Category: MIL-OSI

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Media Advisory: Police graduation tomorrow in Porirua

Source: New Zealand Police

Media are invited to the 384 Allan Boreham Police recruit wing graduation.

What:   Graduation of the New Zealand Police Allan Boreham 384 Recruit Wing.
Who:   For families and friends to celebrate with the newly attested Police officers.
Why:   Completion and graduation from their initial training course.
Where:  Te Rauparaha Arena, 17 Parumoana Street, Porirua.
When:  Thursday 22 May at 2pm – media will need to be in place by 1.45pm.
How:    RSVP the Police Media Centre if you’re attending: media@police.govt.nz

Commissioner Richard Chambers will be attending the ceremony, along with Her Worship Anita Baker, the Mayor of Porirua. Also attending will be members of the Police executive and Wing Patron, former Assistant Commissioner Allan Boreham.

The three top award winners will be deployed to Eastern, Wellington and Tasman Districts. 

The 384 Wing Patron:

Allan Boreham is a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police and former head of Youth Justice for Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children. Allan holds the New Zealand Police in very high esteem and is honoured to be the patron for Wing 384.

He says he is looking forward to supporting the wing members to succeed and gain all the satisfaction a Police career offers. Allan joined Police in 1985 (in Wing 97) and served for more than 33 years. He was also a Deputy Chief Executive in the public service for five years in charge of Youth Justice.

His Police career was varied and involved completing a wide range of roles in public safety, investigations, and road policing. These included postings in Auckland, Tokoroa, Hamilton and Wellington. He received an award for his leadership in solving the 1997 kidnapping and murder of an Auckland businessman, Graham Kirkwood.

More details about statistics, prize winners and other recruits will be shared after graduation on Thursday.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

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Have your say on the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill

Source:

The bill seeks to redesign the vocational education and training system to restore regional decision-making. It also aims to increase industry involvement in vocational education and training. The bill would do so by amending the Education and Training Act 2020 to:

  • disestablish Te Pūkenga—New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (Te Pūkenga)
  • re-establish a network of regional polytechnics
  • establish industry skills boards to replace workforce development councils.

The bill would propose a framework within which new polytechnics and a Polytechnic Federation Committee can be established, as well as framework to establish industry skills boards. The frameworks would set out the characteristics and functions of the new entities, the process for their establishment and disestablishment, and the technical elements necessary for them to function. The bill would also enable Te Pūkenga to remain as a transitional entity for unallocated programmes and activities for a 1-year period after commencement.

Tell the Education and Workforce Committee what you think

Make a submission on the bill by 11:59pm on Wednesday, 18 June 2025.

For more details about the bill:

 

ENDS

For media enquiries contact:

Education and Workforce Committee staff

Education.Workforce@parliament.govt.nz

MIL OSI

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Late night Police teamwork land two arrests:

Source: New Zealand Police

Police moved swiftly to apprehend two people attempting to burgle a Hunua property last night.

Eagle, a dog handler and patrols were despatched to Ponga Road at around 9.30pm after the property owner, who was observing from a distance, alerted Police that he could see people on his property.

“The rural property had been targeted by burglars four times in the past few weeks,”  Counties Manukau South Area Response Manager, Senior Sergeant Clive Wood says.

Police responded rapidly to reports of two people leaving the property – one in a vehicle and one on foot heading into nearby bush.

“Police located the vehicle nearby and apprehended the female driver,” Senior Sergeant Wood says. “Eagle and Delta teams remained at the property searching for a man who Eagle observed moving around.”

A man was apprehended by the dog handler at around 10.20pm and suffered a minor dog bite on his arm.

Senior Sergeant Wood says: “Police are pleased a rapid response and good teamwork ended a potentially dangerous situation without incident.”

A 48-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man have been charged with burglary and will appear in the Papakura District Court today.

ENDS.

