Radio New Zealand – Page 27

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

May 12, 2026

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

May 12, 2026

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

May 12, 2026

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.

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

You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.

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

May 12, 2026

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

. However, she is yet to find wet weather gear made from natural fibres.

She buys fruit and vegetables from a farmers’ market where the produce hopefully hasn’t touched as much plastic as a plastic-wrapped cucumber from the supermarket. When she does buy food in plastic, she removes it when she gets home and places the food in a glass or stainless steel container. The next item she wants to tackle is finding a toothpaste that doesn’t come in a plastic tube.

Why all the effort?

Bell started untangling her life from plastic about two years ago. Both her parents and her grandfather had dementia. She doesn’t want her kids to have that same burden of care, and Bell is directing much of the blame at plastic and the thousands of toxic chemicals used to create it.

“I guess in a way I probably only scratched the surface,” says Bell, “but I’m making those changes slowly but surely as monetary and time allows”.

The impact of plastic, specifically microplastics, on our health is an emerging field of research. Increasing numbers of studies hint at plastic’s connection to all manner of ailments, from strokes to diminished sperm quality to bowel cancer and, yes, to rising rates of dementia. Social media influencers and media such as Netflix’s The Plastic Detox documentary series are popularising reducing our exposure to plastic.

A scene from The Plastic Detox on Netflix.

However, scientists say more evidence is needed to make a definitive link between poor health and plastic. This growing connection is something of an inconvenient truth in a world that is increasingly riddled with plastic, whether it is big, small or micro and in our food, water or air.

A quick stocktake of your surroundings will likely reveal plastic you didn’t even know was plastic, says Dr Jack Auty, a senior health lecturer at the University of Canterbury.

“Now the paint is full of resin. Resin is just a soft plastic that hardens…

“The glass [windows] will be covered in a film to make it safe, and that film will be plastic.”

Your clothes: probably polyester. Your office chair: probably polyester. Your floor will likely be wood with polyurethane (plastic) or a nylon carpet (plastic) or a synthetic vinyl tile (also plastic).

What science says about plastic and our health

Plastic is everywhere. Yet, scientists are in the early stages of researching how it impacts our health, according to Sally Gaw, a professor of environmental science at the University of Canterbury.

Professor Sally Gaw.

Corey Blackburn

Studies with rats have shown a connection between microplastics and reduced sperm quality, says Gaw. Other studies suggest a negative impact on the immune system.

“There’s certainly been shown that there are effects at the cellular level in lab studies. So cell damage, cells dying, damage to DNA, which potentially could be linked with cancer – cells not working like they should.”

Microplastics are a foreign particle causing an inflammatory response, says Auty. Animal and cell studies suggest that microplastics are always present, which could lead to chronic inflammation. Strong evidence suggests chronic inflammation contributes to dementia.

In 2024, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that found microplastics in the main heart artery greatly increased the risk of heart attacks, strokes and death. But there are questions over what contributing factors are at play, such as diet, says Auty. Studies have shown that some ultra-processed foods – a contributing factor to cardiovascular disease- such as chicken nuggets, have 30 times more microplastics than chicken breast.

“… we can say that that’s really good evidence, but we still need more information. But for me, I’m convinced, and I think most people are fairly convinced…”

But the news isn’t all bleak. An Australian study published last month showed a dramatic reduction in two common types of plastics for participants who ate food that never touched plastic, used plastic-free kitchenware and plastic-free personal products.

“It shows the trying works,” says Auty.

How can you reduce your plastic exposure?

It’s impossible to avoid plastic entirely, but Gaw has a few hard rules that she sticks to. She never heats food in plastic containers. She uses a wooden chopping board. Her kitchen utensils are wood or stainless steel, and she doesn’t use non-stick frying pans. Glitter is a big ‘no.’ Synthetic pillows, duvets and sheets are also a ‘no’.

Auty is more concerned about microplastics in the air we breathe. In the 1960s, household dust was 90 percent human skin cells, says Auty. Studies in Australia found that today’s dust is about 40 percent microplastics, says Auty.

One of his first acts in the house he recently moved into was to rip up the synthetic carpet. Kids wearing oodies, giant dress-like hooded jumpers often made from fluffy synthetic fibres, make him cringe. But stuffed toys get the majority of Auty’s ire.

“Those are microplastic-producing factories, those soft toys.”

Recently, St John’s paramedics treated Auty’s then-two-year-old son, who fell in love with the synthetic stuffed toy they gave him. So, he turned to a knitting Facebook group to get someone to replicate it out of cotton and wool stuffing.

Leilani Jade blogs about her health journey with plastic on Instagram.

supplied

Leilani Jade, 31, has reduced her plastic exposure over eight years. Finding plastic-free period products is a challenge. Pads and tampons can contain significant amounts of plastic, according to a 2024 report from the World Health Organisation. Period underwear is often made from synthetic materials. Jade found reusable wool pads that she bought off the maker website Etsy.

“A: It’s a lot of trash, but also B: you’re having plastic like right there. And it traps moisture, traps bacteria, and the chemicals leach into us.”

Gaw and Auty argue the problem is too complex to burden consumers with choice. Instead, tighter regulations are needed on imported consumer products. The recent fiasco of asbestos found in children’s toys sold at Kmart is one example of why parents shouldn’t have to be gatekeepers.

“… there are no limits for many chemicals that would be of concern,” says Gaw.

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

May 12, 2026

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

May 12, 2026

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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May 12, 2026

ICE detainee Everlee Wihongi taken to another state