Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Bike trail builders in central Otago are talking about an end to the “dark days” when they ran into a mess of conservation rules, stopping many tracks being built for years.

But just south of them, it’s a different story, and a club there that raised $80,000 for a trail has had to give half of it back.

Vaughn Filmer of Te Anau is sounding down about it.

“We had a management agreement with DOC (Department of Conservation) and they pulled the pin and said, ‘no, you can’t build those’,” said Filmer, recounting their bid around 2019 to start on tracks in Snowdon Forest Park.

Te Anau Cycling Incorporated where he is president had spent $10,000-15,000, but gave $40,000 back to a major donor.

“I mean, they sort of said to us, ‘when things change and you’re able to go, come back to us’, but nothing’s changed.

“So we haven’t gone back to them.

“It just knocked the window out of our sails. We basically, as a club, we haven’t done anything since then.”

‘We appreciate this is frustrating’

Cycle trail builders in Southland and Fiordland are champing under inflexible rules that are tougher than in other places.

All 16 conservation management regions were gummed up for several years, but since a rethink last year 11 have been getting more flexible, albeit slowly, case-by-case.

Five, though, remain inflexible, said the Department of Conservation.

“We appreciate this is frustrating,” said DOC, but it had to stick by the rules. “It underpins the importance of progressing, modernising and updating the legislation.”

“It feels like we are excluded,” said Filmer. “We have to basically drive two hours to Queenstown or two and a half hours to Bluff to mountain bike.”

In the five inflexible regions, and all national parks which had their own specific requirements, unless a location was already listed in the conservation management strategy to allow for new bike trails, then the hurdles were high.

To make matters worse, each region’s CMS is different and many are years out of date. The one covering the Timber Trail near Taumarunui bans e-bikes though that is ignored and most riders now use electrics or “eebs” as some call them, as RNZ reported on Monday.

Next year would be different under government reform of the Conservation Act, promised DOC.

Dave Boniface at Fiordland Trails Trust hoped so, since he faced not just the public conservation land regime but the national park one as well.

His trust took a year to get a consent to extend one trail, the Lake2Lake south of Te Anau, and months to amend a wildlife permit on another trail north to Te Anau Downs. Even then, that second trail would hit the national park boundary in another 11km and there stall, short of more legislative change and short by 16km of its destination.

“We’re probably 18 months behind where we should have been,” Boniface said.

And at least $600,000 short of fundraising, and probably a lot more.

“We’re constrained by consenting and money,” he laughed. “In some areas we see constraint after constraint after constraint.”

‘We put a plan to them seven years ago’

Gore cycle shop owner Richard Pasco could relate to that.

“Yeah, the poor Te Anau guys, they broke their tails off for quite a few years and now hit a brick wall I think for a few years now, haven’t they,” Pasco said.

He had a different problem trying to add to the several small downhill tracks put in since 2002 by Hokonui Trails Trust.

“I mean, we’ve been proposing new trails since 2018, so that’s seven years ago.

“We put a plan to them [DOC] seven years ago … the plan’s still on the table, but it went back to them again last year.”

Pasco had high hopes. “About a month ago we thought we were going to get close to putting more trails in.”

However, the proposal went back to someone different in the local office due to DOC staff churn.

“There’s a new person taking over and they’ve got to figure out where everything is again.

“It is definitely slow, slow going from our end.”

Fast track, or slow

And time is money: The longer any permissions take to get, the more inflation – and red tape – take a bite out of fundraising.

“We’ve probably doubled the cost of kilometres-per-trail for the processing,” said Boniface.

Pasco argued their volunteers could “turn any dollar into $10” because they had to – they did not get the big bucks from government, unlike the 23 Great Rides.

“If I was going to gripe about something, it would be we don’t get a lot of funding for small areas.

“I think it needs to come from government level, isn’t it, that we want to be nation of bike riding through bush as well as just central Otago.”

The length of the wait and height of the hurdles depends a lot on the type of the land. At nearby Waikaia, the trails trust was quick off the mark with its first mountain-bike tracks this year because they were in a Southland District Council forest.

“However, establishing new bike tracks on public conservation land has not been straightforward,” said DOC.

Pace fosters enthusiasm; but the reverse is also true.

Filmer knows all about that. “You know, we had, in a tiny town, we had over 50 members at one stage, and now we don’t really even bother collecting memberships.”

Pasco: “Dead right, the challenge for people like us is your motivation.

“Because you’re full of, ‘let’s have a go, let’s try’ and, y’know, then you get no communication for four months, five months or a year.”

‘We’re keen to be part of it’

There are signs that is changing: DOC staff came to a trail builders’ forum a few weeks ago with an encouraging message and they appeared much more open to trails, several track builders told RNZ.

“At the end of the day you work really hard to have a good relationship with the local DOC but they are fairly constrained too,” said Boniface.

The department said mountain biking was a valued activity and would be streamlined on conservation land “where effects to conservation values can be properly managed”.

Pasco appreciated the change, but he believed DOC was just not resourced to cope – and this was at a time when more trails business was coming its way.

Some of that would come from the far south, where the fledgling Aparima Riverton Trails Trust had a new long-term plan though no consents yet for its first 5km round-town trail.

“It is hard,” said trust chair Roger Baillie.

“I had always thought that getting landowners’ OK and community buy-in would be very easy. If you’d asked me a few years ago, I would have said we should have a trail up and going by now.

“But it’s much more time consuming than I’d ever thought.”

They imagined a coastal trail to Taramea Bay, and wetlands and flaxmill tracks, and, ultimately, a trail network linking Bluff to Tūātapere and on to Te Anau, and intersecting with the Te Araroa Trail for walkers.

“Others have done it in other parts of the country, although some have had some very difficult problems and it’s been very expensive to negotiate some of the blocks,” said Baillie.

“But we see trails as being hugely beneficial and popular and we’re keen to be part of it.”

‘That would be ultimate’

Dave Boniface has been giving the Aparima Riverton trust advice – “be bloody patient and determined,” he said.

Like them, Fiordland trust was pushing on.

Filmer was more cautious – once bitten and all that. If the conservation management strategies were dumped next year, as looked likely, would conservation values remain to the fore, he wondered.

He was also not on board with some locals’ enthusiasm to ride on the Kepler Track which was reserved for trampers. “I don’t know if that’s the right fit.”

Snowdon Forest was always a stopgap project on land without huge conservation value and he was not sure he had the energy to have another go, even if flexibility arrived.

“It was kind of a bit of a stepping stone,” said Filmer. “It’s like, well, do we want to waste our time on what could potentially be a gap filler?

“Or do we just want to keep driving to Queenstown where the trails are world class?”

On the other hand, the Fiordland College PE teacher hoped to see the cycling club become re-energised, and to see the college’s girls’ downhill champion, Libby Excell, get to ride much closer to home.

“You could have beautiful hand-built trails in the conservation land between here and Queenstown, and people have pitched this idea … that would be ultimate.”

It would take money and certainty. Did they have either? “Neither at the moment, nah.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Two German tourists who were camping at Whakapapa were stunned how quickly a blaze at Tongariro National Park grew between the time they left their campsite and tried to return.

Volker and Jan Seipel are from Heilbronn in Germany. Jan has been going to school in New Zealand for the last 6 months, while father Volker is visiting before the pair returns home.

On Monday morning, they hiked the Tongariro Crossing just hours before a blaze of over 320 hectares broke out, prompting the Department of Conservation to ask visitors to leave Whakapapa Village and close the Whakapapa Village tracks.

Jan told RNZ there had been no signs of a fire when they’d passed just hours earlier.

“When we came, we drove the same road and there was nothing in the morning, nothing, no smoke in the air, no fires, we saw nothing.”

But on their drive back, he said they saw the flames and large clouds of smoke.

Jan said they tried to drive back to their Whakapapa campsite but they were stopped by police and told they couldn’t get through.

The fire closed State Highway 47 between the State Highway 46 and State Highway 48 intersections.

Jan said police advised them to find a campsite in Taupō, over an hour’s drive away.

Fortunately, by chance, the pair hadn’t left any belongings at the campsite.

“Luckily in the morning, we don’t know why, but we packed everything in our car.”

Jan said Lake Taupō was on the way to their next stop, so they were able to adapt their itinerary.

“We didn’t know that it was so nice here and otherwise we would have only passed Lake Taupō, and now we are able to stay [here] and spend our morning in the city here and go for a swim or something like that. So it affected our trip, but in a good way.”

He said they were also really happy they were able to complete the Tongariro crossing on their trip.

“Because the people after us, they are probably not able to do the walk, so we are really lucky and really happy that we were able to do it.”

Fire and Emergency said 50 percent of the fire was contained on Monday night.

Fixed wing aircraft were expected to join the firefighting on Tuesday. along with a fresh crews of firefighters.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Each day, Jacob Hamlin measures his life in four-hour windows – the amount of time he can manage before his brain “stops working”.

