Coach Scott Robertson has said that the feeling in the All Black camp is much the same one day on from their 33-19 loss to England. It was the third loss this season in a schedule of 13 tests, and the second by a significant margin following a record defeat to the Springboks during the Rugby Championship.
The aftermath of the loss to England sees focus now firmly on the issues that have plagued the All Blacks for the past two seasons, most notably their inability to keep teams under pressure in big tests.
“There’s lots of different reasons, but there’s no excuses from us. And we’ve got to be better in some areas so we can finish teams off,” said Robertson this morning.
“Ultimately, we want to be as consistent as we possibly can, that’s what a professional team wants to be, consistent with everything you work with. You’re not going to win every moment in games, but you’ve got to fight your way back into it, through adversity.
“When you it doesn’t quite come all together, you know, that’s the part that hurts. It’s not for lack of care, I’ll put it that way. But it’s definitely frustration that we work so hard to be consistent and that’s the part that gets you.”
Robertson, who came into the All Black job after seven consecutive championship seasons with the Crusaders, acknowledged that ‘test rugby is pretty brutal’.
Caleb Clarke lays during the Scotland v All Blacks test at Murrayfield.www.photosport.nz
“You lose a couple of player each game on average, just through the Ferocity of the match contacts. The recovery part becomes tougher, the travel, everything that comes with it.
“So when you get energy, new faces, new bodies coming in that, that excitement that…it’s a balance. Sometimes you have all the best laid plans of how you’re going to play, then you come off the field in these the medical ward are fuller than you’d expect.”
Steve Borthwick’s England side notably adjusted their game plan throughout Sunday morning’s test, with a heavy reliance on the kicking game of inside back pairing Alex Mitchell and George Ford. Robertson acknowledged that the aerial game was still a work on for New Zealand players, due to the comparative lack of exposure to it in the domestic game here.
English halfback Alex Mitchell.David Rogers/Getty Images
“It’s a crucial part, an important part of the game…we don’t tend to do it so much in Super Rugby. So coming into test rugby, you have got the most accurate kickers in the world and you’ve got incredible aerial catches. We spend a lot of time on it, look, we’ve got to get better laid plans.”
From a wider perspective, Robertson said that new NZ Rugby chairman and former All Black captain David Kirk has been ‘straight up’ with expectations two years out from the next World Cup.
“Look, he’s pretty pragmatic, he tells you how it is. Straight up, as you’d expect. (Also) hugely supportive. He understands good relationships in the group and we welcome him with open arms…he’s been great to us.”
Unsurprisingly, Robertson more or less confirmed there will be wholesale changes to the side for the last test match of the year. They face Wales in Cardiff, with the home team recording their first win in two years over the weekend when they defeated Japan 24-22 thanks to a last play penalty goal.
“There’ll be some fresh, new energy in the group for sure,” said Robertson, who singled out Ruben Love as a player who will likely start this weekend.
“He’s obviously a 15 that can play 10 and he deserves an opportunity.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Beamish won the 1500m gold at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
The other two finalists for the World Athletics Photograph of the Year show America’s Noah Lyles and Tara Davis-Woodhall celebrating their respective titles at the World Champs and a photo of the shadows of the Dream Mile at the Bislet Games in Norway.
The three finalists were selected from 141 images submitted from photographers from 41 countries.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The controversial four-stage Mental Health Response Change programme started a year ago.RNZ / Marika Khabazi
The police are introducing higher thresholds for responding to calls from mental health workers to help deal with unwell patients or those who abscond.
Non-emergency mental health-related requests will be assessed against updated guidance to determine if police assistance is required. This includes requests for assistance under legislation, requests for assistance from in-patient mental health units and other requests from mental health services to police.
Reports of missing persons with mental health concerns (including those who have left mental health facilities and services or EDs) will be assessed against updated guidance to determine the appropriate police involvement.
