Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A public hospital doctor is owed $1.27 million in annual leave while many more are owed hundred of thousands of dollars for leave they have been unable to take.

RNZ asked Health NZ to provide the highest 20 annual leave balances owed to senior doctors to the end of September. It said it was only possible to provide the top ten.

The ten doctors were owed $6.5 million of annual leave between them, with the second highest doctor on $715,000 and two more over $600,000.

Critics said the high leave balances were a dangerous liability for Health NZ and could give doctors another reason to walk out the door, taking a huge payout with them.

The senior doctor union (ASMS) executive director Sarah Dalton said she did not know who the top leave holders were but it was likely leave had built up over many years.

The amount they had accrued was very unusual but, day to day, it was often hard for doctors in small or stretched services to take time off.

Health NZ’s slowness to recruit was making it harder, because some hospital services were not well enough staffed, she said.

A New Zealand health system expert, Professor Robin Gauld, agreed.

“When you’re a very focused doctor and very very focused on ensuring care is provided, its pretty difficult to go on leave for two weeks when you know the service is not going to stand up in your absence,” he said.

Doctors quitting

The union was encouraging doctors to take leave over summer and have a much needed rest when many services were quieter.

But Dalton said three anaesthetists at an urban hospital had quit because they could not get Christmas leave this year, she said.

Doctors had a tendency to be realistic that they could not always take leave when they wanted.

“Generally services have pretty good arrangements about how they share [leave] around – and they will get their turn. Its not unusual for a doctor to get Christmas but not New Year,” she said.

However, many were frustrated at not being able to take their leave and Health NZ did not normally allow them to be paid out for it, she said.

Some were told they could not get leave unless they found their own locum, she said.

Once leave started to accrue in large amounts, it became harder to chip away at.

‘Huge liablity’

Robin Gauld is an executive dean at Bond University in Australia but maintained an honorary role at Otago University.

The large leave balances were a “huge liability” for Health NZ, which would have to pay it out if the doctors decided to leave, he said.

Almost more shocking was the fact that the organisation did not have a full picture of how much it owed staff, he said.

In its reply to RNZ‘s information request, Health NZ said it could not provide all the information – because it was still held in many different systems.

They had been inherited from the old district health boards but had still not been merged.

“I would have thought this is a tremendous risk for Health NZ to be in this situation to not even be able to get a clear understanding of what’s going on in terms of the financial as well as the health and safety liabilites the organisation faces in this regard,” Gauld said.

The senior doctor’s union asked previously asked Health NZ for data on leave balances by region.

The highest was in Taranaki – where doctors were owed an average of 21 weeks.

Several districts were close to an average of about 11 or 12 weeks, including South Canterbury, Waitematā and Wairarapa.

Health NZ responds

Health NZ said it encouraged staff to take the leave they were owed, including leave management plans for those with high balances.

It pointed out that doctors had more leave than people in many other jobs.

They had six weeks annual leave. Some could qualify for an extra week if they had had an onerous year.

They got two weeks education leave and access to three months of sabbatical every six years.

However, the union said that leave was part of their job because it was necessary to say skilled.

The figures in the story relate to annual leave only.

Health NZ said it was trying to make its digital systems better after the amalgamation of 20 district health boards, and that takes time in an organisation of 90,000 people.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

People in New Zealand with family in Sri Lanka are describing the widespread devastation caused by severe flooding from Cyclone Ditwah.

The extreme weather system has destroyed homes, leaving thousands displaced A state of emergency has also been declared.

There are also reports that entire villages have been washed away in landslides and many villages have been completely cut off.

Statistics from the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Centre [DMC] showed 212 people had died and 218 people were missing as of Sunday evening.

Aucklander Sachindra Amarasekara grew up in Sri Lanka and has family in Hanwella near the capital of Colombo.

“They are surrounded by flood water. Fortunately, their house itself has not been severely damaged, but they are in complete isolation.

“And also, the electricity lines are destructed [damaged], leaving them without power, and all internet connections are down due to damage to the service providers.

‘We heard reports that the flooding has affected the main water treatment plant in Colombo at the moment, which means they may soon lose access to drinking water as well, unfortunately.”

Amarasekara said it is a really hard time for many people.

“I’m very sure many people have seen their entire lives swept away in a single night. There’s a sense of helplessness, that’s what I felt from my father when I last I spoke to him.

“And also most of my friends and families, when I speak to them or when they’re receiving the text messages, I felt like they are quite feeling like hopeless.

“I’m sure many of them are mentally scattered, trying to understand what comes next.”

Amarasekara said many communities are isolated due to landslides, making it hard to get supplies and rescue teams to some areas.

“All three forces and the police are working really hard to reach the affected areas and get people out, and communities are also stepping to collect dry food and preparing warm meals to distribute.

“Unfortunately, most of the places, they can’t reach still because of the severe landslides, and also, the roads are not there some places and there is still floods going on.

“So many people trapped inside, so many people missing at the moment.” she said.

She said it is hard to see, as her country had already been through so much recently.

“I feel so sorry for my people because we’re just coming out from the economic crisis and we’re just about to stand on our own feet, and this is the worst we faced so far.

“We have faced wars, we have faced tsunamis, we have faced so many things, we lost so many people along the way.”

Amarasekara said as a nation, the country always comes back stronger but: “This is the very first time in Sri Lanka, I have seen that we are seeking for international help,” she said.

Samith Hettiarachchi lives in Mulleriyawa, and was told to evacuate, leaving everything behind, and said water would reach up to 20 feet and was rising 1 foot an hour.

Hansana Yaddehige also told RNZ his friends entire village was flooded, causing homes to collapse, power to go out, with no access to water.

Nipun Fernando said it was hard to get access to food.

“There is a shortage of grocery supply due to transportation issues. Devastation is pretty bad.

“Access to some areas totally blocked due to landslides and bridges been damaged. No more rain but as a result of all that rain rivers are overflowing, this is the worst ever flooding in the recent past,” he said.

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is providing consular assistance to a family travelling in Sri Lanka.

There are 200 New Zealanders registered on SafeTravel in Sri Lanka.

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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 death of a Dunedin woman who shot herself while deer hunting in an Otago forest was a terrible accident, a coroner has ruled.

Kate Aynsley, 48, died in Beaumont Forest’s Blue Mountains Conservation Area in June 2023 after being shot in the head by her own rifle.

In findings released on Monday, coroner Mary-Anne Borrowdale said Aynsley’s gun likely went off by accident as she either fell or fumbled in steep, slippery terrain.

While no-one saw what happened, Aynsley had likely removed the safety catch while preparing to shoot a deer, the coroner found.

Aynsley had gone hunting with her fiancé but the pair had split up after hearing a buck deer barking.

Borrowdale said her body was found in an area that presented “a significant trip and slip hazard”.

She ruled out Aynsley intentionally taking her own life or any third-party involvement, saying it was a reminder to hunters to know their weapon and chamber a cartridge only when they were ready to fire.

A driven and focused mother

The report said Aynsley worked as an administrator at Target Accounting in Dunedin, where she was held in very high regard.

She had one son and was due to marry in February 2024.

Borrowdale described her as a very competent, precise and energetic person with a high level of fitness.

“She was very driven and focused, having previously become proficient at motorcycling, mountain biking and bodybuilding,” she said.

Aynsley took up hunting after meeting her fiancé four years earlier and became proficient, even publishing articles about women’s hunting, she said.

“She also participated in instructing members of the NZ Deerstalkers’ Association and mentored women’s tahr hunts,” the coroner said.

Many witnesses attested to her safety-conscious hunting methods and her fiancé confirmed she only took her firearm safety catch off when she was about to fire.

The day of the hunt

On 3 June 2023 Aynsley and her fiancé were in the Tramway Block of the Blue Mountains Conservation Area where they had won a ballot to shoot on Department of Conservation land.

Borrowdale said the area consisted of moderately steep, beech-covered hills with several streams.

Both Aynsley and her partner had previously hunted the block but not the eastern skid site where they went that day.

Aynsley had a Marlin 336 lever-action 30/30 rifle, which she had bought six months before the outing.

The pair was equipped with Garmin GPS communication devices, bum bags and packs, and were accompanied by their gun dogs.

Borrowdale said they were pursuing a buck deer when Aynsley told her fiancé she was going to wait to see what the animal did across the creek, while he moved on.

“About 20 minutes later, he heard a shot. He could see on the GPS that Ms Aynsley’s last location was 350 metres away. [He] could not get a response from Ms Aynsley on the radio, despite repeated efforts,” she said.

Aynsley’s fiancé followed her gun dog and eventually found her body 10 metres above a creek on a damp and slippery slope.

Emergency services found the gun three metres above her with the scope cover up and three rounds of ammunition in the magazine.

Aynsley’s cap was one metre away, with a gunshot wound through the right temple.

The police officer who led the scene investigation described the slope as steep and “very difficult to walk without assistance while holding onto something such as tree trunks or branches”.

Rifle could fire if hammer was knocked

Police confirmed each hunter’s movements through their GPS devices at the request of the coroner.

A police armourer also undertook ballistics analysis to determine whether and how Aynsley’s rifle could have fired accidentally.

Borrowdale said the gun was working correctly without mechanical fault and could not accidentally discharge while the safety catch was on or if it was dropped.

However, the armourer found it was possible for the rifle to accidentally discharge by a knock to the hammer with the safety catch off.

The Mountain Safety Council later found if Aynsley had sighted a deer and moved into position for a shot, she could have been reluctant to return her firearm from the “instant state” to a safe “load state” for fear of startling the animal.

The council noted that Aynsley was left-handed and the safety catch was awkwardly positioned for left-handed people.

The council also found that the safety catch could have bumped against her waist and inadvertently moved into the “fire” position if she had the rifle slung over her left shoulder, which was likely.

Three possible scenarios

Police found three possible scenarios for Aynsley’s death – two of which involved her losing her balance and one in which the hammer was knocked with enough force to fire the weapon.

Borrowdale said she had no basis for finding a most-likely scenario of the three, but was convinced Aynsleys death was accidental.

“I am persuaded by the evidence that Ms Aynsley was hunting in very difficult terrain, uneven, wet, slippery and with trip hazards in the form of roots and broken branches. Ms Aynsley was likely to have been preparing to shoot a deer and had likely removed the safety catch, which allowed for the rifle to be fired accidentally as she fell or fumbled with the weapon,” she said.

“Ms Aynsley did not intentionally take her own life and I am satisfied that there was no third-party involvement in her death.”

The coroner’s recommendations

Borrowdale urged hunters to always follow the seven basic firearms safety rules.

She said hunters should remember to chamber a cartridge only when they were ready to fire and should always have an empty chamber when crossing an obstacle of any kind, including dense bush.

“Even in a hunting area where you are expecting to see game, your firearm must be in either a ‘load state’ or an ‘unload state’ until you are ready to fire,” she said.

Hunters should also know their firearm and ensure the safety catch could not be easily switched into the “fire” position.

Borrowdale offered her condolences to Aynsley’s family and to all of those who felt her loss.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman whose brother was killed by a group of Mongrel Mob members says she feels revictimised, after a judge stopped her from reading out all her pre-approved victim impact statement.

Paula Beilby was not only stopped, but was also chided by Justice Mary Peters, after suggesting the defendant was given special treatment, because he had a separate trial from his nine co-accused.

“My apologies,” Beilby replied, “I’m only reading what I’ve got.”

“I don’t care what you’re reading, it’s totally unacceptable for you to say that,” the judge responded, before telling her to sit down at the back of the court.

Eventually, after a second victim impact was given by another person, the courtroom was put into chambers. When it was re-opened, Beilby was told she was not allowed back in.

The move left Beilby feeling frustrated and revictimised.

“I felt being pulled aside and made an example of… it was a bit rich, considering why we were there, and I feel like justice has not been served in this case.”

Beilby’s brother, Mitchell Te Kani, was killed, after being struck with a crowbar, during a brawl at their family home in Tauranga in 2023.

Nine people stood trial last year and were sentenced in relation to his death earlier this year.

At a separate trial, a 10th person – Hamiora William Jack-Kino – was found guilty of manslaughter, and four other charges relating to the serious assault of the victim’s brother and father.

He was tried on his own, because there was doubt over his fitness to stand trial, along with his cognitive issues, which would have caused delays, due to an increased number of breaks required each day.

He was then deemed mentally fit and given a communication assistant throughout his trial, which was held in the High Court at Rotorua earlier this year.

‘I feel we’ve been further victimised’

Beilby was the first of two people to read a victim impact statement at Jack-Kino’s sentencing in the High Court at Hamilton on 16 October.

After Justice Peters invited Beilby up to the front of the court to read it, she told the judge she wanted to read the parts that had been redacted before the hearing.

“I felt the whole justice system… and the way it’s worked, it’s just further victimised our whole family,” she told the judge, explaining why she had wanted to read the unredacted version. “I felt it was just something that needed to be said, that wraps up the whole of the trial and what we’ve gone through.”

Justice Peters then explained to her how victim impact statements were permitted under the Victims’ Rights Act.

“It’s got very clear controls on what can be said and what cannot, and I’m not in charge of that. I can tell you what the law is, but I don’t make it.

“If the redactions were made, they weren’t made by me, but they will have been made because that’s what needed to happen if they were to be read.”

Justice Peters said she could read the full statement herself or Beilby could read the redacted version out loud.

She then asked her what she wanted to do.

“I’d prefer it if I was able to read the whole statement, but since you have set that precedent for us…” Beilby said.

Justice Peters replied: “I haven’t set any precedent for you, I’ve told you what is in the legislation.”

Beilby then started reading her approved statement, but when she mentioned how Jack-Kino had a separate trial, “at the taxpayer’s expense, because you or your counsel deemed you special enough to warrant one”, the judge stopped her.

“That’s actually not correct, so I don’t want those kinds of offensive remarks made in court,” Justice Peters said.

“I’ve listened to you politely, you don’t know the first thing about why Mr Jack-Kino had a separate trial and I’m not prepared to have you say those things.

“They are incorrect and [Crown prosecutor Daniel Coulson] should have corrected it for you. If he didn’t, the detective should have.”

Beilby apologised, saying she was only reading what she had in front of her.

Justice Peters replied she didn’t care what she was reading and it was “totally unacceptable” for her to make that comment.

Beilby was responding, when the judge interrupted her and told her to sit at the rear of the court, and she would finish reading her statement on her own.

Bebe Hewitt, whose son was a victim in the brawl, then read her statement, before Justice Peters closed the courtroom, ordering a chambers discussion.

Shortly afterwards, Justice Peters decided to take the rare move of not letting Beilby back in.

‘I almost expect it out of the system now’

When approached by NZME outside court, Beilby said she did understand why there had to be two trials, but her point was that didn’t serve them as a whānau for those involved to have to give evidence again.

“To have my 74-year-old father sit and recall everything of those horrific events of the night, you know, that’s why you see so many of us here, because we are all affected.

“I felt being pulled aside and made an example of, it was a bit rich considering why we were there, and I feel like justice has not been served in this case.”

She said, when she wasn’t allowed back in, she was led into another room and given the option of watching proceedings from there, via an audio-visual link.

