Author: Press Room

The Reserve Bank has cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to a two year low of 4.25 percent, as expected, saying a second consecutive super sized cut was justified by slowing inflation and weaker economy. The 50-basis-point cut brings the OCR to its lowest level since November 2022. It follows a 50-point cut to 4.75 percent in October. “Annual consumer price inflation has declined and is now close to the midpoint of the Monetary Policy Committee’s 1 to 3 percent target band. Inflation expectations are also close to target and core inflation is converging to the midpoint,”…

Nearly 1500 more jobs may be cut at Health NZ – Te Whatu Ora, the public sector union says.That was on top of more than 500 voluntary redundancies that had already been accepted. RNZ has tallied 2042 jobs are now gone or proposed to go at the agency.The Public Service Association said about 700 of the roles to go were currently vacant because of a freeze on recruitment.They would include 47% (1120 jobs) of the entire Data and Digital group and 24% (358 roles) of the National Public Health Service.Te Whatu Ora is the country’s largest Crown entity, employing more…

National aerospace centre Tāwhaki says it is in talks with potential partners for launching rockets from its base south of Christchurch. The government has ruled out subsidising any such launches or building spaceport at Kaitorete Spit. This is despite previous official studies that detailed big benefits from the Crown and private investors working together to build several launchpads on the spit. But how Tāwhaki used private investment was up to it, the government said. “We’ve been exploring the demand and infrastructure requirements for vertical launch since we formed and talks with potential partners are continuing,” Tāwhaki said on Wednesday. “We are on…

Homeowners can expect a further lowering of mortgage rates after the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate (OCR) to 4.25% — a fall of 50 basis points.Cuts to the OCR are generally followed by retail banks lowering their mortgage rates and reducing the interest return on savings. Today’s announcement will be the final one for 2024.Several major banks immediately cut their loan rates in response to the decision. The Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee said inflation was “now close to the midpoint” of the central bank’s target range of 1% to 3%. “Inflation expectations are also close to target…

The Whanganui motorsport community is paying tribute to Eugene Robbemond, who, according to media reports, has been killed during a robbery in South Africa.Local media outlet The Daily Voice reported a man was trying to stop a robbery in the northern Cape Town suburb of Monte Vista and shot dead.Police spokesman Malcolm Pojie confirmed to The Daily Voice the man was 49-years-old and died around 1.30pm on Friday on Mostert Street in Monte Vista.”We have reason to believe that it was a bank-following-robbery as the motive, even though the suspects fled the scene without any loot,” the outlet reported Pojie…

An oil painting of a Māori elder by New Zealand painter Charles Frederick Goldie became the most valuable Māori portrait in New Zealand art history after an auction sale on Tuesday night.Thoughts of a Tohunga, a portrait of Wharekauri Tahuna, a Ngāti Manawa tohunga or priest, was painted by Goldie in 1938 and sold for more than $3,757,000.It was the highest auction price for any Goldie in New Zealand art history.The painting was done nine years before Goldie died in 1947 and art commentators believe it was his best work.It was thought it could bring a floor price of up…

Photo: RNZ The Reserve Bank has cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 4.25 percent this afternoon. The 50-basis-point cut brings the OCR to its lowest level since November 2022. It follows a 50-point cut to 4.75 percent in October.

The Government’s first new charter school, set to open in Christchurch in term one next year, has been announced.Mastery Schools New Zealand – Arapaki is a partner school of Mastery Schools Australia, which has opened five campuses since 2021. It is a full-time school for year one to eight students who have various learning difficulties and were disengaged from mainstream schooling.The reintroduction of charter schools has been controversial, with some in the education sector opposed to them. But Associate Education Minister David Seymour said today’s announcement was a “fantastic” example of a school that would “give families and educators more…

Meanwhile, US-made ATACMS missiles launched by Ukraine damaged critical infrastructure and injured several in Russia’s Kursk region. ADVERTISEMENTRussia launched 188 drones targeting 17 regions in Ukraine in an overnight attack on Tuesday, marking the record number of drones fired by Russia in a single attack, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that while most of the drones were shot down or neutralized, the shelling damaged apartment buildings and critical infrastructure such as the national power grid. “Nearly two hundred Russian drones against Ukraine in one day – that is nearly two hundred proofs that Russian…

There were tears and anger when Hutt Valley residents found out that a terrible smell from a wastewater treatment plant won’t be fixed for another four years.And to make matters worse they were told that even when the faulty equipment causing the smell at the Seaview plant is replaced there’s no guarantee the stench will be completely gone.Kylie Hood, who was reduced to tears, has had a gutsful of the stink.”For them to tell us that there is no fix effectively and that it’s just going to continue, that the plant is always going to smell, the community is always…