Tourists arrivals were the highest they’d been this March since before Covid-19, but as the fuel crisis continues tourism may take a hit.

Fuel prices have soared this year due to the conflict in the Middle East, making travel, both domestic and international, more expensive, but visitor arrivals in March totalled nearly 360,000 up nearly 15 percent from March 2025.

Stats NZ numbers showed overseas visitor arrivals hit 3.51 million in the year ended December 2025, up 6 percent from the prior year.

Tour operator Paul Button, general manager of Rotorua Canopy Tours and the Million Dollar Cruise in Queenstown, told Morning Report, there’d been a bit of a hit just recently through April going into May.

He said Rotorua had seen domestic support, but lower numbers from Australia and the United States which were usually two of the biggest markets.

Extreme inflation had also been a challenge recently, he said, noting it had been a tough six or so years.

“The challenge I guess for us, people are the products and we really gotta look after them.

“Last year we had a really good year… really excited for the future, but now it’s just more learning, more challenges.

He said the Million Dollar Cruise on Queenstown’s Lake Wakitipu had been 90 percent up in 2025.

Despite the fuel crisis, Button wasn’t too worried about the impact on tourism as he said many markets, including the Chinese market, saw Aotearoa as a safe place to go and so did many other markets.

“We’re seen as a safe destination to come to with all the chaos. Is a selling point, we’re seen as a really safe destination to visit.”

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Explainer – The weather is getting colder and the sneezes are getting louder – which means it’s influenza season.

This year’s season has seen warnings it might be more severe thanks to the H3N2 Subclade K or “super-k” flu strain, which saw flu season in places like the UK ending up particularly brutal this year.

“It is difficult to predict the severity of this year’s influenza season in New Zealand, but we do know that vaccination is the most effective means to reduce hospitalisations and severe outcomes from influenza,” said Dr Joan Ingram, medical advisor for the Immunisation Advisory Centre at the University of Auckland.

There has been a disruption of normal seasonal respiratory virus patterns following the Covid-19 pandemic, University of Otago Professor and Head of Department of Paediatrics and Child Health Peter McIntyre recently told RNZ.

“Covid is with us all year round, although more so in the winter, and the way that flu strains work during the year has changed a bit from the predictable winter peak with not much going on in the rest of the year to a lot more unpredictability with late and early seasons.”

The flu vaccine campaign is now underway – here’s what you need to know about it and how ‘super-k’ factors into it.

Why do we need a new vaccine every year?

Influenza changes a little bit every year, and vaccines are modified each year to match prevailing new strains.

“Everyone from 6 months of age, who is eligible for a funded vaccine and those who can afford a flu vaccine if not already funded, should have one,” Ingram said.

More than 1 million influenza vaccines are administered in New Zealand each year.

Typically around 500 people die each year from the flu, Health New Zealand said.

“For those at higher risk of complications from the flu, which is anyone over the age of 65, and particularly those over the age of 75 or 80, then it’s a very good idea to get in right now with your flu vaccine,” McIntyre said.

This year’s goal is to vaccinate 75 percent of the population over 65 years old.

“It would be wonderful if our flu vaccine uptake was higher,” Ingram said.

“All people 65 years and over are eligible for funded flu vaccine, but last year only around 60 percent had one – so cost is not the only barrier.”

New Zealand’s flu season usually runs from May to October, and the immunisation programme runs from 1 April to 31 December.

In both 2024 and 2025, flu cases saw a later than usual peak towards the end of August, the Immunisation Advisory Centre said.

This year’s funded vaccine is Influvac Tetra, which is free for those who meet certain conditions (see below).

There are also three unfunded flu vaccines available – Flucelvax, Fluzone and Fluad. More on those in a minute.

How do you book a flu shot?

You can make an appointment through Book My Vaccine or by ringing 0800 28 29 26 from 8.30am to 5pm Monday through Friday.

You can also contact your GP for a vaccination, and most pharmacies will also be offering the vaccine – check with your local.

Who gets it for free?

The flu vaccine is free for those who are at the highest risk of getting very sick. This includes:

• people aged 65 years and over
• people aged 6 months and over who have a long-term medical condition like diabetes, asthma or a heart condition
• pregnant people
• children aged 4 years and under who have been hospitalised for respiratory illness, or have a history of significant respiratory illness
• people with mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder
• people who are currently accessing secondary or tertiary mental health and addiction services

Anyone who doesn’t fit into those categories will likely have to pay.

So how much does it cost?

The price for the vaccine is variable, but a check of multiple pharmacies showed it typically runs between $25 to $40 for the funded vaccine Influvac Tetra.

The three unfunded vaccines will cost more – ask your provider for details.

What happens when I get the jab?

You’ll typically be asked to wait for 15 minutes after getting the vaccine to ensure there’s no adverse reactions.

Vaccines can cause mild reactions, like a slight fever or pain where the needle went in.

Serious allergic reactions are rare and should be closely monitored at vaccination sites. They can also be reported online to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring, CARM.

For those concerned about vaccines, the Health New Zealand flu kit notes that “The flu vaccine has been around for many decades and has a great safety record. The vaccine does not contain live influenza viruses and cannot cause influenza.”

The vaccine doesn’t guarantee you’ll never catch the flu, but it does substantially lower the risk of serious illness or hospitalisation, health authorities say.

The government research organisation PHF Science said that in 2025, those vaccinated had about a 69 percent lower chance of being infected than those unvaccinated.

For now, you’re going to have to just grit your teeth and deal with the needle, but nasal spray flu vaccines are in development and may come here in the near future.

What is this ‘super-k’ influenza strain and why is it a worry?

Subclade K or H3N2 Subclade K is a strain of influenza that “has spread earlier and faster than typical seasonal influenza,” Australia’s science agency CSIRO said.

While it’s led to a more severe flu season in parts of the world, vaccines still work against it.

And New Zealand is fortunate, as vaccines have been changed for our part of the world to better deal with super-k.

“It is expected that all the flu vaccines in use in New Zealand this winter will provide protection against the K variant,” Ingram said.

“One of the strains in each vaccine is expected to provide protection against the K variant and was not included in the northern hemisphere vaccines – so we should have better protection.”

“It’s a good deal better than what they had in the Northern Hemisphere so hopefully that’s going to help us,” McIntyre said.

The super-k is not a new virus, but has undergone mutations in one of its key proteins that affect how it behaves and spreads. CSIRO said “the current best evidence suggests subclade K does not cause more severe disease.”

When it hit the UK last December, it led to record hospitalisations. The NHS’s national medical director called it a “worst-case scenario for this time of year.”

It has already arrived in this part of the world, McIntyre said.

“It turned up actually early in both Australia and New Zealand at the end of last year which was the reason why there was more flu around than would usually be the case in October and November.”

What other flu vaccines are there?

Pharmac funds the Influvac Tetra vaccine for those eligible, but three other flu vaccines are also offered at extra cost. Each is manufactured in a slightly different way.

“Influvac Tetra (funded vaccine) and Fluzone are very similar,” Ingram said, with Influvac containing an extra strain but not one that makes a “meaningful difference” to effectiveness against current strains.

Flucelvax, on the other hand, is a cell-based vaccine using cultured mammalian cells rather than the other, egg-based vaccines that are created in embryonated chicken eggs.

That “can be more effective than egg-based flu vaccines,” Ingram said. “The difference in benefit varies from season to season.”

“Over multiple seasons, Flucelvax was 8 percent more effective than egg-based vaccines. In one Northern Hemisphere season, it reached almost 20 percent more effectiveness in children and adults aged under 65 years.”

The fourth vaccine, Fluad, is free for adults over 65 in Australia, but not in New Zealand, even though McIntyre said there is evidence it’s even more effective for the elderly.

Here, Fluad is only approved for adults over age 50.

“As the name suggests it’s got this added bit in it, which is a thing called an adjuvant, which basically helps kick the immune system along to produce a stronger response,” McIntyre said.

Fluad “provides the greatest additional benefit for older adults aged 75 years and over, and those with multiple health problems,” Ingram said.

As it’s not funded, it will typically run around $50 to get Fluad, McIntyre said.

“In New Zealand, unfortunately, if you want that vaccine … you’ll have to pay for it.”

McIntrye said there are “good arguments” in favour of funding it for over 65s.

Should more vaccines be free?

Cost and access are still factors keeping flu vaccine takeup from being higher.

Ingram said on behalf of the Immunisation Advisory Centre that “we do wish that the flu vaccine was funded for all children under 5 and that older adults could have a funded enhanced vaccine.”

Last year, only 5 percent of children had a flu vaccine despite around 20 percent being eligible for a free vaccine because of health conditions.

“Funding it for all children would improve uptake and reduce sickness, hospitalisations, complications, antibiotic use and transmission in families and communities,” Ingram said.

