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Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Climate scientists and advocates say the government needs to come clean on how New Zealand plans to meet its first international climate target.

A decade on from the Paris Agreement, and as a New Zealand delegation heads to the annual UN COP climate summit, the government says its climate ambition has not changed.

But it is yet to commit any funding, or announce detailed agreements, to purchase the estimated billions of dollars of offshore carbon credits it needs to meet New Zealand’s Paris obligations by the 2030 deadline.

Failing to act could soon start to jeopardise free trade agreements and leave New Zealand vulnerable to an international legal challenge, climate experts say.

The previous government pledged to slash net greenhouse gas emissions to half of 2005 levels by 2030, as New Zealand’s contribution to the Paris Agreement.

The overarching goal of the agreement is to limit warming to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and well below 2°C, and countries are required to present their pledges – known as nationally determined contributions – every five years.

The current government has confirmed it would continue to pursue New Zealand’s first nationally determined contribution.

It will also present its update contribution at this year’s COP30 summit, which starts today in Belém in the Brazilian Amazon.

New Zealand will put forward an updated target of a 51-55 percent reduction in overall emissions by 2035 – criticised as “shockingly unambitious” when it was first announced at the start of this year.

But first the 2030 target must be met – and climate experts say the government is rapidly running out of time to say how it will be achieved.

When it was first announced, then-Climate Change minister James Shaw said domestic emissions would not be enough to meet the target and New Zealand would have to purchase offshore credits to make up the shortfall, at a cost of about $1 billion a year.

An official tracking report submitted by New Zealand last year found the gap had narrowed, but still projected a shortfall of 84 million tonnes of emissions, taking into account all planned domestic reductions.

The amount is roughly equivalent to a full year’s emissions.

Lawyers for Climate Action executive director Jessica Palairet said successive governments had failed to act on offshore mitigation and it was time to commit.

“For the government to just remain in a state of indecision, she’ll be right, we’ll work it out nearer the time, my view is that is contrary to international law.”

An International Court of Justice opinion released earlier this year made it “very clear that we have to make best efforts to use all means at its disposal to achieve our [targets]”.

“Save some extraordinary technological advance that no one sees coming having effect by 2030, I think avoiding offshore mitigation is next to impossible.”

By insisting it was committed, but not explaining how it would actually meet the target, the government was “dancing on the head of the pin”, Palairet said.

Climate change minister Simon Watts and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon have both affirmed New Zealand’s international target.

However, their coalition partners are opposed to offshore mitigation, and they also face opposition around the Cabinet table: forestry and agriculture minister Todd McClay told Morning Report last year that the concept was not “palatable” to New Zealanders.

Watts confirmed to RNZ that that there was no current Cabinet decision or agreement to purchase offshore credits and the focus was on domestic emission reductions.

“When we came in, the gap was 149 [million tonnes] or so, it’s now down to 84,” he said.

“Our emissions reduction plan does highlight that there is a gap and that is a significant challenge for us as a country, but the point that we’re optimistic around … is that, particularly in agriculture, there’s quite a lot of work underway that does have a material impact on [domestic] emissions reduction.”

The shortfall was continuously monitored and the government would keep re-assessing the situation, Watts said.

“It’s not cross your fingers and hope.

“We’ve got to do everything we can domestically … and as time evolves, as it will, more things are coming on to the plate.”

But independent climate change and carbon market expert Christina Hood said the government should be laying out a “really clear plan” right now for how it would meet the Paris target.

“These [offshore] emission reductions have to occur by 2030 in order to be able to count, so we really need to get our skates on. The key issue is that the government is not committing any real money to do this.”

Despite pushing for international carbon markets at successive COPs, New Zealand had done very little beyond signing a handful of “very high level agreements around just a general willingness to cooperate”, Dr Hood said.

“Other countries that are going to be needing international cooperation to meet their targets, like Japan, like Switzerland, have been really active for a number of years already, not just setting up partnerships, but they’re actually been establishing projects and getting emission reductions happening.”

Watts said there were no agreements at all in place when he came to office, and the cooperation agreements signed since then had been on his watch.

In February, Watts told a meeting of farmers that there was no financial liability on the government’s books if it failed to meet the target.

“No one sends you an invoice,” Farmers Weekly reported him saying.

Jessica Palairet said although that was true, there were plenty of other consequences.

