PM demands answers about vetting processes
The Prime Minister is demanding answers about the Beehive's vetting and disclosure processes after the shock resignation of his deputy chief press secretary. Michael Forbes quit after accusations he recorded audio of sessions with sex workers, and had intrusive photos of women on his phone. Police top brass were aware of the case last year - but did not notify the Beehive. Deputy political editor Craig McCulloch reports.
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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Tenant quits lease after apartment hits almost 44C, bond refunded
By Tracy Neal, Open Justice multimedia journalist of File pic Photo: 123RF A tenant says the sweltering heat inside their apartment reached temperatures well into the 40s - ruining a laptop, killing pot plants and requiring medicines to be stored in a car where it was cooler. Now the tenant has been allowed to break a year-long lease and get their bond back, a month after moving in. It comes after NZME reported concerns this year that tens of thousands of Auckland families would suffer in overheating terraced houses and vulnerable people could risk "dying of heatstroke" unless construction designs changed. That story described how large windows, a lack of eaves or other shade, no consideration of a property's direction towards the sun and poor ventilation were causing overheating in old and new builds. In this instance, the tenant, whose name was suppressed after a Tenancy Tribunal hearing, said the excessive heat inside their one-bedroom, sixth-floor apartment was evident soon after moving in. The building, in an undisclosed location, was managed by a body corporate, but the landlord remained liable to the tenant under the rental agreement and by law. On a day in March this year, the tenant recorded the temperature inside the east-facing unit at 43.6C before midday. The next day, the mercury had risen to 38.5C before 9am, even with the living room window open and after the air conditioning had been running, according to evidence presented to the tribunal. The tenant said it was difficult to sleep in such heat, pot plants didn't last beyond a day and that it was not safe storing a co-tenant's medication inside the apartment, so they left it in a car. The tenant said the heat had caused the battery in a laptop to expand, damaging the computer beyond repair. The tenant also said the windows in the apartment did not open wide enough to allow sufficient draught, but the landlord disagreed and suggested the tenants "had not been using them properly". The landlord also took temperature readings in the living room with the curtains closed and then open. The afternoon temperatures, 26.4C and 28.3C were high, the tribunal said, but not as high as those recorded by the tenant. The landlord also produced a Healthy Homes Standards report showing that the unit complied with the applicable ventilation requirements. In a recently released decision, the tribunal ordered the $2440 bond be returned to the tenant, plus partial reimbursement of electricity charges it cost to run air conditioning, over and above standard power charges. The tenant was surprised to receive two invoices totalling $96 to cover the cost of running the heat pump/air conditioning unit while they lived there. However, the landlord said they had explained at the start of the tenancy that the power supply to the air conditioning unit, which was based on usage only, was controlled by the body corporate and invoiced separately. The tenant paid the invoices but claimed there was insufficient evidence to support the calculation of the charges or to prove the usage claimed was exclusively attributable to themselves. The landlord produced spreadsheets provided by the body corporate, which they claimed set out how the charges were calculated. The tribunal said that based on the evidence, it accepted the tenant's submission that the method of calculation was unclear, but there was no dispute that the tenant had used the air conditioning unit and was therefore liable for some of the costs claimed. The tenant's application to reduce the fixed term was dismissed. Agreement was instead reached between the tenant and landlord to end it earlier than the contracted date. A new tenancy began on 11 April, the tribunal said. The New Zealand Property Investors Federation told NZME that investors should do due diligence on any property they buy, especially in light of recent media coverage about hot townhouses. Advocacy manager Matt Ball said there was nothing in the tribunal's decision, or in general, to say that new townhouses would not make a good investment. He said there were opportunities for investors willing to do any necessary remedial work, such as installing ventilation or air conditioning. -This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer on the longest suspension in Parliament
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii This week, Parliament took the unprecedented step of suspending both Te Pāti Māori leaders - Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi - for 21 days. Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was suspended for seven days - but had also been punished with a 24-hour suspension on the day over a haka all three had performed in Parliament, against the Treaty Principles Bill, in November. It is against the rules of the House for members to leave their seats during a debate - which all three did. Ngarewa-Packer told Saturday Morning that the 21-day suspension, which was seven times harsher than any previous sanction an MP has faced, was not proportionate. "I think the backlash from the public, nationally and internationally, validates that," she said. Previously, the longest suspension for an MP had been three days, given to the former prime minister Robert Muldoon for criticising the speaker in the 1980s. While New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the duration of the suspension would have been lessened if the Te Pāti Māori MPs had apologised, Ngarewa-Packer said that was never requested by the Privileges Committee. "What we have here is a situation where, and some are calling it Trumpism, we've been a lot more specific - we have an Atlas agenda that has not only crept in, it's stormed in on the shores of Aotearoa and some may not understand what that means, but this is just the extension of the attack on the treaty, on the attack on Indigenous voices. "We made the point the whole way through when we started to see that they weren't going to be able to meet us halfway on anything, even a quarter of the way, on any of the requests for tikanga experts, for legal experts when we knew the bias of the committee." Ngarewa-Packer added that the Privileges Committee process was not equipped to deal with the issue. "We hit a nerve and we can call it a colonial nerve, we can call it institutional nerve... "I think that this will be looked back on at some stage and say how ridiculous we looked back in 2025." Ngarewa-Packer also added that the language from Peters during the debate on Thursday was "all very deliberate" - "and that's what we're contending with in Aotearoa". "Everyone should have a view but don't use the might of legislation and the power to be able to assert your racism and assert your anti-Māori, anti-Treaty agenda." Peters had taken aim at Waititi on Thursday as "the one in the cowboy hat" and "scribbles on his face" in reference to his mataora moko. Rawiri Waititi. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii He said countless haka have taken place in Parliament but only after first consulting the Speaker. "They told the media they were going to do it, but they didn't tell the Speaker did they?" Peters added that Te Pāti Māori were "a bunch of extremists" and that "New Zealand has had enough of them". "They don't want democracy, they want anarchy," he said. "They don't want one country, they don't want one law, they don't want one people." Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Police still following tips to find missing Christchurch woman after calling off formal search
The 79-year old called Elisabeth was last seen on Bartlett Street in Riccarton on Wednesday night. Photo: Supplied Police are still following tips from the public to find a missing 79-year-old after having called off the formal search on Friday. The woman, Elisabeth, disappeared after walking out of the Margaret Stoddart Retirement Village in Riccarton on Wednesday. She had been admitted that day for respite care. A spokesperson said the police were actively following up information from the public, but had not substantiated any sightings since Elisabeth was last seen on Wednesday. Elisabeth was wearing blue pants, a dark coloured long-sleeved top, black shoes and had distinctive long blonde/white hair. Anyone who sees Elisabeth should ring 111 immediately and use the reference number 250604/5465. Non-urgent information can be provided online here , using Update Report, and quoting the same reference number. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
