Category: LiveNews

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have “grave concerns” for a woman who has not been seen for six months and are considering the possibility she may have been the victim of foul play.

They say her children want their mother back and the family are desperate for answers.

Rowena Walker was reported missing by her mother on 22 October.

In an interview with RNZ, Detective Senior Sergeant Jo Carolan said the 39-year-old’s last confirmed sighting was in Christchurch on 14 August last year.

“It appears that her last digital footprint, social media, phones, etc, was on the 15th of August 2025, she’s also had no contact with any of her children since around that date, which is very out of character for her.”

Carolan said the fact Walker had been missing without any trace for six months was “hugely concerning”.

“We’re really worried about her and have grave concerns for her safety, that she may no longer be alive is a possibility that we have to consider, but we’re exploring all the possibilities in detail,” she said.

“Rowena is a vulnerable person in the community, and we have to consider the possibility that she’s been the victim of foul play. We are keeping an open mind and exhausting all lines of inquiry, including that possibility. Rowena’s mother is caring for some of her grandchildren, and it’s really important that those kids have an answer as to where mum has gone.”

Asked if police had any persons of interest, Carolan said police were “talking to a number of people” and following every lead available.

“I won’t go into specifics of that, but it is fair to say that we’re sticking to everybody who is made known to us.”

Carolan said Walker was “reasonably transient” and was known to have family and associates all over the country.

“We don’t want to rule out any region of New Zealand, if there’s, if there’s somebody who would like to talk to us, who knows something about what has happened to her, we will speak to anybody from anywhere in the country,” she said.

“We have conducted a number of inquiries with people throughout Tasman, some Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Christchurch areas, and that is going to continue for as long as necessary.”

She said the last six months had been “very hard” on Walker’s family, particularly her mother and children.

“They haven’t seen mum now for six months and don’t understand why that is, they very much want to have mum back.

“They had almost daily contact with her, and now they don’t. And it’s it’s very sad situation. We just want to find out what’s happened to Rowena, so that we can let her family know”

Carolan said there will be someone out there who knows what happened to Walker.

“We are looking for more information, and we’re interested in hearing from anybody in the community who has anything to provide, whether they think it might not be very significant. We’d rather hear about it and make that assessment for ourselves. So we appeal to everybody in the community to come forward with any information that they have.”

She said the “best case scenario” was that Walker was alive and well.

“And for whatever reason, keeping herself to herself, and I would say to her that she’s got family and friends who are extremely worried about her and kids who miss her very, very much. And if that is the case, we would appeal to her to please, reach out to somebody.”

Carolan said despite the time between her last sighting and when police were notified, detectives had “really strong lines of inquiry” with a “significant number of staff” working on the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to please contact Police online through 105.police.govt.nz or call 105, referencing file number 251022/9026.

Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

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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/2026/02/10/grave-concerns-for-missing-woman-not-seen-for-six-months/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A former Education Ministry staff member says the government’s curriculum rewrite ignored the views of many subject experts and teachers.

Waikato University academic Claire Coleman told Nine to Noon she worked on the curriculum until the middle of last year and said it was chaotic and politicised.

“There were changes, not following processes around procurement of the members of newly-appointed writing groups, getting rid of entire contributing groups and replacing them with people that had previous relationships with the minister, had conflicts of interest… being told ‘we’re not going to write this down because we don’t want people to know… so it’s not OIA-able’, essentially, that kind of behaviour,” she said.

Coleman made similar allegations during a submission to the Education and Workforce Select Committee on the government’s Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill recently.

She told Nine to Noon she started working for the ministry on a rewrite of the Arts curriculum in 2022, but that was paused in late 2023 following the change of government.

“By the time that I left in the beginning of 2025, it was evident that none of the work that we had done was going to be used and they weren’t really interested in any of our expertise,” she said.

Coleman agreed a change of government could bring a change of direction for the curriculum, but she said the process was inappropriate and the public should be concerned.

She said she assumed government ministries would follow good-faith practices involving rigourous debate but that was not the case with the curriculum rewrite.

“What I saw was a case of ‘we’re not interested in talking to the people who know, this is what we want to do and we’re going to do it regardless’ and it’s a sort of ‘my way or the highway’ approach,” she said.

Coleman said the government should have listened to a wider range of views on the curriculum.

“You need a diverse range of opinions. You need to work through all of the nuances that are in education. It is a complicated space and you need to know enough to know what you don’t know and to bring in the right people into those conversations and to rely on the expertise and that’s, I think, the point of having a ministry,” she said.

“Regardless of which direction you want this to go in or regardless of what policy you want, you draw on the best people and the best evidence that you’ve got to make that a really solid piece of work.”

Coleman said proposed law changes would give future education ministers the power to rewrite the curriculum again, but that work should be left to education experts.

Education Minister Erica Stanford was asked to comment and her office referred Nine to Noon to an Education Ministry response supplied following Coleman’s select committee appearance.

It said the ministry was responsible for writing the curriculum and worked with a wide range of local education experts, teachers and other stakeholders.

“The curriculum-writing process is rigourous and includes multiple cycles of review and refinement. It combines evidence, insights, and experiences over the last 20 years with formal feedback and input from a wide range of groups from across the education sector,” the statement said.

“Ministers have always been responsible for the curriculum sign-off as part of the 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/2026/02/10/ex-ministry-staffer-accuses-government-of-ignoring-education-experts-teachers/

Source: Radio New Zealand

NZ Post says the volume of British passport applications is causing delays to them being sent to the UK.

A new requirement for dual nationality citizens to use a British passport to travel there took many travellers by surprise last month.

And with the deadline for the change only a fortnight away – 25 February – applications surged.

PostShop staff told customers they had to use an express service, which cost $121, to send their applications. But some people, following their packages’ progress using online trackers, noticed the applications were being held up at an Auckland mail centre before being sent to the UK.

One customer said her package was waiting In Auckland for nearly two weeks, without anyone contacting her to say there was an issue.

The tracker now showed ‘air transport planning is underway’.

NZ Post last week said incorrect customer declarations were responsible for delays.

But it has now apologised and said it was working to overcome the hold-up.

“Due to the increase in the number of passport applications being sent to the UK at the moment, it is taking a bit longer than usual for some of these items to move through their journey,” said a spokesperson. “We’re sorry for the delay and can assure customers that we are working as fast as possible to get these important items where they need to be.”

Staff checked that each item had complete information on its customs declaration, she said.

“This is a manual process and is taking a bit longer than usual due to the increased number we are receiving. We can assure customers that we are working through these as quickly as possible, including contacting individual customers who have missed some information off their Customs Declarations. We’re actively working on a solution to help speed this process up and get these items moving as fast as we can.”

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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/2026/02/10/nz-post-says-deluge-of-uk-passport-applications-causing-delays/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government wants taxpayers to pay for a new liquefied natural gas import terminal, but is promising lower power prices will come as a result.

It is estimated the new terminal, expected to be ready next year at the earliest, will save New Zealanders around $265 million a year by reducing price spikes and lowering the risk premiums.

But a new levy will be charged to get it built.

The government is touting it as a solution to New Zealand’s energy woes.

“It will mean that Kiwis will not need to suffer through an endless series of winter bill shocks,” energy minister Simon Watts said on Monday.

‘Vital part of the overall puzzle’ – Energy Resources Aotearoa

The idea is that it will reduce the risk of shortages during a dry year.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be imported at large volumes, stored, and then ‘regasified’ to be sent out for use.

John Carnegie, chief executive of industry body Energy Resources Aotearoa, said the terminal would be a useful insurance policy for when the weather did not play ball.

“LNG will be useful as a vital part of the overall puzzle of New Zealand’s energy system security,” he said.

“LNG can be expected to take the heat out of the electricity market when renewable fuels like wind, water, and the sun don’t turn up when they’re needed. It will place downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices and reduce the risk premium in the out years.”

Last year’s Frontier Report – commissioned to review the performance of the electricity market – warned it should only be used as a last resort.

The report said using it just to meet dry year risk made no economic sense, as the large fixed costs would be spread over a relatively small amount of output.

But Carnegie said LNG provided a “virtuous circle” to support the development of more renewables, and pointed the finger at the previous government’s ban on offshore oil and gas exploration as a reason why power prices were spiking in dry years.

“More wind and solar and batteries are great, but also the conundrum is their growth exacerbates the problem of being too weather dependent. So we need a reliable fuel to fill the gaps which domestic gas previously filled. And so New Zealand’s energy system, I believe, will be at its most effective when renewable generation and firming fuels like LNG and domestic gas work in harmony.”

A separate study by gas company Clarus, along with the four gentailers, found it was feasible but would likely be costly, and only needed occasionally.

Following the announcement, Clarus’ chief executive Paul Goodeve said it would increase New Zealand’s energy resilience and increase the range of markets it could draw from.

“At the moment, the coal that we import is relatively restricted where it comes from. The global market in LNG is vast and diverse, and appears to be continuing as we speak.”

Goodeve was confident it could be financially sustainable, and the government’s involvement in the procurement system made sense.

“It appears as though they’ve got work done by financial advisors who pointed out the benefits to the overall New Zealand energy system, but particularly the electricity system, of having LNG in the mix.”

Details on the shortlist of six were being kept under wraps, but all were in Taranaki.

Port of Taranaki chief executive Simon Craddock said it was a great opportunity for the region, and while the port was not an LNG developer, it was keen to support it.

“The current terminal developments, as I understand it, are all focused on the Taranaki region, and the reason for that is largely proximity to the Maui gas pipeline. But the developers are international companies who may or may not partner with local interests.”

Craddock said there was nothing the port had seen that could have major adverse effects on its current trade.

“The port has a number of advantages… the proximity to the pipeline, we’re the only deep water port on the West Coast. So this is the sort of thing we do day to day, where our main customer to-date has been Methanex. We also have other petrochemical customers on the port, so it really is within our core business suite.”

ACT’s energy spokesperson Simon Court said it was a “sad but necessary bookend” to the oil and gas exploration ban.

“Labour promoted the view that gas is something to be ashamed of. It’s not. Gas is a practical, reliable option when hydro lakes are low. Gas keeps factories running, heaters humming, and lights buzzing. And the environmental case for gas is strong too, because when we can’t burn gas, we burn coal,” he said.

‘It’s cooked’ – Green Party

On Monday, Watts said discussions were commercially sensitive but it would cost “north of a billion dollars” to build.

To pay for those infrastructure costs, the government will charge users an electricity levy of $2 to $4 per megawatt hour.

But Watts was keen to point to the net benefit, with advice showing the facility was expected to cut future prices by at least $10 per megawatt hour.

“So straight away, we’re in the money in regards to benefits versus costs, and our expectation of having that certainty of supply takes away the price spikes that we saw, for example, in 2024.”

That has not convinced the Green Party.

Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the government was guaranteeing added costs to New Zealanders, while relying on “hopes, wishes, and prayers” for future savings.

“I think it’s absolutely bonkers for power bills, for the planet, for our country’s energy resilience. The only people who want this are the fossil fuel industry and seemingly the National Party. Whatever claim, whatever remaining claim the Nats have to being economic managers is now, frankly, up in flames,” she said.

“Honestly, it’s cooked. Christopher Luxon has once again chosen to throw New Zealanders’ money at fossil fuels, which is bad for power bills, energy security and the planet. This is Christopher Luxon’s New Zealand. Profits are flowing offshore, while New Zealanders are paying handsomely for it.”

‘Gas tax’ – Labour

Labour, meanwhile, is calling it a “gas tax”.

Leader Chris Hipkins said households were already struggling with the cost of living, and he did not believe it would reduce power prices.

“I think, if anything, they’re trying to make the argument that this will decrease the rate of increase in power prices. There are other ways to do that. A billion dollars would buy you a hell of a lot of solar panels and batteries, which would save households a significant amount of money.”

Hipkins dismissed questions over whether Labour would terminate any agreements, or put the costs onto the energy companies and take away the levy on households, as “hypothetical.”

The prime minister’s assertion it was a levy, and not a tax, was criticised by the Taxpayers’ Union.

“You don’t make electricity bills cheaper by taxing them. Dancing on the head of a pin over what is a tax and what is a levy is a Labour Party talking point. Luxon should spare us the spin and abandon this folly,” said spokesperson James Ross.

Climate change advocacy group 350 Aotearoa was previously one of twenty signatories that sent an open letter to Luxon and Watts, urging against the new terminal when it was first signalled in October.

Following the confirmation, co-director Alva Feldmeier said while she agreed with the government that New Zealanders were feeling the squeeze with their power bills, the terminal was not the solution.

“Essentially, what they’re doing now is putting a new tax on every New Zealander’s power bill to subsidise an expensive sunset industry,” she said.

Feldmeier said LNG-generated electricity was double the price of new renewable electricity, and the risk of importing and being reliant on international fossil fuels was that New Zealand could also import international price shocks.

“This is a political choice this government is making. They’d rather kowtow to the fossil fuel and the gas lobbies and keep us hooked on gas for longer, than explore how we’re going to get off it, and how we’re going to make some tough decisions in the next few months and years.”

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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/2026/02/10/new-liquefied-natural-gas-terminal-vital-or-bonkers/