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Newsroom
a day ago
- Business
- Newsroom
The science sector sounds the alarm
New Zealand's science sector, once hailed for its agility and ingenuity during the pandemic and natural disasters, is now grappling with what researchers say is a crisis of confidence, fuelled by shrinking budgets, unstable funding pathways, and policy decisions that increasingly favour commercial returns over long-term public good. Last month, a total of $212 million was cut from the science sector in this Budget, which reprioritises existing research funding towards commercially focused science and innovation. A sizeable portion goes to Invest NZ and a new gene tech regulator. The Government says it backs the sector and is prioritising industry partnerships, private-sector investment, and 'innovation outcomes with measurable economic impact.' While officials insist the move reflects 'fiscal discipline and real-world alignment,' many in the sector say it amounts to a dismantling of the research base. Newsroom political journalist Fox Meyer tells The Detail 'the scale of the cuts is not great for the sector, but it's also more about the lack of investment'. 'It's one thing to have cuts and reprioritisation, but people have been calling for more of just anything for some time now. Now, there is a lot of frustration. 'Science funding has been stagnant or declining for years now, and a decision to reprioritise stuff is not necessarily going to put money in the Government's pocket like they think.' With a focus on the bottom line, is this the Government pulling off a Sir John Key 'show me the money' moment, with a scientific bent? 'That actually goes both ways,' says Meyer. 'Scientists are looking at the Government saying, 'Show me the money if you want me to produce more money', and the Government is looking back at the scientists and saying, 'Well, you show me the money, what are you bringing in, how are you lifting your weight?'. 'That is going to be a hard one to reconcile unless the Government is willing to pony up and make the investment.' He worries the fall-out will include a 'brain drain' with our country's brightest and best scientists and researchers opting to take up positions overseas. 'My connections in the science world – plenty of them – have moved. 'The chief science adviser for the Department of Conservation has moved to Australia … that's an expert in a cutting-edge field that we have lost to a company in Australia. 'And it's not the only example of this sort of thing. We invest so much in training up these scientists, and they are very skilled scientists, and then to not give them what they are asking for and what they need, I feel it falls short of our own investment.' In fairness, it is not all doom and gloom. 'So, the positives, there is a new funding pool for Māori-related science, that's a good thing. There's the sector-wide report that has come out, which has given us a good look at the sector. We know more now, that's a good thing. And the chief science adviser has been appointed, and the panel around him has been appointed, that's a good thing there.' Meyer says the sector is crucial to all parts of New Zealand. 'The science sector is about answering questions. If you have questions, science is a method, and it is used to answer a lot of those questions … the more money that we put into this sector, the more questions we can answer. And the more questions we can answer, the more answers we can sell. 'If the Government is worried about economic growth, and they want to champion this sector, then you've got to put your money where your mouth is. 'I am going to be curious to see how they can steer the ship of science, when maybe what they are most suited for is selling the fruits of science.' 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.
India Gazette
29-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
India welcomes New Zealand's Deputy PM & Foreign Minister Winston Peters for official visit
New Delhi [India], May 29 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) extended a warm welcome to New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, upon his arrival in New Delhi for a two-day official visit. Peters just concluded a two-day visit to Kathmandu, where he was received by Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai at the airport, along with other Foreign Ministry officials. In a post on X Spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal said, 'A warm welcome to DPM & FM @winstonpeters of New Zealand on his arrival in New Delhi for an official visit. This visit reflects the momentum of high level exchanges & will further strengthen the warm and friendly ties between our two countries.' On Friday, May 30, Peters is scheduled to meet JP Nadda, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, at the Hotel Taj Mahal at 3:30 pm. His departure is scheduled for 9:55 pm on the same day. India and New Zealand have historically shared close and cordial ties. Similarities such as membership of the Commonwealth, common law practices and pursuing shared aspirations of achieving economic development and prosperity through democratic governance systems for diverse communities in both countries (NZ prides itself as one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world with 213 ethnicities officially recorded) provide an excellent backdrop for deepening the friendly ties, according to MEA. Tourism and sporting links, particularly in cricket, hockey, and mountaineering, have also significantly facilitated goodwill between the two countries. Both countries share commitments to human rights, global peace, a rules-based international order, ecological preservation, and combating terrorism. People-to-people contacts have flourished since migration from India began around the 1860s. New Zealand has approximately 3,00,000 persons of Indian origin and NRIs, a vast majority of which has made NZ their permanent home. India and New Zealand have shared significant high-level visits over the years, which have strengthened the bilateral relations. In 1968, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited New Zealand, contributing to the strengthening of diplomatic ties between the two nations. In 1986, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited New Zealand, further advancing the dialogue and cooperation between the two countries. In 2016, President Pranab Mukherjee conducted a state visit to New Zealand from April 30 to May 2; and in August 2024, President Droupadi Murmu paid a state visit to New Zealand. New Zealand has seen several high-level visits to India, including Prime Minister John Key's state visit from October 25 to 27, 2016. Other notable visits include Prime Minister John Key's visit in June 2011, Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand's visits in January 2011, October 2010, and September 2008, and Prime Minister Helen Clark's visit in October 2004. (ANI)
India Gazette
28-05-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
New Zealand Deputy PM Winston Peters to visit India from May 29-30
New Delhi [India], May 28 (ANI): Winston Peters, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, is scheduled to visit India from May 29 to 30. According to a media advisory of the Ministry of External Affairs released on Wednesday, Peters will arrive in Delhi at 3:35 pm at IGI Terminal 3 on Thursday. Later in the evening, at 6:30 pm, he will meet with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the Hotel Taj Mahal. On Friday, May 30, Peters is scheduled to meet JP Nadda, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, at the Hotel Taj Mahal at 3:30 pm. His departure is scheduled for 9:55 pm on the same day. India and New Zealand have historically shared close and cordial ties. Similarities such as membership of the Commonwealth, common law practices and pursuing shared aspirations of achieving economic development and prosperity through democratic governance systems for diverse communities in both countries (NZ prides itself as one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world with 213 ethnicities officially recorded) provide an excellent backdrop for deepening the friendly ties, according to MEA. Tourism and sporting links, particularly in cricket, hockey, and mountaineering, have also significantly facilitated goodwill between the two countries. Both countries share commitments to human rights, global peace, a rules-based international order, ecological preservation, and combating terrorism. People-to-people contacts have flourished since migration from India began around the 1860s. New Zealand has approximately 3,00,000 persons of Indian origin and NRIs, a vast majority of which has made NZ their permanent home. India and New Zealand have shared significant high-level visits over the years, which have strengthened the bilateral relations. In 1968, Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, visited New Zealand, contributing to the strengthening of diplomatic ties between the two nations. In 1986, Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, visited New Zealand, further advancing the dialogue and cooperation between the two countries. In 2016, President of India Pranab Mukherjee conducted a state visit to New Zealand from April 30 to May 2, and in August 2024, President of India Droupadi Murmu paid a state visit to New Zealand. New Zealand has seen several high-level visits to India, including Prime Minister John Key's state visit from October 25 to 27, 2016. Other notable visits include Prime Minister John Key's visit in June 2011, Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand's visits in January 2011, October 2010, and September 2008, and Prime Minister Helen Clark's visit in October 2004. (ANI)
Newsroom
26-05-2025
- Business
- Newsroom
‘It was a bombshell': Govt culls pest eradication company
'This is the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world,' Prime Minister John Key said in July 2016. 'But we believe if we all work together as a country we can achieve it.' Key announced the 'world-first' project for New Zealand to become predator free – free of rats, stoats and possums – by 2050. Conservation researcher Marie Doole, who back then worked as a senior policy analyst at Environmental Defence Society, says it was a rushed undertaking. 'John Key went and announced it, and then it was like, right, how do we do this?' By November 2016, Predator Free 2050 Ltd had been formed to funnel money into landscape-scale projects, and technological advances. Its initial budget was $28 million over four years. Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said at the time: 'This company and its leadership will be absolutely integral to the success of the Predator Free 2050 programme.' Fast-forward to Thursday's Budget, and the National-led coalition Government dropped the bombshell Predator Free 2050 Ltd was being disestablished, swept away in a cost-cutting drive. The timing of the cut was curious, as it's in the middle of the Government's strategy review of Predator Free 2050, submissions for which close on June 30. It was also announced on the international day for biological diversity. Predator Free 2050 Ltd chief executive Rob Forlong confirms he and 13 staff, and its four directors, were told the same day as the Budget. 'It was a bombshell for us and for the company itself' Jessi Morgan, Predator Free New Zealand Trust Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says closing the company will save $12.6m in operating costs over four years. 'The predator-free projects and contracts funded by the company are not affected,' Potaka says. 'We are committed to the predator-free 2050 goal.' Management of the programme will shift to the Department of Conservation, reducing duplication and increasing efficiency, the minister says. Doole, who now runs her own research firm, Mātaki Environmental, says the head-whirling nature of the announcement reminded her of 2016. 'It'd just be nice if these things weren't just dropped out of thin air.' Confusingly, there's a charity called Predator Free New Zealand Trust, which supports communities, iwi, families and individuals with advice and encouragement. Trust chief executive Jessi Morgan – daughter of entrepreneur Gareth – says it works closely with the soon-to-be-closing company. 'They're almost like a sister organisation.' Morgan found out about the company's closure on Thursday afternoon, when the Budget announcements were made public. 