Polytechs are trying to make more space available as record numbers sign up for apprenticeships. The number of people signing up for apprenticeships has doubled to 17,000 after the government in June made them fees free for the next two-and-a-half years. Taumaloto Tiatia has always wanted to be a plumber but feeling family pressure to […]

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 […]

First it was roaming horses. Now Ōpōtiki has its own wandering emu, who on Sunday could be seen dodging cars, kids on bikes and local law enforcement. The unusual escapade did not last long as police swooped to the rescue, escorting the bird back to its Union St paddock in the small Eastern Bay of […]

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 […]

The ASB bank’s latest housing confidence survey for the three months to October shows a net 12 percent of people thought it was a good time to buy a house, a 9 point drop on the previous quarter. It found that nearly half of respondents thought house prices would rise over the next 12 months, […]

Academics and teachers are warning a new mandatory NCEA literacy and numeracy test could be too tough for some teens. The Ministry of Education recently unveiled draft versions of new standards students will have to pass in order to get any NCEA qualification from 2023. The standards were developed after testing for the Tertiary Education […]

Up to 60 overseas shearers will be allowed to enter the country between January and March to help fill a gap in the local workforce. The New Zealand Shearing Contractors Association (NZSCA) told the government in July that keeping shearers out because of Covid-19 travel restrictions could harm farmers’ incomes and cause animal welfare issues […]

New Zealand’s migration policies might be contributing to the current poor state of national productivity, according to an economic report. A report prepared for the Productivity Commission by the Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) said the area of greatest concern was the extent of relatively cheap imported labour available to undertake low-wage, low-capital intensity jobs […]

Ōpōtiki may be a small town, but it has scored more from the Provincial Growth Fund than several large regions. Up to July 2020, Ōpōtiki was awarded $117.37 million from the government fund, more than Waikato, Southland, Otago, and Canterbury. Ōpōtiki Mayor Lyn Riesterer said the money was badly needed in the town. “Maybe we […]

It comes as two New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) staff are at the centre of the latest community outbreak, with one travelling from Auckland to Wellington after getting infected. The MOH said it had sent push notifications to the smartphones of people who used the Covid Tracer to log in at “several locations of interest” […]