Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than half a century after the last whale was caught and killed in New Zealand, humpbacks are showing promising signs of recovery.

An international study involving researchers from the University of Auckland shows humpback breeding is getting more competitive, which suggests the population is growing.

University of Auckland marine biologist Dr Emma Carroll had been working with researchers in New Caledonia to track the local humpback whales.

Comparing data collected over decades, Dr Carroll described a stark difference in breeding habits between the first part of the study, conducted in the 2000’s, and the second part, in the 2010’s.

“For the first part of the study, when the population was really small, young males and old males had the same number of babies or paternities,” she explained.

“But in the second half of the study, as the population is recovering from whaling, we see that older males are actually more dominant.”

What Carroll described was called a “reproductive skew”.

Many species had a reproductive skew that favoured older, larger males, and these “super-males” had the most children.

But when their population was decimated in the 60s and 70s, humpback whales lost the luxury to be picky.

To maintain genetic diversity, Carroll said the whales moved away from their reproductive skew.

“We think that when the population is low, the fact that young males and older males have the similar chances of having offspring, that is actually quite good for the population,” she said.

“Because it means that every male can contribute, which means lots more genetic diversity can be continued or carried through the population.”

As the decades rolled on, female whales had more options, and the males were getting more competitive.

“Then we see as the population gets bigger, there’s this kind of preference towards older males. And it just shows us that whaling and the reduction in the population size has led to changes in these behaviours through time.”

New Zealand’s relationship with whaling had a long and complicated history.

In a 1996 report by RNZ’s Spectrum, Marlborough whaler Joe Heberley described the moment his profession reached a tipping point.

“As time wore on, we knew that whaling was going to become history, and it was a sad day, you know,” Heberley said at the time.

“We knew that the Japanese and Russians had got in and slaughtered the pod of whales that were feeding the New Zealand coast. We knew that by the numbers that we had spotted coming through Cook Strait, that something had happened.”

By 1964, New Zealand’s whaling industry had made its last catch, and sentiment began to shift.

New Zealand voted in favour of an international moratorium that banned commercial whaling from 1986.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Juan Parada is proud of that transformation, but feared New Zealand had lost its conservational edge in the decades since.

“It’s clear that New Zealand had a big turnaround, from being a whaling nation we became vocal defenders of whales, and that’s something to be really proud of,” he said.

“Our point of shame really is to be the last country that is bottom trawling in the South Pacific high seas.”

Parada said New Zealand’s reluctance to give up bottom trawling presented a massive threat to whales.

“When bottom trawlers drag their heavy nets on these delicate habitats, the entire ecosystem is wiped out,” he said.

“I definitely think that bottom trawling is the worst thing that we’re doing. It would be really easy to stop, really, and that would make a huge difference for the ocean.”

Carroll said only a couple of generations had passed since whaling was outlawed, and she hoped to track the whales’ changing behaviour in the decades to come.

“The fact that we’re seeing this shift now, that means if we continue to monitor this population, which is relatively small and easy to monitor, it means we can see this change in behaviour through time,” she said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

More children under 12 are ringing Youthline, with its latest figures showing that age group makes up 10 percent of calls for help.

At the charity’s inaugural youth mental health summit at Parliament on Wednesday, speakers called for cross-party support and a more connected model of care for young New Zealanders who, since Covid-19, are struggling more than ever.

Youthline runs free services including a helpline, face-to-face counselling, mentoring, and programmes in schools.

Its chief executive, Shae Ronald, said the helpline had 28,000 conversations a year but demand had been climbing for more than a decade, particularly since Covid-19.

“We had a big jump last year in January, and we’ve had another big jump over the last three months.”

And the cases were growing in seriousness, too – the number of rangatahi who were considered very high risk, and requiring emergency intervention, was up to four a day. Ronald said she remembered a time when it was one a week.

Today, many young people were battling something she called the “missing middle service gap”.

“Many young people fall into the space where their needs are serious, but do not meet the threshold for urgent or specialist intervention. As a result, they may face long wait lists, limited availability, or uncertainty about where they fit within the system,” she said.

And the callers were getting younger, too.

“As of last year, 10 percent of all people contacting Youthline are under 12,” she said.

Australian psychiatrist Pat McGorry explained the increase of mental health distress among youths was a global trend, and it could be down to any combination of factors – social media, climate anxiety, rising cost of living and buying a house, and notably, Covid-19.

