Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Green Party is welcoming news that the government has backtracked on plans to reinstate live animal exports.

Animal Welfare Minister Andrew Hoggard told 1 News he could not get Cabinet agreement on overturning the ban, which formed part of coalition agreements with both ACT and NZ First.

Green Party spokesperson Steve Abel said the news was a win for animals, the public and the groups campaigning against the move.

He said there had been backlash to the proposal right from the start.

“From the outset, there was overwhelming outrage from veterinary experts who expressed there was no way to maintain animal welfare standards and herd cattle onto ships where they spend weeks at sea wallowing in their own waste. It’s fundamentally cruel and there’s no way to uphold the barest animal standards while exporting at sea,” Abel said.

“They couldn’t get it across the line because New Zealanders didn’t want to see animals suffering in that way.”

A 57,000-strong petition calling for the ban to stay in place was presented to parliament in 2024.

At the time, Hoggard said he wanted the ban overturned by 2025.

In April 2025, Hoggard told RNZ he expected the legislation to go to Cabinet within months, but that a backlog had slowed the work of the Parliamentary Counsel Office in drafting the amendment.

Last month, Livestock Exports NZ chief executive Glen Neal said uncertainty around the bill was unhelpful, but the industry remained hopeful the ban would be overturned.

Parliamentary questions revealed the minister had not received any advice on the plan since mid-2025, despite telling scrutiny week committees the amendment had gone before cabinet in December last year, Abel said.

If the coalition intended to make it an election issue, it needed to tell the public immediately, but Abel believed “the handbrake had been pulled” at the Cabinet level because of the unpopularity of the move.

The Ministry for Primary Industries initiated an independent review of live exports in 2020, after the sinking of Gulf Livestock 1, which resulted in the deaths of 41 crew and nearly 6000 cattle.

The vessel, registered to Panama and owned by a UAE shipping company, left Napier in August 2020 bound for China, but sank off the coast of Japan in a typhoon.

In 2022, the previous government passed a bill banning live exports, beginning in April 2023.

At the time, National’s animal welfare spokesperson Nicola Grigg said the ban was disproportionate and ideological, and would hurt farmers and consumers.

The National Party had campaigned on overturning the ban, with a proposal it said would require greater regulation to protect animal welfare and safety, such as purpose-built ships and a certification regime for importers.

Hoggard, who is a former president of Federated Farmers, had previously said reintroducing the trade was one of his top priorities in the portfolio and he wanted to “progress with some haste”.

A 2024, an RNZ investigation revealed industry group Livestock Export New Zealand planned to spend $1 million to ensure the ban was dismantled, including on political lobbying, a “social media counter offensive”, a “trust and understanding” campaign, media training and creating the “gold standard” for animal welfare.

RNZ has approached Minister Hoggard for comment.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Education Minister Erica Stanford has been damning in her assessment of last week’s disastrous poll result for National, calling it a “bad week” for the party and for the caucus.

Speculation has been swirling about Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s leadership after the Taxpayers’ Union Curia Poll result put National on 28.4 per cent – the party’s lowest result since Luxon became leader.

Asked on Tuesday whether she was happy with the result, Stanford – often tipped as a possible leadership contender – said: “No, of course not”.

“We’ve got to do a lot better as a party, all of us pull together, we’ve got to respect what voters are telling us,” she said.

In addition to the horror poll, Luxon also struggled to articulate the government’s position on the Iran conflict and flubbed his answers to questions on the same topic at his post-Cabinet press conference last week.

Asked whether it was a bad week for the prime minister, Stanford said the result reflected poorly on the party.

“I would say it’s a bad week for the National Party and our caucus, and we’ve got to do better all of us together, pull together and remember that our focus is on the New Zealand people, and in my case, raising student achievement,” Stanford said.

Any speculation she was vying for the top job was “reporters interviewing their own typewriters”, Stanford said, adding that she supported the prime minister “100 percent”.

On Tuesday afternoon, Stanford ruled out making any bids for the leadership.

“We have a leader, he’s doing a really good job, and I am part of a high-performing team just doing my job, reforming the education system.”

In a busy day in Parliament – when the Covid-19 inquiry report was released, National MP and Minister Shane Reti announced his retirement, and MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was reinstated to Te Pāti Māori by the High Court – National Party ministers and backbenchers were resolute in their support of the prime minister.

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said he backed Luxon and looked forward to the coming election campaign.

Asked whether he wanted to be the leader, he repeatedly said he had “no intentions” to run for the top job but also refused to rule out a future bid.

“It’s got nothing to do with me… I’m not here to answer questions about me running for the leadership, because, as you know, I support the prime minister.”

Tim Costley, MP for Ōtaki, said that asking Luxon to step down, should his polling worsen, had never crossed his mind.

“We’ve got a strong caucus. We’ve got 49. We’re looking great.”

Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink said she was not concerned about her seat, which was one of the most marginal at the last election.

“I’m not worried about my job. I’m not worried about my seat. I’m worried about the country if we have an alternative government.”

Takinini MP Rima Nakhle put her level of support for the prime minister at “123 percent”, while Upper Harbour MP Cameron Brewer said the caucus was unified.

“We respect the guy, we’re tight, we’re disciplined, and you can see that with all our answers in the last 72 hours. You know, we actually just want to get on with the job.”

The prime minister himself continued to brush off concerns about the poll, telling reporters on Tuesday that the party’s caucus meeting would feature normal business, adding the team was “really united, really focused, really driven”.

But Labour leader Chris Hipkins blasted National for getting itself into “one heck of a mess”.

“They promised they were going to fix the economy, they’ve shrunk it. They promised they were going to get Kiwis into work, more Kiwis are unemployed now. They promised they were going to fix government debt, government debt’s gone up. They promised they were going to fix the cost of living, the cost of living’s got harder for New Zealand households.

“Whether it’s Christopher Luxon or one of the other ministers who was involved in all of those decisions leading the National Party, the problem is they haven’t done what they said they were going to do.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog above.

MPs are back at Parliament today for caucus meetings and the House back in session, after a weekend of speculation about Christopher Luxon’s leadership and economic uncertainty over the Iran war.

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog at the top of this page.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog above.

MPs are back at Parliament today for caucus meetings and the House back in session, after a weekend of speculation about Christopher Luxon’s leadership and economic uncertainty over the Iran war.

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog at the top of this page.

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 Transport Agency (NZTA) has picked a cheaper but less effective option to fix the highway through Waioweka Gorge north of Gisborne that leaves a greater likelihood of closures than a costlier “full” fix.

A newly released business case shows the recommended option would cut closures by 53 percent while a full fix would cut them by 70 percent.

But it would still deliver 83 percent fewer days closed, a 7.5 percent cut in deaths and serious injuries, and halve the cost of freight detours.

State Highway 2 through the 48km-long gorge was still being repaired and only partially open weeks after 40 slips shut it during January’s storms.

It was regularly out of action, costing the economy at least $8 million a day.

In the May 2024 business case – the latest there was – the NZTA board actually “endorsed” the full fix of 83 sites because that would make funding it a bit more certain.

But it instead recommended fixing 58 out of the 83 sites of rockfalls, slips and erosion on what it called a “lifeline route” – those 58 most likely to cut the road.

The other 25 less risky sites to fix would be “separately funded” and not start till 2029.

It suggested this was the quickest path.

“There is urgency to address as many sites as possible quickly and it is recommended that TREC [the project] deliver funding tranches 1 and 2 now,” the report said, “with funding of lower consequence … sites delivered through future operations and maintenance programmes or future capital works programmes.”

The difference in cost was put at $36-43m in 2023 dollars. A much cheaper third option was discarded.

The agency told RNZ it was now reviewing all the sites to see if the report or the costs needed updating.

However, it also said last month that the 2024 business case was “complete and does not need any further work. So it can be utilitised without delay, subject to funding availability”.

The gorge was the country’s only stretch of highway to be rated in the worst at-risk category by a 2020 assessment.

The draft business case was begun in 2022 but storms delivering more damage kept on catching up on it.

“This 2022 business case was substantially complete, including engagement activities and inclusion of iwi in the business case process, but it was not yet submitted for approval at the time Cyclone Gabrielle hit.”

Some locals, saying Tairāwhiti had been suffering too long and too often, had called for the government to look at alternative routes north to Ōpōtiki but it said the clean-up had to come first.

The highway was closed for over three weeks after January’s storms and was on stop-go signals at times during the day and still shut at night as roadworks carry on.

The report said the board endorsed a full fix to ensure that if extra funding came available in future, it could be released for it.

The full fix was to “ensure a resilient level of service for this lifeline route”.

The estimated total costs were put at between $130m and $153m for the recommended option; and between $166m and $196m for the full fix.

The business case cautioned about leaving any risky sites ultimately unfixed.

“If lower risk sites remain unfunded there is potential these sites will deteriorate further and reduce the long-term resilience outcomes of the … investment.

“Without proactive interventions the demand for emergency funding and repairs on SH2 through Waioweka Gorge will continue.”

Of the 25 “maybe” fixes, 13 were of level three risks and 12 of level one and two. Four and five are the worst.

“Confirming full tranche 1 funding and obtaining additional tranche 2&3 funding will remain a high priority for the TREC team.”

The Transport Rebuild East Coast Alliance, or TREC, was set up to rebuild roads after Gabrielle in February 2023.

The business case had envisaged starting in 2024 on 32 projects in tranche one, then tranche two through to 2029, but was overtaken by events.

The full fix had a higher cost-benefit ratio of 1.3 versus 1.2 for what was recommended ($1.20 value back to the wider economy for each dollar spent).

Eight key risks were led off by three “high” ones: That costs would rise, the quake hazard from the Koranga Fault and how sensitive the area was to local iwi and hapu.

“Please note that future investment in the corridor is subject to funding approval,” NZTA told RNZ.

TIMELINE

• 2020 – Waioweka Gorge is officially rated NZ’s riskiest highway
• 2021 – Waka Kotahi preparing a business case for gorge highway
• 2022 – Business case mostly complete
• 2022-24 – Eight extreme weather events
• 2023 – In February, Cyclone Gabrielle damages road
• Later that year Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC) is set up to rebuild
• 2024 – Business case completed in May
• 2025 – June and September rain closes road
• Five repair projects begin after September
• 2026 – 40 slips shut the highway in January
• By March 2026 it is stop-go past roadworks during the day, closed at night
• Business case is done but unfunded

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Months’ worth of social housing and benefit data haven’t been published because of a broken system, and there’s no fix in sight.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) usually provides monthly updates, including information like the number of people in emergency and social housing, and how big the waitlist is, tracking changes over time.

Those have not been published since November, and the quarterly update due in December was also missing.

MSD has reported “high level” benefit data – the number of people on various benefits – as at December, but its usual monthly benefit reporting was affected too.

“The delay is related to our Information Analysis Platform, which is the tool we use to collate benefit and some housing data,” MSD insights general manager Fleur McLaren said.

She could not say when the information would be published.

“The system is ageing and requires manual fixes,” she said.

“Because of the age of the system, undertaking a fix has taken longer than we had first anticipated.”

McLaren apologised for the delay.

The problem did not affect the ministry’s internal data collection or reporting capability – that is, the data does exist – but it could not be publicised because that required additional checks, the ministry said.

MSD is in the midst of a 10-year, $2 billion overhaul of its 30-year-old IT systems that are so clunky they hold up benefits.

In 2024, it was reported that nearly one in four beneficiaries could be receiving the wrong level of support due in part to staff having to navigate multiple frontline IT systems.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The local government minister cannot guarantee a rates cap will not cause higher costs for tens of thousands of social housing tenants.

Simon Watts said the final rates cap policy was still being designed, but did not anticipate it would cause higher costs for those living in roughly 10,000 council-owned rental homes.

Advice from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD) to the Department of Internal Affairs said if rate rises were restricted and replaced with more user charges then the impact would likely be a rent increase for those living in council homes, which was predominantly pensioners.

It would also lead to increased levels of housing need, MHUD said.

Green MP Tamatha Paul said this “crucial advice” was omitted from the Cabinet paper Watts presented to his colleagues.

The advice also stated councils would likely shift to market rents for properties it owned, and rely on higher accommodation supplement payments for tenant assistance.

Yet, the impact of an increased Accommodation Supplement had not been costed by the government.

This would especially impact older New Zealanders, the advice read, advice that was not included in the Cabinet paper on the policy.

Watts told RNZ he was confident the concerns raised by officials, particularly around rents, were not going to be a concern.

“The rates capping final policy model has not been finalised yet.

“On that basis, the concerns that have been raised, in my view, are not predicated on what the final design of the policy will be.”

He said the government did not “anticipate” the rates cap would have an impact on council services like council-owned rental homes.

Asked if he could guarantee the cost increase would not occur, he would not. Instead he reiterated the government was not far from finalising the policy following a round of consultation.

He said it would be the appropriate time to comment once that was announced, and the advice could be compared to the final policy.

Paul said the minister did not have any evidence to back up his assurances, and was concerned 10,000 households in New Zealand would be hit with a “crisis in their weekly bills”.

“Unless he was going to put some specific carve out in the rates cap that councils could continue to collect rates for council housing subsidies, then I don’t understand how he’s supposed to stop that from happening.”

She was worried the minister did not consider council housing as part of local government’s core functions, and instead was a “nice to have”.

Paul said many people did not understand councils were some of the “biggest landlords” for pensioners and elderly people on fixed incomes who would not be able to “weather a dramatic rent increase”.

Watts told RNZ it was not the government’s intent to adversely impact any specific group, and wanted to make sure he was putting in place a policy that was going to provide benefit across the board.

“Where there are concerns that that may have an implication on one group over another, then we want to work through that and take that on board.”

The advice from MHUD was not included in Watts’ Cabinet paper on rates capping, because ministers got a lot of advice from officials “across the board, across a variety of areas”, he said.

‘Devastating for Dunedin’ – housing advocate

Leader for the Otago Housing Alliance, Aaron Hawkins, said the outcome of the minister’s policy decisions could be “devastating in Dunedin”.

“If councils had to charge market rents, it would simply be unaffordable,” said Hawkins, who was also running in the Dunedin City Council by-election.

There were more than 900 units owned by council in Dunedin, the vast majority of them homing older people living alone on fixed incomes.

Currently a single bedroom unit for a council tenant was $150 a week, whereas the current median rent for a one bedroom apartment in St Kilda was $375 a week, he said.

The maximum accommodation supplement in Dunedin is $80, “so there’s no way they’ll be able to afford the balance”.

“We’ll have hundreds of older residents looking for somewhere else to go, and there isn’t anywhere else obvious for them to go.”

He also was not suprised the advice was not in the Cabinet paper. He said rates capping was nothing more than a slogan, and no way to run a city let alone a country.

“People need to understand the implications of that, and this is one very stark example of where we are heading.”

Hawkins explained Dunedin would be impacted more than anywhere else because the council chose to maintain control of its supply of community housing, rather than transferring ownership in various forms into community trusts or community housing providers.

“That was the right thing to do, but it certainly does mean that the city is more exposed to this kind of outcome.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealanders in the Middle East should attempt to leave by road or commercial flights as soon as it is safe to do so, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) said.

The government was working “around the clock” on plans to assist Kiwis stranded in the region, an MFAT spokesperson said.

Efforts were focused on overland options to support New Zealanders to leave Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

MFAT had contacted New Zealanders in those countries who had expressed interest in government-assisted departure, but support provided would depend on factors, including the security environment and cooperation of foreign governments, the spokesperson said.

MFAT warned that travel disruption has now extended well beyond the region.

Airlines that normally transit Middle East airspace to connect Europe and Asia faced significantly longer routes and higher fuel costs, which had been compounded by Russian and Ukrainian airspace also being closed to most airlines.

For those countries where the airspace remained closed, MFAT advised sheltering in place and following the advice of local authorities at all times.

This included ensuring enough food and water supplies, torches, batteries, and medications.

Commercial airlines were increasing the number of flights operating and were the fastest way for New Zealanders to get home, MFAT said.

By Monday morning, 3694 New Zealanders had registered as in the region via the Safe Travel site.

A MFAT spokesperson said the majority (2213) were in the United Arab Emirates. Around 900 New Zealanders have registered from Qatar and Saudi Arabia combined, and 121 in Egypt.

Less than 100 Kiwis were in each of Kuwait, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Oman, and 36 in Iran.

MFAT said its ability to assist New Zealanders in Iran was extremely limited.

The Embassy in Tehran, which closed in mid-January, would remain closed until further notice.

New Zealanders in Iran needing support should contact the consular emergency line or the New Zealand Embassy in Turkey.

The Safe Travel site reported Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) had announced the partial re-opening of airspace and some resumption of flights out of Doha.  

The services would  operate on designated contingency routes with limited capacity, and with the support of Qatar’s Armed Forces, allowing for airline-run evacuation flights.

Qatar Airlines had been in direct contact with customers to offer this option, MFAT said.

“We strongly encourage New Zealanders who want to leave Qatar, particularly those who have existing bookings with Qatar Airways, to urgently contact your airline and travel agent to seek further information. “

There was one commercial flight scheduled to leave Doha on Monday, travelling to Perth.

There could be long delays getting through to airlines, given very high demand, but people should stay on the line until answered and use official channels like chat or call centres, not social media, MFAT said.

All airlines and airports continued to stress that passengers should not proceed to the airport unless their airline has confirmed their specific flight is operating.

It urged people to register via the Safe Travel website, to check the website and Facebook for any updates, and to avoid government buildings, military sites and facilities, such as energy infrastructure, including oil production facilities and US Embassies, which could be targeted in military strikes.

Two Defence Force Hercules are in the region and poised to assist if commercial flights become unavailable, a MFAT spokesperson said.

One departed from Whenuapai on Saturday, and another was being redirected to the Middle East from Asia.

On the weekend, Defence Minister Judith Collins said she could not provide specific routes, timings or destinations for security reasons, but that if evacuations took place, the planes would bring people to safer locations where they could board commercial flights back to New Zealand.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Prime Minister continues to insist he has the backing of his party and colleagues, and that he has only discussed last week’s disastrous poll “in passing”.

The Taypayers Union-Curia poll last week put National on 28.4 percent – its lowest result since he became leader.

Speaking at his post-Cabinet media conference this afternoon, Christopher Luxon said polling was not a major focus of discussion with his ministers and fellow National MPs.

He said the media had “gone a bit bananas” on the poll result, and his support amongst the caucus was solid.

He said he did not need to talk to members of his party over the weekend to know he had their support.

“I talk to my ministers and MPs all of the time. In passing I talked about the poll results, but I talked about lots of other things.”

He said the poll had not been a “major focus”.

“I can reassure you I’ll be the leader going into the election on November 7.”

Luxon said the poll result was just one of many, and that only one poll really mattered to him.

“Every day I’m talking to Kiwis and the key thing is their poll – and they tell me they’re frustrated with the cost of living and frustrated with the speed of the economic recovery, and that’s what they want us to do.”

He added that the kinds of numbers seen in last week’s poll were “not going to happen” on Election Day.

Riding the economic shockwaves

Finance Minister Nicola Willis also spoke at this afternoon’s press conference, and sought to give reassurance the government could respond to any economic shocks caused by the conflict in the Middle East.

Willis said the potential impacts to GDP depended on how long the conflict lasted – saying it could be between -0.2 to -0.4 percent, but beyond that it depended on the global trajectory for growth.

She said there were so many different scenarios that she could not give precise figures.

“We are already seeing impacts in the price New Zealanders pay for petrol and we can anticipate a range of potential consequences for supply chains, trade, inflation and future economic activity.”

Willis did say it was unlikely the government will cut fuel excise taxes.

“I’d love to be able to say I can take away the pain right now, but I’m conscious that short term gain could lead to longer term pain, and I’m mindful that any immediate actions do come with a longer term cost.”

She said while there is a lot of volatile in global oil prices, the government does not expect fuel companies to take advantage of rising prices.

“We have asked the Commerce Commission to step up its monitoring of fuel prices and if necessary to call out any suspect pricing behaviour by retailers.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Finance minster Nicola Willis is joining Christopher Luxon at the weekly post-Cabinet media conference, with an update on the economy. But attention is likely to fall on the Prime Minister with questions about his leadership, the polls and Iran.

Follow all the latest news with RNZ’s live blog.

The prime minister is facing disastrous poll numbers, while also dealing with global issues, as missiles continue to tear through Middle Eastern skies.

Pressure is mounting on the Christopher Luxon with a poll result last week putting National in the 20s.

Listen to the PM’s appearance on Morning Report here:

Luxon batted away questions last week about stepping down as party leader following the latest Taxpayers’ Union Curia poll that had National on 28.4 – down nearly 3 points from its poll last month.

Luxon said on Friday evening none of his Cabinet colleagues had told him to reconsider his future, saying “all of them” back him.

He said he was “absolutely not” considering standing down and said he had the skills to lead the National Party and the country.

Luxon also made a personal explanation in the House on Tuesday night, after he stated incorrectly the government was automatically extending visas for people in New Zealand affected by the war in Iran.

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