MIL Email Publisher (NZ)

Source: World Vision New Zealand

World Vision New Zealand welcomes the Education and Workforce Select Committee’s report on the Modern Slavery Bill and urges Parliament to pass the legislation before the election with strong cross-party support.

More than 340 groups and individuals submitted on the draft Bill, with significant support from businesses, advocacy organisations, and more than 900 handwritten submissions from children who attended World Vision Youth Conferences.

World Vision New Zealand’s Head of Advocacy and Justice, Rebekah Armstrong, says the strong showing of support sends a clear message.

“New Zealanders want this law. Businesses, investors, charities, children and communities have all said it is time for stronger measures to combat modern slavery, for greater accountability in our supply chains, and for stronger protection for people, especially children, who are harmed by exploitation.

“We are pleased the Select Committee has made some important improvements to the Bill and, crucially, that it’s retained a clear pathway for the Bill to become stronger over time.

“Now we need our politicians to heed the voices of New Zealanders and pass this Bill with support from across the house before the election,” she says.

World Vision welcomes several important features of the bill that have been retained, including:

• The public reporting framework
• The creation of a modern slavery register
• A three-year review that keeps further reform including an Anti-slavery Commissioner and enhanced victim-survivor provisions on the table

The organisation also welcomes stronger transparency requirements, including for businesses to report on due diligence actions to identify, address, prevent, mitigate and remediate modern slavery risks, as well as statutory functions requiring guidance to support implementation.

Armstrong says the Bill will help improve supply-chain visibility, encourage better governance, and give investors, consumers and the public detailed information about how organisations are responding to exploitation and slavery risks.

“Reporting and transparency can change business behaviour. They create expectations, improve internal systems, and make it much harder for modern slavery risks to remain invisible.

“Importantly, businesses will have to report not only on the modern slavery risks they face, but on the due diligence actions they are taking and whether those actions are effective.

“That creates much greater transparency about what businesses are actually doing to prevent modern slavery which matters, especially for children who remain highly vulnerable to exploitation and hazardous child labour in global supply chains,” Armstrong says

World Vision is pleased to see a statutory review within three years included in the legislation because it provides an opportunity to assess whether business behaviour and supply-chain practices are changing.

“Internationally, modern slavery laws are moving beyond disclosure and transparency alone towards mandatory due diligence, stronger enforcement, and clearer expectations for businesses to prevent harm. It’s important for New Zealand to keep in step with these developments.

“This Bill does not yet require mandatory due diligence, but this is an important and long-awaited step forward.

“New Zealand will finally have a dedicated framework requiring greater transparency about modern slavery risks and what businesses are doing about them,” Armstrong says.

Source: Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand

Road freight association Transporting New Zealand says that decreasing investment in the road network will lead to transport issues that fuel the cost-of-living crisis.

The Government announced today that, if re-elected, the previously planned increase of 12 cents per litre in January 2027, followed by a further 6 cents per litre increase in January 2028 and annual 4 cent increases from 2029, will not go ahead. Instead, there will be an increase of 5c a litre from January 2028, followed by three 5-cent increases every six months until 2030. This is despite the fact fuel excise duty (FED) and road user charges (RUC) have not increased since 2020.

“Flatlining revenue from fuel tax and RUC alongside a significant increase in road construction costs means the actual purchasing power of our National Land Transport Fund has plummeted,” says the group’s chief executive, Dom Kalasih.

“New Zealand's road network is a national asset. Keeping it in good shape is essential for moving freight, growing the economy, and keeping communities connected,” he continued.

The announcement comes days after the Labour Party announced their promise to not increase FED or RUC for the next three years, as a measure to address the cost-of-living crisis.

“An inefficient transport network imposes extra costs on everyone,” Kalasih said. “Therefore, we welcome Minister Willis and Bishop’s acknowledgement that pausing fuel excise and RUC increases would result in a funding shortfall, and that this gap will be bridged with $1.476 billion in funds from alternative sources.”

“Poor roads increase freight times, spike vehicle maintenance costs, and waste fuel. These costs are inevitably passed down to consumers – for example, on supermarket shelves. Chronic underinvestment is a hidden tax on every single good moved in this country.”

Kalasih added that the next Government will have some very difficult decisions to make without an increase to FED or RUC.

“There will be trade-offs, and it’s all road users who will pay the price,” he said. “We will be seeking clarification from whoever forms the next Government on how it intends to deliver on the commitments in the current National Land Transport Programme.”

Ensuring road investment keeps pace with rising costs is a key call in Transporting New Zealand's 2026 Election Platform, being released on Tuesday the 8th of September.

Transporting New Zealand will be sharing its recommendations to the next Government on where action is needed to strengthen productivity and long-term economic growth, in the priority areas of:

1. Fuel and supply chain resilience
2. Infrastructure
3. Safer roads through smarter enforcement
4. Supporting the future workforce
5. Efficiency and lower-emission road freight

The Election Platform launch will be held online and at venues in Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, and Hastings. These events are open to all attendees, not just Transporting New Zealand members, and more information can be found on the Transporting New Zealand website.

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.

Road is the dominant freight mode in New Zealand, transporting 93% of the freight task on a tonnage basis, and 75% on a tonne-km basis. The road freight transport industry employs over 34,000 people across more than 4,700 businesses, with an annual turnover of $6 billion.

Source: United Liberation Movement for West Papua

31 August 2026

A West Papan leader in exile in Australia who is one of the Executive of the ULMWP group is calling on Pacific leaders at the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Island Forum to condemn the recent increased military violence and to call for an immediate end to this violence in civilian areas and address other urgent issues related to land the environment. Her call is being supported by several Pacific based organisations.

“The letter sent today to Pacific leaders calls for immediate action because the humanitarian situation has reached a critical juncture, underscored by devastating casualties reported in recent weeks” Ms Makabory said,

She listed the following recent incidents as examples of many since mid 2025 until this day in 2026 which show escalation of extra judicial killings and use of drones and land mines in by the Indonesian military in civilian areas.

• The Drone Strike in Intan Jaya (Thursday, 18 June 2026): At approximately 1:00 PM local time, an elderly Papuan woman was killed, and two other women were severely injured in an attack involving explosive materials deployed by Indonesian military drones. Local sources indicate an alarming escalation in military tactics, including the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and landmines placed along civilian footpaths.
• The Fatal Shooting in Dekai, Yahukimo (Wednesday, 17 June 2026): At 4:05 PM local time, a young Papuan man was shot and killed in Yahukimo Regency, Papua Pegunungan. Eyewitness accounts from the victim's family directly implicate members of the Indonesian Marine Task Force.

She also noted the incident on 2 July 2026, American pilot Nicholas F. Gosselin of Associated Mission Aviation (AMA) was killed after landing in Yahukimo. The West Papua Liberation Army (TPNPB) claimed responsibility, alleging the aircraft was supporting Indonesian military operations, while Indonesian authorities stated it was conducting a civilian humanitarian mission.

“Regardless of the competing accounts, this tragic incident demonstrates the urgent need for independent international monitoring, transparent investigations, and renewed efforts to de-escalate the conflict and promote human rights.” Paula Makabory said,

“Under the internationally recognized doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the global community—and neighbouring sovereign states in particular—has a duty to step in when a state fails to protect its population from systematic human rights violations.

The continuous deployment of heavy tactical forces has turned residential areas into active conflict zones, where indigenous Papuans are treated with inherent suspicion and lethal force. There have been 24 extra judicial killings in 2026 so far.

Severe human rights violations are rarely met with independent investigations or genuine justice, leaving civilian populations entirely defenceless and more than 125,00 people displaced and homeless in the Highlands.

The indigenous people of West Papua are an integral part of the Melanesian family. Their ongoing suffering directly weakens the security and solidarity of the entire Pacific region.”

She urged Pacific Island Forum Leaders to break the silence and take collective diplomatic action by issuing a formal condemnation of recent killings in Intan Jaya and Yahukimo, issue a collective call an immediate cessation of military operations in civilian areas, and demand a unimpeded United Nations access to investigate human rights abuses. She also called for condemnation of drone strikes, the establishment of a humanitarian corridor for aid for displaced people in the Highlands, a moratorium on mega projects in West Papua and an independent evaluation of Special Autonomy in terms of pathways to indigenous West Papuan self determination.

“The report also calls on the PIF leadership to challenge the crushing of peaceful dissent and the widespread destruction of indigenous land with resulting acceleration of deforestation and regional climate change risks.” Said Catherine Delahunty, spokesperson for “West Papua Action Aotearoa”.

She said that New Zealand and Australian Government were failing in their critical leadership roles by their silence on all these of the issues.

“The Pacific Island Forum has called or years for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to be granted immediate, unrestricted access to West Papua to conduct an independent investigation, but this has been ignored and the PIF needs to ensure Indonesia can’t expect status at Pacific meetings while ignoring the PIF requests. The PIF Special Envoys Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka and Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Merape, (whether at the Palau meeting or not) need to negotiate a firm timeline for a UN fact finding mission with Indonesia.” Paula Makabory said.

“The PIF and MSG must bring the West Papuan human rights crisis and land crisis to the forefront of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and relevant international human rights forums to ensure global oversight. The survival of our Melanesian brothers and sisters depends on leaders who are willing to champion human rights and regional stability over political convenience” Ms Makabory said.

Paula Makabory
Executive Member Of United Liberation Movement for West Papua
Head of Pacific Islands Mission

Undersigned by

Teanau Tuiono Green MP for Pacific Affairs Aotearoa /NZ
Catherine Delahunty National Spokesperson for West Papua Action Aotearoa
James Bhagwan – Pacific Council of Churches

Source: Fire and Emergency New Zealand

As we enter spring, forecasts from Earth Sciences New Zealand and Fire and Emergency New Zealand indicate El Niño conditions are likely to develop and strengthen over the coming months, with some guidance suggesting the event could become one of the stronger El Niño events on record.

Historically, stronger El Niño events have been associated with more frequent westerly winds, warmer temperatures, and below-normal rainfall in eastern parts of both the North and South Islands. However, the timing, severity, and extent of these impacts can vary considerably from one event to another.

Fire and Emergency Deputy Chief Executive Prevention, Stephen Hunt, says Fire and Emergency will continue to monitor conditions, communicate fire risk and provide advice on keeping safe.

“Despite the uncertainty of when and how El Niño will impact on New Zealand, it’s time for Kiwis to start preparing,” Stephen Hunt says.

“There are some simple steps people can take now to reduce wildfire risk around their properties. Clear dead and dry vegetation from around buildings, make sure emergency vehicles can easily access your property, ensure water supplies are available if firefighters need them, and keep spring grass growth under control. These actions can make a real difference if fire threatens your home or community,” he says.

“A fast-moving fire in Wanaka recently showed the speed at which a fire can grow and threaten homes, so we’re also asking people to consider what they will do should a wildfire occur in their community.

“We encourage people to get to know their neighbours, talk with their whānau about what they would do during a wildfire, plan evacuation routes, and prepare essential supplies in case they need to leave quickly. Taking these simple steps now can make a significant difference if conditions deteriorate over summer.”

You can create a wildfire plan for your home and community now using Fire and Emergency’s free tool at checkitsalright.nz/prepare-for-wildfire.

Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler is calling on all New Zealanders to do their part to reduce the risk of fires starting this summer.

“Around 98 percent of wildfires in New Zealand are caused by people and their activities. We urge people to use fire safely and to always check the conditions and fire season status in their area before lighting an outdoor fire. They can do this and find more safety advice at checkitsalright.nz.

And while we’re asking New Zealanders to do their bit, we’re doing ours. Fire and Emergency is ensuring we’re operationally ready to protect communities this summer.

“We are working hard preparing for a potentially busy upcoming season by reviewing operational readiness, identifying emerging risk areas early, and working closely with local authorities, iwi, land managers, industry partners, communities and partner agencies from Department of Conservation, New Zealand Defence Force and the forestry sector.

“Our national coordination centre is ready to provide oversight during periods of heightened fire risk, and we can move personnel, appliances, and specialist resources between districts, including pre-positioning them in higher-risk areas if the conditions call for that.

“Over the past few months Fire and Emergency has provided personnel to support responses to wildfires across North America, a deployment which will help bring valuable knowledge and experience back for the upcoming season,” Megan Stiffler says.

Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA)

 

The absence of a New Zealand government signature on a 22-member joint statement, which is condemning the E1 Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank, can only be interpreted as a ‘moral collapse’ in our foreign policy, according to the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa.

 

The recent joint statement was issued by the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Commission.

 

The statement condemned the decision by the Israeli Higher Planning Committee to approve plans for settlement construction in the E1 area, East of Jerusalem, as ‘unacceptable and a violation of international law’.

 

The E1 settlement would divide the Occupied West Bank into two regions – northern and southern.

 

PSNA spokesperson, Rinad Tamimi says the New Zealand’s government’s absence from the statement is even worse, in the context of the statement specifically citing UN Security Council Resolution 2334, describing the settlements as a “flagrant breach of international law.”

 

“The Key/English National Party government co-sponsored this resolution at the UN Security Council in 2016.  But the Luxon National Party, even after the genocide in Gaza in the past three years, can’t even bother to put its name to this recent condemnation,” Tamimi says.

 

“In the nuanced world of world of international diplomacy, Israel will be taking favourable note of New Zealand’s slide into not caring what atrocities Israel is committing.”

 

“Without taking any other action, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has always made of point of saying he often ‘made his concerns known’ to Israel.  Now he’s even given up on that.”

 

Tamimi is also concerned that none of New Zealand’s political parties have specific policies to support Palestine in their election manifestos.

 

Tamimi says Israel’s genocide in Gaza is the worst atrocity of the 21^st century.  

 

“While there is meant to be a functioning ceasefire, the latest news from Gaza is that Israel has reoccupied more than 70 percent of Gaza, Israeli forces have resumed their assault because children in Gaza were flying kites.  And on the Occupied West Bank Israeli settlers are openly beating up foreign network journalists with impunity.”

 

New Zealand has practical and significant symbolic leverage against Israel which it deliberately has decided not to use.”

 

“As you would expect, all three coalition parties, pretend there is no such thing as foreign policy.”

 

“Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori have expressed support for Palestine, including imposing sanctions.”

 

“But they need to clearly state what type and level of sanctions.  Even the present government can say its immigration bans on West Bank terrorist settlers constitutes a sanction.”

 

“It all amounts to just election rhetoric, without announcing specific and meaningful sanctions in all areas; trade, investment, diplomatic, military and immigration,” Tamimi says.

 

“Without sanctions, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the Greater Israel project, are all still licenced for Israel to action.” 

 

Rinad Tamimi

National Spokesperson

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

Source: Aged Care Association

The Aged Care Association says Labour's commitment to guarantee jobs for graduate nurses is welcome recognition that New Zealand needs to secure and grow its nursing workforce but warns the policy must not unintentionally make it even harder for aged residential care to recruit nurses.

“Aged care is health care. Any workforce policy designed to strengthen New Zealand's health system must recognise the 40,000 aged residential care beds that are providing healthcare to older New Zealanders every day,” Aged Care Association Chief Executive Hon Tracey Martin says.

“We absolutely support getting our graduate nurses into jobs. But if the guarantee directs those nurses predominantly into Health New Zealand while aged residential care continues to compete with different pay and employment conditions, the Government will simply shift the workforce pressure from one part of the health system to another.”

The Association says the proposed increase in recruitment subsidies for primary and community care could help aged care providers recruit graduates, provided aged residential care remains fully included. But recruitment incentives alone will not solve the longstanding pay disparity between Health New Zealand and aged residential care.

“We have already seen what happens when the pay gap between hospitals and aged care grows. Nurses understandably move to where the pay and conditions are better. Unless aged care funding moves alongside public hospital nursing remuneration, that gap will simply open up again.”

Ms Martin says the consequences extend well beyond the aged care sector.

“New Zealand's public hospitals have around 10,000 beds. Aged residential care has around 40,000. We are also going to need another 9,000 to 12,000 aged residential care beds as our population ages.

“You can put more nurses into hospitals, but you still only have one person in each hospital bed. If there is nowhere appropriate for an older person to go once, they no longer need acute hospital care, that bed remains occupied and the next patient cannot get into it.

“That is why aged residential care is such an important part of hospital capacity. Our sector provides 24-hour nursing and care, takes people out of hospitals, prevents avoidable hospital admissions and provides the long-term care that hospitals were never designed to provide.

“Anything that reduces our access to nurses ultimately reduces our ability to take pressure off hospitals.”

The Aged Care Association is calling on Labour to confirm that aged residential care providers will be fully included in its graduate nurse employment pathway and eligible for the increased recruitment subsidies.

It is also seeking a commitment that government funding for aged residential care will maintain nursing pay relativity with Health New Zealand, rather than allowing another significant pay gap to develop.

“If the objective is to strengthen the health workforce, then we need to think about where nurses are needed across the whole health system.

“We cannot solve the hospital workforce problem by creating a bigger aged care workforce problem.

“Aged care is health care, and workforce policy needs to reflect that.”

Source: New Zealand Nurses Organisation

A new proposal that will require Te Whatu Ora to offer all eligible graduate nurses jobs in the public health system will help keep them in nursing and in Aotearoa New Zealand, NZNO says.

Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO national student vice-chair Dawn Blyth says the election policy from Labour announced today would be welcomed by nursing students.

“Traditionally up to 90% of nursing graduates have been employed into hospitals where they receive invaluable on-the-job mentoring and skill development.

“However, despite recent promises from the Coalition Government to hire 1800 graduates this financial year, less than half of graduates over the past two years have received job offers.

“It is soul-destroying for nursing graduates to study for three years and hope for a job and then not get one. A survey of nursing students last year found more than 61% were considering moving overseas for work if they couldn’t get a position in New Zealand,” Dawn Blyth says.

Outgoing NZNO Te Rūnanga Tauira (student) chair Poihaere Whare says hiring all eligible graduates would help create a sustainable pipeline of Aotearoa New Zealand-trained nurses.

“A focus on getting nurse graduates into primary care will help whānau get the care they need in their own communities.

“However, only around 250 of the 400 graduate places were filled by primary care employers last financial year because they are so stretched, they don’t have the capacity to mentor new nurses.

“And with current pay rates for primary care nurses at levels around 11% lower than their hospital counterparts, nurses are leaving family doctor clinics for better pay. Nurses working for Māori and Iwi providers earn even less.

“If Labour is serious about building the nursing workforce and fixing the health system, it must fund primary care sufficiently so all nurses working in the sector can receive pay parity with Te Whatu Ora nurses,” Poihaere Whare says.

Source: Billo

A study of nearly 168,000 Meta video ads, tracked from July 2025 through June 2026, finds that only five out of 13 categories peak their profitability in the fourth quarter. The others get the highest ROAS in other months.

August 31, 2026. The fourth quarter isn’t the most profitable for every brand, according to new data from marketing platform Billo. Data showed that across 13 product categories, the best-performing month landed in seven different months of the year.

Home & Garden brands earned the most per ad dollar in July 2025, Baby & Toddler peaked in January 2026, and Electronics didn't peak until May 2026, all outside the fourth quarter most brands plan around.

The company analyzed nearly 168,000 Meta video ads placed over the last twelve months, from July 2025 through June 2026, measuring ROAS, or return on ad spend: purchase value divided by ad spend.

“You can watch thousands of campaigns and see the same mistake every year,” said Donatas Smailys, co-founder and CEO of Billo. “Gift categories made Q4 look like the answer for everyone, so brands whose real peak is July or May just borrowed the same calendar without checking their own numbers. Every campaign we've analyzed tells a different story about timing. A brand pouring its best creative into November when its category actually peaks in July is burning its strongest work on one of its weakest months.”

Every category has its own peak month

No single month works for every category. Home & Garden, for example, earned its best return in July 2025, a full quarter before most brands start ramping up holiday budgets. Apparel & Accessories and Software also peaked in that same month.

Each figure below is that category's ROAS, meaning the dollars in purchase value earned per dollar of ad spend, in its single best month:

• Summer peak (July 2025). Home & Garden ($5.33 per ad dollar), Apparel & Accessories ($4.77), Software ($2.06)
• Early autumn peak (September 2025). Sporting Goods ($4.76), Services ($2.88)
• Q4 gifting peak (November-December 2025). Animals & Pet Supplies ($2.08), Business & Industrial ($2.69), Health & Beauty ($2.44), Food & Beverages ($3.07), Toys & Games ($2.90)
• Winter peak (January-February 2026). Baby & Toddler ($5.83), Arts & Entertainment ($5.67)
• Spring peak (May 2026). Electronics ($5.01)

Only five of these categories, the Q4 gifting cluster, actually peak in the fourth quarter. The highest return in the entire window belongs to Baby & Toddler, which earned $5.83 per ad dollar in January, not November or December. That figure, along with Arts & Entertainment's February peak and Electronics' May peak, comes from the first half of 2026, the more recent of Billo's two half-year reports, so Billo considers each of these three the strongest month so far, not a confirmed annual pattern.

“The Q4 rules work for gift categories, since that’s where it was built,” said Donatas Smailys. “The mistake is applying it everywhere else, as if every category shops like a holiday shopper. The same blind spot shows up with clicks: a brand chasing whatever month gets the most clicks falls into the same trap as a brand chasing Q4. Both are optimizing for a signal that isn’t the one that actually pays.”

What brands should do

Check when your own category has performed best over the past year before setting a second-half budget. Billo's benchmark reports break ROAS down by category and month, so brands can compare their results against that baseline.

Not every category has a clear seasonal pattern to check against. Services, Business & Industrial, and Baby & Toddler show no repeatable peak in Billo's data. Brands in these categories should spread their spend evenly across the year rather than concentrating it in a single month.

“Every brand we work with already has the answer to when their season is, it's in their own ad data,” said Smailys. “The mistake is looking at the calendar instead of looking at your own numbers. Once you build creative around your actual peak month, you're feeding the algorithm exactly when it's most likely to convert.”

Methodology

Billo publishes these benchmarks twice a year, covering ROAS, CTR, and hook rate across 13 categories, drawn from tens of thousands of Meta video ads. The current window runs from July 2025 through June 2026, presented across two half-year reports rather than a single calendar year: 88,329 ads and $122 million in ad spend in the first half of 2026, and 80,069 ads and $105 million in spend in the second half of 2025, for a combined $418 million in tracked purchase value. ROAS is calculated as purchase value divided by ad spend. Full data for both reports, including the CTR and hook rate benchmarks referenced here, is available on Billo's site.

About Billo

Billo is the leading UGC marketplace founded in 2019 that connects brands with creators to produce high-performing social video ads. It is based in Lithuania, built for US needs, and led by co-founder and CEO Donatas Smailys. The platform combines the power of UGC content with a streamlined production process, helping brands increase brand awareness, drive traffic, and boost conversions with authentic creator videos on TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and other platforms.

Source: University of Auckland (UoA)

MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2026

As Auckland debates congestion charging, research highlights an often-overlooked impact of vehicles on the city’s roads: the pollution stirred up as they travel.

A 13-year study of Auckland air quality found road dust was a significant contributor to PM₁₀, tiny airborne particles associated with respiratory and cardiovascular problems.

The study, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, analysed data collected at three Auckland air-quality monitoring sites: Queen Street in the CBD, Khyber Pass, a major arterial route near the city centre, and Penrose, close to a large motorway.

PM₁₀ data from the three sites was used to identify contributions from soil, fuel, biomass burning, secondary sulphate, marine aerosol and road dust. The researchers combined this with traffic data and information on temperature, wind speed and rainfall, using a series of models to examine factors influencing PM₁₀ concentrations.

Lead researcher Dr Mingyue Selena Sheng, from the University of Auckland Business School’s Energy Centre, says the findings highlight the importance of looking beyond exhaust emissions when considering the impact of road transport on air quality.

“Our findings show that road dust is, at times, a dominant and statistically significant contributor,” says Sheng.

“Much of the focus has been on reducing what comes out of the tailpipe, but road dust and other non-exhaust emissions need our attention.”

Non-exhaust emissions include particles from the wear of brakes, tyres, clutches and road surfaces, as well as dust and other material deposited on roads that is “resuspended” or lifted back into the air by moving vehicles, tyres and atmospheric conditions.

In one analysis, road dust had a larger estimated effect on PM₁₀ than fuel emissions, and the researchers’ modelling suggests a 1 percent increase in road dust is likely to cause an 8.8 percent increase in PM₁₀ concentration.

Co-author, Business School economist Dr Le Wen, says non-exhaust emissions are closely linked to the physical movement of vehicles, so the number and type of vehicles on our roads matters.

Heavy vehicles, defined as those weighing more than 3.5 metric tonnes, represented about 4 percent of traffic on average in the dataset, and the researchers found evidence of an association between a higher proportion of heavy vehicles and increased PM₁₀ levels.

Although the percentage of heavy vehicles is relatively low, Wen says their role in resuspending road dust and contributing to PM₁₀ levels plays a disproportionate role in air pollution.

The findings are particularly relevant as transport shifts towards electric vehicles which typically weigh more due to their batteries.

“While electric vehicles offer a pathway to reducing tailpipe emissions, their environmental benefits may be offset by increased non-exhaust emissions, especially from heavier vehicle fleets.

“Moving to electric vehicles has important benefits, but it doesn’t make particulate pollution from road transport disappear. If we want cleaner urban air, non-exhaust emissions need to be a key part of the conversation.”

The researchers say tackling non-exhaust emissions will require targeted measures alongside efforts to cut tailpipe pollution. The paper suggests https://rsnz.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1080/03036758.2025.2514094 transport policy should require vehicles carrying soil and other loose material to keep it contained in urban areas and consider time-based restrictions to reduce air pollution during peak periods.

Source: Child Poverty Action Group

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is calling on the Government to reverse the latest welfare law change stripping unemployment benefits from thousands of 18 and 19-year-olds which they say will deepen hardship for young people.

From November 2026, 18 and 19-year-olds will be denied Jobseeker Support if their parents earn more than $67,225 combined. An estimated 4,300 young people are expected to lose eligibility for support.

CPAG Chief Executive Lyn Amos says the policy punishes young people for a lack of jobs, not a lack of effort.

“Youth unemployment is nearly 15 percent and higher again for young people with disabilities. Jobs are hard to find right now, and this law doesn't change that. It just removes the safety net from under young people while they look,” Ms Amos says.

“This isn't about parents 'stepping up.' The families affected have lost the Family Tax Credit for these young people who are no longer counted as dependents – yet they're still expected to fully support unemployed 18 and 19-year-olds. Younger children in these households will feel that squeeze first.”

Earlier this year, it was an OIA request from CPAG which revealed the Prime Minister’s office had no evidence on file (https://www.cpag.org.nz/news/revealed-pms-office-received-no-advice-that-there-are-jobs-for-young-people) that jobs were even available for 18 and 19-year-olds, despite his repeated statements suggesting there were.

CPAG's newly released Manifesto to Reduce Child Poverty (https://www.cpag.org.nz/our-campaigns/a-manifesto-to-reduce-child-poverty-2026), written by 11 researchers across incomes, housing, health, disability and education, specifically calls for this policy to be reversed.

One of the Manifesto’s authors, Auckland University economist Susan St John, says this change that treats young adults as dependent children is supposed to “reduce benefit dependency and encourage people into work, but in practice it swaps one dependency for another, with no analysis of its potentially harmful effects (https://theconversation.com/jobseeker-changes-turn-young-adults-into-dependent-children-and-squeeze-households-further-266785).”

“Young people don't choose to be unemployed in a recession. What they need is support to find secure work and further education – not to be told the taxpayer owes them nothing because of what their parents earn.”

CPAG says the change will push more families into poverty and deepen their hardship and comes as the country continues to miss its statutory child poverty reduction targets.

The Manifesto calls for all 18 and 19-year-olds to retain access to a benefit if they need one, alongside a wider package of reforms to Working for Families, benefit abatement rates, and student loan repayment thresholds, to lift children and young people out of poverty.

Notes to Editors:

– CPAG is an independent charity that has researched and advocated on child poverty in Aotearoa New Zealand for 32 years.

– The Manifesto for Child Poverty Reduction (August 2026) and an executive summary are available at A Manifesto to Reduce Child Poverty (2026) – Child Poverty Action Group (https://www.cpag.org.nz/our-campaigns/a-manifesto-to-reduce-child-poverty-2026).

– CPAG’s Policy Briefs are at https://www.cpag.org.nz/policy-briefs (https://www.cpag.org.nz/policy-briefs).

– Key figures: 169,300 children (14.3%) in material hardship in the year ended June 2025 (StatsNZ), up 47,500 since 2022; the legislated 2028 target is 6%. Child poverty is estimated to cost 3-4.5% of GDP a year ($13.5-18 billion).

– Manifesto authors: Innes Asher, Gerard Cotterell, Rebekah Graham, Frank Hogan, Alan Johnson, Michael O’Brien, John O’Neill, Jenny Ritchie, Susan St John, Nikki Turner, Janfrie Wakim.