Latest news with #Hoggard
Scoop
16-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
New Zealand And Malaysia Commit To Boosting Halal Meat Trade
Press Release – New Zealand Government Minister for Food Safety Andrew Hoggard says, Malaysia is a significant market for New Zealands premium halal meat products, with exports of more than $60 million last year. Minister for Food Safety New Zealand and Malaysia have committed to boosting trade in high-quality halal meat products. Minister for Food Safety Andrew Hoggard says, 'Malaysia is a significant market for New Zealand's premium halal meat products, with exports of more than $60 million last year.' 'Malaysia is facilitating the approval of several New Zealand halal meat premises seeking first-time access to this market, which is crucial to growing exports. 'With a population of more than 35 million people, new access will help set the stage for significant growth in the Malaysian market. 'Once approved, this will boost returns for Kiwi farmers, processors and exporters,' Mr Hoggard says. Malaysian authorities will visit the new premises to review their halal production processes as part of the approval process. This progress was announced at a Halal Forum in Wellington today, hosted by Mr Hoggard and Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Rural and Regional Development Dato' Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid bin Haji Hamidi. Dato' Seri Zahid says New Zealand and Malaysia are also working closely together to streamline the export requirements for New Zealand halal meat. 'Malaysia places significant importance on compliance with halal requirements.' 'We are working hard with New Zealand to strengthen halal collaboration, which includes refreshing the requirements for the export of halal meat to Malaysia. This is a testament to the strong relationship between both countries, and the confidence Malaysia has in New Zealand's halal processing and assurance systems,' Dato' Seri Zahid says. Mr Hoggard says the refreshed requirements will help provide certainty for Kiwi producers in areas including registration of new premises, documentation, processing, labelling, packaging, and storage. 'New Zealand remains fully committed to our strong relationship with Malaysia and supplying the best quality halal products to consumers in this important market.'
Scoop
16-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
New Zealand And Malaysia Commit To Boosting Halal Meat Trade
Minister for Food Safety New Zealand and Malaysia have committed to boosting trade in high-quality halal meat products. Minister for Food Safety Andrew Hoggard says, 'Malaysia is a significant market for New Zealand's premium halal meat products, with exports of more than $60 million last year.' 'Malaysia is facilitating the approval of several New Zealand halal meat premises seeking first-time access to this market, which is crucial to growing exports. 'With a population of more than 35 million people, new access will help set the stage for significant growth in the Malaysian market. 'Once approved, this will boost returns for Kiwi farmers, processors and exporters,' Mr Hoggard says. Malaysian authorities will visit the new premises to review their halal production processes as part of the approval process. This progress was announced at a Halal Forum in Wellington today, hosted by Mr Hoggard and Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Rural and Regional Development Dato' Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid bin Haji Hamidi. Dato' Seri Zahid says New Zealand and Malaysia are also working closely together to streamline the export requirements for New Zealand halal meat. 'Malaysia places significant importance on compliance with halal requirements.' 'We are working hard with New Zealand to strengthen halal collaboration, which includes refreshing the requirements for the export of halal meat to Malaysia. This is a testament to the strong relationship between both countries, and the confidence Malaysia has in New Zealand's halal processing and assurance systems,' Dato' Seri Zahid says. Mr Hoggard says the refreshed requirements will help provide certainty for Kiwi producers in areas including registration of new premises, documentation, processing, labelling, packaging, and storage. 'New Zealand remains fully committed to our strong relationship with Malaysia and supplying the best quality halal products to consumers in this important market.'
USA Today
01-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Former Michigan State basketball guard joining New Orleans Pelicans for NBA Summer League
Vanderbilt's AJ Hoggard will join the New Orleans Pelicans for NBA Summer League, I'm 6'3 ¾" guard averaged 8.8 PTS, 4.6 AST, 2.7 REB across five NCAA guard with positional size who led NCAA DI in AST% in 2022 and earned back-to-back PIT nods. The 2025 NBA Draft has come and gone, and players are finding their new homes, learning where they will play for the beginning of their professional career. With the next stages of careers playing out, several players with ties to Michigan State are learning their new landing spots. One high profile, former Spartan, A.J. Hoggard has found out where he will be playing when the NBA Summer League begins. The New Orleans Pelicans have signed on Hoggard to join the team for summer league, according to Draft Express' Jon Chepkevich. A 6-foot-3 guard, Hoggard spent four seasons with Michigan State, averaging 8.6 points and 4.6 assists, before spending one season at Vanderbilt, where he averaged 9.6 points and 4.6 assists with the Commodores. Five seasons in college basketball has shown the playmaking ability Hoggard has, to go along with good positional size for the next level. Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on X @Cory_Linsner
The Age
20-06-2025
- The Age
‘Towering inferno': Owner of multimillion-dollar Toorak mansion suspects blaze was deliberate
'We walked around, I came into St Georges Road and was confronted with the whole thing. It was just a towering inferno. I've never seen anything like it.' Hoggard said he was devastated when he saw the scene. 'We spent three years building it and we were within six months of finishing it. It's a very highly detailed French provincial house with dormer windows and columns. It's just disastrous. Obviously I feel gutted. 'There's only one way [the fire] could have been at that level, and that would be putting accelerants into almost every room of the house. Because it's a concrete floor, it's brickwork outside … so how the hell did it travel right through the place so quickly and get to that stage?' Police said they believed the fire was suspicious. Hoggard owns and is involved in the management of a number of construction companies including Hoggard Development, Pro Development, Progressive Australia and Sperway Development. He bought the St Georges Road property for $7 million four years ago. Hoggard said he wanted to rebuild. 'I was hoping to salvage some of it after looking at it, but I had a supervisor go down there today and he believes the whole thing's got to come down,' he said. Detective Acting Sergeant Turhan Peker, from the Stonnington crime investigation unit, told ABC radio that a dog was saved from a neighbouring property and other homes were evacuated. 'One of the neighbouring residents had a dog that was … safely rescued by Fire Rescue Victoria and given back to their rightful owner,' he said. 'Nobody was injured as a result of this.' He said utilities were yet to be connected to the home, and the property owner was assisting with the investigation. 'At this stage, I won't speculate on where the cause of the fire began. We are unsure of that at this stage. We will be having an arson chemist attend the scene to conduct further examinations.' A neighbour told The Age the owner showed up on her front doorstep with one of the firefighters just before 1am. 'My front doorbell rang … I was in bed at the back of my house, so I didn't hear anything,' said the neighbour, who did not wish to be identified. 'The owner and one of the firemen were resting on my doorstep. [The owner] said he was just devastated … he said he thought it must have been set alight.' The neighbour said the owner had hoped to be living in the home by Christmas. She said she couldn't get back to sleep after seeing the flames. 'The whole sides of our house were flashing with [fire truck] lights. It was quite terrifying to see,' she said. Toorak is Melbourne's richest suburb, filled with tree-lined streets, wide boulevards and large homes on big lots close to the city. St Georges Road, which runs from the main arterial of Toorak Road to the Yarra River, boasts some of the suburb's – and the country's – most luxurious mansions. Property billionaire Harry Stamoulis owns the neighbouring home, while entrepreneur Grant Rule paid just under $75 million for his St Georges Road mansion Blair House in 2022. Just down the street, Ed Craven, co-founder of cryptocurrency casino paid $80 million for a knockdown rebuild from David Yu. Antoinette Nido, managing director of Melbourne Sotheby's International Realty, said the rebuild would likely cost upwards of $8 million. She said St Georges Road had become the new 'billionaire's row' of Melbourne. 'I've sold seven properties on St Georges Road, and one home being built on a larger block on that strip is costing $16 million to $17 million. It is the most highly coveted boulevard in Toorak,' she said. 'Land is going for around $14,000 per square metre, and we are currently selling number 12 for an asking price of $36 million to $39 million.' There has also been a flurry of building activity on other homes on the street, with construction fencing lining the road as frequently as the trees. On Friday morning, trucks carrying construction equipment and traffic control signs trundled along the busy street.
The Spinoff
15-06-2025
- Business
- The Spinoff
Will a voluntary ‘nature credits' market really help biodiversity?
The idea is for businesses to fund conservation projects and benefit from the eco-friendly association. The government sees potential and wants to get involved, but how much difference can such a scheme actually make? Late last week, associate minister for the environment Andrew Hoggard announced the government was 'supporting the expansion of the voluntary credits nature market [sic]'. Details were scarce on what the government's role would be, but in a press release, Hoggard said, 'We want to connect those caring for the land with investors who support conservation. Nature credit markets help fund trusted environmental projects that actively protect and restore ecosystems.' The press release mentioned nine voluntary nature credits market pilots, conservation projects such as restoring exotic forestry or farmland to native bush. One of those is a partnership between Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, a Waikato wildlife reserve that has struggled with funding issues, and environmental financing business Ekos, which began in 2022. 'This represents a significant move away from reliance on traditional grant funding and towards private sector investment to support New Zealand's biodiversity future,' said Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari CEO Helen Hughes in response to Hoggard's announcement. Hoggard suggested the voluntary nature credits market would act as an alternative to the SNA (Significant Natural Areas) framework of the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity, following the government's 2024 suspension of the requirement for councils to map SNAs on private land, a move that was widely criticised. 'Farmers and other private landowners are doing their part to protect native biodiversity and want to do more. Supporting voluntary natural credits markets is a chance for the government to show them the carrot, not just the stick,' said Hoggard. 'We will test the role for government which may include setting principles, and a framework for standards, to build market confidence and ensure quality.' So what are 'nature credits' or 'biodiversity credits'? The concept is based on the existing 'carbon credits' market. Under that framework, businesses that wish to recognise the CO2 they emit into the atmosphere that is otherwise difficult to immediately address can voluntarily buy carbon credits as a contribution to climate action. The money from buying carbon credits goes towards environmental projects that remove or mitigate the release of CO2. Voluntary credits can be configured in different ways, and include nature and other co-benefits which are recognised in the price per tonne of CO2 of the credits. Biodiversity credits are similar, but instead of offsetting actions that have negative effects on the environment, they seek to provide an opportunity for businesses to finance positive environmental action. A large barrier to lasting conservation action is money. Planting trees, pest control and protecting wildlife comes at no small cost, and these efforts need to be financed somehow. Introducing: biodiversity credits. To generate a biodiversity credit, actions need to be undertaken that demonstrably improve biodiversity, and by investing in biodiversity credits and financing such activity, businesses can associate themselves with an eco-friendly image. But how much difference do biodiversity credits actually make? Many concerns with the concept of biodiversity credits stem from existing issues within the voluntary carbon credits markets. Far too often carbon credits have been sold to finance environmental efforts that have little real effect on the environment, meaning that businesses get all of the positive publicity for helping the environment, without properly addressing the negative climate impacts of their company. Some criticise carbon credits as a 'pay-to-win' system, allowing businesses to just throw money at the climate crisis and engage in greenwashing – pretending to be an eco-friendly company before actually doing anything positive for the planet. The biodiversity credits system presents a similar risk if not regulated properly. Businesses could generate credits without having a measurable impact on the environment, stagnating environmental action. In comments made via the Science Media Centre, Sebastian Gehricke, a senior lecturer in finance and director of the Climate and Energy Finance Group at the University of Otago, echoed this concern. 'The global voluntary carbon credit markets face significant scrutiny around the credibility and integrity of credits,' he said. '[As] we're still grappling with the complexities of carbon, something comparatively easier to quantify, then I am really concerned about applying similar models to nature and biodiversity, which are far more complex to quantify and very context dependent.' While Forest & Bird cautiously welcomed Hoggard's announcement, saying it was a 'useful step' that would 'help support people and organisations who wish to voluntarily invest in biodiversity', the potential for greenwashing was also a concern. 'We need to ensure that any external biodiversity incentive system has high integrity and is sustainable – that real, enduring outcomes for nature are achieved and it is not used to mask environmental damage,' said Richard Capie, Forest & Bird's group manager for conservation advocacy and policy. Gehricke was sceptical of the lack of detail in Hoggard's announcement of what the government actually plans to do. 'It appears the government is indicating potential future involvement in a market that private actors are already working to develop. This isn't so much a clear incentive as it is a signal of interest,' said Gehricke. 'Shifting focus toward a voluntary credit market, which is still in its early stages, risks diverting attention from the more immediate and proven impact of regulatory protections.' The broader policy context was important, he said, pointing to the SNA suspension referenced in the press release and other 'significant climate and environmental protection policies' the government had 'recently rolled back'. 'Making a statement of vague support for a 'nature credit market' does not compensate for the tangible loss of safeguards that were already in place, and which many experts already considered insufficient.' Similarly, Green Party agriculture spokesperson Steve Abel called the nature credits announcement 'a bandaid on a gaping wound'. 'While credit schemes and covenants are an important pathway to protecting vital biodiversity on farmland, these alone are not nearly enough to address the biodiversity crisis in Aotearoa,' he said. 'One tiny step in the right direction does not make up for the significant damage this government is doing to the environment in many ways.' He also expressed concern that 'market and corporate-driven biodiversity credits can be little more than a greenwashing tool – and there's proven to be very little demand without regulatory requirements for them'.
