Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Customs, police and the health sector are combining forces to crack down on illicit tobacco, with a new “action group” the government announced Friday.

Minister for Customs Casey Costello said increasing numbers of black-market cigarettes and tobacco were being seized at the border, and there was been more widespread and blatant retail sales of the illegal products.

RNZ has been investigating the issue over the last month, uncovering multiple shops operating in Auckland selling the cheap tobacco products.

An East Auckland store was charging just $13 for a pack – less than half the excise duty required by law.

Importing cigarettes without paying the excise duty is illegal, and offenders can be charged with defrauding customs revenue.

It was also illegal for retailers to sell illicit cigarettes, with offenders facing a six-month prison sentence, a $20,000 fine or both.

Retail NZ released its report on the illegal sale of cigarettes in April, calling for a dedicated taskforce of health, customs, and police to address the issue.

The report estimated that more than 27 percent of tobacco smoked in 2024 was illicit.

On Friday, Costello said an organised response was required to get on top of the issue.

“The individual agencies are doing their roles well and there is good cooperation around operations and local initiatives, but we need to bring all of these powers and resources together as effectively as we can to stop this black market,” she said.

The government has established the action group with improved planning and joint operations to combat the illegal trade.

“A key shift, given the involvement of criminal gangs in the illicit trade, is formalising the role of police in supporting other enforcement activity,” Costello said.

“Customs and police have also stepped up their engagement with overseas counterparts. As with other illegal trade, New Zealand benefits from stopping supply before it gets to our country.”

Officials in the health sector were also working to improve tobacco control legislation.

Costello was also calling on the public to do their part.

“Buying cheap cigarettes isn’t a harmless crime. Money from the sale of these cigarettes funds gangs and overseas cartels and leads to violent crime, intimidation, and extortion in our communities.”

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young, said the increased pressure on the illicit market was a good first step, but wanted the government to go further.

“We would like for further investment in customs to enhance our border protections and intelligence, tougher penalties for those caught importing and selling illicit tobacco, and banning online tobacco sales,” she said.

“We also believe establishing an independent panel of experts to consider what tobacco controls, enforcement tools, and enhanced public messaging could make a meaningful difference in this space would be hugely beneficial in finding a way to stamp out the market for good.”

A Growing Concern

RNZ has spoken to a number of experts on the issue as part of its investigation into illicit tobacco.

One such expert was retired Australian homicide detective Charlie Bezzina, who said the genie was out of the bottle across the Tasman.

“Given the fact that we’ve let this ferment, and it’s fermented, it’s grown, it’s spread, it’s like a cancer, and then to try and then start implementing resources is quite difficult,” he said.

“If it’s in its infancy in New Zealand, you have to learn by our mistakes.”

Bezzina said New Zealand law enforcement should speak with Australian law enforcement, who possessed a wealth of information on the issue.

He said Victoria’s state government had been slow to respond to the organised crime element.

Chief executive of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, Letitia Harding, also raised concerns about the lack of health warnings featured on the illicit packets of smokes.

Of the 15 different packs of cigarettes at the store RNZ visited, only one carried the mandated health warnings.

“They do deter people,” she said.

“I think it’s a reminder that cigarettes do have a long lasting negative impact on your health and can cause death.”

Market Numbers Questioned

Amid the unease over the country’s budding black market for illicit tobacco, concerns were also raised that the issue was being overblown by interest groups.

The director of Action for Smokefree Aotearoa NZ, Ben Youdan, said when it came to tracking and researching the black market, transparency was key.

“The tobacco industry’s got a long history of exploiting a lot of different people and voices in their own commercial interests,” he said.

“I think there’s definitely some genuine concerns for especially small retailers around some of those issues around tobacco, the tobacco industry always has another interest in telling this story, but there’s definitely an issue in there that we shouldn’t just be dismissing.”

Youdan urged leaders to think critically about what they were being told.

“Really kind of asking those questions about whose arguments are they, who’s setting the playbook on this, and really making sure it’s as legitimate as possible.”

“I think that’s incredibly challenging given the long history that industry has had in this debate and stoking the fire around illicit tobacco.”

The 27 percent consumption figure used in the Retail NZ report was originally sourced from a separate 2025 report which was prepared for the exclusive benefit and use of Imperial Tobacco New Zealand and British American Tobacco New Zealand.

However, Retail NZ said while its paid-up members include those companies, the report it released was researched and written independently by Retail NZ staff.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dozens of Taranaki teenagers have jumped behind the controls of heavy equipment at an event designed to encourage young women to consider trades careers.

Organisers of the ‘Women in Trades’ showcase in Inglewood say women are valued employees, but many are missing out on six-figure salaries by not considering a life on the tools.

It might not be as intimidating as some think, with one young potential recruit comparing working a digger to gaming.

Tiama Hill has just handled a digger – and she’s fizzing.

“The digger driving it was amazing,” she said. “It was actually really fun.

“It was really confusing [at first], because everything was back-forth-left-right, but it was usually really basic kind of once you get it.”

She compared it to working a gaming console.

“With the gaming console, obviously you’re using the same movements and that’s exactly what you’re going up there.”

The Year 13 student at Te Paepae O Aotea in Hāwera successfully transferred a scoop full of mulch from one concrete container to another.

Hill had received the memo about potential earnings in the trades.

“It is one of my plans to be in a trade [because] of the money. I’ve heard that, if you do the right , you can earn a lot of money.

“Like, at Fonterra, you get a lot of money in engineering [roles].”

Taranaki Women in Trades chair Katrina Mayo said the Inglewood event was designed to open the eyes of young women to the opportunities in trades.

“Today’s about giving girls a chance to get on the tools and have a try,” she said. “Quite often, they feel a bit shy, when you go to events and there’s a lot of guys around, and they don’t want to try things out.

“This is a chance when it’s just the girls, and they can jump on a digger, grab a nail gun and actually have a go on the tools, and see what it feels like and talk to people who are actually in the trades, and hear what it is actually like in the industry.”

She said women were an under-utilised resource in the sector.

“You are always looking for talent, you’re always looking to bring people into the industry and why only focus on 50 percent of the population.

“There’s really untapped potential in bringing women into the trades workforce, where they haven’t traditionally been, and the employers love them. They’re really good on the tools, and great with health and safety.”

Mayo said, on a recent school visit, the teachers underestimated the six-figure plus salary of a scaffolding project manager by more than half.

Fulton Hogan apprentice Saffron Quita-Caldwell came up via the Gateway programme at Inglewood High School and hasn’t looked back.

“I did that for about eight months, and I did a range of different crews and everything. I did earthworks, did a little bit of roading and drainage, and I did carpentry.

“I definitely fell in love with doing carpentry and I’ve just started in the last month my carpentry apprenticeship, to be a civil carpenter.”

The 17-year-old reckoned the career prospects were endless.

“You can end up like my boss [division manager] Kimberly [de Vries], who started young and is now our big boss.

“Once you upskill, and get different qualifications and licences, the pay rises are just coming in.”

She had no regrets about not taking a more academic route.

“Nah, apprenticeship is the way to go, earn as you learn.”

Safety manager at the Mt Messenger Bypass Project Te Ara o Te Ata, Elaine Aorangi, was keynote speaker at the event.

“My takeaway for the girls out there is to find something you are passionate about and don’t be scared – this environment is limitless. There’s no such thing as male-only jobs any more.”

Aorangi trained as a youth worker, before deciding that couldn’t offer her what she wanted in life.

“I got so far and realised I wanted more. In trades, it opened up so many different industries for me.

“I was able to travel the world and see things I’d never seen before, and make good money doing it.”

Aorangi said the trades were far more inviting to women now than they had been when she made the shift 20 years ago.

