Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents of Wellington’s Lyall Bay fear a neglected property in the seaside suburb‘s Queens Drive is in such a bad state it is a danger to people passing in front of the building.

Those fears had heightened since a severe storm struck the city more than a week ago, tearing roofing iron from the two-storey building and breaking windows and weatherboards.

Residents said the house had been the subject of multiple complaints over many years and now looked like it was just one wind-gust away from collapse.

At ground level the more than 100-year-old house is boarded up – with windows and what may have been shop frontage covered in painted plywood.

On the second level glass-less windows left the building open to elements and extensive graffiti could be seen across the internal walls.

On the building’s frontage a veranda – blackened with dirt – hung above the pavement. Beneath it a supporting pillar bulged outward at its base.

Emma Dee said the sight of the dilapidated structure made her “hands shake” because her Rongotai home was struck by roofing iron from a different house during the recent storms.

“We had a neighbour – who lived five houses down from us – lose their roof and it took out part of our house while we were in there with with our kids. It’s so amazing to me that nobody was injured by shrapnel or killed or worse.

“I’m shaking. There’s a little bit of PTSD there,” Dee said.

‘One gust of wind away from falling down’

Michelle, a Lyall Bay resident for the last 20 years, said she was surprised the building survived the recent gales.

“There was previous storms where the fire brigade had been called and they had commented on how rickety the roof was when they went up to secure the tiles.

“I was kinda surprised to see it still standing though because over the last six to 12 months the centre beam in the shop window has started to bow quite badly. So surprised that the veranda’s still there but it’s quite dangerous. I really think that council should be looking at stopping people walking underneath it in case an accident happens.

“It’s not somewhere you’d dawdle around under now. It’s one gust of wind away from falling down I’d say,” she said.

Neighbour Jo Maunder said the structure’s deterioration over the last two years had heightened concerns about hazards on the property.

“It’s a safety thing for the community that worries me. There’s so many people going past that building everyday to get their coffee or go to the beach and lately there’s been young people using it as a bit of a club house I think – coming and going – and the police have been involved in trying to secure it better.

“We keep an eye out. We’re just worried about their safety and the safety of anyone else ’cause sooner or later that [beam’s] going to go,” Maunder said.

Several times a year people knocked on her door keen to contact the owners with a mind to purchasing the property but, as of yet, nothing had changed.

“Doesn’t it seem mad that a property like that would sit empty? The building’s gone to rack and ruin but what a great place to live. It upsets me because we need more housing and, you know, it just seems mad,” Maunder said.

Beside the building rope and hastily-nailed planks held together a sagging fence in front of a small garden swamped with six-foot-high weeds.

Maunder said the garden had become so overgrown someone had started stashing stolen items in the overgrowth.

“We just thought ‘what’s all that noise?’ one day and there were all these police cars outside. [They] were going into the property and pulling out brand new bicycles and tyres and kegs of beer,” Maunder said.

Wellington police confirmed they had been called to the house at least five times in the last two years over problems with people entering and damaging the building.

They said they had been in contact with a relative of the owners and had provided “routine prevention advice”.

The home is listed as being owned by Eva Shue and Jan Meng Shue.

RNZ had attempted to contact the Shue family but had not received a response.

Property records showed the Shues were also listed as the owners of a property in Newtown’s Millward Street which burnt down in suspicious circumstances in 2013.

At the time of the fire that house had also been unoccupied for some time – although Detective Sergeant Glenn Barnett said there was evidence of people “dossing down” in the building illegally.

Complaints date back nearly three decades

In a statement Wellington City Council said it had been receiving complaints about the condition of the Lyall Bay building since 1997.

It said – following complaints about the building’s veranda between 2002 and 2006 – an engineer advised that the structure was not dangerous.

The council made further attempts to contact the owners and their son in 2017 and, following additional complaints, between 2022 and 2025.

“The Building Compliance and Building Resilience teams have continued to attempt to engage with the owner with no response. A requirement to undertake maintenance work under the veranda bylaw has been requested with a due date of May 2026. It is important to note that on no occasion has council received any response or communication from the owner,” the council said.

The Building Act 2004 defined a building as dangerous if it was likely to cause damage to other buildings or injury or death to any persons in it or on another property – whether by collapse, in the event of fire or otherwise.

“Council has access to very few powers until a building has reached this high threshold. Once it has reached the threshold of Dangerous or Insanitary there are a number of provisions under the Building Act that council could consider – noting that no matter which path council pursues all we can require of the owner is to address the dangerous or insanitary elements of the building. We cannot require a building owner to renovate the building, or even get it to a habitable state again,” the council said.

The council said compliance officers made regular monitoring visits and said “the building remains secure”.

Another resident in the area – who did not want to be named – said he had made multiple complaints to the council about the building over the last six or seven years.

He said his partner had spoken to a man who regularly accessed a nearby building on Rua Street understood to be owned by the same family, but he had reacted defensively and told her the structure was safe – a statement he took with a grain of salt.

“I don’t feel safe walking under the veranda and I purposely avoid it. Because I just don’t know how long it’s going to hold out.

“It’s very windy in the area and I can just imagine in a hot summer day – if a fire was to go on – it would definitely catch the neighbouring houses,” he said.

Council’s interpretation of Buildings Act may be impeding action – property lawyer

Property lawyer Kristine King said it could be a challenge to balance owner’s property rights against health and safety issues and neighbourhood concerns.

She said it was up to local councils to determine how they interpreted the definitions of an Insanitary or Dangerous structure under the Buildings Act.

“We’ve got these definitions – which are fairly broad – [but] it’s the policies, their own internal policies of how they’re interpreting that and then how they’re applying it in practice.

“It’s interesting that council is saying that’s a ‘high’ threshold when the definition of ‘dangerous’ just includes ‘injury’. It says ‘injury or death’. I understand entirely if their definition required ‘death’, that’s a very, very high standard, but ‘injury’ in of itself is a far lower bar so I think it comes back to council’s interpretation and their own policies and whether we need to be looking at some measure to get them to revisit their approach,” King said.

The owners/occupants of the buildings have been approached for comment.

Wellington City Council said it would respond to a request for comment about recent storm damage to the building under the terms of the Official Information Act.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Volunteer firefighter Peter Ottley still remembers his world turning upside down.

Two weeks after a call out to a fatal bus crash, he said he lost the plot.

