The Panel with Cindy Mitchener and Scott Campbell Part 1
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Scoop
7 hours ago
- Scoop
Minister To Visit Saudi Arabia & United States For Trade Talks
Agriculture, Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Saudi Arabia and then to the United States (US) next week to meet with his trade and agriculture counterparts. In Riyadh, Mr McClay will meet with Minister of Commerce, HE Dr Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, and Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, HE Eng Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley, to advance bilateral trade and investment opportunities, including in food and agritech cooperation. The visit will also be an opportunity discuss how best to leverage the New Zealand-Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement, for which negotiations concluded last year. Mr McClay will then travel on to Washington D.C. at the invitation of United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer. He will also meet with U.S. industry representatives, think tanks, and his agriculture counterpart, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. 'Following the United States' 1 August decision to apply a 15 per cent, or more, tariff to ever country with a trade surplus, this visit will be an opportunity to discuss the impact of that decision and better understand the factors that may influence future U.S. tariffs,' Mr McClay says. 'New Zealand and the United States have a long-standing, well-balanced trading relationship, with periods where the US has enjoyed a surplus and times, like now, when New Zealand has a modest one. Overall, our trade is complementary and reflects the strength of a long-standing partnership. 'I will be seeking to understand the effect of any change in trade flows for example, if New Zealand's current surplus shifted to a deficit, and what that might mean for our exporters,' Mr McClay says. 'The US currently faces an average tariff of just 0.3 per cent when exporting to New Zealand, far lower than what we face into their market. 'It's important that we raise these concerns constructively, while reaffirming our commitment to the strong, cooperative relationship we have with the United States,' Mr McClay says. Meetings in Washington will cover wider bilateral trade, investment and agricultural priorities.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Protesters confront Resources Minister Shane Jones in Whangārei over fast-track projects
The protesters confront Resources Minister Shane Jones. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Up to 100 protesters have confronted Resources Minister Shane Jones in Whangārei in a show of opposition to two fast-track projects they say will cause long-term harm to the environment. The at times raucous protest took place in driving rain on Saturday afternoon, as party faithful were arriving for a New Zealand First meeting at McKay Stadium. Some protesters had travelled from the Bay of Islands to oppose a planned 250-berth marina at isolated Waipiro Bay, near Russell; while others came from Bream Bay to highlight their concerns about a large-scale, offshore sand-mining proposal. Both projects are currently making their way through the government's fast-tracked consenting process. Four-year-old Tahuhu-nui-o-rangi Wakefield-Bigelow at the protest. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf The Waipiro Bay Marina, if it goes ahead, will involve significant dredging and reclamation, loss of public access, and the construction of up to 250 berths - including 14 for 50-metre superyachts - as well as shops, parking and a boat ramp. Kohu Hakaraia, of Te Rāwhiti hapū Ngāti Kuta and Patukeha, said the fast-track process silenced community voices. "We're deeply concerned that nine hectares or more will be gifted to a private developer for their own profit," she said. "This has been a kai gathering spot for our whānau for generations. Our rangatira Te Wharerahi lived on the pā there. It's got a lot of cultural and environmental significance for our whole community, Māori and Pākehā." Protesters voice their feelings over two controversial fast-track projects. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Hakaraia said the fast-track system was unfair because developers had money to commission reports and hire any number of experts. All the hapū could do, with limited funds, was try to rebut their claims. "We're really marginalised and disadvantaged because we don't have the same resources as they do. It's David and Goliath," she said. Jones was unapologetic when he came out to address the protesters. He told the crowd his bottom line was that he was pro industry, and pro economic growth. Resources Minister Shane Jones addresses the protesters. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf "Politics is a contest of ideas and I accept the ideas you represent are not consistent with what I stand for, but that's what democracy is about. You have the right to protest, and I have the right to run my narrative on behalf of my leader and the party we belong we to," he said, his voice drowned out at times by chants of "Shame on Shane". If a project was rejected under the fast-track process, it should be for reasons of science, Jones said. "Let it not be on hyperbole or hysteria. Let it be on studies to do with the ocean, while also taking account of economic development. Trust in the process that's been set up. That's not unreasonable to ask," he said. Meanwhile, Bream Bay Guardians spokesman Malcolm Morrison said his community was deeply concerned by McCallum Brothers' proposal to mine roughly 9 million cubic metres of sand over 35 years. "The problems with sand mining in Bream Bay is that it's a closed sand system. Once you've taken sand out, it's not replaced by sand from the ocean, its just gone. And once that happens the beaches will start degrading." Morrison said the process of "sucking up sand with a giant vacuum cleaner" would kill or maim vast numbers of scallops. Bream Bay Guardians spokesman Malcolm Morrison of Langs Beach. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf He was hoping Jones would cancel the project's fast-track process before it even reached the expert panel stage. If that didn't happen, the group had a fighting fund ready, he said. "We will be fighting tooth and nail with our experts against anything that anyone else puts up ... and it that fails we'll be monitoring them until they want to go home." Jay Howell, who lived near the proposed Waipiro Bay development, said both Russell Boating Club and Opua Cruising Club were strongly opposed. While jobs were badly needed in Northland, the marina would not provide substantial numbers of jobs as claimed by the developers, Azuma Property and Hopper Developments, or by Minister Chris Bishop, he said. Protesters against the Waipiro Bay Marina proposal march on Western Hills Drive in Whangārei. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf "The fast-track process takes away Northland's voice to determine how Northland should be developed, and we do need development. We just need sensible development that the community is involved in. This is being imposed on us and it's being developed for the wealthy." The number of jobs cited in the marina's fast-track application had been "grossly over-exaggerated" by adding long-term jobs and short-term construction roles together, and claiming the total was valid for a 30-year period, Howell said. Kororāreka Marae chairwoman Deb Rewiri. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Kororāreka Marae chairwoman Deb Rewiri, of Russell, said her concern was with the process. "It doesn't actually give an opportunity for whānau, hapū and iwi in that whole consultation process. It's not okay, not in a democracy," she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Watch: Pro-Palestinian protests across country call on government to sanction Israel
Protesters have assembled for pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country, calling on the government to place sanctions on Israel for its war in Gaza. This week the government announced it was considering whether to join other countries like France, Canada and Australia in recognising Palestinian statehood at a UN leader's meeting next month. Demonstrators have taken to the streets in about 20 cities and towns, waving flags, holding vigils, and banging pots and pans to represent what a United Nations-backed food security agency has called "the worst case scenario of famine". Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii In Wellington, about 2000 protesters gathered at Te Aro Park, and formed a crowd almost a kilometre long during the march, an RNZ journalist estimated. One demonstrator, who carried a sign which read "Palestine is in our hearts", said the government had been "woefully silent" on what was happening in Gaza. Pro Palestinian protesters gather in Wellington on 16 August 2025 as part of nationwide demonstrations. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii It was her first protest, she said, and she intended to go to others in order to "agitate for our politicians to listen and take a stand". "I hope the country comes out in force today right across all of our regions, to give Palestine a voice, to show that we care, and to inspire action from our politicians - who have been woefully silent and as a result compliant in the genocide in Palestine." She said she wanted to see the New Zealand government sanction Israel and take a global stand against the war in Gaza. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Another protester said the deaths of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza this week was what had spurred him to join the crowd. "You know hearing about the attack on the journalists, the way they were targeting just one purportedly but were willing to kill [others] just to get their man. "It's not right." Pro-Palestinian protesters gather in Wellington on 16 August 2025 as part of nationwide demonstrations. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Others in the capital carried signs showing Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif and his four Al Jazeera colleagues who were killed by an Israeli strike on a tent of reporters in Gaza. The IDF claimed that al-Sharif was working for Hamas - something Al Jazeera has repeatedly denied. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Catch up on how it all unfolded with our blog. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
