Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Canterbury landlord sanctioned for failing to clean up and fix a boarding house would rather cop a fine than pay for maintenance costs, a neighbour says.

Murray Lawrence Hill, who had been warned multiple times that his property was not up to standard, has been ordered to pay $33,000, remove industrial rubbish and repair holes in the roof and walls of a boarding house in Lyttelton.

The Tenancy Tribunal took action against Hill, who had a long history of complaints, for failing to ensure his property was compliant.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT) received a complaint from a member of the public in December 2023, who said the boarding house was in a serious state of disrepair, with rubbish rotting on the property.

Alongside the rubbish removal and hole repairs, Hill was required to install glass planes in windows that were boarded up, install mechanical ventilation in the bathrooms and clean the kitchen and bathrooms to an acceptable standard.

The tenants were described as vulnerable and afraid to complain, for fear of being evicted.

David Wilcox lived opposite the Cressy Terrace property and said Hill had converted it into a halfway home for paroled prisoners following the earthquakes.

Wilcox said the landlord was the type of person who considered property maintenance as an unnecessary business expense.

“It’s a waste of money to him,” he said.

“I mean, his tenants can’t complain. So he just takes the money and banks it and forgets about this kind of stuff.

“He’s just not the kind of guy that really wants to do the right thing. He just wants to bank his money.”

Wilcox said a $33,000 fine would be of little consequence to Hill, who he understood to have an extensive property portfolio.

“He’s probably a multi-millionaire, so it’s not going to really harm him.

“I think they need to have, not just the fine, but they need to have people come in and supervise, make sure it gets done, because he won’t do it.”

Although Wilcox agreed Hill was more “slumlord” than landlord, he said the boarding house was better for tenants who had no alternatives.

“Would we rather have them in here under some kind of control and management, or would you rather just have them in a tent somewhere in the central city.

“So I think anybody with that choice, they’d rather be here.”

A woman who lived on Cressy Terrace told RNZ it was good the tenants had somewhere to live, but objected to the conditions they were subjected to.

When RNZ phoned Hill for comment, he swore at the reporter before asserting “at least they’re in a house”.

“They’re warm, they’ve got water, they’ve got hot water, they’ve got showers, they’ve got somewhere to cook. They’re not sleeping under a bridge, or shop doorways.”

He then ended the call.

TCIT national manager Brett Wilson said Hill had previously been issued warnings for the property.

“Despite receiving multiple warnings over a number of years, he failed to take meaningful steps to address these concerns until 2024/2025. His prolonged inaction over a four-year period demonstrates a deliberate and intentional disregard for his obligations.”

His failure to maintain the property to the required standard despite multiple warnings, had a direct and harmful impact on his tenants.

Wilson said landlords were running a business and if they wanted to operate a boarding house they must comply with their obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act.

He said Hill was an experienced landlord who had regular interactions with Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the Christchurch City Council, and was aware of his obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act.

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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 mother of the three children who died following a fire in the Manawatu town of Sanson has spoken out for the first time.

August, Hugo and Goldie died last weekend, in what police are treating as a murder-suicide.

Their father, Dean Field, also died.

In a statement issued this morning, Chelsey Field said her children were her world and she doesn’t want their deaths to be the most defining factor of their lives.

“My babies were my absolute world. I have been a stay-at-home Mum since I had Hugo in 2020. Before that, I was an early childhood teacher and August came to work with me every day, and I am so glad I got this time with my darlings.

“I enjoyed so much quality time with them; trips to gymnastics, music groups, playgroups and play dates with friends. We had so much fun together and many holidays away. I will forever cherish all these special memories.”

She says she will cherish the special memories she had with her children.

Her dog also died in the blaze and the ashes of her stillborn daughter, Iris, were lost with the destruction of her house.

More to come

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Specialists say the health postcode lottery is rampant when it comes to trauma care.

The South Island was bearing the brunt of a funding shortfall, according to a New Zealand Medical Journal editorial released on Friday.

Health NZ and the minister of health rejected the claims, and said South Island trauma patients were receiving “timely, quality care with strong outcomes”.

But the authors, senior staff from Christchurch Hospital – one of the busiest emergency departments in Australasia – said the trauma team faced “considerable operational challenges” thanks to underfunding, staffing gaps and data collection issues amid increased admissions.

Injury is the leading cause of death in New Zealand for those under the age of 44, with major trauma the second most common reason for hospitalisation. The South Island’s rates of traumatic incidents are higher than the national average,

However, trauma care had historically been viewed as the “poor cousin” of healthcare, and suffered from inadequate resourcing and attention, surgeon Dr Chris Wakeman said.

In August, Auditor General John Ryan tabled a report which showed elective services in the health system were often “not equitable or timely”, with the same level of clinical need qualifying for treatment in some districts, but not others.

“As a result, a person’s ability to access treatment is, to a significant extent, determined by where they live,” the report noted.

Wakeman said there was no question the same applied to traumatic injury care, and had done for some time.

“It does feel frustrating that we’ve published for more than 10 years about inequity between the two islands.”

Christchurch Hospital took patients from across New Zealand, but the ACC model for funding emergency departments was based on census population data, he said.

“We take neurosurgical patients from Dunedin, we take spinal patients from Taupō south – if you’re north of Taupō you go to Middlemore, if you’re south you come to Christchurch, we also take all the transfers from Nelson, Grey, Timaru.

“It does seem unjust that we can’t employ the amount of staff [we need] … we’ve had to close because we have no junior doctors to run the service.”

A study of almost 800 patients earlier this year showed the hospital’s specialist trauma admitting service failed to improve patient outcomes due to staffing gaps, limited operating hours and underfunding.

The service, established in January 2022, was “launched without adequate funding, resulting in significant staffing shortfalls, including limited trauma surgeon involvement (fewer than four hours per week), no dedicated house officer and restricted operational hours (Monday to Friday only),” according to the University of Otago research, co-authored by Wakeman.

The team had the worst nurse-to-patient ratio in the country and no funding for administration or data management support.

Combined with “the alarming lack of medical resourcing”, the service was under “critical strain”.

The authors also advocated for a more uniform approach to benchmarking, and noted that while many North Island hospitals had gone or were going through the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ Trauma Care Verification Program, no South Island hospitals had done so.

“If Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora is serious about ending the postcode lottery, then Christchurch should be expected to meet the same standards as Waikato.”

While Christchurch Hospital “would currently fail”, it would still provide “valuable, unbiased identification of service gaps and help guide the allocation of resources”, he said.

“If we go through a tick box and look at what we need, we would fail, but it would highlight the issue and put in black and white exactly what we need to do and what we need to aim for, and repeat verification would hopefully prove we’ve achieved our goals of improving trauma care in the South Island.”

Asked if the levels of underfunding was making the emergency department unsafe, Wakeman said he liked to think staff did a good job, “working hard and compensating”.

“But it makes it harder, and burnout is higher over the whole hospital,” he said.

At the start of the year, Health NZ urged people to avoid Christchurch Hospital’s emergency department unless it was “life threatening”.

On its social media page, the hospital said its emergency department was “extremely busy” with “large numbers of people coming in for care”, and asked people with non-life-threatening emergencies to go elsewhere “to reduce the pressure”.

Health NZ Te Wai Pounamu deputy chief executive Martin Keogh later said it was due to increased demand caused by surgical cases, and was “definitely not a staffing issue”.

The following month, RNZ revealed the hospital’s internal staff planning system showed the hospital had 120 fewer nurses than recommended, with the emergency department short 25 nurses.

But Health NZ spokesperson Hamish Brown said current resourcing levels “continue to meet demand”.

“Trauma patients who present to Christchurch Hospital are receiving the care they need, when they need it, and with good outcomes.

“The trauma team is focused on trauma admissions and is only one part of a wider multi-disciplinary team of highly trained and experienced clinicians who regularly provide care to trauma patients,” Brown said.

Minister of Health Simeon Brown said South Island trauma patients continued to receive timely, quality care with strong outcomes at Christchurch Hospital.

“To further strengthen trauma care across the South Island, Health New Zealand has reinstated its regional trauma network, working closely with the Trauma National Clinical Network to deliver a consistent, nationally standardised approach,” 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

US President Donald Trump no longer has beef with some Kiwi exports, but others are still stuck paying a high price – and an economist warns it’s anyone’s guess how long the relief will last

A surprise backflip on tariffs from Washington delivered a rare win for New Zealand’s primary sector – but there are concerns that the removal could be reversed at any time.

New Zealand economist Brad Olsen doesn’t have high hopes it will lead to the permanent end of the tariff saga.

“I really don’t think this is the case,” the Infometrics principal economist tells The Detail.

“I’d love it. I’d love us to go back to, you know, a position where tariffs weren’t normal and expected, but in all of my conversations with those overseas, it’s a pretty constant view that tariffs are here to stay, in some way, shape, or form.

“You’d hope that maybe over time they get less intense, but there is a real focus domestically in the US, as the world’s largest economy, that they are still feeling the hit – or feeling a perceived hit – from challenges overseas in terms of import levels and wanting to do a lot more domestically.

“That means that any future administration will find it tough to unwind that full level of tariffs because immediately everyone is going to [pillory] them and say, ‘well, you are looking after other countries and you are not looking out for number one in the US’.”

The tariffs, part of Trump’s “America First” agenda, were introduced in April at 10 percent, then raised to 15 percent in August.

But less than a week ago, with relatively little fanfare, Trump announced that the tariffs on products representing around 25 percent of our exports to the US and worth about $2.2 billion annually, would be removed, effective immediately.

Put simply, America needs cheaper food, and New Zealand has it.

“It seems very much a political decision based around the cost-of-living challenges that US consumers have been facing,” Olsen says.

“You have a number of products that have been increasing [in cost], sometimes because of the tariffs, sometimes not, but being exacerbated often by those tariff costs.”

Potential wide-ranging benefits

The tariff removal is a win for New Zealand, but Trump’s famously changeable policies have meant the celebrations have been muted.

“Everyone is really chuffed by it,” Kate Acland, the chairperson of Beef and Lamb New Zealand and the New Zealand Meat Board, tells The Detail.

“It has come out of the blue, and like the tariffs came on out of the blue – well, overnight – this is something that has happened very suddenly as well. So, a bit of uncertainty about all these swings backwards and forth. But everyone is really happy. We are taking it. It’s a really positive time in the red meat sector.”

She says the tariffs haven’t been a cheap exercise for the red meat industry, which is a crucial source of our country’s economic growth, supporting rural communities and boosting our export performance.

“Since the tariffs came on in April, there’s been an additional tariff cost of $122 million, and at the 15 percent rate, we were forecasting it would be around a $300 million cost, so that’s really significant, given that previously we were on a tariff of 0.3 percent.”

The benefits of the tariff removal could extend well beyond farmland, orchard gates, and woolsheds. Rural communities that rely on the meat and horticulture sectors could see new investment, job stability, and a boost in confidence, and all before Christmas.

“This is great news for farmers and for the whole red meat industry,” says Acland.

While the unexpected tariff removal has injected fresh energy into the sector, there are some “losers” in both New Zealand and America.

“In general, US consumers are still going to get hit by tariffs because they haven’t all gone away,” Olsen says.

“The likes of the president maybe lose out, ever so slightly, because he’s had to change his view a little bit more but realistically probably not a lot of people are focussing too much attention on that because that focus on the cost of living is so intense.

“Here in New Zealand, it really is an overall win … but the losers in a sense are those who didn’t get the relief, they haven’t seen those changes in tariffs, and they are still having to protest their case.”

He says we are starting to see “parallels here in New Zealand where those pressures on some important goods are in focus”.

“The last couple of months, we have spent a lot of time in New Zealand talking about butter. Mince has now become the new butter. We are talking a lot more about that as a commodity now [that it’s 23 dollars for a kilo].

“That’s not a tariff-direct impact, but the president has, of course, been able to say ‘look, I’m making a difference there and taking off some pressure’. Of course, he added it in the first place.

“But from a consumer point of view, you are getting a bit of relief. From an exporter point of view here in New Zealand, you’ve got some more opportunity and room to manoeuvre and a better competitive environment with other exporters.”

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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 convoy of recreational fishers are planning to drive from across Auckland’s Harbour Bridge on Saturday morning, protesting aspects of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act and other proposed fishing reforms.

The One Ocean protest began with a post Ben Chissell made on his NZ fishing community Facebook page in October. The Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act had just been passed, and frustrated with aspects of it, Chissell called for a demonstration. The idea was met with widespread support, meaning he then had to organise one.

“None of the four of us that are organising this have even been to a protest before. So yeah, it’s a bit of a unique way to jump into your first one,” he said.

Meetings with police and Auckland Transport followed and a route was agreed to, heading from Albany on Auckland’s North Shore, across the harbour bridge, and on to Mission Bay.

“We’ve got people coming from Kaitaia, Ahipara, Tauranga, Whitianga, Waikato, all over the show. We’ve got guys putting their boats on trailers, getting on the ferry from Waiki and Great Barrier and coming over. So it’s going to be a lot bigger than I guess even when we initially hoped.”

Even New Zealand’s best known recreational fisher Matt Watson was backing the protest with an online message of support. Fisheries Minister Shane Jones was less enthusiatic, telling First Up he’s unsure who the organisers of the One Ocean Protest are, but he thinks they’re unhappy with the Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Act.

“My message to the recreational fishing industry is that their leadership, in particular LegaSea, was originally involved in the establishment of these marine restricted areas, which is impeding recreational fisheries in the Hauraki Gulf. So it’s a bit late for them to cry now, given their own leaders signed up to this policy some years ago.”

LegaSea is a recreational fishing lobby group. Chisell said the One Ocean Protest was a seperate enitity.

One of the issues Chissell and One Ocean were protesting was the decision to allow some commercial fishing in two of the 12 high protection areas in the Hauraki gulf.

Tiff Bock of Seafood NZ said that would have minimal impact on the fishery as it’s limited to 5 ringnetters targetting kahawai and mullet over the winter months.

“It really is small scale. They go to a little bay and they set a net that is less than a metre deep and they circle it around the fish and then they pull it back in by hand. So we’re not talking big areas here.”

Chissell’s position was that if the Hauraki Gulf was so badly depleted that areas needed to be shut off, then no-one should fish them.

“The issue is not the size. The issue is the precedent that they can potentially set for these kind of things going forward, and with what they have done in the past and the promises that have been broken, there is no trust.”

The protestors were also concerned by a Fisheries New Zealand proposal last month to allow marlin bycatch to be sold commercially.

At present, commercial fishers couldn’t target marlin, and any that were accidentally caught must be returned to the water dead or alive.

Tiff Bock said that needed to change.

“It’s really common sense to say, we have cameras, we can verify that they’re only bringing back the ones that they’ve caught that are already dead. Why waste it?”

But recreational fishers were wary. Chissell cites the example of broadbill swordfish. He said when bycatch was approved for sale in 1991, the rate of accidental capture drastically increased.

Broadbill was eventually added to the quota management sytem allowing it to be caught commercially.

“At its peak in the early 2000s, there was 900 tons a year of swordfish being taken from New Zealand waters. This will happen with marlin if they are allowed to add any kind of commercial value to it.”

Jones was due to meet a group of recreational fishers on Sunday to discuss the issue.

“There’s a lot of old wives’ tales being thrown around,” he said. “There’s no intention to introduce marlin into the quota management system.”

Chissell said the protest was not against commercial fishing.

“At the end of the day, I know they want what we want as well. They want the same thing. No one wants to completely strip the ocean of every single fish. We all just have different opinions on how we do that, different values.”

But he’s determined to ensure recreational fishers’ voices were heard in fisheries management, even if it meant more protests.

“Everybody needs to have valuable input and be listened to.That’s the main thing. Because if you don’t, the next one we do is going to be bigger, and then if that doesn’t work, the next one we do is going to be even bigger to the point it starts getting international recognition. We’ll do it if we have to. It’s tiring, but I’ll do it.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning: This story contains content some may find disturbing.

Convicted killer Nathan Boulter was investigated four years ago over an allegation he raped a 15-year-old girl when he was 14.

He was spoken to while serving time in Otago prison where he denied any wrongdoing, and said the sex between the two was not rape and that the woman was his girlfriend at the time.

Police said after reviewing all the available evidence, the matter did not reach the threshold to prosecute under the Solicitor-General Prosecution Guidelines.

Boulter – who had a long history of stalking and assaulting ex-partners – pleaded guilty last week to murdering a woman in Parklands, Christchurch, on 23 July.

The woman had been in a brief relationship with Boulter. After she ended it, he harassed, stalked and threatened her, making nearly 600 calls in two weeks, before hiding outside her home, then stabbing her 55 times with a hunting knife, as she arrived home with her children.

It can now be revealed a woman went to police in 2021 with allegations that she had been raped and physically assaulted by Boulter while they were at Aparima College in Riverton in 2003.

A police report form detailing the allegations, seen by RNZ, said police investigated two allegations of historical sexual assault and one allegation of physical assault made by the woman.

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

The report said Boulter had “numerous convictions” and referred to his “violent offending” making national headlines.

In April 2021, the woman, then aged 32, went to the Hamilton Central Police Station with her partner to report a sexual assault.

During a preliminary interview she alleged she had been raped by Boulter on two occasions and was physically assaulted by him on one occasion.

The alleged attacks occurred over a one-two week period when she was 15 and he was 14.

“[The woman] stated that she had seen something in the media where Boulter’s adult offending was reported on and this has triggered an emotional response from her,” the police report said.

“She thought it was best to now report what happened to her as a young person as the offending had caused ongoing psychological damage.”

The report also said that when talking about the sexual assaults the woman’s position was “she only went along with it as she was fearful, felt coerced and was subject to Boulter’s control and pressure”.

The woman was formally interviewed by police a week later where she detailed the three incidents.

She described feeling “fearful, scared, and terrified” during the first incident.

A week later she alleged Boulter raped her again one night in her home.

“[She] described being in shock and panicking.

“She talked about being 15yrs, underage and not wanting to get into trouble.”

She said Boulter was “laughing, smiling, and smirking”.

“Before leaving, Boulter threatened to kill [the woman’s] father if she said anything.”

The third incident, an allegation of assault with a weapon, occurred when the pair ran away together days later.

The woman told police they spent about two days hitchhiking together, using her money to fund the trip.

While on the main street in Balclutha the pair had an argument and Boulter allegedly presented a knife and pressed it against the woman’s neck. She said she ran off and sought help at the Balclutha Pub where two women helped her.

The woman told police that she “went off the rails” in the years that followed.

Boulter was interviewed by Detective Jason Bishop from the Waikato Child Protection Team at Otago Prison on 24 June, 2021.

Boulter was formally cautioned and provided with legal advice. After speaking to a duty lawyer he declined to provide a statement.

“In response to the allegations Boulter denied any wrongdoing. He informed Detective Jason Bishop that [the woman] was his girlfriend during the period in question.

“Boulter stated that the sex that occurred between the two was not rape and commented on it being his first sexual encounter.”

The police report said that “notably” the woman had earlier described Boulter as being the first person she had sex with.

“She also commented on him being a popular classmate, appreciating him showing interest in her on occasion and talking about school camp where there was some positive interaction involving leg touching.”

The author of the report said it was their “personal belief that the requisite evidence is not present” to meet the Solicitor-General’s prosecution guidelines.

“In my opinion the required minimum standard for a prosecution is not attained and to do so would risk a possible miscarriage of justice.”

In relation to public interest, the author said there was “no doubt” the matter was serious enough that public interest could require a prosecution, but identified several matters to consider. This included where a prosecution was likely to have a “detrimental impact” on the physical or mental health of the victim, and where the defendant was a youth at the time of the alleged offending.

It was recommended the matter should be filed.

The woman told RNZ going to police in 2021 was “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done”.

She was “devastated”, when police told her they would not be laying charges.

“I felt misheard and abandoned. I lost faith in the justice system’s ability to protect victims and prevent repeated harm.”

The woman was referred to mental health services in June 2003 by the principal of Apirima College and a counsellor.

The counsellor’s referral, seen by RNZ, said the woman had been going through a “difficult experience as a result of a break-up with a year 10 boy in her class with whom she had a sexual relationship”.

“It is my impression that [the woman] has been subject to severe emotional and physical pressure from this youth in order to obtain sexual favours since the break-up.”

The woman was “fearful” of the possibility of Boulter returning to school following an extended suspension.

The counsellor noted that the woman’s father told them that he had spoken to the police.

Notes seen by RNZ said she was referred following concerns about her mood, self-esteem and PTSD after “an abusive relationship” with Boulter.

“Nathan has consistently been emotionally + physically abusive including slapping her around, pushing her to the ground at school, frequently stating he would kill himself if she did not comply to his demands.

“[The woman] has also been under pressure to give sex when she would otherwise wouldn’t have.”

The notes from the intake nurse also said Boulter had threatened to kill her, at which point her father contacted police and a protection order was put in place.

The woman said police were notified of her allegations in 2003. However, a privacy act request she made did not find any record of any complaints at the time.

The woman told RNZ Boulter was “controlling, possessive, and violent”.

“I was terrified of him, but I felt trapped because no one seemed to take it seriously.”

She said she heard about Boulter being charged with murder from friends in Riverton.

“My heart sank,” she recalled.

“My reaction was one of grief, disbelief, and anger. It brought everything back. I was heartbroken for the victim and her family in Christchurch and it confirmed my fears that the warning signs were there all along, but no one intervened when they could have.”

She wants to see Boulter “locked up indefinitely”.

“I want people to understand that these patterns of harm don’t happen in isolation. When victims are dismissed or disbelieved, it allows offenders to escalate.

“I hope sharing this encourages better accountability, for schools, police, and communities to act decisively when young people report harm. Because if someone had acted 20 years ago, this story could have had a very different ending.”

Case ‘did not reach the threshold’

Waikato district manager of criminal investigations Detective Inspector Daryl Smith told RNZ police immediately began an investigation in 2021 when the woman came forward.

The investigation included interviewing both parties involved.

“Upon reviewing all the available evidence, the matter did not reach the threshold to prosecute under the Solicitor-General Prosecution Guidelines.”

At this stage, police had no intention to review the matter, Smith said.

“However if any further information comes to light then police will of course assess this and action any appropriate follow up as required.”

Where to get help:

Sexual violence

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