Animal Welfare Laws – Study reveals flaws in animal protection laws – Auckland University

February 27, 2025

Source: University of Auckland (UoA)

New Zealand’s animal welfare system is failing – and in urgent need of a dedicated police unit, researcher warns.

The animal protection system in Aotearoa is ineffective, underfunded, and at risk of collapse, according to new research.

University of Auckland law scholar associate professor Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere warns that without major reform, animals will continue to suffer harm without adequate legal consequences.

His doctoral thesis with the University of Alberta, which compares New Zealand’s system with Alberta, Canada, identifies deep structural flaws. These include overlapping responsibilities, jurisdictional confusion, and a reliance on the SPCA – an under-resourced charity – to carry out much of the enforcement.

“The effect of this enforcement gap is clear: breaches of animal welfare laws go consistently undetected and under-prosecuted,” says Rodriguez Ferrere.

“Not only does this directly harm animals, but it weakens the deterrent effect of the law, allowing a cycle of neglect and cruelty to continue. In this way, animal welfare underenforcement frustrates the rule of law.”

A lack of financial support for the sector has resulted in inadequate training for animal protection officers, reactive and delayed enforcement, and areas where no enforcement occurs at all.
Our reliance on private enforcement is outdated and the biggest flaw in the system. We need a specialised animal welfare unit within the police.

In New Zealand, three agencies – police, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) – theoretically share responsibility for enforcing the Animal Welfare Act. But in reality, that enforcement falls to the MPI and the SPCA and neither of them, Rodriguez Ferrere argues, have the resources to do the job effectively.

“The SPCA has been given the responsibility to enforce animal welfare legislation with regards to companion animals, even though police and MPI also have jurisdiction,” he says. “It’s a strange quirk of our system that we rely on a charity with limited funding to do this work. They do their best, but it’s not working.”

He believes New Zealand should consider removing enforcement responsibilities from the SPCA, which remains one of the few charities in the world still conducting private animal welfare prosecutions. Instead, he argues that their expertise could be shifted to state-funded enforcement bodies dedicated to animal welfare.

“The SPCA has done an amazing job, despite limited resources, but our reliance on private enforcement is outdated and the biggest flaw in the system,” he says. “We need a specialised animal welfare unit within the police.”

Rodriguez Ferrere also sees broader issues at play, linking New Zealand’s weak enforcement to institutional speciesism. He says people prioritise the interests of their own species, while treating other animals as ‘property’.

“The legal classification of animals as property is speciesism in action,” he says. “As long as animals are treated as commodities, their well-being is directly linked to the value they represent to their owners and society.”

While removing the property status of animals would be too radical a shift, Rodriguez Ferrere says a more immediate and achievable step is to strengthen regulatory enforcement. A properly funded police unit focused on animal welfare, he argues, would go a long way toward ensuring the law is upheld. Such a unit operates within the city of Edmonton, Alberta, with significant success.

MIL OSI

Culture and Heritage – Funding of creative spaces leaves legacy

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage welcomes a new report Te kaha o ā tātou mahi | The Power of our work which details the impact of multi-year funding of creative spaces across New Zealand.

As part of the COVID recovery programme, the Ministry invested $18 million into a network of creative spaces, in partnership with Arts Access Aotearoa, to support the growth and sustainability of creative spaces over three years.

“It’s fantastic to read about the positive impacts in the report,” says Manatū Taonga Secretary for Culture and Heritage Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae.

“Funding allowed the spaces to increase services to meet the high demand, and had so many benefits for staff and participants – particularly on their mental health and wellbeing.

“Funding of creative spaces not only created more jobs, but provided career development opportunities and supported career pathways, including for artists who had previously been participants or volunteers. Many of the creative spaces have used those three years of investment to find new ways to support their long-term sustainability.

“The funding gave creative spaces greater capacity to build relationships to help expand the reach of their programmes, and support different groups in the community to access creative opportunities. Some spaces supported artists to sell their artworks, and even helped to develop their own small business enterprises.

“A big thank you to Arts Access Aotearoa for partnering with Manatū Taonga to monitor the investment and support creative spaces throughout this initiative,” says Leauanae.

A total of 54 creative spaces received funding across the country.

MIL OSI

Aged Care issues – Consumer NZ backs calls for court action against retirement village operators’ unfair contract terms

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: Consumer NZ

Consumer NZ and the Retirement Village Residents Association are concerned retirement villages are ignoring warnings from the Commerce Commission about unfair terms in their contracts with residents. Both organisations are calling for the Commission to take further action.

Following complaints from Consumer NZ and the Retirement Village Residents Association (RVResidents), the Commerce Commission warned village operators some of their care claims and contract terms risked breaching the Fair Trading Act.

One term the Commission identified as potentially unfair allowed operators to charge residents for maintenance and repairs of chattels or fixtures within their units.

The Commission considered these terms likely to be unfair because the residents don’t have any ownership rights over their units, or the operator’s chattels, yet are expected to pay for maintenance and repairs.

Despite the Commission’s warning, most of Metlifecare occupation right agreements (ORAs) still allow the operator to charge its residents for maintenance and repairs.

After this was brought to RVResidents attention, it recently lodged a further complaint with the Commission, asking it to take court action. Consumer backs this call.

Jon Duffy, Consumer NZ chief executive, says living in a village under an ORA isn’t the same as owning a home because residents have no ownership rights, and in most cases, aren’t entitled to any capital gains when their units are sold.

“Even though residents don’t own the units, chattels or fixtures, they’re often responsible for the cost of maintenance, repairs and replacement of everything from heat pumps and blinds to light switches and power sockets.

“We think that’s completely unfair. Responsibility for repairing, replacing and maintaining operator-owned fixtures and chattels should fall on the retirement village.”

Residents don’t want to make a fuss

Di Sinclair, RVResidents national vice president and complaints coordinator, says the organisation receives ongoing complaints from Metlifecare residents about having to foot the bill for maintenance and repairs.

“In one case, an elderly woman was charged $562 for a draft strip to close up a gap between her garage door and some uneven concrete outside.”

Yet, according to Sinclair, under the Retirement Villages Code of Practice 2008, which sets out the obligations operators must meet, Metlifecare would be responsible for fixing the problem with the garage door, particularly as it was initially caused by the concrete beyond the woman’s villa.

“The operator must keep the building and equipment in good working order. A garage door, particularly one attached to a unit, is part of that obligation,” Sinclair says.

The resident fought the charge, and the operator backed down. It said it would pay half the repair cost and credited her account with $281. The resident reluctantly agreed to pay the reduced sum.

“Residents are afraid of repercussions if they ‘make a fuss’, and they often feel they don’t have the emotional or physical strength to get into conflict with village management.

“It’s not fair that they have to rely on advocates to enforce their rights,” says Sinclair.

Consumer urges the Commission to hold retirement village operators to account

RVResidents is asking the Commission to seek a court declaration that these terms are unfair.

Consumer’s Jon Duffy agrees with Sinclair – residents shouldn’t have to get advocates involved to get a fair deal. ORA terms should be fair from the get-go, but often, they don’t meet the mark.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t much residents can do if they think their village is relying on an unfair contract term – only the Commerce Commission can take action.

“This needs to change to ensure residents, and others facing unfair terms, are protected. In the meantime, we want to see the Commission give teeth to its warnings and take action to protect residents,” says Duffy.

“We support RVResidents’ call to action and urge the Commission to hold operators to account.”

Note

Read the full article on Consumer’s website: How Metlifecare is ignoring the Commerce Commission’s warnings: https://consumernz.cmail19.com/t/i-l-fdrjtdk-ijjdkdttjk-t/

MIL OSI

Captive kākā, Charlie, to stay in Dunedin

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: Department of Conservation

Date: 27 February 2025

Professor of Animal Welfare Science Ngaio Beausoleil, from Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University’s Tāwharau Ora School of Veterinary Science, who carried out the assessment, recommended Charlie remain where she is to provide stability and allow her to adapt to her new environment over time.

Department of Conservation Fauna Science Manager Ash Murphy says DOC is working with wildlife husbandry experts at the Dunedin Botanic Garden Aviary (DBGA) and an avian specialist veterinarian at the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital on a plan to address recommendations in Professor Beausoleil’s report.

“The plan includes keeping Charlie with her enclosure mate in their current aviary and maintaining her high standard of care.

“Her keepers will gradually introduce more opportunities for Charlie to choose to have positive human interactions through training for rewards to increase her wellbeing, as recommended.

“Any changes made to Charlie’s care including training activities will be recorded and her behaviour closely monitored to gauge whether she’s responding positively. Her diet, eating habits and weight will also continue to be monitored.

“We encourage the public to give Charlie the time she needs to settle in, bond with her mate and enjoy her life at the Dunedin Botanic Garden Aviary,” Ash Murphy says.

Professor Beausoleil’s assessment concluded that Charlie is in good physical health and is well cared for at DBGA, including appropriate management of her chronic arthritis from old injuries.

It found Charlie exhibited abnormal repetitive behaviours such as swaying and toe nibbling which had increased since her move to DBGA, as she struggled to adapt to changes in her environment.

Charlie does not behave like a normal captive kākā because of ingrained behaviours she developed in her first year of captivity as a young bird in severely impoverished conditions prior to her transfer to Te Anau Bird Sanctuary. When Charlie is stressed, these behaviours are amplified.

Charlie was moved from Te Anau Bird Sanctuary to Dunedin in June 2024 to join other South Island kākā at the Dunedin Botanic Garden Aviary as part of the captive breed-for-release programme. She has been an excellent Mum and foster parent and raised multiple clutches of chicks previously.

