The funeral of Karnin Ahorangi Petera will take place on Sunday.
Tag Archives: oceania
Victoria University institute in wealthy donor research row faces closure
Academics fume as the University moves to close beloved institute after fight with donors
Revealed: Stuart Nash’s full emails with donors and why the Government did not release them
We now have an in-depth view of the emails that caused Stuart Nash’s sacking.
Auckland Harbour Bridge: PM Chris Hipkins received no written advice before announcing start date for new crossing
National says the announcement was a distraction from Labour’s woes.
'Litany of failings' in Indigenous man's death after prison altercation
A coroner has pointed to a "litany of failings and shortcomings" in the management and care of an Indigenous man who died after an altercation with prison officers while in custody in South Australia.
Deputy State Coroner Jayne Basheer says the death of Wayne Fella Morrison cannot be directly attributed to the restraint applied to the 29-year-old, which included the use of a spit hood, during the incident at Adelaide's Yatala Labour Prison in 2016.
"No single factor or mechanism can be identified as the sole underlying cause or explanation for Mr Morrison's cardiac arrest," the coroner said in her findings today.
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"The potential causes are multifactorial in nature and include the effects of marked physical exertion, emotional and psychological stress and underlying coronary artery disease."
Basheer did not make any adverse findings against the guards involved in the prison incident and said the level of force used was reasonable, necessary and not excessive.
But she was highly critical of the department including the inadequate training of officers at Yatala and other aspects of Morrison's care.
"The evidence has revealed a litany of failings and shortcomings at every stage of Mr Morrison's management whilst he was in the care and custody of the Department for Correctional Services," the coroner said.
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"To compound matters, the evidence has revealed serious deficiencies in the training of correctional officers at Yatala and their ability to manage a major incident."
More specifically, Basheer said prison officials had failed to identify Morrison as Aboriginal on admission and said the officer who conducted his initial interview was not qualified to do so.
Nor had the officer raised a notice of concern in relation to the prisoner's mental health.
"If a notice of concern had been raised, Mr Morrison would have been referred to an intervention team for assessment by medical professionals. He was entitled to that assessment," the coroner said.
"I cannot eliminate the possibility that intervention at this time may have prevented Mr Morrison's death."
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Basheer said a number of important documents related to Morrison's care in custody had also gone missing, including a seven-day observation form, which made her unable to tell if any behaviours of concern were noted.
As a first-time Aboriginal prisoner, he was the very person that such a form was designed to protect, she said.
At one stage and in a flawed process, Morrison was transferred to police cells at suburban Holden Hill where the conditions were "barbaric and inhumane".
"The conditions are more akin to punishment or solitary confinement. It is shocking that in the 21st century any person, including prisoners, would be housed overnight in such appalling conditions," the coroner said.
Before his death, Morrison had been held in custody for about a week on an assault charge after being refused bail.
The altercation with prison officers came as he was being taken for a court appearance by video link.
Once restrained, he was lifted into a van and placed face down but was blue and unresponsive when he was pulled out.
Despite resuscitation attempts, he did not regain consciousness and died in hospital three days later.
In her recommendations, Basheer said given the extent of the failings by the Department for Correctional Services, it was inappropriate that it be left to remedy its own issues and called for an independent board of inquiry to be established.
Morrison's family was understood to be considering the coroner's findings and would respond at a later time.
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Sao Yean murder trial: ‘I feared for my life while in prison’, complainant tells jury
Jesse Whitiora feared for his life while in custody and serving a home detention sentence.
Raw chicken allegedly served at Kelston McDonald’s, Auckland: Tot’s treat turns to parents’ horror
Boy’s father said restaurant staff didn’t take the matter seriously when he reported it.
US default would trigger global economic downturn: Treasury secretary
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Congress to raise its debt ceiling, warning that a US default would produce an "economic and financial catastrophe" that would trigger a global economic downturn and risk undermining the country's ability to provide global leadership.
"A default would threaten the gains that we've worked so hard to make over the past few years in our pandemic recovery," Yellen said Thursday in Niigata, Japan, where she is attending a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers.
"And it would spark a global downturn that would set us back much further."
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"It would also risk undermining US global economic leadership and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests," she added.
Yellen said Congress was no stranger to raising or suspending the debt limit – having done so almost 80 times since 1960 – and urged it to act quickly to do so once again.
She spoke a few hours after former US President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, took questions from voters at a CNN town hall.
He suggested Republicans should refuse to raise the debt limit if the White House does not agree to "massive" spending cuts.
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"If they don't give you massive cuts, you're going to have to do a default, and I don't believe they're going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave," he said in response to a question.
As leaders in Washington fail to make progress on a debt ceiling deal, Yellen has forecast that the United States could run out of cash and extraordinary measures to pay its bills as soon as early June.
To prompt action, Yellen has been stepping up warnings on the matter in recent days, even personally calling CEOs to discuss the consequences of brinkmanship around the debt ceiling, a source has told CNN.
In a report published last week, White House economists said a protracted default would wipe out more than eight million jobs and cut the value of the stock market in half.
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The report estimated the impact under three scenarios: brinksmanship, a short default and a protracted default.
A White House spokesperson said the protracted default scenario envisions a three-month-long impasse.
Even a brinksmanship scenario, where a default is avoided, would wipe out 200,000 jobs and knock 0.3 percentage points off annual GDP, according to estimates from Washington.
A US default would also have far-reaching consequences.
Such an event could affect the value of the US dollar, as well as hurt demand for imports from other countries to the world's largest economy.
The US Treasury chief also laid out her "three core priorities" for the G7, one of which is to bolster the global fight against inflation.
Additionally, the group intends to redouble its commitment to support Ukraine's defence against Russia, and to discuss "longer-term work to bolster economic resiliency and security," Yellen said.
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Rotorua emergency housing motels: 72 more people in motels in March compared with January
Latest figures have been released.
Operation Carbine: Kishor Chandra Singh cut 21 rifles down to pistols and sold them to criminals
Weapons obtained in Napier between March and May last year were destined for Auckland.