Source: Radio New Zealand

Nearly 10 years after he made headlines when he was jailed for running a large national steroid ring, Joshua Townshend has been sentenced to home detention this time for his part in a drug manufacturing ring and laundering nearly $700,000. National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood reports.

Joshua Townshend was in bed when he heard something like the burst of a siren coming from outside his newly-built Governor’s Bay home followed by a heavy knock on the door.

It was December 20, 2022.

Townshend walked to the front door, opened it and saw a “flurry of police activity”.

“I was just speechless for a long period of time, and I should have seen it coming…”

The raid signalled the end of Townshend’s criminal enterprise that involved importing and manufacturing drugs. An enterprise he’d thought about while in prison serving a sentence for his role as the kingpin of a steroid ring that spanned the country.

More than three years on Townshend, and two of his co-defendants, were sentenced in the Christchurch District Court. Townshend earlier pleaded guilty to representative charges of importing a Class C controlled drug analogue, manufacturing a Class C controlled drug, money laundering. The 39-year-old also admitted charges of possessing a Class A controlled drug (LSD), and possessing a Class B controlled drug (ecstasy).

Before he was sentenced to 12 months home detention he spoke to RNZ about his latest criminal offending, how it unravelled, and how his “dishonesty and deceit” filtered into every aspect of his life.

The steroid ring

In May 2017, Townshend was sentenced to two years imprisonment after pleading guilty to 129 charges under the Medicines Act and two charges of driving while disqualified.

Court documents say Townshend operated a “large national steroid ring” importing raw ingredients and manufacturing products for use as performance and image enhancers. He then sold the drugs through a website and a Facebook page.

“The business was lucrative, recording annual sales of around $350,000 with typical profit margins for this type of enterprise of 2000-5000%.”

Townshend had been warned by Medsafe of the illegality of his business, in March 2013 and April 2014. In February 2014 he pleaded guilty to two earlier charges of importing Class C drugs and was sentenced to nine months home detention and 200 hours community work. He committed part of his offending while on the sentence.

Townshend later appealed his sentence in the High Court at Christchurch. Justice Gendall dismissed his appeal and said the “scale and persistency” of Townshend’s offending must be recognised.

“Mr Townshend ran his illegal steroid business as a very large scale and lucrative operation and, in particular, for a substantial period of time while he was subject to an earlier sentence of home detention for illegally importing Class C controlled drugs.

“Mr Townshend’s conduct involved a high degree of pre-meditation. It was a cynical and deliberate, prolifically advertised, very large scale, operation run for high profit.”

Prior to being jailed Townshend was an associate of Raymond Moreton, who is the owner and operator of R&M Trailers Limited, with Townshend receiving payments through Moreton’s business account.

According to the summary of facts for Townshend’s latest offending while he was in custody he was in regular contact with Moreton, calling him 61 times.

Townshend told RNZ that when he went into prison he was “still very financially motivated”, and while he was in prison he was thinking about how his next enterprise would be possible.

“Once I got to prison, I met numerous people … who had huge amounts of money ready to go.”

He says that in prison he was exposed to people with criminal networks and backgrounds that he was not used to. He says high level drug offending was “kind of glamorised” in prison.

“Men in there wanted to appear to be more dominant and all that kind of thing. And so steroids, obviously can achieve that.

“But then the financial element as well, people asking me what I did, and it was very quickly that it kind of like presented itself as more opportunities to offend over time.”

He says people would say to him: “if you can get this for me, or you can do that for me, then I could have that for you that day”.

“The financial drive I had to make money that way was almost kind of like enabled or supported by that. There was new avenues for me to offend in ways that I hadn’t had before.”

On May 8, 2018, Townshend was released from prison and he began receiving payments from Moreton.

“When I got out of prison, I’d almost given myself permission to re-offend,” Townshend says.

“That was the problem. I was still very financially motivated. And so my goal, I guess, was getting back on my feet. And in hindsight, that getting back on my feet was probably just financially driven to a standard that I think was unrealistic… it started almost immediately.

“What I’d got used to was having options, you know, having the ability to live a lifestyle that I hadn’t encountered before… the money really made me feel like I could succeed in some form.

He says making honest money would’ve taken genuine employment and going through avenues such as studying which he didn’t feel capable of.

“I didn’t feel that with my criminal history that getting stable employment was even possible to the same level of financial potential that I had with this… there was numerous times prior to going to prison where I tried, attempted to start legitimate businesses, and it was very hard for me to put down the illicit trade, because the illicit trade was so much more lucrative,”

“It was almost impossible, it felt impossible, for me to look elsewhere when I was willing to take, at the time those high risks for high rewards.”

In 2020, Townshend incorporated a company, Enfuse Limited, which operated as a juice business.

After hiring a warehouse space in Ferrymead he met Stuart Chadwick, the director and shareholder of Commercial Property Management Limited. Chadwick later incorporated CPM Health Ltd, which took over the juice business from Enfuse Limited.

In September 2021, Chadwick and Townshend moved their businesses to a larger warehouse space in Hillsborough.

The drugs

Between May 30, 2018 and August 23, 2022 Townshend and Moreton regularly imported consignments containing 4-methylpropiophenone which were delivered to Moreton’s address.

The summary of facts says synthetic cathinones are often sold as MDMA, also known as Ecstasy. Mephedrone is commonly sold in New Zealand under the false pretence of being true MDMA and has a street value of about $200 per gram.

Only three of the consignments were intercepted, each of which contained 4-methylpropiophenone. There were 39 consignments that were addressed to RM Engineering, Raymond Moreton, Joshua Townshend, Eukora Health, Enfuse or variations of those names.

“These imports were from similar addresses in China and consistently labelled as ‘Synthetic/Organic Pigment’, ‘Silicone/Silicone sample’ or something similar, and described as having ‘no commercial value’.”

Throughout this period $285,000 in cash was deposited into Townshend’s account. He also used a further $69,000 in cash to buy six vehicles. The cash was the proceeds of selling Mephedrone.

Police were unable to determine the exact amount of mephedrone manufactured, but were able to make an estimate based on the amount of money that was made.

