Source: Radio New Zealand

Schools cracked down on more fights and assaults than ever before as their rolls increased rapidly last year.

Education Ministry figures show the number of stand-downs for children who physically assaulted other students or their teachers reached 9758 and 1151 respectively in 2024.

Both figures were slightly higher than in 2023 but happened in a year when the total number of students surged to 850,999 by the middle of 2024, a high surpassed only by this year’s enrolments.

The number of stand-downs for smoking, vaping or alcohol dropped by a third, from 4992 in 2023 to 3360 last year.

That drove down the total number of stand-downs and the rate of stand-downs for every 1000 students, which fell from 39 in 2023 to 37 last year, though the 2024 figure was still much higher than every other year in records going back to 2000.

Suspension and exclusion rates also dropped last year and were lower than rates for most of the previous 24 years.

But the expulsion rate jumped, from one per 1000 students to almost two, a figure similar to most previous years.

Expulsions applied to students at or above the legal school-leaving age of 16, while exclusions involved those under the age of 16.

Schools excluded 1203 students and expelled 178 last year.

A third of the exclusions and 42 percent of the expulsions were for assaults on other students.

A ministry report said 80 percent of excluded students enrolled in a new school, the correspondence school, their original school, or were home-schooled.

It said 94 percent of the expelled students did not return to school.

It said 177 schools expelled 178 students last year, up from 77 schools and 102 students in 2023.

Part of Auckland – Tāmaki Herenga Waka – had an expulsion rate more than double that of most other areas at four per 1000 students

Home-schooling enrolments reach record high

The number of home-schooled children exceeded 11,000 this year.

There were 11,010 homeschooled students at 1 July 2025, 253 more than the same time last year and the highest figure ever recorded.

Ministry figures showed 1772 students left homeschooling this year, 24 percent of them after less than a year.

They were balanced by 2025 students entering homeschooling, 39 percent of whom were six-year-olds.

Home-schooling enrolments surged in 2022 when 4342 students enrolled and had hovered around 10,800 pupils for the past three years.

More students leave school early

Education Ministry figures showed 1342 15-year-olds were granted permission to leave school last year.

That was 51 more early leaving exemptions than in 2023.

The rate of exemption was just over 20 per 1000 15-year-olds, very slightly higher than in 2023 and the highest rate since 2007 when the figure was 32.

Boys accounted for 766 of the early exemptions and 576 were for girls.

Fewer transient students

The rate of student transience dropped to its lowest level in more than a decade last year.

Education Ministry figures showed 2442 students changed schools twice or more last year, giving a transience rate of 2.9 for every 1000 students in 2024.

The rate was slightly lower than in 2023 and well below pre-covid rates which ranged from 4-5 per 10000.

The ministry said transience could harm students’ achievement at school.

“Research suggests that students who move home and/or school frequently are more likely to under-achieve in formal education when compared with students who have a more stable school life,” it said.

“A study found that school movement had an even stronger effect on educational success than residential movement. There is also evidence that transience can have negative effects on student behaviour, and on short-term social and health experiences.”

The figures showed most of the transient students moved school twice, but 189 moved three times, 21 four times and seven five times or more.

However, figures for the cohort of 61,633 students who began school in 2019 showed 13 percent or 7889 had been transient at some point in the past six years.

Though most had changed school only twice, 1788 had three changes, 751 four, 337 five changes and 377 six school changes.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Rising nitrate levels in drinking water have dominated Canterbury’s water quality debate, but anglers, conservationists and scientists are also worried about the environmental effects, with many rivers and streams testing well above the national bottom line. In the third of a three-part series, Keiller MacDuff reports on the people fighting for the health of the region’s waterways, which they say are being degraded by a toxic combination of water being taken for irrigation and nitrates in the service of intensive dairying.

Retired Canterbury fish veterinarian Peter Trolove has been a keen angler since he was a boy but these days he is more likely to be dipping a sample jar into the water than a fishing line.

The Federation of Freshwater Anglers past president regularly traces a loop from his Rangitata Huts home to the Halswell River, stopping to take samples from more than a dozen rivers, streams and drains to record nitrate levels.

A walk along the banks of the Selwyn River ahead of his routine testing reveals the depressing reality of a once thriving river.

“I probably walked about two or three kilometres upstream, there are some good pools and the sun is such that you can see under the banks, and I didn’t see a fish,” he said.

“This river was considered one of the best trout fishing rivers in the Dominion prior World War Two. Up until the 1970s, about 40,000 trout would go through the traps and now they’d be on the numbers of one hand.”

Trolove trained as a veterinarian then worked for the dairy industry before heading overseas to retrain as a specialist fish vet, earning a masters in aquatic veterinary pathology.

He blames intensive dairy farming and a lack of central and local government leadership for declining Canterbury fish stocks.

“I was a dairy vet, I come off a farm, if there was a solution, I’d tell you. The hard truth of it is, you’ve got to farm less intensively,” he said.

A moss-covered sign at the Chamberlain’s Ford entrance to the Selwyn River [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/346261/toxic-algae-warning-for-swimmers-and-pets

warns of high levels of toxic algal bloom], a neurotoxin that can be harmful to people and lethal for dogs.

The sign is barely visible, hidden by foliage as tall as the sign itself, and it is hard to know when or if the arrow indicating the risk level was last adjusted.

For Trolove, it serves as a neat metaphor for what he believes is buck-passing and a lack of care about the environment.

He believes decision-makers see anglers as an obstacle to growing the economy, yet fishing is “quite a significant economy in it’s own right”, along with tourism income from overseas anglers and the risk to “brand New Zealand”.

More than a million cows

Since 1990, Canterbury’s dairy herd has increased by about 1000 percent, to well over a million cows.

Between 2002 and 2019, nitrogen fertiliser use in Canterbury increased 326 percent, while the area being irrigated increased by 99 percent over the same period.

According to StatsNZ, Canterbury had the largest amount of irrigated agricultural land (480,000 hectares) in the country in 2022 and accounted for 70 percent of the country’s total dairy farming irrigation.

The regional council said it did not keep information on the area under irrigation.

An Earth Sciences New Zealand-led study published in November confirmed that Canterbury has the highest percentage of elevated groundwater nitrates in the country, following testing of 3800 rural drinking water samples from private wells between 2022 and 2024.

Researchers used dual nitrate isotope testing, known as a “chemical fingerprint”, to identify cow urine as a primary cause.

The nitrate-nitrogen limit in drinking water is 11.3 milligrams per litre (mg/L) but the standard to protect aquatic ecosystem health is far lower.

The bottom line for nitrate toxicity in the national policy statement for freshwater management, which the government has signalled it will replace, is 2.4 mg/L.

While 2.4mg/L was a steep drop from the previous limit of 6.9mg/L, many believe the figure is too high to protect the health of rivers.

The latest regional council testing of nine Selwyn rivers, streams or drains found all were well above the national bottom line.

Scientists and environmental groups argue other effects of nitrate, including runaway weed and algal growth fed by agricultural fertiliser run-off, cause big drops in oxygen levels in rivers and lakes, suffocating fish at far lower levels.