Over the past 12 months, police have gradually withdrawn their support at mental health callouts, including at inpatient wards, community facilities, during transportation and at emergency departments, and banned mental health assessments in custody suites.
Moves leaves ‘unacceptable gaps’ – union
The Public Service Association (PSA) condemned the change programme, saying it left mental health workers and patients unacceptably vulnerable to harm. National secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the changes were “dangerous and will cause harm”.
“We call on Health NZ to properly consider the support needed given the withdrawal of police from this important work.”
For both new procedures, staff could engage police only when there was “an imminent threat” to life or property.
The change also meant that these emergency calls would be triaged along with every other request that came through the 111 line, Fitzsimons said.
Fleur Fitzsimons.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
“Mental health nurses and healthcare assistants work in what can be quite dangerous conditions, with very unwell people who can act unpredictably – they must have a direct line to police.
“Health NZ has said it does not expect them to put themselves in harm’s way, but the reality is that for many situations workers must at least do an assessment in-person, leaving themselves open to verbal and physical abuse.
“Furthermore, mental healthcare is legally highly complex. Security staff, for example, don’t have the same rights under the Mental Health Act as clinicians do. There are a whole lot of practical realities Health NZ seems to refuse to acknowledge.”
Mental health staff were worried for patients as well as their own safety.
“Mental health workers understand that the police can’t do everything. But there are a whole lot of what-ifs that haven’t been thought through, and at the end of the day patients and families are the ones who miss out.”
RNZ has approached Health NZ and police for comment.
Taranaki Veterinary Centre (TVC) has taken out New Zealand Food Safety’s inaugural Antimicrobial Resistance Award thanks to their concerted efforts to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in cows under their care.
AMR happens when germs (bacteria, fungi, or viruses) no longer respond to medicines. Resistant germs can spread between humans, animals, plants and the environment.
“If not properly managed, this can lead to devastating outcomes for our health, the welfare of our animals, and our economy. It is ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) among the top 10 threats to humans and animals,” says New Zealand Food Safety’s deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle.
“As we mark World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW) which runs 18 to 24 November 2025, it’s a good time to stop and acknowledge New Zealanders making a difference to materially reduce AMR.”
Established in May 2025, the AMR Award recognises individuals, teams, or organisations making a real difference in reducing AMR risks in New Zealand. This includes using antibiotics responsibly, preventing infections, or finding new ways to reduce antibiotic use.
The inaugural award winner, TVC’s dairy team, services around 500 dairy farms (about 175,000 calving cows) based out of 5 clinics in South and Central Taranaki.
“They have demonstrated a strong leadership in their commitment to reducing antibiotic use in their practice,” says Mr Arbuckle.
“These efforts started in 2022 and have led to a major behavioural change in staff and clients. They’ve achieved a significant reduction in the use of critical medicines, and a reduction in whole-herd dry-cow antibiotic use in their clients’ herds.”
“I would like to extend my congratulations to the team at TVC for their leading example, showing what can be done when focussing on antibiotic stewardship.”
“We are impressed with the calibre of all award nominations and were pleased to see the hard work and dedication that individuals and organisations have committed in addressing this important issue,” says Mr Arbuckle.
If you have pets or animals on a lifestyle block or farm, there are things you can do to join the fight against AMR:
Keep your animal healthy and active to help reduce antibiotic use.
Vaccinate animals to help prevent disease and reduce the need for antibiotics.
Seek veterinary advice early if you notice changes in your animals.
Always follow your vet’s instructions when your animal needs antibiotics and ask for help if you are having trouble giving them. Finish the course, don’t save unused antibiotics for next time.
“Together, we can further reduce AMR and protect plant, animal and human health for current and future generations,” says Mr Arbuckle.
The charred landscape of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.Supplied/DOC
The charred landscape will add to the experience for those walking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, the Department of Conservation says.
A week-long rāhui was lifted on Monday following the wildfire that ripped through 3000 hectares of the national park.
DOC and Fire and Emergency will continue to monitor the area for hotspots but are confident that people will be safe on the tracks.
