Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he did consider his future in politics after his ex-wife levelled claims at him on social media, but he remains “absolutely committed” to staying on.

Hipkins appeared on a suite of morning media on Wednesday – including Morning Report – where he again flatly denied all the claims, but said he would not be litigating them in public for the sake of his children.

The claims are not criminal and relate to a lack of support for his ex-wife Jade Paul during and after their relationship.

Speaking on Morning Report, Hipkins acknowledged he had considered stepping down, noting the impact on his family.

“It would be untrue to say that those thoughts hadn’t crossed my mind in the last 48 hours, but everybody in their lives at some point goes through rough patches, and you just have to keep getting out of bed every day.

“I love my job and and I’m absolutely committed to continuing to do it.”

Hipkins said the public debate was “very unfair” on his children, partner and parents – “you do pause and think about that” – but he had received a lot of support over the past day or two.

“Our marriage broke up. That was a traumatic thing. You know, clearly, there are always going to be lots of regrets in a situation like that.

“Many, many people have contacted me in the last 24 hours to indicate that they’ve been through a relationship break-up that has been difficult. I think people will understand that litigating those things through the public is in no one’s best interest.”

Hipkins confirmed he had sought legal advice about the further publication of his ex-wife’s allegations by others, as well as the addition of other “completely unsubstantiated things”.

“The online world is a bit of a sewer pit, and it seems that no one has any hesitation in adding to that,” he said.

“Social media certainly has emboldened a lot of people, and, you know, we have a virtual vigilante approach on social media that anybody in a public profile role now has to contend with. I don’t think that’s been healthy for democracy.”

Paul’s initial post was published on her private Facebook page on Sunday evening, but screenshots were quickly circulated online.

Paul later removed the post, but told RNZ she stood by the comments.

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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 leader Chris Hipkins says he doesn’t think it is in anyone’s best interests to be arguing over details of his marriage break-up in public.

It comes after he rejected allegations made against him by his ex-wife.

On Wednesday, Hipkins told Morning Report says “all sorts” of additional unsubstantiated claims were now being added from parts of the internet.

He said he has sought legal advice, not about his ex-wife’s posts, but about further allegations being published online that were “absolutely untrue”.

“The online world is a bit of a sewer pit.”

He said he had worked hard to protect his family from the spotlight in politics, especially his children, and wanted them to grow up with a sense of normality.

“Our marriage broke up. That was a traumatic thing. Clearly there are always going to be lots of regrets in a situation like that.”

Hipkins denies the unsubstantiated claims.

The allegations – which do not relate to any unlawful activity – were posted on Jade Paul’s private Facebook page on Sunday evening but have since been removed.

Each of the claims, which relate to accusations of a lack of support during the marriage and after, were put to Hipkins directly on Tuesday. He denied them all in turn.

Hipkins on Tuesday said marriage breakups were very difficult, and there would always be disagreements or “things that you regret” when relationships break up, but “a public forum like this is not the way to litigate those”.

Asked if his children were okay, Hipkins choked up and said: “My kids are.. my kids are with her, so I don’t know.”

Asked if the situation could be damaging for Labour, he said he hoped not, and said standing down wasn’t something he considered.

More to come…

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Chris Hipkins is speaking to Morning Report shortly. You can listen on the player above, your app or your local RNZ frequency.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins is set to face question on Morning Report after rejecting allegations made against him by his ex-wife.

The allegations – which do not relate to any unlawful activity – were posted on Jade Paul’s private Facebook page on Sunday evening but have since been removed.

Each of the claims, which relate to accusations of a lack of support during the marriage and after, were put to Hipkins directly. He denied them all in turn.

Hipkins said marriage breakups were very difficult, and there would always be disagreements or “things that you regret” when relationships break up, but “a public forum like this is not the way to litigate those”.

Asked if his children were okay, Hipkins choked up and said: “My kids are.. my kids are with her, so I don’t know.”

Asked if the situation could be damaging for Labour, he said he hoped not, and said standing down wasn’t something he considered.

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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 furore over Christopher Luxon’s new matai title is refusing to go away, after local media in Samoa reported there was a late night phone call saying he didn’t want to go ahead with it after “too much interference on social media”.

Luxon refused to answer questions about the reports on Tuesday, saying he wanted to move on from the issue.

The Samoan Observer reported on Tuesday morning Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt said he’d received a phone call at about 3am from Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs CEO, informing him Luxon didn’t want to proceed with the bestowal of the title Tuisinavemaulumoto’otua.

