Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

A tougher stance on rough sleepers in Auckland’s central city has some homeless people fearing they will be pushed out to unfamiliar suburbs where they could struggle to survive.

Earlier this week, the government confirmed it was considering new measures that could see people living on Auckland’s city streets forcibly removed.

Opposition parties and housing advocates raised alarm over the prospect of an effective ban on homeless people in CBD’s, warning such an approach only displaced the problem and caused more harm.

Along Queen St and the surrounding blocks, people were still bedding down in shopfronts, bus shelters, and on building steps.

Earlier in the year, an Auckland Council committee declared homelessness a crisis, with support teams working with more than 800 people sleeping rough. Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he supported giving officers more powers to move people on from public spaces.

Outside the Auckland Central City Library on Thursday, 27-year-old Jae sat with his puppy Snoop and said the solution was straightforward: put more money into housing.

“Instead of putting new stuff in the middle of the street, decorations and all, they should put their money into putting us somewhere, instead of kicking us out of the city. That’s the only place we know.”

Jae said forcing people into unfamiliar suburbs risked driving some into criminal activity.

“They’ve already tried to trespass us from the library and that’s, this is where most of the free dinners come. If you get trespassed and you can’t really eat. If they kick us out of the city, then how are we going to eat?

“It’s going to result to other things, like crime.”

Further along the street, 21-year-old Angela said crime might be her only way to survive. She had been in and out of jail for petty offending since she was a teenager.

“If I get moved on from the streets, I will go back to jail. [The government] has been trying, but I would just go back to prison again because of the things I do to survive.”

Nearby, 60-year-old Tane – who had spent decades sleeping rough – agreed moving people on would only make things worse.

“This is our home, the streets. If it gets taken away from us, homeless people will probably break into things, they’ll start turning into criminals. They’ll move away from begging and go into criminal world.”

Another man, who had lived on the streets for more than 30 years and asked not to be identified, said shifting people away from the city centre would not solve the problem.

“There’s always places to go, you know, there’s… the country’s quite big. And there’s other streets, there’s other parks, there’s other hills, tracks.”

A few blocks away, John, 71, said the government seemed more focused on appearances than addressing the root causes of homelessness.

“We is what [the government] don’t want the tourists to see. And yet, in their countries, they have the same problem with homeless people. And I’m sure they don’t go around putting them into mental institutions.”

The government said details of its plan to crack down on rough sleeping would be released soon.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said any move-on orders would need to be paired with proper housing and support.

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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 Ministry of Health is being accused of sitting on a state abuse survivor’s compensation claim for weeks, knowing she had cancer and was about to die.

Wellington lawyer Sonja Cooper wrote to the ministry on 7 October, flagging her client had terminal cancer and “weeks left to live”.

“We would appreciate if the Ministry of Health could prioritise assessing [her] claim give the time-limiting circumstances,” the email said.

More than two weeks later, on 23 October, the ministry’s chief legal advisor Phil Knipe wrote back, “confirming that we will look to prioritise the claim”.

Knipe attached a criminal declaration form to his response, asking Cooper Legal to get the dying woman to complete it to “get that out of the way”.

The declaration asks survivors if they’ve been convicted of a violent, sexual or firearms offence for which they were sentenced to more than five years’ jail.

The options for selection are ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘unsure’, though it carries a warning that “random criminal conviction history checks will be carried out”.

The coalition has introduced these criminal checks to ensure the granting of financial redress “does not bring the state redress system into disrepute”.

Though a bill to legislate this criminal carve has only passed its first reading, survivors are already being asked to fill them out.

Cooper Legal wrote back to the ministry the day Knipe replied, pushing for an exception to completing this form.

“This is a considerable administrative task, especially considering the delays and hoops to jump through to get a valid form of ID if someone does not already have it.

“Considering [our client] has weeks left to live (and other survivors will be in a similar situation), these delays could be the difference between getting redress or not.”

Knipe replied the next day: “I’m not aware of any plans for an exemption for any survivors…there may be flexibility on the form of ID in those cases where there is a reason why they do not have one of the forms of ID requested.”

Cooper Legal got a signed declaration form to the ministry on Sunday morning. The client died that night.

The Minister leading the Crown’s response to abuse in state care, Erica Stanford, has since confirmed the criminal declaration form applies to all survivors, including those terminally ill.

Though she added: “If there’s anyone that’s been caught up and it’s delaying things, then that’s something I’ll go and talk to my officials about because it shouldn’t.”

Stanford’s office has since come back to RNZ about this case.

“The Crown Response Office has been in touch with the Ministry of Health and reminded them where a person is terminally ill, this exemption process exists and should be used.

“We understand the way is clear for the claim to be progressed and the Ministry of Health will be in contact with Cooper Legal to progress it.”

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the claimant’s whānau and friends at this time.

“The ministry has passed on its regret to the law firm representing the claimant that the claim was unable to be completed within time. The ministry has been treating this claim with urgency since it was received on 7 October.

“We sought clarification from the Crown Response Office regarding the ministerial exemption process and will ensure this is also followed for any future cases involving claimants with terminal conditions.

“We are working to finalise the claim as quickly as possible.”

Cooper said the system was “abhorrent”.

“Why should somebody who is terminally ill, hospitalised, unable to move, in their last few weeks or months of life, why should they be put through this additional hurdle to get redress when it is hard enough, in any event, to go through the redress processes.

“I just think it’s abhorrent and it just shows a complete lack of humanity on the part of the state, once again, towards survivors it abused, mostly as children, but also as vulnerable adults, in its care.”

The government has received one expedition request on the basis of a survivor being terminally ill to date. It was approved the day it was made.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Many agree NZ’s education is below par, but how to fix it is the subject of major conflict – as the government’s proposed curriculum has made clear

When Michael Johnston stepped onto the stage to speak at an education conference last week, the crowd was tetchy and tense. He wasn’t expecting a warm reception but for the first time in his long career in education, he was heckled and booed, according to one bystander.

Johnston is the lead educator for the think tank The New Zealand Initiative, and has played a key role in drawing up the government’s controversial draft curriculum, while the audience at last week’s UpliftEd event has largely been opposed to the overhaul.

He says he was invited to the conference several months ago by the organisers Aotearoa Educators Collective to speak about the state of boys’ education, “a much-neglected equity gap”.

“The reason I agreed to do it is I don’t think there’s enough talking across the aisles in education and I was very keen to try to bridge the gap.

“I’m not sure that worked but that was my intention,” Johnston tells The Detail.

Newsroom’s political editor Laura Walters was at the conference and says he was booed and heckled. Johnston says that’s an exaggeration, and the audience was mixed in its response. He challenges suggestions that he represents a right wing think tank.

“I would say what we are is a classical liberal think tank. We give policy advice to any political party who wants to talk to us. You know, [Labour leader] Chris Hipkins spoke at our members’ retreat earlier this year so it’s not true that we only talk to the right wing parties.”

The incident reflects deep divisions in the sector over the contentious curriculum, labelled by critics as racist, deeply concerning, absolutely ridiculous and more.

In the latest development, the government’s decided to cut the requirement of school boards to give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi, a move that has shocked and angered some in the sector who say it will put Māori content in danger and undermine efforts to lift Māori students’ achievement.

Other areas of contention cross from arts to technology to Physical Education.

The full draft for Years 0 to 10 has been released in the last week and is open for consultation for the next six months, before a phased rollout over the next three years.

“To call it an education reform or overhaul wouldn’t be overstating it,” says Newsroom’s Walters. “What the government is asking teachers and principals and educators to do is pretty massive and educators don’t feel like they’re being listened to.”

She points to a loss of goodwill over the past two years between the government and the ministry on one side, and teachers and educators on the other.

“I can understand and I wasn’t surprised by that immediate and broad pushback from the sector that feel like they’re being asked to rush through these massive reforms at pace, that they’re not getting the support that they need; that they’re not being listened to.

“Meanwhile, they’re dealing with the day-to-day, these classrooms with children who have high learning needs, high behavioural needs. You kind of have to put the pushback or the reaction into that context.”

Johnston says the criticism is loud but it is not widespread or a balanced reflection of the sector.

“I suspect it isn’t a majority of teachers and principals but certainly there’s a lot of noise generated by some.

“I’ve talked to a lot of principals myself, I’ve been around the country in the last weeks and months and had a lot of conversations. A lot of principals are very supportive and certainly think things like this are urgently needed,” he says.

He believes there are legitimate concerns about the pace of change and the extent to which teachers will have to shift their practise.

“They’re going to need support to do that, so I understand that side of the worry. It needs to be backed with the right resources.”

For the past 18 months Johnston has been part of the curriculum coherence group, a panel convened by the Ministry of Education to review the rewrite.

“We look at the documents that the writers produce and comment on them from the point of view of knowledge-rich curriculum design, mostly.”

He explains the often-used phrase “knowledge-rich” means the content is carefully selected to be representative of a subject and that it is correctly sequenced.

“It’s knowledge that is related to other knowledge, so that when children learn it … it is built on what they already know.”

Walters says a lot has been dumped on the sector and teachers and principals need time to digest the details.

“I think that there will be more nuance and more context and a better understanding that will flow through over the next couple of weeks. It’s really unclear as to whether they will actually change their stance.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour is promising to make cervical screening free for everyone, if elected, through its previously-announced Medicard scheme.

Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the move would help prevent cancers and avoid costly hospital treatments.

“Each year 175 New Zealanders are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 55 die from it. Almost every case is preventable with better uptake of cervical screening and vaccination,” she said.

“Free cervical screening means earlier diagnosis, lives saved, and less pressure on our hospitals.”

Under the policy, from October 2027, anyone eligible for screening would be able to access it at no cost by presenting their Medicard at their local doctor or community screening event.

Cervical screening is available for people aged 25 to 69 every five years. The test is currently free for Māori and Pacific people, Community Services Card holders, and those aged 30 and over who have never been screened or are overdue.

The policy would make it free for the remaining half.

Labour estimated the expansion would cost $21.6 million in its first year, to be funded from within the existing health budget.

The policy is one which Labour also campaigned on at the 2023 election.

“Today, we’re committing to finishing the job and making sure that there’s free screening for everyone who needs cervical screening,” Verrall said.

She said when last in government, Labour had introduced self-test options, and extended free screening criteria.

She said the self-testing had been a “game changer” for screening, and removing the costs for Pacific women had led to a 20 percent increase in screening rates.

“Now that women, we’re screening ourselves, it’s very hard to argue that we should have to pay, and it’s never been right that cervical screening is the only screening programme where the users have to pay.”

New Zealand has committed to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030.

“Free cervical screening and HPV vaccination will help us reach that goal,” Verrall said.

“Labour’s Medicard is about making sure every New Zealander can get the care they need, when they need it.”

Labour announced its proposed Medicard in September, promising to use revenue from a new targeted capital gains tax to provide every New Zealander three free GP visits a year.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Green MP Kevin Hague is returning to politics to be the party’s new chief of staff.

In a social media post on Thursday, Hague said he was coming “out of retirement” to take up the role after Eliza Prestidge-Oldfield stepped down.

Hague said his home would remain on the West Coast, but he would also be setting up a “second base” in the capital.

“Got any furniture you want to sell? I will pick up the reins in a couple of weeks.”

Hague entered Parliament as a list MP in 2008. Despite being considered a frontrunner for the party’s co-leadership in 2015, he was beaten by James Shaw.

Hague left a year later to become the chief executive of environmental organisation Forest and Bird.

The party has not had a permanent chief of staff since September when Prestidge-Oldfield resigned.

At the time, co-leader Marama Davidson said Prestidge-Oldfield had left “to focus on her health, well-being and her whānau”.

“This has not been an easy decision for her to make, given the huge contribution that Eliza has made to the Green Party over many years,” Davidson said.

“However, the party fully supports her decision to prioritise her health and whānau.”

The opposition party has had a fairly high turnover of staff this term. Its director of communications Louis Day also resigned several weeks after Prestidge-Oldfield.

