Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

Northland Regional Council says a woman whose teaching registration was cancelled for serious misconduct is no longer employed by them.

The Teaching Council’s Disciplinary Tribunal has found April Nordstrom had a sexual relationship with a student at Whangārei Girls’ High School and behaved inappropriately towards three other students at Horowhenua College in Levin.

The years the students attended the schools have not been disclosed by the tribunal to protect their identities.

Northland Regional Council Chief Executive Jonathan Gibbard told RNZ that Nordstrom was their Māori Policy Planner from 2022 until the role was disestablished.

“The Māori Policy Planner position was fixed-term in nature, which came to an end earlier this year.

“Whilst April is no longer employed by Northland Regional Council as an employee, she was engaged as an external contractor, which will be reviewed.”

He said the council did pre-employment checks, but would not answer questions about what Nordstrom disclosed to them prior to being hired.

‘We are not able to provide private information due to the Privacy Act.

“However, we can confirm that we have an extensive recruitment process where we conduct a number of pre-employment checks before making offers to suitable candidates.

“The position of the Māori Policy Planner was to advise on policy and planning matters; the position did not require contact with children and young people.

“At NRC, we conduct police vetting for those who hold positions that work with children as per the Children’s 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

Whangārei woman Brooke Gibson was left feeling burned when she tried to use a $200 gift card for a local restaurant.

“We were given a gift voucher by a contractor that we used and I assumed it was 12 months and put it away for safe keeping … fast forward eight months later, I go to use it and I see it was only valid for six months.”

She asked the restaurant whether they would still honour it and was told they would not.

Gibson said she always tried to support local business but felt it had been handled poorly and she was not given an explanation for why there was no leeway.

New rules are set to take effect for gift cards that will stop situations such as this from happening.

From 16 March, new rules take effect that mean gift cards have to have a minimum expiry time of three years.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said there had been some uncertainty about what was captured.

She said some retailers had wondered how gift cards related to loyalty programmes would be affected by the rules, or vouchers given as incentives or bonuses.

The Commerce Commission on Friday issued guidance that made it clear that any gift voucher or card had to work with the new three-year expiration date rules, no matter whether they were in exchange for money, loyalty points or offered with another purchase.

While prepaid top-up cards for telecommunication services, public transport, electricity, gas, or water services are excluded from the changes, any other prepaid top-up cards will be required to adhere to the new minimum expiry. Loyalty points are not affected.

Gift cards given out free would be exempt.

“This clarification is useful for retailers to understand what is captured by these new rules. While it might not be the news that some businesses will have been hoping for or expecting, it provides clear guidance that they can now use to make the relevant adjustments,” Young said.

“We are heartened to hear that the Commerce Commission will be taking a pragmatic approach to enforcement as retailers work to update their programmes.”

The commission also said in cases where businesses automatically provide a consumer with a voucher once they reached a minimum spend threshold or a required number of loyalty points, its view was that such vouchers were not subject to the expiry requirements because they were automatically generated rather than forming part of a sale.

The Commerce Commission said if there was no expiry date given, there was no limit on how long a customer had to use a card.

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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 have taken action against fewer children and young people, including fewer cases involving young people and serious offending, but more involving children and serious offending, new figures show.

The Youth Justice Indicators report, published on Friday, said in the year to June 2025 the rate of police action against children decreased by 22 percent, and against young people by nine percent.

The report, published by the Ministry of Justice, defines those aged 10 to 13 years old as children, and 14 to 17-year-olds as young people.

When measured relative to population size, the rate of offending decreased from 75 to 58 per 10,000 children, and from 252 to 220 per 10,000 young people.

The report only counts youth offending in cases where police proceed to take action against a child or young person, including in the form of warnings, youth justice family group conferences (FGCs), and prosecution in the Youth Court.

There were eight percent fewer cases in which police action was taken against young people for the most serious offences – carrying a maximum penalty of 14 or more years.

But for children, that number increased by 17 percent, leading to a higher rate of police action for serious offending.

This reflected increased action against youth with previous justice system involvement, who were more likely to seriously offend, the report said.

The report also found the rate at which police action was taken and rates of reoffending amongst children and young people remained relatively stable.

Of those who had police action taken against them, one in 10 children and three in 10 young people were proceeded against with an FGC or court hearing – roughly the same proportion as last year, it said.

For young people found guilty in court in 2022, 54 percent reoffended within two years.

For 16-year-olds found guilty in court in 2022, 42 percent reoffended and entered the adult system within two years.

However, for youth managed outside of the formal justice system, the reoffending rate decreased, the report found.

For children who received “alternative actions” or warnings for their first proceeding, the reoffending rate decreased from 27 percent to 24 percent.

For young people who received alternative actions or warnings for their first proceeding, the reoffending rate decreased from 22 percent to 20 percent.

The report also considered the type of offending for which children and young people faced police action.

Theft remained the most common offence, making up 37 percent, followed by assault at 14 percent, it said.

The report also acknowledged that “the vast majority of children (98 percent) and young people (88 percent) referred for a youth justice FGC had a previous care and protection report of concern”.

It pointed to a new inter-agency initiative that was last month introduced by Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston aimed at supporting youth whose sole parent was in custody.

“This initiative aims to ensure an immediate focus on the safety, wellbeing and adequacy of care arrangements for these children, which could also address the cycle of intergenerational justice involvement.”

The report outlined that Māori and Pasifika children and young people continued to be significantly disproportionally likely to face police proceedings as a result of offending.

Māori youth were more than twice as likely to be involved in the youth justice system compared with the total population, it said.

“Tamariki and rangatahi Māori are disproportionately represented in all stages of the youth justice system, suggesting that the system inadequately responds to their needs.”

• Of children proceeded against, 63 percent were tamariki Māori, and of young people, 53 percent were rangatahi Māori.
• Of young people appearing in court, 68 percent were rangatahi Māori.
• Of youth remanded into custody, 72 percent were tamariki and rangatahi Māori.
• 32 percent of Pasifika young people proceeded against had an FGC or court action, compared with 30 percent for the total population.
• 29 percent of Pasifika young people proceeded against appeared in court, compared with 26 percent for the total population.
• 38 percent of Pasifika children and young people who appeared in the Youth Court were remanded into custody, compared with 32 percent for the total population.

“While a part of disproportionality in the justice system may be explained by factors such as seriousness of offending or offending history, recent work completed by the Ministry shows that some of it remains unexplained”, the report 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

Waipā District is now in the recovery stage after extreme weather forced it into a state of emergency earlier this month.

But with some residents still cut off and the town of Pirongia still rationing water, things were far from back to normal.

RNZ talked to Paul Candace, who lives on Mount Pirongia, two weeks after the disaster.

He explained the moment he knew something was badly wrong.

“I saw the whole mountain go black from a cloud,” he said.

This was followed by a massive noise up in the mountain.

Flash flooding bought boulders, logs and massive amounts of water down the mountain.

“We were told in one [flash flood] we have video of, 200 million litres of water came down in one go.”

Twenty families live off a one-way road up the mountain. The road was plummeted and the hamlet was cut off.

Days went by, families shared what they could and a way through a farm was opened for those with a four-wheel drive.

But two weeks on, the road was still closed and the community continued to rely on the good will of the farmer’s track which takes three times as long as normal to travel through and can only be used on a dry day.

Candace wasn’t sure when the road would be back. The flash flooding, damage, and uncertainty was taking its toll, including financially.

“For me and my family we can’t make any money because my wife has her business up on the mountain and I need to get down to my contracts. People go ‘oh yeah, you lost fencing’ and that sort of stuff… it’s a little bit deeper than that,” Candace said.

Another major worry for the community was the environment.

The Department of Conservation stated that Pirongia Mountain was the largest area of native forest remaining close to Hamilton.

It was home to many native birds and the community worked hard to make it safe to reintroduce the North Island kōkako.

That’s all under threat.

“From these sorts of weather events, obviously the birds are in danger, but what happens is all of our trapping systems are down, the tracks have been washed out,” Candace said.

The pest species also tended to explode after a major weather event, he said.

Waipā councillor Clare St Pierre spent years supporting the Pirongia restoration work and was also deeply concerned.

“There has been significant damage I understand and big slips. It’s the Department of Conservation’s role to assess what the damage is so we are just waiting on that,” she said.

The Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society said it would welcome any financial or volunteer help to try and protect and restore what remained.

Off the mountain and in the village of Pirongia, water also continued to be rationed after major damage to the reservoir.

St Pierre said for many people and places around Pirongia life isn’t “back to normal”.

“There’s recognition at council that it is going to take time, so there is a real desire to make sure those people are supported over the medium term, not just now but going forward,” she said.

Good news came through every day; people were making an effort to support local businesses and the New Zealand Transport Agency had found a solution to reopen State Highway 39.

But what was quickly broken would take much time to repair.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

One person has been injured after steel piles fell on a worker’s leg at a road construction site in Auckland.

Emergency services were sent to the incident at the the intersection of Sunnyvale Road and Red Hills Road in the suburb of Massey shortly after 4pm.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said firefighters had extracted the injured person.

The patient was taken to North Shore Hospital in a moderate condition, according to St John.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Secondary principals say the worsening shortage of teachers is forcing schools to cancel subjects and hire untrained teachers.

Education Ministry figures showed schools this year faced a bigger shortfall of secondary teachers than previously expected.

It forecast a shortage of secondary 710 teachers this year, 510 next year and 190 in 2028 – higher than last year’s estimate of 550 and 330 for this year and next.

The ministry said parts of Auckland were among the worst-affected areas and Otahuhu College principal Neil Watson said he was seeing it.

“There’s a real shortage of good quality candidates coming through,” he said.

“The time it takes to actually make an appointment would be about the longest I’ve experienced. You’re starting to recruit for next year almost constantly.”

Watson said he had enough teachers for 2026 – but only just.

“We’ve been very lucky. We got our last teacher for this year – they got their visa yesterday, so they’ll be turning up in 10 days,” he said.

“So we are really fortunate here at Otahuhu College that we’re fully staffed now, but it’s been a lot of hard work to get there.”

Auckland Secondary Principals Association president Claire Amos said the city’s schools had been complaining about teacher shortages for years.

She said schools had been forced to abandon some subjects and squeeze more students into classes.

“The way that this gets dealt with is that you do cut back on the offering of classes,” she said.

“It might mean that smaller subjects are no longer a viable option so you start cutting back on the variety of subjects that you offer. It also means that classes end up getting bigger. I’ve heard of local schools that have up to 35 students in a senior class and we know that in senior secondary classes the ideal number is about 20 to 25.”

Amos said the shortage was also prompting schools to hire people who were not trained teachers.

“It means that a whole lot of untrained teachers are actually in front of our young people so people are relying on things like Limited Authority to Teach in order to have a living breathing human being in front of the young people,” she said.

Otahuhu’s Neil Watson said his school stopped offering Accounting as a subject in 2024 because it could not find a teacher and it stopped offering the Technology subject Hard Materials for the same reason.

He said his school had several people working under Limited Authority to Teach, but that was part of an in-school teacher education programme for people studying to become fully-registered teachers.

The ministry’s figures showed that while there were too few secondary teachers, there was a surplus of primary school teachers.

Its previous forecast of a shortage for this year was now expected to be an over-supply of 530 teachers with ongoing surpluses in successive years.

However the ministry’s report said primary schools in Taranaki, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty faced persistent shortages over the next three years.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said there had never been so many teachers in New Zealand schools.

“Currently, we have more teachers in the workforce since records began in 2004, with the largest year-on-year increase for primary teachers in 2024 and for secondary teachers in 2025,” 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

Nelson City Council is putting $100,000 towards helping vulnerable and homeless women in the city.

The grant to the Nelson Women’s Centre will support a new housing navigator role to help women into safe and stable housing so its social worker can respond to other urgent needs.

The centre’s funding and partnership coordinator, Augusta van Wijk, said about 30 percent of its social work caseload had involved housing-related concerns in the past year and that did not include the women who had to be referred elsewhere due to limited capacity.

“We’re using this funding to employ a dedicated housing navigator – a practical, targeted role that will strengthen our ability to support women into safe, stable housing and enable our social worker to respond to other urgent needs,” she said.

“It’s about increasing our capacity, reach and impact at a time when the needs of vulnerable women in our community are growing.”

Women’s homelessness was often hidden with women struggling to access support early enough, van Wijk said.

It would prioritise women who were homeless, living in unsafe environments or who had dependent children living with them in unstable housing.

The grant was from the council’s housing reserve fund, which was established in 2021 following the sale of its community housing portfolio to Kāinga Ora.

About $12 million was held to reinvest in social housing and to support community housing providers in Nelson.

Nelson mayor Nick Smith said the fund had been used to support the development of more than 115 homes.

The council’s work on housing had identified a gap in specialist support for women, some with children, who were homeless or in vulnerable housing, he said.

“There is no single silver bullet for Nelson’s challenges with homelessness and we need multiple interventions,” Smith said.

“I’m hugely encouraged by how much new private-sector, state and community housing we are getting built in Nelson but we also need well-targeted social services such as Housing First and this new Women’s Centre intervention to ensure every Nelsonian has a warm, dry home to live in.”

Nelson City councillor Sarah Kerby said the programme tackled a clear need for many women living in the city without housing security.

“The navigator role will help the centre provide early intervention for women when they need it the most and I would encourage our wāhine to get in contact with them if their housing situation becomes precarious or unsafe. They will find themselves in supportive hands that will help them get closer to finding somewhere safe and healthy to live.”

The remaining housing reserve funds are ring-fenced for housing projects for vulnerable people and will be allocated in the future.

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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 Napier men have been charged in connection with the homicide of Sharlene Smith whose body was found on a worksite in Omahu.

64-year-old Smith was earlier identified by police as a ‘much-loved mother, grandmother and sister’ from Rotorua.

Smith’s body was found at a property on Taihape Road in Omahu, near Hastings, on 3 February.

A 47-year-old man has been arrested today and charged with murder and injuring with intent, and is expected to appear in Napier District Court tomorrow.

A 45-year-old man was arrested yesterday and charged with accessory after the fact to a culpable homicide.

He appeared in court today and is remanded to reappear in Napier on 4 March.

The 45-year-old man also faces three domestic-related charges unrelated to Smith’s death.

Police had also previously identified a a white 2005 Mazda 3 sports hatchback as being a vehicle of interest in the case.

Detective Inspector Martin James said he hopes the arrest would reassure Sharlene’s family and the community.

“It’s been 24 days since Sharlene’s body was found, and for our busy team to have achieved this result so promptly should reassure the community we take these significant incidents incredibly seriously.”

Detective Inspector James praised the work of the investigation team, and members of the community who have come forward with information such as CCTV footage.

“They have taken the time to trawl through video and then notify Police, and their efforts have helped immensely in getting these quick arrests.”

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