Posts

Posted on

Employment – Union for local government workers supports LGNZ recommendations to improve voter turnout

Source: PSA

The PSA supports Local Government New Zealand’s (LGNZ) recommendations for a return to in-person voting at local elections, and for the Electoral Commission take over running and publicising local elections.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi represents over 11,000 local government workers, and has a total membership of over 96,000 people living, paying rates and voting across the country.
Currently local bodies are responsible for running their own elections, and most contract that job out to private firms.
“Private companies should not be running local body elections, it is not appropriate for something so important to the functioning of local democracy,” said PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
“The Electoral Commission is publicly accountable and already has a track record for delivering Parliamentary elections, we call on central government to give the Electoral Commission this role, with the proper resourcing to do it.”
“In person voting will help turn around the poor turnout rates in local elections,” said Fitzsimons. “We need to see much greater participation and a more well-informed and engaged voting public.”
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.
Posted on

Economy – Updates to Deposit Takers Act implementation timeline and standards – Reserve Bank

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand

17 July 2025 – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua has today published an updated implementation timeline for incoming changes to the prudential regulatory regime for deposit takers.

The Deposit Takers Act 2023 (DTA) modernises the regulatory framework to help ensure the safety and soundness of deposit takers and support a stable financial system that New Zealanders can trust. 

DTA standards will be issued by 31 May 2027 and come into effect on 1 December 2028.  

“The standards bring to life the prudential requirements deposit takers will need to meet to be licensed under the DTA,” Director Prudential Policy Jess Rowe says.  

Public consultation on the proposed standards took place across 2024 and 2025.  

“We're grateful for the insightful feedback received from submitters, and we're now hard at work preparing the exposure drafts of the standards,” Ms Rowe says.  

Exposure draft consultation will take place in three tranches, starting in October 2025.

Licensing of existing deposit takers will occur over an 18-month window, running from 1 June 2027 to 30 November 2028, ahead of the standards coming into effect on 1 December of that year. The change means all banks and non-bank deposit takers will be licensed under a single, coherent regulatory regime. In late 2025, we hope to communicate information about our approach to licensing existing deposit takers under the DTA.

Changes to the DTA implementation timeline were necessary to allow time for a review of key capital settings, announced on 31 March 2025. DTA standards were previously planned to come into effect in July 2028.

DTA timeline – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Te Pūtea Matua: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=e1c35a6635&e=f3c68946f8

2025 Review of key capital settings: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=f4705877ae&e=f3c68946f8

Response to submissions on the non-core standards

In 2024, we received 25 submissions to public consultation on DTA non-core standards.  

In response to feedback, we have made changes to further support a proportionate approach, reduce the impact of compliance on deposit takers, and enhance potential competition in the market. Changes resulting from consultation include removing prescriptive detail and making requirements more flexible in certain areas.

Our overall assessment remains that we are striking a good balance between our primary financial stability mandate and our purposes and principles, including proportionality and competition.

Deposit Takers Non-Core Standards – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Citizen Space: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=88eeb490a1&e=f3c68946f8

A summary of submissions on the Crisis Management Issues Paper has also been published.

Crisis management under the Deposit Takers Act 2023 – Issues Paper – Reserve Bank of New Zealand – Citizen Space: https://govt.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=bd316aa7ee4f5679c56377819&id=aaa9de9963&e=f3c68946f8
 

Terminology explained

Core standards

These are the standards that we will use as the criteria to determine the eligibility of existing banks and NBDTs for relicensing under the DTA.  

Non-core standards

These are the other standards that all deposit takers will need to comply with when the DTA standards regime starts but will not be used for relicensing existing deposit takers.

Deposit takers will need to comply with all standards when they come into force in 2028.

Posted on

Memorials – Potential Christchurch sites for National Erebus Memorial shared with families

Source: Ministry for Culture and Heritage

“Potential National Erebus Memorial sites in Christchurch have been shared with Erebus families,” says Secretary for Culture and Heritage, Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae.
The sites have been identified as possible locations for the memorial, which will honour the 257 people who lost their lives in 1979, when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing tour.
“The potential sites we shared with Erebus families and members of Operation Overdue are Avon Riverbank in the central city, Cracroft Reserve in Cashmere and St James’ Church grounds in Harewood.”
No decisions have been made about locating the memorial in Christchurch or which of the potential sites may be selected.
The Ministry is currently seeking feedback from Erebus families on each of the potential sites.
“We are grateful to Erebus families for their continued engagement. Sharing these potential sites is an important step and we will carefully consider their feedback.
“We are committed to building this memorial – for the people who lost loved ones, for New Zealanders, and for those here and overseas impacted by the Erebus tragedy,” says Leauanae.
Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger says the city is honoured to be considered as a possible location for the memorial.
“On behalf of Christchurch, I extend a warm invitation to Erebus families to consider the city as a potential location for the memorial,” says Mayor Mauger.
“As a city, we have experienced tragedy and understand the deep impact the Erebus disaster continues to have on people across Aotearoa.
“Christchurch is long connected to Antarctica, we feel a deep sense of responsibility to honour the lives of your loved ones with great care and quiet dignity.”
Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage continues to work closely with Erebus families, mana whenua and stakeholders to find a site for the National Erebus Memorial.
More information
For more information about the National Erebus Memorial, visit our website: www.mch.govt.nz/our-work/memorials-and-commemorations/national-erebus-memorial
Posted on

Health – New low-risk drinking guidelines challenge outdated advice

Source: Alcohol Healthwatch

We all want the most up-to-date information to help us make informed choices for ourselves and our families.
This is why today Alcohol Healthwatch have just posted the most recent evidence-based low-risk drinking guidelines on their website.
New Zealand’s drinking guidelines are out of date and do not align with research showing there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, particularly for cancer risk.
Information obtained by RNZ shows the alcohol industry has worked to pause a review of the official low-risk drinking guidelines for New Zealand. These guidelines have not been updated since their release in 2011.
” Quality, evidence-based drinking guidelines are crucial to help people understand the risk from alcohol, and evidence shows risk is present even at low levels of alcohol consumption,” says Andrew Galloway, Executive Director of Alcohol Healthwatch.
“Low-risk drinking guidelines are a tool for individuals but also for health practitioners, (like GPs and emergency department staff) to use these when discussing alcohol use with their patients.”
Alcohol industry lobbyists were exposed by RNZ requesting that information about the review of the New Zealand low-risk drinking guidelines and links to other countries’ guidelines be removed from the Health NZ website.
The alcohol industry has a track record of opposing effective health policies. As a recent Public Health Communication Centre briefing on the rising influence of big business in policy making states: “t he alcohol industry profits when they impede effective policies, while individuals, wh ānau / families and taxpayers bear the costs, which fall disproportionately on Māori and low-income communities.”
A recent poll shows the majority of New Zealanders agree the alcohol industry should have no place in developing alcohol policy.
“As the official New Zealand low-risk drinking guidelines are out of date, and a review of the guidelines has been paused, we thought we’d offer the New Zealand public the most recent, credible and evidence-based guidelines. People in Aotearoa New Zealand deserve to know the risks from alcohol, our nation’s most harmful drug .”
Posted on

Rural News – Progress on rates reform – but only half the picture – Federated Farmers

Source: Federated Farmers

Federated Farmers is welcoming the Government’s moves to rein in soaring council rates but says key elements are missing from the reform bill announced yesterday.
“The proposed legislation rightly refocuses councils on core services – roads, water, rubbish, and basic infrastructure – something we’ve long called for,” Federated Farmers local government spokesperson Sandra Faulkner says.
“New financial performance measures, benchmarking and more regular public reporting should help drive greater transparency and accountability.”
But Faulkner says while the Local Government (Systems Improvements) Amendment Bill also contains some regulatory relief tweaks, it fails to address a major pressure point: the constant loading of councils with new, unfunded mandates.
There’s also no sign of ditching the 30% cap on uniform annual charges, or direction to councils they should use this tool more to distribute costs more fairly, instead of relying on property value-based rates that hit farmers hard.
“Federated Farmers is in no doubt that many councils need to show more financial discipline.
“Data shows the average dairy farmer’s rates in 2024/25 were $23,000, a 25% increase in the last five years. Rates for sheep and beef farms average $19,000, a 35% increase since 2020/21.
“These are huge amounts to come out of farmers’ budgets year after year and our rural families are really feeling the pressure,” Faulkner says.
Local Government Minister Simon Watt says the Government is working at pace to develop a rates cap model, expected later this year.
“Federated Farmers supports the idea – but it has to be well-designed,” Faulkner says.
“A lot of careful thought will be needed to get this right. There needs to be off-ramps for councils facing legitimate cost pressures for essential infrastructure like roads.
“Councils still need to be well-funded in the interests of maintaining robust infrastructure.”
She also warns a cap could affect Local Government Funding Authority credit ratings, potentially driving up borrowing costs for councils.
“The last thing councils need are higher debt interest costs from LGFA, the principal lender at competitive rates to local authorities.”
Faulkner says the bill and upcoming select committee hearings are a good chance to finally tackle bigger questions about council costs and funding.
“Minister Watts has ruled out new taxes or revenue tools for councils, with the Government saying there’s still scope to get better value from current rates. But that ignores half the equation.
“The bill acknowledges council rates rises are being driven by rising council costs, particularly for critical infrastructure.”
The Federated Farmers ‘Restoring Confidence in Local Decision-Making’ blueprint calls for local road and bridge maintenance and renewal costs to be funded 90% from road user charges, rather than the current situation where ratepayers fork out just under 50% of these costs.
“And we think there should be local referendums for any large council commercial projects – such as stadiums and conference centres – if they cost more than $500 per rateable property.” 
Posted on

Local News – Families meet as part of Porirua Hospital Memorial project

Source: Porirua City Council

A meeting with family members of those in interred in unmarked graves in Porirua Cemetery attracted more than 50 people, as the Council applies for funding for a fitting memorial.
The meeting, on 28 June at the cemetery, was spurred to take place by some of the families once it became public that the Council wanted to memorialise more than 1800 former Porirua Hospital patients. Cemeteries manager Daniel Chrisp says it was pleasing that so many people had been in touch about the project.
“It’s fantastic that we’ve got to this point, having the descendants of those in unmarked graves encouraged to be involved,” he says.
Chrisp says his team have placed 99 pegs on the unmarked plots at Porirua Cemetery to represent all the families who have contacted the Council.
“One family member told me at the meeting it was deeply moving to see the markers and being able to photograph where two family members had been interred. These plots represent mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children and other relatives – so it’s important to a lot of people.”
The Porirua Lunatic Asylum, later Porirua Hospital, opened in 1887. At its height, in the 1960s, it had more than 2000 patients and staff and covered 1000 acres of land, making it one of the largest hospitals in the country.
By the 1980s, many patients were in community-based care and the hospital was closed in the 1990s.
As part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care, the Government has set up a fund for headstones for patients buried in unmarked graves throughout the country.
Council has now submitted an application to this fund for $200,000 to install a fitting memorial that lists every single name known to be in an unmarked grave.
Chrisp says the public is welcome to head to Porirua Cemetery and view the pegs to see the scale of the project.
Posted on

Events – Step Up for Guide Dogs This Winter: Join the PAWGUST Challenge

Source: Blind Low Vision NZ

This August, Kiwis are lacing up their walking shoes and joining PAWGUST, a nationwide challenge supporting the guide dogs who help New Zealanders live life without limits.

Whether you’re walking solo or side-by-side with your dog, PAWGUST invites you to step outside every day in August and help raise vital funds for Blind Low Vision NZ Guide Dogs. Participants commit to walking or running a set distance while gathering sponsorship from fri

Posted on

Politics – Farmers welcome halt to new plan changes

Source: Federated Farmers

The decision that councils will be stopped from rushing through new restrictive plan changes is welcome news to farmers, Federated Farmers RMA reform spokesperson Mark Hooper says.
“Councils across New Zealand have been continuing to push ahead with new district plans that put farms under restrictive overlays, such as Outstanding Natural Landscapes and Significant Natural Areas.
“This is despite the fact any plan changes may only have a shelf life of months, given the Government int

Posted on

Investments Sector – NZ SUPER FUND STAKEHOLDER UPDATE

Source: New Zealand Super Fund

Nelson-Tasman State of Emergency

NZ Super Fund-owned farms and orchards in the top of the South Island seem to have escaped the worst of the recent weather, with extensive cleaning up required but no significant damage to trees or infrastructure. Our thoughts are with those of our neighbours who have been hit hard by successive storms and heavy rain events over the past few weeks. The FarmRight team has been out in the community helping where it can.

Kaingaroa Timberlands expands plantation area

Kaingaroa Timberlands (KT), in which the Guardians has a 42 percent shareholding, recently announced it had bought 9,200 hectares of forestry land from Te Waihou Holdings Ltd.

Ryan Cavanagh, Chief Executive of KT subsidiary Timberlands, said the transaction underscored KT’s long-term commitment to New Zealand and its confidence in the forestry industry:

“By expanding our estate, we are not only securing the future of forestry in the Central North Island, we are also positioning ourselves to make further investments in our operations, driving further economic growth and job creation. It will help ensure New Zealand can remain a global leader in responsibly managed forestry.”

Ryan said the transaction preserves the land’s established role in commercial forestry and supports the South Waikato region’s economic and environmental objectives.

Select Committee Report tabled

The Finance & Expenditure Select Committee has presented a report on the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation to Parliament. The Committee’s report draws on our appearance before them on 2 April, and covers topics including performance, tax status, domestic investments, and the Elevate NZ Venture Fund. The full report can be found here.

Guardians Board Member joins Business Hall of Fame

Ahead of her induction next month into the NZ Business Hall of Fame, Guardians Board member Hinerangi Raumati talked to the NBR’s Mike McRoberts about the growing influence of kaupapa Māori in corporate New Zealand, and her own efforts to integrate Māori values and perspectives into mainstream boardrooms.

“There is a certain group dynamic that can happen in a room full of men … just bringing a different lens to things, as well as having a holistic view of the world, is what my approach has always been,” said Hinerangi – referring to a time in her career when she was frequently not only the sole Māori at the decision-making table but also the only woman.

Hinerangi also told the NBR that while it’s important to recognise what has been achieved, more remains to be done.

“None of us should sit on our laurels in terms of what we’ve achieved, and we shouldn’t lower our expectations either. Just keep raising the bar on what we’ve done. There’s good things being done in this country … we should all be proud of those things.”

Go to the Business Hall of Fame website for more information on Hinerangi and the other 2025 laureates; click here to read Mike McRoberts’ full story (paywalled). 

Super Fund reintroduces buyout strategies

After stepping back from private market buyouts more than ten years ago, the NZ Super Fund is re-entering the global arena with a commitment of around US$800 million, reports i3Insights’ Florence Chong.

Doug Bell and Sian Orr from our External Investments & Partnerships team talked to Florence about how this initiative reflects a broader strategy designed to enhance international diversification, leverage specialist external managers, and integrate sustainability and other ESG considerations into the NZ Super Fund’s private markets programme.

Read the full article here: https://nzsuperfund.cmail20.com/t/d-l-suikyut-hujkdust-o/

Posted on

Tech – RedShield enhances DDoS and bot attack protection with ‘Third Horizon’

Source: Botica Butler Raudon Partners for RedShield

Innovative RedShield identity challenge responds to evolving threat landscape

Auckland, New Zealand, 16 July 2025 – RedShield, a web application security service using AWS technology, has introduced a new layer of security in response to the proliferation of ever-more-sophisticated Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) and automated bot attacks.

The new ‘Third Horizon’ protection that RedShield is introducing to its service thwarts DDoS attacks by disrupting the attack vector, requiring bad actors to respond in ways that cannot easily be managed by typical automated tools to gain access to a web application.

“Much of the security industry remains focused on traffic profiling via AI-driven anomaly detection,” said Fabian Partigliani, Chief Executive Officer at RedShield. 

“However, in the last three years automated, bot-driven threats have become both greater in scale and frequency and more sophisticated.

“As a result, traditional anomaly detection alone is no longer enough as a defence. In response to the escalation of DDoS and automated bot attacks, RedShield is introducing the ‘Third Horizon' as the next evolution of DDoS and bot protection.”

Practical barriers to bad actors

The Third Horizon introduces additional practical barriers to automated attacks. When deployed to protect an application, and RedShield’s controls detect suspicious activity, users seeking access to a web application must first provide a valid email address and then verify their identity via a code sent to that address. This adds friction and therefore cost to the attacker seeking to make automated attacks. While this may seem like a familiar two factor authentication approach, Third Horizon comes into play even when there is no existing user account.

“Third Horizon adds a layer of complexity that bad actors hate because it costs them more time, resources, and money,” says Partigliani. “There are no simple technologies available to let them create enormous volumes of fake user accounts and then retrieve and enter verification for each one. An attacker will typically go and find an easier target.”  

Three layers of protection

RedShield’s protection operates on multiple horizons:


  • First Horizon: Traffic Profiling: Blocking large volumetric attacks and obvious bad traffic. This is “table stakes” – necessary but not sufficient given the evolving attacks. RedShield uses “always on” volumetric protection from hyperscale cloud provider, AWS, to provide the best defence.
  • Second Horizon: Sophisticated Bot Detection: Using advanced techniques to identify and block malicious bots that are trying to look legitimate. This raises attacker cost but is an ongoing arms race – determined attackers will find ways to evade detection.
  • Third Horizon: Identity & Intent Challenge: When activity looks suspicious or systems are under particular strain, RedShield’s controls can challenge the user, asking for an email address and only enabling access to the site when a code included in an email sent to that address is entered. As mass automated bot attacks cannot readily respond to this challenge at scale, this significantly increases the complexity and cost for the attacker, protecting critical applications while prioritising availability for legitimate users.
Scale of threat

According to the Imperva Bad Bot Report, almost half of all 2024 traffic was related to bot activity, with almost one third of the overall global traffic being connected to malicious bots. While attacks of greater than 1 terabit per second (Tbps) grew 1800% globally from Q3 to Q4 last year alone, a bigger concern is their sophistication. Bots mimic humans to take over accounts, scrape data, or overload specific functions like login pages or checkout processes. Attacks target APIs and business logic, putting New Zealand businesses at risks of operational disruption, data theft, and reputational damage.

RedShield’s service applies its three horizon approach and AWS’ global infrastructure to protect organisations from even these latest threats. RedShield’s Third Horizon will be available to customers in the coming weeks, on request, as an additional service for critical applications that need an extra layer of protection.

 

RedShield solutions are available on the AWS Marketplace.

 

About RedShield

RedShield is the essential partner for enterprises needing a fast, effective security solution for difficult-to-fix application risks. Our expert-driven service, powered by AWS, not only blocks threats and provides application-specific fixes on-the-fly, without requiring code changes, but also includes comprehensive change management, vulnerability scanning, monitoring, 24/7 incident management and detailed reporting. RedShield secures your entire application landscape – from legacy systems to crown jewels – reducing risk, controlling costs, and enabling development teams to stay focused on growth.

For more information visit RedShield’s website and LinkedIn pages:
– https://www.redshield.co
– https://www.linkedin.com/company/redshield-security