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Source: Radio New Zealand

The man in charge of the emergency response during the deadly Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawke’s Bay has apologised to victims’ families under questioning from their lawyer.

A coronial inquiry into the 13 deaths related to the cyclone in the region is underway, and is looking into the emergency response during the weather event.

An EMA (Emergency Mobile Alert), was not issued for Esk Valley until 5.19am on 14 February 2023, by which time two people had already drowned and many more residents were clutching onto their rooftops, desperately hoping to be rescued.

When Cyclone Gabrielle struck the region on 13 February, Edaan Lennan was employed by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) in Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management (HBCDEM) Group Emergency Management Office.

Because the main group controller for Civil Defence Ian Macdonald was away on leave during the cyclone, he put Lennan and Iain Maxwell into the top role in his absence.

In Lennan’s evidence on Monday, he explained why he decided not to issue a mobile alert to Esk Valley residents three hours earlier, when he learnt the Esk River reached its highest ever recorded level. He said it was because he feared it would put people in harms way if they tried to evacuate through floodwaters, slips and debris in the middle of the night.

On Tuesday morning the victims families lawyer Jane Glover told Lennan that following those statements, there was “disquiet” from families, who felt Lennan withheld information from people because of his lack of situational awareness of what was happening on the ground.

“They feel there is almost an assumption that people are somewhat stupid and can’t make intelligent decisions for themselves based on information… a sense of a ‘we know better’ attitude – can you understand that perspective?” asked Glover.

“I can and I apologise if that is the way it came across, that is certainly not my intention,” said Lennan.

He went on to say there was a risk of sending many people into harms way by using an EMA.

“Yes it would have woken people up, absolutely, and it might have given them a head start in a terrible situation that they found themselves in.. but it could have also had unintended consequences.”

However, Lennan said if he was in that situation, he would want to be making informed decisions for his family.

“I very much apologise for not being able to give people that information,” he said.

In earlier questioning from Glover, Lennan said all the criteria for issuing an EMA had been met, however he had misunderstood the protocol.

Glover showed the court a number of ‘E Texts’ sent by Tairawhiti’s civil defence to people in areas that could be at risk of flooding during Cyclone Gabrielle.

The first of those messages was days before the cyclone hit, on 11 February, warning people in flood prone areas about the orange heavy rain warning from MetService

Over the next 48 hours, several more similar messages were sent to more than 1500 people who could be at risk, and at 10.18pm on 13 February the Gisborne District Council Flood Warning Officers sent out this emergency text alert:

“River levels and surface water us causing us serious concerns all over Gisborne City and the region. For those residents who are in low lying areas or near rivers, please monitor the situation and evacuate to your nearest evacuation centre if necessary.”

By 11.53pm another emergency text was issued:

“The Waipaoa River at Kanakanaia Te Karaka has reached 8.2m meaning those in the Ormond township should evacuate to higher ground or head to GDC welfare centres at Te Pohu o Rawiri Marae Ranfurly Street’.

Glover asked Lennan if he was surprised to see the use of ETexts in Tairawhiti to communicate important ‘granular information’ to residents at risk.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen this… but some councils around the country do have ETexting ability and systems,” he said.

But Lennan said the tool isn’t available in Hawke’s Bay. Glover replied that Hawke’s Bay residents who were forced to flee for their lives felt ‘shortchanged’ in terms of the lack of information from officials.

“I can understand that,” said Lennan.

He explained that emergency management was led by CDEM groups and governed and managed by local councils, which meant some regions have different systems and levels of service for residents, such as the capability to send ETexts.

“In my opinion.. this would have been helpful to have a texting or some sort of system that didn’t have the downsides of the EMA system, but abilty to send out targetted information.

“This is a good idea and doesn’t necessarily need to be going through a local council or an Emergency Coordination Centre,” said Lennan.

Hawke’s Bay Civil Defence is currently undergoing a [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/539677/hawke-s-bay-civil-defence-ready-for-revamp-in-wake-of-cyclone-gabrielle three-year overhaul, following an independent review after Cyclone Gabrielle which made 70 recommendations for improvements.

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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 principal of Wesley College south of Auckland has fired shots at the Education Review Office, saying it has been “deeply disrespectful” to students.

The school – one of the country’s oldest – is taking court action in a bid to keep its embattled hostels open.

It earlier signalled it would close them at the end of the year over safety concerns, but it was then told to shut them down last week – much earlier than it wanted.

An Education Review Office (ERO) report has now surfaced, outlining some of the office’s concerns.

‘Long history of abuse’ at Wesley College

Staff and students did not not report assaults on junior students, the Education Review Office said in its report written in September.

The ERO was checking up progress made since a review in 2024 found slow and inconsistent improvements a the school in Paerata.

It held a progress meeting with the principal and presiding board member.

The office says it was here it was told of “another significant bullying incident” in the hostel since its last visit.

“On this occasion, more than 30 senior students left their hostel building at night, entered a junior building, and a small group of senior boys either participated in or observed the bullying and assault of junior students,” the report said.

“The supervising staff and wider student body did not prevent the incident, nor was it reported immediately by either staff or students.”

The ERO report said the school was told of the incident by only one parent.

The office then sent three investigators on 30 July to further look into concerns around student safety in the hostel.

They spoke with 27 students, the Trust Board chair, the principal and parents and held follow-up online meetings.

The ERO report said leadership reacted promptly once they found out about the assaults, and staff had issues conducting their own investigations and finding who was involved.

“A pervasive culture of not speaking out and accepting bullying and assault as a rite of passage in the hostel persists, despite the efforts of the principal, senior school leaders and some hostel staff to shift this,” the report said.

It said there were “deeply entrenched practices” and beliefs and attitudes among students and some hostel staff that perpetuated a culture of intimidation and systemic abuse.

There were physical improvements in the hostel, the report said, but it noted the upgrading of surveillance cameras was not complete at the time of the review.

“Students reported to ERO that they are still wandering at night and only being apprehended 50 percent of the time,” it said.

The ERO report said the Office was not assured that further physical bullying and assault would not happen again.

Among the issues cited was the filming and sharing of assaults and complaints about staff behaving unprofessionally and encouraging a code of silence.

“ERO does not have confidence that hostel culture has sufficiently improved and that the five hostel buildings are positive, inclusive and emotionally safe climates and environments for all borders,” it said.

The ERO ended its report recommending the suspension of the hostel’s licence.

“ERO acknowledges that suspending the hostel licence is a serious step which may impact the school’s ability to maintain its roll,” it said.

Principal responds

In a statement, principal Brian Evans said students had said they felt pressured to give negative answers to the ERO.

“Over the past few years we have found the stance of the ERO staff to be deeply disrespectful of the students they interviewed, claiming they were lying and covering up,” he said.

“In fact, the students disclosed after several visits ERO staff had left that they felt that the ERO staff were trying to put words in their mouths and badgered them about whether they felt safe at the school.”

Evans said the school was confident it had “broken down the former culture of silence”, and that its systems were effective for anonymous reporting.

The September ERO report referenced both historical and recent events but offered no clarity on which issues were ongoing and which have been addressed,” he said.

“Conflation of timelines risks misleading both the public and our school community about the scope and persistence of challenges.”

Evans said there was only one incident during the year when the report was written, involving students possessing cannabis.

“We certainly don’t condone these students’ behaviour, but you would be hard pressed to find a school in New Zealand that doesn’t have low level issues such as these,” he said.

The principal said its current safe-guarding programme was “gold-standard” and its improvements had been vastly understated.

“Significant investments have resulted in demonstrably safer and more transparent hostel environments, yet these advances are barely foregrounded in recent reporting.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

When ANZ announced its record full-year profit, of more than $2.5 billion, chief executive Antonia Watson said it was a good sign for New Zealand.

She said banks were a reflection of the economies they operated in, and the result showed New Zealand was turning a corner.

Westpac also reported a profit increase of 13 percent.

“It has taken New Zealand longer than hoped to recover from the post-Covid rebalancing, but there are now signs the nation’s economy is finally picking up,” Watson said.

But is that really the case?

Lyle McNee, portfolio manager and co-founder at saving fund provider Wedge, said it was disingenuous and “actually really insulting to all those people who have been struggling under the weight of such a weak economy this past year.

“Of course, these profits don’t signal a stronger economy. They highlight just how bad New Zealanders are being treated by their banks – especially in terms of how little interest they received on their deposits.”

He said the net interest margin – the difference between what banks pay for deposits and charge for lending – was 2.6 percent for ANZ in New Zealand compared to 1.83 percent in Australia.

Robert MacCulloch, professor of economics at the University of Auckland, said he “thought it was a comms lie”.

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub expressed a similar sentiment.

“If you look at where the profit growth has come from, it’s all from personal, not from business and agriculture at all…

“Banks are not a leading indicator of the economy. They win when the economy goes up, they win when the economy goes down… where they’re making the profits is on the personal side of things because we’re not going to not pay our mortgages, right?

“It’s not surprising.”

He said the economy was improving but not in terms of profits yet. “It’s kind of the sequence of events. First you get customers coming back. You have the early part of the recovery to be high cost because people aren’t making decisions as fast yet so you have to rejig your business to deal with this recovery. Then you’re able to manage your costs and manage your prices and get profits. So we tend to find profits lag the economic cycle versus the sales improvement, then the jobs improvement, then the profit improvements.”

Infometrics chief forecaster Gareth Kiernan said he was not convinced, either.

“There are small signs the economy may be staring to run around including some job and labour market data but they are still very small at this stage.

“The housing market – not that I want that to go picking up rapidly – the housing market is still very soft as well.”

Massey University banking expert Claire Matthews said she struggled with that interpretation, too.

“The ANZ profit is for the 12 months to September 30, 2025 – are they honestly arguing that 12-month period represented an improving NZ economy? No one else seems to be suggesting that. I’ve seen very recent comment that the NZ economy might now be picking up, but that would not be reflected in bank results until at least the half-year results to March 31, 2026.”

ANZ said lending to small business customers in its business and agri segment grew at more than double the market rate, and agri lending also grew more than the market. It said farm savings lifted 17 percent.

“Overall, ANZ business lending is up 2.3 percent over year to $25.5 billion driven by increased lending to small and medium business customers. Growth in lending to larger institutional and corporate customers was more muted.”

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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 Christchurch primary school has been plunged into lockdown as armed police search for an offender reported to have a gun.

Police said they were called to Rocking Horse Road after a car has collided with two parked vehicles. No one was injured in the crash.

“It is reported the offender fled the scene with a firearm,” a police spokesperson said.

Police are making enquiries to identify and locate the offender.

South New Brighton School in Christchurch was put in lockdown just after 2pm on Tuesday.

A school representative confirmed the school is in lockdown and parents have been contacted.

A message from the school said police had advised the school of an incident in the area, and to go into lockdown.

It said police will let the school know when students could go home.

Police said cordons are in place and the public is asked to avoid the area.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Primary school principals in Canterbury have written an open letter to the government expressing concern about further revisions to the English and maths curriculum.

In the letter to Education Minister Erica Stanford, the Canterbury Primary Principals’ Association (CPPA) called for the timeline for implementation to be extended, saying “change overload” was putting the quality of students’ education at risk.

The association said the latest revision was the third major change in two years, with constant shifts creating confusion, uncertainty and increased school staff workloads.

“The ongoing “change overload” facing schools is unsustainable and places at risk both the quality of education provided to our ākonga and the wellbeing of tumuaki and kaiako,” the letter said.

“We urge that the timeframe for implementation be extended until at least Term 3, 2026, to allow schools sufficient opportunity to deeply engage with, understand, and embed these changes through relevant and high-quality professional learning and development.

