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Taumata Arowai intervention over Kaeo water supply was ‘about time’

Source: Radio New Zealand

Anna Valentine has been one of those affected by Kāeo’s water drama. RNZ / Peter de Graaf

A resident of a Far North town says it was “about time” the water watchdog stepped in, after being under a boil notice for more than 10 years.

Kāeo’s water supply has been under the management of private companies for 25 years, after it was sold by the Far North District Council.

Since then, a decade-long boil water notice has been in place, the water supply owner has been trespassed from the treatment plant and water hasn’t been running for the past month.

Now, for the first time, the water services authority – Taumata Arowai – has placed the town’s supply under statutory management and appointed the council to take care of it.

Local resident Anna Valentine told RNZ it was about time the community had change.

“It’s a relief for sure, but it seems like a lot of effort has gone in to get somebody to take notice of it.”

Valentine said getting information out of the private water company about their issues had been difficult.

“It has been like living under that Mad Max character that is like the lord of the water, and has turned it on and off at whim.”

She wanted accountability for what the town had gone through.

“What’s happened to all the money the town’s paid to the supplier, if he couldn’t even put a filter in or maintain the plant? That seems to have not happened, because the boil-water notice never got taken off.”

Taumata Arowai operations head Steve Taylor said the issues were unacceptable and went on for too long.

He said the Far North District Council would now need to consider how it managed the water, both short and long term.

Te Runanga o Whaingaroa pou arahi Rainera Kaio said his iwi organisation would like to be part of that work.

“We’re keen to work alongside Far North District Council to co-design something.

“Whether that looks like – a joint model situation or whether we look to other members of the community, or other contractors in the community that could take this on.”

Far North District Council was approached for comment.

Wai Care Environmental Consultants declined to comment, beyond saying it supported Taumata Arowai’s statement.

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Good vocational pathways ‘capped and trapped’ – tradie trainers

Source: Radio New Zealand

Students in Years 9-10 should be able to enrol in a trades academy or similar programme to gain basic vocational skills, say experts. File photo. Supplied/ UCOL

Secondary schools will have to work a lot closer with polytechnics and employers to realise the government’s goals for its new “vocational subjects”, say industry leaders.

The government has designated some subjects “vocational” meaning their curriculum and qualification will be developed by the Industry Skills Boards it is setting up next year to set trade training standards for apprenticeships and work-place learning.

Industry and school sector delegates to the Vocational Education and Training Research Forum run in Wellington this week by training providers the Skills Group and the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation told RNZ the reform would require a huge step up in the availability of work experience placements and in schools’ use of training options like Trades Academies where students attended a tertiary institute for trade training.

Skills Group head of consulting Josh Williams said the changes could rebalance the school system to better recognise vocational and trades subjects, especially if teenagers could enrol in tertiary courses and get work experience at the same time as attending school.

“At the moment there is a lot of fantastic innovation and a lot of very good vocational pathways delivery happening, but it’s capped and it’s trapped in schemes like Gateway and Trades Academies, and there’s little pockets of money here and there,” he said.

“To make this systemic we really do want to promote more of that kind of dual-enrolment opportunity that’s already enabled, that doesn’t require legislation change.”

Williams said students could spend some of their time in school, some with a tertiary provider, some with an employer and seamlessly progress into an apprenticeship.

“I think that’s a fantastic vision and I actually think it can be done,” he said.

Williams said the main shortcoming for employers in terms of school-leavers’ skills and knowledge was not so much industry-specific skills but basic foundation skills, literacy and numeracy.

New Zealand Initiative senior fellow Michael Johnston advised the government on curriculum changes and advocated for a stronger vocational education in secondary schools.

He told the conference vocational subjects could use “skill standards” rather than unit standards in the new secondary school qualification that would replace NCEA from 2029, but the standards might have to be assessed on-the-job rather than in a classroom.

He said schools could not possibly teach vocational subjects on their own.

“A lot of these vocational subjects are going to require some work-integrated learning, that is students out in the workplace learning on the job. They’re going to have to be able to have dual-enrolments with polytechnics because schools are not set up to just teach across all of the vocational areas,” he told RNZ.

“They’ll need support from the ISB’s. They’ll need to be partnered with industry, with polytechs and other training organisations, and there will have to be some changes to the funding model to make that happen.”

Johnston said the ISBs could be tasked with arranging work placements for schools.

