Since 1927 we have delivered the global New Zealand expat community relevant news from home. In 2006, after 80 years as a newspaper, we brought the publication fully online and extended the content offered to make it relevant for potential migrants, tourists, investors and all those who have a connection to New Zealand. We present New Zealand food, wine, products, culture and entertainment throughout this website – while continuing to include all the news, business, property, recruitment and sports which you would expect from a title which has such a strong legacy.

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Business News

DAIRY INDUSTRY: Fonterra says customer demand for its whole milkpowder has picked up, but buyers on its regular internet auctions are being cautious. The big dairy cooperative said that its July auction in the early hours of Thursday saw continued "market caution" around pricing. "We saw increased customer demand, but they remain wary about paying too much in an uncertain environment," said Kelvin Wickham, managing director of Fonterra's global trade arm. Buyers were taking a conservative approach "as they try to second guess when the inevitable increase in demand -- and consequently prices -- will occur," Mr Wickham said in a statement. The average price achieved across all contracts and contract... more>

Recruitment

PAY: State sector workers cannot expect pay increases in the future unless they are matched by productivity gains, Finance Minister Bill English said on Thursday. Mr English told MPs that anyone whose pay came from the taxpayer should realise the Government faced 10 years of deficits and the public sector had to provide "smarter, better" services with limited funding. The Government would honour contracts settled by its predecessor in pay rounds prior to the election. These included senior doctors who received a 4.25 percent pay increase at the end of June and nurses who received a 4 percent increase in March. "No one should take these pay increases as an indication of settlements in the near future," Mr English... more>

Property

PROPERTY: Property managers do not need to be further regulated, a review has found. The Justice Ministry review was prompted by comments to a parliamentary committee which considered the Real Estate Agents Act before it became law last September. Residential letting services and property management services generally were excluded from the scope of the Act. Associate Justice Minister Nathan Guy today said the review identified a lack of consumer awareness about what to expect from property management services and what to do when things went wrong. "The Ministry of Justice has been directed to consult with departments about options for raising consumer awareness," he said. However, an occupation should be regulated only... more>

News

CONSERVATION: The Conservation Department (DOC) has to prioritise how it treats different endangered species because of budget cuts, MPs were told on Thursday. Labour MP Phil Twyford asked Department of Conservation (DOC) director-general Al Morrison at a select committee today what effect the $54m reduction over the next four years, announced in the May budget, would have on 2000-plus endangered birds, plants and animals DOC managed. DOC also faced cuts last year under a Labour government. "We are not funded, and could never be, to ensure every species is thriving everywhere," Mr Morrison said. "And so we just have to bite the bullet, and we haven't been doing it to be blunt, that when we get to a point when a... more>

News

RUGBY: Prime Minister John Key said on Thursday he appreciated the apology from his French counterpart for French rugby player Mathieu Bastareaud lying about being attacked in Wellington. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon wrote to Mr Key to apologise for what he called the "unacceptable behaviour" of Bastareaud. The 20-year-old Stade Francais player is at the heart of a furious row after lying over an alleged assault outside the team hotel in Wellington following France's 14-10 defeat against the All Blacks on June 20. A spokesman for Mr Key said today France and New Zealand share a "strong rugby tradition". He said Mr Key was keen for both countries to "put the matter behind us now".... more>

News

CLIMATE: Sea levels could rise by up to five metres because of a melting Antarctica ice sheet, says Professor Tim Naish, director of the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University. He said Antarctica's most vulnerable element, the West Antarctic ice sheet, presented a huge issue for civilisation. Polar ice sheets had grown and collapsed at least 40 times over the past five million years, causing major sea-level fluctuations, he said. The most recent "interglacial" had lasted 10,000 years, with relatively constant global sealevel and atmospheric temperatures allowing human civilisation to flourish. Evidence shows the West Antarctic ice sheet was expected to melt first, along with Greenland. "West Antarctica... more>

News

CLIMATE: Temperatures were well below average during June, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) climate summary says. Extremely low temperatures were recorded in the Waikato, Taumarunui, Taupo, southern Hawke's Bay, Central Otago, the Kaikoura Coast, and some alpine areas of the South Island. All other areas experienced below average temperatures and the national average temperature of 7.5degC was 0.7degC below the long-term average for June. The lowest temperature recorded for the month was -8.9degC in Hanmer Springs, while the highest was 24.5degC in Henderson, Auckland. Despite the cold, the sun shone brightly with well above average sunshine totals recorded in Northland, Auckland, the Waikato, Bay of... more>

Sport

CHARITY RACE: A New Zealand rowing team who have lost contact with organisers of a race across the Indian Ocean are still to be found. The Rowing for Prostate (RFP) team of Tom Wigram, Peter Staples, Billy Gammon and Matt Hampel last made contact on Saturday. Organisers believed the men's satellite phone had issues recharging and they would have set off one of two locator beacons they carried if they had run into trouble. Indian Ocean Rowing Race organisers today said there was nothing to suggest Rowing for Prostate had any problems and they were expected to cross the race finish line soon. Mr Wigram's wife Rebecca said today she was confident that the reason for the silence was a problem with recharging the on-board satellite... more>

News

SWINE FLU: Wellington is overtaking Melbourne as the swine flu capital of Australasia, as New Zealand figures climb fast daily, a Wellington health specialist says. While case numbers were higher in Australia, a snapshot in time showed New Zealand was struggling with relatively higher severe cases of H1N1 influenza, Tim Blackmore of Wellington Hospital said on Thursday. "Melbourne is the swine flu capital of Australia but if you compare hospitalisations for the whole state of Victoria, we're ahead in our comparatively tiny city," Dr Blackmore said. Wellington's total number of cases climbed to 275 today while the country's number of confirmed swine flu cases continued to rise as health authorities remained vigilant. As of... more>

Travel & Tourism

AIRLINES: Thousands of Air New Zealand passengers will from this week get their flight safety instructions from staff wearing nothing but body paint. The airline has decided to expand its use of body painted staff from advertisements to the in-flight safety video used on 737 domestic flights. It hopes to catch the attention of travellers, particularly those who often ignore the safety video despite being told they need to watch it even if they are frequent customers. "Safety is paramount and non-negotiable at Air New Zealand," Air New Zealand general manager marketing Steve Bayliss said. "We wanted to find a way to deliver these important pre-flight messages to our domestic travellers in a way that was genuine,... more>

Travel & Tourism

TRAVEL: New Zealanders have the largest international travel budgets of any Asia Pacific country, a new survey has found. Travellers spend an average of $8885 per trip, the study said. The Travel Smart Survey of 2226 people from 11 countries found New Zealand travellers spent 80 percent more than the regional average of $4940 on their last international trip. More than a quarter of New Zealanders said they spent more than $11,130 on their trip, with the second highest spenders -- Australians -- spending an average $8360. Nearly half of all respondents said they used payment cards, including credit, debit, prepaid and ATM cards, as their primary payment method when abroad, with business travellers more likely to use payment cards... more>