Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Radio New Zealand

With most schools back in action, student attendance rates are once again in the spotlight. One Auckland school is even buying its own van to help transport chronically absent students to and from school.

Provisional figures from the Ministry of Education show the number of students turning up to school regularly has improved. In term 4 of last year, 57.3 percent of students attended school more than 90 percent of the time. This was up from 56.4 percent in term 4 the previous year.

The government has set a goal to have that regular student attendance rate at 80 percent by the end of 2030. But a breakdown of the data show despite the upward overall trend, Māori and Pacific student attendance continued to lag significantly.

In term 4 of 2025, just 39.5 percent of Pasifika students and 43 percent of Māori students attended school regularly. The rates were 41 percent and 42.5 percent, respectively, for term 4 of the previous year.

Bert Iosia is the principal of Auckland’s Kelston Intermediate School. He has a school roll of about 420 students, most of whom are Pasifika and Māori.

For the past few years, the school’s regular attendance rate has sat around 52 percent.

While that “wasn’t great” Iosia told Checkpoint,, the school had managed to have “some success” with students who were “at the chronic end of being absent from school”.

More plans were in place to ramp up that work and engagement, he said, including the purchase of a van dedicated to transporting students identified as “serious concern” because they’d missed 15 days or more of school.

“Where we know the background story and we understand what’s on top of the whānau – it becomes challenging for them to get kids there – this van could be a little bit of a lifeline to pick the kids up and get them through.”

The school van was due to be up-and-running by the end of the month.

Iosia, who is also the president of the NZ Pasifika Principals’ Association, said it was difficult to pinpoint the exact causes of lower attendance rates among Pacific and Māori.

“There’s lots of issues that go on for our whānau that are almost difficult for non-Māori and Pasifika to sort of understand.

“Within our communities, there are just families that are just doing it hard.

“They may need some of the little ones to sort of help out with baby, new bubba – that’s sort of popped up as well.”

Anxiety for students also contributed to absenteeism, he said.

“Intermediate is quite an interesting space because it’s a two-year period. So transitioning into intermediate can be quite challenging for some of our anxious kids.”

Anxiety was also a problem for students leaving and moving onto high school, Iosia said.

“The movement to high school can be quite daunting. So especially come the end of the year … you can see some of that absence that sort of sits around our children of serious concern.”

Iosia said increasing attendance rates required ongoing engagement and connection with students and families.

He said the school year had started well. The school had also set an ambitious goal of getting 70 percent of students attending regularly – or more than 90 percent of the time – by the end of the year.

“My board, and my attendance team, and staff – we’re pretty committed to that.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/school-buys-van-to-transport-chronically-absent-students-to-curb-lagging-attendance/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Over $170,000 of desperately needed money has been raised for whanau in parts of the flood ravaged East Cape of the North Island.

But chair of Manaaki Matakāoa, Tina Ngata said residents were in for a “long slog” when the initial response died down and the community was left to ready themselves for the next bout of heavy weather.

Community ‘overwhelmed’ by response

Ngata said the Matakāoa community had been “overwhelmed” by the generous response to the devastating flooding and landslips.

She said – in the week following the storms – nearly $75,000 had been put towards the community’s immediate needs.

“Supporting people to get home, medical evacuations, people who are separated from their animals, families who are separated from each other, food drops, power resources, tank refills – people have had their water lines disrupted. There’s a lot of immediate investment needed,” Ngata said.

Ngata said nearly every one of the 350 households in the stretch from Pōtikirua through to Kiwinui Hill had been affected in some way by the storms.

She said the funding was important but – at the early stage of the recovery – the “people on the ground” putting in long hours cleaning, organising and volunteering their help were hugely appreciated by the community.

“There are so many people who are showing up voluntarily with shovels, with wheel barrows and those for us are absolute heroes. Even when the army has shown up – it’s given some of our people a great rest – but I’m still seeing a lot of our people working past one o’clock in the morning.

“We’re really thankful for all of New Zealand for every single donation – so that we can support these families – but also support the people who are supporting our families. We really want them to be recognised, the people on the ground.”

‘Blown away’ by community support

Further south in Tolaga Bay – a community that was no stranger to the impact of extreme weather – locals raised just over $56,000 in a single market day to put towards the Manaaki Matakāoa relief fund.

Tolaga Bay teacher Shanan Gray said donated goods and items were auctioned and raffled off while local artists and entertainers chipped in to help create an exciting and enjoyable day.

“When we got to the final figure we were blown away. It just shows how much love, commitment and dedication that our community has [for] the rest of the communities up and down the coast,” Gray said.

Defence Force personnel and helicopters assist

A spokesperson for the Defence Force said over 140 personnel had been deployed about the Hicks Bay and Te Araroa areas to help with the clean up under the direction of the local Emergency Operations Centre.

“Personnel in Te Araroa and Hicks Bay have been working on a range of tasks including clearing culverts, improving drainage, removing debris and silt from properties, and felling hazardous trees.

“Air transport has been provided by Royal New Zealand Air Force NH-90 helicopters transferring water, fuel, stores such as rubbish bags, chainsaws and health equipment, as well as transporting personnel into Hicks Bay and Te Araroa. Reconnaissance has also been conducted of roads to determine access.”

Difficult discussions ahead

But Tina Ngata said – once the army, Civil Defence teams, politicians and media had left – the community was in for a “long slog” as they navigated the complex problems exposed by the storms.

“We know that this is not going to be the last time. We have new slips in places that have traditionally never slipped so we need a lot of geo-tech expertise around where are the safe places to put homes and more long term infrastructural support – support around roading – and economic support for our whanau as well,” Ngata said.

Ngata said there were many “difficult discussions” ahead as climate change rearranged past assumptions about areas previously considered safe by generations of whanau.

“Funding or no funding we’re going to do what we need to do – as a community – but it’s going to be a long slog and it’s going to be very expensive. Because it’s not just about that first cash injection. The impacts and the problems are very complex,” Ngata said.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/flood-hit-communities-overwhelmed-by-response/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Social media giant Meta says banning young people from its platforms won’t work, but supporters of a law change are crying foul, saying the owner of Facebook and Instagram is using the same tactics as big tobacco.

The National Party last year launched a members’ bill pushing for a youth ban. The law change is also supported by Labour.

The bill aimed to protect under-16-year-olds from harm on social media.

Meta vice president and global head of safety Antigone Davis was in Auckland on Tuesday, showcasing Instagram’s Teen Accounts.

They feature built-in restrictions on content, as well as time limit reminders and ways for parents to monitor who their teen is chatting with online.

Davis said banning platforms for under-16s wouldn’t solve the problem.

“It sounds really good, it feels like it’s going to solve the problem, but you can’t make a ban for the entire internet. So what you do is you make it for a set of apps, and what we’ve seen already in Australia is teens download other apps. They try to go around the system,” she said.

There was room to look at how to address the issue, Davis said.

“Even in New Zealand, I think there’s a little bit of a step back,” Davis said.

“‘Okay, this ban sounds interesting, it makes sense to us, let’s take a little bit of time to think about it,’ I think in that time is a real opportunity to think about what we’re trying to accomplish and how can we do it best.”

Meta said it had data showing the majority of parents they surveyed in New Zealand wanted to decide if their under-16-year-old had access to social media – not leave it up to the government.

That was in contrast to recent polls showing support for a ban.

The B416 campaign had been pushing for restrictions and its academic advisor, Dr Samantha Marsh of the University of Auckland, said Meta was using the same strategy as big tobacco.

“Trying to put the onus on the individual, the parent or the child, and with respect to social media, they frame it in a way that it sounds like it’s empowering,” she said.

She said an age restriction of 16 is an important first step.

“Alone, I wouldn’t expect a massive change in behaviour or anything like that, and it’s not going to be perfect initially, it’s going to need lots of tweaking, and Australia is well aware of that,” Marsh said.

“But they were quite clear that we can’t wait for this to be perfect before we implement it, and I think that’s really important, and that’s the approach that we should be taking in New Zealand.”

Marsh said there were many things that needed to go along with age restrictions.

“Just like big tobacco, these companies want to continue to not have the responsibility placed on themselves but place it on the individual, which allows them to go continue to make money, and profit off the harm that’s being caused to our children.”

Meta and other social media platforms have been on trial in the United States over claims their apps were designed to be harmful to young people.

Senior University of Auckland law lecturer Joshua Yuvaraj connected the case to what was known as dark patterns, designed to confuse or manipulate users. He said algorithms had a big part to play.

“It’s a question of does the social media company actively target, [and] are they aware of the particular vulnerabilities of the populations which make up their users?” Yuvaraj said.

Antigone Davis said Meta had launched tools to help users tailor their algorithm to what they want to see.

“One of the things that we’ve recently launched is something called Tune Your Algorithm,” she said.

“It’s for both teens and adults. What it does is it allows you as a user to say ‘I want to see more of this and I want to see less of this’.”

“We already have transparency tools in place so people can see exactly how their algorithm is working, but we want to give people a sense of being able to really control that experience.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said he would introduce the bill before this year’s election.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/nz-academic-says-meta-using-same-tactic-as-big-tobacco/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A moggy with a taste for mince is on the prowl in Kerikeri.

Keen hunter, Bella the cat burglar, has been bringing home a surprising midnight feast for her owners – sausage rolls in brown paper bags.

In a bizarre series of gift-giving that might sound unbelievable, Bella’s sausage roll deliveries have happened not once, not twice, but three times, prompting a post on Facebook in search of answers.

Bella’s owner Siran Young said they are “absolutely bizarred out of our brains”.

“We’re curious, we want to know where our cat is getting these sausage rolls from,” Young said.

She said over the last three weeks, they have gotten three deliveries of sausage rolls around midnight from Bella.

“I mostly sleep through them and my husband gets up to a wailing cat who presents us in our bedroom with a sausage roll in a bag,” Young said.

“The first one was half-eaten and the other two have been intact, and we have no idea where they’ve come from.”

Young said they live near a high school, kindergarten, supermarket and bakeries – any of which could be where Bella is nicking the rolls.

She said they are thinking of putting an Apple AirTag or a cat camera on Bella.

“She’s definitely a cat that dances to the beat of her own drum,” Young said.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/feline-sausage-roll-thief-on-the-prowl-in-kerikeri/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Explainer – You might not have heard of the Nipah virus, but if you’re travelling to or from parts of Asia, you’ll want to be aware of it.

The deadly virus, which typically comes from contact with fruit bats, has an estimated fatality rate of 40 to 75 percent of those infected. It can cause symptoms including brain swelling and permanent neurological damage.

Health authorities are warning people to be cautious after new cases broke out in India.

The World Health Organisation was notified on 26 January of two cases of Nipah infection at a private hospital in West Bengal.

What is Nipah?

Nipah isn’t new, said New Zealand epidemiologist Michael Baker, but it is quite dangerous.

It’s what’s called a “zoonotic virus,” which can transmit from animals to humans – in this case, primarily fruit bats.

It was first identified in 1998 among pig farmers in Malaysia, WHO said on its information site about the virus. There have been outbreaks in Bangladesh almost every year since, the organisation says.

“This is a virus that has caused known human cases for almost 30 years and on average we’ve seen about 30 cases a year over that time,” Baker told Morning Report on Monday.

“There is reasons why there’s huge concern about this virus – not so much for its pandemic potential but just because it’s such a serious infection with a fatality rate of over 50 percent.”

Most people who get Nipah develop symptoms involving the brain, like headaches and confusion, or in the lungs, including coughing or difficulty breathing. It can also sometimes cause brain swelling or encephalitis.

Long-term neurological conditions have been reported in about 1 in 5 people who have a Nipah virus infection, WHO says.

How contagious is it?

Don’t worry – this isn’t likely to turn into Covid-26.

“It’s a difficult virus to catch and it doesn’t have efficient transmission from people to people,” Baker said. “It isn’t transmitted by respiratory routes so this is not like Covid-19 in terms of its pandemic potential.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade hasn’t raised travel alerts for India, Bangladesh or Malaysia on its SafeTravel website specifically over the Nipah virus, but there are other cautions in place.

Screening measures for Nipah are in place at airports in places including Bali, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Nepal, Reuters has reported.

WHO says that transmission of the virus to humans can occur “from direct contact with infected animals like bats, pigs or horses, and by consuming fruits or fruit products, such as raw date palm juice, contaminated by infected fruit bats”.

The two recent cases in India were human-to-human transmission, he said.

“They were health care workers and they appear to have been looking after a patient who was infected. There may be other cases in that hospital, we’re obviously waiting to get the full report.”

However, Baker noted there were over 200 people who dealt with the patients and none of them appeared to be infected.

WHO says it “assesses the risk posed by Nipah to be moderate at the sub-national level, and low at the national, the regional and global levels”.

How do you avoid it?

MFAT’s SafeTravel website includes Nipah in its list of infectious diseases, and warns that if you’re travelling to anywhere where outbreaks have occurred, you should:

• Wash your hands regularly with soap and water or hand sanitiser, especially before eating and after contact with animals, their products and their environments.
• Avoid contact with animals, especially bats, pigs, monkeys and stray animals.
• Avoid areas where bats roost and avoid touching anything that could be soiled by bats.
• Avoid eating raw or unprocessed animal products, such as unpasteurised milk.
• Avoid eating fruit or plant-based product that may have been contaminated by animal or their bodily fluids including fresh date palm sap. Clean and peel fruit yourself before eating it.
• Avoid contact with the blood or body fluids of someone with Nipah.
• Eat food that is fully cooked and fruits that can be washed and peeled.

Is a Nipah virus infection hard to treat?

Of the India cases, one person was put on mechanical ventilation and another had severe neurological illness, WHO has said.

There is no vaccine and no specific antibiotic treatment, Baker said.

“The care would be called what is supportive care but it still has this very high mortality risk at the moment.”

Reuters has reported that according to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a group that tracks emerging disease threats and funds the development of medical tools to protect against them, as of December 750 cases of Nipah had been recorded in all, and 415 of the patients died.

Could it come to New Zealand?

It’s possible cases could come through overseas travel from India or other countries. The incubation period can run from four days to two weeks, Baker said.

Still, it would be difficult for Nipah to really spread here.

“(Even) if they arrived, say in New Zealand and they became ill, they would be cared for very carefully in the health care environment and there’d be a very low risk of transmission to other people.”

There are no fruit bats in New Zealand – just two species of small, insect-eating native bats. Australian bats have only rarely been spotted here.

“It can’t really become established in New Zealand – we don’t have the animal reservoirs, we don’t have the fruit bats, for instance.”

Fruit bats are considered the natural host of the Nipah virus, although it does not appear to cause disease in them, WHO has said.

“Bats seem to have an ecological niche where they’re great incubators of viruses and they live in big colonies, they share their viruses very widely,” Baker said.

Much of the scientific evidence, from the WHO Scientific Advisory Group and others, seems to be that Covid-19 also originated in bats, which tend to be a winged vector for diseases.

“This is why the risk of such emerging diseases is increasing because humans are encroaching more on the habitats of bats.”

Other animals such as pigs can get infected and then infect humans.

Baker said the Nipah outbreak showed the importance of WHO’s work, which has come under scrutiny lately with the US withdrawing from the group and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters questioning whether New Zealand should continue to fund it.

“This is really another reason why we need the World Health Organisation looking at the prevention of these zoonotic infections,” Baker said.

Should we do anything?

“There’s nothing extra New Zealand needs to do at the moment,” Baker said, but medical staff in general should be aware of any data coming in and awareness of travel histories of people coming from any region where Nipah is endemic.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/what-new-zealanders-should-know-about-the-deadly-nipah-virus-outbreak-in-india/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A paediatric specialist is urging the country’s drug agency to fund weight loss medication for teenagers.

A Pharmac advisory panel has provisionally recommended funding Wegovy for chronic weight management in people with high BMI’s and associated conditions.

The semaglutide drug first became available here in July last year, and currently costs about $460 a month.

The advisory groups recommendation is subject to Special Authority criteria, which will limit who can prescribe it.

The recommendation has been announced after the advisory group met in December, with a full record of the meeting expected to be available by March.

But one specialist believes there are a number of teenagers who would benefit from the drug if it is funded.

Professor Wayne Cutfield, a professor of paediatric endocrinology at the Liggins Institute, told Checkpoint funding Wegovy for teenagers would help prevent serious health issues before they arose.

He said he frequently sees very obese teenagers coming into the clinic.

“These are teenagers who weigh between 120 and 150 kilograms, these are 14 to 16 year old teenagers.”

“Most of these teenagers who have severe obesity will gain between half a kilogram and a kilogram a month – month on month, year on year… you can see by the time they’re 45, they will have much more severe obesity.”

Cutfield said Pharmac choosing not to fund the drug for teenagers would be like “closing the gate after the horse had bolted.

“Do they want to try and stop them from having heart attacks, stop them from having strokes, stop them from developing rampant diabetes or liver disease leading to sclerosis?”

Real-world follow ups of patients who have taken Wegovy have shown that weight regain can happen quickly after stopping the drug.

“There is often a return back to the pre-treatment weight. And the reason is, Wegovy suppresses appetite.”

Cutfield said that lifestyle changes were incredibly important to sustain weight loss and prevent teens from being on the drug for a lifetime

“Unless patients taking Wegovy make lifestyle changes, in other words, learn to diet, learn to eat less, and be more active they are going to be on treatment potentially lifelong.”

Pharmac has not yet signalled whether teens will be eligible for the drug if it is funded, however Cutfield believes it is highly likely this will be the case.

“If you look at any form of obesity treatment at the moment, these very obese teenagers are not eligible for bariatric surgery, there’s kind of nothing for them. Unless they get included, they are simply going to wait and get larger and larger and start developing obesity-related complications.”

At the current cost of around $460 a month, Cutfield said there is very much so an “equity issue” surrounding access to Wegovy.

He said the cost benefit of funding the drug are “potentially enormous”.

“You’re preventing serious diseases for which there are huge costs in terms of treatment costs, hospitalisations, lost time off work, chronic ill health, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, severe liver disease, obstructive sleep apnea, affecting your capacity to breathe at night.”

However, Cutfield said health practitioners should have a stronger focus on implementing lifestyle changes for patients alongside prescribing the drug.

“I think as medical practitioners, and those who take the drug, we’ve got to collectively work harder at getting patients eventually off the drug and not have them on this drug for life.”

Pharmac’s director device and assessment Dr David Hughes told Checkpoint that Pharmac recently released the provisional recommendation from its Obesity Treatments Advisory Group in regards to current funding applications for Semaglutide (Wegovy).

“Typically, unless there is a strong clinical rationale or evidence for doing so, the age of individuals is not one of the factors Pharmac considers when making funding decisions.”

He said the full record of the recommendations related to these applications is expected to be released in full in March 2026.

Previously, Pharmac had received two applications to fund Wegovy.

The first was in September, for people with an established cardiovascular disease (such as someone who has had a heart attack or stroke) and a BMI of 27 or higher. The second was in October, for chronic weight management in people with a BMI of 30 or higher, with at least one weight-related comorbidity.

New Zealand has the third-highest adult obesity rate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/paediatric-specialist-urges-pharmac-to-fund-weight-loss-medication-wegovy-for-teenagers/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three years after Tauranga teenager Maddie Hall took her own life her parents are left with one unanswered question – what if?

What if Maddie had been given all the support she needed as soon as she went to Tauranga Hospital after trying to take her life in May 2020?

What if Maddie had received the comprehensive psychotherapy her clinicians agreed would be most beneficial?

What if Maddie’s early life was not upended by sexual trauma?

What if more could have been done to save her life? What if the mental health system was better?

Maddie died on 31 March 2023 at the age of 16.

Almost three years earlier in May 2020 she was found trying to take her life. It would later emerge she had earlier tried to kill herself in November 2019.

In findings made public on Tuesday following a 2024 inquest, coroner Marcus Elliott found Maddie died by suicide but there was “no aspect of the medical care which can be said to have ‘clearly linked to the factors that contributed’ to Maddie’s death”.

As a result, he had no power to make any comments or recommendations about Maddie’s death.

The Canterbury Suicide Postvention Working Group – a collection of agencies including health, education and care authorities that monitor and respond to suicides in the region – sought to suppress details of the coroner’s report and Maddie’s name.

The group submitted that four other young women had died by suspected suicide since Maddie’s death in circumstances that amounted to a “cluster” with links through direct peer connection, shared social networks or online

interactions.

The group also said a cohort of 44 other people in Canterbury connected to the “cluster” was at elevated risk of suicide contagion.

“These connections reflect an overlapping peer ecosystem in which distress, grief and identification with each other’s experience have been continually reinforced,” the group said.

The group was concerned about the “significant online and social media risk component associated with this case, particularly the unregulated dissemination and glamorisation of suicide related content on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.”

Maddie’s parents, RNZ and Stuff opposed suppression.

In declining the application, coroner Elliott emphasised that while “there were areas in which service improvements were warranted, any shortcomings cannot be said to have contributed to Maddie’s death”.

“She received extensive mental health care, both in a public and private context. Her death does not support an argument that mental health care is unavailable to those who need it or that the mental health system is broken.”

‘Always room for improvement’ – family calls for change

In the three years before her death, Maddie was admitted to hospital 25 times and went to Tauranga Hospital’s emergency department more than 50 times.

She made more than 40 attempts on her life.

Her parents Gareth and Leanne Hall feel as if their daughter and family were an inconvenience to the public system.

Eventually they pursued treatment through a private psychiatrist but Gareth Hall believes it was too late to save Maddie despite the efforts of the “excellent and caring practitioner”.

“Health New Zealand and CAMHS (Tauranga’s Maternal, Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service), although they stood up in an inquest and said ‘we’ve looked back and there’s nothing we would have done differently’, well I’ll call bullshit on that,” he said.

“There’s always room for continuous improvement and everyone knows the mental health system in New Zealand, particularly for young children, needs massive improvement. Chris Luxon knows that. Matt Doocey knows that.

“In the first three months [following her May 2020 suicide attempt] there were six suicide attempts and a similar number of other incidents that required emergency services, police and/or ambulance, and there’s no support provided in those three months,” he said.

“So we knew something was lacking pretty early on in the piece.”

For three months after the May 2020 episode, Maddie did not have a key worker to co-ordinate her care and be a primary point of contact in the mental health sector.

The Halls would email clinicians to provide updates on Maddie’s condition and her symptoms.

“That seemed to be an inconvenience to them to hear from us. They eventually told us in a multi-disciplinary meeting a number of months into it just to stop sending them emails,” he said.

Maddie required comprehensive dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), a dedicated psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder.

It was first recommended and accepted about six weeks after Health New Zealand became involved.

Maddie did not receive her first session until late November 2020, almost five months after it was accepted as a form of treatment, and following 13 hospital admissions.

“It is possible that Maddie would have been more amenable to DBT in July 2020 than she was almost five months later. It seems likely that, by the time of the first DBT session on 26 November 2020, her attitude may have been affected by the sense of ‘invalidation and trauma’ she was developing in relation to her public mental health service involvement,” coroner Elliott said.

“However, it is not possible to say whether the provision of comprehensive DBT from July 2020 would have prevented Maddie’s death. It is possible that it would, however a finding cannot be made to the required standard of proof about this.”

By February 2021, comprehensive DBT was no longer available to Maddie.

A ‘vibrant wee soul’

Leanne Hall said her daughter was a “vibrant wee soul” as a child.

“She was either going to be an artist or an early childhood teacher. She was a lovely, gorgeous little girl,” she said.

Gareth Hall said Maddie was kind, caring and empathetic, traits she maintained towards others even as her own world crumbled inside her head.

“A few of Maddie’s friends have said that they wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Maddie. That’s how big an influence she was,” he said.

“She couldn’t help herself but she was unbelievable at helping others.”

Maddie’s decline could be traced to sexual abuse at the age of six.

Leanne Hall said they were unaware of the violation until Maddie told a friend when she was about 11-years-old and her friend told her father.

“If she didn’t have that sexual trauma at age six she wouldn’t have developed the PTSD and the complex mental health history,” she said.

The trauma catalysed into a deep darkness within her mind during her early teenage years.

As the Halls fought to save their daughter’s life they would sleep in her room at night to ensure she was safe.

“During those particularly quiet times and when she was struggling to sleep, she did tell us a lot of stuff and it was pretty harrowing to listen to that coming from your own daughter,” Gareth Hall said.

“When you hear your daughter repeatedly every day, say she wants to end her life, it’s hard to hear,” Leanne Hall said.

Gareth Hall said they both know it paled in comparison to how hard it was for their daughter.

“People don’t understand how much these kids suffer and that’s the thing that still burns us is how much Maddie suffered,” he said.

“There has to be something done to prevent these kids suffering as much as they do because if it was a medical disease you know everything in the doctors’ power would be done to try to reduce the suffering.”

No evidence deficiencies contributed to Maddie’s death – Health NZ

Health New Zealand submitted to the coroner that “there is no evidence that was presented during this inquiry that any alleged deficiencies in this care contributed to Maddie’s death”.

A serious incident review highlighted “service improvements”.

The review’s findings included recommendations relating to communicating with patients and their families, trauma-informed care and specialist pathways of care.

While coroner Elliott endorsed the review’s recommendations, he said any shortcomings in the care provided by Health NZ could not be said to have contributed to Maddie’s death because:

– The causes of Maddie’s illness were identified and treatment was provided

– The nature of Maddie’s illness meant that she was at a very significant risk of taking her own life

– The illness might not necessarily have been resolved by medical treatment

In a statement, Health NZ group director of operations for Bay of Plenty Andrew Boyd told RNZ the serious incident review had resulted in “learnings to start making practical improvement”.

“This was a highly complex case involving multiple agencies, providing care and treatment to Madeleine during the three years from her initial referral to the Maternal Infant Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Tauranga,” he said.

The Halls did not accept that Maddie’s life could not have been saved and disagreed with the coroner’s decision not to make comments or recommendations.

“It’s possible that if Maddie had more help at those earlier stages and had a clinician at CAMHS who could have built a rapport with her in the first instance, which was critical and lacking, that there could have been a different outcome, but that’s all speculation,” Gareth Hall said.

“The coroner deemed there was no gross negligence that contributed to Maddie’s passing, we think that as parents having witnessed everything we did, we still disagree with that. That’s the coroner’s rulings based on the balance of probability but there’s always possibility.”

A handful of incidents stood out to the Halls, including a time when Maddie was strip-searched at Starship Hospital.

“It was barbaric. There was no kindness. It was like she was in a prison or something. For somebody that has gone through trauma and had PTSD to be faced with that, it’s huge,” Leanne Hall said.

On another occasion Maddie had surgery at Rotorua Hospital after harming herself, followed by a request to transfer her to Starship.

After Rotorua clinicians spoke to a nurse in Tauranga she was instead discharged and found wandering on railway tracks later that night.

The coroner’s report also said a police officer gave evidence to the inquest about two incidents in which the officer believed “that health practitioners argued with Maddie in a disrespectful and unprofessional way about her medication and that another practitioner who Maddie disliked and distrusted deliberately came into Maddie’s view ‘as if on purpose to wind Maddie up’.”

The coroner made no findings about the two incidents but said: “Any lack of professionalism or disrespect for Maddie would have been unsatisfactory. However, while health practitioners should act with patience and compassion towards a patient, there are reasons why this may not always happen.”

An ‘appalling’ youth suicide rate

While Gareth and Leanne Hall could not save their daughter’s life, they take solace knowing she knew how much they loved her.

“The one thing that we did achieve before Maddie passed away was that she knew she was loved because earlier on, due to her mental illness, she felt completely unlovable and didn’t feel loved,” Gareth Hall said.

“She saw what we did for her and despite the negativity of her mind she did realise that she was loved and that gives us some comfort because you wouldn’t want your daughter to go feeling that she wasn’t loved.”

The couple now hope to channel their love and Maddie’s memory into driving meaningful change in mental health services.

“Maddie would have wanted a change and improvements in the mental health system, she hated other kids suffering and we don’t want other kids to suffer like Maddie did either. So if something good can come from Maddie’s passing I think that will help us,” Gareth Hall said.

He said New Zealand had an appalling youth suicide rate.

“That is something that as a country we should be extremely embarrassed by and we need to do whatever we can to improve that statistic,” he said.

“That’ll improve a statistic but it will improve the lives of not just the children who are going through extreme mental illness but all their parents and family and friends.”

In his findings coroner Elliott referenced the government’s 2018 inquiry into the country’s mental health and addiction sectors.

“Mental health legislation was referred to as ‘outdated and inadequate’ and reform was recommended. Health New Zealand accepted the inquiry’s recommendation in this respect,” the coroner said.

“However this has not yet been implemented and the Act has not been amended. In relation to Maddie, Health New Zealand was working under the law as it applied at that time.”

In a statement, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey said “every single life lost to suicide is one too many”.

“Losing a child truly is every parent’s worst nightmare and my thoughts are with Maddie Hall’s friends and family.

“For me as Mental Health Minister, the most important part of my role is listening to those who have been directly affected by suicide. I have met with the parents of Maddie Hall to hear first-hand what they feel we need to do to improve New Zealand’s mental health system. I believe the key part of improving the mental health system is incorporating voices of lived experience. The reality is that we cannot make the changes needed on the ground without listening directly to families who have unfortunately gone through what families like the Hall’s have experienced.

“I acknowledge that New Zealand continues to face high suicide rates, particularly among youth. We can and must do better.

“I think it’s particularly clear, we are long overdue for a better crisis response. No one in New Zealand should face barriers when seeking help for themselves or others and that’s exactly what this government is focused on doing.”

Where to get help:

• Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason.
• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357.
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends.
• Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202.
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666.
• Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz.
• What’s Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds.
• Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, and English.
• Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254.
• Healthline: 0800 611 116.
• Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155.
• OUTLine: 0800 688 5463.

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

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/2026/02/03/teens-grieving-parents-left-asking-just-one-question-what-if/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A family of lions has been euthanised because of their poor health, a Christchurch zoo says.

Orana Wildlife Park said 22-year-old sisters Leah and Meeka, and Meeka’s 15-year-old son Mambila had died.

The group had been suffering from multiple age-related ailments, including degenerative muscle wastage (atrophy), suspected arthritis, and incontinence.

In a social media post, Orana Park said the decision to euthanise the lions together was because of their highly social nature.

“Leah and Meeka lived their entire 22 years together, and Mambila shared a very close bond with his mother. Prolonging the decision for one or more of the animals would have severely compromised their welfare beyond the degenerative issues they were already facing,” a spokesperson said.

“Leaving one elderly lion alone or attempting to integrate them with Orana’s remaining pride of two males would have resulted in a negative welfare state or potentially fatal consequences, given lions’ highly territorial nature.”

Orana Park said Leah and Meeka were the oldest lions in Australasia at the time of their death.

“All three cats reached old age and Leah and Meeka had exceptionally long lives.

“Male lions typically lived up to 14 years and lionesses slightly longer in the wild. This longevity is testament to the extraordinary care provided by our dedicated animal and veterinary teams.”

The park said staff were devastated by the lions’ passing.

“Anyone who has farewelled a beloved animal will understand the depth of emotion people experience at such a loss. These lions were treasured members of our whānau, they will be deeply missed by everyone who cared for them throughout their lives and our community who enjoyed meeting them.

“We are incredibly grateful to our team for their dedication, compassion, and commitment to ensuring all three lions experienced a peaceful and dignified farewell.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/they-will-be-deeply-missed-orana-wildlife-parks-family-of-lions-euthanised/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have launched an investigation after the discovery of a body at a worksite in Hawke’s Bay.

Officers were called to the property on Taihape Road in Omahu, near Hastings, at 9.10am on Tuesday – where cordons remain.

Police said it was unclear how the person came to be there, and how they died, and were treating the death as unexplained.

They said a scene examination and post-mortem would be carried out as they worked to identify the person and understand the circumstances surrounding their death.

Police said anyone with information could get in touch by calling Crime Stoppers or 105, quoting reference number 260203/9739.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/03/police-launch-investigation-after-body-found-at-worksite-in-hawkes-bay/