DOC director of heritage and visitors Catherine Wilson told Morning Report it had been a huge week battling the blaze.
“The walk is perfectly fine to do, but the landscape is very black.”
Visitors could only access the start of the track on Mangatepopo Road by booking a shuttle.
“We’ve been incredibly lucky, [but] there has been a little bit of damage focused around the Mangatepopo entranceway, the car park area there,” Wilson said.
“The beautiful new Pou, Te Ririō, is still standing… got a little bit of charring but I think that just adds to it. It’s a spectacular Pou and we’re really pleased that that was able to be saved but there is some damage.”
Wilson said it would be a different experience on some parts of the track.
“We’ve been really lucky that the majority of the Tongariro Crossing hasn’t been affected but the first 700 metres or so, it will be quite a charred landscape.
“It was awe-inspiring before and will be even more so now.”
Local iwi Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro placed a decade-long rāhui on areas where fires have damaged the whenua and native vegetation.
The second rāhui was put in place to heal and restore the land
“It’s about keeping people out, it’s about working together to fix the land and heal the land over some time because we know with the biodiversity loss that that’s going to be required,” Wilson said.
“What people who are walking in the area or recreation in the area can do to support the longer rāhui is just stay on the tracks, not litter, and be generally respectful of the landscape.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Sleek, strong and slithery yet secretive about their sex lives. Eels/tuna are the top predators of the freshwater world with exquisitely evolved teeth, jaws, muscles and fins – and an epic sense of smell.
Many more things make eels unique and special – how much do you know?
We asked two of DOC’s biggest eel fans – Brittany Earl, a freshwater ranger and Marine Richarson, a senior science advisor, for their top 10 eel facts. Read on!
1) Eels are fish
Brittany: One of the questions I get asked most often is, are eels fish? And yes, they are!
To be a fish you have to live in water, have gills and a spine, but not have arms and legs, fingers or toes. Eels get a tick for all these.
Most fish also have fins and scales – and eels have these too – but their scales are microscopic and embedded in their skin. The skin itself is covered in a healthy layer of protective mucus. This slime is an adaptation that helps them move through water and even over land, as long as they stay wet.
Speaking of fins, there are two main species of eels in Aotearoa, longfin and shortfin. Longfins generally grow bigger, live longer (longer than some humans) and inhabit streams further inland than shortfins. Longfins are only found here and are the largest and longest-lived freshwater eels in the world. Iconic!
Marine: When the mood feels right – moonlight, rain and a good river flow – eels get the urge to head downstream and out to sea. They gather at an unknown location in the Pacific Ocean, breed and then… well, they die.
In a publication from 1944, eels are described as breeding in “a great deep off the coast of the Great Barrier Reef”. Truth is we still don’t exactly know where that ‘great deep’ is or even if it’s that deep. The latest searches point to somewhere between New Caledonia and Fiji.
In a recent study, NIWA scientists used satellite trackers to try and pinpoint the final destination of migrant eels. But the ocean is vast and the tagged eels evaded scrutiny.
One thing every eel scientist agrees on: it’s a one-way trip to the spawning grounds, where eels release eggs and sperm. The next generation must make the long journey to the shores of Aotearoa on their own. Talk about a rough childhood!
3) Silver for the sea, brown for freshwater – eels can change colour
Brittany: Eels have really cool transforming powers. They totally change their shape and colour over the course of their lives.
Weighing glass eels | 📷: Brittany Earl/DOC.
Heading back from the Pacific, the hatchling eels are flat, colourless, leaf-shaped larvae. Being completely transparent makes them (hopefully) invisible to predators while they drift and wriggle back to our shores. When they get here, the larvae have become eel-shaped but are still transparent. And they have an evocative new name – glass eels.
This oceanic disguise doesn’t work in rivers and streams, so they hang out at river mouths for a couple of weeks until they’ve switched into camo colours. It’s pretty crazy! They stay brown until the end of their lives, changing back into silver attire in readiness for their final ocean journey.
4) The ancients thought eels reproduced without sex
Marine: Freshwater eels live all around the world, and for millennia, fascinated people have been coming up with intriguing ideas about their love lives.
The ancient Egyptians thought eels sprang to life when the sun warmed the Nile. Aristotle believed they just popped into existence and their food came from rainwater.
Pliny the Elder theorised that eels, “rub themselves against rocks and the particles which they thus scrape from their bodies come to life”.
The first person to argue that eels must have male and female forms was a philosopher, savant, composer, medical writer and practitioner and … drumroll please… a woman, St Hildegard of Bingen.
This 1703 drawing by Antonio Vallisneri was the first published diagram of eel ovaries.
It took another 600-odd years for (male) scientists to pick up and validate Hildegard’s hypothesis. The next challenge lay in finding eel testes.
In 1876 Sigmund Freud was a young marine biology researcher. He set out to find the ‘male apparatus’ that had recently been described by a contemporary. Dissecting 400 eels, he eventually found just two testes.
It was such a debacle that Freud abandoned this career and shifted his attention to the human mind. (Perhaps eels have something to do with the weirder aspects of psychoanalytical theories after all?)
What we now know is that sexual organs don’t develop until eels are on their way to their breeding grounds. That’s one eel mystery solved – but a few remain!
5) Glass eels have attitude
Brittany: One of the best parts of my job is going out and monitoring (basically counting and checking) the glass eels at the mouth of the Ashley/Rakahuri River in spring each year. I’m in the middle of it right now. It’s a DOC-led study that’s been going for 30 years.
Glass eels are pretty cute – and feisty! If you’ve ever handled an adult eel, you’ll know that they’re strong, slippery and have a lot of energy for their size. Glass eels are exactly the same but they’re tiny. I love watching them wriggle around, hiding in corners of the net or climbing out of my bucket.
The study involves looking at them under the microscope, so I get to see their hearts beating and what they’ve just eaten, like mayfly larvae and algae from the rocks. Of course, we put them all back carefully in the river afterwards 😊.
Brittany Earl (left) and Jayden Snackers fishing for glass eels at Rakahuri rivermouth | 📷: Allanah Purdie/DOC.Brittany examining glass eels to see if they are long or shortfin | 📷: Matthew Brady/DOC.Glass eels under a microscope | 📷: Brittany Earl/DOC.
6) Māori have more than 150 names for tuna
Marine: Māori have always been keen observers of the natural world, but the mātauranga (knowledge) on eels is mind blowing. Tuna are a significant and highly valued taonga species. Their importance is reflected in place names, whakataūki (proverbs), legends, waiata (songs) and art.
Māori give tuna different names depending on their size, colour, where they’re found and the time of the year. Some names are used by just one iwi while some are common throughout Aotearoa.
Traditionally smoked, tuna were an important source of food and are still treasured for serving to manuhiri (guests) and at hākari (feasts).
Dried eels on pataka-tuna, Raukawa marae, Otaki. Adkin, George Leslie, 1888-1964 :Photographs of New Zealand geology, geography, and the Maori history of Horowhenua. Ref: PA1-f-005-386. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22538889
7) Glass eels aren’t fussy about the river they come home to
Brittany: Salmon are famous for their homing instinct – they travel back to exactly the river where they were born. (They’re thought to navigate by smell, magnetic fields, the moon and stars.)
Eels will go into any healthy stream or river. They love the smell of decomposing leaves (yum!) and other signals of bushy habitat upstream. Those are the rivers they head for.
Drained wetlands, polluted water, introduced fish and culverts they can’t climb have a negative impact on eel populations.
These factors are likely to be behind the At Risk – Declining conservation status of longfin eels in New Zealand. I’m seeing that in the Rakahuri study, with fewer longfin glass eels each year. But the good news is that if we can improve water quality, access and habitat in rivers, eels will move back in!
8) New Zealand eels have been exported for more than 50 years
Marine: Most eels caught commercially in New Zealand are exported: smoked, frozen whole, filleted, skinned and even live, depending on demand. They go to Asia, North America and Europe (the Brits love their jellied eel!).
In the 1960s, while eel stocks elsewhere had started falling, New Zealand eels rocketed to become one the country’s most valuable fish exports. At its height in the 1970s, more than 30 factories supported the industry, processing up to 2,000 tons of shortfin and longfin eels.
Commercial catches are now declining. The downward trend varies from region to region with catches around 200–300 tonnes, valued at less than $3 million a year. The commercial eel fishery is highly regulated and managed through the Quota Management System by Fisheries New Zealand. Every year, regulators, fisheries scientists and fishers meet to discuss the state of the fishery and agree on the new season’s rules to ensure a fair and sustainable activity.
9) Hydro dams can bring eel migration to a dead stop
Marine: Eels and longfins in particular, can be very long-lived – some even touching a century. Some old girls are living in lakes and rivers above hydro dams. They would have swum up as youngsters before the dams were built and been there ever since, waiting for the call to return to the sea.
For many, that call will spell disaster. They can get stuck, injured or killed by the dams’ turbines and spillways. This has been going on for decades.
Direct and indirect impacts of dams on upstream and downstream fish communities. Credit: Michele Melchior, inNZ Fish Passage Guidelines v4.5, p.196)
Lucky eels are picked up by very dedicated people, often iwi, who run trap-and-transfer schemes to collect and move them safely downstream past the dams. Some are volunteers. Some are paid as part of resource consents for operating the dams.
Many different fixes have been tried and tested – screens, eel bypasses, ‘fish-friendly’ turbines and more – but solving this problem is technically difficult and costly. In the meantime, we need everyone to be on board to safeguard eel passage. I believe there is huge power in structure operators, local government, manawhenua and community groups teaming up for the welfare of eels.
10) There used to be WAY more eels here
Marine: Eels used to be plentiful everywhere. Māori tell stories of bountiful tuna harvests until the mid-twentieth century, like this account from Wairarapa kaumātua Wiremu Aspinall.
“Here in the Wairarapa, goodness gracious I’ve never seen so many eels,
…a mass of eels going out to sea… Big wide drains, about 12 feet wide. The drains were thick with eels. You could hear them at night like ducks taking off and you know they’re running.”
There is a powerful concept in environmental science that explains how our perception of ‘normal’ changes over time, often without us realising. Each generation accepts the environmental conditions they see as the norm, even if those conditions are degraded. Little by little, we lower our expectations for biodiversity and abundance and accept a ‘new normal’. This collective memory loss is called shifting baseline syndrome.
Today, it’s really hard to picture what that was like, how today’s cities, agricultural land and cultivated forests used to look, sound and smell. Try and imagine a beach covered in so many seals that you can barely see the sand, the sun almost blocked out by millions of swirling seabirds, and birdsong so loud from the forest nearby you can hardly hear yourself think.
But perceiving a species as abundant, even if its population is a meagre remnant, can lead to overconfidence or complacency in the way we manage and conserve species.
This is unfortunately the case with eels. Today longfin eels have a threat status of At Risk-Declining and they’re only found in Aotearoa. What a change in just over 100 years.
My work at DOC includes research and advocacy for both species, and rangers like Brittany are working around the country to learn more about and protect these amazing animals through the Ngā Ika e Heke – migratory fish programme.
Go naturing with eels
There’s lots to love about eels and watching them in real life is definitely the best way to learn about and appreciate them. You can see eels in their natural environment or at an aquarium in quite a few places around the country (Google it).
Some practical things you can do help restore eel populations are:
Get involved in community stream restoration projects.
Advocate for better eel passage at dams in resource consent processes.
Choose an energy supplier that works with iwi to trap and transfer eels.
Online resources
There are some excellent resources online. We’ve drawn on these for this blog:
In the year to June 2025 a record 8000 long-term claimants were taken off its books because they were deemed “work ready”.
ACC planned to ramp up exits even more, with a goal of 11,675 by next June.
By 2028 it hoped to have more people coming out of the long-term pool than going in.
“Nothing in ACC’s proposals actually looks at rehabilitation,” ACC advocate Warren Forster told Nine to Noon.
“It’s all about ‘how can we ramp up exits, how can we get more people coming off the scheme’, and that’s the antithesis of the statutory purpose. It’s the antithesis of why we have ACC in New Zealand.”
ACC said it was committed to helping injured people return to independence or to their new normal after life-changing injuries.
“It’s important that we manage the scheme sustainably so it’s there for Kiwis when they need it, now and in the future,” ACC deputy chief executive Michael Frampton said.
He said some long-term claimants would need financial support for a longer time because of life-changing injuries, but there were some whose injuries would not normally take a long time to recover from.
“That suggests they might not have had the right support and we’re actively working with them to help them back to independence,” Frampton said.
He said one step was to make sure all long-term claimants have one-to-one case management to make sure they were getting the right support. Frampton said this was already showing positive effects and giving better outcomes.
“ACC is using AI to help identify cases where the client may benefit from a further review by staff member to help ensure that they’re receiving the right support,” he said.
Warren Forster.RNZ / Ian Telfer
Frampton said it also meant providing “advice on next steps”.
Forster said 31,000 injured people had been pushed off ACC in the last five years.
“The AI will tell you ‘person X has a sprain, they’ve been off work for six years’ or whatever the case might be,” he said.
“The AI will say ‘well, this person’s got a sprain, we’ll get rid of them’ and that’s, you know, when you’re blindly following what a model does then you produce junk data”.
He said the person might have a disc prolapse or a tendon tear, may have been misdiagnosed or may be in mental health distress.
“Everyone knows the person doesn’t have a sprain injury,” Forster said.
“AI can tell you that this person has a problem, but AI is not going to tell you what that problem is. What we have is AI identifying someone who ACC can exit.”
After stepping away from her career for five years to support her family overseas, industrial pharmacist Nisha James has reignited her professional life through postgraduate study at EIT Auckland.
With more than a decade of experience in quality assurance roles in India’s pharmaceutical sector, Nisha had built a strong foundation in the industry before taking a career break when her husband moved to Qatar for work. Unable to find opportunities in her field there, she began exploring ways to re-enter the workforce.
“I always dreamt of studying in a foreign country, and I knew further education would help me restart my career,” she said. “When I learned about EIT’s Master of Health Science, it felt like the right choice. New Zealand offered the quality of education, safety, and lifestyle I was looking for.”
Nisha, 40, moved to New Zealand in 2023 with her husband and young daughter and completed her Master of Health Science in December 2024. She is now employed as an Operations Manager at Auxilio Pharmaceuticals in Auckland, where she oversees production processes and compliance.
“I chose EIT because of its strong reputation for academic excellence and practical learning,” she said. “The curriculum aligned closely with industry needs, and the lecturers were approachable and genuinely invested in helping students succeed.”
The programme offered evidence-based research, case analyses, and presentations that mirrored real-world health challenges.
“It helped me update my technical knowledge and strengthen my analytical and problem-solving skills,” she said. “I particularly valued how the learning encouraged collaboration and independent thinking.”
Nisha said the support she received from EIT staff was instrumental in her return to the workforce.
“My project supervisor, Jeffery Adams, was incredibly supportive, and Brendon Hickey helped me tailor my CV for the New Zealand job market,” she said. “That kind of guidance gave me the confidence to apply for roles in my field again.”
She described the move to New Zealand with a young child as challenging but rewarding.
“It wasn’t easy at first, but now I feel at home here,” she said. “The work-life balance is so much better, and the people are very welcoming. My daughter has adjusted beautifully too.”
Nisha says her studies at EIT have given her the confidence and skills to take her career further.
“My long-term goal is to help shape regulatory practices and operational excellence in the industry,” she said. “Eventually, I hope to contribute at a global level by working with international teams to improve access to effective healthcare solutions.”
She recommends EIT to others. “EIT offers the perfect balance of academic knowledge and real-world application. It’s a place that helps you grow professionally while building the confidence to take your next step.”
EIT Auckland Campus Director Cherie Freeman said: “Nisha’s story is a wonderful example of how education can open doors and rebuild confidence”.
“We’re proud to have supported her journey and thrilled to see her thriving in New Zealand’s pharmaceutical industry.”
Explainer – How will firearms proposals change access to guns in New Zealand? Here’s what you need to know.
New Zealand is planning its biggest overhaul of gun regulations in more than 40 years.
The proposal announced last week would repeal and replace the 1983 Arms Act in legislation Associate Justice Minister (Firearms) Nicole McKee said would be “written in plain English, structured logically and with public safety at its core.”
Among the changes are a new firearms regulator removing police from oversight duties, tough restrictions for gang members and a host of new penalties and offences being introduced.
Here’s a round-up of the changes being proposed.
What changes are being made to gun laws?
A new specialist firearms regulatory agency will be created, replacing the current Firearms Safety Authority now operated by police. It’ll be headed by an independent chief executive appointed by the governor-general. That chief executive would report solely to the firearms minister, currently McKee. The new regulator will sit within police but without sworn police officers involved.
“There will be no blue shirts in the Firearms Safety Authority,” McKee said, referring to police uniforms.
A new Firearms Licensing Review Committee will also be created, which McKee called “essential for ensuring there is trust in the licencing system, improving compliance, and ensuring applicants or firearms owners renewing their licence are treated fairly.”
Being a gang member will now automatically disqualify anyone from holding a firearms licence.
A new ‘red flag’ system will be established to clarify information sharing so police and other agencies can review whether a legal firearms owner “remains a fit and proper person”.
There will be more flexibility around gun storage, which currently is allowed only at a firearms owner’s “primary place of residence”, but now will be allowed at any premises approved by the regulator.
There will also be multiple new penalties and new firearms offences introduced.
Firearms seized in Auckland.Supplied / NZ Police
So what are the new firearms offences?
Penalties for more than 60 Arms Act offences will be increased, McKee said, and eight new offences will be created.
It would become an offence for failure to notify the regulator of a lost or stolen licence, unsafe storage of firearms, possession of firearms with intentionally removed serial numbers, possession of files or blueprints with the intent to unlawfully manufacture arms items, intentional diversion of firearms, manufacturing ammunition without a licence, not providing locations of a restricted firearm for pest controllers with multi-user agreements, or a business licence holder failing to provide information to the arms regulator about changes of staff.
The “files and blueprints” offence is aimed to plug a gap in the rise of 3D-printed “ghost guns” where people now have the ability to simply make their own weapons.
Police will no longer be part of the firearms regulatory agency.RNZ / Angus Dreaver
McKee has said it leaves “a complex, confusing and bureaucratic patchwork” and that the new law will make compliance easier for firearm owners “through sensible changes that reduce regulatory burdens.”
The new bill – which is still being drafted – will define gun laws in New Zealand.
Last year, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said, “We are going to rewrite the Arms Act because it’s an outdated piece of legislation, it’s an old piece of legislation.”
Luxon also said then there would be “no new guns added into New Zealand”.
Many military-style firearms were restricted after the 2019 attack in Christchurch.AFP
There are no changes to the limited number of people who can legally hold those guns – ‘endorsed’ pest controllers and collectors.
Collectors who own prohibited firearms will have the option of storing vital parts of a gun (that when removed, disables it) at the address of any licensed firearm owner, not just someone who has the same endorsement.
McKee’s ACT party, which also opposed the 2019 changes, invoked the “agree to disagree” clause in the coalition agreement with National and New Zealand First over ongoing restrictions on semi-automatic firearms.
McKee has also opposed the firearms registry implemented after the attacks, but it will remain. However, the reform proposal would tighten the amount of data allowed to be gathered for the register beyond what is explicitly required.
McKee said on social media that “ACT faced a choice on firearms: die in a ditch over the registry and semi autos and get no improvements at all – or take 95 percent of the win, fix a broken law, and lay the foundation for future change.”
Police Minster Mark Mitchell has told RNZ that National did not want to widen access to semi-automatic guns, even for competitive shooting.
“It is a public safety issue and we don’t see that there needs to be a wider or a broader availability around military-style semi-automatic weapons.”
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee.RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Wasn’t Nicole McKee involved with the gun industry?
“Five years ago, I put my hand up for Parliament because I was tired of seeing responsible, law-abiding New Zealanders treated as the problem,” McKee said in a statement on the ACT party website.
A New Zealand shooting champion, before politics she ran her own gun safety education business, was coordinator of the nation’s volunteer firearms safety instructors for the Mountain Safety Council and the spokesperson for the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners.
“ACT respects the vital role of licenced firearms owners, hunters, and shooting sports enthusiasts in New Zealand’s culture, economy, and conservation efforts,” McKee has said. “Hunting and shooting are legitimate pastimes, essential pest-control tools, and part of our rural way of life – and we’ll always back you.”
What do gun control advocates think?
Gun Control co-founder Philippa Yasbek earlier told RNZ that the effective ban on military-style semi-automatic firearms wasn’t being touched was a relief.
“McKee has built her entire political career on wanting to get rid of the registry and bring back semi-automatic firearms and she’s basically failed on both of those goals.
“So this is quite a big relief and I don’t think there’s any chance of her ever managing to change it again. Souffles don’t rise twice.”
What about gun users?
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack said it was disappointing the effective ban on semi-automatics remained intact, though he backed the minister’s efforts.
“When it comes to semi-automatics, we can understand that there’s no need for the wider New Zealand firearms community to have those but some exceptions for competitive sport shooters or individuals who use firearms for pest control but are not professionals…would be very helpful.”
Fish & Game New Zealand called the changes “pragmatic and sensible.”
“We’re pleased to see the government taking a balanced approach to firearms regulation that recognises the long-standing traditions around hunting and food gathering that many New Zealanders undertake,” said Fish & Game Chief Executive Corina Jordan.
What’s next?
The draft bill could be introduced by year’s end. Once submitted, the bill will go through a six-month select committee process where the public will be allowed to have their say about the changes.
After that process and possible revisions it would be considered by Parliament.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
The takeover bid for honey exporter Comvita has failed after not enough shareholders approved of the offer.
The company’s board had vigorously pushed shareholders to vote in favour of a $56 million deal with Florenz, owned by Canterbury businessman Mark Stewart.
However, the bid failed to meet key thresholds needed for the scheme to pass.
To be approved, the scheme needed to be approved by at least 75 percent of votes cast by shareholders in each interest class, and by more than 50 percent of the total votes.
In the first interest class, which included Florenz Associates, 100 percent of votes were in favour.
In the second interest class, excluding Florenz Associates, 54.29 percent voted in favour and 45.71 percent against.
In total, 54.34 percent voted in favour, and 45.66 against.
Comvita’s board said it was working with lenders and advisers to work out next steps, and “all available options” would be considered.
“The board has been working with its advisers and banking partners to evaluate a range of funding options as part of its contingency planning,” chair Bridget Coates said.
She said the board wanted to assess options to recapitalise the company.
“This work is progressing with urgency and discipline to secure a solution that stabilises the business, positions it to grow again, and reduces ongoing risk to shareholders.
“Our duty is to act in the best interests of all shareholders and to ensure the path forward is fair, transparent and well-considered.”
The bid had attracted criticism from some, including Comvita’s co-founder Alan Bougen, who pushed to veto the scheme.
