Listen live: PM Christopher Luxon speaks after NCEA credibility concerns, new school builds
Luxon was yesterday in Drury, Auckland, with Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Finance Minister Nicola Willis. They said $6 billion worth of construction projects would begin between now and Christmas.
Today, Luxon is due live on air about 7.37am.
Listen to the interview via the link below.
Education Minister Erica Stanford last Friday announced a $120 million spend on building more classrooms in Auckland, along with the creation of a new school property agency.
Two new school sites were also revealed. It had earlier been announced the Government was ditching open-plan classrooms and opting for standard designs.
Following the education policy announcements, the Herald then revealed a briefing document to Stanford about NCEA.
The damning Government briefing raised significant concerns about the credibility of the country's main secondary school qualification.
The document, obtained exclusively by the Herald, was presented by officials to Stanford in June. The minister is expected to announce proposals for the future of NCEA.
Among the red-light alerts to the minister is that the flexibility built into NCEA, including regarding what assessments students sit, means courses can be structured around those perceived to be 'easier' to accumulate credits.
The Auckland schools getting new classrooms include:
Bucklands Beach Intermediate – 2 classrooms
Helensville School – 1 classroom
Kauri Flats School – 4 classrooms
Lincoln Heights School – 6 classrooms
Macleans College – 8 classrooms
Massey High School – 8 classrooms
Mission Heights Primary School – 6 classrooms
Mountain View School – 6 classrooms
Northcross Intermediate – 8 classrooms
One Tree Hill College – 6 classrooms
Orewa College – 12 classrooms
Panama Road School – 4 classrooms
Papakura Normal School – 10 classrooms (in addition to the two learning support classrooms already announced)
Papatoetoe Central School – 4 classrooms
Papatoetoe East School – 4 classrooms
Papatoetoe Intermediate – 6 classrooms
Papatoetoe South School – 6 classrooms
Puhinui School – 2 classrooms
Pukekohe North School – 4 classrooms
Rangitoto College – 10 classrooms
Te Kura o Pātiki Rosebank School – 4 classrooms
Takanini School – 4 classrooms
Tuakau College – 6 classrooms
Whenuapai School – 6 classrooms
Projects announced yesterday included:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
29 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Major electoral law overhaul includes ending same-day enrolment, clarity on treats for voters
Closing enrolment 13 days before election day to reduce pressure on post-election timeframes. Requiring 12 days of advance voting at each election. Introducing automatic enrolment updates so the Electoral Commission can update people's enrolment details using data from other government agencies. Enabling greater use of digital communication by removing postal requirements for enrolment. Creating a new offence that prohibits the provision of free food, drink or entertainment within 100m of a voting place while voting is taking place. It will be punishable by a fine of up to $10,000. Reinstating a total ban on prisoner voting. 'The donation threshold for reporting the names of party donors is also being adjusted from $5000 to $6000, to account for inflation.' Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says the changes are "significant, but necessary". Photo / Michael Craig Goldsmith said late enrolments had 'placed too much strain on the system'. 'The final vote count used to take two weeks, last election it took three,' he said. 'If we leave things as they are, it could well take even longer in future elections. The 20-day timeframe for a final result will likely already be challenging to achieve at the next election without changes. 'Therefore, the Government has agreed to close enrolment before advance voting begins. People will need to make sure they enrol or update their enrolment details by midnight on the Sunday, before advance voting opens on Monday morning. 'This is a significant, but necessary change. The Electoral Commission will have plenty of time to run an education campaign to ensure people understand the new requirements. For Australia's federal election earlier this year, the enrolment deadline was 26 days before election day. I have every confidence New Zealand can manage within the 13-day deadline.' Act justice spokesman Todd Stephenson welcomed the reforms, saying it was 'outrageous' that someone 'completely disengaged and lazy can rock up to the voting booth, get registered there and then, and then vote to tax other people's money away'. 'People who want to pull the levers of democracy ought to get organised, look at the policies, and register well in advance,' he said. The Herald reported last year that the Government was looking to overturn the 2020 decision to allow same-day enrolment after a report from the Auditor-General exposed a series of problems with counting votes at the most recent election. The report noted that none of the problems found with the most recent election would have changed the national result or the result in any individual electorate. The report did not recommend changing the Electoral Act to prohibit election-day enrolments, but it found that the 2020 change had put immense pressure on the Electoral Commission because same-day enrolments must be counted as special votes, meaning they take 10 times longer to process than ordinary votes. Labour leader Chris Hipkins said at the time that the changes should be kept, given that 100,000 people took up the opportunity to enrol on election day. 'I think in a fiscally constrained time, and particularly where there are so many issues that are being hotly contested, it's important that we ensure that everybody has the right to vote and that everybody's vote gets counted. The Government's simply saying, 'Hey, we're going to cancel 100,000 people's votes.' That's not democratic,' Hipkins said. Other changes being made, according to Goldsmith, include allowing special vote processing earlier, increasing the number of members on the Electoral Commission board, and setting a single deadline for candidate nominations. 'The Government is progressing a separate bill to amend the Constitution Act 1986 to ensure the continuity of executive government in the post-election period,' a statement said. This will address an issue where ministers may remain in office after an election for 28 days while the final count is completed. However, if there is a delay to the election results (for example, due to a recount), then the 28 days can expire before new MPs are appointed. This happened at the 2023 election. The bill will allow for ministers to remain in office until all successful electorate and list MPs have been declared. Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.
NZ Herald
29 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
NZ's largest teachers' union taking Government to court over resource teacher cuts
Education Minister Erica Stanford announced consultation on reallocating funding for literacy and Māori resource teachers. The NZEI Te Riu Roa claims she had already decided to cut the services. Photo / Mark Mitchell Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. 24 Jul, 2025 01:51 AM 2 mins to read NZ's largest teachers' union taking Government to court over resource teacher cuts Education Minister Erica Stanford announced consultation on reallocating funding for literacy and Māori resource teachers. The NZEI Te Riu Roa claims she had already decided to cut the services. Photo / Mark Mitchell New Zealand's largest teachers' union is taking the Government to court over recent changes to funding resource teachers. Resource teachers work alongside teachers to help students with learning and behaviour difficulties. The latest Budget, in May, confirmed cuts to some resource teacher services. NZEI Te Riu Roa claims Education Minister Erica Stanford had already decided to scrap the services before announcing consultation on reallocating funding for literacy and Māori resource teachers. The union said it had filed for a judicial review in the High Court at Wellington this morning.
Otago Daily Times
29 minutes ago
- Otago Daily Times
Vape rule requiring removeable batteries to be scrapped
Photo: File image The coalition Government is revoking the requirement for all vaping devices - including heated tobacco products - to have removable batteries. Casey Costello. Photo: Supplied In a statement published on Thursday, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said the decision - to take effect from 1 September - would resolve a current court challenge by Mason Corporation, which owns the vape shop Shosha. "Cabinet was advised that taking this step was the best way to resolve the case," Costello said. "This decision means the proceedings, which relate to regulations brought in by the Labour government, can be withdrawn." Costello said the move was not expected to increase smoking or vaping rates. The announcement does not affect the coalition's move to ban disposable or single-use vaping devices. That ban kicked in from 17 June. The former Labour government announced the requirement for removable batteries in June 2023 as part of a suite of changes to vaping rules. At the time, then-Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said the move would make the devices safer. The coalition later delayed the regulations from coming into effect until October 2024 "to ensure sufficient availability of appropriate reusable vaping products to continue to support people to quit smoking". RNZ last year revealed that Philip Morris had pulled its IQOS heated tobacco product (HTPs) from the shelves due to the regulations around removable batteries. That proved to be a major roadblock to the government's controversial trial of halving excise tax on HTPs to encourage their use as a smoking cessation tool. Philip Morris has since released a new compliant IQOS product with a removeable battery. Documents showed Costello had tried to delay the battery regulations for two years, but Cabinet agreed only to a six-month delay from the original date of 21 March. The minister's support for HTPs as a less harmful alternative to smoking provoked outrage from the opposition parties and health experts who labelled it a "dangerous and radical experiment". Treasury identified a long list of concerns about the proposal at the time, but Costello said she relied on "independent advice" to the contrary.
