Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

Patients are anxious to know whether they’re affected by the Manage My Health hack – and there’s a pressing need for the company to tell people if their data’s been stolen, GP owners say.

The deadline is now thought to have passed for a $US60,000 ransom for hundreds of thousands of files taken from the online health portal, affecting more than 120,000 patients.

The hackers, known online as ‘Kazu’ have not leaked any further data after the deadline for the ransom had passed.

General Practice Owners’ Association chairperson Angus Chambers told Morning Report GPs don’t know who’s affected, or what information’s been taken.

“There’s a lot of patients who are worried that their privacy’s been breached, and they still don’t know, and there’s people who have had their privacy breached, and they don’t know either,” he said.

“There’s a lot of anxiety, and it’s actually creating a lot of work for GPs, because there’s a lot of queries, a lot of explanations, so we feel that we need to get that anxiety put to bed.”

That was Manage My Health’s job, he said.

“GPs are involved to a degree, but … it looks like it’s their responsibility, their fault, we feel it’s on them to be doing informing.”

Chambers said practices must be prudent about cyber security and protecting their patients, but it was not as simple as switching platforms.

In many practices, Manage My Health was closely connected with practice management software, and changing that was a massive job, he said.

Manage My Health said late on Monday that the ransom demand was a matter for police, and it would not be making any comment about a ransom while an investigation was ongoing.

The platform apologised for pain and anxiety caused to health providers and patients, and acknowledged it could have communicated better.

“However, our priority was to secure patient data and work on the accuracy of all information before providing it to practices and patients.”

It said it will publish daily updates with all the information it can share.

Health Minister Simeon Brown has announced an urgent review into the breach.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made the government’s first statement following the US military action against Venezuela, saying New Zealand is “concerned”.

On Saturday, the US attacked the Venezuelan capital Caracas and captured the South American nation’s president and his wife, citing alleged drug offences.

US President Donald Trump said in the meantime, the US would “run” the country, which has some of the world’s largest oil reserves.

“New Zealand is concerned by and actively monitoring developments in Venezuela and expects all parties to act in accordance with international law,” Peters said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), using the official Minister of Foreign Affairs account.

New Zealand is concerned by and actively monitoring developments in Venezuela and expects all parties to act in accordance with international law.  New Zealand stands with the Venezuelan people in their pursuit of a fair, democratic and prosperous future.

We continue to advise…

— Winston Peters (@NewZealandMFA) January 3, 2026

“New Zealand stands with the Venezuelan people in their pursuit of a fair, democratic and prosperous future.

“We continue to advise that New Zealanders do not travel to Venezuela. New Zealanders requiring urgent consular assistance can contact the 24/7consular emergency line on +64 99 20 20 20.”

The military action comes after months of accusations from the Trump administration that Venezuela has been shipping narcotics into the US, but Trump has made no secret of his desire to access Venezuela’s natural reserves.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure,” he said. “We’ll be selling large amounts of oil.”

The United Nations is set to have an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the action, which has recieved both praise and condemnation from world leaders.

Invasion unlawful – expert

International law expert Professor Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato said while it was “very good that Peters has called upon all countries to ‘act in accordance with international law'”, he was curious to know whether Peters believed the US action was lawful or not, or if Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro had diplomatic immunity.

In theory, Gillespie said it appeared the US military action was unlawful.

“You can only attack another country in times of self-defence and that situation must be urgent, proportionate in action, and no alternative to the use of force,” he told RNZ via email.

“Trump is not wrong to be concerned about the problem of illegal drugs and transnational criminal/terrorist groups, but the pretext of illegal drugs in this area is fanciful; where the ‘war on drugs’ has turned into something completely different. To say it is self-defence stretches the doctrine way beyond what it has previously been understood as.”

But it was unlikely Trump would face any legal retaliation, as the US has a veto on the UN Security Council and would “just laugh” at the prospect of being taken to the International Court of Justice.

Gillespie said there was a risk the US arrest of another country’s president would give others such as Russia, China and Iran “a green light to intervene in countries they disapprove of unilaterally – without going through the UN”.

“It will be a small step for countries like China to take Taiwan on this precedent; or Russia to push even harder into Ukraine.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Lawyers say an in-house immigration complaints process is a toothless tiger for visa applicants.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) received more than 6500 complaints in the last year, down from 9500 in 2019.

Immigration lawyers Pooja Sundar and Stewart Dalley say people who are overseas when they apply are given vague, or no, reasons why their visa has been rejected.

Decisions about temporary visas – such as tourist or family visits – can only be appealed if travellers are already in the country renewing a visa, or changing to a different one.

In those situations, INZ has to provide written reasons, as well as an opportunity before the decision is made to respond to concerns about an application.

It was unfair such a mechanism was not offered to offshore applicants who could instead only access a complaints and feedback process – which does not look at whether the decision was correct, Dalley said.

“I think there should be someone who’s looking at the actual merits of the application more than just the process followed,” he said.

“If there isn’t such a mechanism available, then you’ve got officers who are given so much discretion in their roles with absolutely no oversight, other than just procedural oversight.”

Challenging flawed decisions

“Where the officer knows in the back of the mind that nobody can review this decision, that’s not subject to an appeal, there’s no reconsideration then where’s the incentive to make a proper decision? And how many incorrect decisions are getting made when there’s no oversight?”

When decisions are appealed to the immigration and protection tribunal, more than a third of residence rejections are overturned, he said.

Sundar would like to see officers asking offshore applicants – whose visitor visa fee rose 60 percent a year ago to $341 – for more information if they are unsure about their application, and allowing reconsiderations of decisions.

“I’ve heard stories and I’m aware of situations in which there have been family trying to visit from various parts of the world, come to New Zealand for very specific events, or if they have holidays on their end of the world,” Sundar said.

“And they will have reasons to return [home] and they will have provided this to Immigration New Zealand, but because of potentially where they’re from or because of what immigration assumes with the application itself, they are declined.

“And in that position, the option is to reapply or to make a complaint. But the complaints process isn’t really going to go anywhere. And so the person looks at paying for those flights again, potentially, and paying the visa filing fees again, and going through the process again. And if it’s declined again, then we go back to square one, apply again, or the complaints process.

“A credible system requires transparency, clear reasoning, and a genuine path to challenge flawed decisions.”

Courts had previously ruled that where someone is engaging with New Zealand, the country’s laws apply to them and they were entitled to the rights of natural justice.

But Dalley said the office of the Human Rights Commission cannot investigate immigration-related issues and the only recourse was an expensive judicial review in the High Court.

“So we have excluded this under the Human Rights Act, which seems somewhat ridiculous that we are signing up to an international treaty on human rights but yet we’re going to trample all over them when it comes to our immigration policy settings. There’s something wrong with that.”

Immigration New Zealand [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/332479/immigration-nz-s-complaints-procedure-falls-short-lawyer

reviewed how it dealt with feedback] more than a decade ago and brought in a new system in 2017.

It was criticised for shrinking the scope of what people could complain about – as it could not be about the decision itself.

INZ complaints manager Katy Goodwin said while temporary visa applicants outside of New Zealand do not have a formal right of appeal or reconsideration “immigration officers may reconsider an application if new and compelling information is promptly provided”.

“If someone based overseas has had their temporary visa declined, they should submit a new application with all the correct and required information, answering any concerns that were outstanding from the declined application. If applicants are uncertain on what is required, they should check the requirements for each visa type on the INZ website.”

She said last year’s complaints numbers were at the lowest since the new feedback system started.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Nominations are open for a new election in an Auckland local body after previous results have been voided by a judge.

In December, Judge Richard McIlraith in the Manukau District Court voided October’s election results for the Papatoetoe subdivision of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board after ruling there were irregularities.

His inquiry identified 79 voting papers cast without voters’ knowledge.

The Auckland Council said nominations for a new election were open until midday 28 January, with four seats to be filled.

Voting will be open in March and results will be announced in April.

To be nominated, candidates must be eligible to stand as at 1 August 2025, the date of the close of nominations for the now voided election, according to the council.

Candidates must also be New Zealand citizens, 18 years of age or over, on the New Zealand electoral roll, and have signatures from two voters enrolled in the Papatoetoe subdivision area, it said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

There’s simply nothing better than ditching the workwear for an outdoor get-up and heading into the bush.

Thousands will head into the great outdoors this summer, including MPs from across the political spectrum.

RNZ interviewed a range of politicians about their experiences going bush: the highs, the lows and the whys.

Labour’s Duncan Webb is lucky to be alive

Labour MP Duncan Webb has been tramping since he was 13 and still grimaces when he recalls his first bush adventure. He followed his older brother and some of his mates into Arthur’s Pass one day, clad in heavy oilskin jackets with thin sleeping bags tucked into bulky packs they’d borrowed.

“Our parents had no idea what we were doing, and neither did we,” he said.

After an “extremely fatiguing” first day the boys found themselves in poor weather as they were crossing a mountain pass.

“It just rained, just constant rain and driving wind. We were freezing cold and as we came down the other side of the pass we got lost.”

The group took the wrong side of a creek and ended up next to a steep gorge, when Webb’s pack proceeded to fall down.

Webb said he fell into the river retrieving his pack and struggled to carry on to a hut as his drenched clothing chilled his body down.

“I was really tired and exhausted so I sat down and curled up and tried to go to sleep. I had quite advanced hypothermia.”

Webb said his 14-year-old companions “kicked him” until he moved and they eventually found a hut, had a kai and got warm.

The next night proved no better after the group camped next to a lake that flooded their tent in the middle of the night. Desperate to catch a train out the next day, Webb said the group swam across a flooded river “hearing boulders tumbling under their feet in chest deep water”.

“Utterly stupid,” he said.

His happy ending was being sent into a pub as the youngest to fetch some food for the group. Some kind West Coasters gave him hot chips and a lemonade, he said.

“We were all terrified. Our families weren’t pub goers. So, I was sitting there having chips and lemonade while my mates were out the back freezing cold,” he laughed.

Webb’s nightmarish first go at tramping hasn’t put him off what has become a lifelong love of walking in the bush.

“It’s almost meditative because you’re out there and sometimes it’s quite hard work, you’ve gotta pack on and going uphill so all the physical things are going but at the same time, you’re not thinking about anything in particular. You’re just focused on what you’re doing and where you are and it’s really refreshing and re-energising.”

Webb’s favourite place to walk is, somewhat surprisingly, Arthur’s Pass. He’s currently planning a tramp with his grown children in Mount Aspiring this summer.

ACT’s Cameron Luxton on being one with the food chain

A hunter, not a tramper, ACT MP Cameron Luxton’s ideal day in the bush involves tracking wild pigs and deer. Having lived in Galatea, near the foothills of the western side of Te Urewera, Luxton has made many memories. Some are better than others.

“One that immediately strikes is when I was brand new to hunting, I didn’t pick it up until I was in my teenage years. I climbed the biggest hill I could find. looking for the elusive deer. I was up there in my rugby shorts, walking through a beautiful clearning, nice and light green with dark bush around it, I thought this is perfect, this is the sort of place I need to be. That light green turns out to be my first experience of stinging nettle… I needed to learn that lesson once.”

Luxton said hunting for him was more than just gathering food.

“You have to be zen. You have to be part of the bush. You’re inserting yourself into the food chain, into the cycle. You have to be part of what the bush is. It can take a couple of hours, sometimes a day or so, to really get that feeling but when you hit that flow moment, that’s when you really are into it.”

There was nothing like getting off the beaten track either, he said.

“DOCs got some great tracks out there but there’s nothing like getting stuck into some gnarly heads of some gully somewhere, bashing through some bush that you just wouldn’t do if you weren’t after a quarry (game animal). So, hunting opens up a whole lot. Our forest and our hills are a massive untapped resource for a lot of people.”

Over the years, he’s introduced his sons to hunting, though they may not be so keen on following in his footsteps just yet, he said. “My eight-year-old son shot his first deer last year. He’s keen but he’s actually just got really into spear fishing. It’s one of those things like, do you force your hobbies onto your kids or do you adapt to what they’re doing?”

Given summer is not prime hunting time, Luxton said he would be spending it at the beach.

“Come autumn though, as soon as that first chill is in the air, that’s when I’ll start getting really excited to get back into the bush. End of March, early April I start doing silly things like getting the roar horn out and having a moan in the backyard.”

New Zealand First’s Andy Foster loves a long run

NZ First MP Andy Foster is a proud member of the Tararua Tramping Club and has walked many of the trails in the steep ranges north of Wellington. He loves being up above the bush line in the tussocks, grasses and mountain daisies.

“We can only visit that as opposed to staying there long term because it’s can be a hostile environment, but also the views you get to see from up there. Then there’s just being away, you know, away from the busyness of life and often the best part of that is you’re connecting with other people. You’re spending time with other people. I made a lot of good friends out of tramping.”

Though he’s slowed down over the last few years, Foster was at one point a keen mountain runner, clocking some huge kilometres.

“I’ve done runs like round Ruapehu in a day, Milford-Routeburn, Nelson Lakes to Lewis Pass across the table lands to Leslie-Karamea, out of the Wangapeka into the West Coast. It feels really good to do those sort of things. You get to see a lot, you possibly don’t get to appreciate it at the same slower pace that you go tramping but it’s great.”

He’s hit more than a few hurdles out on long runs before but that’s never put him off, he said.

“The run we did from Nelson Lakes through to Lewis Pass, it was in summer and the weather turned ugly. We got over the Waiau Pass heading towards Lewis and the weather started turning ugly, snow on the hills. We decided we’d actually stop slightly short at Cannibal Gorge. We had a couple of pieces of cheese and one bit of pita bread and that was it between us. We got there right as rain in the morning.”

Foster said while there were many highs that had come from tramping and mountain running, there were also some lows that came with the territory.

“Heights are not my favourite thing because you look down and think, if I fall off that’s the last thing I’ll ever do. The sad thing is that over time, I’ve lost a number of friends who’ve fallen off things tramping or low level climbing. It’s not to be taken lightly.”

National’s Barbara Kuriger walks to explore

National MP Barbarba Kuriger and her husband Lewis lace up their tramping boots every summer.

“We’ve done the Queen Charlotte, Abel Tasman, Milford Sounds and we like to get off on a Great Walk when we can. Last year we did a mixture of Coromandel, Waikaremoana, the Tongariro Crossing and, of course, in Taranaki. We’ve always got little short walks we can do on our Taranaki maunga on a Sunday and we go up Maungatautari while we’re in Te Awamutu.”

Kuriger said they make the most of transfer services that carry overnight gear for walkers, making the trails that much more enjoyable.

“We do a little bit of a cheat walk because we tend to take more of the accommodation where there’s food available. We don’t carry our beds and everything with us. We do an option where there’s huts available. It makes it pleasant, because you’re just really walking. You’re not carting things.”

She particularly loved the solitude of the bush, she said.

“You get to the end of the day and you’ve seen some amazing things out of out of civilization. You spend a whole lot of time, 11 months of the year actually, being with people and it’s quite nice just to get out in nature and take that time out.

Kuriger was already looking forward to walking this summer..

“We’re actually doing a little bit of a combo, where we go down the Forgotten Railway and then end up in and around Wanganui, which is actually the great walk that’s not a walk because it’s river. We’re going up to the blue duck station and I’ve always wanted to go up to the blue duck station. It’s exploring different parts of the country. I love it.”

The Greens’ Chlöe Swarbrick on feeling small in the great outdoors

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick didn’t grow up walking but has come to love it during her adult life.

“I’ve become much more of an outdoor greenie as I’ve got older. It definitely wasn’t a thing that my parents were super into when I was younger. I was very much living an urbanised life up until I made the effort to get outdoors. I’m lucky now to have a lot of friends and community who spend time outdoors and have been teaching me the tricks of the trade.”

Swarbrick said she kept a pretty busy schedule, but still managed to find time for the odd overnight tramp during the political year.

“Probably my favourite one from this year was one up in the Tararua Ranges. We went up to Powell Hut. The visibility was pretty terrible but we spent one night up there and went all the way above the clouds. There’s nothing quite like nature to remind you how small we are and to humble you to the things that really matter.”

She said she walked to connect with friends, and disconnect from life.

“One of my good mates in particular who I get to go tramping with, we will spend time delving into all of the most insane recesses of politics, but then spend hours just tramping along in silence. That’s the thing that I really do enjoy; that opportunity to just take some time and some space and to get off of a screen.”

While she didn’t have any walks lined up for the summer break yet, she was sure she would end up in the bush at some point.

“When I’m in Tāmaki I often do my best to get out to West Auckland, as well as getting across to Aotea. My summer is kind of unfolding. I know that I will be in the Waikato touching base with my family but from that point, I will absolutely be hitting my mates up to see who’s keen on an adventure.”

Note to reader: Te Pāti Māori declined RNZ’s request for an interview for this story.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Andrew Bayly still remembers the “visual assault” of Antarctica, the piercing blue clarity and scale-bending brightness.

The National MP tells how he once convinced his companions to join him on what he thought would be a short trip to climb a nearby peak. They borrowed skis, promised they would be back for lunch and set off.

Instead, the trek stretched for hours, across a crevasse field and then up a seemingly endless slope. The mountain turned out to be 12 kilometres away.

“We didn’t get back to the base until late that night,” Bayly laughs. “It was just meant to be a little stroll.”

Bayly was there for a full month in 2012, climbing mountains, including the continent’s tallest peak, Mount Vinson, and another never-before-climbed – the mountaineer’s “holy grail”.

“It was only three of us. We were miles from anyone,” he says. “You know that if you’re in trouble, you’re really in trouble.”

More than a decade on, the landscapes have stayed with him, fuelling a personal affinity for the continent and a determination to protect it.

In December, Bayly brought politicians, diplomats and officials from overseas to Wellington for a two-day meeting, the third Antarctic Parliamentarians Assembly.

Roughly 40 guests – representing nearly 20 nations – came to hear from scientists, compare notes and take home a clearer sense of what is happening at the bottom of the world.

From ice to influence

Antarctica is governed by a treaty signed in 1959, designating it a natural reserve devoted to peace and science. It explicitly prohibits military bases, weapons testing and new territorial claims.

But that is not to say the continent is free from pressure.

Tourism has surged in recent years. More than 120,000 visitors travelled south last season, six times the numbers seen two decades ago.

“We want to welcome tourists. We want people to go to Antarctica,” Bayly says. “The question is: how do you do that in a sustainable way?”

Fishing remains a concern, too. The krill fishery reached its annual catch limit this year for the first time, forcing its shutdown three months ahead of schedule – a warning sign that pressure is rising.

The tiny shrimp-like crustaceans are fundamental to the ecosystem as a primary food source for whales, penguins and seals.

“Certain nations really want to have a go at fishing out the krill,” Bayly says. “So, how do we protect ourselves against that?”

And then there is the unmistakable effect of climate change.

On the Antarctic Peninsula, the area of ice-free “greening” has jumped from 86 hectares to nearly 1200 over four decades – the size of a large sheep and beef farm, now exposed land rather than ice.

Research teams are drilling through kilometres of ice to pull up samples that may hold climate records stretching back more than a million years.

“They’re going to farm out all those core samples to … research people around the world, whoever wants them. So, you know, how do you collaborate?”

