Source: New Zealand Police
Northland Police thank the community for their assistance in our appeal for a sightings of a vessel.
The appeal was released on Monday afternoon for the ‘JAGMEN’ vessel in the Whangārei area.
We can advise that both the vessel and its occupant have been located by Police, and are no longer sought.
Police thank the community for sharing our appeal.
ENDS.
Jarred Williamson/NZ Police
Source: Radio New Zealand
A truck transports wood in Wellington. RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Angry truckers have banded together with bus, crane and even combine harvester operators to hit out over rules they say make it too hard to get bigger, more efficient vehicles on the road and easily move them round.
They want far-reaching change to the 23-year-old ‘Rule’ around the size, weight and permitting system for heavy vehicles.
They said in a hardhitting letter to the Transport Agency (NZTA) that the old Rule was blocking safer, more efficient vehicles from easily being imported, envisaging a near future when the maximum 58 tonne diesel trucks were scaled up to 62 tonne electric (which allowed for the battery).
“The level of anger from our members and the risk of more pronounced public responses during an election year should not be underestimated if tangible progress is not made,” said a letter from 11 heavy vehicle associations to the Transport Agency’s chair late last month.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop promised last June the government would be “taking the handbrake off productivity through transport rule reform” – and on Monday said he heard operators “loud and clear when they tell us there are more changes they’d like to see”.
The operators had earlier talked of feeling fobbed off, though the Transport Agency late last week offered them another meeting, for Tuesday this week.
“While responsibility is often framed as sitting with the Ministry, NZTA has long led sector engagement and provided all technical advice to the Ministry and ministers. Recent ministerial correspondence shows the full extent of the lack of progress is not well understood,” their letter said.
“We seem to get pushed from pillar to post,” said signatory Dom Kalasih, head of Transporting NZ that represented 1100 firms, mostly truckers.
Dom Kalasih, head of Transporting NZ. RNZ / Phil Pennington
Crane operators, who also signed, said the old rules were holding everyone up.
“Getting a crane out for a job, the … permit and exemption process, goodness, for a large crane operation, we’re talking hours, hours a day ,” said Sarah Toase of the Crane Association.
Their next stop would be to seek a meeting with the minister, the associations told RNZ.
Bishop said the rules would be modernised.
“Important research and policy work is underway to carefully consider those ideas,” he said in a statement. “This is a complicated area and not everything can be done all at the same time.”
The question of how fast remained open though the first changes under reform were due this coming July.
The Transport Ministry pushed back on the industry group criticism.
“Many of the changes sought by industry – particularly those enabling significantly larger or heavier vehicles – raise complex safety, infrastructure and cost considerations,” it told RNZ.
Research had to be done on the impacts on roads and what additional infrastructure investment may be required, it added.
However, the industry said “frustration … is now acute”.
The agency was unnecessarily outsourcing analysis to consultants, even though the reform’s ambition had been scaled back.
It talked of batteries and extra safety tech being blocked by the old rules.
“In some cases, safety features are being compromised to manage weight.”
Bishop had got their hopes up last year.
“Instead, the work programme was underwhelming in scope and subsequently reduced, leaving industry with no confidence that meaningful change is being prioritised.”
Transport Minister Chris Bishop. RNZ/Marika Khabazi
The reform is of what is called ‘the Rule’, the main VDAM or Vehicle Dimensions and Mass rule.
One core change being proposed was to remove the permits on trucks between 44 and 50 tonnes.
These big trucks would still have to fit the weight and design limits of what is called the ’50MAX’ class – and would still have to stick to certain roads and bridges – but they would not have to get an actual permit, as they have done since 2013 when the High Productivity Motor Vehicle (HPMV) regime was introduced. HPMV’s advent was the biggest change in the Rule.
Electronic monitoring of trucks was now widespread and would help keep them to approved routes that were strong enough, a source said.
Another proposal in the reforms would make it cheaper to comply for the likes of electric buses now tipping the scales at over a seven tonne threshold because of their batteries.
Toase told RNZ it was not enough.
Sarah Toase of the Crane Association. Supplied / Crane Association
Cranes were “always being dealt with in retrospect” and were routinely having to seek exemptions from narrow rules designed for regular trucks just to operate, she said.
