Two a penny

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LATEST:
One person has died and another is critically injured following an accident near Waihi as thousands of holidaymakers make the great homeward trek this evening.

Police are also reporting heavy traffic north of Wellington following an accident which has blocked the north bound lane on State Highway 1 near Waikanae.

The Labour Weekend road toll stood at six this evening – two more than for the whole the holiday last year.

The road toll rose to six late this afternoon after a vehicle rolled on State Highway 2 near Woodlands Road in Waihi.

Many of the country’s main highways are busy with returning Labour Weekend holiday traffic, police say.

SH2 is blocked with traffic being diverted southbound onto Woodland Road and northbound onto Old Tauranga Road.

Two of the eight occupants in the vehicle were airlifted to hospital – one has since died and the other is in a critical condition.

Meanwhile the woman who died after she was struck by a bus north of Wellington this morning had missed the bus and was trying to catch up with it, police say.

Porirua police Sergeant Ron Walker said the woman died at the scene after she was hit by the bus full of passengers on Lyttleton Ave in Porirua at about 8.

The death brought the holiday weekend road toll to five so far – at least one greater than Labour Day weekend last year, when four people were killed.

“It appears this woman missed the bus and had run alongside it and tripped and fell,” he said.25am.

A motorcyclist died near Greymouth yesterday after crashing into a bridg e on State Highway 6 at Coal Creek.

Emergency services were at the scene and the road between Walton Leigh Ave and Parumoana St was cordoned off while police investigated. .

The rider was travelling with a group of friends and speed may have been a contributing factor, police said.

A car crossed the centre line on State Highway 1 at Five Mile Bay and collided with a four-wheel-drive vehicle shortly before 3pm.

Two women were killed in a head-on crash near Taupo on Saturday.

The driver escaped with only minor injuries.

The car’s 79-year-old driver died at the scene while the 53-year-old passenger of the four-wheel-drive died shortly after she was taken to Taupo Hospital.

He was 16-year-old Tod Woodman of Richmond.

Meanwhile, police have named the man who was killed when a four-wheel-drive rolled into a river off the Maungatapu Track in Nelson’s Maitai Valley yesterday, injuring two others.40pm by one of the vehicle’s occupants, who ran from the scene to get help.

Emergency services were alerted to the crash at 5.

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BREAKING NEWS:
Two former escort agency owners have been found guilty of raping a teenager who went on to become an underage prostitute in their stable.

A jury in the High Court at Wellington today found Gary John Duffin and Sharyn Lee Hills guilty of rape, but acquitted them on two charges of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection which alleged oral sex with Hills. .

Duffin, 54, is the biological father of Karla Cardno, a 13-year-old Lower Hutt girl, abducted, raped and murdered in 1989.

Both were remanded in custody for sentencing on November 13, when they will also be sentenced on 10 charges of supplying cannabis to three people under the age of 18, to which they pleaded guilty partway through their trial this week.

As well as the guilty verdict on the rape charge Duffin was found guilty of two indecent assaults on thegirl aged 14 or 15.30pm.

The jury considered itsverdicts for five and a half hours, delivering them at 5.

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User-focused ICT interest groups hailed the government’s broadband announcement today, with one saying it represented a “fundamental” break from the past.

“This ushers in the biggest and most fundamental change to telecommunications in New Zealand since the privatisation of Telecom 20 years ago,” TUANZ CEO Ernie Newman said in reaction to the news.

“The paper builds very constructively on the work done previously,” Newman says. It is an excellent blueprint on which to build. “It takes into account most of the key issues raised in submissions, and sets a timetable with milestones.

“By dealing up front with competition issues related to fibre investment, and incorporating them in the design of the commercial structures, it should be possible to minimise the regulatory intervention that has been an unfortunate but necessary feature of the copper and mobile markets,” Newman says.”

TUANZ says it is especially pleased with the balance between investors’ need for a predictable regulatory regime and user demand for a competitive market.

“It is interesting that New Zealand and Australia are on parallel tracks and are ahead of many western countries, a fact that reflects the added value of connectivity to countries that suffer inherently from geographic isolation,” Newman says.

“This is a world-leading programme that can be expected to deliver the infrastructure New Zealand needs,” spokesperson Jordan Carter says.

InternetNZ also welcomed the plan, saying it is “delighted” with today’s announcement of a regionally-based approach to investment.”

TUANZ is now asking for more focus on the creation of new on-line content to encourage maximum early uptake of high-speed broadband.

“Steven Joyce and the Government have put in place a framework that over time can deliver a widespread fibre rollout across urban New Zealand. .

It says the benefits of investment will come through in health, education, business productivity, telework, government services, security, environmental management “a host of other components of people’s economic and social well-being”

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The opera world is about to lose one of its brightest stars, New Zealand’s Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. .”(Cologne) will be my last,” the 65-year-old told Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday.She plans to perform her operatic swansongs in New York in February and the German city of Cologne in April.”I think certainly our voices change; opera is mainly for young people.”It’s not as if I want to do it on a regular basis now, because it’s exhausting.In New York, she will take on the role of the Duchess of Krakenthorpa in Donizettis La Fille du Regiment at the Metropolitan Opera.”For her final performance in Cologne, Dame Kiri will play the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss.She said while many people had believed she had retired, this was not the case.Dame Kiri, who performed at Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981, has not sung opera since she sang in Samuel Barbers’ Vanessa at the Los Angeles Opera in 2004.”I have not been singing opera very much but I still sing a lot of concerts.”The press retired me,” she said.”I’m extremely busy with all sorts of things,” she said.”Dame Kiri said she had no plans to give up singing and would continue to tour, with shows planned in Sydney, Beijing, Spain and the United States later this year. – AAP

.Dame Kiri plans to bring three of her students from the Solti Academy and Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation to London to perform alongside her at the Tower of London in September

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More people want to buy houses but fewer are selling, even as property values show signs of picking up.

Latest figures from Quotable Value show houses around New Zealand grew in value by an average of 0.4 per cent during the last quarter – compared with a 2.

The average sale price rose to $378,535 in June, about $7000 higher than the May average but was still down 7.1 per cent fall in the previous quarter. That was an improvement on April’s 9.1 per cent on the same time last year.2 per cent year- on-year fall.

“The market is more stable.

QV Valuations spokeswoman Glenda Whitehead said sales volumes were approaching more normal levels.”

She said a general deficit of properties on the market was noticeable as lower interest rates had let homeowners re-fix mortgages. Decreases in property values over the past 18 months, combined with historically low mortgage interest rates, have led to improved optimism and encouraged more buyers back into the market. .

“This has either eased financial pressures so they no longer need to sell . . .5 per cent for the year to June – an improvement on the 7.”

Wellington

Property values in the Wellington region declined by 6.

QV Valuations spokesperson Pieter Geill said the stable prices reflected a similar “undersupply”.4 per cent decline reported in May. At times this is resulting in much healthier prices compared to late last year and early this year.

“There appears to be a surplus of buyers over vendors, which is attracting multiple offers on some properties.”

A QV online survey also showed mixed sentiment about the future of the housing market. It is very hard to generalise this across the whole market however, as competition amongst buyers is inconsistent. .

While the number of people who believed the worst of the decline was over and now was a good time to buy, a smaller group still thought more plunges were on the horizon.

Auckland

Auckland’s annual change improved to a 5.

Auckland

Auckland’s annual change improved to a 5.9 per cent year-on- year drop and Dunedin’s decline was only 4.5 per cent.

Tauranga was the only main centre to keep declining over the period.

In the provinces, Whangarei, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth and Palmerston North all improved but values kept falling in Wanganui.

Christchurch

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Fraudsters are offering passports in the name of the Maori Party, party co-leader Pita Sharples said tonight.

The Maori Affairs Minister said he had been told that meetings have been called, targeting Pacific Island communities, “by crooks claiming to represent the Maori Party”.

“We know of meetings at Manurewa marae and in Hamilton, where over a thousand people turned up, and there may be others.

“The group calls itself Hapu Tino Rangatiratanga Atawhai Whangai,” he said.

“This is a scam.

“My electorate representatives have succeeded in closing down one meeting, but we have been told that some people have already paid $500 each for a fake passport or a visa for overstayers,” Dr Sharples said.”

Dr Sharples warned people not to pay money to anyone for a passport, except the Internal Affairs Department’s passports division. I have alerted the police, and if anyone else hears of any such meetings, they should call the police straight away.

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Liquor ad restriction bill fails

– National Homepage –

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New Zealand is about to be shamed by a high-profile international human rights group that says we are not doing enough to turn around our horrific record on domestic violence.

The report from New York’s prestigious Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice will be presented to the government on Tuesday.

The authors, all international human rights experts, have made 27 recommendations, focusing on:

* improving the way we monitor domestic violence

* providing greater support for victims and offenders after violence happens, and

* doing more to protect Maori women in particular. But the Sunday Star-Times can reveal it identifies numerous weaknesses in our domestic violence laws and policies.

The Leitner Centre group picks one human rights issue to scrutinise every year.

“More can and ought to be done,” says lead researcher Jorge Contesse.

Last week Contesse pointed the finger at the New Zealand government, telling the Star-Times: “Under international law the government must do all it can to prevent domestic violence and punish such acts and if they don’t do everything possible to prevent such violence occurring they are in effect responsible. .

However: “Maori women are much more at risk of being assaulted or threatened by a partner.”

Contesse says Maori women should be triply protected by the Treaty of Waitangi, international codes for indigenous peoples’ rights, and more generic international human rights conventions…”

Offending remained “surprisingly high”, despite significant efforts to reduce it in recent years. meaning, the NZ government is particularly failing Maori women in respect to domestic violence. They say family violence affects a third of all women during their lifetime and that 45% of murders in New Zealand are family violence-related.

Police statistics show a 15% increase in the number of family violence incidents and offences in 2007-08, with more than 86,000 reports made. The report, by a newly-formed local group called the Roundtable of Violence Against Women, says certain types of violence and victims are being overlooked.

Meanwhile, a second report calling for an overhaul of systems to keep women and girls safe is being presented alongside the New York findings.

It also highlights the “serial abuse” of many immigrant women, saying both Women’s Refuge and the Shakti Community Council have evidence that men are using women’s residency status to exploit them and keep them in abusive relationships. This includes prostitutes who come from countries known for trafficking, such as Korea, Thailand, Eastern Europe and the Philippines. She hopes the Leitner report and her group’s demands will “flush the government out to make a stand on what they’re going to do about it.

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Domestic violence researcher and spokesperson for the Roundtable, Ruth Herbert, says we need to do much more than run a few television campaigns to keep women safe… This is not something we can keep hidden the world is watching. This is not something we can keep hidden the world is watching.”

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Simon Power said he wouldn’t comment until after he had seen the report but added that the issue of domestic violence was a priority for the new government and one of the first bills the government sent to select committee was legislation to enable police to issue on-the-spot protection orders.

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The grieving mother of police officer Derek Wootton believes her son’s killer got away with murder.

Andrew Popo, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the High Court at Wellington yesterday, following a defence offer to resolve the case.

Mr Wootton’s mother, Cath, was not in court to hear the guilty plea, but reacted angrily to the deal reached by prosecutors and Popo’s lawyers.

Popo was driving a Honda Prelude that hit the 52-year-old Porirua police sergeant early on July 11, killing him instantly. I don’t care what anybody says, it was murder,” she said.

“What happened to Derek was murder.

“I will go for what is right, and in the circumstances, this is right,” Porirua Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Oxnam said.

However, the lead investigator in the case said the result was “the appropriate outcome”.”

Mr Wootton was struck by the car while laying road spikes in Dimock St, Titahi Bay. “The correct decision has been made.

Popo also pleaded guilty to injuring a man and unlawfully taking his car in Tawa, and driving while disqualified.

The Crown alleged that the car, taken by Popo from another man the night before, had been travelling at up to 150kmh during the police chase that led to the tragedy.

Crown prosecutor Grant Burston said Popo’s lawyer, Christopher Stevenson, had proposed a resolution of all but the kidnapping charge and that had been accepted. He still faces a charge of kidnapping a teenager.

Mr Wootton’s fiancee, Bronwyn Hewitt, was told of the plea deal on Monday.

Justice Alan MacKenzie agreed to the murder charge being reduced to manslaughter under a Crimes Act provision to allow changes “conducive to the ends of justice”. “Nothing is going to change. She said Popo’s manslaughter plea was “a bit of a shock” but was relieved she did not have to sit through a trial. In the back of my mind I knew it was going to be hard to prove [murder] and had been told that. It’s still not going to bring Derek back. . I just left it up to the experts.”

Mrs Wootton said the case had left her feeling cynical. “I was hoping that not only for the rest of the police, that do their job every day, I was hoping that we might have set a precedent. “We have had more than our share of sadness. “We have had more than our share of sadness.”

Popo will be back in court on April 20 for a sentencing date to be set.

FAMILY SAYS POPO DIDN”T MEAN TO KILL

The family of Andrew Popo say he never meant to kill anyone and they will support him in prison.

Popo’s uncle, Popo Su’a, said yesterday that his nephew should not have been charged with murder for killing Porirua police sergeant Derek Wootton.

Popo’s plea of guilty to manslaughter was “best for him”, Mr Su’a said. “It wasn’t something he did on purpose. It wasn’t murder.”

Mr Su’a, a minister of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, said: “What happened saddens me, not only for him but also for the police officer’s family. But I believe it wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t his fault, in a way.”

Several members of Popo’s family were in court yesterday, and Mr Su’a said the family would stand by him.

“We are all working to help him and support him during his life in prison. We will be working towards trying to get him some counselling, to make him see what he has done.

“I hope for a change of his life. He’s got a lot in front of him. We all love him.”

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Power price to jump again

– Wednesday, 04 February 2009

Meridian Energy customers are being hit with their second power price rise in six months, an increase the Government calls "ludicrous".
From March 15, prices will rise 7 per cent for customers in Canterbury and Dunedin.
The giant state-owned power generator and retailer is lifting prices around the country by an average 6.
There are about 114,000 Meridian customers in Canterbury and 210,000 nationwide.5 per cent. The announcement comes less than a week after Meridian stopped spilling vast amounts of excess water from overfull southern hydro lakes.
Meridian increased its prices by 6 per cent last September, with 3 per cent price rises in September 2006 and 2007.
Meridian spokeswoman Claire Shaw told the energy company had tried to keep the increase as low as possible.
The amount the power deficit cost the state-owned enterprise would be known after its financial report to Government shareholders next month. It was not an attempt to recover costs after last year's winter power deficit but reflected the long-term cost of introducing new generation, she said.
"I can tell you I'm not happy about it," he said.
Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee said last night he had "expressed disappointment" to Meridian when told of the impending price increase. It's ludicrous.
"Meridian needs to explain to customers why, at a time when the lakes are so full that they have to spill water over the top, and the cost of their `fuel' for generation is basically zero, they are having to put their prices up."
There were some fundamental problems with New Zealand's electricity market that were now being studied, he said."
There were some fundamental problems with New Zealand's electricity market that were now being studied, he said. It is way, way more than the rate of inflation.
"I don't think it is justified. Is Meridian's lavish advertising programme necessary for a power company? Is the salary structure for their very top people appropriate? They should look at pruning spending before they expect consumers to pay more. The public would expect a publicly owned company, when people are losing jobs, to look at pruning their costs.
"We are aware that it's not going to be welcome news."
Shaw said Meridian customers should be notified of the rise from today."
Meridian was still the cheapest electricity retailer in Christchurch, she said. Anybody who can't pay their bill, or who is struggling to pay, they can contact us through our call centre and we can help. "We are worried about the impact of power price increases on older people on fixed incomes and also those with less income available from the decrease in interest rates from investments.
Christchurch Age Concern chief executive Stephen Phillips said 7 per cent was a "horrendous" increase.
MERIDIAN FACTS
Meridian Energy pay and profits:
PAY
Meridian chief executive Tim Lusk's salary band lies between $1.
MERIDIAN FACTS
Meridian Energy pay and profits:
PAY
Meridian chief executive Tim Lusk's salary band lies between $1.4 million and $1.41 million.
204 Meridian employees earn $100,000 or more a year and 28 earn above $200,000 annually.
RECENT PROFITS
2007-08: $128.6 million.
2006-07: $199.8 million.
2005-06: $856.8 million (includes gain from sale of Southern Hydro in Australia).
2004-05: $218.2 million.
2003-04: $132.9 million. .

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Loving Lucy: her family’s fears and faith

By SUSAN PEPPERELL – Sunday, 04 January 2009

When LucyLaws' hair started growing back it came out curly and copper-coloured.
Before she was sick it was blonde and straight, but the curls have delighted her father Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws who was similarly adorned at one stage.
Lucy, however, just wants her curls to grow quicker. One day she was fine, the next she was running a fever so high she had to be flown from Wanganui to Auckland's Starship by Lifeflight, an emergency medical plane.
It is 10 months since four-year-old Lucy first got sick.
Her odds of survival were put at 10%; one doctor told her parents divine intervention was the only thing they could count on.
Then came the devastating diagnosis: not only did Lucy have leukemia, she had also contracted a rare fungal infection in her lungs and had acute pneumonia.
Lucy lived.
"I remember her sitting bolt upright in her hospital bed when she was so sick and saying `I'm not going to die Daddy'. Her dad says there were three things that saved her: prayer, the skill of Starship's clinicians and Lucy herself. It was a remarkable occurrence. Then she lay down again and went straight back to sleep.
He was born three months ago; the latest addition to a busy household which includes Laws, his partner Leonie Brookhammer, Ella, 16, Noah, 11, Lucy and Zoe, two."
Lucy turned four the week before Christmas her dad had promised her a trip to New York to see the musical The Little Mermaid but a baby named Theo put paid to that.
Laws says it was fair to say another child was "not something we joyously contemplated" and that last year the couple decided they would simply "batten down the hatches and get to the end".
Laws says it was fair to say another child was "not something we joyously contemplated" and that last year the couple decided they would simply "batten down the hatches and get to the end".
He and Lucy were the same age and even looked alike with the same big eyes and facial features, says Laws. Oliver, a child Lucy had become friendly with during her initial stay at Starship's oncology ward, died.
It was Oliver's death that brought Laws to tears for the first time since Lucy was first diagnosed. Lucy now talks of him as "being with the angels". That's the thing about these kiddies, there's nothing you can do about it.
"It's just so unfair. You are seeing the person you most love in the world in such pain and it makes you feel so helpless. You are simply there as an observer. "I don't expect to understand how it works but we are lucky."
Laws says the experience has enabled him to rediscover his faith. Her drug regime is substantial. Her drug regime is substantial. Every day she takes three chemotherapy drugs administered orally by syringe. The medication is so potent her parents must use rubber gloves and discard the syringe after use. One of the doses must be given about 1am.
Once a month she goes to Wanganui Hospital for an injection into a small port implanted under her skin at the bottom of her rib cage. The port has already been shifted once when it became infected. This is the most painful procedure for Lucy. On top of that, every six weeks she returns to Starship for a lumbar puncture, carried out under general anaesthetic.
This will continue for two years. It means her immunity is compromised so her temperature must be monitored constantly. Too high and she must go to hospital. That happened on Christmas Eve. And just last week younger sister Zoe was diagnosed with glandular fever so the watchful eye is now that bit more intense.
Ask Brookhammer how she feels about the future and she admits to simply being very tired.
"I was hoping to wake up on January 1 reinvigorated but to be honest I'm just tired.
"I'm hopeful things are going to be OK. Despite everything last year being so bad we did come through, Lucy did get better. It wasn't as bad as I imagined it could be."
She reserves a special thanks for the people who sent cards and gifts for Lucy, most of whom they have never met.
"I'll never forget it. ."