NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s been revealed Kmart NZ’s sold tens of thousands of pots of potentially asbestos-laced children’s play sand.

The retail giant has sold 67,000 units of coloured children’s sand across the four products. That number doesn’t include suspect products sold through different retailers.

The sand has been sold at Kmart for several years, with the pink magic sand sales dating back to 2015, according to the Product Safety website.

In a statement, Kmart apologised for the inconvenience caused by the recalled products. It said whenever there is any potential risk associated with a product, they act “swiftly and proactively”.

Kmart has withdrawn all sand-based toys from sale as a precaution.

It said the risk that any asbestos found is likely to be airborne or fine enough for inhalation is low.

The sand is part of a massive recall that’s expanded even further on Thursday.

The latest contaminated item added to the list is 380 gram pots of craft sand in 15 different colours.

Samples of the product, which are sold in dozens of cut price retailers and dollar stores, have tested positive for asbestos.

MBIE and other agencies are proactively testing samples from other similar products that are available in New Zealand.

Testing of other play sands in New Zealand is ongoing, MBIE said.

“MBIE and other agencies are proactively testing samples from other similar products identified available in the New Zealand market. We are expecting to receive the first further results later this week and will update our partners and New Zealanders as they are received,” an MBIE spokesperson said.

Some councils have set up drop-offs sites for the recalled products.

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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 say they believe two incidents – where one man died and another suffered serious injuries – in Waikanae on Wednesday are related.

Three men aged 20, 25 and 26 are facing charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after a man was found critically injured in Kakariki Grove about 3.15pm.

At the time, Detective Inspector Jamie Woods said the man died at the scene despite medical attention.

On Thursday, Woods said police were treating the death as a homicide and further charges were “currently being considered”.

He said another man was found with serious injuries just over eight kilometres away in Hadleigh Court, Paraparaumu at about 4.25pm on Wednesday.

“We believe the incidents in Kakariki Grove and Hadleigh Court are related, and we are working to establish exactly what has occurred, and to identify and locate anyone else who may have been involved,” Woods said.

A neighbour of the Kakariki Grove address told RNZ they were outside on Wednesday afternoon when they heard loud voices and what “appeared to be a gunshot”.

“Then the screaming got louder and there was a second shot, I think.”

The person said the commotion was followed by the sound of cars “taking off down the street”.

They said neighbours were a little bit nervous and shaken up.

Woods appealed to members of the public who had information about either incident to get in touch.

“A large number of officers from across Wellington District have been deployed to assist in this investigation, and Waikanae residents can expect to see a continued police presence in the Kakariki Grove and Hadleigh Court areas as we continue our enquiries,” Woods said.

Another neighbour told RNZ armed police were stationed outside the property on Thursday morning.

“They’re the big guns, not the small ones.”

They said there were tents and plastic on the ground at the house and residents were signing in and out of the street cordon.

Residents were “battening down,” they said.

“It’s kinda freaky.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Concerned parents and teachers have been bagging up and delivering children’s play sand which could be contaminated with asbestos to designated council centres.

The products had been sold in both New Zealand and Australia and subject to multiple safety recalls.

At the Auckland Council asbestos lab in Auckland’s Grafton, Kedgley Intermediate learning and support coordinator Jane Goodill was shocked to learn they had the sand at her school.

She said she felt “horror” when she realised.

“We had some of the sand. I looked at the bar code and found it was a different bar code than the recalled ones but it was the same product, same colours, same seller, but different weight.”

To be perfectly safe, she said it was decided to get rid of it.

Adrian Blake, an Auckland father, said he and his wife were “pretty shocked” when they heard about the recall.

He said his children had played with the sand.

“I’m shocked that the product standard hasn’t been met. Surprised for a product that kids play with that it wasn’t checked more.”

Blake said he was pleased the council had come up with a solution for families unsure of what to do with the sand.

Auckland Council set up a drop-off site for the sand at the council asbestos lab on Kari St in Grafton.

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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 crash south of Hokitika on the West Coast has left eight people injured, four seriously.

The multi-vehicle crash happened on State Highway 6 near Donoghues Road in Ross, shortly after 1pm on Thursday.

St John says two people in a serious condition were flown by helicopter to Christchurch Hospital and two others were taken to Greymouth Hospital.

Two people in a moderate condition and two with minor injuries were also taken to Greymouth.

The highway is closed between Kakapotahi and Ross and is expected to be blocked for some time.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Concerned parents and teachers have been bagging up and delivering children’s play sand which could be contaminated with asbestos to designated council centres.

The products had been sold in both New Zealand and Australia and subject to multiple safety recalls.

At the Auckland Council asbestos lab in Auckland’s Grafton, Kedgley Intermediate learning and support coordinator Jane Goodill was shocked to learn they had the sand at her school.

She said she felt “horror” when she realised.

“We had some of the sand. I looked at the bar code and found it was a different bar code than the recalled ones but it was the same product, same colours, same seller, but different weight.”

To be perfectly safe, she said it was decided to get rid of it.

Adrian Blake, an Auckland father, said he and his wife were “pretty shocked” when they heard about the recall.

He said his children had played with the sand.

“I’m shocked that the product standard hasn’t been met. Surprised for a product that kids play with that it wasn’t checked more.”

Blake said he was pleased the council had come up with a solution for families unsure of what to do with the sand.

Auckland Council set up a drop-off site for the sand at the council asbestos lab on Kari St in Grafton.

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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 new Wellington City Council have voted to do a review of the contentious Golden Mile project.

Council officers are now predicting the project, which was budgeted to cost $139 million, could cost up to $220 million.

Some works have already begun on the project, but council officers said in October it was discovered that the Courtenay Place works, which are currently under negotiation, are now expected to exceed budget by $15 to $25 million dollars.