They had tried to build change, for instance, through a trial that succeeded in cutting by a fifth how far overweight mobile cranes had to travel, reducing congestion and emissions.
“We’ve sent all the information through to NZTA and it’s just sitting there.”
Another example she gave was that many mobile cranes were now often failing brake tests under an electronic inspection regime.
“It doesn’t produce accurate results for cranes because they are engineered differently. So cranes are failing those tests, which means they are then deemed not roadworthy.
“They’ve failed compliance and they can’t be used.”
Operators then had to revert to manual testing in order to pass, which all took time.
Federated Farmers and Rural Contractors NZ also signed the letter.
Combine harvesters, for instance, faced very restrictive limits on what bridges they could cross which should be managed in a much less complex way, said another source.
“We’re not just talking about road freight, we’re talking about harvesting of food.”
Combine harvesters work on crops in Southland. Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
At the trucking coalface, the old Rule meant heavily specced new vehicles could not be easily imported as-is but needed bespoke modifications, in a market that was already isolated due to being minority righthand drive, the letter said.
The industry ideal for keeping up internationally, allowing for the state of NZ’s roads, was to lift the 58-tonne HPMV limit to 62 tonnes, Kalasih said.
At 62 tonnes they would not be much bigger to overtake, and the distribution of weight between the axles would spread the impact on the road, he said.
The AA did not want to comment on that from a car driver’s point of view.
Consultation has opened on phase two of the reform following on from phase one that began last October.
But the meetings with officials earlier this year were a final straw for the industry associations.
“The scope of that work is frankly incredibly underwhelming and lacks ambition,” said Kalasih.
“It seems to us totally at odds with what Minister Bishop has asked for.”
They felt the time was up on more reviews, research and meetings, and they were tired of being passed from NZTA to the MOT and back, he said.
But MOT said the latest research was a “necessary step to ensure that any larger changes are safe, durable, and deliver real benefits to industry and the wider transport system”.
Other changes are going on into bridge designs, which determine what weight of trucks can pass, although NZTA has played down how that work would alter old or new bridges.
NZTA said it understood the impact of the Rule’s settings on the industry.
“This is why we are engaging with industry representatives to understand the specific challenges they are facing, and the opportunities which they see for improvement,” it said in a statement.
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi chair Simon Bridges, in a letter responding to the associations, acknowledged their concerns, telling them the minister made the rules and offering another meeting on Tuesday this week.
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Source: New Zealand Police
Raglan Police have arrested one person and impounded their car after reports of illegal street racing around the area over the weekend.
The arrested person was one of multiple drivers seen driving dangerously on Nau Mai Road.
The 19-year-old man was taken into custody around 1.30am on Sunday. He is due in Hamilton District Court on 27 March, charged with operating a motor vehicle causing sustained loss of traction, and excess breath alcohol.
Senior Constable Brendon Richardson, Waikato Road Policing Team, says Police continue to run a dedicated operation focused on responding to and investigating illegal street racing activity that endangers road users, damages roads and causes disturbance to the public.
“We are taking a district-wide approach to this and will take action against those that are putting others at risk.
“Police are also working with our partner agencies and local councils around other measures that can assist us in preventing this behaviour.
“I also want acknowledge Constable Hetal Patel who assisted with this arrest and contributed greatly to the outcome,” Senior Constable Richardson says.
Police are asking anyone that sees illegal or dangerous driving to make reports so officers can follow up and hold offenders to account.
Photos and video footage is helpful for Police to follow up on offenders that quickly speed off when driving unlawfully. These can also be used to identify the vehicles, hotspots and times dangerous driving occurs and helps to identify the drivers.
If you see any dangerous driving, call 111 immediately.
ENDS
Issued by Police Media Centre
Source: Radio New Zealand
Iwi members and local stakeholders at the unveiling of the new sign restoring the name Te Heriheri to the Waihī estuary. Supplied/Te Wahapū o Waihī
An estuary near Maketu in Bay of Plenty has had its original name Te Heriheri restored as part of an iwi-led project to restore the health of the entire wetland ecosystem.
Te Wahapū o Waihī – the collective of Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Pikiao and Tapuika – was established by the iwi and hapū of Waihī Estuary to restore and protect the health and mauri of the wai.
The collective works with a range of organisations, including Bay of Plenty Regional Council, the Ministry for the Environment, local landowners, the Waihī Drainage Society and community members.
Project lead Professor Kura Paul-Burke (Ngāti Whakahemo, Ngāti Mākino, Ngāti Awa) told RNZ one of the factors that contributed to the poor condition of the estuary was the four freshwater contributors, which once were rivers, were now straightened canals carrying polluted sediment loads straight from the land and human activities into the estuary.
“We purchased 30 hectares of dairy farm to convert to wetland and salt marsh. And the reason we did that was we wanted to build a korowai of wetlands around our estuary, because our estuary, Te Wahapū o Waihī, is one of the top five most degraded estuaries in the country. It does not meet safe swimming guidelines. It has permanent public health warning signs for our kaimoana, our shellfish.
“High nitrogen, phosphorus loads enter the estuary with E. coli levels consistently exceeding safe food consumption levels. So it’s in a very, very poor condition.”
Converting 30 hectares of dairy farm into wetland involved 160,000 native plants and fencing off 16 kilometers of waterways for riparian planting, she said.
It also involved working with local farmers to establish environmental plans in the upper catchment, she said.
Paul-Burke said all work to do with the environment was ongoing, but this part of the project ended in June of this year, and the hope was to then start building more wetlands around the estuary.
“The power of this project has been the five iwi coming together, working together alongside the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Ministry for the Environment. But this project is led by iwi.”
The commissioning of a new pump station at the Waihī estuary. Supplied/Te Wahapū o Waihī
Last Friday iwi members and stakeholders gathered at the wetland to commission a new pump station and unveil a new sign which restored the area’s original name, Te Heriheri.
“We had farmers, the ratepayers association, the drainage society. We had Minister Tama Potaka, representatives from all of the five iwi and local communities because it’s better when we all work together and all of us have worked together,” Paul-Burke said.
She said it was a beautiful ceremony and a chance to acknowledge the original name of the area.
Paul-Burke said Te Heriheri was a seasonal settlement where Ngāti Whakahemo would stay in the spring and summer months to harvest resources for the coming winter.
“So for us Ngāti Whakahemo, we were once known as the net makers, and Te Heriheri or this wetland played a major role in our trading economy with our neighbouring other iwi or tribes.”
It was also an ecologically significant area in terms of the range of native species, including plants, birds, tuna and inanga, she said.
Te Wahapū o Waihī the Waihī estuary. Supplied/Te Wahapū o Waihī
While the 30 hectare wetland and salt marsh restoration was ongoing, restoration projects within the estuary had started, including with tuangi or cockles, pipi, and seagrass, Paul-Burke said.
“What we used was for a baseline for those kaimoana species, we use mātauranga Māori and/or the intergenerational transmission of environmental knowledge from our ancestors through to today. And so we interviewed kaumātua, and they have all since passed on, unfortunately.
“But we interviewed them and asked them, when you were young, where did you use to go to collect your pipi and your tuangi? And they talked about when they were children, which meant that someone older took them, their nanny, their koro, their parents, etc., which then traversed different generations of knowledge.”
With that mātauranga as a baseline and they mapped and surveyed the entire estuary. Standard marine surveys had only identified 16 hectares of pipi and tuangi in the estuary, the surveys based on mātauranga identified 30 hectares plus, she said.
“The power and importance of that intergenerational knowledge has identified that there were actually more kaimoana in our estuary than modern science has been able to access by over 50 percent.
“So we are hoping to develop a new way of surveying and monitoring pipi in particular alongside tuangi so that anyone, any whānau, hapū, iwi or communities across the motu, across the country, can do surveys themselves using this Mātauranga Māori approach.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Eli Katoa received the injury during the Tonga and New Zealand Kiwis Pacific Championships match in Auckland. NRL Photos/Photosport
Tongan rugby league player Eliesa Katoa may never play the game again, according to Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy.
Katoa had brain surgery in November as a result of head knocks he received during the Tonga and New Zealand Kiwis Pacific Championships match in Auckland.
The first was a head knock with a team mate during the pre-game warm up, followed by two more high hits during the match.
The 25 year old backrower was ruled out of the 2026 season but now Melbourne Storm coach Bellamy has revealed that Katoa may never return to the NRL.
“He’s doing really well at the moment,” Bellamy told Channel 7.
“I don’t know if he’ll play next year… I don’t know if he’ll play again.
“The doctors haven’t made that decision, and I don’t know when that decision will get made to be quite honest.
Melbourne Storm star Eli Katoa in the hospital following his injury after a test against New Zealand earlier this month. Instagram/Supplied
“I imagine after a certain amount of time he’ll have more tests and go from there. It was a major injury, and we want him to live the rest of his life in a normal way, so fingers crossed.”
As a part of his recovery Katoa has been working with the Melbourne Storm forward pack.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
The Electricity Authority will soon require distributors to pay rebates to reward customers generating electricity, such as rooftop solar. Supplied/SolarZero
Electricity networks around the country will soon provide rebates for power exported during peak periods – but not every power company will pass those on to consumers directly.
From 1 April, the Electricity Authority will require distributors to pay rebates to reward customers generating electricity, such as rooftop solar, when the power network faces highest demand.
Vector was offering 5.24c per kWh for 7am to 11am export in June, July and August and 5pm to 10pm export in May through to September. WEL Networks is offering 6.35c per kWh from 7am to 9.30am and 5.30 to 8pm between 1 June and 31 August. Powerco is offering 7c on weekdays from 7am to 11am and 5pm to 8pm between 1 April and 30 September. Scanpower’s rebate reaches 13c.
Power companies separately offered their own prices to customers exporting power, and these could vary a lot.
The Electricity Authority said ensuring customers were fairly rewarded for supplying power to the network was part of its work programme.
“In January we announced the decision that electricity distribution businesses – lines companies – will need to pay rebates when households and small businesses supply power to the network at peak times, from April 1.
“This applies to those with a network connection size up to 45kVA and that can export up to 45kW of electricity back to the network.
“The electricity distribution companies’ rebates will be passed on to consumers through the electricity bills they receive from their retailer. While these rebates will be repackaged by the retailer, they may not be itemised on consumers’ power bills as a clear amount of money back. Some retailers itemise their bills more than others.”
Larger companies also needed to offer time-of-use pricing to encourage people to shift use to off-peak times.
Genesis chief revenue officer Stephen England-Hall said the company took into account distribution charges and rebates when it set its plans and pricing for customers.
“Customers on our day/night or other time-of-use plans typically benefit from lower network charges during off-peak periods, and these are already reflected in the appropriate tariffs.
“Effective from 1 July 2026, the Electricity Authority’s new regulations regarding export rebates will require retailers to offer time-varying plans that ‘provide a financial benefit’ to customers for export patterns that reduce pressure [on] the electricity system, including at peak times.
“Our range of products and plans will be updated to reflect this and enable customers to choose the one that suits them the best.
“We regularly review and update our pricing and product features, and will take the form and scale of these new rebates into account in this process.”
Mercury said it set buyback rates using a range of inputs including expected wholesale costs, network charges and network rebates. “We will factor these rebates into our time-of-use plans which we are due to launch in the next couple of months.”
Lisa Hannifin, chief customer officer at Meridian, said it offered customers 17c for solar export across all periods of the day.
“We’re pleased there are now more incentives available to encourage customers to export at peak times. We’re currently upgrading our billing system, which will allow for this new rebate to be incorporated into our solar plans and expect this will be reflected in our products from the middle of the year.”
At Octopus, chief operating officer Margaret Cooney said the full rebate should be passed on when it became available.
“The rebate will vary by network depending on what the circumstances are in that network and how much value they’re essentially getting based on the state of the grid and times of the year in which it’s of value to them.
“Some of them are much more generous than others, but we think it’s a great start. And I think one of the things that we hope to see is that networks learn that value of the distributed energy providing a more cost-effective solution rather than just building out more poles and wires.”
She said the rebates were intended to reward customers for what they were doing so it made sense to pass them on.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
The price of 91 is now more than $3.30 a litre on average across the country, and forecast to rise further. RNZ / Dan Cook
Any businesses planning to offer extra support for their staff facing fuel cost rises will need to consider the tax implications.
Fuel prices have risen sharply in the past month as conflict in Iran has put pressure on oil supplies.
The price of 91 is now more than $3.30 a litre on average across the country, and forecast to rise further.
That adds to the cost of commuting – the Public Service Association earlier called for employers to allow staff to work from home to help offset the cost.
