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Source: Radio New Zealand

A consumer watchdog says diners encountering surcharges over Easter should make sure businesses are not blaming a non-existent public holiday.

Many hospitality businesses add surcharges on public holidays to cover the higher wage costs.

But Consumer NZ says only Good Friday and Easter Monday are statutory holidays, so any business adding a surcharge on Sunday cannot use that as an excuse.

Chief executive Jon Duffy told RNZ businesses simply needed to be honest about the reason for the additional charge.

“They can apply a surcharge if they want to, and customers – if they decide they don’t like that surcharge – can decide that they will take their custom elsewhere.

“The rules, as they exist under the Fair Trading Act, simply say that businesses can’t mislead you about the reason for that surcharge.”

Businesses could spread their holiday wage costs across the year instead of surcharging, Duffy said.

“It’s a practice that’s crept in and become more commonplace over the years. We see it in other areas, we see massively inconsistent surcharging when it comes to payments and EFTPOS terminals all over the country.”

Businesses also need to clearly disclose the surcharge in advance, not hidden behind the counter or on a note put back in the employee toilets.

People could complain to the Commerce Commission or report businesses misrepresenting surcharges to Consumer NZ, Duffy said.

He added that he was hoping the government would follow through with its proposal to ban paywave surcharges.

The government introduced legislation last year to ban in-store card surcharges, but the bill currently languishes on Parliament’s Order Paper, four months after the Finance and Expenditure Committee published its report.

ACT has now made it clear it would not support a blanket ban, as retailers would have to push up their prices to absorb the charges, but Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson insisted nothing had changed with the legislation, and he was pausing to do more work on the policy.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than 30 years after moving away from caged egg farming, the Bennik family is proud of the legacy it has paved over three generations.

From one of the country’s first commercial poultry farms started by parents Harry Sr and Wilhelmina in the 1950s, brothers Harry Jr and Nick Bennik – along with their siblings Paul and Janie, and wider family – had grown the business into a diverse operation over multiple sites and with multi-income streams.

“I believe that we’re doing some very, very good things here, and actually we have been leading the industry in certain areas,” eldest brother Harry told Country Life. “We’re not afraid of new initiatives.”

Bennik’s Eggs had grown from a farm in Horowhenua into the NZ Egg Group – with 135,000 chickens in Levin still owned by the family to supply locals and its liquid egg plant, and another 75,000 birds supplied by contractors around Auckland for its export packhouse.

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Since the early 1990s Bennik’s had been running free-range and barn-range chooks, well ahead of the country phasing out caged-egg farming in 2023. It was also the first egg farm to become SPCA Animal Welfare Accredited.

“At that time, a lot of poultry farms in New Zealand were looking at modernising their operations that were getting a bit dated and they felt that investment was needed for the future,” Harry explained.

“Considering trends that were happening overseas, I thought, well, rather than invest a lot of money into intense battery farming, which had an unknown future, why not go into cage-free farming.”

He told Country Life they were proud to have “pioneered modern cage-free farming in New Zealand”. It had its challenges though, including breeding and developing good nesting traits in the commercial flock of hens.

One of the bigger challenges was convincing local retailers and supermarkets that they could sell the eggs for a premium price.

Nick said consumers were now much more accepting of free-range and cage-free production as an “alternative to a cheaper colony product”. It had helped as the business had grown into producing a range of liquid eggs.

“We’re starting to see now that food manufacturers are also starting to promote the fact that they’re using free-range or cage-free products in the manufacture of their own food items.

“We think eggs are a phenomenal protein source, a phenomenal food ingredient and there’s more to the humble egg than being contained in a shell for the future of our company anyway.

“So we see a solid future going forward around being able to provide those raw ingredients to those manufacturers in the cage-free and free-range format.”

Developing the liquid egg factory had not only helped the family diversify its income stream, it also helped stabilise prices for the wider industry, according to Harry.

He explained there were times when overproduction could lead to a bit of a surplus. Now rather than sell the eggs below the cost of production, the family could freeze the product and allow it to keep for longer.

“New Zealand is an exceedingly small country when you look at a global scale. With 5 million people, there’s only so many eggs consumed in any given year. The industry on a national level caters for that demand more than satisfactorily.”

Harry said for the company to grow without flooding what was a “very small market” and lowering egg prices, it had needed to look outside the box.

It had also provided work opportunities for those in the family, like Harry’s daughter Courtney.

She told Country Life it was special to work with family.

“[It’s] really sentimental to me, especially my grandfather coming over from Holland all those years ago and starting a chicken farm here and now it’s grown to this,” she said.

Learn more:

• Find out more about Bennik’s Eggs, here and the NZ Egg Group here.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand small businesses have ranked last out of 11 Asia-Pacific countries in terms of their growth, for the second year in a row.

CPA Australia has released the results of its 18th small business survey. It found only 38 percent of New Zealand small businesses reported growth in 2025, up from 36 percent last year.

The average across other countries was 62 percent.

Rick Jones, CPA Australia’s regional head, said it highlighted persistent challenges.

“While small businesses across most of the Asia-Pacific are growing, New Zealand remains at the bottom of the table. In Vietnam, 84.5 percent of small businesses grew last year. In Singapore, the figure was 43.5 percent. In New Zealand, it was 38 percent. The https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/583808/nz-s-low-productivity-is-often-blamed-on-businesses-staying-small-that-could-be-a-strength-in-2026 gap is significant and it’s not closing].”

Only 5 percent of businesses had plans for a new product or service this year, compared to 29 percent across the survey.

Only 7 percent were planning to hire this year, compared to 36 percent across the region.

New Zealand small business owners also tended to be older. Businesses whose owners were under 40 were much more likely to be reporting growth.

“Of the over 300 New Zealand small businesses that were surveyed, 68 percent of those were aged over 50.

“What we’re seeing from the survey is that those respondents aged under 40, for example, are more likely to adopt new technologies. And it’s certainly not an age thing in isolation, but we want to encourage younger New Zealanders to start a business or potentially acquire an existing one.

“But we also need a comprehensive small business strategy, to lift the overall performance… we need a comprehensive strategy to support business owners of all ages, particularly around the digital support programmes.”

But 79 percent of small business owners said they were satisfied with running their business.

“The data tells a clear story. New Zealand’s small businesses are falling behind their Asia-Pacific peers, and the gap is widening on the measures that matter – growth, innovation, technology adoption and job creation.

“Growth doesn’t have to mean rapid expansion. For many small businesses, it’s about having the tools and support to take the next step – whether that’s hiring another employee, moving sales online, or investing in a system that saves them time.

“Lifting small business technology adoption should be a central priority. Our data consistently shows that businesses which invest effectively in technology grow faster, hire more people and are more likely to innovate. Countries like Singapore have demonstrated what targeted digital support programmes can achieve – there are proven approaches in our region that could work here.”

Jones said businesses had been under pressure and the latest fuel price increases were another hurdle.

“It is tough and increasing costs is a challenge and that was noted even in last year’s results. And then you add that to the current fuel crisis, which is only escalating that problem.”

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Commerce Commission set to approve $1.14 billion replacement of the Cook Strait power cables
• National grid operator Transpower needs regulator approval to spend
• Current cables 35 years old, near end of life
• Transpower wants to add fourth cable to improve capacity and resilience
• ComCom seeks public submissions

The Commerce Commission says it is inclined to approve a Transpower request to spend $1.14 billion to upgrade, replace, and expand the Cook Strait power cables.

The state-owned national grid operator wants to replace the current 35-year-old cables, which are coming to the end of their operational life, and add an extra cable.

Major capital spending by Transpower and electricity lines companies must be approved by the regulator to ensure they do not take advantage of their monopoly positions.

Associate Commissioner Nathan Strong said the cables were critical electricity transmission infrastructure and vital for national security of supply.

“Installing a fourth cable at the same time unlocks an additional 200MW of capacity, which can reduce long-term electricity market costs and enable the development of lower cost renewables generation in the South Island.”

The commission is asking for [https://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/electricity-lines/projects/hvdc-link-upgrade/

public submissions] on the proposal.

Strong said approval of the first stage of the project now would allow necessary ordering of equipment and cable and for work to start in 2028, and cable replacement in the early 2030s.

“The investment would be added to Transpower’s total asset base and recovered gradually over the many decades the equipment is in service.

“Under the benefits based pricing method, these costs would be shared between electricity consumers and generators who benefit from the HVDC (high voltage direct current) link,” Strong said.

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

Source: New Zealand Government

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced a refreshed ministerial lineup to continue fixing the basics and protecting New Zealand’s future.

“New Zealanders are facing economic challenges brought on by conflict in the Middle East and its effect on fuel supply across the world,” says Christopher Luxon.

“Having a strong ministerial team with real-world experience to deliver our response is crucial. Today’s reshuffle reflects that and brings in new talent.

“Having successfully delivered significant reforms from outside Cabinet, Chris Penk will now join Cabinet, picking up the Defence, GCSB and NZSIS, and Space portfolios. Chris’ time in the NZDF leaves him well placed to lead the work our Government has done in raising the status and capability of our armed forces.

“Penny Simmonds also joins Cabinet with responsibility for Tertiary Education and Science, Innovation and Technology. Penny has successfully delivered reforms to the vocational education sector, also from outside Cabinet, and will bring her extensive governance experience to her new portfolios.

“The past few weeks have underlined how important energy security is and as such I will be elevating the Energy portfolio to senior minister Simeon Brown.

“Chris Bishop becomes Attorney-General and Paul Goldsmith takes responsibility for the Public Service and Digitising Government, and Pacific Peoples portfolios.

“Louise Upston will become Leader of the House and Simon Watts will be Minister for Auckland.

“Nicola Grigg becomes Minister for the Environment and Scott Simpson becomes Minister of Statistics and Deputy Leader of the House. 

“Joining as a Minister outside Cabinet, Cameron Brewer becomes Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Small Business and Manufacturing, and Associate Minister of Immigration. Mike Butterick becomes Minister for Land Information and Associate Minister of Agriculture.

“Finally, I acknowledge the public service of Judith Collins and Shane Reti who, between them, have dedicated almost 40 years to representing their communities in Parliament.

“Judith was first elected in 2002 and since then, has held numerous different ministerial portfolios and served as Leader of the Opposition. This term, she has delivered the Defence Capability Plan, advanced New Zealand’s space industry and modernised of our public service.

“In Shane’s 12 years in Parliament, he has served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and has delivered key reforms as a minister, including improving the commerciality of our science sector to boost incomes and create jobs. He has also played a key role in projects that will benefit New Zealanders for generations, like the third medical school and expanded cancer screening.  

“I would also like to acknowledge the staff who have supported Judith and Shane throughout their time here.

“New Zealand is better for Judith and Shane deciding to enter public service and I am grateful to count them both as friends. On behalf of the Government and the National Party, I wish them all the best for their futures outside Parliament.”

These changes will come into effect on Tuesday 7 April.

MIL OSI

Source: Media Outreach

TrendAI research reveals pressure to deploy AI for business speed is outpacing control, visibility and accountability

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Source: Media Outreach

New Report Finds Serious, Actionable Attacks Rose More Than 20% as SMBs Face Growing Threat from Increasingly Precise, AI-Enabled Adversaries

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Source: Radio New Zealand

Users of car sharing service Mevo are gutted the company has gone into voluntary administration, saying it is a cost-effective and climate-conscious choice that has served them well for years.

The Wellington-based company had cars in the capital as well as Auckland, Hamilton and Nelson.

Users reserve a car through an app, unlock it and drive, paying a flat rate for however long they use it and returning it to a choice of dedicated Mevo parks.

Mevo went into voluntary administration on Monday, and regular customers are hoping it will come out the other side.

Peter Graczer lives in Mount Cook, just outside Wellington’s city centre, and said Mevo prevented him from needing his own car.

“We used to have a car, but Mevo turned out to be more economical because we only had that once every week or so use case,” he said.

“It made living without a car actually realistic.”

The service was perfect for weekend trips to pick up bulky items from hardware shops, a trip to the tip and the weekly groceries, said Graczer.

“It’s those occasional errands that it was really perfect for where public transport and Uber just don’t work.”

It was a shame that the company could be going out of business, and he was forced to consider buying a car, he said.

“I just don’t see an alternative which is as flexible and as convenient as Mevo has been for the last few years.”

Wellingtonian Denise Garland had been using Mevo to get to work for years, because her shifts started early, before buses were running.

“It was a really amazing option being able to just pick up a car from down the road and then drop it off outside my workplace,” she said.

She also used it for big supermarket shops, and road trips.

“Just pick up a Mevo, drive it to Castlepoint or even to Hawke’s Bay, have it as a runabout for a couple of days and then return home, park it outside the house and end the trip. Super simple.”

For Garland, it was a climate-conscious choice: much of Mevo’s fleet was electric.

“I made a conscious decision not to buy another petrol vehicle ever again, and electric vehicles are very expensive, so it was much more cost-effective and also very convenient to just be able to pick up Mevos from around the city or outside my house in Miramar and use those.”

She would really miss the service if it closed, and it would make life that little bit more difficult, she said.

Samantha Richards has her own car, but for a quick whip into town or the airport Mevo worked out cheaper – because it has free dedicated car parks.

The prospect of Mevo’s closure was “tragic”, she said.

“It was a great model … I wish we had cars parked on every street that we could all share instead of everybody owning a car or two cars per family.

“I think it’s the future of car use, is to have some system like that.”

For that reason, Richards wanted to support Mevo and had been using it as much as she could, as well as spreading the word to family and friends in an attempt to support the company’s concept.

Mevo could continue under new ownership – administrator

Mevo co-founder Erik Zydervelt referred RNZ’s request for comment to the voluntary administrators appointed on Monday: BDO Wellington’s Jessica Kellow and Iain Shephard.

Kellow said Mevo still had a future.

The 10-year-old company had recorded profits as recently as the last few quarters of last year, but struggled recently to make enough with its expensive fleet, she said.

It was starting to move away from Teslas and BYDs to the likes of Suzuki Swifts.

“The modelling did show that this would be a clear pathway to a turnaround, if you like, but they just essentially have run out of runway.”

The company was also considering adding another option to its offering – having private car owners leasing cars to Mevo, to on-rent.

An investor was set to give Mevo $1.7 million which would have seen it through, but Kellow said they pulled out because Mevo breached some conditions.

She would not give any further detail.

Voluntary administration gives the company breathing space to figure out its next move – investment or sale. Kellow said the latter was more likely.

“We are working with parties that have expressed an interest in completing some due diligence on the business, and we’re hopeful that might lead to a transition of … the business to a new entity or investment into that current platform.”

That would need to be completed within 30 days of the company being placed into administration, which happened on 30 March.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

By AFP teams in Tehran, Jerusalem, Washington, Beirut, Dubai and Sanaa

Iran launched a hunt for the US crew whose jet Iranian media said had been shot down by the Islamic republic’s air defence systems Friday, deploying troops and offering a bounty.

US media reported US special forces had rescued one of the two crew members, and a local official television station in southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province aired footage of what it said was wreckage of the downed plane.

The war started more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on what would be the first known loss of a jet inside Iran since Trump ordered the war.

“Dear and honourable people of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, if you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police and military forces, you will receive a valuable reward and bonus,” said an Iranian television reporter on the official local channel.

The report of the downed jet came as fresh strikes hit Israel, Iran, Lebanon and Gulf countries.

Meanhwile, large blasts rocked northern Tehran, an AFP journalist said. Israel said it had launched a wave of strikes in the Iranian capital, alongside parallel attacks in Beirut.

Blown-out windows

Earlier, Israel’s military reported a new missile salvo from Iran, activating its air defences.

Strikes by all sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!”, after US strikes damaged Iran’s tallest bridge.

In the area around the bridge, in Karaj, west of Tehran, an AFP reporter saw a villa and residential buildings with blown-out windows – but no military installations.

According to the deputy governor of Alborz province, the attack killed eight civilians and wounded 95 others.

About 70 percent of Iran’s steel production capacity has been taken out, Israel said Friday.

In Abu Dhabi, Iran’s neighbour across the Gulf, metal giant Emirates Global Aluminium meanwhile said it could take up to a year before it can resume full production, after its site was damaged by Iranian strikes.

Ex-FM urges peace deal

Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran’s former top diplomat said that Tehran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has virtually blocked the key waterway since the war began, where in peace time one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passes through.

Of the few ships that have managed to cross, most have had links to Iran, with sixty percent of commodity-bearing ships crossing the strait either coming from Iran or heading there, an AFP analysis of maritime data showed.

In the first known transit by a major European shipping group since 1 March, the Maltese-flagged Kribi, belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM, crossed the strait to exit the Gulf on Thursday, according Marine Traffic data analysed by AFP.

Three other ships, including one co-owned by a Japanese company, crossed Thursday, as commodities carriers see a 94 percent drop in traffic compared to peace time, according to data from business analysts Kpler.

Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that, in response to Trump’s threats to attack infrastructure, Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region.

A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait’s national oil company on Friday sparked fires at several of its units, state media said.

Later, an Iranian attack damaged a power and desalination complex, Kuwait’s water and electricity ministry said.

In Abu Dhabi, a gas complex shut after a fire broke out, following an attack that resulted in “falling debris” upon interception, the government media office said.

Trump wants bigger defence budget

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Friday it had struck more than 3500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

It added it would attack two bridges in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region “in order to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said on Thursday that 1345 people had been killed – and 4040 wounded – since the start of the war, including 1129 men, 91 women and 125 children. Among those are 53 healthcare workers.

Hezbollah has so far not announced its losses.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said a blast wounded three peacekeepers, the third such incident in a week.

A UNIFIL spokesperson said the origin of the explosion was unknown.

The war’s economic impact is rippling far beyond the Middle East, as energy and oil costs surge.

At a protest in Lahore, Pakistan, over fuel price hikes, Naveed Ahmed, 39, told AFP: “The government, overnight, has dropped a ‘petrol bomb’ on its people.”

Meanwhile, the White House on Friday sent a spending proposal to lawmakers calling for a massive hike to the US defence budget.

It remains to be seen what Congress will ultimately approve, but US media reported the $1.5 trillion budget request – a 42 percent hike – would be the largest year-on-year increase in Pentagon spending since World War II.

– AFP

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A consumer watchdog says diners encountering surcharges over Easter should make sure businesses are not blaming a non-existent public holiday.

Many hospitality businesses add surcharges on public holidays to cover the higher wage costs.

But Consumer NZ says only Good Friday and Easter Monday are statutory holidays, so any business adding a surcharge on Sunday cannot use that as an excuse.

Chief executive Jon Duffy told RNZ businesses simply needed to be honest about the reason for the additional charge.

“They can apply a surcharge if they want to, and customers – if they decide they don’t like that surcharge – can decide that they will take their custom elsewhere.

“The rules, as they exist under the Fair Trading Act, simply say that businesses can’t mislead you about the reason for that surcharge.”

Businesses could spread their holiday wage costs across the year instead of surcharging, Duffy said.

“It’s a practice that’s crept in and become more commonplace over the years. We see it in other areas, we see massively inconsistent surcharging when it comes to payments and EFTPOS terminals all over the country.”

Businesses also need to clearly disclose the surcharge in advance, not hidden behind the counter or on a note put back in the employee toilets.

People could complain to the Commerce Commission or report businesses misrepresenting surcharges to Consumer NZ, Duffy said.

He added that he was hoping the government would follow through with its proposal to ban paywave surcharges.

The government introduced legislation last year to ban in-store card surcharges, but the bill currently languishes on Parliament’s Order Paper, four months after the Finance and Expenditure Committee published its report.

ACT has now made it clear it would not support a blanket ban, as retailers would have to push up their prices to absorb the charges, but Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson insisted nothing had changed with the legislation, and he was pausing to do more work on the policy.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ultra-marathon open-water swimmer Jono Ridler has completed his record-breaking odyssey down the east coast of the North Island, calling New Zealanders to unite against bottom trawling, and been met by crowds of supporters.

Ridler began the almost 1400 kilometre slog in North Cape 90 days ago, on 5 January, and finished on Saturday afternoon at Whairepo Lagoon, on the Wellington waterfront.

The swim sets a new world record for the longest unassisted staged swim – wearing only togs, goggles and a swim cap, but no wetsuit.

Ridler partnered with marine conservation group LiveOcean, launching a petition against bottom trawling fishing, which has now been signed by more than 66,000 people.

• Minister defends bottom trawling, despite poll showing most NZers want it banned

His swim included swarms of jellyfish, battling sunburn and more than 120 rest stops between his swimming shifts and community stopovers, where he stopped to rest and raise awareness.

Ridler enters Whairepo Lagoon in Wellington, with crowds lining the way. RNZ/ Anya Fielding

Met by cheers from supporters at the waterfront as he strode up onto land, Ridler then prepared to walk to Parliament, to emphasise the calls for change directed at the government.

Finishing the journey was “an amazing day”, he told RNZ: “Just seeing everybody out on the boardwalk, all of the boats out today, the welcome coming into the lagoon here.

“It’s an incredible end to what has been an incredible adventure, and I’m still kind of pinching myself a little bit with some of the moments that I’ve been able to experience today.”

Jono Ridler (file photo) Jono Ridler / Instagram

The swim had been “really, really hard at times”, he said, and he was glad it was done, but it had been a special time as well.

“I think it takes a big ambition,” Ridler said of the project: “It takes some really good people to get behind you and support you”.

New Zealand stood out for allowing bottom trawling, Ridler said.

“[It’s] a destructive and indiscriminate method of fishing. We are currently the only country that is bottom trawling in the high seas of the South Pacific, which isn’t a good title to hold.

The campaign calls on the government to make changes, and “a quick transition away from bottom trawling, with the first priority being an end to bottom trawling on seamounts and other vital marine ecosystems”.

Ridler taking his first steps out of the water, to cheers from supporters. RNZ/ Anya Fielding

“We also bottom trawl on seamounts out in the deep sea. These are very fragile ecosystems and they take centuries to be able to recover. So people should care about it if they care about ocean health generally,” he said.

“And we’ve got 65,000 voices that agree with that and that have come behind us and signed our petition… We want to grow that as much as possible and change the way in which we take wild fish from the ocean. “

Bottom trawling was “a very entrenched practice in New Zealand fishing, but shutting it down was doable, Ridler said.

“And I think on the other side of that, we’ll have a healthier ocean for it.”

Live Ocean founder Blair Tuke earlier told RNZ the feat, and Ridler’s dedication pushing himself to the limit, had resonated with New Zealanders, and the support for the project and the petition had been amazing.

The team planned to continue gathering signatures on the petition, and to present it to the government at the end of April.

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

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology

23 seconds ago

The Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) has welcomed Cabinet’s approval of $10 million from the Government’s contingency fund to support the rebuild and improvement of its Hawke’s Bay Campus in Taradale following Cyclone Gabrielle.

Cabinet’s decision, announced yesterday, follows the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023, which resulted in catastrophic flooding across the campus.

About 90 per cent of ground-floor buildings were inundated with floodwater and contaminated silt, damaging more than 500 teaching and support spaces and forcing widespread disruption to learning and operations.

Many buildings were unusable for months, with teaching delivered across temporary sites throughout Napier and Hastings while repairs progressed.

EIT has since worked to restore campus functionality, using limited insurance proceeds to carry out essential remediation and keep programmes running. While significant progress has been made, insurance funding has not been sufficient to fully meet long-term rebuild needs.

EIT Council Chair David Pearson said the Government’s decision was a turning point.

“This funding is a genuine game-changer for EIT. We have rebuilt as much as we could with the resources available, but there have been clear gaps that insurance simply will not be able to cover.

“This investment gives us certainty as we complete the next stage of our rebuild and plan for the future. I am delighted and deeply appreciative of the Government’s support.”

EIT acknowledged the support of Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Hon Penny Simmonds, along with local MPs, regional leaders, iwi partners and the wider community, who supported the institute through its recovery and return to independence following the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga.

Chief Executive Lucy Laitinen said the funding comes at a pivotal time as EIT moves forward as an independent institution.

“EIT is well and truly back in business. Our student enrolments are strong, our staff are energised by our independence, and we are reconnecting with local industry and our wider communities to ensure we are meeting their needs. This funding will help fill critical gaps in our rebuild and ensure our Taradale campus can continue to serve Hawke’s Bay for generations to come.”

She said the recovery reflects the commitment and resilience of staff, students and supporters across the region.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support we have received through thick and thin from government, our local MPs, regional and civic leaders, iwi, industry partners and the community. We never stopped delivering for our learners, and this investment allows us to focus on rebuilding a campus that is resilient, fit for purpose, and aligned with Hawke’s Bay’s future skills needs.”

The funding will enable EIT to accelerate rebuilding work, improve campus infrastructure, and strengthen its long-term sustainability as Hawke’s Bay’s regional institute of technology.

MIL OSI

Source: New Zealand Government

Children and families are better protected and supported under the multi-agency model for responding to family violence incidents. 

Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour has welcomed a recent independent evaluation into responses to family violence incidents, which has shown the importance of support services working together to respond quickly after a family violence incident. 

It also highlighted reduced barriers to safety and staying alongside whānau longer enough to support lasting change as clear benefits to survivors from this approach. 

The model has been rolled out by government agencies, communities and iwi-led family violence sites in Auckland City, Rotorua, Tairāwhiti and Hawkes Bay. 

Minister Chhour says, “As a nation we have a tragic history of comparatively high levels of family violence. It is a great shame and one we cannot keep trying to address the same ways while expecting new results.

Fortunately, we are blessed with a lot of caring and empathic people in country. People in government and community support services who have dedicated their lives to helping and who are willing to try something new. 

A barrier I hear about from the community often is that these services are not connected, which can lead to gaps in the help they are provided and them needing to repeat and relive the most traumatic moments of their lives. 

The report shows that under this model people felt safer, feeling believed and supported, growing confidence and emotional regulation over time, and improved day-to-day stability that helps support healing.

Family violence affects children most of all, that is why children are such a key focus of this response. The report has highlighted greater routine and calm at home, better connection to health and therapeutic supports (where available), and stronger caregiver capability as tangible benefits of the multi-agency response model. 

The next step is increasing the communities covered and promoting government agencies to be more proactive in their measures to reduce barriers and improve support to families as they navigate these systems.

It is great that so many leaders in these communities and agencies have agreed to work together, but we need to make this a commitment that outlives their times in these roles so families can be safer for decades to come,” says Min Chhour.

The independent review was undertaken by Ihi Research and Wellbeing Economics NZ. 

You can find a copy of the Multi-Agency Responses: Outcomes Evaluation report here: Outcomes evaluation of multi-agency responses | The Centre for Family Violence and Sexual Violence Prevention 

MIL OSI

Source: Radio New Zealand

By AFP teams in Tehran, Jerusalem, Washington, Beirut, Dubai and Sanaa

Iran deployed troops and offered a bounty as it launched a hunt for a US pilot whose jet Iranian media said had been downed by the Islamic republic’s air defence systems Friday (all times local).

US Central Command (CENTCOM), responsible for military operations in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the first such report in the war engulfing the region.

The war started more than a month ago with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, triggering retaliation that spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, convulsing the global economy and impacting millions of people worldwide.

“Military forces have launched a search operation to find the American fighter pilot who was hit earlier today,” Iran’s Fars news agency said.

“Dear and honourable people of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, if you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police and military forces, you will receive a valuable reward and bonus,” said an Iranian television reporter on the official local channel.

The report of the downed jet came as fresh strikes hit Israel, Iran and Gulf countries. Large blasts rocked northern Tehran Friday afternoon, an AFP journalist said. It was not immediately clear what was hit.

Earlier, Israel’s military reported a new missile salvo from Iran, activating its air defences.

Strikes by all sides have increasingly targeted economic and industrial sites, raising fears of wider disruption to global energy supplies and deepening the conflict’s impact beyond the battlefield.

The Iranian fire came as Trump said the US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” on his Truth Social platform, after the United States struck Iran’s tallest bridge.

About 70 percent of Iran’s steel production capacity, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, after Iran’s two largest steel plants earlier this week said they were forced out of action by several waves of US and Israeli air attacks.

Ex-FM urges peace deal

Writing in the US journal Foreign Affairs, Iran’s former top diplomat said that Tehran should make a deal with the United States to end the war by offering to curb its nuclear programme and reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief.

Tehran could “declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one,” wrote Mohammad Javad Zarif, foreign minister from 2013 to 2021.

Iran has virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, where in peace time one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passes through. As a result, fuel prices have skyrocketed worldwide.

Of the few ships that have managed to cross, most have had links to Iran, with sixty percent of commodity-bearing ships crossing the strait either coming from Iran or heading there, an AFP analysis of maritime data showed.

In the first known transit by a major European shipping group since 1 March, the Maltese-flagged Kribi, belonging to the French maritime transport group CMA CGM, crossed the strait to exit the Gulf on Thursday, according Marine Traffic data analysed by AFP.

Iranian military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that in response to Trump’s threats to attack infrastructure, Iran would increase its own attacks on energy sites in the region.

A drone attack on a refinery owned by Kuwait’s national oil company on Friday sparked fires at several of its units, state media said.

Later, an Iranian attack damaged a power and desalination complex, Kuwait’s water and electricity ministry said.

In Abu Dhabi, a gas complex shut after a fire broke out, following an attack that resulted in “falling debris” upon interception, the government media office said.

Trump wants bigger defence budget

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said Friday it had struck more than 3500 targets across Lebanon in the month since fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

It added that it would attack two bridges in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa region “in order to prevent the transfer of reinforcements and military equipment”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said on Thursday that 1345 people had been killed and 4040 wounded since the start of the war, including 1129 men, 91 women and 125 children.

The ministry said the toll also included 53 healthcare workers.

Hezbollah has so far not announced its losses.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said a blast hit one of its positions and wounded three peacekeepers, the third such incident in a week.

A UNIFIL spokesperson said the origin of the explosion was unknown.

The war’s economic impact is rippling far beyond the Middle East, as energy and oil costs surge.

Analysts said Trump’s recent address to the nation failed to provide clarity on an exit strategy from the war.

Meanwhile, the White House on Friday sent a spending proposal to lawmakers calling for a massive hike to the US defence budget.

It remains to be seen what Congress will ultimately approve, but US media reported the $1.5 billion budget request — a 42 percent hike — would be the largest year-on-year increase in Pentagon spending since World War II.

As energy costs skyrocket worldwide, Egypt has ordered shops, restaurants and shopping malls to close from 9:00 pm on weekdays.

Dozens participated in a protest in the Pakistani city of Lahore, calling on the government to reverse fuel price hikes.

“The government, overnight, has dropped a ‘petrol bomb’ on its people,” Naveed Ahmed, a 39-year-old protestor, told AFP.

– AFP

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

MIL OSI

Source: New Zealand Government

The Government is backing a shift in science spending to areas that will have the greatest national impact, with a stronger focus on advanced technology, says Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti. 

“The Government is setting a clear direction for smarter investment. This marks a turning point as we fix the basics of the science system, build the future for New Zealand research and our scientists, and position ourselves more like other small, advanced economies.”

The Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council’s report on Priorities for Science Funding identifies four priority areas for future government investment: 

 ·         Primary industries and the bioeconomy 

·         Technology for prosperity 

·         Environmental sustainability and resilience 

·         Healthy people and a thriving society 

Speaking at the report’s launch, Dr Reti says: “A central focus of the report is advanced technology, where increased investment has transformative potential. The council recommends boosting investment in advanced technologies by $122 million per year, by reallocating funding over the next three years. 

“While New Zealand invests strongly in areas such as agriculture and environmental science, we invest less in advanced technologies compared with similar countries. Investment in advanced technology is already delivering real results – boosting farm productivity, reducing environmental impacts, and enabling smarter, data-driven decisions that improve health, resilience and sustainability across New Zealand. 

“By reallocating public funding, we can increase support for advanced technologies where capability is still developing but strategic need is growing. This shift will boost productivity across all sectors. It will also help build a future‑ready science workforce and strengthen our international competitiveness. Any changes to the funding system will be phased and carefully managed over time to provide stability, maintain continuity for researchers, and minimise disruption. 

“The Council’s report marks a key milestone in the most significant reset of our science, innovation and technology system in more than 30 years. The Government will embed its recommendations in the Science Investment Plan that Research Funding New Zealand will use to make allocation decision,” says Dr Reti. 

MIL OSI

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government has corrected a figure after being called out for overstating improvements in school attendance.

A member of the public complained to RNZ that two National Party advertisements claimed 150,000 more children attended school regularly in term four last year than at the same time in 2022.

They said Education Ministry roll figures indicated that was an over-statement.

When RNZ examined the figures it found the change between 2022 and 2025 was about 135,000 students – 15,000 short of the number claimed by the government.

But there were also a lot more children at school in the final term of 2025 than in the same term in 2022, and even if the rate of regular attendance had remained unchanged the number of regular attenders would have increased by about 65,000 students.

That meant only about 70,000 students could be attributed to improvements in attendance.

The National Party told RNZ it sourced its figures from an announcement by Associate Education Minister David Seymour in January.

That announcement said the number of regular attenders improved by “about 150,000” children between term four 2022 and term four 2025.

RNZ asked the National Party if it would correct the ad and received a response from Seymour’s office saying the figure “was based on an error” and had been corrected.

There was keen interest in attendance figures.

Regular attendance, measured as children attending more than 90 percent of the time, reached all-time lows in 2022 with schools blaming the effect of covid lockdowns in previous years and on a particularly bad run of winter illnesses.

The government had overhauled the attendance system and set a goal of 80 percent of pupils being regular attenders by 2030.

For the record, here’s our working:

In term four of 2022 there were 329,499 regular attenders and in term four 2025 there were 464,498, an increase of 134,999.

But there were more students overall in 2025 than in 2022 – just 676,384 in the final term of 2022 and 810,652 in the same term of 2025.

If the rate of regular attendance in term four last year was the same as in 2022 (48.7 percent), there would have been 394,788 regular attenders, an increase of 65,288 due solely to the overall increase in the number of students.

That meant only 69,710 of the increase in the number of regular attenders could be attributed to the rate of regular attendance improving to 57.3 percent.

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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 government has committed millions of dollars in extra spending to support polytechnic courses in Northland and on the South Island’s West Coast for the next five years.

Figures provided by Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds showed how the government would address concerns about the financial viability of polytechnic provision in both regions.

Simmonds announced earlier this week that the West Coast’s Tai Poutini would leave super-institute Te Pūkenga at the start of next year to become a campus of the Open Polytechnic, while NorthTec would become a stand-alone institute but within a federation model aimed at saving costs.

She said the Open Polytechnic would receive $2 million next year for its take-over of Tai Poutini, and a further $1m a year from 2028-31 to support its operations on the coast.

“This funding is intended to offset the high costs of delivery in a region with low learner demand and to ensure that essential workforce training remains available on the West Coast,” Simmonds said.

“As a condition of this funding, the Open Polytechnic must retain physical operations in the region.”

Simmonds said the polytechnic would also receive $3.1m this year and at least $2m next year from the Strategically Important Provision Fund for maintaining courses in areas where they were needed but might not be viable.

NorthTec would also receive money from the same fund – $3.6m this year, $2.75m in 2027 and a further $1.3 million per year from 2028-2031.

“While NorthTec has faced viability challenges in the past, significant progress has been made over the last year to strengthen its financial position and establish a pathway to sustainability,” Simmonds said.

She said the institute would receive $4.7m in ring-fenced reserves it had when it became part of Te Pūkenga, a further $4.5m for property consolidation, and “in-principle investment” of $34.7m for a new tertiary hub in central Whangārei, subject to a business case.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Analysis: Christopher Luxon’s Cabinet reshuffle made two things very clear on Thursday.

Firstly, that the Prime Minister doesn’t trust one of his most competent ministers enough to leave him in charge of his party’s election campaign.

And secondly, he’s become aware New Zealand First and Act are doing a better job of winning over the rural vote.

Those two realisations resulted in Chris Bishop being unceremoniously dumped as campaign chair just seven months out from the election, and first-term MP – the relatively unknown Wairarapa farmer Mike Butterick – being thrust into a ministerial role.

Luxon seemed surprised that his ditching Bishop for Simeon Brown as campaign chair would be a talking point.

Asked for the rationale he pointed to the “workload” Bishop was under.

While Bishop is one of the busiest ministers in Cabinet, that was also the case when he was given the role of campaign chair in the first place.

When RNZ asked Luxon who was busier, Bishop or Brown, the prime minister’s workload rationale crumbled when he declared they were both busy.

He’s right, while Bishop is in charge of housing, transport, RMA reform and infrastructure, Brown has the thankless job of being Health Minister and now has energy – one of the biggest issues in town – on his plate.

It’s a nonsense to say Brown has more time for campaign chair, but Luxon is hardly going to say he’s moving Bishop aside because he’s sceptical of how supportive the Hutt South MP is of his leadership.

Bishop has had a demotion target on his back ever since rumours swirled at the end of last year that he was considering making a move for the leadership.

It was his former staffer, friend, and ministerial colleague James Meager speculated to have been doing the numbers for him, and as a result has suffered a similar fate to Bishop and been overlooked for a move into Cabinet.

Brown is a political animal and is a good alternative pick for campaign chair, especially when you pair it with his energy portfolio that is bound to be a big election issue.

National was able to form a government in 2023 under Bishop, so the pressure is on Brown to pull off the same result.

That’s no easy ask when the party is polling around 29-31 percent and with a leader who has favourability wallowing in the negatives.

As for the meteoric rise of Butterick, that was the ministerial promotion nobody saw coming.

Butterick is a farmer through and through, he calls a spade a spade, and talks to everyday New Zealanders in a way many ministers could only dream of.

New Zealand First and Act have been steadily working away on the rural vote in recent years and National has clearly clocked it needs to up its presence in that regard.

Luxon will be hoping by giving an MP like Butterick a public profile as a minister outside of Cabinet it will show the farming community he’s taking their vote seriously.

One of the other surprising Luxon calls on Thursday was the decision to promote Penny Simmonds into Cabinet.

This is the same minister who was stripped of the Disability Issues portfolio in January 2024 after bungling funding changes in the first five months in the job.

Simmonds does hail from the South Island and with Cabinet short on representation from that part of the country it’s possible it went a long way toward her promotion.

Any reshuffle leaves MPs a mixture of disappointed, surprised, and elated – and don’t forget the ministerial staffers waiting to find out if they still have a job.

The long Easter weekend will provide time for wounds to be licked and celebrations to be had – the last minute passing of public holiday alcohol laws couldn’t have come at a better time.

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