Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

Seven fire crews and heavy machinery will be heading to a vegetation fire near the Otago town of Palmerston that burnt through the night.

The fire started at around 2.30pm on Thursday and was fought by ground crews and four helicopters.

A small crew remained overnight.

A crew has also been at a fire near the Southland town of Mataura.

State Highway 96 is closed between State Highway 1 and Waimumu due to the fire, which FENZ said is contained.

High winds and hot temperature have fanned the nine fires that broke out across Otago and Southland.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Painfully slow recruitment processes within public hospitals are masking the true scale of the dire workforce shortages in the health system, frontline workers warn.

Health NZ data, obtained by the PSA under the Official Information Act, showed it was taking up to 30 weeks for Health NZ to even approve recruitment to begin for frontline vacancies at hospitals in the Wellington region, including for doctors, nurses, technicians and support staff.

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said this meant that staffing levels were unsafe for patients.

“These figures show there is a recruitment freeze and it is being done to save money. It would be understandable if recruitment was delayed due to lack of applicants, but these figures show that vacancies are not even being approved to be filled when vacancies arise.

“There should be no barriers to filling vacancies. They should be advertised automatically and filled.”

A specialist at Wellington Hospital, whom RNZ has agreed not to name, said his own service had several vacant positions currently – but it really needed at least double the number being advertised.

“We know that there are many departments saying they’re short-staffed – but the reality is it’s not quantified.

“What we have is the ‘funded’ vacancies, but there is a much larger number of unfunded vacancies.

“Even when it is a funded position, when people leave it can take much longer to advertise that vacancy if the speciality is not top of the priority list.”

No-one in a local management role seemed to have any power to work out how many staff each department needed – nor the authority to find the funding, he said.

That meant clinicians were having to develop their own “business cases” and lobby for vacancies to get approved.

Health NZ says recruitment ‘timed carefully’

Health NZ executive regional director for central Chris Lowry said hospitals continued to “actively recruit to vacancies”.

“In an organisation of this size it is normal to have a significant number of vacancies at any given time, and we work continuously to ensure our services are safely and appropriately staffed.”

There were a number of reasons why recruitment might be “timed carefully”, she said.

“This can include accommodating new graduate intakes, pausing to avoid repeated unsuccessful recruitment rounds, temporary staffing arrangements that meet short-term needs, or aligning with organisational change processes. We also manage recruitment volumes to ensure our teams can progress roles efficiently.

“We do not always immediately go out for recruitment to some roles, but this does not mean there are no other arrangements in place to fill gaps in the short term.”

These could include fixed term or contractor appointments, extension of hours for part time staff, and “movement of resources internally to ensure the workload is well managed”.

Health workers say ‘go-slow’ deliberate

In his letter of expectation to Health NZ, Health Minister Simeon Brown has said he wants to see the removal of red tape and faster recruitment for frontline clinical roles.

However, health workers said the recruitment go-slow appeared to be core policy.

Whangārei Hospital emergency nurse Rachel Thorn, a Nurses Organisation delegate, said budget restrictions meant services within a region were having to compete with others for the limited number of new recruits allowed.

“It’s still ‘business case by business case’, and often they’re not even approving to recruit when people leave. They’re seconding people into senior positions, but not backfilling them.”

A front-line worker in a large Auckland hospital – who asked to remain anonymous – said following a directive last year, permission to recruit needed to be “escalated” through several levels of management.

“These were existing roles people had left, not new positions. Some were running or scheduling vital life-saving services. In my opinion, it puts services at risk and puts current staff and managers under immense pressure.

“At one point they couldn’t even recruit bureau staff, who cover for short staffing or staff who are sick or on leave.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Šroubek, also known as Jan Antolik, is still in New Zealand seven years after then Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway ordered his deportation
• He used a false passport, smuggled in drugs and has been in New Zealand for 22 years
• He has lost an appeal to judicially review the decision, after a tribunal ruled against him

Analysis: “This will go to court. It will be tied up for years. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Karel Šroubek by any measure.”

That’s how National MP Michael Woodhouse summed the 2018 debacle in which the drug-smuggling kickboxer was on the cusp of being deported, then granted residence and then facing deportation again – all in the space of 10 weeks.

The Court of Appeal has now rejected Karel Šroubek’s latest attempt to avoid being sent back to the Czech Republic.

But in keeping with the pitch and sway of his storied existence, there may still be avenues which he could go down to stay in New Zealand.

His case hit the headlines in 2018 when former immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, was asked whether to deport him – and instead granted him residence.

That was despite his jail time (five years, nine months in 2016 for importing nearly 5kg of MDMA) and being wanted by Czech police.

The long-running saga began more than 20 years ago, when Šroubek used an alias and forged passport of fellow kickboxer Jan Antolik to visit New Zealand in 2003.

That was because under his real name, he was wanted for assault in a fatal shooting in Prague. Also unbeknownst to authorities he had not yet served a (four-and-a-half-year) jail sentence for assaulting two police officers and a taxi driver in 1999.

Four years after arriving in New Zealand, he was given police diversion for possession of a knife and, in 2008 and 2009, he faced charges of assault, but was subsequently acquitted.

Meanwhile, Šroubek had been granted residence in 2008, under his false Antolik name.

That fraud was eventually discovered, and in 2011, he was found guilty at trial of possessing a false passport and giving false information.

Why is he still here?

He told the court he had no convictions in the Czech Republic and that he was genuinely fearful of returning there.

The judge granted him a discharge without conviction – meaning he could avoid authorities attempts to deport him – unaware that between 2007 and 2009, Šroubek had returned to his homeland on three separate occasions.

In September 2014, Šroubek was charged with the drugs offences that landed him in jail and made him liable for deportation. In 2018 he appealed to then immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway.

The minister took less than an hour to not only reverse the deportation order, but to also grant him residence in his real name. It emerged the minister knew of his Czech convictions when he made his decision.

He “urgently reviewed” the residence approval when a political firestorm erupted, and Šroubek once again faced deportation – this time because the government judged him as an “excluded person”, whose visa was granted in error.

Further adding to the murky decision-making were claims Šroubek’s then wife had engineered the revelations through National Party MPs during the couple’s marital breakdown.

Enter the lawyers

Meanwhile, Czech authorities tried to extradite him. Šroubek’s previous immigration lawyer Simon Laurent told RNZ the deportation could be challenged in court as abuse of process or double jeopardy as the minister knew of the pertinent information when he made his first decision.

The case had been inching its way through multiple tribunal and court appeals in the intervening years, partly because of Covid-related delays.

In January 2023 Šroubek filed an application for judicial review in the High Court at Auckland of the deportation decision and the tribunal rulings.

But he was barred from appealing part of the decision because of statutory time limits, and took that fight to the Court of Appeal.

That legal argument played out in March this year, and the decision to dismiss his appeal came out on Monday.

In 2018, former immigration minister Michael Woodhouse said the minister had left the government vulnerable to a legal challenge that “Mr Šroubek’s lawyers will drive a bus through”. His suggestion the case would be tied up in court for years are as prescient now as they were accurate then.

The judicial review may leave Šroubek with only the chance of a legal challenge to argue that he has ‘exceptional’ humanitarian grounds to remain here.

With so many twists and turns so far, it does not seem likely Šroubek’s fated story in New Zealand will come to a quick end. It may not even be the beginning of the end.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

About 100 critically endangered Mahoenui giant wētā have been released into the Rotokare Sanctuary in Taranaki this week as part of efforts to preserve the taonga species.

Despite being one of the world’s largest insects – females weigh in at about 25 grams and are about the size of a mouse – the “gentle giants” are vulnerable to mammalian predators.

First discovered during the 1960s in remnant tawa forest at Mahoenui in the King Country – from which it takes its name – the ingenious wētā was later found taking refuge in gorse.

Department of Conservation (DOC) Mahoenui giant wētā technical advisory group leader, Amanda Haigh, said the wētā had come up with a cunning plan to defeat their predators.

“What was an accident of a piece of hill country that had some goats in it, some gorse left to go wild, these wētā moved in and because gorse was so dense and they could hide in it and it meant the rats and the mice couldn’t climb in and eat them. It created this little haven for them.”

But unfortunately that plan had come unstuck.

“What has been happening in about the last 10 years is we’ve had a massive decline in the population and the habitat is changing and the predators are starting to take hold, so what we’ve been doing is starting to do translocations to get new populations established in other places and spread the risk.”

Landcare Reseach Manaaki Whenua scientist and Mahoenui giant wētā expert Corrine Watts said there was no denying the insects were large, but that wasn’t all that was special about them.

“Females are about the size of a mouse. They range between 20 and 25 grams. The males are smaller, maybe 18-20 grams.

“But what’s really amazing about the Mahoenui giant wētā compared to other giant wētā that we have in New Zealand is they have two colour morphs, so you can get a very dark brown colour morph and almost like a speckled yellow colour and that’s quite different among giant wētā.”

Efforts to translocate Mahoenui giant wētā had proven difficult and populations have only survived in predator-free environments similar to Rotokare at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, Mahurangi Island off the Coromandel and on private land at Warrenheip, near Cambridge.

Watts was the designated handler for the four larger wētā released at Rotokare.

She had no qualms about handling the wētā which were almost the size of her hand.

“The feel cold and so quite often they’ll sit on your hand to gain warmth from your hand because they’re cold-blooded, so they feel cold.

“And they are not going to try and jump too much because something that big could really hurt themselves, so I just think of them as gentle giants really.”

Watts said she’d never been bitten by a giant wētā.

Conservation manager at Rotokare Fiona Gordon said the translocation had been years in the planning.

“When we first started the conversation there were so few individuals in the Waikato reserve itself that a wild to wild translocation didn’t really seem feasible and has now been made possible thanks to the captive breeding programme at the Otorohanga Kiwi House, so we’re immensely grateful for their support and the work that’s gone into preparing those individuals that are able to be here today.”

Gordon said the majority of the wētā being released were three-quarters of the way to be adults.

“A couple of them are a little bit bigger, so they’ll be being released directly into trees and hopefully in years to come we’ll be encountering them across the forest but that won’t be for a few years.”

Otorohanga Kiwi House wētā keeper Danielle Lloyd had a soft spot for the creatures and it was a bittersweet moment to see them released.

“They all have their own little personality. I know they’re just insects to most people, but because I spend almost everyday with them I learn all of their little ticks and what makes them go and what makes them happy.

“They’re just awesome creatures. If you look at their little faces they’re actually quite cute. They do have spiky legs and they can look a bit scary, but if you actually give them a chance they’re great.”

Marina Rauputu – in whose gorse bushes the wētā were discovered in Waikato – accompanied Mōkau Ki Runga hapu members for the handover to Rotokare manuwhenua Ngāti Tupaia.

It was a full circle moment for her.

“It’s very special because I’m from Taranaki. I’m from Whakamara where my grandparents settled, so in a way it’s like a merging of not just the wētā but almost like two iwi coming together at this one spot at Rotokare and it’s like coming home for me.”

Mahoenui giant wētā are tree-dwelling omnivores with a lifecycle of about two years. Females lay eggs in the ground at about 100 a time.

The Rotokare Scenic Sanctuary release was the first of many planned for the predator-fenced sanctuary with the aim of establishing a permanent Mahoenui giant wētā population.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Since 1933, Auckland’s Santa Parade on Queen Street has been a destination for festive crowds with its big floats and performances, and of course, the jolly old man in the red suit.

But Ben Mai thinks something has been missing.

“It was the Santa Parade 2024, and we realised that not only in 2024, but for many years, it had been a Christmas celebration without Christ. And we thought, maybe we can do something about that.”

Mai is the general manager at the Auckland Church Network, and for Christians like him, the most important part of Christmas is the story of their God becoming a baby in a manger.

“Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. And he didn’t come as some king figure on a throne. He literally came as a baby, helpless, vulnerable, born in a stable surrounded by animals.”

And so Mai set out on a mission to build a Christmas nativity float for 2025.

This Sunday, a float carrying angels, Mary, Joseph, and a baby Jesus doll, accompanied by a choir will be parading down Queen Street.

“There’s about 50 in the choir singing Christmas carols as they walk down Queen Street. There’ll be about 15 or 20 on the float or walking alongside the float on the day itself. Then there are others who are supporting them, their families who are releasing them to be part of this as well. And then of course, there’s many, many people from across different churches and others across Auckland who are chipping in to fund it as well. So all up, probably it’s almost several hundred people involved in it, which is exciting.”

It has taken a lot of fundraising and help from the community to make it happen.

A Givealittle page has been set up to collect donations, while more than $35,000 has been raised, the organisation is still a few thousand dollars short of covering the cost.

Mai said it costed $20,000 to enter a float into the parade – a charity rate they received from the organisers. Then the materials to build the float, hire a trailer and put together some small gifts for children will cost another $20,000.

Working with Mai to achieve the dream is Daniel Bell at Elim Christian Centre, who is leading the design and build of the float.

The float has been on his mind for months: “Most waking moments and half of my sleeping moments, dreaming it through as well.”

“We’re really trying to find that balance of sacred and humble and victorious but simple, and trying to capture all of that in the float. Lots of volunteers have been coming in, wanting to be involved in this. So it’s been great to see.”

Bell also has to pay attention to the measurements.

“The star is 3.6 metres at the base, so plus another 800 (centimetres). It’s just underneath the restriction of five metres on the float.”

The plywood structure shows the town of Bethlehem where all the rooms are full. There’s a detailed flock of angels wings, and above the manger sits a very bright star.

Bell is proud of all the upcycling work.

“The pads are actually old drum seats. We’ve been saving them over the years, not throwing them out. It’s that classic ‘oh I can’t throw that out that could be useful one day’, and the joy that a man finds when they find a use for something that everyone else told them to throw away, it’s delightful. They were perfect, we just needed these drum seats to support the angels on the float so they won’t fall off, and they can be comfortable for their trip. They came in handy in the end. Very, very excited about that.”

But building a float is not easy. They’ve been working on it since June.

“So many different engineering obstacles to get through, trying to make a six-pointed star that has points coming out of every side, and having that tied together, and having it lit up, and having it transparent, but not breaking and how do we hang that. There’s been no end. And we’re still encountering little design challenges here and there as we do the final details. But that’s what makes the project fun, is to encounter those design obstacles and find creative solutions through it.”

And now, the star is alight, and the Christmas nativity float is ready to join this year’s Santa Parade.

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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