PM Edition: Top 10 Business Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for April 3, 2026 – Full Text

Source: Radio New Zealand

Chris Penk and Penny Simmonds have been promoted to Cabinet, as the prime minister reshuffles his ministerial lineup.

The reshuffle also sees first-term MPs Cameron Brewer and Mike Butterick made ministers outside Cabinet.

The changes were necessitated by the upcoming retirement of Judith Collins, as well as Dr Shane Reti’s decision to stand down at the election.

Collins’ defence, space, and GCSB and NZSIS portfolios have been given to Penk, Paul Goldsmith takes on responsibility for the public service and digitising government, and Chris Bishop picks up the attorney-general role.

Bishop’s position as Leader of the House has been given to Louise Upston.

Bishop, who was also National’s campaign chair, was widely tipped to lose some ministerial portfolios to ease his workload to free him up for the campaign. Instead, it is the role of campaign chair that he has had to relinquish, to Simeon Brown.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Bishop had a “massive workload” with housing, transport, infrastructure, RMA reform, and his new attorney-general role, and losing the campaign chair was a consequence of that.

Luxon said the two had a “very positive conversation” and he “absolutely” trusted Bishop.

“He’s key to our team, he’s a critical part of our senior leadership group,” he said.

Luxon denied it was anything to do with rumours Bishop was running the numbers against him last year.

“I think you’re really overthinking this,” Luxon said.

He said Brown was equally capable of chairing the campaign, as part of his “brains trust” which included Bishop, Upston, Goldsmith, and Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

Simmonds takes up Reti’s science, innovation, and technology portfolio, and his universities role has been disestablished to make Simmonds the minister for tertiary education.

She had previously been minister for vocational education, as well as environment. The latter has been given to Nicola Grigg, who remains outside Cabinet.

Goldsmith also becomes the new minister for Pacific Peoples, with Luxon admitting National did not have Pacific representation.

“I freely admit we don’t have a Pasifika person in our National Party team and in our Cabinet. That’s something that we’re working very hard on. As I’ve said to you before, we need to make sure we continue to work as we go to 2026 on the campaign on getting great candidates from the Pasifika world.”

Brewer, who has been chairing Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee (a weighty role which often leads to a ministerial promotion) has been made minister of commerce and consumer affairs and minister for small business and manufacturing, while Butterick will become minister for land information.

Luxon said he wanted to make a “super small business minister” role by giving Brewer the two roles, while Butterick was a “natural leader” of National’s rural MPs.

Brewer would also take over supermarket reforms, as the previous Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Scott Simpson had a conflict which had led to Willis taking responsibility.

Other changes include Brown picking up the energy portfolio from Simon Watts, who in turn takes over Brown’s minister for Auckland role.

Luxon said the past few weeks had underlined how important energy security was, and so was giving the role to a “senior” minister.

He said he had not lost confidence in Watts.

Luxon acknowledged Collins and Reti’s departures.

“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.”

Matt Doocey remains in Cabinet, and has not picked up any portfolios other than his existing mental health role.

He had been the sole South Island representative in Cabinet, but that has now doubled with Simmonds’ addition.

The changes come into effect on Tuesday, 7 April.

Luxon had not reshuffled his lineup since January 2025, other than to promote Scott Simpson to a role outside Cabinet following Andrew Bayly’s resignation.

The reshuffle applies to National Party ministers only, meaning ACT’s Brooke van Velden will continue in her portfolios despite her decision to retire from Parliament at the election.

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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 Co-operative Bank has been penalised nearly $2.5 million by the High Court for overcharging its customers.

It comes after the bank admitted to the breaches last year after reaching a settlement with the Commerce Commission.

The commission said the bank overcharged just over 48,000 customers approximately $7.225 million, which has since been remediated.

The Co-operative Bank self-reported the breaches under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, and accepted the overcharging occurred after a series of compliance and process failures.

“Investing in compliance and rigourously auditing processes and controls is a crucial step towards avoiding an investigation, court action and a hefty penalty,” Commerce Commission director of credit Sarah Bartlett said.

The commission said the bank charged 12 “unreasonable fees” across its lending products involving its home and personal loans, with most being charged between June 2015 and November 2021.

In her judgement, Justice Victoria Heine noted the circumstances behind the breaches varied from fee to fee. However, they suggested “there was a fundamental failure within Co-operative at that time to appreciate what was needed to comply with the fees provisions”.

“I am satisfied that the penalty proposed is sufficient to contribute to deterring others from running the risk of non-compliance,” she said.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Chris Penk and Penny Simmonds have been promoted to Cabinet, as the prime minister reshuffles his ministerial lineup.

The reshuffle also sees first-term MPs Cameron Brewer and Mike Butterick made ministers outside Cabinet.

The changes were necessitated by the upcoming retirement of Judith Collins, as well as Dr Shane Reti’s decision to stand down at the election.

Collins’ defence, space, and GCSB and NZSIS portfolios have been given to Penk, Paul Goldsmith takes on responsibility for the public service and digitising government, and Chris Bishop picks up the Attorney-General role.

Bishop’s position as Leader of the House has been given to Louise Upston.

Simmonds takes up Reti’s science, innovation, and technology portfolio, and his universities role has been disestablished to make Simmonds the minister for tertiary education.

She had previously been minister for vocational education, as well as environment. The latter has been given to Nicola Grigg, who remains outside Cabinet.

Brewer, who has been chairing Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee (a weighty role which often leads to a ministerial promotion) has been made minister of commerce and consumer affairs and minister for small business and manufacturing, while Butterick will become minister for Land Information.

Other changes include Simeon Brown picking up the energy portfolio from Simon Watts, who in turn takes over Brown’s minister for Auckland role.

Prime minister Christopher Luxon said the past few weeks had underline how important energy security was, and so was giving the role to a “senior” minister.

Luxon acknowledged Collins and Reti’s departures.

“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.”

The changes come into effect on Tuesday, 7 April.

Luxon had not reshuffled his lineup since January 2025, other than to promote Scott Simpson to a role outside Cabinet following Andrew Bayly’s resignation.

The reshuffle applies to National Party ministers only, meaning ACT’s Brooke van Velden will continue in her portfolios despite her decision to retire from Parliament at the election.

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

Source: Media Outreach

Global Food Partners and Certified Humane® celebrated this milestone at a Cage-Free Meet in Vietnam, as companies accelerate cage-free sourcing and compliance

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

Source: Media Outreach

• Herbert Vongpusanachai takes on the role of Senior Vice President for Commercial for the region, effective April 1, 2026

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 2 April 2026 – DHL Express, the world’s leading international express service provider, has appointed Herbert Vongpusanachai as Senior Vice President, Commercial for Asia Pacific, effective April 1, 2026. Herbert, who currently serves as Managing Director for DHL Express Thailand & Indochina, will be based in Singapore for his new role.

Herbert brings more than two decades of leadership experience within DHL Express, having successfully helmed multiple key markets across the region. He first joined the company in 2003 as Managing Director for Thailand & Indochina, later taking on leadership of Singapore in 2008, followed by Hong Kong & Macau in 2016. Since returning to lead Thailand & Indochina in 2020, he has driven sustained year‑on‑year profitable growth, transforming the cluster into one of the region’s key engines of expansion.

“Herbert has an exceptional track record of delivering strong business results while nurturing highly engaged teams across diverse markets. His deep understanding of our customers, collaborative leadership style, and ability to unearth opportunities in complex environments make him the ideal leader to drive our commercial agenda for Asia Pacific. I am confident that under his guidance, we will continue to accelerate sustainable growth across the region,” said Ken Lee, CEO for Asia Pacific, DHL Express.

In his new regional role, Herbert will shape and accelerate the commercial strategy for DHL Express across Asia Pacific by working with other functions to assess new sectors, routes and trade lanes with high potential for growth. He will focus on deepening customer engagement and supporting their expansion, while driving sustainable volume growth and advancing the adoption of new technologies to enhance commercial execution across markets. With his extensive country expertise and people‑first leadership style, Herbert is well‑positioned to support both regional and country teams in raising commercial performance to new levels.

“Asia Pacific remains an important anchor in global trade as seen in the latest DHL Global Connectedness Report, and this indicates the unwavering role of logistics to facilitate the flow of goods. With the newly introduced Heavyweight Express solution, which enables customers to ship heavyweight shipments with speed, certainty and reliability, I look forward to working alongside our talented teams to contribute to shaping the next chapter of DHL Express’s commercial success,” said Herbert Vongpusanachai, Senior Vice President – Commercial for Asia Pacific, DHL Express.

The latest DHL Global Connectedness Report shows that the region remains a major anchor of global commerce, with multiple economies rising in global connectedness rankings and Southeast Asia firmly establishing itself as a fast‑growing trade corridor. This also mirrors one of DHL Group’s strategies to better support 20 markets globally to accelerate growth; eight of them rest in Asia Pacific – underscoring the region’s critical role in DHL’s global network. As trade flows diversify and intra‑Asia integration deepens, this leadership appointment further strengthens DHL Express’s position in Asia Pacific.

https://group.dhl.com/en.html
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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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

Source: Media Outreach

New model brings advanced agentic coding and refined reasoning to real-world deployment

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Source: Radio New Zealand

Employers might be being encouraged to let people work from home if they are struggling with fuel costs, but not everyone hopes they heed the message.

As fuel costs have risen in recent weeks, unions have called on organisations such as banks to be more flexible with staff wanting to skip the commute.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said that should be done carefully.

“This is an economic issue, not a health issue. The work from home edict [during Covid] came about because there were concerns that ongoing engagement and connection with people could cause harm to people’s lives.

“We’re not in that situation, this is quite a different situation. The economic situation would be worse if people don’t come into towns and cities across the country. If people stop coming into town they stop buying. Eighty-five percent of sales are done in person, in store, people in town. They’re walking past shop windows, they’re seeing items they might need.”

The increased prevalence of working from home through Covid has been credited with changing the makeup of some central business districts around the country.

Young previously told RNZ that she worried that foot traffic levels might never return to where they were, for some businesses.

But Brad Olsen, chief executive at Infometrics, said consumer confidence more generally was likely to be more of a concern for retailers than whether people were working from home.

When people were at home, their spending tended to drift more to food-related items, he said. The pattern of spending could be affected, but the total amount would not be.

“I don’t think it’s a full and complete view that people only spend when they’re working in town and don’t spend otherwise.”

But he said the wider economic environment had more potential to dent total spending. “The wider impact of having to spend more on fuel, people are more worried about the economy, that will drive overall spending down. If we see spending activity drop it won’t be because people are working from home, it will be because people are paying more for fuel and worried about their financial lives.”

Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said it would make it harder for CBD retail. “But past experience suggested that there were flows of business to suburban shops and cafes when WFH was more prominent. I would expect the same dynamics again.”

‘Big hit coming through on households’ disposable income’

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones said it would add to all the other headwinds on spending at the moment.

“Chief among them is the big hit coming through on households’ disposable income from the fuel cost spike. Cuts are being made to discretionary spending already. But there’s also a potentially weaker labour market and reduced job security to contend with, broader cost of living pressures, and reduced tourism spending. It’s shaping up as a big hit and consumers are feeling it, as we saw from last week’s slump in consumer confidence.”

But Young said going back to isolating at home would not be a solution to an economic crisis.

“That creates another beast in itself and it multiplies the impact of the inflationary measures if we get to a place where people stop coming into town and they stop buying a coffee and they stop going into the stores to buy things. More businesses will close, which creates greater, you know, demise for the New Zealand economy.”

She said she had seen some positive economic data in the early months of this year and had been hoping that 2026 would be a time of recovery.

“Then of course in March we’ve been hit by this and it feels like another blow and we just can’t seem to get a break.”

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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 Commerce Commission is warning households that the price of power is set to increase about 5 percent.

Retailers have started notifying customers – citing maintenance and upgrades, higher wholesale prices, gas supply decline, and inflation.

In February, Consumer NZ warned that power prices could rise at least 5 percent this year saying that was a conservative estimate.

There was a 12 percent increase in power prices in 2025 and as of 1 April last year the amount lines companies could charge increased. The first step was predicted to be the biggest but there could still be changes year on year through to 2030.

While Commerce Commission chairperson Dr John Small believed the increase was justified, he acknowledged it came at a terrible time.

He also said the monopoly, as well as the generation and retailing component, played a part.

“We are satisfied that the price increases are actually needed,” Small told Morning Report.

“They need to manage very efficiently, but they do need to keep investing in the capacity that they need to provide reliable service.”

Small hoped that something like electricity suppliers being split into generators and retailers would happen.

“It’s really important for us, with our competition hat on, to make sure that something a little bit like this happens, so that the generators are not favouring their own retail arm when they’re selling electricity.”

In the mean time, he suggested using a price comparison tool to shop around.

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

MIL OSI

Source: Radio New Zealand

Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson says there will be no extension for the more than 3000 clubs, charities and other groups to re-register as Incorporated Societies by Easter Sunday.

Incorporated societies – including clubs, charities, unions and political parties – will be dissolved if they fail to submit a new constitution to the Companies Office by 5 April.

Moran Law special counsel Louisa Joblin specialises in not-for-profit law and has been working with incorporated societies to manage the change for years.

She said any who missed the deadline would see “an impact from day one”.

“These clubs and organisations and things – our whole not-for-profit sector – is a core part of what keeps our society trucking, really,” she said.

“We’ve heard from banks that they are basically turning off access for societies that have been removed.

“It’s those really practical things like not being able to access bank accounts, not being able to pay accounts, not being able to pay staff, not being able to pay rent – those things will immediately interfere with a society’s ability to do business.”

Societies that were dissolved could also lose their name, and would lose the ability to contract. Charities could also face being removed from the Charities Register, although that was a longer process and they might have time to negotiate.

Figures provided by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showed as of Monday – with just five days remaining – 3302 incorporated societies were yet to re-register, about 15.5 percent of the more than 21,000 total.

Tracking of the trend suggested about 12 percent would still be non-compliant by the 5 April deadline.

Simpson told RNZ that was a success.

“To have about 85 percent of those entities having re-registered, I think it’s a pretty good effort,” he said. “I think that is a success.”

Based on a survey by Charities Services, he said about 430 intended to stop operating and about 640 planned to change to a different structure.

A further estimated 750 did not have a plan, and 750 more intended to re-register but were unlikely to be able to do so by the deadline.

Simpson said there would be no extensions.

“Easter Sunday will be with us in literally a few days time, in about five days. So no, I’m keen that we push on with it.

“We needed to put a deadline in place so it would act as a motivating factor … this is not a new or a sudden requirement, they’ve had the best part of three and a half years to get underway, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

Joblin said after the “horrifying” stats at the beginning of March showing about 8000 were yet to re-register, 3300 was reassuring but “still a really large number”.

She said dissolved societies that owned land or buildings they wanted to retain could place “quite a bit of demand on the courts to help navigate that”.

There was a backup option of applying to have the society restored on the register if they missed the deadline, but they must pay over $200 for the privilege – and still complete the process of submitting a constitution that complied with the new law.

Simpson said it was fairly straightforward.

“It’s the same process that would have occurred had they done it before the 5th of April. It just means that for the period between the 5th of April and whenever they finally do re-register, they will have lost the benefits of incorporation.”

Joblin said the Companies Office had only communicated restoration would be an option in the past couple of weeks, but it was a “simpler, smoother” process than had been expected.

“Hopefully that will mean that for those that meant to continue operating, and they just haven’t been able to do it in time, there will be a relatively straightforward process.”

But some of the groups – which were typically volunteer-run – had found the process of writing a new constitution legally technical and difficult.

Simpson advised anyone facing dissolution to contact the Companies Office, which had information on what to do and been contacting incorporated societies to encourage re-registration.

She hoped the Office would provide more resources to explain the process, and said any incorporated societies likely to miss the deadline and unable to afford legal advice should access Community Law for help.

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