AM Edition: Top 10 Politics Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for July 30, 2026 – Full Text

Source: New Zealand Government

The Arms Bill passed its final reading in Parliament today meaning New Zealanders will soon have much better firearms laws that respect licenced firearm owners and improve public safety, says Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee.

“The Bill keeps firearms out of criminals’ hands, while making compliance easier for licenced firearm owners,” says Mrs McKee

“Firearms are used by licenced New Zealanders to put food on the table, earn a living, manage pests, compete in sport, enjoy the outdoors, and more.

“The new law replaces a complex and confusing patchwork with legislation that is more logically structured, easier to understand, and focused on the areas that matter most for public safety.

“It strengthens penalties and enforcement against unlawful firearms activity while removing unnecessary rules and improving the way the firearms system operates.

“One of the most significant changes is the creation of a new arms regulator, Firearms Safety and Education New Zealand, that will operate independently of the Police.

“Police will be able to focus on investigating crime and holding offenders to account, while the regulator focuses on licensing, firearms safety, education, and delivering a professional service to licenced firearm owners. 

“That separation is an important step towards rebuilding trust and confidence in the firearms regulatory system.

“Most of the Bill, along with regulations giving effect to the changes in the Bill, will come into force on 23 September. The remaining provisions will come into force progressively by 23 February 2028.

“I would like to thank every New Zealander, including those members from the firearms community, who engaged with this process. The Bill had extensive consultation prior to being drafted, along with a full six-month select committee process where New Zealanders could share their views and suggest improvements. This is how law should be made.

“On a personal level, this is a very special moment. I came to Parliament six years ago with a goal of completely replacing the Arms Act 1983. Today that goal has been achieved.”

Notes to editors:

Notable changes in the Bill include:

• Separating firearms regulation from police and the creation of a new arms regulator.
• Establishing an independent firearms licencing review committee.
• Extending pest control endorsements to five years and allowing multi-user agreements for short term transfers of restricted firearms.
• Removing the need for a permit to posses for short-term business activities such as taking a firearm to a gunsmith for less than 21 days.
• Extending multiple-consignment import permits for business licence holders so they remain valid for 12 months.
• Extending business licence duration to five years for those with a proven compliance record.
• Removing the ability for the regulator to include information in the firearms registry that is not required by regulations.
• Allowing multi-entry visitor licences of up to 18 months.
• Allowing health-related suspensions for up to 12 months so individuals have time to obtain medical reports, implement mitigations, or seek help. 
• Enabling infringement powers for low-level non-compliance.
• Disqualifying gang members from holding a firearms licence.
• Restricting large-capacity pistol magazines to only those who hold a pistol licence.
• Increasing penalties for some offences and creating eight new offences, including ones to reduce firearms entering the black market.
• Establishing a statutory ‘red flag’ system with clarified information sharing so Police and other agencies can continue to signal to the firearms regulator when they have relevant intel that might trigger a review of whether a LFO remains a fit and proper person.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/07/29/better-firearm-laws-locked-and-loaded/

Source: New Zealand Government

Good evening.

Honourable Ministers, Members of Parliament and representatives from across the Pacific, and distinguished guests. 

Warm Pacific greetings to you all. 

It is a pleasure to welcome women parliamentarians and other Pacific representatives to Wellington for this chance to share experiences, learn from one another, and strengthen the relationships between us that underpin our Pacific cooperation.  

We are proud to support Pacific parliamentary cooperation through New Zealand’s overseas development programme and we wish to acknowledge the New Zealand Speaker’s strong support for this initiative. 

Democratic governance, the rule of law, and accountability to our citizens are core values that bind us all together in our Pacific Blue Continent.

The role of the Pacific to New Zealand

The Pacific is the central focus of our foreign policy. It’s New Zealand’s front yard and we are linked through our DNA, our history and cultural ties. We also understand the important role of talanoa, or face-to-face meetings, like this one tonight. 

That’s why we are proud that in this three-year parliamentary term we have travelled to all Pacific Islands Forum countries for talanoa, to hear your views and to discuss our collective aspirations and problems. 

The importance of our role as elected representatives

Make no mistake, the region in which we live is beset with challenges – heightened strategic competition, food and fuel security, illicit drugs, natural disasters – issues that can only be addressed with strong regional cooperation. 

As such, the role we all perform as representatives of our people has never been more important, nor urgent. 

So, we are pleased to welcome you to Wellington to strengthen relationships, build networks, and take away with you new insights learned from each other’s experience. 

The responsibilities carried by elected representatives are significant and the role can be lonely. We know there are barriers to entering these roles – particularly for women – due to online harms, fears over security, and the impacts of intense scrutiny from society. 

Our representatives need to represent the communities from which they come, and increased women’s representation is an ambition we support. The presence here of so many women parliamentarians from across the region is significant. 

Let us tell you that in our experience, men are very good at talking with and past each other, present company excluded. Women, in contrast, get things done, so the more of you represented in your parliaments is, we think, a very good thing. 

In a few weeks, Pacific leaders will gather in Palau for the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting. The Forum remains the region’s premier political institution and an important expression of Pacific regionalism.

In 2027, New Zealand will have the privilege of chairing the Pacific Islands Forum which will bring together members from across our vast Pacific to advocate for shared regional priorities and the interests of our peoples. 

We need your input into your country’s priorities, so that we can faithfully represent the views of all our Pacific family. 

We wish you all the best for this important event.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/07/29/welcome-to-pacific-women-parliamentarians-meeting/

Source: New Zealand Government

The Government has today released its response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.

Emergency support in future shocks to be timely, temporary, and targeted
Key advice in a future pandemic to be made public within five working days
All advice from the COVID-19 Vaccine Technical Advisory Group (CV TAG) proactively released
All 63 recommendations accepted in some form

“New Zealanders placed enormous trust in their government and made real sacrifices to protect one another. They deserve a clear account of what happened, and this response is about learning from it,” Mr Brown says.

“The independent Commission is clear that restrictions stayed in place for longer than needed against public health advice, that Auckland was kept apart from the rest of the country for longer than it needed to be, and that the cost to jobs, businesses, and everyday life was not given sufficient weight alongside the health response.

“The Commission also found that more than half of the $60 billion COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, spread across more than 800 programmes, was not directly related to the pandemic. That has left New Zealanders carrying higher debt and a higher cost of living they are still feeling today.”

The Inquiry ran over four years and heard from more than 44,000 New Zealanders. It made 63 recommendations across 23 agencies. The Government has accepted 21 in full and a further 36 in principle, while partially accepting the remaining six.

“Having learnt from the previous Labour Government’s mistakes, we are restoring fiscal discipline and making sure that when support is needed it reaches those who need it most, rather than spraying tens of billions of dollars across hundreds of programmes with little to show for it,” Mr Brown says.

Three key parts of the Government’s response are:

Timely, temporary, and targeted support: Help in any future shock will reach people quickly, wind back as the need passes, and go to those who need it most.
Key advice released within five working days: Cabinet has agreed that in a future pandemic, the advice behind any major decision affecting people’s individual rights will be published within five working days.

A broader review of the Health Act: The Government will not proceed with standalone pandemic legislation, and will instead review the Health Act to ensure any future response balances the protection of public health, the economy, and New Zealanders’ rights.

Since the Commission presented its findings in April, the Ministry of Health has advised that one of the findings is incorrect. The Commission found that, while former Ministers were informed of advice against two-dose vaccine mandates for those aged 12 to 17 because of myocarditis risks, they were not given fuller advice on vaccine mandates for young people. The Ministry has since advised that fuller advice was in fact provided in early 2022.

In March, the Minister wrote to the Director-General of Health seeking the proactive release of all CV TAG advice. That advice has now been released.

Mr Brown says New Zealanders deserve full confidence that decisions affecting their rights are weighed honestly and communicated openly.

“Restoring trust and confidence in decision-making is critical to maintaining social cohesion and ensuring New Zealanders are willing to make the sacrifices asked of them. 

“No one can say what the next shock will be, or when it will land. This Government is committed to building New Zealand’s future, and strengthening our resilience to future shocks is a key part of that.”

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/07/29/government-responds-to-covid-19-inquiry/

MIL OSI

Source: New Zealand Government

The Employment Leave Bill has passed its third and final reading, ushering in a long-awaited overhaul of the law that provides employees with employment leave entitlements, like annual and sick leave, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden announced today. 

“This Bill delivers on the Government’s priority to replace the broken Holidays Act with a leave system which is simple and straightforward, so that employers have confidence in their calculations, and employees have confidence they are being paid correctly – a benefit to workers and businesses alike,” says Ms van Velden. 

“Kiwis have been asking Governments to do something about this legislation for years, and in particular they have been asking for an hours-based accrual system. Successive governments have put it on the to-do list, but nothing came to fruition. This Government has listened, and I am proud that this reform has finally been delivered.”  

Key aspects of the Bill include: 

• Annual and sick leave accrued in hours, in direct proportion to standard hours of work 
• Annual, sick, bereavement and family violence leave available from the first day of work 
• Use of a single hourly rate for paying leave, across all types of leave 
• A new 12.5% Leave Compensation Payment for additional and casual hours, instead of accruing annual leave and sick leave for those hours 
• Mandatory pay statements that itemise pay and leave in a way that’s transparent and easy to understand 
• Greater flexibility to cash up annual leave, with workers able to cash up 25% of their total annual leave balance each year 
• A new Otherwise Working Day test for those who work additional days or do not have a specified pattern of work  
• Removal of annual leave payment penalty for those returning from parental leave.  

“Achieving this milestone for workplaces is thanks to the hard work and generous time of those who have shared the vision of a better leave system, and have contributed their expertise and experience to the policy process. 

“We’ve already had decades of overcomplicated legislation so now that we’ve finally settled on a simpler path forward, I hope it will be enduring to give businesses and workers the simplicity and stability they need.  

The changes to the new leave system will have a 24-month lead-in to allow time for a careful and managed transition by businesses and payroll providers, and there will be an additional year after the Act comes into force to update leave terms in employment agreements.  

MBIE will provide comprehensive guidance to support implementation on its Employment New Zealand website. Initial guidance and a timeline for further guidance and resources will be available once the Bill receives Royal assent.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/07/29/holidays-act-headache-finally-over-as-leave-reform-delivered/

Source: New Zealand Government

The Government is investing in initiatives to help ensure New Zealand tourism experiences are visible and accessible to international visitors through artificial intelligence (AI) tools, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston says.

“A growing number of people are using AI search to explore destination options and plan their holidays. We want to make sure New Zealand shows up strongly when they do,” Louise Upston says.

The Government is investing $800,000 from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) into an upgrade of Tourism New Zealand’s systems so local tourism services and products are easier to find through AI search. It will also help ensure the information provided is correct, improving visitors’ experience of planning, booking and visiting.

“This is about making sure people anywhere in the world can use AI to get real options about a New Zealand holiday, tailored to their preferences – including great places to stay, things to do, and experiences across the country, with easy booking links.”

Part of the investment will make Tourism New Zealand’s database ‘AI-ready’, improving how information about thousands of tourism and hospitality businesses is structured, so AI tools can more easily access and pull the information.

“At the moment, some of New Zealand’s amazing tourism operators are harder to find through AI than they should be.

“We are fixing that, so more businesses can connect with the visitors who are already looking for what they offer. This will help build the tourism industry’s future, and in turn the jobs and economic growth tourism drives.”

The Government is also investing in an expansion of Tourism New Zealand’s AI travel assistant. The expansion will add more detailed information from regional tourism organisations to boost the accessibility of information on AI search for people actively considering a visit to New Zealand.

“This will help visitors discover more of New Zealand, including what’s off the beaten track. It means better trip ideas, more personalised recommendations, and more reasons to stay longer and explore further.”

The AI investment supports the Government’s goal of doubling the 2023 value of tourism exports by 2034, as well as growing the number of Kiwis in tourism and hospitality jobs.

It also supports the Government’s goal to increase international visitors to at least 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels by the end of 2026 – which is currently at 94 per cent, up 24 per cent more than at the end of 2023.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/07/29/ai-search-harnessed-to-back-tourism-growth/