Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police failed to respond to emergency calls from mental health workers who were allegedly assaulted by a patient, according to a complaint laid by the Public Service Association (PSA).

The union has complained to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), saying despite assurances police would respond to immediate risks to life or safety, assistance never arrived.

The PSA also wants a wider review into police procedures around mental health callouts, concerned that changes to the response have left staff more vulnerable to violence.

According to the PSA’s complaint, on 21 November three emergency calls by a mental health worker went unanswered in the space of 90 minutes.

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said union members were concerned changes to the Police Mental Health Change Response programme had set a precedent where police were “wiping their hands” of mental health-related callouts.

Police have been phasing in changes to how they respond to mental health-related callouts, including spending less time at patient handovers, and higher thresholds for whether police assistance was required at non-emergency requests.

A PSA survey of mental health staff showed 91 percent of workers thought the changes would increase safety risks.

“All of this was preventable. Mental health workers told Health New Zealand, the Police, and the government that the consequences of Police withdrawing would be significant. We need the Police to revisit this decision urgently, or the results will be tragic,” Fitzsimons said.

Auckland City West area commander Inspector Jacqui Whittaker said police were limited in further comment given a complaint had been made, but would work with the IPCA should it require any further information.

She said when police were contacted about the reported assault, the victims had moved away from the address out of immediate danger, and the offender had left the area.

“Based on this information, a unit wasn’t immediately dispatched, however follow up enquiries commenced at the time,” she said.

Police subsequently located and charged a 35-year-old man with two counts of assault on 29 November.

“Police will always respond to any report of offending taking place where is an immediate risk to life or safety,” Whittaker said.

In 2024, police started to phase in changes to how officers responded to mental health-related callouts.

Police began cutting back how long officers would spend at emergency departments handing a person over to health workers.

New guidelines were brought in on when officers would transport a patient to hospital, and when they would attend mental health facility call-outs.

The changes were designed to lead to an increased health-led response, freeing up Police for other duties.

At the time, then-Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said mental health demand accounted for 11 percent of calls to the Emergency Communications Centre, and it was impacting on police’s ability to deliver core services.

It meant in the year to June 2025, police attended 7370 fewer mental health-related requests.

Since November, non-emergency mental health-related requests have been assessed against updated guidance, to determine if Police assistance is required.

This includes requests for assistance under legislation, requests for assistance in inpatient mental health units, and other requests from mental health services to police.

A fourth and final phase – still to be introduced – will see police handing over to health staff and departing within 15 minutes, unless there is an immediate safety risk.

Police will also consider their response to welfare checks, when there is no risk to criminality, or to life or safety.

Fitzsimons said prior to the changes, mental health workers had a direct line to police for emergency situations, and were able to request assistance ahead of time for transporting patients in crisis or those known to become aggressive.

“We’re deeply concerned that mental health workers are unable to access police support when they need it. They deal with difficult situations with hostile and aggressive mental health patients, and they need police support when they deem it necessary,” Fitzsimons said.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the government had been clear that police were not mental health workers, and the managed transition meant people who needed a health response rather than a law response would receive that.

“The transition is being managed with extreme care, with patient and staff safety a top priority. Police have been clear that they will always respond when there is an offence or an immediate risk to life or safety,” Mitchell said.

“It has been good to see the work done across government agencies to ensure the correct response and support is provided. It’s not a perfect world and a challenging area but great work is being done by both health and police.”

But Fitzsimons said the experience showed police were not responding to an urgent situation.

“That’s why we need the Independent Police Conduct Authority to investigate. And that’s why we’re calling on police to overturn the change in policy.”

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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 small community has been rocked by a shooting involving a local family.

A woman and two young men are in critical condition and one man is dead after a shooting in Waitārere Beach, a small settlement located west of Levin.

Emergency services were called to a property on Waitārere Beach Road where they found four people with gunshot wounds.

The three survivors were taken to hospital and police said they were not searching for anyone else in relation to the shooting. Another young person who was at the address is physically unharmed and was being given wrap-around support, police added.

Neighbour Elizabeth Taylor told RNZ she was woken up last night by helicopters and lights.

“We thought, ‘What the heck is going on?'” She said.

She said a handful of neighbours gathered in the street.

The only road in and out of the small beachside community was closed on Wednesday morning, later reopening with traffic management.

A Waitārere resident, who didn’t want to be named, told RNZ they were confronted by stop/go traffic control and said it had been “absolutely horrible” as more details came to light.

It was the sort of small community where everyone knew everyone, they said.

“Very surprised because it is a very close-knit community … and very very safe.”

Waitārere Volunteer Fire Brigade said its team responded to the “horrific” overnight incident.

In a post on social media it said its thoughts were with the victims and emergency responders, and urged people to be mindful of commenting online.

“Events like these impact small communities like ours in different ways, please look after yourselves, others, be kind, check in with each other and be respectful.”

Murray Powell, president of the local ratepayers organisation, thanked the first responders involved.

“Our fire brigade in particular, they come across a lot of accidents, but this is outside the box of what they’re used to, so our thoughts are really with them.”

Powell said the family was known by many in the community, and he said locals were mostly being very respectful when it came to sharing information about the incident.

Waitarere Ratepayers Association member Robert Sotheran said those first on the scene were all locals, many of whom are volunteers.

He said such incidents are “very rare”.

“The only other times that they may respond to something is a car accident, but this one’s a little bit different because it’s locals that are involved,” Sotheran said.

“I mean that’s … quite sad.”

A police presence would remain in the area.

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
• Healthline: 0800 611 116
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
• Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

Family Violence

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have arrested a man after the owner of a small town store in coastal Northland was violently pushed to ground.

Dallas Gurney, once the boss of short-lived news station Today FM, was left with a fractured shoulder after being pushed off the deck of the Whananaki General Store which he runs and owns with his wife Donna Gurney.

Police said they had found and arrested a 36-year-old Whangārei man, charging him over the incident.

He is expected to appear in Whangārei District Court next week, charged with injuring with intent.

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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 major IT outage across southern hospitals prevented clinicians from accessing applications that track dosage information, lab results and patient notes, the Public Service Association [PSA] says.

On Tuesday, Clinicians had to resort to paper-based workarounds, resulting in delays for patients, the union said.

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimmons said it was a significant outage, lasting most of the day.

“The systems that were affected were absolutely critical, including those which track medications a patient is on – the dosage and when it’s due next, important systems around results, including X-rays, MRIs and blood tests, and also the applications which store patient data,” she said.

“Going through manual paper processes is not ideal. We have data and digital systems and our hospitals for a reason.”

Health NZ has not responded to requests for comment.

A senior Health NZ employee who RNZ agreed not to name said he first received an email about the outages at 7.35am on Tuesday.

Health NZ provided further updates throughout the day, then sent an email at 8.16pm that night saying the issue had been resolved, he said.

However, the employee said he and colleagues were still having issues on Wednesday with at least one of the applications, which was not pulling data through correctly.

There was no suggestion the outage was related to hacking, he said – in its emails to staff, Health NZ said the outage was hardware related.

The employee said it may have been an unforeseeable fault, but Health NZ needed to front up on whether it was caused by old hardware that should have been better maintained or replaced already.

The outage follows a decision to cut a third of all Health NZ’s IT roles in April 2025.

The employee said the impact of the job losses, and significant cuts to Health NZ’s digital and data budget, were beginning to become apparent.

A colleague who had significant issues with their profile had to make repeated requests and wait a week to have someone fix the problem, he said.

“We used to deal with people who knew you by name and knew where you worked, and if they couldn’t resolve it, they’d escalate it to an app specialist or infrastructure specialist, and generally respond within 24 hours. Now when you ring IT, you don’t get the usual ‘you’re third in the queue’ message, you’re just told to log a ticket and wait for someone to get back to you,” he said.

Fitzsimmons said the latest outage was also evidence of why the cuts should not have gone ahead.

“This really can be sheeted home to the government who imposed cuts on the data and digital team in Health NZ when actually those teams needed more resourcing,” she said.

Health NZ’s IT systems were in a mess, she said.

“What they need is significant investment to bring them up to a modern standard. We’re dealing with legacy IT systems and we’ve lost very experienced people who understand the quirks and nuances of how these systems operate.”

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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 person is seriously hurt after a two-vehicle crash near Papakura which has closed all northbound lanes on Auckland’s SH1.

Police said the crash – involving a bus and car – had left one person with serious injuries .

The New Zealand Transport Agency said the crash had closed the motorway’s northbound lanes between Drury and Papakura, near the Papakura on-ramp.

NZTA said a detour route was in place via the Drury Off-ramp.

Motorists are advised to expect delays and avoid the area if possible.

A Serious Crash Unit is at the scene.

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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 serious crash involving powerlines has closed State Highway 79 in Geraldine.

Emergency services were called shortly before midday to the crash near the intersection with Lewis Street.

The Transport Agency says delays are possible as the road is closed in both directions.

More to come

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