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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Ministry of Health is being accused of sitting on a state abuse survivor’s compensation claim for weeks, knowing she had cancer and was about to die.

Wellington lawyer Sonja Cooper wrote to the ministry on 7 October, flagging her client had terminal cancer and “weeks left to live”.

“We would appreciate if the Ministry of Health could prioritise assessing [her] claim give the time-limiting circumstances,” the email said.

More than two weeks later, on 23 October, the ministry’s chief legal advisor Phil Knipe wrote back, “confirming that we will look to prioritise the claim”.

Knipe attached a criminal declaration form to his response, asking Cooper Legal to get the dying woman to complete it to “get that out of the way”.

The declaration asks survivors if they’ve been convicted of a violent, sexual or firearms offence for which they were sentenced to more than five years’ jail.

The options for selection are ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘unsure’, though it carries a warning that “random criminal conviction history checks will be carried out”.

The coalition has introduced these criminal checks to ensure the granting of financial redress “does not bring the state redress system into disrepute”.

Though a bill to legislate this criminal carve has only passed its first reading, survivors are already being asked to fill them out.

Cooper Legal wrote back to the ministry the day Knipe replied, pushing for an exception to completing this form.

“This is a considerable administrative task, especially considering the delays and hoops to jump through to get a valid form of ID if someone does not already have it.

“Considering [our client] has weeks left to live (and other survivors will be in a similar situation), these delays could be the difference between getting redress or not.”

Knipe replied the next day: “I’m not aware of any plans for an exemption for any survivors…there may be flexibility on the form of ID in those cases where there is a reason why they do not have one of the forms of ID requested.”

Cooper Legal got a signed declaration form to the ministry on Sunday morning. The client died that night.

The Minister leading the Crown’s response to abuse in state care, Erica Stanford, has since confirmed the criminal declaration form applies to all survivors, including those terminally ill.

Though she added: “If there’s anyone that’s been caught up and it’s delaying things, then that’s something I’ll go and talk to my officials about because it shouldn’t.”

Stanford’s office has since come back to RNZ about this case.

“The Crown Response Office has been in touch with the Ministry of Health and reminded them where a person is terminally ill, this exemption process exists and should be used.

“We understand the way is clear for the claim to be progressed and the Ministry of Health will be in contact with Cooper Legal to progress it.”

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with the claimant’s whānau and friends at this time.

“The ministry has passed on its regret to the law firm representing the claimant that the claim was unable to be completed within time. The ministry has been treating this claim with urgency since it was received on 7 October.

“We sought clarification from the Crown Response Office regarding the ministerial exemption process and will ensure this is also followed for any future cases involving claimants with terminal conditions.

“We are working to finalise the claim as quickly as possible.”

Cooper said the system was “abhorrent”.

“Why should somebody who is terminally ill, hospitalised, unable to move, in their last few weeks or months of life, why should they be put through this additional hurdle to get redress when it is hard enough, in any event, to go through the redress processes.

“I just think it’s abhorrent and it just shows a complete lack of humanity on the part of the state, once again, towards survivors it abused, mostly as children, but also as vulnerable adults, in its care.”

The government has received one expedition request on the basis of a survivor being terminally ill to date. It was approved the day it was made.

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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 tougher stance on rough sleepers in Auckland’s central city has some homeless people fearing they will be pushed out to unfamiliar suburbs where they could struggle to survive.

Earlier this week, the government confirmed it was considering new measures that could see people living on Auckland’s city streets forcibly removed.

Opposition parties and housing advocates raised alarm over the prospect of an effective ban on homeless people in CBD’s, warning such an approach only displaced the problem and caused more harm.

Along Queen St and the surrounding blocks, people were still bedding down in shopfronts, bus shelters, and on building steps.

Earlier in the year, an Auckland Council committee declared homelessness a crisis, with support teams working with more than 800 people sleeping rough. Police Minister Mark Mitchell said he supported giving officers more powers to move people on from public spaces.

Outside the Auckland Central City Library on Thursday, 27-year-old Jae sat with his puppy Snoop and said the solution was straightforward: put more money into housing.

“Instead of putting new stuff in the middle of the street, decorations and all, they should put their money into putting us somewhere, instead of kicking us out of the city. That’s the only place we know.”

Jae said forcing people into unfamiliar suburbs risked driving some into criminal activity.

“They’ve already tried to trespass us from the library and that’s, this is where most of the free dinners come. If you get trespassed and you can’t really eat. If they kick us out of the city, then how are we going to eat?

“It’s going to result to other things, like crime.”

Further along the street, 21-year-old Angela said crime might be her only way to survive. She had been in and out of jail for petty offending since she was a teenager.

“If I get moved on from the streets, I will go back to jail. [The government] has been trying, but I would just go back to prison again because of the things I do to survive.”

Nearby, 60-year-old Tane – who had spent decades sleeping rough – agreed moving people on would only make things worse.

“This is our home, the streets. If it gets taken away from us, homeless people will probably break into things, they’ll start turning into criminals. They’ll move away from begging and go into criminal world.”

Another man, who had lived on the streets for more than 30 years and asked not to be identified, said shifting people away from the city centre would not solve the problem.

“There’s always places to go, you know, there’s… the country’s quite big. And there’s other streets, there’s other parks, there’s other hills, tracks.”

A few blocks away, John, 71, said the government seemed more focused on appearances than addressing the root causes of homelessness.

“We is what [the government] don’t want the tourists to see. And yet, in their countries, they have the same problem with homeless people. And I’m sure they don’t go around putting them into mental institutions.”

The government said details of its plan to crack down on rough sleeping would be released soon.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said any move-on orders would need to be paired with proper housing and support.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Green MP Kevin Hague is returning to politics to be the party’s new chief of staff.

In a social media post on Thursday, Hague said he was coming “out of retirement” to take up the role after Eliza Prestidge-Oldfield stepped down.

Hague said his home would remain on the West Coast, but he would also be setting up a “second base” in the capital.

“Got any furniture you want to sell? I will pick up the reins in a couple of weeks.”

Hague entered Parliament as a list MP in 2008. Despite being considered a frontrunner for the party’s co-leadership in 2015, he was beaten by James Shaw.

Hague left a year later to become the chief executive of environmental organisation Forest and Bird.

The party has not had a permanent chief of staff since September when Prestidge-Oldfield resigned.

At the time, co-leader Marama Davidson said Prestidge-Oldfield had left “to focus on her health, well-being and her whānau”.

“This has not been an easy decision for her to make, given the huge contribution that Eliza has made to the Green Party over many years,” Davidson said.

“However, the party fully supports her decision to prioritise her health and whānau.”

The opposition party has had a fairly high turnover of staff this term. Its director of communications Louis Day also resigned several weeks after Prestidge-Oldfield.

“I felt that now was the right time for me to move on from Parliament and take a bit of a break before finding a new challenge for my career,” Day said in an email to journalists.

“I leave with a lot of love for the co-leaders, MPs and party, as well as a lot of hope for the Green movement I have had the privilege of being part of for almost four years now.”

RNZ understands another member of the party’s media team has also recently departed. The Greens also saw an exodus of senior staff in early 2024 connected to the resignation of then-co-leader James Shaw.

The Green Party has had a particularly difficult time since the 2023 election.

The term has been marked by scandals and resignations: Golriz Ghahraman quit after being accused, and later convicted, of shop-lifting. Darleen Tana was ejected from Parliament amid allegations of migrant exploitation at her husband’s bicycle business.

Most recently, Benjamin Doyle quit Parliament after facing threats of violence and abuse in response to historical social media posts. In a valedictory speech last week, Doyle described Parliament as a “hostile and toxic” environment.

The party has also been struck by tragedy: Fa’anānā Efeso Collins suddenly died in February 2024, and Davidson took time off for treatment after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

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