Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Public Service Association is calling on the government to offer targeted financial support to home support workers.

Many of country’s 23,000 home support workers are earning minimum wage and travel is reimbursed at only 63.5c per kilometre, the union for public servants said.

Home support workers provide assistance to elderly, disabled and injured people, helping with everyday tasks such as showering and taking medication.

Lower Hutt support worker and PSA delegate Lisa Thomson said those in the sector were struggling even before fuel prices surged.

“It’s actually pretty horrendous at the moment because we only get paid minimum wage and we get paid fortnightly and we’ve got to budget everything to the last cent,” Thomson said.

“There’s no room for extras on anything.

“It’s pay week this week, we’ll put gas in but next week where are we going to get the money from to put the gas in to go to our clients?”

The travel reimbursement – which was almost half the IRD kilometre rate – did not go far when support workers were travelling dozens of kilometres to visit more than 15 clients a day, Thomson said.

“We don’t get any money for the upkeep of our cars. We get a little bit for petrol and that’s about it.

“And one of the girls today just found out she needs four tyres this week – there’s a grand. Where’s that coming from? And then she’s still got to put her gas in the car.”

Home care workers’ pay equity claim was among those scrapped when the government wound back pay equity legislation last year.

Thomson wanted the government to increase the travel reimbursement immediately and to address pay equity for the sector.

It felt like the government did not care, she said.

“I would tell [Finance Minister Nicola Willis] … start thinking about the now and how everyone is going to do their jobs and do it effectively with the rising cost, because it’s not even just the petrol.

“Cost of living has gone up horrendously and we are essential workers and we should be getting paid what we’re worth.

“The government has taken all that away from us and they need to adjust it.”

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said home support workers were getting a raw deal.

“We’re asking the government to make home support workers their top priority when it comes to addressing fuel prices,” she said.

“These are essential workers who make sure people can live in their own homes and use their own vehicles. The increased cost of fuel is biting them hard.

“They’ve already had their pay equity claim cancelled. We want government action to make sure that they are properly reimbursed for their fuel costs and the use of their own vehicles.”

“It’s a deeply unfair situation for these workers. They have to pay for their own cars, their own petrol, their maintenance, their warrants, their insurance and it’s really biting given the increased cost of fuel.

“We need to see urgent action from government for home support workers. They are bearing the brunt of the fuel crisis and we need to see an urgent response.”

RNZ has approached the Minister for Finance’s office for comment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Cancer comes with a high price at the best of times, but it is getting more costly for hundreds of patients as fuel prices rise.

Many people with cancer are forced to drive hundreds of kilometres to main centres for treatment and specialist appointments, and are struggling as the conflict in the Middle East pushes up the price of petrol.

Under the National Travel Assistance scheme, patients needing to travel frequently to see specialists can apply for a mileage reimbursement. But the payment is only 34 cents a kilometre and has strict criteria.

The Cancer Society says an increasing number of patients can not afford the cost of what is supposed to be free treatment and the assistance scheme is totally inadequate.

Cancer Society southern head of cancer services Craig Watson told Checkpoint it was not just the cost of getting to treatment, but the price of everything, such as insurance.

“So it’s already hard times and this is going to make it a lot harder.”

Watson said people were still falling through the cracks of the travel assistance scheme.

“One woman who lived just north of Greymouth who had to travel five times to Christchurch for treatment, that’s 350 kilometres each way, so 3500kms, so because she didn’t meet the criteria of six appointments in six months, she wasn’t eligible for any support at all.”

He said the woman was not sure she would be able to afford to continue her treatment, until she got support from the Cancer Society and other organisations.

Watson said changes to the system in 2024 had improved things, “but we’re still stuck in a situation where it’s super expensive if you don’t live in a major city to get treatment”.

The process of actually getting the financial assistance was also an issue.

Watson said patients who travelled for treatment still had to apply for the milage by sending proof of appointments and other paperwork to get reimbursement, which could take months.

“We know times are tough and we know Iran is going to affect the budget of the government, so we’re just asking the government just to do what was promised, to make it more agile. They also promised to regularly increase the rates, which have only be updated once in the last 17 years, so let’s focus on doing what is right for patients.”

Health New Zealand acknowledged the scheme needed to improve to make it fit for purpose.

Planning and funding director Rachel Haggerty said the rate was lifted from 28 cents per kilometre to 34 cents in April 2024 and the mileage rate was not intended to cover full travel costs.

She said Health New Zealand had been working to modernise the scheme and patients can make claims electronically.

Haggerty said further improvements were being investigated, including changes to eligibility criteria and more flexible payment options, such as pre-payment.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Parents feel the effect of Ministry of Education-funded school bus route reviews
• One mother’s petrol bill jumps from $120 a week to $300 a week now her son can’t catch a bus
• Ministry says reviews are routine, to make sure transport funding is fair and efficient
• Officials back down from changes in Gisborne, RNZ understands.

A mother who now has to make two one-hour round trips to get her son to school every day says her petrol bill has tripled to more than $300 a week.

Becs Barr said her son Murphy is no longer eligible for a government-funded bus to school, after the Ministry of Education reviewed routes in the wider Manawatū region last year.

Officials said such reviews are routine and ensure compliance with its rules, such as students going to their nearest school.

It had recently undertaken such a review in the Gisborne area, but today it’s understood officials have backed down from changes that were to take effect from the start of the second school term, in April.

Fuel bill triples

For Murphy Barr’s first three years at Palmerston North Boys’ High School, getting to and from his home near the Horowhenua town of Shannon was easy – he’d catch the bus.

But this year, his fourth at the high school, he’s had to rely on his mum Becs for transport, after he was ruled ineligible to catch a ministry-funded service because Boys’ High isn’t his closest school.

“I have to take him to school each day, travel by car, and then turn around and come all the way back pretty much nearly to home to then go in the other direction to go to my job.

“I’ve now have lost an hour each morning at my job and I’ve also tripled my fuel bill.”

That bill has gone from $120 a week last year to more than $300 a week before the price hikes of the past few days.

When Becs Barr was recently sick, Murphy had to drive to Palmerston North, just two weeks after getting his restricted licence, to make sure he got to class.

Shannon parents and caregivers were looking at user-pays options, like families in some Manawatū towns Rongotea and Tangimoana had organised, Becs Barr said.

She was particularly displeased to often follow the funded-school bus into town as it transported students still deemed eligible to catch it.

“The bus which he would normally have got still leaves from exactly the same spot it used to and still takes children to their colleges in Palmerston North, but it won’t take Palmy Boys’ or Palmy Girls’ [students].”

Murphy Barr is set on becoming a helicopter engineer, and his Becs Barr said Palmerston North Boys’ High offered the best courses to help him achieve this.

The family made the decision to send him there knowing a funded bus was then available, and with no reason to think they wouldn’t fall within rules that weren’t being enforced.

“We’re fighting against a government that’s saying, ‘Get your children to school’. On the other hand they’re saying, ‘We’re not going to help you. We’re actually going to make it harder.’

“Do I quit my job to go on the dole and claim lots of benefits, so I can have more money to get my child to school. Is that what they want to happen?”

Reviews routine – ministry

The ministry has reviewed more than 250 routes nationwide, including in Manawatū, Northland and Hawke’s Bay.

General manager school transport James Meffan said such reviews were a routine, ongoing part of its work.

“We generally give schools at least a term’s notice of any changes to their school bus services,” he said.

“We notified the schools affected by the Palmerston North area review of the final outcome of our review on 17 September 2025. It is the school’s responsibility to notify their communities of school bus changes.”

The ministry funded buses from Shannon for students attending the closest high school, in Levin, and for those at state-integrated religious schools.

Eligibility criteria for buses were to make sure funding was allocated fairly and efficiently, Meffan said.

“The ministry’s bus operators can choose whether to transport ineligible students on ministry-funded services, as long as the student has permission from the school/s they are bypassing and there are enough seats for all students.

“We understand that the bus operator has elected not to carry ineligible students at this time.”

Biggest frustration in 14 years as school head

Palmerston North Boys’ High School rector David Bovey said about 300 students at the school were affected by bus route changes.

The school was looking at options for students. At times, some weren’t able to get to school.

“We’re having some families that are are making significant sacrifices to get their boys to school and it doesn’t always work.

“We had one situation where you could tell by the tone of the e-mail the mum was really, really frustrated, and had a bit of a crack at us because the car wouldn’t start and she couldn’t get her boy to school from Shannon.

“I feel for her because I’m right behind her. It’s it’s bloody tough.”

Bovey said the changes were a disaster.

“This has been the single most frustrating thing I’ve had to deal with in terms of our boys since I’ve been the rector, and that’s in 14 years.

“I know that they’re saying ‘it’s the policy’. So why now? The policy has been ignored for about 100 years,” he said.

“The government’s spending money on charter schools that we don’t need, and we’ve got kids who can’t get to the school they want to go to because of the bus situation.”

Backdown after Gisborne review

Rural students near Gisborne from term two faced the same challenges in getting to school after the ministry reviewed routes there.

Gisborne Boys’ High School headmaster Tom Cairns said the school had about 75 students who were no longer eligible for a funded bus, and other schools were affected too. Many came from isolated, rural communities, where families would struggle to travel into town.

But now RNZ understands the ministry has reversed course and services will stay as they are, a decision Cairns welcomed.

“We’re very pleased with the outcome. To reverse that shows that somebody is listening and has seen some sense.

“The really pleasing thing is they’ve recognised there’s an issue, and a significant one, and have acted on that.”

RNZ has approached the ministry on Tuesday for comment on the Gisborne situation.

Meffan had previously said: “Our recent review of routes in the Gisborne area showed that many students currently using our services are not eligible, either because public transport is available or because they are not attending their closest school.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Canterbury lines company MainPower is offering a $5000 reward for significant information relating to the tampering with or theft of copper earthing wires.

There have been more instances of copper theft in North Canterbury since January, compared to the whole of last year according to chief executive Sean Horgan.

“This year alone we’re up to well over 200. Over the last couple of days we’ve had another 11 that were stolen.”

Horgan said the copper that is stolen provides protection for MainPower’s equipment and for the public.

The stealing of the copper wiring impacts MainPower workers, because instead of their normal work they are also having to find and repair the power lines where the wire has been stolen, Horgan said.

And it is also costly to replace.

“We’re replacing these things. It’s about $1000 to $2000 a pop.”

The copper is on top of power poles, but not on every pole. Horgan said it is an integral part of the wider system, and it ensures the electricity runs safely to earth if there is a fault with the equipment.

Horgan said the copper runs down the length of the pole and is covered in a protective covering, and the thieves are cutting through it to take one-and-a-half to two metres of copper.

Horgan described it as an “agricultural operation”, and said thieves are using axes and wire cutters to get it out.

MainPower decided to offer a reward in the hope it would help the company find those responsible for stealing the copper, and have also enlisted the help of a private investigator.

“If you see something suspicious, our staff, the MainPower staff, are easily identifiable, they’ve got the full gear on, they look professional. If it’s somebody out the back of a car or truck with an axe, then chances are they’re up to no good, so please let us know.”

The number to report any information is 0800 WIRETHEFT (0800 947 384).

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A man who claims he was sexually assaulted as a teen by an older man decades ago has been accused of making up the allegation to get a prison sentence reduced.

The accused, who has name suppression, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection between 1994 and 1995.

A retrial of the alleged assailant started in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.

Yesterday, Crown prosecutor Penny Brown said the complainant, who was 18 or 19 years old at the time of the alleged offending, claims the pair drank and smoked cannabis at a bach in Lake Coleridge bach, before the complainant became so intoxicated he thought he might have been drugged.

The complainant said he was put to bed by the accused, and woke to find he was being sexually assaulted.

Brown said the complainant didn’t report it to the police until 2020, by which time she said his life had derailed and he was due to be sentenced for serious offending.

The complainant had earlier mentioned the alleged abuse to the writer of a pre-sentence report.

The accused’s defence lawyer, David Stevens, today asked the complainant about the timing of the complaint.

