Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington’s mayor says it’s more likely the region’s councils will become a super-city following reforms announced by the government this week.

Andrew Little said the government’s reforms are another step towards Wellington, Greater Wellington, Porirua, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt councils merging into one.

“I think the intention of this particular part of the reform – the whole thing about regional councils – is about putting further pressure on councils to think about amalgamation. So yes, I think that will happen.”

While he said he doesn’t want to predict it definitively, a combined Wellington council was “more likely than not” to form as other services, like water, were shared.

“I think many of us would still say there needs to be a level of public support required before you go down that path, but I think we are heading that way.”

Under the government’s proposals, regional councillors are gone by mid-2027, replaced by city and district mayors who will take over their responsibilities for the environment, transport and emergency planning on Combined Territory Boards.

The boards must then develop a regional strategy for how they will work together in the long term, including potentially amalgamating some councils, or setting up agencies to take over transport.

These plans will require consultation with local communities, iwi, and other stakeholders.

Porirua mayor Anita Baker said she wants to see the five councils merge before the next council term in three years’ time.

“This is our chance to do it and do it once, and do the full amalgamation side of it, so that we’re not having to have all these separate boards.

“I think this is just the next step of being grown-ups and saying well actually, there’s four mayors in the region, adding in Greater Wellington, there has to be one person…I have no problem, losing my job for a better service and a better council.”

She said a separate authority should be set up for Wellington’s transport.

Porirua and Lower Hutt councils held referenda about whether residents wanted a discussion on amalgamation during the election, with a majority supporting the discussion in each city.

Lower Hutt’s mayor Ken Laban said there’s an appetite for change in the inter-connected region.

“Wainuomata is a case in point, Wainuomata is the biggest ward in Hutt city with close to 20,000 people, there is virtually no industry in Wainuomata – so everyone works in either Lower Hutt or Wellington.

“And of course the public service in Wellington, the 32,000 people that are on the trains every day that move between Masterton, Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt.”

He said there would need to be consultation with the public on any proposal for a Wellington super-city.

Upper Hutt’s mayor Peri Zee said she’s open to discussing amalgamation, but doesn’t want to see progress undone if a new government ditches the reforms.

She disagreed with Wellington, Porirua and Lower Hutt’s mayors, who all told RNZ amalgamation, at some point is an “inevitability”.

“I think there’s a concern in the community that we would lose our local voice, and I think that for Upper Hutt, that’s something that’s really important to us.”

Zee said a larger council size didn’t necessarily mean efficiency, and pointed to Auckland, where she said there were 147 elected members in total.

RMA (Resource Management Act) Reform Minister Chris Bishop said the point of this week’s proposals is to give the region a chance to sort out amalgamation plans for themselves.

He said legislation would be required for a Wellington super-city, which is still hypothetical.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) vice-president and Gisborne district mayor Rehette Stoltz said discussions about amalgamation were for local communities, and LGNZ did not have a formal view on it.

Stoltz said it was still unclear what the RMA reforms could mean for councils and whether bigger entities were being envisioned by government.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The founder of a CCTV register in Australia says a similar scheme in New Zealand may have allowed police to find a young woman much faster than the three months she was missing for.

The Safer Places Network was developed to help police identify and contact the owners of private and commercial security cameras across the country.

It allowed police to view a map of security cameras after a crime had occurred, and message owners to ask if anything was caught on their cameras.

Twenty-five-year-old Te Anihana Pomana was spotted on CCTV in Auckland’s central city three months before her body was found roughly 50km away in dense bush near Pukekohe.

She vanished, despite 30 cameras covering Victoria St West, according to Auckland Transport.

Safer Places Network founder and former Australian Federal Police detective David Bartlett said the register would have allowed police to collect CCTV faster.

“That’s a good example of where police can quickly and efficiently send out multiple requests to people in the vicinity and ask them to upload the last 30 minutes of their footage,” he said.

“They might think that there’s nothing of importance on their cameras but there might be a car or there might be a bike, or might be something that’s known to investigators that’s of value.”

Bartlett said about two to five hours were spent looking for CCTV per incident, which made up roughly 70 percent of investigations.

“When you bring that out into a time saving estimate, we bring something that would normally take about four hours down to taking about four minutes,” he said.

“You can see from that that police are already stretched with resources, they can take something out of their day that they no longer have to do.”

The register acts like a rolodex of CCTV cameras, and allowed remote access to businesses and commercial cameras.

