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Budget 2025 must prioritise support for small businesses – Buy NZ Made

Source: Buy NZ Made

Buy NZ Made is calling on the Government to deliver meaningful support for New Zealand’s small businesses, the backbone of the economy and the heart of our local communities.
With small businesses making up over 97% of all enterprises in New Zealand and employing more than 600,000 Kiwis, Buy NZ Made Executive Director Dane Ambler says it is essential that the 2025 Budget includes targeted initiatives to ease cost pressures, encourage innovation, and drive local consumer confidence.
“Small businesses are facing a tough economic climate – rising costs, uncertain demand, and global competition. What they need now is a Government that steps up with strategic, long-term investment in local enterprise.
“Ideally, we would like to see increased access to low-interest loans, grants, and tax relief for small businesses, especially those recovering from the impacts of inflation and global supply chain disruptions.”
Ambler says the government’s recent move to a “local-first” approach in procurement to ensure New Zealand-made products and services are given fair consideration in public spending decisions was a good start.
“Backing small businesses is not just good economics – it’s good nation-building.
“When the Government supports local, it sends a powerful message to every New Zealander that choosing Kiwi-made products and services creates jobs, strengthens communities, and keeps money circulating within our own economy.”
Buy NZ Made is encouraging the public and policymakers alike to think local, buy local, and back the businesses that make New Zealand unique.
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Budget 2025 – Budget must deliver for burnt-out St John workforce

Source: Workers First Union

Ambulance officers who work for Hato Hone St John say this week’s Budget must include real funding to improve pay and conditions or the Government risks driving more experienced paramedics offshore or back into industrial action.
Last week, ambulance delegates from across Aotearoa gathered in Auckland for a Workers First conference (photo attached) as the group prepares to enter bargaining again with the partially charity-funded ambulance provider. They also discussed their growing concerns about a workforce crisis that is being made worse by insufficient public health funding.
Faye McCann, Workers First National Ambulance Coordinator, said that this year’s Budget marks the final year of a four-year ambulance funding agreement, and last year’s negotiations had failed to substantially lift wages, address penal rates that are significantly lower than comparable health professions, or deliver the infrastructure needed to keep the service functioning successfully while meeting growing patient demand.
“We can’t keep plugging holes with goodwill and expecting ambulance officers to carry the cost of a broken system,” said Ms McCann.
“Ambulance staff are already burnt out, understaffed, and responding to more mental health and high-risk incidents than ever before. It’s getting worse, especially in Auckland, where short staffing is at crisis levels even as the population grows and demand rises.”
“Officers are leaving for Australia because the pay is better, the infrastructure is better, and the workload is safer. We’re losing people we can’t afford to lose.”
“When it comes to the Treaty Principles Bill or other dodgy political priorities, the coalition agreement framework between parties is treated like it’s enshrined in law – but when it comes to funding emergency services, that promise is suddenly a ‘nice-to-have’,” said Ms McCann.
She warned that unless this Budget delivers real improvements, ambulance officers could be forced back into the same impossible bargaining position as last year, when St John repeated that they couldn’t improve wages and conditions without additional Government funding.
“Some funding eventually came, but only after a national strike and a drawn-out, behind-closed-doors process that no one wants to repeat,” said Ms McCann.
“We’re calling on the Government to fund ambulance services properly so that St John can offer decent wages, fair conditions, and a service that New Zealanders can actually rely on.”
“Cuts to the broader health budget, or a failure to meet growing cost pressures and rising demand, will mean ambulance officers are the ones bearing the brunt of underfunding, and patients will be worse off for it.”
“Ambulance services cannot be the casualty of another austerity Budget from this Government.”
Ms McCann said that Workers First ambulance officers’ ultimate goal remained the full operational funding of emergency health services, and she believed that services like St John and Wellington Free fully supported that aim.
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PSA supports Waitangi tribunal’s call to halt Regulatory Standards Bill

