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Federated Farmers – Farmers blindsided by $4000 winter grazing charges

Source: Federated Farmers

Southland farmers are raising concerns over unexpected charges following Environment Southland’s winter grazing compliance checks, with some invoices reportedly reaching $4000.
Federated Farmers Southland president Jason Herrick says the problem isn’t the inspections themselves, but the fees issued when no problems are found.
“Farmers understand the need for good environmental practices and compliance.
“But being invoiced for a visit where there are no breaches or problems is incredibly frustrating.
“One farmer I spoke to was charged for nine hours of staff time for a compliance visit where everything was fine.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Environment Southland has been conducting flyovers to monitor intensive winter grazing.
Following these aerial checks, officers have been visiting some farms to confirm compliance with environmental regulations.
Herrick says some farmers have told him visits have come with little to no notice, adding to their frustration.
“I’ve definitely had a few phone calls from farmers upset about the lack of notice, and the charges,” Herrick says.
“They feel blindsided, especially when the inspection confirms everything is in order.”
He says council officials will defend the fees as a way of ensuring compliance costs aren’t passed onto ratepayers.
“They’ll say they’re just charging where the costs are,” Herrick says.
“But from a farmer’s perspective, it feels like being penalised for doing the right thing.”
The current approach also raises questions about the balance between environmental oversight and supporting farmers to comply.
Herrick says the practice risks undermining trust between farmers and the council.
“There really needs to be a fair and transparent process around fees.
“If fees for compliant farms continue, it will erode trust. Farmers want to cooperate, but they also need to feel treated fairly.”
Herrick says many farmers have been unfairly caught out by a change in the Water and Land Plan, which increased the fencing setback for waterways from three metres to five.
The confusion comes from Environment Court wording that requires all winter crop buffer zones next to waterways to be 10 metres from the edge of the water.
The rule was introduced last season, after crops had already been planted, requiring the five-metre buffer to be measured inside the paddock.
But because many waterways had been fenced under the old three-metre rule, farmers who planted to meet the new five-metre requirement ended up with only eight metres in total from the water’s edge – short of the new 10-metre setback.
“Plenty of farmers did the right thing by the old rules, but now they’re being followed up after flyovers.
“Wouldn’t it make more sense for the council to focus on educating farmers about the change and supporting them to adapt, rather than penalising them?”
He says this is particularly important with winter grazing, where crop sowing and fencing decisions are locked in well ahead of time.
“Once crops are in the ground, making changes is difficult, time-consuming and costly.”
The council’s critical source area definition is also unclear and confusing for farmers trying to do the right think, he says.
“The council needs to be much clearer about what a CSA is, as it appears their staff think it applies to any undulation in a paddock leading to a waterway.”
In July, Environment Southland noted on its website that its team had carried out the second of its monthly winter grazing flights.
The council said, “Many farmers have put a lot of work into their winter grazing plans to have a smooth season.
“However, we are still seeing issues of buffers being the incorrect size and critical source areas not being fenced off.
“There were 14 properties identified to follow up, mostly because of buffer sizes and critical source areas. These farmers will be followed up with.”
But Herrick says the number of farmers who’ve contacted him with concerns about Environment Southland’s approach has far exceeded 14.
He’d like to see the council taking more of an educational approach to winter grazing compliance.
“I’ve heard from farmers in other regions like Otago, where councils are managing compliance from a very different mindset.
“They’ve taken more of an educational approach, helping farmers understand what their obligations are and supporting them to lift their standard where needed.
“I think Environment Southland should follow suit. That would help them build more trust with farmers down here, and quite possibly achieve even better compliance.”
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Federated Farmers – Warning of carbon forestry threat to Central North Island

Source: Federated Farmers

Federated Farmers Whanganui is urging the Government to urgently close loopholes and strengthen rules to stop whole-farm carbon forestry conversions on productive land.
“Farming plays a huge role in our local economy, but we’re increasingly seeing sheep displaced by permanent pine trees,” says provincial president Ben Fraser.
“That’s a huge concern for those of us who live rurally, but it’s equally concerning for those who live in our towns. At the end of the day, we’re all one community, supporting the same local economy.”
Fraser says farming is a big income earner for the region and generates employment both on farm and in the supporting industries.
“That money flows right through our entire economy.
“Lock-up-and-leave pine forests just aren’t going to generate the same level of economic activity. They may create carbon credits and pest problems, but they don’t create jobs.”
Federated Farmers has been highly critical of the Government’s proposed carbon forestry rules, saying they don’t go anywhere near far enough to be effective.
The Government’s proposal is to cap the amount of farmland that can be registered in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) at 25%.
But that limit applies only to land use capability (LUC) classes 1 to 5 – the land least likely to be targeted for carbon farming in the first place.
“Only 12% of recent whole-farm conversations to carbon forestry have actually happened on land classes 1 to 5 anyway, so it’s not really a solution at all,” Fraser says.
“The remaining 88% have happened on land classes 6 and 7, which also happens to be the land where most of our sheep and beef farms operate.
“LUC is a tool designed for determining the land’s ‘capability’ – it’s even in the name.”
Fraser says the system has been used to set rules and limits, but capability is often confused with productivity.
“Sure, we don’t grow avocados or kiwifruit on our hills but that doesn’t mean the land isn’t any less important.
“It’s productive sheep-breeding country that’s critical in New Zealand’s farming and food production system.
“Lambs born on the hills are either sold up to weight or flicked off earlier as trade to fattening blocks, where entire farming systems are reliant on a reliable source of stock.
“If productive sheep and beef farms continue to be replaced by permanent pine forests, soon we’ll be bartering pinecones for a new pair of boots.”
Fraser adds that class 6 and 7 land is far from barren or marginal – it’s the picturesque hill country that features on postcards, calendars and TV shows celebrating New Zealand farming life.
“This is the landscape many Kiwis are most proud of – the classic sheep and beef hill country that defines our rural identity.
“It’s the stunning farmland we see showcased on Country Calendar or in Kia Ora magazine, but this is what we’re at risk of losing.”
Fraser says the impacts of carbon forestry on the Central North Island can already be clearly seen in places like Taumarunui, where local communities, rural schools and businesses have been decimated.
“I would hate to see the same thing happen to Taihape or Whanganui.
“Once that land’s planted in pine trees for carbon forestry, it’s gone for good and never coming back. Is that really the future we want for our country?”
Under the Government’s proposed rules, land classes 6 and 7 will receive little to no protection and whole farms will still be able to be planted for carbon credits.
“The most frustrating thing is that we 100% support what the Government is trying to achieve here – protecting productive farmland from being planted in pine trees,” Fraser says.
“The issue is that the legislative fix they’re proposing isn’t actually going to solve the problem.
“There’s an old saying that if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
“I’d really urge the Government to reflect on those words, because this job is definitely worth doing properly.”
Federated Farmers is calling on the Government to work with farmers and rural communities to find a practical solution that will actually work.  
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Health – Telehealth does nothing to cut emergency department wait times, GP shortages

Source: GenPro

Telehealth has a place in modern medicine but it will never replace the benefits of a face-to-face consultation and continuity of care, the General Practice Owners Association says.
“All the research shows that presenting and being treated by a family doctor results in the best outcomes for the health system and patients, especially those with multiple conditions,” says GenPro Chair Dr Angus Chambers.
 
Dr Chambers says the government is very good at trumpeting the benefits of its new telehealth service, but is papering over the problems in primary healthcare. 
 
“It’s no wonder we’re seeing these numbers when the government has subsidised this service at a far higher rate than it funds general practice.
 
“Telehealth has done nothing to reduce demand for free treatment, which causes over crowding and long wait times in emergency departments.
 
“And it is worsening the shortage of GPs in clinics. An example being one of the telehealth services growing from five doctors to 75 in the space of two years – so that’s 70 fewer GPs examining patients.”
 
Dr Chambers says that about one in five people who have a screen consultation are later required to visit a GP.
 
“While telehealth has a role to play in the context of constraints for acute care, it is not helping the GP shortage, it is not reducing waiting times at emergency departments, and it is not a sensible alternative for patients with multiple morbidities requiring continuity of care.
 
“GenPro would prefer that the lavish funding provided to the telehealth service is directed towards supporting general practices to employ more GPs and reduce wait times.
 
“Evidence from the UK shows that telehealth does nothing to reduce emergency department attendance rates, time to cancer diagnosis, or to see a specialist. Telehealth might be convenient, but it is not best for many patients.”
 
GenPro members are owners and providers of general practices and urgent care centres throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. For more information visit  www.genpro.org.nz 
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Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Consultation on the Liquidity Management Review opens

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand

10 September 2025 – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is consulting on how we conduct Open Market Operations and are seeking input on design considerations for a Committed Liquidity Facility.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) manages the level of liquidity (settlement cash) in the New Zealand banking system to ensure short-term market interest rates trade near the Official Cash Rate (OCR) and that there is sufficient liquidity for payments and settlements.

We have been reviewing our liquidity management framework following changes to the liquidity environment arising from the policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently, we have been reviewing our prudential liquidity policy which is to become a Liquidity Standard as part of the core standards under the Deposit Takers Act.

“Our Open Market Operations are a critical tool for us to manage liquidity as we maintain an ample settlement cash environment. It's important that we design these operations in a way that delivers effective monetary policy implementation, while also facilitating market liquidity and supporting financial stability,” Financial Markets Director Adam Richardson says.

A Committed Liquidity Facility is necessary for deposit takers to meet their liquidity requirements while also maintaining a sufficient supply of these assets in the market for other investors. “We want to ensure that the size, fees and operationalisation of the Committed Liquidity Facility will serve the overall objectives of the forthcoming Liquidity Standard whilst also supporting the market liquidity of liquid assets,” Mr Richardson says.

This consultation builds upon previous work, including speeches and Bulletins given as part of the Liquidity Management Review. Respondents to the consultation may choose to comment on one or both parts of the consultation and whichever questions are relevant to them.

This consultation is open until 31 October.

You can find out more about the consultation on the Citizen Space website: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=c56a8c1b07&e=f3c68946f8

More information

Liquidity Management Review consultation paper: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=22103ebfc4&e=f3c68946f8

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International travel: July 2025 – Stats NZ information release

International travel: July 2025 – information release

10 September 2025

International travel covers the number and characteristics of overseas visitors and New Zealand resident travellers (short-term movements) entering or leaving New Zealand.

Key facts

Monthly arrivals – overseas visitors

Overseas visitor arrivals were 236,600 in July 2025, an increase of 14,700 from July 2024. The biggest changes were in arrivals from:

  • Australia (up 17,700)
  • China (down 3,700)
  • United States (down 1,200).

The 126,700 overseas visitor arrivals from Australia were a record for a July month. This coincided with the Australian school holiday period.

Visit our website to read this information release:

 

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International migration: July 2025 – Stats NZ information release

International migration: July 2025 – information release

10 September 2025

International migration statistics give the latest outcomes-based measure of migration, which includes estimates of migrants entering or leaving New Zealand.

Key facts

Annual migration

Provisional estimates for the July 2025 year compared with the July 2024 year were:

  • migrant arrivals: 140,500 (± 1,000), down 20 percent
  • migrant departures: 127,400 (± 1,100), up 14 percent
  • annual net migration: gain of 13,100 (± 1,400), compared with a net gain of 63,600 (± 200).

Annual migrant arrivals peaked at 234,800 in the year ended October 2023.

Annual migrant departures provisionally peaked at 127,500 in the year ended June 2025.

Visit our website to read this information release and to download CSV files:

 

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Defence News – NZDF to lead multi-national engineering team in Cook Islands

Source: New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) will lead a multi-national effort carrying out engineering work in the Cook Islands this month.

Exercise Tropic Twilight will involve more than 45 New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel working together with military tradespeople from the Australian Defence Force, Republic of Fiji Military Forces, His Majesty’s Armed Forces of Tonga and the Vanuatu Mobile Force.

The exercise is held annually, and over the coming month will see NZDF’s 25 Expeditionary Support Squadron, 2 Engineer Regiment, with Australian and Pacific colleagues, deliver practical support to the island of Ma’uke, about 280km northeast of Rarotonga.

“We are pleased to make this important and practical contribution,” said Commander Joint Forces, Major General Rob Krushka.

“These engineers will deliver support such as solar farm maintenance, upgrades to Ma’uke School, maintenance of a water bore, water tank repairs, and water collection upgrades.”

The exercise is funded each year in the Southwest Pacific by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is delivered by the NZDF.

“The NZDF stands ready to respond to defence and security, search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief events, as required,” Major General Krushka said.

“Our highly skilled personnel and partners will deliver engineering tasks that I am sure will be appreciated by the community of Ma’uke.”

The exercise will be the first time one of the newly acquired Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130J-30 Hercules aircraft will have landed on the island of Ma’uke.

As part of Tropic Twilight, the contingent will return via the main island of Raratonga, where the soldiers, with local police, will help deliver a Blue Light course with Cook Island youth – giving them leadership, discipline and teamwork skills in a structured but supportive environment.

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Public Roads – Transformative public access map unveiled

Source: Herenga ā Nuku – the Outdoor Access Commission

Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, is releasing a major upgrade to its mapping of public access to the outdoors.
After two years of cutting-edge work, an example of the improvement is that we can now confidently identify 55,000 km1 of publicly accessible unformed legal roads in New Zealand and point to them on our interactive map.
Acting chief executive Phil Culling said the upgrade represents a significant milestone for Herenga ā Nuku, the country’s only mandated mapper of public access.
“This is the most comprehensive and robust digital representation of public access Aotearoa has ever had.”
Involving a vast amount of innovative work improving the quality of the data upon which the public access mapping is based, the upgrade represents a crucial tool for anyone who wants to get outdoors, Phil Culling said.
The new map is now available to the public and will sit in Herenga ā Nuku’s mapping menu beside the old version so that people can experiment, explore, and compare.
Herenga ā Nuku GIS manager Matt Grose, who led the upgrade, said his team will focus on public feedback before turning off the old version at end of the year.
“This latest upgrade is a paradigm shift in structure and reliability. We welcome all input as we continue toward completion,” Matt Grose said.
Unformed legal roads
One of the most exciting aspects of the new map is that it reveals the extent of unformed legal roads-or ‘paper roads.’
Previously, there was no clear difference in the mapping between a formed and unformed road, since their legal status in the cadastre is the same and the data we had didn’t allow for a distinction. Users had to cross-reference the public areas map with another data source, for example, an aerial imagery base map or a photo taken on the ground, to be able to distinguish a formed road from an unformed one. For example, to tell where an unformed road-section carried on over pasture or into bush, after the formed part of the same legal road ended. The upgrading of the data means we can now specify, in the data, which roads are likely to be unformed.
Also for the first time, we can calculate that these roads span 110,370 hectares-approximately 20 meters wide on average-and total 55,185 kilometres in length.
As a comparison, to travel 55,000km, you’d have to walk the length of New Zealand via the 3,000 km Te Araroa Trail no fewer than 18 times.
And in terms of area, if you set foot on every square metre of Tongariro National Park-it’s just under 80,000 ha-you’d still fall well short of the 110,370 ha of Aotearoa comprised of ‘paper roads’.
The total land occupied by all legal roads, both formed and unformed, is 362,926 hectares (181,463 km).
The region with the largest area in roads, formed and unformed, is Otago, with 42,835 ha. It also has the country’s most unformed legal roads, at 16,733 ha.
The region with the smallest area in all roads is Gisborne, at 9,431 ha; while the smallest amount of unformed legal roads belongs to Wellington, at 1,857 ha.
More numbers: North vs South
  • Total land area versus public access areas: The North Island has three-quarters (77%) of Aotearoa’s population, 43% of its land area, but less than a quarter (23%) of its publicly accessible outdoor areas.
  • Conservation land, unformed legal roads and tangata whenua land: The South Island has 81% of Aotearoa’s publicly accessible conservation land, 61% of its unformed legal roads and only 4% of its tangata whenua land.
Public access mapping: a timeline
The background of this upgrade goes as far back as 2001, when Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) launched Landonline as the country’s authoritative source of cadastral survey and title information. While it was a leap forward, it was not fully digital, and it had no mandate to record or map public access areas.
In 2008, the Walking Access Act established the Walking Access Commission (which later became Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission). The Act legally required the Commission to compile, hold and publish maps and information about land over which members of the public have walking access.
In 2009 this task became easier when LINZ made digital lodgement of survey and title transactions mandatory. That is, the records of these transactions could no longer be consigned to paper files stored in the back rooms of offices scattered around the country, but instead, they had to be accessible online to anyone, anywhere.
As a result, in 2010, the Walking Access Commission developed and launched the first version of its online mapping system, Walking Access Mapping System (WAMS). On top of LINZ’s survey and title records and a base layer composed of topographic or aerial imagery, the Commission could now add a layer showing public access areas.
Between 2010 and 2018, WAMS underwent various phases of improvement as the nation’s vast swathes of historic and current land information records were gradually digitised, translated, interpreted and otherwise captured by the new technology.
In 2018, it became clear that a more systematic approach was needed to fill gaps arising from the organic way the country’s land information was digitised, the limited public resources available, and the complexities of cross-government interaction.
As a result, also in 2018, George Williamson, one of the country’s most senior surveyors and land advisors, was commissioned to write an independent report on the state of the Commission’s public access data and how to make it more complete.
This prompted the Commission to rebuild its public access areas dataset from scratch.
In 2022, the Commission was renamed Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, reflecting that outdoor access also includes cyclists, horse riders and others. From that point, its mapping system, WAMS, kept its name in acronym form, but it no longer refers only to access on foot.
In 2023, to speed up and improve the rebuild of the public access areas dataset, the Commission launched a two-year Data Improvement Programme.
In early 2025, that programme developed a new data pipeline – an automated, repeatable process for identifying public access.
All these developments have now culminated in this latest upgrade: Aotearoa’s most complete mapping of public access areas is now open for the public to explore.
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Transport Sector – Tasman speed reductions redundant and costly – Transporting New Zealand

