Source: Radio New Zealand

A captive-breeding programme that helped bring the critically endangered Mahoenui giant wētā back from the brink is expecting a bumper breeding season this summer – in more ways than one.

Not only is the purpose-built lab at the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House expecting to hatch more wētā than ever before, but they are likely to be bigger than ever.

Ōtorohanga Kiwi House wildlife manager Matthew Ronaldson is busying himself in the reserve’s Mahoenui giant wētā maternity centre.

“We’ve got about 30 egg fields or what we all egg fields here waiting to hatch again here this January.

“Basically, it’s an ice-cream container with some soil in it that the female adult Mahoenui giant wētā can lay her eggs in after breeding.”

Then it’s a waiting game.

“Eggs can take anywhere from 10 months to two years to hatch, so we put a 10-month time limit on them and put the date when we expect them to hatch, and the last lot we actually had hatch right on time.

“You end up with hundreds and hundreds … I think we were just over 400 juveniles or wētā that hatched last time, and that was from half of the egg fields we have in here now.”

Ronaldson is expecting up to 600 Mahoenui giant wētā to hatch this summer.

The wētā are thriving too.

“I guess having a greater food source, these animals have grown bigger than what either iwi or DOC have seen at the Mahoenui Reserve.

“Even when we brought in our second cohort of adults in, they came in a younger age, eighth and ninth instar, and they have grown bigger than the previous cohort, and we even had offspring that were bigger than the mother [when adult].”

Fully-grown wētā have been through 10 development stages or instars.

Adult females weigh in at about 25g and are about the size of a mouse.

Wētā handler Danielle Lloyd said that’s a far cry from where they start.

“If you do have hatches in there, they are really, really small – they hatch from an egg the size of a grain of rice.

“They are bright, fluorescent green when they hatch, so if you’ve got grass in, there as well, it can be a bit hard to find them, so we have torches, magnifying glasses if we need them.

“We have to search through the entire thing to see what’s in there, and because they are in an ice cream container, they like to hide just under the rim on the outside.”

She’s trying to wrangle a female going by the name of Bugg-Tsunade.

“Generally, in the eighth instar, we’ll give them a name more often than not based on their little personalities, so this one’s Bugg-Tsunade.

“I actually named her after an anime I like because she’s quite feisty, and I named her after a feisty character.

“One was called Bugg-Wonky. She had a wonky leg that she was able to fix through her instar changes, which they can do.

“And then we’ve had a Bugg-Chunky as well, and that was because she devoured all the food we put in there almost every day.”

Lloyd used to be terrified of giant wētā, but not anymore.

“Their feet are, I guess, quite prickly, is the kind of word, on your skin, but they’re really light, and you don’t really feel them on you.

“You can kind of feel them digging into you with their tarsus [final segment of their leg] when they walk.

“But it doesn’t really faze me anymore, but I guess if you’re not used to it, you probably would be a bit freaked out because it can feel like it’s stabbing into you a little bit.”

Meanwhile, Ronaldson said there’s nothing to fear.

“I actually find them extremely gentle. Once you get the hang of them and they get used to being handled, as long as you’re gentle and calm with them, they’re generally calm and gentle with you.

“You may actually catch us talking with them, calling them sweetheart and all sorts of cute names, but we do become quite attached to them, our animals, and they’re just like little puppy dogs really.”

The Ōtorohanga Kiwi House is aiming to eventually hatch 3000 Mahoenui giant wētā and see them come off the critically endangered species list.

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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 Dunedin primary school says the new English and maths curriculums have changed the way its teachers teach.

In South Auckland a school says it has noticed big improvements in children’s maths.

And in Tauranga, a principal says the core of the new curriculums brings focus to things teachers already know and do.

The principals of all three schools told RNZ introducing two new curriculums in one year was a massive job and one that was far from complete.

They said they deliberately focused this year on one or other of the new documents, not both, and they had more work to do next year.

At Rowandale School in Auckland, principal Karl Vasau said teachers were still “unpacking” the new English curriculum and had focused on maths.

He said they had already seen significant improvements in children’s results, but that was due at least in part to improvements in basic literacy thanks to the school’s adoption four years ago of a structured literacy approach for teaching children to read.

“If you’re strong in literacy you can understand the questions, you can understand the context and so when we have delivered some standardised tests to our kids, our children have made massive gains,” he said.

Vasau said teachers were finding the maths curriculum helpful.

“Teachers are finding teaching mathematics a little bit easier because it’s prescribed as to what you are to deliver,” he said.

“If maths is not necessarily their strength, having a structured numeracy programme allows for teachers to not really struggle with their gaps because it’s very clear what they need to teach and then they’ll probably be teaching themselves as they go to get stronger with their own content knowledge.”

Vasau said he was a fan of the structured approach to learning, but he was concerned about the “knowledge-rich” focus of the curriculums.

It was great for children to learn about Ancient Egypt as proposed in the draft Social Sciences curriculum, but they also needed to know where they came from, he said.

Vasau said the school wanted to retain its localised curriculum because that was how it engaged children.

It also wanted to continue integrating different curriculum areas together.

“If we’re doing a wonderful unit on floating and sinking of course you want to write about that, you want to read about that… so integrating wherever possible the topic into literacy and numeracy is always going to have a benefit for the learning for the kids. That makes sense.”

A change in approach

At Dunedin’s George Street School, principal Robyn Wood said the maths and English curriculums changed not only what the school taught, but also how.

“I guess the whole thing I need to probably put across with the English and maths is that it’s a whole new teaching pedagogy. It’s not just a curriculum, it’s a pedagogical shift and we’ve done a huge amount of work in the way that we are now teaching,” she said.

Wood said the pedagogical changes involved “high-leverage” teaching practice, high expectations, and gradual release of information to students as they were ready to learn it.

“A lot of teachers have changed their rooms so that every child is now looking at the teacher when the teacher is teaching. Because with this new curriculum, you’re meant to teach the whole class and all of that sort of thing. So you’ve actually got that real engagement,” she said.

Wood said in some classes pupils used mini whiteboards to write answers so teachers could quickly scan the room and see what children had understood and what might need to be re-taught.

She said the whiteboards worked well and the school was introducing them school-wide next year.

“It’s quite a big shift from where we’ve been,” she said.

Wood said the school of nearly 430 pupils from Years 0-6 was well-placed to introduce the new maths curriculum having focused on teacher training in the subject in the previous three years.

She said it was retaining techniques it previously adopted, such as using a lot of problem-solving and asking students to discuss their methods for solving maths questions.

Wood said it was hard to introduce the curriculum without a matching assessment tool – something that had been promised for this term but would not now be available until next year.

But she said the maths curriculum had clearly had an effect.

“I’ve just been going around gathering student voice around the school, and one of the things that children are really talking about now is their times tables. Before this new curriculum, you would get to your times tables in due course when you got to multiplicative thinking and things like that. Now, I believe it’s being taught younger and certainly it’s on top of the heads for our children,” she said.

“I think the expectations are quite a lot higher and it kind of assumes that children might have some background knowledge before they get to school, and that’s not necessarily the case these days with children. So there’s a lot of work to be done right at the junior level and to move kids really fast.”

Wood said she had not even looked at revisions to the maths curriculum – announced in October – because she had simply not had time.

She said her school focused on the English curriculum this year looking at structured literacy in “huge depth” and it had a big effect.

“We’re seeing a huge engagement with our children,” she said.

“We’ve noticed a big, big uptake in vocabulary with our children. So our children now talking around words, asking questions, learning, our older children are talking grammatically – prefixes, suffixes, subordinating conjunctions things like that – grammar terms that they’ve not had before.”

Wood said some teachers worried older students would be bored by the structured literacy approach, but an “ah-ha moment” came when they saw that children in Year 3 and above were better prepared to engage with “authentic texts” thanks to their prior focus on decoding words.

“As a teacher when you’re doing the decodable stuff – the letters and the sounds of phonemic awareness and all of that – for older children you’re going ‘Oh my goodness, this is getting boring’.

“But once children have learned how to read and to decode and encode, as in writing out the sounds and exploring vocab, once they’ve got that foundation and they are able to do that then you get to choose whichever text… it’s not until they get to that that it actually starts to make sense for teachers.”

She said prior to the use of structured literacy, some children had gaps in their knowledge of letters and sounds and how to put them together.

“So now that that gap has been essentially closed they can fly on the authentic texts and it’s making sense to people.”

She said it was especially helpful for children for whom English was a second language and for its dyslexic learners.

Wood said she did not like everything in the new curriculums, but she liked a large part.

She also said the government was trying to introduce too much too fast.

“It’s a really hard balancing act trying to do two new curriculums in one year,” she said.

“We’re kind of flying the plane and building it all at the one time.”

“My big concern is that it’s just going to get tipped over because it’s too fast. There’s a large number of things I do like. I’m not saying I like everything, so please don’t quote me on that, but there are a large things a number of things I really do like.”

Pace of change

At Tauranga’s Tauriko School, principal Suzanne Billington said the new curriculums provided a lot more detail about what teachers should teach at each year level.

She said teachers had been asking for that, but introducing two new curriculums had been a massive undertaking and the school concentrated on English this year.

“A lot of the new learning has been around structured literacy, so staff are utilising that so they stick to the recipe and ensure that they are delivering that with fidelity,” she said.

“Next year we’re looking more at the writing side of things… we will start with things like where are we at with structured literacy and handwriting and then we’ll move beyond that to writing and the quality of the writing and the types of writing that our children are exploring at different age levels.”

Billington said one of the biggest changes in the English curriculum was the use of structured literacy through to Year 8, the final year of primary school.

“Structured literacy is around the phonetic component of learning, so that isn’t a rich English curriculum, but it’s a really good base to build from. So we’re also aware of the need to look at what our whole English curriculum looks like with that as a strong component in it,” she said.

Though Billington said there was a lot of work involved, much of the content was not new.

“Teachers have always used phonetics, but they’ve got a deeper understanding of it because it’s been explicitly outlined and they understand it in more depth and probably more professionally than they did before,” she said.

“When you look at the science of learning many, many aspects of that, we have already been doing… like knowing that it’s important to work out what kids’ prior knowledge is, that they have time to practise, that we use explicit teaching… all those aspects we have always used before, it’s just that they’ve all been brought together in the label of science of learning.”

Billington said teachers had put in a lot of work this year but she felt like they were going “back to the drawing board” because the government changed the curriculums in October.

On top of that, they were expected to provide feedback on draft curriculums for six other learning areas by April.

“That won’t happen here and in many schools around the country,” Billington said.

“Our teachers have to have time to get their heads into stuff, trial it and practise in classrooms, understand how it works.”

She said the government risked undermining the improvements it was trying to make.

“The pace of the change is what I think needs to really be looked at,” she said.

“If we rush this, we’ll be doing some surface learning with staff that won’t shift their practice enough to bring about the improvements that we all acknowledge need to happen.”

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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 Dunedin primary school says the new English and maths curriculums have changed the way its teachers teach.

In South Auckland a school says it has noticed big improvements in children’s maths.

And in Tauranga, a principal says the core of the new curriculums brings focus to things teachers already know and do.

The principals of all three schools told RNZ introducing two new curriculums in one year was a massive job and one that was far from complete.

They said they deliberately focused this year on one or other of the new documents, not both, and they had more work to do next year.

At Rowandale School in Auckland, principal Karl Vasau said teachers were still “unpacking” the new English curriculum and had focused on maths.

He said they had already seen significant improvements in children’s results, but that was due at least in part to improvements in basic literacy thanks to the school’s adoption four years ago of a structured literacy approach for teaching children to read.

“If you’re strong in literacy you can understand the questions, you can understand the context and so when we have delivered some standardised tests to our kids, our children have made massive gains,” he said.

Vasau said teachers were finding the maths curriculum helpful.

“Teachers are finding teaching mathematics a little bit easier because it’s prescribed as to what you are to deliver,” he said.

“If maths is not necessarily their strength, having a structured numeracy programme allows for teachers to not really struggle with their gaps because it’s very clear what they need to teach and then they’ll probably be teaching themselves as they go to get stronger with their own content knowledge.”

Vasau said he was a fan of the structured approach to learning, but he was concerned about the “knowledge-rich” focus of the curriculums.

It was great for children to learn about Ancient Egypt as proposed in the draft Social Sciences curriculum, but they also needed to know where they came from, he said.

Vasau said the school wanted to retain its localised curriculum because that was how it engaged children.

It also wanted to continue integrating different curriculum areas together.

“If we’re doing a wonderful unit on floating and sinking of course you want to write about that, you want to read about that… so integrating wherever possible the topic into literacy and numeracy is always going to have a benefit for the learning for the kids. That makes sense.”

A change in approach

At Dunedin’s George Street School, principal Robyn Wood said the maths and English curriculums changed not only what the school taught, but also how.

“I guess the whole thing I need to probably put across with the English and maths is that it’s a whole new teaching pedagogy. It’s not just a curriculum, it’s a pedagogical shift and we’ve done a huge amount of work in the way that we are now teaching,” she said.

Wood said the pedagogical changes involved “high-leverage” teaching practice, high expectations, and gradual release of information to students as they were ready to learn it.

“A lot of teachers have changed their rooms so that every child is now looking at the teacher when the teacher is teaching. Because with this new curriculum, you’re meant to teach the whole class and all of that sort of thing. So you’ve actually got that real engagement,” she said.

Wood said in some classes pupils used mini whiteboards to write answers so teachers could quickly scan the room and see what children had understood and what might need to be re-taught.

She said the whiteboards worked well and the school was introducing them school-wide next year.

“It’s quite a big shift from where we’ve been,” she said.

Wood said the school of nearly 430 pupils from Years 0-6 was well-placed to introduce the new maths curriculum having focused on teacher training in the subject in the previous three years.

She said it was retaining techniques it previously adopted, such as using a lot of problem-solving and asking students to discuss their methods for solving maths questions.

Wood said it was hard to introduce the curriculum without a matching assessment tool – something that had been promised for this term but would not now be available until next year.

But she said the maths curriculum had clearly had an effect.

“I’ve just been going around gathering student voice around the school, and one of the things that children are really talking about now is their times tables. Before this new curriculum, you would get to your times tables in due course when you got to multiplicative thinking and things like that. Now, I believe it’s being taught younger and certainly it’s on top of the heads for our children,” she said.

“I think the expectations are quite a lot higher and it kind of assumes that children might have some background knowledge before they get to school, and that’s not necessarily the case these days with children. So there’s a lot of work to be done right at the junior level and to move kids really fast.”

Wood said she had not even looked at revisions to the maths curriculum – announced in October – because she had simply not had time.

She said her school focused on the English curriculum this year looking at structured literacy in “huge depth” and it had a big effect.

“We’re seeing a huge engagement with our children,” she said.

“We’ve noticed a big, big uptake in vocabulary with our children. So our children now talking around words, asking questions, learning, our older children are talking grammatically – prefixes, suffixes, subordinating conjunctions things like that – grammar terms that they’ve not had before.”

Wood said some teachers worried older students would be bored by the structured literacy approach, but an “ah-ha moment” came when they saw that children in Year 3 and above were better prepared to engage with “authentic texts” thanks to their prior focus on decoding words.

“As a teacher when you’re doing the decodable stuff – the letters and the sounds of phonemic awareness and all of that – for older children you’re going ‘Oh my goodness, this is getting boring’.

“But once children have learned how to read and to decode and encode, as in writing out the sounds and exploring vocab, once they’ve got that foundation and they are able to do that then you get to choose whichever text… it’s not until they get to that that it actually starts to make sense for teachers.”

She said prior to the use of structured literacy, some children had gaps in their knowledge of letters and sounds and how to put them together.

“So now that that gap has been essentially closed they can fly on the authentic texts and it’s making sense to people.”

