
Run it straight concerns ignored by Government officials before death
Now, documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act (OIA) have shown how

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NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
Kāinga Ora tenants accused of firing gun, threatening assault keep homes despite eviction bids
The tenant allegedly asked the boy: 'Do you want to die? Are you not scared of dying? I'll come and kill you right now.' However, the tribunal adjudicator decided there was not enough proof the man made the threats, despite it being confirmed he was facing criminal charges after police found a firearm at his property. The unsuccessful evictions appear to be speed bumps in Kāinga Ora's new policy of getting tough on state housing tenants. In January, Housing Minister Chris Bishop declared the 'easy ride' for disruptive Kāinga Ora tenants to be over. In March last year, the Government told the public housing provider to abandon its 'Sustaining Tenancies Framework'. That programme first started in 2017 as a pilot in which Kāinga Ora staff were urged to try their best to avoid evicting tenants and instead work with them to overcome their issues. Part of the policy's belief was that evicted tenants could be left with nowhere else to go, potentially leading them to cause more trouble on the streets or cost taxpayers more through poor health and medical expenses. The new Coalition Government argued, however, that disruptive and threatening tenants were causing neighbours to live in fear. They believed the threat of eviction would also 'spark behaviour change', forcing these tenants to behave better. That tougher stance led to a five-fold increase in evictions. A Kāinga Ora spokeswoman said about 85% of all its eviction applications to the Tenancy Tribunal were successful. 'Of the 88 applications we made in the past 12 months, 77 were successful,' she said. However, the Hamilton and Nelson cases showed tribunals weren't rubber-stamping every application. The spokeswoman said the tribunal needed a 'high standard of evidence'. 'While we always aim to meet that threshold, sometimes the evidence we are able to present isn't quite strong enough,' she said. In the Hamilton case, tribunal adjudicator Jenny Robson questioned how reliable the neighbour's evidence was. Robson noted that Kāinga Ora had presented evidence saying the neighbour - who was the grandmother of the teenage boy the tenant was accused of pointing the rifle at – originally gave a statement to police, saying she went outside to confront the tenant. She told police the tenant then threatened to also kill her and shot off more rounds from his rifle. But when Robson asked the grandmother what happened during the confrontation, she replied that the tenant ignored her. 'Her oral evidence was contrary to the statement she had given to the police,' Robson concluded. The woman's grandson also didn't appear at the tribunal, meaning Robson was left to doubt the evidence presented. The tenant himself refused to comment at the tribunal, saying he had pending criminal proceedings. In the Nelson case, the tenant's clean record over four and a half years helped save her tenancy despite her admitting she threatened her neighbour. The drama began when her boyfriend assaulted the neighbour's son on January 9. The boyfriend was bailed with conditions to stay away following the attack, but allegedly returned to the woman's flat within two weeks. When her neighbour called police to report the bail breach, the tenant overheard 'inflammatory language' about her boyfriend and confronted the woman, the tribunal said. The tenant wasn't evicted because his neighbour was found to have given contradicting statements about what he did to police and to the Tenancy Tribunal. Photo / 123rf 'The tenant does not dispute she threatened to assault the neighbour. The video evidence of such a threat was conclusive,' tribunal adjudicator Michael Brennan found. However, he noted that only one of seven neighbours had complained about the woman and she had not had run-ins before this incident. He ultimately decided there were enough mitigating factors to let her off. 'I have given the tenant the benefit of the doubt this time, but she should be clear on how any future repeat behaviours … may not result in the tenancy continuing,' he said. Ben Leahy is an Auckland-based senior journalist. He has worked as a journalist for more than a decade in India, Australia and New Zealand.


NZ Herald
an hour ago
- NZ Herald
Exclusive: More explicit rumours about Tory Whanau – this time from Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson
Whanau, who has no objection to the Herald publishing the video as an example of the abuse she faces, said Williamson's comments 'make me feel sick'. 'It seems to be these older, weird creepy men who speak about me but also others like that. This sexualisation of women in leadership roles is purely intended to dehumanise and reduce us in terms of character.' Auckland Councillor Maurice Williamson spread a sexually explicit rumour about the Wellington Mayor during an Auckland Council committee meeting in 2023. Photo / Brett Phibbs The revelation comes after the Herald obtained an email written by Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung in which he passed on gossip from a neighbour about Whanau having 'tempestuous' drug-fuelled sex on New Year's Eve 2022 and having 'soft pendulous breasts'. This new rumour, like the New Year's Eve gossip, was not true, said Whanau, and was equally able to be proven false. She said the rumours were part of highly-sexualised dialogue aimed at her – and other female politicians – to demean them and undermine their roles. Williamson's comment was captured on the official Auckland Council recording but never made public. The Herald has obtained the key section, in which Williamson makes reference to Whanau allegedly performing a sex act. He has been approached for comment but is yet to respond. The video did not capture the beginning of Williamson's comments because of meeting business, and the end of his comments were indistinct because fellow councillors were trying to shout the former National MP down. As Williamson continued to speak, somebody at the meeting shouted: 'Maurice, Maurice, you better belt up mate'. Independent Māori Statutory Board deputy chairman Tau Henare, who sat in Cabinet as a minister alongside Williamson in the late 90s, can be heard immediately calling a point of order. 'I actually think you should sanction that outburst. We don't have to sit here and listen to [video cuts off].' Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says some people try to sexualise and dehumanise women in leadership roles. Photo / Mark Mitchell Williamson's comments appear to stem from a rumour that ran rampant in late 2023 after Whanau admitted to drinking too much on November 18 at Wellington's Havana Bar. She later said she had a drinking problem for which she would seek help. A rumour emerged on social media claiming a recording existed of Whanau carrying out a lewd act while at the bar. Whanau always maintained the rumour was false, yet it persisted despite 10 witnesses and a bar manager also saying it was false. Whanau said oppressive sexualised commentary about women leaders has increased in recent years. She said former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern, Green MP Tamatha Paul, former Labour Cabinet minister Kiritapu Allan, former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman and Auckland councillor Julie Fairey and others have been targeted. Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says women leaders, such as former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern (centre) and former minister Kiritapu Allan (right), have had to deal with increased sexualised commentary in recent years. Photo / Peter de Graaf 'I'm a woman in leadership, I'm progressive. I want the best for my community and I have the policies to deliver that. So what do these weird men do? They assassinate your character instead.' Whanau said for two years she has had to put up with people calling her 'c***sucker' and saying 'she's probably in the toilets giving another blow job'. Tau Henare called out Maurice Williamson's lewd comments immediately. Photo / NZME She said Williamson phoned her at the time to apologise, but it seemed 'disingenuous'. She claims he talked over her and didn't tell her who he had gossiped with. 'He didn't actually let me speak,' she said. Whanau said she was seeking legal advice on potential action against 'anyone who has helped push any of those false rumours about me' – but wanted a long-term solution. She said part of the problem was social media sites reducing content moderation and community guidelines. 'We need to look at social media reform regulation, we need to look at the Harmful Digital Communications Act – is it strong enough? We need to look at hate speech legislation.' Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa ward councillor Julie Fairey was at the meeting in 2023. When Williamson started speaking, she said: 'I started making a lot of noise trying to drown it out so it's not on the recording because I knew we would then be publishing something untrue and vile and possibly defamatory.' Fairey said the comments made her feel sick. 'A lot of us were in shock. It was completely unacceptable.' She said afterwards she needed to walk off the adrenaline. When Auckland Council was asked for the full video it declined, saying the section in which Williamson's comments were made 'contained inappropriate and offensive content and did not relate to the business of the meeting'. It withheld that section of the video to protect privacy and maintain 'effective conduct of public affairs' by protecting officials and others from 'improper pressure or harassment'. The council said Williamson 'made the comment to someone outside the meeting' and did not realise he wasn't on mute. After he made the comment, a council staff member placed his connection on mute. Councillor Richard Hills, chairman of the meeting, ruled Williamson withdraw his remarks and apologise and asked councillors to stop discussing the matter. He also asked the council chief executive to review the incident. A council spokeswoman said they found 'no further action was appropriate because a direct apology, verbal and in private, was given soon after the incident and Mayor Whanau, through her office, had advised that she did not seek any further action be taken'. The spokeswoman said training was now provided for online meetings. David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Growing alarm about South Australia toxic agal bloom
Australia correspondent Nick Grimm spoke to Melissa Chan-Green about growing alarm in Australia over a toxic agal bloom that has spread along the South Australian coastline. It has created an ecological crisis that threatens to engulf the Albanese government. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.