Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mt Eden prison was under significant pressure at the time Caleb Moefa’auo died in custody, a court has heard.

Caleb Moefa’auo, 26, died in 2022 after suffering a cardiac arrest shortly after being pepper-sprayed by an officer.

Phase two of the inquest into his death began in the Auckland District Court on Monday.

It will focus on the circumstances of his death, how his mental health contributed to what happened and whether the officers involved adequately took this into account.

The inquest began with a prayer from Moefa’auo’s grandfather, as well as opening comments from his mother, Justine Lauese.

She said the family was seeking clarity about the circumstances and choices that led to Moefa’auo’s death.

The Coroner then heard from a corrections staff member who cannot be named.

They said the prison had been under significant pressure at the time Moefa’auo was moved, including short staffing and Covid-19 restrictions.

“At the time of Caleb’s death, (Mt Eden Prison) was experiencing significant staffing and procedural challenges, compounded by the pressures of operating under stringent Covid-19 protocols,” they said.

“Access to the (Intervention Support Unit) by external professionals was also restricted to minimize the risk of Covid-19 transmission within the wider prison population.”

The staff member said those constraints were particularly acute in the context of Mt Eden’s role as a remand facility.

“The high turn over and complex needs of the remand population placed additional strain on staff and systems, making it increasingly difficult to maintain consistent oversight and therapeutic support.”

Prisoners in the ISU were not allowed to take towels into their cells, as it posed a risk to themselves, they said.

“One towel is provided for showering, and can be replaced if required for drying, but must be returned immediately after use, prior to individuals returning to their cell.” they said.

They said several reviews had been initiated in the wake of Moefa’auo’s death, and that lessons had been learned.

These included monthly training, informed by identified gaps across the site, continued reinforcement of best practice, and including health as a priority, as well as additional training for staff to stop and check on prisoner welfare when using force.

The Corrections staff member was questioned by the lawyer representing the officer acquitted of assaulting Moefa’auo, Lily Nunweek, who raised concerns about the level of experience of those involved.

That question was not answered, however, with Correction’s lawyer suggesting it was better directed at the staff themselves.

Under later cross-examination from counsel assisting the Coroner, Rebekah Jordan, the staff member admitted officers in the ISU needed more support.

“All the staff in there have a focus to support the men in that unit, and they do a really, really good job,” the staff member said.

“Do they have the right training for being in there? No, we don’t give them psychological training […] in my opinion no, we don’t give them enough training.

“Even now. The training that we sourced for them was done off our own back.”

The Corrections staff member told Coroner McKenzie they wanted to see specialist training from staff, including understanding mental health triggers.

“They’re not psychologists, they’ve never trained to be psychologists, and, for me, Mt Eden holds a lot of complex prisoners, with a lot of mental health – I don’t like saying issues – with a lot of mental health, really, prisoners that have got a lot of mental health stuff going on,” they said.

“And it’s becoming more and more common that we’re finding prisoners coming into the system now that are diagnosed more with mental health illnesses, and I’d like to see more training in that area for the staff.”

The inquest continues.

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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 figures reported in this article have been corrected.

More than 1.2 million tonnes of food is thrown away or wasted in New Zealand every year, a new report has found.

The amount is equivalent to 237 kilograms of waste per person.

Nearly a third of the waste comes from households, with processing and food production making up the remainder.

The report was commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment and is the first-ever attempt to quantify how much is wasted across the entire food chain.

The authors found 18 percent of all food wasted goes to landfill, where it creates methane, one of the gases contributing to climate change.

The total proportion of food wasted is between five and 10 percent, the report said.

That was “considerably lower” than the global estimate fo 30 to 40 percent, but did not take into account food that might be wasted after it was exported.

“New Zealand produces large quantities of food, which is then exported and any waste associated with consuming that food further down the supply chain will occur outside New Zealand, in another country,” the report said.

A huge amount of food wasted was still edible, the research found.

That was especially the case in primary production, where 582,000 tonnes (78 percent) of wasted food was still edible, and in wholesale or retail, where 85 percent of food thrown out was edible,

About half the food that households threw out was edible – equivalent to 190,000 tonnes a year.

Some councils, including Auckland and Christchurch, have introduced organic food collections in the past few years.

However, the government last year scrapped the requirement for all urban areas to introduce kerbside composting.

The Ministry for the Environment said councils would still be supported to introduce schemes if they wanted to, through the government’s Waste Minimisation Fund.

The fund itself was drastically cut in the 2024 Budget, losing $178 million over four years.

The remaining $30m a year is still available for organic waste diversion projects.

Although households contributed significantly to wasted food, the biggest loss was in primary production, the report found.

A total wastage of 37 percent happened at this point in the chain.

The report found there were opportunities to limit food waste in primary production, but it would mean “changes in consumer expectations” and food-handling systems.

“This needs to be offset against concerns regarding food safety.”

The report found big gaps in the data available.

“Currently there is no information available on food waste in prisons, schools, hotels, and fast-food restaurants and very little information for hospitals, aged care, cafés, and restaurants.”

If data collection improved, the amount of wastage was likely to increase, 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

As New Zealand gets set to rollout roadside drug testing, an Australian expert says it’s a scattergun approach that doesn’t reliably pick up impairment.

Wellington will next month become the first location to see police use a saliva test on drivers, with the rest of the country set to follow by mid-2026.

The tests will screen four key drugs: THC, which is found in cannabis, methamphetamine, MDMA or ecstasy and cocaine.

Dr Michael White, an adjunct senior fellow at the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide who’s researched road accidents involving cannabis, says the tests are nearly worthless when it comes to picking up if someone is impaired.

One of the main issues he pointed out was that the tests detected the drugs but did not reliably assess impairment.

He said the problem was not just with the length of the detection window but how many people are actually impaired after taking drugs like cannabis.

“There’s a lot of research that says regular cannabis users are not impaired even if immediately after taking it so that produces a sort of questions of justice.

It is a scattergun approach, many people who are regular users won’t be impaired even if they test positive”

The government said 30 percent of all road deaths now involve an impairing drug – and that greater screening will improve road safety.

“We know that they’re [drugs] a major factor in many road deaths and serious injuries,” Transport Minister Chris Bishop said earlier this year.

“We’re now making sure that police are equipped with roadside oral fluid screening as a road safety tool to enable the enforcement,” he said.

Director of road policing Superintendent Steve Greally announced earlier this month that Australian-based company Pathtech Pty Ltd would supply the Securetec DrugWipe 3S devices, as well as oral fluid collection kits to collect samples to be sent for laboratory analysis.

“Many countries, including New Zealand, have seen a rise in the number of drivers testing positive for drugs in recent years, and the direct correlation to the number of people being seriously injured or killed on our roads,” he said.

The DrugWipe detects the presence of drugs in saliva at or above a threshold that detects current or recent use.

Dr White pointed out there had been no robust evidence as to whether roadside testing has reduced drug impaired driving or accidents.

“Australia has been quite negligent on actually trying to evaluate roadside drug testing.

“They’ve got a very passive approach, they simply say RBT (random breath testing) for alcohol has been successful, RDT (roadside drug testing) for drugs looks a bit like random breath testing and therefore it ought to be successful. There’s never been any evaluation in Australia that clearly shows that roadside drug testing actually works.”

He said there were differences between how drugs and alcohol impairs drivers and testing should be based on the crash risk.

“I think policy should be based on crash risk, the crash risk from cannabis is relatively low its less than for a BAC of 0.5. So cannabis might increase your risk of crashing by up to 50 percent, alcohol at a BAC of 0.5 doubles your risk so it increases it by100 percent”

For methamphetamine, Dr White said it was more difficult as it might not actually impair a person but instead make someone more aggressive and increase their thrill seeking

The other key issue he had with the testing was with legal drugs such as benzodiazepines and opioids which he said can also result in fatal car accidents.

“Some Australian research has said that benzodiazepines account for twice as many road crash fatalities as Cannabis and opioids account for twice as many, now both of those are legal drugs.

So that’s one thing that neither Australia nor New Zealand really takes into account is the damage done by legal drugs.”

Pharmacist and senior lecturer in Biosciences at AUT Dr Catherine Crofts had also previously said she was worried about the lack of information on what the new testing could mean for people with prescriptions like dexamphetamine.

Dr Crofts said about 50 percent of people with ADHD in New Zealand are taking dexamphetamine or lisdexamfetamine, which is becoming increasingly popular.

“We know that some of the tests that are out there in the community do cause some cross reactivity, and I’ve just found that there are some that don’t,” she said.

“But we haven’t seen anything about what the police are going to do or how it is going to be managed when somebody who is cross reacts, who is legally on these medicines.”

Dr White said for subtle levels of impairment some have suggested using phone applications to assess people’s reaction times.

“I’m not convinced that those apps are particularly good but at least they’re trying to measure impairment which is a step in the right direction rather than measuring presence”

He also noted Australia and New Zealand did not efficiently take human rights into consideration when it came to people getting taken off the roads without showing any good cause.

“In most other countries the drug testing is associated with some sort of test of impairment, the police have to have some sort of good cause to take you off the road.

The Attorney-General’s report into the legislation, written in July 2024, found it was inconsistent with parts of the Bill of Rights Act, specifically the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure, and the right not to be arbitrarily detained.

Minister of Defence Judith Collins had found the intrusion on privacy was not proportionate to the public interest objective.

“The intrusion on an individual’s privacy that arises from the taking of a bodily sample for the first oral fluid screening test appears disproportionate where there is no basis to suspect the individual driving is under the influence of an impairing drug,” she wrote.

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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 budget for a major Taranaki road has climbed up in costs from $365 million to nearly $600m.

The Mt Messenger Bypass will be a new six-kilometre route that avoids the existing steep, narrow and winding road over Mt Messenger on State Highway 3 in north Taranaki.

It had been subject to multiple legal challenges, which in combination with associated delays on construction NZTA estimated would cost $350m.

The transport agency’s board confirmed up to $590m to complete the southern and central sections of the project.

In March it was reported the road had a budget of $365.1m.

It said the northern section of the project remained subject to ongoing legal challenges regarding one final parcel of land needed for the bypass.

“NZTA expects to confirm an investment range and delivery timeframe for the northern section once all legal challenges have been resolved.”

Its transport services group general manager Kevin Doherty said the agency’s preferred approach was always to acquire land through agreement.

“Since 2017, there have been many attempts to acquire the land by agreement, and the landowners have been presented with 20 offers – including options for new housing elsewhere across their 683-hectare landholdings.”

The project reached a milestone last month when a 110-tonne excavating machine, called Hinetūparimaunga, broke through at the northern end of the project’s 235 metre-long tunnel.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A veterans’ charity says there is growing concern about the lack of mental health and transitional support within the Defence Force.

This comes as a former infantry soldier is accusing the New Zealand Defence Force of failing to get him the help he desperately needed – after nearly being shot in the head and losing hundred of Ukranian recruits he trained.

Jack Wesley said the help that was promised never came, and he was a ticking time bomb.

The NZDF declined to be interviewed about Wesley’s situation.

No Duff Charitable Trust’s Aaron Wood said Wesley’s case was “unfortunately a rinse, soak, repeat situation”.

There were too many soldiers being discharged from the NZDF without the support and help it itself indicates they require, he said.

In Wesley’s case, Wood said the NZDF’s representative told the judge in court that his sentence of home detention for his crimes would not affect his employment and that they would work around it.

Two months later, the NZDF held a retention hearing and terminated him, Wood said.

“His brigade commander specifically noted he needed, and I quote ‘appropriate support as he exits the service’ and he got nothing. Not transition plan, no handover to civilian services, no safety net. They cut him loose at his most vulnerable, right when continuity of care was critical.”

Wood told Midday Report it was something his charity was seeing “again and again” in the past 10 years.

While there were some commands that were helpful, supportive and effective in getting veterans the support they needed, other treated people “atrociously”.

Needing support was buried, Wood said, and there was a culture that had been around for generations that saw those seeking support as weak and not good at their job.

Wood said the annual Te Arataki symposium for veterans was held in Wellington last week, where transitioning from the NZDF was one of the key aspects discussed.

“No one in the group, including senior NZDF officers and senior former NZDF officers up to two-star major general rank had anything positive to say about the NZDF transition process as it stands today.

“There were people talking about how they are quote unquote ‘on the cliff’ of coming out of the NZDF and they’re worried about what awaits them.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are investigating a series of ramraids across Christchurch after about a dozen businesses were targeted within the space of 90 minutes.

Multiple burglaries were reported to police at a number of commercial properties across the city’s western suburbs between 4am and 5.30am on Sunday.

Police said the alleged youth offenders used stolen vehicles to smash their way into shops and restaurants, and taking a “number of items from multiple locations.”

A police spokesperson claimed the offenders deliberately fled the scene and were driving dangerously because they knew police would not pursue them due to the risks.

He said police were not on the scene, but had made this determination from “further enquiries and sightings of the vehicles believed to be involved after the fact.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Wellington school is looking to put behind it years of disruption centred round its old and earthquake-prone buildings.

The problems at Wellington Girls College culminated last year with students setting up a classroom on Parliament grounds in protest, where one sign asked the Education Ministry if it could “pass this listening comprehension test”.

Crown Infrastructure Delivery has just put out a tender for two new buildings.

Principal Julia Davidson said the new builds, combined with strengthening an existing block, were significant.

“The great news is that we’ve got a plan, we’ve had our input into the plan and they’ve accepted our input,” she said on Monday.

“By 2028-ish, probably some time in the first half of the year, we’ll have everything built, up to new code, everybody’ll be in their permanent homes and we’ll be getting the field back so it’s really good news for the school.”

Of the 40 prefabs that occupy the field, the schools aims to keep of the 20 best of them, including science labs, though they would be moved off the field.

Disruption for students would be “a lot less” than before, Davidson said.

“The areas where building’s going to happen is fairly discrete and can be sort of sectioned off quite easily from the rest of the school, so for most of the time it shouldn’t be a major problem at all.

“The tetris of moving prefabs is going to be interesting but they’re aiming for holiday breaks for that, so fingers crossed it’ll all go to plan.”

The new tender is for design services for a new hall and performing arts centre, and an admin-classroom block. Also, the top two floors of the existing Brook block are being quake strengthened.

Keeping rather than bowling Brook entirely triggered last year’s protests. Davidson voiced a lot of upset at the ministry last year, but said on Monday the plan settled on for an upgrade was “going to be fine”.

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