She said it was especially helpful for children for whom English was a second language and for its dyslexic learners.

Wood said she did not like everything in the new curriculums, but she liked a large part.

She also said the government was trying to introduce too much too fast.

“It’s a really hard balancing act trying to do two new curriculums in one year,” she said.

“We’re kind of flying the plane and building it all at the one time.”

“My big concern is that it’s just going to get tipped over because it’s too fast. There’s a large number of things I do like. I’m not saying I like everything, so please don’t quote me on that, but there are a large things a number of things I really do like.”

Pace of change

At Tauranga’s Tauriko School, principal Suzanne Billington said the new curriculums provided a lot more detail about what teachers should teach at each year level.

She said teachers had been asking for that, but introducing two new curriculums had been a massive undertaking and the school concentrated on English this year.

“A lot of the new learning has been around structured literacy, so staff are utilising that so they stick to the recipe and ensure that they are delivering that with fidelity,” she said.

“Next year we’re looking more at the writing side of things… we will start with things like where are we at with structured literacy and handwriting and then we’ll move beyond that to writing and the quality of the writing and the types of writing that our children are exploring at different age levels.”

Billington said one of the biggest changes in the English curriculum was the use of structured literacy through to Year 8, the final year of primary school.

“Structured literacy is around the phonetic component of learning, so that isn’t a rich English curriculum, but it’s a really good base to build from. So we’re also aware of the need to look at what our whole English curriculum looks like with that as a strong component in it,” she said.

Though Billington said there was a lot of work involved, much of the content was not new.

“Teachers have always used phonetics, but they’ve got a deeper understanding of it because it’s been explicitly outlined and they understand it in more depth and probably more professionally than they did before,” she said.

“When you look at the science of learning many, many aspects of that, we have already been doing… like knowing that it’s important to work out what kids’ prior knowledge is, that they have time to practise, that we use explicit teaching… all those aspects we have always used before, it’s just that they’ve all been brought together in the label of science of learning.”

Billington said teachers had put in a lot of work this year but she felt like they were going “back to the drawing board” because the government changed the curriculums in October.

On top of that, they were expected to provide feedback on draft curriculums for six other learning areas by April.

“That won’t happen here and in many schools around the country,” Billington said.

“Our teachers have to have time to get their heads into stuff, trial it and practise in classrooms, understand how it works.”

She said the government risked undermining the improvements it was trying to make.

“The pace of the change is what I think needs to really be looked at,” she said.

“If we rush this, we’ll be doing some surface learning with staff that won’t shift their practice enough to bring about the improvements that we all acknowledge need to happen.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Credit card reward schemes are predicted to continue to become less generous, as the Commerce Commission clamps down on card fees.

Since 1 December, domestic Visa and Mastercard payments have been subject to new caps on interchange fees, which are paid to the card issuer for each credit or debit card transaction processed. Caps for foreign-issued cards come in next May.

It is the second stage of changes to the rules for these fees. The first step, in 2022, led to a reduction in credit card rewards schemes and this latest move is already having similar effects.

BNZ said it had reviewed its credit card rewards programme to ensure it was sustainable under the new interchange fee caps. Customers will have to collect more points to redeem rewards.

From 3 February, its cashback rate drops from $1.28 per 200 points to 94c.

Kiwibank also dropped its Airpoints partnership this year. It said increased costs and changes to the interchange fee regulations affected the value and viability of the reward programme.

“The alternative to closing the products would be to reduce the rate at which points are earned or to pass on increased costs through higher interest rates – options we believe are neither fair nor in customers’ best interests, as it would mean that customers who do not repay their balance in full every month would further subsidise rewards for those who do,” said Kiwibank’s chief customer officer of retail, Mark Stephen.

Claire Matthews, a banking expert at Massey University, said she expected more pressure to come on credit card rewards.

“The rewards have to be paid for from somewhere, and the interchange fees have been the primary source – to an extent, the rewards were a reimbursement of a portion of those fees to cardholders. If the fees are lower, the funds available to cover the cost of rewards will be lower, and therefore the rewards have to be reduced.”

David Cunningham, chief executive of Squirrel and former chief executive of The Co-Operative Bank, said the biggest problem with credit cards was that interest rates were still high and had not moved a lot compared to the OCR.

“Those who pay off their balance every month are subsidised by those who don’t. The best option is a low-rate card if you use it as a debt instrument, but those cards don’t have rewards.

“Having a low-rate card if you don’t pay off your balance, or a rewards card if you do pay off your balance, is the best option. Sometimes you have both – one for each purpose.”

Consumer NZ said its analysis showed that credit card reward schemes were only benefiting big spenders who used their cards frequently and paid off the balance in full every month.

“People would generally need to spend $25,000 on their cards over two years, and not pay interest on it, to make a rewards scheme worth the fees that the cards charged.

“Low spenders, and those with interest-bearing debt, don’t benefit from rewards and are effectively subsidising high spenders. We don’t think this is fair, so we have supported the regulation of interchange, knowing this would likely result in card issuers scaling back rewards programmes, increasing card fees or cancelling schemes altogether,” a spokesperson 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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

File photo.

Four people have been taken to Gisborne Hospital, after a vehicle crashed into a tree in Whatatutu.

Police said they were notified of single vehicle crash on Mangamaia Road at about 3.40pm Sunday.

The crash occurred on private property, with police on site reporting the vehicle hit a tree.

St John said two patients in a moderate condition and two patients in a minor condition were transferred to Gisborne Hospital.

Four ambulance vehicles responded to the crash.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

This story has been updated to include additional comment from Oranga Tamariki.

The Green Party is calling on the government to abandon boot camps, after ‘Scrutiny Week’ questioning revealed another intake of the controversial programme is planned for early next year.

During their appearances at Parliament’s Scrutiny Week committees, Minister for Children Karen Chhour and Oranga Tamariki officials were asked if they would move forward with another boot camp or military-style academy (MSA), before the law making it a sentencing option was passed.

The minister denied decisions had been made, but officials later said another camp with a new design was planned for the early new year.

Oranga Tamariki confirmed to RNZ it planned to run a further voluntary programme in March 2026.

The Responding to Serious Youth Offending Amendment Bill, introduced in November last year, would give judges the sentencing option of a MSA for repeat serious offenders.

The discrepancy between the minister’s statements and those of officials was “what Scrutiny Week is actually about – digging into what ministers and officials are saying, compared to what they are doing, and this was a big red flag”, Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter said.

Green Party MP Kahurangi Carter. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

While passing the legislation may take another six months, job vacancies for the next iteration of the MSA were already advertised, she said.

Carter accused the government of putting the cart before the horse.

“We have a minister and ministry officials saying there are no definite decisions being made, but they are actively recruiting before legislation is in place.”

The “tough on crime” rhetoric came amid rising poverty, hefty cuts to community programmes working with youth and other policies affecting vulnerable families, she said.

“We’ve got a government who is pushing through with cancelling emergency housing, cancelling access to emergency food parcels and bringing in benefit sanctions. All of these things are key indicators of outcomes for children.”

The minister was using young people as a political football to push a tough-on-crime rhetoric, Carter said.

The next boot camp appeared to have been devised without strong evidence on the success of the pilot.

The minister had “cherry-picked” information from the independent evaluation and Carter believed another review was pending.

“My understanding is that the review has been commissioned, but they’re moving forward without it being complete, which just looks like one failed boot camp experiment to the next, without legislation, without making the changes that are needed, without investing in the communities and the people who have been doing this mahi for decades.”

An Oranga Tamariki spokesperson said it had not commissioned any other evaluations or reviews of the MSA pilot.

The move also conflicted with the wishes of survivors of abuse in care and recommendations of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission, Carter said.

The Green Party wanted to see the plan ditched in favour of more funding for programmes that worked with young people in their communities. Boot camps were a failed experiment, she said.

“History has shown us – like in the royal commission of inquiry – that doesn’t work. What works is wrapping support around those kids and making sure we’re taking a holistic view of their lives.

“That’s where things like housing, poverty, having food on the table, education, vocational training, comes into it – where [there are] opportunities for them to participate fully in society.

A ministry evaluation of MSAs held in 2009 and 2010, and sent to Oranga Tamariki staff in March 2024, before the pilot programme, underscored many of the same criticisms found in the independent evaluation of last year’s pilot.

The earlier camps were found to have insufficient screening of staff and participants, lack of clarity around roles, inadequate information, training and resources, and required better engagement with whānau and a need to involve iwi services.

Minister for Children Karen Chhour. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith

The evaluation of last year’s pilot noted “meaningful and positive change” for the young people, but named challenges like rushed implementation, challenging transitions, a lack of continuity around therapeutic support, a lack of capacity in the residential phase, the need to engage with mana whenua earlier and belated support for whānau.

It also found the pilot was too small to provide any meaningful data.

During the pilot, participants ran away, one was kicked out of the programme and another was killed in a three-vehicle crash. Seven of the 10 young men involved re-offended, according to Oranga Tamariki.

Critics said the government was recycling old failures, pushing ahead with an already failed model, but Oranga Tamariki said it had integrated lessons from the earlier programmes.

Groups, including Save the Children, the Law Society and the Children’s Commissioner, have urged the government to abandon the scheme.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Biosecurity New Zealand urges Aucklanders to be on the lookout for yellow-legged hornets or nests, as numbers of the pest keep climbing.

Thirty-three Queen Hornets have so far been found in the Glenfield and Birkdale areas of the North Shore – two more since Friday – 21 with developed nests or signs of nests.

Biosecurity NZ north commissioner Mike Inglis said the hornets had not spread yet from Glenfield and Birkdale.

Officials have put up signs within one kilometre of where the hornets were initially found, including in the suburb of Milford, alerting people to the invasive insect.

Inglis said that was just to raise awareness of the issue, rather than to signal the hornets had spread.

“All we are doing is continuing to engage the public, get some signage up.

“If you spot one, take a picture of it – if it’s a nest, take a picture of it. Don’t disturb it, contact our hotline and our expert staff will be out to deal with it.”

Inglis said teams had set more than 617 traps to eradicate the invasive insects, which were nearly twice the size of the common wasp and could wipe out bee colonies.

Trapping has already been extended out to 5km from the hornet detections, with a combination of carbohydrate and protein traps.

Inglis said staff would consult the technical advisory group overseeing the issue over extending further.

He said tracking technology from the Netherlands had arrived, which focused on worker hornets and tracked those hornets back to the nest.

There were signs of worker hornets operating and more were likely to appear over the next 4-6 weeks, he said.

“We’ll start to find some worker hornets as well, in terms of they’re going out and building a secondary nest, they go foraging generally within the same area.”

He said Biosecurity NZ had received more than 4860 messages from the public so far about the hornets.

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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 21-year-old man has been charged with murder, after the death of a man in the Auckland suburb of Mt Wellington on Friday.

The injured man turned up at a medical centre on Lunn Avenue with critical stabbing wounds.

He died in hospital. Police said he had earlier been involved in a fight.

One man faces murder and other charges, and will appear in court tomorrow.

Police are still looking for others they believe were involved.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Several new locations of interest in the spread of measles have been identified – including two central Auckland bars – and anybody who may have been exposed is asked to urgently contact Healthline.

There were no new cases of measles reported over the weekend, but Health New Zealand is concerned about several new locations, where people are considered close contacts and are at higher risk of infection.

The new locations include two bars on Karangahape Road in central Auckland and several Queenstown retail outlets:

• BP Connect Richmond, Queen Street, Nelson: 16 November, 1.15-2.15pm
• Eagle Bar, Karangahape Road, Auckland: 29 November, Midnight-2.30am
• G.A.Y Club, Karangahape Road, Auckland:  29 November, 1.15-2.45am
• Eagle Bar, Karangahape Road, Auckland: 30 November, 1.45-3.55am
• G.A.Y Club, Karangahape Road, Auckland: 30 November, 2.45-4.25am
• Hikari Teppanyaki, Grant Road, Frankton: 1 December, 6-8.45pm
• Dunedin Public Hospital, Emergency Department: 2 December, 1-2.30pm
• OPSM, Grant Road, Frankton: 2 December, 2.10-3.40pm
• Chemist Warehouse, Queenstown: 2 December, 7.50-9pm
• Carters, Glenda Drive, Queenstown: 2 December, 2.45-4.15pm
• The Ballarat, Queenstown: 2 December, 8.05-10.30pm

Health NZ said anybody who was at those locations on the days and times listed must call Healthline urgently on 0800 611 116.

“You could be at risk of developing measles and spreading it to others.

“Attendees at those locations or events that occurred on or before 30 November could be at risk of spreading measles to others from today, so these people also need to stay at home and avoid seeing others, until they’ve phoned Healthline and received advice.”

Thirty cases of measles have now been reported in New Zealand in recent weeks, including 11 in Auckland and eight in Wellington.

Vigilance encouraged ahead of the holiday season

Health NZ said with retailers, events, travel providers and airports all identified as recent locations where people could have been exposed to measles, it continued to urge everyone – especially people travelling or attending busy public places or large events – to protect themselves and others as we head into the busy holiday season.

It encouraged anyone with overseas travel plans over the holiday period to check their immunisation status and to catch up on any missed MMR vaccination as soon as possible before leaving New Zealand. 

“Measles can have a long incubation period and is highly contagious, so anyone planning to travel, either internationally or within New Zealand, is strongly encouraged to check their immunisation status and get vaccinated if needed.”

Public health specialist Dr Matt Reid said, in the 50 days since 18 October – the first case of this outbreak – 60,808 MMR doses had been delivered, compared to 22,000 in the 50 days before the outbreak.

“Immunisation is the best protection against measles,” Dr Reid said.

“The more people who are immune to measles, the better, as high community immunisation coverage protects those people in our whānau who can’t be immunised – babies under 12 months of age, people who are pregnant or people who are immunocompromised.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

One person has been injured in a housefire just north of Picton, near Waikawa.

The fire was reported just after 1pm Sunday.

Fire and Emergency said the fire was contained to the top floor of the two-storey house.

The fire was extinguished later in the afternoon, with one appliance kept on site to dampen any hot spots.

A FENZ spokesperson said they understood one person was injured.

FENZ also attended a fire in a paddock and along a hedge-line in Broomfield, near Amberley.

The fire was understood to be a burn-off that got out of control.

A FENZ spokesperson said the fire was reported just before 3pm Sunday.

Two helicopters and crews from six stations attended to get on top of the fire fast, given the hot windy conditions in the area.

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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 people have been hospitalised, after a crash at the New Zealand Jetsprint Championship in Wairarapa.

The NZ Jetsprint Association confirmed the crash happened during the opening round in Featherston on Sunday morning.

The event was being held at Tauherenikau Racecourse.

Wellington Free Ambulance said two patients were transported to Wairarapa Hospital in a moderate condition, after the incident in the Tauwharenīkau River on Sunday morning.

Police said they received reports of a crash at the river, near Tauherenikau Racecourse Road, at about 10.45am Sunday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Kiingitanga spokesperson Ngira Simmonds challenged Te Pāti Māori’s leadership, questioning whether they were the right people to unite the party.

He referenced Parliament as the house of lions, but queried who the real lion was, attacking certain members of the party.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi reminded those listening that there was only one enemy – the government.

The pōwhiri at Waiatuhi marae in Rotorua concluded and a slimmed-down version of Te Pāti Māori’s AGM had about 200 people in attendance on Sunday.

On Friday evening, an email was sent to members highlighting the high court ruling temporarily re-instating Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as a party member and stating how it would impact the AGM.

The email said, to uphold the court ruling, the AGM would be limited to receiving reports from the leadership and electorates. It said no other matters would be addressed or resolved, including any resolutions or motions outside of the reports.

The closed-door AGM comes after months of turmoil that led to the expulsion of two of their six MPs – Tākuta Ferris and Kapa-Kingi – the latter of whom attended, following the court ruling.

During the pōwhiri, many speakers addressed the issue of disunity within the party and spoke of the need to stop biting each other’s backs – “ngau tuara”.

Simmonds said he stood up to speak because of the depth of his sadness and frustration, as well as the depth of support the late Māori king had for Te Pāti Māori.

In te reo Māori, he spoke of the pain the membership felt, along with te ao Māori more widely, at the turmoil that had taken place this year.

He spoke of Kiingi Tuheitia’s call for kotahitanga (unity) in 2024 and the way meetings were then held around the country, and the call was picked up by Te Arikinui Nga wai hono i te po.

Simmonds said he travelled to Parliament recently and spoke to the six MPs, and the party president and found the party wasn’t of one mind.

He asked who should unite the party now.

Simmonds referenced the saying that Parliament was the house of lions – “ko taua whare te whare o ngā raiona” – but said, if they were being honest with themselves, the question was who the lion was that had “ngau” (bit or attacked) Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Tākuta Ferris and Oriini Kaipara.

He said the truth was the party was attacking them, but as he made the comments, he acknowledged he was staunchly still in support of Te Pāti Māori.

Simmonds said everyone was responsible for what had taken place – there was no single person at fault.

He challenged party president John Tamihere, and the party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, asking if they were the right people to unite the party and the people.

Simmonds said he had huge belief and support in the co-leaders, but the people were hurting and the party was hurting too.

He questioned who determined there were now only four Te Pāti Māori MPs and challenged the news that Tāmaki Makaurau had supported the decision.

Simmonds, who has been supporting the newest Te Pāti Māori MP, said she never agreed to expel party members, despite her Tāmaki Makaurau electorate voting in favour of the motion.

His final comments addressed how the pōtiki (the youngest) had been the leader through all this and acknowledged Hana-Rawhitit Maipi Clarke.

He said many people had voted for Te Pāti Māori and the support was available to them, but they felt the supporters weren’t being heard.

There was one pathway forward. He called for the party to hold meetings around the country and hear from its constituents.

He finished by echoing Kiingi Tuheitia’s final declarations around kotahitanga and mana motuhake.

Kaipara then rose to start his waiata tauotoko, Purea Nei, where Kapa-Kingi stood too, along with Naida Glavish, Selwyn Parata, Potaka Maipi (Maipi-Clarke’s father) and John Tamihere.

Waititi responds

Co-leader Rawiri Waititi was the final speaker and he began by acknowledging Te Arawa for hosting the event.

He then referenced the AGM during 2024, where only 20 people arrived, but this year, now there were issues, everyone came along, he said.

He said he heard the comments that had been made during the pōwhiri. He asked how they might all soften their hearts.

He agreed with Simmonds, acknowledging that it wasn’t only six MPs paddling the waka – everyone must help by picking up a paddle.

He acknowledged the pain te ao Māori were feeling, particularly in terms of the cost of living or homelessness, and yet here the members were biting at each other – “e ngaungau nei i a tatou”.

He said the focus must be turned to the correct enemy, which wasn’t each other, but the government.

He called for people to stop taking their gripes to social media and was frustrated that people wrote on Facebook, but didn’t speak to them face-to-face.

This meeting was called for the people, not for the six MPs to debate each other. It was for the people to decide, he said.

The load was heavy for the six MPs at Parliament, then they returned to their people, and they were attacked by Māori and Pākehā alike.

He said it was a “double whammy” – the government was attacking the party and Māori were attacking the party.

His comments weren’t to disparage or criticise Māori, but to awaken them.

The media and the courts weren’t going to resolve this – they had to resolve it themselves, he said.

He called for supporters to be strong and to look ahead to the future through working together. He concluded by acknowledging those who had passed in the various electorates.

Party leadership was expected to address the media at the end of the AGM.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says he had “absolutely no idea” about allegations staff were instructed to redirect emails about Jevon McSkimming from the Minister of Police’s office.

On Wednesday, RNZ revealed Coster had resigned as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, after the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s damning report into police’s response to allegations of sexual offending by former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Coster has not responded to several interview requests from RNZ.

In an interview with TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday, Coster was asked about comments made by Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who earlier said 36 emails containing allegations about McSkimming were sent to his office, but he never saw them.

A protocol had been put in place for police staff in Mitchell’s ministerial office to forward the emails directly to then-Commissioner Andrew Coster’s office, and not share them with Mitchell or his political staff, he said.

On Sunday, Coster said the first he heard of the allegation was after the IPCA report was released.

“I had absolutely no knowledge of that whatsoever. I can’t validate whether that was, in fact, a protocol that was in place, but what I can say is there’s no way in the world that agency employed staff in a minister’s office are able to prevent the minister or the minister’s staff from seeing email coming in on the minister’s email address.

“The role of the agency staff is to have emails given to them by the minister’s own staff to prepare responses for the minister through the agency, there’s just, there’s just no way that police staff in Minister’s office could, could somehow intercept.”

Coster said he had seen a file note that was prepared by police in recent weeks, which said there was a conversation between the head of ministerial services – who is not in the minister’s office – and the director of Coster’s office about emails that came through in late 2023 and early 2024.

“It was ‘there are these emails. What do I do with them?’… the file note says the direction was send them through to Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura, who was overseeing the process.”

Coster did not know why the “retrospective note” was created.

“I imagine there will have been some concern across more than one Minister’s office about … where did all these emails go, and who saw them and and I assume that this paperwork was created in response to those conversations.”

On Sunday, chief operating officer Andrea Conlan said police could confirm a handwritten file note was made at the time of a discussion with the director of the office of the former commissioner on 17 January, 2024, regarding the processing of emails to the minister’s office.

The manager of Ministerial Services was asked to speak with the minister’s office staff on 11 November, 2025, to outline how the emails sent to the office were handled.

“The handwritten file note was typed up by the manager after that conversation (and some detail added from memory). This was to make a digital record in parallel with the email the manager was asked to provide the minister’s office confirming the earlier conversation (and the process followed) in writing.

“Nobody asked for the file note to be prepared, but a confirmation email was requested by the minister’s office following the conversation on the morning of 11 November.

“Following the 17 January, 2024 conversation, at the request of the director of the office of the (former) commissioner, the manager of Ministerial Services provided hard copies of the emails to the (former) commissioner’s office.”

The manager also spoke to the staff member in the minister’s office to convey the director’s instruction.

“This was not included in the file note, but these actions corroborate what was documented in the manager’s original handwritten file note.”

Mitchell had previously also defended the police staff in his ministerial office, saying they were put in an “awful situation” by the protocol, which he was unaware of.

Coster fronts

On Wednesday, RNZ revealed Coster had resigned as Social Investment Agency chief executive, after the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s (IPCA) damning report into police response to allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming.

Coster has not responded to several interview requests from RNZ. In a statement on Wednesday, he said his resignation was “a result of my acceptance of full responsibility for the shortcomings” identified in the IPCA’s report.

In an interview with TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday, Coster said there were ministers who knew more than they admitted.

He said he briefed the then-Minister of Police Chris Hipkins in 2022, as he felt it was important Hipkins knew what he knew.

Coster said he told Hipkins that McSkimming told him he had an affair with a “much younger woman” and that the relationship “soured badly”, and she was now emailing “all sorts of people with allegations about him”.

He said the briefing was in the back of a car, while the two men were travelling in the South Island. He said he was unable to prove the conversation occurred.

“It’s simply my account.”

He said a big reflection for him was to take better notes, adding he wrongly assumed people would not “run for the hills”.

He also disputed that Mitchell was not aware of the allegations before November last year.

“There is no way I was only just telling him about this in my last couple of weeks in the job,” he said. “We had discussed this informally through 2024.”

He did not have the exact date, but said it was an “informal conversation” in the same terms as his conversation with Hipkins.

Asked why Hipkins and Mitchell would deny that, he said: “You would have to ask them. All I can say is no-one wants to be close to this.”

Coster said he was not saying others acted inappropriately, but that they knew more than they have admitted.

“There doesn’t appear to have been a full disclosure of the conversations.”

Asked why he should be trusted, Coster replied: “I acted honestly, I acted in good faith. My judgements were wrong, and I accept that.”

Politicians reject Coster’s claims

Responding to Coster’s allegations, Mitchell said it was “disappointing that, following his resignation, that came with an apology to police less than a week ago, Coster is trying to deflect and relitigate matters”.

“I firmly stand by all my statements and facts presented in relation to the IPCA report. Coster’s recollections are wrong.

“I want to make very clear that Coster never briefed me, either formally or informally, about Jevon McSkimming and [the woman had had an affair with] prior to 6 November, 2024. I would note his recollections of disclosures in the IPCA report were often found to be inconsistent and unreliable.

“If Coster’s focus is on relitigating matters, there are legal resources available to him and, if he truly believes what he is saying, nothing prevents him pursuing those.”

Mitchell said that, as a government, the focus was on “implementing the recommendations of the IPCA report to ensure this cannot happen again”.

Hipkins also denied Coster’s allegations.

“I was never briefed on Jevon McSkimming’s relationship with [the woman] during my time as minister of police or prime minister. Had I known what has now been detailed in the IPCA report, Jevon McSkimming would never have been appointed to the role.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says he had “absolutely no idea” about allegations staff were instructed to redirect emails about Jevon McSkimming from the Minister of Police’s office.

On Wednesday, RNZ revealed Coster had resigned as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, after the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s damning report into police’s response to allegations of sexual offending by former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Coster has not responded to several interview requests from RNZ.

In an interview with TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday, Coster was asked about comments made by Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who earlier said 36 emails containing allegations about McSkimming were sent to his office, but he never saw them.

A protocol had been put in place for police staff in Mitchell’s ministerial office to forward the emails directly to then-Commissioner Andrew Coster’s office, and not share them with Mitchell or his political staff, he said.

On Sunday, Coster said the first he heard of the allegation was after the IPCA report was released.

“I had absolutely no knowledge of that whatsoever. I can’t validate whether that was, in fact, a protocol that was in place, but what I can say is there’s no way in the world that agency employed staff in a minister’s office are able to prevent the minister or the minister’s staff from seeing email coming in on the minister’s email address.

“The role of the agency staff is to have emails given to them by the minister’s own staff to prepare responses for the minister through the agency, there’s just, there’s just no way that police staff in Minister’s office could, could somehow intercept.”

Coster said he had seen a file note that was prepared by police in recent weeks, which said there was a conversation between the head of ministerial services – who is not in the minister’s office – and the director of Coster’s office about emails that came through in late 2023 and early 2024.

“It was ‘there are these emails. What do I do with them?’… the file note says the direction was send them through to Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura, who was overseeing the process.”

Coster did not know why the “retrospective note” was created.

“I imagine there will have been some concern across more than one Minister’s office about … where did all these emails go, and who saw them and and I assume that this paperwork was created in response to those conversations.”

On Sunday, chief operating officer Andrea Conlan said police could confirm a handwritten file note was made at the time of a discussion with the director of the office of the former commissioner on 17 January, 2024, regarding the processing of emails to the minister’s office.

The manager of Ministerial Services was asked to speak with the minister’s office staff on 11 November, 2025, to outline how the emails sent to the office were handled.

“The handwritten file note was typed up by the manager after that conversation (and some detail added from memory). This was to make a digital record in parallel with the email the manager was asked to provide the minister’s office confirming the earlier conversation (and the process followed) in writing.

“Nobody asked for the file note to be prepared, but a confirmation email was requested by the minister’s office following the conversation on the morning of 11 November.

“Following the 17 January, 2024 conversation, at the request of the director of the office of the (former) commissioner, the manager of Ministerial Services provided hard copies of the emails to the (former) commissioner’s office.”

The manager also spoke to the staff member in the minister’s office to convey the director’s instruction.

“This was not included in the file note, but these actions corroborate what was documented in the manager’s original handwritten file note.”

Mitchell had previously also defended the police staff in his ministerial office, saying they were put in an “awful situation” by the protocol, which he was unaware of.

Coster fronts

On Wednesday, RNZ revealed Coster had resigned as Social Investment Agency chief executive, after the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s (IPCA) damning report into police response to allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming.

Coster has not responded to several interview requests from RNZ. In a statement on Wednesday, he said his resignation was “a result of my acceptance of full responsibility for the shortcomings” identified in the IPCA’s report.

In an interview with TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday, Coster said there were ministers who knew more than they admitted.

He said he briefed the then-Minister of Police Chris Hipkins in 2022, as he felt it was important Hipkins knew what he knew.

Coster said he told Hipkins that McSkimming told him he had an affair with a “much younger woman” and that the relationship “soured badly”, and she was now emailing “all sorts of people with allegations about him”.

He said the briefing was in the back of a car, while the two men were travelling in the South Island. He said he was unable to prove the conversation occurred.

“It’s simply my account.”

He said a big reflection for him was to take better notes, adding he wrongly assumed people would not “run for the hills”.

He also disputed that Mitchell was not aware of the allegations before November last year.

“There is no way I was only just telling him about this in my last couple of weeks in the job,” he said. “We had discussed this informally through 2024.”

He did not have the exact date, but said it was an “informal conversation” in the same terms as his conversation with Hipkins.

Asked why Hipkins and Mitchell would deny that, he said: “You would have to ask them. All I can say is no-one wants to be close to this.”

Coster said he was not saying others acted inappropriately, but that they knew more than they have admitted.

“There doesn’t appear to have been a full disclosure of the conversations.”

Asked why he should be trusted, Coster replied: “I acted honestly, I acted in good faith. My judgements were wrong, and I accept that.”

Politicians reject Coster’s claims

Responding to Coster’s allegations, Mitchell said it was “disappointing that, following his resignation, that came with an apology to police less than a week ago, Coster is trying to deflect and relitigate matters”.

“I firmly stand by all my statements and facts presented in relation to the IPCA report. Coster’s recollections are wrong.

“I want to make very clear that Coster never briefed me, either formally or informally, about Jevon McSkimming and [the woman had had an affair with] prior to 6 November, 2024. I would note his recollections of disclosures in the IPCA report were often found to be inconsistent and unreliable.

“If Coster’s focus is on relitigating matters, there are legal resources available to him and, if he truly believes what he is saying, nothing prevents him pursuing those.”

Mitchell said that, as a government, the focus was on “implementing the recommendations of the IPCA report to ensure this cannot happen again”.

Hipkins also denied Coster’s allegations.

“I was never briefed on Jevon McSkimming’s relationship with [the woman] during my time as minister of police or prime minister. Had I known what has now been detailed in the IPCA report, Jevon McSkimming would never have been appointed to the role.”

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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 Auckland family violence refuge says it would likely have had to pay for women and children to stay in hotels and motels this weekend, because their beds are full.

Shine Refuges has two safe houses, but only one of the 10 beds was available on Friday.

Presbyterian Support Northern oversees Shine and social services general manager Grenville Hendricks said family violence escalated at this time of year, when financial pressure mounts.

“We’ve got one bed and the email that went out to our after-hours staff is, if somebody comes in, you’re going to have to put them into the hotel and we’re going to have to say to our lines we’re actually full up at the moment.”

Hendricks said they would check availability at other refuges, but many were experiencing high demand.

“This is not going to be unusual,” he said. “This is going to be particularly usual and commonplace over the December period.

“We’ve got a really good arrangement with the hotels and motels, and so that helps us. We try and keep that to a minimum, because we have to carry the cost of that as well.

“What I’ve noticed is a steady increase in the numbers of people accessing the refuge, which is a bit concerning, but we do also have a spike, particularly around Christmas time,” he said.

“Over the last year or so, things have been exacerbated with the cost-of-living pressures, with the high unemployment rates, the job insecurity, there’s been more redundancies, the cost of living, the food banks [demand] has gone up as well.

“All of these things go hand in hand, because you’ll find that domestic violence is linked in with financial pressures, is linked in with mental health, is linked in with food insecurity.”

He said donations paid for the refuge and it would like the government to fund more refuge beds.

Hendricks said policy settings, such as the tightening of access to emergency housing, had impacted people needing their services.

“It’s commonsense that other parts of the system are going to have huge demand and their numbers are going to start to increase.”

Shine Refuges said one woman wanted to share her experience to help with the service’s Christmas appeal.

Hannah (not her real name) said few people knew about the violence she and her children endured, but she hoped to encourage anyone in similar situations to seek help.

She said her now ex-husband’s violence escalated over years, from breaking the furniture to other forms of control.

“Before we got married, [he] would be so kind, carrying things for me, cooking for me… but even then, he could suddenly become violent – breaking the furniture and smashing my phone,” she said. “Afterwards, he’d persuade me it wouldn’t happen again… and I would believe him.”

He gradually controlled every aspect of her life, isolating her from her friends and family to the point, she and her children had to ask permission to use the toilet.

Hannah said the turningpoint came one night, when he began strangling her.

“I thought that I was going to die,” she said. “My baby daughter was right there.

“Then he just stopped and said, ‘I nearly killed you’. At that moment, in my heart, I knew this had to stop, if not for me, for my children.

“I waited until he was asleep, went into my son’s room and told him to pack his things, that we were going. I packed my baby daughter’s things and called 111.”

Hannah said the police took them to a refuge and she was able to get back on her feet.

“Shine was amazing. My advocate arranged counselling for the children and I, a bank account, a car to get my son to school, a lawyer, clothing, food and later housing.

“When you have nothing, that means the world.”

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Family Violence: Where to get help

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

By Noam Mānuka Lazarus, Massey University journalism student

A star-studded array of celebrities are landing in Wellington next weekend, as the city lights up with events.

With cruise ships also due to bring thousands to the capital, Wellington City Council said the two days of 13/14 December would be a huge boost for the local economy, hospitality and screen sectors. 

The Australasian premiere of Avatar: Fire and Ash will held on Saturday, 13 December, with stars Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Sam Worthington and Jemaine Clement, as well as film-maker James Cameron, walking the red carpet outside the Embassy Theatre.

The council said Courtenay Place and surrounding areas would get a “spring clean” for the impending global attention and for the holiday season.

Pedestrians should take extra care, as temporary bus stops and diversions were put in place, and drivers should reconsider routes and modes of transport during the events.

Christmas in the Quarters at Waitangi Park will also begin at 11am Saturday and Te Papa’s Breathe/Mauri Ora digital art experience will open.

Meanwhile, the second Black Caps v West Indies test match begins on Wednesday, 10 December, at the Basin Reserve.

WellingtonNZ chief executive Mark Oldershaw said the Avatar franchise alone had contributed $1.1 billion to New Zealand’s economy over the past eight years.

“What a weekend ahead!” Oldershaw said. “With the Basin Reserve just a short stroll from the premiere venue – the Embassy Theatre – cricket fans can walk straight from the final session of the day’s play to spot celebrities on the red carpet, enjoy dinner in the city, soak up the electric atmosphere and head off to carols in Waitangi Park.”

Mayor Andrew Little said there would be something for everyone.

“I encourage everyone to head into Wellington and get amongst the exciting atmosphere, and support our local shops and hospo, while you’re there,” 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

Two people have been taken to hospital after two jet boats crashed in the Wairarapa.

Wellington Free Ambulance said two patients were transported to Wairarapa Hospital in a moderate condition following the collision in the Tauwharenīkau River on Sunday morning.

The Jetsprint Association confirmed the crash happened during the round one of the New Zealand Jetsprint Championship in Featherston.

Police said they received reports of the crash at the river, near Tauherenikau Racecourse Road, at about 10.45am on Sunday.

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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

MetService has issued a heavy rain warning for Fiordland, with up to 150mm of rain and thunderstorms predicted on Sunday morning.

“Peak rates of 20 to 30mm/h expected, mainly Sunday evening. Minimal chance of upgrading to a red warning,” the forecaster said.

The orange-level warning was in place for between 9am on Sunday and 2am on Monday.

“Streams and rivers may rise rapidly. Surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions [are] possible.”

Another orange-level warning was in place for the headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers from Sunday evening through to early Monday morning.

“Expect 90 to 120mm of rain about the main divide, and 50 to 80mm within 15km farther east. Peak rates of 20 to 30mm/h expected about the divide with possible thunderstorms.

“Freezing level above 3000 metres. Minimal chance of upgrading to a red warning.”

A strong wind warning for the Canterbury High Country was in place for Sunday afternoon, with severe gale-strength northwesterlies expected.

“Damage to trees, powerlines and unsecured structures possible,” MetService said. “Driving may be difficult, especially for high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.”

That was forecast to begin around 1pm and last until early Monday.

A strong wind watch was in place for Fiordland, Southern Lakes and parts of Southland and Central Otago from midday Sunday through to early Monday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

MetService has issued a heavy rain warning for Fiordland, with up to 150mm of rain and thunderstorms predicted on Sunday morning.

“Peak rates of 20 to 30mm/h expected, mainly Sunday evening. Minimal chance of upgrading to a red warning,” the forecaster said.

The orange-level warning was in place for between 9am on Sunday and 2am on Monday.

“Streams and rivers may rise rapidly. Surface flooding, slips, and difficult driving conditions [are] possible.”

Another orange-level warning was in place for the headwaters of the Otago lakes and rivers from Sunday evening through to early Monday morning.

“Expect 90 to 120mm of rain about the main divide, and 50 to 80mm within 15km farther east. Peak rates of 20 to 30mm/h expected about the divide with possible thunderstorms.

“Freezing level above 3000 metres. Minimal chance of upgrading to a red warning.”

A strong wind warning for the Canterbury High Country was in place for Sunday afternoon, with severe gale-strength northwesterlies expected.

“Damage to trees, powerlines and unsecured structures possible,” MetService said. “Driving may be difficult, especially for high-sided vehicles and motorcycles.”

That was forecast to begin around 1pm and last until early Monday.

A strong wind watch was in place for Fiordland, Southern Lakes and parts of Southland and Central Otago from midday Sunday through to early Monday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says he does not accept the “perception” that he pressured staff to rush staff to investigate allegations against Jevon McSkimming so he wouldn’t miss out on the top job.

RNZ revealed on Wednesday Coster had resigned as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency after the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s damning report into police’s response to allegations of sexual offending by former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Coster has not responded to several interview requests from RNZ. In a statement on Wednesday he said his resignation was “a result of my acceptance of full responsibility for the shortcomings” identified in the IPCA’s report.

In an interview with TVNZ’s Q+A on Sunday, Coster said he did not pressure staff to get an investigation done in a week so as to not impact McSkimming’s chances of being commissioner.

He said he did not believe it was a complicated investigation to resolve.

“I was really saying let’s make sure we balance the need for him to make an application if he chooses to do that.”

He said that at time McSkimming was a victim of criminal harassment.

The IPCA report said all attendees of meetings regarding the investigation reported feeling pressure.

“I accept that I was very keen to make sure the investigation was moved forward in a timely manner. I wasn’t asking for a shortcut… I had an understanding that in the end it was a pretty simple question of where does the truth lie in this, is there sufficient evidence in the allegations.

“My intention was for this to be done properly.”

He said the “worst case scenario” was if the allegations were false “the ultimate victimisation of Jevon for criminal harassment was missing out” on applying for Commissioner.

IPCA’s damning findings

The IPCA said that when McSkimming disclosed his affair to Coster in 2020, the former Police Commissioner should “at a minimum have asked more questions”.

“This is particularly the case given Deputy Commissioner McSkimming had told him that the female was aggrieved and was sending harassing and threatening emails to him and his community.”

Then in 2023, while a member of the interview panel for the statutory Deputy Commissioner appointment process, Coster “failed to disclose” to the Public Service Commission his knowledge of McSkimming’s relationship which had subsequently led to the emails.

