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Wellington Water quiet on Moa Point plans, cites upcoming inquiry

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington Water staff are now able to enter the failed Moa Point treatment plant. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Wellington Water staff are now able to enter the failed Moa Point treatment plant but they cannot provide details of the work being done or who is involved.

Nearly 80 percent of the equipment inside the plant was damaged when it was flooded by a backflow of raw sewage last week.

At the peak of the equipment failure, 3300 litres of untreated wastewater went into the sea every second.

Since then a stretch of the Capital’s south coast had been off limits for swimming and gathering sea food.

Wellington Water expected it could be months before the plant was returned to full operations.

It said cleaning work was continuing, with fresh water flushed through the biological treatment areas of the plant to reduce levels of hydrogen sulphide, which made the interior of the plant hazardous to enter.

On Wednesday the water entity said it had “begun a closely managed entry” to the plant.

But it could not confirm specifics regarding who was now able to access the site, the conditions inside, what was being done to ensure the people’s safety or what was being revealed now that access had been acheived.

Earlier this week, Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dogherty said, initially, a room at the bottom of plant, the size of an Olympic Swimming Pool, was 3 metres deep in wastewater.

RNZ’s requests for information regarding the access to the site were put to Wellington Water at the beginning of the week in response to interviews with Dogherty where he said Monday would be the first day staff could safely go into the building to assess the damage.

On Wednesday, a statement from Dogherty said Wellington Water would be stepping back from making public statements about “aspects of the Moa Point incident and response” following an announcement from Wellington Mayor Andrew Little that the government would look to establish an independent inquiry into the plant’s failure as soon as possible.

“Now the inquiry has been signalled, it is important we allow that process to run its course. This means that we are unable to provide any further public statements regarding aspects of the Moa Point incident and response that may be included in the inquiry,” Dogherty said.

At the begining of the week, Little said Wellington City Council and central government would work together to ensure an inquiry was independent and had the right powers to make sure a similar problem never happened again.

Little said a ministerial inquiry would meet his preferred criteria of having independence, the right expertise and the power to access information.

“A ministerial inquiry has all that. It is more formalistic and does take a longer period of time to get the appointments up, get the terms of reference sorted out and then get it going. For me it is about having those criteria met but doing something that is as quick as possible. Those are the things that we are talking through,” Little said.

A spokesperson for Wellington Water said it hoped to provide more details of the work being done in the plant on Thursday.

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‘Stop the supply’: NZ needs to stop seeing smoking as an individual problem, expert says

Source: Radio New Zealand

A tobacco control advocate says getting the country back on track towards its smokefree targets will require a policy shift away from focussing on individuals. 123RF

At the end of 2025 New Zealand missed its smokefree target and a tobacco control advocate says getting back on track will require a policy shift away from focussing on individuals towards whole system change.

The target was to reach smoking rates of below 5 percent for all population groups. According to the latest NZ Health Survey, 6.8 percent of the total population were daily smokers, but rates for Māori remained stubbornly higher at 15 percent.

The government released a revised Smokefree Action Plan at the end of 2024.

Associate professor at the University of Otago and co-director of Aspire Aotearoa Anaru Waa (Ngāti Hine) told RNZ that reaching a Smokefree Aotearoa might require a rethink of the goal, moving away from thinking of it as a problem of too many people using nicotine towards a problem of tobacco industry exploitation.

“I think the big thing is to achieve the goal, we’ve got to stop focusing on individuals. I mean, we need to support people to quit … it’s vital, but actually the focus should be on the industry and where they sell their products. And so the only way to get to an end game is to stop the supply.”

However, the goal of a smokefree Aotearoa was still achievable, he said.

University of Otago associate professor Anaru Waa (Ngāti Hine). Supplied / University of Otago

“When you can buy cigarettes or vapes at any corner store, at service stations and so forth, that’s the problem. So I think it’s entirely achievable, in fact we could achieve it within two years if we wanted to, if we had a government that was committed to it.

“In fact, I think we need to have a fairly close time frame, because I’m worried that the longer we take to achieve the goal, the more time we give the industry to adapt.”

Waa said any revamped smokefree plan would need to have tailored measures to support Māori, although he said tailored measures would not achieve the goal alone.

“In Aotearoa, it started in the 80s, our tobacco control programme largely focused on individuals and the assumption was that individuals need resources to do what we want them to do, either quit smoking or not start smoking. We know that those resources aren’t the same throughout society, so some people have more social support, are less exposed to retailers, we know that there’s more vape retailers in poorer communities … [if we] run with the assumption that if we focus on individuals, what we do is we get slow change and we get inequitable change.

“So the only way to make the change fair and equitable is to have big, wide-ranging measures that affect everybody in the same way. Therefore, getting rid of our smoked tobacco is a really good start, addressing other nicotine products to make sure they’re only there as therapies, if at all, and that’s the best way to do it.”

Associate Minister of Health Casey Costello said New Zealand had made great progress in reducing smoking rates – especially since 2018 when vapes became widely available. The gains had been particularly noticeable for young people and for Māori, she said.

“When the NZ Health Survey began in 2011/12, more than 37 percent of Māori were daily smokers. In the latest survey that figure was down to 15 percent. Since 2018, Māori smoking rates have halved and the latest stats show 118,000 Māori have quit smoking in the last five years.

“These reductions are really significant; no other country is making this sort of progress.

“But of course we still have a way to go – we want to stop people smoking to reduce the health impacts and there’s a particular focus on supporting Māori and Pacific populations where rates are higher. The official target we’re working towards is to reduce smoking rates below 5 percent for all population groups.”

Costello said the Smokefree Action Plan 2025 covered a range of actions across four key areas: reducing smoking uptake, increasing quit attempts, improving access to quit support, and supporting people to stay smokefree.

“To reach the 5 percent goal, health promotion campaigns, community mobilisation activities and stop smoking services need to be targeted and appropriate for the communities and population groups they are trying to reach.

“For example, Health New Zealand’s Breakfree to Smokefree social media campaign is targeted at Māori and Pacific smokers and government-funded Kaupapa Māori quit smoking programmes across the country support Māori to quit in a culturally appropriate way.”

Associate Minister of Health Casey Costello. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

But Waa called the plan a “rehash” of what had been done in previous decades.

“[The plan] was about, you know, focusing on young people to stop picking up smoking, some measures around disposable vapes which was important, and supporting people to quit smoking. But we know these measures, like I said, have a small incremental change over time, but they’re inequitable.

“So it was a rehash of what we already know, while important, wasn’t going to achieve the goal at all. And in fact, I’d also argue that they probably had less resource to do what they had previously. So it was a bit of a window dressing.”

Costello said because most who were still smoking were older, long-term smokers, it was important to provide access to less harmful products that could help people quit smoking and to encourage people to get help as stopping smoking was not easy.

“People are around four times more likely to quit smoking by using a stop smoking service, than by trying on their own.”

In the lead up to the election in November, Waa said he would be looking closely at each party’s policies around tobacco, although he noted the repeal of the Smokefree Act was not in National’s manifesto heading into the last election in 2023.

“Let’s be clear, the repeal of the Act means that a lot of people are going to continue to smoke. And we know that a lot of those people who continue to smoke are going to die or have, you know, really large harm. So there’s a huge harm on society, which this government has caused.”

Waa said he would also like to see efforts to curb tobacco industry influence and lobbying.

Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verall has proposed a member’s bill “to protect New Zealanders’ health from the influence of big tobacco and shed light on their links to decision-makers”.

“We definitely need stronger measures because as we close the door on tobacco, it’s not as if the industry isn’t thinking about what they’ll do next. What they’ll do next is get more people addicted to vapes,” Waa said.

Waa said whatever the approach to reaching a Smokefree Aotearoa, it could not be a piecemeal one – it is a system and needed to be addressed as a whole system.

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Government wants to bypass fast-track process for proposed liquefied natural gas terminal

Source: Radio New Zealand

A proposed liquefied natural gas terminal will bypass the fast-track process, documents show. RNZ

A proposed liquefied natural gas terminal will bypass even the fast-track process in order to be built in time for winter next year, documents show.

The government plans to rush through as many of the required approvals as possible ahead of the election, “to give the preferred supplier greater policy certainty that New Zealand is committed to developing the facility”, a Cabinet paper said.

A critic of the proposal says pushing the entire process through so quickly is unwarranted and the public and local communities should be properly consulted.

Energy Minister Simon Watts said this week that the government would proceed with plans to commission a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility in Taranaki, with whole-of-life costs spread across all electricity users through a levy.

Watts said it would result in overall savings to households, because it would help to lower electricity premiums during dry years when hydro lakes ran low.

The Cabinet paper, released after the announcement, noted that “timing is very tight” to get the facility up and running in time for winter 2027.

“An LNG terminal will require regulatory consents and approvals if it is to be operational ahead of winter 2027, and the existing Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 processes are unlikely to be sufficient,” Watts wrote.

“I propose developing an Enabling Liquefied Natural Gas Bill to provide the necessary consents, approvals, levy power and any modifications to existing legislation to enable the preferred LNG facility to be built and operational ahead of winter 2027.”

Energy Minister Simon Watts. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

That would protect against the risk of late project delivery, the paper said.

