Hospitality New Zealand Acknowledges Release Of Tourism Roadmap
Steve Armitage, Chief Executive of Hospitality NZ, says 'We're pleased to see the Government's intent to support the growth of tourism and hospitality, enabling its role in doubling the value of tourism exports.
'We welcome the roadmap's clear alignment with our Hospitality Summit report, particularly regarding its emphasis on growing the number of Kiwis in tourism and hospitality roles.
'More generally we see strong alignment with the Going for Growth focuses on 'developing talent' and 'competitive business settings'.
'We are, however, disappointed to see that International Visitor Levy (IVL) contributions to tourism and conservation projects will be capped in 2025/26, with additional funds being used to subsidise existing government spend in areas such as funding for Tourism New Zealand.
'Our view is the IVL was conceived to generate funds for investment in tourism and conservation, over and above existing budget lines. Particularly when there is a focus on growing tourism arrival numbers, to use IVL funds on what should be taxpayer funded does little to resolve the nationwide tourism funding gap the industry is facing.
'Hospitality NZ looks forward to ongoing collaboration across the tourism and hospitality sectors to support the implementation of the roadmap.'
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NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Kiwis moving to Australia: Incomes, house prices and interest rates compared
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NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
What will private schools be spending extra Budget money on? David Seymour says he's ‘open' to giving more funding
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The school's whānau community is not typically in a position to fully fund school trips, he says. 'We provide seven meals a day for our students and inflation has hit hard in this area.' Meanwhile, Avery says the subsidy will support a range of ongoing projects at St Cuthbert's College. These include enhancing its suite of facilities, improving flood resistance in the school's buildings and paying teachers and staff members' salaries. It will also contribute to improving its outdoor campus – Kahunui – in the Bay of Plenty, a place where Year 10 students travel to attend a month-long school camp that embraces off-the-grid learning. At Knight's school in Porirua, Year 6 students used to travel to El Rancho in Waikanae – 45 minutes up the road – for a two-night camp. However, now that community funding is unavailable, the future of camps for their senior students is uncertain. In a community where family holidays are a rarity, Knight says pupils leaving often comment that school camp is their favourite memory from school. Growing waitlists for private schools As Auckland grows, St Cuthbert's College has been experiencing higher demand for places on its school roll and has waiting lists for prospective students. Scots College has also been facing similar pressure, with headmaster Yule noticing parents are being propelled to private schools by their feeling of unease in the current state system. 'The issues with literacy and numeracy, open-plan classes and the dissatisfaction with NCEA and so forth, I think, have driven a number of people towards considering independent schooling.' At Dilworth, Reddiex says demand for places has also increased significantly within the past two years, with scholarship places being highly competitive. Avery says the subsidy is a recognition of the role independent schools play in educating a percentage of the Kiwi population, which takes the financial pressure off the rest of the education system. Similarly, Seymour says private school students suddenly flooding into the state sector would create an enormous cost for the Government. 'This whole debate to me says something about where we are and where we could be as a country. What you've got is a small group – about 4% of children and their parents and grandparents – often making big sacrifices to pay independent school fees because in their view, that's a better future for them,' he says. 'Rather kind of sneering, resentful tone, we should say, 'okay, that's a choice people make', I may or may not make it for myself, but we should be happy for other people. 'Those people are actually saving the taxpayer a lot of money.' In Porirua, Knight believes the $160,000 increase St Cuthbert's College is receiving could make 'a world of difference' at her small school. She says the money would go towards funding two more teachers or more teacher aide support. Eva de Jong is a New Zealand Herald reporter covering general news for the daily newspaper, Weekend Herald and Herald on Sunday. She was previously a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle, covering health stories and general news. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
7 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Duncan Garner: Power and money hungry councils must be wound down
Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Cape Palisser: A visit is one of life's simple pleasures. Photo / Getty Images Duncan Garner is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who now hosts the Editor in Chief live podcast. Cape Palliser is a beautiful and unique part of our country. It's on the South Wairarapa coast; it's remote, rugged and windswept. It has a great surf break, and people go there to hike, walk, mountain bike, fish and just take it all in. I went a number of times during the 17 years I lived in Wellington. It's a stunning place, an extraordinary landscape to explore. Kiwis love accessing the foreshore and beaches around this country. We regard it as our birthright and anyone or anything that gets in our way is usually met with condemnation. But Cape Palliser might soon be off limits, not just to cars, but to everyone and everything – despite being a public place. Why? Because the over-the-top, heavy-handed bureaucrats at the South Wairarapa District Council have their blinkers on and are about to close a stretch of unformed road along the coastline to the east of Cape Palliser. The road is the best way to access the Cape. The proposed alternative involves a full-day back-breaking hike through bush. The road is public; it's owned by all of us, and the reserve is owned by all New Zealanders too. But the council is going too far with this heavy-handed bylaw. It's a case of using a sledgehammer where nuance is needed. Banning 4WDs might be justified. The road is fragile and 4WDs have caused problems there. But why ban the public from walking and biking in the area? The road, which crosses public and private land, was initially to be closed to cars only, but the private landowner asked the council to stop everyone and everything. The council proposal is that the road will remain closed for three years then the decision would be reviewed. Why take the public's simple pleasures away? As it is our cities are getting more crowded, housing density is squeezing us in and the need to get out and enjoy the outdoors is crucial to our wellbeing. How on earth does this meet that goal? Tuesday, August 19 is the last day for submissions. The Cape Palliser issue is typical of councils throughout the country, not just in the Wairarapa. The model is broken. The Government has suggested it's time to rid ourselves of some of these organisations. Minister Shane Jones says councils have gone beyond what the public expects; he wants fewer councils and has the regions in his sights. PM Christopher Luxon says we are simply over-governed: 'I think we've got too many layers of government, frankly, if I'm honest with you, whether it's district councils, regional councils, central government...' Massive rates increases, too many cones, too many road closures for dubious reasons, consultation on issues no one gives a toss about and locked out of controversial decisions. Then there's co-governance happening via the backdoor and without taking it to the voters. It's a mess and ratepayers are angry. Taupō District Council staff decided that a Joint Management Agreement with the local iwi, Tūwharetoa, did not warrant public input or consultation. Only once councillors got involved was it deferred until after October's local body elections. Even then, the public might still be shut out of having a say. In Auckland, Watercare agreed in 2022 to pay $2m every year for 20 years, to the Waikato River Authority for the use and clean-up of the Waikato River water. This decision was not debated or put before ratepayers, who only found out much later. And the final piece of this puzzle hurts us the most: rates. Rates increases have become unsustainable. It's why the Government must cap rates. It would give immediate cost-of-living relief to all homeowners, and may even make Christopher Luxon more popular. The country's biggest three-year rates increases are mind blowing, and all the evidence we need to push for this change. According to the Taxpayers' Union's 'rates dashboard', West Coast Regional Council increased its rates by 65.6% over three years. Greater Wellington Regional Council's rates went up by 54.7%; Taranaki Regional Council was 51%. They seem to be oblivious to the cost-of-living crisis, and they have no problem spending our money. Wellington City Council spent $2.3m on five public toilets with rainbow lighting. Those are expensive number twos. Council staff who oversaw the project would never spend their own money like that. Reading these guys the riot act hasn't worked. It's now well past time we culled regional councils, cut the scope and powers of local councils and capped the rates we pay them. It's not like we need any more evidence to build a case.
