Category: 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

NZ Food Safety is warning people not to eat shellfish from eastern Bay of Plenty due to high levels of biotoxins.

Tests on mussels from Te Kaha have shown the level of paralytic toxins are more than double the safe limit.

“The warning extends from Opape near Ōpōtiki, to East Cape,” Food Safety’s deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said.

“Please do not gather and eat shellfish from this area because anyone doing so could get sick… Cooking the shellfish does not remove the toxin, so shellfish from this area should not be eaten.”

He said the toxin appeared to originate from algal bloom.

“We are monitoring an algal bloom in the Bay of Plenty region, which appears to be spreading,” he said.

“This type of algae produces a dangerous toxin and, when shellfish filter-feed, these toxins can accumulate in their gut and flesh. Generally, the more algae there are in the water, the more toxic the shellfish get.”

Symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning included numbness, dizziness, nausea, diarrhoea, difficulty swallowing or breathing and in severe cases death.

NZ Food Safety said pāua, crab and crayfish could still be eaten but only if the gut has been completely removed before cooking.

If the gut isn’t removed, it says the contents could contaminated the meat.

“NZFS is monitoring shellfish in the region and will notify the public of any changes to the situation,” Arbuckle said.

He noted commercially harvested shellfish in supermarkets were subject to strict water and flesh monitoring programmes to make sure they were safe to eat.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – If you’re starting to swelter as temperatures around the country rise, you might be wondering how best to cool your house.

Does using the heat pump mean a big power bill? Is there a trick to using fans for best effect?

RNZ asked the experts what you need to know.

Heat pumps

EECA lead adviser on energy efficient appliances Gareth Gretton said heat pumps working as air conditioners would cost about the same as they did when used to heat. They would be a bit less efficient than when used for heating “but roughly speaking it’s pretty similar”.

“They will use less energy in summer on a higher temperature setting.

“In the summer you want to be reaching for 23, 24, 25 degrees … ideally, you’re using different temperature settings from winter to minimise the cost.”

Watch your windows

Gretton said, in most houses, the biggest problem was sun streaming into the windows over a long afternoon.

“A lot of people think north-facing glazing is a problem but actually north-facing glazing is really good because in the middle of the day, the sun is really high in the sky and not so much of it is beaming into your house.

“The problem you have is with more east, and especially west, facing glazing the sun will be coming straight in. For those houses where you’ve got a lot of sun coming in you’ve basically got a lot of heat you’re trying to get rid of.”

He said on a sunny afternoon that heat could be equal to half-a-kilowatt per square metre.

“So if you think of having quite a big ranch slider or something, that could easily be four square metres – easily more. So that means you’re going to have at least two kilowatts of heat coming in and more in some situations. That’s heat you’re just constantly trying to get rid of.

“The only way you can really solve that problem is by having external shading which is basically going to block the sun coming in. That means shutters, essentially, at the design stage … it’s quite common in other parts of the world and I think with our changing climate it’s actually the solution we ought to be reaching for in most situations.”

But if that is not something you can do, there are still options.

“Curtains and blinds of different types can block out varying amounts of heat so it does help. The best thing is you can actually have the windows slightly open behind the blinds or curtains because what’s happening then is that the sunshine is coming through the glass, it’s going to be warming up the curtains or the blinds and they could potentially get quite warm and if you’ve got your windows open at that point the heat is able to escape before it starts to diffuse into the room.”

Phaedra Applin, head of architecture at WSP, said people could add shade sails or plants to shield the light.

“Planting is also really great for that feeling of kind of wellbeing as well. So it’s sort of a double bonus if you like.”

Consumer product test leader James le Page said another option was to apply film to windows.

“A film’s solar heat gain efficient (SHGC) tells you how much solar radiation will pass through it – so 0.8 means 80 percent will pass through. Look for the film with the lowest SHGC. The downside to films is they can distort the colours you see outside, making things look darker than they are.”

Fans

Gretton said fans were all fairly similar in performance.

“They’re not going to make the air temperature any colder. They are just going to make you feel more comfortable.”

Le Page said they generally worked well. He said pedestal fans were generally better at moving air around a room but they were not as attractive as the tower variety.

“Most plug-in fans have a small electric motor (50-60W), so power usage is miniscule. For example, a 60W fan running eight hours a day costs about $4 a month. However, if you start chucking fans in every room and running them non-stop, you could be in for a shocking power bill. They don’t cool you down when you aren’t in the room, so make sure they’re switched off when you leave.”

He said pointing a fan at a window at night would help.

“The idea is to push the hot air from your room, leaving space to draw in the cooler night air from outside.”

Good design

Applin said the best way to stop houses overheating was to consult an architect at the outset.

If you are building your house, you have options to keep it cool.

“It’s really about sort of thinking about those design decisions. At the outset, smart passive design such as orientation, shading, ventilation, insulation, window size, that sort of thing. So you’re making those correct design decisions at the outset, which can really help to prevent overheating in homes.”

She said problems arose when standardised designs were used without thought for the conditions of a site.

“Even from the outset, it’s thinking about the orientation of the building and where you’re placing those windows.

“And also making sure that you’ve got windows on either side so that you can have cross ventilation. And essentially then, if you’re thinking about those sorts of design considerations and the depth of the roof, eaves and overhangs, if you can have some external shading, then it means that you’ve actually got the building doing most of the work for itself, rather than having to put in air conditioning afterwards.”

She said the problem was becoming more well known as more townhouses and apartments were built.

“Think about the distance that you’ve got between them and make sure that you’ve got enough room for planting and enough shade … enough space so that you can get air flow through. Again, design quality is really the key to keeping those high density homes cool … compact doesn’t have to mean overheated, but it does require deliberate attention to sunlight, cross ventilation, privacy and planting to make the homes liveable and and that people can enjoy.”

Other quick wins

If you can open windows on opposite sides of the house, you might be able to create a cross breeze.

“It will flush all that warm, sticky air from the house. And even if it just drops the temperature by half a degree, that will actually make a big difference to how you feel,” le Page said.

Avoid using the oven or stove if you can, and don’t turn on the dishwasher until later in the evening.

“These appliances will heat up your kitchen. If you want to cook, you won’t heat the kitchen as much if you use an air fryer.”

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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 disgraced former leader of Gloriavale stole the innocence and childhood of the girls and young women he abused.

Through tears and strains of emotion his victims have detailed to the Greymouth District Court the lifelong effects of Howard Temple’s sexual abuse.

The 85-year-old has today been jailed for 26 months for indecently assaulting young women and girls over 20 years in the secretive West Coast Christian community.

He has also been added to child sex offender register.

Temple became the community’s so-called overseeing shepherd in 2018 when its founder Hopeful Christian died.

The victims, who have name suppression, told the court of the torment Temple created in their young lives due not only to his offending but the authority he wielded over their lives.

He held a “position like God”, one victim said.

“I don’t think you, Howard, have any idea of what you took from me,” the woman said.

“Your sexual desires came above what was right and you allowed yourself to take what you wanted.

“You abused that trust. You were not a servant of God. You were using the name of God to cover your sins.”

The woman told Temple she felt sick about the way he put his hands on her, but “who was I to say no to you?”.

Temple not only had the ability to control their lives but the victims also believed he controlled their ability to enter heaven.

“Abuse was not a word we knew,” the woman told the court.

“I wish I had a sense of before and after the offending … there is no before – you stole my innocence.”

The woman was further traumatised by having to give evidence at the aborted trial earlier this year.

She was accused of enjoying Temple’s attention and unwanted touching.

“I was assaulted over and over with questions and statements designed to look like I was the offender,” she said.

It took her back to her time in Gloriavale and the unrelenting accusations of the community’s elders.

Another victim said she still felt vulnerable and unsafe, even “wearing a skirt felt unsafe because it made me vulnerable to the harassment”.

She had escaped the community but her much of her family remained inside.

“I left with no sense of self,” she said.

“My parents and family inside are undoubtedly being told I’m evil for persecuting the leader.”

Another victim said she had been silenced since she was a young child.

“Howard abused his position and authority to normalise the behaviour,” she said.

“He wore my boundaries down and my instincts to protect myself were clouded as a result.

“I would submit to people in authority for fear of what would happen if I did not.”

Some of the victims were now themselves mothers, which had emphasised the innocence Temple had stolen from them.

Temple initially denied the offending before pleading guilty to amended charges three days into his trial.

He admitted five counts of indecent assault, five of doing an indecent act and two of common assault.

Many of the charges were representative, meaning they related to repeated similar offending.

The offending was against six girls and young women covering a period from 2002 to 2022.

It covered a period when he was the second-most and most powerful figure in the community.

Temple was the West Coast Christian community’s so-called Overseeing Shepherd from 2018 when its founder Hopeful Christian died.

Judge Raoul Neave said, of Temple, “if he wants to regard himself as a shepherd, this is not how you look after your flock”.

Hopeful Christian was himself jailed in the 1990s for sexually assaulting a young woman in the community.

Howard Temple resigned as leader in August about a fortnight after pleading guilty to the offending.

In January, Temple made a public apology to victims of historic sexual abuse at the community following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

The apology was one of the inquiry’s recommendations, however, former members rejected it as insincere.

About 600 people are believed to live at Gloriavale’s compound at Lake Haupuri, about 60 kilometres from Greymouth.

The group, which began in 1969 as the Springbank Christian Community near Rangiora, was founded by Australian evangelist Neville Cooper, who would later be known as Hopeful Christian.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland councillor has renewed confidence the National Ticketing System is getting back on track.

The $1.4 billion project which will allow people to pay for public transport with their phone or card anywhere across the country has faced major delays.

Earlier this week, RNZ revealed Wellington has decided to create its own interim system due to the rollout pushbacks.

RNZ had reported in April Auckland Council transport committee chairman Andy Baker was concerned delays for the project could turn into cost overruns.

Baker told Nine to Noon he recently spoke to someone working on the national project which alleviated his worries.

“He came from Auckland Transport, he’s far more confident that things are on track, that some of the issues I was worried about and that others and the mayor were worried about have been taken care of.”

He said given Auckland had a contactless payment system, the NTS was not needed for the city specifically but it was more about it playing its part in the country.

“This is about people coming from other parts of the country who might have Motu Move [the NTS].”

Christchurch has been the first part of country to get the NTS, but it was yet to get all the features of it, such as concession fares.

Environment Canterbury Regional Council chairman Deon Swiggs told Nine to Noon the system had been working well.

“What we have seen is that the cash fares on the buses have dropped by a little bit more than 40 percent which means that people are starting to use cashless payments.”

Swiggs said the change meant more casual users of public transport had a payment option.

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