Two a penny

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War veterans missing out on pensions

By ROB STOCK – Sunday, 15 February 2009

They served their country and now, it seems, many are being short-changed.
A welfare adviser is calling for veterans to come forward and claim entitlements, with estimates that up to 15,000 of those who served in wars and emergencies are missing out.02 a week, depending on their level of disability.
Their New Zealand Super income could be boosted by a war disablement pension of $182.
Many could also switch from NZ Super to the veteran's pension, which offers extra help with costs like medical bills.
That's money which would go a long way towards helping the oldest, those who served in World War II, cope with rising medical bills.
Currently just under 15,000 are receiving the extra help and Auckland RSA pension and welfare adviser Matthew McMillan says that's not good enough. .
McMillan advertised in a local paper calling for veterans to come to him to have their pensions assessed. Overseas experience shows for every veteran claiming entitlements, there are two or three who don't.
Some cases shocked McMillan.
Over two lunchtimes at Auckland's New Lynn RSA last week more than 200 war veterans, mostly WWII veterans, took up the offer. He's riddled with cancer and he's getting bugger all, just NZ Super. "We had a nuclear test veteran come in.
McMillan says it isn't just as a result of ignorance that veterans are missing out."
One 88-year-old McMillan helped recently was managing on NZ Super alone, despite being eligible for a war disability pension, and despite being the main caregiver for his even more disabled wife. They don't want to be seen as bludgers. "A lot of them are hugely proud, and hugely stubborn. It is just what veterans are entitled to."
But he says: "These aren't handouts.
Two years ago Winz started asking retirees applying for NZ Super whether they served in the forces, but only after a three-year battle, McMillan says."
McMillan says little is being done to ensure veterans are getting the entitlements and there is not even a reliable record of who they are. "We are trying to catch them before it is too late," McMillan says.
Now the largest cohort of veterans – those that served in World War II – are dying at a rapid rate.
The commission is reviewing war pensions legislation, but believes the number of those missing out on entitlements may be lower than overseas predictions.
The commission is reviewing war pensions legislation, but believes the number of those missing out on entitlements may be lower than overseas predictions.
Collins says the onus is on veterans to claim war pensions. "If you don't ask for it, you don't get it."

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TAB chiefs face inquiry as bribe claims surface

By TONY WALL and STEVE KILGALLON – Sunday, 15 February 2009

Senior TAB employees are under investigation over allegations they used community money to bribe publicans to secure poker machine money for horse racing. .
The racing board is an independent statutory body which runs the TAB throughout New Zealand, is politically appointed and reports to the minister of racing, John Carter.
He appealed for the Sunday Star-Times' sources to assist their investigation.
Internal Affairs' national manager of investigations, Geoff Owen, confirmed they were investigating racing board employees, Rotorua-based pokie trust First Sovereign and the Waikato Racing Club, and "irregularities in the [racing board] invoicing system".
It is alleged that in some of those cases TAB and pokie trust staff or agents have approached pubs with in-house TABs and offered inducements -including full refurbishments of the premises -if they switch allegiance to the racing-friendly trust.
While the latest inquiry focuses on the Waikato, the Star-Times understands Internal Affairs has spent months investigating cases around the country involving senior TAB figures and other racing-friendly pokie trusts.
A leading pokie industry source said he witnessed such a conversation involving a senior TAB employee.
Sources familiar with the Waikato investigation say it will focus on grants by First Sovereign to the Waikato Racing Club.
Such attempts to influence the flow of pokie money are illegal under the Gambling Act.
The chief executive of the NZRB, Graeme Hansen, said the board discovered a "transaction that looked as though it was out of the ordinary" several months ago and alerted Internal Affairs.
It is understood the inquiry will also look at at least one Hamilton pub, which switched to First Sovereign in 2007 and gained a refit of its TAB. "We're keeping out of the way to allow [Internal Affairs] to go through the proper process, and if there has been anything by our employees we'll respond accordingly.
He said no staff had been stood down."
Hansen said it would be concerning if staff were trying to bribe publicans, but he had seen no evidence of a wider problem."
Hansen said it would be concerning if staff were trying to bribe publicans, but he had seen no evidence of a wider problem."
There is fierce competition between pokie trusts to secure as many pub venues as possible so they can award more grants. I am very keen to determine whether or not there has been any improper application of gaming funds in this case. In that time First Sovereign gave more than $9m -over 50 percent of its total grants -to racing.
Problem Gambling Foundation research shows the racing industry has benefited from $58 million of poker machine grants since 2006.
Mike Brosnan, of Bendigo Valley, said two of his trust's biggest venues, both with TABs, were approached by a a senior TAB employee and a representative of a racing-friendly trust (not First Sovereign) and offered rebuilds, complete with plasma screen TVs, as well as increased commission.
In Otago, two pokie trusts, the Southern Trust and the Bendigo Valley Foundation, have laid complaints with Internal Affairs about approaches to their publicans.
He said the publicans were reluctant to testify about the incident.
"They were quoting refits worth $100,000," said Brosnan."
He said the benefit for a rival trust of taking over a venue could be huge. "The TAB is such a powerful organisation, the publicans are running scared because they could lose their TABs. If the TAB gets four or five of those venues, that's a lot of income going into racing, which in the long run means the schools miss out, the kindies miss out, other sports miss out. If the TAB gets four or five of those venues, that's a lot of income going into racing, which in the long run means the schools miss out, the kindies miss out, other sports miss out."

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Controversial fundraiser returns

– Tuesday, 06 January 2009

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON
CONTROVERSIAL: Fundraiser John Peters in Christchurch.

A controversial professional fundraiser is back selling pens on Christchurch streets for a little-known Canterbury charity that has not spent a dollar of the $20,000 raised.
Since first appearing in in May 2006, he had featured in other newspapers and was criticised in Parliament for his fundraising methods which included sitting in a chair, his legs apparently useless, to give the impression he was disabled.
Former ACT candidate John Peters travels New Zealand selling $20 pens, of which $5 from each goes to charity.
He would not give a card or contact number for the trust's director, saying it could be found on the internet.
When approached by in City Mall on Friday, he said his current charity was the Disabled Children's Trust, for which he had raised $20,000 over the past year.
Williamson has another charitable trust registered under his name called the Hope for Children Charitable Foundation.
However, internet searches found no trace of the trust except on the Companies Office website, which said it had been registered to Christchurch man David Williamson since 2002.
None of the money had been spent and it was sitting in a bank account, he said.
Williamson confirmed Peters' claim that he had raised $20,000 for the Disabled Children's Trust over the past year.
Ferndale School chairwoman Annie Barnes said she had never heard of Williamson and, to her knowledge, the school had never received a donation from him.
He planned to use it to buy wheelchair swings for Ferndale Special School in Merivale, which he said he had donated to in the past through a person he knew there.
"This has just come out of the blue. .
Williamson said he had no problem with receiving just 25 per cent of donations made to the trust and did not have any other way of fundraising before Peters started doing the work. If he's planning to do that, that would be very nice," she said."
He said his other charity, the Hope for Children Charitable Foundation, raised money from local businesses and donated it to several causes, including the Canterbury Charity Hospital and buying "kids laptops".
"He (Peters) came and saw me one day and told me his background and I thought why not give the man a second chance and that's what I'm doing.
Peters said all the negative publicity over the past couple of years was giving people the wrong idea about him.
Hospital manager Lorraine Proffit said she could recall Williamson making a donation, but could not say the amount.
In 2006, Peters was reported as owning a property portfolio worth between $1 million and $1.
One man had physically attacked him after reading an article in the paper, he said.
He confirmed to the in July that his turnover from fundraising was more than $40,000 a year, which required him to register for GST.5m.

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‘Air NZ family’ gathers at Canet beach

– Wednesday, 03 December 2008

Fairfax
SAD GATHERING: Families of the crash victims and Air New Zealand staff hold a simple ceremony, including a waiata, on Canet beach. ‘This will be a special place for the rest of our lives,’ airline chief executive Rob Fyfe said.

Wait for answers may take years

It wasa poignant piece of New Zealand on a Mediterranean beach. All seven people on board died, five of them New Zealanders.
Just five days earlier, an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 had smashed into the Mediterranean Sea seven kilometres off the coast of France. For a short time it was ours.
Canet beach, beneath the snow capped Pyrenees, is better known for its summer influx of the rich and famous.
Relatives of the crash victims and Air New Zealand officials arrived at the beach by bus yesterday afternoon. Citizens paused along the foreshore and on the breakwater to respectfully watch the sad huddle of people. A big squad of gendarmes were there. Remains of three people have been recovered, but hope is slim that the others will be found.
In an eerie moment, an A320 plane flew across, going over the site on the horizon in which the remains of the aircraft, and most of the dead, lie. "This will be a special place for the rest of our lives.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe told the gathering they would all now be connected to the beach."
Cultural adviser Andrew Baker spoke briefly in Maori and then, alone, sang a waiata."
Cultural adviser Andrew Baker spoke briefly in Maori and then, alone, sang a waiata.
As the "Air New Zealand family", as they now like to call themselves, moved from the beach up to the port, some scooped Canet sand into bags. We were all tangata whenua on that beach. The lifeboat crews had been among the first to reach the wreckage last week.
They boarded two volunteer lifeboats and were taken out to sea, to the spot that is now officially a crime scene, to cast flowers on the water.
Earlier, Mr Fyfe and two family members spoke of the losses.
Air New Zealand staff members performed a haka at the site. "I feel I really needed to do it for myself and him, I wanted to bring Murray home," she said, and then her voice trailed away, "but perhaps not".
Emma Gould, of Auckland, who lost her partner Murray White, began to say how important it was to bring Murray home. "I have come to that reality.
Bill Marsh, of Invercargill, whose engineer son Noel Marsh died, said he was accepting that they may return to New Zealand with nothing."
His son had just built a new home in Christchurch and Mr Marsh and his wife were ready last Friday to help the family move."
His son had just built a new home in Christchurch and Mr Marsh and his wife were ready last Friday to help the family move. Then they heard of the air crash and knew Noel had probably gone.
Now their main aim was to take their son home if they could.
Noel's pregnant wife, Tracey, was examining after the couple's two young children and could not come to Canet beach.
"It was her wish that we visit the site."
Mr Marsh said the flight to France had been the longest of his life. It was comfortable and he slept, but like other members of the families "you still have your moments, and at one point we all woke up blubbing our eyes out".
Often, in the past, as others experienced tragedy, he had reflected on how lucky his family was. Then this.
"Losing a son is something different again – you never expect to bury your own children, and that is the hardest thing in our lives."
Last year, Noel had written a long list of things that needed to be done before his family was ready to move into their new home.
At the top he wrote that when he died he wanted his organs donated and his body to be cremated.
Mr Marsh praised the way Air New Zealand had looked after the families.
Ms Gould said she had not hesitated about getting on a plane and coming to France. "What's happened to our guys is a freak accident. On our journey, we did have a few laughs. That was important to me because Murray and I felt the funny side of life. Murray was always smiling."
Most of the photos she had of Murray and herself had been on his laptop computer which went down with the plane.
"As my brother pointed out, the photos have gone with Murray. .
Like the Marsh family, she and her partner had been building a home and were close toly ready to move in.
"I've lost parents, but I did not expect to be on my own at 34 like this. I've got a long and lonely road ahead … I am gutted that I've lost my soul mate, that my stepson has lost his father, who was his ultimate, my kids have lost out on a step father.
"Murray's parents have lost a special part of their unit. I am not angry, yet. I probably will be, at some stage."

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Quick action saves toddler

By ALICE COWDREY Monday, 01 December 2008

MARTIN DE RUYTER/
LITTLE HERO: Ciarna Epiha’s alert saved Degan Broker from drowning.

The actions of a quick-thinking Nelson five-year-old girl helped to save a toddler's life.
Ciarna said she quickly ran inside to alert Degan's mother Cindy Broker, who had gone indoors to answer a phone call.
Ciarna Epiha, who attends Stoke School, was playing outside at a friend's house on Saturday when she found 18-month-old Degan Broker in an old bathtub used as a tadpole pond in the garden.
She pulled him out of the water and hit him on the back, and he vomited and started screaming and coughing.
Mrs Broker ran outside to find Degan on his back with water covering his face, his body floppy and his arms "flailing around". . Mrs Broker rushed him to Nelson Hospital's accident and emergency department, where he was checked and given the all-clear."
She hoped that other parents would realise just how quickly things could happen.
"He would have been dead if (Ciarna) didn't tell us.
She had talked to Ciarna about accidents, and said she had good common sense.
Ciarna's mother Letitia Friend said her daughter did not seem too fazed by her heroics and was more interested in telling her about Saturday's Richmond Santa parade.
"She is my little hero.
"I had told her, `If you see something bad happening, you find an adult and tell them straight away'."

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Fire leaves woman homeless

Monday, 17 November 2008

Investigators are still trying to determine what started a fire that gutted an 80-year-old house, leaving the tenant homeless and incinerating all her possessions.
Perched on the top of the western hills in Maungaraki Rd, Korokoro, overexamining Hutt Valley, the house was ravaged by the fire on Saturday afternoon.
Her brother, Daniel, 21, was surveying the burnt-out shell yesterday, and said that she had no idea as to the cause.
Tenant Paula Carswell was out when it started and returned home to find the building ablaze."
Most of her belongings had gone up in smoke and she was staying in a hotel provided by her insurance company, Mr Carswell said. "Nothing was on, no ovens or anything. "These things happen, you never know what is around the corner.
Owner Ron McMillan said he was upset at the loss of the house but thankful no one was hurt."
The three-bedroom house was built in the "late 20s or early 30s" by Mr McMillan's grandfather. It's just one of those freak things, who knows what [the cause] was. . "I was born and bred there, and so was my father.
The fire service was alerted just before 2.
"The fire spread through the interior [of the house] and caused extensive damage," a firefighter said.
Seven fire engines and police attended the fire, which was brought under control by 4pm.30pm on Saturday and the fire was "well involved" by the time firefighters reached the scene, a spokesman said.

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Motor racing figure in fatal Corvette crash

Friday, 07 November 2008

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SPORTS CAR SMASH: One man is dead after a high-powered sports car crashed into a power pole on Frankley Rd, south of New Plymouth yesterday. The driver of the vehicle, believed to be local race car builder Murray Gordge, survived the smash.
The identity of the dead man has not been released but the driver is believed to be New Plymouth race car builder and speedway driver Murray Gordge.

A man is dead and a well-known race car builder is in hospital after a $150,000 sports car hit a power pole on the outskirts of New Plymouth yesterday.
The car smashed into a concrete power pole, flipped and came to rest in the driveway of a house on upper Frankley Rd, south of New Plymouth.
He was known to have recently imported the high powered C6 Corvette.
Power was cut to a wide area of New Plymouth after the crash.
The car, still with its dealer plates, hit the power pole with such force it was ripped from the ground and snapped in two.
Mr Gordge is well known throughout New Zealand for designing and racing modifieds – dirt track vehicles recognisable by their oversized roof-mounted aerofoils.
Sergeant Michael Aro of the New Plymouth police said the serious crash unit would be attending the scene earlier today.
Following the crash power was cut to around 2000 houses in New Plymouth. .20pm, approximately two hours after the accident. It was restored to all but six of those houses by 7.

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Nelson man jailed for attacks on Asians

Thursday, 06 November 2008

A Stoke man convicted of an attack on two Asians has been jailed for nine months.
David James McBain, 23, unemployed, appeared for sentencing in the Nelson District Court on Tuesday having admitted charges of careless use of a motor vehicle, assault, driving with excess breath-alcohol, obstruction of justice and threatening behaviour.
Judge Chris Tuohy said that at 11am on June 8, McBain was at the Shell service station in Rutherford Street, Nelson.
McBain raised his fist at the victim and continued to abuse him until an associate pulled him away. A 25-year-old Asian man was pumping up his car tyres when McBain approached him in an aggressive manner, abusing him.15pm the same day, McBain was driving in the carpark of Nelson's Countdown supermarket.
At 6. He drove towards a pedestrian crossing, where another Asian man was standing with two friends. He followed them and swerved towards them, attempting to pin the victim against a wire mesh fence. Judge Tuohy said McBain slowed down and yelled abuse at them. He ran off with his friends.
The man was struck by McBain's car and was thrown against the fence.
McBain was caught by police after crashing his car at 8. .20pm.20pm.
Judge Tuohy said it was "disgraceful behaviour" and it was essential the court denounced the offending because of its racial undertones. The legal limit is 400mcg.

. He sentenced McBain to nine months in jail, and disqualifying him from driving for nine months

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Second arrest over tourist robbery

– Tuesday, 04 November 2008

Police have arrested a second man in connection with the gunpoint robbery of four tourists in the Far North last week.
A 23-year-old Auckland man was arrested in Dargaville yesterday, and will face a charge of aggravated robbery.
The rental van belonging to the Irish tourists was stolen in Dargaville by two men allegedly armed with a long-barrelled firearm, and possibly a pistol at about 12.
A 26-year-old man was arrested in Auckland last Thursday, and appeared in the Manukau District Court on charges of aggravated robbery and arson on Friday.
Police said the Irish men were "absolutely terrified" when the weapons were produced and their van was taken.30am on October 27.
The two male offenders drove off in the van which had a substantial amount of property inside, including generators and water blasters.
Sergeant Jonathon Tier said the four men initially refused to hand over the keys but changed their minds when the weapons were produced.
Police said an attempt to destroy the rental van by igniting the driver's seat was made, but the fire failed to take hold. .
The New Zealand Herald reported that the Irishmen may have been connected with Australian-based traders selling questionable goods from rental vans
The tourists have left New Zealand.
Police say some of the property has been found, and they are not examining for anyone else in relation to the robbery.

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Trust trying to sell Centrepoint’s soul say critics

By KAREN ARNOLD – Sunday, 26 October 2008

The lastremaining land once owned by the Centrepoint Community Trust is for sale, raising fears it could be bought by developers.
Felicity Goodyear-Smith, a spokeswoman for former members and residents, says the 7.
The Public Trust has administered the property for the past seven years as trustee of the New Zealand Community Growth Trust which was established after the Centrepoint Trust and commune fell apart.6ha bush-clad Albany property – which had a $4 million valuation in 2005 – was a jewel on the North Shore that could fall into private ownership.
Bayleys Realty Group sales consultant Nigel McNeill said the nature of the property and buildings opened up a huge range of potential uses.
At its height, more than 200 people lived there but it closed in 2000, soon after founder Bert Potter was released from a nine-year jail sentence for child abuse.
"Substantial infrastructure such as roading and bridges, have been installed over the years to create the basis of a very well serviced communal living setting.
Less than 40% of the land area had been cleared and the site included a large kitchen and dining area, recreational building, swimming pool complex, full-scale professional pottery studio with gas- fired kilns, dance/music/art studios, six wood and metal workshops, a creche and residential accommodation blocks.
"Alternatively, we envisage the land could be developed into a luxury hotel, health centre or retirement village."
McNeill said target market buyers included tertiary education providers, cultural groups, art patrons, adult education organisations, religious groups, larger community organisations, and environmental groups.
The site was the last remaining "exquisite" piece of land on the North Shore."
Goodyear-Smith said that would be the worst outcome, not only for those who had lived there, but for the wider Auckland community.
Former members had sold all their possessions and gifted the money to the Centrepoint community trust which was set up in 1977. Apart from its environmental value, it also had an emotional value for the people who had been part of the Centrepoint community, she said."
About 70 babies had been born there and their placentas had been buried in a special area. "They expected to live there forever.
"For the last couple of years our group [the Mills Lane stakeholders] has tried to get this land into public ownership. Other people had had their ashes spread at Centrepoint.
Public Trust spokesman Simon Dixie said several potential private buyers had inquired about Centrepoint during the past year, prompting it to promote the property to a wider market "to ensure a robust process aimed at achieving the best result for the trust". . "Ethically, this land belongs to New Zealand.
But Goodyear-Smith said her group was "disturbed" the Public Trust wanted to sell the property for the highest price although she acknowledged it had the legal right to do so.

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Tenders close on December 4