Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

A union has hit back at claims by New Zealand First it could have changed the law removing the right for contractors to challenge their employment status.

“How dare Winston Peters claim unions were too slow when they contacted his party last year when there was plenty of time for him to make a difference,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association.

The Employment Relations Amendment Bill passed its third reading earlier this week.

Leader Winston Peters said on Thursday he asked the unions why they didn’t come to his party earlier, and why they spent their time with parties who “couldn’t stop it.”

“We can’t stop it now, because you’ve got to stop it months ago,” said Peters.

In response, the PSA said Peters was wrong to blame unions for being too slow to convince New Zealand First to block what it called the “Fire at Will Bill” when his party knew about their concerns in August 2025.

Fitzsimons said Peters had “all the time in the world” between the PSA’s first meeting with New Zealand First and the passing of the Bill this week.

“It’s as simple as this – the party lacked the guts to stand up to the ACT party despite expressing concerns in speeches about the Bill.”

She said New Zealand First committed in the Second Reading to make changes to the personal grievance provisions, “we held out hope, but nothing happened.”

The PSA outlined their interactions with New Zealand First, meeting with the party’s staff on the 5 August. Fitzsimons said it was a “useful meeting” and she was put in touch with their Employment Relations spokesperson, Mark Patterson.

There were two further meetings with Patterson before the Second Reading.

“He really seemed to give us a fair hearing and asked for possible amendments to take the harsh edges off the proposed legislation.”

Fitzsimons said the PSA then made a “last minute, constructive plea to the party last week delivering a handwritten card to Mr Peters.”

She said “Mr Peters had every chance to walk the talk but turned a blind eye,” and that Peters and New Zealand First had “ignored workers.”

“Workers will never forget this latest betrayal – the PSA will be reminding voters come the election what NZ First really stands for – putting the coalition government’s business mates first, not New Zealand workers.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say they have tested more than 300 people and issued seven infringements since roadside drug testing was introduced in the Wellington region two months ago.

On 18 December last year, police began screening drivers in and around the capital for cannabis, methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine.

Director of road policing Superintendent Steve Greally said police had received positive feedback from the public and frontline staff about the programme.

“National drug-driving testing will further bolster our policing efforts in making roads safer for all, and deterring drivers who are impaired whether by drugs or alcohol from endangering the lives of others.”

He said drivers could not use a prescription or medical note to stop them from needing to take a test or to dispute a positive result.

“The message is still the same for drivers who drive impaired by drugs – don’t take drugs and drive,” Greally said.

“You need to know what you are taking and how it might affect driving and any period of time where it is unsafe to drive.”

“If you intend to get behind the wheel after consuming impairing drugs, you will be caught.”

Testing remains ongoing across the Wellington region – from Kāpiti, Porirua, Wellington City, the Hutt Valley and through to Masterton.

Police will begin roadside drug testing across the rest of the country by mid-2026.

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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 24-year-old has been charged with murder after a body was found at a park in the Western Bay of Plenty nearly a week ago.

Dax Holland, 54, was found dead at Warepai Domain last Saturday.

Detective Senior Sergeant Natalie Flowerdew-Brown said police still wanted to hear from anyone who saw any unusual or suspicious behaviour around the domain before 2pm that day, using reference number 260214/8937.

The arrested man was due to appear in the Tauranga District Court on Saturday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

State Highway 73 is closed between Canterbury and the West Coast because of a serious crash in Arthur’s Pass.

The crash between a car and a motorbike happened near the intersection with Cora Lynn Road at about 1pm.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area and to expect delays.

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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 builder who bought Wellington’s most embarrassing historical desk says he would be happy to gift it back to the city if it goes into a museum.

A furniture historian said it was “outrageous” the desk, that four mayors had used, was got rid of by the city council in the first place.

But the city council disputed it had any historical value.

It does, however, have a lot of stories to tell: The large rimu desk made perhaps 120 years ago had graced the mayoral chambers through four incumbents from the 1980s, then the Happy Valley tip’s secondhand shop in 2025, and now sits beside a boat on Breaker Bay Road exposed to Wellington’s sewage-laced wind.

“I’d happily give [it] back to the council if they were to keep it forever in posterity,” Raymond Morgan told RNZ on Friday, as he popped out to take photos of the desk sitting by a neighbour’s runabout.

He bought it for $200 last year then found over 200 documents in it, dated between 1988 and 2004, in a locked side cupboard – “obvious and poking out”, he said.

They turned out to be what the city council called “sensitive and confidential historic documents”; it quickly sent out a public alert in September, apologising over how it had disposed of furniture from the old Town Hall via the tip shop.

