Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

A veterans’ charity says there is growing concern about the lack of mental health and transitional support within the Defence Force.

This comes as a former infantry soldier is accusing the New Zealand Defence Force of failing to get him the help he desperately needed – after nearly being shot in the head and losing hundred of Ukranian recruits he trained.

Jack Wesley said the help that was promised never came, and he was a ticking time bomb.

The NZDF declined to be interviewed about Wesley’s situation.

No Duff Charitable Trust’s Aaron Wood said Wesley’s case was “unfortunately a rinse, soak, repeat situation”.

There were too many soldiers being discharged from the NZDF without the support and help it itself indicates they require, he said.

In Wesley’s case, Wood said the NZDF’s representative told the judge in court that his sentence of home detention for his crimes would not affect his employment and that they would work around it.

Two months later, the NZDF held a retention hearing and terminated him, Wood said.

“His brigade commander specifically noted he needed, and I quote ‘appropriate support as he exits the service’ and he got nothing. Not transition plan, no handover to civilian services, no safety net. They cut him loose at his most vulnerable, right when continuity of care was critical.”

Wood told Midday Report it was something his charity was seeing “again and again” in the past 10 years.

While there were some commands that were helpful, supportive and effective in getting veterans the support they needed, other treated people “atrociously”.

Needing support was buried, Wood said, and there was a culture that had been around for generations that saw those seeking support as weak and not good at their job.

Wood said the annual Te Arataki symposium for veterans was held in Wellington last week, where transitioning from the NZDF was one of the key aspects discussed.

“No one in the group, including senior NZDF officers and senior former NZDF officers up to two-star major general rank had anything positive to say about the NZDF transition process as it stands today.

“There were people talking about how they are quote unquote ‘on the cliff’ of coming out of the NZDF and they’re worried about what awaits them.”

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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 budget for a major Taranaki road has climbed up in costs from $365 million to nearly $600m.

The Mt Messenger Bypass will be a new six-kilometre route that avoids the existing steep, narrow and winding road over Mt Messenger on State Highway 3 in north Taranaki.

It had been subject to multiple legal challenges, which in combination with associated delays on construction NZTA estimated would cost $350m.

The transport agency’s board confirmed up to $590m to complete the southern and central sections of the project.

In March it was reported the road had a budget of $365.1m.

It said the northern section of the project remained subject to ongoing legal challenges regarding one final parcel of land needed for the bypass.

“NZTA expects to confirm an investment range and delivery timeframe for the northern section once all legal challenges have been resolved.”

Its transport services group general manager Kevin Doherty said the agency’s preferred approach was always to acquire land through agreement.

“Since 2017, there have been many attempts to acquire the land by agreement, and the landowners have been presented with 20 offers – including options for new housing elsewhere across their 683-hectare landholdings.”

The project reached a milestone last month when a 110-tonne excavating machine, called Hinetūparimaunga, broke through at the northern end of the project’s 235 metre-long tunnel.

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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 Wellington school is looking to put behind it years of disruption centred round its old and earthquake-prone buildings.

The problems at Wellington Girls College culminated last year with students setting up a classroom on Parliament grounds in protest, where one sign asked the Education Ministry if it could “pass this listening comprehension test”.

Crown Infrastructure Delivery has just put out a tender for two new buildings.

Principal Julia Davidson said the new builds, combined with strengthening an existing block, were significant.

“The great news is that we’ve got a plan, we’ve had our input into the plan and they’ve accepted our input,” she said on Monday.

“By 2028-ish, probably some time in the first half of the year, we’ll have everything built, up to new code, everybody’ll be in their permanent homes and we’ll be getting the field back so it’s really good news for the school.”

Of the 40 prefabs that occupy the field, the schools aims to keep of the 20 best of them, including science labs, though they would be moved off the field.

Disruption for students would be “a lot less” than before, Davidson said.

“The areas where building’s going to happen is fairly discrete and can be sort of sectioned off quite easily from the rest of the school, so for most of the time it shouldn’t be a major problem at all.

“The tetris of moving prefabs is going to be interesting but they’re aiming for holiday breaks for that, so fingers crossed it’ll all go to plan.”

The new tender is for design services for a new hall and performing arts centre, and an admin-classroom block. Also, the top two floors of the existing Brook block are being quake strengthened.

Keeping rather than bowling Brook entirely triggered last year’s protests. Davidson voiced a lot of upset at the ministry last year, but said on Monday the plan settled on for an upgrade was “going to be fine”.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are investigating a series of ramraids across Christchurch after about a dozen businesses were targeted within the space of 90 minutes.

Multiple burglaries were reported to police at a number of commercial properties across the city’s western suburbs between 4am and 5.30am on Sunday.

Police said the alleged youth offenders used stolen vehicles to smash their way into shops and restaurants, and taking a “number of items from multiple locations.”

A police spokesperson claimed the offenders deliberately fled the scene and were driving dangerously because they knew police would not pursue them due to the risks.

He said police were not on the scene, but had made this determination from “further enquiries and sightings of the vehicles believed to be involved after the fact.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland-based detective with decades of experience in police is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly possessing objectionable material.

RNZ earlier revealed criminal investigations had begun into three police staff in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content”.

RNZ understands one of the staffers is an award-winning detective based in the Auckland region.

The detective, and police, have been approached for comment.

It’s understood he has been stood down.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

It follows an audit of staff internet usage sparked by the resignation of former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming who recently pleaded guilty to possessing objectionable publications, including child sexual exploitation and bestiality over a four-year period.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers told RNZ on Thursday six out of 20 staff under investigation in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content” had been stood down.

“Those six are being investigated for serious matters, ranging from potentially accessing objectionable material, or accessing inappropriate material while also subject to separate misconduct matters.”

Some of the staff being investigated may have had legitimate purposes for accessing material, which police would verify through their inquiries.

“Criminal investigations are being conducted into three of the cases.”

Police were not able to disclose the ranks of those under investigation.

Rogers earlier told RNZ a “small number of users of concern” were under investigation.

RNZ asked for clarification but did not receive a response from police.

On Wednesday, Rogers said police continued to progress investigations into about 20 cases of misuse and inappropriate content as part of the ongoing audit of staff use of police devices.

“Employment processes are underway in some of these cases while others are still at the preliminary stages of investigation.

“We can assure the public appropriate action will be taken in every case and cannot rule out charges if the Solicitor General’s guidelines for prosecution are met.

“We are unable to comment further while these processes take their course.”

Rogers earlier confirmed to RNZ a police officer had been stood down from duty for “inappropriate content on a police device”.

“The officer is under employment investigation for serious misconduct, relating to inappropriate, but not objectionable, material on a police-issued device. The alleged misconduct was uncovered through following recent audits of staff internet usage.”

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier told RNZ the misconduct being investigated was uncovered as a result of the new monitoring measures introduced following the Rapid Review of the settings for police devices, launched after McSkimming’s resignation.

“I sought that review because of my concern that such conduct was not being detected. This offers some reassurance that we now have the necessary tools to detect potentially inappropriate behaviour.”

The investigation into McSkimming led to concerns that staff could bypass internal controls and “exploit vulnerabilities to access inappropriate content”.

The concerns prompted Chambers to order a “rapid review” of police’s information security (INFOSEC) controls to ensure police had sufficiently strong controls to prevent or detect the misuse of police technology and equipment for non-work-related purposes.

A summary of the review said the main risks were; weaknesses in technology configuration, lack of visibility over user activity and gaps in governance.

The report included key findings and recommendations in relation to each of the risks.

There was “inconsistent application” of internet access policies across different workgroups as well as a “lack of robust filtering mechanisms” to consistently prevent access to unauthorised websites.

The review also found there was “insufficient monitoring of internet usage to detect and respond to potential security threats and inappropriate usage”.

Other findings included unmanaged devices being used for operational activities and inadequate monitoring of user activity and network traffic.

There was an absence of centralised logging and analysis tools to detect anomalies and potential issues and “insufficient resources allocated to continuous monitoring and incident response”.

The review also said there was a lack of “clear governance structures and accountability” for INFOSEC controls, with “inconsistent enforcement” of security policies and procedures.

The report called for “improved oversight and coordination among different workgroups”.

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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 cleaner tidying up some dusty old chairs at a Wellington property has stumbled across the most “insane” thing she’s ever found – $20,000 cash.

Loll, co-owner of Massive Property Services, said the retro chairs had been sitting in the basement for more than two decades.

It was her stepdaughter’s first day on the job and she was vacuuming them when she realised one of the cushions was lumpy.

“I sorta joked with her and said, imagine if it was some money, and we laughed, and then she said to me, if it’s a rat you have to get it!”

Loll said they opened the cushion and pulled out an old plastic bag full of $100 notes, with a note saying it was “checked” in 2001.

“We [were] just sort of like, shocked… oh my God, both had our hands over our mouths and we were just sort of silent for a second, just staring at each other like, is this for real?”

They sat down on the floor in shock, she said.

“My stepdaughter was like, ‘this is like a movie!'”

They contacted the property management company who returned the cash to the owners.

They were “absolutely shocked” and had no idea about the money, Loll said.

“It was so overwhelming even for them… it was their mother’s money.”

The owners were grateful for Loll and her stepdaughter’s honesty, she said.

The pair had joked about whether they were being pranked, and filmed by secret cameras.

They didn’t consider keeping the money for themselves, but Loll did buy a Lotto ticket.

“I went and bought one straight away, but I didn’t win,” she said.

“It really has put me on a bit of a high for a few days… for one thing, finding it, I’ve never held $20,000 in my hands before.”

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