Source: PSA

The PSA supports the Waitangi Tribunal’s call to stop progressing the Regulatory Standards Bill until there has been meaningful engagement with Māori.
The Public Service Association (PSA) Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is deeply opposed to the Bill which is being fast-tracked by the Government despite overwhelming Māori and Tangata Te Tiriti opposition, and serious constitutional concerns.
Driven by Minister for Regulation David Seymour, the Bill prioritises personal liberty and property rights while posing a direct threat to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of Māori, PSA Te Kaihautū Māori Janice Panoho says.
In an Interim report the Tribunal found that the Bill would be of constitutional significance and relevance to Māori but that Māori were not consulted. The Tribunal therefore called for a halt to the Bill until there had been meaningful engagement with Māori.
On Monday (May 19) Cabinet approved sending the Bill for debate in Parliament, bypassing meaningful consultation and undermining the jurisdiction of the Waitangi Tribunal, which convened an urgent hearing last week in response to the bill, Panoho says.
More than 18,000 individuals supported a collective Waitangi Tribunal claim (Wai 3470) led by Toitū te Tiriti and other Māori groups, reflecting the widespread concern that the Bill is not only anti-Treaty but actively hostile to all New Zealanders.
“This legislation represents a serious constitutional overreach and an attack on the foundational principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” Panoho says.
“It entrenches economic ideology at the expense of Māori rights and tino rangatiratanga. Rushing it through Cabinet without proper consultation dishonours Te Tiriti and shows a complete lack of good faith by the Crown. Māori must not be an afterthought in legislative processes that could redefine our rights in law,” Panoho says.
“This is not neutral policy, it is a calculated shift toward deregulation and privatisation, one that threatens public accountability and undermines the government’s ability to protect collective wellbeing.
“By prioritising property rights over social justice, environmental sustainability, and Treaty obligations, the Bill fundamentally alters the role of government in a way that is unbalanced and deeply concerning.
“The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi urges all political parties and communities to reject the Bill. We must not allow our democratic processes to be hijacked by ideology that seeks to silence Te Tiriti, disempower communities, and privilege profit over people and planet,” Panoho says.
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Budget 2025 – Greenpeace braced for ‘scorched earth’ budget from Govt

Source: Greenpeace

With the Government set to release its Budget tomorrow, Greenpeace is calling for bold investment in climate and nature, but is bracing for the worst.
“Given that this Government just legalised killing kiwi, we’re bracing for a Scorched Earth Budget,” says Greenpeace Aotearoa spokesperson Gen Toop.
Greenpeace has been critical of the Luxon-led Government’s anti-environment policies, but says that the PM’s war on nature does not have to continue in the 2025 Budget.
Budget 2024 decreased funding for DOC to such an extent that last year the agency was asking for public donations to fund its work and is this year reportedly facing a 30% shortfall for maintaining its hut and track network.
“This Budget is a chance for the Government to change course from its war on nature,” says Toop. “It’s a chance to invest in climate action, protect biodiversity, and support everyday people with the cost of living – that’s what a responsible, future-focused Budget would do.”
“People have a right to clean water, a livable climate, and groceries and power bills they can afford. Any budget that prioritises corporate profits and tax cuts for landlords instead of those basic rights is not the kind of budget we need,” says Toop.
Greenpeace says a Budget that truly tackles the climate, biodiversity, and cost of living crises would:
  • Make a significant investment in distributed solar to bring down power bills, reduce emissions and help communities generate their own energy.
  • Create an ecological farming fund to support farmers to transition away from intensive dairy and take advantage of the rise in demand for plant-based food.
  • Bring back Jobs for Nature, funding real employment in the restoration of forests, rivers and wetlands to combat the biodiversity crisis.
  • Fund it all by taxing corporations and the ultra-wealthy, starting with bringing the country’s biggest climate polluter, Fonterra and intensive dairying into the Emissions Trading Scheme.
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Surveys – Poll shows overwhelming majority support increase in spending on public services

Source: Better Taxes for a Better Future

As the Government prepares to release a Budget that will deliver further cuts to public services an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders support increased spending on those services, according to a new poll commissioned by the Better Taxes for a Better Future campaign.

The Talbot Mills Research poll asked whether government spending on key public services such as hospitals, schools, and the police should increase (a lot or a bit), stay the same or decrease (a bit or a lot). 83% of respondents supported increases in public spending, and this support remained high across the political spectrum with even 62% of ACT supporters endorsing an increase.

“This poll shows that there is widespread support for greater investment in our public services to meet the needs of New Zealanders, such as in healthcare, and education,” says Glenn Barclay spokesperson for the Better Taxes campaign.

“It’s clear that, even in these tough economic times, people across the political spectrum realise investment in public services now is important to help build a better future.”

The poll also asked if wealthier New Zealanders (e.g.people who earn over $180,000 per year and/or have assets worth more than $5m) should pay more, the same, or less tax than they do at present. A majority (57%) supported the wealthy paying more tax.

“This may not be a surprising result for Labour, Green and Te Pāti Māori supporters, yet even a majority of National Party supporters favour the wealthy paying more tax,” says Glenn Barclay.

“The IR report into High Net Worth Individuals in 2023 demonstrated that the wealthiest 310 families in New Zealand had an effective tax rate of 9.4% compared to over 20% for the average New Zealander and it is clear that there is support for rectifying this imbalance,” says Glenn Barclay.

“The responses to these two questions send a clear message that New Zealanders don’t want to see cuts to essential public services, and the government needs to be looking at other ways to generate the revenue we need to provide services that will enable all New Zealanders to succeed,” says Glenn Barclay.

“We encourage the Government and opposition parties to be looking at tax changes that would ensure those that have more to contribute, make that contribution. Gathering more revenue from wealth and gains from wealth would put us in a better position to address the challenges we face in delivering public services, addressing poverty and climate change, and funding major infrastructure.”

The Better Taxes for a Better Future Campaign is a coalition of over 20 organisations led by Tax Justice Aotearoa.

We believe that tax reform is the only solution to the current challenges facing Aotearoa NZ.  We need the tax system to:

  • be transparent
  • raise more revenue to enable us address the challenges we face
  • make sure people who have more to contribute make that contribution: that we gather more revenue from wealth, gains from wealth, all forms of income, and corporates
  • make greater use of fair taxes to promote good health and environmental health
  • address the tax impact on the least well off in our society.
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Budget 2025: Nervous wait for thousands of public service workers – PSA

Source: PSA

Budget 2025: Nervous wait for thousands of public service workers
Cost to New Zealand women of pay equity betrayal to become clear
Embargoed 5am Wednesday 21 May 2025
Tomorrow’s Budget will lift the lid on how much further public services will be cut and expose the cost to underpaid women from the dismantling of the pay equity process.
“Public services including our cash strapped health system cannot afford to face further cuts and job losses,” said Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi National Secretary, Fleur Fitzsimons.
“More than 150,000 women have been denied the pay rise they deserve from this disappointing decision to gut our pay equity laws with no prior notice before the election or even a Select Committee process so that New Zealand women could have their say. Tomorrow’s Budget will make the scale of the cost to women clear.
“We sadly predict Government will be starving many public service agencies and our health system of funds, just as they did last year, and that means further damage to the services New Zealanders rely on.
“And we will see how the ‘billions of dollars’ set aside to fund pay equity settlements for underpaid women, will be freed up to fund the Government’s tax cuts for landlords and make the Budget numbers add up.
“This will be a mean and nasty Budget, built on taking money from care and support workers and others who had been expecting pay equity settlements before the goal posts were shifted, existing claims scrapped, all under urgency, and without a chance for their voice to be heard.
“We call on the Government to reverse all cuts to public services, fund our health system properly and put changes to pay equity laws through a proper select committee process.
“In health, the effective hiring freeze for clinical roles is putting patient care at risk, leaving health workers over worked, stressed and facing increasing risk from angry patients poorly served by the system.
“Every day we see the price New Zealanders and communities are paying for the Government’s short-sighted and rushed cuts to spending.
“Just look at last week’s damning report by the Auditor-General into Oranga Tamariki. Savings demanded by the Government meant the agency cut funding to hundreds of community service provider contracts, with little notice, without regard to the harm inflicted on the vulnerable children they support.
“We have a meth crisis in this country – the Government slashed resources for border protection, which has only made that problem far worse.
“New Zealanders can’t afford any further cuts to public services. Too much damage has already been done.”
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Animal Rights – Roaring call for Government to halt funding of cruel octopus farming

Source: Animals Aotearoa

(New Zealand – May 21, 2025) – As calls to ban the practice of octopus farming continue to gain momentum worldwide, the government of New Zealand is set to make a decision about providing more funding to octopus farming on May 21. 168 organisations are united in strongly advising against wasting any additional funding to establish industrialised octopus farming, a practice that would have dangerous implications for the environment, public health, and animal welfare.

