NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

A New Zealand blood cancer patient has been forced to leave his four children behind and make a last chance dash to Australia for treatment

His case has prompted dozens of doctors to write an open letter to the prime minister, pleading for change.

Tawhai Reti was 29 when he was diagnosed with myeloma in 2019.

After going through two stem cell transplants, Reti started on the last funded drug treatment available in New Zealand last year.

But his health continued to rapidly decline, and in December he developed pneumonia and sepsis.

Having exhausted all funded treatment options, he was told he had weeks to live.

The 37-year-old former shearer and his wife then made the difficult decision to leave their family and go to Australia to get drugs that are not funded here.

Reti’s wife Lani told Checkpoint they had spoken about moving to Australia in October, but were hesitant about leaving their children behind.

But after his rapid decline, Lani knew it was time to go.

“After a couple of weeks watching Tawhai just lying around, not able to do anything other than sleep and be in pain, I woke up and just realised I couldn’t accept it.

“He was dying right in front of my eyes.”

Having lived and worked in Australia for a time while he was in remission, Reti still qualified for Medicare cover, and was able access daratumumab – the drug he needed for a chance at survival.

Daratumumab, or dara, is funded in Australia as well as more than 45 other countries, and has been on Pharmac’s “options for investment” list for years and is considered a high-priority drug – meaning it would fund it if it had the money.

Reti received his first dose of dara last week, something Lani said was a long-time coming.

“I can’t tell you how many tears we had when we found out that he was accepted for dara.

“It’s something that we’ve been fighting for such a long time and trying to spread awareness about and writing letters to the government to try and push for this so that we didn’t have to leave home. And within four weeks of being in Australia, he received his first dose.”

While finally being able to access the treatment has been a happy change for the couple, it had not been an easy ride.

The pair had to leave their four children at home in New Zealand with Reti’s sister.

In order for Reti to reach remission he will need to remain in Australia for at least a year, if not more.

He told Checkpoint being away from his children had been “horrible”.

“We’ve always sort of been a pretty close family… I see them every day, every night, every morning, know everything about them. Now it’s sort of just on the end of a phone.”

Fundraising done by the family through a Givealittle page helped them to travel to Australia, while still looking after their bills back home.

But now the money was running out.

“We have a mortgage, we have bills like everybody else, we also have four children at home.

“Sadly, I do have to come home. I am leaving next week and Tawhai will have to stay here by himself so I can come home and go back to work to help fund both our home and needs at home and [help] Tawhai stay here.”

Tawhai and Lani’s family have now set up another Givealittle page to help with their everyday expenses while Reti is in Australia.

‘Unnecessary loss of Kiwi lives’

Professor Judith Trotman, a New Zealand-trained haematologist working in Sydney, co-ordinated the open letter from 35 doctors, nurses and clinician researchers.

“We note with alarm the unnecessary loss of Kiwi lives,” it reads, because patients are deprived of access to treatments that are available globally and also missing out on clinical trials.

Trotman is treating Reti, who suffers from myeloma, a form of blood cancer which disproportionately impacts Māori and Pacifica patients. Improving survival rates rested solely on access to drug treatments.

“I commend my patient and his wife on their grace and tenacity in facing this painful, progressive cancer. Having for so long been champions for New Zealand’s myeloma community, we now focus on his survival and recovery after his immunochemotherapy.”

Trotman said the “medical migrants” heading to Australia highlighted the fact that without access to medicines, they will die.

Meanwhile, doctors feel disempowered.

“The lack of modern medicine and technology access and the inability to run many clinical trials are key factors driving highly trained professionals away from New Zealand or prohibiting their return,” according to the letter.

A three-point plan put to the government calls for more funding for medicines that are considered ‘standard of care’ overseas, pointing out that only 0.4 percent of New Zealand’s GDP is spent on medicines, compared to the OECD median of 1.4 percent.

It also seeks a taskforce of experts to address blood cancer treatment in Aotearoa and asks for more support for research and development to make the country ”a credible and competitive destination for clinical trial research”.

The blood cancer specialists – backed by the Australasian Leukaemia Lymphoma Group and the Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand – say Kiwi patients were also being left behind in accessing clinical trials.

“For these trials to return to New Zealand, access to what are now global standard-of-care comparator drugs is critical.”

Auckland haematologist Dr Rory Bennett was one of 35 healthcare professionals who signed the letter.

He told Checkpoint he was disturbed by the state of blood cancer therapy in New Zealand.

“We feel that there’s a clear gap between the standard of care that we can deliver here in New Zealand compared with what is achieved overseas, and that gap that is well established is continuing to widen.

“We are very worried about the future of blood cancer therapy in New Zealand and the welfare of New Zealanders with blood cancer.”

Bennet said he was frustrated by the situation, but ultimately it was about the patient, not the doctor.

“We find ourselves in difficult circumstances frequently and I feel incredibly sympathetic and sorry for the patients that we have that had they had they lived overseas would have been able to access a more successful or less toxic or frankly just even a therapy that wasn’t available in New Zealand.

“Those are hard conversations to have, but it’s not about us. It’s about the patients at the end of the day and what they are missing out on. And I think that that’s the hardest thing.”

He hoped that the letter will push the prime minister to work with healthcare professionals on moving blood cancer treatment forward.

“Engage with us… acknowledge the data, hear us out, work with us to try and work this through.

“We’re in a desperate, desperate state at the moment, New Zealanders are dying prematurely from blood cancer and we need to sort it out.”

‘Take us seriously and start listening’

Reti said the letter has left him with no words.

“It just blows me away every time.”

Lani hoped that after all their years of crying out for help, the letter will push the government into action.

“I really ask them. to take into consideration the 21,000 blood cancer sufferers in New Zealand that are dying every day because of the lack of funding, because of the lack of standard care.

“I would just strongly urge them to take this letter seriously, take us seriously and start listening and putting things in place for people to continue to be able to live long lives.”

Health Minister Simeon Brown said in a statement that improving cancer treatment and outcomes was a key priority.

“Last year we invested $27.1 million to expand stem cell transplant services, helping more patients access life-saving treatment sooner. This funding will strengthen the specialist workforce, increase hospital capacity, and upgrade infrastructure to support more timely transplants.”

Brown noted that Health New Zealand was actively recruiting for blood cancer specialist roles across the country.

“I encourage doctors currently working overseas who want to make a difference for Kiwi patients here at home to consider these opportunities.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Greenpeace is calling on the government to drastically cut the legal limit of nitrates in drinking water as the Danish government moves to drop its legal limit by almost 90 percent.

The Danish government plans to lower its limit to just over one milligram of nitrate-nitrogen per litre (mg/L) of drinking water, a steep drop from its current limit of 11.3mg/L.

New Zealand’s current legal limit for nitrates in drinking water is 11.3 mg/L, but there was growing evidence of health impacts at levels as low as 1mg/L.

An expert group commissioned by the Danish government in 2024 to examine nitrate levels reported back late last year and recommended reducing the nitrate contamination limit to 1.3 mg/L nitrate-nitrogen.

Danish state broadcaster DR reported Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke had received the group’s recommendations and has committed to adopting them.

“It is an urgent matter. When there is such a clear conclusion from our independent experts, of course we have to react to it. There is no other choice,” DR reported the minister as saying.

Greenpeace spokesperson Will Appelbe said the organisation had sent an open letter to Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Health Minister Simeon Brown, urging them to follow the Danish government’s lead.

RNZ approached Watts and Brown for comment.

“The Danish government aren’t operating off a secret playbook or anything, they don’t know anything we don’t know. They’re just following the scientific evidence and choosing to prioritise people’s health. Meanwhile, our government is burying its head in the sand,” Appelbe said.

The panel’s report quoted 2023 University of Copenhagen research, which found lowering nitrate contamination would save 2.2 billion Kroner ($580m NZD) by preventing approximately 127 cases of bowel cancer per year linked to the current nitrate levels.

Fertiliser use was the primary source of nitrate contamination, the report said.

Appelbe said there was overwhelming evidence that the same was true in New Zealand.

“Anyone suggesting otherwise isn’t being particularly honest about what the science is telling us,” he said.

“We need to urgently take measures to reduce that risk. That means reducing cow numbers and reducing synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.”

Appelbe said the government was more concerned with protecting dairy industry profits than human health and he called for reductions in the size of the dairy herd, an end to ongoing dairy expansions and limits to the use of nitrate fertiliser.

“The evidence is clear nitrate contamination is a risk to human health – there’s a growing body of evidence that says so – and the government needs to take action to lower the nitrate limit so people can rely on the drinking water they need.”

Rural communities were disproportionately affected and faced considerable costs installing filters to make their water drinkable, he said.

“We need, as a country, to have a grown-up conversation about nitrate contamination in drinking water – the evidence is pretty overwhelming on what’s causing it and there’s a growing body of evidence that links risks to human health.”

Appelbe said the current limit of 11.3mg/L is based on World Health Organisation guidance from the 1960s to avoid Blue Baby Syndrome, an acute illness that could affect babies.

A 2025 GNS Science research paper estimated there could be more than 21,200 people drinking water above the legal limit of 11.3 mg/L and 101,000 people drinking water above half that (5.65mg/L) across rural New Zealand.

The authors found Waikato, Canterbury and Southland were disproportionately affected by elevated levels of nitrate

Public health specialists had long advocated to lower the nitrate limit, primarily based on international research linking low levels of nitrate (5mg/L) with pre-term birth and colorectal cancer (0.87mg/L).

New research from Australia’s Edith Cowan University and the Danish Cancer Research Institute found a link to early-onset dementia as low as 1.2mg/L with nitrates from processed meat and drinking water posing a higher risk, while nitrates from vegetables were associated with a lower risk.

The Canterbury Regional Council declared a nitrate emergency last year and there have been calls for Southland to do the same since the release of a regional council report mapping nitrate pollution across the region.

Canterbury’s dairy herd has increased by about 1000 percent since 1990 to well over a million cows.

Between 1990 and 2022, Southland’s dairy herd increased by 1668 percent from 38,000 to 668,000 cows.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say armed officers are at an Ōtaki Beach property on the Kāpiti Coast.

A police spokesperson said the officers are armed as a precaution, as negotiators engage with a person at the property.

They said the person is there alone and there is no risk to the public.

Cordons are in place on Rangiuru Road and people should avoid the area.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman has died after a car mounted the curb and ploughed into a cafe in Auckland.

The crash, about 9am on Wednesday, closed William Souter Street in the North Shore suburb of Forrest Hill.

Three people were initially hurt – one critically, one with moderate injuries and one with minor injuries. Two were taken to hospital.

Police have confirmed one of those injured had since died.

“We just heard a massive crash sound,” Jess, who works in a neighbouring store, told RNZ.

“I was out back and I thought maybe some of our shelves had fallen down, so I rushed out to the front of the store, and lo and behold, there’s just a car on the sidewalk.”

Jess said she and her manager both rushed out and could see that the car had “obviously” crashed into the cafe.

“The first thing we saw was obviously the lady that was really injured, she was lying on the ground and there was, like, another girl, it looked like quite a young girl, whose face was bleeding as well so there were like two very noticeably injured,” she said.

“And the first thing was just to call 111, just because obviously we saw that the lady who was hit was in a not so good situation, she was in a lot of pain and she kind of looked super, super confused so we called emergency right off the bat.

“The car obviously has taken out the door area, the whole glass panel, it’s almost like a split glass panel and the one glass panel is literally floating in mid-air.”

Jess said they then tried to keep people away from the entrance so there were no further injuries.

She credited another nearby worker.

“The cat doctor next door to us, there is a cat nurse, she was brilliant in that situation, she ran right across from the cat doctor and she sat on the ground with the injured lady and she just sat with her and talked her through it. She was amazing,” Jess said.

A worker at the cafe that was hit by the car said a woman and her daughter were sitting at the time.

“Very sad news to see today. Thinking of all those involved,” North Shore MP Simon Watts said in a post on Facebook.

St John sent three ambulances and two rapid response units.

Police said only one vehicle was involved.

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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 families of victims of the Christchurch mosque shootings say the terrorist is a witness “like no other” and he should not be allowed to give oral evidence at a coronial inquest.

But a lawyer appointed to assist the court said the public deserves the most thorough and rigorous coronial inquest possible to ensure a similar horror does not happen again.

Survivors and families of victims of the March 2019 terror attack are fighting in the Court of Appeal to prevent terrorist Brenton Tarrant from giving evidence at the inquest into their loved ones’ deaths.

They are seeking judicial review of Deputy Chief Coroner Brigitte Windley’s decision to call him as a witness.

The High Court dismissed the application last year.

The second-phase inquest began in October 2024 and is examining how the terrorist came to obtain the guns used in the massacre.

It adjourned part-heard after objections were raised to the terrorist giving evidence.

A lawyer for some of the families, Nikki Pender, told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday that it was highly unusual for a coroner’s decision to be reviewed.

“This is an exceptional case, these are extraordinary circumstances, this particular witness is like no other witness.”

Pender said Sunday marked seven years since the massacres at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre, and the coronial inquest was extremely important to survivors and their families.

Tarrant not only murdered 51 people, he did so by invading and violating “a sacred place” during prayers, she said.

“That has resonated for years for the community.”

The therapeutic nature of the coroner’s court was highly visible in this specific inquest, and calling the terrorist as a witness would breach that, Pender said.

Each phase of the inquest started with a karakia and a recital from the Quran from Al Noor Mosque Imam Gamal Fouda, as well as a roll call of every victim’s name.

