MIL Email Publisher (NZ)

Source: BusinessNZ Energy Council

New Zealand cannot afford another election cycle of policy flip-flops when billions of dollars in energy investment and our economic competitiveness are at stake, the BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) says.

New Zealand urgently needs an enduring national energy strategy that treats energy as foundational economic infrastructure and provides the certainty to deliver affordable, secure and sustainable energy for decades to come.

The call for a national strategy is one of six priorities in BEC’s pre-election policy report, A Future Vision of New Zealand’s Energy Sector, developed through extensive consultation with stakeholders.

Together, the priorities (spanning policy certainty, reliable renewable supply, affordable electrification, investment coordination, major project decision-making and energy productivity) provide a pathway to more affordable and secure energy, stronger investment, greater productivity and lower emissions.

BusinessNZ Director of Advocacy Catherine Beard says energy policy can’t continue to change direction with each electoral cycle.

“Energy infrastructure is built over decades, not three-year political terms. Businesses making billion-dollar investment decisions need confidence that the rules of the game won’t fundamentally change every time there is a change of government.

“New Zealand has seen significant shifts in policy and political debate around oil and gas, electricity market structures and major energy infrastructure. These shifts create uncertainty.

“If investors don’t have the confidence to invest, projects are delayed or don’t happen at all. Ultimately, households and businesses pay the price through higher costs, reduced security and lost economic opportunities.”

Beard says New Zealand saw relatively low electricity prices and flat electricity demand from the early 2010s to 2018, which had helped keep electricity affordable.

Recent events, such as the fall off in gas production, the tightening of supply due to dry year (low hydro lakes) and more reliance on fossil fuels, and the need for new investment in lines (transmission costs), have all led to price increases not experienced for the previous decade.

Recent events in the Middle East and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, has also put pressure on our fuel costs, and highlighted the need to accelerate the shift to alternative fuels and electricity.

Beard says if we are going to get on top of this and make our energy system affordable, reliable and sustainable for consumers and businesses, we need to plan for that kind of future.

“We need to stop treating energy as a political football and start treating it as critical economic infrastructure. The sector needs an enduring plan that gives investors confidence in the country’s direction, while still allowing governments to make legitimate policy choices along the way.

“For a modern economy, abundant, reliable and affordable energy is not optional. It underpins practically everything else we want to achieve. A strategy that stays the course can support more productive businesses, higher-value manufacturing, better transport and housing, and a booming digital economy.”

Beard says consumers are already feeling the pressure across the energy system.

“Households and businesses are rightly concerned about rising energy costs. At the same time, enormous investment is needed in generation and networks to maintain the system, increase capacity and support greater electrification.

“There is significant new generation being built and planned, which is exactly the kind of investment New Zealand needs. The worst thing we could do now is undermine confidence by continually shifting the policy and regulatory environment.”

Beard says recommendations in the Future Vision Report will contribute to a better energy future for New Zealand. The priority recommendations are:

• To develop an enduring, national energy strategy that explicitly balances affordability, security and sustainability while enhancing productivity. If a comprehensive bipartisan energy strategy is not achievable look to depoliticise key energy issues through an independent entity.

• Strengthen market and regulatory settings for firming, flexibility, demand response and long-duration storage to ensure renewable energy remains secure and affordable.

• Review policy or market settings that may be unnecessarily increasing electricity costs or weakening the viability of electrification as a decarbonisation pathway.

• Improve coordination across generation, transmission, distribution and major demand through forward-looking infrastructure planning, coordination mechanisms and clearer long-term signals.

• Where government is making decisions on resource consenting, fast-track approvals or enabling infrastructure, existing assessments should appropriately consider additional energy supply, system flexibility, domestic economic benefits and the infrastructure costs associated with the project. It should complement rather than duplicate existing regulatory and cost-benefit processes for investment.

• Help to support energy efficiency that is cost-effective, while helping to track performance and embed energy management into normal business decision-making.

“The energy decisions we make today will shape our economy for decades. It’s time we treated energy as critical infrastructure and developed a long-term plan to support it,” Beard says.

The report, A Future Vision of New Zealand’s Energy Sector (https://bec.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/A-Future-Vision-of-New-Zealands-Energy-Sector.pdf), and summary document (https://bec.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Summary-A-Future-Vision-of-New-Zealands-Energy-Sector.pdf) are available to download and read on the BEC website (https://bec.org.nz/) now.

The BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) is a group of leading energy-sector business, government and research organisations taking a leading role in creating a sustainable, equitable and secure energy future. BEC is a brand of BusinessNZ and represents the World Energy Council in New Zealand..

The BusinessNZ Network including BusinessNZ, EMA, Business Central and Business South, represents and provides services to thousands of businesses, small and large, throughout New Zealand.

Source: BWA Insolvency

August 20, 2026

The number of retail businesses entering insolvency rose sharply in Q2, even as overall business failure numbers across New Zealand remained largely unchanged.

BWA Insolvency's latest Quarterly Market Report (https://bwainsolvency.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/BWA_Insolvency-Market-Report_Q2-2026_FINAL.pdf) shows that retail insolvencies increased from 39 to 68 cases in Q2 2026, a 74 per cent increase and the largest rise recorded across the country’s major industry sectors. Total insolvency numbers remained relatively stable, rising by just five cases quarter-on-quarter to 760, and just 3 per cent higher than Q2 2025 (738).

BWA Insolvency principal Bryan Williams says the flat national figure reflects a shift in where financial distress is being felt, rather than a reduction in it.

“The headline number has hardly moved, but business stress has changed address,” says Williams. “Pressure has come off the building sites and landed on the shop floor.

“Retailers are competing for a limited pool of consumer dollars, and households remain cautious about discretionary spending. Weak sales volumes and stubborn operating costs are a difficult combination to trade through.”

Business services recorded the next-largest increase, climbing from 74 to 87 insolvencies. Accommodation, personal services, medical and care businesses also recorded increases from smaller bases. Several high-volume sectors moved in the opposite direction.

· Construction insolvencies fell from 207 to 169 cases.
· Property and real estate declined from 76 to 62.
· Transport and delivery dropped from 42 to 30.

Construction remains the largest contributor to insolvency activity overall by volume.

Williams says the volatility of recent quarters is as much about perception as it is about underlying economic conditions.

“News can change an economy overnight when it is perceived that a supply line will be strangled by events. Fortunately, things revert just as quickly,” he says. “Shortages are impactful, but the real cause of change is the perception of what the future may bring.

“Geopolitical events will continue to create turbulence in markets, but they tend to be short-term. The bigger story is the long-term change taking place beneath the headlines, driven by artificial intelligence, digital currencies and private investment. Businesses that adapt to those changes will be best placed to succeed.”

Williams expects consumer conditions to improve in the second half of the year, without resolving the problems facing companies already carrying historic debt.

“Demand should lift as spring arrives, and Christmas will change the fortunes of some,” he says. “However, once the election is done, shades of austerity are likely as the fiscal deficit is addressed.”

Williams says companies with an outstanding obligation to Inland Revenue should not rely on improving conditions alone.

“For many of these companies, the debt burden is simply too large to be overcome by trading their way through. Better sales can help, but they are not enough to resolve years of accumulated obligations. The businesses that come through are usually the ones that seek advice early, while there are still options available. Once liquidation becomes the only viable path, there is often very little left to restructure.”

The full Quarterly Market Report is available here (https://bwainsolvency.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/BWA_Insolvency-Market-Report_Q2-2026_FINAL.pdf).

Note: BWA Insolvency figures are provisional when first published and are revised as later filings are matched and records verified. Figures in this release supersede those published in earlier reports and are current as at 15th July 2026.

About BWA Insolvency
BWA Insolvency is a leading insolvency firm that supports New Zealand businesses through liquidations, receiverships and voluntary administrations (VA), specialising in VA in particular. Founder Bryan Williams has 30 years' experience in the industry and is just the second person in New Zealand, and one of 200 people worldwide, to be named a Fellow of global insolvency organisation Insol International.

About the BWA Insolvency Quarterly Market Report
BWA Insolvency has been tracking data on liquidations, receiverships and voluntary administrations since 2012. The Registrar of Companies Office records the filings of companies that have gone into a formal state of insolvency. BWA Insolvency then does a deeper investigation to show industry trends and provide a detailed snapshot of what's happening in the market for the Quarterly Market Report. https://bwainsolvency.co.nz/quarterly-reports/

Source: Federated Farmers of New Zealand

The Government has stepped in to give a group of Manawatu and Tararua farmers stuck in consenting limbo for more than a decade a way forward.

“It’s great news that the Government has heeded calls from Federated Farmers and announced a pause on Horizons’ Plan Change 2 (PC2),” Federated Farmers Tararua president Aaron Passey says.

“It gives 167 farming families a controlled consent pathway that is much more straight forward than what they faced under an Environment Court ruling.”

Passey says they’ll have to demonstrate they have good farm practice and a nutrient management plan as they apply for a controlled activity resource consent.

“So there are still tests to meet but for farmers who have been under a cloud of uncertainty year after year, we think yesterday's announcement from the Government will be very welcome news.”

Under the Environment Court decision, the dairy farmers had just 12 months to get their consent applications in once PC2 kicked in, or their applications would be subject to a tougher discretionary consent.

Even to qualify for approval, farms would have needed to achieve either a 20% reduction in nitrogen loss from their 2012 baseline (35% for commercial vegetable growers), or reduce nitrogen loss to the 75th percentile for their catchment – whichever is lower – within two years of receiving consent.

“That was a near impossible ask,” Federated Farmers Manawatu-Rangitikei president Ian Strahan says.

“It’s not reasonable or practical to expect farmers in 2012 to have anticipated the complex chain of regulatory and technological shifts and to have known they’d need to keep a record of their N-discharge because there would be a software update three years later.

“It was that software update that made the 167 dairy farms non-compliant, leading to a new set of rules in 2026 that required farmers to produce a record of what Nitrogen loss was in 2012.”

Many of the properties affected by the 2026 rules have changed hands multiple times since 2012.

New owners do not have legal or practical access to the specific input data (fertiliser receipts, stock rates, feed use) required to construct a valid 2012 baseline, Strahan says.

In 2012, the One Plan was built around a specific version of Overseer. When the software updated its underlying scientific models in 2015, it instantly changed the calculated nitrogen output of those farms-on paper only-without any actual changes happening on the physical land.

“Expecting a business owner to maintain records for a hypothetical compliance standard that did not exist yet, using software that would later redefine the rules retrospectively, is ridiculous,” Strahan says.

“It's really good news that the Government has stepped in to end the insanity, and also to usher in new resource management rules that will cut down the unnecessary red tape that has hobbled our sector, and many others.”

Source: Federated Farmers of New Zealand

Federated Farmers is welcoming the Government’s decision to step in and pause key parts of Waikato Plan Change 1, giving farmers much-needed breathing room while the resource management system is overhauled.

The intervention comes after repeated calls from Federated Farmers – including a public meeting at Mystery Creek – for the Government to put PC1 on ice.

“This is a really positive step for Waikato farmers and a direct response to the concerns we’ve been raising,” says Waikato Federated Farmers president Chris Woolerton.

“PC1 threatened to burden thousands of Waikato farmers with new consenting and farm-planning requirements.

“We’ve been saying for months that it made no sense to force farmers into a new set of rules when the Government is in the middle of overhauling the RMA, freshwater rules and the farm planning system.

“Farmers will be hugely relieved to now have some breathing room, and that’s exactly what we were asking for.”

A particularly significant win is for more than 400 farmers in the Whangamarino Wetland catchment.

“Those farmers were staring down a huge amount of uncertainty and compliance cost just to keep doing what they’re already doing,” Woolerton says.

“They were going to have to get a restricted discretionary resource consent simply to continue their existing farming activities.

“Removing that consenting requirement for the next five years is a massive relief.

“It means these farmers can get on with farming rather than spending thousands of dollars and countless hours navigating a consenting process that was never going to make sense alongside the Government’s new national system.”

The Government’s decision to delay farm-planning requirements for five years is also welcomed by Federated Farmers, as it will give the national farm plan system time to be developed and put in place.

“We’ve been calling for a system that’s nationally consistent and actually works for farmers,” Woolerton says.

“Having Waikato farmers jump through a separate set of hoops while the Government is developing a national farm plan system was simply going to create duplication and confusion.

“Bringing these requirements into line with the national system is a commonsense and pragmatic approach.”

However, Woolerton says Federated Farmers is disappointed that the changes announced do not appear to address the restrictions on land-use flexibility.

“We’re pleased the Government has listened on consenting and farm planning, but there is still a big issue sitting in the middle of PC1 that needs to be resolved.

“Farmers need to be able to respond to changing markets and opportunities. They shouldn’t be locked into one particular farming system because of rules written years ago.

“We’re still working through exactly what these rules will mean for growers, but this is potentially a major issue for vegetable production in the Waikato.”

Woolerton says the biggest issue facing Kiwis right now is the cost of living, so it makes no sense to put a roadblock up in the way of anyone wanting to grow vegetables in the Waikato.

“Kiwis want affordable, locally grown vegetables. We need farmers to be able to respond when the market needs more vegetables, not have regulations making it harder to change land use.

“The same principle applies to farmers wanting to change between different types of livestock.

“A dairy farmer should be able to respond to market conditions by changing their farming system without being effectively locked out of returning to another productive use of their land.”

Federated Farmers says it will continue working through the detail of the Government’s announcement and what it means for farmers affected by PC1.

“We’ve got a lot to work through, and we’ll be looking closely at exactly how these changes will work in practice, but the direction is right,” Woolerton says.

“Farmers needed certainty, breathing room and a system that doesn’t make them comply with one set of rules today, only to replace them with another set tomorrow.

“We’ll keep pushing to make sure the final system gives farmers the flexibility they need to farm productively while continuing to deliver environmental improvements.”

Source: Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi

The Government’s underfunding of the public sector is resulting in yet another destabilising, short-sighted restructure at the Department of Conservation (DOC), the PSA says.

DOC has handed down a document today to its Strategic Communications and Engagement team that proposes 33 positions be disestablished and 37 new positions established.

Under the proposal, 25 fixed terms positions will come to an end naturally, and three new fixed-term roles would be established. In total, the team would be reduced from 83 roles to 55.

“DOC has been forced to reduce staff numbers again and again thanks to the coalition’s crunch on public sector spending,” Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi national secretary, Duane Leo, says.

“This latest restructure will see critical capability stripped from the communications and engagement team. The PSA is completely opposed to the changes outlined today and will be supporting staff to submit feedback.

“These professionals navigate the complex, and constantly changing, media landscape and online world to make sure New Zealanders know what DOC is doing and how they can contribute to national conservation activity.

“Like so many public sector agencies, DOC is being asked to do more with less. But when you strip away so many staff, you don’t end up with more efficient departments, you get hollowed-out agencies who are physically unable to deliver on what New Zealanders should expect from a modern public service.”

Staff consultation on the proposed changes opens today and closes on 7 September. A final decision is expected on 25 September.

The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi (https://www.psa.org.nz/) 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: The Republic of Naoero

August 20, 2026

As the region prepares for the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Palau, President David Adeang has supported a call from New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for Pacific leaders to shift their focus from aid to strengthening their own economies.

Mr Peters told Pacific Mornings that stronger economies are vital if island countries are to have more control over their future.

He said, “I go to ASEAN, and it's all about the economy, the economy, economy, economy. I go to the Pacific, it's all about aid.”

President Adeang said his Government had been pursuing that approach since he was elected in 2023 and its long-term economic strategy is delivering strong results.

He said the progress has been driven by bold thinking, innovation, close friendships with Australia, China, and the ADB, and long-term planning to create a stronger future.

“From the outset we said that our future will not be defined by the UN's ranking of Naoero as the world's fifth most vulnerable nation to economic and climate shock.”

Naoero's success has now been hailed in a recently published analysis by Australian National University's director of the Development Policy Centre, Professor Stephen Howes.

Professor Howes highlighted Naoero's economic transformation over the past decade, noting strong growth in national income, increased employment and the success of new sources of foreign income in supporting the nation's development.

He noted that Naoero experienced average annual growth in national income of 4.9 per cent per person between 2009 and 2024. With major advances coming in the years President Adeang served as finance minister, Naoero is once again soon to be classified as a high-income country by the OECD.

His report also highlighted major economic improvements between the 2011 and 2021 censuses, including a 36 per cent increase in jobs for men, a 74 per cent increase in jobs for women, and employment growth from 47 per cent to 64 per cent of the population.

In the report, Professor Howes noted the available economic indicators suggest Naoero's strong economic performance has continued beyond the 2021 Census.

“While the 2021 census data is now a bit old, there is no sign of Naoero's boom having ended,” Professor Howes wrote.

“If any other boom worldwide has delivered similarly stunning results in such a short period, I am not aware of it.”

Reflecting on Naoero's economic recovery journey, President Adeang has previously highlighted the importance of transparency, trust and working closely with communities.

He said dei-Naoero understood the importance of the Intergenerational Trust Fund which was securing the financial future for generations to come, and are embracing initiatives like advances in crypto, the citizenship program, new fishing initiatives and third-party resettlement arrangements with Australia.

“We are succeeding because we were transparent, because we spoke directly with our people, and because they trust that the sacrifices were for Naoero's future,” he said.

President Adeang said those same values continue to guide the government's approach to leadership and nation building.

“Faith, family, and community remain our compass. Leadership means keeping community relationships close and never forgetting who we serve.”