Nicole Bremner/NZ Police 

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Parliament Hansard Report – Wednesday, 21 May 2025 – Volume 784 – 001480

Source: Govt’s austerity Budget to cause real harm in communities

Question No. 10—Housing

10. TAKUTAI TARSH KEMP (Te Pāti Māori—Tāmaki Makaurau) to the Associate Minister of Housing: What role, if any, have the Government’s policies and decisions played in contributing to the 53 percent increase in homelessness in Tāmaki Makaurau between September 2024 and January 2025, particularly for rangatahi?

Hon TAMA POTAKA (Associate Minister of Housing): Homelessness is a symptom of a broken housing system and a broken mental health system, and fixing these crises are both important for this Government. Government target No. 8 was to reduce the number of households in emergency housing by 75 percent, and we’ve achieved that in 15 months. One priority was to ensure that children were not growing up in that catastrophe that we know as emergency housing, and our decisions and mahi have led to around 3,000 children leaving emergency housing and coming out of emergency housing over the past 18 months. We’re very proud of that. The December 2024 homelessness insights report states it is not possible to determine the extent to which changes in homelessness numbers reflect broader economic, social, and health contexts or are attributable to policy changes.

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: What specific actions is the Government taking to prevent homelessness among rangatahi Māori, particularly to those exiting State care or youth justice systems, and how will these outcomes be measured?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: As this House has been told in the past, rangatahi-supported accommodation and youth-transitional accommodation continue to be supported. In addition to that, there are a number and a range of services—whether or not those are housing support products, housing first, transitional housing, and other pathways—for those people, including youths, who have some significant housing deprivation challenges.

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: How does the Minister justify the 2024 Budget decision to cut $40 million from Māori housing providers and $20 million from transitional housing for rangatahi?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: As we will recall, a number of agencies had to ensure that there were appropriate savings that came through Budget 2024 to enable and support ongoing delivery of better public services, such as health, education, defence, and the Police. But it was absolutely enthusing and energising for us to be in Toitu Tairawhiti last week in Gisborne where we saw the mahi, the good mahi, that has been undertaken by the people in Toitu Tairawhiti to construct around 150 new homes, with a priority on single mamas and tamariki.

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: What steps is the Government taking to empower kaupapa Māori and Māori- and community-led housing and support services, such as Mā Te Huruhuru, in Tāmaki-makau-rau in line with its Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: This House may recall that recently we announced around $200 million of Māori housing tautoko to build 400 homes right throughout the country. Whether or not that’s up in Kaitāia or in Tūranga and Toitu Tairawhiti with the good mahi they are doing, and Ka Uruora throughout the North Island and others throughout the country, we continue to be very proud of the mahi that we are doing to support Māori housing and also the mahi that Minister Penk has been undertaking around granny flats and some of the ongoing mahi and good work being undertaken to look at papa kāinga.

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: Supplementary. [Interruption]

SPEAKER: Just wait for the House to gather itself a bit. Thank you.

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: What is the Government doing to ensure the safety and wellbeing of rangatahi placed in emergency motel accommodation, and when will it invest in safe, culturally grounded, long-term, alternative, led-by-Maori communities?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: Let’s get back to some data points. In December 2023, there were around 3,438 children in emergency housing—that moral, fiscal, social, and cultural catastrophe. As of the end of March, there were around 516—many, many of whom were Māori that have left and exited as a result of the priority one decision that was taken by this Government to expedite those households and whānau who have been living in emergency housing for over 12 weeks. Now, we are very proud of the decisions that we have taken to expedite those whānau and tamariki out of those difficult and exposed lives in emergency hotels, particularly in places like Ulster Street in Hamilton West.

Rt Hon Winston Peters: Would the Minister have any idea as to how many homeless Māori the $80 million – plus profits the Waipareira Trust could house if the money was applied to them properly?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: There is a lot of mahi to do, and we’re getting on and doing the mahi here in this Government.

Takutai Tarsh Kemp: Will the Government commit to increasing funding for Māori housing and wraparound services for providers in Thursday’s Budget, in light of the 53 percent increase in homelessness in Tāmaki-makau-rau?

