Latest news with #NgāPitopitoKōrero
RNZ News
06-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Government figures on social work visits to at risk child doesn't show full picture
Oranga Tamariki. Photo: RNZ A watchdog of Oranga Tamariki says social worker visits to children at risk are not looking as good as the government says they are. The government said new figures showed strong progress, including in a ministerial priority for a visit once every eight weeks. But the Independent Children's Monitor Aroturuki Tamariki said this was a lower target than what the National Care Standards demanded. The standard was for a visit in line with a child's own plan that factored in specific risks. "This is an important distinction," chief executive Arran Jones told RNZ. "Many tamariki and rangatahi require more frequent visits than once every eight weeks." In 2023/24, only two thirds of children were being visited to this standard and this had not improved in four years, Jones said in a statement on Tuesday. Oranga Tamariki's own measure was closer to this standard, than to the ministerial priority. "Unlike the quarter two Performance Measures for Ministerial Priorities 2024/25 report, the Oranga Tamariki appropriation measure is showing no improvement in social worker visits to date." The monitor would be assessing how the once-every-eight-weeks approach measured up against the standard. Jones noted the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse said social workers should have been a lifeline to the outside world for children abused in care, but they often had had such high workloads they failed to visit enough. "Although the royal commission focused on events in the past, this further highlights the importance of prioritising social work visits." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
06-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Woolworths NZ faces criminal charges over pricing, misleading specials
The Commerce Commission has filed charges against Woolworths NZ. File picture. Photo: Ziming Li The Commerce Commission has filed criminal charges against Woolworths NZ for alleged inaccurate pricing and misleading specials that may have breached the Fair Trading Act. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
06-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
'We haven't finished yet' - iwi misses out on bid to buy back ancestral mountain
Kahurānaki mountain in Hawke's Bay came up for sale earlier this year. Photo: Supplied/Tamatea Pōkai Whenua Trust Hawke's Bay iwi Ngāti Kahungunu has been unsuccessful in its bid to buy back the mountain Kahurānaki, but the iwi says its connection to the land will always remain. Kahurānaki Station - a 1156 hectare sheep and beef farm south of Havelock North which includes the peak of the mountain - came up for sale earlier this year and the iwi launched a fundraising campaign to buy it. The campaign to bring the Kahurānaki back into Māori ownership was called 'He Maunga Ka Taea', and included a 10-day hīkoi from Māhia to Kahurānaki. It raised more than $95,000 on crowd funding platform Hastings-based post-settlement governance entity Tamatea Pōkai Whenua Trust submitted a tender on behalf of the iwi. Chairman Pōhatu Paku said the trust was the only local entity to tender for the Station and they were saddened and disappointed by the outcome. The trust had approached the tender on the basis it was presented, the sale of a sheep and beef farm, he said. Paku acknowledged the young and emerging iwi members who had generated the groundswell of support for the tender and for the longer term status of the mountain. "E mihi ana ki tēnā, ki tēnā o tātau e titikaha nei ki tēnei kaupapa, arā ko tō tātau maunga. I just want to acknowledge and mihi to everybody that has connected with this kaupapa. Watch this space, we haven't finished yet." Paku said the trust would be engaging with the station's new owners at an appropriate time to convey the iwi's history and also set out their aspirations. "The continuation of the protection of our wāhi tapu (sacred sites) is significantly important to us, to all of us," he said. Continued access to the mountain would also be a high priority, he said. "The previous owners were quite open for Kura for people running kaupapa and also those that wished to ascend the maunga they allowed that, they identified that it was culturally significant to us all." Paku said Tamatea Pōkai Whenua will need to foster the groundswell of support and leadership that the He Maunga Ka Taea campaign had generated. "The whakapapa connections and taonga that is Kahurānaki maunga remain, our greatest advantage is that we live in perpetuity and our maunga and our tīpuna live with us and they continue to be ours. "And like all of our tūtohu whenua (landmarks) our maunga carries our traditions and our identity and our histories and we remain uncompromising to act in the best interests of our tūtohu whenua both for this generation and for future generations." Paku said the trust may look at legal personhood as another avenue to protect the mountain, but ultimately he said the maunga remains an ancestor and retains its own mana which no one can ever own. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
06-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Former NZ Police Commissioner Mike Bush lands top job at Victoria police, Australia
Mike Bush. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Former New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush has landed the top job at Victoria Police in Australia, with the state's Premier saying he's the right person for the job. Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan and Police Minister Anthony Carbines confirmed Bush would be the next Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police from 27 June 2025. He had been appointed on a five year term, as is standard under the Victoria Police Act. Bush's appointment followed an extensive recruitment process that spanned local, interstate and international police organisations, they said. "We've picked the right person for the job," Allan said. "He made the community safer in New Zealand and he'll make the community safer in Victoria." Carbines said he looked forward to working with Bush who brought decades of experience to the role. Before Bush begins his term, Deputy Commissioner Robert Hill will serve as acting Chief Commissioner, with current acting Chief Rick Nugent to depart on Thursday. Bush was New Zealand's Police Commissioner between 2014 and 2020, when he retired after more than 40 years in the service . During his term as Commissioner he oversaw the police response to the Christchurch mosque attacks, the Whakaari / White Island eruption and the Covid-19 pandemic. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
05-05-2025
- RNZ News
Invercargill store worker injured in overnight crime spree
File photo. Photo: 123RF A store worker was injured in one of two aggravated robberies and multiple burglaries in Invercargill in the early hours of this morning. Police are calling on the public for information after the incidents, which are likely to be linked. At 2.30am on Monday, police responded to a report of two people assaulting a store worker and demanding cash at a business on Dee Street. The worker was not seriously injured, but was shaken. The two perpetrators fled in a vehicle, but Detective Inspector Stu Harvey said that was not the end of this crime spree. "An attempted burglary and two burglaries were subsequently reported at three further premises, on Windsor Street, Elles Road and Yarrow Street," he said. "Then, about 4.20am, police received a report that two people had entered a Tay Street premises and demanded cash and items. "Fortunately, no one was hurt during the incident." Harvey said police were making enquiries into each incident, "and at this stage our information suggests they are linked". He said two vehicles were seen in the vicinity of the incidents. "One of them, a red Toyota Vitz, has been involved in the offending. Police have recovered this vehicle, which was stolen the previous day. "The other vehicle is described as a dark-coloured car," he said. Harvey said police would like to speak to anyone who saw vehicles fitting these descriptions between 1am and 5am. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
