Category: KB

Source: Radio New Zealand

State Highway 2 north of Wellington is down to one northbound lane after a multi-vehicle crash north of Ngauranga.

Waka Kotahi said Hutt-bound drivers could expect delays while emergency services were on the scene.

There was significant congestion on the urban motorway.

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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/2026/01/30/multiple-vehicle-crash-on-state-highway-2-north-of-wellington/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A monster slip blocking the main access route to a series of towns on Northland’s east coast is still moving, complicating efforts to reopen the road.

Whangārei District Council infrastructure committee chairman Brad Flower said the landslide that came down on the final day of last week’s storm buried Russell Road in mud, trees and boulders weighing up to 100 tonnes.

“We’re estimating it’s around 100,000 cubic metres of material that’s there. Not all of that’s come down. There’s a portion which has come down on the road, but the bulk of it is actually sitting up above the slip, and that slip is still moving,” he said.

“As of yesterday, the cracks are still moving apart. So it’s still an active slip.”

Flower said even if contractors were able to shift 1000 cubic metres of material a day, and worked every day with no further weather interruptions, it would take 12 weeks to clear the road.

The slip meant communities at Helena Bay, Teal Bay, Ōakura, Punaruku, Bland Bay, Ngaiotonga and Whangaruru had lost their main road connection to Whangārei.

Flower said a “lifeline route” along Kaiikanui Road was open to local residents and essential services, but it was steep, unsealed and at most one-and-a-half car widths wide.

The safest and only fully sealed route to and from the coast was via the Ōpua car ferry to the north.

The slip appeared to be only 100 metres wide where it crossed the road, but it “fanned out” further up the hill, so it was significantly wider at the top.

Heavy machinery would have to start by removing loose material from the top.

Flower said Fulton Hogan, the main contractor, had brought in experts who had worked on the Brynderwyn slips of 2023-24.

The company had managed to find a dump site about 2km west of the slip, and the search was continuing for another so debris could be trucked away in both directions.

Simply bulldozing the material into the gully, as many people had suggested, was not possible, Flower said.

“First, we’d get prosecuted for doing that by the regional council. It’s not good practice to fill up a gully. Secondly, imagine putting 100,000 cubic metres into the gully, and then we have another weather event, where does that end up? That’s a 100,000-cubic-metre wall that heads towards Mōkau and ends up further down, doing damage to homes and farmland and the ocean,” he said.

“We really feel for people that are affected by this, who are cut off and can’t get in and out, but we’ve got to make sure it’s done properly, it’s safe, and it lasts.”

Contractors would use a hydraulic rock breaker to deal with the 100-tonne boulder.

If that didn’t work, explosives would be used to fracture it.

Flower said it was the only big boulder that could be seen, but he was certain there were more “big floaters” buried under the mud and debris.

Any damage to the road would become apparent only once the slip had been cleared.

The landslide came down near a slip that closed Helena Bay Hill for several months in 2007.

However, Flower said that was an “underslip” where the road itself had fallen away, making it much more difficult to fix.

The 2007 repairs had held up well in last week’s storm.

The latest slip was north of Helena Bay Café and Gallery so those businesses were still open and could be accessed from Whangārei.

Meanwhile, Flower said 35 flood-affected homes had so far been assessed by council inspectors.

Five of those had been red-stickered – meaning they were deemed too dangerous to enter – and 10 had been yellow-stickered, with some restrictions on access.

All roads in the district, apart from Russell Road, had reopened.

A few were down to one lane due to washouts or slips, but the council hoped all would be back to two lanes in time for Waitangi Day.

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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/2026/01/30/monster-slip-in-northland-still-moving/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents of small communities are wondering whether there are better ways to empower them to clear up after storms.

In several storm-hit areas, councils asked residents to leave slip clearing on public land and roads to emergency services or council contractors for safety and asset management reasons.

But this could mean long waits for pockets of residents with low priority slips, and communities often take action regardless.

‘Auntie Trish’, of Ōtetao Reti Marae in Northland, was stuck when the extreme weather last week closed the roads to the marae.

No one could get in or out until they coordinated with a neighbouring Mokau Marae to the south.

“All of these young lads here came and just got their shovels and started digging away,” she said.

