Tourism: Death and Revival

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, July 19th, 2020 - 26 comments
Categories: economy, Globalisation, tourism, uncategorized - Tags:

New Zealand’s tourism economy has essentially collapsed, and it is part of a global tourism industry collapse that is so big that it may be permanently smaller. But does it have to be?

May overseas visitor arrivals in New Zealand dropped by 217,100 or 99% year-on-year to just over 2,000 people. That’s on a previous 99.4% drop in April.

This may be one of those globals shifts that is so big that our entire tax base will be altered to be lower for the foreseeable future.

The growth of tourism has provided sustainable jobs and massive growth to the global economy over the last two decades.

We have worked for multiple decades to build ourselves as a destination for global travellers, and it has worked. Until this year it directly contributed NZ$16.2 billion (5.8%) of our GDP.

We built an entire national mythos of film and storytelling on our tourism brand – and it was the most successful revival of our economy that we’ve ever had.

That came from our adaptation of a literary masterwork, the Lord of the Rings series from J.R.R. Tolkein.

Without that effort and that series, we would have a far smaller tourism industry over the last decade.

That effort permanently altered how the world sees us – for the better.

And on top of that we have a combination of attractions that we ought to be proud of and to invite the world to see.

As ATEED put it so eloquently, mother earth is breathing, and when we are ready, we will return.

So it’s time we took stock of what we – and the world – have lost with the flatlining of this entire global industry. And maybe just maybe the kind of people we have that can rebuild it.

In 2019 total expenditure was $40.9 billion, an increase of 4% on the previous year. It contributed 20.4% to New Zealand total exports of goods and services. The indirect value of industries supporting tourism added a further 4% of GDP.

It supported 188,000 full-time equivalent jobs or over 7% of our workforce.

Spending by international tourists accounted for 17.1% of our entire export earnings.

Our reputation was so strong that it was the one major industry growth in which our isolation from the world was actually a good thing. $34 billion was contributed to our economy every year as of 2017.

But now even a kick-start to reviving this part of our economy in 2021 is gone. APEC  – for which MBIE, MFAT, and ATEED were in preparation for the last 2 years right down to welding Auckland’s sewer manholes shut for security – is no longer. The America’s Cup is down to four boats. The Auckland Kapa Haka champs are gone, as are all the major international sporting competitions that were to happen next year. With the new Covid-19 breakouts in Australia, there is now no chance of an Australiasian bubble – it’s an Australian bungle.

Cold comfort, but it’s bad around the world. The OECD points to a 60% decline in international tourism in 2020, rising to 80% if recovery is delayed until December. Specific regions with tourism within them – such as Europe – are likely to recover first. New Zealand doesn’t have the luxury of a meaningful internal market to replace that, and never will other than for low-rent camping grounds and the elite who own baches.

Now, some may scoff at this massive industrial decline and essentially sigh relief at the death of 20% of everything we produce and a fifth of our exports. Others see the wholesale destruction as the destruction it is.

It’s too early to determine if this scale of economic loss can be actually replaced. It’s certainly a bigger shock to our country than Britain joining the European Common Market, or the collapse of wool prices in the 1966.

But as Lord of the Rings and 100% Pure New Zealand proved, the one thing we can clearly do is re-invent and even re-mythologise ourselves into confidence that the world will want to see us again. We know this because we’ve done it before.

You see that in the successful Australaisn pitch for the 2023 women’s world footbal cup:

Unusually for government policy, this 20% of our economy will not be revived with concrete and steel like infrastructure spending. Or producing more apples. It will be revived from the work of poets and novelists and film-makers.

It won’t always work:

Yet the legacy of our literary-tourism success is so, so powerful still. Just the first 5 minutes of Stephen Colbert coming here will give you the idea of how sustainable that global pulling power is.

So regaining that 20% of our national effort relies on us being the most powerful and creative storytellers, and translating that into the engine of cultural production that drives our tourism industry once more.

Poets, epic novelists, and grand film-makers, your moment in our national revival awaits.

26 comments on “Tourism: Death and Revival ”

  1. R.P Mcmurphy 1

    what is so hot about the thundering hordes running around the world in an infantile quest for distraction that can never be satisfied. why dont these people stay home and learn how to do something. tourism is stinking up the world and filling the atmosphere with carbon particulates and other pollutants.

    • Alan 1.1

      you sound like a fun type

      • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1

        He's right and so you denigrate him?

        • Climaction 1.1.1.1

          just because it isn't your tourism doesn't mean it has no value, or worse pollutes your won sanctimonious value.

          Shades of my father, love him but will never agree with 1960's fortress NZ

          • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1.1

            Tourism is worse than having no value – its almost purely destructive. The GHG emissions and destruction of natural ecosystems all make it not worth the cost.

      • Gabby 1.1.2

        Stinking up the world is much more fun.

  2. Shanreagh 2

    The return of tourists along with the return of overseas students, low paid workers in the tourist industry, often from overseas and the reliance on overseas workers in our agriculture industry are the aspects of a BAU that 'scare' me to be frank.

    We undoubtedly have attractions. We have talented artists like film-makers.

    If we open up again for tourists, and we should on our terms, we need to chart a path that does not have a reliance on freedom campers in campervans that are not fit for purpose.

    Freedom campers in my area are renowned for camping in laybys, along beach front areas. They park there often for several days and the infrastructure there in the form of rubbish collection and toilet facilities is not big enough. This infrastructure is paid for by local authorities and predicated on no camping and day-time use. To enforce it daily/nightly requires local govt money again.

    Walking anywhere in some popular beach or bush areas has got to be an exercise in watching your feet rater than the birdlife etc. We even have tourists defaecating outside provided toilets that are fit for purpose/emptied frequently.

    Looking at the opportunities that a slowdown in tourism is bringing gives us a chance to model OUR future.
    I think our reliance on this low cost structure for tourist dollars and staffing in tourist areas needs a big rethink, ie rethink short term working permits especially where these are in tourist areas, rethink freedom camping, rethink those coming in without adequate means to get home so we do not have to put on mercy flights at NZ expense in the future should Covid-19 or any other catastrophe rear its head.

    We need to do some work on why NZ people have not been travelling in NZ. Some of these NZers will travel overseas so they are not mean spenders. The value for money is sometimes not there in NZ accom and attractions in comparison with some overseas countries/ attractions. The cost is a big thing. Even with all the price reductions that have been going on some of the prices for attractions are still expensive. Accommodation is another. A friend has said he resents having to pay high prices for accommodation in tourist areas that are in places that a higher standard than his own permanent accommodation. We seem to have ripped out a whole lot of accommodation that would be suitable/convenient for travelling NZers that is comfortable, clean and not over the top. I know that Govt agencies have been using some for short-term accom for homeless people.

    High end tourism or those who will not be reliant on low wage jobs or low cost forms of transport/accommodation should be encouraged.

    The wah, wah clamour of the tourist industry should be put to one side with an invitation for them to be part of the solution to NZ's tourism industry for the future. Govt should put some parameters/no go areas that are not on the table so the operators have to use their brains rather then just oiling up their cash registers.

  3. Grafton Gully 3

    The video inks in your article show the promise of remote tourism. Particularly if the overseas consumer controls the camera by instructing a local person, drone or robot to "stop ! I want a closeup of the ice falling, mud boiling, hobbit hole, albatross regurgitating etc. etc. "

    https://visitfaroeislands.com/remote-tourism/

  4. Draco T Bastard 4

    New Zealand’s tourism economy has essentially collapsed, and it is part of a global tourism industry collapse that is so big that it may be permanently smaller. But does it have to be?

    Yes, yes it does.

    The growth of tourism has provided sustainable jobs and massive growth to the global economy over the last two decades.

    No it didn't as proven by climate change.

    We have worked for multiple decades to build ourselves as a destination for global travellers, and it has worked.

    Yeah, yeah. We've been doing the cheap, easy non-developmental stuff like tourism and farming for decades because its, well, cheap and easy.

    Climate change and the ever increasing pollution of our waterways shows that we have to move on from the cheap and easy because its simply not sustainable.

    Without that effort and that series, we would have a far smaller tourism industry over the last decade.

    Not having it would have been better as then we wouldn't have the problems that came with it such as freedom campers shitting in car parks and elsewhere and polluting our land.

    So it’s time we took stock of what we – and the world – have lost with the flatlining of this entire global industry.

    Instead we should be looking at how much its dropped the emissions of greenhouse gases. I think that's far more important.

    Now, some may scoff at this massive industrial decline and essentially sigh relief at the death of 20% of everything we produce and a fifth of our exports.

    The problem being that we didn't look at the destruction that tourism was causing, at how looking only to the cheap and easy had our best and brightest leaving to the rest of the world for a challenge.

    But as Lord of the Rings and 100% Pure New Zealand proved, the one thing we can clearly do is re-invent and even re-mythologise ourselves into confidence that the world will want to see us again.

    And it really was a myth. It was, and still is, unsustainable.

    • Just Is 4.1

      You're right Draco,

      "Yeah, yeah. We've been doing the cheap, easy non-developmental stuff like tourism and farming for decades because its, well, cheap and easy."

      Cheap and easy, the Famous history of NZs attitude to nearly everything, I like to think of it as short sighted.

      The Auckland Harbor bridge is a classic example, in little more than a decade after construction was completed, it needed a doubling of capacity due to increased traffic volumes, the only change since then was the introduction of the moving barrier.

      What that says it was lack vision, the same can said for Sir Dove Myer Robinsons vision of a rail line to the North Shore, everyone shot it down, no vision for anuthing beyond the end of their noses.

      If it's not "cheap and easy" it's probably not worth while…

      NZ could easily gear up industries around wood processing, adding enormous value and a bounty of jobs, but in NZ we'd rather make a quick dollar for shipping raw logs out of NZ.

      Short sighted

  5. Dennis Frank 5

    Excellent spoof, Ad! Looks like you wrote it as if auditioning for a pr job in tourism – good strategy to get the right pitch for satire. There's also a place in Labour's recovery plan for your advocacy. They need to be able to sell business as usual as if it's still gonna work, eh? The positive alternative to facing reality.

    The growth of tourism has provided sustainable jobs and massive growth to the global economy over the last two decades.

    Such a shame that those jobs were sustainable for 20 years but have now vanished. How to pretend that the new reality hasn't really happened? Dunno. Consult whichever hotshot has been awarded the task in the ad agency Labour has hired to frame their campaign media. Such hotshots are always good at fakery. Ask Bob Harvey.

    A word of caution though. Best not to overdo it with the ganja. Those in the know can always tell… 🥴

  6. Stuart Munro 6

    The collapse of tourism is no doubt greeted by the mass of people with as much concern as the industry demonstrated for ordinary folk while it was booming.

    Now, compelled to design for a longer term future, there is at last a slender chance of the gains beginning to outweigh the, mostly externalised, costs.

    There are many alternative industries we ought to be developing. Aquaculture is a sector in which we trail the world, and it is not that we lack the physical capacities, but the expertise and regulatory environment to foster a sustainable sector. I've been writing to MPs about it for decades, but they are too self-involved to care.

    Why single out tourism for support? All it does is crowd locals out of what were once our recreational spaces.

  7. ianmac 7

    Wouldn't it be great if instead of tourism the same people who do the serving and driving and making the beds, were involved in producing carrots or wheels or fish-hooks and products that mean something. I would be prouder of the house I built instead of the work of being a polite escort to a tourist.

    • Molly 7.1

      I worked in hospitality for years when younger. The attitude of some customers indicated that they believed their payment brought them lord-of-manor status for the duration.

      Females or minorities in the industry will also have extra stories of harassment and conflict in the workplace.

      Talking in numbers about jobs without regard for the remuration or security of those jobs, and about the value of tourism's contribution to GDP without how evenly it was distributed or how the externalities impacted on local ratepayers, environment and local wages, disregards the reality. Not to mention, whether those jobs were provided to NZers or international travellers.

      Tourism as it was, was flawed and destructive. International tourists used fossil fuels to get here, and we disregard that cost also, to our shame.

      Figure out a value recovery, which may by necessity be only a partial one.

      Better still – an economic recovery plan that provides NZ tourism workers with employment in industries that are essential for our own wellbeing, environment and communities.

  8. Drowsy M. Kram 8

    "A recent UNWTO report on overtourism in cities recognized the need for the sector to “ensure sustainable policies and practices that minimize adverse effects of tourism on the use of natural resources, infrastructure, mobility and congestion, as well as its socio-cultural impact.”"
    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/global-tourism-sustainable/

    Maybe the on-going Covid-19 pandemic will precipitate a long overdue reset of the global economy, and put our civilisation on a path towards long-term sustainability. Maybe we can finally rid ourselves of the ludicrous conceit that growth is good.

