PM Edition: Top 10 Business Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for August 18, 2026 – Full Text

Source: New Zealand Government

Thailand Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will make an official visit to New Zealand this week, accompanied by a delegation of leading Thai business representatives, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today.  

“The visit marks 70 years of diplomatic relations and will be used to formally launch the New Zealand-Thailand Strategic Partnership,” Mr Luxon says.

“It will strengthen trade and business connections between our two countries, as we both work towards the shared goal of tripling two-way trade by 2045.

“Thailand is ASEAN’s third-largest economy and one of New Zealand’s top 10 trading partners.

“Our two-way trade reached almost NZ$4.8 billion in the year to March 2026, including NZ$1.6 billion in New Zealand exports.

“Thailand is also an important partner for New Zealand on regional stability and combatting transnational serious and organised crime.

“I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Anutin and discussing how we can deliver greater prosperity and security for both our countries.”

Prime Minister Anutin will attend a series of engagements in Auckland, including bilateral talks with Mr Luxon, a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, and a business roundtable with Minister for Trade and Investment Todd McClay and senior business leaders.  

He will arrive in New Zealand on Thursday 20 August and leave on Saturday 22 August.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/08/17/thailand-prime-minister-to-visit-new-zealand/

Source: New Zealand Government

• Government will undertake a Detailed Business Case (DBC) on options for an additional Waitemata Harbour Crossing (WHC), including looking at funding and financing and delivery
• Project will now be Crown-led with a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) reporting directly to Ministers
• Cabinet has agreed to commission a further study into Meola Reef, if the Council is interested. The Council will be invited to contribute.
• Government will also consider a Market-led proposal for an innovative construction methodology to upgrade the existing bridge.

The Coalition Government has made decisions on next steps for the Waitematā Harbour Crossing project, Transport Minister Chris Bishop and Auckland Minister Simon Watts have announced. 

“The existing Auckland Harbour Bridge was completed in 1959 and forms part of the busiest corridor of the State Highway network in New Zealand, carrying 170,000 vehicles daily. It underpins almost $1 billion in annual economic activity, with this activity projected to increase to $3.9 billion by 2051,” Mr Bishop says.

“But the corridor is currently limited by the performance of the bridge. Weight restrictions already constrain freight and buses, and the lack of dedicated public transport (PT) lanes prevents us making the best use of the Northern Busway, which today carries 40% of all people crossing the bridge. 

“These limitations are only going to become more acute. Major renewals are needed in the coming decades, with extended lane closures. Without an additional crossing in place, the total economic cost of that disruption is estimated at around $4.8 billion. 

“That is not an acceptable outcome. We need Auckland – New Zealand’s economic engine room – connected, productive, and set up for growth and prosperity. The case for a new crossing is strong, and we are committed to delivering it.

“The WHC project will likely be the largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken in New Zealand. It is imperative that we get it right because New Zealand’s fiscal position, economic performance, and reputation as a modern, functional, first-world country depends on it. 

“Getting this project right means figuring out what we are going to build based on what we’ve found in the ground and under the harbour, not just what works on paper. It means being up front about what we can afford, how we will pay for it, how we will deliver it, and how it will fit into the wider Auckland network. It also means talking to Aucklanders and the Opposition before the Government endorses a preferred option – not after. 

“In October 2024, we set out the Government’s expectations for the project and requested the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) undertake detailed analysis of the highest performing bridge and tunnel options for the WHC project. 

“Since then, NZTA has significantly advanced the WHC project, including value engineering to reduce costs and due diligence on construction requirements for the first time such as geotechnical investigations. It was fantastic to see a barge in the harbour performing seabed and ground condition testing – up until then, only desktop studies have been done. 

“In May 2026, NZTA completed an Investment Case, and on 15 May 2026 the NZTA Board endorsed a preferred option – a tunnel.

“Despite the great progress that has been made, more information and work is required before Cabinet can select a preferred option.

“Given the scale and complexity of this project, Cabinet has agreed that an independently led DBC is needed. This will allow us to do further work required on funding and financing, and delivery model options. It will also allow us to consider the Auckland transport network more broadly including NZTA’s Auckland Motorway Plan, any time-of-use charging scheme, and the 30-year Auckland Integrated Transport Plan to be developed as part of the Auckland Transport governance reforms.

“The WHC DBC will be independently led by a Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) who will answer directly to the Ministers of Finance, Transport, and Auckland, and Cabinet. 

“We will look globally to find the right person for this critical role – someone with the expertise and experience to deliver who we will hold to account. 

“Every country that has built a megaproject this size has learned the same lesson: they cost more and take longer than the first estimates suggest. Not necessarily because of the engineering, but because of scale, duration, and the number of approvals and decision-makers involved along the way. That’s a governance problem, and it has a governance solution. 

“The Crown is the decisionmaker, it holds the funding levers, and it carries the risk, so we need to be able to direct the project. NZTA has done good work to get us to this point and will remain central to delivery, but it’s Cabinet’s view that the project should directly report to Ministers.

“The SRO will be supported by a Steering Group comprised of senior representatives from Treasury; NZTA; National Infrastructure Funding and Financing Ltd; the Ministry of Cities, Environment; Regions, and Transport; independent members; as well as the Board Chair of the Auckland Regional Transport Committee. 

“It’s important that we work meaningfully with Auckland and Aucklanders,” says Mr Watts. 

“The Mayor of Auckland has expressed a strong view that a corridor solution at Meola Reef is a better idea than NZTA’s proposals. The Meola Reef option has been looked at many times in the past before and discounted as unachievable, but in the spirit of good faith, and recognising the Government’s responsibilities under the Auckland City Deal, Cabinet has agreed to commission a further study into the option, if the Council is interested.

“This study would be commissioned by the WHC project SRO, independent from NZTA. Auckland Council will be invited to contribute to the study’s scoping and procurement, and to fund 50 percent of the cost of the study.” 

“In addition, the Government has also received a Market Led Proposal (MLP) from a reputable international consortium for an innovative construction methodology to upgrade the existing bridge. Officials have recommended that this proposal advance and be integrated as part of the detailed business case phase of work on the WHC project,” Mr Bishop says. 

“This is exactly what the MLP process is for. If the private sector has innovative ideas and solutions, we want to consider those. The Government certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas.

“Previous governments have gone out and announced what they are going to build before they have done the work required around how much it will cost, how they are going to pay for it, and whether the project is deliverable. This Government does not intend to make the same mistake. 

“It is also our intention to consult meaningfully with the Opposition and Aucklanders before endorsing an option. This project will span multiple Parliaments and multiple governments – it is important that all serious political parties buy-in to the process.

“We expect this next phase of work to be completed in 2027. The Government will then consider the DBC, which will include the Meola Reef study and the market-led proposal, before making decisions on a preferred crossing option.”

“The actions we’ve announced today are to ensure that the project starts on the best possible footing. As Mayor Brown has said, projects don’t go wrong – they start wrong. I couldn’t agree more, that’s why we are making sure we set this project and, by extension, Auckland up for success.” 

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/08/17/next-steps-on-waitemata-harbour-crossing/

Source: Media Outreach

About SpeakIn

SpeakIn is Asia’s largest on-demand thought leadership and capability-building platform, headquartered in Singapore with a deep and founding presence in India. Founded in 2016, SpeakIn connects more than 3,500 enterprise clients across 30+ countries with a network of over 31,000 curated experts, coaches, and industry leaders. SpeakIn operates through its flagship expert network, FindACoach, the Asia Dialogues Forum, and the SpeakIn Asia Institute for Industry Readiness and Employability (SPIRE). SpeakIn is SOC 2 Type 2 certified and an ICF Global MoU Partner.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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

Source: Media Outreach

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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

MIL OSI

Source: Family First

The so-called experts on chemicalising and confusing children in the false attempt to make a boy a girl and a girl a boy (WPATH) made a stunning admission last week. So stunning that our NZ media ignored it. You’ll soon know why. It goes against all the narrative around so-called “gender affirmation”.

As stated in a report by Daily Signal

The transgender movement has been notorious for demonising its opposition. Groups… have suggested that disagreement with transgender ideology contributes to suicide, and social media companies have silenced critics for similar reasons.

Now, the transgender movement’s sainted authority on medical issues is effectively admitting that there is more than one position on the issue—and telling a court that preserving open debate on transgender “health care” is a public good.

Oh – good to know!

The radical activist group pushing the transing of children – WPATH – now says –

“WPATH is on one side of that debate and provides guidelines on how to best provide transgender health care. Others, such as Dr. Hilary Cass, fall on the other side of the debate and disagree with how to, or if one should, provide transgender health care to adolescents.”

Here’s the problem.

Democrats, activist groups, and medical associations have long cited WPATH – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s – Standards of Care as the ultimate authority on a scientific “consensus” for sex-rejecting procedures,

So does the NZ Ministry of Health!

….but WPATH just made an admission in court that threatens to undermine that exalted authority.

And WPATH and their affiliate in New Zealand – PATHA (Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa) are the driving force for transing kids in NZ also.

In its case against WPATH, the Federal Trade Commission presented “core deceptive statements” based on the eighth edition of WPATH’s Standards of Care, claiming that these statements mislead consumers into self-harm. The association claims that those statements “are non-actionable opinions about subjects on which there is ‘medical and scientific uncertainty.’”

Of course, these are claims also made by Sue Bagshaw and other activists in NZ wanting to persuade children and their parents that their children can change their sex with chemicals and castrations (which I’ll come back to).

WPATH even begrudgingly admits the validity of the Department of Health and Human Services’ 400-page peer-reviewed report finding “extremely weak evidence” of any benefit for “gender-affirming care” for minors. “The federal government has thus already alerted doctors and the public to what it views as the problems with WPATH’s speech,” the association wrote. “That is the exact remedy the First Amendment envisions: ‘the free marketplace of ideas as the best means for discovering truth.’”

Oh – you mean the Department of Health and Human Services’ 400-page peer-reviewed report that our media deliberately ignored. And it’s just about “free speech” now – rather than ramming down an ideology and ‘cancelling’ anyone who disagrees with transing children.

The Australian reported this significant development over the weekend (yes, we have to travel across the Tasman to find a media outlet honest enough to report this significant development….)

Medical professionals and parents are urgently calling on federal and state governments and health authorities to review their policies on gender medicine, after the World Professional Association for Transgender Health sensationally conceded its standards of care are merely “opinions” in an area of “significant medical debate”.

Standards of care for Australian patients, including children, are currently based on guidelines generated by trans health lobby group the Australian Professional Association for Transgender Health, which are closely modelled on those of WPATH.

PATHA – in NZ’s case.

…WPATH further described transgender healthcare as an area of “significant medical debate”, acknowledged there were parties on both sides of that debate, and stated WPATH is “on one side of that debate”.

…The concession has prompted the Australian branch of evidence-based health charity Genspect to demand an urgent review of all medical pathways built on WPATH guidance, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery, as well as anger from parents, with one mother of a gender-distressed child writing to Health Minister Mark Butler saying her child “has been permanently altered within a healthcare environment shaped by this model of care”.

But that wasn’t the only bombshell from last week that the NZ media didn’t want to tell you about.

According to this report in Christian Post

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report Thursday alleging that hospitals and doctors used incorrect medical billing codes to obtain insurance payments for puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and irreversible sex-change surgeries performed on minors.

The 64-page report, titled “Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of ‘Gender Medicine,’” reviewed nationwide insurance claims from 2015 to 2025. It found that nearly $50 million was billed to public and private insurers for puberty-blocking drugs administered to patients ages 9 to 17 using the code E34.9, “Endocrine Disorder, Unspecified” — a diagnosis code that doesn’t reference gender dysphoria.

…”For years now, some hospitals and healthcare providers have been subjecting children to horrific, experimental treatments in service of radical gender ideologies,” Vance wrote on X. “Today, thanks to the Wolves in White Coats report released by @HHSGov, we know why: profit.”

It’s all about the money. Is that the case in NZ? Or is our government funding this stuff?

But remember that it was the Biden Administration that was pushing a lot of this. Remember Rachel Levine – the biological male who thought he was a woman – so did Biden of course – and was the United States assistant secretary for health.

Here’s what he was saying

So WPATH – and by implication PATHA – have admitted their position is debatable.

Debatable – while we pump children with puberty blockers, wrong sex hormones and lead them to mastectomies and removal of health body parts in the false belief that a child can change their sex.

But the NZ media and the Ministry of Health have told us that WPATH and PATHA are the gold standard. Trust them. They know the science.

Except they don’t.

So where does New Zealand fit into all of this. Well, New Zealand extremists have their paw print all over WPATH and their so-called “standards”.

But before we do that, let me remind you that at the end of 2022, WPATH released its so-called “Standards of Care” 8th Edition. One aspect noticeably different from previous editions was that the explicitly stated minimal age recommendations for minors to obtain puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries had been removed. The new guidance also suggested that if parents did not affirm their child’s newly chosen identity, the state may be enabled to intervene in order to assist with the child’s transition.

Here’s the key bit. WPATH has significant influence in NZ.

Transgender research based on “Counting Ourselves survey” and policy comes out of the University of Waikato’s Trans Health Research Lab. Unfortunately, the unit is driven by activists and an agenda, rather than science and independent research. In fact, it’s now in conflict with the science.

We’ve written in detail on the weakness and flaws of the Counting Ourselves survey that the unit does
https://freetolive.nz/2021/10/22/counting-ourselves-advocacy-research-should-be-treated-with-caution/

But Guidelines for Gender Affirming Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand comes out of the group called PATHA which is the NZ equivalent or affiliate to WPATH.

And in their Guidelines document they specifically say

WPATH is the international body responsible for producing standards of care…  This guideline is not intended to replace the WPATH SOC but to present additional guidance for the provision of gender affirming healthcare in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Puberty blockers, cross sex hormones. WPATH is basically the go-to for guidelines around treatment of gender confused children in NZ.

Here’s an article from 2022 when the alarm was being sounded about the exploding number of children being prescribed puberty blockers

The number of children prescribed puberty blockers because they do not identify with their assigned gender has increased exponentially in the last decade, according to Pharmac data.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has recently updated its information on puberty blockers on its website to remove the words “safe and reversible” – but still endorses the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) guidelines, which states they are “considered to be fully reversible”.

The Ministry of Health has been backing WPATH and PATHA.

Here’s their response to an OIA back in 2020 with reference to reliance on WPATH guidelines

Readiness assessments are as per the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care version .7

And more recently in 2024, their website showed this…

For referral acceptance to be considered patients need to: meet the eligibility criteria set out in the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People, published by The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) version seven.

So WPATH is the international body. PATHA is NZ’s version which is basically a lapdog for WPATH – and are influencing the blind and flawed gender affirmation model being rammed down in NZ.

Fortunately the current coalition Government and especially the Minister of Health Simeon Brown and also lobbying from NZ First leader Winston Peters has started to turn this around.

Who is PATHA?

It was formed in 2018 and is a group of transactivists – some of whom have found their way into the medical professional setting.

Here’s just some of the executive committee (although interestingly this information is now hidden on their website. Hmm – wonder why that is. Perhaps the blowtorch of reality and accountability?? So some of these may have actually changed. They don’t want to seem to tell us.

Dr Jaimie Veale (she/her) – a transgender woman. He is an Associate Editor of International Journal of Transgenderism, a member of the Global Board of Directors of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), and he is one of the authors of the latest revision of the WPATH Standards of Care.

So a NZ activist is on the global board of directors for WPATH.

Dr Rachel Johnson (she/her) – a general paediatrician and Adolescent Health physician now working at CMDHB Centre For Youth Health. She has been involved in trans health care for over 10 years and in that time have been a member of WPATH

And she was actually featured on an atrociously bias piece of trans advocacy by the Sunday programme a couple of years ago – pushing the normality of puberty blockers – just based on what the child wants

There’s also Jennifer Shields – a trans advocate and non-binary trans woman

Dion Reid who’s a trans man and registered nurse

And Phoebe Horton Andrews – a transgender activist from RainbowYouth – who’s studying towards… an accounting degree.

And there’s also Jack Byrne (he/him), a trans man who oversees the flawed Counting Ourselves research

Taine Polkinghorne (he/him) who is the New Zealand Human Rights Commission’s advisor on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics

Yes – now you know why the Human Rights Commission is so keen to chemicalise and confuse children.

And Moira Clunie (they/them)

Yep – all radical activists for transing your children.

And the media have been their greatest cheerleaders

Back in April 2024, FIVE independent mainstream media outlets (Radio NZ, Newshub, 1News, NZ Herald & Newstalk ZB) who all apparently add to democracy, reprinted the same exact story. “Criticism of puberty blockers misguided, trans girl’s mother says”. All five mainstream media outlets. Exactly same article. Same narrative.

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has commissioned the Professional Association for Transgender Healthcare Aotearoa (PATHA) to update its guidelines for gender-affirming care for healthcare professionals, including the use puberty blockers.

But here’s what one of the lead NZ doctors in this radical experiment says. This is from Patrick Gower’s Paddy Gower Has Issues when they talked about the issues of puberty blockers. This is from the middle of last year – and it was after the Ministry of Health quietly removed the statement about puberty blockers being safe and reversible – but we were watching and called them out on it.

Have a watch – and note that the doctor is a member of none other than the radical activist group PATHA which is associated with WPATH!

Just refuses to acknowledge the science. Deep in the ideology. They’ll have a lot to answer for.

PATHA were part of a group wanting to keep the radical RSE curriculum.

According to 1News in April 2024, …

An open letter is calling on the Government to keep the current relationship and sexuality education guidelines in schools and kura, despite coalition promises to do otherwise. Twenty-six mental health and rainbow organisations have written an open letter to the Government this week, asking it to retain the current RSE guidelines. The letter said the guidelines were beneficial for schools and students.

Who are the organisations

Of course, Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA), are part of this radical list of signatories.

This is a report from The Centrist news service in 2024 – one of the many new news services to pop up as trust in the mainstream media plummets. Here’s what their report said

Oranga Tamariki has just signalled it’s ready to knock on family doors if they refuse to let their children change gender.

…While OT says that parental resistance to a young person’s transitioning “would not normally be a concern in and of itself in the absence of any other risk factors”, they elaborate:

“There may be times where a situation involving a rangatahi [young person] who is actively considering or is in the process of transitioning is facing resistance from whānau that may be having an impact on their safety and wellbeing.”

So the resistance to protect a child from confusion, chemicalisation and castration is a problem.

I went to the Practice Centre of Oranga Tamariki and there was this page

Affirming gender-diverse Tamariki and rangatahi

Link to Rainbow Youth

Guidelines for gender affirming healthcare for gender diverse tamariki and rangatahi – none other than WPATH (the radical international group which has been discredited) and PATHA & Waikato Trans Unit which is a radical group of activists that we’ve discussed previously – with their deeply flawed guidelines

In fact, on their latest resource on their website they continue to list PATHA

But remember – here in NZ at the end of last year just before Christmas, a decision by Justice Wilkinson-Smith in the Wellington High Court to grant an injunction on the government’s ban on puberty blockers until a judicial review takes place repeated all the talking points of the discredited ‘Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA)’ (aligned with WPATH*), and the Judge based her decision on statements which are in direct conflict with the United Kingdom’s CASS Review and the Ministry of Health’s Evidence Brief.

Here’s the NZ Herald campaigning for PATHA back in March, reporting on the judicial review of the ban on puberty blockers.

PATHA is an interdisciplinary professional organisation that works to promote the health, wellbeing and rights of transgender people.

And also in the NZ Herald in July

The Government’s attempt to ban puberty blockers for gender-diverse young people would be both unethical and harmful, a group of concerned doctors says. Their views have been published in the paper A clinical ethics approach to the use of puberty blockers in gender incongruence in today’s New Zealand Medical Journal.

…It comes as a group of health professionals working in this area, the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA), has taken a judicial review to challenge the Ministry of Health’s decision to ban new prescriptions for puberty blockers in November last year.

… The authors of the paper are Associate Professor Cindy Towns, Dr Rona Carroll, Dr Jemima Bullock, Professor Paul Hofman, Dr Richard Carroll and Dr Andrew Linton. Some work directly with gender-diverse young people, and Rona Carroll is a member of the PATHA executive committee.

Campaigners for chemicalisation and castratrion of confused young people and telling boys they can be girls, and girls they can be boys.

Associate Professor Cindy Towns said puberty blockers are and should continue to be prescribed only by experienced doctors working within multi-disciplinary teams.

The medications are safe and reversible and have been used since the 1980s for a variety of conditions, not just gender incongruence, Towns said.

Sorry Cindy – that kind of argument belongs back in the early 2020’s. It’s been well and truly debunked now – thankfully.

And by the way, just to really make your day, Tourism NZ is helping sponsor and bring the 2028 WPATH conference to New Zealand.

Unbelievable!!!!!!

Hopefully they’ll have been sued into oblivion by then.

So just a reminder – the so-called “experts” have conceded its standards of ‘care’ relating to flawed attempts to change the sex of children are merely “opinions”.

We already knew that. It’s time the Government acted swiftly to instruct the Ministry of Health to take what PATHA says as merely an opinion of activists – and to ignore them.

They have no credibility. The game is up.

It’s time to protect children from gender ideology.

Once and for all.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/08/17/wpath-admit-their-position-is-debatable/

Source: New Zealand Government

The Ministerial Advisory Group’s independent report on aged care provides valuable insights to help guide future policy and funding decisions, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said today. 

“For too long, governments have kept kicking the aged care can down the road,” Ms Costello says. “This Government appointed the Group because we wanted ideas for reform. 

“New Zealand has very good aged care, provided by dedicated people. However, the way that these services are funded is outdated and does not recognise the future investment required. The current model is siloed and doesn’t deliver a cohesive system.

“We said when we established the Group that we want a proper aged care system that provides the right type of care in the right place – and that allows people to transition between the type of care they need, that’s easier to navigate and access, that’s fair, and that is sustainable and will endure as our population ages.

“The Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) has produced a substantial report that sets out its views on the change that would be required to create that system. I want to thank them for their work.”

The Group was established to provide independent, expert advice to the Government about how New Zealand can address the challenges in aged care, particularly as our population grows and ages. It was asked to consider the funding model needed to support sustainable services, how costs could be reasonably shared between those receiving care and the Government, and how aged care services can better connect with wider health services.

The MAG’s report sets out a vision and 40 recommendations to develop an integrated aged care system.  

Ms Costello said that the Government will consider the report’s recommendations carefully before making any policy and funding decisions. 

“This is a significant issue which has a real impact on peoples’ lives, personal and government finances, the sector and the wider health system. We need to make the right decisions.

“We have directed the Ministry of Health to work with other agencies to develop advice for the Government on the recommendations, to support future policy and funding decisions to reform the aged care system.”

The Government has invested to ensure the on-going sustainability of the sector and to drive operational improvements while longer-term work was undertaken, with funding to the sector increasing by a total of $446 million in the last three years. This year’s funding uplift for the home care sector is still being negotiated.

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/08/17/ministerial-advisory-groups-report-welcomed/

Source: New Zealand Government

Forestry Minister Todd McClay is appointing a Facilitator to advise the Government on what further support or intervention may be needed around forestry in Tairāwhiti.

“I have written to the Gisborne District Council to inform them of the decision to appoint a Facilitator. Doug Leeder, former Chair of Bay of Plenty Regional Council and former Chair of Local Government New Zealand’s Regional Sector Group has been appointed. Mr Leeder has significant governance experience in regional government and business.

“Once appointed, Mr Leeder will work with Council leadership, members of the Council’s Assurance Review panel and other stakeholders, on the complexity of consenting and land use change. He will provide advice directly to me as Minister of Forestry, and to other Ministers as required. 

Mr McClay says the Government is aware of growing sector-wide concern about the approach the Gisborne District Council is taking to land use change, including its use of draft enforcement orders on woody debris and sediment management. Stronger compliance measures may well be necessary however, they must be workable and proportionate, and they must not undermine progress towards land transition.

“Forestry and wood processing matter enormously to Tairāwhiti and to the people employed in them. Industry is telling me it faces decisions it considers unworkable and costly, and growing uncertainty about the future of the sector in the region,” Mr McClay says. “I am advised this is affecting the willingness of investors to pursue processing ventures, both in Tairāwhiti and elsewhere in the country.

“I want the relationship between the Council and stakeholders reset, with all parties working together in a constructive and structured way. That means supporting effective long-term forestry management, the environment, jobs and local businesses.”

In 2024, Mr McClay established the Tairāwhiti Forestry Action Group (TFAG) to build confidence between all parties, and to allow the Government and Council to work closely with the sector to remove woody biomass from the district. The group has reduced risk across 173 kilometres of river network and removed almost 40,000 cubic metres of woody debris from high-risk locations.

TFAG will now move to the next stage of the clean-up. That includes supporting landowners and operators to accelerate consenting on legacy biomass through pilot projects, monitoring progress, maintaining engagement with the community, and helping inform decisions about land use change.

“TFAG has worked because central government, the Council and the sector all came together. I have invited the Council’s continued support and participation,” Mr McClay says.

“I want to recognise the significant efforts of the Council, the forestry sector and the community in dealing with the compounding effects of weather events. The appointment of a Facilitator will help drive better outcomes for forestry, the environment and the wider community.”

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/08/17/government-appoints-facilitator-to-restore-confidence-in-tairawhiti-forestry/

MIL OSI

MIL OSI