NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says he believes there was a cover-up in the investigation into complaints about former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

Chambers told Morning Report he was not given a heads up from former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster about the investigation into Jevon McSkimming, and he was shocked when he was told.

He denies there was a systemic failure of the New Zealand police and its processes, but says it was a failure of the former leadership of the police, who were acting in “self-interest”.

“It’s disgraceful. What occurred is not the way we do things in police. It was a total failure by the former senior leadership of New Zealand police and their integrity,” Chambers told Morning Report.

Asked if there had been a cover-up, Chambers said:

“That’s the way that many will interpret it and my personal view is that there was you know a bunch of senior leaders, who have now exited the organisation, who were acting in the self interests of themselves frankly and in particular one individual, so people will interpret the report in their own way but the way I read it.”

“That’s exactly what happened.”

Coster has been placed on leave after a damning report found serious misconduct at the highest levels of police.

Andrew Coster became chief executive of the Social Investment Agency after his tenure as New Zealand’s top cop.

He’s named in a new scathing 135-page IPCA report into Jevon McSkimming, the former Deputy Police Commissioner, who last week pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

The report revealed senior police failed to respond to a number of complaints made against McSkimming.

When they did refer the matter to the IPCA, Coster attempted to speed up the investigation in what was perceived by some as him trying to protect McSkimming’s prospect of becoming the next Commissioner of Police.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An organisation that’s been funded to find homes for rough sleepers says there aren’t enough houses to put them in.

In September the government announced [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/572188/broken-housing-system-more-support-coming-for-rough-sleepers-government-announces

300 extra social housing places] through the Housing First programme.

Housing First providers rent private or public homes and sublet them to people who have been homeless for more than a year, helping them sustain their tenancy.

Christchurch Methodist Mission executive director Jill Hawkey said her organisation already had about 100 people on its Housing First waitlist – and it kept growing.

It was granted 26 of the 300 places which had seen eight homeless people housed in Christchurch so far, but it was difficult to help move more people off the street because there were not enough houses available, she said.

“That’s the big challenge that we’ve got here in Christchurch, it’s actually being able to find the housing for people who have been long-term homeless.”

“Ideally, what we want is permanent social housing provided either by Kāinga Ora or a community housing provider rather than the private sector.”

That was because social housing provided more stability, Hawkey said.

She said number of homeless people in Christchurch had grown over the last year.

“As fast as we’re housing them, they’re coming in the front door.”

“Often members of the public will ring us concerned about somebody and will say, hey, I’ve seen somebody sleeping in a park or under a bush or in the sand dunes,” she said.

Last week it was revealed the government was also mulling a law change that would give police the power to shift rough sleepers off footpaths and out of shop doorways.

Hawkey hoped that “doesn’t see the light of day.”

“People who are living on the streets currently are incredibly vulnerable, they don’t need to be harassed and to be told to move from place to place,” she said.

“The only way to solve homelessness is to build more affordable and social housing. It’s really simple.”

Private rentals quickest way to get people housed – Minister

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said looking to the private market for more homes was the fastest option.

Officials had advised him there were about 300 “unhoused Housing First clients living without shelter,” he said.

“Sourcing an additional 300 places from the private market was a deliberate choice to enable these homes to be brought on quickly as opposed to building new which can take years to plan, consent and build,” he said.

“Importantly, the funding for the 300 places is permanent, which enables CHPs to enter into long term leases.”

That would ensure stability for those tenants, he said.

New team to support Christchurch homeless

The Christchurch Methodist Mission had also received $1.5 million of the $10 million the government allocated for homelessness support services.

Hawkey said it would be used to help people who had been homeless for less than a year, meaning they missed out on Housing First.

“We really know there’s a lot of people out there who are just recently homeless who we want to be able to support to find some permanent housing options as quickly as possible.

“So we’re standing up a team with the money that we’ve been granted to be able to do that.”

The team would include nurses, staff dedicated to finding possible rentals, and outreach workers who would connect people to various social services.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland Council is spending another $300,000 on towering Christmas decorations for the city centre, to the delight of some and dismay of others.

It has commissioned an artist to build a series of five-metre tall pillars that will be dotted along Queen Street between Aotea Centre and Britomart, with panels that light-up.

They go on display from December and branch out from last year’s more than $1 million giant Christmas tree which is making a come-back.

Taxpayers Union head of policy James Ross said the $292,000 price tag for the new display was over the top.

“Unfortunately a lot of people are doing it tough in Auckland and across New Zealand at the minute and I think that sort of expenditure is just not a good look,” he said.

“Christmas is a really hard time of year for a lot of people. People will be struggling to put food on the table and costs in the city centre especially are remarkably high. It’s those people and those businesses, a lot of whom are already struggling, and now walking down the street seeing their money being spent on things they don’t need.”

Businesses in the city centre have had a hard time surviving pandemic lockdowns and disruption from the city rail link construction.

It also comes as central government and the city council consider how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer – something that’s alarmed advocates.

Deepak Sharma, who works in the city centre, thinks the Christmas decoration spend sends the wrong message.

“It’s a lot of money they could have spent this money towards the wellbeing of people, to take care of the poor who don’t have a house to live in. They should consider those people.”

City resident Lea Natoc did some quick arithmetic – the five pillars each cost about $60,000 and will be on display for one month.

“Christmas decorations are awesome it’s great for us to feel the Christmas vibe but to spend $60,000 just for one decoration I think it’s a bit too much.”

Each of the five columns will light up with a different theme – Santa’s workshop, a festive forest, under the sea, a Kiwi Christmas and a Christmas feast – and have buttons to press, knobs to turn and one has a juke box to fire up.

Auckland Council’s head of city centre programmes, Jenny Larking, said the five pillars are interactive and the cost is fully funded by the city centre targeted rate, which is invested back into the area.

“Our partners in the city centre have been calling for collaboration between Auckland Council and local business associations, to significantly increase the number of events and promotions in the city centre, to bring joy, vibrancy and much needed foot traffic to the area after a tough few years.”

Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck doesn’t think it’s money wasted – and believes the installation by light artist Angus Muir will be an attraction for years to come.

“At the end of the day while not everyone will agree with every item of spending, overall I would say that property owners will want their tenants to have a thriving environment after such a difficult time.”

She said businesses had faced disruption from pandemic lockdowns and the construction of the City Rail Link, which still has no set open date.

There are an estimated 800 rough sleepers in the city centre and businesses have been lobbying government for a cross-agency response to homelessness.

“We are sincerely hoping we are going to very soon see announcements that do address both needs. It’s not an either or, we do need to address the social issues as a city and as a country and for our city centre too.

“We also need to create a place that people want to come back to and spend time here.”

Auckland City Centre Residents Group spokesperson Antony Phillips says they don’t want to see the street community moved to the suburbs – but given support and housing.

However, the group supports the council’s spending on Christmas decorations but understands some people’s concern about the price tag.

“I wouldn’t call it grinch-like. I think there’s a healthy level of scepticism around any public expenditure at the moment. We are in a cost of living crisis.

“If we cost that over five years it doesn’t seem so shocking.”

City worker Kris Hardy plans to bring his family in to see the giant Christmas tree and new light pillars.

“Every time we come down we go shopping and buy Christmas presents so take that cost and divide it by the number of people who are going to be down here, let’s say a dollar a person and they all do a little shopping. I think it’ll pay for itself.”

According to Auckland Council the five columns will be displayed during the festive season for at least the next five years – with the interactive features and images updated each year.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Calls are growing for a radical reform of drug laws, despite the government saying it has no intention to do so.

With this year marking 50 years of The Misuse of Drugs Act, researchers, advocates and those who’ve struggled with addiction are renewing their appeals for a complete overhaul.

It comes as the government announced a crackdown on methamphetamine harm.

Adam Dorsett said he turned to drugs at age 14, after an early childhood suffering physical and sexual abuse.

“When I used drugs, it was like a release valve. Because I was very traumatised, and I couldn’t fit in, I didn’t feel included.”

He said his search for heroin led him into shoplifting, then burglaries, armed robberies and into prisons in Australia – where he found drugs were still available.

Dorsett said if he could have accessed the drug safely, it would have removed his descent into a criminal lifestyle.

“If you’re not searching, trying to get money, stealing, rorting, getting chased by police, getting chased by people you owe money to, all that gets taken away, if you get the drug and then what have you got left – what you’ve got left is your life and you can get on with your life.”

He said he now took a regulated dose of methadone each day, which helped him to balance out the highs and lows in life, and stay functioning.

Dr Fiona Hutton, associate professor of criminology and member of Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, said decades of prohibiting drugs hadn’t stopped drug use, or its criminal trade.

The group held a symposium in Wellington recently discussing calls to reform the Misuse of Drugs Act.

She and other members were arguing The Misuse of Drugs Act should be repealed, and a new act should be established legalising and regulating drugs under a new approach.

“Drugs need to be treated as a health issue, so ideally that kind of legislation would sit under the Ministry of Health, rather than the Ministry of Justice, so we don’t want to see it in the justice system.”

She said different regulations would need to apply to the different levels of harms for each drug.

The Drug Foundation recently advocated for decriminalisation of drugs in its report calling to change The Misuse of Drugs Act, citing research that Portugal’s rates of problematic drug use had dropped following decriminalisation, to having the third lowest rate of adult drug use in Europe.

Former associate professor Dr Julian Buchanan said he had also previously worked in drug clinics in Liverpool, giving addicts injectible heroin and methadone.

He said that allowed users access to safe and clean drugs, and took them away from getting drugs from gangs.

“We would say, get your life together, change the patterns of your life that you’ve currently got which is very chaotic and very enmeshed within a criminal underworld, stabilise your situation, and when you’re ready and when you’re prepared then we’ll think about how you’ll come off.”

Associate Professor Dr Andy Towers, co-director of the Mental Health and Addiction Programme at Massey University, was not part of Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa.

He said legalising drugs now without any other changes was risky.

“If we legalise drugs and we used the same approach that we use to regulate alcohol use, or tobacco use, then we would be on a hiding to nothing.

“We would be increasing the harms that we are likely to see in some areas – reducing some others because it’s legalised – but our current regulation of legal drugs is not good enough.”

Towers said he supported decriminalising drug use, and legalising some lower-risk drugs like cannabis – but said any move must be carefully thought out.

He said drug laws didn’t tend to have much of an effect on addiction rates – which were more about the drivers of addiction, as opposed to a drug’s legal status.

“In order to reduce addiction, we have to go well beyond a focus on drug legislation and actually change fundamental issues with our health, wealth and social system.”

On Sunday, the government announced what Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith called a “comprehensive action plan to combat methamphetamine harm in New Zealand”.

The response included a nationwide media campaign that would launch in the next few months, paid for by the proceeds of crime fund, that would raise awareness about the issue and the drugs harm.

An extra $30 million over four years from the mental health and addiction budget would go to front-line services, he said.

Goldsmith said the government would increase police enforcement abilities, including making amendments to the Search and Surveillance Act, including enabling the interception of communications and search evidence stored electronically.

In terms of changing drug laws, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey has said the government had no intention of liberalising them.

He said his focus was on a health-led response, balancing enforcement, prevention and treatment to keep communities safe and support people’s recovery.

He said investment into addiction services had increased by 7.3 percent in recent years.

“Investment in addiction services and treatment has increased significantly in recent years, with approximately $246 million now being invested into specialist alcohol and other drug services.

“My goal is to stop people from starting, help those who want to stop, and support those who’ve stopped to stay off drugs.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A victims’ advocate says the police treatment of a woman who accused a former top cop of sexual offending is the very thing most complainants are terrified of.

A highly critical report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found serious misconduct at the highest levels, over how police handled allegations against former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming.

The claims arose from an affair between McSkimming and the woman, who at the time was a junior non-sworn police employee.

The authority said the police simply accepted McSkimming’s view that she was a woman scorned and she was charged over the more than 300 harassing emails she sent.

The charge was later withdrawn.

Advocate Claire Buckley said victims feared being disbelieved and dismissed by police.

“What’s the first thing that happens to this poor woman? She’s not believed.

“And then take it another level, we’re going to pursue her to try and protect ourselves because this is one of our cop buddies. It just screams 1980s Louise Nicholas, all over again.”

Buckley said the woman had been treated appallingly, and it undermined trust in police, but she urged victims not to be deterred from speaking up.

“The only way we’re ever going to get rid of the rot is if we keep pointing to it and saying, ‘Look, this needs to go and the rot needs to be cut out’.

“And the only way that’s going to happen is if the victims of that rot come forward.”

Buckley said cases like this were not only traumatising for the person at the centre of it, but for anyone else who’d had unsatisfactory dealings with police.

National sexual violence survivor advocate, Louise Nicholas was disgusted by the police’s handling of sexual offending complaints against McSkimming.

Nicholas made rape accusations against police officers in the 1980s. The detective who initially handled her complaints was convicted of a cover-up in 2007.

“I won’t use the swear words I actually want to use,” she said, referencing the IPCA’s latest report.

“I was absolutely, saddened and disgusted to see that this has happened again.”

Nicholas said the woman’s first complaint should have triggered an investigation, but instead it was swept under the rug.

“This woman has disclosed this offending and has gone to the right people, but the people that should have helped her decided that their mate was actually more important.”

However, she didn’t want people to be discouraged from reporting sexual offences.

“You can’t put it on the police that do the amazing job that they do with our survivors, you can’t tar them with the same brush.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand has been labelled “most deteriorated” in an international study assessing the interference of the tobacco industry.

The country has plummeted from second in the world in 2023 to 53rd in the 2025 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index.

The report, produced by the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, has been released every two years since 2019 and now ranks 100 countries.

The main factors damaging New Zealand’s standing are the repeal of the smokefree generation laws, the tax break benefiting tobacco giant Philip Morris and the movement of staff between politics and the lobbying industry.

Vape-Free Kids, an advocacy group, said the “staggering drop” of 51 places in two years was the most dramatic fall of any country in the history of the report and an “international disgrace” for the government.

“New Zealand has become an international embarrassment and an example of how quickly a government can be corrupted by the tobacco industry,” Vape-Free Kids co-founder Charyl Robinson said.

But Associate Health Minister Casey Costello has labelled the index “ridiculous” saying what matters is rates of smoking not the “strange view, that what really matters is how much you criticise the tobacco industry”.

Costello said New Zealand’s smoking rate had more than halved since 2015 and was now 6.9 percent – one of the lowest in the world.

“I haven’t seen this year’s index, but the last one had Brunei at No.1 and France at No.3. Brunei’s smoking rate is around 17 percent – well over double NZ’s rate. In May, France’s smoking rate was 23 percent – more than three times NZ’s rate,” she said. “That illustrates how ridiculous this index is.”

In 2024 the government scrapped laws which would have slashed tobacco retailers from 6000 to 600, removed 95 percent of the nicotine from cigarettes and banned sales of cigarettes to anyone born after 2009.

Costello also cut the excise tax on Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) by 50 percent, despite health officials saying there was no strong evidence they worked to stop smoking or were significantly safer than cigarettes.

The report lists New Zealand and Kazakhstan as two countries which cut taxes for HTPs and says Ecuador, Georgia, Madagascar, Türkiye and Uganda also offered tax breaks to the tobacco industry.

“Tax increases are among the most effective tobacco control measures, yet more than 60 countries, often due to industry influence, did not raise taxes, delayed implementation of tax increases (or) lowered tax rates.”

Costello cut tax on HTPs to encourage smokers to switch to a safer alternative.

Treasury officials, however, told her the tax break would largely benefit Philip Morris, as they held a monopoly on the product in New Zealand.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins told the RNZ interview show 30 with Guyon Espiner that Labour would repeal the tobacco tax cuts.

“That was a tax break to the tobacco companies on the basis of some very, very questionable advice that isn’t going to be better for New Zealand’s health as a country,” he said. “It’s one tobacco company that, by and large, has got the vast bulk of the benefit from that, and that is going to change.”

The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index report is also critical of New Zealand’s unregulated lobbying industry and links between the tobacco industry and decision makers.

“In New Zealand, there is no requirement for the TI (tobacco industry) and affiliated entities to register with the government, and it is unclear how the relationship between the TI and the government is moderated.”

Two corporate communication staff at Philip Morris previously held senior roles with NZ First.

RNZ has also reported on a leaked document from tobacco giant Philip Morris which said the company should target political parties, including NZ First and the Māori Party, to win favourable regulation for HTPs.

Uruguay, Maldives and Palau were the most improved countries in the index and New Zealand the most deteriorated.

“New Zealand recorded the most deterioration in industry interference. Besides repealing strong tobacco control policies, citing industry arguments as rationale, the current government implemented several TI-friendly policies,” the report says.

The section of the report focusing on New Zealand was written by the New Zealand Cancer Society and looked at policy making between March 2023 and March 2025.

Cancer Society head of advocacy and public affairs Rachael Neumann said “a number of revolving-door connections” between the government and the industry contributed to New Zealand’s decline.

“This report has found that New Zealand’s score has significantly dropped since the 2023 report, and that there has been an increase in tobacco industry interference in New Zealand during this time.”

Neumann said there was a “high level of industry participation” in New Zealand’s tobacco policy development and “a whole range of unnecessary interactions” between the government and the tobacco industry.

“Every year, even now, 5000 people die from tobacco and tobacco related diseases,” she said. “We really know that tobacco industry interference and repeal of these laws leads to more smoking, more addiction, and we’re deeply concerned because this leads to more cancer.”

But Costello said protections against tobacco industry interference had not weakened in the past two years and New Zealand continued to be guided by international protocols on how officials engaged with the industry.

She said the tobacco industry had no involvement in the government’s smokefree and health policies.

“I would have thought that the Cancer Society would actually care about reducing smoking and reducing cancer,” she said. “Instead, they’ve brought into a very strange view, that what really matters is how much you criticise the tobacco industry.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Experts in using planes and choppers to fight fires like the Tongariro blaze have withdrawn labour in a pay dispute that dates back years.

This reduced the after-hours backup Fire and Emergency (FENZ) could call on for the 2800ha blaze in Tongariro National Park – but it said it made no difference.

The fire had up to 15 helicopters and five planes waterbombing it.

“This withdrawal of labour associated to backpay involves three personnel and this has not impacted our overall capability for air attack,” Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The dispute revolves around some of FENZ’s most experienced aviation firefighters in its small airdesk support group, that since 2021 has helped run national air firefighting operations.

In 2022, the group’s head, Stephen Bishop, asked FENZ for “formal recognition of the work and critical service the air desk support group provides – including remuneration for duty roster and calls as per other FENZ managers – fair and equitable”.

On Monday, Stiffler told RNZ, “The on-call arrangements required to provide aviation support after hours are still being negotiated.”

She added the support function itself was under review.

FENZ was discussing backpay remuneration for the support team and “while this is happening their support is not currently active after-hours”, she said on Tuesday in a separate statement.

“We have aviation operations as normal to respond as required, as we have had at Tongariro this week. We had no issue with having the right capability on the Tongariro incident with no impacts to operations.

“The successful operations confirm the depth of our capability.”

A senior firefighter who is not in the airdesk support group but had details of the problems, described it as a dispute going back at least 18 months. RNZ agreed not to name them.

Their information aligned with internal emails between the airdesk support group and FENZ management in late 2022, released under the Official Information Act.

In one of those emails, Bishop had told a Communications Centre manager Brent Dunn: “I know you agree that the support group is a critical part of the safe, effective function of FENZ national air desk, providing aviation expertise and oversight …

“We are called on many times throughout the year for advice, provide 24/7 roster all year for the team, monitor all aviation requests and dispatches and contact is always there when needed.”

Bishop remains FENZ’s senior specialist in aviation and heavy machinery.

The email trail showed his group plugged a staffing “crisis” at the South Island comms centre that Dunn said was leading to his comms staff “burning out”, and unable to cover the extra duties around dispatching aircraft.

“So we head into the 2023 fire season badly understaffed to manage the airdesk as it was originally intended,” Dunn wrote.

The shortage forced Bishop’s then five-person (now three-person) team to step in, doing the dispatching “pretty much on a daily basis”, tied to a desk for up to 12 hours at a time.

“This additional work is impacting on existing BAU [business-as-usual], fatigue and family time,” Bishop told the agency in late 2022.

In one week, his team did 63 hours on dispatch.

“Given we are now in October and seeing increased aircraft requests which will increase heading towards summer, I am extremely concerned that we will have to continue taking over air desk and that this is not sustainable – the air desk support group runs on good will and passion.”

He then asked for “suitable remuneration for each hour we cover for air desk despatch, I would suggest overtime”.

Dunn told Bishop he appreciated the “weight of pressure” on his team.

“Crazy to think that’s where we are, after the hype and success of last year.”

This was in reference to the national airdesk being embedded into Southern Comms in March 2021.

Eight communications staff got extra training to do air dispatching.

However, by late 2022, Bishop had to get nine more trained up as a temporary stopgap. “This is incredibly disappointing and such a contrast to the hugely successful 18mths [sic] we have just experienced with the air desk,” he emailed management.

FENZ’s new air set-up faced its biggest challenge in Cyclone Gabrielle in early 2023, when it helped send out 3000 flights on 6000 tasks over just a few days, in what was later assessed as a “highly successful aviation operation”.

Wildfires are different from storms – the goal is putting out a fire – but are similar, too, in requiring expert decisions around when and where to use choppers or (usually less expensive) planes, and how to make the airspace safe for them.

Stiffler said on Tuesday that at the Tongariro fire, an incident controller had ensured the right air support and that everyone was safe, and aviation safety was coordinated by “air attack” and air support supervisors on site.

“We are reviewing how we respond to incidents using aircraft and how the incident controller is supported to use aircraft effectively,” she said.

“This review commenced prior to the Tongariro incident.”

FENZ also said it was recruiting six extra air dispatchers “to increase staffing resilience within the dispatch function”.

The senior firefighter told RNZ that a recommendation around on-call allowances for the airdesk support group had been sent on to the deputy chief executives several weeks ago, but they had not made any decision.

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