Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Police investigating after shots fired at Hastings house

Date:  10 April 2025

The nationally endangered birds which nest on an island in the Upper Ōhau River battled an unseasonal and very heavy snowfall which buried them and their nests.

The birds have a unique colony in the Upper Ōhau river system where around 700 of them nest each season. This colony is the largest in the country.

This breeding season got off to an amazing start with 360 nests, and the rangers could not believe it. “We were so stoked to have so many nests on the island, and no signs of depredation,” said Sam Turner, Department of Conservation Biodiversity Ranger for Project River Recovery.

Before the snow came, the rangers’ big concern was the ever-present risk of predators wiping them out. “Norway rats are incredibly good swimmers and if we get even one on the island while the birds are incubating their eggs, it can cause the entire colony to abandon their nests. For four years in a row, we had zero fledglings due to rats and other predators, so it is a stressful time.”

The unseasonal snow fall came in late October. Sam Turner feared the worst.

“There was at least 20cm of snow blanketing the whole of the Mackenzie Basin. We didn’t know what was happening to the birds on the island and we didn’t know how they would handle so much deep snow.”

“We checked our trail cameras and saw the parents had stayed on their nests until the very last moment. They were up to their necks but had to abandon the nests to save themselves. It was impressive how hardy and dedicated the terns were, but heart breaking to see the snow bury everything.”

But just over a week later, the resilient birds came back to give it another go and began laying eggs on the island and on an adjacent terrace.

“It was incredible, really, and such a relief for our team. But we now had a big job on our hands to protect the birds from predators – especially the birds that renested on the terrace because without protection from the natural moat they had on the island, they were super vulnerable to hedgehogs, which demolish their eggs.”

“We erected a temporary hedgehog barrier and set up traps on the terrace where some of the terns nested. We upped our feral cat control, and when we detected a stoat and her kits in the area, we also brought through a conservation dog and handler trained in detecting stoats. It was a massive collaborative effort from the DOC team.”

It all paid off. Sam Turner estimates at least 100 chicks fledged from the breeding colony and have now flown to the coastline for the winter.

“It’s been such an intense season, lots of emotions so it’s hard to put into words. It’s been such a roller coast given everything that has happened. The snow dump was so out of left field and such terrible timing, but to our relief these little birds had a successful breeding season with a bit of help from us. It’s super rewarding seeing them fly away.”

“What we want the public to know is how special these birds are and what they’re up against. They’re only found in New Zealand and that’s the reason we work so hard as if we lose them, they’re gone for good. What’s amazing is how these little terns have beaten the odds this season and that’s something we are so proud of.”

“One alarming statistic is that 25 million native birds are killed by invasive predators in New Zealand. Nature is under pressure, and we’re finding increasingly difficult challenges every year, especially with the extreme weather events like the big snow dumps during the breeding season.”

“Our job is to make sure these endangered birds have successful breeding years so that they are still around for many years to come.”

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Source: Police investigating after shots fired at Hastings house

Date:  10 April 2025

The beach has been off limits to public since 2018 when contaminants including asbestos were found on the beach.

An asbestos removal company has since cleared about 1.2 tonnes of contaminated material from the beach.

DOC Operations Manager Murihiku John McCarroll says the risk of public exposure is considered extremely low, but ongoing public and environmental risk is not acceptable, and further erosion will deteriorate the landfill – so there is a need to act.

This next phase is to prevent any future contamination of the site and allow public access to be restored.

“DOC and Invercargill City Council (ICC) are collaborating to install a rock seawall between the landfill and the beach,” says John.

“First, waste will be excavated and sorted, reclaimable clean material will be used within the site and the rest will be removed for disposal at an authorised class A landfill. Up to 6,500 tonne of rocks will then be used to build a 90 m long wall to prevent future erosion and secure this significant heritage site for the Bluff area.”

The coastal protection wall and landfill removal cost is around $3.5m and is being funded by DOC, ICC and Ministry for the Environment (MfE). The work is being carried out under guidance of the Ocean Beach Landfill Working Party which includes representatives from Environment Southland and Te Ao Mārama inc who represent Murihiku tangata whenua for resource management purposes.

ICC Chief Engineer Russell Pearson said public safety will be paramount during the work being undertaken.

“With work happening between April and June this year, there will be, at times, no access to the car park and beach areas. Restrictions will be publicly notified as early as possible.”

Bluff Community Board Chair Ray Fife said he was glad to see progress: “I am pleased this work is now being undertaken after the extensive investigation.”

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Source: Police investigating after shots fired at Hastings house

Date:  08 April 2025

Tara iti/NZ fairy tern is New Zealand’s rarest endemic breeding bird. With fewer than 45 individuals, the tara iti is nationally critical and despite intensive management has teetered on the brink of extinction since the 1980s. The tara iti, like many of New Zealand’s native species are unique and special. We have more threatened species than anywhere else in the world – more than 4000 are threatened or at risk of extinction.

Senior Biodiversity Ranger Alex Wilson says the tiny Tara iti weighs a mere 70 grams, but the youngster from a “plucky and feisty” species clocked up more than 1700 km during four epic flights in February and March. The bird, part of the DOC-Auckland Zoo Tara iti captive rearing programme is fitted with a small “backpack” transmitter to track its movements.

Over two days in late February, the little Tara iti covered 508 km on a trip around Northland, leaving from and returning to Kaipara Harbour. Two weeks later, in mid-March, it set off on the first of two visits to Thames in Coromandel, covering more than 600 km in total.

“Its final effort was the most impressive, leaving Kaipara on 21 March, arriving in New Plymouth late the next day – clocking up 324 km,” Alex says.

“Over the course of the next three days it returned to Kaipara – with a stop at Kawhia on the way – adding a further 320 km to its journey.”

Alex says it’s not clear why or whether all juvenile Tara iti travel so far, or whether adults also accompany them.

“Up until now we have had to rely on incidental reports of juvenile Tara iti outside their known habitats – so the tracking data from this bird gives valuable insight into the capabilities of young birds.

“A better understanding of their movements and habitat use is a vital development for the programme and the species survival,” she says.

“We’re encouraging people around the North Island to keep an eye out for Tara iti, and report sightings to taraiti@doc.govt.nz, because they could be popping up in all these places,” Alex says.

The public can now donate directly to Tara iti recovery project.

Over the next five years, the NZ Nature Fund in partnership with DOC is seeking to raise $1.57 million for tara iti conservation from public donors and philanthropists. The funds will be used to accelerate DOC’s tara iti recovery programme and ensure the species survives beyond the next 50 years through a number of initiatives such as;

• Developing between three and five new safe breeding sites within the birds existing habitat range, but outside the four main current nesting sites.
• Creating new habitats with shell patches at the existing and new breeding sites.
• Expanding the buffer predator control range so all tara iti breeding have sufficient control to ensure protection.

To donate visit NZ Nature Fund

Background information

DOC works closely with partners, including iwi groups Patuharakeke Te Iwi Trust Board, Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust, Nga Maungawhakahii O Kaipara Development Trust, Ngāti Wai Trust Board, and Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, Auckland Zoo, The Shorebirds Trust, NZ Fairy Tern Charitable Trust, About Tern, Birds NZ, Auckland Council, Tara Iti Golf Club, NZ Nature Fund and local trapping groups.

Generous support for the breeding season has been provided by organisations such as the Shorebirds Trust, Endangered Species Foundation, Pākiri Beach Holiday Park, Auckland Council, Manāki Whitebait, Tongariro National Trout Centre, and New Zealand King Salmon.

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Source: Police investigating after shots fired at Hastings house

Date:  04 April 2025

Tēnā koutou katoa

It’s great to see so many people here interested in tourism that’s sustainable for the environment and the communities we live in.

The Government is focused on economic growth – tourism on the land that DOC manages is a key part of that.

I know that healthy nature and being able to operate on public conservation land with certainty, is important to many tourism operators.

I also know you’re eagerly awaiting Ministerial decisions on the work to manage visitors better at Milford Sound.

It’s coming – the Ministers of Tourism and Conservation are working on a paper and will be talking to their colleagues on it – and we can expect some announcements soon.

I want to use this opportunity to take you through what DOC is doing to make sure people can get out, enjoy their time on conservation land and contribute to the economy.

DOC’s role

For those of you who don’t know us well, DOC manages more than a third of New Zealand’s land area, as well as hundreds of offshore islands, marine reserves, and national parks.

We are responsible for 14,000 native species and we put a lot of effort into managing threats from predators, disease and human-related impacts.

We also provide a huge range of visitor assets, including huts, campsites, picnic areas, shelters, bridges, toilets, and so many kilometres of tracks that, if you laid them out in a line, they would stretch from here to New York.

