he was guilty of abuse but could not identify the complainant.

“He was removed from his ministry as a priest immediately. This permanent removal from ministry and subsequent ongoing monitoring has continued to the present day.”

The spokesperson said the society reached out to the anonymous emailer “encouraging him to identify himself” and make a complaint to the police so the matter might be properly investigated, and so that he might receive appropriate support.

“Those attempts to connect with and support the victim, made over many months, were unsuccessful and so no complaint could be made by the Society to the police.

“Donoghue was sent for a six-month programme to Encompass, an institute in Australia that provided professional risk assessment and therapy for those accused of sexual abuse.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Karen Simmons told RNZ police were unable to comment on processes of other organisations and their decision making and whether they decide to call the police but that police encouraged people to do so if they have information they believe could be relevant to any investigation or suspected offending.

In response to earlier questions from RNZ, a Teaching Council spokesperson said in general, the council did not comment on complaints or mandatory reports to the council.

“However, given the level of public interest, we can confirm that we have been working closely with New Zealand Police since early 2025 in support of their investigation into offending by Mr Donoghue.

“The legal requirement for mandatory reporting to the New Zealand Teachers Council (now the Teaching Council) relating to the dismissal, resignation under investigation, serious misconduct, competence concerns, or specified convictions of teachers was first inserted into the Education Act 1989 by the Education Standards Act 2001 to protect the safety of children and young people in our education system.”

Now the criminal process had concluded, the council’s professional disciplinary process would resume.

“This process will include consideration of whether obligations have been met to report conduct or competence concerns to the council that were known at the time, and appropriate action depending on the findings.”

Asked who the disciplinary process would look at, the spokesperson said the council would “into the actions of everyone involved“.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of children and young people and the quality of teaching in our education system, and we encourage anyone who has concerns about the conduct or competence of a formally registered teacher to reach out to us.”

St Bede’s College rector Jon McDowall earlier told RNZ the details outlined through the court process were “deeply disturbing”.

“As rector, it makes me feel sick to think that young people entrusted to an adult’s care were abused in this way. I am deeply sorry that this happened to them, and my thoughts are with the victims and survivors who continue to live with the impact of that harm.”

McDowall said the school had worked openly with police throughout the process.

“We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities should any further information come to light.

“Abuse has no place at St Bede’s – past, present, or future. The College has an established policy in place to respond and support victims of historical abuse, alongside safeguarding policies and practices to protect the wellbeing and safety of students today. Our focus remains on providing a safe and supportive environment for all members of our community.”

McDowall extended an open invitation for victims in the case, and others who may have been impacted, or anyone with concerns to contact him directly.

In early 2023, police were contacted about the allegations of sexual abuse by Donoghue in relation to his time at St Bede’s College.

St Patrick’s Silverstream rector Rob Ferreira told RNZ the school had not been made aware of any allegations of abuse in care while Fr Donoghue worked at the school between 1982 to 1992.

“We have not had any inquiries from the police either.

“We operate according to clearly set out guidelines and best practice and you should note that our primary concern is the wellbeing of our students. Given that – our protection of the privacy and any other rights of survivors of abuse and other individuals would be paramount.”

He said the school had informed the community that Donoghue’s name suppression had lifted.

St Patrick’s College Wellington rector Mike Savali confirmed to RNZ that Donoghue was on the college staff from 2003 to 2007.

Where to get help:

• If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
• If you’ve ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone call the confidential crisis helpline Safe to Talk on 0800 044 334 or text 4334. (available 24/7)
• Male Survivors Aotearoa offers a range of confidential support at centres across New Zealand – find your closest one here.
• Men and Trauma New Zealand: 0800 636 263
• Alternatively contact your local police station

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