Category: Radio New Zealand

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Manufacturers sell off stock as Middle East conflict leads to sharp drop in revenue

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Middle East conflict has led to a sharp drop in revenue for small and medium sized manufacturers. 123rf

New Zealand SME manufacturers have seen a sharp drop in revenue and profits, with diminished inventories as disruption from the Middle East conflict ripples through markets.

The first quarter Manufacturing Health Index indicates small and medium sized (SME) manufactures saw average profit margins drop 31.5 percent, to the lowest point since records began in 2018, when margins averaged 41.3 percent.

The last data compliled by software company Unleashed was based on data from hundreds of New Zealand firms representing a range of manufacturing categories, such as food and beverage, clothing and fashion, and construction.

However, some sectors were doing better than average.

Beverages, electronics, food, energy and industrial machinery sectors saw margins improve over the fourth quarter.

Still, overall sales fell 58 percent on average in the first quarter over the year earlier to $129,653, which was 47 percent down on December quarter sales of $245,758 for in the three months ended December.

Stock-on-hand dropped to an average of $123,626 — the lowest level since 2018 — and well below average levels of $261k, as maufacturers ran down inventory and took a cautious approach to making further investments.

While that was considered low, Unleashed head of product Jarrod Adam said manufacturers learned the lessons of Covid and were much better at managing stock levels, with lead times for restocking down to 13 days on average.

“That’s … lower than it’s been in a long, long time. It’s definitely lower than the 2025 averages,” he said.

“What that means is these businesses are able to take this deliberate approach to see what happens.

“They’ve got confidence that they can reorder and restock when they need to to fulfill orders, and that also just allows them to preserve that cash flow and really be confident with navigating pretty tricky situation.”

Adam said many manufacturers were ensuring they were not sitting on excess cash tied up in inventory, as the value of purchase orders were also down across all sectors.

“It’s been a really challenging five or six years of trading for these businesses, and the way that they’re navigating it and using the stock that they have, and the ability to get this new stock in is really allowing them to hopefully navigate through in a healthy way.”

Manufacturers ordered an average of $154,391 in raw materials in the first quarter compared with $207,198 in Q4 2025 and $268,486 the year earlier.

“The challenge for 2026 is uncertainty. Manufacturers must leverage technology to manage rising costs and mitigate the challenges which are out of their control,” Adam said.

“In such a volatile environment, those who invest in efficiency, data and adaptability will be best placed to protect margins and compete in an increasingly constrained market.”

He said supply chain disruptions as well as energy price increases were eating into material input and eroding margins.

Closer to home, inflation and interest pressures would continue to play a central role.

“The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has kept the OCR at 2.25 percent as of April but with inflation holding at 3.1 percent, further rate hikes may become necessary if inflationary pressure increases,” Adam said.

“This is very much early days and an evolving dynamic, so we’ll have to keep our eyes on this data and see how how it evolves.”

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Retailers, truckers back government’s simplified fuel rationing, Labour unconvinced

Source: Radio New Zealand

Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis visit a Singapore refinery on 5 April 2026. Supplied / Prime Minister’s Office

Retailers and truckers back the government’s more simplified, high-trust fuel rationing system, but Labour says it is simply not credible.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Fuel Security Minister Shane Jones unveiled what happens at the higher-level Phases Three and Four of the national fuel plan on Monday.

Where the earlier approach had rationing at both levels, the updated plan would have Phase Three focus on voluntary limiting of supply, with additional diesel reserves able to be released.

Rationing would be limited Phase Four – the highest level – with sectors qualifying for different levels of usage depending on sector.

Critical users would face no limitations, while the next level down – food and freight – would need to come up with plans on how to reduce usage.

Road Carriers Association chief executive Justin Tighe-Umbers told RNZ that would carry some complexity – with fuel use being quite seasonal in some industries – but overall would be “fairly straightforward”.

Road Carriers Association chief executive Justin Tighe-Umbers. Supplied / Road Carriers Association

“A fuel plan for a freight operator, if we did enter Phase Four, would be to look at their fuel consumption over the last 12 months, and the government would give a tasking on that fuel consumption.

“So depending on what the situation was, they might say right there’s a 10 percent reduction on your fuel use, you now need to move to a model where you’re using 10 percent less fuel.

“Yes, there’s work involved, but it should be fairly straightforward.”

It was an improvement over the government’s earlier plan.

“It was overly complicated,” he said. “If you’ve got a food manufacturer who on a processing plant needs a part delivered, is that part considered essential freight? Is it part of an operator who’s allowed to deliver essential freight? How does that actually work?”

He noted if New Zealand reached Phase 4, diesel prices would be expected to be very high – which would curb demand.

Under the third category, which includes retail, companies and community groups would also develop plans but with bigger reductions.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young had previously called for food to be at the highest priority, but was not disappointed with the changes.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young Supplied

She said freight and food being in the higher priority would help those relying on their supply chains – and agreed the new system was an improvement.

“I think it would be fair to say that hospitals, ambulances, fire service, police – they are in a different category.

“Freight and food … we know that everyone needs to buy groceries … and to eat to be able to survive. So it’s not that you’re not going to get groceries delivered across the country, but there might be, you know, maybe there’s one less variety on the shelves or something.

“We don’t want to bring the whole country to a halt and for families that have got children that are growing and they’ve got needs – new clothes or you’ve got to get a heater for the house or whatever it might be – you want to know that you can go and get those products.

“If those businesses [are] not allowed to have freight going to their sites, it will mean that, you know, the public will start to panic.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the plan was “simply not credible”.

“Their fuel plan amounts to: do nothing; do nothing; do not very much; panic,” he said.

“I think the bones of it are there, but the idea that it’ll just run on goodwill without really clear detail about how it’s supposed to operate is just very naive.

“Families are having to make some really tough choices between going to the supermarket or going to the petrol station, and this government’s message is very clear to those families: you’re on your own.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins. RNZ / Mark Papalii

He refused to say what Labour would do differently, saying the plan was “what this government is supposed to have been working through, and they don’t seem to have answers”.

Tighe-Umbers, however, had high hopes a self-managed approach could work.

“If we’ve got to Phase Four, Kiwis have shown that we’re good at pulling together and doing the right thing in those times – you only have to look at our response in the Christchurch earthquake and responses to cyclones.”

He contrasted that with the Covid-19 response, which he said tried to control things to a high degree.

“Fuel station workers or transport operators to actually be involved in policing, that’s never a good move … we learned it’s actually very difficult and just introduces a whole lot of complexity.

“If there was a lot of people or operators not doing the right thing, then government would have to get more aggressive … but I think this is the right approach to start with.”

Young was not so sure.

“I’m not sure how cohesive we are as a community at the moment, and whether we consider each other or we’re just considering ourselves,” she said.

“That would be the caution I would have around whether we would really legitimately pull together as a community and say ‘yep, for the better, this is what I’ll do, and I’m going to comply to all of these things’, knowing that it’s not necessarily going to be enforced.

“I guess as long as everyone’s playing by the rules, then we’re all good with it, and it will just be a matter of making sure that there is really clear direction given to businesses and households.”

Regardless, Hipkins said agreed Phase Four was unlikely to be needed.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said the probability of moving to Phase Four was low. RNZ / Mark Papalii

Willis on Monday pointed to the government’s modelling showing the probability of moving to Phase Four was in the single digits.

She indicated the measures imposed by Phase Three – which could include releasing some of the 90 million litres of reserve diesel set to be held at Marsden Point by the end of June – would ideally preclude the need to move to Phase Four.

“In just about all of the scenarios that they mapped out, they said actually with your additional reserve and your minimum stockholding obligation and a bit of fuel restraint you should be covered.”

Willis said the government was open to releasing the modelling publicly.

Luxon said with the Southeast Asian refineries that supplied New Zealand having secured supplies of crude through July and August, further reductions were not expected.