“This failure clearly fell below what a reasonable person would have expected of a person in his position. Notwithstanding his recollection that the matter was already known to the panel, the panel members we spoke to were firm in their recollection that Commissioner Coster did not raise it, and that at that time they did not otherwise know about it. We have seen documentary evidence from the PSC that supports that view.”

In January 2024, Coster due to the number and nature of emails and concern for McSkimming’s welfare, Coster directed Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura to seek the input of the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC), as well as consider mental health support for the woman.

An investigation into the woman, referred to as Ms Z, began February 2024 and she was charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act in May 2024.

The charge against the woman was withdrawn in the Wellington District Court in September because McSkimming did not wish to give evidence.

The IPCA accepted that Coster entrusted Kura to commission the FTAC’s involvement, and to adequately respond to any recommendations they made.

“However, he was the Deputy Commissioner’s direct supervisor in terms of overall operations. Ultimately, he bore the responsibility for managing organisational risks.

“Given the very significant risk this matter posed to the organisation, even if the allegations were false, he should have given it higher priority and assured himself that the FTAC report was being handled appropriately. We cannot escape the conclusion that his preconception of Deputy Commissioner McSkimming as the only potential victim clouded his decision-making.”

Coster’s disclosure to the Public Service Commission on 8 October 2024, during the interim Commissioner appointment process also “fell well short of what a reasonable person would expect, given what he knew at the time.”

“At about the same time, he also inappropriately tried to influence the National Integrity Unit’s investigation into Ms Z’s complaint and to persuade the IPCA that the matter could be resolved quickly.

“While Commissioner Coster focused on the need to afford natural justice to Deputy Commissioner McSkimming, he did not sufficiently consider the injustice that would arise if there was indeed truth to Ms Z’s allegations.”

The IPCA said the influence was “most stark” in his letter to the IPCA on 22 October 2024 and in his meetings with staff on 30 October and 4 November 2024, during which he “sought to bring a serious criminal investigation to an unduly rapid conclusion so that it did not impact on a job application process”.

‘I acted in good faith’

In a statement to RNZ on Wednesday, Coster said his resignation was “a result of my acceptance of full responsibility for the shortcomings” identified in the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s report.

“I regret the impact on the young woman at the centre of this matter and sincerely apologise to her for the distress caused.

“I accept that I was too ready to trust and accept at face value Deputy Commissioner McSkimming’s disclosure and explanations to me. I should have been faster and more thorough in looking into the matter.”

Coster acknowledged he should have more fully investigated the allegations when they were brought to his attention, “rather than assuming that their previous disclosure to senior Police staff a few years earlier would have resulted in an investigation if necessary”.

“It is clear that Police’s handling of the whole matter was lacking and that I was ultimately responsible for those matters. It was sobering to read of a number of missed opportunities which should have proceeded differently and more appropriately.”

Coster welcomed Sir Brian’s acknowledgement that the report made no finding of corruption or cover-up, nor did the IPCA find any evidence of any actions involving officers consciously doing the wrong thing or setting out to undermine the integrity of the organisation.

“I made decisions honestly. I acted in good faith. I sought to take all important factors into account with the information I had at the time. While it is not possible to alter past events, I am prepared to take responsibility – I got this wrong.

“I want to apologise to all members of the NZ Police. They work hard every day to keep our communities safe. I know they have been adversely affected by these events.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Te Pāti Māori, including co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi, are gathering for the yearly AGM in Rotorua on Sunday. RNZ

Te Pāti Māori will gather for its long-awaited Annual General Meeting in Rotorua today, after months of turmoil that led to the expulsion of two of their six MPs.

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi will now attend the full AGM following a high court ruling reinstating her to the party, while Tākuta Ferris remains expelled and won’t be in attendance.

Ferris told RNZ he wasn’t surprised Kapa-Kingi was reinstated, and it was just “the next step in unfolding this big fat mess”.

He said the AGM agenda was “sterile”, suggesting it would be shut down following the updates provided.

Items on the agenda include updates from the party president, the co-leaders, and the electorates, as well as a financial report, constitution amendments and general business.

Ferris said following the news of Kapa-Kingi’s reinstatement, “you’ve got this whole other conversation that’s going to rear its head tomorrow.”

It also put the membership of the National Council – who made the decision to expel the MPs – “on notice”, Ferris said. He said their conduct will be scrutinised when the whole case is heard in February.

“If it’s not up to standard, well there’ll be consequences.”

On Friday, Justice Paul Radich said there were serious questions to be tried regarding Kapa-Kingi’s expulsion.

In response, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said on Friday she looked forward to hosting party members and “bringing this directly to them”.

The ruling discussed the party’s concerns that reinstating Kapa-Kingi would likely “create extreme tension within Te Pāti Māori’s MPs and leadership”.

Ferris agreed there would be tension, but not only within the parliamentary members of the party.

“There’s going to be resentment and tension from the membership that arrive.”

But he indicated the senior nature of those in attendance would “quell all of that carry on.”

He said there would be “senior Māori leadership” in attendance.

“Those senior leaders are going to show up expecting an open marae style conversation.

“If they [party leadership] try and run the sterile agenda, that’s just another notch in their belt.”

He said the wider membership would also want to “say their piece” and if the agenda didn’t allow for that, “then that just won’t be a good look.”

“This ain’t going away until someone shows up to have a proper conversation in a forum of accountability,” said Ferris.

Part of Kapa-Kingi’s application for a temporary injunction had included orders to restrain party president John Tamihere from acting in his role as president because he hadn’t been “validly re-elected”.

While he acknowledged the re-election issue required further consideration, Justice Radich didn’t see it as necessary to preserve her position as party member and the immediate concern of Tamihere chairing the AGM was addressed by the party making an assurance vice-president Fallyn Flavell would now chair instead.

Ngarewa-Packer said in response to the ruling she was pleased the president’s position had been preserved.

The AGM begins on Sunday morning in Rotorua, part of the Waiariki electorate.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Nitrate levels are inching up in a small South Canterbury town where some council water supplies were previously off limits for extended periods twice following breaches of the drinking water standards.

On Friday, the Waimate District Council reported the Lower Waihao and Waikakahi East Rural Water Scheme had reached 8.8 mg/L of nitrate-nitrogen (N03-N).

The legal limit is 11.3 mg/L.

Nitrate contamination in drinking water above 5mg/L has been linked to an increased risk of preterm birth.

The New Zealand College of Midwives advised pregnant people to consider an alternative water source if their primary water source is above this level for nitrate.

Some international research has drawn links to bowel cancer at far lower nitrate levels, and some health advocates have advocated for New Zealand’s maximum to be lowered.

Two weeks ago, Greenpeace water testing in Waimate found the supply was at 6.07mg/L of nitrate.

Waimate District Council’s own testing on 20 November found the supply was 6.35 mg/L.

“The Lower Waihao Scheme has consistently tested around 5 mg/L since April, but nitrate levels have shot up in the space of less than a month,” Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Will Appelbe said.

“The council has done what they can in an attempt to reduce the contamination, but this is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. The only way to permanently improve nitrate contamination is to address the source of the pollution: the intensive dairy industry,” he said.

In late 2022, around 650 Waimate households were told their tap water was unsafe after nitrate levels in the Waihao and Waikakahi East rural water schemes exceeded the maximum allowable value.

Again, in December 2024, residents were advised not to drink the water after it breached the limit. At the time, the council provided water tanks, and diluted the supply with water from the Waitaki River.

However, the council reported the presence of didymo algae and sediment when the river was high meant that was not viable long term, and after ruling out plans for an expensive denitrifcation system has been granted a consent to tap a new, lower nitrate water source, with work expected to start in 2026.

In September, the outgoing canterbury regional council narrowly voted to declare a nitrate emergency at the final meeting of its triennium.

Government ministers and farming groups called the move a stunt, but Earth Sciences New Zealand research found the region had the highest percentage of elevated nitrates in groundwater in the country.

The council’s most recent annual groundwater testing found nitrates had increased during the past ten years in 62 per cent of test wells.

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