Aucklanders who have not been to an Auckland Council Library for some time are being welcomed back with a three-month long amnesty which started on 1 July 2022.The amnesty follows on from overdue fines being abolished on 1 September 2021 and will see any lost book charges on people’s accounts removed so they can return to using library services.“This is about getting rid of any barriers to our library services for anyone living in Tāmaki Makaurau,” says Councillor Cathy Casey, deputy chair of Auckland Council’s Parks, Arts, Community and Events.Catherine Leonard, Auckland Council’s Head of Library Services.agrees, noting that charges on people’s accounts related to lost or damaged books have stopped people using libraries.“There can often be a sense of whakama (shame) due to that old debt. People stop visiting because they are worried about conversations about charges and lost or damaged books”Catherine says that the amnesty is about encouraging people to come back to libraries and enjoy the many benefits of being an active library member.The amnesty on returning long lost books and on wiping of charges is easy. The only requirement is a chat with a librarian. For those who might feel embarrassed about having that conversation in person an email or a phone call will work too.“Our librarians are ready to help and want any Aucklanders who have been avoiding us, to return and use our many and varied library services.“If you have the book, even if it is damaged, bring it in, otherwise just let one of our librarians know and we can clear the slate. It will only take a couple of minutes.”Despite the removal of overdue fines last year, charges for lost or damaged books remained. This resulted in around 15,000 people being blocked from accessing library services, with Māori and Pasifika library users disproportionality represented in that group.“Auckland Council Libraries are for everyone,” says Councillor Casey.“But we know that for some, there is a reluctance to return to libraries due to the burden and shame of old charges and fear of new ones. “We’re doing all we can to make it easy to help people reconnect with us and know that libraries are friendly, welcoming place for all Aucklanders.With it currently being the season of Matariki, now is a great time for a fresh start.”

An elderly woman found dead in her car in the Auckland suburb of Remuera had been living there for months - but the authorities failed to act.The body of the woman, who was in her 70s, was found in her Suzuki Swift on St Vincent Avenue early yesterday morning by Auckland City Mission workers who had been alerted by residents.Auckland Council has confirmed it was contacted by a resident back in May about a woman living in her car - but the call was miscategorised as a complaint about freedom camping.A council official, manager of compliance response and investigations Kerri Fergusson, said it was "a tragic situation"."The council received a complaint from a resident in May, and several subsequent follow-ups, which we mistakenly categorised and later closed as an incidence of freedom camping - rather than a situation that required escalation."On occasion, we will visit a site where individuals are reported to be sleeping in vehicles to see whether there is anything we might be able to do to assist."The council was not equipped to deal with the welfare or mental health needs of individuals but had established relationships with support agencies, she said."This usually includes referring a person on to another agency or raising the situation with that organisation. This is often managed on a case-by-case basis as we recognise that effective outreach takes time, is specific and focused on the individual."The council would be reviewing its reporting processes to ensure its teams were better prepared to respond to such calls, she said."We also urge people to reach out to social support agencies directly if they have concerns about rough sleepers or homelessness as many people in this situation are well known to those various agencies."Auckland City Mission was supporting people of all ages who were sleeping rough or in their cars or couch surfing, Helen Robinson said. Photo: RNZ Insight / Sarah RobsonAuckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said after receiving an online notification from a neighbour the night before, two outreach workers visited early on Thursday morning to check on her.They could not rouse the woman, who was in the back seat of the tiny car, and called the police, who confirmed she was dead."For both of the workers it's not the first time it's happened, but it's a total and utter tragedy," Robinson said."I wouldn't say it's a common thing, but sadly in the life of the mission, it's part of the reality."Auckland City Mission was supporting people of all ages, from teenagers to those in their 80s, who were sleeping rough, or in cars or couch-surfing, she said.People who were homeless typically suffered poor health and premature death.They often had bodies that were "20 years older than their chronological age", she said."You don't wish this on anyone, let alone a 71-year-old. She must have been certainly someone's daughter, if not someone's sister, aunty, mother or grandmother."People matter and are important, and categorically, without one iota of variance, no individual should be living in a car."Every one of us has a right to a home that is adequate, appropriate, safe and affordable. So this is a real shame on us as a nation."The council had a process for referring such cases to Auckland City Mission, and Robinson did not know why it did not happen in this case."I know that over the years the council has worked very hard to genuinely respond to the needs of people living on the streets - and the fact we even have a notification process and agreement shows that."The council actually supports us to do this outreach, so in a number of different ways they are showing their care and concern and partnership with us."And I have no doubt that they will also be seeing this as a great tragedy."Woman 'wanted to be left alone'The Remuera resident who tried to help the woman said she was well kept, quiet and refused her offers of assistance.The resident said her family became worried a couple of months ago when they noticed leaves building up around the red Suzuki Swift's wheels, and realised someone was living inside."It was still fairly warm 'cause we were all outside on the deck, and my family were over, and my dad said 'I think someone's living in that car.'"With time, the resident said she saw the woman in the car, noticed her age - and became concerned.However the woman wouldn't talk to her, or open her door, she said."When we did get a response out of her it was always a nod or a shake of the head...she gave pretty good indication that she wanted to be left alone."The woman never appeared to walk very far, she said - only ever up to the street corner."She was always quite well kept, her hair was pulled back and, [she had] good warm adequate clothing. She obviously cared about her space - she would clear the condensation off her windows each day," she said."That's really only when I'd see her... the rest of the time she was just in the back seat and she had things covering the windows. We couldn't actually really see her in there."The resident and her family tried phoning 105 and then Auckland Council with their concerns, but said "as time went on, it just felt like nobody had checked on her."She then contacted the City Mission, who arrived yesterday "within 24 hours", to check on the woman - to the resident's relief.However they discovered the woman dead, in what the resident described as a "really sad" outcome.The resident said she had copped flak on social media about "not doing enough" to help, but she was not sure what else she could have done.She said other neighbours had told her they had no idea someone was living in the car."We all need to sort of just take a better notice about things that may be happening in our neighborhoods... people are doing doing it tough, and it's probably only going to get worse."Police said they were unable to comment, as the woman's death had now been referred to the coroner.

Events for this weekend:Friday 8th JulyBlame the Cats at RSA WarkworthMICHAEL LLEWELLYN - OMD Diaries NZ TourSaturday 9th JulyHealth and Wellness Expo WarkworthPermaculture Training CourseMatakantata Choir La Soiree SpecialMahurangi Winter Festival - Parade of LightsThe Paul Paul Comedy Night - with Paul Ego and Paul DouglasMatakana Village Farmers MarketMangawhai Tavern MarketLA SOIRÉE at the StablesSunday 10th JulyThe Antidote: A Precision Guide to Rapid RecoverySave Our Sands protest for Mangawhai and PakiriMatariki Community Planting Days

Police are responding to an incident on Auckland’s North Shore that sent four local schools into lockdown - Takapuna Grammar, Belmont Intermediate, Belmont Primary, Bayswater Primary School, and Northcote Intermediate. The incident happened this morning and is still unfolding. However, the affected schools have now lifted the lockdowns.Police have advised there were reports coming through of a man with a firearm. A police cordon was still in place on the intersection of Bardia and Moa St and locals were asked to avoid the area. Police are surrounding a house on Belmont’s Bardia Street.Police on the corner of Bardia Street and Lake Road in Belmont, Auckland. Photo: RNZPolice at the incident. Photo: RNZ / Finn BlackwellPhoto: Supplied / Lara FranksIn another incident there was an arrest this morning after a vehicle was stolen in Devonport, where a police chase ensued. There were multiple vehicles involved in car crash, with one of the cars being driven into the garage of a local house. The man who crashed the car ran into two homes before being apprehended by police. According to police these incidents are not linked.

Police have arrested seven people and seized a myriad of methamphetamine, firearms, ammunition, and tens of thousands of dollars in cash, after a number of search warrants were carried out across the country this week.The warrants were the conclusion of an eight-month investigation, dubbed Operation Campbell, run by Police’s National Organised Crime Group (NOCG) which targeted a methamphetamine manufacturer, who had established a distribution network across New Zealand.It’s estimated a total of five kilograms of methamphetamine, three firearms and associated ammunition, and approximately $100,000 cash and a number of other items of evidence were seized during the operation which saw warrants terminated across Northland, Auckland and Christchurch.Police commenced this operation on Monday afternoon and subsequently executed search warrants overnight and on Tuesday morning.As a result, six men and one women, aged between 18-52, with reported links to the Head Hunter and King Cobra gangs, were arrested across the last two days.They face a total of 50 charges including manufacture and supply of the Class A controlled drug methamphetamine, unlawful possession of a firearm, and participates in an Organised Criminal Group.Those arrested will appear in Kaitaia, Auckland and Christchurch District Courts in the coming days.The investigation was headed up by National Organised Crime Group’s Clandestine Laboratory Response Team and supported by local staff, and uncovered a significant drug dealing network centred in the Northland and Auckland regions.Police are continuing to step up enforcement and disruption of unlawful gang activity across the country as Operation Cobalt rolls out.The public will continue to see search warrants being conducted and arrests being made for identifiable offences.Our message to those involved is clear – we have zero tolerance for any violence, gang and drug activities.Methamphetamine devastates many vulnerable communities while organised criminal groups continue to profit off this type of offending.Police is committed to targeting and dismantling the operations of those who seek to profit from this harm, and we are confident this operation will result in a major disruption to the supply of methamphetamine in these regions.These search warrants have identified and dismantled a large commercial Clan Lab capable of producing multiple kilograms of methamphetamine per cook operating out of the Far North.The combination of drugs and firearms is always a potentially lethal recipe for harm and continues to be of grave concern for Police and the communities it serves.Police cannot rule out further arrests as the investigation is ongoing.

In the midst of a cost of living crisis where families are struggling to put food on the table, we have tonnes and tonnes of quality produce being discarded before it even reaches customers. The Detail pays a visit to the New Zealand Food Network's south Auckland warehouse.When Gavin Findlay was working at food rescue organisation KiwiHarvest, he got a call from someone offering them 50 tonnes of carrots – for free. "What can you do?" the supplier asked.  Findlay replied: "We can take maybe two tonnes of that." KiwiHarvest may have grown to be one of the largest food rescue organisations in the country, but that's all it could take. "That's like four bins of carrots. That was the volume we could handle prior to that product spoiling and going off." Findlay says it was tough to reject so much free produce. "When you know it's going off to landfill, creating greenhouse gases, and when you know that you've got a good use for it. "But physically we just didn't have the space, resources or funding to be able to do that." It was those kinds of calls that spurred Findlay and his team to set up the New Zealand Food Network, a sister company to KiwiHarvest.  The Detail's Sharon Brettkelly (left) speaks to New Zealand Food Network CEO Gavin Findlay (right) in the charity's south Auckland warehouse. Photo: Bonnie HarrisonThe Food Network got started in the early days of the pandemic and is a nationwide distributor of surplus food from big manufacturers.  Findlay describes the Food Network as the "big wholesaler" compared to its sister company the "small localised retailer". "There was a gap in being able to handle some of the large volumes of food surplus that are generated in the commercial sector that we saw going off to landfill,” he says. That was an “absolute environmental menace”. But there was also immense social need out there – people are finding it very difficult to put adequate nutritious food on the table. "We knew there was a large volume of food surplus that just wasn't finding a home – a couple of hundred pallets of product going to waste, 20 tonnes of fish, 50 tonnes of vegetables. That volume just couldn't be handled by any of the existing entities," Findlay says. "If we [KiwiHarvest] couldn't handle that, nobody else could." In May 2020, Findlay and his team were granted $5.5 million by the government to set up the Food Network. That money came from a $32 million package aimed at boosting food security. It's the only organisation in the food rescue sector working at scale, with the ability to collect stuff by the pallet load, then store it, stack it, refrigerate or freeze it – and send it out to the 171 hubs around the country.  Shelves of donated food in the south Auckland storage and operations warehouse of the New Zealand Food Network. Photo: Bonnie HarrisonThrough the hubs, the Food Network has distributed more than 11 million kilograms of food, or nearly 32 million meals. By doing this it has diverted the equivalent of more than 17 million kilograms of carbon dioxide from landfill. The Food Network has 79 donors of surplus food, mainly large manufacturers, growers, wholesalers and packhouses. At its warehouse in south Auckland, Findlay explains to The Detail how it receives, packs and repacks the bulk food for the hubs. He says the amount of food rescued is still a fraction of what's sent to the dump in both commercial and household waste – and the Food Network could take more. It's just been granted $440,000 by the government to install more chillers and freezers. Despite the immensity of food waste problem, many producers aren’t aware of the food rescue sector. "We still come across entities going, 'gee, I wish I'd known about you guys five years ago'. There's still opportunity for us to make more of a difference,” Findlay says. There is a difference between surplus food that's still edible, but can't be sold, and food waste, which can't be consumed by humans, but could be sent to compost or animal feed. In the warehouse Findlay takes The Detail along the floor-to-ceiling shelving and explains how the surplus food they receive is often a surprise, rejected because the packaging is damaged, the product is sample-only, the fruit and vegetables are not perfect, or the wrong ingredients have been added. "We had a fantastic little example at KiwiHarvest when I first came on. I had a call from an entity to say, 'look I've got 10 pallets of this product, it's called chicken risotto. Just one little problem, we forgot to put the chicken in'."  They took the 10 pallets of chicken-less chicken risotto. 

House prices are falling in Auckland quicker than elsewhere in the country.CoreLogic's House Price Index has fallen by 0.8 percent in June from the previous month, but Auckland is falling at twice the national rate.Auckland's prices have fallen by 4.9 percent for the past three months, more than double the national quarterly rate.It was the third successive month that the national measure fell by 0.8 percent.CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall expected the nationwide slide to continue due to rising interest rates and the cost of living.The likelihood of a housing market crash had not increased due to the strength of the job market, he said."I think the one thing saving this market at the moment is the very strong labour market and very low unemployment."That leads us to think it will be a gradual fall away in values as opposed to a significant fall away in values."The nationwide quarterly fall of 2.3 percent was the biggest drop over a three-month period since February 2009."We've seen the momentum in the market really dissipate and now we're seeing that confidence really fall away from the market."Christchurch was the bright spot, bucking the trend with a 2.6 percent price increase in June.Property investors were expected to stay away from the market until pressure came off rising interest rates.Goodall said demand for rental investments would continue to slide due to the force of inflationary pressures.

Some firefighters say they have been working 100 hours a week because of staff shortages.Overtime and staffing issues are just two of the many concerns that led members of the Firefighter's Union to begin a strike last month, asking for better and safer work conditions.New Plymouth senior station officer Jason Crowe said in order to attend all emergency calls, some firefighters had done well above their contracted hours."We've got some firefighters throughout the organisation that are working 80 to 100 hours per week, which is well above their normal 42 hours."And that's just trying to maintain the minimum staffing levels. Whilst we get remuneration for this [it] results in extra stress in personal and excessive time spent at work."This is just not sustainable as a long term solution," he said.In May, a hose burst in a house on fire - delaying the response of the fire crew.Crowe was a firefighter on the day of the fatal accident."It just burst unannounced. At the time the hose was on carpet and it burst in two separated places about four, five metres from where we were standing at the time."The equipment was not fit for purpose and compromised tactics when dealing with an emergency, he said."While the hose failure would not have altered the outcome of the fatality, the hoses bursting in two places definitely compromised crew safety and required us to have to have the hose replaced - which obviously wasted time."It takes our focus off what it should be [on] and require us to shut the water down because the firefighting delivery was no longer effective."The lack of trust in the equipment was not the only issue raised by the union.Crowe said firefighters were not offered enough mental health support after critical emergency calls."Since 2013 we have been attending more and more medical calls, and these are traumatic incidents that definitely impact on firefighter's mental health. And that can be a range of incidents, like suicides and shootings."Aged fire trucks were also a concern.Trucks used by Fire and Emergency NZ (FENZ) were more than 30 years old and not fit for purpose, Crowe said.He said the number of vehicles waiting for repair sometimes meant trucks from other locations had to be used, delaying the response to emergency callouts."And it's disappointing and demotivating," he said.The NZ Professional Firefighters' Union said it was working on a process to re-engage constructively in collective bargaining with Fire and Emergency NZ.Onehunga Fire Station closed due to staff shortages in June. Photo: Supplied / FacebookFENZ responseIn a statement, Fire and Emergency said some personnel occasionally worked long hours and like many organisations, it had recently been impacted by absences due to Covid-19.FENZ said it had a Fatigue Management Policy, which set out the obligations that all personnel (career and volunteer) and their supervisors had to monitor and manage the risks of fatigue.It was confident it had sufficient firefighters around the country to keep communities safe.A career recruitment course was held from 10 January until 1 April, and 21 new recruits were trained, it said.A course was scheduled for the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year but was delayed subject to resourcing decisions. It would now run from late June until mid- September, with a further course planned for September. These courses would be run for up to 30 recruits each, rather than the usual 24.FENZ said it recognised that responding to emergencies could be psychologically demanding and provided a tiered framework of support services for its staff - as well as tools and training.The support available included free counselling, professional psychological support, peer support, dedicated safety health and wellbeing advisors and welfare officers, a health monitoring programme, chaplaincy, and Tikanga Māori-based services. Counselling was also available to the immediate family members of firefighters for any reason that they may need it.FENZ denied trucks and appliances were 30 years old.It said since the newest of each model were deployed to the busiest stations, very few of the appliances over 30 years old were used by paid firefighters and, of those appliances that were, most were relief appliances which were only used to cover times when operational appliances were being serviced.A project was underway to purchase new appliances of the type predominantly used by paid firefighters, it said, and the first trial appliances were expected to be received by the end of the calendar year.The fleet was regularly maintained to ensure it could respond to emergencies, FENZ said.*This interview was given to RNZ prior to the joint agreement between FENZ and the union not to engage in media interviews about the issues to be progressed through the collective bargaining process.

Single-use produce bags are to be phased out by Countdown - the first New Zealand supermarket chain to do so.The bags have not been provided at the new Metro Herne Bay store which opened last week. And from 25 July, 19 more of the company's stores will join them in a pilot to remove the bags, with the intention of making the change permanent across the motu next year.Countdown fresh food leader Pieter de Wet said Countdown is committed to sustainability goals and also wants to be ahead of any possible future government bans."The indication is toward the middle of next year it would be something that New Zealand would want to introduce across the industry - and we think this is the start of getting us there quicker."Most single-use plastic grocery bags were banned in New Zealand from 1 July 2019, but an exception was made for produce bags, bin liners and dog-poo bags.Photo: Supplied/ CountdownCountdown currently uses about 50 million single-use plastic produce bags a year, but de Wet said many customers had told them the bags were not necessary, and they had been fine without them."Some of them bring their own bags, some of them use their shopping bags that they already bring to the store, and some of them put the produce in their basket or trolley."The supermarket is considering alternative bag options that are more environmentally friendly, and has plans to ask for feedback from shoppers at the pilot stores to find out if there is anything stores could do to help them shop without the bags.Greenpeace said Countdown's plan to remove the plastic produce bags would be a positive step, but more could be done.The environmental group's plastics campaigner said it was well-due time for the government to consider restricting plastics in other products, like bottled drinks."Our government needs to be a lot bolder and a lot more ambitious in its banning of unnecessary single-use plastic items."We're being sold a billion plastic bottles a year... so clearly they're one of the worst culprits, and they're the best place to start."Lee also called on Countdown to not replace the single-use plastic produce bags with paper, and said that still resulted in too much unnecessary environmental damage."My only caution is that we don't see replacing one single-use item with another single-use item as the solution."What we really need is to shift to more circular options - reuseable options."

What started as a small community garden on the Hibiscus Coast has now blossomed into a crew of keen gardeners providing produce for those in need. They are desperate for more spaces to expand, as food insecurity is rising. But council restrictions and a lack of green spaces are holding them back. Round the back of the Whangaparāoa Library lies the community garden, with flower beds and vegetable patches full of seedlings and leafy greens. A group of local homeschoolers and their parents come here twice a week to plant, weed, harvest, cook and eat. Tamarin Pigneguy runs things. She told Checkpoint homeschooling can lack connection, but gardening has filled that void. "We're always looking for a place to connect and gather and come together and connect with the children, with their parents, with the caregivers, to find the place where we can actually share our knowledge and pass that down." The produce is mostly eaten by the group, but what they do not use is donated to the local food bank.It is then used for food parcels and a community dinner every week.They have even trained regular Jed the dog to help with the digging for planting.Just down the road is another garden run out the back of a local resident's house. Tamarin's Mum Dee runs this one. She has been gardening her whole life but community gardens are now her focus. "We really need to look at a big community garden where all those people can come and grow food," she said. "There's not only just a climate emergency, there's actually a food emergency as well. People cannot afford to get good quality, nutrient rich foods straight out of the ground," Pigneguy said. There is little left to do apart from planting some trees and general maintenance. Dee said they have been asking the community to offer up spaces - so there can be more of this. "I have been inundated with people asking me to come and look at their gardens and see if they could set up a backyard community garden, they're trying to set up a backyard community garden in something as small as this."Behind the Whangaparāoa Library lies this community garden with flower beds and vege patches full of seedlings and leafy greens. Photo: RNZ / Nick MonroHans Geese describes himself as the "grunt" of the group tackling jobs like heavy loads in the wheelbarrow. "We have people who know about pruning and people who know at certain plants. "So there's some certain expertise. But of course Dee is the boss, she organises us and tells us what to do."Demand is only increasing, and Hans has another piece of land in mind near Whangaparāoa College. But local councillor Wayne Walker told Checkpoint it is not quite that simple. "Well you need to go through the local board, they control local reserves. The council's going to be concerned about health and safety, things like public liability. They want to know the community garden's going to work, so they're interested in structure. That might involve some kind of incorporated society that people need to set up. "They want to know that it's going to be viable. There are potentially issues around contamination."The group is insisting they're ready now. "They say, 'Oh you've got to tick the boxes'. Excuse me, we're out here already ticking the boxes, showing you how you can do it. And it can be done," Dee said."Which boxes are you talking about? Certainly not the raised garden bed boxes." In the meantime they are on the hunt for bigger places on private land that owners are keen to transform.  

Matakana Link Road - Project update June 2022Construction progress is ramping up on Matakana RoadPower cables are now in place and the intersection streetlights are installed. The temporary traffic management will remain in place for another few months and some overnight road closures are planned to accommodate the tie-in to Matakana Road, including the last stormwater line. These closures are planned for the first two weeks in July and will allow works to continue on the eastern side of the road.All wetland planting is finished and the roundabout at the Matakana Road intersection will be planted out this month. Footpaths continue to be poured, followed by topsoil being placed along the berms to allow planting next month.Pavement works continue this month with the first 400 metres of the Matakana link road now ready for surfacing. The bridge is 90% complete with construction of the barriers and the bridge footpath due to start this month.Matakana Road will be closed at night for constructionA portion of Matakana Road will be closed at night for two weeks, to connect the new Matakana Link Road (MLR) alignment to Matakana Road. Auckland Transport’s Group Manager of Infrastructure Project Delivery, David Nelson, says Wharehine Construction will be carrying out tie-in and pavement works at night to maximize safety and minimize disruption to traffic flows.The work involves changing the traffic management layout so construction work can be carried out on the eastern side of the Matakana link road near the new roundabout. There will be a Stop/Go traffic management system operating during the day between 7am and 7pm, and a signposted detour along Sandspit Road and Sharp Road will operate between 7pm and 7am from Sunday 3 July.“We aim to complete these works as fast as possible and encourage local residents and visitors to the area to plan ahead.”The road closures will be advertised and electronic message signs will be positioned on Matakana Road to promote the planned closures to motorists.Here is the drone footage of the latest update.

Friday - Mostly cloudy. A few showers, clearing this afternoon. Southwesterlies.Saturday - Fine, apart from isolated showers, mainly in the west. Southerlies dying out in the evening.Sunday - Cloudy periods. A few showers, easing in the evening. Southwesterlies.

Corrections has been breaking the law by gassing prisoners in their cells with a potent pepper spray called the Cell Buster, a High Court judge has ruled.The Cell Buster, made by American company Sabre and marketed under the tagline Making Grown Men Cry Since 1975, involves hosing pepper spray into a closed cell to incapacitate the inmate.It was used multiple times against Mihi Bassett and Karma Cripps at Auckland Women's Prison in 2019 in what the District Court earlier ruled was cruel and degrading treatment designed to break their spirit.Bassett and Cripps then took a case against the Attorney-General challenging the use of Cell Buster in New Zealand prisons.Yesterday the Wellington High Court Judge Rebecca Ellis ruled that Corrections regulations in force between 2009 and 2021 failed to properly authorise the use of the Cell Buster pepper spray."The use of Cell Buster in prisons while those regulations were in force was also therefore unlawful."Justice Ellis ruled that Ministers of Corrections over those years did not have enough information to ensure the weapon could be used safely."Ministers could not have been satisfied that the use of Cell Buster would be consistent with the humane treatment of prisoners."The judge said that information put before ministers at times gave the impression that the pepper spray was the same as that used by police - a small canister, worn on the belt, which is drawn and aimed at the face.But the Cell Buster is hosed into a closed cell using a canister similar to a fire extinguisher.In a promotional video, manufacturer Sabre says the Cell Buster produces a fog of pepper spray, "which contaminates the cell and inflames the inmate's respiratory tract".It says that "the coughing and irritation produced by Cell Buster generally results in a much more co-operative inmate".The judge said Cell Buster was a different weapon to standard pepper spray."It follows that it was necessary to authorise Cell Buster as a non-lethal weapon separately from other forms of pepper spray."The Cell Buster was used against Bassett and Cripps in Auckland Women's Prison and deployed by up to six guards in full riot gear.Justice Ellis made it clear that the tactic concerned her."The notion of intentionally and remotely inflicting pain on a prisoner - a vulnerable person by definition - while locked in his or her cell is instinctively unpalatable," she said."It is, perhaps, the ability to deploy Cell Buster in a more calculated and impersonal way - to inflict pain on a person who cannot escape, while observing their suffering from a safe distance - that has the potential to rob the process of its humanity, and the prisoner of their inherent dignity."However, she said it was possible that, in cases where a prisoner was armed or threatening to hurt others, using Cell Buster could be warranted and in those instances it may be more humane than other tactical options.Faced with the legal action Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis got Cabinet approval for new Corrections regulations earlier this year, in an attempt to ensure the use of Cell Buster was legal.But Justice Ellis said the 2022 regulations were not put before her in this case "so I expressly make no formal findings about their lawfulness or otherwise".The Cell Buster was used 27 times in New Zealand prisons between 2016 and 2020.The case is yet another rebuke for Corrections over their treatment of Bassett and Cripps at Auckland Women's Prison.Mihi Bassett (pictured) took a case against the Attorney-General challenging the use of Cell Buster in New Zealand prisons. Photo: RNZ.Cole Eastham-Farrelly/ Vinay RanchhodRNZ reported in 2020 that the women were gassed in their cells with pepper spray, forced to lie face down in their cells before being fed and were unlawfully detained for months in a segregation unit.Bassett's mental health declined and she attempted to kill herself in her cell. In the minutes after the suicide attempt, she was placed in handcuffs and threatened with pepper spray. She was returned to segregation the next day.Corrections issued a rare apology to the women and has promised them compensation.The case also led to a full review of how Corrections treats women in prison. Corrections now says it aims to be a "world-leading centre of excellence for the management and care of women".National Commissioner Rachel Leota said last year the changes would include redesigning Auckland Women's Prison to allow for more recreation time and fresh air and better conditions for pregnant inmates.Corrections would now "ensure mechanical restraints will not be used for women who are 30 weeks or more pregnant, during labour, and while they are in hospital after giving birth".But Leota said Corrections would continue to use pepper spray in women's prisons.

The Rodney Local Board celebrated the successful completion of the Warkworth Community Transport Hub which will open fully for business later this year.Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust, Rodney Local Board members, Auckland Council staff, Auckland Transport staff, Higgins and the Warkworth community attended the official opening. The ceremony included a karakia and whakawātea conducted by Kaumatua Carmen Hetaraka, the planting of a puriri tree with the sod from the project’s earthworks and cutting the ribbon to open the hub.Funded by the Rodney Local Board Transport Targeted Rate and delivered by Auckland Transport, the Hub provides a central space for bus commuters needing to park their cars or bikes, before travelling north to Wellsford, and to Warkworth township for connections to Matakana and the Kowhai Coast, and south to connect to the Northern Busway and Auckland destinations.Local Board Deputy Chair Beth Houlbrooke says the new facility will free up car parks currently used by commuters in the Warkworth township for shoppers and business use and provide overflow parking for locals utilising sports and recreation options at the adjacent Warkworth Showgrounds on the weekends.“An increasing number of residents and ratepayers are taking advantage of local public transport services to get around, and this new facility will make it easier for them to park and ride,” she says.The Warkworth Community Transport Hub at 80 Great North Road features:137 car parks, including 15 short term and four accessible parkinga bus layovertwo immediately adjacent bus stops on Great North Roadfootpathsa signalised pedestrian crossing across Great North Roadtwo toilet blocksbike parkinglighting, andCCTV security.One Mahurangi Business Association co-chair Dave Stott says the new hub facility is multi-faceted and will relieve the pressure on town parking.“People working in Auckland will have all-day parking at the hub and that frees up the town’s retail parking. Over time, people may decide to park here and hop on a bus to go shopping. Buses on layovers will also park here instead of in town. If people embrace these changes and use the hub that will further ease congestion in town.”Ms Houlbrooke says she’s delighted with the result.“The project cost far less than the $5 million originally budgeted for and provides the community with an asset they can use for many years to come.”The Warkworth Community Transport Hub cost $3.7 million to design and construct and is sited on land owned by the local board and previously utilised by a works depot.The Hub will be fully open for business when the two adjacent bus stops and crossing are operational. This is dependent on the NX2 Group completing works in the immediate area.Local bus users will not notice any difference to current bus timetables. The 998 service between Warkworth and Wellsford will include the Transport Hub along its route, and the 995 bus between Warkworth and Hibiscus Coast Station in Silverdale will extend its route to include the new facility later in 2022. The Kowhai Coast bus service routes will remain the same until the Matakana link road route is open to the public.

Events for this weekendFriday 1st JulyThe Great Debate Comedy NightDave Ewart Jr at RSA WarkworthSaturday 2nd JulyFashion Pop Up with Fashion SisterCarving Whakairo – Have a go carving with Joseph Kapea, Eugene WalkerMangawhai Tavern MarketMangawhai School Market The Matakana Village MarketT-Bone – Good ‘n Greasy TourSunday 3rd JulyPoi Workshop in MatakanaEnjoy your weekend!

ENTER OUR LATEST COMPETITION!!School Holiday Giveaway with Annie Mellor from Ray White MatakanaAnnie Mellor from Ray White Matakana is giving away a prize pack for a lucky family during the school holidays.🧒🏼🔖Pack includes:$100 Matakana Books and Pigment Art vouchers 🎨📔$50 family pass to the movies🎞plus some extra goodies thrown in for keeping busy factor! 🍬🍬Competition closes 10th July so hop to it!

The family of five boys killed in a drink-driving accident say a two-and-a-half year prison sentence is far from enough to address the lifetime of suffering they'll endure without their loved ones.Tyreese Stuart Fleming, 20, was the driver and sole survivor of an overloaded car which smashed into a power pole near Timaru last year.The force of the crash split the car in two, instantly killing the five teenage boys in the car.Whānau of those who died delivered victim impact statements at the sentencing in the High Court at Timaru yesterday.Rata Hill, grandmother of 15-year-old Niko Hill who died in the crash, said she read about the accident on social media before she knew who had died.She felt heartbroken for the families affected, and couldn't sleep as she worried for them."I stood in the tears of rain and said 'I'm so sorry you boys died, stay together and comfort one another'."Just after 2.30am I thought families would be finding out their loved one had passed. I thought to myself 'it's okay, my phone hasn't rung'."She said the sadness she had endured since losing Niko had been unbearable."Our lives have changed, I have an emptiness."Police initially charged Fleming with five counts of manslaughter, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charges of dangerous driving causing death in April.The judge also disqualified him from driving for five years.Justice Rob Osborne told the packed courtroom the Crown's starting point of five or six years in prison had been reduced to recognise Fleming's young age and circumstances.He said the regret displayed by Fleming in restorative justice conferences also contributed to the reduced sentencing.Stephen Drummond, father of crash victim Javarney Drummond, said two-and-a-half years in prison meant nothing."I don't think a lot of it to be honest with you, he killed five kids."You choose to drink, and you drive and everything else, it wasn't just pure accident."But lawyer Steve Cullen, who deals regularly with cases involving drink-driving, said it was a relatively normal sentence given the circumstances."It's certainly within the parametres of normal sentencing for this type of offending. The judge has to look at ... the fact that he's dealing with a very young person who's simply being sentenced for an act of carelessness, not deliberate wrongdoing."The vast majority of the populous don't come before the court for charges of this nature, so the people who come before the court tend to be vulnerable, hurting people who've had difficult circumstances in their lifestyle, so the court has to recognise that."Students Against Dangerous Driving general manager Donna Govorko agreed that no sentencing would ever recognise the pain caused to the families."The decisions that were made that day obviously had tragic consequences, and unfortunately these decisions are being made by young men and women daily," she said.She said more education was needed for young people to understand the seriousness of illegal and impaired driving."This is a culture that needs to change within this country, you know we need to start asking ourselves some really serious questions about what do we want as a country to happen."Fleming told the victims' families through his lawyer that he was truly sorry, angry and ashamed of his decisions.

The first lunar mission to take off from NZ has launched successfully.Rocket Lab launched Nasa's Capstone micro-satellite on an Electron rockets from Mahia at 9.55pm tonight. (A month-long launch window opened yesterday, only to see a 24-hour delay for "last-minute system checks".)A small Rocket Lab spacecraft called the Photon will then ferry the microwave-size Capstone toward the moon, and place it in an experimental halo orbit lunar orbit (a lopsided ecliptical path that will take it as close as 1600km to the lunar surface and as far away as 68,260 km).If all goes to plan, Nasa will later put a small space station into the same orbit as a precursor to returning astronauts to the Moon under the US space agency's Artemis programme.The cost of Artemis is stunning - some US$93 billion over 13 years.Rocket Lab's Capstone launch will cost Nasa just $14 million, however, as the Kiwi-American company again seeks to showcase its high-tech but low-cost smarts.This launch is crucial for Rocket Lab because previous Photon has been used as a "space bus" that places micro-satellites into correct low-earth orbit. This will be the first time a Photon has headed to another celestial body.It also marks an increasingly close relationship between Rocket Lab and Nasa.Rocket Lab has a number of projects in the pipeline, including a contract (for an as-yet-undisclosed sum) to design and built two Photon spacecraft that will go into orbit around Mars in 2024, after being carried to the red planet by a Nasa-provided rocket. The mission's aim is to shed light on how Mars lost its once-habitable atmosphere.Rocket Lab also recently won a contract to make a radiation-hardened solar panel array for Nasa's Glide spacecraft, due to launch in 2025.Glide (an acronym for Global Lyman-alpha Imagers of the Dynamic Exosphere) will survey the exosphere, the little-understood outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere).Rocket Lab did not put a value on the Glide contract, but it's part of an ongoing push to diversify its revenue from rocket launches to a lot of business in "space systems" too. And it was possible because Rocket Lab bought SolAero, a New Mexico maker of solar components, for US$80m ($125m) last December - the fourth of a series of purchases of North American space system makers.And Rocket Lab's new Launch Complex 2 in Virginia - soon to see its first launch - sits inside Nasa's Wallops Flight Facility.The Capstone launch comes after a month of mixed fortunes for Rocket Lab's rivals.The Elon Musk-owned SpaceX managed two Falcon 9 launches within 15 hours (a rapid-fire capability Rocket Lab hopes to match with its recently opened second launchpad at Mahia), while a failed launch by Astra destroyed two Nasa satellites.Rocket Lab shares, which reverse-listed at US10 last August and shot to US18.69 the following month, were recently trading at US$4.10.While the Kiwi-American firm recently reported that its forward-bookings had fattened to US$550 million, and that it had won major funding from both the US military ($34m) and the state of Virginia ($69m) in support of its new, much larger Neuron rocket, due for its first launch in 2024, its stock has been caught up in the general Tech Wreck 2.0 downdraft.This story first appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in a US prison for helping disgraced former US financier Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls.Maxwell, 60, was convicted last December of five charges of recruiting and trafficking four teenage girls for abuse by Epstein, her then boyfriend.One of her accusers said outside the court earlier that she should remain in prison for the rest of her life.Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.He had been awaiting his own sex trafficking trial.Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes took place over a decade, between 1994 and 2004.Maxwell, dressed in prison clothes, apologised to the victims.She said she empathised with them and meeting Epstein was "the biggest regret" of her life."My association with Epstein will permanently stain me," she said, adding that she hoped her sentencing would allow the victims "peace and finality".Epstein, who mixed with some of the world's most famous people, killed himself in prison in 2019 as he awaited his own sex trafficking trial.Maxwell has been in custody since her arrest in July 2020, held mostly at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where she has complained of the stink of raw sewage in her cell.The case against the British former socialite has been one of the highest-profile since the emergence of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to speak out about sexual abuse.Annie Farmer, left, and her lawyer Sigrid McCawley arrive at court for the sentencing hearing of Ghislaine Maxwell. Photo: AFPThe judge allowed four women to speak at the hearing, as well as allowing a statement by Virginia Giuffre to be read by her lawyer in her absence.Annie Farmer, the only victim on the indictment to give evidence under her full name during the trial, was the first to speak.Maxwell chose not to look at Farmer throughout her statement, instead choosing to look straight ahead, occasionally sipping water.Farmer had to pause midway through her speech in order to contain her emotions but continued to read her statement to the court in full.Sarah Ransome, right, and Elizabeth Stein arrive at court for the sentencing hearing. Photo: AFP / Getty ImagesSarah Ransome, who did not testify at the trial but was due to give an impact statement, spoke outside court alongside fellow accuser Elizabeth Stein."Ghislaine must die in prison because I've been in Hell and back for the last seventeen years," Ransome said."I was 10 years old when Liz Stein was being trafficked. I was 10. That is how long this sex trafficking ring has been going on for. And it should have just taken one survivor to come forward for us to be taken seriously. It should not have been this hard."During the trial, Farmer and three other women, identified in court only by their first names or pseudonyms to protect their privacy, testified that they had been abused as minors at Epstein's homes in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the Virgin Islands.They recounted how Maxwell had talked them into giving Epstein massages which turned sexual, luring them with gifts and promises about how Epstein could use his money and connections to help them.Maxwell's lawyers have tried to portray their client as a positive influence on other inmates in jail, offering to teach them yoga and help them learn English.Epstein's crimes were first reported in the media in 2005 and he served prison time in Florida in 2008-09 on a state charge of procuring a minor for prostitution.Following numerous lawsuits, he was arrested again in 2019 in a federal case in New York.