Veterans Minister To Attend Anzac Day Services In Niue
The New Zealand Defence Force is continuing to identify Niuean coast watchers, so that we may properly recognise their service, including efforts to match names to photographs taken on Raoul Island. The first two commemorative plaques are already …
Minister for Veterans
Associate Minister of Defence
Veterans Minister and Associate Defence Minister Chris Penk will visit Niue this week to honour the contribution of Niuean service personnel to New Zealand and the Pacific on Anzac Day.
'New Zealand shares a deep and enduring partnership with Niue in defence and security, forged through joint service and sacrifice in times of war,' Mr Penk says.
'It is a privilege to be invited to attend the official Anzac Day commemorations in Alofi, to join in remembering the brave service personnel no longer with us and to acknowledge Niue's continued efforts in supporting peace and stability for our people.
'During the First World War, around 150 Niuean men volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), serving in the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion. For a nation of 4,000 people, this was a remarkable commitment — and a testament to their courage and sense of duty.
'At least 15 Niuean soldiers died in service. Their sacrifice is etched into our shared history and will always be remembered by New Zealand.
'In the Second World War, Niuean men served as coast watchers, helping to safeguard the Pacific during some of its most precarious moments. Their quiet vigilance was critical to regional security.
'The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is continuing to identify Niuean coast watchers, so that we may properly recognise their service, including efforts to match names to photographs taken on Raoul Island. The first two commemorative plaques are already underway.
'During my visit, I will also meet with Niue's Prime Minister Hon. Dalton Tagelagi, whom I was pleased to have met recently in Wellington, and his Cabinet. I am also looking forward to attending a village dawn service to experience the community spirit that is integral to the Niuean way of life.
'Our relationship with Niue is anchored in this legacy of service and continues today through the ongoing dedication of Niueans in the New Zealand Defence Force.'
Mr Penk departs on Thursday 24 April and will return to New Zealand on Saturday 26 April. He will be accompanied by the NZDF Joint Forces Commander, Major General Rob Krushka.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
20 hours ago
- NZ Herald
‘You don't want to go there': Ron Mark's message to Kiwis wanting to take up arms against Russia in Ukraine
Other phone calls come from closer to home: New Zealanders – including civilians and current or former New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) soldiers - considering joining the International Legion. Mark knows the reality of the risks: he's visited the front line during three trips to Ukraine. He said his regular response to those keen to fight is 'think again'. Former Minister of Defence Ron Mark has had many harrowing phone calls with Kiwis serving with the Ukraine International Legion, and those considering it. Photo / Neil Reid 'I keep saying to people, 'You don't want to go there... I don't care how many tours of Afghanistan you did... you didn't do this',' he told the New Zealand Herald. One soldier, who Mark couldn't dissuade from travelling to Ukraine, talked of how the NZDF had provided him with a skill and he wanted to 'offer that skill to Ukraine'. Mark estimates there are dozens of New Zealanders who - like the soldier he encouraged not to head to Ukraine - have signed up with the International Legion. Some have now been there fighting for three years. Mark told the Herald it's 'astonishing' some of them are still alive. Mark said they fell into three categories; those with some military experience, others with extensive experience - and others with no military experience at all. 'Some of them have gone through some pretty harrowing, horrible s***,' he said. Ron Mark has visited Ukraine three times since it was invaded by Russia. New Zealand Herald composite photograph Several legionnaires have returned to New Zealand to recover from injuries, then returned to Ukraine to continue to fight, he said. At least four New Zealanders are known to have died in the European nation since Russia invaded in February 2022: three soldiers - Dominic Abelen, Kane Te Tai and Shan-Le Kearns - and one aid worker, Andrew Bagshaw. Mark said 'considerably more' Kiwis have been maimed on the battlefields. Shan-le Kearns, 26, is the fourth New Zealander and most recent known to have died in Ukraine. Photo / Supplied Members of the International Legion are paid at the same rate as soldiers in the Ukraine Army; $840 a month behind the frontline, $2000 a month for service in a 'dangerous zone' and $7500 a month for a full combat deployment. Compensation is given to those who suffer life-changing injuries; the amount depending on the severity. Former New Zealand Army soldiers Dominic Abelen (left) and Kane Te Tai (right) both lost their lives fighting in Ukraine. Photo / Supplied When proof of death is confirmed – requiring the return of a body or body part for DNA testing - families of soldiers killed in action can receive a compensation payment of $615,000. 'Let me assure you, they are not doing it for the money,' Mark said. Mark said his experience of the Ukrainian military is that they mourn the loss of Kiwis on the frontlines as if they were locals. Russian leader Vladimir Putin shakes hands with US president Donald Trump during the latest round of talks. Photo / Getty Images 'They serve loyally and faithfully,' Mark said of the Kiwi contingent. 'I felt like a failure; it hurt' Mark was outraged when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 - but it was a month later when his interest was piqued. He fielded a phone call from Ukraine. On the other end was Owen Pomana; a former New Zealand Navy diver deported from Australia as a 501 convict. He had abandoned drug abuse and crime for a life of faith and become a church pastor. New Zealand pastor Owen Pomana, right, headed to Ukraine shortly after Russia invaded. Photo / Supplied Pomana had travelled to Ukraine to take up a humanitarian role with Great Commission Society (GCS) an evangelical organisation that provides aid to victims of conflict and disaster around the world. He wanted Mark to help lobby the New Zealand Government for body armour and helmets to be given to unarmed aid workers going into conflict zones. Owen Pomana - in front of a shelled building in Ukraine - rang Ron Mark for help with aid missions. Photo / Supplied That attempt failed, and so too did an effort to get the Government to pay for charter buses to speed up mass evacuations from Mariupol into Romania. Pomana and his colleagues had to face the heartbreaking reality of leaving behind many who wanted to escape the bloody battle. 'I felt like a failure. And it hurt,' Mark said. 'I couldn't understand how it could be so hard, why people wouldn't lean in.' Ron Mark says he felt like he had failed when he couldn't get transport for Owen Pomana. Photo / Neil Reid The frustration unleashed a desire within Mark to do more. His first trip to Ukraine was just three months after the Russian invasion. His second was in July 2022. All three of his trips to Ukraine have been self-funded during annual leave from his role as mayor of Carterton. He juggled fact-finding with helping out on aid delivery for the Rapid Relief Team – created by the brethren church in Australia – and GCS. It was work that took him to some of the conflict's frontlines. Ukraine's defensive lines in Donetsk have held against recent pressure from Russian forces. Photo / Getty Images His travels with aid convoys took him to Bucha – scene of the mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war, and past bombed-out locations near Kharkiv, including large 'shell holes' and scenes of 'devastation and utter demolition of villages'. On one occasion his military escort was a soldier who wasted no time in laying out the risks - telling Mark 'the Russians are in line of sight. They have line of sight on us at this location' he said. A layer of light steel had been added to the interior of the doors of the vans – carrying thousands of meals and several aid workers – in a bid to slow shrapnel or bullets that may pass through them. 'It wouldn't stop bugger all, but it made you feel good,' Mark said. A civilian vehicle in the city of Irpin peppered with hundreds of bullet holes. Photo / Olena Kalashnikova They were living in homes with roofs that were either partially collapsed or had shell-fire damage. On a shelf at the Carterton house Mark shares with his partner, Chris Tracey, are pieces of twisted, jagged shrapnel the former MP recovered from his trips to the frontlines. 'They're just to remind me of the craziness and the bravery and the dedication of some impressive people whose names will never be known to anyone' he said. The tail section of a Russian rocket in the Donbas region. Photo / supplied 'Four Māori walk into a bar in Kyiv' Humour can cut through the darkest of circumstances. During Mark's last trip to Ukraine, in July, he met three fellow māori New Zealanders for a beer in Kyiv: Pomana, a surgeon who has been in Ukraine for three years, and a NZDF-trained sniper. The surgeon is doing life-saving work, Mark said. 'Kiwis tend to side with the underdog. I always believe that Kiwis will always line up with what they believe to be right and against what they believe to be wrong.' Kiwi aid worker Andrew Bagshaw tragically lost his life trying to help others. Photo / Sebastian Polarchski Mark said their commitment reminds him of those who volunteered to fight in WWI and WWII. '[Colonising] might be a popular word right now. But I saw the physical signs of the Russians trying to eliminate Ukrainian language. I saw the road signs that had all been painted over and stencilled over the top with the Russian wording, the Russian language. 