Source: Radio New Zealand

The Education Review Office is firing back at Wesley College, saying it strongly refutes claims about it made by its principal.

The school south of Auckland, one of the country’s oldest, on Tuesday released a a critical ERO report from September written ahead of moves to shutter its hostel.

After releasing it, principal Brian Evans said the ERO was “deeply disrespectful” and it had accused students of lying and covering up.

Evans claimed students said they were badgered about whether they felt safe at the school.

The report detailed more the 30 senior students leaving their hostel at night and going to a junior building.

A small group of senior boys either participated in or observed the bullying and assault of junior students, the ERO report said.

“The supervising staff and wider student body did not prevent the incident, nor was it reported immediately by either staff or students,” it detailed.

The ERO ended its report recommending the suspension of the hostel’s licence, saying it did not have confidence the five hostel buildings were safe.

Principal Brian Evans in his own statement said the ERO was dismissive of students and said they felt pressured to give negative answers.

The school is currently heading to court to try to stop the hostels shutting down much earlier than it wanted.

ERO responds

Responding to the principal’s comments about its report, the ERO said it made no apology for making sure student welfare was prioritised and protected.

“ERO is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of students who live at the Wesley College hostel,” ERO deputy chief executive Shelley Booysen said.

“This is not a safe place for students,” she said

Booysen said Wesley College has a long history of abuse and the ERO had made strong recommendations after finding significant issues.

“ERO strongly refutes the claims made by Brian Evans about our review team and approach to evaluating Wesley College’s hostels,” she said.

Booysen said ERO reviewers had a Code of Conduct and there were comprehensive quality assurance processes.

She said the review being questioned by the principal “meets all requirements”.

Wesley College ‘is much more than headlines’ – principal

Brian Evans has told parents and caregivers that media coverage of the ERO report, which the school itself released, had been challenging.

He said it had “understandably impacted” teachers, students and families.

“Please know this: Wesley College is much more than today’s headlines. We are a community built on faith, resilience, and a deep commitment to the growth and well-being of every student,” Evans wrote on the school’s Facebook account.

“While we don’t deny the truth, our own truth, happiness and love everyone feels for Wesley has largely been dismissed by the authorities. It is now our job to reclaim that and let our voice be heard,” he said.

Evans said safeguarding systems at Wesley College were among the best in the country.

“We have worked hard to move away from past cultures of silence to a school where every voice matters and is heard,” he said.

“This is not easy change, but it is real and happening.”

Wesley College signalled last month it would close its hostels at the end of the year over ongoing safety concerns.

But the Ministry of Education then suspended its licence, wanting the hostels shut by last week following what it said was a pattern of serious and ongoing concerns.

Wesley College has lodged an appeal in the Auckland District Court.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A man charged with murdering a father and son who died in an Auckland house fire has pleaded not guilty.

The bodies of 36-year-old Jung Sup Lee and 11-year-old Ha-il Lee were found inside a Bucklands Beach home last month.

The 38-year-old man charged with their murders pleaded not guilty to both charges at the High Court in Auckland on Wednesday.

Justice Mathew Downs granted him interim name suppression until next Tuesday.

The man would be remanded in custody until his February 2027 trial, unless granted bail, he said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Council is spending another $300,000 on towering Christmas decorations for the city centre, to the delight of some and dismay of others.

It has commissioned an artist to build a series of five-metre tall pillars that will be dotted along Queen Street between Aotea Centre and Britomart, with panels that light-up.

They go on display from December and branch out from last year’s more than $1 million giant Christmas tree which is making a come-back.

Taxpayers Union head of policy James Ross said the $292,000 price tag for the new display was over the top.

“Unfortunately a lot of people are doing it tough in Auckland and across New Zealand at the minute and I think that sort of expenditure is just not a good look,” he said.

“Christmas is a really hard time of year for a lot of people. People will be struggling to put food on the table and costs in the city centre especially are remarkably high. It’s those people and those businesses, a lot of whom are already struggling, and now walking down the street seeing their money being spent on things they don’t need.”

Businesses in the city centre have had a hard time surviving pandemic lockdowns and disruption from the city rail link construction.

It also comes as central government and the city council consider how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer – something that’s alarmed advocates.

Deepak Sharma, who works in the city centre, thinks the Christmas decoration spend sends the wrong message.

“It’s a lot of money they could have spent this money towards the wellbeing of people, to take care of the poor who don’t have a house to live in. They should consider those people.”

City resident Lea Natoc did some quick arithmetic – the five pillars each cost about $60,000 and will be on display for one month.

“Christmas decorations are awesome it’s great for us to feel the Christmas vibe but to spend $60,000 just for one decoration I think it’s a bit too much.”

Each of the five columns will light up with a different theme – Santa’s workshop, a festive forest, under the sea, a Kiwi Christmas and a Christmas feast – and have buttons to press, knobs to turn and one has a juke box to fire up.

Auckland Council Head of Growth and Regeneration Delivery Jenny Larking said the five pillars are interactive and the cost is fully funded by the city centre targeted rate, which is invested back into the area.

“Our partners in the city centre have been calling for collaboration between Auckland Council and local business associations, to significantly increase the number of events and promotions in the city centre, to bring joy, vibrancy and much needed foot traffic to the area after a tough few years.”

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck doesn’t think it’s money wasted – and believes the installation by light artist Angus Muir will be an attraction for years to come.

“At the end of the day while not everyone will agree with every item of spending, overall I would say that property owners will want their tenants to have a thriving environment after such a difficult time.”

She said businesses had faced disruption from pandemic lockdowns and the construction of the City Rail Link, which still has no set open date.

There are an estimated 800 rough sleepers in the city centre and businesses have been lobbying government for a cross-agency response to homelessness.

“We are sincerely hoping we are going to very soon see announcements that do address both needs. It’s not an either or, we do need to address the social issues as a city and as a country and for our city centre too.

“We also need to create a place that people want to come back to and spend time here.”

Auckland City Centre Residents Group spokesperson Antony Phillips says they don’t want to see the street community moved to the suburbs – but given support and housing.

However, the group supports the council’s spending on Christmas decorations but understands some people’s concern about the price tag.

“I wouldn’t call it grinch-like. I think there’s a healthy level of scepticism around any public expenditure at the moment. We are in a cost of living crisis.

“If we cost that over five years it doesn’t seem so shocking.”

City worker Kris Hardy plans to bring his family in to see the giant Christmas tree and new light pillars.

“Every time we come down we go shopping and buy Christmas presents so take that cost and divide it by the number of people who are going to be down here, let’s say a dollar a person and they all do a little shopping. I think it’ll pay for itself.”

According to Auckland Council the five columns will be displayed during the festive season for at least the next five years – with the interactive features and images updated each year.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster is refusing to comment on a damning report by the police watchdog that was scathing of his response to allegations of sexual offending by former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Coster has been placed on leave from his role as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency, following the release of the Independent Police Conduct Authority report.

The report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police, including Coster, over how police responded to accusations of sexual offending by McSkimming.

The allegations arose from an affair between McSkimming and a woman who was a non-sworn police employee at the time.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report said when police did eventually refer the woman’s claims to the authority, several months after it was recommended they do so, senior police attempted to influence the investigation.

RNZ called and text Coster on Wednesday and received a text with an email to contact for comment.

RNZ asked for comment on Coster’s actions, whether he would stay in his role at the SIA, and whether he had a message for the woman who raised the allegations.

A spokesperson then replied: “As has been publicly noted by ministers, this is now an employment conversation between the Public Service Commissioner and Andrew Coster. He will not be responding to media ahead of that process.”

Coster took on the role as Secretary for Social Investment in November 2024, after stepping down as Police Commissioner.

Public Service Minister Judith Collins earlier said it was agreed between Coster and the Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche that Coster would be on leave while Sir Brian undertook his own “investigation”.

She said the report showed a “massive” failure of leadership, and while it was now an employment matter, she said the report spoke for itself.

“If this was me being named in this report, I would be ashamed of myself. And I think that’s what I can say. I would be deeply ashamed.”

Collins said the findings that leadership attempted to influence the investigation into the woman’s complaint and persuade the IPCA that the matter could be resolved quickly were “very serious”.

“Let’s put it this way. If a minister tried to do that, I’m sure that the Prime Minister would have them out the door that way.”

Asked whether she thought it amounted to corruption, Collins said, “If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it’s not looking good, is it?”

While acknowledging the IPCA report did not say it was corruption, Collins said it was “an extraordinary set of events, and extraordinary facts, and it must never happen again”.

She expressed thanks for the people who did stand up and send the matter to the IPCA as a complaint.

A spokesperson for the Public Service Commissioner said it would be inappropriate to comment on any employment matters.

Social investment minister Nicola Willis said she was “shocked and appalled” by the IPCA report’s findings.

“I have conveyed my views to Public Service Commissioner Brian Roche. The matter now sits with him as Mr Coster’s employer,” she said.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said Coster first briefed him on 6 November 2024 about McSkimming.

“The issues around Andrew Coster, we all now clearly see in that report that yes, without a doubt, he was the leader of the executive. He should be held to account for that, because of what we’re dealing with.”

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said while many of those involved in the report were no longer police staff, he had appointed an independent King’s Counsel to undertake employment investigations where required.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said he was “extremely disappointed” in police leadership.

“The report and evidence confirm that senior police failed to hold Jevon McSkimming to account for his actions, or appropriately manage complaints made about him. This is inexcusable and a complete failure of duty. People should have every confidence that if they take a complaint to Police it is investigated fully.”

Hipkins, who as Prime Minister appointed McSkimming as Deputy Commissioner, said none of this was ever raised during his time as Prime Minister or Police Minister, or during the vetting process for the Deputy Commissioner role.

“If it had he would never have been appointed and further action would have been taken.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumer NZ is urging shoppers to approach the flood of Black Friday discounts with a healthy dose of scepticism, warning that some “bargains” may not be as good as they seem.

Black Friday is on Friday 28 November, but advertising for the American tradition of thanksgiving sales is already ramping up.

Consumer communications and campaigns adviser Abby Damen said potentially advertising comes months ahead of the actual event.

“Then it merges into Cyber Monday and then you’ve got Christmas promotions and then Boxing Day, so it is really huge and I think what we see is that a lot of it is hype.”

People would be buying things because Christmas is coming up, she said.

Consumer NZ wants to ensure that when people buy something that they think is a bargain that is actually is, she said.

It was increasingly difficult to tell whether a sale price item was in fact at a lower price than it had been over the previous few months, she said.

“We’ve done price tracking over the last few years and see a similar trend each time. So this year we noticed a lot of the language around specials could make you think that it is on sale but it’s not necessarily the cheapest that it’s been all year.”

People could check on independent websites such as Consumer NZ, PriceSpy or PriceMe to look at the price of a product over time “and see if today’s special is actually a bargain”, she said.

Storewide sales could also be a problem, she said.

“If you’ve got 20 to 50 percent off everything and most things are discounted at 20 percent, you know it’s not really fair if you’re lured into a store or an online space where that’s not necessarily the case,” she said.

But people are always going to make the most of discounts, she said.

“So we’d say avoid the hype, that’s like look out for those count down timers that might pop up on the website, any pressure tactic that you can feel is trying to encourage you to buy right now, you know you were looking at that product, you’re going to buy it anyway, you don’t need to be pressured.

“So be really conscious of all those designs you see online that might put pressure on you.”

People could also check who they were dealing with by looking at the company’s register, she said.

“Just because a company’s got a .co.nz in the URL it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a New Zealand business. You need to do your due diligence.”

You will also be better protected if you pay for the item using a credit or debit card “because if the worst case scenario happens you can contact your bank and request a charge-back”, she said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police over how they handled accusations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. It also commended the work of several police staff who stood up. National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood reveals the identity of the staff who spoke up.

Standing at the podium inside the Beehive’s theaterette after acknowledging there had “interference at the highest levels of police” in relation to a woman’s accusations of sexual assault by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers acknowledged a group of police officers who “did stand up and challenge what was happening here”.

“I thank them for their courage, for the leadership and the integrity they showed in doing so.”

The IPCA’s report also dedicates section to several police officers under a heading ‘Officers who displayed commendable integrity and moral courage’.

RNZ takes a look at the staff who spoke up.

Officer D

When former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura finally decided to explore the former unsworn staffer’s allegations she and Assistant Commissioner A agreed to bring in Officer D.

The IPCA report does not name Officer D, but RNZ understands it’s Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves – one the country’s most senior adult sexual assault investigators who has worked on a number of high-profile cases including the murder of Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao.

The terms of reference for the investigation did not instruct Reeves to speak to Ms Z.

Reeves showed the terms of reference to her supervisor, Territorial Detective Superintendent Darryl Sweeney. He was so concerned by what he read he contacted the other two Territorial Detective Superintendents and told them.

Sweeney told the IPCA that when Reeves spoke to him in September there were several features of the case that struck him as unusual.

This included that no senior reviewing officer had been assigned to the investigation, and that usually an investigation like the one being conducted would have been resourced with about four other staff but it was only Reeves.

He also said Reeves should not have had a reporting line directly to Assistant Commissioner A, and the police executive should not have had a role in managing it.

Reeves met with Kura and Assistant Commissioner A in Wellington on 26 July 2024.

She told them she couldn’t continue without speaking to Ms Z and asked for their permission.

She said the meeting was “strange”, and that when she pointed out the investigation fell outside usual policy for such investigations Assistant Commissioner A asked where in policy it said police had to speak to the complainant.

She contrasted the discussion with usual police practice.

“If we get wind of anything, any kind of complaint, that’s what the police do. We would contact someone and go: ‘Hey what’s going on. Is there something that you want to talk about?’ You know we can’t always be waiting for people to come to us, and you know having sat in that adult sexual assault chair for so long we get lots of complaints that actually come through from other people that go: ‘Look you need to talk to my friend. She was raped by so and so’ or whatever… I know that this is our obligation, and look I don’t know that it’s actually written in black and white anywhere, you know that that’s what we do.”

She said Assistant Commissioner A repeated on a number of occasions that McSkimming had applied for the top job and that if things weren’t sorted quickly he wouldn’t get it.

“I personally think it should be very simple in every police officer’s world. Doesn’t matter who the hell you are. We speak to the person, take a complaint and investigate it. It’s all very simple,” Reeves told the IPCA.

Operation Herb was closed on 24 September by Assistant Commissioner A.

Reeves told the IPCA such files were “never truly closed”, and that police could take action at any time.

Reeves remained leading the inquiry when Operation Jefferson, the criminal investigation into McSkimming, began in October last year.

It was during that investigation that police found the objectionable material on his work devices and a second criminal investigation began.

It was Reeves who told the Independent Police Conduct Authority that the handling of the allegations prior to her involvement in the case was “appalling”.

“We have just not followed policy whatsoever and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist… Jevon has tried to get rid of this by making a complaint and … making [Ms Z] the villain, when in actual fact what he perhaps should have done was gone: ‘Can someone look at this and investigate it and get it cleared up? Because I’ve got designs on the future, and I want my integrity intact, so I welcome an investigation. Let’s get it cleared up, get it out of the way’.

“But you know what’s the worst thing – if you make a mistake … the only worse thing that you can do is then cover it up…You can paint all sorts of nice words of this …but to an outsider looking in, and … I mean even me, this looks like a cover-up.”

The IPCA acknowledged the “extraordinarily difficult environment” in which Reeves was working when she was tasked under Operation Herb.

“We commend her courage in insisting on the need to speak to the complainant, Ms Z, when speaking with Deputy Commissioner Kura and Assistant Commissioner A.

“As an experienced adult sexual assault investigator, she has shown insight into what a policy-compliant investigation should look like, and the reasons why her initial investigation should have looked no different.

“She was also able to identify what many senior officers were not – that a traumatised victim who has been told she will not be listened to if she tries to approach Police, may not present as a regular victim ‘should’ and that the emails Ms Z was sending may have reflected the desperation of someone emailing into the ‘abyss’, having not been heard for several years prior.”

Officer M

The IPCA said had it not been for the actions of another police officer, Officer M, it was ” conceivable that Ms Z’s complaint may never have been heard, and the IPCA may never have been made aware of the concerning developments during 2024.”

RNZ understands Officer M is Detective Superintendent Kylie Schaare, the director of Integrity and Conduct.

She told the IPCA that on 16 September last year, she received a call from then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster asking if she knew of any “open investigations” into McSkimming.

She believed the call was prompted by McSkimming’s application for Commissioner. She told Coster she would check the NZ Police Professional Conduct database.

She told the IPCA she was saw a “huge organisational risk” that there was something “sitting outside our system”.

“… It didn’t appear that we’d actually dealt with that at all following our usual process, and that I was now aware that the woman had been arrested, pleaded not guilty and I said ‘look, with…my legal experience…any defence lawyer worth their salt is going to say that…this woman has acted the way she has because she’s been trying to raise these concerns for a significant period of time against Police and no one’s listened to her and no one’s followed usual process’ so I said: ‘That’s all going to come out…That’s a matter of risk to the police, it’s a risk to you as Commissioner”.

Following the call she texted Coster and said there were no “open complaints” that were visible in the database.

“The complaints re the woman that you’ve referenced have not been through our usual complaint processes though, and there is no record of the complaints or what has been done re them. I do see this as a risk to the New Zealand Police and Jevon, particularly if this issue arises again down the track.”

She suggested the information around the complaint and what had been done was provided to either her or the Operations Manager of Integrity and Conduct to record in the database.

“I am conscious with a not guilty plea entered on the charges the woman is facing, the complaints could come to light through the court process as part of the defence disclosure request or the woman may complain again in the future, particularly if Jevon is in the media. It would open up criticism if there is nothing recorded in the usual manner following our complaint processes. IPCA are also asking why this has bypassed our usual complaint processes. They were going to contact Tania directly to discuss.”

Coster replied he understood from Kura’s briefing that the “intent” was to record it as Schaare suggested but was “unsure why this has not yet occurred”.

“To be clear, I don’t think there was ever a complaint. The woman never identified herself to us. However, through Jevon’s transparency on it we knew who she was and proactively approached her. However, there was still no complaint forthcoming to back up her various email allegations sent from a variety of email addresses with made-up names. I appreciate your follow up on that.”

Schaare later contacted the IPCA over concerns she had.

On 8 October she had a meeting with the authority and expressed the nature of her concerns.

On 9 October the Public Service Commission contacted the IPCA and asked if there were any complaints relating to the applicants for Commissioner.

The following day the IPCA Chair emailed Coster asking that police refer any complaints regarding McSkimming to them.

It was then that Ms Z’s complaint was referred by Officer M. That same day Schaare emailed Deputy Commissioner PLC and said she had opened a file on the database. She had also been informed that Ms Z had contacted Reeves and was considering making a complaint.

The IPCA informed police on 14 October they had categorised the matter as Category A, an independent investigation.

Schaare then got a call from Deputy Commissioner PLC who said Coster was not happy about the IPCA’s involvement.

The IPCA said Schaare raised her concerns both within her own internal chain of command and with the IPCA from an early stage.

“When she felt her concerns were not being heeded, she sought our support in elevating the matter. We commend her moral courage.”

Officer O

A report by the joint Police/Health Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC) in February 2024 identified that emails allegedly sent by the woman raised potential criminal and Police Code of Conduct concerns relating to McSkimming and recommended referring them to the National Integrity Unit and IPCA with a view to possible investigation.

The IPCA acknowledged the efforts of FTAC’s Officer O, who when being assigned with looking through the emails was able to “identify, and draw to the attention of senior officers, allegations of both criminal offending and breaches of the Police Code of Conduct”.

‘Through his efforts, his supervisor, Officer N, was then able to brief senior officers, including Deputy Commissioner Kura and Officer B, on the need to look at the matter from two different perspectives – action to stop the emails, and an investigation into their veracity.

“Had FTAC’s advice been heeded in February, many of the issues raised in this report would have been avoided, and a more balanced consideration of the respective interests of Deputy Commissioner McSkimming and Ms Z may have been adopted.”

Director, Police Legal Services

On 30 October, two days before the National Integrity Unit had their first “forensic interview” of Ms Z, Coster called a meeting. At the meeting was Kura, Deputy Commissioner PLC, the Director, Police Legal Services, Schaare and Officer K of the NIU.

Coster then proposed a “special national assessment team” to look into the appropriate investigative pathway in relation to Ms Z’s complaint. He suggested the team consist of himself and Kura.

At the meeting the director of police legal services said it was not appropriate, given the conflicts of interest, for Coster and Kura to be involved in decisions on criminality.

The IPCA commended the director for “directly standing up to Commissioner Coster” in the meetings “to ensure the new investigation structure was robust and free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest”.

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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

Auckland is set to get a second Costco store.

Property developer Kiwi Property has agreed to sell a 6.4 hectare site in its new Drury development to the US-based mega store.

Drury is a small rural town about 35 kilometres south of Auckland city, but has been picked as the site for a new town development, with Kiwi Property recently approved to go ahead with building the town centre.

“We are very excited to be entering into this agreement with Kiwi Property in a location as great as Drury,” Costco country manager Chris Tingman said.

An exact opening date for the new store was not immediately clear.

“Whilst still subject to planning and corporate approvals, our aim is to introduce our unique high-quality, low-cost merchandise to Drury, serving our significant membership base in the south of Auckland, as well as Hamilton and the Waikato region,” Tingman said.

The only other Costco store is at Auckland’s Westgate, which opened three years ago.

Kiwi Property chief executive Clive Mackenzie said the deal marked a major milestone for its Drury development – which received fast-track consent for its first two stages last week.

“Costco has been a hit with Kiwi consumers since it opened its first store in Auckland and we’re pleased to be working with them on this exciting opportunity to bring Costco further south,” he said.

The deal followed Kiwi Property’s earlier sale of 1.2 hectares to supermarket operator Foodstuffs.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man who strangled his ex-partner to death before dumping her body inside a wooden chest and nailing it shut says he doesn’t want to be released from jail.

“A life for a life,” Lewis Blackburn told the New Zealand Parole Board on Tuesday as he asked them to stand him down from being considered for early release from prison for another five years.

“I want to stay in jail. I killed someone.”

Blackburn murdered his ex-partner Christine Hindson, after she ended their three-year relationship in September 2005.

Two days after she ended the relationship, he turned up at the 45-year-old’s Christchurch home in the early hours of the morning, made his way into her bedroom and grabbed her by the throat, before strangling her to death.

Blackburn then put her body in a wooden chest and nailed it shut, before trying unsuccessfully to bury it in his backyard. He then put the chest in his car and drove around the city for two days looking for a suitable place to bury it.

Three days after the murder, Blackburn drove the car to a suburban Ferrymead walking track, dragged the chest into an area of long grass and left it there.

A week later Blackburn confessed his crime to another former partner and was arrested by police the following day, admitting the killing and helping them find the body.

He was 48 years old when he was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

Nearly 20 years on, and a decade after he became eligible for early release from prison, Blackburn said he still thinks about his victim every day.

“It’s non-stop,” he said.

“I’m in no hurry to get out, put it that way.”

Blackburn said his primary reason for wanting to remain in prison was the strain his yearly parole hearings would likely be having on Hindson’s family and they should be given a break.

“I’m trying to have compassion for Christine’s family,” he said.

“Year after year, it just seems too much for them.”

Ironically, it was his lack of compassion at the time that was one of the hardest parts of Hindson’s murder for her family to come to terms with.

Her daughter, Marla McKenzie, told the court at Blackburn’s sentencing in 2006 that she recalled him asking during the search for her mother how she was faring. She realised now her mother’s body must at that stage have been in his car just metres from where they were talking.

“For one week Lewis led us to believe she had just gone away somewhere and not to worry,” McKenzie said.

“I don’t ever want him released.”

If Blackburn had confessed earlier, McKenzie said, it could have saved the family’s “torment and heartbreak” in being unable to view Hindson’s body after it was recovered because of its state of decomposition.

Now, their welfare is at the forefront of his mind, he told the board.

“I’ve said it right through, a life for a life,” he said.

“There’s just reports on reports, it’s just a waste of time.

“It’s not like I’ve been out shoplifting. I killed someone.”

Blackburn asked to be stood down from parole hearings for five years, which the board didn’t have the power to approve. The maximum stand-down period it can order is two years.

The board asked Blackburn to work with a psychogeriatrician, begin to work on a risk management plan and to start thinking about where he might be able to live if he was released.

He will be seen again in July next year.

*This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The police minister says emails containing allegations about Jevon McSkimming’s behaviour were kept from him by former commissioner Andrew Coster’s office.

A IPCA report released last night accuses Coster and other high-ranking police of failing to properly act on allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming, the former deputy.

Thirty-six emails were sent to Police Minister Mark Mitchell’s office since December 2023, but he told Morning Report he never saw them.

Mitchell said there was protocol put in place by the Commissioner’s office that he was not to see the emails.

He was first briefed by Coster on 6 November that there was an IPCA investigation relating to McSkimming and a woman.

He said there was nothing to indicate there was any interference by the senior leadership.

“But it has become obvious with the release of the IPCA report that [interference] is exactly what was happening and everyone can see now just how bad it was,” Mitchell said.

The woman referred to in the report as Ms Z was charged in May last year with causing harm by posting digital communication in relation to more than 300 emails she allegedly sent to McSkimming’s work email address between December 2023 and April 2024.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has been critical of what he believes was a cover up by the former senior leadership team.

Chambers told Morning Report he was not given a heads up from Coster about the investigation into McSkimming, and he was shocked when he was told.

He denies there was a systemic failure of the New Zealand police and its processes, but says it was a failure of the former leadership of the police, who were acting in “self-interest”.

“It’s disgraceful. What occurred is not the way we do things in police. It was a total failure by the former senior leadership of New Zealand police and their integrity,” Chambers told Morning Report.

Asked if there had been a cover-up, Chambers said:

“That’s the way that many will interpret it and my personal view is that there was you know a bunch of senior leaders, who have now exited the organisation, who were acting in the self interests of themselves frankly and in particular one individual, so people will interpret the report in their own way but the way I read it.”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

Coster has been placed on leave after a damning report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police.

He became chief executive of the Social Investment Agency after his tenure as New Zealand’s top cop.

Coster’s named in a new scathing 135-page IPCA report into Jevon McSkimming, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, who last week pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

The report revealed senior police failed to respond to a number of complaints made against McSkimming.

When they did refer the matter to the IPCA, Coster attempted to speed up the investigation in what was perceived by some as him trying to protect McSkimming’s prospect of becoming the next Commissioner of Police.

Chambers said he is “very pleased” the former leadership have left police.

When asked whether any of the police involved in the handling of the allegations are still employed by police, Chambers said the employment of three individuals is under an independent investigation.

“I have got to let that process take its course and, no doubt, decisions will be made in the future.”

He reassured New Zealanders that they can have trust and confidence in police.

“It’s not acceptable a small group of people at the most senior level have let so many people down – that is a disgrace,” Chambers said.

“I do want to reassure New Zealanders that I have outstanding investigators who work in this field every day [and] do an incredible job for victims. I don’t want this to detract from victims coming forward and talking to us and our good police officers being able to act on that in the right way.

“We can be proud of the progress we have made over the years and I don’t want this to reflect on my staff.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An organisation that’s been funded to find homes for rough sleepers says there aren’t enough houses to put them in.

In September the government announced [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572188/broken-housing-system-more-support-coming-for-rough-sleepers-government-announces

300 extra social housing places] through the Housing First programme.

Housing First providers rent private or public homes and sublet them to people who have been homeless for more than a year, helping them sustain their tenancy.

Christchurch Methodist Mission executive director Jill Hawkey said her organisation already had about 100 people on its Housing First waitlist – and it kept growing.

It was granted 26 of the 300 places which had seen eight homeless people housed in Christchurch so far, but it was difficult to help move more people off the street because there were not enough houses available, she said.

“That’s the big challenge that we’ve got here in Christchurch, it’s actually being able to find the housing for people who have been long-term homeless.”

“Ideally, what we want is permanent social housing provided either by Kāinga Ora or a community housing provider rather than the private sector.”

That was because social housing provided more stability, Hawkey said.

She said number of homeless people in Christchurch had grown over the last year.

“As fast as we’re housing them, they’re coming in the front door.”

“Often members of the public will ring us concerned about somebody and will say, hey, I’ve seen somebody sleeping in a park or under a bush or in the sand dunes,” she said.

Last week it was revealed the government was also mulling a law change that would give police the power to shift rough sleepers off footpaths and out of shop doorways.

Hawkey hoped that “doesn’t see the light of day.”

“People who are living on the streets currently are incredibly vulnerable, they don’t need to be harassed and to be told to move from place to place,” she said.

“The only way to solve homelessness is to build more affordable and social housing. It’s really simple.”

Private rentals quickest way to get people housed – Minister

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said looking to the private market for more homes was the fastest option.

Officials had advised him there were about 300 “unhoused Housing First clients living without shelter,” he said.

“Sourcing an additional 300 places from the private market was a deliberate choice to enable these homes to be brought on quickly as opposed to building new which can take years to plan, consent and build,” he said.

“Importantly, the funding for the 300 places is permanent, which enables CHPs to enter into long term leases.”

That would ensure stability for those tenants, he said.

New team to support Christchurch homeless

The Christchurch Methodist Mission had also received $1.5 million of the $10 million the government allocated for homelessness support services.

Hawkey said it would be used to help people who had been homeless for less than a year, meaning they missed out on Housing First.

“We really know there’s a lot of people out there who are just recently homeless who we want to be able to support to find some permanent housing options as quickly as possible.

“So we’re standing up a team with the money that we’ve been granted to be able to do that.”

The team would include nurses, staff dedicated to finding possible rentals, and outreach workers who would connect people to various social services.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says he believes there was a cover-up in the investigation into complaints about former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Chambers told Morning Report he was not given a heads up from former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster about the investigation into Jevon McSkimming, and he was shocked when he was told.

He denies there was a systemic failure of the New Zealand police and its processes, but says it was a failure of the former leadership of the police, who were acting in “self-interest”.

“It’s disgraceful. What occurred is not the way we do things in police. It was a total failure by the former senior leadership of New Zealand police and their integrity,” Chambers told Morning Report.

Asked if there had been a cover-up, Chambers said:

“That’s the way that many will interpret it and my personal view is that there was you know a bunch of senior leaders, who have now exited the organisation, who were acting in the self interests of themselves frankly and in particular one individual, so people will interpret the report in their own way but the way I read it.”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

Coster has been placed on leave after a damning report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police.

Andrew Coster became chief executive of the Social Investment Agency after his tenure as New Zealand’s top cop.

He’s named in a new scathing 135-page IPCA report into Jevon McSkimming, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, who last week pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

The report revealed senior police failed to respond to a number of complaints made against McSkimming.

When they did refer the matter to the IPCA, Coster attempted to speed up the investigation in what was perceived by some as him trying to protect McSkimming’s prospect of becoming the next Commissioner of Police.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Calls are growing for a radical reform of drug laws, despite the government saying it has no intention to do so.

With this year marking 50 years of The Misuse of Drugs Act, researchers, advocates and those who’ve struggled with addiction are renewing their appeals for a complete overhaul.

It comes as the government announced a crackdown on methamphetamine harm.

Adam Dorsett said he turned to drugs at age 14, after an early childhood suffering physical and sexual abuse.

“When I used drugs, it was like a release valve. Because I was very traumatised, and I couldn’t fit in, I didn’t feel included.”

He said his search for heroin led him into shoplifting, then burglaries, armed robberies and into prisons in Australia – where he found drugs were still available.

Dorsett said if he could have accessed the drug safely, it would have removed his descent into a criminal lifestyle.

“If you’re not searching, trying to get money, stealing, rorting, getting chased by police, getting chased by people you owe money to, all that gets taken away, if you get the drug and then what have you got left – what you’ve got left is your life and you can get on with your life.”

He said he now took a regulated dose of methadone each day, which helped him to balance out the highs and lows in life, and stay functioning.

Dr Fiona Hutton, associate professor of criminology and member of Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, said decades of prohibiting drugs hadn’t stopped drug use, or its criminal trade.

The group held a symposium in Wellington recently discussing calls to reform the Misuse of Drugs Act.

She and other members were arguing The Misuse of Drugs Act should be repealed, and a new act should be established legalising and regulating drugs under a new approach.

“Drugs need to be treated as a health issue, so ideally that kind of legislation would sit under the Ministry of Health, rather than the Ministry of Justice, so we don’t want to see it in the justice system.”

She said different regulations would need to apply to the different levels of harms for each drug.

The Drug Foundation recently advocated for decriminalisation of drugs in its report calling to change The Misuse of Drugs Act, citing research that Portugal’s rates of problematic drug use had dropped following decriminalisation, to having the third lowest rate of adult drug use in Europe.

Former associate professor Dr Julian Buchanan said he had also previously worked in drug clinics in Liverpool, giving addicts injectible heroin and methadone.

He said that allowed users access to safe and clean drugs, and took them away from getting drugs from gangs.

“We would say, get your life together, change the patterns of your life that you’ve currently got which is very chaotic and very enmeshed within a criminal underworld, stabilise your situation, and when you’re ready and when you’re prepared then we’ll think about how you’ll come off.”

Associate Professor Dr Andy Towers, co-director of the Mental Health and Addiction Programme at Massey University, was not part of Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa.

He said legalising drugs now without any other changes was risky.

“If we legalise drugs and we used the same approach that we use to regulate alcohol use, or tobacco use, then we would be on a hiding to nothing.

“We would be increasing the harms that we are likely to see in some areas – reducing some others because it’s legalised – but our current regulation of legal drugs is not good enough.”

Towers said he supported decriminalising drug use, and legalising some lower-risk drugs like cannabis – but said any move must be carefully thought out.

He said drug laws didn’t tend to have much of an effect on addiction rates – which were more about the drivers of addiction, as opposed to a drug’s legal status.

“In order to reduce addiction, we have to go well beyond a focus on drug legislation and actually change fundamental issues with our health, wealth and social system.”

On Sunday, the government announced what Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith called a “comprehensive action plan to combat methamphetamine harm in New Zealand”.

The response included a nationwide media campaign that would launch in the next few months, paid for by the proceeds of crime fund, that would raise awareness about the issue and the drugs harm.

An extra $30 million over four years from the mental health and addiction budget would go to front-line services, he said.

Goldsmith said the government would increase police enforcement abilities, including making amendments to the Search and Surveillance Act, including enabling the interception of communications and search evidence stored electronically.

In terms of changing drug laws, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has said the government had no intention of liberalising them.

He said his focus was on a health-led response, balancing enforcement, prevention and treatment to keep communities safe and support people’s recovery.

He said investment into addiction services had increased by 7.3 percent in recent years.

“Investment in addiction services and treatment has increased significantly in recent years, with approximately $246 million now being invested into specialist alcohol and other drug services.

“My goal is to stop people from starting, help those who want to stop, and support those who’ve stopped to stay off drugs.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Council is spending another $300,000 on towering Christmas decorations for the city centre, to the delight of some and dismay of others.

It has commissioned an artist to build a series of five-metre tall pillars that will be dotted along Queen Street between Aotea Centre and Britomart, with panels that light-up.

They go on display from December and branch out from last year’s more than $1 million giant Christmas tree which is making a come-back.

Taxpayers Union head of policy James Ross said the $292,000 price tag for the new display was over the top.

“Unfortunately a lot of people are doing it tough in Auckland and across New Zealand at the minute and I think that sort of expenditure is just not a good look,” he said.

“Christmas is a really hard time of year for a lot of people. People will be struggling to put food on the table and costs in the city centre especially are remarkably high. It’s those people and those businesses, a lot of whom are already struggling, and now walking down the street seeing their money being spent on things they don’t need.”

Businesses in the city centre have had a hard time surviving pandemic lockdowns and disruption from the city rail link construction.

It also comes as central government and the city council consider how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer – something that’s alarmed advocates.

Deepak Sharma, who works in the city centre, thinks the Christmas decoration spend sends the wrong message.

“It’s a lot of money they could have spent this money towards the wellbeing of people, to take care of the poor who don’t have a house to live in. They should consider those people.”

City resident Lea Natoc did some quick arithmetic – the five pillars each cost about $60,000 and will be on display for one month.

“Christmas decorations are awesome it’s great for us to feel the Christmas vibe but to spend $60,000 just for one decoration I think it’s a bit too much.”

Each of the five columns will light up with a different theme – Santa’s workshop, a festive forest, under the sea, a Kiwi Christmas and a Christmas feast – and have buttons to press, knobs to turn and one has a juke box to fire up.

Auckland Council’s head of city centre programmes, Jenny Larking, said the five pillars are interactive and the cost is fully funded by the city centre targeted rate, which is invested back into the area.

“Our partners in the city centre have been calling for collaboration between Auckland Council and local business associations, to significantly increase the number of events and promotions in the city centre, to bring joy, vibrancy and much needed foot traffic to the area after a tough few years.”

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck doesn’t think it’s money wasted – and believes the installation by light artist Angus Muir will be an attraction for years to come.

“At the end of the day while not everyone will agree with every item of spending, overall I would say that property owners will want their tenants to have a thriving environment after such a difficult time.”

She said businesses had faced disruption from pandemic lockdowns and the construction of the City Rail Link, which still has no set open date.

There are an estimated 800 rough sleepers in the city centre and businesses have been lobbying government for a cross-agency response to homelessness.

“We are sincerely hoping we are going to very soon see announcements that do address both needs. It’s not an either or, we do need to address the social issues as a city and as a country and for our city centre too.

“We also need to create a place that people want to come back to and spend time here.”

Auckland City Centre Residents Group spokesperson Antony Phillips says they don’t want to see the street community moved to the suburbs – but given support and housing.

However, the group supports the council’s spending on Christmas decorations but understands some people’s concern about the price tag.

“I wouldn’t call it grinch-like. I think there’s a healthy level of scepticism around any public expenditure at the moment. We are in a cost of living crisis.

“If we cost that over five years it doesn’t seem so shocking.”

City worker Kris Hardy plans to bring his family in to see the giant Christmas tree and new light pillars.

“Every time we come down we go shopping and buy Christmas presents so take that cost and divide it by the number of people who are going to be down here, let’s say a dollar a person and they all do a little shopping. I think it’ll pay for itself.”

According to Auckland Council the five columns will be displayed during the festive season for at least the next five years – with the interactive features and images updated each year.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A victims’ advocate says the police treatment of a woman who accused a former top cop of sexual offending is the very thing most complainants are terrified of.

A highly critical report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found serious misconduct at the highest levels, over how police handled allegations against former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

The claims arose from an affair between McSkimming and the woman, who at the time was a junior non-sworn police employee.

The authority said the police simply accepted McSkimming’s view that she was a woman scorned and she was charged over the more than 300 harassing emails she sent.

The charge was later withdrawn.

Advocate Claire Buckley said victims feared being disbelieved and dismissed by police.

“What’s the first thing that happens to this poor woman? She’s not believed.

“And then take it another level, we’re going to pursue her to try and protect ourselves because this is one of our cop buddies. It just screams 1980s Louise Nicholas, all over again.”

Buckley said the woman had been treated appallingly, and it undermined trust in police, but she urged victims not to be deterred from speaking up.

“The only way we’re ever going to get rid of the rot is if we keep pointing to it and saying, ‘Look, this needs to go and the rot needs to be cut out’.

“And the only way that’s going to happen is if the victims of that rot come forward.”

Buckley said cases like this were not only traumatising for the person at the centre of it, but for anyone else who’d had unsatisfactory dealings with police.

National sexual violence survivor advocate, Louise Nicholas was disgusted by the police’s handling of sexual offending complaints against McSkimming.

Nicholas made rape accusations against police officers in the 1980s. The detective who initially handled her complaints was convicted of a cover-up in 2007.

“I won’t use the swear words I actually want to use,” she said, referencing the IPCA’s latest report.

“I was absolutely, saddened and disgusted to see that this has happened again.”

Nicholas said the woman’s first complaint should have triggered an investigation, but instead it was swept under the rug.

“This woman has disclosed this offending and has gone to the right people, but the people that should have helped her decided that their mate was actually more important.”

However, she didn’t want people to be discouraged from reporting sexual offences.

“You can’t put it on the police that do the amazing job that they do with our survivors, you can’t tar them with the same brush.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand has been labelled “most deteriorated” in an international study assessing the interference of the tobacco industry.

The country has plummeted from second in the world in 2023 to 53rd in the 2025 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index.

The report, produced by the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, has been released every two years since 2019 and now ranks 100 countries.

The main factors damaging New Zealand’s standing are the repeal of the smokefree generation laws, the tax break benefiting tobacco giant Philip Morris and the movement of staff between politics and the lobbying industry.

Vape-Free Kids, an advocacy group, said the “staggering drop” of 51 places in two years was the most dramatic fall of any country in the history of the report and an “international disgrace” for the government.

“New Zealand has become an international embarrassment and an example of how quickly a government can be corrupted by the tobacco industry,” Vape-Free Kids co-founder Charyl Robinson said.

But Associate Health Minister Casey Costello has labelled the index “ridiculous” saying what matters is rates of smoking not the “strange view, that what really matters is how much you criticise the tobacco industry”.

Costello said New Zealand’s smoking rate had more than halved since 2015 and was now 6.9 percent – one of the lowest in the world.

“I haven’t seen this year’s index, but the last one had Brunei at No.1 and France at No.3. Brunei’s smoking rate is around 17 percent – well over double NZ’s rate. In May, France’s smoking rate was 23 percent – more than three times NZ’s rate,” she said. “That illustrates how ridiculous this index is.”

In 2024 the government scrapped laws which would have slashed tobacco retailers from 6000 to 600, removed 95 percent of the nicotine from cigarettes and banned sales of cigarettes to anyone born after 2009.

Costello also cut the excise tax on Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) by 50 percent, despite health officials saying there was no strong evidence they worked to stop smoking or were significantly safer than cigarettes.

The report lists New Zealand and Kazakhstan as two countries which cut taxes for HTPs and says Ecuador, Georgia, Madagascar, Türkiye and Uganda also offered tax breaks to the tobacco industry.

“Tax increases are among the most effective tobacco control measures, yet more than 60 countries, often due to industry influence, did not raise taxes, delayed implementation of tax increases (or) lowered tax rates.”

Costello cut tax on HTPs to encourage smokers to switch to a safer alternative.

Treasury officials, however, told her the tax break would largely benefit Philip Morris, as they held a monopoly on the product in New Zealand.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins told the RNZ interview show 30 with Guyon Espiner that Labour would repeal the tobacco tax cuts.

“That was a tax break to the tobacco companies on the basis of some very, very questionable advice that isn’t going to be better for New Zealand’s health as a country,” he said. “It’s one tobacco company that, by and large, has got the vast bulk of the benefit from that, and that is going to change.”

The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index report is also critical of New Zealand’s unregulated lobbying industry and links between the tobacco industry and decision makers.

“In New Zealand, there is no requirement for the TI (tobacco industry) and affiliated entities to register with the government, and it is unclear how the relationship between the TI and the government is moderated.”

Two corporate communication staff at Philip Morris previously held senior roles with NZ First.

RNZ has also reported on a leaked document from tobacco giant Philip Morris which said the company should target political parties, including NZ First and the Māori Party, to win favourable regulation for HTPs.

Uruguay, Maldives and Palau were the most improved countries in the index and New Zealand the most deteriorated.

“New Zealand recorded the most deterioration in industry interference. Besides repealing strong tobacco control policies, citing industry arguments as rationale, the current government implemented several TI-friendly policies,” the report says.

The section of the report focusing on New Zealand was written by the New Zealand Cancer Society and looked at policy making between March 2023 and March 2025.

Cancer Society head of advocacy and public affairs Rachael Neumann said “a number of revolving-door connections” between the government and the industry contributed to New Zealand’s decline.

“This report has found that New Zealand’s score has significantly dropped since the 2023 report, and that there has been an increase in tobacco industry interference in New Zealand during this time.”

Neumann said there was a “high level of industry participation” in New Zealand’s tobacco policy development and “a whole range of unnecessary interactions” between the government and the tobacco industry.

“Every year, even now, 5000 people die from tobacco and tobacco related diseases,” she said. “We really know that tobacco industry interference and repeal of these laws leads to more smoking, more addiction, and we’re deeply concerned because this leads to more cancer.”

But Costello said protections against tobacco industry interference had not weakened in the past two years and New Zealand continued to be guided by international protocols on how officials engaged with the industry.

She said the tobacco industry had no involvement in the government’s smokefree and health policies.

“I would have thought that the Cancer Society would actually care about reducing smoking and reducing cancer,” she said. “Instead, they’ve brought into a very strange view, that what really matters is how much you criticise the tobacco industry.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Experts in using planes and choppers to fight fires like the Tongariro blaze have withdrawn labour in a pay dispute that dates back years.

This reduced the after-hours backup Fire and Emergency (FENZ) could call on for the 2800ha blaze in Tongariro National Park – but it said it made no difference.

The fire had up to 15 helicopters and five planes waterbombing it.

“This withdrawal of labour associated to backpay involves three personnel and this has not impacted our overall capability for air attack,” Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The dispute revolves around some of FENZ’s most experienced aviation firefighters in its small airdesk support group, that since 2021 has helped run national air firefighting operations.

In 2022, the group’s head, Stephen Bishop, asked FENZ for “formal recognition of the work and critical service the air desk support group provides – including remuneration for duty roster and calls as per other FENZ managers – fair and equitable”.

On Monday, Stiffler told RNZ, “The on-call arrangements required to provide aviation support after hours are still being negotiated.”

She added the support function itself was under review.

FENZ was discussing backpay remuneration for the support team and “while this is happening their support is not currently active after-hours”, she said on Tuesday in a separate statement.

“We have aviation operations as normal to respond as required, as we have had at Tongariro this week. We had no issue with having the right capability on the Tongariro incident with no impacts to operations.

“The successful operations confirm the depth of our capability.”

A senior firefighter who is not in the airdesk support group but had details of the problems, described it as a dispute going back at least 18 months. RNZ agreed not to name them.

Their information aligned with internal emails between the airdesk support group and FENZ management in late 2022, released under the Official Information Act.

In one of those emails, Bishop had told a Communications Centre manager Brent Dunn: “I know you agree that the support group is a critical part of the safe, effective function of FENZ national air desk, providing aviation expertise and oversight …

“We are called on many times throughout the year for advice, provide 24/7 roster all year for the team, monitor all aviation requests and dispatches and contact is always there when needed.”

Bishop remains FENZ’s senior specialist in aviation and heavy machinery.

The email trail showed his group plugged a staffing “crisis” at the South Island comms centre that Dunn said was leading to his comms staff “burning out”, and unable to cover the extra duties around dispatching aircraft.

“So we head into the 2023 fire season badly understaffed to manage the airdesk as it was originally intended,” Dunn wrote.

The shortage forced Bishop’s then five-person (now three-person) team to step in, doing the dispatching “pretty much on a daily basis”, tied to a desk for up to 12 hours at a time.

“This additional work is impacting on existing BAU [business-as-usual], fatigue and family time,” Bishop told the agency in late 2022.

In one week, his team did 63 hours on dispatch.

“Given we are now in October and seeing increased aircraft requests which will increase heading towards summer, I am extremely concerned that we will have to continue taking over air desk and that this is not sustainable – the air desk support group runs on good will and passion.”

He then asked for “suitable remuneration for each hour we cover for air desk despatch, I would suggest overtime”.

Dunn told Bishop he appreciated the “weight of pressure” on his team.

“Crazy to think that’s where we are, after the hype and success of last year.”

This was in reference to the national airdesk being embedded into Southern Comms in March 2021.

Eight communications staff got extra training to do air dispatching.

However, by late 2022, Bishop had to get nine more trained up as a temporary stopgap. “This is incredibly disappointing and such a contrast to the hugely successful 18mths [sic] we have just experienced with the air desk,” he emailed management.

FENZ’s new air set-up faced its biggest challenge in Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023, when it helped send out 3000 flights on 6000 tasks over just a few days, in what was later assessed as a “highly successful aviation operation”.

Wildfires are different from storms – the goal is putting out a fire – but are similar, too, in requiring expert decisions around when and where to use choppers or (usually less expensive) planes, and how to make the airspace safe for them.

Stiffler said on Tuesday that at the Tongariro fire, an incident controller had ensured the right air support and that everyone was safe, and aviation safety was coordinated by “air attack” and air support supervisors on site.

“We are reviewing how we respond to incidents using aircraft and how the incident controller is supported to use aircraft effectively,” she said.

“This review commenced prior to the Tongariro incident.”

FENZ also said it was recruiting six extra air dispatchers “to increase staffing resilience within the dispatch function”.

The senior firefighter told RNZ that a recommendation around on-call allowances for the airdesk support group had been sent on to the deputy chief executives several weeks ago, but they had not made any decision.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

More and more, finance experts are predicting that the AI bubble is getting ready to pop – so what does that mean for Kiwi investors, and for our economy?

It took the United States 40 years to build its interstate roading network. The same amount of money spent on that network – inflation adjusted – has been spent in just three years on building Artificial Intelligence data centres.

Fisher Funds’ Harry Smith uses the comparison to illustrate the size and pace of growth of AI and its future demands for infrastructure.

He points to five of the famous tech companies – Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle – which together plan to spend US$3 trillion over the next five years on AI infrastructure, specifically the data centres which store the information, called the cloud.

The trouble is, says Smith, their combined revenue is US$1 trillion, excluding Amazon’s retail side, and many are beginning to ask how they will fund the massive infrastructure builds.

At the same time, their share prices have been soaring as investors bet on the potential of the companies in the future, leading to record valuations in the likes of chipmaker Nvidia. It became the first company in the world to break through US$5 trillion valuation but has see-sawed in a volatile market.

“The amount of money that the market expects to be generated over the next five years is quite huge and that’s where a lot of the bubble chat is really coming from,” says Smith.

The bubble chat he’s talking about came to a head a week ago when Michael Burry, who inspired the book and movie The Big Short announced he was short selling on chip maker Nvidia and data analytics company Palantir. By short selling, he was taking a bet that their share price will drop.

Burry has been called a “tireless perma-bear”, a contrarian investor who predicted the 2008 financial crisis.

Not all bubbles are the same

He isn’t alone with his warnings about market mania. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Open AI’s Sam Altman have also cautioned about the overblown stock prices alongside the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.

Smith, who runs a global equity portfolio at Fisher Funds, says it is important to separate the hype from the technology when trying to understand what is happening to AI shares.

The technology is very real, he says and is already in use in the medical profession with diagnoses and medicines.

“Further on, we’re seeing developments around AI being used in drug development … the creation of new drugs and trials.

“When I’m talking about hype, people are saying ‘hey the earnings in these companies are going to be massive in the future, so we’re going to buy the share price’ and that’s when the bubble comes into question because [other] people are saying ‘no, the expectation of the earnings growth that these companies are going to deliver is too great and therefore we are in a bubble in this cycle.

He uses Open AI as an example of a company with big investment plans and comparatively small revenues.

“They currently have about $US13b in revenue this year, they currently have commitments of US$1.5 trillion of investment that is going to be needed to be built. So on the US$13b, albeit it is growing really quickly, but they are losing money at one of the fastest paces ever in Silicon Valley,” says Smith.

But Smith says not all bubbles are the same. Banking bubbles are bad and cause society a lot of pain, as seen in the 2008 global financial crisis. Industrial or technology bubbles can benefit society when the dust settles.

“This whole question around AI is what is the return on investment because we know the investment is huge, we know that the revenue or profits that are currently generated are very small and so it is about trying to find a path to that return.

“How quickly can revenue and profits grow from these AI businesses to support the investment that is currently being made? That is the crux of the question around whether or not there’s a bubble.”

RNZ business editor Gyles Beckford says the way investors have been behaving with AI shares is the same as 25 years ago with the dot-com boom and bust.

“There’s the same irrationality that attends all these things. You have the studious people who do their homework, who believe that they’ve crafted the right strategy, that they’re in the right stocks and they will go with it and will be there for the long term.

“They’re the survivors, I shudder to use the word cockroaches but they will come through the explosions. There are those who suffer from FOMO, fear of missing out.”

They are the ones making spur of the moment, irrational decisions, he says.

“History tells us that when you have surges like this in particular assets, particular stocks or commodities, there is a cleanout.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A former police commissioner has told RNZ podcast Nark that he’s never seen the letter supposedly sent by him in June 1985, authorising the transfer of a prisoner to a motel in Christchurch.

The prisoner-turned-informant would stay there and in rental accommodation for 18 months, paid for by taxpayers.

Ken Thompson, Police Commissioner from 1983 to 1987, said the details of the investigation into the 1985 murder of Darcy Te Hira uncovered by the RNZ podcast Nark has “an air of Disney about it”.

A prisoner who has permanent name suppression, but is called Ernie in the podcast, claimed to have seen fellow inmate Ross Appelgren murder Te Hira in the kitchen of Mt Eden’s prison in January 1985. Appelgren insisted he wasn’t in the kitchen when Te Hira was attacked.

Ernie agreed to testify in court to what he saw and was moved out of Mt Eden for his own safety; first to New Plymouth prison, then to cells at Takapuna Police Station.

But Ernie described his accommodation in Takapuna as “torture” and pressed police to move him into the Witness Protection Programme and out of prison altogether.

With the agreement of the Department of Justice, police agreed to move Ernie to a $50/night motel on the outskirts of Christchurch, despite him having 18 months of a fraud sentence yet to serve.

Ernie was also promised a cash settlement and relocation overseas. Ernie’s testimony helped convict Appelgren of Te Hira’s murder, but as earlier revealed by Nark, Appelgren’s widow, Julie, is taking his case to the Court of Appeal, claiming Appelgren was innocent.

Nark host Mike Wesley-Smith has reported the motel solution was first proposed in a letter in the name of Thompson, addressed to then-Secretary of Justice, S.J. Callan. It says police were concerned for Ernie’s safety, about the harm being caused by his “solitary confinement in Takapuna”, and that he might refuse to testify.

But when Wesley-Smith approached the now 93-year-old former police commissioner about the letter from his office, Thompson said he knew nothing about it.

“I can recall a lot of things during my time, but certainly not that one… I would really expect to have known of it”.

‘A most unorthodox process’

The guarding of Ernie at a motel under the Witness Protection Programme was called Operation Icing and cost more than $75,000. Thompson said “that fact it was so unusual” and the “shenanigans” of a prisoner being put up in a suburban motel means he should have been briefed.

“I would really expect to have been briefed, even in the broadest terms… It seems like a most unorthodox process to me”.

Other documents sourced in the podcast investigation, including an internal police timeline, back up the suggestion that Thompson wasn’t involved in key decisions involving Ernie and Operation Icing.

The final $30,000 cheque paid to Ernie after he testified was approved by Thompson’s Deputy Commissioner, Mal Churches.

Thompson says he can’t be sure whether or not he would have approved of Operation Icing, but suspects he would have had doubts.

“I don’t like these so-called prison squeaks. They weren’t in my good books”.

He confirmed that, in 1985, police procedure required detectives to first formally record a witness’s account before discussing any deals or benefits for the witness.

Appelgren claimed detectives investigating him for murder did not follow this procedure during their interviews with Ernie.

The latest episode of Nark is out now at rnz.co.nz/nark or wherever you get your podcasts. The series airs 7pm Sundays on RNZ National.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care will mark a National Day of Reflection at more than 60 events around the country on Wednesday.

A year ago Prime Minister Christopher Luxon apologised in Parliament to survivors and victims.

At least 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable persons were abused by the state and churches from 1950 to 1999.

To mark the National Day of Reflection, the government announced $2.7 million for support and services to survivors and memorials for victims.

But a year on from the government’s apology, many survivors feel the actions of the government are in contradiction to its promises for change.

Changes to the redress system were largely a disappointment to the community, while ongoing harm in the care system was also upsetting.

Survivor Tu Chapman said the Day of Reflection brought mixed feelings for survivors.

“There’s celebration, there’s reflection, but I also think there’s still a whole lot of sadness there that the government haven’t really come to the table with anything.”

The day should act as a reminder to all New Zealanders, Chapman said.

“My hope is … it’s taken on board as a day that we won’t forget what has happened – the atrocities of the past, the 200,000 or so tamariki and mokopuna that were abused in state care during the period of 1950 to 1999 – and we hold as a nation those atrocities at the top of our mind and in our hearts, and we remind ourselves constantly how to be better humans.”

Survivor and advocate Ken Clearwater said many survivors would be reflecting on the broken promises of the government.

“We’ve called our [event] Our Day, Our Voice, which is the survivors talking about where they’ve come from, how it’s affected their lives and how the apology affected their lives and how the Royal Commission affected their lives,” he said.

“People just take for granted that the Royal Commission is awesome, the apology is great, but it’s not the words, it’s the actions, and there’s a lot of actions that are missing at the moment.”

The response of politicians to the events had also been disappointing, Clearwater said.

“We’ve got no politicians coming … because none of them have been able to get leave from Parliament,” he said.

“Yeah, they’re holding this day of remembrance, they’re putting up the funding to have the day of reflection and remembrance, and yet they’re not here to represent the government, to be here to listen to the voices of the survivors. So in a lot of ways, that’s a pretty damning thing for a lot of the survivors, saying, ‘why aren’t the politicians coming?’.”

Survivor Eugene Ryder, who co-chairs the board of the Survivor Experiences Service, says he understood the frustration of many in the community, but Wednesday was also an opportunity to reflect on the progress made.

“Ten to 15 years ago there was near nothing for survivors,” he said.

“So what I’ve seen since the Royal Commission of Inquiry is progress and different survivors have different expectations, they want every recommendation to be acted on by our government but the reality is it hasn’t.

“Another reality is that there’s been so much progress in this space for survivors. There’s been the creation of the Crown Response Office. There’s a Survivor Experiences Service. Those didn’t exist prior to the inquiry and now that they do – that’s seen as progress.”

But he acknowledged the progress had not been fast enough for some and Wednesday was an opportunity to remember those survivors who had died.

“Some survivors have since passed away, even since the tabling of the report, and for those that didn’t receive appropriate redress it seems unfair,” Ryder said.

Chapman, Clearwater and Ryder agreed their work would not be done until abuse in care and all settings was ended.

RNZ asked government ministers with responsibility for responding to the Royal Commission of Inquiry as well as party leaders what their intentions were for the National Day of Reflection, as it was a sitting day in Parliament all intended to be in Wellington apart from Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who was travelling overseas.

Lead Response Minister Erica Stanford would attend an event at the Crown Reponse Office.

“She was invited to a survivor led event in Auckland but is unable to attend due to the requirement of being in Parliament,” a spokesperson said.

“A year ago, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and seven public sector leaders apologised for the abuse and neglect suffered by children, young people and vulnerable adults in care and for the torture of children and young people at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit,” Stanford said, in a statement.

“While it was meaningful for many, it can never undo the harm inflicted on people who should have been protected and cared for. Instead, they were utterly failed. The experiences of thousands of brave survivors will forever be etched in our history. It is on all New Zealanders to do all we can to ensure abuse that should never have been tolerated, no longer occurs.

“A year on from the apology there continues to be significant work to be done to prevent, identify, and respond to abuse in care. The government remains committed to continuing this work with care to ensure the wrongs of the past are not repeated.”

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey would attend an event at the Ministry of Health, Social Development Minister Louise Upston would visit her ministry. Others, including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins, would pay their respects in the House.

Public events are being held throughout New Zealand.

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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 damning report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police over how they handled accusations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. National Crime Correspondent Sam Sherwood reports.

Inside a scathing 135-page report into how police responded to accusations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming lies a quote from one of the country’s most senior adult sexual assault investigators.

The officer, named in the report as Officer D, told the Independent Police Conduct Authority that the handling of the allegations prior to her involvement in the case was “appalling”.

“We have just not followed policy whatsoever and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist… Jevon has tried to get rid of this by making a complaint and … making [Ms Z] the villain, when in actual fact what he perhaps should have done was gone: ‘Can someone look at this and investigate it and get it cleared up? Because I’ve got designs on the future, and I want my integrity intact, so I welcome an investigation. Let’s get it cleared up, get it out of the way’.

“But you know what’s the worst thing – if you make a mistake … the only worse thing that you can do is then cover it up…You can paint all sorts of nice words of this …but to an outsider looking in, and … I mean even me, this looks like a cover-up.”

The woman referred to in the report as Ms Z was charged in May last year with causing harm by posting digital communication in relation to more than 300 emails she allegedly sent to McSkimming’s work email address between December 2023 and April 2024. The emails included abusive and derogatory language directed towards McSkimming and other people.

With the release of the report, RNZ takes a look at how police investigated the woman’s complaints and how in the words of Police Commissioner Richard Chambers she was “ignored and badly let down”.

Operation Herb

It wasn’t until about a month after Ms Z, a former unsworn staffer,was charged that former Deputy Commissioner Tania Kura decided police should explore whether any of the allegations in the emails were legitimate.

Kura spoke with Assistant Commissioner A, who was then the Assistant Commissioner of Investigations. The pair agreed to bring in Officer D.

“We involved her because we were concerned that if the allegations or the rantings that she [Ms Z] had put out there were actually true, she couldn’t be pleading guilty to things that came about because she’d actually been a victim of some offences.”

Assistant Commissioner A directed a colleague, officer B to do the first draft of the terms of reference for the investigation.

Officer B told the IPCA both Kura and Assistant Commissioner A urged caution in the way the terms of reference were framed:

“Jevon’s a very senior person in the Police and…if these complaints are made and then what happens is there’s no validity to that complaint, someone’s career is really on the line because someone made a complaint, but there’s no substance. So it was about having the right care”.

Kura told the authority she didn’t approach it as an ordinary sexual assault preliminary investigation because of McSkimming’s rank and the prosecution against Ms Z. She also had concerns about the impact of McSkimming’s career.

“If we overstep here, there’s a risk that [IPCA] will be into me about something else because a person who may have been able to apply for a Commissioner’s role and potentially get it, was denied that opportunity because we didn’t take a measured thoughtful approach to how we would do this. I felt we needed to take stock of what we knew. I felt we were going to have to approach her at some point but needed to be able to demonstrate later that we had taken a measured approach.”

Assistant Commissioner A conceded that the knowledge that McSkimming intended to run for the top job was “a factor in this that was relevant”.

There was also an “awareness” that McSkimming was “financially sound”, and may get lawyers involved if he believed he had lost out on the top job because of the investigation.

Assistant Commissioner A decided the best approach was to do a “stocktake” of what information was already known, before deciding on whether to speak to Ms Z.

Officer D told the IPCA that in her initial conversation with Officer B about looking into the allegations she was given information on the prosecution.

“I was going to be asked to look into…the content of [Ms Z’s] emails and whether or not there was actually anything to them”.

The introduction in the terms of reference for the investigation said a serious allegation “against any politically exposed person has the potential to significantly, and permanently impact an individual’s work and career”.

“It is appropriate to investigate circumstances such as these described below in a cautious manner to ascertain the truth. Accordingly, if there is a valid complaint, that should be dealt with as police would normally deal with a complaint, however to first determine whether a valid complaint exists, this matter should be dealt with in a manner that does not adversely impact the person”.

The terms of reference did not instruct Officer D to speak to Ms Z.

A heading “approach” described Ms Z’s emails as “highly emotive and accusatory”.

The terms of reference also included a number of unconfirmed statements including that it was a “mutually consensual sexual relationship”, that McSkimming ended the relationship because she became “too controlling”, and that Ms Z had not made a complaint to date.

The IPCA said the terms of reference were in “stark contrast” with Police’s adult sexual assault policy and practice.

“[It] had as their foremost consideration the need to protect Deputy Commissioner McSkimming’s career, and which did not envisage that the complainant would necessarily even be spoken to.”

Officer V, the Territorial Detective Superintendent, was shown the terms of reference by

Officer D in his capacity as her supervisor.

He told the IPCA his view was that it was clear Ms Z was a potential sexual assault complainant and should have been treated as such.

Conflicts of interest

Officer D was directed by Assistant Commissioner A to report to him, which is unusual for a criminal investigation. Officer D would usually report to a Territorial Detective Superintendent.

Officer D told the IPCA she felt there was a conflict of interest.

“… really got the sense that [Assistant Commissioner A’s] focus was on getting this out of the way so [Deputy Commissioner McSkimming] could apply for the Commissioner’s role without this hanging over his head”.

Kura confirmed she told McSkimming that Officer D had been appointed to investigate the validity of the emails.

The IPCA questioned Kura about the unusual circumstances of keeping a suspect up to date like that.

“Yes, he’s a suspect in the end of it, but actually there’s a lot of stuff on the table here and that’s just the way it occurred. Normally you wouldn’t do that…but this wasn’t a normal set of circumstances”.

Officer V told the IPCA that when Officer D spoke to him in September there were several features of the case that struck him as unusual.

This included that no senior reviewing officer had been assigned to the investigation, and that usually an investigation like the one being conducted would have been resourced with about

four other staff but it was only Officer D.

He also said Officer D should not have had a reporting line directly to Assistant Commissioner A, and the police executive should not have had a role in managing it.

The IPCA agreed with Officer V.

“The unusual structure and reporting lines simply reinforce the fact that the matter was not being

treated as a normal adult sexual assault preliminary investigation.

“It also highlights that the senior officers who were acting as decision-makers held an entrenched view that Deputy Commissioner McSkimming was the victim rather than the offender and were unduly preoccupied with ensuring he was not being unfairly disadvantaged in the forthcoming appointments process for the new Commissioner, for which they knew he would be an applicant.”

Officer D told the IPCA that between 24 June and 26 July she was having trouble making progress, but then “worked out that… it actually was the terms of reference that wasn’t right”.

“I was essentially being asked to get a feel for the veracity of the complaint without actually speaking to the complainant. It just didn’t feel right”.

Officer D met with Kura and Assistant Commissioner A in Wellington on 26 July 2024.

She told them she couldn’t continue without speaking to Ms Z and asked for their permission.

She said the meeting was “strange”, and that when she pointed out the investigation fell outside usual policy for such investigations Assistant Commissioner A asked where in policy it said police had to speak to the complainant.

Officer D contrasted the discussion with usual police practice.

“If we get wind of anything, any kind of complaint, that’s what the police do. We would contact someone and go: ‘Hey what’s going on. Is there something that you want to talk about?’ You know we can’t always be waiting for people to come to us, and you know having sat in that adult sexual assault chair for so long we get lots of complaints that actually come through from other people that go: ‘Look you need to talk to my friend. She was raped by so and so’ or whatever… I know that this is our obligation, and look I don’t know that it’s actually written in black and white anywhere, you know that that’s what we do.”

She said Assistant Commissioner A repeated on a number of occasions that McSkimming had applied for the top job and that if things weren’t sorted quickly he wouldn’t get it.

“I personally think it should be very simple in every police officer’s world. Doesn’t matter who the hell you are. We speak to the person, take a complaint and investigate it. It’s all very simple,” Officer D told the IPCA.

Officer D was given permission to speak to Ms Z. She contacted Ms Z’s lawyer on 28 July 2024, but did not hear back for some time. Officer D sent through some generic advice and resources for sexual assault victims.

She contacted the lawyer again on 20 and 28 August. Ms Z replied on 5 September and said she was taking advice.

Later that month, Ms Z emailed to say police had previously referred her to the IPCA “for any complaint involving a police employee”.

“Please could you clarify whether you can act/provide advice/investigate”.

Officer D replied offering advice on ways to raise complaints.

The call to the IPCA

On 10 July last year Officer D called the IPCA and said she had been assigned to investigate Ms Z’s allegations.

The conversation was followed up by an email from the IPCA to Officer M (the director of integrity and conduct) which mentioned the call between the IPCA’s investigations manager and Officer D, and questioned why the IPCA had not been notified.

Officer M forwarded the email to Deputy Commissioner PLC, a member of the Police executive with responsibility for Police Integrity and Conduct, and said the complaints “have not been progressed through our usual complaint process”.

She said it appeared police had “bypassed our usual complaint processes for quite some time…”

Deputy Commissioner PLC replied two days later. He said he’d spoken to Kura and the situation

didn’t appear to be “as it was relayed”. He said he believed the investigation was into the complainant, who had been charged.

Officer M said she had some “concerns”.

“I can’t see and I acknowledge there may be information I am not privy to, that Police has ever conducted an investigation (following ASA guidelines) into the multiple ongoing complaints, which would usually include a preliminary interview, level 3 interview and referral for crisis support as a minimum.”

‘It’s a risk to you as commissioner’

On 16 September last year, Officer M says she received a call from then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster asking if she knew of any “open investigations” into McSkimming. She believed the call was prompted by McSkimming’s application for Commissioner. She told Coster she would check the NZ Police Professional Conduct database.

She told the IPCA she was saw a “huge organisational risk” that there was something “sitting outside our system”.

“… It didn’t appear that we’d actually dealt with that at all following our usual process, and that I was now aware that the woman had been arrested, pleaded not guilty and I said ‘look, with…my legal experience…any defence lawyer worth their salt is going to say that…this woman has acted the way she has because she’s been trying to raise these concerns for a significant period of time against Police and no one’s listened to her and no one’s followed usual process’ so I said: ‘That’s all going to come out…That’s a matter of risk to the police, it’s a risk to you as Commissioner”.

Following the call she texted Coster and said there were no “open complaints” that were visible in the database.

“The complaints re the woman that you’ve referenced have not been through our usual complaint processes though, and there is no record of the complaints or what has been done re them. I do see this as a risk to the New Zealand Police and Jevon, particularly if this issue arises again down the track.”

She suggested the information around the complaint and what had been done was provided to either her or the Operations Manager of Integrity and Conduct to record in the database.

“I am conscious with a not guilty plea entered on the charges the woman is facing, the complaints could come to light through the court process as part of the defence disclosure request or the woman may complain again in the future, particularly if Jevon is in the media. It would open up criticism if there is nothing recorded in the usual manner following our complaint processes. IPCA are also asking why this has bypassed our usual complaint processes. They were going to contact Tania directly to discuss.”

Coster replied he understood from Kura’s briefing that the “intent” was to record it as Officer M suggested but was “unsure why this has not yet occurred”.

“To be clear, I don’t think there was ever a complaint. The woman never identified herself to us. However, through Jevon’s transparency on it we knew who she was and proactively approached her. However, there was still no complaint forthcoming to back up her various email allegations sent from a variety of email addresses with made-up names. I appreciate your follow up on that”.

Initial investigation concludes

Operation Herb was closed on 24 September by Assistant Commissioner A.

Officer D told the IPCA such files were “never truly closed”, and that police could take action at any time.

The IPCA found the investigation was “closed prematurely”, but were unable to determine where responsibility lay.

It said the fact both Kura and Assistant Commissioner A raised a concern that if McSkimming missed out on the role of Commissioner because of the investigation police could be criticised by the IPCA was “puzzling, to say the least”.

They said Officer D “displayed moral courage” in questioning her superiors.

Operation Jefferson

Concerned about what was happening, Officer M contacted the IPCA. On 8 October she had a meeting with the authority and expressed the nature of her concerns.

On 9 October the Public Service Commission contacted the IPCA and asked if there were any complaints relating to the applicants for Commissioner.

The following day the IPCA Chair emailed Coster asking that police refer any complaints regarding McSkimming to them.

It was then that Ms Z’s complaint was referred by Officer M. That same day Officer M emailed Deputy Commissioner PLC and said she had opened a file on the database. She had also been informed that Ms Z had contacted Officer D and was considering making a complaint.

The IPCA informed police on 14 October they had categorised the matter as Category A, an independent investigation.

Officer M then got a call from Deputy Commissioner PLC who said Coster was not happy about the IPCA’s involvement.

On 18 October the IPCA met with Ms Z. The authority recommended to Officer M that the National Integrity Unit (NIU) conduct an investigation because of the criminal allegations, with IPCA oversight.

On 22 October, Coster wrote to the chair of the IPCA, expressing concerns about the “chain of events leading up to the commencement of this investigation…”

“My primary concern relates to the Authority’s decision to commence an investigation at such a critical point in the Commissioner appointment process, given all of the circumstances of this case.”

The IPCA said it was “abundantly clear” the version of “facts” that Coster set out were based on what McSkimming told him.

Coster wrote he was concerned the IPCA could “inadvertently significantly increase Jevon’s victimisation from this pattern of harassment and do so in a way that will be irreversible in terms of his career”.

“This is against the backdrop of an issue that has been visible for a very long time and was capable of being resolved long ago – indeed Jevon considered that it had been.”

He said a “standard investigative approach and timeline in this situation risks a very unjust outcome”.

The ‘quasi investigation’

Then, on 30 October, two days before the NIU had their first “forensic interview” of Ms Z, Coster called a meeting. At the meeting was Kura, Deputy Commissioner PLC, the Director, Police Legal Services, Officer M and Officer K of the NIU.

“We understand Commissioner Coster talked at length about the issue of natural justice for Deputy Commissioner McSkimming – that he had already been the victim of harm caused by Ms Z’s harassment and, if the matter was not resolved quickly, that harm would be compounded by denying him the opportunity to apply for the Commissioner role,” the IPCA said.

Attendees said Coster’s view was that following the forensic interview the matter “should be fairly simple to resolve”.

Coster then proposed a “special national assessment team” to look into the appropriate investigative pathway in relation to Ms Z’s complaint. He suggested the team consist of himself and Kura.

Coster told the IPCA the discussion “was entirely appropriate”.

“We would have been open to considerable criticism had I blindly proceeded with a standard approach, which would leave officers junior to the officer in question having to take a decision that might place their own careers in jeopardy.”

The director of police legal services said it was not appropriate, given the conflicts of interest, for Coster and Kura to be involved in decisions on criminality.

One staffer made notes which said: “Time is of the essence. A week’s delay isn’t basically acceptable”.

The staffer told the IPCA, “…so at that point there was a lot of pressure to complete a criminal investigation…within a week.”

Another staffer told the IPCA, “…it was quite clear that he was very invested in Jevon becoming the next Commissioner.”

Officer M said she told the director of police legal services after the meeting: “…we can’t and should never be dictated by a suspect’s needs, the fact that he’s applying to be Commissioner is irrelevant in terms of the criminal investigation… we’ve basically been asked to do an adult sexual assault investigation in a week, including interviewing the suspect.”

Officer K said they also left the meeting with concerns.

“I really thought that the idea of rushing through some sort of quasi-investigation was fraught with risk, particularly given the position that, you know, there were sort of two aspects to it, particularly given the position that Jevon McSkimming was applying for and how that might later play out and the Commissioner talked about natural justice for him and my first thought at that point well, if there’s any substance to what [Ms Z] is saying, how about justice for her.”

They said given Coster was a “sharp man”, a former detective and Crown prosecutor they were “gobsmacked at the idea that he wanted to take some sort of shortcut to a resolution”.

There was another meeting on 4 November, after Ms Z’s interview.

According to attendees Kura questioned how long it would take.

“You know, is it like two weeks… how do we keep momentum going here? It’s been eight years for goodness sake.”

Coster denied placing a one-week time limit on the investigation when spoken to by the IPCA.

The IPCA concluded that once a decision was made in October 2024 to launch a proper investigation senior officers, including Coster, “attempted to shape its approach so as to bring it to a rapid and premature conclusion”.

They did not find any “collusion”, rather a “consistent pattern of behaviour driven by a common mindset and perspective”.

This, the IPCA says, was concerns that it could end with “unjustified victimisation of the Deputy Commissioner”.

“The belief appears to be based on the proposition that Police are justified in not undertaking, or in curtailing, an investigation into a sexual assault allegation if it would jeopardise a suspect’s work or promotion prospects – an argument that, in any other context, would be regarded as untenable.”

The IPCA found significant failings in the way in which senior police responded to the complaints.

“The findings in this report graphically demonstrate that the integrity system needs to be strengthened in order to ensure that it operates with transparency, fairness and independence when conduct issues arise at any level in Police.”

In September, Police announced McSkimming would not be charged in relation to the allegations of sexual misconduct.

Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson said Police had completed its investigation into allegations against a former senior police member.

“The investigation concluded that the evidential test for prosecution had not been met, therefore no charges will be laid.”

Johnson said the investigation and decision not to charge were independently reviewed by a King’s Counsel and peer reviewed by a Crown Law appointed barrister.

“The investigation was thorough and led by a Detective Superintendent. It had independent engagement throughout from the IPCA and a Crown Law appointed barrister.”

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