Stevens put to the complainant he told the pre-sentence report writer he had been abused in an attempt to reduce his sentence, and told his family about the allegation to try and explain his offending.

“No, I didn’t use anything. I don’t advertise my past, I don’t pity myself for what has happened to me over my life time. I don’t … poor me.”

Brown asked the complainant what led to him making the complaint when he did.

He said while in prison he encountered people who had experienced a lot of abuse in their lives, but he saw some of them had spoken up about what had happened to them and it had helped them.

“When you are brought up kids are supposed to be seen but not heard, you’re not meant to bring things up. And you live that life but seeing some of these old boys, and some of them are tough buggers, but to hear them come out and say you need to get it off your chest, you need to speak to someone.”

Brown asked him his response to the allegation he made up the complaint.

“What am I doing here now then? Why am I going through this now?” said the man.

“I’ve been sentenced and I’m a free man. If someone was in jail? Sure. But I’m a free man and this could have been knocked on the head ages ago. I wouldn’t be putting myself through this.”

The trial is continuing.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Millions in new government funding to meet winter demand is a drop in the bucket, healthcare unions say.

The $25 million funding will see 378 full-time staff and 71 beds added to hospitals ahead of the colder months, which the government says will increase patient flow and reduce wait times.

Health minister Simeon Brown said the goal was to keep people out of hospital by strengthening GP-level care, and improving patient flow by getting people out of those beds and into care in the community.

“Of course, this plan is not a silver bullet,” he said at the announcement at the Auckland Business Chamber on Tuesday morning.

“We know that demand will still be high and hospitals will face record levels of patients this winter,” he said.

“But by planning early, expanding capacity and supporting front-line teams we give our staff the tools, resources and flexibility they need to manage this pressure, and deliver the care when New Zealanders need it the most.”

The package included funding for 567 short-stay spots in aged care facilities, to free up space in hospitals.

Aged Care Association chief executive Tracey Martin said it was great to see the value of the aged care sector being recognised, but it was already at more than 90 percent capacity.

Finding beds to fund, and the staff to go with them, might be tricky, she said.

“So you might have money, but can you find a bed? And can you find a place that has the beds and the staffing that you need?” she said. “When you starve the sector for so long, you can’t just suddenly dial it up.”

It could be an option for aged care facilities – which were predominantly privately owned – to physically add more beds, but Martin said they might be reluctant to grow their footprint or hire staff on a short-term basis.

“I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to implement as they think it is,” she said. “There aren’t 567 short-term care beds just sitting empty right now, in New Zealand.”

Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said demand needed to be addressed in the community first.

“It’s a pretty standard winter plan, the sort that was rolled out under Labour governments,” she said.

“But the difference here is now we know 650,000 New Zealanders each year can’t afford to go to the general practitioner because of the cost. As long as that’s the case, demand will remain high in our hospitals, and they’ll continue to struggle.”

Labour has committed to three free GP visits for every New Zealander, if they are elected, to treat people before they need hospital level care.

Meanwhile, the nurses’ union said any increase in staff was welcome, but this announcement severely underplayed the shortage.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter said it was not yet clear how much of the funding would go towards hiring nurses specifically, but the union’s own research estimated a business-as-usual shortage far beyond what could be met by this funding.

“We’ve got an ongoing shortage of nurses across the hospital system, and our research showed that our hospitals are short on average 587 nurses every shift, and then you’ve got the impact of winter coming.”

Sarah Dalton from the senior doctor’s union, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, called it a drop in the bucket.

When that criticism was put to Brown, he stood by his announcement.

“We’re focused on putting more resource into the front line and actually making progress, and actually, this has been a plan put together by working with our local hospitals across the country, them highlighting what’s going to make the biggest difference.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have chased a stolen car across Auckland as it hit other vehicles following a home invasion in the east of the city.

The burglary in Howick was reported just after 3pm on Tuesday, with offenders reportedly armed with a machete. The offenders left the scene in a Ford Ranger taken from the property on Bleakhouse Rd, police said.

Police had seen the vehicle heading towards the East Tāmaki area.

“Eagle monitored the vehicle as it drove dangerously through Ōtara, Manukau and onto the Southern Motorway into the central city.” Superintendent Shanan Gray said

On multiple occasions it was seen driving on the wrong side of the road at high speeds.”

Gray said the Ford Ranger was the cause of several collisions with cars that belong to members of the public.

“Police vehicles were rammed on more than one occasion.”

One lane of Karangahape Rd was blocked by police.

An RNZ reporter at the seen said two damaged vehicles can be seen, a small Honda with extensive damage to the front and its bumper ripped off and lying on the road, and a Ford Ranger nearby.

Because of the risk, Gray said the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) was deployed and followed the car on Queen St.

“AOS has carried out a non-compliant vehicle stop on Karangahape Road, immediately taking all four occupants into custody,” he said

“Police deployed a range of tactics including a distraction device, a non-lethal sponge round and a police dog to effect the arrests.”

It was lucky no-one was seriously hurt, he added.

Police also want to hear from anyone who had their vehicle damaged by the incident.

They will be laying charges on Tuesday afternoon.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A Bay of Plenty health team has had a big boost in childhood vaccination rates, saying “pressure free kōrero” and giving people space are the keys to success.

Over about 18 months, the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation (PHO) has lifted the vaccination rate for Māori under-twos in its care from 58 percent to 70 percent.

For all its under-twos, it has gone from 78 to 83 percent.

Childhood vaccination rates for diseases like whooping cough and measles took a hit in the Covid era and have been slow to recover in many parts of the country.

The Western Bay of Plenty team said a flexible and personalised approach was driving change.

It was holding night and mobile clinics, and had nurses who would visit people at home if they had not been able to contact them.

Donna Moon was one of the outreach vaccinators.

She got mixed reactions when she turned up at people’s homes but said face-to-face visits made a huge difference.

It was a privilege to be at someone’s home and she always tried to respect their boundaries, she said.

“I will always say ‘look there is no pressure in this conversation’ early in the conversation,” she said.

There were many reasons why people were behind on their vaccinations.

“It could simply be that they haven’t had time, they haven’t had petrol money, they’ve made appointments then the kids have been sick so there’s so many different reasons. Sometimes mum is needle-phobic and they just can’t face it,” she said.

Moon said she rarely vaccinated children at the first home visit, more often having a chat and listening to any concerns before leaving.

The nurses understood that patients had often been dealing with a lot of conflicting information on social media and it was hard for many to work out what was scientific and what was emotional, she said.

It was important to give people lots of space – many wanted to discuss it with their whānau, she said.

“We know that if we go at people with a whole lot of factual information, they’ll just close off. They need time to think about it, especially if they have been in that space of being reluctant,” she said.

The team never judged people on their decisions or the time they were taking, she said.

The Western Bay of Plenty PHO is a partnership between 23 GP practices and the Ngāi te Rangi and Ngāti Ranginui iwis.

They also worked with the public health services and other iwi health organisations – it ran its overnight clinics alongside Ngati Kahu Health.

Tori Macartney oversees the outreach vaccination team and said, for the night clinics, the starting point was a “pressure free kōrero.”

Some people would choose to have their children immunised there, others would just glean information.

About 75 percent of the PHO’s vaccinations were done in standard clinics – but having options for the other quarter was crucial, she said.

“Is it easiest for us to come to the home? Would they prefer the immunisation done in their whare or in a van or in a night clinic?” she said.

The chief executive of the PHO, Sarah Stevenson, said the collaborative approach was key.

It was also working hard to take an equitable approach to its work and the team had been working on getting a better understanding of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori.

Stevenson said one of the keys was to be very tailored to what the community needed and it was fantastic to see that working.

“It’s kind of delivering healthcare out there on the road in a way that is just more convenient,” she said.

“It’s an important service I think in any healthcare delivery that we look at what is the easiest and best way to deliver healthcare – and immunisation is no different.”

The organisation had about 148,000 patients enrolled across its clinics.

There were more than 800 under-twos covered by the statistics in the 18 month period, just over 120 of them Māori.

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