Bartlett said he’s in early talks with New Zealand police to set up the register here.

“It’s early days, haven’t committed to anything yet, but they’ve been very, very open which is nice to hear.

“The infrastructure is ready to go, it’s ready to be used in New Zealand, we just need some backing from the police and obviously need the backing from the community.”

He said people in Australia had been surprisingly open to sign-up to the register.

“We don’t collect credentials or passwords, we do not have a direct link to people’s cameras, but we’ve got about 23,000 registered cameras now across the country.”

That was a mix of commercial and residential cameras, he said.

He wanted to reassure the public they had no intention of asking for remote access into personal home cameras.

“That’s not on our agenda at all,” Bartlett said.

Auckland Transport said it had over 1300 CCTV cameras in the Auckland Central area, and more than 5600 across the city.

However, while police’s Matt Tierney confirmed in a statement they had met with the Safer Places Network, he said there were no current plans to implement a CCTV register in New Zealand through the company.

“Technology is a critical part of modern policing, and we regularly look at potential or new products that may be able to support our work and enhance community safety.”

Bartlett hoped something could be set up in New Zealand early in 2026.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Education officials should have done more over the disappearance of two children, who were later found murdered and hidden inside two suitcases at a storage facility, says a child protection advocate.

Yuna and Minu Jo, aged eight and six, were registered with a GP and attended a local primary school before they were murdered by their mother Hakyung Lee in 2018.

But it was four years before their bodies were found.

While their school made initial attempts to track them down, an advocate for children says the ministry could have done more and needs to improve its safeguards.

Lee was sentenced to life imprisonment for a minimum of 17 years by Justice Geoffery Venning in the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday.

She was found guilty in a trial by jury in September.

Lee had concealed the children’s bodies by placing them in suitcases and storing them in a storage unit, before leaving the country.

They were discovered after Lee’s storage payments lapsed and the unit was auctioned off online.

The students had attended Papatoetoe South School, and were remembered by teacher Mary Robertson, who gave evidence at Lee’s trial.

Robertson described Yuna as “beautifully behaved” and Minu as a “joyful bubbling boy”.

Papatoetoe South School principal Caroline Chawke told RNZ in a statement the school had tried to track down the children at the start of 2018, but was unsuccessful.

“When we received no response from contact numbers, home visits were made,” she said.

“After 20 days of unexplained absence, we followed the Ministry of Education’s established process. The MoE guarantees follow up, but they do not report the outcome of their enquiries to schools.”

Chawke said her thoughts were very much with those who knew and loved Yuna and Minu.

The last time Robertson saw Lee was when she came in to inform her of her husband Ian Jo’s death in late 2017.

Lee told Robertston she had plans to return to Korea after the trip to Australia, where they would all be supported by family.

She told the children’s teacher she was yet to make up her mind on whether they would come back to New Zealand at all.

Safeguarding Children chief executive Willow Duffy said what happened to the children was heartbreaking.

“When I read about the way that they died, without anybody realising, it’s really upsetting for everybody, not just myself. It’s dreadful to think about children in that situation,” she said.

Duffy said the Ministry of Education had the opportunity to establish a protocol or memorandum of understanding between itself, police, and Oranga Tamariki to ensure an investigation into whether missing children were safe was carried out.

“There’s a memorandum of understanding between Te Whatu Ora, the police, and Oranga Tamariki, there needs to be another memorandum of understanding between education, police and Oranga Tamariki,” she said.

“I just feel as though this is an opportunity to improve our system because it’s happened once that we know of, there will be similar situations happening again where children are missing and they may be taken overseas and exploited, we don’t know do we.”

More could have been done, Duffy said.

“I would like to think that there is more curiosity and investigation from the Ministry once that information goes to the Ministry, and there will be people, and there will be families, where the children are just safe, but when you’ve got a situation like this – more could have been done, and those children deserved that more should have been done.”

She wanted the Ministry of Education to consider reporting concerns about absent children to police, to make sure they were safe.

“It’s a safeguard, it’s just checking to make sure that the children are safe, and in all cases when a child has been harmed, or has died, or murdered in this situation, it’s a real opportunity to look at the processes and procedures, policies, and guidelines, and I would encourage the Ministry of Education to consider actually putting that in their processes.”

Ministry of Education operations and integration leader Sean Teddy said the ministry had cross-agency information-sharing agreements with the Ministry of Social Development and Immigration for situations where contact details are missing, and was working to establish an agreement with police.

“These arrangements help determine a child’s whereabouts, including whether they have left the country, and reflect a co-ordinated approach to ensuring children are accounted for and supported,” he said.

“Safeguarding children is a shared responsibility across government agencies, schools, communities, and parents. The Ministry of Education’s role is to make sure every child has access to education and to work closely with schools and other agencies to support student well-being and respond when concerns arise.”

RNZ asked the ministry if it had alerted the police to Minu and Yuna’s absence, but was told the answer needed to go through an Official Information Act request.

The Ministry of Health was also approached for comment, as the family were enrolled at a local practice in Papatoetoe.

The Ministry of Health also said GPs were required to try to contact patients prior to dis-enrolment. However, if they were unable to contact the patient or their caregiver (in the case of a child), the individual may be removed from the enrolment list.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said he had requested further information from Health New Zealand on current enrolment processes to ensure they were fit for purpose.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A proposal to expand mining operations on the Denniston Plateau pits the economy against ecology, leaving the Government facing a high-stakes decision.

A proposal to extend mining on the Denniston Plateau has triggered a flashpoint on the West Coast, with conservation groups taking on the company behind the plan.

More than 12,400 people have now signed a petition to protect the Denniston Plateau, stating that the conservation land should be reserved for native species, not for fast-tracked coal mines.

“Denniston hosts unique ecological associations which, if destroyed, cannot be recreated,” reads the Forest and Bird petition, which passed the “milestone” number of 10,000 last week.

“Denniston is rated by Department of Conservation scientists as one of the top 50 most ecologically valuable sites in Aotearoa. This public conservation land should be permanently protected for nature – not destroyed by a massive coal mining expansion.

“A proposed large-scale opencast coal mining expansion would dig up an area equivalent to 1700 rugby fields, completely destroying the ecosystems which are present.

“This project is a financially reckless gamble betting on a dying industry. There is a high risk of it becoming a worthless stranded asset while leaving New Zealand taxpayers to pay the multi-million dollar bill for the inevitable environmental cleanup.”

Mining company Bathurst Resources wants to expand operations, extracting more high-grade coal to export for steel production.

Supporters say it would secure hundreds of jobs and provide a crucial economic lifeline for the region, which has long relied on mining wages and royalties.

Bathurst currently employs 317 people, another 72 full-time contractors, and pays salaries and wages of $27.8 million.

The project has been approved for application under the Government’s fast-track legislation, meaning ministers could sign it off with fewer opportunities for public challenge.

But to date, Bathurst hasn’t applied.

The delay has surprised Newsroom’s political reporter Fox Meyer, who has covered the story for more than a year, and he tells The Detail, it’s changed his thoughts on whether the proposal process and consent will be a smooth transaction.

“If you had asked me that when the fast track became law, I would have guessed that it would have been a relatively quick approval for the project with some protest action on the side,” he says.

“What I have been surprised to see is that they haven’t even applied yet, this has taken longer, the protest action has been more dramatic than I thought it would be, and the decisions that the fast-track panels have been making have not been complete environmental overrides.

“They have worked within the confines of that Act, in a way that seems to be, to me, pretty reasonable, which is good, that’s a good thing to see.

“What I can tell you is it won’t be smooth sailing, there’s no way. How contentious this is already, is going to continue.”

Bathurst Resources wants to keep mining coal on the West Coast for another 25 years and is proposing to extend its mining operations via the continuation of existing consents and securing new mining areas.

Environmental organisations say the proposal threatens one of New Zealand’s most distinctive landscapes. The plateau is home to rare wetlands, unique plant species, and threatened birdlife, including great spotted kiwi and fernbirds.

And they argue that once these habitats are disturbed, they cannot be meaningfully restored and warn that the project is incompatible with New Zealand’s climate commitments because the coal would be burned overseas.

“The coal in this area is going to be a target for someone, always, no matter what,” says Meyer. “The legislation of the day may make it easier or harder to get to, but this issue will keep burning for as long as we are burning coal.”

Ministers are expected to decide in the coming months. For the West Coast, the outcome represents more than a single project – it could shape the region’s economic direction for decades and decide the fate of one of its most fragile and contested landscapes.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two New Zealand women have been charged with allegedly importing a commercial quantity of methamphetamine into Melbourne.

The women, both aged 22, were selected for a bag exam at Melbourne Airport after flying in from Malaysia, Australian Federal Police (AFP) said.

Australian Border Force (ABF) officers found a white crystalline substance in each of the women’s suitcases, totalling about 36kg. Initial testing returned a positive result for methamphetamine, so the illicit drugs were seized.

The matter was referred to police for investigation and the women were arrested at the airport.

They were each charged with a count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, and one count of possession. Both offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Police said the seized drugs had an estimated street value of more than AU$33 million (NZ$37.8m) and could have been distributed as 360,000 street deals if it had reached the community.

The women faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and were remanded in custody to appear before court on 13 March, 2026.

AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Jarrod Ragg said the AFP and its law enforcement partners worked together to combat attempts by criminal networks using air travel as part of the international drug-trafficking chain.

“Methamphetamine is linked to domestic violence, assaults on medical professionals, and violence on our streets. The AFP stands ready and able to respond to those who are willing to risk this social harm for a personal profit and greed.”

ABF Acting Superintendent Ian Beasant said officers would use any available means to prevent the movement of illicit substances across the border.

“Our ABF officers are seizing significant quantities of illicit drugs at and beyond the border, wresting profits from the hands of criminals and intercepting anyone that may pose a threat to the community,” he said.

“Organised crime groups share one motivating factor for their nefarious activities and that is accumulating profit.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Court of Appeal has rejected Karel Sroubek’s latest attempt to overturn his deportation to the Czech Republic.

But the convicted drug smuggler can still bring a judicial review.

The former kickboxer has been battling against deportation for seven years, when former immigration minister Iain Lees-Galloway allowed him to stay, and then reversed his decision.

Sroubek was wanted by Czech police after he was convicted of assaults on police, and in connection with an alleged assault during a murder more than 20 years ago. He fled Prague shortly after.

He is still known by some people as Jan Antolik, the fellow kickboxer whose passport he used to fly to New Zealand in 2003, and to apply for residence four years later.

Subsequent offending included the continued passport fraud and drug offences in 2014.

Further revelations emerged about Sroubek’s past and Lees-Galloway was forced to change his controversial decision to grant him residence.

Following failed appeals, he was due to be deported by March 2023. But within days of the last tribunal decision – now almost three years ago – he filed an application for judicial review in the High Court at Auckland.

The Court of Appeal on Monday agreed he was ‘time-barred’ from judicial review of Lees-Galloway’s decision. A judicial review of a humanitarian appeal is still possible.

Timeline

• 1999: Attacks against police officers and taxi driver, for which he was convicted but did not serve his 54-month prison sentence
• 7 September 2003: Vladimir Domacka was killed (Sroubek was wanted by Czech police on suspicion of assault)
• 16 September 2003 and 29 November 2003: Arrives visa-free on Jan Antolik’s passport; granted three-month visitor’s permit at border, travels in and out as visitor
• April 2005: Applies for work permit and visa under the Work to Residence, Talent – Sports Category
• November 2007: Residence application under Residence from Work, Talent – Sports Category, under Antolik identity
• June 2008: Residence approved
• October 2009: Czech police contact NZ police to advise that Sroubek was living in NZ under the Antolik identity. Interpol notice advises he’s wanted in Czech Republic in connection to the 2003 murder
• November 2009: Arrested for offences against the Immigration Act 1987
• November 2011: Jury finds him guilty of immigration offences
• February 2012: Discharge without conviction on immigration charges after completing 200 hours community service
• April 2012: Immigration NZ (INZ) advised of pending charges
• 2012: Relationship begins with a New Zealand citizen
• May 2013: Case placed on hold awaiting outcome of pending charges
• 17 September 2014: Separate drug offending committed (importation of MDMA/ecstasy)
• 20 September 2014: Arrested. Earlier drugs charges did not result in conviction
• June 2016: Sentenced for importing ecstasy
• December 2017: Court of Appeal dismisses Sroubek’s appeal
• October 2017: The High Court approves settlement of asset seizure derived directly or indirectly from the proceeds of criminal activity. Sroubek paid $190,000 plus interest.
• 29 March 2018: INZ writes to Sroubek through his lawyer seeking to comment on deportation liability
• 19 September 2018: Decision made by minister to grant new resident visa with conditions imposed
• 28 November 2018: Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway announced Sroubek is liable for deportation when he is released from prison
• September 2020: Sroubek released on parole
• July 2021: Appeal at Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT) adjourned after he changed lawyer, then by Covid-19 lockdown
• April 2022: First appeal at the IPT
• December 2022: Decision on second appeal; IPT rules he should be deported by March.

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