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Animal Welfare – Fast-tracked factory fish farm raises welfare red flags – SAFE

Source: SAFE For Animals

Animal rights organisation SAFE is raising concerns about a proposed large-scale salmon farming operation spanning a coastal marine area of up to 2,500 hectares in the Foveaux Strait, off the north-eastern coast of Rakiura/Stewart Island.
In December 2024, the Coalition Government passed the Fast-track Approvals Act, opening the door for large scale and controversial projects to bypass standard scrutiny and removing opportunities for public input on development proposals.
SAFE Campaign Manager Emily Hall says the fast-tracking of fish farm developments without standard consultation reflects a broader pattern of the Coalition Government sidelining animal welfare. 
“This Fast-track application is for an underwater factory farm, where countless fishes would be confined in appalling conditions. When projects of this scale are pushed through without proper scrutiny or public oversight, animal welfare risks are ignored and accountability is lost” says Hall.
Fishes are recognised as sentient beings under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, yet confinement in cages on land or at sea prevents them from exhibiting normal patterns of behaviour. Hall says this fundamentally undermines the legal protections provided for animals under the Act.
“Good animal welfare depends on physical health, psychological wellbeing, and the ability for animals to live in environments that allow for natural behaviours, all of which are compromised by factory fish farming systems.”
“Fishes intensively bred in cages are subject to terrible conditions, including severe overcrowding, poor water quality, skeletal deformities, and documented stress and depression.” says Hall.
Highlighting the exclusion of fish welfare experts from the list of parties invited to comment under the Fast-track process, Hall warns the Hananui proposal exposes fundamental flaws in approving projects of this scale without essential expert input.
” Allowing these projects to be Fast-tracked without input from fish welfare experts highlights a consistent failure of this Government to uphold the intent of animal welfare legislation.”
At the 2025 Aquaculture New Zealand conference, Oceans & Fisheries Minister Shane Jones told attendees this is a “risk-riddled industry” that was constantly confronting problems. At the same conference, ministers openly promoted large scale expansion of fish farming, despite acknowledging the industry’s high level of risk.
Notably, the Hananui project had previously been rejected through the COVID-19 Fast-track Consenting process; in August 2023, an expert panel declined the application.
“It is deeply concerning that an industrial scale project proposing to breed countless fishes could proceed without appropriate scrutiny of impacts on the animals it intends to farm” says Hall. “In the absence of invited fish welfare expertise, we have submitted comments to the Hananui Fast- track panel and requested that this information be taken into account.”
“Like all animals, fishes deserve to live freely in their natural environment and we will continue to push for accountability because animal welfare on these underwater factory farms needs to be a priority concern.”
SAFE is Aotearoa’s leading animal rights organisation
We're creating a future that ensures the rights of animals are respected. Our core work empowers society to make kinder choices for ourselves, animals and our planet.
Notes
1. Expert panel declines Hananui application in August 2023 Source: Environmental Protection Authority
2. Comments submitted by SAFE to the Fast-track panel (see pdf attachment) 
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"Everyone Deserves Bodily Autonomy": Supporters Rally in Support of High Court Challenge to Puberty Blocker Ban

Source: Queer Endurance in Defiance

Wellington | Te Whanganui-a-Tara – Members of the public supporting the right of trans young people to access gender-affirming healthcare gathered outside the High Court in Wellington today, in support of a legal challenge by the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) to the Government's ban on new puberty blocker prescriptions for young people with gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.

Puberty blockers are medicines that temporarily pause puberty. They have long been used for conditions such as precocious puberty, and are also used in gender-affirming healthcare where puberty would otherwise cause serious distress. Their purpose is to give young people, their whānau and clinicians time to make informed decisions without the immediate pressure of irreversible pubertal changes.

The Government's regulations, announced in November 2025, singled out trans young people by blocking new prescriptions for gender dysphoria or gender incongruence, while leaving the same class of medicines available for other uses, including precocious puberty, endometriosis and prostate cancer.

The ban was quickly met with widespread opposition from health professionals, medical bodies and trans community advocates. Paediatric endocrinologist Dr Ben Albert described puberty blockers as “generally very safe medications,” explaining that when they are stopped, “puberty restarts.” Dr Rona Carroll, a specialist GP and senior lecturer at the University of Otago, called the ban “a shockingly inappropriate overreach of politics into healthcare,” adding that prescribing decisions should remain between clinicians, patients and their whānau.

In December, the High Court ordered that the Crown take no steps to enforce the ban pending judicial review. Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith noted that puberty blockers are reversible, that there is no evidence they affect fertility, and that the evidence relating to mental health outcomes suggests the negative consequences of a ban are a more immediate concern.

For many in the trans community, access to puberty blockers was already far too limited.

“Puberty blockers are already a compromise,” said Charlie Sheppard, spokesperson for Queer Endurance in Defiance. “They give young people time. They do not force anyone down a path. What the Government has done is take that limited option away specifically from trans youth, while leaving the same medications available for others. That is discrimination dressed up as caution.”

“Everyone deserves bodily autonomy. That principle goes for abortion, disability care, and medical treatment. It goes for relationships and how you present to the world. That's progress. We don't want to let that progress go. Healthcare decisions should be made by young people, and clinicians — not imposed by Cabinet for political reasons.”

Queer Endurance in Defiance supports PATHA's challenge and calls for the ban to be permanently struck down. The group also calls on the Government to end political interference in gender-affirming healthcare and instead invest in accessible, well-resourced services for trans young people.

Queer Endurance in Defiance is a queer and trans-majority community organisation which has worked since 2021 to oppose transphobia and defend the rights, safety and dignity of queer and trans people in Aotearoa.

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Economy – Financial system resilient amid heightened global risks – Reserve Bank

Source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand

6 May 2026 – “The global risk environment has worsened over the past six months, as conflict in the Middle East threatens world energy supply”, says Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman in publishing the Financial Stability Report this morning. “However, New Zealand's financial system is resilient and well positioned to support households and businesses even if economic conditions soften.”

The outbreak of conflict in the Middle East and closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created significant disruptions to the world's energy markets, adding to existing geopolitical and trade tensions. The longer the conflict persists the greater the risks will be to global financial stability, and as a small, open economy it is already having significant economic effects in New Zealand.

“Domestically, we have seen the immediate impacts of the conflict in rising fuel costs for households and businesses. High diesel prices are having the most impact on the transport and logistics sectors, as well as primary industries including forestry and fishing. While economic growth had been recovering prior to the conflict, we are now likely to see a somewhat slower recovery, affecting job growth and debt servicing,” explains Dr. Breman.

Banks have strong capital and funding buffers meaning they are well placed to support customers who may be struggling, as well as manage stresses in offshore funding markets. Stress test results demonstrate that banks can withstand significant economic shocks, including geopolitical events like the Middle East conflict.

For insurers in New Zealand, we assess the direct impacts of the Middle East conflict to be limited. Health insurers have needed to raise premiums and adjust policies following several years of high claims costs, and this has improved solvency margins in the sector. This year we are progressing a stress test of life and health insurers.

This edition of the Report includes two special topics on financial stability issues. The first is on access to credit for smaller businesses, highlighting the elevated borrowing costs firms face. There are opportunities to improve pricing transparency so that firms can better understand whether they are getting a good deal. The second topic is on global fiscal sustainability. This discusses rising public debt pressures in major advanced economies and how these may pose a global financial stability risk, which could affect New Zealand. We also provide an overview of general insurance coverage in New Zealand and its link to financial stability.

The report outlines current and recent work to promote an efficient and resilient banking system, building on the more intensive supervision, enforcement and resolution approaches we have been developing in recent years. This includes the outcome of our recent review of capital settings for deposit takers.

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New figures show home support workers have lost $27,728 one year on from pay equity betrayal – PSA

Source: PSA

Thousands of home support workers are today ruing the loss of nearly $28,000 in income they should have earned if the Government had not axed their pay equity claim.
One year ago today the Government cancelled 33 pay equity claims, ripped up the rules and slammed the door shut on fair pay for more than 180,000 workers – most of them women.
New figures calculated by the PSA show, as of today, home support workers alone have lost $27,728 in wages they should have had if their pay equity claim had been updated after the original claim expired in 2022 (see explanation below).
Theirs and other claims were scrapped under urgency, in secret, without consultation, riding roughshod over the democratic process.
“One year ago Minister Brooke Van Velden stood up and told 180,000 workers that their fight for fair pay didn’t matter. Today, those workers are still waiting, still underpaid, and still being told their work isn’t valued,” said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.
“The anniversary should also be a time of reflection for the NZ First, ACT and National MPs who rushed this legislation through blind to the impact on the lives of tens of thousands of undervalued working New Zealanders.
“For thousands of home support workers, who use their own cars to deliver care for our elderly, and disabled family members, this anniversary is a bitter reminder of the pay rise they should have received but never did.”
These workers have effectively lost $27,278.70 each in the pay equity settlement they were denied – money they should have had available to support themselves and their families.
Workers like Kate Halsall from Wellington.
“That money would make the world of difference to me. It just makes me so angry and frustrated. Pay equity would have made it a lot easier to keep our cars filled up, warranted and registered, with the price of food going up because of fuel crisis, it would have helped put food on our table. Pay equity would have made us more secure and give us dignity. It’s just not fair.”
Fleur Fitzsimons said; “The Government claimed it had saved $12.8 billion by cancelling pay equity claims and David Seymour boasted the decision saved the Budget. It wasn't a saving – it was stolen from the pay packets of low-paid women.
“We will continue to fight this shameful betrayal. The PSA, alongside four other unions, is pursuing a landmark case in the High Court arguing the Government's changes breach the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. The Human Rights Commission has joined the case, recognising the significance of the issues at stake. If the Government won't listen to workers, we hope the court will.
“We will not accept a system designed to continue gender based pay discrimination. The PSA will be campaigning hard on this at the election, and calls on all political parties to commit to a new pay equity law that actually works so that every worker doing undervalued work gets the pay they deserve.”
Background
In 2017 a pay equity deal for 65,000 home support workers was enshrined in legislation by the then National-led Coalition government. The deal settled a successful court case brought by Lower Hutt aged care worker Kristine Bartlett that she was not receiving equal pay as required by the Equal Pay Act.
Only after the legislation expired in 2022 were the three unions representing care and support workers – PSA, E tū, and the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) – legally able to raise a new claim on behalf of care and support workers.
Calculation of lost wages
PSA analysis of lost wages is based on the 21% margin above the minimum wage at the time that care and support workers received in the 2017 settlement. The settlement rates, or the minimum wage rate, whichever was higher has been compared with what the rate would have been if the 21% margin had been maintained. The comparison is based on a 30-hour work week.
The Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi is Aotearoa New Zealand's largest trade union, representing and supporting more than 95,000 workers across central government, state-owned enterprises, local councils, health boards and community groups.
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Government’s reckless forestry rollback a slap in the face to cyclone-hit communities

Source: Greenpeace

Despite most submitters opposing the Coalition Government’s proposed changes to commercial forestry rules, the Coalition has confirmed yesterday that they will be stripping Gisborne Council – and all Councils – of their ability to set stronger local rules on where pine and other forestry can be planted.
The Government will also be restricting Council's broad discretion to set tougher controls on forestry slash and erosion, allowing them to do so only for the most extreme erosion risks.
Greenpeace campaigner Gen Toop says the proposals are a “slap in the face” for communities whose homes, livelihoods and waterways have been devastated by forestry slash and erosion.
“It is reckless and dangerous to weaken forestry rules when communities in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay are still picking up the pieces from slash and erosion tearing through homes, rivers and infrastructure.”
Cyclone Gabrielle is estimated to have cost the country $14.5 billion in clean up costs, and had devastating effects on freshwater and marine ecosystems.
“These changes serve the profits of primarily offshore forestry companies at the expense of our communities who foot the bill to clean up the damage to their land, waterways and coastlines,” says Toop.
The Coalition Government is also proposing further changes through the RMA reforms that could force councils to compensate forestry companies if they try to bring in stronger local rules, in a scheme it's calling “regulatory relief”.
“Devastating and expensive cyclones are becoming more intense and frequent. Making it harder for councils to prevent forestry slash and erosion right now is a major leap backwards that New Zealand simply cannot afford,” says Toop.
“The Government must back down on these forestry changes and abandon its corporate compensation plans in the new RMA. Councils should never be forced to give public payouts to corporations for local environmental protections.”
As part of the changes announced last night, the Government is also repealing fencing regulations so that beef cattle and deer can now access and graze in wetlands that support threatened species. Again, most submitters were opposed to the changes.
“What country in 2026 decides to get rid of fencing rules and let cattle trample their last remaining wetlands and the rare species that depend on them? It’s environmental vandalism.”
There are less than 10% of wetlands remaining in Aotearoa. If Councils want to protect local wetlands by retaining the fencing rules they would likely be forced to hand over ratepayer money to affected farming companies under the proposed “regulatory relief” scheme.
“This is real bottom of the barrel stuff from the Coalition Government. Fencing livestock out of wetlands is literally the bare minimum,” says Toop.
“Rolling back these fencing and forestry protections puts fragile ecosystems and species at risk and it's yet another nail in the coffin for the clean green image that New Zealand trades on.”
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Advocacy – Time for NZ government to call-in Israeli ambassador after bashing of NZ citizens

Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA)

PSNA has demanded the government follow through its demands that Israel complies with international law, after New Zealanders were captured in international waters in the Mediterranean and beaten by the Israeli military.

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa Spokesperson Rinad Tamimi says the New Zealand government was very explicit in its recent warnings to Israel that New Zealand did not expect a repeat of Israeli forces brutally capturing New Zealanders in international waters while they were trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

“Anyone who has seen the pictures of Invercargill resident Julien Blondel’s face or the reports of Jay O’Connor suffering from concussion and a likely broken rib will know that once more Israel has called the New Zealand government’s bluff.”

“The Global Sumud Aid Flotilla’s sole intention is to deliver aid to Palestinians still under Israeli attack and starvation in Gaza,” Rinad Tamimi says.

“The world is looking at the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Iran.  But the situation for Palestinians in Gaza is no less dire than when the ceasefire there was meant to have started last October but Israel continues its daily killing of mainly women and children”

“The volume of food is insufficient and lacking nutrition.  It is incredibly expensive.  Promised tents haven’t arrived.  Medicine has run out. Reconstruction hasn’t started. Israel is still expanding its Yellow-Line no-go zone.”

Rinad Tamimi says she knows the New Zealand government has already proved it doesn’t care about Palestinians in Gaza.  But she says our government cannot avoid its responsibility to protect New Zealanders going about lawful business.  

“The government can’t simply opt out of its duties to its citizens by telling them it’s too dangerous to try helping Palestinians in Gaza.”

“Israel has killed people on flotillas before.  It has captured New Zealanders and brutalised them previously.  Now it has done it again.”

Rinad Tamimi says the least step New Zealand can do is issue a formal rebuke by calling-in the Israeli ambassador.

“The ambassador has been informed of our government’s stated concerns, and New Zealand’s bluff has been called.”

“The ambassador should be expelled as far as I’m concerned.  But if it was good enough for John Key’s government to reprimand Israel through a formal rebuke, then why can’t Winston Peters do at least the same.”

Rinad Tamimi
National Spokesperson
PSNA

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Events – The world’s best nature images revealed as Wildlife Photographer of the Year comes to Auckland Museum this June

Source: Auckland Museum

The world-renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, now in its sixty-first year, will open at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum on Sunday 28 June. On loan from the Natural History Museum in London, the exhibition features exceptional nature photography from across the globe.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind. Launching in 1965, today the competition receives more than 60,000 entries from 113 countries and territories worldwide. The exhibition showcases 100 images selected by an international jury, highlighting artistic composition, technical innovation and powerful storytelling about the natural world.

The exhibition shines a light on powerful and fascinating images that capture hidden animal behaviour, spectacular species, and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world. Using photography’s unique emotive power, the images share stories from around the world and encourage audiences to reflect on and advocate for the planet.

Ahead of its arrival in Auckland, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award 2026 was announced last month. Austrian photographer Josef Stefan has been named the People’s Choice winner for his image Flying Rodent, capturing a playful Iberian lynx in Spain – following a record-breaking 85,917 public votes worldwide.

The exhibition features the top award-winning images announced late last year, including Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner Wim van den Heever for his powerful image Ghost Town Visitor, a haunting yet mesmerising image of a rare brown hyena visiting the skeletal remains of a long-abandoned diamond mining town in Kolmanskop, Namibia.

Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year was awarded to Andrea Dominizi, aged 17, whose image After the Destruction tells a poignant tale of habitat loss. Framed against abandoned machinery, the image spotlights a longhorn beetle in the Lepini Mountains of central Italy, an area once logged for old beech trees.

Auckland Museum Director of Audience Engagement Victoria Travers says, “It’s a privilege to bring Wildlife Photographer of the Year back to Auckland and share some of the most compelling photos taken of our natural world today. It’s an opportunity to see both the beauty of our planet and the challenges it faces.”

Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, says, “Now in its sixty-first year, we are thrilled to continue Wildlife Photographer of the Year as a powerful platform for visual storytelling, showing the diversity, beauty and complexity of the natural world and humanity's relationship to it. With the inclusion of our Biodiversity Intactness Index, this year’s exhibition will be our best combination of great artistry and groundbreaking science yet, helping visitors to become inspired to be advocates for our planet.”

The exhibition at Auckland Museum is a chance to view these stunning photographs, beautifully illuminated, up close and in person from Sunday 28 June to Sunday 23 August 2026.

Entry is included with Museum admission, which is free for Aucklanders. Museum Members can see the exhibition first at their Members’ Preview on Saturday 27 June.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, and supported by local exhibition partner Lindblad Expeditions.

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Federated Farmers message to provinces: seize your destiny

Source: Federated Farmers

Federated Farmers is welcoming the much-needed reform of local government announced today, and says councils should get cracking.
The Government has given councils a three-month window to put forward proposals to simplify and strengthen local government in their regions.
Sandra Faulkner, Federated Farmers local government spokesperson, says that’ll be music to farmers’ ears.
“New Zealand’s local government structure simply isn’t working for farmers, or any Kiwis really.
“It’s contributing to rising costs, infrastructure pressure, and declining civic engagement.
“Ratepayers up and down the country have completely lost confidence in a system that doesn’t recognise how our communities have evolved across the last 30 years,” Faulkner says.
“We’ve long advocated for reform, so we’re very pleased the Government has now asked councils to get on with it.”
The announcement today offers councils a chance to fast-track their own reform proposals and bypass the Combined Territory Board model.
Federated Farmers encourages elected councillors to put aside parochialism and engage in open discussions on reform that will work.
“The clear message to councils from Government is to seize the initiative and find more efficient structures that work better for ratepayers and communities.
“If councils don’t front-foot this, Government will make the decisions for them.”
Faulkner says Federated Farmers will only support reforms that lock in strong representation for provincial communities.
“Our consistent view has been that metropolitan and provincial areas have very different needs and priorities.
“We took the initiative early this year by publishing a proposal for reform, promoting the case for unitary councils, which would combine the responsibilities of current regional and district councils.
“We’d like to see metropolitan unitary councils centred on cities of around 50,000-plus, and provincial unitary councils that merge the district councils.”
That model could see the current 78 councils reduce to less half that number.
“Our model achieves the streamlining, economies of scale and capability to shoulder the regional spatial planning the Government wants,” Faulkner says.
“Representation is key – having confidence that those elected to make the decisions understand, and are accountable for, the needs of their ratepayers.
“By structurally separating metropolitan and provincial governance, we would ensure councils reflect genuine communities of interest and have more consistent geography, land use, and rating bases.”
There’s a lot of work and discussion to happen in a relatively short timeframe.
“Federated Farmers urges councils to get on with it and be transparent with their communities as they make these important decisions.
“And if they’re not sure where to start, go and read our carefully thought-out proposal.” 
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Defence News – Samoa’s banana-funded Spitfire fuels emotional Anzac service for NZ officer

Source: New Zealand Defence Force

The New Zealand Army’s Brigadier Esther Harrop has attended 31 Anzac Day services in uniform around the world but this year’s ceremony in Samoa, and the story of sixpence per crate of bananas and her grandfather’s Spitfire, brought her to tears.

Following the service, Brigadier Harrop presented a Second World War photo of her grandfather, then Flight Sergeant Andrew Kronfeld, to the local Returned and Services Association.

The image is of him sitting in the cockpit of the Royal Air Force Spitfire Mark Vb named Western Samoa, which had been bought with the £5,723 Western Samoa’s banana farmers raised by contributing six pence per crate of exported bananas.

The aircraft was gifted to 485 New Zealand Squadron and Flight Sergeant Kronfeld, whose family came from Lotofaga on the south coast of Upolu, was chosen to fly it.

Brigadier Harrop said she loved sharing the “amazing” story of Samoa’s contribution to the Second World War.

“The president of the RSA, Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio, who was formerly the deputy prime minister of Samoa, had not heard this story at all.

“They did not know they had a Samoan Spitfire, let alone that there was a New Zealand-Samoan pilot.

“I was so proud. The reaction from the people who hadn’t heard this story was so cool… they wanted to celebrate this.”

Brigadier Harrop never met her grandfather but found out about the Spitfire and bananas story in about 2015.

Flight Sergeant Kronfeld was one of two Polynesian faces in his tranche when 90 Commonwealth pilots trained in Winnipeg in Canada, and he was the top graduate.

He flew the Spitfire in Europe and shot down a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 over France. He survived the war but the aircraft, which was transferred to an American volunteer unit, was later destroyed.

In 1941 he went to Calcutta, now Kolkata, in India where he met his wife, and their daughter (Brigadier Harrop’s mother Sandy Harrop) was also born there.

Brigadier Harrop said the Spitfire symbolised Samoa’s direct and voluntary contribution to the Allied war effort, and its enduring bond with New Zealand service personnel.

“We are incredibly proud of his service, and it was particularly special to represent the NZDF and my family on Anzac Day in our ancestral home of Samoa.”

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Councils must work with unions and communities in fast-track reform – PSA

Source: PSA

Local government agencies are being urged to consult thoroughly with staff and local communities before being rushed into a plan for reform, the union for local government workers says.
“Three months is an incredibly tight window for councils to turn around a comprehensive plan for large-scale reform,” Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi national secretary, Duane Leo, says.
“We expect to see councils work closely with unions to make sure staff can be heard on their views and managed through the process. No-one knows a local community better than the people on the frontlines.
“We’re asking councils to prioritise their people in this moment precisely because local government is already under a lot of pressure to deliver on concurrent reforms with the Resource Management Act and rates capping.
“PSA members at councils are already worried about capacity and rushed timelines on their existing workload.
“It’s worth remembering that Auckland’s Super City reforms took three years of formal planning before its launch in 2010, and some of their systems are still being merged and worked through.”
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.