“One is that we have free trade agreements with the European Union [and] with the United Kingdom that require us to effectively implement the Paris Agreement. So if we are seen to fall foul of that, it opens New Zealand up to the possibility of trade sanctions.”

That was not far-fetched, she said.

“Internationally, New Zealand is actually getting some pretty bad headlines for its backsliding on climate and you could see countries wanting to make an example of us.

“We know that the EU likes to … try to use their influence to shape international law and international trade norms.”

New Zealand could also face international legal challenges if it was perceived to not be genuine about trying to meet its targets, Palairet said.

“The International Court of Justice also opens the door to the possibility of one state bringing legal proceedings against another state if it is seen to be breaching its international obligations.

“You could imagine some of our Pacific partners, for example, looking at decisions being made in New Zealand and being really quite unhappy with those.”

There were wider reputational consequences to consider, too, she said.

“What side of history do we want to be on as a country?”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Mental health in-patient killed herself after being given leave to go home for Christmas

Family unaware of previous attempt and ongoing risks

Health NZ says it’s introduced new protocols for the inpatient unit at Palmerston North Hospital on leave, discharge planning, documentation and communication with families

Coroner’s recommendations include review of staffing levels and compliance with new procedures.

The family of a mental health patient who killed herself after being allowed to go home for Christmas was not aware of her suicide attempt a week previously.

Gabriella Kathleen Ann Freeland – known as Kate – died on Christmas Eve 2021 at her family home in Auckland, the day after her father picked her up from the psychiatric in-patient ward at Palmerston North Hospital.

In her findings, released on Monday, Coroner Janet Anderson found the decision to grant the 28-year-old leave was “unwise”.

“I also have concerns about the adequacy of the information provided to Gabriella’s father at the time of her discharge,” she wrote.

“Robert Freeland was not properly informed about the seriousness of Gabriella’s situation, and he was not provided with information that might have helped reduce the risk of her ending her life while she was on leave.”

Her brother Jared Freeland, who was the one to discover her body, said the family wanted Gabriella’s death to be a catalyst for positive change within the mental health service.

He told the coroner that Gabriella’s case was not an isolated incident, and he wanted to draw attention to the “parlous state of mental health services” in New Zealand, which he described as a “national disgrace”.

Gabriella was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a child and treated with Ritalin, going on to complete a computer science degree at university.

Her mental state deteriorated from 2017, the year that her mother Lydia died of motor neurone disease.

She started drinking heavily, and her behaviour became increasingly erratic.

In mid-2020, she consulted several GP clinics and emergency medical centres about shortness of breath and other symptoms, which she feared could be caused by liver damage from alcohol.

Her symptoms were thought to be related to anxiety.

She left Auckland in August 2020 without telling her family, who reported her as a missing person.

It is believed she was living “itinerantly” when she was discovered by police in early June 2021, carrying several items that could be used for self-harm.

After being assessed by an acute mental health team she was discharged from care the following day because she had declined help and did not meet the criteria for compulsory treatment under the Mental Health Act.

However, the next month she was admitted to Palmerston North Hospital mental inpatient unit after being arrested for “train hopping” on top of moving carriages.

She had knives and other items in her possession, and admitted she was suicidal and had made other attempts to end her life.

“She was dishevelled, malodorous, quiet, contradictory, incongruent and at times perplexed. She reported that she believed people were trying to kill her and she was diagnosed with a psychotic illness, including schizophrenia. The opinion of multiple clinicians was that psychosis was a major part of her clinical picture.”

She was placed under compulsory treatment, as she had “a clear intention to suicide”.

The assessing doctor regarded her as “psychotic, at high risk of going ‘absent without leave’ from the unit and at high risk of suicide if she was not hospitalised”.

She was discharged in September and lived in a flat, where mental health workers continued to visit her.

On 17 December 2021, she was reviewed by her community psychiatrist, who found she was not suicidal, but noted her disorganisation and medication non-compliance put her at risk unless she was “closely managed”.

The next day, she tried to kill herself – but was saved by her landlady and re-readmitted to hospital.

During that admission, she told clinicians the suicide attempt was not planned and she was “happy to be alive” and looking forward to spending Christmas with her family.

The psychiatrist’s clinical notes at the time said it appeared Gabriella had ADHD, not schizophrenia, and they planned to reduce some medications and restarted her on Ritalin.

He later told the coroner he was of the opinion that Gabriella suffered from ADHD, in addition to depression and a personality disorder – mainly impulsivity and unpredictability.

There was a Zoom meeting with her father, who had been unaware she was back in hospital.

“Robert recalls asking why Gabriella was back in the mental health ward and being told it was because her ‘medications were wrong’, but that she was ‘all right now’.”

According to the medical notes from the meeting, the psychiatrist explained Gabriella had been readmitted because she was depressed and having thoughts of harming herself.

The notes show the father asked what clinical support she needed and was advised that Gabriella needed support and medication, i.e. Ritalin.

He arrived in Palmerston North on 23 December to pick her up, and had a meeting with staff and given some paperwork about medication.

He told the coroner he was not aware that Gabriella had been admitted to hospital because she had tried to kill herself, and that he did not know that she was a danger to herself.

“He recalls that one of the doctors may have said something about suicide or suicidal tendencies, but he was not sure.”

When they stopped at her flat to pack for the trip, one of the flatmates whispered to Robert Freeland that Gabriella had some specific items in her bag and he needed to “get them out”.

However, when he asked his daughter if she had anything potentially harmful in her luggage, she denied it.

Home in Auckland the following day, they had a great time as planned, he said.

They went shopping, bought groceries and had lunch together. Gabriella went for a walk and visited her aunt.

That afternoon, she spoke briefly to her brother Jared, and they “had a little laugh” before she went into her room.

That is where she was found dead a couple of hours later.

‘Tragic outcome’ continues to affect clinical team

MidCentral District Health Board held an independent review into the death, which found “Kate” had a tendency to downplay her risk and this was not taken into account in planning.

“During interviews some staff expressed disquiet about the leave process and were not confident that Robert knew about the suicide attempt.”

The reviewers said two indicators should have prompted staff to reassess Kate’s risk: the change in her diagnosis; and her risk history and the serious attempt to kill herself only two days before.

They made several recommendations, including improvements to assessment, treatment, leave and discharge planning and documentation.

In its response to the coroner, Health NZ provided details of those new procedures, including the information that should be provided when a patient goes on leave and planning.

The psychiatrist who was treating Gabriella on the ward told the coroner that the decision to give her leave for Christmas was made by the multidisciplinary team after “an intense five days of assessment, treatment and observation”.

“It was in response to strong patient and father requests and was sanctioned when Gabriella appeared to be improving and future focused.”

Plans and support measures were in place.

“Despite that, and the team doing their best, a tragic outcome no-one wanted followed. The whole team and I remain affected by the tragic outcome in this case and our sincere condolences remain with Gabriella’s family.”

Experienced psychiatrist Associate Professor Ben Beaglehole, who provided expert advice to the coroner, noted the diagnosis of schizophrenia was the best explanation for the mental problems that emerged for Gabriella from 2017.

He said the change in diagnosis to ADHD over two days raised a number of questions, including whether it reduced vigilance to abnormal mental state, and influenced the decision to grant leave.

The timeframe for moving from a serious suicide attempt on 18 December 2021 to extended overnight leave on 23 December 2021 was “relatively short if the driver of Gabriella’s risk behaviours is thought to be partially treated psychotic symptoms”.

Ritalin did not help with psychotic symptoms, and could sometimes make them worse, although there was no evidence of this in Gabrielle’s case.

He noted however, that acute inpatient services often ran near full capacity with high-risk patients, and care must be taken “when applying the benefits of hindsight to evaluating outcomes from complex clinical scenarios”.

Coroner’s recommendations

Coroner Anderson said she was mindful of “the dangers of hindsight bias” and accepted it was not possible to conclude that Gabriella would still be alive if she had not been granted leave, or if her father had received better information.

However, she said the decision to grant Gabriella leave so soon after a serious suicide attempt, and a significant change in clinical diagnosis, was unwise.

“There was no opportunity to properly consider the impact of the changed diagnosis or the recent alteration in medication before Gabriella left the unit with her father.”

Furthermore, while there was uncertainty about exactly what Robert Freeland was told, it was clear he was not aware of the specific details of the suicide attempt days previously, nor the risks of taking her home.

The coroner acknowledged the changes MidCentral had made to policies and procedures, but has further recommended that Health NZ:

• Commission an independent review of culture at the in-patient unit, including staff communication
• Review the resourcing of the unit to ensure that it is appropriately and safely staffed
• Continue regular audits about compliance with the new policies and procedures, particularly those relating to Leave, Family-Whānau Meetings, and Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting decision-making.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s 6am in Pukehina – a rural community down the coast from Tauranga. Leaves are rustling against the gentle breeze as tyres crunch through the gravel driveway.

The basketball court – surrounded by kiwifruit orchards and dairy farms – is getting busy.

The sun is not yet up, but car headlights cut through the darkness.

Tuesday is women’s bootcamp, an hour-long workout session run by Moses Mohi Beckham.

He expanded the bootcamp to the community after starting with friends in 2020.

“It was just myself and a vet and another farmer, we just started running around in a paddock doing push-ups, then it just evolved from there and we were probably getting up to 10 to 15 dudes a couple of times a week.”

After moving to Pukehina, two locals asked him to start one for women.

“We just started with just doing squats out in the paddock there and then a court was built, then just kind of evolved from there.”

Now, Mohi runs four bootcamps a week – two for men, two for women.

After bootcamp, Mohi works in many jobs, one of them being a facilitator for the Rural Support Trust, which he calls “have a cup of tea”.

The job has given Mohi insights into the mental health challenges faced by the rural community.

And he says it’s not all about having the right answers.

“[It’s about] sit and listen, and if you can carry some of that stress off them, especially if they’ve got no one to vent to, and if it’s been bottled up so long, it probably can be pretty tough. It’s weird, the more you listen, things just seem to kick in and words come out and seem to work.

“If I give them a hug by the end of it, I think I’ve cracked it.”

The 44-year-old says after going through a dark period in his own life, bootcamp was a way to boost not only physical health, but also mental health.

“We’ve developed friendships. When we first started, they were quite awkward, some of these fellas they wouldn’t even shake your hands, but now a hug is a normal thing.

“I’m just trying to break through that and actually yarn about the good stuff, the real things, like family. And once you start chewing the fat after the workout, then people start talking about anything. Farmers will have problems, but they may hold it to themselves, but once they share it out, someone may have a way to get around it, or someone knows someone that could help, and it kind of works out from there.”

He says rural living can mean “a lot of isolation”, making mental health a challenge, but the smaller community compared to cities means once they open up a space, it can be easier to support each other.

Mohi runs the bootcamp for free and has paid for equipment himself. But seeing how it’s bringing the community closer, he says all is worth it.

Cathryn Wattam has been coming here for three summers. While life as a dairy farmer and kiwifruit orchardist is busy, she says the group exercise keeps her body and mind strong.

“Mental health – it’s about getting out, having conversations with people that aren’t your husband, just having fun and just creating a community.”

This summer, she’s bringing her 14-year-old daughter to bootcamp.

“The alarm goes off and you get your clothes out the night before and you just make it happen. You just gotta get up. You gotta go.”

Hypnotherapist Tania Vinson recently moved to Pukehina for the beach life, and she says the bootcamp is a good way to get to know the community.

“Well, I haven’t died yet, so that’s good. I was a little bit sore, but a good sore.”

It’s her second time at the bootcamp, and she says she will be coming for the third.

Parents sometimes bring their kids, so the workout is designed for a range of fitness levels.

Mohi says even though men’s and women’s sessions run separately, it’s the same challenge.

“I do the exact same workouts with the men. I just say it differently, but they all have to do the same bloody thing. If you think about it, everything’s all based around the core, the groin, the hips. Because men are not very flexible, they think they’re tough, but some of these dudes can’t even tie their shoelaces up. Whereas for the women, most of them are the opposite. So across the board we try to do a bit of everything.”

And at the end of the morning, making sure everyone’s included is what matters most. Mohi says his trick is to always end on a round of high-fives.

“It’s just a finish, especially the new ones there and try to get them included.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

There’s widespread support for the government’s new action plan to combat methamphetamine use, with the Drug Foundation commending its “health focused interventions”.

A mental wellness provider from northland is also welcoming the news, saying it’s a “fantastic start,” and the Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational and Organised Crime saying it was positive that multiple ministers were involved in order to address the issue in its “totality”.

Yesterday, the government announced what Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith called a “comprehensive action plan to combat methamphetamine harm in New Zealand.”

