Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Posted on

A one man show as Black Sticks claim bronze medal

Source: Radio New Zealand

Sam Lane of New Zealand Black Sticks. Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz

The Black Sticks men have finished third at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.

New Zealand beat the hosts 6-1 in the play-off for third.

Sam Lane opened the scoring with two field goals in the opening quarter.

James Hickton added a third with a superb solo effort that included a 60 metre run and a reverse-stick shot to score his first international goal.

The rest of the game then belonged to Lane who added another three goals in the space of 15 minutes.

It included a penalty corner finish, a field goal and a penalty stroke.

The win capped an outstanding tournament for Lane, who finished the match with five goals and moved to the top of the tournament goal-scoring chart with nine.

It was also a special night for two players reaching major milestones. Malachi Buschl brought up his 50th cap for the Black Sticks, and Sam Lane’s five-goal haul lifted him to 51 international goals.

Belgium beat India 1-0 in the final.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Posted on

What to consider if your kid wants tech for Christmas

Source: Radio New Zealand

When it comes to buying kids technology-based presents for Christmas, Sean Lyons from Netsafe, an organisation dedicated to online safety, likens these gifts to something they are not: a bike.

“In my day, when there was a bike, and I said ‘I wanted a bike’, my parents were really, really sure what a bike was. They understood pretty much everything that a bike could do.”

That’s not the same for devices, whether that be a smartwatch or phone, a tablet, or a gaming console, says Lyons.

“We might think a PlayStation is a thing where you shove a CD in through a slot in the front and the game comes up, and you grab a controller and play it.

“Now, that would be a pretty good rational explanation for what a PlayStation is or was in 1998.

“But in terms of what a PlayStation is now, it’s really far from it.”

Yes, you can play games on a gaming console, but it is also an entry-level step into social media and a portal to the internet.

Parents considering introducing devices or new tech to their kids this Christmas should start researching and planning now, say industry experts and a parenting advocate. This will help avoid unexpected and possibly damaging situations or the uphill slog of walking back freedoms that were joyfully received on Christmas Day.

Here’s what to consider when introducing new devices to your kids:

What does your kid need or want?

Parents often consider new devices such as smart phones or watches at a moment of transition, says Anna McKessar, who recently produced an educational course for the Parenting Place called Digital Parenting: Raising kids in an online world.

This could be a change in school from, say, primary to intermediate. Or it could be a change in transportation from being driven to school to taking the bus or train. Or their school might require them to have a laptop for learning.

“If you’ve got a problem that you’re trying to solve with a device… does it fit what your child needs right now?”

She gave the recent example of her own daughter catching the bus to school and McKessar giving her a phone for when they needed to communicate.

“… does that mean I need to give her access to the whole internet, to my credit card details, to social media? I don’t think she is ready for any of those things.

“So, she’s got a device that’s pared back.”

If it’s for mucking around on apps at home, Lyons says parents might want to consider a tablet rather than a smart phone.

“It’s bigger than a pocket. It’s not something that is easily hidden in a corner, hidden under a bed, hidden under an item of clothing.”

Play a video game yourself

If you haven’t been on a gaming console for a while – or you’ve never been on one – have a play before you buy one for your kid, says Lyons.

“It might mean finding a friend who’s already got one and going and having a dabble yourself, or even walking into a store and asking a friendly retail assistant to set one up for you and give yourself 5 or 10 minutes, or even a little longer…

That way, parents can see what the devices are capable of and the different points where a curious kid might stumble across inappropriate content or have contact with people you don’t know through in-game chats.

When it comes to individual games, parents can look for the rating each game has, similar to what you find on TV shows and movies, says Joy Keene, executive director of the New Zealand Game Developers Association. Heihei is a streaming and gaming platform from NZ On Air and TVNZ that has kid-appropriate TV shows, games and music.

Be involved in your kid’s gaming

While a gaming console might seem like a good babysitter for those long summer holidays, parents should aim to be somewhat involved, says Keene.

“If your child is out there playing basketball or netball, or soccer, most parents are on the sidelines watching, involved and talking to them about their game and seeing how it went and how they felt about it.

“That doesn’t happen in the online space as much…”

That way you can know if what they are playing is appropriate, if their behaviour is appropriate or if other players are treating them appropriately, as you would expect in a sports game.

“We don’t want to hear you yelling and screaming at the screen. We don’t want to hear you abusing people or calling them idiots, which I know happens a lot.”

Decide on your safety settings and parenting controls

There are typically three levels of controls that parents can change to suit what their child needs for a device, says McKessar. They are your internet filters that come through your internet provider, the parental control functions on the device and then settings within each app. For example, if it’s a gaming app, you might disable the in-game chat function where your kid can communicate with other players through the internet.

CONCEPTUAL IMAGES/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

“…each layer of protection gives you another chance to stop things from failing through the cracks.​

Backtrack if you need to

The easiest way is to set clear boundaries from the beginning. However, parents won’t always get it right, no matter how much research they do, McKessar says.