“They [the families] are at the heart of this… this is a safe space and therefore any decision to bring in this individual, to have him appear as a witness, needs to take account of the fact just how significant that is to the arena, to the jurisdiction that has been created, and to the safe space that has been created to those family members,” Pender said.

The coroner should have started from a presumption of whether it was absolutely necessary to invite Tarrant as a witness, Pender said.

Calling someone as a witness in an inquest could afford them a degree of mana and could dilute the aims of his life-without-parole sentence, as well as risking platforming his message of hate, she said.

“He has lost his right in public society, in civic society, and yet, if you call him as a witness too readily, what signal does that send?” Pender said.

“He does seem to enjoy the occasion in terms of the questions and answers and the interrogatories, and the community believe that it sends mixed messages – and if they’re a proxy for the public then … [the Coroner has] got to take note of that and just got to be really careful around that.”

The lawyer appointed by the court as a contradictor, Kerry Cook, said the Coroner’s decision to allow written and oral evidence from the terrorist was one that was “lawful, reasonable and proportionate”.

“The Coroner’s Act prioritises the public good associated with a full and independent investigation into the causes of death, and it prioritises that over subjective feelings – no matter how reasonably held – of abhorrence or difficulty in hearing from that particular person.”

Cross-examination was the best tool for testing the terrorist’s claims and excluding that evidence would leave a gap in the inquiry, Cook said.

The process of hearing live evidence and subjecting it to cross-examination might reveal information or bring to light inconsistencies and details otherwise not known, he said.

Coronial inquests were rigorous, fact-finding inquiries and required the coroner to make evidence-based recommendations or comments in public, he said.

Constraining evidence in the inquest risked the coroner making incorrect decisions and the conclusions might reflect only “what was allowed to be seen, rather than what actually occurred”.

“To stop something similar happening in the future, you must clearly understand what caused it to happen in the past,” Cook said.

The community wanted a thorough inquiry and to have all relevant evidence before it, even if it was uncomfortable, he said.

Another lawyer assisting the court, Sarah Jerebine KC, said any oral evidence the terrorist gave in the inquest and the cross-examination could be restricted to suppression orders decided by the coroner.

She said she had huge sympathy for what survivors and families had experienced and the test of deciding whether the terrorist should be orally cross-examined fell on whether the evidence was necessary, whether it met the interests of justice and balanced against the harm done to the families.

Justice Sarah Katz, Justice Jillian Mallon, and Justice Matthew Palmer reserved their decision.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

There are calls for fuel rationing following the effective closure of Hormuz Strait as a result of the war in the Middle East which has caused the price of oil to fluctuate.

The Wise Response Society has already said it the government should activate the National Fuel Security Plan, which was released last November to ensure New Zealand would have reliable access to fuel in case of global or domestic disruption.

Chairperson Nathan Surendran told Checkpoint on Wednesday the plan and rationing should be activated as a precaution.

“So rather than waiting for us to hit an issue, if we did not receive one of the deliveries that we are supposedly contracted to do, but which force majeure measures implemented by our suppliers may lead to not arriving, then, yeah, it’s something that we really should take seriously.”

Having an adequate fuel supply was critical for New Zealand’s economy, Surendran said.

“The critical question isn’t what’s here now, it’s whether the next round of deliveries will arrive.

“Australia’s wholesalers are rationing deliveries to petrol stations, despite that nation having 36 days of reserves and two domestic refineries, New Zealand has neither, and I’d rather be accused of raising the alarm too early and being wrong than staying quiet and being right.”

The Wise Response Society was calling for the government to tell the public how much physical fuel was in New Zealand, as well as to activate the National Fuel Security Plan, and begin rationing.

“We’ve got the Petroleum Demand Restraint Act, which gives the government the power to implement rationing by order of the Governor-General,” Surendran said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Selwyn District Council is attempting to drastically limit rates rises this year but the plan comes with some caveats.

Councillors agreed on Wednesday to consult the public on an average rates increase of 5.4 percent.

Ratepayers would also be asked to give feedback on options of 4.9 percent and 6.5 percent – all had different trade-offs.

The preferred option was less than half of last year’s hike of 14.2 percent.

However, all options excluded water charges which were now handled by a separate company – Selwyn Water Ltd.

Councillors were also searching for savings by possibly shifting some costs from general rates to user-pays.

That could result in increases to building consent costs, aquatic and fitness class fees, and dog registration fees.

The council would also have to reduce its library programmes and exhibitions to achieve the 5.4 percent increase.

Selwyn mayor Lydia Gliddon said there would need to be some hard conversations with the community.

“My view around community services is not to try and cut everything but to look at how we do it and work smarter with what we do have to provide benefit for our community as well,” Gliddon said.

Achieving lower rates hikes required careful prioritisation and difficult decisions, Gliddon said.

“This is our first annual plan as a new council and it reflects what we heard clearly during the election – that rates affordability matters and the council must live within its means while continuing to deliver essential services,” she said.

The draft plan said the rates increase could be reduced to 4.9 percent by significantly reducing recruitment at Selwyn District Council for the next year, removing some roles from budgets and significantly reducing consultant costs.

It was not recommended by staff, who said it could affect the council’s ability to meet its legal obligations and deliver services.

The plan included investments in roading upgrades and maintenance, Lincoln’s town centre, replacement of the Whitecliffs Bridge and remediation of the Leeston Medical Centre.

The plan said they were needed to support the district as it was one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

The council was predicting $213.6 million in revenue during the next financial, while it would spend $196.5m on operating expenses and $86m on capital infrastructure.

Consultation opens on Monday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Aucklanders are having mixed reactions to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s plan to push ahead with intensification in inner-city suburbs.

Last month, the government agreed to reduce Auckland’s minimum housing capacity from roughly two million to 1.6 million in the coming decades. That is still 400,000 more than the 1.2 million under its current Unitary Plan.

Mayor Brown said his council would be asking the government to allow more housing density within 10 kilometres of the city, where there is good public transport and infrastructure.

Sally Hughes, from the Auckland heritage group the Character Coalition, said she was worried about what the council’s plans would mean for suburbs with historic architecture.

“We’re very concerned about Kingsland, Mount Eden, and the North Shore, which are all included in that 10km where intensification isn’t going to be reduced. We’re very unhappy about that decision,” Hughes said.

Auckland Councillors are yet to see any of the more than 10,000 public submissions it received on a future housing plan for Auckland last year.

About 50 council staff were working to summarise the feedback for councillors to review in the next few months.

Hughes said the public’s concerns should be heard before any decisions are made.

“A number of councillors have expressed concern that they were making this decision, including the arbitrary 10km, without seeing any of the submissions,” she said.

“That’s our concern, too. We fear Aucklanders aren’t being listened to.”

Long-time Parnell resident Laurie Mayne said he, along with two other people, including his wife Stephanie, had brought on a lawyer and an economist to put an alternative proposal to the council and the government.

They are proposing that intensification be restricted to the city centre, metropolitan centres, and within 800 metres of rapid transit stops, with greenfield development making up the rest of the housing capacity required.

“The threat for the likes of my wife and I, and every other Parnell resident and every other Ponsonby and Mount Eden resident, is not that we will be inundated with 15-storey buildings. We’re not concerned about that because that’s not an issue. That will never happen,” Mayne said.

“What we’re concerned about is the theft of our property rights by a developer coming in, being enabled to and encouraged to build a 15-storey apartment building right on my boundary.

“That’s what’s getting people in Auckland, rightly very wound up.”

He said their proposal could deliver the 1.6 million capacity needed.

But Jon Reeves, of the Public Transport Users Association, welcomed the council’s decision.

He said the government had invested a lot in improving the city’s public transport network, including the City Rail Link, which was due to open later this year.

“It would make logical sense to increase housing and intensification around the public transport nodes. We obviously want more bums on seats to help pay for the investment,” Reeves said.

But he said there was a balance to strike.

“We don’t want to just demolish every heritage area to put up large apartment blocks. Places like Parnell, you have to weigh it up. Do we want to demolish what character is left there or not, and that’s a question that not only the council but residents should have a say about.”

Director of the transport advocacy website Greater Auckland, Matt Lowrie, also agreed with the mayor’s approach.

“It makes sense that the focus of intensification will be in the areas closest to the city centre, on good public transport routes, and in town centres. Those are the areas where there’s the highest amenity and the most attractiveness for development, and also the best transport links to the city centre, where a lot of people are working,” Lowrie said.

“There’s a whole lot of noise that’s gone on from people who have been successful in the past in forcing development out to the fringes in places like Flatbush, leading to people having long commutes because they’ve tried to prevent housing in their areas.

“What we’re seeing now is housing being put in the places where it should be put, which is close to the city.”

He believed people did not need to be fearful about suburbs being taken over by high-rises.

“Just because something is zoned for an apartment doesn’t mean that it’s going to be built.

“For example, we’re already seeing where zoning allows for five-and-six-storey apartments, two to three-storey townhouses are being built instead.

“That’s a key point that often people miss about this. It’s just allowing development, should people want to. But those locations close to train stations and busway stations are ideal for more homes.”

Final decisions about Auckland’s housing needs aren’t expected to be made until mid-2027.

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