Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi

• PSA re-elects President Virgil Iraia for second term

Labour leader Chris Hipkins backed the PSA’s call for a public good test applying before any public service restructures, in his speech to the union’s biennial Congress today.

In his speech Hipkins said Labour would commit to the PSA’s Public Good test.

“Yesterday you called for a national interest test before restructures. I can confirm that a Labour government will do that,” he said.

“There will be no restructure or cost cutting unless we understand the consequences of every decision,” he said.

PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons welcomed Labour’s endorsement of the public good test.

“Thousands of dedicated public servants have lost their jobs and the services New Zealanders rely on have been savaged, all in this blind rush to cut costs with no real plan for what would be lost.”

“That’s why we need a public good test. Agencies should have to stop and properly weigh up the impact on services, on workers and on the communities who rely on them, before ploughing ahead with a restructure, not after the damage is done,” (see summary of criteria below).

“When restructures are rushed through as this government has done without any real assessment of the impact, it’s the public who ultimately pay the price.

The PSA asked all parties likely to be in parliament after November’s election to address its biennial Congress. All except NZ First and ACT agreed.

In their speeches Te Pāti Māori Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson and Opportunity Party candidate Jessica Hammond, along with Hipkins all committed to reinstating Pay Equity.

Hipkins promised a Labour Government would prioritise pay equity settlements for care and support workers and would update the Holidays Act in a way that meant workers would not lose holidays or leave.

Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith addressed the Congress yesterday.

President re-elected

Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi President Virgil Iraia was re-elected for a second two-year term at the union’s Congress today.

Iraia (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Whātua, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) works as a Technical Support Analyst at Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand. He has also served as PSA Vice President and Teina of Te Rūnanga o Ngā Toa Āwhina.

Iraia said he was humbled to be re-elected by his fellow delegates.

“The clear message from delegates at Congress is that we need to keep campaigning for a change of government. We have a lot of work to do all the way up to the November 7 election and beyond to ensure we protect the jobs and rights of working New Zealanders.”

Background: the proposed public good test

The PSA proposes a statutory requirement for public sector agencies and other publicly funded employers to assess any significant restructure against a public good test before proceeding. The assessment would need to cover a range of criteria including:

• Impact on the services the agency delivers to the public
• Compliance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the agency’s ability to meet its obligations to Māori under Te Tiriti
• Impacts on workforce capability, both within the agency and across the public and community sectors
• Health and safety impacts, both physical safety and the impact of workload stress on remaining staff
• Long-term, intergenerational impacts, including impacts on New Zealand’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change
• Impacts on population groups at risk of being disadvantaged in their access to public and community services, including women, Māori, Pasefika, migrants, rainbow communities and disabled people
• Consistency with undertakings made by the Government in response to a Royal Commission of Inquiry or Auditor-General recommendations

The PSA says the test should apply to core public service agencies under the Public Service Act 2020 and be extended to local government and publicly funded community services as a condition of public funding.

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.

Source: Greenpeace Aotearoa

News that the United States and New Zealand will co-fund a strategic port in the Cook Islands is being labelled a gross act of colonialism and resource grabbing by Greenpeace Aotearoa, who say it's part of the US agenda to start deep sea mining in the Pacific – despite huge resistance within the Cook Islands and across the Pacific.

The announcement, made at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting (PIFLM) in Palau, will see the US contribute $50 million and NZ $10 million to build a new port at Tongareva atoll (Penrhyn), a former US military base.

The US Deputy State Secretary Christopher Landau, who is also attending PIFLM has said the “investment” builds on the Critical Minerals Framework that the Cook Islands and US signed earlier this year.

Penrhyn Basin contains a large density of high grade polymetallic nodules, which would-be deep sea miners are pushing to exploit. The US research vessel Okeanos Explorer has just been exploring this basin over July and August.

Juressa Lee, spokesperson for Greenpeace Aotearoa, says it’s disappointing to see NZ is complicit in this US plan which is clearly part of its bid to expedite unilateral mining permits to mine in international waters, and establish a strategic position.

“I don’t know why a meeting of Pacific Leaders feels like an appropriate time and place to progress the United States’ war machine, let alone the presence of the US itself. This meeting is for our leaders to assert sovereignty, honour what it means to be Pacific, and build regional consensus on matters that are uniquely ours, with our Pacific values at the centre”, says Lee.

“The Trump Administration isn’t about supporting Pacific sovereignty – they’ve been very clear about their priorities, and end game. A government that is pushing unilateral mining of the deep sea to fuel the US war machine has no comprehension of decision-making driven by our values and agreed by consensus.

“We know deep sea mining will harm the ocean we all rely on, and we know the minerals that would be dredged up are not going to any “green transition”, they will be war minerals that serve US interests.

“We have been watching the US government wage war across the globe for too long. I’m confused why Winston Peters and Mark Brown think this is a moment to be proud of, considering the Pacific nuclear-free legacy.

“We fought against US imperialism, and established the Treaty of Rarotonga declaring the region a nuclear-free zone. This treaty was an exercise of our cooperation, values and sovereignty – all of which the US dismisses by still refusing to ratify.

“I am here in Palau observing leaders from across Te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa demonstrate Pacific values and priorities around climate responsiveness and ocean health. Many of these nations, bar a few outliers, are calling for a pause on deep sea mining. But the US is here hijacking this space to force deep sea mining – for their own interests – onto us, risking our homes and livelihoods.

“They have no right, and our leaders must call out this overstep, and stand firm in their own authority, and put the Pacific first.”

Greenpeace, alongside many allies, is campaigning to stop deep sea mining, an emerging industry where minerals from the deep seabed would be extracted using untested technology and putting deep sea life, and ocean health at risk.

Lee says New Zealand’s involvement in the port at Tongareva reveals where the Luxon Government stands with regards to its own war minerals deal in negotiations with the US. If it goes ahead despite the overwhelming opposition from iwi, communities and experts, the NZ government would also be putting foreign interests ahead of the health of the people and the environment in Aotearoa.

“The Pacific is not a playground for the US. Deep sea mining, if allowed to go ahead, will put the ocean and Pacific Peoples way of life at risk. The movement against this new extractive industry is strong and growing. We’ve won fights like this before, including winning a Nuclear-Free Pacific. It’s time for leaders around the world to say no to deep sea mining”, says Lee.

Source: Energy Resources Aotearoa

Genesis Energy’s new gas arrangements announced today will strengthen New Zealand’s electricity security, but Methanex’s decision to indefinitely idle its methanol plants shows the economic cost the country is paying for a shrinking domestic gas supply.

Energy Resources Aotearoa Chief Executive John Carnegie says the announcement underlines how important gas supply is to New Zealand’s energy system.

“Genesis has secured the gas it needs to serve its customers, while Methanex has reached the point where gas supplies aren’t sufficient for it to keep producing here.

For the last few winters, Methanex has been an important safety valve for the electricity system, cutting production and making gas available when hydro lakes are low, or electricity demand is high.

That flexibility has helped keep the system running. But if managing tight energy supply means major exporters producing less or leaving altogether, the lights stay on at a growing economic cost.”

Carnegie says the decision highlights the long tail of major energy policy decisions.

“The 2018 exploration ban didn’t make our need for gas disappear. It stopped the search for new supply while existing fields were declining, and we’re now dealing with the consequences.

That leaves New Zealand with a massive supply pipeline gap to bridge to keep industrial users in business. LNG can help us while domestic exploration gets moving again, but both depend on stable policy settings and a clear direction that lasts longer than a political cycle.”

Carnegie says the consequences of that supply gap are being felt acutely by all gas and electricity users.

“Methanex has operated here for more than three decades. When a global exporter decides it can no longer sustainably manufacture in New Zealand because its energy input isn’t available, we need to pay attention.

At its peak, Methanex exports contributed 0.4% to our gross domestic product, around $1 billion, and until recently, that figure was still significant at between 0.15 and 0.25%.

Loss of industrial production isn't something to celebrate, and we expect global environmental impacts to worsen with methanol production emissions moving offshore where environmental standards are lower.

We want an energy system that supports growth, not one that balances itself by losing demand. If major manufacturers and exporters have to step back because fuel isn’t available, New Zealand is poorer for it.

Keeping the lights on is vital, but energy security has to mean more than avoiding blackouts. It also means having enough affordable energy for businesses to keep producing, investing and competing from New Zealand.”

Source: IHC New Zealand

2 September, 2026

The Carers Alliance of 60 national NGOs have welcomed the Government’s commitment to a new Mahi Aroha Carers’ Strategy Action Plan.

More than a million New Zealanders care for friends and family members who are frail, unwell, or have a health condition or disability. It’s a role we can all expect to have or rely on during our lives, but one that can also take a financial and wellbeing toll on carers, says Alliance co-chair Janine Stewart.

“The new Strategy and its rolling Action Plan take New Zealand into the future, with multiple agencies committing to valuing and supporting carers.”

There have been past Action Plans since 2008, with the Alliance partnering with successive governments to shape priorities to better support family carers. It’s work that will never be done, says Stewart, with family carers providing vital frontline support conservatively valued at $17.6 billion a year (Infometrics).

“Community care and ageing in place wouldn’t work without family carers,” she says.

The Carers Alliance has encouraged the Government to do more to value and recognise carers who, despite their important role, can feel invisible and isolated. It has also recommended that government prioritise actions in the new Plan that improve carers’ mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.

Two thirds of carers experience depression and anxiety, over half have a health condition or disability themselves, 80% say they are lonely, and most are unable to do full-time paid work due to caring commitments.

The Carers Alliance hopes the new Action Plan will deliver new supports to sustain family carers, including more options for respite.

“All carers need wellbeing breaks so they can stay well themselves and keep going,” Stewart says.

Cabinet’s approval of the new Action Plan provides a welcome roadmap for carers into the future across agencies such as Health, MSD, Oranga Tamariki, and ACC, she says.