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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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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The search for the body of a third child caught in a deadly house fire in Sanson is to resume this morning.

Four people died in the fire on Saturday afternoon.

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.

Police said their focus today will be on finding the third child.

By 6am, just under $95,000 had been raised for the mother of the children through a Givealittle page.

The page described the fire as a “devastating loss beyond measure” and their goal was to provide the family with the “space and security needed to grieve in solitude”.

“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.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Disability advocate has Facebook account “disabled” following post criticising government policy
• Facebook says it’s breached “community standards” but won’t say what they are
• Facebook provides no way to appeal decision
• Commentator says Facebook taking “conservative” approach to avoid regulation.

A disability advocate who relies on social media for work has had his long-standing Facebook account shut down for unspecified reasons.

Meta – which owns Facebook – has told Blake Forbes the account breached its “community standards” – but he suspects he was targeted for his political activism.

Late last month, he posted about the current review of the Total Mobility Scheme, which subsidises transport for people with disabilities – and called on Transport Minister Chris Bishop to listen to the community’s fears for its future.

“Within an hour or two it got taken down. I appealed to get it back the next morning, but then within five minutes it got reported again. Went back in four more times and it got reported within a few minutes each time, until it got taken down entirely.”

There was nothing offensive or derogatory in the post – but Facebook’s message was that the account had been “disabled” permanently, Forbes said.

“We’ve reviewed your account and found that it still doesn’t follow our Community Standards on cybersecurity. You cannot request another review of this decision.”

There was no information about how he has breached those community standards or any detail about the complaint against him.

Desperate to get his account reactivated, Forbes paid for the Meta Verified service and was granted an online chat with a real person from the Meta Pro Team.

“They just basically said they couldn’t help because it was disabled. So that was not very helpful.”

Fifteen years’ worth of data, including photographs and contacts, is gone.

Forbes – who co-hosts a podcast on disability issues called Behind The Walls – has set up another Facebook account and is trying to rebuild his database of more than 1500 contacts, from New Zealand politicians and sector leaders, to other people with disabilities who are more isolated.

“Some people don’t know where I’ve gone. They might even think I have passed away.

“Some of them only use Facebook because they don’t have a phone or any other form of contact.”

Forbes has been contacted by two other disability advocates who had also had their Facebook accounts disabled after making similar posts, although they were able to get them reactivated after successful appeals.

Facebook has been approached for comment about Blake Forbes’ case.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop told RNZ that neither he nor his staff had anything to do with the complaint to Facebook.

“I’ve met with Blake before and am happy to do so again.”

Facebook cracking down to avoid regulation – commentator

Technology commentator Vaughn Davis said Facebook was increasingly “bumping people off its platform” because it’s trying to defend itself against accusations of harbouring illegal or unpleasant content.

“The issue that goes hand in hand with that is that Facebook has billions of users and thousands of staff so you can’t humanly do this policing, which is why everything reverts to bots. It’s why all human-based interventions take so long and it’s so difficult to get a decision reversed once it’s made.”

Vaughn Davis, who runs The Goat Farm advertising agency, said while he was not defending Facebook, there was a reason that it was “free” to use.

“Facebook is an advertising company, and as you would expect, most of their staff are developers and people involved in advertising and marketing products,

rather than community moderation.”

That did however make users potentially vulnerable to malicious complaints by business competitors or just someone with a grudge, he said.

“Facebook has no reason to ban anyone who’s not causing any trouble. But what they are doing is acting conservatively – if in doubt, cut them off – because their greater responsibility is to protect their own reputation and avoid regulation, and of course protect their users from harmful content.”

Meanwhile, the petition calling for increased funding for the Total Mobility Scheme (the subject of Forbes’ original post) has been signed by more than 1500 people so far. It closes on 28 November.

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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

Police are renewing appeals for CCTV or dashcam footage in the search for Anita Hart, a woman who went missing from Upper Hutt.

The search for the 61-year-old began in the early hours of Thursday 13 November, after her abandoned car was found on Gillespies Road.

Detective Sergeant Annalise Ferguson said police, along with teams from LandSAR Wellington, LandSAR Wairarapa, Canyon SAR, the Police National Dive Squad, Wellington Police Maritime Unit, Fire and Emergency New Zealand drones and Amateur Radio Emergency Communications, had been extensively searching the Birchville area.

Unfortunately, Anita had still not been found, she said.

“We are urging anyone has CCTV or dashcam footage that may help us to please come forward.”

Police were particularly interested in the Gillespies Road, Bridge Road, Gemstone Drive and Akatarawa Road areas, down to Harcourt Park, between 11.25am and 1pm on Wednesday 12 November, she said.

Anita was last seen wearing a blue beanie with a pompom, a blue jacket, and dark-coloured trousers.

Police were asking anyone with any information that could be off use to call 111 and quote the reference number P064438940.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

In the “midst of unimaginable grief”, friends are raising money for the family reeling from Saturday’s fatal housefire at Sanson.

Police have confirmed that four people – an adult and three children – died in the fire, which closed off a section of State Highway One for several hours.

A Givealittle page set up by friends of the mother raised more than $40,000 in three hours.

The page described the fire as a “devastating loss beyond measure” and their goal was to provide the family with the “space and security needed to grieve in solitude”.

“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.”

A neighbour told RNZ he was working at his home yesterday, 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 Inspector Ross Grantham said the bodies of two children have been recovered from the scene this evening, with family present to bless them with karakia.

“Work is ongoing to locate the body of a third child, while the body of an adult has already been removed.”

He said the family were devastated by the loss of their loved ones.

“They are thankful and very grateful for the support and concern they are receiving from the community.

“Investigators will tomorrow focus on recovering the third child, and completing a meticulous and thorough scene examination.”

He said police were not seeking anyone in relation to the fire.

“Our investigators remain determined to find answers to as many questions as we can.”

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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 “midst of unimaginable grief”, friends are raising money for the family reeling from Saturday’s fatal housefire at Sanson.

Police have confirmed that four people – an adult and three children – died in the fire, which closed off a section of State Highway One for several hours.

A Givealittle page set up by friends of the mother raised more than $40,000 in three hours.

The page described the fire as a “devastating loss beyond measure” and their goal was to provide the family with the “space and security needed to grieve in solitude”.

“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.”

A neighbour told RNZ he was working at his home yesterday, 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 Inspector Ross Grantham said the bodies of two children have been recovered from the scene this evening, with family present to bless them with karakia.

“Work is ongoing to locate the body of a third child, while the body of an adult has already been removed.”

He said the family were devastated by the loss of their loved ones.

“They are thankful and very grateful for the support and concern they are receiving from the community.

“Investigators will tomorrow focus on recovering the third child, and completing a meticulous and thorough scene examination.”

He said police were not seeking anyone in relation to the fire.

“Our investigators remain determined to find answers to as many questions as we can.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government has announced plans to increase fines from $600,000 to $5 million or more for breaching the Fair Trading Act.

It is also backing away from a ban on directors taking out indemnity insurance, and proposals to expand infringement fees and unfair contract terms provisions.

Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson said the change would be made through a bill to be introduced to Parliament in early 2026.

The legislation would increase the fines to whichever was highest – three times the value of the commercial gain made, the total value of the transactions or $5m for body corporates and $1m for individuals.

The current penalty is a maximum $600,000 for body corporates or $200,000 for individuals.

It would also introduce a new civil penalties regime for most breaches of the Act, allowing the Commerce Commission to take action on the balance of probabilities, rather than meeting the higher criminal standard of proof.

Serious or deliberate offences – like demanding payment without intending to supply, serious product safety breaches or obstructing the Commerce Commission – would remain criminal.

Penalties for breaching a management ban would also increase from $60,000 to $200,000. Penalties for other conduct – like breaching consumer information requirements, consumer transaction rules and impeding enforcement – would also increase from $10,000 for individuals and $30,000 for body corporates, to $60,000 and $200,000.

Gains from breaching the Act under the current system could sometimes outweighed the penalties, Willis said.

“The new regime will eliminate the financial incentives for breaching the Act,” she said.

“They will also help to ensure businesses who play by the rules are not disadvantaged by competitors using unfair means to woo their customers away from them. The existing rules do little to prevent large retailers from further entrenching their market dominance.”

The changes would bring New Zealand more into line with similar countries. For example, Australia hands down penalties for fair trading laws of up to three times the commercial benefit, 30 percent of turnover, or AU$50m (NZ$57.74m).

Willis and Simpson pointed to a 23 percent increase in the number of fair trading complaints made to the Commerce Commission in the past five years.

The same businesses had in some cases breached the law more than once, Simpson said.

“These changes will ensure the law provides stronger incentives to comply and stronger consequences for those who don’t.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have arrested a person and launched a homicide investigation in the Far North, after reports of an assault.

Emergency services were called to a property on Okahu Road in Kaitaia at about 12.35pm Sunday.

Detective Inspector Geoff McCarthy said the victim was found in a critical condition and died at the scene, “despite emergency services’ best efforts”.

A person was arrested at a different address a short time later and police were not seeking anyone else at this stage,

Cordons were in place and a scene examination was due to take place on Monday.

A 57-year-old woman is also due to appear in Kaitaia District Court on Monday, with charges to be confirmed.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The political party founded by businessman Gareth Morgan almost 10 years ago has unveiled a new leader and new look.

Touted as a builder of sustainable businesses, Aucklander Qiulae Wong will lead Opportunity – formerly The Opportunities Party – into the 2026 election.

The party has been leaderless since 2023 and the announcement follows a nationwide search for the role.

To date, it is yet to reach the five percent threshold to enter parliament.

In 2023, it scooped 2.2 percent of the vote – 0.2 percent shy of its best election result of 2.4 percent in 2017 – under Morgan.

The party says Wong has founded and supported several start-ups in the fashion sector in London, “working to build ethical and sustainable practices into global brands like Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney”.

She returned to New Zealand in 2022 and has most recently worked at financial consultancy firm KPMG.

Wong said the party stands for transformative system change and would break the gridlock of left-right bloc politics.

Opportunity has also revealed its “tax reset” policy, which includes a Citizen’s Income, a Land Value Tax and Flat Income tax.

Wong said New Zealand needed a tax reset.

“We can’t keep patching and tinkering with the foundations that hold up this country,” Wong said.

“Our addiction to high house prices is robbing young Kiwis of security, and locking capital away from the innovators and community champions, who are building our future.

“It’s time to modernise tax.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Privacy commissioner Michael Webster says the country’s laws must be modernised to protect better New Zealanders.

Privacy complaints have risen by a fifth in the last financial year and serious privacy breaches notified by organisations have risen more than 40 percent, the commission’s 2024/25 annual report said.

One case study in the report included screenshots of a school teacher’s messages to their colleagues being sent to the principal, after their Google and Facebook accounts were left logged in on their work laptop, despite leaving the job.

At first, the school resisted the commission investigation, but later conceded it had breached the collection principles of the Act and interfered with all three teachers’ privacy.

“We assisted the parties to reach a suitable resolution,” the case study said.

Webster said, in the recent survey, 80 percent of respondents wanted more control over collection and use of their personal information, and about two-thirds worried for their or their children’s privacy.

It was “easy to see why”, Webster said.

“People are right to worry, as more needs to be done to improve New Zealander’s privacy. The Privacy Act currently provides insufficient incentives for many organisations to understand or meet even the most basic privacy requirements.”

The annual report said financial incentives were lacking “to take privacy seriously”.

“This situation means that many agencies have a low level of understanding of the Act.”

Webster’s office is seeking amendments to the law in an attempt to up incentives and give people more power to make agencies delete their personal information.

“Our 2025 survey also showed strong support for strengthening the Privacy Commissioner’s powers.”

The annual report showed a 21 percent jump in complaints to almost 1600 and serious privacy breach notifications up 43 percent to almost 600.

The rise in volumes slowed down their response time since the year before.

“The key challenge facing us is the increasing volumes, and complexity of privacy breaches and complaints we are receiving.”

However, almost 90 percent of complaints were still closed within six months. Its “fast resolve” track, which handled 1200 complaints, had helped.

All its investigations that were externally reviewed scored higher than 3.5 out of five.

One goal was to crack down more, the report said.

“Continuing to strengthen our compliance and enforcement function is a key area of strategic focus”, alongside educating organisations about the law.

