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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Source: Radio New Zealand

Worksafe will revist an Auckland aquatic centre after a boy smashed his front teeth while on a hydroslide – the second recent injury involving the same slide.

A man was injured at the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre in late December, losing his finger when a ring caught on a bolt inside the slide, the NZ Herald reported.

Worksafe was notified following the incident.

Less than a week later, the 12-year-old boy was injured.

According to the NZ Herald, the boy was thrown around inside the slide, knocking his front two teeth on its inside joiners on 2 January.

The boy’s mother told the media outlet an emergency dental appointment the next day showed he had hit a nerve on the tooth and it “could be problematic the rest of his life”.

She said the tooth would now be “covered under ACC for life”.

WorkSafe said improvements had been made when its inspector visited the centre two days after the man was injured. But a spokesperson said an inspector would go back to the aquatic centre this month following the boy’s injury.

Auckland Council said the slide had been inspected twice within the last six months.

Head of service partner delivery, Garth Dawson, said the council would continue to work with operator Community Leisure Management and the slide manufacturer to ensure it was safe.

Community Leisure Management’s director Kirsty Knowles said it was improving signs at the hydroslide.

The NZ Herald reported the man’s finger was able to be reattached by a surgeon.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A person has been taken to hospital in a critical condition after a fall from Christchurch’s central Tūranga library.

Emergency services were called to the building near Cathedral Square shortly before 11am on Tuesday.

Three fire trucks worked to free the person.

The library is closed for the day.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A work safety group says a new bill before Parliament is likely to increase harm to people and cause cost blowouts from accidents.

The amendment bill is the first big change proposed in a decade to health and safety laws brought in after the Pike River disaster.

The bill sets out to cut death and injury rates, and compliance costs, by focusing on the most serious critical risks and reducing confusion.

But the Institute of Safety Management said this ignored the fact most workplace harm was not at the critical end.

“All of the back injuries, the psychological harm, violence and aggression, all of the things that are the most common, the most costly and overall the most harmful, wouldn’t meet the definition of critical risk,” spokesperson Mike Cosman told RNZ on Tuesday.

The bill would increase compliance costs for firms that would need to keep checking if they qualified as “small” enough under the law to avoid managing many risks, he added.

The bill adds a new definition of critical risk and businesses would be responsible for checking if it applied to them.

The official disclosure about the bill said the law in place since 2016 put too many duties on to businesses, and the “broad nature … has led to confusion and overcompliance” with many finding it difficult to prove to regulators they were complying.

“Focusing the system on critical risks is designed to direct attention and resources towards preventing serious workplace harms and away from more minor issues,” it said.

The government aims for the bill to enable stronger approved codes of practice (ACOPs) within particular high-risk industries to help tamp down on risks. The forestry industry recently launched a new ACOP.

Cosman retorted that the bill should not take an “either-or” approach.

Most businesses wanted to do the right thing but “the clear message is if you’re a small firm, you don’t have to provide instruction, training, supervision, even PPE for your workers … unless it’s in relation to a critical risk”, he said.

“So for those firms who are looking for a way out, this will provide it.”

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has talked about dealing to the “huge culture of fear” around Worksafe by changing it to prioritise education over punishment.

However, a common theme of criticism for years had been that Worksafe was too soft and, for instance, did not go after company directors and executives enough.

Cosman said the bill reflected a dogma that compliance costs were inherently bad, rather than reflecting accurately the submissions to a nationwide roadshow and review that van Velden fronted.

“We see this as a significant missed opportunity to improve New Zealand’s patchy record on health and safety,” he said in a statement.

“These changes are likely to increase harm to workers, families, businesses, communities along with cost blowouts for the Government books in ACC, health and welfare.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are examining a central Christchurch property where a man was critically injured in a stabbing.

Emergency services were called to the two-storey block of flats in Fitzgerald Avenue at 12:20pm on Monday, where they arrested a person.

A scene guard remained at the units overnight.

Police did not believe there was a threat to public safety.

The property remained cordoned off on Tuesday morning, where blood stains and chalk could be seen on the driveway.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have “grave concerns” for a woman who has not been seen for six months and are considering the possibility she may have been the victim of foul play.

They say her children want their mother back and the family are desperate for answers.

Rowena Walker was reported missing by her mother on 22 October.

In an interview with RNZ, Detective Senior Sergeant Jo Carolan said the 39-year-old’s last confirmed sighting was in Christchurch on 14 August last year.

“It appears that her last digital footprint, social media, phones, etc, was on the 15th of August 2025, she’s also had no contact with any of her children since around that date, which is very out of character for her.”

Carolan said the fact Walker had been missing without any trace for six months was “hugely concerning”.

“We’re really worried about her and have grave concerns for her safety, that she may no longer be alive is a possibility that we have to consider, but we’re exploring all the possibilities in detail,” she said.

“Rowena is a vulnerable person in the community, and we have to consider the possibility that she’s been the victim of foul play. We are keeping an open mind and exhausting all lines of inquiry, including that possibility. Rowena’s mother is caring for some of her grandchildren, and it’s really important that those kids have an answer as to where mum has gone.”

Asked if police had any persons of interest, Carolan said police were “talking to a number of people” and following every lead available.

“I won’t go into specifics of that, but it is fair to say that we’re sticking to everybody who is made known to us.”

Carolan said Walker was “reasonably transient” and was known to have family and associates all over the country.

“We don’t want to rule out any region of New Zealand, if there’s, if there’s somebody who would like to talk to us, who knows something about what has happened to her, we will speak to anybody from anywhere in the country,” she said.

“We have conducted a number of inquiries with people throughout Tasman, some Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Christchurch areas, and that is going to continue for as long as necessary.”

She said the last six months had been “very hard” on Walker’s family, particularly her mother and children.

“They haven’t seen mum now for six months and don’t understand why that is, they very much want to have mum back.

“They had almost daily contact with her, and now they don’t. And it’s it’s very sad situation. We just want to find out what’s happened to Rowena, so that we can let her family know”

Carolan said there will be someone out there who knows what happened to Walker.

“We are looking for more information, and we’re interested in hearing from anybody in the community who has anything to provide, whether they think it might not be very significant. We’d rather hear about it and make that assessment for ourselves. So we appeal to everybody in the community to come forward with any information that they have.”

She said the “best case scenario” was that Walker was alive and well.

“And for whatever reason, keeping herself to herself, and I would say to her that she’s got family and friends who are extremely worried about her and kids who miss her very, very much. And if that is the case, we would appeal to her to please, reach out to somebody.”

Carolan said despite the time between her last sighting and when police were notified, detectives had “really strong lines of inquiry” with a “significant number of staff” working on the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to please contact Police online through 105.police.govt.nz or call 105, referencing file number 251022/9026.

Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A former Education Ministry staff member says the government’s curriculum rewrite ignored the views of many subject experts and teachers.

Waikato University academic Claire Coleman told Nine to Noon she worked on the curriculum until the middle of last year and said it was chaotic and politicised.

“There were changes, not following processes around procurement of the members of newly-appointed writing groups, getting rid of entire contributing groups and replacing them with people that had previous relationships with the minister, had conflicts of interest… being told ‘we’re not going to write this down because we don’t want people to know… so it’s not OIA-able’, essentially, that kind of behaviour,” she said.

Coleman made similar allegations during a submission to the Education and Workforce Select Committee on the government’s Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill recently.

She told Nine to Noon she started working for the ministry on a rewrite of the Arts curriculum in 2022, but that was paused in late 2023 following the change of government.

“By the time that I left in the beginning of 2025, it was evident that none of the work that we had done was going to be used and they weren’t really interested in any of our expertise,” she said.

Coleman agreed a change of government could bring a change of direction for the curriculum, but she said the process was inappropriate and the public should be concerned.

She said she assumed government ministries would follow good-faith practices involving rigourous debate but that was not the case with the curriculum rewrite.

“What I saw was a case of ‘we’re not interested in talking to the people who know, this is what we want to do and we’re going to do it regardless’ and it’s a sort of ‘my way or the highway’ approach,” she said.

Coleman said the government should have listened to a wider range of views on the curriculum.

“You need a diverse range of opinions. You need to work through all of the nuances that are in education. It is a complicated space and you need to know enough to know what you don’t know and to bring in the right people into those conversations and to rely on the expertise and that’s, I think, the point of having a ministry,” she said.

“Regardless of which direction you want this to go in or regardless of what policy you want, you draw on the best people and the best evidence that you’ve got to make that a really solid piece of work.”

Coleman said proposed law changes would give future education ministers the power to rewrite the curriculum again, but that work should be left to education experts.

Education Minister Erica Stanford was asked to comment and her office referred Nine to Noon to an Education Ministry response supplied following Coleman’s select committee appearance.

It said the ministry was responsible for writing the curriculum and worked with a wide range of local education experts, teachers and other stakeholders.

“The curriculum-writing process is rigourous and includes multiple cycles of review and refinement. It combines evidence, insights, and experiences over the last 20 years with formal feedback and input from a wide range of groups from across the education sector,” the statement said.

“Ministers have always been responsible for the curriculum sign-off as part of the process.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

NZ Post says the volume of British passport applications is causing delays to them being sent to the UK.

A new requirement for dual nationality citizens to use a British passport to travel there took many travellers by surprise last month.

And with the deadline for the change only a fortnight away – 25 February – applications surged.

PostShop staff told customers they had to use an express service, which cost $121, to send their applications. But some people, following their packages’ progress using online trackers, noticed the applications were being held up at an Auckland mail centre before being sent to the UK.

One customer said her package was waiting In Auckland for nearly two weeks, without anyone contacting her to say there was an issue.

The tracker now showed ‘air transport planning is underway’.

NZ Post last week said incorrect customer declarations were responsible for delays.

But it has now apologised and said it was working to overcome the hold-up.

“Due to the increase in the number of passport applications being sent to the UK at the moment, it is taking a bit longer than usual for some of these items to move through their journey,” said a spokesperson. “We’re sorry for the delay and can assure customers that we are working as fast as possible to get these important items where they need to be.”

Staff checked that each item had complete information on its customs declaration, she said.

“This is a manual process and is taking a bit longer than usual due to the increased number we are receiving. We can assure customers that we are working through these as quickly as possible, including contacting individual customers who have missed some information off their Customs Declarations. We’re actively working on a solution to help speed this process up and get these items moving as fast as we can.”

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