NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman was declined a benefit to help her care for her young son, despite his doctor explaining his life-threatening condition requires intensive, around the clock management.

The Ministry of Social Development will now grant her the Supported Living Payment after being contacted by RNZ, saying it made a mistake and did not fully consider the expert advice.

It follows the story of a Porirua family who battled through months of back and forth with Work and Income – and made a call to the media – to get an unwell man the benefit he was entitled to.

The woman, who RNZ’s agreed not to name, applied for the Supported Living Payment – Carer benefit in February.

Her four-year-old son has celiac disease and type 1 diabetes, requiring multiple daily insulin injections for survival. He’s also hypo unaware, meaning he doesn’t show symptoms when his blood sugar drops, which can be fatal.

“It is essential that all individuals involved in [the boy’s] care are appropriately trained and confident in the management of his diabetes,” a Starship doctor wrote in a letter accompanying the woman’s benefit application.

It included nine bullet points detailing the constant, intensive care and monitoring the boy needed, and life-threatening consequences if that care was not delivered.

Despite that, the woman was declined the Supported Living Payment – though she only found out when she called Work and Income about another matter.

“It was more of sort of a side question of, ‘by the way, what’s happening?'” she said.

“And somebody told me that it had been declined because its level of care wasn’t considered to be high enough.”

She never received a written decision or explanation and decided not to argue the case.

“I just sort of figured they’ve decided it’s diabetes, they don’t cover diabetes and that’s the end of it.”

However she contacted RNZ after reading a similar story and RNZ’s inquiries have revealed MSD was mistaken.

She was frustrated by that.

“I don’t think that it was reviewed properly because the information that I gave them and the certificate from the doctor… said that, ‘no this was something that would require a lot of additional care’.

“He is in hospital quite regularly and that sort of thing that seems to meet their criteria,” she said.

“I don’t know who is reviewing these things, what qualifications they have and what understanding they have of the conditions that they’re considering.”

In a statement, Ministry of Social Development’s client service delivery group general manager Graham Allpress said the woman should have been granted the benefit.

He said she was originally declined because it was considered the level of care her son required didn’t meet the “institutional-level care” threshold.

“We apologise to [the woman] and her son and will work with them to correct this decision,” he said.

“On review, the information from the doctor and paediatric expert outline the significant level of care her son needs, and that this requires her to be present and available for him throughout the day.”

That was not fully taken into account initially, he said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fed-up tour operators are sounding the alarm on Cook Strait ferry services, claiming tens of thousands can be lost from a single disrupted sailing and that perceived unreliability means tourists are skipping the Wellington region and the Top of the South.

At the world’s leading travel trade show – where exhibitors from more than 180 countries spruiked everything from luxury tour packages to adventure travel to medical and health tourism – the Middle East crisis was a hot topic of coversation this year.

But it was not the only one dominating the discourse at ITB Berlin.

According to a New Zealand-based tour operator, chatter about Cook Strait ferries was unavoidable last month and disruptions were causing “significant and lasting” damage to the country’s reputation as a world-class travel destination.

The issue, Jens Schlotzhauer said, demanded attention at the “highest political level”.

The Tourism Minister, however, said nothing had been raised with her directly, while the Rail Minister directed RNZ to the ferry operator.

Schlotzhauer’s concerns came in the wake of disruption caused by a technical fault on Bluebridge’s Connemara, which had been out of action since 21 March but resumed sailing on 1 April following a period of detainment and an inspection by water safety regulator Maritime NZ.

The Interislander has also had delays and disruptions in recent months, with stormy weather and technical problems forcing ferries out of service.

Tour operators told RNZ this season’s disruptions were not isolated, with some providing disclaimers about the ferries’ reliability to travellers or choosing to exclude the Cook Strait from their tour itineraries, while others were considering making back-up bookings for sailings next season.

KiwiRail, which runs the Interislander, and StraitNZ Bluebridge said they understood how frustrating disruptions could be and were “genuinely sorry” and “apologise unreservedly” for the inconvenience caused, but that from time to time problems arose in complex marine systems.

Cancellations hitting overseas companies in the pocket – tour operator

Nature Trailz Discover New Zealand specialised in active holidays for the German-speaking market, managing director Jens Schlotzhauer told RNZ.

The hiking, cycling, and kayaking trips were sold through German tour operators and, according to Schlotzhauer, the Cook Strait ferries were gaining a reputation among his European contacts, who aired their grievances at ITB Berlin.

“The Cook Strait ferry situation emerged as a notable talking point … raised by numerous European tourism companies who regularly send their clients to Aotearoa New Zealand.

“Our European contacts – many of whom book their clients through us – have asked us to speak on their behalf regarding this more local issue.”

Schlotzhauer said the ferries’ notoriety at the global trade show behemoth – which had been running for 60 years – was notable.

Last month’s trade show coincided with a particularly difficult time for services between Picton and Wellington, with more than half the days in March down either one Interislander or Bluebridge ferry due to a technical fault. On 12 and 13 March, two out of the four ferries that cross Cook Strait were out of action.

Schlotzhauer said while Nature Trailz was only affected by three cancellations (two due to technical faults) and three delays during the 2025/26 summer season, the downstream consequences of a disrupted sailing could be significant.

In one such example, Schlotzhauer said kayak and boat tours in the top of the South Island had to be scrapped entirely along with pre-booked accommodation when a cancellation saw a group arrive in Picton from Wellington three days behind schedule.

He estimated the cumulative financial hit to be $21,000 – including additional accommodation, revenue loss by the South Island tourism companies, and the 500 Euro refund per guest the German-based tour operator was required to cough up.

He said under European Union Travel Law, EU-based tour companies were liable for cancelled services.

“This is not an isolated event. Ferry cancellations due to technical defects represent a systemic risk with real and recurring financial consequences.”

New Zealand-based Nature Trailz staffer, Rita Baker – who was personally caught up in March’s cancelled sailings – said ensuring tour vans and drivers were rescheduled on the same service as their tour group could require significant effort.

“I’ve been on the phone to Interislander and Bluebridge for the last couple of months for hours on end trying to get our tour groups across.

“How many tour companies are there in the country that are in the same boat? In terms of tourism being New Zealand’s second-largest earner, I think it’s a very bad look.”

In March this year, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston celebrated Stats NZ data which showed toursim spending in 2025 was up $1.5 billion on the year prior and that tourism remained the country’s second highest export. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/tourism-drives-billions-new-zealand-economy

When contacted about the concerns raised by tour operators, Upston’s office told RNZ such issues had not been raised directly with the minister.

‘What the heck are we going to do now?’

One tour group operator – who asked not to be named for fear of hurting relationships with ferry operators – told RNZ disrupted services meant the company had planned tours that avoided Cook Strait altogether.

They said it was not the majority, but some clients who booked tours through them were choosing to fly groups between the islands thereby excluding Wellington and the Top of the South from itineraries.

“One of our clients … learned that the Cook Strait was a risk. They had one tour where people had to fly from Wellington to Christchurch.

“No big discussions but next thing you know Wellington and the ferries are off the itinerary for the next year.”

The operator said there would be a handful of disruptions in a typical six-month tourist season.

“When it happens it’s huge. Some days we get away with it because we haven’t got a tour affected, but we talk to our colleagues and they are affected. It would be six to 10 times a season that there’s a significant panic … first thing in the morning, ‘Right what the heck are we going to do now?'”

They said it was not just cancellations – delays also caused a logisitical nightmare in a tight schedule that had to account for 10-hour breaks for drivers and guides.

Avoiding the Cook Strait was something Real Kiwi Adventures owner and managing director, Peter Rickard-Green was increasingly noticing in the rentals business.

“We offer campervan rentals that are one-way from North to South Island or vice versa. But we’ve noticed that, that has been … incredibly difficult to arrange because of the instability of the ferry crossings.”

The company issued a disclaimer that it could not guarantee ferry prices or availability and Rickard-Green said some tourists were skipping one island completely.

In his opinion, government intervention was required, while the tour operator believed three Interislander ferries was the only solution.

“A strategy of having two ships instead of three is a strategy for failure. With this set up … there is no back up [for maintenance or disruption]. If just one ferry fails during peak periods it could take weeks to clear up the back log.”

‘Complex marine systems’

KiwiRail said it was “genuinely sorry for inconvenience experienced by tour operators and their customers” in early March when Kaiārahi was out of service for half a week due to a technical fault.

“During that disruption, we worked closely with all our customers including tour operators to move them to new sailings,” a spokesperson said.

They said eight additional sailings were added to the schedule and almost all tour groups and accompanying vehicles were “moved within 24 hours of disrupted sailing”.

KiwiRail said it had improved fleet resilience and, excluding weather, reliability had been above its target of 98 percent over the past 12 months thanks to its proactive maintenance regime – however, “intermittent faults can still occur in complex marine systems”.

Interislander general manager of operations, Taru Sawhney said the fleet would drop to one ship between 22 June and 26 September to allow for Kaitaki to head to Singapore for dry dock maintenance, following three weeks of local wet dock maintenance on Kaiārahi.

Sawhney said the maintenance had been timed with a period of low demand and that Interislander was working with customers to plan ahead for it.

He said the work was essential to keep the ships going during the transition to the new fleet in 2029.

StraitNZ Bluebridge spokesperson Will Dady said the company had been working “one-to-one” with groups to reschedule them as quickly as possible during Connemara’s technical fault.

“We are extremely aware how disruptive this is for our customers, many of whom are long term and very loyal, and we apologise unreservedly to all of them.”

He said from time-to-time things went wrong with “large and complex ships sailing multiple times a day between the Islands”.

Back-up bookings floated

Schlotzhauer said Nature Trailz was keen to speak with both ferry operators about practical solutions to cancellations and was considering booking a back-up sailing for each tour group next season.

“One possibility we would like to discuss is a dual-booking arrangement, whereby we secure two departure dates for each planned crossing, with the flexibility to cancel one at short notice without penalty.

“However, we firmly believe that the broader issue demands attention at the highest political level.”

He said the tourism industry depended on a reliable Cook Strait ferry service for both domestic tour operators and international companies “bound by the consumer protection laws of their home countries”.

“For the vast majority of visitors, a trip to New Zealand is not simply a holiday – it is a life experience.

“Guests save for it, dream about it, and return home eager to share it with family and friends. When things go wrong, particularly due to infrastructure failures that are beyond anyone’s control, that experience is diminished – and word travels.”

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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 coroner has found that the death of a man who was struck and killed by a falling boulder on Taranaki Maunga was accidental, but is reminding mountain climbers to take care to mitigate risks.

Christoph Heinrich Huelsmann died on 23 April 2023 aged 57.

The coroner has found his death to be was accidental resulting from blunt head injuries caused by impact from a falling boulder.

In his report Coroner Ian Telford said Huelsmann and his partner Esther Feldmann, who were experienced hikers, had hiked to the summit of Mount Taranaki earlier that day and were descending the mountain when the accident occurred.

“Around the same time as Mr Huelsmann and Ms Feldmann reached the scoria section of the summit track, a climber above them was making their descent from the rocky ridge, known as the ‘Lizard’. The climber was moving between rocks when they stepped on a large rock, approximately one metre in diameter, and it moved,” the report said

The report said when the climber stepped off the rock and it dislodged and began to roll down the mountain towards the trampers below.

“Ms Feldmann heard screaming and looked upwards. She saw other hikers above the rocks and several large rocks tumbling down the mountain at speed. One of the rocks was falling in the direction of Mr Huelsmann,”

“He started to run to avoid them but was struck in the back by one of the rocks causing him to fall down the mountain for about 20 metres.”

The Department of Conservation (DOC), the agency responsible for the national park and maintenance of the summit route, launched an investigation into the death in the form of a Learning Team process in 2023.

“The report noted that Taranaki Maunga is a very volatile environment with high rates of erosion. There have been many instances of rockfall and landslides on the mountain. The scoria slopes of the mountain were unstable in late April 2023.