‘They can’t die twice’

Victoria University freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy said the 2.4mg/L freshwater nitrate limit was based on a “false flag” and did little to protect ecosystem health and biodiversity in Canterbury waterways.

“2.4mg/L is about nitrate toxicity, which is a non-existent problem, it’s way less than that where you get algal blooms and hypoxia from lack of oxygen, which is what gets rid of the fish,” he said.

“I would go on record as saying the only fish that ever died of nitrate toxicity in New Zealand were the ones in the fish tank when they were coming up with that number. They’re already dead at 1mg/L because at that level you get algal blooms and the algae takes up the oxygen.”

Joy said there was no single reason for declining fish stocks but intensive agriculture was the common thread.

“Less water, more nitrates, climate change, stop-banking. It’s never one thing, it’s a combination of things,” he said.

Water takes fuelling increased nitrate levels

Joy described a “feedback loop” of large scale water extraction for irrigation transforming the Canterbury plains into one of the country’s dairy hubs.

“The extraction is what you need to have that intensity of cattle. You couldn’t have that many cows without the irrigation, that means you have way more cows per hectare because you’ve got the water to be able to grow the grass, so then you’ve got more cows, more urine, more nitrate pollution,” he said.

“Less water in the river means higher concentration of the nutrients but before we had irrigation we didn’t have cows and so we didn’t have a problem.”

A February regional council report noted serious limitations on the council’s water data, including around 20 percent of water-take points not providing data, an improvement on the 40 percent that were not providing infomation when the report was last prepared a decade ago.

In 2020-2021, 3636 million cubic metres of water was taken from Canterbury’s surface and groundwater sources, the vast majority for irrigation.

In September regional councillors voted nine to seven in favour of declaring a nitrate emergency, although some branded the move a political stunt, virtue signalling and an attack on Canterbury farmers.

Joy said he held little hope the declaration alone would improve the region’s water quality.

“Big deal, call an emergency, but you’ve got to do something about it before it means anything,” he said.

A fading way of life

Salmon Anglers Association president Paul Hodgson said he had witnessed the decimation of salmon and other fisheries.

“I’ve been out to the Selwyn in the last few years and instead of having a diverse aquatic life and bugs and beetles and all sorts of things, the only thing of any great quantity that’s in the river is snails, and that’s usually the last thing to go,” he said.

Anglers spend hundreds of hours, year after year on the water, and saw changes first-hand, Hodgson said.

“When I used to go fishing, you’d look at the side of the river and you’d see this black line of silveries coming in. There had to be millions of them coming in. The silveries – known by a number of different names, including Stockell’s smelt, stocko and others – they underpin the food web. Once they disappear, they’ve gone and the whole network around the river disappears,” he said.

The association has embarked on an oral history project to record memories of what Hodgson feared was a fading way of life, affecting both anglers and the social fabric around the river.

“The river mouths often have baches or cribs and there’d be anglers in every single one of them, now it’s more like they’ve become retirement homes. The anglers have sold up and shifted out because it’s just simply not worth going there anymore. It’s almost like there’s been a death in the family,” he said.

Hodgson said his father, also a keen angler, warned of the decline decades ago.

“People of his generation were concerned enough to write letters to ECan and to chase up Fish and Game and to chase up the Department of Conservation, we’d go, ‘hey look guys, are you seeing this?’ And all the things that we talked about have now happened or are happening,” he said.

The situation had reached a tipping point, Hodgson said.

“If you can’t go to the river and eat the fish in the river, if you can’t go to the river and swim in it, if you can’t go to the river and drink the water, where are we at? Where do we go from here? Because that’s where we’re at today,” he said.

’20 years too late’ to be gathering information

Canterbury Regional Council is responsible for managing land and water use, setting pollution limits, issuing resource consents, managing water takes and designating drinking water protection zones.

A spokesperson said some surface water and groundwater zones were overallocated and had been so when the current regional plan became operative in 2015.

“This plan set allocation limits, which in many catchments had already been exceeded,” they said.

Asked to clarify which, or how many water zones were overallocated, the council did not respond before deadline.

Its latest annual groundwater survey showed nitrate increasing in 62 percent of the 300 test wells.

More than 10 percent of wells tested had nitrates above the drinking water limit, including 18 of the 56 test wells (31 percent) in the Ashburton zone.

Since the start of 2025, when a temporary [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/580278/thirty-two-more-dairy-farms-for-canterbury-some-grain-growers-go-for-milk

restriction on intensive dairy conversions] ended, the council has issued discharge consents allowing for a potential increase of up to 25,800 dairy cattle.

Some Canterbury dairy farmers are striving to limit nitrate leaching by planting special crops and experimenting with new winter grazing systems.

Chair Deon Swiggs voted against declaring a nitrate emergency when the previous council narrowly passed a motion brought by outgoing councillor Vicki Southworth.

He told RNZ he stood by that decision but hoped the declaration would raise awareness about nitrate.

“Once people have a bit more understanding of what it is we can work with the industry to start addressing some of the problems where there are hotspots and where there are issues,” he said.

“The science people are working with other scientists around the region as well to start standing up the science, start standing up the industry response so that everybody can get on the same page. The last thing we want is people to not believe there’s is an issue when there potentially is an issue.”

Swiggs said the council had no choice but to follow rules set at a national level and cautioned against singling out dairy farming.

“Nitrate comes from all sorts of different sources. If you’re trying to pin nitrate just on cows, nitrate is because people are putting nitrogen onto the soil. All land use activities, including farming for food production, uses nitrate,” he said.

Asked about nitrate isotope testing confirming the dairy industry as a primary source, Swiggs said, “We have a lot of cows in Canterbury”.

Deputy chair Iaean Cranwell, who voted in favour of the emergency declaration, said issue was “very complex”.

“We know there’s an issue in Canterbury and I think everyone agrees there’s an issue across all communities,” he said.

“Even though there was work happening and there were conversations, it wasn’t out in the open. I think all that [the emergency declaration] has done is actually saying we have an issue and what are we going to do about it?” he said.

Cranwell said the council could consider mandating lower dairy stocking rates – Canterbury has the highest in the country, according to Dairy NZ – but it would need to go through a planning process “hamstrung” by the upheaval of freshwater and resource management laws.

The government’s move in July to halt all council planning work until Resource Management Act reforms were complete had further complicated its response, he said.

“If the regulation allowed that, I’m sure that’s one thing you could look at, but at this current time we cannot look at our planning regime,” Cranwell said.

Otago University research fellow Marnie Prickett criticised the council’s approach.

“That’s just not good enough. It’s not leadership, it’s treading water and it’s not acting in the interests of their people who are relying on them to protect their drinking water,” she said.

Along with fellow academics Dr Tim Chambers and Professor Simon Hales, Prickett presented to the council in March, calling for [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/544734/academics-call-for-urgent-action-on-nitrate-pollution

urgent action on the “water pollution crisis”].

The trio advised the council to conduct an independent analysis of why nitrate levels keep rising, look at gaps in the council’s data collection and request the auditor-general conduct a conflict of interest review, all things that could be done regardless of central government reforms, she said.