“The younger age groups had a much more precipitous drop in their mental health during the pandemic,” he said.

“We think it’s about 25 percent of the rise over the last 20 years, Covid is responsible for it.”

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey – who himself had spent time as a Youthline counsellor in the 1980s – expressed envy of Australia over the size and scale of their resources to respond to the mental health crisis.

But McGorry said it wasn’t all smooth sailing there, either.

“I assume it’s the same in New Zealand,” he said.

“Life is much more precarious in an economic sense for [young people]. Their futures are clouded in many, many ways. House prices in Australia cost you three times the median income 40 years ago to buy a house. Now it’s 10 times. And rents are proportionally equal.

“And there are students in Western Sydney at the universities who have to choose between buying textbooks and eating. So they have food banks in the universities. Now, how can a society like Australia, one of the richest countries in the world, tolerate that? I mean, it’s just madness.”

Dr Jess Stubbing, a clinical psychologist and researcher now working in Massachusetts, said New Zealand was yet to see the true peak of the wave.

“I’m seeing more and more younger people, who are coming in at a younger age with really significant need, and a lot of that is young people who were in their very formative, early years during Covid, when their families were stressed, the country was stressed, we were all divided, and that affects us, that affects how we grow up.”

She said the New Zealand system was not meeting the current need, and it was definitely not going to meet future need, either.

That left a couple of options, she said – spend money today on an integrated, cohesive mental health system, “or spend ten times that in a decade when those people are adults and need our adult services”.

Doocey said the feedback he frequently received was that the system felt fragmented, with long wait times, unequipped to meet growing demand.

In the past 12 months, an extra 35,000 accessed support compared with the year before, which Doocey said was largely due to a reduction in workforce vacancies.

But that same growth wasn’t seen among young people.

A prevalence survey – the first of its kind for mental health and addiction among young people – was set to begin in the coming months, Doocey said.

And while that would take years to start producing data, it was a step in the right direction for a system where the need grew year on year.

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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

The family of a former St Bede’s College student, who was offered $7000 after he complained of being sexually abused by a teacher on multiple occasions, want an apology from the school and a “very substantial financial settlement”.

After the former student, who has since died, initially rejected the $7000 ex gratia payment, the chairman of St Bede’s College’s Board of Proprietors wrote to him saying they realised he may have been hoping for more.

“But if you were to consult others regarding this you would find that this amount is around what might be expected in New Zealand.”

A lawyer acting for the man’s family says the complainant was “extremely angry with the whole process, the insulting offers, and the lack of compassion showed by all involved”.

The lawyer’s firm acts for eight former St Bede’s College students in relation to sexual assault allegations involving at least 10 named priests and staff members, as well as sexual assaults from other students “as a result of inadequate staff supervision”.

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

RNZ earlier revealed that former St Bede’s College priest Rowan Donoghue had admitted sexually abusing four boys at the school between 1996 and 2000.

RNZ then revealed that another priest, former rector Fr Brian Cummings, was also accused of abuse by three different complainants in 1996, 2014 and 2023. Cummings, who died in 2022, “strenuously denied” the allegations.

The school is now investigating what was known historically and how the matters were addressed. That work is being led by the current board and rector Jon McDowall.

RNZ has obtained a series of documents in relation to a former student who was allegedly sexually abused by a teacher at the school in the 1970s.

The man went to police in 2016. In August 2017 he got a letter from police which said the former staffer had a raft of physical disorders as well as several mental disorders which police believed would prevent him from being competent to stand trial.

Police said there was no physical evidence other than the man’s formal statement. That in conjunction with the time delay and the man’s mental health meant the complaint had not met the evidential test and there was not a reasonable chance of a successful prosecution.

Police said the complainant was a “credible and believable witness and police believe that his complaint is genuine”.

The man took the allegations to St Bede’s College in 2017.

In January 2018, the man received a letter from St Bede’s College Board of Proprietors chairman Shane O’Brien. The letter referenced a meeting from November at the school.

“You will recall I made it clear we wanted to do the right thing by you and we offered you a $5000 ex gratia payment in the spirit of an offer to support one of our Bedean community.”

The man had rejected the offer, and asked for $28,000, the letter said.

“We are not in a position to make such a payment and consider that a payment of that amount would be more appropriately asked of the individual responsible for the abuse.”

The offer was later increased to $7000. A letter from O’Brien in April 2018 said they hoped the man would be able to use the money “for the counselling and other things that will help with your healing”.

