Category: Politics

Source: Radio New Zealand

Parliament has rejected a petition fighting to change ACC workplace legislation to include injured volunteer firefighters.

The petition to Parliament was launched by Katherine Lamont from the Queenstown Volunteer Fire Brigade after a colleague developed PTSD and was unable to get help.

Lamont collected 36,549 signatures to fight for 12,000 volunteer firefighters who were excluded from certain ACC benefits because they were classified as non-employees.

The petition was calling for volunteer firefighters to get the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid colleagues.

Currently volunteers were excluded from mental or gradual process injuries which could come from exposure to toxins or cancers.

Parliament’s Education and Workforce Committee said it agreed volunteer firefighters offered vital services to New Zealand, but it did not want to change the legislation.

“While we are sympathetic to the petitioner’s arguments, we are concerned about the precedent that extending ACC cover to volunteer firefighters might set. We do not consider it practical for all types of volunteers to be provided with ACC workplace coverage.

“We would like to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who volunteer for this important and challenging work.”

Lamont said this is not the answer they wanted, but she was not giving up.

“While the committee ultimately declined to recommend legislative change, their own report acknowledges what volunteers and communities already know: volunteer firefighters are essential, they face the same dangers as paid firefighters, and they deserve better support.”

In a submission to the committee Lamont laid out just how important volunteers were.

“Volunteers make up 86 percent of the front-line workforce of Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ). These people are often first responders in emergencies.

“In New Zealand in 2023, volunteer firefighters responded to callouts

for 70 percent of motor vehicle accidents, 71 percent of medical emergencies, 81 percent of vegetation fires.”

She said volunteers were on call all hours of the day and never expected anything in return.

Peter Ottley served as chief firefighter in Kingston for 13 years, but had been unable work after developing severe PTSD following a horrific bus accident a year ago. His family was under a huge amount of financial stress.

“I stepped up to help my community, and when I became mentally injured, I expected at least the same level of support a full-time firefighter would receive.

“Instead, we’re left unsure about what our future looks like. No volunteer should ever be placed in that position.”

The committee’s report highlighted the estimated cost of providing equitable cover for FENZ volunteers at $244,533 per year, or roughly $20 per volunteer firefighter annually.

“Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and ACC consider this to be a fairly minor cost increase. However, they said there are fairness concerns around where this funding could come from.”

Labour and the Greens were open to extending ACC coverage.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

It was an “historic” day for New Zealand’s education system says the head of IHC, as the government settles a Human Rights Review Tribunal claim from 2012 alleging education policies disadvantaged disabled students in schools.

Chief executive of the service provider for people with intellectual disabilities, Andrew Crisp, said the government had agreed to work together, rather than “battle it in the courts”.

“We were prepared to battle it in the courts, but we know this is a better way for us, and we can really achieve something quite big.”

IHC said the agreement would enable the New Zealand education system to work better for disabled students.

Crisp said disabled students had not had an equitable opportunity to enjoy a meaningful education in New Zealand, and this settlement was part of fixing that.

“Families, teachers and principals have told IHC over several decades that government policies led to exclusion for disabled students in local schools.

“This is a strong starting point for long-term improvements to how the government supports disabled students learning at their local school.

Crisp signed the agreement at Parliament on Thursday afternoon alongside Minister for Education Erica Stanford and secretary for education Ellen MacGregor Reid.

The agreement committed to a ‘Framework for Action’ responding to the support needs of disabled and neurodiverse students, as well as establishing a stakeholder group to support its implementation.

The framework included:

• Better data reporting and collection
• Improved access to specialist support services
• Better coordination among education agencies to improve the system for disabled students
• Taking steps to ensure the curriculum reflects and includes all learners
• Taking steps to enable more accessible infrastructure
• An investigation of alternative funding structures
• An investigation into the impacts of government policies and funding decisions on attitudes of ableism (a focus on what disabled students could not do, rather than what they could).

IHC said the Framework for Action required the ministry to “investigate several areas of education” and consider how they could be improved to support all learners, including those with disabilities. Those areas included data collection and reporting, access to specialist support services, infrastructure and curriculum.

Crisp said discussions with the ministry had been “detailed and collaborative” and IHC was satisfied the changes could remove barriers and lead to longterm positive oucomes for disabled students.

Stanford called it a “hugely significant” day, and said it was the start of a “true partnership” between IHC and the Ministery of Education to “make sure that we are securing the futures of our disabled children and the education system”.

“For too long, they have not been receiving the education they deserve. And we’ve now put together a framework that we’ll work together on to make sure that we change that.”

She said it was up to the government to make sure the system was funded properly.

“There is obviously a huge deficit that we need to make up for, but we’re committed to doing that.

“In Budget 25, we delivered the most significant investment in learning support in a generation – $750 million – directly tackling the long-standing inequities IHC has raised.”

Crisp said it would mean children could go to school and feel part of the school environment, and “are not treated any differently”.

He said that would “take some time”.

“Over time those students’ support and learning needs will be better understood and they will have what they need to thrive at school and beyond, just like their non-disabled peers.

“But the reality is, we want a society where that can be the case.

“System change will take years, but we will make sure that there is demonstrable progress.”

Shane McInroe, who has learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyspraxia, said “writing and reading is not my forte, but we get there eventually”. He worked in advocacy and was also in attendance, speaking of his own experience at school.

“Maybe they just didn’t have adequate support and they didn’t have understanding of how to work with someone with a learning disability.”

He spoke of the significance of the day “to the community and the whole of the schooling system”.

He said students with disabilities could “actually be a student in a school” and not be concerned about their support.

“It will make a huge difference.”

He wanted to see real training for support staff and teachers.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

While many people ease into Christmas, head to drinks, write cards and mentally check out, in its penultimate sitting week of 2025 Parliament is doing the opposite.

This is one of MPs’ busiest weeks of the year.

Ten new bills across different portfolios were introduced, a matching number for Santa’s reindeer (including Rudolf). Probably the most high-profile of them were three comprising the surprise arrival of the government’s major shake-up of the Resource Management Act (RMA).

News of the legislation’s arrival at Parliament took place during an lock-in event reminiscent of Budget Day, in which the government gave opposition MPs, officials and the media a couple of hours to familiarise themselves, before releasing a full outline of its RMA reform plan at 1pm.

The RMA is to be replaced by two new laws – one focused on development planning and one on the natural environment.

Those two bills were introduced this week, but the government opted not to progress them under urgency this week to give “members a good chance to digest them”, Minister for RMA Reform Chris Bishop said.

Those two bills are moving through the default legislative process, so they won’t pass until a few months into next year. They aren’t scheduled to take effect until 2029.

To bridge the three-year gap and provide some certainty in the interim, the government began urgency with a third, RMA related bill – the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Bill.

“At the moment, consent holders face an unnecessary burden,” Bishop told the House on Tuesday.

“Many of them are required to renew resource consents under the current system, even though the new system will be in place; that will streamline processes. It’s our view that that is inefficient and unnecessary. So these are temporary yet urgent changes that will avoid uncertainty, stress, and cost.”

The third bill extends resource consents that are due to expire before the new RMA regime is passed (end of 2027), and it reinstates and extends recently expired consents in cases where a replacement application has already been lodged.

The RMA was originally passed in 1991 by the fourth National government and was, at the time, internationally novel. More than 30 years later, there’s general agreement that reform is needed. Where political parties’ ideas deviate is how those changes should look.

Because the opposition hadn’t had much time to delve into the details of the extension bill, their grievances on the bill included the use of urgency.

“Minister Bishop and Simon Court have been very, maybe ‘collaborative’ would be too strong of a word, but they’ve involved us at some points along the way in the resource management development. I want to give them credit for that.” said Lan Pham, Green Party spokesperson for RMA.

“What was really disappointing with this was not having any heads-up about it at all. That would have been a really basic thing to do, right? If this is so important and urgent to the transition, just let us at least know about it, right? Then we can actually understand it.

“The fact that we’ve just got this bill, literally an hour or two before it goes through all stages in urgency, is absolutely unacceptable.”

Governing party MPs seldom speak for long in the current Parliament, but under urgency they get very terse. This bill was set down for all stages under urgency, and coalition backbench contributions were barely elevator-pitches. Opposition MPs filled their allotted speaking times.

After a long evening in the Committee of the Whole stage, with Opposition MPs happy to slow proceedings, the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Bill eventually passed all stages about an hour into Wednesday morning. It’s likely to be signed into law next week.

To listen to the audio version of this story, click the link near the top of the page.

RNZ’s The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament’s Office of the Clerk.

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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 Conservation Minister has re-classified swathes of stewardship land on the West Coast of the South Island.

Tama Potaka is making some of the changes through an ‘order in council’ process that legitimately circumvents Cabinet sign off.

New Zealand First’s deputy leader Shane Jones conceded Potaka holds the power to do so, though he disagrees with the decision.

“We are a pro-extractive, pro-mining, pro-development, pro-jobs party,” Jones told RNZ.

Stewardship land is public conservation land that has not yet had its natural and historic values assessed.

Potaka outlined how 80 percent of the West Coast’s land would be treated.

Key changes include:

• Six proposals referred to the New Zealand Conservation Authority (NZCA) to consider the suitability of adding 4298 hectares of land to existing national parks.
• 63 proposals for disposal investigations, covering up to 3352 hectares of land.
• 151 proposals for protection under the Reserves Act covering 192,973 hectares of land, including historic and scenic reserves.
• 157 proposals for protection under the Conservation Act, including increased clarity through classification as conservation parks, and additional protections for ecological areas.

Potaka said the changes were the most significant reclassification since DOC’s inception in 1987.

“The vast majority of areas will finally have the accurate classification as they deserve, reflecting their conservation and cultural values.

“Existing rights on stewardship land – such as concessions for tourism activities, mining, and grazing licences, for example – can continue.

“Reclassifying this land will deliver more certainty on land use options for our tourism, farming, mining and hunting sectors. New concessions will be easier to obtain.”

Potaka said the new classifications would provide certainty and clarity for those operating on these areas.

“I am particularly excited about the creation of the 181,000ha Tarahanga e Toru Historic Reserve, which recognises the significance of the area for Poutini Ngāi Tahu, alongside protecting the extensive natural and recreational values.

“The reserve does not result in a change in ownership, decision making, or joint management and public access remains the same.”

New Zealand First wants ‘unfettered development’ – Shane Jones

Jones said New Zealand First had a long standing remit that a lot of stewardship land should be taken off the Department for Conservation and “opened up for unfettered development.”

“It was only shoved in DOC in 1987 because people were too lazy back there to find a better home for it.

“Obviously we’re pro-mining, pro-extraction and this decision never went through Cabinet so it’s fair to say that it’s not aligned with the party stance on stewardship land.”

However, Jones acknowledged Potaka was entitled to make the changes.

“Technically speaking, I’m advised that Tama has the total authority under the DOC Act. As you know, I don’t like DOC, and I’ve been invited to take these more fundamental concerns to the next election.

“I accept you can’t get your way every time, but know this from me, we are a pro-extractive, pro-mining, pro-development, pro-jobs party.”

On some of the land going to iwi control, Jones said Parliament was not the place to speak to his concerns in this area.

“I understand Ngāi Tahu would like to expand their footprint and that’s rational and I don’t want to get into a war of words with Ngāi Tahu. I like to leave that kōrero to the marae, but I do feel that DOC is taking far too long to issue concessions and entitlements and rights and we need to grow the economy.”

ACT leader David Seymour said the government had to work within the reality of the Ngāi Tahu settlement that did provide for some claim on the divestment of public land.

