Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say a cyclist has died following a crash with a vehicle in Upper Hutt on Tuesday.

Emergency services received a report of the crash, involving a vehicle and a cyclist, about 4pm.

The intersection of Messines Avenue and Seddul Bahr Road in Trentham were closed while the Serious Crash Unit made enquiries.

The death will be referred to the Coroner.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents in the Far North community of Ahipara are arming themselves with sticks to protect against roaming dogs in their neighbourhood.

Local father Tyrone Biddle and his young daughters witnessed a pack of dogs attacking another neighbourhood dog last week.

“At first it looked like they were just playing, and then just within seconds it just turned to something like just really violent. So five of those dogs turned on one dog and just started mauling her,” he told Checkpoint.

“My four-year-old, I recall her just screaming and crying, because the dog that was getting mauled was a dog that was known to us. So my four-year-old screaming out this dog’s name, my seven-year-old just screaming ‘stop, stop’.”

In a statement, Far North District Council’s Hilary Sumpter said it had received 1087 reports of roaming dogs across the district at large during the last financial year, with 396 impounded.

Biddle said many parents in Ahipara were scared to let their kids walk to school on their own, and some residents had taken to arming themselves.

“This is the first time we’ve kind of seen that pack mentality kind of take effect, but my girls have been chased previously by dogs, people now walk around our community with weapons, with sticks, because they’re too scared to kind of go walking without one,” he said.

“There’s a school at the end of Ahipara that a lot of the tamariki go to, parents don’t let them walk or ride to school because of fear of all these dogs.”

Biddle said it wasn’t fair for residents to feel unsafe.

“This can’t be out of our control. This can’t be a situation in which we are kind of prisoners [in] our own community and can’t just go for a walk or let our kids experience the outdoors,” he said.

“This isn’t an anti-dog thing. This is just anti-irresponsible owners, people that choose to have dogs but don’t choose the responsibility of what comes with owning the dog.”

He criticised the council for what he viewed as a reactive approach.

“When I called the council about these dogs, they said, ‘yeah, we’re aware of these dogs.’ So if you’re aware of these dogs, what is it that you’re waiting for? What is currently happening is just not good enough for our community,” Biddle said.

“I’m just scared that the worst case scenario is that this thing getting mauled is not a dog and it’s one of our tamariki or our kaumātua or whoever it might be, because that is where I see this going.”

Sumpter said the council was taking proactive actions to prevent future issues.

“The council is currently working with the SPCA on a programme to provide dog de-sexing services in high-need communities,” she said.

“We are also actively following up on lapsed registrations. About 800 infringements have been issued district-wide in last two weeks for non-registration. Getting more dogs registered and on record means we can identify owners when their dogs are picked up. More infringements will be issued in coming weeks.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Manawatū community starts user-pays school bus after cancellation of ministry-funded service.
• Parents and guardians take loans and use savings to pay for it.
• Ministry has cancelled 13 services after a review it says is routine.

Manawatū parents and caregivers are dipping into their savings and even taking out loans to fund a bus service to get their children to school.

This comes after some school buses that used to run into Palmerston North were axed as a result of a Ministry of Education review into more than 250 routes nationwide.

One high school reports that 300 of its students are affected by the changes.

‘Just not fair’

Rongotea is one of the areas affected by the changes, where high school students have a 15-minute ride into Palmerston North.

Families now have to pay for the bus that was previously free for decades.

Nikita Walker has helped lead efforts to organise the user-pays service for children, at a cost of more than $500 a term per child.

“I’ve had to ask family members to help me come up with funds to pay for my daughter’s term pass because we are a one-income family and we just can’t pull that off, and I don’t see it being able to be pulled off for future terms,” she said.

“It’s causing hardship for a lot of us and it’s just not fair.”

The ministry has reviewed routes to ensure compliance with its policies, including that students must go to their closest school.

Since then it has cancelled 13 services, including the one that used to run from Rongotea and Tangimoana into Palmerston North, which fell foul of these rules but had been in place for as long as residents can recall.

Walker’s daughter Jasmine would be eligible for a bus to Manawatū College in Foxton, rather than Palmerston North Girls’ High School, where she attends – but she said changing schools with her two senior years remaining was not an option.

“I honestly wouldn’t go. I really would not go. Honestly, I’d probably just get homeschooled.”

Nikita said while about 30 students caught the user-pays bus, not everyone could afford it.

“They are currently stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Some of them are managing to do carpooling. I’ve had families reach out to me that are saying, ‘Well, we might actually have to quit our jobs and relocate’, and sell their homes because they just can’t manage this.”

Loans and savings pay for service

Other parents and guardians in Rongotea have found ways to pay for the bus, for now at least.

“My boss is actually paying for it. I actually have to pay that back otherwise my daughter wouldn’t be going to school because I cannot afford that, being a single-income family.” said Stacey Monks.

“At the moment I’ve had to go into my savings to get the teenager who’s at [Palmerston North school] QEC, just for the term, to get him to school,” said a Rongotea grandmother, who asked not to be named.

“We’ve already started saving for next term because that’s another bill that has to be there, but at this time of the year you’ve got a high school uniform that needs to be paid for and you’ve got devices and stationery and all the rest of it. It’s just a cost that’s just unfair for our rural communities,” said Jess Greene, who is also leading the charge to stand up for affected families.

Review is routine – ministry

Ministry group manager, school transport, James Meffan said reviewing school bus routes was routine, as the location and number of eligible students constantly changed.

Last year it looked at 265 routes, out of more than 1400.

As well as the 13 cancelled routes it added 13 new ones, merged 23, lengthened 73 and shortened 114.

Meffan said it would put on buses in places such as Rongotea if enough students were enrolled at their closest school.

The ministry did not review bus routes with the intention of saving money.

School ponders user-pays buses

At Palmerston North Boys’ High School, rector David Bovey said more than 300 students were affected by the changes, and the school was thinking of putting on its own user-pays services.

“A number of young men who were due to come here in year nine this year, who are from surrounding areas, decided not to because they can’t get in here on the bus,” he said.

“We’ve had some of the senior boys who have been trying to make their own way here, but it’s been a real issue for a number of parents. We had a couple of boys who couldn’t start on time, at the same time as everyone else, because they had to organise transport.”

Education Minister Erica Stanford said bus routes weren’t for her to decide.

“The school bus rules and regulations have been in place for over 100 years and have never been changed and at some point in the future we’ll need to take a look at them, but it is an operational job for the ministry so ministers don’t get involved.”

For now, parents such as Nikita Walker were hoping the ministry does a U-turn – something that has happened before, when services were under threat in the 1990s.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are working with Australian counterparts on an investigation into a satanic child sex abuse material ring with alleged links to New Zealand.

New South Wales police announced last week that detectives from their Sex Crimes Squad had charged a sixth man and were referring a further 145 suspects to international law enforcement agencies following an investigation into a satanic child sex abuse material ring as part of an operation called Strike Force Constantine.

Police said investigators had identified offenders from New Zealand, USA, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and South East Asia.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

RNZ asked New South Wales police for information on the New Zealand-based suspects and how many there were.

A spokesperson said any questions needed to be directed to New Zealand police.

RNZ asked police what work was being done by New Zealand officers in relation to the investigation, what co-operation there had been with overseas authorities and how many suspects were based in this country.

Detective Inspector Stuart Mills said New Zealand Police were “working with the New South Wales Police on this matter and will support them as requested”.

“We are not in a position to comment further at this time.”

New South Wales police said last week that Strike Force Constantine was established by State Crime Command’s Child Exploitation Internet Unit to investigate the online distribution of child sexual abuse involving ritualistic or satanic themes.

“During the investigation, detectives uncovered a Sydney-based paedophile network actively involved in possessing, distributing, and facilitating this material through a website administered internationally.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A marine biologist says the impacts of Wellington’s sewage overflow on a nearby marine reserve is depressing to witness.

About 70 million litres of untreated waste is now being pumped 1.8 kilometres out into Cook Strait after the Moa Point treatment plant failed last week.

The waste is now being screened for solid items like wet wipes and sanitary items but is otherwise raw sewage.

The capital’s South Coast beaches are currently off limits because of contamination.

Dr Christopher Cornwall is a senior lecturer in Marine Biology at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington told Checkpoint that sewage was still potentially getting out onto the area’s rocky reef ecosystems and the kelp forests around places like Taputeranga Marine Reserve and the rest of the South Coast, but also into some of the deep reefs.

“So that untreated sewage is still having ecological impacts, as to how big those impacts are we don’t really know at the moment.”

The South Coast marine reserve near where the sewage was being released was one of the best examples of marine protection in Aotearoa, he said.

“So we have things like increased numbers and sizes of pāua, koura, crayfish, we have things like a lot of fin fish species, so these will, towards the pipeline these will probably all be impacted.

“As to what those impacts are we’re not 100 percent sure, they could range from small immeasurable impacts if this sewage pumping is stopped soon or they could range to larger ecological impacts such as the mortality of that kelp forest and the abalone that lives in it, the pāua.”

Asked whether there were any historical examples that could give some indication of what might happen, Cornwall said that during the 1950s untreated sewage went out to a kelp forest off the California coastline and “it caused long term die-off of that kelp forest”.

“In the 80s there was treated sewage that came out into that same area and it had lesser impacts.”

In New Zealand, the treated sewage had measurable impacts on the seaweed community and potentially on the pāua at a Porirua reef although that data was still being analysed, he said.

Research that had been done at Porirua showed that there was a loss of some of the forest forming brown seaweeds or big kelp which were the habitats and food for a large range of shellfish and fin fish species, he said.

Seaweed takes up nitrogen naturally but things like the sewage outfall can cause this to become elevated, he said.

“That means the seaweeds taking advantage of that excess nitrogen and it can shift the balance in that seaweed ecosystem, so essentially it’s taken up into their tissues and other nasties are also taken up into there and it can change the way that they function, for example it can cause some species that are invasive or opportunistic to increase their growth rates and out compete our native species.”

The worst case scenario, which is less likely, would be the die-off of that kelp forest ecosystem – pāua, kina, koura and the fin fish species that live in that area, he said.

“We don’t know at this point whether that will occur, it will depend on how long it takes for that sewage to actually start being treated.”

Smaller impacts are more likely, he said.

“You can get things like green tide algae, so ulva, which will start out-competing some of the natives and increase.”

That had happened in the past when there had been problems at Moa Point, he said.

If the sewage kept being pumped out it could also lead to things like harmful algal blooms, he said.

There was no way to mitigate the effects if sewage kept being pumped into the area, he said.

“The only way that we can actually mitigate this is by making sure that this doesn’t happen in the first place and then secondly I guess we need to use this as an example of why we shouldn’t be pumping our sewage out onto places like the South Coast, like the jewel in Wellington’s crown as some people have put it recently. So we really need to think about using this as an example of what we shouldn’t be doing for our wastewater management system.”

It was depressing and disheartening to see sewage pumping out so close to the Taputeranga marine reserve, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the survivors of the Christchurch terror attack says the terrorist is just seeking attention with his Court of Appeal bid.

White supremacist Brenton Tarrant is serving a life sentence without parole for the mass shootings in March 2019 and has gone to the Court of Appeal to overturn his convictions and sentence.

Temel Atacocugu, who was shot during the massacre at Al Noor Mosque, said he believed this was all for the terrorist’s entertainment and so he could get the public’s attention again.

“He doesn’t want to be forgotten, but he lost that chance. He is forgotten already. I don’t think it will make any difference to his conditions in jail after all this court case is finished,” Atacocugu said.

Atacocugu was shot nine times in the attack and said it was still challenging for him physically and mentally.

He has been watching the court hearing via livestream in Christchurch and said it was difficult to see the terrorist’s face on screen.

“When I saw his face on the screen, flashbacks started bombarding my mind, and remembering that day. And my body reacted and was aching and my disabled arm on my left side. So it’s not easy for us to be still dealing with this court case,” he said.

The terrorist should stop with the self-pity and face what he had done like a man, Atacocugu said.

Federation of Islamic Associations chair Abdur Razzaq said the latest court appearance by the Australian terrorist followed a well-known pattern used by convicted right-wing terrorists globally to exploit legal systems in order to regain publicity, amplify their ideology and inspire online supporters.

The white supremacist was following an almost identical trajectory to the man responsible for the 2011 Norway attacks that killed 77 people, he said.

“After initially confessing guilt, the Oslo terrorist systematically exploited the Norwegian and European legal systems through repeated court actions following his 2012 conviction, including cases in 2016, 2017, and again in 2024, largely focused on alleged prison conditions. This is quite similar to the Australian 15 March terrorist who is now exploiting the NZ legal system claiming he pleaded guilty under duress by torture,” Abdur Razzaq said.

The terrorist was using the New Zealand legal system not to seek genuine redress but to re-enter the public arena, garner repeated media reporting and ensure continued visibility, he said.

The legal challenges brought societal costs to the March 15 families, who were already suffering from PTSD and large financial costs, Abdur Razzaq said.

“Unfortunately, as a society, we must confront an uncomfortable reality.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Experts say it is safe to swim at beaches in the capital’s harbour, but Wellingtonians are taking a cautious approach.

Nearly a week ago, the Moa Point Treatment Plant started pumping raw sewage into the ocean off the south coast after it completely failed early Wednesday morning.

The following Thursday evening, the raw sewage was diverted from being dumped near the coast to a 1.8-kilometre outfall pipe.

Wellington Water had warned it may need to use the short outfall pipe if it were to rain in the city.

There was no evidence to suggest sewage was reaching the city’s inner harbour, but at Oriental Bay most people RNZ spoke to thought locals were being careful around the water.

Keita said there was nobody on the beach when normally it would be “a shocker”.

“People would be everywhere, especially this whole sand beach would be full of people.”

She would “definitely reconsider” swimming in the area despite there not being current warnings about entering the water there.

“I think everyone has their own little mindsets on it I guess you could say.”

Munroe said people would continue to be cautious until there was a fix for the sewage plant.

LAWA said people should monitor their website for the latest risk assessments for beaches people were planning to swim at.

“These predictions are based on a combination of environmental conditions such as rainfall along with the swim spot monitoring history.

“This afternoon, there are dozens of beaches in the region that are predicted to be suitable for swimming.”

Auckland University professor Karin Bryan said based on the evidence she would swim there.

“Because it is incredibly high delusion rates and I’m pretty sure that LAWA and the council is being really, really careful to make sure the advice is really sound.

“So, I would definitely trust them.”

Bryan said Cook Strait had extremely strong currents which would likely keep the inner harbour unaffected.

Calypso Science was a New Plymouth based oceanography research company, with a focus on coastal currents.

It created a model of Wellington’s south coast after the news of the Moa Point sewage plant failure.

Physical oceanographer Remy Zyngfogel told RNZ based on that work, the sewage was not seeming to flow into the inner harbour.

“I didn’t see anything near Lower Hutt, it is mainly concentrated near Lyall Bay and Ōwhiro Bay.”

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little has called for an independent inquiry into the sewage plant failure.

Separately to that, Greater Wellington Regional Council would be investigating the matter as the water regulator for the region.

“As the discharge from Moa Point is currently a live event, we are unable to comment further on the discharge or the details of our investigation.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A dirt bike rider has been seriously injured in a crash in Whangārei, just as Northland police were warning of the dangers of joyriding on city streets.

The latest crash occurred about 5.20pm on Monday in the suburb of Raumanga, near the intersection of Otaika Road and Abbotts Way.

A car and a dirt bike were involved, with the rider suffering severe injuries.

St John Ambulance confirmed the rider had been transported to Whangārei Hospital in a serious condition.

Police said the rider was now in a stable condition and the Serious Crash Unit was investigating.

RNZ was unable to confirm if the rider was licensed or wearing a helmet, but it is understood the bike was unregistered and unwarranted.

That same day Senior Sergeant Clem Armstrong, of Northland police, had issued a stark warning about the dangers of dirt bikes on urban streets.

He said the problem was particularly bad in Kaikohe and Whangārei, but many places in Northland – and around the country – were affected.

Armstrong was especially concerned about a trend of people taking young children joyriding on city streets without helmets or protective clothing, on bikes that often had poor brakes and bald tyres.

The danger had been highlighted by the severe facial injuries suffered by a three-year-old boy in a dirt bike crash in Kaikohe.

Armstrong said the boy’s 22-year-old father had been charged with driving and child welfare offences, and was now going through the courts.

RNZ understands the child’s injuries included a broken jaw and facial lacerations.

Armstrong said the riders showed no consideration for children or other road users.

“It’s just a huge safety concern for us. I’ve seen first-hand people who have been seriously hurt, and the absolute last thing we want is for somebody to lose their life as a result of this sort of stuff,” he said.

Monday’s crash in Whangārei was on the same stretch of road – Otaika Road or State Highway 1 – where a 29-year-old man was critically injured when his dirt bike and a car collided last March.

He died later in hospital.

A Kaikohe resident, who did want to be named for fear of retribution, said he often saw people tearing up and down his street on dirt bikes – sometimes taking small children for joyrides.

Thinking about what would happen in a crash made him “deeply, deeply anxious”.

“Parents, mothers and fathers alike, will take a little, tiny baby for a ride down the street, and the child is sitting in front of them with no restraints … They have no idea what would happen if they suddenly hit something. They would just go flying like a bag of cement and have to be scraped off the road 20 metres ahead.”

The crash involving the three-year-old had not stopped people taking children for joyrides, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland mum is unhappy with the response from a local pool after her son smashed his front teeth while on a hydroslide – only weeks after a man lost his finger.

Tanya Rusher said she understands accidents happen, but felt the way her 12-year-old son was dealt with by staff at Mt Albert Aquatic Centre was not good enough.

It comes as Worksafe confirmed it would revisit the centre this month after learning about the second injury. It said improvements had been made when its inspector visited the centre two days after a man lost his finger when a ring caught on a bolt inside the slide.

Rusher said her son banged his teeth on the metal hydroslide when his head was thrown around while enjoying a day out with his family on January 2.

“He came up to me and said his tooth was feeling all fuzzy and sore and he felt sick.”

Rusher said when she looked at his teeth one had been broken in half and the pulp of his tooth was visible.

“We told reception what happened and asked if they had an incident form we could fill out to give to a dentist, but they said they didn’t have anything.”

Instead, Rusher said she was told to fill out her details on a piece of paper and staff would get in contact with her later.

She said her son, who was in a state of shock, was given an ice pack and told to sit in the public cafeteria, in full view of all the other patrons.

“As it was a public holiday, we didn’t know what to do… we rang up dental places but no answer, so we rang Healthline.”

Rusher said Healthline instructed her to give her son Pamol and Ibuprofen, and the next day they were able to get an emergency appointment at a dental company on Auckland’s North Shore.

A temporary cover was put over her son’s chipped tooth, but was told it was possible the tooth next to it was dying and may need work done in the future.

The family paid $289 for two dental appointments and Rusher worried her son may have lifelong dental problems as a result.

Rusher said the centre needed to have health and safety policies in place and incident forms for when accidents did happen.

She also wanted to see the centre create an area for injured people to go that wasn’t in the full view of the public.

“No one said we’ll stop the slide and see if we can find the tooth… it felt like no one wanted to know.”

She said someone from the centre called her the day after the incident, but only to ask for her to return the ice pack.

The manager rang the following week to say an incident report was being completed, but she had not heard more since then.

“They weren’t helpful and I still haven’t had any incident form sent to me.”

Rusher said her family used to go the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre regularly, but she wouldn’t be going back now.

“Accidents do happen but we weren’t helped… the fact this was the second incident shows something is going on with that slide.”

Operator Community Leisure Management (CLM)’s director Kirsty Knowles said staff followed the right process when dealing with Rusher’s son by recording details.

“It’s normal practice for our staff to apply first aid in the foyer, reception area or at poolside as the facility has no dedicated first aid room.”

She said the incident was captured in the centre’s health and safety system and would be tracked through usual processes.

The slide was regularly checked for operational safety, she said.

“We stress that following pool rules or guidance and the instructions of lifeguards is important in keeping everyone safe.”

She said signs around the slide were being improved and would be in place within the week.

Auckland Council’s head of service partner delivery Garth Dawson, said the slide had been inspected twice since August 2025.

He said if WorkSafe found an issue with the slide or the operating procedures beyond what had already been identified, council would work with the slide manufacturer and CLM on further steps.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime to disband four months early
• Winding up comes after three of its five members resigned
• Group’s spending has come under fire.

The ministerial advisory group charged with tackling retail crime will be disbanded months earlier than planned after a string of resignations.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has confirmed today that the group – which has faced criticism for its spending – will wind up in May.

The Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime was originally set up for two years until September.

Confirmation of its early demise comes after RNZ revealed last month that three of the group’s five members had resigned in recent weeks.

One of them – Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young – said her relationship with chairman Sunny Kaushal had become untenable.

Foodstuffs North Island senior manager Lindsay Rowles also resigned this year and Michael Hill national retail manager Michael Bell quit late last year.

This left just Kaushal and Hamilton liquor retailer Ash Parmar.

Young told RNZ Kaushal was not the right person to chair the group, which had an “unpleasant environment”.

RNZ has contacted Kaushal for comment.

The group has faced criticism over its spending, including on catered meetings around New Zealand and for its inner-city Auckland office space, which is rented for $120,000 a year.

It has also faced questions about its value for money after it was revealed that Kaushal invoiced more than $230,000 for work in its first 12 months.

Kaushal has previously the group’s work, saying it operates under its $1.8 million annual budget, which comes from the proceeds of crime fund.

Minister defends group’s work

Goldsmith confirmed the group would cease earlier than planned.

“For various reasons, three of the members have left, and we could either go through the performance of reappointing them, or just wind it up early,” he said.

“The MAG has been very successful in getting all the work done. We’ve got the Crimes Act changes in the House.

“They’ve provided advice on, sort of, anti-social behaviour, which we’ll have more to say on the next couple of weeks, and they’ve also work around trespass laws.

“They’ve got a couple of issues that they’re going to finish – one on facial recognition, and the other one on the security industry.”

RNZ revealed last year that one of the proposals the group had recommended was allowing shop keepers to defend themselves with pepper spray – a restricted weapon.

At the time, Young told RNZ that Retail NZ was opposed to that move due to safety fears.

The Security Association also made a submission opposing the move.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A firefighter clambered on to the side-roof of a burning building at Taupō’s largest school after the ladder-truck that hoses down fires from height broke down.

The fire that gutted a two-storey block of classrooms at Taupō-nui-a-Tia College resulted in arson charges laid against two young people.

After the first ladder-truck – called an ‘aerial’ – from Rotorua broke down as it set up the hose on its boom, another large ladder-truck was rushed in from Hamilton almost two hours away.

In the meantime, “firefighters successfully used other tactics to contain the fire to the building of origin and protect all neighbouring structures”, Fire and Emergency said.

The Professional Firefighters’ Union said such a delay mattered at fires of this scale.

A video posted online showed the firefighter on the roof hosing through the second-storey classroom windows for about a minute as flames billowed out and began to consume the roof at the other end, before he got down on a ladder held by another firefighter.

Taupō retiree Les Wills was watching.

“It didn’t look very safe at all,” he said.

“I think other people around me were thinking pretty much the same sort of thing.”

He’d seen online commentary he agreed with, that it was “dumb but brave”.

FENZ deputy national commander Megan Stiffler said firefighters were trained to use various tactics.

“Firefighters can apply a range of tactics, including using hoses at height to direct water onto a fire,” she said.

“Doing this from an aerial appliance or from a roof are both tactics which an incident commander may consider, depending on the circumstances, the type of incident and the resources available.”

They also applied the so-called safe person concept and dynamic risk assessment.

“If one particular type of fire truck is unavailable, they can adapt their tactics to the resources that they have.”

Des Chan who was on the Rotorua truck said they got some water to the boom but not enough, and had to adopt a tactic that was “very much” less safe.

He was not referring to the firefighter on the roof, which he did not know about, but having to get very close-in to the flames.

“We were trying to stop the fire spreading to the library next door just across a little gap.

“With the aerial [ladder] we would have contained it completely, as it was we had to stand there, right underneath,” Chan, the union’s Rotorua local secretary, said.

‘The angst, the anguish, the frustration’

Wills had watched the Rotorua ladder-truck crew set up the boom to get their hose in the air, amid other smaller fire trucks and their crews.

“The water came out from behind the cab of the truck and simply flooded the ground. There was a very thin trickle of water came out of the boom itself onto the fire.

“I think what struck me more than anything else was looking at the angst, the anguish, the frustration, if not the actual anger on the faces of the firefighters who had just driven from Rotorua to assist putting out a huge fire and their equipment failed on them.”

Union spokesperson in Waikato, Jay Culhane said the boom would have allowed the high hose to penetrate deeply into the burning classroom in a way that ground-based hoses could not.

Stiffler said a sticking valve was the problem, and they had learned this had happened before but not been reported for repairs, and it was “critical” firefighters reported faults.

But Chan said two previous times the boom did not work, the firefighters had checked then restarted it and it had been okay. To report all such faults meant mechanics would be getting a lot of reports, he added.

Culhane said the Hamilton ladder-truck had to be nursed on its emergency run down to Taupō as it regularly overheated and was often laid up for repairs.

FENZ confirmed a second breakdown on Sunday, of the emissions control system in a command-unit truck coming down from Greerton station in Tauranga.

“As a command unit from Rotorua was already at the scene, this second command unit was not required,” Stiffler said.

The agency’s network approach enabled relief vehicles to be called on “whenever and wherever they are needed”, she added.

“All our trucks are maintained in a fully operational condition regardless of age. We have a proactive servicing regime for all trucks and replace any worn parts as required to keep them at an operational standard. These are large, complicated vehicles but they are well maintained, safe, certified, and legally compliant.”

FENZ was spending over $20m annually over the next three years on its fleet and $12.5 million on new aerials. Contracts were in place “although we acknowledge this will take some time”.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A two-week salvage operation has begun to recover the wrecked Black Cat Cruises boat from Akaroa Harbour on Banks Peninsula.

More than 40 people were rescued from the catamaran when it ran into trouble at Nikau Palm Valley Bay in the Akaroa Marine Reserve on 31 January.

The Canterbury Regional Council said work to recover parts of the tourist boat from the beach and the sea could take two weeks, depending on the conditions.

The boat was carrying 2240 litres of marine diesel fuel and around 120 litres of other oils in sealed containers and engines combined.

The catamaran was stuck on rocks near the heads but swells last week dislodged part of the boat, leaving it broken up on shore.

Regional on-scene commander Emma Parr said safety was a top priority.

“Recovery activities will only be undertaken when conditions are safe for crews and any potential environmental impacts have been minimised. This includes pre and post wildlife surveys and hydrocarbon testing of water, sediment and shellfish,” she said.

The salvage team will first dismantle the top of the boat and remove debris from the beach.

The council said the work would involve cutting up and removing the wreckage using a barge and crane over about five days.

Sections of the submerged hull and other debris will then be removed from the sea.

Parr said a 200-metre exclusion zone remained in place about the boat.

“The exclusion area is critical to keeping people safe while complex recovery work is underway. We ask the public to please respect all signage, on-water restrictions and advice from response crews,” she said.

“Removing the vessel and debris from this sensitive area is a priority and all parties involved remain committed to completing the recovery as safely and efficiently as possible.”

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) is investigating the grounding.

Several agencies are working together on the recovery effort with the council, including the Department of Conservation, Maritime New Zealand, TAIC, Wildbase and NZ Defence Force.

The tour operator has previously said the grounding was the first incident of its kind in more than 40 years.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A panel of three senior military officers have retired to deliberate on the verdict for a senior navy officer accused of encouraging a junior officer to kiss them on the cheek at a bar during an overseas operation.

The senior officer pleaded not guilty to a charge of doing an act likely to prejudice service discipline, which is an offence punishable by up to two years in prison.

Under the Armed Forces Discipline Act, this includes any act likely to bring discredit on the service of the Armed Forces.

The military hearing has been sitting at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland this week.

Judge William Hastings declined an application for interim name suppression from the accused, but their name is still suppressed pending an appeal.

On Monday, a former junior officer gave evidence on the alleged interaction during an operation in Fiji in March 2023, when officers were given leave for a few days and were drinking at a bar in town.

He said the senior officer first caught the attention of him and another junior officer when they tapped on a glass pane and gestured for a kiss through the other side of the glass, and later gestured for them to come inside the bar and tapped on their cheeks to gesture for a kiss.

The officer said he obliged and kissed them on the cheek, as he felt it was expected.

He conceded during cross-examination by the accused’s lawyer that he “downplayed” the interaction and didn’t tell the whole truth when first approached by the military police in August 2024, as he didn’t think he’d be taken seriously and that he was worried his career would be affected if he spoke up.

The accused senior officer also gave evidence and said they did not encourage the junior officer to kiss them.

Under questioning by their own lawyer, they told the court the interaction didn’t happen, and if it did, it wouldn’t have seemed out of ordinary for an officer to kiss them as “people kiss me on the cheek every day”.

Another navy officer, who said they were with the accused senior officer during the majority of the evening of the alleged interaction, said they didn’t see the senior officer interacting with the junior officer that night.

Judge Hastings told the military panel during his summing up of the case on Tuesday, that they need to be sure on whether the crown has proved beyond reasonable doubt that the senior officer encouraged the junior officer to kiss them, and if so, did they intend to encourage him, did they know they were acting improperly, and was the conduct in the circumstances likely to prejudice service discipline.

Judge Hastings said the answer would need to be yes to all the questions for a member to return a guilty verdict.

In a court martial, all three members of a military panel must agree unanimously on a verdict.

More to come…

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say they recovered a body from the Waioweka River on Tuesday morning after a search for a man who was swept downstream after falling from a boat in the Bay of Plenty town of Ōpōtiki last month.

Inspector Nicky Cooney, Eastern Bay of Plenty Area Commander, said the body was recovered from the river at about 9am.

“This has been a long slow search, hindered at times by the weather as well as impacted by the slips on SH2,” Cooney said in a statement.

Police earlier said that they were called out at about 5.30pm on Friday 23 January after reports that a man had fallen from a boat and a search of the area was carried out with a vessel found nearby.

Cooney thanked all those who assisted in the search efforts including Land SAR volunteers, local jet boat and helicopter operators, the Police National Dive Squad and iwi whose knowledge of the river and surrounding terrain had been invaluable.

The formal identification process is underway, and the man’s death has been referred to the Coroner.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Multiple fire crews are battling a blaze that’s engulfed a workshop in Eskdale, north of Napier.

Emergency services were called to the rural Seafield Road property about 1.20pm.

Fire and Emergency says it has five fire trucks and two water tankers working in the building that is about the size of a three bay garage.

It could not say whether anyone was injured.

St John confirmed it was at the scene.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Two Auckland students are in Starship Hospital after being struck by cars before school on Monday.

Police said one intermediate-aged student was hit by a car at about 8.15am while crossing Whangaparāoa Road in Stanmore Bay.

In a statement, Whangaparāoa College confirmed one of its students was hit.

It said the student was receiving medical treatment and would make a full recovery.

Police said another intermediate child was hit by a different car on Onewa Road in Northcote at 8.26am.

St John said both children who suffered moderate injuries were taken to Starship in ambulances.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A rule change that electrical inspectors say elevates the risk of people being electrocuted is being reviewed.

The change – made late last year – lifted a ban on inserting a switch, circuit or fuse into mains power earthing systems in houses and businesses.

The Electrical Inspectors Association wrote to the government a week ago, asking it to intervene with Worksafe.

Energy Minister Simon Watts said he took feedback from stakeholders seriously.

“The regulatory amendment lays the foundation for future measures to ensure electric vehicle charging meets safety expectations, and allow for improved disaster resilience,” Watts said in a statement.

WorkSafe’s Energy Safety team had commissioned an independent review by an international expert to provide assurance on their advice to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which instituted the rule change.

Worksafe issued initial guidance to the industry and had said it was working on further technical guidance on protective earth neutral conductor (PEN) switching.

The inspectors’ letter on 29 January said they had failed to persuade Worksafe.

“The PEN conductor is the single most important wire in any electrical installation,” they wrote.

If it was broken or ‘switched-off’, the installation’s earth moved up toward a phase voltage.

“This is very dangerous and can result in multiple fatalities. Now, a compliant New Zealand electrical installation with no faults present can now be lethal.”

They offered to provide a tabletop demonstration of this and for Worksafe to demonstrate the converse if it could.

“Please use independent thought and guidance when replying to this issue as we believe WorkSafe is in ‘cover-up’ mode,” association president Warren Willets wrote to Workplace Safety Minister Brooke van Velden, who transferred it to Watts.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The defence for a District Court Judge accused of disrupting an NZ First event has told a judicial conduct panel the affair has been blown “out of all proportion”.

Judge Ema Aitken was appearing before the panel in Auckland on Tuesday, accused of disrupting a function at Auckland’s exclusive Northern Club in 2024.

She was accused of shouting that NZ First leader Winston Peters was lying.

Judge Aitken said she did not shout, did not recognise Peters’ voice when she responded to remarks she overheard and did not know it was a political event.

Her lawyer, David Jones, KC, opened his case by praising the judge’s career, describing her as diligent and a judge of principle.

He explained why the judge continued to fight the allegations.

“She is a judge of principle, and she is a judge of integrity, and she is not going to resign over something that she did not do,” he said.

Jones maintained Judge Aitken did not know it was Winston Peters speaking at the Northern Club, and that she was unaware of the political context when she made her comments.

Jones raised the concern of handing the acting attorney-general a ‘loaded gun’ if they found consideration of removal was justified.

Special Counsel Tim Stephens, KC, had said on Monday final say on removal of the judge fell with acting Attorney-General Paul Goldsmith.

Jones pointed to the fact that Goldsmith was a politician.

“Now, it’s been said, well, the attorney-general has to act lawfully,” he said.

“We have the very real political context of the complaint generated by, it seems, a political situation, and all of the issues that have been raised about the reports in the media, they are all political issues,” he said.

“So, this is a politicized situation, not of the judge’s making, but of others, and what you have is a situation where in the current climate, for example it’s an election year, we have coalition issues that obviously are going to be concerning some people, and the attorney-general, if he gets the loaded gun from the panel, what considerations will come into play there?”

Jones said the emphasis of the panel had to be on fairness, natural justice, and fitness for office.

Comments ‘rude’, justifies consideration of removal

Presenting the allegations of misconduct to the panel, Stephens said the panel was responsible for reporting on the judge’s conduct, finding the facts, and ultimately recommending if the judge should be removed.

He continued his opening from Monday, addressing the allegations Judge Aitken faced, and what happened on that night in 2024.

He started by providing political context on leading up to the alleged disturbance, leading with a complaint made by lawyer Gary Judd, KC, over compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students.

The complaint was supported by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters who said teaching tikanga was “cultural indoctrination”.

A select committee largely rejected a complaint in April last year.

The next piece of context Stephens gave was the haka that broke out in Parliament following the vote for the Treaty Principles Bill.

Stephens referenced NZ First MP Casey Costello, who at the time had said NZ First would only support the bill to first reading.

Minister Costello is expected to be called as a witness before the judicial conduct panel.

On the night in question, Stephens said Judge Aitken had been attending a function for district court judges, while at the same time, a NZ First event was taking place in another part of the Northern Club.

Stephens said part of Winston Peters’ speech at that event mentioned both the teaching of tikanga at law school, as well as the party’s position on the Treaty Principles Bill.

“The allegations that I make or that I present are that while the deputy prime minister was speaking, Judge Aitken interrupted him in the New Zealand First dinner by heckling the deputy prime minister, accusing the deputy prime minister of lying and being a liar, saying that the deputy prime minister’s comments were disgusting…”

In the wake of the incident, Stephens said Judge Aitken wrote to NZ First apologising for what happened.

He told the panel a key fact finding part of their job would be determining when the judge realised the speaker at the event was Peters and if she knew it was a NZ First event.

It was Stephens submission that Judge Aitken’s behaviour was rude, and brought the judiciary into conflict with the executive branch of government.

“I will submit that even if the judge didn’t know that the speaker was the deputy prime minister at the exact point in time or prior to when she made her comments, my submission will be that her conduct seen in the round still justifies consideration of removal,” he said.

Disclosure issue clarified

The second day of the hearing begun with the panel addressing concerns from David Jones, KC, about what he described as undisclosed evidence claimed from Special Counsel.

Lead panellist Brendan Brown, KC, explained they had received an application from Judge Aitken just before Waitangi weekend, seeking disclosure of witness material.

The panel directed Special Counsel to disclose relevant documents to the judge, which Stephens stated he had already made all such disclosures.

The panellist also defined what the word ‘document’, and the reference to a ‘document authored’ meant, as raised by Jones on Monday.

Brown said the purpose of his clarification was to comply the rules of natural justice.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Australian white supremacist who massacred 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques was pleased to be charged with committing terrorism, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Convicted murderer and terrorist Brenton Tarrant made the admission to one of his lawyers after being advised of the charge in May 2019.

The 35-year-old wants to vacate his guilty pleas for the 15 March 2019 terror attacks at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre and stand trial instead.

In March 2020, the gunman pleaded guilty at the High Court to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of committing a terrorist act.

He was jailed for life without parole in August 2020.

The terrorist’s former lawyers Jonathan Hudson and Shane Tait, who represented him from late March 2019 until July 2020, gave evidence at a Court of Appeal hearing in Wellington on Tuesday morning.

Lawyers representing the terrorist at the Court of Appeal have name suppression.

During an exchange with a lawyer known only as counsel B, Hudson said the terrorist gave surprising responses to being advised of a 51st charge of murder and a charge of terrorism being laid against him.

Hudson’s affidavit described an “extremely unusual response” to the final murder charge.

“It wasn’t the response I had expected,” Hudson told the court, although he did not elaborate.

Hudson also detailed the gunman’s response to being advised of the terrorism charge in late May 2019.

“He was pleased,” he said.

“He wanted to be described as a terrorist.”

Hudson told the court the terrorist expressed a willingness to immediately plead guilty to the charge of terrorism, while at the same time maintaining a desire to plead not guilty to the murder and attempted murder charges.

The terrorist pleaded not guilty to all charges in June 2019 and contacted Hudson on 31 July 2019 when he expressed a desire to plead guilty.

Hudson said the terrorist’s change of heart came as a surprise.

Two days later Hudson met the terrorist in prison and read a letter outlining the pleas and the case against him.

There was no change in the terrorist’s demeanour, Hudson said.

Four days later the terrorist had another change of heart shortly before he was due to formally enter his pleas in court.

Hudson received the news via a phone call from the terrorist.

“We only had 20 minutes before the scheduled teleconference with the judge,” Hudson told the court.

“I went to visit him at the prison afterwards to confirm his instructions.”

Guilty plea

Asked by counsel B if he found the terrorist’s changing mind to be “illogical or irrational”, Hudson said he attributed it to “the seriousness of the punishment he faced if he went through with the guilty plea”.

Hudson had made the terrorist aware he faced life imprisonment without parole regardless of whether he pleaded guilty or not.

Tait and Hudson told the court the terrorist always intended to plead guilty.

“He was consistent that he was going to plead guilty but he was inconsistent as to when he would plead guilty,” Hudson said.

Tait said he advised the terrorist he had no defence in law, the evidence against him was overwhelming and he accepted that advice and intended to plead guilty.

He said the terrorist had raised wanting to claim he was defending New Zealand from overpopulation from migrant communities.

“I made it clear that defence was not available to him,” Tait said.

Tait advised the terrorist that there was a possible defence to the terrorism charge because no-one had been convicted of the offence at the time.

“To be clear Mr Tarrant never wanted to defend the terrorism charge. It was something he wanted to be convicted of,” he said.

Tait and Hudson continued preparing for trial on the basis it might proceed.

As part of their preparation, Tait advised the terrorist to seek a change in venue for trial.

That application was quite advanced before the terrorist abandoned it, although Tait was not surprised.

“It was just another attempt for him to try to control the proceedings,” he told the court.

“I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t happy but I envisaged he may attempt to do something like that.

“His explanation is he didn’t want to be seen to be running away from the trauma he had caused the community.”

Tarrant’s extreme ideology seemed to be “more important to him than any idea of fair trial rights”, Tait said.

The court heard the terrorist had regularly ignored the advice of his lawyers, including in his desire to give a statement to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the attack.

The terrorist gave evidence to the court on Monday, in his first public remarks since the 2019 mass shooting.

During his evidence he claimed he always intended on dismissing his lawyers, going to trial and representing himself.

He felt “forced” to plead guilty in March 2020 because of his deteriorating mental state and his fear he would make a fool of himself at trial.

His argument for vacating his guilty pleas amounted to the terrorist claiming he was incapable of making a rational decision at the time because of the solitary nature of confinement.

Hudson and Tait disputed the terrorist’s claim he had raised dismissing them.

Tait said the terrorist had only ever discussed representing himself at sentencing.

Tait recalled regularly pressing the terrorist for an arguable defence to take to trial and the terrorist made clear he was going to plead guilty, it was just a matter of when.

“Brenton what am I going to tell a jury?,” Tait recalled asking the terrorist.

“Don’t worry, it won’t get to that,” he said the terrorist would respond.

The terrorist, who is housed in the specialist prisoners of extreme risk unit at Auckland Prison, told the court on Monday any remorse he had expressed before his August 2020 sentencing was because of his isolation and poor mental state.

“I did express some remorse. I would now say that was induced by the prison conditions, I was irrational,” the terrorist told the court.

“It was actually real but it was induced by the prison conditions inducing the irrationality.”

The hearing is set down for five days.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tongariro’s mayor says the government should consider a proposal from an unnamed investor to return the Chateau Tongariro to its former status as a hotel.

The heritage building has been sitting empty since it was closed in February 2023 due to its earthquake risk, and the government has said it could be demolished or decommissioned.

Mayor Weston Kirton told Nine to Noon the response to a petition he put to the government to preserve the building was encouraging, but there were still many issues to resolve.

“We have an investor – a New Zealander – who has experience in high-end hotels, 5-star hotels, and heritage buildings and has a history around this type of activity.”

The investor was willing to put down about $100 million of private money to refurbish and repair the Chateau, Kirton said.

He was also asking for a 120-year lease, which is significantly more than the government usually allows, he added.

The government preferred to talk in terms of 30-year leases, which would discourage anyone from making such a significant investment into the Chateau, Kirton said.

The building has been in the hands of the Department of Conservation (DOC) since it was closed, as it sits on conservation land.

He pointed out that while the government was making a decision on what to do with the building, it was gradually falling further into disrepair.

“Every year that goes by adds to the expenditure on that particular building.”

Although it was important for DOC to maintain control over conservation land alongside local iwi, it was a pity the government would not consider carving out the land around the Chateau for a potential sale, Kirton said.

“That’s unfortunate,” he said – although he agreed that would set quite a precedent for future concessions.

For a deal to get done that would work for the investor, there would likely need to be changes to the Conservation Act in Parliament, Kirton said.

“That’s not hard for them to do … all they need to do now is put it up to Parliament to actually get it over the line and get on with the job.”

He said they had held talks with local iwi, who were “very interested” by the investor’s proposal.

“They are very passionate about the activities that could take place there, and it’s because they’ve been involved over the last few decades.

“This is not new to iwi – they see the potential for investments themselves.”

Kirton said it was his understanding that DOC and the government had not engaged iwi to the same level as the private investor.

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