Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man who has cancer says he’s been so discouraged by what he’s discovered about early KiwiSaver withdrawals that he hasn’t even tried to get much-needed money out of his account – and wants the system to change.

The man, who wants only to be identified as Christopher because he has not told his teenage children about his prognosis, said he had been given about three years to live.

He was told in August that his cancer was stage four and terminal.

“At the time of discovery in August, the doctor said that based on what he saw, I only had a handful of months left. Fortunately, I have private health insurance and was therefore able to actually be seen and start treatment. If I hadn’t already had private health insurance, I’m sure I would have died before I was able to start treatment, if I’d been forced to rely strictly on the public health system.”

He said researching what was involved in a hardship application for KiwiSaver was “so discouraging” that it did not make sense to go through it and be rejected.

“I’ve got limited time and fighting with someone that’s holding my money and refusing to give it up is just one more stress I can’t afford.”

He pointed to a case that was dealt with by Financial Services Complaints Ltd, in which a woman wanted to withdraw her money early.

She too had incurable cancer and was not expected to reach 65.

She applied on the basis of serious illness but was declined because the supervisor for the scheme said she did not meet the criteria because she was expected to live at least another 12 months.

She argued it was unfair because she was not going to need the money for retirement. She said it was also unfair to say she was able to work because she was sacrificing time with her family to do so.

FSCL said the decision to decline her application was reasonable given that she did not face an imminent risk of death, which was determined as likely to happen in the next six to 12 months.

Christopher said he had lost his job as a public servant and had eight months without work before he found a contract role that lasts until June.

“Different kinds of cancer have different effects. Pancreatic cancer for example, is extremely painful and quite brutal. I’ve got bowel/colon cancer so the immediate first-order effects are moderate in comparison. However, things like the side-effects of chemo, the fact that treatment is two days out of five working days … it’s a lot for an employer to be willing to deal with. Those two days are strictly for the treatment/chemo infusion. The next day … it’s hard to even get out of bed. For me, that’s every other week.

“And that’s not even going into the various side effects of the medication, like puking, hyper-sensitivity to cold, brain fog and so forth.

“Even when I move, I’m super slow compared to a few months ago … Future contracts mean I have to disclose my diagnosis and hope that doesn’t mean I lose the contract to someone that doesn’t have cancer.”

He said living in Wellington with a mortgage and two kids meant that he had to work.

“I’ve got two or three years where I’ll be able to essentially function but … living ain’t easy. And dying is surprisingly hard too it seems. Instead of being able to spend time with the family, I’m either working or sleeping.”

He said the system should change.

“In theory, it’s my money. The government is apparently confident enough in my ability to manage it and get good returns, that they’ve cut the amount they’re willing to match.

“And yet trying to actually do something with it, people are treated as if they’re applying for a loan and have to justify it to the bank/service provider. I understand that there need to be rules to prevent people withdrawing it willy-nilly but when you’re talking about someone literally dying … I think it’s a bit ridiculous.

“I don’t deserve to actually enjoy the couple of remaining years of good life that I have and instead have to wait until I’m knocking on the hospice door, before they’ll reluctantly agree that they guess they can release my money? It feels like the banks/service providers consider it to be their money and it’s massively inconvenient for them when we need access to it. With the amount of profits the banking sector has turned in over the last few years, it’s kind of hard to swallow that these rules are in place just for my own good.”

David Callanan, general manager of corporate trustee services at Public Trust, said he was sorry to hear about Christopher’s situation. He said while he could not speak about a specific case, in general people could apply to withdraw money under significant hardship or serious illness criteria.

“Under a serious illness application, people may meet criteria for ‘imminent risk of death’ as stated by law, allowing a full withdrawal of their KiwiSaver investment. The Financial Services Council’s guidelines interpret this as the person being diagnosed with a terminal illness with 18 months or less to live.

“However, supervisors and providers are encouraged to take a commonsense approach and the supervisor assesses each application individually.

“As part of the withdrawal application, the person will need a doctor or nurse practitioner to complete a declaration form confirming their illness. This form asks the medical practitioner to give a detailed description of their patient’s condition and attach any supporting evidence.

“Under a serious illness withdrawal application, a person may meet criteria to withdraw if they are totally and permanently unable to work due to their illness. This could allow them to access a full or partial withdrawal, or one-off costs.

“A person can also apply to withdraw on significant financial hardship grounds. In most cases, this could allow them to access an amount equivalent to up to 13 weeks of living expenses, including any one-off costs. We encourage people to speak to their KiwiSaver provider in the first instance to discuss early withdrawal options.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Dairy company Synlait is forecasting a hefty half-year loss as its recovery takes longer than hoped.

The company has forecast a net loss after tax of between $77 million-$82m for the six months ended January.

The company – a key supplier to A2 Milk – said manufacturing challenges at its Dunsandel plant in Canterbury had been resolved, but the need to rebuild inventory pushed up costs, forcing Synlait to sell more raw milk at low margins.

Lower returns from commodities and a conservative approach to tax accounting also dragged down the results.

Chief executive Richard Wyeth said the company was “very disappointed” with the half-year result and the slower than expected pace of the turnaround.

He said there had been progress in the company’s operations, with a refreshed Canterbury-based leadership team and the asset sale (of its North Island businesses) helping strengthen the business.

“Our strategy is being reset, and we are confident it will provide a pathway to return Synlait to success, although this will take at least 12 months,” he said.

The company’s sale of its North Island operations was still expected to go through on 1 April, with the proceeds to be used to pay down debt.

Synlait said the sale would allow it to refocus on its core operations in Canterbury.

Along with a heavy bottom line loss, Synlait also expected an operating loss of between $28m-33m, and an underlying loss of $33-38m.

Synlait had an insurance claim approved that would cover part of the losses linked to its manufacturing issues, but the final amount and timing of the payout were still being worked out.

The insurance payout would be added back into the accounts at a later date, and the figures were subject to an audit.

Synlait said it was in active talks with its banking syndicate as it worked towards completing the North Island asset sale.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The head of a Mount Maunganui business association says local shops are trying to return to normal after the fatal Mauao landslide.

Six people died after a section of the maunga collapsed into a campground.

Mount Mainstreet manager Jay Banner told Morning Report locals had been grieving, but businesses needed the Mount to return to its usual vibrancy.

“We had a couple great events over the weekend with the Fisher concert, and it was great to see some joy being brought back into the town and boosting the moral of our locals.”

“We are looking for the community to get in behind and support local businesses, for people that are outside of town, you know, come have a weekend here, support local cafes and our hospitality sector, our retailers and help us move forward.”

Banner also acknowledged the cruise ship schedule provided some relief, but said summer was a time where hospitality and retail businesses made most of their money.

“To not be able to trade through this period had significant finical implications, not just for the immediate, but their plans for how they get through winter.”

He said the business association was looking into running events to “drag in a little bit of foot traffic”.

“We would love you all to come back into the Mount, we would welcome you with open arms,” he said.

“Many people have been reaching out to me and asking what they can do to support and that really is the way that you can support our local community, it keeps people employed it keeps businesses open.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

will outsource more functions in a measure aimed at reducing its cost base.

Around 270 jobs head office jobs will go from the Warehouse, and more functions will be outsourced, in a measure aimed at reducing its cost base.

Chief Executive Mark Stirton said the company’s cost base was unsustainable for a value retailer.

The job losses are expected to cost the Warehouse around $6-million in redundancy costs this year.

More to come …

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Insurance Council says although one insurer has stopped offering home policies in some South Island towns, it’s not an industry-wide issue.

RNZ has revealed that the company had halted new home, business and landlord insurance policies in the West Coast town of Westport, due to the high flood risk the town faces.

The insurer had also stopped offering new policies in the north Canterbury township of Woodend, along with Rolleston and Lincoln, RNZ reported.

It has also emerged AA has a blanket exclusion for new policies in Blenheim, with several residents contacting RNZ about the issue.

In a statement, AA Insurance told RNZ the temporary restrictions were in place because the company has reached the maximum level of exposure to seismic risk it can take on in the areas.

Meanwhile, the government has launched a probe into high home insurance costs.

Insurance Council chief executive Kris Faafoi told Morning Report AA had made the “difficult decision” not to issue new policies, due to its current exposure.

“It’s only one insurer – it’s not an industry-wide issue. They’re obviously making a business decision based on the exposure they’ve seen with customers in one particular area.”

He said customers needed to shop around and other insurers were already picking up the business in the affected areas.

He denied the country had reached “a tipping point” with insurance because of its natural hazards, including seismic risk, and the impact of climate change, however, insurers had been warning for soe time of the higher risks the country was facing.

“The risk of events becoming more severe and more frequent is real and as a country we need to deal with that, not just to protect communities from the kinds of damage that has been caused over the last couple of weeks but also to keep insurance accessible and affordable over the long term,” Faafoi said.

He welcomed the government review of insurance costs. Many people would not realise that 40 percent of the cost of premiums was due to taxes and levies.

Treasury has highlighted that insurance companies were more profitable in this country than in Australia.

Faafoi responded that New Zealand had a high risk profile – it was the second highest in the world, according to Lloyds Premiums, and this had a flow-on effect, he said.

In 2023 insurers had a $4 billion exposure to events such as Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods for private customers, so they needed to ensure they had strong balance sheets.

There were peaks and flows around insurance payouts relating to major events and hopefully premium prices were starting to stabilise.

There were 22 members of the Insurance Council, so it was a competitive environment and customers had choices.

On the review, Faafoi said: “It’s a pretty short and sharp review … The government wants to work with the insurance industry to get an understanding of the drivers of premiums and we welcome that.”

The council hadn’t heard what was required as yet but was keen to cooperate.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A cancer sufferer says he’s been so discouraged by what he’s discovered about early KiwiSaver withdrawals that he hasn’t even tried to get much-needed money out of his account – and wants the system to change.

The man, who wants only to be identified as Christopher because he has not told his teenage children about his prognosis, said he had been given about three years to live.

He was told in August that his cancer was stage four and terminal.

“At the time of discovery in August, the doctor said that based on what he saw, I only had a handful of months left. Fortunately, I have private health insurance and was therefore able to actually be seen and start treatment. If I hadn’t already had private health insurance, I’m sure I would have died before I was able to start treatment, if I’d been forced to rely strictly on the public health system.”

He said researching what was involved in a hardship application for KiwiSaver was “so discouraging” that it did not make sense to go through it and be rejected.

“I’ve got limited time and fighting with someone that’s holding my money and refusing to give it up is just one more stress I can’t afford.”

He pointed to a case that was dealt with by Financial Services Complaints Ltd, in which a woman wanted to withdraw her money early.

She too had incurable cancer and was not expected to reach 65.

She applied on the basis of serious illness but was declined because the supervisor for the scheme said she did not meet the criteria because she was expected to live at least another 12 months.

She argued it was unfair because she was not going to need the money for retirement. She said it was also unfair to say she was able to work because she was sacrificing time with her family to do so.

FSCL said the decision to decline her application was reasonable given that she did not face an imminent risk of death, which was determined as likely to happen in the next six to 12 months.

Christopher said he had lost his job as a public servant and had eight months without work before he found a contract role that lasts until June.

“Different kinds of cancer have different effects. Pancreatic cancer for example, is extremely painful and quite brutal. I’ve got bowel/colon cancer so the immediate first-order effects are moderate in comparison. However, things like the side-effects of chemo, the fact that treatment is two days out of five working days … it’s a lot for an employer to be willing to deal with. Those two days are strictly for the treatment/chemo infusion. The next day … it’s hard to even get out of bed. For me, that’s every other week.

“And that’s not even going into the various side effects of the medication, like puking, hyper-sensitivity to cold, brain fog and so forth.

“Even when I move, I’m super slow compared to a few months ago … Future contracts mean I have to disclose my diagnosis and hope that doesn’t mean I lose the contract to someone that doesn’t have cancer.”

He said living in Wellington with a mortgage and two kids meant that he had to work.

“I’ve got two or three years where I’ll be able to essentially function but … living ain’t easy. And dying is surprisingly hard too it seems. Instead of being able to spend time with the family, I’m either working or sleeping.”

He said the system should change.

“In theory, it’s my money. The government is apparently confident enough in my ability to manage it and get good returns, that they’ve cut the amount they’re willing to match.

“And yet trying to actually do something with it, people are treated as if they’re applying for a loan and have to justify it to the bank/service provider. I understand that there need to be rules to prevent people withdrawing it willy-nilly but when you’re talking about someone literally dying … I think it’s a bit ridiculous.

“I don’t deserve to actually enjoy the couple of remaining years of good life that I have and instead have to wait until I’m knocking on the hospice door, before they’ll reluctantly agree that they guess they can release my money? It feels like the banks/service providers consider it to be their money and it’s massively inconvenient for them when we need access to it. With the amount of profits the banking sector has turned in over the last few years, it’s kind of hard to swallow that these rules are in place just for my own good.”

David Callanan, general manager of corporate trustee services at Public Trust, said he was sorry to hear about Christopher’s situation. He said while he could not speak about a specific case, in general people could apply to withdraw money under significant hardship or serious illness criteria.

“Under a serious illness application, people may meet criteria for ‘imminent risk of death’ as stated by law, allowing a full withdrawal of their KiwiSaver investment. The Financial Services Council’s guidelines interpret this as the person being diagnosed with a terminal illness with 18 months or less to live.

“However, supervisors and providers are encouraged to take a commonsense approach and the supervisor assesses each application individually.

“As part of the withdrawal application, the person will need a doctor or nurse practitioner to complete a declaration form confirming their illness. This form asks the medical practitioner to give a detailed description of their patient’s condition and attach any supporting evidence.

“Under a serious illness withdrawal application, a person may meet criteria to withdraw if they are totally and permanently unable to work due to their illness. This could allow them to access a full or partial withdrawal, or one-off costs.

“A person can also apply to withdraw on significant financial hardship grounds. In most cases, this could allow them to access an amount equivalent to up to 13 weeks of living expenses, including any one-off costs. We encourage people to speak to their KiwiSaver provider in the first instance to discuss early withdrawal options.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Australian accountants are still getting paid more than New Zealanders – but the local sector had a bigger pay bump in the past year.

That’s according to the Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand (CAANZ) remuneration survey released on Wednesday.

It showed that members’ median pay was up 0.3 percent in Australia for the year, while New Zealand’s was up 6 percent.

People who were full-time employees in New Zealand were earning a median $153,000 a year. Part-timers were earning a median $98,800.

In Australia, full-time employees were getting a median A$160,500 (NZ$185,800) and part-time employees A$138,664 (NZ$161,000).

Full-time employees in the United Kingdom were earning a median GBP 133,522 (NZ$303,500).

Charlotte Evett, general manager NZ regions at CAANZ, said there had been higher salaries in Australia through the history of the survey.

“Australia is a powerhouse economy compared to ours… they have the big mining engine in minerals that we don’t have. But it’s still very, very good pay in New Zealand.”

She said it was notable that Otago accountants reported a 27 percent pay increase year-on-year.

“Nelson was up 11 percent, Canterbury was up 7 percent. Even the South Island and West Coast were up 6 percent. If you compare that to Australia, they had some good growth, Queensland was up 10 percent but apart from that ours are certainly standout numbers.”

She said that was part of the “two-speed economy” that had been seen in other sectors recently as Auckland and Wellington were slower to recover.

“On top of that I think we’d be remiss not to look at lifestyle… central Otago has got rivers, lakes, mountains, snow, beautiful weather… the story has been New Zealanders are moving to Australia in droves. While that is true, I think the report shows that Kiwis should look at specific regions in New Zealand before considering Australia.”

In New Zealand, general managers were earning $287,000, chief financial officers $270,400 and directors $215,080.

In Australia, CFOs were earning the most, at A$280,800 (NZ$326,000) and directors $231,000 (NZ$268,100).

Aucklanders topped the New Zealand table.

The largest pay growth was seen in the not-for-profit sector in Australia and corporate New Zealand.

The survey showed that while 76 percent of people had received a pay increase, almost a quarter had received 2.5 percent or less.

Only 8 percent of New Zealanders had experienced a pay increase of more than 10 percent. But 21 percent of those aged 20 to 29 had received such a lift.

New Zealand’s gender pay gap remains at 24 percent while Australia’s is 14 percent.

Artificial intelligence is expected to transform accounting further in the near future, with new tools emerging to assist with tools such as GST returns.

Evett said the industry was making the most of it.

“When you look at accounting back over time, I think it continues to and historically has moved with technology faster than any other profession. When you think of technology as the abacus, the calculators, then we’ve gone to cloud computing and now AI. So, I think it’s very exciting.

“It’s definitely has and continues to reshape accounting, but it’s not replacing accountants. Most New Zealand organisations would say they’re using AI and report positive results, especially in finance teams.”

She said it could be used to free accountants up to add value, spend time and build trust. Recent research by Infometrics had shown there would be a shortage of 15,000 accountants over the next five years. “Pretty exciting when you combine that with technology.”

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Home insurance premiums fell across all regions of the country in the last year, even in areas prone to weather-related risks, new Treasury data shows.

The availability of insurance from multiple underwriters also improved in most hazard-prone areas, despite major insurer AA Insurance halting new policies in selected postcodes.

However, areas in high flood risk zones are still attracting thousands of dollars a year in extra premiums, in some cases.

Actuarial consultancy Finity has monitored insurance premiums on behalf of Treasury since late 2022, for a dataset of properties chosen to match New Zealand’s natural hazards profile.

The addresses are real but other information, such as property age, sum insured and construction materials, has been randomised so that the ‘houses’ in the dataset are not real people’s homes.

Since October 2023, the monitoring has expanded to include 1710 properties in suburbs around the country that are known to be flood-affected, either by river or surface flooding.

Smaller subsets are used to monitor pricing and availability for other hazard risks, such as landslides.

The most recent report, based on October 2025 data but released on Tuesday, showed that premiums had fallen since October 2024 – the first drop in pricing since monitoring began.

That was true for every region in the country.

Nationally, the average cheapest premium available fell from $1999 a year to $1886.

In its report, Finity said that multiple insurers had implemented decreases, driving the average price down.

“New business prices peaked around mid to late 2024 and have been falling since, driven by favourable reinsurance conditions and a benign period of natural perils losses.”

The monitoring occured prior to the recent massive storm and flooding in the upper North Island.

Experts have previously warned that insurance will become prohibitively expensive or impossible to get at all for some properties, as the risk from climate change-driven weather events continues to rise.

RNZ revealed last week that AA Insurance has temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the town’s flood risk.

The Finity data was collected prior to that decision – which AA Insurance informed Buller District Council of in late December.

However, there was “clear evidence that many insurers are using flood risk as a driver for their online underwriting criteria”, the Finity report said.

“Availability is limited in some high risk flood areas, specifically Avondale, Edgecumbe, Woolston and Westport,” the Finity report said.

“For example, the majority of low and high flood risk quotes in Westport only received quotes from two underwriters, with only one [property] quoted by three or more underwriters.”

As flood risk increased, availability dropped, the report said.

“High flood risk locations received approximately twice the number of rejections as locations with no flood risk.”

For insurers who did provide online quotes, the additional flood premiums were now higher.

The average quote for some of these properties was more than $1000 extra, up to a maximum quote in one case of $9250.

The report noted AA Insurance’s approach to new policies in “specific postcodes with very high seismic risk”, where a temporary halt had been placed on new policies.

RNZ reported on Tuesday that north Canterbury township Woodend was among those postcodes, along with Rolleston and Lincoln.

The pause, which began last September, also appeared to apply to Blenheim and the neighbouring settlements of Renwick and Seddon.

“Any impact from this restriction on the data shown will be outweighed by the wider increases in online availability in high seismic areas,” the Finity report said.

Overall, 95 percent of homes in the seismic dataset could get an online quote from at least two of the four underwriters included in the Finity monitoring (IAG, Tower, AA Insurance and Vero) – a small jump from 93 percent the year before.

That was mostly due to improved availability in Canterbury, central Wellington and the Hutt Valley.

Since the fatal Mount Maunganui landslide last month, landslide risk in New Zealand had earned heightened public attention.

The Treasury data did not show any evidence that insurers were charging additional premiums for properties with a high landslide risk – in fact, these properties attracted slightly lower premiums than the national average.

However, it noted that insurers were paying attention to landslide risk, with Tower expanding its property-level risk-based pricing last year to include landslide hazard.

Tower chief executive Paul Johnston said that had allowed the company to classify 93 percent of its customers as ‘low risk’ or ‘very low risk’, with an average reduction of $70 in premiums for those properties.

A ‘couple of percent’ had been classified as ‘very high risk’, with increases to their premiums.

A third of those increases were over $100 but Johnston would not say what the largest premium increase was.

For properties facing very large increases, “we’re calling them individually and talking to them about that and what we can do”, he said.

An Insurance Council spokesperson said it was “important New Zealand takes a long-term view on the risks from natural hazards as we face the prospect of more frequent and severe events due to climate related events”.

“We support a government-led approach to mitigate and adapt to the changing climate and an agreed set of natural hazard and climate risk data so we are all on the same page.

“This in turn will help reduce risk, protect communities and keep insurance accessible in the future.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand authors have missed out on an annual payment that some describe as a key part of their income.

The Public Lending Right (PLR) scheme makes a payment to authors each year, when they have sufficient books in New Zealand libraries.

The payments are made in December from a government fund of $2.4 million. In 2025 there were 1541 registered and the per-book rate was $5.19.

But this year, a number of authors did not receive the payments they were told they were due.

Authors have to confirm their eligibility for payment every year, whether or not they have new books in libraries.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said the National Library became aware of an issue with the payments for 2025, in late December.

“Due to an administration error, 318 authors received an email in error in July confirming they were registered for the scheme when, according to our records, they were not  registered.   

“These authors did not  receive  a payment when 1248 eligible authors received their PLR payment in mid-December. A portion of these authors would have been eligible for payment had they registered.

“We have been in contact with all authors to apologise for any upset or inconvenience this has caused and advise we are considering options to put things right. Authors financially impacted by the error will receive further contact regarding next steps once decisions have been finalised.”

It said it was also reviewing its administration of the scheme and usability to stop the error happening again.

“We have had useful feedback from authors about how the registration process could be improved. A key recommendation  from authors is an automated response in real-time to let them know that their registration has been received would resolve many concerns.”

One author, Linda Jane Keegan, said she was sure she had registered but when she queried the lack of payment, she was told she had not. She said she had been counting on the money.

“The PLR payment is a huge chunk of income for me, and I was expecting it to cover some expenses. Not receiving it when I was expecting to caused significant financial stress in what is an already high-cost time of year.

“I am also worried that even after putting time and mental energy into contacting the DIA to resolve the issue, that a payment won’t be possible because the fund, as a limited pool, has already been divided and paid out.”

NZ Society of Authors spokesperson Anna Mackenzie said it was a concern that the error had happened.

“That this arose at all also highlights how overdue we are for an overhaul of the PLR legislation, which was written in a pre-digital world and in a particularly prescriptive manner.”

She said she had been told about half of the authors who were incorrectly told they had registered would have been eligible for a payment.

Mackenzie said New Zealand was behind other countries when it came to compensating authors for their work. There current rules did not allow for payments for electronic copies or for copies in school libraries.

“It’s a very inappropriate-in-today’s-world piece of legislation. It can only be changed at the behest of the minister and many ministers have been spoken to over the last 15 years and often they’ll say that, yes, they understand and they see it’s a priority, but we are yet to get that to the point where we’re even looking at a review.

“However, the current minister has indicated that she does think this is an issue that should be addressed, so we are once again hopeful that this will get back on to the table and be looked at properly.”

The society said the requirement that 50 books of a particular title are stocked in libraries was also unfair.

*Disclosure: Susan Edmunds is one of the registered authors who receives this payment and received it successfully in 2025.

Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds, a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Blenheim residents say AA Insurance has stopped offering new home insurance policies in their town, following similar decisions in Westport and parts of greater Christchurch.

The insurer would not confirm that Blenheim, and the neighbouring settlements of Renwick and Seddon, were subject to its temporary halt.

However, several residents contacted RNZ to say a blanket exclusion for new policies appeared to be in place.

AA Insurance’s online portal declined to provide quotes for a dozen addresses that RNZ tried across the three locations.

A message onscreen said the company was unable to offer insurance because of “the suburb or town where your home is located”.

RNZ revealed last week that the company had halted new home, business and landlord insurance policies in the West Coast town of Westport, due to the high flood risk the town faces.

The insurer had also stopped offering new policies in north Canterbury township Woodend, along with Rolleston and Lincoln, RNZ reported on Tuesday.

There, AA Insurance said that it had reached its maximum exposure limit to seismic risk.

The company would not confirm if new policies in Blenheim were being declined for the same reason, or for flood risk like Westport.

Parts the wider Blenheim area flooded last winter after the wettest June on record since 1942, and some residents in Renwick were evacuated.

AA Insurance head of underwriting Dee Naidu said managing risk exposure was common practice in the insurance industry and the list of areas with temporary restrictions was not static.

“We are always monitoring where we are growing and the accumulation and exposure to risk from that growth. We have no plans to introduce any new temporary restrictions beyond those that have been previously reported on.”

None of the restrictions affected existing customers, Naidu said.

Blenheim woman Shelley Tapp moved to the town at the end of last year and was surprised when AA Insurance turned down cover for a house she was trying to buy.

The agent she spoke with on the phone was unable to provide any detail, she said.

“I asked him why, and he said, ‘I can’t tell you why, it’s just too high risk.'”

Tapp and her husband inspected council records and previous insurance claims and could see no problem with the property.

“That particular property has never had earthquake damage, it doesn’t have any claims for flooding.”

Tapp said she asked the real estate agent, who told her that AA Insurance was declining new cover for the 7201 postcode, which encompassed Blenheim.

The couple ended up buying a different house, insuring it with AMI instead of AA Insurance.

“I thought there’s no point me going back to AA because they told me no.”

The company needed to be transparent with people about why it was declining cover in certain areas, Tapp said.

“I think other insurance companies do it as well. It creates uncertainty around the property – you think, is it something wroing with the property itself?”

Other residents who got in touch with RNZ reported a similar experience.

“We enquired about insuring a new build in Blenheim yesterday and discovered that AA have blacklisted Blenheim,” one said.

Another said he had his request for home and contents cover in Blenheim declined “because they said they were not taking on any more risk here”.

A third person, who had been insured with AA Insurance for a decade in his previous house, said he and his wife were unable to get a new policy when they moved within Blenheim in May last year.

“They would not insure the new house at all. The advisor was apologetic and mentioned they wouldn’t be covering Blenheim due to the risk.”

In a written statement, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said it was up to individual businesses to decide how they managed their exposure to risk.

Treasury’s annual insurance monitoring surveys “indicate that there is reasonable availability of online insurance quotes in areas of higher seismic risk”, she said.

The Natural Hazards Commission declined to comment, referring questions to the Insurance Council.

An Insurance Council spokesperson said insurance remained generally available across New Zealand.

“The insurance industry has consistently said it’s important New Zealand takes a long-term view on the risks from natural hazards as we face the prospect of more frequent and severe events due to climate-related events.”

The council supported “a government-led approach to mitigate and adapt to changing climate and an agreed set of natural hazard and climate risk data so we are all on the same page”.

The current Natural Hazards Commission levy, and the cap the commission paid out for natural hazards claims, were sufficient to maintain insurer confidence, the spokesperson said.

“The real solution lies in proactively reducing underlying risk, including avoiding development in high-risk areas, investing in resilient infrastructure, improving building standards, and sharing consistent natural hazard data.

“These steps would reduce losses and signal to global reinsurers that New Zealand is managing its risk exposure, helping to stabilise costs.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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