“There had been a great deal of heavy rain in the prior few months and an early snowfall, all of which further destabilised the ground. It also rained heavily on the previous day, 22 April 2023.”

The report stated that the Mount Taranaki Summit Route was an advanced tramping track until Tahurangi Lodge and then an expert route from there to the summit, however the Learning Team Process group believed that the incident would have been difficult to prevent – a view shared by the Police Search and Rescue liaison officer.

However it was noted that there was little visitor information provided on rockfall risk at that time, and it was possible that signage or other visitor information on rockfalls could have heightened Mr Huelsmann’s awareness of the hazard.

DOC has since implemented a number of actions to provide information about the hazards on the summit route, both prior to visiting and on-site.

They include installing warning signs about rockfall at key danger points, updating the visitor website and brochure with rockfall danger points, and on the website also showing images that provide realistic depictions of the terrain and experience rather than marketing images.

“I do not consider that specific coronial recommendations are indicated, particularly as, in my view, this accident was not readily preventable,” Telford concluded the report.

But he said he remained mindful that deaths occur with some regularity in mountain environments.

“I therefore consider it important to highlight to all those using our mountains for recreational purposes, regardless of experience, of the importance of being familiar with the risks specific to their environment before setting off.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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Anaesthetic, horse tranquilizer, illicit party drug; and now one of the most promising medicines for those with treatment-resistant depression, according to some New Zealand psychiatrists.

First synthesised in 1962, ketamine is by no means a new drug, but research across the last three decades has revealed its potential to help some people with stubborn mental health disorders.

Now a team are hoping that their New Zealand-developed tablet will meet regulatory approval in the US, to help this treatment become more widely available.

The kick-starter Yale study

Ketamine was first approved for use as an anaesthetic in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that Yale psychiatrist Dr John Krystal led a study investigating its effects on people with major depression.

The work was published in 2000 and showed that even single doses of ketamine could result in rapid improvements for some of these patients.

“It was an absolute revelation” says Professor Paul Glue of the University of Otago. “It’s having an effect on the glutamate system in your brain. That is the most common type of neurotransmitter in the brain. But up till that point nobody had even thought about there being something abnormal with glutamate transmission in the brain.”

Because it was so new and unexpected, psychiatrists and researchers in the field were sceptical, but then five years later another, larger study showed the same effects. “So it wasn’t a fluke,” says Paul.

Having researched antidepressants in the UK and worked on them in the pharamceutical industry, Paul returned to New Zealand in 2008 and began investigating ketamine himself.

One of the first projects he ran in Dunedin involved injecting ketamine in patients with terminal cancer who were also depressed. Some of the results astounded him, “the first patient that we admitted had been depressed on and off for probably 15 years… and within an hour of dosing she was well. And if we continued dosing every week, she stayed well.”

Further studies across Dunedin and Christchurch followed, revealing a potential for ketamine to help patients with treatment-resistent OCD, PTSD and anxiety.

But while 60-70 percent of patients seemed to be responding positively to the ketamine in terms of their symptoms, there was a major downside to the ketamine injections – the considerable side effects.

The game-changer metabolites study

“People are very spaced out for a half hour after the injection” says Paul.

“They have to sit in a big lazy boy… often they’re very sleepy as well. And having those sort of side effects means it has to be given in a clinic where you’ve got medical and nursing supervision.”

This means treatment that is potentially offputting and unpleasant for patients, and time-consuming and expensive for health professionals to administer.

But some research in mice was about to show up that would change the game.

A 2016 University of Maryland study demonstrated that it wasn’t ketamine that was doing the heavy lifting when it came to improving depressive symptoms, but its metabolites – the products released when ketamine is broken down in the liver.

Researchers, such as Paul, switched to trialling oral doses of ketamine instead of injections. They found that although the response was slower, the oral dosing did work for a similar number of patients.

This prompted Paul to begin discussions with New Zealand healthcare company Douglas Pharmaceuticals about developing a ketamine tablet.

And the early results were positive, says Paul “really from the first time we dosed it in healthy volunteers and then in a small group of patients, it performed brilliantly.”

The regulatory hurdles

Named R-107, the idea is that this slow-release tablet could be taken by patients at home, once or twice a week, to keep patient’s ketamine metabolites levels high for as long as possible.

To give it the best chance to get to market a San Francisco-based company, Tasman Therapeutics, was spun out. It’s tasked with raising funds for and running the next batch of clinical trials, to gather the evidence needed to get Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. The FDA approves drugs for use in the United States, explains Paul, and in terms of economic return that’s the best market to be in.

But they want to be assured of the efficacy and safety of the tablets first. Ketamine is also illicitly used in many countries as a party drug, including here in New Zealand.

Repeated high doses can lead to bladder damage, and addiction.

With their study design now approved by the FDA, Paul is hopeful they can find the investment to get the trials underway. If they go well and the drug proven safe and effective, Paul estimates it could be approved in the US in about two and a half years, with New Zealand approval likely following a few months after.

Treatment-resistant depression is defined as depression that has not responded to two or more treatments.

Over one in four of us will experience moderate to high anxiety or depression in our lives. About a third of people with depression, and about half of people with anxiety, will not respond to treatment, says Paul. It adds up to an estimated 300,000 New Zealanders, 60-70 percent of which would likely respond to ketamine treatment.

This, Paul says, is what motivates him.

“These people often, when they’ve failed a couple of treatments or a course of psychotherapy, will get discharged back to the GP and will sit at home… not be able to function.”

“And the options for them are pretty grim. So being able to help this group of patients would be massive.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A senior police staffer’s internet usage is “under assessment” relating to potential misuse following an audit of senior staff and leaders in wake of the Jevon McSkimming scandal.

There have been 19 police staff investigated in total to date following audits of internet use, four of whom have resigned.

RNZ earlier revealed that the police’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) had agreed to look at internet usage for staff in senior leadership positions over a 12-month period.

The audit followed a rapid review of staff internet usage sparked by McSkimming’s resignation as Deputy Commissioner after child sexual exploitation and bestiality material were found on his work devices.

RNZ has obtained a series of emails in relation to the audit of senior leaders under the OIA.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

This includes an email from Chambers to senior leaders on 1 December last year.

In the email, Chambers said the ELT had agreed to additional internet usage checks over all existing staff in senior leadership positions.

“This will include myself as Commissioner, Assistant Commissioners, Executive Directors, District Commanders, Directors, and the leadership of the Firearms Safety Authority and Next Generational Critical Comms (NGCC).

“These audits will check staff internet usage and search histories on police devices for the past 12 months.”

Those who were in contention to be Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners had already undergone an “extensive audit” as part of the selection process, Chambers said.

In response to questions from RNZ, police’s Chief of Staff Cassandra Anderson said on Monday that the audit of senior staff and leaders had now concluded.

“There were no concerns about the usage of the Executive Leadership Team, the Senior Leadership Team, and District Commanders.”

However, two “matters of potential concern” were identified among the “wider cohort of senior staff who were included in the audit”.

“One matter relating to potential misuse is under assessment.

“The other was a minor issue which was investigated and has been resolved.”

No other usage of concern was identified across senior staff, Anderson said.

“Ongoing regular checks of all staff device use, including leaders, will continue and have been implemented as part of NZ Police’s routine practice.”

Checks on staff seeking promotion to the ranks of Superintendent or above would also be conducted, in line with the Independent Police Conduct Authority’s recommendation.

“The Commissioner is confident the tighter controls implemented after the Rapid Review and the use of alerting and regular auditing has greatly strengthened our ability to quickly detect instances of inappropriate content and misuse of police devices.”

Anderson said that in total, police had investigated 19 cases following audits of internet use.

“To date, 11 have been resolved through disciplinary action or performance management. Four staff have resigned through the process.

Three staff remain under investigation for potentially objectionable and inappropriate searches. Three staff have been stood down.”

No charges have been filed to date, Anderson said.

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