It got the documents back, and this week also got back a damning report from an inquiry into the farce that it had ordered up from consultants Grant Thornton.

But Morgan said he had not been contacted at any stage, even for the inquiry.

“I think if they come to me and make an offer, I mean, I wouldn’t charge the city for it… they never contacted me,” he said.

The desk was of national significance, made about 120 years ago for the council and, unusually, with its full history known, said art historian Dr William Cottrell.

“Clearly it was just somebody just taking truckloads down there [to the tip shop],” said Cottrell.

“This is an outrageous example of where somebody’s just taken it upon themselves in ignorance and lost this furniture, which is furniture that belongs to the citizens of Wellington.”

But the city council rejected that.

“We disagree with the claim it has any great significance – otherwise it would likely already be in a museum,” a spokesperson said on Friday, adding they would see if anyone had any use for the desk.

It would likely be brought up at a committee meeting next week.

The council disputed that it was obvious the documents were in the side cupboard – though Morgan said someone had been in touch who had seen them at the tip shop, sticking out, and tried to pull them out.

The Grant Thornton report said three lots of checks by council staff on the desk had failed to find them. They should have been destroyed, it said.

Earlier this week, before the idea of gifting it back was raised with him, Morgan said he had other plans for it.

“I”m going to use the desktop as part of my whiskey cabinet.”

As it was, the desk was proving a “showpiece” for people walking past. “People that live in Wellington who do the Eastern Walkway stop and admire it and they recognise straight away what it is.”

It seemed to him the desk had been renovated in some way a few decades ago.

But it was still a “damn good idea” to save and display it, Morgan said.

“Because there’s a story to it and it raised a few eyebrows and I think it’s always interesting to have an interesting story around Wellington city… [It was] not necessarily an embarrassment. I think it adds to the flavour of it.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Controls on the movement of fruit and vegetables in Auckland’s Mount Roskill have been lifted after Biosecurity New Zealand announced no further evidence of Queensland fruit fly in the area.

The announcement comes after a six week intensive fruit fly trapping operation, and the inspection of more than 230kg of fruit.

Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner north Mike Inglis thanked the local community for their support during the operation, and said all restrictions could now be lifted.

“It wouldn’t have been possible to get to this point without the support of the local community. Every person who has kept an eye out for fruit flies, complied with movement controls, and safely disposed of their fruit waste, has played an important role in protecting our horticultural sector.

“We are satisfied that with no further detections, the Controlled Area Notice restrictions can be lifted, and response operations closed.”

The biosecurity wheelie bins in the area will also be removed.

While the operation has ended in Mount Roskill, Biosecurity New Zealand’s routine nationwide surveillance continues, with a system of nearly 8000 fruit fly traps spread across the country. More than 4600 of these are in the Auckland area.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents across the Wellington region are getting increasingly frustrated with power providers and the lines company, with one 92-year-old forced to cart buckets of water to flush the toilet.

Schools closed and power was cut to thousands when wild weather rolled across the lower North Island overnight on Sunday.

Wellington Electricity confirmed about 700 homes in Wellington were still without power on Friday morning, while Powerco said electricity was yet to be restored to 178 homes in Wairarapa and about 1500 across the Manawatū-Whanganui regions.

Both companies said the damage to the networks had been extensive and acknowledged the frustration and ongoing disruption to those who were yet to be reconnected.

Wellington Electricity said it would donate $10 to KidsCan Charitable Trust for every customer whose power would not be restored on Friday, and that it had pulled in additional resources and cancelled all planned work to do so.

Nonagenarian forced to carry buckets of water

In Wairarapa, 92-year-old Patrick Craddock said it took until just after midday Thursday to reconnect his and his partner Peggy’s rural property.

He said they relied on electricity to power their home’s water pumps, and were forced to carry buckets of water nearly 50m to fill the cistern of their toilet.

He said a nearby neighbour – also going without power – was ill, and he hoped their supplier would have prioritised people who were elderly, sick or disabled.

“It seems to be a bit crazy that the people who are in need most have to contact Powerco and say ‘please help us’. It would be useful to have a little list so that people who are sick and disabled could fill in a little form and send it to Powerco so that something happens, because when these accidents happen it’s bloody hard to deal with it.”

RNZ put that to Powerco. It said the storm had initially affected more that 25,000 properties on its network and the severity of the damage was requiring “complete rebuilds of sections of the electricity network before power can be restored”.

“Medically dependent customers can register their needs with their electricity retailer (the company they pay their power bill to).

“Being registered does not guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, especially during faults or severe weather, so customers are encouraged to have an emergency response plan and backup options in place.”

Confusion over who to call

The onsite house manager for a central Wellington boarding house told RNZ he was shocked that a loose power connection – which sent sparks flying onto the street below – went unaddressed for days.

Robert Frazer said Fire and Emergency cordoned off the area on The Terrace but as of Thursday evening, the boarding house’s 15 tenants were still in the dark.

He said Wellington Electricity and his power provider had been contacted “multiple times”.

“You contact Wellington Electricity and they say, ‘We’re not the people you should contact, you have to contact Genesis,’ our power provider.

“So then I contact Genesis… and they say, ‘We’re not the people who actually fix it so you need to contact Wellington Electricity,’ and so it just keeps going around like that.

“No one’s prepared to say, ‘Right we’re the ones that are responsible, we’re coming out now.'”

Frazer said in a city with high winds, it was disappointing that there were not contingencies in place.

“Do you expect us as customers to put [up] with – whenever there’s strong wind in Wellington – to be without power for days”?

“If this was a really cold day in the winter time – we’ve got no heating right now – that is really substandard.”

His power was eventually restored on Friday morning.

One of the hostel’s residents, Gareth Mackay, said the first few days were manageable but it was getting harder to deal with the longer it dragged on.

“No fridges, no cooking, we can’t even shower because the hot water’s connected to power as well. It’s not good.

“I don’t think we’re doing very well honestly. It’s ridiculous.”

Genesis Energy was contacted for comment. A spokesperson for Wellington Electricity said customers must first contact their electricity retailer, who would then log a job.

“It’s essential that customers call their retailer in an outage. We cannot identify individual property outages unless a call is logged, and if one isn’t, we’ll assume the customer is part of a wider area outage.

“If someone spots anything they believe is an electricity hazard they should call our emergency line on 0800 248 148. If anyone’s in danger or there’s a fire or serious risk to property, they should call 111 immediately.”

Solo mother of two Nicola Hill was still offline after she woke to find no power in her Island Bay home on Tuesday morning.

“We just don’t know when it’s going to come back on, but we’ve been told that someone has to be at the house to allow access to help to fix the problem.

“That just means that I’ve had to be at home without access to power for the last three days. Still no one’s turned up, and you don’t have any timeframes for when things are going to be resolved,” Hill said.

Hill said the only response to her daily attempts to contact Powershop – her supplier – and Wellington Electricity had been a text asking customers to contact Powershop if their power had come back.

She said she was frustrated, but conscious of others about the country suffering worse damage.

“I think ours are just inconveniences but it does make me worry about our infrastructure and about how we’re going to cope with some of the climate-related storms that we’re going to expect.

“When we can’t have functioning sewerage and power restored very easily after these sort of – likely to be common – events.”

She felt power companies needed to be more proactive to bring in extra staff and contractors as well as establishing more reliable communications when responding to adverse weather events.

“The system at the communication end isn’t working. You get different people and they’ve got different levels of expertise. The first person didn’t know what the second person knew.

“First of all I was told it was going to be four to six hours, the next person said, ‘It’s not going to be that, it’s going to be more like 18 hours.’ Just a whole lot of really changing messages.”

A spokesperson for Powershop said they were sorry to hear that some customers were still without electricity, “although people can be affected by power cuts like this regardless of which retailer they are with”.

“Responsibility for the restoration of power sits with Wellington Electricity (just as it does with other lines companies around NZ),” they said.

Wellington Electricity said Sunday night’s winds were the strongest to hit the capital since 2013 and that it was dealing with more power cuts than expected.

It said since then power had been restored to about 21,000 homes. More than 60 faults affecting large areas had been fixed, as well as 1000 single-property failures.

A spokesperson said the “vast majority” of area outages were fixed within two days, but they’d been left with a “long tail of single-property” power cuts.

“We’re also not always able to immediately identify these faults, as some may be initially hidden by larger area outages. Some of these jobs have also been complex, requiring follow visits which has affected our original timeline.”

Downed trees prompt free green waste disposal

Wellington City Council said a major clean-up was underway following the southerly storm that ripped through the capital.

Parks and open spaces manager Bradley Schroder said the impact of the vicious winds was everywhere, with trees down all over the city, and would likely take months to clear.

The council said crews with chainsaws had been busy dealing with broken branches hanging from trees on roadsides and in the Botanic Gardens and cemeteries.

Schroder expected the 900 jobs lodged with the council to rise.

Wellington residents could dispose of green waste at the Southern Landfill for free until 5pm on Thursday 26 February. The South Wairarapa and Carterton District councils would also provide free green waste disposal this weekend.

Residents in Masterton would also be offered free disposal, but have been asked to hold onto their green waste until the disposal site – which is dealing with power issues – can accept it.

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