The paper also warned that a future government might not proceed with LNG, and recommended signing contracts by the middle of this year to lock the concept in.

Expediting consents through special legislation would also help, it said.

“Our objective is to provide as many of these approvals as possible before the election.”

There were still risks even with a rapid consent process.

“LNG import facilities are highly technical in nature,” the paper said.

“Further, New Zealand does not have an ideal location (large deep-water port close to the main gas pipeline) to locate an LNG import facility, meaning that the technical challenges of importing LNG here are more significant than in some other countries.”

The government should carry out further technical analysis before proceeding with a preferred proposal, and “be prepared not to proceed with an accelerated proposal should further analysis suggest that the proposal(s) is/are unworkable”.

That could include considering options that might not be up and running until late 2027 or early 2028.

However, any construction and delivery delays could mean “substantial industry exits”, the paper warned.

During the 2024 energy crisis, several industrial users paused operations while others closed completely.

2027 not ‘a magical winter’

Environmental Defense Society chair Gary Taylor said the LNG proposal and the timeframe “sounds like another rushed project, redolent of the [Interislander] ferry fiasco”.

Environmental Defense Society chair Gary Taylor. Supplied

“Good policy, particularly when it involves significant capital investment, should not be rushed like this,” he said.

“I don’t see why the winter of 2027 is a magical winter. If time is constrained, then let’s go for winter 2028 and do it properly.”

Claims of more industry exits if a dry year occured in the meantime were just that, he said.

“Those with vested interests do tend to wave shrouds to support their cause.”

Instead, additional time could be used for a more considered analysis of the proposal and its alternatives, along with more meaningful engagement during the political process.

“It would enable much better consideration than you’re going to get through a rushed select committee process if this proposed bill is put through the House under urgency,” Taylor said.

Multiple reports, including one commissioned by the government, have warned that imported LNG should only be considered as a last resort.

An annex to the Cabinet paper, comparing LNG to alternatives such as diesel peakers, concluded LNG could be brought online faster than any other option – though it gave a timeframe as late as 2029 to get a facility operational.

No substantive consideration was given to grid-scale battery storage systems, or rooftop solar.

Large-scale battery technology had not progessed enough to cover “long-duration cover needs”, while rooftop solar would not provide enough additional energy during winter, when supply was most likely to be a problem, the annex said.

Cabinet proposal mirrors independent report details

Much of the detail in the Cabinet paper mirrored the findings of an independent report commissioned from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) last year by the four gentailers – Contact, Genesis, Mercury and Meridian.

That report recommended LNG only as a fuel of last resort and recommended a $2 per megawatt hour (MWh) levy across all gas and electricity users to make it economically feasible.

The Cabinet paper referenced the BCG report several times, including its estimate of a $10/MWh saving on electricity prices.

A spokesperson for Watts’ office said the $10/MWh was “estimated by MBIE based on Concept Consulting modelling and MBIE’s analysis”, but said it was also consistent with the BCG estimate.

That $10 figure – together with the final proposed levy of between $2 and $4 – appeared to be the basis of the government’s claim that households would save an average $50 on their annual power bills.

A net $8/MWh saving – if it were passed on in its entirety – would translate to between $56 for an average household using 7MWh of electricity a year.

Watts’ spokesperson did not confirm whether that calculation was the same one the government had arrived at.

A natural gas rig in Taranaki. Supplied

The Cabinet paper underscored the importance of not creating an ongoing dependency on LNG, which it said would risk an overall increase in power bills.

“Put simply, LNG should function as an insurance product: available when required but used only infrequently. Perhaps counterintuitively, LNG provides the greatest benefit when it is available as back-up and rarely used.”

BCG partner and report author Richard Hobbs said having LNG as a stand-by option in that way broadly made sense, but BCG had made many other recommendations.

“In and of itself, it’s not a silver bullet. There are a lot of other things that need to be done.”

The government needed to keep up the pace of renewables development, and address domestic gas supply and demand.

That included focusing on extracting what remained in existing gas fields – not exploring for new fields that could take a decade or more to come online.

The major gap was “really around the demand side, where there is not a programme to support users to transition from gas to electricity or biomass”, Hobbs said.

His report had recommended a $200 million fund to assist that transition.

The government scrapped the Labour-led government’s Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) fund, which served a similar purpose.

The Cabinet paper noted the need to “continue efforts to strengthen domestic gas supply and ensure alternatives like biomass and electrification continue in parallel, to create optionality, not dependency [on LNG]”.

It noted the BCG recommendation to set up a transition fund but did not endorse or suggest such a policy.

