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Otago Daily Times
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Happy hooker's 100th
Wakatipu Prems' Phil Kingsbury, supported by Bradley Cross, pictured during his 100th game for the side last Saturday. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED Leading the Wakatipu Prems rugby side on to the field for his 100th game, there was no one prouder at the Queenstown Rec Ground last Saturday than hooker Phil Kingsbury. It was made more special when his side then beat Alexandra to qualify for this Saturday's final against Upper Clutha. "Semifinal I reckon is sometimes the hardest — statistically we normally bail out at the semifinal, so it'll be good to go back over to Wanaka and have another crack at them." After studying architecture in Wellington, before later setting up his own building company, Wyndham-raised Kingsbury came to Queenstown in 2016. After playing that year for the Wanderers, he joined the title-winning Prems the following season. Nicknamed 'Sweet Chilli', he says playing rugby makes up just a third of what he likes about the game. "I enjoy the camaraderie and I enjoy the fitness. "There's something about the camaraderie — anyone can drink in the clubrooms but only a select few can drink in the changing rooms, and you build a bond down there and it's something special." As for a playing highlight, Kingsbury singles out taking the White Horse Cup off Upper Clutha in Wanaka last year. He turns 40 late this year, after teammates Paulie Tuala and injured Josh Aperahama-Paenganui also bring up that milestone. "I give them beans that they are as old as the hills and need to give up." As for his own future, Kingsbury — who didn't even play when he was 23 till 29 — says "my wife maybe has other ideas, but I always said I'd like to play as long as I could until they politely ask me to leave". But he admits he might be tempted to pull the pin if Waka pick up the Central Otago title this Saturday, after which he'd happily play for the Wanderers again. And if he did step aside, he says the Prems would still be in good stead as young Thomas Hulsman is "absolutely fantastic". "Like I said in my speech the other night, I realise I'm the ghost of Wakatipu past, but if all I'm there to do is 20 minutes at the end, I'm happy." Wakatipu no.8 Anton Huisman about to dot down in last Saturday's semifinal win at the Queenstown Rec Ground. Heading to Wanaka for this Saturday's final against Upper Clutha, Wakatipu coach Jordan Manihera's delighted with the position his team's in, despite losing to them both times this season — including a 17-6 loss over there just two weekends ago. "We're actually in the most perfect position we can be. "I'm really excited for us as a squad to go in as the underdogs this week, because the last time we went over to Wanaka as underdogs, we took the White Horse Cup off them. "So I think our mindset is we've got nothing to lose and everything to gain." Manihera says despite that recent loss, "there were still some good nuggets in defence and some attack play but we just couldn't finish off opportunities we created for ourselves". He adds he was happy with last Saturday's 26-7 semifinal win over Alexandra, and says despite being 7-6 down at halftime "that's probably the first time we've actually started really well as well". Meanwhile, the Wakatipu Wanderers also play a final this Saturday in the Southland division 3 comp, against Pirates Old Boys, after winning their semifinal against Waiau Star 26-23 in Tuatapere last weekend.
RNZ News
15-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Central Otago Lakes patients forced to travel for hospital treatments
Southern Lakes Health Trust clinical advisor Dr Jez Leftley, health infrastructure specialist Helen Foot and Southland MP Joseph Mooney are among those pushing for a new publicly-run, privately-funded hospital in the region. Photo: SUPPLIED Decades of dramatically misjudged healthcare demand is forcing thousands to travel beyond Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes for hospital treatment each year, including for half of all births, a health group says. The Southern Lakes Health Trust, whose steering committee includes Otago and Central Lakes MPs, mayors and clinicians believed a recent shift in approach from Health NZ could result in a new, local, publicly run and privately financed hospital. The trust wanted public health chiefs to back its plan, acknowledging existing healthcare services were long outstripped by the region's booming growth. The trust's clinical advisor Dr Jez Leftley said Queenstown's Lakes District Hospital was built in 1988 for 4500 people, so its 12 inpatient beds and 10 emergency department beds were not enough for the nearly 80,000 people living in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes. "There's been a recognition amongst clinicians in the area for years the services are severely lacking and we're hugely under-resourced." More than 3000 Central Otago Lakes patients were admitted to Dunedin and Invercargill hospitals last year because of limited local services, the trust said. The trust said 49 percent of planned births in Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago happened outside of the region, not including urgent transfers. About 300 people were transferred from Lakes District Hospital to other hospitals by helicopter in 2024 at a cost of $6.3 million, including visitors injured skiing, biking and taking part in Queenstown's adventure tourism offerings, according to figures supplied by Southland MP Joseph Mooney. Mooney - also on the steering committee - said that could have flow on effects for people in other regions waiting for elective surgeries. "They get, effectively, bounced off the waiting list because of the urgent needs that are coming in from people who have bad injuries. So, it can mean people end up waiting a lot longer for health services in other parts of the broader southern region." Earlier this year the Southern Lakes Health Trust devised a plan to try to fix the region's healthcare woes. The trust wanted Health NZ and the government to consider a new, privately financed, but publicly run "Southern Lakes Hospital". Health infrastructure specialist Helen Foot said it was an outside-the-box solution to an urgent need. "It's partly about getting creative in how you use your workforce and using them in ways where we're not stealing off the public sector to then pay more in the private. "A lot of these private projects are being looked at anyway. People are talking about two potential private hospitals in Wānaka. The whole point of our project is to ensure that those are done in a co-ordinated way that doesn't affect the public system, and actually helps the public system." One of those hospitals was a $300 million, five level, 70-bed hospital proposed by property investor, Roa. The $300 million, five level, 70-bed hospital proposed by property investor, Roa. Photo: Supplied / Roa It said last year it would be seeking fast track consent for the build, east of Wānaka. Leftley said the trust was not talking about a "true" public-private partnership where it would be contracting private services, rather solely hospital infrastructure. Foot said Health NZ was too busy "in the throes of delivering health services" to investigate the opportunities for partnership. "It's not really on them to be doing the connecting and bringing parties to the table. So we decided that's work we could help with." Asked if it would consider a privately owned, publicly-run hospital for the region, Health NZ said it would not make any decisions until the completion of its clinical services planning. In July Health NZ announced it would work on a clinical services plan for the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts. Health NZ said it would study the region's current and projected health needs and report back by December. "This planning will help to determine what future publicly funded clinical services may be required in the area and how they will be delivered across the continuum of care," it said. Leftley said the plan was a long-awaited step forward because Health NZ had recognised Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago's needs separately to those of wider Otago and Southland. "We've needed them to be looking at the planning for the 14 years that I've been here, and they've always just been pushing it off, pushing it off, so to have made that step forward now, to actually committing to looking at this region and looking at what healthcare services we need in this region is huge," he said. Foot said the clinical services plan stopped short of a solution but might help to realise the group's vision. "Our leadership group will be looking at funding and resourcing the plan so that we can get this, keep the momentum going, get this moving," she said. Mooney said the discussion seemed to be shifting from "if" there should be a new hospital to "where and when". Foot said the health struggles of "ordinary New Zealanders" in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes region had long been overlooked. "There's often a lot of comparisons around whether there's deprivation here, whether the community are deserving of health services being close to home - and we do have access to health services - but they're at such distance that it's causing real hardship. "A couple of forums I've been in, clinicians have described the conditions here as 'Third World' in some areas." She said decision-makers had not acknowledged the rapid population growth of Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts, instead relying on whole-of-New Zealand population projections. "The data being relied on was woefully inadequate, frankly," Foot said. She noted Health NZ's 10-year health infrastructure plan released in April did not mention any plans for Queenstown Lakes or Central Otago beyond committing to a new rural health hub in the wider "southern" region. Leftley said waiting a decade before planning a new public hospital could be catastrophic. "If we look at what the population of the Southern Lakes region would be at that stage - we would just fall over. It would be dangerous. There would definitely be some deaths related to not having the facilities in the region," he said. The trust said it was waiting for direct feedback from Health Minister Simeon Brown about the hospital plan and would seek an assurance he would investigate solutions. In a statement, Brown said ensuring health services kept up with population increases in the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago districts was a priority for him. "Earlier this year at the NZ infrastructure investment summit, I made clear that the government was open to all funding and financing proposals that will help us catch up on the infrastructure backlog," he said. "I look forward to receiving Health New Zealand's clinical services plan for the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago once it's completed and reading through its recommendations." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
12-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Late-night earthquake jolt for Central Otago
The earthquake was centred west of Lake Wakatipu, on the other side of the lake from Queenstown, a GeoNet map showed. Photo: People in and near Central Otago have had a late jolt from an earthquake, centred about 30km west of Queenstown. GeoNet said the quake just before 9pm Saturday was measured at magnitude 4.2 and was about 5km deep. An RNZ reporter in the area said it "felt like a small sharp jolt!" More than 2200 people filled out Felt Reports for the quake on the GeoNet site by 9.10pm, with most in Queenstown and Arrowtown. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Otago U18 men second
Otago gave it their all before finishing second at the New Zealand under-18 men's tournament in Timaru on Saturday. Otago were beaten 5-3 by Auckland Blue in the final. After the Aucklanders roared to a 4-0 lead in the third quarter, Otago dominated much of the rest of the game, scoring through Mason Kingan, Charlie Falconer and Fergus Oberlin-Brown. The Otago under-18 women finished 12th on the North Shore with a 4-0 loss to Manawatu. Central Otago won their final game in a shootout to finish 19th. Canterbury A beat Hawke's Bay 2-0 in the final. Meanwhile, the Black Sticks women were beaten 3-0 by the United States in North Carolina yesterday. Otago's Nina Murphy made her international debut. — APL
RNZ News
10-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Australian mining company Santana Minerals buys Otago land for $25 million
Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring. Photo: Supplied An Australian mining company believes it has struck gold on a Central Otago livestock station, buying it for $25 million and promising to employ hundreds of people. Santana Minerals - through its subsidiary Matakanui Gold - has a binding agreement to purchase the 2888 hectare Ardgour beef and sheep station near Tarras to work four historic gold deposit sites. Five years ago. the station delved into horticulture, planting thousands of cherry and apricot trees, but they are on a separate title and won't be affected by the mining. Santana Minerals chief executive Damian Spring said the company is going through the government's Fast Track legislation to get a final sign off and anticipates starting to mine early next year. He said while the legislation aims to accelerate decision-making, it does not override the requirements of the Resource Management Act or other applicable laws. "The collective work undertaken to support the application represents one of the most intensive and comprehensive studies ever conducted on the Dunstan Mountains," Spring said. At the centre of the project is the Rise and Shine (RAS) deposit that Spring claims is the most significant single gold discovery in New Zealand in the past 40 years. Spring said once the station changes hands, the mining will include an open pit mine about 900 metres wide in a circle shape along with underground mining to access deeper extensions of the deposit. He said three smaller pits are also planned. "It has been a great deal of effort to get to this point," Spring said. He estimates the project will employ up to 400 people working 12 hour shifts over the next 14 years. Spring said not all the land is being used for gold mining, and stock will continue to be farmed on parts of the station. "Certainly on the dry land and irrigation pivots - that will continue to be farmed. As part of our due diligence, we will be looking at what farming can continue up in the hill country particularly near our operations," he said. However, Spring adds that sheep tend to shy away from their other mining activities and is mindful it needs to work for both the company and livestock. Spring said when gold mining on Ardgour Station winds down, the land will be reinstated to its original state by planting grasses and native trees along with converting the pit into a lake. Santana Minerals is an Australian company listed on both the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges. Federated Farmers was approached for a response to the station's diversification but said it doesn't comment about who farmers sell their land to. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
