Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A family violence specialist says she is regularly contacted by women who say their abusive partner has shared custody of their kids and they wish they never left.

It comes as newly released information reveals officials shelved work to see how families in custody battles could be better screened for domestic violence.

Debbs Murray is a survivor of domestic violence and now heads Eclipse, a service that aims to prevent family violence and train those working in the sector.

She said it breaks her heart to hear from women who say their abusive ex-partners are given unsupervised custody of their children.

“I get emails from women who say I should’ve just stayed because the Family Court has allowed my children to go unsupervised to a known family violence abuser and if I’d stayed at least I would’ve had eyes on.”

Murray said every case in the Family Court needs to be screened for violence, but they are not.

She is often contacted by women who want to have a formal risk assessment conducted by an expert.

“That’s part of why I’m contacted as well, because they want someone anyone to be able to present the risk that they are experiencing into the judicial space.”

Backbone Collective advocates for survivors of domestic violence and received a raft of information from the Ministry of Justice about introducing a formal risk assessment for those embroiled in family law proceedings.

The response showed Family Court Principal Judge Jackie Moran had started the work but it had been shut down at steering committee level in 2023.

A Ministry presentation included in the official information response stated they did not know if people coming to the Family Court have experienced family violence.

Backbone’s manager and co-founder Deborah Mackenzie said that’s a big gap and puts a lot of responsibility on the court-appointed psychologists and lawyers who assess such situations.

“What we know from everything victim survivors and children have shared with Backbone is that the reports they’re giving to Family Court judges often minimise the violence and abuse or they don’t believe protective parents and children when they disclose violence and abuse.”

She said it’s putting some people – mostly women and children – at risk.

“The judiciary are making decisions that force children into unsupervised care and contact with abusive parents as a result.”

Ministry of Justice group manager for commissioning and service improvement Lance Harrison said court staff may identify risk factors informally then refer the participant to a support service that must conduct formal risk assessments.

He said family violence response training is also provided to people working in the courts.

University of Auckland associate professor of law, Carrie Leonetti, said the Family Court accepts evidence of domestic violence only from court-appointed psychologists and lawyers.

“Women go to places like Shine and they go to places like Women’s Refuge and they get an evidence based risk assessment done,” she said.

“That evidence based risk assessment says this child is not safe in the care of the other parent or it is not safe for this person to have shared legal guardianship with the perpetrator it will put them at risk and the Family Court won’t accept the evidence.”

Carrie Leonetti is also a professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University’s domestic violence programme.

At times she is approached to do risk assessments.

“I’ve had women come to me and want to contract, privately, reports from me and I’ve had to say to them they won’t take it in evidence. The court won’t consider anything an expert in domestic violence has to say they won’t even admit the evidence. They only want to hear from their court psychologist.”

She says it is out of keeping with international practice and does not have to be that way.

Leonetti believed it comes down to the Family Court’s interpretation of section 133 of the Care of Children Act – which enables the court to hire psychologist to assess a child’s best interests.

“For years not the Family Court has interpreted section 133 of the Care of Children Act to mean that they won’t take evidence from any psychologists or any social workers or any psychiatrists other than the ones that they appoint and assign to the case.”

Backbone Collective is calling for the Minister of Justice to fund and progress work to ensure victims of family violence are identified and not put at further risk in custody disputes.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

With tourism numbers back to pre-Covid levels, New Zealanders are getting ready for a swarm of tourists. Experts say tourists – local or not – should be ready for some changeable weather.

Tourists chasing the classic Kiwi summer of bright blue skies and postcard-perfect beaches are being warned to prepare for a season that could serve up everything from scorching heat to sudden downpours – sometimes in the same afternoon.

Earth Sciences New Zealand principal scientist and meteorologist Chris Brandolino warns that tourists are often unprepared for the strength and unpredictability of Kiwi weather.

“People coming from overseas, they probably don’t have a full appreciation of our weather and climate, particularly the strength of the sun – how stinking strong the sun is in December and January and how quickly you can get a sunburn … and just how quickly the weather can change once you gain altitude and put yourself in a mountainous environment, how darn quickly that can change,” Brandolino tells The Detail.

“So, I think that’s something that people [visiting New Zealand] may not fully appreciate.”

From the alpine peaks of Queenstown to the golden beaches of the Coromandel, summer favourite spots are preparing for a season that may be busier and more unpredictable than usual.

Brandolino says for those who want warmer temperatures, the upper North Island is “your best bet, but if you don’t mind a bit of uncertainty, running the risk for cooler temperatures, the South Island is the place to be”.

And he’s quick to point out, when it comes to forecasting the long-term summer holiday weather, it comes down to “one woman”.

“With these three-month outlooks, what we are trying to do is predict mother nature’s personality.

“A weather forecast? That’s mother nature’s mood, and most times if you get the personality right, the mood will be aligned with that, but there can be some days where it doesn’t.”

He strongly encourages tourists to use local weather apps daily, especially when crossing mountain passes or going hiking, due to how rapidly conditions can change.

“The mountains are notoriously difficult to forecast for; they can create their own sort of environment sometimes, it seems like.

“You can hop in your caravan … and it’s expected to be a hot day, but you get to the mountain, you start gaining altitude, and it all changes quickly. Temperatures drop fast, the wind picks up, and hypothermia becomes a real thing.”

‘People are coming again’

Tourists are encouraged to check both heat and rain – even on the same day – and to check forecasts every morning and afternoon, protect themselves from UV year-round, be cautious on mountain hikes, stay updated on road conditions, have a backup plan for any outdoor activity, and never underestimate a river, track, or coastline.

And it’s likely there will be a lot of tourists to heed this advice this summer – international tourism numbers have bounced back close to pre-Covid levels, with expectations they’ll hit the 2030 goal of five million a year and worth of $55 billion.

Lincoln University associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism Dr Stephen Espiner says grand ambitions for a tourism reset after borders were closed during Covid have not been fulfilled.

“People are coming again, they’re getting into the national parks, they’re visiting places like Tekapo and Te Anau and Milford Sound in numbers as great as before and some of those have well exceeded the pre-pandemic numbers already,” he says.

“Many of the very same impacts that were beginning to be problematic in 2019 are with us today.”

One of Espiner’s specialities is hazard management and communication, and getting the message to tourists. As the country faces more extreme weather events, he says it is an area of growing interest among councils and agencies like Department of Conservation which want to understand more about how visitors can stay safe, “whether that’s from natural hazards to do with rockfall or avalanches or to do with forest fires as we’ve seen in the media recently,” Espiner says.

DOC closes tracks and bridges if they are deemed unsafe but visitors don’t always comply with messages or warning signs. Espiner cites the popular Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel as an example.

“The track was closed for nearly two years after storm damage and the public compliance around that signage was a long way from perfect.

“People went anyway, especially locals and New Zealand domestic visitors, they make their own assessment and decide, “oh it doesn’t look too bad to me’ and they’ll have a crack anyway.

“It was certainly frowned upon by the authorities and caused some stress for those managing the place.”

Espiner says as the country grapples with more extreme weather events, getting the message out will be crucial, starting in schools and on outdoor education courses.

The sign at the site of the closed bridge or track should be the last reminder.

“It’s your last chance to convince.”

Espiner suggests push messaging has potential as a method for warning people about hazards.

“With each of us carrying a mobile device these days, there is opportunity to warn people of particular hazards, as we well know, through things like tsunami alerts and earthquakes.

“You could use similar things presumably with wildfires or with weather events.

“If you were ever going to go and do the Heaphy track and if one thing you decided to do was to sign up to some sort of push notification service, it could be very useful to you to be warned of a heavy rainfall event or a track closure or some other incident.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Over the years, Christine Fernyhough has built an extraordinary private collection of New Zealand objects, spanning everything from the 1860s through to the 1970s. Now, in her new book The Albino Kiwi & Other Rarities, she’s selected 75 remarkable pieces to showcase. Among the highlights are a rare albino kiwi specimen, cherished Maori artefacts, quirky vintage collectibles, a 10-million-year-old crab and “Molly,” the stout-legged moa.

Listen to Christine Fernyhough talk with Jesse Mulligan here.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Potential new owners for Wellington’s historic Erskine Chapel have until Thursday afternoon to put in their bids to buy the chapel.

The building which is part of the former Erskine College is being sold by developers The Wellington Company.

The French Gothic-style chapel which was built in 1929-30 is listed as a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 Historic Place and recognised in the Wellington City Council Heritage List.

The chapel sits on the site of the former Erskine College in Island Bay and was designed by John Sydney Swan.

The chapel is considered to be New Zealand’s finest French Gothic-style chapel, influenced heavily by a chapel in Alsace Lorraine, France. It features a soaring vaulted ceiling and an interior of Italian Carrara marble.

The Wellington Company purchased the buildings in disrepair in 2000.

In 2018 the Environment Court ruled the company could demolish the school buildings, but not the chapel – which had to be saved and strengthened.

It has since been restored to the tune of $7 million and is now an event space.

Venue manager Kate Spencer said the chapel had hosted all sorts of events from weddings and funerals through to a recent fashion show, Christmas parties and choir performances.

But although the star of the show, the chapel only made up part of the building.

“We also have the nunnery where the nuns lived which is next door to the chapel and downstairs we have the ballroom which was the library for the girls’ school,” Spencer told RNZ during a tour of the building.

Spencer said movies such as The Frighteners had also been filmed there.

For any potential buyer, one of the considerations will be the building’s heritage status.

Jamie Jacobs director central region for Heritage New Zealand said the building was protected in two ways.

He said it was scheduled in the Wellington District Plan as a heritage building.

Under the Resource Management Act, the site, he said was also under a heritage protection order that was held by the Save Erskine College Trust.

He said as such any major changes or work to the building would have to go through both the council and the trust.

The Wellington Company director of property Sam Hooper said there had been around 60 expressions of interest in the building since it went on sale.

“The way I’ve always sort of seen who might pick this up will be someone who either has been part of the chapel, either an old girl from the school … someone from Island Bay who’s seen it growing up, or someone who’s into events, weddings, looking, creating really cool spaces, or philanthropists who just love sort of heirloom assets.”

He said there was also opportunity for a church to take it over again.

“It is deconsecrated at the moment, but it can be reconsecrated,” he said. “We are in discussion with a couple of churches who are certainly looking at it.”

Meanwhile, in a statement the Save Erskine College Trust said it was hoping for a successful transition of guardianship.

“Erskine College remains a vital part of the Island Bay and wider community, including Erskine Chapel and the remnant Reverend Mother’s Garden. Along with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and Wellington City Council, we hope for a successful transition in ownership and kaitiakitanga.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand