Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

A week after a bombshell IPCA report raised allegations of high-level cover-ups and triggered accusations of corruption, the fallout continues to grow, with public trust in our police in the spotlight.

New Zealand has long been considered one of the least corrupt jurisdictions in the world.

But a week ago, a scandal shook that perception.

New Zealand police were thrown into one of the most serious crises of confidence in recent memory, with allegations of corruption and high-level cover-ups involving our top officers, including former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.

And eight days on, it’s still unclear whether promised changes and investigations will be enough to rebuild confidence in an institution which has had its appearance of integrity fundamentally shaken.

“This goes to the fundamental heart of trust, really,” Newsroom national affairs editor Sam Sachdeva tells The Detail.

“As a country, can we trust our police, the people who are meant to ensure the law and hold law-breakers to account? If they can’t be trusted to follow the law themselves, or [follow] due process, then how can we trust them? So, the stakes couldn’t be higher, really.”

After a fight by journalists, including the New Zealand Herald‘s Jared Savage, to lift suppression orders, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a damning report last Tuesday, outlining major leadership failures in the handling of complaints against former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

The complaints were from a young woman – referred to as Ms Z – with whom McSkimming had an affair.

The Authority reported that despite allegations of coercive sexual behaviour, threatening conduct, and potential misuse of police systems, early efforts focused on pursuing the complainant under the Harmful Digital Communications Act, while concerns about McSkimming stalled or were minimised.

And top police leaders – including then-commissioner Coster and his deputy commissioner – engaged in serious misconduct in their handling of the case, accepting McSkimming’s explanations uncritically and failing to order timely, impartial investigations.

The IPCA findings have triggered public outrage, calls for new investigations, and intense scrutiny of the force’s culture and leadership – past and present. The police minister and commissioner have since publicly shown remorse and offered apologies and investigations.

But the woman still faces charges under the digital harassment law for sending “abusive messages” to the detective investigating her, and to his wife. The McSkimming-related charges were withdrawn.

This news was broken by Savage, a senior investigative journalist, who has been working on the scandal for more than a year.

“This big apology was put out to her publicly, everyone – the commissioner, the minister of police – all extending genuine apologies, I think, or heartfelt sympathies for the situation she has been put through … but she’s still facing charges because allegedly she sent some emails to the detective who had arrested her originally for the charges that we now know is misconduct,” he tells The Detail.

“Getting answers around this has been difficult, as well, because it’s all tied up in the legal process. You go back to the commission and say, ‘should she still be charged over this? What is the public interest?’ and they say, ‘our hands are tied, it’s with the Crown now’.”

He says the experience has had a “devastating impact” on the young woman, who was allegedly told by McSkimming that if she raised complaints he would distribute photos of her in compromising positions.

“So, you can imagine someone who was very scared to make a formal complaint sends through these emails, which on the face of it look quite abusive and hard to believe, because at this point McSkimming is a shining beacon, he’s the number two police officer in the country, clean cut guy. [These are] serious allegations, but police didn’t do their job.”

Instead, the police backed their own, and charged the complainant.

And all the information was suppressed until last week.

“I think the treatment of her is appalling, to be honest. The police will need to be accountable for that at some point, as well,” Savage says.

“To carry on with the second prosecution against her adds insult to injury.”

He says the police have a “huge job ahead of them” to rebuild and restore public confidence.

He believes the police involved in the cover-up should be looked into, and a ministerial inquiry should be launched, similar to the Commission of Inquiry led by Dame Margaret Bazley, whose scathing 2007 report described disgraceful conduct by police officers over 25 years, and a wall of silence protecting the men that women complained about.

The high-profile case of Louise Nicholas, who accused four police officers of rape, prompted the Commission of Inquiry to be established in 2004.

“I think this is such a big scandal that there needs to be a similar Commission of Inquiry or Ministerial Inquiry to look into the wider issues that we have got going on here,” Savage says.

“Twenty-odd years after the last report, I think it’s time to have another good look under the covers, really, because clearly not as much progress has been made as police would like us to believe.

“And again, it comes down to public trust and confidence.”

Police, politicians, and the public are now waiting for the next phase of investigations – and for answers about how such significant failures occurred at the very top of the organisation.

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Central Auckland is bearing the brunt of the rain this morning, MetService says.

Orange heavy rain warnings are in place for Northland, Auckland and Great Barrier Island (until 2pm), Waitomo, Waikato and Taupō (until 6pm), Bay of Plenty (until 11pm) and Tongariro National Park (until 10pm).

MetService meteorologist Samkelo Magwala said all those areas had received a “decent amount” of rain overnight.

It was heaviest in Auckland, particularly in the central city, he said.

“Some stations in Auckland have recorded about 15.5mm of rain in the period of an hour, some even as high as 21mm of rain,” he said.

There was a possibility of flooding with that amount of rain, Magwala said.

The band of rain would move eastwards throughout the day, easing before another band was due to ramp up again in the afternoon.

Gisborne was not under a weather warning, but the rain was heading that way later this afternoon, he said.

After Wednesday, high pressure would begin to build, Magwala said, “giving us some more settled weather for a couple of days”.

Taumarunui and Taihape north of Ohakune, as well as Taranaki are also under heavy rain watches until Wednesday.

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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 nursing student says he’s “disappointed, but not surprised” by delays in announcing job offers to graduate nurses.

Graduating student nurses were notified on Tuesday they would not hear results of job applications the following day as expected.

Applications for jobs were made through the Advanced Choice of Employment (ACE) process, which matched nurses to positions in the health system.

An email sent to students sitting their final examinations this week said job offers would be pushed back to 28 November.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but the extra time will be used to consider additional positions across Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora,” ACE organisers wrote.

National Student Unit (NSU) chair Davis Ferguson said he was excited to find out on Wednesday where he might be placed when he started work.

He said he was aware of controversy surrounding Health NZ plans to hire more graduate nurses on part-time hours, but had to hope that the health agency was acting in good faith.

“It’s a very powerless situation, because I can’t have any control over how many jobs there are going to be in nursing, so you’ve got to take it at face value,” Ferguson said. “There’s nothing you can really do about it.”

He said watching the changes in the health system had “been a rollercoaster” during his last three years of study.

“From when I first started – hearing students are pretty much guaranteed a job – to this year, where only 45 percent of nursing graduates got jobs in the mid-year intake.”.

He said the state of the health system had “strengthened my resolve” to make a difference in his future role.

“We go into nursing, because we want to help.

“I think it’s made a lot of people disheartened and more likely to go over to Australia, or seek other employment in places that they never considered, but I think everyone is doing the best they can at the moment.”

He hoped any additional positions uncovered in the delayed process would offer enough hours to properly support the nurses.

“I hope this delay leads to better quality jobs for nursing graduates. We’re wanting to be looked after by good quality jobs, so we can be the best nurses for our patients.

“Making sure that new grad nurses can put food on their table and a roof over their head, so we can provide a quality healthcare for our New Zealand public.”

Health New Zealand people, culture, health and safety executive national director Robyn Shearer would not comment on the reasons behind the delay.

She said the organisation was committed to “assisting graduate nurses into jobs across the health system”.

Shearer said HNZ was working to place as many graduates as possible into employment.

“We expect to be in a position to make offers by the end of this month.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fifty tiny, yellow songbirds have been released in a corner of Mount Aspiring National Park that hasn’t heard their chirps in years.

Conservationists hope the at-risk mohua can set up a new foothold in the Matukituki Valley, west of Wānaka, after years of intensive predator-control work by passionate locals.

Also called yellowhead, the birds were once among the most abundant species in South Island forests in the 1800s, but now number fewer than 5000.

To revive the population, the Department of Conservation has seeded populations on predator-free offshore islands, then returned small groups to carefully managed mainland sites.

Southern Lakes Sanctuary Matukituki hub co-ordinator Scotty Bewley said the valley’s new arrivals were delivered by helicopter from Anchor Island in Dusky Sound on 14 October.

“It just gives the species the opportunity to hopefully rebuild itself in a natural environment to become stronger, to become more resilient to the challenges that we face as the world changes and for people to enjoy them in multiple areas,” he said.

Southern Lakes Sanctuary staff carried out a census last week to see how the newcomers had settled and spotted a dozen birds across three sites – a result Bewley described as heartening, after a stretch of stormy weather.

“For 12 birds to be found in the first census over two days is quite encouraging,” he said. “It shows that the birds have survived through a pretty turbulent weather period, but also stayed in the area and haven’t found the need to vacate.

“They’ve found suitable habitat.”

For Bewley, watching three mohua flitting around the forest canopy on Monday near Cascade Hut, a kilometre from the release site, was a particularly special moment.

“It’s fantastic for the Mohua Recovery Group and the Department of Conservation to feel as though they can be released here,” he said.

“They’re a beautiful native bird. They were here at one point and now we have the opportunity to enjoy them again.”

Years of community work

Much of the Matukituki Valley’s predator control has been driven by locals, who refuse to watch their backyard fall silent.

Geoff Marks, a trustee with the Matukituki Charitable Trust, said residents noticed kea numbers slipping in 2013 and felt compelled to step in.

“Derek and Gillian Crombie, who set up the trust, walked into a Department of Conservation office and said, ‘What can we do to help?'” he said.

“While the translocation of mohua was never an original objective, we were hopeful that one day we might be able to translocate other species.

“This is just the culimnation of incredibly hard work by lots and lots of volunteers, and many, many hours of getting sweaty in the hills, and coming home stinking of dead rats and stoats.”

Southern Lakes Sanctuary came on board in 2021, helping co-ordinate the valley’s work, as part of a wider regional effort.

Bewley spent hours each week on steep trap-lines, testing new devices for rats, stoats, possums and feral cats.

Nearly 1000 traps are scattered across the valley, he said, from experimental stoat designs backed by Predator Free NZ to AI-enabled devices that powered down, whenever a curious kea hopped too close.

Many of the traps were on Mt Aspiring Station, which covered much of the valley floor.

Co-owner Sally Aspinall said letting conservation groups in was an easy decision.

“Getting rid of pests and predators is beneficial for everyone,” she said. “This is a special place.

“We farm it, but we want it to be in a better state when we leave it than when we arrived.”

Kererū numbers had surged in recent years, Aspinall said – she counted 22 in a single paddock not long ago – and birdlife in general had become noticeably more present.

“They’ve done a good job. We’ve definitely been noticing a lot more birdlife around the farm.”

A previous success story

Conservationists hoped the mohua would follow the same trajectory as the South Island robin.

Twenty-two robins were released into the valley in 2008 – that population had since ballooned to about 500.

Southern Lakes Sanctuary chief executive Paul Kavanagh said this year’s beech mast meant even more vigilance was required.

“We’ll be ramping up protection work, because with a beech-mast also comes an increase in rats and stoats,” he said. “This work has to continue in perpetuity to make sure they’re safe.

“It’s one thing getting the birds returned to that area, but now we have to make sure they’re as safe as possible.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Health NZ says another 10,000 people have been immunised against measles, but experts warn more coverage is needed to help those with immune deficiencies.

The National Public Service’s Nikki Canter-Burgoyne said 10,847 people were vaccinated against Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) last week.

It comes after an immunisation drive earlier this month which saw an extra 15,000 people vaccinated.

There are 19 confirmed cases in the current measles outbreak.

“It’s heartening to see continued interest in people protecting themselves and their tamariki from measles a week after Immunisation Week finished,” Canter-Burgoyne said.

The national childhood vaccination rate in New Zealand is at 82.6 percent. Coverage of 95 percent in the community is required to prevent outbreaks and protect populations, The World Health Organisation said.

Health New Zealand also has the target of 95 percent of two year olds being fully vaccinated.

Dr Nikki Turner, from the Immunisation Advisory Centre, said it was vital to reach community immunity when some people couldn’t get the vaccine.

She said as a live vaccine, MMR could pose risk for those with significant immune deficiencies, including people on medications for Crohn’s disease, arthritis, people undergoing chemotherapy, or those with HIV. It also cannot be given to those who are pregnant.

“MMR is what we call live attenuated, so it doesn’t cause measles, but when you give the vaccine it can replicate inside you, so that if you have a significant immune problem, it can replicate quite vigourously inside you, and cause what looks like measles.”

Turner said those with immune deficiencies were at higher risk of developing severe complications from measles – including pneumonia, brain inflammation or death.

“We do not want these people to get measles.”

Associate professor Andrew Harrison, medical director at Arthritis New Zealand, said this was an issue for a significant proportion of the population.

“I know it’s caused a fair amount of concern”.

He said a decision needed to be made on a case by case basis for patients with arthritis who did not have immunity to measles.

Harrison said the MMR vaccine could be given to people with certain lower-level treatments for inflammatory arthritis, whereas advice for those on heavy immunosuppressants – such as TNF inhibitors – was that they stopped medications if they needed the vaccine.

“If they carry on with their treatment – the risk is that the live vaccine will expand and proliferate in their bloodstream and tissues, and cause an infection, which can be harmful.”

He said guidelines differed between Health NZ’s Immunisation Handbook and guidelines from the American College of Rheumatology.

“The best approach is to tailor the advice for the individual patient according to their circumstances, and to balance the risks of developing measles against the risk of vaccine-related syndrome.”

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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 resident of a Far North town says it was “about time” the water watchdog stepped in, after being under a boil notice for more than 10 years.

Kāeo’s water supply has been under the management of private companies for 25 years, after it was sold by the Far North District Council.

Since then, a decade-long boil water notice has been in place, the water supply owner has been trespassed from the treatment plant and water hasn’t been running for the past month.

Now, for the first time, the water services authority – Taumata Arowai – has placed the town’s supply under statutory management and appointed the council to take care of it.

Local resident Anna Valentine told RNZ it was about time the community had change.

“It’s a relief for sure, but it seems like a lot of effort has gone in to get somebody to take notice of it.”

Valentine said getting information out of the private water company about their issues had been difficult.

“It has been like living under that Mad Max character that is like the lord of the water, and has turned it on and off at whim.”

She wanted accountability for what the town had gone through.

“What’s happened to all the money the town’s paid to the supplier, if he couldn’t even put a filter in or maintain the plant? That seems to have not happened, because the boil-water notice never got taken off.”

Taumata Arowai operations head Steve Taylor said the issues were unacceptable and went on for too long.

He said the Far North District Council would now need to consider how it managed the water, both short and long term.

Te Runanga o Whaingaroa pou arahi Rainera Kaio said his iwi organisation would like to be part of that work.

“We’re keen to work alongside Far North District Council to co-design something.

“Whether that looks like – a joint model situation or whether we look to other members of the community, or other contractors in the community that could take this on.”

Far North District Council was approached for comment.

Wai Care Environmental Consultants declined to comment, beyond saying it supported Taumata Arowai’s statement.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Pike River families are still waiting to hear if police will lay criminal charges, as a result of the disaster that left 29 men dead 15 years ago.

Bernie Monk, whose son Michael died in the mine, said it was outrageous to still be waiting for a prosecution.

“They owe this to the country to do the right thing and I can’t understand why we’re still here, still battling for the same thing.”

To honour the anniversary, Monk said families would meet at the memorial site in Atarau on Wednesday morning, before heading up to the mine in the afternoon.

“We’ll all gather at approximately the time of the explosion and have a roll call, so every member is remembered by individuals. If their families are not there, we still have their names recorded and then we have a minute silence.

“That’s a vigil that we’ve had every year since the day it’s happened and we’ll continue to do that, until the government, the police and the Crown see sense in bringing charges and possibly getting the men out.”

The 15th anniversary also comes after the release of the Pike River feature film, which has brought the families’ ongoing fight for justice back into focus.

Recently released research shows New Zealand’s health-and-safety record remains poor, with workers here more likely to die than in Australia or the United Kingdom.

The Public Health Communication Centre research identified persistent issues with workplace health and safety, including weak enforcement, inadequate fines, and poor understanding of legal duties among employers and political leaders.

Anna Osborne, whose son Milton died in the mine, and Sonya Rockhouse, whose son Ben was also killed in the disaster, are in Wellington to meet with Workplace Safety and Relations Minister Brooke van Velden.

Osborne said she was shocked, but not surprised there had been little change in the rate of workplace fatalities in the last 15 years, and she wanted to see health-and-safety regulations strengthened.

“We lobbied the government for stronger health-and-safety rules and regulations in the workplace, but to find that they’re being watered down at the moment by the government, it just makes me sick to think that another Pike River could actually happen again.”

Osborne said people dying at work and not returning home to their families was unacceptable.

“I’ve lived through losing my husband and it’s a nightmare. It’s an emotional rollercoaster and life just is not the same.

“I just hate the thought of any loved one not returning home after their day at work, so if I can help in any way to push these laws to make them stronger and make it safer, I’m going to do that.”

Osborne said she felt she owed it to the people of New Zealand, who had been so kind in supporting the Pike families, to keep fighting for safer health-and-safety regulations in the workplace.

A police spokesperson said they were still working with the crown solicitor and considering whether to lay charges over the Pike River Mine disaster.

They could not provide a timeframe for when a decision would be made on the matter.

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