NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Ministerial advisory group criticised for ‘lavish’ spending
• It spent $24,000 on well-catered ‘stakeholder engagement meetings’
• Advisory group chairman defends the group’s work, saying it’s under budget and delivering change

The ministerial advisory group for victims of retail crime faces criticism for spending almost $24,000 on a series of well-catered meetings around New Zealand.

Rock melon, goat’s cheese and prosciutto crostini, mini chicken and leek savouries, and $9 bottles of Coke are among the items served to guests during meetings led by group chairman Sunny Kaushal at venues around the country.

Kaushal said the stakeholder engagement meetings were part of his mission to fix retail crime in New Zealand and he was disappointed to see “intentional misinformation being weaponised” to distract from the advisory group’s progress.

Information provided to RNZ’s Checkpoint by the Ministry of Justice revealed the bill for 22 meetings between February and November came in at $23,915.

Two meetings in Auckland – one in February and one in July – each cost more than $4000, while another cost more than $3000.

The advisory group’s spending had previously come under scrutiny, including its $100,000-a-year central Auckland office space.

Kaushal also billed $230,000 for his first year of work, at a daily rate of $920. He said the group ran under its annual budget of $1.8 million, paid for from the proceeds of crime fund.

Under his government contract, Kaushal can work up to 250 days a year and invoiced for the maximum amount. The group was set up in 2024 for two years.

‘Probably too many scones’

At a recent select committee meeting during Parliament’s scrutiny week, Labour MPs queried the spend on the February meeting, which was $4075.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who was present, admitted to the NZ Herald the event was “clearly over-catered” and “probably had too many scones”. He did not respond to RNZ for this story.

The costs also included charges for chairs, paper plates a lectern and an AV technician.

Fifty cheese-and-tomato sandwiches cost $175, as did 50 chicken-and-cheese sandwiches.

Bottles of Coke and Sprite – 2.5 litres – which cost about $5.50 at the supermarket were charged to the group at $9 each. About 80 people attended.

In March, a two-hour meeting for 150 people, held in South Auckland, cost $3980, including $800 for venue hire and $120 for security. The $3060 catering bill for the two-hour meeting wasn’t broken down.

In July, another two-hour meeting in Auckland for 80 people, attended by Goldsmith and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee, cost $4013.

That included chairs and equipment hire. The catering came to $2063.

Individual items were not costed, although they were the same food offerings as listed at the February meeting.

Other meetings around the country, most of which ran for two hours, were attended by between 9-70 people.

A Christchurch meeting in July spent $750 on hiring space at the Little Andromeda Theatre for a two-hour meeting with 40 people.

In September, 30 people went to a two-hour meeting at the Taupō Yacht Club, where catering cost about $545.

Twenty rock melon, goats cheese and prosciutto crostini were $60, as were 20 onion, blue cheese and walnut crostini. Thirty mini vol-au-vents were $104, and 30 mini chicken-and-leek savouries cost $91.

According to social media posts, meetings were generally attended by the likes of police, local cambers of commerce and other businesspeople.

‘Consulting by food’

Labour MP Duncan Webb questioned the spending on food at the meetings.

“It just sounds like he’s spending government funding lavishly,” he said. “This is not a corporate marketing campaign.

“It’s a ministerial advisory group that’s expected to come up with thoughtful ideas, including consulting with the community.

“I haven’t really seen consulting with the community by food as a technique.”

The money would be better spent in the justice system, including on preventing crime elsewhere.

Catered meetings were not the way proper consulting should be, according to Webb.

RNZ tried to contact Kaushal to ask about the spending and for more information about the meetings.

He sent a statement saying he was proud of the advisory group’s work, which had received strong appreciation from retailers across New Zealand.

“We are making a difference,” he said. “We are delivering tougher consequences for offenders.

“We are seeing positive results and making sure no one feels unsafe at work. We are on the right direction and we still have more work to do.”

Kaushal said the group had delivered five “legislative-ready major policy papers” – addressing citizens’ arrests, strengthening trespass laws and allowing retailers to use pepper spray to defend themselves.

He said the reforms were strong, practical and evidence-based.

“We are well under budget and have underspent. Any expenditure on stakeholder engagement meetings complies with the [Ministry of Justice’s] entertainment and sensitive expenditure guidance.

“I am on a mission. My focus is on the bigger goal, fixing retail crime in New Zealand, which is costing $2.7 billion per year.

“It’s disappointing to see intentional misinformation being weaponised in an attempt to distract from the substantial progress we are making.

“Some people don’t want to see change and prefer to play politics. That’s their choice, I’m focused on delivering results.”