Source: Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

Road freight association Transporting New Zealand says it is disappointed with Tasman District Council’s decision to proceed with widespread speed limit reductions across the district, saying that they simply don’t stack up. 
“On many of the roads where speed reductions have been approved, the mean operating speed is already well below the new limit, which makes the cost of implementing the changes and the return on investment highly questionable,” says Membership Manager Lindsay Calvi-Freeman. 
Examples include:
1. Goodall Road: will drop from 100 to 60 km/h, yet vehicles only average 36 km/h.
2. Riwaka-Kaiteriteri Road: will drop from 80 to 60 km/h, but the mean operating speed is already just 46 km/h.
3. Sandy Bay-Marahau Road: will drop from 80 to 60 km/h, but with a mean operating speed of 56 km/h, it’s already under the new limit.
“With safety gains ranging from nil to marginal, this is another example of symbolic changes being prioritised over genuine improvements,” Calvi-Freeman says. 
“Crash data shows these reductions will deliver virtually no safety improvements, yet the council seems happy to spend ratepayer money regardless.”
Calvi-Freeman says the council had supported some of Transporting New Zealand’s feedback, including opting to use advisory signs on some roads, instead of needlessly signposting blanket speed reductions. 
“However, the need for advisory signs on most of those roads is still highly questionable. Instead of prioritising investment on real roading improvements, the council is spending money on things that by its own admission will make little if any difference,” says Calvi-Freeman.
About Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand
Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand is the peak national membership association representing the road freight transport industry. Our members operate urban, rural and inter-regional commercial freight transport services throughout the country.
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First Responders – Fire and Emergency New Zealand welcomes four specialists home from Canada

Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has welcomed its third contingent of firefighters home from Canada, where they have been supporting efforts to combat significant wildfires across Alberta.

The four-person specialist team departed New Zealand on 5 August and arrived home today (9 September). They have been undertaking specialist roles as taskforce leaders and helicopter coordinators.

Assistant National Commander Nick Pyatt says the team has worked in remote and challenging conditions across Alberta for the past five weeks.

“Our people have shown incredible resilience and professionalism throughout this deployment as they worked alongside crews from Canada and several other countries. We’re proud of the way they’ve represented Fire and Emergency and New Zealand,” he says.

New Zealand firefighters are still deployed in Manitoba, Canada. A further team of four specialists are working as part of an eight-person Incident Management Team comprising experienced personnel from New Zealand and Australia. An additional fifth specialist is fulfilling the International Liaison Officer role.

“These deployments help build our capability to manage large wildfires at home, and we are more than happy to provide mutual assistance to our international counterparts,” Nick Pyatt says.