Category: Public Media

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‘We still have nowhere else to go’: Rough sleepers question police’s new move on powers

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland streeties say they already get moved on by security guards, council workers and police. Nick Monro

Stay clean, don’t be seen – that’s the motto of many Auckland streeties who say they already get moved on by security guards, council workers and police.

The government is giving police new powers to move on rough sleepers or people displaying disorderly behaviour in town and city centres.

Shopkeepers and business leaders wanted it and social agencies condemned it, but homeless people warned it raised the question of where they were supposed to go.

Kevin lived rough for about a decade before moving into an apartment provided by a social agency in Auckland four years ago.

He described his experience like this: “Hustle – having unidentified struggle to live equally.”

Kevin still knew many people who slept rough.

“Not all the ones want to take the cup and ask for money, some of them are just walking around town biding time looking for refuge or sanctuary of some kind, or looking for help.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon earlier said police were capable of dealing with the issues and the orders would give police another tool to address anti-social behaviour.

But the Police Association said it would be a drain on resources.

Breach an order, and it risked a fine or three month jail term.

Rough sleepers are asking where they are meant to go. Nick Monro

Kevin said it should be the job of an agency already supporting rough sleepers.

“Why not another organisation because that uniform has a presentation, using that uniform and the police may not want to be doing this.”

A woman who had been homeless for just over a year in Auckland, whom RNZ agreed to keep anonymous, said there were fewer areas in the central city to hang out in.

She went by the motto – stay clean, don’t be seen.

“They have absolutely done everything in their power to move us away from the public areas, they’ve taken all the chairs, the tables, shut down the toilets so that we’re concentrated in certain areas.”

She said it was not easy getting off the streets because there was a lack of suitable housing – she preferred street life to boarding houses.

“We all recognise that we all have a lot of the same issues and we can’t reintegrate back into society because we didn’t fit there in the first place,” she said.

“So now pushing us into certain areas, not being able to be here at a certain time, you can’t lie down in Auckland city central business district at all.”

Moving someplace else would not be easy.

“The whole question in the beginning, where are we meant to go to? Where’s the designated area?

“They can try and move us on but there’s other ways around it, because we’re still able to be here, we still have nowhere else to go.”

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s office said police were expected to connect people given move-on orders with the support they may need.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas. supplied

Newmarket Business Association supported the introduction of move-on orders, as long as the problem was not shifted from street to street.

Its chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said businesses did need help dealing with persistent anti-social behaviour outside their premises.

Kevin has a roof over his head now, but worried about those who did not, who could be asked to move on.

“They can’t give you a home so you’re going to take your trolley and move on, go somewhere else and move on, I think this is going to happen.”

The changes proposed by government would have to go through a legislative process before coming into effect.

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Is it ever a good idea to stay together for the kids?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Breaking up is rarely easy, especially when kids are involved.

People in unhappy relationships often attempt to stay together for the sake of children, says family lawyer and co-parenting coach Gabriella Pomare.

“I see it all the time in my practice … it usually comes up when life feels too big to blow up.”

Children detect “emotional undercurrents” such as distance, resentment, silence, micro-conflict, eye rolls and withdrawal, Pomare says.

Juliane Liebermann

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Our Changing World: The democratisation of space?

Source: Radio New Zealand

AFP PHOTO /ROCKET LAB/KIERNAN FANNING AND SIMON MOFFATT

Follow Our Changing World on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

New Zealand is number three in the world for rocket launching – posing some tricky questions.

It is a stat that tends to catch people off guard. When it comes to the number of orbital rocket launches, New Zealand sits behind two super-powers.

“There’s the US and China, and New Zealand. As far as the number of launches departing our shores,” says Mark Rocket, chief executive of Kea Aerospace – and yes, he changed his name to match his passion.

Dr. Philipp Sueltrop (Chief Technology Officer) Mark Rocket (CEO Kea Aerospace) Megan Woods, Lianne Dalziel RNZ / Nate McKinnon

With Rocket Lab clocking up launch after launch from the Mahia Peninsula – the 71st blasted off on 27 January – this country has quietly become a serious player in what is being called the third space age.

The space ages

The first age gave us the Apollo moon landing. The second brought the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. Now, plummeting costs and a convergence of new materials and computing power have opened the door to a wave of commercial operators.

Mark puts it simply: internet entrepreneurs who made their money in tech decided to chase their space dreams. Elon Musk with Space X, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin.

