Sunday 22nd of March 2026 05:08:31 AM
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Citizens arrests, armed guards, and the power of Sunny Kaushal

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime, headed by Sunny Kaushal and set up to give expert advice, has collapsed and three members quit before it was due to wind up, exposing deep differences within the retail industry.  RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

The Government has long promised to be tough on crime, and legislation could see a major crackdown on retail crime – but within the retail industry, the proposed hard-line changes are controversial

The man behind the controversial moves to crack down hard on retail crime is one step closer to getting his way.

Sunny Kaushal has been on a 10-year mission to deal to retail criminals with harsher penalties and give retailers and the public more powerful tools to fight them.

The measures are now part of proposed changes to the Crimes Act 1961 and include the most disputed aspect, citizens arrests.

Submissions closed last week and they will now go to select committee.

If the amendment is passed into law it will be a victory for Kaushal, who has long fronted for dairy owners in the call for tougher laws. But it comes at a cost.

The government group headed by Kaushal, which was set up to give expert advice, has collapsed and three members quit before it was due to wind up, exposing deep differences within the retail industry.

Today The Detail talks to three journalists who have delved into the work of Kaushal and the Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime (MAG).

The group was set up in July 2024 to tackle rising retail crime by providing independent, actionable, and evidence-based policy proposals. According to a government press release it was set up to advise on “changes to the Crimes Act 1961 to strengthen self-defence, anti-social behaviour policies, and security regulations”.

The Spinoff’s special correspondent, Madeleine Chapman, says she’d been thinking about Kaushal for years as he was often in the media speaking on behalf of small retail businesses, particularly dairy owners, around ram raids and other crimes.

After poring over pages of material about him, going back many years, Chapman says she was impressed by his consistent message.

“He has really been on the same beat for the whole 10 years.”

Kaushal has been calling for more police, longer sentences, and making it easier to charge people who commit the crimes, she says.

“Part of me goes: that seems kind of strange for someone who’s speaking and canvassing lots of opinions to have that same strong opinion the whole time.

“Another part of me was surprised that he has kept the energy and the momentum and I think that is why he has had such staying power,” Chapman says.

What emerged from her investigation was more than the story behind the group of retail leaders unravelling, it was about one man who continued to push through his campaign with a “little bit of tunnel vision” despite strong opposition from many parts of the retail industry.

“It is quite incredible that he has come against all these people, all of his colleagues saying all sorts of stuff. That has worked, they accepted the group’s recommendations and now it’s proposed legislation.”

Jimmy Ellingham, RNZ’s Checkpoint reporter, says when the government announced the Ministerial Advisory Group in 2024, it cited an 86 percent rise in retail crime over five years, while Kaushal pointed out that retail crime costs $2.7 billion a year.

“So this was set up in response to that and the objectives at the time were said to do the likes of empowering security guards at retail premises and give business owners of retailers more power to deal with shoplifting. There was also mention of facial recognition technology. This group was set up to look into those issues,” Ellingham says.

Ellingham and Checkpoint senior producer, Louisa Cleave, looked into ministerial advisory groups, compared their budgets and the time spent by the members.

“It’s not unusual that this was set up and the remit was a bit of a blank canvas. The minister Paul Goldsmith said on this show, ‘I want them to throw any and every idea at me’.’”

Goldsmith told Checkpoint he wanted them to push the barrow, though suggestions such as allowing people to use pepper spray to deter criminals was considered a step too far, says Cleave.

The group had a very good scope of experts but somewhere along the way, something went wrong, she says.

“There’s been one aspect that seems to be the most controversial and that’s the citizens arrest powers. We’ve heard from two quite strong groups, Retail NZ and the Police Association, since submissions closed last week that they have some serious concerns.”

Chapman says submissions show the concerns around arming security guards and making citizens arrests are shared by others in the industry, like petrol station owners.

“They were against any sort of citizens arrest or any sort of expectation that your regular retail worker should be trying to stop armed offenders. Currently what they do is say, ‘keep safe, make sure people are safe, the person will likely leave, call the police’.

“And then when you read the submissions some of them are quite strongly worded about how ridiculous this whole idea sounded.”

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.

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

New police powers to ‘move on’ rough sleepers only mask NZ’s deeper homelessness problem

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brodie Fraser, Senior Research Fellow in Housing and Health, University of Otago

The government’s plan to empower police to “issue move-on orders as a tool to deal with disorderly behaviour in public places” will effectively apply to people as young as 14 who are experiencing homelessness and who “obstruct” access to businesses, beg or sleep rough.

Critics have called the policy unworkable and “draconian”, particularly the provisions for NZ$2,000 fines or up to three months in prison as penalties for breaches.

While the approach may move people out of central business districts temporarily, it won’t tackle homelessness in the long term. In fact, the focus on those who are visibly sleeping rough obscures the true extent and nature of homelessness in New Zealand.

Rough sleeping is just the tip of the iceberg. On the night of the 2023 Census, there were 112,496 people experiencing homelessness. The most common form of homelessness was living in uninhabitable housing, followed by sharing accommodation.

New Zealand is also an outlier internationally in that more than half of those experiencing homelessness are women. This is in large part because New Zealand defines and measures homelessness comprehensively as:

[…] living situations where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing are: without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation with a household, or living in uninhabitable housing.

Unfortunately, we are set to lose the continued collection of such high-quality data with the end of the traditional Census.

Homelessness among women, and mothers in particular, also occurs because our welfare state doesn’t provide sufficient support to prevent homelessness. Homelessness is systemic; quick-fix “solutions” like move-on orders don’t solve anything.

Housing first

There are many different ways to tackle homelessness but there is no evidence to suggest simply moving people away will do anything to address the problem.

Despite the Census data, there is very little research, policy or funding focused specifically on the needs and experiences of women experiencing homelessness. This makes it difficult for housing support services to provide appropriate accommodation.

However, one successful model New Zealand has adopted is called Housing First. Initially championed in the US, it starts with the idea that the complex issues that lead to people experiencing homelessness are best addressed with permanent housing as the starting point.

Then, once people are housed, staff provide ongoing intensive and specialist support for any other needs a person may have. To obtain housing, clients don’t have to meet any strict behavioural criteria such as sobriety, which is often a requirement in “treatment first” models.

Instead, housing is treated as a human right.

In partnership with The People’s Project, New Zealand’s first Housing First provider, we have evaluated the outcomes of about 400 of their first clients to see whether this approach works in New Zealand. Our findings repeatedly show it does.

In our newly published research, we examined the demographic differences of the women in this cohort and found they were much more likely to be younger than men in the group, Māori and have dependent children.

Findings after five years

In the fifth year after being housed and supported by The People’s Project, circumstances had improved noticeably for these women.

Most striking were their health-related outcomes. There was a statistically significant drop in hospitalisations; 65% less than in the one year before they were housed.

Their pharmaceutical dispensing increased significantly by 14%, which suggests they were able to access healthcare earlier and get the medications they needed in a timely fashion.

Once people have been housed, one of the first things The People’s Project does is to enrol them in a general practice clinic and help them sort out any ongoing health issues they might have.

While not statistically significant, other healthcare results showed a promising decrease across all forms of mental health related events and a drop in emergency department visits.

Overall, access to permanent housing has improved health and wellbeing.

When examining justice sector outcomes, we did not find any statistically significant changes for women in the cohort; although there was a drop in offences and charges.

What we did see, though, was a significant drop in police offences, criminal charges and major events for the men in the cohort.

What about poverty?

We also looked at changes in incomes, both from wages or salaries and social welfare benefits.

For women in the cohort, their incomes from wages and salaries rose by a significant 101%, and a 19% increase from benefits.

Over the years, we have heard repeatedly from our community partners about how hard it is for people to navigate the social welfare system and to know what financial support is available to them.

A key role of Housing First providers across the country is to help make sure their clients are getting the correct financial support they are eligible for.

However, despite these great improvements in income, the women were only earning about $20,000 per year; not enough to raise a thriving family. Most of these women (84%) had children.

As the saying goes, raising a family takes a village, and for women experiencing homelessness, the support from Housing First providers can contribute to that village. However, no amount of support can fully ease the impact of living in poverty.

To support women and their children, we need better policies to prevent poverty and homelessness in the first place, alongside increased and targeted funding for successful models such as Housing First.

– ref. New police powers to ‘move on’ rough sleepers only mask NZ’s deeper homelessness problem – https://theconversation.com/new-police-powers-to-move-on-rough-sleepers-only-mask-nzs-deeper-homelessness-problem-276621

‘I am the enemy of death’: Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir is a remarkable tale of survival

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Kevin, Associate Professor in Australian History, Flinders University

Gisèle Pelicot’s compelling and moving memoir begins with the day she learned that over the course of at least nine years, she had been raped by her husband Dominique and around 80 other men, while she was drugged and unconscious.

On that first day of knowing, in November 2020, she was a few months shy of 68. Her memoir explores the aftermath of that knowing, but also rewinds to her parents’ courtship, her childhood and youth and each stage of her adult life. It reveals how her husband’s crimes forced her to recast her entire adult life to-date – and its relationship to her childhood.

Review: A Hymn to Life – Gisèle Pelicot (Bodley Head)

I moved between reading Gisèle’s chapters and daily reports of the Epstein files. As I read, recent charges were laid against men in Germany and Greater Manchester who also drugged and raped their wives for over a decade.

I wondered: what are the effects of this avalanche of revelations about the shadow lives of men – the wealthy, the famous and the seemingly ordinary? (Gisèle’s rapists were described by philosopher Zoe Williams as “a perfect randomised cross-section of society”.)

How is this public accounting of the thousands of documents, images, videos and testimonials to be processed, by survivors and non-survivors? When does the status quo, the structures of power that enable such abuses, give way to rage and its transformative potential?

book cover: A Hymn to Life - a smiling woman in a blue and white striped shirt

The Pelicot case became an international story when Gisèle realised facing the 51 men police had been able to identify and charge (including her husband) in a closed court would rob her of support – and the opportunity to shift the burden of shame from victim to perpetrators.

Her decision to make the case public was an act of solidarity with other survivors – and a declaration of self worth that became increasingly audible as the trial proceeded. Have her actions nudged us closer to a tipping point?

When I reviewed the memoir of Pelicot’s daughter, Caroline Darian, a year ago, I asked: is sexual abuse under chemical submission a new frontier in our understandings of intimate partner violence?

The Pelicot case intersected with more established understandings of drink spiking and date rape. But this sustained injury – perpetrated in the final decade of a 49-year marriage, worsened by access to online communities of predators – revealed a distinct new hellscape in understandings of gendered violence, particularly domestic abuse.

In a terrible irony, Gisèle writes:

I had no interest in the internet and social media, and I had no idea of the extent to which they had altered human relationships.

Gisèle has been intermittently estranged from her two eldest children, David and Caroline, since November 2020. They are now tentatively reconciled. Caroline’s 2025 book, I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again, in part makes a case for activism as a form of survival. In the aftermath of the revelations about her father, Caroline established #MendorsPas (Don’t Put Me Under), a movement to raise awareness of sexual assault under chemical submission.

Her mother’s new memoir, far from going over familiar ground, offers a different story of survival.

a younger and older woman talk into a microphone, a young man in the background

Gisele Pelicot’s new memoir offers a different story of survival from her daughter Caroline’s, published last year. Guillaume Horcajuelo/AAP

A legacy of trauma

Gisèle Pelicot was born in 1952 in West Germany, where her father was serving in the French army and “history’s open wounds and bitterness were all around us”. When she was five, they moved to rural France to be close to her mother’s family. Gisèle was nine when her adored mother died in their family kitchen, after years of being plagued by brain tumours.

Her brother and father never recovered from this death, but she resolved to pursue happiness as her mother had done in life. “I was a steadfast tin soldier of joy.” Gisèle did this with determination, in the face of limited schooling and her grief-stricken father’s jealous and cruel second wife. She described meeting Dominique at the age of 19 as “love at first sight”.

Dominique grew up within an oppressive family, where his efforts to protect his mother from his, domestically “all-powerful”, father’s violence failed. He suffered his own humiliations at the hands of the patriarch, too. The man had an incestuous relationship with a foster child taken into the family aged five, which became “official” when she was 25, after Dominique’s mother died.

Dominique once described his life before Gisele as a “nightmare”. But he felt safe with her. Their instant attraction was fortified by this sense of refuge. Building a family was how they would heal; at least this was the pact they made.

Caroline was born in 1979 into this marriage, the second of three children and the only daughter. Her mother’s career trajectory with France’s main electricity company had afforded the Pelicots’ upward class mobility. Dominique, an electrician and a real estate agent, was in and out of work. Occasionally he brought the couple to the brink of financial ruin, but they were buffered just enough by the stability of Gisèle’s employment.

On the whole, the Pelicot children enjoyed secure, loving childhoods focused on their opportunities to thrive. Each forged meaningful careers in adulthood, married and had children. Both Caroline’s and Gisèle’s memoirs depict comfort and security in the lives of Gisèle’s adult children and grandchildren, even as the shock of Dominique’s brutal betrayal begins to reverberate.

‘Inside an enormous shredder’

One of the great achievements of this book is Gisèle’s capacity to describe – with coherence and nuance – the singularity of her position. This includes her needs, which she finds must take precedence over those of her children if she is to survive.

She writes of her older two children:

They both wanted to be there for me, to protect me in their own way. But I felt as if they wanted to take possession of my life. I couldn’t bear that.

The determination to be happy that took Gisèle into the relationship with her then-husband is transformed into a determination to survive as she surveys the wreckage inflicted by his abuses and seeks a way out. During the years she was drugged, Gisèle felt like she was losing her mind.

Her memory failures, blackouts and exhaustion instilled in her a deep fear of brain tumours and the inheritance of her mother’s fate. As she comes to terms with the true source of these struggles, she writes “I am the enemy of death”. She must chart her own course, and she does so instinctively.

two young men and a woman cross a road grimly

Gisèle recoils at the idea of her well-meaning children, Caroline, David and Florian, taking ‘possession’ of her life. Guillaume Horcajuelo/AAP

In the immediate aftermath of the revelations, the children’s fury and desire to destroy all traces of their father as they prepare to remove Gisèle from the scene of Dominique’s most recent crimes will make sense to many. But its effect on Gisèle was to return her to a state of desolation, familiar from childhood.

She describes arriving at the Gare de Lyon in Paris with her children after her final night in the home she had shared with Dominique in Provence:

mostly I had the feeling of being inside an enormous shredder. My children had lives to go back to. I had nothing […] It was the old fault line beneath my feet; it had been there all along and now it was opening up again, swallowing everything that I held dear.

Through her efforts to control the pace of her confrontation with Dominique’s countless betrayals, a chasm opens between Gisèle and her eldest son and daughter. Her children, she writes, were “unable to distinguish their father from the poisoner and rapist”, whereas she tried to separate her memories of the husband she’d loved from her new knowledge of the one who had violated her.

Through processes of splitting apart, quarantining and dismembering her images and understandings of who Dominique was in their marriage, she holds at bay the full tsunami of deeply knowing what has been done to her.

She takes the time she needs, insisting on being alone, seeking solace in friends old and new rather than her children, to integrate the full force of her new history. That these decisions are integral to her survival is clear. Their impact on her family reminds us of the weight of the mother-load.

‘Unbearable incestuous gaze’

In her own memoir, Caroline vividly evokes the horror of learning, within days of her father being detained, that he took photographs of her asleep in her underwear. She is currently pursuing a separate case of chemical submission and rape against him, crimes he has repeatedly denied. Enduring the uncertainty around the nature of her victimisation has been a feature of Caroline’s experience.