He has PTSD, but like all emergency volunteers, he is not eligible for ACC cover for mental injury.

Ottley was frustrated, because all they got were apologies.

“‘We’ll do our best’, but there is no best, because money is more important than life.”

Volunteers have been lobbying the government to change the legislation for years, in 2025 a petition with 36,549 signatures was unsuccessful.

Now Land Search and Rescue are pushing the government to reconsider saying January’s Mt Maunganui tragedy showed the level of trauma they were repeatedly exposed to with no long term protection.

Long time emergency volunteers Jarrad Scott and Peter Ottley were desperate for change.

“The fact that you can go out and be drunk and wrap a car around a power pole and be covered by ACC, but if you’re volunteering to save lives, you’re not covered.

“It’s ridiculous,” Scott said.

Under current legislation ACC could provide broad physical injury cover to volunteers – the same available to all New Zealanders. If a physical injury resulted in a mental injury that was also covered by ACC. But unlike employees, volunteers did not get any support for mental injury caused by what they saw on the job.

Or in other words, if you have not broken your leg or you were not being paid, ACC could not do anything to help mentally unwell volunteer emergency responders.

The cumulative load

“I was the guy that always thought I was strong and could deal with any situation. And then everything sort of accumulated where it sort of built up.”

Scott had 20 years with Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR). Two years ago that all stopped.

He was called out to a report of a missing person. At the briefing, he realised he knew the missing person quite well.

Scott said he was advised not to attend, but he insisted.

“I wasn’t forced to go, I wasn’t asked to go, I was told not to, and I still went against that.”

Why? The reason he volunteered in the first place.

“On the hope that he was okay and, you know, we could help him.”

The team could not help him, and Scott assisted in body recovery.

It was after this that Scott began to struggle. He admits some of this was his responsibility because he ignored LandSAR advice and went to the scene anyway.

LandSAR provided Employee Assistance Program (EAP) assistance, in person counselling and debriefs, before he was told to go to a GP.

The doctor tried to arrange psychologist treatment and filed an ACC claim – only for it to be turned down.

“I got a phone call from ACC and the lady said, really sorry to tell you, we know you’ve been through a horrible thing, but you’re not covered and your claim’s going to be declined … because I am a volunteer.

“I asked them … what about the guy standing next to me in the blue uniform doing the same job at the same time, same scene. Is he covered?

“And she said yes, because he’s being paid.”

At this point, Scott said his mental health was getting worse by the day.

“The constant flashbacks and daymares, I call them, it’s like a nightmare, but during the day, it’s just … insane.”

Because of his volunteer status, not only was he declined ACC care, but also salary compensation.

Eventually Scott was diagnosed with PTSD and LandSAR was able to fund specialist treatment EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) which helped dramatically.

He said LandSAR had done everything it could to support him, but the legislation continued to hurt.

“It’s too late really to help me, but I want people going forward to be covered.

“The system’s so flawed that you’ve got a whole nation that runs on volunteers, and none of us are covered. St John’s and Fire, Coast Guard, but none of them are covered, and they all see horrific stuff.”

Rescuing their own

LandSAR chief executive Wendy Wright agreed the legislation fell short.

“When we look at the reliance we have as a country on volunteers across emergency services and search and rescue, 95 percent search and rescue workforce are actually volunteers.

“They do it because they want to serve their community.”

And that was part of the pressure.

“When you have in a situation like you do at Mount Manganui, that is the local Tauranga volunteers and they’re … supporting their own community.”

She said sometimes it was the cumulative effect that created a mental injury. Other times, just one event like the Mauau landslide would be enough.

The cost of volunteering

Peter Ottley was also familiar with this battle. He did not know if he would ever be able to return to work again.

His wife worked two jobs to keep them afloat.

Ottley was a volunteer fire fighter in Kingston for 13 years, but in December 2024 his life changed after attending a bus crash.

“I turned the world a little bit upside down and lost the plot.”

It was PTSD. He became incredibly angry, irritable, and anxious.

“Didn’t want to be around people … my anxiety was going through the roof.”

Like Scott, Ottley’s PTSD was not from one event but built from 13 years serving the community.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) said crew safety was a top priority and it provided comprehensive support, including free counselling and psychological support.

He said FENZ was doing what it could and funding EMDR sessions, but it did not have a system for people like him.

Government sympathetic, but doesn’t want change

Parliament has shown little interest in making changes to the system, despite the fact volunteers made up 86 percent of the front-line workforce of Fire and Emergency.

In late 2025 Parliament agreed volunteer firefighters offered vital services to New Zealand, but it did not want to change the legislation over fears of setting a precedent.

“We do not consider it practical for all types of volunteers to be provided with ACC workplace coverage.”

It said the estimated cost of providing equitable cover for FENZ volunteers at $244,533 per year, or roughly $20 per volunteer firefighter annually.

The Minister for ACC, Scott Simpson, said his focus was on ensuring the scheme was sustainable for future generations, not expanding.

Labour’s ACC spokesperson Camilla Belich had a different view.

The party was so compelled by the examples in last year’s petition it created a Members Bill asking for volunteer firefighters to have the same cover as their paid counterparts.

“We haven’t been approached by other occupations to date, but we’ll be happy to consider those alongside this change if necessary.”

She said Labour would have a full ACC policy going into the election.

Volunteers a ticking time bomb

Both Scott and Ottley knew they were not the only ones.

“I’ve got no doubt that there’s volunteers out there that have been suffering through PTSD, potentially taking their own lives, but there’s just no need for it,” Scott said.

Around 25 Fire and Emergency volunteer firefighters responded to the Mount Maunganui landslide.

“You don’t get a choice of where you go or what you’ve got to do. We [volunteers] go and do what we have to do, we’re more often than not there well before the full [paid] people … sometimes it’s at least an hour to two hours before anyone else comes to help or support us … and the volleys pretty much are out straight away, bang,” said Ottley.

Ottley said it was unbelievable volunteers could get paid time off for a broken leg, but their minds were not valued the same.

“It should be automatic that, if someone needs help or whatever it is that, it’s done … but money is more important than life.”

He said emergency volunteers were a ticking time bomb, seeing trauma after trauma, waiting to go off.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Legal and social services experts say sweeping the streets of vagrants won’t make them less homeless – and we should be ashamed of the way we’re treating society’s most vulnerable New Zealanders

Cities worldwide have a habit of clearing out their homeless in advance of big events – think Atlanta, Moscow, Los Angeles, Rio, Tokyo and Paris, ahead of hosting Olympic Games.

2026 is supposed to be Auckland’s year, according to Heart of the City boss Viv Beck.

“And the government’s talked about that too,” says RNZ political reporter Giles Dexter. “You’ve got the CRL [City Rail Link} coming on, the brand new convention centre … cruise ships coming in … we’ve got the State of Origin next year.

“All these things that are happening to Auckland, and first impressions count.”

By the end of this winter, new legislation will have been passed that gives, according to government politicians, “another tool” to police to deal with what’s become an increasingly sad and scary problem in the central city – rough sleepers, abusive vagrants, homeless people who are frightening off shoppers, workers and tourists.

It comes in the form of a ‘move-on’ law, which enables officers at their discretion to shift people away from their trouble spot for 24 hours. The Summary Offences Act will be amended to provide police with the power to issue these orders against people who display disorderly, disruptive, threatening or intimidatory behaviour; obstructing or impeding someone entering a business; breaching the peace; all forms of begging; rough sleeping; and behaviour “indicating an intent to inhabit a public place”.

The law will apply nation-wide, not just in Auckland where the biggest problems are.

There have been widespread complaints about the plan, with people in the social services sector calling it “criminalising homelessness”.

Questions have been raised about where people will be moved on to, and how they can be helped, when the relevant services just aren’t there.

Today on The Detail, Dexter explains what’s behind the move-on move, and what it’s expected to achieve.

It’s been in the pipeline since about October last year, sparked by increasing complaints from city business owners and workers about anti-social behaviour. The number of rough sleepers in Auckland has nearly doubled in the last two years.

“The government had been hearing from business communities that despite some of the interventions already in place, this was still a problem,” he says.

In November the Prime Minister told journalists a law was under consideration but they had to look at what supports were in place when people are shifted.

Christopher Luxon says other measures, such as extra police on the beat and a new station in the city have been effective in bringing victimisation numbers down. He told Morning Report the government spends $550 million a year with different social service organisations to support the homeless, $5b on housing support, and has taken 6000 people off the social housing waitlist and out of emergency housing situations.

“They’ve mentioned that there has been more investment in Housing First solutions,” says Dexter. “So they opened up 300 more places specifically for homeless people and they’ve not all been taken up. But some of those development organisations you speak to, and City Missions, will say they just need more resources. They cannot at the moment cope with the way things are.”

The details of the legislation will be worked out in the legislative process, and the law is likely to be pushed through before the election.

“We’re not going to know what happens to these people until this legislation comes through,” says Dexter.

‘There are no options for places to take them’

Carmel Claridge is the co-ordinator for the New Beginnings Court, Te Kooti o Timatanga Hou, in central Auckland. Low-level offenders are referred there by the judiciary, and they’re put through a programme aimed at getting their lives back together. By its definition, a lot of those going through it are homeless.

“These are the people who are regularly turning up in our courtrooms, and are regularly coming to the attention of police,” she says.

“The simple fact is there are no options for places to take them. So it’s all very well to say, ‘oh police can issue a removal order and if someone fails to comply they can take them to a social service … I’d like to know which one the political commentators have in mind.”

She says there simply are no beds for people with complex needs, such as those seen often in the type of people who live rough.

Auckland University family law academic Professor Mark Henaghan says homelessness is one issue, and people who are violent or threatening on the streets is a different one – and it’s one that already has legal measures in place to deal with.

“You should feel safe on the streets,” he says. “If someone punches someone, the police can’t just walk by and ignore it … they may happen to be homeless but that’s not the real issue here. Any threatening behaviour, that’s already in the Crimes Act, it’s very clear – they’re offences. That’s been there for a long time and so it should be, our physical security is very important.”

Henaghan says we need other solutions.

“You can’t just say [to Parliament] ‘don’t do it’, because that doesn’t give them other solutions. One of the things I have found quite surprising in the statements and interviews with ministers [is that] they don’t seem to have any options. You move them on but what happens next? And they say ‘oh, well something will happen’. Very vague.

“I’d have thought if you’re moving people on you’d be moving them on to a social service that will actually help them but it’s all very vague and I don’t think they’ve corresponded with social services.

“It’s always bad law if you react very quickly to something and try and pass something through very quickly in election year so you can say ‘we’re at least doing something in this situation’ … I think that’s not good.

“Passing a law doesn’t solve the problem. It doesn’t make people less homeless. It just makes them more vulnerable actually.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kiwis who reflect the “heart and soul” of Aotearoa have been named as finalists for New Zealander of the Year.

Thousands of people were nominated but the choice came down to three individuals who stood out for the judging panel.

They are Dame Julie Chapman, Sir Richard Faull and Sir Rod Drury.

Dame Julie leads organisations Kidscan and Pet Refuge, while Sir Richard is a neuroscientist whose expertise have helped better understand the human brain.

Sir Rod is the founder of Xero and works to “shape Aotearoa New Zealand’s technology landscape through innovation, investment, and mentorship”.

Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards patron Miriama Kamo said the three finalists “reflect the heart and soul of Aotearoa over the past twelve months – people leading with purpose, courage and heart”.

“Across every category, we see service, innovation and kaitiakitanga in action: protecting people and the planet, strengthening communities,

advancing equity, and shaping bold solutions for the future.

“Together, they remind us that real leadership is grounded in compassion – and that when we care deeply and act bravely, we can change lives.”

Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkovich said the finalists were leaders who were shaping the future of New Zealand in very different ways.

“From protecting our most vulnerable tamariki (children) and whānau (family), to driving innovation and backing the next generation of Kiwi enterprise, to advancing life changing neuroscience research.

“Their impact reaches from our local communities to the global stage.”

Jurkovish said it was a privilege to celebrate the finalists.

Finalists for six other categories have also been announced.

The awards will be held on 19 March in Auckland.

