Pacific Islands seasonal workers who will be allowed into New Zealand under a new border exemption will finally be paid a living wage. The New Zealand government has announced it is granting access through the border for 2000 workers under the Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme in the new year. New conditions in place as part […]

Covid-19 has done little to dampen investment in New Zealand startups. A report from the business advisory firm, PwC, shows angel investment in the six months to June was down by just 5 percent on the year earlier, with $33.6 million pumped into fledgling firms. A total of 41 deals were completed over the period, […]

Speciality dairy company Synlait will raise $200 million through share issue to strengthen its balance sheet and complete the investment required under a new partnership it has with a global company. There had been speculation the company would raise funds after it was placed in a trading halt yesterday. The placement has been underwritten at […]

New Zealand’s tech sector has defied the economic downturn unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic with strong revenue, export, labour and investment growth. The annual technology industry report known as TIN, indicates sector revenue rose by nearly a billion dollars, or by 8.9 percent this year over last to $12.7b. Financial technology (Fintech) was leading the […]

Most businesses have been found to be complying with the government’s wage subsidy scheme. The Ministry of Social Development’s (MSD) team of 100 fraud investigators has been carrying out random audits of the 759,000 applicants who received money from the $14 billion fund. Documents released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show that of […]

Businesses are being advised to get up to speed with changes to the Privacy Act, which come into effect on 1 December. The new law would require businesses, sports clubs and other organisations that collect personal data to have a privacy policy and officer in place. The new Act gives the Office of the Privacy […]

A new multi-agency campaign is being launched to promote New Zealand overseas amid border closures and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The campaign is a joint effort by Tourism New Zealand, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), Education New Zealand and New Zealand Story. Tourism New Zealand said ‘Messages from New Zealand’ […]

The government is launching an investigation into supermarket pricing to see if people are paying too much for groceries. Labour promised the investigation during the election campaign. It follows a similar study by the Commerce Commission which looked at the supply of petrol and diesel for land transport. It cost an estimated $2.5 million and […]

An organisation supporting workers from the Pacific Islands wants employers to ensure staff are well looked after as the seasonal worker scheme starts up again. The government will bring in 2000 Recognised Seasonal Employer, or RSE, workers into the country to help with harvests. Growers must pay isolation facility costs for each worker and also […]

The government has offered help to the under-pressure horticultural sector by allowing 2000 Recognised Seasonal Employer, or RSE, workers in to help pick fruit and vegetables this summer. Growers had complained that without these workers, some produce would rot unpicked. The government has however imposed strict conditions. The workers would have to be paid the […]