Ministerial advisory groups have been set up to provide expert advice to the current government on issues ranging from aged-care funding to trans-national crime and school property.

The most recent group announced will advise Associate Health Minister Casey Costello on long-term reform of the aged-care system. It has nine members, plus a chairperson – former Labour Health Minister David Cunliffe.

Costello’s office told Checkpoint the group was expected to begin work in January, and provide a final report with advice and recommendations in mid-2026.

A ministerial advisory group on transnational, serious and organised crime, also set up by Costello, had just eight months to complete its work.

It was led by Steve Symon, a senior partner at Auckland law firm Meredith Connell, and had four other members with experience across government, law enforcement, regulation and the private sector.

The Ministry of Justice told Checkpoint the group released seven reports and the total amount paid in fees to the five members was $204,355.

It spent $493,013 on its work and $180,179 was paid for three fixed-term positions – a principal adviser, senior adviser and an administrator.

Like the MAG on victims of retail crime, the MAG on transnational, serious and organised crime was funded from the Proceeds of Crime Fund.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Frustrated healthworkers are questioning why hospitals and health services are being asked to find another $510 million in “efficiency savings” out of this year’s budget, while $538 million earmarked for salaries went unspent last year.

The “underspend” was due in part to unfilled vacancies, slower than expected Holidays Act remediation, and the fact that Health NZ has yet to settle collective contract disputes with senior doctors or nurses.

Health NZ said “performance efficiencies” did not impact on the funding available for settlement.

However, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (which has been locked in a pay dispute for over a year) said it was galling that personnel costs in the most recent financial year were $538 million less than budgeted.

Last month, the Employment Relations Authority threw out Health NZ’s unprecedented request for it to set aside the bargaining process and “fix” terms and conditions for about 6600 senior doctors and dentists.

The union’s executive director Sarah Dalton said scarce health dollars were going to the wrong places.

“Money is going to locums, to outsourcing to private. There is still a significant number of contracts going to consultancy firms and staff who come from those firms to do work that could and should be done by salaried staff.”

Outsourced personnel costs, including to fill roster gaps, were $162m dollars over budget in 2024/2025.

Health NZ’s annual report shows of the $538 million underspend in wages, $204 million came from delays to Collective Agreements and lower internal personnel costs.

Dalton said cuts to so-called “back office” functions were making it harder for clinical staff to do their jobs.

“We discovered recently that the restructuring in Data and Digital meant they ended up with 200 fewer staff than they actually need, and they’re still trying to catch up with that.”

Recruitment freeze is real – Labour

While Health NZ was already on track for a $200 million deficit this year, it has been asked to find a further $510 million from its operational budget to “re-invest” in patient care.

Health Minister Simeon Brown said the efficiency targets – which represented between 2-just under 5 percent of the operational budgets of the four regions – would free up cash to meet the government health targets without reducing clinical staff.

However, Labour’s health spokesperson Dr Ayesha Verrall said it was hard to see how cutting resources for already stretched services would help patients.

“New Zealanders are struggling to get healthcare. It would be unbelievable if the government had underspent on health staffing and New Zealanders didn’t get care as a result.”

Verrall said while the Minister and Health NZ continued to deny there was a hiring freeze, frontline workers were saying the opposite.

“Every doctor and nurse I talk to says they can’t recruit to roles in their department, or if they do, they face massive delays, and the delays are designed to save costs.”

The Nurses’ Organisation, which represents about 60,000 nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants, is also going into the new year without a settlement.

A briefing to the minister in April – released under the Official Information Act – shows each 1 percent increase for senior doctors would cost between $20 million and $30 million.

However, due to the higher numbers of nurses, each additional 1 percent increase for them would cost taxpayers more than $100 million.

Health NZ responds

Health New Zealand said the funding available to settle these collective agreements had not changed in either the 24/25 or 25/26 financial years.

“We remain committed to settling.

“Performance efficiencies do not impact on the funding available for settlement.”

The agency continued to “actively recruit” to reduce its reliance on outsourced personnel.

In the most recent financial year, Health New Zealand increased its clinical workforce by approximately 750 full-time workers.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

While most of us are about to put our feet up for a summer break, animal shelters around New Zealand are bracing for their busiest time of the year.

The Helping You Help Animals charity will spend its first official Christmas in its new home on Haywards Hill, near Wellington, housing about 600 animals.

“We’re a diverse crew,” HUHA founder and chief executive Carolyn Press McKenzie. “We’ve got cats and dogs, but we also have rural animals, like pigs, cows, sheep.

“Really anything you can think of – we’ve got birds, wildlife – if they need us, we’re here.”

One pregnant chihuahua was marked for euthanisation, after her owners could not afford a cesarean section, but crowdfunding saved her and her puppies. They will spend Christmas at the shelter and return home soon afterwards.

“We usually have about 200 volunteers cycling through, and they’ll do maybe a shift a week or a shift a fortnight,” Press McKenzie said. “Some of them prefer to do ‘op shops’ work, rather than animal work.

“We’re so lucky. We have 20 staff, but there’s way too much for us to deal with – we’re all walking around cross-eyed and a bit dishevelled.”

She admits this time of year is a “revolving door” of animals arriving and leaving the shelter.

“The good news is it’s summery, people are getting out and thinking they might get a dog, so we’re getting a lot more interest for dogs. It’s kitten season, so kittens will get out the door, hopefully some rural animals too.

“On the flip side, there’s a bit of a recession, people are stressed, they’re losing homes and changing circumstances, so definitely animals coming in as well.

“There’s lost of babies having babies, which totally rips out nickers – people not desexing and their animals having litter after litter, causing more pressure.”

Press McKenzie suggested anyone adopting a pet this summer should do their due diligence.

“Just be a good parent,” she said. “Make sure you can give them the life they deserve for the rest of their life and truly understand the animal you’re adopting.

“Really do your research and talk to the shelters – we’ve got lots of knowledge and can help them every step of the way.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Break downs in courier services has meant more unnecessary delays in vital lab testing for Gisborne patients as samples are being sent hundreds of kilometres across the country.

Apex represents MedLab workers who are currently locked in a pay dispute.

It says patient samples are being sent to Palmerston North for testing, resulting in days long delays for some cases.

National Secretary for Apex, Deborah Powell told Checkpoint it is not uncommon for samples to get stuck somewhere that they shouldn’t.

“We’ve had a couple of breakdowns of courier recently.

“In late November one of them broke down in Taupo a courier had to be sent up from Palmerston to pick both samples up but they stayed overnight in the van.

“We’re not quite sure whether they were refrigerated or not.”

Apex says delays to key diagnostic tests for life threatening conditions like meningitis, leukaemia and antibiotic resistance are because the medical lab at Gisborne is 50 percent owned by a private company that is profit driven.

Powell said samples are being taken to Palmerston North which is the head lab for that particular outfit of MedLab.

“They’re not even taking them to Tauranga or to Hawke’s Bay, or if they land in Auckland, to one of the Auckland labs, because they would have to pay those labs to have the tests done.”

Powell said there needed to be a proper lab up and running in Gisborne.

“This company has just issued a five million dollar profit and we believe that they’re you know saving money to make a profit over actually delivering a proper lab in this remote area of New Zealand.”

She said even on a good day when the labs are working there is a 24-hour delay and if it is a weekend a three-hour delay could be expected.

This impacted patients as it made it harder for doctors to quickly identify issues and administer the right medication.

“The doctors do their best, if it is an infection they will try different anti-biotics.”

Powell said if the first anti biotic didn’t work doctors would try different anti-biotics to try and kill the bug while they wait for results.

“For the patient that means they’re getting an awful lot of different anti-biotics while the doctors try and treat them.

“Whereas if they were in another hospital laboratory the bug would be identified quicker and the right anti-biotic would be moved in there.”

She said they had raised the issue with Te Whatu Ora repeatedly over the last six months are yet to get a response.

Health New Zealand Midland regional executive director Cath Cronin says they are aware of the delays and had been working with the lab provider to resolve the issues.

Cronin said microbiology tests have been sent to Palmerston North twice a day for the past nine years.

She said initial sample analysis is performed by MedLab at Gisborne Hospital, with further processing in Palmerston North using sophisticated technology.

She added that microbiology testing was shifted to ensure a reliable and safe service as recruitment and retention of scarce laboratory staff in Tairāwhiti was not assured.

She said the contract for the lab, known as TLAB, sets clear service delivery requirements to ensure timeliness and appropriate quality and safety of delivery.

And she said Tairāwhiti Hospital is satisfied with the services provided by TLAB, including microbiology.

Health NZ contracts three private providers to deliver community and hospital-referred diagnostic testing around New Zealand.

Payment of dividends to shareholders by private providers, such as providers of laboratory services or other healthcare providers, is common.

Medlab Central has three centres in its group including Gisborne, Palmerston North, and Whanganui, based in the local public hospitals.

The dividend paid by Medlab Central is from its consolidated entity for all services it provides, including privately funded testing.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Former Health NZ staff frustrated at pushed-back deadlines to receive holiday pay owed to them.
• Most current staff owed money have received it.
• Health NZ says process is complex and involves many payroll systems.

A retired Waikato couple who worked at Hamilton’s hospital for more than six decades between them are facing a lengthy wait for tens of thousands of dollars of holiday pay.

Errors in calculating holiday pay date back more than 15 years and will cost Health NZ about $1.8 billion in payouts.

Most current employees have been repaid, but Health NZ has only recently started paying former staff, and many won’t see a cent for another year.

It said the process is a complex piece of work, requiring constant checks and accessing different payroll systems.

Frustration at constant delays

Nick Barnes was an intensive care specialist at Waikato Hospital for 30 years and his wife Kathy Barnes, a nurse there for almost 40 years.

They’ve both recently retired and Nick said the deadline for when former Waikato employees were paid kept getting pushed back, with no reasons given.

“It was meant to start about April 2024, but it was pushed back to November 2025 and most recently we noted through other sources that for Waikato it had been pushed back to November 2026.”

Kathy said they had not received direct communication about the delays, and found out about them through external parties such as nurses’ union Facebook posts.

“I can’t imagine that if anybody else in my life owed me money and it was repeatedly deferring the payment that I wouldn’t receive direct communication about the reason why, an apology for that, and a direct commitment to pay the money on a definite date,” she said.

Kathy, 62, and Nick, 62, each expect they could get about $20,000.

“The thing that really irks us is that during our service occasionally payroll would have overpaid us accidentally and we’d get very stern communicating saying, ‘You owe us back this money and it must be paid within the next two pay periods’,” Kathy said.

“There’s been a lot of pay periods come and gone since they owed us this money back to 2010.”

Worked the most, owed the most – former nurse

A former nurse, who asked not to be named, was also unhappy at the wait and delayed deadlines for payment.

“These people that are owed the most amount of money are actually the people who worked the most amount of anti-social hours – 12-hour shifts or longer,” she said.

“I’m talking about on-call work, working on Saturdays or Sundays, working overnight and working double shifts.”

She said she only received updates when she wrote to politicians, who would then refer her questions to Health NZ, which would answer.

She thinks she’ll receive about $20,000, money she said her family needed.

“Originally we were told 2025. It was going to be mid-2025, then it was going to be September.

“More recently when I questioned it they are now saying March, April 2026.”

Repayment process complex – Health NZ

Health NZ executive national director, people and culture and health and safety, Robyn Shearer said as at 12 December, more than 83,000 current employees had received more than $657 million.

Staff from most regions had been fully paid what was owed to them.

Former employee payments began in October, but some won’t be made until later next year or even 2027.

“Payments to former employees started this year in Taranaki and then Auckland,” Shearer said.

“This month Southern District paid over $6m to over 1300 former employees and Tairāwhiti District paid $3.6m to over 450 former employees.

“To date this means over $54m has been paid to over 13,000 former employees. Payments will continue in the New Year with a second tranche set to be paid in February 2026.”

Shearer said the repayment process was complex, involving historical data and numerous payroll platforms.

“It is important to note, that not everyone is due to receive a payment – some people have been paid correctly for their leave.

“Each payroll project is remediating current employees first, then former employees.”

The total budget was $1.8b.

Call for easier process

New Zealand Nurses Organisation president Kerri Nuku said the repayment process had been appalling for current staff, too.

“These monies have been owed to nurses since 2016. Payments have been budgeted for by the government.

“There have been payments schedules put in place, which have changed. The goal posts keep changing. It’s not fair that these [union] members have had to wait for what is legitimately their money.”

Given the pressure the health system was under, the slow repayments were another blow, Nuku said.

“When you see some big areas that have managed to go through and settle these payments and receive backpay, and some of the less bigger areas still waiting, that’s where I think the frustration is – that there isn’t a single process that has guaranteed settlement at the same sorts of times.”

The repayments are run by a contracted company and Checkpoint earlier this year revealed that process had already cost well over $100m.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

As Kiwi’s flock to the beaches in the summer heat, the need for surf lifeguards couldn’t be greater.

But Surf Life Saving New Zealand says with the growing population, they’ll need 1000 volunteers and supporters over the next three years, especially at Auckland’s wild west coast beaches.

One of those popular black-sand beaches, Bethell’s, has been identified by Water Safety New Zealand as one of the country’s drowning blackspots.

But with its club house still yellow-stickered after Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, they’re struggling to retain the number of volunteers needed to keep people safe in the water.

Checkpoint visits Bethell’s Beach Surf Lifesaving Club

At Bethell’s Beach Surf Lifesaving Club in Auckland, lifeguards were setting up for the day ahead, towing out the rescue boat and pulling out warning signs and first aid gear.

Patrol Captain Finn Stevenson was called out from Omaha’s Surf Lifesaving Club to work part of the season during his university holidays.

“The mornings are pretty cruisy, because on the west coast we start at 11. We usually do a team training or at least get out for a surf, or a quick workout.

“Then we set up around about 10:30am, get down to the beach, assess the conditions and go from there.”

But it’s not all smooth sailing.

The night before Checkpoint visited, the team carried out a multi-person rescue that could have ended in tragedy.

“Pretty much it was just a bunch of seven teenagers just got caught in a rip and even though there wasn’t a lot of surf… there’s still a good undertow.”

“They just couldn’t get back in and a few people were struggling, so we put a boat in the water and picked them up.”

Stevenson said a large percentage of rescues occurred after patrol hours.

Battered by years of ocean spray, wind and rain, the Bethells Beach Surf Lifesaving Club is still standing, despite half of it being washed away during Cyclone Gabrielle.

State of club house far from ideal

Northern regional manager and local clubbie Lauren Parnell said while they were still able to operate, it was far from ideal.

“When the storms came, it took half of the club away, now we’re left with where we are now, luckily we saved our first aid room, our bathrooms and our gear shed.

“But it was a big impact for us, we’ve learnt how to function, I think we can function really well with what we’ve got, but the new club coming in a couple of years is going to be a lifesaving thing for us.”

Parnell said the club house was a community hub that attracted volunteers, but now it was a shell of its former self.

“The thing with having a great big club house is it’s an attractive thing for young guards and older guards.

“We’re quite rural, so it means we don’t have that ability for the kids to stay out and the patrols to stay out.”

“Trying to retain the membership without having that club house is hard.”

Parnell said they received $5 million to go towards the the club’s rebuild from the government’s cyclone rebuild fund.

But they still needed to fundraise an additional one million dollars in order to restore the building to its former glory.

“We have had to adjust with the resources that we’ve had and pull on extra things that we can to meet the demand.

“[Universities] are out, high schools are out, the heats up, the water’s warm, we’re seeing a lot more activity after hours when the sun goes down.”

Bethells Beach lifeguard Haytham Aumua said with the recent hot weather, people had been coming to the beach for a dip after work.

“Since the weathers getting a lot nicer, people start coming to the beach a lot later in the day and we’re off the beach Monday to Friday at 7pm.

“We’re seeing a lot more rescues happen after 7pm.”

Aumua said the conditions on Auckland’s west coast aren’t like some beaches. The raging surf could sweep people off their feet before inescapable rips dragged them out to sea, she said.

After Cyclone Gabrielle, more underwater holes and troughs appeared along the black sand coastline creating new, often stronger currents.

Haytham Aumua gave Checkpoint a tour on one of the club’s beach buggies.

“So there’s always a nice little rip right by this island.

“Because the tide is going out, it isn’t much of a concern but the tide does fill in quite a bit and comes all the way up through the rocks,” Aumua said.

People underestimate power of the sea

The Bethell’s lifeguards are also kept busy by people who go fishing off the jagged rocks that jut out into the Tasman sea. They often underestimate the size of the swell or are hit by freak waves.

“That’s where Cable Bay is, so there’s a cable that runs around and there’s actually a lifesaver out there,” Aumua said.

“We get lots of fishermen out there, they walk out and then when the tide changes and starts coming in, it fills in a lot more and they get stuck out on that rock.”

Lifeguard from North Piha Kate Adolph said lifeguards could prevent rescues while on duty, but after hours they could only respond.

“If the lifeguards aren’t on duty, just don’t get in the water, it’s not worth the risk and if you were to get into trouble, no one might be there to help you.”

According to Water Safety New Zealand, 74 people drowned in New Zealand last year. There have already been 70 drowning this year as we head into peak summer.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say they still have not found 29-year-old Mitchell Cole, who has been missing since his father and stepmother were killed in a double homicide.

Friends of sheep farmer husband and wife Brendon and Trina Cole said they were found dead at their Murumuru Road property on Saturday.

Their son, Mitchell Cole, has been named as a person of interest by police.

Police have also issued a warrant against him for the unlawful possession of firearms.

Police said enquiries to locate Mitchell Cole were ongoing.

They earlier said they were focusing their search efforts on a remote area.

Police have advised the public not to approach Cole and to call 111 if they see him.

They said they would not name the victims who were killed until they had been formally identified by the coroner.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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