It was 20 years too late to be talking about gathering information, raising awareness or standing up the science, Prickett said.

“We’re beyond the point where we have to identify what the problem is. I think we know what the problem is.”

Grief for a lost river

As he sets off on another round of water sampling, Trolove is motivated not only by his love of the rivers and streams but the loss of possibilities for his children and their children.

“It pains me that the next generation won’t have what I had,” he said.

The way decisions were made that has left some without safe drinking water and whittled away fishing spots to remote high country rivers made his blood boil.

“Where is the equity for the ratepayer in Selwyn who looks like paying $400 million for Rolleston to go and develop source water near the Waimak (Waimakariri) to pump around the towns and rapidly growing region because we can no longer dig a hole in the ground?

“Where is the equity for the people in Ashburton who are having to pay? Not the farmers – the people in the town who will have to pay in the future to pump water across the Ashburton River so Tinwald can have safer water.

“Where was the democracy and where was the discussion?”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland funeral home has reunited unclaimed ashes with about a dozen families, but still has over 800 remaining unclaimed after a call-out before a mass interment.

In September, Morrisons Funerals said it had a secured room full of over 700 unclaimed ashes urns and in the coming months it was planning a mass interment to lay the ashes to rest – this number had now risen to over 800.

Location manager Natasha Plunkett said families had been given until the end of November to come forward, but due to the sheer volume of ashes and the discovery that many belonged to returned servicemen, the date had now been extended until early 2026.

The unclaimed ashes ranged from the 1930s up to 2020, she said.

Plunkett said about 10 to 15 of the ashes had now been reunited with families, but a number of organisations had come forward offering to help with the mammoth task.

A few cemeteries had also offered to donate plots.

In some cases, spouses of those who had died had been identified in cemeteries across New Zealand, so investigations were underway to see if they could be taken to the same place.

Plunkett said they had found many of the ashes belonged to returned servicemen who may no longer have any living relatives.

“We have ashes from someone who lived to be over 100 and outlived all their relatives,” she said.

There were various reasons as to why ashes were unclaimed, Plunkett said, a common reason was just due to miscommunication within families.

She said a lot of grandchildren had been in touch looking to find the ashes of their long dead grandparents.

“There’s been a lot of joy really that we were still holding them and [they] could be reunited.”

Some of the families had felt embarrassed about coming forward after so much time had passed, she said, but most had the best intentions.

Anyone who thought they might have a loved one whose ashes were never collected from Morrisons Funerals could reach out to the funeral home by emailing tributes@morrisons.co.nz or calling 09 836 0029.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning: This story discusses sexual abuse, which some may find disturbing.

Jevon McSkimming’s sentencing on Wednesday should serve as a wake-up call to how common sex abuse images have become – and to help perpetrators stop accessing them, according to a child protection charity.

The ex-deputy police commissioner pleaded guilty last month to possessing objectionable publications, including child sexual exploitation and bestiality.

Seventeen other police staff had been under investigation in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content” as a result of a subsequent audit. Among six stood down was an experienced detective who allegedly also possessed objectionable material.

The cases have brought home to people how prevalent accessing extreme content is “at every level”, said ECPAT Child Alert national director Eleanor Parkes.

“People are surprised when they hear about this happening – and it is completely outrageous and horrific, but it is not a surprise to us. And if there’s one, there’s more. We really need to step up our efforts around the prevention space and not be waiting until someone is found out for the types of content that they’re searching for online, which are deeply harmful to children.”

Some perpetrators realise they need help to stop them getting into more serious images or offending, she said.

“If we’re waiting until someone has fed that need and that desire and they’re well down the line of the extreme types of content that they’re seeking – that is much more difficult to help those people.

“We need to be making sure people who are starting to become concerned about their sexual preferences can get support in the early days. There is strong evidence that some of the programmes that we have in New Zealand for people to seek support in those early days are effective.

“And I can completely understand why members of the public take a more black and white approach and just say ‘harsher sentencing’. But that really isn’t what is going to be keeping our children safe.”

She stressed that the content is not pornography, but demand-fuelled sexual abuse of children. “The people who are accessing these images and these videos are doing real harm. They shouldn’t think of the perpetrators as being elsewhere. They are perpetrating this harm.”

McSkimming told a colleague that over the years he had needed different types of imagery to “make him feel anything, and it just kept escalating”.

Of the sessions police analysed, 880 objectionable images included 812 of adult bestiality and 68 of child sexual exploitation material. The remaining 2065 photos and videos showed bestiality (63 percent) and child sexual exploitation (37 percent). His searches included AI material, and computer-generated images.

As well as being deputy commissioner, McSkimming was appointed chief security officer for Police in March 2021. His membership of the Security and Privacy Reference Group gave him knowledge of information security controls applied to internet use.

McSkimming pleaded guilty to three representative charges of possessing objectionable publications, and would be sentenced at Wellington District Court on Wednesday.

Help for perpetrators

Online pictures and videos accessible worldwide depict the sexual abuse of more than 300 million children a year, according to university researchers.

Last week, Australian police revealed what they claim is an international ‘satanic’ child sex abuse material ring operating in suburban Sydney.

“One of the ongoing challenges in this area is that many people who experience concerning sexual thoughts or behaviours simply don’t know that specialist support services exist, or that these services can be effective,” said ECPAT’s Parkes.

“People in this situation often feel alone, ashamed, and unsure where to turn. Because the experience is highly secretive and stigmatised, secrecy itself can become a barrier that prevents early intervention. Even when someone does know that help is available, taking the first step can feel extremely difficult. People can worry about repercussions, especially if they have viewed harmful material.”

Worrying that family or partners would find out and fear of their reactions – being judged or rejected – was a significant emotional hurdle, she said, as well as concerns about legal consequences.

Specialist organisations such as WellStop, STOP, and SafeNetwork provide early intervention and treatment for concerning or harmful sexual behaviour.

“They work on preventing sexual harm before it occurs and providing early support for children, young people, and adults through specialist pathways, combining therapy, risk management, education, and when appropriate support for the wider whānau or community around the person,” she said.

“Referrals for children and young people often come through family members, schools, or community professionals, and the support extends beyond the individual to include the people in their lives who may need guidance and reassurance. These services can be very effective.”

People who completed specialist programmes had considerably lower reoffending rates than those who did not. “The services don’t work perfectly for every individual, but the overall evidence is clear that they significantly reduce sexual harm, especially when accessed early and when properly resourced.

“Demand for early intervention and specialist treatment is growing, and sustainable funding is essential if we want these services to remain accessible, visible, and properly supported.”

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, Gujarati, Marathi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254.
• Healthline: 0800 611 116.
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155.
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463.

Sexual Violence

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

WorkSafe has filed a charge in relation to the death of a Chinese worker who fell from a scissor lift during work last December.

The worker came to New Zealand on a visa to work for an Auckland aluminium company.

The worker fell from a scissor lift while working at the company’s North Shore warehouse last year and passed away in hospital a few days later.

A spokesperson from WorkSafe said the department has filed a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 following an extensive investigation.

The department didn’t identify the charged party as the matter is now pending a first hearing in the North Shore District Court.