The report stated Schmidt was told Luxon had decided not to go ahead because of “too much interference on social media”. It also said there were discussions that continued into the night, and early Monday morning before the ceremony eventually proceeded.

Schmidt had said he’d told those involved that Samoa had prepared for the ceremony and that he’d urged Luxon not to be concerned about online criticism.

It comes after Luxon’s office denied reports that he requested to be given a matai title ahead of his visit to Samoa.

Samoa’s government had to clarify on Monday morning that neither Luxon nor his representatives had requested he be given an honour, shortly before the presentation.

Luxon’s since said it was a “miscommunication” and both he and the Samoan prime minister had moved on.

Asked on Tuesday about the Samoan Observer report, Luxon wouldn’t say if a phone call had taken place, instead saying he had “nothing further to add”.

“The prime minister issued a statement yesterday,” said Luxon, “I’m going to leave it there”.

“Again, I’m sorry guys, I’m just not going there.”

Asked if it had damaged trust between the two nations, Luxon said a very good relationship had been established through this visit, calling it a very successful trip.

Luxon said there’d been conversations around health, education and the border, and good connections made between the counterparts and cabinet ministers.

Luxon rejected the notion there was “confusion”, saying in the conversations that had occurred, “we’ve moved our conversation to things that actually matter for the Samoan people”.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand and Samoa have vowed to do more to combat the flow of drugs through the Pacific, which prime minister Christopher Luxon says has become a “super highway”.

Luxon and his Samoan counterpart La’aulialemalietoa Polataivao Leuatea Fosi Schmidt have signed memorandums of understanding for Police and Customs to work together and share more information.

The agreement would see dedicated New Zealand Police officers embedded in Samoa.

Both Luxon and La’auli were under no illusions as to the challenges the Pacific faced.

“We have recognised that border risk … the fast paced problem of illegal drugs crossing our borders is on the rise,” La’aulialemalietoa said.

“We’re up against it. We’re up against crime families in South America that are doing extraordinary things now to send drugs into our region,” Luxon said.

“And actually, the border and the security is the Pacific. It’s not just the New Zealand border alone as well. So it’s very important that we work together.”

Later, Luxon watched a demonstration of a drug seizure by two detector dogs donated by New Zealand, as part of the Pacific Drug Detector Dog Programme.

A combined effort to combat transnational crime is something Luxon would be bringing with him to Tonga on Tuesday afternoon, as he flew in for a meeting with prime minister Lord Fatefehi Fakafanua.

But Luxon said he was also keen to talk energy security, and was preparing to discuss how officials could work together in that space as well.

It was likely the calls for visa waivers will follow Luxon to Nuku’alofa.

La’aulialemalietoa, community leaders, and Samoan media had all lobbied for Pacific visitors to be treated the same as those from 60 other countries, and be given visas on arrival.

But Luxon appeared unlikely to budge, for now.

“You see what happens around the world when immigration gets out of control, and it’s not legal and it’s not managed. We have, very much, a risk-based approach to it all. We’re trying to liberalise what we can do in the Pacific, and we’ll continue to look at it.”

Luxon would also be keen to put the matter of his matai title behind him as he left Samoa, after the Samoan government admitted neither Luxon nor any of his representatives had requested it.

Luxon said it was a “miscommunication”, and he had moved on, but would not say if Samoa’s government had apologised.

At a gala dinner on Monday evening, La’aulialemalietoa said the controversy was “nonsense” and advised Luxon to ignore it.

“Do not worry about the nonsense on Facebook. Let the village of Apia sort it out, and handle it with respect,” he said.

“It is normal for us here.”

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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 war in the Middle East could see inflation in New Zealand hit 3.7 percent in a worst case scenario, Finance Minister Nicola Willis revealed on Tuesday.

Willis said the government was focused on mitigating the impact of the war on critical supply chains and the New Zealand economy.

The cost of filling the petrol tank of an average car had gone up about $23 and about $36 for diesel, she said.

Willis said that the government was aware of the pressure that could put on some households, but warned if there was to be any assistance, it would be very specific.

University of Auckland associate professor of economics Susan St John told Checkpoint New Zealand was already in a “crisis” and low income families were likely most affected.

She said it was about time that “something significant” was done.

“An emergency package could be developed, much like John Key did in 2008 in the global financial crisis,” she said.

“But a package that gets that money directly into the lowest of income families.”

One way to do that is to pay them the full amount of working for families that they currently do not get, St John said.

St John said they missed out on about $100 a week.

“It could be temporary, as was John Key’s policy in 2008 for 16 weeks and be extended if more time was needed,” she said.

“But that would be very focused and go to the very lowest families, the ones that miss out on the full package, the ones who are on benefits, all part benefits, including about 250,000 of the poorest children.”

If you gave the full working for families package, it would mean nearly $100 extra a week, she said.

She said there was a lot of flexibility.

“The beauty of it is that it’s so highly targeted, which is what the minister wants and it’s not the only thing that should be done.

“Because those families who are getting the full package, the working low income families also need help.”

St John said the government would have provide payments without expecting to make cuts elsewhere.

“They’ve already cut far too much out of people on low incomes and so it can’t be found by making their lives any more miserable in other ways,” she said.

“There are different ways if you do want to do something really significant for families and make it stick and that might involve creaming a little bit off the top end of New Zealand Super and redistributing that back through the programs that need it in the social security budget.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Labour leader Chris Hipkins is seeking legal advice about a series of unsubstantiated claims made by his ex-wife on social media, RNZ understands.

The allegations – which do not relate to any unlawful activity – were posted on Jade Paul’s private Facebook page on Sunday evening but have since been removed.

In a brief statement on Monday, Hipkins said: “I reject the allegations entirely and don’t intend to make any further comment.”

In response to questions from RNZ, Paul said she stood by her comments.

The couple married at Premier House in early 2020 and separated in 2022. They have two children.

Hipkins publicly confirmed the split in January 2023, shortly after becoming prime minister, saying they had made the decision in the best interest of their family.

Later that year, Hipkins revealed during his election night concession speech that he had a new partner, Toni Grace.

Hipkins proposed to Grace in November.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Christopher Luxon is putting the question of whether or not he asked for a matai title behind him, saying it was a miscommunication and both he and the Samoan prime minister have moved on.

Samoa’s government had to clarify on Monday morning that neither Luxon nor his representatives had requested he be given an honour, shortly before the presentation.

Luxon thanked those present for the title Tuisinavemaulumoto’otua, saying it was a great honour.

“We are now connected forever,” Luxon told the crowd, which included representatives of villages and the wider community, as well as the New Zealand delegation.

At the end of the lengthy ceremony, in which Luxon and assembled ministers and delegation members drunk kava (prompting an “I love Samoa” from police minister Mark Mitchell), Luxon and his wife Amanda joined Samoa’s representatives for a dance.

Luxon then met privately with La’aulialemalietoa for a bilateral discussion, before a joint Cabinet meeting.

Memorandums of arrangement were signed on Police and Customs matters, with commitments around combatting transnational crime and drug trafficking.

Afterwards, Luxon said the Pacific had become a “super-highway for drugs,” and he and La’aulialemalietoa were committed to more information sharing.

“We’ve got to make sure we cut down the drugs out on the sea. We’ve got to make sure that the borders are strong, because actually, the border around the Pacific is the border for all of us. We’ve got to make sure that we disrupt it in-country,” he said.

“And then, importantly, we also need to make sure we work with good organisations like the Salvation Army and others to deal with the social harm that is happening inside our own communities as well.”

He said the conversations were “illuminating,” and the two had shared what more could be done in healthcare and education as well.

Luxon invited Samoan ministers to visit New Zealand later in the year for further collaboration.

Asked about what went wrong with the matai title mixup, Luxon said he was “done and finished” with the matter.

“We’ve worked our way through that issue in the last few hours, the last day, and what I’d say is important is our conversation has been about how we take our relationship forward,” he said.

“And so I appreciate there was some miscommunication and all of that, but we’ve got ourselves to the right place where we are wanting to build our relationship in a deeper way.”

A question was put to La’aulialemalietoa about the matai title, which he did not answer, but earlier said it was a “token of respect.”

La’aulialemalietoa also spoke of the importance of the relationship between New Zealand and Samoa, which he described in sibling terms.

“You see the changing nowadays in the world. Big countries bully, start to change things dynamically, tariffs, pushing things, patrolling, and all that taking over. Samoa’s focus is to make sure we look after ourselves by ourselves, and controlling by ourselves,” he said.

“So that’s why it’s very, very important for Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia, and all Pacific regions, to come back together again, formulate our Pacific island nation, and make sure we have the capacity to look after ourselves in our own side of the world.”

Luxon was asked about what the government would do to improve visa access, but gave the same answer he has previously given New Zealand media – that the government has made it easier, cheaper, and faster but remains concerned about overstayers.

“We’ve had two attempts, I think, at visa free in New Zealand’s history, and they had to get stopped very quickly, because our hospitals got filled up, our schools got filled up, and people didn’t go home. “

Neither leader mentioned the HMNZS Manawanui in their opening remarks, but La’aulialemalietoa later indicated he did not believe the matter to be finished.

The New Zealand government paid $6 million in compensation last year, but La’aulialemalietoa said where it would go was still being finalised.

“At this stage, the continuation of the negotiation is still on, and we need to have time, better time with New Zealand, to consider what is good for us here, and protective, and also preserve what’s going to be affected in the future. That’s the where the discussion should be.”

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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 Prime Minister’s office has denied reports that Christopher Luxon requested to be given a matai title ahead of his visit to Samoa.

Luxon is due to fly to Apia on Sunday evening for a three-day Pacific mission, which will also see him visit Tonga.

It will be Luxon’s first opportunity to bilaterally engage with the recently-elected prime ministers of both countries.

His itinerary in Apia on Monday includes a meeting with Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Fosi Schmidt, as well as a guard of honour and ava ceremony.

There, Luxon is set to be presented with an honourary matai, or chiefly title, reported by Samoan media to be Tuisinavemaulumoto’otua.

In a livestreamed interview with Samoan outlet Talamua Media, and subsequently reported by Samoa Global News, La’aulialemalietoa said New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Samoa had informed him that Luxon had requested a title.

However, a spokesperson for Luxon told RNZ this was incorrect.

“While the bestowal of an honorary title is a great honour for New Zealand and a mark of our strong relationship with Samoa, it is not something that was requested by the prime minister.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has also denied the claim.

“The New Zealand High Commissioner did not request a title for Prime Minister Luxon. As is normal in the preparation for a prime minister’s visit there were detailed discussions with the host government about arrangements,” a spokesperson said.

“The high commissioner asked for advance notice of any important announcements or honours to ensure that the prime minister could be properly prepared.”

Luxon would not be the first New Zealand prime minister to be bestowed a matai title.

Robert Muldoon, David Lange, Jim Bolger, Sir John Key, and Sir Bill English have all received the honour, as has Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.

The Samoa Observer has reported a letter has been written to Samoa’s Lands and Titles Court to stop the bestowment of the matai title.

La’aulialemalietoa also suggested it would be a “perfect first act of service” for Luxon to endorse and implement the petition calling for visa waivers for Samoans arriving in New Zealand.

“One’s duty as a matai Samoa, is to serve Samoa,” is reported to have said.

A petition with more than 48,000 signatures was handed over at Parliament last month calling for visitors from six Pacific nations (Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu) to be treated the same as travellers from 60 other countries that are eligible for the NZeTA.

While Peters has backed the petition, Luxon is more reluctant, telling RNZ the government had introduced faster, easier, and cheaper visa access, longer visa duration, and a trial for Pacific passport holders travelling from Australia with an Australian visa to enter New Zealand on the NZeTA.

“We’ve been doing everything we can to try and make it easier to secure New Zealand visas, which I think has been important. But also we have to acknowledge that Samoa and Tonga are a major source of overstayers,” he said.

“If we don’t have some sort of visa screening, that problem could be much bigger and that causes a different set of challenges. So it’s just finding the balance through that all.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The headlines were grim across 2023 and 2024: ‘Video of MMA-style fighting in youth justice facility‘, ‘Youths climb onto roof‘, ‘Four staff stood down from youth justice unit’, ‘Prison napalm mixture thrown at teenager’, ‘Staff smuggling in contraband‘.

Investigators gave Oranga Tamariki (OT) three years to turn things around at its biggest secure home for teenagers, Korowai Maaaki in south Auckland.

It even called in prison inspectors last year to get their help.

OT says it is on track.

But documents released to RNZ showed that as late as last November, the child protection ministry had had to hit the reset button yet again and was telling the government, “It has been difficult to create long-lasting change”.

The three years is up soon, in September 2026.

Sixty pages of internal documents chart the tug-of-war in plan after plan to try to embed changes to make the 40 or so children in the home safer, including using funding from Budget 2025.

“Previous action plans have brought in new leadership with the capability to demonstrate the required standard, which has often created an uplift, but residential practice, operations and culture have eventually reverted,” Childrens’ Minister Karen Chhour was told last September.

Work on recruitment and better standards had gone on but “in the case of Korowai Manaaki these actions are not driving change at the speed or depth that we want to see”.

‘An environment where abuse occurs’

Early this month, the watchdog Independent Children’s Monitor put out its report for 2024-25 saying, “As we reported last year, multiple recent reports, including from Oranga Tamariki itself, highlight the safety issues in residences.

“We visited four of the five youth justice residences. We found that the underlying culture, including poorly trained staff and unstructured programmes, contributes to an environment where abuse occurs.

“Most of the abuse we heard about in our regional engagements happened in youth justice residences.”

It quoted a rangatahi saying: “Staff are inconsistent. Secure is horrible.”

On the plus side, access to healthcare was reported to be good, grievances were down 28 percent – and were not focused on Korowai Manaaki but on a residence at Burnham – and all the homes had youth councils to give the teenagers a voice.

‘A sprint due to the urgent care’

However, the south Auckland home’s problems have proved fairly untractable, the Official Information Act papers showed.

In the last year it has had the prison inspectors’ visit and two fast-tracked improvement programmes, one after the other, the last one described by the agency as “a sprint due to the urgent care the residence needs today”.

The origins of this were poor performance reports dating to at least 2020.

That led to the $85,000 rapid review by former police commissioner Mike Bush in September 2023 – a year when boys had got up on the home’s roof 15 times – which set the three-year turnaround target that ends in a few months.

Late 2023 also saw 28 complaints over staff conduct to police, charges and 22 staff dismissed. Allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour surfaced; some staff were said to be just too close to the teenagers.

Independent inspectors emerged from a surprise swoop in February 2024 saying contraband smuggling and physical handling of teenagers were problems.

They were told by staff the home had a “corrupt” operating environment.

After some roof invasions, it turned to the boot camp pilot for help. The papers said it aimed to “apply lessons from Military-Style Academy Pilot” to address the rooftop incidents.

Later in 2024, secure youth residences like Korowai Manaaki – which was the largest of five and housed the oldest teens – became a focus for a new child protection unit set up by OT as a key response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care.

This unit said it would visit a secure home. It is not known if it has. The unit had not published any reports and OT told RNZ on Friday it would not make the unit’s reports public.

Accelerated action

By January 2025, the agency was busy categorising 134 recommendations over three years about how to make its youth justice residences better and safer.

So it launched an Accelerated Action Plan at Korowai Manaaki.

By March it had turned to the prisons for experience. Police Minister Mark Mitchell had asked how the Chief Inspector’s experience could be used.

While the inspectorate went on to recommend the various homes set standards for inspections, and ways to review complaints, it was not volunteering in that space.

“Oranga Tamariki and the Chief Inspector do not believe there is any value to the Inspectorate also gaining a mandate to conduct inspections or investigations of Oranga Tamariki secure residences, which would necessitate legislative amendments,” said a March 2025 report to Chhour.

The Prisons Inspectorate has no mandate over youth homes, but was invited in in mid-2025 to come up with ideas.

The inspectors found what a procession of other reviewers had found: recruitment and retention problems so that staff lacked experience, teenagers harming other teens, a ‘secure care unit’ in poor condition and “contraband issues”, among other things.

“They also noted pockets of good practice at the residence, such as good leadership visibility,” said a short report back.

At this point OT had just one year left of the three-year fixit period.

‘Embedding well’

The Inspector’s visit segued into a ‘Reset Plan’ that ran for three months to November 2025.

The home had “ongoing challenges which need to be addressed. Gaps in residential practice and workplace culture increase the level of operational risk at the residence. To address this risk, direct action and clear leadership is needed”, deputy chief executives reported on 11 November.

In December a log list of Reset work completed laid out to Chhour: over 750 staff training sessions – at one point it closed one of its five units so it could do training – two successful rounds of recruitment and stronger systems that had cut down on contraband. Parts of the home were getting painted and new windows.

Staff were stabilising: unplanned absences had dropped 40 percent and long-term leave which was very high had been cut in half, she heard. “Return-to-work support has been a key contributor to these improvements.

“The Reset has delivered tangible improvements in safety, culture, and operational stability, underpinned by strong leadership presence and investment in staff capability. Positive trends across all key metrics indicate that changes are embedding well,” it told the minister.

Three months later the agency told RNZ its youth justice leaders were “monitoring how well the improvements at the residence are embedding, to ensure that the change created by the Reset Plan is sustained”.

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