NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

• The Office of the Auditor-General has found no issue with the wait list numbers for first specialist appointments at Nelson Hospital.
• It comes after two unions raised concerns about placeholder clinics being booked for patients, who had not been seen. They still want to know why “dummy clinics” are being used.
• Health NZ welcomes the findings, which it says shows its administration approach had not affected first specialist assessment health target reporting.

The Office of the Auditor-General says it has found no evidence of wait list numbers being misrepresented at Nelson Hospital, but the unions which raised concerns say it does not explain why “dummy clinics” were set up to manage patients.

Last July, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation flagged that people at Nelson Hospital were possibly being removed from the waiting list despite not having been seen by a specialist.

At the time, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the hospital was booking “ghost appointments” to make it look like their targets were being met.

Assistant Auditor-General Russell Bates said it looked at the issue as part of its annual audit of Health NZ and found patients had been removed from the waiting list only when they attended a specialist appointment, or for another valid reason.

He said the Nelson Marlborough District had allocated 24 patients, who had been on a wait list for more than two years, to a “dummy clinic” with a “do not contact” marker.

It served as a holding code while actual additional clinics were arranged.

Bates said the explanation was that it changed the status of patients from “unbooked” to “booked” but it had found patients remained on the waiting list until seen, or until they were removed for another valid reason.

“We can confirm that all 24 patients allocated to a dummy clinic were still included in the first specialist assessment waiting list as at 31 March and 30 June 2025, and the ‘referral date’ had not been altered. These patients are removed from the waiting list only when they attend a specialist appointment, or are removed for another valid reason.

“In other words, the process of setting up a dummy clinic was an administrative action that did not affect patients’ waiting list status for the purpose of reporting on the health target.”

Health NZ said it welcomed the Office of the Auditor-General’s finding that there was no misrepresentation of waiting list numbers and its administration approach had not affected first specialist assessment health target reporting.

It had contracted consulting firm EY to conduct an independent review of the accuracy of the first specialist appointment health target reporting.

Unions still seeking answers

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton questioned why “dummy clinics” had been used and if other hospitals were also using them to manage patient numbers.

“Effectively they’re still explaining themselves by saying this is a way of grouping patients together who need to be seen, who are breaching the waiting times and who we can’t see because we’re not properly staffed and resourced to do this in a timely fashion.

“It doesn’t really matter what you call it. If people are still waiting somewhere on a list and there’s no ability to see them because of resource and constraints, and we know that’s the case at Nelson, they’re rationing access to care.”

She said that was not the fault of the clinicians but a decision made by the health system and the way it was funded and organised and that some people were missing out on care, or waiting “way longer” than was clinically advised.

Waiting lists were matters of public interest and decisions made by Health NZ on how they were managed should be open for public scrutiny, she said.

The Office of the Auditor-General said Health NZ had contracted EY to conduct an independent review of the accuracy of the first specialist appointment health target reporting and the union was yet to see a copy of it.

It is said to address some of the administrative challenges encountered by Health NZ arising from variations across districts.

“If you look at the distribution of access to care for certain conditions around the country, it’s not equitable, it’s not fair. There is further disadvantage if you’re a woman, if you’re Māori, if you’re Pasifika, if you live in a smaller centre, if you live rurally, your access to care is not as good,” Dalton said.

“We still don’t have any kind of a plan or answers from Health New Zealand about how they plan to properly staff and resource all of their hospitals so that people can access care in our public health system within a reasonable time frame.”

Dalton said she understood work was underway to improve wait times and access to care in Nelson and Marlborough, but there was still a lot to be done.

“Although there is some positive change, such as an uptick in numbers of junior doctors being employed at Nelson, there is a long way to go.”

NZ Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter said its members had raised the issue out of concern for their patients.

“Using an internal code of ‘do not contact’ with five minute appointments didn’t pass the sniff test and concerned the Office of the Auditor-General enough to investigate,” he said.

“It still makes little sense and Te Whatu Ora has yet to explain why Nelson Hospital had to set up ‘dummy clinics’ to establish additional clinics.”

Goulter said NZNO would continue to support its members to advocate for their patients.

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

A panel investigating the behaviour of a judge accused of disrupting an NZ First event has heard from its first witnesses today, members of the NZ First party.

District Court Judge Ema Aitken is before a Judicial Conduct panel over allegations she yelled at party leader Winston Peters, calling him a liar, and saying comments he made were disgusting, during an event at Auckland’s Northern Club in 2024.

The judge said she did not shout, did not recognise Peters’ voice when she responded to remarks she overheard, and did not know it was a political event.

The Judicial Conduct Panel was responsible for reporting on the judge’s conduct, finding the facts, and ultimately recommending if the judge should be removed.