It’s the result of the Prime Minister’s ‘meth sprint team’ made up of the Ministers for Justice, Police, Customs, Courts and Mental Health, who were tasked with tackling the issue.

That came after a drastic rise in consumption of methamphetamine last year. RNZ investigated what community providers needed in response, which was largely more funding for grassroots solutions.

Paul Goldsmith said yesterday methamphetamine was something “we’ve been fighting for 20 years, and it’s been getting worse in the last little while.”

“We know that meth is a scourge on society.”

He pointed to parts of New Zealand who had been particularly affected, like Northland, where “communities have been blighted by meth.”

“Those communities are desperate for us to fight back, and that’s why we’re taking these extra steps to turn up the dial of our response.”

The response included a nationwide media campaign that will launch in the next few months, paid for by the proceeds of crime fund, that will raise awareness about the issue and the drugs harm.

An extra $30m over four years from the Mental Health and Addiction budget will go to front line services, increasing the services available to the hardest-hit communities.

Police will be able to intercept communications and search for electronically stored evidence with new enforcement powers, and an additional anti-money laundering unit will be set up.

It will also see more focus on disrupting supply chains in the Pacific Ocean, with Customs, the GCSB and the Defence Force conducting a series of maritime operations. There would also be consultation on strengthening border security.

Customs Minister Casey Costello said there was “a lot of risk” through South East Asia and South America, “but we are getting intercepts from all over the place.”

“We just had an arrest last weekend at the airport, 30 kilos of meth from citizens from the US trying to bring methamphetamine into the country.

“So it is coming at us from everywhere and we just need to be tighter across all of it.”

RNZ spoke to providers in Northland earlier this year about the spike in consumption.

Rākau Ora managing director Vanessa Kite told RNZ following the announcement she “absolutely” welcomed it.

“I don’t think we’ll ever have enough bloody money, to be honest. But right now it’s a fantastic start.”

She said the need was “huge” in Te Tai Tokerau, and it was “growing in a different way”, with younger people affected and more complex cases presenting.

What was required to tackle it was “long-term” and “sustained” investment, rather than the short term boosts they’d been getting, she said.

Kite welcomed the focus on meth as a social health issue, rather than an enforcement one.

“Prevention is everything,” she said. “We really need to be putting a lot of money into prevention, but also, education, support and connections.”

She suggested what was needed was more detox beds, and residential rehab options. She also wanted to see more focus on lived experience community providers.

“We’re often seen as the first port of call and the priority in meth help, and we’re paid the worst. In fact, many are doing voluntary work.”

Kite said at a community and grassroots level, she believed they had the solutions, “we just need the support to scale them up.”

The Executive Director at the New Zealand Drug Foundation Sarah Helm said she was “particularly pleased” with the health focused interventions.

“It’s good to see some emphasis on health approaches and additional investment that’s being made, because we know we can’t arrest our way out of the issue.”

What’s needed, Helm said, was treatment and assistance both earlier on in somebody’s journey, but also closer and more accessible to their lives.

She said it wasn’t about waiting until somebody’s experiencing the worst harms before they are offered help.

In order for the nationwide campaign to be effective, it would need to focus on destigmatisation, and promote the option of seeking help she said.

“Those communities who already experience the worst methamphetamine harms already know how negative the impact can be.

“So really grounding that campaign in what they’re experiencing and helping them to get information and support quickly will make that as effective as it possibly can be.”

Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Transnational and Organised Crime Steve Symon told RNZ many of the planned actions were consistent with the recommendations made in the MAG’s reports.

Overall, he said the announcement is great, provided it is part of the solution to organised crime, not the whole solution.

“Methamphetamine is certainly an important issue, but it’s a subset of the bigger organized crime issue.”

The focus on health was also welcomed, because “as we’ve said in the reports, we don’t think locking people up is necessarily the solution,” said Symon. The government should be tough on those committing this crime and addressing that, but it wasn’t the only way to deal with it.

Looking at cutting off the supply coming into the country was important too, as well as “working on our customer base”, he said, “working on how many New Zealanders are willing to consume these drugs.”

The coalition government parties had campaigned on being “tough on organised crime” he said, and it was about understanding “what tough means.”

“It’s not just building more prisons and locking more people up.

“It’s certainly locking those up who need to be locked up because of the crimes that they’ve committed, but it’s also looking the broader social problem of how our country has been willing to consume twice as much methamphetamine as we did last year.”

