Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Queenstown, NZ (6 October 2025) Some of the world’s leading voices in destination management, tourism leadership and sustainability will descend on Queenstown from 6 – 10 October for the Destination Think Forum 2025.

The forum, convened by Destination Think, will highlight the region’s leadership in regenerative tourism and put Queenstown and Wānaka at the centre of global conversations about the future of tourism. As leaders from across the globe converge here, they will explore how the Southern Lakes region is reimagining its visitor economy and how lessons learned in Queenstown can help shape the next chapter of global tourism.

Over the five days, delegates will participate in panels, site visits, workshops and networking events focused on the theme of “Regeneration in Practice.”  Attendees include senior tourism delegates from across Europe, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, keen to share what works in their regions, and equally keen to learn from Queenstown’s journey.

Among them will be Rikke Holm Petersen, Director of Marketing, Communication & Behaviour at Wonderful Copenhagen. Rikke has been a vocal advocate for transforming tourism from consumption toward positive contribution, as demonstrated by Copenhagen’s CopenPay initiative, which rewards visitors for sustainable actions.

Rikke says she believes tourism has the power to shape communities, landscapes and behaviour beyond traditional boundaries. “I’ve come to the Southern Lakes region not just to share, but to be inspired. Queenstown’s alpine landscapes, its commitment to carbon-zero goals and the deep connection between people and place present a powerful opportunity for the future of destination stewardship.”

Mat Woods, Chief Executive of Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism, will contribute as a guest speaker, covering the region’s Destination Management Plan (DMP), including its ambitious goal for a carbon zero visitor economy, as well as local case-studies.

“Queenstown is grappling with the same challenges many destinations elsewhere face, balancing visitation, community expectations and ecological impacts. Hosting an event like this helps us to lay out how we can evolve across the tourism industry by sharing opportunities and learnings. We look forward to showing what’s possible here and learning from peers who are pushing boundaries globally.”

The Destination Think Forum 2025 will focus on how tourism can transition from sustaining to restoring the places it touches. Sessions will explore regenerative models, carbon reduction pathways, governance structures and community collaboration. For Queenstown, the event is a chance to highlight the progress of its Destination Management Plan, deepen international partnerships, and further position the Southern Lakes as an example of how tourism can create lasting positive impact.

For more information about the Destination Think Collective, visit destinationthink.com/collective/

The just released New Zealand Defence Industry Strategy is clear that the government intends to fund and develop a home-grown defence industry. The ‘defence industry’ is better known as the weapons industry or arms trade.

(ref. https://www.defence.govt.nz/publications/new-zealand-defence-industry-strategy-delivering-capability-faster/ )

“The peace movement and the movement for a free Palestine will actively oppose the development of a weapons industry here. New Zealanders do not want to be a nation of war profiteers,” said Valerie Morse of Peace Action Wellington.

“Peace Action Wellington and our sister organisations have a long history of actively campaigning against the NZ Defence Industry Association annual weapons expo. This week there will be peace blockades and protests against the Aerospace Summit, with actions in Christchurch where the event is being held as well as Wellington and Auckland.”

“Space capabilities is one of three areas where the Strategy intends significant focus. The weaponisation of space is a major threat to global peace and security. New Zealand’s decision to focus on this is alarming.”

“Overwhelming New Zealanders do not want to be involved in, or invested in the arms trade. The 2025 Mindful Money survey on investment into arms companies shows very clearly that 80% of people here do not want to make money from the industries of war. As we watch the horrors unfold in Gaza, we are collectively revolted by the harm of weapons proliferation.”

“As part of the Strategy, the government is prioritising funding the weapons industry. It says the motivation for this big spend up is that, ‘The global order is being reshaped in ways that undermine our interests’. What it does not say is that the countries responsible for undermining our interest are two of our closest military allies: the United States and the UK. Both these governments are directly arming and funding a genocide. They are responsible for the mass slaughter of at least 60,000 people in Palestine and unimaginable horror. Their bombs rain down every single day on Gaza City delivered by Lockheed Martin.”

“What is even more surreal is that the Strategy anticipates funnelling money to global weapons companies with a so-called ‘technology accelerator’ that has a cash pool of somewhere between $100-$300 million. One of the world’s most profitable industries is being underwritten by hard-working people while many are struggling to pay their bills, stay in their homes and feed their kids.”

“The Strategy also seems ignorant that the NZ economy is rapidly de-industrialising with thousands of job losses across the country due to lack of government leadership – this entire project is based on an advanced manufacturing sector. Engineering firms have lost 1,200 people in 12 months amid the government’s poor economic management.”

Notes

Mindful Money 2025 research on weapons spending: https://mindfulmoney.nz/learn/revealed-huge-increase-in-weapons-in-your-kiwisaver-fund/

Job losses in engineering sector: https://www.acenz.org.nz/engineering_firms_lose_1200_people_in_12_months_amid_major_slowdown_in_infrastructure

On this World Habitat Day, we reflect on the universal right of every human being to live in dignity, with secure shelter, access to land, and a safe environment to call home.

For Palestinians, this right is systematically denied. Since the Nakba of 1948, millions of Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes and lands. In Gaza, entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble, with families left homeless and deprived of the basic means to rebuild. In the West Bank, home demolitions, land confiscation, and the expansion of illegal settlements continue to strip Palestinians of their right to a safe and secure habitat. Refugees scattered across the region and the world remain denied the right to return to their ancestral homes.

World Habitat Day calls us to remind the international community that shelter and land are not privileges—they are human rights. The ongoing destruction and dispossession in Palestine are not natural disasters, but deliberate policies of occupation and apartheid.

We stand in solidarity with Palestinians struggling to protect their homes, villages, and lands. We call on the New Zealand Government and civil society to support international law, oppose the destruction of Palestinian habitats, and affirm the inalienable right of Palestinians to live freely and securely in their homeland.

Because a just and peaceful world can only be built when every family, in every nation, has a place to call home.

Palestine Forum of New Zealand

It is a universal principle of humanity that all people should be entitled to safety, security, and life. The past two years have shown the world that statements alone are not enough.

The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) calls on the New Zealand Government to act, and to honour and enforce international law everywhere. In recent days, a humanitarian flotilla has been intercepted and prevented from distributing much needed aid to the starving in Gaza, NZ citizens have been taken in international waters and remain in captivity, and a proposed “peace plan” disregards core international conventions and established structures.

These breaches show the dangers of governments remaining neutral in the face of injustice, and New Zealand’s silence signals not balance, but rather an abdication of responsibility.

A principled stance requires that Aotearoa honours its agreements and insists that all states we interact and conduct business with do so as well. If the NZ Government will not act in this case, or for the Palestinian people, time will show it will not act for others. The question is simple: who is next?

In this context, IWCNZ calls on our Government to immediately and unconditionally recognise the State of Palestine, demand the release of all those seized in international waters, require Israel’s compliance with international law in all cases, and impose sanctions for its ongoing and egregious violations of humanitarian law. To fail to do so is not a passive omission. It is a conscious political decision that undermines international law, human dignity, and the global consensus affirming the Palestinian right to self-determination.

IWCNZ represents Muslim women across Aotearoa, many of whom carry the trauma of war, displacement, and watching their families suffer in silence. Our Palestinian sisters are raising children under siege, giving birth under rubble, and grieving in front of cameras that only occasionally pay attention.

This is not simply a political matter. It is a humanitarian emergency. According to UN OCHA and UN Women, over two million people in Gaza are displaced, 94% of hospitals are damaged or destroyed, and more than 70% of those displaced are women and children. Estimates indicate over 65,000 dead, 150,000 wounded, and 500,000 facing famine-like conditions.We include the voices of Palestinian women whose testimonies reflect the unbearable cost of this crisis. As reported by Al Jazeera on 24 September 2025, Hiba al-Sheikh Khalil, a mother displaced multiple times in Gaza, said:

“I gave birth under siege with no milk, no diapers, no medicine — nothing.”

From UN Women’s September 2025 report, Niveen Adel, displaced more than ten times, shared:

“I can’t be mother, father, and head of the household all at once. I have no money, not even a bag of flour to feed us.”

These are not isolated stories. They represent the daily reality of millions enduring war, starvation, and erasure.

The New Zealand Government has claimed that recognition is premature. We ask: after 75 years of occupation, tens of thousands of dead, and over 150 countries already recognising Palestine, what exactly is premature?

Delaying recognition in 2025 is not neutrality. It is a choice to avoid responsibility rather than to act with integrity.

New Zealand’s voting record at the United Nations has shown inconsistency. While supporting humanitarian aid, it has repeatedly abstained from opposing resolutions affirming Palestinian sovereignty. Aotearoa is party to the UN Charter, which upholds the right to self-determination – a right the Government now selectively applies.

New Zealand once stood proudly against apartheid in South Africa. Today, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories describe Israel’s system as apartheid.

We ask: Will our government again wait until the injustice is safely in the past before finding its voice?

IWCNZ calls on the New Zealand Government to:

• Immediately and unconditionally recognise the State of Palestine as a matter of international law and moral clarity.
• Support international accountability mechanisms, including the ICC’s investigation into war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
• End all military and security cooperation with entities complicit in the occupation.
• Ensure refugee and humanitarian pathways for Palestinians impacted by ongoing violence.
• Champion a foreign policy grounded in justice and consistency, not geopolitics or selective empathy.

We also call on Māori and Pacific leaders, interfaith communities, and civil society organisations to stand with us in solidarity. Recognition of Palestine is not just a foreign policy issue — it is a test of our national conscience.Silence is not neutrality. It is prolonging the suffering.

As Muslim women, we know too well the cost of silence when our pain is erased, our voices ignored, and our communities left to carry the burden of injustice alone. Today, we speak not only for Palestinian women, but alongside them.

We urge all New Zealanders, and especially our elected officials, to act with the same courage we ask of women under siege: to stand, to speak, and to end injustice and to support the oppressed.

Sharks is set to take centre stage at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum this Summer, opening Wednesday 10 December 2025.  

Sharks invites families, students and enthusiasts into a world dominated by members of the shark family to explore their genetic diversity, territories, interactions and significance to ocean ecosystems.

Created by the Australian Museum, this acclaimed exhibition invites visitors to explore the often misunderstood but fascinating world of sharks. Highlighting the very latest science alongside cultural perspectives, Sharks reveals the diversity of these ancient fishes.

Visitors will encounter nine life-sized scientifically accurate models, including the now extinct 270-million-year-old Helicoprion (also known as the Buzzsaw Shark); the Hammerhead Shark, known for its unique head shape and 360-degree vision; and the Great White Shark, one of the most famous (and feared) species of shark. Other life-sized sharks on display are the Tiger Shark, Greynurse Shark, Prickly Dogfish, Epaulette Shark and Frill Shark.

© Australia Museum

The exhibition features hands-on learning through artefacts and tactile displays, which include a megalodon jaw and a Great White tooth. Immersive and interactive experiences allow visitors to navigate through a shark body via a 3D interactive scan, adapt a shark to survive in changing environments, and see the world in 360-degrees through the eyes of a Hammerhead. State-of-the-art projections and a specially designed ‘oceanarium’ bring sharks to life as they swim virtually through their ocean habitats.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a quarter of the world’s sharks are threatened with extinction. This exhibition presents the very latest information on conservation, sharks’ impact on oceans, and efforts to protect sharks. Shark safety is also highlighted, enabling visitors to make informed choices when entering marine environments – the natural domain of sharks.

Clinton Duffy, Curator of Marine Biology at Auckland Museum, and shark expert, says, “Sharks are one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet. Most people can name a couple of sharks, such as the Great White Shark, Tiger Shark, Hammerhead or Bronze Whaler. But sharks are a really diverse group, with over 500 species, ranging in size from the tiny cigar shark to the Whale Shark, the largest fish in the ocean.”

“Sharks have so much to tell us about evolution, ocean ecosystems, and our natural world,” says Duffy.

David Reeves, Tumu Whakarae Chief Executive at Auckland Museum, says, “Sharks are among the most fascinating animals in our world, and we’re thrilled to bring this acclaimed exhibition from the Australian Museum in Sydney to us in Auckland, just in time for summer.”

“Sharks hold a particular place in popular mythology, sometimes unfairly portrayed, so this exhibition is an opportunity for visitors to get up close to appreciate their beauty and diversity. Visitors can learn about the vital role sharks play in our oceans, and we hope they’ll come away with a deeper understanding of our marine environment,” says Reeves.

Sharks comes exclusively to Auckland Museum and opens Wednesday 10 December 2025 until Monday 27 April 2026. Tickets are on sale from Thursday 6 November 2025.

Auckland Museum Membership and Mini-Membership (for ages 5-15) provides unlimited free entry to Sharks, discounted event tickets and exclusive Member-only events. Find out more at: aucklandmuseum.com/membership.

The bold and beautiful harmonies of Fijian songs and storytelling are set to reach a wider audience with the announcement that Vatu Dei are releasing their debut album this October as part of their Pasifika Artist in Residence for Palmerston North.

The album, produced in collaboration with The KaRs and Hokozoo Productions, will be launched during Fijian Language Week 2025, celebrating the richness of the Fijian identity and the strength of Pasifika voices in Aotearoa.

Vatu Dei, meaning “Steadfast Rock,” is a collective of talented Fijian artists who celebrate culture through meke, the traditional form of Fijian song and dance. Their work blends chants, harmonies, spoken word, and contemporary performance to share the stories of Fijian legends, love, indigenous history, and everyday life.

Rooted deeply in iTaukei (indigenous Fijian) traditions, the collective is dedicated to preserving ancestral knowledge while offering a fresh and powerful voice for the next generation.

The Creative New Zealand Pacific Arts Regional Residency, supported through Creative New Zealand’s Pacific Arts Strategy in partnership with Palmerston North City Council, invests in Pasifika artists whose work strengthens cultural identity, builds community connection, and pushes creative boundaries.

“We are thrilled to partner again with Palmerston North City Council to co-invest in strategic opportunities for Pasifika creative communities in the region. It’s fantastic that Melanesian artists have been selected, as this aligns with one of our strategic priorities, ‘Pacific arts include our whole village,’” says Erolia Ifopo, Mana Pasifika Navigator, Pacific Arts from Creative New Zealand.

Stephanie Velvin, manager of community development at Palmerston North City Council, adds, “We’re proud to support Vatu Dei as they take this next step. They bring a fresh perspective and a strong connection to culture, which perfectly embody what this residency is all about.”

Joe Bose, speaking for Vatu Dei, says the collective is honoured to receive the residency and excited to release their first body of recorded work:

“Vatu Dei are not only about reviving traditions—we are reimagining what it means to be Fijian in the modern world, carrying the past forward with strength and pride.”