    https://garryrogers.com/tag/limits-to-growth/
    https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/moving-away-progrowth/
    The current economic system being utilized and internalized relies on perpetual growth. It has long operated counter to the reality that we are confined to a finite planet with finite resources. Yet, this system continues to be practiced and promoted globally. As the environmental and social repercussions of disbelief in limits become increasingly clear, so does our need for a new economic system —one that is not wedded to growth. Neither growth in the number of consumers nor growth in the amount consumed.” – Erika Gavenus

    https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-global-travel-as-we-know-it-an-opportunity-for-sustainable-tourism-133783

    "The COVID-19 pandemic has halted mobility globally on an unprecedented scale, causing the neoliberal market mechanisms of global tourism to be severely disrupted. In turn, this situation is leading to the decline of certain mainstream business formats and, simultaneously, the emergence of others. Based on a review of recent crisis recovery processes, the tourism sector is likely to rebound from this sudden market shock, primarily because of various forms of government interventions. Nevertheless, although policymakers seek to strengthen the resilience of post-pandemic tourism, their subsidies and other initiatives serve to maintain a fundamentally flawed market logic."
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2020.1763445

  9. Graeme 9

    Looking around Queenstown over the last two weeks it's hard to see what all the fuss is about. Hospo businesses are very busy, if you're local forget about going out for dinner or a drink, queues everywhere. Only exception seems to be the few businesses that focused exclusively on backpacker or low end Chinese / Indian markets, they're fucked. The other hole in town is all the departed booking agents, that business model has fallen to bits too. If you want to drive across Frankton between 7am and 7pm, take a cut lunch. A domestic only winter school holiday meets a development economy that's going as hard as it can.

    How sustainable this is, only time will tell. Builders are saying they are back to having work ahead, and considerable pressure to get jobs completed, lots of sites working 7 days. This winter will be one week at a time as the school holiday crowd go home and market comes through.

    Longer term the industry will have to get back to putting New Zealanders first again. All the "products" and attractions we have were built on a domestic market, some going back to late 1800's (Milford Track and others). NZR and Tourist and Publicity Departments put a huge effort into building the basis of our tourism industry from the domestic market. That industry consolidated and expanded into the international market when widebody jets came along in the 70's. Progressively the industry has elbowed New Zealanders out of the best we have and replaced them international visitors, leaving New Zealanders feeling rather uncomfortable holidaying at home.

    While New Zealand has a significant inbound tourism industry, we are also significant outbound travellers. In of Jan 2020 we had a seasonally adjusted 322 870 inbound visitors and 265 570 outbound (it was 280 350 in Dec 19) Anecdotal in the industry is that the total value of the two sides is close to equal.

    A third side to the industry is New Zealanders travelling at home, this is around 1.5 – 2 x the size of inbound numbers and spend.

    The biggest company in New Zealand tourism is Auckland International Airport. They are in the driver's seat of the industry. Their profit driver is bums on seats with little differential between the front of the plane to the back, so to drive their profitability we get more bums and less reliability and service. If there's a candidate for re-nationalisation, it's AIA just to put some control over our inbound tourist mix.

    New Zealand Tourism's problem right now isn't the loss of inbound visitors, but rather the reluctance New Zealanders have to travel in their own country. This will change as they have god experiences and re-discover that we have some very cool things to do here, there's that incredible in-bound demand for a reason, and come back for more. That's a word of mouth thing and no amount of publicity and story telling can replace that. in the same way that negative impressions are all spread by word of mouth.

    • Just Is 9.1

      Ah, yes, it would seem some Tourist operators prefer a foreign language as opposed to Kiwi.

  10. Adrian 10

    The numbers atributed to tourism are confusing as they leap around depending on who is spruiking them, but the one thing not in doubt is that the tourism touts have cornered the market in paid bullshitters.

    The America's Cup is down to 4 boats not because of Covid as all the others had dropped out well before that as it is bloody expensive for an event held in the wrong time zone for TV.

    APEC is not tourism.

    The jobs were not sustainable, no jobs are but tourism even more so as war, economic depression and pandemics among others makes it precarious long term.
    A very large number of the 188,000 jobs in tourism are badly paid ones done by young offshore kids on holiday.
    Now, growing stuff, even wool, because people have to eat and clothe themselves, on the other hand….
    This is now a brilliant chance to develop our economy in an import replacement manner.

    • Draco T Bastard 10.1

      Now, growing stuff, even wool, because people have to eat and clothe themselves, on the other hand….

      Is also unsustainable because the majority of nations can feed and clothe themselves from local resources and without the expensive transportation.

      And then we have to take into account the damage that too many farms are already doing to our nation.

      Time to get away from the cheap and easy and start developing our nation.

      • Adrian 10.1.1

        Wrong Draco, it has only been in the last 100 years of human existence that most have had enough to eat and that is down to being able to move it from where food will grow to where it can't due to seasonal weather etc. Pepys family lived on porridge 3 times a day in wintery England. Others were lucky to get that.

        Even today the cost of heating , mostly using oil, to produce food in northern Europe is massive in more ways than one.

        • Draco T Bastard 10.1.1.1

          If they can't feed themselves from local resources then they're over populated.

          So, no, not wrong. The wrong is trying to maintain an unsustainable population through unsustainable farming.

  11. Shanreagh 11

    If we do restart tourism as we had before (hopefully not) then one of the aspects to look at and break up is the vertically integrated nature of some of the tourist businesses in NZ. Businesses where 90% or more of the profits are chanelled overseas or where no tax is paid in NZ. Some of these businesses obtain visas for their businesses because they say they do not have qualified NZers. Surely with the NZers coming back there will be some qualified in these languages. Probably there were before and NZers may have been locked out because of poor wages.

    On a scale of what to do next I would prefer

    1) summit with no go areas ie

    no working visas for tourists (for the meantime)

    no freedom campers

    no vertical integration

    no un taxed profits going out of NZ

    all waged positions being offered to NZers as they will be living wages

    how can we make NZ attractive to NZers – value for money

    So the summit would work out what will work in a sustainable manner without reliance on high paying overseas tourists, or lowly paid overseas tourist workers so that NZers are encouraged to holiday here until it is safe to travel again.

    2) greater emphasis on agriculture, aquaculture and other clean, non extractive sustainable industries etc. Bringing these on line in the meantime while we have a big sort out of what our future tourism industry will look like.

    3) allowing international students back in with the student or education provider being responsible for the costs of quarantine

  12. AB 12

    "Poets, epic novelists, and grand film-makers, your moment in our national revival awaits."

    Minor point: poets and novelists write from the inside out, not vice versa. If they consciously tried to do anything to spark a 'national revival', the result would be ephemeral trash. I know you know this and are simply having a bit of fun – but just saying.

  13. Hunter Thompson II 13

    ” … we have a combination of attractions that we ought to be proud of and to invite the world to see. ”

    Correction: We need to preserve our attractions from the rampaging hordes of overseas tourists who are just passing through and think they can trash the environment with impunity.

    The tourist industry players can talk all they like about sustainability, but it will always be a numbers game for them – bring 'em in, stack 'em up the walls, there's always room for more. And if the tourists make a mess (as they did at the Mermaid Pools in Northland) then the ratepayers can carry the cleanup costs.

    Then we have the "spreading" fallacy – should the queues get too long at one place, send them to another. Brilliant strategy! I'm sure that a young backpacker intent on bungee jumping at Queenstown will be content with reading a book on a park bench in Eketahuna.

  14. Sabine 14

    unless the great unwashed masses aka the proletariat has disposable income you can dream of tourism come back as much as you want too it won't.

    Travelling is expensive.

    Staying somewhere for a few weeks while maintaining a home base is costly.

    But then, maybe the tourism that is discussed is the one where only the very rich get to travel to their hearts contend in their own planes, landing on their own heli pads, staying in their own ranches err dairy farms, bringing in the food they eat, the booze they drink and the wretched souls – the precariat – tha gets to clean and cook for them.

    But that tourism is only costing you your land, one ranch errr dairy farm a time, to no benefit to the country and the people living in there. If you want to know such a place, i suggest you look at Monaco. Owned by people who don't pay taxes, serviced by the original population that now lives in Italy or France and only goes to Monaco to work.

  15. Foreign waka 15

    Looking at the environmental destruction and damage particular air travel does with all that tourism hype, its better to have less than more.

    Some see only the dollars but in the long run it will pan out like Tibet and the Himalayan mass climbers. Money is all and the devastation is left behind, moving on to another pristine area to wreck that too. I see the behaviour akin to locusts, equally devastating.

    I hope the selfies were worth it and that kind of landscape this will be your and your kids back yard one day. Until a person is confronted and "inconvenienced" in their own world nothing will change.

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  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Funding hole for tax cuts growing by the day
    The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Luxon’s brave climate change promise
    The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles  and that ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    19 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
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    6 days ago
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