Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police Assistant Commissioner Sam Hoyle was the senior staffer who visited Jevon McSkimming along with former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura while he faced charges of possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

McSkimming pleaded guilty earlier this month.

The former deputy commissioner was arrested on 27 June.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier confirmed to RNZ Kura and another member of the “wider senior leadership team” visited McSkimming while he faced the charges.

RNZ can now reveal the other staffer was Sam Hoyle who is the Assistant Commissioner chief capability and infrastructure officer.

RNZ understands Kura asked Hoyle to visit McSkimming with her. It’s understood the purpose of the visit was to do a welfare check on McSkimming.

Hoyle was not mentioned in the IPCA’s report released last week.

RNZ asked police if Hoyle had any comment.

Chambers earlier told RNZ he became aware Kura visited McSkimming in July.

“When I found out about that from concerned colleagues, I asked Tania Kura for an explanation and I expressed my disappointment in her,” Chambers said.

“To me it showed a total lack of judgement and very bad decision making. It was inappropriate for an executive member and a statutory deputy commissioner.”

Asked what Kura’s response was, Chambers said “she seemed surprised that I saw it as a problem”.

Chambers said it was for Kura to say why she visited McSkimming.

“However, it was my view there was no reasonable explanation.”

Asked whether it led to Kura’s retirement, Chambers said that was not discussed.

“A short time later, Ms Kura did announce she was retiring from NZ Police.”

RNZ approached Kura for comment on why she visited McSkimming, and whether it had anything to do with her retirement.

RNZ also asked her if she had any response to the IPCA’s report.

She replied, “sorry … not at this point. However for balance you could check how many other people have done the same”.

In response, Chambers said he was aware another member of the “wider senior leadership team” visited McSkimming along with Kura.

“I did speak to that person and expressed my disappointment at the decision making and lack of judgement.

“Mr McSkimming also had regular contact with a member of my leadership team appointed by me as a welfare point of contact, as is the usual process with Police.

“That was in an official capacity and was appropriate. That person did not visit his home and did not meet with him in person after charges had been laid.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealanders are buying home tests for pregnancy, herpes, chlamydia and more that may be no more accurate than flipping a coin.

The tests, which give on-the-spot results, are called invitro devices used at point of care – and include RATS (rapid antigen tests) and urine pregnancy kits.

They had surged in popularity since the Covid pandemic but a paper in the New Zealand Medical Journal Friday said they were largely unregulated.

Last year, over-the-counter RAT tests for chlamydia, gonorrhoea and herpes-2 were “vigourously advertised and sold” in New Zealand.

But, they had not been verified, and overseas evidence on similar kits showed they performed poorly, the paper said.

In 2021, a pregnancy test was withdrawn for showing a high rate of false positives. In 2016, one that had been used professionally gave too many false negatives or inconclusive results.

One of the report authors, pathologist Samarina Musaad, said having inaccurate or inconsistent tests could have serious impacts.

For example, a false negative pregnancy test may mean some people could not make informed choices about their care – or they might have a procedure or medication that was not safe for pregnancy.

A false positive could be very disappointing – or cause a lot of anxiety – depending on people’s situations, she said.

A cabinet paper to former Health Minister Shane Reti last year said there were “low performance devices” available online and from major retailers but there was no public information about the volume being sold.

One test had a false negative rate of between 37 and 88 percent, the cabinet paper said.

“Given many STIs are asymptomatic even while the person is infectious, a false negative result may lead to a person and their sexual partners being falsely reassured that they do not have an infection and may affect their sexual behaviours in a way that increases the risk of transmission,” it said.

Musaad said the examples showed better regulation was needed.

“There are huge concerns from many clinicians that these tests are little more than the flip of a coin,” she said.

Many tests were easily available online at sites like Amazon and Ali Express.

On one hand, it was good for consumers to have choice but they also needed to be able to make an informed decision, Musaad said.

Under the current rules, anyone could bring anything into the country and use it, she said.

Sub-standard tests had sometimes also made their way into health clinics and found to be inaccurate when tested in labs, she said.

At the moment, Pharmac could fund tests for use even when they had not been approved as safe and reliable by Medsafe – something that needed to change, Musaad said.

Regulations minister David Seymour said Medsafe could not approve every product available, particulary if they were from international sellers.

But, Pharmac had its own procedures for assessing which tests would be funded, including expert advice about their suitability, he said.

People should make safe decisions when buying the tests, he said.

“For example, purchasing [point of care tests] from pharmacies is much safer than purchasing them online, because Medsafe can recall unsafe or ineffective products and remove them from shelves,” he said.

There was work underway into an approval process for the tests before they came into the country, 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

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) is calling on the professional firefighters union to call off strike action planned for Friday.

Paid firefighters will walk off the job for an hour at midday as the two parties continue to negotiate a new collective agreement.

Areas affected by the strike are Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill.

On Tuesday next week, the case was set to be before the Employment Relations Authority for an urgent facilitation meeting.

FENZ Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said striking was unwarranted given its meeting to discuss the case at the ERA and that they were continuing pay talks in good faith.

Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) national committee member David Phillips said it’d be prepared to call off the strike if the employer was willing to get around the table with meaningful solutions.

Phillips said that included problems with staffing and equipment.

“Whilst we have met with Fire and Emergency this week in bargaining, being on the bargaining team myself I can tell you it was disappointing … not surprising but disappointing.”

FENZ was offering a 5.1 percent pay increase over three years.

Stiffler said both were far apart in their offers at a meeting this week and that she was disapppointed the strike would go ahead.

Faulty brakes cause late response to Ōtara house fire

The firefighters union said a crew was seven minutes later to a house fire than it should have been because of a faulty handbrake on a truck.

It said the delay getting to the fire in the Auckland suburb of Ōtara on Wednesday morning could have been deadly if people had still been inside the home.

The union said the trip from the station to the scene should have taken just a minute, but instead it took eight because the handbrake on the truck jammed.

Phillips said it was a nightmare situation trying to get the vehicle moving while a house was going up in flames.

He said they were lucky no one was in the home at the time.

“As you can imagine if you are stuck in that house fire and you are waiting eight minutes instead of two minutes that is a long period of time and potentially a fatal period of time.”

He said it was the latest problem in an extensive list of fleet failures that the union had highlighted.

Fire and Emergency said it was hypocritical for the union to criticise an eight minute response when it was compromising public safety with a one hour strike at midday today.

Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said the fire broke out at 12.04 in the morning and when the Ōtara crew couldn’t respond because of the brake problem, a crew was sent from Papatoetoe and arrived at 12.12. A second crew from Ōtara arrived at 12.15.

She said fire trucks were large, complicated machines and sometimes they broke down despite regular servicing.

“We acknowledge we have an ageing fleet and that is why we have a fleet replacement programme underway.

“We’ve replaced 317 trucks since Fire and Emergency New Zealand was established in 2017.

“We have 78 more trucks on order, and plan to spend approximately $20m a year for the next five years to continue to replace our older appliances,” she 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

Two people have been killed and another seriously injured after a crash between a car and a truck north of Timaru on Thursday evening.

Emergency Services were called to the scene on State Highway One near the intersection of Brosnan Road at about 5.10pm.

Police said two people died at the scene while a third was airlifted to hospital in a serious condition.

Officers are investigating the scene and the road is expected to stay closed until later on Thursday night.

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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 equivalent of 4.8 million rubber car tyres have been collected in the first year of a recycle scheme.

Tyrewise is governed by a charitable trust and funded by the fee that is charged on the sale of all new regulated tyres in Aotearoa.

There are now 86 public collection points around the motu.

Tyrewise said a year into the scheme illegal dumping of tyres has been slashed, along with the number of tyres going to landfill.

Adele Rose, the CEO of 3R Group that manages the Tyrewise Scheme, told Checkpoint the number of tyres recycled had continued to steadily tick up, today reaching close to five million.

Currently, around half of the recycled tyres remain within the country.

“About half of them go to Golden Bay for use as an alternative to coal and their cement production.”

While rubber being burnt is not usually seen as a sustainable method, Rose said a unique process is used at Golden Bay to ensure it is clean.

“It’s actually a really unique method of combustion. It’s called hot disc and it actually literally as it sounds, it’s two very hot discs that heat up the tyres.

“There’s also clinker that’s formed as a result of the tyres being combusted and that clinker goes in as an add mixture into the production of cement and that’s what enables Golden Base cement to produce their low carbon cement product.”

She said there is rigourous air quality testing to ensure that it is a clean burning method.

The remainder of the recycled tyres are then shipped offshore.

“Then there is about 20,000 tonnes which are exported offshore to verified markets… for a whole range of things like rubber for matting and various other products like that.”

Rose hopes that the number of tyres being recycled onshore would increase over the coming years.

“The scheme has only been going for a year and you can’t magically produce the domestic market within one year,” she said.

“That volume will be reducing as our market in New Zealand can utilise the rubber.”

The trust is currently focusing on using the recycled tyres for rubber roading.

“That will take about 18,000 tonnes of tyre crumb so you can see there’s a really awesome balance there, where we can stimulate your own market, we can reduce the amount that’s been exported.”

Rose said construction is another key area they hope to use the recycled rubber in.

“Anything you can imagine that has rubber in it, like engineered materials, building materials, paved materials.”

Tyrewise is aiming to have 80 percent of tyres transformed into products that can stay in New Zealand by 2028.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Indigenous peoples are leaving the world’s largest indigenous education conference (WIPCE) feeling inspired, uplifted and strengthened.

Over the week thousands of indigenous educators descended on Aotea Centre, Tāmaki Makaurau, for the World Indigenous Peoples’ Conference on Education 2025 (WIPCE).

Alongside keynote speakers and hundreds of presentations, discussions over the week-long hui have centred on kotahitanga (unity), shared strategy, and the reaffirmation of Indigenous sovereignty.

Miriam Zmiewski-Angelova (Choctaw, Cherokee descendant, Black) travelled from traditional Duwamish territory in Seattle.

Her mahi (work) with Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services brought her to WIPCE as a kaikōrero (speaker).

She told RNZ this week’s experience in Aotearoa has been “life changing,” especially sharing memories and learnings with her tamariki (children).

“We need to do more to make sure that there’s representation of indigenous folks, especially in the places that the education systems are happening in.”

She said it’s an experience “that we don’t have enough of.”

“Many times we’re at these conferences, and we’re desperately trying to find each other. I would love for a conference like this to be every year.”

Barbara Dude (Tlingit) and Margaret Katzeek (Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska) travelled to Aotearoa from Juneau, Alaska.

They told RNZ they are leaving the conference feeling incredibly inspired.

“It feels like we’re in the right place at the right time, and we needed to hear all these messages,” Dude said.

“Auckland is a big city, and so, I really didn’t know what to expect, but the people and hosts are just amazing.

“To be immersed in the singing and the dancing and rituals, the ceremony has been so uplifting.”

Katzeek said they hope to take back home with them the teachings and words from their ancestors, and other indigenous nations.

“The value of belonging has been really prevalent and that’s something that we really care about – making sure that our kids feel like they belong – so taking that energy back home is really important.”

Lee Breaker (Siksika Nation, Canada) is what he calls a ‘knowledge keeper’ of his peoples First Nations reserve.

This was his first visit to Aotearoa, and he said a big takeaway was experiencing a taste of te ao Māori.

“The Māori people are beautiful,” he said.

“I am learning about the culture of the Māori people right now. And right now, I believe it’s similar to what we do… especially the spiritual side.”

In their culture, they have the traditional practice of powwow – a gathering of Native American and First Nations peoples that involves dancing, singing, and celebration to honour and maintain tikanga, or traditions.

“What we do is a passion. It’s something that I can’t explain.

“We put our heart into our ceremonies back at home. And I see that [Māori] put a lot of heart into their ceremonies here too, learning to sing the songs and learning to understand the dance.”

Kereama Wright (Te Arawa) is a senior member of Ngāti Whakaue – the winning haka rōpū of Te Matatini 2025.

They were set to perform at Te Ao Pūtahi – a free festival taking place alongside the conference in Aotea Square.

He told RNZ kaupapa like WIPCE is hugely important, as it brings indigenous people from across the world together.

“We might be experiencing unprecedented attacks on our culture and on our language and on our lands, but we are better together. We are stronger together,” he said.

This year Wright has been to around six different countries, and he said that as a result of Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke’s viral haka in response to the Treaty Principles Bill, people identify him as Māori wherever he goes.

“That’s why I think it’s important that we come together as indigenous people, so that we can share the trauma, so that we can share the success stories, so that we can share models of education and models of political discourse that might be beneficial to other indigenous cultures.”

He said it’s also important to come together as one to give each other some “awhiawhi, hugs and kisses.”

Te Tai Tokerau leader Hone Harawira told RNZ, the importance of language revitalisation remained a core focus of the week-long hui.

“The language is the portal to your independence,” he said.

“Without an understanding of the reo, you can’t truly understand rangatiratanga, you can’t truly understand those principles which make us the special people that we are.

“You can learn about them in an academic way, but if you follow the reo, you can hold on to its principles.”

He encourages whānau to not “just chase around the edges,” and instead have the courage to challenge themselves to be a bit better every day, so that our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren can see role models that they can feel comfortable aspiring to.”

“Charge into the reo, build your next generation so that those who do take over have something that we just struggled to have.”

The next WIPCE will take place in Hawai’i in 2028.

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