AM Edition: Top 10 Politics Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for May 9, 2026 – Full Text

Source: Radio New Zealand

TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman has resigned, posting on social media that Friday was her last day at TVNZ.

The broadcaster confirmed Maiki Sherman had resigned from her role.

“As the first wahine Māori to lead 1News’ political team, Maiki has made a significant contribution to our journalism,” TVNZ said in a statement.

“Her reporting – from presenting our polls, to covering general elections and bringing breaking news out of the Beehive – has helped keep audiences across Aotearoa informed and engaged with the decisions being made on their behalf.

“Maiki’s nomination in this year’s media awards for Political Journalist of the Year is a testament to the calibre of her work. Today, Friday 8 May is Maiki’s last day.”

She confirmed Friday was her last day at TVNZ in a post on social media, saying her position had become “untenable”.

“The level of scrutiny on me this past week has been unprecedented, and this has placed enormous pressure on me. My role has become untenable and so I am finishing up with TVNZ today. I wish the team well,” she said.

Sherman had used a homophobic slur against Stuff journalist Lloyd Burr during pre-Budget drinks in Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ office last May.

In her post, Sherman acknowledged the offensive comment had been made and said there was “no excuse for the language I used,” but went on to say she had apologised to Burr and Willis the next morning, and informed her manager.

“From my own perspective and for context, my comment was made in response to deeply personal and inappropriate remarks made to me that evening. This does not excuse my actions, I took responsibility for that a year ago, it is merely to help others understand why I reacted in the way that I did.”

The event had come to public attention in a column by right-leaning political commentator Ani O’Brien last Tuesday.

In a statement, Stuff said the company “stands by its previous comments on the matter”, which included saying it would respect Burr’s wishes not to comment further.

She was also suspended from Parliament last week for five days for breaching parliamentary rules by pursuing an interview with National’s chief whip Stuart Smith.

National’s campaign chair Simeon Brown had complained about TVNZ’s pursuit of Smith, saying the team had followed Smith into his corridor, “aggressively” banged on his door for several minutes, refused to accept Smith declining to comment further, and pressured Smith about how his refusal would be portrayed the following morning if he did not speak.

Brown publicised his complaint on social media, but TVNZ disputed the details of his account and said the appropriate place for such complaints was with Parliament’s Speaker.

Brown’s subsequent complaint to Speaker Gerry Brownlee resulted in the suspension.

Smith had been a central figure in speculation about a potential spill in National, with several MPs having leaked anonymously to the media – including questioning the leadership of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in the wake of poor polling and ahead of a reshuffle of Cabinet.

Reports suggested Smith had sought to speak to Luxon over Easter weekend about MPs’ concerns about his leadership, and Smith had largely refused to comment on the story for four days, finally denying it in a written statement sent by the prime minister’s office.

That denial followed Luxon calling a vote of confidence in himself at a caucus meeting, after which Luxon was heavily critical of the media, saying he would not engage “if the media want to keep focusing on speculation and rumour”.

He subsequently cancelled his weekly slot on Breakfast with host Tova O’Brien, who was one of those who broke the story about Smith.

Luxon had faced criticism over his three interviews with O’Brien who started as host in late March. He said his job was “the CEO” in their first face-off – with O’Brien interrupting to say his job was prime minister – and the following week he struggled to name a Māori MP in his Cabinet.

In a message to staff, TVNZ’s chief news and content officer Nadia Tolich said the past few weeks had been challenging for Sherman, and she respected the decision to resign.

She thanked staff for supporting each other and “keeping the mahi front of mind”, saying she wished Sherman well in what she chose to do next.

Tolich noted Sherman was a nominee in this year’s media awards for Political Journalist of the Year and said this was a “testament to the calibre of her work”.

Plans for who would fill the role would be shared to staff in due course, the message 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

Customs, police and the health sector are combining forces to crack down on illicit tobacco, with a new “action group” the government announced Friday.

Minister for Customs Casey Costello said increasing numbers of black-market cigarettes and tobacco were being seized at the border, and there was been more widespread and blatant retail sales of the illegal products.

RNZ has been investigating the issue over the last month, uncovering multiple shops operating in Auckland selling the cheap tobacco products.

An East Auckland store was charging just $13 for a pack – less than half the excise duty required by law.

Importing cigarettes without paying the excise duty is illegal, and offenders can be charged with defrauding customs revenue.

It was also illegal for retailers to sell illicit cigarettes, with offenders facing a six-month prison sentence, a $20,000 fine or both.

Retail NZ released its report on the illegal sale of cigarettes in April, calling for a dedicated taskforce of health, customs, and police to address the issue.

The report estimated that more than 27 percent of tobacco smoked in 2024 was illicit.

On Friday, Costello said an organised response was required to get on top of the issue.

“The individual agencies are doing their roles well and there is good cooperation around operations and local initiatives, but we need to bring all of these powers and resources together as effectively as we can to stop this black market,” she said.

The government has established the action group with improved planning and joint operations to combat the illegal trade.

“A key shift, given the involvement of criminal gangs in the illicit trade, is formalising the role of police in supporting other enforcement activity,” Costello said.

“Customs and police have also stepped up their engagement with overseas counterparts. As with other illegal trade, New Zealand benefits from stopping supply before it gets to our country.”

Officials in the health sector were also working to improve tobacco control legislation.

Costello was also calling on the public to do their part.

“Buying cheap cigarettes isn’t a harmless crime. Money from the sale of these cigarettes funds gangs and overseas cartels and leads to violent crime, intimidation, and extortion in our communities.”

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young, said the increased pressure on the illicit market was a good first step, but wanted the government to go further.

“We would like for further investment in customs to enhance our border protections and intelligence, tougher penalties for those caught importing and selling illicit tobacco, and banning online tobacco sales,” she said.

“We also believe establishing an independent panel of experts to consider what tobacco controls, enforcement tools, and enhanced public messaging could make a meaningful difference in this space would be hugely beneficial in finding a way to stamp out the market for good.”

A Growing Concern

RNZ has spoken to a number of experts on the issue as part of its investigation into illicit tobacco.

One such expert was retired Australian homicide detective Charlie Bezzina, who said the genie was out of the bottle across the Tasman.

“Given the fact that we’ve let this ferment, and it’s fermented, it’s grown, it’s spread, it’s like a cancer, and then to try and then start implementing resources is quite difficult,” he said.

“If it’s in its infancy in New Zealand, you have to learn by our mistakes.”

Bezzina said New Zealand law enforcement should speak with Australian law enforcement, who possessed a wealth of information on the issue.

He said Victoria’s state government had been slow to respond to the organised crime element.

Chief executive of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, Letitia Harding, also raised concerns about the lack of health warnings featured on the illicit packets of smokes.

Of the 15 different packs of cigarettes at the store RNZ visited, only one carried the mandated health warnings.

“They do deter people,” she said.

“I think it’s a reminder that cigarettes do have a long lasting negative impact on your health and can cause death.”

Market Numbers Questioned

Amid the unease over the country’s budding black market for illicit tobacco, concerns were also raised that the issue was being overblown by interest groups.

The director of Action for Smokefree Aotearoa NZ, Ben Youdan, said when it came to tracking and researching the black market, transparency was key.

“The tobacco industry’s got a long history of exploiting a lot of different people and voices in their own commercial interests,” he said.

“I think there’s definitely some genuine concerns for especially small retailers around some of those issues around tobacco, the tobacco industry always has another interest in telling this story, but there’s definitely an issue in there that we shouldn’t just be dismissing.”

Youdan urged leaders to think critically about what they were being told.

“Really kind of asking those questions about whose arguments are they, who’s setting the playbook on this, and really making sure it’s as legitimate as possible.”

“I think that’s incredibly challenging given the long history that industry has had in this debate and stoking the fire around illicit tobacco.”

The 27 percent consumption figure used in the Retail NZ report was originally sourced from a separate 2025 report which was prepared for the exclusive benefit and use of Imperial Tobacco New Zealand and British American Tobacco New Zealand.

However, Retail NZ said while its paid-up members include those companies, the report it released was researched and written independently by Retail NZ staff.

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

Source: New Zealand Government

Increases to the Rates Rebate Scheme will help ease cost of living pressures for ratepayers in need of assistance and lower income SuperGold Cardholders, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Seniors Minister Casey Costello announced today. 

“We know the cost of living is putting immense pressure on Kiwis, with rising rates adding a further burden to household budgets,” Mr Watts says.

“The Government is committed to easing cost-of-living pressures for Kiwis. By making increases to the Rates Rebate Scheme, we are delivering targeted support to low-income ratepayers in need of assistance with paying their rates bill.”

From 1 July 2026, the maximum rebate will increase from $805 to $830. The income abatement threshold for SuperGold Cardholders will increase from $45,000 to $46,400. The income abatement threshold for other ratepayers will increase from $32,210 to $33,210. 

“The New Zealand First – National coalition agreement had a commitment to explore options to build on the Local Government Rates Rebate Scheme for SuperGold Cardholders,” Seniors Minister Casey Costello says.

“This change was funded in last year’s Budget and was the first time a separate income abatement threshold to the Rates Rebate Scheme has been introduced. The 2026/27 financial year marks the second rating year that SuperGold Cardholder eligibility changes have been in effect.”

“It will mean that every SuperGold Cardholder earning only NZ Superannuation, with rates higher than $2000, will be eligible for the full rebate. SuperGold Cardholders earning more than $46,400 from 1 July 2026 may also be entitled to a smaller rebate.

“This will particularly help those seniors who are on fixed incomes and dealing with rates increases.”

Mr Watts says this will make a real difference for low-income homeowners.

“By raising the income thresholds, we are ensuring that Kiwis, especially our seniors who are on a limited income, don’t lose their eligibility just because their incomes have risen slightly to keep pace with inflation,” Mr Watts says.

From 1 July 2026, new application forms will be available from councils. Forms can also be downloaded from the New Zealand Government website (www.govt.nz) from 1 July 2026 and then submitted to the applicant’s local council.

“We want to ensure every eligible household gets the support they are entitled to. I encourage you, or members of your family, to get in touch with your local council or retirement village operator if you have questions,” Mr Watts says.

The Government is also introducing a rates cap to keep rates under control and ensure council spending remains disciplined.

“Everyone is having to prioritise due to the tough economic times – councils are no different. They need guardrails so that they can focus on prioritisation and make decisions about what it is best to spend their revenue on,” Mr Watts says.

“Councils effectively operate as monopolies, and we have seen year on year rate increases which ratepayers cannot continue to sustain. That’s why we are introducing a rates cap to keep rates under control.”

Details on the final rates cap model are expected to be announced later this year.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Regulation Minister is taking aim at what he says is excessive red tape around rooftop solar that makes it too hard for home-owners and businesses to set up panels.

David Seymour is ordering a review of the installation process, saying he wants to make New Zealand the easiest place in the world to switch to solar.

He said just three to four percent of New Zealand households used solar, despite average power savings of about $1000 a year.

“Solar installation in New Zealand is a red tape nightmare. Just getting it approved can take months,” he said.

“There are up to eight layers of sign-off before small-scale solar systems can be switched on. This requires up to five separate site visits, from four separate entities. For example, during installation the installer often cannot turn off or reconnect the fuse, update the meter, or carry out the required independent electrical inspection. These tasks must be done by other entities, requiring additional site visits.”

In parts of Australia, approval of similar low-risk solar could be granted within 24 hours, Seymour said.

“In Victoria Australia there is one layer of sign-off for small-scale solar installation. The whole solar installation process is managed and carried out by the chosen installer. Standard installations are inspected by a licensed electricity inspector without a site visit. Photos clearly show compliance. A site visit is only carried out in person if something unusual or non compliant is identified in the photos.”

Seymour said more than 30 percent of Australian households used solar power.

He made the announcement at Electric Cherries near Cromwell on Thursday, which is believed to be the world’s first fully-electric farm, powered largely by solar.

Owner Mike Casey, who is also the chief executive of Rewiring Aotearoa, said regulations needed to keep pace with technology and he was pleased to see the government looking at ways to help.

“In Australia, virtual inspections allow the installs to be approved remotely and much more rapidly and other countries have centralised systems that don’t require a physical visit and use an auditing process to ensure standards are being met,” he said.

Researchers have said New Zealanders investing in solar will almost certainly save more money than they spend.

Casey said Rewiring Aotearoa wanted to see national standards across lines companies for solar and legalisation for plug-in solar set-ups which were becoming popular overseas.

“We need more solar in New Zealand, it is very safe when installers are well-trained and given our very low uptake rates at this stage, it is unlikely to affect the network. Approval should be instant here.”

Bureaucracy not the biggest barrier – solar expert

Alan Brent, professor and chairperson in Sustainable Energy Systems at Victoria University of Wellington, said upfront cost was the biggest barrier for most households considering solar – not the installation time.

“It’s not a technical issue in terms of how long it takes. I mean, I have a solar and a battery system in my house, and they came and installed it within a day. We have all the regulations in place … all the technology is there,” he said.

“It is quite a significant investment up front. And it’s quite complicated for people to think about what the long-term savings will be.”

Brent said the best thing officials could do to boost solar uptake was a public information campaign highlighting what residents would spend and what they would save.

The government could also help residents with the upfront costs, he said.

“Something similar to what we have with industry, like the GiDI (Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry) fund – that might be an option … a long-term loan that’s underwritten by the government,” he said.

German and Australian residents also received “quite reasonable” tariffs for returning electricity to the grid, he said.

“That’s provided the incentive for people to put up solar systems,” he said.

However Seymour said cutting red tape would help with upfront cost.

“The more people involved the more expensive it is. So if you’ve got to pay someone to come and do your disconnection and then another person to do the installation, then the first person comes back to do the reconnection, that all adds cost. But I think it’s also about hesitancy and being able to just do it. If you knew that you could get this done in a weekend, you’d be a lot more likely to do it than if you’d heard that your neighbours ended up taking a couple of months to do something that could have been much simpler,” he said.

“If I can honestly say that we have the simplest, most straightforward system in the world, then how much people take advantage of that is up to them.”

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

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Source: New Zealand Government

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has concluded a two-day visit to Singapore, where he met Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and shored up critical fuel supply with the signing of the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies (AOTES). 

“The visit was an opportunity to bolster New Zealand’s resilience to global shocks and strengthen our economic ties to Singapore,” Mr Luxon says. 

“The inaugural Annual Leaders’ Meeting between Prime Minister Wong and I was an important step in turning our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership into practical action.

“The AOTES, signed by Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay and Singapore Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science & Technology Dr Tan See Leng, protects the movement of essential goods, such as fuel and food.

“In these uncertain times, having a reliable and trusted partner such as Singapore matters more than ever.

“Singapore is a critical partner in New Zealand’s economic development and there is huge scope for us to deepen our trade and investment links. That was the focus of the Singapore-New Zealand Leadership Forum, and it was exciting to see our senior government and business leaders coming together to explore new opportunities to work together.”

The Prime Minister also visited Jurong Island, the centre of Singapore’s refining and chemicals industry, with Finance Minister Nicola Willis.

“Jurong Island showed in practical terms why Singapore matters to New Zealand. As the supplier of a third of our fuel, Singapore is central to the fuel supply chains and infrastructure that support our economic and energy security.

“We spoke to executives from the major fuel companies to better understand how they are responding to the global fuel crisis and are confident that Singapore will continue to supply fuel to New Zealand,” Mr Luxon says.

The Prime Minister also called on President Tharman Shanmugaratnam during the visit.

“It was a valuable opportunity to reflect the depth of the New Zealand-Singapore relationship and our shared commitment to a stable and prosperous region.”

Mr Luxon visited Changi Naval Base for a defence engagement showcasing uncrewed surface vessels and new capabilities.

“This is a defence partnership forged over time and proven in practice. For generations, our troops have trained in each other’s countries. 

“Built on trust and shared service, our defence ties continue to support national and regional stability while evolving into new areas of capability and commercial collaboration,” Mr Luxon says.

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Source: New Zealand Government

As part of the Government’s $2 billion investment into school infrastructure, $56.6 million has today been announced to fix longstanding condition issues and bring facilities up to standard at six schools to ensure students are learning in warm, safe, fit-for-purpose classrooms, Education Minister Erica Stanford and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop say.

“As Minister, I’m delighted that six schools will be receiving these major redevelopments, covering 52 teaching spaces up and down the country. These projects are rolling out as part of the Government’s investment through Budget 24 and 25,” Ms Stanford says.

“After years of undelivered promises and underinvestment by the previous Government, we have prioritised school infrastructure to get school communities the classrooms, upgrades, and maintenance work they have long waited for.

“When we came into Government, we inherited a school property system nearing crisis. Schools were promised new projects but were left waiting, often for years, on unfunded, bespoke, expensive plans.”

“Through Budget 24 and 25, we increased funding for school maintenance work by $880 million. This more than doubled the maintenance funding increases in the previous six years combined,” Mr Bishop says.

“We’ve significantly reduced the average cost of a classroom by increasing the use of offsite manufactured builds and repeatable designs, and delivered 583 classrooms last year alone, 31 percent more than in 2023.

“That means more classrooms, delivered faster, providing better learning environments for our kids and better value for taxpayers.

“After decades of underinvestment, we’re a Government that’s both funding and delivering the classrooms that our teachers and students deserve.”

Mr Bishop says work is set to begin in the next six months.

In total, 52 teaching spaces will be redeveloped at the following six schools:

• Kerikeri High School, Northland, 12 replacement classrooms
• Pinehill School (Browns Bay), Auckland, 3 replacement classrooms
• Hutt Intermediate, Wellington, 14 replacement classrooms
• Natone Park School, Wellington, 7 replacement classrooms and admin space
• Ashburton Intermediate, Canterbury, 8 replacement classrooms
• Maruawai College, Southland, 8 replacement specialist classrooms

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Source: Radio New Zealand

The Green Party has criticised the government’s decision to scrap the fees-free tertiary education scheme.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the scheme will be ditched in the upcoming Budget, following comments made by NZ First Leader Winston Peters on Newstalk ZB.

“Ongoing coalition negotiations have led to good budget policy decisions that further the immediate and long-term interests of New Zealanders,” she said.

Willis also confirmed students completing their tertiary studies this year would remain eligible for fees-free, but many of those students completing three-year-courses or longer had already had their first year free.

At the end of 2024, the government modified the system, offering students their last year free, rather than the first, as it was when Labour first introduced the policy.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson told RNZ the government should be investing more in the future of young people, not less.

“This is absolutely outrageous – another kick in the guts for our generations of young people particularly and anyone who wants to dream about giving back to their community.”

The Greens would fight to re-instate fees-free support, she said.

“The Greens know that it is a fantastic, wise, smart investment to invest in tertiary education for students and our communities.”

The government should be incentivising tertiary study, given more than 14 percent of young people were not in work or education, she said.

Students disappointed, not surprised

Victoria University Student Association president Aidan Donoghue said he was disappointed the scheme was getting the axe, but not surprised.

“We’ve continually seen attacks on students from this government and this is just another example.”

Fees free encouraged some students to enter or continue study, because debt was a deterring factor, he said.

“To pay an extra $12,000 in fees is not a good pill to swallow.”

Scrapping the scheme would have a particularly tough impact on those from lower-income backgrounds, Donoghue said.

“Students have been calling for more money week-to-week and… we’re not sure that this will be replaced with anything else that will address the concerns of students with the cost of living.”

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

Source: Media Outreach

LOS ANGELES, US – Newsaktuell – 7 May 2026 – The newly released 2026 Berggruen Governance Index (BGI) paints a mixed picture of global governance heading into a future of mounting shocks, finding widespread gains in public-goods provision from 2000 to 2023 even as democratic accountability edged down and state capacity showed little overall improvement.

The BGI, presented Wednesday by an international group of governance scholars, analyses measurable benchmarks of democratic accountability across 145 countries.

On a 100-point scale, the global score for democratic accountability slipped slightly from 65 in 2000 to 64 in 2023, the most recent data used in the project. The wave of democratisation observed in the closing decades of the last century has stalled in the last 15 years. Democratic accountability fell in 54 countries while it improved in 48 countries.

Yet the BGI — a collaborative project of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Berlin’s Hertie School and the Berggruen Institute, a think tank headquartered in Los Angeles — captures remarkably widespread growth in provision of public goods.

Encompassing healthcare, education, infrastructure, environmental sustainability and conditions to foster employment and rising prosperity, public goods improved in 135 of the countries studied, while declining slightly in just four. The global average jumped from 58 to 69 points from 2000 to 2023.

The third component of what the BGI authors refer to as the “governance triangle” is state capacity, defined as the ability to tax, borrow and spend, control territory, operate scrupulous, competent bureaucracies and administer predictable rule of law. The index finds the global average ticking up from 48 to 49 points; 56 countries had increased state capacity while 57 declined.

“What does it tell us about the world ahead?” Prof. Helmut K. Anheier, a Luskin School sociologist and BGI principal investigator, asked during the public release of the 2026 BGI on the UCLA campus.

“Countries are not really improving in their governance performance in significant ways. … We’re not really having forward-looking investment in governance capacity. There is considerable inertia.”

The largest improvements across all three BGI components occurred in Gambia, which the report groups with “low-capacity developing states.” These states score low across the board, particularly in the provision of public goods. This cluster constitutes the poorest countries with the least developed economies, which face the most serious challenges.

“They have the greatest exposure to likely future crises, whether it’s global warming, whether it’s a new pandemic, whether it’s another financial crisis, whether it’s the impact of AI,” Anheier said. “And they have the least capacity to respond to it.”

Bhutan, Georgia, Iraq and Tunisia — which make up the remaining top five countries with the largest improvements in the BGI — are classified as “capacity-constrained states.” They tend to be middle-income with struggling democracies. These countries score higher across the board than the low-capacity developing states, but their state capacity tends to lag compared to public goods and democratic accountability.

The capacity-constrained states risk falling into “a cycle that erodes the institutions they have built,” Anheier said.

“Consolidated democratic states”, a cluster of most of the world’s richest countries, which score highly in all three BGI components, have to confront domestic complacency. Further, in the United States and some others, “political dysfunction” is leaving mounting problems unaddressed and risking erosion of state capacity, Anheier said.

At the other end of the spectrum, the country with the farthest fall on the BGI since 2000 is Nicaragua. Second from last is Venezuela, followed by Hong Kong, Hungary and Turkey. The rest of the bottom 10 are Russia, Iran, Poland, El Salvador and Belarus.

Since 2023, which is the last year of data available for the study, Poland and Hungary have both seen government changes via election, despite serious democratic backsliding. Both had fallen out of the group of “consolidated democratic states” by 2023 and moved into the capacity constrained cluster.

The other eight countries at the bottom of the list are all places that once had some semblance of competitive elections, but by now have little or no remaining pretense of democracy. They are grouped by the authors among the “authoritarian and hybrid states”, which have by far the lowest democratic accountability but outperform even some struggling democracies in delivering public goods.

These regimes have tended toward faster economic growth in the period observed. But that seeming prosperity, typically fueled by extractive industries or overreliance on exports, masks “serious institutional weaknesses in these countries, including divided elites,” Anheier said.

Relatively few countries — 21 of the 145 — changed enough for better or worse to be classified in a new group by the end of the 23-year study period.

“Movement between them is rare, but this is largely what we should expect,” said Stella Ghervas, a UCLA historian on a panel of experts who discussed the BGI findings Wednesday. “Government systems are not created in a moment. They evolve over long periods of time.”

Local conditions shaping governance in each country can rarely be quickly reset through political will or even external shocks, Joseph C. Saraceno, a Luskin School data scientist and BGI co-author, said Wednesday.

“Despite all the talk of major transformations happening in global affairs, the underlying configuration of governance simply doesn’t appear to change very much,” Saraceno said. “We use the term inertia to describe this reoccurring pattern. In other words, the structures of global governance are resistant to movement as the conditions beneath them are quite sticky: political economies, demographics, resource endowments. These are deeply layered, and they push each country toward the world that it already inhabits.”

But the challenges lurking around the world may not wait for the slow and difficult processes of political change and development to catch up.

“With the few exceptions of those countries in the consolidated democratic world,” Anheier said, “the great majority of the countries in the world is ill-prepared for the future.”

The full report, ‘ 2026 Berggruen Governance Index – The Four Worlds of Governance’, can be viewed and downloaded from the website of the UCLA’s Luskin School.

Frank Fuhrig, DNA

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Source: New Zealand Government

Associate Minister Hon Andrew Hoggard visited Silver Fern Farms in Dunedin to hear how the company is responding to growing export market demand for credible nature and biodiversity outcomes.

“For many buyers, demonstrating real nature outcomes is becoming part of the licence to trade – affecting both access and price,” Mr Hoggard says. 

“We need approaches that are practical for farmers, stack up with buyers, and can be trusted.”

Silver Fern Farms has worked alongside Government during the development of the Government’s approach to support expansion of New Zealand’s voluntary nature and carbon markets. It’s also to help test what good practice looks like on farm and in market.

The Minister was briefed on Silver Fern Farms’ nature-positive strategy and saw a demonstration by PRISM Earth — a joint venture with Lynker Analytics using remote sensing and machine learning to support on-farm decision-making and link biodiversity outcomes to export claims.

The visit also covered the Nature Market Accelerator, a market-led initiative to connect supply and demand for nature stewardship, aligned with Government’s voluntary markets objectives.

“Nature positive production is fast becoming central to how New Zealand will be judged as a food producer,” said CEO Dan Boulton. “The Nature Market Accelerator shows what’s possible when Government and the private sector collaborate early.”
 

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