Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Homes and businesses have been exposed to a new “lethal” risk of electrocution because of a rule change, according to electrical inspectors.

RNZ can reveal a dispute that’s escalated over the last month as inspectors in multiple meetings and letters have pleaded unsuccessfully with officials to do a U-turn.

On 13 November, a ban on putting a switch or fuse into mains power earthing systems was ditched, among 400 updates to electrical safety regulations.

“It’s a rule that’s just been taken away and … as it stands at the moment, is a lethal risk,” NZ Electrical Inspectors Association president Warren Willetts told RNZ.

Master Electricians industry group said the change had introduced a “critical safety issue” for consumers and installers.

WorkSafe said on Thursday it would be a “rare event” to insert a switch or fuse, and that other safety restrictions remained in place.

However, at the same time, the agency said the change was to allow for safer uptake of common new technologies like EV charging and household solar panels.

It issued a four-line statement saying it would publish guidance soon for the industry, and declined an interview. Letters between WorkSafe and the association seen by RNZ, and Willetts’ comments, show the inspectors are in no way reassured.

WorkSafe promised an external review “to benchmark our advice on the amendment”, but the inspectors said that would come much too late.

“We know of no other country in the world that allows” this, the association wrote to WorkSafe on 21 November.

The removal of the Protective Earth Neutral (PEN) protections could render entire systems “lethal, possibly with multiple injuries or fatalities” even when they were operating normally, it said.

To ‘not get a fatal shock from that is nearly impossible’

“In this case, when you switch the main neutral off, all the metalwork in your house, your hot water cylinder, your tap, your shower, whatever’s been earthed, now becomes 230 volts plus,” Willetts said on Wednesday.

“So you being able to let go and not get a fatal shock from that is nearly impossible.”

A residual current device, or RCD, would not help.

Inspectors requested two urgent meetings with WorkSafe in November, but emerged even more worried.

“It was very concerning to have WorkSafe unable to confirm or deny whether a high-impendance PEN (switch to open circuit) is a potentially lethal risk,” they wrote on 21 November.

‘An appropriate move’

Last Friday, WorkSafe wrote back defending the change. Its letters called the deleted ban “prescriptive” and a “blanket prohibition”.

“We are confident that removal … was an appropriate move,” the agency wrote.

It would not expect installers to put in a switch unless there was “good reason”.

“However in order to address your concerns” it was commissioning an external review.

The inspectors said the safe approach was to do a U-turn now, and claimed that WorkSafe did not consult the industry properly before it went ahead.

“I’m not going to call them incompetent, but it is insinuated that is the case,” Willets told RNZ.

‘Unsafe, unworkable and legally ambiguous’

The Master Electricians industry group said the change introduced a “critical safety issue by permitting switching or fusing of the PEN conductor prior to the main switchboard, directly contradicting Section 8.3.7.2(b) of AS/NZS 3000, which prohibits PEN switching”.

“This creates an unsafe, unworkable, and legally ambiguous situation for installers and consumers,” said chief executive Alex Vranyac-Wheeler in a statement.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [MBIE] which adminsters the regulations said it had had initial talks with Master Electricians on this and they would meet soon.

It had consulted the public on the whole package of 440 updates to the safety regulation citations to reduce barriers to renewable energy tech, the ministry said, adding WorkSafe engaged with the industry on the disputed change.

WorkSafe told RNZ on Thursday, “In the rare event an electrician needs to switch an earth or PEN conductor, only approved methods should be used to ensure safety.” The link was to 2023 guidance titled ‘Connecting a generator to the wiring of a house or building following an emergency’.

“The regulatory amendment lays the foundation for future measures to ensure electric vehicle charging meets safety expectations, and allow for improved disaster resilience,” it said.

This appeared to be reference to use of generators after a disaster, and needing to isolate them.

Willetts said a scenario created by the change was that a householder looking to charge their EV might hire an electrician, who opted to put in a switch because they could. “A switch or a fuse in that neutral by itself creates this lethal risk.”

WorkSafe said it would put out guidance before Christmas “outlining the restrictions that remain in place to prevent switching from occurring”.

Willetts questioned why the guidance did not accompany the rule change. “We don’t have any guidance yet from Energy Safety [part of WorkSafe] to say what to do and what not to do.”

He said inspectors suspected just one or two people initiated the rule change, and the lethal risk was likely an “unintended consequence”.

But WorkSafe said its experts had engaged with industry experts, and continued to do so, and fed that advice to MBIE which made the regulatory change.

Who knows what?

The inspectors association sent WorkSafe advice from WorkSafe Queensland in 2021 that talks about the risk of electric shock from switching the neutral. Industry commentary in Australia has called it “a very bad idea”.

In its two letters to inspectors, WorkSafe said the responsibilties and liabilities of installers to do a safe job had not changed.

Willetts said this was passing “the legislative responsibility of safety to the electrician” by relying on other safety regulations they were most likely not even aware of.

“I would hope most of them would go ‘no’ [to an unsafe PEN switch] but as an electrical inspector going to sites, I have seen some weird and wonderful things electricians have done.

“We know from past that any emails that they send out, a lot of the electricians just ignore them.”

The inspectors association argued for alternatives for charging EVs, and isolating generators, that it said were being picked up in other countries.

In its 6 November letter, WorkSafe defended the change as in alignment with “an internationally recognised method of protection”.

In the UK, the Institution of Engineering and Technology published a new standard and was pushing for mandatory use of open combined protective and neutral (PEN) conductor detection devices (OPDDs).

Willetts said if any switch or fuse was put in a PEN it should only be done with a certified design by an electrical engineer.

The inspectors association expected to issue guidelines next week. Master Electricians was doing similar and said it was working with MBIE on making the whole regulatory system more flexible like in Australia.

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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 highly anticipated opening of Swedish furniture company IKEA in New Zealand comes as a rural community worries about the fire risk from pine plantations.

Since 2020 IKEA has converted six Central Hawke’s Bay farms into pine forestry, which they believe makes them the largest forestry owner in the district.

This move, combined with the sale of at least four other Hawke’s Bay farms to overseas forestry companies this year, is sparking concerns from locals about the loss of productive farmland and the risks associated with converting large areas into pines.

‘Dumbest thing NZ has done in agriculture’

To better understand the scale of this land-use change, Porangahau farmer James Hunter and pilot Joe Faram flew RNZ over thousands of hectares of new pine trees that now cover what had been traditional farmland for generations.

“This is the dumbest thing New Zealand has done in agriculture,” Hunter said.

He wants New Zealanders to witness the extent of farmland being planted in forestry.

“It’s not just one farm, it’s farm after farm and I think it’s the scale of it that people don’t understand.

“Suddenly we’ve got a district that’s been swallowed, and this is apparently good for the country,” he said.

• More than 1.8 million hectares of New Zealand is planted in pine trees with many farms having been converted since 2008 to earn carbon credits after the Emissions Trading Scheme was introduced.
• This resulted in more ‘carbon farming’ where forests are planted for carbon credits and permanently locked up rather than being harvested for timber.
• Swedish furniture company IKEA has bought 28,000 hectares of New Zealand farmland since 2021, with another 10,000 currently pending approval in Northland.
• However, IKEA told RNZ none of its trees have been planted for carbon credits, although they may look at ‘some form of offsetting in the future’.
• A recent report from the Climate Change Commission estimated another 900,000 hectares of land will be converted to forestry by 2050.
• Most of IKEA’s 4300 hectares of forestry in Central Hawke’s Bay is near the village of Porangahau, where about 200 hectares of its pine trees went up in flames in October and took days to extinguish because of the high winds grounding helicopters.

It’s fires like this that have rural communities on edge, because they say even if the blaze starts on nearby farmland, the forests contain the fuel that feeds them.

“So the question for the forestry owners is how confident are they that they can stop New Zealand haemorrhaging money chasing fires?” Hunter said.

“They’ve brought basically the equivalent of petrol tankers into these rural districts. Why should we pay for the cost of fighting something while they’re making extraordinary money?”

Hunter believed there’d been ‘no thought to firefighting’, especially in high winds.

“I want to see them have to put in their own water supplies. And I want some confidence that they can fight a fire when the helicopters are not able to fly – and if the helicopters are not able to fly, what happens to the rest of us downwind?”

He’s concerned that Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) didn’t have the resources to deal with major blazes. FENZ said it’s primarily funded through the Fire and Emergency levy, which is collected on contracts of fire insurance. However, there is no mandatory requirement for foresters to insure.

“We do not have a separate breakdown of levy contributions from forestry companies,” a FENZ spokesperson said.

“Other than funding from the levy, Fire and Emergency does not receive any additional dedicated funding to fight forestry fires.”

The organisation said it was “confident in its ability to respond effectively to forestry fires”.

IKEA’s forestland country manager Kelvin Meredith told RNZ the company, like many other forestry owners, did not have fire insurance.

“We don’t insure for fire. It’s prohibitively expensive in New Zealand,” he said.

Meredith agreed that there is a lot of fuel in a forest but said it provided fire plans to FENZ and worked closely with it to mitigate the fire risk.

“What we can do is have decent fire breaks and decent fire plans in place so if it does break out, the key consideration is that no one’s life is in danger.

“I can’t speak for all forest owners, but I think we’re relatively well prepared in the event of a fire,” said Meredith.

Hunter said if forest owners weren’t contributing financially to FENZ, or properly mitigating the fire risk, then it’s unfair on farmers who did pay fire insurance levies and were investing in fire protections.

“So you want to go and plant your trees? Cool. Don’t leave me with the costs.”

There’s also currently no mandatory requirement for forestry owners to reduce or mitigate fire risk, but the Forest Owners Association said $21 million a year was spent on fire protection.

Nationally, FENZ had 15 formal service-level agreements with major forestry companies that outlined resource sharing arrangements and joint responsibilities during wildfire events, and said three more were being finalised.

FENZ wouldn’t provide forestry fire plans to RNZ, but said there was ongoing investment in training and technology to ensure they remained well-prepared as fire risks evolved “due to climate and land-use changes”.

“Fire and Emergency remain committed to working with all stakeholders to protect people, property, and the environment from the growing threat of wildfires.”

IKEA said it would consider supporting calls for legislation requiring all landowners, from farmers to foresters, to mitigate fire risk and invest in fire protections.

“If it’s practical and effective and can be implemented in an effective manner. It’s no good writing a piece of legislation that only half the population is going to follow,” said Meredith.

‘I’m embarrassed to be a New Zealander’

Pilot Joe Faram has been fighting forestry fires for decades. He’s had a front row seat witnessing Hawke’s Bay’s landscape steadily change from farms to pines.

“The transition has been very vast over the last 15 years … a lot of that mindset has been detrimental to the betterment of New Zealand.

“I’m embarrassed to be a New Zealander, it’s shameful,” he said.

As a pilot, he said there was a lot of pressure on aerial fire-fighting resources because it’s often the main tool for containing a forestry blaze.

He’s concerned the increase in pine trees is creating a bigger fire risk.

“Because there’s more material, there’s more fuel. We’re certainly putting ourselves in a dangerous situation, so you’re managing risk control.

“By a little bit of good fortune and luck, we have had fires, but we’ve managed to suppress them quite effectively. But one day, the Swiss cheese will line up and we will have a fire that, instead of putting it out in two or three days, it could be up to a month,” he said.

It’s a fear shared by Porangahau hapu Ngāti Kere. Chairperson David Tipene Leach has been in discussions with IKEA since 2022.

“They came to the marae, they talked to us, they told us what they had to offer.

“When you look back on it a couple of years later, actually there’s not much to offer.”

Since the fire in October, he’s written to IKEA on behalf of the hapu, urging it to remove the pine trees planted closest to the village in an area known as Stoneridge.

“If you look around the world, and certainly in this day and age, we look into Canada and into the States and other places, and you see the huge forest fires that are occurring in these big plantations, we’ve got to be worried about that sort of stuff.

“With regard to exit and entry from our little isolated town, they’re planting, planting all along the road. You can’t get out of our town if the forests are burning,” he said.

However, IKEA said it’s unlikely it would remove trees.

“As far as taking the whole Stoneridge face out of trees, I can’t see that happening. What we need to do is meet with the community and understand what are the real concerns here related to fire,” said Meredith.

For Tipene Leach, there’s a sense of sadness around seeing farmland planted in pine.

“It’s kind of like this is just another, you know, I don’t want to sound silly, but another wave of colonisation that Ngāti Kere has to deal with.

“Us small hapu, we’re fighting for survival here. We’re not really fighting to change the world. We’re just fighting to maintain our little bit of the world.”

He worried the pine problems seen in Tai Rāwhiti with slash and community loss were creeping down the East Coast, and Hawke’s Bay was set to make the same mistakes.

“The forestry people will tell us, don’t worry, we’ve all learned since then.

“But they are commercial operators who are out there to make a buck where they can, and so I’m not sure that we have any reason to trust them,” Leach said.

Forest Owners Association chief executive Elizabeth Heeg said commercial foresters did want to make a return on their investments, but the returns were slow to be realised and forest owners were highly motivated to protect the environments and communities their trees grew in.

“Part of this is adapting to climate change and with increasing numbers of significant storms, foresters are very focused on adapting their forest and harvest management plans to prevent and prepare for incidents where forest waste leaves their land.

“Our forests are a vast resource and with greater collaboration across the industry and other sectors, using woody biomass for energy generation, more timber in construction, and increasing domestic processing, New Zealand has a significant opportunity to gain far greater value from them,” said Heeg.

IKEA said while it couldn’t answer for all foresters, the company was “pouring cash into the country”.

“We’re planting forests … we’re buying native seedlings, we’re employing local contractors, employing planting crews … and we won’t realise a return for 28 years.

“We’re not extracting a lot of cash out of the country for the benefit of an offshore entity, that’s for sure,” said Meredith.

He said IKEA had put a “little bit of a pause” on buying farmland at the moment and was buying existing forests instead.

The timber grown in New Zealand would be used in IKEA’s furniture, however, it’d be shipped overseas for manufacturing.

“The sad situation we’re in is you can actually send logs to places like China and bring back products made in those countries cheaper than we can do it here.

“We’d love to manufacture here. We’d love to support local processing but it’s just the economics are tough.”

Government taking forestry fire risk ‘seriously’

Forestry Minister Todd McClay told RNZ the government took the risk of forest fires seriously and had strengthened its approach in recent years.

“There has been a wide package of work across prevention, readiness, and response. This includes updated guidance for landowners and councils, better coordination between the New Zealand Forest Service and Fire and Emergency New Zealand, and ongoing investment in research, risk mapping, and seasonal forecasting,” he said.

When asked if the government was considering legislation changes so that it’s mandatory for all landowners to reduce or mitigate fire risk, the minister said they already have responsibility for managing their property against the risk of fire.

“It’s important to note that 98 percent of wildfires in New Zealand are caused by human activity and often spread into forests.

“It’s also important to note that under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017, FENZ have the authority to require a landowner to create and clear a firebreak on their property if it believes this is needed to help control fires.”

He believed forestry owners were doing enough to reduce the risk of fires on their land.

“Large forestry companies often have their own firefighting teams, equipment, and water supplies. Getting full insurance against fire damage is difficult, so some forestry owners choose to self-insure or buy partial coverage.

“Ultimately, the financial risk of losing trees to fire sits with the forest owner,” McClay said.

*RNZ was taken up on the flight by farmer James Hunter to give a snapshot of the land use change in the area.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Those in charge of the country’s most expensive transport infrastructure are confident the new timetable for opening will stick – but they won’t name a date.

Auckland’s $5.5 billion City Rail Link has to undergo thousands of tests including crowd emergency evacuations before it can open in the second half of next year.

Today The Detail goes to the deepest point of the new project inside Karanga-a-Hape station for a glimpse of the country’s longest escalator, and the tracks running more than three kilometres under the city, connecting the two brand new stations (Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu) and two extensively modified ones (Maungawhau and Waitematā).

It was originally planned to open this year but it has been pushed back by several months, to the second half of 2026.

More than 13,000 tests have to be completed before City Rail Link Limited hands it over to Auckland Transport, says Alan Trestour, head of CRL delivery for Auckland Transport.

He says there is much more to it than ensuring the trains run every four minutes at peak time.

“It’s about making sure the stations are also delivering the system performance that we’re asking them to,” Trestour says.

Intense and complex testing has been carried out in the last four months and will continue until June 30.

“You run into glitches all the time,” says CRL chief executive Pat Brockie. “But nothing that’s a showstopper at the moment.”

A ‘showstopper’ would set back the June 30 target date, he says.

In the station control room, filled with screens which monitor fire panels and safety system, Russell McMullan explains the role of a large red button with a sign saying ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ on it.

“In the event of something really bad happening, should it occur in the very unlikely event, that button can be used by staff to send a signal to all of the train drivers that there’s a major incident and that they need to stop the trains wherever they are,” says McMullan, CRL’s general manager of assurance and integration.

Passenger modelling simulations have already been carried out and more real life emergency tests will be organised next year involving staff and families, as well as disability groups.

What’s the hold-up?

Several issues contributed to delays but Covid-19 had the greatest impact, he says, with lockdowns and severe restrictions on bringing in workers from overseas.

It also contributed to the budget blowout. It was first estimated to cost $2.8 to $3.4 billion. It was pushed out to $4.4b 2019, then $5.5b in 2023.

For McMullan, who’s worked on the project from the start nearly 10 years ago, the CRL holdups are a hot topic around the barbecue.

“The analogy I give to family and friends and people at barbecues is if you’ve ever built a house and the builder gives you a date and you work towards a date any little things can trip you up and cause that date to move and you cater for that.

“But the CRL is about a thousand times more complicated than a house and it’s about a thousand times the size of your general house so you can generally expect things, when they catch you out can just add to the time that it takes.”

Transport expert Trestour, an Australian who has worked on Sydney and Melbourne rail projects, says the involvement of many agencies has added to the complexity of the architecture.

Auckland Council and the Crown have gone half and half to fund it; a number of other agencies such as construction partner the Link Alliance are on board, iwi groups have had a huge part in the planning and design, Auckland Transport will take over and run it when it’s finished; and KiwiRail has a role integrating it with existing tracks.

But Trestour says it is the incorporation of the Māori design and artworks that set it apart.

“What I find is beautiful on this project is the snapshot to cultural heritage. There’s been high level collaboration to get there with iwi being part of that process,” he says.

“These are pieces of infrastructure that are going to keep a legacy to Aucklanders and I think it’s really important that they represent the local cultural values that are enshrined in the life of Aucklanders.”

Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland has welcomed the first passengers transiting on what has been dubbed the “world’s longest direct flight”.

A new China Eastern Airlines service from Shanghai to Buenos Aires landed in Auckland just after 6pm on Thursday.

The route departs from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and is scheduled to take roughly 25 and a half hours before reaching Ezeiza International Airport in the Argentine capital.

The return journey runs even longer, at about 29 hours. Both directions include a two-hour stopover in Auckland.

A welcome ceremony was held at the arrival gate at Auckland Airport following the flight’s touchdown, with attendees including Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Louise Upston, Minister of Immigration and Education Erica Stanford, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong, Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui, and China Eastern Airlines chief executive Gao Fei.

Upston said increased air connectivity was vital for New Zealand’s future economic growth.

“We are very firmly focused on growing tourism beyond 2019 levels and China Eastern’s Southern Link marks a new milestone for New Zealand as a tourism and trade gateway,” Upston said.

Stanford said Chinese passengers transiting through New Zealand could now use a NZeTA without applying for a separate transit visa, a policy she said played a critical role in strengthening New Zealand’s economic future.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown also welcomed the easing of visa settings for Chinese visitors. He said the new service would deliver economic benefits to both Auckland and the wider country.

“It’s a link between two big economies, via our small economy, and we will gain from it,” Brown said.

The new China Eastern service was also well received by passengers.

Yi Zhu, a Shanghai resident visiting South America for the first time, said he enjoyed the long-haul flight and appreciated the opportunity to take a break in Auckland.

“I think two hours is not too long, and we can have some rest,” he said. “It’s good because we can prepare good for the next trip.”

He added that being able to transit through New Zealand without needing a separate visa was convenient for Chinese travellers and made the journey more appealing.

Emilio del Campo, who had been living in China for six months, was also on the flight home.

He said it was the farthest route he could take to return to his country, and he was delighted by the experience.

According to Auckland Airport’s statistics, travel between New Zealand and South America reached about 94,000 passengers last year, roughly two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels.

Air trade between New Zealand and South America totalled $129 million in the year to October 2025, up 11 percent from the previous year.

Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the new service was expected to attract high-value visitors from both China and Argentina while giving New Zealanders a more competitive travel option to South America.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kmart has cancelled the recall notices that were in force for three of its coloured sand products caught in the asbestos contamination scare.

MBIE said it had been informed the Blue, Green and Pink Magic Sand products were no longer being recalled.

“As in the case of the products recalled voluntarily by companies and suppliers, the decision to cancel a recall is also the supplier’s decision,” the ministry said.

MBIE said tests commissioned by Kmart confirmed no asbestos in the three sand products.

It was now urging buyers who bought the formerly recalled products to make contact with Kmart for remedial costs.

“If you’ve incurred losses (e.g. in clean-up costs etc), you might be able to obtain damages from the supplier under the Consumer Guarantees Act,” MBIE said.

“This will be for consumers to discuss directly with the suppliers.”

Recalls for other Kmart products, the 14-piece Sandcastle Building Set and the Make Your Own Unicorn Sand Ornaments are still in force.

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