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RNZ News
3 hours ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Health researchers, MPI clash as study finds campylobacter cases have surged
Lead author, University of Otago professor Michael Baker, says the number of hospitalisations caused by contaminated chicken meat is a very consequential health problem. Photo: Supplied Too many people are still ending up sick and in hospital from contaminated fresh chicken meat, public health professionals say. New analysis released by the Public Health Communication Centre (PHCC) on Thursday shows hospitalisation rates for campylobacter infection have increased by almost 70 percent in 17 years. The study found contaminated fresh chicken meat remained the dominant source, causing an estimated 77 percent of infections. But the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has disputed the figures and is accusing the researchers of scaremongering. The PHCC study noted that, in 2007, regulatory measures were introduced to reduce contamination levels in fresh chicken meat tested in processing plants. Rates of both hospitalisation and notification halved in just a few months as a result. But since 2008, contaminated chicken in New Zealand caused more than 600,000 symptomatic illnesses, over 9000 hospitalisations, at least 60 deaths and around $1.4 billion in economic costs. Lead author, University of Otago professor Michael Baker, said that in 2023, the year with the most recent data, there were nearly a thousand hospitalisations. "By any means this is a very consequential health problem and we feel it needs a much more vigorous response." Government agencies were "too complacent" about the increasing rates of campylobacter infection caused by contaminated chicken, he added. "If you saw a 70 percent rise in our most common foodborne disease surely you'd be putting a lot of effort into investigating that to figure out what's going on, and I'm not aware of any effort going into that. One of the major problems that we're seeing is our agencies have become very complacent about this infection." The government should consider a formal inquiry into this serious, long-term regulatory failure, Baker said. "The large Havelock North waterborne outbreak of campylobacter infection [in 2016] resulted in an exhaustive inquiry and a complete reorganisation of the drinking water supply sector. That common source outbreak caused about 7570 cases. By comparison, the 'common source' epidemic caused by contaminated chicken meat results in the equivalent of a Havelock North-sized outbreak every three months in NZ, or 80 such outbreaks since 2008." But Food Safety's deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle disagreed with the PHCC's analysis, arguing that between 2006 and 2020 reported rates of foodborne campylobacter infections had halved. These figures were based on public notifications of infections provided by the health system, he said. "In 2020 New Zealand Food Safety set the target of reducing the rate by a further 20 percent. This milestone was reached at the end of 2024, when rates of foodborne campylobacter infections acquired in New Zealand fell to 70 cases per 100,000. The drop in infection was thanks to a "concerted effort over many years" from government, scientists and industry throughout the supply chain, he said. "New Zealand has made considerable reductions in campylobacter infections. We keep an open mind about changes that can further reduce campylobacteria infection, which is a serious foodborne illness, but will not consider changes that are not founded on good evidence." Arbuckle accepted more people were ending up in hospital with campylobacter but says that was partly because they had put off going to the GP and got sicker, he said. He also agreed that campylobacteriosis was "the most common, significant foodborne illness in New Zealand". But he said data suggested "a continued downward reduction due to the sustained efforts between industry, health authorities, the regulator and other parts of the sector such as retail". "The prevalence [of campylobacteriosis] is reducing, it's not where people would like it to be, but some of the content in this report is simply erroneous and alarmist, particularly the comments about deaths attributed - the simple fact is that ... since 2007 we've had three recorded cases of death where campylobacteriosis was the principle single contributing factor, not 60 as he [Baker] suggests. "If New Zealand was experiencing the level of deaths directly attributable to campylobacteriosis at the numbers that the authors suggest, there would be an outcry." But Baker said that deaths from campylobacter infection were generally poorly diagnosed and recorded. By looking at hospital discharge data, however, the researchers were able to get an indication of deaths in hospital with 60 reported deaths for patients with a discharge diagnosis of campylobacter infection as the principal or additional diagnosis over the 14-year period from 2008 to 2021, an average of 4.3 per year. An additional estimated 12 deaths from Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) from this source took the total to 68 in the 17-year period, or four per year. In a statement, Poultry Industry Association executive director Michael Brooks said he agreed the paper was "unnecessarily alarmist". "The poultry industry works closely with NZ Food Safety and met their set targets to further reduce campylobacter by 20% by 2024," he said. "We have also met the standards of the National Microbial Database. NZ Food Safety assesses that Michael Baker's paper has significant limitations and relies on several incorrect assumptions and unsupported estimates to reach its conclusions." The study's co-author, University of Otago Professor Nick Wilson defended their research on Morning Report , saying hospitalisation data is the most reliable source to understand what's happening with this "epidemic". "They're [MPI] focusing on the wrong data. You need to take a broad comprehensive picture that includes looking at the hospitalisations and deaths. Hospitalisations are far more reliable then the data sources that they're focusing on," he said. "They're just not taking a proper health perspective. You'd expect that a watchdog that's meant to be protecting public health and protecting food safety, it [MPI] just doesn't have a health focus." MPI looks like they are protecting their own reputation, Prof Wilson said. "This is a health problem... You need health experts. It's out of their ballpark." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
5 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
As house prices drop, will the retirement nest egg still be such a safe bet?