Deloitte tax partner Robyn Walker said any form of payment from an employer to an employee would generally be taxable through the PAYE system – even if it was a short-term fix for the petrol problem.
If it was offered in the form of goods or services, that could trigger fringe benefit tax.
But she said there were some exceptions for transport, which employers could consider.
The fringe benefit tax legislation has an exemption for ebikes, bikes, scooters and escooters provided by employers and used for commuting to work.
That means that as long as the employee is intending to use the bike mostly for commuting, it can be provided without needing to pay any fringe benefit tax (FBT).
She said there could also be significant benefits for employees taking a “salary sacrifice” arrangement.
This means their income is reduced by an amount equal to the cost of the bike. Because the cost of the bike was taken out of pre-tax income the final impact on the employee would be lower than if the bike was paid for out of after-tax income.
She said it could help someone afford a bike they might not otherwise be able to purchase. Some providers such as WorkRide and Northride have set up systems to streamline this process.
Another option is Extraordinary, which allows employers to offer public transport benefits either by salary sacrifice or as part of a total remuneration package, without attracting FBT.
This also has the potential to make public transport cheaper for employees.
Walker said employers could also start getting more claims for mileage from employees travelling for work in their own vehicles, where previously they might not have thought the administration was worth it.
“There are some quite detailed rules around how this works and generally ‘home to work’ travel can’t be reimbursed tax-free, but travel from home to a client – in excess of normal travel distances, or from work to a client is able to be paid tax exempt.
“Inland Revenue issues new reimbursement rates each year, which are based on historic costs. These are essentially a ‘safe harbour’, whereby they are comfortable that reimbursement at that level is reasonable; employers are not bound to use those rates, so could opt to pay a higher amount while fuel costs are high. This would need to be supported with some calculations to explain why the amount paid is reasonable.”
At present, the rate for a petrol car is $1.17 per kilometre.
“It is technically possible for an employer to provide tax-free allowances for employee transport costs in some limited circumstances. This exemption is targeted at scenarios where an employee’s commuting costs are more than what would ordinarily be expected – for example, if the employer operates in a remote location or if the location isn’t serviced by public transport and/or the employee is working hours where public transport isn’t available.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
The Regional Connectivity Fund provided $30 million in concessionary loans to allow some regional airlines to consolidate debt, refinance loans and invest in aircraft maintenance or upgrades. RNZ / Quin Tauetau
Explainer – Regional airlines across New Zealand are warning key air links are under growing pressure, as rising fuel and operating costs force tough decisions.
Westport is the latest town at risk of losing its only air connection and industry leaders warn it might not be the last.
Here’s what’s happening.
Originair is poised to scrap its Westport to Wellington route, unless it gets more government support, leaving the town without flights.
Air Chathams has introduced a $20 fuel surcharge per ticket citing “recent events in the Middle East impacting global fuel markets”.
Golden Bay Air chief executive Richard Molloy said his airline had reduced the number of flights between Tākaka and Wellington in May.
The airline was also the first recipient of a loan from the government’s $30 million package supporting struggling regional routes.
Sounds Air cut two routes and sold six aircraft last year with managing director Andrew Crawford warning that might not be the end of cuts.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic he said small airlines had been grappling with “spiralling, absolutely out of control costs”.
“Airways, airports, fuel, parts, finance, everything. Since Covid it’s just been an absolute nightmare trying to keep the costs under control in regional aviation,” Crawford said.
“The pressure on these airlines is extreme. Regional aviation in this country has been decimated and there’s more to come, I would say, if things keeps going like this.”
Barrier Air chief executive Grant Bacon said the conflict in the Middle East had prompted sharp price shocks for regional airlines – sometimes with very little notice.
Barrier Air chief executive Grant Bacon says the conflict in the Middle East has prompted sharp price shocks for regional airlines. RNZ / Kate Newton
“After receiving a 95 cents per litre increase [last week] we have now also received a 12 cent increase… so it just goes on and on. Funny enough, I’ve just received another notification email from BP stating potentially more price rises. I’m too scared to open it,” he said.
“The issue is we sell tickets months in advance and we price in fuel and we consider perhaps that the fuel may increase, it may decrease and it’s a game of averages. But when you’re talking a 60 percent move in one bound it is certainly difficult to cope with.”
Molloy said fuel price rises so far equated to about $15 extra per passenger on an average Wellington to Tākaka Golden Bay Air flight.
Airlines simply could not rely on customers to pay that, he said.
“There’s a subtle equation there with fares and demand. Obviously if you increase your fares then eventually you will start to lose potential bookings,” he said.
Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford. Sounds Air
Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said he expected fuel prices would eventually double.
“This is a big problem what’s going on here – big problem. And I don’t think we’ve quite got the brunt of it yet,” he said.
Bacon said regional airlines, like Barrier Air, not only carried passengers and leisure tours, they also carried “freight, medical supplies, doctors, passengers that are visiting Auckland in order to receive treatment such as ongoing chemotherapy”.
“These links are just vital to communities,” he said.
Ruatoki resident Lisa Rua said she had been flying from Whakatane to Auckland for treatment of a pelvic mesh injury.
She had taken the trip about six times in the past year and could not imagine what she would do without flights.
“Driving is definitely not an option and I haven’t got a family member who is able to do that for me either… It would definitely be very difficult for my recovery if I can’t catch a plane,” she said.
“It is our only in and out of the area unless we catch a bus, which if you’re not well is not really a good option.”
New Zealand Airports Association chief executive Billie Moore said there had been a trend towards larger aircraft in New Zealand, making it harder for regional routes to be commercially viable.
“That’s why you saw some time ago, for instance, Air New Zealand withdrawing their Beechcraft fleet. Some of those routes were then picked up by smaller regional airlines.
“That overall trend – most major airlines moving to larger aircraft – means that the role of these smaller operators around New Zealand becomes more and more critical. They’re the only ones flying the types of planes that are going to work for these kinds of routes,” she said.
“What you need is a system that allows those larger airlines to grow, to support whatever regional networks they can, but also allows smaller operators to continue operating efficient fleets that serve regional New Zealand.
“At the moment that is getting harder and harder.”
The Regional Connectivity Fund provided $30 million in concessionary loans to allow some regional airlines to consolidate debt, refinance loans and invest in aircraft maintenance or upgrades.
Associate Minister of Transport James Meager said the fund, announced last August, was designed to “stabilise the regional sector” and give airlines more headroom.
Moore said it took a lot of work and commitment from senior ministers to get off the ground but it was not a perfect fix for the current pressures.
“While the loan funding will be extremely useful and valued by these airlines, as they look to try and restructure some of their operations, it’s not going to deal with the ongoing operational cost and making some of these routes more commercial,” she said.
“There may well be points where the economics of it all make it too hard for some of these routes to operate.”
Golden Bay Air said it was yet to receive lending it had secured.
“We’re still going through the quite considerable due diligence attached to that being approved. But look, it will be good timing for sure,” Molloy said.
Bacon said the Regional Connectivity Fund appeared to be “incredibly slow moving”.
“I wouldn’t want to rely on continuity of services based on that package at this time… And I wouldn’t want to get into debt to fund loss-making routes,” he said.
Bacon said the most effective support would be relief from government-imposed costs.
“Probably the most valuable thing that the government could do… is that we need to see some relief on levies such as airways charges and also CAA levies,” he said.
It might also be time for the government to consider ongoing subsidies to keep regional routes operating, Bacon said.
“Overseas that’s a very regular occurrence especially in North America, Canada, a lot of routes in Europe. We bought an airplane from France a couple of years ago from an operator and that airplane was 100 percent subsidised – and they were servicing an island probably not too dissimilar to one of our main routes, which is Great Barrier Island,” he said.
Moore said that also made sense to the New Zealand Airports Association.
“Intervention now shouldn’t be seen as a point of failure but we should recognise that we’ve had a lot of decades of success where we haven’t had to intervene with government funding.
“We’re at the point now where we should think carefully about how to make sure the system is resilient for the future,” she said.
“Most countries provide some kind of foundation of support for regional routes. And there’s a reason for that.”
However, Molloy said longer-term support should focus on reducing compliance and airport costs rather than directly subsidising routes.
“For us what the government has done is quite fitting over the longer term. From our perspective the route should be inherently viable and the government – by reducing sort of compliance costs, limiting landing fees – these kind of things are more appropriate measures rather than underwriting certain routes.”
Meager said the government was doing a lot of work to try to reduce cost pressures across the board.
Criticism the Regional Connectivity Fund was slow was probably fair, he said.
Associate Minister of Transport James Meager. RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
“With increasing pressure on prices with the conflict in Iran it’s timely that we’ve got that fund but it’s also timely that we look at what other things we can do to support regional connectivity,” he said.
While that was unlikely to include cuts to Civil Aviation Authority levies or airways charges, Meager said he had tasked the authority with a wider rules reform programme “to make sure that we aren’t putting any unnecessary regulation and costs on the aviation sector”.
“We’re looking at what the range of options are depending on how long this conflict goes.
“So in a similar way that ministers are looking at what are the triggers and scenarios for interventions on the fuel price, similarly for me in the aviation sector what are the triggers for intervention when routes are at risk particularly routes to vulnerable areas?
“We’ll be considering those options in the coming few days or weeks and making some decisions as things change.”
As the part-owner of some airports, the government was continuing to invest in capital upgrades and maintenance “to make sure that they are viable and continue to operate”, Meager said.
“I understand the arguments for more intervention. At the moment, where we are placed is that we prefer to make investments around infrastructure.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Attendance services warn rising fuel prices are likely to drive up truancy. 123rf
Attendance services warn rising fuel prices are likely to drive up truancy.
Two service providers, one in rural Northland the other in Auckland, say transport costs are a big driver of student absences and they expect it to get worse.
Meanwhile, one of the providers, Mangere East Family Service Centre, said long-term truants had often lost the physical fitness they needed to cope with a school day and had to be eased back into classes.
The centre was the new attendance service provider for 22 schools in the area after the government regnegoiated 83 contracts last year.
Chief executive Caroline Tana-Tepania said bidding for the contract was a logical progression because its social workers in schools were already working a lot with truants.
Even so she was surprised by the scale of the problem in the area – so far the centre had been charged with tracking down 400 children who were not enrolled in any school, about 230 of them historical cases from last year.
“I knew that it was an issue, but I certainly wasn’t aware of the extent of the numbers,” she said, adding that schools would be starting to alert the service to their chronic truants.
Anika Channa managed the centre’s nine-person attendance team and had previously worked in attendance for three-and-a-half-years.
She said one of the biggest changes she had noticed in the government’s attendance service overhaul was greater involvement of other social services.
“In my experience, there are a lot of factors as to why children are not going to school. It’s actually not just that they don’t want to go. There’s barriers like transport, housing, health. So having those community organisations involved helps us navigate the families into the correct supports for them,” she said.
In addition, the service’s ‘attendance navigators’ now stayed in contact with children after they returned to school to ensure they maintained their attendance and dealt with any new barriers to attendance that might crop up.
“It just means that we’re able to intervene more quickly rather than having to wait for another referral to come through,” she said.
Channa said a major group of chronic truants was the children of families who had moved out of the area, but kept their children enrolled in a Māngere school.
She said many such families struggled to get their children to school every day and the rising price of petrol would make that problem worse.
Channa said finding non-enrolled children took a “bit of investigation”.
Often the family was not at their last recorded address and attendance officers had to ask schools for children’s emergency contacts, often members of their extended family, in order to track them down.
Channa said once children had been found, they had to be eased back into school.
“Going straight back into school for five days is just so much for them, it’s very overwhelming. It’s not just going to school, it’s socialising, it’s being out in the environment,” she said.
She said that was because many truants spent their time “bed surfing”.
“They just stay in bed and so when they go out to do anything, they get really, really tired so it takes them some time to adjust.”
Channa said consistency and “awhi” or support were the keys to a successful return to school.
Ara Whakamaua director Lisa Halvorson. Supplied
Ara Whakamaua has been the attendance service for 26 schools across Hokianga and Kaipara for more than three years.
Director Lisa Halvorson said it usually worked with more than 500 students each year, successfully closing 70-80 percent of the cases by returning children to class or finding other education options for them.
She said this year was already “way better”, thanks largely to a new computer system that showed when and where children last attended school.
“Already we’re seeing that the closure rates are reducing and that the active cases are turning around a lot faster. So that’s really pleasing to see,” she said.
“In the past, we have just been chasing kids to look for them. Whereas now we actually have that last point of contact and we’ve got the ability then to see … a little bit of a pattern or to see how often they were attending and what that looked like. So it does make it so much easier,” she said.
Halvorson said there were a lot of reasons families might not send their children to school.
“Some of it can be as simple as the child doesn’t have the right PE uniform or no shoes, they don’t have a school bag or a lunch box or a drink bottle, and so the whakamā about that child walking into a school without that is hard,” she said.
“Transport is a massive one for us in our region, so the ability for our whanau to have warranted and registered cars or to be able to afford to run their children to school – we’re talking some distances of children having to travel 30 kilometres to get to the closest school one way.”
She said some cases had relatively simple solutions while others involved multiple agencies.
“They just don’t have a pair of shoes on their feet then sure, we’ll go to the Warehouse and buy them a pair of shoes and put them into school,” she said.
“If it’s a bit bigger than that, then yes, there are other avenues that we can support whanau to complete application forms or do hardship grants … We also connect with a lot of other social services in our regions.”
She said the job was rewarding when families received the help they needed and created stability for their children.
“To get the kids back to school and have a sense of well-being and self-worth and some mates around them and a bit of social connection, that goes a long way,” she said.
“Once we see the right supports in place, and then you see the attendance stabilise, and then you see the whanau feel a bit more confident, and then everyone’s navigating the system really well. That’s a massive win,” she said.
“Some of those children would never have had that stabilisation in their lives, because sometimes you’re dealing with little six and seven-year-old children, they’re too young, they don’t know any better.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: Radio New Zealand
Dual British or Irish New Zealanders have no exemption to the new UK border rule. RNZ /Gill Bonnett
Dual United Kingdom-New Zealand nationals say it is unfair some European Britons are allowed to dodge new passport rules, while British migrants in other parts of the world have to fall in line.
British citizens or their children who used to visit family and friends there using only a New Zealand passport and an ETA were “bodyslammed” by news last month they would need a UK passport, one migrant said.
Steve Horrell, of Upper Hutt, had already applied for and received his passport, but his son overseas had to scramble for documents so that the whole family – including young grandchildren classed as British – could join him on a trip to the UK next month.
He said Monday’s revelation that European Union nationals granted British citizenship post-Brexit under the Settled Scheme (EUSS) could get permanent exemptions from needing UK passports to travel there was unfair.
“I find it disappointing, actually, because it would be very easy to treat everybody the same. To my mind, if you’re going to apply something and say, you know, in my son’s case, they have to have British passports, why can’t they just apply that around the world? Because there might be a guy living next door to him who falls under this EUSS thing, whose kids might not have to do this, but his do.
“I do think it’s unfair because, Britain voted to be not part of the EU anymore and in many cases, I’ll be quite frank, I think that the government in the UK, whichever government, they sort of can choose between the laws they want to interpret, which suits them best.”
Former Te Papa museum curator and academic Mark Stocker says it’s ‘nuts’ that immigrants from Britain and dual citizens through descent can no longer travel on a New Zealand passport to enter the UK. Supplied
Mark Stocker, also born in the UK and a dual New Zealand citizen, said he was feeling disaffected about the UK policy and response, and sorry for travellers who were affected in more extreme ways, such as needing to visit sick relatives.
The change for EU settled status citizens reinforced the feeling that dual citizens elsewhere now had second class status, he said – behind those who only needed a $37 ETA or a third country’s identity document.
“If you’re being charitable, it’s a small step forward from a realisation of how god-awful the change policy was. But the expat Canadians, New Zealanders, Australians and more, it does nothing whatsoever for us.
“It’s perfectly consistent with the abysmal way in which the whole thing was introduced in the first place, where lies were told by the British government about us being told in good time.
“If the government had fairly signalled the new policies, then one might grin and bear them”.
But the way it has been introduced was “pretty dreadful, pretty abysmal really.”
He could not use an expired UK passport – one of the suggestions the UK put forward as a temporary measure if people also had their valid New Zealand passport – because he threw it away when it expired.
Countries such as Australia and Japan were looking like more attractive alternatives to Britain for a holiday, especially with the war in the Middle East, he said.
The Home Office said the change was made to ensure rights under the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement were upheld.
The British High Commission in Wellington has been approached for comment, including whether it has had to help citizens who have been trying to travel to the UK but did not have the right passport.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand