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Source: Radio New Zealand

Police are searching for a man who escaped custody while on a hospital escort in Auckland last week.

A warrant to arrest 42-year-old Paul Kyle Peekay Rehua has been issued by police, who believe he is in the wider Waitematā area.

Mt Eden Corrections Facility acting general manager Edith Pattinson confirmed to RNZ on Tuesday a remand prisoner escaped from Corrections staff about 9am on Friday while on a hospital escort.

Police believed he was actively avoiding authorities.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz and finn.blackwell@rnz.co.nz

They said Rehua was known to frequent both the greater Auckland and Waikato regions, and were appealing for anyone who may have seen him or those with information that could help in finding him to get in contact.

Earlier this week, Pattinson said public safety was a top priority.

“Any escape is unacceptable and an immediate review into how this incident occurred is being carried out.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Associate Education Minister David Seymour says contracting a non-existent trust to set up a charter school was “a bit of a screw up”.

But he said the sport-focused charter school would still go ahead.

The Charter School Agency signed a contract for the NZ Performance Academy Aoteaora with the NZPAA Charitable Trust, but the trust was not listed on the Charities Register.

The agency has been unable to clarify for RNZ the legal status of the contract.

Seymour initially told reporters on Thursday the trust did exist, but his office later clarified he meant the school’s sponsor existed.

He said the sponsor changed some of its arrangements, but the name of the sponsor was not changed on the contract.

“On the contract they still had the old name. So obviously, bit of a screw-up administratively but fundamentally the people are there, the students are there, the government’s there and that partnership will continue,” he said.

“There’s not actually a problem to be addressed here. The school’s going to be there, the students are going to be there. Everyone’s very excited about it and the administrative error can be easily fixed.”

Seymour said he had confidence in the agency’s processes.

“I do, because one administrative error when they’ve opened nearly 18 schools at record speed, I think is pretty good.”

He said the agency was not rushing to approve schools before next year’s election.

“I don’t think they’re being rushed for that purpose. I think they’ve been overwhelmed with interest. They’ve had over 100 different organisations that want to run charter schools. They’ve got to assess them all, contract the ones that we can afford to to open right now, and then monitor how they perform,” he said.

“There’s a huge amount of interest in charter schools, which has put pressure, but generally I’m pretty pleased with the way the charter school agency’s responded to that pressure.”

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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 are searching for a man who escaped custody while on a hospital escort in Auckland last week.

A warrant to arrest 42-year-old Paul Kyle Peekay Rehua has been issued by police, who believe he is in the wider Waitematā area.

Mt Eden Corrections Facility acting general manager Edith Pattinson confirmed to RNZ on Tuesday a remand prisoner escaped from Corrections staff about 9am on Friday while on a hospital escort.

Police believed he was actively avoiding authorities.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz and finn.blackwell@rnz.co.nz

They said Rehua was known to frequent both the greater Auckland and Waikato regions, and were appealing for anyone who may have seen him or those with information that could help in finding him to get in contact.

Earlier this week, Pattinson said public safety was a top priority.

“Any escape is unacceptable and an immediate review into how this incident occurred is being carried out.”

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

New Zealand’s climbdown on its methane emissions target and an agricultural emissions tax is dangerous and embarrassing, an international climate science and policy expert says.

Speaking from the COP30 global climate summit in Brazil, Dr Bill Hare said the New Zealand government’s recent policy decisions were “completely contrary” to scientific consensus.

“It is unbelievable this has happened against a background of a rapidly warming planet, and increasing scientific concern that methane emissions have to be reduced absolutely and quickly,” he told RNZ.

The government announced last month it would lower New Zealand’s methane emissions target, from a 24-47 percent reduction by 2050 to a 14-24 percent reduction, considered sufficient to meet a ‘no additional warming’ goal, compared to 2017 levels.

Hare, a physicist and former lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is currently the chief executive of the non-profit Climate Analytics.

He was responding to remarks made to RNZ by climate change minister Simon Watts, who said he was prepared to explain the rationale for the new methane target to other delegates at COP.

“If we get questions around that, which will potentially be the case, particularly from other countries that have pastoral farming systems, then we’ll be dialoguing on that,” Watts said.

Hare said it was “difficult to understand how New Zealand can make a constructive contribution to COP30 with this kind of attitude.

“Methane has contributed to around one third of warming so far, and I would be extremely worried if New Zealand, proportionally a country with a very large agriculture sector, were to be touting its methane rollbacks here in Brazil.”

The adoption of a ‘no additional warming’ target, rather than pursuing more ambitious reductions, was “an embarrassing and humiliating capture by industry”, he said.

“[It] is very dangerous at a time we have to reduce the warming impact of methane – and very, very quickly.”

There was a global agreement to reduce methane, he said.

New Zealand remains a signatory to the Global Methane Pledge, where several dozen countries have pledged to globally lower methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels, by 2030.

“There has been a global agreement to reduce methane – and what New Zealand has done is completely contrary to this. It seems hell-bent on maintaining methane at today’s high and unsustainable levels.”

Ralph Sims, an emeritus professor in sustainable energy and climate mitigation at Massey University, also said the New Zealand delegation might face awkward questions.

“I don’t think New Zealand is going to be held in high regard,” he said.

“There may be some agricultural countries … that might look over the fence to see what New Zealand’s got in mind, but I don’t think there’s going to be a huge acceptance of what the government is planning at the moment.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Two of the boards that spoke out over the government’s axing of their Treaty of Waitangi obligations say they are getting strong support.

Some boards made public statements reiterating their commitment to the Treaty after the government announced it would cut a Treaty requirement from the Education and Training Act.

It was not clear how many of the more than 2000 state schools had made a statement.

However, tallies kept by the School Boards Association and lawyer Tania Waikato showed more than 200 schools had written to the Education Minister Erica Stanford or confirmed they would continue to uphold the treaty and the number was growing.

The association expected that number to rise because most boards would not have met since the government last week announced that it would cut the Treaty obligation this week.

The board of Dyer Street School in the Hutt Valley said upholding the Treaty was the right thing to do for its students.

The board’s presiding member Matt Weldon-Smith told RNZ the school wrote its own statement.

He said the Treaty was important to the school.

“I know it’s a bit of a political football, but it’s not really a political issue to us. It feels more like an ethical, educational one. So, that honouring Te Tiriti ensures every child feels valued, respected and represented in their learning,” he said.

Weldon-Smith said community reaction has been incredibly positive.

“It’s clearly touched people and it’s been one of probably our most reactive messages we put out this year,” he said.

“Looking at the comments… it’s almost overwhelmingly positive and supportive.”

The board of Queens High in Dunedin said in an online statement its commitment to the Treaty was not a compliance exercise.

Its presiding member Kate Kaddell told RNZ the Treaty was fundamental for schools in an inclusive society.

“What it means for us is that when we are making decisions, we look at them through a lens of equity and cultural responsiveness and inclusion,” she said.

She said the school made a public statement to assure its community that it followed through on what it said.

Kaddell said the school had about 600 students and reaction from its community was positive.

“As at this afternoon I can see 1600 engagements,” she said.

“If you look at the emojis as a data point, there’s only one angry red face and the rest in that number – 912 loves, 745 thumbs-up, 14 caring signs, and one sadness emoji. So that’s quite a a snapshot of affirmation for our community.”

Meanwhile, a petition by the Iwi Chairs Forum calling for reinstatement of the Treaty clause had 13,275 signatures by late Thursday afternoon.

The government has said the Treaty is an obligation for the Crown, not schools.

It said schools should be focused on ensuring high achievement for all students, not on figuring out how to give effect to the Treaty.

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