“I felt that now was the right time for me to move on from Parliament and take a bit of a break before finding a new challenge for my career,” Day said in an email to journalists.

“I leave with a lot of love for the co-leaders, MPs and party, as well as a lot of hope for the Green movement I have had the privilege of being part of for almost four years now.”

RNZ understands another member of the party’s media team has also recently departed. The Greens also saw an exodus of senior staff in early 2024 connected to the resignation of then-co-leader James Shaw.

The Green Party has had a particularly difficult time since the 2023 election.

The term has been marked by scandals and resignations: Golriz Ghahraman quit after being accused, and later convicted, of shop-lifting. Darleen Tana was ejected from Parliament amid allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s bicycle business.

Most recently, Benjamin Doyle quit Parliament after facing threats of violence and abuse in response to historical social media posts. In a valedictory speech last week, Doyle described Parliament as a “hostile and toxic” environment.

The party has also been struck by tragedy: Fa’anānā Efeso Collins suddenly died in February 2024, and Davidson took time off for treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The final evaluation for the government’s military-style boot camps found it was too small to provide any meaningful data, and its implementation was rushed.

The 82-page report says the pilot contributed to “meaningful and positive change” for the young people involved, while acknowledging the cohort was too small to draw firm conclusions. It also highlighted a range of barriers and challenges to achieving outcomes.

Those barriers included rushed implementation, challenging transitions, a lack of continuity around therapeutic support, a lack of capacity in the residential phase, and support for whānau began too late before the rangatahi returned home.

It also noted the efforts to include te ao Māori and te reo Māori were valued but “didn’t go far enough” given” all the MSA pilot participants were rangatahi Māori and several were fluent te reo Māori speakers.”

It wouldn’t publish the overall reoffending rate, but said the majority of the MSA cohort reoffended within two months of release into the community.

The pilot programme for a cohort of the country’s most serious offenders aged between 14 and 17 started at the end of July in 2024, and finished in August 2025. During the pilot participants ran away, one was kicked out of the programme and another was killed in a three-vehicle crash.

The military style academies for youth had also come under scrutiny by opposition parties for a lack of transparency, particularly the reoffending rate of the teenagers. Reducing reoffending was a primary goal for the boot camps.

Seven of the 10 young men involved in the controversial military-style academy (MSA) boot camp pilot reoffended, according to Oranga Tamariki.

The final report summarised evaluation findings for the full pilot and focused on planning, implementation, to what degree the MSAs contributed to meaningful change, and what key factors should be included in future programmes.

Information for the report built on interviews previously conducted, and data collection took place during the final three months of the community phase, between June and August this year.

The participants themselves were all male, all were Māori, and two also had Pacific and New Zealand European ancestry, most were 17 years old with two younger participants (14 and 15).

Six out of ten of the young people had ADHD either diagnosed or suspected. Three of those diagnosed were unmedicated. Other learning difficulties among the cohort also included auditory processing challenges for example.

Mental health issues were noted for several young people including difficulty regulating emotions, anxiety, suicidality and PTSD. Almost all had substance abuse noted in their assessments.

The findings

The report asked “to what degree did the MSA pilot contribute to meaningful change?”

It stated the pilot had been successful in “testing new ideas” and “generating learnings” relevant to other Youth Justice Residences and future programmes.

“Overall, evidence from qualitative interviews, clinical assessments and reoffending data indicate MSA has contributed to meaningful and positive change for rangatahi.

“Reductions in frequency and seriousness of offending were potential changes in the trajectories of MSA rangatahi and showed progress towards longer-term outcomes.”

It noted, however, longer term follow ups were required as well as a higher number of participants to “confirm conclusions about effectiveness.”