Bayly says those big questions of conservation and collaboration dominated discussions among the parliamentarians, many of whom arrived with limited knowledge of Antarctica.

“When they go back to their home, we want them to be strong advocates… in an informed way,” he says.

Among the speakers was mountaineer Peter Hillary, a moment Bayly says resonated with those visitors familiar with the legacy of his father, Sir Edmund Hillary.

“They love our connection to Antarctica,” he says. “They know we’ve got a leadership position.”

The next assembly is already in motion, scheduled for 2027, with Bayly asked to chair the steering committee. Several nations have already put up their hands to host: Norway, China, Italy, Argentina, and potentially more.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand could continue to see improvements for the dairy industry under its Free Trade Agreement with India, the trade minister says.

The government announced the deal with India on Monday, which removes or reduces tariffs for 95 percent of exports.

But products like butter and cheese aren’t included.

• Read more: Free trade agreement with India confirmed

Trade Minister Todd McClay however says there will be an opportunity to enhance the agreement, a year after it comes into force.

And if any similar dairy exporting country gets better access, another part of the deal comes into play.

“We will continue to talk to them about how we can get barriers down for dairy. And of course we have a commitment in the Free Agreement, that says that if they give better access to dairy to a similar dairy exporting country, then we have a right to negotiate to ask for the same treatment for New Zealanders.”

McClay says India has not opened up dairy imports to any country.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Trade Minister says he’s confident the Free Trade Agreement with India will be implemented despite New Zealand First’s opposition, saying he’d be surprised if Labour didn’t support it.

Trade Minister Todd McClay and Prime Minister Christopher Luxonannounced the deal at the Beehive on Monday, saying it would eliminate or reduce tariffs on 95 percent of exports, with wins for kiwifruit, apples, meat, wool, coal, forestry, and more.

But NZ First is not supporting it, with the party invoking its agree to disagree provision when Cabinet approval for the deal was sought last week.

McClay told RNZ the agreement will be signed next year, and after it’s scrutinised through the select committee process, legislation will need to pass in Parliament to drop tariff rates for India.

That means it is now in the hands of the opposition whether it passes or not.

He said he briefed Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Trade spokesperson Damien O’Connor about the deal before it was announced.

“It’s a high quality agreement, it is very similar to ones that they put through. I’d be surprised if they didn’t support it, but it will be for them to decide where they want to put their vote.”

O’Connor had previously told RNZ the agreement was a “good step forward”, but won’t yet say if the party supports it. He said Labour would make a decision on it in the new year.

McClay said he was aiming to have the agreement come into force before next year’s election, but that it can take a year or 18-months for a trade agreement to go through the full parliamentary process.

He said recent deals, including the NZ-EU FTA and the NZ-UAE FTA had passed with super majorities in Parliament.

“What is very very clear is that trade has become bi-partisan. All New Zealanders recognise trade is important to us… 400 million people get about 10 percent of their diet around the world from New Zealand. If we are not out there trading our economy goes backwards, and successive governments of different types, have recognised that.”

“I have confidence this agreement will go into force for New Zealand, because it is in the best interests of New Zealand, and we are, after all, a trading nation.”

NZ First’s claims over visa numbers ‘not correct’ – McClay

NZ First leader Winston Peters slammed the agreement as a “bad deal”, criticising a lack of wins for dairy – where only limited gains were secured – and saying it was reached for “political purposes”.

Peters also raised concerns about numbers coming in to the country under the Temporary Entry Employment (TEE) visa, saying 20,000 people might be here at any one time if spouses and children are allowed too.

“Now we’re in a very troubled labour market at the moment, we’re trying to turn our economy around, and this will not help,” he told RNZ.

McClay said those numbers were “not correct at all”, and there was nothing in the agreement about partners, spouses and children being allowed for someone on a TEE visa.

He said the commitment was for 1667 high-skilled temporary visas per year, for three years.

“At the end of that period, they have to leave, they can’t stay on, there’s no migration, there’s no rights to citizenship. It is merely a number of visas each year, that New Zealand requires.”

McClay said the government retained the right to make changes to which skill areas are needed under the visa, and the visa conditions.

When asked whether the detail over spouses and children had been communicated to India, McClay said: “I don’t need to communicate that to them, because it is not captured in the agreement, and there’s no expectation on the Indian side.”

He also batted back concerns Peters raised about numbers of students coming in under the deal, saying there was no commitment for students apart from post-study rights of three years, or four years for PHD students.

“We have a particular focus on the quality of education we can offer, it’s very important for our institutions, and to help others from around the world develop skills.”

Peters also criticised New Zealand’s investment commitments to India under the deal, saying the country is required to invest $20 billion into the Indian market over the next 15 years, and India will “claw back” concessions if this is not met.

McClay said that was an “aspirational” target for investment, and the emphasis was on the New Zealand government to make it easier for companies to invest in India. If the government doesn’t do that, there are “some things that India could do,” McClay said.

When asked whether he was disappointed NZ First had slammed this as a “bad deal”, McClay said he doesn’t think anyone would be surprised that NZ First has a “very strong view” over trade.

“This agreement will be worth billions of dollars of new exports for New Zealand, and thousands of jobs, and it is in the best interests of New Zealand.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the India free trade deal has been rushed through for political gain, and more wins could have been secured with longer negotiations.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Trade Minister Todd McClay announced the deal at the Beehive on Monday.

The agreement – which Luxon hopes to have signed off next year – includes significant wins for several industries, but only limited gains for dairy.

With New Zealand First agreeing to disagree with National and ACT, support will be needed from across the political aisle to get the majority support needed to pass it through Parliament.

Labour is also withholding support for now, saying the deal does look like a “very small step” forward in a world of trade disruption but the dairy sector will be disappointed.

Labour’s Trade spokesperson Damien O’Connor said meaningful access for the dairy sector must be the priority, and it was naive of Luxon to commit to a deal with India as a campaign commitment in 2023.

The Green Party says the government has not approached it seeking support, and would want to see the full text of the agreement before making any commitment.

Te Pāti Māori is refusing to support the deal, saying Māori have not been consulted, the Treaty of Waitangi clause is too weak, there’s too few wins for dairy, too few protections against corporate exploitation and no transparency.

Peters told RNZ the deal was neither free, nor fair.

“We should not have rushed it through,” he said. “We had been set a target by the prime minister of over the next three years from 2023… well, we got almost a year to go. This is not a good deal, because it has that aspect of being rushed about it.

“I’ve seen deals where the objective was for political purposes rather than economic advantage for New Zealand. This is one of those.

He said the deal was “far too generous”.

“Australia’s Free Trade Agreement has no such conditions. The UK free trade deal has no such conditions. So, why did they get imposed upon us?”

Peters said he would be surprised if the other parties in Parliament, like Labour, did not share his concerns.

“When you make a campaign commitment inside a coalition government, you listen to your partners… I’d be surprised if those other people in Parliament were not concerned with the same issues of alarm that we are facing on this matter.

“The previous Labour government was trying and it failed because of certain barriers, and here we are in this case signing a deal because we’ve taken down our barriers, and those barriers were in our national interest.

“Our market’s totally open to India and has been for a long, long time. All we’re asking for is a fair deal in reverse. And this is not.

He said in the 1980s we thought the whole world would adopt free trade, but they haven’t.

“They’ve kept their protections up, and here we are trying to graft ourselves back into the international economy.”

Peters pinpointed a lack of wins for dairy.

“We needed to spend more time with time to get them to understand that they’re going to need huge food supplies. Going forward, their level of production per cow is far too low compared to New Zealand,” he said.

“It’s in that way we could have helped them in their own market, and both of us profited.”

He said he was confident better terms could have been secured.

“I believe that by spending more time with Indians, we could convince them of the advantages of a fair deal for us. That’s what I’ve always believed.

“Because if you can’t get a fair deal, then you just have to walk away.”

RNZ has sought further comment from Trade Minister Todd McClay.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders say they were “blindsided” at the way things “spiralled out of control” this year.

Both Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi know next year be “tough”, but insist “there is no left bloc without Te Pāti Māori”.

Te Pāti Māori was riding high at the end of 2024, following a historical hīkoi to Parliament grounds.

As the party leaders sat down for an interview with RNZ at the end of 2025, they were in a markedly different position, following months of turmoil.

Ousted MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi – who is temporarily reinstated to the party following months of turmoil that led to her expulsion – told RNZ she was feeling “upbeat” heading into 2026, despite all the “yucky stuff” this year.

Takutai Tash Kemp

The party was rocked when the former Tāmaki Makaurau MP died suddenly in June after battling kidney disease.

Ngarewa-Packer said watching Kemp fight so hard to be an MP, to advocate for her people and be an “influence for her electorate”, while becoming sicker, then to “lose her so suddenly” was the “most devastating thing”.

They tried incredibly hard from the sidelines to support her, she said.

Waititi said she became “gravely ill” and he regretted not having “stronger” conversations with her about “just letting this mahi go”.

“She fought to be in this house, she fought to stay here, even with that, and she wasn’t going to let that sickness define her.

“I think, if any time we can see people really struggling, we should have those conversations and make sure that this isn’t the last stop for many of our people.”

He acknowledged the “fight for our people” was on one level at Parliament, but fighting to be with your “babies and your mokopuna” was just as important, if not more so.

Ngarewa-Packer said she probably wouldn’t grieve properly, until she returned home and could let her breath out.

Waititi reflected on comments he’d made at his aunty Dame June Mariu’s tangi, where he acknowledged that her children had to share their mother with the rest of the country and when the country gave her back, “she was broken”.

He said everybody benefitted from the work people did, but often it was the families who had to “pick up the pieces”.

“Society expects Māori to work harder.”

Ngarewa-Packer said the cost of leadership in te ao Māori was “extremely high”.

“You are expected to grind your way through pain, hold on to your emotions, work when the seasons are unworkable, all these sorts of things, whether it be through grief or fall out.”

There was also the expectation of turning up “on the ground” – just being at Parliament wasn’t enough, she said.

“You don’t get to go away to your holiday house for a treat for a month.”

Tāmaki Makaurau by-election

The party was then thrust into a by-election campaign it went on to win by miles.

In terms of the success, Ngarewa-Packer said the leadership “basically stopped what we were doing” and made it a priority for the electorate to know it wasn’t just getting a candidate, but the “attention, the aroha, the manaaki of the leadership too”.

She pointed out Tāmaki Makaurau was “one of our most established electorates”.

“It’s no disrespect to the candidate, but no matter who the party chose, there was actually quite a large infrastructure around that particular electorate.”

Waititi said “the movement” also played a part, and the victory made it clear Labour no longer had a “hold on those Māori seats”.

The people’s respect for Kemp also helped secure the win, Waititi said, off the back of the “biggest hīkoi this country has ever seen” and “the haka”.

In November 2024, tens of thousands of people marched through the country to Parliament under the banners of Toitū te Tiriti. Te Pāti Māori’s youngest MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke also went viral for starting a haka in parliament during the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.

Asked what Te Pāti Māori offered that led to such support, Ngarewa-Packer said one of the biggest things was Māori leadership.

She said the party didn’t have to “settle” for “politically palatable” policies or actions.

“That has its own dynamics to manage, but the reality is what they could see and hear was a movement that wasn’t stifled by non-Māori views.

“What people want to see now and hear and feel is Māori leadership and Māori politicians,” she said.

That was the “brand” the party put forward, “including Māori whanaungatanga”.

Waititi said “our people can see themselves in this movement”.

“For the first time, politically, in this democracy, they could see Te Pāti Māori rising to become a very viable positioning in any future government coming through.”

Leadership

Party leadership has been severely challenged of late, starting with allegations by Toitū te Tiriti spokesperson and son of Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi – Eru Kapa-Kingi.

Months of turmoil followed, including counter-allegations, and an increasingly public fallout between the party and two of its MPs.

It led to the expulsion of Mariameno Kapa-Kingi (now temporarily re-instated) and Tākuta Ferris. A court hearing is scheduled for February 2026 to consider the issue of John Tamihere’s party presidency and the expulsion of Kapa-Kingi.

Asked what happened and how the party could return from the damage, Waititi said he still had not seen evidence to back up those allegations.

“I would love to have seen it, because then we could deal with it.”

He also said the disputes moved “outside these doors into a space that we had no control over”.

He acknowledged that te ao Māori was hurting over the split in the party, but that he couldn’t control the behaviour of others – “All I can do is control my own.”

He said it just “kept going and going and going” in the media and on social media, but re-iterated Te Pāti Māori didn’t take the issue to the media, social media or the courts.

“That should have been in house and we should have continued to have those discussions.”

RNZ suggested the co-leaders must have known an email sent to membership risked being leaked.

Waititi said: “We must have known a whole lot of things.

“That leaking of that email was not of our doing.”

Waititi said, if its electorates asked for information, it would have provided the information, “because the mana sits with them”.

“The mana doesn’t sit with Debbie and I,” he said. “We don’t get to choose what they want to see and what they don’t want to see.”

In terms of the public dispute, Ngarewa-Packer said she “felt very blindsided” by some of the comments and accusations made at the beginning.

“It just spiralled out of control, because you could see we were grinding.”

She hoped there was still enough goodwill to dispute and debate the issues internally, but the “minute it went external” – certainly for her own Te Tai Hauāuru electorate – “that was enough”.

The leaders clarified that was the point at which four of the six electorates decided to expel Kapa-Kingi and Ferris. Tai Tokerau was excluded from the process, while Te Tai Tonga and Hauraki-Waikato abstained.

“They had every right to say ‘enough is enough, we will not tolerate this for our kaupapa’,” Ngarewa-Packer said.

She said she completely understood the way people reacted in “disappointment”, “shock” and “horror”.

“We kept a lot inside for a very long time. We have to accept that our people are still feeling the emotional let down.”

She said you still have to “love” and “fight for” your people, even “when you disappoint them”.

Ngarewa-Packer said – “sadly” – individuals decided to “make it about personality politics”, but she didn’t think it was about Tamihere or any personality – it was about a “fundamental disagreement on how things should run”.

“From our perspective, it should not be the MPs that run the party. It should be the electorates.”

Ngarewa-Packer pointed out not everyone would like their leadership at different times and not everyone would agree across electorates at different times, but “you have to be disciplined”.

Asked whether expelling the two MPs went as expected or whether it had backfired, Waititi said things were “getting worse” before the expulsions.

“It just kept bleeding and bleeding.”

He believed there should be a good reason for people to resign.

“Give us a reason why JT should resign as a president. Give us the reason why.”

Ngarewa-Packer confirmed “absolutely” no consideration was given for Tamihere to step down as president, even if it would help unite the party.

Election year

The leaders knew next year would be tough, but they were adamant “there is no left bloc without Te Pāti Māori”.

Ngarewa-Packer said that was why the leadership should stay, because it showed certainty, and would help the party navigate through the “rough times” and remind everybody “what we’re here to do”.

“We are here, not to win big popularity competitions. We’re here to bring the movement and advance it through.”

Part of that was mobilising – again – the confidence “of our people on the ground”, Ngarewa-Packer said. At times, this would also look like showing political leadership that “may not be popular”.

“If the end goal is to get this government out and to get the left block in, then that has always been our focus.”

She did not deny it would be hard, but she pointed to 2020, when she and Waititi brought Te Pāti Māori back to Parliament.

“Not to play it down, but 2020 was bloody harder.”

Waititi said they had to “pull this waka” from underneath the water.

“We know what it’s like to have to build a rebuild a movement.”

Asked about Labour leader Chris Hipkins increasingly criticising Te Pāti Māori, throwing into question the ability of the two parties to be in coalition together, Ngarewa-Packer called it “poor politics”.

She said using a period of turmoil for Te Pāti Māori to “try and elevate themselves” was naive.

Waititi said Hipkins could critique them all he liked.

“Chris Hipkins, you will not be the prime minister without Te Pāti Māori.

“The Labour Party and the Green Party will need Te Pāti Māori to get over the line.”

Te Pāti Māori ‘unrecognisable’ – Kapa-Kingi

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi – who was awaiting a substantive court hearing in February to confirm whether her reinstatement to the party will be permanent – told RNZ she was feeling upbeat as she wound down the parliamentary year.

The high court’s temporary ruling had given her a sense of “satisfaction” she said.

“That was a good feeling for me to have that decision laid down for me, for my family and everybody.”

The toughest part of this year had been having a “campaign against me and my kids and my family”, she said. Having information “thrown across the media” felt “hurtful” and “wrong”.

She described “pieces of the puzzle” coming out in various ways more recently, with “truth-bombs” happening on the way. She spoke specifically of an interview by MATA with Tākuta Ferris, which levelled new allegations against Te Pāti Māori’s executive.

“That really brought some truth to the surface that people weren’t aware of.”

She indicated the court case next year would “bring it all together” in that particular setting, although she acknowledged court was a “last resort”.

Kapa-Kingi said she had no concerns in terms of information that may come to light in the court case that would paint her in a negative way.

Stuff reported earlier in December on a text message that had been included in the court documents.

One of the key issues that led to the fallout within the party was whether there had been an agreement between Kapa-Kingi and Takutai Tash Kemp to share resources between their electorates – leading to the projected budget blowout Kapa-Kingi was accused of.

Lawyers acting for TPM president John Tamihere said they had evidence showing Kemp was not pleased about how much had been spent by Kapa-Kingi. This was in the form of a screenshot of a text message from Kemp to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer which read:

“I can’t afford another transfer of $45k that’s just ridiculous and would mean they take $79k for five months for doing what,” she wrote, and then included a screaming cat emoji.

In response, Kapa-Kingi told RNZ she questioned the weight of someone’s case if it was based on an emoji, and said she had giggled when she heard of it.

She did not know how people would respond to it, but she was not worried.

“The bigger story, I guess, or the bigger actual decisions and outcomes of that certainly will out outrun any emoji.”

She confirmed she stood by all her spending decisions.

Looking ahead to 2026, Kapa-Kingi said the kaupapa behind Te Pāti Māori was “untouchable”, but the party was not in a good place.

The way it operated was lacking tikanga and fundamental ways of being Māori.

She said she kept hearing the breakdown within the party was about “personality” but she rejected that, saying it was about “systemic failing”.

She said what was need was a reset, “a serious reset, not a pretend, reset, but a real one”, referencing the party’s attempt at a reset as its newest MP Oriini Kaipara was sworn in in October.

“But I’m back in there now, see. So I’m gonna do everything I can to set it back on track.”

One of the missing pieces she said was “honest, straight, upfront kōrerō”, which she said she was going to help organise going forward.

“If it takes longer than 20 minutes in a caucus, then it takes longer than 20 minutes in a caucus.”

The party has not yet had a caucus meeting since Kapa-Kingi’s temporary reinstatement, and she remained distant from the co-leaders at the AGM in Rotorua throughout the day. Tamihere said at the time the party did not want to welcome her back into the fold.

She said that first caucus meeting will be “rough”, “testing” and “challenging,” but some “serious consideration” needed to happen next year if the goal was a change in government.

Currently, the party was “unrecognisable”, she said, but there was an opportunity to “pull it together”.

“And I’m up for that.”

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