Go Media Young New Zealander of the Year

• Harlem-Cruz Ihaia
• Léon Bristow
• Lucy Blakiston

Ryman Healthcare Senior New Zealander of the Year

• Alan and Hazel Kerr
• Dame Claudia Orange
• Stewart Bull

2degrees New Zealand Innovator of the Year

• Craig Piggott
• James Hayes
• Jonathan Ring and Leatham Landon-Lane

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu New Zealand Sustainability Leader of the Year

• Mike Casey
• Russel and Teresa Trow
• Valerie Marie Ngaoa Teraitua

Tower New Zealand Local Hero of the Year

• Dr Jeremy Tātere MacLeod
• Māhera Maihi
• Terri Middleton

Mitre 10 New Zealand Community of the Year

• Hōhepa Hawke’s Bay
• Rei Kōtuku Charitable Trust – Children’s Palliative Care Service
• Safeguarding Children Initiative

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hutt City Council wants assurance that its own sea-side sewage treatment plant will not suffer the same disastrous failure as Wellington’s Moa Point plant.

It has asked Wellington Water whether the Seaview plant, near Petone, has the same equipment as Moa Point which flooded a room the size of an Olympic swimming pool 3-metres deep with sewage on 4 February.

The facility has been sending tens of millions of litres of raw sewage into Cook Strait each day since and an independent inquiry into the failure has been signalled from central government and Wellington City Council.

For years the Lower Hutt Seaview sewage plant has been an issue for locals particularly due to its odour, with it being reported in January 2024 that $40,000 worth of fines were dished out to the facility’s owners.

A week after the Moa Point failure Hutt City Council chief executive Jo Millar penned a letter to Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty which requested the pair to meet.

Millar wanted to know how frequently the Seaview Wastewater Treatment plant and its 17-kilometre sewage outfall pipe were being inspected and monitored.

She also wanted Wellington Water to explain the processes it undertook to verify that Veolia’s maintenance and operational obligations were being met.

The council head also asked if similar equipment to Moa Point had been installed at Seaview in recent years, what that would be and whether it held any responsibility for what had happened at Moa Point.

She called for Wellington Water to outline its and Veolia’s plan if a similar failure happened.

“Including if this would lead to additional discharges into the Waiwhetū Stream and if an environmental assessment has been done on this including addressing the scale of any event.”

Hutt City Council told RNZ that the information had not yet been provided but a meeting between the two leaders was scheduled.

“Once council has received that briefing, elected members will be briefed, and we will then be in a position to respond further.”

It could not say when that meeting would be.

A Wellington Water spokesperson told RNZ it was entirely appropriate for Hutt City Council to request these assurances from the water company – particularly following an incident of the magnitude of Moa Point.

“Wellington Water welcomes the opportunity to engage with the council on this matter.”

Veolia referred RNZ to Wellington Water for comment.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An immigration adviser took thousands of dollars from a migrant, in a “subterfuge” where he would pay for a fake job at her husband’s firm, a tribunal has heard.

It upheld complaints by six customers of Qian Yu, also known as Heidi Castelucci.

The Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal said it was considering cancelling her licence and preventing her from reapplying when it ruled on sanctions next month.

She continued to work as an advisor after she was suspended in April last year, failing to submit a work visa for a Chinese man, who paid more than $1500.

“At the relevant time, she was engaged by Liberty Consulting Group Ltd trading as Liberty Immigration, of Auckland,” said the decisions. “She was also a contractor to New Zealand Language Institute and Foreign Exchange Program Ltd, of Hamilton and Auckland. Ms Yu’s husband, Toby Scott Castelucci, is a director and shareholder of both companies.”

Richard Wu, who worked for her and recorded Yu offering him residence in return for money after the company sacked him in 2024, paid an unlawful premium for his job.

The tribunal said he had paid about $22,000 which would be “extraordinarily high” if it was an immigration fee. She suggested he get paid cash-in-hand jobs alongside the fake job to hide what they were doing.

Façade

“She further told him about the subterfuge as to the paperwork of her husband’s company (in terms of the pay checks issued, which was money he was actually paying to her himself). She told him to pay his own tax, an obligation the agency had as his employer. The Tribunal finds that Ms Yu knew this advice was unlawful.

“The employment presented to Immigration NZ was a façade. There was no genuine job. It was a mechanism designed to obtain a work visa for the complainant (and ultimately residence) and hence a substantial premium for Ms Yu and her husband.”

Another client called and sent messages to her dozens of time, and unwittingly became an unlawful overstayer.

One woman had been applying for visitor visas for her relatives and said “the fraud had caused great loss to the family”.

“Ms Yu has not denied any of the allegations made against her,” said tribunal chair David Plunkett.

“As a professional person, she has a responsibility to engage in a disciplinary process. The tribunal draws an adverse inference from her failure to engage with either the authority or the tribunal. She has provided no explanation for the serious wrongdoing alleged against her.”

The tribunal heard she forged the signature of a client and fabricated an INZ letter, concealing decline decisions and not following up on information requests.

The Registrar of Companies has initiated action to remove Liberty Consulting from the register.

Qian Yu registered Global Pathways Consulting as a new limited company in February, with her husband Toby Castelucci as director and sole shareholder.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dunedin police say they shot at a man as he drove his vehicle towards officers and their patrol car while trying to avoid arrest.

Police were looking for the man in relation to a series of offences in the Otago coastal area over recent days.

Officers involved in an operation to locate the 46-year-old saw him at a commercial premises on Kaikorai Valley Road at about 6pm and tried to apprehend him.

Superintendent Jason Guthrie said the man drove his car towards the patrol car in an effort to avoid arrest and in response police fired one shot.

“No other shots were fired in the incident, and nobody was injured,” he said in a statement.

The man then fled in the vehicle but was later found in Brockville where police successfully deployed road spikes, he said.

The man fled into the bush but was found soon after by a police dog team in the Fraser’s Gully area, he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, police had asked the public to keep clear of Three Mile Hill and Brockville as officers searched the cordoned area.

Cordons were still in place at 9pm on Wednesday but were expected to be lifted shortly, Guthrie said.

The incident will be referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority as is standard procedure when a police firearm is used.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A biosecurity operation is under way in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe following the discovery of a single male Oriental fruit fly in a surveillance trap.

Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner North Mike Inglis said the fruit fly was identified on Wednesday evening.

“We will be ramping up trapping and inspections in Papatoetoe. As a precautionary measure, Biosecurity New Zealand will put in place legal restrictions on the movement of fruit and vegetables out of the area where the fruit fly has been found.

“Over the next 24 hours, we will issue details about these controls and the exact areas affected,” he said.

In the meantime, it was important that people who lived and worked in the suburb not take any whole fresh fruit and vegetables out of their property.

Biosecurity staff would be out on Thursday providing the local community with information, Inglis said.

Biosecurity’s most recent eradication was a single male Queensland fruit fly in Mount Roskill, which wrapped up last week after six weeks of intensive fruit fly trapping and the inspection of more than 230 kilograms of fruit.

“The Oriental fruit fly find in Papatoetoe is unrelated to the Queensland fruit fly in Mt Roskill,” Inglis said.

The fruit fly poses no human health risk, but there would be an economic cost to the horticulture industry if it were allowed to establish here. Adult flies lay eggs into fruit, where the maggots feed and cause the fruit to rot.

How to identify the fly

Adult flies are a little larger than a housefly (6mm to 8mm long); have a dark “T” shaped marking on the abdomen (the part behind the waist); usually have a bright yellow and orange abdomen (but can vary); have clear wings. The female fly has a pointed “sting” to lay eggs inside fruit (but she can’t sting or bite people). The male fruit fly is a similar size but is reddish-brown.

Biosecurity New Zealand says if people who think they’ve found a fruit fly should photograph it, capture it if possible, and call MPI on 0800 80 99 66.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fire and Emergency says a large grass fire in Central Otago has now been contained.

FENZ was called to a large grass fire that was threatening structures in the Springvale area near Clyde before 3.30pm.

About 18 fire crews responded along with four helicopters and at least eight properties were evacuated.

Fire and Emergency said the helicopters had now been stood down.

The fire was 400 metres by 400 metres initially, but a spokesperson earlier said it was spreading quickly through grass and pine trees.

Aimz Hemming said they were able to smell the smoke from their street a few kilometres away.

“When the alarm went off, all the sirens were go,” Hemming said. “It was a wee bit scary.”

* Are you in the area? Contact RNZ at iwitness@rnz.co.nz

Earlier a spokesperson said it was unknown if any properties had been damaged at this stage and crews had also moved livestock out of paddocks that were under threat.

Fire and Emergency is working with police to close Springvale Road.

People were urged to stay away from the area and to be extra cautious as a lot of crews were tied up fighting to contain this fire, the spokesperson said.

Fire and Emergency also said the fire was producing a lot of smoke which was drifting towards Alexandra.

“If you are in the vicinity of the smoke, please stay inside with windows closed.”

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A report has exposed increasing nitrate contamination in Southland’s groundwater, sparking a call from Greenpeace for a nitrate emergency to be declared in the region.

The Southland Regional Council report said approximately 15,000 Southlanders could be drinking water polluted by nitrates.

It pointed to the intensification of dairy farming as a key cause of growing nitrate levels.

The report said nitrate concentrations in groundwater frequently exceeded 3.5 mg/L and in some places exceeded the New Zealand drinking water standard of 11.3 mg/L.

More than half of Southland’s domestic drinking water supply wells were estimated to have nitrate concentrations above 3.5 mg/L.

The Ministry of Health considers the current maximum acceptable value (MAV) for nitrate appropriate, although some public health experts argue the drinking water limit is too high and potentially puts people at risk of pre-term birth and bowel cancer.

Greenpeace freshwater campaigner Will Appelbe said the findings were alarming.

“It’s made clear what many of us have known for quite some time, that nitrate contamination is a real crisis in Southland and the main cause of that contamination is the intensive dairy industry,” he said.

“At a bare minimum it’s time that Environment Southland declared a nitrate emergency. Environment Canterbury declared one last year for very good reason, it’s clear that Southland has a drinking water crisis on its hands and it’s a result of nitrate contamination.”

The report said the region’s dairy boom had coincided with a decline in water quality and the region’s groundwater was vulnerable to contamination.

Between 1990 and 2022, Southland’s dairy herd increased by 1668 percent from 38,000 to 668,000 cows.

Otago University research fellow Marnie Prickett said Southland needed to reduce its dairy herd, and she was also calling for an independent inquiry into the regional council’s land-use rules.

“Southlanders need Environment Southland to chart a really robust path out of this. It can’t be tinkering around the edges it has to be driving confidently forward about what they’re going to do,” she said.

The report said 44 percent of domestic supply wells (612) and 45 percent of registered public drinking-water supplies (18) were located within areas classified as having “high vulnerability to nitrate contamination”.

“here may be approximately 1,530 people on private supplies and 13,632 on public groundwater supplies at risk of exposure to high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water,” the report said.

Environment Southland general manager science Karen Wilson said although the report did not present new data, it brought together a range of information to give an integrated view of groundwater quality, nitrate sources, and health risks.

“This science formed the basis of the Southland Water and Land Plan, which was accepted by the Environment Court. The plan was the first step in responding to Southland’s groundwater nitrate challenges,” she said.

Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick said declaring a nitrate emergency would be an overreaction and unhelpful.

“Nitrates aren’t a new issue for Southlanders at all, and it’s not just dairy, as a society and as a people we’re all responsible for our challenges that we had. This is a long-standing challenge that the community have been aware of and working on for quite some time now,” he said.

The report said 71 percent of groundwater sites had shown increasing nitrate contamination over the past two decades.

Hotspots included Balfour/Waimea Plains, Wendonside Terrace, Five Rivers/Castlerock, Edendale, Knapdale, Mabel Bush/Woodlands, Central Plains/Waimatuku, and Otahu Flat.

Southland Regional Council freshwater principal scientist Ewen Rodway said the council was working to deal with the problem.

“We’re continuing to monitor groundwater quality across the region, identifying these high-risk areas and using those to focus efforts such as focusing farm plans, and working with catchment groups to reduce nitrogen losses in those vulnerable areas,” he said.

Rodway said a decision about declaring a nitrate emergency sat with councillors.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Nurses’ Organisation says Christchurch Hospital is reaching capacity, with some elective surgeries cancelled on Wednesday.

Allister Dietschin, a healthcare assistant and Nurses’ Organisation delegate, said the hospital was “heaving” and it had been “madness” for some days.

Earlier on Wednesday resourced bed occupancy in the hospital reached 99 percent. Dietschin said some elective surgeries had been cancelled as a result of the high demand.

He said as well as a high volume of patients, they were also short staffed.

Christchurch Hospital “often” had high volumes of patients and not enough staff. It was a problem the union had been asking for that to be addressed, Dietschin said.

He said the complexity of the patients they were dealing with was also through the roof.

“It’s diabolical really.”

Dietschin said traditionally they had less demand over summer, but that had not been the case this year. He was worried what that would mean for the colder months ahead.

“We’ve had huge demand over the summer period, and now with winter coming on, it’s just going to get even busier.”

Health New Zealand says 10 planned elective surgeries were deferred over the past two days at Christchurch Hospital due to a high number of acute trauma patients who required immediate care.

“As I am sure you will be able to appreciate, patients who require life saving care will always be prioritised,” a spokesperson said.

“We are not anticipating any further deferrals for elective surgery, and patients will be re-booked as soon as possible. To be clear this is unrelated to staffing or hospital capacity.”

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than a third of hospitality and tourism workers say they have been pressured into working while sick, not taking holidays or going without other minimum protections.

More than a third reported harassment or bullying at work with customers being the main culprits, according to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Almost 1000 workers in the sectors were surveyed and results showed many workers enjoyed and were passionate about what they did but increasing numbers did not think they were paid fairly and more than a third of workers planned to quit in the next year.

The two industries differed with about 40 percent of hospitality workers planning to leave compared to 31 percent for tourism workers.

More than half of workers earned below the living wage at the time of $28.95 with only 48 percent feeling they were paid fairly, down from 57 percent in 2024.

About one in 12 workers reported being paid below the minimum wage.

Tourism workers said they had greater access to training, better career opportunities and more supportive pathways for development – 69 percent compared to 58 percent of hospitality workers.

The study concluded many workers did not appear to leave the industry because they disliked the work but because conditions no longer appealed.

“Low pay, long or unsustainable hours and limited career progression are the strongest drivers of exit even among workers who enjoy hospitality and tourism,” the report said.

Indicators of burnout remained high with two thirds of workers reporting they felt tired due to their work and about 43 percent reported feelings of hopelessness associated with working with customers.

But worker commitment, skill confidence and workplace dignity were strong.

“Hospitality and tourism are not constrained by worker motivation but by the conditions that enable sustained participation,” the report said.

“Retention and productivity are shaped by progression, training quality, pay adequacy, workplace dignity and safety, not by individual resilience or passion alone.”

The study recommended employers should encourage workers to remain in the industries by offering more training initiatives, pay progression and career development, and setting clear expectations for customer behaviour with zero tolerance for abuse.

Employers not doing enough to protect their employees – researcher

AUT and lead researcher, Professor David Williamson told Checkpoint the survey had been undertaken for the last five years and it was worrying to see that the rates of negative experiences in the workforce were increasing.

The percentage of those surveyed who reported bullying and harassment was 35 percent this year up from 23 percent the year before, he said.

The study found that last year in about half of the cases where hospitality and tourism workers were harassed or bullied customers were the perpetrators, that’s up from 26 percent in 2024.

Williamson said workers were having to deal with physically or verbally abusive customers, as well as drunk customers.

Asked why the figures had become worse, Williamson said it was important to look at the background of bullying and harassment in the sector.

Many staff working in hospitality were young and often it was their first job which made it difficult for them to deal with poor customer behaviour, he said.

“I think perhaps as well we’re seeing the result of Covid and economic pressure resulting in perhaps customers being more abusive than they have been pre-Covid.”

The survey indicated that employers were not doing enough to protect their employees, he said.

“When we look at the qualitative comments coming back from employees they’re talking about not being protected, not being supported, and again we can see the link to younger managers who either themselves haven’t been trained effectively or who are just too young to really know how to deal with those situations.”

When asked why they intended leaving hospitality, survey respondents gave bullying and harassment and low pay as the top two reasons, he said.

“It’s the combination between not being paid enough to put up with a very difficult work situation.”

The report had made a number of recommendations, he said.

“It’s about capturing that early career retention, making sure you’re addressing the young workers who are coming in that you’re training your managers so you have a safe working environment, that they’re not being harassed, that you’re training them well, that you’re also linking promotion opportunities to that training so as you become more skilled you can see a career progression and you know setting zero tolerance abuse standards across the whole industry so this will not be tolerated from customers or co-workers.”

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Te Puna resident says his grandchildren no longer walk around the small seaside town for fear of aggressive, roaming dogs.

Tommy Wilson, an author and grandfather, carries a golf club following dog attacks on the east side of Te Puna, on the outskirts of Tauranga.

One woman, who did not want to speak to Checkpoint, was attacked and bitten by a dog while out walking five years ago.

There had been two other minor attacks on a person and another dog reported to council in the past six months.

Wilson raised his concerns about wandering dogs in Te Puna before a fatal dog attack in Northland last Tuesday.

Mihiata Te Rore was attacked and killed by three dogs while visiting a property in Kaihu, north of Dargaville.

The 62-year-old is the fourth person killed by dogs in the past four years.

At the weekend a father was seriously injured while protecting his son from a dog attack at a property they were visiting in Christchurch. Both were hospitalised.

Last year, Auckland Council alone received almost 17,000 reports of roaming dogs and more than 1300 reports of dog attacks on people.

In Te Puna, Wilson said residents had been wrestling with an increasing number of aggressive dogs for years.

“I walk around the road with my trusty four-iron.”

Wilson said he had been forced to hit dogs.

“I’ll give them a good club and with my tokotoko. I’ll smack them… yeah I actually punched a dog in the face because that was the only way to get it to back off.

“It was just coming too close and snarling, baring the teeth, not looking cool. And I’m sure everyone can tell you a dog war story in this town.”

While Checkpoint was visiting Te Puna, a big dog wandered across the rugby club field, past our cameraman and up to a nearby playground where two mums were chatting with three young children in tow.

One mum pulled a toddler close and the other – carrying a baby – gave the dog a wide berth as it wandered around the playground before eventually trotting off in the direction it had come.

It was unclear who or where the dog’s owner was.

Wilson said he was not the only one to carry a weapon while out walking. He said a neighbour carried a large tokotoko (ceremonial walking stick).

“He refuses to stop walking. He’s one of the bravehearts and I see him walking all the time but he’s ready.”

Wilson worried he could only fend off one aggressive dog at a time with his golf club and feared for anyone caught unprepared.

“It’s when there’s more than one dog. That’s the problem and I’m reasonably fit even though I’m a koro, how does a little four, five, six-year-old child fend themselves off against one dog or a mother or an old kuia, a grandmother – they’ve got no show.”

While there were no dogs on Te Puna Beach, where Wilson said dogs roamed in packs, there were dozens of paw prints.

“You can see, look, there’s dog prints there, dog prints there. If it’s just one set of footprints it’s okay but if you see more than a set of footprints it’s usually time to u-turn and go back and go home.”

Wilson questioned the need for aggressive dogs as he pointed out a number of known roaming dogs.

He believed they were partly owned to guard against crime.

Wilson, who grew up in Te Puna and moved back to the area to raise his children, said when they were young they “free-ranged” around the town.

However, he said it was different now and his moko did not feel safe walking alone.

He said they were driven to school – which was not the local one – and would not walk 300 metres to their local marae because they were scared.

“(There’s) usually a big bad dog sitting outside here. He’s okay for the people that live close but he’s the one that chases and bites our car tyres and our kids are totally freaked out by him – he’s huge.”

Te Puna School principal Neil Towersey said wandering dogs sometimes appeared in the playground.

“Some of the children are terrified. I get a patter tennis bat and a cone or something noisy – go out and give it a bit of a clatter and a bang and do my best impression to scare them off and they usually take off with their tail between their legs.”

He said hunting dogs were particularly intimidating for the children.

“Some of them have had bad experiences with dogs. We’ve got a little boy at the moment who’s absolutely terrified of dogs so it’s something we’re a little bit mindful of.”

Towersey said that boy had been bitten by a dog.

He said the school had taught children about dog safety and he believed the Dog Control Act “needs tightening up”.

At the town tennis courts, a German Shepherd wandered about while opposite the chapel, a dog sat and watched from afar before retreating home.

Jade, who did not want her surname used, had four dogs in her care at the town rugby field.

She said she did not live in Te Puna but went there regularly and never usually encountered aggressive dogs.

“We’ve come across some dogs that don’t look very friendly but I can call mine back and they just come straight back and I’ve never had any dog attacks or dog attack me out here so that’s promising, touch wood.

Jade said she fostered rescue dogs for a charity and the four dogs with her were not hers.

She was unsure what breeds they were.

Jade said it was not a dog’s fault if it was aggressive and it was up to owners to raise and socialise their dogs responsibly.

She recommended anyone who came across an aggressive dog should not run away or show fear.

Wilson said he wanted a community effort to change attitudes, incentivise responsible dog owners and support struggling owners to provide appropriate care for their dogs.

“Let’s not leave it up to the people who don’t care. We care and we want to do something about it.

“Hey, why should the dogs have the best beach in the world? How about us? We want our beach back.”

Western Bay of Plenty councillor and Te Puna resident Graeme Elvin said there was no doubt roaming dogs were a problem in Te Puna.

However, he believed it was a localised issue and said it had to be solved by a change in behaviour.

“It isn’t solved by throwing a whole lot of money at the problem.”

Elvin said he met with the council’s dog control officers on Tuesday to discuss the concerns and was impressed with their efforts.

Council general manager of regulatory services Alison Curtis declined a interview, but in a statement said during the past six months the council had received 19 complaints about roaming dogs in the area, and two complaints about dog attacks – one involving a person and one involving another dog.

She said both attacks were minor.

“Based on general observations, these numbers are low to average, compared with the rest of the district.”

Curtis said some of the complaints related to dogs roaming on the sports fields.

“In response, animal services officers visited the fields several times over a two-week period in November and December, while the fields were in use.

“As a result of these visits, one dog was impounded.”

Curtis said since then the council had only received three reports of roaming dogs in the area, which made up part of the 19.

“Council can only act on issues we are made aware of, so we ask people to please report any concerns by calling us on 0800 926 732.”

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Pharmacies are falling back on their emergency back-up plans to distribute medication, and doing a lot of unpaid leg-work in the process, following the MediMap hack.

The prescription portal is used by many aged care, disability, and hospice providers to track medication, but it’s been offline since Sunday when it was discovered patient information had been changed – details like names, dates of birth, allergies, even marked some patients as deceased.

For nurses in care homes, MediMap going offline had meant a return to pen and paper, meaning it was taking a lot longer to get things done.

The same is true for pharmacists.

James Westbury, owner of Westbury Pharmacy and Unichem Kilbirnie Pharmacy in Wellington, said they supported about 5000 people in aged care, hospice and supported housing.

He said it had been “incredibly difficult” and caused “significant disruption” – with the digital system offline, pharmacists had downed tools to get a new manual system underway.

That involved going back through people’s dispensing histories and charts to make sure they were up to date, and in many cases, getting extra sign-off from a prescriber to be able to dispense medication.

“Unfortunately pharmacies get paid on dispensing, and when you’re not dispensing you’re not making money, so at the moment this is all done for the love of patient safety.”

Was it posing a risk to patient care? He said it added complexity, but it was manageable.

“The systems that we’ve got in place at the moment, I feel quite comfortable that care will be maintained at a safe level, particularly for regular prescribed and PRN [meaning, as needed] medication,” he said.

“The only real concern is where it’s short course [prescriptions] where it’s a little bit more difficult. We can still produce the data to provide safe continuity of care, it’s just a lot more challenging to get that information out – but it’s the art of the possible.”

Westbury said communication from MediMap had been “appalling”.

Pharmacists had been assured there was a digital backup in place should MediMap fail, called MediMap Go, he said. But that appeared to have been affected by the same hack, and was also offline, leaving pharmacists to scramble a new system into place.

Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, president of the Pharmacy Guild, said members were coping, but it had come at a bad time.

“We’re already struggling and facing workforce pressures, so it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the sector, in all honesty.”

But the priority was patient safety.

“We are trained for exactly these types of situations, so we’ve got our strong checks and balances in place to maintain safe dispensing processes. So it is still safe, but it is a lot slower.”

MediMap has declined multiple interviews with RNZ, but on Wednesday put out a statement saying it was heading to court to seek an injunction to stop anyone accessing, using, copying or sharing information from its systems.

It’s still unclear how many people have been caught up in the breach.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Pharmacies are falling back on their emergency back-up plans to distribute medication, and doing a lot of unpaid leg-work in the process, following the MediMap hack.

The prescription portal is used by many aged care, disability, and hospice providers to track medication, but it’s been offline since Sunday when it was discovered patient information had been changed – details like names, dates of birth, allergies, even marked some patients as deceased.

For nurses in care homes, MediMap going offline had meant a return to pen and paper, meaning it was taking a lot longer to get things done.

The same is true for pharmacists.

James Westbury, owner of Westbury Pharmacy and Unichem Kilbirnie Pharmacy in Wellington, said they supported about 5000 people in aged care, hospice and supported housing.

He said it had been “incredibly difficult” and caused “significant disruption” – with the digital system offline, pharmacists had downed tools to get a new manual system underway.

That involved going back through people’s dispensing histories and charts to make sure they were up to date, and in many cases, getting extra sign-off from a prescriber to be able to dispense medication.

“Unfortunately pharmacies get paid on dispensing, and when you’re not dispensing you’re not making money, so at the moment this is all done for the love of patient safety.”

Was it posing a risk to patient care? He said it added complexity, but it was manageable.

“The systems that we’ve got in place at the moment, I feel quite comfortable that care will be maintained at a safe level, particularly for regular prescribed and PRN [meaning, as needed] medication,” he said.

“The only real concern is where it’s short course [prescriptions] where it’s a little bit more difficult. We can still produce the data to provide safe continuity of care, it’s just a lot more challenging to get that information out – but it’s the art of the possible.”

Westbury said communication from MediMap had been “appalling”.

Pharmacists had been assured there was a digital backup in place should MediMap fail, called MediMap Go, he said. But that appeared to have been affected by the same hack, and was also offline, leaving pharmacists to scramble a new system into place.

Kesh Naidoo-Rauf, president of the Pharmacy Guild, said members were coping, but it had come at a bad time.

“We’re already struggling and facing workforce pressures, so it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the sector, in all honesty.”

But the priority was patient safety.

“We are trained for exactly these types of situations, so we’ve got our strong checks and balances in place to maintain safe dispensing processes. So it is still safe, but it is a lot slower.”

MediMap has declined multiple interviews with RNZ, but on Wednesday put out a statement saying it was heading to court to seek an injunction to stop anyone accessing, using, copying or sharing information from its systems.

It’s still unclear how many people have been caught up in the breach.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

At least eight houses have been evacuated in Central Otago as a quick moving fire threatens properties.

Fire and Emergency says it was called to a large grassfire that was threatening structures in the Springvale area near Clyde before 3.30pm.

The fire was 400 metres by 400 metres initially, but a spokesperson says it’s spreading quickly.

Crews from across Central Otago and as far afield as Dunedin have been called in to fight the fire, including four helicopters.

The spokesperson says it’s unknown if any properties have been damaged at this stage and crews have also moved livestock out of paddocks that were under threat.

Fire and Emergency is working with police to close Springvale Road.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A university researcher who tracks the amount of ultra-processed products and ingredients coming into New Zealand is calling for stronger regulations around marketing, especially to children.

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.

A US attorney is suing some of the biggest food manufacturers, accusing them of deliberately designing products to be addictive – despite the harm they are known to cause. David Chiu says with products from all companies involved in the lawsuit also available in New Zealand, it should be a worry here.

In 2023, ultra-processed foods made up 23 percent of New Zealand’s imports, compared to only 7 percent in 1990, says Dr Kelly Garton from the University of Auckland.

She told Checkpoint it was time for the government to step in, because consumers were influenced in ways they could not control.

A major step would be better labelling and restrictions around packaging directed at children.

“I would love for our labels to give much clearer indication to consumers and what’s in their food. Getting rid of any of those misleading claims around healthiness or environmental friendliness, for example, as well as not allowing ultra-processed foods to have marketing packaging that’s targeting kids.”

Garton said much of the marketing was currently targeted at young people, along with their parents.

“A lot of these products will have colours, shapes, or flavours or textures that are meant to appeal to children and younger people. And so obviously that’s meant to sell more product.

“A lot of the marketing is targeted at parents. It might have a certain amount of health washing, you know, a good source of protein when maybe it’s a protein derivative that’s been added back in. not necessarily a healthy whole protein that you could be consuming otherwise.”

But marketing was only one of the reasons that ultra-processed foods were so prominent in New Zealanders diets.

“We are now reliant on these products in many ways that we can’t control, these are the products that are by and large the most available and affordable, and they’re heavily marketed to us.

“Also in terms of our social and economic circumstances, many of us, most of us are time poor. Many of us are financially constrained. We’re overly reliant on foods that are cheap, shelf stable, and very convenient. Added to that, fresh fruit and veg is absurdly expensive these days.”

Alongside Checkpoint, Garton examined a number of ultra-processed products to decipher the contents.

She said flavourings were often a warning sign.

“These flavours or natural colourings are put there to emulate or to mask or enhance flavours that whole foods would have. So they’re inherently manipulating our sense receptors.”

However, just because something falls under the ultra processed category did not mean it had to be avoided.

“These products would fall under the ultra-processed classification. Not all of them are going to be bad for us. Some of them, especially those that give us a lot of fibre and low in sugar, can be absolutely part of a healthy diet, especially given the constraints that we’re under these days.”

But if possible, Garton said the less processed option was always preferable.

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

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police investigating the death of a grandmother whose body was found at a Hawke’s Bay worksite earlier this month have identified a likely route taken by a vehicle of interest.

Police have issued a fresh appeal for help from the public in the investigation into the death of Sharlene Smith, 64, from Rotorua.

Smith’s body was found at a property on Taihape Road in Omahu, near Hastings, on 3 February.

Police earlier described the incident as the “tragic and avoidable death of a much-loved mother, grandmother and sister”.

In a statement released this afternoon, Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Kris Payne said police had identified a likely route taken by a vehicle of interest.

“We know this vehicle was used on the day Sharlene’s body was left at the worksite, and officers have carried out extensive work to locate and review CCTV footage from the relevant timeframe.”

Anybody who saw a white 2005 Mazda 3 sports hatchback between 8am and midday on Sunday 1 February 2026, – travelling from the Awatoto area, through Taihape Road/Omahu Road and the Fernhill area, and into Marewa, Napier – is urged to contact police.

“We are asking anyone who saw this vehicle, or who has home, business, or dashcam CCTV footage from those areas during that time, to please contact Police if not already spoken to,” said Payne.

Two items belonging to Smith are believed to have been discarded along the same route: a handbag and a Samsung Galaxy A06 mobile phone.

Anyone with information can contact police by calling 105 and referencing file number 260203/9739. Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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

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