In Dunedin she is currently paired up with male kākā, Bling, who she successfully bred with when they were both in Te Anau. Despite positive early signs with mating recorded several times, the pair did not produce any offspring this season.

Following concerns raised by people about Charlie’s behaviour in Dunedin, the Ministry for Primary Industries recommended DOC commission an independent welfare assessment.

Professor Beausoleil also made some recommendations for the kākā breed-for-release programme more generally, including developing an ‘ethogram’ or catalogue of behaviour in captive kākā and guidelines to be incorporated in an updated Kākā Husbandry Manual to enable better monitoring of kākā welfare in captive facilities.

DOC is considering these recommendations as they relate to the South Island kākā breed-for-release programme.

Background information

Charlie Girl kākā welfare assessment report (PDF, 511K)

Contact

For media enquiries contact:

Email: media@doc.govt.nz

MIL OSI

Speech to LGNZ All-of-Local-Government Forum

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: New Zealand Government

Good morning, everybody.
It’s great to see such a good cross-section of people from local government here today.
Against a backdrop of skyrocketing rates and massive cost of living pressures, a lot has been made recently of the need to go ‘back to basics’ and to ‘go for growth.’
These two things are critically linked.
Moving back to basics means consciously reducing government scope to the bare minimum and avoiding unnecessary intervention in people’s lives.
Reduced intervention frees people to do what they do best, and unlocks potential gains in efficiency, innovation, and productivity – all vital ingredients to deliver economic growth.
With this in mind, it’s heartening to join you on a day focused on showing communities value, and sharpening councils’ value stories.
However, I’m aware that the ability to sharpen value stories is inherently constrained when working with such a blunting instrument as the Resource Management Act.
The RMA’s downfall
There are endless examples of the absurdity that’s ensued under the RMA. Every week I am reading new articles, receiving new letters, and hearing new stories about the obstruction it has delivered.
I think of the letter I received from an Upper Hutt man who was blocked from cutting down a tree on his own property, assessed as dangerous by both his neighbour and an arborist – a generic pin oak not even listed on the plan.
I think of Tracy Fleet in Ashburton who, facing a similar situation, was slapped with a $7000 fine and a criminal conviction for pruning a tree so dangerous insurers were turning away, after a years-long, strung-out saga that was also swallowing up her ratepayer dollars in the process.
I think of Curt and Tricia Zant whose Hawke’s Bay farm was slapped with an ‘Outstanding Natural Feature’ classification in the council’s plan, restricting their ability to invest time, care, and capital into their land to drive the growth we’re seeking, without any compensation for their loss – I’ll come back to this.
I think of Datagrid whose land provides a great location to invest in a data centre and subsea cable network expansion. This would capitalise on the window of opportunity that is the spiking demand for data storage and faster connectivity in the age of artificial intelligence and the cloud. How ironic that this immense growth opportunity has been stalled by the imposition of a so-called ‘highly productive’ classification on their land, tying them up in consenting quicksand to protect a turnip crop.
I think of attempts to build a new McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, or even a supermarket, where the RMA’s breadth has somehow gotten us to a point where vexatious objectors have been able to weaponise any number of irrelevant ‘effects’ to obstruct things they don’t like.
These are just some of the many examples up and down this country where people and organisations, big and small, are facing massive restrictions on the use of their property, too often for tenuous reasons enabled by the RMA that amount to little more than subjective ‘vibe’.
Whether it’s protecting dangerous trees, debating the vibe of landscapes and architecture, pontificating on how a property owner should best use their own land, or having to consider all manner of reckons – from the health profile of food to the competition ‘effects’ of a new business – the current council ‘value’ story is a hard one to tell.
The solution
The good news is that our commitment to replace the RMA with a system based on property rights will reduce the scope of resource management and liberate councils to focus on things that actually deliver value for ratepayers.
Last year, Cabinet agreed the principles and direction that would guide the replacement.
First things first: we must narrow the scope of the system to focus on material effects, and to promote the enjoyment of property rights. As is clear from the examples above, and countless others, the RMA tries to do too many things, and in doing so has become a vehicle to stifle growth.
When the RMA was developed, the key downfall was integrating management of development and the environment into one purpose, which has treated development as a privilege. We’re going to change that by replacing the RMA with two Acts with distinct purposes – one to manage environmental effects arising from activities and another to enable urban development and infrastructure.
Councils will have clarity on what environmental effects and domains need managing, what needs to be considered when setting limits appropriate to their regions, and the tools available to manage resources within those limits. These tools should include innovative methods for things like water allocation and discharges, so scarce resources go to where they’re needed most, and supply can respond to demand.
What is not negotiable, though, is that human needs will be met. Frustrating development to resist growth doesn’t abate the need for it, nor does it change the reality that human existence necessarily has effects on the environment. If development cannot occur within an environmental limit in one place, then it must occur in another. But development must, and will, occur.
Through codifying into standards established and accepted ways of undertaking activities, the new system will liberate councils from the regulatory anxiety which demands consents and treats applications for common activities like road construction as a potential extermination event. When we’ve done most things in most places before, there’s no reason to start from scratch each time.
Spatial planning will be a core feature, with several important roles. It will separate incompatible land uses, provide protection for infrastructure, and identify natural hazards. The separation of incompatible land uses will be a key mechanism for managing potential neighbourhood effects like noise, odour, and the likes.
A stricter effects-based system with a no duplication rule means stripping out regulation and consenting for anything that has no material effects on the natural environment or another property owner, is covered by and complies with another law or national standard, or is subject to a private agreement among all affected parties.
A stricter effects-based system also means limiting who gets a say on what others do with their property if they are not directly affected. Gone will be the days of every Tom, Dick, and Harry sticking their noses into other people’s business at the other end of the country.
All of this will go some way to respecting property rights.
However, for potential situations where management of genuine effects presents residual friction with property rights, we must ask ourselves through this process “who benefits from such a constraint?” and, therefore, “who should bear the cost?”
For example, coming back to the case of the Zants’ issues under the current system – should they be the ones to pay the price of someone else’s decision that the landscape their property sits on is ‘outstanding’ to look at? What incentives does this this create for making sound decisions about what is outstanding when it is costless to the decision maker?
Through all this change to unshackle people from the burdensome approach of up-front consenting, Cabinet has also recognised a corresponding need for a strong compliance monitoring and enforcement regime, ensuring accountability among system participants so this replacement system delivers for both development and the environment.
Conclusion
This is just a sample of some of the key elements to be determined as we shore up the design of the new system, and no doubt there will be interest across other areas – from the role of a planning tribunal type function, to the shift to one plan per region, and beyond.
With the Resource Management Expert Advisory Group now having taken Cabinet’s direction and developed a draft blueprint for RMA replacement, there will be more to share in due course.
One thing that is clear, though, is that engagement of key system participants is important.
Local government is a critical system participant, so I encourage you to take the opportunity to feed into this reform,
Because liberalising resource management is a critical step in helping councils sharpen their value stories and unlocking the innovation and economic growth we so desperately need.

MIL OSI

Whangārei Hospital transit lounge open to patients

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: New Zealand Government

Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Whangārei Hospital’s new transit lounge, where patients can prepare to leave hospital after treatment.

“The Government’s $3.75 million investment into this lounge provides an important space for patients who are medically fit to leave the ward. It helps with their timely discharge while they wait for medication, discharge papers, or transport.

“I know that being in hospital can be challenging for patients and their families and how important it is to get home following treatment.

“The lounge provides patients a calm, transitional environment where they continue to be cared for by nurses as they wait to transition to their home or another facility.

“It will also be used for incoming patients who are only staying for a short period of time, such as a person coming from a rural hospital for a test or a patient being transferred to another hospital, which means they don’t need to be accommodated in the emergency department. 

“Alongside the benefit the lounge will bring to patients, it will also free up bed availability and help to improve hospital flow, which are key to achieving the Government’s health target for shorter stays in emergency departments.

“Improving health infrastructure is a priority for this Government. The previous transit lounge was not fit-for-purpose, which is why I am pleased to see projects like this being prioritised. The new transit lounge has capacity for eight chairs, six beds, and other services including shower facilities. 

“There are currently 19 hospitals around the country that have a dedicated transit lounge, including sites as small as Wairau Hospital and as large as Auckland City Hospital.

“I’m pleased for the patients who will get to experience this transit lounge in the future, ensuring those that come through Whangārei Hospital receive access to timely, quality healthcare,” Mr Brown says.

MIL OSI

Incident in Onerahi

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: New Zealand Police (National News)

Emergency services are responding to a serious incident in Onerahi.

Police received a report of a person injured at Beach Road Reserve at about 11.10am.

There are cordons in the area and locals are asked to respect these until the incident is resolved.

Motorists are being advised Beach Road has been closed from Church Road and to avoid the area.

Police will provide further information when able.

ENDS.

Holly McKay/NZ Police

MIL OSI

State of the Planet speeches, 2025

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: Green Party

At this year’s State of the Planet address, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics.

Chlöe’s speech:

Mihi atu ki a koutou e pupuri tonu ana ki te mana o te whenua nei, tēnā koutou Ngāti Whātua.

Tēnā koutou, Auckland Central to the world.

Across the past year, I have been in front of dozens of audiences like this, and time and again, I have asked people one simple question.

I’ve asked people to raise their hand if they are excited about the future.

Every single time, fewer than half a dozen people in a sea of hundreds put their hand up.

This, my friends, is our problem.

Trickle-down politicians and their donors have spent at least forty years coming after our public services, our media and our democracy, but it’s clear now more than ever that their real target has been our hope.

The hope that better is possible.

These guys want you exhausted and angry and disillusioned. It means you’re disempowered. Too exhausted to think at the end of the work day.

Too angry to see the problem clearly.

Too disempowered to look around and see all the other exhausted and angry people, and to understand that if we all spent a moment to find our common problems and common solutions, everything could change.

So, conveniently, all across the world, after decades of privatising and underfunding the public services people need to live healthy lives and participate in society, after decades of creating the conditions of poverty and extreme vulnerability and isolation and mental ill health… After creating this exhaustion and anger and despair, the right wing knows those feelings have to go somewhere.

So they’ve painted targets.

Those painted targets are not the people actually responsible for causing poverty and homelessness and unemployment and understandable, deep rage.

No.

The chosen targets are indigenous peoples, fighting for survival after centuries of injustice and violent theft. Those chosen targets are our rainbow communities, who every day prove that all these social norms are just made up. The chosen targets are migrants – regular people, like you and me, who just want to provide for themselves, their families and their community.

Let me be crystal clear: if you’re struggling to get by, your beef isn’t with someone else struggling to get by.

Your beef is with the system that forces almost everyone you know into a life of struggle, and, more precisely, your beef is with those who profit from it.

It’s Pride Month. We’ve seen some of the most aggressive and intentional targeting of our takatapui, rainbow and queer community in a long time. Some of that has been driven by a self-declared apostle who

lives in a mansion and drives nice cars, funded by huge tithing from people without much to spare.

The followers of this self-declared apostle have been rejected from most of regular society time and again. Some of them have been scooped up into the flock after exiting prison, because after decades of successive Governments giving up on real rehabilitation, there simply isn’t anything or anywhere else.

So people who have nothing else, and nowhere else to belong, are given refuge.

And internal pain is warped outwards.

Instead of being channelled towards dismantling the rules that allow a handful of people to take an immense amount of wealth off the back of our collective work, that anger is – so conveniently for those profiteering from the status quo – channelled towards people just trying to live their own quite regular or quite fabulous, lives.

These extreme microcosms of hatred can teach us a lot about where we’re at as a society. More importantly, I think, when we peel back the distractions, it lays bare the solutions.

We cannot give up on our fellow human beings.

You do not get human rights because someone deems you worthy or good. You get human rights because you are human.

When we uphold each other’s basic dignity, no matter what, we create the conditions for connection and true justice.

We all need somewhere to belong, and human history tells us there’s almost always a politician or self-appointed apostle willing to capitalise on and warp rejection and fear and anger for their own personal gain.

The anger comes from a real place of material deprivation: housing insecurity, food insecurity, income insecurity. Straight up insecurity.

That anger can either destroy us as we fight each other, much to the entertainment of those laughing their way to the bank, or it can be turned into the solidarity necessary to change the rules of this game.

Our country is considered one of the wealthiest in the world on a per person basis.

So why can’t regular people afford to go to the dentist?

It’s not because of the gays, or the migrants, or tangata whenua.

It’s because that wealth isn’t fairly shared.

It’s because way back when the public health system was being created, the lobby was already so strong to privatise dentistry.

Why can’t regular people afford decent housing?

Because over decades, politicians and property speculators – sometimes one in the same – have made intentional decisions to sell off your human right to housing to the highest bidder.

And why is the planet that all of this is happening on being allowed to burn while billionaires pile up ill-gotten treasure?

Because almost everybody’s focus, understandably, is on just trying to get by. It’s hard to think about, let alone contend with, how a handful of people are ransacking the climate necessary for our collective survival in order to make a quick buck. You’re just out here trying to survive.

That’s what we mean when we say that the same economic system that’s exploiting people is also exploiting the planet.

What’s a right-wing government’s response to this exploitation and exhaustion? Well, obviously, it’s more exploitation and exhaustion. It’s more punishing beneficiaries and tax cuts for the rich.

It’s fast-tracking offshore profits plundered from our natural environment.

It’s banging the ‘growth’ drum while intentionally being silent on what kind of growth, and for whom.

Seriously. Just last week when we were in Parliament, I asked the Prime Minister why after decades of this “growth” he’s so fixated on, 10% of the people in this country own 60% of our nation’s wealth.

It will shock you to learn Christopher Luxon didn’t answer the question.

Instead, he went on and on about celebrating successful people.

That would maybe make sense if we were talking about people in isolation, which the right wing so desperately wants us to do.

But we’re not, and we can’t, because, my friends, we live in a society.

Poverty, and all the social ills that stem from it, don’t come from nowhere.

It comes from a tolerance of extreme inequality.

If you’re totally sweet with 311 households holding more wealth than the bottom two and a half million New Zealanders, you’re totally sweet with the child deprivation, homelessness and poor health that comes with it.

Inequality and poverty aren’t just connected: deep inequality creates poverty.

Where would all this pent-up anger go if it wasn’t directed to other people just struggling to get by? If hustle culture didn’t teach us to lap it all up in self loathing?

What if we realised our shared power in working together, instead of fighting each other?

If we ensured the wealthy paid their fair share, instead of swallowing trickle-down fairytales?

We don’t live in a game of Monopoly. We can and should change the rules when they don’t work for the majority of people.

In the last year alone, we have seen tens of thousands of people turn up in the streets to prove our country’s values of care for each other and the planet we live on. For Te Tiriti.

2024 was the year of activism. 2025 must be the year of organising. Of channelling that energy into a shared goal: to change this Government, to uproot the trickle-down nightmare and to build an economy that supports life, instead of exhausting it.

In December, the Greens released He Ara Anamata, our Emissions Reduction Plan. We showed how to reduce emissions five times faster than the Government’s proposal. We proved you can not only reduce emissions and the cost of living, but also improve quality of life.

Today, I am proud to announce that in May, the Greens will be releasing the Budget we would be rolling out in Government.

Our budget will not be a defence of the status quo.

Our budget will show you how we already have everything we need to ensure everyone enjoys our basic rights to a clean environment and stable climate. Everyone is housed, everyone gets healthcare, everyone gets education. Everyone gets the genuine opportunity for a good life.

That’s because we believe in the public good. And we’re sick of this Government’s pathetic pandering to privatisation.

Forty years ago, a few politicians made the decision to shred our social safety net. They began selling off the things we all used to own and look after together. They privatised profit and socialised cost.

The problems we are confronted with today are not natural. Humans made the system that created them, and we can recreate it.

The gap between an economy that exploits people and the planet and one that supports us both is collective action. As long as regular people are suspicious of and fighting each other, a handful of powerful people will get incredibly rich at all of our expense.

Nobody is coming to save us. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

It’s time to claim your hope – to claim your power. Look to your fellow New Zealanders with curiosity and kindness. The pathway to our freedom is intertwined.

So, raise your hand: who here is excited about the future?

And are you willing to work for it?

Are you willing to believe in and work to uphold the dignity of your fellow New Zealanders, even and especially those who you have not met? Those not even born yet?

Solidarity doesn’t require us to be the same. It simply requires you to see in someone else our shared humanity, and to behave accordingly.

Together, we are unstoppable.

I am so honoured to introduce you all now to my wonderful co-leader – the Honourable Marama Davidson. Nau mai, hoki mai Marama!

—

Marama’s speech:

Mā te oranga o te taiao, ka ora ai te iwi. Mō te takitini, kāore mō te torutoru anake.

E te whānau, I am so grateful to be here today. I am well, and feeling better each day.

My mokopuna are rongoā. My mokopuna, just by being the embodiment of my ancestors – are a reminder of all that we love. Of all that we must protect.

Over the many months of cancer treatment, one of the most profound experiences of healing was daytime nana naps with my moko babies. Where I had any assortment of my three babies, asleep and at peace with the shared vibrations of our heartbeats and gentle breathing. Getting to enjoy this has been a precious blessing.

I am grateful to the wonderful health care professionals who have been there for me each step of the way.

I am grateful to my whānau, who are my rock. And to every single person who reached out with aroha and support. To the breast cancer community, thank you for being there for all of us. To those who are going through treatment or have just heard the worst news of their lives – nunui te aroha kia koutou.

I haven’t spoken publicly about this before, but today I’m going to let you in on a secret. I was diagnosed with breast cancer a few days before the State of the Planet speech last year. I remember standing at this exact podium – knowing I would need to step away from public life for a bit. Taking leave when my voice was needed the most was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

This job is and continues to be an enormous privilege. To be able to come back to it, blows my mind.

But the space to recover and put my health and whānau first was both necessary, and something I am beyond grateful for. Not everyone has the support I had. I will never take that for granted and I will always work to embed the political change we need so that everyone can put health first. Like better pay and conditions for our health workers, decent income support, and secure housing for all.

Ehara taku tū i te tū takitahi, ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, ehara taku taumaha i te taumaha takitahi. We all depend on each other when times are rough. People want to care for each other – manaakitanga is what makes us human. Within whānau and communities, to care and be cared for is the basis of connection.

These are the values the Green Party wants to bring to politics as well.

Being on the sidelines of politics last year was surreal. When the hikoi for te Tiriti happened, it was during medical treatments and I needed to stay home. But seeing people come together with such vibrant unity, made me so proud that I grabbed my ‘tino’ flag and took a photo in my garden so I could feel part of the movement.

While the hīkoi was in response to a Government that continues to disregard the promises this country was founded on, it was so much more than a protest. It was the ultimate example of how to show up: with our tūpuna, for our mokopuna and for each other. The wairua shown at the hīkoi is the best of us.

As Moana Jackson said, te Tiriti o Waitangi is about the rightness that comes from people accepting their obligations to each other. This is a profound vision on which to build a country. Aotearoa can be a place where everyone is supported to thrive, and no one is left behind – including Papatūānuku.

And I take inspiration from this vision not only here in Aotearoa, but globally.

The world feels like a bit of a scary place right now. I worry for the future of my three mokopuna, and all the mokopuna to come. My heart breaks for children in Gaza, for all children growing up in war zones, for children in detention centers, and for children and their whānau throughout the world who are hungry, cold and homeless.

At a time when the world needs to be coming together to solve climate change – the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced – instead we can barely come together to solve easy challenges like making sure every child has healthy kai.

We can do better. Our mokopuna deserve better.

Last year was the hottest year on record. That means that my mokopuna, and all the babies of the world today, will never see a normal climate. They have been born into climate change. And no matter where they are born, here in Aotearoa or far across the sea, they need us – their adults – to step up to this challenge right now. They deserve to inherit a thriving planet, not a destroyed one.

Now I want to draw this back to Te Tiriti, because these things are connected. Te Tiriti is a promise that carries through the generations. Te Tiriti is an enduring guarantee of iwi and hapū sovereignty over taonga like our lakes, rivers, seas, soils and native forests. And that means protecting those living systems for our mokopuna – so they too can exercise tino rangatiratanga.

Te Tiriti is the best defence Aotearoa has against the plundering of our environment for the profit of the few. This is why the far right is so intent on ripping it up and pretending it doesn’t matter. But that short term exploitation only enriches the pockets of a tiny group of people, while destroying nature for the rest of us.

When our gorgeous conservation land is trampled for mining, when our rivers become too polluted to swim in, when we can’t go down to the moana to harvest kai because there aren’t enough fish left – everyone misses out. And when a tiny group of oil executives are more interested in a growing balance sheet than a stable climate, every single child in the world misses out.

Our mokopuna deserve better!

At the heart of the political change we seek is manaakitanga, collective caring for people and planet. And crucially, the humility to understand that common human experiences are much more important than any flash job title or made-up markers of status. A serious illness throws that into sharp relief. Because what matters most when things are tough is our care for one another. I know that people are doing the best they can with what they have.

But the dominating economic system, means that wealth and power are not shared equally. These inequities further divide communities when instead we need to come together. By making sure everyone gets the care they need, we can ensure nobody is left behind to fall through the cracks. Care and justice for ALL people is what binds us together and helps us build a future where all of us thrive. This vision will be at the centre of our Green Budget.

This is what our politics should reflect. A politics of care. A hunger for doing what is just. This is the legacy of our late and great friend, Green MP Fa’anānā Efeso Collins whose one year anniversary of passing we have been reflecting on over the past week. Gone too soon our friend, we miss you deeply.

Efeso spent his life building bridges between the Pacific communities he loved and the rest of Aotearoa.

During Efeso’s maiden speech in Parliament, he shared with us his translation of a saying in Sāmoan: E le tu fa’amauga se tagata. No one stands alone, no one succeeds alone — and, for him, and the Green Party, no one suffers alone.

This is manaakitanga.

And this is what inspires me e te whānau. This is the hope for our mokopuna.

But collective care is not part of this government’s plan. They are showing us each day they stand for the few and not for the many. They are completely out of touch with the community.

We have seen this in the choices to gut school lunches. To gut housing for those who need it the most. To gut our health system and put more and more pressure on our health workers. To gut benefits so that more and more children fall through the cracks and below the poverty line. For absolute shame!

Our mokopuna deserve better.

We can deliver better by channeling community power and finally putting people and planet ahead of profit.

This country can afford to feed our tamariki nutritious kai. We could choose to provide lunches in every school – using fresh local kai and made by people who are connected to that school. We could choose to make sure every person in this country has a safe, warm home. Poverty is a political choice and we can choose to end it.

We can do all of this by putting our values of manaakitanga at the heart of political decisions. By honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi and the promises of kotahitanga and care as the foundation this country was built on.

And when we do that, we will show the world what it looks like to put care for people and planet first. Together, we can build the future all our mokopuna deserve.

And that mahi is why I am so so grateful to be back with you all. Kia kaha tatau – ka whawhai tonu, mō te whenua, mō te taiao, mō ngā mokopuna – ake, ake, ake

MIL OSI

Interim Report: increased capital investment in Auckland

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: Auckland Council

Auckland Council’s Interim Report shows the group invested significantly to strengthen the physical resilience of Auckland and manage growth, while meeting its financial targets.

The council delivered $1.9 billon of capital investment in the six months to December 2024 – a record for a six-month period and an increase of $474 million on the six months to the end of December 2023.

In line with Auckland Council’s Long-term Plan 2024-2034, this investment was prioritised in transport, water and enabling local boards to better respond to the needs of their communities.

Auckland Council group chief financial officer Ross Tucker said the Interim Report highlights the increased investment in the region’s infrastructure likes roads, pipes and stormwater assets.

“Of the total capital invested in the six months, 38 per cent has been invested in roading and public transport – $727 million to improve our region’s roads, buses and trains, such as the City Rail Link project,” says Mr Tucker.

“Another 29 per cent – or over $552 million – has been invested into Auckland’s water supply, wastewater and stormwater, delivering new and improved infrastructure that improves existing services and will support Aucklanders for generations to come.

“We’ve also prioritised the buy-out of category three properties, spending $392 million on close to 400 properties that had an intolerable risk to life. We know the risk category three buy-outs are higher than originally anticipated, however it is being closely and carefully managed as part of making Auckland a more resilient region.”

The buyout funding includes a 50-50 agreement between Auckland Council and central government, secured in October 2023.

Major projects delivered

In its first six months, the council delivered a number of major projects in Auckland, both in communities and with region-wide benefits.

These include the Central Interceptor reaching the three-quarter completion mark, refitting a fourth low emission ferry vessel and getting it into operation, and continued progress on the City Rail Link with overhead line equipment and switch rooms commissioned at Britomart.

“Our half year results are in line with expectations. We are getting on with delivering the physical and financial resilience we planned, while ensuring value for Aucklanders.”

This includes progress on the Auckland Future Fund. In December 2024, the fund sold Auckland Council’s remaining shares in Auckland International Airport Limited for $1.32 billion.

The fund will use the sale proceeds to diversify the council’s major financial investments across different sectors and geographic regions, with expected stronger annual returns to council to help fund services and infrastructure.

The full Interim Report is available via the main Auckland Council website.

Auckland Council Group highlights – six months to December 2024

Operating revenue increased 15 percent to $5.4 billion, compared to the six months to 31 December 2023. This includes revenue to pay for the services we provide and invest in maintaining and renewing our assets.
The operating surplus was $2 billion, an increase on $571 million in 2023.
The group’s capital investment in infrastructure and community assets totalled $1.9 billion – 33 percent more than the prior period.
Net debt increased to $13.2 billion, from $12.3 billion in June 2024. This increased debt was primarily used to fund investment in new assets, spreading the cost of these assets over the generations that will use them.

Key capital highlights include:

Providing funding, alongside the Crown, to City Rail Link Limited which continued work on New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project. One of the significant milestones was achieving permanent power to the stations’ high voltage rooms and main switchboards.
Bringing the Pukekohe Water Treatment Plant back into service after it was damaged in the 2023 severe weather events which enabled the community to increase water usage by six million litres a day at a time when water demand is at its peak.
Achievement of a major milestone on the Central Interceptor project, with Hiwa-i-te-Rangi Tunnel Boring Machine breaking through into a shaft in Western Springs, which enabled a tunnel to be built which collects wastewater and stormwater overflows from Mount Albert.
Significant progress made on the Eastern Busway project with the completion of the new bus station at Botany Town Centre
Completion of the Port of Auckland Outfall Upgrade project which improves the stormwater network and mitigates significant flooding risk at Britomart
Construction and renewal of many local and regional parks, sporting and leisure facilities such as refurbishment of Te Pae o Kura – Kelston Community Centre and renewal of Windmill Park with upgraded kiosk space, toilet facilities, a first aid room and storage.

MIL OSI

New disability data provides crucial insights

LiveNews Publisher

February 27, 2025

Source: New Zealand Government

Data from Stats NZ’s Household Disability Survey released today provides crucial insights into the New Zealand disability community and its people, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says.

Today’s survey data, collected following the 2023 Census, identifies 1 in 6 New Zealanders as disabled – that’s around 10 per cent of children (98,000) and 18 per cent of adults (753,000).

“It’s the first time in more than 10 years there has been access to updated disability data on this scale,” Louise Upston says.

“The survey provides a comprehensive source of information about the lives and experiences of disabled New Zealanders, the barriers they can encounter and the changes needed to overcome those barriers.

“One such barrier is the number of disabled people not working and that three quarters of those people want to be working.

“That means getting more employment opportunities for disabled people has to be a key priority, driven by survey findings from the community itself.

“In another example, disability access issues continue to be raised and we need to look at why they remain so persistent.

“Having this up-to-date data is absolutely crucial for understanding the disabled community and its needs. It can then inform decision makers, businesses, service providers and communities across the country.

“While progress has been made, we know there is more work to do.

“Our Government is committed to supporting disabled people, which is why we provided a record $1.1 billion funding boost to disability support services in this year’s Budget.

“Whaikaha as a standalone ministry can focus its efforts on improving the lives of the 1 in 6 New Zealanders with a disability.

“This survey informs Whaikaha’s work programme, and actions we need to take across government, business and community to improve the lives of disabled New Zealanders,” Louise Upston says.

MIL OSI

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