Source: Radio New Zealand

A man has suffered a fractured eye socket and broken nose after being assaulted in Southland at the weekend.

Police said the man was lured from his Edendale home late on Saturday.

“At around 10.55pm on Saturday a woman knocked on the victim’s door, saying she had a flat tyre and needed help,” police said in a statement.

“The victim – a man in his 50s – walked with the woman to the corner of Melvin Street and Turner Street, where he was accosted by a man and assaulted. During the assault, the offender also attempted to restrain the victim by tying his hands behind his back.”

Police were appealing for information from the public to identify the man and woman involved.

“Following the assault, the victim saw an SUV leaving the area at speed, and we believe it is likely the man and woman were in this SUV,” police said.

“To help us locate this vehicle, we would like to hear from any residents who have street-facing security cameras on Turner Street, Melvin Street, Seawood Road or Ferry Road, and who may have captured footage of the vehicle on Saturday night.

“We would also like to speak to anyone who saw an SUV in the Edendale township between 10pm and midnight, or anyone with other information which could assist our enquiries.”

Anyone with information should contact police on 105, quoting file number 251116/4977. Information could also be provided anonymously via CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Early Childhood centres are concerned about the cost to remove and dispose of potentially asbestos contaminated products after asbestos was found in a range of coloured play sand.

Some schools and childhood centres have closed after a significant recall last week that included four products sold by Kmart.

The Early Childhood Council’s chief executive Simon Laube told Midday Report the news was worrying to centres.

The cost of testing for asbestos and then potentially disposing of products was significant, he said.

More than 200 schools and childcare centres have sought advice from the Ministry of Education.

Laube said the cost was something many centres could not afford.

He wanted the government to step in and play a role.

“We’re talking about young children in ECE and the parents who care for them and I think they deserve better than nothing really.”

Remediation work would take time, Laube said.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said four products sold by Kmart – the 14-piece sandcastle building set and the blue, green and pink Magic Sand sets – tested positive for tremolite, a form of asbestos associated with higher cancer risks at low exposure levels.

Some schools using the products closed as a precaution for asbestos testing, including Burnside Primary, Clearview Primary, Waitaha School and Gilberthorpe School in Canterbury, and Dunedin’s Balaclava Primary.

The Ministry of Education said it could not confirm how many schools had closed.

Operations and integration leader Sean Teddy said 150 schools and 90 early learning services had sent queries as of 2pm Sunday.

“We are working closely with MBIE and WorkSafe to provide schools and early learning services with advice on testing, remediation and closure decisions,” he said.

“We appreciate that the presence of asbestos in products that are used by children will cause worry for parents and caregivers. We recommend they contact Healthline with any health concerns they may have about their children who may have come into contact with these products.”

Rolleston’s Clearview Primary said it had identified one home base that used the recalled Kmart product. The school’s board of trustees said a further four classrooms had used other brands of kinetic sand, or kinetic sand that had been removed from its packaging, making its origin unclear.

“At this stage, there is no immediate risk to staff or students. However, out of an abundance of caution, we are closing the school on Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday this week while all our teaching and learning spaces are professionally tested,” Clearview Primary said.

In a Facebook Post, Burnside Primary School said a recalled kinetic sand product sold at Kmart had been used in “some areas of our school”.

The school said while the risk to staff and students was considered very low, it had been advised by WorkSafe to close on Monday as a precaution to complete testing and ensure learning spaces were safe.

In a post to Facebook, Waitaha School said it was also closed on Monday.

“Waitaha School will be closed on Monday November 17 as we have become aware that a number of areas of the school across satellites and the base school have been exposed to various coloured sand brands that have been recalled. The Ministry of Education have advised the Board to close the school and arrange for an investigation and clean by professional asbestos cleaners,” the school said.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment product safety spokesperson Ian Caplin said he understood how alarming the discovery would be for families.

“We appreciate that the presence of asbestos in products that are used by children will be concerning to parents and caregivers. We urge families who have purchased these products to stop using them immediately, secure them safely, and contact your local council for advice on where and how to dispose of the contaminated material safely,” he said.

“If you are a workplace, where you may have higher volumes of these products or more people may have come in contact with the products, you should contact a licensed asbestos assessor or removalist for immediate advice and support on your specific situation. A list of these is available on the WorkSafe website.”

Wellington City Council said following the urgent recall of Kmart’s Magic Sand there was free disposal of the product at the city’s Southern Landfill.

“To dispose of the sand, double bag the product and tape it shut. Clearly label it with ‘Contains Asbestos’. Take it to the Southern Landfill and let the weighbridge staff know you have an item that may contain asbestos, and they will direct you to the appropriate place to dispose of it at the transfer station for free,” the council said.

The contaminated Kmart products include:

• 14-piece Sandcastle Building Set
• Blue Magic Sand
• Green Magic Sand
• Pink Magic Sand

The newly identified products are in addition to the previously recalled sands from Educational Colours and Creatistics:

• EC Rainbow Sand (1.3kg)
• Creatistics Coloured Sand (1kg)

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Plans for two new tunnels for Wellington’s State highway 1 have been revealed with a total cost of up to $4 billion and significant reworking of the surrounding areas.

The Transport Agency’s proposal includes second tunnels created at Mount Victoria and The Terrace in a bid to ease bottlenecking around the Basin Reserve.

A second Mount Vic tunnel was part of the National Party’s campaign promise, and is now listed in the Fast Track Approvals Act.

The proposal says it would save up to 10 minutes during peak periods on journeys from the Wellington region to the CBD, hospital, and airport by up to 10 minutes.

The agency’s Kesh Keshaboina says the “significant proposals” have the potential to have a major impact on Wellington’s transport infrastructure.

Public meetings on the proposals are to be held in the coming weeks.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The police are introducing higher thresholds for responding to calls from mental health workers to help deal with unwell patients or those who abscond.

It is the third phase of the controversial four-stage Mental Health Response Change programme, which started a year ago as part of the police pull-back from responding to mental distress call-outs.

Under phase three, which kicks in on Monday:

• Non-emergency mental health-related requests will be assessed against updated guidance to determine if police assistance is required. This includes requests for assistance under legislation, requests for assistance from in-patient mental health units and other requests from mental health services to police.
• Reports of missing persons with mental health concerns (including those who have left mental health facilities and services or EDs) will be assessed against updated guidance to determine the appropriate police involvement.

Over the past 12 months, police have gradually withdrawn their support at mental health callouts, including at inpatient wards, community facilities, during transportation and at emergency departments, and banned mental health assessments in custody suites.

Moves leaves ‘unacceptable gaps’ – union

The Public Service Association (PSA) condemned the change programme, saying it left mental health workers and patients unacceptably vulnerable to harm. National secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the changes were “dangerous and will cause harm”.

“We call on Health NZ to properly consider the support needed given the withdrawal of police from this important work.”

For both new procedures, staff could engage police only when there was “an imminent threat” to life or property.

The change also meant that these emergency calls would be triaged along with every other request that came through the 111 line, Fitzsimons said.

“Mental health nurses and healthcare assistants work in what can be quite dangerous conditions, with very unwell people who can act unpredictably – they must have a direct line to police.

“Health NZ has said it does not expect them to put themselves in harm’s way, but the reality is that for many situations workers must at least do an assessment in-person, leaving themselves open to verbal and physical abuse.

“Furthermore, mental healthcare is legally highly complex. Security staff, for example, don’t have the same rights under the Mental Health Act as clinicians do. There are a whole lot of practical realities Health NZ seems to refuse to acknowledge.”

Mental health staff were worried for patients as well as their own safety.

“Mental health workers understand that the police can’t do everything. But there are a whole lot of what-ifs that haven’t been thought through, and at the end of the day patients and families are the ones who miss out.”

RNZ has approached Health NZ and police for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The charred landscape will add to the experience for those walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the Department of Conservation says.

A week-long rāhui was lifted on Monday following the wildfire that ripped through 3000 hectares of the national park.

DOC and Fire and Emergency will continue to monitor the area for hotspots but are confident that people will be safe on the tracks.

DOC director of heritage and visitors Catherine Wilson told Morning Report it had been a huge week battling the blaze.

“The walk is perfectly fine to do, but the landscape is very black.”

Visitors could only access the start of the track on Mangatepopo Road by booking a shuttle.

“We’ve been incredibly lucky, [but] there has been a little bit of damage focused around the Mangatepopo entranceway, the car park area there,” Wilson said.

“The beautiful new Pou, Te Ririō, is still standing… got a little bit of charring but I think that just adds to it. It’s a spectacular Pou and we’re really pleased that that was able to be saved but there is some damage.”

Wilson said it would be a different experience on some parts of the track.

“We’ve been really lucky that the majority of the Tongariro Crossing hasn’t been affected but the first 700 metres or so, it will be quite a charred landscape.

“It was awe-inspiring before and will be even more so now.”

Local iwi Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro placed a decade-long rāhui on areas where fires have damaged the whenua and native vegetation.

The second rāhui was put in place to heal and restore the land

“It’s about keeping people out, it’s about working together to fix the land and heal the land over some time because we know with the biodiversity loss that that’s going to be required,” Wilson said.

“What people who are walking in the area or recreation in the area can do to support the longer rāhui is just stay on the tracks, not litter, and be generally respectful of the landscape.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A move by ACC to use artificial intelligence to help decide which long-term claimants should go back to work is being called “shocking”.

It comes as the state insurer is under instruction from its minister to reduce the long-term claims pool.

There are about 25,000 long-term claimants that have been receiving compensation for a year or more, the most there had ever been.

ACC earlier this year commissioned advice to work out how it could both remove existing clients, and prevent new ones from entering the pool.

In the year to June 2025 a record 8000 long-term claimants were taken off its books because they were deemed “work ready”.

ACC planned to ramp up exits even more, with a goal of 11,675 by next June.

By 2028 it hoped to have more people coming out of the long-term pool than going in.

“Nothing in ACC’s proposals actually looks at rehabilitation,” ACC advocate Warren Forster told Nine to Noon.

“It’s all about ‘how can we ramp up exits, how can we get more people coming off the scheme’, and that’s the antithesis of the statutory purpose. It’s the antithesis of why we have ACC in New Zealand.”

ACC said it was committed to helping injured people return to independence or to their new normal after life-changing injuries.

“It’s important that we manage the scheme sustainably so it’s there for Kiwis when they need it, now and in the future,” ACC deputy chief executive Michael Frampton said.

He said some long-term claimants would need financial support for a longer time because of life-changing injuries, but there were some whose injuries would not normally take a long time to recover from.

“That suggests they might not have had the right support and we’re actively working with them to help them back to independence,” Frampton said.

He said one step was to make sure all long-term claimants have one-to-one case management to make sure they were getting the right support. Frampton said this was already showing positive effects and giving better outcomes.

“ACC is using AI to help identify cases where the client may benefit from a further review by staff member to help ensure that they’re receiving the right support,” he said.

Frampton said it also meant providing “advice on next steps”.

Forster said 31,000 injured people had been pushed off ACC in the last five years.

“The AI will tell you ‘person X has a sprain, they’ve been off work for six years’ or whatever the case might be,” he said.

“The AI will say ‘well, this person’s got a sprain, we’ll get rid of them’ and that’s, you know, when you’re blindly following what a model does then you produce junk data”.

He said the person might have a disc prolapse or a tendon tear, may have been misdiagnosed or may be in mental health distress.

“Everyone knows the person doesn’t have a sprain injury,” Forster said.

“AI can tell you that this person has a problem, but AI is not going to tell you what that problem is. What we have is AI identifying someone who ACC can exit.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A 57-year-old woman has been charged with murder following the death of a man in Kaitaia.

Emergency services were called to an Okahu Road address shortly after midday on Sunday following a report of assault.

The man was found critically injured but despite efforts by emergency services, he died at the scene.

Acting Detective Inspector Tania Jellyman said police arrested the woman at a different address on Sunday afternoon and later charged her with murder.

“Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to this matter,” Jellyman said in a statement.

“A scene examination is continuing and a post mortem examination will be carried out in the coming days.

“Police will look to release more details about the man after these processes have been completed.”

The woman was expected to appear in Kaitaia District Court later today.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The man killed at his home near Kaitāia on Sunday was one of the Far North’s best-known businessmen as well as a former district councillor and mayoral candidate.

Police say they were called to a home on Okahu Road, west of Kaitāia, about 12.35pm following a report of an assault.

A man found in a critical condition at the scene could not be saved despite the efforts of emergency services.

Court documents reveal the victim was Monty Knight, a high-profile entrepreneur, wine-maker and local politician.

He turned 80 earlier this year.

Acting Detective Inspector Tania Jellyman, of the Northland CIB, said a woman was arrested a short time later at another Far North address.

Police were not looking for anyone else.

The property had been cordoned off and a scene examination was due to take place today.

A post mortem examination would be carried out in the coming days.

Court documents show a 57-year-old Far North woman is due in the Kaitāia District Court this afternoon facing a charge of murder by stabbing/cutting.

Former Far North mayor John Carter said he was shocked by Knight’s death.

“I knew him very well, as did most people in Kaitāia,” he said.

“He’s a very community-minded person who’s done a tremendous amount for the community. A very successful businessman of course, which has enabled him to do so. But he’s been very generous with his time and support.”

Knight was one of the Far North’s best-known entrepreneurs and personalities.

Born in 1945, he started his working life in signwriting and music promotion.

His first foray into retail was a small record shop, Monty’s Disc Inn, on Kaitāia’s Commerce Street.

That expanded into electronics, appliances and beds with Knight selling the business, by then a major store known as 100% Monty Knight, in 2012.

He also established a winery, Okahu Estate, which won medals in New Zealand and overseas.

He was best known, however, for Knights the Jewellers, which has outlets in Kaitāia and Kerikeri.

The Companies Office shows he was the sole shareholder and director of the Kaitāia store.

Knight was inducted into the Northland Business Hall of Fame in 2010.

He was elected to the Far North District Council in 2010 and to the Northland Regional Council in a by-election in 2015.

He also contested the Far North mayoralty a number of times.

Knight stood unsuccessfully in the Te Hiku Ward in last month’s Far North District Council elections.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Health NZ has confirmed two separate outbreaks of superbugs at Christchurch Hospital.

Two different strains of antibiotic antibiotic-resistant enterococci have been identified on one ward.

Health NZ Canterbury and West Coast nursing director Dr Sarah Berger said there were “fewer than 10 patients” with the infection, which was more difficult to treat because it did not respond to many medicines and was resistant to vancomycin.

Vancomycin was an antibiotic used for potentially life-threatening infections which could not be treated with another effective, less toxic antimicrobial drug, including severe staphylococcus infections.

“Most” of the patients were carriers rather than having active infections, Berger said.

Deep ward cleans, use of personal protective equipment and other infection prevention measures were in place.

“Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is a global problem, sometimes called the ‘silent pandemic’, and unfortunately has reached New Zealand’s shores.

“AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to many medicines, making infections harder to treat. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become less effective and infections become increasingly difficult to treat.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The three children killed in a Sanson house fire have been identified on a page set up by the loved ones of their mother.

The children have been named as August, Hugo and Goldie, aged 7, 5 and 1.

The Givealittle page has since raised more than $136,000 for their mother as she dealt with the “unimaginable loss”.

“They were the light and love of her life, and her entire world has been shattered,” the Givealittle page said.

“In the midst of this unimaginable grief, she also lost her home and everything she owned. She is facing the hardest journey possible, stripped of her physical security, while navigating the deepest emotional pain.”

The search for the body of one of the children is still ongoing, police said.

The bodies of two children were recovered on Sunday night and were blessed by the family with karakia.

The body of the adult was removed earlier. Manawatu Area Commander Inspector Ross Grantham confirmed to Morning Report it was the children’s father, which RNZ understood was Dean Field.

Police had put up emergency tape roping off the entrance to the property. Down the driveway was a police car, and a police branded truck was visible. A couple of flowers look to have been placed near the front of the driveway.

Police said their focus now would be on finding the third child’s body.

“It’s unimaginable, the tragedy for the families going through this,” Grantham told Morning Report. “We are working very carefully through the scene to establish how it started, and that’s still going to take us some time.”

He said it was too early to tell yet if the fire was deliberately started.

“It’s pretty risky with the part of the structure still there and the the dust that’s generated from the fire, so it will take us some time just to go through and establish what’s happened.”

Grantham said police were not seeking information from the public at this stage, but if anyone knew anything, they could “reach out”.

He said it was “unusual” for a house fire to begin in the afternoon.

Neighbour describes seeing the fire as it happened

A neighbour told RNZ he was working at his home on Saturday, when someone noticed smoke from the nearby property.

“We all came out to have a look and we saw a horrific amount of smoke coming from about 300 metres away, where the neighbour’s house is – pretty thick black billowing smoke.

“It was a very, very windy day and we knew it wasn’t any kind of controlled fire. We knew it was some sort of what we considered to be a house fire at that stage.”

He said, over an hour, many firefighters turned up, attempting to put the blaze out.

An hour after it started, the blaze and billowing smoke was still visible. He believed it took two hours for firefighters to put the fire out.

“They were still dousing it down and there was just very slight wisps of smoke coming from the property two hours after it started.”

He said State Highway One near the property did not open until 8pm Saturday.

The neighbour said that, during the fire, he was “pretty shocked” at what was happening before his eyes.

“Nothing we could do about it and just a feeling of kind of despair, I guess just watching what was going on.

“Knowing that a young family was potentially losing everything they owned and knowing that is going to be a very, very hard place to come back from.

“Just the thought of not knowing whether everybody was alright or not, and subsequent to that we found out, that isn’t the case, which has made things 10 times worse.”

Police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the fire.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A 57-year-old woman has been charged with murder following the death of a man in Kaitaia.

Emergency services were called to an Okahu Road address shortly after midday on Sunday following a report of assault.

The man was found critically injured but despite efforts by emergency services, he died at the scene.

Acting Detective Inspector Tania Jellyman said police arrested the woman at a different address on Sunday afternoon and later charged her with murder.

“Police are not seeking anyone else in relation to this matter,” Jellyman said in a statement.

“A scene examination is continuing and a post mortem examination will be carried out in the coming days.

“Police will look to release more details about the man after these processes have been completed.”

The woman was expected to appear in Kaitaia District Court later today.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Spraying to eradicate the yellow legged hornet is not currently in Biosecurity New Zealand’s plans.

Biosecurity New Zealand North Commissioner Mike Inglis told Morning Report international and domestic experts continue to advise they target the use of traps.

More of the invasive pests and their nests were found over the weekend, meaning 10 queens and two worker hornets have been located in the Auckland suburbs of Glenfield and Birkdale in the last month.

North Commissioner Mike Inglis said they had a clear plan.

“At this stage, the advice is not to spray both in terms of the efficacy of the spray and also the potential impacts in the wider community.

“We’ve got independent scientific experts from companies that have successfully managed these incursions as well as our own internal expertise.

“With the nests and particularly the workers, that’s part of the plan and expecting that over the next four weeks to 12 weeks. So again, that’s why we’ve put more staff on the ground.”

Inglis said they have also responded by increasing the amount of carbohydrate and protein bait traps to more than 200.

He said they were going to extend the trapping out to five kilometres from where the concentration of hornets had been found, and that more expert help was on the way.

“We’ve got a specialist coming across from the UK as well as introducing potentially tracking technology, and that tracks the hornets back to their nest. So that’s the next stage that we’re continuing to work through.”

“We’ve got sufficient staff in that area. We’ve ramped up over the last week and we’re getting support from our industry partners, regional councils, Department of Conservation to make sure that we continue to stay on top of this.”

“Our intent is to eradicate this hornet. We’re in a good space based on the technical advice, but we’ve got to keep pushing on and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Inglis continued to praise the public’s help, saying they had received nearly 3000 notifications from Aucklanders.

He said he was confident the predatory insects, which hunt honeybees, remained confined to Glenfield and Birkdale.

“We’re still focused on that area, and through our ramped up efforts last week, that’s where we found the further two nests.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A specialist in treating childhood diabetes says that some children are born “almost what we call ‘programmed’” to have the disease – but new medicine could help put them in remission

Inked onto award-winning investigative journalist Guyon Espiner’s right forearm in “cursive, fancy, gangster script” is “Diabetic”. On his inner wrist: “Type One”. It’s a permanent and “proud” reminder of the medical condition he was diagnosed with seven years ago.

Espiner was able to show the tattoo to ambulance staff during a diabetic episode that landed him in hospital earlier this year.

He had woken feeling “extremely low and completely delusional because it’s like that feeling of starving oxygen to the brain – I was so low that my brain was not working properly, it didn’t know where I was, it didn’t know what I was doing”.

“I don’t like wearing medical bracelets,” says Espiner, who flashed his tattoo to medical staff to explain his symptoms and behaviour.

“I am also proud to be a diabetic. I am proud to be a Type 1, it’s part of my identity, it’s shaped my life a lot.

Diagnosed at age 47, Espiner is one of more than 300,000 New Zealanders living with diabetes. But he’s in the minority group, with Type 1, which is an autoimmune condition where the body doesn’t produce insulin. It can develop rapidly and is usually diagnosed in childhood. Up to 10 percent of people with diabetes have Type 1.

Type 2 diabetes is far more common – about 90 percent of cases – and happens when your body can’t use insulin properly. It usually occurs in adults, but more and more children are now being diagnosed.

Starship Hospital Paediatric Endocrinologist Craig Jefferies tells The Detail that Type 2 diabetes was once rare for children, but that’s no longer the case in New Zealand, and this should act as a wake up call for the country.

“Type 2 diabetes 20 years ago was very rare. At the moment, we get 70 new kids a year with diabetes, most of them are Type 1 but about 10 percent are Type 2 now … 30 years ago, it was no-one.

“It almost always comes from high-risk ethnic groups, in New Zealand that is Maori and Pasifika. They are not the biggest kids at school but they are on the heavier for weight range, and almost always have a strong history of diabetes in the family, so there is a really strong genetic component.”

Children whose mothers had diabetes during pregnancy are also at an increased risk.

“It’s like a domino effect, there is diabetes in the family, the kids are getting exposed to high blood sugars in utero, getting born almost what we call ‘programmed’, and that’s getting worse as generations come through.

“Sadly we see a number of families where the parents have got diabetes complications, and the parents aren’t very old – kids are 10, mum and dad are 30s, maybe 40s – and unfortunately, we have had a couple where they have died of renal failure or are on dialysis.

“That’s the parents, so we are really keen to treat the children really aggressively to get the diabetes well controlled, we call it, or, even better, in remission.”

He says a recent study shows that “magic” new weight loss and diabetes drugs could be a game changer for Type 2 youth, getting them into full remission and off treatments.

“They could lose significant weight and they won’t have diabetes within four to six weeks if we can get these agents … and they could get on with teenage, normal life.”

But the drugs aren’t currently funded by the government.

“It’s going to cost,” Dr Jefferies says. “I think we need to be able to fund some of these new agents, some of these new diabetic/weight loss drugs to target this group.

“I mean we have a group of relatively small youth onset Type 2, if we can target the new agents, specifically for that, we will have a massive impact on their health, economy, and reducing their risk of long term complications.”

He says early detection is critical, and symptoms include excessive thirst, frequent urination, extreme tiredness or unexplained weight loss.

Dr Jefferies adds that “there’s a lot of stigma on diabetes. Children on insulin are stigmatised, adults with Type 2 are stigmatised. All of us are at risk, whether it’s a random autoimmune event, which is Type 1, or it is part of ageing or high risk genes, you can’t say ‘only they get it’.

“We are all in the same boat and we have to treat it appropriately.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A person has been found dead at an Ōtāhuhu property and police are treating it unexplained.

Emergency services were called to Atkinson Avenue at 1.50am after a person was found deceased.

Cordons were in place along a section of Atkinson Avenue on Monday morning and emergency services were at the scene.

Police asked members of the public to avoid the area.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A person has been taken to hospital in a serious condition from an e-scooter crash in Auckland’s CBD.

It happened at the intersection of Cook and Nelson Streets just after 5.15am Monday.

Police, St John and Fire and Emergency were all involved in the response.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Some schools in Canterbury have closed for asbestos testing because a brand of play sand they had been using has been found to contain asbestos.

On Saturday, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said four products sold by Kmart – the 14-piece sandcastle building set and the blue, green and pink Magic Sand sets – tested positive for tremolite, a form of asbestos associated with higher cancer risks at low exposure levels.

The findings expand an already significant recall that began last week, when rainbow sand products used widely in schools and childcare centres were found to be contaminated.

In posts to Facebook, Burnside Primary School, Clearview Primary, and Waitaha School said they had become aware recalled sand products had been used in their schools and were closed on Monday as a precaution while tests were done.

Rolleston’s Clearview Primary said it had identified one home base that used the recalled Kmart product. The school’s board of trustees said a further four classrooms had used other brands of kinetic sand, or kinetic sand that had been removed from its packaging, making its origin unclear.

“At this stage, there is no immediate risk to staff or students. However, out of an abundance of caution, we are closing the school on Monday, Tuesday and possibly Wednesday this week while all our teaching and learning spaces are professionally tested,” Clearview Primary said.

In a Facebook Post, Burnside Primary School said a recalled kinetic sand product sold at Kmart had been used in “some areas of our school”.

The school said while the risk to staff and students was considered very low, it had been advised by WorkSafe to close on Monday as a precaution to complete testing and ensure learning spaces were safe.

In a post to Facebook, Waitaha School said it was also closed on Monday.

“Waitaha School will be closed on Monday November 17 as we have become aware that a number of areas of the school across satellites and the base school have been exposed to various coloured sand brands that have been recalled. The Ministry of Education have advised the Board to close the school and arrange for an investigation and clean by professional asbestos cleaners,” the school said.

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment product safety spokesperson Ian Caplin said he understood how alarming the discovery would be for families.

“We appreciate that the presence of asbestos in products that are used by children will be concerning to parents and caregivers. We urge families who have purchased these products to stop using them immediately, secure them safely, and contact your local council for advice on where and how to dispose of the contaminated material safely,” he said.

“If you are a workplace, where you may have higher volumes of these products or more people may have come in contact with the products, you should contact a licensed asbestos assessor or removalist for immediate advice and support on your specific situation. A list of these is available on the WorkSafe website.”

The contaminated Kmart products include:

• 14-piece Sandcastle Building Set
• Blue Magic Sand
• Green Magic Sand
• Pink Magic Sand

The newly identified products are in addition to the previously recalled sands from Educational Colours and Creatistics:

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealanders are losing six-figure sums to scammers pretending to offer anything from jobs to cryptocurrency investments and technology support.

Financial Services Complaints Ltd, an external dispute resolution service for the financial services sector, said it recently investigated a complaint from a retiree who lost $250,000 to a company falsely claiming to offer cryptocurrency trading services.

He thought he was signing up to an online platform for trading crypto and transferred money from his bank account to a money transfer service.

When the victim thought he was confirming regulatory declarations, he was actually authorising transfers to a financial service provider in the Middle East.

“Scammers use extremely sophisticated methods to recreate legitimate tools, such as websites, or reassure consumers and portray themselves in convincing ways, that can fool even experienced investors,” FSCL’s ombudsman Susan Taylor said.

She said people should check out the intended recipients of money they were transferring, not rush into making payments and be cautious about downloading anything.

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden had a similar message.

She said the percentage of complaints her scheme received about fraud and scams had dropped from 22 percent of its caseload last year to 13 percent this year.

But the average amount being lost in the cases it considered rose from $73,000 to more than $100,000.

In one case it dealt with, a woman who had been having trouble with her internet speed received a call from someone claiming to be a technician ringing to fix it .

That person tricked her into downloading remote access software and asked her to log into her internet banking to test her internet speed.

The scammer then logged in and set up a payment of $14,200. The woman said she was sent an authorisation code for the payment but when she received the text, she hung up the call and shut down her computer.

Her bank would not reimburse her for the loss because it said she did not take reasonable care.

The ombudsman scheme investigated and said many customers would not know that logging into their bank account when someone was working on their computer remotely could disclose their login details.

“We also had reservations about whether [she] had in fact texted the authorisation code and online screen code to the bank.

“[Her] evidence was very clear and consistent on this point: she maintained she did not send a reply text and hung up the phone when she saw the test. The bank did not investigate this point.”

The bank ended up reimbursing the customer.

Sladden said people should stop and think before acting.

“Check you’re actually dealing with the legitimate organisation by contacting it directly using contact details you find yourself, not those provided by the sender – and read any messages from your bank carefully. Report suspicious approaches to help protect others from becoming victims.”

She welcomed amendments to the Code of Banking Practice which will introduce more protection for customers from 30 November, including identification of high-risk transactions, pre-transaction warnings to customers and improved information sharing.

Banks have committed to reimburse eligible customers up to $500,000 for authorised payment scam losses if a bank does not meet those commitments.

“These changes will undoubtedly strengthen consumer protections,” Sladden said.

“But they do not diminish the need to stay alert and take care with your banking, which remains the best way to protect yourself from scams.”

In another case, a woman authorised two payments of $5000 to another bank account as part of what she thought was a legitimate cryptocurrency investment.

The bank thought the payment was suspicious and called her but she said she authorised it.

After another payment a few days later, she called to report the scam.

A scammer then contacted her and tricked her into believing he could help her get her money back.

He told her to accept $4200 into her bank account as part of recovering what she had lost but she was being used as a money mule.

The bank got in touch and told her she had received fraudulent funds, and froze her account.

She was not able to access any money other than her wages until it completed its fraud investigation.

She had recently been made redundant and was living off money her husband put into her account every week.

Four months after reporting the first scam, the bank told her it would not reimburse her initial $10,000 loss and it had taken the $4200 out of her account that had been received fraudulently.

The ombudsman said the bank was not required to reimburse her for the $10,000 and was entitled to reverse the $4200.

But it said the bank did not treat her fairly and reasonably.

It offered her $1200 to compensate for the stress and inconvenience she suffered.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The trial of the man accused of murdering a newly-married migrant in Dunedin starts on Monday.

The body of 27-year-old Gurjit Singh was found at his home in Liberton with stab wounds in January last year.

The technician accused of his murder, who is listed in court documents only as Rajinder, will appear on trial in the Dunedin High Court.

He pleaded not guilty in February last year.

The trial of the now 35-year-old is set down for three weeks.

Forensic evidence indicated Singh died from multiple stab wounds by a sharp weapon.

More than $46,000 was donated to support his family on a GiveALittle page, describing Singh as hard working and a “well settled permanent resident of New Zealand” whose new wife was due to arrive into the country in early February in 2024.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Lawyers for a high court judge say her family’s dispute over a bach should be dealt with in private arbitration rather than public court, in part because of her judicial position.

Some of her family members disagree.

Both sides voiced their arguments for and against an arbitration order in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday. The decision was reserved.

Court documents show in 2022 Justice Anne Hinton sold her share of the bach to two of her four sisters – but her other sister, Gillian Gatfield and niece, Emma Pearson (who inherited her mother’s share) argued Hinton had, years earlier, promised to transfer her share to them.

Gatfield and Pearson said Hinton’s sale of her share breached the trust, and took their case to the High Court.

Hinton applied to have it referred to mediation, and if that was unsuccessful, to arbitration. Mediation results in a collaborative settlement, while arbitration relies on an independent arbitrator to make a decision.

Arbitration is common when both parties agree to it – but in this case, Gatfield and Pearson did not want it. When Associate Judge Dale Lester ordered it, they appealed that decision.

Their lawyer, Matanuku Mahuika, told the Court of Appeal Lester’s ruling was “coercive orders”.

Judge wants privacy, family seeks public hearing

Court documents show Hinton wanted arbitration because it was faster and cheaper than going through the courts – and private.

In their submissions to the High Court, her lawyers said some of the allegations against Hinton called her credibility into question.

“It is not in the interests of justice that these credibility issues be assessed by one of the applicant’s work colleagues if the matter is not resolved by mediation.”

They argued any judge hearing Hinton’s case would be put in a difficult position: either risking the perception of favouring a colleague, or ruling against her which would effectively question her credibility.

Hinton’s lawyers also said it was clear that the matters were “intensely personal” so “the proceeding cries out for private rather than public resolution.”

In the Court of Appeal on Wednesday, Justice Francis Cooke said the fact that the respondent was a high court judge was the unavoidable “elephant in the room”.

But Hinton’s lawyer Andrew Butler KC said: “she is a citizen and is entitled in the usual way to draw on the law.”

“It’s a family dispute, judges have families,” he said, adding that there was no reason her case would be treated differently.

Butler said the court’s job was to decide where the dispute was best resolved.

Harry Waalkens, who represented the two sisters Hinton sold to, said his clients had the most at stake, and said the situation was “as acrimonious as it could be”.

Solving it in arbitration was the most pragmatic approach, and there was “no public interest at all” in it being heard in court, he said.

Lawyers for Hinton’s sister, Gillian Gatfield, and niece, Emma Pearson, disagreed.

Matanuku Mahuika said “significant weight” was placed on Hinton’s role as a judge, in her request for arbitration.

“That’s not appropriate, that should not be a ground for going through a private process.”

He urged the judges to be mindful of open justice and warned them against being seen to give preference to a fellow judge.

Granting arbitration risked the appearance of privilege because of her position, Mahuika said.

No precedent for forced arbitration – lawyer

The law gives courts the power to order arbitration.

But Mahuika told the court it needed to be careful in exercising that power when arbitration was opposed, as it was in this case.

Arbitration had never been ordered – as opposed to agreed to – in a trust dispute, said Mahuika.

“There is no precedent.”

Justice Cooke questioned whether it was in everyone’s best interest to have it heard in a confidential setting, but Mahuika said his clients did not want that, and their wishes should be “significant”.

Butler said this sort of acrimonious dispute was “well-suited” to arbitration.

Much of the argument about whether the case should be referred to arbitration centred around the “validity” of the trust.

The concept of validity “is understood to refer to the formal steps of the trust being created,” court documents said.

Arbitration could not be ordered for a dispute about the validity of the trust.

Mahuika said the dispute was about the trust’s validity – but Butler disagreed.

Justice Hinton

Hinton became a High Court judge in 2015, and when she retired in 2023 she took up a part-time role as an acting High Court judge.

She was appointed as a full-time acting Court of Appeal judge from July 2024 until June 2025.

The Ministry of Justice said she had not been sitting on hearings since then, but the final judgement she was part of is expected to be delivered this week.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Six weeks after a father and son were murdered in a house fire, the family have spoken for the first time about what happened that night, revealing the heroic actions of a father who died trying to save his youngest son and the devastating impact their deaths have had. National crime correspondent Sam Sherwood reports.

Yea Seul Park was at home in Jakarta when she received a message from her younger sister who lived in Auckland with her husband Jung Sup Lee, and their two sons, a 13-year-old and 11-year-old Ha-il.

“There was a fire in the house last night,” the message began.

“Only [her eldest son] and I managed to escape outside, Ha-il and Jung Sup couldn’t get out.”

Park screamed and cried as she read it, almost fainting.

She then took the first flight she could to New Zealand, having to fly first to Perth and then to Auckland.

Once she arrived she went straight to the hospital to visit them. At first she felt relief seeing her sister and eldest nephew.

“But I was still looking for my brother-in-law and Ha-il just hoping there was a possibility they could’ve survived, that they were mistaken or I got the message wrong.”

‘He’s our hero’

It was about 2.30am on 2 October when emergency services were called to the family’s home on Murvale Dr, Bucklands Beach.

The family lived on the second floor of the home and had a boarder downstairs.

Park says her sister was woken to the house being on fire. She tried to save as many people as she could. But she says the fire was already too big and she had to get out of the house.

“Jung Sup threw himself into the flames to save his son when the fire started. That was the last moment my sister saw him.

“He must have known he could die, but he still ran into that huge fire to save his youngest boy. He’s our hero, and honestly the best father anyone could imagine.”

The couple’s 13-year-old son used his fist to break a window and then jumped from the second floor roof to escape, Park said.

Park said at first the family thought the fire must’ve been an accident. When she visited the home her views changed.

“It was really strange because the second floor was like absolutely blown up but the downstairs was like nothing happened”.

Six days after the blaze Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Va’aelua held a press conference to announce police had launched a homicide investigation, dubbed Operation Town.

“Our investigations have led us to now confirm that the fire was intentional, and this is now a double homicide.

“Fire investigators have confirmed accelerant has been found at the scene.”

Park said the family was “shocked” when they heard police believed the fire had been deliberately lit.

“We were speechless. We were like, ‘oh my god’.”

A 38-year-old man was arrested by police on 24 October, charged with murdering the father and son.

He appeared in the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday where he entered not guilty pleas through his lawyer, David Hoskin. He was assisted by a Korean interpreter.

Hoskin asked for the man to be given temporary name suppression until Monday, 17 November at 11.59pm, which was granted by Justice Mathew Downs.

Hoskins said the man’s wife and young children would return to Korea before he was publicly named, and the suppression would prevent them suffering hardship.

Justice Downs said the man would be remanded in custody until his February 2027 trial, unless granted bail.

Park said she was “angry” the man had name suppression.

‘We can’t even talk about this’

Park says Jung Sup Lee migrated to New Zealand with his family when he was young and met his wife while they were both studying at different universities.

She described Lee as a “very calm” man who never got angry or raised his voice at anyone.

Ha-il was a “lovely boy” who loved his sport and would always compliment his aunt.

Six weeks on, Park says the family continues to struggle with what has happened.

“We can’t even talk about this at home, we try to avoid this conversation as much as we can.”

She says her eldest nephew doesn’t talk much these days.

Park is now living with her sister and nephew, doing her best to support them.

“We’ve been through a very fast process and also a very extreme process, and now we just got the new place, and it’s like we just start grieving, and now it’s really hard, coping that they’re not here anymore.

“We’re just trying to, like, process, you know, one thing at a time, like one day at a time … you just get through this day and the next day and then the next day.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

In the more than four years since exotic caulerpa was first discovered in New Zealand waters, it has been a time of uncertainty and frustration for some living in affected areas.

Caulerpa is an algae that blankets the sea floor, smothering everything from kelp to shell fish.

Nicola MacDonald is chief executive of the Ngati Manuhiri settlement trust. The iwi’s territory includes Kawau island and Little Barrier Island, two of the 11 areas where the seaweed pest is present.

“When caulerpa first got here, government really struggled with how to address caulerpa and take real proactive action, and we saw what happened at Great Barrier Island. It went from 60 hectares to now it’s well and truly over 2000 hectares. So that’s an absolute indication of how we take it seriously. And government isn’t taking it as seriously as they need to.”

Ngati Manuhiri recently produced a short film highlighting the concerns of iwi from the Hauraki gulf and Coromandel to the Bay of Islands.

“We certainly don’t want to leave the Hauraki Gulf in a much worse state for our mokopuna, our grandchildren and our children that inherit from us. So for all of those iwi that have been battling the invasive species such as caulerpa, that has been the single uniting moment”

A national caulerpa strategy was recently sent to Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard.

“My understanding is that he was taking it through to Cabinet and there may be further budget, well there will have to be, further budget in order to deliver on those milestones that the strategy recommends,” said MacDonald.

MPI director of readiness and response John Walsh said $25 million was spent before this year on the fight against caulerpa.

“I think we’re actually in quite a good place through some good planning and some good management and also some good luck.”

The good luck came in the form of significant caulerpa dieback in some of the sites that NIWA monitors – including Great Barrier island and Omakiwi cove in the Bay of Islands.

But he said there had been no consistent pattern to why caulerpa had retreated in some of the sites. “It’s a bit of a mystery, we’ll still be continuing to examine it this year.”

There was also no guarantee the dieback will continue.

“This summer will be very telling,” Walsh said. “The waters are starting to warm up already. Warm waters mean more growth, unfortunately.”

Chlorine, UV-C light technologies trialled

New technologies are being developed in the fight against caulerpa.

Brook McRae runs Commercial Dive Specialists and has a background in biosecurity. His company expanded on an technique where mats treated with chlorine were used to kill caulerpa.

They did away with the mats, creating a submersible chamber , known as a ‘rehabitat’ chamber, that can be moved along the sea floor. Chlorine is pumped into the chamber, and once treatment is complete is removed, making sure no chlorine escapes into the sea.

“They’re actually just like an inflatable bouncy castle. But they’re inflated with water, and that allows them to contour to the shape of the seabed,” McRae said.

The chambers have proven effective in killing caulerpa, but signoff is needed before the ‘rehabitat’ enclosure can put higher levels of chlorine into action

Another tool to tackle caulerpa is being developed by Craig Thorburn of Advanced Aquarium technologies. His team is using UV-C light to treat caulerpa.

“I ended up talking to a chap in the USA, John Pelluccio, in Lake Tahoe. He was using UVC light to manage freshwater plants in Lake Tahoe. So that kind of set us on that journey of looking at is there an application here? No one had tried it in salt water. No one had tried it with a plant like caulerpa.”

Tests run with the University of Auckland showed UV-C light was effective in killing caulerpa, but then came the complex task of developing a vehicle that could operate on the sea floor.

“We like to think of it, it’s still a bit of a Model T Ford. The frame of it and its workings are still off our original prototypes. We’re building another unit in China at the moment that is another step towards something that would be a production model.”

Both McCrae and Thorburn’s projects have received government funding.

After bringing Californian experts to New Zealand in 2023, Ngati Manuhiri continue to look offshore for solutions.

“Having recently attended Aqua Nor in Norway, I saw a lot of technology that I think could be applied in New Zealand,” said MacDonald.

“Those are some of the conversations that I’ve had with Biosecurity New Zealand, that there’s some tech overseas that I think we need to bring here and we really need to get on the job of getting rid of this stuff”

But whether caulerpa can be eliminated completely remained unknown.

“I think the chances of managing it, particularly in our anchorages and our open sandy shellfish habitats are quite high”, said Thorburn.

“I think there’s a range of tools now that are available and they’re not well practised by any means, but they exist and the knowledge exists to say yes, that could be tackled in response and we didn’t have any of those possibilities, three or four years ago. We really would love to acknowledge that incredible leadership shown by iwi and local communities in tackling exotic caulerpa and from my experience, right from the very, very start, iwi have been right at the heart of this response”

And with summer beckoning, the message to boaties from MPI remains unchanged.

“If you’re in the top of the North Island, if you pull up seaweed on your gear, on your anchor, on your fishing gear, no matter what it is, no matter where you are, it’s really good practice to get into the habit of storing it safely on your boat, in a bag, in a bin, in a bucket, taking it ashore and disposing of it safely,’ said Walsh.

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