“We do realise that you may have been hoping for more, but if you were to consult others regarding this you would find this amount is around what might be expected in New Zealand. Please be assured we have not made this decision lightly, our real hope is that you can heal and move forward.”

In June 2018, the man wrote a letter to O’Brien and others, including the Society of Mary.

“It is with sadness and reluctance that I accept your offer of $7000. I am in dire financial need and lack resources to adequately seek what I believe to be fair and just. In short, I am simply worn out trying to express the devastating effect [the teacher] has had upon my life and the length of time this has taken.

“I have always been honest and straightforward in my approach to St Bedes and the Society of Mary. Where I was hoping for a ‘quick and just’ settlement I now find many months later my health is suffering further. In some ways I feel abused again but in a different form.”

An unsigned draft deed of settlement, dated 2018, said the man was taught by a staffer who invited him to visit him off the college property and “sexually abused him on about seven occasions over a period of several months”.

“The college was made aware in 2017 of the allegations of sexual abuse suffered by [the man].

“A committee representing the college heard the complaint. The committee’s enquiry found no previous knowledge of the abuse at the time or subsequently. The committee accepted the truth of [the man’s] complaint against [the teacher].”

The college offered, without admission of liability on its part, agreed to an ex gratia payment of $7000 and the man would agree not to commence legal proceedings nor seek further compensation or payment from the college.

The complainant did not sign the settlement.

In July 2018, O’Brien emailed the man about the deed of settlement and referred to a meeting that the man had with then rector Justin Boyle, O’Brien and Fr Allan Jones from the Society of Mary.

“We have entered into this process in the utmost good faith with you. We have kept you well informed and agreed to meet with you whenever asked. Our offer to you is a genuine and sincere offer to allow you to move on and assist with the healing process that you are wanting to occur.

“Our offer is being made as a full and final settlement but if you are now looking to engage lawyers and media as you suggest in your email it may not be possible to proceed on this basis.”

O’Brien asked that the complainant reconsider his position and “allow us to work with you to resolve this matter in an amicable and positive way”.

“As I have stated on previous occasions we are wanting to help you on your road to recovery and healing and see this as an important step for you.”

In 2020, the complainant instructed law firm Cooper Legal. Lawyer Sam Benton told RNZ the firm first wrote to St Bede’s College and the Society of Mary in January 2023 regarding the man’s claim.

“Our client suffered significant negative impacts from the abuse he experienced at St Bede’s, and he has never received any compensation or formal recognition of that abuse, despite his attempts to obtain it in 2017 and 2018.

“He advised our firm that the college was aware that he was ‘completely broke and in debt at the time’, and that the process was carried out in such a way that would have enabled the college to dismiss him as quickly and for as low a cost as possible.”

Benton said the man, who died in 2023, was “extremely angry with the whole process, the insulting offers, and the lack of compassion showed by all involved”.

Benton said Cooper Legal acted for eight former St Bede’s College students who suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse while attending the school from the 1970s to the mid-2010s. This included sexual assaults from at least 10 named priests and staff members, as well as sexual assaults from other students as a result of inadequate staff supervision.

“For three years, Cooper Legal has sought acknowledgement, accountability, and redress from the college’s Boards and Rector, as well as through the Society of Mary, the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch and the Archbishop. Instead, these vulnerable survivors have faced delay, deflection, and policies designed not to provide healing but to avoid responsibility.”

He said the complainant’s ordeal “exemplifies the profound injustice these survivors continue to endure”.

He said the $7000 offer was “so patently inadequate that it left him retraumatised and angry”.

Benton supported the Chief Victims Advisor’s call for an independent investigation into historical allegations of sexual abuse at the school.

“For many survivors, financial redress is a critical component of accountability. It signals that the institution accepts responsibility and understands that the harm inflicted has caused lifelong consequences to survivors, including massive financial consequences. We call upon the college to commit to putting its money where its ‘mouth’ is.”

The man’s sister told RNZ she was “appalled” at the offers made from the school.

“[He] was smart, he really was a clever boy with a wonderful talent for writing. He could have had an amazing life and career … The impact of his experience at St Bede’s only supported his feelings of hopelessness, and, in his inability to hold down a job, desperation.”

She wants an acknowledgement of the alleged abuse her brother suffered, and an apology.

She also wants a “very substantial financial settlement” to his estate which she would administer on her mum’s behalf to an organisation treating victims of historical abuse.

RNZ put a series of questions to the rector of St Bede’s College including whether he believed the man’s complaint was handled appropriately, why he had not been paid and whether the school would now reconsider this.

In a statement, McDowall said the college does not comment on individual cases, “out of respect for the privacy of those involved”.

“What I am committed to is ensuring that any concerns that are raised with the college are addressed through the appropriate channels and in line with our current policy and expectations. My focus is on supporting anyone impacted and on ensuring our current students continue to receive the highest standard of care.

“I want to reiterate that abuse of this, or any kind, is appalling. I invite anyone impacted by this matter, or who has concerns, to contact me directly.”

A Society of Mary spokesperson replied: “For privacy reasons we have no comment to make.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Another child has died in a portable pool and the coroner’s court has renewed calls for these pools to be banned.

However, the government ministry in charge says change is unlikely.

Ten-month-old Majura Rapi-Davis died on Boxing Day 2022 in a portable inflatable pool at his Pukekohe home. The pool was only full to approximately 320 millimetres, around the height of a standard school ruler.

Associate Coroner James Buckle found the soft-sided pool would collapse inwards and downwards if a small amount of pressure was put on it, meaning Majura could tip himself in.

“Because the top of the pool collapsed in when weight was put on it but did not collapse out, Baby Majura was not able to climb out without help,” he said.

In March 2023, the death of a 20-month-old in a temporary pool in Napier resulted in a call from Water Safety NZ for a ban on the pools.

This followed a coroner’s investigation into the drownings of eight children aged under 6 during the summer of 2021-2022 when Coroner Michael Robb also recommended a ban.

Coroner Buckle said the evidence pointed to Majura’s parents being diligent in their supervision of the pool when being used and that they acted to try and restrict his access to it at other times. But with a busy household and several other children around, the sliding door which gave access to the pool was at one time left open.

“The death of Baby Majura was a tragic loss and I extend my heartfelt condolences to his whānau,” Coroner Buckle said.

He noted that this was not the first death of a child in these circumstances and endorsed Coroner Robbs recommendation that temporary pools of less than 1.2 metres in height be discontinued from sale.

“The cost of these pools has become the lives of children,” Coroner Buckle said.

However, a ban did not look likely to happen.

“The tenor of [Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s] response to both my and Coroner Robb’s recommendations were that they are very unlikely to be followed in the short to medium term, if ever,” Coroner Buckle said.

MBIE argued that discontinuing the sale of temporary pools under 1.2 metres in height would require significant policy work and would not be as simple a solution as it sounded.

Because he was not confident in government action to ban the pools, Coroner Buckle also recommended a law change to the promotion, advertising, and packaging of temporary pools.

“Any and all promotional, advertising and/or packaging images, whether static or otherwise, that show swimming pools must show the pool in a context that is clearly and unequivocally compliant with the relevant legislation,” he recommended.

He also said it should be clear that the pool itself did not come with the barriers to make it safe.

Water Safety New Zealand said two children under the age of 5 have drowned in portable pools already in the first two months of this year, a cause of death which did not exist a decade ago.

Water Safety’s Gavin Walker said the pools were an inexpensive choice but were often left unfenced and filled with water.

“Buyers typically do not budget for, or anticipate the real need for, appropriate fencing, leaving children at serious risk of drowning,” he said.

Walker said there was simply too much risk presented by temporary pools.

“Any unfenced pool is a tragedy waiting to happen. A split-second distraction can have devastating implications for our youngest and most vulnerable.”

Complete recommendations from the coroner:

• That portable pools between the heights of 400 millimetres and 1.2 metres be discontinued from sale in order to prevent avoidable deaths of young children;
• That a law change should be considered to require that any and all promotional, advertising and/or packaging images, whether static or otherwise, that show swimming pools must show the pool in a context that is clearly and unequivocally compliant with the relevant legislation;
• That any and all notices attached to packaging etc regarding barrier rules for swimming pools should clearly state that the relevant barriers are not included with the pools;
• That MBIE, or some other government department or organisation, conduct or commission research into the number of portable pools sold/used in New Zealand, the (mis)use of portable pools, the impact of that (mis)use on the incidence of drowning in New Zealand, and whether the current approach to pool safety needs to be modified to also be effective for portable pools;
• That MBIE, or some other government department or organisation, conduct or commission research into whether design improvements can be made to portable swimming pools to make them safer;
• That if the research provides designs that improve pool safety then the improved designs should be incorporated into the relevant design standards.

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