“Using this range, the laundered money suggests that Mr Moreton and Mr Townshend manufactured between 4.8 and 21 kilograms of mephedrone.”

Townshend says he did a lot of research into the “chemistry elements” of the operation.

“There’s a degree of basic chemistry knowledge that I think anyone needs to know to do this kind of thing, which I didn’t have.

“I was learning backwards. So instead of understanding it from a from a fundamental kind of like ground up perspective, I was trying to understand it from the top down, which was quite complex and very high risk and frustrating at times. I felt like it was a problem to be solved, I think, at the time, and I wasn’t really considering the harm that was coming from it.”

Once he had successfully manufactured it he tested the products on himself and got addicted to “quite a serious degree” where he says he was up for days at a time using them.

Over time he had people “lined up that were willing to purchase”.

“Demand just stayed pretty current from there.”

He says the group the drugs were supplied to was “one or two individuals at a time”.

“It was just people who had the money available. I guess my methodology at the time was to try and minimise how many people I dealt with, and I did my best to avoid any kind of like association with gangs and things, although at points it was unavoidable.”

The painting

In May 2019, Customs staff visited Moreton after finding 4-methylpropiophenone in one of his imports. He told them it was for waterproofing, which they accepted.

Then, three years later, in September 2022, Customs intercepted and seized a 29kg fibreboard drum that had been imported by Townshend and Moreton. The drum, from Shanghai Doing Industry Limited in China, had been declared as “silicon with no commercial value”.

However, inside the drum was a separate 25 litre blue plastic container containing about 25kgs of 4-methylpropiophenone.

Customs seized the shipment due to it being falsely declared and containing a precursor for illegal drug manufacture.

Townshend recalls a letter coming in the mail to say it had been seized and that they had identified what the chemical was.

“That was my first kind of like warning that they understood at the very least what the chemical was and I know that there’s only a handful of things that can be used for, so I guess that was my first clue that something was being done about it. But there was a degree of complacency in me, and because I was still so financially driven at that time, my priority, I guess, was still maintaining that lifestyle and flow of money.”

On November 25, 2022 police obtained a surveillance device warrant targeting Townshend, Moreton and Chadwick.

During a conversation Townshend advised Moreton that he was planning on doing some “painting” before Christmas and New Year’s but would do a test first to make sure the “paint” they imported works.

Townshend said if he can get a couple of things “painted up” before New Year’s, they could move it, he could keep a couple of people happy, and they could both benefit from it.

The summary of facts said painting was a reference to manufacturing drugs, and moving is a common reference to supplying drugs.

On December 9, 2022 Townshend called Moreton and told him had everything ready to go, including the blue drum, but he still needed ethyl acetate (an extraction solvent that can be used in the manufacture of various drugs). They discussed a supplier and Moreton agreed to obtain some for Townshend.

Townshend said he still had to do a test paint to see if it dried properly. He said if it was OK, they should make it happen as “we’ve got everything here”.

The raids

On December 20, 2022 search warrants were carried out at Townshend’s home, Moreton’s address, and the warehouse used by Townshend and Chadwick.

Townshend was in bed when the police arrived.

“It felt very embarrassing to have such a huge police presence in a place that I’d just moved into, I was like a bit of a deer in the headlights, to be honest.”

Inside Townshend’s bedroom was 18 tabs of LSD, and nine tablets of MDMA.

He also had some cash, syringes and 50 vials of various liquids and substances and some snap-lock bags with quantities of white powder.

Townshend says that while on his way to the police station a police officer said to him “you’re in a bit of a downward spiral aren’t you?”.

“I said ‘yeah’, I kind of acknowledged at that point that my life was finally kind of falling apart.”

At the warehouse were various items used in the manufacture of mephedrone.

The summary of facts said Townshend engaged in a total of $669,000 of money laundering. This excluded an unknown sum he used to fund the purchase of land in Governors Bay as well as plan and build the house. Townshend and Chadwick built a high-spec house on the section which sold in November 2022 for $1.2 million.

Moreton engaged in $689,000 in money laundering transactions.

When spoken to by police Townshend declined to comment.

Moreton denied any involvement in criminal activity and claimed the imports were all for legitimate purposes. He claimed ammunition found at his home was mistakenly purchased on TradeMe. He admitted MDMA was his but claimed mephedrone was Viagra.

Chadwick declined to comment.

Townshend says in the months prior to his arrest he was beginning to feel “quite sick internally”.

“When you’re making huge amounts of money illegally, as much as you have these options, it’s very hollow.

“I couldn’t really enjoy myself as much as I wanted to be. You know, when you’re paying for hotels in cash and things like that, you just really do feel like you’re kind of existing outside of society.”

He also struggled with living a double-life.

“When you are meeting people socially, and you may present as someone successful, and they ask you, what do you do? And I have to make something up, that’s incredibly hard. I couldn’t be proud of what I did. I couldn’t be honest about what I did, so the dishonesty and deceit ended up filtering into every aspect of my life… I felt like a fraud.

“If I met, you know, a new girl and I met her parents, you know, I had to, I had to lie if I met people out and about with friends, I had to lie if I was even talking to my own family.”

He recalls a conversation with his mother who was concerned about how he was making money.

“She asked me, ‘what’s going on?’ And I had to reassure her that everything was fine when it was absolutely not fine.

“And that kind of double life, looking over your shoulder all the time, you know, worrying about potentially being raided at any point. You know, driving past a police car and thinking, are they going to turn around? All that kind of stuff is just, it’s the pits. It makes this kind of lifestyle incredibly hard as it should.”

He was also in the grips of addiction to multiple substances.

Townshend was in the cells for the night after his arrest. The following morning he was released on bail, which he calls “an incredible gift”.

“From that point, I had to kind of reassess my life and work out what direction I was going and kind of what had happened.”

He says he was still “very financially motivated”, but started to rule out “illicit ways of making money”.

“I was like, I can’t continue to do this. I’m looking at prison time now. What am I going to do?”

He says he did a coaching diploma and psychology diploma through polytech. Halfway through the year he was diagnosed with ADHD and started taking medication. He says being medicated helped him with his studies and he turned his psychology diploma into a degree which he finished last year.

He also did a short rehabilitative programme and engaged in peer support work. He has recently started a master’s degree in health psychology through Massey University.

Sentencing

RNZ spoke with Townshend in the hours before his sentencing.

He said he was feeling “much calmer than I thought I would”.

“I’ve come to a place of real acceptance with this. It’s been a while that it’s been going through courts and so I think if I compare it back to the last time I was facing this kind of thing, last time, I didn’t really have much purpose outside of what I had been doing.

“And the difference that I feel now is, I think over the last three years, I’ve discovered myself a lot more, and I’ve, I guess, learned a lot more about the harm that my offending was causing, and so I’m just accepting of what the court process needs to do, and I know that regardless of the outcome, I’ve got a better future ahead of me.”

At sentencing, Crown prosecutor Will Taffs told the court the offending was a “reasonably sophisticated drug operation on a large scale”.

He said the “magic figure” when looking at the offending was the $1.2m that was laundered.

A number of methods were used to launder money including construction of a house, salary payments and buying vehicles.

He said Townshend had since his arrest “really put his best foot forward”.

However, he said the offending was “almost a continuation of previous offending”.

“He was released on release conditions and immediately engaged in the same type of operation but on a much larger scale.”

Townshend’s lawyer, Olivia Jarvis says the man standing before the Judge today was a different one to the one who committed the offending and referred to the steps he had taken.

“It’s difficult to see what else he could’ve done since the offending.”

She submitted an appropriate sentence was home detention.

She referenced his ADHD diagnosis and said it “helps to understand why he offended and that impulsive desire…”

Jarvis said Townshend’s Master’s degree was also a significant factor. She said if Townshend was jailed drug treatment would be unlikely to be considered appropriate given the steps he had already taken to address his addictions. He would also likely lose the opportunity to continue his Master’s degree.

She said Townshend had shown “extraordinary remorse”.

Jarvis submitted to the court her client’s rehabilitation had been nothing short of remarkable, and Judge Raoul Neave said he was inclined to agree.

“Mr Townshend has taken remarkable steps to educate and rehabilitate himself,” Neave said.

“The individual who stands before the court today is a completely different one to the individual who committed the offending.”

“Mr Townshend has completely reinvented himself in a way that is incredibly impressive,” Judge Neave said.

Judge Neave said the criminal enterprise was substantial.

“It’s clearly a commercial enterprise on a significant scale.

“This was a sophisticated and determined operation involving a significant number of sales and a high level of proceeds.”

Despite the large sum of money Townshend had obtained through manufacturing and supplying the drugs, “it’s unlikely he will ever see a penny of it”, Judge Neave said.

He sentenced Townshend to 12 months home detention and 250 hours community work.

Moreton, 57, earlier pleaded guilty to representative charges of importing a Class C controlled drug analogue, manufacturing a Class C controlled drug and money laundering. He also admitted unlawful possession of ammunition and possessing a Class B controlled drug. He was sentenced to 12 months home detention and 300 hours community work.

Chadwick, 62, pleaded guilty to a representative charge of engaging in a money laundering transaction.

Judge Neave said Chadwick was reckless rather than sinister and he was not directly involved in producing or supplying drugs. However, he was “no mere dupe nor hapless”, Judge Neave said.

He was sentenced to four months home detention.

‘Anyone’s capable of change’

Townshend says he’s “incredibly embarrassed about the way I’ve conducted myself throughout my life”.

“I can see through working with people who have been in active addiction and have come from very dysfunctional upbringings and things, how much harm drugs do in society, especially addictive stimulants, like the ones that I was providing, I acknowledge that harm and take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to make some changes.”

Asked what his message would be to those who say he’ll never change, Townshend says “anyone’s capable of change”.

Asked if it was all worth it, Townshend replied: “absolutely not”.

“I wouldn’t want to not have the lessons that I’ve learned now, and I wouldn’t want to change who I am. But if I could take back the drug offending and all of it for any level of money made, I would take it back without a doubt.”

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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 government will publicly release the findings of an independent inquiry into the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant “as soon as possible”.

Millions of litres of raw sewage continued to enter the Cook Strait each day following the plant’s catastrophic failure at the start of February.

A rāhui was put in place on the stretch of southern coast from Ōwhiro Bay to Breaker Bay, and was lifted a few weeks later.

Minister for Local Government Simon Watts confirmed on Thursay the Crown Review team would be led by the chairperson of the water services authority, Taumata Arowai, Raveen Jaduram.

He said an infrastructure engineer and two lawyers would assist the investigation.

“Wellingtonians deserve clear answers about what led to the catastrophic failure at Moa Point and the assurance that it will not happen again.

“The review team’s work will provide that certainty by investigating what led to the failure and what must change to prevent it from happening again,” Watts said.

He said the review would target both Wellington City Council and Wellington Water in a parallel process, with an interim report expected to be delivered before July 1 – and the plant’s transfer to new water entity Tiaki Wai.

“My intention is to publicly release the findings as soon as possible while managing any risk of prejudicing the investigation or any enforcement action by Greater Wellington Regional Council or any commercial or legal action or claims,” Watts said.

Recommendations from the final report would be reported to Cabinet.

Wellington mayor Andrew Little informed his council colleagues of the update during Thursday’s council meeting.

He said the government had appointed a “high powered team”.

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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 visible police presence can be expected across Rotorua on Friday and Saturday as a gang tangi travels to Ōpotiki.

A large number of gang members and associates are expected to be in town for the tangi, from many parts of the country, police warn.

Additional police resources will be available to provide support and provide a respectful and safe space for whānau and friends to grieve peacefully, Eastern Bay of Plenty Area Commender Nicky Cooney said in a statement.

Police have conveyed their “lawful expectations” to local gang leaders – including around the waring or displaying of gang insignia in public.

Cooney said the police focus is on the safety of everyone, adding that behaviour which aims to threaten or intimidate will not be tolerated, and officers will be working to reduce disruption to the public.

Reports of illegal activity will be followed up by police

Anyone who witnesses illegal behaviour is urged to call 111, or provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Air New Zealand has cancelled 19 flights due to an ash cloud coming from Whakaari/White Island in the Bay of Plenty.

GeoNet’s volcanic alert says there is moderate to heightened volcanic unrest on the island.

It’s the second time in four months flight have been cancelled in an out of Tauranga because of ash.

Air NZ’s chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw says they’ll reassess conditions this afternoon.

He says affected customers will be rebooked on the next available flight.

More to come…

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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 Department of Conservation (DoC) livestream of a nesting Kākāpo on a remote island off the coast of the South Island, has attracted international attention.

Through a hidden camera, viewers can watch Rakiura as she raises her chick, who looks more like a sentient ball of fluff than a bird, at this stage.

In the comments of the YouTube livestream, watchers announce they’re tuning in from places including Argentina, The United States and The Netherlands.

“She’s a star,” one commenter said, “I love to come here and watch Rakiura and her chick for a while every day it is so special,” another wrote.

More than 100 people are tuning in to the livestream at any given time.

The livestream is beamed across the world from a arge cavity beneath a rātā tree on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island.

Twenty-four-year-old Rakiura even laid an egg on the livestream back in January and was now raising her chick for the world to see.

According to DoC, there were only 236 Kākāpo left in the world, and as they were only in Aotearoa, many people would never see one in real life.

This was the first breeding season for Kākāpo since 2022, it said.

Kākāpō only breed every two to four years and this year’s season could the best yet following a bumper mast, or mass fruiting of rimu berries.

During this breeding season, Rakiura had laid three eggs – but only two of these went on to hatch. One of the chicks was transferred to a foster mum while the second, Nora-A2 2026, is still in the nest with her mum.

DoC said Rakiura had nine living descendants across six breeding seasons and also had many “grandchicks”.

The Kākāpo cam helped scientists learn about nesting behaviour along with letting people around the world watch without disturbing the birds, it said, and helped build support for protecting the species.

On its website, DoC urged people to share the video with friends and family because “the more people who care, the better the future for kākāpō”.

This year’s live stream set up involved four solar panels, 26kg of batteries, 300m of cable, satellite internet, routers, voltage converters and more.

The Kākāpo livestream could be viewed here.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Air New Zealand is warning 44,000 passengers will be affected by cancellations over the coming months – so what are your rights if you’re one of them?

Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar told Morning Report between now and the end of April, early May the airline will cancel around 1100 flights.

The airline is facing massive cost pressures, with the conflict in the Middle East increasing the price of jet fuel.

On the No Stupid Questions podcast this week, we talked to Consumer NZ spokesperson Jessica Walker about travellers’ rights if their travel is cancelled.

She said the first thing people potentially affected should do was to check whether their airline or travel agent.

“The most important thing you can do if you’re due to travel is just keep looking at the airline’s website.

“Make sure that you’re registered, maybe on their app or that they’ve got up-to-date contact details for you… it might be that you look like you’re all set to fly …and then you find out with a few hours’ notice that actually that’s not going to be the case.

“So, knowing what’s happening is really important.”

From there, people could work out their rights, she said.

Generally, if flights are cancelled because of conflict – for example where war closes an airspace – then airlines are not required to offer passengers a refund.

But Walker said when a flight was cancelled because of the surge in fuel prices, it could be argued that was not a direct result of war.

She said Consumer’s legal team said that fuel price volatility was likely to be viewed as a business cost that could have been hedged and not an unavoidable operational disruption.

“It’s great to see that people are being rebooked, but there are going to be people for whom rebooking doesn’t work. Our stance is they should be able to get their money back and any additional costs should be reimbursed as well.”

That could be to the limits in the Civil Aviation Act, which allow people to claim the lesser of up to 10 times the cost of the ticket for the actual cost of the delay.

But in cases where flights were cancelled directly because of the conflict, that would not apply.

Travel insurance might not help. Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman Karen Stevens said policies would generally not cover in situations where travel was disrupted due to war. It would also not help when people had changed their minds.

“When it comes to travel insurance, claims arising from war hostilities or military actions, so exactly what’s happening here, often the policy is going to have exclusions in place so that you don’t have coverage for anything,” Walker said.

“We have been told that there are cases where there is some cover available, but that would be for claims that are not related to the conflict itself. So for example, say you’ve got travel insurance and you’re to get sick while you’re away, or your bag gets stolen while you’re at the railway station for example, then providing those losses are not related to the conflict, then some policies will still cover you for that.”

Walker also warned people to take care with accepting credits for travel they could not use. Airlines have already announced fare increases.

“It is highly unlikely that flight prices are going to go down. So if you’re getting credited for a flight that you decide not to take or could you get to that destination for the same price? It’s looking unlikely, especially with what’s happening with fuel prices… there are already reports of tickets absolutely skyrocketing.

“So I’d say that’s something for people to just keep in mind that with those credits, it’s not going to be a great situation for a lot of people looking to get to the same destination in the future.”

‘Pragmatic response’

David Coombes, CEO of House of Travel, said Air NZ’s decision was “a pragmatic response to the reality of the conflict in the Middle East and the restricted flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz”.

“We’ve seen the price of jet fuel double because a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is currently restricted at the source. When an airline’s main operational cost increases that quickly, it forces an adjustment to keep the network functioning.

“However, this is a pressure airlines the world over have navigated during difficult historical events in the past, and I would say the industry is very resilient and can often stabilise quickly.

“Our immediate priority is on our customers and the 44,000 New Zealanders whose travel plans will be impacted. It’s in times of global disruption like this that the value of working with a travel professional really comes into its own.

“I ask for your patience as our travel consultants work alongside our partners to support Kiwi travellers across the country to get everyone where they need to be.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Air New Zealand is warning 44,000 passengers will be affected by cancellations over the coming months – so what are your rights if you’re one of them?

Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar told Morning Report between now and the end of April, early May the airline will cancel around 1100 flights.

The airline is facing massive cost pressures, with the conflict in the Middle East increasing the price of jet fuel.

On the No Stupid Questions podcast this week, we talked to Consumer NZ spokesperson Jessica Walker about travellers’ rights if their travel is cancelled.

She said the first thing people potentially affected should do was to check whether their airline or travel agent.

“The most important thing you can do if you’re due to travel is just keep looking at the airline’s website.

“Make sure that you’re registered, maybe on their app or that they’ve got up-to-date contact details for you… it might be that you look like you’re all set to fly …and then you find out with a few hours’ notice that actually that’s not going to be the case.

“So, knowing what’s happening is really important.”

From there, people could work out their rights, she said.

Generally, if flights are cancelled because of conflict – for example where war closes an airspace – then airlines are not required to offer passengers a refund.

But Walker said when a flight was cancelled because of the surge in fuel prices, it could be argued that was not a direct result of war.

She said Consumer’s legal team said that fuel price volatility was likely to be viewed as a business cost that could have been hedged and not an unavoidable operational disruption.

“It’s great to see that people are being rebooked, but there are going to be people for whom rebooking doesn’t work. Our stance is they should be able to get their money back and any additional costs should be reimbursed as well.”

That could be to the limits in the Civil Aviation Act, which allow people to claim the lesser of up to 10 times the cost of the ticket for the actual cost of the delay.

But in cases where flights were cancelled directly because of the conflict, that would not apply.

Travel insurance might not help. Insurance and Financial Services Ombudsman Karen Stevens said policies would generally not cover in situations where travel was disrupted due to war. It would also not help when people had changed their minds.

“When it comes to travel insurance, claims arising from war hostilities or military actions, so exactly what’s happening here, often the policy is going to have exclusions in place so that you don’t have coverage for anything,” Walker said.

“We have been told that there are cases where there is some cover available, but that would be for claims that are not related to the conflict itself. So for example, say you’ve got travel insurance and you’re to get sick while you’re away, or your bag gets stolen while you’re at the railway station for example, then providing those losses are not related to the conflict, then some policies will still cover you for that.”

Walker also warned people to take care with accepting credits for travel they could not use. Airlines have already announced fare increases.

“It is highly unlikely that flight prices are going to go down. So if you’re getting credited for a flight that you decide not to take or could you get to that destination for the same price? It’s looking unlikely, especially with what’s happening with fuel prices… there are already reports of tickets absolutely skyrocketing.

“So I’d say that’s something for people to just keep in mind that with those credits, it’s not going to be a great situation for a lot of people looking to get to the same destination in the future.”

‘Pragmatic response’

David Coombes, CEO of House of Travel, said Air NZ’s decision was “a pragmatic response to the reality of the conflict in the Middle East and the restricted flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz”.

“We’ve seen the price of jet fuel double because a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas is currently restricted at the source. When an airline’s main operational cost increases that quickly, it forces an adjustment to keep the network functioning.

“However, this is a pressure airlines the world over have navigated during difficult historical events in the past, and I would say the industry is very resilient and can often stabilise quickly.

“Our immediate priority is on our customers and the 44,000 New Zealanders whose travel plans will be impacted. It’s in times of global disruption like this that the value of working with a travel professional really comes into its own.

“I ask for your patience as our travel consultants work alongside our partners to support Kiwi travellers across the country to get everyone where they need to be.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Public Service Commissioner says there’s nothing wrong in offering pay rises to non-unionised teachers, despite it drawing fire and court action from a union.

NZEI, the primary teachers union, was filing urgent legal action after the government announced it was offering pay rises to teachers on individual employment agreements.

School boards could now offer individual agreements of a 2.5 percent rise from March 20, and a further 2.1 percent next January.

The NZEI said it was an attack on a strong collective decision by the majority of teachers to keep fighting.

The Council of Trade Unions further called the move an outright attack on tens of thousands of teachers.

“May be unusual, that doesn’t make it wrong,” public service boss Brian Roche told Morning Report.

He argued pay talks with the union had stalled “for some time”.

“This is the last union, I respect the fact that they have to make a decision at some point, they’ve chosen not to at this point,” he said.

“Why should non-unionised workforce be disadvantaged? I don’t think that’s fair, and I don’t think it’s equitable.”

Roche said he thought it was best non-unionised staff were given a pay offer while talks were ongoing with the union.

The deal was essentially the same as one the union had rejected, he said.

“Why would we have non-unionised workers basically caught in the middle of something they’re not involved in?”.

Asked if the deal for non-union teachers was legal, Roche said “of course it’s legal” and offers were able to go to the two groups at once.

“Nothing has changed with respect to our commitment to keep negotiating and bargaining with the unionised movement,” he said.

“You know, they’ve got a job to do, I have a job to do, I have to ensure best value for money for taxpayers, I remain committed to that.”

The Council of Trade Unions said it was supporting the NZEI in its stance and that Sir Brian had overstepped the mark.

“It is totally unacceptable that the Public Service Commissioner is attempting to turn teachers against each other and undermine solidarity across the sector” it said.

The NZEI said its legal action would ask for the commissioner to meet and discuss the proposal with the union first.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A man’s body has been pulled from the Tāmaki River in east Auckland.

It’s after searches started this week for a man reported missing near Waipuna last Friday.

A member of the public found the body just before 6pm on Wednesday.

Inspector Jim Wilson, Auckland City East Area Commander, said the man’s death will be referred to the Coroner.

“Searching has been underway involving the Police Maritime Unit and the Police National Dive Squad, with assistance from the Navy,” he said.

“I would like to acknowledge all of those experts involved in the search effort.”

He said police thoughts were also with the the man’s family for their loss.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman who was killed after a car crashed into an Auckland cafe is being remembered for her faith, friendship and care she showed others.

Shortly before 9am on Wednesday, Sarah Clark was killed and her daughter injured, after a car mounted the curb and hit two people outside William Souter Espresso in Forrest Hill.

Windsor Park Baptist Church in Mairangi Bay, identified Clark as the victim, calling what happened a “tragic accident”.

“With great sorrow we share that a tragic accident on the North Shore has taken the life of our dear colleague and friend, Sarah Clark, Manager of the Windsor Park LifeCare Trust,” the church said.

Clark had been a staff member at the church for more than seven years, it said, and a member of the church for many decades.

“Sarah will be remembered for her deep faith, her leadership, her friendship, and the genuine care she showed to so many.

“Even as we hold onto the hope that Sarah is now with the Lord, we grieve deeply with those who loved her.”

A worker at the cafe that was hit by the car said Clark and her daughter were sitting outside at the time.

We just heard a massive crash sound,” Jess, who works in a neighbouring store, told RNZ.

“I was out back and I thought maybe some of our shelves had fallen down, so I rushed out to the front of the store, and lo and behold, there’s just a car on the sidewalk.”

Jess said she and her manager both rushed out and could see that the car had “obviously” crashed into the cafe.

“The car obviously has taken out the door area, the whole glass panel, it’s almost like a split glass panel and the one glass panel is literally floating in mid-air.”

Jess credited another nearby worker.

“The cat doctor next door to us, there is a cat nurse, she was brilliant in that situation, she ran right across from the cat doctor and she sat on the ground with the injured lady and she just sat with her and talked her through it. She was amazing,” Jess said.

Police have been approached for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New AI-supercharged weapon systems will need to be “very, very carefully designed” to comply with international and domestic laws, MPs have been told.

And it would be the software behind the systems that would dictate like never before just how effective any new missiles, guns or electromagnetic jammers were, a defence official told a select committee.

Defence ministry deputy secretary Anton Youngman said it was time for some serious thinking by New Zealand.

“One of the key points that we talk about here is that with these new capabilities … they need to be very, very carefully designed to comply with international and domestic laws,” he said.

The briefing coincided with the first week of the Iran war.

Experts said the war was testing out for real the questions of what artificial intelligence should be used in warfare and who controlled it.

Fox News has reported that the advance in AI “is changing the nature of the battlefield by speeding up targeting and analysing intelligence all while raising new concerns over the role of human judgment and oversight in modern warfare”.

The Guardian reported, “The use of AI tools to enable attacks on Iran heralds a new era of bombing quicker than ‘the speed of thought’ experts have said, amid fears human-decision-makers could be sidelined.”

AI targeting has been developing rapidly in the last several years.

Youngman, for his long-term insights briefing of the select committee, drew on a less militaristic example. He described a future where NZ kept an eye on nearby oceans by using satellites, drones flying high and on and under the sea, surveillance aircraft and land-based radars – ” all of these working in sync together”.

The software did that syncing.

Such technology was typically ‘dual-use’ with civilian and military applications.

Youngman went on: “The ability of defence forces to collect and analyse data at speed will increasingly be the key determinant of military advantage.”

Defence Minister Judith Collins in her speech to a geopolitics conference on Tuesday said New Zealanders understood the world had changed, and “the highly skilled personnel” in defence needed to be ready to do what the govenment “and people ask of it”.

“That’s why we are focusing on more than doubling our defence spend and investing in a defence force that is combat capable with enhanced lethality and deterrence; a force multiplier with Australia and increasingly interoperable with partners,” her speech notes said.

What does this have to do with NZ?

NZ has already put development of these syncing technologies on a faster track under last year’s $12 billion defence capability plan (though officials had been tightlipped about the aim to get a sovereign satellite).

Its latest move was to start testing 14 drones for the sea and air, with potential strike capability, from local firm Syos.

It was also working internationally through its defence science technology section with its counterpart in Australia, and with the US and other countries. NZ has not waited to join AUKUS Pillar Two – which focuses on emerging military tech – to make these moves.

AI-targeting experiments were part of that. The NZDF has been taking part in the US-led Project Convergence exercise to test joint AI systems alongside multinational forces.

Last year’s exercise in California had a “digital backbone” provided by data-mining firm Palantir.

The Washington Post has reported that Palantir tech was being used by the Pentagon in Iran. The Post said its targeting system called Maven was using an AI tool, Claude.

“Anthropic’s AI tool Claude central to US campaign in Iran, amid a bitter feud,” ran the paper’s headline.

Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel, a NZ citizen, has said the software used at Project Convergence “provided a unified data infrastructure for advanced battlespace management that empowered users across all levels to plan, execute, and assess operations effectively and enable commanders to rapidly make informed decisions”.

Another such Convergence exercise was scheduled for the coming US summer. The NZDF did not respond when asked how many people it was sending.

RNZ has previously reported how this work fits under a Pentagon top-priority project with allies and partners called CJADC2 or Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control.

‘Needs to be thought through much more carefully now than it ever previously did’

Youngman offered MPs another insight, that the ascendancy of software would change soldiering itself.

“Under the human-machine team … it’s a different role for defence personnel in this long-term future,” he said in response to National MP Tim Costley suggesting that NZ might be too small to properly deploy AI weapons and be better off adding to its soldiers, sailors and bullets.

Youngman said the role was moving potentially “from less kind of in the field work and more into that kind of tuning and training systems, interpreting the outputs, making decisions and ensuring adherence with … law and doctrine”.

Whose law and doctrine? That second question, of who controllrd the AI, also came up at the committee.

Green MP Teanau Tuiono asked, “You were saying earlier around making sure that the system design adheres to domestic international law. How are you going to do that?”

Youngman said the challenge was new, now that machines could now take action themselves, for the first time in warfare.

“It’s going to continue to be a growing challenge and something that through the design of the capabilities, needs to be thought through much more carefully now than it ever previously did,” he said.

Labour MP and former Defence Minister Peeni Henare asked, “Do we have the foundational legislation to make sure that we’re able to govern effectively in the spaces of war?”

Youngman replied that was beyond the scope of the long-term briefing but added, “This is exactly the type of questions that this research is pointing to and saying we need to have this conversation.

“We are looking at a longer term horizon here, 2035, and the reason for doing this type of long-term research now is to say these are the types of conversations that we need to have.”

What about NZ being able to afford its own cloud-based AI military systems in future, Henare asked.

“Really good quesiton,” said Youngman. “I think the importance of remaining interoperable with partners is going to be key. It is today and it will continue to be.

“However … [the briefing] does talk about needing to continually balance that cost with sovereignty, with legality and social licence.”

‘A grey ship is a grey ship’

Everyone agreed that explaining all this to the public was much harder than talking about buying a new frigate.

“A grey ship is a grey ship,” said Henare.

“People will read this and go, this is preparing us for AUKUS,” he added.

Youngman replied that defence would “need to be more proactive” in communicating around the new capabilities.

The briefing itself said this was one of “three major shifts” defence had to get its head around.

“Public trust in defence forces is earned, not assumed. Ensuring Defence maintains public trust will remain essential, and possibly more challenging, in an environment defined by increased contestation and technological change,” it said.

When RNZ asked NZDF to lay out the nature of its technology and data-sharing with the US and other Five Eyes partners, Defence responded by turning it into an Official Information Act (OIA) request that would take at least five weeks to answer; similarly, a question about whether defence was taking a role in testing or developing systems from Palantir.

“Your request is noted, but the NZDF still needs to manage information requests in the way it deems appropriate,” Defence said.

The nature of NZ’s national security work within Five Eyes had come up earlier at a select committee. In that case, the SIS and GCSB replied they had tight controls around intellligence sharing and could withhold intel if legal, policy and human rights settings were not met.

An OIA in December showed that defence currently used nine AI-enabled tools in a restricted cacpacity for research in data and sensor processing and modelling. Sensors could be used in targeting.

The nine were: ChatGPT, Dalle-2, Github Copilot, Azure Machine Learning, Azure OpenAI services, Microsoft Copilot, Microsoft Teams, AiZynthFinder and Meta Llama 2.

National MP Dana Kirkpatrick thanked Youngman for the insights briefing: “There’s no time like the present in the current geopolitical challenges to be talking about future capability and interoperability in defence.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman who spent 15 years in prison says being released into the outside world was like being pushed out the gate.

The coroner is calling for urgent psychological support for long term prisoners before and after release, after a former prisoner who served nearly 30 years for murder died by suicide on his release.

Those who work at the frontline said something must be done.

Gail Maney spent a total of 15 years in prison and about 10 years on parole before her conviction for the murder of West Auckland tyre-fitter Deane Fuller-Sandys was quashed.

She found being released from the structure of prison difficult.

“I was very used to being behind closed doors, and everything’s done for you and managed for you, and then it’s like you’re just suddenly pushed out the gate and into society,” she said.

“I remember thinking ‘is this it? what now?’. It’s a really strange feeling.”

Maney said she was lucky to have the ability to put her life together, though she had to do much of it herself

Reporting to probation was also stressful, Maney said.

“Dealing with probation was one of the hardest parts for me,” she said.

“They’ll tell you that if you feel like your in danger or anything like that that you can contact them and talk to them, but if you tell probation that you’re in a difficult situation they will have you recalled back to prison straight away.

“Realistically, you don’t want to go back to jail so you’re not going to reach out to probation.”

Maney spoke about the need to have someone who understood the needs of those who had been in prison for a long time.

“That could mean having a more gentle approach to how they manage parolees in society,” she said.

In January, Coroner Bruce Hesketh ruled that Lee Rawiri Kohiti died by suicide two months after he left prison.

He recommended the Department of Corrections work with other agencies to address systemic issues in providing services to prisoners on release.

Mahi Mihinare Anglican Action offered accommodation and reintegration for parolees in Hamilton.

Chief executive Peter Osbourne said they had first-hand experience with suicide and self-harm.

“We’ve seen the struggles that men and women have actually coming back into a society, and often it’s a society that doesn’t want them.

“We’re sort of a very punitive culture in this country, where we think we just should lock people up and some would say throw away the key.”

Osbourne spoke about the impact prison can have on people.

“In Scandinavia they’re closing down prisons, here we are in New Zealand building new ones because we think locking people up keeps us safe,” he said

“But actually, I don’t think it does, because at some point those people come out and they come out more damaged and traumatised than they did when they went inside.”

Dr Emmy Rākete from People Against Prisons Aotearoa said parolees were affected by a lack of investment in state housing and the health system.

“There’s just this disinvestment from social infrastructure of all kinds, and the enormous suicide rate amongst parolees is just one symptom of this underlying rot,” she said.

The rate of suicide among parolees over the last three years was unknown because Corrections did not centrally record the data, nor was it always alerted to the cause of death when a person was serving a community based sentence.

Chief mental health and addictions officer Emma Gardner said Community Corrections staff tracked the progress of those they managed in the community and referred to mental health services when required.

“Once someone is released, like anyone else in the community, they have access to the public health service for any mental health support they might require, she said.

“If we know someone is going to require ongoing mental health support after they are released, Corrections works closely with relevant agencies and organisations to ensure the necessary referrals are made to enable a smooth transition for that support to continue.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A new report showing one in three households have struggled to access affordable, nutritious food in the past year has come as a surprise even to the charities putting food on tables.

The Hunger Monitor is the country’s first comprehensive tally of food insecurity and will serve as a benchmark for annual updates.

It surveyed 3000 people late last year.

From its warehouse in Manukau, South Auckland Christian Foodbank delivered 40,000 food parcels last year and chief executive Ian Foster said that number was climbing.

“I can remember in Covid we were doing 100 a day and we thought how the heck are we doing that, this year we’ve averaged 177 a day.”

He founded the foodbank 18 years ago.

“What we’re seeing more of now is budgeters have done everything they can but people simply do not have enough money because their income has not increased anywhere near living costs,” Foster said.

“Until we turn that around, we’ve got a major problem.”

He was surprised to learn one in three households had struggled to afford food in the past year – they did not all turn up at food banks.

The Hunger Monitor also found nearly one in five households, 18 percent, had experienced severe food insecurity in that time.

It was commissioned by the New Zealand Food Network, a collection of foodbanks and food rescue charities. Its chief executive Gavin Findlay said the numbers are startling.

“I did find it confronting and a little bit surprising, based on our own previous research and anecdotal evicence from our hubs we knew there was an issue but I think the scale and scope of it across demographics, across income levels, was surprising.”

Nearly half of low-income households faced food insecurity and just under a third of full-time workers experienced food insecurity.

High income houses with debt were not immune to struggles at the supermarket.

“Even at high income levels, over $156,000 household income, you’ve got 12 percent who are indicating that they’ve had some form of food insecurity. You just never would have thought that was possible.”

Findlay said the report was an important benchmark.

“We now absolutely know that there is an issue, we need to continue what we’re doing in terms of supporting those that need food support. We may even need to do more.”

The survey showed two-thirds, 68 percent of households that struggled to afford food had experienced that for the first time last year and that many were hesitant to access food support, citing shame or embarrassment as the reason.

Vision West provided food parcels, ran a social supermarket, and offered a free community lunch once a week.

Its director of partnerships Brook Turner said demand for food became evident during the pandemic but there had been a 50 percent jump in households approaching it for help since this time last year.

“I just don’t understand why food isn’t seen as a legitimate need. I get that we need to have benefits that are enough that people have enough to put food on the table, that’s always going to be the first choice that mum should be able to go to the grocery store and buy food for her kids but that’s not the reality.”

He said the Hunger Monitor showed that hunger was an entrenched issue that New Zealand was facing.

Henderson Budget Service chief executive Tracey Phillips said it was working with 200 families and got around 60 new referrals a month.

“Whānau with children have got under $100 left over at the end of the week after they’ve paid some of those other bills, paid their rent, paid their power, put some fuel in the car to get to work. It’s tough.”

She said in the five years she had been at the budgeting service, the need had become more widespread because incomes were not keeping up with basic costs.

“It used to be people who weren’t working and were going through just a bit of a rough patch needing that temporary support, whereas now there’s working whānau that are really struggling to put food on the table,” Phillips said.

“Cost of living has driven the cost of food up but wages and benefits are not keeping up with that so there’s just a disconnect between the amount of money that’s coming in versus what’s needed just to put food on the table.”

Turner said the need for foodbanks was evident.

“We need emergency food for people who fall through the system and I hope the government can hear that.”

Vision West is among food charities that are asking government to extend their funding beyond June this year, or they risk reducing their services or closing.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A deadly Covid wave returns, just as New Zealand gets its final pandemic report card

Another wave of Covid-19 is circulating again through New Zealand communities, pushing up hospitalisations and deaths, and reminding Kiwis of a time they hoped was a distant memory.

The arrival of the ninth wave coincides with the delivery of the long-awaited final report card on how New Zealand handled the Covid pandemic.

Health experts say wastewater monitoring suggests community transmission is at its highest level in more than six months, and already in a single week, 50 hospitalisations and 19 deaths linked to the virus have been reported, underscoring that the virus remains one of the country’s most serious infectious diseases.

“It’s going to be infecting thousands of people every day, giving some people long Covid and obviously putting people in hospital and killing some people,” epidemiologist and Professor of Public Health Michael Baker tells The Detail.

“So, it’s still our most important and infectious disease. It’s still ahead of influenza, which, in the past, was our most impactful infection. So, we need to take it seriously.

He says the latest surge appears to be driven largely by waning immunity and declining booster uptake, rather than a dramatically new variant.

“It’s just the dynamics between the virus that wants to infect us and our own immunity, which is usually very good at stopping it. But when the virus gets an edge, then we get more cases.

“The most likely cause is that it’s quite a long time since many people were last infected, but even more important, people are not getting their boosters, so they are missing that opportunity to top up their antibodies.”

He puts that down to complacency.

“I think that really summarises it. And there is an element of not wanting to think about it because for many people it was a very difficult time in their lives … people want to put it in their rearview mirror and move on.

“[But] we can’t afford to not think about this virus and act on it.”

Unlike earlier surges, he says this wave is not being tracked by mass testing.

In part, because rapid antigen tests are no longer free and fewer people are reporting results, meaning official case numbers capture only a fraction of infections.

Instead, health authorities are relying on hospital admissions and wastewater analysis to get a clearer picture of the situation.

“We have still got very good surveillance systems that are not affected by how much energy people have to do that [test]”, says Professor Baker, who advises New Zealanders to test, get a booster, wear a mask if necessary, and isolate for five days if positive.

Just as the virus surges again, the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19 has been released – an extensive examination of how New Zealand navigated the crisis.

“Overall, this report concludes that Aotearoa New Zealand did well in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the whole, the decisions taken and methods used during the Covid-19 response were considered and appropriate,” the commissioners wrote.

“We have also identified where they were lacking. New Zealand’s response strategy and settings weren’t always sufficiently responsive to changing circumstances; for example, they weren’t adapted early enough to deal with later variants of the virus. At a time when speed was often critical, some decisions had to be made without enough information and data, or without sufficient consideration of all the impacts that might arise, or without important checks and monitoring.”

The commission has issued recommendations aimed at strengthening New Zealand’s response to future pandemics, which Baker welcomes.

“They are great documents, we have now got a lot of really good recommendations, very good analysis of the issues.

“So, I think the challenge now is to act on these recommendations and do it quickly because we could get another pandemic of the intensity of Covid-19, any day, or we could get something much worse.”

He says the elimination strategy was “highly successful – it basically kept us largely Covid-free for a couple of years while people got vaccinated … we have got a lot to be grateful for.”

The government isn’t as impressed, highlighting that the report notes that Auckland was kept in lockdown, despite receiving advice that restrictions could end sooner.

“When you look at the report, it’s pretty equivocal on most of these points; it’s saying the decision makers were doing the best they could with incomplete information,” Professor Baker says.

“You could argue, in hindsight perhaps, that lockdowns in Auckland should have been ended sooner, but you have to do what we call a counter-factual analysis, and what would that have looked like?

“And we would have had Delta, the Delta outbreak, which was being controlled in Auckland, spreading throughout the country. It was much more harmful than Omicron, which came after that.

“It might have put a real dampener on business and social activities over that summer period for the whole country.”

Six years after the first case arrived in the country, the virus remains a persistent threat – even as the country continues to debate how it handled the original crisis.

And as this latest wave shows, Covid-19 is not just a chapter in New Zealand’s past. It remains part of its future.

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