If you’re making a flu vaccine appointment, it’s worth considering getting other vaccines done too, she said.

“When getting a flu vaccine, it is sensible to also have a dose of the updated Covid-19 vaccine if you are older or have health conditions that will increase your risk of severe Covid-19.”

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Analysis – Nicola Willis has put her money where her mouth is and reduced her Budget’s operating allowance for a third year running.

For years, the Finance Minister has been relentless in her criticism of the previous minister, Grant Robertson, and his extensive operating allowances – $5.9 billion in 2022 and $4.8b in 2023 – promising to rein in spending and prioritise fiscal discipline.

In her first Budget in 2024 she told reporters in the lock-up that she was “weaning off the addiction to spending” that Robertson had created over six years of a Labour government.

At that year’s Budget, an operating allowance of $3.5b had been forecast, which was ultimately reduced by $300 million to $3.2b.

Last year the slashing was even more aggressive when a forecast $2.4b allowance was chopped in half by her pre-Budget speech to just $1.3b – a reduction of $1.1b.

And on Wednesday the Prime Minister delivered the news for her, telling a Business NZ audience in Auckland that the forecast $2.4b allowance had been nudged down by $300m to $2.1b.

Those operating allowances are tight, but critics will find it difficult to describe them as austerity, especially with the likes of the Taxpayers’ Union arguing the number should be closer to zero.

Singing from that same songsheet traditionally is the ACT Party. When leader David Seymour was asked at Parliament on Wednesday whether he would have liked the cuts to go further, he said his aim would have been a “less than zero” Budget.

“Speaking as the ACT leader, yeah, I think we need to be a lot tougher on reducing the deficit and reducing government spending, but also speaking as the Deputy Prime Minister, I’m proud to be part of this government and I know that we wouldn’t have made the level of savings we have [without ACT].”

Seymour said the savings had ACT’s fingerprints all over them and his ministers were the ones at the Cabinet table putting pressure on the coalition to make “careful use of taxpayer money”.

Willis told RNZ on Wednesday that if it weren’t for the fuel crisis her operating allowance reduction would be larger and more in tune with the cuts seen last year.

“It is the case that without the fuel crisis, yes, we may have been able to have an even tighter allowance, but my view is that we have achieved a great deal by reducing our forecast operating allowance, ensuring that we’re building up buffers for the future, keeping New Zealand financially secure.”

The buffers are needed more than ever given the increasingly volatile world countries are operating in, where in the space of a few weeks a US-Israel attack on Iran can shoot petrol prices at the pump in New Zealand beyond $3 a litre.

That’s required unexpected support packages that are already chewing up some of the operating allowance put aside for this year’s Budget to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

While the operating allowance restraint speaks direct to Willis’ narrative over the past two-and-a-half years, this year’s Budget is accommodating a $2.2b increase on what was forecast for capital expenditure – up from $3.5b to $5.7b.

Christopher Luxon addressed that increase, saying “the recent crisis has acted as a timely reminder that significant levels of capital investment will be required in the coming years”.

But he also signalled it didn’t reflect a “permanently higher rate of borrowing” and that in the years ahead a balance would be found between saving and borrowing.

Seymour also defended the increased capital spend saying it was to deal with “things that are yet to be announced, that I think are significant and timely investment”, adding that in later years in the fiscal cycle the capital expenditure would reduce.

While Budgets are drastically impacted by global and national events and disasters – think the Christchurch earthquakes, the Covid-19 pandemic, or the ongoing fuel crisis – they’re also shaped by individual government’s political decisions.

Willis will be commended by many for slashing the operating allowances at each of her Budgets to date, but remains open to criticism from other quarters about both what the coalition cut and continues to prioritise spending on.

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

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has promised “careful” immigration policy and signalled more capital spending than expected in an annual pre-Budget speech,

Speaking about the need for social cohesion, Luxon highlighted his own electorate of Botany as “more diverse than most”, saying many of Chinese, Korean, Malaysian and Indian New Zealanders were being “unfairly and unreasonably vilified”.

He said during the Covid-19 pandemic, ministers had “too often prioritised their own political interests over the interest of the public”, and the media “determined to flatter New Zealand’s relative performance, also failed”.

“Since then, failed immigration policies in Europe and North America have also stoked a politics of division online. Despite prudent policies and the natural advantages of geography, immigration now seems to be an emerging political issue in New Zealand, too,” he said, in what could be seen as a swipe at New Zealand First’s criticisms of the India free trade deal.

He pointed to the government’s moves to tighten immigration law and said National would be watching closely.

“And you should expect to see careful policy on immigration from National as we get closer to the election … when it comes to immigration, when faced with a choice between social stability and your bottom line, I will choose the former every single time.”

Pointing to the United States “now focusing more exclusively on its own view of its own interests – America first”, and Russia having made “its brutal intentions clear in Europe” and China “expanding its influence”, Luxon painted a now-familiar picture of an erosion of the international rule of law.

“When you turn on the news at night and see alliances straining, trade wars flaring and the rules being rewritten by the powerful, it is only natural to feel as though the ground is shifting beneath you,” he said, before offering an optimistic observation.

“We have faced similar challenges before, and we have overcome them.”

He hearkened back to world wars, giving a message of hope in an increasingly volatile world.

“The outcome was not inevitable. It was not guaranteed. People were frightened, and they were right to be frightened,” he said. “They didn’t just win a war. They built the peace that followed.”

Also addressing a need for cooperation with like-minded partners on defence and trade, he also drew attention to the need for energy independence.

“On too many occasions, private capital, eager to bolster domestic energy production, has been pushed to the sidelines by overzealous planners and politicians in recent years,” he said.

“The reality is that when faced with energy shock after energy shock, it’s very hard to justify backing the skink over the solar farm.”

He pointed to the government’s responses to the fuel crisis, while noting “more action is required”.

That could be delivered through changes to Budget allowances – with less operational spending at $2.1b, down from $2.4b; but more capital spending at $5.7b.

“The recent crisis has acted as a timely reminder that significant levels of capital investment will be required in the coming years,” Luxon said.

“That doesn’t reflect a permanently higher rate of borrowing – we’ll need to get the balance right in the years ahead, as we rebuild our fiscal buffers … The truth is that as a country we don’t save nearly enough, and rely too much on money borrowed from overseas to support our lifestyles. That must change.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis will deliver her third Budget on 28 May in what are constrained fiscal times.

The conflict in Iran and the global fuel crisis it has triggered required a certain level of re-forecasting and reprioritising of the Budget in recent months.

There were no pre-Budget announcements expected in Christopher Luxon’s speech to a Business NZ audience on Wednesday, though some are due to trickle out from other ministers in the coming days.

The only policy announced to date is the scrapping of the third year of fees-free tertiary study.

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The number of New Zealand students studying on Massey Univeristy’s campuses is rising after halving over the past 10 years, it says.

Meanwhile, a union leader says the university’s Albany, Palmerston North and Wellington sites feel like ghost towns.

Official figures showed Massey had 12,345 equivalent full-time domestic students in 2025 including 4770 on-campus and 7575 studying remotely.

The number studying remotely was one of the highest on record and nearly 2000 more than in 2016, but the on-campus figure was the lowest point in a steady decline from a high of 9705 in 2016.

The university also had 4040 full-time equivalent international students giving it a total of 16,385 EFTS last year – slightly more than in the previous two years but about 2500 fewer than in the years prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The university’s annual report showed its Albany and Palmerston North campuses had nearly 2900 full-time equivalent students each last year and Wellington had 1997.

The university recorded a financial surplus for the year and the report said it had reduced its floor space by 23 percent since 2023.

Tertiary Education Union Massey branch co-chair, Te Awatea Ward, said staff were very aware of the decline in on-campus enrolments.

“They’ve noticed. Particularly last year and the year before there was a great concern at how empty our campuses were, particularly the Albany campus,” she said.

“This year staff have got very excited from the orientation day and seeing more students on campus… that lasts for about two or three days, and then it goes back to a ghost town.”

She said there were a lot of theories about what was to blame.

Ward said Massey had emphasised its online courses and staff noticed the contrast with Canterbury University, where domestic enrolments were well up.

“If you want students on campus, you have to provide courses on campus. If you’re wanting to have the maximum number of students qualify or complete with the least amount of financial input you have online courses,” she said.

“There’s definitely a competition for students between the eight universities.”

Ministry of Education figures showed nationally the number of on-campus students grew four percent last year to 104,420, slightly more than in 2016.

There were 13,905 full-time equivalent domestic students studying remotely, fewer than in recent years but 60 percent more than in 2016.

In a statement, Massey University said its drop in on-campus domestic students “reflects a combination of sector-wide shifts and changes in student behaviour – particularly over the pandemic when campus-based students shifted online (which has consistently grown), as well as a move back to campus learning at a time when our portfolio was changing”.

It said the university was “moving into a growth phase” by refreshing existing programmes and introducing new ones.

“We are already seeing positive indicators in our pipeline with new domestic on-campus learners up by 4.3 percent year on year, particularly in the Manawatū,” it said.

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

The number of New Zealand students studying on Massey Univeristy’s campuses is rising after halving over the past 10 years, it says.

Meanwhile, a union leader says the university’s Albany, Palmerston North and Wellington sites feel like ghost towns.

Official figures showed Massey had 12,345 equivalent full-time domestic students in 2025 including 4770 on-campus and 7575 studying remotely.

The number studying remotely was one of the highest on record and nearly 2000 more than in 2016, but the on-campus figure was the lowest point in a steady decline from a high of 9705 in 2016.

The university also had 4040 full-time equivalent international students giving it a total of 16,385 EFTS last year – slightly more than in the previous two years but about 2500 fewer than in the years prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The university’s annual report showed its Albany and Palmerston North campuses had nearly 2900 full-time equivalent students each last year and Wellington had 1997.

The university recorded a financial surplus for the year and the report said it had reduced its floor space by 23 percent since 2023.

Tertiary Education Union Massey branch co-chair, Te Awatea Ward, said staff were very aware of the decline in on-campus enrolments.

“They’ve noticed. Particularly last year and the year before there was a great concern at how empty our campuses were, particularly the Albany campus,” she said.

“This year staff have got very excited from the orientation day and seeing more students on campus… that lasts for about two or three days, and then it goes back to a ghost town.”

She said there were a lot of theories about what was to blame.

Ward said Massey had emphasised its online courses and staff noticed the contrast with Canterbury University, where domestic enrolments were well up.

“If you want students on campus, you have to provide courses on campus. If you’re wanting to have the maximum number of students qualify or complete with the least amount of financial input you have online courses,” she said.

“There’s definitely a competition for students between the eight universities.”

Ministry of Education figures showed nationally the number of on-campus students grew four percent last year to 104,420, slightly more than in 2016.

There were 13,905 full-time equivalent domestic students studying remotely, fewer than in recent years but 60 percent more than in 2016.

In a statement, Massey University said its drop in on-campus domestic students “reflects a combination of sector-wide shifts and changes in student behaviour – particularly over the pandemic when campus-based students shifted online (which has consistently grown), as well as a move back to campus learning at a time when our portfolio was changing”.

It said the university was “moving into a growth phase” by refreshing existing programmes and introducing new ones.

“We are already seeing positive indicators in our pipeline with new domestic on-campus learners up by 4.3 percent year on year, particularly in the Manawatū,” it said.

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Retailers and truckers back the government’s more simplified, high-trust fuel rationing system, but Labour says it is simply not credible.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Fuel Security Minister Shane Jones unveiled what happens at the higher-level Phases Three and Four of the national fuel plan on Monday.

Where the earlier approach had rationing at both levels, the updated plan would have Phase Three focus on voluntary limiting of supply, with additional diesel reserves able to be released.

Rationing would be limited Phase Four – the highest level – with sectors qualifying for different levels of usage depending on sector.

Critical users would face no limitations, while the next level down – food and freight – would need to come up with plans on how to reduce usage.

Road Carriers Association chief executive Justin Tighe-Umbers told RNZ that would carry some complexity – with fuel use being quite seasonal in some industries – but overall would be “fairly straightforward”.

“A fuel plan for a freight operator, if we did enter Phase Four, would be to look at their fuel consumption over the last 12 months, and the government would give a tasking on that fuel consumption.

“So depending on what the situation was, they might say right there’s a 10 percent reduction on your fuel use, you now need to move to a model where you’re using 10 percent less fuel.

“Yes, there’s work involved, but it should be fairly straightforward.”

It was an improvement over the government’s earlier plan.

“It was overly complicated,” he said. “If you’ve got a food manufacturer who on a processing plant needs a part delivered, is that part considered essential freight? Is it part of an operator who’s allowed to deliver essential freight? How does that actually work?”

He noted if New Zealand reached Phase 4, diesel prices would be expected to be very high – which would curb demand.

Under the third category, which includes retail, companies and community groups would also develop plans but with bigger reductions.

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young had previously called for food to be at the highest priority, but was not disappointed with the changes.

She said freight and food being in the higher priority would help those relying on their supply chains – and agreed the new system was an improvement.

“I think it would be fair to say that hospitals, ambulances, fire service, police – they are in a different category.

“Freight and food … we know that everyone needs to buy groceries … and to eat to be able to survive. So it’s not that you’re not going to get groceries delivered across the country, but there might be, you know, maybe there’s one less variety on the shelves or something.

“We don’t want to bring the whole country to a halt and for families that have got children that are growing and they’ve got needs – new clothes or you’ve got to get a heater for the house or whatever it might be – you want to know that you can go and get those products.

“If those businesses [are] not allowed to have freight going to their sites, it will mean that, you know, the public will start to panic.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the plan was “simply not credible”.

“Their fuel plan amounts to: do nothing; do nothing; do not very much; panic,” he said.

“I think the bones of it are there, but the idea that it’ll just run on goodwill without really clear detail about how it’s supposed to operate is just very naive.

“Families are having to make some really tough choices between going to the supermarket or going to the petrol station, and this government’s message is very clear to those families: you’re on your own.”

He refused to say what Labour would do differently, saying the plan was “what this government is supposed to have been working through, and they don’t seem to have answers”.

Tighe-Umbers, however, had high hopes a self-managed approach could work.

“If we’ve got to Phase Four, Kiwis have shown that we’re good at pulling together and doing the right thing in those times – you only have to look at our response in the Christchurch earthquake and responses to cyclones.”

He contrasted that with the Covid-19 response, which he said tried to control things to a high degree.

“Fuel station workers or transport operators to actually be involved in policing, that’s never a good move … we learned it’s actually very difficult and just introduces a whole lot of complexity.

“If there was a lot of people or operators not doing the right thing, then government would have to get more aggressive … but I think this is the right approach to start with.”

Young was not so sure.

“I’m not sure how cohesive we are as a community at the moment, and whether we consider each other or we’re just considering ourselves,” she said.

“That would be the caution I would have around whether we would really legitimately pull together as a community and say ‘yep, for the better, this is what I’ll do, and I’m going to comply to all of these things’, knowing that it’s not necessarily going to be enforced.

“I guess as long as everyone’s playing by the rules, then we’re all good with it, and it will just be a matter of making sure that there is really clear direction given to businesses and households.”

Regardless, Hipkins said agreed Phase Four was unlikely to be needed.

Willis on Monday pointed to the government’s modelling showing the probability of moving to Phase Four was in the single digits.

She indicated the measures imposed by Phase Three – which could include releasing some of the 90 million litres of reserve diesel set to be held at Marsden Point by the end of June – would ideally preclude the need to move to Phase Four.

“In just about all of the scenarios that they mapped out, they said actually with your additional reserve and your minimum stockholding obligation and a bit of fuel restraint you should be covered.”

Willis said the government was open to releasing the modelling publicly.

Luxon said with the Southeast Asian refineries that supplied New Zealand having secured supplies of crude through July and August, further reductions were not expected.

“We should know many weeks in advance of any increased likelihood of New Zealand bound orders or shipments being disrupted.”

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Explainer – The internet is filling with panic about hantavirus, but is it really as dangerous as Covid-19? Here’s what we know so far.

Three deaths and several infections on a cruise ship off South America has raised alarms for many, in a world where some are still mentally and physically recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This is not going to be another coronavirus pandemic, from all we know about this agent,” said epidemiologist Michael Baker – a man who knows his pandemics and was one of New Zealand’s most prominent experts during Covid-19.

“This is not another Covid,” World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also said. “The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”

What’s happening with this outbreak? Could it come to New Zealand?

Three people have died and at least six others appear to be infected after an outbreak of hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was travelling around South America last month.

Passengers on the cruise ship have been evacuated in the Canary Islands. One New Zealander has been confirmed to be among them.

That person will eventually return home.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed that “we are providing consular assistance to a New Zealander on board the MV Hondius. This will include repatriation assistance.”

MFAT indicated no further information on the New Zealander would be provided for privacy reasons.

“We currently have no reason to believe that any New Zealanders have contracted hantavirus,” said Dr Richard Jaine, deputy director of public health for the Ministry of Health.

“However, it is important that we respond appropriately and take all possible steps to manage any potential risk to individuals or the public.”

The person may likely face precautions on their return to New Zealand.

“Depending on the risk it is possible this may also include a period of quarantine for any exposed individual on their return to New Zealand.”

What is a hantavirus?

Hantavirus is typically spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings.

This particular strain, the Andes virus, is endemic to Argentina, and is the only strain of hantavirus that has been known to have human to human transmission – typically through very close contact such as sharing a bed or food.

Its symptoms typically include fever, headache, muscle aches and gastrointestinal symptoms.

Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), a severe respiratory illness that can develop, has a case fatality rate up to 50 percent. It’s the same thing that killed Betsy Arakawa, the wife of the late actor Gene Hackman, last year.

“The (hantavirus) in the Americas are particularly dangerous because they have a fatality rate of about 40 percent,” Baker told RNZ Afternoons. “They’re very unpleasant infections if you get them.”

No vaccines or specific treatments exist for hantavirus, but quick hospital care can often prevent symptoms turning deadly.

Hantaviruses are found in small mammals such as rats, mice, voles, shrews and lemmings, but no New Zealand rodents carry these viruses, University of Auckland associate professor of infectious diseases Dr Mark Thomas said.

“The only way a New Zealand resident could become unwell with a hantavirus infection would be as the result of travel to a country where the virus is present.”

WHO has said the investigations so far suggest possible exposure to rodents during bird watching activities.

“A Dutch couple, who unfortunately have now died, probably got infected in Argentina, and the other thing that was very bad luck was that the Andean species of this hantavirus is the only one that has occasionally caused person to person transmission,” Baker said.

How is it transmitted?

Hantavirus is contracted from direct contact with urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents, or rarely through rodent bites.

But the Andes variant has shown some ability to move between humans in certain conditions.

“Andes virus has demonstrated limited human-to-human transmission in previous outbreaks, typically occurring among close contacts and within household settings, generally requiring prolonged close exposure,” WHO’s database states.

However, Covid-19 is a far more efficient airborne respiratory virus that spreads much easier than hantavirus does.

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus is rare and requires prolonged and direct exposure to a case, Jaine said.

“This isn’t like the flu or Covid-19.”

Cruise ships have often been incubators for diseases and outbreaks.

Baker said the combination of the Andes hantavirus and cramped quarters on board a ship have made for a “really bad sequence of events”.

“The ship environment presents an increased risk due to close living quarters, shared indoor spaces, prolonged exposure, and frequent interpersonal interactions, all of which may facilitate transmission,” WHO wrote.

Health authorities in several countries have also been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them.

The lengthy incubation time of the virus – as long as eight weeks – could also complicate efforts to contain the disease.

So is this really going to be Covid-19 part 2?

The general consensus for now is that while it’s worrying and health authorities are paying close attention, this isn’t the same kind of quick-spreading disease Covid was.

“It has all those echoes from a very tough period in our history,” Back said, with an infection that’s come from an animal to humans. But it’s not the same kind of illness.

“It’s very different. They’re usually very hard to catch. There are several hundred cases a year but they are linked to rodents.”

The images of masked medical workers and return of contract tracing is bringing back memories of the pandemic for many people. “Covid PTSD” is a real thing, with people anxious about a return to lockdowns and cracking dad jokes on social media about stocking up on toilet paper.

Is there any danger of it turning into a global pandemic?

So far, the advice is not to panic.

“This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, director of WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said at a press conference.

“I think it’s very important that listeners are not overly concerned about this particular outbreak … It is being very well managed,” Baker said.

Viruses do mutate, so health authorities are taking the hantavirus situation very seriously, Baker said.

“They’ll certainly be looking at it to see if it has changed in any way.”

For the passengers on the ship, “precautions being taken are very intense,” he said.

“Anyone being evacuated is going to be treated as if they are quite infectious.”

WHO’s emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud told AFP he believed any further spread would be “a limited outbreak” if “public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries.”

WHO has said it advises against implementing any travel or trade restrictions based on current information about the hantavirus.

The majority of the approximately 150 passengers and crew on board the cruise ship appear not to have contracted the virus.

“If it was highly infectious it wouldn’t just be maybe half a dozen people infected on this ship,” Baker said.

“You’d see a high proportion of people on board showing some evidence of infection.”

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

Anyone returning to New Zealand from the cruise with the deadly hantavirus outbreak, could be put into quarantine.

It’s believed only one New Zealander is on board the MV Hondius, which is docking in the Canary Islands in Spain on Sunday evening (NZ time).

Three people have died after catching the virus.

The Ministry of Health said it is working closely with the World Health Organisation and international partners to support repatriation efforts. Dr Richard Jaine said there is no reason to believe that any New Zealanders have contracted the virus.

He said repatriation plans would include a thorough health assessment. He said it’s important to take all possible steps to manage any potential risk to the public.

He said depending on the risk it is possible it may also include a period of quarantine for any exposed individual on their return to New Zealand.

Dr Jaine said New Zealand’s health services are well-placed to respond if there is a case of hantavirus in the country, but he said human-to-human transmission of hantavirus is rare and requires prolonged and direct exposure to a case. He said it isn’t like the flu or Covid-19.

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has travelled to Tenerife to reassure residents that there’s a low risk of contracting the disease when the ship arrives.

The WHO had assessed the global risk as low and said the risk for New Zealand specifically, is low.

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Led by Te Herenga Waka Centre for Justice Innovation, this research project will examine when and how remote participation should be used in criminal court proceedings, with the goal of supporting fairer and more effective justice processes.

The use of remote participation in courts refers to where one or more participants take part in court proceedings using audio-visual link (AVL) or audio technology, rather than appearing in person. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, remote appearances have become more common in courts around the world, but there is a need for more evidence about the impact on vulnerable defendants, victims, and the integrity of court processes.

“There are many barriers to participation in the court and those who are neurodivergent or have disabilities often require special accommodations. We need to know whether remote participation is a help or a hindrance for these people and determine how we know who is who, and who needs what to enable effective participation,” says retired judge John Walker, a co-director of the Centre, and project co-lead.

“There are many benefits of remote participation by AVL but we hope our research will enable decisions to be made which balance these benefits against the right to fully participate in court” he said.

The project, which is supported through a Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation grant with additional Ministry of Justice funding, will build an evidence base through empirical research with court users and stakeholders, along with a review of international experiences.

Research from this project aims to ensure that technology enhances people’s experiences of court systems and proceedings. “We will focus initially on the effects of remote participation on defendants, especially those who are neurodivergent, have mental health needs, or have intellectual disabilities. We will also examine the experiences of victims, impacts on Māori and Pasifika court participants, and consider the impact on those in custody, including the management of transitions from custodial settings to courtrooms via AV link,” explains John Walker.

“We anticipate that the project findings will contribute to government and judicial decision-making regarding the scope of remote participation, such as the types of proceedings, rights protections, and procedures necessary now and in future,” says project co-lead, Professor Yvette Tinsley.

As an independent voice on justice issues, Te Herenga Waka’s Centre for Justice Innovation is well placed to lead this work. The Centre, based at Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture—Faculty of Law at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, brings together multidisciplinary expertise to support change in the way that justice is delivered in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The project will be led by the Centre’s co-directors, Professor Yvette Tinsley, John Walker, and conflict resolution practitioner, Everard Halbert (Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Whiti), with support from colleagues across the Faculty of Law and wider university.

The Centre held a valuable forum in March, bringing together representatives from the disability and neurodivergence spaces, justice sector agencies, and the judiciary, for a conversation about the challenges and benefits of utilising remote participation for defendants facing barriers to participation.

“The forum raised issues that will guide us in the areas we need to concentrate on in our research”, says John Walker.

A summary report of this forum is now available on the Te Herenga Waka Centre for Justice Innovation website and is the first of a series of publications from the project.

“We are grateful for our funders’ support of this project, and for the Michael and Suzanne Borrin Foundation’s ongoing support of the Te Herenga Waka Centre for Justice Innovation’s work in addressing cross-cutting justice issues,” says Professor Tinsley.

Website: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/cjinz

Direct Link to Remote Participation Project: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/cjinz/research/remote-participation-criminal-proceedings

MIL OSI

A $1.26 half-year billion profit for ANZ. A $545 million half-year for Westpac. A $494m result for BNZ.

As New Zealand’s economy reels from one hit to the next, some commentators have asked whether the run of recent profits for banks show they are one of the few businesses that can turn a healthy profit no matter what.

David Cunningham, chief executive of Squirrel and former chief executive of The Co-Operative Bank, said it was fair to suggest that banks were generally able to make money regardless of the wider business environment.

“Imagine if a bank did nothing for a year, stopped lending, stopped doing anything for a year, they’d still make 90 percent of the profit.

“Every year, over 150 or 200 years for many banks, they build up an annuity stream and every year they’re topping that up. The banking sector will typically grow at around the nominal GDP rate. If you think of inflation at 3 percent and real growth at 2, so nominal GDP at 5, that’s pretty much what you’d expect banks to achieve consistently over time unless they’re in a big cost-cutting mode or in a high-growth sort of phase.”

He said there would be times when credit provisions and credit write-offs could affect the reported profits but it did not necessarily mean they lost money.

Many banks set aside large loan loss provisions heading into the Covid-19 pandemic, which then were reversed out.

“They’re providing against the risk that in future they will lose the money… [but] there’s a great saying, the only thing worse than a profitable bank is an unprofitable one.”

He said most customers would be most concerned that banks were supporting investment in the economy and helping people when they needed loans for things like buying houses.

“The question in New Zealand is, are they for a very low-risk business? I mean, it’s almost utility-like. Utilities tend to have predictable, long-run, fairly stable earnings. So is a return on equity sort of near a 13 percent, 14 percent for some of them fair, or, you know, is a return nearer 10 percent like the overall of yield of banks in Australia fairer?”

But Claire Matthews, a banking expert at Massey University, said it was not true that banks were unaffected by wider forces.

She noted Westpac’s result said its impairment provisions were due to worsening economic conditions and margin compression as the official cash rate dropped.

BNZ’s profit was down 38 percent, although largely because of a change in the way it accounts for software spending.

“The banks have managed not to lose money in recent recessions, which reflects careful financial management and the fact that we haven’t had a really substantial downturn. As I’ve said in the past, we don’t actually want the banks to make losses, but they do feel the impact of economic conditions. It is also worth remembering that they are usually affected later by economic downturns, because it takes time to work through to the banks.’

Generate investment specialist Greg Smith said earnings were sensitive in a nuanced way.

“They can generate profits through the cycle, but recent results from ANZ, NAB and Westpac show earnings are clearly being shaped by slower growth, higher bad debts, intense competition and the impact of higher interest rates. The Middle East is a factor.

“They can perform well early in a rate tightening cycle because they typically reprice mortgage rates quickly, while deposit rates adjust more slowly, which leads to a temporary expansion in net interest margins. That dynamic helped support profitability over the past couple of years.

“However, what we’re seeing now across ANZ, NAB and Westpac is the other side of that cycle starting to dominate. Higher rates are now feeding through to customers, with banks lifting provisions for bad debts and flagging stress in parts of the economy. Credit growth is slowing, with businesses and households pulling back. Competition for deposits and mortgages is intensifying, putting pressure back on margins. Profits remain high in absolute terms, but earnings growth is limited or declining.”

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Infrastructure minister Chris Bishop has committed to a review of Auckland’s multibillion-dollar City Rail Link project, saying he’s unhappy with the price tag.

It comes after the New Zealand Herald reported the project’s former boss, Dr Sean Sweeney, said it could have been done at half the cost – about $2 billion cheaper if design changes were made earlier.

Sweeney left the chief executive role in 2024 after six years.

Work began on the $5.5b CRL in 2017. It was initially expected to cost between $2.8b and $3.4b.

It’s the country’s largest infrastructure project, expected to nearly double Auckland’s rail capacity when it opens later this year.

Bishop said he, “like everyone”, was unhappy with the project’s cost.

“I have a lot of respect for Mr Sweeney so I take what he says seriously,” he said.

“The focus at the moment is on completing the project and getting it open. However, I am determined to do a post-completion full review of the project, which is something not often done in New Zealand.”

The review would be carried out by the Infrastructure Commission and consider the project’s history, business cases and costs, Bishop said.

“It also needs to look at missed opportunities. I’ve been open about how CRL was only really ever envisaged as a transport project when it is so much more than that.”

CRL chief executive Patrick Brockie said he welcomed a review, and was already planning an independent “lessons learned review” given the project’s size and complexity.

“Independent reviews of any major infrastructure project are an important part of a process to identify opportunities to improve future projects in New Zealand,” he said.

CRL was focused on finishing the project in the coming months, which Aucklanders could rely on “for decades to come”, Brockie said.

“It’s also important to note that the overall cost of the CRL reflects a wide range of factors beyond architecture alone, including the complexity of building a major underground rail project in the city centre, market and supply-chain conditions, and the impacts of Covid-19 and associated disruptions over the life of the programme.”

In 2019 a design change increased the CRL’s capacity to allow nine-car trains rather than six, which added additional cost due to extended platforms, an extra station increase and providing for future platform screen doors, Brockie said.

“But future-proofing for nine-car trains will mean that the CRL will be able to continue to deliver capacity as the population continues grows over the decades.”

The infrastructure pipeline was a common challenge facing the industry and had been well canvassed across the political spectrum, he said.

Last year, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said the city’s proposed 7.9 percent rates increase was largely due to the CRL.

City Rail Link has been approached for comment.

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

A leading economist says businesses could exploit the war in the Middle East to raise prices even when not directly related to the fuel crisis.

Petrol price surges have seen 91 routinely above $3 a litre and KiwiRail this week announced an increase on the fuel surcharge for freight on the Interislander ferry. Internationally, shipping company Maersk announced its own 27 percent fuel surcharge.

The Reserve Bank has warned that the fuel and transport costs would likely push inflation above 4 percent in the June quarter.

Westpac economist Kelly Eckhold told Nine to Noon on Wednesday businesses find it easier to lift prices when inflation is becoming widespread.

“[Many price hikes] you can shape back to fuel quite quickly. And in those cases, firms are taking their approach of imposing surcharges. So they’re saying, ‘Well, we’re going to put the price up by this amount’. It’s reflecting this increase in the oil or the refined fuels price.

“And then they say, ‘When those prices come down, we’ll remove that’. So that’s pretty transparent, isn’t it? And then that’s the sort of pricing behaviour that I don’t think the Reserve Bank or anyone would be very surprised by.”

But in other cases, Eckhold explained, prices are unlikely to drop when the price of fuel normalises – particularly if they cannot be linked directly back to the cost of fuel.

“When the services prices start to increase, for example, my Spotify subscription or your Sky subscription, et cetera, you’re very unlikely to see those prices fall back.

“What’s more likely is that is the price, that’s the base price that you’ll pay in the future. And the best you might hope for is that if costs rise less quickly in the future, then maybe the next increase that you see could be delayed for a period of time.

“That sort of inflation, I think, is less comfortable for central banks and the sort of inflation that they’re really all looking out for to gauge just how much… they have to increase interest rates by.”

The next official cash rate (OCR) update from the Reserve Bank is due on 27 May. The bank uses the OCR to increase or decrease the cost of borrowing – the former decreases spending and aims to curb inflation, while the latter does the opposite.

Eckhold did not believe the OCR would need to rise as much as it did following Covid-19, when it peaked at 5.5 percent in 2023.

“The conditions are a bit different. I mean, there we had a big supply shock coming from the Covid disruptions themselves, and then the onset of the Russian war, combined with very expensive fiscal and military policy. And that second set of factors isn’t really present right now, at least not in New Zealand.”

It could take a few more months to see the full impact of the Iran war on the economy here, Eckhold said.

“Fertiliser is a good example where we produce some fertiliser here, but a lot of it is actually imported. We got a little bit lucky in the fertiliser game because we had imported a lot of our needs for the next six months before the shock hit.

“The questions are going to arise about what happens after that period, and prices are lifting because global prices have gone up over 100 percent. An imbalance increased their prices yesterday by about 10 or 15 percent, starting to reflect that.

“But all through the rest of the supply chain, particularly think about plastics. So pretty much everything you buy comes in some kind of plastic container. That stuff is directly an offshoot of the naphtha market, which is a part of the oil distillation process. And those are the sort of price increases that are going to become really prominent, broad, but also come at quite a bit of a lag as that filters through the global supply chains.”

That delay could prompt the Reserve Bank to get ahead of any possible inflation, he said. The OCR was currently at 2.25 percent.

“They will probably realise that with this increase in headline inflation, that inflation expectations are likely to rise. And they’ll be trying to gauge how long this increase in inflation is going to last. And there, the news hasn’t been very good, because forecasts of the gulf war ending within a few weeks have consistently been disappointed.”

Whatever happens, it was likely New Zealand’s economy was in for a “tough time”, particularly through winter, with increased petrol costs slashing spending in retail and hospitality.

“I think the housing market is one that just won’t do very well in this environment, because we’re probably looking at a rising unemployment rate. Disposable incomes are being cut here by the cost shock. Confidence is also really low, and confidence is quite important for that.

“The other thing is to think about is the tourism market as well, because the costs of coming to New Zealand are probably getting more expensive and uncertain…

“New Zealand Incorporated has taken a big income loss here because we’re basically paying an extra, say, $6 or $7 or $8 billion a year for our refined fuels than we did in the previous year. When I look at that, that’s two-thirds of the dairy industry that we just lost in terms of income. And the government, the Reserve Bank, no one can give that back to us.”

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

MIL OSI

Explainer – New Zealand has signed a deal with Singapore that will ensure exports of essential supplies like food and fuel keep flowing, even during a crisis.

A bit like the one we’re facing now.

While it was inked this week, negotiations concluded last year, and Singapore has kept the fuel coming since the outbreak of the war on Iran.

Neither Christopher Luxon nor his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong would have known just how handy that deal was going to become back in October.

It’s a pretty simple equation, crisis or no crisis: New Zealand needs fuel, Singapore supplies fuel. Singapore needs food, New Zealand supplies food.

With no refinery in New Zealand since the closure of Marsden Point, we’ve had to rely on importing refined fuel from elsewhere. Singapore has supplied around a third of that.

The background

New Zealand and Singapore have a longstanding trade relationship.

In the year to June 2025, two-way trade was worth $11.07 billion.

The two countries signed a free trade agreement (the New Zealand-Singapore Closer Economic Partnership, or CEP) all the way back in 2000.

In April 2020, they committed to a declaration on trade in essential goods, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

That declaration ensured neither New Zealand nor Singapore would impose export restrictions like tariffs on 120 essential goods like various foods, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment.

While the declaration was non-binding, in 2022 former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and former Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong established a supply chain working group to build on those commitments and spirit of cooperation.

In October 2024, Cabinet agreed to launch negotiations, and a year later the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies (AOTES) was agreed to.

Were we at risk of fuel being cut off?

Singapore has made it clear it was hardly going to turn the tap off anyway, given the relationship and how much it runs counter to our general trade philosophies.

New Zealand farmers are pretty reliant on diesel, in order to produce the food that is then exported to Singapore.

So there was never much of a motivation for Singapore or New Zealand to all of a sudden become more protectionist.

But now it’s in writing, with legal obligations, and sitting within the CEP.

“Unlike the declaration, the AOTES is a binding, treaty level agreement and is not responding to an immediate supply shock but helping both of our countries prepare for future crises,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials wrote in a national interest analysis.

Countries can use a critical shortages exception under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), but this new deal is “novel,” officials said, because it prevents that from happening.

Not that New Zealand has ever used that exception. To the best of their knowledge, officials couldn’t find an example.

So, even if Singapore experiences a supply shock, it still can’t apply that shortages exception, which gives New Zealand more certainty.

But what if the worst happens?

If we’re talking about the absolute worst of the worst of situations, like a nuclear apocalypse which wipes out all of our crops, or the island where Singapore’s refineries are based all of a sudden sinks into the sea, then yes, sure, Singapore and New Zealand could technically circumvent the agreement.

The countries can still use other provisions or exceptions in the GATT or their World Trade Organisation agreements, so they can still impose export controls for “reasons such as national security threats, the protection of human, plant and animal health, public morals, or the regulation of classification, grading or marketing of commodities in international trade.”

That’s where a rapid review clause comes in, meaning both parties can call an emergency meeting to discuss adding or removing goods to or from the list.

Singapore and New Zealand have also promised to share information with each other in the event of a significant or imminent supply chain disruption, such as the predicted impact on their economy or national security, or how long it may last.

There is a provision within Singapore and New Zealand’s CEP which allows Singapore to adopt “any measure” to address critical shortages of essential imports.

So, if there’s a supply chain crisis, Singapore could use the provision within the CEP to prove an exemption from the AOTES.

But, officials said, the threshold was high, as the “relevant goods need to be listed as essential in Singapore’s domestic law, the critical shortages need to give rise to major difficulties for Singapore, and the measure should not be used to arbitrarily discriminate against New Zealand or to impose a disguised restriction on trade.”

So why is fuel still so expensive?

While the deal reduces New Zealand’s risk of fuel shortages, it doesn’t reduce our exposure to prices.

The AOTES ensures both countries continue to “expedite and facilitate” the flow of supplies, and prevents them from imposing export restrictions.

It does not “cut across” the role of the private sector in the production or management of supply chains, and there’s no regulation within the agreement for the private sector.

It also doesn’t mean New Zealand or Singapore have to commit to procurement, or guarantee the supply of goods.

New Zealand importers still have to pay the market rate for the fuel, and that inevitably gets passed on to consumers.

Singapore’s refineries have had to adapt to process sweeter crude than they’re used to, and sourcing it from elsewhere has also brought in extra costs.

The fuel companies can source it. They can refine it. They can transport it. But it’s still going to cost us, especially if that supply gets more constrained.

That’s why, even though the fuel is still coming into New Zealand, we’re still seeing those prices at the pump.

Both Wong and Luxon have been bleak in their assessments of the fuel crisis, with neither thinking it’s going to end any time soon.

What else is in there?

Food and fuel are the headline items, mainly because they’re the most pressing things the respective countries would need in a crisis.

The lists can be changed, but only if both parties agree to the edits.

New Zealand’s list includes petroleum and oils (other than crude, which we wouldn’t need anyway without a refinery), hydrocarbons, medications, vaccines, polymers, medical equipment, and building materials like steel and glass insulation.

Officials on the New Zealand side said the list was chosen to reflect what New Zealand already imported from Singapore, as well as “whether New Zealand could or could not stand-up production of the specific good in the times of crisis, how substitutable the good is, and whether we can easily source the good from elsewhere.”

Singapore’s list is almost entirely food: meats, vegetables, legumes, fruits, dairy, grains.

Coal is also on Singapore’s list, as are photographic cameras, for some reason.

Is it really a world first?

The “first of its kind” definition is technically true.

Australia concluded negotiations on a similar economic resilience deal with Singapore last month, committing to keep supplying Singapore with liquefied natural gas while Singapore promised to keep supplying Australia with refined fuel.

But even though New Zealand’s deal has only just been signed now, it has been locked in for longer.

Luxon has used that to rebuff criticisms that he should have got on a plane to Singapore sooner. The deal was agreed to in October, Singapore promised to abide by it in-principle once the war started, there was no rush.

“We didn’t need to, because the Australians didn’t have what we have. They probably still haven’t got what we have. We put this in place in October, Prime Minister Wong and I are good friends, and we agreed that we would work to this and formally sign it on this visit. So it’s served us incredibly well. We haven’t needed to go sooner as a result of this,” he told RNZ ahead of the trip.

Can we expect others to join in?

Luxon is pointing to the deal as an example of smaller countries innovating and modernising trade architecture, rather than responding to the United States’ tariffs with a tit-for-tat protectionism.

Both he and Wong have expressed openness to other countries wanting to join in.

Singapore and New Zealand’s deal had an advantage because they came from a running start, and had identified the products each other wanted, but both prime ministers have said others can sign up, as long as they can meet the same standards, guarantees, and commitments.

In July, New Zealand will chair a meeting with 15 other like-minded economies such as Malaysia, Switzerland, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates, and Luxon has said it’s possible some of those countries may want to give it a go.

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

If a new pathogen emerged today, the world would be largely unprepared, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says.

The Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing Annex [PABS] could not be agreed to in time for adoption at the next World Health Assembly.

It’s an essential part of the WHO Pandemic Agreement, which aims to strengthen global prevention, preparedness, and response to future pandemics.

The agreement as a whole cannot proceed towards ratification, if the annex is not agreed to.

Clark, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said it was a disappointing result.

Clark said some sticking points prevented the annex from going through.

“The huge issue is about equitable access to vaccines and to the technologies which develop vaccines. That’s been the sticking point.

“As well, the developing countries have wanted an undertaking, that in return for honouring their obligations under the international health regulations to make information about a new pathogen available, they would then get the benefits of sharing that information from whatever new innovation comes along.

“It’s stuck on this basic principle of equity, with at this point, developed countries not being prepared to concede enough on the equity side, to satisfy developing countries,” she said.

Clark said, as a result, the world would be unprepared, if a new pathogen emerged.

“[I have] several concerns around the lack of preparedness now, one that, of course, vaccine misinformation and disinformation is rife, so that’s a more difficult context to be implementing 101 public health measures in.

“Secondly, a lot of countries still have a lot of fiscal issues arising from having to spend their way through the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Then you have the issue of not enough international finance for developing countries for preparedness and for response, so there’s so many issues and areas where we’re not prepared.”

Clark said co-ordination was key.

“Co-ordination is critical and it’s needed… at the regional level as well as at the global level.

“There’s a whole ecosystem, around vaccine development, procurement, distribution, financing, which needs to work, and we’re not there yet.”

Geopolitical conflicts were also having an impact on preparedness, she said.

“The key issue is the distrust between north and south. There’s a very bad taste from the last pandemic where developing countries did not get a fair shot at getting the vaccines, developed countries gobbled up most of what was available, the production wasn’t sufficient to then supply developing country populations.

“When some of us were beginning to get our boosters, health workers and some poor countries had never had as much as a single shot of a vaccine.

“There’s a lot of resentment about this and a determination from the developing countries not to settle for something that will be inequitable in future,” she said.

Clark said, while political leaders were dealing with immediate issues, they could not afford to neglect foreseeable risks.

“Right now, leaders are grappling with the cost of living, the spill-over impacts from the war on Iran, so pandemic preparation response is not top of mind.

“Unfortunately, that means that negotiations like these can founder, because they don’t have sufficient political attention,” she said.

The 79th World Health Assembly will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 18-23 May, 2026.

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

NRL club the Melbourne Storm have revealed head coach Craig Bellamy has been diagnosed with a form of neurodegenerative disorder.

In a statement on its website, the Storm said Bellamy had been undergoing a series of tests in recent week and receiving the best possible medical treatment.

But specialists had advised his diagnosis would not have an impact on his ability to coach the team in the immediate future.

“Despite our recent results, I firmly believe Craig is still coaching at an elite level and I have no doubt he is the right person to drive the Club forward,” said chairman Matt Tripp.

“Craig has the full support of the board, players, coaches, and staff to continue leading the club as he has done for the last 24 seasons.”

Bellamy, 66. had been the coach of the Storm since 2003, winning premierships in 2012, 2017 and 2020.

He had an outstanding record, winning 424 of the 614 games (69 percent) that he had been in charge of the team.

But 2026 has been an uncharacteristically poor one for the Storm so far. They have lost their last six games in a row, some by big margins, and currently sit second-to-last on the ladder.

They last missed the NRL playoffs in 2010, the year they were stripped of all their competition points due to salary cap breaches.

The Storm said given the private nature of the diagnosis, Bellamy and the club would be making no further comment on the matter.

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A new charter for the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will strengthen the committee’s transparency and accountability by making the views of individual members clearer, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says.

The charter, which comes into effect today, has been agreed by the Minister and the MPC, which sets the Official Cash Rate.

“From today, when the committee does not reach consensus, members’ votes will be publicly available,” Nicola Willis says.

“The new charter also makes it easier for MPC members to communicate publicly about monetary policy by easing current restrictions and encouraging members to speak externally, while retaining rules that ensure equal access to information.

“The MPC will also begin attributing material differences in views in its records of meetings.

“Alongside the independent review of New Zealand’s monetary policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic, these changes will strengthen transparency, support accountability, and help build public understanding of the MPC’s decision making,” Nicola Willis says.

“The committee will review these changes, along with its wider decision-making processes, in 12 months and report back to me on their effectiveness and whether they support clear communication and transparency.”

Note for editors

The new charter is available on the Reserve Bank’s website: Monetary Policy Framework – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua
Advice received on the MPC Charter and other changes to enhance transparency settings is available on Treasury and the RBNZ’s websites:

https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/information-release/advice-relating-changes-strengthen-monetary-policy-committee-transparency-settings
Information releases – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua

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The Government is preparing to remove or suspend regulatory barriers that make it harder for businesses and communities to cope with global fuel shocks, Minister for Regulation David Seymour and Minister for Transport Chris Bishop say.

“New Zealand’s fuel supply is stable. We’re focussed on keeping it that way. There are few things as important to Kiwis as ensuring New Zealand’s fuel supply remains strong,” Mr Seymour says.

“This Government has responded well to the potential of conflict in the Middle East leading to fuel shortages. To build on our response this Government is listening to the people. The situation in the Middle East affects everyone.

“Everyone should have a say on potential edicts issued by the Government which would affect them. Last month we called for businesses, fuel users, freight operators, and the wider public to report any regulatory barriers that might be hindering our response to global fuel uncertainty to the Red Tape Tipline.”

Submissions to the Tipline the Government is refining include:

Allowing some heavy vehicles to carry more per weight per trip, so less trips are required, improving fuel efficiency.
Bringing some license class weight thresholds for zero emission vehicles in line with similar diesel vehicles. For example, some electric utes are heavier than diesel ones, pushing them into a different weight threshold. This means people need a higher-class licence to drive them, which prevents uptake.
Relaxing time and access restrictions for over-dimension vehicles, enabling travel during off-peak time, shorter trips, and fuel savings.
Removing some restrictions on the routes that over-dimension vehicles can make and when they can travel. For example, there are sections of Auckland motorways and toll roads that they are not able to use meaning more fuel is burnt travelling less direct routes.

“We are still in Phase 1 of the National Fuel Response Plan, but we don’t want a repeat of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Doing the work to boost fuel efficiency now helps ensure we can stay in Phase 1 for as long as possible, causing the least disruption to Kiwis,” Mr Seymour says.

“One of the consistent messages from the freight sector is that current weight restrictions – formally known as the Vehicle Dimensions and Mass (VDAM) Rule – are holding back efficiency,” Mr Bishop says.

“In the short term, even small increases in permitted loads could reduce the number of trips needed, saving time, lowering costs, and reducing fuel use.

“We need to balance that with safety and network impacts, but there are sensible changes we can make that will lift productivity without compromising standards.

“Fuel prices are already putting pressure on households and businesses, which is why this work matters. Getting ahead of the problem now helps reduce the impact if global conditions worsen.”

All options are being developed so they can be implemented quickly if the Government moves to Phase 2, and we expect options to be ready by the end of this month if needed. If that becomes less likely, some options could be reworked into more permanent changes to reduce the impact of elevated fuel prices on the economy over the medium to long term.

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SANYA, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 28 April 2026 – The 6th Asian Beach Games opened on Wednesday evening in China’s tropical resort city of Sanya, with the opening ceremony held at the seaside Yasha Park.

Chinese State Councilor Shen Yiqin declared the Games open after 45 delegations marched in for the continental Games, which had previously been scheduled to be held in 2020.

After having twice been postponed, chiefly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sanya Games has drawn around 10,000 participants, including 1,790 athletes.

The Games marks the first time Hainan has hosted a continental-level beach sports event. It is also the first major international sporting event since the island-wide Hainan Free Trade Port was inaugurated last December.

Scheduled from April 22 to 30, the Games features 14 sports, 15 disciplines and 62 events. It is the second time that China has hosted the Asian Beach Games, after the 2012 edition in Haiyang, Shandong Province.

China has sent a delegation of 255 members, including 171 athletes, competing in 13 sports and 60 events, marking the country’s highest participation in Asian Beach Games history.

Hashtag: #6thAsianBeachGame #Sanya #China

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

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

Transporting New Zealand says the government needs to loosen restrictions for heavy vehicles without delay.

Four changes are being worked on in case of a move up to Phase 2 of the national fuel plan.

This included allowing more weight on some trucks to facilitate fewer trips, allowing normal licences for heavy electric utes, relaxing time and access restrictions for over-dimension vehicles and removing some restrictions on the routes that over-dimension vehicles could travel.

Transporting New Zealand chief executive Dom Kalasih said loosening the weight restrictions would unlock extra productivity in the applicable and save several million litres of diesel.

“You could actually avoid around 10 million kilometres of heavy travel.”

He also welcomed proposed changes to rules around over dimension vehicles but said heavy haulage was a speciality area and would affect fewer vehicles.

He urged government ministers not to wait until Phase 2 to take action.

“It can be picked up straight away. The vehicles we’re looking at, they’ve got spare capacity.

“We shouldn’t be waiting for things to get bad before we actually do things that make sense.”

On Monday Regulation Minister David Seymour and Transport Minister Chris Bishop said submissions were being developed so they could be quickly implemented if the government moved to Phase 2 of its response.

“We are still in Phase 1 of the National Fuel Response Plan, but we don’t want a repeat of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Doing the work to boost fuel efficiency now helps ensure we can stay in Phase 1 for as long as possible, causing the least disruption to Kiwis,” said Seymour.

Bishop said concerns over weight restrictions were widespread in the freight sector.

“In the short term, even small increases in permitted loads could reduce the number of trips needed, saving time, lowering costs, and reducing fuel use,” Bishop said.

“We need to balance that with safety and network impacts, but there are sensible changes we can make that will lift productivity without compromising standards.”

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

Transporting New Zealand says the government needs to loosen restrictions for heavy vehicles without delay.

Four changes are being worked on in case of a move up to Phase 2 of the national fuel plan.

This included allowing more weight on some trucks to facilitate fewer trips, allowing normal licences for heavy electric utes, relaxing time and access restrictions for over-dimension vehicles and removing some restrictions on the routes that over-dimension vehicles could travel.

Transporting New Zealand chief executive Dom Kalasih said loosening the weight restrictions would unlock extra productivity in the applicable and save several million litres of diesel.

“You could actually avoid around 10 million kilometres of heavy travel.”

He also welcomed proposed changes to rules around over dimension vehicles but said heavy haulage was a speciality area and would affect fewer vehicles.

He urged government ministers not to wait until Phase 2 to take action.

“It can be picked up straight away. The vehicles we’re looking at, they’ve got spare capacity.

“We shouldn’t be waiting for things to get bad before we actually do things that make sense.”

On Monday Regulation Minister David Seymour and Transport Minister Chris Bishop said submissions were being developed so they could be quickly implemented if the government moved to Phase 2 of its response.

“We are still in Phase 1 of the National Fuel Response Plan, but we don’t want a repeat of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Doing the work to boost fuel efficiency now helps ensure we can stay in Phase 1 for as long as possible, causing the least disruption to Kiwis,” said Seymour.

Bishop said concerns over weight restrictions were widespread in the freight sector.

“In the short term, even small increases in permitted loads could reduce the number of trips needed, saving time, lowering costs, and reducing fuel use,” Bishop said.

“We need to balance that with safety and network impacts, but there are sensible changes we can make that will lift productivity without compromising standards.”

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The latest government data shows New Zealand’s fuel stocks have continued to fall, but movements remain within expectations.

The figures, published Monday but accurate to midday on Wednesday, show just under 52 days of petrol, about 41 days of diesel, and just under 46 days of jet fuel. That includes fuel on 10 ships within three weeks of arriving.

The figures are down by half a day, one day, and a day-and-a-half respectively on the last update.

The government says this would be expected under normal international shipping.

And stocks within New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone are as high as they have been since the Iran conflict began.

Loosening of regulations possibly on the way

The government says it is considering easing restrictions for heavy vehicles as a way to save fuel.

Minister for Regulation David Seymour said his Red Tape Tipline had received several submissions on ways to save fuel.

Seymour is due to speak at a media standup in Newmarket, Auckland at around 1pm on Monday.

Suggestions included allowing some heavy vehicles to carry more weight to reduce the number of trips, and relaxing time restrictions for over-dimension vehicles so they could travel at off-peak times.

Another suggestion was to adjust license class weight thresholds for zero emission vehicles to be in line with similar diesel vehicles.

An example was that some electric utes were heavier than diesel ones and therefore required a higher-class licence to drive, which discouraged uptake.

Seymour said the Government was in the process of refining these submissions.

“New Zealand’s fuel supply is stable. We’re focussed on keeping it that way. There are few things as important to Kiwis as ensuring New Zealand’s fuel supply remains strong,” Seymour said in a statement

“We are still in Phase 1 of the National Fuel Response Plan, but we don’t want a repeat of the Covid-19 lockdowns. Doing the work to boost fuel efficiency now helps ensure we can stay in Phase 1 for as long as possible, causing the least disruption to Kiwis.”

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said concerns over weight restrictions were widespread in the freight sector.

“In the short term, even small increases in permitted loads could reduce the number of trips needed, saving time, lowering costs, and reducing fuel use,” Bishop said.

“We need to balance that with safety and network impacts, but there are sensible changes we can make that will lift productivity without compromising standards.”

The ministers said the submissions were being developed so they could be quickly implemented if the Government moved to Phase 2 of its response.

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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has brushed off criticisms of his government after days of heated speculation about his leadership.

In a media standup at HamiltonJet Global in Christchurch on Friday morning, Luxon brushed off businesses’ concerns about a lack of funding to bring SailGP back to Auckland.

He has also joked about losing votes in Auckland as a result of his support for the Crusaders, and avoided saying much about a National Party dinner where guests could pay $10,000 to sit next to him.

Auckland events boss Nick Hill told Morning Report he was “very disappointed” at the loss of SailGP, saying it was “significant loss” for the City of Sails and blaming a lack of buy-in from the government.

Luxon said the proposal for funding Sail GP in Auckland did not stack up, but distanced himself from it – acknowledging he was not across the details.

“Yeah, look, um, you know, we’ll continue our conversations with Auckland Council and SailGP but the proposal we received just frankly didn’t stack up,” he said.

He was unsure how much money the government was being asked to provide.

“I can’t remember what the proposal specifics was but when we run it through our evaluation criteria, just didn’t stack up.”

He said Tourism Minister Louise Upston would know about the specifics.

“I’m just well aware that when we looked at the cost-benefit ratio, it didn’t meet the criteria … it just didn’t meet the criteria, is all I know.”

He rejected the suggestion from Auckland businesses the government was working against them.

“Ah absolute rubbish. This is a government that’s backed State of Origin into Auckland, it’s a government that’s put a whole bunch of major events into Auckland, it’s invested in the New Zealand International Convention Centre, invested in the CRL, and we’ve made big investments and big support programmes into Auckland.”

He was in Christchurch [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/593268/christchurch-stadium-opening-te-kaha-opens-after-15-year-wait ahead of the first Super Round at the city’s new stadium Te Kaha, when 10 of the Super Rugby Pacific’s 11 teams would all play at the same venue.

Having grown up in the city, he said it was “tough” to say whether Te Kaha had overtaken Eden Park as the national stadium.

“I gotta say, it’s a world class stadium. It was a pleasure to open it three or four weeks ago. I’ll be there tonight,” he said.

Leadership woes

Luxon has been under pressure in recent weeks over poor polling numbers and leaks from who he has described as disgruntled MPs.

Coalition tensions turned up a notch this week too, as New Zealand First’s Winston Peters criticised Luxon’s decision to call a confidence vote in himself without informing coalition partners, saying that was unwise and would lead to instability.

Luxon and his deputy Nicola Willis in turn criticised Peters in the media – the first time they have been willing to do so directly and publicly.

Despite all that, he joked about losing support in Auckland, where he holds the seat of Botany.

“I’ll be in my Crusaders kit, I’ll lose 5000 votes in Auckland – but that’s okay, because I’m a Crusaders guy through and through.

“If I’m honest with you, in terms of scale and size, Eden Park’s obviously large and can accommodate certain activity, but I can tell you, I’m going to be coming to Christchurch a lot to see a lot of things down here.”

He said it was important to draw international events like Robbie Williams to New Zealand, as every dollar spent on attracting them was “getting $3.20 back into the local economy here”.

“So it’s fantastic, so exciting and it’s honestly – I don’t know whether you guys have been inside it – but it’s amazing. It’s incredible. It’s covered. We’re so close to the action, you’ll be able to hear the lineout calls, it’s just going to be brilliant.”

Christchurch ‘a role model’

He said Christchurch was a “real role model for how we want New Zealand to ultimately look and feel like”.

“You’ve got incredibly modern, reliable infrastructure. You’ve got a fantastic airport, awesome university, great schools, fantastic infrastructure now with the stadium and the redevelopment that’s taking place, and it’s growing very quickly.

“It’s an affordable city, more affordable city than many other parts of New Zealand, and so things like our planning laws are changing in order to be able to increase the supply of housing across the rest of New Zealand.”

In the four years after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes devastated the city centre, the John Key-led government provided an estimated $16.5 billion, with about half coming from insurance payouts from the then-Earthquake Commission.

Luxon said there was “plenty of cash around” from private capital, but “whether the government needs to be involved, government doesn’t need to be involved in everything. It’s quite good if we’re not in many cases”.

The ongoing fuel crisis that has resulted from the US and Israel conflict with Iran has been putting additional pressure on government finances after high spending under Labour that aimed to keep the economy growing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Support for businesses and those struggling with high fuel prices has been limited to “targeted, timely and temporary” spending, with the main component being a $50-a-week increase for working families earning tax credits.

Luxon said New Zealand had managed to secure supplies and there was no disruption there, “but, you know, the world needs peace to be breaking out there”.

He said rhetoric like US President Donald Trump’s was not needed.

“We don’t need escalation.”

More weather concerns

Luxon’s comments were made shortly before news of more heavy rain lashing the country – causing landslips in Auckland and prompting people to evacuate their homes.

He was asked about a new report out from the Climate Change Commission pointing to a risk before 2030 of a shortfall of Emissions Trading Scheme units possibly resulting in volatile price spikes, but said his main concern was “growth over and above everything else”.

He said the country was “determined to deliver on our climate change commitments, net zero 2050 … and we’re on track to do exactly that”.

“Last quarter this country generated less emissions than we’ve ever had, ever since we started recording in 2010 – and that’s because we’ve got a government that doesn’t just do bumper stickers and slogans and words, we actually do action and investment, as illustrated by our big investments in the renewables energy boom that’s taking place.”

The government’s push towards renewable energy has largely been focused on planning changes.

Luxon was also questioned about a National Party fundraising dinner, where property developer Matthew Horncastle paid $10,000 for a ticket to sit next to the prime minister and his wife, Amanda.

When Luxon was asked about how things had gone at the dinner on Thursday, he initially said “with who?”

After the name was repeated, he said “oh, there was a National Party event I was at last night, yeah. But yesterday I was also at a company called Zethos, which was pretty exciting because that’s a startup that’s come out of the engineering school that’s recycling critical minerals here in Christchurch”.

Horncastle has previously said that if he entered politics he would aim to be a National Party prime minister by winning the Christchurch Central seat – which has been a Labour stronghold, with just one National MP holding it since 1946.

Asked if Horncastle was the kind of person he wanted in National, Luxon only said it was a “broad church, and if people want to support us from all sorts of work, as it does for every political party, uh, it was just a party event last night”.

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