By Claire Dale* of Photo: RNZ Changes to KiwiSaver , global economic uncertainty and predictions house prices could drop by as much as 20 percent by 2030 all mean retirement is looking very different to how it once did. A retirement strategy based on the equity held in a house is no longer as reliable as it has been in the past. Home ownership in Aotearoa New Zealand fell from 75 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 2023 and is projected to fall to 48 percent in 2048. The average age of a first-home buyer has also risen to 36, meaning an increasing number of New Zealanders (13 percent) are paying off their mortgages after they reach retirement age. The number of retirees renting is also on the rise. By 2048, 40 percent of them will rent, placing pressure on New Zealand's housing stock. KiwiSaver is unlikely to replace the traditional housing nest egg. New Zealanders have, on average, $37,079 in their KiwiSaver accounts , with thousands of people reaching close to retirement age with less than $10,000 saved. The prospect of retirement looks bleakest for those currently aged between 35 and 49 years old. A recent report from credit agency Centrix found this group was struggling the most financially. A big part of the problem is that house prices skyrocketed just as they became first-time home buyers. The average asking price for residential property rose by 60.3 percent over the past decade, from $556,931 at the beginning of 2015 to $892,579 at the end of 2024. While incomes have also increased, they have not matched housing prices. In 2000, houses cost about five times the median household income. But by 2025, the median price had risen to 7.5 times the median household income. Those who bought their first home around the peak in 2021 are likely to be hit hardest by the forecast drop in house values. According to data insight firm Cotality (formerly Corelogic), nominal prices are expected to pass their 2021 peak by mid-2029. But when adjusted for inflation, prices in mid-2030 would be a fifth below the peak. Older New Zealanders are also facing significant housing pressures. According to a 2022 report from Treasury , over half of superannuitants still paying off mortgages spent more than 80 percent of their superannuation income on housing costs. Those who are mortgage-free are spending less than 20 percent of their super on housing. Between 2019 and 2024, the percentage of overdue mortgages for the 50+ age groups ranged between 2 percent and 2.5 percent, compared to a range of 1 percent to 1.5 percent for all mortgages. People between the age of 55 and 64 are likely to have purchased their homes in the late 1990s and early 2000s, so are less likely to be hurt by the 2021 peak and subsequent trough. Despite this apparent advantage, only 38 percent of people between 55 and 64 are mortgage free . The possibility of using accumulated KiwiSaver funds to clear a mortgage is also diminishing. As a result of the 2025 Budget changes to KiwiSaver, employee and employer contributions will rise from April 2026 to 3.5 percent and from April 2028 to 4 percent, offsetting the reduced annual government contribution. The end of employer contributions matters particularly to the 24 percent of those aged over 65 years who are still in the workforce. A rule change in 2021 means employers are not required to make contributions or to deduct employee contributions, unless the employee continues to make KiwiSaver contributions. But current global crises are affecting KiwiSaver returns. Uncertain and volatile markets, especially for actively managed funds, mean fund managers reallocate money to try to minimise losses. Not all their bets pay off. By 2030, Stats NZ projects that approximately 265,000 people aged 65 and over will be in the workforce. The Office for Seniors notes that although older workers have challenges finding and staying in paid work, a third of the workforce is aged over 50 and 50 percent of people aged 60 to 69 are employed. Importantly, as the Retirement Commission research found, a third of people over 65 were not working by choice. An increasing number , who neither own their home nor have significant retirement savings, have to continue working past 65 because they need the money to eat and pay the bills. As New Zealand's population ages, and more seniors have to work to pay for the essentials, it's clear retirement is going to look different. Betting on the value of a house to fund life after 65 is less certain than it used to be. More than ever, New Zealanders need to consider how they will live well in their later years. * Claire Dale is a research fellow at the Pensions and Intergenerational Equity (PIE) research hub, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau * This story was first published on The Conversation .
