Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

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Education – Ara researchers publish groundbreaking work on AI in vocational education

Source: Ara Institute of Canterbury

Ara Institute of Canterbury is celebrating the publication of a pioneering book that reframes the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education, shifting the narrative from plagiarism prevention to unlocking its potential for better learning.
AI in Vocational Education and Training, published by Springer Nature, brought together a multi-disciplinary group of educators and researchers from Ara and Otago Polytechnic to critically explore the use of AI-supported learning across a wide range of vocational education contexts.
The book was edited by Dr Selena Chan, an Ara Education Developer and previous Ako Aotearoa Prime Minister’s Supreme award winner for excellence in tertiary teaching. The collection presents practical insights and research-backed strategies for integrating teaching and learning to improve student success.
Dr Chan said the book offers a roadmap for using AI tools effectively in vocational education and training (VET).
“It also addresses ethical concerns, ensuring AI supports learning rather than undermine academic integrity,” she said.
While the arrival of AI-powered natural language chatbots such as ChatGPT have sparked widespread debate about plagiarism, Dr Chan said the book offers an alternative perspective – highlighting AI’s enormous potential to support deeper engagement, critical thinking and independent analysis.
Covering disciplines from construction management and graphic design to nursing and business, the book also highlights a significant project exploring how AI can be adapted to support neurodivergent learners.
Dr Chan said educational developers, learning designers, tutors and senior students collaborated on designing AI-supported activities that not only engage learners but also foster independent analysis and strengthen practical application skills.
She wanted to acknowledge the invaluable input of ākonga (students) in the research, “without whom the work would not have been completed,” as well as the support of Scott Klenner who is both Ara’s Research Manager and the Director of Rangahau, Research and Postgraduate Studies at Otago Polytechnic. “Scott’s guidance on inclusivity, rangahau (Māori research) and the incorporation of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) in research design was invaluable.
Klenner said the publication highlighted the two institutes’ leadership in applying AI to vocational education in New Zealand. He commended “our academics’ te hinengaro me te ringa mahi (thinking and work) for producing leading research, with an international publisher, exploring the most significant evolution of education this century”.
With case studies, guidelines and frameworks, the book provides a valuable resource for educators and policymakers working to future-proof vocational education in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Notes: 
Dr Chan is an educational developer, academic capability leader and co-editor of the International Journal of Training Research. She has published extensively on vocational education and technology-enhanced learning and received the Ako Aotearoa Prime Minister’s Supreme Award in 2007 for teaching excellence.
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Local News – ELECTRIFY QUEENSTOWN TO RETURN IN 2026

Source: Destination Queenstown

Queenstown, New Zealand (10 June 2025) – Electrify Queenstown will return for a third year, following the huge success of the 2025 event which built strong momentum across the region.

Now a cornerstone event in Queenstown's calendar, Electrify Queenstown will take place from 17 – 19 May 2026, bringing together industry leaders, innovators, politicians and policymakers to share practical, cost-effective ways for businesses and households to electrify.

Mat Woods, Chief Executive of Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism, says Electrify Queenstown is an event designed to turn ideas into action.

“The energy this year was incredible with hundreds of people turning up to explore new and emerging technologies and future-focused solutions that not only save you money, but are good for the environment too.” he said.

Attendees this year included local residents, visitors from around New Zealand, business owners, and change makers all eager to share the opportunities and challenges involved in a low-emissions future.

The event featured bold announcements including plans for a low-emissions urban cable car network in Queenstown, the debut of new electric marine propulsion technology on Lake Whakatipu, and the release of Rewiring Aotearoa's policy manifesto.

Mike Casey, CEO of Rewiring Aotearoa, says there's an exciting opportunity for New Zealand to lead the global energy transition, and events like Electrify Queenstown are helping educate kiwis about what's possible.  

“Aotearoa New Zealand is one of the few countries that has reached the electrification tipping point where it's cheaper to electrify than use the fossil fuel alternative.

“Whether you're in it for the cost savings, lowering emissions, or energy security, we all win by going electric.” Mike said.

Electrify Queenstown is proving to be a valuable platform for businesses and innovators to showcase energy-efficient solutions for homes and enterprises.  

Sharon Fifield, CEO of Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce, says it's inspiring to see the momentum that's been built since the inaugural one-day event in 2024.

“Businesses are seeing the economic value of electrification alongside the environmental benefits, and there's genuine enthusiasm to get involved and make a difference.” Sharon said.

With strong interest from locals eager to lower their bills, become more energy efficient and resilient, organisers say Electrify Queenstown 2026 will again cater to everyone with even more opportunities for collaboration and innovation.

“Each year, more people are seeing what's possible through electrification and it's exciting to think about what 2026 will bring.” Mat added.

Electrify Queenstown 2026 will take place at the Queenstown Events Centre, Sunday 17 May – Tuesday 19 May 2026.

The event supports Queenstown Lakes' destination management plan and the broader goal of regenerative tourism and a carbon-zero visitor economy by 2030.

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Climate legal action necessary response to Govt inaction – CTU

Source: New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi welcomes the legal action taken against the Minister of Climate Change by a coalition of legal experts as an important step in ensuring that Aotearoa meets its climate action obligations.

“We strongly support legal action to ensure that the Government is held to account for its legal obligations under the Climate Change Response Act,” said NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff.

“The union movement is deeply concerned by the Emissions Reduction Plan 2026-2030, which contains no significant policies to reduce emissions and will fail to get New Zealand meaningfully closer to our 2050 net-zero commitment.

“The actions – or lack of them – by this Government on climate change are the actions of climate deniers, not responsible leaders.

“Workers and communities need real political leadership that combats global emissions and invests in creating a just transition for industries and workers. We need leadership that develops and upholds long term consensus, not more U-turns.

“Instead, we have a government that cancelled 35 climate policies without consulting the public first, as required by law. Robust public engagement is essential.

“Climate policy is yet another area where this Government is prioritising corporate interests over democratic accountability and the interests of working people.

“Evidence is clear that a near-total focus on tree planting through vast pine forests is not a sufficient response – we must reduce emissions at source.

“Alongside the weak emissions budget, in Budget 2025 we saw a total abdication of responsibility on climate change and ensuring a Just Transition for working people in an increasingly volatile world.

“The NZCTU supports bold climate action to reduce emissions, adapt to the changing climate, and transition to a zero emissions economy that provides full employment for workers,” said Wagstaff.

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Rural News – Restrictions on carbon forestry long overdue – Federated Farmers

Source: Federated Farmers

Federated Farmers’ ‘Save our Sheep’ campaign has taken a major step forward this morning with the Government introducing legislation to stop carbon forestry on productive farmland.
“This legislation is a really positive step forward – but from a farmer’s perspective, it’s long overdue,” says Federated Farmers meat & wool chair Toby Williams.
“The Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture stood up on a stage in Gore at a Federated Farmers event on December 4 last year and announced these changes would be coming.
“Since that announcement was made, farmers have been incredibly frustrated as we’ve watched tens of thousands of hectares of productive land continue to be planted in pines.
“The Government have been very clear on their intention but a lack of action has caused huge uncertainty and heartache for farmers and rural communities.”
The ‘Save our Sheep’ platform has been getting plenty of traction in recent weeks with a viral social media campaign and a strategically placed billboard directly opposite the Beehive.
“The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) has been screwing the scrum in favour of forestry over farming by subsidising pine trees to offset fossil fuel emissions,” Williams says.
“These new restrictions will put the squeeze on wholesale pine planting driven by carbon returns but won’t hinder genuine production forestry or smaller farm woodlots.
“Federated Farmers aren’t anti-forestry. Exotic trees have a place and a role to play when it comes to sensible land use and income diversification – but carbon forestry is out of control.”
Williams says farmers will be raising serious questions about 15,000 hectares of LUC 6 farmland being allocated by a ballot process each year.
“That is a huge amount of land still going into pine trees and that’s what farmers will currently be using as breeding country – we can’t afford to lose 150,000 hectares in the next decade.
“You can’t plant that land in pine trees while maintaining a sustainable sheep industry. We would lose more than 750,000 breeding ewes if that were to happen.”
Federated Farmers were more positive about the clause ensuring 25 per cent of LUC 1-6 land will be registered against the property’s title to restrict further planting as a result of subdivision.”
Williams says Federated Farmers still has serious concerns about exploitation of loopholes and the impact of badly broken ETS rules on rural communities.
“The statement from the Government today says the time-limited transitional exemptions under ‘intention to plant’ rules are for ‘rare cases’ only.
“I’m not convinced these criteria are anywhere near tight enough, particularly when it comes to things like the purchase of seedlings when the forester didn’t already own the land to plant.
“If you didn’t own the land with a clear intention to plant it for carbon forestry before the announcement on December 4 last year, you should told ‘sorry, but you’re out of luck’.”
As the legislation is currently written, simply having purchased seedlings is enough to show intent even if they didn’t own land to plant them on.
Federated Farmers says that is simply nonsense and needs to be changed.
Alongside restriction on whole farm conversions to pine trees for carbon farming, Federated Farmers are also calling for sweeping reforms of the forestry sector.
“Pine forests are breeding grounds for pests like pigs and deer that are causing huge issues for farmers and costing us a fortune,” Williams says.
“To put it bluntly, foresters simply aren’t doing enough pest management to get the issue under control – and it’s time for the Government to step in.”
Federated Farmers says urgent changes need to be made to the Overseas Investment Act.
“Applications to purchase farmland to convert to forestry should be assessed under the farmland test rather than the general benefit to New Zealand test,” Williams says.
“This would mean that applications from oversees investors to purchase land for forestry would be on an even playing field with other land purchases.
“Some of the applications we’re seeing approved at the moment are absolutely appalling and will have little or no benefit for New Zealand or our rural communities.”
Williams also wants to see changes to the ETS to end the ability of carbon dioxide emitters to offset 100 percent of their emissions with emissions units from carbon farming.
New Zealand is the only country in the world that allows 100% carbon offsetting through forestry, with other countries recognising the risk and putting restrictions in place.
Federated Farmers is now calling on the Government to urgently review the ETS and fix the rules to either limit or stop the offsetting of fossil fuel emissions with forestry.
You can sign the petition pushing for change at www.saveoursheep.nz
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PSA welcomes Wellington mayoral candidate’s commitment to pay equity

Source: PSA

The union representing library workers at Wellington City Council welcomes mayoral candidate Andrew Little’s commitment to pay equity, and encourages all local body candidates to make the same commitment.
“This is just the latest example of people across the political spectrum recognising the Government’s vandalism of the Equal Pay Act as an unjust attack on women,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary of the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“We call on the Council to fix the undervaluation it knows is there, and deliver pay equity to these workers.”
“Local body candidates around the country have the chance to do the right thing and recognise the true value library workers bring to their communities.”
“But this is no substitution for legislation that guarantees pay equity in full, with provisions for maintaining it. We will keep fighting to reverse the Government’s changes.”
The PSA lodged the library workers’ pay equity claim with Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin councils in 2019.
Since then, the PSA worked with the councils in good faith to reach a settlement.
Library workers were one of the pay equity claims that was close to being settled before being cancelled by last month's amendments to the Equal Pay Act.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand's largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.
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Unsafe driver behaviour putting firefighters at risk

Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Firefighters are urging the public to take more care when driving around accident scenes as near misses continue to increase.
This is happening across the country, but particularly in Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Te Kei region, which encompasses Otago and Southland.
Otago Group Manager Bobby Lamont says that In February, a member of the public drove on the wrong side of the road past firefighters managing traffic at an incident.
“This led to a confrontation where the man attempted the pull a firefighter out of the cab of a fire truck,” Bobby Lamont says.
“In April, a car sped through a traffic incident near Clyde, showing no regard for the safety of emergency service personnel at the scene.
“There have been many other instances in the past few years, including back in June 2023, on State Highway 6 near the intersection of Lake Hayes-Arrowtown Road. A person drove through a motor vehicle crash scene at speed, hitting an accident sign. The sign was flung approximately 10 metres at force and only narrowly avoided hitting a firefighter.
Bobby Lamont says he is worried it is only a matter of time before one of his firefighters is seriously injured.
At the most recent incident in Clyde, he says it was a case of frustrated and impatient drivers ignoring the road accident signs and firefighters asking them to slow down.
“It turned into a very dangerous situation for our people.
“People must be patient when the road is blocked by a crash. We put traffic management in place for the safety of everyone involved, including motorists,” Bobby Lamont says.
“By not following our instruction, people are endangering themselves, other motorists, our people and other emergency services, as well as the people involved in the traffic incident.”
Statistics show that nationally there were 55 health and safety incidents reported through Fire and Emergency’s Safe@Work system in the past two years under the category of ‘motorist behaviours at incident ground’.
However, Bobby Lamont says many of the incidents go unreported.
“Unsafe driver behaviour at incidents is so commonplace now that often our people won’t report the ‘minor’ incidents.
“We tend to get formal reports about the worst incidents, but the feedback from our crews is that they experience some form of unsafe driver behaviour at most incidents.
“We really just want everyone to be safe and need drivers to get on board to help us with that.”
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Universities – Economists urge action to prevent ‘AI poverty traps’ – UoA

Source: University of Auckland (UoA)

Artificial intelligence could deepen inequality and create ‘AI-poverty traps’ in developing nations, write economists Dr Asha Sundaram and Dr Dennis Wesselbaum in their paper ‘Economic development reloaded: the AI revolution in developing nations’.

Sundaram, an associate professor at the University of Auckland Business School, and Wesselbaum, an associate professor at the University of Otago, say developing countries lack the necessary infrastructure and skilled labour force to capitalise on AI's potential.
“The downside is that there isn't a lot of capacity in some countries in terms of digital infrastructure, internet, mobile phone penetration,” says Sundaram.
“Much of the technology is controlled by firms like Google and OpenAI, raising the risk of over-reliance on foreign tech, potentially stifling local innovation.”
Without strategic interventions, Wesselbaum says AI may create an 'AI-poverty trap': locking developing nations into technological dependence and widening the gap between global economies.
“For developing countries, AI could be a game-changer; boosting productivity, expanding access to essential services, and fostering local innovation – if the right infrastructure and skills are in place.”

Financial support from developed countries and international bodies like the UN could help cover upfront costs through grants, loans and investment incentives, according to the research.

“We also need robust legal and regulatory frameworks to support responsible AI by addressing data privacy, ethics, and transparency concerns,” says Sundaram.

The economists argue that in developing AI policies, the international community must learn from the successes and failures of foreign aid.

“Aid has often failed to spur lasting growth in developing countries,” says Sundaram, “partly because it can create dependency, reducing self-reliance and domestic initiatives.”

She highlights a need for policies to mitigate the downsides of AI, both in developed and developing countries.

Such policies could include an international tax regime that would allow countries to capture tax revenue from economic activities driven by AI inside their borders.

Sundaram’s involved in one such project in Ethiopia where artificial intelligence is being harnessed by the government and the country’s largest telecom provider to support small businesses excluded from formal banking due to lack of collateral.

By analysing mobile money transactions and how much these businesses pay and receive, algorithms estimate how much credit can safely be offered, enabling small loans and helping integrate marginalised enterprises into the formal economy.

Artificial intelligence holds the power to transform development trajectories, but without targeted investments and inclusive policies, says Wesselbaum, it risks deepening the digital divide and entrenching global inequality.
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Local News – Bothamley Park planting a seasonal job for everyone – Porirua

Source: Porirua City Council

Porirua City is hoping a special Matariki planting event at Bothamley Park will encourage people to become kaitiaki of the area.
Now that the park has fully reopened to the public, locals and environmentally minded people have the chance to volunteer on an ongoing basis to help with planting the park with native trees and bushes.
A special planting event – Whakatō i te wairua o Matariki – is planned at Bothamley Park for Friday 20 June, 10.30am-1pm.
Parks Manager Julian Emeny says while the main focus of the event is to plant trees, he hopes other positive outcomes will come from it.
“It’s a chance for volunteers to meet other like-minded locals and learn about opportunities to populate the park with more native trees and keep it a popular destination for so many visitors.”
He says this event aligns with the kaupapa of Matariki, as planting trees is a way to signify new beginnings and look towards the future.
This year’s event will cover two sites in Bothamley Park – one by the Champion St entrance and the second at the Bellona Pl entrance – where the Environmental Cadets will also be planting trees.
On the day there will also be a litter pick-up, and pest plant removal opportunities, play activities for tamariki, and free kai for participants. Community groups Predator Free Porirua, Mountains to Sea Wellington and Ngahere Korowai will have stalls to showcase their mahi.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker says a planting event aligned with the city’s Matariki celebrations gives participants the opportunity to think about the future and plant something that can be enjoyed for years to come.
“Volunteers are such a valuable part of Porirua. This event will show people where the opportunities are to continue enhancing the city’s natural environment.”
Parking for the event is available along Champion St and Bellona Pl. The Champion St entrance is also walking distance from Porirua Station.
Information about all Council Matariki celebrations can be found here: poriruacity.govt.nz/matariki
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New Zealanders on the move – Stats NZ media and information release: Work, education,  transport, and population structure: 2023 Census

New Zealanders on the move – media release

10 June 2025

The New Zealand population is highly mobile, with 2.2 million people moving address within New Zealand between 2018 and 2023, according to census data released by Stats NZ today. 

In the 2018 Census, just under 1.8 million people had moved address within New Zealand since the previous census in 2013. Although the number of people that moved between censuses was higher in 2023, it was a similar proportion of the population (44.6 percent in 2018 and 45.2 percent in 2023). 

People who moved within New Zealand since the last census were most likely to have:

  • moved within the same region (77.0 percent)
  • moved to a different region on the same island (16.6 percent). 

One in ten people lived in a different region in 2023 to where they lived in 2018.  

Visit our website to read these news stories and information release:

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Working lives are getting longer – Stats NZ media and information release: Work, education,  transport, and population structure: 2023 Census

Working lives are getting longer – media release

10 June 2025

New Zealanders are joining the workforce earlier and continuing to work later in life, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. 

“Compared with previous censuses, teenagers were more likely to be in the workforce in 2023,” 2023 Census spokesperson Dr Rosemary Goodyear said.  

“There was also a steady increase in employment for those aged 65 years and over.” 

Visit our website to read these news stories and information release: