Category: Public Media

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Winston Peters rails against ‘blind ideology’ panic amid talk of Air NZ sale

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. RNZ / Mark Papalii

Winston Peters says the “last thing we should do is go and panic” and make a classic mistake “based on blind ideology” in response to Air New Zealand’s financial loss.

The ACT party is questioning whether the government should retain its majority share in the company, as the Prime Minister signals the potential for a conversation about asset sales in this year’s election.

But the New Zealand First leader said “politicians should know what they’re talking about” before suggesting a sale.

On Thursday, David Seymour floated the idea after the company posted a bottom-line loss of $40 million in the six months to December.

“Get woke, go broke,” he said, “We hear about electric planes, glossy reports on climate change, paper cups in the Koru lounge. What they can’t seem to do is take off and land on time.”

ACT leader David Seymour. RNZ / Mark Papalii

The Prime Minister brushed off questions about it, saying there would be no asset sales this political term.

But New Zealand First has long opposed selling off state-owned assets.

Peters took to social media to acknowledge Air New Zealand needed to start being on-time and reducing regional costs, but said calls to sell shares when the airline market was in a downturn were “economic lunacy”.

He pointed out airlines were struggling worldwide, partly because there were not enough engines for the aircraft. He said no one had said anything about selling the airline when it had posted a profit.

“Sometimes there’s a downturn, but we can get on top of it.

“We should not go back to the foolishness of Labour and National selling off assets in the past.”

Peters said the added value of Air New Zealand being “owned by us” went to taxpayers and the New Zealand economy.

If it was owned internationally, that value would go to a foreign economy and New Zealand would be used as a place for “economic exploitation”.

“It’s clear as daylight.

“The former CEO warned us of this two years ago, so politicians should know what they’re talking about.”

He said it was a conversation for the upcoming election.

Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds also rejected the idea of selling the airline.

Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

She acknowledged performance mattered and the board must be accountable for that, “but a short term loss doesn’t actually justify selling a strategic asset and a really key part of New Zealand’s infrastructure”.

“The real taxpayer risk would be losing control of regional routes and international connectivity if ownership shifted offshore.”

She also challenged the Deputy Prime Minister to explain to regional communities how selling it would guarantee connections for their region.

The Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said asset sales were the very reason New Zealanders’ bills were so high, and that privatisation enriched shareholders at the expense of everyday people.

“That’s when profit comes first – passengers, workers, and regional accessibility comes last.”

She said the Greens had always believed assets built by New Zealanders should remain in public hands.

“The Co-Deputy Prime Minister is currently selling more of the poison as though it were the medicine.”

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. RNZ / Reece Baker

What do New Zealanders think?

RNZ spoke to people in Wellington on Thursday evening in the after-work rush hour.

“I think it’s important that we have an airline that works well for our country. We need to be able to get around.”

“As a consumer, it’s disappointing that they have such high air prices. I think there’s some fundamental issues around that. It’s a tough business, but privatising isn’t something that I personally or politically would ever want to see happen with an asset like that.”

“It’s our national airline, so probably it makes sense to keep it because we really can’t afford for it to go under, can we?”

“I do love flying Air New Zealand. It’s a great airline!”

“We’ve got to hold on to it. We’ve sold a lot, and it’s not really been of benefit. It’s a short term solution.”

“It depends on who’s gonna own it, right? I don’t really want someone who doesn’t give a shit about the environment, and will just keep charging high prices for flights.”

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

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Hospital IT outages will continue due to Health NZ staff cuts union warns

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland and Northland hospitals were hit by an IT outage on Thursday afternoon. RNZ / Dan Cook

The Public Service Association is warning hospital IT outages will keep happening due to cuts to Health NZ’s digital team.

Auckland and Northland hospitals were hit by an outage on Thursday afternoon.

It disrupted the transfer of radiology images – including X-rays, CT and MRI scans – for two hours across both regions.

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons described the outage as “critical”, forcing clinicians and radiographers to text and phone each other scan results.

“The impact of clinicians needing to resort to text and phone to pass on vital information is that mistakes are more likely, it takes longer, and when you’re dealing with patients in ED or in operating theatres, time is everything.

“It is absolutely critical that these systems are of a modern standard and that these outages don’t keep happening.”

Health New Zealand said the outage was resolved quickly on Thursday afternoon, and standard back-up processes were used while it was happening.

A spokesperson said patient care was not compromised.

Fitzsimons said no IT outage affecting critical clinical information was minor.

“These are important systems that clinicians rely on, and that need fixing because they are not set up to a modern standard, and we’ve lost the experts who know how to patch them quickly.”

She said it was the second failure in less than a month, after clinicians were forced to use pen and paper for 12 hours overnight in late January.

“More [outages] will occur, because we’ve lost the data and digital experts from Health New Zealand, after government-imposed funding cuts.”

She wanted Health New Zealand to launch a review into this outage, as it had for the [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/585415/staff-public-deserve-answers-after-major-it-outage-at-hospitals-union-says

incident on 28 January].

Health Minister Simeon Brown said he was aware of a “brief IT issue” in the northern region on Thursday.

“I want to thank staff for resolving the issue swiftly and ensuring there was no disruption to patient care.”

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Thousands of ambulance callouts for mental health non-urgent study shows

Source: Radio New Zealand

The study analysed 26847 mental health callouts – or 5.7 percent of total callouts between July 2022 and June 2023. Supplied / St John

A study into thousands of ambulance callouts for mental health shows most were non-urgent, and should have been managed in the community.

It found “most callouts [89.8 percent] were of low acuity, with a notable proportion of repeat callouts, suggesting unmet need for mental health care”.

That, and the fact that many – 32.8 percent – did not need to be taken to hospital, “suggest that many mental health callouts may be managed outside emergency settings”.

The study, published in the NZ Medical Journal on Friday, analysed 26847 mental health callouts – that was 5.7 percent of total callouts between July 2022 and June 2023 – before police began to retreat from mental health callouts.

Events which counted towards the study included attempted suicide, self-harm and anxiety.

The study also showed inequalities based on ethnicity. Māori accounted for 22.1 percent of these callouts, and Pacific people for 4.6 percent.

There is a disproportionately high rates of mental health related callouts among younger Māori and Pacific people compared to younger non-Māori or Pacific people, and higher proportions of callouts in areas of lower socio-economic deprivation.

Nearly a third (30.8 percent) of mental health callouts occurred in the most deprived areas (quintiles 9 and 10), with the highest proportions among Māori (47.7 percent) and Pacific peoples (49.9 percent).

Female patients accounted for over half of these callouts across all ethnicities.

“Continued reliance on emergency services suggests inadequate access to or insufficient community-based support,” the report says.

One of its authors, Gabby Harding, a lecturer in paramedicine at Auckland University of Technology and a paramedic herself with Hato Hone St John, said the low number of people taken to hospital means many would have been referred to community-based care.

“So it suggests that people are seeking support when other services aren’t available. As we know, people ring 111 when they are at a crisis point or in distress.”

Repeat callouts, where people called back within the year, suggested there may be a gap in continuous, accessible and culturally safe care, she said.

She said it was an opportunity to develop links between ambulances and community-based mental health services.

Ambulance services could refer people back to community services, but people’s access would still rely on those services being available, which was different by area.

Recommendations from the report

The study says future mental health policies should make it a priority to ensure appropriate systems, services and support for Māori and Pacific peoples were in place.

It also points out that addressing socio-economic determinants of mental health, like financial strain, unemployment and poor access to healthcare services, could improve people’s mental health.

“Addressing these issues requires comprehensive policy changes and a targeted approach to mitigate stressors such as racism, socio-economic inequities, stigmatisation and systemic barriers to healthcare,” the study says.

Wellington City Mission says sometimes people just need to talk

Pip Rea from the Wellington City Mission said people experiencing mental health distress could be having suicidal thoughts or a panic attack, and at that point, “they don’t know where to go, they don’t know what to do”.

“Something that’s ingrained in us as New Zealanders is to call 111, ask for an ambulance, and they will help us, they will know what to do – and so that’s what people do.”

Often by that stage, people had tried places like their GP or talking to someone, and had reached crisis point.

She said the City Mission had a good relationship with Wellington Free Ambulance, meaning people could be redirected to their Crisis Cafe, which was open all hours.

“A community, peer-led response – that’s what works, not a clinicalised model such as ED.”

It also meant repeat callers had somewhere else to go, rather than calling 111 in future.

Their service was “not over capacity, but we definitely are busy”, with numbers increasing month-on-month. In the Crisis Cafe’s first 11 months of operation, they had had more than 750 people through the doors, she said.

Wellington City Mission had a good relationship with Wellington Free Ambulance and people could often be redirected to their Crisis Cafe, Pip Rea said. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Minister says people reach out for loneliness and stress – issues which are ‘serious’ but ‘non-urgent’

The Minister for Mental Health, Matt Doocey, said his office’s own work had shown similar trends to this recent study.

“When we started working toward a mental health response to 111 calls, we started by examining the data. What we found was that a significant number of calls were being coded as “1M” by police, a category used for mental health,” he said.

People were reaching out, some repeatedly, for issues like loneliness, stress about housing or finances, or other social challenges.

“While these are serious and important issues, they are not always situations requiring an immediate response,” Doocey said.

He said this data backed the need for the government’s rollout of mental health co-response teams, which would work alongside police or ambulance staff to respond to 111 calls.

“I recently visited a co-response team who spoke about the value of having a joined-up response, particularly in dealing with repeat callers, as they know the person well and can respond accordingly,” he said.

Matt Doocey said his office’s own work showed similar trends to the study’s. RNZ / Mark Papalii

Health NZ says more work to do, but investment is being made

Health NZ national director for mental health and addiction Phil Grady said the agency was committed to providing faster access to primary and specialist mental health and addiction services while growing the mental health workforce to meet increasing need.

Investment so far included:

  • The $10 million Mental Health Innovation Fund, aimed at supporting faster access to a greater range of community-led support, like Ki tua o Matariki to run peer support groups for expectant mothers aged 15-24 in Auckland.
  • A $61.6m investment, announced in late 2025, to expand crisis recovery cafés and peer support in emergency departments.
  • Money from Budget 2025 was being used to roll out co-response teams and expand telehealth capacity.
  • $3.5m annual funding boost to specialist mental health services for infants, children and teens in Tairāwhiti, Counties Manukau, and Waitematā.

Uptake was increasing for community-based services, with the Access and Choice programme having provided more than a million sessions since it began in 2020.

An additional 6072 people had received specialist services compared to the previous year, Grady said, and an additional 557 full-time-equivalent mental health workers had been recruited since March 2023.

“This is promising – but we know there is more to do, and we remain committed to improving services to meet the needs of communities,” Grady said.

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Plenty of fish in the sea: Voting opens for Fish of the Year competition

Source: Radio New Zealand

The blobfish, which was declared the world’s ugliest animal in 2013, beat the odds to win the competition last year. Bhakti Patel

Voting for Fish of the Year opens on Saturday.

The competition run by the Mountain to Sea Conservation Trust celebrates New Zealand’s weird, wonderful, and often overlooked marine life.

Much like the well known Bird of the Year, the competition spotlights native species and raises awareness about their conservation status.

“People might not realise that so many of our fish in New Zealand are actually endemic, which means they’re found only in New Zealand waters,” said co-director of the conservation trust Samara Nicholas.

Last year the blobfish, which back in 2013 was declared the world’s ugliest animal, beat the odds to win the competition.

The blobfish was not a contender this year, but there were plenty of other fish in the sea.

An orange roughy. Mountains to Sea

“There’s some really interesting deep water fish like orange roughy to some of our highly threatened banded kōkopu for example,” said Nicholas.

“Then some really weird and interesting fish all in between, like the sunfish, which is the heaviest fish in the world, and the torrentfish, which is really well adapted to living in rivers where there’s high water flow.

“So it’s a great opportunity to learn more about the fish that call New Zealand home and to get engaged and excited and try and make your favourite fish win.”

Voting runs from Saturday 28 February – Sunday 15 March.

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Housing market confidence improves, house price growth expected to remain subdued

Source: Radio New Zealand

Housing market confidence continues to improve. RNZ

Housing market confidence continues to improve, though house price growth is expected to remain subdued.

“Indeed, we anticipate only muted house price growth in 2026. High inventory levels and some headwinds for housing demand are likely to temper house price growth,” the latest ASB Housing Confidence report said.

ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said the results suggested confidence had moved past its weakest point, even if a strong price upswing was unlikely.

“House price expectations have clearly rebounded after a soft patch through 2025,” Tuffley said.

“However, high levels of housing supply and only moderate demand are likely to keep price increases relatively subdued through the first half of 2026.”

He said the outlook on interest rates was another reason why price growth would remain in check.

“With inflation ending 2025 above the Reserve Bank’s target band and mortgage rates already edging higher, people are now anticipating further increases this year,” Tuffley said.

“The switch over the quarter to fewer people expecting declining rates and more expecting higher rates was marked.”

However, the survey found rising optimism throughout the country, led by the South Island with a net 36 percent expecting house prices to rise over the coming year.

Auckland recorded the largest quarterly improvement, with net house price optimism rising to 33 percent.

“From a buyer’s perspective, prices are stable, supply is at a 10-year high and mortgage rates are still relatively low,” Tuffley said.

“However, rising expectations for both house prices and interest rates could prompt some buyers who have been sitting on the sidelines to act sooner rather than later, to avoid getting priced out.”

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Sir Richard Taylor recognised for contributions to visual effects industry in Los Angeles

Source: Radio New Zealand

Sir Richard Taylor has been honoured in Los Angeles tonight. File picture. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Wētā Workshop co-founder Sir Richard Taylor has been recognised for his contributions to the visual effects industry at the 24th Annual VES Awards on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Global professional honorary society the Visual Effects Society (VES) awarded Sir Richard the VES Visionary Award. Previous recipients include Christopher Nolan and J.J. Abrams.

“I’m honoured by this recognition from the Visual Effects Society, a community of artists and practitioners that I feel blessed to have been a part of since its inception,” Sir Richard said.

“I accept this award on behalf of all of our crew at Wētā Workshop, whose work has always been in creative service – using practical effects, design, and physical craftsmanship to help expand what’s possible in collaboration with VFX and film-making teams around the world.”

He said the award reflected the dedication, ingenuity, and generosity of spirit by the many artists who had joined him on his journey over the past 38 years.

He said he was incredibly grateful to the VES for celebrating the creative and collaborative journey of him and his colleagues and their efforts to bring imagined worlds to life.

The VES Visionary Award recognises an individual who has uniquely and consistently employed the art and science of VFX to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention, and groundbreaking work. The society selected Sir Richard Taylor for his undeniable impact on the VFX industry as co-founder of the Wētā companies.

Wētā Workshop has provided the design and physical effects for more than 160 films, including the globally acclaimed The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Avatar trilogies, as well as Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, the Thor series and Black Panther.

It has won five Academy Awards across three disciplines, special effects makeup, VFX, and costume design. Sir Richard has also received four BAFTAs and more than 35 national and international awards for his work within the creative industries.

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Kiwi who disrupted mosque prayer in Indonesia could face deportation

Source: Radio New Zealand

The woman reportedly disrupted a Qoran recitation night session at a musalla (a small prayer room) near her villa on Gili Trawangan 123RF

A New Zealand woman who reportedly disrupted a mosque prayer session being played over a loudspeaker in Indonesia could face deportation.

According to the South China Morning Post the woman disrupted a Qoran recitation night session at a musalla (a small prayer room) near her villa on Gili Trawangan due to the noise.

It said she was unfamiliar with the traditional celebrations that could last until midnight and a meeting had since been held with her to provide understanding.

However immigration officials said her tourist visa expired in January, which could be grounds for deportation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it’s providing consular assistance to a New Zealander in Indonesia.

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Person dies after incident involving gang members in Christchurch last week

Source: Radio New Zealand

At the scene of last week’s incident. RNZ / Keiller MacDuff

A person has died after an incident in Christchurch last week which involved individuals from two gangs.

Police were called to a property on Hoani Street in the suburb of Northcote about 9.30pm on 18 February after an altercation.

Four people were injured.

One was in a critical condition and police said that person had now died in hospital.

Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said the individuals involved were associated with Black Power and Mongrel Mob, but to date the investigation had indicated this was not a gang-motivated attack.

It appeared to be an isolated incident between specific individuals, Reeves said.

Reeves warned any form of retaliation would not be tolerated.

“Anyone considering taking matters into their own hands should expect an immediate and firm response.”

There was no information to suggest there was any ongoing risk to the wider public, she said.

Police would maintain a visible presence in the area.

Three men, aged 19, 31 and 40, have been charged with aggravated wounding and aggravated robbery.

Reeves said further charges would now be considered against them.

They have been remanded in custody and are next due to appear in Christchurch District Court on 17 March.

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Dunedin man arrested after driving towards officers and avoiding arrest

Source: Radio New Zealand

The 46-year-old was arrested in Fraser’s Gully after his attempts to avoid Police RNZ / Marika Khabazi

A Dunedin man who drove his vehicle towards officers and avoided police on Wednesday, has been charged.

Superintendent Jason Guthrie, Southern District Commander said the 46-year-old was arrested in Fraser’s Gully after his attempts to avoid Police, during which Police fired a shot which did not injure anyone.

“The man faces charges of assaulting Police, failing to stop for Police, driving a motor vehicle in a dangerous manner, and driving while disqualified third and subsequent.”

Officers involved in an operation to locate the man had seen him at a commercial premises on Kaikorai Valley Road at about 6pm and tried to apprehend him.

Police had been looking for the man in relation to a series of offences in the Otago coastal area over recent days.

Guthrie had previously said the man had fled in the vehicle but was later found in Brockville where police successfully deployed road spikes.

The man fled into the bush but was found soon after by a police dog team in the Fraser’s Gully area.

Earlier on Wednesday, police had cordoned the area near Three Mile Hill and Brockville as officers searched for the man.

He is due in Dunedin District Court tomorrow and an investigation into the events of Wednesday night remains ongoing.

The incident will also be referred to the Independent Police Conduct Authority as is standard procedure when a police firearm is used.

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Farmers calling for same animal welfare standards on local and imported pork

Source: Radio New Zealand

NZPork has previously warned that local producers were struggling against a flood of lower-welfare imports. 123RF

Farmers are renewing calls for the Government to enforce the same animal welfare standards that local pig farmers face on imported pork.

A group of farmers, pork producers and advocates wrote to the Prime Minister and government ministers this week, calling for a “level playing field” among locally-produced and imported product.

The pork industry has wanted this for years now, with industry group NZPork warning that local producers were struggling against a flood of lower-welfare imports.

NZPork estimated that more than 63 percent of pork consumed in Aotearoa came from countries like United States, Spain, Germany and Canada.

In some of these countries, farmers still used sow stalls (narrow cages for pregnant pigs) which New Zealand banned, and had smaller space requirements or longer periods allowed for sows in farrowing crates (that have just given birth to protect the piglets).

It came after last year’s controversial move by the Government to allow farmers a decade grace period before enforcing stricter welfare regulations.

Waikato dairy farmer Walt Cavendish was about to transition his Matamata farming operation into free range pork farming.

He signed the letter addressed to the Government, having said farmers, consumers and the animals deserve high welfare standards.

“New Zealand led the way in 1999 with the Animal Welfare Act. It was a world leading piece of legislation,” he said.

“We made quite a clear decision as a country that animal welfare matters. And we seem to have gone down the road of insisting on that for our farmers, but not insisting that for our imports.”

“For these family farming families, they’re trying to compete with product that would just not be allowed to be farmed here.”

Cavendish had met with officials on the matter previously, and said New Zealand could legally enforce what was called a public morals exemption on importers

“The biggest argument that’s put is the trade implications.

“They’re just so nervous about it.

“Everyone keeps using the trade argument.”

But he said it would be unlikely that those exporting nations would take retaliatory action in response, considering the New Zealand market’s small scale.

“It’s just an argument to try and stop this going further, and that’s why I’m quite firm that the public morals exemption is our best way forward.

“And realistically, with such a low amount of the export from these countries, that they’re hardly going to worry about it.”

He believed people’s fears that pork prices would go up even further if we ditched imports was a “false narrative”, as the national pig herd would likely increase to meet demand.

“Because ultimately, you would be able to produce more, so the cost of production would go down.

“We don’t really feel that the price will go through the roof at all, and there are examples that Animal Policy International have done in their research, where we’re talking peanuts, you know, very little. We’re talking cents, not dollars, in relation to the price adjustment per kilogram of pork.”

But he acknowledged it was a significant concern for cash-strapped consumers, though many of them were passionate about animal welfare.

“One of the big things I get from people that comment to me is their fear of the price going up, because they can’t even now afford a lot of the meat products on the shelf.

Trade minister Todd McClay said if New Zealand introduced requirements based on our methods of production, this could potentially undermine our efforts to prevent other countries from applying unjustified measures that could impact negatively on our agricultural exports.

“Last year animal product exports worth $42 billion reached plates around the globe, making up more than half of our total goods exports.”

“New Zealand is a global leader in farmed animal welfare standards, which underpin our trade reputation and the high quality of our global exports.”

McClay said New Zealand works with other countries to improve animal welfare standards through our membership in the World Organisation for Animal Health and through bilateral collaboration.

“It is important to recognise that different countries have different production systems. Approaches to caring for animals are adapted to local conditions and applying the same standard can sometimes result in different welfare outcomes.”

Food and Agriculture Organization’s latest statistics show New Zealand imported more than 47,000 tonnes of pork in 2023.

The “Fair for Farmers” campaign was launched at the Northland Fieldays in Dargaville today that ran into Saturday.

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