Category: Public Media

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Road rules shakeup on the table – here’s what you need to know

Source: Radio New Zealand

Currently e-scooters are allowed to ride on the footpath and the road, but it’s illegal to ride in the cycle lanes, but this would change under new rules. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Both the previous government and the current one kicked the can down the road on making ‘sensible’ changes to road rules, but now the changes are back on the agenda

Every day, across the country, kids break the law by riding their bikes on the footpath.

Every now and again they might get a growling from a grumpy passerby, but for the most part, Kiwis recognise that it’s a safer alternative to a child riding where they’re technically supposed to – in a cycle path, or on the road.

“I think most parents who have got kids riding their bikes will probably be doing it on the footpath,” director of greater Auckland Matt Lowrie said.

But now, the government has proposed changes to road rules that would mean children 12 and under are free to ride where it’s safest – on the footpath.

In a press release, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said the changes were aimed at “fixing the basics” for big and small forms of transport.

They come in two packages with the first including:

  • Allowing e-scooters in cycle lanes
  • Kids 12 and under being allowed to bike on the footpaths
  • Mandatory passing gaps around cyclists and horses
  • Drivers in 60 kilometres or under speed zones to allow buses to merge into traffic
  • Better signage for berm parking

The second package relates to heavy vehicles.

This article is focused on the first package and what it means for drivers, riders and pedestrians.

These changes aren’t a new concept.

National announced similar rules in 2025 and the previous Labour government proposed changes to footpath rules in 2020.

Matt Lowrie, who is an avid cyclist, said these changes had been a long time coming.

“A lot of these are quite common sense changes and so the government are now getting back to it again and looking to get them approved.”

New Zealand director of road safety charity BRAKE, Caroline Perry, said the organisation welcomed the changes, but would like clearer guidance on some aspects.

“There are some small parts to it that we would like some clarification on in terms of things like children up to the age of 12 being able to cycle on footpaths. What about their parents or guardians?”

Currently e-scooters are allowed to ride on the footpath and the road, but it’s illegal to ride in the cycle lanes, but this would change under new rules.

“In legislation, only bikes can be on cycle lanes, whereas actually in terms of the speed that e-scooters are generally going, they actually match more appropriately the speeds that are on the cycle lanes, so that makes sense that e-scooters could use those lanes rather than footpaths,” Perry said.

The proposed change to this rule could help improve safety for e-scooter riders – especially important with e-scooter-related ACC claims on the rise.

Between 2022 and 2025, new ACC claims involving e-scooters increased by 55 percent across all age groups.

Young people under the age 25 made up close to half of ACC claims between the beginning of 2026 and early February.

Perry said more could be done to minimise riding risks.

“We need more investment in infrastructure, particularly for active modes.

“Part of making it safer to walk and cycle is to have more of those dedicated facilities for them such as bike lanes.”

Despite all the negative commentary that can come with e-scooters, Lowrie says the positives do outweigh the negatives.

“What e-scooters do is open up the first mile, last mile connection.

“E-scooters can really help with addressing those issues and making public transport – walking, cycling – more attractive and [allowing people to] get around our city easier, and often faster.”

These proposed road rules are currently open for consultation and close on the 25th of March.

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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/2026/03/24/road-rules-shakeup-on-the-table-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

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Government set to unveil details of fuel support package

Source: Radio New Zealand

Cabinet has signed off on what support the government will offer in the face of rising fuel costs. RNZ / Dan Cook

The Citizens Advice Bureau says people are going to need significant support as fuel prices continue to rise, and is hopeful whatever relief the government is set to offer will include support for those not in paid work.

Cabinet has signed off on what support the government will offer, with details to be released later on Tuesday.

The Finance Minister has hinted it would be targeted towards low and middle income families.

“It must be targeted, it must be timely, and it must be temporary and not drive inflation or debt higher, because as we steer New Zealand through this immediate challenge, we must also continue to look to the future and bend the debt curve down,” Nicola Willis said on Monday.

The fact the Inland Revenue Department and Treasury had been tasked with going over the options, and a previous admission from the government it would use existing mechanisms, indicated it could be looking at changes to Working for Families.

The In-Work Tax Credit (IWTC) was paid out depending on someone’s income, the weeks they worked, and how many children they had.

In April, the government would raise the abatement threshold (the income level at which the credit would reduce) from $42,700 to $44,900.

There was also the Independent Earner Tax Credit (IETC) for people earning between $24,000 and $70,000.

The IETC was designed to help people on lower to middle incomes that were not eligible for Working for Families.

People earning between $24,000 and $66,000 received a tax credit of $10 per week. It decreased by 13 cents for every dollar someone earned over $66,000.

Asked on Monday whether the abatement thresholds would be temporarily changed, Willis said she would wait to comment until the details of the package were announced.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

The Citizens Advice Bureau’s national policy advisor Louise May said there were already “high levels of stress” amongst the client base, and the latest hike in the cost of living could plunge people further into hardship.

“We’ve got a lot of clients coming in for help who are just unable to make ends meet. That includes clients with work and those without, and we are really concerned that those clients are going to be in even more dire financial and material hardship situations,” she said.

May hoped both people in work and people receiving income support who did not have paid work were offered relief, and also called for relief for support services such as food banks and emergency accommodation.

“Any measure to increase money coming into the pockets of people who are struggling should definitely be looked at. One thing we’re really concerned about is the fact that there hasn’t been mention of families who don’t have paid work,” she said.

“We think it’s really important that any relief package that’s introduced as a result of this latest crisis also includes families and people who don’t currently have paid employment. They are the ones who are going to be most affected.”

May said it was not just about what people were paying at the pump, but rent and food prices were also high, and people were struggling.

The Citizens Advice Bureau says people are going to need significant support as fuel prices continue to rise. RNZ / Mark Papalii

Infometrics chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen said changes to the IWTC or IETC would be quick and effective.

He said the difficulty of using the tax system was it would not be as easy for households to see the money come into their back pockets compared to a helicopter payment such as the 2022 Cost of Living Payment, but it would mean the government could run it out quickly and then run it back quickly.

“It does seem like probably the best way to move things through is to use the tax system. Whether or not it’s enough, any little bit will help at the moment, given the sorts of pressures that some households are under. I guess the most workable thing using the tax system around the Independent Earner Tax Credit and the In Work Tax Credit is that they can be targeted to those on lower incomes already, and so you are getting the support there through to people who probably need it most.”

Olsen said the government would be trying to balance providing support and limiting the costs.

“There’s no extra money in the system, and to fund whatever package the government is coming out with either requires an increase in debt or something else in the government system to be cut back on,” he said.

“They want to provide as much support as possible, but keep the limitations tight so they’re not sort of spending a huge amount. And for some people, that does mean that they will feel that they’re not getting the support they might expect from government. But equally, the wider you go, the more money it costs, and therefore at some point, the more the country has to repay.”

Olsen said one of the risks of using tax system changes was they were sometimes “so fiendishly complex” that households may not know what they were entitled to, and sometimes neither did the government.

“They get too much or too little, and then you only find out after the fact that they actually either deserve more, or sometimes in the worst case, they have to start paying this money back, which would almost be the complete opposite of what the government wants to try and support at the moment.

“So you want to, from a government point of view, try and balance these changes, to make them as absolutely blunt and simple as possible, to get that money out the door, to support those who need it, but also have it go through enough of a workable system, which is a more complex tax system that we have to try and provide that sort of targeted focus.”

Infometrics chief executive and principal economist Brad Olsen. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Labour leader Chris Hipkins was reserving judgement on what the government would offer until he had seen the details, but said the “principle” was that it should be offered to all people on low and fixed incomes.

“Anyone on a fixed income or a low income is going to be suffering at the moment because of the high price of fuel. That includes superannuitants, it includes people living on benefits, it includes people caring for others and not currently earning an income, not just those who are on low incomes in the workforce.”

Hipkins would not, however, offer up what Labour would do differently if it was in power, saying it was up to the government to present a plan.

“At the moment, the onus has to be on the current government to lead the country through that,” Hipkins said.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins. RNZ / Mark Papalii

The Green Party has proposed an urgent support package including free public transport, relief payments for low income and rural people to help meet additional transport costs, temporarily expanding eligibility for school buses and reversing cuts to school bus routes, reversing planned cuts to the Total Mobility Scheme, increasing mileage rates to care and support workers who receive well below standard IRD mileage, and a windfall profits tax.

Asked why the Greens could propose policies but Labour could not, Hipkins said minor parties could “promise a lot of things” during election campaigns.

“They get a lot more luxury to promise whatever they want, compared to the bigger parties,” Hipkins said.

In a post on social media on Monday night, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he had spoken with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong about what more they could do to deal with difficulties in fuel and other supply chains.

Luxon said about a third of New Zealand’s fuel was refined in Singapore and the two leaders agreed it was important to keep the trade of essential goods flowing between the two countries.

“We’re working hard to ensure New Zealand’s fuel needs are met amidst the conflict in the Middle East, which is causing disruption to supply and higher prices at the pump,” he said.

“When I visit Singapore in May, we will sign the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies, a deal that will help keep supply chains flowing for fuel, food and other products.

“Building on the great platform we’ve built with one another, we also talked about what further work our Governments can do together as we navigate through these supply chain challenges.”

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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/2026/03/24/government-set-to-unveil-details-of-fuel-support-package/

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Coroner blames Maritime NZ, Police for delay of findings on Vivienne Pincott’s river rafting death

Source: Radio New Zealand

A white water raft goes over Tutea Falls on the Kaituna River. Supplied

Maritime New Zealand has apologised for an error that contributed to delays in releasing a coroner’s report into the river rafting death of a woman near Rotorua in August, 2020.

In his report into the death of 61-year-old Wellington woman Vivienne Pincott released on Tuesday, Coroner Michael Robb blamed Maritime New Zealand and Police for taking too long to provide some files, reports and evidence that led to the delay in releasing his findings.

Pincott died from severe injuries while white water rafting a class-five rapid that contained a seven metre drop.

She was being guided down the Tutea Falls on the Kaituna River.

In his report, Coroner Robb said even though the drop had been undertaken without fatal consequences by many others prior to Pincott’s death, the circumstances highlighted the risks of rafting on such fast moving white water.

“Safety considerations including the wearing of an appropriately sized and fitted lifejacket and helmet must be maintained, but as the circumstances of Vivienne’s death highlight, this may not provide complete protection against a fatal outcome in what is an inherently dangerous activity,” he said.

‘We unreservedly apologise’

In his report, Coroner Robb acknowledged the delay between Pincott’s death and the release of his findings.

“That delay was in large part the result of the report directed by the Coroners Court to be provided from Maritime New Zealand not being provided until 6 May 2024, nearly four years after Vivienne’s death,” he said.

“That delay was then contributed to by the New Zealand Police not providing their investigation file to the Coroners Court until April 2025, four years and eight months after Vivienne’s death.”

Coroner Robb said Maritime New Zealand had acknowledged and apologised for the delay in providing their report explaining that the delay occurred due to “internal circumstances relating to the file and the historical ways in which such matters were managed” at the time.

In a statement, Maritime New Zealand confirmed that the Coroner’s Office request for information into Pincott’s death was missed due to an administrative error.

“We extend our condolences to the family of Ms Pincott for her loss and acknowledge that the delay in finalising the Coroner’s report will have added to their distress. We unreservedly apologise to the Coroner and Ms Pincott’s family for the extended period it took for us to provide the material,” it said.

“Since 2021 we have put in place a new team, systems and processes to manage notifications and requests from the Coroner’s Office and other enquiries, which includes more stringent tracking of reports and cases.

“We are sure a delay of this nature will not happen again.”

In his report, Coroner Robb said that the greatest delay in releasing his findings was due to delays caused by the gap in Maritime New Zealand providing its report to Rotorua Police.

”However, a further year of delay was caused by the Rotorua Police not forwarding that report to the Coroners Court until April, 2025,” he said.

The coroner said that the police took years to sign off written statements from officers who had been working the day Pincott was injured. Some of the officers had left in that time.

In a statement, Rotorua Area Commander Inspector Herby Ngawhika said the police carried out an investigation, as directed by the coroner.

“We accept there was an unnecessary delay in the coronial process caused, in part, by Police,” he said.

“As noted in the report, shortly after Ms Pincott’s death, New Zealand was placed in a COVID19 level 4 lockdown. This unprecedented event consumed much of our available resource and led to a backlog of coronial files,” Ngawhika said.

“We acknowledge the impact of this delay on Ms Pincott’s family and friends and offer our sincere condolences.”

In his report, Coroner Robb said he did not take over the file until December 2025 after the inquiry had been tranferred from the orginal coroner.

“The coroner to whom the inquiry had been reassigned discovering a conflict of interest upon review of the disclosure when it was received in April, 2025. This resulted in the inquiry needing to be transferred to me, as the third assigned coroner,” he said.

“That transfer occurred in December, 2025.”

Coroner Robb said his review of the evidence in December 2025 revealed that there were gaps in the evidence that had been gathered by the police resulting in further reports being sought

from both the rafting company and Maritime New Zealand.

“A fortnight later I received a thorough and comprehensive report from the rafting company (Rotorua Adventures New Zealand – under which River Rats was operating at the time), which addressed all issues that I had raised with both the company and Maritime New Zealand,” he said.

“On 29 January 2026 I received the additional report requested from Maritime New Zealand.”

‘Extremely rare injury’

At the time of her death, Pincott was holidaying with her 25-year-old son, Bryden Frizell.

Although the coroner’s report noted previous heart problems she was described as a “fit and healthy” woman who had taken part in other physical activities without issue.

The River Rats raft she and Bryden were on had successfully navigated several other drops, before guides took it over the final seven metre – class five – waterfall.

Coroner Robb said that the raft initially became momentarily submerged and full of water at the bottom of the waterfall before resurfacing.

Video evidence showed that when the raft resurfaced, there were only three occupants on board.

“The two guides were in their original positions and Bryden remained in the front of the raft, but having been washed or jolted from his original right hand seat position towards his left occupying, or partially occupying where his mother had been seated,” he said.

Pincott resurfaced some 10-15 seconds later, before being rescued by guides.

Although initially concious and able to talk, she deteriorated and collapsed before emergency services arrived.

The coroner’s report said that, despite resuscitation efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem found that Pincott suffered severe traumatic injuries.

“What I wanted to understand was whether this extremely rare injury sustained by Vivienne was a consequence of something environmentally unusual, such as overly high or low river flow, technique or navigation issue that occurred at the time, or any other identifiable difference to the multiple other uneventful navigations of the Tutea Falls,” Coroner Robb said.

The coroner concluded it was most likely that Pincott was driven into rocks or the riverbed after being ejected from the raft.

While such incidents were extremely rare given the large number of people who had rafted Tutea Falls, the coroner found that her death was the result of the inherent risks of white-water rafting, even when safety procedures were followed.

The rafting company, River Rats, had changed ownership since Pincott’s death.

The new owners, and Pincott’s family were approached for comment.

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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/2026/03/24/coroner-blames-maritime-nz-police-for-delay-of-findings-on-vivienne-pincotts-river-rafting-death/

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Large vehicle fire in West Auckland suburb extinguished

Source: Radio New Zealand

File photo. RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Firefighters have extinguished a large vehicle fire in the West Auckland suburb of Massey this evening.

Fire and Emergency crews arrived on Sunline Avenue to find a car and a van well alight about 7.30pm

The fire was extinguished by 8pm and St John said nobody was injured.

A fire investigator is at the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

Police said they were also at the scene.

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Fuel crisis: Diesel shortages could hit power supply on Stewart Island

Source: Radio New Zealand

Diesel and petrol prices have now hit $4 per litre on Rakiura Stewart Island. RNZ / Nate McKinnon

Rakiura locals fear surging fuel prices will soon send their power bills rocketing up, and that Stewart Island – which relies on diesel generators for electricity – may face blackouts.

Stewart Island is home to about 400 people and it burns through about 1000 litres of diesel a day to create electricity.

Diesel and petrol prices have now hit $4 per litre on the island as the United States and Israel’s war against Iran continues.

Sharon Ross – one of the owners of the island’s only service station – said the last week had been the busiest they had seen since the Covid-19 pandemic, as people rushed to fill up and beat rising prices.

“People are concerned about how high it’s going to go. There’s been lots of joking that we should have tissues at the counter to mop up the tears after they’ve filled their tanks,” she said.

“People are concerned about the supply, and they’re also concerned that we’ll run out of power because we have five generators operating on diesel, and if they can’t keep the diesel up to them what that would mean to the island.”

Power prices were so far stable, but Ross said it was a waiting game.

“Our average power bill here is between $500 and $700 a month, which is also the same as our home one. So it’s frightening to think how much that might increase,” she said.

“Everything’s affected here because everything arrives by freight to the island so all those cartage bills will go up.”

Southland district councillor Jon Spraggon, from the Rakiura ward, said high diesel prices would likely push up power prices on the island.

“Power is 84 cents a unit here at the moment, where it goes is an unknown factor. Diesel prices have gone up a fairly substantial percentage and I would suspect our price would go up by a similar percentage,” he said.

But his biggest concern was ongoing supply of diesel.

“If we were to run out of diesel, then the electrical supply on the island would cut out. Things like our communication with the mainland, our connections with the mainland, the airline, the ferry services all rely on fuel,” he said.

Spraggon said diesel was delivered to the island twice a week and at the moment that was still happening, but these were uncertain times.

He wanted the government to keep Stewart Island in mind as the fuel situation worsened.

“When they’re looking at it and in future perhaps rationing or anything like that, Stewart Island needs to be a special case because of its remoteness and and it’s total dependency on diesel,” he said

He said the district council was in the process of installing a solar farm on the island to supplement diesel generation, but that was still eight months away.

Stewart Island Backpackers owner Aaron Joy said businesses were being hit hard by escalating fuel prices.

“We run the hostel on Stewart Island and we’re covering the costs at the moment but there will come a time where if it keeps going up we have to pass that onto our clients,” he said.

The Southland District Council said it was monitoring the situation and would discuss its options with the Stewart Island community board.

It said while the Stewart Island Electrical Supply Authority did have reserves, it was not meant to be a buffer for fuel prices.

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Canterbury leads ASB’s rankings as Auckland rebounds and Wellington finishes last

Source: Radio New Zealand

ASB said Canterbury secured its third quarterly win of 2025. RNZ / Nate McKinnon

ASB’s latest Regional Economic Scoreboard shows Canterbury leading New Zealand’s regional growth, Auckland making strong gains, and Wellington slipping to the bottom of the rankings.

Canterbury scored back-to-back economic wins in ASB’s latest regional economic survey.

Canterbury finished the final quarter of 2025 on a strong note, once again topping ASB’s Regional Economic Scoreboard as the country’s best‑performing regional economy.

Otago and Waikato tied for second place, while Auckland jumped from seventh to fourth.

ASB said Canterbury secured its third quarterly win of 2025, outperforming the rest of the country in employment, retail spending, housing activity and population growth.

Chief economist Nick Tuffley said the South Island continued to lead New Zealand’s multi‑speed recovery.

“Canterbury has delivered back‑to‑back wins to close out the year, supported by strong dairy incomes, steady jobs growth, resilient consumer spending and the recovery of the tourism sector,” he said.

Otago’s ranking was boosted by a strong tourism rebound, while Waikato benefited from a robust primary sector and an improving labour market.

ASB expects the upcoming Fonterra capital return from the sale of Mainland to further lift dairy farming regions through increased spending and investment.

Auckland’s rise was driven by gains in retail spending, construction activity and consumer confidence, although its labour market remains subdued.

Tuffley said Auckland’s move up the rankings showed the economic upswing was widening beyond the regions that led earlier in the cycle.

At the other end of the table, Wellington finished last, weighed down by ongoing weakness in the housing market, construction activity and discretionary spending, despite relatively strong employment growth.

Tuffley said Wellington’s economy should improve, helped by low interest rates, but emerging challenges could slow the pace of recovery.

Nationally, ASB said the economy showed signs of growth in the final quarter of 2025 as lower interest rates lifted retail spending and employment indicators stabilised.

However, Tuffley warned the conflict in the Middle East would pose fresh headwinds through higher energy costs and rising inflation.

“The situation and extent of any impact to growth and inflation is highly uncertain and will depend on how long the conflict goes on for,” he said.

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High petrol prices: Cost of public transport ‘still a significant barrier to people’

Source: Radio New Zealand

Auckland had its busiest day on public transport since 2019 last week, and the capital has seen 10 percent more passengers on the train in the past month. File photo. Supplied / Environment Canterbury

A cheaper bus or train fare would be far better than working from home to avoid rising fuel prices, say commuters, despite the local government minister ruling it out.

Simon Watts says the government is not looking at any change or incentive model in regards to public transport.

“Public transport usage by New Zealanders has already increased, we’ve seen that flow through in our major urban cities,” he said.

“That’s obviously a result of Kiwis making the conscious decision to take public transport versus driving their vehicle and that’s what you’d expect with prices at the pump being higher.”

He said it should be up to New Zealanders to make their own decisions, based on their own circumstances.

But petrol has sky-rocketed by more than 83 cents a litre and diesel has shot up $1.33 since the US and Israel began attacking Iran.

Auckland Transport, Greater Wellington, and Canterbury Regional Councils are asking the government to encourage people to use more buses, trains, and ferries – rather than work from home.

People RNZ spoke to in central Auckland on Monday said they would prefer that.

“I do like working from home but working in the office is also really nice, it’s more collaborative,” said one commuter.

“I would prefer to have cheaper public transport,” said another.

Shay Peters from Robert Walters Recruitment Agency said a lot of jobseekers preferred to work from home.

“As we’re in tougher economic times, people are probably erring on the side of caution and will like to be in the office but I know a number would also like the opportunity on balance to be able to just save cash and be working from home at the moment.”

Last Tuesday was Auckland’s busiest day on public transport since 2019, and the capital has seen 10 percent more passengers on the train – and six percent on the bus – within the past month.

Greater Wellington Regional Council Public Transport Committee chair Ros Connelly would also like to see subsidised fares.

“There’s no doubt in my mind and from the surveys and customer feedback that we receive that the cost of public transport still is a significant barrier to people. Obviously since we’ve seen the fuel crisis, comparatively the cost of public transport has decreased but still it is extremely expensive.”

She said the train from Masterton to Wellington can cost up to $22.50 each way, per day.

“That is a barrier for many people and so they will look at other options. Working from home is definitely popular but if there was an increased subsidy we’re really confident that we would see more people on public transport and as fuel prices increase this is one way that the government can ensure that people get to work.”

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said it was a no-brainer to make public transport free.

“Fares have gone up by as much as a third in Canterbury, by a quarter in the Manawatū-Whanganui region and Auckland also has seen fare increases in the realm of 15 to 20 percent over the last three years. We need to remove those barriers to access and also be reserving fuel supply for those who actually need it and don’t currently have the option.”

Stacey van der Putten from Auckland Transport would welcome that.

“We’re monitoring it daily so there will be adjustments that are needed but the system does have flex to be able to support it.”

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Flu vaccine in a spray: ‘Many, many people are just not keen on needles’

Source: Radio New Zealand

The FluMist vaccine is taken in the form of a nasal spray. File photo. 123RF

Bringing a needle-free flu vaccine to New Zealand would be a good way to boost the country’s vaccination rates, says a vaccine expert.

FluMist has long been used in the northern hemisphere and started being used in Australia this year.

The vaccine is taken in the form of a nasal spray, bypassing the need for an injection.

Immunisation Advisory Centre principal medical advisor Professor Nikki Turner is calling for pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to bring FluMist to New Zealand, saying needles are “way more of a barrier than we realise”.

“Many, many people are just not keen on needles, so you put off doing things because you really don’t want the needle,” she said.

“So it’s important we recognise that and respond to that, and this is one useful way to do that.”

She said FluMist had only recently become available in the southern hemisphere, because each hemisphere had slightly different flu strains.

“The reason why it’s not well established in the southern hemisphere is that each year you have to change the formulation in the flu vaccine to match the circulating strains, and so they’ve done that for the northern hemisphere but the company haven’t really been in a position to do that for the southern hemisphere [until recently],” she said.

Since the vaccine had been approved for use in Australia, Professor Turner expected it would be easy for the company to get approval in New Zealand.

But she said it was up to AstraZeneca to pitch the vaccine to Medsafe.

“The company has to present it to Medsafe for licensure. That should be pretty straightforward, but it has to be presented by the company to Medsafe and for the company to do that they’d want to know they would get decent sales,” she explained.

“So we want to say this would be great for the New Zealand market, we have a significant burden of flu on our young children and we think this would be a great vaccine to have available to move away from injectible vaccines.”

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As it happened: Oil prices rise as fall out from Middle East crisis continues

Source: Radio New Zealand

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the government will reveal in the next few weeks how it will support New Zealanders struggling with skyrocketing fuel prices.

He says the country has healthy fuel stocks, and the government’s doing everything it can to secure them.

Oil prices have risen as the fall out continues from the Middle East crisis; Brent Crude oil rose about US$1 to be just above US$113 a barrel in early Asia trade.

It comes after US President Donald Trump vowed to ‘obliterate’ Iran energy facilities if it doesn’t open Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, Auckland Transport is calling for the government to encourage more people to use public transport.

Follow what happened today in our liveblog below:

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/23/as-it-happened-oil-prices-rise-as-fall-out-from-middle-east-crisis-continues/

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Fuel cost crisis: Govt to unveil ‘targeted and temporary’ support tomorrow

Source: Radio New Zealand

The finance minister will reveal “targeted and temporary” support for hard-hit families on Tuesday, as fuel costs continue to rise.

Nicola Willis gave notice of the announcement at Monday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, alongside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones.

Jones also announced plans to align New Zealand’s fuel standards with that of Australia, allowing the import of fuel destined for Australia to New Zealand instead.

Willis said the decisions on support had been taken at Cabinet, and while some of the details were still being worked out, that would not affect how quickly families could get it.

“This conflict is impacting just about every New Zealander, it has pushed up the price of petrol, diesel and jet fuel and those increases are already hurting our people and our businesses. Unfortunately the government is not in a position to mitigate that impact on everyone,” she said.

“The approach we are taking is consistent with the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the response to the Covid pandemic, which highlighted the damage that can be done by untimely, untemporary and untargeted spending.”

It was unclear when the support would be rolled out, with Willis saying that would be made clear when it was announced.

Motorists should fuel up as and when they needed to, she said, with the government’s solution set to target income rather than fuel prices.

‘No concerns’ about fuel supply

For now, there were no concerns about fuel supplies in New Zealand, she said.

“To date, all shipments have arrived as scheduled and fuel importers have not raised any concerns about shipments that are due here in future.

“It remains the case that we have to be prepared for the possibility of disruptions in the medium to longer term, particularly because the refineries in Southeast Asia from which we import more than 90 percent of our fuel may have challenges getting the feedstock crude oil that they need.”

Luxon said the country had at least enough fuel for the next seven weeks, although the government was preparing in case of long-term further disruption.

“If you are someone who has just faced a 30 percent increase in your fuel bill or a 60 percent increase in your diesel bill since the actual crisis, since this conflict has commenced, it’s real.

“We cannot do the Covid learnings and mistakes, which was just spray a heap of money around that has short term gain but long term pain – massive long-term pain – and equally we’ve got to find a way to get people support in a temporary, targeted kind of way.

“The reality is that we are not going to be able to alleviate the pressure of rising prices for everyone, but what we’ve been clear about are the parameters for any support that we provide, which is that it must be targeted, it must be timely, and it must be temporary and not drive inflation or debt higher.”

The latest data from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showed stocks for about 47 days of fuel, including about 50 days worth of petrol, 46 days of diesel, and 45 of jet fuel.

The data, accurate to last Wednesday, marks about two days fewer than was reported last week.

One new fuel shipment arrived on Sunday, and two more – carrying between them another 20 days of each kind of fuel – are expected to arrive in the next fortnight.

The next update is due on Wednesday, but the ministry says New Zealand is not yet experiencing the kind of sustained disruption that would justify emergency measures under the national fuel plan.

Luxon said nothing had changed about New Zealand’s position on the Iran conflict, but that Iranians “holding hostage a whole bunch of ships to bring fuel and critical supplies … that’s not acceptable”.

“What we want to see is a quick resolution to this conflict and that means that actually respecting civilians and civilian infrastructure is really important … we think the best thing is de-escalation.”

Willis confirmed some consideration had been given to which industries could be prioritised if fuel rationing was needed, but this would not be revealed until a later date.

“We will not be having to hit the button tomorrow, but we will outline what our proposed phasing of response is … we recognise that it’s useful for people to understand what could be coming under a range of scenarios,” she said.

She noted the high prices would also naturally limit fuel use.

“It is pinching people’s pockets already and that is changing people’s choices. So Auckland transport have reported they had their biggest day of public transport use in seven years, I think that’s people deciding to use their cars a little bit less because it’s pretty expensive right now.”

‘Anzac pact’ in fuel and other standards

Jones outlined the government’s plan to temporarily allow fuel that meets Australian specifications to be supplied to the New Zealand market for up to a year.

Fuel companies had said this could allow them to secure shipments more quickly, and from a wider pool of suppliers.

Jones said long-range vessels typically carried about 120 million litres, and New Zealand consumed about 24 million litres of fuel a day – with about 47 percent of that being diesel, about 35 percent being petrol, and the remainder being aviation fuel.

“Should such a vessel be on its way to Australia then we would have the ability to also benefit from such a vessel.”

He said fuel refined to Australian standards was compatible with New Zealand vehicles, and met safety and quality expectations, pushing back on the suggestion it would allow dirtier fuels than under current standards.

“It’s unkind of us to refer to our Aussie compatriots as dirty,” he said. “There’s two things – whether or not fuel used in a high-temperature northern Australian environment, we are advised that a lot of that fuel is suitable for the North Island … with the South Island the fuel importers assure us that they will have the optionality to service both of those markets.”

He said officials had spoken to Australian counterparts.

“We pushed the idea that at some point in time we should explore and ANZAC pact and I would say to you this is the first step that we’re taking to join forces.

“It’d be fair to say that I’ve got a fair degree of support in our Cabinet to actually move towards permanent harmonisation of not only these standards but a variety of other standards in the economy.”

Willis and the associate ministers of finance would make further improvements, he said.

The government would not follow Australia’s lead in relaxing standards to allow higher-sulphur fuel, he said, at least not yet.

“At this stage it’s not our intention to do so, however, we will take advice should the situation change – and that could be an option that expands our supply.

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Police seek boat last seen in Northland bay

Source: Radio New Zealand

The 25-foot vessel ‘JAGMEN’. Supplied

Police are appealing for sightings of a boat last seen in Taurikura Bay on Sunday night.

The 25-foot vessel – named ‘JAGMEN’ – was last seen leaving the bay about 8pm on 22 March, said police.

“Police would like to speak with an occupant believed to be onboard, to ensure their safety.”

Anyone who has any information about the whereabouts of the boat and its occupant is urged to contact police.

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Dion Nash quits NZ Cricket board after Twenty20 decision

Source: Radio New Zealand

Former Black Cap Dion Nash was elected to the NZ Cricket board in 2024. Elias Rodriguez

The first signs of fallout from New Zealand Cricket’s decision to pursue a new franchise-based Twenty20 competition have emerged, with board member Dion Nash resigning just hours after the announcement.

NZC confirmed on Monday morning it will back the proposed NZ20 league as the preferred model for its domestic T20 future.

The board had been weighing up whether to support the NZ20 model or instead pursue a plan to enter a New Zealand-based team into Australia’s Big Bash League – a process that had already exposed deep divisions within the sport.

By the afternoon, the former Black Cap had stepped down from the board, saying he could no longer support the organisation’s direction.

“Ultimately, I reached a point where I felt it was the right time to step aside,” he said.

Elected in 2024, Nash’s departure lays bare the divisions at the top of the game, with debate over the future of T20 cricket having already contributed to significant governance upheaval in recent months.

The debate traces back to last year, when a consortium of players, investors and administrators put forward a pitch for a privately owned franchise league aimed at modernising the game and attracting global investment.

Scott Weenink stepped down as NZ Cricket chief executive days before Christmas after finding himself at odds with key stakeholders in the game. Photosport / RNZ composite

At the same time, NZC was considering its own options for the future of the domestic game, including a proposal to field a New Zealand team in Australia’s Big Bash League – an option understood to have been favoured by backed by former chief executive Scott Weenink.

The national body commissioned Deloitte to assess the various pathways, but what began as a strategic review quickly hardened into a fundamental dispute over the direction of the sport, ultimately pitting the CEO and key stakeholders across the game.

Weenink stepped down from his role before Christmas, citing the the fundamental differences with the game’s stakeholders as the driver.

NZC chair Diana Puketapu-Lyndon acknowledged Nash’s exit, thanking him for his service.

“We thank Dion for his dedicated service and valuable contributions,” she said.

“We wish him well in his future endeavours.”

In a statement released earlier on Monday, Puketapu-Lyndon said the board’s decision in favour of NZ20 wasn’t a final commitment, and was subject to reaching key commercial and structural measures.

She said the board thoroughly debated the two options and said several changes to the original NZ20 proposal would need to be negotiated before a final decision was made.

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2025 confirmed as one of the hottest years on record

Source: Radio New Zealand

An ‘addiction’ to fossil fuels is driving climate change, the UN Secretary-General says – leading to ever-more severe weather including floods, droughts, and damaging storms. MUHAMMAD FAROOQ

Last year was among the hottest on record, as the world’s “addiction” to fossil fuels continues to drive global warming, new data shows.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) confirmed the average global temperature last year was 1.43°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.

2024 remains the hottest year on record, but 2025 was the second- or third-hottest, across the nine major global datasets.

The organisation said the global climate was more out of balance than at any other time in observed history, as greenhouse gas concentrations reached their highest levels in at least 800,000 years.

Most of the trapped heat was stored in the ocean, which is warming at an accelerating pace.

Together with melting sea ice and glaciers, that was driving global sea level rise – which projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show will continue for centuries.

Arctic sea-ice hit a record low in some satellite datasets last year.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the planet was being pushed beyond its limits.

“Every key climate indicator is flashing red.”

Current major conflicts were exposing another truth, Guterres said.

“Our addiction to fossil fuels is destabilising both the climate and global security.”

Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, after the country was attacked by Israel and the US, has spiked oil and gas prices and prompted fears of global inflation.

The WMO’s State of the Climate report said increasingly severe weather, driven by climate change, was already affecting agricultural production and displacing people from their homes.

“The cascading and compounding impacts of multiple, sequential disasters severely limit the ability of communities to prepare for, recover from and adapt to shocks,” the report said.

That was especially true in places that were already experiencing conflict or other types of insecurity.

In New Zealand, inflation-adjusted data published by the Insurance Council showed that since 2019, insurance companies had paid out nearly $6 billion for extreme weather-related events in New Zealand.

That did not include pay-outs for severe weather at the beginning of this year, which killed six people in a landslide at Mount Maunganui, cut off entire communities, and closed major roads.

Victoria University professor of climate science James Renwick said the science of climate change had been understood for a century or more now.

“We know what we have to do to stop it,” he said. “Stop burning fossil fuels.”

Policymakers had been given that message for decades but emissions just kept increasing, he said.

He hoped the latest report “moves the dial”.

“The costs of inaction are already astronomical, let’s not make them overwhelming.”

Last week, the High Court in Wellington heard a case taken by two environmental NGOs against the government over its emissions reductions plans, which the organisations argued were risky and unlawful.

The Environmental Law Initiative and Lawyers for Climate Action told the court that the government broke the law when it dismantled dozens of climate policies soon after the election, before it had consulted the public.

The current plan relied overwhelmingly on offsetting emissions by planting forestry, rather than tackling emissions at their sources, the organisations said.

The court has reserved its decision.

Similar cases in the UK succeeded in forcing the government there to re-write its own emissions plans.

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Two people dead after crash blocks SH57 in Levin

Source: Radio New Zealand

File photo. A serious crash blocked State Highway 57 in Levin on Monday morning. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

A serious crash that closed State Highway 57 in Levin today has claimed two lives.

Emergency services were called to the two-vehicle crash on Arapaepae Road about 2.30am on Monday.

Police said two people were pronounced dead at the scene.

The road is still closed while the Serious Crash Unit carry out a scene examination.

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Shane Jones labels critics of fisheries bill as ‘noisy voices’

Source: Radio New Zealand

Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has called critics of his Fisheries Amendment Bill “a range of noisy voices” and invited them to have their say at the select committee.

The bill, which is scheduled to have it’s first reading on Tuesday, has been welcomed by the commercial sector but condemned by recreational fishing groups.

Fishing Host Matt Watson – probably the country’s most famous recreational fisher – is dismayed by the proposals in the fishing amendment bill.

He told First Up the bill’s “designed purely to prioritise the profits of the seafood industry”.

“If these go through unchecked, it is disaster. It’s beginning of the end for our fish stocks, and that’ not over dramatising it.”

Among Watson’s concerns is the proposal to remove the minimum size limits for commercial fishers from a number of popular species, including snapper.

He said it wouldn’t encourage commercial fishers to avoid undersized fish and would decrease overall fish stocks.

The current recreational size limit for snapper is between 25cm and 30cm depending on location, while the commercial size limit is 25cm.

Minimum size limits are imposed to ensure fish can reach sexual maturity before being caught.

“If you start killing fish before they’ve had a chance to breed, you’re going to run out of fish and you don’t need to be a genius to figure that out,” Watson said.

Fishing Host Matt Watson. Facebook

Jones argued that allowing the commercial sector to land and sell undersize fish would prevent wastage.

Currently commercial fishers must dump undersize fish dead or alive, and it doesn’t count against their quota.

“The new provision is that if you catch them, you pay for them,” Jones said.

“With the commercial industry, we know every single kilo that they take and their conduct is now captured by cameras.”

But if Jones’ bill passes, the footage taken by cameras on board commercial boats can no longer be accessed under the official information act, effectively making it off limits to the public.

Anyone who leaks the footage faces a $50,000 fine.

“If you’ve got nothing to hide, why on earth would you behave like that,” Sam Woolford of recreational advocacy group Legasea said.

“When cameras on boats were introduced, we know that the rate of discarding, or notified discards, went up about 46 percent. For snapper and kingfish, it was closer to 1000 percent.”

Jones, a self described apostle of industry, brushed off the concerns about snapper stocks, telling First Up the “amount of snapper in our waters is almost biblical in its profundity”.

“You can almost walk on the water we’ve got so many snapper.”

Coalition support means the Fisheries Amendment Bill should easily pass it’s first reading, but Labour’s fisheries and Oceans spokesperson Rachel Boyack said she would make her concerns heard at the select committee stage.

She said her party would do their “best to make changes to the bill so that it’s not as bad as what it could be.”

Although with commercial fishing a strong feature of her Nelson electorate, Boyack was choosing her words carefully .

“It creates jobs in my local community and it’s important that we are able to produce fish for food and for export, but we also have to ensure that the fishery is sustainable”.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment, but in a facebook post Northland MP Grant McCallum said he met with Legasea and the sports fishing council over the weekend and would strongly represent the views of the recreational sector in the party’s caucus this week.

Seafood New Zealand’s Inshore Policy Manager Tamar Wells said the commercial sector was trying to make the industry more sustainable.

“Fishers do change their methods. In terms of their selectivity of their nets, they’ll have larger mesh to let smaller fish out.

“There’s also new methods coming in, like Flowmo, which is a type of net that can keep fish kind of contained underwater so they have a higher survivability.”

The Fisheries Amendment Bill won’t require commercial fishers to change their methods though and Jones said there was no plan to outlaw trawling.

“It’s evident to me that the vast majority of the activists opposed to trawling are really seeking to undo the Māori fisheries settlement and terminate the commercial fishing industry and that’s just never, ever going to happen for as long as I’m in politics, and I look forward to being in politics for a long, long time.”

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Human remains found in garden in Wellington’s Ōwhiro Bay are centuries old

Source: Radio New Zealand

Human remains found in a garden on Wellington’s south coast are centuries old, according to police.

RNZ understands an Ōwhiro Bay homeowner was gardening when they made the discovery in June last year.

At the time, police said the resident was under no suspicion and a forensic anthropologist and pathologist determined the remains were human.

On Monday, detective constable Sarah Steed said radiocarbon dating showed the remains were possibly pre-European from the 1600s-1700s.

“This information will now be supplied to the Coroner for consideration,” she said.

“Consultation will take place with local iwi to arrange a suitable burial site, once the remains are release by the Coroner.”

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Wallabies poach former All Blacks assistant coach Scott McLeod

Source: Radio New Zealand

McLeod joined the All Blacks coaching staff in 2017. © Photosport Ltd 2022 www.photosport.nz

All Blacks assistant coach Scott McLeod is crossing the ditch.

McLeod has been recruited by the Wallabies to take up a position as the side’s defence coach for the next three years.

The 53-year-old was a member of the All Blacks coaching team at the last two Rugby World Cups, serving under Steve Hansen and then Ian Foster.

He will join the Wallabies ahead of the 8 August test against Japan, which will mark Les Kiss’ first game as Wallabies head coach.

Born in Brisbane, McLeod was raised in New Zealand and represented the Chiefs across 44 Super 12 games and the All Blacks in 10 tests.

After an eight-year playing stint in Japan, McLeod returned to New Zealand to embark on a coaching career with Waikato, the Chiefs and Highlanders, before taking on the role of All Blacks assistant coach in 2017.

McLeod, pictured here in 1998 for the All Blacks against the Wallabies, played a total of ten tests. Andrew Cornaga

McLeod most recently served as an assistant with the Kubota Spears in Japan’s Rugby League One.

“I am very excited to return to international rugby, especially to join up with Les and the team to build on the foundations that have been put in place,” McLeod said in a statement.

“There is a lot of excitement building within Rugby Australia and I am really committed to doing my part. I am looking forward to connecting with RA, the players and everyone who is invested in this team.”

Rugby Australia director of high performance, Peter Horne, said from the Highlanders’ first Super Rugby title in 2015 to the most recent Rugby World Cup final, McLeod’s resume and reputation are of the highest calibre.

“Scott has a great understanding of the environment and standards Joe Schmidt has driven since joining the Wallabies, having coached alongside him with the All Blacks, and will provide great support to Les as he transitions into the head coach position.”

Laurie Fisher, who has served as defence coach since 2024 under Joe Schmidt, is set to move into a consultancy role.

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Some dual British citizens get border exemption from new passports

Source: Radio New Zealand

In New Zealand and elsewhere, some dual UK citizens have spent hundreds of dollars to get new British passports. RNZ / Gill Bonnett

Some British dual nationals are getting permanent exemptions from needing UK passports to travel there – but the carve-out is not going to help those in New Zealand.

A low-key change has allowed EU nationals granted British citizenship after Brexit to circumvent the new border requirements.

In New Zealand and elsewhere, some dual UK citizens have spent hundreds of dollars to get new British passports, trying to avoid writing off thousands more they have spent on pre-booked holidays.

The border requirement – which means British and Irish citizens can no longer use their New Zealand passport to enter the UK – came into force a month ago.

The policy, first revealed by RNZ in mid-January, caused panic for travellers unaware of the move.

Advocacy groups and immigration lawyers in the UK have since called on the government to rethink several aspects of its programme.

They only discovered the new passport exemption for European dual nationals given settlement status in Britain after Brexit through Home Office correspondence about the ongoing saga two weeks ago.

The British government website now sets out how citizens of EU and other European countries such as Switzerland will not need a UK passport to travel there.

UK lobby group the3million – named after the EU migrants living and voting there – said it welcomed the government’s partial u-turn, but said it still left many others struggling to navigate citizenship and passport complexities.

“It’s for a very precise group – it’s for those EU/EEA/Swiss citizens and their family members who were living in the UK and applied for status under the EU Settlement Scheme,” its spokeswoman Monique Hawkins told RNZ.

“This is the cohort that can benefit from this new concession.”

The group wants the UK government to go much further in changing the passport requirements and allowing a grace period for people who have not yet got a UK passport, or did not know they needed one.

“As the world moves towards digital travel documentation, we do not see that dual citizens should be forced to maintain two sets of expensive physical documents if they do not want to do so.”

Hawkins also took aim at the digital Certificate of Entitlement (CoE), which is an alternative – albeit ‘extremely expensive’ – to keeping a second passport.

“We are fully aware that these no longer need to be renewed; however, £589 [NZ$1347] is still more than six times the cost of an adult British passport, each of which lasts for 10 years,” said a joint letter to the Home Office.

“It would therefore take more than 60 years before the cost of a CoE outweighs the cost of passport renewals, and for a family the multiplied cost is likely to be unaffordable.”

The letter also points out that some European dual nationals will now not even need a passport to enter the UK, but only a national ID card from their country of origin.

“Although this was not one of the measures we had asked for in our letter, we welcome this change for the cohort who can benefit from it. We note it is a significant departure from the general Home Office position that for a British citizen there is “a legal requirement to hold a valid British passport or Certificate of Entitlement” as stated in the Home Office response to our letter.”

Meanwhile, dual nationals in New Zealand are still struggling with the changes, as well as flight cancellations and uncertainty thrown up by the Middle East conflict.

Travel agents and some airlines have been updating passengers, but others remain unaware of the change or even that they or their children could be British citizens by descent.

Some are against the clock to access ID documents for citizenship and passport applications, waiting on deliveries, or have decided they will be relinquishing their UK citizenship altogether.

A New Zealander told RNZ he was lucky to see news about the rule change before his daughter, who was studying in the UK, took a trip to the Continent – as she would not have been able to return to Britain afterwards.

Previously, dual citizens had been able to visit the UK on a New Zealand passport, more recently with an ETA, an electronic online declaration costing about $37.

The UK’s Guardian newspaper has reported cases of dual national Britons, including teenagers, stuck overseas after going on holiday to Europe or elsewhere and then discovering they need a UK passport to return.

RNZ has heard from people planning to try to travel without a British passport, hoping that check-in and border staff will not know they or their children have dual citizenship.

The UK Home Office and British High Commission have previously warned against that, and suggested people could use expired passports as a temporary measure if airlines agree, while defending their communication of the changes.

* The full rules around citizenship can be found here https://www.gov.uk/check-british-citizenship and a rundown of the passport requirements are here https://www.gov.uk/apply-first-adult-passport , including information for those who had names changed by marriage, or last had a UK passport issued before 1994.

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Patient dies after ‘burnt out’ brain surgeon ignores advice from colleague

Source: Radio New Zealand

Unsplash / RNZ composite

A brain surgeon who refused advice from his colleagues has been stood down after his patient died of a brain bleed post-operation.

A report by the Health and Disability Commissioner found his sarcastic remark to a fellow surgeon, who questioned him on his approach, “inappropriate”, and criticised a culture of silence when it came to questioning senior surgeons at the hospital.

The patient, who the report calls Ms A, then aged 51, received two heart valve replacements in 2012, and then in May 2019 was admitted to hospital with vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, accompanied by delerium and speech issues.

Scans revealed a brain aneurysm, and although she needed urgent cardiac surgery to replace her heart valves, doctors decided the aneurysm needed to be treated before they could operate on her heart.

A surgeon referred to in the report as Dr C performed endovascular surgery, with support from other doctors – but one of those doctors told the HDC that their own involvement was “very passive”, as Dr C was “very used to work[ing] by himself”.

An anaesthetic registrar who was in attendance told HDC they witnessed another doctor entering the room to ask Dr C, “Are you sure you want to do it like that?”

HDC heard from that doctor, who said when Dr C was removing a microcatheter that had become temporarily stuck, it “was not adequately controlled and surged forwards, injuring a more proximal vessel (causing a dissecting pseudo-aneurysm)”.

When he asked Dr C what he was going to do about the pseudo-aneurysm, and Dr C replied: “hat pseudo-aneurysm.”

The woman was transferred back to the ICU following surgery, but those complications caused further bleeding in her brain, and she died six hours after surgery.

Dr Vanessa Caldwell, Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner, found despite the surgery being high risk, and Ms A being very unwell, “there were multiple failings in the system and in decisions made on the day of Ms A’s surgery”.

She says according to Health NZ, Dr C’s workload was “significant” at the time of the event, and “the dynamic of the team was such that no staff member felt empowered to speak up to [Dr C]”.

It said Dr C had a history of persevering despite recommendations from others, and a culture of staying silent had developed.

“Dr C reflected that he may have had an unconscious bias against his colleagues,” the report says, “due to their relative lack of experience”.

They had not worked together long, he said, and they were “still relatively unknown quantities” which “played a definite role in his willingness to take advice from them”.

Caldwell, in her report, finds his sarcastic remark – quoted variously in the report as both “hat pseudo-aneurysm” and “What dissection?” – inappropriate.

“Dr C told HDC that this was made sarcastically in reference to the brain-bleeding because it was so obvious that an injury had occurred.”

She also criticised the quality of his handover to ICU staff post-surgery, which contained a lack of information about the injury’s severity.

Dr C was stood down from performing such surgeries, and last did one in May 2019. He accepted the findings of the HDC report, and extended his condolences to the family.

He said the case had had a huge impact on him personally, his work and his career, and on his family.

Caldwell said Dr C described being “burnt out”, and in her view, Health NZ had an organisational responsibility to staff its service safely.

She recommended a written apology to Ms A’s family from both Dr C and Health NZ.

Health NZ has been approached for further comment.

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Rise in cocaine and meth use prompts call for ‘fundamental shift’ in policies

Source: Radio New Zealand

Executive Director of NZ Drug Foundation Sarah Helm. Supplied

The New Zealand Drug foundation is calling for a “fundamental shift” in drug policies in response to dramatic increases in cocaine and methamphetamine consumption.

The foundation said police wastewater testing showed cocaine use reached an all time high during the last quarter of 2025 – exceeding MDMA consumption for the first time.

In that period New Zealanders used an estimated 9.4 kilograms per week – nearly double the average weekly amount consumed over the previous four quarters of 4.7 kilograms per week.

The wastewater report showed during the last three months of 2025 Kiwi’s were also using nearly 34.7 kgs of methamphetamine every week.

The consumption of the drug had held steady over the previous two years after a sudden surge which saw use nearly double from an average estimated figure of 14.64 kgs per week in the year following 2023.

Drug Foundation Executive Director, Sarah Helm said the results were a “stark illustration” that underinvestment in treatment and harm reduction combined with an over reliance on police to interrupt supply wasn’t working.

“The dramatic increases in methamphetamine and cocaine consumption over the last two years are unprecedented.

“Consumption is at record levels, drug use is diversifying, prices are down, harm is increasing, and new potent drugs are arriving. Every indicator is screaming at us to change our approach,” Helm said.

Helm said since it’s introduction in 1975 the Misuse Drug Act had only seen the problems of drug harm worsen in New Zealand.

“We’ve gone from having a small number of substances – causing a small amount of harm – to mass incarceration, a growth in addiction and much more toxic and new substances appearing all the time. It has accelerated harm and we’ve really given it it’s best,” Helm said.

Helm said the foundation sought to remove criminal penalties for drug use – so that people were encouraged to seek help rather than covering up their substance use – as well as addressing parts of the law that criminalised elements of harm reduction initiatives.

“A bunch of the things that we need to be able to do to prevent people from dying or having harms occur are actually criminalised or are made very difficult to conduct under the Act.

“So we do need new law that is centred on evidence and the well-being of people – rather than what has been historically in place for over 50 years,” Helm said.

Helm said the foundation supported the initiatives outlined in the Government’s Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Substance Harm – announced last week.

The plan included pledges to strengthen early intervention and prevention measures – such as drug checking and health promotion – as well as improving access to community-based support and better data and monitoring of the health system’s performance in the area.

But Helm said “a more fundamental shift” was needed” to reverse the current trends.

“We need step change if we really want to try and get this growth and change in our drug supply and our drug harms under control. If we continue to just do the same kind of thing we will see the harms continue to grow.

“If we could wave a magic wand, we would do two things: vastly increase the spending on addiction treatment and harm reduction, and change our drug laws.

“While these things won’t remove all problems, the evidence is clear that it would reduce the worst harms and provide us with more tools to tackle the increase in harm. But if we continue doing more of the same, things will continue to get worse,” Helm said.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/23/rise-in-cocaine-and-meth-use-prompts-call-for-fundamental-shift-in-policies/