Category: Radio New Zealand

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95 percent of fast-track amendment bill submitters opposed to changes

Source: Radio New Zealand

About 95 percent of feedback on the Fast Track amendment bill is opposed. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

About 95 percent of feedback on the fast-track amendment bill is opposed, with the coalition-majority select committee reporting back after less than a month.

The government intends to pass the legislation, which it says aims to address supermarket competition, by the end of the year.

All opposition parties oppose the bill, saying the claim it boosts supermarket competition is disingenous.

Despite submissions being open for just 10 days, some 2518 individuals and groups provided written feedback, and 85 appeared in hearings over 15 hours.

They raised concerns about:

  • Potential removal of environmental safeguards
  • Limits on the ability for iwi, hapū, Treaty settlement entities and other Māori groups to meaningfully engage in the fast-track process, with potential Tiriti o Waitangi implications
  • The Environment Minister’s new ability to direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), potentially affecting the independence or perceived independence of the panel convenors
  • Shorter timeframes for those expert panels to consider technical information before deciding whether to grant consent to a project, with a default maximum of 60 working days, along with shortening a range of other timeframes. The panel convener raised concerns that the shortened processes would not be workable
  • That people lodging applications under fast track would now need only ‘notify’ rather than ‘consult’ certain affected groups before applying, with those notified given 20 working days to respond
  • The panels would have less discretion to seek comment from anyone they consider appropriate, because of a new requirement to first find out if local or consenting authorities plan to comment on the matter
  • New limits on the ability to appeal a panel’s final decision to proceed with a fast-track project, potentially leading people to instead seek judicial review
  • The ability for the Infrastructure Minister to issue a Government Policy Statement (GPS) by designating projects as nationally or regionally significant, potentially influencing the panels which use national and regional significance as a core metric for approval

Environment Minister Penny Simmonds. RNZ / Mark Papalii

The coalition MPs on the committee pushed back on some of these criticisms.

They said the current fast-track regime “includes some environmental safeguards” including that applicants must provide detailed information to the expert panels, and these provisions were not changing.

There was a requirement, they wrote, that anyone performing functions under the Act would still be required to act in a way that was consistent with Treaty settlements and some customary rights.

Policy statements were also only one thing the panels must consider, and the panels could still deline approval “if the adverse effects of a project were found to be significantly out of proportion to its regional or national significance”.

The bill also allows some time frames to be extended in certain circumstances or with agreement from the applicants.

Protestors drop banners from the public gallery during the third reading of the Fast-track bill in December 2024. Supplied / 350 Aotearoa

Coalition to push changes through without public consultation

Unusually, the committee recommended no changes because of the short timeframe, and because the government plans to introduce other changes in the Committee of the Whole House stage, without public consultation.

“Advisers have brought several issues to our attention following public submissions. We understand the government has identified several changes that it plans to make to the bill,” the report said.

“We agree that these identified issues warrant further consideration by the House.”

Instead, the committee “suggested changes” to be considered at the Committee of the Whole House stage. Committee recommendations are usually debated and voted on earlier, at the Second Reading.

The suggested changes include:

  • The Infrastructure Minister should be able to consult anyone they want during development of a GPS
  • Clarify that projects cannot be submitted for approval before the window for notified parties to give feedback ends
  • Require the EPA to provide substantive applications to the panel convener within five working days of receiving it
  • Remove the proposed timeframe for appointing expert panels
  • Retain the power of the panel convener to request certain reports, rather than enabling expert panels to do so
  • Clarify the provision that would enable applicants to modify substantive applications
  • Increase the default maximum time for an expert panel to make its decision to 90 working days
  • Increase the maximum time that an applicant may suspend processing of their application to 100 working days
  • Clarify that conditions can only be placed on the approval holder
  • Improve assurances and clarify the scope of the Minister’s ability to direct the EPA
  • Clarify the scope of the proposed regulation-making powers related to cost recovery
  • Clarify that proposed new section 117A(3) would not allow new projects to be added to Schedule 2 of the Act
  • Amend the description or described location of certain projects listed in Schedule 2 of the Act
  • Enable certain other parties to raise issues regarding prospective panel members
  • Require an expert panel to begin work within five working days of being appointed
  • Clarify that the panel convener would not be required to appoint members with sectoral expertise if not practicable
  • Include the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage in the definition of administering agency in section 103 of the Act
  • Include commencement and transitional provisions

RNZ sought comment from RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop, but he was unavailable.

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. RNZ/Mark Papalii

Opposition parties cry foul

On top of the criticisms raised by submitters, Labour claimed the bill was making “major changes” despite the minister describing it as “rats and mice”, while the Greens said it was “disingenuously framed”.

Labour complained about the short consultation period, the lack of a Regulatory Impact Statement, and the unusual process – saying it was a “terrible way to make law”.

The new ability for developers to complain about a person being appointed to the expert panels was “outrageous”, Labour said, and opposed the proposed retrospective and Henry VIII provisions.

The Greens called the bill “unprecedented and unacceptable overreach on communities’ democratic participation” which would “only make this harmful legislation worse”.

The party – which last month pledged to revoke certain fast-track consents – pointed out many of the controversial changes were only supported by those with fast-track applications, and said it would reinstate a mechanism “far too open to potential corruption”.

Te Pāti Māori said the bill would allow ministers to approve or decline projects without acting in partnership with Māori, with tapu sites able to be authorised for destruction or modification, and leaving groups that had not yet reached a Treaty settlement unable to be involved in decisions affecting them.

The party warned the bill would collapse legal barriers to seabed mining and drilling, and “undermines everything Aotearoa claims to value about partnership, accountability, and intergenerational responsibility”.

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

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Negotiate with your landlord – but how?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rents were at their lowest level in two years in September. RNZ

Housing Minister Chris Bishop might be encouraging tenants to negotiate a cheaper rent deal as prices drop – but how exactly do you do that?

RNZ reported that rents were at their lowest level in two years in September.

Bishop said after a select committee hearing on Wednesday that tenants should take the opportunity to ask for lower rent if they could.

We talked to two tenancy experts about how you might do that.

Arm yourself with data

Both David Faulkner, a property management expert and general manager of property management at Property Brokers, and Sarina Gibbon of Tenancy Advisory, said it would be important to go into a discussion with a lot of information about the market.

“Don’t lean on headlines and radio stories about national median rents or average rents,” Gibbon said. “No one rents a median or average house.”

She said tenants should look at comparable houses in their suburb listed on Trade Me and realestate.co.nz. “If they want leverage, tenants need to walk into that negotiation with the same knowledge the landlord has.”

Gibbon said tenants could get a sense of their local market by watching how long available rental properties were listed for and whether there were drops in advertised rent. “If there are quiet open homes that is an indication the market is quite quiet.”

Faulkner said people could also use Tenancy Services data.

“From seeing what is happening with rents and how many bonds are being lodged each month, this will help you get an understanding as to what is happening with rents.”

He said keeping an eye on the number of rental listings would help tenants understand how long a landlord might take to find new tenants.

“Knowing the market will help you when it comes to negotiating with your landlord or property manager. Compare your property with what is available, you will understand how your property sits compared with other rentals.”

Consider non-rent options

Gibbon said landlords might not always be in a financial position to move on price but they might be able to offer other assistance. “They might pay for parking for a year or provide parking, pay utilities or lift the maximum number of occupants to help pay rent.”

She said she had seen some taking on more maintenance, such as lawn mowing. “Their ability to drop rent is not endless … their ability to stomach lowered rent is sometimes more complicated than tenants would expect … you don’t have to go to the nuclear option of ‘I’m going to terminate if you don’t decrease my rent’.”

Know your position

Auckland Property Investors Association general manager Sarina Gibbon. Supplied

Gibbon said how hard someone could negotiate would come down to their own position. “Understand how mobile or movable you are.”

Someone who could move easily would have more bargaining power than someone who was committed to an area because of a job or family ties.

“If there are not many properties in the area and you can’t really move but signal you could move away the landlord could know you’re bluffing. But if the area is saturated with comparable properties and you’re fairly movable, letting the landlord know could be a real pressure point at this point of the market.”

She said if landlords started suggesting a tenant lock in a fixed-term tenancy that could be a sign that the landlord wanted certainty and a good opportunity to negotiate.

But she said people should not overplay their hands, if they were not in a position to move or were not a particularly good tenant whom the landlord might not mind letting go. “The last thing you want is to come out of a very unserious negotiation and be characterised by a landlord as lacking credibility … you’re stuck in the tenancy with the landlord and it can make interactions quite awkward.”

She said a good tenant was a business asset, but someone who was late with rent or did not look after a property would be less likely to be able to strike a deal.

Understand your rights

Faulkner said it was important for tenants to know their rights.

“Market rent is defined in the RTA as ‘without regard to the personal circumstances of the landlord or the tenant, a willing landlord might reasonably expect to receive and a willing tenant might reasonably expect to pay for the tenancy, taking into consideration the general level of rents of comparable properties’.

“Landlords can increase rents annually but in a market saturated with rental properties being available, do not be afraid to negotiate. I understand that tenants may feel that the landlord has the ultimate power and can issue notice if you try to negotiate with them, but that would likely be viewed as being retaliatory and this is an unlawful act with exemplary damages of up to $6500 being available through the Tribunal.

“If you are a good tenant who fulfills their obligations under the Tenancy Agreement and the RTA, a landlord may accept an rent reduction rather than go through the risk and worry of trying to secure a new tenancy. If you can negotiate a reduction, you can also get a partial refund of your bond as a landlord can only hold four weeks bond (or now six if you want a pet).”

Landlords also had to provide and maintain a property in reasonable condition and comply with Healthy Homes as well as building, health and safety legislation. “Make sure any maintenance issues are reported promptly and dealt with accordingly. A landlord does not want to lose a good tenant. Particularly when there is a lot of choice out there.”

Faulkner said tenants should keep records of their discussions. “Any discussions around rent or any other matters should be documented. If you are served an increase, a landlord does not need your agreement to enforce it. However, there is nothing stopping you from doing a counter offer.”

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

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IRD error shortchanges thousands of taxpayers by an average of $300 each

Source: Radio New Zealand

An IRD mistake resulted in more than 4000 incorrect tax bills

More than 4000 people have been affected by an Inland Revenue error that could have meant they paid the wrong amount of tax.

RNZ was contacted by a reader who said he had noticed the error when he went to finalise his tax return.

Inland Revenue now issues income tax assessments each year for most New Zealanders, which tells them whether they have paid the right amount of tax.

The man said he and his wife would fill out an IR3 every year. “Nowadays the income, tax and imputation credits are automatically filled in, whether that be from investments in bonds, equities, or bank accounts.

“Having always done this myself longhand, I still do this and thank goodness I did.”

He said between them they would have lost about $20,000 in credits if he had not noticed the problem.

“I found that my summary of Income was correct, Income, RWT, imputation credits, but when this was automatically input into the IR3 form the imputation credits were only 50 percent of what they should have been.”

Inland Revenue said it had looked into the issue and identified a problem with how returns in the myIR system were pre-populating imputation tax credits for people who received dividends with imputation credits from jointly owned shareholdings.

“We have fixed this so any returns started in myIR from November 26 will not have this issue.

“Customers were able to amend the figure before filing the return; however, we have identified that approximately 4500 customers appear to have filed the return without changing the figure – so with the incorrect pre-populated imputation credits.

“We are currently working through the best way to amend these returns for the affected customers. Once we identify the easiest way to correct this error [we] will be contacting those affected customers.”

It said it believed the amount involved was an average of about $300 per person, “all in the taxpayer’s favour. Late next week we should have a clearer picture of the exact number of customers and tax involved as we implement a fix.”

Deloitte tax partner Robyn Walker. Supplied / Deloitte

Deloitte tax partner Robyn Walker said anyone who had not noticed the problem could have paid more tax than they needed to, or received a larger refund than they should have.

“It’s interesting that the income and tax credits aren’t kept together when the amounts are halved for spouses – I would have expected that the income and credits would have both been wrong.”

She said it was a problem that a system that was meant to be able to be relied upon by taxpayers was not working correctly.

“In the scheme of the total number of people who might invest in shares receiving dividends it’s possibly not a big error population; however the existence of any error in pre-population is concerning. One of the risks associated with income and tax credit amounts being pre-populated is that there is a natural tendency to just accept what is there if it seems ‘about right’ rather than taking the next step of validating that the information is actually correct against source documents. It would seem that this is what those 4500 individuals have done.”

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Auckland welcomes world’s longest direct flight, linking China and South America

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland has welcomed the first passengers transiting on what has been dubbed the “world’s longest direct flight”.

A new China Eastern Airlines service from Shanghai to Buenos Aires landed in Auckland just after 6pm on Thursday.

The route departs from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport and is scheduled to take roughly 25 and a half hours before reaching Ezeiza International Airport in the Argentine capital.

The return journey runs even longer, at about 29 hours. Both directions include a two-hour stopover in Auckland.

A new China Eastern Airlines service from Shanghai to Buenos Aires made its first stop in Auckland on Thursday. RNZ / Yiting Lin

A welcome ceremony was held at the arrival gate at Auckland Airport following the flight’s touchdown, with attendees including Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Louise Upston, Minister of Immigration and Education Erica Stanford, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong, Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui, and China Eastern Airlines chief executive Gao Fei.

Upston said increased air connectivity was vital for New Zealand’s future economic growth.

“We are very firmly focused on growing tourism beyond 2019 levels and China Eastern’s Southern Link marks a new milestone for New Zealand as a tourism and trade gateway,” Upston said.

Stanford said Chinese passengers transiting through New Zealand could now use a NZeTA without applying for a separate transit visa, a policy she said played a critical role in strengthening New Zealand’s economic future.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown also welcomed the easing of visa settings for Chinese visitors. He said the new service would deliver economic benefits to both Auckland and the wider country.

“It’s a link between two big economies, via our small economy, and we will gain from it,” Brown said.

Passengers on China Eastern’s new Shanghai-Buenos Aires service arrive at Auckland Airport on Thursday. RNZ / Yiting Lin

The new China Eastern service was also well received by passengers.

Yi Zhu, a Shanghai resident visiting South America for the first time, said he enjoyed the long-haul flight and appreciated the opportunity to take a break in Auckland.

“I think two hours is not too long, and we can have some rest,” he said. “It’s good because we can prepare good for the next trip.”

He added that being able to transit through New Zealand without needing a separate visa was convenient for Chinese travellers and made the journey more appealing.

Emilio del Campo, who had been living in China for six months, was also on the flight home.

He said it was the farthest route he could take to return to his country, and he was delighted by the experience.

Passengers on China Eastern’s new Shanghai-Buenos Aires service arrive at Auckland Airport on Thursday. RNZ / Yiting Lin

According to Auckland Airport’s statistics, travel between New Zealand and South America reached about 94,000 passengers last year, roughly two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels.

Air trade between New Zealand and South America totalled $129 million in the year to October 2025, up 11 percent from the previous year.

Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the new service was expected to attract high-value visitors from both China and Argentina while giving New Zealanders a more competitive travel option to South America.

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

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Kmart cancels recalls for three coloured sand products caught up in scare

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Kmart 14-piece Sandcastle Building Set, Blue Magic Sand, Green Magic Sand, Pink Magic Sand have been found to contain asbestos. Supplied / MBIE

Kmart has cancelled the recall notices that were in force for three of its coloured sand products caught in the asbestos contamination scare.

MBIE said it had been informed the Blue, Green and Pink Magic Sand products were no longer being recalled.

“As in the case of the products recalled voluntarily by companies and suppliers, the decision to cancel a recall is also the supplier’s decision,” the ministry said.

MBIE said tests commissioned by Kmart confirmed no asbestos in the three sand products.

It was now urging buyers who bought the formerly recalled products to make contact with Kmart for remedial costs.

“If you’ve incurred losses (e.g. in clean-up costs etc), you might be able to obtain damages from the supplier under the Consumer Guarantees Act,” MBIE said.

“This will be for consumers to discuss directly with the suppliers.”

Recalls for other Kmart products, the 14-piece Sandcastle Building Set and the Make Your Own Unicorn Sand Ornaments are still in force.

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Watch: Take a walk through Auckland’s Franklin Road Christmas light show

Source: Radio New Zealand

For more than 30 years, residents on Auckland’s Franklin Road have decked out their properties with Christmas decorations for the rest of the city to enjoy.

Despite prevalent rumours and conspiracy theories that the popular street-wide display is “funded by the electricity companies” or “organised by the council”, Roscoe Thorby – the man who started it all – says no household is forced to participate and it’s a “gift for the people from Franklin Road”.

What started as a bit of fun between neighbours slowly spread up (and down) the street – and now more than 80 percent of the households between Ponsonby Road and Wellington Street take part.

“The idea that it is individual households that make a decision to fund the lights and in many cases, pay for their installation, seems a little alien to some,” says Franklin Lights coordinator Eric Wilson.

“The cost of the electricity itself is relatively minor in comparison, especially with LED lights.”

There are now even displays appearing down the lower end of Franklin Road, as well as some houses in neighbouring Wood and Arthur streets.

“It’s not about how much you spend or the effort you put in,” Thorby says. “Just taking part is the culture of it.”

  • Have you seen an impressive Christmas display? Share your pics with us iwitness@rnz.co.nz

Wilson, who has lived on the street for 13 years and took over from Thorby last year, credits Thorby’s enthusiam with growing the event to where it is today.

“Why do we continue to do it? Very simply, it’s seeing the joy it brings to children and families.”

One of Wilson’s most memorable displays was a light sculpture of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’. He also fondly remembers a few years ago where one house simply had the words ‘Ditto’ in lights and an arrow pointing to the house next door.

In 2023, council officers began patrolling the road and moving on street vendors who weren’t meant to be there, after residents complained about hawkers selling food, inflatable toys and light-up accessories, and who refused to leave when asked.

Patrols will continue this year, with organisers keen to preserve the community spirit by keeping those trying to use it for profit away. Organisers want to keep the event free for families to enjoy because “times are tough”, Thorby says.

The lights stay on from 7pm to 10pm every night until Christmas Eve.

RNZ will be livestreaming from 9pm Thursday as we walk Franklin Rd with Eric Wilson and Rosco Thorby, to bring you the lights – and meet some of the residents and revellers taking part.

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Watch live: Take a walk through Auckland’s Franklin Road Christmas light show

Source: Radio New Zealand

For more than 30 years, residents on Auckland’s Franklin Road have decked out their properties with Christmas decorations for the rest of the city to enjoy.

Despite prevalent rumours and conspiracy theories that the popular street-wide display is “funded by the electricity companies” or “organised by the council”, Roscoe Thorby – the man who started it all – says no household is forced to participate and it’s a “gift for the people from Franklin Road”.

What started as a bit of fun between neighbours slowly spread up (and down) the street – and now more than 80 percent of the households between Ponsonby Road and Wellington Street take part.

“The idea that it is individual households that make a decision to fund the lights and in many cases, pay for their installation, seems a little alien to some,” says Franklin Lights coordinator Eric Wilson.

“The cost of the electricity itself is relatively minor in comparison, especially with LED lights.”

There are now even displays appearing down the lower end of Franklin Road, as well as some houses in neighbouring Wood and Arthur streets.

“It’s not about how much you spend or the effort you put in,” Thorby says. “Just taking part is the culture of it.”

  • Have you seen an impressive Christmas display? Share your pics with us iwitness@rnz.co.nz

Wilson, who has lived on the street for 13 years and took over from Thorby last year, credits Thorby’s enthusiam with growing the event to where it is today.

“Why do we continue to do it? Very simply, it’s seeing the joy it brings to children and families.”

One of Wilson’s most memorable displays was a light sculpture of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’. He also fondly remembers a few years ago where one house simply had the words ‘Ditto’ in lights and an arrow pointing to the house next door.

In 2023, council officers began patrolling the road and moving on street vendors who weren’t meant to be there, after residents complained about hawkers selling food, inflatable toys and light-up accessories, and who refused to leave when asked.

Patrols will continue this year, with organisers keen to preserve the community spirit by keeping those trying to use it for profit away. Organisers want to keep the event free for families to enjoy because “times are tough”, Thorby says.

The lights stay on from 7pm to 10pm every night until Christmas Eve.

RNZ will be livestreaming from 9pm Thursday as we walk Franklin Rd with Eric Wilson and Rosco Thorby, to bring you the lights – and meet some of the residents and revellers taking part.

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

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Principal says school not to blame for mouldy lunches as authorities review footage

Source: Radio New Zealand

Haeata Community Campus said they have recalled all of the lunches due to the contamination, but some had already been eaten by students. Supplied

The food safety regulator says it’s seen CCTV footage from a Christchurch school, which shows that mouldy lunches were served to students because of a mix up that can’t be blamed on the company providing the meals.

Haeata Community Campus principal Peggy Burrows says the footage shows the school was not at fault, as it shows the same number of boxes being delivered and taken away on Monday, but Food Safety officials say they have seen the footage and disagree.

Officials and the school remain at odds over how mouldy meals came to be served to children alongside fresh ones on Monday.

The regulator is part of the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Ministry’s director-general Ray Smith said an investigation into the meals was ongoing.

He said it had moved quickly in order to address public concerns over food safety, with evidence so far showing the problem had occurred at the school, not at the provider, Compass Group NZ.

“[Our] view is that there’s been a problem at the school with distribution of these things, and we can work with them to help that. Remember, these lunches went to 15 other schools. There’s parents too with children that are receiving these lunches. People need to know that these lunches are safe to eat, and we think that they are.”

Principal confident school is not to blame

The school’s principal Peggy Burrows said there’s no way the mix-up had occurred at the school, as the provider was contracted to prepare, deliver and pick up any leftover school lunches.

Haeata principal Peggy Burrows and school cafe staff member Elise Darbyshire. RNZ / Adam Burns

Large boxes, known as Cambros, which each hold around 40 meals, are used to keep lunches hot and transport them to schools, with the rubbish then taken away in them.

Burrows said CCTV footage shows there were no meals left at the campus over the weekend, and the school does not keep spare boxes onsite, despite investigators saying so.

But she is unable to share the images despite wanting to, due an agreement with Programmed Facility Management, who look after the campus. Its policy does not allow unauthorised viewing of CCTV footage and says staff are not permitted to take screenshots, or they may face disciplinary action.

Burrows said Compass Group holds a contract to safely prepare meals, deliver them and pick up any leftovers, and the school’s responsible for distributing the meals to students.

She said each day, a Compass driver arrived in a van and delivered the Cambro boxes to the cafe where lunch staff went through them to take out the special meals (halal, vegetarian etc) and put them into one Cambro box then deliver them to students. The boxes were then all returned to the cafe, before being collected by the driver.

“You can see in our video footage, the driver is bending over on the table. He’s got a sheet in front of him and he’s ticking off everything. He puts all of those Cambros back onto his trolley and then he takes them out of the building. If he had a concern that something was missing, would he not then have alerted the school so that we could have assisted him to go and find it so he could take it off site?”

Burrows said the issue of a missing box on Thursday was not brought to her attention that day.

“Our pushback would be, if there is an error with something being left behind and we dispute that but if there was, under their contract they need to resolve that with us immediately and they did not.”

She said any leftover Cambro boxes were collected by the Programmed Facility Management staff who do an interior and exterior sweep of the facility, twice a day and taken to the designated rubbish area.

“There’s no way you could confuse a Cambro with one that would have fresh food in it because it’s put in the area of the cafe where the cleaners and caretakers put rubbish ready for disposal.”

Government officials face questions about school lunch saga

During the Ministry for Primary Industry’s annual review before the select committee on Thursday, Green MP Steve Abel told officials it was appalling that school children were being fed mouldy mincemeat as part of a government school lunch programme.

Green MP Steve Abel. RNZ / Mark Papalii

Food Safety deputy director-general Vince Arbuckle said investigators had visited Haeata Community Campus and Compass in Christchurch this week to work out what had happened.

He said it would have taken several days at the right temperature for the meals to get to the state they were seen in on Monday.

He said the school was served the same menu last Thursday and again on Monday. There was no school on Friday as it was a teacher only day.

On Tuesday, investigators watched the CCTV footage and recorded what they saw.

“We are confident in the numbers, we saw eight boxes coming into the school and nine boxes leaving on the Monday.

“What we also became aware of is that the school retains several other boxes for various purposes and we think that’s probably what’s happened and caused the confusion.”

Of the 300 meals delivered to the school, between 10 to 20 meals were affected.

The lunches had been delivered to 15 other schools in Christchurch on Monday.

“Only one school had this experience and only one part of the school had this experience, the canteen, which all adds up to suggest that somehow in the canteen some meals remained in a box got intermingled with incoming meals on the Monday and innocently served out.”

Arbuckle said in terms of food safety risk, mould was “hugely unpleasant, but unlikely to be poisonous” but if there was bacteria present, that would be a different matter.

Food Safety had retained a number of the meals and would be testing them.

Arbuckle said investigators were still working through the temperature issue, to see if it was possible the meals delivered on Thursday, would still have been lukewarm on Monday.

“Possibly yes, possibly not.”

He said the lunch provider and the school had a shared responsibility to manage the distribution of the lunches and the collection and disposal of any uneaten lunches.

“Compass doesn’t control what the school does and how the school distributes the lunches, each school does that subtly differently depending on their resources and their number of students.”

He said there were lessons to learn from this, with findings and recommendations to come of the investigation.

“One of them may well be that we encourage education to work with schools to get better processes, to make sure that there is an absolute correlation between what goes in and what goes out and more certainty around how those meals are looked after during the course of time.”

Investigation into cause of mouldy meals ongoing

MPI director-general Ray Smith said while the investigation into the meals at Haeata had not been completed, officials felt it was important to clarify their preliminary findings given there had been public commentary around the risks posed by the meals.

“We would not have issued an interim view on it had the thing not been in the public domain in the manner it was that alarmed parents, no question about it. So we had to quickly either tell parents there’s a problem with Compass and deal with Compass or suggest there’s an issue at the school.”

He said they had not been approached by the school after the mouldy meals were discovered, but learnt about it after receiving media enquiries.

“If a school’s worried or finds something, let us know and then we can get in there straight away and try and help sort it out.”

The Healthy School Lunches Programme feeds 75,000 kids a day, five days a week across over 400 schools. Smith said in the year to date it had received 86 complaints, which had resulted in 49 investigations.

Smith said Compass were a global business doing its “level best” to provide healthy lunches.

“We’ve worked really hard with them to lift their game. What we have seen in the last term is a significant drop off in complaints and issues. I think we’ve got about seven in this term, year to date.”

Smith said the organisation would continue to have an open mind as it worked through the investigation.

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Health and safety paralysis holding back walkway – volunteers

Source: Radio New Zealand

Austin Oliver and Angus Robson at the cordoned off entrance to a once popular walking track. LDR/SUPPLIED

About 100 people crowded into the Whakatāne District Council chambers on Wednesday in a show of support for the restoration of Ōhope Beach’s iconic West End walkway.

A second meeting room with video and audio links to the chambers was opened to accommodate supporters of Austin Oliver and Angus Robson’s proposal to allow volunteers to restore the track.

Hands up: Supporters of repairing the West End track were asked to raise their hands at a packed council chambers yesterday. LDR/SUPPLIED

Four years after the section of Ngā Tapuwae o Toi walkway between Otarawairere Bay and, West End, Ōhope, was closed by slips, the track around a steep, rocky point providing one of two access points to the secluded Otarawairere Bay remains closed.

Mr Oliver and Mr Robson told Local Democracy Reporting they had been in communication with the council for about a year with their proposal, which they estimated to cost about a tenth of the $451,000 the council has been allocated through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Tourism Infrastructure Fund for the track’s repair.

“What we are getting is officers of the council saying volunteers can’t do it because of health and safety,” Mr Robson said.

They asked the council not to allow liability fears to be a handbrake to community projects.

“Angus and I have been blown away by the amount of support we have received from the community,” Mr Oliver said.

“We wish to work with the council to resolve this issue in a safe and practical manner.”

Mr Robson said the council’s concerns had set him off into a “major deep dive” into why community projects throughout New Zealand were being knocked back on health and safety grounds.

“What I have learnt is that if we follow health and safety protocols there’s no more risk to the council than if contractors did the work. We should be encouraged to do it because the rates saving is so huge and the community engagement is so positive.”

Rangitaiki ward councillor Gavin Dennis agreed community groups should be partnering with council to improve the district, but referenced the charges laid against helicopter pilot Mark Law by WorkSafe after he flew out to Whakaari during the 2019 eruption to rescue people on the island.

Happier days: The West End track was once part of the annual Toi’s Challenge race, won in 2021 by Liam Dooley. LDR/SUPPLIED

“I agree with you about what it says here in the law that you can’t eliminate all risks, but it wont stop WorkSafe going after you like a rabid dog, will it?”

Mr Robson had spoken at length to Worksafe and some of the country’s top health and safety lawyers over the past few weeks.

“I think everyone learnt something from the Whakaari [eruption], including WorkSafe.

“I doubt very much that you will ever see a shotgun approach like you saw there.”

Mr Robson said he had spoken to people from the Department of Conservation, which had managed to navigate the use of volunteers to maintain its tracks when it could no longer afford to carry out the work itself.

“So there’s no reason our council shouldn’t navigate it as well.”

He presented a petition yesterday signed by 500 people supporting their proposal.

“Not because we could only get 500 people, but because they were the first 500 people we approached. So far we have received almost 100 percent community support.”

Whakatāne District Council public gallery was filled with people eager to see the West End section of Ngā Tapuwae o Toi reopened. LDR/SUPPLIED

Many of those people had ticked a box on the petition offering help with the project, whether it was through giving money, physically helping or providing expertise.

“We’ve got all the skills and all the money and all the will in the world.”

Mr Oliver acknowledged Ngāti Awa as tangata whenua and Ngāti Hokopu as mana whenua of the area during his presentation.

Māori ward councillor Toni Boynton also acknowledged the the area where the track is located, Kāpū te Rangi, as being of great significance to Māori as “the site of the ancient pa of Toi … one of the cradles of Māori civilisation”.

Mayor Nandor Tanczos said the council would make a decision in the new year when it had engineering reports and various associated reports presented to council.

“Those reports will then be released to the public.”

The council’s community experience general manager Alexandra Pickles said it had not ruled out involvement from volunteers in reinstating the walkway. However, the work involved complex landslip remediation in a high-risk area and the council had health and safety obligations to ensure any work was done properly and safely, regardless of whether it is carried out by contractors or volunteers.

“If volunteers wish to be considered as part of the solution, they will need to go through the standard procurement process alongside other options once the council determines its preferred reinstatement approach.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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

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Hamilton armed robber Hone Daniels claimed he was doing his laundry, not robbing a pub

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hone Daniels and two other men stormed The Riv Sports Bar on the night of December 14, 2022, and forced a staff member to open the safe at gunpoint. NZME/SUPPLED

A man who robbed a sports bar tried to claim it couldn’t have been him because he was busy doing his laundry at the time.

But Hone Daniels was on electronically-monitored bail at the time, so the ankle bracelet he was wearing placed him at the scene.

Daniels tried to counter that by saying he was at the nearby laundromat but his alibi efforts have been described as “ingenious but ineffectual”.

A judge, sentencing Daniels after a jury found him guilty of the Hamilton robbery, has even labelled it as “entertaining”.

“Of course, that was rejected by the jury, and equally, I found it more entertaining than anything that type of defence was being run,” Judge Tini Clark told him in the Hamilton District Court yesterday.

“As I say, ingenious, but ineffectual.”

Daniels was the only one of the three involved to be convicted of the aggravated robbery.

‘A very well planned robbery’

The court heard that on the evening of December 14, 2022, three people, including Daniels, entered The Riv Sports Bar through a back entrance.

One was carrying a pistol, which was used to force the female staff member to open the bar’s safe.

At the time, the bar was open, and there were patrons inside.

The staff member was held at gunpoint until she gathered a large sum of money, around $10,000, the judge said.

“From my recollection, this was a very well planned event and it’s important that I point that out because in essence, there was no ability to connect, forensically, the individuals, so successful was their disguise.”

That disguise included masks and gloves.

However, Daniels was on electronically-monitored bail at the time, and while he had an “ingenious” defence, the jury didn’t fall for it.

Daniels, through his counsel, told the jury that he was travelling in a different vehicle but just happened to be in the bar’s car park at the time of the robbery as he and a friend had been at the nearby laundromat.

It was also a coincidence that after the robbery, the same vehicle travelled to a Sapphire Pl property.

Judge Clark said she had “no difficulty” accepting the jury’s guilty verdict on a charge of aggravated robbery.

‘He wants to turn his life around’

While pointing out there was minimal violence used in the robbery, defence counsel, Melissa James, said she wasn’t trying to minimise her client’s actions.

However, Judge Clark was quick to point out that there “didn’t need to be a huge amount of direct violence because they had a gun”.

As for discounts, James pushed for 10 to 15% for her client’s background, including the death of his mother at a young age.

It was from then, she said, that Daniels’ life began changing and he began “getting closer to those who have an anti-social mindset”.

He joined a gang when he was about 19 and then began “making regular appearances in court and incarceration”.

But Judge Clark noted that at least up until his mother died, his upbringing seemed “pretty standard”.

Even then, he went on to get a sports and fitness certificate before gaining work.

James submitted that Daniels no longer wanted to keep coming to court, and had recently completed a rehabilitative course while on remand.

“Nothing has really slowed down his offending behaviour over the years,” the judge said.

She found that between being found guilty in February and Daniels’ sentencing, he had not made any marked changes.

“He has been off the rails for most of his adult life, so why would I have faith at this juncture that there is some significant change that I can recognise?

“Looking at his previous [history] … it’s mostly about dishonesty and taking things that don’t belong to him. Nothing has really changed.”

‘This has upended the victim’s life’

Judge Clark noted the armed robbery was now Daniels’ most serious conviction.

“Mr Daniels does need to take responsibility for the way that he has chosen to live his life,” she said.

As for the victim, the judge noted the incident had “both a short-term and long-term effect on her”.

She quit her job at the bar as she no longer felt safe.

“That really upended her life,” the judge said.

Judge Clark took a starting point of six years and six months, and after applying discounts for Daniels’ upbringing and rehabilitative efforts, she jailed him for five years and 10 months.

This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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