About 25 percent of the staff at the Mt Messenger project were women.

Site engineer Emily Kang came to the role via circuitous route, which included a polytech carpentry course and a concreting apprenticeship.

“They [the concreting company] kind of picked up that I had potential to go more the engineering route, so that was a real compliment. The opportunity to do engineering I didn’t fall into it as such – they saw my hard work, and because of that, they signed me up for a cadetship.”

The 25-year-old, who studied alongside working full-time for four years, reckoned taking the trades route had paid off for her.

Fonterra milk tanker driver Jessica Davis was showing youngsters through her big rig.

She transferred from the manufacturing division at the Whareroa plant to the driving team, financing part of the retraining herself.

“What got me into driving was I always wanted to do something for Fonterra that was different.

“You know, you can do the packing or the manufacturing, but driving sort of scared me, so I wanted to do something that excited me everyday.

“The other thing is I wanted to be able to show my sons that girls could actually do things that boys did.”

Sitting behind the wheel, Inglewood High School student Emily Munroe could imagine a life on the road.

“Just the nature of it, being able to travel around New Zealand, and do driving and stuff.

“I feel very safe in a truck, very enclosed, and having that view and seeing the plantations around New Zealand appeals.”

She wasn’t worried about it being considered a male job.

“Nope.”

According to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, women made up about 15 percent of construction-sector jobs, but only about 3 percent of ‘on-the-tools’ tradespeople in New Zealand were women.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A nurse who was stabbed, burned and held captive by a patient in respite care says the effect on their life was “catastrophic”.

Their experience is one of two detailed in a new report, published in the NZ Medical Journal, called ‘Reluctant victims: healthcare workers and workplace violence’, authored by registered nurse Wendy Strawbridge, victims advocate Ruth Money and psychiatrist Lillian Ng.

The report says, while non-physical violence is much more common, physical violence has had a steeper incline, rising significantly in the past three decades.

The most at-risk services are emergency departments, mental health units, drug and alcohol clinics, those in remote locations and ambulances.

Underlying factors include delays in care, frustration with long waits leading to emotional escalation, understaffing, emotional or mental stress of patients or visitors, and insufficient security.

Meanwhile, Te Whatu Ora/Health New Zealand data shows assaults on public sector staff in some regions have more than doubled from 2022-25.

The data, which reflects all HNZ staff, not just those in hospitals, shows total assaults rose from 342 in 2022 to 925 in 2025 in the central region.

In the northern region, that number increased from 668 to 2928, although a reporting difference in this region’s emergency department, allowing multiple staff to log one incident, could account for some of that increase.

In the midland region, it rose from 335 to 1019 and, in the South Island, from 1483 to 2712. These figures are total numbers, not accounting for population growth.

Nurse ‘attacked and held captive for 30 minutes’

The first case study is a registered nurse, who the report does not name, working in the community. During a visit to a patient in respite care, they were attacked and held captive for 30 minutes, before escaping.

“I survived because I was fit, and used the skills I learned in calming and restraint training,” they said.

They were left badly injured, with facial fractures and stab wounds to their face, neck and back, and burns to 30 percent of their body.

In the aftermath, they said navigating the criminal justice system added another layer of distress.

In order to access more psychological support, they accepted a diagnosis of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), but then found that limited their work options, income protection and travel insurance.

“Before the attack, I worked full-time, I loved my role and was regarded as competent and innovative. The aftermath of the attempt on my life was catastrophic.”

They returned to work part-time 10 weeks after the incident, despite ongoing recovery and pain.

“However, my rehabilitation case manager told me reduced hours ‘can’t go on forever’. She admitted she had not taken the time to read my notes and understand what had happened to me, citing workload pressures.

“Support from the acting manager of my workplace was limited, which compounded the sense of not being heard, invisibility and disempowerrment during an already traumatic time.”

While the return of their usual manager resulted in some “real support and action”, and a workplace transfer, eventually they decided a highly stressful job wasn’t worth the toll and resigned.

The incident contributed to the breakdown of their 25-year marriage, the loss of their job and home, and “most painfully”, their sense of self.

“I went from being a respected colleague and clinician to being defined as a victim.”

In a new job as a mental health promoter for a non-government organisation, they were significantly affected by the return of their attacker to their vicinity as a patient.

“I became seriously concerned for my safety and wellbeing, and that of secondary victims,” they said. “My request for a restorative justice meeting was never progressed and my concerns were often met with platitudes – ‘no system is perfect’ – exemplifying systemic complacency.”

The attacker eventually died in care.

Psychiatrist attacked, while assessing young woman in prison

The second case study is a psychiatrist, who – while assessing a young psychiatric patient in the intensive care unit at a women’s prison – was attacked over the table in an interview room.

A nurse, a student and three corrections officers were also present.

“The patient walked calmly into the room and sat across a desk opposite us. Suddenly, she lunged across the desk.

“Her fist contacted my head before she was restrained by the custodial staff. I did not lose consciousness nor was I severely injured.

“This was my first and only incident of violence.”

They continued working after the incident, and later learned the patient was transferred to a medium-secure psychiatric unit and assaulted staff there. No charges were laid.

Eventually, they made an insurance claim for concussion.

“In retrospect, my initial reluctance to take action was to minimise the incident; after all, I wasn’t severely injured and the patient received treatment. I did not wish to waste my or anyone else’s time or energy, and I did not view myself as a victim.”

The assault led to some reflection.

“In retrospect, I should have left the workplace immediately and sent my affected team members home. My questions: How do we model self-care?

“How many of my colleagues had sustained injuries and not sought care for themselves?”

The interview room, which had a blind corner, ceased to be used to see patients and construction for a new interview room was later approved.

Recommendations

Ruth Money, one of the paper’s authors and chief victims adviser to the government, said violence was likely under-reported across the health system.

“There’s almost this acceptance for healthcare workers to put up with a level of violence that might not be accepted in other places,” she said.

Victims needed to be encouraged to disclose violence, but the system needed to be equipped to support them.

“It will help stop that behaviour and, you know, help the next person,” she said. “The system around the data collection needs to be a lot more detailed to be able to educate, and make some good processes and policies moving forward.”

Money said she had been overwhelmed with people getting in touch, since the paper’s publication, to thank the authors for shining a light on an experience similar to their own.

The report finds that, often, the onus is on the healthcare worker to be proactive and follow-up when assaults happen.

“These experiences illustrate gaps in system care of staff after violence in a healthcare setting,” it says.

It makes three key recommendations:

• A nationwide unified approach to collecting, analysing and reporting data on workplace violence across the health sector to assist with sharing information on findings
• Commission research on the consequences of workplace violence, particularly psychosocial impacts, to better understand effects on productivity, retention, burnout and culture
• Strengthen health and safety legislation to assist with clarifying responsibilities of individuals and organisations in identifying and managing risks, and monitoring violence

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are askng for help from the public in finding an Auckland teenager who has been missing for almost a month.

Awheo, 15, was last seen shortly before 10am on Monday, 13 April in the Northcote area heading towards Glenfield.

He was described by police as being 188cm tall with curly light brown hair and blue eyes and was wearing a black hoodie and black Nike shoes with red detailing.

A police spokesperson said police and Awheo’s family were concerned for his welfare and wanted to find him as soon as possible.

Anyone who had seen Awheo or had any information that could help find him, should call police on 105, quoting file number 260416/3163.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– 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

Police have recovered a body from where a tractor went into the Otututu/Rough River near Ikamatua on the West Coast.

The tractor was found upside down in the river at 10.45am on Friday morning.

The person was found a short time later and is believed to be the only person involved.

Police were asking people to avoid the area while emergency services worked at the scene.

The Buller and Grey districts are under orange heavy rain warnings.

The death will be referred to the Coroner.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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