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RNZ News
15 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Mt Messenger bypass: Opportunity to restore lowland coastal forest
Acquiring land for the Mt Messenger bypass in Taranaki has not been plain sailing, but it has given one Taranaki iwi the opportunity to help restore a rare tract of lowland coastal forest. Ngati Tama cut a deal, swapping 20 hectares of bush required for the new section of State Highway 3 for cash, farmland and a huge pest control programme. As the sun rises on an icy morning at Mt Messenger - also known as Parininihi - a group clad in high-vis and safety gear gathers for karakia. It is a scene repeated at multiple locations on site and a tangible sign of the partnership between Ngati Tama and Waka Kotahi at Te Ara o Te Ata. Project pou tiaki Rae-Hinerau Wetere. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin Project pou tiaki or cultural lead Rae-Hinerau Wetere said karakia gets the day off to the best possible start. "We open with karakia to set good intent, to ground reset us, to come together and energise wairua really. "We talk about the maramataka some phases can bring lower energy than others so explain that that is okay and just to be mindful of those things and not to be too hard on ourselves." It was personal for her . "We never wanted to feel or be an add on or tokenism. That was not going to happen. We were going to be woven into the fibre of Te Ara o Te Ata. "It's no different to the marae when we have manuhiri or visitors at our marae we are there to host them, to look after them, take care of them. Same thing here, this is our space here." Geovert project manager Jasper Synder said it was cool to see cultural aspects of the project brought up and refocused on every day. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin Project manager Jasper Snyder was a project manager with slope stabilisation specialists Geovert. He was onboard with the protocols. "It's cool to see that aspect brought up and refocused every day. I don't know it puts a different light on how people behave and I haven't seen it on other contracts and it's been cool for the guys. They all seem to enjoy it." Ngati Tama swapped the 20 hectares of settlement land for a 120 hectare farm on ancestral land at nearby Ngarautika. It also received $7.7 million and a commitment from Waka Kotahi to pest control in perpetuity over 3650 hectares of its rohe. Ecological contractor at Mt Messenger Sian Potier was on the look out for kiwi. "I've been with my dog Kiekie here and Kiekie and I have swept the area to make sure there are no juvenile or kiwi chicks in the area and we've also done telemetry checks to make sure our adult monitored kiwi are well away from the works that are happening today." Her team was monitoring 18 kiwi on the project footprint and had removed 40 eggs. About 30 have hatched and been safely released at Parininihi away from the project site. The remainder were still being incubated. Sian Potier and Kiekie disappear into the bush. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin The bypass had received pushback from some ecologists. The Environmental Law Initiative challenged how the Wildlife Act was being applied at Mt Messenger - allowing for the killing of kiwi and other native species - which lead to a law change. Potier said the overall prospects for the area were good. "Looking at the long term picture the pest management that will be in place in the wider area will have a massive benefit for not only kiwi but all the other species in this area, so the lizards, the bats, the invertebrates and also the fresh water species." Ecological contractor Sian Potier and her dog Kiekie swept the bridge one construction site for kiwi. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin Engineer Nick Myers-Kay was in charge of bridge number one at the bypass , which was replacing the existing winding route on State Highway 3. He was happy to wait for Kiekie. "It's quite unique it's great to see them out there in action and keeping an eye on the kiwi for us. "We just plan our work around them. The expectation is that they are here everyday before we start work and they do their thing and once they're out of the way it's good to go for us. It's hardly an inconvenience." Ngāti Tama chair Hayden Wano, left, and general manager Te Amoroa Clifton at Ngarautika. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin At Ngarautika, Ngati Tama chair Hayden Wano said the decision to exchange the 20 hectares of native bush had not been an easy one. "Like all hapū, iwi, whānau we're a broad base, we have differences of opinions, but at the end of the day most people saw the opportunities that existed no only for Ngati Tama but for the wider communities in this area and so over 80 percent of the uri of Ngati Tama voted in support of this work." Wano said 26 uri of Ngati Tama were directly employed at Te Ara o Te Ata and the iwi had identified opportunities in the sub-contracting and biodiversity area. "Ngati Tama has a strong history of working in this biodiversity space. We've heard about the return of the kōkako, we've heard about the return of kiwi in the area and we know the numbers are increasing and have been during the time of this work. "So, there are some challenges in road construction, yes, but through our partnership with Waka Kotahi they have been very sensitive and open to the ideas we have in terms of protection of the environment." Wano said it was also clear the bypass would provide better road security for everyone. The Crown was still locked in a legal battle to acquire 11 hectares of private land required for the project on its northern side. Once secured, Waka Kotahi believed it would take another four years to complete the six kilometre bypass. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Oranga Tamariki practice of motel accommodation continues despite calls to stop
Oranga Tamariki does not know how or when it will be able to avoid using motels. Photo: RNZ Children in Oranga Tamariki care are still being checked into motels despite years of calls to stop. The Children's Commissioner said the "unacceptable" practice had become normalised, and the agency itself agreed it was not okay. But Oranga Tamariki did not yet know how or when it could avoid using motels. "No one really thinks it's ideal that children and young people stay in motels," said tamariki and whānau services national commissioner North Alison Cronin. "I think it's still happening because we really do have a lack of ... immediate resources for children who are coming into care, or their placements may have broken down." Figures released to RNZ showed in 2022, 224 children in Oranga Tamariki care stayed in motels. That dropped to 187 in 2023, then 185 last year. In the first five months of this year, 99 have stayed in motels. Since 2022 the most common length of stay was one night, but the average was 19 nights - which Oranga Tamariki said was skewed due to the few who had longer stays, some for more than 100 nights. Motels were only used as a last resort "following a careful exploration of possible alternatives," the agency said. Some children were placed in motels because of "extremely challenging" behaviours that put themselves or others at risk. For others, Oranga Tamariki said it was better for the children to be in a place where it's easier to keep up family contact, go to school or access support services while a longer term placement was being arranged. The young people - which include babies less than a year old - are cared for by family members, care providers or "briefly" by Oranga Tamariki staff. They were supported to maintain their routines like school, community activities, and contact with family, it said. Cronin said Oranga Tamariki was exploring how to stop the use of motels, but she could not give a timeframe on that piece of work. "We haven't quite got the answers at the moment," she said. "I think one of the the major issues is we don't have enough physical homes or houses or places for children to stay, which is why we end up defaulting to motels." Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad said that it was isolating and unstable for children. "If we look at the data, it's clear that unfortunately this practice has become somewhat normalised over the last few years and Oranga Tamariki needs to focus on it as one of the basics that it needs to get right, and it needs to change," she said. "It needs to increase its availability of pre-approved caregivers and over the long term, I'd really like to see more community based group home living environments available for children in need of care and protection." Achmad also wanted people across the country to consider becoming caregivers. "I encourage people to step up and consider whether they might be able to take on this kind of role, which can make a huge difference for children and young people." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Aged Care Association says it warned government on lack of hospital discharge options
Aged Care Association chief executive Tracey Martin. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Retirement homes and aged care centres want a cross-party agreement to build more facilities - and to stop older people getting stuck in hospital unnecessarily. North Shore Hospital has a ward full of patients who have been medically discharged but who cannot leave hospital because they have nowhere to go for further, non-hospital care. The Aged Care Association represents nearly all rest homes and retirement villages and says the North Shore situation an example of a nationwide problem . Its chief executive Tracey Martin said those working in aged care had been warning the government for years that it would happen. An agreement needed to be reached that went beyond politics to ensure there would be enough health care for older people, she said. Politicians needed to agree on an infrastructure grant for aged care facilities - particularly those that were smaller, run by charities, or rural - so they could afford to provide higher level care, such as dementia units. "We need at least the major parties to agree on the problem, to agree on the solution - and we need at least a decade of travel time to shift the current system into a more sustainable system with the number of beds New Zealanders are going to need," she said. North Shore Hospital said it had brought the patients together into one ward [Ward 6] to help ease pressure on the hospital in the busy winter. But it was not uncommon for New Zealanders in other parts of the country to wait in hospital for a space in a place that could help with, for example, stroke rehabilitation or demential care. It did not always mean a move to permanent residential care, but could be a stepping stone to getting home. Aged Care Minister Casey Costello. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Aged Care Minister Casey Costello said the government had "extensive work underway" to ensure older New Zealanders were able to receive the right care and support. "This includes looking at improvements to the aged care system across the spectrum of care from homecare services through to dementia and specialist psycho-geriatric services," she said It would try to improve transitions between different levels of care, she said The government had invested $24 million in the last budget to help people transfer from hospital when they no longer needed hospital-level care, Costello said. Some of that funding was helping patients at North Shore Hospital to be placed in aged residential care (ARC). "However, the patients in Ward 6 have additional complexities, which means they can't be appropriately cared for in ARC straight away," she said. There were real benefits to people getting out of hospital when they no longer needed hospital-level care, Costello said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
