NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

The High Court has ruled Canterbury’s regional council erred when it allowed farms to discharge nitrates and other pollution without resource consents, but stopped short of ordering it to change the rule.

The decision comes as the region grapples with increasing levels of nitrate in its waterways, and the effects on human and environmental health.

The Environmental Law Initiative (ELI) asked the court to quash a regional plan rule which allowed some discharges from farming – such as nitrates and phosphorus – to be classed as permitted activities (not requiring resource consents) but the judge found too much had time had passed since the plan went into force.

The judgement, released on Monday, confirmed the council’s rule making fell short of the law and went to the heart of Canterbury’s current nitrate crisis, ELI research and legal director Dr Matt Hall said.

Council’s rule making found lacking

Justice Mander found the regional council, Environment Canterbury, failed to properly consider and apply section 70 of the Resource Management Act (RMA) when it included the rule allowing some farming nutrient discharges as permitted activities.

Section 70 requires consideration of a number of points, including whether a rule could have any significant adverse effects on aquatic life.

The rule – rule 5.63 (Incidental Nutrient Discharges) – had “cemented the conditions for ongoing intensive farming even as nitrate pollution was already mounting”, Hall said.

ELI argued the rule breached the RMA, was unlawful and outside the council’s power.

By permitting discharges without adequate evidence the farmers would not breach minimum pollution standards, the rule removed a key safeguard, green-lighting further intensive farming in catchments already under stress, and locking in higher pollution loads, Hall said.

The organisation sought the removal of the rule, as well as other declarations about the law, but the court declined.

The RMA has clear prohibitions on the type of rules that can be included in plans in relation to fresh water, and the council “was not able to show how it stepped through the requirements of Section 70 or provided any reasons for why it deemed that Section 70 was met”, Hall said.

The court found records from the council’s regional plan hearings did not demonstrate it had sufficient evidence to conclude certain severe effects, including significant adverse effects on aquatic life, were not likely to arise from the rule.

Justice Mander noted the council had been “put on notice” during the hearings, given “clear controversy and competing professional views expressed by expert witnesses” on the health of the region’s waterways, and potential impacts of nutrient discharge, putting questions about the plan’s compliance with section 70 “clearly in play”.

‘Systemic failings’

Hall said it was “extremely concerning” the council did not meet the law in its planning process, something that had been found to differing extents in other ELI cases.

Llast year, the High Court ruled the council unlawfully granted a discharge consent to the Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Ltd (ALIL) irrigation scheme, quashing the consent. Earlier this year, it found ECan made a material error of law in granting a consent to the Mayfield Hinds Valletta (MHV) irrigation scheme, but declined to overturn the consent.

“We’ve taken three cases now that relate to ECan decision making. And each of those cases, to different degrees, show problems with how ECan has applied to law, and this is in the context of a systemic failing … of environmental outcomes.

“In this case, the court’s been clear ECan did not discharge its statutory responsibility. To me, that’s a very important message for ECan to properly take on board, and in any new legal framework that has to be completely front of mind – for the regulator to be totally on top of its legal responsibility.”

Delays and accountability

While the court’s finding the council failed to consider the RMA when including the rule would normally make the rule subject to review, due to another part of the RMA – section 83, which only allows challenges to a regional plan in the three months after the plan becomes operative – too much time had elapsed, the court found.

ELI argued that rule applied to procedural issues rather than substantive ones, such as in this case.

“Even though the rule was made 12 years ago, it remains in force and it is central to the nitrate crisis people across Canterbury are experiencing today.”

“The court has found there’s been a failure to abide by a clear provision in the Act. So if that is the law as it stands now, that essentially once you’ve been through the Schedule 1 [plan-making] process and the plan’s been made, it can’t be challenged even if there are fundamental areas of law [at stake], that’s concerning and it’s something we will be examining quite closely,” Hall said.

The council submitted the proceedings came almost eight years after it approved the regional plan, and any changes would have significant consequences for those who had relied on the rule, including potentially requiring farmers to go through lengthy and expensive resource consent processes.

It told the court there was “no evidence” of any causal impact from the rule being included or that its continued application would result in environmental damage.

Neither party knew how many people could be affected, because those currently relying on the rule to discharge nutrients do not need to apply for consent.

In his decision, Justice Mander found section 83 barred ELI’s challenge, but even if it had not, the proceeding centred on “an administrative decision made some 10 years ago about a rule that formed part of a highly detailed and complex regulatory scheme which largely no longer applied” because the council had since added specific sub-regional rules for at-risk catchments.

Hall said where limits were in place there needed to be work done to ensure they were met.

“We have to actually change some of the activities on the ground which are contributing, and in many cases, have already surpassed those limits, in red zones in Canterbury. We can’t keep a situation going where the council has limits that are clear and part of the law, but it’s not actually changing the activity or setting the framework…

“We can’t ignore reality, biological and ecological reality.”

He said while the ruling was fairly technical, it boiled down to accountability – “holding regulators to account and implementing the existing law, and here the court’s found a failure to do that.”

According to the most recent Stats NZ data, Canterbury has the largest amount of irrigated agricultural land (480,000 hectares) in the country, and accounted for 70 percent of the country’s total dairy farming irrigation.

The council’s most recent annual groundwater testing showed nitrate increasing in 62 percent of 300 test wells.

In September, the council narrowly voted to declare a nitrate emergency.

RNZ has approached the regional council for comment.

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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 New Zealand law professor is calling for the United Kingdom’s role to be considered when it comes to compensation for villagers impacted by the sinking of Manawanui last year.

The New Zealand navy vessel was surveying the south coast of Upolu when it struck the Tafitoala reef, caught fire, and sank on 6 October 2024.

Former Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa confirmed the New Zealand navy vessel was surveying the south coast as part of security for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) and King Charles, who was staying at a nearby resort.

New Zealand paid $6m in compensation to the Samoa government for the sinking but Professor Paul Myburgh from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) said what Manawanui was doing on the south coast of Upolu needed to be considered.

“We know that it was, had basically been called in aid to survey that reef by the UK government so I would be interested to know what the UK government thinks its ethical and legal duty is towards those villagers. Basically if they had not made that request to the New Zealand navy this whole incident would never have happened,” Myburgh said.

Letters released under the Official Information Act (OIA) show Samoa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested SAT$10 tala – NZ$6 million – be paid by the New Zealand government following the sinking.

Pacific security expert Dr Iati Iati from Victoria University questioned whether New Zealand should be the only country paying compensation for the sinking of Manawanui.

“Given that Manawanui sank exactly around the same time that CHOGM was going on, it drew a lot of attention to Manawanui that perhaps they didn’t want to have drawn to it. It drew a lot of attention to the fact that there could be other actors involved other than New Zealand and Samoa.”

The wreck of Manawanui remain on the Tafitoala Reef and Samoa’s Marine Pollution Advisory Committee was expecting a wreck report in the coming month.

Professor Myburgh said even with the removal of “immediate dangers for example from fuel” the wreck continued to impact the environment.

“And what is particularly concerning here is that the local villages are totally dependent on that area for their food, for their livelihoods so I think that in that context that payment of that amount should be seen as being very much on the lower end of the scale,” he said.

The British High Commission and the UK’s Foreign Office were approached for comment.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

[xh Multiple hospitalisations due to synthetic drug use

A warning has been issued after multiple people were hospitalised in the last day after using synthetic drugs.

High Alert, a drug watchdog, said the cases had been linked to synthetic cannabis in the Auckland region with multiple hospitalisations reported in the last 24 hours.

A spokesperson said there had been a wider trend of increased harm related to synthetic drugs across the country in the last few months but the sharp increase in hospitalisations was a serious concern.

It wasn’t yet known which synthetic cannabinoid was responsible for the hospitalisations. High Alert said further analysis would be done by PHF Science (formerly ESR).

Extreme caution was needed if consuming synthetic drugs, the spokesperson said, especially in the Auckland region.

“If you or someone you know takes this substance and starts to lose consciousness or stops breathing, call 111 immediately.”

Synthetic cannabinoids could vary in strength, High Alert said, and what was a safe dose for one may be a fatal dose for another.

It was often diluted and sprayed onto plant material which led to different concentrations, which made it harder to predict how strong the effects would be.

People who had taken the drugs could collapse, foam at the mouth or experience temporary paralysis.

Effects could be made worse if use with alcohol or other drugs or medications, if a person was unwell or was experiencing mental distress.

Synthetic drugs were usually described as white, off-white or yellow/brown powders that were dissolved and sprayed onto dehydrated plant material and smoked, High Alert said, and there was often a chemical smell that was noticeably different from cannabis.

Anyone who did chose to use synthetic drugs should make sure not be alone and test a small amount first to see how it affected them.

Drugs could be tested for free at confidential drug checking services such as ones run by KnowYourStuffNZ, the New Zealand Drug Foundation and DISC Trust.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Transport Agency is urging drivers to plan ahead for a safe summer road trip, as several accidents have snarled Auckland traffic on Christmas Eve.

It warned more cars on the road, tired drivers, and people driving on unfamiliar roads can all add up.

It encouraged everyone to check that their car was safe before heading off – and to avoid speeding, drive sober, and to watch for signs of fatigue. Also to drive to the conditions, which could change quickly, and to check the weather forecast before leaving home.

As for where the traffic will be…

Christmas Day

There is predicted to be some traffic in the North Island on 25 December, based on the Transport Agency’s data from previous years.

It will be busy on Auckland’s State Highway 1, from Manukau to Bombay, between 9am and 6.30pm.

It will be the heaviest between 10am and 1pm.

Further down, between Puhoi and Wellsford, it will be busy from 10am to 2.30pm.

In Waikato, it will be slow from Tīrau to Karapiro between 10.30am and 12.30pm.

On State Highway 2, from Pōkeno to Maramarua, the peak will be from 9.30am to 1.30pm.

In the Bay of Plenty, it will be busy from 10.30am to 12pm between Tauranga and Katikati on State Highway 2.

As well as on State Highway 29 in Kaimai, west of Tauranga, from 8.30am to 10.30am.

Down to the Manawatū-Whanganui Region, it will be a slog on State Highway 1 between Taihape and Waiouru from 10am to 3.30pm.

And from 10am to 12.30pm in Ōhau.

In the Wellington Region, it will be busy between Peka Peka and Ōtaki from 10.30am to 12pm.

There is only one place where Christmas Day traffic is predicted in the South Island, and that is on State Highway 1 between Ashburton and Christchurch from 8.30am and 10am.

Boxing Day

There is expected to be a lot more congestion on 26 December – on both the North and the South Island.

Beginning from State Highway 1 in Northland’s Kawakawa, in the Bay of Islands area, it will be busy for an hour from 2pm to 3pm.

And from Kaipara Flats to Pukerito from 9.30am to 1.30pm.

It will also be busy on Auckland’s State Highway 1, from Manukau to Bombay, between 9am and 6pm.

The heaviest period will be from 10am to 11.30am.

And between Puhoi and Wellsford from 9.30am to 4.30pm, with the heaviest period between 11am and 2.30pm.

In Waikato, it will be slow from Tīrau to Karapiro – once again – between 10am and 6pm.

On State Highway 2, from Pōkeno to Maramarua, it will be busy from 9am to 2pm.

And from 12pm to 1pm between Paeroa and Waihi.

In the Bay of Plenty, it will be busy from 10am to 3.30pm between Tauranga and Katikati on State Highway 2.

As well as on State Highway 29 in Kaimai, west of Tauranga, from 8am to 2.30pm.

In the Manawatū-Whanganui Region, it will be slow between Taihape and Waiouru from 10.30am to 4pm.

The heaviest period will be between 12pm and 3pm.

And from 9.30am to 5.30pm in Ōhau.

In the Wellington Region, it will be busy between Peka Peka and Ōtaki from 10am to 12.30pm, and from 4.30pm to 5.30pm.

In the South Island, it will be slow from 10am to 12pm on Canterbury’s State Highway 1 in Waipara, north of Christchurch.

