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Source: Radio New Zealand

Isolated, lonely and far from support networks – that’s what people who are homeless say it’s like living in Auckland’s suburbs.

An Auckland Council audit found more than 400 people were living without shelter in September last year. In May this year, that number was more than 900.

A Salvation Army and Community Housing Aotearoa report released on Tuesday found homelessness in Auckland has more than doubled in the year to September.

But these figures don’t capture all the people sleeping rough in suburban areas; living in their cars, abandoned buildings or couch surfing.

Experts are calling for more funding to find out the true extent of the problem… as the government ponders introducing move-on orders to get rough sleepers out of the CBD.

Along the Onehunga foreshore early on a Tuesday morning, 15 cars were parked up, frost coating their windshields.

Blankets, duffel bags and bags of groceries could be seen through the windows.

The occupants there said that before seven o’clock in the morning, there were 30 cars with people sleeping in them. They had since left for work – some even had full time jobs.

One man Checkpoint spoke to was even working multiple jobs, but was sleeping in his car to avoid paying rent.

“It’s pretty hard, to be honest, it feels like you’re being isolated but I kind of like it in a sense just for my own peace of mind and solitude.

“But at the same time, there’s not really much of a community out here.”

He had been living in his car for about a year.

“Early mornings and then head out to work, come back when it’s nighttime and before the gates close. They have shower facilities here and there’s a nearby swimming pool.”

The man said he had been applying for full-time jobs but hadn’t had much luck. He said he thinks it’s partly because of his criminal record from a few years ago.

“There’s so [many] factors that [are] kind of holding me back from getting work. For me, inexperience and a criminal record from a long time ago.”

Families with ‘nowhere else to go’

On nearby State Avenue, what is now an abandoned lot was once a row of abandoned houses.

Auckland Councillor Josephine Bartley said before they were demolished, a family of four was living in one of them.

“Late at night they’d come back, and they’d go through the barriers and slip into the house, because they had nowhere else to go.”

She said homelessness in Auckland’s suburbs has become more noticeable.

“It’s not public, but you can tell because you can see the cars in the parks in the morning, you can see that there’s blankets, you can see it all around.

“Then you’ve also got people who are couch surfing and older people.”

Kildare Peterson has been supporting rough sleepers for several years. He said homelessness in the suburbs is rife.

“They’d rather buy food to feed their kids and instead of paying the rent and they can’t afford the power.

“They said it’s a lot easier to live out on the streets or live in their car, because all they have to pay for is petrol, but then they can’t afford to pay their warrant or rego.”

Delphina Soti, general manager of Onehunga St Vincent de Paul’s said she’s seeing overcrowded households reaching out for support.

“When we do our food parcels, it’s for a family of 10, a family of 12, a family of 14, four-bedroom house, garages used up.

“It’s still a significant problem; there’s still not enough houses out there.”

Calls for more research funding

Professor Deidre Brown, a director of MĀPIHI, the Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre said more research is needed to discover the true the extent of homelessness in Aotearoa.

“The hidden nature of this homelessness will only be exacerbated by a lack of data around this.

“It’s already hidden when people are couch surfing and living in garages.

“But when we don’t have people going out and finding the extent of the problem and whether or not that issue is growing, we really can’t make good decisions around housing provision in the future.”

But she said there currently isn’t the funding.

“It concerns me that the changes in the research funding landscape that the current coalition government have instigated over recent years makes it even more difficult to obtain the funding to undertake that research.”

Homelessness in Auckland more than doubles since the year to September

The National Homelessness Data Project was created by The Salvation Army and Community Housing Aotearoa, with Kāhui Tū Kaha, Christchurch Methodist Mission, Housing First Backbone, Wellington City Mission, Downtown Community Ministry.

The project’s latest six-monthly survey showed homelessness in Auckland has more than doubled from 426 to 940 people in the year to September.

It found homelessness is spreading beyond city centres into suburbs and people are being moved from one place to another.

Women and older people are being increasingly impacted, with four out of five homeless women identifying as Māori.

Welfare changes hitting hard

A Citizens Advice Bureau report released last week found because of welfare changes, people are losing the cars they live in and are struggling meet basic living costs.

The report, Mana Āki – Dignity for All, is based on over 10,000 requests to the Citizens Advice Bureau. It calls for the welfare system to accommodate for the complexity of people’s real-life circumstances and to treat people with dignity.

It found government policies such as benefit sanctions, tighter emergency housing criteria and cuts to community services had worsened hardship.

In September this year, the government funded an extra 300 social homes through Housing First and put $10 million towards support services for people sleeping rough.

Ministry of Social Development staff were also told to use greater discretion when looking at emergency housing applications.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith is currently seeking advice on additional measures to enhance safety in Aotearoa’s CBDs, including the potential use of move-on orders for rough sleepers.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Warning: This story discusses graphic details of sexual abuse

A judge has told jurors in the trial of a man accused of sexually abusing a boy into his teenage years that their deliberation will depend on the reliability of key witness evidence.

Michael Ian Mclean has been on trial in the Auckland District Court, facing 33 charges, including performing indecent acts on a person under 16, grooming and sexual violation.

His defence call the allegations nonsense, claiming they never happened.

Judge Simon Lance summed up the case on Wednesday. He took the jury through their function in deciding on a verdict, as well as guiding them through a recap of arguments on both sides.

Judge Lance pointed jurors to evidence given by Mclean and his alleged victim, who could not be named.

“Your deliberations and your ultimate verdicts will – I suggest, as is often the case in trials as such as this and subject to the legal directions I give you – depend largely on what you make of the credibility and the reliability of these two critical witnesses,” Lance told the jury.

He reminded jurors of the evidence given by both Mclean and the complainant.

Lance noted the detail in the complainant’s evidence and how, when cross-examined by Mclean’s defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC on if he was lying, he said he could not make up that level of detail.

In Mclean’s evidence, he said the allegations were not true and that the physical acts alleged did not happen, Lance told jurors.

“Mr Mclean was cross-examined and, during that cross-examination, he maintained his position, he maintained his stance that these things simply did not happen.”

Jurors were taken through material about the misconceptions of sexual abuse, something the judge alluded to at the beginning of the trial.

“You will recall that, at the very start of the trial, given the nature of it – that is, it involves allegations of sexual offending – I gave you a generic direction about there being no such thing as a typical sexual offence, no such thing as a typical offender, no such thing as a typical person who is offended against,” Lance told jurors.

The jury has retired for deliberation.

Sexual Violence

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police investigating the homicide of a Rotorua man are urging residents near where he died to check their properties for items the offender may have left behind.

Nicholas Patrick Mitchell, 37, was found dead in a vehicle on Ford Road in the city shortly before 8:30pm on Friday.

Police said inquiries suggest his injuries are not consistent with a crash.

Senior Sergeant Mark Van Kempen is asking residents around Ford Road to check their properties for possible evidence.

He said it’s possible the offender discarded clothing, weapons or other items while fleeing the scene.

Police are following a number of leads.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Health New Zealand says there is a new case of measles of Queenstown.

It brings the number of known cases nationally since the response began to 32 – four of which are still infectious.

Health New Zealand said the Queenstown case is linked to overseas travel and is concerned about 25 places of exposure in Queenstown, Akaroa, and Christchurch.

People are urged to check Health New Zealand’s locations of interest page which is regularly updated. Individuals are also encouraged to follow advice for close or casual contacts and to monitor for symptoms.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Putting on a Christmas feast with all the trimmings is not getting any cheaper, and you are already paying more as soon as you fire up the barbecue.

Infometrics has been tracking the cost of a classic Christmas meal for several years, by examining the various ingredients needed for a Christmas dinner.

Chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen told Checkpoint his team had been looking at higher cost increases through the year, and one that really stuck out was the energy costs New Zealanders were facing.

“Electricity price inflation is up 12 percent over the 12 months to November – that’s some of the fastest electricity increases we’ve seen since 1989 – but the big one and the challenge for anybody wanting to do a barbecue is that gas prices are up 17 percent over the last year.

“So just turning the barbecue on gets expensive, before you get into what you’re putting on it.”

Infometrics looked at two different menu options – one barbecue-based with steak, lamb chops, classic salads and sausages on bread; and the other the more classic option of roast lamb, roast pork, ham, potatoes, kumura, pumpkin and beans; along with dessert options for both.

Olsen said a roast meat meal that would feed roughly 10 people would now cost about $200, up from $178 last year, and adding dessert and entrees would come with a price tag of $275.

A barbecue meal would cost about $300 for the core meats, or $380 overall with snacks and dessert.

“So you’re talking $30-$57 more for the entire Christmas meal,” said Olsen. “That might not sound like a huge amount for some people, but honestly for some households, that’s about the entire meal for a lot of people in general, let alone the increase.”

He said meat was “by far the biggest offender” when it came to increased costs, with the classic options like steak or lamb considerably more expensive this year.

However he said there were more affordable options.

“So sirloin steak is going to set you back more than $45 a kilogram, the likes of roast lamb is $25 a kilogram, lamb chops are $23 a kg. But you can get a number of chicken items for anywhere between $7 and $16 a kilo, so considerably lower, and a roast pork, at the moment you can get that for $13 a kg.”

Dessert was also looking more expensive, with egg prices up about 12 percent over the past year.

“They’ve come back a touch, but put it this way, they’re currently costing you about $4.69 on how many eggs I’m putting in my pav, they were less than three bucks for the same amount of eggs just a couple of years ago. So all of that has increased.”

Even the toppings on the Christmas pavlova can add to the increased cost, said Olsen.

“If you’re putting kiwifruit on at the moment, it’s 44 percent more expensive than it was last year. If you’re having to put your sultanas into your figgy pudding, that’s 31 percent more expensive than last year, so there are much bigger costs that are starting to really hit.”

Olsen said the Christmas season was the biggest stress test on family finances.

“Not only do you have all the food costs, it’s also the time that you do the most spending.

“If we look at card activity in the economy, we know the month of December is still the biggest spend-up, because we all go and get our Christmas presents, we go and do the Boxing Day sales afterwards.

“All of that normal stress that comes with Christmas, you add money into the mix and it’s pretty potent.”

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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 family is complaining to Jetstar after their elderly father was injured during an unexpected overnight layover.

The 77-year-old seriously injured his face and hands after faceplanting on the concrete when he was forced to wait outside while the airport was closed.

Jetstar said it offered to reimburse them for overnight accommodation but they chose to wait at the airport instead, but the man’s daughter said they weren’t made aware the airport would be closed.

Rachel Cargill and her father were due to fly direct from Australia’s Gold Coast early Monday morning when the airline suddenly cancelled their flight.

“We got up 4:30 Monday morning, and there was an email from Jetstar advising us that our flight had been cancelled due to, apparently, staffing issues, and there was a link offering different flights for us,” she said.

“Every single one of those flights had a stopover of at least 10 hours in either Sydney or Melbourne.”

After considering their options, the Cargills settled for an evening flight to Sydney followed by an early morning flight to Auckland, with a 9-hour overnight layover in between.

“They did state in the email that they would reimburse us for any hotel costs, or for some of the hotel costs if we chose to get one. We chose not to, and we figured we would probably just crash in the airport in Sydney somewhere until our flight,” Rachel Cargill said.

It wasn’t until they had settled in for the evening that a security guard told them they would be kicked out between 11:30pm and 2:30am.

“He said, ‘oh, and by the way, we’re closing at 11:30 for three hours, so you will be kicked out.’ We weren’t the only ones, there were other people, and most of the seats [outside] were taken up outside with people lying on them sleeping. We managed to find one in the car park. It was raining, and it was cold,” she said.

“We got a bit cold at about one o’clock, so we decided to go for a wander around the outside of the airport to see if we could find a better spot. And as we were walking around, Dad didn’t see the gutter, and he just fell over face first… He just fell face first onto the tarmac.”

“[He] damaged his face and ripped the fingertips off his hand, and there was blood everywhere. And I’ll give credit to the security guard at the airport. He saw it happen and came over and helped us and got us some help.”

After arriving in Auckland the next day, she said her father was treated for a broken hand.

The family was initially worried the wounds on his face would require plastic surgery, but he was later given stitches.

Cargill said Jetstar should have warned them that the airport would be closed during the night.

“It would have been nice if they told us that. We may have organised a room [if we knew]. I mean, it would have only been for a few hours and a total waste of money, but it would have been better than stuck outside in the rain and the cold.”

In a statement to RNZ, Jetstar said it was “very concerned” to hear about the man’s experience.

A spokesperson noted that customers were given 11 different options for alternative flights, though Cargill said their choices had dwindled quickly as other passengers snapped them up immediately.

“We emailed customers advising we would assist with reasonable overnight accommodation costs and if needed, customers could also speak to an airport team member for help finding accommodation,” a spokesperson for Jetstar said.

“We’re sorry to learn what happened during his time in Sydney. Our customer care team will be in contact to discuss his experience.”

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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 arrested in central Auckland for carrying a samurai sword, which some members of the public mistook for a gun.

Police say they were initially called at around 4pm when a member of the public thought they saw a man with a gun on Upper Queen Street.

Armed police rushed to the scene but couldn’t substantiate the presence of any firearms.

Police later tracked down a man carrying a samurai sword wrapped in a jacket on nearby Vincent Street.

He was arrested and police say he will be charged with possessing an offensive weapon.

“There is no information to suggest that this samurai sword was presented at any member of the public,” a spokesperson clarified.

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