Source: Radio New Zealand

Hundreds of people from around the motu are expected to descend on a Northland pā this weekend to remember one of the most famous battles fought on New Zealand soil.

The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā, the final engagement of the 1845-46 Northern War, pitched an estimated 400 Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine defenders against a force of about 1600 British troops and Māori allies.

Despite its inconclusive ending, the battle’s effects are still felt in Northland today – and the military innovations it spawned were used for decades afterwards, even in the trenches of World War I.

Te Ruapekapeka Trust chairman Pita Tipene said the first two days of commemorations would be centred on Kawiti Marae at Waiomio with a series of pōwhiri, wānanga and site visits.

The final day – a Sunday, like the last day of the battle 180 years earlier – would start at 4am with the blessing of a towering new pou ihi, or wayfinder pou, next to State Highway 1.

That would be followed by the blessing of 12 new tūpuna (ancestor) pou representing combatants in the battle, then a mass haka, a flag-raising ceremony and karakia at the pā itself.

Tipene expected hundreds would attend, including government ministers, the defence force and the British High Commission.

“It’s a time of year where many people will be away from Northland, but nonetheless, it is capturing the imagination of the people,” he said.

“Ruapekapeka is one of the few historic battle sites in New Zealand where we still actually have a pā. Many battle sites have been completely obliterated but this is still intact, and it’s very symbolic for not only the people of the North, but Māori people throughout the country. It is a nationally significant site.”

The origins of war

The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā was the last of a series of battles in the Northern War (previously also known as the Flagstaff War) that raged from March 1845 to January 1846.

Tipene said there was still conjecture about the cause.

Anger over broken promises made in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, five years earlier, and He Whakaputanga (The Declaration of Independence), was a key motivator – but economic factors also played a part.

When the Treaty was signed, New Zealand’s capital was at Ōkiato, near Russell, but it was moved to Auckland just a year later.

“When the British went to Auckland, they took all of that British trade with them. The economic ability of the local people was diminished greatly.”

The fighting begins

Tipene said the Northern War started when chiefs Kawiti, Pumuka and others attacked Kororāreka township (later renamed Russell), allowing Hone Heke to cut down the flagstaff for the fourth time.

The British evacuated to Auckland and called in reinforcements from Sydney.

They arrived in late March to April 1845 and set about taking control of the Bay of Islands, starting with a bombardment of Ngāti Manu’s Ōtuihu Pā (opposite present-day Ōpua).

From there the fighting shifted inland to the shores of Lake Ōmāpere, then to Ōhaeawai – a military disaster for the British – and other battles such as Waikare and Te Ahu Ahu, some of which did not involve British troops at all.

It culminated at Ruapekapeka, about 20km southeast of Kawakawa, a site chosen by Kawiti for its commanding view over the surrounding area.

It also had a well, vital if the battle turned into a lengthy siege, and an escape route if needed.

“It also gave all the warriors in the front lines in the trenches a good line of fire when the British started charging towards them,” Tipene said.

Kawiti designed the pā specifically to withstand canon fire with a complex system of trenches and palisades made from pūriri – famed for its hardness – lined with bundles of flax to absorb the projectiles’ impact.

Inside the walls, a network of underground tunnels and bunkers protected the defenders and lent the pā its name, which translated as “the bats’ nest”.

Tipene said the first British scouts arrived around 14 December 1845 with the full force in place by 29 December, after an arduous overland journey pulling 30 tonnes of provisions and artillery.

The first salvos started that day.

“On the night of 10 January, 1846, they opened up with everything they had and they created a breach in the front palisade. Early the next morning, Sunday 11 January, they entered the pā.”

By that time, only Kawiti and a small number of defenders remained inside the pā. Fighting ensued until they also withdrew into the bush.

The British did not follow Kawiti’s men, fearing an ambush.

The war ended in a truce of sorts with Kawiti famously telling Governor George Grey, “If you have had enough, then I have had enough. But if you have not had enough, then I have not had enough either.”

The battle’s lasting effects

Tipene said one of the most important results of the battle was that Ngāti Hine and their allies retained their land. (Land was usually confiscated by the Crown after conflicts with Māori.)

“The British were already preoccupied with uprisings in other parts of the country, and they were given advice by Māori who were loyal to the British that it wasn’t going to be a good idea to confiscate the land. Immediately after the battle, Kawiti made it very clear that if Governor Grey wanted to fight on, he was willing to fight on too – but if he wanted peace, peace would be had.”

“People were still angry and frustrated at what the British were doing, but effectively, peace was made. Kawiti said fighting with weapons was over, but it would continue in other ways, basically with the pen.”

The Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā, regarded as the pinnacle of Māori military design, influenced the way wars were fought for decades afterwards.

The British surveyed the site, made a model of the defences, and applied the innovations in the Crimean War and in the trenches of the World War I.

In 2008, the New Zealand Institute of Professional Engineers formally recognised Ruapekapeka Pā as a site of national engineering significance.

An excrement-smeared club

In January 1845, a few months before the war, Hone Heke visited Kawiti and presented him with the gift of a fine greenstone mere (club) smeared with human excrement.

The gift came to be known as Te Mere Whakakopa.

Tipene said the greenstone mere symbolised the rangatiratanga, or authority, of Māori, while the excrement was a symbol of how it was being defiled by the British.

“Kawiti understood that immediately, and his response was, ‘Me poroa ngā ringaringa me ngā waewae’. He was saying, ‘We will chop their hands and legs off’, which is a metaphorical declaration of war. It was a pact to wage war on the British and their allies.”