It’s the second time this year a budget blowout has been reported on the project. In August a $20 million blowout was reported, but the project was brought back into budget.

Mayor Andrew Little described the review as the responsible thing to do, he said the cost of the project had got to a level where they could not proceed in good conscious as if nothing had changed.

But he said the objectives of the Golden Mile were good.

Meanwhile Deputy Mayor Ben McNaulty said the council couldn’t afford the cost blow out, particularly in light of recent blow outs with the Town Hall and the Sludge Minimisation Plant.

“We can’t afford it, it’s just that black and white”

Councillor Rebecca Matthews said the council had far too many times pressed paused when they should have pressed fast forward.

She was concerned the review could represent the first step in terminating the project. She said she hoped she was wrong in her fears.

The vote passed with 12 in favour and 4 opposed. Those opposed were Matthews, Laurie Foon, Jonny Osborne and Geordie Rogers.

‘Council needs to create an environment where people can afford to live’

New Eastern Ward Councillor Tiefenbacher told councillors he wanted to be proud, but couldn’t be until the council looked back at the end of the term and saw Wellington was a better place than it is now.

He said the council needed to create an environment where people could afford to live, businesses could thrive and there were opportunities for youth.

Fellow new Eastern Ward Councillor Sam O’Brien said many of the challenges Wellington faced were a result of choices, not chance.

He pointed to an infrastructure deficit, unaffordable rents and water challenges.

“None of this is inevitable it is the consequence of decisions to defer and deflect and hope that someone else will deal with it later.”

He said the council needed to invest in public services that made people’s lives better on a day-to-day basis.

Other councillors who made their maiden speeches were Matthew Reweti, Jonny Osborne, Afnan Al-Rubayee and Andrea Compton.

Some Councillors oppose appointment of Ray Chung as chairperson

While discussing chairperson appointments, new councillor Osborne said he, Foon, Matthews and Rogers did not support Ray Chung’s appointment.

“Undermining the mana and integrity of your colleagues by spreading offensive and misogynistic rumours is not good leadership,” he said.

Early this year former Mayor Tory Whanau released an email Chung sent to three fellow councillors in early 2023 recounting a story he’d been told by his neighbour about the neighbour’s son allegedly having a sexual encounter with the mayor.

But Osborne said as “constructive partners” and recognising this was a decision for the mayor, the green faction would vote in favour of the paper.

The vote passed unopposed.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An engineering issue on a Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Nelson has forced the plane to return to Auckland.

Fire and Emergency said they were called to the airport shortly after 3pm on Thursday, after being told there’d been an “engine shutdown” on the flight.

Nine fire trucks and more than 30 firefighters were on standby at the airport.

St John ambulance also sent more than a dozen ambulances and its major incident support team.

Air New Zealand said the flight landed safely, and its maintenance team will now inspect the aircraft.

It said the plane had an “engineering issue”.

“We regret the inconvenience this has caused our customers travelling to Nelson this afternoon and we are working to get them to their destination as quickly as possible,” said its chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw.

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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 Queenstown Lakes District Council has received two abatement notices following a series of failures at Wānaka’s wastewater treatment plant.

Heavy rain hit last month while the Project Pure Wastewater Plant was being upgraded and working at reduced capacity, causing nitrogen levels to spike and treated wastewater to flood disposal fields and run off.

The Otago Regional Council has since issued the two notices calling for the district council to stop discharging treated wastewater to land without complying with its consent.

One of the abatement notices described effluent flowing down an access road, into a nearby property and forcing grazing stock to drive through it to access other paddocks.

Five of the last 12 consecutive sample results for total nitrogen were “very high”, and at least three of them breached the consented limit this year.

District council property and infrastructure manager Tony Avery said the council was fully cooperating and trying to address the issues to become fully compliant as quickly as possible.

But he acknowledged the situation was disappointing.

“With the recent upgrade work now complete, and all three reactors operating as expected, we’re already seeing material improvements in the treated wastewater quality,” Avery said.

“We will continue to keep the community informed while we work through these issues.”

The Otago Regional Council warned that enforcement officers might do inspections to check compliance.

The district council also reported three wastewater ponding incidents between August and early October.

Another ponding incident was reported on 28 October following the heavy rain and a mechanical failure that reduced the capacity of the plant.

The abatement notice said staff diverted process wastewater to the disposal field.

“However, the disposal field was inundated and could not cope with the volume, causing ponding and the overland flow of wastewater down an access road,” the notice said.

When enforcement officers checked the plant on the same day, they estimated effluent to be about 80 millimetres deep throughout the disposal field zones, sludge with the ponded effluent, an odour on occasions and effluent flowing about 300 metres down an access road.

Some of that was discharging through a culvert and onto an adjacent property.

The effluent runoff flooded an access road to a property, forced stock from grazing areas to drive through the effluent to access other paddocks, contaminated silage and concerns were raised about the impact on the health of people, animals and the paddocks, the notice said.

The council did not rule out prosecution under the Resource Management Act if the district council did not comply.

The latest abatement notices followed a spate of recent compliance issues with two of the district council’s treatment plants.

In June, the Environment Court ruled that the council must fix the issues with its Shotover Wastewater Treatment Plant after it was issued with 10 infringement notices and two abatement notices over about a year and half.

The district council has a permit for its Wānaka treatment plant to discharge no more than 26,400 cubic metres of wastewater to the disposal field per calendar day.

The groundwater quality in the bores sampled are not meant to exceed 11.3 grams per cubic metre of nitrate nitrogen.

It also has conditions requiring no ponding or surface run off of treated wastewater and does not allow the discharge of sludge to land or water apart from to an approved landfill.

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