Source: Radio New Zealand
Now it’s December, people throughout the country have been hunting for the perfect Christmas tree.
But that doesn’t always mean a fir, spruce, pine… or plastic.
Christmas is celebrated in summer after all… so why bother with an evergreen tree?
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: Radio New Zealand
Wild deer can be found in both the North and South Islands of New Zealand on public conservation land and private property. Supplied
In a war between hunters and conservationists over the control of one of our most damaging pests, only the deer are winning.
It’s nearly 100 years since deer were first declared a pest in New Zealand and we are no closer to coming up with a resolution, says hunter and conservationist John Bissell.
While we procrastinate and argue, the ngahere is suffering, he says.
“There’s a wide range of views on deer, in particular, from absolute hatred to highly valued,” says Bissell. “No matter what people like myself say, we’re going to upset or offend somebody or some people.”
There are estimates of 1.8 million deer across the country. They cost farms hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and repair bills every year and they are now invading the most precious corners of our native bush.
Bissell runs Backblocks Environmental Management in Wairarapa, specialising in pest and predator control. He says he’s increasingly getting calls from farmers to control the deer on their farms.
“It’s hitting them in the back pocket more and more on a larger and larger number of properties around the country,” he says.
Until now, deer have been “totally mismanaged” and the only way to bring them under control is for people with different interests and different solutions to work together, he says.
Today The Detail looks at the decades-long debate on deer control, new measures by the government to work with interested parties, and the controversial legislation that would see some deer breeds protected and managed.
Federated Farmers meat and wool chair Richard Dawkins says the explosion in numbers has not been helped by a slump in venison prices that put off commercial hunters.
Prices have picked up but not to the same level as the boom and bust days in the 1970s and 80s.
Dawkins has experienced the ravages of deer first hand on his farm near Blenheim, when deer ran amok through a forestry block.
“When trees are young, just been planted, they are very susceptible to browsing damage. Unfortunately we had about five hectares chewed out,” Dawkins says.
The grass was knee-high but the pests came through and picked out the seedlings.
“We had to do a full replant but that’s reflective of what I’m hearing from my Meat and Wool Council nationwide and whether it is damage to farm forestry or pastures or crops it is certainly a theme that’s been going on for a few years now,” he says.
A Federated Farmers survey found that the damage and repair costs to farms amounted to $200 million a year.
Dawkins says no solid data has been collected on deer but based on population estimates of 1.8 million, numbers need to be culled to 500,000 to 800,000.
“Everyone has a part to play in this. Pointing fingers isn’t really a pathway forward and we think every landowner has a responsibility,” he says.
Cromwell journalist Jill Herron was motivated to write a series for Newsroom about pest problems in the southern region after her own experiences hunting, tramping and walking her dog.
“You just keep hearing the same thing, about the level of damage that’s happening quietly out in the bush.
“I think it doesn’t really hit you until you see it yourself.”
Herron’s noticed a significant increase in numbers in the last 10 years around the Southern Lakes and Southland.
“Deer everywhere,” she says, from the backcountry to the outskirts of towns.
“Where I live in Central Otago I see deer pretty much every second day when I walk my dog down the river or on the council reserve.”
She says that the biggest concern that shocked her was the damage to native bush that leads to canopy collapse, when deer strip out the understorey of native forest so there is nothing left for the birds to eat or for insects to live in.
“What it means is that the whole forest falls down and dies.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Associate Education Minister David Seymour. RNZ / Mark Papalii
The Education Ministry says the English and maths curriculums introduced by primary schools this year have had a bigger impact than expected.
Appearing before Parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee, the ministry’s chief executive, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, said she was thrilled for children.
“The results have exceeded my expectations. We’d been working for some time on structured literacy as an approach, we’d identified for some time we had issues in mathematics teaching. The investment that has been made in recent years has outstripped my expectations in terms of what we are now seeing coming through for children,” she said.
Asked why it did not move faster, she said: “We took a while working with people, working with the sector getting buy-in. My reflection in hindsight is while that worked, a short amount of time in the life of an adult is a long time in the life of a child. So that’s my overall reflection is we need to get the right balance between getting changes to occur in the classroom but making it manageable for the teachers and leaders.”
