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Source: Radio New Zealand

Technology, rather than taxing methane emissions, will be what brings New Zealand’s agricultural emissions down, the climate change minister says.

It was “not economically rational” to bring down emissions by reducing the herd size, Simon Watts said.

Watts made the remarks ahead of travelling to Brazil later this week to attend the high-level portion of COP30, the annual global climate summit.

A former climate change commissioner and internationally respected climate scientist, James Renwick, says banking on agritech alone was “risky”. The government should be heading to the summit with a strengthened emissions target, not a weakened one, he said.

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, after a review found that was sufficient to meet a ‘no additional warming’ goal, advocated for by industry.

The government has also ruled out a tax on agricultural methane. The 2050 net-zero carbon target remains in place for now, with the government due to respond this month to advice from the Climate Change commission to shift to a net-negative target.

Watts said he was prepared to explain the rationale for the new methane target at COP, which is being held in Belém in the Amazon.

“What we will be outlining is the work that we’ve done around the resetting of our targets in that area based on the scientific assessment that we’ve undertaken.”

However, he expected most of the interest would come from countries with similar challenges to New Zealand with agricultural methane emissions.

“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.”

Unlike carbon dioxide, which warms the atmosphere for centuries, methane is a short-lived gas but has huge warming potential while it exists.

Reducing methane has attracted growing attention as a way to temporarily curb warming while the world works on technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and remove them from the air.

A ‘Methane Summit’ supported by the COP30 presidency was held in Brazil just before the main summit started, calling for the “climate emergency brake” to be pulled by drastically reducing methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector.

Unlike many other countries, though, New Zealand’s methane emissions – which make up half our overall emissions – mostly come from agriculture, where methane reductions are harder-won.

Watts said COP30 would be a chance for New Zealand to share the work it was doing to reduce on-farm methane emissions.

“For example, India has the largest dairy herd in the world. And so they’ll be looking for opportunities to decarbonise their herd as well.”

The government and industry itself was investing significantly in agritech, Watts said.

“That’s why we’re confident that we don’t require a pricing mechanism.”

Among the tech the government is banking on is a New Zealand-developed bolus, or small metal capsule, that delivers a slow-release dose of methane-suppressing medicine in a cow’s body.

The bolus has been delayed but the latest estimate from Ruminant Biotech, its developer, is that it will be available to New Zealand farmers from 2027.

Other technologies, such as vaccines and genetic advances, were also in the pipeline.

Asked if it was a gamble to rely solely on technology, Watts said there was “a risk for anything”.

“The bigger risk that I’m concerned about is not having any options available that reduce emissions and only having a pricing mechanism, because the only way, therefore, to reduce emissions is to reduce the herd size tangibly, and that’s just not an economically rational place to be at.”

There was still a financial incentive for farmers without a methane tax, he said.

“The majority of these interventions increase productivity as well as reduce emissions and that is the best shot that we have of increasing uptake, because farmers want to increase productivity because we’re an export country.”

But James Renwick, who was among dozens of scientists who signed an open letter earlier this year urging against a weaker methane target, said he did not expect other countries at COP would be impressed with New Zealand’s new approach to methane.

“Countries are supposed to show up in Belém with stronger emissions targets to what they had before, and we are not doing that.

“It matters in terms of our international stature, our voice on the global stage being diminished. And it matters for our trade relationships as many countries are looking for ‘green’ imports, so we may be shut out of markets over time.”

Officials from the Pacific have already criticised the weakened target.

New Zealand should not be relying on unproven future technologies alone, Dr Renwick said.

“One or several may work at scale in the paddock. But we cannot say right now if that will happen.

“Banking on this as the solution to agricultural emissions is risky. In the meantime, some reduction in farming intensity would definitely reduce emissions.”

The other risk from New Zealand’s lower target was that it gave permission to other countries with similar economies to follow suit, Dr Renwick said.

“Obvious candidates are Ireland and Uruguay as they have similar reliance on agriculture, but several others may follow.”

While at COP, Simon Watts said he would also support Australia and Pacific Island nations’ joint bid to host COP31 next year.

The Australia-Pacific bid faces a rival bid from Turkey, and COP’s consensus decision-making process requires one or the other to be withdrawn.

If both parties refuse to yield, then hosting will revert to Bonn in Germany.

“I … anticipate to spend quite a bit of time with our Pacific and Australian counterparts to hopefully lock down Australia’s hosting for COP next year, which will have a Pacific focus,” Watts said.

COPs were an important moment “in the context of geopolitical fragmentation”, he said.

“[It’s] the single biggest opportunity for governments and business to come together to discuss and look at opportunities in the area of climate change, and so it’s important for me to be part of that.”

The New Zealand delegation will also include Labour’s climate change spokesperson Deborah Russell. Green Party climate spokesperson and co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick attended alongside Watts last year.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

An attack on a satellite can take modern life offline, affecting everything from basic communication to banking. But international law is lagging, and an expert warns we risk turning the final frontier into the next frontline.

The next battleground for global security may not be on Earth, but above it.

As satellites control everything from navigation and banking to weather forecasting and military operations, experts warn that space is now a target for terrorism – and say we aren’t prepared.

“It’s no longer a question whether space terrorism occurs, but how we, as an international community, respond when it does,” says Anna Marie Brennan, a law lecturer at Waikato University, who has been researching outer space law and governance for the past seven years.

“If we don’t have those clear rules, if we don’t have accountability mechanisms, corporate strategies between states and also between states and space companies, do we actually run the risk of turning the final frontier into the next battlefield?”

Satellites, she says, have already been caught in the crossfire of cyber attacks and espionage.

In March 2022, Network Battalion (NB65), a group affiliated with Anonymous, allegedly hacked the Russian civilian space agency Roscosmos in protest of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

More recently, in September this year, the navigation system of a plane carrying Ursula von der Leyen was disrupted due to suspected Russian interference.

It’s alleged that the “GPS jamming” happened while the European Commission president was about to arrive in Bulgaria, forcing the pilot to use paper maps to land safely.

“We are seeing a number of incidents emerging where very quickly us experts are starting to realise that we need a legal framework to try and combat it,” Brennan says.

“It’s very much a problem that is on the rise worldwide … but our laws are not catching up at all, and there is a considerable vacuum. We are reaching the point now of no return.

“If we don’t adopt laws, if we don’t have some sort of mechanism at the international level to ensure accountability, to engage in monitoring, we could see quite a severe attack on space infrastructure.

“And, of course, this infrastructure is vital for everyday life on earth – from climate and environmental monitoring to giving us a heads-up if there is a bad weather front on the way to our business and finance communications, even to us monitoring and responding to disasters. We need satellites to do all these activities,” she says.

“If we don’t have that legal framework, if we don’t have those protections in place, what experts fear is a rise in terrorist activities against this infrastructure.”

Modern life interrupted

So, in a world increasingly dependent on space-based systems – “there are about 10,000 satellites in orbit around us and that number is growing year on year” – she tells The Detail that a single disruption could ground flights, cripple stock exchanges or cut off communications for millions.

Even some of the most basic conveniences of modern life would be interrupted.

“If you are somebody like me, who really needs the Sat-Nav in their car to try to get from A to B, if a key satellite to provide that service is knocked out, you’d really struggle.”

Brennan says there are “currently five outer space treaties at the international level, but these were crafted at a time when only a handful of states had access to orbit”.

“Countries like New Zealand have a very strong legal framework. If you want to launch anything … you have to have a license from the minister. But not all countries have that legal framework.

“So, experts over several years will be trying to explore how to support states to craft laws to address space terrorism, how do we prevent this from happening, firstly, and how do we hold those to account who engage in this type of activity and criminal behaviour.

“How do we define an act of terrorism in space, how do we establish protocols for instant reporting, and determining liability for attacks on commercial and civilian infrastructure?”

She says as humanity expands its footprint beyond the planet, so too does the threat. And without clear international rules, the final frontier could become the next front line.

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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 email addresses of more than a thousand Kāinga Ora tenants were mistakenly shared in a group email sent by the agency.

Kāinga Ora’s regional director for Auckland North and West, Taina Jones, said in a statement that they were aware of an error that occurred on Monday.

“The email addresses of more than 1000 customers were mistakenly shared in a group email.

“No other personal information or data was released,” she said.

Jones said they took incidents like this very seriously and had rigorous processes in place to protect customer information.

“We have notified the Office of the Privacy Commissioner about the incident and are contacting those who received the email to apologise for any disruption this error may have caused,” she said.

A west Auckland tenant, who didn’t want to be named due to privacy concerns, said the email from Kāinga Ora asked how they wanted to receive future correspondence – by mail or by email.

They said after they replied to Kāinga Ora, they’ve been continuously receiving responses from other tenants who’d been copied in the same email.

“You can see the numbers, the emails, their replies as well, and also [them] asking for homes and that, you know, people that have had issues with them, that are talking personally about their stuff,” the person said.

The tenant said they were concerned that everyone’s private information and affairs was being exposed, and inboxes were getting clogged.

“People’s email boxes are being filled up in blocks, so we can’t actually receive our normal everyday emails that we need to for pay our bills or whatever,” the tenant said.

Their Kāinga Ora case manager contacted them on Tuesday to apologise.

The tenant said they were told by the case manager that Kainga Ora was trying to stop people from replying to that email chain by making changes from within the system.

Kāinga Ora has been approached for further comment.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

There is a particular onus on police to meet the highest standards of professional conduct, an employment lawyer says, as police appoint a Kings Counsel to begin employment investigations into three active duty employees taken to task in a damning report.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority report, released on Tuesday, found serious misconduct at the highest levels over police handling of accusations of sexual offending by former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Some of those heavily criticised in the report are still employed by police, while others have resigned.

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has been placed on leave from his role as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency following the release.

The IPCA’s recommendations included instigating employment proceedings against individuals known as Assistant Commissioner A, Ms G, and Officer B for breaching the police code of conduct by bringing police into disrepute.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers confirmed three people taken to task in the report remained on active duty. He told Checkpoint on Wednesday he had appointed a King’s Counsel to oversee the employment process.

“They are still on active duty and we’ve worked through that process to make sure that’s the right decision.

“There’s a process to follow, and we need to let it take its course.”

Christchurch lawyer Katherine Dalziel said employment investigations could be detailed and difficult processes for all parties.

“At the end of the day the job is for a decision maker to find out whether an event has happened, whether it is misconduct or serious misconduct and whether it warrants a consequence, like a warning or dismissal.”

Investigations delved into breaches of policy and procedures in the workplace and frequently focused on codes of conduct, which could be fairly generic, but encompassed behaviour that reflected integrity or organisational values.

In the case of police, there was an even higher threshold to meet, Dalziel said.

“There is a specific onus on the police – they set high standards of integrity and they need to model it. At the end of the day they are judging the behaviour of people to a criminal standard and they need to be … not quite above the law, but at least within the law.

“Their codes of conduct set very high standards, so the police really need to take these processes seriously.”

The IPCA report found officers had used “questionable rationalisations” to justify their inaction.

It said the strict police hierarchy exacerbated a “failure to challenge poor decisions; a tolerance of unethical behaviour; and a tendency to overlook alternative responses to problems due to pressure to conform or fear of ostracism”.

“…many of those we interviewed justified their own poor decision-making by saying that they were merely doing what they were told and that it was for their superior officer to determine what else should be done,” the report stated.

But Dalziel said there was no defence in the argument that employees were just following orders.

“Every person signs up to an employment agreement, even if it’s a collective agreement, they have their part to play in it. So if their behaviour – even if they’ve been directed to do it – is wrong, that’s something they can face personal consequences for.”

There were protections in law to deal with people who were being directed to do something that was against their employment obligations, she said.

“That’s why we have the Protected Disclosures Act – if somebody is asking you to engage in something that would create serious misconduct then you can make a protected disclosure about it.”

High levels of media and public scrutiny should not affect the process, Dalziel said.

“While the investigation is behind closed doors, not in a public forum, the fact that the story is there or that there may even be evidence out in the media doesn’t change or alter the process that needs to go on, which must be fair and reasonable, and must meet natural justice.”

A new workplace could investigate and discipline or dismiss an employee for something that happened at a previous job, she said.

“If they were concerned about the reputational impact of having somebody who has breached their employment agreement at a previous job that’s become public, they might say it’s a reputational issue – they’re not actually addessing the behaviour itself but just saying the reputational impact of… your behaviour in the past is affecting our business and we need to hear from you about that.”

There was no universal rule on whether employees were stood down, suspended or required to take leave with or without pay, which was up to individual employers and situations.

“Generally you would only suspend an employee if there was a risk they would interfere with the investigation or a risk they would continue the behaviour you’re trying to stop.”

While investigations could be conducted by external or internal investigators, given the seriousness of the matter, it was appropriate for police to bring in an external investigator, Dalziel said.

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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 young woman who worked for almost two months without a day off was not exploited or assaulted, says a man accused of slavery and sex offences.

Aucklander Moeaia Tuai, 63, gave evidence in his High Court trial today, and also called assault allegations a “big lie”.

He has pleaded not guilty to two charges of dealing in slaves, involving two young people.

He also denies two rapes, eight charges of indecent assault, six of sexual violation by unlawful connection and assault with a statue and a broom.

The Crown has accused him of keeping one of his alleged victims’ wages, hitting her and not allowing her to communicate with others.

Under cross-examination, Tuai agreed the young woman – then a teenager – worked 57 days in a row at her first job in a laundrette. She was usually paid $90 ‘under the table’ a day, with no employment contract and no rights.

Tuai said the job was work experience, and the pay was supposed to cover things such as money to buy lunch.

Prosecutor Chris Howard asked if he knew what was happening was illegal. Tuai said he did not know, and it had been her wish to work.

Tuai earlier told the jury at Auckland High Court he talked with her about making bank transfers from her account, and she authorised him to withdraw money. “She would smile and say ‘that is fine’,” he said.

He denied he hit her, and said both young people were free to talk to each other, contrary to what she and a witness told police.

The prosecution alleges Tuai put her to work in various jobs, took at least $78,000 of her money and made her take out a large loan.

Tuai said some of the money she earned went on expenses and buying a TV she wanted, as well as going shopping for what she wanted.

When they discussed whether he could withdraw money, and what it would be spent on, she told him ‘it’s up to you, whatever you see fit’, he added.

The trial continues.

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