Source: Radio New Zealand

A multinational cement company says local seafaring jobs will suffer if it cannot transport its product around New Zealand on a foreign-flagged ship.

Holcim said it had entered a time charter with Swiss-based NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers (NACC), which had agreed to provide a temporary ship for three years while Holcim built a replacement for its ageing vessel.

But on Wednesday, Associate Transport Minister James Meager declined NACC’s application for authorisation to operate a coastal shipping service in New Zealand waters.

“The minister’s decision has chosen road transport over coastal shipping,” Holcim said in a statement.

“This prevents a temporary coastal shipping solution while Holcim sought a purpose-built vessel as a replacement for the inefficient and costly 27-year-old MV Buffalo.”

Meager told RNZ Holcim’s bid did not meet maritime law requirements.

Coastal cargo can generally only be carried by a New Zealand ship unless authorisation to carry coastal cargo under section 198(2) of the Maritime Transport Act is given.

Meager said while foreign ships could carry coastal cargo in certain situations, he did not believe Holcim’s application met the intent of the law, aimed at protecting New Zealand coastal shipping for local commercial interests.

“Generally, those authorisations are very short, if not one-off cargo movements to fill a gap or where a vessel is not immediately available. After careful consideration, we made the decision that the application did not meet that threshold.

“I appreciate that there has been a high degree of interest in the outcome of the application. The public should have confidence that all authorisations to carry coastal cargo align with the intent of section 198 of the Act, and that has been my priority throughout this process.”

Holcim said that with the NACC unable to commit to a locally flagged vessel for the short-term charter, and no other local vessels capable of meeting the supply of cement required to keep up with demand, it had no choice but to spend millions of dollars pivoting to road transport.

“This is an undesirable, but now necessary, decision. We have to ensure the continuation of cement supply to our customers across both the North and South Islands. Approximately 15,000 additional tonnes of bulk cement must now be hauled in over 500 trucks on roads every month.

“Creating a much larger road transport supply chain will cost Holcim millions of dollars. There will come a point where the significant investment in the road network will make a return to coastal shipping unviable.

“The Minister has blocked our credible alternative, so to claim his decision protects local shipping capacity is incorrect. It reduces it. We have viable solutions, including the continued use of coastal shipping, and had hoped the Minister would be open to discussing them, but he would not meet with us.”

Meager said Holcim could work with the Transport Ministry to find a solution for transporting cement around the country.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The disgraced former leader of Gloriavale will be sentenced on Friday morning for sexual offending against girls and young women in the community.

Howard Temple initially denied 24 charges of sexual offending against girls and women over a period of more than 20 years.

However, three days into his trial in July, he pleaded amended charges.

The 85-year-old admitted five counts of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act and two of common assault.

Some of the charges were representative, meaning they related to repeated offending.

Temple was the West Coast Christian community’s so-called Overseeing Shepherd from 2018 when its founder Hopeful Christian died.

He resigned in August about a fortnight after pleading guilty to the offending.

Five of the nine complainants gave evidence over the first two days of the trial, describing a culture of fierce patriarchy, where women and girls were at risk of being deemed rebellious or worldly for anything from tying the belt on their uniform incorrectly, to allowing too much hair to be visible under their headscarves.

The women said there was no way to refuse Temple, nor to report his actions to anyone, in the context of the complete control Gloriavale’s leaders wielded over members.

The women told the court they were too scared to say anything because they knew women were always blamed in similar circumstances, and risked being branded as flirts or whores, being hauled into a “servants and shepherds” meeting and berated for not following the bible, ostracised by the community, or prevented from marrying.

“He had the power to change the trajectory of your life,” one woman said.

The women described Temple taking advantage of the domestic duties they performed to touch, caress and grope them, such as during meal times, when they would be serving large, heavy jugs of non-alcoholic cider or hot drinks to tables of 50 or more. One woman said she was left without “any hands free to protect myself”.

The women said it was common practice to attempt to arrive early so they could be allocated to any table except Temple’s.

The only space to pour would be at his side at the head of the table, which allowed him to grab the young women around the waist, caressing them from their calves to their lower backs or grabbing them around their waists.

In January, Temple made a public apology to victims of historic sexual abuse at the community following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

The apology was one of the inquiry’s recommendations, however, former members rejected it as insincere.

About 600 people are believed to live at Gloriavale’s compound at Lake Haupuri, about 60 kilometres from Greymouth.

The group, which began in 1969 as the Springbank Christian Community near Rangiora, was founded by Australian evangelist Neville Cooper, who would later be known as Hopeful Christian.

Christian was himself jailed in the 1990s for sexually assaulting a young woman in the community.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Half New Zealand’s cardiology workforce nearing retirement by 2039
• NZ needs 38 percent more specialists to match Australia
• Wait times continue to increase
• More “flexibility” needed to attract and retain staff.

More than half the country’s heart specialists are over 50, and nearly one in five is older than 60, a new study has found.

The paper published in The New Zealand Medical Journal on Friday is based on a survey sent by the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand last year to all its members working in public hospitals.

Lead author Dr Selwyn Wong said of the 154 Health NZ-employed cardiologists, over half were over 50, and 35 percent were over 55 – including 18 percent who were older than 60.

“So, while it’s a blunt tool, the expectation is that some of those older ones might be leaving the profession. And we’ve seen some examples of that, people leaving the public system and going into private practice towards the end of their careers, or leaving the profession completely.”

Dr Wong, who has worked at Middlemore Hospital for 25 years himself, said the workload on cardiologists had got increasingly intense over time, with more referrals, sicker patients – but fewer resources.

“Over the years we’ve seen more resource constraints, not just in cardiology but right across the hospital.

“More and more is being squeezed out of the workforce, so you’re ending up doing more and more work, with less down time.”

The survey found 14 percent of cardiology positions were vacant.

Dr Wong said, however, that was just the “funded” positions – not an indication of the true number of specialists needed to deal with increased demand.

“We have one cardiologist per 35,000 people, while Canada and Australia have one cardiologist per 25,000 people, and I think in Sydney it’s one per 15,000.

“So if we want to match those places, we’d need to go from 154 to 213: an extra 60 cardiologists, or a 38 percent increase on what we have now.”

Furthermore, cardiologists were not evenly distributed across the country.

In the five districts with the highest proportion of Māori and Pacific peoples (who had the worst rates of heart disease) the ratios of specialists to population exceed the national average: Tairāwhiti 54,000; Counties Manukau 38,000; Lakes 61,000; Northland 52,000; Hawke’s Bay 47,000.

A separate study published in The New Zealand Medical Journal on Friday showed after half a century of heart attacks trending down, progress had stalled – with a widening ethnic disparity for Māori and Pacific people.

Dr Wong said specialist assessment referrals and the wait times for those appointments were rising, along with delays for cardiac ultrasound and cardiac catheterisation.

The shortfalls were exacerbated by demands and employment patterns during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The staffing might be acceptable if everyone is at work, but not everyone is at work because people are allowed leave or they get sick or they’re at conferences.

“We’ve calculated that in our department most of the time there are two people away out of a staff of 16 or 18.”

The survey found about 73 percent of cardiologists working in New Zealand were trained in this country.

Dr Wong said, however, other internationally-trained cardiologists and New Zealand trained specialists now working overseas could be encouraged to take up jobs here, if they had access to the kind of resources they were used to.

“Some more flexibility would help, and that would also help retain those older specialists we have in the system now, for whom being on call so often is increasingly burdensome.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Two aircraft with a combined 42 people on board came within 41 seconds of a head-on collision over Northland, a report from the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has revealed.

TAIC put the near-miss down to failures in the way New Zealand’s airspace is managed.

The Commission found there had been no review of Whangārei airspace for more than a decade, despite increasing air traffic and a rule that airspace should be reviewed every five years.

Also alarming was the finding that no agency in New Zealand had responsibility for conducting such reviews, an omission the commission said needed to be addressed urgently.

According to the report, which was released on Friday morning, an Air New Zealand Q-300 with 40 people on board was flying south from Whangārei to Auckland on the morning of 28 August 2023.

Around the same time a flying school’s Beech Duchess, with two people on board, was heading north from Ardmore to Whangārei using the same flight path.

The report stated the air traffic controller instructed both aircraft to descend into “uncontrolled airspace” and pass each other there.

That meant responsibility for avoiding a collision passed from air traffic control to the two pilots.

That was at the time a commonly used work-around, due to air traffic control workload and the limited amount of controlled airspace available for keeping planes apart.

The Q-300 was flying in cloud at 6000 feet when the Beech descended to the same altitude in front of it.

Over the Brynderwyn Hills the Q-300 crew received an alert from the plane’s airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS), described in the report as a “last line of defence”.

Moments later an alert also showed up on the air controller’s radar and the Q-300 was given clearance to climb to 8000 feet, above the approaching Beech.

The Beech did not have, and was not required to have, an ACAS system.

At the closest point the aircraft were 8km from each other – or just 41 seconds apart at their 700km/h closing speed.

“Closing speed” describes how fast two objects are approaching each other.

TAIC chief commissioner David Clarke said no one was hurt and no damage resulted, but it was too close.

“It happened because the controller or flight service officer hadn’t provided sufficiently timely traffic information after sending both flights into uncontrolled airspace,” he said.

“This left each crew flying in cloud, unable to see the other plane, unaware of the immediacy of potential conflicts, and the crew of the Beech poorly placed to coordinate their own avoidance actions.”

Clarke said the 42 crew and passengers ended up in that risky situation due to long-standing weaknesses in the design of the Whangārei area airspace.

“Despite recurring concerns raised by pilots, controllers and the aerodrome operator, the North Sector airspace hasn’t had a comprehensive review since 2014, even though reviews are required every five years.”

Nor was the problem limited to Whangārei.

“It’s a nationwide issue because New Zealand needs clear responsibility for conducting comprehensive airspace reviews,” Clarke said.

The Commission made a number of urgent recommendations as a result of the near-miss.

They included that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) carry out a full review of lower-level airspace around Whangārei and act on the findings.

The Commission also called on the Ministry of Transport to clarify which agency was responsible for ongoing nationwide airspace reviews, and ensure that agency identified any emerging risks before they led to more serious events.

In its response to the Commission, the CAA said it was working with Whangārei airspace stakeholders on safety improvements.

There had also been initial engagement with Kerikeri airspace users.

Throughout 2026 the CAA would carry out reviews of uncontrolled airspace at Timaru, Hokitika, Whakatāne and Kāpiti Coast aerodromes.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A 19-month-old Canterbury boy who was strangled by loose strapping hanging from slats under an unsafe bed sold by The Warehouse died in a preventable accident, a coroner has ruled.

Coroner Ruth Thomas said the boy’s death in May 2021 was a “tragic illustration of a latent hazard”.

In findings released on Friday, the coroner said the boy’s slat bed from The Warehouse was not inherently safe, nor is the updated model of the Living & Co bed currently for sale.

The boy’s grandmother bought the pine wood single slat bed from The Warehouse in January 2021, which was the same bed she had previously bought for the boy’s older brother.

About two weeks before his death, the boy’s bed was moved from a shared bedroom with his brother to his own room.

In the May accident, he was found unresponsive under his bed with a strap from the slats wrapped tightly around his neck and could not be revived.

Coroner Thomas ruled the boy died from ligature strangulation after a loose strap from the bed caught around his neck when he crawled underneath.

She described his death as a tragic accident.

“[He] was in his own bedroom, the room which should have been the safest room in the house for him to sleep, and to play,” she said.

“There is no evidence about what time of the night or morning [he] got under his bed.

“There is no evidence about whether his death may or may not have been prevented if [he] had been checked on earlier that morning. It is unknown whether he got caught in the loose strapping during the night, the early hours of that morning, or in the minutes before he was discovered at 10am.”

The 19-month-old was described by his father as an “energetic and curious little boy who liked to run around a lot”.

A police inspection found the packaging box and instruction manual that came with the slat bed in 2021 did not include warning labels about the fabric straps or the risk of strangulation and diagrams in the manual did not show the fabric straps at all.

After The Warehouse was notified of the boy’s death the company removed the bed from sale in its stores and online.

The coroner said the product was then updated and put back on the market.

“Since being notified of [the boy’s] death in 2021, the Warehouse Group have improved the bed assembly manual to instruct the strapping is oriented on the topside of the slats, included a red warning sticker, and increased the number of staples attaching the straps to the slats. These changes have improved the amount of weight the strapping could withstand before failing,” she said.

Thomas was not persuaded that the changes were sufficient.

“The most effective way to prevent the risk of strangulation from the straps attached to the bed slats is to design the problem out of existence,” she said.

“[The boy’s] bed was not, and the updated model of his bed currently for sale, is not inherently safe. Parents want to know the products they place in their children’s bedrooms are safe.”

The coroner recommended The Warehouse Group redesign the Living & Co slat bed to completely remove fabric strapping from the product and providing warnings with the product about the risk posed by loose fabric strapping on slat beds.

In the coroner’s report, The Warehouse Group said it did not necessarily agree with the statement that the updated model currently for sale was not inherently safe but it said it would work with its supplier to remove the strap from the bed design.

Coroner Thomas also recommended developing public safety messages for parents who might have never considered the hazard posed by loose straps under their children’s slat bed frames.

“I acknowledge that The Warehouse Group are now working to remove the strap from the bed design,” she said.

In a statement provided to RNZ, The Warehouse chief merchandise officer Carrie Fairley thanked the coroner for her report.

“Our hearts are with the family today. When this tragedy happened in 2021, our team acted immediately to enhance the bed and assembly instructions. Recently, the coroner shared further recommendations, and we’re taking these on board to make sure something like this can never happen again,” she said.

“None of us ever want these types of accidents to happen, and we encourage everyone to check that their beds are assembled correctly and strictly according to the instructions provided.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A University of Auckland team has made a breakthrough in using umbilical stem cells to treat an eye condition that can lead to blindness.

Professor Trevor Sherwin and his team have been using the cells to try to treat keratoconus, a disease of the cornea, the thin, clear dome on the front of the eye.

To be successful the stem cells had to be able to integrate into existing tissue before morphing into the right kind of cell. If things went wrong, they could turn into other cells – like for hair or teeth.

Sherwin told Nine to Noon that on Wednesday his team informed him of promising results – in lab tests on a donated, diseased cornea, the cells had started to create the right type of proteins.

For many people, corneal transplant was the only option to repair the eye if they developed keratoconus. Other treatments only slowed or stopped progress.

But there was a long wait list, and the tissue had to come from a deceased donor, he said.

The team was trying to find another way.

“Some people around the world are looking at how to grow a cornea in a dish as a replacement tissue for the lack of deceased donors etcetera. We’re taking a slightly different tack in that what we would really like to do is to be able to regenerate the cornea in situ, so, in the eye, in the person who needs the treatment.

“The way we would like to do that is to deliver some stem cells into the cornea and for those stem cells to integrate into the tissue and then regenerate that tissue in the patient themselves requiring no further surgery, hopefully.”

Keratoconus caused the cornea to become very thin and the cornea to develop a cone shape that meant the eye could not work how it was supposed to.

The team was also developing potentially groundbreaking eye drops for the condition.

Sherwin said they were a combination of a growth factor and a steroid, and had shown in the lab they could force cells to create a protein not usually made after birth.

It was hoped that, when used with a special type of contact lens, the eyedrops could treat and reshape the cornea.

Again, it would mean people would not need a transplant.

The next step in the work was to go to clinical trials on people.

There were other treatments for keratoconus, but they only stopped or slowed the damage. They could not repair it.

The new methods were known as regenerative medicine.

“What we hope is by regenerative medicine we can restore the tissue and restore the function back that the patient lost as part of whatever event they suffered,” Sherwin said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A home in the Wellington suburb of Karori has been heavily damaged by fire on Thursday evening.

A woman is being treated for smoke inhalation but a firefighter at the scene on Hildreth Street said all other occupants had been accounted for.

Central Fire Communications shift manager Chris Dalton said the fire was well involved when firefighters arrived and work to extinguish it was well underway.

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) responded to the fire quickly and there was a truck already in Karori at the time, he said.

Eight vehicles in total responded to the fire, he said.

RNZ understands three people were in the building when it caught fire and were alerted by locals. A neighbour said the fire grew to a huge blaze in under 10 minutes and she rushed outside fearing the flames would spread to her home.

A member of the family who lived at the address said they were trying to get in touch with other family members to find a place to spend the night but their cellphones were still in the smouldering structure. However locals in area were also checking on the family to ensure they had a place to stay.

The firefighters were beginning to leave the scene at about 6.50pm but Hildreth Street remained closed to traffic.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Two years on from setting up its own security service a popular Auckland shopping precinct says it has slashed crime in its area, but it is appealing to the government for help with some people who are still falling through the cracks.

In the past year the Newmarket security team has recovered more than $170,000 of stolen product, dealt with 88 breaches of tresspass orders and 416 repeat offenders.

One person was involved in dozens of separate incidents.

The most stolen items in order are groceries, followed by clothing and then alcohol.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff Thomas told Checkpoint there had been some very positive results.

The association initially had one security guard and one part-time camera operator when it started in 2023, but there are now five full-time security guards and one camera operator who are operating 24/7.

Knoff Thomas said they work very closely with the police which had helped considerably.

Three years ago crime in Newmarket was at another level with smash and grabs and ram raids, he said.

Nationally it seemed that a lid had been put on those types of crimes, he said.

“But retail theft is still bubbling away and I mean it’s costing New Zealand $2.6 billion a year.”

The Newmarket Security Team had dealt with 416 repeat offenders in the last year and Knoff Thomas said that was for a range of things including retail theft and anti-social behaviour.

There are about 30 schools in the surrounding area and many students use public transport and pass through Newmarket, he said.

But sometimes young people do make dumb decisions and offend, he said.

A different approach was taken to juvenile offending and the association did what it could to try and get them back on track, he said.

“With kids we try and intervene where we possibly can, try and get parents involved, try and get schools involved and see if we can kind of head them off in a different, in a more positive trajectory with some success.

“And there are some kids who you know they also go down the bad pathway and then we see them back years later as adults and they’re still reoffending.”

Some adults seemed to be falling through the cracks and not getting the support they needed despite some very good work by some agencies such as the New Zealand police, he said.

His group had been working with a range of other business associations to try and address the problem, he said.

“Trying to say ‘hey let’s fix this because this has been a problem for a very long time across multiple governments and we need to find a sustainable solution which is going to deliver some better lifestyles for these people who aren’t getting the help that they need.’”

One person who Knoff Thomas believed was falling through the cracks had been involved in 33 incidents.

Most of the time they were a lovely person but there were times when they behaved inappropriately in public when under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he said.

The person was in a cycle of being trespassed, arrested, processed and then released, he said.

“There really doesn’t seem to be a solution for someone like this person to give that person the help that they actually need in a sustainable way so they can actually have a better quality of life.”

A number of people were in that position and unable to access services they needed, he said.

Knoff Thomas said it was understandable that businesses would want to move on someone who was creating problems and potentially detering customers.

But the other side was where that person should go.

“These are questions which we’re looking at. There needs to be a linked together multi agency approach where services work in step and they’re not working in silos which they have done historically, they’re working together in unison and linking, holding hands, pulling this person through the steps that they need into a solution.”

Major issues include housing, mental health, health and may need to involve Ministry of Social Development and police, he said.

Long term solutions are needed when dealing with this type of reoffending and it needed bi-partisan agreement in government, he said.

“It needs to be coordinated and agreed upon, a multi agency approach which goes through time and not just through one political cycle.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Two gang members and an associate have been arrested in Hawke’s Bay following a six- month investigation into high levels of methamphetamine in wastewater.

Police executed five search warrants across the region and Hastings on Wednesday as part of Operation Tukutuki.

They found a quantity of methamphetamine, cash, a 3D-printed firearm and stolen property.

Detective Inspector James Keene said wastewater testing showed meth had an increasingly strong grip on parts of Hawke’s Bay.

“The element of surprise is vital, especially when organised crime networks are involved, so we went hard and early.

“Several warrants were executed simultaneously to reduce the people in this network tipping others off.

“We’re continuing to investigate, and we expect to lay more charges against the people who have been arrested.”

Three men, aged 39, 42 and 57 – two of which were patched Mongrel Mob members and the other an associate – appeared in the Hastings District Court on Wednesday, facing multiple charges of possession for supply, supply and conspiracy to supply methamphetamine and cannabis.

Keene said it was believed local gangs were pumping the drug into the area and were not worried about the damage they were inflicting.

The operation took six months, police said, not ruling out further arrests.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Plymouth’s Positive Ageing group has issued a call to arms over the council’s decision to scrap its Aged and Accessibility Working Party.

The working party is being disestablished under new Mayor Max Brough’s committee structure.

Positive Ageing is calling on members of Age Concern, Grey Power, Enable Taranaki and the Taranaki Disability Information Centre to join it at a council meeting 18 December to support a motion to retain the working party.

Spokesperson Gordon Hudson said a slim majority of the newly-elected councillors are keen to see this long-standing council committee scrapped.

“Not to save the minimal cost of having such a committee, but simply put, because the older adults and all those with disabilities in our community do not warrant the hassle of being recognised, respected and treated as people whose voice is important to them.

“Let’s rein in the ageist attitude of a little more than half the city councillors – good people that they are – they somehow cannot see the value of inclusion over exclusion, of respect over disrespect.”

Aged and Accessibility Working Party chair in the previous term and councillor Sam Bennett tried to get the new committee structure deferred at an extraordinary council meeting this week, but was voted down.

He was now expected to move a motion to retain the working at next week’s meeting.

At the meeting, Brough suggested the new Public Engagement Committee would set aside 30 minutes during its meetings to listen to issues related to age and accessibility concerns along with other interest groups.

“They will have an opportunity to have input into the decision-making process rather than reviewing decisions that have already been made.

“And there are internal working groups that work with outside interests and the intent has always been that there would be space for the aged and disability community in this area.”

Brough said this would be explained at next week’s meeting and he was happy to listen to deputations on the subject.

But that was cold comfort to Hudson.

“Let’s support the idealism and the realism of those councillors who do support the reinstatement of this committee.

“One thing is for sure, if this committee continues to be disestablished – it will be a very long process to re-establish it. It may be even gone forever.

It will be a decision that the current council will regret for a long time to come.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A government report has found local councils need to be doing more to prepare for flooding and to mitigate the risks it poses to communities.

In a report tabled in parliament today, the Auditor-General found flood risk was not consistently understood nationwide.

It looked at how two councils, Tasman District Council and Waikato Regional Council, mitigate flood risks from rivers and other waterways and found both need to carry out more work to make better-informed decisions about intended levels of service for mitigating those risks.

Auditor-General Grant Taylor said appropriate planning, investment, and monitoring could reduce the impact of flooding.

“Communities need confidence that council flood defences are in the right places, built to the right standards, and properly maintained.”

The report made four recommendations, that the Tasman District Council prepare a framework to prioritise the maintenance and capital work needed for its flood protection infrastructure and prioritise improvements to its asset management processes.

It also recommended that both councils improve their understanding of flood risk, including by assessing the full impact of potential flooding for a range of flooding scenarios and improve their engagement with the public to ensure that their communities understand flood risk and the extent of flood protection in their regions.

The report said flooding was New Zealand’s most frequent natural hazard and its impact could be significant, disrupting critical services like roads and hospitals and energy and wastewater infrastructure.

It also caused disruption to livelihoods and in worst cases, loss of life.

The report said the recommendations in the report were relevant to all councils that were responsible for flood protection infrastructure, in order to mitigate flood risks effectively.

Report comes of the back of Tasman’s worst flooding in decades

The Tasman District experienced back to back storms in June and July, described as the worst in 150 years, that caused damage to farms and rural properties, with land lost to swollen rivers, crops inundated with silt and fences washed away.

More than 60 roads were closed due to flooding, landslips and fallen trees and hundreds of homes were assessed for damage with a small number deemed unliveable.

The repair bill after the floods is estimated at $48 million, with around three quarters of that covered by insurance payouts or government contributions, leaving just over $11m in costs to the council.

Of the total costs, an estimated $20m will be spent on the river network.

Office of the Auditor-General manager of performance audits Evaan Aramakutu said one of the weaknesses identified in Tasman was the council’s understanding of the condition of its flood protection infrastructure and the lack of a regular schedule of inspections.

“Waikato had a pretty systematic approach to inspecting all of their assets and updating their asset information around the condition. If they got a bit of wear and tear, would that affect their performance? Tasman didn’t have that, or not to the same extent as Waikato, so they tended to rely on the age of their assets or observations they’ve made when they’re out in the field to make decisions about renewals or maintenance work.”

Aramakutu said both councils had a good understanding of where flooding was likely to occur in their regions, but more work was needed to quantify the damage and the potential costs associated with it, to inform the spend on providing protection.

He said there would always be a trade off between the cost of flood protection and the risks it protected against, so councils needed good understanding of the community’s priorities and individuals needed clear information about what was protected and what wasn’t, so they could be prepared.

The Office of the Auditor-General would check back in with both councils around a year after tabling the report, to see what progress had been made on its recommendations.

Recommendations welcomed by councils

Both Tasman District and Waikato Regional councils welcomed the reports findings.

Tasman District Council said since the audit began last October and following the flooding in June and July of this year, it had begun a comprehensive overhaul of its asset information on data and information collection/management processes.

Flooding was the most common natural hazard the district had to deal with.

“While our current intended levels of service for our flood protection infrastructure are largely based on the design standard that the stopbanks were initially built to, we remain focused on ensuring long – term resilience and protection for our river and floodplains to continue benefiting those who live and rely on them.”

The council had taken steps to further inform the community, including release of a natural hazards map viewer and updated natural hazards information about flooding on its website.

It undertook community engagement on a natural hazards issues and options report earlier in the year to seek community views to inform work on the review of the Tasman Resource Management Plan’s natural hazards provisions.

Since 2024, it had reinstated annual community Rivercare meetings across the district to discuss river management activities, including flood protection. The most recent meetings were held in mid-November.

“At the core of our future objectives is a safe and resilient river network, delivered sustainably and in close collaboration with landowners.”

Waikato Regional Council chair Warren Maher said it had already progressed projects that addressed several of the report’s recommendations.

“We could do more,” he said. “The question is how much more can be done at a time when the central government has imposed rates capping, affordability is an issue for our communities, and significant changes are proposed to the structure of regional government.”

The council’s flood protection and land drainage assets include floodgates, pump stations, spillways and channels, as well as 620 kilometres of stopbanks, most of which are in the Waihou-Piako and Lower Waikato, some of which were developed in the 1960s. They are all supported by a network of automated rain gauges and river level/flow recorders.

The council estimates it will cost $2.9 billion over the next 50 years to operate, maintain and renew its flood infrastructure.

Maher said the report should give communities comfort the council was doing a good job when it comes to the management of flood protection assets, while at the same time providing direction for the ongoing understanding of flood risk.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Christchurch couple have been jailed for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 55 investors of nearly $4 million.

At the High Court at Christchurch on Thursday, Thomas Alexander Kokouri Tuira was was sentenced to six years, four months and the court ordered he must serve 45 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

His former partner Aroha Awhinanui Tuira was sentenced to five years, two months imprisonment.

The couple had earlier pleaded guilty to two representative charges of obtaining by deception.

The pair targeted Māori communities over seven years between 2014 and 2021, paying some investors with funds raised from others, and spending the rest on themselves.

Between May 2014 and May 2021, the pair deceptively obtained $3.9 million through 106 transactions.

“They presented themselves as experienced, well-connected investors who could deliver returns for clients, when in reality they did not invest funds or operate an investment business,” the Serious Fraud Office said in a statement.

Many of the victims of their offending had limited prior experience in investing and the pair developed close personal relationships with investors before exploiting them.

SFO director Karen Chang said Ponzi schemes caused lasting harm to victims who lost not just their money but potentially their trust in others.

“The guilty pleas meant those affected were spared the stress of a trial, and today’s sentences hold the offenders to account for the significant harm they caused.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A proposal from new Napier Mayor Richard McGrath to remove mana whenua voices and voting rights in the council’s standing committees for the next council term has failed.

It was an at times tense council meeting, with a packed public gallery, including members of local iwi Ngāti Kahungunu.

During the last triennium, there were two Nga Mānukanuka o te iwi representatives – representing a mana whenua voice – on each of the council’s four standing committees, under McGrath’s proposal those two representatives would be removed..

Councillor Graeme Taylor asked what is the fundamental reason for making the change from the previous triennium.

“For me it comes down to… having elected members who have sworn an oath to the city of Napier and to uphold the Local Government Act. As a rule we attend all the workshops, all the pre work, the induction process,” McGrath replied.

McGrath said it was a new committee structure that was being appointed rather than anyone being removed.

Deputy Mayor Sally Crown also questioned the proposal, saying the issue was one of partnership which means valuing the knowledge of councillors and mana whenua equally.

“So what the proposal in my mind today is, it’s a demonstration of gross misjudgement and disrespect not of just our mana whenua but also of our elected members a key part of leadership is to bring people along with you and I’ve heard from elected members that they themselves have been blindsided by the proposal that was presented.”

Councillor Shyann Raihania asked for an amendment to the proposal, which included Ngā Mānukanuka o te Iwi appointments remaining on all standing committees as specialist, voting members with full speaking rights.

She also requested the Mayor to engage with Ngā Mānukanuka o te Iwi members as mandated mana whenua representatives and return with a revised Terms of Reference, including options analysis and legal advice.

McGrath said he would speak against the amendment raised by Raihania.

“While I understand the partnership and representation side of things Māori will still have many opportunities throughout our council,” he said.

He was then interrupted by a someone in the crowd, who asked “What are you afraid of?”

“It’s nothing to do with afraid,” McGrath replied.

The amended proposal was put to a vote and passed with six votes in support and four against, with two abstentions.

When the result of the vote was announced there was applause from the gallery, which then broke into a rendition of Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi.

Napier City Council Voting Tally

For: Whare Isaac-Sharland, Sally Crown, Keith Price, Ronda Chrystal, Shyann Raihania and Graeme Taylor.

Against: Craig Morley, Nigel Simpson, Richard McGrath and Roger Brownlie.

Abstained: Te Kira Lawrence and Greg Mawson.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is pumping the brakes and reducing speed limits on several sections of a popular holiday route in time for Christmas.

Four sections of State Highway 25 will drop to 50km/h from 80 or 70km/h.

Waka Kotahi said there were 982 submissions on the speed review in the Coromandel region, and the majority saw benefits in lowering the speed limits.

It said the new speed limits will kick in ahead of the summer holiday peak.

Almost two kilometres of SH25 between Thames and Tararu is going down to 50km/h. Linda Davidson owned a bed and breakfast on that stretch, and told Checkpoint the current speed limit of 70km/h created noise issues.

“It’s too loud for us. The roads along here, because they’re old miners’ cottages, they’re really close to the road… when cars are going past at 70km/h, it’s just outrageous.

“It’s so loud that if it was a party, it would be shut down.”

Despite her B&B having double glazing, she said there were still problems.

“In peak times particularly, people complain about the noise.”

Davidson said the noise got so bad in busy periods she had to close the B&B between Christmas and New Year’s.

She said after seeing multiple accidents and many close calls, she was confident the reduction would make a significant difference.

“There’s a big reserve across the road from us and it’s really popular, when people are coming out of there it’s really unsafe, people come around the corner and hit people coming out of the reserve.”

“It means that we can open up our windows in summer, easy to get in and out of our properties and safer on the road for everyone.”

Davidson said she felt great about the change and hoped it would help keep the “gobsmackingly beautiful” area safe for residents and visitors.

Three other 1km stretches of SH25 will also have speed limits reduced.

Two sections of road near Kūaotunu will drop to 50km/h from 70km/h. A 1km stretch at Wharekaho from near Leah Road to near Harbour Lights Terrace will also be reduced from 80km/h down to 50km/h.

A section of State Highway 1 near Lake Taupō was also getting a speed reduction – a short section of road either side of Motutere Holiday park dropping from 100km/h to 50km/h.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Thunderstorms are forecast to bring torrential rain and large hail to the South Island.

MetService has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Otago on Thursday afternoon.

The forecasting agency said the thunderstorms are moving quickly towards the east, and could be accompanied by torrential rain and large hail.

It warned torrential rain could cause surface or flash flooding about streams, gullies and urban areas, and make driving conditions extremely hazardous.

“Large hail can cause significant damage to crops, orchards, vines, glasshouses and vehicles, and make driving conditions hazardous,” it said.

Pictures from Dunedin Airport showed the tarmac was blanketed in hail.

A storm watch is also in place for the Canterbury Plains, Canterbury High Country, North Otago, and Clutha until 10pm on Thursday. As well as up north for, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

It comes after much of the country experienced sweltering heat over the weekend, with temperatures in the high 20s or even early 30s.

MetService said on Thursday there was a reprieve from the heat on the way, with temperatures across the country heading back down towards normal.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Central Hawke’s Bay beach community of Kairakau has just been put under the highest level of water restrictions.

Central Hawke’s Bay District Council chief executive Doug Tate said it wasn’t a decision they made lightly.

“It became a necessary move due to the inability to extract enough water from the bore and the spring – the water sources for Kairakau.”

He said due to the lack of water, the bore is only able to draw approximately a tenth of its consented take and, at this rate, it would take almost three days to refill the reservoir.

The council is investigating whether there are any other underlying causes, but suspects the current dry conditions are the main problem.

“We’re having to use tankers to maintain the supply, until the issue is resolved. That’s why we’re having to take such urgent action and implement Level 4 restrictions. We need everyone to work together to reduce water use and share the message in Kairakau,” Tate said.

The Hawke’s Bay region has been sweltering under 34 degree temperatures this week, and some areas have had just half the average rainfall for this time of the year.

The council is asking Kairakau residents to:

• ONLY use water outside for emergencies – no washing boats, cars, houses etc
• If you have a pool, don’t top it up.
• Conserve water wherever you can.
• Don’t use your dishwasher. Wash your dishes by hand and use that water elsewhere.
• Limit how much you use your washing machine.
• Don’t rush to flush the toilet – if it’s yellow, let it mellow.
• Limit your showers to two minutes only.
• Check out water saving tips for other ways that you can save water.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Three people have been arrested following an investigation into ongoing thefts of copper.

They were arrested after raids in rural Gordonton and Cambridge, Waikato. Two were women, aged 37 and 50, and a 44-year-old man.

They will appear in Hamilton District Court next week, charged with burglary.

Police said they became aware of a commercial property in Frankton, Hamilton, which had been repeatedly targeted by thieves.

An investigation found 200kg of it had been on-sold in Auckland.

“This investigation highlighted the importance of quality, multi-layered security systems on commercial premises including CCTV, alarm systems and outer perimeter measures,” police said in a statement.

In recent years there have been reports of copper being stolen from power poles, rail bridges and a hospital.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A Christchurch school caused a big drama by talking to the media about mouldy school lunches before waiting for investigation findings, David Seymour says.

Haeata Community Campus has been at odds with New Zealand Food Safety and school lunch provider Compass Group about how the mince and potato meals came to be served to children on 1 December.

NZ Food Safety investigators concluded the most plausible explanation was a mix-up at the school and there were no food safety risks associated with the School Lunch Collective supplier Compass Group.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour said it was unfortunate the food safety watchdog first heard about the problem from the media rather than the school.

“I just wish this hadn’t been necessary. If everyone had just kept a cool head and no-one had run off to the media and they’d gone through the proper process putting child safety number one and child education number two, then this report would have been issued and and no one would have heard much about it,” he said.

“This shouldn’t have been made a major drama and a beat-up.”

New Zealand Food Safety made a number of recommendations following the investigation, saying improvements to tracing and reporting processes would reduce the risk of a repeat.

Overall, Seymour said the the school lunches programme was a “triumph”.

“We’ve had, what is it, two weeks now of talking about 20 lunches when there wasn’t actually an issue,” he said.

“I acknowledge that there were serious challenges in term one because a subcontractor basically went bankrupt and stopped supplying the lunches. That was a real crisis but we actually fixed it really quickly and we haven’t had any problems since then,” he said.

“The healthy school lunches programme is almost half the cost of Labour’s programme and the number of meals that get rejected or sent back every day is the same as Labour’s programme. So I would say half the cost, same quality.”

Haeata Community Campus principal Peggy Burrows said the school would review NZ Food Safety’s report alongside its own internal investigation.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A store worker has been assaulted after an alleged aggravated robbery in Otangarei on Wednesday night.

A group of men armed with non-firearm weapons entered the building on William Jones Drive about 7.25pm, police said.

The worker was attacked and received minor injuries.

Police said the offenders appeared to have stolen cash and cigarettes before fleeing on foot towards Taraire Crescent.

“This type of violent behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Whangārei CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Pilmer said.

“The victim thankfully didn’t require medical treatment, but is understandably shaken up.

“We are now working hard to hold those responsible to account.”

Pilmer thanked members of the public who had already provided information, but police were urging anyone else who may have seen or heard anything to come forward.

Police would also like to speak to anyone who may be offered cigarettes for sale cheaply.

Pilmer said the public could expect an increased police presence in the area while enquiries were carried out.

Anyone who witnessed the incident, or who has information regarding it can contact police by calling 105 and quoting file number 251210/5639.

If you wish to give information anonymously, please call Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The public is being urged to stay alert after nine alleged illegal gambling venues were uncovered in Auckland raids.

The venues are believed to have offered unlicensed poker games in breach of the Gambling Act.

Equipment including poker tables, chips, cash, cryptocurrency and electronic devices were seized.

“These operations can be illegal commercial ventures hiding in plain sight,” Vicki Scott, director gambling, Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said.

She warned people to check if a venue was legal before engaging in any gambling activities.

“Patrons are often unaware that by participating they are engaging in illegal activity and have no protection if things go wrong.

“Illegal gambling operators are predatory, and we are seeing some offer credit to participants which can result in significant debts being incurred.

“Illegal gambling can lead to financial harm, gambling addiction, and exposure to criminal activity. It also undermines trust in legitimate operators and community fundraising efforts.”

Scott also warned venues against hosting illegal activities – whether willingly or unknowingly.

“If you’re a venue operator, you need to know what’s happening in your space – turning a blind eye is not an option.”

Investigations were ongoing.

Where to get help:

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are investigating after a person was found with serious injuries at a property in Lower Hutt.

Emergency services were called to the Epuni address around 5am on Wednesday.

A police spokesperson said one person was taken to hospital in a serious condition, where they remain.

They said the investigation is ongoing.

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