“We’ve supported a wider deal that allows a lot more activity. I think that’s a good thing. If it also comes with transfer to iwi, we’ve had a history of treaty settlements for a long time.

“Sometimes some public land goes to Māori, probably not the way I would do it if I could start New Zealand 180 years ago but it’s where we are.”

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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 Minister Nicola Willis and her 1990s predecessor Ruth Richardson are now debating when and where to hold their promised debate.

Willis is refusing to favour a specific media outlet, while Richardson gave her opponent an ultimatum to agree to the showdown on NewstalkZB by 5pm.

The Finance Minister this week challenged Richardson – the chair of the Taxpayers’ Union group – to “come out of the shadows” and debate on the country’s finances after the TPU launched a campaign criticising the government’s finances.

Richardson first laughed off the request, but later agreed.

Labour said the debate was a “sideshow”, and the Public Service Association union said it was a “false flag” operation aimed at making Willis appear more moderate.

But after Willis said she was happy to debate “anytime, anywhere”, the debate going ahead may depend on whether the pair can agree on a time and a place.

“My proposal is that we hold it here at Parliament next week,” Willis told reporters on Thursday when heading into Question Time, “and that we do do it after the half-year update as Richardson has suggested”.

She said that was so that all media could attend.

“I’m an equal-opportunity person, I think it’s fair that all of your journalists get a go at recording the debate so that as many New Zealanders as possible can listen to it.”

Minutes later, Richardson put out a media release giving Willis an ultimatum to agree by 5pm to debate her on Newstalk ZB/Herald Now.

“Enough with the dilly-dallying. You laid down the gauntlet with ‘any time , any place’, and we have come back with the offer. Take it or leave it.

“We know you’re trying to negotiate with a taxpayer-funded, left-wing website – when the offer on the table is the largest broadcast audience in New Zealand … you have until 5pm or we’re out.”

The dispute over a venue came after the TPU sent fudge out to newsrooms across the country, insinuating Willis was “fudging” the numbers.

Willis denied that outright.

“Not at all, the numbers are all set out very clearly and we will update them again next week. We do full revelation of the numbers,” she said.

“The simple fact is that spending as a proportion of GDP has been lower under our government than it was under the last because of the significant fiscal savings that we’ve made, $43 billion of savings so far.”

Asked about the fudge, she said that if the TPU spent as much time on savings ideas as they did on fudge design, they could make a useful contribution to public debate.

“We reduced spending as a proportion of the economy. We also, I’d point out to the Taxpayers’ Union, reduced taxes – not only for all working New Zealanders but for businesses making investments in growth.”

She noted parties on the left were proposing more tax, with Labour advocating for a capital gains tax and the Greens and Te Pāti Māori calling for a wealth tax.

Asked about the PSA’s claim about the debate being a stunt, Willis replied: “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. I’m stuck in the middle and that’s where New Zealand is too.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Spending on water services will be nearly $9 billion higher under the Local Water Done Well model than councils previously estimated.

Councils had to submit water service plans to show how they would organise water services in a financially sustainable way as part of the reforms.

In a statement, Local Government Minister Simon Watts said all plans had now been signed off, with 44 councils handing over to a separate company and 23 keeping services in house.

“These numbers mean that 76 percent of New Zealand’s population will have water services delivered through a CCO model. This collaboration between councils offers significant assistance in addressing affordability challenges.”

He said the total cost estimate from the plans was nearly $9b higher than under the councils’ earlier long-term plans, which were not required to ensure capital investment was sufficient to achieve compliance.

“The $47.9 billion total estimated investment across all plans shows councils recognise that after decades of under-investment, water projects can’t wait any longer,” he said.

“We need to fix the pipes, and we must address an unacceptable level of non-compliance, but we must also future proof for a growing population. It’s important to strike the right balance.”

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Hemp industry laws are set to be loosened as Regulation Minister David Seymour announces sweeping changes.

Seymour says the current licensing rules are heavy-handed and outdated, and will be replaced with new rules.

Industrial hemp growers will no longer require a licence if the plants contain less than one-percent THC.

But Seymour says growers will need to notify police and the Ministry for Primary Industries before planting, so they’re aware it’s not illegal cannabis.

He says industrial hemp has very low levels of THC and doesn’t need to be heavily regulated like cannabis.

Under the new settings:

• Industrial hemp will no longer require a licence to grow or handle.
• A clear THC threshold of less than 1% will distinguish hemp from high-THC cannabis.
• Hemp biomass, including flowers and leaves, may be supplied to licensed medicinal cannabis producers under strict conditions.
• Growers must notify Police before planting to avoid accidental enforcement and assist in controlling illicit cannabis activities.
• Growers must also notify MPI at the same time as Police.
• Hemp use remains restricted to fibre, seed, and oil, with additional permissions for medicinal cannabis supply as noted above.
• Existing food safety and medicinal cannabis requirements will continue to apply

Speaking to media at the Hemp NZ Food Factory in Ashburton following the announcement on Thursday morning, Seymour said the industry had been treated like a criminal for too long.

“The industry has been held back by outdated, heavy-handed rules that treat growing low-risk crops like high-risk drugs. That ends now.”

Cabinet agreed to a package of changes to scrap the current licensing regime for industrial hemp and replace it with a more practical, proportionate regulatory approach.

Seymour said red tape for the sake of it had cost growers money and limited innovation.

He said the changes were expected to generate a benefit of $7.5m over 10 years, and about $41m in over 20.

“The changes will reduce costs and give certainty to growers and investors.”

Industrial hemp contained low levels of THC and was grown for food, oil, fibre and health products, Seymour said, and despite its low risk had been heavily regulated.

He said it was another example of why New Zealand needed the Regulatory Standards Act.

“If the Act was in place at the time these regulations were made, you would be able to see the low risks the crazy regulations were in place to ‘mitigate’.

“So far though, the disproportionately high costs of regulating the use and exchange of industrial hemp have been hidden.”

Under the new settings industrial hemp would no longer need a licence to grow or handle, a THC threshold of less than 1 percent would distinguish it from high-THC cannabis and hemp biomass including leaves and flowers could be supplied to licensed medicinal cannabis producers.

Growers would need to notify police and MPI before planting to avoid accidental enforcement and hemp use remained restricted to fibre, seed and oil.

The Ministry of Health would draft new regulatory settings.

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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 minister in charge of a new government app promises it will be “more secure than almost anything else you could think about”.

Minister for Digitising Government Judith Collins has launched the Govt.nz app this week after several years of development.

“It’s to enable people, say if there’s a life event, a baby’s born, go into the app and click on ‘we’ve got a new baby’ or something and it will come up with all the things you need to do around registration, services that you might want to be linked to,” Collins explained to Morning Report.

“It basically brings a lot of the government services into one place for people to link through to.”

In its current form, the app only included some public services.

“[Wednesday’s] launch was the very first iteration of the app, and it’s going to be changing and added to as we move on. Every six-to-eight weeks you’ll see changes,” Collins said.

“The idea is that it will become a one-stop shop for people who want to use it, and that’s the other important message: this is not compulsory, this is entirely voluntary. It’s for people, like, me who love to have apps and want to do all my work on them.”

An anticipated feature to be added to the app next year was digital driver’s licences and other identity credentials.

“[To do that] we need to change the law and we have that law change going through … That’s due to go through parliament in completion of the legislation early next year,” she said.

“We expect to have that digital driver’s licence uploaded third quarter of next year.”

Collins said the app would be backed by the government’s digital security system and be secure against hackers.

“Well they [can] get access now to people’s filing cabinets and everything else. [It’s] more secure than almost anything else you could think about because it’s backed up by the government’s digital security,” she said.

“If you were to go and rent a house … The first thing the real estate agent’s going to say is ‘where are all your identity documents,’ so you end up handing over a copy of your passport, driver’s licence, birth certificate, photo-copied and put into someone’s filing cabinet.”

“You’ve got no control over that and it’s a massive honeypot for someone who is trying to steal identity. This is so much more secure.”

Collins also confirmed that the app had no means of tracking users.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Taxpayers’ Union (TPU) has launched a campaign targeting Finance Minister Nicola Willis and calling out what it says is the government’s “growing habit of sugar-coating fiscal truths”.

The organisation released packaged fudge from the ‘Nicola Fudge Co.’, branded with an image of Willis with the slogan, ‘A treat today – A tax tomorrow’.

TPU chair Ruth Richardson said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had condemned the previous government’s ‘sugar-rush economics’, but that this government had “reached for the same lolly jar”.

“Rather than cutting back on sugar, Nicola Willis has poured more into the mix.

“Government spending has actually increased – both in real terms and as a proportion of the economy – since Grant Robertson left office. That’s a fiscal recipe for trouble, no matter how thickly the fudge is poured.”

She said the campaign was about calling out the “fiscal elements in the room”.

In anticipation of the campaign, Willis threw down the gauntlet on Tuesday, challenging Richardson to “come out of the shadows” and debate the substance of the issue.

Richardson initially laughed it off. But the Taxpayers’ Union later issued a media release, saying Richardson was “more than happy” to debate.

On Wednesday, Willis said she was proud of her government’s record of reprioritising spending.

“I really want the chance to defend our government.”

TPU head of communications Tory Relf told RNZ the organisation is all about “good policy” and did not mind which party it came from.

“We will work with whoever it is to deliver that good policy, and right now Minister Willis is not delivering it.”

Relf said it was not about attacking Willis as a person.

“She is Minister of Finance, the same way they did ‘Robbo’s Removals’ when he was Minister of Finance.

“Whoever was in that role, there would be a play on words or a gimmick to draw attention to the issue.”

In response to the campaign, Willis told RNZ the government was putting the books back in order.

“I’m not going to comment on silly stunts. I want a debate on the substantive policy issues.”

The TPU would not disclose how much the campaign cost, but said it had been done internally.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Minister for Disability Issues is seeking advice on the Supreme Court’s decision that two parents who care full-time for their disabled children are employees of the government and should received the same benefits and protections.

Louise Upston asked the Disability Support Sevices, a government unit that was responsible for supporting disabled people and their whānau, to consider the ruling “carefully”.

The decision was released on Tuesday, in favour of recognising both Christine Fleming and Peter Humphreys, who care full-time for their disabled son and daughter, as ministry employees.

For carers not to be recognised as employees meant they weren’t entitled to things like holiday pay and protection against unfair treatment – and during the April hearing, lawyers said the issue could potentially affect thousands of family carers.

Upston said existing care arrangements would continue while the investigation by Disability Support Services took place.

She said the government had already announced changes that would give more consideration to the needs of family, whānau and carers.

Disability advocate Jane Carrigan, said the decision had huge implications for at least 10,000 family carers.

She said the decision could not be ignored.

“These issues have really been before the courts for the last two-plus decades. But this is the first time we’ve ended up in the Supreme Court, so we’ve finally got a decision the government aren’t going to be able to ignore.”

Humphreys, who cared for his 37-year-old daughter Sian, told Morning Report, he was “really happy” with the decision and it had been a long track through the courts.

“Hopefully its come to an end this time.”

He said the case began for him when his family moved into a house and needed a bathroom modification for Sian’s health and safety.

“When I applied to get some funding to assist with that I was told no, I had to be means tested. I asked the question, what other employee is means tested to alter a bathroom for their employer?”

He said his case had been running through the courts in parallel with Fleming, so it was ideal that judges were able to hear both cases and see the different dimensions between each case.

“My wife Maria and I have been together 43 years, we have two of us doing it [caring], but often it’s one-person doing it. Often the mum is left at home looking after a person.

“You just get on with life because you’ve got no choice really.”

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