Tipene said Te Mere Whakakopa was the theme of this year’s 180th anniversary commemorations, and was still relevant today.

“A whole lot of legislation that’s coming out of the current government continues to contaminate the authority of the Māori people,” he said.

Sacrifice and reconciliation

Another ongoing effect of the battle was bitterness between Māori who fought for the British and those who fought under Kawiti.

Tipene said some reconciliation had happened naturally – the daughter of Te Aho, a prominent defender, had married a British corporal and their descendants were now one of the most prominent families in the area – but this weekend’s commemorations were another chance to continue healing those old wounds.

It would also be a chance to remember the sacrifices ancestors had made for future generations, Tipene said.

“We’re holding this to acknowledge their sacrifice, and for reconciliation between those who fought so many generations ago. But we’ve got to move on. We live in the same country. We’ve got nationhood to think about, and nobody’s going anywhere. We’re only nine years away from the bicentennial of He Whakaputanga and 14 years from the bicentennial of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, so we need to be really purposeful about moving towards the nationhood that was envisaged when those documents were first signed.”

Te Ruapekapeka 180 programme

Friday 9 January

10.30am: Pōwhiri for hapū from Te Tai Tokerau.

3.30pm: Waiomio pā site visit.

Saturday 10 January

10am: Pōwhiri for ngā iwi o te motu (iwi from around the country).

2pm: Pōwhiri for dignitaries including government ministers, Defence Force and British High Commission representatives.

4pm: Wānanga.

All events on Friday and Saturday take place at Kawiti Marae, Waiomio.

Sunday 11 January

3am: Buses depart Whangārei, Kaikohe, Waikare, Kawiti Marae and Whangaroa.

4am: Blessing of pou ihi (wayfinder pou), intersection of SH1 and Ruapekapeka Rd.

5.30am: Blessing of 12 tūpuna pou, located at the British forward position, honouring those who took part in the battle.

7.30am: Mass haka, flag raising ceremony, speeches and karakia, at the pā.

10am: Breakfast.

11-12.30: Guided tours of Ruapekapeka Pā.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Citizens Advice Bureau is dealing with what it calls a “growing crisis” of people struggling to meet their basic living costs.But with hundreds of thousands of requests each year, volunteers are helping people all over the country to advocate for themselves and get the support they’re entitled to. Lauren Crimp visited the Porirua branch to watch the team in action.

The doorbell sounds, and an elderly man tentatively pokes his head in.

“Hello, I don’t have an appointment…”

“No problem,” a volunteer says. “How can I help?”

While the doors at Porirua’s Citizens Advice Bureau are open, anyone can stroll in, at any time, and ask a question about… well, anything.

When RNZ paid the team a visit, Francell Felise and her husband Peter Logovii had just finished up their appointment.

It was the day after they officially became New Zealand citizens – thanks to volunteers who guided them through the process – and they were getting help with the paperwork for their New Zealand passports.

“We always come here for help,” Felise said.

“Even though we’re not good at speaking English … they really help us [find out] how to get what we want to do.”

It’s an important service for people like the Logoviis who don’t know where to start, she said.

“And it’s good for people who migrate to New Zealand, because … we know nothing about New Zealand, but these guys help us through how to manage and how to do our living here in New Zealand.

“We’re so happy with them and their service.”

Saw Tha Du Paul had called in to ask for help with getting a ‘P’ endorsement on his driver licence, so he could apply to become an Uber driver.

Volunteer Francesca Black said he had to prove he had no convictions.

“He came to New Zealand as a refugee, so there is no evidence, he can’t go back to Myanmar and there are no records,” she said.

She called the Transport Agency to find out what he needed – evidence he came in as a refugee – and she was helping Paul fill in the relevant form, copy his documents, and get them signed by a Justice of the Peace.

It was the third time Paul had visited the CAB, with volunteers also helping him find a place to live. Without them, he and other migrants he knew would feel “helpless”, he said.

Black said she enjoyed helping make life that little bit easier for someone in need.

“It can be really daunting when you have, in this case, a form to fill in … and you think, ‘I’ve got no idea how to manage this’,” she said.

“So coming to Citizens Advice, we can help … find ways, find out options and sort of give confirmation so people can go away feeling more confident about what they’re doing.”

Empowering clients who are ‘at their wits’ end’

Black is one of more than 30 volunteers who give up three hours of their time each week at the Porirua branch, filling a roster of two three-hour shifts each day. Nationwide, there are 2500 volunteers across 80 branches.

Natalie Vermaak – the Porirua branch manager and sole staff member – coordinates her crew of volunteers, and describes them as the bridge between clients and government agencies.

“Lots of clients, when they walk in, we are their last resort, so they’re kind of at their wits’ end,” she said.

“Our volunteers are empowering them, and giving them the tools to help them manage their situations, and helping them advocate for themselves so when they leave here, they’re feeling more confident in themselves and confident about what they’re entitled to.”

This year, most people who visited needed financial help, said Vermaak.

Their budgeting advisor often had back to back appointments with people whose whose benefits did not cover the bills, who needed budgeting advice to help them stay afloat, or who wanted to make KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals.

“Clients are trying to get those funds out to pay for power bills, to try and pay rent that is in to stop them from sleeping in their cars,” she said.

Volunteers were well trained, she said, thanks to a six-week induction course and time spent with a mentor volunteer.

“We do ongoing learning and development for our volunteers, so that they’re aware of what community organisations are around here and what’s available to people, so that … our volunteers know who to contact to get our clients the right help.”

It’s a free, independent service – funded by donations and grants, not the government.

Vermaak said grants were increasingly harder to come by, and with inflation biting it was tougher to cover overheads. But the volunteer system remained strong, she said.

“I’m always proud of the work our volunteers do because I know that our team here puts in over and above their three-hour shift per week, and they go above and beyond,” she said.

“We’re changing lives every day.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

On a mild evening in November, Dave Howard and John Wellington were out with their machetes and some pink ribbon bush-bashing a route for a new bike trail beside the Hawea River in Upper Clutha.

They tied ribbon on scrappy broom bushes and laid low the pigfern as they went.

“That’s kind of a fun part of it, just cutting a track, going, ‘What are the cool things that we can see along here?’, whether it’s little plants or view-corridors,” Howard said.

“So you might take them past cool rocks or trees or just, how the landform will feel when you move through it, thinking about what’s the experience someone’s going to have when they travel through here.

“So that’s quite a fun stage despite the matagouri and the bush lawyer (two types of plants) and everything else that wants to kill you and prick you.”

Up until recently he had thornier problems to deal with. He had helped design the Kawarau Gorge trail from Queenstown to Cromwell, and the Roxburgh Gorge extension. By 2018 they were ready to go.

Instead, they went nowhere, running smack-dab into a long-forgotten policy suddenly reactivated at the Department of Conservation (DOC).

“Until recently, the current Conservation General Policy was applied quite rigidly in Conservation Management Strategies (CMS),” DOC told RNZ. “This meant that unless the CMS listed a proposed location for biking, a (costly, multi-year) partial review or amendment process for the CMS was required, simply to consider the application on its merits.”

While the policy had slumbered, trail building had cracked on, the network and patronage expanding rapidly in the decade after John Key’s government latched on to cycling in 2009 as a way to create jobs.

‘Silly little thing written on a bit of paper’

In 2019, DOC shifted suddenly and question marks appeared over existing trails’ compliance, while new builds hit a brick wall. Many regions had few potential trails listed on the schedules in their various CMSs. They were going nowhere.

“It was horrendous,” Howard said. “It was all consuming, all consuming. DOC was supportive of so many of the trails, but they just had to pull the handbrake on them because of this silly little thing written on a bit of paper.”

Pete Masters at Bike Taupō hit the wall too. So he joined with others to use a trail in Tongariro as a test case to help break the rigid grip.

It worked – 11 out of the 16 DOC regions began easing up on trail building in the last year or so – but it took time and money.

“So we won that,” Masters said. “Interesting thing is after the six years, they turned around and agreed on what we said on day one.

“Instead of having to be rigid, to have it on a schedule, it could be on ‘effects-based’, which is what we’d been arguing all the time.”

For trail builders in Te Anau and Gore the battle was far from won, but their experience was now more an exception than the norm. Rowan Sapsford at Bike Taupō sawthe flipside: He helped Masters with the test case, and now things were at “half full”, he said.

“All our trails in Taupō are OK… we were able to secure access… we can carry on,” Sapsford said.

The application process had sped up.

“The last one I was involved in professionally, it went through an under 12 months, which was a bit of a record really.

“It can also be the difference between whether we’re able to secure funding or not, and often, you know, the permissions process is seen as one of the key risks… for new trail development.”

Officials now saw biking in the bush as legitimate, not just tramping, he said.

Recently he went to the annual national trails forum.

“It was probably the best representation from DOC in the odd 13 or 14 years I’ve been going to these forums.”

In a report in July, the Department of Conservation said its backlog of concession applications for cycling had been cut from 1300 to 550, and processing times were three times faster.

It was now able to tap into co-funding too for new trails from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, that also had $8m a year to maintain the 23 Great Rides.

‘We’re through the dark days’

Otago was unusual among the 11 newly flexible regions, alone in undertaking a $500,000 review of its conservation strategy that ran for several years. This ended up last year in it designating a lot more potential trails, though only after volunteers spent thousands of hours mapping them out.

Now those lines were down on paper, that allowed Howard and Wellington to bash them out for real along a simple 5km trail south beside the Hawea.

“We’re through the dark days,” Howard said.

“All those particular trails, they were part of connecting Wānaka, Queenstown through Dunedin, so they’re all back on track and underway, which is fantastic. So there’s been a massive swing, you know.”

The much-anticipated Kawarau Gorge ride would be steeper and more exciting than other Great Rides thereabouts, he said. E-bikers would love it, he predicted.

The bill would be steeper, too: They had had to go back to where they got to in 2018 and “do a bunch of stuff again” which probably added several million dollars in costs.

There was an up-side to this – Kawarau had become a bit of a test case for new thresholds around wildlife permits, lizard studies and relocations, and the like, Howard said.

Yet the inflexible grip of the Conservation General Policy still held in five of the 16 regions.

“We can’t consider new proposals for bike tracks for Waikato, Canterbury (Waitaha), Stewart Island/Rakiura, Otago and Southland,” the July DOC report said.

“We appreciate this is frustrating,” DOC told RNZ, “but it underpins the importance of progressing modernising and updating the legislation.”

Those changes would not deal just with CMSs – likely dumping them – but also with constraints other trail builders still face when they veer into national parks.

The Mountains to Sea trail had the funding to build Te Hangāruru and Te Ara Mangawhero sections of Ngā Ara Tūhono Great Ride, but needed to go through 200m of Tongariro National Park.

“That held us up for a number of years,” central North Island trails promoter Lynley Twyman said.

“It meant that the value of the funding we secured diminished in its value. So that’s been really, really tough… in a region where cycling and walking are the resilience for our tourism industry.”

‘Totally broken’

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon seized on barriers to biking when in August he called the concessions regime on public conservation land “totally broken”.

“Outdated rules mean we’ve got examples of modern e-bike users being turned away from potential touring opportunities because they have to be considered as proper vehicles,” Luxon and Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said in a statement..

One high-profile example is a ban on e-bikes on the Timber Trail near Taumarunui, though that is widely ignored and not impinging on business, operators said.

The ministers’ statement collided with DOC saying processing times had sped up by three times.

And the press statement’s title, ‘Unleashing growth on conservation land’, appears to invite a fight over the government’s plans to reform the Conservation Act next year.

DOC said this was about striking a balance.

“These improvements are aimed at making the system more enabling and easier to navigate, while ensuring any development does not compromise conservation values.”

Guided biking and e-biking might be allowed as part of low-impact activities exempt from needing a concession or pre-approved with a simple online application process, it said.

The likes of the Timber Trail’s e-bike ban looked likely to fall under the definition of “unnecessary and outdated restrictions” set for removal, plus the way trail plans could be amended would be streamlined under the reforms.

A bill is due from ministers in the first quarter of next year. A new National Conservation Policy Statement might end up doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

‘Correct tracks in the correct places’

Cycle trail builders and operators would not want any part in a fight over the reforms. The way they tell it, the argument over the economic benefits of trails to the regions has been well won, DOC is far more on board than it was, and the ongoing disquiet over environmental impacts is turning in favour of them being no greater than from tramping and needing to be assessed the same way.

“Really, the debate of a [new] trail or an existing trail being used by bikers and walkers should be on social interaction,” Masters, who is also acting chair of New Zealand Cycle Trail Ngā Haerenga, said.

Federated Mountain Clubs was watching the changes being made.

“Hopefully the new [flexible] rule interpretation allows the environment to continue to be cared for and make sure that the tracks are the correct tracks in the correct places,” president Megan Dimozantos said.

The Clubs group had not been consulted on by DOC about new trails being put in, but perhaps they had not needed to be.

“They don’t consult us on every single concession. I would hope that if the particular track that was being built was going to affect other user groups, that they would come and ask us for our opinion. And I’d generally trust them to do that.”

“We are super supportive of people to get out and enjoy the ngahere, but our view has always been the right trail in the right place.”

‘We’re in a lot better space’

The incredibly messy rules around trail building based in regulations and legislation not changed in decades have not done anyone any favours, yet even so the Great Rides alone had grown into a $1.3 billion industry that mostly benefitted the provinces.

The system has reached a new, still messy halfway house where some regions remain largely locked up, while in others new trails are being assessed on a “case-by-case basis by district teams with strong local knowledge” about local needs, conservation considerations, and whether community or third-party partners bring forward proposals, according to DOC.

It is not any sort of stable equilibrium though, and next year promises more, bigger changes.

“We’re very pleased with what we’ve managed to achieve in the last few months, but we’ve still got some gaps and we need a sustainable, resilient solution,” Twyman said.

“We’re in a lot better space, they’re [DOC] in a good space, and we want to work together to have good outcomes for all the cycling and walking community, because there’s as many walkers on the cycle trails as there are cyclists,” Masters said.

Howard was just “super-stoked” to be route-blazing again.

“Someone was saying passion is the degree of suffering you’re willing to endure towards a cause. So, if the amount of suffering and persistence required to pull a trail off, then I’m certainly passionate.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A sexual assault victim is fearful and “ragingly angry” that her most private information could be made public in the Manage My Health hack.

Hackers are threatening to release more than 400,000 documents stolen from the online portal if the company doesn’t pay the US$60,000 ransom, with a reported deadline of Friday morning.

Manage My Health has identified general practices whose patients have been affected, but it is not yet clear when those people will be informed.

A woman who was sexually assaulted 15 years ago, whom RNZ has agreed not to name, said she had not told some of those closest to her what had happened to her.

She was fearful the information would be leaked.

“It’s almost like I’ve been re-victimised again because I don’t know what’s happening, I’ve got no control over the information,” she said.

“I haven’t even been told if my records have been compromised … it’s really hard, to be honest.”

The woman was furious with Manage My Health, saying the company had “ruptured” her sense of trust.

“I’m one part terrified, one part really angry, like ragingly angry.

“I’ve given you information to look after so that you can provide health services to me and they’ve failed to keep up their end of the promise.”

In an interview with RNZ yesterday, Manage My Health CEO Vino Ramayah said Manage My Health was itself also the victim of crime.

He said patients should trust the company “even though we have dropped the ball”.

Ramayah told RNZ he personally was aggrieved and distressed by the breach.

His own medical records were among those impacted, he said.

“And so is lots of my friends and families. I am deeply distressed that this is out there and this has happened.”

“The doctor – patient relationship was sacrosanct,” he said.

For the sexual assault victim, the possibility that information about her assault may have been stolen had brought back post-traumatic stress symptoms “with a vengeance” she said.

“My sleep’s interrupted, the flashbacks are back … and I was doing so well.”

The woman said she’d been caught up in data breaches before, including a copy of her driver’s licence being published online, as well as her address, date of birth and phone number.

She wanted Manage My Health to tell the people whose information was stolen, including exactly what data it is, so they could take precautionary steps.

Manage My Health has apologised for any pain and anxiety the breach has caused, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.

Ramayah said the company has been working hard to make amends.

“I think the main point is there has been a crime, we have tried to do our best, as you know, we’ve had staff working around the clock since this incident with very little sleep and we are trying our best to contain the damage and the pain and anxiety patients feel – that is pretty hard for us as an organisation.”

Online safety advocate Netsafe is warning people to be extra cautious with emails they receive including their private information – particularly if they are threatening or applying any pressure for a response, further information or payment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The chief executive of beleaguered patient portal Manage My Health says he is open to standing down if required after it “dropped the ball”.

Vino Ramayah told RNZ hackers who have seized hundreds of thousands of files from more than 120,000 patients “got in through the front door”.

He takes full responsibility, he said.

“That’s something for after the dust settles, whether I’m the current or continue to be the CEO,” he said.

“I’m not unprepared to step down if there’s a better person who can do a better job than I did.”

Ramayah described the major breach as a “password accessed intrusion”.

“They came in through the front door using a valid user password.”

The deadline for a $60,000 ransom was initially thought to expire early on Tuesday morning, but Ramayah confirmed that deadline has now shifted.

“From what we have understood from the tracking and the kind of announcements in the dark web which we are monitoring the deadline is 5am on Friday.”

But he said deadlines had come and gone “many times” and out of principal he would not comment on what people put up on the dark web.

“And we really don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t telling the truth. But our intention is to do the right thing.”

A question of ransom

The chief executive would not be drawn on whether Manage My Health has discussed internally whether it was prepared to pay the ransom.

“I am not inclined to make any statement in that regard because it’s an ongoing investigation, I don’t want to jeopardise any investigations and I will make no comment in that regard,” he said.

When asked again, Ramayah said: “As I have said here, I’m not going to comment on that”.

He also would not say if Manage My Health had been in any negotiations those who took the patient data.

“As I said, I do not wish to comment on this investigation or any activities with any nefarious people, so I’ll leave it at that.”

Ramayah said Manage My Health was itself the victim of crime.

He said patients should trust the company “even though we have dropped the ball”.

Ramayah told RNZ he personally was aggrieved and distressed by the breach.

His own medical records were among those impacted, he said.

“And so is lots of my friends and families. I am deeply distressed that this is out there and this has happened.”

“The doctor – patient relationship was sacrosanct,” he said.

“I think the main point is there has been a crime, we have tried to do our best, as you know, we’ve had staff working around the clock since this incident with very little sleep and we are trying our best to contain the damage and the pain and anxiety patients feel – that is pretty hard for us as an organisation.”

‘A big hit on our reputation’

On Tuesday, a cyber security expert told RNZ he could not see Manage My Health recovering from the breach.

“Look, this is a big hit on our reputation and I do not disagree with that observation,” Ramayah said.

“But whether we can recover, we’ve got an excellent team, we’ve got an excellent product and we have served Kiwis for a very long time well.

“We’re very confident that we can restore the confidence and we are doing the right thing to ensure that we put providers and patients ahead of our own interests.”

The breach was unfortunate and a blemish on the company, he said.

On its website, Manage My Health says it is trusted by 1.85 million people and that it is a secure health portal.

“It depends on what you mean by secure, I know nothing is 100 percent secure, we are secure to the best of our knowledge and we do all the professional tests which any industry assessment will make independently that we were a secure software,” Ramayah said.

Ramayah said nothing in their doctor’s own database had been breached and taken.

“What has been penetrated is a single module which contains health documents from a specialist referral, from discharge summaries… and also uploaded data by the patient.

“And there is a function called help documents, that function was what was penetrated and that function has anything you as a patient can upload, not what your doctor uploads,” he said.

Ramayah told RNZ staff have been working around the clock to firstly secure its data and any vulnerable points in its system.

A High Court injunction issued on Monday has been expanded and will be served on major media outlets,” he said.

The chief executive said Manage My Health was not the first organisation to be attacked “despite our vigilance, despite our best practices”.

“But criminals are getting smarter, we just need to be ahead of them now, this is an unfortunate incident in our history.

“Since 2008 we have never had a breach of this nature,” he said.

RNZ put it to Ramayah that the platform had not been ahead of cyber criminals in this case.

“Well, I guess every cyber hack is a new learning vulnerabilities. You know, there’s no software in the world which is completely non vulnerable. There are there is cyber criminals, always trying to steal passwords, use passwords, find out methods and authentications which they can outwit,” he said.

Injunction issued

Meanwhile, the High Court has issued an injunction, preventing people from accessing the medical documents of 127,000 patients, stolen in the cyberscam.

The decision by Justice Andru Isac says the documents stolen from Manage My Health include discharge summaries, referrals, personal health information uploaded by patients and other documents.

The judge granted the application against so-called unknown defendants on the basis the approximately 430,000 documents contained highly sensitive and confidential information.

Justice Isac said Manage My Health was also concerned that the information, including patient contact details, could be used by others to target people.

“First, there is no doubt that sensitive patient information has been unlawfully obtained by unknown parties in a cyber-attack. The individuals responsible for obtaining the data clearly have no entitlement to it.

“Second, there is also no doubt that the purpose of the data hack is to use the threat of further disclosure as a means to extort payment from the applicant. Those responsible have sought to make plain the seriousness of their threat by publishing a small sample of the stolen data.”

He said if the ransom is not paid and the stolen data is published, there is a real risk to patients who have had their private and personal information compromised.

The hack of Manage My Health occurred on 30 December and the injunction was sought on 5 January.

In its latest online update, Manage My Health said it had started contacting GP practices which have affected patients.

Information on appointments and prescriptions were not accessed and the portal is now secure, it said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New radar technology will be used for the second time this week to help locate a missing tramper, as crews continue to search for Connor Purvis.

Police are continuing to appeal to anyone who had recently climbed near Lake Ōhau, in the South Island’s Mackenzie Basin, where the 20-year-old went missing.

About 50 people on Tuesday probed the upper South Temple Valley, Mt Huxley and the Huxley River South Branch, both on foot and with helicopter.

Teams will be using the Recco device tomorrow with the Mount Cook Alpine Cliff Rescue team assisting the search.

The technology is used to locate people lost in the outdoors, detecting items such as head-torches and cellphones.

Recco technology was also used this week in the search for another missing tramper – 66-year-old Graham Garnett.

Senior Sergeant Blair Dalton said authorities remained closely connected with Purvis’ family.

“We continue to feel for them, and support them, as our search efforts continue.

“Police are interested to hear from anyone who has climbed Mt Huxley in the past several weeks. Police thank all those involved in the search efforts in this difficult and rugged terrain.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The first kākāpō breeding season in four years could be the biggest in decades, the Department of Conservation (DOC) says.

The season had officially begun after remote monitoring technology – used to track the critically threatened bird – detected mating activity from 29 December.

DOC Operations Manager for Kākāpō Recovery Deidre Vercoe said the milestone felt particularly significant for the species this year.

“It’s always exciting when the breeding season officially begins, but this year it feels especially long-awaited after such a big gap since the last season in 2022,” she said.

“Now it is underway, we expect more mating over the next month, and we are preparing for what might be the biggest breeding season since the programme began 30 years ago.”

Through its longstanding Kākāpō Recovery programme, DOC had worked with Ngāi Tahu to rebuild the population from 51 manu (31 males, 20 females) through 12 breeding seasons.

The population peaked at 252 in 2022.

The flightless, nocturnal parrots breed once every two to four years, when the rimu trees mast.

The kākāpō are among the most intensively managed species in the world.

Prior to the breeding season, the total population sits at 236, including 83 breeding-age females.

This year would be the 13th breeding season in the 30 years since the programme began.

It could also see the most chicks since records began, although success could no longer be measured in mere numbers, Vercoe said.

“Kākāpō are still critically endangered, so we’ll keep working hard to increase numbers, but looking ahead, chick numbers are not our only measure of success.

“We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kākāpō that are thriving, not just surviving. This means with each successful breeding season, we’re aiming to reduce the level of intensive, hands-on management to return to a more natural state.

“We’re working towards the goal of returning them to their former range around New Zealand so that one day, hearing a kākāpō boom might be a normal part of naturing.”

A range of lower-intervention strategies would be introduced this season, across the three protected offshore breeding islands.

These include prioritising checks for genetically valuable eggs and chicks, leaving more eggs to hatch in nests rather than incubators, reduce nest interference for mothers raising multiple chicks, and reducing supplementary feeding.

The Kākāpō Recovery Group’s Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu representative Tāne Davis said growth brought both advantages and challenges.

“As part of the more hands-off approach to enhance the mauri of the species, a Ngāi Tahu aspiration is also for a percentage of the chicks hatched this year to remain nameless, acknowledging the beginning of returning the manu to their own natural ways,” he said.

“The predicted scale of this season also reminds us of the need for more safe homes, like a predator-free Rakiura, for this taonga species.”

The first chicks were expected to start hatching from mid-February.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The chief executive of beleaguered patient portal Manage My Health says he is open to standing down if required after it “dropped the ball”.

Vino Ramayah told RNZ hackers who have seized hundreds of thousands of files from more than 120,000 patients “got in through the front door”.

He takes full responsibility, he said.

“That’s something for after the dust settles, whether I’m the current or continue to be the CEO,” he said.

“I’m not unprepared to step down if there’s a better person who can do a better job than I did.”

Ramayah described the major breach as a “password accessed intrusion”.

“They came in through the front door using a valid user password.”

The deadline for a $60,000 ransom was initially thought to expire early on Tuesday morning, but Ramayah confirmed that deadline has now shifted.

“From what we have understood from the tracking and the kind of announcements in the dark web which we are monitoring the deadline is 5am on Friday.”

But he said deadlines had come and gone “many times” and out of principal he would not comment on what people put up on the dark web.

“And we really don’t know who’s telling the truth and who isn’t telling the truth. But our intention is to do the right thing.”

The chief executive would not be drawn on whether Manage My Health has discussed internally whether it was prepared to pay the ransom.

“I am not inclined to make any statement in that regard because it’s an ongoing investigation, I don’t want to jeopardise any investigations and I will make no comment in that regard,” he said.

When asked again, Ramayah said: “As I have said here, I’m not going to comment on that”.

He also would not say if Manage My Health had been in any negotiations those who took the patient data.

“As I said, I do not wish to comment on this investigation or any activities with any nefarious people, so I’ll leave it at that.”

Ramayah said Manage My Health was itself the victim of crime.

He said patients should trust the company “even though we have dropped the ball”.

Ramayah told RNZ he personally was aggrieved and distressed by the breach.

His own medical records were among those impacted, he said.

“And so is lots of my friends and families. I am deeply distressed that this is out there and this has happened.”

“The doctor – patient relationship was sacrosanct,” he said.

“I think the main point is there has been a crime, we have tried to do our best, as you know, we’ve had staff working around the clock since this incident with very little sleep and we are trying our best to contain the damage and the pain and anxiety patients feel – that is pretty hard for us as an organisation.”

In its latest online update, Manage My Health said it had started contacting GP practices which have affected patients.

Information on appointments and prescriptions were not accessed and the portal is now secure, it said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• The Ministry of Education has been reviewing its school bus services in Queenstown with seven routes set to be redesigned from Term 2, 2026, one cancelled, one added and 11 retained on an ‘interim’ basis.
• One principal says about 90 students in Fernhill will lose access to their bus.
• Otago Regional Council says the public network may not have the capacity at peak times.
• Emails released under the OIA show schools and parents warned public buses were not a safe or practical alternative.

The Ministry of Education has decided to keep most of Queenstown’s school buses for now, despite finding most students are not eligible for the free services.

It signalled last year that routes could be cut where public buses already exist – sparking pushback from parents and principals worried about student safety and attendance.

The ministry said seven routes would be redesigned and 11 would continue on an interim basis from Term 2, 2026, until it found a long-term fix.

One school bus route to KingsView School and Remarkables Primary School would be cancelled, and one new route would be added servicing Shotover School, it said.

Ministry of Education school transport group manager James Meffan said many students using ministry-funded services in Queenstown were not eligible, either because there was public transport already available, or they were not attending their closest school.

“We are continuing to work with Otago Regional Council on a longer term, sustainable solution for these students and expect to provide an update next year,” he said.

The interim services would support a “smooth transition” for those ineligible students, he said.

However, Queenstown Primary School principal Fiona Cavanagh said the changes would leave dozens of students living in the suburb of Fernhill without access to a school bus.

Their bus route had been redesigned to pick up students in the Bob’s Cove area instead, she said.

Cavanagh said she had asked the ministry to revisit that decision, saying the bus could collect Fernhill students with only a small diversion.

“We have approximately 90 students that are currently catching a school bus from Fernhill. Fernhill is on a hill, and the roads are very busy and public transport would be busy as well,” she said.

“So for our students to catch a bus, a public bus in that area, it just wouldn’t work.”

The public buses stopped in central Queenstown rather than taking students directly to school, she said.

“We are asking the ministry to consider them being dropped off outside our school, rather than in town, because we’re a very unique community in terms of nightclubs, people around in the main city centre, all hours of the day. I don’t want my students to be exposed to that.”

Meanwhile, Otago Regional Council said it did not believe there was enough capacity on the public bus network at peak times, based on its understanding of the number of students affected by the proposals.

It was urging parents in the Queenstown district to plan ahead when using public transport to get their children to school.

Regional Planning and Transport general manager Anita Dawe said the council would work closely with the ministry and affected schools to make sure parents had information about the availability of public buses.

The council was not able to replace school bus services as they were currently delivered, she said.

“Some schools are not on public bus routes; so we expect to receive requests to redesign routes or add in special school term bus services. Currently, we’re not in a position to do this, due to resource constraints, both financially and in terms of the availability of buses and drivers,” she said.

Parents raise safety and cost concerns

The ministry’s review of Queenstown school bus services sparked at least 22 emails to Education Minister Erica Stanford and Southland MP Joseph Mooney from concerned community members last year.

The emails, released under the Official Information Act, showed parents were nervous about their primary-aged children using public buses without adult supervision – especially those without mobile phones.

One parent detailed concerns about their children crossing two busy highways to reach a public bus stop, while another said public buses were often cancelled.

“This will leave students on the side of the road with no way of knowing where the bus is or with means to contact their parents,” they wrote.

Another writer said paying for public buses would place extra financial pressure on families.

“Families with two children are paying $6 a day on transport to and from school. Over the course of a year, this adds up to $1140, which is an unreasonable cost for many households,” they said.

Taking time out of work to drive children to school was no better, other parents wrote.

“I need to work to survive and how can I do that if the alternative to the public bus is driving them in and out for school every day? That is just not possible!” one said.

“Less time working means less tax revenue. Are we really saving by cutting the school bus?” another said.

One parent said the changes could also worsen traffic congestion, already a major issue in Queenstown.

Mooney summarised the concerns he had received and wrote to Stanford seeking her support “in ensuring that the Ministry fully understands the implications of any decision to remove school buses in Queenstown”.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Netsafe is warning people to be extra cautious with emails they receive including their private information, as hackers threaten to release more than 400,000 stolen health documents.

They took the files from the online portal Manage My Health, and 120,000 people are affected.

The Tuesday morning deadline for Manage My Health to pay the US$60,000 ransom passed without the files being publicly shared, but unverified reports appeared to put a new deadline at 5am on Friday.

Manage My Health has identified general practices whose patients have had their private health information breached, but it is not yet clear when those patients will be told.

Netsafe chief online safety officer Sean Lyons said it’s difficult to know what to watch out for while it’s unclear what’s been stolen.

But he said people should have a “raised level of suspicion” about any communication containing their private data.

“Even names, addresses, dates of birth, family members, we hear talk about maybe even scans of passport details,” he said.

Hackers could include that information in an email and claim to be their GP, Manage My Health, or another agency, Lyons said.

“So that kind of … ‘I must know who you are because I hold your NHI number, or I know your address and date of birth, therefore I must be from the agency that I say I am’,” he said.

“So it really is being extra cautious around anything that contains your personal information and asking for more, for money, for more information.”

Lyons said dodgy emails may also apply pressure on people, like giving deadlines for a response or payment, or threatening people that they’re at risk of prosecution or breaking a law.

“Don’t give in to that pressure, contact the agency that somebody says they’re from directly, don’t use any of the communication methods, numbers, email addresses, whatever that they give you.”

People could also contact Netsafe for advice if they are unsure, he said.

Anyone who Manage My Health says has been affected by the data breach has the right to ask the company for more information, Lyons said.

“It’s important that we know what it is that we should be looking out for, to what extent that information of ours has been breached, and what we might need to do to … shore up our privacy position based on it.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

It appears the deadline given by the Manage My Health hackers demanding a US$60,000 ransom for hundreds of thousands of stolen medical files could now be later in the week.

A timeline had been set for about 5am on Tuesday, but the hackers have not released any further data.

Unverified reports now appear to put the new deadline at 5am on Friday morning.

RNZ has approached police for comment.

Manage My Health said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.

The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.

“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”

It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced an urgent review into the breach.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The radar technology being used to search for a tramper lost in the Kahurangi National Park has long been used on ski-fields, but is now increasingly also used for other searches, the Mountain Safety Council says.

Police will be using a helicopter mounted Recco radar system in their search for 66-year-old Graham Garnett on Tuesday.

Garnett was expected to return from a tramp in the Baton/Ellis River area of Kahurangi National Park on 30 December.

Police will use a helicopter-mounted RECCO technology radar to assist with search efforts, and have asked other people to steer clear of the search areas.

Mike Daisley, chief executive officer of the Mountain Safety Council, said the radar picked up on people with the specific Recco strips in their gear. The system had long been used in ski fields and alpine environments, particularly to find people caught in an avalanche, he said.

“Within New Zealand, using it in a wider land based [search], that’s a fairly new thing.

“That’s mainly based on the different types of clothing and equipment manufacturers now putting this in more general items, rather than just in very specialist alpine clothing.”

Daisley said the radar would easily pick up the gear with the specific RECCO strips, but could also pick up other metal.

“Small parts of backpacks have often got little pieces of aluminium and other metals, or even in your rain hood of your rain jacket, and they may be detected. That’s why police are asking other people to stay out of the area.”

Drone used in second search

Another search is underway near Lake Ōhau in the Mackenzie Basin for 20-year-old Connor Purvis, who has not been seen since he went to climb Mt Huxley on Tuesday last week.

Police said they would be deploying a drone to assist search efforts, as long as weather conditions held.

Daisley said drone use was also increasingly common by LandSAR and police in searches.

“Overseas they have been used for some time, but as drone technology has become a bit more approachable in price and the range of this equipment has increased, it is growing in its use.”

Drones could be easier to deploy than a small plane or helicopter, but still had limited range and were much more impacted by the weather conditions, he said.

Daisley said the main bit of advice for people heading out on tramps, particularly for those doing longer trips, was to take some form of emergency communication device and not just rely on cell phone technology.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Sexual violence and family harm victims will be living in terror that their private details could be among a cache of hacked medical information, an advocate says.

More than 400,000 files have been stolen from the Manage My Health platform.

It was a shocking data breach of highly sensitive information involving about 15,000 patients’ records, independent advocate Claire Buckley said.

“The problem with that is that anybody who has used that system will now be vulnerable and potentially re-traumatised and potentially unnecessarily re-traumatised because their data may not be part of the hack. And so that’s the harm that’s being caused – it’s not just to the people that have been hacked and whose data is vulnerable. It’s also to anyone who uses that system whose data may not have been hacked, but they are living [with] the terror that it could have been.

“And I mean terror. People who have been through these kind of horrific traumas are not people who are feeling secure at the best of times. And so something like this, where their personal data could get out there is something that is more terrifying than to your average person who may have their medical records out there. There’s a really big difference between, oh, ‘did you know that this person was on statins?’ versus, ‘this person had an horrendous sexual assault, and they have permanent damage in this way’, which would all be documented within those doctor’s notes.”

Buckley said abusive ex-partners could find their family’s addresses, or other criminals could track down their victims.

“This kind of information may be able to lead their partners to find them, so that will be terrifying for them. And then anyone who’s had any kind of severe trauma in the family relating to a homicide, for example, all of that’s documented in their health records. Often they need counselling. And so all of those things are now going to be, you know, on the dark web, accessible to people who have the nefarious means to access that.

“And it’s just so re-traumatising to anyone who’s been through any kind of severe trauma, particularly one that may be ongoing in terms of a case that may still be pending and in terms of someone who is still trying to keep away from an abusive spouse.”

A ransom deadline had been set for Tuesday and victims would have that at the front of their minds.

“Everyone who has been through that kind of trauma, whether it be family harm or sexual assault will be saying ‘pay the ransom – it is completely worth it to protect my privacy’. And that’s the problem. A lot of companies do pay it specifically to try and avoid the harm that can be caused.

“The problem, of course, is that the bad guys who are doing the hacking know that companies are willing to pay now because of the level of harm that they are causing. And so it becomes this kind of vicious cycle. If we pay them, then they know they can be paid. Therefore, they will keep trying to get into these systems and take the data for ransom again.”

A worrying possibility would be that it could make people think twice about what they tell their doctor.

“And that would be the worst part of the situation, would be people who are in desperate need not wanting their information to be stored on the system. Because you can imagine if you have been the victim of a sexual assault and it is quite graphic in nature, you are not going to want your doctor to be documenting that in a system that is not considered reliable enough to ensure that your personal security and privacy is protected.”

Manage My Health said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.

The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.

“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”

It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced an urgent review into the breach.

Where to get help:

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

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

Sexual Violence

Family Violence

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Debris is blocking a major road in Stratford after it fell from a truck.

Police said on Tuesday morning the northbound lane of Broadway/State Highway 3 through the Taranaki town was blocked, and would be for “some time” while it was cleared.

No one was injured, they said.

Police urged motorists to avoid the area and expect delays.

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