“Regarding the wider curriculum areas and the move toward a “knowledge-rich” curriculum, the current timeframes are unworkable. Successful implementation requires meaningful consultation with those most connected to teaching and learning-principals, teachers, and school leaders. Although we acknowledge the resources made available, the pace and sequencing of these reforms are unrealistic.”

Canterbury principals also opposed the removal of the requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the overhaul of teacher registration body the Teaching Council.

“Our association and members are firmly committed to Te Tiriti. Any move to weaken these responsibilities would be a significant step backward for equity and partnership in education,” the letter said.

The association said the government should not move responsibility for teacher education and standards to the Education Ministry.

“The CPPA strongly opposes the proposed changes to the Teaching Council’s governance structure and role. Maintaining an independent, sector-led Teaching Council is essential to preserve trust between educators and government, and to ensure that professional standards remain the responsibility of those who work within education,” the letter said.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the Ministry of Education was meeting the Canterbury association on Wednesday and other associations throughout the week to provide an opportunity for discussion and provide feedback.

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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 wants his colleagues to ditch their ratepayer-funded meals.

At their first governing body meeting after the local body elections on Tuesday, first-time Auckland councillors gave maiden speeches, sharing their priorities for the next three years.

Five new councillors, Bo Burns, John Gillon, Sarah Paterson-Hamlin, Victoria Short, and Matt Winiata, have joined mayor Wayne Brown and 20 re-elected councillors.

In his speech, North Shore councillor John Gillion cited data showing that in the past five years, the council had spent an average of $30,000 a year on catering for council meetings.

“It’s just so unnecessary for the ratepayer to be paying for elected members to eat.”

He said that as chairperson of the Kaipātiki Local Board, he got rid of catering for board meetings, and would encourage councillors to do the same.

Shortly after Gillon’s speech, councillors took an early lunch break because tech issues halted proceedings.

Gillon told RNZ he went out to get lunch and that there was enough time for other councillors to do the same if they needed to.

In her speech, Whau councillor Sarah Paterson-Hamlin shared that she is neurodiverse and improving accessibility in the city was important to her.

“I have been elected to represent Whau, but I also consider it my honour and duty to represent the best I can the needs and aspirations of Auckland’s tāngata whaikaha, disabled people.

“As an autistic ADHD person, I am accustomed to navigating a world that is not built for people like me, that often does not understand either the challenges or strengths that come with being born this way.”

She said working for UpsideDowns, the NZ Down Syndrome Association, and Raukatari Music Therapy, she had applied for hundreds of council grants, and aimed to make the process easier to navigate.

Bo Burns said it was unacceptable that Flat Bush and Ormiston in her Howick electorate were without a community facility.

“It’s the fastest growing community in East Auckland and has been waiting over 20 years for a proper facility.”

She said it was putting pressure on other facilities in her ward.

Victoria Short said she was looking forward to “rolling up her sleeves and cracking on with it” when it came to tackling issues in the city.

“As someone who comes from financial struggles, I value every single dollar, a mindset I will apply to all council expenditure.

“If you were to tell me when I was 18, pregnant, no job, and no money that I would become a fricken councillor for the Albany ward, an accountant, and the first person of Kiribati descent to be elected into a government position in New Zealand history, I never would have believed you.”

Matt Winiata wanted more to be done to make his community safer.

“Dog attacks are destroying communities and keeping kids in fear just from walking to school.

“There’s illegal dumping from those without a care or consideration for the environment and community they are polluting.

“Kids are huffing on laughing gas in quantities that bring tears to the hearts of families it’s destroying.”

He also thanked almost 100 of his family, friends, and colleagues during his speech.

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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 person has died after a crash involving an All-Terrain Vehicle at a property near Palmerston North.

Emergency services were called shortly after 8.30am on Monday to the Weber Road address in Waitahora,Tararua District.

The person died at the scene, police said.

WorkSafe has been advised and the death would be referred to the Coroner.

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