She said they worked for two days digging it out, and that was the only reason the marae was accessible.

She was proud of their efforts and back at her marae, they did what they could to support the diggers.

“We just fed them and they all turned up,” she said.

Resident Maureen Hing said without equipment on hand, her sons, nephews and others from both marae took to the physical work.

“They all started digging with their shovels and clearing it, there was quite a lot of them, about 12 of them,” she said.

They all felt that clearing the road quickly was necessary and they were able to do it quickly.

“They just did it to get people, to get supplies – petrol, diesel – that’s the only way we can do it you know, and they did it on the first day we had this, on the Sunday,” said Hing.

However, councils often strongly discourage people from clearing roads, unless absolutely necessary.

A Whangārei District Council spokesperson says slips on public land and roads should be reported to and cleared by trained contractors, primarily for safety reasons.

“While we understand people often want to help clear roads for themselves or their neighbours, clearing slips on public land without an assessment can place individuals at serious risk and may also damage council assets or interfere with emergency response, so this is strongly discouraged unless absolutely necessary,” the spokesperson said.

They said council crews were trained and equipped to assess land movement, falling debris, damaged infrastructure, and know about underground services.

The situation was the same in another storm-hit district of Thames Coromandel, and Mercury Bay South Residents and Ratepayers Association chair Paul Hopkins said he wants to see it change.

He said smaller slips, or slips that don’t completely block a road, can be treated as low-priority by the council and take time to be cleared

“It’s taken some time to actually clear some of the smaller slips on the roads, which I feel the local council should look at their procedures,” he said.

Hopkins thought locals would like to be able to clear roads and reestablish access quickly if given the authority to do so, and that it would be beneficial for everyone.

“The council’s got a lot on their plate, but I do feel as if councils need to give back some responsibility to the locals, because in days-gone-by you didn’t have a council to do it, the locals would do it, and it’s something that I definitely think they need to re-look at,” he said.

Hopkins thought small communities had the skills and people to take more care of themselves – just as the Northland marae proved.

They just needed to be more empowered to do so.

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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/2026/01/30/storm-hit-community-clears-up-low-priority-slips/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A Wellington developer has bought Loafers Lodge, the burnt-out boarding house in which five people died more than two years ago.

The building has sat empty, with blackened walls and damaged signage, since the fire in May 2023.

In a statement, Primeproperty Group said it had signed a conditional contract to purchase the property in late 2025.

“Settlement has not yet taken place, and Primeproperty has not taken possession of the site. Settlement is currently scheduled for later this year.”

It said at this stage it was undertaking “preliminary investigations and technical studies to understand the site and assess potential development options”.

No decisions had been made regarding its future, and no applications for resource consent had yet been lodged.

It would not disclose the purchase price as it was “commercially sensitive”.

In January last year, the company bought the abandoned Reading Cinema complex on Courtenay Place, announcing plans to redevelop the building including a new facade, and a new name – “The Court”.

Late last year, Esarona David Lologa, 50, was found guilty of murdering five people – Michael Wahrlich, Melvin Parun, Peter O’Sullivan, Kenneth Barnard and Liam Hockings – by deliberately setting fire to the building. He was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of release for at least 22 years.

Four others, who were involved with the management and operation of the building, have been charged with manslaughter, with police alleging they were responsible for aspects of the building’s fire safety.

Primeproperty Group said it was unable to comment on court proceedings or their implications for the transaction.

Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge has been calling for something to be done with the building for the past two and a half years.

“I was delighted to hear that news today, because it means that hopefully something will finally be done about the Loafers Lodge building,” he told RNZ.

It was a source of trauma for those affected by the fire, he said, many of whom remained connected to the City Mission.

“We know every day as they walk past, drive past, catch the bus past the Loafers Lodge building, [it’s] such a traumatic reminder of what happened two and a half years ago.”

Demolition would be the preferable option, he said, but if it was going to be refurbished, he hoped they would “just get on and do it”.

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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/2026/01/30/wellington-developer-buys-loafers-lodge-building-where-five-died-in-fire/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A cybersecurity group says they’ve identified the person responsible for hacking into the Manage My Health portal, and now it wants justice served.

The privacy breach is one of the biggest in New Zealand’s history, after hackers gained access to health data being held by the privately owned patient records company, Manage My Health.

Those responsible, a hacker who calls themselves Kazu, demanded US$60,000 for the stolen data.

Manage My Health has been granted a High Court injunction preventing anyone from accessing or sharing the stolen data.

Kazu had previously published samples of the leaked information online.

Earlier this month, all posts referring to Manage My Health had been removed from the page.

The International Online Crime Coordination Centre (IOC3) has been tracking Kazu, following the breach.

It targets online harm, including child exploitation, grooming, extremism and fraud.

The group has shared its investigation with RNZ. We have agreed not to name the person believed to be behind Kazu or details that could jeopardise a further investigation.

They have also alerted the authorities.

IOC3 executive director Caden Scott said they needed to be careful.

“We’re just mindful that we’re still looking into this individual, and we don’t want to mistakenly drive this person underground by making them aware that there are these kinds of investigations ongoing into them.”

Scott said they wanted to see the person behind the attack arrested.

“We definitely want justice,” he said.

“We want this person to be looked into and this person to be arrested as a result of their actions. They’ve definitely committed a plethora of crimes there, and this isn’t the only attack that they’ve done. They’ve attacked numerous other institutions from across the entire globe.”

He said health companies hold extremely sensitive data.

“When you look at healthcare institutions, or anything like that, especially ones that hold a lot of people’s very personal data, often times they don’t really have that choice in paying the ransom or not paying the ransom,” Scott said.

“These are very sensitive topics and very sensitive information, so a lot of times it’s best to do whatever possible to stop that information getting out.”

Scott encouraged victims of ransomware attacks not to pay the hackers.

“Paying that ransom doesn’t guarantee that the data isn’t going to be leaked,” he said.

“They might ask you for half-a-million dollars, you pay that, and then they decide: ‘Well, can also sell this database to everyone as well and make even more money’.”

It was better to go through law enforcement, Scott said.

The National Cyber Security Centre’s chief operating officer Mike Jagusch said they were aware of information in the public domain identifying those who’ve claimed responsibility for the attack on Manage My Health.

He said they were working with police, Health New Zealand, and other agencies to reduce the impact of the breach and prevent further exploitation of the leaked data.

“At the National Cyber Security Centre, we have a range of tools and information it uses to help establish the identity of malicious actors,” he said.

“This process is called attribution, and it can be very complex. It requires significant analysis to have the necessary level of confidence to attribute activity to an actor or group.”

Jagusch said public attribution of cyber activity to a group or state is a whole-of-government process, and was undertaken when it was in the national interest to do so.

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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/2026/01/30/cybersecurity-group-identifies-person-behind-manage-my-health-hack/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents in Taupō forced to evacuate their homes due to an earlier gas leak can now return home.

Police said Harakeke Drive, Wharewaka Road and Lake Terrace residents were asked to leave their properties after a digger hit a gas line.

The rupture happened in the suburb of Wharewaka shortly after midday.

Police thanked the public for their cooperation and patience.

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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/2026/01/30/residents-return-after-gas-leak-forces-evacuations-in-taupo/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Emergency services are evacuating properties in Taupō after a digger hit a gas line.

The rupture happened in the suburb of Wharewaka shortly after midday.

A police spokesperson said residents in Harakeke Drive, Wharewaka Road and Lake Terrace are being asked to leave because of leaking gas.

The public is asked to avoid the area.

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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/2026/01/30/homes-evacuated-after-gas-leak-in-taupo/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Firefighters in Whanganui are working at the scene of a scrub fire which has flared up twice in a week.

Crews battled the six-hectare fire at the Whanganui South Mole last Sunday and Monday.

Fire and emergency shift manager Alison Munn said a smaller, 20m by 20m fire flared up in the same location on Thursday night.

Crews were called about 7.30pm, contained the fire by 9.30pm and stayed onsite until 11.45pm.

Munn said firefighters from Whanganui, Palmerston North and Kohi were now going through the burnt area checking for any hotspots.

She said four trucks were at the scene, and crews were doing “hard, physical dirty work” to make sure there was no heat source left in the area.

“They are doing a very thorough check of the area.”

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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/2026/01/30/firefighters-battle-second-whanganui-scrub-blaze-in-a-week/