Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

A biosecurity operation is under way in the Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe following the discovery of a single male Oriental fruit fly in a surveillance trap.

Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner North Mike Inglis said the fruit fly was identified on Wednesday evening.

“We will be ramping up trapping and inspections in Papatoetoe. As a precautionary measure, Biosecurity New Zealand will put in place legal restrictions on the movement of fruit and vegetables out of the area where the fruit fly has been found.

“Over the next 24 hours, we will issue details about these controls and the exact areas affected,” he said.

In the meantime, it was important that people who lived and worked in the suburb not take any whole fresh fruit and vegetables out of their property.

Biosecurity staff would be out on Thursday providing the local community with information, Inglis said.

Biosecurity’s most recent eradication was a single male Queensland fruit fly in Mount Roskill, which wrapped up last week after six weeks of intensive fruit fly trapping and the inspection of more than 230 kilograms of fruit.

“The Oriental fruit fly find in Papatoetoe is unrelated to the Queensland fruit fly in Mt Roskill,” Inglis said.

The fruit fly poses no human health risk, but there would be an economic cost to the horticulture industry if it were allowed to establish here. Adult flies lay eggs into fruit, where the maggots feed and cause the fruit to rot.

How to identify the fly

Adult flies are a little larger than a housefly (6mm to 8mm long); have a dark “T” shaped marking on the abdomen (the part behind the waist); usually have a bright yellow and orange abdomen (but can vary); have clear wings. The female fly has a pointed “sting” to lay eggs inside fruit (but she can’t sting or bite people). The male fruit fly is a similar size but is reddish-brown.

Biosecurity New Zealand says if people who think they’ve found a fruit fly should photograph it, capture it if possible, and call MPI on 0800 80 99 66.

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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 says a large grass fire in Central Otago has now been contained.

FENZ was called to a large grass fire that was threatening structures in the Springvale area near Clyde before 3.30pm.

About 18 fire crews responded along with four helicopters and at least eight properties were evacuated.

Fire and Emergency said the helicopters had now been stood down.

The fire was 400 metres by 400 metres initially, but a spokesperson earlier said it was spreading quickly through grass and pine trees.

Aimz Hemming said they were able to smell the smoke from their street a few kilometres away.

“When the alarm went off, all the sirens were go,” Hemming said. “It was a wee bit scary.”

* Are you in the area? Contact RNZ at iwitness@rnz.co.nz

Earlier a spokesperson said it was unknown if any properties had been damaged at this stage and crews had also moved livestock out of paddocks that were under threat.

Fire and Emergency is working with police to close Springvale Road.

People were urged to stay away from the area and to be extra cautious as a lot of crews were tied up fighting to contain this fire, the spokesperson said.

Fire and Emergency also said the fire was producing a lot of smoke which was drifting towards Alexandra.

“If you are in the vicinity of the smoke, please stay inside with windows closed.”

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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 manhunt is underway after a firearms incident at a petrol station on Kaikorai Valley Road, in Dunedin.

Police say they are looking for a person who drove away from officers at the scene.

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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 report has exposed increasing nitrate contamination in Southland’s groundwater, sparking a call from Greenpeace for a nitrate emergency to be declared in the region.

The Southland Regional Council report said approximately 15,000 Southlanders could be drinking water polluted by nitrates.

It pointed to the intensification of dairy farming as a key cause of growing nitrate levels.

The report said nitrate concentrations in groundwater frequently exceeded 3.5 mg/L and in some places exceeded the New Zealand drinking water standard of 11.3 mg/L.

More than half of Southland’s domestic drinking water supply wells were estimated to have nitrate concentrations above 3.5 mg/L.

The Ministry of Health considers the current maximum acceptable value (MAV) for nitrate appropriate, although some public health experts argue the drinking water limit is too high and potentially puts people at risk of pre-term birth and bowel cancer.

Greenpeace freshwater campaigner Will Appelbe said the findings were alarming.

“It’s made clear what many of us have known for quite some time, that nitrate contamination is a real crisis in Southland and the main cause of that contamination is the intensive dairy industry,” he said.

“At a bare minimum it’s time that Environment Southland declared a nitrate emergency. Environment Canterbury declared one last year for very good reason, it’s clear that Southland has a drinking water crisis on its hands and it’s a result of nitrate contamination.”

The report said the region’s dairy boom had coincided with a decline in water quality and the region’s groundwater was vulnerable to contamination.

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

Otago University research fellow Marnie Prickett said Southland needed to reduce its dairy herd, and she was also calling for an independent inquiry into the regional council’s land-use rules.

“Southlanders need Environment Southland to chart a really robust path out of this. It can’t be tinkering around the edges it has to be driving confidently forward about what they’re going to do,” she said.

The report said 44 percent of domestic supply wells (612) and 45 percent of registered public drinking-water supplies (18) were located within areas classified as having “high vulnerability to nitrate contamination”.

“here may be approximately 1,530 people on private supplies and 13,632 on public groundwater supplies at risk of exposure to high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water,” the report said.

Environment Southland general manager science Karen Wilson said although the report did not present new data, it brought together a range of information to give an integrated view of groundwater quality, nitrate sources, and health risks.

“This science formed the basis of the Southland Water and Land Plan, which was accepted by the Environment Court. The plan was the first step in responding to Southland’s groundwater nitrate challenges,” she said.

Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick said declaring a nitrate emergency would be an overreaction and unhelpful.

“Nitrates aren’t a new issue for Southlanders at all, and it’s not just dairy, as a society and as a people we’re all responsible for our challenges that we had. This is a long-standing challenge that the community have been aware of and working on for quite some time now,” he said.