It has been this way since the 40-year-old father slipped on an icy path five years ago, hitting his head on the corner of a square post and suffering a concussion.

Chronic fatigue, brain fog and balance problems eventually cost him his job as a systems engineer for an aircraft software company, but despite experiencing ongoing symptoms, ACC stopped his weekly compensation in January.

“I received a letter saying they think I should be better by now, ending support, and that there must be a pre-existing condition causing my issues.”

ACC says a neurologist reviewed his case and concluded his ongoing symptoms were due to his pre-existing conditions rather than his covered injury.

Those conditions included ADHD, migraines and a potential sleep disorder, but Hamlin says these things had never stopped him from holding down a demanding job before his concussion, and losing weekly compensation has plunged his young family into hardship.

At the moment, he can only manage four “productive hours” a day, he says.

“When I do too much my brain stops working. I lose my balance. I get really confused. If I do something physical like mow the lawns, I can do an hour, then have to take an hour break.”

After ACC cut him off, Hamlin got a second opinion that found his symptoms were from his concussion. An independent review overturned ACC’s decision two months ago, but he was – until RNZ made enquiries – still waiting for his payments to resume.

“We’ve spent all our savings… we’re just holding on until they pay us.”

The new neuropsychological assessment suggested his symptoms might also be permanent, and he worried about his future in an ACC system he believed had become “more adversarial than rehabilitative”.

“I feel like they’re just denying everyone and seeing what sticks.”

The growing number ‘exited’ from ACC

Hamlin’s story isn’t unique. He is one of more than 8000 long-term clients “exited” in the year to June.

ACC planned to exit 11,000 more by next June, and was using AI to help decide which long-term claimants should go back to work.

The cull came as ACC’s rehabilitation performance was in decline, with more people getting injured and taking longer to recover. With looming debts and liabilities on its books, ACC Minister Scott Simpson instructed his agency to reduce the number of people receiving compensation for more than a year, which was about 25,000 – the highest it had ever been.

ACC said deciding who leaves was based on advice from expert clinical assessors on a case-by-case basis, but advocates helping claimants challenge those exits worried too many people were being pushed out of the scheme before they were ready.

A breakdown of reasons why people had left the long-term claim pool last year could now be revealed.

Newly released ACC figures showed while the agency reported 8741 were removed from the pool, the actual total was 10,682. This is because 1941 were exited, but later re-entered the long-term claims pool.

Of the 8741 removed just 13 percent returned to their pre-injury role, and 3.6 percent were retrained to do alternative work.

For 5333 people – or nearly half that of the 10,682 exited – ACC could not “accurately determine” the reason for them leaving.

It said some of them were likely to be related to vocational independence or returning to a pre-injury role, but the data it had was indicative only.

It also could not say how many of them were removed for what it called “causation”, which is when it argued a sprain or strain should not have kept someone off work for months. Or, as in Hamlin’s case, their ongoing symptoms must have been due to a pre-existing condition rather than their original injury.

In a letter to lawyer and advocate Warren Forster, who obtained the figures from ACC under the Official Information Act, ACC said it would require a large manual review of all claims to give an overview of the reasons.

But the data did show a year-on-year increase in the number of people exiting the long-term claim pool in each of the last five years. A total of 42,733 people had left the pool in the last five years.

Advocates like Forster said the figures revealed a system under political pressure to reduce costs. He feared the drive to shrink the long-term claim pool could deliver short-term gains, but would come at a long-term cost.

“There is absolutely a pattern of systemic exit. There’s no doubt whatsoever that ACC is exiting long-term claimants at a scale that’s unprecedented.”

Many claimants he helped were exited due to ‘causation’, but they needed more support not less, he said.

“People aren’t off work for four years because of a sprain. Something else is going on – a tendon tear, a disc prolapse, mental distress – and none of that analysis is being done.”

Cutting people off when they were not ready shifted responsibility to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), families and communities, he said.

“This cost isn’t going away – it’s just being moved and without any accountability.”

ACC’s staff may know where individual clients ended up, and the agency did surveys on work-readiness. But it did not systematically track outcomes for people who left.

“It’s almost impossible to believe an organisation whose job is rehabilitation doesn’t know whether it’s actually rehabilitating anyone,” Forster said.

ACC chief executive Megan Main suggested such tracking was not its job.

“Our role is to support people, it’s not to make sure someone has a job to go to. There are so many reasons why someone might, or might not return to work after injury,” she told RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme last month.

“In addition to our responsibility to support people to be rehabilitated, to recover, we also have a responsibility to all New Zealanders who pay their levies to make sure that ACC is only funding injury related treatment,” she said.

Some claimants worried the cost cutting measures meant they would be pushed into work before they were ready.

‘Kicked me when I’m down’

On day two of methadone withdrawal, Johanna Cotter got a phone call. She assumed it would be her regular ACC case manager checking in.

“I’d just spoken to him the day before and he knew I was fragile. Day two is meant to be the worst.”

Instead, it was a new voice. The caller told her: “I’m your new case manager.”

Cotter was blindsided. She had built a year-long relationship with her case manager.

“I trusted him and we had a plan to get me back to work around March 2026.”

The timing felt “inhumane”, she says.

“I’m on day two of my freaking methadone withdrawal… They’ve really kicked me when I’m down.”

Cotter feared the switch to ACC’s new ‘integrated recovery’ case management team was about accelerating her return to work.

Internal documents showed about half of clients in the long-term claim pool had been moved into this team by April in a bid to speed up their rehabilitation and get them back to independence or work faster.

ACC said ‘integrated recovery’ was a multidisciplinary team for clients that had been out of work and on weekly compensation for more than a year, “and have the potential to achieve a positive rehabilitation outcome”.

It said the call to Cotter from her new case manager two weeks ago was simply to introduce herself, and there had been no discussion of her returning to work earlier than planned.

“Our customer resolutions team have acknowledged Johanna’s experience and her new recovery coordinator will continue to work closely with her,” it said in a statement.

The sudden news, however, was the last straw in what Cotter said had been a gruelling fight to get help from ACC.

A botched stomach operation in 2017 followed by pandemic delays to fix the issue left her addicted to prescription painkillers. She had spent the past year tapering off methadone.

“I was in a very high-performing role earning $150,000 a year… and ended up surviving on a benefit of $28,000 a year.”

ACC eventually covered her treatment injury and addiction, but delays in getting financial support hit hard.

“I had to fight to get the backpayment… I had to take out my KiwiSaver, my parents had to help me pay my mortgage, I had to sell my lifestyle block… It was absolutely soul-destroying.”

A large chunk of her backpay went straight to repaying MSD for the benefit she had received.

Cotter did want to return to work when ready, but feared being pushed into it too soon.

“Methadone is known as one of the hardest drugs to come off. I know the government’s trying to get people back to work… but they’re going to have all these people not quite ready who may relapse.”

The ‘spirit of the ACC Act’

The focus on removing long-term claimants was short-sighted, Labour’s ACC spokesperson Camilla Belich said.

“ACC’s own evidence suggests most injuries are preventable… it’s an area to invest in, but what we are sadly seeing at the moment is the exact opposite.”

ACC had reduced its investments in key injury prevention programmes, including at Worksafe, Water Safety New Zealand and programmes targeting sexual and family violence and Māori.

She questioned whether the long-term cost projections used to justify exits were reliable, and said Labour would “honour the spirit” of the ACC Act if it was returned to government next year.

ACC had publicly acknowledged its rehabilitation performance had been in decline for several years. It prompted previous ACC Minister Andrew Bayly to commission an independent report into what it could do to lift its performance.

RNZ understood the final report was sitting on Simpson’s desk. The report, by consultancy Finity, “will be released in due course”. he said in a statement.

“ACC officials assure me that New Zealanders with serious long-term injuries continue to receive support from ACC.

“ACC staff are charged with making difficult decisions every day. Often they deal with clients who have long-standing and complicated personal situations. I rely on ACC staff to use their judgement given each client’s individual circumstances.”

ACC’s culture had also been in the spotlight. Another independent review released in September found its culture was far from positive and staff consistently failed to uphold public service standards.

Advocate Daniel Wood believed the act was strong, but ACC staff often failed to implement the rules correctly.

Seven of the 10 recommendations from the culture review were now being implemented, ACC chair Jan Dawson told MPs during last week’s Scrutiny Week.

All staff had been engaged in developing a “new set of values” Main added.

“This month we’ll share with our people the new strategy which addresses both the culture review and the case management review recommendation, which was to simplify and get to the core of what we do,” she said.

Main declined to be interviewed, but in a statement said ACC considered each client’s entitlements on a case-by-case basis using clinical notes and evidence to make decisions.

“If a client feels that we have made the wrong decision on their claim or entitlement we have a robust independent review process in place,” she said.

Reviews could take months, however. Wood estimates he has had about 30 clients exited from the long-term claim pool in the past four months.

“They have no option but to challenge the decision through an independent review, which can take at least six to eight months – and that’s optimistic.”

People and their families could face significant financial hardship while they waited for decisions to be made, he said.

“Relationships end… and there are self-harm instances.”

Main told Nine to Noon ACC was focused on making sure reviews happened “as timely as possible”, but admitted there had been an increase in clients seeking them since it had taken “a more active role in case management.”

Support in order to get support

Hamlin said fighting ACC while living with a brain injury had been almost impossible without support.

“You’re not able to put much effort [into] it – you almost need an advocate the whole time.

“If we didn’t have health insurance to get those specialist reports showing the proof of my injury, we probably wouldn’t have won our case.”

When RNZ first spoke to Hamlin two weeks ago he was waiting for ACC to resume both his weekly compensation and backpay, which he had been told would happen at the same time.

After RNZ made enquiries about the case, ACC resumed his weekly compensation payments on 1 December. The agency said it was working with MSD to calculate the backdated compensation that he was now owed since his payments stopped in January.

“We acknowledge the difficult financial position Jacob is in and are working at pace to set up his financial supports. We are also supporting Jacob with a training for independence programme and will continue to support him on his recovery journey,” ACC acting head of client recovery Matthew Goodger said in a statement.

For Hamlin, this support was vital. He could not rebuild his life in four-hour windows alone and hoped others were not forced to spend what little they had battling the same system.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

who stole off her fellow soldiers and the Defence Force (NZDF) during a touch rugby tournament is waiting to find out her fate.

A light-fingered army corporal who stole off her fellow soldiers and the Defence Force (NZDF) during a touch rugby tournament is waiting to find out her fate.

Corporal Jackie Te Weehi pocketed $3422.57 of team member and NZDF funding and prosecutors are calling for her detention and dismissal.

The Territorial Force soldier has since paid back the money she swindled.

Te Weehi pleaded guilty at a Court Martial at Whenuapai Air Base on Monday to theft by person in a special relationship, and making a false official document.

The maximum penalties are seven years’ and two years’ imprisonment respectively.

NZDF prosecutors said Te Weehi had breached the trust and integrity that were fundamental to the armed forces.

It said she could not reasonably be put in a position of trust again.

“The fact that Corporal Te Weehi was in a position of trust and authority is a severely aggravating factor, she was the team manager,” prosecutors said.

They said the fact there was a representative charge spanning months showed the offending was pre-meditated.

After the hearing of evidence and her guilty pleas and convictions being entered on Monday, Te Weehi will face being sentenced on Tuesday afternoon.

The offending

Defence Force prosecutors Lt Letitia Smith and Sub Lt Angus Graham laid out the case before Judge Bill Hastings.

It was July 2023 when the New Zealand Army Men’s Touch Team was invited to play in the Australian Defence Force Touch Championship in Australia.

Te Weehi, an Acting Sergeant at the time, was manager of the team.

She overcharged team members and asked for money that wasn’t used, including asking for donations for the coach’s emergency bereavement flight back to New Zealand.

She took money at various points.

Te Weehi sent a budget to team members on 1 August 2023 saying they needed to pay $635 to cover the trip – $531 for flights, $80 for uniforms and $24 for other costs.

Days later she was told that sponsorships meant flight costs had dropped to $400.

She then told team members they needed to pay $535 in total, when it should have been $504.

Between 27 July and 23 August, team members put money into Te Weehi’s personal bank account.

In all, she got $8726 that was supposed for be for tournament expenses.

Between 15 and 23 August Te Weehi transferred $5600 to another service person who booked flights and then paid $1200 for uniforms.

In total she spent $7200 on the team’s needs.

But she held onto $940 from overcharging each player, asking for money for expenses that weren’t used and not repaying two players who overpaid.

Another player wanted to take his civilian daughter to the tournament and was told she would need to pay full price for the flight.

But Te Weehi knowingly put her on a seat subsidised by the Army and held onto the extra $586, which she used for personal expenses.

Then, she got $3000 of sponsorships from the Army Logistics Regiment that was supposed to be given to team members equally as a reimbursement.

Te Weehi, while distributing the money, told players there were hidden costs and insurance fees when there weren’t, and held onto $939.67 and used it personally.

Money from a Manager Grant for extra expenses was also paid into her bank account for the likes of sports drinks and washing powder, but was not used for those.

On 18 October, she asked players for more contributions, $490 for the team and miscellaneous costs.

She only put $294.70 of it toward those, and held onto the rest.

Then, when the team coach had to return to New Zealand urgently during the tournament for a family bereavement, the flight was charged to an NZDF credit card.

Te Weehi raised $189.60 from donations from four team members but gave none of the money to the coach or the Defence Force.

On 25 October she offered to order new team t-shirts for the team with eight players together handing over $372, but the shirts were never ordered.

On the second charge of making a false official document, she made a document addressed to the Chief of Army saying she had arranged travel insurance for the team.

A later investigation by Military Police found Te Weehi had never got insurance.

“Corporal Te Weehi blatantly lied, this was not spur of the moment offending,” Lt Smith said of the second charge at the Court Martial.

She also told the judge Cpl Te Weehi was not acting in any form other than self interest.

Lt Smith said Te Weehi had “a clear unwillingness” to comply with the ethos and values of the NZDF.

Te Weehi’s defence

When interviewed under caution in October last year, Corporal Te Weehi asked to terminate the interview and exercise her right to refrain from making further statements.

At the Court Martial, Te Weehi’s lawyer, David Pawson, told the military panel it was “absolutely warranted” to have her dismissed.

“No problem with that at all,” he said.

But he argued she should not face detention, and that dismissal was a higher punishment than detention.

“She immediately pleaded guilty, she is remorseful, she’s paid back the donations and she’s written a letter of remorse,” he said.

He also urged the military panel to consider the effect of Cpl Te Weehi’s name being published by the media.

“I invite you to consider about being empathetic too, I’m not saying be soft but I’m not saying let’s be harsh either,” he said.

“Because at the end of the day Corporal Te Weehi is toward the end of her long and distinguished service.”

“We’ve all made mistakes,” he told the panel before it considered its sentence.

No victims were willing to provide victim impact statements.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Gary and Kimberlee Whitehead have lost count of the number of times their Far North property has flooded.

Water has come up through the floorboards, pets have been swept away, cars written off, and foundations damaged.

Now they feel anxious any time they hear rain on the roof.

Some people ask: Why don’t they just sell up and leave?

“We can’t,” Gary Whitehead said.

“I mean, I’m 58 now. I can’t sell the property because it’s an intolerable risk to life. No one’s going to buy it. I mean, what do I do? Go homeless?”

Whitehead said insurance was no help either.

“The insurance will only pay to fix the house. They won’t pay to lift the house or make it safe. And once you make so many insurance claims, they just cancel your insurance. So we can’t even really make another claim unless it’s a total loss.”

The Whiteheads had pinned their hopes on a joint council-government buyout scheme for homes damaged in the 2023 storms, but they were refused.

New stopbanks and spillways were protecting homes in flood-prone towns such as Kāeo and Moerewa, but there was little help for people living in isolated valleys like theirs.

“It’s okay if you’re in a town, but anyone that’s rural is just left to their own devices,” Gary Whitehead said.

A new report by the Climate Change Commission – the first to focus solely on Northland – found the region was hit harder than most by climate change.

That was partly due to the region’s exposure to storms, droughts and cyclones, but it was also shaped by socio-economic factors.

The report said the region’s exposure to the effects of climate change was amplified because many Northlanders lived in rural areas and were employed in “climate-sensitive” industries such as farming and forestry.

The authors said Northland stood out for its “social vulnerability” to climate change with almost 40 percent of its population living in areas of high deprivation and a similar proportion not in the labour force.

That meant Northlanders were less likely to have enough money to cope with crises and losses.

People who were already at a disadvantage had limited options for avoiding the negative effects of climate change and could be left behind as others adapted, the report stated.

For example, people with the money to do so could relocate out of harm’s way, while others had to stay in hazard zones where they could be hit again and again by floods or storms.

Many of those issues were concentrated for Māori, who made up 40 percent of Northland’s population, double the national average.

A large proportion of jobs held by Māori in Northland were in climate-sensitive primary industries and therefore vulnerable to droughts, flooding along rivers and coasts, and saltwater intrusion into ground water.

As well as examining the impact of climate change, the Commission’s case study looked at the ways local communities and businesses were responding.

Clive Stone, the taiao (environment) head for east coast iwi Ngātiwai, said flooding, even in summer, was a major concern.

“One of the communities we live in is a place called Whangaruru. It’s really impacted by heavy weather events. It gets closed down, kids can’t get to school. The flooding seems to be intensifying, which then leaves us isolated.”

Coastal erosion was another worry, especially when it threatened homes or wāhi tapu such as urupā (cemeteries).

“Large tracts of our coastline are disappearing and it seems to be accelerating. We put that directly on climate change.”

Stone said Ōakura residents were trying to reduce erosion by planting on sand dunes, while whānau in Punaruku were working with the council to reduce flooding by clearing forestry debris from their rivers.

The effects of climate change on the ocean also worried the iwi.

“The moana is so essential to Ngātiwai because a lot of our people get their sustenance from there. We are noticing changes that are affecting our ability to harvest kai from the moana. Things like caulerpa, a new weed that seems to really thrive on the warmer water. That’s another real big concern for us.”

Another person interviewed by the Commission was community consultant Zonya Wherry from North Hokianga.

She said one of the biggest climate-related challenges in her area – as highlighted by Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023 – was the fragility of the power network.

Wherry said Hokianga residents had gone nine to 14 days without power, and three to five days without communications.

In many instances, no power also meant no running water.

Modern communication systems – unlike the old copper-wire phone network – also required power, while roads blocked by slips and floods made it hard to bring in food or fuel for generators.

“We were out of power for days. That meant that some of our most vulnerable, our kuia, our kaumātua, who rely on power for water, for hygiene, for their medical equipment, were at high risk. So energy insecurity is huge here.”

Wherry said Northlanders had learnt from Cyclone Gabrielle with her marae, for example, installing solar power and satellite internet to ensure residents could stay connected to the outside world in future emergencies.

Projects were also underway around Hokianga to make the area more self-reliant in food and electricity.

Wherry said the cyclone response highlighted a disconnect between government, both local and central, and the needs of people on the ground.

She says the Climate Change Commission’s approach made a refreshing change.

“I was impressed with the team, especially commissioner herself, coming up and being on the ground and visiting all these remote areas, just wanting to hear from us. Hopefully this report is going to be a benchmark to start advocating for us on the ground.”

The report stated sudden downpours, cyclones and droughts were nothing new for Northlanders.

However, they had become more intense in the past decade, in particular during the summer of 2022-23 when four major storms battered the region in seven weeks.

The resulting damage to roads, the railway and other infrastructure cost hundreds of millions of dollars to repair.

A subsequent study found warming caused by human activity had increased the total rainfall dumped by Cyclone Gabrielle by 10 percent and lifted peak hourly rainfall rates by 20 percent.

The Climate Change Commission report found other effects were more gradual but also had profound implications.

Farmers interviewed for the report described the double whammy of rising flood risk plus more frequent and longer droughts, and the “whiplash” effect of swinging between extremes.

Higher temperatures and changing rainfall patterns promoted the spread of new pests such as Madagascar ragwort, a fast-spreading weed toxic to livestock, and fall army worm, a caterpillar that could decimate crops such as maize.

On the upside, tropical crops such as dragonfruit, bananas and pineapples were now being grown in Northland.

The country’s first commercial coffee farm started operating in the hills above Doubtless Bay in 2023.

However, growers stressed that those niche crops could not replace the staples grown in Northland, and small producers were limited in their ability to commercialise new crops.

Other measures described in the report to mitigate climate change effects included a water storage reservoir built at Ahipara by Far North iwi Te Rarawa to supply its market gardens.

At nearby Kaitāia, the $15 million Awanui flood scheme aimed to prevent a repeat of the devastating 1958 flood that sent metre-deep water coursing through the low-lying town.

Although not yet complete, it was already proving successful.

During a storm in 2022 the volume of water flowing down the Awanui River was almost 50 percent higher than in 1958, but the town did not flood.

The report, called Ā Te Taitokerau urutau i ngā āhuarangi/Responding to a changing climate in Northland, is the fourth case study to date by the Climate Change Commission and the first to cover an entire region.

The other studies focussed on Wairoa, South Dunedin and Westport.

The Northland study was based on meetings with a broad cross-section of groups and individuals in March 2025.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

It may not be the ‘silly season‘, but that has not put a stop to naughty New Zealand fur seals causing mischief.

The Department of Conservation (DoC) is reminding the public that kekeno are not pets, as more and are spotted around the country.

New Zealand made international headlines this month, after footage of a seal pup wriggling through the front door of Sprig+Fern The Meadows in the Tasman town of Richmond went viral.

Another seal pup was spotted in Christchurch last week, with DoC having to intervene after a member of the public threatened to take it home.

Ranger Mailee Stanbury told RNZ that the pup had travelled several kilometres – from the suburb of Redcliffs, through the Heathcote River, all the way to Opawa – which was “not unusual”.

“It is normal for seal pups to go exploring up rivers, and sea lions have been seen as far inland as 60 kilometres,” she said.

“It is common to see them coming up the estuary at this time of year, exploring and fishing. With an increasing population around Banks Peninsula, there’s a chance we can expect to see more fur seals coming into residential environments around estuaries.”

While DOC would prefer to leave the pup alone, Stanbury said she had to move it “because it was unsafe from people”.

“Unless we absolutely need to, we prefer to take a hands-off, more natural approach.

“That’s the only way that wildlife can actually learn and explore – and I think they should be able to do so without threats from humans.”

Stanbury said the pup was being hand-fed fish, and one person had even taken it from the Heathcote River and put it beside the road.

It had learned that people would give it food, Stanbury said, so it had started to habituate to them.

“There were men there who were saying that they were going to take the pup and put it in their bath at home, which is completely inappropriate. That is a very inappropriate way to treat New Zealand wildlife. We do not take them home.”

While Stanbury had taken the pup to Godley Head late Friday night, it had returned in search of more hand-fed fish by the morning.

The pup was first spotted at Taylors Mistake beach, passing by the Surf Life Saving Club, before loitering in the car park.

“It actually stopped some people from leaving because it went and sat right underneath the back wheel, and they couldn’t back out of the car park and go away. Even when they turned on the engine, it just got in closer under the car, so it really has no fear of humans or cars at all.

“And at that point, we made the call that we were going to need to take it quite a bit farther away – somewhere where it can’t hear or see people at all – and will hopefully be able to re-bond with its own kind and break this unhealthy bond that it’s now forming with humankind.”

Stanbury released the pup in a bay past Akaroa Harbour on Monday.

“These little seals are only just weaned from their mothers and need to learn to feed and survive in the wild. When people feed them or interact with them, they are putting its life in danger as it will bond with people and keep coming back to urban settings where it can be attacked by dogs or hit by a car.

“We urge the public to leave seals alone, give them a wide berth, and absolutely do not feed them.

“Ring the DoC hotline if you think a seal is injured, sick, or in danger.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The wetlands and surrounding forests of Te Awarua o Porirua, or Porirua Harbour, were once rich food baskets for Ngāti Toa Rangatira. Indeed, it was the bounty of these waterways that convinced famed 19th century rangatira Te Rauparaha to bring his people south from Kawhia in 1820.

Ngāti Toa Rangatira kaumatua Te Taku Parai says there was lots of timber for building waka and whare, tributaries flowing into the harbour carried different foods, swamps provided plenty of harakeke, and greenstone could be found close by.

Sometimes, you can still see rays and rig sharks, and occasionally even pods of orca in pursuit of a meal in the inlets. But the harbour also carries the legacy of decades of development throughout the catchment – large-scale deforestation, road and rail building, and urban growth – bringing sediment and pollution in, and destroying natural habitats.

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Earlier this year, Ngāti Toa Rangatira signed a historic account with local and regional authorities to restore the harbour’s ecosystems, with a focus on stemming sources of pollution and reducing sediment flows.

Jimmy Young, Greater Wellington’s catchment manager for Te Awarua o Porirua, says his team is out on the harbour every week to meet with other groups working on the restoration. The two inlets – or “two lungs of the harbour” – are affected differently.

“One is far more rural and the other is far more urban,” he says. “In Pāuatahanui you don’t have those urban pressures, you have the roads but a much more natural shoreline. While in Parumoana, you have all the heavy infrastructure that’s been there for decades – railway lines and state highways that have straightened the shoreline, and a lot of reclamation of land.”

Young says the accord puts the harbour at its centre to better coordinate ongoing efforts, focusing on sites with the best chance of restoration. “It’s an inter-generation effort to restore the abundance of fish and healthy ecosystems.”

The regular cockle survey in Pāuatahanui inlet, run by the Guardians of Pāuatahanui, is one of New Zealand’s longest-running citizen science projects. Every three years, since 1992, volunteers come together to sample the inlet and count and measure the cockles they find.

Chair of the Guardians, Lindsay Gow, says the inlet has a variety of bird species and fish and is the main breeding ground for rig sharks in the western part of the North Island. “All of that needs significant protection, and the job of the Guardians is to do everything we can … to make people aware of the importance of the inlet.”

Te Taku Parai says the harbour once allowed Ngāti Toa to feed its own people well, but also to host manuhiri and treat them with kai moana. He says he won’t rest until the harbour is restored and has instructed the iwi’s rangatahi to compose a mōteatea (lament) to sing as a reminder of the important work ahead.

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