Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

There will be traffic disruptions on State Highway 3 in Waikato after human remains were found, police say.

The disruption between Te Awamutu and Ōtorohanga is to make sure it is safe for police at the scene, they say.

Enquiries are underway but police say may take some time.

They were notified at 10am.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Senior government minister Louise Upston was duped by Gloriavale leaders on a visit to the West Coast Christian community and should resign, a leavers’ lawyer says.

The Social Development Minister visited Gloriavale on 30 January where she met Overseeing Shepherd Stephen Standfast, senior leaders and other members as the minister responsible for an Abuse in Care Royal Commission recommendation directed at the community.

On Thursday Upston told RNZ she did not see anything that caused concern about children’s safety and government agencies working at Gloriavale would know about any problems at the commune.

Lawyer Dennis Gates, who has previously represented Gloriavale leavers, said Upston had been misled.

“Minister Upston is completely naive about what’s happening or is very poorly serviced by her department to the point I think she should resign,” he said.

“Her blissful ignorance of her own duty to the children of Gloriavale is a repeat of decades of such political ineptness that has led to the ongoing festering sore in New Zealand that is Gloriavale,” he said.

Upston’s office declined an interview request and declined to respond to written questions about Gates’ criticism.

Gates said Upston’s comments about child safety were farcical because the Ministry of Education announced in December that it was cancelling Gloriavale Christian School’s registration because of safety concerns.

“You’ve got one minister saying they’re safe and another ministry saying they’re not,” he said.

“If she said they weren’t safe, then she’d have to act. It clearly tells me that they’re not in a position to act, don’t want to act, maybe it’s politically too sensitive or they just don’t know what to do. In any case, it’s just incompetence in my assessment.”

The private school remains open pending a High Court judicial review.

Gates said any information shared with government agencies was still controlled by Gloriavale’s Shepherds.

“Everything in that community is controlled, even her visit. She was duped, she didn’t see what was in front of her. It’s staring her in the face,” he said.

“It’s like talking to the prison guards about how to make life better for the prisoners and not talking to the prisoners.”

Photos of the visit seen by RNZ show Upston speaking to parents, holding a baby, visiting a family home and touring the school art room.

Gates said factors indicating abuse listed in a child safety policy negotiated with former Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple in July 2021 were still present at the commune, including substandard living conditions where members lived like “battery hens”.

“The comments that she has come out with basically mean that she doesn’t understand or recognise what she’s looking at to the extent I think she should resign when she can’t even recognise that her own department’s policies are not being followed or enforced,” he said.

Gloriavale members were physically and psychologically trapped, Gates said.

“There’s no freedom of choice, they’re trapped, they don’t have any choice in education, freedom of expression, even their clothing – it’s like a uniform – there’s no patch but basically it’s the same as a gang,” he said.

“People leaving Gloriavale come out in a state of deep depression, almost suicidal. That is not the sign of a healthy, functioning community.

“That place should be shut down. You can either shut it down in a controlled, structured manner for everybody’s benefit or let it fall apart and deal with the chaos that comes as a result.”

On Thursday Upston said the visit was important because she was responsible for the Royal Commission recommendation that the government take all practicable steps to ensure the ongoing safety of children, young people and adults at Gloriavale.

“I thought it was really important for me to be able to meet the key leaders, to be able to see for myself, and to ensure that I was well-informed,” she said.

Asked if she thought Gloriavale children were safe, Upston said “there was nothing that I saw that led me to think they weren’t”.

“What we’re working on is a community plan. I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and I am at this stage confident that they are engaged in the process, that they are working with the government agencies on the ground, that they’re working on an outcomes plan. That is very much anchored around the safety and care of children,” she said.

Government agencies were at Gloriavale working with the community on a regular basis, Upston said.

“Clearly there have been issues in the past. We are focussed now on the safety of children. There was nothing that I saw that led me to be concerned about it but regular contact with agencies on the ground will continue to happen and, because we are now looking at it as a group of agencies collectively, if there was anything that happened we would get to see it and know about it quickly,” she said.

Upston was accompanied by National’s West Coast-Tasman MP Maureen Pugh, Ministry of Education deputy secretary Geoff Short, who is coordinating the cross-agency work, and Regional Public Service Commissioner Craig Churchill.

A Gloriavale spokesperson said the minister came to see the community first-hand and meet a cross-section of members including the school board, mothers, managers and leaders.

It was a short visit including a brief inspection of the school, main building and accommodation, and a meeting with a homeschooling family, the spokesperson said.

The minister and senior leaders discussed “concerns about the registration of the school, success of our policies regarding abuse and continuing plans to support leavers”, they said.

Standfast took on the role of Overseeing Shepherd last December following the resignation of Howard Temple, who was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail for indecently assaulting young women and girls over 20 years.

The High Court quashed Temple’s jail sentence on Tuesday following an appeal. The 85-year-old will instead serve 11 months’ home detention at a property in Greymouth.

Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christian – formerly known as Neville Cooper – was sentenced to five years in prison in December 1995 on three charges of indecent assault.

The Abuse in Care inquiry found the Overseeing Shepherd and senior leaders at fault for allowing physical and sexual abuse at the community, failing to prevent abuse and protect survivors and inappropriately handling perpetrators, allowing them to remain in the community and continue their abuse.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

There is another snag for some of the thousands of health workers who weren’t paid this week.

Now some have been underpaid after being paid late, according to one health worker.

Health New Zealand had been scrambling to pay about 5,500 staff in Waikato who didn’t get their money on time.

One Waikato Hospital worker said on Thursday she had to borrow money to leave the car park after work and had to tell her landlord she couldn’t pay rent.

Health NZ said on Friday that everyone had been paid overnight.

But the worker said some people still had problems with their pay.

Health NZ then confirmed there was a new issue.

“We are working hard to rectify an issue which cause a small number of staff that did not receive the correct pay yesterday,” it said.

“While we are pleased we were able to activate payments for most of the 5,500 affected staff yesterday, we absolute recognise the distress this has caused the few who did not receive the right payment.”

The spokesperson said its payroll teams were contacting those people directly to apologise.

They were also being offered hardship assistance, it said.

“We are further investigating the specific causes of the issue, but our priority it is to ensure all staff get paid the right amount today,” Health NZ said.

“We are committed to ensuring all Waikato staff get paid correctly and on time going forward.”

Helen, the worker from Waikato Hospital, was paid the correct amount but said others had not.

“A lot of them are very frustrated and annoyed that it’s happened,” she said.

“There were a few number of staff that either got half pay or were quite short in their pay due to yet another glitch, but they haven’t gone into specifics what that glitch was.”

She said she personally knew of two people who were significantly underpaid.

“It seems that some people’s long service leave, which we’re entitled to after five years, if it was taken in sort of the last two months it was refunded back to Health New Zealand,” Helen said.

“And so the amount that was paid for that long service leave is actually deducted from people’s pay as well as sick leave balances were deducted from pay and some public holidays were deducted from pay as well.”

The Public Service Association, after the initial payment failure, called for an urgent review.

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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 former teacher barred from the job for sexual misconduct had worked at an organisation for vulnerable youth for roughly five months before a ruling detailing her offending was made public.

The Teaching Council’s Disciplinary Tribunal found April Marie Nordstrom had a sexual relationship with a student at Whangārei Girls’ High School and behaved inappropriately towards three other students at Horowhenua College in Levin.

The years the students attended the schools were not disclosed by the tribunal to protect their identities.

Rubicon Youth, a service helping young people in Whangārei through problems caused by alcohol and drug use, confirmed Nordstrom worked there for about five months in 2022.

Chairperson Ryan Welsh told RNZ they performed police checks and vetted staff.

He said he had not been aware of the misconduct allegations at the time, nor had Nordstrom disclosed it, to his memory.

“Otherwise, if we had of known about that, of course that would have been a red flag,” he said.

Welsh said he was shocked when he first heard what she had done.

“We would never expect to employ somebody who has that record, which has now been proven,” he said. “The expectation is we wouldn’t go near somebody with those issues.”

He said there were lessons to be learned from the inquiry process.

“There’s probably some learnings in that, I suppose, from the council who govern that process. But then again, there are issues around accusations having to be proved, but the process should have been a lot quicker.”

The ruling from the Teaching Council stated Nordstrom accepted the relationship with the student, referred to as Student A, was inappropriate and breached professional boundaries.

Tribunal documents stated they began messaging each other before Nordstrom offered extra tuition at her own home. The student would often stay there until after 10pm.

They began meeting outside of school hours, where Nordstrom would share intimate details about her life. Those details included struggles with her sexuality and relationship troubles with her partner.

Nordstrom had a sexual relationship with the student, who stayed overnight at her house.

On two occasions, Nordstrom took Student A away from school during school hours to engage in sexual activity.

Student A’s mental health began to deteriorate, and she grew increasingly distressed from constantly lying to her parents to cover up her relationship with Nordstrom.

Student A’s parents discovered the intimate relationship after two former students called her father and broke the news.

“Ms Nordstrom messaged Student A on Snapchat and asked Student A to lie to her parents and to continue to deny the sexual elements of their relationship,” the tribunal documents said.

A report was provided to the Teaching Council, and Nordstrom resigned from her teaching position at the school.

In her response, Nordstrom said a number of factors impacted her ability to make professional and emotional decisions. She claimed her relationship with Student A was loving and mutually consensual.

Her registration was cancelled and she was ordered to pay costs of $6600.

A complaint was referred to the Teaching Council’s Complaints Assessment Committee and it was years before a decision was made in June 2025. However, the decision was only publicly released in February this year.

Nordstrom not to teach

Interim chief executive Tom Gott said Nordstrom had been subject to an undertaking while the case was being considered – she was not to teach, specifically to prevent further harm to any child or young person in a school, ECE centre or kura.

“The undertaking not to teach was recorded on the public register, which was further updated to show Nordstrom’s registration had been cancelled at the conclusion of the disciplinary process in June 2025,” he said.

Gott said the council was working with the Crown Response Office and the care agencies to identify practical ways to strengthen workforce capability, improve suitability checks and safeguards, and lift the visibility and reporting of abuse and neglect. This was so safeguarding across education and care settings was more consistent and effective, he said.

“Any situation where a young person has been harmed or made to feel unsafe at school is distressing and unacceptable. Our thoughts are with anyone affected by this case.”

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