It also listed a range of barriers and challenges to achieving outcomes and a sustainable programme. These were:

• Insufficient time for implementation: Short timeframes impacted the translation of the MSA design into implementation. Their impact was evident in kaimahi working to design the residential phase as they delivered it, the extraordinary effort required to deliver the residential phase and the pressure on kaimahi. Preparation for transition and whānau support began late which impacted the quality of transitions and preparation for rangatahi in the community. Timeframes also meant social workers were not involved in the residential phase or adequately prepared for their roles in supporting rangatahi in the community.
• Transitions were a challenge: Transitions represented a large shift away from a highly structured environment with minimal risks to a less structured environment where risks like mates, social media, drugs and alcohol were present. Intensive support through the transition period addressed the risks but a step between the residential phase and community phase like supported living could further reduce risk.
• Continuity of therapeutic support: Lack of continuity of therapeutic support also meant work focusing on criminogenic factors could not continue in the community phase. Continuation of therapeutic support was not clearly assigned to any role though Oranga Tamariki expected some support to be provided by mentors and social workers. However, capacity and clinical skills limited the extent mentors and social workers could provide therapeutic support.
• Clinical capacity in the residential phase: The clinical team could not deliver the planned individual interventions in the residential phase due to insufficient capacity. Additional clinical capacity would also have strengthened transition planning.
• Whānau intervention: The need to support whānau to provide a positive environment for rangatahi in the community was highlighted in the MSA design but support began too late in the residential phase for significant change to be made before rangatahi returned home.

The report acknowledged that allowing more time for the design could have “strengthened” the pilot implementation, and would have “allowed the design to be fully realised in implementation.”

RNZ revealed last year the pilot programme was still in its design phase the month before it was due to start.

“The short timeframes for design and implementation limited the extent some of the key elements of the MSA design could be fully realised including transition planning, preparation for the community

phase, and whānau support,” the report stated.

“Timeframes therefore also limited the extent the evaluation could reach conclusions about the MSA design and implementation.”

The report also said the cultural elements of the design could be “strengthened to better meet the needs of rangatahi Māori.”

Efforts were made to include te ao Māori and te reo Māori in the bootcamp, and those efforts were valued the report stated, but “they did not go far enough given all the MSA pilot participants were rangatahi Māori and several were fluent te reo Māori speakers”.

“Building MSA on te ao Māori rather than adding components in may have strengthened the fit with the MSA cohort and increased engagement.

“Rangitāne iwi, although experienced in youth justice support, were not included early in the design process. Involving tangata whenua in the design earlier would strengthen both cultural and other aspects of the programme and increase the focus on te ao Māori.”

RNZ revealed last year Oranga Tamariki had acknowledged it should have engaged with mana whenua earlier in the process.

On transitions, an “early challenge” were delays in preparation of living environments and the physical needs identified in transition plans.

The report indicated failure to provide the needs identified in the transition plans “eroded rangatahi trust as they felt like ‘broken promises’.” Stakeholders blamed a lack of funding availability.

Some aspects of unprepared plans were described as a lack of basic essentials.

“Rangatahi moving into independent living found that when they arrived their accommodation was not prepared with the necessities such as food for the first days, furniture, plates and cutlery. Internet connections took weeks to be arranged in some cases.”

The evaluation drew on data from psychometric assessments, interviews with kaimahi, rangatahi and whānau, and Oranga Tamariki analysis of Police proceedings data.

“All sources showed indications of positive change for the MSA cohort. Larger numbers and longer-term analysis are needed to draw stronger conclusions about effectiveness.”

The positive changes that were demonstrated included involvement in education, work experience and employment, as well as improved wairua (spiritual), physical and mental health, reconnection with whānau and stable living situtions.

Reoffending

The minister in charge, Karen Chhour, has consistently backed the pilot, saying it was about giving young people a chance. Chhour has also said future programmes would take on board what had worked well in the pilot, and learn from what hadn’t worked well.

Chhour rejected the notion reducing reoffending was a primary objective, saying the primary objective was to try stop young people entering the correction system.

Following the death of one participant in a car accident – and another escaping from custody, who then went on to allegedly reoffend alongside a third participant – Oranga Tamariki announced they would only provide public updates “at appropriate times through the community stage.”

Military-style academy programmes lead Janet Mays said, going into the pilot, Oranga Tamariki was “realistic about the likelihood of re-offending”.

“We have previously confirmed that seven of the participants re-offended to a threshold that required them to return to residence for a time. 

“One of our key aims was to see a reduction in the frequency and severity of offending by these rangatahi.”

The report stated the overall reoffending rate wouldn’t be included because “Oranga Tamariki protocol is to not cite any statistics that have the potential to identify a young person.”

However, the report noted the majority of the MSA cohort reoffended within two months of release into the community, but it said there were “positive differences” to the matched Supervision with Residence (SwR) in a Youth Justice Residence cohort, a group of rangatahi with similar characteristics and offending history.

Comparing the six-months before the residential phase to the six-months after release showed:

• Time before reoffending increased: MSA rangatahi were slower to reoffend compared to the matched SwR cohort.
• Seriousness of offending decreased: Two-thirds (67%) of MSA rangatahi reduced the maximum seriousness of their offending compared to only 22% of the matched SwR cohort.
• Violent offending reduced: (including robbery-related offences and injury causing acts) by MSA rangatahi reduced by two-thirds (67%) in the six-months after exiting residence compared to the six-months before entering residence.
• Combined view of reoffending results: Five (59%) of the nine rangatahi on the MSA pilot reduced the frequency, total seriousness and maximum seriousness of their offending compared to only two (22%) of the nine matched SwR cohort.

In terms of the reoffending itself, some was considered minor with “some more serious.” Many of the teenagers had described how hard they tried to stay out.

“I tried to change but f**k it’s hard … I tried to stay out, but it didn’t last very long,” one said.

“I always think I’m not going to get caught. I know I can stop. I was a dumb c**t then, when I was 13. I’ve matured since then. Everyone always regrets what they do. I do a little bit. Got some money, clothes, shopping. I don’t get the adrenaline rush anymore. I get paranoid,” another said.

A small number of the cohort didn’t return to a Youth Justice Residence, and this was seen as an achievement for the MSA.

Finally, the report acknowledged the “stable cohort” of rangatahi in the MSA had contributed to safety in the residential phase and supported the therapeutic focus. It said there were no fights between rangatahi or with the workers in the residential phase.

“This result was markedly different from other Youth Justice Residences where physical conflict between rangatahi or with kaimahi were regular occurrences.”

MSA programmes lead Janet Mays said the pilot aimed to help a “small group of serious and persistent young offenders turn their lives around, by giving them increased structure and support through an intensive intervention. “

The “full wraparound programme” combined therapeutic care, intensive mentorship and whānau engagement. 

“The young people were encouraged to develop new skills, and move into education, training or employment.”

Minister responds

Chhour said the findings from the independent report showed “why it was an important and worthwhile pilot”.

She said the reality for young serious offenders was a “pathway to adult Corrections” and a lifetime in and out of incarceration, “unless they are given a chance to turn their lives around and take that chance”.

“This programme has been that chance.”

She said the data was clear that two of the nine young people had not reoffended, and the majority of the nine young people were currently in the community. She said they re-offended during the pilot phase, but had “not done so since.”

“All of the nine young people expressed a desire to not reoffend and have been taught greater coping skills and provided with mentorship.”

Chhour said the government was reviewing the pilot while it was operating, and had taken on “learnings” from its successes.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Te Pāti Māori staffer Eru Kapa-Kingi has taken to social media to defend his criticism of party leadership, saying – despite knowing he’d be “dragged through the media” – he stands by claims that it had become “extremely toxic” and “veered completely” off path.

He says Te Pāti Māori supporters “deserve better” and party president John Tamihere is “not the guy to get us to Hawaiki hou” – the future those supporters imagine – calling again for new leadership and executive model.

Amid weeks of turmoil, party president John Tamihere acknowledged there was “a process in play” for the two MPs co-leader Rawiri Waititi called “rogue” to be expelled from the party, while a petition called for Tamihere to stand down, with allegations of intimidation and financial mismanagement.

Kapa-Kingi – the son of the Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi – said he knew Tamihere in particular would use “lies” and “half-truths” to paint him as an “entitled, spoiled individual, who’s just after status or power or whatever”.

“Even though I knew that this was all going to play out in this way, I didn’t care and I still don’t care,” he said. “There might be some kind of reputational damage, but I’ve never really given any shit about that.”

