Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington Water says it is monitoring wet weather forecast for the capital this weekend as its Moa Point plant continues to leak raw sewage.

The sewage plant melted down last week, flooding the building with waste and sending raw sewage into the nearby south coast.

Nearby beaches remained off limits due to tens of millions of litres of screened but untreated sewage flowing out the plant’s 1.8-kilometre outfall pipe each day.

The water company said it may have to use its outfall pipe nearby the beaches at short notice due to increased water flows.

It said if that happened a clean-up crew would be sent to the shoreline.

MetService was forecasting rain and large swells up to seven metres in size on Sunday and Monday in Wellington.

Wellington Water said removal of sewage from the plant and cleaning its rooms were ongoing.

It was also working on understanding the state of the plant’s equipment and operations.

“This assessment will take some time, and we still expect there will be an extended outage at the plant.”

Sewage spill raises bird strike fear at Wellington Airport

Wellington Airport says it has noticed increased bird activity near its runway this week, and it is taking safety measures for planes following the Moa Point failure.

Wellington Airport’s location is very close to Moa Point.

With the risk of bird strike for aircraft in mind, its head of operations, Matthew Palliser, told RNZ they were monitoring the animals.

“We are keeping a close eye on bird activity around the airport and have noticed some increased activity at times this week, but we are always prepared for this.”

Palliser said the airport had regular patrols checking the runway and that they worked closely with the Airways control tower.

“When required, we use a range of tools to scare birds off, including different noises.

“We also have a full-time Wildlife Officer who monitors bird 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/2026/02/13/wet-weather-may-force-use-of-outfall-pipe-near-wellington-beaches/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/its-appalling-the-auckland-academic-who-appears-in-the-epstein-files/

Source: Radio New Zealand

It took firefighters 30 minutes to respond to a callout in downtown Auckland on Friday afternoon, amid strike action.

The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union walked off the job for one hour from 12-1pm on Friday.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson said two fire trucks arrived 30 minutes after a report of smoke coming from the top floor of Auckland’s Downtown ferry terminal was made at about 12.30pm.

The Waitakere and Laingholm Volunteer Brigades, both 30 minutes away from Auckland CBD, were the first at the scene.

Crews from Parnell and Silverdale arrived at just after 1pm.

A fire commander did arrive just after 12.40pm and was the first on site.

A Fire and Emergency spokesperson told RNZ that after gaining access to the building, their crews confirmed at about 1.30pm that there was no fire, and the smoke was from a chimney working normally.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/firefighters-take-30-minutes-to-respond-to-callout-amid-strike-action/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The terrorist who massacred 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques is in prison because he committed the crime, not because of a coerced guilty plea, the Crown says.

Australian Brenton Tarrant wants the Court of Appeal to overturn his convictions and sentence for the March 2019 shootings at Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre.

The 35-year-old now claims he was “forced” to plead guilty to 92 charges because he was irrational as a result of torturous and inhumane prison conditions.

On Friday, Crown solicitor Madeleine Laracy told the court the terrorist was where he was always going to end up.

“Mr Tarrant made an informed choice in circumstances where he was between a rock and a rock,” she said.

“If he pleaded, he was certain of conviction. If he went to trial, the Crown says a conviction was a certainty.

“This is more than an overwhelming case so we say there was a certainty of conviction either way and either way, he would spend the rest of his life in prison likely without parole. He knew all of that.”

Laracy said the terrorist’s appeal lacked substance and had no merit.

“My learned friend said yesterday that this is one of the most difficult cases. Certainly, it is one of the most terrible and despicable but in terms of looking at this as an appeal, the Crown would disagree,” she said.

“It is not a legally difficult appeal because the evidence to support the argument is not there and the law is clear.”

The terrorist’s pleas also had no impact on his prison conditions because he would remain subject to very restrictive conditions for as long as he posed a risk to himself and others, Laracy said.

On Thursday, Tarrant’s lawyers claimed their client’s guilty pleas were not voluntary and were the result of the “oppressive” conditions in which he was held.

They argued the terrorist suffered a “complete destruction of his identity” because of the isolation, constant surveillance, deprivation and harassment of his prison conditions.

Crown solicitor Barnaby Hawes said the records and reports from the time showed the terrorist was not suffering from any mental illness and raised no issues about his capacity or fitness to plea.

On 31 July 2019 the terrorist decided he wanted to plead guilty to all charges.

The decision became so advanced that paperwork was prepared in anticipation of the pleas being entered in court.

Four days’ later he changed his mind again, only minutes before he was due to appear before the High Court.

In March 2020 the terrorist appeared via audio-visual link and formally pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one of committing terrorism.

Hawes said the terrorist spoke to forensic psychiatrist Dr Jeremy Skipworth in August 2020 ahead of his sentencing.

“Crucially, Dr Skipworth says that Mr Tarrant was fit to plead when he did,” he said.

“At this point, Dr Skipworth is interviewing Mr Tarrant. Mr Tarrant said he was sleeping well. Dr Skipworth says that Mr Tarrant was affable, engaged, polite. He was an intelligent man who enjoys debate.

“No thought forms or disordered thinking was noted. No delusions or perceptual abnormalities. No psychotic disorder either now or in the past.”

Earlier reports and records showed the terrorist felt the “need to uphold the honour of his movement” in May 2019 and that caused him distress and anxiety.

In August 2019 concerns were raised about his depressed mood.

The terrorist told clinicians at that point that he “had been doing a lot of thinking and thinks the attacks may have been a waste of time, a complete waste of time”, Hawes told the court.

“So there’s early evidence there of that type of thought being expressed, whether it is a true reflection of his thoughts at that point or not is perhaps something that will never be known.

“That was around the time that Mr Tarrant had first indicated that he was going to plead guilty and then changed his mind.”

The following month it was reported that the terrorist’s mood had improved after he was allowed to review his manifesto.

In May 2020 he threatened to kill himself but reported his mood had improved after a good sleep and it was noted his recent guilty pleas would have increased his anxiety and stress.

The following month he was again referred to clinicians because he was showering in his gown and did not want to go to Christchurch for sentencing.

Hawes said the records were clear and did not show the extreme mental decline and impairment that the terrorist now claimed was happening at the time.

“If the contention is that he was experiencing the levels of impairment, distress to call into question the guilty pleas the contemporaneous record should show it,” he said.

“There is a picture of fluctuating mood and behaviour but that is brief, it’s situational and it’s responsive to external stressors without a sustained mood disorder or psychosis being identified.

“There are no indications of breakdown signs or clues as to what’s suggested.”

Hawes said lawyers who acted for the terrorist from late March 2019 until June 2020 had also called into question their former client’s claims.

Shane Tait and Jonathan Hudson told the court on Tuesday that once the terrorist indicated an intention to plead guilty, he maintained it from then on and only wished to control when the pleas were entered.

The pair had no reason to distort the record from that time and acted in the terrorist’s best interest and with real care, Hawes said.

“There are direct aspects that he says that he told his lawyers or the way that he was, which they simply refute,” he said.

“That’s of significance, not only in terms of the treatment of Mr Tarrant’s evidence, but also when looking at other evidence and whether it can be accepted or not.”

Hawes said the terrorist’s case boiled down to his word against all others who dealt and interacted with him at the time in question.

“Mr Tarrant is an unreliable witness and his evidence and his narrative should be treated with great caution,” he said.

Crown submissions would continue on Friday before the terrorist’s lawyers were allowed the right to respond.

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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/2026/02/13/christchurch-terrorist-had-certainty-of-conviction-regardless-of-plea-crown-says/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A homegrown scientific discovery from the South Island acclaimed worldwide for its wasp control is now taking on a deadly invader.

The specially formulated protein insecticide bait, which honey bees will not touch, will soon be at the forefront of yellow-legged hornet control on Auckland’s North Shore.

Called Vespex, it was developed by a Nelson-based entomologist.

Richard Toft was working at the then Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Nelson during the 1980s. He arrived in Tasman as common wasps were swarming South Island beech forests, and he set to work in his lab.

The discovery of the fiprinol-based protein bait provided a valuable new tool for controlling common and German wasps, designed to be used at a key point in their breeding cycle.

Vespex was around 25 years in the making, and Toft’s work was honoured overseas with a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Conservation Innovation Award in 2015. The accolade recognised the significant breakthrough in conservation, helping protect native forests, insects and birdlife from invasive wasps.

The bait has been used extensively by the Department of Conservation to control wasps.

Now building on that success, Biosecurity New Zealand was analysing data to pinpoint the best time to feed it to the hornets.

At this stage of the breeding cycle, wasps and hornets have shifted their diet to more protein-based food sources.

Biosecurity NZ’s Scott Sinclair explained it could be a critical time window.

“The Vespex bait works by either wasps or hornets rolling it into small balls at the bait station and then taking it back to the nest,” he said.

“It’s distributed around the nest to feed the growing colony.

“During that process that fiprinol-based bait gets ingested by a whole lot of either other hornets or wasps in the nest, and a large proportion of that nest [die] off.”

While it had become an extremely valued tool for the control of common and German wasps, Biosecurity was not sure how well it would work for controlling hornets.

Some work in France had suggested they would find it attractive.

“The protein-based baits are going to be more effective against the hornets later in the season,” Sinclair said.

“We’re trying to still determine exactly when we’re going to deploy based on our dissections on the hornet nests that we’re finding, because that allows us to understand how our population is developing. The likely window is in the coming weeks.”

To date, there have been 51 confirmed queen hornets found and 61 nests on Auckland’s North Shore.

Vespex was now manufactured and sold by Nelson company Merchento, of which Toft was the director.

What is Vespex?

Vespex is a protein-based bait formulation that contains 0.1 percent fipronil (a neonicotinoid insecticide) deployed in specialised bait stations. It is designed to be highly attractive to wasps, which take it back to the nest, resulting in the destruction of the nest. It is specifically designed to not impact bees or native insects and birds.

Where was it developed?

Vespex was developed by the Nelson-based company Merchento. Toft, a member of Biosecurity NZ’s Technical Advisory Group and a well-known entomologist in New Zealand, developed the product.

It had been used extensively in New Zealand, including by the Department of Conservation, in both small and large-scale wasp control programmes.

Why is it being used at this part of the breeding cycle?

The timing of the deployment of Vespex in the yellow-legged hornet Response is due to both:

• a) the point in the life cycle, as earlier in season yellow-legged hornets favour more carbohydrate/sugar-based food sources, shifting to more protein-based food sources later in the life cycle
• b) the need for us to have live hornets in the environment to facilitate our best shot at eradication. We need healthy, live hornets to track back to nests so that we can destroy the whole nest (including the queen) in one go. Vespex too early in the season may weaken these nests making them more difficult to detect.

What’s the latest with the hornet?

Ground operations are working to find and destroy nests. To date, there have been 51 confirmed queen hornets found and 61 nests on Auckland’s North Shore.

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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/2026/02/13/timing-critical-as-kiwi-wasp-bait-tech-trialled-on-aucklands-hornet-invaders/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A bus carrying children has been extensively damaged by a fire.

Emergency services were called to the fire near the north Auckland village of Leigh just before 8.30am on Friday.

Police said the bus, which was on Pakiri Road, was “extensively damaged” by the blaze.

“Four children were onboard at the time of the fire and they have all been safely removed,” Sergeant Mark Stallworthy said.

“It’s fortunate that no one has been hurt.”

Sergeant Stallworthy said Pakiri Road is down to one lane until about midday.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/four-children-escape-as-bus-goes-up-in-flames-at-leigh/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman who helped her son and his wife buy a house has been offered $10,000 in compensation for the way the bank handled the dispute when the relationship went sour.

The case went to the Banking Ombudsman, which published a case note last month.

It said the woman wanted to help her son and daughter-in-law onto the property ladder. They formed a partnership and borrowed $320,000 in October 2008 to buy a house.

The loan was in each of their names.

But when the couple decided to separate, the mother and daughter-in-law decided to sell the property. The son told the bank there was a dispute and it froze the loan accounts and refused to act on any instructions until the dispute was resolved.

The mother offered to repay the loan in full so the mortgage could be discharged, but the bank still refused to act.

The Banking Ombudsman scheme said it raised concerns with the bank about its refusal to allow the woman to pay off the loan.

“We pointed out the dispute among the three borrowers had no effect on the right of each borrower to repay the loan at any time. The terms and conditions of the loan allowed for just such a step…. [she] held a 77 percent stake in the partnership so was able to pass resolutions without the consent of the other two partners.”

The bank offered the woman $10,000.

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said partnerships could be a good way to get into the property market, but the case was a reminder that it was important everyone was clear on their rights and what would happen if circumstances changed.

“When relationships end, joint accounts, loans and partnerships can become tricky. It’s crucial to understand how your accounts are set up, and what your rights and obligations are. This knowledge can prevent a difficult situation from becoming even more stressful.”

She said people should decide in advance how they would divide assets if they separated and get legal advice if they needed formal arrangements.”

Mortgage adviser Jeremy Andrews, from Key Mortgages, said he dealt with people wanting to buy in partnership several times a year.

“There are some advantages such as being able to combine everybody’s deposit together to get the best possible interest rates, and combining everybody’s incomes together to get the highest approval figure based on income servicing.”

He said the case highlighted the main downside – what would happen when one of the parties wanted to get out of the joint ownership, such as to buy a different property.

“If they are jointly and severally liable for the loan, which is typically higher than a single or couple’s income alone could have allowed, this could be a dealbreaker without selling the property.

“There needs to be a clear understanding of the future implications at that point, before entering into such [an] agreement, and we always recommend each party seeks independent legal advice on this.”

He said sometimes people would own a house as tenants in common, which gave them an agreed and specified percentage of the ownership.

“If the property increases in value over time, then each party receives their respective percentage increase in value each when the time comes to sell – hopefully for an overall profit.

“There are also downsides to this type of arrangement, such as if one or more of the co-borrowers wish to retain ownership of the property, and then based on the income they have at the time, can they buy out the other exiting parties share of existing mortgage – plus typically accumulated equity on top of that.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/buying-a-house-with-friends-or-family-watch-out/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Campers are shocked and devastated as a Hawke’s Bay campground is evacuated due to the “extreme” risk of a landslide, the manager says.

It comes three weeks after six people died in Mount Maunganui when a chunk of the maunga crashed onto a holiday park.

The Hastings District Council said it evaluated “at-risk” sites including the Clifton Motor Camp after that tragedy.

At 4.30pm on Thursday, the council told campers and permanent residents they had 24 hours to leave because a geotechnical report has found an extreme risk of landslides affecting the grounds.

“Heavy or prolonged rain, elevated groundwater levels, or an earthquake could cause the slope to fail,” the council said.

“If that occurred, soil, rocks and large trees would fall directly onto buildings and caravans located at the base of the slope.”

Hawke’s Bay is under a heavy rain watch from 3pm today.

The council said there would be little warning and limited opportunity to escape safely if a landslide occurred.

The council said making the site safe would require significant engineering and drainage works, likely costing several million dollars.

Unless that work was undertaken, the campground could not be considered safe to occupy.

There had been slips there in the past: one in 2011 damaged the toilet block and covered the playground, and one in 2019 that put two tourists in hospital.

Hastings District Council chief executive Nigel Bickle said the decision was not a “knee-jerk reaction”.

“The advice is clear – the level of risk is extreme and cannot be ignored.”

Bickle understood it was distressing news for people who used the campground – some for many decades.

“But when expert advice tells us there is a credible threat to life, we have a responsibility to act.”

Campers shocked, devastated

Clifton Reserve Society’s Piki Wellwood-King – which leases the land from Hastings District Council – said the advice came out of the blue.

“Everyone here is in shock around the short notice, absolutely devastated trying to comprehend what’s really happening,” she said.

“The camp composes of people who live here permanently, people who live here seasonally, and the public who come in and rent a site,” she said.

“It’s really weighing heavy on everyone … it’s huge.”

Some had camped there for generations, and more than a dozen lived there permanently, she said.

But Wellwood-King said the advice to leave made “perfect sense” given the safety risk.

The council said staff were working with the society and support agencies to help residents with accommodation and support services, and to ensure they could retrieve their personal belongings.

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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/2026/02/13/devastated-hawkes-bay-campground-being-evacuated-due-to-landslide-risk/

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland man promised two people a better life, but instead kept them as slaves for several years, police said following his sentencing.

Moeaia Tuai was on Thursday jailed for 16 years and four months for dealing in slaves, rape and numerous other sexual assaults.

Detective Inspector Warrick Adkin of Counties Manukau CIB said the Samoan chief arranged to bring them to New Zealand in 2016.

He praised the bravery of the complainants for standing up in court, saying they gave compelling evidence.

“Initially the victims were promised a good education and a better way of life. But that’s not what happened – instead he put them to work, kept their wages and assaulted them.

“The charges are the result of more than two years of work by Immigration New Zealand and New Zealand Police, dating back to 2024 when the first allegations of Tuai’s offending were brought to our attention.”

Specialist agencies supported the two young people through the process and five-week trial, he added.

Immigration investigations manager Jason Perry said slavery was often a hidden crime, and urged people to report migrant exploitation.

“Immigration New Zealand is committed to supporting police to ensure those who deliberately harm or take advantage of others are held accountable. Immigration investigators worked closely with police throughout the operation, helping to ensure those responsible for these often hidden crimes are brought to justice.

“Coordinated action like this is essential to protecting vulnerable people and raising awareness. If you see signs of exploitation, report it.”

Tuai, 63, was sentenced to a non-parole period of eight years.

The High Court in Auckland heard he put the male complainant straight to work at an Auckland boarding house run by his wife’s sister, before moving both victims to Australia, where the young man escaped in 2020.

It took another four years before the young woman, back in New Zealand, also managed to run away.

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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/2026/02/13/police-praise-bravery-of-auckland-slavers-victims/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A person is in a stable condition in hospital after being shot and injured in the Auckland suburb of Mission Bay.

Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk says police were called to a property about 9.15pm on Thursday.

She said it appeared a group of people had turned up at the house where some kind of altercation took place.

An investigation was underway to track down those responsible.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/person-shot-during-fight-in-aucklands-mission-bay/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Fisher Funds says it has made some changes to the team that manages its hardship applications, with KiwiSaver managers under pressure as withdrawal applications spiked.

Inland Revenue data showed there were 58,460 withdrawals for hardship reasons in 2025, 10,000 more than were made for a first home.

In total, $514.8 million was withdrawn from KiwiSaver because of hardship and $2.1 billion for a first home.

Some applicants faced delays as providers struggled to keep up with the volume.

Fisher Funds said some changes were made last year to its team, for the eight staff based in Hawke’s Bay.

“We put a change proposal to them, inviting them to relocate to Auckland/or Wellington and unfortunately none of them took up the offer.

“All roles were replaced with people in either Auckland or Wellington.”

A spokesperson said Fisher Funds was not immune to the overall increase in applications and, anticipating that Christmas would be a time of additional pressure on household budgets, extra staff were added from November through January.

Milford Asset Management has a partnership with DebtFix, to help manage the hardship application process. It, too, has seen a significant increase in applications.

A spokesperson for Westpac said it had added staff to its team, to handle first-home withdrawals as well as hardship applications.

“We’ve improved some of our internal processes to make it faster and more efficient for customers.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/kiwisaver-managers-under-pressure-as-hardship-applications-spike/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police say the fire that ripped through the top floor of a factory in the Auckland suburb of Onehunga is being treated as suspicious.

Up to eight crews were called to the two-storey building on Patrick Street at 2.15am on Friday, where they found the upper floor fully alight.

Fire and Emergency said the bulk of the blaze had been extinguished by 3am.

No one was hurt in the fire.

Police said staff will work with fire investigators, with a scene examination to be completed later on Friday.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/investigation-underway-into-suspicious-auckland-factory-fire/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/hilary-duff-announces-first-world-tour-in-almost-20-years/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Emergency services are responding to a crash in north Canterbury, that has left multiple people trapped.

Fire and Emergency NZ said it was called to State Highway 7, north of Waikari, at about 6.40am on Friday after a car went off the road.

At least four fire crews are working to help free people trapped in the car.

One of the people trapped is in a critical condition and three others in a serious condition.

St John said it is responding with three ambulances and a helicopter.

Motorists are told to expect delays.

Police have been contacted for comment.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/13/multiple-people-trapped-after-crash-in-north-canterbury/