Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

MetService is predicting a chilly Christmas Day as the current cold snap continues.

The forecaster says a southwesterly air mass is responsible for cooler than average temperatures for most of the country.

Head of weather Heather Keats told Morning Report although temperatures were expected to rebound early next week, the pattern of periodic cool weather was likely to be prolonged.

“It’s not looking great for Christmas Day for much of the country.”

She said there was still some lee-way in the forecast a week out from Christmas but as the day approaches, the models will start to align with greater confidence and accuracy.

Keats said at this stage, a high pressure with warmer temperatures was expected in the lead-up to the New Year.

“Which is kind of what we see every year.

“If it’s a little bit rubbish on Christmas Day it tends to be much better for New Year’s Eve and vice versa depending on your location.

“So you are going to get lots of fine weather and it looks like there’ll be some warmer days coming too after Christmas.

“But whether we’re still locked in to that … southwesterly flow, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

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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 say two people have reportedly suffered injuries after a gun was fired in the Southland town of Gore.

Emergency services were alerted to the incident near Aparima Street shortly before 8pm on Wednesday.

St John said it dispatched multiple ambulances and two helicopters to the scene, but police said the injuries were not thought to be life threatening.

A cordon is in place and police are asking the public to avoid the area.

They said they did not believe there was any further risk to the community.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland duty lawyer says he and some of his colleagues will not work for a full week next month, as they battle poor pay and working conditions.

Duty lawyers are paid by the Justice Ministry to give free legal advice to those appearing in court who could not afford a lawyer.

Dennis Ansley has been a duty lawyer for over 38 years in Auckland.

For the last three years, Ansley said he had been pushing the government for a better hourly pay rate.

“It’s very low,” he said.

“It’s about a fifth of what I could charge if I was charging in private practice.”

Ansley said duty lawyers could be getting paid twice what they were currently, if their pay was adjusted for inflation over the past 25 years.

“Out of frustration, what we’re doing next month is we’re taking industrial action, we’re not making ourselves available for duty for one whole week in January,” he said.

He said he had support from at least 75 percent of his colleagues at Auckland, as well as support from other parts of the country like Christchurch, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay.

“What we’re trying to do is give the government a message that if you don’t come to the party and talk to us, and try to make our job conditions better and our pay rate better, we’re going to show you how important we are and how vital our work is.”

Ansley said it would be chaotic for the courts if they stopped working.

At Auckland District Court alone, duty lawyers helped 60-80 people a day, according to Ansley.

He was hopeful the action would spark change.

“By doing nothing, we’re not going to get anywhere,” he said.

“Most of us are fed up, we’re doing this important job but not getting recognised properly for it.

“By not having a majority of duty lawyers being available for a whole week, it’s going to create a real shortage of people on the ground, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, they’ll probably have to put cases off, they may have to just concentrate on the overnight arrests and maybe do very little.”

Ansley said he had spoken to a number of judges who were supportive of the action.

“They know how vital we are to the running of the court,” he said.

Ansley said many of the people coming through the courts had mental health issues, and it had grown worse over the years.

“Pretty much every second person we deal with has mental health issues,” Ansley said.

He said that had made their job more difficult, and seen the number of both physical and verbal assaults increase “astronomically”.

“To get abused on the job is not pleasant,” he said.

“When you’re sworn at on a regular basis, and all you’re doing is your job and you’re trying to help someone, it’s pretty difficult to deal with at times.”

Ansley said he had been threatened and another colleague had been assaulted while on the job.

The condition of the building itself was an issue.

“It’s a very old court, we’ve had flooding issues, we’ve had black mould as well in the custody area where we work, we’ve got problems with the air-conditioning, so during the summer time sometimes the heat is unbearable.”

Ministry of Justice national service delivery group manager Tracey Baguley said it was aware of the planned industrial action.

She said it recognised the role duty lawyers played in ensuring access to justice for those appearing without representation.

“The Ministry’s priority is to maintain continuity of service for court users during this period and are actively working through options to ensure there is limited disruption, if any,” she said.

“The Legal Aid Triennial review includes a review of remuneration across the legal aid scheme, including proposals related to the duty lawyer service that were outlined in the discussion document. The proposals are currently with the Minister for consideration.”

A spokesperson from Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s office said he was being kept updated on the situation.

At Auckland District Court, RNZ spoke with those who had just seen the duty lawyer.

One man said turning up to court alone could be daunting, but that the duty lawyer staff were helpful. Another also commented on the good level of service provided.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters begged police for a helicopter to help rescue a teenage girl from a Coromandel cliff face, but police refused because they mistakenly thought the girl was dead.

The 13-year-old had seen her friend fall past her to his death on rocks below, just before 8pm at Hahei beach on 11 January this year.

A Fire and Emergency (FENZ) cliffs rescue team drove from Hamilton and lowered her down to safety at midnight.

A FENZ call log and emails from the night – obtained by RNZ – reveal police refused a chopper “because of the cost”.

Police this week said if they had “asked the necessary questions” they would have categorised it differently.

“Unfortunately, police incorrectly concluded the child had died, and it was therefore appropriate to dispatch the ropes team via road transport, rather than helicopter,” police said.

“Police unreservedly apologise to the young person and their family.”

The FENZ emails expressed distress and frustration on the night, but also referred to recurring problems getting air ambulance helicopters (AAH) to transport their lines rescue teams.

“Had the crew been deployed via helicopter, their flight time would likely have been less than 45 minutes rather than the 1 hour 40-minute drive,” the communications shift manager emailed.

“This is a further instance where we have been delayed in reaching the scene of a rescue due to police not approving AAH to transport our crews,” FENZ head of specialist response Aaron Waterreus told his national bosses shortly after the rescue.

A line from the fire-fighters’ call-log, just before 10pm, showed Hahei volunteer fire-fighters had asked where the cliff rescue team was, and Hamilton acting group manager Matt Leonard explained “police wont [sic] approve helo response because of the cost – asked if FENZ can foot the bill for it”.

Only police could authorise an air ambulance and “FENZ has no ability to authorise the tasking”, another email said.

FENZ, police and St John would not address RNZ’s questions about whether there was a wider problem with air ambulance or lines rescue responses, and if that had been fixed.

‘She was perched there’

A coroner’s findings showed the two teenagers had arrived at Hahei earlier on 11 January with her family. Their identities are suppressed

They went off together about 7pm. The girl’s father told police they had not discussed climbing.

Up on the rocks, the girl became worried and told the boy she could not climb back down, so they pressed on towards the top. When she looked down, the boy fell past her from a height of 15-20m.

She shouted for help from 10-15m up, and a bystander called for assistance. Hahei volunteer fire-fighters, a St John ambulance and a chopper with a winch from Ardmore went to the scene.

The FENZ call-log showed that at one point the responders said: “Just asking if Westpac helo could do it.”

But RNZ was later told: “She was perched there – they were worried the rotor wash would blow her off.”

Police in their statement this week said something similar: “Responders from Hato Hone St John and FENZ requested a ropes team be dispatched by helicopter to help rescue a second young person perched on the cliff face.”

But they had wrongly concluded this person was dead.

‘Incredibly sad and frustrating’

Leonard emailed his bosses within hours of the rescue, saying: “The young girl remained stuck on the cliff face for many hours after watching what had happened and it took many hours after the fall to successfully rescue her by our lines team who had to travel over 2 hours via ute.

“My concerns raised many months ago were sadly proven true and ironically while I was on call as the duty exec we had the incredibly sad and frustrating decline of approval by police to deliver my lines team asap to the scene to perform the rescue of the stricken young lady.”

About an hour after the girl was rescued, FENZ’s communications centre shift manager had emailed Leonard, saying: “It was deeply distressing for everyone to be told that we could not deploy a helicopter to assist a 13-year-old girl stranded on the side of a cliff in the dark, after witnessing the tragic death of her 12-year-old boyfriend.” The coroner reported the boy was 13.

‘A second young person perched on the cliff face’

Acting Waikato police district commander acting Superintendent Will Loughrin told RNZ this week that police had taken steps to address “a lack of sufficient information-gathering, which meant appropriate priority was not given by police to the rescue in Hahei”.

They were alerted at 8.11pm on that January night that FENZ and Hato Hone St John were responding to reports of “a child falling from rocks”.

FENZ then asked police for a helicopter to pick up its lines team to help rescue the second person.

“Had police asked the necessary questions, the matter would have been categorised differently, and specific Police Search and Rescue staff would likely have been dispatched to help co-ordinate the rescue,” Loughrin said.

“Waikato police have been reminded of the appropriate process around the authorisation of such resources, including asking the appropriate questions to determine the full circumstances.”

There was no reference to any wider problem.

Police did not agree to an interview.

They later added they had spoken to the family, “who have reassured us that people at the scene on the night were in continual communication with their child until the rescue was completed”.

“To that end, the family say they are satisfied with the rescue effort.”

Hoping for a ‘heli’

The call-log from 11 January showed the Hahei volunteer fire crew got to the cliff at 8.25pm and called in to say “13 year old girl trapped up the cliff line rescue reqd”.

(The call log is all in capitals, abbreviated and lacks grammar; it is edited here for clarity.)

The four-man lines rescue team left Hamilton in a ute just before 9pm. RNZ was told they were worried they would wait, but not get a chopper.

At 9.13pm, FENZ asked police: “Can your SAR [Search and Rescue] please approve Westpac heli to transport our level 3 lines crew to this incident? Have liaised with ambulance and confirmed heli available…

“They can pick up the crew from the side of the road somewhere.”

At 9.26pm, Hahei volunteers said: “Got a K41-1 [K41 indicates death] and still have person on side of cliff still waiting on lines rescue.”

At 9.50pm, they learned police had declined a chopper.

A few minutes later, in the ute on State Highway 25A winding up through the Coromandel range, the team called to say it was “likely too late for heli now”.

They made it to Hahei at 10.31pm and 36 minutes later were “preparing to rescue the young girl”.

They had to move in the dark through the bush above, taking huge care not to dislodge any rocks, before going down on ropes about 100m to her. A volunteer crew from Tairua with less advanced lines rescue skills got there a bit earlier, but had not got to her.

The log at 11.59pm recorded her finally down on the beach.

How this has come to light

The Hahei mistake has come to light after RNZ inquiries into a separate callout of a lines rescue team last week north of Auckland at Arkles Bay. Records show police told the FENZ team not to deploy until they gave the go ahead.

FENZ did not address questions about this.

In a one-line statement about Hahei, it said: “We have reaffirmed with New Zealand Police that, as lead agency for search and rescue, police are responsible for requesting our assistance and for coordinating rescue efforts.”

St John told RNZ its people “routinely engage with our search and rescue partners to ensure all processes are working effectively”.

St John operations head Doug Gallagher told RNZ in a statement their team at Hahei “discovered there was a second child trapped on the cliff, uninjured”.

“Police requested Fire and Emergency New Zealand respond with a specialist lines rescue team.”

FENZ then asked for a chopper “to expedite the transport of the lines rescue team and equipment which was responding from the Waikato area”.

The call-log showed this happened somewhere between about 8.30pm and 9pm.

“Under the agreed process, this request was passed to police, as the lead agency, who declined the request,” said Gallagher. He did not give a reason.

‘Stark example of the difficulties we encounter’

The FENZ emails from the night of the rescue referred to St John making a procedural change so that it no longer approved air ambulances, but required approval from the police’s national SAR co-ordinator.

A FENZ manager wrote that the Hahei call-log appeared to show police “declined at 2150hrs citing cost”.

A firefighter close to the rescue team told RNZ that shift managers were “hounding” police, to the point the team said “we are leaving by road because this is taking far too long”.

The emails showed the communications shift manager telling Matt Leonard this was just as well.

“Had they not made that decision, the delay in response would have been even more significant,” wrote the manager, who RNZ is not naming.

“I have struggled to find the right words to convey the frustration and urgency of this matter. We have encountered these same issues repeatedly, and I’ve attached previous communications regarding lines rescue responses for reference.”

She said the police dispatchers – and those from ambulance, the airdesk and FENZ – had tried their best. But the police late shift had only just come on and “SAR had not been notified because this was not considered a SAR incident”.

“We were left waiting for their approval for actions they were not briefed on …

“Tonight’s incident is a stark example of the difficulties we encounter due to procedural gaps and miscommunications.”

The shift manager added: “The emotional toll on the team is intensified by the fact that this issue has remained unaddressed for such a long period of time.”

The police and FENZ communications teams for Hahei were on the same floor of an Auckland building.

‘Powerless’

Matt Leonard in Hamilton said in his email that he had heard from an experienced lines rescuer who had been on holiday at Hahei and helped out, who told him: “If this wasn’t a case for helicopter assistance, I don’t know what is.”

Leonard told Waterreus they had tried to pre-empt such a thing happening, but been left feeling “powerless”.

FENZ in Waikato had spent hours with helicopter providers and changed local policies to try to pre-empt “significant delays” getting air ambulance choppers.

“I have also made countless phone calls to Airdesk and Firecom trying to understand and predict possible issues that may arise.”

There must be a review “so when we are called upon to rescue and save lives, it isn’t delayed and declined by others out of our organisation due what is perceived to be cost”, wrote Leonard.

Waterreus emailed FENZ’s national manager of response capability Ken Cooper, saying air ambulances were essential because most other helicopters FENZ could access could not fly at night or in bad weather.

“Are we able to reach agreement with the police that if we use an AAH for a rescue, then we will pay for it, as cost seems to be the reason our requests get declined,” he asked.

Asked about this, FENZ on Wednesday told RNZ: “We meet with New Zealand Police on a regular basis to discuss how we work together.”

TIMELINE

• January 11, 2025, 8.04pm – St John alerted to a teenager falling on to rocks at Hahei
• 8.25pm – Hahei volunteer fire crew gets there and reports the girl is trapped and they need lines rescue
• 8.43pm – St John tell Hamilton lines rescue a helicopter may be available ‘soon’
• 8.51pm – Team leaves by ute from Hamilton
• 9.26pm – Hahei crew called to say, “Got a K41-1 [K41 indicates death] and still have person on side of cliff still waiting on lines rescue”, but no approval from police SAR yet
• 9.37pm – Hamilton team suggests a chopper could pick them up near Thames
• 9.50pm – Team learns police have turned down a chopper
• 10.31pm – Lines rescue gets to cliff
• 11.59pm – “Patient is now safely on the ground rescued”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Prison staff’s failure to answer an emergency call from a cell intercom and a subsequent delay in starting CPR potentially contributed to the death of a Christchurch inmate, a coroner has ruled.

The 67-year-old man, whose name was suppressed by a court, died of heart disease at Christchurch Men’s Prison in Templeton in 2022.

When his cellmate woke to find him gasping for air he tried to raise the alarm but the emergency intercom call went unanswered.

In findings released on Thursday, Coroner Dan Moore said there had not been an adequate explanation as to why no-one responded to the call.

“In my assessment, the intercom going unanswered at the time of (the man’s) death is a significant failure on the part of Corrections,” he said.

“In-cell intercoms exist for precisely this kind of situation. Due to their confinement, it is the only means by which prisoners can raise alarm in an emergency. It should be expected that prison staff are alert and respond to calls in a timely manner.”

The report said there was a gap of approximately 18 minutes between the man’s call for help via the intercom and the start of CPR.

“Though it is not possible to say for certain whether (the man) would have survived had the intercom been answered immediately, I am satisfied that this delay has potentially contributed to (his) death,” the coroner said.

When the man arrived in prison in June 2022 he was assessed by a nurse and found to have hypertension, along with other health issues.

His cellmate said the man would often wake him at night when he was having difficulty breathing.

The man was assessed several times by a prison nurse and had submitted two complaints about a lack of medical treatment by hospital staff.

The man and his cellmate were in the Kauri Wing, which was not staffed overnight, although prison officers did several visual checks of each cell, the last of which was at 5.30am.

The cells were fitted with intercoms for emergencies, connecting to “control rooms”.

On the morning of the man’s death in July, the cellmate woke to find him gasping on a shelf he had climbed on to get closer to the window for fresh air.

The cellmate used the emergency intercom to try to contact staff at 6.39am but the call went unanswered.

The man then fell from the shelf to his bed and continued gasping for air, before his breathing slowed and eventually stopped.

His cellmate started banging on the door to try to get the attention of prison staff.

At 6.52 am, an officer came into the wing and heard prisoners yelling. She went to the cell and saw that the man had collapsed on his bed.

The officer then left to get help because of a policy that at least five staff members must be present before opening a double-bunk cell.

Attempts were made to revive the man, but he was pronounded dead at 7.21am.

Similar jail cell death

Coroner Moore was critical that changes had not been not made after a similar death five years earlier at Mt Eden prison.

In 2017, Tuan Anh Nguyen’s cellmate tried to get help using a call bell that went unanswered for 1.5 hours.

At the time, the coroner recommended changes to ensure emergency calls did not go unanswered.

Coroner Moore said Corrections had updated part of its prison operations manual on in-cell alarms since the man’s death in 2022.

“Had those changes been in place and complied with in (the man’s) case, it is likely that there would have been a more rapid response from prison staff. It is not possible to say for certain whether this would have prevented his death, but it may have increased his chances of survival,” he said.

In a statement provided to RNZ, one of the man’s children said no-one shouold be denied their basic human rights while in custody, regardless of their crimes.

“The emotional impact of his death has been devastating. We are a large whānau, and the effects have rippled across four generations – our children and grandchildren included. This loss, and the circumstances surrounding it, has caused profound and ongoing distress,” they said.

They said their father had been denied the right to be treated with humanity, diginity and respect.

The family’s grief had been compounded by the lack of communication and accountability from Corrections and the lack of an apology, they said.

“We were not informed appropriately – we learned of our father’s death through another inmate before police contacted us. This failure alone has had a lasting impact on our whānau.”

They said they were deeply concerned lessons did not appear to have been learnt after the death of Nguyen and much of what the family learnt about their father’s final days came from his traumatised cellmate.

“He described repeated breathing difficulties over several days, escalating distress and unanswered calls for help on the morning our father collapsed,” they said.

The family member said the coroner’s findings confirmed their belief there was a serious failure of care and they were not reassured it could not happen again.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Primary school principals warn the government’s new year-by-year curriculum faces a huge obstacle – the fact that most schools have classes with children from multiple year groups.

They said the new curricululm insists on teaching particular content to particular year groups in strict sequence – which will make teaching multi-level classes extremely difficult, if not impossible.

They said most schools, especially small rural schools, have such classes because they are the only way to cope with the varying number of children in each year group.

The Education Ministry said it was developing advice for schools.

Principals Federation president Leanne Otene told RNZ the new English and maths curriculums introduced at the start of this year were originally organised in “phases” that covered several year groups but in October those curriculums were changed to specify different content for different year levels.

She said the year-by-year structure was also used in draft curriculums for other learning areas.

But she said that approach would not work for classes that included more than one year group of students.

“This is where the multi-year-level classroom becomes a real problem,” she said.

“I’ve got principals across the country going ‘we literally cannot teach year-by-year’ and this is not just in rural schools, this is urban schools as well.”

She said most schools had at least some multi-level classrooms and they could not avoid using them because they could not control the number of pupils in each year level.

“If we go purely year-by-year we’re going to need many more teachers in the workforce because it’s not going to work,” she said.

Otene said she was scheduled to meet Education Ministry staff on Thursday and would tell them that schools could not introduce the changes to the maths and English curriculums that were announced in October.

“We just can’t do it. Changing a curriculum at that late a date and saying that they have to be initiated on the first of January, that’s reckless. Because we just are unable to do it. It’s not that we won’t do it, it’s we’re unable to do it,” she said.

Rural Schools Association president Andrew King said at least half the country’s 1813 primary schools had multi-level classes.

He said some schools used them deliberately to foster tuakana-teina relationships but many had no choice because the number of pupils in each year group made it impossible to keep year groups in separate classes.

King said the issue was particularly acute for rural schools because they were generally very small.

“Most rural schools are going to be multi-level and I don’t just mean two year groups, you’re talking potentially a Year 1 to 4 class or a one-classroom school of Year 1 to 8 or Year 1 to 6,” he said.

King said teaching the new curriculum in those classes would be problematic and difficult.

“In a multi-level classroom now you potentially would have a theme or an inquiry topic that you can cater to the range of ages with across your class,” he said.

“Also you can do a lot of integration at the moment with other curriculum areas, which is doable in a multi-level context but when you’ve got knowledge to teach at each year level you can’t use the inquiry and integrated approach to the same degree.”

King said it would be extremely difficult for teachers to teach the new curriculums in a multi-level class.

“When you look at every aspect of knowledge across every curriculum area across every year level, it’s going to be impossible to deliver all of that.”

King said the association was working with the Education Ministry to identify solutions to the problem.

The ministry told RNZ it was working with sector representatives to develop advice for teachers.

“For those teaching in composite classrooms, there will be guidance and support for teachers to plan and teach across multiple year levels across the curriculum, particularly to make sure all students experience the breadth of topics,” it said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning: This story discusses suicide and teen deaths.

A coroner has found there are ongoing and wide-ranging barriers for young people accessing suicide prevention services in Northland in the wake of a tragic suicide cluster.

Coroner Tania Tetitaha held a joint inquiry into the deaths of five teenagers and a 12 year old, who died in 2018 and 2020 amidst “possible contagion”.

The inquiry’s name was gifted by a local kaumatua, the late Te Ihi Tito, Roimata Aroha mō te Whakamomori Taitamariki – meaning tears of love for youth lost to suicide.

It had been a long wait for those families since the joint inquest was held in November last year.

On Thursday, Coroner Tetitaha released her findings and they were stark.

“There were impediments to vulnerable rangatahi and their whānau accessing suicide prevention resources within Te Tai Tokerau and those impediments remain to this day,” she wrote.

During the four-week inquiry, the coroner heard evidence from the families, Ministry of Health, Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand, Oranga Tamariki, ACC, the Ministry of Education and the Police, as well as experts.

The five young people were aged between 12 and 16 when they died and coroner Tetitaha found whanau and external agencies were aware of their self-harm risk but there was no lead agency.

Tetitaha found they effectively got lost in the system.

“All were required to approach multiple agencies to address any suicidal behaviour arising from substance abuse, sexual and physical abuse, bullying and relationship discord”.

She found the barriers the vulnerable young people faced that remained to this day were wide-ranging.

“Impediments include lack of knowledge of suicide prevention resources; inability or unwillingness of rangatahi and whānau to access these resources; a multiplicity of agencies involved in suicide prevention and the impediments that flow from this including where there is a lack of information sharing between agencies and the confusion that occurred when navigating between them; and problems with resourcing and funding front-line suicide prevention resources for rangatahi.”

Summer Metcalfe was just 15 when she took her life, she would be 22 now.

Her mother Paula Mills said she lived with ongoing grief and hoped the coroner’s recommendations would be acted upon.

“It’s not going to bring our children back but hopefully it does do something for the future, for others that are desperately trying to find something to get children the help that they need,” she said.

“It’s tragic, absolutely tragic so if we can do anything to help these rangatahi and their whanau, let’s do it. The coroner’s made some really good recommendations let’s get them implemented.”

The coroner also found schools were under-resourced to provide counselling and the government’s child and adolescent mental health service, Te Roopu Kimiora, was overwhelmed in the region.

In Tai Tokerau at the time of the inquest in November 2024, Te Roopu Kimiora was treating approximately 700 patients with moderate-to-high risk of self-harm and receiving three to four new patients per week.

Its clinicians had around 40 cases each which the coroner said was well above average caseloads.

“There is evidence that schools are supporting increasing numbers of rangatahi at risk of suicide,” Tetitaha said.

“There is also evidence that their funding model does not adequately provide for the permanent employment of counsellors and social workers to support this work – requiring them to utilise their operational budget to meet this need.”

Secondary Principals Association president Louise Anaru is the principal at Kaitaia College and said many students needed mental health support.

“It’s a huge concern … we want to ensure our young people are thriving and mental health is so important.”

The coroner recommended Health NZ extend the Te Roopu Kimiora school liaison roles into secondary schools in Northland.

Health NZ said it had bolstered staffing for the service with an extra eight-and-half full time roles in the region.

Louise Anaru wanted to see targeted funding for schools to employ counsellors and social workers.

“They’re able to prevent a lot of issues happening, provide that immediate care and because they’re already in the school they have trust from the students, they have relationships in place, so they’re able to respond to any suicide risk ideation really promptly.”

Northland’s rate of suicide was still well above the national average – in 2018 the region’s suicide rate was 19.8 per 100,000 head of population, well above the average rate for New Zealand 12.4.

At the joint inquest, University of Otago associate professor Dr Clive Aspen filed evidence that the deaths were a suicide cluster due to the higher than expected number in close proximity in time and location.

Aspen said there was possible risk of contagion at the time.

Paula Mills said the region’s track-record should be enough to prioritise change.

“When we’ve got stats like that you’d think that these services would be really willing to do anything they can and listen to these recommendations and at least implement some of it and really have a long hard think about it.”

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson said the cases were heartbreaking and there was not enough resourcing for suicide prevention.

“Are things getting better? I would have to say very marginally and in terms of the overall picture my confidence that we’re going to turn our suicide stats around is pretty low.”

He believed the government’s Suicide Prevention Strategy and Action Plan “looks to me like what you do if you really don’t want to commit much money to suicide prevention”.

“This is moving at a snail’s pace when we know that we’ve had stubbornly high suicide numbers for over a decade and a major part of that is with rangatahi and particularly with rangatahi Māori,” Robinson said.

“We’re just not budging that.”

He said the government planned to bolster rangatahi suicide prevention in one unnamed region next year.

“It’s extremely sad that we are moving so slowly that government can only commit to experimenting with improving parts of services for young people in one region by the end of next year.”

Robinson said it would make a big impact if the number of trained staff working specifically with young people increased.

“These cases are really heartbreaking it is really important to remember that for every death there are hundreds of young people who recover from their time of suicidality and do go on to live their lives.”

Coroner’s recommendations

Coroner Tetitaha found a high degree of collaboration between agencies was necessary in relation to suicide prevention work to prevent similar deaths occurring in Te Tai Tokerau.

She detailed a care pathway in which a Kaiarahi (mentor) should be allocated to any rangatahi identified as at risk.

“I recommend that a coordinated care pathway for rangatahi in Te Tai Tokerau who are at risk (whether serious, moderate or low) of self-harm or suicide be developed,” Tetitaha said.

“The objective of the care pathway should be to reduce suicidality for rangatahi. That care pathway should also be visible to the rangatahi and their whānau from entry to exit.”

The coroner identified data gaps and recommended how agencies could better collect and use information to inform policy about suicide prevention in Northland.

She also recommended that Health NZ extend the Te Roopu Kimiora school liaison roles into secondary schools in Te Tai Tokerau.

“This would assist in developing relationships, improving communication and information sharing between Te Roopu Kimiora and the schools.

“It would also enable Te Roopu Kimiora to have more insight and overview of at-risk rangatahi. The school liaison should ensure that the Kaiarahi is advised of any relevant information and updates to inform the ‘full picture’.”

She said Health NZ had begun work in response.

“I welcome the indication that Te Whatu Ora are working to secure funding for the extension of Te Roopu Kimiora School Well-Being Liaison role. If this role provides the support required to prevent any further rangatahi deaths by suicide within Te Tai Tokerau, no further comment or recommendation by me will be required.”

Health NZ response

Health NZ said it extended its heartfelt condolences to the whanau for their loss.

Its group director of operations Te Tai Tokerau, Alex Pimm, said they “recognise the deep impact these deaths have had, and will continue to have, on loved ones and the community”.

“We acknowledge the Coroner’s report and will give priority to considering the recommendations,” he said.

“We are committed to providing safe, high-quality mental health and addiction care for the Te Tai Tokerau community.”

Pimm said an in-depth review was carried out by the services that were involved after the tragic deaths, and lessons had been taken from these.

“Since ​these tragic deaths we have bolstered staffing for our child and adolescent mental health service, Te Roopu Kimiora.”

That service had an extra 8.6 full time roles in the region.

He also said the national Suicide Prevention Action Plan, which was updated this year, was focused on addressing gaps and ensuring more people had access to support when they needed it.

Actions included:

• Improving access to suicide prevention and postvention supports
• Growing capable and confident suicide prevention and postvention workforces
• Strengthening the focus on prevention and early intervention
• Improving the effectiveness of suicide prevention and our understanding of suicide.

Pimm said since 2024 the government’s budget for mental health had increased by $200 million to $2.8 billion.

Where to get help:

• Aoake Te Rā
• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357.
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202.
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666.
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz.
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds.
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254.
• Healthline: 0800 611 116.
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155.
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463.

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

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