She turned it down and instead waited outside, as Justice Peters jailed Jack-Kino for nine years and issued a minimum non-parole period of four years.

Beilby said she wasn’t threatening or physically attacking Jack-Kino or his family, like he and his co-offenders did to their whānau that fateful night.

“They have no idea how they made my family feel.”

Upon hearing Jack-Kino’s sentence, Beilby said she felt it wasn’t a deterrent.

“It’s laughable. I’m past actually feeling offended, because I have almost expected it out of the system.”

Beilby said she felt “a bit hard done by, but I’m just not surprised”.

‘The hearings are often tense and emotional’

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Office of the Chief Justice confirmed that it was the responsibility of the prosecutor “for putting victim impact statements before the court”.

While redactions were not expressly addressed in the Victims’ Rights Act, they were not uncommon.

They could be used, because of abuse being directed at the offender, references to unrelated matters or offending other than that before the court.

A judge must approve the reading of a statement in court.

Asked whether it was normal practice for a judge to read a victim impact statement before a sentencing hearing, the spokesperson confirmed it was, but she was unable to comment on specific cases.

However, the statement didn’t address Beilby specifically being removed from the courtroom. Instead, the spokesperson said sentencing hearings “are often tense and emotional”.

“The presiding judge is responsible for managing proceedings in court in a way that is orderly and safe for the people in the courtroom.

“To do this, judges are required to make decisions in the moment, consistent with what they consider necessary to ensure a hearing proceeds in a safe and orderly way.”

The spokesperson said judges increasingly saw victim impact statements that contained material outside the scope of the legislation, including comments directed at offenders and abuse.

‘I have significant concerns’

Ruth Money, chief victims adviser to the government, said while she couldn’t comment on an individual case, she did have some concerns.

“I am certainly very concerned when any victim and whānau are asked to leave a courtroom.

“Not only does it go against open and transparent justice, it’s not how anyone, let alone victim survivors, should be treated.”

Money said she’d heard of victims being warned “for going off-script and discussing justice issues, as opposed to the impact of the offending, but in my 13 years I have never had a victim removed from a courtroom”.

“I have significant concerns for any victim who is asked to leave a hearing.”

Speaking generally, Money said she expected victims to be spoken to with respect and any issues to be explained well.

The writing of a victim impact statement involved either a victim support person, a court victims adviser or a police officer sitting down with the victim.

Once drawn up, it went to the prosecutor to be checked, before it was edited or approved by the sitting judge.

She said it was then returned to the victim, who was told why certain portions may have been changed or edited out.

Money said there was no consistency around the country about what was acceptable in a statement.

“What one prosecutor or judge will allow is completely different to another.”

Money said she was currently working with the Ministry of Justice on making improvements to the Victims’ Rights Act.

“It does need to be improved in terms of responsibilities and process.”

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Raglan woman orchestrated a horrific attack on a group of local teenagers, after a righteous road-rage interaction on the seaside town’s one-lane bridge.

While Te Hina Rehua-Whare may not have laid a hand on the five victims, a judge has laid the full blame of the assault at her feet.

At sentencing in the Hamilton District Court this week, Judge Philip Crayton told the mother-of-two that the attack would never have happened had she not involved her partner, 25-year-old Kaedyn James Broughton Lee Wiremu Barber-Salvation.

The pair were both sentenced to home detention for their roles, although two others, who also unleashed punches and kicks on the victims, have still not been identified.

Judge Crayton said it was pure “luck” that nobody died that night.

‘Get f*****, I’m not moving’

The somewhat unusual incident began after the group of teenagers decided to drive to the Ngarunui Beach lookout at 9.30pm on Friday, 9 August, last year.

At the same time, Rehua-Whare, 27, was heading to pick her partner up from Primrose St.

When the victims were a third of the way along the bridge, Rehua-Whare drove her Toyota onto the bridge from the southwest, ignoring the give-way rule.

Both vehicles stopped in the middle of the bridge.

Two of the victims, who were in the backseat, got out of the car to talk with Rehua-Whare about who had the right of way and asked her to reverse off.

“Get f*****, I’m not moving,” she replied.

One of the victims said they were legally in the right, but she replied, “Get f*****, you don’t know who you are messing with”.

The argument was witnessed by a person walking on the bridge, who also told Rehua-Whare to reverse off the bridge.

Rehua-Whare refused, forcing the victims instead to reverse off the bridge, along with other road users.

She then drove off the bridge and the victims headed to the Ngarunui Beach carpark.

‘I think I’ve found them’

Shortly afterwards, Rehua-Whare arrived and parked behind the victims’ car, before leaving again.

At 9.42pm, she sent a series of texts to her partner, saying, “I think I’ve found them” and “I’m at the reserve”.

Having seen the same vehicle and with the main gate to the carpark being due to close, the victims became concerned and decided to leave.

However, by the time they got to the gate, it was shut and Rehua-Whare was parked in such a way that it blocked them from leaving.

The victims got out of their car and had another chat with Rehua-Whare, who told them they had to stay there until morning.

They then tried to drive through the gate, after unwrapping a chain, but Rehua-Whare cut off their path using her vehicle and forced them onto the grass verge.

The victims drove around the corner onto Ngarunui Beach Rd, only to find their way blocked by another vehicle. Rehua-Whare drove up behind them.

Three large men got out of the second car, including Barber-Salvation, who approached them aggressively, before hitting the bonnet of the vehicle with his fist and yelling something.

He opened the driver’s door and asked, “Are you the ones on the one-way bridge?”, before punching the driver with a closed fist.

The victim lost consciousness, causing him to slump forward in the car, which then started rolling forward down the hill.

However, Barber-Salvation kept hitting him on the back of the head, as a rear-seat passenger yelled at him to stop, because he had a previous head injury.

“I don’t give a f***,” Barber-Salvation replied, as he continued punching the victim.

Barber-Salvation then demanded that another victim get out. He complied, putting his hands up, and was punched in the back of the head.

After walking him over to his partner to apologise, Barber-Salvation punched him to the jaw, causing the victim to fall down a bank.

Rehua-Whare then told her partner the victims had a video recording of the earlier incident, so Barber-Salvation walked a victim back to his car and demanded he delete it.

At this time, one of the unknown men opened a cardoor and punched another victim several times in the face and head, while the other opened the other door and said, “Who do you think you are, doing this shit in our town?”

He then demanded “all your cash, drugs, everything”, before throwing a bottle of soft drink at him and saying, “I will teach you not to do that shit around here”, and bashing him more than 10 times.

He then held the roof, and kicked and stomped the teen victim repeatedly. The victim eventually lost his vision.

As Barber-Salvation left, he returned to the driver’s door and said, “If any of you tell the police, I will find you and kill you”.

The victims were too scared to call police, but a concerned mother rang them the following day.

The victims suffered injuries, including concussion, a broken eye socket, bruising and pain.

When spoken to by police, Rehua-Whare said she was “in a mood” before she left home that night and admitted refusing to move off the bridge, but denied any involvement in the attack.

‘She should have let it go’

Rehua-Whare’s counsel, Mark Sturm, said his client had struggled to accept some of the charges, because she didn’t take part in any of the violence.

However, he had explained her role in the bridge confrontation and then texting her partner.

“She does contend that the young victims were a little more confrontational than the prosecution presented its case, but be that as it may… the reality is the defendant, as the older person… had the option of just letting it go and moving on, and she didn’t and that’s led to the charges that she faces, and indeed charges that her partner faces.”

Neither his client nor Barber-Salvation had appeared in court before.

Sturm said her offending “appears to be an aberration, out of character”.

She was highly thought of, not just by her work colleagues and whānau, but the wider community, he said.

‘It should have been a non-event’

Judge Crayton accepted that, were it not for his partner, Barber-Salvation would never have got involved.

On charges of injuring with intent to injure, assault with intent to injure, threatening to kill and intentional damage, he was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention.

Barber-Salvation also offered $8000 in emotional harm reparation, which the judge ordered be paid.

Judge Crayton said Rehua-Whare put herself “in a situation where you couldn’t take a breath”.

“From what should have been a non-event became a nuclear option. The only fortune… is that nobody died.

“One of those young men had a significant head injury. It’s luck that he didn’t die, another one was knocked unconscious.”

She was sentenced to nine months’ home detention.

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Plymouth residents are warned to not swim at Waiwhakaiho River and Bell Block Beach, after an overflow of the council’s wastewater system.

New Plymouth District Council said the overflow was discovered at 11am Saturday and was stopped 15 minutes later.

“Our team has responded, and are correcting and monitoring the situation.”

Although the volume of the overflow was small, it had the potential to reach an unnamed tributary of the Waiwhakaiho River, it said.

“Permanent warning signs east and west of the Waiwhakaiho River mouth and at Bell Block Beach have been changed to warn against swimming, and will be in place for 48 hours.”

The cause of the overflow was a blockage in the line coming into the wastewater treatment plant, the council said.

The location of the signs and other current water quality warnings can be viewed on New Plymouth District Council’s Can I Swim? page.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The British Fashion Council has named a New Zealander Kiwi Kate Hawley as its inaugural Costume Designer of the Year.

The Fashion Awards will take place in the United Kingdom on 1 December, where Hawley has flown from Wellington to attend.

Hawley has been recognised for her work as a costume designer for the Netflix film Frankenstein, which was released last month.

“It feels more than a little fabulous and, admittedly, a little overwhelming,” she said.

Hawley studied at the Wellington School of Design, before being trained at London’s esteemed Motley School of Theatre Design.

“I will always be grateful to New Zealand for the opportunities that were afforded me that might not have been so easily created elsewhere.

“I have a long list of those to thank, but it has also been many years of learning, being inspired by so many wonderful people around the world – and through my working life.

“Every experience, individual, culture… every project shapes my approach to costume design.”

Before Frankenstein, Hawley had worked for director Guillermo del Toro on Crimson Peak and Pacific Rim.

She was also a costume designer for the television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and worked for director Peter Jackson on The Hobbit trilogy, as well as The Lovely Bones.

She worked for director Doug Liman on Chaos Walking and Edge of Tomorrow, director Chris Sanders on The Call of the Wild, director Christian Rivers on Mortal Engines and director David Ayer on Suicide Squad.

“Although this is the first time a costume designer has received this award from the British Fashion Council, I am very conscious of the legendary director-designer partnerships that came before and impacted our culture in the past – and indeed have inspired me greatly.”

The British Fashion Council said Hawley was acclaimed for her innovative, narrative-driven approach to costume design.

“Her ability to create costumes that define character, elevate story and resonate beyond the theatre are especially visible in Frankenstein, where she blends historical authenticity with a contemporary eye, and incorporates technical research to inform custom patterns and fabrics.”

Hawley was also awarded the Special Achievement in Costume Design Award at the Middleburg Film Festival in the United States last month and has been nominated for Best Costume Design at next year’s Astra Film Awards in Los Angeles.

She told RNZ that Frankenstein was director del Toro’s passion project.

“All of us are elevated under his vision and artistry. He wanted to push each and every department to their maximum – to elevate the craft of filmmaking – so we did.”

Hawley said del Toro was her inspiration for the costume design in the film.

“It’s all there in the script – themes of religion, mythology, nature unbound.

“If every part of the process has the same intention and energy of what you’re trying to do, then it’s working, and that’s how Frankenstein always felt.

“With Guillermo [del Toro], there was love in every part of the process.”

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