Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Rents have fallen in most parts of New Zealand, according to Realestate.co.nz

Its latest data shows the national average asking rental price in April was $631 a week.

That was down from $640 at the same time last year and $660 at the peak.

The biggest fall was in the central North Island, where the average asking rent dropped from $619 to $566. That was followed by Gisborne, down 5.4 percent from $664 to $628.

Auckland’s asking rent fell from $702 to $690, Wellington’s from $647 to $620, while Canterbury’s increased from $581 to $587.

Both Nelson and Waikato had record rental prices, at $617 and $583 a week, respectively.

There were 5.1 percent more listings available, although Wellington had a drop of 26 percent.

Spokesperson Vanessa Williams said it would be welcome news for renters and came in a wider context of tougher economic times.

She said the peak of the market had been a strange time, before people started leaving the country in larger numbers and while legislation was changing.

“There was a whole bunch of investment properties that got taken out of the rental pool, thinking everyone was going to sell… values dropped from the peak of the market so they put them back into the rental pool again.

“Everybody is just considering the way they live because the cost of living has just continued to grow… outside of rent, everything else is growing.

“While it’s down $30 from $660 to $630, $30 a week doesn’t really go far when you think of the cost of insurance, power and food.’

She said it was still tough on renters in places like Central Otago Lakes, where the average was $860.

“For most people renting down there, tourism workers and hospitality workers, that’s a really kind of hard pill to swallow.”

She said it was likely that rents would remain soft through the rest of the year, while the economy was weak.

But Williams said people should do their market research before they asked their landlord to reduce their rent.

“Depending on how lovely your landlord is, if they haven’t done too many price increases, you might actually be in a house that’s well below the market anyway.

“That is something for people to consider if they are looking to move. Just do a bit of market research around what the size of your house and it’s renting for at the moment. Because if you have been in there for a while, and your landlord’s quite kind, you actually might be in a pretty good spot.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Meridian Energy says it has applied technology to squeeze more energy out of its existing assets – enough to supply electricity to between 60,000 and 80,000 homes.

The renewable energy company was able to deliver about 83 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity from existing hydro generators through engineering advances, in addition to 36 MW through managing existing hydro stations and wind farms.

In February Meridian revealed it had returned to profitability after last year’s dry year, with a net profit of $227m , and said it was focusing on enhancing the performance of existing assets.

Meridian generation general manager Tania Palmer said, “it’s basically ‘new capacity’ from what we already have – without new consenting – and it helps keep the system steady as demand grows, especially when wind and solar are low.”

Palmer said it was more energy than the combined capacity of the company’s Te Uku and White Hill wind farms.

“A current initiative at our Ōhau C station is focused on getting an extra 2 MW of peaking capacity out of each of the four generating units – enough to power roughly 8000 homes.

“Our engineers are also working on applying these changes to the upstream Ōhau B sister station, which would achieve a total of 16 additional MW.”

Meridian was also aiming to achieve more capacity gains by reducing equipment downtime.

For example, changing scheduled maintenance at Manapōuri Power Station had resulted in an additional 7 MW worth of generation that wouldn’t have been otherwise available.

Meridian was currently exploring upgrades of Waitaki and Ōhau A, B and C hydro power stations over the coming years, which could deliver more than 80MW in additional generation capacity.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

News this week that the High Court at Auckland had ruled against ANZ in a class action over breaches of the Consumer Contract and Credit Finance Act was the latest move in a long-running saga.

But considering that no customers were left out of pocket by the bank’s errors, how and why could they be set to get more money?

What happened?

Between 2015 and 2019, the law said that a lender that was in breach of its disclosure requirements had to repay borrowers all the interest and fees they were charged during the time when they were not compliant with the rules.

Those disclosure requirements include that when a lender makes a change to a loan contract, it has to ensure that the full details are provided to the borrower.

ANZ provides loan variation letters when customers made changes to their loans.

But in 2015, it used a third-party developer to design and make changes to a software package that allowed it to generate these letters. This involved a loan calculator working out what the customers’ repayment amounts and loan terms would be.

But due to a coding error this calculator did not include interest that had accrued but not yet been charged when calculating new repayment amounts or loan terms, and so most letters contained incorrect information.

The bank said customers were undercharged about $2 a month.

In his judgment, Justice Geoffrey Venning acknowledged that it resulted in people paying less than they would otherwise have had to.

“To the extent their obligations were affected ANZ has compensated them for that. As a result, the plaintiffs are effectively better off than if the error had not occurred.”

What did the bank do to remedy it?

The bank fixed the problem in 2016 and reported it to the Commerce Commission in June 2017.

It also wrote to 101,535 affected customers and paid them a total of $5.591 million.

It entered a settlement agreement with the Commerce Commission and paid affected customers a total of $35.032 million, including the $5.591m it had already paid.

Starting in April 2020, ANZ wrote to affected customers informing them of the further payments to be made in relation to the error and paid out a further $29.44m.

So if people have ended up better off, why does it matter?

Economist Shamubeel Eaqub, who gave evidence as part of the action, said it was important that banks had systems that customers could rely on.

He told the court that a lender’s failure in this regard could erode trust in the market and made it harder to compare products, which reduced competition.

What will customers get?

The High Court said ANZ was required to refund the representative plaintiffs $32,728.42. They had borrowing of $650,000.

The plaintiffs were acting on behalf of about 17,000 customers who received inaccurate letters because of the error.

The bank has estimated it could have a maximum potential liability of $125m.

Earlier, ASB agreed to pay $135.6m to settle a class action against it for similar breaches. It said that each payout was either $571.82 or $285.91, depending on their circumstances.

Could this apply to other banks?

A change to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act means that rather than requiring full repayment of the cost of borrowing in cases of a breach, in future the court would be allowed to decide what compensation was just and equitable.

That means that other banks would not be affected in the same way but the action against ANZ has been exempted from the change.

ANZ said it was considering an appeal.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

TVNZ has been found in breach of broadcasting standards in its reporting of US President Donald Trump’s supposed comments after the arrest of the man alleged to have shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a press release by the Broadcasting Standards Authority, it said it upheld three complaints about a story broadcast on 1 News on 13 September 2025.

In the story, the BSA said Trump was misrepresented in saying “I couldn’t care less” in response to a question.

The BSA said the 1 News report stated: “hen the president was asked what he’d do to unite the country after this tragedy, he said, ‘I couldn’t care less’, blaming the radical left, and vowing to go after political violence.

“This was accompanied by a large banner with a photo of Trump and the words, ‘I couldn’t care less’.”

The BSA said Trump’s actual response was: “Well, I’ll tell you something that’s gonna get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less.”

The full statement made by Trump was played later in the 1 News story but the BSA said this did not resolve the inaccuracy.

Other complaints were made – including on the issue of fairness and balance – but this was not upheld.

The BSA said the report was newsworthy and of public interest – but found there was potential harm in the inaccurate reporting which outweighed TVNZ’s right to freedom of expression.

“The broadcast carried the potential to seriously mislead the public about what the president said. In the current divided social and political climate, further care is required in reporting on comments of this nature. Audiences expect news media to report carefully and accurately on statements made by political figures, particularly where that forms the basis for scrutiny or criticism of them,” the BSA said.

“We do not consider the broadcaster made reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of its statement and its treatment of Trump’s response in the item’s introduction, noting the broadcast was pre-recorded and the statement’s accuracy was clearly capable of being determined by the broadcaster, given they

had the clip of Trump’s full comments.”

The BSA said TVNZ had argued there had been similar reporting of the comments by other media outlets.

It had since accepted the BSA’s decision and said it would be used as an opportunity to review its scripting processes, the BSA said.

The BSA has ordered TVNZ to broadcast a statement on 1 News about its decision.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

The company behind the Bendigo‑Ophir gold project in Central Otago has received Overseas Investment Office consent to purchase the land required to progress the development.

It’s a project that has faced public opposition from actor Sam Neill and some local landowners.

The consent allows Santana Minerals, through a New Zealand subsidiary, to buy around 3680 hectares of freehold land across Bendigo and Ardgour Stations.

The land will be used for open‑pit mining areas, processing and administration infrastructure, tailings storage and environmental offsetting, including 1200 hectares of large‑scale native planting and habitat enhancement.

Santana said the Bendigo‑Ophir project represents a capital investment of more than $500 million over its expected 13 to 14‑year life, with about 350 full‑time equivalent jobs during construction and operations.

The company said the project would also lift export receipts and provide a boost to the regional economy.

The OIO approval is subject to several conditions, including full settlement by the end of 2026 and securing fast‑track resource consent to build and operate the mine.

A final decision under the Fast‑track Approvals Act is due in October this year.

If those approvals are granted, Santana is targeting first gold production in early 2028.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Several edits have been made to this story for clarity and to include the developer’s reply on claims kiwi are present in the area.

A developer is calling on the Upper Hutt City Council to let it build what it believes to be a crucial road, so it can construct 1600 homes.

Guildford Timber Company (GTC) wants to build the road through an area of council-owned land known as the Silverstream Spur, home to a number of native bird species.

It had been looking to develop 330 hectares of its own land for the homes in Silverstream, a 30-minute drive from downtown Wellington’s, since 2007.

It wanted to establish a link road between its sites on the ridgeline and valley floor, saying the “the best access available” was through the Silverstream Spur.

In 2024, Upper Hutt City Council decided to rezone the Spur as a natural open space, which would not allow for the development of a road on the land.

GTC appealed the decision in the Environment Court, on the grounds that the rezoning had intended for a provision to allow for infratsructure, such as a road. A date for the hearing has yet to be set.

Matt Griffin, a project manager whose family co-founded GTC, said a road through the Spur was necessary for the development.

“We were looking at other access routes, they just don’t tick those same metrics from our point of view and potentially pull the development out of the heart of the local community,” he said.

GTC said the road would link the development to train and bus networks, reducing car dependency.

“We want ideally a way that people can walk or ride their bike and connect into the local train station and for it to become a vibrant part of Silverstream and Pinehaven,” Griffin said.

However, the idea of a road through the Spur has garnered vocal opposition.

‘Wildlife corridor’

Forest and Bird applied to be party to GTC’s Environment Court proceedings. Regional Conservation Manager Amelia Geary said the organisation is defending the council’s decision to zone the Spur as a natural open space.

She said Forest and Bird did not oppose GTC’s development, but a road would be “incompatible with the purpose of the zone”.

She argued that a road would remove the forest’s ability to regenerate and become a “wildlife corridor”.

“We say that Silverstream Spur is too important ecologically for a road to be enabled and to bulldoze the values that are there.”

Locals echoed her worries. Pinehaven resident Debbie said: “We are truly blessed to be living here, surrounded with trees and nature, native bush. And with that native bush comes the wildlife –Tuis, wax eyes, bellbirds, morepork, kaka parrots, and now also the kiwi.”

“I have a really heartbreaking concern that if these houses are built, then that forest is gone forever. There’s no coming back from that. And we know that the wildlife will suffer.”

The developer denied that kiwi were present.

“But in time we want to make this area safe enough through intensive predator control that they can return,” GTC said in a statement. “The whole point of the project is to transition the forest from pine to natives, paid for through the development. It is a huge ecological gain that locals will get to experience themselves.”

GTC stressed that a road would only take up a small part of the Spur – about a tenth of the area.

“I think there’s a misconception in New Zealand that just because an area is bush, it must have ecological merit and is somehow surviving by itself, and frankly that’s not the case. You know, land needs to be managed and it takes resources and people to do that,” Griffin said.

‘No-complaint covenants don’t work’

However, a tenth of the area was too much land to give up for Jason Durry, the operations manager of Silver Stream Railway, who also joined the Environment Court proceedings.

“We’re not talking about a little, minor, narrow road up the hill. It is going to be quite a major road.”

Durry said the Spur had been acquired by the council as a reserve and there should not be any provisions to allow for a road to go through it. He challenged whether GTC needed to have a road go through the Spur.

“They don’t need it. They have numerous other access points that they own already that they can use.”

He also worried about reverse sensitivity – which considers how existing infrastructure might negatively impact the development’s future residents.

Durry argued that residents could complain about noise and smoke from the heritage railway, which may constrain operations. “We’ve worked to preserve New Zealand’s railway history and consider ourselves an important part of the Upper Hutt community. We operate along a section of former railway line that turned 150 years old this year.”

He was not reassured by GTC’s assurances that their development would have no-complaints covenants, which in theory would stop residents from complaining about disruption from nearby infrastructure, such as the railway or the landfill.

“No-complaint covenants don’t work. We’ve got other property that we have sold in the past to developer. And part of that [had] a no-complaints covenant on it. The residents have still occasionally complained.”

Hutt City Council commissioned a report which found that noise and odours from Silverstream Landfill may be too objectionable for future residents of the proposed development and so could jeopardise its operational license. This would have knock-on effects on the council resulting in possibly higher council rates.

GTC disputed this, stressing that it had been in communication with the landfill to manage any impacts from the development. It said it also commissioned a report into reverse sensitivy from its development to inform design and mitigation measures.

“We don’t want to cause any issues for the operation of the landfill as we agree with Hutt City that it is critical infrastructure. So our design captures that and ultimately we will only build where those effects can be managed, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to sell the homes,” the company said.

Flooding ‘misconceptions’

GTC said it wanted to clear up “misconceptions” about the development causing more flooding or slips – arguing it would strengthen the area’s flood resilience..

Several Pinehaven and Silverstream locals told RNZ they worried that building houses and deforestation were worsening stormwater run-off and erosion

One resident, Debbie said: “We know that Guildford Timber have, over the last five years or so, removed a lot of pine from up on those hills. And in the two floods that we’ve had this year already, the water’s coming more quickly. The water is filled with silt.”

But a GTC spokesperson rejected this. “It’s actually the opposite. Through a development you actually control and direct water flows, so once this project is complete the risk will have been permanently reduced compared with current land use,” they said.

However, lobby group Flooding Us Director Steve Pattinson said extra run-off from a development was “inevitable”, as forest was replaced by “hard surfaces like roads, roofs, driveways”.

He doubted that the developer could mitigate extra run-off . “Mitigation relies entirely on the reliability of the modelling. The modelling is not reliable.”

Pattison argued that flood maps for the area were overestimating potential flood risks. GTC countered that more conservative estimates would only allow for better protection.

‘Vehicles all over the place’

GTC has run into other zoning issues with its development. Its land is classed as a general rural zone, which limits the density and scale of the homes it can build.

Upper Hutt City Council proposed rezoning the area in 2023 as a general residential zone, which would remove these limitations.

But the council withdrew the proposal in December last year after receiving a majority of submisisons that opposed to the project.

Hutt City Council, the Greater Wellington Regional Council and New Zealand Transport Agency provided submissions against the zone change.

NZTA’s submission read: “No evidence or information has been provided to understand the transport effects of this proposal. In particular NZTA is concerned about what (if any) improvements would be required to the local road/SH2 intersection as a result of the increase in traffic movements.”

On local community Facebook groups, residents of Pinehaven and Silverstream said they were concerned roading infrastructure would not be able to accommodate more cars.

Silverstream resident William told RNZ the transport network was unsuitable for the current population, and said there were already “vehicles all over the place”.

However, GTC said traffic could be managed, especially when accounting for planned upgrades to the area. It added that it had budgeted for minor roading upgrades.

Griffin joked that the concern was not unique to this development.

“I think everybody in every town in New Zealand sort of is frustrated with how their local roundabout or traffic lights do or don’t work,” he said.

In order to rezone its land, GTC has applied for Fast Track Approval. The Silverstream Forest development was listed as a Fast Track project in 2024.

‘Exciting potential’

Alongside the concern, the project has also aroused support in the local population.

Property manager Veronica Watson said she was “surprisingly impressed” by GTC’s proposal.

She learnt about the project from a neighbour petitioning against it. “I went into it expecting this is going to be another sort of [project to] cram houses on the tiny little sections, no concern for the environment, no care for the neighbours.”

Watson liked that GTC addressed the development’s ecological impacts and wanted to preserve the area’s special character.

“Rather than having rows and rows and rows of Coronation Street houses, [GTC] actually had properties designed to be sympathetic with the environment.”

Griffin said his family had been involved in the community for more than 100 years.

“It’s something we’re really proud of. We consider ourselves guardians of this amazing landscape and we’re really passionate about doing something unique.”

He said GTC was “passionate about ecological outcomes” and that the development would provide resources to support wildlife and pest control.

“Some people still believe we plan to strip the forest and replace it with homes. But in reality we’re talking about using 30 to 35 percent of the land for development, which includes roads, with the remainder being green space,” the company said.

Patrick McKibbin, head of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, said he had been keeping a “keen eye on the project”, hoping it would pour money into the Hutt Valley.

“The potential for our businesses, to create jobs, to create opportunities, to grow, to be as successful as possible is very, very significant if this project goes ahead. The potential of this is very, very exciting.”

He estimated that the project could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade or so. He added that there had probably never been a project of this size undertaken in one go before in the area.

McKibbin added that the area needed more housing to keep up with a growing population.

Upper Hutt City Council estimated that its population would grow from 46,000 to 70,000 by 2051.

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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 developer is calling on the Upper Hutt City Council to let it build what it believes to be a crucial road through native bush, so it can construct 1600 homes.

Guildford Timber Company (GTC) wants to build the road through an area of council-owned land known as the Silverstream Spur, where “tuis, wax eyes, bellbirds, morepork, kaka parrots, and now also the kiwi” live.

It had been looking to develop 330 hectares of its own land for the homes in Silverstream, a 30-minute drive from downtown Wellington’s, since 2007.

It wanted to establish a link road between its sites on the ridgeline and valley floor, saying the “the best access available” was through the Silverstream Spur.

In 2024, Upper Hutt City Council decided to rezone the Spur as a natural open space, which would not allow for the development of a road on the land.

GTC appealed the decision in the Environment Court, on the grounds that the rezoning had intended for a provision to allow for infratsructure, such as a road. A date for the hearing has yet to be set.

Matt Griffin, a project manager whose family co-founded GTC, said a road through the Spur was necessary for the development.

“We were looking at other access routes, they just don’t tick those same metrics from our point of view and potentially pull the development out of the heart of the local community,” he said.

GTC said the road would link the development to train and bus networks, reducing car dependency.

“We want ideally a way that people can walk or ride their bike and connect into the local train station and for it to become a vibrant part of Silverstream and Pinehaven,” Griffin said.

However, the idea of a road through the Spur has garnered vocal opposition.

‘Wildlife corridor’

Forest and Bird applied to be party to GTC’s Environment Court proceedings. Regional Conservation Manager Amelia Geary said the organisation is defending the council’s decision to zone the Spur as a natural open space.

She said Forest and Bird did not oppose GTC’s development, but a road would be “incompatible with the purpose of the zone”.

She argued that a road would remove the forest’s ability to regenerate and become a “wildlife corridor”.

“We say that Silverstream Spur is too important ecologically for a road to be enabled and to bulldoze the values that are there.”

Locals echoed her worries. Pinehaven resident Debbie said: “We are truly blessed to be living here, surrounded with trees and nature, native bush. And with that native bush comes the wildlife –Tuis, wax eyes, bellbirds, morepork, kaka parrots, and now also the kiwi.”

“I have a really heartbreaking concern that if these houses are built, then that forest is gone forever. There’s no coming back from that. And we know that the wildlife will suffer.”

GTC stressed that a road would only take up a small part of the Spur – about a tenth of the area.

“I think there’s a misconception in New Zealand that just because an area is bush, it must have ecological merit and is somehow surviving by itself, and frankly that’s not the case. You know, land needs to be managed and it takes resources and people to do that,” Griffin said.

‘No-complaint covenants don’t work’

However, a tenth of the area was too much land to give up for Jason Durry, the operations manager of Silver Stream Railway, who also joined the Environment Court proceedings.

“We’re not talking about a little, minor, narrow road up the hill. It is going to be quite a major road. And the route where it wants to smash through is some of the best bits, with the best native vegetation on it.”

Durry said the Spur had been acquired by the council as a reserve and there should not be any provisions to allow for a road to go through it. He challenged whether GTC needed to have a road go through the Spur. “They don’t need it. They have numerous other access points that they own already that they can use.”

He also worried about reverse sensitivity – which considers how existing infrastructure might negatively impact the development’s future residents.

Durry argued that residents could complain about noise and smoke from the heritage railway, which may constrain operations. “We’ve worked to preserve New Zealand’s railway history and consider ourselves an important part of the Upper Hutt community. We operate along a section of former railway line that turned 150 years old this year.”

He was not reassured by GTC’s assurances that their development would have no-complaints covenants, which in theory would stop residents from complaining about disruption from nearby infrastructure, such as the railway or the landfill.

“No-complaint covenants don’t work. We’ve got other property that we have sold in the past to developer. And part of that [had] a no-complaints covenant on it. The residents have still occasionally complained.”

Hutt City Council commissioned a report which found that noise and odours from Silverstream Landfill may be too objectionable for future residents of the proposed development and so could jeopardise its operational license. This would have knock-on effects on the council resulting in possibly higher council rates.

GTC disputed this, stressing that it had been in communication with the landfill to manage any impacts from the development. It said it also commissioned a report into reverse sensitivy from its development to inform design and mitigation measures.

“We don’t want to cause any issues for the operation of the landfill as we agree with Hutt City that it is critical infrastructure. So our design captures that and ultimately we will only build where those effects can be managed, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to sell the homes,” the company said.

Flooding ‘misconceptions’

GTC said it wanted to clear up “misconceptions” about the development causing more flooding or slips – arguing it would strengthen the area’s flood resilience..

Several Pinehaven and Silverstream locals told RNZ they worried that building houses and deforestation were worsening stormwater run-off and erosion

One resident, Debbie said: “We know that Guildford Timber have, over the last five years or so, removed a lot of pine from up on those hills. And in the two floods that we’ve had this year already, the water’s coming more quickly. The water is filled with silt.”

But a GTC spokesperson rejected this. “It’s actually the opposite. Through a development you actually control and direct water flows, so once this project is complete the risk will have been permanently reduced compared with current land use,” they said.

However, lobby group Flooding Us Director Steve Pattinson said extra run-off from a development was “inevitable”, as forest was replaced by “hard surfaces like roads, roofs, driveways”.

He doubted that the developer could mitigate extra run-off . “Mitigation relies entirely on the reliability of the modelling. The modelling is not reliable.”

Pattison argued that flood maps for the area were overestimating potential flood risks. GTC countered that more conservative estimates would only allow for better protection.

‘Vehicles all over the place’

GTC has run into other zoning issues with its development. Its land is classed as a general rural zone, which limits the density and scale of the homes it can build.

Upper Hutt City Council proposed rezoning the area in 2023 as a general residential zone, which would remove these limitations.

But the council withdrew the proposal in December last year after receiving a majority of submisisons that opposed to the project.

Hutt City Council, the Greater Wellington Regional Council and New Zealand Transport Agency provided submissions against the zone change.

NZTA’s submission read: “No evidence or information has been provided to understand the transport effects of this proposal. In particular NZTA is concerned about what (if any) improvements would be required to the local road/SH2 intersection as a result of the increase in traffic movements.”

On local community Facebook groups, residents of Pinehaven and Silverstream said they were concerned roading infrastructure would not be able to accommodate more cars.

Silverstream resident William told RNZ the transport network was unsuitable for the current population, and said there were already “vehicles all over the place”.

However, GTC said traffic could be managed, especially when accounting for planned upgrades to the area. It added that it had budgeted for minor roading upgrades.

Griffin joked that the concern was not unique to this development.

“I think everybody in every town in New Zealand sort of is frustrated with how their local roundabout or traffic lights do or don’t work,” he said.

In order to rezone its land, GTC has applied for Fast Track Approval. The Silverstream Forest development was listed as a Fast Track project in 2024.

‘Exciting potential’

Alongside the concern, the project has also aroused support in the local population.

Property manager Veronica Watson said she was “surprisingly impressed” by GTC’s proposal.

She learnt about the project from a neighbour petitioning against it. “I went into it expecting this is going to be another sort of [project to] cram houses on the tiny little sections, no concern for the environment, no care for the neighbours.”

Watson liked that GTC addressed the development’s ecological impacts and wanted to preserve the area’s special character.

“Rather than having rows and rows and rows of Coronation Street houses, [GTC] actually had properties designed to be sympathetic with the environment.”

Griffin said his family had been involved in the community for more than 100 years.

“It’s something we’re really proud of. We consider ourselves guardians of this amazing landscape and we’re really passionate about doing something unique.”

He said GTC was “passionate about ecological outcomes” and that the development would provide resources to support wildlife and pest control.

“Some people still believe we plan to strip the forest and replace it with homes. But in reality we’re talking about using 30 to 35 percent of the land for development, which includes roads, with the remainder being green space,” the company said.

Patrick McKibbin, head of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, said he had been keeping a “keen eye on the project”, hoping it would pour money into the Hutt Valley.

“The potential for our businesses, to create jobs, to create opportunities, to grow, to be as successful as possible is very, very significant if this project goes ahead. The potential of this is very, very exciting.”

He estimated that the project could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade or so. He added that there had probably never been a project of this size undertaken in one go before in the area.

McKibbin added that the area needed more housing to keep up with a growing population.

Upper Hutt City Council estimated that its population would grow from 46,000 to 70,000 by 2051.

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 new law that is intended to simplify New Zealand’s rules around leave has the potential to add complexity – and create difficulties particularly for people being paid commission, some legal experts say.

Submissions have been received on the Employment Leave Bill, which is to replace the Holidays Act.

It introduces changes such as annual and sick leave being accrued according to time worked, and a new “otherwise working day” test for public holidays.

But it also says that all leave taken will be paid at an hourly rate – and for those who are not on a set salary, the leave will be taken at the “lowest hourly rate payable for the day on which leave is taken”. Fixed allowances are included, but not things like commission.

Jim Roberts, a partner at Hesketh Henry, said this was potentially a big problem. “In its simplest form, holiday payments are going from being calculated on everything earned to being calculated on the lowest possible rate.”

Roberts said it would not affect people who did not usually get overtime or commission but could be very significant for those who did.

“There are salespeople who are set up on close to, or the minimum wage, as a retainer, and everything else is commission. Their annual holidays will be at minimum wage. There is no incentive whatsoever for those employees to ever take annual holidays. For example, an employee who earns 80 percent by commissions now gets holidays at paid 20 percent. Under the current [Act] they are 100 percent.

“The same applies to salaried and wage earners who work a lot of overtime. These are usually trades, other non-university based qualifications, and unqualified people working in large industry, manufacturing and labouring roles. The latter category, which is the largest, tend to be the lowest paid. They also tend to include people employed in 24/7 occupations, i.e. shift workers, for example at ports, hospitals, airports and any other operations that operate 24 hours a day every day of the year.

“It is the employees with low base rates supplemented with overtime or commissions who are set to lose the most. The overtime group was heavily unionised, which is how overtime payments were achieved in the first place. There is no impact whatsoever on an office-based worker working Monday to Friday on solely a salary.

“The workforce in the centre of towns and cities will be largely unaffected. There is a significant and disproportionate difference between these two groups. The former (overtime and commission employees) would take annual holidays with a significant loss of pay for that period. The latter (salary only employees) would take holidays with no loss of pay at all.”

Matt Harrop, special counsel at Duncan Cotterill, said it was an area that could still be tweaked.

People who were paid bonuses would also be affected, he said.

“For employees who have a large component of their pay that’s dealt with in bonuses, that’s going to be a big change.

“And that is actually for well-paid members of society more often than not. Those who work in the banking space, for example… there will be tweaks, I think, as to those very small aspects of it.”

He said the bill was trying to come up with the most simple system possible without undermining groups of people.

“There are arguments from certain employee groups and unions saying the setting is not right and it has a disproportionate effect on the most vulnerable groups in society because they tend to work the more variable patterns.

“But equally, you have some employers saying that doesn’t work for us as well. For example, when the horticulture and retail sector is saying the costs of having casual employment are going to go up and that doesn’t work.”

He said the calculation would have to change somehow to create a simpler system and that would have flow-on effects.

“It’s a question of do we want a simpler system with the associated effects or do we leave things in the broken state that they are? That’s the ultimate question, I think.

“The way modern work patterns are, there are a lot of inputs and there is a lot of variability. And that’s what the issue is when you lay this out into practical reality, is that people work complicated patterns.

“They have different amounts of pay they earn for different things. And systematising that in a way that can be rolled out at scale is not straightforward.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Who has the most disposable income in the country?

RNZ has crunched the data to look at which areas in New Zealand are left with the most in their bank accounts after they’ve covered the essentials.

The exercise is far from definitive, and everyone’s individual circumstances will be different, but it gives an idea of the pressures in various regions.

Looking initially at the main centres, we’ve started with Infometrics’ estimates for the year to December for median household incomes in each area.

We’ve deducted tax as if one person was earning that amount, for simplicity’s sake.

Then we’ve deducted the average rates bill for that area, the cost of servicing a mortgage at 80 percent of the value of the area’s typical home according to Cotality, the median cost of house insurance according to Consumer, a typical food spend according to Stats NZ, and the average local power bill.

We have kept the price of food consistent because data indicates relatively little variation between centres.

By this calculation, Wellington had the most disposable income at $42,211 a year. It had about the same household income as Auckland, and higher rates bills, but the cost of servicing a mortgage on an average value home was $10,000 a year lower.

Auckland’s average disposable income with that calculation was $35,509.49 a year.

Then came Dunedin at $23,708 with the lowest household income of the main centres included in the survey but lower housing costs.

It was followed by Hamilton at $23,503.90 and Christchurch at $21,543.06.

Christchurch was weak by this measure because it had higher costs than Dunedin but median incomes were only a little higher.

According to Cotality, the lowest mortgage costs anywhere in the country were in the Grey District, where a typical new mortgage would cost $24,875 a year to service. Households there were earning $111,981 before tax, according to Infometrics.

Queenstown had the highest typical mortgage cost, at more than $100,000 a year in Queenstown’s data. Affordability measures that compare local incomes to house prices tend not to be representative for this area because many houses are bought by people from outside the region.

Annual power bills were highest in Kerikeri and Porirua had the highest residential rates in the data – although not every council submitted.

The longest commutes in the country, which potentially means households with the largest fuel bills, were in Mackenzie District, where the median commute was 17.4km, according to economist Shamubeel Eaqub’s data.

This does not reflect all the factors that can go into a household’s budget. People who bought houses a long time ago may face much lower mortgage costs. Renters will be different again. Many households will have two people earning and contributing to their total income, so the after-tax income will vary.

But it shows that the experience of juggling costs is not uniform around New Zealand.

Infometrics principal economist Nick Brunsdon said in reality and in perception, some areas were definitely better off than others.

“This data shows that the biggest factor by far is income – it’s no coincidence that the two areas with the highest disposable income also have among the highest household incomes. But we do need to consider what’s required to achieve these incomes – in the bigger cities, a family might need two people working full time to earn enough to buy an average house. Compared to a similar family in a small town, the big city family might spend more on childcare and have less free time – which is where broader considerations around quality of life come into play.”

He said it was notable there was a much wider range of housing costs than incomes.

“The highest household income area – Wellington City – has a household income more than two times higher than the lowest income area – Buller District. The highest housing cost area – Queenstown-Lakes – has an average house value over eight times higher than the lowest house value area – Wairoa. Unfortunately, the low hanging fruit have been taking advantage of already, so there’s not many high-income areas next to low housing cost areas.”

Brunsdon said there was a lot of pressure on households generally.

“Given mortgage rates are relatively low for the minute, it’s a combination of a tough labour market and high inflation for essentials. With a tough labour market, more people are unemployed, it’s hard to pick up more work, and wage inflation is low. Overall inflation of 3.1 percent isn’t super high compared to the 7 percent-plus peak in 2022, but the cost of essentials like food, rates and energy are all much higher, and it’s hard for households to avoid those cost increases.”

Eaqub said different things would put pressure on in different ways. “Sometimes it’s because rates are increasing, sometimes it’s insurance risk has become higher. Sometimes it’s because you just have to travel a lot. A small town where distances are vast… on the other side you’ve got more affordable housing that provides a counterbalance.”

He said national-level statistics would always hide the experiences of individual communities.

Eaqub said some people were prompted to move to cheaper areas to give themselves more disposable income, but it could involve sacrificing some amenities.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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