Asked if introducing the new primary school English and maths curriculums quickly had been the right decision, MacGregor-Reid said “For maths and literacy, yes, it was the right decision and I think our teaching profession has done themselves proud”.
MacGregor-Reid said she had heard anecdotal reports of children telling their teachers and others that maths was their favourite subject.
“That’s a big thing for this country,” she said.
MacGregor-Reid held out some hope for schools and early childhood services facing big bills for cleaning up asbestos contamination from colour sand.
She said the ministry was looking at “some options” but had not made any decisions.
Later in the hearing, Associate Education Minister David Seymour appeared before the committee and Labour Party education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime challenged him over complaints about the cut-price free school lunch scheme.
Labour Party education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
“At what point after a child has been burnt, another has bitten into plastic, bugs have been served up in lunches, will you concede that this programme has been a flop,” she asked him.
“About the same time as you get an Oscar for that performance,” Seymour responded.
Prime suggested Seymour bullied people who criticised the lunch programme.
“This is supposed to be an exercise in evaluating value for taxpayer money, if you’re looking for another career as an actor then I don’t like your chances,” Seymour said.
That prompted Labour’s Phil Twyford to interject.
“Give it a rest. Jerk,” he said.
Education Minister Erica Stanford also appeared before the committee and was challenged over the government’s decision to cancel schools’ legal obligation to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi.
Education Minister Erica Stanford. RNZ / Mark Papalii
She denied the 1500 schools that had since publicly affirmed their commitment to the treaty was proof the government got it wrong.
“We always said it is up to schools if they wish to confirm that. As long as they are doing the things that we ask of them which are very clearly laid out – raise Māori achievement, offer te reo Māori, and be culturally responsive. Over and above that, if schools wish to uphold the treaty as many have reconfirmed their position, then they are free to do so,” she said.
Stanford said the government’s reforms were having a positive effect and the biggest improvements were among Māori and Pacific students.
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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 telltale signs that Christmas is coming have begun appearing in shops and malls around the country. Fairy lights and tinsel adorn store displays while Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas’ plays on repeat.
Nowhere is the intersection of tradition and commercialisation more apparent than in the Christmas movie genre. Not surprisingly, the viewing of these films has become a holiday tradition in itself.
Oh. What. Fun. is Prime Video’s most recent foray into the festive season genre. In a self-referential gesture, wife, mother and grandmother Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer) wonders in a voice-over “where are the holiday movies about moms?” before pointing out “I could name a dozen about men”.
The film promises to subvert genre expectations through foregrounding a disenchanted, disgruntled maternal point of view.
As her name would suggest, Claire comes into her own at Christmas. She shops, bakes and lovingly decorates the family’s Texan home complete with “Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle” sequined cushions and life-size inflatable figures of Santa for the front lawn.
This year, all Claire really wants for Christmas is appreciation – preferably in the form of a nomination for the Holiday Mom of the Year contest from talk show host Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria).
The opposite occurs when the family embarks on an outing without Claire, unwittingly leaving her home alone (in a clear nod to the 1990 John Hughes classic).
Feeling bereft and abandoned, Claire sets off on a road trip across the state.
Recent motherhood movies have been “heavy on despair”, intent on mapping the disjuncture between culturally valorised maternity and mothers’ more lonely, dissatisfying experiences. While Oh. What. Fun.’s lighter, more frivolous tone under director Michael Showalter sets it apart from these examples, its portrayal of the depleting effects the holiday season can have on mothers is serious.
Social media posts and blogs are replete with such examples. Predecessors can also be found in the Christmas movie genre. A Bad Moms Christmas (2017) and Catherine O’Hara’s iconic “Kevin!” scream in Home Alone (1990) both offer comic depictions of the mental load mothers carry. Emma Thompson’s quietly devastating performance in Love Actually (2003) reveals the efforts mothers make – often at the expense of their own happiness – to ensure Christmas is a magical experience for their children.
Research indicates that the pressure to manage Christmas is worsened when systemic inequities are at play: domestic and family violence rates surge during the holiday season and, in the current economic climate, many families are struggling to provide basic necessities, let alone celebratory food and presents.
Of course, Oh. What. Fun. wouldn’t be a Christmas movie without a happy ending.
Prime Video
In framing Christmas from the beleaguered mother’s point of view, Oh. What. Fun. unabashedly targets middle-aged women, a decision that is entirely in keeping with the Hallmark holiday film.
But where the cable channel’s Christmas movies purport to be timeless and “your place to get away from politics”, Oh. What. Fun. taps into the current zeitgeist of female rage.
Rage is increasingly accepted as a normal part of contemporary motherhood, coexisting with feelings of love. Far from dissipating as children mature, research suggests these ambivalent maternal feelings endure. And, as Claire herself acknowledges, they are even exacerbated by fears of no longer being needed by one’s children.
In a society where women’s value is defined by either their appearance or reproductive capabilities, ageing women are often rendered obsolete.
Claire’s refusal to vanish can be read as indicative of changing social and cultural conversations surrounding menopause. These seek to normalise the many hormonal, neurological and social changes perimenopause brings, which can include a reduction in people-pleasing.
The shift from amenability to assertiveness Claire undergoes is also the source of many of the film’s pleasures: watching Pfeiffer flirt with an older cowboy, say “fuck” on national television, and bad-mouth her family while sipping neat whiskey is an undeniable delight.
Of course, Oh. What. Fun. wouldn’t be a Christmas movie without a happy ending. It’s no spoiler to reveal the denouement satisfies genre expectations with a grand gesture, heartfelt apology and flash forward to one year later, depicting a champagne-swilling Claire luxuriating in a cedar hot tub while her family preps Christmas lunch.
While I’m here for holiday escapism and invocations to give mothers their due, I couldn’t help feeling curiously deflated at the film’s conclusion. Despite the promise offered in the sly, self-aware opening, Oh. What. Fun. reneges on its radical potential, sliding into sentimental cliche instead.
Like other recent films critiquing maternity, its suggestion that all mothers need is a hand in the kitchen combined with some quality “me time” (preferably at a high-end ski resort) invariably falls short.
In Claire’s own words, “this has been a nice little publicity stunt, y’all, but nothing’s really changed”.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: Radio New Zealand
Global butter prices are falling. RNZ / Unsplash
Finally, some good news for butter lovers: Global prices are falling.
But there remains some bad news: Any fall in the price you see at the supermarket is not likely to be as fast, or as large, as the increase you experienced when prices were on the way up.
The price of butter has been one of the big consumer issues of this year.
In July, the price of butter was up about 50 percent over a year.
In October, Stats NZ said the average price of a 500g block of butter was $8.50, up from $6.67 a year earlier and $4.83 in 2024.
But butter prices fell about 12 percent in the most recent global auction and are down a third from the peak.
Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said that meant that retail prices were likely to fall, “but likely not nearly as quickly as they went up”.
He said Stats NZ data already showed a flattening of prices. In August, 500g was $8.58.
“You’ve started to see the early effects of the price boost coming off. The difficulty is you’ll have a whole range of factors coming in there.”
He said some butter contracts would have been locked in when prices started to increase.
“They now need to get through that stock that was already in there … there will be a whole lot of contracting elements, I expect, that were in there. That’s often why you find it easier for prices to go up but not come down quite as quickly.”
Foodstuffs said that was the situation for its supermarkets. “Changes in global prices don’t flow through to the checkouts immediately. There is a lag because we lock in butter supply contracts on a quarterly basis. These help create certainty for suppliers and stability for customers, avoiding week-to-week price swings. As each contract rolls over, any shifts in commodity prices are then reflected in the prices customers see on shelf.
“The biggest part of the price customers pay at the checkout is the price we’re charged by suppliers and we work hard to buy well and run our business efficiently so we can keep prices as low as possible.”
Monika Grabkowska for Unsplash
He said New World and Pak’nSave in the North Island had been selling Pams butter at a loss for the last two-and-a-half years.
But he said there was also more dairy available now than previously, which should mean downward pressure on prices. “It’s not huge, but you are now seeing the largest increase in global dairy supply, at least from major exporters, in about three years. So there is a bit more of expansion coming through there.”
He said it would also be challenging for prices to fall because people had become accustomed to the higher price.
“So that does sort of set a bit of a new normal for what people are clearly willing to pay. I guess it depends on how much people have changed their consumption. Another data point that isn’t butter, but potentially gives you a bit of a view on it is what’s happened in the last couple of years to olive oil prices, which of course skyrocketed quite a bit.
“They’ve now started to pull back quite a bit as well, nowhere near back to what they were before the big spike, but they are definitely on the downward decline. That did seem to take quite a bit after you started to see olive oil future prices start to pull back for retail prices to then follow. And it does suggest sometimes some of the changes on the pullback side can take sort of up to six months to really start to show through just because of all of those contracts that are locked in and sort of pricing changes that will happen.”
A spokesperson for Woolworths said the global dairy trade auction was only one factor that went into the price of butter.
“We are also seeing the NZ dollar weaken versus the USD. This affects pricing as the GDT auctions are conducted in USD. These factors are reviewed quarterly by suppliers, therefore our retail price is set quarterly.
“We did see some global price relief on butter last month and this meant we could pass on lower prices to Kiwi customers across all major brand butter. We know it’s a tough time for Kiwi households and we’re working hard to keep butter prices as low as possible, for as long as possible.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ
Auckland and Wellington remain the parts of the country with prices furthest from their peak – but one property investor says one is looking more undervalued than the other at the moment.
Cotality has released its latest data, which shows a 0.1 percent lift in values for New Zealand in November.
The national median now sits at $806,551, which is 17.4 percent below the early 2022 peak and only 1.1 percent higher than June 2023’s trough.
But within that data, the picture is mixed.
Auckland is 22.9 percent below its peak, down 2.2 percent year-on-year and down 0.2 percent in the month.
Hamilton is down 11.4 percent from peak but up 0.3 percent year-on-year and 0.7 percent in the month.
Tauranga is down 15.2 percent from the peak and up 1.2 percent year-on-year.
Wellington is down 25.1 percent from the peak and down 1.8 percent over a year but up 0.1 percent for the month.
Christchurch is only 3.8 percent below its peak and up 2.6 percent over a year.
Dunedin is down 10.8 percent from its price peak and up 0.2 percent in a year.
“Property values across the country were patchy over May to August as households and firms remained in a cautious mood,” Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said.
“September and October brought a few signs of life for values, but November just eased off a little bit again Clearly, the falls in mortgage rates we’ve seen lately would point to a bit more upside for property values as we get into 2026, not least because a range of housing affordability measures have also improved back closer to their long-term averages. But the subdued November property value data suggests that this process continues to take a bit of time to get started.”
He said the number of houses for sale remained higher than normal for this time of year.
“Many buyers will still be feeling that they’re in the box-seat when it comes to price negotiations. At the same time, while the economy is showing some encouraging signs, the unemployment rate is still a concern and jobs growth is yet to kick into gear. On balance, the fundamentals seem to be moving towards growth in property values next year. But right now, we remain in a holding pattern.”
Davidson said if Auckland was removed from the national figures, there would have been increases in value in recent months.
“The flatness of the national figure is sort of an Auckland story – Auckland lagging behind everyone else.”
He said November was the eighth month in a row that Auckland’s property values had declined.
“That’s after a smaller, cumulative rise of 1.6 percent in the seven months to March this year. In other words, Tāmaki Makaurau continues to lag many other parts of the country, and this is weighing on the national median. Buyer caution and a relatively high supply of property are relevant factors here,” he said.
He said economic confidence in Auckland was a bit slower to improve.
“It doesn’t have the same lift from things like farming and agriculture, it’s more service-based so that’s going to be a bit of restraint on Auckland’s housing market.
“Then also the supply factor, there’s a decent pipeline of townhouses coming on to the Auckland market – listings are still in favour of buyers… I think these things help explain the slight lag in Auckland’s market. There just seems to be a bit of a malaise around Auckland at the moment. Will we see it come back? At some stage for sure. It’s the biggest economy, it’s where a lot of job creation comes from and I guess a lot of our economic growth really through parts of the cycle. It’ll come back but it does show you that supply and demand can play a role
“And we’ve seen Christchurch over the years has had a good rise in supply, and it’s kept a bit of a lid on housing affordability or house price growth. And we’re seeing the same in Auckland now.”
He said most other main centres were up more significantly, as well as many provincial markets. “We see continued growth in Invercargill and that next tier down of towns and cities.”
Property investment coach Steve Goodey said he thought Auckland as probably undervalued.
Many Auckland properties were selling with good rental yields, he said, and falling interest rates gave investors more room to buy.
“I’m not ready to start saying there’s FOMO in the market but there’s certainly a lot of upward pressure on some properties. Well presented stuff is moving and moving quite quickly.”
He said Wellington was different.
“It’s very depressed. There are heaps of listings and rents have been dropping, they’ve stopped dropping as hard but they’ve dropped quite some way. Wellington has an awful lot of problems at the moment, there are so many issues that aren’t being addressed, aren’t being fixed, it’s creating a lot of opportunity but anyone who bought in 2021 has massively overpaid and is probably stuck with that property.
“Wellington I don’t think has been overdeveloped, it’s just been abandoned to a degree. Tourism we’re not getting any more, immigration we’re not getting any more, students we’re not getting anymore. Property is available and it’s become a buyer and renter’s market.”
Investors had started to come back into the market in the capital, he said.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Defence Minister Judith Collins (L) and Foreign Minister Winston Peters. RNZ/Calvin Samuel
The government is putting $15 million towards a United States and NATO initiative to supply weapons and equipment to Ukraine, the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins revealed the decision in the early hours New Zealand time, calling the funding a significant contribution to support Ukraine’s defence.
“The defence of Ukraine has significant implications not only for the security of Europe, but also for the Indo-Pacific,” Peters said.
A written statement said the money would only be used for weapons and equipment that met New Zealand’s international obligations and domestic policies.
Collins said New Zealand stood in solidarity with Ukraine, which was entering its fourth winter defending itself from Russian aggression.
“The challenge for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to defend its cities and its people remains immense in the face of the ongoing and relentless bombardment of Ukraine by Russian drones,” she said.
Ukraine Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko told RNZ he, his president and every Ukrainian was thankful for the funding.
“I was on a trip with Minister Judith Collins in Ukraine three months ago … she was able to come to some of the sites of the destroyed residential buildings.
“Even for me who had seen it before, that was extremely confronting especially realising that some of those residential buildings, they lost 22 people, 23 people in one go, and the kids were killed there in that same building.”
Ukraine Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko. VNP / Phil Smith
The PURL initiative sells US-manufactured weapons and equipment into Europe and other partners for the defence, in line with the needs identified by Ukraine.
Myroshnychenko said the country had huge demand for ammunition, artillery and air defence missiles to protect critical infrastructure as a fourth winter of fighting closed in.
“Winter is here and … it’s cold, and Russia’s hit our electricity distribution system, our power generation, our heating systems and many cities go through blackouts when they don’t have a steady supply of electricity. The same applies to heating.
“We estimate it is 150,000 war crimes committed, and lots of crimes against humanity, and the war is still ongoing. Russians control 20 percent of our territory. Ukrainians realise that they don’t have an alternative but to fight because if we don’t fight we are done. It’s the end of Ukraine. It’s end of our sovereignty. It’s the end of our identity.
“They just erase Ukrainian identity by rewriting curriculums, by forcing everybody to accept Russian citizenship – this is imperialism of the 19th century, and this is so brutal, and Russians are doing it at the moment.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon observed a joint defence operation to train Ukrainian troops in the South of England in April. RNZ / Soumya Bhamidipati
The $15m for PURL adds to the $26m already spent on weapons and ammunition, more than $12m for a NATO fund for other equipment, and $4.1m for satellite imagery.
It brings New Zealand’s total monetary contributions to more than $53m, more than half of it for weapons and ammunition.
Defence Force personnel have also been involved in training Ukrainian armed forces in the UK and Europe, as well as providing intelligence, logistics and liaison.
Labour’s Defence spokesperson Peeni Henare said the funding was a continuation of the kind of model started under the last government, and called for the matter to be debated by the full Parliament.
“Ministerial statements through the House allow the other parties to have a contribution in the debate, and it goes on public record, it allows questions to be asked of ministers … which hopefully gives us a little bit more comfort about what the plan is.
“The question is, how long is a piece of string? How much longer can New Zealand keep offering support here? Which is why I’d encourage the opportunity to have a debate … so that we can test the waters again in our democracy about where we stand.”
Labour’s Defence spokesperson Peeni Henare. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Labour’s de facto governing partner the Green Party’s spokesperson Teanau Tuiono said he supported the funding too – but there was a smarter way to use it.
“I support the deployment of funding, but I would prefer if it went into humanitarian aid, I would prefer if it wasn’t for procurement of weapons … there’s a role we can pay in terms of advancing the issues of peace and diplomacy, and I think those are the things that we should be putting our efforts into.
“And I note the enthusiasm for this government for the Trump administration – we’ve had them roll out the red carpet for the FBI for example; an increase of defence spending – which will further align us with the US and I think that’s a problem.”
Henare disagreed on that point.
“We were encouraging, even when we were in power, the role of the US in this whole thing, [that] has always been part of the negotiations and the discussions and the support that we offer around Ukraine.
“We were close with the UK as well – that’s why we sent our troops there – and I understand our troops are still there training people so I’m not surprised that the US is still heavily involved.”
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Source: Radio New Zealand
Ultra Worldwide Music Festival is coming to the country for the first time next year. Supplied / Ultra Australia
The capital is to host what’s being touted as the most recognised brand of dance music.
Ultra Worldwide Music Festival is coming to the country for the first time next year, and only to Wellington.
It would be held on 10 April, with 20,000 people expected to attend the one-day, three-stage festival that’s being called a milestone by promoters.
“Securing the rights to Ultra Music Festival for such an iconic venue in Wellington is a dream come true,” Audiology Touring founder Mitch Lowe said.
“People travel far and wide to attend Ultra and we’re excited to show international visitors what the country has to offer,” he said.
“All whilst giving our prized locals something to be proud of.”
The first concert in the multi-year agreement was also supported by the government’s Events Attraction Fund.
About 20,000 people are expected to attend the one-day, three-stage festival. Supplied / Ultra Australia
Wellington mayor Andrew Little said it was an exciting announcement.
“Having an event on the scale and renown as the Ultra Festival in Wellington will be a huge boost for the local economy, injecting new energy into the CBD and drawing thousands of people from around New Zealand,” he said.
WellingtonNZ said Ultra Worldwide Music Festival could be considered the most international music festival brand of this century.
“It boasts events in more than 30 countries,” it said.
“We look forward to welcoming visitors to Wellington to join locals for what’ll no doubt be a fantastic experience.”
Previous headline performers at Ultra events include David Guetta, Calvin Harris, Skrillex, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Martin Garrix, Deadmau5, and Charlotte de Witte.
The Ultra New Zealand line-up will be announced on Wednesday 10 December, and tickets will go on sale on Wednesday 17 December.
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Source: Radio New Zealand
A defective switch caused an engine on an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 plane to shut down during a flight last year. AIR NEW ZEALAND
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) says it is unsure how many planes are likely to be affected by a defective switch which caused an engine on an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 plane to shut down during a flight last year.
An inquiry into the incident which saw the flight from Wellington to Sydney make an unplanned landing in December 2024 has shown up to six instances where faulty or damaged fire switches caused A320 planes’ engines to shut down unexpectedly.
Aircraft from the Airbus A320 family have been in the news recently after a global recall was sparked when it was revealed that intense solar radiation could corrupt elements of the planes’ flight control systems.
The plane is the most popular single aisle commercial jet with over 11,500 sold to airlines around the world.
On the afternoon of 1 December, 2024, Air New Zealand Flight NZ249 departed Wellington with 154 passengers and crew on board heading for Sydney.
Damage to the internals of the fire switch mechanism which makes the switch prone to pop out, shutting down the engine and arming fire extinguishing systems. Supplied
About 40 minutes into the flight the pilots heard a loud clicking sound coming from switch panels above and just behind their seats and instruments showed the number two engine was reducing its thrust.
The pilots carried out an engine shut down checklist before they declared a mayday and descended to an altitude the plane could maintain with only one engine.
Cabin crew and passengers were then informed the flight would divert Auckland where it landed safely.
The TAIC inquiry showed subsequent inspections of the plane revealed a fire switch for the aircraft’s number two engine was protruding from the panel in its activated position.
Chief investigator of accidents Louise Cook said the switch was designed to shut down fuel supply to the engine and arm fire extinguisher systems in the event of an engine fire.
“The switch is part of a panel above and behind the heads of the pilot and co-pilot; neither had touched the switch, and post-shutdown procedures didn’t tell them to check it,” Cook said.
The commission’s report said weeks later a similar shut down happened where a fire switch popped out during a flight from Milan to Lisbon.
Enquiries with Airbus also revealed the company was aware of three similar occurrences with one dating as far back as 2016.
A common factor in the shutdowns was the presence of damage to the panel unit and a pin locking system in the affected fire switches.
The pilots said they never touched the switch and post shut-down procedures did not instruct them to check it. Supplied
Later inspections of the component on the Air New Zealand flight showed a guard over the switch and its mounting panel were deformed and a retention pin designed to keep the switch in place was out of shape and position.
Problems with the switches – believed to have been caused by mis-handling either during shipping or installation – had been identified earlier in the year.
The switch’s manufacturer had issued a pair of service bulletins ahead of the December flight relating to 125 panels – recommending they be removed from aircraft and sent for inspection.
They noted that the recommendation only applied to a percentage of panels which had been previously repaired and returned to operators and may have had external damage, but had not been assessed for damage to the switch internals.
Following the Air New Zealand incident, another plane experienced a similar problem but its component was not one of the group identified in the service bulletins.
Airbus subsequently issued service bulletins earlier this year covering all A320 aeroplanes where panels were showing signs of external damage.
The bulletins were classed as ‘recommended’ and to be completed with 1000 flight cycles of the bulletin being issued.
A later European Union Aviation Safety Agency Airworthiness directive issued last month stipulated that any panel where external damage was identified must be replaced with six months.
In February this year, the director of the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand pointed out to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency that the extent of the problem with the panels remained unknown.
The TAIC report noted that Air New Zealand had proactively removed affected fire panels and had advocated for clearer inspection criteria from the manufacturing and service agents behind the fire panels.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ first reported on years-long ructions at the unit that treats abused children, Te Puaruruhau, in October. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Health New Zealand spent almost a quarter of a million dollars on a lawyer to look into claims of bullying at Auckland’s Starship Hospital and how to fix it.
That is revealed in an Official Information Act (OIA) response after RNZ first reported on years-long ructions at the unit that treats abused children, Te Puaruruhau, in October.
Maria Dew KC was paid $249,000 to investigate and also do a culture review after staff boycotted unit managers in early 2025, the OIA showed.
The firm Three60 Consult was paid $25,000 to do another review.
Health NZ Te Whatu Ora refused to release any of these reviews.
“These reports contain extensive information provided by staff in confidence,” it said. “Releasing them would breach the trust and privacy of those individuals and could jeopardise the ongoing process to address the concerns raised.”
Just over $9000 was spent on Shelley Kopu Law.
A former staffer at the small unit had said the ructions caused skilled people to leave, including themselves, reducing the essential services children could get.
Health NZ provided more information on staffing at Te Puaruruhau in an OIA response: Since December 2022, three paediatricians – two permanent, one fixed-term – had joined but all had since left.
Paediatrician roles advertised in mid-June this year were not filled, then readvertised in September, but remained open as of late last month.
Since August 2022, it had recruited three social workers, a medical fellow (usually one-year terms), a nurse specialist, a team administrator and a medical registrar.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand