Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumer NZ is urging shoppers to approach the flood of Black Friday discounts with a healthy dose of scepticism, warning that some “bargains” may not be as good as they seem.

Black Friday is on Friday 28 November, but advertising for the American tradition of thanksgiving sales is already ramping up.

Consumer communications and campaigns adviser Abby Damen said potentially advertising comes months ahead of the actual event.

“Then it merges into Cyber Monday and then you’ve got Christmas promotions and then Boxing Day, so it is really huge and I think what we see is that a lot of it is hype.”

People would be buying things because Christmas is coming up, she said.

Consumer NZ wants to ensure that when people buy something that they think is a bargain that is actually is, she said.

It was increasingly difficult to tell whether a sale price item was in fact at a lower price than it had been over the previous few months, she said.

“We’ve done price tracking over the last few years and see a similar trend each time. So this year we noticed a lot of the language around specials could make you think that it is on sale but it’s not necessarily the cheapest that it’s been all year.”

People could check on independent websites such as Consumer NZ, PriceSpy or PriceMe to look at the price of a product over time “and see if today’s special is actually a bargain”, she said.

Storewide sales could also be a problem, she said.

“If you’ve got 20 to 50 percent off everything and most things are discounted at 20 percent, you know it’s not really fair if you’re lured into a store or an online space where that’s not necessarily the case,” she said.

But people are always going to make the most of discounts, she said.

“So we’d say avoid the hype, that’s like look out for those count down timers that might pop up on the website, any pressure tactic that you can feel is trying to encourage you to buy right now, you know you were looking at that product, you’re going to buy it anyway, you don’t need to be pressured.

“So be really conscious of all those designs you see online that might put pressure on you.”

People could also check who they were dealing with by looking at the company’s register, she said.

“Just because a company’s got a .co.nz in the URL it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a New Zealand business. You need to do your due diligence.”

You will also be better protected if you pay for the item using a credit or debit card “because if the worst case scenario happens you can contact your bank and request a charge-back”, she said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland is set to get a second Costco store.

Property developer Kiwi Property has agreed to sell a 6.4 hectare site in its new Drury development to the US-based mega store.

Drury is a small rural town about 35 kilometres south of Auckland city, but has been picked as the site for a new town development, with Kiwi Property recently approved to go ahead with building the town centre.

“We are very excited to be entering into this agreement with Kiwi Property in a location as great as Drury,” Costco country manager Chris Tingman said.

An exact opening date for the new store was not immediately clear.

“Whilst still subject to planning and corporate approvals, our aim is to introduce our unique high-quality, low-cost merchandise to Drury, serving our significant membership base in the south of Auckland, as well as Hamilton and the Waikato region,” Tingman said.

The only other Costco store is at Auckland’s Westgate, which opened three years ago.

Kiwi Property chief executive Clive Mackenzie said the deal marked a major milestone for its Drury development – which received fast-track consent for its first two stages last week.

“Costco has been a hit with Kiwi consumers since it opened its first store in Auckland and we’re pleased to be working with them on this exciting opportunity to bring Costco further south,” he said.

The deal followed Kiwi Property’s earlier sale of 1.2 hectares to supermarket operator Foodstuffs.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man who strangled his ex-partner to death before dumping her body inside a wooden chest and nailing it shut says he doesn’t want to be released from jail.

“A life for a life,” Lewis Blackburn told the New Zealand Parole Board on Tuesday as he asked them to stand him down from being considered for early release from prison for another five years.

“I want to stay in jail. I killed someone.”

Blackburn murdered his ex-partner Christine Hindson, after she ended their three-year relationship in September 2005.

Two days after she ended the relationship, he turned up at the 45-year-old’s Christchurch home in the early hours of the morning, made his way into her bedroom and grabbed her by the throat, before strangling her to death.

Blackburn then put her body in a wooden chest and nailed it shut, before trying unsuccessfully to bury it in his backyard. He then put the chest in his car and drove around the city for two days looking for a suitable place to bury it.

Three days after the murder, Blackburn drove the car to a suburban Ferrymead walking track, dragged the chest into an area of long grass and left it there.

A week later Blackburn confessed his crime to another former partner and was arrested by police the following day, admitting the killing and helping them find the body.

He was 48 years old when he was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

Nearly 20 years on, and a decade after he became eligible for early release from prison, Blackburn said he still thinks about his victim every day.

“It’s non-stop,” he said.

“I’m in no hurry to get out, put it that way.”

Blackburn said his primary reason for wanting to remain in prison was the strain his yearly parole hearings would likely be having on Hindson’s family and they should be given a break.

“I’m trying to have compassion for Christine’s family,” he said.

“Year after year, it just seems too much for them.”

Ironically, it was his lack of compassion at the time that was one of the hardest parts of Hindson’s murder for her family to come to terms with.

Her daughter, Marla McKenzie, told the court at Blackburn’s sentencing in 2006 that she recalled him asking during the search for her mother how she was faring. She realised now her mother’s body must at that stage have been in his car just metres from where they were talking.

“For one week Lewis led us to believe she had just gone away somewhere and not to worry,” McKenzie said.

“I don’t ever want him released.”

If Blackburn had confessed earlier, McKenzie said, it could have saved the family’s “torment and heartbreak” in being unable to view Hindson’s body after it was recovered because of its state of decomposition.

Now, their welfare is at the forefront of his mind, he told the board.

“I’ve said it right through, a life for a life,” he said.

“There’s just reports on reports, it’s just a waste of time.

“It’s not like I’ve been out shoplifting. I killed someone.”

Blackburn asked to be stood down from parole hearings for five years, which the board didn’t have the power to approve. The maximum stand-down period it can order is two years.

The board asked Blackburn to work with a psychogeriatrician, begin to work on a risk management plan and to start thinking about where he might be able to live if he was released.

He will be seen again in July next year.

*This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The police minister says emails containing allegations about Jevon McSkimming’s behaviour were kept from him by former commissioner Andrew Coster’s office.

A IPCA report released last night accuses Coster and other high-ranking police of failing to properly act on allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming, the former deputy.

Thirty-six emails were sent to Police Minister Mark Mitchell’s office since December 2023, but he told Morning Report he never saw them.

Mitchell said there was protocol put in place by the Commissioner’s office that he was not to see the emails.

He was first briefed by Coster on 6 November that there was an IPCA investigation relating to McSkimming and a woman.

He said there was nothing to indicate there was any interference by the senior leadership.

“But it has become obvious with the release of the IPCA report that [interference] is exactly what was happening and everyone can see now just how bad it was,” Mitchell said.

The woman referred to in the report as Ms Z was charged in May last year with causing harm by posting digital communication in relation to more than 300 emails she allegedly sent to McSkimming’s work email address between December 2023 and April 2024.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has been critical of what he believes was a cover up by the former senior leadership team.

Chambers told Morning Report he was not given a heads up from Coster about the investigation into McSkimming, and he was shocked when he was told.

He denies there was a systemic failure of the New Zealand police and its processes, but says it was a failure of the former leadership of the police, who were acting in “self-interest”.

“It’s disgraceful. What occurred is not the way we do things in police. It was a total failure by the former senior leadership of New Zealand police and their integrity,” Chambers told Morning Report.

Asked if there had been a cover-up, Chambers said:

“That’s the way that many will interpret it and my personal view is that there was you know a bunch of senior leaders, who have now exited the organisation, who were acting in the self interests of themselves frankly and in particular one individual, so people will interpret the report in their own way but the way I read it.”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

Coster has been placed on leave after a damning report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police.

He became chief executive of the Social Investment Agency after his tenure as New Zealand’s top cop.

Coster’s named in a new scathing 135-page IPCA report into Jevon McSkimming, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, who last week pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

The report revealed senior police failed to respond to a number of complaints made against McSkimming.

When they did refer the matter to the IPCA, Coster attempted to speed up the investigation in what was perceived by some as him trying to protect McSkimming’s prospect of becoming the next Commissioner of Police.

Chambers said he is “very pleased” the former leadership have left police.

When asked whether any of the police involved in the handling of the allegations are still employed by police, Chambers said the employment of three individuals is under an independent investigation.

“I have got to let that process take its course and, no doubt, decisions will be made in the future.”

He reassured New Zealanders that they can have trust and confidence in police.

“It’s not acceptable a small group of people at the most senior level have let so many people down – that is a disgrace,” Chambers said.

“I do want to reassure New Zealanders that I have outstanding investigators who work in this field every day [and] do an incredible job for victims. I don’t want this to detract from victims coming forward and talking to us and our good police officers being able to act on that in the right way.

“We can be proud of the progress we have made over the years and I don’t want this to reflect on my staff.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An organisation that’s been funded to find homes for rough sleepers says there aren’t enough houses to put them in.

In September the government announced [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572188/broken-housing-system-more-support-coming-for-rough-sleepers-government-announces

300 extra social housing places] through the Housing First programme.

Housing First providers rent private or public homes and sublet them to people who have been homeless for more than a year, helping them sustain their tenancy.

Christchurch Methodist Mission executive director Jill Hawkey said her organisation already had about 100 people on its Housing First waitlist – and it kept growing.

It was granted 26 of the 300 places which had seen eight homeless people housed in Christchurch so far, but it was difficult to help move more people off the street because there were not enough houses available, she said.

“That’s the big challenge that we’ve got here in Christchurch, it’s actually being able to find the housing for people who have been long-term homeless.”

“Ideally, what we want is permanent social housing provided either by Kāinga Ora or a community housing provider rather than the private sector.”

That was because social housing provided more stability, Hawkey said.

She said number of homeless people in Christchurch had grown over the last year.

“As fast as we’re housing them, they’re coming in the front door.”

“Often members of the public will ring us concerned about somebody and will say, hey, I’ve seen somebody sleeping in a park or under a bush or in the sand dunes,” she said.

Last week it was revealed the government was also mulling a law change that would give police the power to shift rough sleepers off footpaths and out of shop doorways.

Hawkey hoped that “doesn’t see the light of day.”

“People who are living on the streets currently are incredibly vulnerable, they don’t need to be harassed and to be told to move from place to place,” she said.

“The only way to solve homelessness is to build more affordable and social housing. It’s really simple.”

Private rentals quickest way to get people housed – Minister

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said looking to the private market for more homes was the fastest option.

Officials had advised him there were about 300 “unhoused Housing First clients living without shelter,” he said.

“Sourcing an additional 300 places from the private market was a deliberate choice to enable these homes to be brought on quickly as opposed to building new which can take years to plan, consent and build,” he said.

“Importantly, the funding for the 300 places is permanent, which enables CHPs to enter into long term leases.”

That would ensure stability for those tenants, he said.

New team to support Christchurch homeless

The Christchurch Methodist Mission had also received $1.5 million of the $10 million the government allocated for homelessness support services.

Hawkey said it would be used to help people who had been homeless for less than a year, meaning they missed out on Housing First.

“We really know there’s a lot of people out there who are just recently homeless who we want to be able to support to find some permanent housing options as quickly as possible.

“So we’re standing up a team with the money that we’ve been granted to be able to do that.”

The team would include nurses, staff dedicated to finding possible rentals, and outreach workers who would connect people to various social services.

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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 Commissioner Richard Chambers says he believes there was a cover-up in the investigation into complaints about former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Chambers told Morning Report he was not given a heads up from former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster about the investigation into Jevon McSkimming, and he was shocked when he was told.

He denies there was a systemic failure of the New Zealand police and its processes, but says it was a failure of the former leadership of the police, who were acting in “self-interest”.

“It’s disgraceful. What occurred is not the way we do things in police. It was a total failure by the former senior leadership of New Zealand police and their integrity,” Chambers told Morning Report.

Asked if there had been a cover-up, Chambers said:

“That’s the way that many will interpret it and my personal view is that there was you know a bunch of senior leaders, who have now exited the organisation, who were acting in the self interests of themselves frankly and in particular one individual, so people will interpret the report in their own way but the way I read it.”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

Coster has been placed on leave after a damning report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police.

Andrew Coster became chief executive of the Social Investment Agency after his tenure as New Zealand’s top cop.

He’s named in a new scathing 135-page IPCA report into Jevon McSkimming, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, who last week pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

The report revealed senior police failed to respond to a number of complaints made against McSkimming.

When they did refer the matter to the IPCA, Coster attempted to speed up the investigation in what was perceived by some as him trying to protect McSkimming’s prospect of becoming the next Commissioner of Police.

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