AM Edition: Top 10 Politics Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for May 23, 2026 – Full Text

Source: Green Party

The Green Party says the Government has failed disabled people by rushing the Strengthening Disability Support Services Bill through its first reading just days after it was quietly introduced, with little warning and no meaningful consultation with the disability community.

“Nothing about us without us is supposed to mean something in Aotearoa. Instead, disabled people were blindsided,” says Green Party Disability Spokesperson Kahurangi Carter.

“This bill was introduced on Monday night with no consultation with disabled people and, incredibly, disability groups were only briefed around 30 minutes before it became public.

“Now, just days later, the Government has forced it through its first reading with coalition support. That is not good lawmaking and it is not respectful engagement with the community most affected.

The Green Party says the Government cannot claim to support disabled people while shutting them out of decisions that directly impact their lives.

“Disabled people deserve access to their communities, access to the care they need, and support workers deserve to be properly valued and paid for the work they do,” says Kahurangi Carter.

“The Government keeps trying to frame this as a technical bill, but disabled people know the real-world consequences these changes could have.

“The least the Government can do now is ensure the select committee process is genuinely accessible and gives disabled people enough time to have their voices heard.

“We need a longer submission period to ensure accessibly submission formats like voice recording and for live oral hearings to have captions, to ensure disabled people can fully participate in the democratic process.

“Disabled people should not have to fight just to be included in decisions about their own lives.

“This Government should be taking the democratic rights of disabled people seriously, instead of rushing through legislation at speed and hoping nobody notices.”

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/22/government-rushes-disability-bill-through-parliament-without-disabled-people-at-the-table/

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand has joined the international condemnation of Israel’s far-right national security minister, even summoning the Israeli ambassador to convey that message.

A video posted by Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, showing him taunting detained flotilla activists, drew international condemnation on Thursday.

The video showed kneeling activists, with their hands zip tied, while Ben-Gvir shouted “they came as big heroes, see how they look now… not heroes, nothing, terror supporters”.

Ben-Gvir also said he’s told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “give them to me for more much time, give them to us for the terrorist prisons, this is how it should look”.

He posted the video with the caption “welcome to Israel”.

In a statement on X, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand condemned Ben-Gvir’s behaviour.

“Last year, New Zealand placed a travel ban on Minister Ben-Gvir for severely and deliberately undermining peace and security and removing prospects for a two state solution.

His latest conduct with respect to the Gaza flotilla, which has been seriously criticised by his own Prime Minister, is further vindication of that position.

Peters said ministry officials had been instructed to call in the Israeli Ambassador on Thursday to directly pass the government’s grave concerns.

“We expect Israel to adhere to its international legal obligations, including in its treatment of New Zealanders participating in the flotilla.”

The US, the UK, France, Italy and Canada were among the countries which expressed alarm at the video, which Ben-Gvir shared on social media.

A global pro-Palestinian movement said three New Zealanders were detained by Israel after their boats were intercepted while taking part in a flotilla to Gaza.

The Global Sumud Flotilla had repeatedly tried to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian territory.

In a statement, the group said New Zealanders Mousa Taher, Hāhona Ormsby and Julien Blondel were now in Israeli custody.

It said Mousa and Julien had returned to the flotilla after an earlier interception.

RNZ approached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) for comment.

Netanyahu responded to the video with a statement posted to social media that said “Israel has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza”.

“However, the way that Minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”

Netanyahu said he had “instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs as soon as possible”.

In a previous statement provided to RNZ earlier this month, MFAT said it understood up to six New Zealanders had been caught up in the interception and it was aware of allegations made about the treatment of New Zealanders in custody.

Consular officials in New Zealand and Europe had been working to get information and support the New Zealanders involved, it said.

“The New Zealand government made it clear to Israel that the safety of New Zealanders involved was paramount and that international law must be upheld,” the previous statement said.

New Zealand had a long-standing ‘do not travel’ advisory in place for Gaza, explicitly warning against any attempt to enter by sea, MFAT said.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/winston-peters-condemns-israeli-minister-over-flotilla-video-as-kiwis-arrested/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A massive, co-ordinated effort to help more people into electric vehicles could reshape the country’s entire energy system, a new report says.

EV advocacy group Drive Electric launched its ‘State of the Nation’ report at Parliament today, calling for consistent, cross-party policies to get more battery EVs and charging infrastructure on the road.

New Zealand’s access to renewable energy gave the country a huge structural advantage, but policy changes that axed many incentives meant uptake was now lagging, the report said.

EVs should no longer be thought of as “just vehicles”, it said.

Their ability to store power made them “mobile energy assets that could reshape how New Zealand generates, stores, and uses electricity”.

About 18 percent of New Zealand’s total emissions – and nearly half of all carbon dixoide emissions – come from the transport sector.

But electrifying transport would do far more than just helping New Zealand meet its emissions reduction targets, the report said.

“It strengthens energy security, reduces reliance on imported oil and allows more of New Zealand’s transport system to run on locally produced renewable electricity.”

New Zealand spent $7-$9 billion on petroleum imports every year, and local research had estimated the social costs from transport emissions were $10.5b annually.

That included 9000 hospital admissions and more than 2000 premature deaths every year from respiratory and cardiac conditions caused by air pollution.

The report called for “a long-term, durable cross-party strategy”, with consistent, co-ordinated policies to drive uptake across passenger vehicles, business fleets, and heavy vehicles.

“It is not idealism – it is the minimum requirement for investors, who make decisions over multi-year horizons, and to give consumers confidence.”

The report honed in on the potential of ‘vehicle-to-grid’ technology, where off-peak electricity can be stored and then exported back to the grid from parked household and business EVs at times of peak demand.

Australia had gone from piloting the concept, to having it ready to launch this year, in just 18 months, the report said.

New Zealand could do the same, with vehicle-to-grid capability available in many EVs now but not enabled.

“The constraint is not hardware. It is co-ordination.”

Household and business EV owners should be allowed to earn revenue from vehicle-to-grid technology, and there had to be consistency across lines companies, the report said.

Enabling vehicle-to-grid could help balance supply and demand across the electricity system.

“If 30 percent of New Zealand’s fleet were V2G-enabled, the combined output would be comparable to all of New Zealand’s power stations running at full capacity.”

Even without full vehicle-to-grid capability, there were huge benefits to individual households and businesses from increasing the number of EVs, it said.

The stored energy could be used to power appliances and tools and run household and building electricity systems – including during network outages.

Despite the benefits of electrifying transport, and building momentum around the world, New Zealand’s own transition had slowed.

The report pinned the blame firmly on the government’s decision to axe most incentives, including the Clean Car Discount and road user charge exemptions for EVs, along with weakening the Clean Car Standard that penalises importers for bringing in higher-emissions vehicles.

EVs fell from 27 percent of all new vehicle sales in New Zealand in 2023, to 11 percent last year, although increased to 18 percent in the first quarter of this year as a result of the fuel crisis.

The government has defended its decisions, saying the discount was largely being used by people who did not need the help, while importers were unable to source enough low-emissions vehicles to avoid penalties.

It has since announced $53 million in zero-interest loans to help Meridian and ChargeNet to keep building out their charging networks, which will more than double the number of public EV chargers from 1800 to 4500 by 2030.

However, the report pointed out that would still fall well short of the government’s target of 10,000 public chargers by that date.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/evs-could-reshape-the-entire-energy-system-report/

Source: Radio New Zealand

One week from now, the government will open the books on its third Budget, the last of this term.

So far, there has been a great deal of focus not on where the money might go, but where the money to pay for it is coming from.

On Tuesday, the Finance Minister revealed plans to find $2.4 billion in savings, and reduce the public service headcount to 55,000 full time equivalent employees by 2029 – or around 1 percent of the population.

Where are the savings being found?

The centrepiece of pre-Budget announcements has been the Finance Minister’s plan to find $2.4b in savings from the public service.

This, Nicola Willis said, would come from reducing departments’ operating budgets by 2 percent in the coming year, and then by 5 percent in each of the following two years.

And while that lid sinks, agencies would be asked to find other ways to cut costs, including exploring mergers, or integrating AI and digital tools.

“We are open to proposals that involve you investing something upfront in order to release those savings. We’re open to you rearranging the way that you do things currently, coming up with mergers, coming up with IT solutions to replace existing functions,” Willis said.

“Come to us with the ideas, but here’s what’s not changing: we are going to be releasing funds from your administrative budgets. Because that money, that $2.4 billion, can now be used to invest in new hospitals, and more nurses, and better resources for our schools, and a better equipped defence force, and resources for our police.”

Departments would also be asked to “get our core public servant numbers back to the historic norm”.

In other words, job losses.

Those headcount reductions would come from a mixture of redundancies, normal attrition, and department amalgamation.

Some departments are excluded from the baseline savings exercise, including the likes of Corrections, Education, and Police.

They are not, however, excluded from the job cuts, meaning the 8700 job cuts Willis is demanding would come from a wide pool.

What about MFAT?

There were questions, prompted by a prediction from Winston Peters that the Budget would depend on the election, over whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) would also have to find savings.

Peters has in the past managed to exclude MFAT from savings exercises, such as in 2024 when departments were asked to find savings of 6.5 or 7.5 percent.

This time, however, MFAT was not on the list of agencies excluded from the reduction in operating budgets.

It turned out he had managed to secure a deal to exempt the 2 percent reduction, but MFAT would still have to face the 5 percent reductions in the subsequent two years.

Willis said she would not be surprised if Peters campaigned against any “efficiency dividends” at MFAT, but she would differ as National’s finance spokesperson.

“My view is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its global network of diplomats does a very important job. But just like every other organisation under the sun it should always be asked, are you getting maximum bang for buck? It’s had significant budget increases, are you doing things as efficiently as we’re asking everyone else to do them? I think they should be subject to the same discipline.”

How much is there to spend?

Nicola Willis has again reduced the operating allowance, whittling it down from $2.4b to $2.1b.

The operating allowance is the money available for ‘new’ initiatives and revenue reductions, offset by savings and reprioritisations.

At the same time, the government has increased capital expenditure from $3.5b to $5.7b.

This is the spending on capital projects, such as investment in defence or school assets.

What’s already been announced?

Governments always make a series of pre-Budget announcements in the buildup to the main day.

So far, that has included $131 million for new education investments, such as money for more hands-on resources, digital tools, and workbooks, as well as intervention programmes for children falling behind.

A further $212.4m would go towards keeping the Healthy School Lunches programme going through 2027.

In health, $15.5m over four years would be spent on setting up a nationwide paediatric palliative care service.

There will be more announcements in the coming days, before attention turns to the state of the books next Thursday.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/how-the-governments-savings-exercise-will-work/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government has updated its official branding to give greater prominence to English over te reo Māori, following a directive from new Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith.

The Public Service Commission sent the new logo to all ministries and departments this week, telling them to update their websites by the end of June, in line with the coalition’s English-first policy.

The redesigned branding – which must be displayed on all agencies’ homepages – places “New Zealand Government” in bold above “Te Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa”, reversing the previous order.

In a brief statement to RNZ, Goldsmith said: “This was a coalition commitment that hadn’t yet been achieved. Now we’re doing it.”

The English-first directive was won by NZ First during its negotiations with National in 2023. Their eventual coalition agreement stated that all public service departments – excluding those specifically related to Māori – would have their primary name in English and communicate primarily in English.

Goldsmith took over responsibility for the public service from Judith Collins in early April in advance of her retirement.

Shortly before the handover, Collins suggested the government’s logo design was not a key priority, telling reporters she was focused on the fuel crisis, “not style guides”.

But NZ First leader Winston Peters, at the time, said the public service would be “called to account very shortly”.

The ACT Party also weighed in on the conversation, with its MP Todd Stephenson writing to Collins in March to draw attention to the government logo and warning of “growing concern” that the English-first policy was not being “visibly implemented” across the public service.

Stephenson told RNZ he was pleased that the commission had taken note of his concerns and updated its guidelines.

“ACT has always been clear that we do not support costly rebrands involving consultants or flash new signage. But as Brooke van Velden proved at the Department of Internal Affairs with a digital-first rebrand for just $741, this can be done efficiently. The commission has now followed that example.

“The English-first policy is not one of ACT’s coalition commitments, but I pursued this because it’s supported by many of ACT’s supporters. More to the point, we expect coalition agreements to be held. It’s a matter keeping promises made to New Zealanders.”

Green Party public service spokesperson Francisco Hernandez told RNZ the directive was a “pointless distraction” from an “out of touch” government.

“Aotearoa has moved on to embrace Te Tiriti, but this government is intent on clinging on to the past. That they are obsessing over this instead of tackling the fossil fuel cost of living crisis shows what their focus is.”

RNZ has approached the Public Service Commission and NZ First for comment.

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/government-updates-official-branding-to-highlight-english-over-te-reo-maori/

Source: Radio New Zealand

David Seymour has unveiled a report from his Ministry of Regulation showing there are 267 regulators across New Zealand, but offering no specific solution.

The regulations minister says the analysis shows a “twisted spaghetti of regulators who don’t just cost money to fund, but suck up people’s time and force others to give up completely”.

But 43 percent of the regulators get no government funding, compared to 33 percent that are mostly government funded, and 19 percent funded mostly by fees and registrations.

The report also finds other OECD countries typically face similar challenges.

The State of New Zealand’s Regulatory Systems report maps out:

• 96 in central government (36 percent), including 50 departments, 36 Crown entities, 3 departmental agencies, two non-Public-Service departments, a statutory corporation and three “others”
• 79 in local government (30 percent), including 61 territorial councils, 11 regional councils, 5 unitary councils, the Chatham Islands council, three Outlying Islands and the Department of Internal Affairs and Minister of Local Government
• 60 statutory bodies, committees and tribunals (30 percent), including 56 statutory bodies and four independent tribunals
• 32 charities and companies with regulatory functions (12 percent), including 29 companies or incorporated societies, two state-owned enterprises, and one statutory monopoly

The report found regulation was a core tool for managing economic, social and environmental outcomes, and most countries were responding to similar challenges around the design, coordination and maintenance of regulation over time.

“These comparisons do not provide a benchmark for the ‘right’ structure. Instead, they highlight how different design choices shape how regulatory systems operate in practice,” the report said.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Ministry of Regulations urged further work on defining the regulatory landscape, calling for a general effort to “understand”; “strengthen”; “reduce cumulative complexity”; and “reform”.

However, it “does not propose a single solution”, stating that the “opportunity is to use this evidence to improve how regulation is designed, coordinated and managed over time”, and that this is “easier to manage when the system is understood”.

“It brings together information that has been dispersed across government agencies and datasets and provides a clear picture of New Zealand’s regulatory landscape, for the first time. It does not assess individual agencies or propose specific reforms. Instead, it helps us understand how the system operates,” the report said.

“There is no single ‘right’ model. Consolidation can reduce interfaces but can also increase internal complexity. Structural change alone does not resolve underlying challenges.”

The 63-page analysis includes 13 pages of appendices like a three-page glossary, maps of the regulatory functions of the Department of Internal Affairs and the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment, and lists of the names of the country’s regulators.

The day after the government announced a push for more departmental amalgamations, the report also pointed to complexity specifically in “four multi-function agencies” – the Department of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Primary Industries, and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

It also warns of a “high risk” the new mega-Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport would end up administering “outdated legislation”, with 130 principal acts and a lot of secondary legislation much of which has not been updated in the past 30 years.

Number of regulators ‘not a problem in itself’ – Seymour defends report

Seymour defended the report, saying it did add value because it was part of an overall goal of getting to a point where a person trying to do something could deal with just one regulator.

“None of that is possible if you don’t first understand how many regulators there are, what they do, where the overlaps are, and sitting behind this report is quite a sophisticated database now that links together the regulatory agencies… the laws and the regulated parties.

“There’s not a problem with the number [of regulators] in and of itself, but what the Ministry for Regulation have done is begun to map out how these different regulators overlap and how many regulators a person who wants to do something might have to engage with.”

He pointed to the regulation of dogs, saying there were 11 laws and five regulators and suggested that could be simplified, making it easier for government ministers.

“When you have a problem – such as there’s been some dog attacks recently – the minister sets out to try and fix that and change New Zealand policy towards that.

“I’m not saying he hasn’t done a manful job of it under the circumstances, but you can’t help but think his task would be all the easier if we had a more rational constellation of regulators and regulatory instruments.”

He acknowledged many of the regulators – like the Dental Council, Nursing Council, Teaching Council and Law Society – were aimed at ensuring professional standards through registration, but said there were good reasons to change that setup.

“When you have a dozen different medical regulators all protecting turf you may miss the point of protecting consumer or patient safety and instead have them captured by a particular profession.”

He defended having set up the Charter School Agency, saying that was “not a regulatory body”, despite it being named in the report as one.

“This is not a proposition that we’re going to eradicate everything in the report. In the case of the Charter School Agency I would say that there is a specialist type of assessment of the outcomes rather than the inputs to a school and in this particular instance it makes sense to have a group of people off to the side of the Ministry of Education that specialise in that.

“They actually share most of their back-office activities, there’s only one group of people that have to interact with them, so the kinds of duplication that we’d be concerned about don’t exist in that case.”

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

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/ministry-uncovers-267-different-regulators-seymour-urges-consolidation/

Source: New Zealand Government

More ambulance crews, upgraded technology, and stronger frontline support will strengthen ambulance services across New Zealand, enabling quick and effective responses to emergencies, Health Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Health Minister Casey Costello say. 

“When New Zealanders call an ambulance, they need confidence that they will get the help they need quickly and that frontline crews have the support and resources they need to respond,” Mr Brown says.

“Demand for ambulance services continues to grow across the country, which is why we are focused on strengthening the workforce, infrastructure, and technology needed to support modern, reliable emergency care.”

Budget 2026 provides $35 million over four years to strengthen road ambulance services and deliver immediate improvements for patients and frontline staff.

Funding is provided for:

The establishment of two ambulance hubs in Auckland, with one confirmed for South Auckland
The deployment of an electronic Patient Clinical Record system
Additional training support for ambulance communications centre staff
Additional clinical welfare checks for patients

The investment from Budget 2026 will be in addition to an increase in funding from Health New Zealand and ACC for road ambulances to meet demand and cost pressures, with the total funding package to be finalised following negotiations for the next four-year contract.

The increased funding from Health New Zealand and ACC will support:

Additional frontline ambulance crews and 111 call handlers
Strengthened recruitment and retention of ambulance volunteers, particularly in rural and high-deprivation areas
An enhanced clinical hub to provide clinical telephone advice and support more patients to resolve their care needs without an ambulance response

Ms Costello says the overall funding increase contributes to the National–NZ First Coalition Agreement commitment.

“Emergency ambulance demand is expected to increase by 95,000 incidents over the next four years, to an estimated 735,000 incidents. This additional investment is critical to ensuring ambulance services can continue putting more crews on the road to meet growing demand, while maintaining safe and efficient services for communities across New Zealand,” Ms Costello says.

“Volunteers also play an essential role in ambulance services, particularly in rural and remote areas, sustaining emergency care for those communities, while the enhanced clinical hub will help more patients access the right level of care sooner through clinical telephone advice and allow crews to focus on higher-acuity emergencies.

“The overall investment is expected to reduce avoidable emergency department transports by around 23,000 each year by 2029/30, while supporting the infrastructure needed to improve service delivery and meet future demand.”

The new spending builds on a significant increase in ambulance service funding under this Government. Since 2023, Health New Zealand and ACC have provided an additional $77.7 million for road ambulance services, bringing total funding to $452 million for the 2025/26 financial year. This sustained investment has supported record ambulance staffing levels, faster response times for the most serious emergencies, and more efficient use of resources.

Mr Brown says strengthening ambulance services is part of the Government’s commitment to ensuring New Zealanders can access timely, quality healthcare when they need it most.

“Ambulance crews are on the frontline of emergency care every day. That’s exactly why the Government has remained focused on responsible fiscal management – so we can keep investing in the services that matter most to New Zealanders.

“This investment is about fixing the basics and building the future – strengthening ambulance crews’ ability to respond quickly and deliver safe, effective care, and ensuring services are well equipped to meet growing demand and continue supporting New Zealanders,” Mr Brown says.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/22/boosting-ambulance-services-across-new-zealand/

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government’s latest job cuts in the public sector have a “DOGE-type approach” say the Greens, but it is “just what the doctor ordered”, according to ACT.

The government announced today that public service jobs are to be slashed by about 14 percent over the next three years in a shake-up that is expected to deliver $2.4 billion of savings.

The changes were made public in a pre-Budget speech delivered by Finance Minister Nicola Willis, and would result in about 8700 job losses by mid-2029.

There are currently just over 63,000 full-time public servants, which is a slight decrease under this coalition government from the high of approximately 65,000 in the 2024/25 year.

Are you a public servant affected by these job cuts? Email iwitness@rnz.co.nz

ACT leader David Seymour celebrated the government’s announcement as “just what the doctor ordered”.

The ACT party has long called for less government departments and Seymour said “we’re absolutely thrilled to see it.”.

Last year, Seymour made the case for streamlining the executive government. Under his proposal, there would be only 30 government departments and the executive would be limited to just 20 ministers.

On Tuesday, Seymour said other people in the government had written off the proposal, saying “there’s no need for it.”.

“Now we’ve seen a change, so I’m proud of the direction.”

Seymour said he was very happy about the goal to reduce the number of public servants from 62,000 to 55,000, but acknowledged the ACT Party would have done it “faster and harder”.

Initially, he would not provide a figure for the final number of government agencies following the plans to amalgamate. He said the government needed to understand first what services New Zealanders need, and how many ministries are required to deliver that.

“I suspect we might get to 30, but it can’t stop with the departments.

“It’s got to go to the top. We actually need fewer ministers, so that there is one minister, one department, one budget, maximum accountability to get better results and efficiency.”

Seymour eventually revealed he did know the number of agencies proposed to be cut, and said it was “close to the ACT Party policy”.

Asked if the public service would determine the number, Seymour said “hell no”.

In response to questions about Winston Peter’s dismissing potential cuts for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seymour said “nobody is above scrutiny of taxpayer money”.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he was not worried about job losses at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, because he has a record of standing up for them.

“I know all of our embassies are going to be retained, everything is going to stay the same, and there’s the small matter of election on the 7th of November, and the Budget next year. I’m not concerned about it.”

Reporters put to Peters that this year’s Budget – which he would presumably vote for next week – would set out the savings across four years.

He denied that, and took a swing.

“The Budget doesn’t stretch four years, if you believe that with an election coming, you know nothing about democracy,” he said.

“That’s knucklehead stuff, mate.”

Willis said it was “always the case” that the Minister for Foreign Affairs would prefer more money went into the diplomacy network, to offshore embassies, and to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade.

“And I always seek to communicate to him what I hear from everyday voters,” Willis said.

“Which is, ‘can you please make sure I can get my hip operation faster, that my kids are getting educated better at school, and yes, invest in foreign affairs, but not at the expense of the things Kiwis really care about’.”

Asked if it was a “tough” conversation with Peters, Willis said “yes”.

Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the government was constantly asking for more, faster and better from the public service – then demanding cuts.

She said the announcements looked similar to the Elon Musk-led cuts by the United States’ Department of Government Efficiency.

“It absolutely is in the style of the DOGE-type approach, where it’s just take as many cuts as you possibly can to the public sector, privatise and farm things out. It seems as though the government’s approach is kind of government GPT,” she said.

Swarbrick said the responsible approach to the size of the public service is deciding what should be done, then figuring out what’s needed to do that – but instead, frontline services would be cut.

“What we hear loud and clear from those in the front lines, in education and in healthcare, and across the board, is these apparent back room office cuts impact and increase the workload for those on the frontline,” she said.

Asking departments to come up with their own merger plans was “outsourcing any kind of meaningful decisions” and “taking a blowtorch to the public service”, and the 1 percent-of-the-general population target was “arbitrary figures plucked out of thin air”.

Labour’s finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said Willis should set out exactly where the mergers and job cuts were going to be before it said how much it would save.

“She should provide a list of what those jobs are, what that role entails, who’s going to cover that gap, so New Zealand can make a judgement call on whether this is actually value for money, of if they’re going to be losing the frontline services that they depend on.”

Public sector job cuts will cause anxiety in Wellington – mayor

Wellington mayor Andrew Little held a press conference shortly after the announcement and said it was “naturally” going to cause anxiety for people in the capital.

Little said it was important to wait for more details to come out to learn the significance of the cuts.

Although he remained optimistic given the rest of Willis’ announcement centred on the government’s plans to use tech – and AI – more.

Little said Wellington had a strong tech sector and if the government wanted to partner with tech companies – Wellington was the city for it.

The mayor said there were a number of “pretty significant” ministries and departments excluded from the job cuts.

Until “precise detail” was known, it was hard to say what impact it would have on Wellington.

However, Little said any cuts wouldn’t just affect public servants – but local retail and hospitality businesses too.

He said those businesses relied on public servants to buy from them – and in situations like this, the first thing people do is stop spending.

Little said the council’s role was to bring vibrancy back into the city.

There had been a “spring” back in people’s step earlier this year – but the fuel crisis and now this announcement – wouldn’t help.

Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith said there had been a hiring “spree” under the previous government and now there was a “harder task” to reduce numbers to historic averages.

“It’s the right thing to do, because we want to deliver better outcomes for New Zealanders through public service. Like everyone else in the entire economy, everybody’s looking to use technology better, but also be more productive, and that’s what this is about.”

He said there were “enormous opportunities” for using AI and digital technologies, pointing to the justice sector, where the court process was being digitised after years of paper-based systems.

“Change is always frightening. But it’s also an opportunity.”

Willis said there were thousands of people employed in the public service who did roles that only a human could do.

“Only a social worker can sit with that family when something terrible has happened. Only the corrections officer can lock the cell. And there will be the need for physical biosecurity inspectors. Absolutely, our plan allows for all of that.”

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

Source: New Zealand Government

The Government is embarking on a fundamental overhaul of the public service to improve services, lift productivity and deliver better value for money, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Minister for the Public Service and Digitising Government Paul Goldsmith say.

“The overhaul will reduce the number of government departments, increase the use of AI and other digital tools, and deliver significant savings,” Nicola Willis says.

“Businesses and households are using AI every day and, while parts of the public sector have seized the opportunity to innovate, others are still locked into outdated ways of doing things that prioritise box-ticking over outcomes.

“That is not acceptable or sustainable so the Government is putting a sinking lid on agencies’ operating budgets to drive progress on three key goals.

“Those goals are streamlining the number of government agencies and entities, digitising customer-facing and back-office government functions, and restoring public service numbers to historic norms.

“Over the next four years these initiatives will deliver savings of $2.4 billion which will be re-deployed to deliver more health services, lift educational outcomes, build infrastructure and strengthen the defence force and police.

“New Zealanders expect public services that are responsive, effective and easy to use, but too often people and businesses are still navigating fragmented systems, duplication and outdated processes.

“A more connected and digitally enabled public service will improve services, reduce duplication, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Paul Goldsmith says New Zealanders also expect a public service that grows smarter, not simply larger.

“Between 2017 and 2023, the size of the public service expanded from approximately 47,000 people to more than 65,000. That growth rate was nearly three times faster than the overall labour force, while back-office and support functions grew significantly faster than frontline service delivery roles.

“Some of that growth was necessary during the Covid pandemic, but over the long-term New Zealand cannot sustain administrative growth outpacing the productive economy.

“This overhaul is about ensuring more resources reach frontline services and fewer are tied up in duplication and administration.

“Historically, core public service numbers have been equivalent to about 1 per cent of the population. Between 2017 and 2023 those numbers ballooned out to about 1.2 per cent of the population. As part of the programme, the Government will restore public service numbers to the historic norm by mid 2029. That will be an in-principle target of about 55,000 public servants.

“Reductions will be achieved progressively over several years through digitisation, mergers, simplification of systems and processes and natural attrition.

“These changes apply to the core public service so do not include teachers, doctors, nurse or other Health New Zealand staff. Nor do they apply to police or defence personnel.

“This is about ensuring the public service is modern, focused, productive and financially sustainable over the long-term, with a core focus on frontline delivery.

“Progress will be monitored regularly, with agencies expected to demonstrate improvements in productivity, delivery and value for money,” Paul Goldsmith says.

“Every dollar saved through fixing duplication and inefficiency is a dollar that can be redirected toward improving productivity, supporting growth, and improving New Zealand’s long-term economic resilience,” Nicola Willis says.

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government is set to announce proposals which RNZ understands will seek to reduce the number of government agencies, with amalgamation, more work on digitisation and using AI, and setting a target to reduce the public service headcount to 1 percent of the total population by 2029.

There are 42 ministries and agencies currently in the public sector and just over 63,000 full-time workers.

Willis says the headcount blew out by far too much under the previous Labour governments. It was 48,000 in 2017 and increased to 57,000 by 2020.

Getting the number of public servants back to 1 percent of the total population by 2029 could require thousands of jobs to be cut.

In 2024 RNZ kept a count of cuts in the sector, to get a sense of the changes, and in May 2025 RNZ published an explainer about why it is not easy to finding consensus on the right way to count cuts.

RNZ has republished that below.

Explainer: How many public sector jobs have really been axed?

By Lauren Crimp

First published 28 May 2025

When the coalition government came to power in 2023, it set out to slash public spending, pledging to “move resources out of bureaucracy and into the front line”.

As a result, jobs across the public sector were on the chopping block. Of course, economic pain was also being felt in the private sector, where jobs were also being culled.

The coalition’s cuts followed a 34 percent growth in the public service between 2017 and 2024, much of which was under the Labour government.

The moves were slammed by the opposition and unions, but Finance Minister and then Public Service Minister Nicola Willis said the public had not got bang for buck under the former government.

From April 2024 to the end of the year, RNZ kept careful count of jobs lost as belts were tightened, using information provided by the organisations themselves to understand the scale of the changes.

And in October RNZ asked every ministry, department, Crown entity, Crown agent, departmental agency and Crown research institute (113 in total) whether they had made cuts in response to the government’s cost-saving initiative – 56 had.

The process involved clarifying with organisations things like whether job loss numbers they provided were net or gross, to ensure we were consistent in our approach.

Earlier this month TVNZ’s Q + A host Jack Tame put RNZ’s count – around 9500 – to Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche.

“I’m not sure it’s the correct number actually, because I’m told it’s 2000,” Roche said.

Willis expressed a similar sentiment, saying the media – including RNZ – had reported incorrect numbers.

So why the disagreement?

The Public Service Commission supports the government to implement policies and deliver services, and collates workforce data.

Its figures showed between December 2023 and December 2024 there were 2731 fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.

RNZ’s count reached 9520 by the end of December 2024. That is the net number – taking into account that while organisations disestablished roles, some also created new ones as they reshuffled their workforce.

Read RNZ’s detailed reporting of public sector job cuts.

The Commission’s numbers do not include vacancies, nor jobs gone at every single Crown organisation, because they do not fall under its jurisdiction. RNZ included both in its tally.

“This might explain the discrepancy between our number and the much larger number some media have been using,” a spokesperson for the Commission said.

Should Crown entities be included?

RNZ included jobs lost at Crown entities in its count – as well as those in the core public service – to show the breadth of agencies affected by the government’s savings initiative.

Crown entities are responsible for a range of public services and while they’re part of government and owned by the Crown, they’re run by independent boards.

They include big employers like Health NZ, Kāinga Ora, Police and the Defence Force, as well as smaller entities such as AgResearch, GNS and Niwa.

The head of Victoria University’s School of Government, Karl Lofgren said RNZ’s tally of jobs lost was “as good as any”.

“I’m a bit confused why the current government is surprised by your numbers.”

It was difficult to assess the size of the wider public sector (Crown entities as well as the core public service) because solid workforce data only existed for the core public service, he said.

Another school of government professor and senior fellow at Motu Research, Arthur Grimes said job loss counts would differ depending on what was being measured.

“It’s legitimate to include Crown entities along with the core public service, if that’s what you’re trying to measure. If you’re only trying to measure core public service, obviously you wouldn’t,” he said.

“But if the question is jobs lost from entities, core public sector or otherwise, that are funded by the state sector, then I think adding them [Crown entities] in makes sense.”

Lofgren agreed – “I find it a bit difficult to understand why that should be excluded” – as did associate professor at the university’s school of management, Geoff Plimmer.

“When people think about cuts to public servants, they don’t draw a distinction between Crown agencies and … core Wellington-based government departments,” he said.

“People will want to know how many people have lost their jobs, and whether they meet the fine-grain distinction in the Public Finance Act between a core government department and a Crown agency or a Crown entity is by the by.”

But there is some disagreement over the issue of vacant jobs.

Are already vacant jobs ‘jobs’?

RNZ decided to include vacancies because they represented jobs that once existed, but no longer do because of the belt tightening.

Victoria University school of management senior lecturer Stephen Blumenfeld said it was legitimate to count vacant jobs, but it was impossible to know whether someone would have ever been hired into those positions.

“There’s an assumption being made that the position is vacant but it’s intended to be refilled at some time in the future, whether or not that’s the case,” he said.

“If they’re intending to fill the job, I think it is fair to call that a job that is not filled. But the question is, really, how many of those jobs would have been filled otherwise?”

But Plimmer said vacant jobs should not have been included in the tally of those lost.

Some went unfilled for a long time and were not intended to be filled, he said.

“They’re very much just paper abstracts, they don’t really exist until someone is in the job, doing the job.”

Agencies might hold vacancies without filling them to attract budget funding, said Plimmer.

But for the most part it was simply a nuisance to get rid of vacant jobs and keeping them gave organisations flexibility, he said.

Comparing apples with apples

RNZ has now tallied up a best estimate of what our count might have been if we had matched the Public Service Commission and counted jobs lost only in the core public service, not including vacancies.

Let’s break it down a bit.

RNZ’s count of jobs lost in the public service alone, including vacancies, was 5247.

It gets tricky to subtract vacancies from that, because not all organisations made the distinction between vacant and filled roles. When organisations specified how many of the disestablished positions were vacant, RNZ sought to report that.

Our best estimate, from the organisations that did provide that information, was that 1090 vacant jobs were cut.

Taking that number off the 5247 jobs lost in the public service gets us to 4157 – a little closer to the Public Service Commission’s 2731, but with the caveats noted.

And some of those that didn’t confirm vacancy numbers had reported pretty big cuts – for example, the Ministry of Social Development which slashed about 900 jobs and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment which downsized by about 400 roles.

And it’s worth noting that in some cases, vacancies made up a big portion of roles gone: for example, the Department of Conservation had a net loss of 124 jobs, by disestablishing 257 permanent positions (of which 114 were vacant) and creating 133 new ones.

Growth in public service important context

Grimes said it was vital that any count of job loss numbers were put into context, including significant growth in the public service.

“Otherwise you get a very distorted picture of job losses if you’re only looking at it over a very short-term period,” he said.

“I think it’s very misleading to just look at the short-term figure.”

The public service – not including Crown entities – grew 34 percent between June 2017 and June 2024, Public Service Commission workforce statistics showed.

It had been increasing about 5 percent a year until 2022, but in the year from June 2023 it rose 0.7 percent.

At the end of June 2024, there were 63,537 full-time equivalent staff – up slightly on a year prior, but down from 65,699 in December 2023.

At the end of December 2024, there were 62,968 full-time equivalent staff – down 0.9 percent since June 2024, and down 4.2 percent since December 2023.

Willis stands by comments, Collins clarifies differences

RNZ laid out the differences between its numbers and the Public Service Commission’s, and asked Willis whether she stood by her comments that RNZ had been incorrectly reporting job losses.

“Minister Willis stands by her past comments that RNZ’s job tallies were wrong and completely inaccurate,” a spokesperson from her office said.

They said other questions, about whether including Crown entities and vacancies better reflected the number of public jobs lost, should be addressed to Public Service Minister Judith Collins.

Collins said RNZ was conflating job losses in the public service with those that have occurred in the wider public sector, which are accountable to their boards.

“The job losses that occurred in the public service were the result of the Government’s Fiscal Savings Programme where departments were asked to find savings of 6.5 – 7.5 percent.

“Additional job losses have occurred in both the public service and the wider public sector for a variety of reasons, but these weren’t subject to the Fiscal Savings Programme and are not included in how job losses were calculated and communicated.”

They did not count vacancies being disestablished as job losses, Collins said.

“These were vacant roles, so no one lost a job as a result.”

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