Category: DJF

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the pandemic on Tuesday afternoon released its second report, sparked by public disquiet that its first report did not dig deep enough.

The 500-plus-page report looks at what it calls some of the “most difficult and divisive responses around vaccines and mandates”.

“The adequacy of the processes used to assess and monitor the safety of vaccines” was one of those.

It eked out a pass mark, but with a very big but for the previous government’s efforts to shift the “team of five million” from an early, pretty effective elimination strategy to suppression and minimisation in 2021 and 2022.

“Many of the people we heard from expressed pain and anger about the impacts of the pandemic and response. Some of these impacts on people’s lives continue to this day,” the report said.

“It is clear, however, that ministers and officials were facing a series of complex, high-stakes decisions in a rapidly changing environment and were doing the best they could at the time. Evidence shows New Zealand had among one of the best pandemic responses in the world.”

‘Very bumpy ride’

It was, however, “far from smooth”.

A “very bumpy ride” was how Labour itself summed it up earlier in the day. Though its former top two, Dame Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson, also defended it: “We got a lot right. More than most.”

National immediately used the phase two report to pound Labour.

Asked if his predecessors were just being cautious – it was an unprecedented global crisis, as Labour pointed out – Health Minister Simeon Brown told reporters:

“I think they were putting options to Cabinet, which were not backed up by advice,” Brown said.

“And the reality is Chris Hipkins stood up every single day and he said to New Zealanders that he was making decisions based on advice by health officials… The reality is, in a number of these instances, he was not.”

They did not heed warnings from Treasury about inflation-stoking Covid-19 spending that half the time went on non-Covid things, Brown added.

“We are feeling those consequences today,” Brown said.

In a half-hour stand-up, Brown said “ultimately” 13 times.

“Ultimately, some of those decisions, you will have to put those questions to the ministers who made those decisions at the time as to why they made them,” he said.

Hipkins put their approach at the time entirely opposite: “considered, appropriate and guided by the best evidence available at the time”.

The decisions saved lives, though the responses caused hardship, he said.

NZ has so far reported 4500 deaths due to Covid-19 to the World Health Organisation. That is slightly fewer per capita than Australia, well below Canada’s and about four times less than the US and UK.

What are the lessons for Next Time?

While everyone disagreed on what 20/20 hindsight has shown from the inquiry, everyone agrees on the need to do better now to prepare for next time.

So what are the lessons from phase two for Covid 2.0?

Two words: Be prepared.

“The stakes were immense. Each choice carried the weight and quality of lives in the balance. Yet policy-makers could not delay some hard choices,” the report said.

But the “lack of planning for alternative future strategies” that applied to PCR testing was a common shortcoming elsewhere, too.

Going in next time armed already with better research on pandemics and impacts, better strategies for getting the best advice, and some basic pandemic legislation are among the 24 recommendations.

Two more words: Be smarter.

“Decision-makers told us they learned the importance of giving people an end date, or some indication of ‘light at the end of the tunnel’,” the report said.

Without that, people resisted more and more.

Now we know for next time. But the country had to get a better grip on social impacts ahead of next time, by finding ways to build trust and social cohesion, and ways to demonstrate to people the hard science behind “hard choices”, the report said.

In addition to the main report, an extra 300 pages laid out what people who submitted to the inquiry said.

“People frequently told us that the vaccine mandates caused division in society that lingers to this day,” said this last report.

Things got out of balance. “Wobbles” was how it was put after the first phase report.

Cutting the ‘wobbles’

It needn’t have got that bad is one conclusion that can be drawn from the second phase report.

Lockdown decisions, for one, required weighing up health versus bank balances, from Gore to Papakura.

Decision-makers had to weigh up many more factors than public health goals and social disruption, and think about tomorrow, not just today and impacts on this group, versus that group, and eroding.

“Based on the evidence we have heard, that is exactly what they tried to do,” said the main report.

Trying came up short, though, when painful and untested initiatives created pressures, or helped birth mis-and-disinformation, that upset forecasts and analyses or exploited gaps in them, among a public increasingly prone to doubting the experts.

The officials doing the trying lacked enough analysis of lockdown’s impacts on education, for instance (page 270).

They lacked enough evidence fullstop.

“Ideally, though, decision-makers would have been better supported with clearer, more specific evidence about the effects of public health measures.”

That cut down the options to choose from.

“More comprehensive and robust response strategies should have been in preparation much earlier.”

Being smart required being prepared.

The first phase report ran to 716 pages; some of its lessons were discussed two years ago at the Science Media Centre.

There will not be a part three. The commission received more than 31,000 submissions from individuals and organisations, and obtained 8000 documents from government agencies.

“We are satisfied that we were thoroughly well-informed.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/10/lessons-from-the-covid-19-response-inquiry/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Freedom campers are falling foul of new Queenstown Lakes District Council rules, with about 18 people per day stung with $400 fines.

Campers in self-contained vehicles were restricted to 141 designated spaces across 15 sites in the district over summer, plus a handful of rural roadside spots and a free campground in Luggate

Between 1 December and 2 March, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) issued 1514 Freedom Camping Act infringements, largely for people parking in the wrong spot or overstaying time limits, and 108 Reserves Act infringements for parking on reserve land.

Freedom Camping Act infringements carried $400 fines, while Reserves Act breaches carried $800 fines, the council said.

QLDC responsible camping programme manager Amy Galloway said it was the highest number of infringements the council had issued since about 2019, but it had also been a bumper summer for freedom camping.

She said more than 7000 freedom campers used a new check-in feature on the QLDC website throughout summer, although the true number of campers was likely much higher.

“Observationally, we see those 15 restricted sites plus the Luggate Red Bridge pretty much full every single day. Campers are using our sites extensively,” she said.

She said the system was working well overall and people were pleased to have a regulated freedom camping system again.

“Generally speaking, campers are going to where we want them to go. Amongst that, there is some behaviour we need to correct, but like everything we’re constantly reviewing and trying to improve operations,” she said.

Campers say demand outstrips supply

Camper Fynn Stolz from Germany said there were not enough spaces to cater to the number of freedom campers visiting the district.

He said he had struggled to find a park for his van each night.

“We go from one to another and see if any of the spots are free. Usually, at 4pm all the spots are taken, so you have to be really fast, one of the first. It’s kind of a race,” he said.

He was fined $400 this week after arriving at the Queenstown Events Centre late at night, when he missed out on one of the nine designated spaces and instead stayed overnight in a regular carpark several metres away.

“It wasn’t a good idea,” he said.

Another camper, Svenja Steger from Switzerland, said Queenstown’s rules were much “more difficult” than other places in New Zealand.

“It’s not as easy as other places to find a park,” she said.

When asked if the QLDC would consider adding more spaces to meet the demand, Galloway said the council encouraged campers to look at other options.

“I think if we provided more spaces, they would be full, but we would also like campers to consider using one of our great commercial campsites that we have in the district and also the many Department of Conservation campsites across the district as well. There are a variety of options for campers, ranging from free up to your more luxurious campsites,” she said.

She said freedom campers had flooded parking areas across the district last summer after the council’s previous bylaw was quashed by the High Court.

“I think sometimes when campers turn up, and they see a site is full, and they think, ‘oh well, I can just park here’. If everybody did that, then the carpark would soon become full, which is what we saw last summer as well – just the insatiable demand for free camping,” she said.

Fines in the Freedom Camping Act 2011 rose from $200 to $400 in 2023.

“I think word is spreading amongst campers that these are the rules and we take them seriously and they will be enforced,” she said.

‘Shitting in the bushes’

In Wānaka, the council temporarily closed a freedom-camping site at Allenby Place because of traffic-related safety concerns.

A group called Save Clean New Zealand has also been petitioning for the removal of three freedom camping spaces at Beacon Point.

Spokesperson Andrea Beryl said it was a pristine stretch of shoreline not fit for freedom camping, or at least the type of behaviour she had seen and photographed.

Freedom campers at the site were “clearly not using their onboard facilities,” she said.

“They’re shitting in the bushes. They’re meant to be self-contained and they’re not. It’s just being abused,” she said.

“We want responsible campers to go to responsible places where there are toilets and places to clean up.”

Data from the QLDC showed that of the 1514 Freedom Camping Act infringements this summer, 71 people were fined for being in a vehicle that was not self-contained.

One person was fined for depositing waste.

Beryl said damage was often done by the time the council issued an infringement notice.

“I don’t know how we change their attitude or how we educate the campers better, but it’s just not working. Then the council fine people after the fact that these problems have already occurred. It’s not preventative,” she said.

In a statement, a QLDC spokesperson said the council was watching to see whether the bylaw needed refinements and valued community feedback.

“Council fully acknowledges ongoing concerns within our community relating to freedom camping, including at Beacon Point,” the spokesperson said.

“It’s important to emphasise that the Freedom Camping Act applies nationally and permits this activity by default on most council land. Local bylaws are limited in both what they can address and the specific area to which they can apply. By balancing community concerns with what the Act requires us to do, the new bylaw is designed to ensure visitors continue to enjoy the experience of freedom camping here while addressing the concerns of residents,” they said.

“Councils, especially those with high volumes of visitors and low resident populations like QLDC, do not have sufficient tools to regulate freedom camping or fund visitor-related infrastructure to support this increasingly popular activity.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/10/more-than-1600-fines-issued-to-queenstown-freedom-campers-since-new-rules/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says MetService will step beyond weather services to keep the public informed during times of Tsunami risk.

MetService would now include NEMA tsunami warning banners on its website.

NEMA director Civil Defence Emergency Management, John Price said the move would help to ensure New Zealanders got the emergency information they needed.

“Tsunami warnings only work if people see them and act on them, and we’re pleased to be working with MetService to keep people safe.

“This will bring together NEMA and MetService’s large audiences, so New Zealanders are more likely to get the information they need, when they need it,” Price said.

A NEMA spokesperson said the banners would link to the Civil Defence website for advice and information on how to keep safe.

They said the banners would not appear on the MetService app or push service notifications.

They spokesperson said NEMA was also exploring how automated tsunami messaging could be shared to other government websites to quickly get important information to as many people as possible.

The spokesperson encouraged people – in times of tsunami danger – to listen to their radio for updates and advice on what to do.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/10/metservice-to-keep-public-informed-during-times-of-tsunami-risk/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Under-pressure employers taking a hard line on sick leave are being warned to take care with the rules.

There have been reports this week that the country’s collective immunity to Covid-19 is waning.

Wastewater analysis from PHF Science shows that the number of cases is currently at its highest rate for more than six months and the latest Health New Zealand figures show there have been 50 hospitalisations and 19 deaths with the virus in the past week.

Are we sicker than we used to be, and are our sick leave laws keeping up?

Research last year from Southern Cross and Business NZ showed the average number of sick days being taken in 2024 was 6.7, up from 5.5 in 2022. IT was the highest recorded. Manual workers took an average 7.5 days compared to 5.9 for non-manual workers.

In 2021, the minimum sick leave entitlement increased from five to 10 days.

At Auckland University, law school professional teaching fellow Simon Schofield, said he had heard of employers taking an increasingly stringent line in respect to sick leave. “That poses a number of risks for employers that are too aggressive.”

He said there were cases last year where employees had been refused sick leave when there was no medical certificate.

The Holidays Act does not require a medical certificate if people are away from work fewer than three days.

“That breached the statutory requirement and the employee resigned … and was successful in respect of a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal because the employer had failed to follow the requirements of the Holidays Act.”

He said absenteeism was increasing for a number of reasons.

“What happens is employers get increasingly irate. The result is they can mishandle what can be quite delicate situations, especially when you’re talking about disabilities and so forth.”

He said employers should get advice if they were not sure of their obligations.

“I do think that in these difficult financial times that employers are putting a lot of pressure on employees to be present in the office, but there are associated challenges with that, and I think employers need to be careful if they’re proposing to take a hard line in relation to some of these issues.”

Associate professor Paula O’Kane, from Otago University’s management department, said the rules were not keeping up.

She said while people were not sicker than they used to be, they were taking leave when they needed to and were being encouraged to do so.

There was more awareness of the implications of coming to work sick on colleagues, she said. “In essence by taking sick leave we’re hopefully not disrupting other people within the organisation. Because of Covid we learned a lot more. We may have known it but I think we were made much more aware of the implications of those colds and flus and the infectious diseases on people.”

She said there was a lot of inequity in the way sick leave was offered.

Not allowing people to accrue more than 20 days’ sick leave left them vulnerable, she said.

“If you had cancer, for example and were off for six months, had never taken a day’s sick leave in your life, you’d have 20 days, Someone else could take their 10 days every year and they wouldn’t have that much difference… I think we’re not doing enough to accrue sick leave and to enable people to have that whenever something really serious happens.”

The government is making changes that will mean that annual and sick leave will accumulate based on hours worked, rather than as a set entitlement. Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden said it would be more proportionate for part-time workers.

But O’Kane said the government had missed a chance to make it more equitable and fair for everyone.

“We could be doing a lot more around lots of types of leave to really support society and how society has changed over the years in terms of responsibilities and caring. We don’t have that village around us anymore.

“A lot of people don’t have the grannies there, the granddads there, the neighbours that can help when things go wrong. And so when society shifted like that, we probably need to be shifting our policies to help support that.”

Schofield said he supported the idea of dividing carer leave and sick leave up.

“Currently in this country we put carer’s leave and sick leave together. If I’m looking after my children who are sick we put that in the same bucket as sick leave. In Australia they divided the two out.

“That may be an opportunity to solve some of the problems that will be created, certainly some of the pushback that we’re seeing in relation to the employment leave bill, where part-time employees will have a prorated entitlement to sick leave.

“Often that’s covering carer’s leave…You’re looking after children. Often those women, the people looking after those children are women, and often they’re the ones working part-time.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/10/warning-for-employers-skimping-on-sick-leave-as-covid-wave-hits/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The family of a Taranaki teenager killed by a friend – who he looked upon as an older brother – says they have lost a loving son, protective brother and cherished moko.

Rakai Jacob Thompson was jailed for five years for the manslaughter of 17-year-old Te Omeka Pairama Akariri-Buckley when he appeared for sentencing at the High Court in New Plymouth.

The Bell Block teenager died after being stabbed by 26-year-old Thompson following a botched night out in July 2024, attempting to rustle sheep to fill their freezers.

Tensions heightened during the night, culminating in an altercation at Thompson’s Waitara home, where he stabbed his friend, inflicting wounds to the chest and abdomen.

He later died in hospital.

A jury acquitted Thompson of Akariri-Buckley’s murder in December.

Wearing a prison-issued white t-shirt, Thompson sat with his head bowed as members of the Akariri-Buckley whānau read victim impact statements to a room full of supporters, many of them wearing black t-shirts with Te Omeka Forever 17 printed on them.

After karakia were said, Donna Akariri told the court her son lived a life full of “aroha and purpose”, and she wanted to share the impact his death had on his whānau and friends.

“He was loving, talented, funny and full of life. He was a loved and devoted son, a loving, loyal brother, a cherished mokopuna, a treasured nephew, a playful uncle and a loyal, dedicated, loving partner.”

Akariri said the age-group representative rugby league player “had many passions, and he poured his whole heart into them”.

“He led haka for Puketapu School and Spotswood College, always standing proud, always giving it his all”.

He also loved music and the family had donated his drum kits to Manukorohi Intermediate in Waitara following his death, hoping others would take up his passion.

Akariri said her son was particularly close to his brother Don: “They got into mischief, laughed, cried and loved like they were twins”. She said he a devoted partner to his girlfriend, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

“His death was sudden, violent and not just senseless, but his loving and caring generosity at that time was destroyed. It took him,” she said.

“It took from us, not only a son, but a future, his future, and the future that we imagined with him in it, we will never again feel the warmth of his loving, caring nature, or hear that spontaneous, infectious laughter that could life any room.

“I want everyone to know that Te Omeka was a beautiful, happy, loving, caring young man who always gave me a kiss goodnight and whenever he left home for the day. Followed with ‘Iove you mum’. He was loved deeply, and he loved deeply in return, his was a life full of promise.”

At the end of her victim impact statement, she turned and held a portrait of her son up towards Thompson, who kept his head bowed.

Fighting back tears, Akariri-Buckley’s girlfriend told the court that although the teenagers had only known each other a few months, they could already imagine a life together.

“But no, because surely his life was taken on this road right in front of me. I literally watched his life drain out of his body. I felt so hopeless. There was nothing I could do to help,” she said.

“I would not wish this pain on anyone. Every single day, I wish I could change what happened that night. There is now a huge gap in my life.”

Crown solicitor Prue Lange argued the seriousness of Thompson’s offending and the impact it had on the family and friends of Akariri-Buckley were aggravating factors ahead of his sentencing.

“The Crown suggests a starting point no less than eight years imprisonment.”

Lange argued the use of a 25cm boning knife to stab Akariri-Buckley, the serious nature of his wounds and a level of premeditation in Thompson’s offending put it at the more serious end of the scale.

“He had the knife in his hand, whether he took it outside, or was already outside, he then went straight to Te Omeka and DJ to aggressively confront them, and then used it intentionally against Te Omeka… Mr Thompson used entirely unnecessary and gratuitous violence.”

Lange acknowledged Thompson’s early plea, remorse and willingness to engage in restorative justice, but argued against a sentence reduction for self-defence or provocation. The victim had assaulted the defendant immediately before the fatal stabbing.

The Crown wanted a minimum non-parole period of half of the eventual end sentence.

Thompson’s defence counsel, Paul Keegan KC, put forward a starting point of between six and seven years in jail, pointing to the outcome of December’s trial.

“The prisoner Rakai Thompson appears for sentencing, having been convicted of manslaughter. The jury, of course, found Mr Thompson not guilty of the murder.”

Keegan rejected the Crown’s depiction of Thompson “lying in wait’ for Akariri-Buckley and his brother and argued his actions were essentially defensive “albeit excessive”.

“The human tragedy of this incident is only made more profound when considering Mr Thompson’s link to Te Omeka,” he said.

“Mr Thompson did not intend to kill Te Omeka and counsel submits that in those frantic few seconds, he simply did not turn his mind to the potential consequences of his actions.”

Keegan argued that Thompson was a low risk of reoffending and a minimum non-parole period was not necessary.

Justice Jason McHerron began his sentencing by acknowledging the friends and whānau in court and praising Thompson for his quiet demeanour.

He didn’t find the defendant’s actions amounted to premeditation, but agreed he was enraged and the force that he used “was clearly excessive”.

Justice McHerron had a starting point of seven-and-a-half years in jail, reflecting the use of a weapon and the seriousness of the injuries, but gave discounts for Thompson’s early guilty plea, remorse and the effect of his imprisonment would have on his young daughter, before arriving at a jail term of five years.

He didn’t impose a minimum non-parole period.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/10/taranaki-man-jailed-for-killing-friend-who-looked-upon-him-as-an-older-brother/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Dunedin City councillor was in serious breach of the council’s code of conduct when he publicly criticised a staff member, an independent investigator has found.

Benedict Ong sent an email complaining about the staff member’s performance to the council’s chief executive and two local journalists in February.

Dunedin councillors are set to consider possible sanctions for Ong at a meeting on 25 March, which could include a demand for a public apology or a vote of no confidence.

Ong will also be given a chance to defend himself.

The independent investigation led by barrister Steph Dyhrberg found that Ong’s actions could have been a deliberate attempt to retaliate against the staff member and discredit her.

“By disclosing the allegations to the media, Cr Ong breached the requirements to treat all employees with courtesy and respect and avoid publicly criticising any employee,” she said.

Councillor Ong had earlier filed his own code of conduct complaint against councillor John Chambers, saying he had made inappropriate remarks during a meeting.

An investigator reviewed the evidence, including a transcript of a phone call with a council staff member, and found that Ong’s version of events was not supported.

The complaint was dismissed because it lacked substance.

On 4 February Ong wrote to the chief executive and journalists accusing the council staff member of “apparent political bias” and a “lack of political neutrality”.

While he did not name the staff member, she was found to be “readily identifiable” to journalists.

Dyhrberg said Ong had already been put on notice several times about maintaining confidentiality.

“It is reasonable to infer Cr Ong knew what he was doing was inappropriate,” she said.

“No-one should be victimised or discredited for agreeing to participate in a code of conduct complaint process.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/10/public-criticism-of-staff-by-dunedin-city-councillor-serious-breach-of-code-of-conduct/