As Gisèle processed the catalogue of Dominique’s abuses, for which there was clear evidence, her response to her daughter’s distress left open the possibility her daughter had not been raped by her father. This attempt at offering solace and some way for Caroline to hold onto memories of her father’s love was an extension of Gisèle’s splitting and dismembering of him for her own protection. “I was warding off the worst-case scenario, while my daughter was heading straight for it,” Gisèle writes.

For Caroline, this felt like dismissal.

I found Gisèle’s account of the tensions in the relationship with her daughter more explicit than in Caroline’s memoir. Where Caroline expresses frustration with her mother’s early reluctance to give up all feelings of care for Dominique, Gisèle conveys a sense of the limits of her own ability to readily respond to a child whose emotional expression had always been more voluble than her own.

In a recent New Yorker essay, Rachel Aviv quotes Caroline’s August 2025 description of Gisèle as failing to fulfil her maternal contract. Aviv wonders if the terms of the contract had ever really been settled and suggests this disagreement took on new weight as the two women grappled with Dominique’s crimes.

Aviv reads this as two clashing versions of feminism: a daughter’s expectation she should have maternal love that affirms and consoles her, versus a mother’s choice to prioritise her own emotional integrity and agency in order to express the values of a wider feminist movement.

But this oversimplifies feminism and the narrative we can assemble from the various accounts of daughter and mother. Dominique’s harm has extended to undermining relationships between his victims, the origins of which were love and protection.

The feminism of the two women is varied by the impacts of the injury. Their solidarity is marred by the monumental and distinct tasks each has faced in rising from his wreckage.

Copies of Gisele Pelicot's book, in French, displayed for sale in a bookstore .

Gisèle’s account of the tensions in the relationship with her daughter are more explicit than in Caroline’s memoir. Michel Euler/AAP

Aviv draws on French anthropologist Dorothy Dussy’s observations about the taboo of incest in this case. The court evidence demanded confrontation with countless taboos but still “the injunction to remain silent about incest” remained. It surfaced in the back stories of a number of the perpetrators, though – and was part of the violence of the chief perpetrator’s family of origin.

Yet, while he admits to the crimes committed against Gisèle, Dominique cannot admit to sexualising his own offspring, even when directly confronted by his children in the court.

Last year, Caroline referred to her mother’s psychological and emotional incapacity to recognise incest to help explain the mother–daughter rift. We can’t know if the daughter sees this as the central driver of their estrangement, or as one of many ways she has to understand it.

A Hymn to Life suggests a more complicated relationship between Gisèle and the spectre of her ex-husband’s abuse of Caroline and other members of the family. At one point she refers to his “unbearable incestuous gaze”.

Tragedy and unexpected joy

One senses the awareness each woman has of the potential for these struggles to overwhelm everything else. Their published accounts give us a means to digest the extent and complexity of the harm Dominique has caused. The fracturing of this once-close family is the tragic collateral damage that compounds the original injury.

At the same time, Gisèle’s memoir reveals that in the lead-up to the trial, she met (through a friend) and fell in love with Jean-Loup, a widower she calls a “very beautiful person”. Her description of this burgeoning relationship will give joy to the many awed by the story of her endurance and survival.

Gisèle repeatedly describes her ex-husband’s quest to possess her sexually: expressed as an element of desire within their shared sex life. It had annoyed her but seemed normal enough – before that day at the police station, when it took on a far more devastating meaning.

Coverture (puissance marital in French law), a medieval legal doctrine making a woman the legal property of her husband after she marries, has a long history in laws governing marriage. As new cases of men drugging and raping wives emerge, with their long tentacles into online communities of men exchanging techniques, images and sexual access, it seems coverture, overturned in marriage laws in the 19th and 20th centuries, has gone underground.

Outside of marriage, the possession and commodification of girls’ and women’s bodies still turns them into currency: perhaps most clearly demonstrated by the Epstein files.

– ref. ‘I am the enemy of death’: Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir is a remarkable tale of survival – https://theconversation.com/i-am-the-enemy-of-death-gisele-pelicots-memoir-is-a-remarkable-tale-of-survival-274628

Horner blames Marko for Liam Lawson’s demotion from Red Bull

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Liam Lawson. FLORENT GOODEN / PHOTOSPORT

Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner has revealed that it was team advisor Helmut Marko that made the decision to swap Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda early in the 2025 Formula 1 season.

After a difficult start to the 2025 season, the New Zealand driver lasted just two rounds in the top team before he and Tsunoda swapped places with Lawson demoted to Racing Bulls.

Speaking on the new Drive to Survive series Horner said it was Marko that was the driving force behind the change.

Horner was ousted from Red Bull in July with the team underperforming and the future of world champion Max Verstappen uncertain.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko and driver Liam Lawson. PHOTOSPORT

Marko announced in December that he would be leaving Formula 1 after 20 years with Red Bull.

GP Blog is reporting that Horner said the decision to switch both drivers after just two races was heavily influenced by the Austrian advisor.

“I was always pushed to take drivers from the [Red Bull] young driver programme. Helmut was a big driver in it,” Horner said.

Former Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner, 2024. David Buono/Icon Sportswire / PHOTOSPORT

Tsunoda also struggled in the Red Bull car and was dropped to reserve driver status following the 2025 season.

Horner also singled out Marko as integral to the decision that led to his dismissal at Red Bull Racing.

The 52-year-old Englishman described his reaction to the news that he had been sacked as like receiving a “shit sandwich”.

Horner has said that he is keen to get involved in Formula 1 again, possibly as a team owner.

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

Number of Auckland rough sleepers drops, advocates say true figure remains unknown

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The number of rough sleepers known to outreach teams has dropped in Auckland. Nick Monro

The number of rough sleepers known to outreach teams has dropped in Auckland, but those on the front line are treating the figure with caution.

Auckland Council’s latest tally shows the number of homeless people social services know of across the region fell from 940 in September to 668 in January – a decrease of 272 that almost matches the number of extra homes funded in that time.

It comes as the government plans controversial move-on orders for those begging or rough sleeping in public.

Council’s head of community impact, Dicky Humphries, said it was too early to tell if the quarter’s drop was a trend or seasonal dip.

“They carry a bit of hope but we do need to do some analysis as to why that might be the case,” he said.

“One quarter drop is not necessarily a trend so we will be looking to the next quarter figure and the one after that to see if this quarter is an anomaly or the start of a trend downwards.”

Humphries said across the region, homelessness had been increasing for some time and numbers could fluctuate.

The count included those working with people experiencing the extreme end of homelessness to those rough sleeping or living in cars.

“Any figure that we have, counted that way, is a sub-set of a much larger figure that is unknown to everyone,” he said.

“There’s a lot of work that’s happening between the social services sector, council and government so it is a figure that we would like to see fall, ongoing.”

Council’s head of community impact, Dicky Humphries, said it was too early to tell if the quarter’s drop was a trend or seasonal dip. Nick Monro

Heart of the South business association general manager, Audrey Williams, said it had noticed an increase in homeless people turning up in recent weeks.

“Since the government started talking about moving people out of Auckland, our numbers have increased. We’re still only at about 15 not huge levels but it has definitely increased and the mental health state of the newcomers is a lot more severe than we’ve ever noticed before.”

Williams said it had not seen a drop in rough sleepers in south Auckland.

Local community liaison officers talked to new arrivals living on the street and she said it appeared they had been told to leave the main city centre.

“They’ve been told that they’re not allowed to rough sleep in the central city, they are told that by the security guards, by the locals,” she said.

“People have taken that as factual ‘you can go somewhere else you’re not allowed to be here in Auckland city’.”

Williams said the business association worked with social agencies and in the last 18 months had helped 30 people get a roof over their head and wrap-around support.

The homeless count was in a Regional Homeless Activity Update, to council’s Community Committee, by council’s homelessness lead Ron Suyker.

The report pointed out that the 272 decrease in rough sleepers coincided with the provision of 207 extra housing places in the Housing First programme, which “has had a positive impact”.

But Suyker said several registered community housing providers that offered wrap-around support and housing for the homeless were exceeding the caps on their contracts.

“The demand is greater than the capacity they have been provisioned to manage,” he said in the report.

“Government target settings in relation to the reduction of reliance on emergency housing have seen an impact, reflected in this report’s numbers, on the ability for homeless tangata to access emergency housing.”

That change was made in October 2024, and between September that year and January 2025 homeless numbers in Auckland jumped 53 percent.

Heart of the South says it’s helped 30 people get a roof over their head and wrap-around support in the last 18 months. Nick Monro

Suyker said the council had provided support to several business associations responding to increased street homelessness in their areas.

“Physical and mental health issues, along with addictions, are presenting in most cases of rough sleeping and individuals needs can be incredibly complex,” he said.

The government funded an extra 300 Housing First places in September last year in a bid to curb homelessness, and the housing ministry said almost 200 rough sleepers had been housed as a result.

The Housing First programme helped people who were chronically homeless into stable, long-term homes and its manager Rami Alrudaini said that showed there was a need for more housing – he did not believe the move-on orders would help.

“We are now seeing the impact of that investment with more than two thirds of those places already filled and now they’re introducing move on enforcement which undermines the very investment they have made, by making it harder for people who are already doing it tough to access the support and housing they need.”

At Wellington’s Downtown Community Ministry (DCM), chief executive Natalia Cleland said there were not enough homes to go around.

DCM was allocated 30 of the extra 300 places in the one-off government provision and had managed to house 10 rough sleepers in the last two months.

Cleland applauded the government for supporting the programme, and the private landlords who leased their homes to people in need, but said there were not enough homes.

“We still have a huge number of people under our service that are waiting for housing that have signed up to Housing First who have said, ‘I’m sleeping rough, please help me to get a home’,” she said.

“Ten is great, but there’s at least 52 people as of today that are rough sleeping under our Housing First service that don’t have access to or a clear pathway to housing.”

Cleland said many homeless people were waiting for housing.

“It’s not that someone’s rough sleeping and needs to be walked down to DCM for support. It’s that they’re rough sleeping and they’re waiting for a home to move into.”

Auckland Council Community Committee chair Julie Fairey. Supplied / City Vision

Auckland Council’s Community Committee would discuss the regional update and impact of move on orders on rough sleepers this Thursday.

Its chair, councillor Julie Fairey, expected discussion to be robust.

“The increase in funding for Housing First places has helped. This is part of the frustration, we know what will work here, the sector has been very clear about what is needed which is more funding for services like Housing First.”

She said there was widespread recognition that anti-social behaviour was a problem that needed to be addressed but questioned whether move-on orders would be effective.

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

MPI proposes new options to trace pigs and sheep for better disease response

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The government has proposed new options to improve pig and sheep traceability. RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

The government has proposed new options to improve pig and sheep traceability so it can better respond to disease outbreaks.

While counting sheep may put some to sleep – keeping track of the animals and where they had been could be vital when it came to disease management.

At the moment, when sheep were moved between farms, saleyards and meatworks, farmers were required to fill out animal status declarations or ASDs – on paper or in PDF form.

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has put out a proposal to improve traceability for sheep and pigs.

The three options included – staying with the status quo, moving to a fully electronic mob tracing system or including sheep in NAIT, The National Animal Identification and Tracing System.

Beef and Lamb chair Kate Acland said moving to electronic monitoring was the preferred option.

“Beef and Lamb supports doing it under it the ASD system but moving to fully electronic forms – it’s already in place and relatively low cost compared to the other options and it’s simple and practical.

“We support improving the traceability in the livestock system, sheep is a gap at the moment – we just need something that is practical and useful on farm.”

Currently cattle and deer were tracked individually under NAIT and farmers paid a levy per animal.

Acland said that was not necessary with sheep.

“Bringing sheep under NAIT would be a lengthy process as it would require changes to the legislation and there would be a greater cost for farmers whereas an ASD is something farmers already use so it just makes sense to use a system that’s already in place.”

Kate Acland © Clare Toia-Bailey / www.image-central.co.nz

One option the MPI proposal did not include was individually tracking each sheep – as Australia, Canada, the UK and the EU did.

The proposal pointed out that of the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), New Zealand was one of 11 countries that did not individually trace sheep.

“Of these 11 countries, New Zealand stands out as being highly reliant on exports of animal-based primary products.”

MPI said New Zealand could be expected to follow global practice and move towards traceability of individual sheep in the future.

“However, we do not discuss individual traceability as an option because a significant amount of work with stakeholders and providers is needed to understand the costs, benefits, and operational resourcing required for this option,” the consultation document said.

Acland said sheep were run in much larger mobs in New Zealand and the benefits of individual tracing would not outweigh the significant costs this would impose on farmers.

Submissions on the proposal close on 5 April.

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

Crash blocks lanes on State Highway 1 at Kaiapoi

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A crash blocked lanes on State Highway 1 in Kaiapoi pm Wednesday morning. (File photo). RNZ / Tom Kitchin

A crash on State Highway 1 in Kaiapoi, Canterbury, brought early morning traffic to a near-standstill.

The Transport Agency said a crash shortly after 5am on the Kaiapoi River Bridge on Wednesday blocked the northbound lanes as well as one lane southbound.

It said motorists should expect delays.

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Will a couples therapist take sides? An expert explains

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Should we do couples counselling? Are we happy? Are we both pulling in the same direction? How can we get our spark back?

These kinds of questions are normal in a society that places such importance on coupledom, despite there being no handbook or one-size-fits all approach.

Many people seek out couples counselling when going through a rough patch, or wondering how to improve their relationship. And no doubt the hit show Couples Therapy has boosted public interest in this type of counselling.

Many who seek couples counselling do so because they’re arguing and disagreeing a lot with their partner.

Unsplash / Rizki Ardia

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MediMap health portal hack ‘a wake-up call’, cyber security expert says

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Source: Radio New Zealand

MediMap is used by some health providers in aged care, disability, hospice and the community to accurately record medication doses. RNZ/Calvin Samuel

A hack at a second healthcare portal is being labelled a concern and a worry by a cyber security consultant who also used to work at the National Cyber Security Centre.

MediMap has shut down access to its platform while it looks into how it was breached on Sunday.

Health New Zealand is supporting it but said as a privately owned company, it is MediMap that is solely responsible for its security and it needs to do everything it can.

“I think any incident involving health information is concerning,” Jan Thornborough from Outfox told RNZ.

“Because we expect our most sensitive information to be well protected.”

That’s what Health NZ says too.

Its digital services acting chief information technology officer Darren Douglass said New Zealanders expected companies involved in healthcare to secure systems and platforms so private information was safeguarded.

MediMap is widely used in the likes of aged residential care, disability services, hospices and community health for prescribing and giving medication, and administration.

Facilities using it are now back to manual pen and paper.

Palliative Care Nurses New Zealand said it was very worried by the breach.

“Palliative care nurses are deeply concerned about the impact this may have on the safety, privacy, and delivery of care for our patients,” the group said.

“Any disruption places vulnerable patients at risk.”

In a message provided by the Nurses Organisation, one of its members at George Manning Lifecare and Village in Christchurch said staff were worried for their residents.

“Since MediMap stopped working we have had to double the number of registered nurses on each shift just to give medication, this requires a paper form from the pharmacy, everything from paracetamol through to controlled drugs requires a second checker to observe and sign along with the registered nurse administering,” they said.

“This process makes each medication round longer and means the risk of residents not receiving their medicine on time is high.”

Jan Thornborough from Outfox said it was the right move by MediMap to close its platform down to put a halt to further damage.

“So usually in the first 24 to 48 hours, it’s really important for them to assess what’s happened so that they can contain the risk and preserve any evidence so that when they get the right experts in, they can investigate it properly and actually find out exactly how the hacker got in,” she said.