'It was a bombshell for us and for the company itself, and we really feel for all the people that are involved and affected by it, because it's pretty brutal to lose a job like that.' The Government has reassured the trust it isn't stepping back from the mission. Potaka says all projects contracted to 'PF2050 Ltd' will continue. Morgan says: 'That gives us a bit of hope but losing the company itself is a bit gutting.' How has the news landed with conservation groups? It hasn't sparked an outcry. Perhaps the sector is getting used to bad news, given job cuts at DoC and savings demands on the department paired with public fundraising campaigns. (The Budget revealed the department is set to reap tens of millions of dollars because of an increase in the international visitor levy, but, despite that, it's closing the Nature Heritage Fund, saving $5.2m, and reducing policy work to save $1.8m. The budget for community conservation funds will drop from $21.5m to $11.6m.) Duncan Toogood, group manager of enabling services at Forest & Bird, accepts there's an argument of administrative duplication between the company and DoC, and it wants a smooth transition. WWF-New Zealand chief executive Kayla Kingdon-Bebb says of the company's closure: 'It's an acknowledgement that the model of delivery through a Crown-owned corporation was not fit for purpose.' Folding the work into DoC isn't necessarily a bad thing, but she wonders if there are deeper cuts on the way to the wider predator-free programme. 'That's not clear to me from the Budget papers.' 'It really has captured the hearts and minds of New Zealanders, perhaps more than any other conservation initiative' Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, WWF-NZ Gary Taylor, chair and chief executive of Environmental Defence Society, was sceptical of the programme being led by a company, rather than a charitable trust. But pest management is critical, he says. 'It's got to be done well, it's got to be done at scale – and preferably at an expanding scale. And whether this new configuration will enable that or not is very much an open question.' Doole, the independent researcher, believes Predator Free 2050 Ltd's closure will ripple through conservation, with potential unintended consequences. 'There's not really been any opportunity to talk about how it might roll out – it's come as a bit of a shock.' Managing large projects will, she suggests, require a lot of effort from DoC – an organisation that's already struggling to fulfill its broad mandate, with a huge backlog of maintenance and upgrades, and chronically overworked staff. It's questionable, Doole says, whether DoC can deliver the predator-free 2050 programme more efficiently than the company. 'It's a pretty messy scenario.' Possums, introduced from Australia in the 19th century, consume an estimated 21,000 tonnes of vegetation per night. Photo: Department of Conservation Sia Aston, the department's deputy director-general of public affairs, says about $70m a year is being spent on predator free, in total, but time-limited funding under Jobs for Nature ($76m) and the Provincial Growth Fund ($19.5m) has run out. DoC's funding for predator free was unchanged in the Budget, she says. The costs of managing Predator Free 2050 Ltd's projects and contracts will be absorbed into DoC's baseline. Once the company's wound up, $2.3m will be transferred to the department 'to avoid disruption to the valued work underway', Aston says. 'As the Government's lead agency for PF2050, the additional work of funding predator-free groups, providing technical support, collaborating, and investing in innovative technologies fits within DoC's role and skillset.' Has Predator Free 2050, the company, achieved what it was set up to do? Forlong, the chief executive, says it has supported and funded some very successful projects. 'These include landscape-scale, predator-elimination projects, the creation of new tools for predator removal, and scientific research.' A 2016 Cabinet paper, outlining the 2050 ambition, said the Government agreed to four interim goals to be achieved by this year. Progress, noted in brackets, comes from the company's 2024 annual report. The goals were to: increase by 1 million hectares the area of mainland New Zealand where predators are suppressed (84 percent achieved); demonstrate predator eradication can be achieved in mainland areas of at least 20,000ha, without using fences (more than tripled to 71,000ha); eradicate all mammalian predators from island nature reserves (progress not mentioned); develop break-through science solutions capable of eradicating at least one small mammal predator from the mainland (not mentioned, but 15 new tools are helping to rid farmland of pests). 'We have come a long way, in a relatively short time,' Forlong says. 'All up, landscape-scale predator-elimination projects supported by PF2050 Ltd cover just over 800,000 hectares,' Forlong says. By the end of March, the company had contributed $92m to its 18 major projects, while communities had contributed more than $167m – but not always in cash, that figure includes in-kind contributions and volunteer hours. It's backing 18 major projects, three of them iwi-led, with 130,000ha in the 'defence phase'. 'The defence phase is when the project considers it has removed all resident animals of the target species and is defending the area against re-invasion.' In all, Predator Free 2050 Ltd has funded and supported the development of 20 new and improved predator elimination tools. What's Forlong's message to the Government, about carrying on their work? 'We are pleased that the discussion document for the new PF2050 strategy includes a focus area of 'defending the gains'.' Kingdon-Bebb, of WWF, says there's been an explosion of community-based trapping groups and nature restoration initiatives since 2016, thanks to the 2050 goal. 'It really has captured the hearts and minds of New Zealanders, perhaps more than any other conservation initiative.' She picks out Capital Kiwi Project, and Predator Free Wellington's elimination of rats, stoats and weasels from Miramar Peninsula, as notable successes which have wildly expanded bird life. (Another major recipient was Pest Free Banks Peninsula, which has cleared possums from almost 10,000ha in and around Akaroa.) 'It would be really disappointing to see the National Party back away from this initiative, which they themselves launched, purely with a view to cost-cutting. Say what you will about the company, one way or the other, the movement itself is making ground.' Morgan, Predator Free New Zealand Trust's boss, says she's a fan of a laser-focused organisation focused on pest control. The risk of DoC absorbing the work is it won't get the attention required. 'I don't completely understand the logic behind [closing the company] but hopefully there was some.' Doole, the independent researcher, says Predator Free 2050 Ltd will close as biodiversity is in deep trouble. 'We've got so much that's on the brink, and what we really needed was a concerted and strategic effort to boost nature protection.'