RNZ News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
'Toitū te reo': All welcome as national Māori language festival returns
Tame Iti speaks to a packed out crowd at Toitū Te Reo 2024. Photo: Supplied / Toitū Te Reo Organisers of Aotearoa's national Māori language festival want people of all ages and ethnicities to "toitū te reo" - to uphold the language - as the kaupapa returns for its second year. Toitū Te Reo, described as a two-day "celebration, inspiration, education, and activation of the language and culture", will take place in Heretaunga Hastings on November 13-14. Festival founder and director Dr Jeremy Tātere MacLeod (Ngāti Kahungunu) said the kaupapa, born out of a desire to uplift te mana o te reo Māori. was shaped by growing pressure on the language in recent years. "It was morphed into a festival during the time where the language was under attack from left, right and centre," he told RNZ. "And it was a response to that, but it was a positive response. It was, how we can unite the country and bring people together, but also bring ourselves together as Māori." Toitū Te Reo is the evolution of Te Reo ki Tua, a revitalisation symposium hosted in the heart of Ngāti Kahungunu. "It's a street festival. It's unapologetically Māori, yet incredibly accessible to non-speakers," MacLeod said. "We want young, old, locals, visitors, and those from every ethnicity to come along and have a go at te reo Māori." Toitū Te Reo - Aotearoa's national Māori language festival- director and founder Dr Jeremy Tātere MacLeod says the kaupapa is a "transformative bicultural opportunity for everyone." Photo: Supplied / Toitū Te Reo Organisers said the festival welcomed about 10,000 people last year , from reo champions to absolute beginners. Despite receiving funding in 2024 from the previous government, this year's kaupapa will go on without it. "It's a different climate," MacLeod said. "We were lucky last year with some residual funding from the former government, but that funding is not available under the current government. "So it means we've had to work extra hard to find people to support what I still believe is a transformative, groundbreaking initiative." He said the shift has only deepened the resolve of the organising team, but it raised questions about who was responsible for backing the language. "My challenge to us as Māori, with regards to mana motuhake - if we really believe in our language and we want to invest in a national forum that uplifts but also inspires a lot of language activists across the country - then support it. Instead of us being booted like a political football between central government back to iwi and vice versa." "If we keep harping on about how important the language is, then we need to commit to it and show some leadership… Stop talking about the language and commit to uplifting it." Photo: Supplied / Toitū Te Reo Toitū Te Reo will be host to a variety of kaupapa, including kapa haka performances, wānanga, symposiums, kai, toi Māori, and live podcast recordings, all designed to meet people wherever they are on their reo journey. "There's no other forum in the country that brings this many people together purely for the language revitalisation plight," MacLeod told RNZ. "It brings together some of the country's most recognised exponents, but also grassroots language champions, not necessarily people who sit in academic institutions… It brings together a fantastic mix, as well as non-Māori who have committed their lives to the re-emphasis of the language." MacLeod said regardless of where you sit on the language proficiency spectrum, "everyone requires a bit of inspiration". "We require a bit of activation. We require a little bit more education and an opportunity to celebrate and connect." MacLeod speaks from personal experience. He grew up in Brisbane with parents who were part of the generations who lost their language. "I remember very well how hard it is to acquire te reo Māori," he said. "And I still have vivid memories of what that was like. It's not easy." That's part of why accessibility is a core focus of Toitū Te Reo, he said. "We've tried to make it as welcoming as possible," "Even if you're fluent or if you're in the middle, there's dedicated symposium areas and lots of different presenters, panels to cater for everyone. But even the most fluent need to do some work to maintain their reo." Photo: Supplied / Toitū Te Reo While the scale of the festival will be slightly smaller this year, MacLeod said Toitū Te Reo is about national reach, but from a provincial base. "National kaupapa don't just belong in Wellington and Auckland. They can be hosted in provinces too. "When Ngāti Kahungunu established the National Māori Language Revitalisation Symposium, it had a domino effect, several tribes went on to establish their own. And I feel that'll be the case with Toitū Te Reo in time. Why can't we have several celebrations of the language and culture around the country?" With the kaupapa taking place in four months time, MacLeod is hoping for an even bigger turnout than last year. "Toitū Te Reo will inspire you. It will educate you. It will entertain you. It will activate you. It will strengthen you," he said. "And it will provide a platform for thousands to come together and celebrate the language that is quite often attacked from all quarters of this country." Toitū Te Reo 2025 will take place in Heretaunga Hastings CBD on 13-14 November. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Grainy phone footage leads to rediscovery of lost species after 46 years
Incredible video taken by a hunter has overturned 46 years of thinking about the extinction of a flightless bird on mainland New Zealand Aotearoa. It had been thought little spotted kiwi (also known as kiwi pukupuku) only survived on small islands and protected areas where it was translocated following significant declines. Luke Hill had been part of a crew tasked with controlling tahr, an invasive species of fast-moving alpine sheep that has adapted to the rugged 46,500-hectare Adams Wilderness Area in the Southern Alps, and if numbers go unchecked, they can destroy plants that provide food and shelter for native species. Like Australia, New Zealand is overrun with feral animals, and it was the attacks from stoats, cats, and ferrets, and dogs, combined with habitat destruction, that led to the decline of the little spotted kiwi. It was close to midnight, and Hill was making his way down to camp through 'tough bush' when he spotted the rare bird. Thinking quickly, Hill whipped out his mobile phone and began to film. The video he took that night (seen below) is grainy, and it's only just possible to make out the small bird behind a fallen log. Related: Concern as rare birds retreat to mountains where giant moa became extinct There are five species of kiwi, and because Hill has a background in conservation, he immediately knew he wasn't looking at one of the common ones. But he was yet to understand the 'magnitude' of his sighting. Hill's footage contained enough information to excite the Department of Conservation, and it choppered out a ranger and his sniffer dog to the remote location. Ranger Iain Graham's mission was to catch one of the birds and extract some of its tiny feathers for DNA testing. Out in the sodden wilderness, he could hear the kiwis 'duetting', distinct calls between a male and female. But the birds proved too fast to catch. 'We were in rough terrain, in typical west coast weather, and I was running out of dry clothes,' he said. With time running out, they captured the female on their final night. He then returned with a colleague and tracked down the male, and both have been fitted with transmitters. All kiwi species are threatened with extinction. Unmanaged populations are declining by two per cent every year. Their eggs are roughly six times bigger than those laid by most birds their size. The last time a little spotted kiwi was seen on the mainland in the wild was 1978. That year, Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta became a global sensation after the release of the movie Grease, disco songs by the Bee Gees were topping the charts, and the total population of New Zealand was just over 3.1 million people. Rare animal hiding in outback photo helps solve decades-long mystery Tourists 'totally outraged' by fishing crew's confronting act at sea Emily King, the leader of the Kiwi Recovery Group, said the rediscovery this year was 'thrilling' for the conservation world. 'Despite years of targeted searching, we hadn't found them until now,' she said. 'We're grateful to the hunter for reporting this and capturing evidence. It was like finding a needle in a haystack, but he pointed us to the right patch to start searching.' Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
'Thriving' Māori economies revealed in new report
Māwhera Pā is divided into five 'whare' Photo: Supplied / Atawhai Creative The Māori economy is "thriving", recent statistics have revealed, but a new report shows Māori businesses do not always measure their success monetarily. According to the prior Te Ōhanga Māori 2023 report, Māori entities grew from contributing $17 billion to New Zealand's GDP in 2018 to $32 billion in 2023, turning a 6.5 percent contribution to GDP into 8.9 percent. The Māori economy asset base has grown from $69 billion in 2018 to $126 billion in 2023 - an increase of 83 percent. Released on Wednesday, the Amplifying Māori approaches: The transformative potential of Māori economies report from lead author Matthew Scobie (Kāi Tahu) and co-author Tayla Forward (Ngāpuhi), suggests Māori economies revolved around "taonga with labour organised through mahi and reciprocal exchanges based on utu", or repayment. Forward, a researcher in economics and political economy based in Tāmaki Makaurau, said the Māori economy was "big, thriving and active". "But what that captures is sort of different. Are we thinking about Māori businesses that are operating in the usual dominant economic system, or are we talking about something that takes place according to Māori logic? "Considering there's parts of the economy that are taking place on a different logic in the dominant system, that's the Māori economy that we're most interested in unleashing, that's the part that is an expression of mana motuhake Māori." Tayla Forward said the case studies form an important part of the new report and they are all defying the dominant system to pursue pakihi Māori (Māori businesses) Photo: supplied There was not much that separated the Māori economy from the contemporary setting; it was just an umbrella-term used for authorities, businesses, and employers who self-identified as Māori. But it was more than that. While an economy revolved around the production and consumption of goods and services and the supply of money, Māori businesses often built off tikanga, or Māori lore, to help their communities - such as iwi and hapū, and beyond. "We talk a lot in this report about the ways that those pursuing pakihi Māori (Māori business) have to take on these hybrid strategies to strategically navigate the dominant system," Forward said. "Instead of just aiming to increase our share in the dominant system, we take up a demand to change the shape of the dominant system, and those things that currently sit beneath the surface of the dominant system can be unleashed." There were four case studies prominent in the report - each an example of "Māori logic" combined with old and new ways of business, providing perspectives on housing, food sovereignty, trading and iwi authority, respectively. "They strike up against the system, they strike up against pūtea, and the need to sort of go between worlds all the time." A case study by Danielle Webb focused on Kelly Francis' Whenua Warrior charitable trust. In 2017, Francis left her corporate job to grow an edible garden accessible to every New Zealander and feed the community. The not-for-profit organisation used hua parakore (kaupapa Māori framework) and matauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) for mahinga kai, community engagement, environmental conservation and preservation. Within two days of Francis' first project under Whenua Warrior, 132 gardens cropped up across South Auckland. Building a garden at the back of a home in Manurewa, South Auckland in NOV 2022 - as a part of the #projectSouthSide600 Photo: Facebook/Whenua Warrior "The world is our oyster anyway, so we can do what we should be able to do," Forward said. The report stated Francis viewed waged labour as something that can potentially rob people of time that could be spent nurturing te taiao (the natural world), fundamental to food sovereignty. "We should be able to have particularly Māori responses to decisions about what we're creating together and how we resource each other and the things that we create together, and if that keeps having to be mediated by pūtea, that's not in our control," Forward said. "We have to make all these strategic allowances to navigate towards whatever ends we're trying to pursue with our economic activity. If we want to have this very whenua-oriented and whakapapa-oriented economic ends being served by our economic practices, then we need to engage with the system that generates the constraints." The report broke the Māori economy into subsections - economies of mana, tribal economies, and diverse and community economies. "These have created necessary interventions to assert Māori perspectives as valid to national and international audiences," the report said. In simple terms, economic decisions were influenced by "mana-enhancing" interactions between people and the environment. Furthermore, there were two sides to this conversation. How did Māori organise their economies, and what framings of the economy did not align with Māori values? It stemmed from the perspective of measuring wealth by how much passes through one person's hands, rather than how much accumulated, and it allocated resources and undertook activities to generate adequate profits, Forward said. "It doesn't have to be profit-maximising, but you know, you need profits in order to survive otherwise you'll fall apart." History was deeply rooted in this topic and specific to iwi and hapū organisations. "Tribal economies move from how things were organised to the institutions that enable or constrain these ways of organising today," the report said. "This includes not just direct breaches of Te Tiriti, or the failure to honour purchase deeds, but the systematic exclusion of Māori from decision-making around how the economy is designed." An example of a tribal economy was Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, which was established under the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 and the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Act 1996. "Collective settlement assets are managed by Ngāi Tahu Holdings, separately from the bodies that spend and distribute the income earned from those assets, The Office," the lead author wrote. A Ngāi Tahu forestry block. Photo: Ngai Tahu The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement of $170 million had grown into net assets valued at NZ$1.66 billion. Assets included businesses like Queenstown's Shotover Jet and Fiordland's Hollyford Wilderness Experience. "Typically, any surplus generated by activities from settlement resources is appropriated by the Ngāi Tahu Charitable Trust and distributed to the wider iwi. But these resources only exist because of the intergenerational struggle for the Ngāi Tahu claim and are intended for future generations." In 2024, each of the 18 papatipu rūnanga (authoritative tribal council of a specific tribal area) in Te Wai Pounamu received $574,334 with a total direct distribution since settlement of $17.2 million. Today, the wealthiest iwi contributed to improving the wellbeing of 80,000 tribal members. Diverse and community economies used economic activities, both paid and unpaid, beyond formal market transactions. They included gifting, sharing, volunteering, and caring as legitimate economic actions. Although some challenges had been identified - such as resourcing rangatiratanga, financialisation, no time for kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and balancing obligations. The report also stated it also required pushing beyond limited Crown recognition, and exploring diverse forms of labour, enterprise, transactions, property and finance to achieve diverse and community economies. Forward explained it in terms of the "Matike Mai sphere" - the sphere of influence. "Of course [Māori] are a firm, at large, and empower the rangatiratanga sphere, but I think we see in our in our case studies what the kāwanatanga is doing does strike us, though we resist and though we're in defiance of their idea that they have a sole claim to authority sometimes. "We have to navigate strategically and that's what we take up - a new strategic navigation in which the kāwanatanga diverts us and say no more. That there are things that we can do in the relational sphere between those two spheres to demand a different shape rather than just a greater share." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