Engineering teacher Dave Brewerton said schools in small centres would certainly need help.

“Each school or each careers space within that school will need to go out and talk to local industry, build up those relationships, and effectively beg and promise to be able to gather those placements for those students,” he said.

“That’s quite a large ask not only for the schools, but it’s also a big ask for the local businesses and it makes it really difficult, particularly for more regional schools that don’t have the same access to those resources.”

The co-chair of the Construction Centre of Vocational Excellence and director of training provider Vertical Horizonz Phil Hokianga said he wanted to see more opportunities for rangatahi who needed direction in their first years at high school.

He said students in Years 9-10 should be able to enrol in a trades academy or similar programme to gain basic vocational skills.

“Then they go through the process of learning the skills required to then get to a stage where they can be doing taster programmes to see if they want to be a chippy, to see if they want to be an electrician, to see what tickles their fancy and do that in the comfort of being already in the system,” he said.

“They’re getting a pathway into a journey to be able to start an apprenticeship. I think that’s the part that’s missing.”

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Jesse Ryder makes comeback for T20 Black Clash

Source: Radio New Zealand

Jesse Ryder goes on the attack for the CD Stags in 2022. Photosport

Following his departure from the international cricket scene, former Black Cap Jesse Ryder will make a comeback for the T20 Black Clash.

Daniel Vettori’s Team Cricket takes on Kieran Read’s Team Rugby at Tauranga’s Bay Oval on the 17 January.

A left-handed batsman, Ryder scored all three of his test centuries against India and was one of New Zealand sport’s more colourful figures.

“The Black Clash looks like awesome fun so that’s definitely a bit of me,” he said.

“I can’t wait to get out there. I reckon I’ve still got a bit to offer!”

Ryder’s penchant for being part of record-breaking occasions carried over into shorter forms of the game – in 2014, he scored what still stands as the ninth-fastest ODI century of all time, smashing 104 off 46 balls in a rain-shortened match against the West Indies in Queenstown.

“On his day Jesse was without doubt one of the most destructive batters the game has seen,” captain Vettori said.

“It’s going to be great catching up with him again. I’m sure he’ll be going all out to put on a show for the fans.”

Now 41, Ryder played professionally as recently as 2023 when he appeared in a T20 legends series for the Southern Superstars.

Event director Carlena Limmer is delighted to have secured Ryder for the 2026 Black Clash.

“The T20 Black Clash is all about having a great time and celebrating Kiwi sport’s finest athletes and biggest personalities,” Limmer said.

“Jesse certainly ticks all the boxes – I’d say he’s the ultimate Black Clash player. I know the fans will all get behind him and hope he produces some of his trademark massive hits.”

Ryder joins other Black Caps stars, with Tim Southee and Neil Wagner adding some world class pace bowling to what is perhaps the strongest Team Cricket line-up yet.

However, Read’s ever-competitive Team Rugby have countered by signing Aussie legend Michael ‘Mr Cricket’ Hussey to play alongside a cast of rugby stars who just happen to have elite cricketing skills.

It’s the third time the event has been held in Tauranga, with the sold out 2022 and 2024 editions drawing sports fans from across the country to the picturesque Bay Oval.

Confirmed players

Team Cricket

Dan Vettori (Captain), Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Hamish Marshall , Kyle Mills, Nathan McCullum, Jesse Ryder

Team Rugby

Kieran Read (Captain), Michael Hussey (Wildcard), Ruben Love, Joey Wheeler, Andy Ellis, Jason Spice, Kaylum Boshier

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30 with Guyon Espiner: Economist Gary Stevenson on why New Zealand should tax the rich

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand should be a rich country, but instead inequality is growing and the middle class are on the way out, British YouTuber, economist and trader Gary Stevenson says.

He told 30 with Guyon Espiner the divide between the middle class and the rich had been growing since 2011.

“I started to look at the financial situation of my friends and their families, and what I saw in 2011, was my parents’ generation, you know, ordinary people, not with exceptional jobs or degrees, owning property, buying houses,” Stevenson says.

“And then what I saw in my generation was kids with a degree, advanced education, who would never be able to own property. So what you’re seeing there is… families going from being property-owning families to non-property-owning families.”

Stevenson was a working-class kid from East London who used his smarts to win a trading game competition and score himself an internship with a leading bank. He went on to become one of the biggest traders in the world.

Now with 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube, Stevenson talks all things economics and told Guyon Espiner that New Zealand should be rich, in theory.

“You know, really, by rights, New Zealand should be a rich country, because there’s not a lot of people there, there’s a phenomenal amount of natural wealth per person, it can sustain a good quality of life for every single person in the country.

“The problem you have is, once you start cutting those taxes on the richest, the rich very, very quickly start to increase their share of the wealth, and inevitably that starts to squeeze people out.”

Gary Stevenson appearing via remote link on season 4 of ’30 with Guyon Espiner’. RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Stevenson said the country would see “really rapid increases in poverty” if it did not tax the rich.

“I think if you don’t do anything, if you leave the system as it is, then wealth inequality will increase very rapidly.

“What that means is the rich get richer and richer, and everybody else loses their assets. What that means is ordinary families can’t afford to buy homes, ordinary families need to take enormous amounts of debt. It means the, the bankrupting of governments, which means the shutting down of welfare states.

“I’m here to speak to the New Zealand public and tell them the fire engines are not coming.”

He doubled down and said that if New Zealand wanted to “fix the economy”, the public needed to “demand action” from politicians and themselves.

“They don’t realise that if you don’t tax the rich, the rich will squeeze you out.

“If you accept a situation where the rich grow their share every year, then, of course, your share and your family’s share will eventually be squeezed to nothing,” he said.

When asked whether there needed to be some degree of international co-ordination, Stevenson said it would help massively.

“So I’ve got to be honest, I think this will be much, much, much easier if we work together.

“These problems, which you have [in New Zealand], unaffordable housing, not enough good jobs, not enough government services, we’re seeing them here, we’re seeing them everywhere. Let’s work together and fix this together.”

Stevenson is visiting Auckland in March next year with The People’s Economist tour.

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Capital Gains Tax wouldn’t have raised much in recent years – Cotality

Source: Radio New Zealand

National median property values were flat in the three months to October and still 17.3 percent below their peak. Supplied / James Munro

A capital gains tax would not have raised much money in the last 4-5 years, property data firm Cotality says.

Its latest monthly housing chart pack shows national median property values were flat in the three months to October and still 17.3 percent below their peak.

Between October 2023 and October 2025, the national median price only lifted from $802,112 to $811,662.

Labour has proposed a 28 percent capital gains tax on residential investment and commercial property from a valuation day in 2027.

Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the market was steady.

“The timing of Labour’s proposal is interesting,” Davidson said. “The market is getting busier, but remains a touch below normal, affordability has improved and investor participation is on the rise.

“Against that backdrop, the CGT debate naturally raises questions about behaviour, whether investors would hold properties longer to try and avoid the tax for a while, and how much revenue a tax might realistically generate.”

He said timing and the assumptions in the policy were important considerations.

“For such a system to collect meaningful revenue, property values would need to rise, yet recent years have seen only modest growth. Our data shows national median values up 10 percent since five years ago in October 2020.”

He said a capital gains tax would not stop prices rising. Other countries with a CGT still recorded house price rises.

“People were looking at the general vibe of the CGT policy and saying surely what Labour wants from this is for house prices never to grow again. It’s not quite true.

“Perversely, they’d actually need house price rises to keep rising for any tax to be collected.”

He said investors could dodge it for a while by not selling – but not forever.

“I do think it would reduce the expected return from property investment and you would think that might result in relatively fewer investors than otherwise, which could have implications.

“People say it might push up rents and it may a little bit, but at the same time, it might create some opportunities for people who otherwise would have been renting to actually buy. The houses don’t disappear.”

Sales volumes were up six percent in October, the 28th rise in the past 30 months. New listing numbers also increased.

Davidson said first-home buyers were still active in the market at 29 percent of purchases in October.

“First-time buyers are still getting in in record numbers in terms of market share, but we are also seeing investors out there, so I guess there is a bit for everybody.

“There is a bit of balance there. It is not cheap, but if you’ve got the finance, you’ve got the income, you’ll be able to get a decent property at a price that is still down 15-20 percent from where it was potentially.

“You might say the market is in some kind of equilibrium right now.”

He said investors had lifted to 25 percent of transactions.

“The predictability of current conditions is re-assuring for buyers, who are continuing to adjust to the recent experience of stable prices and slightly lower mortgage rates.”

“With affordability gradually improving and employment conditions set to strengthen next year, there’s a growing sense of cautious optimism.”

He expected prices to rise next year.

“The economy is not exactly racing away, but I guess we’re getting a wider range of indicators starting to improve course,” Davidson said. “Mortgage rates are down, so eventually that lagged impact of mortgage rates will come through and tend to push up house prices.

“Affordability is at its best level in several years, listings are set to ease lower and a large share of fixed loans are shifting onto cheaper rates. Provided employment holds up, those factors point to a gradual lift in both sales activity and values next year.”

“We’ll be watching the final months of the year closely, as they will show whether the steady rise in sales is strong enough to keep absorbing the normal seasonal lift in new listings.”

He said, normally, the impact of mortgage rate falls would have been felt earlier than it was this time.

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Christmas without food and presents? More families struggling, expected to go without

Source: Radio New Zealand

An Auckland mother of three says it makes her sad to see her children accepting there could be no presents this Christmas.

Anau Fangupo’s two teenagers have come to understand their parents cannot afford gifts – but her 12-year-old still hopes for a surprise.

“This year they’re not asking for a present, I think they understand. Only my little one, I try my best to get him the present that we can afford.”

Their Christmas tree goes up the week before the celebrated day but no gifts are placed underneath.

“I only put it there so the kids see it’s a Christmas tree because sometimes we have a present, sometimes don’t have a present for the kids.”

Anau Fangupo says she has $200 a week for groceries for her family of five. RNZ / Marika Khabazi

Social services are warning this would be a tough Christmas for many families already struggling to put food on the table.

Variety’s survey of households linked to the charity shows nine out of 10 would be unable to put on a Christmas spread and buy gifts for their children.

Others, including the Salvation Army, warn demand for support is on track to outstrip last year as rising unemployment and the cost of living widen financial hardship.

Fangupo’s husband works, they live in a state house in Auckland and their three children are sponsored by Variety.

She budgets $200 a week for groceries and, with budding sportsmen in the family, her kids fill up on noodles and bread.

“In my plan for Christmas this year, whatever we have, that’s our Christmas. We go to church then come home and if there’s chicken and noodles we’ll have that for Christmas.”

Fangupo said it is hard not to be able to buy her children presents but she is teaching her children to be humble.

Variety’s recent survey of caregivers receiving support or on the wait list found more than 89 percent of caregivers would struggle to feed their children at Christmas, while even more – 92 percent – wouldn’t be able to buy presents.

Its chief executive Susan Glasgow said rising unemployment and the increased cost of food, power and rent was creating further hardship.

“It’s definitely harder for caregivers this year in comparison to last year and I think that’s simply because the economic climate is so much worse. Power’s more expensive, food’s more expensive, rent’s more expensive so where caregivers are making really tough choices, food or rent, they’re choosing to keep a roof over their child’s head.”

Variety chief executive Susan Glasgow is concerned families are facing more hardship this Christmas. RNZ / Marika Khabazi

Variety aims to raise $500,000 in its Christmas appeal to be able to give children on the waitlist for sponsorship a gift voucher.

“Children who are living in households where they experience daily poverty, they know not to ask their parents for the things they need,” Glasgow said.

“More often than not, what we receive are letters from older siblings asking for a gift on behalf of their younger sibling. The older ones can deal with their lack of toys or lack of food but they know that the younger ones don’t often know why they’re not receiving something from Father Christmas.”

She said for many struggling families, Christmas became a time of dread and humiliation.

“If you can’t afford to give your kids a lovely Christmas Day meal or a gift, then this time of year can be unbearable for parents,” Glasgow said.

“There’s also the pressure of providing enough food for their kids during the school holidays, when their appetites are strong and they’re always hungry. Nearly all our caregivers say they won’t be able to feed their kids adequately because of cost, which should be of great concern to New Zealanders.”

Younger children don’t always understand why they’re not receiving gifts from Santa. RNZ / Marika Khabazi

The Salvation Army provided Christmas support to 3700 households last November and December.

Its corps officer in Newtown, Andrew Wilson, said just a few weeks into this month they’d amost reached that number, helping 3400 households, with no sign demand would slow down.

“We’re expecting that this Christmas we’re going to be needing to support more families than we did last year,” he said.

“Our big concern this year is that the level of demand that we’re seeing outpaces that which we can meet under our own steam so we really rely on the support and generosity of our communities right across the country to support us at this time of year.”

Wilson said households needed basics and their foodbanks had been under pressure all year.

“Quite often at the end of the week you’ll go into our food banks and see shelf after shelf bare because of how great the need has been and so especially coming into the Christmas time where that demand increases for a range of reasons, this is the time of year that we really rely on our community to get behind us.”

The Salvation Army has launched its Christmas appeal and also welcomed donated gifts and food at its churches.

“We know it’s been a hard year. We’ve been fighting for support, whether it’s homelessness or the rising cost of living, so we know Kiwis across the country are doing it really tough.”

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Prisoners design dozens of pairs of canvas shoes

Source: Radio New Zealand

The art medium of “acrylic paint and glitter on canvas shoe” doesn’t easily fit with the hardened stereotype of a New Zealand prisoner.

But that is what artist and prisoner Edward Newman created for the exhibition Worn, a showcase of more than 50 transformed canvas pairs of shoes on display at the Upper Hutt gallery Whirinaki Whare Taonga. (Like other names used in the show, Edward Newman is a pseudonym).

“In and out of the system, trying to find a better way to conduct my life. But having a colourful past doesn’t mean it’s all bad – it’s not all about the colour of your shoes,” wrote Newman, in an artist’s statement that helps frame the shoes he painted in an ombre of shimmery rainbow colours.

Artists in prisons transformed plain canvas shoes for the Worn exhibition.

supplied

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Former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura visited Jevon McSkimming after charges laid

Source: Radio New Zealand

former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura. RNZ / REECE BAKER

Two members of the police’s senior leadership team, including former Deputy Police Commissioner Tania Kura, visited Jevon McSkimming while he faced charges of possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.

McSkimming pleaded guilty earlier this month

A report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority released last week found serious misconduct at the highest levels, including Kura, in relation to how police responded to seperate allegations of sexual offending by McSkimming.

Speaking at a press conference in the Beehive after the report was released, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers alluded to a meeting he had with Kura when he became aware that she had visited McSkimming while he was facing the objectionable material charges.

“I explained quite clearly that it fell well short of my expectations,” he said.

McSkimming was arrested on 27 June.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

In response to questions from RNZ, Chambers said he became aware Kura visited McSkimming in July.

“When I found out about that from concerned colleagues, I asked Tania Kura for an explanation and I expressed my disappointment in her,” Chambers said.

“To me it showed a total lack of judgement and very bad decision making. It was inappropriate for an executive member and a statutory deputy commissioner.”

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Asked what Kura’s response was, Chambers said “she seemed surprised that I saw it as a problem”.

Chambers said it was for Kura to say why she visited McSkimming.

“However, it was my view there was no reasonable explanation.”

Asked whether it led to Kura’s retirement, Chambers said that was not discussed.

“A short time later, Ms Kura did announce she was retiring from NZ Police.”

RNZ approached Kura for comment on why she visited McSkimming, and whether it had anything to do with her retirement.

RNZ also asked her if she had any response to the IPCA’s report.

She replied, “sorry … not at this point. However for balance you could check how many other people have done the same”.

In response, Chambers said he was aware another member of the “wider senior leadership team” visited McSkimming along with Kura.

“I did speak to that person and expressed my disappointment at the decision making and lack of judgement.

“Mr McSkimming also had regular contact with a member of my leadership team appointed by me as a welfare point of contact, as is the usual process with Police.

“That was in an official capacity and was appropriate. That person did not visit his home and did not meet with him in person after charges had been laid.”

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Calls for corporate manslaughter law 15 years after Pike River tragedy

Source: Radio New Zealand

An explosion at the Pike River Mine killed 29 men in 2010.. Supplied / Pike River Recovery Agency

Unions are calling on the government to support a corporate manslaughter law on the anniversary of the Pike River Mine disaster.

Fifteen years have passed since an explosion ripped through the remote mine on the South Island’s West Coast, killing 29 men.

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) president Sandra Grey said New Zealand needed a corporate manslaughter law.

“Corporations should not be above the law,” she said. “If they are responsible for workplace deaths, they must be held criminally liable.

“We are today releasing a policy that calls on the government to introduce a new crime of corporate manslaughter.

“This would hold corporations guilty for acts of culpable killing, and give the public confidence that corporations and their managers will be held to account.”

Grey said work to implement a new law had already been done through a member’s bill – the Crimes (Corporate Homicide) Amendment Bill – in Labour MP Camilla Belich’s name.

“This law would mark a paradigm shift in how health and safety is recognised and enforced at every level,” she said. “It would ensure that the most extreme breaches of health and safety obligations result in criminal liability.

“Tragedies such as the Pike River Mine disaster demonstrate that corporations can and do kill workers. It is past time that our law is updated to ensure justice for victims.

“New Zealand has a terrible record. One worker dies every week on the job and 17 more from work-related illnesses.

“Every single death is preventable.”

Grey said the NZCTU acknowledged campaigners, including Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne, who had fought for justice.

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New Zealand slumps again in climate-change league table

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s backflip on emission targets earned it ‘Fossil of the Day’ at the COP30 summit in Brazil. AFP / Ludovic Marin

New Zealand has tumbled in an international climate-change league table, with authors now ranking it as “low-performing”.

The country fell three places to 44th in the Climate Change Performance Index, after already falling seven places last year.

The report’s authors said New Zealand’s continued slump was mainly due to a series of policy changes that amounted to “backsliding” on climate action.

The index, which has been compiled by international non-governmental organisations Germanwatch and NewClimate Institute every year since 2007, ranks 63 countries and the European Union.

Countries are rated across four categories – greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, energy use and climate policy.

Co-author Thea Uhlich, from Germanwatch, said no country was ranked in first, second or third place.

“Like in the last years, the first three ranks are empty, because across all four categories… no country manages to be very good or good enough to be in the top three positions.”

Denmark was the first country to be ranked, followed by the UK and Morocco.

Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US rounded out the bottom three places in the rankings.

“The USA has suffered a particularly remarkable decline – ranking third to last in the overall standings, just behind Russia,” Uhlich said.

“The largest oil and gas-producing countries are virtually among themselves, and show no sign of departing from fossil fuels as a business model.”

New Zealand-based experts and activists who contributed to the report said New Zealand had a “relatively robust policy framework”, which had been largely stable since 2019.

“The political consensus has been a strength of the scheme, but this is being eroded by the current government, which announced in October 2025 that it will amend the 2050 target’s methane component.” the report said.

The government signalled the target would drop from a 24-47 percent emissions reduction by 2050, from 2017 levels, to a 14-24 percent reduction.

This change prompted climate activists at the annual COP climate summit, currently taking place in Brazil, to award New Zealand ‘Fossil of the Day’.

Uhlich said there were other contributors to New Zealand’s lower ranking.

“New Zealand’s climate action is backsliding,” she said. “For example, we see that they have a rollback on the ban on new offshore oil and gas fuel exploration, which is again focusing on fossil fuels and not on renewables.”

However, she said New Zealand’s high rating for renewables – which make up more than 80 percent of electricIty supply – was a “spark of hope”.

The report noted that previous progress on developing further renewable supply had stalled.

David Tong, a New Zealander who works as a campaigner for Oil Change International, has contributed to the index for a decade.

The report could not take into account some of the most recent policy changes, such as this week’s announcement that the government would further loosen clean car standards.

“New Zealand could expect an even worse rating, if the Climate Change Performance Index were re-assessed today,” Tong said. “A lot has happened in the last four weeks, even since we provided the draft.”

The latest changes would be taken into account in next year’s report.

Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is in Brazil for the second week of talks at COP and did not respond to RNZ’s request for comment on the ratings.

World Wildlife Fund NZ chief executive Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, whose organisation also contributed to the index, said the index received international attention, when it was released each year.

“It is seen as respected and authoritative analysis, and to see New Zealand plummet down the rankings in the last two iterations is pretty depressing and rather shameful.”

New Zealand was risking its “very credible role” in the Pacific, a region that was becoming increasingly strategically important.

“Pacific leaders, leaders throughout our region, have repeatedly pleaded with governments, both Australia and New Zealand, to take meaningful climate action, not to restart offshore oil and gas exploration.

“Embracing the role of climate pariah is not going to advance New Zealand’s interests with our Pacific partners.”

The effects went beyond reputation, she said.

The policy changes were “setting up future generations of Kiwis to shoulder a relatively unconscionable burden, in terms of the cost of dealing to future climate-related weather”.

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