Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A North Dunedin bottle store in the student quarter has agreed to close an hour earlier after facing backlash.

Bottle O Cumberland originally applied to increase its off-licence hours to 9am until 10pm each day.

Currently, its hours vary from 10am to 8pm on Monday and Tuesday, 10am to 10pm on Wednesday to Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

The Dunedin City Council’s district licensing committee held a hearing on the application on Thursday, receiving opposition from the University of Otago Proctor, police, a Ministry of Health delegate, the Chief Licensing Inspector, and a member of the public.

They raised concerns about the extended hours might undermine the Local Alcohol Policy’s aim to reduce alcohol related harm

Acting Sergeant Chelsea Didham said the student population was regarded as a vulnerable community to the effects of alcohol harm.

“Statistically, the peak hours for alcohol related harm astronomically skyrocket after 9pm and don’t slow down until about 3am the following day,” Didham said.

“It’s widely known that the student quarters are a hive for alcohol-related activities, which brings with it a high proportion of alcohol-related harm.”

Company director Brendan McCarthy told the hearing that he agreed with their evidence that harm spiked after 9pm in a high risk area, saying there were definitely more people denied service closer to closing.

He amended his application to close at 9pm instead.

“The change resolves all agencies concerns and also creates a safer outcome for the community as a reduction from the current licence which permits 10pm closing on four nights a week, which I deem are the more harmful nights of the week,” McCarthy said.

He sought to extend the closing time on Sundays because local customers kept complaining the store closed too early, he said.

The police submission also questioned the suitability of applicant’s shareholders Patricia and Kenneth McCarthy who previously failed to have their off-licences renewed due to non-compliance.

The submission said Patricia McCarthy was also discharged without conviction last year after pleading guilty to one charge of selling alcohol to an unlicensed person. She was also fined $20,000 earlier this year for the unjust dismissal of an employee and upheld a personal grievance that she bullied and harassed them.

Didham said that when the application was made, Patricia McCarthy was a director and shareholder of the company Kitt Enterprises, but she was removed as a director in August and replaced by her son, Brendan McCarthy, Didham said.

Police were notified in October that Patricia and Kenneth McCarthy would not exercise any control or authority in decision making or trading, she said.

Brendan McCarthy said he had been the sole operator of the store over the past 20 years and the only things the shareholders, his parents, had done for the company was payroll which he had already taken over more than a year ago.

Public submitter Scott Stücki said McCarthy never would have asked for the initial extended hours if he understood the vulnerabilities of the community.

In North Dunedin, alcohol related harm was extremely common and the harm was commonly extreme, he said.

Stücki urged the committee to remember its responsibility to minimise the harm this vulnerable community faced.

Chief Licensing Inspector Tania Morrison told the hearing she was pleased to see the proposed change in hours, but questioned why the store sought to open an hour earlier at 9am.

“Given the locality of students, I would be surprised if there was an influx of customers that early in the morning,” she said.

She confirmed that a site visit earlier this year, checking the incident log and touring the store including the back areas where there was an extensive security system in place.

“We’re quite impressed with the systems in place and the knowledge of Mr McCarthy at the time,” she said.

Medical officer of health delegate Aaron Whipp agreed that the amended trading hours supported the minimisation of harm, but raised concerns about the extended Sunday trading hours.

The committee reserved its decision.

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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 Prime Minister says a homegrown maritime surveillance platform might help in the fight against meth.

Starboard Maritime Intelligence’s technology is already being used to combat pirates as well as the sabotage of vital subsea cables.

Four government ministers and Wellington’s new mayor Andrew Little helped open the firm’s new headquarters in the capital on Thursday morning.

On a big screen at the opening, the story played out of the system earlier this month detecting pirates boarding a fuel tanker, the Hellas Aphrodite off Somalia. It showed the tanker changing course after being boarded. The crew took refuge in a safe room and were later let out, safe, when a Spanish warship saw off the pirates.

Christopher Luxon said the value of a platform using satellites to monitor swathes of ocean in near real-time could be taken further.

“When we see submarines or ships that are coming in with huge supplies of meth because they think it’s more attractive to sell into Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, tools like this can pull that information together and actually help us all in a fight like that,” the prime minister told RNZ.

Starboard began six years ago with government funding and a first contract with MPI to monitor ships that might pose a biosecurity pest threat.

Now it provides subsea cable monitoring in the North Sea, and Singapore had just deployed it against drug trafficking and transnational crime, the company said.

Luxon said this sort of tech could help build out a new domestic defence industry.

About 800 local companies supply to the Defence Force – but their industry body, the NZ Defence Industry Association which represents 200 of those, said this was a step short of having an actual “defence industry” in the country.

Luxon said the $12 billion in the defence capability plan could move the dial.

“We actually want off the back of that to create a defence industry here in New Zealand that can plug into our partners and friends and their defence acquisition programmes, whether that be in Europe, whether that be in North America or Australia as well.”

The country had to make sure it was “incredibly well positioned” in what was becoming a more volatile, power-based world order, he said.

Starboard was one of over 100 companies that registered to get briefings from the Defence Ministry in Wellington in May and Auckland in June, on what the defence capability plan was looking for.

These included massive US defence contractors like Boeing and Lockheed, and their tech cousins Amazon and Microsoft, as well as small local aerospace-oriented firms and ones building underwater drones.

Several companies also opted to have one-on-one meetings with Defence officials on 20 May, an Official Information Act response said.

Starboard said its platform was getting a lot of interest from governments as oceans became ever more strategic.

“Did you know that the US Navy is using Starboard to monitor North Korean sanctions compliance right now?” company chair Jonty Kelt asked the assembled dignitaries, including Associate Defence Minister Chris Penk.

‘Warfare is fast moving’

Demand is ramping up, along with the pace.

Defence Industry Association chair John Campbell said the government’s strategy was a “great step forward and what we want to see now is just the meat on the bones”.

The next six months were the real test.

“Today’s warfare is fast moving, it is faster than it’s ever been,” said Campbell.

“We can’t afford to have a system that takes two to three years to get to contract.

“The whole of industry needs to see it speed up – how they do that, it’s up to them [but] if we’re not careful industry will outpace defence.”

Militaries worldwide are notorious for being slow to get going.

The US is trying to upend that, with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth just last Friday giving an order to prioritise speed over cost when buying weapons. “We’re looking to inject urgency,” a Pentagon chief said.

Hegseth said US allies would benefit from getting arms orders on time, as quoted by Politico, which called it America’s arms sale shakeup.

Kelt said “speed is a necessity”, adding he was “very impressed” with the decisions the NZDF was making.

A widespread view is that start-ups and small tech firms like Starboard have an edge in this speed-first environment over the big contractors.

Luxon said he was already taking defence companies with him in delegations around the world.

“It’s already happening.”

Starboard just raised $23 million in a private sector funding round, however, the prime minister put government contracts in the mix.

“The government getting in behind and actually negotiating and doing its own deals and being a customer of the company like this, is really kind of important.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

After a week of bad news for police, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has admitted he was “away with the fairies” when he was pulled over for speeding last week.

Chambers was delivering a speech to graduating police recruits in Porirua on Thursday when he told the new officers and their supporters he had been ticketed for going over the speed limit.

He told the gathering of recruits, their supporters and police staff getting pulled over was the “dumbest thing I’ve done” as commissioner.

“It’s not something that I’m proud of. Course I wish I hadn’t done it. Oblivious, away with the fairies – none of that’s an excuse – I should know better. It’s the dumbest thing that I’ve done since I’ve been the commissioner of police.”

A damning report released this week by the Independent Police Conduct Authority found serious misconduct at the highest levels, including former Commissioner Andrew Coster, over how police responded to allegations of sexual misconduct by former Deputy Police Commisioner Jevon McSkimming.

Chambers encouraged the graduates to learn from their mistakes.

“I’m still the same person and I will still give my absolute best for my organisation and my country despite those little indiscretions like that.

“You’re no different to me, you’ll make mistakes – but own it, learn from it, be stronger for it and move on,” Chambers told the graduates.

Chambers would later tell RNZ he was clocked going 112 km/h as he returned from a ceremony marking the graduation of new patrol dog teams on 6 November.

“I feel terrible about the situation that I put my colleagues in. I apologised on the side of the road. Not my finest work, and I’m sorry.”

Chambers said he would not have made any attempt to get out of the infringement.

“I would never do that. I’m accountable and I’ve said that since the day I was made commissioner of police.”

A police spokesperson said Chambers paid the $80 fine – which had been dropped in his mail box – as soon as he arrived home from the graduation.

They said he was pulled over on State Highway 2 on the Western Hutt Road in a 100km/h zone.

The spokesperson corrected Chambers, and said he was actually recorded as travelling at 111km/h in an unmarked police vehicle and out of uniform.

Associate Police Minister Casey Costello also attended the event, but declined to speak to media.

Chambers was speaking at the graduation of 55 new officers of the No. 389 Recruit wing when he made the admission.

He told RNZ that in the light of revelations of a senior police cover up of allegations of sexual misconduct levelled at McSkimming, the new graduates should focus on good work they would do as police.

“Don’t let these things distract you from that work. That’s what New Zealanders want, that’s what they expect.

“We are dealing with a small group of former, very senior police officers. That’s a disgrace – as I’ve said – It lacks leadership, it lacks integrity.

“I want my new colleagues who have graduated today to focus on their careers, to focus on the work they do in communities. We’ve just got to keep going.”

Apology to charged whistleblower

Chambers said he hoped to meet with the woman who was prosecuted after raising concerns about McSkimming’s behaviour.

“I’ve reached out to her legal counsel and I expressed my apologies on behalf of New Zealand Police for the fact that she was not taken seriously early on when she reached out to police, more than once. I would like to apologise to her face-to-face when it’s appropriate to do so,” Chambers said.

The woman is still facing charges relating to messages she sent to other police staff, despite charges over digital communications sent to McSkimming being dropped.

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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 bill to make road tolling easier and shift Road User Charges (RUCs) towards a digital tracking system has been introduced to Parliament.

In a statement, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the Land Transport (Revenue) Amendment Bill‘s changes to road tolling would enable drivers to be charged for driving on new, better roads where there was an alternative.

“Tolling helps us bring forward investment and build the roads New Zealand needs sooner,” he said.

“Corridor tolling… allows tolling on parts of an existing road where users receive clear, demonstrable benefits from a new project in the same corridor.

“The bill also introduces new tools to manage diversion from toll roads, including the ability to restrict heavy vehicles from using unsuitable alternative routes.”

Councils would be able to use the money to help maintain the alternative routes, and costs would be tagged to inflation.

The changes to RUCs shift from a system of matching odometer readings to paper labels on the windscreen, towards using subscriptions through private companies.

Bishop said the digital devices used to track distance travelled would future-proof the system “and separates New Zealand Transport Agency’s regulatory role from its retail role so third-party providers compete on a level playing field”.

“These changes are the first step towards replacing petrol tax with RUC for light petrol vehicles. We’ll assess the improved system in 2027 before deciding on next steps for transitioning the remaining 3.5 million vehicles.”

The minister’s statement also confirmed a procurement process via the government tendering service GETS would be undertaken later this month “to test options with potential market providers on the design of new third-party RUC payment services”.

The government last March expanded the distance-based RUC charging system from applying to diesel and heavy vehicles, to also include light electric vehicles.

EVs had been exempt from the scheme since 2009, but multiple governments had proposed bringing in the charges for EVs once they accounted for 2 percent of vehicles on the roads.

EV owners pay the same $76 per 1000km rate as diesel vehicle owners, while plug-in hybrid owners pay $38. The money raised goes towards the National Land Transport Fund.

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