Category: Radio New Zealand

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Only two sectors have not experienced a real terms pay cut in the past year, data shows

Source: Radio New Zealand

Most people are worse of income-wise against inflation on the year to September. RNZ

Only two sectors have not experienced a reduction in their wages in real terms over the past year, data shows.

While inflation was running at a 3 percent annual rate in the year to September, wage inflation increased at a rate of 2.1 percent – or 2.4 percent for those in the public sector.

Using labour cost index data, only local government administration roles had an increase in pay once inflation adjusted, in the year, up 0.3 percent, and health care and social services were just above zero.

Everyone else ended the year worse off on average.

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said there had been a long period where wages had not increase as much in the local government sector, so there was an element of catch-up happening.

“They are trying to do more with everything going on with the infrastructure, water and everything. And they’ve had to hire people from the private sector, essentially.”

Wages in healthcare had been boosted through collective agreements taking effect but that was another sector that had gone through periods of convergence, where wages caught up, and then fell behind again, he said.

There had not been as much of a need for businesses to pay higher wages in the past couple of years, and many had not been able to, he said.

“Their profits are under pressure and they don’t need to because we’re desperate for any vacancies that are available and you’re grateful to have a job. This is the classic of a weak economy. Part of the adjustment happens to the labour force, either through a combination of reduced hours, job losses and changes in wage structures. And this recession we’ve seen mainly reduced hours and wage inflation being very contained.”

Wage rises were likely to be modest next year, too, because of the competition for vacancies, Eaqub said.

While inflation was running at a 3 percent annual rate in the year to September, wage inflation increased at a rate of 2.1 percent – or 2.4 percent for those in the public sector. Supplied

“The early part of the recovery will come from increases in hours worked rather than increases in hiring, because compared to previous economic cycles, we haven’t shared as many workers as we normally would. The unemployment rate hasn’t peaked as high as in previous cycles.

“The early part of the recovery will not require new recruitment, rather just winding up the hours. And so until we get into that highly competitive labour market, wage inflation won’t accelerate sharply, but it will happen. And my expectation is towards the second half of next year, we’re going to stop complaining about not having enough sales and start complaining about not having enough workers.”

He said that was because the working age population was not likely to grow quickly because there was little immigration happening.

“That tap is going to take a while to wind up because that always lags the cycles.”

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said businesses had been saying they intended to hire more staff over the coming year.

“We’re now seeing job ads start to lift in tandem. What we haven’t seen yet is evidence of that coming through in actual employment growth. Prospects for next year look more encouraging though as confidence in a broadening economic recovery grows. The labour market does tend to lag other economic indicators.

“We’re forecasting solid levels of employment growth from the first quarter of 2026. But I think key will be how this matches off against growth in labour supply. It may not be until the second half of the year that pace of hiring is sufficient to soak up the labour market capacity that currently exists. That’s when the unemployment rate will start to come down and for many it will feel like an economic recovery. We’re forecasting the unemployment rate to remain above 5 percent until the second half of 2026.”

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What to know about gift cards this Christmas

Source: Radio New Zealand

From March next year, gift cards will be required to have an expiry date not less than three years from the date the card was sold. 123rf

New rules will make gift cards more generous – but not until next year, and shoppers are being warned to be wary this Christmas.

From March next year, gift cards will be required to have an expiry date not less than three years from the date the card was sold.

But the law change only takes effect for cards sold from that point so people are being warned to check the terms and conditions of any they buy this month.

National MP Dan Bidois said during the final reading of the bill to enact the change that people in New Zealand could be losing anything from $20-$40m in unused gift cards every year.

Consumer had been pushing for a five-year expiry date but said the three-year rule was a win for consumers. It said gift cards could be nothing more than a “gift to the retailer” if the expiry date was short and people did not have time to use them.

Consumer NZ spokesperson Abby Damen said the law change was the result of “years of campaigning” to end unfair gift card expiry dates.

The change brings us in line with Australia.

But in Australia, shoppers have been warned about “activation” rules. It was reported that a man was caught out when he did not activate gift cards given to him by his employer in time.

He was told the cards had to be activated within six months of being issued. The Australian regulator said gift card laws should void any terms and conditions that reduced a gift card expiry to less than the three years Australia’s law required.

The same should apply here, Damen said.

“If a retailer attempts to claim gift cards have to be activated within a certain time frame, we think this would breach the Fair Trading Act. However, the new rules don’t apply to all gift cards. For example, if you return something to a store and are issued a credit note or gift card, this doesn’t have to be valid for three years so be sure to read the fine print,” Damen said.

“While we’re thrilled to see a minimum three-year expiry on gift cards from next year, nothing truly beats gifting cash – no strings attached.”

Some cards are excluded from the rule change, including a voucher supplied when items are returned, a public transport voucher, a debit card that allows cash withdrawals or loyalty programme cards.

Consumer Protection advises that is may be a good idea to buy vouchers that can be used at more than one shop, and check how it can be redeemed.

It also said people should buy vouchers by credit card so that if the business went into liquidation soon afterwards the transaction could be reversed. Voucher-holders are often out of pocket when a business fails.

It said gift vouchers should not have any additional fees or charges, although Prezzy Cards did have a fee.

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F1: Liam Lawson confirmed in Racing Bulls 2026 lineup

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand driver Liam Lawson. Photosport / ATP Images / Mark Peterson

Liam Lawson will be in Formula 1 in 2026 after being confirmed in one of the Racing Bulls seats.

It will be his first full season competing for one team after he started 2025 in Red Bull but was demoted to junior team Racing Bulls after just two races.

The man who replaced him, Yuki Tsunoda, is now without a full-time drive.

The Red Bull shake-up has Frenchman Isack Hadjar promoted to Red Bull to race alongside four time world champion Max Verstappen, while F2 driver Arvid Lindblad joins Lawson at Racing Bulls.

“I’m really looking forward to racing with VCARB in 2026,” Lawson said in a statement.

“It’s an opportunity I’ll continue to be grateful for as we enter a year of change in F1.”

The change in 2026 is the new F1 regulations which include smaller cars featuring a greater use of electric power.

That change will have played a part in Lawson’s retention.

“Liam has shown impressive performance and professionalism throughout this year, he has excelled when conditions have been at their hardest and we look forward to building on this in 2026,” said Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane.

New Zealand driver Liam Lawson. photosport

Although there is still one round remaining in 2025, Lawson is excited to get into the new season.

“I’m ready to get to work with the team as we prepare for the challenging season ahead. It’s going to be an exciting year and I can’t wait to kick it off with my first pre-season with the team,” Lawson said.

Hadjar’s promotion was an obvious decision as the French rookie has generally out performed Lawson in 2025 and had been tagged as a future star by Red Bull’s advisor Helmut Marko.

“I feel ready to go to Red Bull and I am happy and proud they feel the same. It’s an awesome move, to work with the best and learn from Max is something I can’t wait for,” Hadjar said.

Lawson will be joined at Racing Bulls by 18 year old Lindblad, who has been earmarked as a future F1 driver for some time.

British driver Arvid Lindblad, competing in New Zealand in 2025. Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz

The Briton has won two races in F2 this year and is sixth in the championship heading into the final round in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

Lindblad, who has a Swedish father and a mother of Indian descent, won the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in New Zealand last summer.

He joins the likes of Lando Norris, Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson who have competed in that competition and are now driving in F1.

“Since I started this journey at five years old, it was always my goal to be in Formula One so it’s a proud moment to take this step,’ Lindblad said.

Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull Racing, 2025. Javier Jimenez / PHOTOSPORT

The reshuffle means there is no place for Tsunoda, who has spent five years in Formula 1.

The 25-year-old has under performed since replacing Lawson at Red Bull in round three and has scored just 33 points compared to Lawson’s 38.

Tsunoda will serve as Red Bull’s reserve driver next year.

The final round of the 2025 season is in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

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How much are public Christmas tree displays costing us?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Standing outside Commercial Bay and Britomart, Auckland’s 18.5-metre tree is hard to miss: 10,000 LEDs, 200 stainless-steel baubles and thousands of flowers.

Last year, Auckland Council supported the co-owners of the tree, Heart of the City and Precinct Properties, with a one-off $800,000 contribution – half went towards purchasing it and the other half towards installing it across two years. That money came from city centre targeted rates.

Auckland Council said it expected the co-owners to bring in private investment to continue displaying Te Manaaki over future festive seasons.

About 10,000 LED lights adorn Te Manaaki Christmas tree in Auckland.

Supplied / Sacha Stejko

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NZ authors among global payout out after AI chatbot trained on pirated books

Source: Radio New Zealand

Award-winning author Catherine Chidgey says she received an email saying her books Remote Sympathy, The Wishchild and The Transformation had been identified as being caught up in the case. Marcel Tromp

A Kiwi author included in a billion-dollar US settlement over the illegal downloading of books to build an AI chatbot says she hopes the case will be a warning to the AI industry.

But the Society of Authors said the authors of millions of titles used to build the tools will miss out on compensation as they are not registered for copyright in American territories.

Anthropic AI has agreed to pay out up to $1.5 billion (NZ$2.6b) to settle claims it used millions of pirated books to train its large language models, in a class action in Californian courts.

Award-winning author Catherine Chidgey said she received an email saying her books Remote Sympathy, The Wishchild and The Transformation had been identified as being caught up in the case.

She said authors were being offered a payment of US$3000 (NZ$5240) for each title accessed by the company.

“On the one hand I’m grateful that they’re being held to account. The works they accessed were from two websites that held pirated works so they weren’t accessing them legally. It’s not like they went out and paid for them.

“I imagine this will serve as a warning to others out there who are hoovering up intellectual property without asking. This has been going on for a while now it’s just that [Anthropic] are the first company that’s been held to account for it,” Chidgey said.

She said the money offered to authors paled in comparison to the toil behind creating the works.

“It’s not really enough – if you think about the years of effort I’ve put into writing those books – but I’m glad that there has been a line drawn in the sand,” she said.

‘A slap on the wrist’

RNZ AI commentator Peter Griffin said the ruling did not counter the use of intellectual property for training AI models without permission.

RNZ AI commentator Peter Griffin. Supplied

He said instead the settlement had pivoted on Anthropic’s use of two book pirating websites (Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror) to source the content.

“This boils down to basically a fine for using dodgy websites and – in the scheme of things – $1.5 bil is not a lot for a company like Anthropic. That’s a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket.

“Fundamentally the things that [the AI companies] were terrified about was a ruling saying you cannot use this material under copyright law – this is not ‘fair use’. That what’s really scared them and that did not happen.

“Ultimately it says to the AI companies, ‘fill your boots, you can still use all of these texts to inform AI training models but if you’re ever caught doing that through dodgy pirate websites – or peer to peer file sharing networks – you’re going to face repercussions’,” Griffin said.

He said companies recognised the need to move quickly to distinguish themselves in the rapidly evolving field.

“Many of these companies take the view – in the famous words of Mark Zuckerberg – ‘move fast and break things’.

“They needed to get a model up quickly that would wow the world – that would be really useful – so they just hoovered up anything that they could get their hands on. Now there’s this sort of rearguard action by content owners and publishers to try and scramble to retain some of that value,” Griffin said.

However Griffin said the need for AI tools to be continuously trained on new data could still “draw a line in the sand” for AI use of intellectual property in the future.

“It’s going to be a very difficult process and I don’t think publishers and authors will get anywhere near what they deserve to get but at least now there is a precedent that ‘sure, it may be fair use but you have to legitimately obtain those copyrighted texts’.

“The only way they can really do that at scale is to strike a deal with the publishers so they can really get that done in a legitimate way,” Griffin said.

Thousand of authors ineligible for compensation

Chief executive of the New Zealand Society of Authors Jenny Nagle. Supplied / NZ Society of Authors

New Zealand Society of Authors chief executive Jenny Nagle says while thousands of New Zealand titles may have been used by the company it was likely only dozens of local authors would be eligible for compensation.

“I have records of about 3500 New Zealand titles that formed part of that data set that was uploaded. However the settlement in the US courts decreed that only books registered with the US copyright office were eligible to be part of the settlement. This was appealed by lawyers from the Society of Authors from around the world because books from all countries, all copyright jurisdictions and languages, are part of this data set [but] it was denied by the US courts.

“My understanding is there was about 7.5 million books in this pirated library and about 1.5 million will be eligible for compensation through this settlement,” Nagle said.

Nagle said the society was encouraging members to ensure their books were registered through the US copyright office for future claims.

“This is but the first settlement of scores of court cases that are in train for this issue. Nearly all of the larger language models have been trained by pirated libraries. They’ve been trained by copyright theft.

“If you are a producer of a product generally you pay for the ingredients of your product and in this case the AI developers have said ‘fair use, we can scrape whatever we want and we don’t have to pay’ but this is people’s property,” Nagle said.

Nagle said the government needed to act quickly but the current review of the Copyright Act was unlikely to address issues around AI until its second stage in 2027.

“It is more urgent than that. The Australian government has just moved to say that data mining and scraping ingestion is not a fair use – or fair dealing copyright – and needs licensing and we would really look to the government to do something about this.

“This is a rapidly evolving space, of course, but really we do need legislation and regulation because the development is just the wild west at the moment,” Nagle said.

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30 with Guyon Espiner: How New Zealand can combat the rise of kleptocracy

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand and other liberal democracies need to band together against the rise of modern kleptocracy, a top American journalist and historian says.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum told Guyon Espiner on 30 with Guyon Espiner how today’s dictators aren’t just seizing power, they’re stealing unimaginable wealth and hiding it in Western banks.

Kelptocracy – meaning to “rule by thieves” – is a form of political corruption where leaders make themselves rich and powerful by stealing from the people they rule.

Applebaum discusses a rise in modern kleptocracy, where there is a striking degree of theft and wealth.

“You know, Hitler and Stalin were not billionaires. Most modern dictators are billionaires, and we don’t even know how or why they are billionaires,” Applebaum said.

“… All of them [Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin] have secret funds, secret palaces [and] secret sources of income that we don’t know about.”

Applebaum believes Russia paved the way for this modern dictatorship where there is a “marriage between great wealth and great power”.

She said there is a class of Russian oligarchs who learned how to use Western financial systems such as offshore tax havens, anonymous shell companies and anonymous investments to keep their money secret.

“Essentially, they learned how to steal money from Russia, to export it out of the country, to hide it in various places in Europe and America, or maybe New Zealand [and] Australia, and then to take it back into Russia and to use it as a way of both building comfort for themselves and their family, but also as a way of gaining power,” Applebaum said.

“They bought up companies, they bought people, they bought influence and that’s how they rule.”

Historian & journalist Anne Applebaum speaks to Guyon Espiner via remote link for ’30 with Guyon Espiner’ season 4. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

She said US President Donald Trump has been imitating what Russians and other autocrats in converting political power to financial power. For example, his company World Liberty Financial has been accused of giving favours to people who have invested into it.

“There are some odd coincidences. People who’ve paid money to his company being pardoned or having their investigations dropped if they’re if they’re being investigated by the US Justice System, or countries who’ve paid in being granted various, you know, being granted various kinds of advantages,” Applebaum said.

She said while Trump appears to want to be an autocrat, the system doesn’t easily allow him to do so.

For example, when Disney suspended production of the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! after pressure from Trump’ administration, people boycotted Disney. It resulted in the show returning after a week.

“There are a lot of different ways that people are now working to push back. I’m hoping actually that Congress, that particularly the Senate, but also even the House of Representatives, will begin to crack particularly as people see how unpopular this is.”

Applebaum said countries like New Zealand and Australia should work together against autocracies.

“I mean, you know, the most important point is that the autocracies think globally. They think about, you know, Iran helps Venezuela. You know, China’s watching what goes on in Belarus. And I think democracies need to think like that too,” she said.

“You know, we need, we need lines of connection between liberal democracies all over the world, on on specific issues, not merely through existing institutions. You know, the European Union is not going to do it by itself, but working, working around this, just working together to solve the same problems.”

She said we owe it to our fellow citizens and children to continue to fight to fix what is wrong with out system and fight back against those who want to destroy it.

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How many of the government’s 9 key targets has it achieved?

Source: Radio New Zealand

For a full explanation of each target and how it has changed, see RNZ’s target-by-target breakdown below.

Four of the government’s nine key targets risk not being met, the latest update shows.

People receiving Jobseeker benefits have increased to 217,800 and education targets remain elusive. A target to reduce the number of households in emergency accommodation has been met, as has a goal to reduce the number of victims of assault or robbery and to reduce serious youth offending.

RNZ is tracking progress towards each of the government’s nine targets, using official data from the relevant agencies. The graphics are updated each quarter, with the most recent progress report covering up to September 2025.

Employment and education goals – in reading, writing and mathematics – are classified as “at risk” of not being met, and two health targets are considered “feasible”: still possible, but behind schedule and facing “major risks and/or issues”.

Targets considered “on track” include reducing the number of households in emergency housing, cutting crime and youth offending, and meeting near-term greenhouse gas emission targets. Officials also say lifting school attendance is “probable”.

The nine targets were selected to focus the public sector on priorities.

Progress is reported quarterly, and each responsible agency assigns a status, ranging from “on track” to “unachievable”. Progress toward reaching a target can still be classed as “feasible”, even if there are major risks or issues in meeting it, as long as the agency in charge believes these can be resolved.

The nine targets are set to be delivered by 2030, beyond the current political term.

Health

Achieving the goal for 95 percent of patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency department within six hours is still some way off.

The latest period of reporting shows only 73.9 percent of patients were seen within that timeframe. This is a slight decrease from the last quarter when 74.2 percent of patients were seen within six hours.

When setting this target, officials warned there was a risk it would not be achievable in the short term.

“Most ED [emergency departments] nationwide are over capacity most of the time,” a briefing to ministers read.

It said wait times were affected by resourcing, community services, bed availability and seasonal changes, such as increased demand during flu season.

Attempting to reduce wait times would require significant system-wide change in hospitals, primary care and aged care, the briefing said.

“There would be a risk the target is achieved by focusing resources intensively in ED at the expense of other areas of the health system. This may result in improved ED wait times in the short term, but – through reduction in the quality of care elsewhere – would likely result in worse health outcomes and ultimately higher ED presentations in the medium to long term.”

This update noted there was a $20 million boost to emergency departments to increase frontline staffing over the combining nine months, as well as $164m over four years for new and improved urgent and after-hours care.

Six treatment spaces are to be added to Nelson Hospitals emergency department.

Reaching the 95 percent goal by 2030 is considered to be feasible, meaning there are major risks to achievement.

The target for 95 percent of people to receive elective treatment within four months is a long way away from being achieved, although tracking in the right direction.

At the moment 63.9 percent of people needing elective treatments, such as hip or cataract surgeries, are seen within four months. This is higher than the 57.3 percent reported in the last quarter.

The private sector was being used to tackle the waitlist, with 18 percent of treatments in the 2025/2026 year planned to be delivered by private providers.

The latest update says that at the end of June 2025 there were no patients waiting longer than two years that don’t have a plan in place.

Delivery of this target is considered feasible, indicating there are still major risks.

Crime

The number of serious and persistent youth offenders has decreased to 892, achieving the target of 900 or fewer well ahead of 2030.

For a youth offender to be classed as a serious or persistent offender they must have committed three or more offences in the past 12 months, with at least one of them having a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment or more.

Bootcamps, improving response teams and locally-led initiatives and increased school attendance are listed as areas the government is focused on to reach the target.

The goal to reduce crime is classed has been reached ahead of the 2030 deadline.

This target was kept as one of the nine government targets, despite officials suggesting it would be difficult to achieve and should be replaced with something easier to reach.

The goal to reduce the number of victims of assault, robbery, and sexual assault by 20,000 by 2030 is based on data from the New Zealand Crime and Victims’ Survey. Officials warned the survey data had a high margin of error and was more suitable for showing long-term trends.

The survey includes crimes that victims might have experienced in the past 12 months, including unreported crime.

Initiatives to reach the target include limiting sentencing discounts and improving security at targeted locations.

Employment

The number of people receiving Jobseeker support has risen by 1,800 to 217,800 since the June report. This target remains classified as “at risk” of being met.

This is 77,800 away from the overall goal of 140,000 or fewer people receiving support by 2030.

The government’s update suggested that the flow of people receiving the Jobseeker benefit will decrease as economic conditions improve.

Measures to reduce the number of people on Jobseeker benefit include stricter sanctions via a traffic light system.

A new test for Jobseeker eligibility for 18 and 19-year-olds was announced in October, which will mean applicants whose parents have a combined income above $65,529 will be ineligible for the benefit. It’s estimated 4300 young people will be affected by this.

Education

At 58.4 percent, Term 2’s attendance rate is well below the target of 80 percent of students present for more than 90 percent of the term. This means students should take no more than five days off a term.

Absence is classed as either “justified” or “unjustified”. Justified absences include illnesses, and other reasons which fall under school policy, such as suspensions. Unjustified absences include truancy, or taking holidays in term time. The government target of 80 percent makes no distinction between the two.

The update says legislation has been passed to make attendance management plans mandatory from term 1 of 2026: “Accountability for parents and guardians is also critical with several cases formally notified through the Ministry of Education led prosecutions process,” the update noted.

The Ministry of Education said its estimated attendance levels until 2029 is not a “technical forecast” but is based on historical patterns of greater attendance drops during winter months due to illness. At present attendance is tracking closely to the ministry’s estimation.

Since 2011, the highest percentage of students attending 90 percent of a school term was 72.8 percent, in Term 1 of 2019. The average over that time was 59.4 percent.

Reaching this target is deemed “probable”.

Currently 47 percent of students are at the expected level in reading, 24 percent in writing and 23 percent in mathematics.

A structured literacy programme has been rolled out, along with a refreshed curriculum.

Mathematics and writing action plans have been launched to raise achievement.

This target is considered to be “at risk” of not being met.

Housing

Driving down the number of households in emergency housing is one target where progress leapt ahead of estimations.

From a baseline of 3141 households, the goal was to reduce the number by 75 percent, to 800 or fewer.

The current number is 441, well below the 800 which was the 2030 goal.

Part of the plan to reach the target includes improving access to other forms of housing for emergency housing residents. As of September, 1,086 households (with 2,328 children) have been housed in a social housing tenancy.

Criteria to be placed in emergency housing tightened despite warnings from officials that this could lead to an increase in rough sleepers.

An action plan, which includes “move on orders” has been created for Auckland. If implemented this would enable police or council officers to order rough sleepers to leave an area for a period of time.

Climate

There are two targets New Zealand has committed to meeting as part of its net zero climate change goal.

The first target is for total greenhouse gas emissions between 2022 and 2025 to be below 290 megatonnes. The update says target is on track to being achieved with a projection of 282.2mt.

Reaching the second target – for total emissions between 2026 and 2030 to be less than 309 mt – appears to be more of a challenge, though is classed as being on track, with the current projection of 300.5mt.

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Green MPs, councillors launch campaign against second Mt Vic tunnel in Wellington

Source: Radio New Zealand

Critics of a second Mt Victoria tunnel in the capital have launched a campaign against the plans. RNZ / Ellen O’Dwyer

Critics of a second Mt Victoria tunnel in the capital have launched a campaign against the plans, saying the project is too expensive, too disruptive and too focused on cars.

Green MPs Julie Anne Genter and Tamatha Paul hosted a public rally in Mount Victoria on Tuesday night, where former and current councillors also spoke out against the project.

Expected to cost between $2.9-3.8 billion, the proposals included building a second tunnel at Mount Victoria and The Terrace, and would see traffic moving in both directions around the Basin Reserve.

Changes would be made in Te Aro, with three lanes on Vivian Street and Karo Drive, as well as a widening of Ruahine Street and Wellington Road in Kilbirnie on route to the airport.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) said the changes could save commuters up to 10 minutes from Ngauranga Gorge to Wellington Airport.

Genter said the consultation period had been insufficient for such a major proposal.

“The reason we decided to hold this meeting, is because the New Zealand Transport Agency announced limited details on a proposed roading project. The consultation – it’s not really a consultation – the feedback period, it’s only four weeks.”

Green MP Julie Anne Genter. RNZ / Ellen O’Dwyer

She said the project was hugely expensive for lanes in each direction, and questioned what the average savings on travel time would be – saying that was not clear from the information provided by NZTA so far.

“You can’t build your way out of congestion, even the current transport minister has said that.

Chair of Wellington regional council’s public transport committee, Ros Connelly, said a bus rapid transit scheme through Wellington to the airport would save 11 minutes, and cost less money.

“Why on earth are you going to do this over other public transport projects that would deliver better time savings and cost a whole lot less money. Is it because this government loves roads at the expense of doing what is best for Wellington residents?”

A loud burst of applause came for city councillor Jonny Osborne, who said the proposals were “irresponsible” for dedicating billions to car travel.

“This project completely and utterly ignores the reality of climate change.”

A visualisation of the second Mt Victoria Tunnel. NZTA / Waka Kotahi

Former city councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman was one of the few speakers to identify some advantages to widening routes near the airport.

“The regional benefits in terms of people being able to access the regional hospital and the airport, but there are also, at the other end of the scale, benefits for the people in the eastern suburbs, who want to escape the city – for whatever reason – or come into the city.”

Calvi-Freeman said it’s a matter of when, not if, a second Mount Vic tunnel goes ahead.

But Save the Basin co-convenor Iona Pannett said she’s “100 percent certain” the campaign would stop the project.

“I’m confident Wellingtonians are going to mobilise to stop this highway, and we’re going to mobilise around public transport, and walking and cycling.”

Pannett said the plan would cause disruption to residents and schools in the suburbs affected.

NZTA said it’d identified 176 properties it might need to buy, and another 146 properties where it might need to buy below-ground land, for the construction of the two tunnels.

It also said some town belt land might be affected by the proposal.

Friends of the Town Belt chairperson John Bishop said that concerned him.

“It’s a major facility of the city, it has been for 150-odd years … The citizens of Wellington have fought very hard to retain all the elements of the Town Belt and get it back to as pristine a condition as possible.”

Both NZTA and the Transport Minister Chris Bishop rejected criticism the consultation period was too short.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop. RNZ / Nick Monro

Bishop said in advance he would not attend the Greens’ political rally, saying he hoped people were using NZTA’s public consultation sessions to find out information and give feedback.

“There is a four-week consultation (closing Sunday, December 14) so the public can give feedback on the proposed design. There have also been many other consultations and feedback processes on this project over the past few years, and those have been incorporated.”

Bishop said he backed the project, and included that it would reduce congestion, travel times, create better walking and cycling links and speed up movement through Wellington city.

“This project has been talked about for decades, and I am pleased to see it finally coming to fruition under this government.

“It will cut peak travel times by up to 10 minutes, improve travel time reliability by 40 percent, deliver better walking and cycling links – including a new separated shared path through the Mt Victoria tunnel, and mean 20 percent less traffic on the Harbour Quays, enabling increased use of buses.”

Bishop has previously said there’s a good case for the investment in the project, which he said would bring strong benefits.

A spokesperson for NZTA said the agency was running a “thorough and wide-ranging” public engagement process, including several public information days around Wellington, as well as an online survey running from mid-November to 14 December.

About 500 people had attended one of the four information sessions held so far, the spokesperson said.

Two information sessions remained, one on Wednesday at All Saints Church Hall in Haitaitai, and one this Saturday at Mt Cook School Gym.

“Extensive engagement is also continuing with councils, iwi, landowners, and other key stakeholders.

“All of the feedback we receive will be taken into consideration and help to inform the next design phase of the project.”

The spokesperson said the transport proposals were “significant”, and could have “a major impact on Wellington’s transport infrastructure”.

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Principal says Food Safety officers saw video proof mouldy meals weren’t last week’s leftovers

Source: Radio New Zealand

One of the meals that was served up to students on Monday. Supplied / Haeata Community Campus

A Christchurch principal says Food Safety officers saw video proof that mouldy meals served to students weren’t left at her school from the previous week.

Students at Haeata Community Campus were served mouldy mince meals through the government-funded school lunch programme, which some of them ate before realising they were off.

NZ Food Safety has said it was more than likely that some lunches provided by Compass Group last Thursday remained at the school and were not refrigerated.

It said school staff then accidently re-served the food alongside fresh meals on Monday.

But Principal Peggy Burrows said investigators watched security camera footage showing that all of the containers holding the hot meals delivered last Thursday were taken away by Compass.

She said the school had no facility to heat lunches, and would not serve cold meals.

New Zealand Food Safety didn’t confirm whether it saw the footage, but blamed the issue on human error by the school.

Deputy director-general Vince Arbuckle said NZFS had a team onsite at the school and Compass on Tuesday investigating the affected meals.

“We have considered all possible causes.

“We think it is more than likely that the affected meals at the school had been delivered the previous Thursday, remained at the school without refrigeration, and then were accidentally re-served to students alongside fresh meals delivered on Monday. This would explain the deterioration of the meals.”

In a statement, Paul Harbey – a spokesperson for the School Lunch Collective, which represents Compass Group – said one of the heated containers the meals were kept in was left behind at the school on Thursday.

“There were nine Cambro [food storage] boxes of the savoury mince and potatoes meal delivered to Haeata Community Campus on Thursday 27th November, however records show only eight were returned to us.

“One Cambro box has sat at ambient temperatures at the school since that date.

“[On Monday] more than 73,000 lunches of the same recipe were served nationwide, with no concerns raised by any other school.”

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Family of child who died in ice-skating accident angry coroner will not open inquiry

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kymani Hiley-Hetaraka was not wearing a helmet when she fell at Alpine Ice in July last year. She died in hospital two days later. 123rf / JAN ROZEHNAL

The parents of a 13-year-old Christchurch girl who died after hitting her head while ice skating are angry the coroner will not open an inquiry into her death, saying they fear the same thing could happen again unless legislation changes to make helmets compulsory at rinks.

Kymani Hiley-Hetaraka was not wearing a helmet when she fell at Alpine Ice in July last year. She died in hospital two days’ later.

Kymani was a Haeata Community Campus student on a supervised outing with a group of other young people as part of a programme run by Crossroads Youth with a Future.

In findings released on Wednesday, Coroner Alexandra Cunninghame said she was satisfied that the matters required had been adequately established through a WorkSafe investigation that concluded no further action should be taken against anyone involved in the accident.

In light of voluntary changes made by Alpine and Crossroads, the coroner said she was satisfied that it was not necessary for her to make recommendations or comments.

Kymani’s parents Curtis Gwatkin and Maraea Hetaraka told RNZ they were angry with the coroner’s decision and devastated no-one would be held accountable for her death.

“We are still struggling to accept what happened, that our daughter’s passing is now a lesson to why safety outside of school during a school trip is completely up to the kids keeping themselves safe,” Hetaraka said.

While they understood the coroner’s view, Hetaraka said they wanted people responsible for taking Kymani skating that day to face consequences.

“There was no safety run-through brief at the skating rink when the kids arrived, nobody put helmets on any of the kids. We just want justice for our daughter,” she said.

An ice-skating trip with fatal consequences

On 30 July Crossroads took the group to the Alpine rink, although Kymani had not been ice skating before and her parents did not know she was going skating that day.

At the time, Alpine recommended that skaters wear helmets, which were available for free. A Crossroads’ risk assessment management form indicated helmets should be worn “if needed”.

Kymani practised with a skating frame for support for a short time, then while skating without the frame she overbalanced and fell backwards, hitting her head on the ice.

She was initially conscious and complained of a sore head but collapsed shortly after being helped from the rink.

Coroner’s decision not to open an inquiry

Coroner Cunninghame said the WorkSafe investigation found no breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

She noted there was no legislation requiring the use of helmets or any other safety equipment while recreational ice skating and Alpine’s recommendation that skaters wear helmets was in line with other ice rinks in Aotearoa at the time.

Following the accident, Alpine now required skaters to wear head protection, along with other major indoor rinks.

The coroner said Crossroads had made “wide-ranging” changes since the accident, including hazard and risk management training, and updates to policies and documentation including reassessing activity risk levels and safety equipment.

The family felt ripped off by the changes and did not believe they went far enough, Hetaraka said.

Following the accident, Alpine Ice now required skaters to wear head protection, along with other major indoor rinks. RNZ / Nathan Mckinnon

“That fact that the school, ice skating rink and Crossroads all implemented the new safety procedures immediately was a bittersweet moment only because it came into effect after [Kymani] passed,” she said.

“Her death was preventable and as her parents we hold the ones that took the kids to the rink that day responsible, they failed that day our daughter lost her life.”

RNZ has contacted Crossroads for comment.

Hetaraka said her whānau had been blanketed by sadness since the accident.

“We miss Kymani’s life spark that only she bought into our family, her laughter filled up the room, she was the only one who could wrestle and keep up physically with our rambunctious boys,” she said.

“We miss her kindness and soft heart in our homes, we miss how she had all of our secrets, we miss her baking and her singing, we miss her arguing with her sissy, most of all we miss her love and how it filled up a room.”

Hetaraka said Kymani’s death had traumatised her other daughter Saphira who was with her when she fell at the ice rink.

“Of all the things we want Kymani to be remembered as a friend, she loved people, she loved helping, she loved being loved. She was such a kind kid and we want her back every day.”

Helmet use now enforced at many rinks, but not required by law

A WorkSafe spokesperson said staff met Hiley-Hetaraka’s whānau to discuss the outcome of the investigation and had spoken to Alpine, Crossroads and Haeata to confirm the changes they had made in response to Kymani’s death.

In addition to Alpine Ice and other major indoor centres, seasonal and pop-up rinks around New Zealand are now mandating helmets, while the rest are recommending them.

The Haeata Community Campus board said it had thoroughly reviewed its processes, procedures and wider risk management system.

In a statement, an Alpine Ice spokesperson said Kymani’s death had a profound effect on many people.

“Kymani and her family remain in the thoughts of our people and the skating community,” they said.

The spokesperson said helmets had always been available for free and head protection was mandatory for all recreational ice skaters since the accident.

The use of helmets for recreational ice skating was not considered standard in comparable centres internationally but Alpine said it was pleasing to see many New Zealand rinks had adopted similar head protection policies.

Alpine said it strongly supported helmets for recreational public ice skating and was committed to promoting the use of head protection at its own centre and throughout the wider network of ice sport organisations and rink operators in New Zealand and Australia.

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