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

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New ‘cheeky and playful’ take on Swan Lake

Source: Radio New Zealand

Swan Lake was ripe for reinterpretation, says the leader of Australia’s premier circus company.

Circa’s latest production Duck Pond blends the classic ballet and Ugly Duckling stories into a high-energy, acrobatic visual feast.

“Somewhere in the back of my fetid imagination, it got melded into the story of The Ugly Duckling, both tales of birds and emerging into identity,” Yaron Lifschitz told RNZ’s Nine to Noon.

Circa is bringing its version of the classic ballet Swan Lake to the Auckland Arts Festival next month.

Pia Johnson

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

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Health experts call on Pharmac to fund female-specific testosterone

Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman applies post-menopause hormone gel. COLLANGES / BSIP via AFP

An endocrinologist says more than half the women she sees on testosterone for low libido are taking too high a dose, and she and her colleagues are calling on Pharmac to finally fund a female-specific product.

Pharmac is set to consider funding AndroFeme 1 on Thursday, which unfunded costs anywhere between $150 and $250 for a three-month supply, depending on the pharmacy.

To avoid that cost, many women are prescribed a funded alternative, called Testogel, which is formulated for men.

Testosterone is usually thought of as a male hormone, but it is also found in women. It is prescribed to treat low libido, also know as Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), in women who are postmenopausal.

Women’s health advocate and director of Cala Clinic, Jenna Scullin, explained: “Similar to males, women’s testosterone levels decline gradually over their lifetime.

“By the time a woman is at a menopausal age, it has often halved.”

Men who needed a boost of the hormone had the choice of four funded products, whereas women had no funded options.

Pharmac has twice declined to fund AndroFeme 1, first in 2024, saying the eligibility criteria (“postmenopausal women with HSDD”) was not appropriate and posed significant barriers to equitable access for women – particularly for women who, for cultural reasons, did not wish to undergo aspects of an HSDD diagnosis.

It also considered there was an “uncertain health benefit” in using AndroFeme 1 over the unapproved, or off-label use of Testogel, saying that if equivalent doses were administered, there should not be a significant difference in their effect.

At that stage, the discussion document showed there were 2300 people dispensed Testogel between February and November, and approximately 46 percent of those identified as female.

In 2025, the decision was reassessed, and the result was “no formal recommendation” which meant the previous decision stood – but this time Pharmac noted there was a need to fund a product with an appropriate dose for women, to minimise potential harm.

Endochrinologist Dr Anna Fenton from Oxford Women’s Health explained there was no research on how testosterone was metabolised by the female body.

Endochrinologist Dr Anna Fenton from Oxford Women’s Health. Supplied / Oxford Women’s Health

“Women are being prescribed this without the appropriate baseline testing without, often, follow-up blood testing to make sure the level is appropriate.”

And it could be difficult for women to work out the correct dose of Testogel when it came out of the pump bottle, she said.

“It’s very hard to titrate the dose of a blob of gel, which is what you get from the pump dispenser, into something that is a quarter or a fifth of that dose, which is possibly what’s appropriate for women.”

Fenton said more than half of the women she treated who had been prescribed Testogel were showing testosterone levels that were too high.

“I had a woman the other day who had 12 times the upper end of the female range, so it was well into the male range.”

Side effects included greasy skin, acne or extra body hair growth, but at the extreme end, it could lead to changes in voice or enlargement of the genitals – and those effects were permanent, Fenton said.

New Zealand had “the bare minimum” available when it came to hormone replacements, which included things like oestrogen patches, trailing behind the likes of Australia, the UK, US, and Canada.

She, along with fellow endocrinologists Dr Megan Ogilvie, Dr Sylvia Rosevear, Dr Susannah O’Sullivan and Dr Sasha Nair, have made a joint submission to Pharmac ahead of its meeting, endorsed by the Australasian Menopause Society, urging it to prioritise “evidence-based, female-specific therapies” and fund AndroFeme 1.

“We urge Pharmac to refrain from normalising the use of male-formulated testosterone products in women.”

The company behind Testogel, Pharmaco, has made no claims of its safety for women.

It supplied RNZ with a statement, saying: “Testogel is a prescription medicine specifically formulated and approved to be used by men with low testosterone levels. The relevant data sheets and Consumer Medicine Information clearly state that the medicine should not be used by women.”

Pharmac director for advice and assessment David Hughes confirmed AndroFeme’s application was on the agenda for the Pharmacology and Therapeutics Advisory Committee (PTAC) meeting on Thursday.

“PTAC gives Pharmac clinical advice to help us make decisions about how to use our funding,” he said in a statement. “The committee reviews the evidence behind funding applications and looks at how strong and reliable that evidence is.”

He said a recently-received a submission would be discussed at the meeting.

Pharmac would aim to publish the provisional recommendation online within 30 days of the meeting, although that could be subject to change.

Female testosterone deficiency ‘more than just a low libido’ – health advocate

Scullin said one in three women between the ages of 40 and 64 experienced the effects of reduced sexual desire.

“It’s more than just a low libido, we see that it affects women’s mental health, it affects their social functioning, their relationships, their confidence and their overall wellbeing.

“There’s this view sometimes that a woman’s sexual function is not essential,” she said. “But when a man comes forward with needing assistance, there’s one of four funded options accessible to him.”

She said while some GPs and specialists were comfortable prescribing Testogel to women despite the lack of safety data, a number were not, “so it’s not just that we’re asking for a female-formulated option, but in many cases we’re actually asking for an option for women”.

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How much of NZ’s tax is your region paying?

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland pays just under 38 percent of the country’s personal tax, and has just over 33 percent of the population. RNZ

How much of the country’s total personal tax bill is your region picking up?

If you are in Auckland or Wellington, the answer may be more than you might think.

Inland Revenue data covering personal taxable income and income tax attributable to individuals shows that Auckland pays just under 38 percent of the country’s personal tax, and has just over 33 percent of the population. This is based on information for the 2023 financial year – the data for the 2025 year is not yet available.

Wellington pays 12.7 percent and has 10.5 percent of the population.

Waikato, in contrast, has 8.8 percent of the population but pays only 8.3 percent of the tax bill. Northland has 3.5 percent of the population and 2.8 percent of the tax bill.

Whanganui/Manawatu has 4.8 percent of the population and only 4 percent of the bill.

On a per-individual basis, Wellington has the highest personal tax bill at $12,300. Auckland is just behind at $11,500 and Canterbury is in third place with $9900. Otago is fourth at $9700.

Gisborne has the lowest at $7700.

Much of the variation can be explained by different areas’ income.

Auckland and Wellington are the areas of the country with the highest incomes, followed by Canterbury and Waikato.

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said Auckland and Wellington had more people in the higher tax brackets who paid more tax.

“We know, for example, that Wellington City, rather than region, has the highest personal incomes in the country. Infometrics estimates show that Wellington region average annual personal earnings were around $90,600 and about $88,600 for the Auckland region. Those were the only two regions above the national average.

“If you look at the likes of the West Coast, which has got a fairly small proportion, and smaller than its total population. Even though the West Coast actually has some reasonable average earnings, that much smaller population is showing through there in terms of where they sit.”

He said Bay of Plenty, Manawatu, Northland and Hawke’s Bay all stood out for the gap between their population proportion and the proportion of tax paid.

“The likes of Northland especially, you know, you’ve often got a high level of benefit dependency there, and potentially also more people that at the very margins might not participate quite as much with government… probably operating a little bit further away from the strict expectations of the IRD.

“Not necessarily trying to circumvent the law, just that you find some rural provincial economies that often more cash based, or operate sort of more in a community setting.”

Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub said it was interesting to consider the tax paid compared to where the government spent its money.

“Last time I looked at it which was years ago, places like Auckland paid more into central government coffers than they took out in public services… large, dense places that are rich will redistribute. That’s what the redistribution mechanism is for… poverty is quite often disproportionate. We tend to have a lot more deprivation in rural New Zealand.”

Olsen said it was a hard question to contemplate.

“Transport funding, for example. That can sort of fluctuate quite a lot year on year … when the Waikato Expressway or Transmission Gully were getting built, those regions probably got quite a lot relative to otherwise, but they’re maybe not getting nearly as much now.”

He said areas where larger numbers of people were on NZ Super could also be receiving more government funding than others.

“There are a few hotspots across the country where there’s a higher average age proportionately – Thames Coromandel, the likes of Kapiti District and similar, so those areas will have more as well. And then it’s also going to be areas that have a greater government workforce concentration. The likes of Auckland and Wellington do generally have a fairly large workforce concentration, particularly Wellington, of course.

“A reasonable amount of the Wellington city economy is driven by the pay and work of the government workforce.”

How does your region compare?

Wellington

$12,300 per individual

10.5 percent of the population and 12.7 percent of tax paid

Total of more than $6.2 billion in tax paid

Auckland

$11,500 per individual

33.4 percent of the population and 37.7 percent of tax paid

Total of nearly $18.5 billion in tax paid

Canterbury

$9900 per individual

12.9 percent of the population and 12.6 percent of tax paid

Otago

$9700 per individual

4.1 percent of the population and 4 percent of tax paid

Waikato

$9500 per individual

8.8 percent of population and 8.3 percent of tax paid

Taranaki

$9300 per individual

2.5 percent of population and 2.3 percent of tax paid

Nelson

$9100 per individual

1.2 percent of population and 1.1 percent of tax paid

Bay of Plenty

$9100

6.87 percent of population and 6 percent of tax paid

Southland

$8900 per individual

2.1 percent of population and 1.8 percent of tax paid

Marlborough

$8900 per individual

1 percent of population and 0.8 percent of tax paid

Tasman

$8700 per individual

1 percent of population and 0.8 percent of tax paid

Hawke’s Bay

$8400 per individual

3.7 percent of population and 3.1 percent of tax paid

Manawatū-Whanganui

$8400 per individual

4.8 percent of population and 4 percent of tax paid

Northland

$8100 per individual

3.5 percent of population and 2.8 percent of tax paid

West Coast

$7800 per individual

0.6 percent of population and 0.5 percent of tax paid

Gisborne

$7700 percent of individual

1 percent of population and 0.8 percent of tax paid

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Waste company wants retailers to take back fire-causing used lithium batteries

Source: Radio New Zealand

Waste Management NZ thinks a recent landfill blaze could have been caused by a lithium battery. Waste Management

A major waste company is calling on more retailers to take back used batteries as it investigates whether one is to blame for a landfill blaze that lasted several hours.

Several fire crews responded to the fire at the Tirohia Landfill and Energy Park near Paeroa at about 11.30am on Wednesday.

WM (Waste Management) New Zealand thinks it could have been a lithium battery.

“We have a big compactor that operates on the site that crushes down the waste that obviously went over something that caused a fire to break out in the waste pile,” managing direct Evan Maehl said.

“The waste pale is not large, we only have a small footprint open each day but the fire then took hold because there was a lot of flammable materials that it could jump onto,” he said.

The company has had people on watch overnight in case there were any hot spots that reignited.

“It probably burned for about four or four-and-a-half hours, it was not out of control at any stage but there was obviously smoke and it was visible,” he said.

“It was one of those things that we are unfortunately well drilled in.”

The company said it may have been a gas canister, but that similar fires had been caused by lithium batteries.

Maehl said there had been 20 confirmed battery fires across WM New Zealand’s sites over the last 12 months.

“Ten at our landfills, six on trucks which is quite scary and four in our transfer stations,” he said.

Maehl said a recent example was on an Auckland motorway last month on a truck the company runs for Auckland Council.

“We had to eject its load on the southwestern motorway because the driver spotted flames and smoke, so that was in a recycling truck heading to a recycling facility so it could have been a much worse result had it got to the recycling centre and it was dropped off there,” Maehl said.

The message, he said, was to keep the batteries out of household rubbish and recycling.

It was here that retailers had “skin in the game”, he said.

“It’d be great if they could jump on board and take them back so they could be segregated in their own special waste stream so they can be looked after.

“I’ve seen, like at Bunnings, they’ve got a take-back bin right outside the front door when I was there on the weekend,” he said.

Maehl acknowledged simply throwing the batteries away was convenient for people.

“But there could be downstream consequences too, like a recycling truck – and they’re [worth] half a million dollars each, or much worse would be a transfer station or recycling station,” he said.

“We’ve had two in the last year, we’ve had two recycling centres that burnt which is a big impact on the infrastructure of a city or a town.”

What’s the problem with lithium batteries?

Maehl said the issue was when the outer shell of a battery cracked and they were exposed to the air.

“You could Google it or Youtube it and you can see how quickly they react with oxygen,” he said.

“They ignite really quickly to a very high flash point.”

The problem was then compounded if they were surrounded by the likes of cardboard, paper or plastic.

“If there’s material around them then that will carry on the fire,” Maehl said.

His company had put flame and heat detection equipment in its trucks so loads could be ejected quickly if a fire erupted.

“It’s the same in all of our transfer stations and recycling facilities, we’ve now got flame detection cameras and heat detection cameras,” he said.

“Because sometimes they smoulder away under a pile of cardboard, you can’t see it.”

“This wasn’t really a thing if you go back 15 years ago when I started in the industry, but it is now.”

Last year Auckland Council urged for the batteries to be disposed of properly after a devastating fire at the Abilities Group recycling plant on the North Shore.

The plant burnt to the ground and destroyed essential equipment.

The organisation employed and supported more than 100 disabled people.

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Homeowners still paying the price for choice to buy in 2021

Source: Radio New Zealand

RNZ

The shadow of 2021’s house price boom still hangs over sellers trying to shift their houses, even years later.

New data from Cotality shows that 12 percent of people selling residential properties in the last quarter of last year did so for less than the amount they paid for them.

In Auckland, that stretched to 17.4 percent. Wellington was just over 15 percent.

Those who lost money had held their homes for a median 3.9 years, taking their purchase price back to the 2021 peak.

“It was a tricky time to have been a buyer and any unforeseen change in circumstances over the following period may have meant needing to sell at a reduced price,” Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said.

People who made money had held their properties for a median 10.1 years, the longest ever recorded in the data, which goes back to the 1990s.

Those who lost money lost a median $55,000 compared to a median $298,000 for those who made a gain. Auckland sellers lost a median $78,944 and gained a median $367,250.

Davidson said the data probably showed that people were holding on longer before selling to try to allow gains to accumulate.

“Or in other cases it may just reflect the fact that in a relatively quiet market a lot of sellers simply have to wait longer for a deal to be achieved.

“Indeed, some property owners may also just be choosing to hold for a bit longer if they’re uncertain about their job prospects or don’t want to pay transactions costs such as an estate agent’s commission or conveyancing fees as regularly. In addition, lending restraints such as the loan to value ratio rules may have kept more people where they are for longer.”

He said there had been periods in the past where places had been held longer and still made a loss. In 2016, the median hold period for places making a loss was eight years.

Investors have historically been more likely to sell fort a loss than owner-occupiers but this quarter’s data showed little difference.

Investors were making a median loss of $58,950 and a median profit of $308,000 compared to $56,500 for owner-occupiers who lost money and $285,350 for those who made a gain.

Hamilton investors made more losses than owner-occupiers – at 20.6 percent of sales compared to 13.2 percent for owner occupiers.

But in Wellington the trend was reversed, with 17 percent of owner-occupiers making a loss and only 11 percent of investors.

Davidson said the data showed the general flatness of the market.

“A bit more balance out there now. Deals are being done, so buyers and sellers are meeting in the middle and maybe vendors aren’t necessarily getting the price they might have liked two years ago, but they have adjusted expectations and they’re happy with it now.

“The market’s clearing, deals are being done and okay, there’s a bit more pain out there for sellers than there has been in the past. But there are signs of a stabilisation, and we actually saw the median resale gain go up a bit in the fourth quarter, too.”

He said even if people were not able to sell for the sort of price they might have at the market peak, if they had owned their houses for 10 years or more, they were likely to get more than they paid.

“The gains are smaller than what they were, but still pretty significant. Even at 88 percent, that’s still most people making a resale gain when they sell.”

He said it was likely that those who bought in the 2021 peak would struggle to sell for a few years yet.

“We’re still down 18 percent from the peak nationally, some areas more than that … that’s taken four years.

“Let’s say growth from here on is even ambitiously maybe sort of 5 percent on average over the next three, four, five years, it’s going to take at least four years to get back to that previous peak. So, this sort of tough period to buy and sell relatively quickly could be around for two or three years yet.”

He said most people would not have bought with the intention of selling soon.

Davidson said he expected house price growth to resume later in the year as the economy improved and mortgage rates remained relatively low. “Property resellers may fare better in that environment but it’s unlikely to be a boom.”

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Golf: Hope that Asia-Pacific tournament will inspire girls to take on the world

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand golfer Eunseo Choi at the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. DAVID CANNON / AFP

Golf New Zealand believes this week’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific championship has the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for the game here.

Eighty-four players from 25 countries will take part in the tournament at Royal Wellington with a career-changing opportunity for the winner.

Current world number one Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand won the inaugural tournament in 2018 with the champion receiving invitations to play a number of key tournaments around the world, including three majors.

New Zealand has 10 players taking part, while many others, not quite at that level, will be on course to see the best amateur players in the region.

The growth of boys golf in New Zealand is on a high and while the interest in the girls game is also on the increase, Golf New Zealand would like to see more.

There are more than 2000 under-19 female players registered in New Zealand, an increase of 450 in the past year.

Golf New Zealand’s talent development manager, Liz McKinnon, said hosting the Asia-Pacific women’s tournament here for the first time provided a great opportunity to showcase the women’s game and to help young players in New Zealand.

“There is the obvious impact for our players that are participating, but also for our girls that aren’t at that level yet about the awareness of the event being here. The exposure and the opportunity to watch the event and see the best players from the Asia-Pacific region.”

Wellington golfer Elise Barber. Supplied / WAAP

Many eyes will be on 13-year-old Wellington player Elise Barber who got a late call-up to the event.

She joins a strong New Zealand contingent that includes top-ranked Kiwi Eunseo Choi, who finished 13th at the 2025 championship, and Vivian Lu, who will make her sixth WAAP appearance.

Elise is a Royal Wellington member and WAAP (Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific) Academy graduate and will be the youngest player in the field.

The Queen Margaret College year 9 student, who plays off a +2.3 handicap, had a strong 2025 season including winning her age division at the Australian Junior Championships. She also helped Wellington secure third at the New Zealand Women’s Interprovincial Tournament.

Glenda Swan, who managed Wellington’s interprovincial team and has watched Elise’s development, believes she could be the next big star.

“She has a really well rounded game for her age and what separates her from others her age is her consistency and composure … she is now thinking her way around the course.”

Swan has also been involved in organising the 353 volunteers needed to help the tournament run smoothly.

While the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) has control of the running of the tournament and the financing of of the players, Royal Wellington club members and the volunteers are those on the ground helping the players and the hoped-for 10,000 spectators enjoy their experience.

Swan said volunteers (aged from 11 to 87) had come from all over the country to help from traffic management to kitchen helpers, scorers and caddies.

Royal Wellington hosted the men’s equivalent tournament in 2017.

New Zealand has 10 players taking part – Eunseo Choi, Vivian Lu, Emma Zheng, Darae Chung, Caitlin Maurice, Juwon Kim, Chloe So, Cherry Lee, Teresa Wang and Elise Barber.

Jeneath Wong of Malaysia will defend her title, while there is a strong contingent from Singapore, China and Australia.

Royal Wellington Golf club house. Marty Melville / PHOTOSPORT

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Inquest into death of Nicholas Kahotea, soldier who fell from helicopter during training

Source: Radio New Zealand

Lance Corporal Nicholas Kahotea, of the 1st NZSAS Regiment, who died in a training accident in South Auckland on 8 May. Defence Force / Supplied

An inquest into the death of a special forces trooper during a training exercise in south Auckland hopes to find out what went wrong.

Lance Corporal Nicholas Kahotea fell to his death in May of 2019 while training to dismount from a Blackhawk helicopter onto the edge of a building.

Kahotea was leading his SAS regiment through what should have been a routine training exercise.

The men were excited to perform their first bump landing, a helicopter manoeuvre meant to get soldiers onto the roof of a building as quickly as possible.

It was part of a joint exercise with the United States military, using its top-of-the-line Blackhawk helicopters to train for counter-terrorism operations.

One of Kahotea’s fellow soldiers, whose identity is suppressed and can only be referred to as call sign 63, said the team was enthusiastic.

“I’m not sure whose decision it was but we were told the next [exercise]’s going to be a bump landing. And we were pretty excited about it,” he said.

“When we got told we were going to do a bump landing at nighttime it didn’t matter to us, we do training at night all the time. We were excited to get another skill under our belt.”

A bump landing involves setting just one wheel on the edge of a building and hovering steady while the troops step off.

Call sign 63 was first off the helicopter.

“I could see the dispatcher giving me the signal to go … I looked down and confirmed it was safe for me to drop,” he continued.

“I simply managed to step onto the roof, no worries.

“As the first man off the helicopter my job is to ensure the area at the front is clear and protect the people still on the helicopter. The threat to me and my team is out to my front. In this training exercise my main threat was the stairs off the roof, so that’s where I was looking.”

Two more soldiers dropped from the helicopter, and the exercise continued as call sign 63 moved to the stairs.

“When I got to the stairs I felt a tap on my shoulder, this indicated to me we were ready to proceed,” he said.

“I can’t recall if the next thing I heard was over the radio or if it was one of the guys behind me. It was saying man down, man down. No duff. One of your men is down on the other side of the building. No duff means it’s a serious situation.”

CCTV footage of the exercise shows the helicopter sway, as the gap between it and the roof inches wider.

That gap was the distance between life and death.

Kahotea fell several metres, sustaining catastrophic injuries. He later died in hospital.

This week, almost seven years later, a coronial inquest will recount the tragic event in detail and make recommendations to avoid similar accidents in the future.

Kahotea’s partner, Dr Sophie Walker, criticised the Defence Force’s approach to the exercise.

“A bump insertion is not a static or benign manoeuvre,” she said.

“This is a dynamic and inherently unstable balance. From a physics perspective, the Black Hawk’s mass means very small changes in altitude create very large force transfers that promote tail movement.”

She hoped the inquest would lead to answers and accountability.

“Our hope is that the findings of this inquest will ensure no other family will encounter the consequences of systemic risk assessment failure,” she said through tears.

“Loss is not something that just happened in May of 2019 … It is something that I wake up to every day. It is having to accept over and over that this is my life.”

Defence Force lawyer Sally McKechnie admitted it did not fully appreciate the risks of the manoeuvre at the time.

She said the NZDF had thoroughly investigated its processes since Kahotea’s death and had made improvements.

The inquest will continue through to Friday.

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