On Wednesday, the panel heard from NZ First party secretary and deputy chief of staff Holly Howard, who provided details on the night in question and who allegedly blocked the judge from entering the event.

Later in the afternoon, panellists heard evidence from Dorothy Jones, an NZ First board member and the person who organised the event.

She spoke not only about the disruption not just of a “woman in yellow” yelling, but also that of Auckland lawyer Michael Reed KC.

In a video played to the panel, Reed can be seen trying to film inside the NZ First event, despite being told numerous times it was not allowed to.

At one point in the video, Reed cautions those trying to stop him they shouldn’t touch him, else they ‘be sued for a lot of money’.

Jones rang the Northern Club the following day to report the disturbances of the night prior.

“Primarily, it was in relation to Mr Reed wasn’t it […] because you understood him to be a litigious man,” asked Aitken’s lawyer David Jones KC.

“Hostile,” Dorothy Jones replied.

Aitken’s lawyer asked if Reed was the main concern for the party over what had happened that evening.

“Correct,” Jones replied.

Jones also recalled seeing a woman at the door of the event, yelling.

“I recalled the woman yelled words to the effect that the speaker was a liar, ‘how could you let him lie,'” she said.

“At this point Holly and I managed to escort the woman away from the doors.”

Dorothy Jones said she and Howard had been tried to usher the woman away at the event.

Jones KC pressed the witness on whether she and Howard put hands on the woman.

“We didn’t physically do anything, we just asked her to leave and we escorted her with our open arms,” Dorothy Jones said.

Jones KC asked what she meant by open arms.

“As in we were [ushering],” she said, “not touching.”

Jones KC scrutinised the witnesses recollection of events, where people were standing and the timelines of the evening.

He asked about a report of the incident made by NZ First to the Northern Club following the incident.

Jones KC said mention of the woman who yelled wasn’t in the Northern Club report, despite the witness saying she had mentioned it.

“Did you raise that with the Northern Club, ‘hey the report isn’t accurate because I mentioned these other things as well,'” he asked.

“No, I didn’t,” Dorothy Jones responded.

“Is that because the incident so called with the woman in the yellow dress was really a nothing,” Jones KC said.

Dorothy Jones denied that, to which Jones KC did suggested she hadn’t mentioned it because it wasn’t important enough to actually say.

“I did mention it,” she reiterated.

Dorothy Jones said she had privacy concerns for the donors present at the event.

“Not physical safety,” David Jones KC asked.

“No,” said Dorothy Jones.

The inquiry continues tomorrow.

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

Children’s Minister Karen Chhour is yet to front questions on a scathing coroner’s report into the death of Malachi Subecz.

Coroner Janet Anderson report found everything possible went wrong for the 5-year-old in the last six months of his life.

Senior Cabinet Ministers have expressed shock at the report; Child Povery Reduction Minister Louise Upston taking a series of questions on it before Question Time this afternoon.

Chhour, who has responsibility for Oranga Tamariki, has declined requests for a short interview on the coroner’s report today.

RNZ first contacted her office to arrange an interview this morning, given the minister does not walk through reporter scrums at Parliament due to hearing issues.

In response to a follow-up query a few hours later, a spokesperson said they were “struggling to find even a free 2 mins in the Minister’s diary”.

Chhour was seen at a promotional event, showcasing the red meat sector for National Lamb Day, on the Speaker’s Lawn about lunchtime.

When that was raised with her office, the spokesperson replied: “Sorry she needed to eat”.

Anderson’s report highlighted serious concerns about the pace at which Oranga Tamariki has improved its system in response to Malachi’s death.

“They are not happpening fast enough,” she said.

She pointed out a previous system-wide review, led by the late Dame Karen Poutasi, recommended Oranga Tamariki run a public awareness campaign to help anyone identify possible signs of abuse and how to take action – but that had still not happened.

“It is hard to understand why this has not yet happened given the Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive’s statutory duties, and the previous recommendations that have been made about this matter, including by Dame Poutasi over three years ago.”

She recommended Oranga Tamariki prioritise and roll out an awareness campaign, and that “it must no longer be delayed”.

Chhour’s office provided a statement just before 6pm Wednesday night.

“I agree with Coroner Janet Anderson assessment that Malachi Subecz was the victim of unspeakable cruelty and deliberate evil, which no child should ever have to endure.

“My heart goes out to everyone who loved and cared for Malachi, for whom today’s findings will be incredibly painful.

“The Centre for Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention (the Centre) and Oranga Tamariki are supporting the work being led by MSD to implement recommendations from Dame Karen Poutasi’s report into the death of Malachi Subecz.”

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

Gore’s famous giant brown trout statue is angling for an official name.

The sculpture – designed by local artist Erroll Allison and built by a local engineering firm – has proudly stood in Gore for almost 40 years.

The statue, capturing a trout mid-leap, is finally getting a name as part of a competition to promote the Southland town’s On The Fly Festival on the Mataura River later this month.

Gore District Council senior events co-ordinator Florine Potts told Checkpoint that there had been “heaps” of suggestions, with Trouty McTroutface one of the first to come through – “Someone had to do it.”

Potts said the list of initial names had been slimmed down to five finalists – Trixie, Scout, Trevor, Gordon or Finn.

“Voting has only opened on Monday, so people still have a lot of time to vote.

“Everyone can vote, they can go on our socials or text our local radio station. If you come to Gore, you can have an opinion on it.”

Potts said they were hoping other towns with giant statues of local animals and produce will follow suit and name their own statues.

She said locals were looking forward to being able to stop referring to it as just “the trout”, but said whatever the name, it would always be a true Gore icon.

“People come and visit and take photos with the trout. Everyone knows the trout.”

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

The Teaching Council needs to focus more on children’s safety and less on being liked by teachers, according to an independent review.

The review of the teacher registration body has called for significant transformation and more emphasis on its role as a regulator.

It has been published while the council’s chief executive Lesley Hoskin is on leave during a Public Service Commission review of the council’s procurement and conflict of interest practices, and amid widespread opposition to a government overhaul of the council.

The document – provided to RNZ by the council – said the council’s current statutory purpose was “to ensure safe and high-quality leadership, teaching, and learning in early childhood, primary, and secondary education through raising the status of the profession”.

It said the government was moving to cut the reference to raising the status of teaching and the review was aimed at establishing future opportunities in light of wider education reforms.

The report said those opportunities included shifting the council’s mindset “from the current focus on promoting respect for the profession and being liked by the profession to a prevention and stewardship mindset, focussed on improving child safety and the quality of teaching, and growing public trust and confidence in the profession”.

“The current focus on the mana of teachers and the profession must be properly balanced with the council’s’ statutory responsibilities to protect children from the sorts of competency and conduct breaches that create lifelong harm and trauma,” the report said.

“The council needs to lead the education sector to improve performance in preventing incompetence or misconduct while simultaneously shifting its focus from managing the consequences of misconduct to addressing the causes.”

Education Minister Erica Stanford told the Education and Workforce Select Committee on Wednesday the review vindicated the government’s moves to overhaul the council and take greater control over teacher education.

The review said the council appeared to have the culture of an advocacy body rather than of a regulatory or membership body.

“While there may be times when the council advocates for the profession, these must be balanced with its other roles and functions,” the report said.

“In spite of the statutory requirement to have regard to the policy of the government of the day, the agency does not appear to see itself as part of the wider state sector, within which the teaching profession sits.”

The review said the council should use its rich data about teachers to identify patterns and help tackle negative trends and risks.

“For example, the council’s registration teams can see the current trend towards increasing numbers of foreign trained teachers, which if extrapolated, will see up to 30 percent of the workforce foreign trained by 2035. They might also see patterns about where in the system probationary teachers are not reaching the standards required for permanent registration, or where leaders may appear to be ‘tick boxing’ certification applications.”

The report expressed concern that the council had recently lost qualified teachers and expert investigators from its staff.

It said the council had a strongly mission-driven and committed culture, but there were signs of dominant cliques that might “freeze out” those who did not agree with it.

“The executive has sometimes appeared, to some interviewees, to prioritise pliability over relevant experience and technical expertise,” it said.

The report warned that the level of change required at the council was significant and would need careful planning and management.

Last year the council’s acting chief executive [. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/581901/teaching-council-interim-ceo-resigns-from-board-for-avoidance-of-doubt-chair-says resigned his seat] on the council’s governing board after RNZ inquiries into the legality of the dual roles

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

Otago University is urging students to “stay off roofs” after a young man was critically injured falling from a building at the Dunedin campus.

The man was in Dunedin Hospital, after being found by campus staff shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

Police said the injured man was not a student at the university.

The Otago Daily Times reported the young man fell from the Centre for Innovation building near the intersection of Cumberland and Saint David streets.

In a statement, university vice-chancellor Grant Robertson said staff acted quickly and alerted emergency services after finding the man.

“Staff are continuing to work closely with police and providing assistance where possible. As this is a police investigation, we are unable to provide further details about the incident,” he said.

Ahead of Otago University’s O-week celebrations, the university was outlining the importance of safe decision-making.

“With students returning to the city, we strongly encourage everyone to look out for one another, make safe choices and seek help early if they have concerns. Our Campus Watch staff are available 24/7 to assist students in the North Dunedin community,” Robertson said.

Campus Watch staff had begun door-knocking flats in North Dunedin, Robertson said.

“We provide practical information on personal safety, property security, safe behaviour in two-storey flats, avoiding climbing on roofs, waste and recycling requirements and other matters important to a safe start to the year.

“I cannot stress enough about the importance of staying off roofs. The tragic outcomes of that are well-known and we do not want anyone, or their friends and whānau to have to experience that.”

Otago University student and age-grade rugby representative Jayden Broome was still recovering from a critical brain injury, after falling from the roof of a two-storey Dunedin flat in September last year.

The 19-year-old spent four months in hospital and was unable to eat for 115 days following the fall, The Southland Tribune reported last week.

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

Some mayors in the Wellington region have weighed in on the Moa Point sewage plant failure and who should pay for it.

The facility started pumping raw sewage into the ocean off the south coast after it completely failed early Wednesday morning last week.

On the following Thursday evening, the raw sewage was diverted from being dumped near the coast to a 1.8km outfall pipe.

Wellington Water had warned it may need to use the short outfall pipe if it were to rain in the city.

Mayor Andrew Little said the Moa Point plant was a Wellington City Council asset, and it would deal with who pays once the plan to get the plant back online was in place.

In the meantime, the council would foot the bill.

“If there’s been a breach of obligations, a breach of duties, then that – to me – has to be sorted out between the parties. In the meantime, the critical thing is to get the [plant] recovered, fixed and back operating. The Wellington City Council will no doubt underwrite that cost.

“We want to know what went wrong, where the responsibility lies and if we can recover any costs, then obviously we want to do that.”

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said councils were waiting to see what an independent inquiry into the meltdown revealed – and who should pay – to repair the plant.

Baker supported Wellington Water and said the failure could have happened to almost any plant in the region. She said the problems at Moa Point reflected nearly 50 years of councils declining to invest in water infrastructure.

Upper Hutt Mayor Peri Zee supported calls for an independent inquiry into the facility’s failings.

“We absolutely need to see accountability and in principle costs apportioned by who is at fault.”

South Wairarapa Mayor Fran Wilde said there was no reason her district should help pay to repair Moa Point. Wilde said her council had stopped Wellington Water from running its assets, and the two would part ways in June.

She said capital works had already been delivered more swiftly and at lower cost without Wellington Water.

A Hutt City Council spokesperson said they fully supported an independent review.

“It’s early days, and at this point we haven’t been provided with any information regarding the potential repair costs or if that cost would be shared across the wider Wellington region.”

The spokesperson said the council would not speculate on what might happen until the facts were on the table.

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

There is concern that some behaviour at Dunedin’s annual ‘Flo’ and ‘O’ weeks is out of control and highly dangerous, with students clambering onto roofs.

A young man was critically injured on Wednesday after falling about 10 metres from an Otago University building, with a wine bottle found on a ledge.

While he was not a student, police were calling for others to avoid rising similar injuries – which were becoming more common.

“Unfortunately, it seems to be becoming more and more prevalent,” senior sergeant Craig Dinnissen told Checkpoint.

“Flo Week never used to be a thing. It has become more of a thing in the last couple of years and the climbing on roofs has been around since the Hyde Street unmanaged events, which just leads to absolute significant risk and injury when it does go wrong.”

Dinnissen said police had engaged with numerous people to get off roofs and passed their details onto their university for further discussion.

He suggested that students had too much time to get into trouble, with classes yet to start.

“There’s absolutely nothing to do with university … there’s no classes, nothing at all,” Dinnissen said.

It is seven nights of various street parties, excessive drinking and just some poor behaviour and poor decision making, he said.

He said it was the first time away from home for many students, and with nothing else to do, evenings could often get “feral”, with illicit substances also a factor.

Dinnissen said wastewater testing indicated that this time of year was “high use”, with police resources stretched to ensure the safety of everyone.

“It takes a huge amount of time from us, from normal court policing,” he said.

Out of towners joining the parties was another factor.

“We have people travelling all the way from Auckland to come down to partake in the festivities here, both Flo and O Week,” Dinnissen said.

“Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, university students, people from all around the area as well.”

Dinnissen said while police could generally handle local students, people that come from outside the region often had no respect for the environment and the situation they put themselves in.

Without putting an end to the parties, he called for a “significant culture change” and for students to embrace social responsibility.

“These are supposed to be new young adults that are going to lead us into the future,” he said.

“We can’t really hold their hand in that sense, to realise that things are getting out of hand.”

Dinnissen said the last thing police ever wanted to do was to knock on somebody’s door and say your daughter or your son was in hospital.

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