Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s unemployment rate is the highest in a decade, but a leading economist is cautiously optimistic about the country’s economic outlook

There was a feeling of “cautious optimism” at a business breakfast in Auckland this week, after warning signs began flashing in the jobs market.

The latest figures, from Stats NZ, have revealed unemployment has risen to its highest level in more than a decade – 5.4 percent – with more people chasing work than jobs being created.

A total of 165,000 people are now unemployed – that’s a rise of 4000 on the previous quarter and 10,000 on a year ago.

When looking to the country’s future economic and employment outlook, Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold, the guest speaker at the breakfast, tells The Detail that he’s “cautiously optimistic” – a phrase he had on repeat.

“You know, in the last couple of years it’s been tough, hasn’t it?” he says. “We had a couple of years where things looked quite good as we went through the summer period in the early part of the year, only to find the economy sag in the middle of the year.

“And even though we have good reasons to be optimistic about this year, you have to be conscious that that could happen again, particularly given it’s an election year.”

He says the recent spike to 5.4 percent in unemployment is a complicated number. Yes, it’s higher than expected, but he says there’s also been a bump in the number of people wanting jobs.

“They survey New Zealanders to try to ascertain how many of us are actually looking for work, because not all of us are for various reasons. And the surprise last time was that jobs grew, but actually the number of New Zealanders thinking they wanted to be in the workforce grew as well.”

He believes this could be “early evidence of economic strength”.

“Often this relationship works in reverse – when the economy is weak, then people drop out of the labour force, they go ‘well, there’s not very many opportunities anyway, or the pay’s not going to be any good’, so they think about other alternatives, study or training for example.

“And when the economy picks up, people think ‘there are options out there now, I can actually go out there and get an interesting opportunity, I can get more income,’ and you tend to see people attracted into the workforce during these periods.”

He says hiring remains strong in government-related sectors, such as health and police, but construction is hurting.

“But we are starting to see some better signs … as lower interest rates filter through, although it is early days.”

Peak point

He believes the unemployment rate has peaked – “it should fall next quarter, modestly” – which is a sentiment echoed by Shay Peters, CEO of the Australia and New Zealand umbrella of Robert Walters, a recruitment firm. He hosted the business breakfast.

“I think what we will be seeing and what everyone will be forecasting over the next 12 months is for that unemployment rate to drop,” Peters tells The Detail.

He points to the 76 percent of businesses surveyed for the company’s latest Salary Guide who say they are planning to hire this year, up from 66 percent last year.

“Our labour market is showing a renewed sense of optimism, but caution remains.”

He says, “unfortunately”, New Zealand continues to be a victim of the brain drain to Australia.

“That is probably my biggest concern, around the level of individual that’s gone to Australia … they are the productive ones. They are there, they are productive, they are doing the job.

“They are the ones who we see leave New Zealand with their families and buy houses in Australia.

“Will these people come back? It’s highly unlikely. Will we be able to import talent from other offshore resources? I don’t know, it’s a tough one.”

When asked about the role of AI in New Zealand’s job market, he says, “I think there is a nervousness about AI taking people’s jobs, but we aren’t seeing it play out en masse yet”.

But, he says, AI is working overtime for those chasing a job.

“A great example is one of our clients, who said to us [that] when AI was just starting to be implemented by job seekers … they received 12 cover letters that were exactly the same from 12 different people. Clearly, they put it into the same bot, they put in the same job description in and it spat out the same cover letter.

He says “authenticity” is what sets candidates apart. And in a tough market, anything and everything helps.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents on Auckland’s west coast fear their beloved beaches will become the next hotspot for rock pool harvesting.

The government has imposed a two-year ban on taking shellfish and seaweed from rockpools along the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, and further north at Kawau Bay and Ōmaha Bay on Auckland’s east coast, from 12 March 2026.

The Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust applied for the ban under section 186A of the Fisheries Act, which all iwi could do for their rohe.

The iwi’s chief executive, Nicola MacDonald, earlier told RNZ that as the population had grown, the amount of harvesting being done had become unsustainable, and the coastline desperately needed a break.

Luella Bartlett from the community group Protect Piha Rockpools said that rockpools in Piha, as well as Muriwai, Te Henga, and Whatipu, would be stripped bare if more people started combing those beaches due to the East Coast ban.

“I’m so happy for them [Ngāti Manuhiri and the Whangaparāoa community] because they’ve worked hard for it, they desperately needed it, but unfortunately, it hasn’t gone far enough, and the biggest issue is seeing movement into other areas.”

Bartlett, who had lived in Piha for 20 years, said locals had been concerned about the amount of marine life being taken there for decades.

“This has been a long-term problem. The difference now is back then it was green-limped mussels, now it’s anemones, starfish, crabs, seaweed, absolutely everything being yanked off the rocks,” Bartlett said.

“It’s 100 percent legal right now. You can take up to 50 things per person.”

Currently, recreational harvesters can collect up to 50 cockles, 150 sea urchins, 25 green-lipped mussels, 50 pipi, and 50 of any other shellfish a day.

Bartlett wanted the government to make all intertidal zones, the area between high and low tide, a “no-take zone”.

She recently met with two NZ First MPs, Under Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries Jenny Marcroft and David Wilson, and Fisheries Officials at Maukatia Bay to discuss her concerns.

“They are actively wanting to make sure that displacement from one beach to another does not happen.”

Bartlet said people harvesting at West Coast beaches was also a safety risk for those unfamiliar with the notoriously dangerous surf.

“On the West Coast, it’s a lot rougher. We’re going to see a lot more rescues and potentially, a lot more deaths as well as major damage to our ecosystem, which we’re already seeing damage to.”

While speaking about rockpool harvesting during question time this week, Fisheries Minister Shane Jones’ comments about Asian Communities resulted in boos from other MPs in the House.

Bartlett did not think the minister’s approach was helpful.

“We’re [Protect Piha Rockpools] focused on the legislation, not race or culture, because this is happening across cultures and it has been happening for a long time, 40-odd years. It’s not helpful when we’re trying to get legislation changed when it keeps being diverted back to race.”

University of Auckland marine scientist Professor Andrew Jeffs said it was great that the government had recognised there was a problem with the amount of harvesting around Whangaparāoa.

But he agreed the activity would be displaced to other vulnerable areas.

“I was out on the West Coast in Auckland last weekend, and on a reef which I previously haven’t seen many people collecting shellfish off, I counted about 30 people there with buckets and tools taking stuff off the rocks.”

He said he had observed an increase in people beach-combing at one popular West Coast spot in recent years. He did not want to name the beach for fear it would encourage more gathering there.

“I suspect it’s because people have discovered that there’s good stuff to be had there, and word is getting around, and so people are taking it.

“I’ve seen that happen in other areas. There was an area of sea cucumbers, what we call a hotspot of sea cucumbers, in the harbour that we were studying and over the period of about two and a half years. Initially, one person started harvesting, and then we gradually saw more people coming, and there’s now no sea cucumbers in that place anymore, they’re all gone.”

In 1993, a rāhui was placed on Karekare beach by the local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki, with support from the community as a method of protecting dwindling shellfish stock and the marine ecology of the area.

Te Kawerau ā Maki, has been contacted by RNZ for comment and is yet to confirm whether they plan to apply for a temporary ban.

Shane Jones and Jenny Marcroft have been contacted for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Four people have been injured, with one in a critical condition, after a fight in suburban Christchurch.

Police say they are still looking to find those involved.

Offiers were called to an address on Hoani Street in Northcote about 9.30pm on Wednesday.

One person has life-threatening injuries, and another was seriously hurt.

The two others had minor or moderate injuries, police said..

An RNZ reporter at the scene last night was told by police that there had been reports of shots being fired.

When asked whether the incident involved firearms, Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill said: ” This forms part of police enquiries.”

“The community can be assured that police are working at speed to identify and locate those involved.

“Police believe the parties involved are known to each other and the risk to wider public is minimal.”

Hill said there would be more officers in the Northcote area today “as we work to resolve this incident as swiftly as possible”.

A scene examination is underway at the property.

Police are appealing to anyone in the area who may have witnessed anything last night to contact them. They can be contacted on 105 using file number 260218/3391.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents of a Banks Peninsula town flooded for the second time in a year are questioning why the Christchurch City Council again waited until it was flooded before opening a nearby lake to the ocean.

Little River is again counting the cost of flooding after the town was inundated during the deluge on Monday and Tuesday.

The town of 300 about 30 kilometres south of Christchurch was flooded last May.

But residents said opening Lake Forsyth to the sea could have lowered the level of flooding in the town.

Little River Cafe and Store owner Cameron Gordon – whose business and home had been flooded – said it was clear that Lake Forsyth contributed to flooding in the town.

“Once that lake opened … it drained away pretty quickly,” he said.

“I wish they’d open the lake prior to these events every time. I don’t know what the science is behind their decisions but they seem to have their rules and guidelines about how they monitor all that. But it doesn’t seem to work for us and it seems to be the same story every year with the same excuses every year.”

Lake Forsyth is about a kilometre south of Little River and is fed by the Okana and Okuti Rivers.

The only thing separating its southern banks from the Pacific Ocean is the gravel of Birdlings Flat Beach and a canal connecting the lake and ocean that could be opened by diggers when needed.

The resource consent allowed the council to open the lake when it reached 2.3 metres above mean sea level in spring and summer or 2.7 metres in autumn and winter. But it could also be opened if a storm was predicted to bring it to that level or threaten inundation.

The council did open the lake on Tuesday afternoon after it had peaked at about 4.4 metres and Little River was already inundated.

Gordon said it came too late.

“I think [Lake Forsyth] played a significant role,” he said.

“I think it delays the water flowing away. I don’t think it stops the water coming into the building at first, but I think it definitely slows it receding which is the problem. I think if it was opened before this then we would have had a lot less damage and a lower level through the building. It still would’ve come in but it would’ve been a lot less significant.”

Lisa Ashfield, whose second-hand store had also been flooded for the second time in 10 months, said authorities seemed to be ignoring the experience of locals.

“From what I’ve noticed in 13 years of living here, we’ve had floods, the water’s up really high and you can’t get through the roads, they empty the lake and the water is gone within hours,” she said.

“For everybody to be saying it doesn’t make any difference if the lake is full or not, it doesn’t seem to make sense. It does seem to be that if we had a constant flow of water out of the village, while it’s raining, to the lake and to the ocean it probably could mitigate some of the flooding.

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger was not convinced and said the lake’s level was low before the deluge.

“It went from there to up in 36 hours. No one has seen rain like that there,” he said.

“It wouldn’t have mattered what level the lake was, the river – getting it to the lake – was the bottleneck and that’s why all of Little River township got flooded.”

Mauger wanted a diversion installed along the Okana River which could take excess water during heavy rain.

“The climate is getting worse. It seems to be that we’re having a 10-year rain event every three years or two years or whatever, so we’ve got to be starting to be ready for this,” he said.

“That’s why I’m keen on getting this diversion channel dug in the farmer’s land right next to the main road to bypass so it goes to the lake without ruining the road and people’s livelihoods.”

A multimillion-dollar barge and pump project – known as the Ocean Connection – that would allow continual flow of water between the lake and sea was also in its final design stage, he said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A beach cleanup group says it is seeing more injured or deceased sea birds after storms.

Stormy weather in the capital this week blew birds off course and left some exhausted and in need of rescue.

An albatross, a gannet and a fairy prion were among those picked up by the Petone Beach Clean Up Crew.

“Because they’re seabirds, they’re not made for the land, so we know they’re in trouble and need help, and they need to go to DOC (Department of Conservation) or the Nest at Wellington Zoo,” said Lorraine Shaab, who ran the clean up crew.

Shaab said she kept a cage in her car ready to hold rescued birds, but this week the albatross proved not to be a good fit.

“He was a huge bird. He came up past my knee.” she said.

But she said the bird was also exhausted, which made transporting him less of a challenge.

“I actually put him in my car because he was too big for the cage.”

“Normally I would never do it, but he was exhausted,” she said. “He had no fight in him whatsoever.”

Meanwhile, Shaab’s gannet rescue had left her less fond of the bird.

“They’ve got good beaks on them,” she said.

“So I learned a bit of a lesson just to be a little bit more prepared next time if I rescue a gannet.”

The fairy prion proved to be more smooth sailing.

“He was just, I think, soaking wet and happy to be in a dry cat cage,” she said.

Shaab said following the storm she had also come across some dead gulls and was aware of some other dead birds people had reported to her.

She said they were finding more birds injured or deceased after storms, but it was not the only thing killing them.

“We’re finding more birds with entanglements from fishing line and swallowing fish hooks as well.”

Shaab said in Wellington if people came across native birds like an albatross or a gannet, DOC was the best port of call. For other birds like seagulls she said she was happy to collect them and drop them off with the appropriate people.

Another albatross was picked up by the Department of Conservation.

Operations advisor Brent Tandy said its rangers picked up the wandering albatross in Petone on Wednesday.

“It seemed to be uninjured, just exhausted and blown off course because of the storm.”

“The albatross was taken to the Nest Te kohanga at Wellington Zoo where it’s currently being rehydrated and stabilised before full health checks in the next couple of days,” he said.

Wellington Zoo said it currently had three albatrosses in its care, two found in Petone and another in Upper Hutt.

It said the birds had been blown off course and were exhausted by the storm.

The zoo said the albatrosses had arrived dehydrated and weak, with some injuries to their feet from the crash landing. But they were responding well to IV fluids and nutritional support

“First we need to rule out any underlying diseases or injuries, then they need careful nursing and waterproofing on our salt water pool. Birds that are fit to return to the wild need to be released at sea by boat.”

The zoo said climate change was having a serious impact on the fitness and survival of seabirds.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand