AM Edition: Top 10 Business Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for March 25, 2026 – Full Text

Source: Radio New Zealand

Allegations of bullying against one of the most senior staff at Corrections were raised more than a month ago.

RNZ earlier revealed Corrections commissioner of custodial services Leigh Marsh was facing an employment investigation in relation to allegations of bullying.

On Wednesday, Corrections chief executive Jeremy Lightfoot confirmed the concerns were raised on February 15.

“No other formal concerns have been raised about this individual, and they have not previously been subject to an employment investigation.”

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

After receiving the concerns, advice was sought from the human resources team and support was put in place for the staff member who raised the concerns, Lightfoot said.

“The decision was then taken to undertake a formal employment investigation.”

Lightfoot said it was important staff felt confident raising any concerns.

“And as an employer I have a duty of care to ensure the ongoing privacy and wellbeing of those involved.

“For these reasons, it would not be appropriate for us to provide further details about this employment matter at this time. I acknowledge the public interest in the conduct of our senior leaders and Corrections is committed to being transparent about the findings of this investigation at the appropriate time and in line with our obligations under the Official Information Act and Privacy Act.”

In response to questions about the inquiry into Marsh earlier this week Lightfoot told RNZ he expected “high standards of all our staff and take any allegations raised about their conduct extremely seriously”.

“Corrections can confirm that concerns have been raised about one senior leader that will be investigated by an external independent investigator.

“The concerns raised relate to alleged conduct around management processes and bullying within the employment relationship.”

The staff member who raised the concerns with Lightfoot was “being supported while this employment matter is ongoing”.

He also confirmed three operational deputy chief executives, including Marsh, would be undertaking six-month secondments into different DCE roles within Corrections.

“I had already been considering moving the operational DCEs into each other’s areas later this year. This is because I believe these secondments will allow each operational DCE to deepen their understanding of each other’s respective areas so we can continue building a coherent, cohesive organisation. Their employment agreements were developed to allow such secondments to take place.

“The decision to do this now was brought forward to ensure that a thorough and fair employment process for both parties in relation to the above complaint can be carried out.”

The secondment sees Marsh move to DCE of Pae Ora.

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

LiveNews: https://livenews.co.nz/2026/03/25/bullying-allegations-against-senior-corrections-staffer-raised-more-than-a-month-ago/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A woman who withdrew $31,500 from her bank account and gave it to a scammer is one of two recent cases that have sparked a warning from the Banking Ombudsman about cryptocurrency ATMs.

Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said she had investigated several scam cases where people had deposited money through the ATMs.

Crypto ATMs allow people to deposit cash and buy cryptocurrency, which is sent to a digital wallet. Transactions usually happen quickly and cannot easily be stopped or reversed once completed.

Sladden said it made them risky when used under pressure or at someone else’s direction.

She highlighted two cases, in which she said people believed they were following legitimate instructions but lost large amounts of money.

In April last year, a woman responded to a job ad online and, following instructions, went to her bank and withdrew $31,500, telling the teller it was for a car.

She put the money into a cryptocurrency wallet via a crypto ATM but later realised she had been scammed and asked the bank to reimburse her. She said it should have noticed her anxious and unusual behaviour.

The ombudsman scheme said it had to decide whether there was anything that should have caused the bank to suspect a scam.

“A bank must follow a customer’s transaction instructions unless it detects – or should have detected – warning signs of a possible scam. If it detects such warning signs, it must make inquiries about the transaction and, if warranted, warn the customer about the possibility of a scam before processing the transaction.”

It said there was nothing about what the customer told the bank that should have indicated a problem.

In another case, a man lost $65,000. He authorised payments to cryptocurrency merchants and withdrew cash from ATMs that he deposited in a crypto ATM.

The bank refused to reimburse him, saying he had authorised the payments.

Sladden said obvious red flags included requests to keep payments secret or give false information to a bank.

“People should independently verify who they are dealing with, and talk to someone they trust before making large or unusual payments.

“It’s important to stop and ask questions before taking any steps that might result in the loss of money.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/25/tens-of-thousands-lost-to-crypto-atm-scams-ombudsman-says/

Source: Radio New Zealand

After a million hours of labour, Te Rua – Archive New Zealand’s brand new Wellington building – is now open.

The 10-level, $290 million building is described as one of the world’s most technologically advanced archive protection facilities and forms part of Te Kahu, a new heritage campus.

The campus, which sees Archives New Zealand and the National Library physically joined, includes Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision and the Alexander Turnbull Library in its wider net.

Delivered on budget and on time, Te Rua has been held up as a win for public-private partnerships, but where the nation’s archives will ultimately be stored – and how much it will cost to do so – remains unclear.

Preserving windows into the past

Under the bright lights of the brand new Te Rua facility, research archivist Shaun McGuire points to a cluster of carefully laid out black and white photographs of the 488 Squadron.

“It was a fighter squadron that was sent to Singapore prior to the outbreak of hostilities with Japan. As you can see from their general posture, they’re green as grass and not particularly military,” he said.

“This chap here playing in the puddle – because it’s monsoonish – is Pete Gifford and the fellow playing with him is Len Farr. They’re both pilot officers.”

McGuire said the Brewster Buffalo planes they flew were outdated by World War II, and while Peter Gifford survived the war, others were not so lucky.

The photographs of the young men are but a taste of the historical material that will eventually be housed in Te Rua.

The bronze-accented state-of-the-art archive facility – boasting more than 19,000sqm of floor space and 90km of storage under tightly controlled environmental condition – will ultimately be home to millions of photographs, films and records, documenting the nation’s political, cultural and social history.

According to Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden, the new facility could not come soon enough.

“I think it’s a really awesome day for New Zealanders because it means that our nation’s history will be preserved. And I have to tell you, a couple of years ago when I went to visit the old archives building I could feel for myself that it was damp and that it was falling apart.”

She said it was “wonderful” that country will have preserved archival material for centuries to come.

“For all our children’s children.”

A public-private partnership

Van Velden, who is also deputy leader of the ACT Party, heralded the facility as a win for public-private partnerships over successive governments, with the contract signed under the previous Labour government.

While the taonga within the building and its fit-out is publicly owned, the building base and land belongs to Canadian Mutual Fund, PSPIB/CPPIB Waiheke Inc. and is managed by Australasian real estate assets manager Dexus – also the developer.

The 25-year lease agreement with the Crown has the option to extend for another 25 years.

A spokesperson for the Department of Internal Affairs said the rent has been fixed – with yearly increases agreed upfront and budgeted for – but the amount can’t be made public due to commercial sensitivity.

Van Velden said given the building’s specifications it would be unlikely for the lease not to be renewed.

She said collaborations between business and the public sector, highlighted the private sector’s expertise.

“Government has a lot of interest and expertise in particular areas, but they’re not building things all the time. They’re not experts in seismic strengthening.”

Dexus portfolio manager for New Zealand Phill Stanley said the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016 was a “learning curve for everyone”.

The site, which previously housed the quake-damaged Defence House, now featured a building on 36 base isolators that could drift up to 1.3m horizontally and up to 300mm vertically, during an earthquake, he said.

In order to meet UNESCO standards, climate control within the building must hold within ±1°C for at least 48 hours in the event of a power failure.

“In layman’s terms, we have built the most beautiful chilly-bin on base isolators.”

He said the project had been a career highlight and hinted at more partnerships with the Crown in the pipeline.

Space for taonga unknown

The relocation of more than 150,000 containers of historical material from the Mulgrave Street facility is currently underway.

A massive undertaking, that chief archivist Poumanaaki Anahera Morehu hoped would be completed by December this year.

However, Te Rua won’t be able to hold all the material – and how much it can take remains to be seen.

National Librarian Te Pouhuaki Rachel Esson said while there were estimates, they won’t truly know until the material has been shifted.

“Part of the process of bringing things over is we’re rehousing them. So some things have been in boxes that aren’t quite as good as they could be, so they’re being put in new boxes.

“Sometimes things have been crammed into a box so they might be split out into two. We’re just not quite sure yet exactly.”

Morehu said the new facility was never going to house everything contained in Mulgrave Street and anticipated the wider heritage campus – Te Kahu – would absorb overflow.

She said access to the archives was just as important as preservation.

“It’s all good to preserve it and hold on to it, but it’s no good if nobody’s got access to it.

“This is creating that opportunity and the campus is creating that opportunity, while it opens the doors to other facilities to think about how we play a role as archives and libraries in making this more collaborative and sharing.”

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/25/archive-new-zealands-new-wellington-building-opens/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The local government minister has called Wellington’s mayor for an explanation of the huge water bills that residents are facing – and are forecast to hit almost $7000 a year by the end of the decade.

Wellington’s new water entity Tiaki Wai is a council-controlled organisation taking over Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Porirua City Councils water assets from July.

It announced this morning that residents will face an average nearly 15 percent hike in water charges this coming financial year – from $2100 to $2400.

Those bills may rise by nearly a quarter the following year – and keep increasing – to reach an estimated $6800 per year for water services by 2036 as the water entity tries to fix old, failing infrastructure.

Local government minister Simon Watts said those costs were higher than he was expecting.

“I’m concerned for Wellington ratepayers again, you know we’ve got a long string of issues in this area.”

Watts said the plan that Tiaki Wai presented to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) and the water regulator last year did not forecast such high costs.

He said he phoned Wellington’s Mayor Andrew Little about this today.

“I outlined to him that we received a plan from you which outlined a profile of cost increases, and as a result the entity has now published a price which is not in the plan, which is much higher, I need to understand, and have an explanation around that.”

A Tiaki Wai spokesperson said the Water Services Delivery plan it presented in August last year was based on the best available information at the time, and the organisation will continue to review its costs as investment plans develop.

Little said Tiaki Wai was responsible for what it sent to DIA last year, and he did not control or veto the organisation’s decisions under the new system.

He said he shared the minister’s concerns about bills, but the government campaigned on this model under its Local Water Done Well policy.

He said he will be scrutinising Tiaki Wai’s performance and pricing closely.

“If the increases follow the path that Tiaki Wai are saying, then people are going to expect high quality, that leaks are repaired quickly, also that they can contact their water company, at any time of the day.”

He wanted the Commerce Commission to be granted the power to intervene if water entity’s bills became unreasonable.

Watts did not confirm if the Commerce Commission would have the power to step in over sky-rocketing bills, but said he had called in the commission in this instance to work with Tiaki Wai and the councils over the projected prices.

Porirua Mayor Anita Baker said bills reaching nearly $7000 a year in a decade were horrendous, and could drive people away from the region.

“At those sort of prices, who’s going to be living here? I can’t pay $6000 in water, and $6000 in rates… we have to do something.”

She said while she supported the establishment of the water entity, and understood the scale of the work at hand, water charges still needed to be affordable.

Wellingtonians divided over jump in bills

Some Wellingtonians RNZ spoke to were worried about the charges due to cost of living pressures, while others said the region’s assets had to be fixed.

Dale said she did not look forward to the future knowing those charges lay ahead.

“That sounds pretty crap. I’m 28, so the way it will be, by the time I am 38, that doesn’t sound like I’ll be living a great life.”

But another resident Daniel Freese said the city had ignored failing assets for too long.

“I think it has to happen, I think we’re paying for under-investment over many years, and although it’s not good news, we just need to suck it up and pay for it.

“If we don’t pay now, we’re going have to pay later, and it’s going to be more.”

Resident Tom Arkell said he was keen to see water meters brought in for the city.

“I’d like to think we could bring in some pay-per-use water monitors, that we can actually incentivise people to use less water, and to track, and therefore they could pay within what they’re comfortable, rather than getting a fixed bill no matter how much water you use.”

Tiaki Wai is considering water meters, and the organisation expects they will take up to seven years to roll out across Wellington, and cost $590 million in total.

Peet yesterday told reporters the dire state of the region’s infrastructure could no longer be ignored after decades of under-investment.

“We know we’ve got a lot of leaks, we know we’ve got compliance issues with wastewater, and we all know that stormwater continues to be a significant challenge for many cities – but Wellington in particular.”

Peet said fixing the failed Moa Point plant – which has been spewing raw sewage into the sea for nearly six weeks – will be a top priority.

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

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/03/25/wellington-water-woes-a-price-which-is-not-in-the-plan/