'Stories about them kidnapping children, taking them away to concentration camps where they're going to be re-educated in the Russian way. 'Because of that, it doesn't surprise me how many Māori are over there. It's probably an equal number of Pākehā to Māori.' Ukrainian territorial defence soldiers from the Donetsk Oblast fire D-20 artillery in the direction of Toretsk, Photo / Getty Images Amass drone strike - at least 550 drones loaded with explosives - hit areas of Kyiv near Mark's Airbnb while he was on a FaceTime call with his partner, Chris Tracey, back in Carterton. 'Chris said, 'Why do they attack at night'. I said, 'Terror babe, it's just terror'. There were times when he moved his mattress from the street-front room and slept in the hallway where he felt safer from drones and missiles. A civilian apartment block damaged in a mass drone attack in Kyiv. Photo / Getty Images On other occasions he took shelter in the Kyiv underground train system, surrounded by families. 'Imagine 10 o'clock at night, you've already got the kids in bed, and you don't have your husband because he's on the frontline, and you may have elderly families staying with you,' he said. 'Imagine bundling all that up - bedding, sleeping bags, bundling up bedrolls and children and the cat and the dog and in one case, a little girl wanted to take a goldfish, herding them out the door. When the air raid alarms go off, you've got to move. 'You look around and you see families setting up their own little family space.' When Mark travels to Ukraine his partner Chris Tracey faces a nervous wait. Tracey said she was '1000% proud' of her partner and the pair have discussed what should happen back home if he dies. The profile of former Defence Minister Ron Mark added to a website that lists those deemed by "patriots" of Russia to be enemies of the state. Photo / Supplied 'He's passionate about the guys and the girls that are over there, who are working hard and putting their lives at risk every day. Tracey said there was no point in her being scared and worried. 'There's no part of me that would ever say to him, 'I don't want you to go, please don't go'.' 'I wouldn't want him going over there feeling like he was not taking good care of me, or that he was leaving me in that kind of mindset. Chris Tracey says she is incredibly proud of her partner, former Minister of Defence Ron Mark for what he is trying to do for Ukraine. Photo / Supplied She said Mark always gave her the credentials of those he would spend time with in Ukraine, planned well and was not one to take unnecessary risks. Mark is also well aware the fact he is a former Minister of Defence visiting Ukraine – and supporting their cause – had the potential to cause embarrassment to Russia. Last week the Herald revealed he had been targeted by a website created by Russian 'patriots' that publishes profiles on enemies of the country and warns 'Know that your hostile actions will not go unpunished'. Ron Mark and his partner Chris Tracey have had honest conversations about the risk in Ukraine, and what should happen if something happens to the former Minister of Defence while in the war-torn country. Photo / Supplied 'I'm not blind to the dangers I face the moment I indicate I am going to Ukraine,' Mark said. 'I think Chris knows me well enough to know that once I have a mind to do something, it's a question of how I'm going to do it - not if.' Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Homeowners could be left with costs after consent changes
A property lawyer says homeowners could be left vulnerable to costs when building projects go wrong under changes to the building consents regime. The government is moving to a proportionate liability system for the Building Act, so each party is liable for the share of work they carry out. It says councils have been reluctant to sign off building consents because they're liable for defects, causing unnecessary delays in the construction process. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the government would be exploring mechanisms to protect homeowners, such as indemnity insurance or home warranties. Property lawyer James Wollerman told RNZ it was not clear how that would work. Under joint and several liability a homeowner could claim full compensation for a botched building project from the council, he said. Under the new scheme of proportionate liability - if the council and builder were sharing liability by 50 percent each - the homeowner would be left carrying that 50 percent if the builder went missing. He said there was an option of an insurance scheme, but it was not clear who would underwrite that insurance. "We've seen that insurers are not generally prepared to insure for weather-tightness defects. "So there's a big question out there as to what the government's going to be able to put forward in terms of an insurance scheme that would provide some sort of protection for homeowners." Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said Australia had had a proportionate liability scheme since the 1990s. He said it made sense to shift liability away from councils, which was creating high rates for ratepayers and a risk-averse culture in construction. "If you're a council, and you know that you can end up liable for an entire project, then you get increasingly stressed and often obstructive, when it comes to allowing more innovative building materials, more innovative techniques. "And as a result, we end up with high rates and little innovation in building and high building costs," Seymour said. He said the shake-up of the building consents regime would cut delays and costs for construction projects. "Moving to a regime where the various people involved, those who provide the materials, those who do the work, perhaps those who do the design, and those who do the consent, have liability when things go wrong, is not a scary or different thing. "It takes us to where most of the world is." Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins told RNZ the current rules were introduced in the early 2000s during the leaky home saga. "Are they slowing things down? Yes they probably are. So I think the government are making the right steps, you know they are heading in the right direction. "The issue will be getting consumer protection right." Hipkins said that the government believed if it pushed house prices up the economy would be fixed. "House building sure creates jobs but the housing market is not the totality of our economy."
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Homeowners could be left with costs under building consents changes
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone A property lawyer says homeowners could be left vulnerable to costs when building projects go wrong under changes to the building consents regime. The government is moving to a proportionate liability system for the Building Act, so each party is liable for the share of work they carry out. It says councils have been reluctant to sign off building consents because they're liable for defects, causing unnecessary delays in the construction process. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the government would be exploring mechanisms to protect homeowners, such as indemnity insurance or home warranties. Property lawyer James Wollerman told Morning Report it was not clear how that would work. Under joint and several liability a homeowner could claim full compensation for a botched building project from the council, he said. Under the new scheme of proportionate liability - if the council and builder were sharing liability by 50 percent each - the homeowner would be left carrying that 50 percent if the builder went missing. He said there was an option of an insurance scheme, but it was not clear who would underwrite that insurance. "We've seen that insurers are not generally prepared to insure for weather-tightness defects. "So there's a big question out there as to what the government's going to be able to put forward in terms of an insurance scheme that would provide some sort of protection for homeowners." Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour, Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said Australia had had a proportionate liability scheme since the 1990s. He said it made sense to shift liability away from councils, which was creating high rates for ratepayers and a risk-averse culture in construction. "If you're a council, and you know that you can end up liable for an entire project, then you get increasingly stressed and often obstructive, when it comes to allowing more innovative building materials, more innovative techniques. "And as a result, we end up with high rates and little innovation in building and high building costs," Seymour said. He said the shake-up of the building consents regime would cut delays and costs for construction projects. "Moving to a regime where the various people involved, those who provide the materials, those who do the work, perhaps those who do the design, and those who do the consent, have liability when things go wrong, is not a scary or different thing. "It takes us to where most of the world is." Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins told Morning Report the current rules were introduced in the early 2000s during the leaky home saga. "Are they slowing things down? Yes they probably are. So I think the government are making the right steps, you know they are heading in the right direction. "The issue will be getting consumer protection right." Hipkins said that the government believed if it pushed house prices up the economy would be fixed. "House building sure creates jobs but the housing market is not the totality of our economy."
