Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

A prisoner has been on the run for four days after escaping while on a hospital escort in Auckland.

Mt Eden Corrections Facility acting general manager Edith Pattinson confirmed to RNZ a remand prisoner escaped from Corrections staff about 9am on Friday while on a hospital escort.

“Police were informed immediately and are actively searching for them.”

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

RNZ understands the prisoner had been handcuffed.

Pattinson encouraged anyone with information about the prisoners’ location to contact the police.

“Public safety is our top priority. Any escape is unacceptable and an immediate review into how this incident occurred is being carried out.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than 15,000 measles vaccines were given during last week’s immunisation drive.

It’s more than twice the number of a typical week.

Vaccination efforts have ramped up as part of a nationwide Measles Immunisation Week campaign.

There are 18 confirmed cases in the current outbreak, with 17 of those no longer infectious.

The latest case was found in Nelson on Sunday. It is unlinked to the others, and health officials say it could mean there is undetected transmission in the community.

Health New Zealand said it’s encouraging to see communities rally behind the event. However, it says there is a long way to go before a 95-percent vaccination rate is reached.

Coverage of 95 percent was needed for herd immunity.

Measles modelling by the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science suggested as many as 150 people a week could get infected with measles if an epidemic took hold in New Zealand.

The modelling also found that increasing vaccination rates by five percent could halve the number of hospitalisations in an outbreak.

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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 Port of Auckland is working with customs and Maritime New Zealand to crack down on methamphetamine from crossing the border.

The government has announced a plan to tackle meth harm, including efforts to strengthen border security and shut down opportunities for organised criminals to operate through the ports.

Port of Auckland chief executive Roger Gray told Morning Report that their role was to ensure customs could inspect cargo before it entered the community.

He said the biggest threat they faced would be staff working with criminals to try and bypass that process.

“The biggest threat we face is insider threat, someone working with the gangs or trans-national organised crime to get stuff out,” Gray said.

“We are always watching, and one of the most important things we do is educate our staff to keep an eye out for each other and if they see anything suspicious to report it.”

He said the port did background checks and provided information to customs and police about staff if requested.

“We pay our staff well and provide them with good careers. One of the things that stops temptation is the concern that they will lose their job and go to jail.”

It comes after a drastic rise in consumption of methamphetamine last 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

A kitchen worker at an Auckland school has resigned after an allegation of sexual offending involving a student.

The police said they investigated an incident between an employee and a student at Wesley College reported in August.

Detective Inspector Veronica McPherson said a 24-year-old man had now been charged with sexual connection with a young person.

“As the matter is before the Court, the Police is not able to comment further,” she said.

Wesley College had to urgently close its boarding hostel this month, but the school and the Ministry of Education said the closure was not related to the allegation.

Wesley principal Brian Evans said the kitchen staff member had been reference checked an police vetted.

“After receiving a disclosure about the allegation, we immediately informed the student’s family, Police, and Oranga Tamariki,” he said.

“Our first priority was the wellbeing of the student. We offered her and her family support, then handed the matter over to police for investigation. The family expressed appreciation for the way the situation was handled under our safeguarding protocols. They later chose to withdraw their daughter from the school and indicated they would access support through their networks.”

The school did not directly respond to RNZ about whether the wider school community had been informed.

“Further to your query about whether the school informed their wider community, it’s important to understand that in recent years, Wesley has worked deliberately to ensure their community moves away from the harmful tradition of silence that has historically affected many New Zealand institutions, Wesley included. It is important that all students, staff, and families feel safe to disclose concerns, and that their voices are heard and acted upon promptly. The school’s gold-standard safeguarding system is built specifically to enable this openness and ensure that issues are addressed transparently and appropriately.

“We understand the community’s need for timely, clear communication. Their processes are designed to balance this commitment with legal and ethical obligations around privacy and any police investigation.”

The staff member appeared in the Pukekohe District Court last month and was remanded on bail.

Earlier this month, Wesley College launched legal action after the Ministry of Education suspended its licence to house boarders.

The Ministry said the decision was made under Regulation 32 of the Education (Hostels) Regulations 2005, which states a hostel’s license can be suspended if it was not in the boarders’ interests for it to remain open.

Both parties said the closure was not related to the charges.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Prominent Māori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon has filed a human rights complaint to the UN over “systemic discrimination” of Māori in New Zealand.

Moxon told RNZ the 42 page complaint was sent to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Monday.

She has requested the opportunity to meet with the five-member working group responsible for the Early Warning and Urgent Action procedure in Geneva, before or during the Committee’s upcoming 116th session, scheduled from 17 November to 5 December 2025, when New Zealand is due for review.

In her submission, Moxon alleges a “significant and persistent pattern of political racial discrimination against iwi Māori” and that since late 2023 a series of government actions have reversed progress towards fulfilling New Zealand’s obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

“I think that it’s really time that this government, and successive governments, put the Treaty where it belongs, which is at the forefront of all their decisions that are made, that impact on Māori. And at the moment, they’re basically saying, we don’t have to do that, we are sovereign.

“I’m not disputing the fact that we have a sovereign government, but I am disputing the fact that they cannot be sovereign without taking into consideration Te Tiriti o Waitangi. And right now, they don’t care, and they have behaved and acted as if the rights of Māori do not matter, Te Tiriti does not matter.”

RNZ has approached Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka for comment.

Moxon said there needed to be return to a relationship based on mutual trust, mutual understanding and a positive two-way relationship that Te Tiriti promised.

She pointed to the Regulatory Standards Bill, Pae Ora Amendment Bill, the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora and the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act as examples of government actions that have had an “enormous effect” on Māori.

CERD has only issued one other specific decision under its urgent action and early warning procedure for New Zealand in March 2005, concerning the New

Zealand Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004.

Moxon said she had tried to have her concerns heard through the Waitangi Tribunal, but the government had “disregarded” those findings, so she decided to go to the UN.

“So they’ve gone, in my view, to an extremist view that Māori are unworthy of having anything different from everybody else. And yet, the treatment that we have received has been less than adequate for years. And here we are, yet again, having to fight for every little morsel that we can get.”

Moxon also alleged “repeated instances of unconstitutional overreach” by the government, including through the extensive use of urgency, introducing bills just before Waitangi Tribunal hearings to deprive it of jurisdiction and removing the requirement for schools to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“Now, they talk about the betterment of all New Zealanders in actual fact, what they’re referring to is the betterment of themselves not all New Zealanders, themselves.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A year on from the disappearance of a man on a popular Wellington walking track, the police remain hopeful he will be found.

Graham Russell Smith, of Kāpiti, was reported missing while walking at Rangituhi/Colonial Knob at about 6.30pm on 10 November 2024.

He had been walking on Doctors Track – where lots of people walk, bike and tramp.

Smith is about 165cm tall, and was wearing a blue puffer jacket and brown corduroy pants.

He potentially suffered from dementia and had difficulty hearing.

Smith was never found despite hundreds of hours of searching.

Acting detective sergeant Nicholas Mead said police continued to hope that someone may have information that could help find Smith, or provide closure to whānau.

People should call 105 if they know something – and reference file number 241111/3559.

“We acknowledge the tireless efforts of all agencies and volunteers involved in the search and thank the community for their support,” he said.

“Police also extend our thoughts to Graham’s family at this difficult time.”

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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 new owner of the country’s oldest tattoo studio is working to honour the legacy of the shop’s late founder – the late Roger Ingerton.

Roger Ingerton opened Roger’s Tatooart in Wellington’s Cuba Street in 1977 – and worked from the premises until he retired in 2009.

The studio had received a dramatic facelift, but its legendary founder’s designs, photographs and paintings still fill nearly every spare inch of wallspace.

Cuba Street studio a ‘mecca’ for tattoo fans

Andre Röck – known in the tattoo industry as Dre – said Ingerton’s shop was “a tattoo mecca” and had drawn people dedicated to skin art from all over the world.

He said Ingerton spearheaded a turning point in the art form, stepping beyond the reproduction of small individual designs – or flash – to creating works of ambitious scope and size.

“He had an art background and focussed on custom work, custom one-off pieces. Big cohesive pieces. He worked with full sleeves, full back pieces and body suits with designs that flowed and complimented the body,” Röck said.

Ingerton’s studio had remained almost completely unaltered since he retired – leaving the shop in the hands of fellow tattooist Tom Downs.

A wealth of artwork and imagery

Dre – who also created Lucky’s Tattoo Museum in Upper Hutt – said sorting through the wealth of artwork and imagery inside the space was a painstaking labour of love.

“There was just layers – over the years – accumulated of his artwork. Flash and photos of the work that he did, paintings, line drawings, all types.

“So what I had to do was cherry pick the pieces that were the most iconic. Filtering through it all took some time,” Röck said.

The ‘first modern moko’

Ingerton was also acknowledged as one of the first tattooists to recreate tā moko designs with modern tattoo machines.

A 1976 article in Wellington newspaper The Evening Post breathlessly detailed the impact of Porirua teacher Tawai Hauraki Te Rangi’s traditional moko kauae – or chin tattoo – describing it as the “first modern moko” while keeping the identity of the artist under wraps.

But just over a decade later Ingerton would tell Wellington’s Dominion newspaper he did his first tā moko in 1976.

He said he was daunted by taking on the tattoo and worked alongside kaumātua to ensure the design was respectful.

Tawai Hauraki Te Rangi’s portrait was still hanging in the corner of the shop where Ingerton worked and where Tom Down’s workstation was now located.

Ingerton ‘right up there’ with Aotearoa’s most respected artists

Emeritus professor and author, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku was tattooed by Ingerton in the 80s and said he should be held among the country’s most respected artists.

“Because the world of tattoo and the art of marking skin has been demonised and sidelined for so many generations it never reached the attention of the arbiters of New Zealand fine arts. It was like a grubby, parlour, slum based activity that criminals and sailors and dodgy girls did.

“In terms of design, skill, of the application of colour and the understanding of the person’s body Roger would make great works of art and they’re walking around, they’re alive, they’re out there.

“For me it is a legacy at least as great as McCahon. The only difference is that – where McCahon is collected and portable and gushed over – it doesn’t make [Roger’s] work any less art or him any less an artist. I believe absolutely that Roger is right up there,” Te Awekōtuku said.

Tattooist Derek Thunders said he leapt at the chance to work in the revamped shop after serving a portion of his apprenticeship there.

He said growing up on Cuba Street he would walk past Roger’s Tatooart on a daily basis but was reluctant to step inside.

“I kind of always thought it was somewhere that you might get laughed at or beaten up for saying the wrong thing. When I was working here – a couple of times – Roger stopped in to the shop. [The] most polite soft spoken gentleman that you could think of. I was like ‘oh, okay’,” Thunders said.

Now the shop was operating again – Thunders said he liked nothing more than being able to open the studio door and let the sound of old school, coil driven tattoo machines buzz out onto Cuba Street.

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