NZ PM's view of Israeli PM reaches overseas
The Prime Minister's sticking to his criticism of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu - but says he's also been critical of Hamas. Yesterday Christopher Luxon said the Israeli prime minister had lost the plot, and was not listening to the international community. Mr Luxon says he was giving his personal view - but Israel's deputy foreign minister has fired back, with some criticisms of her own. Giles Dexter reports.
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RNZ News
37 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Marsden Fund says it was given only a day's notice of further funding cuts
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti said public good science was still being supported, and the government would have more options to reinvest in the future. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi A decades-old fund dedicated to blue-skies research says it was given a day's notice of further funding cuts and told to keep quiet about it until the government made it public. The Marsden Fund, which backs fundamental research - science for the sake of knowledge - is among three contestable funds to lose millions to help set up the new Institute for Advanced Technology . Scientists said slashing funding for such research could have significant unintended consequences for innovation and warned the Prime Minister as such in a letter earlier this month. The cuts come amid a long-awaited review into the sector - final recommendations were delivered to the Science Minister three months ago, but are yet to be made public - and after the government announced the biggest overhaul of the science system in decades , to "ensure a system that generates maximum value for the economy". The reforms so far have seen the dissolution of science commercialisation arm, Callaghan Innovation, and merger of the six Crown Research Institutes into three mega science entities or Public Research Organisations (PROs) plus a fourth dedicated to advanced technology. Callaghan Innovation was dissolved in the government's overhaul of the science sector. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) said of the $231 million earmarked for the Institute for Advanced Technology over the next four years, more than half - $150.4m - was to be reallocated from within the science, innovation, and technology portfolio. MBIE's general manager of technology and innovation Dean Ford said it represented a shift in priorities towards emerging technologies that could be commercialised. "The majority of this funding will continue to go into science - but into new areas of research that have significant potential, where New Zealand is developing greater capability." Science Minister Shane Reti said organisations affected by the reallocated funding for the Institute for Advanced Technology, were advised ahead of the public announcement on 18 July. From July 2028, the Endeavour Fund, which provided funding for university researchers, will have its funding cut by $13.5m, and the Health and Research Council will lose $11.5m. While the Marsden Fund will have its funding slashed by a one-off $15m. Just over $24m has been found in the disestablishment of Callaghan Innovation's operations across 2027-29, $18m from the New to R&D Grant for three years from 2025, and $3m is being reprioritised from 'contract management' over the next three years from July 2026. MBIE said $37.5m has also been found from within the Strategic Science Investment Fund from contracts which are coming to an end over the next three years, and $21.6m has been reprioritised from unallocated National Science Challenge funding. The remaining $80m will support the parts of Callaghan Innovation that are being retained. The changes are in addition to the $212m repurposed from research and innovation funds in Budget 2025 to support the overhaul of the science system. In a statement the Royal Society, which administered the Marsden Fund, said it learned of the $15m funding cut the day before the Institute for Advanced Technology was announced. "The Royal Society Te Apārangi received a letter from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on the afternoon of Friday 18 July 2025, confirming a phonecall the previous evening. "The letter advised that the Marsden Fund will be reduced by a further $15 million in the 2028/29 year, in addition to the reductions already announced in the Government's 2025 Budget in May. "Separately, MBIE requested that this information be treated in strict confidence until the government publicly released it." A briefing to the Science Minister regarding the funding for the Institute was made public on MBIE's website on 6 August . The society said the $15m reallocation "effectively doubles the reductions already announced in this year's budget, amounting to a cut of about 29 percent over the 3 years from 2026/27 to 2028/29". President of the Fund professor Jane Harding said the cuts to fundamental research were likely to have "significant unintended consequences" and "will undermine the long-term potential of the new Institute". "The Society is very concerned that cuts to funding for the fundamental research supported by the Marsden Fund will undermine the long-term potential of the new Institute and other parts of the sector that apply early stage research, by significantly reducing the pipeline of knowledge at the new-discovery end of the process. "This may have important unintended consequences for New Zealand in the long term." The cuts follow a government directive last year, that saw the Marsden Fund abandon support for social science and humanities research and direct at least half of its investments to research with economic potential. A spokesperson for the Health and Research Council said it's too early to know how the loss of $11.5m per year from July 2028 - a 10 percent reduction to its investment fund - and the almost $600,000 cut to its operational budget from next July, will impact the council's work. The Association of Scientists said it's "extremely concerned" by the reprioritisation of funds and says the cuts on top of Budget 2025 mean "our major research funds are in extremely bad shape". Co-president Lucy Stewart said the reduced contract management funding likely meant there would be jobs lost at funders such as the Royal Society and MBIE. Reti said "the government has made it clear on several occasions that we want publicly funded research to focus on solving real world problems that can be commercialised". He said public good science was continuing to be supported, and the government would have more options to reinvest in the future, "with the economic gains that can be made through commercialising research and advanced technologies". Meanwhile, the final report of Sir Peter Gluckman's review of the science system is yet to be made public following its delivery to the Science Minister at the end of April. The long-awaited report was the second part of the Science System Advisory Group's review of the sector, and would include recommendations on the system's funding. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Newsroom
2 hours ago
- Newsroom
City of No Sales: What's wrong with Auckland?
Auckland's been labelled the City of Fails after its annual State of the City report which highlighted glaring issues with the city's economy, productivity, innovation, education and more. Its flagging GDP, city sprawl, reliance on cars, a lack of walkability … the condemnation goes on. But it wasn't just this one report. Other issues have been regularly highlighted this year – the sudden increase in homelessness; endless road works and construction from the City Rail Link development; gaping holes where CBD developments have just stopped, the cranes in cold storage. All this while the South Island and rural communities are showing sparks of coming out of recession in a post-Covid era. It's a tale of two different economic recoveries. The Detail looks at what's wrong with Auckland, what's right and what needs to be done to make it better. The CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber, Simon Bridges, has been pushing the Government to come to the aid of the city, where he's seeing the results of weak economic growth, a lack of investment and flagging retail trade. He says he's tried to put politics aside but yes, it's possible his former job as leader of the National Party has helped his advocacy. 'I think central government is listening,' he says. 'I think what we need to see now is just a bit of urgent action. If you think about Auckland, we've had several years of difficulty and you might say well, what's several more months? But the reality is even if things do get a bit better next year, there's a lot of pain out there. 'I've put forward some ideas of things that could be done, but I don't have a monopoly on the answers. Ultimately what we want to see happen is stuff that is going to improve the sentiment and get some spending happening, because if Auckland was a business it would be a business with a cashflow issue.' So far the Government hasn't raced in to help with any short-term stimulus. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ he would 'keep looking at what we can do' but 'Auckland-specific stimulus thing is quite difficult to do … I don't know how you'd go about doing that.' Bridges has given him a bunch of ideas, including relaxing visa requirements for Asian tourists to make it easier for them to come here, encouraging international students and letting Mayor Wayne Brown have his bed levy as a way of increasing council income and bidding for more big events to come to the city. 'We're not rich enough that we don't need that money swilling around at a time when in Auckland at least, hotel rates – occupancy and so on – is very bad. Worse than last year actually.' There are some bright lights on the horizon, including the scheduled opening next year of the long-awaited City Rail Link, and the International Convention Centre. However the infrastructure pipeline behind that is looking bleak, especially with government moves to cap rates rises, block councils from using other methods to raise money, and now the introduction of some hasty rules telling councils what they should focus on and how they should behave. The Local Government (Systems Improvement) Amendment Bill, which councils have just four weeks to submit on, tells them to stick to core services like roads, rubbish and water, and get rid of nice-to-haves like spending on cultural, community and environmental things – things the city is measured on internationally. North Shore resident Hayden Donnell is a senior writer for the Spinoff. He thinks the city is improving, and can list a raft of places in the CBD where it's lively, pedestrian-friendly and full of great cafes and restaurants. Donnell talks to The Detail about the good and the bad, including beaches, buses and bad planning rules. 'I think we probably are a little bit negative about Auckland,' he says. 'Maybe we do undersell the fact that we have this beautiful natural environment, there's a lot of places that are going really well. 'At the same time I think it's true … there are lots of areas where we could improve, where the rest of the world has caught up with this thing called 'walkable areas' and 'pedestrian malls' … that kind of vibrant shopping that you can go to Europe and experience doesn't really happen here to the same extent. 'But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we're very fortunate.' Something Aucklanders do have is Auckland FC, which has lit the city up with it's nearly all-conquering ways this year breaking A-League crowd records in its debut season. The director of Auckland Football is Terry McFlynn, who grew up in a little village in south Derry, Northern Ireland. He's lived in Perth, Sydney and London. Now he lives in Auckland. 'There's a lot of people that take a lot of pride in Auckland as a city and want to see it progress, and want to see a vibrant city, which I believe it is. 'I think the restaurants and bars and that lifestyle that Auckland can give around the viaduct and down by the harbour … you know it's second to none in the whole world in my opinion.' Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here. You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Inside the drop in serious youth offenders, and where numbers remain stubbornly high
Documents released to the Herald under the Official Information Act reveal this number was actually lower in January (934, or a 14% reduction) before rising slightly in February. This was the first monthly increase since the middle of last year, but by such a tiny amount (less than 1%) that there's no suggestion of a trend reversal. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has repeatedly trumpeted these law and order successes, though youth experts have questioned how much it has to do with the Government, given most of its flagship policies to reduce youth crime were yet to bite. The exception regarding youth crime was the boot camp pilot, which was recently completed, with seven of 10 participants allegedly reoffending. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has trumpeted the drop in victims of violent crime and the falling number of serious young offenders, though experts and officials have questioned how much this has to do with his Government. Photo / Mark Mitchell The post-Covid spike, then the post-post-Covid fall After the Herald revealed the trend reversal in serious youth offenders last year, children and youth experts suggested it was a return to pre-Covid trends. The number of serious young offenders started spiking in mid-2022, peaked towards the end of 2023, and then fluctuated before starting to drop in June last year. A post-Covid increase in youth offending was observed not only in New Zealand but in several western nations, with several contributing factors such as increased isolation and loneliness during Covid restrictions, increasingly worsening truancy over this period, and a cost-of-living crisis in the aftermath, fuelled by high inflation. February 2025 figures show the number of serious youth offenders falling to pre-Covid levels, at the start of 2020. The annual number of serious and persistent youth offenders dropped every month from June 2024 to January 2025, before rising slightly in February. Graphic / DPMC Several other indicators reinforce this downward trend: First-time entries into the cohort of serious and persistent young offenders fell to 43 in January 2025, the lowest monthly number for two years, and down from 94 first-time entries for July 2023. A 16% drop in the annual number of serious and persistent young offenders heading to court. A 6% drop in police proceedings against children and young people for the year to January 2025, compared to the previous year. There have also been drops across all age groups, though the biggest reductions have been among those aged between 14 and 17: A 16% drop in the number of 14 to 16-year-old serious offenders. A 21% drop in the number of 17-year-old serious offenders. A 9% drop in the number of 10 to 13-year-old serious offenders. The number of serious and persistent youth offenders in the Bay of Plenty, Central and Eastern districts remain higher than the baseline June 2023 figures, in contrast to Tamaki Makaurau, where there's been a 20% drop in the year to January 2025. Graphic / Oranga Tamariki Regionally, there's been a 20% fall in the number of serious and persistent youth offenders in Auckland for the year to January, compared to the previous year. Bay of Plenty, Central and Eastern are the only areas where the numbers have gone up compared to the baseline data (June 2023), though the downward trend in recent months mirrors what's been happening nationwide. The baseline figure for Bay of Plenty is 126 serious and persistent young offenders. The number jumped to 159 in August 2024, before dropping to 143 in January this year - an 11% drop compared to the previous year. 'Most of the increase in Bay of Plenty is due to increases in all offence types in Rotorua,' an April briefing from Oranga Tamariki said. Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell. Photo / Laura Smith Several initiatives have been rolled out in Rotorua to combat crime - more police foot patrols in the CBD, and an inner city community safety hub - while there's been a huge reduction in the use of emergency housing. 'Lots of locals are loving that we've secured more police in town, and the feedback from businesses who are feeling more confident has been great,' Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said. 'Rotorua is significantly better now that we're stopping emergency housing motels with support from Government. 'There was a strong connection between a proliferation of emergency housing and crime, so it's a relief to locals to see the end of this.' The region that has not mirrored the declining national trend is Canterbury, where the number of serious and persistent young offenders has been relatively steady since the post-Covid spike levelled out in mid-2023. Since this is where the baseline is drawn, the Government remains on target to meet its goal in Canterbury, even though the baseline figure is much higher than the pre-Covid one. Intensive case management teams have been established in Christchurch and Rotorua, with recruitment underway for such a team in Hamilton 'due to need', an April briefing from Oranga Tamariki said. The biggest fall in the number of serious and persistent youth offenders has been in the 14-16-year-old age group, but the percentage drop for 17-year-olds has been sharper (21% versus 16%). Graphic /Oranga Tamariki Fall in violent crime generally The Government has also been trumpeting the fall in violent crime and the positive movement towards its other law and order public service target: 20,000 fewer victims of violent crime (assault, robbery or sexual assault) compared to 185,000 such victims in the year to October 2023. The latest quarterly figure shows this target has already been surpassed, with 157,000 such victims in the year to February 2025. An April Oranga Tamariki briefing for justice sector ministers revealed other statistical trends to corroborate this trend: The rate of assault claims to ACC decreased by 4% for the year ending February 2024, compared to the previous year. The number of fatal and serious injury-related ACC claims decreased by 8% in the 12 months to April. The national rate of hospitalisations for assault decreased by 3% in 2023/24, after an increase the previous year. The number of family violence victimisations reported to police fell by 2% in the last year. The share of these involving children also fell, from about half of all family harm investigations to 39% in February 2025. As the Herald reported in May, officials speculated whether the drop in violent crime was a return to crime trends between 2018 and 2022. 'If you fit a linear trend to the number of victims of violent crime between 2018-2022 and then project that line forward to 2029, the February 2025 estimate falls very close to that line,' said a Justice Ministry briefing released to the Herald. 'This is consistent with [the] possibility there was a transitory increase in violent crime between 2022-2024 and violent crime rates are now returning to pre-2022.' More data would be needed to confirm this, the briefing said. Other advice from the Justice Ministry said the Government's tougher law and order message - including policies that were yet to be implemented at the time - might also be contributing. Officials also noted more police on the beat, which might have helped the number of violent crime victims fall in Auckland and Christchurch. But the number of victims rose in Wellington, where the police presence had also increased. Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.
