Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

John Campbell is returning to RNZ, as the new co-host of Morning Report alongside Ingrid Hipkiss.

RNZ’s Chief Audio Officer Pip Keane said the field of applicants for role on the flagship news programme was impressive but Campbell stood out .

“John’s experience as a journalist and host is exceptional, but equally important is his passion for pursuing the stories that matter and our audience values this strong journalism. He’s also a highly skilled interviewer, and that’s crucial for Morning Report.”

Keane says he will be a key part of RNZ’s dedicated audio plan, which aims to grow RNZ National’s audience.

“We know John can build an audience; he added 50,000 listeners to Checkpoint‘s audience during his time on that programme.

Campbell says he is thrilled to be returning to daily news.

“3 News, Campbell Live, Checkpoint and Breakfast were all daily shows. In total, I hosted or co-hosted them for over twenty years. I’ve missed the racing heart and the urgency and the way broadcast journalism can respond in an instant to the political cycle, and to breaking news.”

Campbell said he’s listened to Morning Report since it began.

“My parents woke up to it. My childhood mornings echoed to the sound of it. That makes this programme really special to me. My first understanding of journalism would have been from Morning Report. It gives voice to the less powerful and holds a mirror up to New Zealand life. To be able to do that, every weekday morning, with neither fear nor favour, is a such an exciting opportunity.

His start date is to be confirmed.

He replaces Corin Dann who is stepping down from the role to become RNZ’s new Business Editor.

Dann will replace Gyles Beckford who is retiring as business editor and moving to a new part-time role as Economics Correspondent.

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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 Secretary for Education is cancelling the registration of Gloriavale Christian School.

The school was told of the decision on Thursday, which will take effect from 23 January.

Secretary for Education Ellen MacGregor-Reid wrote to the private school in October advising she was considering cancelling its registration after a second failed Education Review Office audit in as many years.

July’s ERO report found Gloriavale Christian School had not met three of eight registration criteria and was not a physically and emotionally safe space for students.

Education officials met Gloriavale school leaders on 23 July to express concerns about its compliance with registration requirements and issue a second formal “notice to comply”.

In August, Children’s Commissioner Claire Achmad called for the school’s urgent closure, saying she had zero confidence that students were safe.

The Gloriavale Leavers’ Support Trust favoured a special transitional model for the children’s education, if the school closed, saying the community’s hostels were not an appropriate place for homeschooling.

More to come…

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Being exploited left three workers permanently traumatised and facing financial hardship, according to the Migrant Workers Association of Aotearoa.

President Anu Kaloti supported Sneha Patel’s victims for seven years as they sought justice, and was in court on Wednesday when Patel was sentenced to 11 months’ home detention and ordered to pay nearly $50,000 in reparations.

Outside the court, she said the consequences of Patel’s offending had been long-lasting for the victims.

“It’s something that they can’t get rid of for a long time, I think it permanently traumatises them.”

Patel was sentenced for exploiting three migrant workers and failing to pay them thousands of dollars in wages. All the victims’ names were suppressed.

Patel owned and operated several Hamilton- and Auckland-based businesses, including a beauty salon, dairy, superette, a fruit and vege shop cleaning business and a lawn-mowing business.

One victim was paid nothing at all for two months’ work at a time when prosecutor Tim Gray said Patel was “expanding her empire”.

The victim, who was in New Zealand illegally, had to live in a car. Patel promised him she was saving up his wages to help him get a lawyer – this was a lie.

Patel failed to pay the second victim her contracted wages and holiday pay, and then demanded the victim pay her back for weeks of missed work after the victim suffered a miscarriage.

“[The victim] can’t mention or think about that incident without breaking down in tears,” Kaloti said.

Patel provided Immigration New Zealand proof that she had agreed to pay a third victim above minimum wage. Instead, she did not pay the victim anything at all for two months.

Judge Stephen Clark told Patel the victims had trusted her, and she had lied and exploited them.

Patel, who now pregnant, began home detention immediately after the sentencing.

Kaloti said the offending warranted jail time and the sentence was somewhat disappointing.

“Nevertheless, it feels like there has been some justice delivered.”

She said she was pleased the judge had noted Patel did not seem to show true remorse and often tried to shift the blame.

At one point the judge called some of Patel’s reasoning for her offending “nonsense”.

“Some of the commentary from the honourable judge clearly told us that there are so many holes he could see through,” Kaloti said.

Gray told the court worker exploitation had an effect not just on the victims, but on the broader labour market. He said deterrence and denouncement was important.

“If you can get away with paying a migrant worker less than the minimum wage, or nothing at all, you take away a job that a legitimate worker would be entitled to do, so it suppresses wages and has effects beyond the human drama.”

Patel was an Indian national who held New Zealand residency.

Katoli said migrants exploiting other migrants was concerning.

“Somebody who comes to a new country, their employer is from the same culture, same country, speaks the same language, trust is formed immediately,” she said.

“It is really really sad that the very employers who were once migrant workers themselves have taken to this offending.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A pair of major cycling and walking tracks in the central North Island are closed while police search for a man wanted for murder.

Police have been looking for 29-year-old Mitchell Cole since Saturday, after two bodies were found in nearby Ruatiti.

Locals told RNZ the Mangapurua and Kaiwhakauka tracks had been closed while police were in the area, as well as several huts along the route.

RNZ approached both police and the Department of Conservation for comment, but neither confirmed if the closures were related to the ongoing manhunt.

The tracks formed a key part of Te Araroa long-distance tramping route, and travellers were being redirected via alternative paths.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Whangārei district councillors have voted unanimously to oppose plans for fast-tracked sand mining at Northland’s Bream Bay.

The proposal – which, if granted, could see 8 million cubic metres of sand removed over a 35-year period – could be lodged within days by Auckland company McCallum Brothers.

It was one of 149 projects listed in the government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill, allowing it to bypass the often laborious RMA process.

However, any move to dredge sand off Bream Bay is staunchly opposed by local residents, who say it could have long-term environmental effects and accelerate coastal erosion.

Those concerns were highlighted by the position statement passed by 13 votes to 0 at Thursday’s council meeting in Whangārei.

New councillor David Baldwin, who drafted the motion, said there was no certainty under fast-track rules that the council or local groups, such as the Bream Bay Guardians, would have a say.

He said the statement was a way of amplifying local voices, which were “overwhelmingly” opposed to sand mining, and making sure they were heard by the government and the consenting panel.

“This motion is our opportunity, as the community’s representatives, to draw a clear line in our sand. It’s a chance for us to declare that the health, wellbeing and economy of our district are paramount … We must not be taken for granted. This proposed large-scale offshore operation poses an existential threat to Bream Bay’s fragile ecosystems.”

Baldwin said the risks sand mining posed were “totally unnecessary”.

A report from consultant engineers BECA, commissioned by the Bream Bay Guardians, had found no shortage of sand for industry or construction, and plenty of land-based, replenishable or manufactured alternatives to marine sand.

He said the proposal offered no jobs or economic benefits to Bream Bay or Northland, even though regional benefit was a requirement of the fast-track law.

The public gallery was packed during Thursday morning’s meeting with Bream Bay residents, many holding banners declaring opposition to sand mining.

McCallum Brothers has been approached for comment.

A substantive resource consent application has yet to be lodged, but parties involved in the process expected that to happen before Christmas.

The proposal, as it currently stands, is to use a suction dredge to remove up to 150,000 cubic metres of sand a year for an initial three years and up to 250,000 cubic metres a year for the next 32 years.

In total more than 8 million cubic metres of sand would be removed from a 17 square kilometre area of seabed.

At its closest point the dredging area would be 4.2km from shore in about 20m of water.

A study would be carried out after the first three years to check for any environmental effects.

However, Bream Bay Guardians told Thursday’s meeting many effects would be long-term and not necessarily evident after three years.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man who had allegedly just been stabbed lost his yacht – also his home – after he called police and they arrested him and his supposed attacker, and decided to abandon the vessel at sea.

The 16m-long boat contained all his possessions, and more than a year later still has not been found.

The strange case ended up before the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), which on Thursday said police should have done more to mitigate the loss of the yacht, and increase the likelihood of its recovery.

The vessel was off the Far North coast on the afternoon of 2 December 2024, when its owner (Mr X) made a mayday call, claiming he had been stabbed by his crewmate (Mr Y).

Police located them about 10 nautical miles (18.5km) offshore shortly before 8.30pm and arrested the pair on existing warrants, putting both men in handcuffs. The IPCA said this was reasonable, with Mr Y being accused of stabbing Mr X, and Mr X “exhibiting unusual behaviour”, possibly due to “drugs or under the influence of some substance”.

They were taken ashore, the yacht left adrift.

Mr X complained to the IPCA that he had no opportunity to retrieve his belongings before being taken off the boat, and that neither he nor Mr Y were given lifejackets for the trip back to land.

The IPCA said in its ruling “more consideration should have been given to allowing Mr X to retrieve some of his property”, though the “circumstances were hazardous and reboarding the yacht may not have been without risk”, noting the vessel was in poor condition.

Police said uncuffing the men to put lifejackets on posed too much risk, which the IPCA disagreed with.

As for the stabbing, no investigation was undertaken while the men were in custody at Whangārei Police Station.

“We also found that police should have arranged mental health assessments for the men while they were in police custody and more should have been done to deal with Mr X’s complaint against Mr Y in relation to the alleged assault,” the IPCA said.

This was attributed to “the police response [involving] staff from different geographical regions of the Northland Police District, with staff from Whangārei assuming staff from the Far North would handle it, and vice versa.

“We note that police have held a debrief in relation to the response to this incident, including with Maritime NZ and Coastguard,” the IPCA report said.

“One of the issues identified was the absence of a clear policy on how police respond to incidents of this nature, unusual as they are. A recommendation from the debrief was that police develop a policy to support police responders in maritime operations. We fully support that recommendation.”

A search for Mr X’s yacht in the following days came up empty.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Universities have announced a deal with academic publisher Elsevier that will save them money and increase public access to their research.

The in-principle agreement covers all New Zealand and Australian universities and resolves an impasse that threatened to cut their access to important research journals next year.

The Council of Australasian University Librarians said the agreement marked a substantial shift toward fair, sustainable and transparent access to research across both countries.

“The in-principle agreement delivers a substantial reduction in sector expenditure, uncapped hybrid open access publishing across the full Elsevier portfolio, including internationally renowned journals such as Cell Press and The Lancet, and other measures to begin addressing the inequities associated with previous legacy pricing models.”

The council’s Open Access Negotiation Strategy Committee chair and Deakin University vice-chancellor Professor Iain Martin said the agreement addressed longstanding issues with previous Elsevier agreements.

“Through this agreement, more than 10,000 [Australian and New Zealand] research articles will be published openly with Elsevier in 2026, providing public access to our research for the communities we serve.”

The chair of the council’s Content Procurement Committee, Hero Macdonald, said it was significant that the agreement was reached without interrupting universities’ access to Elsevier publications.

“In most international examples, achievements of this scale have only been secured through significant disruption and multi-year cancellations,” they said.

The council said it had agreements with three other major journal publishers, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis.

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