Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the country’s most expensive state-integrated schools, Whanganui Collegiate, is facing an Ombudsman’s investigation, a court case, and scrutiny from the Education Ministry.

The Ombudsman is investigating a complaint about the school’s fees, which are also the subject of legal action by a former school parent unhappy that day students are asked to pay $10,840 for access to facilities owned by the school’s proprietor, the Whanganui College Board.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry is looking into an apparently illegal and long-standing lease arrangement for a hockey turf.

The Office of the Ombudsman would not provide details of its investigation.

“The Ombudsman is required by law to keep our enquiries secret, and we are unable to comment any further,” it said.

However, it confirmed it had received a complaint about the school’s fees, including those charged to day students – students who attended the school but did not stay in its boarding accommodation.

The school’s website showed they totalled $16,299 a year of which only an “attendance due”, which all state integrated schools charged to cover the cost of property provided by the school’s proprietor, of $2760 was compulsory.

The other fees were optional and included $2410 for meals, $289 for insurance and $10,840 for day students’ use of facilities owned by the proprietor but not part of the integration agreement that made the school part of the state sector from the start of 2013.

RNZ understands the Ombudsman’s investigation centres on the latter fee, which gave students access to parts of the school’s boarding facilities and to sports facilities.

RNZ understands that though the fee is optional, students who did not pay it could be excluded from significant school activities including tutoring and sports events.

The facilities fee was also the subject of a legal case brought by Craig Sinclair, whose children used to attend the school.

RNZ reported last year on Sinclair’s dissatisfaction with the fee, which he said should be a voluntary donation.

Sinclair said as far as he could establish, every other state integrated school asked for donations from day students for access to facilities not covered by their school’s integration agreement – none classed the payment as a fee.

He said the collegiate pursued him over his refusal to pay the fee through the Disputes Tribunal but did not pursue the case when it was moved to the District Court.

Sinclair said he had since filed a claim in the District Court and was waiting for a date for a hearing.

“With their charges, all the parents are paying GST unnecessarily, and they are missing out on the opportunity to claim a donation tax credit and so in the case of my time at collegiate, my family’s potentially missed out on about $30,000. So I’ve filed a claim for that,” he said.

Sinclair said in his view, the school’s charge amounted to a fee for participation in sports events and in the school’s special character.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry confirmed it had contacted the school about its lease of a hockey turf.

RNZ understands the turf is owned by the WCS Foundation which leased it to the school for $41,000 plus GST.

However, integrated schools were not allowed to lease land or facilities.

The ministry told RNZ the arrangement was in place before the school became a state-integrated school.

“While state schools may lease property with the ministry’s prior consent, there is no provision for the board of an integrated school to lease land or facilities. The role of owning or leasing land and facilities for integrated schools belongs to proprietors,” it said.

“We’re currently talking with the Whanganui Collegiate School Proprietor and the school board about the issue and expect a resolution shortly.”

Whanganui Collegiate acting headmaster Tash Bullock told RNZ the school had no comment at this time.

The school last year told RNZ only one family had refused to pay the optional facilities fee for day students.

Fees and facilities

It’s not the first time the Education Ministry has contacted the school about its financial arrangements.

Emails obtained under the Official Information Act show the Education Ministry in 2024 scrutinised the school’s fees and pushed the school over the course of several months to include a clearer way for parents to opt out of optional charges.

They also show that eight years after being bailed out by the government, the school’s proprietor was spending about half-a-million-dollars a year to provide sport coaching.

The emails showed two ministry staff visited the school in February 2024 to discuss the optional day student fee and the amount of notice families were required to give in order to avoid being charged for a full term’s fees.

In March, a document summarising the situation included an entire section headed “Was it lawful for WCS to charge Boarding Facilities for Day Students (BDfDS) fees in 2023”.

Much of the content was redacted, but it said, in bold: “The proprietor may lawfully exclude non-BDfDS students from House spaces, activities, services and personnel”.

Also redacted from the document were agreed facts on the question: “Is it lawful for a school board to receive a donation, then transfer it to the proprietor?”

The document said the school was unsure, but ministry advice said boards may not donate money to their proprietors.

In June, the ministry asked the school to create a short description of the services purchased through the fee for day students and of the arrangements for students whose families did not opt in.

It asked that the proprietors share a draft with the ministry, which the ministry would check against its fees and donations circular.

In July, the ministry asked the school to provide a specific option for opting in or out of the fee. The school had said families opted in by signing the school’s terms and conditions.

In early September 2024, the ministry wrote to hurry the work along.

“You’ll remember our conversations of 16 August and 23 August about the dues and services for purchase. I stressed the growing urgency of the situation. I am worried that our dialogue has been going a long time and I can’t see the fruit of our work being visible on the website. It’s important that parents have clear and accurate information as they go through the enrolment process for 2025.”

By the end of the month the ministry declared it was happy with changes the school had made.

The emails also showed that eight years after the government allowed the school to become state-integrated in order to avoid closure, the school’s proprietor was donating hundreds-of-thousands of dollar a year to the school for sport coaching.

A ministry document said the donations “totalled almost $400,000 in 2022 and almost $500,000 in 2021”.

The document said the school’s view was that because the proprietor paid for and employed the coaches, it could deny access to extra coaching for any day students whose families did not pay the fee for use of facilities.

It showed that the ministry wanted the school to clarify how students who did not pay the day student fee participated in “Collegiate Weekends”.

The weekends were described as part of the school’s special character and the ministry said all students much have access to that special character.

The ministry also asked for proof that the board, not the school, employed the sports coaches.

Bail-outs and integration

Whanganui Collegiate, formerly Wanganui Collegiate, was a private school until it ran into financial trouble and turned to the government for a bail-out.

The then-National government agreed in 2012 to let it become state integrated in 2013 despite officials’ warnings.

At the time, the change increased the school’s government subsidies from $800,000 to $3 million a year.

In its final year as a private school, Whanganui Collegiate charged day students $10,000 a year and boarders $20,000, with uniform costs of $1500 on top of that.

The school charged slightly more than that when it became integrated and said it had suppressed its fees in its final year as a private entity thanks to nearly $3m in special government funding.

Education Ministry figures show the coeducational Y9-13 school had 409 students last year, more than half of them boys.

The total included 33 international fee-paying students.

In 2012, its final year as a private school, it had 416 students.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Air New Zealand is struggling in a booming aviation market, and new fears the war in Iran raise fuel costs and questions over whether the national carrier can regain altitude

The koru is said to symbolise growth and resilience, but turbulent financial winds are now buffeting Air New Zealand’s iconic symbol.

A $40 million loss has grounded the feel-good narrative, just as other airlines ride a global travel boom.

Across the Tasman, Qantas has just banked a billion-dollar profit, while in North America, Europe, and parts of Asia, carriers are reporting packed cabins and record revenues.

So today The Detail looks into whether New Zealand’s flagship airline can have a smoother path ahead.

“The result itself was worse than we expected,” says head of research at Forsyth Barr, Andy Bowley, who studies the numbers and writes investment research on Air New Zealand.

“Investors generally have an eye looking forward, more so than an eye looking back. And the outlook for the business is arguably worse than what the result was. So, from an expectations point of view, it was certainly disappointing.”

He pointed to a perfect storm to explain the worse-than-expected result: grounded aircraft due to global engine maintenance issues, softer domestic demand, high airport and operating costs, and persistent inflationary pressure.

“There’s a certain amount of work to be done here,” he tells The Detail. “I don’t think there is a quick fix for the airline. I think there are challenges that they have had in recent times with regard to the broader cyclical backdrop in New Zealand.

“I think there have been challenges with regard to the engine maintenance issues, which have been well documented.

“Those two issues will resolve themselves to some extent over the next 12 to 24 months, but I don’t think those are the only two issues impacting the airline, in terms of its ability to recover from the current woes that it’s in financially.”

He says one of the biggest issues is the level of cost inflation in recent years.

The airline has flagged a “reset” – a strategic review aimed at returning it to sustainable profitability. That could mean route rationalisation, tighter cost control, fleet adjustments, and potentially difficult workforce decisions.

Adding to the uncertainty is escalating tension in the Middle East. Any widening conflict involving Iran could push up global fuel prices and force longer flight paths as airspace closes – a costly combination for airlines operating on thin margins.

For Kiwi travellers, that may mean higher fares ahead.

For nervous staff, questions linger over job security. Labour, says Bowley, is a “big cost bucket”.

“I’m not the one to suggest that people will be laid off, but I suspect if they are looking to make savings, then the big cost buckets – where they can influence those cost buckets – will be under most scrutiny.”

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has suggested it’s time to sell the government’s shares in Air New Zealand.

The airline was privatised in 1989, but in 2001, it was bailed out by the government, which still owns a 51 percent stake.

Independent aviation industry commentator Irene King tells The Detail that’s not a good idea.

Air New Zealand, she says, is more than a company. It connects families, fuels tourism, underpins trade, and projects the country’s brand abroad.

Instead, she says, the airline should work on a closer working relationship with Qantas to increase the number of tourists coming here.

“That’s what the real game is, that is the reason we own Air New Zealand, it’s actually not to carry us abroad but in fact to bring more and more international tourists to New Zealand.

“When they have some of those really good, tight, strategic relationships, the New Zealand pie starts to grow. Air New Zealand is a strategic infrastructural asset. And it is about growing the wealth for New Zealand, and we should never escape from that particular notion.

“Privatisation, yes, has the potential to drive some wealth for some people, but Air New Zealand is about driving wealth for the whole of New Zealand. That’s the critical issue.”

King is a loyal and regular Air New Zealand flyer, but says she wasn’t surprised by the airline’s latest result.

“Look, it’s been very tough for them, and they don’t seem to have responded as I would have expected to known problems – well-flagged, well-known – and they sat back and said, ‘oh well, let’s see it happen’. That’s what amuses me.”

She points the finger at the airline’s board.

“Normally, it comes from the board. The board has been in place for quite some time, and under good conditions and bad conditions.

“One of the things with aviation boards is that in bad times, they have to understand the business backwards. And I would have thought they would have put a lot more aviation skill onto that board. If you don’t do that, you pay the price.”

The question now is whether this is a temporary dip in altitude for Air New Zealand or the start of a much steeper descent.

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