Where to now for Polytechs?
Some polytech students are grappling with courses being cut or changed. This as Te Pukenga is in the process of being wound up, with individual polytechs around the country working to show whether or not they can stand on their own. Some students are finding their courses significantly changed, or are struggling to confirm they can transfer studies to a similar course, under restructuring proposals. Legislation to disestablish Te Pukenga had its first reading in May. Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds earlier this month criticised the polytechs for having too high staff-per-student ratios, saying that any institute with fewer than 18 students per staff member was in financial trouble. Third-year Whitireia performing arts student Aroha Morrison says one of the proposals is to cut the final year of her programme. She will finish hers, but current students in years behind hers would miss the final year.
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2 minutes ago
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Auckland Council's recovery office removes more than 250 storm-damaged or risky homes
Houses in Candia Drive sit abandoned and have been subsequently vandalised since the floods at the start of 2023. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro Auckland Council's recovery office has so far removed more than 250 storm-damaged or risky homes in the region, as it prepares to wind up buyouts. The council expects to buy just over 1200 high-risk homes by the end of this year as part of the $1.2 billion buyout shared with the government. Council said homeowners needed to have sale-and-purchase agreements signed no later than 19 December, with settlements continuing into early 2026. Group recovery manager Mace Ward said 1189 houses had been deemed eligible for buyout so far, with hundreds settled. "We're moving at a good pace - 843 buyouts have been settled, giving those whānau the ability to move on with their lives," he said. "We're now dealing with the more intricate cases and some of these are the hardest we've had to navigate. Shared ownership, for example, presents some really challenging situations, especially for the people involved." Ward said they were also dealing with many who felt like they had missed out on a buyout. "As expected, we are also dealing with a lot of people who feel like they missed out, so the next question is how we help Aucklanders, not just to understand, but adapt in a time of climate instability. We all have a role to play." Council had identified 145 high-risk properties, but that could be reduced. "We're supporting about 145 homeowners to make their homes safer, so they can continue living in the communities they love," Ward said. "This includes practical measures, like building retaining walls, or lifting or shifting homes to reduce their risk." More than 250 homes have been removed, of which a third have been relocated. Milford has 140 high-risk homes eligible for buyout, the most of any Auckland suburb, and of those, 17 have been removed. Council aims to remove about 30 storm-damaged homes a month until November 2027. Ward said most of the work ahead involved removing the high-risk homes and deciding what to do with the land council had bought. "This process has only just begun and, with buy-outs still underway, it'll take time to carefully assess each site's potential," he said. "We have a region-wide policy guiding this work. Safety remains our number one priority, but we also need to deliver value for Aucklanders, especially given how expensive this recovery effort has been." Meanwhile, in partnership with the government, Auckland Council has confirmed four major flood resilience projects - two in Mangere , and the others in Wairau Park and Ranui . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
32 minutes ago
- RNZ News
National pins re-election hopes on economy
Christopher Luxon is busy trying to convince people that National, not Labour, is the steady hand on the tiller amid choppy global waters. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro Analysis: Saturday's National Party conference set out an early 2026 challenge to voters - stick with what we've got or risk it on who-knows-what. It's a line National used successfully in 2014 (remember Eminem-esque?), but that was a different National, and a different looking government. At roughly the same point in that electoral cycle, National was polling in the late forties. National in 2025 is struggling to get past the early thirties. Labour has emerged as the party New Zealanders think has the best handle on the cost of living, according to the Ipsos Issues Monitor. Of course, there is a long way to go yet. The prime minister knows this, and is counting on sunnier economic fortunes this time next year. But to borrow a well-worn Christopher Luxon phrase, the cost of living is the barnacle that won't get off the boat, and Luxon spent his speech - and much of the week leading up to it - trying to convince people that National, not Labour, is the steady hand on the tiller amid choppy global waters. The government is at pains to say it can't control global events, although it spent a lot of time criticising the previous government for blaming global events. The Trump administration's increased tariffs landed like a lead balloon on Friday, and prompted some late additions to the conference's run sheet. In his speech, Luxon acknowledged the tariffs, but said New Zealand can't just "batten down the hatch" and hope for the best. Trade minister Todd McClay took some time out of his rurals session to say he's already spoken to his US trade counterpart, and dispatched top trade diplomat Vangelis Vitalis to Washington. McClay will follow in the coming weeks. Domestically, National is still blaming the previous government for the economic conditions it inherited, and pitching that it needs a second term to truly sort it out. The party's putting a stake in the ground and saying next year's election will be all about the economy. Last Monday's 10-minute sermon from the podium , which set out the steps National had taken to address the cost of living, was a harbinger of what was to come at the weekend. Inside the cavernous National Air Force Museum, Luxon told media New Zealanders would have a "very simple choice" at the next election: "Do you trust the guys that actually crashed the economy and have no plan, or do you trust the guys in the government that's actually inherited a mess and is sorting it out and is making progress before that election?" Luxon did not mention the other "guys in the government" on Saturday. That's not unusual. This was, after all, a National Party event, full of National Party stump speeches. The party's deputy Nicola Willis, however, gave Luxon a shout-out for the "energy" it takes to keep Winston Peters and David Seymour under control. While joking he was targeting 100 percent of the vote in 2026, Luxon said after his speech that it was natural to disagree with his coalition partners, but they were aligned on the things that mattered. National leader Christopher Luxon speaks at the party's annual conference. Photo: RNZ / Giles Dexter National party supporters that RNZ spoke to were largely happy with how things were going, and how Luxon was keeping things in line. "We are very co-ordinated, very co-ordinated. We respect each other's policies and respect each other's decisions," said one member. "They're very aggressive people that he's in Parliament with, but he's handled it extremely well," said another. "It's like you're the mother in the house, and you have to herd two cats, who do co-operate sometimes, and other times they've got other agendas. From a managerial point of view, I think he's doing excellently in the light of the type of political system we've got." Some expressed wariness of what Peters would do next year, others sung from Luxon's songsheet that this was the maturity of MMP on display. "It's taking some managing, but it's all good. It's what MMP is about." "Everybody's looking at next year's election again, and obviously they want to get back in. So there's a bit of leverage, and nobody's got more experience at that than Winston." They were also convinced the country was going in the right direction, and that Luxon was the right person to steer it there. "We're starting to turn the corner. The last 18 months has been the clean-up job, and we're actually getting ready to turn the tank around now." "It just takes time, and people have got to be patient. They're doing everything that they possibly can, it's just a timing issue. Everybody's impatient." National's membership thinks the polls will firm in their favour as the public look more critically at the alternative. A Labour Party bereft of policy, juggling the niche demands of the more extreme Greens and Te Pāti Māori. Luxon wants the country to "say yes" to more. More mining, more infrastructure, more housing, more tourism, more growth. Opening up more concessions on Department of Conservation land, and charging international visitors to visit some DOC sites is part of that "say yes" strategy. Twenty to forty dollars is not a large sum to fork out for people who have paid thousands to come here, and it adds $62m to the conservation estate that New Zealanders won't have to pay for. There are still some implementation issues to work through. It remains to be seen whether New Zealanders will have to take a passport or bank statement to Cathedral Cove to get out of a fee. It's a small change, and one the government did not campaign or consult the public on, or put in its latest quarterly plan. There will be more to come as parties start to differentiate themselves and sound the election battle drums. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
The great gas gambit: Why drilling for fossil fuels is not expected to resolve a developing energy crisis.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Six months ago, Taranaki businessman John Burling received an abrupt call: his gas company was increasing prices by 40 percent. Burling, who owns the Taranaki-based Carac Group engineering and manufacturing company, was floored. "What do you mean? How do I pass it on?'" The reply was stark. "There's a shortage of gas, so that's going to be the new price." Overnight, Carac Group had to cut powder coating plant operations from five days to four, shelving expansion plans and curtailing production due to the energy-intensive gas-fired ovens. Across the country, many businesses are facing the same gas woes. "The untold story here is that there's a very large number of smaller industrial businesses that rely on gas and frankly they're gonna struggle to stay afloat," says Barney Irvine, executive director of the Northern Infrastructure Forum. "A lot of these businesses are feeling very desperate and pretty lost." The Pohokura oil and gas field is 4km offshore in Taranaki. Photo: Rob Tucker New Zealand's natural gas is drawn from wells in Taranaki, on the North Island's wild west coast. Around 290,000 households use gas for cooking and heating; in business, it is burned at dairy factories, fertiliser plants and in manufacturing. It's also used to produce electricity when there's not enough power generated from wind, water or the sun. Until recently, gas was reliable, even when other energy sources were scarce. But now, our wells are old and in decline, and our gas supply is dwindling, fast. Data released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in June reveals gas production has almost halved in the last ten years. Supply in February 2024 was the lowest since the 1980s. Gas reserves - the estimated available gas in the deep, underground reservoirs - have also fallen sharply, down 27 percent in the year to January. Forecasts say there is barely enough gas left in our existing oil and gas fields to last the decade, and even that is an optimistic guess. Demand now outstrips supply, forcing some businesses to struggle for gas, others onto 'demand management' plans requiring production shutdowns to support the electricity grid, and some to close operations entirely. "In my opinion gas supply is currently our most pressing energy security issue," says energy commentator Larry Blair. "The scale of the problem is huge, and we don't have any readily available alternatives to turn to." To combat the shortfall, the government has repealed the former Labour government's 2018 ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration permits. The policy aims to 'future-proof' the natural gas industry and reduce reliance on imported coal during dry years when hydro dams are low. The bill, spearheaded by Resources Minister Shane Jones, passed in the House last week. Coupled with a $200m co-investment in gas exploration, Jones says the policy will signal to international petrochemical companies New Zealand is "open for business". "It's to send a message that we will invest with you if it's appropriate as the Crown, but more importantly, there is a long-term future in New Zealand in terms of how we power our economy by using gas or coal." Industry has celebrated the law change. John Carnegie, chief executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa called the bill a "pragmatic and necessary step to help rebuild investor confidence." Jones and the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, have blamed the 2018 exploration ban for the current state of the gas market. "The basic problem is that we don't have enough gas thanks to Labour screwing the scrum by banning oil and gas," Luxon told Morning Report last month. Prime Minster Christopher Luxon is blaming the gas ban for the energy crisis. Official advice says it's more complex than that. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Jones has said the ban, which was implemented to address climate change, was "the most destructive decision in the history of New Zealand's industry." But experts, including the government's own officials, warned the ban was not the main driver behind a lack of investment in gas or New Zealand's high energy prices - and won't be a magic fix for them either. Global investment in speculative drilling for oil and gas has been declining since 2014, when the oil price crashed. Since then, oil companies have focused on high-ranking, lower-cost petroleum provinces, putting New Zealand at a "geographical and geological disadvantage" due to its isolation and relatively unexplored status, officials wrote in a Cabinet paper last year. Records show that even before 2018, most of the major oil companies had given up their exploration permits and left New Zealand, citing "bad data", high technical risk or better opportunities elsewhere. "Clearly the ban was an important nail in the coffin," says Green Party MP Steve Abel, who worked on Greenpeace's oil and gas campaign. "But the government also should have been well aware of the obvious evidence that gas was running out and no one was interested in drilling for more, even though a lot of oil majors came and had a look." Whether those companies can be lured back will largely depend on whether we have enough big buyers to make it worth their while. New Zealand has a closed gas market, meaning there are no exports. Instead, local supply must meet local demand. Historically, developing new gas fields has relied on big contracts from major users like methanol producer Methanex. But if demand from those large industrial users drops, it poses a risk that the remaining, smaller users might not be able to purchase enough gas to support new investment. Currently, demand is dropping rapidly - advice from officials on the $200m investment shows overall gas use has fallen by about a third since 2020, as companies close because of high prices, or decarbonise in the face of climate change. "At this point, the market is collapsing faster than we can put new reserves back into it," Larry Blair says. There is also the lingering damage by the ban to the country's reputation as a safe place to invest, and the very real risk that the policy could be re-reversed with a change of government. "The problem I see for people looking at New Zealand is there's no confidence that there's a sustainable market there in the long term." With such strong headwinds, experts say the $200m is unlikely to suddenly make it commercially viable to take a big gamble on entirely new discoveries, particularly when New Zealand hasn't found new gas in a new place for two decades or longer. It's more likely the money will be used to fossick around in our existing fields, trying to retrieve what's left. The government knows this. Its own advice has acknowledged the plan's flaws and its low certainty of success. "Investments may not all be successful. The risk of failed drilling is high in our mature fields. In the last five years around $1.8 billion has been invested in drilling 58 wells, and this investment has not managed to maintain or increase our gas reserves," MBIE's advice to Jones in March this year said. Even if the analysts are wrong, there is still the matter of timing. Data shows a new gas field could take a decade, or longer, to find, develop, and bring online. "There will be nothing left to power by then," says Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy. "Why are we doubling down on expanding what is clearly an industry in decline? In my view we are taking an absolute wrong turn." Critics like Duffy say more needs to be done now to bring down gas and electricity prices and shore up energy supply. Last month, an influential collection of energy users and advocacy groups called on Luxon to urgently fix the "broken" energy sector, which they said was crippling industry and leaving families freezing during winter. "Regional employers are shutting their doors, with hundreds of jobs and decades of investment lost," it said. "Families and communities are being left behind." Luxon is also under pressure from climate advocates, who have said the bill is "tipping oil on the climate crisis fire." A government Climate Implications of Policy Assessment (CIPA) estimated that reversing the ban would lead to a "substantial increase in emissions" of approximately 14.2 million tonnes of carbon by 2035, primarily from prolonged gas usage in electricity, commercial, and industrial sectors. Drilling for gas would make it harder for New Zealand to meet climate change targets, but could also undermine its obligations under the Paris Agreement, risk trade deals and breach international law , critics said. "From a climate change point of view, which everyone should be worried about, we can't afford to burn the existing fossil fuels that have already been discovered on the planet," said Greenpeace executive director Russel Norman. "But also, potentially, you are facing liabilities from other countries who are negatively affected by you burning more and more fossil fuels and destabilizing the climate. So it's grossly irresponsible." Gas use has fallen by about a third since 2020, as companies close because of high prices, or decarbonise in the face of climate change. Photo: 123RF Jones recently said he considers climate change "largely moral hysteria." He said the recent judgment from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would not halt legitimate New Zealand industries. "Some people might try to use it, exploit it to undermine industry, undermine investment, stop manufacturing … but we will not allow our sovereignty to be compromised," Jones said. Instead, he has pitched gas as a "transition fuel" to reduce dependency on Indonesian coal to "keep the lights on". The government also plans to double geothermal energy. Plans to transition away from gas itself were shelved when the coalition was elected, alongside a plan to help fossil fuel workers retrain in low-emissions industries. While there are renewable energy projects in the pipeline it's not expected to be enough to fill the gap, especially as more companies decarbonise. Electricty Authority data shows more wind farms are in the pipeline, but critics say they need to be built now. Photo: In the same open letter sent last month, the group of concerned organisations called for the government to intervene in the market so more renewables could be built at pace. "Unlock investment in low-cost, renewable generation," it said. "Investment in new generation is being delayed, sustaining high prices, and contributing to the energy supply crisis we now face." Commentators say unless we can secure more energy soon, industry closures will begin to pile up as businesses run out of options. "I don't see a plan B for a lot of industries in New Zealand," says Blair. "That's the brutal reality of it." Consumer's Jon Duffy says he doesn't think there's a plan at all. "There's no Plan A. What we are really missing is a national energy strategy." Meanwhile, for industries like John Burling's, there are no good answers. His increased gas bill led to higher costs for running the gas-fired ovens, but Burling was unable to pass these on to customers. "It was a bit of a no-win really," Burling says. He's yet to find an alternative to his gas-fired ovens, and in any case, electricity would be even more expensive than gas. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
