
Super Rugby Pacific: Blues CEO Andrew Hore to stand down
Hore has been Blues CEO since 2019, guiding them through the Covid-19 pandemic before steering them to glory, capturing the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific championship, ending a 21-year title drought.

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Scoop
8 hours ago
- Scoop
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins Dismisses Criticism Of Covid-19 Overspending As 'Treasury Spin'
, Acting Political Editor Labour leader Chris Hipkins is dismissing what he calls "Treasury spin" after its analysts said the last government overspent during the Covid-19 pandemic against official advice. Treasury's 2025 Long Term Insights Briefing, released this week, calculated the total cost of the pandemic at about $66 billion, or roughly 20.4 percent of GDP. The report said Treasury advocated for more targeted support in late 2020 into 2021 and explicitly warned "against any further stimulus" by Budget 2022. But responding to questions from RNZ on Friday, Hipkins was unapologetic about his party's economic response to Covid-19. "We prioritised keeping people alive and keeping people in jobs," he said. "I'm never going to claim that we got everything perfect... but prioritising jobs and prioritising lives was the right thing to do." Hipkins claimed other countries also spent up large with the same objectives, but Treasury said New Zealand was near the top of the chart when considering spending as a percentage of GDP. "If you listen to the Treasury spin, then you're going to get one view," Hipkins told RNZ. "If you speak to other economists, you'll get a different view. "Our job was to support New Zealanders through the global pandemic, making sure that we saved lives and kept people's jobs, and we were very successful in doing that: one of the lowest death rates in the world, one of the lowest rates of unemployment in the world, and one of the fastest rates of economic growth in the world." About half of the total Covid-19 response cost was directly tied to the pandemic, such as the wage subsidy scheme, or health initiatives like vaccination, contact tracing and quarantine. The remainder went to a wide range of initiatives like: "tax changes, training schemes, housing construction, shovel-ready infrastructure projects, increases to welfare benefits, the Small Business Cashflow Scheme, Jobs for Nature, additional public housing places and school lunches". Treasury said that had "a lagged impact on the economy and proved difficult to unwind in later years". But Hipkins said Treasury had mischaracterised some of that spending, such as the provision of distance-learning for school students. "Making sure that kids could keep learning while they were at home during lockdown was an essential Covid-19 expense," Hipkins said. The report comes during a prolonged economic downturn, with both the government and opposition parties trading blame over its cause. Finance Minister Nicola Willis was quick on Thursday to wield Treasury's findings as evidence that Labour had been undisciplined in its spending, driving up inflation, and fuelling a cost-of-living crisis. "Treasury's language is spare and polite, but its conclusions are damning," she said. "New Zealanders are still paying the price of the previous government extending a big-spending approach initially intended for a pandemic response. "The lesson from Labour's mishandling of the Covid response is that while there are times when governments have to increase spending in response to major events the fiscal guardrails should be restored as soon as possible." To that, Hipkins scoffed: "By comparison to this government's track record, I'll take our one any day". Hipkins said Willis should stop blaming others and instead accept the consequences of her government's spending cuts. "The wreckage that she is leaving in her wake at the moment is obvious for all New Zealanders to see. Unemployment is going up," he said. "Economic growth has collapsed. Essential services that the public rely on a daily basis are falling into disarray, and this is all on Nicola Willis' watch."

RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
NPC Rugby: Wellington back on track with win over Waikato
Akira Ieremia. Photo: Blake Armstrong/ActionPress Wellington's lungs will be bursting after their 35-24 bonus point win over Waikato in Hamilton on Saturday. The defending champions were coming off a disappointing first round loss to Canterbury, and seemingly decided to run it from everywhere in order to make up for it. Viewers could've been forgiven for thinking they'd stepped into a time machine after watching a first half that featured not only a powerful try by Julian Savea, but also Aaron Cruden finishing off a sweeping move. Both former All Blacks are showing no signs of slowing down, with Savea set to play yet another season of Super Rugby Pacific next year. Cruden's effort was sparked by a stunning break from Oli Mathis, with the wing/flanker hybrid showing off his outstanding pace a couple of times in the first half. However, it wasn't enough to stop Wellington racing to a 21-5 lead at the break, thanks to Savea's effort and tries to PJ Sheck and Jackson Garden-Bachop. Waikato staged a decent comeback at the start of the second, with tries to Xavier Saifoloi and Xavier Roe in his 50th NPC match. However, that was as good as it got for the home side, as Tjay Clarke and Akira Ieremia quickly restored the advantage with excellent finishes. The game suddenly turned into a track meet as it passed the hour mark, with several passages going back and forth between both 22s and the ball changing hands endlessly. Waikato replacement hooker Pita Anae-Ah Sue finally managed to take advantage of the questionable attitudes on defence when he busted through to score in the 71st minute. That was enough for Wellington to shut the game down, with Peter Lakai playing the full 80 minutes before he heads off to join the All Blacks in Argentina. Mathis showed that he'll likely be heading the same way sometime in the future, while Garden-Bachop's flawless goal kicking a key factor in the result. Wellington head home to face Otago next weekend, while Waikato host winless Counties-Manukau. In the afternoon's other game, Taranaki accounted for North Harbour 46-24 in Albany. Read how the game unfolded:


Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Warm welcome for Aussie delegation in Queenstown
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has welcomed his Australian counterpart in Queenstown for annual talks between the leaders. Mr Luxon is hosting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, along with his fiancee Jodie Haydon, in the South lsland resort today and tomorrow for the Australia New Zealand Leaders' Meeting. It is the first time the meeting has been held in Queenstown since 2021, when former prime ministers Scott Morrison and Dame Jacinda Ardern had a tightly controlled and scheduled meeting, primarily due to Covid-19 restrictions. Mr Luxon thanked Mr Albanese and others in the delegation for their visit, saying: "You are indeed special and great friends. In fact, you are not just friends - you are whanau, you are family." "The world seems really uncertain and fractious and we have no greater friend than Australia. And as a result, the two of us being able to come together to advocate for our values ... and to go out into the world together is really important." Mr Albanese was also welcomed to Queenstown by Ngai Tahu representatives including Sir Tipene O'Regan and Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou upoko Edward Ellison. Bilateral talks were being held this afternoon. Other engagements include a business roundtable with the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum. It is the second time across the Tasman for Mr Albanese, who last visited in 2023 to meet with then-Labour prime minister Chris Hipkins. Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon represent opposite ends of the political spectrum, but both have affirmed their nations share a "deep and enduring bond" as friends, neighbours and allies. Defence, economic partnerships and security will be on the agenda, AAP reports. "I look forward to discussing how we can work together to build on our single economic market, modernise the rules-based trading system, deepen our alliance, and back our Pacific partners," Mr Albanese said. The single economic market was established in 2009 to grow trade and deepen investment links between the two countries, making it easier for trans-Tasman business. Two-way trade between the two countries is worth $NZ35 billion. Co-operation between the two governments is broad, with more than half of the New Zealand Cabinet visiting Australia since Mr Luxon's government took office in late 2023. - Allied Media and AAP