NZ Herald
21-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
ACC's sexual abuse liability at risk of becoming another pay equity fiscal cliff
The Public Service Commission's instruction is clear: 'Agencies should ensure pay offers are fiscally sustainable and reflect labour market conditions, including comparability with private sector roles.' That advice was ignored. Today, civil servants earn on average $10 an hour more than private-sector workers. Multiply that across 481,500 employees in the wider public sector and Google calculated the cost: $10 billion a year. Under former Prime Minister Sir John Key, the core public service numbered 39,000. Now it's 63,000. If Labour had kept salaries in line with the private sector and staff numbers to population growth, the Government accounts could be in surplus. Instead, pay ballooned – thanks to generous union deals and Labour's expansive pay equity reforms. Pay equity settlements are the result of comparing social workers with air traffic controllers, teacher aides with prison guards and librarians with traffic engineers. All 90 different public health occupations, including technicians, have received pay equity increases. When footballers can earn more than the Prime Minister, wage rates defy rationalisation and comparison. All the law can do and does is ensure people doing the same work get the same pay. Equity settlements now mean GPs can't compete with hospital wages. Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson made a reckless promise: the taxpayer would cover any pay equity deals, even for private providers. It was the mother of fiscal cliffs, promises made but not funded. No responsible Finance Minister would make an open-ended commitment like that. The incumbent Nicola Willis rightly refused. Without funding, government contractors, such as hospices, face collapse. Labour's law had to go. So why wait a year to repeal it? As I understand, Willis fears the voters won't accept the changes New Zealand needs. This week's Budget will tackle short-term issues while avoiding long-term structural problems, such as superannuation and ACC. It's a mistake. Sir Keith Holyoake, who won four elections, had a simple philosophy: 'Tell the people, trust the people.' I sat in Parliament with Holyoake. He'd claim 'there are no plans in front of the government' while outlining the very reforms those plans would later deliver. It worked. Had ministers explained last year how Labour's pay equity law was financially unsustainable, the public would have understood. Instead, there was silence, reforms rushed through under urgency and a backlash. The coalition must learn quickly. Another storm is coming. A 2023 Court of Appeal ruling expanded the scope of cover ACC provides victims of sexual abuse. The court ruled victims were entitled to compensation for loss of potential earnings from the time they were abused. Previously, they could seek compensation only from the time they sought treatment. Last year, ACC put nearly $3.6b aside to cover the current and future costs of claims related to about 100,000 existing victims who could now make claims because of the new interpretation of the law. An avalanche of claims could break ACC. Minister for ACC Scott Simpson on Friday told the Herald the Government was mulling a law change to limit ACC's cover. Simpson suggested other government agencies were perhaps better placed to deal with some claimants that currently fall under ACC's jurisdiction. If police don't prosecute, offenders go unpunished – and the rest of us pay. In other countries, perpetrators pay. Victims sue. Not here. The courts and politicians have expanded ACC far beyond what the Woodhouse Royal Commission recommended. We must ask: has ACC created a no-fault culture? Is the explosion in sexual assaults the result of that no-fault culture? Has ACC become unaffordable? ACC is not the right tool for dealing with trauma. Mental health is the job of the health and welfare systems. Why is sexual abuse trauma different? Let victims sue their abusers. Compensation should come from perpetrators, not taxpayers.