AFP

Tech bros turning into space bros, bankrolling the so-called “Democratisation of Space”- putting hundreds of rockets, satellites and celebrities into orbit,

Who can forget Katy Perry stepping out of a Blue Origin capsule after her return to earth, kissing the ground and feeling “super connected to love”?

The democratisation of space

But is “democratisation” really the right word? Dr Priyanka Dhopade, a senior lecturer in mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Auckland, isn’t so sure.

She points out that while there are roughly 12,000 operational satellites in low Earth orbit, about two-thirds are controlled by Starlink and Elon Musk.

“Even though there are a lot more people involved, more companies, more governments, the power to access space and provide critical services like internet is actually more concentrated than we think,” she says.

Dr Priyanka Dhopade, research lead of the Sustainable Space Initiative, University of Auckland Supplied

The better term, Priyanka reckons, might be the commoditisation or transactionalisation of space – “but it’s not as catchy.”

The murky world of space politics

Whatever you call it, the boom has brought complications. Chief among them is the thorny question of dual-use technology – where the same satellite that monitors wildfires one day might track people for security purposes the next.

“What is and isn’t dual use technology is becoming increasingly murky,” Priyanka warns. “Our critical space services, you know, things like crop monitoring, disaster response, GPS, are increasingly entwined with issues of national security.”

That tension was on full display when protesters chained themselves to doors at last year’s Aerospace Summit in Christchurch, with 30 arrested. Peace Action Ōtautahi said they were protesting the industry’s ties with overseas militaries.

Tiana Yazici, Founder, Chair & CEO of Nonprofit AeroAI Global Solutions. Supplied

Space law expert Dr Tuana Yazici, who has worked with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, says banning dual-use technology isn’t realistic. What matters is regulation – but the most relevant international treaty dates from 1967, and there’s no “space police” to enforce anything.

Then there’s the sheer volume of stuff hurtling around up there. Priyanka notes there are 130 million pieces of space debris, with satellites already performing multiple collision-avoidance manoeuvres each month.

Without coordinated traffic management, she says, the risk of Kessler Syndrome – a cascading chain reaction of collisions that could render entire orbits unusable – grows steadily more real.

New Zealand has taken some steps. Aerospace New Zealand signed the Washington Compact last year, committing to sustainability and transparency. But with the 2025 Defence Force procurement plan earmarking $300-600 million for space capabilities, the boundary between civilian and military is likely to keep blurring.

Mark Rocket thinks the country needs to talk about it – openly.

“I think it’s really important for New Zealand to have a public discussion about how we use aerospace technology and defence technology going forward. You know, the world is changing and we need to have a dialogue about the future. I don’t think we really have had that dialogue yet.”

With a seat at the top table of the new space race, it’s a pressing conversation.

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Inside a prince’s hard and fast fall from grace

Source: Radio New Zealand

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his “prince” title in October, 2025, due to his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. AFP/ PAUL FAITH

The former prince hardly received the royal treatment last week as he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, but an insider says the House of Windsor will do what it always does – keep calm and carry on

The news of his arrest last week echoed around the world, a prince’s public life imploding in real time, and the aftershocks are still rattling the monarchy.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s dramatic fall from public life has become one of the most damaging royal scandals in modern history.

The Detail talks to royal commentator Dickie Arbiter, who was formerly the press secretary to both the late Queen Elizabeth and to King Charles (when he was the Prince of Wales), about the arrest, the response, the fallout, and why Andrew has been targeted, while other alleged high-profile offenders continue to live large.

“It’s very unusual, the last time a royal was taken into custody was about 1647, when Charles I was arrested and then he had his head chopped off about two years later,” Arbiter tells The Detail. “So, it is extremely rare.”

Once a war veteran and senior working royal with global trade roles and front-row status at state events, Andrew was forced to step back after his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sparked international outrage.

The crisis intensified after civil allegations from now-deceased Virginia Giuffre, which Andrew has always denied, but which culminated in a costly out-of-court settlement that effectively ended any hope of a public comeback.

More recently, his titles have been stripped, his military affiliations removed, and he was pushed out of official duties – an extraordinary step rarely seen in royal history.

Last month, he was also forced out of his palatial home; now this month, the arrest and 11 hours in police custody.

Screenshot / BBC

“Andrew hasn’t responded at all … nobody has seen him,” says Arbiter, who says police aren’t releasing any information about the allegations while Andrew is being investigated.

“There are a lot of documents to go through, and they [police] are going to be going through them forensically.”

He says the arrest and allegations stem from Andrew’s job as a trade ambassador.

“When he came out of the Navy in 2001, a job had to be found for him, and he was given the job of trade ambassador international, part of the Department of Trade and Industry – a job that had been done for 20 years by the Duke of Kent … he did it for those 20 years without an inch of scandal at all. He did an extremely good job.

“Andrew seemed to have gone off the rails. Being the man that he is, or was – arrogant, bombastic, rude, you name it, he’s it, and he took advantage of the whole scenario, and he travelled globally, a lot of it on behalf of the British government to ostensibly sell British trade abroad.

“How much and how successful he was is still being asked. But he was taking advantage, and he was meeting all sorts of dodgy people, and within that meeting of dodgy people, somewhere along the lines, between 2008 and 2010, he was actually handing over – they are calling them sensitive, they are calling them secret, I prefer to use the word confidential, without knowing the full extent of the documents – but documents for his eyes, and nobody else’s eyes, and certainly not Jeffrey Epstein’s eyes.

“So, that is part of the whole concept of misconduct in public office.”

He noted that while Andrew has been “hauled across the coals,” former cabinet minister and ex-British ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, who has also been accused of misconduct in public office, “seems to be lying low at the moment, and nothing is going on there, except police taking away boxes of paperwork, over a week ago. So, it looks like Andrew is the one who is being nailed at the moment.”

Arbiter believes Andrew will be removed from the line of succession – he currently remains eighth in line to the throne, and the change will require new legislation.

He says the government is considering any further steps that may be required, and nothing is being ruled out.

Arbiter also believes Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, has long been involved and knows what has been going on.

“How involved? Up to her armpits, quite frankly. She’s the one who was taking money all the time.”

But he feels for their children, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

“They are the daughters of two very unsavoury people. They are lying low as well. It is very difficult for them, but it is probably more so difficult for their respective husbands, who are in businesses and yet tarred by the same brush.”

Despite the headline-grabbing scandal and public fallout, Arbiter believes the monarchy will survive as an institution.

“They are a family, and one of their own is a rotten apple; it doesn’t mean to say the whole basket is rotten.

“The family has been dented, but the family is carrying on. And the monarchy has taken a knock, and the monarchy will carry on, and the monarchy will survive.”

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Calls on Wellington Electricity for compensation after days with no power

Source: Radio New Zealand

Damage from the storm to electricity networks was extensive. Wellington City Council

Questions are mounting over whether Wellington Electricity should compensate households hit by damaging storms, as residents count the cost of week-long power outages.

The company had hoped to restore power to all affected properties that did not need complex or private repairs on Monday night. It said remaining homes were expected to be reconnected over the next few days.

Island Bay solo mum Nicola Hill lost power early last Tuesday morning after the storm battered her home, blowing out French doors.

Island Bay solo mum Nicola Hill assumed power would be restored within hours. Instead she and her children spent six nights without electricity. Penny Smith/RNZ

At first, she assumed it would be restored in a matter of hours. Instead, she and her two teenagers spent six nights without electricity.

Hill said that, with no functioning fridge, fresh food quickly spoiled.

“I’ve lost a fridge and most of a freezer full of food. So, I definitely think I probably lost about $200 in food, taking into account the extra stuff that I’ve bought, like UHT milk, just to have a little bit of milk in the morning.”

Hill estimated that she had lost about $200 worth of groceries due to the power outage. Penny Smith/RNZ

Dinners were cooked on the barbecue, when the weather allowed.

Showers were cold at home, or taken at friends’ houses, grandparents’ homes in the Hutt Valley, or at the local pool and washing was ferried between houses.

As a working parent, Hill said the outage also affected her job. She stayed home for three days expecting crews to arrive, only for no one to show.

“I’d try to work from home without a device, then use the iPad for an hour or two until the battery wound down, then go somewhere to charge it and come back,” she said.

“It really impacted my productivity.”

She described the communication from Wellington Electricity and her retailer as “not fit for purpose”.

“There were promises – four to six hours, 18 hours, everything by Friday – and by Monday I was looking at any promise with complete scepticism,” she said.

“There was over-promising and under-delivering.”

Calls for Compensation

On Friday, when about 700 homes still had no power, Wellington Electricity said it would donate $10 to KidsCan Charitable Trust for every customer who wouldn’t be reconnected that day.

Hill questioned whether a donation to charity went far enough.

“When you’re getting to one week without power? I’d be ropeable if there’s a fixed charge cost,” she said.

Just a few streets away, 71-year-old retiree Jim Waters faced a different challenge.

Waters had just been discharged from hospital after a fall – which left him with a fractured wrist in a cast – when the power to his home failed on Monday night.

Retiree Jim Waters spent about $800 on staying at a motel, after damaging winds knocked out power to his home. He hoped to claim back the cost from his insurance company. Penny Smith/RNZ

By morning, he discovered the gas supply had also shut off.

“It was a nightmare,” he said.

“My cellphone was running out of battery, I had no way of recharging it, I couldn’t use internet, and they’d say, ‘follow up your query online’ – but I had no power.”

Neighbours stepped in, offering Wi-Fi access, phone charging and meals.

But by Thursday, with no clear timeline for reconnection, Waters contacted his insurer and learned that emergency accommodation might be covered.

He moved into a motel, initially for one night.

He stayed four, costing about $800, which he hopes to claim back.

“I’m on superannuation, but I’m lucky I have some savings,” he said.

Waters said he felt his isolated outage may have been deprioritised in favour of larger jobs affecting whole streets.

“You got the impression they were doing the ones that were bigger,” he said. “If they’d come and looked at mine, they could have done it rather quicker.”

Like Hill, he questioned Wellington Electricity’s pledge to donate to charity rather than compensate affected customers directly.

“It sounds wonderful, but it doesn’t help the people affected much, does it?” he said.

Both residents said the experience had shaken their confidence in the capital’s infrastructure.

“We need to have power infrastructure that survives wind,” Hill said.

“It makes me worry about what would happen in an earthquake.”

By late Monday afternoon, crews had restored power to both homes.

Wellington Electricity said it was not funded to offer compensation.

“While our tight regulation by the Commerce Commission means we’re not funded to act as an insurer or cover consequential losses, if we find our actions while restoring a customer’s power caused damage to their property, we can consider a goodwill payment. We recommend customers questions about loss of supply to their electricity retailer, and any consequential loss or damage claims to their insurers.”

The company said it understood how frustrating it was to be without power for multiple days and it was sorry work to restore power across Wellington was taking longer than expected.

“The strength of the winds and the scale of the storm damage meant the situation evolved as crews progressed. In many cases, once trees were cleared and sites made safe to work at, our crews discovered more extensive damage than was initially visible,” it said.

“As with any major event, we’ll review our response and ensure improvements are continuously applied to future event responses.”

Hundreds of Powerco Customers Still Without Power

Meanwhile, Powerco said that about 200 customers across the Whanganui, Manawatū and Wairarapa regions were without electricity on Monday night, although some outages may not be storm-related.

Crews were working through complex high-voltage faults, particularly in remote forestry areas, with the Whanganui-Rangitīkei region the hardest hit. the company said.

“Access has been a challenge, with trees down across the affected regions, and outages have been widespread and in remote locations.”

At the height of the storm, more than 25,000 properties in Whanganui-Rangitīkei, Manawatū-Tararua and Wairarapa were left without power.

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Unions acuse Peters of being ‘wilfully misleading’ over Employment Relations Amendment Bill

Source: Radio New Zealand

PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons (left) and New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. RNZ

Winston Peters’ public spat with two unions has gone up a notch, with the PSA and Workers First now writing to the Prime Minister.

Secretaries from both unions say the New Zealand First leader is being “wilfully misleading” and it was “unequivocably” untrue they hadn’t engaged with the party earlier.

They want Peters investigated for breaching the cabinet manual.

Peters responded on social media, saying the Unions had been “whinging” about being “called out” and then throwing an “unhinged tantrum,” criticising the unions for being out of touch with ordinary workers.

He included a screenshot of an email sent by the unions the day before the Employment Relations Amendment Bill was set to be debated at committee stage, highlighting his criticism from last week that “you don’t alert someone within 24 hours after these things have been going for months what your concerns are.”

It comes after both New Zealand First and the unions publicly attacked each other over the Employment Relations Bill, which passed last week.

Peters said he would have been able to stop the law removing the right for contractors to challenge their employment status if the unions had come to him earlier.

The Unions wrote to Christopher Luxon on Sunday, outlining their view that Peters was in breach of the cabinet manual by making, and then defending, statements that were “wilfully misleading.”

Those comments were the claim from Peters last week that he could have changed the law, and that New Zealand First was only alerted to unions’ concerns within 24 hours of the Bill going through the Committee stage in the House.

“This is unequivocably and demonstrably untrue,” the unions wrote, outlining again the series of meetings and interactions that had taken place between representatives for both the unions and New Zealand First, which RNZ reported last week.

Those engagements included at least 8 meetings between New Zealand First and Workers First union to discuss the Bill, the letter stated.

Beyond that, PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons had multiple meetings with New Zealand First representatives too, including with MP Mark Patterson

“Mr Patterson asked for possible amendments to take the harsh edges off the proposed legislation so on 10 February 2026 we sent him some suggested amendments New Zealand First could adopt,” in reference to the email sent the day before committee stage.

However, the unions had “engaged extensively with New Zealand First about the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, some months and years before Parliament considered the legislation” the letter stated.

Their concern was that Peters had “breached the expectations around “Conduct of Ministers” set out in paragraph 2.56 of the Cabinet Manual 2023:

In all of these roles [i.e., as per para 2.56, not only when acting in “in a ministerial capacity”, but also when acting “in a political capacity” or “in a personal capacity”] and at all times, Ministers are expected to act lawfully and behave in a way that upholds, and is seen to uphold, the highest ethical and behavioural standards. This includes exercising a professional approach and good judgement in their interactions with the public, staff, and officials, and in all their communications, personal and professional. Ultimately, all Ministers are accountable to the Prime Minister for their behaviour.

The unions asked Luxon to consider the matters and investigate their concerns.

On Monday, Peters posted on social media in response, including a screenshot of the email sent the day before the Bill was due at Committee Stage. He indicated all the unions were included in the email.

“Apparently both the PSA Union and Workers First Union have written to the Speaker whinging that I called them out for them demanding NZFirst make changes to the Employment Relations Bill just 24-hours before the committee stage debate in the House – and then them throwing an unhinged tantrum when they didn’t get their way,” Peters wrote.

A spokesperson for the PSA confirmed they had not written to the Speaker, only the Prime Minister.

Peter said the PSA and Workers First had made it clear the workers unions in the country “no longer represent ordinary, hard working blue-collar kiwis like they once did – they are now controlled by leftwing political agendas and arrogant elitist Labour Party sycophants with soft hands who live in leafy suburbs.”

“When the leaders of these unions are Labour Party candidates, sitting on Labour Party policy committees, run third party campaigns for the Labour Party in elections, and affiliated unions get a vote for the Labour Party leader, New Zealanders need to be asking what their true motivations are and who they truly work for.”

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister told RNZ the issue was a specific disagreement between two parties.

“The Prime Minister is satisfied that it is not a Cabinet Manual matter.”

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‘Imaginary income’ lands family $4000 Working for Families bill

Source: Radio New Zealand

A New Zealander who has left for Australia says he’s been hit hard by Inland Revenue “annualising” his income to claw back Working for Families credits.

Kenneth, who wanted to be identified only by his first name, said he moved with his family from Auckland to Australia in January last year.

“My total New Zealand earnings for that tax year were just under $84,000. However, the IRD has annualised my income, claiming I should be treated as if I earned closer to $110,000.

“Because of this imaginary higher income, they are demanding we pay back $4000 in Working for Families tax credits-money my wife used to keep us afloat while caring for our youngest in one of the most expensive cities in the world.”

He said a number of one-off payments were being treated as though they were daily wages, including $7213 in final holiday pay and $7027 in back pay from a two-year salary negotiation.

“When we challenged this, staff explained that if someone earned $20,000 in one month and nothing for the rest of the year, the IRD would treat them as if they earned $240,000. It is a rigid, ‘computer says no’ approach that is leaving families who are already struggling with a massive bill on their way out the door.

“I believe many other Kiwis are being “ripped off” by this same rule without realizing the math is flawed.”

Tax expert Terry Baucher said the reason that Inland Revenue took this approach was out of concern that otherwise people who left early in a tax year could end up paying less tax than they would otherwise be meant to.

He said the issue was also clearly connected to the abatement level, at which Working for Families credits are removed.

When households earn more than $42,700 a year, their Working for Families entitlements are cut at a rate of 27 percent.

“The threshold is so low, and everything above that is abated at 27c on the dollar. So we have an extremely low threshold, it’s now below the minimum wage. Someone getting 40 hours of minimum wage is now above that. So that’s the real kicker. The extra $26,000 of income just exacerbates that.”

He said that threshold had not been increased since 2018 and when the abatement rate was first introduced it was only 20 cents in the dollar.

Working for Families debt has been highlighted as a problem for some time. There are hundreds of millions of dollars owing, often because people earned more than was expected in a year and received too much Working for Families support. RNZ earlier reported on a case where a couple were overpaid $20,000 and having to pay it back at a rate of $350 a fortnight. (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/562593/couple-owes-20-000-working-for-families-debt-through-no-fault-of-our-own)

The Government last year announced a review of Working for Families intended to avoid households getting into debt. Options being considered included more frequent reporting of income to ensure that people were not overpaid.

In the 2022 year, only 24 percent of households receiving weekly or fortnightly payments who were squared up by IRD had received the right amount of Working for Families credits.

Baucher said Inland Revenue could make use of tax codes to claw back overpayments.

“Instead of requiring people to suddenly front up with $4000 at a time, it’s probably easier for them to say, ‘ okay, we’re going to adjust your PAYE code and take a bit extra to claw that back’. It would be for those families far more manageable … but to me the review’s window dressing, to be frank.

“The whole question around abatements and thresholds, and the amounts of being paid just needs complete rethink, in my view.”

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Emergency specialist says only law changes will reduce dog injury statistics

Source: Radio New Zealand

A dog runs freely on a roadside. RNZ

The patterns are clear for Dr Natasha Duncan-Sutherland to see.

Dog injury statistics are on the up, and the emergency specialist at Te Toka Tumai / Auckland City Hospital said that would not be fixed without urgent action.

“So if you see a certain number of dog-related injuries or dog bite injuries within a certain region, you can be pretty sure that without any further proper changes, that those are going to happen again the next year,” she said.

“And I think that’s really devastating.”

The next round of statistics would be in the middle of the year in June or July.

“And I am not looking forward to having to look at those next statistics,” Duncan-Sutherland said.

“I don’t look forward to having to look at those statistics again and seeing the same pattern happening all over again the following year with no changes being made.”

Duncan-Sutherland offered her “deepest sympathies” to the victims and families of recent dog attacks.

She had spent years researching the problem.

A decade’s worth of figures showed what had been done so far, including non-legislative strategies, was not working, she said.

“The Dog Control Act was introduced at one point, but things have continued to get worse and particularly over the last few years, we’ve been really trying to say this needs to happen and it hasn’t happened, and I think it’s devastating that has resulted in fatalities,” she said.

“And I think it’s devastating that the problem continues to happen and that those changes haven’t happened fast enough.”

Emergency services at the scene of a fatal dog attack in Northland last week. RNZ

Duncan-Sutherland said what there did need to be was an urgent review of the Dog Control Act with mandatory notification of all dog-related injuries.

She said there should also be mandatory de-sexing of all dogs by six months of age or within 28 days of an owner taking possession, unless owned by a registered breeder or when exempt on veterinary grounds.

Then, Duncan-Sutherland said there needed to be greater powers for local councils and animal control officers as well as minimum fencing standards.

She also called for infringement notices for roaming dogs or attacks on people, particularly children.

What had not lowered the figures, she said, were non-legislative strategies over several years that had included widespread education.

“Despite all of those non-legislative strategies that we’ve implemented over the last five to six years, ACC statistics show us that those changes have not been effective.”

Those figures, she said, showed the breadth and seriousness of the issue.

In 2024 to 2025, there were 29,220 dog-related injuries with nearly half of them dog bite injuries.

Adults were most often hurt on their limbs, but Duncan-Sutherland said children – because of their size – were most often hurt on their face, head or neck.

Rates of injury had been increasing steadily over time, she said.

“And so we really need to look at doing something differently.”

Local Government Minister Simon Watts. RNZ / Mark Papalii

There were growing calls before the recent serious attacks for the decades-old Dog Control Act to be overhauled.

But Local Government Minister Simon Watts said then there was no time to do that before the election, and he would not commit to changes if National returned to power.

He said he was focused on options that did not need law changes.

On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government was open to intervening but councils could be tougher and enforce the powers they already had.

“We’re very happy to take further action and to support councils in cracking down on this,” he told RNZ.

Duncan-Sutherland said a systematic review had shown legislation, especially laws that reduced the dog population, were the most effective strategies.

“It is frustrating that over the last sort of three years we have been saying that this legislative change needs to happen because we have known about this problem for a long time, for around sort of nearly 10 years, really, we have known that this existed,” she said.

“In fact, 40 years ago, there were people who were doctors who were saying, ‘hey, this is an issue in New Zealand’.”

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Why childcare costs could be set to rise

Source: Radio New Zealand

123RF

Some parents returning to work are facing childcare bills of $15,000 or $20,000 a year, and the industry is warning bills could rise.

Stephanie Pow, founder of Crayon, which helps employers with staff wellbeing, particularly around support for parents, said the cost of childcare and early childhood education was a big pressure point for a lot of families.

“It’s equivalent almost to private school fees. A lot of them are parents who would not otherwise be putting their kids in private school. And that’s per child, so if you have twins or you have two or more young children, it multiplies from there. When you look at the OED data, New Zealand is one of the least affordable countries in the world for childcare as a percentage of income.”

She said two parents earning full-time average wages in New Zealand with two children in full-time daycare would spend more than a third of their income just on childcare.

Data from the Household Economic Survey shows that the average cost of early childhood education has risen from $25.71 a week in 2007 to $85.18 in 2013, $95.45 in 2019 and $90.62 in 2023.

Between the March 2025 quarter and December 2025, early childhood education costs increased by 2.5 percent.

Family Boost payments took effect in July 2024, which contributed costs falling 22.8 percent through the same period a year earlier.

Family Boost covers 40 percent of a household’s childcare cost, up to $1560 for households earning up to $35,000 a quarter.

Households with income between $35,000 and $57,286 a quarter an claim either 40 percent of their ECE fees or the maximum $1560 minus 7c for every dollar earned over $35,000 – whichever is less.

Centres are also funded through the 20 Hours ECE scheme, which provides a subsidy for up to 20 hours a week of childcare, at six hours a day. Some centres offer 30 hours using other subsidies.

Costs vary

The Office of Early Childhood Education, an advisory body for the sector, said home-based education fees could range from $5 an hour to $12 or more.

Playcentres were the most affordable. Kindergartens received more money under the 20 hours scheme and could charge as little as $3 per hour for care beyond that, it said.

Most other centres charged $5 to $8 an hour for children not receiving 20 hours funding.

Amanda White, a researcher at the NZ Council for Education REsearch, said the cost could differ a lot.

“Sadly this variation does exist, and can be very costly for some parents and whānau. High quality ECE should be a public good for all children to access. A higher cost does not in any way reflect the quality of education children receive in a particular centre – there is no evidence that private centres offer better education/care than non-profit ECEs like community-based and kindergartens.

“Teacher qualifications, teacher-child ratios and group size are critical factors in terms of ECE quality.”

Fee warning

But the Early Childhood Council, which represents operators, said if changes were not made, the costs were likely to increase, or more centres would close.

It said 443 closed between March 2022 and July 2025 as pay parity requirements and “sustained underfunding” affected the sector.

The Government established a Ministerial Advisory Group in June to review funding for early learning. A paper as part of the review noted that the intention of the 20 hours scheme was for regular reviews to adjust funding to reflect increases in the cost of providing care.

“Many EE service providers say that the funding received for the 20 hours free does not cover the cost of delivering the service. While this may be correct, it is largely anecdotal.”

Services can require kids to attend more than 20 hours and charge for the additional hours, as well as asking for top-up payments.

Early Childhood Council chief executive Simon Laube said since 2019 there had been an 11.5 percent gap between the cost adjustments of the subsidy and inflation.

“We’re saying to the government that they need to, to try and just keep the lights on, put a bit more money into the system.

“If they don’t put in a significant cost adjustment this budget it’s going to lead to either parents having to pick up some of the rising costs through increased fees or more providers are going to fail.

“Our view is yes you can always afford to lose a few centres, overall there are thousands of centres in New Zealand… but the trend has kind of turned and we are losing more centres than we are opening… it’s not really in the interests of parents to lose these options.”

He said because centres were funded on a demand basis, they were sensitive to things like changes in the job market that could mean more parents staying home.

“If you’re putting up your fees, anyone who can do that should have already done that… so now you’re in the real crunchy period where every time you put up fees you’re going to lose enrolments.

“Every time you do it you’re just going to trigger a demand change because they don’t have the ability to pay.”

He said the funding review needed to consider centres’ ability to pay higher salaries. “The Government funding doesn’t actually try to keep up, it’s just set at a certain rate and it never increases. Whereas the obligation we’ve got is that every single teacher moves up an increment every year. Some of those increments are 7 percent between steps once you’re on the scheme.. there’s a real pressure on providers to increase fees just so they can retain their teachers.”

He said the government’s review was a good opportunity to address the problems and find a solution. “But solutions take time and changes to the funding system will take years to design and implement… I can’t just go ‘oh you know, it’ll be okay in the future’. Providers today need a bit of help just to keep the lights on.”

Some centres are making the numbers work, however. It was reported in 2024 that childcare cahrity Best Start made a profit of $32 million in 2023.

Occupany questions

Pow said parents were already finding it tricky to find care in some places.

“When we’re coaching parents we often tell them they should look into it 12 months or more before they intend to put their child into care because it can be so difficult to ge ta spot. There are a lot of wait lists and you don’t want to be in a position where you return to work and you haven’t secured childcare or weren’t able to get your first preference.”

Laube said centres had the highest occupancy in areas like Canterbury, where they could be up to 80 percent full.

“Whereas Auckland, you know, if you talk to the providers, they think that there are too many providers in Auckland. But that’s not really what the data is showing. The data is showing there are, you know, thousands of children up in Auckland who don’t even participate…Auckland’s challenge is something that we’re really trying to drill into.”

Otago University economist Murat Ungor said it was something that the country should address.

“ECE plays a critical role in human capital development. The World Bank notes that the first five years of life are the fastest period of human growth and development, with around 90 percent of brain development occurring by age five. Investing in these early years helps break cycles of poverty, reduce inequality, and boost long-term productivity.

“Recent UNICEF reports rank New Zealand fourth lowest out of 36 OECD and EU countries for child wellbeing, and lowest for mental wellbeing specifically. These statistics show the urgent need to prioritise early investment in the health, education, and wellbeing of New Zealand children.

“Today’s children are tomorrow’s labour force, so by investing more in our children, we will have a healthier and more skilled labour force and thus, a more productive Aotearoa.”

What are parents paying for childcare?

Khandallah Nursery School: One child, 8am to 4.30pm five days a week: $452.40

Chelsea House, Raumati Beach: One child, 35 hours a week: $150

University Kids Fairlee Terrace:: Two children, 28 hours a week: $474.64

Krafty Kidz, Ranui, Auckland: One child, four days a week: $105

High Five Early Education Centre, Hataitai: One child, 8.30am to 5.30pm five days: $275

Busy Bees Westgate: One child, 26 hours a week: $236.60

Little Minds, Whalers Gate, New Plymouth:: Two children, 28 hours a week: $584 a fortnight

Kindercare Belmont: One child, three half days: $218 a week

Busy Bees Daycare, Dargaville: One child, 35 hours a week: $136.50 a week

Royal Oak Childcare Centre, Auckland: One child, 9.5 hours a week: $115

Grey Lynn Kindergarten: One child, two full days: Free

BestStart Ponsonby: One child, 37 hours a week: $254

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

Posted on

Pay equity law changes ‘flagrant and significant abuse of power’, former MPs say

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former National MP Marilyn Waring. Supplied

A group of former female MPs has called changes to the pay equity law a “flagrant and significant abuse of power”.

The unofficial People’s Select Committee was formed in response to the Equal Pay Amendment Act, passed under urgency last year.

The law cancelled 33 claims from female-dominated workforces which sought to prove they were underpaid in comparison to similar male-dominated industries, and raised the threshold for future claims.

The committee, led by former National MP Marilyn Waring and made up of 10 cross-party former MPs, is releasing a report on the changes on Tuesday, after reading nearly 1400 submissions, and holding three months of hearings.

It said the government had violated the rule of law in retrospectively cancelling existing rights and remedies.

“Funded sector employers, charitable organisations and unions spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours, with other resource consequences, on the 33 cancelled claims,” the committee said.

Ministers worked on the pay equity amendment in secret until May when the changes were announced and passed under urgency – no Regulatory Impact Statement was done.

The committee described the processes of planning for and enacting the legislation as a “flagrant and significant abuse of power”.

It also found the law breached the Bill of Rights, the Human Rights Act, and the Regulatory Standard Act principles, as well as a number of international conventions that New Zealand was party to, including International Covenants on Civil and Political, and Economic and Social Rights, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Deputy Prime Minister Nicola Willis told reporters last year that tightening the scheme amounted to about $12.8 billion in savings in total over the next four years.

The committee disputed this could be classified as budgetary savings, because it said the funds were reallocated to other government expenditure and coalition government priorities.

Committee members also said it could find no evidence in available Cabinet documents or parliamentary debates to support scrapping the scheme.

“No minister, or briefing bureaucrat, and no speaker in the parliamentary debate, demonstrated any knowledge of how comparators and factor scoring work.

“The committee found that it is a sophisticated, highly rigorous process of co-research between worker and employer negotiators. The only evidence of attempts to game the system the committee could see were in the behaviours of government agencies.”

Minister for Workplace Relations Brooke van Velden. RNZ / Mark Papalii

In a statement, Minister for Workplace Relations Brooke van Velden said members of the public – including former MPs – were free to hold their own opinions and publish their own material.

“As I said at the time, equal pay is here to stay, and a pay equity system remains.

“The new system is already processing claims under the new law. The government has made the law simpler and more robust.”

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