Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Experts are being flown in from Australia to help assess damage at the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant.

Wellington Water said over the past 24 hours, the short 5-metre pipe close to the shoreline had not been spewing raw sewage, and the long outfall pipe was being used instead.

On 4 February the plant failed – sending millions of litres of raw sewage into Cook Strait every day.

In an update on Thursday, Wellington Water said due to heavy rain this past Monday, bacteria levels around the plant’s short outfall pipe and southern coast beaches had increased.

“Public health advice remains the same: it is strongly recommended for the public stay out of the water on the South coast of Wellington. Do not collect kai moana,” it said.

It said it hadn’t found any structural issues with the long outfall pipe – such as a blockage – which was restricting flow through the pipe.

Wellington Water said it was trying to increase the volume of sewage that could be pumped to the long pipe – because after its equipment failure – it can’t cope in wet weather.

It expected construction work on a large air vent on the outfall pipe to begin this weekend, with the aim this will help improve the flow through the long pipe.

“Workers are onsite at Moa Point, continuing to assess the damage, working to manage odour, and manage network flows.

“As part of the damage assessment, experts are being flown in from Sydney to assist.”

Wellington Water also warned residents about a stink coming from the plant since it failed.

It said crews were clearing wastewater and sludge from the plant as quickly as possible, and it expected that to be done by early March.

“Odour monitors are being installed to measure the impact at sites surrounding the plant. We have one unit available and will confirm when this is in place.”

Meanwhile, the water operator had warned residents living near the southern landfill of an increased bad smell on Thursday, as it carried out unplanned work at the Carey’s Gully sludge dewatering plant.

“Carey’s Gully usually manages the sludge from the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant,” it said.

“Because the plant is currently closed, the sludge tanks at Carey’s Gully are not being used and so the unplanned maintenance involves draining these tanks.”

The work should be completed by the end of Thursday, it said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Confidential documents discovered in a former Wellington mayoral desk sold to a member of the public should have been destroyed, a review has found.

It’s also revealed the desk was checked three times before its sale.

In September last year a stash of more than 200 papers were found in a locked cupboard within the desk bought from the Tip Shop, a second-hand store at the city’s landfill.

Furniture from the Wellington Town Hall was sold there during the building’s redevelopment.

The council has been investigating how the items were sold, and why confidential documents were not removed from them.

The documents were dated between 1988 and 2004, during which time Sir James Belich, Dame Fran Wilde, Mark Blumsky and Dame Kerry Prendergast were mayor.

When the papers were discovered, Dame Kerry said they were “potentially incredibly damaging”.

The agenda for next week’s Audit and Risk committee meeting show the “desk privacy incident” will be discussed.

The council carried out an internal review and also commissioned Grant Thornton to carry out a review, the agenda shows.

The Grant Thornton review found the storage of the documents – which included personal information like names and email addresses – did not follow council policy.

It said a number should have been destroyed, and others should have been destroyed after seven years, while two should have been archived.

“From an interview with an ex-Mayor, we understand the documents were created and deliberately stored outside of the WCC filing system as they were considered confidential to the Mayor, due to the nature of the documentation, reflecting the Mayor’s responsibilities regarding the Council Chief Executive and elected members.”

It was unclear whether the council knew about the documents, but mayoral staff would have, it said.

The desk had been checked for documents three times as it was moved from place to place – once in 2013 and twice in 2025.

The last inspection was at the Tip Shop, where “all drawers were found to be empty, and the item was cleared for removal and sale”.

The review said there was no evidence to consider whether the locked cupboard was not noticed, or if it was noticed but not checked.

“While WCC were unaware of the documentation in the locked cupboard in the desk, there were three opportunities for the

cupboard to be identified, opened and the documents retrieved,” the report said.

“The disposal processes do not appear to be consistent with the requirements of the Council Privacy Policy to ensure ‘everything reasonably within the power of the agency is done’.”

Elected members were not bound by council policies but the council could do better by giving greater support around record-keeping, it said.

The council’s “key challenge” was increasing the awareness of risk and the importance of following policies among staff, it said.

It recommended the council establish an asset disposal policy, strengthens its procedures, improves information management training, and enhance “relocation controls”.

The council’s internal review found it breached two privacy principles: storage and security, and retention.

It accepted both reviews’ findings and has since updated Tip Shop’s operating procedures, commissioned a formal asset disposal policy, strengthened its relocation and furniture checking processes, and enhanced “elected member transition processes to support the return of confidential physical documentation”.

It’s also considering mandatory information management training, and has checked remaining furniture in storage to ensure no more documents were “overlooked”.

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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 larva of a stripey fish could be the key to preventing a chronic and painful swelling condition that’s a common side effect of some breast cancer treatment.

Lymphoedema usually affected the arms or legs and could be caused by cancer treatments that remove or damage the lymph nodes. There was currently no cure.

The condition could be congenital or caused by an injury, but it mostly occurred as an unintended consequence following breast-cancer treatment.

Auckland University scientists discovered a molecule in zebrafish larva that offered hope of eventually treating or preventing the condition.

Lead researcher Dr Jonathan Astin, told Checkpoint, the larva of zebrafish were often used to answer scientific questions as the larva was almost completely transparent, making it easy to fluorescently label any organ system.

Astin said the way a human embryo developed was initially almost identical to a fish embryo – so the hope was what was discovered using zebrafish could be directly translated into understanding human development and disease.

In Astin’s lab, the lympahtics of the fish were tagged to help understand how lymphatics form and how lymphatic diseases could be treated.

The scientists discovered a growth-promoting molecule, known as ‘insulin-like growth factor’, or IGF, accelerated the growth of lymphatic vessels in zebrafish, so it had the potential to repair damaged vessels.

“What we’ve done subsequently is grown human lymphatics in a dish and put this human IGF on and that has been able to stimulate human lymphatic growth,” Astin said.

“Finding the molecule in fish allowed us to identify it might be therapeutic and find the human version.”

Astin said lymphoedema was often seen in breast cancer patients, with some estimates that around 20 percent of patients who had lymph nodes removed as part of breast cancer treatment having lymphoedema develop in one of their arms.

The condition was very difficult to cure once a person had it, Aston said, because the fluid build up caused tissue damage which could be hard to reverse, but the hope was it could be prevented.

“The plan would really be prevent it form occurring in the first place, so we hope by identifying this new IGF, it may be part of a treatment cocktail where we might be able to provide these lymphatic stimulating growth factors to patients who have lymph nodes removed in order to prevent the onset or the incidents of lymphoedema.”

Any possible treatment would still be many years off, Astin said, as work was still being done to understand whether it could stimulate repair and the it would need to be tested for safety.

“But this is the first new lymphatic growth factor we’ve identified in many years.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Further calls have been made for more to be done about dangerous dogs, in the wake of Tuesday’s fatal dog attack in Northland.

Mihiata Te Rore, 62, was killed by a pack of three dogs at a property in the small town of Kaihu on Tuesday. She was the third person to be killed by dogs in the region in four years, and fourth nationwide.

It has prompted calls for change from as high up as the prime minister, meanwhile RNZ has been contacted by multiple dog attack victims who have shared their frustration at what they say is a lack of action by authorities.

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said he had been exploring non-legislative options to help councils deal with the issue.

But multiple organisations have been calling for a change at a policy level, including the SPCA, which said the Dog Control Act was “hopelessly out of date”.

Whangārei man Jade Campbell was among the dog attack victims calling for more to be done.

“They stick their head through the hedge and bark at us, and they’ve frightened the missus off the bottom of the section with the boy, the boy’s only two years old,” he said.

“They’re aggressive, they’ve come over and killed our cat.”

He said the council hadn’t done anything in response.

Campbell believed owners should have the legal right to destroy a dog if it roamed onto their property.

“A bite and a couple of shakes will kill a young child easily, so the law basically says I have to wait until the dog kills my son before I can kill the dog.”

Under New Zealand law, it was only legal to kill a dog if it was actively attacking a person or animals.

Whangārei District Council’s manager of health and bylaws Reiner Mussle said they investigated every complaint they received, including Campbell’s case.

“Unfortunately, the cat was found in a decomposed state and there was insufficient evidence available to determine how it died or to establish that a dog was responsible,” he said.

“While historic dog footprints were identified on the complainant’s property, these indicated that dogs had been present in the area at some point in the past, but there was nothing directly linking those footprints to the death of the cat.”

Mussle said they were actively monitoring the issue of non-secured dogs in the wider area, and taking action where required.

But the issue is not just in Northland.

More than 200 children aged under 15 and nearly 3000 adults were attacked by dogs in Auckland between July 2024 and June 2025.

Papatoetoe resident Krish had been chased through the street by roaming dogs. His cat had also been killed.

He said more needed to be done.

“It’s been a pretty devastating loss for our family, so I’m trying to make it my mission over the next few weeks to actually get something done about it,” he said.

Krish had engaged lawyers about his case, and wanted to speak to his local MP about boosting enforcement for unruly dogs.

“If you have an off-leash dog, there needs to be more punishment for it, almost like an instant impound or severe fines, or just no off-leash dogs almost,” he said.

“And then possibly looking into banning dangerous dog breeds or unleashed dogs.”

Police said the dogs involved in the Kaihu attack were with Animal Control and would be destroyed.

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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 lawyer for convicted sex offender and former Gloriavale leader Howard Temple claims jailing the 85-year-old was excessive.

Temple was sentenced to 26 months’ jail in December for indecencies on multiple girls and young women.

He immediately appealed and has been on bail.

His lawyer, Michael Vesty, argues the sentence is excessive given Temple’s age, bail conditions and cognitive impairment.

Vesty said it should be reduced to two years or less to allow for home detention.

The Crown said the offending spanned many years, despite a previous police warning, and affected a large number of victims.

Justice Paulsen reserved his decision.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Thames Coromandel District Council says a sinkhole has formed near the Onemana Wastewater Treatment Plant.

In a post online the council says it suspects treated wastewater may have entered a local wetland, potentially entering a stream that flows to the beach.

It says the sinkhole is on private property near the wastewater treatment plant’s subsurface irrigation field.

Onemana is a coastal community on the Coromandel Peninsula, north of Whangamata.

“As a proactive step, we are erecting signage by the Onemana Drive Carpark advising people not to swim, fish or collect shellfish in the area around where the stream discharges until further notice,” it said.

The council said it was turning off the irrigation disposal that is closest to the sinkhole, carrying out water sampling and would monitor the site to ensure no further deterioration or land movement.

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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 Hamilton-to-Auckland train, Te Huia, has been given an extra year to prove itself.

The train provides an interregional passenger rail service between the regions of Waikato and Auckland.

On Thursday afternoon the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) board agreed to a Waikato Regional Council request to keep government funding steady at 60 percent for a one-year extension.

The council took the step to ask for the extension in December 2025, expressing a need for certainty from NZTA before the council began its long term plan process.

The council argued that the current trial had been too heavily affected by Covid delays, being temporarily banned from operating in Auckland, and repeated line closures on the Auckland network.

Te Huia was launched in April 2021 for a five-year trial which was due to end in June 2026. It will now continue until the end of June 2027 with government funding steady at a 60 percent funding assistance rate.

Waikato Regional Council said councillors would now be asked to support continued local funding at the current rate when they meet next week to consider the budget for 2026/27.

The future of Te Huia and its funding would then be discussed with the public as part of the 2027-2037 Long Term Plan process.

Waikato Regional Council chairperson Warren Maher thanked the NZTA board for its decision.

“I also note the support we received from local councils, as well as champions of Te Huia.”

In December, letters of support from Auckland, Hamilton City, Waipā and Waikato district councils said they were committed to sustainable economic growth across the sub-region, along the Hamilton to Auckland corridor, and in the emerging economic zone centred around the north Waikato and south Auckland areas.

Also earlier this month, approximately 300 supporters attended a “Stack the Station,” event at Hamilton’s Frankton Station, calling for the permanent future of the Te Huia passenger rail service.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Courts will have to grapple more and more with AI fakes and it might take law changes to keep them out of trials, the government’s chief legal advisers say.

Crown Law’s long-term insights briefing to a parliamentary select committee on Thursday morning turned quickly to questions around the reliability of evidence in the age of deep fakes.

The ability of generative artificial intelligence (such as large-language models that generate text, or image generating AI) “to facilitate the production of fake evidence will increase and could challenge evidential integrity in the justice system”, said its long-term briefing report.

It was a growing global problem, it said.

“Is it what the Crown or the Defence say it is? Does it have the truth that the particular photo or text purports to have, or is it fake?” Deputy Solicitor-General Madeleine Laracy told the select committee.

“These create really tangible problems during trials” that they only had the normal tools of admissability to try to deal with.

The briefing suggested two ways to tackle it but both had big implications; for instance, lawmakers could bring in a new “admissability threshold” but if that meant all digital evidence was checked for reliability that would “impose a significant additional burden” on both sides in criminal trials – and this in an already log-jammed system.

MPs asked: “Have we seen fake evidence from AI in courts today?”

Laracy noted one case she was familiar with, where the defence challenged the metadata that sat behind Crown evidence. This went back to asking what other “human evidence” there was to support that the evidence was reliable.

When RNZ asked Crown Law for more details, it said the case was still before the courts which had ordered broad suppression.

The briefing said there were numerous examples overseas where counsel and self-represented defendants had been reprimanded for using cases that had been “hallucinated” (made up) by AI.

It referred to a case in London in 2025 that cited a New Zealand commercial case where a draft about “apparently non-existent cases” led to a challenge.

Solicitor-General Una Jagose KC said the fake in a case presumably could be anything – “it could look like an email … It could look like a recording of a person who makes an admission”.

Crown Law’s 31-page briefing said current cases suggested this was not widespread but Crown prosecutors told them about the “early signs … [that] signal that authenticity challenges will become more common as technology advances”.

“In one case there was an allegation during cross-examination of a Crown witness that Crown evidence was doctored in some way. In another, a Crown prosecutor was questioned (without basis) about using GenAI to write submissions.

“Media reports also indicate a self-represented defendant in a murder trial claimed that CCTV footage relied on by the Crown was fake.

“The Crown challenged the evidence given by the accused and he in turn alleged the Crown had produced false CCTV and other evidence.”

The question became how to adapt – prosecutors, for instance, would have to become adept at recognising what defence evidence to challenge, and to respond to defence AI challenges, said the briefing.

“If the problem of fake evidence becomes widespread, it could become standard police procedure to analyse any evidence that will be relied on by a Crown witness, to enable assurances to be made to a future jury of its authenticity,” said the briefing.

It was also anticipated they would need more experts who could testify about the integrity of metadata, said Jagose.

“The real challenge” was around defence evidence because it did not have to give the Crown a heads-up on it to allow time to check it, Laracy said.

“Verification procedures could delay trials which would not be desirable,” said the briefing.

The courts are already log-jammed and backed-up.

The committee discussed if that might require law changes for notification periods around evidence that might pose AI questions-of-origin.

The briefing discussed that, and a second “high level strategic” of the “admissability threshold”.

Labour MP Vanushi Walters asked about the reliability of the advice that prosecutors might be getting from AI.

The Solicitor-General imposes a two-part test that has to be met to go ahead and prosecute, around if the evidence is sufficient and the public interest.

Jagoes said so far, there were no guidelines on that and there might come a time that AI made those decisions more efficient.

“I suspect that, well, I’m the Solicitor-General till next Friday, but I suspect that the Solicitor-General will always be anxious that criminal prosecution decisions are being made by a human because of the judgment and all the requirements and all the balancing of the public interest that needs to go into it.

“Maybe machines will be able to do that in the future but that’s a very long way away I’d say,” said Jagose.

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