Author: Press Room

The Government is launching a sweeping set of reforms aimed at boosting competition and making it easier for businesses to open and expand in New Zealand’s grocery sector.The changes followed a Request for Information process earlier this year which revealed widespread frustration among prospective supermarket operators over restrictive zoning, slow consenting, and regulatory hurdles they said were making it “extremely difficult” to enter or expand in the market.Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis today said the Government was creating “an express lane” for new supermarkets to boost competition and deliver better deals for Kiwi shoppers.She said international retail giant Costco had…

A woman who died in police custody in Christchurch on Monday morning had earlier been tasered.At around 1am on Monday, August 25, police attended an address in Rakaia after receiving reports of an intoxicated woman in possession of a knife, who was reportedly hurting herself and threatening harm to others.”Faced with a tense and dangerous situation, and after unsuccessful appeals for the weapon to be put down, police tasered the woman.”She was then arrested and taken to the custody site in Christchurch, where she was assessed by a doctor shortly after 4am.At around 6.50am, the woman was located unresponsive in…

Air New Zealand’s profit has fallen, as soft demand and continuing engine maintenance and plane supply problems weigh on earnings. The airline reported a profit of $126 million for the year to June, compared with $146 million a year earlier. It said it had to cope with fewer people flying, at times more than 10 planes grounded for engine maintenance, and rising costs for fuel and regulatory charges. The airline’s chairperson, Dame Therese Walsh, said the result had shown its resilience in the face of operational and economic changes. Outgoing chief executive Greg Foran said it had had up to…

Friends and family of a man who died before his successful appearance on The Chase went to air have gathered at a Manchester pub to watch the episode, just weeks after he died. Teacher Tim McCarthy, 64, who won a nail biting episode, had completed his ambition to compete on the quiz show before he died.He had been battling a long illness.The BBC reported his victory was “greeted with roars” by the crowd, who filled The Colliers pub in Greater Manchester.Before the episode aired, only his widow, Rachel McCarthy, along with his three children knew of his win.Chase host Bradley…

Tama Lundon, a member of New Zealand reggae group Herbs, has died.Former Herbs member Toni Fonoti announced Lundon’s death on Facebook on Wednesday, describing his former bandmate as an “amazing, humble person and genius musician”.Lundon was the original keyboard player for the band, which was inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame in 2012.Fonoti said he met Lundon in the late 1970s at a bar in Auckland’s Onehunga where he was playing.“I asked him to join Herbs but he was happy where he was. Now 40 years later, Tama and Dilworth Karaka and all the other members have…

NZ Post services to the United States will resume for businesses due to a new commercial sending option – but other customers will need to wait. The postal service had temporarily suspended parcel services to the US because of confusion caused by the Trump administration’s tariff regime. NZ Post said it had now set up a commercial sending option allowing Kiwi businesses to resume sending parcels. Business owners had voiced concern about the suspension and impact it would have on their income. Jared Handcock,  NZ Post’s general manager of Export and International Solutions, said the sending option would be available for new and…

Council staffer Robert Hutchinson probably didn’t think he’d have to explain how the elderly could use a proposed playground at a Marlborough committee meeting.But a question from councillor Deborah Dalliessi left the parks and public spaces officer scrambling to explain how a balance beam was “for many ages”.The question came on Tuesday as the Marlborough District Council approved $488,000 from the $1.4m land subdivision reserve to build the new recreational space on Vickerman St in Grovetown.“I’m really interested [in] a good example of inviting intergenerational space into one … what do you have that is elder friendly?” Dalliessi asked.“No, it’s…

Wellington central city brew bar Fortune Favours is closing due to the cost-of-living crisis, its owners say. In a sudden announcement on Wednesday night, it said it was shutting its doors on Sunday after eight years of trading. In a post on social media it said the “cost of living crisis has proven too difficult” for it to navigate. “We’re 20 percent down on last year, which was already 25 percent down on the year before. “This is not sustainable.” It said Shannon Thorpe (the owner), Dale Cooper (head brewer) and the team thanked customers, community and all past and…

Election hoardings of three Auckland female candidates have been vandalised and graffitied with offensive and racist words.The three targets of the vandalism say it’s not just graffiti – it’s racist abuse, a financial burden, and a threat to democracy.Josephine Bartley, the incumbent councillor for Maungakiekie and one of only two female Samoans on Auckland’s governing body, said a hoarding on Captains Springs Rd was defaced with explicit abuse.”They’d written all over the sign, calling me a ‘fat, useless, plastic poly’.”Another one of her billboards on Trafalgar St was attacked just a day after it went up.”We put it up on…

The Reserve Bank has trimmed its forecast for house price growth, and says the fact that house prices aren’t rising as fast as expected is weighing on the economy.The central bank now expects house prices will fall 0.3% this calendar year. At the end of last year, it had expected 7% growth.Its monetary policy statement seemed to lament the fact that the market had not responded as quickly as expected to interest rate cuts. It said housing was a key component of household wealth and influenced household spending.”Annual house price growth has been lower than annual [Consumer Price Index] inflation…