“And once they’ve contained the problem and they understand the scope of it, then they can determine what the impact is both on the service itself, but also for their customers and implement an appropriate recovery plan for them.”

MediMap said the breach, which it called unauthorised activity, resulted in patient records being modified.

It said this involved information like resident names, dates of birth, assigned prescriber, location of care and resident status.

Thornborough said users of software or platforms had their own responsibilities as well as the companies providing it.

“Really this is a wake-up call for all New Zealand organisations, if they haven’t worked it out yet that cybercrime is not going away,” she said.

“We’re all operating in a digitally connected environment these days and they need to take ownership of where they put their information and who they trust holding on to it because at the end of the day, it’s a shared responsibility between the business and the vendor of a particular piece of software or a portal.

She said software or platform users had to do their own due diligence.

“And until the general consumer says ‘okay, I expect this level of security’, they’re not going to get it, basically.”

The latest health portal breach comes after a top-level review into the earlier Manage My Health hack was already underway.

Health Minister Simeon Brown, who called that breach unacceptable, commissioned the review and said there were lessons that needed to be learned.

The review started on 30 January and was expected to provide a final report on 30 April.

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Lyall Bay businesses excited at prospect of Wellington south coast beaches reopening

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Lyall Bay beach and the rest of Wellington’s south coast has been off limits since the Moa Point treatment plant failed on 4 February. RNZ / Krystal Gibbens

Lyall Bay businesses are excited by the prospect that beaches along the south coast in Wellington could soon reopen after being off-limits since since the Moa Point treatment plant failed catastrophically pumping millions of litres of untreated sewage into the sea.

On Tuesday Wellington Mayor Andrew Little said the current blanket direction for people to stay off south coast beaches was not sustainable when water testing results showed little risk.

The impacts of the untreated sewage being discharged into the Cook Strait on south coast beaches has been monitored now for over two weeks, and Little has hinted a change in policy could be coming.

“What we are looking at being able to say to people is: ‘here are the results, this is what it shows, the risk is pretty low, you make your own decision about whether you want to go onto the beach and and have a swim in the sea’.”

The founder of Wonderland Chocolate in Lyall Bay Kate Necklen says they’ve seen less people since people have been told to stay off Wellington’s south coast. RNZ / Krystal Gibbens

A rāhui is in place on the southern coast from Ōwhiro Bay to Breaker Bay which covers anything the water touches or can touch with the high or low tides.

Anna Janiec owner of the Polish Sausage Company which is located in Lyall Bay Junction said businesses had really felt the impact of people not going to the beach in the past few weeks.

“We don’t see new people coming. There is no people wandering around. Obviously no one on the beach. People with dogs that come for walks are not here. So we can feel it.”

She said if the beaches were safe for people to return to, she would expect it to boost business.

Kate Necklen thinks plenty of surfers will want to return to the beach. RNZ / Krystal Gibbens

Kate Necklen founder of Wonderland Chocolate had also seen less people in the area.

“We’ve certainly seen less people come through our tasting room.”

“It would be awesome to see people back in the Bay and I know there’ll be plenty of surfers out there who want to get back in the water,” Necklen said.

Botanist general manager Kais Letfi said they had seen a 20-25 percent decrease in customers.

“I’ve had to cut hours, I’ve had to reduce wages,” he said.

He said they could not wait for the beaches to reopen.

“Hopefully it brings people back to Lyall Bay and we can start working again.”

Seaview Takeaways owner Vicky Shen. RNZ / Krystal Gibbens

Vicky Shen owner of Seaview Takeaways hoped that if the beaches reopened it would bring more people to Lyall Bay.

But would people even swim at the beaches if they reopened? Most of those RNZ spoke to wouldn’t be diving straight in.

“I think if I see others swimming, maybe. But I would have to be 100 percent sure that it is safe,” Janiec said.

“I’m not really a beach swimmer myself but my kids swim in the beach and they’d certainly go into the water once it reopened for sure,” Necklen said.

Shen was also willing to dip her toes back in the water, but also a little wary of getting a skin rash from bacteria in the water.

Letfi said he would put his trust in the council and swim once it was safe to do so.

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Fancy being a real estate agent in your 80s? Why salesforce has weathered market fall

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Source: Radio New Zealand

There are 42 people registered with individual real estate license who are aged over 83. RNZ

If you picture a real estate salesperson, you probably don’t imagine someone living in a retirement village. But it might be more common than you think.

Ray White general manager and licensee agent Antonia Baker can remember having a meeting with a client in a retirement village at one point, talking about selling her portfolio.

“As I walked out of the lift, I spotted a someone that I know as a real estate agent in West Auckland. And I could tell from the conversation that she was having with the people around her that she was a resident, not visiting like I was. So she was still getting up on a Saturday morning and trotting out to open homes as a Ryman’s resident.”

Real Estate Authority data shows that Baker’s acquaintance is probably not the only real estate salesperson in that situation.

There are 42 people registered with individual real estate license who are aged over 83. Another 168 are aged between 78 and 82. More than 3560 are aged between 73 and 77.

“I have a feeling that’s going to be me one day … why wouldn’t you?” Baker said.

“Some of them are actually quite high volume … There are a couple of legends in the industry who are still quite happily trading and trading decent volumes.”

It isn’t just the older crowd proving stickability, either. Despite a soft housing market, the number of people working in it has stayed relatively constant in recent years.

At the end of October 2025, there were 15,980 active real estate licenses, compared to 15,540 the year before and 15,870 in 2023.

There were 23,078 new licenses issued in the year to June last year, up 22 percent from the same time the year before. There was a 18.4 percent jump in the number of branch manager licenses active, a 1.1 percent increase in salespeople and a 0.9 percent drop in the number of individual agents.

Baker said people who had made it through the pandemic years had probably figured out a way to keep going.

“You were resilient by that time. My assumption around that was that we had baked in sufficient resilience into the industry and into people’s roles and their businesses by that time, that the external factors didn’t have all that much of an effect.

“And if I think about our network, it has just done so much to help the agents that work within it to drive their businesses and to make them resilient so that it doesn’t matter what the trading environment is, we can still survive.”

Real Estate Authority chief executive Belinda Moffat. Supplied

Real Estate Authority chief executive Belinda Moffat said the number of real estate licenses was down from a peak of nearly 1700 in the post-Covid boom.

“We had that really hot market, and … that’s when we saw a really sharp increase in joiners, so June 2022, we had nearly 17,000 active licenses, and we were issuing about 2600 new licenses a year.

“We then had a bit of a drop over a little bit of a period of time, and we’ve now got about 15,914, and we’ve issued in the last year just over 2000, so there has been, it does shift and fluctuate with the markets, but at the moment, it’s sort of holding steady.”

She said it was noticeable that a lot of people stuck with the industry for a long time.

“I think there’s a number of reasons why people come to real estate of itself.

“I think obviously the economic environment there is … I think people are exploring different professions, but I’d say that the reason people have come to real estate or also why they may not have left real estate is because it offers flexibility.

“Some people find it’s a great profession where you’re working with people, you’re helping people to realise their aspirations of a home and a business or a farm. It’s a pretty busy and dynamic profession, but it is also one that does offer a bit of independence. Most of our licensees are contractors, but having said that, they do have to meet both the expectations of our regulatory system and they also have to meet the expectations of the agency that they work for.”

How much is earned?

Collectively, there was about $70.3 billion in residential real estate sales through salespeople last year, according to Cotality, which at a rate of 3 percent commission could have netted real estate salespeople $2.1b or about $130,000 each. But that amount is generally split between the salesperson who makes the sale and the agency they work for. Some earn significantly more and others much less.

There were about 80,000 sales.

In 2023, the $56b in sales would have made agents about $1.68b or $105,860 each.

Moffat said people should not expect the job to be easy money. Some people left after a couple of years, she said.

“Being a real estate licensee is not an easy job. There is a lot that’s expected of our profession, they have to be over 18, got to have the qualifications, they have to be fit and proper, they have to undertake ongoing CPD or education every year, and then they have to meet the standards of our Code of Conduct that’s overseen by REA, and they can face complaints and disciplinary processes if they don’t, so they have to know a huge amount in order to be successful, and those first couple of years can be pretty tough.

“You’ve got to have some good financial backing, because you’ll look for your listings, then you might get your first couple of listings through people that you know in your networks, but then you’ve got to really be able to just make sure you maintain a pipeline, so it does require a lot of hard work, it’s like starting your own business, you’ve got to really be prepared for getting yourself through the slower months, as well as working hard when you do have a couple of listings on the go, so it’s a profession that does require some really concentrated work, and it’s not surprising because you’re always dealing with people who are perhaps engaging in the most significant transaction they will ever engage in, and it’s full of emotion and risk and financial obligations.”

Some people were working more than one job when the market was tougher, she said.

“That’s something we’ve seen in the cooler market, and as I said, the flexibility of the role can add to that, but at the same time, where they do have a listing, then they are having to work really hard to deliver the best service they can to their customers and clients and meet all the demands that go with being part of a profession that does have quite a few requirements for people to meet.”

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub. Supplied

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said people would “live and die” by their sales.

“It’s a very high risk gamble in good markets it works but the way it works is the offices tend to have quite a lot of base income from the advertising and those bits and pieces. So they can sustain a group of people and then there is the whole bunch of people who are at risk.

“If you’re at the top and you’ve been around for a long time … you’ve had some spectacular years. I’m not surprised people are not leaving. My understanding is the more senior you are the less turnover there is. You’re less likely to be out there doing the putting up the signs and those kinds of things and in more of a leadership role. Those positions are still quite lucrative and they’ve been through many cycles so they know how to manage that.”

Lincoln University professor of property studies Graham Squires said people sometimes teamed up to share commission, which also helped.

“If you get say 4 percent on an $800,000 house you could be getting $32,000, so there’s probably enough in the market for people to say well as long as I break even or get a few sales, enough to keep me going, that will keep me in the industry.

“You could argue estate agents have a mindset where they’re optimistic that the market will improve. We see a lot of professional institutions talking up the market a lot even when it might not need to be talked up.”

Change coming?

Moffat said there was change happening. Salespeople were being given guidance in the use of AI.

Baker said salespeople were being offered training on how to “beat the bot”.

“I think fundamentally it is what everyone laughingly refers to as a belly-to-belly transaction. There’s no getting around the requirement for a human. And in fact, it’s the human that tips it over the line, not the bot. And it will always be like that, always.”

Lincoln University professor of property studies Graham Squires. Supplied

Squires said flat-fee competitors had not been able to get as much of a foothold in the industry as might have been expected, given consternation sometimes expressed about the level of real estate commission.

“I think the franchises probably have value to add and have some power and weight in the market in terms of reach and marketing and those sorts of things.

“I suppose they have education and marketing and training that’s allied with being part of the franchise that you contribute to when you make the sales.

“There’s a few big players … some of the larger organisations do buyouts and things like that so it sort of evolves in a larger space.”

Eaqub said it was a difficult industry to change. “It’s your biggest purchase or sale and tradition and brand awareness and trust and all those things matter a great deal. It’s not a price driven thing for a lot of people, if you’re spending millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands of dollars one percentage point here or there is like in the margin of error in terms of house prices going up and down.”

Baker said when the economy was difficult, people tended to move towards brands they knew.

“Then they tend to go back to the old, big, tried and tested providers. And I think that is the same in our industry. When the economy gets a bit scary, people go back to the big brands that they trust that have been around for 125 years and that they know.”

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Immigration officers to get increased powers to ask suspected overstayers for identification

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Immigration Minister Erica Stanford. Nick Monro

Immigration officers will soon have the power to ask suspected overstayers for identification in homes and workplaces.

The government said it was closing a compliance gap in the deportation system, while critics argued it was a step towards the immigration conditions that had allowed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] raids seen in the United States.

In September last year, the New Zealand government announced a suite of immigration settings changes aimed at strengthening deportation levers.

Among them was giving immigration officers the power to ask for identity-based information from individuals they suspected were in breach of their visa conditions.

“Often they’re in a situation where they are looking for a particular person, they find that particular person, and then at that residence or workplace, there are other people who are either fleeing or acting suspiciously,” Immigration Minister Erica Stanford told RNZ.

“At this point in time they cannot act on that. We want to give them the ability to be able to act on that.”

Stanford said the law change was “narrow and designed to close a specific compliance gap” – giving immigration officers the tools they needed to do their job.

“We have a big overstayer problem, tens of thousands more than we suspected, and we have to arm [immigration officers] with the tools to be able to request information from people when they have a reasonable suspicion that they are in breach of their visa conditions.”

‘This is a solution looking for a problem’ – lawyer

Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont. RNZ / Lynda Chanwai-Earle

Immigration lawyer Alastair McClymont said undocumented migrants or those in breach of their visa conditions was a very small problem in the immigration system.

He argued legislation had previously given “almost unfettered discrection” to immigration officers and the devil would be in how this law change was drafted.

“There is the risk, not necessarily that this current government is going to do something immediately, but in the future, what if we have a government that decides that enforcement on immigration is something which is really good for their particular politicking, I’m referring to dog whistle xenophobic politics.

“Then they decide that they want to start making an example of particular migrant groups by using the legislation to be enforced in a very harsh way, which is basically what has happened now in the United States, where they’ve used the framework of immigration law to target particular ethnic communities.”

McClymont said overstayers were actually a pretty small problem in New Zealand and if the government did not clearly define the “reasonable basis” on which an immigration officer could ask someone for ID, it could lead a situation where New Zealand citizens going about their business at home or work could be asked to prove who they were.

US President Donald Trump has overseen aggressive and sometimes deadly immigration operations in his second term in office – conducting weeks of sweeping raids and arrests in what the administration claims are targeted missions against criminals.

The Green Party’s immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

The Green Party’s immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said these ICE raids did not happen overnight.

“They were enabled by American politicians slowly allowing their immigration officials to have more powers to search, to detain and to target migrant communities.

“Every time that we allow this to happen without adequate justification we create the conditions to have in New Zealand what we’ve seen overseas.”

Stanford said the proposed change was narrow in scope and “very different” from powers available to US immigration officers.

She was clear it would not give New Zealand officers general stopping powers – or allow them to stop people at random in the street.

“Of course we never want to get to a situation where they’re … patrolling the streets, that’s not a situation we’re going to be able to get into.

“But a reasonable person would expect, where there is [reasonable] suspicion when they’re executing their normal duties, that they’d be able to [do so in] people’s houses.”

The legislation would be introduced to Parliament next month, with the aim of passing it into law before the end of this term.

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Youth facing more psychological distress, finding it harder to get specialist help – report

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The report revealed that 23 percent of people aged 15 to 25 had experienced high or very high psychological distress in the four weeks leading up to the survey – up from 8 percent 10 years ago. RNZ/Michelle Tiang

Young people are facing more psychological distress and finding it harder to get specialist help, a new report says.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission has released a snapshot of mental health and addiction services in the year to June 2025, using data from the NZ health survey.

It revealed 23 percent of people aged 15 to 25 had experienced high or very high psychological distress in the four weeks leading up to the survey – up from 8 percent 10 years ago.

The commission’s chief executive, Karen Orsborn, said more work was being done to find out exactly why.

“We know that for young people, they live in a very rapidly changing world. They experience challenges due to what they see around climate change and financial challenges and the world at large. Online safety fits into there as well,” she said.

Young people were also struggling to access specialist care – like psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, with almost 400 fewer getting help than the previous year.

That was bucking one of the positive trends in the report which found, across all ages, about 6500 more people were able to use specialist services than the previous year – at total of 164,555.

Orsborn wanted to see the system really focus on reaching young people.

“The earlier somebody can have access to services when they need it… they do have better outcomes in the longer term. So getting that early access is really important,” she said.

“There’s a lot of really positive initiatives underway. So we have seen some great things happening and it’s really just keeping that focus, keeping that leadership and the actions to really make a difference for change.”

Across all ages, the report showed a mixed bag.

The number of people being turned away when they were referred to specialist services had increased.

However, waiting times had decreased, likely because there were 557 more specialist mental health workers than in March 2023, the report found.

There was still a 20 percent vacancy rate for psychiatrists.

Orsborn said the commission was carrying out its own detailed study to try to find out more about what is behind the statistics.

Where to get help:

  • Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
  • Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
  • Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
  • Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
  • Samaritans: 0800 726 666
  • Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
  • What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
  • Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
  • Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
  • Healthline: 0800 611 116
  • Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
  • OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
  • Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Sexual Violence

Family Violence

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Power concerns: Lines companies urged to consider ‘non-network’ solutions

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Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the most significant options was shifting electricity use away from peak times, the agencies wrote. File photo. RNZ / Russell Palmer

The agencies governing energy use in New Zealand are urging lines companies are being urged to consider flexible pricing and other ‘non-network’ solutions instead of building more powerlines and poles.

In an open letter published today, the Commerce Commission, the Electricity Authority and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) said doing so could reduce the cost for consumers and improve the performance of the electricity system.

The letter, sent to electricity distributors across the country, warned the country’s electricity system was “changing rapidly”.

“Renewable generation is growing, bringing greater variability and intermittency,” the agencies wrote.

“At the same time, overall demand is projected to rise as gas supply declines, transport electrifies, and more industrial and commercial processes transition to electric technologies.”

New Zealand’s electricity demands will grow by 35-82 percent by 2050, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment estimated last year.

Investment in distribution infrastructure needed long lead times and was “slow and costly to change once initiated”, the letter said.

“Non‑network solutions offer significant, quantifiable potential to reduce costs and defer network upgrades.”

They could also buy more time before distributors committed to major upgrades, and allow network owners to improve their forecasting of demand and usage.

One of the most significant options was shifting electricity use away from peak times, the agencies wrote.

At the moment, New Zealand’s electricity network is built to handle peak demand, which only occurs a few times a day for short intervals.

A recent report published by EECA found that nearly 2 gigawatts of power being used at peak hours could be shifted off-peak, saving the country up to $3 billion in infrastructure costs.

The technology to do was was increasingly available, the letter said.

“New distributed energy resources (DER), including solar, batteries and smart, controllable devices, are becoming more affordable and more widely deployed.”

Some progress, but not enough

Electricity Authority networks general manager Tim Sparks said the three regulators wanted to give lines companies “a nudge” to think beyond more poles and wires.

“We’re concerned that the distributors are not consistently considering non-network solutions, even though we all know these options can improve efficiency and reduce long-term costs for consumers.”

There was “real untapped potential” but limited progress to date, Spark said.

“Some distributors have begun to move into this area, and they have experimented with trying non-network solutions, but they’re not doing it consistently, and not all of them are doing it.”

Non-network solutions included anything that took pressure off the network by either using less electricity, or shifting use to different times to spread the load more evenly, he said.

“It could include things like smart devices in homes and businesses, like EV chargers, rooftop solar and batteries, controlled hot water cylinders.”

Price flexibility was a “critical” part of the solution, the letter said.

Sparks said some distributors already offered lower off-peak pricing, or an ‘hour of power’-style deal, but that could go even further.

“You can also get controlled load pricing, for example, where consumers can sign up to get a lower price for allowing some of their key demand to be controlled remotely.

“The consumer may not even notice it, but the hot water cylinder can be used to shift demand and reduce pressure on the system.”

Ripple control, which was already used in some locations for electric hot water cylinders, was one type of controlled load shifting, he said.

EECA chief executive Marcos Pelenur said there was other technology available that was “not even new” and went a step further.

“There are a number of technologies like home energy management systems that are two-way, they’re a bit more dynamic, and they can help manage not just a hot water cylinder.”

Pelenur said there were “some great examples” of work happening already, but it was patchy.

“There’s lots of interesting, good work to point to, but we would like to see it at-scale across the whole country,” he said.

“I would like to see all the distributors start their planning meetings by looking at these non-network solutions as the first thing they do for their plans around managing the networks.”

The letter also mentioned rooftop solar installations as a form of distributed energy that could reduce peak demand, and feed back into electricity networks.

Widespread subsidies have seen rooftop solar and battery installations skyrocket in Australia over the last 20 years.

No subsidies are available in New Zealand. Labour and the Greens campaigned on generous subsidies at the last election but the current government has not moved to implement anything similar.

Neither Sparks nor Pelenur would be drawn on whether a subsidy programme would help to drive uptake in New Zealand, saying it was outside their agencies’ scope.

However, Sparks said the Authority had made recent changes to reward rooftop solar owners who fed energy back into the network at peak times with negative charges or rebates.

“We’re [also] proposing to increase the amount they’re allowed to export. And that will allow the people with rooftop solar and batteries to contribute to the system, and also, of course, sell more electricity into the system and be rewarded for that.”

The Authority was still consulting on that proposal, he said.

Pelenur said the open letter invited feedback from distributors, which the agencies would consider and also present to the Ministry for Business, Information and Employment.

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‘If I’m guilty, I’m guilty’: What a father who admitted killing his son told a journalist

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Mukzameel Mukhzar Ali pictured holding his baby Mustafa Mahir Ali, whom he admitted killing in their Te Kūiti home. SUPPLIED

Nearly two years before Mukzameel Ali pleaded guilty to killing his son, he spoke to RNZ national crime correspondent Sam Sherwood on several occasions, with his explanation about what happened.

“If I’m guilty, I’m guilty…”

It was 12 June 2024, four days after Mukzameel Ali’s nine and a half month old son had died from what police had called non-accidental blunt-force trauma.

Then working at Stuff, I had spoken to Ali on two occasions since his son’s death. He had strongly denied being responsible.

In my first conversation he told me: “I didn’t do anything wrong, because I was trying to save my son. He was my son, I loved him so much. I was trying my best.”

It was during my third call that he told me his efforts to give his son CPR may have caused injuries that led to his death, but said it “wasn’t intentional”.

He said he was “worried” about what might happen to him and was “angry” about what he did.

“Because I didn’t do that on purpose, but if that would’ve resulted in that then – I feel very bad.”

Two days later Ali was charged with murdering his son, and on Monday he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter.

It was revealed the little boy died as a result of blunt force trauma resulting in a crushing injury to the abdomen.

Possible causes included a punch, kick or stomp and the nature of the injury was such that he would’ve been crying and in obvious discomfort until ultimately losing consciousness. He would not have survived longer than 30 to 60 minutes after the blow.

With his guilty plea, I look back at my interviews with Ali, his explanations and what actually happened that day.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong’

Two days after Mustafa Ali’s death, I was on the phone to his father Mukzameel Ali.

It was 10 June, and I was covering the baby’s death for Stuff.

A day earlier Detective Inspector Graham Pikethley had issued a media release about the death of a 10-month-old in Te Kuiti. The little boy had been brought unconscious to Te Kuiti Hospital, where staff alerted police.

“Tragically, despite the best efforts of medical personnel, he was unable to be resuscitated,” Pikethley said.

“An initial examination showed the baby boy suffered violent, blunt-force trauma. We believe these injuries were not accidental.”

A homicide investigation was under way and police had been speaking to family members including the boy’s parents.

“They are working with us as we establish what occurred in this young child’s life and how he came to be so badly injured.”

After hearing of the case, I began searching on social media and saw a post on Facebook naming the victim as Mustafa Ali. I then found his family and messaged his parents.

I did some further investigating and spoke to one of Mukzameel Ali’s colleagues. The colleague said Ali was staying with him and I could call back.

Items laid out during Mustafa Ali’s funeral. Stuff / Mark Taylor

About an hour later I was on the phone to Ali, then aged 21.

At the beginning of the interview, he told me that he had recently been in Fiji and when he got home he noticed his son had been unwell. He said they took him to the doctors and he was given some antibiotics.

He told me that on the day of Mustafa’s death, he was home alone with his son as his wife was out at a birthday party.

While Mustafa was in his care, he said he still was not feeling well. He gave him some Weetbix, but he did not eat much.

“Then after that, I gave him the bottle of milk that was left over to finish up and he was sitting down in the ballpit. I put him down there and he was watching TV, but he was still looking dizzy and sad,” he told me.

He said he continued doing chores around the house.

“I came (in) and he (Mustafa) was almost like sleepy. He was sitting down but his head was going down so I made him another bottle of milk and tried to feed him.

“Maybe he drank almost half a bottle and then he vomited all of it out suddenly.”

He said he began taking his son’s clothes off due to the vomit.

“He was not good. His eyes became very big and he was like choking up or something. He wouldn’t breathe and I got shocked, and I got nervous, I was scared.

“I don’t know what to do because I was alone, home by myself and that’s my first time having an encounter that… nothing came up in my mind, my mind was all empty. “

He told me he began “tapping” on his son’s bum and back to see if he could get a reaction from his son.

“I tried to give him CPR… still didn’t respond and I just lifted him up and ran straight to the hospital. And lucky that’s when my wife arrived, so I gave Mustafa to her. I told her ‘he choked, something’s blocking, he cannot breathe, let’s just hurry up and take him the hospital’.”

He told me that staff at the hospital gave him oxygen when they arrived, but they were unable to save him.

During the interview I asked him what police had told him so far. He claimed police said Mustafa died from internal bleeding from his liver. I said police had stated he died from blunt force trauma, but Ali said he did not know how that had been caused, and suggested someone else may have done something to him earlier.

I also asked Ali if his son had previously been injured. He told me there had been an incident where while holding Mustafa he had fallen down some stairs. He said Mustafa suffered a collarbone fracture, fractured ribs as well as bleeding on his head.

Mukzameel Ali pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the High Court at Hamilton on Monday. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

He said Oranga Tamariki were involved and Mustafa stayed with his grandparents for several months before coming back to live with his parents.

I asked Ali if he was worried he could be charged in relation to his son’s death.

“Maybe because I am the only one who was there at the moment and I am maybe the one who caused him like to suffer all that. Maybe because I did it in the wrong way,” he told Stuff.

“I don’t feel good. I feel scared because nothing came up in my mind.”

During the interview he denied being responsible for his son’s death.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, because I was trying to save my son. He was my son, I loved him so much. I was trying my best.”

The following day police held a press conference. During the conference police were asked about Ali’s comments to me.

Police said they were aware of the comments, but that there were some “inconsistencies” from people associated with Mustafa and what police believed caused the injuries.

I wanted to clarify the inconsistencies so I called Ali again.

I brought up with him what police had said and asked for his response. He told me he had not told the police the full story, and that he had “missed some of the things”.

“I was not feeling good, like nothing was coming in my mind,” he said.

“I was not thinking right straight away because just after what happened they took us to give our statement, so I was not in the right stage to give statement so that’s why some of the part has missed out.”

I was confused as to what he was referring to, and asked further questions but he would not go into specifics but said he wanted to speak to police “straight away”.

‘If I’m guilty, I’m guilty’

On 12 June, I called Ali for a third time.

I asked him about the blunt force trauma police said had been inflicted on his son on the day of his death.

“The only thing I was doing like I was trying my best to save my son. That’s all I can say. If that could’ve happened from me, from doing it, but that wasn’t on purpose. Like I was trying to save his life.”

I pressed him further, asking what happened that day. He repeated that Mustafa was choking and could not breathe, so he tried to make him breathe and was giving him CPR.

I put to Ali that he now knew it was him who caused the injuries to his son.

He said yes, but then corrected himself and said he was not saying it was him but what happened “wasn’t intentional”.

He said he was “worried” about what could happen to him

“If I’m guilty, I’m guilty.”

He later brought up that it might have been someone “behind my back” who caused injuries earlier.

“So when I was giving him the CPR so that would’ve caused that injury to become more big and cause his death,” he said.

I asked him how he felt about what happened, and he replied: “I feel angry what I did”.

“Because I didn’t do that on purpose, but if that would’ve resulted in that then – I feel very bad.”

The interview ended shortly after.

Two days later Ali was charged with murdering his son.

Police would later interview me about my conversations with Ali. I told them that in my third interview with him I felt Ali was admitting to being responsible for the injuries his son suffered that day, but that it was not intentional.

The guilty plea

Nearly two years after my third interview with Ali, he appeared in the High Court at Hamilton and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, as well as charges of assault with intent to injure between 1 February 2023, and 31 May 2023, and assaulting a person in a family relationship between June 2023 and June 2024.

The agreed summary of facts, obtained by RNZ, talks about Ali moving to New Zealand from Fiji in July 2022. In September 2022 he met Tauvalea Law at their Te Kuiti workplace.

They began a relationship shortly after and Law became pregnant in January 2023. Ali “immediately expressed concern” about the prospect of having a child before he was settled in New Zealand, the summary says, and encouraged Law to terminate the pregnancy.

Law wanted to keep the baby, and initially misled Ali to believe she had miscarried. The relationship continued, and Ali became aware she was still pregnant months later when he found a pregnancy scan she had hidden from him.

An argument ensued.

“The defendant was angry and slapped Ms Law about the face repeatedly. Ms Law was lying on her back on the bed and the defendant was sitting on her thighs. She tried to get him off and scratched his face. He pushed her down, placing his hands on her upper chest and around her neck before jumping on top of her with his knees on her abdomen.”

Law didn’t require medical attention and there was no harm to her pregnancy.

In mid-July 2023 the couple married, shortly before Mustafa was born.

“At times, the relationship between the defendant and Ms Law was volatile. On several occasions when angry with Ms Law, the defendant pushed and/or punched her.”

After Mustafa was born the family lived at a Te Kuiti property. Two extended family members related to Ali also lived at the address.

On 8 June 2024, Law woke up Mustafa crying about 6am. She settled him in bed between her and Ali and went back to sleep.

About 8am Law got up as her son and husband slept. She left home about 10.50am having asked Ali to give Mustafa a bath and feed him in advance of family celebrations to be held later that day.

Ali and Mustafa were home alone.

The summary says that Mustafa had been unwell with a high temperature and was displaying signs of being unsettled in the days prior.

As Ali told me at the time, sometime after Law left he fed Mustafa a bottle and some Weetbix. The baby vomited and was unsettled.

“The defendant tried later in the morning to feed him again, unsuccessfully. Frustrated, the defendant attempted to force-feed Mustafa the bottle causing prominent bruises to his chin. Unable to feed or settle the baby, the defendant became stressed and angry.

“During this time, the defendant caused a fatal injury to Mustafa through a violent blow directed to his abdomen.”

Law arrived home about 2.15pm, and was met at the front door by Ali holding Mustafa in his arms.

The baby was “floppy and cold to the touch”.

“The seriousness of Mustafa’s condition was immediately apparent to Ms Law who ran outside with Mustafa in search of assistance. The couple then drove direct to Te Kuiti Hospital.

“Mustafa was pronounced deceased shortly after arrival at the hospital.”

Mustafa died as a result of blunt force trauma resulting in a crushing injury to the abdomen.

“The impact of the injury lacerated his liver, and the wall of the large bowel in two locations. There was also bruising to the diaphragm, small bowel mesentery, and back of the abdominal wall. The lacerations caused bleeding into the abdominal cavity, and ultimately death.

“The relatively close location of all of the internal injuries to each other supports a suggestion the trauma was due to one impact of significant force. Possible causes of the trauma could include a punch, kick, or stomp.”

The injury to Mustafa’s liver was so severe the bleeding into the abdomen commenced immediately after the injury was inflicted and continued uninterrupted until he died.

“The nature of the injury is such it can be expected Mustafa was crying and in obvious discomfort until a decrease in blood pressure will have led to him becoming increasingly drowsy and ultimately losing consciousness.

“The extent of the internal injury was such that Mustafa will not have survived longer than 30 to 60 minutes after the blow was inflicted and it is quite possible death occurred more quickly than that.”

The summary of facts says that when Ali initially spoke to police he said Mustafa began to choke while feeding and, as he told me, the injury was likely caused by his subsequent attempt to perform CPR.

He described carrying out chest compressions which included using two hands on Mustafa’s chest and, effectively, punching him in the stomach.

A postmortem revealed Mustafa had abscesses caused by ulceration around either side of his larynx, which would have caused “significant discomfort” when ingesting food such as Weetbix.

There was also bruising behind each of Mustafa’s ears and a large bruise on the top of his head which were not visible externally. The pathologist said the bruises could have been caused up to 18 hours before Mustafa’s death.

“The bruising behind the ears may be consistent with an attempt to force feed the baby while holding his head, however the defendant has not provided an explanation that could account for the bruise to the top of his head.

“The pathologist cannot comment on the force used to inflict the bruise other than to say it was not sufficient to cause any kind of skull fracture or brain bleed.”

The pathologist also found fractures to Mustafa’s left ribs, but said they could have been the result of resuscitation attempts.

As for the CPR explanation, the pathologist ruled the force required to cause Mustafa’s internal injury “is not consistent with any CPR procedures”.

While Ali has admitted responsibility for the fatal blow, the exact manner in which it was delivered remains unknown.

RNZ asked police for comment on Monday about the investigation into the incident where Ali said he fell down the stairs with Mustafa.

A police spokesperson said police and the Crown had reviewed the circumstances surrounding the case.

“No charges have been laid in relation to the earlier incident, as there was insufficient evidence to do so.

“As the matter remains before the court for sentencing, we’re unable to provide further comment at this time.”

An Oranga Tamariki spokesperson told RNZ that in 2024 they completed a Rapid Practice Assessment into their involvement with the case.

“As a result of this assessment, recommendations from the report were commissioned regionally and nationally to support process and practice.

“As this matter is still before the courts, Oranga Tamariki is unable to comment further.”

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

Primary school teachers’ pay talks resume after government’s last offer rejected

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Primary school teachers picket in Whangarei in October. RNZ/Peter de Graaf

Primary school teachers’ pay talks resume on Wednesday, two-and-a-half months after union members rejected a government offer.

Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI) negotiator Liam Rutherford said the Employment Relations Authority would mediate the negotiations.

The collective agreement had been under negotiation for seven months, he said.

Members last year rejected the government’s most recent offer of a 2.5 percent pay rise from the end of January with a further 2.1 percent a year later.

Secondary teachers accepted a similar deal and secondary principals and primary principals also settled their agreements.

Rutherford said the union had been speaking with its members since schools opened for the year.

“What we’ve heard loud and clear from them is they’re not going to be accepting an offer that doesn’t meet their needs and that is around pay that is going to attract and retain teachers in the country but also some of those really important learning support parts,” he said.

Rutherford said the most recent offer to primary teachers was not exactly the same as that accepted by secondary teachers.

He said primary teachers did not have full pay parity with secondary, particularly in terms of allowances for extra duties.

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

NZ Post notifies exporters of 10 percent flat-rate US tariff on global imports

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Supreme Court last week blocked many of President Donald Trump’s earlier sweeping import taxes. AFP / Brendan Smialowski

New Zealand exporters have been notified by NZ Post of a new 10 percent flat-rate US tariff on global imports.

The new 10 percent levy came into effect late Tuesday evening after the Supreme Court last week blocked many of President Donald Trump’s earlier sweeping import taxes.

The administration is applying the 10 percent levy to all imports, including those coming from New Zealand.

However, Trump – angered by the Supreme Court ruling – has threatened to raise the tariff to 15 percent but has not yet issued an official directive.

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

The Palestine Chronicle: Roger Fowler’s legacy – a Palestinian tribute

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The Palestine Chronicle

New Zealand activist Roger Fowler, a longtime Gaza solidarity organiser and Palestine Chronicle contributor, who died last Saturday, leaves a legacy of principled resistance.

Roger Fowler was a beloved figure in the global solidarity movement and a steadfast advocate for justice in Palestine. He leaves behind a legacy defined by courage, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to a cause greater than himself.

Born in New Zealand, Roger dedicated much of his life to amplifying the voices of the oppressed and building bridges of solidarity across continents.

As coordinator of Kia Ora Gaza (Aotearoa New Zealand), he played a central role in grassroots efforts to challenge the inhumane blockade of Gaza and to bring aid and hope to its people.

Under his leadership, Kia Ora Gaza organised and supported international aid convoys and solidarity flotillas aimed at breaking the siege and delivering humanitarian assistance to besieged communities.

The most significant international moment connected to those efforts was 2010, during the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which sought to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Solidarity networks across the world — including activists in Aotearoa New Zealand — mobilised politically, financially, and logistically around that initiative and subsequent flotilla attempts in the following years.

Inspired countless others
His determination and moral clarity inspired countless others to act with purpose and humanity in the face of injustice.

Roger’s voice was both passionate and principled. Even as his health declined, he remained a familiar presence at solidarity rallies across New Zealand, uplifting crowds with his words and his spirit.

To his friends and fellow activists, he was not only a colleague but a guiding light, a man of “great integrity and character with passion for justice”.

Beyond activism in the streets, Roger was also a thoughtful and committed writer. Through his contributions to The Palestine Chronicle, he brought stories of international solidarity to wider audiences.

His work illuminated both the daily struggles of Palestinians and the global networks of activism that stand with them.

In these difficult times, Roger’s work will continue to live on in the movements and projects he helped build. His life stands as a testament to the enduring power of solidarity, conviction, and the belief that ordinary people can make extraordinary differences.

The Palestine Chronicle family joins his loved ones, friends, and comrades in mourning this profound loss, and in honoring a life devoted to justice, dignity, and the freedom of Palestine.

This article was first published by The Palestine Chronicle under the title “Remembering Roger Fowler: A life devoted to justice and Palestinian freedom” on 23 February 2026.

• Roger Fowler’s life is being celebrated today at Ngā Tapuwae Community Centre, 255 Buckland Road, Mangere, 10-2pm, Wednesday, February 25.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Scott Robertson named Barbarians coach in first role since All Blacks axing

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Scott Robertson. ©INPHO/Ken Sutton

Scott Robertson will get his shot at redemption against the Springboks.

However, it won’t come as All Blacks coach.

Robertson has been named as one of four coaches to lead the Barbarians in their clash against the world champions in June.

It will be ‘Razor’s’ first assignment since he was sensationally axed as All Blacks coach in January.

Robertson is no stranger to the Barbarians environment, having coached the side on four previous occasions – against New Zealand and Tonga in 2017, an All Blacks XV in 2022, and Wales in 2023.

“The Barbarians brings the rugby world together, so it’s special to be a part of it and to honour the jersey,” Robertson said.

The side has assembled a quality coaching quartet featuring Robertson, Los Pumas head coach Felipe Contepomi, Racing 92 head coach Patrice Collazo and Argentina assistant coach Kenny Lynn.

The Barbarians have faced South Africa nine times since their first meeting in 1952, and Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus welcomed the return of the famous invitational side.

“It’s always exciting to face the BaaBaas, and we are looking forward to hosting them in South Africa. This is a new season with two new exciting competitions, so the sooner we get into a test match mindset, the better.”

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

West Papuan filmmakers expose Merauke rainforest destruction in ‘siege’ doco

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Pacific Media Watch

A world premiere of a new documentary revealing the devastation of rainforest in the southeastern part of West Papua is one of two films being screened in Auckland next month.

Billed as “Sinéma Merdeka: Stories from West Papua”, the programme is showing the heart of a hidden Pacific conflict and will be presented live by celebrated Papuan journalist and Jubi News founder Victor Mambor.

The two films are “Pesta Babi — Colonialism in Our Time” and “Sa Punya Nama Pengungsi” (My name is Pengungsi).

“Pesta Babi” (The Pig Party), directed by Cypri Dale and Dandhy Laksono, is being premiered at the Academy Cinema, Auckland CBD, at 6pm on Saturday, March 7.

Filmed under siege and a draconian media ban, the filmmakers offer a rare and
urgent glimpse into indigenous life in Merauke, where Indonesian bulldozers have been systematically destroying their pristine rainforest home.

This film is co-produced by Jubi, Ekspedisi Indonesia Baru, Greenpeace, Yayasan Pusaka, and Watchdoc Documentary.

The second film, “Sa Punya Nama Pengungsi”, directed by Yuliana Lantipo is set against the backdrop of escalating government violence and the displacement of an estimated 100,000 Indigenous Melanesian people from their lands.

“My name is Pengungsi” is centred on the story of two Papuan children born in the midst of the conflict. Both are named “Pengungsi”, which in English means “Refugee”.

Films talanoa
The films will be followed by a Q&A/Talanoa with Mambor and fellow Australian-based West Papuan journalist Ronny Kareni and hosted by Dr David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and deputy director of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN).

The twin-film festival is part of a weekend West Papua Solidarity Forum programme at the Auckland University Old Choral Hall, 7 Symonds Street, on Saturday, March 7, and on Sunday, March 8.

There will also be a public media seminar at the Whanau Community Centre and Hub featuring journalist and filmmaker Victor Mambor at 6pm, Monday, March 9, at the Taro Patch, Papatoetoe.

Organisers of the film screenings are West Papua Action Tāmaki Makaurau West Papua is the western half of New Guinea island and has been occupied by Indonesia since 1963. The independent state of Papua New Guinea is the eastern half.

Organisers of the film screenings are West Papua Action Tāmaki Makaurau. The group notes that more than 500,000 civilians have been killed in a slow genocide against the indigenous population, according to human rights agencies.

Basic human rights such as freedom of speech are denied and Papuans live in a constant state of fear and intimidation.

Foreign journalists have generally been barred entrance.

Traditional ways of life are under threat as huge tracts of rainforest are cut down to make
way for Indonesian palm oil and food estates, the world’s largest gold mine and ever-increasing transmigration from Indonesia, making Indigenous Papuans a minority in their own land.

“Sinéma Merdeka: Stories from West Papua” . . . the screening poster. Image: APR

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Science knows of 21,000 bee species. There are likely thousands more

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong

It’s a question that has sparked the curiosity of scholars and bee lovers for decades: how many species of bees are there in the world?

This might, at first, seem like a silly question. But it is a topic of genuine importance – especially if we want to protect our pollinators.

Now, in a new paper published in Nature Communications, we provide the first statistically derived estimate of bee species richness around the world. But this work isn’t just about bees. It provides the tools needed for scientists to estimate the number of all species on Earth.

Why do bees matter?

Bees are the most important animal pollinators, so it’s crucial to know how many species there are in the world.

Globally, and corrected for inflation, pollination of crops is worth roughly A$745 billion per year. Pollination is also crucial for our diet and wellbeing with 75% of food crop diversity and 35% of total food production benefiting from animal pollination.

However, that’s far from the complete story.

Bees are what’s called a “keystone” group. That is, just like the keystone in a stone arch, removing that group would result in cascading ecological impacts – and potentially, as implied by the analogy, collapse.

Recent estimates have suggested that 90% of flowering plants (roughly 307,000 species) are pollinated by animals. Plants produce our oxygen and sequester carbon, moderate temperatures, prevent erosion, protect coastlines, form the foundation of food webs, and so much more.

Bees are also of immense cultural value. Humans have been working with honey bee products for at least 9,000 years and quite possibly longer for stingless bees.

Our current estimates

The European honey bee and bumblebee species are the best known bees in the world. But there are many more.

In his 2007 book, Bees of the World, US entomologist Charles Michener estimated there were more than 18,000 known bee species – and over 20,000 in total.

But we already have surpassed this number with roughly 21,000 named bee species globally.

Those are global estimates. But what about a more specific one?

Australia is a relatively well-understood region with at least four estimates of as high as 2,000.

But, these are all guesses without statistical backing.

How do we estimate undiscovered species?

Bee datasets around the world are growing thanks to both career and citizen scientists.

For our new study, we used more than 8.3 million bee records (where they’ve been found), a country-level checklist of bee species, and a species (taxonomy) list of roughly 21,000 species names.

We then used statistical modelling to estimate the “lower bound” of the possible number of species globally, by continent, and by country.

More simply, we look at how well we have sampled species to estimate the minimum number of new species that are still to be found.

Imagine that you go and sample two forests for bees. In the first, you find eight species, all in similarly high abundance. In the second, you also catch eight species – but while some are in high abundance, you also find some only a handful of times.

You might expect that you have discovered most of the species in the first forest because you are getting the same ones over and over again. In the second forest you’re finding many rarely occurring species, which hints that more diversity may be discovered if sampling continues.

Now expand this process to the level of countries, continents, and the globe.

The conceptual framework of our statistical estimates shown in two example forests of eight species each, but in differing proporations. James Dorey Photography, silhouettes from https://www.phylopic.org

So, how many bee species are there?

Globally, we estimated there are at least 24,705 to 26,164 bee species in the world (an 18–25% increase on previous estimates).

At current rates of description (roughly 117 species per year), it would take between 32 and 45 years to describe all of the world’s bee species. However, we may take much longer as our estimate is conservative, and we are likely to discover new species more slowly as fewer remain to be found.

Importantly, most new bee species are expected to be found in Asia and Africa.

Perhaps this is not surprising, as bee research in Asia has many challenges and data from Africa are very limited with some countries having zero usable bee data points.

Some species diversity is most easily detected using genetic techniques. This can easily go unnoticed — and means we shouldn’t be surprised if our estimates are surpassed in the future. Even in wealthy nations, such as Australia, we saw that not using genetic techniques might lead to lower estimates of species richness.

Twelve different types of bees against a black background.

Twelve species of Fijian bee. Much of Fiji’s bee species richness went unrecognised prior to the inclusion of genetic techniques because the species were difficult to tell apart (cryptic). James Dorey Photography

Highly valuable data

We have shown that it’s possible to estimate the total number of bee species, and indeed any species, on a country level using existing data.

These data are highly valuable in several respects.

A detailed cost-benefit analysis of investment in discovering and documenting new species in Australia found that every $1 invested in discovering all remaining Australian species will bring up to $35 of economic benefits to the nation.

These data can also be used to prioritise our discovery and taxonomic efforts, as well as prioritising conservation efforts to conserve our most important species.

Through the application of these methods we can, at long last, start to answer the question “how many species are there in the world?”.

– ref. Science knows of 21,000 bee species. There are likely thousands more – https://theconversation.com/science-knows-of-21-000-bee-species-there-are-likely-thousands-more-268195

Australian police charge New Zealand man after finding extremist videos on his phone

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Australian police have charged a New Zealand man over alleged violent extremist material. Supplied

Australian police say they have charged a New Zealand man found with videos of violent extremist material on his phone.

They say the 24-year-old was stopped for a baggage examination at Perth Airport on Monday after he arrived on a flight from overseas.

Police said his phone contained videos of a number of terrorist attacks, including violent killings overseas linked to varying ideologies, and videos showing manufacturing of home-made explosives.

The Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team executed a search warrant at a Perth property and seized a computer.

The man has been charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material.

Australian Federal Police Commander Nick Read said police worked closely with security partners to prevent the spread of violent extremist material, which undermined Australia’s social cohesion.

“There is no place in Australian society for violent or extremist content, which terrorist organisations use as a tool to radicalise members of the community, particularly young or vulnerable people,” he said.

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

Hundreds still without power after last week’s storm

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Last week’s storm caused the most damage to the network since Cyclone Gabrielle, PowerCo says. Supplied / Caleb Gordon

More than 200 people in the lower North Island are still without power, a week after the destructive storm hit the region.

Powerco said most of those still cut off were in the Whanganui-Rangitīkei region.

Head of network operations Mark Dunn said the storm had caused the most damage to the network since Cyclone Gabrielle.

More than 500 lines were brought down, he said.

The amount of tree damage caused by the storm in remote forestry blocks had meant it was taking time to restore supply.

“We understand how frustrating it is to be without power and thank people for their patience and the resilience they were required to call on.”

Dunn said the company had been working closely with emergency management and the Red Cross to support affected customers.

Helicopters were used over the weekend to access hard-to-reach areas and string lines to remote parts of Wairarapa and Whanganui-Rangitīkei, to assist crews where ground access was limited.

He said Powerco crews had attended 1689 jobs since the storm and 250 field staff were involved.

Crews had come from Taranaki, Hamilton, Matamata, Tauranga and Dannevirke.

Meanwhile in Wellington, 60 customers were still without power on Tuesday.

Wellington Electricity said it expected to have less than 10 customers to reconnect tomorrow.

On Monday Wellingtonians who had previously been without power for days raised questions about whether the company should compensate households hit by the powerful storm.

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

Temperatures set to drop in South Island in next few days

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Source: Radio New Zealand

NIWA’s map shows rain is set to hit the South Island by 6pm on Thursday. Screenshot / NIWA / Earth Sciences New Zealand

A cold front could cause temperatures to plunge later this week, particularly in the South Island.

NIWA meteorologist Chester Lampkin said for the past couple of days there has been high pressure across New Zealand, but that is set to change.

A moisture-laden tropical low is nearing New Zealand, which will lead to a cold southerly change, particularly in the South Island, he said.

Towards the weekend, there could be the possibility of a tropical cyclone or low reaching the North Island, he said.

A stunning day is forecast on Wednesday for most of the North Island and the top of the South Island with temperatures reaching the mid to late 20s, he said.

But a southerly front reaches the lower South Island later on Wednesday, he said.

“And then late in the day a shower and even a few thunderstorms for Fiordland and parts of Southland and Stewart Island,” he said.

A west south-west change will lead to showers and even thunderstorms across parts of the South Island on Thursday, he said.

By Friday temperatures will be 3C to 5C below what is considered average in the South Island, he said.

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Canterbury Museum pleads for an extra $64m after another budget blow-out

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Canterbury Museum’s redevelopment had an original budget of $205 million, which has now been pushed out to almost $262 million. Supplied/Canterbury Museum

Canterbury Museum is pleading for councils and central government to stump up an extra $64 million for its cost-plagued redevelopment following another budget blow-out.

The project had an original budget of $205 million, which rose to $247m last year, but escalating construction costs and funding delays had now pushed it to almost $262m.

Museum trust board chair David Ayers said the board needed help plugging a shortfall of almost $92m to keep the museum on track to open in mid-2029.

“Throughout the redevelopment project, we’ve continued to undertake value engineering and make compromises to reduce costs. We’ve now exhausted all feasible options for reducing costs without undermining the building’s functionality or asset life,” he said.

The board was calling for $26.9m from Christchurch ratepayers over four years, in addition to $2.4m from the Selwyn district, $2.1m from Waimakariri and $300,000 from Hurunui.

It had made a request to the central government for $32m over four years to match the local government contribution.

This year’s bid follows a failed attempt last year to secure funding.

The museum trust board made its case to the Christchurch City Council on Tuesday morning.

Deputy director Sarah Murray told councillors there would be an economic benefit to the city.

“When the museum reopens, it’s estimated there will be 800,000 visitors a year to the museum. We’re forecast then to generate around $83 million in regional and economic activity in that year alone. That will benefit local accommodation providers, businesses, retail and transport services,” she said.

The museum was also proposing an entry fee for overseas visitors.

Ayers said a cost review had found the museum needed a higher contingency allowance to complete the final two construction stages – the new basement and building and their fit-out – to give greater confidence that the project cost or schedule would not be exceeded.

The contingency allowance had been increased to $9.8m and a six-month delay in securing additional funding has added $5.1m to the project’s cost.

Ayers said the museum had hoped to secure additional capital last year so the final two stages of construction could be completed simultaneously, which would have saved money.

“Further delays in securing the extra capital will just keep adding to the cost – $7.2 million a year – and will push the opening date to 2030,” Ayers said.

Canterbury Museum was a significant heritage building and one of the last major public buildings to be fully upgraded and reopened since the Canterbury earthquakes, he said.

“It’s also much more than a public attraction and shouldn’t be viewed solely through the heritage buildings we occupy. The services we deliver define our public value,” Ayers said.

“We care for a collection of 2.3 million objects which tell the stories and history of Canterbury and the people who live here. We look after an internationally significant Antarctic collection and a quarter of Aotearoa New Zealand’s nationally distributed collection. Like libraries, museums are critical civic infrastructure, central to learning, identity, discovery and cultural life.”

Minister for the South Island James Meager said he visited the Canterbury Museum redevelopment site in January.

“I was encouraged by the progress made to date, with a lot of work still to come. We discussed a range of issues related to the region’s culture and heritage.

The government had already contributed $35m towards the development, he said.

“Any kind of funding decision would need to be made by Cabinet as part of the next Budget process. It would be weighed up against other priorities in a tight fiscal environment with competing priorities in health, education, and law and order.”

Funding for the redevelopment had come from the museum’s own funds ($63.4m), private donations ($1.05m), grants and lotteries funding ($850,000), central government ($35m) and local government ($69.8m), including $24.5m from Christchurch City Council for strengthening the Robert McDougall Gallery.

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

Why some newer smartphones may be hit by the 3G shutdown

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Source: Radio New Zealand

All three main mobile operators are shutting down their 3G networks and upgrading their sites to either 4G or 5G. Jae Park/ Unsplash

A digital equity advocate is worried that many people will not understand what is required to keep connected after the 3G network is shut down.

All three main mobile operators – Spark, 2degrees and One NZ – are shutting down their 3G networks and upgrading their sites to either 4G or 5G. By 31 March, the 3G network will be closed, with 4G and 5G entirely taking its place.

This means some devices, not just phones, but also things like medical, security alarms and vehicle trackers will cease working with the network. Phone calls, including to 111, will not work.

Digital Equity Coalition Aotearoa’s Marie Silberstein has heard from many people surprised to find themselves in a position where their phone no longer functions.

She told Nine to Noon that some imported phones or phones bought overseas may not work on the network. She said even if the phones say they are 4G capable, it does not necessarily mean they are 4G capable in New Zealand.

“It’s really imported, refurbished [phones]. You won’t know unless you text 3G to 550, especially if you bought it overseas,” Silberstein said.

“4G here is not on the same band as 4G overseas.”

To find out if your phone will work, you can text ‘3G’ to 550 for free, which will let you know if your device can use 4G. If it says you cannot, you will need to investigate further.

Some phones may need to change their settings, while others may need to be replaced.

For phones bought overseas that were having trouble connecting to 4G, telcos advise customers to try downloading the latest software. If this doesn’t work, customers may need to replace the phone.

Silberstein said if you are in the group of people who need to upgrade their phone, don’t feel pressured to buy the most expensive new phone.

She said she has heard from people in the community that on their teleco’s 3G information page on their website, there were ads for expensive phones.

“Please feel empowered to not go with the most expensive phone,” Silberstein said.

“Before you go in and talk to your provider, you can go to a library, you can go to a community hub, you can check in with whānau, you can talk to trusted friends that you know are whizzes on their phones, and say, ‘look, what phone do I need?’”

If you need to upgrade your phone, you can recycle your old phone for free with RE:MOBILE.

A free text number has been set up for people to check their phone’s status as 3G networks shut down. Supplied

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

AI and privacy: Commissioner signs on to global statement on ‘potential harms’

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An image of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis was misleadingly animated using AI by a Facebook page recently. Screenshot / Facebook

New Zealand’s privacy commissioner’s office has signed on to a global joint statement voicing concerns about AI-generated images and calling on organisations to follow the law.

The statement – by multiple countries expresses – “concern about the potential harms from the misuse of AI content generation systems,” and says robust safeguards and regulations are needed.

“The creation of non-consensual intimate imagery can constitute a criminal offence in many jurisdictions,” the statement notes.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is an independent Crown entity that regulates the Privacy Act 2020 and ensures agencies know privacy rules. It also helps individuals whose privacy has been breached.

Concerns about the use of images of real people manipulated by artificial intelligence have been growing, with AI “slop” purveyors on social media pushing out multiple fake images about New Zealand news stories, for example, and ACT MP Laura McClure introducing a bill to criminalise non-consensual sexually explicit deepfakes.

“The concerns about these technologies include the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery and potential harms to children and other vulnerable groups,” the privacy commissioner’s office said.

Generative AI “systems must be developed and used in accordance with applicable legal frameworks, including data protection and privacy rules,” the commissioner’s office said.

The joint statement was signed by more than 50 different agencies from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France and elsewhere.

“While AI can bring meaningful benefits for individuals and society, recent developments – particularly AI image and video generation integrated into widely accessible social media platforms – have enabled the creation of non-consensual intimate imagery, defamatory depictions, and other harmful content featuring real individuals,” the joint statement said.

“We are especially concerned about potential harms to children and other vulnerable groups, such as cyber-bullying and/or exploitation.”

“We call on organisations to engage proactively with regulators, implement robust safeguards from the outset, and ensure that technological advancement does not come at the expense of privacy, dignity, safety,” the statement said.

The statement does not act to change any of New Zealand’s current laws, but may provide more pressure to bring them up to date as AI usage continues to rise.

University of Canterbury lecturer in law Dr Cassandra Mudgway has previously written on the need for more regulation over sexualised deepfakes.

“I think it goes along with what the office of the Privacy Commissioner has been trying to get out in relation to AI tools very generally,” she said. “In 2023 they released some guidance around AI tools and the use of AI tools by agencies.”

Privacy commissioner Michael Webster has also [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/579020/privacy-commissioner-insists-new-zealand-s-laws-need-modernising recently said the country’s laws must be modernised to better protect New Zealanders.

“The Privacy Commissioner is really only concerned with how AI tools relate … to the Privacy Act,” Mudgway said.

The Human Rights Tribunal can award compensatory damages for breaches of the Privacy Act, but the fines typically wouldn’t make a difference to huge social media and AI companies, Mudgway said.

“If New Zealand wants to engage in these kind of conversations then we really do need to think about wider regulation.”

A ban on “nudify” type apps such as was recently introduced by Australia could be an easy first step, she said.

There have been concerns raised about use of AI during this year’s election campaigns. Elsewhere, US President Donald Trump has taken to frequently posting AI-generated content on his social media feeds.

“I think that it’s a really positive move that there’s an international conversation about (AI) through different regulators … but in terms of making a positive change or a proactive change then that’s going to have to come from Parliament,” Mudgway said.

“It’s going to have to come from the government of the day and it’s going to be political will whether they listen to that movement.”

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

How Tourette’s causes involuntary outbursts – and what people with the condition want you to know

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Licari, Senior Research Fellow in Child Disability, The University of Western Australia

Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson has explained he left the British Film and Television Awards (BAFTAs) ceremony early on Monday night, aware his outbursts were causing distress.

Davidson was attending the ceremony to support the film I Swear, which tells the story of his life living with the syndrome. Tourette’s can cause involuntary movements and sounds, including words.

Davidson’s outbursts during the ceremony included a racial slur while actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindon, who are Black, were presenting an award.

In a statement, Davidson stressed the words were not intentional and did not “carry any meaning”. He said he was “deeply mortified” that people might have thought otherwise.

There are valid criticisms about how the BAFTAs and the broadcaster handled the situation and failed to properly acknowledge the hurt caused, whether or not it was intended.

But the syndrome Davidson has spent his life educating people about remains sadly misunderstood. So let’s take a look at Tourette’s and the tics it causes.

A neurological disorder

Tourette’s is a neurological disorder characterised by unintentional movements and vocalisations, known as tics.

While the exact cause of Tourette’s is not fully understood, it is likely to be complex and multifactorial.

Various genes have been linked to the condition, and we know it runs in families, so it likely has a strong genetic basis.

We also know that other environmental exposures during key periods of brain development contribute to the onset and course of the condition, such as complications during pregnancy and birth, illnesses and infections, and intense stress.

Tourette syndrome also rarely occurs in isolation, with many diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and learning disorders.

What are tics?

Tics are thought to be caused by changes in brain circuits involved in impulse control and inhibition.

People with tics often experience uncomfortable physical sensations that build up in the body called premonitory urges. These urges are difficult and often impossible to suppress, and the only way to alleviate the urge is to tic.

It is a bit like when we experience itching on our skin or tingling in our nose, sensations we relieve by scratching or sneezing.

Tics vary between people and fluctuate in frequency, type and intensity, which can be challenging to manage.

Some tics are brief movements and sounds, such as forceful blinking, facial grimacing, head jerking, sniffing, throat clearing and grunting. These are referred to as “simple” tics and are very common, particularly in young children.

Other tics involve more elaborate patterns of movements and sounds – often involving several parts of the body.

These are “complex” tics. They include motor tics like hitting oneself, kicking or dropping to the floor, and vocal tics like repeating words or phrases. This can include socially inappropriate terms such as slurs or swearwords.

It is believed the Tourette’s brain sometimes struggles to control “forbidden” impulses. A person may experience urges to say taboo words and phrases, or make inappropriate actions, when they see or hear certain things within their environment.

How common are tics?

Tics are very common among children, with simple tics occurring in up to one in five children aged between five and six. These normally resolve in a short space of time, with many people unaware they are tics.

For one in 100 children, their tics will persist and become more severe. Having both motor and vocal tics for at least 12 months, meets the diagnostic criteria for Tourette syndrome.

While Tourette’s typically first appears in early childhood, onset can also occur during adolescence and adulthood.

For most children, tics will peak during early puberty, typically between 10–12 years of age, before reducing.

But for about one in four people with Tourette syndrome, their tics will be lifelong. Around 50,000 Australians currently live with a life-long tic disorder.

The use of obscene and socially inappropriate words and phrases, referred to as coprolalia, only occurs in about 15–20% of people with Tourette’s.

Unfortunately, coprolalia is often what often gets portrayed in media and entertainment, impacting the public’s understanding of Tourette’s.

Is there a cure?

Tourette syndrome currently has no cure.

Ideally, treatment should include evidence-based behavioural interventions for tics. However these can be difficult to access, with few psychologists trained in these interventions.

Other psychological therapies aim to address the person’s stress and anxiety – which are factors known to increase tics – but not their tics.

Medications are also commonly prescribed if the tics are impacting the person, but these are not effective for everyone and often have side effects.

An exhausting and disabling condition

The frequent urge to tic disrupts attention and concentration, and the tics themselves can impact many aspects of daily living, such as dressing, eating, watching TV, and even relaxing.

Tics can also cause discomfort and injury, such as muscle soreness, cramping, whiplash, dislocations and broken bones. The research I’ve done with colleagues shows two-thirds of people sustain injuries from their tics.

I was involved in a national survey in 2025 involving more than 200 people with Tourette’s and their caregivers. They told us about the challenges they faced including:

  • long wait times for diagnosis
  • little understanding of tics and the condition from health workers and teachers
  • a lack of support and limited treatment options
  • a severe negative effect on mental health.

The social stigma, bullying, exclusion and exhaustion of living with this condition often leads to significant mental health struggles.

Our research shows around 70% of people living with Tourette’s struggle with anxiety disorders and one in three experience depression. One in four adults and one in ten children with this disorder have attempted suicide.

People with Tourette’s want to be understood and accepted

Tics are not something they are doing for attention. They increase when a person is stressed, anxious or excited, and trying to hold them in can make them worse.

Not everyone experiences coprolalia but, for those that do, the inability to inhibit taboo language can lead to public scrutiny and cause embarrassment and shame. This leads to many avoiding social situations and a life of isolation.

If this article has raised issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.

– ref. How Tourette’s causes involuntary outbursts – and what people with the condition want you to know – https://theconversation.com/how-tourettes-causes-involuntary-outbursts-and-what-people-with-the-condition-want-you-to-know-276750

Primary school principals accept government pay offer

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Richard Tindiller

Primary school principals have voted to accept the government’s offer in pay negotiations.

A majority of members of the NZEI education union voted to accept the Ministry of Education’s agreement.

Primary principals will receive a 2.5 percent increase immediately, plus 2.1 percent in 12 months.

The settlement also includes a $15,000 workload allowance for implementing the government’s curriculum changes.

Stephen Lethbridge, a member of the bargaining team, said the allowance was necessary.

“The $15,000 change management allowance is a necessary recognition of the immense pressure involved in implementing wholesale curriculum change, but it is in no way an endorsement of its content.”

Lethbridge said Tuesday’s result recognises the power of the “collective voice” at the bargaining table.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the Leadership in Literacy and Numeracy base payment will increase to $10,000 per year over the term of the agreement.

She said the settlement delivers meaningful improvements to primary principal pay and conditions

“It reflects shared priorities, with a firm commitment to leading implementation of the new curriculum and lifting educational outcomes for our students.”

Stanford said principals play a key role in schools and the teaching workforce.

“They are dedicated and passionate about lifting educational achievement, and their leadership must be recognised during this important reform programme.”

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

‘Ultra-processed foods are making us sick’ – lawsuit against manufacturers

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The lawsuit alleges the companies deliberately designed the foods to be addictive, in full knowledge they make people sick. File photo. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

A US attorney who is suing some of the biggest food manufacturers is accusing them of deliberately designing products to be addictive – despite the harm they are known to cause.

David Chiu has brought a lawsuit against prominent ultra-processed food manufacturers, including Coca-Cola, Nestle, Kellog and Craft Heinz.

The lawsuit argues the US government is picking up the bill for the serious health consequences from their products, such as obesity, diabetes and cancer.

It also alleges the companies deliberately designed the foods to be addictive and marketed them to maximise profit, in full knowledge they make people sick.

Ultra-processed foods are not just junk food, but anything full of chemical-based preservatives, emulsifiers, sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and artificial colours and flavours.

Chiu – a San Francisco city attorney – told Checkpoint studies showing the danger of these foods spurred on the legal action.

“The massive data sets that have come out that show that ultra-processed foods are making us sick, plain and simple.”

With products from all companies involved in the lawsuit also available in New Zealand, Chiu said it should be a worry here.

“Our case is about companies that have designed these foods to be addictive, marketed it to maximize profits, and like the tobacco industry years ago, they knew their products made people very sick, but they hid the product, hid the truth from the public.

“They’ve made untold billions. They’ve left taxpayers to clean up the mess.”

Chiu said the comparisons to the tobacco industry were more than just a coincidence, with some of the big tobacco companies buying out major food companies throughout the 1960s and 70s.

“Big tobacco literally transferred its people, its ideas, its technology around addiction science from the tobacco industry to this food industry, this ultra-processed food industry. And they used the big tobacco playbook to research, design, and market addictive products.”

While some argued that consumers had a choice when it came to what food they bought, Chiu said the industry’s massive reach had essentially removed that decision.

“The industry likes to say that consumers have choice. You can buy whatever you want, and if someone wants to buy Pringles or potato chips or crackers, that is up to them.

“The ultra-processed food industry has worked to create this illusion of choice, but they’re actually depriving consumers of choice. You don’t really have a choice when 70 percent of what you see in the supermarkets are ultra-processed foods.”

In the court documents, Chiu mapped the increase of chronic diseases against the growth in ultra-processed foods.

He said the link between the foods and diseases was clear.

“As the level and consumption of ultra-processed foods have risen, so have chronic diseases. Obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, kidney disease, even depression, and this has been particularly alarming in children.

“We are seeing preventable diseases that no one has seen in kids, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.”

While companies may market their products as healthy, Chiu warned that consumers must be aware of what they were purchasing.

“There are well-known definitions of ultra-processed foods within the scientific community. And in California state law, our state legislature recently passed a definition of ultra-processed food, which is quite clear.

“We are talking about foods that are made-up of artificial ingredients that are created by combining these artificial chemicals with industrialized processes.”

Chiu said he was not aiming for a full ban of all ultra-processed foods, but wanted more accountability from the companies creating and selling them.

“What we want to ensure is a couple of things. One, that this industry is held accountable when it comes to deceptive practices and advertising. We need to have real transparency in what these products are.

“We have had as a society to pay for billions and billions and billions of dollars of healthcare for the diseases, the cancers, the obesity, the type 2 diabetes that so many folks are receiving.

“We believe that we should receive some restitution to pay for the health care costs that have come about through the actions and the knowing actions of this industry. “

He hoped that the lawsuit would be a first step in encouraging others to put pressure on the companies responsible.

“All of our reliance on ultra-processed foods is decades in the making. We can’t reverse it overnight, but we certainly can get some accountability and move this conversation forward.

“I also encourage others who care about this, whether they are in government or elsewhere, to hold this industry accountable.”

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Political support for NZ-India FTA getting closer – trade minister

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Trade Minster Todd McClay says the government is “working through a process” with opposition parties. RNZ / Mark Papalii

The Free Trade Agreement with India is better than almost every other trade agreement with India, says the trade minister, who is optimistic it will get the political support needed to ratify it.

Todd McClay held the first of a series of roadshows on the NZ-India Free Trade agreement in Christchurch today at Business Canterbury.

New Zealand First has said it will not support the deal, but McClay said he had a constructive meeting on the FTA with Labour leader Chris Hipkins last week to work through some of the issues they had.

“The Labour party has the text already, and has had full access to officials since the end of last year, and we are working through a process.”

McClay said they had made some progress on the issues, but he expected further meetings will be needed.

He said every previous significant trade agreement had support from both major parties, because they knew how important trade was to New Zealand.

“This is a high quality agreement that is good for New Zealand. It is better than almost every other agreement India has negotiated and I want to be very clear – if it wasn’t a good agreement, we wouldn’t have agreed to it.”

Labour said last week that National must ensure stronger protections for migrant workers in the Free Trade Agreement with India, before it agreed to it.

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High-speed rail from Sydney to Newcastle is a step closer. But what about Sydney to Melbourne?

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Laird, Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Wollongong

The federal government will spend A$230 million towards a high-speed rail line between Newcastle and Sydney, promising the project will be “shovel ready” for a final decision on construction in 2028.

The government also released a partly redacted business case for the project, showing the first two stages from Newcastle to Sydney by 2039 are now estimated to cost $61.2 billion, including new trains. A further $32 billion would be needed to extend it to Western Sydney’s international airport by 2042.

The High Speed Rail Authority argues Newcastle-Sydney is the best place to start, with the highest population density and the busiest intercity rail route. But its vision remains that “by 2060 a high-speed rail network will connect Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne”.

The latest announcement follows more than 40 years of previous plans, costing millions, which all amounted to nothing.

Will this time be any different?

Do we have the population to justify high-speed rail?

An article in the Canberra Times from 1984, reporting on the first of many past high-speed rail proposals. Trove

Back when Australia started talking about high-speed rail in 1984, just two countries had trains able to travel at speeds of 250 kilometres per hour or more: Japan and France.

Today, that number has climbed to 16, including Austria two months ago. India is expected to have bullet trains running within a couple of years.

The main argument against fast rail here has always been population density, due to Australia’s extraordinarily low population density of just 3 people per square kilometre of land. That’s a fraction of the 342 people per square kilometre in Japan, home to the famous Shinkansen “bullet” trains.

But that population density is very different along the crowded east coast.

Sydney–Newcastle is high-density

As the High Speed Rail Authority’s business case shows, the Newcastle, Central Coast and Sydney corridor is the mostly densely populated part of Australia, with 624 people per square kilometre.

Population density along the proposed high-speed rail corridor, according to the High Speed Rail Authority.

That’s actually much higher density than Spain has with 97 people per square kilometre.

Spain opened its first high-speed rail link from Madrid to Seville back in 1992. Since then, its high-speed rail network has grown to nearly 4000km. Yet Spain has a significantly lower gross domestic product per person than Australia.

Why start in Sydney–Newcastle?

Sydney to Newcastle is Australia’s busiest regional corridor. But its current road and rail connections are slow and need major, multi-billion-dollar upgrades – even if high-speed rail doesn’t proceed.

There are nearly 15 million annual rail trips between the two cities, some taking up to 3 hours. The M1 Pacific Motorway is often congested, with 222 road crashes on it in 2022 alone.

The business case found expanding roads would be cheaper than high-speed rail, requiring around $20–$35 billion in investment. But it would come with other costs, including causing “substantial environmental impacts, including surface disruptions to multiple national parks”, as well as doing little to address congestion and resulting in more carbon emissions.

With high-speed rail, journey times would be halved. Newcastle to Sydney would fall to about an hour, while trips from the Central Coast to Sydney or Newcastle would fall to 30 minutes.

But the proposed route is complex, involving 194km of new high-speed rail tracks, more than half of which (115km) would be through tunnels. So construction won’t be cheap or fast.

What about Sydney–Melbourne?

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King announced an extra $230 million for the project on Tuesday, taking the planning and design total to $659.6 million.

The minister acknowledged “this is an expensive and big project”, but argued it’s better to get the design right before construction starts.

Given overseas experience, such as UK’s high-speed rail delays and cost blowouts, this staged approach does make sense.

But the main question I had after reading the business case was what’s being done to work on high-speed rail from Sydney to Melbourne? It’s still the world’s sixth busiest aviation route and the existing railway is inadequate.

The longer we leave that planning, the more housing and other obstacles there will be along any future route. A good place to start would be from south-west Sydney, heading south.

How funding fights derailed past high-speed rail plans

We have got this far with high-speed rail in Australia before: nearly proceeding from design to delivery.

Back in 2000, one of the two things that spoilt the Speedrail proposal to connect Sydney to Canberra Airport was gap funding. The NSW government announced they wouldn’t put any money into it – then the federal government followed.

Read more: Can the new High Speed Rail Authority deliver after 4 decades of costly studies?

Will history repeat itself? New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has said his government can’t fund high-speed rail “at the moment” while finishing other major infrastructure.

The difference this time may be that the current federal government has invested more than any previous government, both financially and politically.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “significant private funding” would be crucial to the project proceeding in 2028. The business case discusses some of those options, including private public partnerships, plus other funding sources like developer levies.

In Japan, there’s a national agency that constructs high-speed Shinkansen lines. But they only proceed when they get support from the local prefectures (governments).

That’s the sort of clear process we’d ideally have in Australia too. If we do finally start building high-speed rail in 2028, it will be 44 years since it was first proposed.

– ref. High-speed rail from Sydney to Newcastle is a step closer. But what about Sydney to Melbourne? – https://theconversation.com/high-speed-rail-from-sydney-to-newcastle-is-a-step-closer-but-what-about-sydney-to-melbourne-276627

Council cost cutting prompts Levin woman to turn berm into flower garden

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Louise McCarthy was not happy when the council stopped mowing her berm but decided to turn it into a flowering meadow instead. Louise McCarthy

A Horowhenua District Council cost-cutting decision has resulted in a local attraction.

When the council stopped mowing residential berms to save money, it made Levin resident Louise McCarthy very grumpy.

She refused to cut the grass herself and declined neighbours’ offers to trim it too, until she decided to transform the berm into an urban meadow full of wildflowers.

Louise McCarthy told Checkpoint said her berm was now outstanding and thick with flowers.

Her anger at the council’s refusal to mow the area was a good motivation, she said.

“I must’ve been muttering away to myself as I was doing it and it’s made all the little flowers pop their heads out to have their say.”

Louise McCarthy

McCarthy told Checkpoint there were a couple of reasons why she refused to mow the berm herself.

She said she only owned an electric lawn mower and to mow the berm she would have had to run the cord over a public footpath which she did not feel was very safe and would be a trip hazard.

“I live right next door to a park so it would have taken them [the council] two minutes to do my berm which they had always done previously.”

Despite her floral berm McCarthy does not describe herself as a gardener.

“Most things I can murder within oh a week, but no way am I a gardener I wouldn’t know a weed from a flower if it jumped up and bit me.”

McCarthy says some of the weeds also have pretty flowers so she just leaves them be. Louise McCarthy

McCarthy agreed that she had a “tough love” approach to plants and said the only thing she did was water the berm in the evening.

She said to get the garden to its current state she first killed all the unmowed council grass, then invited her grandchildren around for what she called a dig-it party.

“I wanted them to turn the dirt over for me cause it was like concrete and I knew I wouldn’t be able to manage it on my own.”

Her youngest son turned up with a trailer of soil which they dumped on top, she said.

“Sprinkled all the seeds in and just watered it and just left it and this all came up and it’s like wow!”

Louise McCarthy

McCarthy said she also had a lovely neighbour who helped her by doing a whole day’s weeding when the flowers first started coming up.

“But since then I’ve just left it and some of the weeds, I think they’re weeds, have actually got very pretty flowers on them so I’ve just left them.”

McCarthy said she now wanted to see if she could find some plants that would flower during winter and is hoping that the garden would be able to regenerate itself.

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

Punch the monkey isn’t the first lonely zoo animal to capture our hearts – or raise troubling questions

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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruby Ekkel, Associate Lecturer in History, Australian National University

For weeks, the story of Punch the monkey has tugged at heartstrings around the world. Videos of this lonely baby monkey at Japan’s Ichikawa Zoo have triggered global outpourings of empathy, grief and outrage.

Abandoned by his mother, the young macaque has been seemingly bullied by other monkeys. His only comfort is a stuffed toy he drags around his concrete enclosure. The response online is unequivocal: “STOP BULLYING LITTLE PUNCH”.

Punch is not the first captive animal to spark such strong emotional reactions. Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippo, drew thousands of fans to her enclosure in Thailand, and Joey, a rescued sea otter pup in Canada, became famous during COVID lockdowns thanks to his YouTube livestream.

Australia has had its own famous zoo animals, who, like Punch, evoked strong emotions – and forced visitors to reckon with what captivity means. We long to see and connect with these animals, but the only way to do so up close is to hold them against their will. Here are three historic examples.

‘Almost human’: Mollie the orangutan

From 1901 to 1923, Melbourne Zoo’s must-see attraction was an orangutan called Mollie.

People were quick to project human emotions and experiences on Mollie, just as they do for Punch. Visitors commented on her “remarkable intelligence and kindly disposition”, as well as a mischievous attitude and readiness to play tricks. As one admirer wrote, she was “practically human, except for the fact that she could not talk”.

historic photo of an orang-utan in a zoo smoking a cigarette while looking at the camera.

Visitors were taken with Mollie’s ability to smoke a cigarette and other human-like behaviours. Almost human: reminiscences from the Melbourne Zoo/A. Wilkie and Annie Osborn

This was understandable, given Mollie’s famously human-like behaviours were actively encouraged in early 20th-century zoos. She lit and smoked cigarettes and pipes (once accidentally setting fire to her enclosure), picked locks, donned human clothes, fastidiously made her own bed and drank whiskey.

Not everyone liked seeing themselves reflected in fellow primates – especially those behind bars. To some observers, Mollie’s human behaviours felt unsettling. One reporter felt her smoking habits made her look “more grotesquely human than ever”. Mostly, however, people did not question the ethics of keeping this “almost human” primate in a small cage.

When she died in 1923, Australia’s palpable grief was felt most acutely in Melbourne, where she was a “firm favourite”. The news of Mollie’s death “spread with lightning rapidity throughout the city”, reported The Herald, and her keeper was “besieged with inquiries of her last moments”.

The last thylacine

While they lived, thylacines rarely received this kind of love. The marsupial predators were blamed for killing sheep, and condemned as ferocious and “too stupid to tame”. But Tasmanian tigers became popular zoo exhibits, and the international thylacine trade added more pressure to a species already in decline.

The last known thylacine was an unnamed female kept at Tasmania’s Beaumaris Zoo. On a cold night in 1936, she quietly died. Hobart Council began looking into finding a replacement.

Footage of the last known Tasmanian tiger at Tasmania’s Beaumaris Zoo around 1930.

But some Hobart residents protested these plans. In a letter to the editor, Edith Waterworth questioned the need to keep “a frenzied, frantic creature”:

after the frenzy has died down, it will pace up and down, its whole body expressing the devastating misery it feels.

Waterworth wrote of seeing another captive thylacine, whose “frozen despair […] would wring the heart of any person not entirely without imagination”.

For her and many others, empathising with zoo animals meant questioning the need for their captivity. But it was too late for the thylacine, which was by then either extinct in the wild or close to the brink. Beaumaris Zoo closed the following year.

Samorn the elephant

zoo elephant pulling a cart, historic photo showing green field and jacarandas in foreground.

Samorn the elephant pulled carts of zoo visitors around Adelaide Zoo for years. Ian Keith Kershaw

For three decades, Samorn the elephant was a beloved attraction at Adelaide Zoo. Born in Thailand, she was brought to Australia in 1956. She would be the last of a line of popular Adelaide Zoo elephants, including Miss Siam (1884–1904) and Mary Ann (1904–34).

A generation of children delighted in being hauled in a cart behind Samorn, feeding her peanuts and apples and watching her perform tricks. She was described as a very gentle and hardworking animal. When not working, she was kept in a small enclosure without any other elephants, which was common for the time.

In her old age Samorn retired to Monarto Zoological Park, not far from Adelaide, where she had more space than her small zoo enclosure. Reports of her death in 1994 combined nostalgia with sadness at how she had been treated: “At Monarto, she had some freedom and had stopped her swaying to and fro.”

Many Adelaideans remember Samorn fondly, but regret the suffering she experienced. As resident Bernadette White put it in 2021:

even as a child, I was sensitive to her great loneliness and that ridiculously small cement enclosure she lived in […] She just gave rise to a depressive, deeply sad feeling in me […] A beautiful creature who deserved better

Samorn was the last elephant to cart children or perform tricks at Adelaide Zoo.

Care in captivity

Most zoos treat their animals very differently these days. Conservation and animal welfare are important in ways unthinkable in Mollie’s time.

What remains constant is how strong our emotional responses can be to creatures who seem intelligent, lonely or sad.

In photographs of a tiny Punch crumpled over his stuffed toy, we might glimpse something almost human. But this comparison also raises difficult questions.

To love animals while participating in what keeps them captive is uncomfortable. If we recognise their capacity for distress, what responsibility does that entail?

Should we intervene in the suffering of captive animals like Punch, even if the bullying he is subject to is “natural”?

So long as we care for wild animals and confine them, these questions aren’t going away. For now, at least, we can rest easy knowing Punch is now making friends with other macaques.

– ref. Punch the monkey isn’t the first lonely zoo animal to capture our hearts – or raise troubling questions – https://theconversation.com/punch-the-monkey-isnt-the-first-lonely-zoo-animal-to-capture-our-hearts-or-raise-troubling-questions-276622

Cost of eliminating invasive clams from lake too much for council

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Eradicating the gold clams could cost up to $1.3 million, with no guarantee of success. File photo. NIWA

Boating restrictions at Lake Rotomanu in New Plymouth are to remain while Taranaki Regional Council seeks partners to help fund an attempt to eradicate the invasive gold clam.

Tuesday’s full council meeting weighed up a report by environment services manager Steve Ellis that outlined five options for the management of freshwater gold clams (Corbicula fluminea) in Lake Rotomanu.

Councillors heard attempting to eradicate the clams could cost up to $1.3 million, with no guarantee of success and an ongoing risk of reinfestation.

That would require a rates increase, which councillors were not prepared to do.

Instead they left the door open for a future elimination attempt by asking staff to explore funding partnerships with external agencies.

Councillors were concerned about the potential environmental and economic impacts if the clam spread to other waterways, particularly Lakes Mangamahoe, Ratapiko and Rotorangi where they could affect hydroelectrical generation and irrigation systems.

They approved, in principle, an additional $250,000 for the biosecurity and Check, Clean, Dry programmes to identify and mitigate pathways, raise public awareness and reduce the risk of the gold clam spreading.

The money would also allow the council to increase its monitoring of Taranaki waterways for Corbicula and other freshwater pests.

Councillors made it clear Lake Rotomanu must remain closed to motorised boats, which pose the greatest risk of spreading the clam.

Council chair Craig Williamson said in an ideal world the council would love to eradicate the clams, especially as there was no evidence it spread to other Taranaki lakes. However the reality was the it could not afford to do it alone.

“There is a real opportunity for public and private partners to step up and work with us – we all have a lot to lose if the gold clam spreads unchecked in Taranaki. We’ll continue having those conversations and keep looking for practical solutions.

“In the meantime we must boost efforts to reduce the risk of spread, as well as increasing surveillance and preparedness. The onus is on boaties and other water users to take responsibility for their own backyards and Check, Clean, Dry every time they move between waterways, particularly if coming from the Waikato River.”

New Plymouth District Council, which owns Lake Rotomanu, had kept the lake closed to motorised boats and jet skis since the clams were discovered.

Conversations were now underway to determine if NPDC would extend that closure or if Biosecurity New Zealand would impose formal restrictions.

Recreational users such as kayakers, swimmers, remote-controlled boat enthusiasts and fishers could continue using the lake but were required to thoroughly check their gear.

The three treatment options identified in the report were killing the clams with copper ($600,000), draining the lake then applying salt ($900,000) and emptying the lake and pumping in seawater ($1.3 million).

They would all be complex operations, with only the copper option attempted before in New Zealand.

Gold clams were discovered in the New Plymouth lake in November 2025, the first confirmed infestation outside of Waikato.

Prolific breeders, they could clog water-based infrastructure, such as electricity generation plants, irrigation systems, and water treatment plants and competed with native species for food and space.

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

Genesis Energy a ‘fair proposition’ despite some customers bills increasing by 30%

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Supplied / Genesis Energy

Genesis Energy cannot guarantee its customers won’t receive further price increases this year.

It comes as customers are told their electricity prices will increase at the end of March.

The company has also just revealed a massive bump in profit.

On Monday, Genesis said its half-year net profit ending 31 December was $95 million, compared to $70m the previous year.

Chief executive Malcolm Johns. Supplied / Genesis Energy / © Brett Phibbs / PhibbsVisuals Limited

Chief executive Malcolm Johns said increased hydro-generation across the country allowed it to buy cheaper electricity on the wholesale market, divert gas towards industrial customers, and reduce expensive coal and gas-fired generation at Huntly.

That resulted in the company posting record operating earnings.

Johns then told Newstalk ZB there were no plans “in the immediate future” for price increases, but customers have received letters as recently as Saturday advising them of just that.

Genesis Energy chief revenue officer Stephen England-Hall told Checkpoint there were price changes happening at the end of March – but Johns was talking about price increases “beyond what is already in circulation”.

Despite Johns saying there wouldn’t be any, England-Hall said he couldn’t guarantee there would be no further price increases in 2026.

Where the majority of customers would see an increase of between 10 and 20 percent in their bill, some would see an increase of 30 percent.

Stephen England-Hall. RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

England-Hall said “no one was very happy or thrilled” about price increases but inflation was driving it and it was beyond their control.

“Over the last few years we’ve had price increases that we’ve tried to hold.

“Since 2021, which some of us will try to forget, but 2021 until today, price increases have tried to be managed relatively efficiently and effectively, we’ve tried to not pass through full inflation costs to customers because we know that things have been challenging.”

England-Hall said he believed Genesis was a fair offer in the market and data showed it was in the middle of the market with some companies cheaper, some more expensive.

“I do believe we are a fair proposition,” he said.

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Cyclone Gabrielle inquest: FENZ leader admits going against protocol to restart search for dead firefighter

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A Muriwai memorial for firefighters Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanenberg. RNZ / Rayssa Almeida

A leading search and rescue operator says he told police he could hear a noise so the search for a dead firefighter could continue.

A coronial inquest is exploring the desperate search and rescue operation after volunteer firefighters Dave van Zwanenberg and Craig Stevens were buried by a slip at Muriwai on Auckland’s west coast during Cyclone Gabrielle.

Urban Search and Rescue operations officer Glenn Hudson described the chaotic scene as he arrived in Muriwai on the night of 13 February 2023.

He explained that fellow volunteers and members of the public were digging through the dirt.

“It was natural that they wanted to help their fellow brigade members, but they were not trained in search and rescue incidents of this nature,” he said.

“There was no real command or control of the other staff apart from the USAR staff, so we had to take control and bring order to what was a very chaotic situation.”

Firefighters Dave van Zwanenberg (left) and Craig Stevens, who died after getting trapped in a slip in Auckland’s Muriwai during Cyclone Gabrielle in February, 2023. Supplied

Hudson gave the order to remove everyone but trained search and rescue staff from the site.

But while the scene was under control, the conditions were chaotic.

“I recall the conditions at Muriwai were horrendous. It was difficult to see more than a metre in front of you,” he said.

“I had been involved in numerous USAR operations around the world, and the conditions at Muriwai were the worst I have encountered.”

Stevens was freed from the pile at about 3am, but he was hypothermic. He died in the hospital later that day.

Staff had been digging for hours, but saw no sign of van Zwanenberg.

In that time, two more slips had fallen from the cliff, and fearing for the safety of his team, Hudson made an impossible decision.

“At 0305, I made the difficult decision to terminate the rescue operation,” he recounted through tears.

When search and rescue staff returned the next day, police had taken control of the scene.

The operation had moved from rescue to recovery, and progress had slowed to a crawl.

After hours of waiting, Hudson took matters into his own hands.

“I was extremely frustrated. After going back up to the slip site, I decided we needed to get on with the recovery, as it was safe to do so, and the delays now mean a family has no answers for possibly another night,” he said.

“So, I said that I had heard a tapping, which I thought was coming from Dave. By raising the possibility of Dave being alive, I was able to make the case for reopening a rescue operation.”

Hudson explained that at this point, geotechnical staff had assessed the site and determined it was safe to keep digging.

“In my view, the safety of all rescue personnel was at its best since the beginning of the incident. I knew that we would soon run out of daylight, and apart from the safety of my staff, which is my paramount concern, my other concern was to return Dave to his family in a timely manner.”

He remarked that after explaining his decision to other leadership staff, they smiled in recognition.

“Although they did not say anything to suggest this, I believe [they] were aware that I was using this as a pretext to get things moving. They both smiled at me and said, good work.”

But Hudson acknowledged that his actions had gone against protocol.

“I know that what I did is not protocol, but one of FENZ’s values is to do the right thing,” he said.

“Everything I did was very measured. I was not putting my guys at risk, but I felt that we could have and should have done more to recover Dave earlier.”

Van Zwanenberg’s body was recovered the following morning.

“A group of USAR personnel carried Dave to the waiting undertaker’s vehicle. After placing Dave into the van, we set up a guard of honour as the van left the slip site to head to the Muriwai fire station.”

Van Zwanenberg’s family thanked Hudson through their lawyer, Jane Glover.

“The family would like to formally thank you and your team for going above and beyond to bring Dave home to his family and for carrying out the operation with the utmost respect and dignity,” Glover said.

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Ukraine conflict: NZ PM to take part in Coalition of the Willing meeting

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he will take part because he supported Ukraine’s efforts. RNZ / Marika Khabazi

The prime minister will take part in a Coalition of the Willing meeting this evening, on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The government is providing a further $8 million in assistance to Ukraine, along with further sanctions targeting Russia’s war machine.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he was taking part because he supported Ukraine’s efforts.

Luxon said Russia was the perpetrator and could stop the war now.

Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia last week ended without a breakthrough, with President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Moscow of stalling US-mediated efforts to end the four-year-old war.

Ukraine also recently made its largest battlefield gains in more than two-and-a-half-years, a new analysis suggested.

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ASB branches set to open half an hour later at 9.30am Monday to Saturday

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Source: Radio New Zealand

ASB is set to start opening its branches at 9.30am rather than 9am between Monday and Saturday. RNZ / DOM THOMAS

ASB is set to start opening all its branches half an hour later.

It has told customers that they will start opening at 9.30am between Monday and Saturday.

“This will allow our teams more dedicated time for training and development, so that they can keep providing great support to our customers. Opening hours on Sundays and at sites that operate half-days will not change.”

Consumer NZ said most people were not using their branches to interact with their banks.

It found in its most recent banking survey that most people were dealing with their banks via their mobile app.

Only 4 percent said their main access was a physical visit to the branch.

Consumer said, of the people who said they had experienced a problem with their branch in the previous 12 months, almost one in five of those problems were because of things like the branch being closed or reduced hours.

“Switching rates for banking in New Zealand are very low, only 3 percent of people changed their primary bank in the previous 12 months. Of those that did switch their main bank, 15 percent said they did so because of branch closure.

“While we know that most people do their banking online, for some people their branch really matters.”

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

Taranaki cyclist crashes off bike after loose dog bites her leg

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The cyclist was travelling at about 40km/h when the dog attacked. File photo. 123rf.com

A Taranaki cyclist is on crutches with several “bone deep” puncture wounds after a roaming dog latched onto her leg.

The attack sent the New Plymouth woman crashing off her bike while she was out on a country road.

A spate of serious dogs attacks has [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/587406/what-dog-control-laws-say-about-fatal-attacks-and-what-people-want-to-change

sparked fierce debate] about reforming the 30-year-old dog control law.

A dog attack in Christchurch over the weekend put a father and his teenage son in hospital, while Mihiata Te Rore, 62, died after she was attacked by three dogs while visiting a property in Kaihu, north of Dargaville last week.

New Plymouth resident Amelia was cycling a popular loop outside the city on Saturday morning when she was rushed by an uncontrolled dog on Tikorangi East Road.

Amelia estimated she was going about 40 km/h at the time down a country road she did not usually use.

She told Checkpoint she slowed down when she heard barking, and then saw a German pointer staffy cross dart out of a farm property into the middle of the road.

“As I slowed past it, it just came up next to me and chomped its jaws around my right leg while I was on my bike.”

Amelia said she came off her bike, and then the dog went to the other side of the street and continued barking at them.

She was left with “multiple” puncture wounds on her leg.

“They are bone deep so there’s probably three quite deep punctures, which I’m managing at the moment. I can’t walk on it properly yet, but I should be able to soon.”

Amelia is now on crutches, and said it was frustrating because she was training for a race in March.

She said residents in the area had helped her after the crash, and one of them told her the dog bitten his foot the week before.

Amelia said the animal control officers were “fast and efficient” and quickly took the dog away.

“I didn’t even see them come, I was already in the ambulance by then.”

New Plymouth District Council has confirmed one of its Animal Control Officers attended the dog-bite incident on Tikorangi Road in the weekend.

A spokesperson said a dog had been impounded and an investigation into what happened was underway.

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