“I would really encourage parents to just back themselves when they do need to reset. Tech is always changing and life gets busy, and things go off track.

“… you don’t have to feel that the horse has already bolted and there’s nothing you can do.”

What to say if you’re not getting tech presents

If your family is moving at a slower speed than others when it comes to technology, kids can feel left behind, says McKessar.

“When kids feel pressure because their friends are all getting devices, it’s important not to brush off that disappointment — it’s very real for them.

“We encourage parents to be honest about wanting their child’s first experience with tech to be a positive one, and about still working through readiness and safety.

“Framing it as ‘not yet’ keeps the relationship intact while parents stay in the lead.”

Sean Lyons from Netsafe.

supplied

Anna McKessar from the Parenting Place

supplied

Joy Keene, executive director of the New Zealand Game Developers Association.

supplied

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

Posted on

Cameras used by police after killings – but who covers the cost?

Source: Radio New Zealand

The financial burden of keeping the camera going is “colossal”, say community groups. Unsplash/ Johny Goh

Community-owned high-tech cameras were used to catch suspects in two killings, but the volunteer group involved can not afford to keep running the crime fighting kit.

Cameras that link to automated number plate recognition software run by private companies are spreading throughout the country.

Police are increasingly accessing the systems – more than half a million times a year – to identify plates from street or carpark footage that is hours, weeks or months old.

But police told RNZ there were no plans to cover costs of these cameras for councils or businesses.

Hisbiscus Coast is looking at more than doubling its cameras to up to 20 after multiple crimes, and Turangi is asking locals if they want to pay for a system.

Other councils are accessing more than $2 million in government funding for ANPR or straight CCTV cameras.

Featherston Community Patrol put four cameras in a year ago on the four main approaches to the south Wairarapa town.

Police wrote to Patrol secretary Vicky Alexander in June, praising the quick payback.

“Within seven days of operation, these cameras were utilised by police after a person wanted for murder in the Hutt Valley was seen driving through Featherston,” the police letter said.

“Within two days this male was arrested and is now before the courts.

“In March this year a male was shot and killed in the Fresh Choice car park in Featherston,” it went on. “The new cameras recorded the whole incident, and two males are now in custody facing murder charges.”

Police said they were grateful to the Community Patrol and South Wairarapa District Council for the “immediate effect” on crime.

‘We didn’t realise there was an annual fee’

Alexander said she was “definitely very pleased with the outcome, but disappointed with the financial burden”.

“It’s colossal.”

Police use of a major ANPR system leapt by more than 70 percent one year, then by 26 percent the following year to 2024.

“This is likely attributable to [ANPR supplier] SaferCities continuing to expand their network across the country, with the platform now becoming more relevant in parts of the country where they previously did not have much presence, leading to more staff becoming aware of its utility,” a police report said.

Police have encouraged communities to put in cameras. They wrote Featherston a letter in support of getting grants in mid-2024.

“Whether to install cameras, and how they will cover costs of the cameras, is a decision for councils, community groups and businesses to make for themselves. Police does not instruct entities to install this technology,” police told RNZ in a statement on Friday.

The Featherston patrol has no access to the actual footage but it must pay a service charge to the ANPR commercial provider.

This charge of $6500 this year is more than the entire budget of a tiny group that had to run garden tours to fundraise for a patrol car.

Alexander said it was their own fault for not asking enough questions.

“We didn’t do due diligence. We didn’t realise there was an annual fee. We just thought a big fee upfront.

“Some of us wanted to ask more questions, but we felt the camera proposal was a really good one and we should go with it.”

They would not have installed them had they known it was going to turn into a financial struggle, she said.

Police twice wrote letters to support Featherston patrol’s bids for funding.

But this year’s grant has nearly run out, leaving them hoping the South Wairarapa District Council will take the cameras over.

‘It’s important that we get the cameras in’

Hibiscus Coast, north of Auckland, has been looking at more than doubling its cameras, but that project has been held up as community groups work out who will pay for that upgrade.

Local community patrol leader John Redwood supported the use of the cameras, but his team just gave back about $12,000 to the community board and pulled out of the project.

“I would just say due to a conflict of interest, [there was] no possibility of getting ongoing costs involving the project.

“We didn’t feel that it was fair to the community or to the council to keep on barging on,” Redwood said.

Neighbourhood Support may pick it up.

Gary Brown – who is on the Hibiscus and Bays local board – said the need had grown in the past six months. After an arson and ramraids at shops in Orewa – cameras came up at a meeting of local business owners and police a couple of weeks ago.

“Now that these incidents have happened in Orewa, it’s important that we get the cameras in,” said Brown.

“There’s the odd business that isn’t keen on the cameras, I think basically because of the cost. So it’s important that we can get as much subsidy as we can to ensure that these cameras can be done.”

An application was being worked on for a million dollars, but it was too early to give any details, he said.

The costs were too high, he said. A charge by Auckland Transport to put in a camera pole at $4000 was “exorbitant”.

Charges waived temporarily

Auckland Transport said it acknowledged the concerns, but its charges reflected the legal and other costs of putting poles in the road corridor.

It said for the next six months it would waive the application fee and cover legal costs for business improvement districts across Auckland that wanted to put in cameras.

Spending between $500,000 and $1m has been recently accessed from a government fund for cameras around Whakatane, Waikato and Waipa districts. South Wairarapa’s share of this funding has been used up.

In Whakatane, a council report showed about half the 40 new cameras installed could read licence plates. The council had “significant input from NZ Police”.

Winton in Southland is this week debating what to do about its old cameras after an upgrade bid last year was rejected, partly due to cost worries. Turangi is looking at licence plate cameras – its community patrol logged more than 4000 hours on its patrol car camera last year.

The Community Patrols national body was now looking at coming up with guidelines for groups keen to install number plate cameras, said chair Chris Lawton.

‘Use of these sorts of cameras is growing’

National Criminal Investigations Group director Detective Superintendent Keith Borrell told RNZ that CCTV cameras with ANPR power were a valuable crime-fighting tool.

“We are aware that the use of these sorts of cameras is growing across the country as more councils, community groups, and businesses have seen their value for their security and decide to install them.

“These groups are not required to advise police when these cameras are installed and we are often only aware of them when they report a crime, or provide information during the course of an investigation,” Borrell said. “We do engage with the community and encourage them to provide us with information that may help us to prevent and solve crime.”

Police have previously engaged in promotional activity with another major ANPR provider, Auckland company Auror

The cameras’ spread continues even as a legal challenge against the police using them so much continues at the Court of Appeal.

Vicky Alexander of Featherston also saw some pushback online occasionally, but thought it was too late for that.

“They’re everywhere,” she laughed. “I think they are fighting a losing battle.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Posted on

The House: Urgency ends early after voting gaffe

Source: Radio New Zealand

The House was in the midst of its fourth evening of urgency on Friday. VNP / Daniela Maoate-Cox

A late night voting error during a fourth evening of urgency last week forced the government to end urgency sooner than expected.

Most Friday evenings at Parliament, not many people are around – maybe the cleaners, maybe a few staffers getting ahead for next week, and most MPs have headed back to their electorates. If anyone is still around, they’re probably having a drink at Parliament’s Pint of Order bar.

But the last Friday night of Parliament’s penultimate sitting block for the year was different (Parliament typically doesn’t sit on a Friday). The House was in the midst of its fourth evening of urgency, which was accorded on Tuesday evening by Deputy Leader of the House Louise Upston.

Urgency gives the government the ability to progress bills through the House more quickly, by enabling longer hours of debating with no stand-down period between each of a bill’s stages of consideration, meaning a bill can go from first to third reading in the same day. This recent bout of urgency saw various stages of 13 bills on the urgency agenda, with none of them bypassing the select committee stage – which is probably the most controversial power that urgency gives governments.

By about 8.30pm on Friday evening, the House was on its last item of business – a committee stage and third reading of the Judicature (Timeliness) Legislation Amendment Bill.

Apart from being a bit of a tongue twister to pronounce, the word judicature refers to the administration of justice by courts and judges. This particular bill would, among other things, increase the number of High Court judges to 60.

The committee stage is short for the committee of the whole house stage, which is the second to last one of a bill’s journey through the House. Its purpose is for MPs to go through the bill line by line and make sure it will do what it promises.

The committee stage is also a last chance for changes to be made before it goes to its third reading debate which acts as a concluding summary of a bill and final chance for MPs to put their support or opposition on record. These changes are made through amendments.

During the Judicature (Timeliness) Legislation Amendment Bill’s committee stage, Labour’s Greg O’Connor proposed an amendment that would allow for a more flexible range on the number of judges (60-65). He said it “made more sense than coming back with a bill every time you wanted to increase the numbers even by one.”

It’s common in a committee stage for the minister, who sits in the chair at the table in the middle of the chamber to address any amendments, usually adding why they won’t be adopting them if they are proposed by the opposition.

In reaction to O’Connor’s amendment, Minister for Courts Nicole McKee said it was to do with costs.

“The High Court judges are paid through a permanent legislative authority, which is held in section 1351 of the Senior Courts Act 2016. The judges’ remuneration is set independently by the remuneration authority to maintain judicial independence, and so we need to think about that every time we add numbers to the cap because it means that there has to be an appropriation put aside for that number.”

All proposed amendments (that are ruled in order) are then voted on at the end of each clause or section.

Perhaps as a result of urgency fatigue, when it came to the vote on O’Connor’s amendment, no party called for a follow up recorded vote, meaning the Opposition amendment was agreed to, making it part of the bill.

The plan under urgency had been to move immediately into the third reading, which is the final stage before a bill passes.

Instead, at the end of the committee stage, the government ended urgency prematurely, meaning MPs were free to go home after four long days of debating bills.

Had the House proceeded immediately to the third reading, the amendment would have been locked in. After that point, there would be no easy way to correct the bill. “You’d need amending legislation,” [the Clerk of the House David] Wilson explained. “There is no way back once you start down that path.”

The mechanism the government can use to fix an error like this is sending it back to the committee stage (recommitting) When the bill next appears on the Order Paper for its third reading, it can be recommitted “just to focus on one issue, if there’s just one mistake to fix, and that’s normally the case,” Wilson said.

The bill now sits on the order paper scheduled for its third reading until the government decides to return to it. When it does, the House will likely go back into the committee stage to revisit the clause on High Court judge numbers.

Wilson said that there are risks that come with urgency, especially when MPs have spent consecutive late nights debating legislation.

“Your normal options of only being able to do a bill through one stage in a day means [there is] usually a little bit more time to spot it [compared to under urgency]. Luckily for the government, in this case, they did spot it, and they had time to put the brakes on before it had its third reading”

To listen to The House’s programme in full, click the link near the top of the page.

RNZ’s The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament’s Office of the Clerk.

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

Posted on

Why are we all paid close to minimum wage?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Over the following 15 years, the minimum age has risen 84 percent but the median wage has only risen 75 percent and the average 72 percent. 123RF

New Zealand’s minimum wage might have increased substantially over the past five years, but it hasn’t helped lift the wages of the population overall.

As a result, the median wage has drawn significantly closer to the minimum, and commentators say it will take a big productivity boost to boost incomes more generally.

In 2010, when the minimum wage was $12.75 an hour, the median hourly earnings for all workers was $20. At that point, minimum was 64 percent of the median.

Over the following 15 years, the minimum age has risen 84 percent. The median wage has only risen 75 percent and the average 72 percent.

In the past 10 years, the minimum wage has lifted 59.3 percent and median wages 52.9 percent. The average has lifted 50 percent.

That has taken the minimum to 67 percent of the median. The increase in the minimum was particularly noticeable during the period of 2020 to 2023, when it rose sharply and in 2023 was 72 percent of the median.

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said New Zealand’s minimum wage was high relative to average wages when compared with other countries.

In 2023, it was fifth-highest in the OECD compared to the median wage of fulltime workers.

“I think it’s partly a function of the last Labour government’s belief that by putting up the minimum wage, they could make those people who were at the lower end of the income spectrum better off without necessarily thinking through the process or the logic around what does that actually do to costs?

“And does it end up putting prices up for stuff as well, which, to be fair to them, it’s hard to decompose all of that through the pandemic and all the stuff that’s gone on. So I wouldn’t want to overstate that, but I think it’s a factor in some areas.”

He said the big problem for the country was its poor productivity.

“If you’re not able to sort of grow your productivity and get more output per hour of labour that you’re putting in… then there’s no way that you can lift incomes on a sustained basis, whether that’s at the bottom end of the spectrum or further up as well.

“I think until we do something to address those sort of productivity issues, that overall wage situation that we’re working with here in New Zealand is going to be one of relatively lower wages and stuck with compression down the bottom end.”

Kiernan said New Zealand still had a propensity to export commodities rather than adding value.

“There’s not always an easy fix for that – for example, a big chunk of our forestry exports are logs to China, rather than processed timber or wood products, but that’s because they want to buy logs and do the processing themselves. Plus we lack the scale to do it anywhere near as cost-effectively as China either. And we need to get past the mindset that the best way to grow is to simply add more people, because although that might increase the size of the economic pie, it doesn’t increase the amount of pie that each person ends up getting.”

Victoria University professor and Motu Research senior fellow Arthur Grimes said lifting the minimum wage had not pushed up wages overall. “The reason is wages generally reflect productivity and so pushing up the minimum wage doesn’t change the productivity of the economy. There’s no reason why it should push up wages overall.”

He said the country had previously managed productivity improvements when it shifted from sheep to dairy. “We’ve got to increase the value of what we produce… that could be through technical productivity improvements, including the quantity of things we produce or just producing things that are higher value.”

There had been sharp improvements in that productivity between 1994 and 2019, he said. “We were one of the most successful countries in the Western world at doing that.

“So for 25 years to 1994, we had zero increase in real incomes per person in the country. So 25 years of stagnation. The following 25 years from 1994 to 2019, we had really large increases in real incomes per person…almost the same as Australia.

“So we did really well for that 25 years. From 2019 onwards, we’ve stagnated again, zero growth in real incomes since 2019.”

There were tentative signs things were improving, he said. “But you wouldn’t want to hang your hat on it… The payoff that we had from the reform period in the 80s was huge. You know, it took a while, took 10 years probably to come about. And then that’s basically disappeared now.

“We’ve had five years where nobody’s got any better off, on average as a country, we haven’t got any better off… I presented this to some business people the other day and they were all very ‘so much regulation, so much red tape, so difficult to produce and things like that…it’s not, none of this is a surprise to us’.

“I think you just have to talk to the people in business to sort of work out why is it that they feel the country hasn’t been more able to produce more incomes over the last five years. Because in the end, wages have to rely on productivity, essentially real income increases for the country as a whole.”

Moves to improve the supply of housing had been positive, he said.

Kiernan said Grimes was correct that productivity had gone sideways since 2020 but he was not convinced it had been as strong before 2019 as Grimes suggested.

“Across all the industries, the only ones to show better labour productivity growth for 2008-2024 than 1997-2008 are agriculture, forestry, and fishing; accommodation and food services; professional, scientific, and technical services; administrative and support services; and arts and recreation services.”

Eric Crampton, chief economist at the NZ Initiative, said New Zealand’ s minimum wage was very binding in the number of people affected by it.

“‘Bunching’ is a nearly automatic consequence of a binding minimum wage.”

He said the cost of hiring minimum wage workers could increase substantially if the National party proceeds with its plan to lift KiwiSaver contributions to a combined 12 percent.

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Posted on

Housing market confidence rises: ‘It’s very much a buyer’s market’

Source: Radio New Zealand

Lower interest rates and an increase in property listings is driving confidence. File photo. 123rf

Confidence in the New Zealand housing market has risen to its highest level in 15 years, with more people thinking it is a good time to buy.

The latest ASB Housing Confidence Survey indicates 28 percent of respondents believed it was a good time to buy a property, with recent cuts to the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate, dropping to 2.25 percent in November from a peak of 5.5 percent in July 2024.

ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the housing market was in a sweet spot, with lower interest rates and an increase in property listings, giving buyers more choice and confidence.

“It’s a good place to be for buyers. It’s very much a buyer’s market,” he said.

“We’re seeing a unique window of opportunity for buyers. Low borrowing costs and high housing supply are creating conditions we haven’t seen in over a decade.”

More than half of the survey respondents (54 percent) expected home loan rates to fall further, compared with 47 percent in the last quarter, with just one in 10 expecting interest rates to rise.

House price expectations remained subdued, with a net 17 percent of respondents expecting prices to rise over the next year as high inventory continued to weigh on the market.

“We expect house prices to lift gradually as the economy recovers, but the days of double-digit growth are behind us. For now, buyers have the advantage – and that’s a rare position in New Zealand’s housing market.”

But Tuffley said conditions were likely to change over 2026.

“I think it’s a case of a mild turnaround in the housing market, more than a dramatic one,” he said.

“There’ll be a greater level of sales turnover. The amount of stock on the market will start to reduce, and prices will start to edge up.”

He said it will be interesting to see how perceptions change in the next survey.

“Because in this last survey, which was in the months August through to October, we saw an increasing number of people expecting mortgage rates to fall over the next 12 months.

“So we’ve now just had the Reserve Bank signal that it thinks it’s done, and that could mean mortgage rates are at the bottom.

“Buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines may find now is the time to act.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Posted on

Hospital doctor owed $1.27m in annual leave

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ten doctors were owed $6.5 million of annual leave between them. 123rf

A public hospital doctor is owed $1.27 million in annual leave while many more are owed hundred of thousands of dollars for leave they have been unable to take.

RNZ asked Health NZ to provide the highest 20 annual leave balances owed to senior doctors to the end of September. It said it was only possible to provide the top ten.

The ten doctors were owed $6.5 million of annual leave between them, with the second highest doctor on $715,000 and two more over $600,000.

Critics said the high leave balances were a dangerous liability for Health NZ and could give doctors another reason to walk out the door, taking a huge payout with them.

The senior doctor union (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton said she did not know who the top leave holders were but it was likely leave had built up over many years.

The amount they had accrued was very unusual but, day to day, it was often hard for doctors in small or stretched services to take time off.

Health NZ’s slowness to recruit was making it harder, because some hospital services were not well enough staffed, she said.

A New Zealand health system expert, Professor Robin Gauld, agreed.

“When you’re a very focused doctor and very very focused on ensuring care is provided, its pretty difficult to go on leave for two weeks when you know the service is not going to stand up in your absence,” he said.

Doctors quitting

The union was encouraging doctors to take leave over summer and have a much needed rest when many services were quieter.

But Dalton said three anaesthetists at an urban hospital had quit because they could not get Christmas leave this year, she said.

Doctors had a tendency to be realistic that they could not always take leave when they wanted.

“Generally services have pretty good arrangements about how they share [leave] around – and they will get their turn. Its not unusual for a doctor to get Christmas but not New Year,” she said.

However, many were frustrated at not being able to take their leave and Health NZ did not normally allow them to be paid out for it, she said.

Some were told they could not get leave unless they found their own locum, she said.

Once leave started to accrue in large amounts, it became harder to chip away at.

‘Huge liablity’

Robin Gauld is an executive dean at Bond University in Australia but maintained an honorary role at Otago University.

The large leave balances were a “huge liability” for Health NZ, which would have to pay it out if the doctors decided to leave, he said.

Almost more shocking was the fact that the organisation did not have a full picture of how much it owed staff, he said.

In its reply to RNZ‘s information request, Health NZ said it could not provide all the information – because it was still held in many different systems.

They had been inherited from the old district health boards but had still not been merged.

“I would have thought this is a tremendous risk for Health NZ to be in this situation to not even be able to get a clear understanding of what’s going on in terms of the financial as well as the health and safety liabilites the organisation faces in this regard,” Gauld said.

The senior doctor’s union asked previously asked Health NZ for data on leave balances by region.

The highest was in Taranaki – where doctors were owed an average of 21 weeks.

Several districts were close to an average of about 11 or 12 weeks, including South Canterbury, Waitematā and Wairarapa.

Health NZ responds

Health NZ said it encouraged staff to take the leave they were owed, including leave management plans for those with high balances.

It pointed out that doctors had more leave than people in many other jobs.

They had six weeks annual leave. Some could qualify for an extra week if they had had an onerous year.

They got two weeks education leave and access to three months of sabbatical every six years.

However, the union said that leave was part of their job because it was necessary to say skilled.

The figures in the story relate to annual leave only.

Health NZ said it was trying to make its digital systems better after the amalgamation of 20 district health boards, and that takes time in an organisation of 90,000 people.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Posted on

Sri Lanka flooding: ‘Entire lives swept away in a single night’

Source: Radio New Zealand

People in New Zealand with family in Sri Lanka are describing the widespread devastation caused by severe flooding from Cyclone Ditwah.

The extreme weather system has destroyed homes, leaving thousands displaced A state of emergency has also been declared.

There are also reports that entire villages have been washed away in landslides and many villages have been completely cut off.

Cyclone Ditwah in the Spring Valley area (part of Badulla) in Sri Lanka. Supplied / Lasitha Buddika

Statistics from the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre [DMC] showed 212 people had died and 218 people were missing as of Sunday evening.

Aucklander Sachindra Amarasekara grew up in Sri Lanka and has family in Hanwella near the capital of Colombo.

“They are surrounded by flood water. Fortunately, their house itself has not been severely damaged, but they are in complete isolation.

“And also, the electricity lines are destructed [damaged], leaving them without power, and all internet connections are down due to damage to the service providers.

‘We heard reports that the flooding has affected the main water treatment plant in Colombo at the moment, which means they may soon lose access to drinking water as well, unfortunately.”

Cyclone Ditwah in the Spring Valley area (part of Badulla) in Sri Lanka. Supplied / Lasitha Buddika

Amarasekara said it is a really hard time for many people.

“I’m very sure many people have seen their entire lives swept away in a single night. There’s a sense of helplessness, that’s what I felt from my father when I last I spoke to him.

“And also most of my friends and families, when I speak to them or when they’re receiving the text messages, I felt like they are quite feeling like hopeless.

“I’m sure many of them are mentally scattered, trying to understand what comes next.”

Cyclone Ditwah in the Spring Valley area (part of Badulla) in Sri Lanka. Supplied / Lasitha Buddika

Amarasekara said many communities are isolated due to landslides, making it hard to get supplies and rescue teams to some areas.

“All three forces and the police are working really hard to reach the affected areas and get people out, and communities are also stepping to collect dry food and preparing warm meals to distribute.

“Unfortunately, most of the places, they can’t reach still because of the severe landslides, and also, the roads are not there some places and there is still floods going on.

“So many people trapped inside, so many people missing at the moment.” she said.

Cyclone Ditwah in the Spring Valley area (part of Badulla) in Sri Lanka. Supplied / Lasitha Buddika

She said it is hard to see, as her country had already been through so much recently.

“I feel so sorry for my people because we’re just coming out from the economic crisis and we’re just about to stand on our own feet, and this is the worst we faced so far.

“We have faced wars, we have faced tsunamis, we have faced so many things, we lost so many people along the way.”

Amarasekara said as a nation, the country always comes back stronger but: “This is the very first time in Sri Lanka, I have seen that we are seeking for international help,” she said.

Cyclone Ditwah in the Spring Valley area (part of Badulla) in Sri Lanka. Supplied / Lasitha Buddika

Samith Hettiarachchi lives in Mulleriyawa, and was told to evacuate, leaving everything behind, and said water would reach up to 20 feet and was rising 1 foot an hour.

Hansana Yaddehige also told RNZ his friends entire village was flooded, causing homes to collapse, power to go out, with no access to water.

Nipun Fernando said it was hard to get access to food.

“There is a shortage of grocery supply due to transportation issues. Devastation is pretty bad.

“Access to some areas totally blocked due to landslides and bridges been damaged. No more rain but as a result of all that rain rivers are overflowing, this is the worst ever flooding in the recent past,” he said.

Cyclone Ditwah in the Spring Valley area (part of Badulla) in Sri Lanka. Supplied / Lasitha Buddika

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is providing consular assistance to a family travelling in Sri Lanka.

There are 200 New Zealanders registered on SafeTravel in Sri Lanka.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Posted on

Dunedin woman fatally shot herself in head while deer hunting

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kate Aynsley’s gun likely went off by accident as she either fell or fumbled in steep, slippery terrain. Supplied / NZ Hunting and Wildlife Magazine

The death of a Dunedin woman who shot herself while deer hunting in an Otago forest was a terrible accident, a coroner has ruled.

Kate Aynsley, 48, died in Beaumont Forest’s Blue Mountains Conservation Area in June 2023 after being shot in the head by her own rifle.

In findings released on Monday, coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale said Aynsley’s gun likely went off by accident as she either fell or fumbled in steep, slippery terrain.

While no-one saw what happened, Aynsley had likely removed the safety catch while preparing to shoot a deer, the coroner found.

Aynsley had gone hunting with her fiancé but the pair had split up after hearing a buck deer barking.

Borrowdale said her body was found in an area that presented “a significant trip and slip hazard”.

She ruled out Aynsley intentionally taking her own life or any third-party involvement, saying it was a reminder to hunters to know their weapon and chamber a cartridge only when they were ready to fire.

A driven and focused mother

The report said Aynsley worked as an administrator at Target Accounting in Dunedin, where she was held in very high regard.

She had one son and was due to marry in February 2024.

Borrowdale described her as a very competent, precise and energetic person with a high level of fitness.

“She was very driven and focused, having previously become proficient at motorcycling, mountain biking and bodybuilding,” she said.

Aynsley took up hunting after meeting her fiancé four years earlier and became proficient, even publishing articles about women’s hunting, she said.

“She also participated in instructing members of the NZ Deerstalkers’ Association and mentored women’s tahr hunts,” the coroner said.

Many witnesses attested to her safety-conscious hunting methods and her fiancé confirmed she only took her firearm safety catch off when she was about to fire.

Kate Aynsley, 48, died in Beaumont Forest’s Blue Mountains Conservation Area in June 2023. Supplied / NZ Hunting and Wildlife Magazine

The day of the hunt

On 3 June 2023 Aynsley and her fiancé were in the Tramway Block of the Blue Mountains Conservation Area where they had won a ballot to shoot on Department of Conservation land.

Borrowdale said the area consisted of moderately steep, beech-covered hills with several streams.

Both Aynsley and her partner had previously hunted the block but not the eastern skid site where they went that day.

Aynsley had a Marlin 336 lever-action 30/30 rifle, which she had bought six months before the outing.

The pair was equipped with Garmin GPS communication devices, bum bags and packs, and were accompanied by their gun dogs.

Borrowdale said they were pursuing a buck deer when Aynsley told her fiancé she was going to wait to see what the animal did across the creek, while he moved on.

“About 20 minutes later, he heard a shot. He could see on the GPS that Ms Aynsley’s last location was 350 metres away. [He] could not get a response from Ms Aynsley on the radio, despite repeated efforts,” she said.

Aynsley’s fiancé followed her gun dog and eventually found her body 10 metres above a creek on a damp and slippery slope.

Emergency services found the gun three metres above her with the scope cover up and three rounds of ammunition in the magazine.

Aynsley’s cap was one metre away, with a gunshot wound through the right temple.

The police officer who led the scene investigation described the slope as steep and “very difficult to walk without assistance while holding onto something such as tree trunks or branches”.

Rifle could fire if hammer was knocked

Police confirmed each hunter’s movements through their GPS devices at the request of the coroner.

A police armourer also undertook ballistics analysis to determine whether and how Aynsley’s rifle could have fired accidentally.

Borrowdale said the gun was working correctly without mechanical fault and could not accidentally discharge while the safety catch was on or if it was dropped.

However, the armourer found it was possible for the rifle to accidentally discharge by a knock to the hammer with the safety catch off.

The Mountain Safety Council later found if Aynsley had sighted a deer and moved into position for a shot, she could have been reluctant to return her firearm from the “instant state” to a safe “load state” for fear of startling the animal.

The council noted that Aynsley was left-handed and the safety catch was awkwardly positioned for left-handed people.

The council also found that the safety catch could have bumped against her waist and inadvertently moved into the “fire” position if she had the rifle slung over her left shoulder, which was likely.

Three possible scenarios

Police found three possible scenarios for Aynsley’s death – two of which involved her losing her balance and one in which the hammer was knocked with enough force to fire the weapon.

Borrowdale said she had no basis for finding a most-likely scenario of the three, but was convinced Aynsleys death was accidental.

“I am persuaded by the evidence that Ms Aynsley was hunting in very difficult terrain, uneven, wet, slippery and with trip hazards in the form of roots and broken branches. Ms Aynsley was likely to have been preparing to shoot a deer and had likely removed the safety catch, which allowed for the rifle to be fired accidentally as she fell or fumbled with the weapon,” she said.

“Ms Aynsley did not intentionally take her own life and I am satisfied that there was no third-party involvement in her death.”

The coroner’s recommendations

Borrowdale urged hunters to always follow the seven basic firearms safety rules.

She said hunters should remember to chamber a cartridge only when they were ready to fire and should always have an empty chamber when crossing an obstacle of any kind, including dense bush.

“Even in a hunting area where you are expecting to see game, your firearm must be in either a ‘load state’ or an ‘unload state’ until you are ready to fire,” she said.

Hunters should also know their firearm and ensure the safety catch could not be easily switched into the “fire” position.

Borrowdale offered her condolences to Aynsley’s family and to all of those who felt her loss.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Posted on

‘We’ve got a shot’: Labour readies for political revival

Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour leader Chris Hipkins shook people’s hands as he walked out of the theatre hand in hand with his fiancé Toni Grace. RNZ / Anneke Smith

Analysis – The Labour Party will be chuffed with how its party looks and feels after an energetic annual general meeting in Auckland this weekend.

Party faithful packed out the ASB Waterfront Theatre for what was a slick operation, rounded off by a rousing performance by singer/songwriter Annie Crummer.

Sitting in the crowd, it was hard to believe Labour had lost so badly in the 2023 election – there was whooping and hollering, countless standing ovations and at one point an enormous disco ball.

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins at the party’s annual general meeting in Auckland. RNZ / Anneke Smith

There is still roughly one year until the next election, but watching Labour leader Chris Hipkins walking out hand in hand with his fiancé Toni Grace definitely had the look of a campaign already underway.

Divisions on tax have seemingly been shelved for now, with most members RNZ spoke to pretty happy with the party’s capital gains tax.

“I think for New Zealand it’s about right,” one man said.

“I think it’s far enough at the moment, to take people with it,” a woman said.

Labour is slowly building up its policy programme, adding low-interest loans for family GP practices to help deliver free GP visits at the weekend.

Singer/songwriter Annie Crummer performed for Labour Party members at their annual general meeting in Auckland this weekend. RNZ / Anneke Smith

Campaign chair Kieran McAnulty told RNZ the party’s strategy for the 2026 election was simple.

“It’s clear to us that the government isn’t talking about the things that Kiwis care about most, and we’re determined to make sure that we are.

“If we do that, and every time they hear from us, we’re talking about a solution to the issues that they’re facing. We’ve got a shot.”

McAnulty said the solutions also had to be easy to understand, pointing to Labour’s capital gains tax as an example.

“All the efforts from the National Party to scaremonger about what the capital gains tax is, actually isn’t the case, and people know because it’s so simple, because it’s so straightforward, it’s residential and commercial property, excluding the family home, and nothing else is included.

“There’s a reason that their attacks have fallen flat, because they’re baseless.”

While the party was happy with how its tax policy had been received, it was not getting ahead of itself, McAnulty said.

“We’re not getting too excited. We know that there’s still a year to go. We know there’s a hell of a lot of work still to do and we’re focused on that.

“No one’s getting ahead of themselves, and you can’t take anything for granted. So it’s great that polls are encouraging, but we’re still going to crack on as we were.”

The Labour Party has been polling well, tracking ahead of National on almost all issues, including the cost of living.

It has made hay with voter disillusionment with the coalition, with Hipkins taking every opportunity to trumpet the prospect of a one term National-led government.

“They don’t deserve a second term. One term is all they are gonna get,” he told a cheering crowd at the weekend.

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins at the party’s annual general meeting in Auckland. RNZ / Anneke Smith

Hipkins is trying to make history, asking the same electorate that booted him out two years ago to give him the top job again.

Asked what had changed between 2023 and now, he said the party had a fresh focus and fresh faces.

“We heard the message from voters at the last election as a government, we were trying to do too many things. We also weren’t speaking to them about the issues that really mattered to them.

“So you’ve seen the Labour Party really refocus over the last two years, very much focused on the issues that are of number one concern to New Zealanders at the moment, jobs, health, homes, cost of living, and we’ll have a different team too.”

Labour has begun rolling out candidate announcements, putting up economist Craig Renney for Wellington Bays and emergency medicine doctor Gary Payinda for Whangārei.

McAnulty said there would be a “range of high profile candidates” announced in the new year, though he was tight-lipped as to who they were.

There is still a long way to go until voters get a chance to have their say on the next government, though it feels like the election campaign has already started.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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