“We should know many weeks in advance of any increased likelihood of New Zealand bound orders or shipments being disrupted.”

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Education Review Office releases guide to help parents understand schools’ performance

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Education Review Office has released a new guide to help parents understand what makes a good school. 123RF

The Education Review Office [ERO] has released a new guide to help parents understand what makes a good school.

The Guide to Schools provides practical advice on choosing a school and understanding performance, asking questions and raising concerns.

ERO acting chief review officer Tim Fowler said more informed and engaged parents help their children get more from their education, which leads to better outcomes.

ERO acting chief review officer Tim Fowler. Supplied / ERO

“ERO reviewers are in schools across the country every day and our researchers are analysing and reporting on what works and what doesn’t.

“We know that parent and whānau involvement in their children’s education makes a huge difference,” Fowler said.

“As we developed and tested our new school reports with parents and whānau across the country, they told us that they wanted to understand more about what makes a great school.”

The guide sets out 14 key areas that matter most for education quality and features suggested questions for parents to ask, for example when they visit schools, as well as who and how they should ask.

The 14 key areas are:

  • Student achievement
  • Student progress
  • Reading and writing and foundational literacy
  • Mathematics and foundational literacy
  • Attendance
  • Engagement and belonging
  • Equity
  • Leadership
  • Teaching
  • Curriculum
  • Assessment
  • Provision for students with additional needs
  • School improvement
  • Governance and the school board

“We know that many parents and whānau want to be engaged in their child’s learning – but that they face barriers. They told us that they are worried about asking questions and need clearer information about what they can ask and who they should ask.

“Equally, principals said they welcome parents being actively involved and interested and would like parents to be better informed on how they can approach schools constructively,” Fowler said.

The guide also has information on where to find ERO’s schol reports and other resources that are helpful for whānau and has been designed to accompany ERO’s new School Review Reports.

“Parents’ decisions and involvement with their child’s school makes a big difference. This guide will help parents talk to their child’s school, about what matters most,” Fowler said.

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Wellington’s Red Square owner remembers the last 23 years

Source: Radio New Zealand

Sarah Bolton is the owner of Red Square. Supplied

The owner of Wellington bar Red Square remembers celebrating her 21st birthday at the venue on the first weekend it opened.

Now, Sarah Bolton, who was passed down the business by her father and his business partner, said it was time to walk away.

“It’s been a great run, but like all good parties, it’s you’ve got to know when to walk away and I just want to leave on a high,” she told RNZ.

The move came as other long-standing hospitality businesses in the capital shut down, like Havana Bar and Spruce Goose.

Bolton said Red Square would not be closing for revenue reasons.

“I’d love to see Wellington do better, but for us it’s a very different reason why we’re closing,” Bolton said.

She said the Wellington hospitality scene had changed a lot in the past two decades, as had the bar.

What started as a lounge bar with a pool table, serving cocktails and food catering to people around 30, was now a nightclub for 18 to 21-year-olds only open on Friday and Saturday nights.

Bolton said Red Square would not be closing for revenue reasons. Facebook

But the nightclub lifestyle did not fit with Bolton’s own anymore.

“One of the main reasons I’m stepping away is my kids have got Sunday sport and me getting home at four in the morning isn’t really viable anymore.”

Bolton said one of her favourite parts of each weekend was discovering what was in lost property – from someone leaving behind one shoe, to one crutch.

She felt like she had grown up in the place, as had her own kids.

She remembered celebrating her 21st on the first weekend the venue opened.

“It’s been in my family my whole life, so it will be sad standing or stepping away from it. But yeah, it is time.”

Jeremy Smith, director of Trinity Group which owns bars including Lulu and The Arborist, said the late night market had been particulary tough with challenges like “more homeless people, lack of investment, streets not always as clean as they should be”.

“I think there’s not many venues that are flying, most are hanging in there.”

Trinity Group managing director Jeremy Smith RNZ / Teresa Cowie

Smith said in the past, one venue would close and another would open, with the number of venues staying roughly the same.

“What we’ve now seen in Courtney Place is that a place closes, and there’s no people putting their hand up to say, ‘Look, I’ve got a new idea, I’ve got a new concept, I’m willing to take the risk’.”

He said people were more cautious, leaving Wellington with more empty venues.

He hoped there would not be more closures on the horizon, and said owners were working together to find solutions.

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ICE detainee Everlee Wihongi being moved to another state

Source: Radio New Zealand

Everlee Wihongi was detained when re-entering the US on a Green Card a month ago, following a family holiday in New Zealand. Supplied

The mother of a New Zealander being held in ICE custody in the United States says she does not know where her daughter will end up, after she was taken to a different state.

Everlee Wihongi was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when re-entering the US on a Green Card a month ago, following a family holiday in New Zealand.

Her mother Betty Wihongi was in Wisconsin and said Everlee was told she was being removed from a centre in California on Friday at midnight local time.

On Saturday morning, she had missed a scheduled meeting with her lawyer.

“They [ICE] never contacted our lawyer, so he was waiting for her on a Zoom call and she never showed up,” she said.

The online ICE detainee locator system said that Everlee was in “Camp East Montana” Texas, a camp where an average of about 3000 people per day live.

Detainees had described the camp to CNN as loud and unsanitary, where diseases spread easily and sleep was a luxury.

But then, as journalist David Farrier reported, Everlee disappeared from the detainee locator system.

On Monday night, Betty received information that her daughter was being held at an airport in Arizona.

“She doesn’t know how long she’ll be there, they told her not to get comfortable that she will be moved, but they don’t know where it going to be,” she said.

The whanau pictured in New Zealand. Supplied

Betty said because Everlee had moved to another jurisdiction, she would have to restart the process to have her case heard in court.

“So every time you are moved, your court appearances, everything that you had before disappears and you start at the bottom again,” she said.

Betty said their lawyer had been seeing more and more cases of ICE moving detainees to make it difficult for lawyers to get hold of them and to set court appearances.

She said her daughter had been doing well considering, but it was taking a toll on Everlee, who was usually a happy and outgoing person.

“Just the moving around, the facilities, the guards, just everyone, it’s just their job to make your life miserable and hard.

“I think her greatest fear is that we don’t know where she is, that we won’t be able to locate her or find her and she’s going to be lost in all this,” she said.

The family were once again calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters to do more to help.

“Reaching out to the US government [asking] what’s going on with the detainee? Why are you moving her around so much, why can’t she have her day in court?

“We don’t want them to provide funding for us, that’s something we’re taking care of. We don’t want them to give us a free ride for anything else.”

When contacted by RNZ, MFAT repeated its statement that the government was “unable to influence the immigration decisions of other governments”.

“The Ministry continues to provide consular assistance to the family of a New Zealander detained in Los Angeles. Consular officials are in regular contact with the individual and their family,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said MFAT was unable to comment on the details of any individual case and Peters’ office referred RNZ to the ministry for comment.

As of this month, MFAT said it was aware of two New Zealand citizens in immigration detention in the United States.

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Is it really possible to live a plastic-free life?

Source: Radio New Zealand

When 60-year-old Liz Bell wakes up in the morning, she rolls out of a bed made with cotton sheets and a feather-stuffed duvet and pillows.

She pours oats from a glass jar into a stainless steel pot and stirs them with a wooden spoon to make porridge. Bell avoids plastic utensils and nonstick cookware (Teflon is a brand name for PTFE, a type of fluoropolymer plastic).

Bell chops the vegetables for her lunchtime salad on a wooden chopping board rather than a plastic one. Then, she places the salad in a glass container to take to the primary school she teaches at near her home on the Kāpiti Coast.

Liz Bell with her husband.

supplied

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An anti-fireworks tipping point

Source: Radio New Zealand

Remi, a 14-year-old retired race horse, had to be put down because of the injuries she sustained when fireworks were let off near her. Supplied

The days of yahooing, serious injury accidents, fires, and tragic animal deaths around 5 November may be numbered.

For decades, petitioners have been asking Parliament to ban the public sale of fireworks, and restrict them to official displays.

In all that time, politicians have said ‘thanks for your petition’ and recommended the status quo remain – reluctant to break the kiwi tradition of lighting crackers in our back yards.

But last week there may have been a tipping point in those attitudes, with the Petitions Committee recommending the government overhaul the law.

Three separate petitions had landed on its door, carrying a total of nearly 100,000 human signatures and several thousand paw prints. The paws, hooves and animal scrawls didn’t count, but the committee did think about it.

“We definitely discussed it,” says National MP Greg Fleming, the deputy chair of the committee.

“Their voice – their barks and neighing – were definitely heard in the committee.”

Fleming went into these hearings a fireworks fan, but has changed his mind.

“I reluctantly concluded that there was just no other place that I could land really – I would have had to just ignore the evidence to have concluded anything different.”

He tells The Detail about some of his firework-related exploits as a farm boy in the Wairarapa, exploits he now shudders at.

“Thankfully fire crackers have become a lot safer since then … but the issue is in part about public safety now. Actually what it’s more about is the incredible trauma that it causes to animals.

“There were two things that persuaded me. One was the increasing cost on ACC of the accidents that are happening, and related to that, the reports from FENZ. Whilst there was a drop-off there for a couple of years, the increase that we’ve been seeing for a long time is now back in play, so we are seeing more public damage and fire and the like.

“But the other one, and the one that really swung me, was just the stories from all of the animal welfare agencies – just the trauma.”

Fleming says there is another issue in the distress to families, particularly in cities, of fireworks going off all hours, and well past the four days they’re on public sale for.

“There’s no regulation around when firecrackers can be used,” he says.

And he points out that where once we could let off a few crackers in our back lawn, intensification of housing means there’s less space and less leeway when things go astray.

There’s an argument that fireworks night should be moved to Matariki, in the middle of winter, and that celebrating Guy Fawkes is about a random note in history connected to our colonial past.

Fleming says he has some sympathy for people defending the use of private fireworks who suggest we move the date.

“I’ve sort of steered away from that – from having a problem with fireworks because it’s associated with an odd thing that we’re celebrating.”

But in the end, “no matter how we looked at it, all the evidence to us fell squarely on one side of the debate and led us to the conclusion that we made.”

New Zealand First has a member’s bill in the ballot on a fireworks ban for private use – Leader Winston Peters saying the issue will be a bottom line in any coalition negotiations. But the issue is unlikely to surface before the election.

In today’s podcast Fleming runs through the entire petitions process, from someone raising an issue to how it ends up in Parliament.

We also talk to the SPCA’s Dr Alison Vaughan, who appeared before the Petitions Committee to push for change.

“We told them, to be honest, that a lot of the information has been shared before – so in terms of the level of harm to our companion animals, a lot of people are only too aware of this.

“But another angle the committee might not have considered is the impact on wildlife, especially given the time of year.”

She says that while in the UK Guy Fawkes is in winter and tends to be wet, here it’s often very dry and coincides with the time birds are nesting.

Vaughan says the SPCA was hugely encouraged by the committee’s response.

“Many people will have signed petitions over the years – there’s actually been 14 petitions, including the three that were considered by the committee, and this is the first time ever the committee has come out in favour of recommending the government take action.”

She thinks there’s been a real shift in public opinion.

“We just don’t need to be doing this.”

The government has 60 working days to respond to the committee’s recommendation.

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More than 100,000 households claim rates help

Source: Radio New Zealand

Local Government Minister Simon Watts. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

More than 100,000 people have claimed a rates rebate so far this year.

The Rates Rebate scheme helps lower-income household who are struggling to pay their council rates.

From 1 July 2026, the maximum rebate will increase from $805 to $830. The income abatement threshold for SuperGold Cardholders will increase from $45,000 to $46,400.

The income abatement threshold for other ratepayers will increase from $32,210 to $33,210.

A household without a SuperGold Card with rates of $2000 a year can get some level of rebate until they earn $42,026 a year.

Every household only earning NZ Super with rates of at least $2000 will be able to get the full rebate.

The Department of Internal Affairs said for the current 2025/26 rating year, it had refunded councils 105,698 rates rebate claims.

That covered the period between July last year and March.

In the previous full year, there were 104,344 claims refunded.

“That means with a few months to go we have already exceeded last year’s claims.”

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said: “We know the cost of living is putting immense pressure on Kiwis, with rising rates adding a further burden to household budgets.

“The government is committed to easing cost-of-living pressures for Kiwis. By making increases to the Rates Rebate Scheme, we are delivering targeted support to low-income ratepayers in need of assistance with paying their rates bill.”

Wellington City Council said it had processed 2223 rates rebate applications so far this year and had 244 active payment arrangements.

Hamilton City Council said it had approved 2908 in the current year, up from 2697 in the whole of the previous year. It had also approved 509 under its own council scheme.

Auckland Council said it had approved 14,500 so far this year, 14,800 in the last full year and 16,000 the year before that. It also had 1508 active payment plans in place.

FinCap, the network for financial mentors, said it was seeing an increasing number of debts to local government among people who sought help but a drop in the median amount of the debt.

“FinCap hears regularly from financial mentors who have assisted people with rates arrears as one of their multiple cost of living pressures. Those on fixed incomes, such as super, being stuck financially are often mentioned in this context,” spokesperson Jake Lilley said.

“The support approaches by councils for people who are having difficulty paying rates on time varies a lot across all the communities that financial mentors support. FinCap has recommended that councils look to the guidance in the framework for debt to government for all the debts they might create.”

The Taxpayers Union’s survey of councils showed the average rates bill across the country is now $3386, up $451 from the previous year. It said the highest average was in Porirua, at $5591, and the lowest in Otorohanga, at $2554.

The government is also working on a rates cap plan.

“Everyone is having to prioritise due to the tough economic times – councils are no different. They need guard-rails so that they can focus on prioritisation and make decisions about what it is best to spend their revenue on,” Watts said.

“Councils effectively operate as monopolies, and we have seen year on year rate increases which ratepayers cannot continue to sustain. That’s why we are introducing a rates cap to keep rates under control.”

Details on the final rates cap model are expected to be announced later this year.

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Oriini Kaipara confirms loyalty to Te Pāti Māori after comms advisor issues incorrect statement

Source: Radio New Zealand

Oriini Kaipara has confirmed her loyalty to Te Pāti Māori after conflicting statements were made to different media outlets. VNP/Phil Smith

Oriini Kaipara has confirmed her loyalty to Te Pāti Māori after conflicting statements were made by her spokesperson to different media outlets, as the party announces it will make a formal complaint.

In a social media post, Kaipara said she wanted to “correct the narrative” that was reported on Monday evening by Stuff that she was “still considering options” in response to a question asking if she would stay with Te Pāti Māori (TPM).

“I confirm that the comments claiming to be mine are not. I did not and have not spoken with any reporter on this matter,” Kaipara said on social media.

It comes after Mariameno Kapa-Kingi announced she was quitting to start a new party, named after her electorate Te Tai Tokerau.

Speaking to RNZ, Kaipara’s recently appointed communications advisor confirmed she would not be following suit and was committed to running for TPM.

The spokesperson said he made a mistake by telling Stuff that Kaipara said she was “considering options”.

Kaipara’s social media post later emphasised she remained a “committed member of Te Pāti Māori, committed to Tāmaki Makaurau, and committed to making this a one term government.”

Earlier on Monday, following Kapa-Kingi’s announcement, a statement attributed to Kaipara was circulated to some media.

This acknowledged Kapa-Kingi’s announcement, and Kaipara’s commitment to Tāmaki Makaurau, including a clear understanding her electorate crosses through Te Tai Tokerau and Hauraki-Waikato.

She said she naturally worked closely with Kapa-Kingi and Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, “this will not change.”

(From left) Te Pāti Māori MPs Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Tākuta Ferris and Oriini Kaipara in 2025. RNZ / Layla Bailey-McDowell

Stuff later reported Kaipara “says she is considering leaving Te Pāti Māori, and could join another party ahead of November’s election”.

RNZ sought confirmation from Kaipara’s communications advisor, who explained the statement provided to Stuff had been a mistake.

Kaipara’s clarification on social media came through late Monday evening, in which she also said she would make no further comment on the matter.

Te Pāti Māori also issued a statement late on Monday evening, to “correct an inaccuracy in Stuff and ThreeNews reporting”.

The statement said it was “incorrect” a reporter had said they had had a conversation with Kaipara.

“Oriini confirms she has not spoken with any Stuff reporter, and any comments attributed to her are not hers.

“For the sake of accuracy, we ask that this be corrected across all relevant media sites as soon as possible.

“We will be making a formal complaint, as the reporter misled our co-leader during the interview. We also request an apology from Stuff and ThreeNews.”

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ICE detainee Everlee Wihongi taken to another state

Source: Radio New Zealand

Everlee Wihongi was detained when re-entering the US on a Green Card a month ago, following a family holiday in New Zealand. Supplied

The mother of a New Zealander being held in ICE custody in the United States says she does not know where her daughter will end up, after she was taken to a different state.

Everlee Wihongi was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when re-entering the US on a Green Card a month ago, following a family holiday in New Zealand.

Her mother Betty Wihongi was in Wisconsin and said Everlee was told she was being removed from a centre in California on Friday at midnight local time.

On Saturday morning, she had missed a scheduled meeting with her lawyer.

“They [ICE] never contacted our lawyer, so he was waiting for her on a Zoom call and she never showed up,” she said.

The online ICE detainee locator system said that Everlee was in “Camp East Montana” Texas, a camp where an average of about 3000 people per day live.

Detainees had described the camp to CNN as loud and unsanitary, where diseases spread easily and sleep was a luxury.

But then, as journalist David Farrier reported, Everlee disappeared from the detainee locator system.

On Monday night, Betty received information that her daughter was being held at an airport in Arizona.

“She doesn’t know how long she’ll be there, they told her not to get comfortable that she will be moved, but they don’t know where it going to be,” she said.

The whanau pictured in New Zealand. Supplied

Betty said because Everlee had moved to another jurisdiction, she would have to restart the process to have her case heard in court.

“So every time you are moved, your court appearances, everything that you had before disappears and you start at the bottom again,” she said.

Betty said their lawyer had been seeing more and more cases of ICE moving detainees to make it difficult for lawyers to get hold of them and to set court appearances.

She said her daughter had been doing well considering, but it was taking a toll on Everlee, who was usually a happy and outgoing person.

“Just the moving around, the facilities, the guards, just everyone, it’s just their job to make your life miserable and hard.

“I think her greatest fear is that we don’t know where she is, that we won’t be able to locate her or find her and she’s going to be lost in all this,” she said.

The family were once again calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters to do more to help.

“Reaching out to the US government [asking] what’s going on with the detainee? Why are you moving her around so much, why can’t she have her day in court?

“We don’t want them to provide funding for us, that’s something we’re taking care of. We don’t want them to give us a free ride for anything else.”

When contacted by RNZ, MFAT repeated its statement that the government was “unable to influence the immigration decisions of other governments”.

“The Ministry continues to provide consular assistance to the family of a New Zealander detained in Los Angeles. Consular officials are in regular contact with the individual and their family,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said MFAT was unable to comment on the details of any individual case and Peters’ office referred RNZ to the ministry for comment.

As of this month, MFAT said it was aware of two New Zealand citizens in immigration detention in the United States.

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