Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation (Guardians), manager of the $90 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund (Super Fund), has confirmed it will not appeal a recent Judicial Review that found two of its policy documents were not formulated in accordance with the relevant statutory requirements.

In a decision published on 16 May 2026, Justice Mount said parts of the Guardians’ Statement of Investment Policies, Standards & Procedures and its Sustainable Investment Framework were “materially less clear and specific than the previous iterations” and “framed in such general terms as to provide no practical benchmark for those applying them in relation to alleged breaches of human rights standards.”

General Manager of Corporate Affairs Cristina Billett said the Guardians accepted that its policies need more specificity and would be amending them accordingly.

“Our mandate requires us to manage the Super Fund in a manner consistent with, among other things, avoiding prejudice to New Zealand’s reputation as a responsible member of the world community, and our investment policies are designed to ensure we achieve that objective,” Ms Billett said.

“We accept Justice Mount’s finding that it is important we not only adhere to and comply with our sustainable investment policies, but that the standards and procedures underlying those policies must be identified more clearly in our policy documents.

With that in mind, we are now working on how we can reformulate those documents to ensure they satisfy that condition.”

Ms Billett said the court decision focused on the way the Guardians’ policy documents described the Guardians’ sustainable investment decision-making processes.

Updates to the policy documents in recent years had not, however, materially changed the Guardians’ actual engagement and exclusion practices.

Further information about the Guardians’ sustainable investment approach is available in our Stewardship Report: https://nzsuperfund.cmail19.com/t/d-l-guthuud-hujkdust-n/

And in the investment section of our website: https://nzsuperfund.cmail19.com/t/d-l-guthuud-hujkdust-p/

Source: Westland Milk Products

Westgold butter has come out on top of all butters sold in supermarkets after a blind tasting test conducted by Consumer New Zealand. So, what's our secret? The grass-fed diet of cows raised on the pastures of one of the most beautiful and remote dairy farming regions of the world.

A taste panel by Consumer New Zealand thought Westgold butter was complex, delicious and, most importantly, buttery. Some of their comments are worth their weight in gold.

“More complex than others, in a good way,” said one, “Yes, just yes. Yellowy, buttery goodness,” said another, and: “Rich, salty and decadent. Hell yeah.”

Westland Milk Products CEO Alex Turnbull said the results confirm one of Westland’s best kept secrets, and we want the world to know and help them share in the magic of grass-fed butter from the magical West Coast of New Zealand.

“Given our location and the knowledge and skills of our butter team, we know we have a lot going for us, but this result still fills us with pride,'' Mr Turnbull said.

The simplicity of mixing only grass-fed fresh cream and salt gives Westgold butter a distinctive texture, while Westgold’s distinctive gold colour is a result of the more than 97[i] per cent grass-fed diet of our West Coast dairy cows cherished and looked after by our partner farmers.

A centuries-old churning method built into the butter plant Westland commissioned in 2022 at Hokitika on the West Coast is used to process cream into butter. This is a slower processing method that results in a higher-quality product.

But perhaps the most important ingredient to making butter as good as Westland does is the time spent perfecting the craft involved in making butter. Staff in the butter team have spent an average of 20,000 hours (or 10 years) producing butter.

Cream Senior Production Manager, Dean Robinson, has celebrated more than 30 years of service.

“Our butter-team has more accumulated knowledge than any other team at Westland and, potentially, more knowledge than any other butter producers in the country,'' Mr Robinson said.

“After making butter for so many years, everyone working in the factory has the eye for it and just knows when it is right. Our butter churners all have their own characteristics. Our staff have been able to use the instinct that comes from extensive experience.”

New employees are trained by those who have the most experience to make sure that everyone gets the benefit of the team’s knowledge. 

This all drives the taste of Westgold Butter as more people around the world – and at home – are discovering. Sales of Westgold butter are booming and have grown around 40 per cent over the past four years in New Zealand.

The Opportunity Party's tax policy is a welcome contribution to the tax debate, but misses the opportunity to tackle wealth inequality and its impact on living standards for ordinary people, says the Better Taxes for a Better Future campaign.

“While it's great to see a genuine attempt to address inequality through their proposed “citizens income”, the decision to promote a land tax rather than to fairly tax all forms of income and wealth leaves major gaps,” says Glenn Barclay, spokesperson for the Better Taxes campaign.

“We applaud their attempt to propose solutions to problems many people are facing in terms of job insecurity and insufficient income. But ultimately, we need to tackle the root causes of increasing inequality and declining living standards.”

“We also need to close the gaps in tax on big corporates and we need to ensure the wealthiest are paying their fair share. We know that the very wealthiest make most of their wealth not from property (including land), but through financial assets (such as shares in companies) and this wealth goes largely untaxed in New Zealand,” says Barclay.

“Just as the Opportunity Party's policy came out, the OECD released their report on NZ's economy, which included recommendations to more comprehensively tax gains from property and shares, and a windfall tax on capital gains from rezoning land. These recommendations highlight the need to take a more comprehensive approach to rebalancing our tax system.”

“Our Tax Policy Statement, sets out a mix of policies that could generate the revenue we need to fund the public services we all rely upon, while ensuring that big corporates and the wealthiest are contributing their fair share to maintaining these services that they depend on too,” says Barclay.

“Fairly taxing all forms of income and wealth is also critical to addressing increasing wealth inequality and supporting a more productive economy that generates jobs and supports good living standards for all.”

Thousands of Kiwi mobile phone users are being warned to be vigilant when scanning QR codes as mobile devices rapidly emerge as a new entry point for scams.

New data from Eset, one of Europe’s largest cybersecurity companies, shows almost 200,000 cyber threats were detected across its New Zealand user base in the year to March 2026, or roughly one every three minutes.

Phishing remains the most common threat, but attacks are increasingly being delivered across multiple formats, including emails, documents, PDFs and QR codes, making them harder to detect.

QR code-based scams, known as ‘quishing’, have only emerged at scale locally in the past six months but already account for about one in every 10 cyber attacks over the company’s base of over 250,000 New Zealand users – more than doubling in frequency since March.

Cybersecurity experts say the trend reflects a more sophisticated threat landscape, with attackers testing different approaches and scaling those that are most effective, and that the data is indicative of wider cyberattack patterns occurring across New Zealand.

The surge also coincides with changes to low-value imports, often referred to as the “Temu tax”, which came into effect in recent weeks. The levy applies a $2.54 charge on parcels valued under $1,000 and could lead to more consumers being contacted about additional courier charges once goods arrive in New Zealand.

Experts say the shift is creating a new layer of risk, as consumers who are not used to dealing with post-purchase courier fees may be more likely to engage with unexpected messages or payment requests.

Scott Leman, New Zealand country manager for Eset at Chillisoft, says these scams are engineered to align with normal user behaviour, making them far more difficult to detect and increasing the likelihood of compromise.

He says the timing is significant, with scammers quick to exploit changes in consumer behaviour.

“We’re now seeing a situation where people are receiving legitimate requests for courier payments they may not have expected, and that creates confusion. Attackers can leverage that uncertainty to insert fraudulent messages that look almost identical.

“When someone thinks a payment might be legitimate, they’re far more likely to click a link or scan a QR code without stopping to verify it.

“This is now being reported across New Zealand, from fake NZ Post payment requests to unsolicited parcels containing QR codes designed to prompt interaction, as well as fraudulent codes placed in public settings such as parking meters or shopfronts offering free Wi-Fi.

“These attacks are effective because they mirror routine actions people trust. When a QR code appears in a familiar context, whether it’s paying for parking or tracking a delivery, people are far less likely to question it, which increases the likelihood of compromise.”

Leman says hackers are no longer relying on a single method to breach systems, instead combining multiple approaches to improve their chances of success.

“One of the biggest changes we’re seeing is the shift toward mobile and multi-format attacks, moving away from single-format phishing toward more complex approaches that span email, documents, web and mobile interactions, with QR code scams emerging as a significant new threat.

“Cyber criminals are now combining different formats to get around security controls and reach users more effectively. That might involve an email with a PDF attachment prompting a QR code scan using a mobile device, which then directs users to a fake website.

“Attacks are also increasingly being launched in coordinated waves targeting specific countries, with hackers focusing on one market at a time and sending large volumes of emails, texts or QR code scams in short bursts.

“The inherent risk with this new form of attack is that QR codes are not commonly perceived as a threat, so people tend to scan them without hesitation, often on mobile devices where it is harder to verify links before opening them,” he says.

The research shows April detections were down 25 percent year-on-year, but Leman says the decline risks creating a false sense of security and masks a shift in how cyber criminals are operating.

“A decline in total attack numbers can create complacency, but what we’re actually seeing is a shift in how attacks are delivered and who they are targeting,” he says.

Leman says because the malicious link is embedded within the QR code, it can bypass traditional security filters.

“People should avoid scanning QR codes from unknown sources, be cautious of unexpected messages, and consider using security tools that can scan and block malicious links before they are opened, and avoid entering sensitive information unless they are certain a website is legitimate,” he says.

Notes:

1. Data is based on threats detected across Eset’s New Zealand base of over 250,000 users for the 12 months to April 2026. As this reflects activity within Eset-protected systems only, it should be treated as indicative of broader trends rather than a measure of total cyber attacks across New Zealand.

The impacts of climate change on children in Sāmoa are under the spotlight in a new research project.

The study will examine the effects of heat and humidity on children at five primary and high schools across Sāmoa, says project lead Dr Roannie Ng Shiu, co-director of Te Poutoko Ora A Kiwa, Centre for Pacific and Global Health, at the University of Auckland, and Associate Professor at the National University of Sāmoa.

The researchers will measure heat and humidity in classrooms and outdoor spaces in the schools until the end of the school year.

Focus groups will be held with students and teachers to gather insights on children’s health, well-being, mood, and learning, when facing different levels of heat and humidity.

“Climate change is having a significant impact on the Pacific and there are no cooling systems in these schools.

“If we can quantify how much heat and humidity impacts on children, then hopefully we can improve their learning environments, so they can flourish,” Ng Shiu says.

Children aged under 15 make up 19.5 percent of Sāmoa’s population. They are particularly vulnerable to heat stress, as are people aged over 65, she says.

Although the Pacific has been hit particularly hard by climate change, there is currently no data showing how rising temperatures affect the health and well-being of children in the Pacific Islands, says Ng Shiu.

Heat waves are occurring more frequently, with temperatures soaring above 28 degrees Celsius, she says.

Extreme heat can cause everything from impaired cognitive performance to heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

“We hear when it gets terribly hot and humid, children tend to become more restless, lack concentration and can be hard to deal with.

“Children are at school at the hottest time of day, so it’s important to understand how that influences their health and their learning.”

In the Pacific, climate change is causing more devastating cyclones and floods, which can leave children anxious and depressed, Ng Shiu says.

“Children should have the right to grow up without having to worry about extreme weather events, which happen all the time now.

“They have the least power to do anything, so we’re passionate about projects that help reduce the impacts of climate change on children.”

Results are expected later this year and will be used to inform regional and school strategies to protect children from extreme heat.

As well as writing academic papers and reports, the researchers will create story books summarising their findings in an accessible format for children.

The study is funded by the International Science Council and led by the National University of Sāmoa. It will be carried out in collaboration with the University of the South Pacific and the University of Sydney’s Heat and Health Research Centre, which has designed interventions to cool schools in hot parts of Northern Australia.

Ng Shiu says the long-term plan is to expand the research to other Pacific countries, including the Cook Islands, Fiji, and Tonga.