Symon suggested being tough on crime could be possible by removing the customer base.

Ultimately though, what was missing was the coordination to pull it all together, “how to be accountable” he said, which was why the MAG had recommended a single minister in charge of responding to organised crime.

But he thought it was possible multiple ministers had come together to look at the issue of meth.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Former detectives have been left “stumbling for words” by police reports of a secret meeting in 1985 between a Department of Justice official and the key Crown witness in the murder prosecution of Ross Appelgren.

Appelgren was convicted of killing fellow inmate Darcy Te Hira inside the Mt Eden Prison kitchen on 6 January 1985. Appelgren always claimed he was not in the kitchen when Te Hira was attacked

The key witness, a convicted fraudster-turned-informant, was offered the possibility of a pardon and early release just weeks before Appelgren’s trial.

The RNZ podcast Nark has today reported on police records which say the government sent a Department of Justice official to “reassure the subject he would be well looked after, after he did give his evidence and that he would not be put into a prison of any kind after the trial”.

Then-Justice Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer says, “if that was said, it’s a very bad thing”.

Former Detective Inspector Lance Burdett, who used to lead operations for the New Zealand Police witness protection programme, says he’s never heard of early release being offered to a witness before they testified.

“I’m stumbling for words. That’s flabbergasting…You certainly don’t say, ‘Hey, look, if you give the evidence, you’re going to be released at the earliest opportunity’. That’s fairytale stuff.”

The witness, who has permanent name suppression but is known in the podcast as Ernie, claimed to have seen Ross Appelgren murder Darcy Te Hira in Mt Eden prison on January 6, 1985. Appelgren was convicted of murder twice, but both times successfully petitioned the Governor-General to send his case back to the Court of Appeal. Appelgren’s last appeal has remained adjourned since 1994.

Appelgren died in 2013, and now his widow, Julie, is leading an effort to clear his name posthumously. Her lawyers hope to argue the appeal should continue in a hearing before the Court of Appeal expected next year.

When Ernie told police he’d seen the murder and police decided to make him their star witness, he demanded he be removed from Mt Eden for his own safety. Police agreed.

He was moved to New Plymouth prison, then to the Takapuna police station cells.

Ernie’s complaints about his conditions and concern for his safety escalated to the point the police and the Department of Justice decided to release him from prison. In June 1985, Ernie was moved to Christchurch, a month before Appelgren was due to stand trial.

Operation Icing

Police put Ernie up in a $50 per night suburban motel, guarded by police and prison officers, as part of a programme called Operation Icing.

The icing on the cake for Ernie was that – just eight months into his two-year sentence on more than 200 fraud convictions – he was doing his time in a motel with a large bedroom, a high-end TV, a video recorder, and a CD player.

As one police report said, the motel was “in a rural setting with access to large open grass areas”.

Taxpayers even paid for dinners at local restaurants and trips to Akaroa and Hanmer Springs.

Ernie went on to stay in the motel, then rental accommodation, from June 1985 to February 1987.

Operation Icing was, at the time, the most expensive witness protection programme in New Zealand history, costing more than $75,000.

In the weeks leading up to the trial, Ernie remained concerned about his future and doubted the police promises that he would not be returned to prison.

Seeking further assurance, Ernie wrote directly to the then Justice Minister, Geoffrey Palmer, in June 1985.

Police records report that Palmer dispatched an emissary, then-superintendent of Paparua prison, Charles Hood, to meet with Ernie at his motel.

Notes made by an unnamed police officer sitting in on the meeting recorded that Hood promised Ernie he would be “looked after” and said “the minister was looking favourably at a pardon after the trial and that while the minister was not in a position at the present time to guarantee anything, Mr Hood assured the subject [Ernie] that he would not simply be dumped and forgotten”.

A second report a day later reads, “Superintendent Hood had offered him a pardon as regards the remainder of his prison sentence”.

Further police reports show that 10 days later, on July 3, Hood returned to the motel to withdraw that offer.

The Department of Justice had decided no promises could be made until after the trial.

Ernie angrily said he’d refuse to testify.

When the officer in charge of the Appelgren investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jenkinson, heard of the Department’s decision, he intervened.

Jenkinson made it clear police had no intention of returning Ernie to prison because they needed to ensure the safety of their crucial witness.

Ernie never did go back inside.

‘Never seen anything like it’

Former detective Tim McKinnel, who’s part of the legal team working with Julie Appelgren, said he was astounded to read the police reports describing Hood’s meetings with Ernie and the fact they were never disclosed at either of Appelgren’s two trials.

“It is absolutely extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it”.

“ I can’t understand one, why you would put the department in that position and then, you know, perhaps easier to understand is why you wouldn’t disclose it because of its extraordinary nature and what it might tell you about what was going on.”

Sir Geoffrey Palmer told RNZ it was 40 years ago and he has no memory of the case or of Charles Hood.

“You have to understand that ministers act on advice. There are lots of officials doing work on this and they assure the minister and the minister signs things. I’m sure I gave attention to it properly at the time, but just have no recollection of it.”

Sir Geoffrey, interviewed in September this year, doesn’t recall any discussion of a pardon or early release, but agrees, “it’s a serious matter”.

“If that was said, it’s a very bad thing to say. I agree with that. But I have no memory of giving such assurances or giving him [Hood] any authority to say that… all I can say is that if an injustice occurred it needs to be sorted out in the courts now.”

Palmer said the juries who convicted Appelgren should have been informed about the Justice Department’s involvement with Ernie.

‘Quite possible there was an injustice done’

Hood died in 2021, and the police officer present at his meetings with Ernie is not identified in police documents.

While those notes are unambiguous and were written immediately after the meetings, further investigations by podcast host Mike Wesley-Smith have also uncovered an October 1986 letter from Palmer to Ernie’s lawyer, Roger Chambers.

It tells a different story from those described in the police documents.

Palmer wrote: “Department of Justice officials were at no stage involved in any discussion about the future relocation and protection of Ernie, nor were any promises made to him about future reward or assistance”.

Asked about the seeming contradiction, Sir Geoffrey said, “it’s quite possible there was an injustice done here”.

“I have to take ministerial responsibility about anything I did even back then and I do take it.

“But the difficulty is, the frailty of human recollection 40 years later when you have thousands of things as a minister to deal with, it’s really very difficult for me to say anything that’s very helpful to you.”

RNZ also asked the Police and Crown Law, which oversees prosecutions in New Zealand, about the revelations in these notes and reports. In an email, Detective Inspector Scott Beard, Auckland City CIB, wrote: “As this process is ongoing and has not been heard by the Court, it would be premature for Police to engage in detail at this point”. A Crown Law spokesperson told RNZ by email, “As with any other criminal appeal process that is before the Court, we will not be engaging with the media while it is at this stage”.

Nark is being released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on rnz.co.nz/nark and all podcast apps. It airs at 7pm Sunday on RNZ National.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

[L1] Waimarino business owners hope for forecast rain

[L1] Concern tourists might cancel bookings

[L1] Wall of smoke provides spectacular but unwelcome backdrop to village.

A wall of smoke from the Tongariro National Park fire is providing a spectacular but worrying vista for a central plateau village.

The blaze has burned through up to 2500 hectares and is 20 percent contained.

Residents and business owners in nearby Waimarino are nervously watching on.

A long-term closure of the popular Tongariro crossing would keep away tourists – the area’s lifeblood.

It would be a stinging blow after tough years of Covid and then uncertainty over who would operate the ski fields on Mt Ruapehu.

Well into the evening on Sunday there was a constant hum of helicopters and planes fighting the imposing wall of smoke that loomed over Waimarino, formerly National Park.

Tour guide Stu Barclay, who owns Adrift Tongariro, took a group part-way up Mt Ruapehu on Sunday morning, before the access road was closed.

“The smoke was blowing upwards and the flames – when you saw the planes and the helicopters dispersing their water on the flames they were like midges on an elephant. They were tiny, so the flames must have been three to 10 metres tall.

“It was incredible.”

The group had a bird’s eye view of the fire, although initially some were disappointed they couldn’t walk the Tongariro Crossing.

“Tongariro’s really famous, so we talked to them about Ruapehu being similar but different.

“Their disappointment soon changed to excitement when they saw the fire from that angle. It was just terrifyingly exciting.”

He hopes forecast rain douses the flames so there’s no repeat of 2012, when the crossing was closed for weeks after a volcanic eruption.

He had also thought about what items were important at home to grab in case a quick evacuation was required.

Further stress after tough winter

At Adventure Lodge and Motels, owner Gillian Visser has had guests leave early or cancel – she reckons about a quarter of her immediate bookings.

It’s a devastating blow and one that’s caused her much stress.

“We’ve been through a really tough winter, financially – extremely tough. Then we get all this lovely fine weather and I have never in 10 years owning this lodge known of a fire like that in this area.”

She and other villagers struggle to comprehend how it could spread so fast.

Emma Klock, who works at Tongariro Crossing Lodge, also spent the day dealing with the changing plans of tourists.

“We have a lot of guests who want to do the crossing, but currently its impossible. They are little bit sad and disappointed.”

Like many locals she saw the blaze grow on Saturday evening.

“It was like a little fire and finally it grew a lot and a lot. We saw a lot of helicopters and aircraft. The siren rang lots of times.”

She’s returning in a few days to her home in France and hoped to walk the crossing one last time, but it wasn’t to be.

Tourists change plans

The village on Sunday was busy with people deciding their next moves.

Kaspar, Christian and Andreas, from Denmark, went up Mt Ruapehu before the access road was closed.

They were to have walked the Tongariro Crossing, but described the awe-inspiring sight of seeing the flames.

A group of four from Taiwan, David Chen, Judy Ho, Jerry Cheng and Jessica Lee, also had to adjust their plans.

Their tour guide took them on an alternative walk to the crossing, which they said was beautiful, so they weren’t too disappointed.

Connor de Bruyn, from Wellington, was on a guided walk up Mt Ruapehu yesterday morning, but the group had to avoid the summit and turn around early. The gondola was also suddenly closed yesterday.

He said a lot of the land was sacred to local iwi, so they’d feel a cultural loss.

Many State Highway 4 motorists were stopping to take photos or look at the plumes of smoke rising next to Mt Ruapehu – including Megan from Raetihi.

“It’s looking like it’s dispersed a bit more now,” she said yesterday afternoon, while sipping a coffee and looking towards the blaze.

“It was actually quite condensed when we were looking at it from Raetihi. Here, it’s looking like it’s quite spread out.”

‘What the heck can go wrong next?’

Businesses along the road have a front-row vantage point – but it’s not one they relish.

“Pretty much we can see the aerial fight that’s on and big clouds of smoke that look like an eruption,” said Jason Thompson, duty manager at Schnapps bar. There, the usually spectacular views of the plateau’s three cones have largely disappeared behind the fire.

He said locals were keeping a close eye on developments. “We could do without a big fire around here.”

Charm Thai food truck owner Nithian Barnett agreed.

She saw fire trucks rush past on Saturday and then noticed the smoke growing steadily bigger.

“I hope they’re going to stop the fire by [today] and let’s pray the rain’s coming and it’s going to be gone.”

Eivins Ski and Board rental owner Marie Lynghaug said as a former restaurant owner she was thinking of volunteering to make food for the firefighters if the blaze continued.

“You just wonder what the heck can go wrong next?

“This is truly devastating. It’s a world heritage national park. The tourists are only just coming back after Covid.

“As much as there are other things to do, it’s the Tongariro Crossing that is the key for people to come to the district.”

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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 staff member has been injured at a Youth Justice facility this evening.

Police were called to a report of an assault at a Kiwi Tamaki Road address in Auckland about 7.30pm.

Auckland’s Korowai Manaaki Youth Justice residence is on the same road.

An RNZ reporter at the scene saw an ambulance at the facility, before driving away.

Oranga Tamariki acting deputy chief executive youth justice services and residential care Neil Beales confirmed a staff member had suffered minor injuries.

He said the incident was appropriately managed, and the site was secure.

Beales said Oranga Tamariki tokk all incidents seriously and that steps had been taken to ensure the safety of everyone in the residence.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A staff member has been injured at a Youth Justice facility this evening.

Police were called to a report of an assault at a Kiwi Tamaki Road address in Auckland about 7.30pm.

Auckland’s Korowai Manaaki Youth Justice residence is on the same road.

An RNZ reporter at the scene saw an ambulance at the facility, before driving away.

Oranga Tamariki acting deputy chief executive youth justice services and residential care Neil Beales confirmed a staff member had suffered minor injuries.

He said the incident was appropriately managed, and the site was secure.

Beales said Oranga Tamariki tokk all incidents seriously and that steps had been taken to ensure the safety of everyone in the residence.

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