Latest news with #JosephMooney
1News
3 days ago
- 1News
Air New Zealand flight to Queenstown struck by lightning
A passenger on a plane struck by lightning on Friday evening has described hearing an almighty bang, and says it was a terrifying experience. Air New Zealand said NZ625 from Auckland to Queenstown was turned back for engineering checks as a precaution after lightning hit the plane shortly after departure. A woman on board, who did not want to be named, told RNZ the flight got off to a rough start. "It was actually one of the bumpiest departures I've had, and then there was a loud bang, very loud," she said. "Everyone just went quite quiet, well there was a lot of ... 'ooh, ooh, what was that?' ADVERTISEMENT "Just sort of sitting there in shock, and listening to see if there were any unusual noises of the engines, so it was ... a very nerve-wracking experience." About 15 minutes later, the pilot told passengers he had some bad news, she said. "That we'd been struck by lightning and ... they were waiting for the engineers to give them instructions," she said. The flight was turned back to Auckland and landed within half an hour, she said. Air New Zealand rebooked the woman on a Saturday morning flight, but she decided to cancel her weekend away. Southland MP Joseph Mooney said he was also on board, and posted on Facebook that the lightning strike was "quite the way to round out an eventful week". It made "quite a bang both audibly and visually," he said. ADVERTISEMENT Mooney hoped to return home on Saturday, with weather deteriorating in the south. The airline said lightning strike was "not uncommon". "Our pilots and crew are trained for this scenario," said chief pilot Captain David Morgan. "As a precautionary measure, the decision was made to return to Auckland to allow for a full engineering inspection. "This is standard procedure in such circumstances." Teams were booking passengers on the next available service, he said.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Public-private healthcare opportunities identified
A strategic report focused on the future of public health services in Otago Central Lakes has identified six potential opportunities for public-private collaboration. The Otago Central Lakes strategic health report was sent to Health Minister Simeon Brown in February by the steering group, which was comprised of Southland MP Joseph Mooney, Health New Zealand, the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes District Councils, rural health providers, iwi, including kaupapa Māori health providers, Act MP Todd Stephenson and Waitaki MP Miles Anderson. Mr Mooney said the group's objective was to "expedite planning and investment in health services and infrastructure in Otago Central Lakes" — Central Otago District Mayor Tamah Alley said 70% of New Zealanders who lived two or more hours from a hospital resided in that region. The report said health service improvements were required to meet the current and future populations' needs. On a peak day, the district's combined population, which included visitors, was 168,000 — expected to nearly double by 2054, it said. "There is a reputational risk to all of Aotearoa New Zealand if adequate healthcare services are unavailable to deal with international visitor illness or injury." The report identified opportunities to increase public health services by partnering with the private sector, but Mr Anderson said the project was "not asking for public funds". The "early stage" public-private partnerships included in the report, which were "ready for collaboration", are: • The Southern Lakes Public Hospital — the location of which is to be determined — which is a proposed privately financed facility with full public hospital services and future capacity to become a regional hospital. • Lakeview Te Taumata Clinic (Queenstown), a private surgical hospital expected to open in 2027, with opportunities for maternity care and workforce development. • Integrated Care Hub (Wānaka), a planned day surgery with potential space for publicly funded after-hours services. • Wānaka Health Precinct, a private surgical hospital designed with capacity to integrate public services. • Aged-care facilities (Clyde), which are under construction, have the potential to expand into a full suite of publicly funded services for older people in Central Otago. • Securing land and investors in Central Otago for future public health infrastructure, based on the outcomes of the other projects. Additionally, the trust was exploring "innovative mobile modular units" which could be used as consultation rooms, clinics or staff accommodation and wanted to find land to host them in areas where they were needed, the report said. The $2 million funding was required to "complete the groundwork" for community consultation, clinical design and planning process, and technical assessments and detailed business cases Health New Zealand could work with — it already had $400,000 seed funding, it said. Subject to Mr Brown's support, a working group would be established to work with Health New Zealand to progress the proposed solutions — community engagement and consultation would follow.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Air New Zealand flight to Queenstown struck by lightning, returns to Auckland for checks
An Air New Zealand flight was forced to return to Auckland for engineering checks after it was struck by lightning. Photo: Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye/123RF A passenger on a plane struck by lightning on Friday evening has described hearing an almighty bang, and says it was a terrifying experience. Air New Zealand said NZ625 from Auckland to Queenstown was turned back for engineering checks as a precaution after lightning hit the plane shortly after departure. A woman on board, who did not want to be named, told RNZ the flight got off to a rough start. "It was actually one of the bumpiest departures I've had, and then there was a loud bang, very loud," she said. "Everyone just went quite quiet, well there was a lot of ... 'ooh, ooh, what was that?' "Just sort of sitting there in shock, and listening to see if there were any unusual noises of the engines, so it was ... a very nerve-wracking experience." About 15 minutes later, the pilot told passengers he had some bad news, she said. "That we'd been struck by lightning and ... they were waiting for the engineers to give them instructions," she said. The flight was turned back to Auckland and landed within half an hour, she said. Air New Zealand rebooked the woman on a Saturday morning flight, but she decided to cancel her weekend away. Southland MP Joseph Mooney said he was also on board, and posted on Facebook that the lightning strike was "quite the way to round out an eventful week". It made "quite a bang both audibly and visually," he said. Mooney hoped to return home on Saturday, with weather deteriorating in the south . The airline said lightning strike was "not uncommon". "Our pilots and crew are trained for this scenario," said chief pilot Captain David Morgan. "As a precautionary measure, the decision was made to return to Auckland to allow for a full engineering inspection. "This is standard procedure in such circumstances." Teams were booking passengers on the next available service , he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
4 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
Otago Central Lakes Strategic Health Report Available To Public
Press Release – Southern Lakes Health Trust The Strategic Report identifies opportunities to increase public health services in Otago Central Lakes by partnering with the private sector to invest in services and infrastructure to benefit our region. The Otago Central Lakes [1] Health Services & Assets project has publicly released the Strategic Report sent to Minister of Health Hon Simeon Brown in February 2025. The work supporting the Strategic Report is a collaborative effort, led by Joseph Mooney, MP for Southland and involving Health New Zealand, Central Otago District Council. Queenstown Lakes District Council, rural health providers, iwi, including kaupapa Māori health providers, local MPs, and the community. 'We have a clear objective; to expedite planning and investment in health services and infrastructure in Otago Central Lakes,' Mr Mooney says. The Strategic Report identifies opportunities to increase public health services in Otago Central Lakes by partnering with the private sector to invest in services and infrastructure to benefit our region. 'As we have outlined to the Minister, this project is not asking for public funds but is seeking support to effectively progress the opportunities and initiatives we have put forward,' says Miles Anderson, MP for Waitaki and member of the project's Steering Committee. Mayors of Queenstown Lakes District Council and Central Otago District Council also sit on the Steering Committee. 'The Strategic Report aligns with the component of the Regional Deal proposal that QLDC and CODC are partners to, towards developing innovative approaches to the area's health system. We look forward to feedback and direction from the Minister of Health, Simeon Brown on the Strategic Report and how this will help inform work on a health needs assessment for the area,' says QLDC Mayor Glyn Lewers. '70 per cent of New Zealanders who live two or more hours from a hospital live in Otago Central Lakes. Our proposal will bring healthcare closer to our residents and help to reduce demand on our regions' base hospitals in Dunedin and Invercargill,' says CODC Mayor Tamah Alley. 'Our approach will lead to far more streamlined and effective healthcare for this rapidly growing population. We have presented a strong plan to improve things for our people,' says Steering Committee member and ACT MP Todd Stephenson. [1] 'Otago Central Lakes' = areas currently encompassed by Central Otago District Council and Queenstown Lakes District Council, including Queenstown, Arrowtown, Kingston, Glenorchy, Wanaka, Luggate, Lake Hawea, Cardrona, Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra, Roxburgh, Ranfurly.
Otago Daily Times
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
In it for the long haul
If you like Parliament you well and truly had a treat last week, as the House sat until midnight Saturday under urgency to consider the wide range of legislation the government wanted to progress. Some of the matters considered under extended hours were entirely reasonable — every government needs to push through Budget-relevant law changes as soon as possible. Some matters, not so much . . . worthy though the Judicature (Timeliness) Legislation Amendment Bill may be, did it really need to go through the House at 11pm on Saturday? Much earlier in the day the House considered the Social Security (Mandatory Reviews) Amendment Bill, legislation which, arguably, could also have waited for another day. The Bill introduces an annual review of what beneficiaries receive to make sure everything is above board, and partially automates the process. If nothing else, the advent of the Bill revitalised an opposition bench which had every reason to be jaded as the House entered its third day of urgency. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori all believe this law change is "beneficiary bashing" and were happy to keep on roaring so, despite spirited remonstrations from National Southland MP Joseph Mooney — who had quite the row, as well as a possible lunch date, with Labour's Willie Jackson — to the contrary. "It introduces a requirement that the Ministry of Social Development must review a client's eligibility and rate of a specified benefit at least once every 52 weeks. That is to make sure that they are getting the right amount of assistance that they are entitled to," Mr Mooney said. "It's a very simple Bill. It's quite amazing to hear the lack of quality of contributions from the Opposition. This also introduces a little bit of automated decision making, and, honestly, if that's the quality of debate we get from the Opposition, maybe there should be some more automated decision-making from the other side of the House as well." Mr Mooney was back for more during the second reading debate, accusing the Greens Ricardo Menendez March of rambling and uttering "a complete load of nonsense". "This government is going to bring in structured literacy, which will hopefully help people like the Opposition actually get some reading comprehension and actually read the Bills and understand what they're about, because they don't," he said, before going on to accuse the members opposite of being Luddites. That did not sit well with the next speaker, Labour Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking, who found Mr Mooney's speech to be "curious". "The member will be very happy to know that I spent considerable time reading this Bill . . . If it is simply about reviews, why is it here in Budget urgency? Might that be because the regulatory impact statement (RIS), on page 12, says that the cost of the IT for this will be $5.339 million and the FTE costs associated with that is $7.559m. "Is it also because in that RIS it talks about the expected $238.302m in benefits or related expenses savings over five years? This is about money." For good measure the eagle-eyed Ms Brooking went on to explore the depths of section 363 of the Bill, which she said introduced the sanctions regime. Of course, this was something which government MPs could have been denying had been created had they been making any more substantive contribution to the debate than simply saying: "I commend this Bill to the House," and sitting straight back down again when their time came to speak. That was not it from the South though, as Taieri Labour MP Ingrid Leary wanted to explore "a really problematic piece of lawmaking." "It just seems crazy that 332,000 reviews would be done each year, and the RIS says very openly, on page 12, that would cost — it adds up to about $13 million, and there's no way they could make this happen with the current staff and that's why they need the technology," Ms Leary said. "Instead, they are looking at bringing in this very dodgy technology which is dehumanising and which doesn't have appeal rights." Rather like being stuck in the House on a Saturday rather than being at home in one's own house. I can see for miles and miles Of the many National MPs who made videos or social media posts complaining at media coverage of what Finance Minister Nicola Willis wore on Budget day, no-one beat the effort from Waitaki National MP Miles Anderson. Mr Anderson proudly showed off a tie which his daughter had bought him, which was festooned with pictures of the wearer's head. He mentioned it in the House later too, saying that the Bill he was voting for, like his tie, was splendid.
