Category: Radio New Zealand

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.”

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/human-remains-found-in-garden-in-wellingtons-owhiro-bay-are-centuries-old/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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.

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/some-dual-british-citizens-get-border-exemption-from-new-passports/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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.

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/patient-dies-after-burnt-out-brain-surgeon-ignores-advice-from-colleague/

Source: Radio New Zealand

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/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Motorists are being warned that a milk spill is affecting traffic on State Highway 73 in Canterbury.

It comes after an oil spill closed Porters Pass for several hours on Monday morning after a vehicle towing a fuel tank became stuck on the one-lane Porter River Bridge.

Police said there were no reports of injuries.

Fire and Emergency NZ sent crews from Springfield and Sheffield, who assisted with road control.

Waka Kotahi NZ said the milk spill occurred near Parapet Rock, between Lake Pearson and Castle Hill.

Motorists are being asked to stop on demand and should prepare for delays.

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/milk-spill-oil-spill-affecting-traffic-on-state-highway-73-in-cantebury/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – With the Iran war leaving supply chains choked off, pain at the pump is rising, but you still need to drive. How can you get the most out of your tank? Here’s some options.

The price of 91 petrol has now heading towards $4 a litre in some parts of the country, the government is mulling weighing in and some have begun to hoard petrol ahead of possible shortages.

Feeling uncertain? Get used to it, for now.

“Nobody has a clue about future petrol, diesel and aviation fuel supplies and their costs,” Massey University Emeritus Professor in Climate Mitigation and Sustainable Energy Ralph Sims said.

There are plenty of other options – public transport, biking or walking if you can, pivoting to electric vehicles – but not everyone can easily take up those alternatives.

If you’re looking to ‘fuelmaxx’ your efficiency, here is more of what experts suggest:

Combine your errands

NZTA estimates that short trips use 20 percent more fuel when your engine is cold.

So if you can manage to tie together things like school runs with the grocery shop and a run to the chemist, you can save your overall petrol consumption, AA fuel spokesperson and former general manager of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Terry Collins told RNZ’s Afternoons.

“Do it all in one trip when the car’s warm – save the fuel, tick off all those little jobs, instead of making them independent trips every time.”

Steady on the acceleration, mate

Sims said that the majority of drivers can save up to 20 percent of fuel use with a few simple changes.

“Most people don’t understand how to drive a car efficiently,” he told RNZ recently.

“I see people accelerate to a red light and then brake heavily, and if you’re running on low tyre pressures, it consumes much more fuel.”

Collins said a lot of it boils down to how you’re driving.

“When we hop in a car what we really want is momentum – movement. So what we do is we use the fuel to gather momentum, but I see every day people wasting that momentum by braking unnecessarily.

“They’re not anticipating the traffic in rush hour, so they’re driving up behind the next car and putting the brakes on. If they could look ahead a number of cars and see that everybody already had their brakes on, they could just drift up behind the other car very slowly and brake.

“Every time you put your foot on the brake, you have lost that momentum for the fuel that you’ve paid for. So think that every time I put my foot on the brake, I’m spending money.”

It’s worth watching your speed on highways, too – Sims said that typically a car at 110km/h uses 10 percent more fuel per kilometre than when travelling at 90 km/h due to greater air friction.

Once upon a time, manual or stick shifts were typically more fuel efficient than automatic transmission vehicles, but thanks to improved technology that’s changing and modern automatics are often as good or slightly better than manuals.

The more you carry, the more you use

Carrying heavy loads will obviously slow your car down, but there are also smaller drags to be aware of.

Modern cars are carefully designed and put through wind tunnels to get the most aerodynamic shape possible, Collins said.

Even leaving roof racks on your car that you never use can add to the drag.

“The moment you put those roof racks on you’re disturbing all that air flow.

“People think ah, they’re OK, but you’d be surprised how much that aerodynamic change affects your fuel consumption.”

Keep up your maintenance

Don’t just think about car services as a way to get your next Warrant of Fitness ticked off. Regular care for your vehicle’s systems can save you money in the long run.

“One of the things we often overlook is just the simple thing of checking your tyres,” Collins said.

Under-inflated tyres can add 10 to 12 percent to your fuel bill, he said.

“You’re just adding drag. … It’s working harder to get that momentum I was talking about earlier.”

Your tyre’s correct pressure should be listed on the vehicle label inside the door or in the handbook. It’s best to check the pressure when the tyres are cold to see how yours are looking.

A dirty air filter or fuel filter can also compromise your efficiency, while old and worn spark plugs may mean you’re not getting enough ignition.

“Just that simple servicing on a regular basis to make sure those jobs are done are going to save you in the vicinity of 10 to 20 percent of your fuel bill,” Collins said.

To A/C, or not to A/C?

This is one of the great existential questions of driving – is it better to wind down your windows or pump up the air con? Studies have had conflicting results and ultimately it’s better to be flexible.

“While it’s more fuel efficient to have it on at 100km/h than it is to have the windows down creating drag, the air con can use around 10 percent more fuel,” the AA’s website states. “You may need to find that balance of comfort and economy.”

A lot may depend on how old your car is and how well maintained the engine and air con systems are.

It’s best to mix and match if you can – windows down and air con off when you’re at town speeds and windows up and air con on if you’re on the motorway.

In general any other unnecessary widgets on your car may also be creating a drag – such as leaving your rear window defroster on long after it’s done the job, or those heated seats when there’s no need to.

Use the technology if you’ve got it

Many newer vehicles are equipped with Auto Stop-Start systems which automatically shut off the engine when a vehicle is in congestion or at traffic lights. As soon as you take your foot off the brake, the engine restarts without delay, Ford NZ explains on its website.

“Your climate control fan, audio system, and headlamps still work while your engine is off for your comfort,” Ford noted.

Collins said some people turn off these features on their vehicles, but it’s counterproductive if you want to save money.

“Some people find that annoying – it’s there for a reason. It’s because those cars have to meet energy efficiency standards. … So every time you turn (that feature) off, you’re actually defeating the purpose of saving fuel.”

Collins said he often commutes over a hill, and said there’s many tricks you can use to avoid consuming excess fuel. Gravity can help to be your brake when going up a hill, and going down, other methods can help keep your foot off the accelerator – such as using those other driving modes you may often ignore on the gear shift.

“I have an automatic but I put it in sports mode, which holds it in gear longer. That acts as an engine brake, so I don’t really need to brake on a lot of the corners. I just go through them smoothly, not touching, and my fuel consumption’s on zero.”

And if you can, avoid rush hour

Sitting idling in traffic will waste significant fuel, so – if your job allows it – consider off-peak travel to avoid those long queues, or working from home certain days a week if your employer permits.

Sims said that many of these steps are easy, but changing habits is harder.

“It’s all pretty basic and the science is well understood for cars, trucks, and buses. But to change human behaviour is always the challenge.”

He called for the government to step up fuel conservation messaging.

“What the government needs to do urgently is to run a national education campaign (similar to what was accomplished during Covid times using all media opportunities) to inform drivers how they can save both fuel and money.”

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/energy-crisis-how-to-max-your-fuel-efficiency-when-driving/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three people, one armed with a gun, broke into a home in the Auckland suburb of Wesley on Sunday night, police say.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk said the armed robbery took place in Gifford Avenue at about 10pm.

She said the trio demanded cash and other items before fleeing.

The police Eagle helicopter searched for them but couldn’t find them.

Police are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to contact them with information.

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/offenders-armed-with-gun-demand-cash-during-robbery/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tourism operators are being hit with international visitor cancellations due to flight disruptions as the Middle East war continues, an industry survey shows.

The Tourism Export Council’s “rapid snapshot survey” of tourism operators found 77 percent of about 70 respondents had visitors from the United Kingdom and Europe cancel travel during March and April 2026.

Many said the cancellations were linked directly to airline flight cancellations, route disruptions or reduced availability on flights transiting Middle East hubs.

Visitors from outside the UK and Europe didn’t appear to be affected, it said.

The council’s chief executive Lynda Keene said while it was not good news, it was a relief that the impact was only being felt at the tail end of the international tourism season, which runs October to March.

“If this had happened in October or November, members would be feeling very, very concerned about how they might get through the summer,” she said.

“We’ve only lost three weeks, really, of the season.”

Bookings for next season were largely unaffected, but concern would grow if travel disruption in places like Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi continued, said Keene.

However the country could also benefit since it’s seen as a safe travel destination, she said.

“There may be visitors, maybe from US or Canada or other countries that might see New Zealand as a safer haven.

“There’s always some form of opportunity that crops up when travellers still wish to travel, they still have the disposal income to travel, and they want to look for alternative destinations.”

It was important that New Zealand continued to welcome international visitors, she said.

“Strong communication with offshore trade partners will be key to ensuring the destination remains front of mind for travellers looking to adjust their travel plans,” she said.

The survey covered providers of accommodation, attractions, transport and guided tour experiences.

West Coast suffering

Development West Coast Chief Executive Heath Milne told Morning Report the region’s tourism industry had been growing before now.

“We have seen already international visitors are dropping, and looking at cancellations going forward,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s just about fuel prices, I think that’s about confidence in … geopolitics and what’s going on around the world.”

Westport is also losing its only air service, Originair, from May.

“They have struggled a little bit lately to make that profitable, and this has just tipped them over the edge,” said Milne.

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/uk-and-european-visitors-cancel-trips-to-new-zealand-amid-middle-east-conflict/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The upper North Island looks set for a wet end to the week, with a deep subtropical low bringing rain and strong winds.

A heavy rain watch is in place for Northland for 53 hours, from 10am Wednesday until Friday at 3pm.

MetService is forecasting periods of heavy rain, cautioning there is a moderate change this will be upgraded to a heavy rain warning.

A strong wind watch is also in place for the region, from 6pm Wednesday, with winds that could approach severe gale levels in some places.

The watch is in place for 48 hours, until 6pm Friday.

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/weather-stormy-end-to-week-for-upper-north-island/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three people, one armed with a gun, broke into a home in the Auckland suburb of Wesley on Sunday night, police say.

Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Kirk said the armed robbery took place in Gifford Avenue at about 10pm.

She said the trio demanded cash and other items before fleeing.

The police Eagle helicopter searched for them but couldn’t find them.

Police are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area to contact them with information.

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/offenders-armed-with-gun-demand-cash-during-alleged-robbery/