Latest news with #SouthAuckland
RNZ News
a day ago
- Automotive
- RNZ News
Govt keen on making EV chargers smart
The Government is proposing to make it mandatory for all new electric vehicle chargers to have smart functionality, saying it would help manage capacity and reduce the need to upgrade lines. Most EVs are charged at home on a simple 3 pin plug into the wall. But that limits line companies' control over energy draw, as they do with hot water to manage load on the network, and means households can't charge their cars when power is cheapest. MBIE is consulting on the proposed changes. Kathryn speaks with Drive Electric chair Kirsten Corson and Moonis Vegdani chief network and digital officer for Counties Power the lines company for South Auckland. Electric car charging. Photo: 123rf
RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Police seize $6000 in counterfeit cash after Facebook Marketplace investigation
The counterfeit cash found by police. Photo: Police/Supplied Police seized thousands of dollars in counterfeit cash after an investigation into dodgy Facebook Marketplace deals. Sergeant Pam Dravitski said police found $6000 and the "equipment used to manufacture these notes" while executing a search warrant at an Ōtara, South Auckland property. It comes after reports of a man purchasing items off the platform and requesting to pay cash, police said. "The offender would allegedly use counterfeit cash to make the sale and take off with the goods. "Many of our local business associations regularly tell us about their members' frustrations with people making purchases using counterfeit money," Dravitski said. A 26-year-old man has been arrested and faces six charges of obtains by deception. Further arrests and charges have not been ruled out. Investigations are ongoing. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Booze warnings on hold
The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority has upheld the council's two-year freeze on new licences in the city centre and 23 priority areas predominantly in south and west Auckland. Photo: 123RF Outdated alcohol guidelines put New Zealand out of step with modern research, but our health authorities are in no hurry to update them. In Canada, proposed guidelines for low-risk drinking set the weekly limit at two drinks. Here in New Zealand, the recommendation is to cap alcohol at 10 drinks weekly for women, and 15 for men, with two alcohol-free days per week. Despite these guidelines being nearly 15 years old, and documents from Health NZ showing that they consider a review of the guidelines to be 'necessary', for now, the guidelines are staying as they are. "The complication is that the Ministry of Health has come in over the top of [Health NZ] and has said 'actually these are our guidelines ... we want to control this and we're putting a pause on that work'," says RNZ's Guyon Espiner. "It certainly does show that they're listening to the alcohol industry, who are pretty exercised about this - because as you can imagine, this could have a significant effect on sales if people did take this advice and did drink significantly less." In a series of articles over the past few months, Espiner has reported on issues of alcohol harm and how the alcohol lobby has impacted policy in New Zealand. Through documents he received through the Official Information Act (OIA) , he found that Health NZ commissioned a review of the low-risk guidelines. But in October 2024, a lobbyist emailed Ross Bell, who is a manager in the Ministry of Health's Public Health Agency, asking why Health NZ's website said the guidelines were under review. In December, following a second email which again asked about the review and also complained about mention of the Canadian guidelines on Health NZ-run website ' Bell emailed Health NZ saying "All work on this project will now pause. You will update relevant Health NZ websites to remove references to the review and also to other jurisdictions' guidelines (including the Canadian one)." But in a statement to The Detail, the Ministry of Health says it "understands Health New Zealand has continued some work related to the review. The Ministry is working with Health New Zealand on potential next steps, including how Health New Zealand's progress on the review to date can be used to inform any future work in this area" and that "the Ministry is currently considering where the next phase (Phase 2) will fit as it prioritises its work programme for 2025/26." The Ministry's statement, which is attributed to Dr Andrew Old, Deputy Director-General, Public Health Agency, goes on to say that "as part of good policy process, the Ministry engages with a broad range of interested parties-including community organisations, public health experts, and the industry-to ensure any regulatory approaches are well-informed and transparent. Reference to the drinking guidelines review was removed from the website to avoid confusion about roles and responsibilities as the guidelines are now led by the Ministry of Health - rather than Health New Zealand which has responsibility for the site. This was an internal Ministry decision." In today's episode of The Detail, Espiner details other examples of contact between the alcohol lobby and health policy makers. "The material I've got shows that yes they've had a lot of meetings, a lot of email contact, in fact one looked like a regular meeting between alcohol lobbyists and Ministry of Health staff. They've also shared with the alcohol industry their plans on how they will combat Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder ... they shared that entire draft document with them and also shared with them plans about how they might spend the alcohol levy." Espiner says that while this contact is going on, tobacco lobbyists are completely 'locked out of the policy process". "We're signatory to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, [which is] a World Health initiative, and there's a clause in there that New Zealand is signed up to that says you won't allow the vested interests of the tobacco industry to shape policy. "What's interesting is that the alcohol industry has escaped most of that scrutiny." For Massey University associate professor Andy Towers, who has worked on the Health NZ review, it is a clear mistake for New Zealand to allow lobbyists a role. "It's very, very clear that you don't invite the wolf into the henhouse," he says. "Unfortunately the alcohol industry makes money based on alcohol use and resulting alcohol harms and in a space where we are trying to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and reduce those harms for society and for communities, there is not space for the alcohol industry there. They do not get to sit at the table, just as you wouldn't invite an arms manufacturer to the table to talk about cessation of violence." In this episode of The Detail, Towers explains how knowledge around the harm of alcohol has evolved in the past 20 years, and where New Zealand sits on alcohol use compared to other countries. Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here . You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter .
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Council calls for tougher dog laws as attacks and euthanasia rates climb, rescuers overwhelmed
Auckland Council impounded over 12,000 dogs last year - more than half were euthanised. As shelters overflow, many like this are never reclaimed, prompting urgent calls for law reform. Photo: Auckland Council / Supplied Auckland Council is pushing for stronger powers under the Dog Control Act 1996 to address the growing number of roaming and uncontrolled dogs. Despite this, frontline rescuers and local leaders say the crisis requires immediate on-the-ground action. Saving Hope Foundation volunteer Jo Coulam said rescue groups were overwhelmed and felt abandoned. Coulam criticised the council's desexing pilot for not targeting the right communities and highlighted that rescue groups carried too much of the burden. Saving Hope has rehomed 637 dogs and puppies in the past month, with 46 requests received in a single day. "We spoke, in May, about the Kāinga Ora houses and now, as we predicted, we have newborn puppies dumped on train tracks and in rubbish bins," she says. "Rescues like ours are left to do the hard work, while trying to educate owners, but we can't do it alone. "By 1pm that day, we'd already had 32 more, including a mum and a litter of newborn pups. It's out of control." Frontline officers are stretched thin as Auckland Council faces record numbers of roaming dog reports. Photo: Auckland Council / Supplied Manurewa MP Arena Williams said the situation had worsened over the past two years, affecting families and elderly residents, particularly in South Auckland. "This is why I've been calling on the mayor and Councillor Josephine Bartley to pull together a taskforce," she said. "Central and local government need to work together for Aucklanders. "Roaming dogs have got out of control in the last two years in Manurewa. Our kids and elderly people are at risk. "Dog attacks are up and we're now seeing roaming packs of unowned dogs. Manurewa needs new solutions to deal with this rapidly escalating issue. "National has spent a lot of time telling councils what to cut . This is an opportunity for ministers to do something constructive, and actually help Auckland with something that will genuinely benefit people in Manurewa and other communities affected." Auckland Council animal management manager Elly Waitoa said public safety was their top priority and dog owners must take responsibility for their pets. Waitoa said, while desexing dogs was not the council's responsibility, it was stepping in , because of the scale of the problem. She said the council sought stronger enforcement powers through legislative reform, which could include establishing conditions such as requiring fencing upgrades before a dog is released, mandating desexing in certain cases and introducing mandatory reporting of serious dog attacks to enable timely intervention. "We've got children being attacked, people being attacked, animals being attacked," she said. "Children can't go to school, because they're being terrorised by aggressive dogs. "They can't walk to their local shop because of dogs. "We don't have unlimited resources. It is the dog owner's responsibility to desex their dog, but we are doing everything that we can at this stage with the funding that we have. "We're calling for more tools, like mandatory fencing standards and hospital reporting of dog attacks. It's about giving councils real options, when education alone doesn't work." Children cross the street on their way to school - safety concerns are rising as roaming dog incidents increase. Photo: Auckland Council / Supplied In the past year, the council received 16739 reports of roaming dogs, 1341 reports of dog attacks on people and 1523 reports of attacks on other animals. Only 42 percent of dogs were reclaimed by their owners and more than 6000 were euthanised - more than half of all dogs impounded. ACC claim data suggests the actual number of dog attacks is likely higher. Most serious attacks involving children happened in the family home and went unreported to council, said general manager Robert Irvine. "Introducing mandatory hospital reporting would allow us to intervene and put measures in place to prevent attacks from happening again," he said. To help reduce attacks and improve enforcement, Auckland Council is asking the government for powers to: "These changes make good common sense and would greatly improve our ability to protect Aucklanders from dog-related harm," said Irvine. "They would not affect the majority of dog owners, who we know are responsible." Council regulatory and safety committee chair Josephine Bartley said most dog owners were responsible, but stricter rules were now necessary. "There is a group that just doesn't seem to care. Their actions are putting our communities at risk, particularly our tamariki, so having stricter rules around things like fencing and desexing has become necessary." Manurewa-Papakura councillor Daniel Newman said local board budgets were insufficient to respond to the scale of the problem. "I don't want to have to be looking around at local boards trying to fund desexing vouchers and what-have-you," he says. "This has to be a regional response to a region-wide problem." SPCA national community outreach manager Rebecca Dobson said the council-SPCA pilot only began in June and was too early to judge. "Since 2022, SPCA has desexed 1294 dogs in Auckland. That's part of a national programme that's seen 55000 animals desexed and more than 200000 unwanted litters prevented." She said meaningful progress required a significantly larger investment, estimated at more than $75 million. "Rescue groups, SPCA, councils, vets and communities are all grappling with the fallout of people not desexing their pets. None of us can fix this alone. "Desexing needs to become a priority for all pet owners." Dobson also noted that enforcement was the council's role, not the SPCA's. "The public should contact their local council when it comes to roaming dogs, dog attacks or public safety issues. SPCA works under the Animal Welfare Act, focused on cruelty prevention." The council has committed $5.9 million to increase patrols and community education, and said further funding proposals were being prepared for next year's annual plan. The message to dog owners is clear - keep your dogs secure, desexed and under control. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Morning Report Essentials for Friday 18 July 2025
food education 22 minutes ago In today's episode, a South Auckland principal is warning that a third of teenagers in communities like his could leave school with no qualifications; New Zealand wine brand Villa Maria putting cancer warning labels on its wines exported to Ireland, but in New Zealand industry lobby group the Alcoholic Beverages Council doesn't want the cancer warning labels; They're being called blocks of yellow gold, and whether that be cheese or butter - they're getting most of the blame for blowing out the weekly food budget; We have our weekly political panel; Singer Daphne Walker has died aged 94.