He doubled down on his crtique of the party, saying he understood how Tamihere could “use power to try and silence people”. He described seeing “firsthand” how those behaviours played out, while working for the party.

“I saw how he [Tamihere] and the leaders would speak to other MPs, how they would treat kaimahi [workers], staffers, many of whom approached me, privately and in confidence, sharing their experiences of feeling absolutely unsafe in their work environment, because of this power dynamic that favoured the leaders, the executive, heavily.”

He claimed there was no opportunity for “genuine accountability for the toxic behaviors and environment in that office space”.

He said the party had an executive and leadership model that “thinks it’s beyond critique”, “beyond accountability”, and “beyond improving and learning”.

Kapa-Kingi said he’d been asked by many for the “receipts”, after his initial accusations about a dictatorship model in the party in October and repeated they were not his stories to tell.

He pointed to the late-night email as an example of evidence: “If you’re looking for receipts, just look at what’s happened in the last few weeks, directly against me.”

He described Tamihere, the executive and the co-leaders pressing “the green light” on an email containing information about him.

“Saying that I assaulted a security guard, that I was dismissed from my job in my mum’s office because of that, that my mum paid me 120k through her budget and, because of that, she overspent her budget.

“Every single one of those things is a lie, and it was curated and written in an email, and framed in a way where it looked legit, but it wasn’t.”

He said the email was sent to more than 500 registered members of the party and the party then tried to “play dumb” over the fact the email ended up in mainstream media.

Kapa-Kingi followed up by saying, even if the information was true, what relevance did that have to him accusing the party of having a “toxic leadership environment”.

He said it was an effort to deflect “away from the truth” and not address the internal issues, “which proves my point that this is a leadership beyond accountability, beyond integrity and beyond honesty, and we deserve better”.

“John Tamihere is not the guy that’s going to get us to a Hawaii Hou.”

He called for a “genuine resetting” of the kaupapa, new leadership, a new executive model and a re-empowering of the regions.

“All of their power in the last little while has been concentrated in a handful of people in the national executive and this is the result of it.”

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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 Labour leader says it is “unacceptable” that former Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s behaviour was not picked up in vetting for the role.

McSkimming pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

McSkimming performed Google searches on his police devices, primarily his work cellphone, to access pornographic and objectionable publications, over the course of four and a half years.

As prime minister, Chris Hipkins appointed McSkimming to the Deputy Police Commissioner role in 2023, following a recommendation from the then-Deputy Public Service Commissioner.

On Friday, Hipkins said McSkimming’s behaviour was unacceptable, and called for more robust vetting.

“I can say absolutely that with the advice that we were given in Jevon McSkimming’s appointment to the Deputy Police Commissioner role, none of this was identified during that process, and there was a vetting process that was undertaken there,” Hipkins said.

“The fact that there was vetting and it didn’t highlight this shows that the vetting was clearly inadequate.”

In late 2020, police made the decision that six-monthly internet usage monitoring reports, supplied to the senior leadership team, would cease. The summary of facts said McSkimming would have been aware of the change.

McSkimming’s first recorded search took place on 1 July 2020, with the last on 18 December 2024.

In total, there were 5354 searches, around a third of which were adult or pornographic.

A total of 2954 objectionable images were returned from 432 searches that were intended or were “highly likely” to return objectionable images.

Hipkins said it was a “shocking revelation” that McSkimming was using police equipment resources to view the material, and that it went undetected for so long.

“This was going on for four or five years, and it seemed to go below the radar within the police. That shouldn’t have been allowed to happen, so I think there’s a real tightening up that’s needed here.”

Following McSkimming’s guilty plea, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the moment he was advised of the circumstances he had taken it “seriously and acted on it.”

“As soon as I was made aware of the nature of the material found, I raised it with the Minister of Police as a conduct matter to allow him to consider Mr McSkimming’s position at the time as a statutory deputy commissioner.

“Mr McSkimming subsequently resigned from police. This conduct has no place in police.”

Chambers also ordered a rapid review of the controls and security of police devices.

“I moved quickly to remedy the gaps it identified and ordered auditing and monitoring of staff use of police devices.

“We will investigate any cases of staff found to have accessed inappropriate or objectionable material and will take action where conduct falls short of standard and expectations.”

On Thursday, police minister Mark Mitchell would not comment on specific matters in relation to a case waiting for sentencing.

“What I will say is that I am proud to support our thousands of sworn and non-sworn staff who perform acts of kindness, courage and service everyday. Individuals who do not uphold the values or display the integrity required to be a member of the NZ Police should be dealt with appropriately.”

Sexual 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

The Education Ministry’s ministerial approval rating has more than doubled.

The ministry’s 2025 annual report shows Education Minister Erica Stanford rated the ministry seven out of 10 overall for its oversight of the education system, up from three in the previous report.

However, she gave the ministry only four for its policy advice, up from three.

Vocational education minister Penny Simmonds gave the ministry a rating of seven for its overall performance, up from six the preiovus year.

The report showed a big reduction in the ministry’s personnel costs.

The ministry spent $409 million on salaries and wages in 2024/25, down from $555m the previous year.

It spent $2m on consultants, down from $3m the previous year and $138m on contracts for services, down from $180m.

The report showed 52,926 children received specialist learning support in 2024/25 and wait times for support had improved, but remained long.

The average number of days children waited for support were 54 for behaviour support, 80 for communication, 11 for assistance from the ongoing-resourcing scheme, and 117 for the early intervention service.

It showed that only 47 percent of students excluded from a school were placed in another school within 40 days and only 75 percent within 75 days of their exclusion.

“Our regional staff are taking a more active role in following up cases where a learner is not returning to school in a timely manner. This work is being supported with revised guidelines for Stand downs, Suspensions, exclusions and expulsions due to be launched in late 2025,” the report said.

The report said the ministry provided buildings for more student places than forecast (126 percent of forecast), and delivered 92 percent of its building projects on budget and 93 percent on time.

It said half of the new and replacement builds in the 2024/25 year were standard or repeatable designs.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The National Iwi Chairs Forum says it is working towards getting both factions of Te Pāti Māori to a hui in Wellington next week.

The leadership body has been liaising with the party’s leadership and estranged MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kinga and Tākuta Ferris in an effort to stop the party splitting up.

Ngāti Kahungunu chair Bayden Barber met with co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa Packer and Rawiri Waititi on Tuesday, and said he had received a commitment from them to meet the other faction.

He sat down with Ferris on Thursday.

“He agreed to meet at a marae here in Wellington, so that was pleasing.”

Kapa-Kingi was not available for the meeting, he said.

“She’s always been quite firm that she wanted to meet with her people in the north, Tai Tokerau, so I’m assuming that was the reason, but there was no official reason given.”

“We hope to be able to be in contact with Mariameno as well but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Barber confirmed party president John Tamihere had not been at either of these meetings, but the Forum had had “a number of conversations” with him on the phone.

A potential meeting next week was still to be confirmed, but Barber was hopeful the two factions could patch things up.

“We’re always optimistic until told otherwise, but it was a very constructive meeting with Tākuta on Thursday, as was our meeting with the party leaders on Tuesday.

“That’s pleasing, but until we’re actually at a hui together, there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Te Pāti Māori general manager Kiri Tamihere-Waititi, daughter of John Tamihere and wife of Rawiri Waititi, posted several monologues on Instagram about the conflict.

Barber said iwi leaders had asked both sides to stop the online tit-for-tat.

“One of the things we did talk about with party leaders on Tuesday and with Tākuta on Thursday was to put a moratorium or a ceasefire on social media barbs.

“My feeling was that there was agreement to it. That was my feeling, without having it in writing, that having goes at each other online is not helpful for finding a resolution.”

Barber said it would not be good if the party split up.

“If that happens, that’s not the outcome we’re looking for. We’re looking to reconcile everything. Reconciliation is the best outcome.

“Having a split totara log is only good for the fire. That whakataukī, the proverb, that’s been spoken of a number of times in these conversations.

“Twelve months out from an election, to have a party split, that’s going to be a tough challenge.”

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