The report gave an example of holding Oranga Tamariki to account this year for “grievous” breaches, as RNZ reported, based on a review only released publicly almost a year after it was completed.

The office’s government funding had dropped from $8.1m to $7.6m.

“Even when our funding was [previously] increased, it was to a level below what we had recommended to implement the significant new responsibilities and powers that the Act provided us.”

Inflation and cost savings since had “subsequently diminished our funding in real terms”.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Drivers are being asked to avoid Central Otago’s Kawerau Gorge after a two-vehicle crash left a car in a bank.

Police said several people were injured in the crash on State Highway 6 between Gibbston and Cromwell, which happened around midday on Sunday.

The New Zealand Transport Agency said the road may need to be closed and asked people to avoid the area.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• General Practice Owners Association moves to set up another PHO after big corporates do likewise
• GenPro says it’s responding to demand from members fed up with red tape and costs
• PHOs say GPs already get 100 percent of patient funding but they have a bigger mandate

Frustration among general practice owners with what they call “bloated bureaucracy” is behind a move to set up a breakaway nationwide primary health organisation (PHO).

The General Practice Owners Association (GenPro), which has made an application to Health NZ, said it would ensure more money for frontline patient care.

Its chair, Dr Angus Chambers, said the new entity would be a standalone organisation, enabling GenPro to continue to advocate for its members without any conflict of interest.

“GenPro is not and will not be a PHO. But we’d welcome a lean, cost-effective PHO for GenPro members that reduces the bureaucratic burden on the health system and facilitates greater funding for high-quality, sustainable, accessible, and equitable front-line patient care.”

PHOs are not-for-profit organisations, funded by Health NZ to oversee primary care, including general practices.

There are currently about 30 PHOs, made up of practices working together to care for the patients enrolled with them.

GenPro’s move comes in the same week that Green Cross became the second big corporate to receive approval from Health NZ to set up its own PHO.

Its 54 practices – which are currently distributed among multiple PHOs – will shift to a stand-alone entity, Community Care Ltd, from 1 July 2026.

Another corporate provider, Tend, started operating its own PHO in July after receiving approval in May.

Chambers said his members feared this would give the corporates a competitive advantage.

“There’s a lot of concern among our members that we’re heading towards a duopoly like the supermarkets in primary healthcare, and we want to see the settings changed to prevent that because it’s not good for consumers.”

A report by retired accountant Murray Lilley earlier this year highlighted the growth in “bureaucracy” within PHOs, and suggested they were siphoning off too much government funding before it reached frontline GPs.

The Lilley report was criticised for ignoring PHOs’ role in population health, including programmes for mental health, diabetes, immunisation, sexual health, smoking cessation and community radiology.

Chambers said while he was not sure that all the conclusions drawn from the report were accurate, it did “mirror concerns” among some GPs regarding PHOs, especially around “transparency”.

“Many feel we’re struggling, some have borderline viability, and we see PHOs growing and that really concerns our members.”

Current policy settings and existing PHO structures had significant problems, he said.

“These include conflicts of interest between patient care and commercial operations, bloated governance and management costs, a focus on accumulating reserves instead of funding front-line services, regional variations creating a postcode lottery, and trust issues.

“The new PHO will aim to address these challenges head on.”

PHOs respond

General Practice NZ, which represents PHOs, said as registered charities, they were set up for transparency and obliged to publish audited accounts.

Its chair, Dr Bryan Betty, a Porirua GP, said PHOs were not simply responsible for passing on capitation funding (the funding for enrolled patients), but also for delivering wider population health activities.

“At the moment 100 percent of capitation gets passed through directly to practices and the majority of what we call ‘flexible funding’ [for mental health, diabetes and a range of other services] also gets passed through to general practices.

“But what remains in the PHO is for things like practice support: data and digital, supporting high needs practices that may be marginally sustainable, to ensuring things like interpretation services, transport for rural patients – a whole range of services that practices may not be able to provide on their own.”

There were some problems with the current funding mechanisms, he conceded.

“There is a need for more funding to be flexible to support patients across a region to access timely medical care, to access immunisation, screening, and other primary care services.

“Most individual practices can’t afford specialist diabetes nurses or podiatrist, for instance, they need to work across a group of practices.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Waikato Police are renewing appeals for information as concerns grow over the whereabouts of missing man Louis.

The 44-year-old has been missing since Thursday 13 November, and Police have been searching the area where he was last known to be.

Louis was last seen at around 10am, believed to be heading to the Tui Domain Track via the Hamilton Street entrance, at the base of Mount Te Aroha.

“Since then, there have been no sightings of Louis despite our efforts to locate him,” says Detective Inspector Matt Cranshaw.

“As time passes, we are getting more concerned for his wellbeing.”

Detective Inspector Cranshaw says Police have been searching around Te Aroha, with volunteers from Land Search and Rescue, and Canyon Search and Rescue in bush areas and streets nearby.

“We ask members of the Te Aroha community to review any CCTV or dashcam footage they may have from Thursday.”

Louis was last seen wearing a dark blue shirt, brown pants, and old blue and white striped jandals.

“If you someone that may look like Louis, or someone wearing clothes like this description, please contact us.”

If you have information that could assist us in locating Louis, please contact us online at 105.police.govt.nz, clicking “Update Report” or by calling 105.

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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 tickets that won Lotto’s top prize on Saturday night, were sold at New World Kawerau, Pak N Save Moorhouse in Christchurch and online to an Auckland punter.

Three ticket-holders are taking home an $18.3 million share of the historic $55m jackpot, according to Lotto.

The must-be-won draw was the highest ever amount up for grabs on Lotto Powerball.

The winners also get a share of Lotto First Division taking their total prize to $18.5m each.

Meanwhile 15 people shared Lotto First Division, taking home $55,556 and 62 punters won $16,990.

The odds of winning last night’s Powerball First Division prize were one in 38-million.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The BBC’s top boss and its news chief had both resigned late on Remembrance Sunday in the UK – the day the victims of war are remembered.

Ironic perhaps for the BBC, because it wasn’t just that editing error in a year-old documentary about Donald Trump that created this crisis. An ongoing culture war that’s bigger than the BBC was part of the backdrop.

On Friday the BBC’s chair told the White House he and the Corporation were sorry for the error, “but strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”

The BBC has been accustomed to political pressure and criticism for over 100 years. But the US president taking credit for making it accountable for fake news was a headspinning development for former BBC TV journalist Lewis Goodall.

“A foreign head of government is saying he got them sacked or forced their resignation. And it is not just Donald Trump claiming credit for this. It is this curious, potentially quite sinister alliance between the President, Boris Johnson and the Daily Telegraph,” he said in his News Agents podcast.

But how did one editing error topple the BBC’s top boss and its news chief – a full year after it actually aired without any controversy at the time?

Bad edit, bad news

The fateful mistake was in an episode of Panorama, the BBC’s flagship news programme since 1953.

Trump – A Second Chance? sought to explain his appeal with supporters in the upcoming election. (Scepticism about the news media, incidentally, was one of the things those in the programme cited).

The Guardian gave it four stars out of five a year ago.

“It has ploughed its furrow well – taking time and care to unpick how we got here and why,” said the reviewer, who evidently didn’t notice the lack of care taken unpicking bits of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021.

Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

In the Panorama episode he was shown saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol . . . and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

Two chunks of the speech edited together were actually more than 50 minutes apart.

The edit was certainly deceptive – as was footage of Proud Boys marching in Washington before Trump spoke, though the programme indicated otherwise.

But the mistakes could have been easily fixed with superimposed timecodes, screen wipes or flashes to indicate time had passed.

A consultant on standards within the BBC – former TV journalist David Grossman – did notice and put it in a review of election coverage.

A former UK Sunday Times journalist later included it in a report to the BBC’s board members earlier this year, along with what he deemed other “serious and systemic” editorial failures the BBC had not confronted.

Last week, that was leaked to the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, a persistent critic of the BBC down the years, which called it ‘The devastating memo that plunged the BBC into crisis.’

“These concerns… were dismissed, ignored. But if members of its own editorial standards committee have no faith in the broadcaster, you have to ask, should we?” the Telegraph’s associate editor Gordon Rayner asked in an online video outlining the editing error.

Drama becomes a crisis

Bad news about the BBC has kept coming in the Daily Telegraph.

‘A third of the public believes BBC has left-wing bias,’ the paper said last Tuesday, reporting a snap poll after its BBC scoop last week.

But while 31 percent thought so, the [https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53363-is-the-bbc-biased-what-the-public-think-following-the-davie-and-turness-resignations poll found some proportion didn’t know and 38 per cent didn’t think that was true.

When GB News hosts accused the BBC of ‘rewriting history’ with the Donald Trump edit, Roger Bolton – a former host of the TV show Right to Reply – told them it really wasn’t a material error.

“The overall programme was fair – but that editing was not fair and should not have been done. And it’s wrong of the BBC not to come out and explain the circumstances,” Bolton said in what GB News breathlessly billed as a Heated clash over Donald Trump’s targeting of BBC over impartiality SCANDAL‘

“But to use one small example to suggest that the whole organisation is biased is also wrong,” Bolton added.

Adam Boulton – a former political editor at Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky News UK – also reckoned there was a campaign against the BBC.

“What we’re seeing is media organisations such as the Telegraph – which frankly are vastly inferior to the BBC when it comes to partisanship and balance – managing to set an agenda and to stir up a political response,” he told the BBC News Channel.

Here, Newstalk ZB’s go-to guy for UK news Enda Brady – also a former Sky News reporter – said it was “a very big deal.”

“This was not something that was just done by accident,” he said.

Zb’s Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan was also convinced.

“If you thought that the media was unfair on Trump, now you’ve been proven right. If you thought that the media was soft on Hamas, now you’ve been proven right. If you thought that there was all this stuff going on where the media had fixed views on trans issues, now you’ve been proven right,” she told ZB listeners.

“That whistleblower’s dossier that was leaked last week… for the most part will explain all of it to you,” she said.

But she didn’t explain why one advisor’s personal report was gospel on the BBC’s news.

Former Downing Street communications chief Alastair Campbell – a central figure in a political row that brought down BBC leaders in 2004 – didn’t think the Prescott report made the case of bias against Trump.

“It said that the ‘eating the dogs, eating the cats’ – thing was given disproportionate coverage. He’s the most talked about person on the planet and he said that! (The report) said the BBC gave disproportionate coverage to a single poll and should have done an equally aggressive (Panorama) documentary about Kamala Harris. It’s just nuts,” he said on the podcast The Rest is Politics.

Former BBC news presenter Emily Maitlis also pointed out rival media had their own reasons for bagging the BBC over mistakes.

“(The BBC) is the most-read, the most-enjoyed website in the world. It operates 24 hours a day from Australia and America and Asia – all over the place. That’s what the Mail, The Times and the Telegraph would like to have,” she said on her current podcast The News Agents.

“The way it has been reshaped is that you’re being cheated by the BBC… and the BBC is lying to you. If the papers carry on telling the British public they can’t trust the BBC, then people start believing it.”

But the BBC’s critics condemned the mistake as more than that.

After the resignation news broke on Monday morning, the first person on the line on the BBC’s own news channel was Kelvin McKenzie, formerly Rupert Murdoch’s top tabloid editor and then the boss of a rival radio company.

“When you start doing that to the President of the United States, what are you doing to somebody cleaning a window in Preston?” McKenzie asked.

“I don’t criticise the BBC over straightforward political coverage. But I do blame them when looking at some of the social issues facing our country – and then getting on the wrong side of almost every argument,” another of the BBC’s loudest critics and former rivals, David Elstein, said on the same channel soon after.

The notion that news coverage should be based on public opinion was rebutted by former Conservative party politician and chair of the BBC Trust Lord Chris Patten.

“I don’t think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it,” he told BBC radio.

Later David Elstein told BBC radio host Stephen Nolan the BBC had run scared on transgender identity. Nolan himself made a 10-part series on the topic for the BBC last year, which included critics of the influence of the Stonewall organisation within the BBC.

Trans rights and Gaza coverage were also in the report on editorial failings by the BBC advisor Michael Prescott which kicked off this crisis once it leaked to the media.

But last Monday departing BBC news chief executive Deborah Turness said forcefully: “BBC News is not institutionally biased. That’s why it’s the world’s most trusted news provider.”

Enemies within?

Some critics have claimed the impartiality problem is not in BBC journalism, but the oversight of it – and the Corporation’s governance.

The 13-strong BBC board includes several business leaders and lawyers, but only three members with any substantial record in journalism.

The key committee looking after editorial standards includes Sir Robbie Gibb, a former journalist who served as PR man for Conservative Party PM Theresa May before Boris Johnson appointed him to the BBC board.

“He does not pretend to be impartial on issues related to British politics or Israel so the BBC is stuck with him as a supposedly objective arbiter on such matters,” former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger wrote.

Michael Prescott – the author of the now notorious dossier – was a PR executive for a company with links to the Conservative Party for nine years before he was appointed as an advisor to the BBC’s editorial standards committee.

This week Emily Maitlis claimed six former BBC colleagues had told her they believed a kind of internal coup to influence BBC news had taken place.

What happens next?

The man in charge of the news division now is Jonathan Munro, criticised in Michael Prescott’s report for not responding adequately to concern about the Trump documentary edit and BBC’s Gaza/Israel coverage.

When the Israel/Gaza war was just weeks old, the ruling Conservative Party was already criticising the BBC’s coverage. Home secretary Suella Braverman and former prime minister Liz Truss both urged Britons to switch to GB News.

“The criticism of the BBC from politicians is as old as the BBC itself. Just because they’re habitual critics doesn’t mean they’re wrong, but we’ve got a well developed set of editorial guidelines which have stood the test of time over many, many difficult stories,” Munro told Mediawatch at the time.

Munro told Mediawatch he had faith in the BBC’s existing standards withstanding political pressure. He’ll need that faith now.

Roger Bolton is no BBC apologist. For 23 years he hosted the radio show Feedback, based on listeners’ complaints about the BBC. He also presented a similar TV show – Right to Reply – on Channel Four.

After the BBC dropped him in 2023, he launched the independent podcast Beebwatch, for “people who care about, or are frustrated by, the BBC.”

In the middle of heavy traffic

“What this demonstrates is a breakdown in the governance of the BBC – not disastrously so, but very bad for its reputation. And it’s encouraged by President Trump trying to rewrite history and pursue the BBC for a ludicrous amount of money,” Roger Bolton told Mediawatch.

“There was a week before the BBC said anything. As it happened, most of the concerns that had been raised in that dossier had been addressed and action taken. But you wouldn’t know that because the BBC didn’t say anything.

“The reason it didn’t say anything was that it was split at the top. I think there’s some substance to the allegation a number of right-wing members of that editorial standards committee have real doubts about BBC’s impartiality and welcome this opportunity to create trouble.

“The chair of the BBC, who should stand above all this and should act in the public interest, was part of that committee which decided to ignore the problem – and then remain silent about it.

“We know Trump sues people – or says he’s going to sue them – and he quotes ridiculous amounts of money. In the US, large media companies – for whom news is only a small part – are happy to settle even though they could win their case because they’ve got big deals that will require Trump’s or the Senate’s approval.

“He may decide to take it out on the BBC and refuse them access to his press conferences. He could go further and take measures to stop the BBC operating in the US.

“But he’ll only be there for another three years. The BBC has got to safeguard its reputation. If it gives in to him, what would the rest of the world think?

“Tim Davie’s major problem was that he had no real experience of journalism. He didn’t appoint a deputy who was a hardened old hack who knew what went on in cutting rooms and sniffed the danger.

“These problems indicate that the BBC which has slimmed down a lot and had to cut back. Standards are not as high as they were or aren’t being enforced as well.

“I made mistakes. You acknowledge them and you tell the public and you explain it. You don’t go too defensive. But in this country, people are so polarised they see a balanced sort of programme as one prejudiced against them.”

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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 Governor-General has travelled to Antarctica’s Scott Base to see the work happening on the ice.

During the visit, Dame Cindy Kiro and husband Dr Richard Davies also visited Scott’s Hut and Shackleton’s Hut, and saw the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s preservation work.

Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Jordy Hendrikx said it was an honour to host the pair, who arrived on Friday.

“The main purpose of the visit is for them to come and see what we do here in Antarctica, and understand the variety of tasks that we have from science to environmental protection, to heritage, and also the operations of the base, and how we maintain the operations and run all those services from a small footprint here in Antarctica,” he said.

Dame Cindy was the first Governor-General to visit Antarctica since 2003.

One of the most notable projects was the redevelopment of Scott Base.

“A number of these facilities are getting to end of life, and we’re in the process of building a new and fit-for-purpose facility for the next generation of scientists, and to ensure our continued presence here in Antarctica on behalf of New Zealand,” Hendrikx said.

The redevelopment plan was revised last year, after the budget blew out to $498 million from $250m.

Hendrikx said the team was working on a detailed business case to be taken to Cabinet in mid-2026. It proposed a three-stage redevelopment of Scott Base over the next 20-50 years, starting with the oldest and most dilapidated facilities.

“This year, in terms of physical work, we have a number of enabling works underway,” he said. “We have some civil works underway, so that’s preparing the platform for next year, placing of the piles and then moving forward into the main construction in subsequent years.”

Several science projects were also happening on the base.

“This is our peak science period, where the majority of our scientists are coming through the base, and heading out into the field to collect samples, set out instruments or pick up instruments, and download years or months of data collection in Antarctica,” Hendrikx said.

“We have a team looking at the health of the Ross Sea ecosystem. They’re doing that by understanding the behaviour and patterns of foraging of both the emperor penguins and weddell seals.

“The idea here is, if we can better understand the behaviours of these large mesopredators, we get a proxy for the overall health and vitality of the Ross Sea ecosystem, and how that might be responding to climate change.”

Other projects included looking at how sea ice was changing in response to climate change, he said.

“It’s a very busy base, and a real buzzing atmosphere of excitement, enthusiasm and new discovery happening at the moment.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Tariffs have been removed from more than $2 billion worth of New Zealand’s exports to the United States, Trade Minister Todd McClay says.

US president Donald Trump on Friday (US time) signed an executive order cancelling tariffs on a wide range of food imports, including New Zealand beef and kiwifruit.

The new exemptions marked a sharp reversal, as Trump had long insisted his import duties were not fueling inflation for Americans.

But McClay said climbing prices and declining supply may have prompted the president to change tack.

“If you’re not getting as much beef coming in because of the tariff rate, there are shortages and prices will go up.”

The US buys New Zealand beef because it is high quality and the country does not produce enough of its own, said McClay.

The minister expected beef exports would return to the volume from before the tariffs were introduced.

He said about a quarter of New Zealand’s trade to the US had tariffs removed, but he wanted more products stripped of the taxes.

“I and the prime minister have consistently made the case that we don’t think it’s justified, that our trade is complementary and well-balanced.

“But in the case of the change, particularly for kiwifruit worth about $250 million a year and meat or beef exports about $2b a year for New Zealand, this is welcome news and we would hope there could be more over time.”

Meat Industry Association chief executive Nathan Guy said it was surprising but exciting news for farmers and processors.

“We’ve always thought these tariffs could indeed be inflationary for US consumers,” he said.

“This is a very important market for us, indeed it is our number one, despite the 15 percent tariffs, because the demand has been so strong in the US.”

Guy said it seemed beef would revert back to a 1 percent tariff which was “business as usual” – but lamb was still subject to 15 percent.

“We’ll keep raising that issue, we’ll work with the New Zealand Government and indeed ministers and officials and even the prime minister.”

He was pleased to see prime minister Christopher Luxon recently met with Donald Trump, and believed New Zealand’s relationship with the US was “in good heart”.

“This is a positive step forward.”

The change would restore a level playing field with key competitors like Australia, which had avoided the extra tariffs, Guy said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Search crews are resuming the search for a man believed to be missing in the sea in Northland.

The man was one of two people on a boat that was reported overdue on Friday night.

The 17-foot (5-metre) runabout was taken out for fishing off the coast near Whangārei and meant to return at 7pm on Friday. The alarm was raised at 9pm.

On Saturday morning the boat was found drifting with no-one aboard, and shortly after a body of one of the two fishermen was found.

On Sunday morning, the search resumed for the missing man, supported by the Police National Dive Squad, Search and Rescue crews, Auckland Coastguard Air Patrol, Auckland Police Maritime Unit, Customs, Surf Rescue and Northland Land Search and Rescue.

Police said they would like to thank members of the community who are also assisting with the search.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

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