Verification App To Prove A Game-changer For Identity Checks
Being a government-led tool provides confidence that digital identification will be recognised across other government agencies, and its user-friendly cost-free model encourages widespread adoption across venues and accommodation.
Hospitality New Zealand (Hospitality NZ) is today welcoming the launch of the NZ Verify/Whakatūturu App, verifying international digital credentials.
Hospitality NZ Chief Executive, Steve Armitage, says 'We're pleased to see that the Government has invested in this solution that supports businesses managing identity checks.
'Being a government-led tool provides confidence that digital identification will be recognised across other government agencies, and its user-friendly cost-free model encourages widespread adoption across venues and accommodation.
'We also note that NZ Verify//Whakatūturu does not store any personally identifiable information and only allows businesses to check information that the user has consented to share.'
Hospitality New Zealand also manages the Kiwi Access Card, a government recognised form of photographic identification and evidence of age card.
'Through the Kiwi Access Card, we are also exploring digital credentials, and hope to be the first privately-delivered digitised identification card, enabling it to be checked by NZ Verify//Whakatūturu.'
The Department of Internal Affairs will showcase the app at Hospitality New Zealand's annual conference in June, to help hospitality businesses adopt and evolve with digital identity developments.
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RNZ News
28 minutes ago
- RNZ News
How Jacinda Ardern's ‘groundbreaking' climate law has become ‘a shell'
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Officials have been ordered to stop planning for lower car use. Climate scientists have lost their jobs. And this month, a ban on exploration for oil and gas was repealed . "The Zero Carbon Act is a shell," said 350 Aotearoa strategic adviser Adam Currie. "It was supposed to be our lifeboat, but this government is deliberately drilling holes in it." Just a handful of the original policies remain. Instead, the coalition's climate plan leans heavily on a strengthened Emissions Trading Scheme, alongside pledges to double renewable energy, invest in carbon capture, and reduce agricultural emissions through new technology. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has insisted the country is "doing everything we can" to meet its targets, by focusing on the sectors that produce the greatest emissions. Climate change minister Simon Watts (L) with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other MPs. 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"There is risk in relying on a single sector for a large proportion of reductions," it said. Delaying real action risked forcing more costly and disruptive changes later, and reduced the burden on future generations, the commission said. The government will formally respond to the commission in October. But Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts said the amendments it had made to the first emissions reduction plan were allowed under the law. "As a government we are prioritising policies that deliver cost-effective climate action for New Zealand," Watts said. "We removed actions that weren't expected to directly reduce emissions and, based on our current projections, we're still on track to meet our first emissions budget." At a time when many governments are backing away from climate goals, National has said - despite pressure from its coalition partners - it will not repeal the Zero Carbon Act. But critics argue that undermining it is no better. "In our view, the Act clearly requires a more ambitious and credible climate strategy - one that is less high-risk and reliant on pine trees," said Lawyers for Climate Action NZ's Jessica Palairet. "The government is also falling short of a core purpose of the Act - to provide a framework for clear, stable climate policy." Labour's climate spokesperson Deborah Russell. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Labour's climate spokesperson Deborah Russell said the coalition's sole focus on the Emissions Trading Scheme, rather than considering other measures, had rendered the Act largely ineffective. "They're fulfilling the letter of the law in responding to the budgets and doing the plans, but they're not showing how they're going to get the emissions down." The Zero Carbon Act 2019 was not a standalone law - it amended the existing Climate Change Response Act 2002, transforming it from a policy tool into a legislative backbone for emissions reduction. 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Grant scheme for clean heavy vehicles: The Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund aims to encourage businesses to adopt cleaner heavy vehicles, including trucks, heavy vans, and non-public transport buses. The fund received new funding in 2024. Cheaper public transport: Half-price public transport for under 25s and free transport for kids ended last year, but the discount remains in place for community service card holders. Regulated product stewardship for refrigerants: A mandatory product stewardship scheme for refrigerants, initially investigated under ERP1, is coming into effect from 2025. Sustainable aviation fuels partnership: Collaboration with Air New Zealand on sustainable aviation fuels remains ongoing. Coal boiler phase-outs : The government's commitment to replace all remaining coal boilers in schools by 2025 remains in place, alongside the broader ban on new low- and medium-temperature coal boilers and the phase-out of existing ones by 2037. 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Climate Emergency Response Fund (CERF): The ERP1 established the CERF, which ring-fenced revenue from the ETS for climate initiatives, with an initial payment of NZ$4.5 billion. The current government ended the CERF in May 2024, meaning future climate investments will go through the usual Budget process. This discontinuation is estimated to result in a loss of 11-24 million tonnes CO2e of abatement over the first, second, and third emissions budget periods. Clean car discount: This initiative, which aimed to make electric vehicles more affordable, was an ERP1 policy. It was stopped on 31 December 2023. Sustainable biofuels obligation: This was an ERP1 initiative aimed at reducing freight emissions. It was discontinued as part of a government policy refocus in February 2023. Oil and gas exploration ban: The Labour-led government banned offshore oil and gas exploration. The current government reversed this ban. 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Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry (GIDI) Fund: In 2020, the government created a $70m fund to incentivise companies with large fossil-fuel boilers to decarbonise. It has been closed to new applications. The estimated loss in emissions reductions from discontinuing the GIDI fund is 4.3 million tonnes of CO2e for 2026-2030. Forestry in the ETS: The Labour government introduced changes for "permanent forestry" in the ETS from 1 January 2023. The National-led coalition has announced an independent review of forestry in the ETS. The government is also limiting whole-farm conversions to NZ ETS forestry to protect highly productive farmland. Monitoring renewable electricity target: While ERP1 set an aspirational target of 50 percent of total final energy consumption from renewable sources by 2035, monitoring progress towards this target has been stopped. 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The Waste Minimisation Fund also had its funding cut. Tikanga-based agriculture programmes: Dedicated funding for programs to support Māori aspirations in agriculture was cut. Native trees to absorb carbon: Funding for Establishing Native Forests at Scale, a research and planting programme, was cut by $50m in Budget 2024. Dedicated climate-focused farm advisory and extension services: This was intended to include multichannel information campaigns, extension programmes (workshops, action groups), and growing a pipeline of trusted industry advisers. This has been stopped, although support continues through existing public and private advisory services. National Adaptation Plan: The coalition government discontinued a number of measures from the first National Adaptation Plan (NAP1) including work on risk management and planning for managed retreat. Although ERP2 outlines three adaptation goals, the Climate Change Commission noted there was not enough information to assess whether they are achievable. The government put four out of five waste minimisation policies on hold in 2024, including plans to introduce a kerbside food scraps composting scheme. Photo: Supplied / Auckland Council Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS): The government is developing an enabling regulatory regime for CCUS, with legislation expected this year, to allow industries to access this technology for emissions reduction and removal. Fast-track approvals bill: The controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill is designed to streamline and accelerate the consenting process for various development and infrastructure projects, including renewable energy. Critics say it allows the "override of environmental laws" and does not give sufficient weight to climate considerations, potentially making it more difficult to meet emissions budgets. Methane review: An independent review of biogenic methane science and targets has been initiated to provide up-to-date scientific evidence regarding methane's warming impact. It is widely expected the government will drop the methane target post-review. Electrify NZ: This aims to double renewable energy by 2050. This includes streamlining consenting processes through the Fast-track Approvals Bill. Work is underway to develop a regime for offshore renewable energy by mid-2025. Adaptation framework: Work is underway on an adaptation framework that aims to minimize long-predictable funding, improve information flows, and address market failures. Afforestation on Crown land: ERP2 includes exploring private sector partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land for afforestation. The policy is still under development. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
28 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Nation of Debt: Higher taxes, deeper spending cuts inevitable as economy suffers from long Covid
Spending is at a fundamentally unsustainable level, even once you strip out the ups and downs associated with different parts of the economic cycle. The Government's finances aren't just suffering from a hangover that will pass. The chills run deeper. What's more, they are becoming harder to cure because the population is ageing. Barring something transformative, like energy prices plunging, it looks like strong economic growth won't be enough to get the Government's finances 'back on track'. New Zealand is not in trouble, but it does need to brace for deeper spending cuts and/or higher taxes. Debt still mounting Core Crown borrowings rose by 11% to $239 billion in the year to May – that's 156% higher than in May 2019. Net core Crown debt was worth nearly 42% of gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of May this year. Pre-Covid, this figure sat at 19%. Last year, Finance Minister Nicola Willis promised to put it on a downward trajectory back below 40%. But Treasury expects debt to peak at 46% of GDP in 2028 – a level slightly below the 50% limit it deems prudent for normal times. Because the Government's books are in the red, it's not repaying its Covid-era debt. Rather, it's refinancing this debt, while issuing new debt to pay for new commitments and mounting interest costs. The Government isn't getting on top of its fiscal deficit, because it isn't cutting spending aggressively enough. Economy spluttering While high inflation pushing income earners into higher tax brackets has been a saviour for Governments for some time, the sluggish economy has weighed on the tax take. GDP growth was weaker than expected through 2024, with the Reserve Bank downgrading its forecasts for growth through 2025. While high global dairy prices are supporting the agricultural sector, the US tariffs have created uncertainty, which has hampered sentiment. With the average interest rate paid on the country's stock of mortgage debt falling to 5.66% in June, many borrowers are also yet to really feel the impacts of lower interest rates. Meanwhile, they're still grappling with high living costs. Looking further down the track, healthcare and New Zealand Superannuation costs are expected to rise dramatically. The annual cost of superannuation rose by 39% between 2020 and 2024 and is expected to rise by another 28% by 2028, to nearly $28b (in nominal terms). Inland Revenue estimates that in 35 years' time, a quarter of the country's population will be over the age of 65 – up from about 16% today. Why the conservativism? One might look at the situation, and say: 'Well it isn't great, but why should we cut our cloth when other countries are more indebted than us, and face similar demographic challenges?' Treasury's response would be that the New Zealand Government needs to maintain extra-large buffers, because the country is heavily reliant on trade, indebted to offshore investors, susceptible to natural disasters and has high levels of household debt. The main thing is that the Government needs to be able to assure the domestic and foreign investors it borrows from that they will be repaid. If it struggles to provide this assurance, investors will demand higher returns. New Zealand Government Bonds are currently seen to be relatively low-risk. In 2021, S&P Global Ratings upgraded New Zealand's credit rating to AA+. It is now in the same tier as Australia, the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Finland and Austria. While the outlook for New Zealand is 'stable', S&P is wary of the fact New Zealand's deficit is among the deepest of its peers (as a percentage of GDP), so wants to see it shrink quickly. 'If it doesn't narrow in the next few years, we may start looking at the AA+ rating,' S&P analyst Anthony Walker told the Herald. If New Zealand's credit rating was downgraded with its peers, which face similar headwinds, it wouldn't be any less attractive, relatively speaking. However, New Zealand's geographic isolation means it's already on the back foot. The Government needs to offer investors higher returns than its counterparts in, for example, Europe that have weaker credit ratings, for investing offshore in a different currency. Bond vigilantes flex Some will argue New Zealand shouldn't be hamstrung by the threat of the so-called 'bond vigilantes'. However, they have proven to be quite successful recently, throwing tantrums when Governments in the US and UK have put unsustainable spending plans on the table. Longer-term US Government bond yields are currently relatively high, as investors are wary of the US's ability to repay its debt. This dynamic has put upward pressure on other government bond yields, including New Zealand Government Bonds. What's the upshot? New Zealand pays more interest on its debt. Core Crown finance costs are currently surpassing $8b a year, which is about 2.5 times the size of the country's defence budget. Cost to under-investment Parties from across the political spectrum agree the Government can't pull back from investing in healthcare, education and infrastructure. To varying degrees, they accept Governments can't be so fixated on debt that they lose sight of the cost of under-investment. Opposition parties argue the Government is cutting operational expenditure, like staffing costs and welfare, too much. Someone has to pay Nonetheless, ahead of the election the debate will likely turn to whether the big-ticket item – NZ Super – could be made more affordable. There are also calls from the likes of ANZ senior economist Miles Workman for more means-testing and targeted spending to those who really need it. His view is that there is still more fat that can be cut out of the system. Inland Revenue is looking at ways of increasing the Government's tax take, if expenses are insufficiently cut. It is supportive of hiking the GST rate, if need be. Calls for a capital gains tax continue to be made, including by those of the view the country's tax base needs to be broadened. Harbour Asset Management co-chief executive Andrew Bascand believes a small stamp duty on the sale of residential property could be an efficient way of generating more revenue. While the coalition Government opposes the introduction of new property taxes, it is looking at effectively hiking taxes by applying more of a user-pays model to public services. It wants to welcome private investment into public assets – a dynamic that could see the part-owners or operators of these assets charge for their use. Think about more toll roads, charges for using busy roads during peak hours, targeted levies for those who buy property in new developments and fees for those whose properties increase in value thanks to major public investments in their neighbourhoods. Ideally, New Zealand finds a way of boosting growth sustainably - becoming more productive, rather than inflating house prices and importing cheap labour, as has been done in the past. Otherwise, higher interest costs to compensate investors for taking on more risk lending to New Zealand, or deeper spending cuts and higher taxes, are inevitable. Some tough political choices will need to be made. 'She'll be right' is a good motto – until it isn't. Nation of Debt series Monday: NZ nears trillion-dollar debt burden Wednesday: Consumer debt: What are Kiwis borrowing for? Thursday: Student debt: How big? How bad? Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald's Wellington business editor, based in the Parliamentary Press Gallery. She specialises in Government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
Scoop
an hour ago
- Scoop
Property Council Welcomes Landmark Building Consent Reforms
Property Council New Zealand has welcomed today's announcement from the Government, describing the reforms as a pragmatic step toward a more consistent and accountable building system. Chief Executive Leonie Freeman said the move to replace joint and several liability with a proportionate liability model, alongside enabling voluntary consolidation of Building Consent Authorities (BCAs), addresses long-standing issues that have created cost and delay in the sector. 'Joint and several liability has often left councils as the last man standing. Proportionate liability changes this – a shift that the development community supports,' Freeman said. 'Spreading accountability more fairly across the construction pipeline should ease pressure on councils and provide greater certainty for the market. We expect this will also help reduce the risk-averse behaviour that slows down consenting and drives up costs.' Freeman noted that Property Council members are prepared to play their part. 'Our members are open to sharing liability if it gives councils greater confidence and improves consistency. The detail around mechanisms such as professional indemnity insurance and home warranties will be important for ensuring clarity.' On BCA consolidation, Freeman said the change could help remove unnecessary complexity. 'Sixty-six different interpretations of the Building Code create inconsistency and duplication. A regionalised model could help streamline processes, but its success will depend on councils' willingness to work together.' Freeman said the reforms build on earlier moves to improve access to new building products. 'Addressing both consenting and liability settings is a step in the right direction. These changes have the potential to remove blockages, reduce costs, and provide a more predictable system for everyone involved in the building process.' About Property Council New Zealand Property Council is the leading advocate for Aotearoa New Zealand's largest industry – property. Property Council New Zealand is the one organisation that collectively champions property. We bring together members from all corners of the property ecosystem to advocate for reduced red tape that enables development, encourages investment, and supports our communities to thrive. Property is New Zealand's largest industry, making up 15% of economic activity. As a sector, we employ 10% of New Zealand's workforce and contribute over $50.2 billion to GDP. A not-for-profit organisation, the Property Council connects over 10,000 property professionals, championing the interests of over 550 member companies. Our membership is broad and includes some of the largest commercial and residential property owners and developers in New Zealand. The property industry comes together at our local, national and online events, which offer professional development, exceptional networking and access to industry-leading research. Our members shape the cities and spaces where New Zealanders live, work, play and shop.