It said that a person conducting a business or undertaking had a duty to ensure the health and safety of workers who worked for them so far as was reasonably practicable.

However, in this case, the person conducting a business or undertaking failed to comply with that duty while the worker was “loading aluminium beams into racking above 2 metres”, and “that failure exposed workers to a risk of serious injury or death”.

“Falls from height remain one of the most unforgiving risks in the manufacturing industry,” said Brad Duggan, WorkSafe’s regional manager.

“This case is a stark reminder that working at height demands disciplined planning, the right equipment and controls that are followed on the ground.

“When those basics slip, the consequences can be catastrophic. It’s vital that businesses step up and make sure their people are protected before any work at height begins.”

The worker’s wife said a weight had been lifted off her mind upon receiving the WorkSafe update.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The classic summer festival is the latest loser in the cost of living crisis, with another iconic event announcing its downfall today.

Splore is part of a growing list of struggling festivals, with big names like WOMAD and One Love also on pause.

But with many young people still crying out for a summer experience, some smaller events are hoping they can pick up punters let down by the big festivals.

Splore organiser John Minty announced today that 2026 would be the last year for the festival, which kicked off in 1998.

Minty told Morning Report that shutting down for good was the last thing he wanted.

“We took a year off last year hoping things would pick up but ticket sales haven’t been tracking where we need them to be to feel confident that it’s financially sustainable going into the future.”

With the cost of living biting down hard, a number of people Checkpoint spoke to said they were cutting costs back where they could, and festivals were one of the items getting the chop.

“I want to go to all of them obviously, but you do have to pick and choose, things like Electric Avenue I didn’t go last year, I’m not going this year but everyone I know is going and it’s so expensive,” said one festivalgoer.

Despite wanting to go, others told Checkpoint they were missing out events like Laneway, Rhythm and Vines and Soundsplash due to the costs.

Other festivals to put a pause on things over the past couple of years include One Love and Bay Dreams.

Long-running Taranaki festival WOMAD is also taking 2026 off after a tough few years.

Organiser Suzanne Porter said while it was a hard decision, low ticket sales meant it was the best option.

“We came out of post covid with our costs will have increased by over 30 percent, freight, artists, and at the same time you’ve got a cost of living crisis so you’re trying to keep your ticket price, we didn’t put our ticket price up at all for those three festivals, so it’s just a perfect storm really.”

While she hoped for a successful comeback in 2027, the future remained uncertain.

“We are hopeful that things will improve, we have seen interest rates come down so hopefully people discretionary income has improved slightly.”

Despite all the festival flops, the young people Checkpoint spoke to all agreed that it was worth scraping the money together to ensure they could enjoy at least one festival each summer.

“I think it’s for the experience really, festivals are a fun time and a time to meet like-minded people, and why wouldn’t you want to see your favourite artist even if it is really pricey.

“It’s just something I don’t want to compromise on, it’s the highlight of summer.”

While many big names are struggling to survive, others continue to thrive despite Challenging times.

Christchurch’s Electric Avenue is going stronger than ever after expanding from one day to two last year.

Organiser Callam Mitchell told Checkpoint tickets for the 2026 festival sold out in minutes, and with the demand they could have sold another 50,000.

Mitchell said the festival has doubled in size over the past five years, while ticket prices went up an average of 14 percent from 2025 to 2026.

“Ultimately people still want to do things even during this economic climate, we’ve worked have to make sure we’re at the top of peoples list.”

As the big names pull out, some smaller festival organisers have also remained optimistic, hoping to be a new option for punters left in the lurch.

Along with their mates Finn Geraets and Michael Coutts, Scott Mueller and Rob Newey took a leap and started up Matakanarama last year.

Mueller said what was originally a private Facebook event went from strength to strength, and the three-day New Year’s festival has now upscaled its capacity from 350 to 1500 this year.

“With that comes increases in essentially everything, obviously the budget is considerably higher, but with that come much more impressive artists and much more scope to do these cool little creative things.”

The friends said that being the same age as their audience has helped them figure out how much people are willing to splash out on a summer experience.

“It’s such a tricky thing to have faith that we’re making the right decisions because what sort of feedback you take on, it’s all sort of anecdotal through people we know, I guess one of the fortunate pieces we have being the age we are knowing the crowd that we’re trying to appeal to, we have a complete 100 percent direct understanding of the financial situation of a lot of people.

“In terms of our ticket price, we always wanted to make it competitive compared to our direct and not so direct competitors, and for a three day ticket we’re actually undercutting our competitors quite effectively.”

Despite big competition and uncertain times, the boys were confident they could continue to upscale and create a community that wanted to keep coming back.

“I just hope we’ve built a robust enough system that will allow us to survive through these years and if we can make it through these tougher years then we’ve proved to ourselves that we have a pretty good framework for the better years to come.”

While big festivals going down is daunting, the team believed their small size had helped them out.

“There are definitely nerves, it’s more of a quiet voice in the back of your head than it is this north star, but I think when you look at a lot of the festivals that are struggling at the moment they’re a lot of the huge operations with massive fixed costs and we’ve designed our festival from the ground up to be pretty flexible and scalable.

“Thankfully, because we are in such a relatively early stage of operation we’re not at a point where we’re relying on these massive ticket sales to actually even break even.”

Mueller and Newey said they are confident they can continue to thrive in future years, but at the moment are focused on getting through the next 13 days before the party kicks off.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A lobbyist who used to work for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is now a critic of the city’s 7.9 percent rates rise.

Josh Van Veen was Brown’s deputy chief of staff just two months ago, but is now publicly criticising his former boss over the proposed rise in rates.

Auckland Councillors approved the mayor’s draft 2026/2027 annual budget – which included a 7.9 percent average residential rates increase – on Monday.

Mayor Brown said the increase was higher than ideal, but the new City Rail Link, set to cost roughly $235 million to run each year, was the primary driver.

Van Veen left his post at the mayor’s office after the October local body elections and is now a spokesperson for lobby group Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance.

The group released a statement today, demanding that the mayor put a specific number on how much of the rates increase was to cover the new rail network.

“I don’t think that he has intentionally misled anyone about the rates increase, but I think that there are questions to be asked about the numbers,” Van Veen told RNZ.

The mayor has previously butted heads with the ratepayers group.

In an email in October, he told the group to “F off” after they asked him to sign a pledge to keep rates down.

Van Veen said his departure from the mayor’s office was not because of any personal issues with the mayor.

“There’s no bad blood. I think the mayor has a very hard job, and he is just one vote around the council table.

“I wear my heart on my sleeve in terms of my politics. I previously worked for the Ratepayers’ Alliance, and now I’m back. For me, it’s all about the policy, not the personalities.”

But he believed the mayor could cut spending more and advised him to ask the hard questions.

“Certainly, a lot of savings were found in the last council term. But the Ratepayers’ Alliance would argue the mayor could have gone a lot further.

“My advice is don’t take at face value any of the advice you receive from council officers. Ask the hard questions, be sceptical, be thorough.”

He said some Auckland councillors had requested that a breakdown justifying the rates increase be available for when the public was consulted on the budget in early 2026.

At the Auckland Town Hall, where councillors met on Tuesday, Brown told RNZ the proposed rates increase was in line with the council’s 2024 to 2034 Long-Term Plan.

He said council staff had worked hard to stay within budget.

“Read the papers, the annual plan has everything in it. You can find out what the cost of a park in Howick is.

“If people are too lazy to get the information, it’s not my job to take them word by word through the process.”

The mayor said the recession, infrastructure costs and rebuilding after flooding had all been costly for the city.

He only had one thing to say to Van Veen’s claim that he had not gone hard enough when it came to cutting council spending.

“He had his opportunity last term.”

The mayor was whisked away before he could answer questions about why Van Veen was no longer in his circle. His advisor said that it was an employment matter.

“It’s nothing. The contract ended,” said Brown.

The mayor’s budget would be open for public consultation from 27 February to 29 March.

Auckland Council has been asked what the dollar amount of the average rates increase proposed would be, but was unable to provide the information immediately.

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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 government is cutting transport subsidies for elderly and disabled people for elderly and disabled people from 75 percent to 65 percent.

The Total Mobility scheme provides discounted taxis and public transport fares for those with long-term impairments.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop and Disability Minister Louise Upston said when the previous Labour government boosted the scheme from a 50 percent subsidy in 2022, it did not account for increased demand.

The number of registered users had increased from 108,000 to 120,000 between 2022 and 2024/25, and the number of trips increased from 1.8 million in 2018 to 3 million in 2024/25.

Bishop said the increased demand now meant the scheme was close to exceeding the funding provided by $236m sometime over the five years to 2030.

“The subsidy is split between the government and public transport authorities – local councils and the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) – and provides an important service for the people who use the scheme,” he said.

“This is yet another fiscal cliff left to us that we are having to correct and fix. Today, the government is announcing decisions to stabilise the Total Mobility scheme so that the disability community is supported in a financially sustainable way, by all funding partners.”

This would be done by reducing the subsidy from 75 percent to 65 percent, something the Transport Agency would work towards.

The reduced costs to the Crown would be recycled back to public transport authorities to reduce the 2025 to 2030 shortfall, with the government also providing $10m.

Upston said they wanted to “stabilise” the scheme’s funding pressures “in a way that ensures financial sustainability, consistency in how the service is delivered, and fairness across New Zealand”.

She said the government would release a discussion document to consult on further changes to the scheme “to ensure fairer, consistent and more sustainable access to services for people with the greatest need”.

Labour’s Priyanca Radhakrishnan says today’s changes mean disabled New Zealanders paying more to get to work, attend appointments or see loved ones.

She said the government was making life harder and more expensive for disabled New Zealanders by making the cuts in a cost-of-living crisis.

“Slashing subsidised transport at a time when people are already struggling is out of touch especially from a government that promised to ease the cost-of-living and has instead made it worse.

“Disability communities feel betrayed. First came the overnight cut to flexible funding. Then restrictions on residential care with no warning. Then Whaikaha was gutted and disability support shifted to the Ministry of Social Development. Now, the transport subsidy many rely on to live independently has been cut.”

She said affordable transport was not a nice-to-have for many disabled New Zealanders, but a lifeline that meant independence, dignity, and the ability to participate in everyday life – which was why Labour had increased the subsidy in 2022.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

WARNING: Contains content about sexual offending against children and animals.

A Tasman man has been jailed for more than five years for collecting thousands of child exploitation photos and videos, described by a judge as graphic and horrific.

Storm Uriah Constable-Carter pleaded guilty in the Nelson District Court in August to 50 charges relating to the creation, possession and distribution of child exploitation and bestiality material.

Investigators described the material as some of the worst they had seen in more than two decades of work. It featured the extreme sexual exploitation of children and infants, and the torture and sexual abuse of a range of different animals.

The 22-year-old was charged in August after the Department of Internal Affairs’ Digital Child Exploitation Team launched an investigation after a video file, depicting bestiality involving an toddler was found in two cloud storage accounts.

Investigators found more than 60,000 objectionable publications across nine internet accounts created and controlled by Constable-Carter with more than 10,000 objectionable items shared with others.

The offending began in 2019 when Constable-Carter was 16 years old.

Judge Tony Snell described the content in Constable-Carter’s possession as being among the worst of its kind.

“Some of your charges depict the most extreme and depraved depictions of child abuse imaginable,” Judge Snell said.

“Your offending involved real infants, real toddlers, real children, real young people. It involved the horrific and sickening abuse – including rape, violations, torture – and it involved the torture and murder of animals for your sexual gratification.”

Not a victimless crime

Online child exploitation was not victimless, the judge said.

“It is a crime that fuels the cycle of sexual abuse and exploitation of real children internationally.

“There are the obvious impacts on all of the victims but that is compounded with this type of material because it is redistributed and exists forever on the internet. The abuse and trauma suffered by the victims continues forever. It can never truly be eradicated because it exists online. It is described often as shame and trauma that never ceases.”

Judge Snell said Constable-Carter was in possession of objectionable material where a set of victims had previously been identified.

In a victim impact statement, one of the victims described how she lived with the horrible knowledge someone, somewhere was watching the most terrifying moments of her life and taking grotesque pleasure in them.

“Every day people are trading and sharing videos of me as a little girl being raped in the most sadistic ways. Every time they are downloaded, I am exploited again. My privacy is breached and my life feels less and less safe.”

Investigation launched in after video flagged in cloud storage account

The Department of Internal Affairs’ Digital Child Exploitation Team began an investigation in June 2022 after they became aware a video depicting sexual exploitation of a toddler had been uploaded to a cloud storage account based in New Zealand and attributed to Constable-Carter.

The DIA received 74 referrals related to Constable-Carter from an international organisation that manages child sexual abuse reports.

“Between the nine cloud storage accounts, you were in possession of at least 60,437 objectionable photos and video files depicting the sexual abuse of children, bestiality and urination for the purpose of sexual conduct. Due to the number of files contained between these accounts, an additional 35,636 images and video files have not been able to be categorised,” a summary of facts said.

Constable-Carter used cloud storage accounts and encrypted internet communications to receive and distribute the objectionable material and discuss his sexual preferences.

Judge Snell said Constable-Carter had curated a large collection of objectionable material and was highly proficient at sharing it with others.

“You had your finger on the pulse of what you were distributing and knew it intimately well.”

There were several aggravating factors to the offending – the sexual exploitation of children, the age and vulnerability of the victims, the impact it had on them, the creation of objectionable videos, the duration and frequency of the offending, the scale of the offending, the engagement with the material, and the nature of the content, the judge said.

From a starting point of 12 years, Constable-Carter was given a combined discount of 55 per cent for his guilty plea, young age, undiagnosed psychological issues and other life circumstances, resulting in the end sentence of five years and five months in prison.

Judge Snell made an order for the forfeiture and destruction of the seized objectionable publications and an Apple iPhone used to access them.

Constable-Carter was automatically added to the Child Sex Offender register.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Councillors have voted not to proceed with a six-month trial of fortnightly kerbside rubbish collections in parts of the city, after considering public feedback.

The proposed trial would’ve halved the number of kerbside collections in Te Atatū, Panmure, Tāmaki, Clendon Park and Weymouth, with the intention of reducing waste to landfill.

About 5000 Aucklanders had made submissions during consultation, and 78 percent had opposed the trial.

Feedback included concerns about managing fuller bins, smells, hygiene and whether they would have enough bin space, particularly in big households.

On Tuesday, the Policy, Planning and Development Committee voted to scrap the trial.

Its chairperson councillor Richard Hills said elected members took public feedback seriously and heard people’s concerns that the trial wouldn’t work well.

However, he said reducing waste to landfill remains a priority that the committee will revisit in the new year.

“Staff will return to the committee with a range of waste minimisation options in 2026,

“Feedback on the Waste Minimisation and Management Plan 2024 showed that reducing waste to landfill is important to many Aucklanders, with 66 percent of respondents supporting the overall plan and its targets,” he said.

Council’s general manager of waste solutions, Justine Haves, said council remains committed to meet its waste-minimisation target of 29 percent by 2030.

“Next year we’ll bring a range of evidence-based options that can help Aucklanders reduce waste to landfill to the Governing Body for consideration. This work will guide how we continue moving towards a more sustainable future for Tāmaki Makaurau,” she said.

During the meeting, councillor Julie Fairey raised that Auckland Council has been on the pathway of proposing fortnightly rubbish collections since 2012.

She said it’s one thing to look at evidence around the benefits, but another issue entirely to get social support for it.

Fairey said it would be useful to hear more from the 18 councils that have been doing fortnightly rubbish collections, and that could help with Auckland Council’s conversations with the community.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Some guide dogs who get attacked by other dogs while on the job can not recover their confidence and have to be retired.

Several guide dogs and their handlers have been attacked by roaming or out control dogs in the past four weeks in Timaru, Papakura, Wellington and Auckland.

Blind Low Vision New Zealand says there are parts of South Auckland where it is no longer placing guide dogs because of the risk of attacks.

North Shore woman Chely is at risk of losing her guide dog after several encounters with out of control dogs left her working dog fearful and potentially unable to do its job properly.

Chely’s guide dog Sasha has become scared after experiencing aggressive behaviour from unrestrained dogs. On three separate occasions, unrestrained dogs have leapt at Sasha while she was in her harness.

Chely said guide dogs can not defend themselves or get away when in the harness. “There’s nothing she can do.”

The labrador is now showing signs of anxiety and freezing or refusing to pass other dogs, and making unsafe decisions.

“She’s just become so anxious while in harness, every time we come near a dog when she’s in harness, she’s just becoming so anxious we wants to move me away. She’s tried moving me into the road to make space for a dog, which is obviously unsafe for both of us.

“It’s horrible to see her confidence being derailed by something that is so preventable.”

Sasha is being assessed – where she won’t be in a harness and will not be able to be worked – but may need intensive training to solve the problem, and Chely has been forced to rely on her cane which has cut independence “in half” and left her feeling isolated.

“Sasha is my eyes, she’s everything to me, she’s my constant companion and I just love her to bits.

“She gets me out in the community, she’s how I get to work every day, she’s integral to the life I live as an independent person… and it’s going to be horrible.”

Chely had a simple message to other dog owners.

“Please consider putting your dog on short leash when in public, especially on roads, and if you see a guide dog or other service dog, consider moving around and away and giving them space to work. Don’t allow your dog to distract the dog, because the guide dogs are our eyes and if they are distracted, they are not looking after their handler.”

Blind Low Vision NZ chief executive Andrea Midgen told Checkpoint that recent attacks had resulted in injuries that required medical attention for both dog and handler.

She said these incidents had an impact on the safety of the community, and the dogs themselves.

“It’s a bit of a double-whammy effect – the guide dogs can be so traumatised that they won’t work again, so that’s a huge investment to get the guide dog up to a level where they can work with a handler, and sometimes we can’t recover them, so they need to be retired.

“And then there is the impact on the person, and that is a huge loss of confidence to go out into the community and do the things they need to be doing every day.”

The cost of training and investing in a guide dog is about $175,000 through its life, Midgen said.

But she said the loss of that investment did not compare ot the loss of independence to those who rely on guide dogs.

“They’re basically stuck in their home.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A northbound lane of State Highway One – near Mount Victoria tunnel in Wellington – is closed following a crash.

Emergency services were called to Paterson Street – which runs through the tunnel to the Basin reserve – shortly after 4pm.

A police spokesperson said a person had been taken to hospital in a serious condition and another in a moderate condition after two vehicle’s collided in the area.

Motorists were advised to expect delays.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

As nitrates creep up in some Canterbury drinking water supplies, dairy farmers are striving to limit nitrate leaching and their cows’ environmental footprint by planting special crops and experimenting with new winter grazing systems. In the second of [ https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/581910/what-s-really-going-on-with-canterbury-s-water RNZ’s three-part series Water Fight], Anna Sargent reports on efforts to remedy the region’s water quality woes.

A gentle breeze rolls through an oat crop on Andrew Barlass’ dairy farm in the foothills of Canterbury’s Mt Hutt, turning the field into a shimmering ripple of green.

The long pale stems are ready for harvest but the oats have already done an important job soaking up some of the nitrogen left behind from winter grazing.

Set against a picturesque backdrop of snow-capped mountain peaks, Barlass’s 900-hectare farm is home to about 1500 dairy cows.

The third-generation farmer is trying to prevent nitrate leaching and nutrient run-off with his catch crop of oats, as levels of contaminants inch up in some rural Canterbury drinking water supplies.

“I’ve always been interested in nature and the environment. As farmers we’re out here, we’re touching the soil everyday, it’s the sort of the values that we have as a family that I want my children to be able to enjoy,” he said.

“The catch crop is designed to soak up the nitrogen, the oats grow in cooler temperatures than grass so we can get these in August, they take up the residual nitrogen that’s left in the soil and then we take that for silage later on.”

A 2022 Plant & Food Research project involving Otago and mid-Canterbury farm trials found catch crops reduced soil nitrogen leaching by up to 60 percent and cut sediment run-off by about 40 percent.

Barlass was also trialling hybrid bale grazing to improve soil health and prevent cows sitting in mud that could end up in waterways.

“You take effectively hay and allow cows to graze that over winter and you don’t feed it out in lines like we typically would, we just leave the bales out there, take the wrapping off them and the cows then can eat some of that. They also spread it around, lie on it and sit on it,” he said.

Canterbury’s dairy boom

Since 1990, Canterbury’s dairy herd has increased by about 1000 per cent, to more than a million cows.

Between 2002 and 2019, nitrogen fertiliser use in Canterbury increased by 326 percent, while the area being irrigated increased by 99 percent over the same period.

An Earth Sciences New Zealand-led study published in November confirmed that Canterbury has the highest percentage of elevated groundwater nitrates in the country, following testing of 3800 rural drinking water samples from private wells between 2022 and 2024.

Researchers identified nitrate-rich cow urine as a primary cause of contaminated groundwater.

The regional council’s latest annual groundwater survey shows nitrate increasing in 62 percent of the 300 test wells.

About 10 percent were found to have nitrates above the nitrate-nitrogen limit in drinking water of 11.3 milligrams per litre (mg/L), including 18 of the 58 wells in the Ashburton zone.

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

Canterbury Regional Council is responsible for managing land and water use, setting pollution limits, issuing and enforcing resource consents, managing water takes and designating drinking water protection zones.

Since the start of 2025, when a temporary restriction on intensive dairy conversions ended, the council has issued discharge consents that allow for a potential increase of up to 25,800 cows.

A nitrate emergency

In September councillors voted nine to seven in favour of declaring a nitrate emergency, although some branded the move a political stunt, virtue signalling and an attack on Canterbury farmers.

Council chair Deon Swiggs voted against the motion, but said he now hoped it resulted in better awareness of nitrate pollution.

“Once people have a bit more understanding of what it is, and we all have more understanding of what it is, we can work with the industry to start addressing some of the problems where there are hotspots and where there are issues,” he said.

“No-one is saying that there aren’t issues, so that’s where we’re actually also working with the industry. While we were in our election period, the CEO stood up a whole lot of CEs around the region from the industry.

“The science people are working with other scientists around the region as well to start standing up the science, start standing up the industry response so that everybody can get on the same page.”

Swiggs said the council had no choice but to follow rules set at a national level and cautioned against singling out dairy farming for blame.

“Nitrate comes from all sorts of different sources. Nitrate is because people are putting nitrogen onto the soil. All land use activities, including farming for food production, use nitrate,” he said.

Federated Farmers vice president Colin Hurst said the nitrate emergency declaration was unhelpful and politically motivated.

“It risks creating unnecessary panic and driving a wedge between urban and rural communities. It’s a longstanding challenge, one that farmers, councils, iwi and the wider community have been actively working on for decades,” he said.

Hurst said dairy farmers had been proactive in managing nitrate levels on their properties.

“They’ve made huge changes fencing off waterways to keep cows out, planting waterways to absorb nutrients, using less fertiliser and being a lot more precise with the fertiliser they do use. Many are also experimenting with new winter grazing systems, adjusting crop rotations and planting specific crops to reduce nitrogen leaching,” he said.

“While the results take years to fully show up in groundwater, farmers are clearly stepping up and showing real leadership on this issue.”

Deputy council chair Iaean Cranwell, who voted in favour of the emergency declaration, said the council could consider mandating lower dairy stocking rates – Canterbury has the highest in the country, according to Dairy NZ – but it would need to go through a planning process “hamstrung” by the upheaval of freshwater and resource management laws.

He said the government’s move in July to halt all council planning work until Resource Management Act reforms were complete had further complicated its response.

“If the regulation allowed that, I’m sure that’s one thing you could look at, but at this current time we cannot look at our planning regime,” he said.

RNZ requested council figures showing the total area under irrigation, whether water use was declining and whether water was over-allocated in any of region’s water zones.

A regional council spokesperson said it did not keep information on the area under irrigation, instead pointing to 2022 StatsNZ data showing that about 480,000 hectares of land was irrigated in Canterbury, the greatest in the country.

Water use in some surface water catchments and groundwater zones was overallocated as a result of the current regional plan, which became operative in 2015, setting allocation limits that “in many catchments, had already been exceeded”, the spokesperson said.

The council was working on measuring and understanding the effectiveness of its plans, including how well nitrate reduction goals and regional plans rules were working.

‘Doing the right thing by the land’

Back on the farm, Barlass takes monthly nitrate readings from his property’s waterway using a portable tester supplied by his local catchment group.

While he is comfortable with his farm stream measuring nitrate concentrations ranging from 0.3 to two mg/L, Barlass said he would monitor any changes with interest.

He was also lining the stream with native swamp and mountain flax.

“If you’re planting out near waterways, they act as a filter and prevent sediments from getting into the waterway. There’s 100 metres of stream here, probably with 800 plants,” he said.

“This stream carries on for quite a way past here and we’d like to carry that on. That will probably be a multi-decade approach.

“I think it’s incumbent upon farmers to be making improvements but also we didn’t know what we didn’t know before, we’re learning all the time and we’re finding new and better ways to do things. There’s a lot of work happening and I think a lot of it goes unseen.”

Barlass is a member of the Mid-Canterbury Catchment Collective, a group that helps farmers carry out environmental projects and promotes good agricultural practice.

Group co-ordinator Angela Cushnie lives in Ashburton, where the regional council’s groundwater survey shows 18 of the 58 wells tested exceeding the drinking water limit.

She said farmers were more interested than ever in doing the right thing by the land, including working the soil as little as possible to curb nutrient loss, catch cropping to “mop up” nitrates and pasture-based winter grazing trials.

The collective bought three portable nitrate sensors at a cost of $10,000 each for farmers testing streams, Cushnie said.

“The good part about them, as well as getting real-time data, is just how user-friendly they are. Our community is all involved in monitoring, once a month they take samples from their drains,” she said.

More than three years of data had been gathered at her local waterway, the Hinds/Hekeao catchment.

Cushnie said nitrate levels remained flat at roughly 5.5 mg/L at Windermere Drain but could spike to 8 mg/L after heavy rain.

She believed the nitrate emergency declaration sensationalised a well-known problem.

“I didn’t find it particularly helpful personally because it feels like it’s headline-grabbing and steers us away from practical solutions,” she said.

“That doesn’t alter our course and in fact regulation doesn’t alter our course. We carry on with what we know is going to be effective in the long term.”

Victoria University freshwater ecologist Dr Mike Joy said catch crops and native planting were unlikely to off-set the amount of nitrate pollution caused by intensive dairy farming.

“Catch crops can be effective if the nitrogen is still in the soil but mostly it’s already gone you’re kind of too late when the catch crop goes in there and it’s a very small proportion of the farm,” he said.

“We need changes in the vicinity of 90 percent reduction to have healthy liveable rivers in Canterbury. Those catch crops and riparian are not going to catch enough, we’re talking a few per cent at best of a much, much bigger problem. So it’s kind of ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff.”

Joy said the best solution for healthier water was a reduction in farming intensity, including fewer cows.

DairyNZ chief science and innovation officer Dr David Burger said dairy farmers had made significant improvements to freshwater management and water quality over the past 10 years.

Nationally farmers had reduced synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use by around 30 percent over the past decade, with a 22 percent reduction between 2020 and 2023 alone, he said.

“In Canterbury, OverseerFM modelling shows a 28 per cent decrease in average nitrogen loss per hectare between 2016 and 2022 (from 60.0 to 43.4 kg N/ha/yr), equating to a 9.16 per cent total reduction in nitrogen loss,” he said.

Burger said a DairyNZ project from 2018 to 2023 aimed at helping dairy farmers meet nitrogen loss reduction targets showed a 44 percent reduction in nitrogen loss from baseline years to the latest available year for each farm.

Burger said 84 percent of dairy farms were now operating under a farm environment plan, up from 32 percent in 2021.

“Dairy farmers care about clean rivers, estuaries and safe drinking water. They live in these communities, raise families here and want the same outcomes as everyone else,” he said.

Barlass said “polarising opinions” about nitrate contamination of groundwater were not constructive.

“We’re not all enemies we’re all part of the same community and to achieve great outcomes we’re going to do that better together than apart,” he said.

It could take decades to see the full benefits of changing biological systems, Barlass said.

“I’m a third almost fourth generation on one of our properties. I really see myself as a custodian of the land, I don’t think you really ever own it. It’s something that we’re there to try make better and to pass on,” he said.

“Hopefully one day members of my family, my children will be carrying on that legacy.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A former roading subcontractor has been sentenced to home detention in a long-running corruption case.

Frederick Pou, of Coastal Roading Contractors, pleaded guilty to Serious Fraud Office charges in May 2024 to corruptly giving gifts to an agent.

He was sentenced to 12 months’ home detention at the Auckland District Court for giving gifts totalling approximately $582,000 to secure contracts to former Broadspectrum manager Jason Koroheke as kickbacks for awarding work.

The architect of the scheme, Koroheke, accepted over $1 million in gifts for awarding contracts between January 2015 and November 2018.

Koroheke was convicted and jailed for four years and five months in December 2024.

“Mr Pou was one of several subcontractors who helped to enable Mr Koroheke’s offending,” SFO director Karen Chang said.

“The case highlights the various roles involved in a corruption case, from the ‘corrupter’ who masterminds the criminal scheme, to the ‘enablers’ who facilitate the offending.”

The SFO said the subcontractors submitted invoices to Broadspectrum, both real and false, which Koroheke authorised.

Once Koroheke’s employer Broadspectrum paid the subcontractors, they then used this money to provide gifts to Koroheke in the form of cash, goods and services totalling over $1 million.

Chang warned the case highlighted the risks associated with placing too much trust in one employee without sufficient internal controls.

“These are critical counter fraud prevention measures that can reduce the possibility of organisations becoming a victim of fraud and corruption,” she said.

Two other contractors – Richard Motilal and Brian Ravening – and a former Broadspectrum manager Aurelian Mihai Hossu, were also charged and convicted in the case.

Richard Motilal was sentenced in August 2023 to nine months’ home detention and to pay $25,000 in reparation.

Brian Ravening was sentenced in June 2024 to 12 months’ home detention and made a reparation payment of $300,000.

Aurelian Mihai Hossu was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention in June 2022 and made a reparation payment of $90,000.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Northland’s top firefighter is warning that forecast high winds and low humidity tomorrow could create a short period of extreme fire risk.

Fire and Emergency Northland manager Wipari Henwood said the region’s unusual weather conditions could be heightened by a front travelling up the country on Wednesday.

By the time the front reached Northland it was unlikely to have much rain left, but it would bring strong drying winds and a sharp drop in relative humidity.

That could create a “spike day” – a short period of extreme fire danger.

He urged Northlanders to be extra vigilant on Wednesday – and anyone who had been issued a fire permit should consider waiting until conditions eased.

People should also avoid anything that could create sparks outdoors, such as grinding or lawnmowing.

Henwood said it was possible the front would bring some much-needed rain.

“But the worst case scenario is that we don’t get any rainfall, we just get the wind and really low relative humidity. The impact of that is if anybody decides to light a fire, the potential for that to escape is really high. We’re just asking people, especially tomorrow, to be very vigilant.”

FENZ would be keeping a close eye on Kerikeri in particular, where a large fire swept through four hectares of gum trees and slash on Sunday a short distance from the town centre.

Henwood said a forestry crew was at the Kerikeri fire scene on Tuesday continuing to extinguish hot spots in preparation for potential extreme conditions.

Monitoring would continue on Wednesday in case the fire was fanned back into life.

Henwood said much of Northland was currently in an open fire season with the exceptions of the Aupōuri and Karikari peninsulas, where a fire permit was always required, and DOC-administered islands, where a total fire ban was in place.

Northland’s fire season status would be reviewed in coming weeks.

The risk was currently higher on the west coast because the east was at least getting some rain.

Earlier, FENZ said the Kerikeri fire was caused by a burn pile lit earlier in the week being fanned back into life by strong winds.

The fire was in an area bordered by Kerikeri’s town centre, the Heritage Bypass and Kerikeri River, where a 20ha block of eucalyptus and redwood trees is being felled for a major housing development.

It also came close to native bush along Kerikeri River and council-owned reserves.

A Far North District Council spokesman said the fire did not reach the reserves and no council assets were destroyed.

More than 20 firefighters from five brigades, two helicopters and a digger fought the blaze on Sunday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say a fisherman swept from rocks near Cape Rēinga three weeks ago is still missing and presumed drowned.

Sixty-five-year-old Man Bock Lee, from Hamilton, was fishing from rocks with friends at Taputapotu Bay on 23 November when he was swept away.

Police said extensive searches of the remote area, including by helicopter and the National Dive Squad, had not found any trace of the missing fisherman.

The matter had been referred to the Coroner.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are warning people not to approach a man being sought in relation to a double murder in the central North Island.

Police have been looking for Mitchell Cole, 29, following the discovery of two bodies in Ruatiti – west of Mt Ruapehu – on Saturday.

Superintendent Dion Bennett said a warrant for the unlawful possession of firearms had also been issued for the man.

“Additional police staff remain in the Ruatiti area to assist the investigation.

“Police will pursue every lead available to us in relation to this investigation and are working to locate Cole as quickly as possible,” Bennett said.

He said police were concerned for Mr Cole and urged anyone who saw him to call 111 immediately.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland judge has upheld a petition in the Manukau District Court calling for a judicial inquiry following allegations of fraud in an Auckland local body election.

Judge Richard McIlraith on Tuesday ruled that the irregularities materially affected the result, declaring the election of local board members for the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board void.

A new election will now be held.

The hearing followed a petition by former Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member Lehopoaome Vi Hausia, who claimed to have received reports of voting papers being stolen from residents and submitted without their consent.

Dale Ofsoske, an independent electoral officer for Auckland, was the respondent to the petition.

At a preliminary hearing at Manukau District Court in November, Judge Richard McIlraith ordered five ballot boxes containing votes from the electorate to be transferred from Auckland District Court, where they were being kept, to Manukau for scrutineering in the presence of Judge McIlraith, legal counsel for Hausia and Ofsoske, as well as Ofsoske himself .

Seventy-nine voting papers were subsequently identified during examination as having been cast without the rightful voter’s knowledge.

At a hearing earlier this month, legal counsel for Ofsoske acknowledged there had been irregularities in some of the ballots cast.

Papatoetoe was the only Auckland electorate to record a significant rise in turnout in the latest local body election.

While other Auckland areas saw turnout drop, voting numbers in Papatoetoe increased by more than 7 percent.

All four seats went to first-time candidates from the Papatoetoe Ōtara Action Team.

The petition also argued that the result was inconsistent with historic voting patterns and warranted examination.

The Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board has two subdivisions, with the Ōtara having three seats and Papatoetoe four.

None of the previous local board members of the Papatoetoe subdivision were re-elected.

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