The report said 71 percent of groundwater sites had shown increasing nitrate contamination over the past two decades.

Hotspots included Balfour/Waimea Plains, Wendonside Terrace, Five Rivers/Castlerock, Edendale, Knapdale, Mabel Bush/Woodlands, Central Plains/Waimatuku, and Otahu Flat.

Southland Regional Council freshwater principal scientist Ewen Rodway said the council was working to deal with the problem.

“We’re continuing to monitor groundwater quality across the region, identifying these high-risk areas and using those to focus efforts such as focusing farm plans, and working with catchment groups to reduce nitrogen losses in those vulnerable areas,” he said.

Rodway said a decision about declaring a nitrate emergency sat with councillors.

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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 Nurses’ Organisation says Christchurch Hospital is reaching capacity, with some elective surgeries cancelled on Wednesday.

Allister Dietschin, a healthcare assistant and Nurses’ Organisation delegate, said the hospital was “heaving” and it had been “madness” for some days.

Earlier on Wednesday resourced bed occupancy in the hospital reached 99 percent. Dietschin said some elective surgeries had been cancelled as a result of the high demand.

He said as well as a high volume of patients, they were also short staffed.

Christchurch Hospital “often” had high volumes of patients and not enough staff. It was a problem the union had been asking for that to be addressed, Dietschin said.

He said the complexity of the patients they were dealing with was also through the roof.

“It’s diabolical really.”

Dietschin said traditionally they had less demand over summer, but that had not been the case this year. He was worried what that would mean for the colder months ahead.

“We’ve had huge demand over the summer period, and now with winter coming on, it’s just going to get even busier.”

Health New Zealand says 10 planned elective surgeries were deferred over the past two days at Christchurch Hospital due to a high number of acute trauma patients who required immediate care.

“As I am sure you will be able to appreciate, patients who require life saving care will always be prioritised,” a spokesperson said.

“We are not anticipating any further deferrals for elective surgery, and patients will be re-booked as soon as possible. To be clear this is unrelated to staffing or hospital capacity.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

More than a third of hospitality and tourism workers say they have been pressured into working while sick, not taking holidays or going without other minimum protections.

More than a third reported harassment or bullying at work with customers being the main culprits, according to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Almost 1000 workers in the sectors were surveyed and results showed many workers enjoyed and were passionate about what they did but increasing numbers did not think they were paid fairly and more than a third of workers planned to quit in the next year.

The two industries differed with about 40 percent of hospitality workers planning to leave compared to 31 percent for tourism workers.

More than half of workers earned below the living wage at the time of $28.95 with only 48 percent feeling they were paid fairly, down from 57 percent in 2024.

About one in 12 workers reported being paid below the minimum wage.

Tourism workers said they had greater access to training, better career opportunities and more supportive pathways for development – 69 percent compared to 58 percent of hospitality workers.

The study concluded many workers did not appear to leave the industry because they disliked the work but because conditions no longer appealed.

“Low pay, long or unsustainable hours and limited career progression are the strongest drivers of exit even among workers who enjoy hospitality and tourism,” the report said.

Indicators of burnout remained high with two thirds of workers reporting they felt tired due to their work and about 43 percent reported feelings of hopelessness associated with working with customers.

But worker commitment, skill confidence and workplace dignity were strong.

“Hospitality and tourism are not constrained by worker motivation but by the conditions that enable sustained participation,” the report said.

“Retention and productivity are shaped by progression, training quality, pay adequacy, workplace dignity and safety, not by individual resilience or passion alone.”

The study recommended employers should encourage workers to remain in the industries by offering more training initiatives, pay progression and career development, and setting clear expectations for customer behaviour with zero tolerance for abuse.

Employers not doing enough to protect their employees – researcher

AUT and lead researcher, Professor David Williamson told Checkpoint the survey had been undertaken for the last five years and it was worrying to see that the rates of negative experiences in the workforce were increasing.

The percentage of those surveyed who reported bullying and harassment was 35 percent this year up from 23 percent the year before, he said.

The study found that last year in about half of the cases where hospitality and tourism workers were harassed or bullied customers were the perpetrators, that’s up from 26 percent in 2024.

Williamson said workers were having to deal with physically or verbally abusive customers, as well as drunk customers.

Asked why the figures had become worse, Williamson said it was important to look at the background of bullying and harassment in the sector.

Many staff working in hospitality were young and often it was their first job which made it difficult for them to deal with poor customer behaviour, he said.

“I think perhaps as well we’re seeing the result of Covid and economic pressure resulting in perhaps customers being more abusive than they have been pre-Covid.”

The survey indicated that employers were not doing enough to protect their employees, he said.

“When we look at the qualitative comments coming back from employees they’re talking about not being protected, not being supported, and again we can see the link to younger managers who either themselves haven’t been trained effectively or who are just too young to really know how to deal with those situations.”

When asked why they intended leaving hospitality, survey respondents gave bullying and harassment and low pay as the top two reasons, he said.

“It’s the combination between not being paid enough to put up with a very difficult work situation.”

The report had made a number of recommendations, he said.

“It’s about capturing that early career retention, making sure you’re addressing the young workers who are coming in that you’re training your managers so you have a safe working environment, that they’re not being harassed, that you’re training them well, that you’re also linking promotion opportunities to that training so as you become more skilled you can see a career progression and you know setting zero tolerance abuse standards across the whole industry so this will not be tolerated from customers or co-workers.”

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