Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A mayday call in a notorious stretch of water triggers an urgent search and rescue operation in Wellington. Emergency services pull in Coastguard, even a Cook Strait ferry. But a day later, the search is called off. No one was ever reported missing, and no debris was ever found. Who was behind the distress call? Reporter Mary Argue delves into the transcript.

“Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill. Come in. Mayday.”

It’s after 10pm on a Monday, late August, when the distress call crackles over the Wellington harbour radio.

“We’re f****** getting swamped out here. We’ve lost fuel tanks please advise.”

Mayday calls are rare, rarer still to be heard over the harbourmaster’s direct channel. But the operator doesn’t hesitate, swinging into action.

“Mayday. Wellington Harbour Radio. Who is calling? Who is calling? Please identify yourself and your position. Over.”

A long 12 seconds of silence follows.

The operator tries again.

“…Mayday, channel one-four. What is your position? What is the name of your vessel? Over.”

The response is distorted by static, but there’s a location: Three nautical miles from Karori Rock.

The small boat is in the notoriously dicey Cook Strait off Wellington’s south coast.

“We’re being swamped … I’ve lost the bungs to the back of our boat. We’re swamped.”

Three more times the operator asks for the vessel’s name, the responses are inaudible, punctuated by long pauses.

In total, they’ll ask for the boat’s identity eight times – but they never get it.

“… we’re taking on water, we’re swamped …”

How many people on board? How many people?

Two.

Silence.

Those on the sinking boat are told to tune into channel 16 – the distress frequency – they’re informed that Maritime radio is their point of contact now, and police have been advised.

Behind the scenes an urgent search and rescue operation is launched.

But the flailing boat isn’t heard from again. More than three months on the question remains – did it even exist?

Mayday response ‘exceedingly good’

The mayday on 25 August sparked a desperate search.

Police, Coastguard, and the airport’s fire service flooded the stretch of water near Karori Rock – an offshore lighthouse on the remote southwest coast of Wellington.

Commercial boats – including an Interislander ferry – joined the effort, combing the Cook Strait for several hours.

But no debris – water containers, or chilly-bins – was found bobbing on the surface.

No one was reported missing and shoreline searches for empty trailers at boating ramps yielded nothing.

The next afternoon, the search was suspended.

Police – who led the response – declined an interview, but confirmed an investigation into the mayday has since ended.

The call is often characterised by two words, ‘odd’ and ‘unusual’.

Wellington harbourmaster Grant Nalder says it had “all the elements” of a boat in distress, but it was strange – coming directly to the harbourmaster’s signal station on channel 14.

“The usual for a mayday is [that] you don’t call anyone specific, it’s just ‘mayday’ – that’s the trigger word on channel 16.”

It’s the internationally recognised channel for distress and communication, he says, and a mayday on that frequency immediately gets picked up by the national Maritime radio.

Months later, listening back to a recording of the call, he thinks he can hear two different voices on the end of the line.

He says based on their report, ‘mayday’ was entirely appropriate.

“That’s the one that’s used if there’s imminent danger to life. Three miles southwest of Karori Rock’s known for its tide and rough waters.

“If a boat had been … anchored in Oriental Bay and taking on water, it’s not good but it’s probably a swim ashore. Cook Strait, that’s very different.”

Fortunately, maydays aren’t common and Nalder says the response to this one was “exceedingly good”.

“Our operator kept asking them questions, they confirmed the location … which is really important. You can’t do a search if you don’t know where you’re going.”

He says those details quickly made their way to police and the national search and rescue headquarters – from there, things ramped up.

Calling all ships

Maritime NZ Rescue Coordination Centre (RCCNZ) is housed in Avalon Studios – an incongruous, 10-storey, tower block in Lower Hutt.

It’s a round-the-clock operation on RCCNZ’s floor, with Maritime radio operators working to a backdrop of random static bursts and broadcasts – dials tuned to channel 16.

Down the hall, search and rescue officers rotate in 12-hour shifts in front of screens that blink and flash with real-time information on the weather and locations of boats and planes.

According to RCCNZ’s operations manager, Michael Clulow, the team covers one of the largest areas in the world (top five or six for size), stretching from the South Pole to Tokelau, near the equator

Within the roughly 30 million square kilometres, RCCNZ has the power to pull in whatever resources it deems appropriate to save someone’s life – from the local surf lifesaving club, to the defence force.

Last year, the team responded to about 1500 distress calls. But each year about 50 to 100 are maydays, Clulow says.

Such a distress call can trigger an all-ships broadcast, which demands anyone in the area to stop what they’re doing and help.

Following the mayday on 25 August in Wellington, police asked Maritime radio to do exactly that.

Search yields nothing

Around the same time, Police’s Lady Elizabeth IV and the airport fire service hit the water, as do two boat-loads of Coastguard volunteers who make their way to the choppy waters within the Karori rip.

Maritime’s broadcast has captured both recreational and commercial boats in the area, who are referred to police for instructions.

The Interislander ferry, Kaiārahi, arrives first on the scene.

At the time, ferry passenger Tupoki Wairau-Hunter told RNZ the ship slowed as they approached Wellington and those on board were encouraged to help search under a large spotlight sweeping the water.

The search lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning.

In a statement a few hours later, police confirmed no debris had been found and nothing had turned up in a check of the shoreline and boat ramps.

They “urgently wanted to hear from anyone with information directly related” to the distress call.

Throughout, Maritime’s radio operators were listening on channel 16, but Clulow says they heard nothing further from the swamped boat.

On Tuesday afternoon, police reiterated their plea for information and suspended the search.

Origins of call remain a mystery

So was it a prank call? When put to them directly, both Nalder and Clulow hedge.

“We don’t actually know what the case was with this,” Nalder says, but then cites the lack of evidence pointing to a boat lost at sea.

He says there’s a possibility there was a problem that got resolved, but admits it’s unlikely.

“There’s a lot of people that put up a lot of time for this – it’s not something to be done lightly. But by the same token, we don’t want people to be afraid to call for help if they need to.”

Clulow accepts a hoax is possible, but stresses that such calls are incredibly rare and typically don’t cost a lot (more troublesome, are unregistered personal locator beacons accidentally going off).

In his more than three years at RCCNZ, he’s only come across two fake calls.

“In that same time, we’ve done 4500 search and rescue incidents. Going and responding to something that isn’t an emergency is a bit of a waste of resource,” he says, and “it’s obviously frustrating”.

“But it happens really infrequently.”

When it comes to cost, the boats wear it – it’s the framework that keeps mariners safe, he says.

A KiwiRail spokesperson says the distress call delayed Kaiārahi’s next sailing by about 90 minutes, and any extra cost is absorbed as part of its “commitment to maritime safety”.

“Under international maritime law, seafarers have a duty to render assistance to those in distress at sea. We take that responsibility seriously and our crews are trained to assist in emergencies.”

A police spokesperson told RNZ the investigation into the mayday call has ended.

“With no persons reported missing or coming forward, we are unable to clarify the origins of the radio message.”

If the call was a fake, and those behind it identified, any charges would need to meet the Solicitor-General’s guidelines for prosecution, they said.

So, is Clulow comfortable that no one’s been left at sea?

“I certainly hope not. We’d move heaven and earth to help those in distress and we throw a lot of resource at it because obviously, it’s the safety of our friends and whānau.

“We’ll always respond to people in need.”

How to stay safe on the water

Clulow says two forms of reliable communication is a must, and recommends a beacon such as an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon).

If a phone is an option, Nalders says go directly to 111, “don’t call your mate, don’t try and find the Coastguard number”.

He’s says ‘mayday’ on channel 16 is an obvious, and the channel can also be used let Maritime radio know about less urgent matters, for example a flat battery or loss of fuel necessitating a tow.

Finally, check the weather, plan the journey, and don’t wait to ask for help.

Nalder says a small issue can escalate from a pick-up and tow to a full-on search and rescue, especially in the dark.

“So, if you’re having difficulties, tell someone.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the country’s top judges commissioned work to see how families in custody battles could be screened for domestic violence, but officials shelved it.

Documents released under the Official Information Act (OIA) show principal Family Court Judge Jackie Moran travelled to Sydney to scope out two programmes effectively screening court participants for family violence to help inform judicial decision-making.

It also revealed the court did not know if people experienced such violence.

Domestic violence survivor Laura (real name withheld for legal reasons) said when she told the Family Court about the abuse her ex-partner inflicted on her, she then had to provide evidence.

“That’s the only context in my life when I’ve gone somewhere looking for help and just automatically not been believed or to have things minimised. When that’s your personal safety or that of your child, that’s really confronting.”

After she left her partner, the Family Court found she had been subjected to abuse by her ex – including surveillance and stalking – but declined her application for a protection order.

Laura said she would have benefited from an independent safety risk assessment for domestic violence, and was disappointed work on such a project stopped.

“Anything would have been helpful. My experience was that I had to do it all on my own so any extra tools would have been very helpful.

‘I’m disappointed, because I think that they’re relying on the existing systems – but the question is, are the existing systems working? Are the existing systems evidence based? We still have some of the worst domestic violence statistics in the world. That to me suggests that perhaps something at the front end isn’t working.”

Backbone Collective advocates for survivors of domestic violence and requested a raft of official information about the risk assessment project.

Manager and co-founder Deborah Mackenzie said the response showed Moran had started the work, but it had been shut down at steering committee level in 2023.

“To see that they had interest and appetite from a very powerful stakeholder, the principal Family Court judge, was just incredible – but then to learn that they just decided that it was too hard, too costly, and they just stopped work on it, it really just ripped any sense of hope away.”

A Ministry of Justice presentation included in the OIA response stated they did not know if people coming to the Family Court had experienced family violence.

“It was breathtakingly bad to read that not only did the policy people know what the issues are in the Family Court they were actually looking at remedies similar to what Backbone and others in the sector had been recommending for many years,” Mackenzie said.

Moran travelled to Australia to learn more about Lighthouse and DOORS – two programmes that helped identify safety risks for those in the family law system to help inform judges’ decision-making.

A few months later, she received a letter from ministry officials advising the Family Violence Sexual Violence steering committee had decided not to progress work on a risk assessment tool.

“The development of a risk assessment and management system would be a multi-year project requiring significant financial investment and changes to I.T. systems and operational processes,” the letter said.

“To be successful, risk assessment would rely heavily on a specialist workforce to support participants in the risk screening process. The family violence workforce, including psychologists, social workers and programme providers is at capacity and struggling to employ adequate numbers of staff.”

The letter said the Family Violence Sexual Violence team recognised “the benefits of a risk assessment system and will remain engaged with the Lighthouse Project team to track their progress”.

Mackenzie was concerned there was no official screening tool in the Family Court for domestic violence.

“It looks to us, from what we have, that they made the decision at a team meeting, that’s what it looks like and then Judge Moran was informed. What a sad missed opportunity that was.”

She was also concerned that the project was shelved after a report recommending sweeping changes for children’s safety in the judicial system appeared to have been buried.

The report was completed in 2022 but never publicly released, even though officials warned that not releasing it looked like it was being hidden.

Ministry of Justice group manager for commissioning and service improvement Lance Harrison said court staff may identify risk factors informally then refer the participant to a support service that must conduct formal risk assessments.

He said family violence response training was also provided to people working in the courts.

“After reviewing Australian models, the ministry found barriers in the New Zealand context that meant the models would not be suitable, including limited specialist workforce capacity and differences in how cases are managed between court jurisdictions,” Harrison said.

“Additionally, significant financial investment would be required and extensive changes to systems and processes would be needed to implement a robust risk assessment process when a large work programme was already underway in the Family Court.”

He said the Ministry of Justice was part of a cross-government work programme aimed at eliminating family violence and sexual violence, guided by the Te Aorerekura National Strategy.

Family law expert and University of Auckland professor Mark Henaghan said having a proven tool to assess court participants’ risk of family violence is crucial.

“It doesn’t surprise me, it more upsets me. I think the Family Court would know that there’s a lot of violence underneath many cases that go through the Family Court and it’s important to be able to pick it up early.”

“That seems a very bureaucratic approach – it could be written to any new system. It’s always going to cost you a bit more, it’s always going to create change.”

Backbone Collective called for the Minister of Justice to fund and champion work to ensure victim-survivors of family violence are offered opportunities to disclose abuse to the Family Court and for those disclosures to be managed by specially trained staff.

University of Auckland associate professor of law Carrie Leonetti said it was incredibly frustrating to learn work on a risk screening tool had stopped.

“It appears that at the end of the day they decided that adopting meaningful screening or meaningful risk assessment was just too hard. My read of the documents is they concluded we’re not trained for this, we’re not resourced for this, we’re not even going to try,” she said.

“The fact that both risk screening and risk assessment are utterly foreign to our family court in cases involving family violence is a gross failure.”

Leonetti is also a professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University’s domestic violence programme.

She said risk screening is the initial step while assessments were more involved and could result in evidence that can be used in court – something she said is lacking for family law in New Zealand.

“The failure to engage in evidence based risk assessment doesn’t just mean our court is flying blind or engaging in a random and arbitrated decision making process, they’re missing risk. They’re labelling as low risk situations that are in fact high risk.”

Moran declined an interview. The Ministry of Justice said she had “nothing to say on the matter”.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

People needing heart bypass surgery in Waikato are leaving hospital with fewer scars, thanks to a specially trained nurse team.

Waikato was the only region in the country where the new procedure was available both in the public and private hospitals.

Waikato Hospital cardiothoracic nurse and surgical assistant Kelsey Abercrombie said the traditional way of taking the vein involved a long cut down the leg to remove the great saphenous vein for use in fixing the heart.

She said taking veins through open incisions came at a physical cost for many patients.

“These long cuts were often very sore and painful for patients and that’s slowed their mobilising after surgery,” she said.

Veins could also be taken from the arm and chest. When Ross Alexander needed to have heart bypass surgery five years ago, he came out of Waikato hospital with some impressive scars.

“I tell little kids I’ve been attacked by a shark, on my leg, and then I show them my arm and say that’s where I was fighting him off,” he joked.

Alexander was stoic about the long scars.

“I don’t mind being scarred if I’m alive,” he said, though he recognised that it could be different for others.

He said any new development in surgery was fantastic news.

Two of the three dedicated Waikato cardiothoracic surgical nurses received a grant from Waikato Heart Trust and travelled to New York’s Stony Brook University Hospital in 2023 to observe endoscopic vein harvesting.

This is a procedure where instead of a long cut down the leg, keyhole surgery is used to access and remove the leg vein.

Jacque Roberts said the research trip was one of the most amazing experiences she has had as a nurse.

“To go over to a hospital that does this routinely for everybody and just see how patients were post-operatively getting up, walking, very little pain when we talked to them, and just realising we would like to bring this to New Zealand,” she said.

Six months of training with a visiting specialist from Australia followed and the procedure was used on the first Waikato patient on 13 May, 2024.

So far 266 patients had benefited from keyhole vein harvesting at the hospital and over 90 percent of Waikato patients needing heart bypass surgery had been able to have the keyhole procedure.

Abercrombie said patients had seen many benefits.

“Patients have far less pain, they are up moving around much quicker and once the scar has healed it is hardly detectable,” she said.

Georgia Miller is the third dedicated cardiothoracic surgical nurse at Waikato Hospital. She was on maternity leave when the new surgery was introduced.

“When I came back the girls had done probably a good six-months of the endoscopic harvesting, so when I came along, I had a steep learning curve,” she said.

But Roberts and Abercrombie were able to train her.

“That was incredible for me,” she said.

Nurse-led endoscopic vein harvesting had been the gold standard for heart bypass surgery overseas for many years, though its availability was limited in New Zealand.

The Waikato team said it could help change that.

“We’ve gone over this steep learning curve and have really honed in on our micro-dexterity skills that it takes to harvest the vein this way, and we would be more then willing to help other centres to provide this kind of care to patients in New Zealand,” Abercrombie said.

Waikato’s private hospital, Braemer, was now also offering endoscopic vein harvesting, becoming the first private hospital in the country to integrate it into its heart bypass surgery.

“It’s a complete game-changer for our patients,” said cardiothoracic surgeon David McCormack, a Braemar specialist from the Heart Surgeon Group.

“When patients need bypass grafts, they’re most often taken from veins in the leg, but this area can often be the most troublesome to heal from. EVH changes all of that.”

For those in Waikato facing the prospect of heart bypass surgery, this advancement aimed to offer hope for a less traumatic, more comfortable surgical experience with better outcomes.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two Whanganui women say what should’ve been a dream fishing trip ended up being a nightmare – one they don’t want anyone else to have to go through.

Patsy Deverall and Selah Weingott, 70 and 69 at the time, booked a trip with South Taranaki Fishing Charters in January 2022.

Crossing the infamous Pātea bar, the women were thrown into the air and landed heavily on the deck, both suffering serious injuries.

Weingott broke her nose and fractured a shoulder, which ultimately required reconstructive surgery, while Deverall injured her back.

Maritime New Zealand prosecuted South Taranaki Fishing Charters for offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act over the incident.

The company was convicted for failing to ensure the safety of those on board in the Whanganui District Court last month and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine, court costs of $26,000 and reparations of $17,000 and $13,000 respectively to the women.

South Taranaki Fishing Charter owner Peter Robins deeply regretted two of his five passengers on the day of the incident got injured.

“This should not have happened and we apologise for this.”

The company had learned from the incident and made changes to reflect this, he said.

Deverall said after being cooped up during Covid, on a nice day after lockdown restrictions were relaxed, the women thought why not go fishing.

“We decided, because the sea looks so beautiful, and fairly naively, if you like, I just thought, well, how about we go out on a fishing charter and see what happens?”

She said they didn’t know of the Pātea bar’s reputation, but did warn the skipper in advance they were inexperienced.

“We scarcely had a briefing about safety, but we did have life jackets on, and just before we went over the bar, the skipper said, ‘Oh, it can be a bit rough. You better brace’. So we braced, held on, if you like, to a bar while standing next to him.”

The agreed summary of facts said the passengers were given a “short and sharp” safety briefing, but it was not explained what a bar was or how passengers should use their legs to absorb any impact during the crossing.

They were also not asked to confirm they had understood the safety briefing or if they had any questions before proceeding.

Robins stopped the 7.5-metre runabout ahead of the bar and explained to the passengers they would feel a crash as they went over the first wave and the main thing was to hold on.

Deverall said it was then the women, who paid $200 each for the charter, saw the wave.

“He called out, ‘watch out’. And it was just so dramatic. There were three other guys on the boat, other than the skipper. They were bigger burlier guys, they all held on, but we were flung and yeah, I hit the roof and the floor and hurt my lumbar area, which to this day still gives me trouble.

“And my friend was incapacitated for at least a year and a half afterwards, after needing shoulder surgery. It was fractured in three places in her humerus and shoulder.”

According to the summary of facts, conditions were not unfavourable for a bar crossing and there was no suggestion Robins crossed the bar in an unsafe manner.

After the crossing, the women were helped up and Weingott given first aid, her nose patched up, and later her arm put in a sling.

Neither woman, who the summary of facts acknowledge were in shock, asked to be taken back to shore at that point or afterwards, and the charter continued and everybody fished apart from Weingott.

Deverall said after they returned to shore about five hours later, she drove Weingott to Whanganui Hospital where a doctor, who after seeing the extent of her injuries and hearing of the circumstances of how they were sustained, urged her to contact WorkSafe.

She hoped their experience and prosecution of the charter company would serve as a warning to other operators and people considering paying for a fishing charter.

“I just hope people [charter operators] take more care about who they take out, when they take them out, and that they brief them properly.

“Because there wasn’t a hope in hell of either Selah or myself, who were quite strong people at the time, having held on with such a wave coming.”

Weingott also remembered the bar crossing vividly.

“I was bouncing up and down on the metal, on my nose, and bashing, bashing my arm and shoulder, getting thoroughly bruised. I couldn’t get up. Pete [Robins] actually helped me up, the skipper, and I was traumatised.”

She couldn’t believe the fishing trip continued.

“I was in denial or disbelief, and I just waited for the helicopter, or a lifeboat or something. I didn’t, I just couldn’t believe no one would come and save us.”

Her shoulder was fractured in two places and her arm just above the elbow.

Weingott had surgery about 10 months after the incident.

“There’s a big screw in a plastic shaft that runs through my elbow to my shoulder, and two metal balls replacing my shoulder.

“It’s weak. It’s a weak arm, and I’m kind of alienated from it. I was a very body conscious person before, and quite proud of my fitness. But, you know, it’s just a disaster.”

Weingott wished she’d done more research on the dangers of crossing the Pātea bar, but was also disappointed in the charter company.

“They should check the health and safety of their potential customers and, yes, there were life jackets, but they don’t stop you getting thrown around.”

She said the safety briefing was inadequate.

“You’ve got to hold on. It can get a bit rough. You’ve got to hold on, so that was said a couple of times. That was it.”

Maritime New Zealand’s general manager investigations, Pete Dwen, said charter operators must make sure passengers understood the nature of the trip, were assessed and received tailored safety briefings.

“Passengers should be given clear information about the risks involved in a bar crossing including how conditions can change and the physicality of the crossing.

“Operators also need to check the basic information that helps them assess suitability, such as a passenger’s experience on the water, age, medical or mobility issues, and swimming ability.

“Safety briefings must explain what passengers can do to keep themselves safe including how to brace, what movement to expect, and allowing people to opt out if they don’t feel comfortable.”

Dwen said in this case, those steps were not taken.

“The passengers weren’t told what they were about to encounter during the bar crossing, weren’t given instructions on how to brace, and weren’t asked the questions that would have helped the operator assess their suitability or give them the option to opt out.”

He said people should be able to enjoy their time on the water, but operators must take all reasonable steps to keep passengers safe.

South Taranaki Fishing Charters owner Peter Robins said the company had learned a lot from what happened on 3 January 2022 and as a result of the subsequent prosecution.

“The company is keen to share those lessons with other fishing or small charter boat operators to ensure we are all carrying out our operations in as safe a way as we can.”

Robins said Deverall’s and Weingott’s expectations of the trip and what they – and the charter company – believed they were capable of did not match their actual experience or capability.

The primary lessons the company had learned, and wanted other operators to know, were:

• Provide in advance information about what passengers could expect on a trip. What conditions they might encounter, the hazards and level of strength or capability it might require. Don’t assume they would appreciate these things, even if they knew a bar crossing was involved or had crossed a bar previously.
• Operators should ask about passengers age, health/mobility status and prior experience, and exclude people not equipped to handle a trip because of these factors.
• A safety briefing prior to a bar crossing should include telling and showing passengers how to brace with their legs when the boat encounters a wave. It should be clear the passengers have understood.

Robins said South Taranaki Fishing Charters had made changes to reflect these lessons.

“The company has proudly operated for many years and carried out over 1000 charters. We will continue to operate and strive to ensure we do so in a safe manner.”

According to the agreed summary of facts, South Taranaki Fishing Charters had three prior incidents reported to Maritime New Zealand in May 2010, May 2015 and March 2021 involving passengers who were injured while crossing the Pātea bar.

The May 2010 incident involved a passenger who was over 65 years of age.

The company arranged for Coastguard assistance in respect of the 2015 and 2021 incidents.

South Taranaki Fishing Charters had never previously been convicted of health and safety breaches.

Meanwhile, Weingott regretted ever getting on the charter vessel.

“I’m on pain medication, and I don’t like that much. It changes who I am. And don’t know that there’s a lot of options there. You know, you wake up with this thing.

“I can’t dress myself quickly. I can’t hang things up, it’s difficult getting out of the bath. There’s all sorts of stuff like that, because I don’t really trust my left arm.”

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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

The government has formally revoked the official notice of its charter school contract with a trust that never existed.

But the sports-focused school in Trentham will still go ahead.

In October, Associate Education Minister David Seymour published a notice in the New Zealand Gazette announcing the Charter School Agency had contracted the NZPAA Charitable Trust to set up a charter school.

But the Charities Register had no records of such a trust and this week Seymour published another Gazette notice revoking the October notice.

“By reason of an error made in the notice, the undersigned revokes the Charter School Establishment notice dated 27 October 2025 and published in the New Zealand Gazette, 31 October 2025, Notice No. 2025-go6168,” it said.

The Charter School Agency said a Gazette notice of a new contract for the school would be posted shortly.

“We do not anticipate any impact on plans for the school to open in February next year,” it said.

The agency previously explained the mistake happened because the school’s sponsor changed its arrangements during the process.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

By Penny Smith

The country’s cyber agency is alerting tens of thousands of New Zealanders that their device has been infected with malicious software.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was sending emails to around 26,000 email addresses on Wednesday warning about the malware Lumma Stealer, which was designed to steal sensitive information like email addresses and passwords.

Some of the stolen passwords were connected to government agency systems and bank accounts.

The NCSC’s chief operating officer, Michael Jagusch, said it was the first time the agency had contacted so many people.

“We have worked with New Zealand government agencies and financial institutions to help protect their affected customers. However, there is a large group of users we are now contacting directly,” he said.

“Malicious software like this is relatively common, but this is a very significant amount of New Zealanders that we know have been impacted by this and that’s why we are doing the outreach at this scale.”

Lumma Steeler was designed to go undetected and typically infected devices using Microsoft Windows operating systems.

“The malware’s purpose is to give these cybercriminals information that might let them gain access to your account and ultiumately these cyber criminals are looking to steal money,” Jagusch said.

“They might also use the information for further attacks … They might be able to create more tailored phishing emails against you and your family.”

Jagusch said it’s unlikely the affected people were targeted.

“These people would have unknowingly downloaded the software by clicking a link within a phising email or downloading the software from a compromised website,” he said.

Jagusch added that Lumma Stealer was available for purchase on the dark web.

“There has been a real commercialisation of the cyber crime industry, meaning that malware like this can be purchased by anyone, anywhere in the world,” he said.

The NCSC was alerted to the attack through an international threat sharing forum.

The agency wanted people who received the email to go to its Own Your Online website for advice on what to look for and how to remove the malware, or to contact an IT provider for help.

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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 Nelson teenager was fleeing police at about 183 kilometres per hour when she lost control of the vehicle and smashed into a tree.

Tieylr Saige Ayrton, 17, died from a head injury sustained in the crash on Rutherford Street in March 2022.

The girl was under the influence of alcohol and driving on a restricted driver licence in the early hours of the morning. Her two passengers suffered serious injuries in the crash.

Coroner Megan Armistead, in findings released on Wednesday, said Ayrton’s death was avoidable and highlighted the dangers of driving while intoxicated and the importance of complying with restricted licence conditions.

The Transport Agency said drivers on a restricted licence were seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal or serious injury crash than other drivers, partly due to inexperience.

Two of the riskiest situations for young drivers were driving at night and carrying passengers, the agency said.

Armistead said excessive speed, impairment from alcohol and driver inexperience were contributing factors in the crash.

“The Toyota was travelling at more than three times the speed limit prior to the crash and more than twice the speed limit at the point of impact,” the coroner said.

Fleeing a police officer heading to another callout

Ayrton was driving north on Waimea Road towards central Nelson in a Toyota Mark-X sedan about 1.30am on 13 March 2022.

At the same time a police dog handler, driving a marked police dog vehicle conducting mobile patrols in Stoke, received a call for assistance with a disorder incident on Bridge Street, Nelson.

The officer decided to provide backup for the incident and drove towards central Nelson from Stoke. He increased his speed and activated his red and blue lights.

Ayrton was travelling about 63 kilometres per hour on Waimea Road before the police car approached.

The police officer attempted to overtake Ayrton on an uphill section of the road near Nelson Hospital. But the teenager increased her speed and did not attempt to pull over or allow the police car to pass.

The officer told the coroner he realised the Toyota’s driver was not going to allow him to pass, so he deactivated his red and blue flashing lights and began slowing down.

Ayrton continued to accelerate and reached 183 kilometres per hour before braking ahead of a left-hand curve into Rutherford Street.

The car was travelling about 112 kilometres per hour as it entered the curve and Ayrton lost contol of the vehicle, crossed the centre line and crashed into a tree on Rutherford Street at approximately 106 kilometres per hour.

The police officer rounded the corner soon after and saw the car on fire.

He stopped, ran to the vehicle and put the fire out before attempting to remove those inside.

Members of the public and the officer were able to free one person from the car.

Firefighters arrived and began working to free Ayrton and the other passenger.

An ambulance arrived at 1.50am but Ayrton was unresponsive and died at the scene. The two passengers were taken to Nelson Hospital.

Crash investigation findings

Police carried out a Critical Incident Review into the circumstances of the Toyota fleeing the police vehicle.

It found the officer was not in pursuit of the Toyota and when he realised the Toyota was fleeing from him he followed police policy and procedure by immediately turning off his lights and siren, slowing down and informing the police communications centre.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority resolutions manager Cath Anyan said it was notified of the crash but did not consider an independent investigation was necessary nor was it considered necessary to oversee a police investigation.

A report from the Serious Crash Unit found no contributing factors relating to the vehicle, environment, the road or its layout and markings.

Investigators analysed the CCTV footage from NZTA cameras, a speed monitoring sign on Waimea Road, data from the airbag control module fitted to the Toyota, independent witness accounts and tyre abrasion markings. They found while crossing over the Van Diemen Street intersection on Waimea Road, the Toyota was travelling at approximately 183 kilometres per hour.

The police car was approximately 580 metres behind and not displaying flashing lights.

Tasman District serious crash analyst Senior Constable Simon Burbery said the bend into Rutherford Street had a critical curve speed (the maximum speed a vehicle could take a curve before losing control) of 65 kilometres per hour but the car was travelling almost 50 kilometres per hour more than that when it entered the bend.

The investigation also found the Toyota’s brakes were engaged on and off from more than 200 metres before the crash site, but the rate of deceleration was low.

Ayrton was barefoot at the time of the crash and Burbery noted a pair of jandals found in the driver’s footwell could have become stuck under the brake pedal while she was driving, which could have prevented the brakes from being fully applied.

Unfortunately, due to damage to the Toyota, the investigators could not carry out further analysis of that matter and the coroner said there was insufficient evidence to establish if it had been a contributing factor.

Ayrton was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 153 milligrams per 100 millilitres – more than three times the limit for drivers over 20. However, drivers under 20 years of age are not allowed any alcohol.

Ayrton had held a restricted driver licence since September 2021. The conditions of the licence meant she was not allowed to carry passengers or drive between the hours of 10pm and 5am.

Tasman road policing manager Inspector Martin Tunley said every fatal crash was a tragedy and police were aware that behind every death on the roads was a grieving family.

“My thoughts are with Tielyr’s loved ones. I’d also like to acknowledge our officer and the members of the public who, arriving moments after the crash, were confronted with this terrible scene and did everything they could to save Tielyr and comfort her friends.”

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