Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Rail Minister has lifted the lid on how the government plans to save cash on the new Cook Strait ferries.

The costings have been revealed for the project which will see two new ships sail into New Zealand in 2029 with new port infrastructure.

When Finance Minister Nicola Willis pulled the plug on iReX, the previous government’s mega ferry project, she said at the time costs had quadrupled since 2018 to $3 billion.

Willis stated the spiralling costs were largely due to the port side infrastructure in Wellington and Picton.

The iReX project included new terminal buildings on both sides of the Cook Strait, an upgraded rail yard in Wellington and significant flood protection work.

The new plan strips back those costs by reusing much of the existing infrastructure – with the taxpayer expected to pay less than $1.7 billion.

Rail Minister Winston Peters said at a press conference on Wednesday they were saving billions.

“In fact, we have saved the taxpayer $2.3 billion… one more time we have saved the taxpayer $2.3 billion.”

That calculation was based on the iReX project blowing out to $4 billion, a figure he has said in the past Treasury warned the previous government it could cost.

Wellington Mayor and former cabinet minister Andrew Little said it was good they have been able to find a fix to the huge port costs.

“I think they have got a different solution on infrastructure; something had to happen because the infrastructure costs were going to be astronomical.”

Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said it provided direction for the community.

“We have been through the iReX iteration, now we are into the new project and today’s announcement gives us that level of certainty.”

She accepted that Picton would not get the new terminal pitched as part of iReX.

“I think that it is in line with the government’s pragmatic reuse policy, and you know as a country we have to be sensible about these things.”

Peters would travel to China next week with Ferry Holdings Limited to acknowledge the contracts with Guangzhou Shipyard International.

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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

Soil tests done as part of a remediation project at a controversial former chemicals plant in New Plymouth have given a large section of the site a clean bill of health.

However, dioxins researcher and community advocate Andrew Gibbs has questioned why the area tested – the least likely contaminated section of the 16 hectare site – was chosen, and said the results amount to “green washing”.

Ivon Watkins – later Ivon Watkins-Dow – made the herbicides 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D at Paritūtū from 1962 through to 1987.

The herbicides 4,5-T and 2,4-D, which contained toxic dioxins, were a key component of Agent Orange – the defoliant used by the US military in the Vietnam War – which had been linked to cancers and birth defects.

The Paritūtū plant was demolished in 2022, and a five-stage clean-up process was expected to take several years.

Dow Chemicals which bought back the site in 2023 has partnered with New Zealand firm Tonkin & Taylor to undertake the remediation programme.

Paritūtū Remediation Project field staff took soil samples in November 2024 from 61 locations across a 2.6 hectare grassed area in the southwest corner of the site, known as Zone 1, which borders residential housing and Centennial Park.

They were then independently analysed.

The analysis – which has been summarised on the Paritūtū Remediation Project website – found the main soil types were interbedded sands and clay.

“[There was] some evidence of fill material was found in two sample locations; however, these were tested for specific analytes (chemical entities) and there was no evidence of contamination.”

Dioxins levels “were all well below the relevant New Zealand Soil Contaminant Standards”.

Zinc at above typical levels was found in samples taken from an area near the site boundary, but they appeared to be unrelated to Dow operations, the summary said.

Area tested had low contamination – dioxin researcher

Dioxins researcher Andrew Gibbs questioned why the Paritūtū Remediation Project team had decided to test Zone 1 first.

“They haven’t tested the most contaminated sites that were identified in 1985 and the late 90s. They’ve gone straight to an area where contamination was low, which makes for a good soundbite for them, but it doesn’t really look at the core problem.

“You would have thought they would have tested where they found the highest contamination in ’85 where the extracted dioxin and waste was stored, which is just north of Zone 1.

“And underneath the two soak ponds, one of which has never been tested, the northern one, and the western one that straddled both sides of the boundary fence, where extremely high levels of contamination were found.”

Gibbs said while it was good news for Zone 1, publishing these test results smacked of “green washing”.

Paritūtū Remediation Project said it was a deliberate choice to first test in Zone 1.

“This area was chosen for the first phase because it was expected to have low contamination levels and presented a good opportunity to test investigation methods before moving on to other areas of the site.”

This logical sequence of investigation was agreed with the independent peer reviewer before work commenced in November 2024, the project team said.

Testing in Zone 1 would help refine the plan for the next stages of the site investigation.

Last year, the Paritūtū Remediation Project team completed a desktop Preliminary Site Investigation which acknowledged the potential for contamination to still exist at Paritūtū which could affect human health and/or the environment.

It had since divided the site into 10 zones as part of a Sampling and Analysis Plan.

The new bore samples taken in Zone 1 were part of Phase 1 of that plan and field staff drilled to depths varying from 1m to 3m.

A further round of soil sampling was completed in June 2025 focused on grassed areas, with a limited number collected in the hardstand (paved) area on the west of the site.

According to the project website, 68 soil samples were taken from 31 locations which had been analysed by an independent laboratory for future reporting.

Process too slow, says mayor

Meanwhile, New Plymouth mayor Max Brough was disappointed with how long the remediation process was taking.

“It seems to be taking a very long time and I question whether we have enough will being applied to getting through this process fast enough.”

Brough’s predecessor Neil Holdom was adamant the site was contaminated.

“I absolutely believe that site is full of some of the most toxic materials that you can imagine in New Zealand and at very high levels of concentration and that they pose a real risk to human health and to the environment, particularly the neighbouring marine park,” he told RNZ last year.

He declined to comment on the latest test results deferring to New Plymouth’s current leaders.

Iwi monitors accompanied field staff during the testing, but were not it a position to comment on its results at this stage.

Brough said he was happy to take up the baton from Holdom.

“So my predecessor, as you know, has had some very strong opinions around that site. He’s probably come off a much greater level of knowledge than what I’ve walked into here in the first few weeks, but actually one of the organisations that’s on my list of people to set up a meeting with is the owner of that site from the early days.

“I’m happy to pick it up and take it on where Neil left off. Actually, that’s part of what we need to do in this city is clean up that site.”

Brough said he did not know whether to feel optimistic or not about the latest test results.

“I understand process can take a long time, but this is, this has been going on for far too long now already. Get on with it. That’s my message to the owners of that site. The people undertaking [the] job, get on with it.”

Paritūtū Remediation Project said the Taranaki Regional Council had scheduled a briefing for New Plymouth district councillors in early December.

“This will provide a comprehensive update of the Paritūtū project, including a high-level overview of the timeline and long-term outlook.”

According to the project website, results from the Sampling and Analysis Plan would feed into a more complex Detailed Site Investigation (DSI) which would evolve as data became available.

“The DSI will be completed and submitted to the Regulators (Taranaki Regional Council) in due course, once the whole site has been investigated and the full report has been independently reviewed by the Council-appointed independent peer reviewer.”

A detailed remediation progress report, including an overview of the process being undertaken, was scheduled to be presented at Taranaki Regional Council in December.

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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 Education Review Office says the government should consider taking its mobile phone ban a step further and block children’s access to social media during school hours.

In a report published on Thursday, Do not disturb: A review of removing cell phones from New Zealand’s classrooms, the review office said the ‘phones away for the day’ policy was working, though parents undermined it with phonecalls and messages and many schools allowed some use of phones for educational purposes.

The report said 90 percent of schools had banned students from using phones at any time during the school day and most teachers it surveyed said the policy improved student behaviour and achievement.

However, it found a lot of secondary students did not comply with the policy – nearly half said they had sometimes used their phone in class and more than a third said they used their phones during breaks, in places that were out of teachers’ sight, or during class-time breaks.

“Older students told us that they often find covert ways to continue using their cell phones, especially if they feel the rules are unreasonable or poorly enforced. Students expressed that the presence of ‘rules’ means that some will automatically want to rebel, showing an increased desire to bring the ‘prohibited item’ to school as a form of resistance. They are also more sensitive to how rules are enforced and more likely to push back if they feel they’re being treated unfairly or being patronised,” the report said.

It also found that where students were breaking the rules, it was likely because parents were contacting them during school hours.

In addition, 76 percent of secondary schools and 35 percent of primary schools allowed students to use their phones in class for specific purposes, such as if they did not have a laptop or needed to take photographs.

However, 61 percent of teachers surveyed for the report said student achievement had improved since the ‘phones away for the day’ policy was introduced last year and 77 percent said student behaviour had improved.

Fifty-nine percent of secondary teachers said bullying had improved since the policy’s introduction and 63 percent said students’ mental health had improved.

Half the students who said they used their phones during school time said they did so to stay connected with family, and 37 percent said they were connecting with friends.

“More work needs to be done to ensure that both parents and students understand and are complying with the new rules. Compliance is more difficult with older students, and additional mechanisms to ensure compliance are required (such as enforcement). We are seeing that parents may be undermining compliance,” the report said.

The report recommended continuing the policy and said secondary schools should enforce it with consequences because that was the most effective approach.

It also recommended the government consider further action to remove other digital devices such as smartwatches and “consider ways to further reduce digital distractions by limiting or removing student access to social media during school hours”.

The report was based on survey responses from nearly 2000 teachers and principals and 3691 students, as well as focus groups with more than 65 participants.

ERO evaluation centre head, Ruth Shinoda, told RNZ it would be difficult to directly attribute any changes in achievement rates to the phone ban because there were many other changes happening in schools but it was clearly beneficial.

“Teachers are a really reliable source so if they say that it’s leading to focus and improved achievement we do expect that to flow through into the data,” she said.

Shinoda said schools with strong enforcement had the best results in terms of student compliance with the rules.

“We’ll have even better results if we have more students complying,” she said.

“Only half of secondary students comply and half don’t and the main reason for that is contacting or being contacted by their parents.”

Shionda said students were twice as likely to break the rules if they attended schools where there was parental resistance to the rules.

What teachers and students had to say

Teachers reported inconsistency in their application of the rules, with some being relaxed and others strict, and some said enforcing the rules could damage their relationships with students.

“Students don’t like rules around their phones. They try to beat the system all the time. They also get angry and sometimes aggressive when challenged to hand it in,” one teacher said.

The report said “the few teachers and leaders who saw no change in student engagement or focus” reported other sources of distraction such as smartwatches and laptops.

“They just use their laptops to message now instead of cell phone. Simply moved the problem,” one teacher said.

However, others said the policy had improved behaviour, bullying and students’ focus on their work.

“This has been one of the best policies the school could have implemented. The cyber bullying was at an all-time high before the policy was put in place. Now students talk to each other, and our students play,” a secondary school leader said.

“My teaching time has slightly improved because I’m not managing phone use in class,” a teacher said.

“For a bulk of them who we would normally just see sitting against a wall on their phones, they’re actually out there talking and doing stuff. And even if it is our Year 11s and 12s, so they actually end up wrestling half the time. It’s still blowing off steam, which is more constructive than just standing there,” said another.

Students acknowledged the phone rule was good for them.

“I think so far [the rules are] positive. There’s no more of me looking at my phone in my pocket no more, neglecting my learning in the middle of classes,” a senior secondary student said.

“I love using my phone. It has everything on it. It’s efficient. But with this ban, it taught me some restraint and I would say that I am able to focus better because I can’t use it. I got to do my work now. It just taught me how to prioritise things better,” said another.

But others told the report they sometimes ignored the rules and some resented them.

“The students are sneaky, they use their phones all the time, like in bathrooms and in class time, but the teachers never catch them,” a student told the review office.

“Teachers use their phones right in front of us and when we use them we get them taken off instantly. Also I find it extremely unfair we can’t use them during our break time,” said another.

One student warned that socially-isolated students were worse off because of the ban.

“I think the extremes have gotten worse. For example, the lonelier kids are getting lonelier. Especially students who don’t connect to people in real life. They don’t have that access to social media where that might be a safe space for them. And so now they’re just kind of sitting in the corner on their laptop,” they 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

A comprehensive review of Te Tari Pūreke Firearms Safety Authority found risks for the authority and police in relation to financial oversight and conflict-of-interest management across police.

RNZ earlier revealed a “health check” of the police agency had begun following concerns over its workplace culture, including intimate relationships as well as financial practices.

The review came after an “internal employment process” at the firearms regulator which was established following the Christchurch mosque attacks in 2019.

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

Police’s Chief Assurance Officer Mike Webb told RNZ the health check of the Firearms Safety Authority (FSA) was completed last month.

“It sought to identify whether disciplines around corporate hygiene and internal controls are widely understood and consistently applied in the FSA,” Webb said.

“The FSA was found to have operated in accordance with police policies in almost all cases sampled from December 2022 to June 2025 and the review identified a number of strengths in its corporate practices and controls.”

The review also made recommendations to “support improved police policy and practice”.

Three recommendations related to the FSA and 19 relate to wider police.

“Of note, the health check report highlighted some operational and governance risks for FSA and Police in the areas of financial oversight, lack of specificity in the sensitive expenditure policy at the time, and conflict-of-interest management across wider police.”

Webb said the FSA’s executive director, Angela Brazier, had accepted the findings and recommendations in the report and “acknowledged there is always opportunity for improvement”.

The report was considered by the police’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in late-October, as well as the independent Assurance and Risk Committee in mid-November.

“The Police SLT endorsed action to address the report’s non-FSA-specific recommendations, as well as tracking work on the recommendations.

“Several recommendations have already been actioned – for example, making updates to the sensitive expenditure policy, which are due to take effect from 1 December 2025.”

Brazier was one of several senior leaders within police criticised by the Independent Police Conduct Authority in its scathing report in relation to how police responded to allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming.

The IPCA said Brazier told them she had known McSkimming for about 20 years.

When the Public Service Commission approached her for a reference check on McSkimming in the appointment process for interim commissioner in October last year, she knew McSkimming had an affair, that he was being “harassed” with emails from the woman and that Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura had informed McSkimming that she had to investigate him as part of the police response.

However, Brazier told the PSC she had nothing relevant to disclose. She told the IPCA she did not think her knowledge was relevant to PSC’s question.

“Ms G’s disclosure was inadequate in light of her knowledge at the time,” the IPCA said.

A lawyer for Brazier earlier said she was challenging the IPCA’s findings in relation to her.

The lawyer confirmed to RNZ on Tuesday that Brazier was currently on “pre-planned leave”.

Last week, the government announced a new specialist firearms regulatory agency will be created, replacing the FSA. It will be headed by an independent chief executive appointed by the governor-general who would report solely to the firearms minister.

The new regulator would continue to sit within police, but without sworn police officers 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 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is widening its net to test products similar to play sand currently being recalled.

Quartz-based sand from Education Colours, Creatistics and Anko have been found to be contaminated with tremolite, a naturally occurring type of asbestos.

About 40 schools and early childcare centres have closed, or planned to, because of the contamination fears.

MBIE’s product safety spokesperson Ian Caplin said the ministry and other agencies were proactively testing samples from other similar products available in New Zealand.

“We are expecting to receive further results later this week and will update our partners and New Zealanders as they are received,” he said.

“In the meantime, our advice is that when in doubt, take a cautious approach and dispose of sand in accordance with the guidance on Health NZ and WorkSafe’s websites.”

Caplin said anyone who found sand products positive with asbestos after independent testing should send copies of the test report to recalls@mbie.govt.nz so the ministry could begin the recall process.

It comes after a West Auckland school notified families its play sand had tested positive, after previously saying they did not have any of the products on the recall list.

Matipo School in Te Atatu Peninsula wrote to parents saying it was testing other types of sand used for art activities as a precaution.

The school set out steps including independent testing, isolating and temporarily closing affected class rooms, and ensuring there was no access to the sand until it was confirmed safe.

However, Principal Jonnie Black wrote to members of the school community to say a small number of samples tested had returned positive results.

“I want to reassure our community that there is no immediate risk, and we are following all recommended Ministry of Education and health and safety procedures,” he said.

“Affected classrooms have been temporarily relocated while we complete air-quality testing and arrange professional decontamination of those spaces.”

Students were safe, well supervised and settled in alternative learning areas, he said.

Black said they had asked the families of specific classes to seal and return any sand-based artwork, so it could be disposed of safely and appropriately.

“This step is part of the national precautionary process to ensure full compliance with safety guidelines.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An AI scribe tool is being rolled out across the country’s emergency departments following trials in Hawke’s Bay and Whanganui.

However, while some clinicians were heralding the Heidi AI Scribe technology as “the way of the future”, others said more effective evaluation was needed to ensure benefits touted by its designers translated to the pressures of the emergency medicine.

Late last month, Health Minister Simeon Brown said trials in Hawke’s Bay and Whanganui had shown the system slashed the time clinicians spent on administrative duties.

“Doctors using the AI tool were able to see, on average, one additional patient per shift because of the time saved. That means faster care for patients and less waiting time in emergency departments.

“Based on this success, Health NZ has purchased an initial 1000 licences for frontline staff in emergency departments, enabling its nationwide rollout,” Brown said.

Tool slashes time spent on patient notes

The creator of the tool, Heidi Health, said the trials reduced the average time spent on documenting patient notes from 17 minutes to 4 minutes.

Created in Australia, the system was currently used in two million consultations each week across 116 countries, and had been adapted to work with the clinical language and systems used in New Zealand hospitals.

Co-founder of Heidi Health, Dr Thomas Kelly said reducing the administrative burden would allow staff more time to focus on the needs of their patients.

“Healthcare professionals should never have to choose between providing quality patient care and their own wellbeing. Yet the realities of an ED, with complex cases, heavy patient demand, and workforce shortages, can make that a difficult balance.

“Heidi’s ability to allow emergency staff to focus more on patient care, whilst providing much-needed relief from administrative burden, we hope will go some way to making that balance easier,” Kelly said.

Risk of catastrophic error higher in ED settings

However, Otago University Professor of bio-ethics Angela Ballantyne said ongoing work would be needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the tool in the high pressure environment of the country’s emergency departments.

“In ED you’ve got a team-based environment, multiple people contributing to the notes and, obviously, you’ve got critically unwell patients. So the risk of an error in those notes having a really catastrophic impact on patient safety and care is much higher,” Ballantyne said.

She said she had spoken to one doctor using a similar tool where a slight change in how a patient’s response had been recorded could have had serious implications for their treatment.

“The tool made a very subtle error. The patient had said they experienced this symptom for the first time ‘in the morning’ and the tool had changed it to ‘every morning’. So a very subtle difference but [it] has really significant clinical implications if someone else comes along and reads and tries to interpret that note.

“This doctor said it was only on the second read through that they realised that the error had been made,” she said.

Ballantyne said she was concerned that the Hawke’s Bay trial – which reviewed the experience of eight clinicians using the tools – had not gone into enough depth ahead of being implemented through the country’s hospitals.

“If this was a drug that was being rolled out there’s very set stages and processes for evaluating the safety and efficacy of those kind of products. Part of what’s tricky about the AI tools is that there’s not a clear regulatory pathway.

“So I would really encourage the government – at this point – to put in place mechanisms to evaluate and monitor this roll out and to be really publicly transparent about those details.

“I’m not saying don’t do it but, I think, do it carefully and evaluate,” Ballantyne said.

AI tool supports doctors in high pressure environment

Chair of the New Zealand faculty of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Dr Kate Allan has worked with the tool.

She said the technology acted as a silent assistant, listening to doctor’s and patient’s conversations and writing the clinical notes as they occurred.

She found it allowed doctors to deal with interruptions and changing situations without losing track of information.

“If I’ve just been to see a patient and I get pulled very quickly to go and see another patient – and you’re multi-tasking like that – I feel it’s much safer because the memory is there. Whereas if you’re going from A to B to C you could lose track when you’re writing your notes,” Allan said.

She was impressed by the technology’s ability to hear in noisy environments and cut out discussion during a consultation, which might be irrelevant.

“It’s incredible how it’s able to collate and summarise what [patients] say to us and putting it into the context of the consultation. It’s pretty amazing what it can do,” Allan said.

The time freed up by the tool allowed her to be more detailed in the information she used in notes – but it was still necessary to review the information.

“You have to check it. We all know that AI – at this stage – hallucinates and we need to ensure that’s not happening,” Allan said.

She had encountered some reluctance from patients to divulge personal information using the tool but said she was not concerned about any potential for privacy breaches.

“We know that all of the patient information that we are collecting gets deleted after it’s been used and we know that none of it’s been used as an AI learning tool, so the AI is not learning off what’s going into it. Every patient has to be consented to use it and they can decline it, so that’s fine.

“It’s like recording a telephone call – you can’t do it with getting pre-approval,” Allan 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

The board of the school at the centre of an unwanted outside bid to turn it into a charter school says it hopes the same doesn’t happen anywhere else.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Bangerz Education and Wellbeing Trust (BEWT), and an ex board member co-sponsor, had abandoned their application.

Their push to convert Kelston Boys’ High School in Auckland was against the wishes of the school and its board.

After the development, the school board said the application being halted was “wonderful news”.

“We sincerely hope no other school in New Zealand will have to experience what our community has endured,” presiding member Sanalio Kaihau said.

“However, should such a situation arise, we stand ready to support others by sharing our learnings and processes.”

Kaihau said the board recognised that charter schools had a place in communities where they were needed.

He said the school’s community had shown unity and resilience and a commitment to protect its mana.

The school first took to social media last month opposing the charter school conversion bid.

“Our senior leaders and staff do NOT believe that becoming a charter school is in the best interests of our students or community, especially when it would involve so much change with a different staff, management and Board, along with a different philosophy and curriculum,” it said in a letter posted to social media.

The trust then ended its own consultation about the move, saying the school had drawn battle-lines by going public with its opposition.

It had argued a change to a charter school would solve a continuing fall in education attainment and that Ministry of Education intervention “has been ineffective”.

BEWT said Kelston Boys’ High was violent, had low achievement and attendance rates and had lost community confidence.

Kelston Boys’ High said it was a school with long-standing traditions and all-round excellence in developing exemplary young men.

Local MP Carmel Sepuloni was critical of the move, making reference to what she called “cowboy organisations” able to make charter school applications.

“It’s been done in the most unusual way, in a way where the schools have felt quite threatened, it’s been relentless,” the senior Labour MP said last month.

The Charter School Agency confirmed on Wednesday it had dropped its application.

It said it would now work with both sides to close the process.

The school board said its students “can now finish the year with confidence” and that it was getting ready for next year with renewed energy and purpose.

Siaosi Gavet, the former presiding board member co-sponsoring the bid with BEWT, did not respond to RNZ’s request for comment.

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