To date, the New Zealand government has awarded one million dollars to the University of Auckland for research to develop octopus farming.  An open letter, led and written by Animals Aotearoa with support from Aquatic Life Institute, is calling on the New Zealand Government to decline any new funding of projects that aim to develop commercial octopus factory farming. The letter, which has been signed by 168 organisations, including members of the Aquatic Animal Alliance (AAA), a global coalition working to improve the welfare of aquatic animals in the food system, explains that while this new form of aquaculture is still in the research phase, it would cause extensive harm should it become reality. Evidence shows that it is both unethical and unsustainable, and current research has not demonstrated any pathway to achieving high-welfare farming or ecosystem-neutral farming for octopuses.

As outlined in the open letter, octopus farming is highly problematic from an animal welfare perspective and also presents risks to biodiversity and biosafety, environmental degradation, and public health. The letter has three main asks:

  • New Zealand Government cease funding research aimed at establishing octopus farming;
  • Public funds are instead invested in sustainable food solutions, such as plant-based aquatic food systems and alternative proteins; and
  • New Zealand Government prohibits any octopus farming in New Zealand.

“Choosing to waste precious taxpayer funds in pursuit of factory farming octopuses is misguided at best, and shameful at worst. This atrocious idea is being actively opposed all around the world. It’s immensely cruel to the octopuses, environmentally unsustainable and poses a significant public health risk. Sinking more money into factory farming octopuses is a bad investment in every sense,” says Jennifer Dutton of Animals Aotearoa. “New Zealand should be leaders in ethical and sustainable food systems, instead of exporting cruelty to the world.”

The environmental, welfare, and public health implications of octopus farming are manifold. These carnivorous animals require diets rich in marine ingredients, exacerbating the pressure on already declining wild fish populations and undermining global sustainable development goals. The overuse of antibiotics in aquaculture has been linked to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, with potential spillover effects into human populations. As widely documented, octopuses are highly intelligent and complex animals that suffer greatly in captivity due to their solitary and inquisitive nature. Several scientists have raised significant concerns about the practice of octopus farming, as conditions of intensive farming and extreme confinement are inherently unsuitable for their well-being, leading to stress, aggression, and unnatural behaviours such as cannibalism. Furthermore, there are no approved humane slaughter methods for these animals.

As noted, this call for divestment from New Zealand’s government is preceded by legislation worldwide that bans octopus farming and the sale of products from industrial octopus farms, including a federal bill in the United States that is underway, as well as the Washington state law, California law, Bill HB 2262 in Hawaii, and many more. Under New Zealand law, the Animal Welfare Act of 1999 explicitly includes octopuses being recognised as sentient, a legal acknowledgement of their capabilities to experience pain and stress. In addition, RSPCA, Friend of the Sea, and other seafood certifiers have produced statements prohibiting the certification of any form of octopus/cephalopod farming. These certifiers have recognised the necessity of banning octopus farming before it starts, acknowledging that it is impossible to guarantee high welfare conditions for this species due to its behavioural needs, sentience, and strictly carnivorous diet.

“The Aquatic Animal Alliance, representing over 175 organisations worldwide, strongly urges the New Zealand Government to reject the development of industrial octopus farming. Octopuses are sentient, intelligent animals with complex welfare needs that cannot be met in captivity. Farming them would not only cause immense animal suffering, but also contribute to serious environmental degradation, from the overfishing of wild marine life for feed, to pollution and disease risks in surrounding ecosystems. As a veterinarian, I join the global scientific and advocacy communities in calling for a ban on this unnecessary and harmful industry before it takes root,” said Catalina Lopez, Director of the AAA.

About Animals Aotearoa
New Zealand’s Animals Aotearoa is a registered charity whose mission is to improve the wellbeing of farmed animals and end their suffering. In addition to being a member of the Aquatic Animals Alliance, Animals Aotearoa is one of over 90 organisations that make up the Open Wing Alliance, a global coalition of animal advocacy organisations, with the shared purpose of working to substantially improve the welfare of chickens.
www.animalsaotearoa.org
About Aquatic Life Institute
Aquatic Life Institute is an international non-profit organization that works on advancing aquatic animal welfare in both aquaculture and wild capture fisheries globally. The organization works with certifiers, nonprofits, academic institutions, industry stakeholders, governments, and the public to improve welfare of aquatic animals.
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Breakdown, Rakaia River Bridge

Source: New Zealand Police

Motorists using the Rakaia River should expect delays after a truck broke down on the bridge.

Police were notified about 5.55am.

The truck is currently blocking the southbound land.

Drivers are asked to take care while arrangements are made to move the truck.

Traffic management is being arranged.

ENDS

Iissued by the Police Media Centre

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Gaza – NZ signature on Gaza statement ‘wholly inadequate’ – PSNA

Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

 

PSNA says an end to government silence on Israeli genocide in Gaza is overdue, but says New Zealand’s signature on an international declaration is wholly inadequate and too little too late.

 

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa Co-Chair John Minto says a just released joint statement by 22 foreign ministers, including New Zealand’s, breaks New Zealand’s month’s long silence on Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but falls well short of any means of making Israel comply with international law.

 

“We don’t need to be told all over again that the resumption of full-scale aid deliveries is vital to avoid wide scale starvation, or that the UN must drive the aid distribution and there is a vital need for a ceasefire.”

 

“This is just New Zealand dusting off the rhetoric which it issued a year ago – which was completely ignored by Israel.”

 

Minto says the only promising moves with potential teeth are in a joint statement just issued by the UK, France and Canada.

 

“At last, some major countries are talking about sanctions,” Minto says.

 

The triparted statement threatens sanctions against Israel.

 

“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”

They (the three countries) also warned they would be prepared to impose targeted sanctions over attempts to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank.

 

Minto says over the past few days Israel has been ramping up its assault on Gaza to even higher levels of ferocity.

 

“It’s time for governments’ words to end, and sanctions to be implemented.  A year ago, Canada and New Zealand were issuing joint statements on Gaza, along with Australia.”

 

“Canada has raised the stakes.  New Zealand should move past Canada and implement sanctions immediately.”

 

https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/278229391/joint-donor-statement-on-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza

UK, France and Canada condemn ‘egregious actions’ by Netanyahu’s Israel

 

John Minto

Co-Chair

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

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Gaza – Israeli ‘nine truck photo-op’ doesn’t slow Gaza genocide – PSNA

Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

 

The Israeli government approved nine truck aid convoy into Gaza is a cynical photo-op, according to the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa.

 

PSNA says the trucks are designed to appease and confuse both western news media and critics of Israeli genocide in Gaza.

 

PSNA Co-Chair Maher Nazzal says the Israeli Prime Minister is openly reported in the Israeli media that leading backers of Israel in the United States are concerned that blocking food and other supplies entering Gaza is not a good look.

 

“These American politicians completely back Israeli war crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing, but they worry that US and UK war supplies for Israel are in jeopardy if it looks like Israel is starving an entire civilian population to death.”

 

“The UN estimated that 600 trucks a day are required for minimum food, medicine and fuel supply.  This was before Israel destroyed food production in Gaza itself. Nine truckloads – even if a few more follow – will make no difference.”

 

Nazzal says the images of trucks entering Gaza will dominate what he describes as obedient media coverage.

 

“The indications are that Israel is escalating the military onslaught on Gaza to unprecedented ferocity.”

 

“Israel has wreaked nearly every building in the Gaza Strip.  This new phase is to kill and drive the population of more than two million Palestinians, men, women and children, either onto tiny reservations in Gaza or into Africa.  This is happening in full view of the world.”

 

“Leading international genocide scholars have just announced that Israel is conducting genocide.  There are no ifs and buts about their conclusion.”

 

“We just hope that our Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, has been briefed on the most recent of Israeli war crimes and intentions.”

 

“He’s scheduled to visit a number of South Asian countries next week.  He’ll be needing to end his silence on Israeli atrocities in Gaza and be able to tell foreign leaders what specific steps New Zealand is taking to help bring Israel to heel.”

 

https://worldisraelnews.com/netanyahu-approves-gaza-aid-amid-u-s-pressure/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/top-genocide-scholars-unanimous-israel-committing-genocide-gaza-investigation-finds

 

Maher Nazzal

Co-Chair

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa