The Front Page podcast: Fire service vows to stamp out bullying, racism

Racism, sexism, and severe threats of violence are part of a bullying culture in Fire and Emergency New Zealand, says a new report into the organisation. Photo / File

Each weekday The Front Page keeps you up to date with the biggest news in New Zealand. Today it's bullying and racism uncovered in our fire service, the Prime Minister uses her time overseas to give Google a rap on the knuckles, yet more shenanigans from the tourists from hell, and the possibility of a zipline from Rangitoto. Hosted by Frances Cook.

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Racism, sexism, and severe threats of violence have all been uncovered as part of a bullying culture in Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

A new report into the organisation says bullying and harassment often came from the very highest levels of the service, including from fire chiefs who called people racial names.

One person said the bullying and harassment was "almost insidious".

Others said they'd witnessed team leaders making sexist, racist, homophobic and transphobic comments openly with no repercussions, while others said they were belittled or threatened with violence.

The review found many staff experienced serious psychological impacts such as stress, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts and intentions.

Almost half of the respondents (45 per cent) reported witnessing or experiencing bullying or harassment, and 69 per cent of it was likely to be perpetrated by a colleague senior to the target.

Chief Executive Rhys Jones says they've found a clear need to change behaviour.

He says they'll attempt to re-educate people first, but those who can't change, will need to leave.

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is overseas, and is using one of the events she's attending to let Google know it can't be breaching court suppressions.

There were worries last year that the murder case for Grace Millane would be jeopardised, after Google sent out an email on trends, which inadvertently named the murder accused.

The man has name suppression, and breaching that could be a risk to the upcoming trial.

Justice Minister Andrew Little met with Google executives late last year to discuss the issue.

Today, Ardern attended a dinner with Google executives in Davos, where she told media she planned raise the issue again with company executives.

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Another thing our Prime Minister has raised while she's overseas - Jacinda Ardern says from now on, if a minister wants more money for their budgets, they need to show how it will improve wellbeing.

Speaking on a panel discussing the role of GDP as a measure of wellbeing at the World Economic Forum, Ardern challenged her ministers to put wellbeing at the heart of their budget bids.

Ardern spent much of her time at the forum explaining why her Government was introducing a wellbeing budget this year – a world first.

She gave the example that the Minister of Health might want to work with the Minister of Child Poverty for interventions that would make a difference 30 years down the track.

The wellbeing budget will be released in May, and will measure and report a broader set of indicators, such as child poverty and housing quality, to show a "more rounded version of success", alongside the more usual GDP growth.

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Ardern is playing down news that the Government's flagship KiwiBuild programme will fall well short of its target of 1000 houses built in the first year.

Housing Minister Phil Twyford admitted yesterday he now expected only 300, or one third, of the expected KiwiBuild home to be built by July this year.

Ardern says the ultimate goal is to tackle housing problems, which they are doing.

"We set some goals around KiwiBuild and even if we're falling shy of those, we are still building affordable houses, just not as fast as we want and as many as what we want as quickly as we want."

Property Council CEO Leonie Freeman says it's disappointing that Kiwibuild won't get close to reaching its target, but judging it after a year is premature, considering how long houses take to build.

Freeman has hope it'll pick up steam, noting that 4,000 Kiwibuild homes are already contracted.

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A Wellington student says he has lived in a van for the past 18 months to dodge record Wellington rents, which have now surpassed average Auckland rents for the first time.

Jonathan Ford, who is now trying to sell the van to fund travel in Asia, boasts on Facebook that he worked and studied fulltime while living in the van and it was "the best year of my life".

"I had freedom and slept in the most beautiful places around. I had showers at the gym every day and ate the best foods," he writes.

His post came as it was reported yesterday that Wellington's median weekly rent rose 8.2 per cent to a record $565 a week in the year to December.

In the same period Auckland's median rent was static at $550 a week.

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Revenge porn and online image-based sexual abuse has impacted around 151,000 adults in New Zealand.

That's according to new research conducted by Colmar Brunton.

Those aged under 30 were more likely to be affected but the issue has been found to span throughout all ages, even with those aged 70 years and older.

Netsafe chief executive Martin Cocker says typically, women are targeted by an ex-partner trying to maintain control or blackmail them for leaving the relationship.

"Sometimes these cases are part of a wider pattern of family violence.

"Reports from men tend to be about sextortion, where they've engaged in sexual activity online with strangers which has been recorded and they are then being extorted for money."

Cocker says victims say it's among the most harmful types of abuse, and say they feel exposed and humiliated to the point where it's affecting their every day lives.

Under the Harmful Digital Communications Act, image-based sexual abuse can be an offence regardless of any previous consent from the person.

Penalties for breaching the offence can see a fine of up to $50,000 or up to two years in jail for an individual, and up to $200,000 for a body corporate.

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The NZX and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) have launched a review that will look at ways of injecting life back into a share market that has struggled to attract new listings.

The review, dubbed "Capital Markets 2029" is designed to deliver a 10-year vision and growth agenda for the sector.

It will consider the current framework and broader ecosystem of New Zealand's capital markets and will outline recommendations for the creation of wider, more active participation and increased diversity of product.

New Zealand's capital markets have performed well in a number of areas - such as KiwiSaver and debt issuance - however the amount of listings is considered "under-developed" when compared to other markets around the world.

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It's been a bad day for the unruly tourists who just keep getting into trouble.

The group today crashed their car in Māngere this afternoon.

Witnesses at the scene said the van went over the median barrier at the end of Thomas Rd and Massey Rd.

They said the British tourists caused quite a scene as they took all their belongings from the car and proceeded to walk along the road.

They were said to be yelling at each other, and carrying bags and a child's car seat.

The car has now been abandoned at the bottom of Thomas Rd, with two flat tyres and the passenger airbag blown.

And police have charged a 26-year-old British man over an alleged incident involving a vehicle at Takapuna Beach on the same day that the group of tourists began their hellraising.

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A popular fertility treatment may have no benefits, according to a new study.

Endometrial scratching, or "womb scratching" is among a mix of add-on procedures that clinics have offered as part of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) services.

Now a large team of international researchers led by the University of Auckland's Professor Cindy Farquhar say clinics should stop offering it.

A clinical trial of women receiving treatment in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Sweden, and Belgium, found the live birth rate was exactly the same among women who did and didn't have it.

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As New Zealand heads toward another marine heatwave, scientists are reporting the water around the country is significantly warmer than it was three decades ago.

Niwa scientists behind a just-published study, which analysed ocean temperature changes over the past 36 years, expect this trend to continue and have pointed to climate change as an obvious driver.

Oceanographer and study lead author Dr Phil Sutton says the strongest warming near New Zealand has occurred off the Wairarapa Coast, and the weakest along the northeast coast between North and East Capes.

The increased warmth wasn't only at the surface – around New Zealand, the increased warmth was found in places up to 200m deep, while in the Tasman Sea it reached down to at least 850m.

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Aucklanders and visitors to Auckland may soon be able to zipline from Rangitoto Island's summit.

An influential Auckland iwi leader has put forward commercial plans for zipline and gondola rides on Rangitoto.

The proposal, which is currently being considered, has also won the backing of the powerful Tāmaki Makaurau rangatira.

James Brown, chair of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, said of the plans today that they want to make our iconic landscapes accessible.

He says the zipline and gondola plans would not be detrimental to Rangitoto because they wouldn't be visible from the mainland, and would skim the bush line.

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That's the Front Page for today, Thursday January 24, making sure you're across the biggest news of the day. For more on these stories, check out The New Zealand Herald, or tune in to Newstalk ZB.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts here, iHeartRadio here, and Stitcher here.

If you like to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.