Animal control officers visited the property where Mihiata Te Rore was mauled to death four times, including the day before the attack.

Te Rore, 62, was visiting a person she knew at a property in the small Northland town of Kaihu when she was attacked and killed on Tuesday.

Police say the three dogs involved lived at the property.

Te Rore is the third person to be killed by dogs in Northland in the past four years, sparking calls for more to be done by local and central government to deal with the growing problem.

Police have been at the taped-off home where Te Rore died on Tuesday.

In a statement, Kaipara District Council said there had been four complaints about the dogs in November, December and this week, and had responded to each request on the same day.

“Staff visited the property on multiple occasions to attempt to speak to the owner, including reaching out to family and iwi liaison. When the dogs were seen they were on the property.

“In December staff managed to speak with the owner about compliance and keeping the dogs secure, including consequences if this did not occur. In February they visited the property twice, including the day before, but were unable to talk to the owner or uplift the dogs.”

The council said there had also been “multiple” proactive patrols in the area, looking for any loose dogs, including a door knock of every property along Kaihu Wood Road (no loose dogs were sighted during these patrols).

“Dog owners are responsible for their dogs – they have a legal responsibility to look after and control their animals but we also acknowledge that council’s animal control plays an important role in managing risks in the community. Our staff work with dog owners across the district every single day and are devastated that any such incident, in this case on private property, has occurred in Kaipara.

“We have a very small but extremely passionate team covering the whole of the district, and in their role they deal with a wide range of owners and dogs daily, often in complex and challenging situations.”

It said its animal management team was investigating the incident.

“The three dogs were secured after the event and have been impounded, and will be destroyed as soon as police have finished their investigation.”

‘All four have pack attacked my dog’

A local – who RNZ has agreed not to name – said authorities were warned in the past year about issues with the dogs.

He has had his own experience with the four dogs he says live at the property.

“They’ve actually come onto my property and attacked my dog,” he said.

“They pack attacked him, all four have pack attacked my dog, and that was just over six months ago.”

Like many in the community, he was frightened.

“It is quite stressful because you don’t even know if you’re going to get attacked and for me, I’ve got to go out my drive to get to my letterbox, and you don’t know whether the dogs are around the corner,” the man said.

“It’s really quite frightening.”

The man said Tuesday’s attack should never have happened.

“There were so many warnings before that happened and nothing had been done,” he said.

“I can’t believe that people are ringing dog control and yet nothing had been done.”

Statistics from the Kaipara District Council showed the number of dogs impounded by the council more than doubled over the four years from 2021 to 2025.

In the period from July 2022 to July 2025, there were 174 call-outs for dog attacks, but only one person was prosecuted in the same period.

RNZ asked the council to comment on these figures, but have not received a response.

The Kaipara District Council promoted cycle trails in the Kaihu area where Te Rore was killed.

Three years ago, Mike Wespel-Rose was biking on a track from Dargaville to Russell with his wife, when the pair were chased by dogs from a nearby property north of Whangārei.

“They were chasing us, and chasing us, it went on for quite a few minutes.”

“They jumped up on my wife’s bike […] we didn’t dare stop because God knows what we might’ve faced, so we just rode like crazy, very fearful about what might happen,” he said.

Wespel-Rose said the dog issue in the north is a symptom of wider problems with crime and poverty.

“It needs more resourcing doesn’t it, so that it can be dealt with more fully,” he said.

“It’s a tough one.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described Te Rore’s death as unacceptable, and said the council needed to act.

“I would expect that within seven days that the Kiapara District Council is taking action and going after the dogs, and packs of dogs that are out there,” he said.

“Just imagine being a mum with a young baby, or young toddlers, and the anxiety that that causes.”

Push to reform laws ignored

However, Auckland Council’s Animal Management said its push for the government to reform dog control laws over the past year had fallen on deaf ears.

Elly Waitoa from the council’s animal management department said she was shocked that as recently as Tuesday morning, the government had told them they were not considering changes to the dog control act.

Meanwhile, police have said they want to hear from anyone in the Kaihu community who has had issues with dogs roaming in the area.

Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Pilmer said the dogs involved were now with Animal Management.

“This was a very upsetting and tragic event in which a woman has suffered unsurvivable injuries,” he said.

“I know the community will have a lot of questions; our investigation is still in the early stages and our focus is on establishing all the facts in this case.”

‘It’s almost become normalised’

Liz Woodward, a trustee of the Best Dog Trust – which provides free desexing for dogs in Kaipara, Whangarei and Wellsford – told Checkpoint the number of animals was overwhelming.

“We’ve had a dog applied for desexing just yesterday, she had 11 puppies. That’s really common, just the sheer number of dogs and lack of affordability of vet care, and also people being able to get to vets,” she said.

“For Kaihu residents it’s 90 kilometres to get a vet in Whangarei for desexing, so it’s no easy undertaking.”

She said the price was also prohibitive.

“It ranges from about $350 for a vet in Whangarei that’s low cost, the vets we deal with in Kaipara and Wellsford are more expensive,” she explained.

“We recently desexed a 56 kilo dangerous female, and she would have cost the owner over $1200.”

Woodward said aggressive behaviour from pet dogs had become normalised in Northland.

“Probably in most communities in Northland there’s an understanding within your community that there are certain dogs on certain streets or in certain areas that you just don’t get too close to,” she said.

“It’s really disheartening to hear of tourists on our cycle trails, trying to enjoy our beautiful countryside, being chased by dogs. It’s almost become normalised up here.”

“I can’t even begin to explain how big the dog issue is for Northland.”

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

The dogs that killed a woman in Northland yesterday came onto a neighbour’s property recently and pack attacked their dog.

The Kaihu local says it was “really quite frightening” living near the animals.

Mihiata Te Rore, 62, was visiting a person she knew at a property in the small Northland town of Kaihu when she was attacked and killed on Tuesday.

Police say the three dogs involved lived at the property.

Te Rore is the third person to be killed by dogs in Northland in the past four years, sparking calls for more to be done by local and central government to deal with the growing problem.

Police have been at the taped-off home where Te Rore died on Tuesday.

A local – who RNZ has agreed not to name – said authorities were warned in the past year about issues with the dogs.

He has had his own experience with the four dogs he says live at the property.

“They’ve actually come onto my property and attacked my dog,” he said.

“They pack attacked him, all four have pack attacked my dog, and that was just over six months ago.”

Like many in the community, he was frightened.

“It is quite stressful because you don’t even know if you’re going to get attacked and for me, I’ve got to go out my drive to get to my letterbox, and you don’t know whether the dogs are around the corner,” the man said.

“It’s really quite frightening.”

‘Nothing had been done’

The man said Tuesday’s attack should never have happened.

“There were so many warnings before that happened and nothing had been done,” he said.

“I can’t believe that people are ringing dog control and yet nothing had been done.”

Statistics from the Kaipara District Council showed the number of dogs impounded by the council more than doubled over the four years from 2021 to 2025.

In the period from July 2022 to July 2025, there were 174 call-outs for dog attacks, but only one person was prosecuted in the same period.

RNZ asked the council to comment on these figures, but have not received a response.

The Kaipara District Council promoted cycle trails in the Kaihu area where Te Rore was killed.

Three years ago, Mike Wespel-Rose was biking on a track from Dargaville to Russell with his wife, when the pair were chased by dogs from a nearby property north of Whangārei.

“They were chasing us, and chasing us, it went on for quite a few minutes.”

“They jumped up on my wife’s bike […] we didn’t dare stop because God knows what we might’ve faced, so we just rode like crazy, very fearful about what might happen,” he said.

Wespel-Rose said the dog issue in the north is a symptom of wider problems with crime and poverty.

“It needs more resourcing doesn’t it, so that it can be dealt with more fully,” he said.

“It’s a tough one.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon described Te Rore’s death as unacceptable, and said the council needed to act.

“I would expect that within seven days that the Kiapara District Council is taking action and going after the dogs, and packs of dogs that are out there,” he said.

“Just imagine being a mum with a young baby, or young toddlers, and the anxiety that that causes.”

Push to reform laws ignored

However, Auckland Council’s Animal Management said its push for the government to reform dog control laws over the past year had fallen on deaf ears.

Elly Waitoa from the council’s animal management department said she was shocked that as recently as Tuesday morning, the government had told them they were not considering changes to the dog control act.

Meanwhile, police have said they want to hear from anyone in the Kaihu community who has had issues with dogs roaming in the area.

Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Pilmer said the dogs involved were now with Animal Management.

“This was a very upsetting and tragic event in which a woman has suffered unsurvivable injuries,” he said.

“I know the community will have a lot of questions; our investigation is still in the early stages and our focus is on establishing all the facts in this case.”

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

Immigration New Zealand says the ‘disturbing’ case of two young people kept as slaves shows how extreme exploitation can be hidden in plain sight.

Moeaia Tuai was on Thursday jailed for 16 years and four months for the slavery, rapes and numerous other sexual assaults he committed.

Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith voiced concerns about how widespread slavery was in New Zealand, including cases where youths could be brought here ‘essentially to work as domestic help or in jobs to support the family’.

INZ compliance and investigations manager Steve Watson said slavery was among the most serious crimes in New Zealand.

“It was a very disturbing case, and the victims did not deserve to be treated in that way,” he said. “It’s a very, very good sentence, and sends a very clear message that this type of slavery and exploitation won’t be tolerated. It shows that we as a country won’t tolerate it, and that it is one of the worst offences on the statute book. And [the sentence] should serve as a deterrent to others.”

INZ provided significant support to the police and the prosecution, he said, and he urged others to report offending they witness.

Timeline of a slavemaster

“Slavery and other forms of exploitation, they are serious crimes and they’re often hidden in plain sight,” Watson said.

“So addressing serious exploitation is a priority for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, right from policy settings through to our operational arms. MBIE and Immigration New Zealand will continue to prosecute people where we find evidence of this sort of behaviour.”

Former trafficking victims have expressed concerns about how much is being done to improve the detection of slavery and prosecute it.

“There have been few cases involving slavery in New Zealand to date,” said Wilkinson-Smith, noting the only previous major prosecution was that of Joseph Matamata in 2020.

The prosecutor in the current case noted that the female complainant had been held as a slave for even longer than Matamata’s male victims.

It was no mitigation that vulnerable victims would accept slavery as being better than a return to extreme poverty, the judge told Tuai.

She said the rapes, other violations and indecent assaults added another level of gravity to Tuai’s enslavement and theft of the young woman’s income.

“She was in a very real sense your slave. She did the work and you got the benefit.”

• 2003 – 2004 – Tuai and his wife emigrated to New Zealand, he worked as a prison officer for Corrections.
• 2017 – Tuai brought two young people to New Zealand and put the older male one to work at a boarding house belonging to his wife Senia Tuai’s sister.
• 2020 – The older victim, by now brought to work in Australia and joined by Tuai, ran away.
• 2021 – The younger female complainant, brought back to NZ, worked seven days a week for two months in laundromats.
• 2022 – 2024 – She continued to work, with an estimated $78,000 of her wages going to Tuai.
• 2024 – She ran away and alerted police to the rapes.
• 2024 – 2025 – Police and MBIE investigation into the slavery offending.

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

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

How much of the country’s total personal tax bill is your region picking up?

If you are in Auckland or Wellington, the answer may be more than you might think.

Inland Revenue data covering personal taxable income and income tax attributable to individuals shows that Auckland pays just under 38 percent of the country’s personal tax, and has just over 33 percent of the population. This is based on information for the 2023 financial year – the data for the 2025 year is not yet available.

Wellington pays 12.7 percent and has 10.5 percent of the population.

Waikato, in contrast, has 8.8 percent of the population but pays only 8.3 percent of the tax bill. Northland has 3.5 percent of the population and 2.8 percent of the tax bill.

Whanganui/Manawatu has 4.8 percent of the population and only 4 percent of the bill.

On a per-individual basis, Wellington has the highest personal tax bill at $12,300. Auckland is just behind at $11,500 and Canterbury is in third place with $9900. Otago is fourth at $9700.

Gisborne has the lowest at $7700.

Much of the variation can be explained by different areas’ income.

Auckland and Wellington are the areas of the country with the highest incomes, followed by Canterbury and Waikato.

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said Auckland and Wellington had more people in the higher tax brackets who paid more tax.

“We know, for example, that Wellington City, rather than region, has the highest personal incomes in the country. Infometrics estimates show that Wellington region average annual personal earnings were around $90,600 and about $88,600 for the Auckland region. Those were the only two regions above the national average.

“If you look at the likes of the West Coast, which has got a fairly small proportion, and smaller than its total population. Even though the West Coast actually has some reasonable average earnings, that much smaller population is showing through there in terms of where they sit.”

He said Bay of Plenty, Manawatu, Northland and Hawke’s Bay all stood out for the gap between their population proportion and the proportion of tax paid.

“The likes of Northland especially, you know, you’ve often got a high level of benefit dependency there, and potentially also more people that at the very margins might not participate quite as much with government… probably operating a little bit further away from the strict expectations of the IRD.

“Not necessarily trying to circumvent the law, just that you find some rural provincial economies that often more cash based, or operate sort of more in a community setting.”

Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub said it was interesting to consider the tax paid compared to where the government spent its money.

“Last time I looked at it which was years ago, places like Auckland paid more into central government coffers than they took out in public services… large, dense places that are rich will redistribute. That’s what the redistribution mechanism is for… poverty is quite often disproportionate. We tend to have a lot more deprivation in rural New Zealand.”

Olsen said it was a hard question to contemplate.

“Transport funding, for example. That can sort of fluctuate quite a lot year on year … when the Waikato Expressway or Transmission Gully were getting built, those regions probably got quite a lot relative to otherwise, but they’re maybe not getting nearly as much now.”

He said areas where larger numbers of people were on NZ Super could also be receiving more government funding than others.

“There are a few hotspots across the country where there’s a higher average age proportionately – Thames Coromandel, the likes of Kapiti District and similar, so those areas will have more as well. And then it’s also going to be areas that have a greater government workforce concentration. The likes of Auckland and Wellington do generally have a fairly large workforce concentration, particularly Wellington, of course.

“A reasonable amount of the Wellington city economy is driven by the pay and work of the government workforce.”

How does your region compare?

Wellington

$12,300 per individual

10.5 percent of the population and 12.7 percent of tax paid

Total of more than $6.2 billion in tax paid

Auckland

$11,500 per individual

33.4 percent of the population and 37.7 percent of tax paid

Total of nearly $18.5 billion in tax paid

Canterbury

$9900 per individual

12.9 percent of the population and 12.6 percent of tax paid

Otago

$9700 per individual

4.1 percent of the population and 4 percent of tax paid

Waikato

$9500 per individual

8.8 percent of population and 8.3 percent of tax paid

Taranaki

$9300 per individual

2.5 percent of population and 2.3 percent of tax paid

Nelson

$9100 per individual

1.2 percent of population and 1.1 percent of tax paid

Bay of Plenty

$9100

6.87 percent of population and 6 percent of tax paid

Southland

$8900 per individual

2.1 percent of population and 1.8 percent of tax paid

Marlborough

$8900 per individual

1 percent of population and 0.8 percent of tax paid

Tasman

$8700 per individual

1 percent of population and 0.8 percent of tax paid

Hawke’s Bay

$8400 per individual

3.7 percent of population and 3.1 percent of tax paid

Manawatū-Whanganui

$8400 per individual

4.8 percent of population and 4 percent of tax paid

Northland

$8100 per individual

3.5 percent of population and 2.8 percent of tax paid

West Coast

$7800 per individual

0.6 percent of population and 0.5 percent of tax paid

Gisborne

$7700 percent of individual

1 percent of population and 0.8 percent of tax paid

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

The Salvation Army is warning that families are starving and it wants the government to urgently increase food aid.

Its latest State of the Nation paints a dire picture of worsening child poverty and unemployment, rising family violence and stubbornly high cost of living pressures.

An annual deep dive into Aotearoa’s social wellbeing, the report shows that child poverty is rising, with 156,000 children living in hardship last year.

Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit director Dr Bonnie Robinson said the statistics were getting worse, rather than better – and it showed on the front line at food banks.

“Families are coming in, and some of those families have got jobs, sometimes several jobs … it’s just not enough,” she said.

“They’re one crisis, or one extra need, one doctor’s visit, one bit of school uniform, away from not being able to afford to feed themselves.”

Report co-author Paul Barber said an increase in food insecurity came as access to government support was being tightened.

Food grant limits had not been changed since 2008, he said.

“And you wonder why people aren’t managing to get by.”

Ministry of Social Development (MSD) acting client service delivery general manager Steph Voight said the “overwhelming majority” of food grant applications were approved.

“The amount someone can receive for a food grant varies depending on their circumstances,” she said.

MSD cannot grant someone more than $200 in food grants over a 26-week period, unless they determine there are exceptional circumstances.

“Any decisions on food grant limits would require legislative change and would be for Ministers to make,” said Voight.

Social Development minister Louise Upston said the government was focused on lowering inflation, easing interest rates and cutting taxes.

“$15 million of government funding was announced in Budget 2025 to support community food providers while the economy continues to recover,” she said.

“In addition to the Food Security Communities Programme, MSD also supports other initiatives such as the Kickstart Breakfast and provides Special Needs Grants for food.”

Upston could not comment on further funding ahead of this year’s Budget.

Poverty stats ‘scandalous’ – Greens

Greens co-leader Marama Davidson said it was “scandalous, completely unacceptable” that children live in poverty in New Zealand.

The party’s social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March said tens of thousands of people accessed food hardship grants on a regular basis and they were often the last option for families living week-to-week.

“People wouldn’t be calling, or walking into a Work and Income office effectively begging for food if they didn’t need to,” he said.

“The limit that we currently have means that many people are turned away, and when you are homeless, when you may be transient in emergency housing, being asked to show receipts and to prove exceptional circumstances when it’s clear that you’re struggling to make ends meet, is simply just not a reality that people can comply with.”

Māori, Pacific children dealing with effects of colonisation – report

The report showed that tamariki Māori and Pacific children continue to experience disproportionately high rates of hardship.

Salvation Army Te Ao Māori policy analyst Charm Kataraina Skinner said many whānau were dealing with the ongoing effects of colonisation.

“We have children that are starving, and we have whānau that can’t meet their basic necessities.

“Everybody deserves kai on the table.”

Family violence at highest level in eight years

The report also revealed that family violence was at its highest level since 2018, despite an overall drop in violent crime.

Barber said that was a sign of families under pressure.

“A lot of the violence is concentrated on a few people who experience multiple victimisations,” he said.

Authorities needed to work with those families to understand what help they needed to address the “multiple pressures” they faced, he said.

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

The State of the Nation report released today by Better Taxes Coalition member, The Salvation Army, shows persistent inequality across most measures, from child poverty and food insecurity, to unemployment and housing affordability.

The Better Taxes campaign endorses the remarks of Dr Bonnie Robinson, Salvation Army Director Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, at the launch that something significant is required to address inequality and poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand:

“Rebalancing our tax system to gather more revenue from those who can most afford to contribute, and to fund the things that will improve living standards for everyone in Aotearoa is critical to shifting the dial on the shocking picture painted by the Salvation Army report,” said Glenn Barclay, spokesperson for the Better Taxes campaign.

The report lays bare numerous areas where we need to do more to support the most vulnerable in our communities:

• Child poverty rates have increased and the number of children in material hardship in 2024 was higher than the in 2018 (baseline measure).
• Numbers receiving welfare assistance rose over the last year, but restricted access to hardship support meant there was less support for households at this time of greater need.
• Food insecurity remained high in 2025. Salvation Army food assistance through food parcels increased with some 90,000 food parcels distributed, 7 percent higher than in 2024 and almost 50 percent more than in 2019 pre-Covid-19. 
• Although household living cost increases eased over the last year, this was uneven and lower-income households still faced higher household costs increases compared to high earners.
• Public housing units increased, but new-builds are poised to fall off the cliff. While homelessness continued to rise and thousands remain on public housing lists, some specialised housing services for people facing homelessness actually reduced over the course of 2025.
• The data shows that structural settings continue to produce inequitable outcomes for tangata whenua and vulnerable communities.

“These are the kinds of pressures that are driving the fiscal challenges that the Treasury and Inland Revenue have identified in a number of recent reports. In order to address these pressures and enable everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand to live good lives we need to gather more revenue”, said Barclay.

The Better Taxes for a Better Future Campaign is a coalition of over 20 organisations led by Tax Justice Aotearoa.

We believe that tax reform is the only solution to the current challenges facing Aotearoa NZ.  We need the tax system to:

• be transparent
• raise more revenue to enable us address the challenges we face
• make sure people who have more to contribute make that contribution: that we gather more revenue from wealth, gains from wealth, all forms of income, and corporates
• make greater use of fair taxes to promote good health and environmental health
• address the tax impact on the least well off in our society.

MIL OSI

Overall violent crime has decreased but family violence is at its highest since 2018, a report by the Salvation Army has found.

The charity’s State of the Nation report collects data from agencies like Police and the Ministry of Justice.

It estimates 147,000 people were victims of violent crime in the 12 months to August 2025, compared to around 200,000 the previous year.

“This improvement is largely driven by steep reductions in non‑sexual assault and robbery, which fell from 108,000 to 81,000, reaching their lowest levels in the series,” the report stated.

“Sexual assault declined more modestly … The recent downturn is attributed to several factors, including increased frontline policing in high‑harm urban areas and significant reductions in non-family violence.”

But the report found the number of charges for family harm had increased by 3.9 percent, and police had issued 9.7 percent more safety orders due to domestic violence.

“Police safety orders (PSOs) saw the most significant growth, climbing to 27,077 in 2025 (compared to 24,676 in 2024),” the report said.

“For the police, the steady rise in PSOs reflects a broader shift toward proactive policing and early intervention.”

The latest data on child poverty was from 2024, but showed the situation had worsened since 2023.

In 2024, 156,000 children were in material hardship, compared to 144,000 in 2023.

Other findings in the report included a decrease in drug use and charges for driving under the influence.

Police performed 4.22 million breath tests in 2025, up from 3.58m in 2024, but the number of people charged for driving under the influence modestly decreased, by 2 percent.

Overall drug use was also down, but the number of people using cocaine remained high.

In 2025, 2.4 percent of the population used cocaine, slightly down from 2.5 percent in 2024 but still double what it had been in 2022 (1.2 percent).

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Source: Child Poverty Action Group

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Source: Oxfam Aotearoa

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Stats NZ updates material hardship measure for child poverty statistics – news story

16 January 2026

Stats NZ has changed how we measure material hardship to ensure continuity between the new Household Income and Living Survey (HILS) and the Household Economic Survey (HES) it replaced in 2024.

HILS was introduced to streamline and modernise how Stats NZ collects and produces household income, expenditure, net worth, and child poverty statistics. It incorporates updated collection technology and questionnaire design to reduce the survey burden on respondents and improve data quality. To address the impact of these design changes, the Government Statistician has made the decision to update the methodology used to measure material hardship.

In February 2026, Stats NZ will produce material hardship statistics using an updated methodology that includes the use of a new 18-item index called MH-18.

Visit our website to read the full news story and methods paper:

MIL OSI

Source: Child Poverty Action Group

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Source: Save the Children

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Marlborough’s only kaupapa Māori general practice, Manu Ora, has received funding for the next three years with evidence showing it’s early intervention model benefits both its patients and the wider healthcare system.

The Blenheim based practice was established in mid-2021 by Dr Sara Simmons and Dr Rachel Inder in partnership with Te Piki Oranga a Māori health services provider in Te Tauihu.

Co-founder Dr Sara Simmons (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, Waitaha) said it was born from a desire to provide care in a te ao Māori way for the community’s most vulnerable.

“Our partner organisation is Te Piki Oranga, so that’s a Māori wellness service here in Te Tauihu and we were really lucky to kind of gain their support a they recognised that we had something that could kind of close the loop of care for whānau Māori in the region from their perspective, because they have nurses and social workers and addiction services and mental health services and some other social services as well, but they didn’t have any GPs.”

Simmons said they soon realised the service needed to be run as a not for profit entity rather than the traditional GP business model. Only 28 percent of Manu Ora’s funding is provided through the government.

“We rely on funding for 72 percent of our costs. So, you know, that community support is just so critical. And we’ve been really lucky to have that and to get some recognition on a wider stage… We’re four and a half years in, and we’re kind of excited about where to next and what the future will bring and hopefully seeing some of those big stats turn the corner for our whānau Māori,” she said.

The Rātā Foundation awarded $165,000 to Manu Ora over three years, which Simmons said is their first multi year contract from an external organisation and will provide a degree certainty to their work.

Simmons said they spent much of the practice’s first year planning and engaging with local whānau and community to create a service that would reflect their needs.

“Both Rachel and I are born and bred in the Wairau, and although I whakapapa to further south, down in Wairewa, you know, I’ve grown up going to Omaka Marae and connecting with our Māori community locally, and so we just really kind of opened the door and asked the question. And I think what people identified with was, the desire to do something different and the desire to do something that was really designed from the ground up to really benefit our community. So, we didn’t start with any preconceived ‘this is what we think it should look like,’ we really just asked that question of our whānau and kind of went from there.”

It’s a privilege to be able to provide care in a kaupapa Māori model, she said.

“It stemmed from a desire to do something different, a desire to do something that we thought was the right thing to do for our whānau Māori in the area… When we started having kōrero with people about what we wanted to do, that’s when we really thought, yeah, this is something that our community needs, because I think in Marlborough, in particular, many people have their eyes shut to the kind of poverty and the needs that is out there.

“I mean, we’ve got strong primary industry, and I think people see all of that, and don’t see the housing insecurity, and the kai insecurity, and the job insecurity, and then the kind of flow-on effects from that onto people’s mental health and their hauora, their overall well-being.”

Simmons said when the practice first opened, there was some concern from established practices in the region about their approach.

“It’s a reflection of the region really not providing care for our whānau Māori in a way that is really best for them. And, you know, we look at the stats and whānau Māori are less likely to seek out healthcare and then even when they do, they’re less likely to receive gold standard care. And so those impacts, you know, in the big picture, that health inequality is just, well, it’s massive and it’s really heartbreaking, you know, and to look at my tamariki and know that their life expectancy is seven or eight years less than non-Māori their same age – that’s kind of why we do what we do is, is to look to benefit, not only the whānau who we’ve got enrolled with us now, but our future generations.”

An independent evaluation by Sapere (2022) reported: “Stakeholders identify to us that these high needs vulnerable whānau likely would not have [otherwise] connected with general practice or would not have received an appropriate level of service, and only occasionally would have been seen by the DHB in its hospital, usually in a crisis situation.”

Manu Ora maintains a lower patient-to-GP ratio of 1:900, compared to the national average of 1:1,700. Nearly 50 percent of the practice’s patient roll is Māori, compared to 13 percent at other Blenheim practices; over 50 percent of staff, and 80 percent of the Board, whakapapa Māori.

Simmons thanked the team at Manu Ora, saying they are lucky to have a group of both Māori and non-Māori clinicians who can provide whānau centred care.

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

In 1922 Marjorie Bain set sail on the trip of a life-time to the motherland, became the first woman to represent New Zealand at Wimbledon, and spent a magical winter on continental Europe.

But when her year’s leave was up she wasn’t ready to return to New Zealand, and eloped with an Australian she met on the grass courts.

She was the envy of her friends, but little did they know the hardships she would come to face before she was rescued from poverty, and returned to New Zealand 13 years later.

Unfortunately Tennis NZ archives are sporadic at best and Marjorie’s Wimbledon appearance is not widely known but it’s what happened to her after the prestigious tournament that really shaped her.

Marjorie’s granddaughter Penny O’Connell said details had been pieced together over the years.

Marjorie Helen Bain was born in 1897 and grew up in Christchurch, where her family were of modest means but in the background was a wealthy widowed aunt, who lived in Queensland.

Marjorie flourished at tennis, playing for Christchurch Girls’ High, Canterbury University, and at the national lawn championships.

In her twilight years, Marjorie wrote a book for her family, full of her memories, and recounted going to Auckland to see US Davis Cup players compete against New Zealand “and our own Anthony Wilding who was so soon to be killed in France.”

Marjorie wrote about the black influenza that swept through New Zealand after the first World War ended.

The rich aunt

In 1922 the rich aunt offered to take Marjorie on the trip of a lifetime to England and continental Europe. She was in her mid 20s and her two sisters were married, so Marjorie was the obvious choice.

The aunt’s husband had found a nugget on the goldfields but died young while electioneering to be the Premier of Queensland, leaving her rich.

Her aunt travelled on cargo ships, which only took 12 passengers, and she ruled at elite roost at the captain’s table.

Some passengers called her the W.O.D. short for “wicked old devil” but Marjorie also saw her as a “veritable fairy Godmother”.

Marjorie was granted a year’s leave from her teaching job and the New Zealand Lawn Tennis Association nominated her for Wimbledon.

In reference to her actual results at the tournament Marjorie later wrote – “I shan’t tell you want happened to me at Wimbledon.”

It wasn’t until 1951 that Evelyn Webster became the second New Zealand woman to compete at Wimbledon.

The 1922 Wimbledon Championships marked the tournament’s move to its current premises on Church Road, amid forecasts at the time that the place would become a white elephant.

The family still has Marjorie’s competitor card and postcards. In one of them Marjorie described the now iconic centre court grand-stand as a “huge circular concrete affair” and wrote “give me New Zealand climate every time”.

The 1922 Wimbledon Championships are widely considered the most disrupted tournament in its history with rain interruptions every day.

Marjorie fell in love with England and took in theatre productions and concerts in London’s West End, then travelled to the Continent with her aunt, where they visited France, Italy, Switzerland, and Paris.

The inventor husband

At the Wimbledon centre court her fierce aunt, who acted as a chaperone, warned her niece not to get mixed up with the Australian representative Herbert Tasman Ethelbert Davies, an official at the tournament.

Herbert was a metallurgist from Melbourne University, charming and clever. But the aunt warned that he was an inventor and called him a ‘rolling stone’. In today’s words, aunty believed that Herbert was a flake.

But Marjorie ignored the cautions and the pair eloped to Paris to get married in a registry office, thereby antagonizing the aunt who sailed back to Brisbane.

The couple returned to London and then in Marjorie’s own words “followed years of anxiety, mixed with a brave attempt at happiness …an erratic husband and a more than erratic livelihood don’t spell real happiness.”

Herbert, who floated companies for developments and patents, had no money sense whatsoever.

Sometimes there would be lots of money, then nothing. Unpaid bills, and frequent moving around England became the norm as the family tried to dodge the debt collectors.

In 1923 Marjorie’s first child John was born and in 1928 Barbara (Biddy) was born.

Decades later Marjorie’s daughter Biddy [Barbara] wrote down some early memories of those times.

At one of their brief addresses in England, Biddy described an old railway carriage at the bottom of the garden – “where occasional explosions occurred as my father continued his experiments.”

Years later Marjorie reflected “I decided that my mission in life was to reform him. Alas, my dear, never flatter yourself you can reform anyone.”

For nine years Marjorie struggled on, forgiving Herbert and starting again. She pawned her last scraps of jewellery and earned what little she could.

Wrote Biddy – “At times we were rich, with a nanny and maids all in uniform, other times when the bubble burst there was no money at all. Then another woman entered the scene, and my mother grabbed her two children and left.”

That’s when the hardship really kicked-in.

Penniless

Perhaps pride prevented Marjorie from telling her family back in Christchurch that she had left Herbert because in true post-Victorian fashion it was a disgrace to have lost your man.

Marjorie, her two children, and their beloved dog travelled by train wherever she could find jobs, not easy in the depths of the Great Depression.

Biddy, who passed away in 2022, wrote that they moved frequently because her mother thought Herbert might try to retrieve his son if he found them.

Marjorie did all kinds of jobs – she was a cook, a housekeeper in a boarding house, made and sold bread, and read to the blind.

“Many years later my brother told me that during this period he used to worry that if she died nobody would know who we were and we’d be put in an orphanage,” wrote Biddy.

When Marjorie’s brother was on his O.E. he decided to find her and reported back to the family that they were living in appalling circumstances.

The aunt was consulted and was still smarting from her niece’s elopement, but reluctantly agreed to pick Marjorie and her two children up the next time round.

One day they found two bailiffs waiting in the hall so they moved next door where Marjorie cared for an old man and the kids went to huge grey slummy London schools.

In 1935 the aunt rescued them. She didn’t like children, particularly girls and Biddy recalled that she didn’t talk to her for six weeks at sea.

The weary family disembarked at Cashel Street, Christchurch.

Peace and security at last

The aunt had offered the family a house near Brisbane, but while they were waiting to travel to Queensland, Labour won the 1935 election and for the first time five year-olds were to be admitted into school.

Old teacher friends begged Marjorie to stay to help alleviate the teacher shortage, so she offended the aunt again by staying there.

The family boarded for two years before Marjorie managed to procure a mortgage for her own home, describing it as “peace and security at last”.

Marjorie never mentioned Herbert but she kept her married name and was Mrs Davies to the hundreds of primary school students she taught in Christchurch.

John and Biddy were brought up to believe that their father had died, though much later the siblings found that neither believed it.

After Marjorie’s death in 1966 at the age of 69 her close friend told Biddy “…We were all green with envy when we heard that this lively attractive girl, popular with the boys, and a tennis star, had married. A few years later she arrived back home with two children; not a man in sight and never a word of explanation!”

When it came to the welfare of her pupils Marjorie used the direct approach, such as tackling the Education Board over the lack of fire exits at her school.

Penny recounts – “Mum used to tell me about how she marched into a Board meeting with an axe over her shoulder as a demonstration because she was so furious.”

Years prior, when her two young children went to a school in London, one was so stuffy that Marjorie threatened to throw a brick through a window if they didn’t open them.

In 1946 her son John was awarded the very first Ernest Rutherford scholarship, and eventually became a Professor and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Birmingham University.

During one of Marjorie’s return visits to Britain in the 1950s she taught under-privileged children in London schools.

Penny remembers several visits from Granny Marjorie – a “fun, kind, colourful” matriarch.

“She was a very strong character, headstrong in the face of tough times. It was hard being a woman on her own back then. My mother [Biddy] said those early years made them resilient and very loyal to each other,” Penny said.

For the record, Marjorie and her French doubles partner had a walkover in the first round of Wimbledon and then gave their opponents the next round (a walkover) so no tennis was played. In the singles, Marjorie lost her first round match 6-0 6-0.

The shortest women’s final ever recorded at Wimbledon happened in the same year when the legendary Suzanne Lenglen of France defeated American player Molla Bjurstedt Mallory 6-2, 6-0. The 23 minute record still stands today.

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

The past year was a tough grind for many households and businesses but forecasters say there is economic improvement on the horizon.

Kelly Eckhold, chief economist at Westpac, said he was expecting the economy to be much stronger in 2026, with growth in GDP of about 3 percent over the year compared to a flat 2025.

“That’s supported by lower interest rates in the coming year. Whereas in 2025 we saw relatively strong performance by the primary sector and tourism to some extent but not so much the services sector and the bits of the economy that really drive the major urban areas, we think we probably have much more balanced growth in 2026.”

Households might not see much wage growth initially, he said, because that was one of the last things to move, but inflation should be weaker. “The cost of living crisis should ease off a bit.”

Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, agreed things should improve.

“It can’t be worse, right? You’ve had good export prices, you’ve got interest rates which are headed lower than we had been thinking… there’s a bit of caution coming on some of those exports… but I think between the effects of the strong prices over the last 18 months and the low interest rates and the government doing more in the infrastructure space – if not anywhere else, you put all those together and there are enough signs that growth should be better.”

He said the international environment would be something to keep an eye on. “Trump and the tariffs had derailed things somewhat through the early part of this year and that sort of has hung over the economy for the rest of 2025. But who really knows in that space, I guess.”

He said there were some small signs that the labour market was already improving and that should continue to build. “There does seem to be a bit more of an air of optimism and maybe a bit more genuine growth starting to come through as opposed to the high business confidence we had a year ago which didn’t really translate into anything much this year.”

Economists from BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, said they expected 2 percent growth in 2026.

“The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s rate cuts will continue to ease monetary policy conditions – even if most of the easing cycle is likely behind us – supporting household spending and business investment. We anticipate a 25 basis points cut to 2 percent by the end of 2026. Government infrastructure projects – including Auckland’s City Rail Link, major highway upgrades such as the Waikato Expressway, and water resilience programmes – will add momentum. Externally, strong demand for dairy and meat, alongside a tourism rebound, should underpin growth.

“However, downside risks persist. An escalation in global trade tensions or new tariffs could weaken export performance, while a slower-than-expected recovery in Mainland China – New Zealand’s largest trading partner – would dampen agricultural demand.

“Domestically, persistent labor shortages and wage pressures could restrain productivity, and delays to infrastructure projects would reduce fiscal support. Additionally, if inflation proves sticky, the Reserve Bank may pause or reverse rate cuts, curbing the anticipated lift to consumption and investment.”

Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said he was much more optimistic about 2026. “Mainly because we’re starting to see a bottom in a lot of things a the moment. Some of the distress is fading.”

But he said the recovery would not be felt evenly.

“I think there has been a real expansion of poverty in New Zealand, there’s a chunk of New Zealanders that are continuing to do it really tough.

“They’re stuck in that position where they work in industries that are not going to recover strongly. They work in industries that have relative low-wage, they work and live in places where the cost of living has gone up a lot with rents… so these things are not going to turn around quickly.

“A rising economy Is not enough to lift them up.. But for the median and for the people in the top end I think things will look a lot better.”

Sources of growth will change, he said, as some of the momentum shifted out of the primary sector.

“But by the second half of the year, all the weight of the rate cuts, the cumulative benefits of all the rate cuts would have come through. And we should start to see banks lending again because, you know, they’re fair weather friends.

“And then once they start lending money, that’s when you really juice up the cycle because it’s really about investments.

“When people start to make investments and businesses make investments, that’s really when the economy recovers. Also, I’m getting more optimistic on the government’s capex plans.

“For the last couple of years, they’ve been reducing spending, reducing spending, reducing spending. That’s really the only place austerity has worked so far in not investing in infrastructure. But if you look at all the announcements that have taken place in the second half of this year, it’s all about central government and local government doing more next year. And so all the pipeline stuff, it looks like we are going to see quite a lot of activity starting in the beginning of next year. So with the government coming back and hopefully the private sector coming back through the middle of next year, you’ve kind of got more of a platform for growth.”

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

A Venezuelan woman living in New Zealand says her family and friends in Venezuela are happy – but anxious – about the move by the United States to capture the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Ari Ruiz and her sister Katherine Halkett have both lived in New Zealand for more than 10 years.

Ruiz said she rang her parents in Venezuela this morning to tell them the news, and her mother broke into happy tears.

Ruiz said her parents hoped this will be the first step towards change for the country.

“There has also been a lot of uncertainty about what comes next,” said Katherine Halkett.

“I think that is where a lot of the anxiety comes from, but the mood in Venezuela, of most Venezuelans, is of happiness and hope. The attacks started at about 8 o’clock (pm) New Zealand time, and we haven’t stopped watching the news since and it very scary.”

Halkett said their parents are in Barquisimeto – about five hours drive from Caracas where the attacks were – and knew nothing of the attacks until their phone call.

Other friends and family members who live in Caracas had a very different experience.

“None of them were in any danger at any point, but there were loud noises, windows shaken by the explosion, and smoke. Very scary of course.”

Halkett said America’s reasons for the attack may be complicated, but she said people who say it was all about oil did not understand the situation in Venezuela.

“To all the people in New Zealand, from the comfort of their couches with all their human rights, I tell them that we in Venezuela have not had access to the petroleum money from the Venezuelan government for many years.

“They have given away our petrol to Iran, to Cuba, to Russia, to China. So for them now to be worried about our petrol when we haven’t had our petrol for many years.

“That’s why Venezuelans are not really worried about that.”

Halkett said people in New Zealand were worried about what will happen with the petrol, but not the torture, state violence and political detainees.

Halkett said about 90 percent of the population lived in poverty, with about half the population in extreme poverty.

“My mum’s pension is $US4 a month, and box of 20 eggs is $US10, so people are dying,” said Ruiz. “People don’t have access to food.”

Ruiz said their family and friends say the streets have been very quiet, and it felt as if everyone was waiting to see what will happen next.

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

Teacher, lawyer, judge and head of a royal commission – Dame Coral Shaw’s career has always been about giving back to those most vulnerable.

The 78-year-old has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit and is enjoying her second retirement, volunteering at her local Citizens Advice Bureau.

The first time she tried to retire, she was appointed a commissioner of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Partway through she was made chair.

The findings, released in June 2024, ran to 2500 pages and catalogued a litany of abuse inside state and religious institutions between 1950 and 1999.

She told RNZ she was accepting the honour on behalf of the various organisations she had worked with.

“I hope just by having this honour, I can continue to advocate for the systemic changes needed [that] are vital if we’re not to repeat the errors of the past.”

New Years Honours are shrouded in secrecy with strict embargoes being enforced until the last day of the year.

So, after learning she was being considered for the honour, Dame Coral kept it a secret from family – even from her husband. She said her family’s love and pride would have resulted in the secret getting out.

“I’ve kept it entirely to myself … In a way it has been very difficult, but in another way it has kept it very easy because I haven’t had to explain myself … just a few white lies about where I was going and what I was doing,” she laughed.

From Lyttleton to the big leagues

Dame Coral was born in Lyttelton in 1947 – before it was “the trendy place it is now”.

Her father, a returned soldier, married her mother who worked in the family drapery business on the main street.

“It was a very hard working life. Mum worked in the shop and dad was a carrier.”

The eldest of three children, she loved music and sang in the Lyttelton Main School choir.

“I also learned to be rather resilient because, let’s say, it wasn’t the most genteel of schools and I had to learn to hold my own in that environment. But, of course, I learned about difference and I learned about people who came from different lifestyles.”

After completing her education at Christchurch Girls High School, she spent a year volunteering in the Solomon Islands before returning to New Zealand to study teaching where she met her now husband.

While teaching in Thames, Dame Coral came across a newspaper article about a woman who studied law late in life.

“I thought: ‘Hmm, that’s something I’m interested in.”

She did some law papers by correspondence.

“I realised I really enjoyed that world of analysis, probing. The rigour of the law really appealed to me.”

The family moved to Auckland where her three children went to school and Dame Coral completed her degree.

Her law practice was varied, working with refugees and doing some treaty work with Māori.

In 1992, Dame Coral was made a judge, sitting in the busy, urban West Auckland District Court.

“Nothing really prepared me for the nature and volume of work in West Auckland.”

She soon saw areas in the justice system that needed immediate attention.

“I read once that to be a teacher you had to be an optimist because you stand in front of a group of children and you think, ‘what can I do to make their lives better and fulfilling and help them learn?’ So, you’re always looking for the future, for hope for them. And I think I carry that into my judicial work and my whole life, really.”

Dame Coral was instrumental in the founding of the Waitakere Anti-Violence Essential Services (WAVES) Trust which provided a voice for victims in court.

And with the help of the government and the local community, it raised funds and employed a “victim advocate” who supported victims.

Together, with later chief District Court Judge Russell Johnson, it created a fast-track court list for family violence cases and one of the first anti-violence court programmes.

“We gave balanced justice – with all the rights to the defendant to defend their case if they wished, to provide therapeutic programmes if they needed it but mostly that the victims felt supported through the process.”

The other area was young Māori men coming to court with little support or advocacy.

“They were just being shunted off to prison or periodic detention and it seemed when I spoke to them, it was just going straight over their heads.”

Dame Coral called Pita Sharples at the nearby Hoani Waititi Marae.

The phone call was the first step in hammering out an alternative marae-based justice programme that connected defendants to tikanga and lessons in te reo Māori and challenged them to improve themselves.

From there, Dame Carrol was asked to fill in on the bench of the Employment Court. She was the first woman to be appointed to the role.

“I wasn’t drawn [into it], I was kidnapped … it was a gradual, gentle kidnapping into the world which I was very happy to do.”

She went on to sit on an internal UN tribunal that heard disputes raised by the organisation’s staff of approximately 60,000.

The job took her to Geneva, New York and Nairobi while still being able to live in New Zealand.

After seven years, Dame Coral thought she was retiring.

“I didn’t want to become stale … and that’s when my real work started.”

She was appointed a commissioner of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and was made chair when Sir Anand Satyanand resigned.

The inquiry heard hundreds of submissions from survivors of physical and sexual abuse in state and religious organisations.

“Many tears were shed, both by the commissioners and by the people, but what really overwhelmed that pain was the privilege of hearing … my wonderment at their courage and determination to finally be heard.”

She said although it was exhausting, it was worth it as the commission built a picture. That picture showed systemic failings of state and religious institutions to protect young people between 1950 and 1999.

“Every time I heard somebody I was thinking ‘what was I doing at that time? Where was I living?’ I was living a comfortable, loving, protected, and fulfilling life with lots of potential…

“And yet just down the road – sometimes in my school or in my church or in my community – there were people who were not having this life that I was having. And in fact they were being subjected to cruelty, violence, degradation, racism and all the rest.”

She said that revelation was a source of great shame.

Those experiences, were born out of post-war New Zealand where if a child was not being cared for at home, the church or state would step in.

“So the context was a rather narrow society that was trying its best to look after children but which was failing terribly because the great lesson was the state was no parent, the state should never be the parent to children.”

The inquiry found that at least 200,000 had been abused and many more neglected in state and religious institutions. It found that both state and faith-based institutions had failed to respond to abuse.

The commission called for widespread law reform and an overhaul of institutions.

A year and-a-half on, Dame Coral said despite some positive changes, many of the same problems remained.

“If you go into the records of the Independent Children’s Monitor, the rates of abuse remain high, that the proportion of Māori children who are still ‘in care’, still being abused and are still in that pipeline of poverty, disentitlement, ‘care’ and into the prison system is still happening,” Dame Coral said.

The inquiry’s report resulted in a formal apology from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in which he told survivors a new independent redress scheme would be created and promised the government would “do the right thing by you”.

However, there was no such scheme in the 2025 budget. Instead, the government increased redress payments for survivors by about $10,000 bringing the average to $30,000 – about a third of what survivors in Australia got.

Dame Coral said the report was “a pathway of hope” for survivors.

“We’ve got to keep momentum on changing the system that led to the abuse in the first place.”

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

Source: Save the Children

MIL OSI

A Wellington Marae is adding period care products to its Christmas kai parcels this year as the cost-of-living crisis deepens forcing more people into period poverty.

Kōkiri Marae in the Lower Hutt suburb of Seaview has worked with Dignity since 2022 to include pads, tampons, and reusable options in its parcels.

Dignity CEO Lisa Maathuis said they work with over 250 different community partners across Aotearoa with Kōkiri being one of the biggest gifting partners, gifting about two and half thousand boxes of period products across three years.

“The benefit of working with places like Kōkiri Marae and our other partners is that they have such incredible relationships with their community and understand their community so well. So it means that when they are distributing the period products, it’s really delivered as an act of manaakitanga and it ensures that the period products are given with dignity and respect and that people have access to period products and don’t miss out on any opportunities in life.”

Dignity’s “buy one, give one” model involves partnering with corporate orgnisations who buy a certain ammount of boxes half of which go to their employees while the other half is gifted on their behalf to community orginisations.

Kōkiri’s Pātaka Kai has seen consistently high demand since opening in 2019, and Sexual & Reproductive Health Promoter/Educator Shelley Duffin said rising living costs are pushing more working families to seek help.

“We have always supported a broad range of whanau, but are increasingly aware that more working families are being forced to make incredibly tough choices. People are going without essentials like period products because there’s simply nothing left in the budget,” she said.

Duffin says they expect to distribute more than 700 kai parcels in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and the inclusion of period care makes a tangible difference.

“One woman we worked with had three daughters, plus she was helping one of their friends. When we asked whether anyone needed period products, she chose the reusable options. Later, she told us she’d been cutting up old towels to get by. That’s the reality for many whānau.”

Maathuis said the holiday period can be tough for younger wāhine especially, who won’t have access to period products provided in schools.

“Generally with poverty and not just period poverty, it’s definitely harder during the holidays because people are really prioritising essentials for children and leaving, you know, some of their own needs behind. And I think people want to, regardless of what situation you’re in, during the holidays you do still want to make it a special time for your family. And so that can mean that sometimes people are prioritising food over period products.”

Maathuis said there has been an increase in demmand for Dignity’s services, currently they are actively supporting around 60 different community organisations

“We get probably two or three applications per week to join and to get those gifted period products that go onto our waitlist. And our waitlist is currently about 150. So we’ve seen a huge increase in demand, and it’s something that we haven’t been able to keep up with yet because we need to bring on new corporate partners onto our buy one, give one model at the same rate.”

Maathuis said another way to alleviate period poverty is by working to lift the stigma sorrounding it and Dignity is collaborating with Qiane Matata-Sipu, author of My First Ikura, to help do that. https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/books/my-first-ikura-celebrates-the-maori-understanding-of-menstruation

“When you think about period poverty, it’s one thing to help to make sure that everybody has access to period products, but there’s also a stigma and shame and whakamā that comes with periods. And so on our website as well, you can gift those books so that we can donate those to our partners as well and really take away the shame and, you know, think about getting My First Ikura as a thing that is done with pride and not something to be ashamed of.”

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

The election of a noble to lead Tonga’s next government is raising concerns over the direction of the country’s democracy.

Lord Fakafanua, 40, beat incumbent prime minister Dr ‘Aisake Eke – the only other nominee – in Monday’s vote for the top job. The country’s 26 elected representatives cast ballots for the two candidates, with Fakafanua winning 16 votes to 10.

It comes about four weeks after the cohort were elected in the country’s general election on 20 November.

Fakafanua, set to be Tonga’s youngest ever prime minister, spoke to RNZ Pacific following the vote and identified unity in the new parliament as a top priority.

“What I wanted to advocate for was for us to look back at our roots and our foundation as a nation, so we can work together,” he said.

“Because this continued divisive politics is not only a waste of energy and taxpayers’ money, but it directs us away from the real priorities, and that’s to lift poverty and build the economy and help lower the cost of living.”

Fakafanua entered politics at age 24 in 2008 after being elected as a nobles’ representative for Ha’apai. At age 27, he was elected to the role of speaker, becoming the youngest person to ever hold the role.

Since then, he has been praised for his ability to maintain control of the debating chamber and different factions in Tonga’s Legislative Assembly.

As prime minister designate, Fakafanua will now be looking towards picking his cabinet, which must be approved and appointed by the King. He reiterated his desire for stability in a new government following Monday’s vote.

“I would love to build a cabinet built on a general consensus for the 26 members of parliament,” he said.

However, despite Fakafanua’s message of cohesiveness, pro-democracy advocates have warned that having a noble at the helm of the government is a slide backwards for Tonga’s democracy.

In 2010, the country’s constitutional reforms were implemented to shift the balance of power from the King and the nobles to the people. Now, the Legislative Assembly is made up of 17 people’s representatives, which are elected by the general public, and nine nobles’ representatives, elected in a separate voting process by the nobles.

When Fakafanua is formally appointed to the role of prime minister by King Tupou VI, it will be the second time a nobles’ representative has led the government since the reforms.

Former political adviser Lopeti Senituli said while he believed Fakafanua had performed well as speaker, he feared that a noble as prime minister signalled a shift in power back to the monarchy.

“What I’m worried about is that the reassertion of the nobility and the King’s control of government.

“The political reform that we adopted in 2010 was the relocation of what is called executive authority – that was transferred from absolute authority of the King to shared executive authority between the King and the elected prime minister.”

Senituli warned that a nobles’ representative as prime minister effectively resulted in less checks on the King and nobles’ powers because they were not accountable to the general public in the same way a peoples’ representatives are through the four-yearly general election vote.

He also pointed to the role of speaker and deputy speaker in parliament, which can only be held by nobles’ representatives. Lord Vaea, the brother of Queen Nanasipau’u was elected the new speaker of parliament at yesterday’s vote, while Lord Tu’iha’agana was elected deputy speaker.

“No people’s representatives can be elected to those two positions,” Senituli said. “So, we are at a disadvantage because the nobles have control over parliament and the deputy speaker and the speaker of parliament.”

Teisa Pohiva, daughter of the late pro-democracy leader and former prime minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, went a step further and said the outcome of the vote was a “sad day” for Tonga’s democratic reforms.

In a post on Facebook, she highlighted the disparity between the election process for nobles’ representatives like Fakafanua and peoples’ representatives. Both voting processes take place on polling day, however only nobles vote towards the nine nobles’ representatives resulting in a far smaller voting pool.

“New prime minister elect Lord Fakafanua – elected by three people into parliament and elected by 16 Parliamentarians to prime minister,” Pohiva wrote.

She also pointed out the close links between Fakafanua and King Tupou VI.

Fakafanua is a member of the Tonga’s royal family through his mother – who was a granddaughter of the beloved Queen Salote III. He has noble lineage through his father, who held the Fakafanua title before him. His sister is also married to Crown Prince Tupouto’a Ulukalala.

However, despite the criticisms, Fakafanua remains focused on the next steps.

He told RNZ Pacific he understands the new parliament is due to have its first sitting on 19 January, when the MPs and cabinet will be sworn in.

He said he feels “very privileged” to be elected to the role of prime minister and is committed to doing everything he can for the people for Tonga.

“I look forward to working with everyone and hope to have the support from everyone in the country, so that the aspiration of uniting the nation and bringing us all to work towards a common goal is realised.”

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

MIL OSI

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

The Maritime Union of New Zealand today welcomed the decision by Associate Transport Minister James Meager to decline NovaAlgoma Cement Carriers’ (NACC) application to operate a foreign-flagged vessel carrying Holcim cement on the New Zealand coast.

The failed application for an exemption under Section 198 of the Maritime Transport Act sought permission for the Panamanian-flagged and overseas-crewed NACC Vega to replace the New Zealand-flagged and crewed MV Buffalo.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Carl Findlay says the Minister has made the right decision.

He says the decision confirms New Zealand law cannot be ignored and side-stepped by multinational corporations seeking to destroy local jobs through Flag of Convenience shipping.

“This is a win for local jobs and New Zealand shipping.”

Mr Findlay says the situation was a clear test on protecting Kiwi jobs, and this decision sends a strong message to Holcim about its obligations to New Zealand.

In November, Holcim gave a month’s notice of redundancy to 32 skilled New Zealand seafarers crewing the MV Buffalo.

Mr Findlay says Holcim must now accept their plan to replace experienced New Zealand crews with foreign labour has failed.

“MUNZ calls on Holcim to commit to supporting New Zealand shipping and retaining local jobs. The highly skilled crew of the MV Buffalo is ready, willing, and able to continue serving New Zealand’s coastal distribution network.”

He says Holcim’s previous threat to use road transport for their cement if they didn’t get their way was a nonsense and a bluff.

The Maritime Union congratulates the crew of the MV Buffalo for standing strong throughout this protracted dispute.

Mr Findlay says the entire episode has highlighted the vulnerability of New Zealand’s maritime trade.

He says the Maritime Union is campaigning on a plan to rebuild New Zealand’s domestic coastal shipping.

“New Zealand requires a robust and permanent policy framework to rebuild a dedicated New Zealand domestic coastal shipping fleet, crewed by New Zealanders, ensuring security and resilience in our supply chains.”

This capability proved critical during national crises such as the Christchurch and Kaik?ura earthquakes and Cyclone Gabrielle, he says.

Mr Findlay says the Maritime Union looked forward to an ongoing discussion about the future of the maritime industry with Associate Minister Meager in the New Year.

Background information on Flags of Convenience

Flag of Convenience (FOC) shipping is a regulatory loophole where shipowners register vessels in foreign nations (such as Panama or the Cook Islands) rather than their home country, primarily to maximize profit at the expense of safety and workers’ rights.

This practice allows owners to sever the “genuine link” between a ship and its actual ownership, enabling them to bypass national labour laws, tax obligations, and safety standards.

Shipping companies can effectively operate “floating sweatshops,” exploiting vulnerable crews with poverty wages and minimal legal protections, which creates a race to the bottom that undercuts responsible operators.

For New Zealand, the encroachment of FOC shipping is a direct threat to our economic sovereignty, biosecurity, and local jobs.

Multinational companies use FOC vessels to displace New Zealand-flagged and crewed ships on domestic coastal routes, destroying local jobs and eroding our maritime capability.

Relying on FOC shipping compromises supply chain resilience and environmental safety, as fatigued crews on substandard vessels significantly increase the risk of maritime accidents.

Domestic coastal freight should be protected by strong laws, ensuring it is carried by New Zealanders on safe, regulated vessels rather than outsourced to the lowest global bidder.

MIL OSI

The Children’s Commissioner has launched an urgent nationwide campaign against child abuse, calling on every adult to “front up” to the problem.

Dr Claire Achmad said the ‘Dear Children’ awareness campaign, launched on Monday, called on the community to stand against physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect of children.

The campaign is centred around a letter she wrote to the 1.23 million children in New Zealand, in which she said: “You have the right to be safe.”

She said she was calling on the community to sign the letter on the Dear Children website.

“It is a really strong call to action for every adult in our country in our community at flaxroots level, and I want them to get on board, sign this letter, to send that clear message to children – that we won’t let child maltreatment happen in this country.”

Police data showed over the past decade, 113 under-17s were killed by homicide, and two-thirds of those were under five.

The data showed a child was killed every four to five weeks by homicide in New Zealand.

Achmad said international data from 2023 showed New Zealand had one of the highest rates of deaths of children under five compared with similar countries, about three times higher than Australia.

“The first change is that really every adult in New Zealand fronts up to the fact that this is a problem. We have a problem with child maltreatment in all its forms in New Zealand.”

She said there were practical ways to look out for child abuse, including actively listening to children if they were alleging abuse, as well as normalising asking for help.

Achmad said she was launching the campaign ahead of the summer holiday period, following last summer when two children in Hamilton and Auckland were allegedly murdered in the first week of January.

She said the government could continue to devote resources and policy-making to the systemic causes of child abuse.

“Things like poverty, we need to see that significantly reduced, we need to see unmet health and addiction needs – we need to see those addressed.”

Eighteen-year-old Anaru Mihaere said he and his siblings grew up affected by violence. He said he thought the campaign launched on Monday would make a difference.

“I think this is a very proud campaign, something that mokopuna, rangitahi, and adults alike should sign and take pride in.”

He said while his own experience of violence would take a long time to recover from, he was convinced people could break a cycle of violence.

“As someone who is breaking my own cycle of violence that I’ve endured and that my siblings have endured, if one rangitahi can – and thousands of [other] rangitahi can – a country can.”

Rosie Overcomer from the Gloriavale Leavers Trust said the campaign was an important step in changing the culture of violence against children.

Overcomer, who left Gloriavale in 2013, she could relate to many of the issues of abuse raised at the campaign launch. She said it was a passion for her to see the children in Gloriavale have the same rights as all other children.

Earlier this year Gloriavale’s former leader, Howard Temple, admitted a dozen charges including indecent assault and common assault involving complainants ranging in age from nine to 20 years old.

Overcomer, who left Gloriavale in 2013, she could relate to many of the issues of abuse raised at the campaign launch.

“A lot of the issues inside Gloriavale, for me, growing up in there, are similar to domestic violence situations out there, the coercive control and the learnt behaviours passed down in traumatic households.”

A spokesperson for the Minister for Children and for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour said the minister supported the Dear Children campaign.

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