Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand police expect officers to guard key locations for the Jewish community until at least the end of the week.

Police say the officers, who have been armed, will stay while they continue to assess the deadly attack at Bondi that killed 15 people.

“We’re maintaining our presence while we assess what’s happened in Australia, while we ensure that everything is in New Zealand as it should be,” Assistant Commissioner for National and International Security, Mike Pannett said.

“It’s probably just a reminder that our national terrorism level remains at low in New Zealand, so that indicates there’s no immediate threat to New Zealand, but absolutely important that we give reassurance to all our communities, and on this occasion, particularly our Jewish community.”

Local leaders have said they’ve stopped holding religious celebrations in public because it is too much of a security threat.

New Zealand police have been working with the Jewish Council to ensure everyone can celebrate the Hannukah festival safely.

They say they are in contact with security agencies here multiple times a day, and also in regular contact with police in Australia.

“We are mindful that we take nothing for granted and that we are far better to be prepared and having contingencies in place,” Pannett said.

When asked how long police would remain at key sites, he said it was being assessed on a daily basis.

He expected officers to remain posted until the end of the week, if not longer.

“We are also speaking with other parts of the community of New Zealand as well, including the Muslim community,” Pannett said.

“We’re ensuring that we give them that reassurance to let them know that we are there in the event of something happening.”

Pannett said police were looking at significant events, particularly for the Jewish community, happening over the week.

“And we are maintaining a presence at those events that present a risk, but also provide the reassurance opportunity,” he said.

There was no immediate threat or increased risk to New Zealand, Pannett said.

“We are simply proceeding with caution as we assess the situation and the information that comes in from our partner agencies in Australia.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Almost all of New Zealand’s glaciers could completely disappear if global warming continues on its current track, new research shows.

Local glacier researchers say that level of loss would contribute to sea-level rise, make water shortages worse, and affect tourism.

The study, published in Nature Climate Change on Tuesday, modelled the number of glaciers around the world that will completely melt at different levels of warming above pre-industrial levels.

It found that if the world warms by 2.7°C, 87 percent of New Zealand’s 3300 glaciers will disappear by the end of this century.

That level of warming is a plausible scenario, according to international non-profit Climate Action Tracker, which tracks the effects of current climate change policies.

In an even more dire scenario, where global warming reaches 4°C, just 100 of the country’s glaciers would remain.

A more optimistic scenario, where the world manages to limit warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5°C, could double the number of glaciers that still exist worldwide, the study found.

The study shows glacier loss in New Zealand peaking between 2035 and 2052, at a rate of more than 50 a year.

Globally, as many as 4000 glaciers a year could be lost by the mid-2050s,

Antarctic Research Centre associate professor Brian Anderson was not involved in the new study but has been part of long-term monitoring of New Zealand’s most well-known glaciers for 25 years,

It was “quite shocking” how fast change was happening already, Anderson said.

“[One] glacier we’ve been studying for a long time is Brewster Glacier near Haast Pass, and particularly in the last decade, it’s not just that it’s continually retreating, it’s breaking into parts – it’s sort of falling to bits and becoming quite unlike what it used to be.”

Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast – a major tourism drawcard – had retreated up the valley by more than two kilometres since he first studied it.

While many of the smaller glaciers that would disappear first were not as well-known, they were still important, Anderson said.

“They’re dotted right throughout the Southern Alps, more or less, so the impact of losing them is very widespread.

“There’s an insidious loss that perhaps we don’t notice because it’s happening piece by piece everywhere and nobody’s really counting.”

Canterbury University associate professor Heather Purdie has also been involved in long-term monitoring of New Zealand’s glaciers and said there were widespread consequences if they were lost.

“Every glacier that’s disappearing is then becoming more water in the ocean, so it has implications for cause sea level rise.”

New Zealand was lucky to have plentiful water, but glaciers were still an important resource, Purdie said.

“Glaciers are these wonderful towers of frozen water sources that release water in the summer when we need it the most. There are countries that rely fully on glacier meltwater for irrigation, for water supply.”

Losing glaciers completely would also change the shape and flow of rivers, as snow and rain falling at the heads of valleys would no longer be slowed by their presence.

“If you don’t have snow and ice or particularly ice at the top of your catchment, the minute it rains, that water runs straight off down into like a collection lake, if you’ve got one, or straight down the river and out to the ocean.”

Purdie has monitored Rolleston Glacier in Arthur’s Pass for many years and said the pace of change had quickened in the last five to 10 years.

“You stand up there and look over it, and it’s just like – wow. This thing is really thinning, it’s really just shrinking before our eyes,” she said.

“We’ve had these summers where absolutely no snow has been left on small glaciers like the Rolleston Glacier by the end of summer… The summers were just too hot, too warm, too much melt, and so your glacier is going to be going backwards really fast when it’s doing a lot of melting and not getting any gain at all.”

The new research made it clear that limiting warming could save thousands of glaciers around the world from that fate, she said.

“That’s a frustration of working in this space, is that we’re witnessing increasing temperatures, decreasing ice mass, and yet at the moment, our current government is pulling back on our pledges.”

The economic argument was often used as an excuse not to take more action, Purdie said.

“People need to be able to put food on the table and pay their rent or pay their mortgages, but if we’re in it for the long game and start thinking long-term, there’s actually also economic implications for not doing anything.”

That included the potential effects on tourism.

“Here in New Zealand glaciers are a really integral part of our recreation and tourism industries – glacier guiding, glacier hiking, mountaineering, just people even coming to view New Zealand’s amazing Southern Alps and glaciers,” she said.

“If it gets to the point where visitors just can’t turn up and easily be able to go and see these amazing places because they’ve all shrunken up into the tops, the very far reaches of the mountains, then that’s got economic implications too.”

Even now, it was much harder to see the glaciers up close than it was a decade ago, she said.

“These things are happening and they’re happening now, and we just can’t afford to wait.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A bill returning one of New Zealand’s most historic sites to Māori is due to be passed by Parliament on Wednesday, ending a 20-year quest by Northland iwi Ngāpuhi.

To the untrained eye Kororipo Pā, at Kerikeri Basin, looks like a modest headland across the water from the better-known Stone Store.

However, these grassy terraces were the stage for some of the most formative events in this country’s history.

In fact, some historians argue it’s the place where modern New Zealand began.

The land is currently managed by the Department of Conservation but the Kororipo Pā Vesting Bill, due for its third and final reading on 17 December, will return it to Ngāpuhi.

Local hapū Ngāti Rēhia will act as kaitiaki [caretakers] on the iwi’s behalf.

The return is also significant because it offers a glimmer of hope for Ngāpuhi’s long-stalled Treaty settlement.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rēhia chairman Kipa Munro said Kororipo Pā was associated with one ancestor in particular, Hongi Hika, and the Musket Wars of the 1820s.

“Kororipo was the place that they departed from,” he said.

Later, chiefs from across Ngāpuhi would gather at the pā to discuss important matters.

“It became more of a place of wānanga [learning] where the likes of Hone Heke used to report back to his people.”

Munro said the pā also provided protection to New Zealand’s first lasting European settlement, built at Hongi Hika’s invitation on the other side of Kerikeri Basin.

From his hill-top pā, the chief could keep an eye on the new arrivals from the Christian Missionary Society.

While Kerikeri was not the first mission settlement in Aotearoa – that was at Oihi, on the Purerua Peninsula – it was the first place Māori and Europeans lived side-by-side for an extended period of time.

“That coming together of the first Europeans and Māori was likened to the coming together of the salt water and the fresh water, which is what happens right at that site,” Munro said.

Kororipo translated as “swirling waters”, an apt metaphor for the changes that began at Kerikeri Basin just over 200 years ago.

Heritage New Zealand Northland manager Bill Edwards said the first formal contact between Māori and the British Crown could be traced to Kororipo Pā.

In 1831 a gathering of 13 rangatira penned a letter to King William IV, raising concerns about the intentions of the French navy and the behaviour of British subjects.

“It’s nationally significant because it’s a meeting place. It’s a place where not only different hapū met, but it’s also a meeting place of Māori and Pākehā. But importantly, it’s also that letter to the king in 1831, which was really the beginning of what we see now as modern Aotearoa New Zealand.”

Munro said the push to get Kororipo back started 20 years ago with a hui at Whitiora Marae in Te Tii, north of Kerikeri.

The hui resolved to seek the return of the pā to Ngāpuhi, with Ngāti Rēhia as the kaitiaki.

Munro said it had been “a long time coming”.

“Our thinking was that whilst we wait for that full and final settlement, we asked the government at that time, let’s have a look at a significant site in Ngāpuhi. It was a mark of good faith on both our sides to proceed and try and get that back. It’s a good start.”

Munro said there were conditions attached to the site’s return, but Ngāpuhi could revisit those later as part of its full and final settlement.

He expected the formal handover, due to take place early next year, would be charged with emotion.

“A lot of these places have been lost to us for so long, it’s almost like the pā site has suddenly come alive again. Many of our people may not even know about the pā because the connections they had to these places have been severed, they’ve been lost. But I think it’ll be an emotional day, certainly for those that have been on this pathway for its return.”

Munro said it would also be a chance to remember those who first called for the pā’s return.

“Twenty years later, a lot of those kaumātua and leaders of Ngāpuhi are no longer with us anymore. And so it’s significant that their moemoea, or their dreams and aspirations, are nearly achieved. So the job that was given to us, we can say we’ve done it on their behalf.”

Munro said the hapū had learned a lot from the negotiations about how government bureaucracy worked – and he hoped the government had learned from its dealings with the hapū.

He was also hopeful the pā’s return would set a precedent for other Ngāpuhi cultural sites.

Bill Edwards’ response to the pa’s return was unequivocal.

“It’s utterly fantastic. And it’s about time.”

The first reading of Te Pire Whakahoki i a Kororipo Pā/Kororipo Pā Vesting Bill, on 11 September, passed unanimously.

At the time Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith said it was the first redress the Crown had provided to Ngāpuhi, and demonstrated the government’s commitment to a settlement.

He hoped to progress negotiations “as soon as possible”.

“Kororipo Pā is significant to New Zealand as part of early settlement. It was a place of learning and trade between Ngāpuhi, missionaries and settlers. Ngāpuhi would assemble there before going to war and rangatira would meet to discuss politically important issues,” he said.

Goldsmith said the pā would retain its historic reserve status and public access would not be affected.

Department of Conservation Bay of Islands operations manager Bronwyn Bauer-Hunt said the department had been “incredibly privileged” over the years to administer such an important cultural site.

“We’re really looking forward to continuing to work in partnership with Ngāti Rēhia, on behalf of Ngāpuhi, to achieve their aspirations for that tohu whenua [landmark] site.”

DOC is leading a series of “muck-ins”, which started on 10 December, to remove weeds and upgrade paths before the site is handed back to Ngāpuhi.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

was due

Nearly two-thirds of households in New Zealand own a pet, and many more are planning to welcome a furry friend this Christmas.

In Auckland, a family-run business is making sure pets get where they’re going safely – transporting more than 100 animals at a time on a bus that runs from Auckland to Invercargill.

The business is run by Karyn McLauchlan, who said the idea grew out of a bad personal experience.

“I was a Blue Heeler breeder and had a terrible experience with an airline, and from that point onwards I decided I was going to deliver all my pups myself throughout the country,” she said.

“That’s how it all started. Other breeders got wind of what I was doing and wanted me to pick up their puppies and deliver them. It was all word of mouth at first, and then we started getting birds, cats, kittens, rabbits – all sorts of things.”

What began in a small van has since grown into a full-sized bus with an attached trailer.

McLauchlan and her sister Leanne run what might be one of New Zealand’s most unusual bus services – carrying dogs, cats, and the occasional surprise passenger.

“We’ve had working dogs, family dogs. We’ve had poultry – chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys – even ostriches, baby ostriches,” Leanne said. “It is a zoo.”

The pet bus leaves Auckland twice a month over the year, travelling up and down the country on an eight-day journey.

The bus was rarely empty, often transporting more than 100 animals during a single trip.

Nine-month-old foster puppy Henry was one of them, heading to his forever home in Wellington.

His foster mum, Jordan, said finding the pet bus had made the decision much easier.

“Our foster group recommended them, and I did some research as well. They seemed really good, so I was happy to put my trust in them and give him a safe ride down,” she said.

That week’s trip left Auckland on Monday, with plenty of stops along the way.

Leanne said many of the passengers were Christmas presents – wrapped in fur.

“Christmas time’s a good time, especially when kids don’t know they’re getting a puppy or an animal,” she said.

“Seeing the look on their faces is quite precious.”

But not every journey began with a wagging tail.

American bulldog Lilly was heading to Wellington after being re-homed.

Her previous owner said sending Lilly south had been an easier decision once she learned about the Pet Bus. .

“We recently had a big life change, and I just didn’t have enough time for her,” she said.

“I had to make the best decision for her, and I know she’s going to be very happy.”

And it was not just cats and dogs making the journey.

Whangārei-based Debbie had worked with the Pet Bus for the past 15 years, helping transport animals from Northland down to Auckland.

She said some of the passengers had been more exotic than others.

“We’ve had dragons, bearded dragons, blue-tongued lizards. I’d never seen one up close until I started here,” she said.

McLauchlan said no one was left behind, no matter how many legs they had.

“We’ve done an ant farm down to a big school in Invercargill. We’ve done spiders, big wolf spiders,” she said.

“There was a big trend a few years ago with kids having these wolf spiders.”

On board, larger dogs were given individual walks, and food was provided unless a pet had a special diet.

“We don’t take puppies out of their crates at all because of distemper, parvo, and all the nasties on the ground,” McLauchlan said.

“My sister keeps everything watered and cleaned, while the dogs get walked three to four times a day, individually. We’ve got stopping points throughout the country, and I’m on a logbook system, so every five hours we’re stopping anyway.”

The bus also had a live tracker, allowing owners to keep tabs on their animals’ journey.

McLauchlan said the layout of the bus helped keep every passenger calm and comfortable.

“We’ve got all the quiet animals down the back – cats, turtles, rabbits, mice, rats – and the noisier ones, mostly dogs, up the front. That helps keep them relaxed,” she said.

“That helps keeping them all relaxed.”

McLauchlan and her sister stayed with the animals around the clock, sleeping on the bus between crates.

While McLauchlan did the driving, Leanne kept a close eye on the passengers.

Leanne said the work was rewarding work, but it was not exactly a walk in the park.

“If we get really unsettled puppies, we’ll put music on. I’m up and down all the time, and if one’s really stressed, I’ll take it out of the crate and give it a cuddle,” she said.

“You’re dealing with people’s pets – they’re precious – so you have to treat them like precious cargo.”

The final pet bus of the year left Auckland on Monday and was due to roll into Invercargill just in time for Christmas.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

On the small, bush-clad, Whenua Hou / Codfish Island preparations are underway. People and supplies are being dropped in by helicopter. Food hoppers are being filled. Transmitters are being checked. And come nighttime, a booming sound has begun to fill the air.

Anticipation is high, and building, for what may turn out to be the biggest kākāpō breeding season ever.

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

“The first male who was heard booming this year was Faulkner, in late November,” Alison Ballance said, having heard the news from Department of Conservation’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme members, who are keeping a close eye on developments. “Faulkner is 9 years old, coming on 10. So this will be his first booming season. And over the weeks that have followed, lots of other males have joined in now.”

Kākāpō are ‘lek’ breeders. The males stay in one spot and attract the females to them through their boom and ching calls. They also prepare a pathway and shallow depressions for the ladies to admire, says Alison. “The boys have been doing lots of housework, which is always good to hear. So the male kākāpō have been tidying up their track and bowl systems.”

The earliest mating can happen around Christmas Day, but most of the action takes place a week or two after, over the New Year.

Well known for The Kākāpō Files podcast released in 2019 during her time as Our Changing World host and producer, Alison’s association with kākāpō goes back much further than that – to her days working in natural history filmmaking.

It started in 1995, when she found herself filming kākāpō nests on Whenua Hou “That was a real high point for me in my life journey really, getting involved with kākāpō. But that point in time was a real low point for the kākāpō population.” At that time there were just 51 known birds.

1995 was also the year that the Kākāpō Recovery Programme began in its current form. In the 10 years running up to 1995 there had only been three kākāpō chicks that survived to adulthood. So the newly formed programme aimed to change those odds.

In the late 80s and early 90s every known wild kākāpō was uplifted and transferred to predator free offshore islands to try halt their decline. Whenua Hou became the new ‘kākāpō central’, and the most important breeding site for this attempted comeback.

Fast forward 30 years and today there are 237 kākāpō.

It has been a huge conservation effort, with continuous tracking and monitoring of the birds, and it gets stepped up even further when a breeding season happens to include artificial insemination, egg incubation, supplementary feeding and chick hand-rearing.

So a lot of work when breeding happens, but that’s not every year, says Alison. “The one thing you need to know about kākāpō is you have to be very, very patient…. because they only breed every two to four years, and the last time they bred was four years ago”.

Their breeding is tied to the rimu tree fruiting, called a mast. These birds are tuned in to the rimu cycle, and after careful years of study, DOC’s kākāpō recovery team is too. By counting the growing tips on the rimu branches a full year in advance, they can know if the parrots will breed. And, says Alison, the numbers stack up for this to be a bumper year “The previous biggest mast on record was 2019, when we did the first season of The Kākāpō Files. And the autumn count on Whenua Hou at that time was 47 percent. Well, this year the autumn count on Whenua Hou was 63 percent. So it’s by far and away the biggest rimu fruiting season on record.”

However, no one is willing to count their chicks ‘before they fledge’. “Unfortunately lots of things could happen,” says Alison, “The rimu fruit might not ripen, it often doesn’t. And in that case, chicks might starve.” Disease is always a concern too. The 2019 breeding season saw an outbreak of a fungal infection called aspergillosis which killed both adults and chicks. Plus, there’s the ongoing concern about the arrival of the highly pathogenic strain of bird flu that’s been sweeping the globe.

There is something new happening this year too, says Alison. Now, with the numbers up and the kākāpō spread across three breeding islands, DOC is keen to take a new ‘lighter touch’ approach on two of those islands. “They’re trying to do themselves out of a job really… In the last 30 years it’s been important to increase numbers as quickly as possible, but you can’t keep up this intensity of effort for this many birds.”

Across this season Alison will be collaborating with [www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/kakapo-recovery/ DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery] Programme team members to get updates from the breeding islands – when the birds mate, when eggs are laid, how many chicks hatch safely, and whether they are healthy and growing – and she will be bringing them to RNZ audiences once again through the second season of The Kākāpō Files. She thinks this season, with its hands-off approach, will bring a ‘very different vibe’. And with 84 adult female kākāpō that could breed, 2026 has the potential to be real turning point for this iconic manu.

Follow and listen to the Kākāpō Files II on your favourite podcast app, or on the RNZ podcast webpage.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A worker at a special court that helps Auckland’s homeless who have committed low-level offences turn their lives around, says she is seeing increasing levels of poor mental health and distress over the past six to 12 months at the court, as the city continues to see a rise in the number of people without shelter.

On Tuesday, the release of the latest six-monthly survey of housing support providers under the National Homelessness Data Project (NHDP) showed that homelessness in Auckland has more than doubled from 426 to 940 people in the year to September.

The report, released by the Salvation Army and Community Housing Aotearoa, found that 14 of the 21 agencies interviewed reported an increase in homelessness.

It highlighted that the number of emergency housing applications that were declined increased from 4 percent in March 2024 to 36 percent by June 2025, while the assessment of whether people had “contributed to their own homelessness” remains a major reason for declining grants.

The report said there was little evidence to suggest that the Ministry for Social Development (MSD) had adjusted its “use of discretion” to be more accommodating when assessing emergency housing applications, despite directives from the government in September.

Carmel Claridge has worked for more than three years as a coordinator at Te Kōti o Timatanga Hou (the Court of New Beginnings) based at the Auckland District Court, which provides a therapeutic approach to offenders who are homeless in the Auckland CBD.

She said she had noticed people coming to the court recently were giving up on applying for emergency housing due to the cost of the housing, the dangerous environment, and past experiences of being declined.

“The last half dozen people that I have assessed for suitability to come into our court, of those people, not a single one of them was prepared to even apply for an emergency housing grant,” she said.

The latest Salvation Army report under the NHDP stated that emergency housing grants fell from 7068 in March 2024 to 1833 by December 2024. One agency reported that in one month, all 27 people they referred to the MSD for emergency housing were declined.

Claridge said the people she works with at the court are at “the bottom of the ladder” when it comes to getting housing assistance – often denied access due to addictions, mental health struggles and past convictions.

She said she was seeing more distress and emotional dysregulation of people coming to the court over the past six to 12 months.

“What I’m seeing is people presenting up at the Auckland District Court with very poor, often untreated or unmedicated mental health issues, combined with perhaps alcohol or drug addictions, and sometimes also with criminal history as well.

“Those people are very, very difficult to house at the best of times, but when they are completely shut out of a housing continuum by denial of a basic emergency housing grant, they’re effectively cut off from any support whatsoever,” Claridge said.

Claridge said this cohort was unable to get help for drug and alcohol issues without a fixed address, which puts them in a “vicious cycle” of being denied the support needed to sustain a stable tenancy.

There was a need for housing that provides a supportive environment where their mental health, drug and addiction issues can be addressed, she said.

The government and the council’s move on orders for the homeless in Auckland was not a humane solution to a very complex problem, she said.

Claridge said there could be wider social consequences if nothing was done to support people.

“If you have a group of people out there in the community who are very mentally unwell, who are not receiving the medical help they need, who are not properly medicated, who are not having their conditions monitored, or their prescribed medication controlled in some way.

“It is inevitable that you are going to get more incidents of random acts of violence on the wider members of society,” she said.

Salvation Army and Community Housing Aotearoa December report

The report acknowledged that the government’s $17 million in targeted funding in September, for 300 Housing First places and outreach support, has had some positive impacts – including more people helped into Kainga Ora housing in Hamilton, and more outreach workers for some providers in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

However it raised concern that the funding ends in June 2026, as well as the lack of relief for smaller centres such as Whangārei, Rotorua, Taranaki, Nelson or Dunedin. It is calling for sustained funding beyond June 2026.

It also highlighted that government budgeted funding for homelessness support in the current year to June 2026 has reduced by $79m, compared to the year to June 2025.

The report calls for more tailored responses to women’s homelessness, including young women with children, older women, and Wāhine Māori – who make up more than a third of homeless women in New Zealand.

Older people facing homelessness was identified as a growing issue in the report, with service providers reporting a growing proportion of pensioners renting and vulnerable to unstable housing.

Youth outreach service providers also reported that youth homelessness is becoming more visible, with nearly 50 percent of those experiencing severe housing deprivation being under the age of 25.

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka: government is addressing the issues

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said in a statement the report findings reinforce what the government knows of homelessness as a complex issue, “shaped by long-standing Whānau and system breakdowns”.

“We know there are real issues, however, we are taking action to address these. We are working closely with community housing providers, Iwi, Māori organisations and frontline services, and we take their insights seriously,” he said in the statement.

Potaka said the figures cited in the report reflected “provider experience” in particular places, and were not a national headcount.

Ian Hutson, director of the social policy and parliamentary unit, said it was concerning that there was currently no government funded comprehensive data to capture the real extent of homelessness in the country.

The figures on Auckland’s homelessness came from the council and community providers who had counted the number of homeless people known to them, he said.

The real numbers would be much higher, Hutson said.

An earlier briefing released by the Salvation Army in July this year found through OIA requests and a range of sources that one in every 1000 people in New Zealand is without shelter, and 57,000 women are experiencing homelessness, often in unsafe or unstable living situations.

Potaka added that it was too early to judge the impact of the $17m committed by the government in September.

“We are investing over half a billion dollars a year in housing and support, backing Iwi- and community-led solutions, and fixing a system that was fragmented and ineffective.

“Support is delivered nationwide based on need, and funding shifts reflect a deliberate move away from crisis responses toward stable housing outcomes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Potaka said MSD had clear direction to apply discretion where people face genuine hardship.

“Based on feedback I have received there is a noticeable difference and providers are working effectively with MSD,” he said.

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