We have the largest number of Treaty settlements to implement of any Crown agency – with more than 3 thousand specific obligations and commitments to working with iwi at culturally significant places.

We operate under 25 different pieces of legislation, some of it really old and hard to navigate – for example the Wildlife Act was written 70 years ago, long before climate change was understood and before international visitor growth was a thing.

We are also neighbours across 57,000 kilometres of land boundaries and have 17,000 kilometres of fences in our asset management system.

So in a snapshot, we have very broad responsibilities – and we are doing it with 5% of the Government’s budget.

We have to prioritise our work carefully because we can’t afford to do it all.

Permissions at pace

Many of you in this room will be interested in what we’re doing to make it easier for businesses to operate on public conservation land.

You’re frustrated at the length of time it takes to get your permissions and concessions processed.

I want to assure you we’re working on this at pace. It’s a major priority for our Minister; we’ve got targets we have to meet, and we are surging our effort on this.

We need to clear the applications that are more than a year old by June this year.

As soon as we close applications more come in, so we are also improving our systems. We don’t want numbers to creep back up and create more of a problem.

We’re going at it hammer and tongs – we’ve got new technology coming to help us triage and track applications. So you can apply for a permit or concession online and track it in real time.

We’re also batching up types of applications for processing and setting up panels to assess applications – so it’s faster.

We found that processing drone applications was eating up a huge amount of our time – now we’ve worked with iwi and with our technical staff to determine in advance where drones are allowed and where the no-fly zones are.

We now process all drone permits within a week and it’s cut down our admin time immensely.

We’re looking to do similar things with other categories of permits.

Part of the backlog is caused by all the layers of rules we are obliged to follow, so streamlining our legislation will be a big help – we’ve gone out for public consultation on that and advice will go to Ministers shortly.

This is a big deal for DOC – we’re doing everything we can to shift this, to make it easier for you to work with us. It will help to grow local businesses, and we can free up time and resources to push back into conservation.

DOC is New Zealand’s biggest tourism provider

It’s important we get concessions right because concessionaires play an important role in the tourism system – DOC enables 1,000 tourism businesses to operate on conservation land and water.

DOC is also the largest provider of visitor experiences in New Zealand, with over 16,000 beds and camping spaces. We enjoy hosting 64,000 walkers on the Great Walks each year.

Conservation-related tourism is worth around $3.4 billion a year – that’s still down about $900m since before Covid, but numbers are starting to bounce back.

Most visitors come here for our mountains, open landscapes, quirky wildlife, and unique cultural heritage.

50% of international tourists visit national parks – a quarter of them deliberately seek out places of significance to Māori.

80% of New Zealanders visit public conservation land each year.

Visitor satisfaction is high, but we still have a lot to do to protect the experiences we’re promising, and make sure the environment is looked after.

NZ’s economy needs nature

Nature is key to the economy and if we don’t look after it, people will stop buying our products and they won’t visit.

70% of NZ’s export earnings are from sectors that rely directly on natural resources.

The clean air, quality soil, and fresh water that public conservation land provides are worth around $11 billion per year. [1]

Natural and physical capital on public conservation land is worth $134 billion, and National Parks are worth $12.6 billion to New Zealanders.

When storms take out DOC assets, your communities suffer.

I know there’s huge frustration when tracks like Rob Roy and Blue Pools close at short notice.

The torrential rain and floods in February 2020 which damaged more than 30 bridges and hundreds of kilometres of track, on the Routeburn and Milford tracks had a massive impact. That event, along with COVID hard on its heels, saw visitor spending in the region cut by half. [2]

We’ve been working over the past five years to deliver a $14m flood recovery programme to restore these important visitor experiences.

On the other hand there’s huge opportunity for conservation tourism – I know Real Journeys offers this – where people get involved while they’re out enjoying nature.

Another opportunity is film tourism – the Lord of the Rings series has really helped send a postcard from New Zealand to the world and we should be exploring this further.

Our economy depends on nature – but nature is in trouble.

We have the highest proportion of threatened native species in the world – with more than 4,000 currently threatened or at risk of extinction.

Climate change – more fires, floods and severe storms – are making the problem worse.

We estimate it would cost around $2.3 billion per year to look after all threatened species properly and maintain healthy ecosystems to ensure their security.

Our biodiversity budget is around $300 million – which puts us just in the ‘preventing losses’ space.

Visitor network challenges

When it comes to recreation – DOC has a few challenges.

Our visitor network is large – we can only afford about 70% of it.

We can’t replace all our existing assets as they reach the end of their useful life because we will run out of depreciation funding to replace them.

And our construction costs are going up – in recent years we spent over $3m on the Mintaro hut and surrounding structures. It costs us 30% more now to build swing bridges in the back country than it did four years ago.

Another challenge is to meet the growing and changing visitor demand. New Zealanders and international visitors want more accessible, shorter walks.

Longer tramps are no longer in the top 20 activities.

Severe weather is damaging the assets that we’ve got.

Our spending on storm repairs has quadrupled in the past five years and 300 of our coastal assets are in the danger zone from rising sea levels.

I know closures of key sites on the Milford Corridor like The Chasm have been frustrating for some operators and visitors.

It’s in an area subject to extreme rainfall. We need to be confident we’re making the appropriate level of investment for the site.

We’ve completed the geotech work and are progressing the design – but with tight resources we have to be careful.

Likewise Tunnel Beach walkway in Dunedin suffered serious damage last year from torrential rain, and we’ve got similar issues there. Similarly Lake Sylvan near Glenorchy.

Another emerging challenge is with social media influencers – whose photos are encouraging people to go beyond their capabilities to get that perfect insta shot.

We’ve also seen some appalling and dangerous visitor behaviour this summer with people driving over birds nesting on beaches, and harassing sea lions to get a better photo or video.

We’ve also had 5 fatalities this year where people have gone beyond track ends, including two recent ones in Otago.

Responsible camping is another hot topic – the Valley of the Trolls and Brewster Glacier are the two local examples where the volume of people camping are having an impact on the sites, so we are encouraging people to camp responsibly.

I applaud the actions being taken by the station owner at Earnslaw Station to keep the area pristine and reminding people to be respectful.

Another issue DOC is seeing is the uneven distribution of visitors.

Some assets are under-used with plenty having fewer than 200 visitors per year in places.

On the other hand, some iconic locations such as Piopiotahi Milford Sound or Aoraki Mt Cook, are becoming increasingly popular, car parks are overflowing and this is negatively affecting the environment.

We are working on how we manage numbers so the experience is safe and sustainable.

So what are we doing about it?

Here’s our plan for resolving some of these issues.

There are things we can do under existing frameworks, so we’ve started.

We’re taking a strategic approach to funding from the International Visitor Levy and investing it in ways that improves the visitor experience at our most popular places.

For example, national parks – people come here for nature so we need to make sure nature’s sustained in those areas.

We’re also investing in short walks – bringing tracks back up to standard, removing graffiti, re-gravelling tracks.

We’re looking at charging for carparks and more of our huts – this improves the proportion of charges to the user, reducing the cost to all New Zealanders.

From next summer we will pilot carparking charges at Aoraki/Mt Cook, Punakaiki and Franz Josef Glacier to help manage visitor numbers and cover upkeep costs – like other countries do.

I’ve already told you the work we’re doing at pace to fix our permissions system.

What’s coming

In future we’re exploring charges to access some high-volume areas, like they do overseas, to help pay toward the upkeep of the visitor network.

Currently we can only charge people who stay in a hut, or businesses who operate on conservation land.

Visitors who do short walks – the most popular activity – don’t pay anything.

We’ve been out for public consultation and overall the feedback was supportive – especially for charging international visitors more.

On law reform, we want to prune back all the layers of regulation that are paralysing us. Modernising legislation will help fix this by cutting processing times and reducing costs for businesses.

We’re also looking at our visitor network and trying different things. We want to realign our network to make sure it’s affordable and we can better meet the changing demand for experiences.

We need to build in resilience so we’re not just building back assets which will get washed away in the next flood.

We’re thinking of different categories like ‘buckets’, being really clear about what’s special to New Zealanders and keeping visitor risk and safety top of mind.

The first bucket would be the things that DOC will absolutely continue to own and maintain, things like Great Walks, highly visited tracks, huts, and campsites.

There might be some experiences that DOC wants to move away from.

Like a hut at a road end where people regularly load up with lots of alcohol and then trash it. Or parts of tracks that are continually being washed out.

And then we need to work out the things DOC would still own, but others might manage.

Like halls, pools and some camp sites.

We are also looking at how we partner with others to provide experiences – we’ve just done this on the new Hump Ridge track Great Walk – with the Charitable Trust operating it under a licensing agreement.

The Backcountry Trust is doing an amazing job of maintaining our low use, backcountry huts – and we’re partnering with them through the Community Hut Programme and funding from the visitor levy.

I want to be clear that no decisions have been made by Ministers yet – there is still a way to go. It will also be phased in over time.

We’re preparing advice on this now and hope to get that to Ministers by the middle of this year.

Ministers will need to make some tough calls on doing things differently – Minister Potaka has said publicly he wants us to sharpen our focus so we’re putting our resources into the things that matter most.

That means concentrating on high value conservation areas and species, and key visitor destinations – and working out where we should divest, co-fund or partner with others on.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing – case study

We’re already testing ideas on managing visitors at our busiest spots – like the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

We’ve had a lot of problems in the past with high visitor numbers, people not properly prepared, and visitors not respecting the track or the mountain – in fact some would go to the toilet on the track.

We’ve been working in partnership with Ngāti Hikairo and local tourism operators and come up with some innovative solutions.

We’ve introduced the first booking system for a day walk in NZ.

We’ve got Manaaki Rangers on site during peak times to explain the cultural heritage and why it’s important to respect the mountain.

We have done a lot of research to understand the impacts of visitors, including what the carrying capacity is and what the environmental impacts are.

We’ve also added a climate station to help support concessionaries with better weather forecasts.

And we’re running behaviour change campaigns.

We’re getting results – 80 – 90% of visitors are complying with the booking system, which has given us the ability to directly contact walkers before they head out and give them the safety and cultural messages.

As a result visitors are now a lot more aware and respectful of the environment they’re heading into.

Working with Ngāti Hikairo has also helped us connect with concessionaires, so they understand the cultural importance of the landscape – hosting hui with operators has helped work through issues and opportunities.

This work is not easy, but this case study shows it can be done. We need to work out how to scale up this model and apply it elsewhere.

Again – it’s not perfect, but we’re making progress and we will test and adapt.

Cathedral Cove – case study

Another example of where we’re working with manawhenua and local businesses to manage visitors is at Mautohe / Cathedral Cove in Coromandel.

The walking track was closed for an extended period because of damage from Cyclone Gabrielle, and we had concerns about visitor safety – falling rocks, track washed away.

Funding from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy meant we could reinstate walking access by re-routing the track temporarily.

We’re pleased to see visitors enjoying the cove again – with hundreds of people a day back over summer.

We’re doing intensive monitoring of numbers – we’ve looked at how to manage visitors through car parking and shuttles.

And we had our staff and ambassadors on site over summer to ensure people have a great time and the place is well looked after.

Ongoing geological risk is one of the main challenges we have at this site. The response plan gives us a good process and guidelines to manage visitor safety and minimising risk for visitors.

The plan involves monitoring the weather – in particular heavy rain, and seismic information – if there are concerns we trigger inspections of the track and decide whether we need to take action to minimise the risk to visitors.

Mobilising for Nature 

We also want people to fall in love with nature and mobilise them into action.

We want to create a nationwide movement where action for nature is something we all do, because we are proud of our unique species and landscapes.  

But so many New Zealanders don’t see the scale of the challenge or fully appreciate the consequences of losing what we have. 

And if they do want to get involved, they don’t know how.

We’re focusing on raising awareness at scale and attracting more funding from other parties to sustain our important conservation delivery work. 

DOC and New Zealand Nature Fund are piloting a Nature Prospectus – so the public can donate directly to, or corporates can fund, three priority projects.

We’ve also signed up to the International Island Ocean Connection Challenge – to rewild three of our biggest islands – Auckland Island, Chatham Islands and Rakiura – to bring more revenue from international philanthropists.

Tourism needs nature – making Rakiura predator free will be a big part of this and I encourage you to get behind it – you only need to see how Ulva Island draws the tourists.

We’re aiming to connect people with nature – including encouraging people to get out into nature.

We will also be developing a range of actions that are easily available for people and businesses to take, including donating or investing.

Close

So you can see DOC has many roles and challenges.

We are working at pace on them.

I appreciate those of you who’ve provided feedback on our proposals to modernise our legislation and explore access charging.

I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback and having a discussion with you.

Kia ora

Related links

1. Assessing the value of public conservation land: Managing conservation
2. Report from Great South, outlines the serious economic and social impact on Te Anau and Fiordland from the twin disasters of unprecedented floods in February and border closures due to COVID-19. Fiordland counts the cost post floods and COVID-19

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Source: Police investigating after shots fired at Hastings house

Date:  03 April 2025

CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, monitoring and regulating the international movement of items made from protected species. CITES ensures the long-term survival of these species is not threatened.

Mark Ryan, DOC’s Border Operations Team Lead, says the recently compiled CITES statistics show the level of seizures and surrenders is returning to pre-COVID levels, with around 6,337 CITES-listed items seized or surrendered at the border in 2024 (up from 6,278 for 2023, and 3,060 surrenders and seizures in 2022).

“We are seeing seizures and surrenders begin to increase again, although we’ve not yet reached the pre-COVID levels – in 2019 for example, we had more than 8,700 CITES items seized or surrendered,” says Mark.

“Although corals, clams, and medicine still dominate the CITES items coming in, 2024 saw an array of exotic food items and leather goods carried by in-bound passengers or shipped by importers.”

Among the 1,144 food items seized or surrendered was a large volume of crocodile jerky – much of it from Australian crocodile farms – and a few cans of whale and bear meat with elaborate label art. Shark and turtle meat were also among the items seized or surrendered in 2024.

“Although the packaging of the bear meat suggests it may have been legal to purchase it in the country of origin, the importer still needed the correct CITES permits to bring it into New Zealand,” says Mark.

Fashion products made from the leather of protected species also feature in the 2024 CITES seizures and surrenders, including handbags, purses, and footwear made from python or crocodile skin.

Although some items may be worth hundreds of dollars and legally purchased overseas, this does not exempt them from needing a CITES permit when coming into New Zealand. Mark says CITES works at the level of species, and is not determined by the value of an item.

“We appreciate these types of fashion items and accessories are treasured by their owners, but anyone planning on bringing them into New Zealand should check the CITES rules and ensure they have the correct permit.”

Other unusual items seized or surrendered since the start of 2024 include dried sea horses, hippopotamus teeth, and the skull and tail of a lynx. CITES also covers items such as elephant ivory carvings, some insect species, and more than 34,000 plants.

More information

The main CITES seizure/surrender events in 2024 involved:

• Coral (raw) – 1,678 seizures/surrenders
• Medicine – 1,254 seizures/surrenders
• Shells – 1,253 seizures/surrenders
• Meats – 1,144 seizures/surrenders (most of these are crocodile jerky)
• Teeth – 163 seizures/surrenders
• Leather products (small) – 108 seizures/surrenders (incl. crocodile, alligator, snake, leopard or elephant leather bags, belts, boots, bracelets, hatbands, keyrings, shoes, and wallets)

DOC has an entire section of its website dedicated to CITES, and anyone planning on travelling overseas is urged to familiarise themselves with the CITES rules.

DOC carries out a range of outreach activities, education, and publicity work to support its CITES responsibilities.

New Zealand has the highest proportion of threatened native species compared to anywhere else in the world – more than 4,000 are threatened or at risk of extinction.

It’s not just a few unique species – 72% of our birds, 84% of our plants, 88% of our fish, and 100% of our reptiles are only found in Aotearoa New Zealand. Trade represents a threat for some of these species.

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Source:

MEDIA RELEASE – Family First NZ is welcoming the Private Members Bill from NZ First MP Tanya Unkovich – ‘Improving Access to Palliative Care Bill’ – which seeks to guarantee that every New Zealander has the right to receive high-quality and compassionate palliative care whenever it is needed.

Demand for this specialist medical care will only increase significantly in the near future. Our population is ageing, and therefore the number of people requiring palliative care is forecast to increase by approximately 25% over the next 15 years and will be more than double that by 2061.

Previous Governments have made little effort to address this growing problem and to increase funding for this essential service. Some hospitals have no specialist palliative care services at all.

The NZ Herald recently reported: “A specialist paediatric palliative care (PPC) doctor says New Zealand is falling behind other nations in its care of terminally ill children and the Government must step up to help.”

The latest review of the End of Life Choice Act also highlighted that one in four applicants weren’t receiving palliative care at the time of their application for euthanasia, which may have influenced their decision.

The priority must be to improve the provision of high-quality palliative care and practical support. This should be available in all areas of New Zealand. The highest quality of pain control and palliative medicine should be given priority in medical training so that every New Zealander can benefit. This bill will help achieve that.

Patients facing death have a fundamental human right – a right to receive the very best palliative care, love and support that we can give. This is real death with dignity.

Family First is calling on all political parties to unite and ‘fast-track’ this bill, for the benefit of all New Zealanders with a terminal illness.