Hon TAMA POTAKA: As the “mana pūtea” Minister Willis will say, one more version of “Hine E Hine” to come. Kia ora tātou.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: A point of order, please, Mr Speaker. The question was quite specific, and I just wonder if the Speaker can advise, where the member asked “Will the Government commit to increasing funding”, based on a 53 percent increase in Tāmaki-makau-rau—we’re not clear on what that answer was or whether it was actually directed to the actual question.

SPEAKER: I took it to mean that the—[Interruption] I’m speaking. I took it to mean that the Budget’s being delivered tomorrow and that he was not going to be releasing Budget information ahead of the delivery tomorrow.

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Parliament Hansard Report – Karakia/Prayers – 001479

Source: Govt’s austerity Budget to cause real harm in communities

WEDNESDAY, 21 MAY 2025

The Speaker took the Chair at 2 p.m.

KARAKIA/PRAYERS

GREG O’CONNOR (Assistant Speaker): Almighty God, we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests, we acknowledge the Queen and pray for guidance in our deliberations, that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom, justice, mercy, and humility for the welfare and peace of New Zealand. Amen.

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Parliament Hansard Report – Urgent Debates Declined — Gaza Aid—Signing of Joint Statement – 001478

Source: Govt’s austerity Budget to cause real harm in communities

URGENT DEBATES DECLINED

Gaza Aid—Signing of Joint Statement

SPEAKER: Members, I’ve received a letter from the Hon Phil Twyford seeking to debate under Standing Order 399 the Government’s signing of a joint statement calling for Israel to allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza. This is a particular case of recent occurrence for which there is ministerial responsibility. However, that signing of a statement is not a matter that is of so urgent a proportion as to warrant the setting aside of the business of the House today. The application is declined.

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Greenpeace slams Federated Farmers over ‘selfish’ behaviour on climate

Source: Greenpeace

Greenpeace says that Federated Farmers’ intent to ‘go to battle’ over methane targets is yet another example of the agri-business lobby group’s selfish approach to life on our collective home.
Federated Farmers, Beef + Lamb and Dairy NZ have been pushing for methane targets aligned with ‘no additional warming’ – an approach that has been harshly criticised by climate scientists, the Climate Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
Greenpeace spokesperson Amanda Larsson says “The New Zealand dairy industry is the country’s worst climate polluter. The oversized dairy herd is cooking the climate with superheating methane emissions, yet agri-industry lobby groups refuse to play their part in tackling the climate crisis, instead leaving it to the rest of us to clean up their mess.
“Yet again, Federated Farmers are attempting to convince us that they are the exception to the rule. But this new concept they’re promoting – no additional warming – is not based on science. They’ve simply come up with a way to count emissions differently so that they can justify doing less.”
Methane emissions are responsible for a third of global heating to date, and the agricultural industry is the single biggest source. Those emissions are rising faster than at any other time in history.
“The consequence of the livestock industry selfishly absconding their climate responsibility is that everyone else has to pick up the slack. Or, alternatively, that we all suffer the consequences of more floods, storms, fires and droughts. All of which affect frontline farming communities first,” says Larsson.
Greenpeace says the key flaw in no additional warming is that it ignores the historic pollution caused by intensive livestock farming.
“It’s a bit like expecting your mortgage to magically be written off. The catch is that your debt still exists, it’s just that someone else will have to pay for it. Ignoring the historic methane emissions from agriculture won’t make that pollution – or its warming impact – go away.”
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Education – Open Polytechnic study helps ‘to shape’ Christchurch ECE graduate

Source: Open Polytechnic

One hundred and five graduates from the South Island graduated at the Wigram Airforce Museum in Christchurch, Ōtautahi this week (Tuesday 20 May 2025), to receive their qualifications from Open Polytechnic, New Zealand’s specialist provider of online learning.
Christchurch-based Bachelor of Teaching in Early Childhood Education graduate, Tessa Karati was the student speaker at the ceremony.
Tessa, who identifies as Cook Island and New Zealand Māori, commenced her speech in te reo Māori before thanking God and those people who had contributed to her success.
During her speech, Tessa acknowledged the impact that studying with Open Polytechnic has had on her life.
“I thank Open Polytechnic, for sensitively, but boldly calling us up and out to be advocates, and for helping to shape not just who I am as a teacher, but who I am as a person,” she said.
She likened her learner journey to a “relationship” with her degree as she went through the five stages of attraction, romance, disillusionment, commitment and acceptance.
Through her studies, Tessa realised how disconnected from her culture she had become and discovered that she had absorbed stories about her culture that were rooted in deficit, and how and why that was.
“It generated a deep sense of responsibility to do better for our future generations and enable them to thrive,” Tessa said
“I still have a lot to learn, but even so, I know my role as a kaiako is more than teaching, it’s advocating for our tamariki (children), ensuring they grow up hearing positive messages about themselves, knowing that they are valued.”
Tessa finished off her speech by thanking her tutors, friends and family, before congratulating her fellow graduates.
“Be proud. You are smarter, wiser, more resilient, more persistent, courageous, and hardworking,” she said.
During his speech, Executive Director Open Polytechnic Alan Cadwallader congratulated the graduates for their commitment to completing their studies.
“Choosing to study at distance and online is a learning experience which takes discipline and determination,” he said.
“It takes your self-motivation to set time aside to work through your online course materials, absorb the learnings, and then successfully complete assessments. I commend you all for completing your qualification while also navigating the responsibilities of whānau, work and other life commitments.”
Alan told the audience that it was a privilege and honour to be able to lead a world-class learning institution that puts learner achievement at the forefront of everything it does.
“I’m pleased to be able to say that in our most recent student satisfaction survey, 94% of our learners said they were satisfied with their overall experience with Open Polytechnic,” Alan said.
“This level of satisfaction can only be achieved by an all of organisation effort to ensure our ākonga (learners) have the teaching and facilitation, feedback, services and tools they need to succeed in their studies. “
Alan also acknowledged the importance of having a support network to help.
“I know your study journey will not always have been easy, and I would like to thank those in the audience that have supported you, your friends, family, whānau and supporters,” Alan said.
“It’s your practical means of support, your words of encouragement, and your guidance throughout your graduate’s study journey that has also contributed to their success.”
The graduates at the Christchurch ceremony were awarded a variety of diplomas and degrees, including early childhood education, primary and secondary education, social work, social health and wellbeing, funeral directing, business, accounting, applied management, legal executive studies, library and information studies, psychology, web development and design, information technology, architectural technology, and construction.
The Christchurch ceremony was the second of three for Open Polytechnic in 2025, with the final ceremony to come in Wellington on 27 May. Including those awarded in absentia, around 1150 graduates will receive their diploma or degree from Open Polytechnic this graduating year.  
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“A devastating record”: New Greenpeace analysis reveals almost half a million blue sharks caught as ‘bycatch’ in Central and Western Pacific in 2023

Source: Greenpeace

TASMAN SEA – A new analysis of the latest fisheries data by Greenpeace Australia Pacific has revealed widespread slaughter of sharks in the Pacific Ocean by industrial longline fishers. The analysis estimates that almost half a million blue sharks were caught as bycatch in the region in 2023, the highest number in recorded history since 1991.
Greenpeace estimates that around 438,500 near-threatened blue sharks, almost 50 million kilograms, were caught as bycatch in the region in 2023 from Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WFCPFC) data. The figure is double the 2015 numbers.
The analysis of shark bycatch data also revealed that the Lord Howe Rise and South Tasman Sea areas between New Zealand and Australia had some of the highest rates of birds caught on fishing lines – 13% of bycatch from longliners were seabirds like albatross.
Greenpeace Aotearoa oceans campaigner Juan Parada says, “This rampant destruction of critical ocean life in the high seas between New Zealand and Australia highlights the urgent need for international cooperation to protect the oceans.”
“The Tasman Sea faces multiple threats from industrial fishing. We’ve recently seen firsthand the destruction caused by bottom trawlers in a similar area of the high seas, where we witnessed graveyards of destroyed coral. Now we see that almost half a million blue sharks were unnecessarily killed in the West and Central Pacific in 2023. That’s so many sharks that if stacked nose to tail, they would reach the International Space Station and back.
“The international waters between New Zealand and Australia are globally renowned precisely because of the range and variety of ocean life that lives there, from deep sea corals growing on seamounts to sharks, seabirds and migrating whales. 
“It’s such a significant place that Greenpeace and allies are calling for it to be one of the world’s first global ocean sanctuaries and it must be protected from longlining and bottom trawling so ocean life can thrive,” says Parada.
The incident happened on Lord Howe Rise, a region renowned for diverse marine life including corals, sponges, whales and seabirds.
Parada says, “While some countries are working constructively towards protecting the high seas, New Zealand is actively blocking meaningful ocean protection. Shockingly New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling these waters.
“To protect the Tasman Sea, New Zealand must stop bottom trawling and get on with helping to create global ocean sanctuaries so all the life that lives there can thrive.” Scientists agree that to help stave off the worst of the climate crisis at least 30% of the world’s oceans must be protected from industrial harm by 2030.
Creating global ocean sanctuaries in international waters like the Tasman Sea, those areas outside of any one country’s jurisdiction, will play a crucial role in achieving this goal. In 2023 the world won the Global Ocean Treaty, which provides the legal framework for these sanctuaries, but first it must be passed into law.
Parada says, “Now is the time for cooperation in ocean protection. Every day that passes without the Global Oceans Treaty in force, marine species are being pushed closer to the brink of extinction by the industrial fishing fleet in the high seas.”
Greenpeace Australia Pacific spokesperson Georgia Whitaker says of the shark bycatch data, “The data is deeply disturbing – it’s a devastating record and a testament to the destructive nature of the industrial fishing industry. Sharks and other animals dying by the hundreds of thousands a year in this one patch of ocean, brutally killed by a legal and indiscriminate fishing practice like longlining. This is an appalling legacy our global leaders are leaving while the blue lungs of our planet are already facing chronic decline. Industrial fishing is sucking our ocean dry, fuelling the biodiversity crisis, and pushing prehistoric animals like sharks to the brink of extinction. Healthy shark populations are central to a healthy ocean – this is a loss we can’t afford.”
Ahead of the United Nations Oceans Conference in Nice, France, in June, Greenpeace is calling on governments to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty. Both New Zealand and Australia have signed the treaty but have yet to bring it into force.
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Assault reignites Christchurch Hospital parking woes

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) is concerned that after-hours attacks on Christchurch Hospital staff returning to their cars have continued without a proper long-term solution to parking in sight.
It follows the recent assault on a student midwife going back to her car from Kurawaka Waipapa.
NZNO Christchurch delegate Al Dietschin says staff have raised concerns about parking at the hospital for more than a decade, possibly longer, and while there has been some action from Te Whatu Ora, it is not nearly enough to prevent the assaults from persisting.
“How many incidents do we need to have before the employer acts in the interest of staff in accordance with the Health and Safety Employment Act?
“They have to provide a safe work environment. They always say health and safety of staff is important, but these after-hours assaults continue to happen.”
Al Dietschin says the Tū Waka Waipapa building that opened opposite the hospital in November 2023 provides parking, but costs about $25 a day, which is unaffordable for most workers.
In wake of many assaults in the past, the hospital provides a minibus shuttle between 9pm and 1am, but staff are often made to wait too long for this arrive.
“Staff are reportedly walking to their cars because they’re made to wait 30 minutes or more after working the late shift for the shuttle to arrive. Staff don’t feel safe walking to cars after their shift or early morning in the dark, but they’re sometimes forced to.”
Another shocking decision recently limits emergency department parking for lead maternity carers (community midwives) to five hours, he says.
“This used to be available for unlimited time. Now they’re forced to ask core staff to relieve them in the middle of a patient’s labour so they don’t get fined. That’s not good for the safety of their patients.”
Al Dietschin says the solution is simple from the staff’s perspective.
“Staff only want safe after hours parking close to hospital, and we don’t want to break the bank for this to happen.”