New options for investigating and settling historical abuse claims are needed, says legal counsel Simon Mount. Mount told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions last week that change was needed. The commission was in its second and final week of hearings into redress Read more
Assisted dying will not be on offer to Gore Health patients. The health centre’s chief executive officer Karl Metzler has announced it will not be carrying out any end of life procedures. Metzler says Gore Health’s decision was made by its prescribing physicians. Not one of them support the bill. “None of them got into Read more
Palmerston North is still without a new Catholic bishop, a year after the resignation of Charles Drennan. Drennan, the former bishop of the Palmerston North diocese, resigned in October last year after an investigation into a complaint made by a young woman about behaviour of a sexual nature. Cardinal John Dew of Wellington has been Read more
Timaru’s Sacred Heart Basilica is reopening for its first service since closing for earthquake strengthening nearly two years ago. Holy Family Parish priest Father Chris Friel said he and the parishioners were looking forward to Sunday’s mass, the first in the historic building since February 2019. Friel, who was ordained in the ornate church in Read more
The Solicitor-General has fronted up to the Abuse in Care inquiry, telling the Commissioners she was there to explain the Crown’s role but not to necessarily defend it. In evidence from survivors given to the Royal Commission last month there was often criticism of the Crown’s tactics. “Tactics is a word that I perhaps wouldn’t Read more
A man who was abused while in state care has ridiculed apologies given to him by a Crown witness at the Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Continue reading
New Zealand doctors are getting ready to implement the End of Life Choice Act when it comes into force next year. Assisted dying will become legal from 6 November 2021. The preliminary referendum result at last month’s election shows 65.1 percent of voters supported the act and 33.8 percent opposed it. The New Zealand Medical Read more
A Christchurch imam wants France’s president to take a lesson from New Zealand’s response to extremist violence. Imam Gamal Fouda spoke out after two beheadings and the murders of three people at a Catholic church in Nice. The attacks are abhorrent and contradict “the tolerant teachings of Islam and all good human values,” he says. Read more
Concerns about New Zealand’s post-Covid inequalities are piling up. There is disquiet that the monetary response to Covid-19 is fuelling inequality by driving up share-markets and house prices. Recent Stat’s NZ data shows high-spending households are benefiting from zero inflation on the mix of products and services they buy. In contrast, price rises are still Read more
Disabled people live in damper homes, earn less and have fewer social connections, according to a new report. The findings from Stats NZ measure the level of inequality for the one in four New Zealanders who are disabled. It found the median personal income for disabled people aged between 15 and 64 was less than Read more