From 1pm to 2.30pm in Kaikōura.

South of Christchurch, there will be traffic to Ashburton between 8am and 1.30pm.

And from 8am to 2.30pm on State Highway 1 in Timaru.

On State Highway 79 in Geraldine for a short period of time between 12pm and 1pm.

For even less time on State Highway 7 in Lewis Pass – between 12pm and 12.30pm.

And last, but not least, on State Highway 6 in Queenstown from 11am to 3pm.

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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 man has been charged with murder after the death of a man in Hamilton last week.

Police were called to a home in Lake Crescent at 6.15pm on December 18, where they found two people seriously injured.

One of the inured, 55-year-old Jason Poa, also known as Jason Tipene, died at the scene.

Police said a 21-year-old man was arrested in Chartwell on Christmas Eve and charged with murder.

He would appear in the Hamilton District Court on Boxing Day.

Police said no one else was being sought in relation to the death.

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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 report into facial recognition systems used on shoppers shows teenagers are the worst offenders for threatening supermarket staff.

Foodstuffs South Island is trialling facial recognition in three Pak’nSave supermarkets in Christchurch.

Its Privacy Impact Assessment said it would not be used on vulnerable people or minors under age 18.

However, the report also said that across its South Island network of stores, six out of 10 of the top offenders were under 18.

“While six out of the top 10 offenders are minors across the FSSI store network, no minors or vulnerable people will be included in the watchlist during the project,” said the 26-page report recently made public.

RNZ asked what percentage of serious threatening behaviour incidents were being committed by minors at its supermarkets, but the company did not say.

Foodstuffs SI had justified the move into facial recognition in part by pointing to an “escalating level of serious threatening behaviours by repeat offenders in FSSI supermarkets [that] poses a significant risk to the health and safety of staff and customers in-store”.

The company said the preponderance of teenagers among offenders did not undermine its expectation that adult-only facial recognition was a good way of combating the issue.

“Excluding minors does not reduce the usefulness of the trial,” said a spokesperson.

“Its purpose is to assess whether facial recognition technology can help our teams identify adult repeat offenders who have previously been involved in serious incidents, so they can step in early to prevent further harm. The trial is also helping us understand the operational impacts and processes involved with using facial recognition in our stores.”

It had identified 206 repeat offenders at 38 stores in 32 suburbs in the last year involved in over a thousand events, the privacy assessment said.

“We’re seeing increasing levels of serious, threatening and violent behaviour in our stores from repeat offenders across all different age groups.”

Camera on continuous record

The three-month trial began in October at its Pak’nSave stores in Redwood and Sydenham, and its New World St Martins.

The software integrates with a camera that is continuously recording images.

In an earlier trial in some North Island Foodstuffs stores, the system scanned 226 million faces to raise 1742 alerts, with 1200 of those confirmed on watchlists.

A watchlist only had on it people who had previously been violent, threatening or aggressive in their stores – and were then categorised in one of two ways: ‘Extreme Threat’ and ‘High Risk’. A match with someone’s template had to be 92.5 percent accurate for it to be flagged at which point two trained store members would check it and decide what to do next, said Foodstuffs South Island.

“This may include observing the person, contacting Police, or intervening to ask them to leave the FR Store – if it is safe to do so,” said the chain’s website.

Facial recognition was a proportionate response because North Island supermarket trial had been effective at reducing serious threatening behaviour, the privacy assessment said.

The North Island trial was assessed by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner that concluded, “While the level of privacy intrusion was high because every visitor’s face is collected, the privacy safeguards in the trial reduced it to an acceptable level.”

The tech must only be used with robust processes including human checks, it said.

“FRT systems have potential safety benefits, but they also raise significant privacy concerns.”

A template of every shopper

The privacy assessment for the current South Island trial showed Foodstuffs was using IT systems from an Australian firm, Vix Vizion, which scored highly for accurate facial recognition in 2022, and Auckland company Auror.

Auror is a big player in vehicle licence plate recognition but earlier said it had avoided facial recognition till a few months ago because the technology had not been accurate enough at the time.

Its product, Subject Recognition, had a module and person of interest lists that could not be accessed by police, whereas police access its licence plate system hundreds of times a day.

Like Subject Recognition which Auror has begun offering stores, Foodstuffs’ trial runs on a system that created a temporary biometric template of every shopper at the three test stores, then dumped it if there was no match to a watchlist, the privacy assessment showed.

A detection was stored within the Auror platform for seven years, though the image itself would be deleted the same day, said the assessment.

“All personal information collected and stored within the FRT System, including the watchlist, is stored in Microsoft Azure Australia (by Auror Limited within the Auror Platform) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) NZ/Australia” by Foodstuffs.

The company said before starting the trial it engaged with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, or OPC. The OPC would be getting “high level” monthly updates.

Facial recognition relies on biometrics, like a person’s face or fingerprints.

The office’s biometric processing privacy code came into force on 3 November so does not apply to the supermarket trial.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hot laps with Formula 1 driver Liam Lawson has raised more than $50,000 for breast cancer research.

Lawson’s pit-stop from the racing circuit to drive laps in Cromwell drew thousands of motorsport enthusiasts and drive to survive fans to the Central Otago circuit on Tuesday.

Highlands Motor Park chief executive Josie Spillane – who planned the event after losing her friend Louise Scott-Gallagher to breast cancer – said the day was more than just racing.

“Liam’s generosity in giving us his time helped us raise crucial funds for Breast Cancer Foundation NZ, ensuring her [Scott-Gallagher’s] legacy continues to drive real change. We’re overwhelmed by the community’s support.”

Lawson got behind the wheel of supercars including the Aston Martin Vulcan – the only one in the southern hemisphere – and the Porsche GT3, offering rides to passengers during a silent auction.

The contributions from sponsors, bidders, and donors saw the Vulcan hot laps alone raise more than $32,000.

Scott-Gallagher’s husband Craig Gallagher, said Lawson’s racing and the amount of money raised was impressive.

Lawson said he was happy to support the cause, having known Spillane a long time, and was also keen to drive the Vulcan.

” I can’t believe how many people were here, and how much money was raised for Breast Cancer.”

Highlands Motor Park said proceeds from the auctions and donations would directly benefit Breast Cancer Foundation NZ’s efforts in research, awareness, and patient 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

A Rotorua man has rallied about a dozen young people to give their neighbourhood a festive spruce-up.

Thomas Peato, a youth mentor at Waiariki Whānau Mentoring, and local rangatahi gathered once a week through December for a full day of maintenance work, he told RNZ’s The run home to Christmas.

They mowed the lawns, trimmed the berms and cleared the roadside rubbish, including takeaway packaging and tyres.

Peato said he was born and raised in the suburb of Fordlands, which is a low social-economic area and looked a bit rough.

“It needed it and I believe that a healthy environment helps mould a happy mind and a happy mind helps mould a happy environment,” he said.

“I just wanted to get in position and get momentum going to uplift and clean the area for our people.”

He said the idea started about 10 years ago. Peato and his friends and relatives started to help cleaning the streets until the Covid-19 pandemic happened.

They have been trying to get the programme off the ground since and finally made it happen a month ago.

Peato said they noticed that on the third or fourth time when they were cleaning the streets, local residents started to get behind it, doing their lawns on the same day, for example.

“We also had some locals dropping us off drinks and ice blocks and all that kind of stuff too, so it was good, really uplifting for the community,” Peato said.

The group will consider if they will keep it going next year once the holiday period was over.

The teenagers helping him grew up in similar backgrounds to him, from loving families but low social-economic areas, and the experience would give them confidence.

Peato said it was often hard for these young people to get into employment partly due to the background they came from and he also wanted to start some sustainable businesses to help employ them.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents who evacuated due to a scrub fire near the Hawke’s Bay village of Fernhill have been allowed to return to their homes.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson told RNZ there’s now one fire truck monitoring the scene, and the fire investigators have left.

The blaze broke out near Hastings on Tuesday, destroying multiple buildings.

Three firefighters experienced heat exhaustion, and one was transferred to Hawke’s Bay Hospital as a precaution.

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