60 articles
The Government has rescinded October 2025 decisions that would have forced KiwiSaver and other managed funds to report private and unlisted holdings in granular categories on the Disclose Register from March 2027.
Forestry Minister Todd McClay has appointed former Bay of Plenty regional chair Doug Leeder as facilitator to advise Ministers on further support or intervention for forestry in Tairāwhiti, days after Gisborne District Council launched its own independent review of consenting and compliance.
Cabinet has pulled the additional Waitematā Harbour Crossing under direct Crown control and ordered an independent detailed business case, deferring any preferred option until funding, financing and delivery are settled against a tight balance sheet.
Christchurch City Holdings is committing about $300 million of public capital to an $821 million Lyttelton container expansion after rejecting a DP World–rūnanga operating lease, pairing seismic resilience with a prospective bet on dual large-ship berths and design capacity near 850,000 TEU by 2031.
Cabinet has agreed to progress a Ministry for Regulation package aimed at cutting residential solar approval costs from about $640 and three months to roughly $200 and six days, and legalising plug-in solar.
Westpac New Zealand has scrapped merchandise redemptions from its hotpoints credit cards after only 7 percent of points were used that way, shifting customers toward merchant-funded cashback offers that sit outside the bank’s classic points P&L.
Opportunity’s Tax Reset would raise about $24.3 billion a year from a national land value tax, pay a $19,400 Citizen’s Income, and leave roughly $4 billion of claimed fiscal headroom—set against Treasury’s $11.9 billion OBEGALx deficit in 2025/26.
An independent expert panel has granted Fast-track approvals for Genesis Energy’s 220 MWp Foxton Solar Farm, the 32nd project and eighth renewable cleared under the permanent regime.
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has opened a short public consultation on six clusters of Hamilton multi-unit housing rules after an investigation found some may raise development cost and complexity.
The Government will amend the Local Government Act 2002 so councils can update Development Contribution policies after Fast-track applications, recovering growth infrastructure costs from future out-of-sequence and cross-boundary projects as an interim bridge to Development Levies from 2029.
Labour productivity in New Zealand civil construction fell 6% between 2020 and 2024, Newsroom reported from Te Waihanga data, erasing most of two decades of prior gains as a multi-hundred-billion infrastructure pipeline looms.
The Environmental Protection Authority cut its hazardous-substances release queue by more than a third in 2025/26 and posted the highest annual decision total since 2018/19, yet missed Statement of Performance Expectations targets on complex applications.
New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals has granted Matahio NZ Onshore Limited a 10-year petroleum mining permit over the onshore Taranaki Puka field, the second such grant in eight years as national 2P gas reserves sit at a record low.
New Zealand’s National Infrastructure Pipeline has climbed to $290 billion, but only about one-third of that stock is fully funded, Te Waihanga’s June 2026 snapshot shows.
Treasury has issued a clean Consistency Accountability Statement for the Order removing disestablished Predator Free 2050 Limited from the Public Finance Act, finding no inconsistencies with the Regulatory Standards Act 2025.
Treasury has issued the final statutory tidy-up removing disestablished Predator Free 2050 Limited from the Public Finance Act, locking in Budget 2025 operating savings of $12.6 million already banked in Vote Conservation.
Inland Revenue imposed 4,607 shortfall penalties in the year ended 30 June 2025, nearly double the prior year, as Budget-funded compliance work drove a sharp rise in gross-carelessness sanctions.
The Reserve Bank has opened a ten-week consultation on a proposed prudential levy designed to recover about $209 million from banks, insurers and FMIs, with NZBA urging the charge be appropriate and well targeted.
ANZ cut 85 bank ATMs over two years and Westpac cut 54, as free cash access thins and private machines charge about $2.50 a withdrawal ahead of RBNZ’s September cash findings.
The High Court has banned convicted insider trader Peter Huljich from managing financial markets participants for seven years, closing the FMA’s Pushpay proceedings after he did not oppose the order.
An independent Fast-track panel has approved Ngāi Tahu Seafood’s Hananui open-ocean king salmon farm off Rakiura, the first aquaculture consent under the 2024 Act and a material step toward the Government’s $3 billion aquaculture revenue target by 2035.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has left fuel excise increases, an accommodation levy and a wider bank levy on the table if National wins a second term, even as the party pledges no new taxes on working people under new Budget Responsibility Rules.
NZ First leader Winston Peters, an architect of the 1990s electricity reforms, now wants the large gentailers split into pure generators and retailers as regulators push hedge non-discrimination rules from 1 July 2026 and electricity still drives household CPI.
The Crown has signed binding deals to monetise residual interest-free Chorus fibre securities for about $702 million net, a $60 million-plus premium to book value already scored in Budget 2026 capital settings.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Cameron Brewer have appointed James Miller as chair of the Financial Markets Authority for a five-year term starting 6 August 2026.
Overseas investors secured consents for more than $24 billion in New Zealand transactions through the Overseas Investment Office in the 2025/26 year, transferring 106,000 hectares of land.
Around 97 per cent of New Zealand's mineral royalty revenue in 2025 came from permits operating under legacy royalty regimes that pre-date the current framework introduced in 2013.
New Zealand's unemployment rate rose to 5.6 percent in the June 2026 quarter, the highest level in 11 years, as economist Cameron Bagrie urged greater powers for the Commerce Commission to drive competition and support higher wages.
The Government has capped taxpayer contributions for two new Cook Strait rail ferries at $1.7 billion, securing claimed savings of $2.3 billion compared with the cancelled Project iReX.
Inland Revenue has applied to liquidate three Auckland companies tied to Olympic decathlete Brent Newdick’s former Parnell hospitality venues amid a sharp rise in sector insolvencies.
New Zealand recorded 111 mortgagee sales in the second quarter of 2026. The figure stands well below the peaks recorded during the global financial crisis.
The Commerce Commission will decide by 26 August 2026 whether to clear J&P Turner Limited's proposed acquisition of T&G Fresh. The deal would reduce the number of major national fresh produce wholesalers from three to two.
Stats NZ must prepare a traditional full-population census for 2028 at an estimated cost of $300 million to $400 million after the government could not secure the 75 percent parliamentary majority required for modernisation reforms.
The New Zealand Government will maintain current Emissions Trading Scheme unit settings and extend price controls until 2031, providing longer-term certainty after recent market volatility.
Inland Revenue held $619.311 million in unclaimed money as at 30 June 2025. The total has risen each year from $446.758 million in June 2023 and $574.547 million in June 2024.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand launched its Keeping Cash Local consultation without confirmed statutory powers to impose mandatory cash access standards on banks.
Financial mentors now spend 40 percent of their time helping clients apply for KiwiSaver hardship withdrawals to cover basic living costs.
The High Court in Christchurch ordered the liquidation of six companies linked to Rangiora-based Chance Voight Investment Corporation Limited on 24 July 2026 after finding the group insolvent and reliant on new investor funds to meet existing obligations.
Treasury published the Minister of Finance’s Letter of Expectations for the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake on 22 July 2026. The document sets strategic direction for the Crown agent for the 2026/27 fiscal year.
The New Zealand Government will provide up to $60 million to Fletcher Building’s Golden Bay Cement to sustain domestic clinker and cement production at the Portland plant near Whangārei through at least 31 December 2040.
The New Zealand Government has agreed to grant Golden Bay Cement up to $60 million to keep its Whangārei plant operating and maintain domestic clinker production until at least 31 December 2040.
The government has capped taxpayer funding for New Zealand's new Cook Strait rail ferries at $1.7 billion. This delivers a $2.3 billion saving against the cancelled Project iReX.
The Treasury released its July 2026 Strengthening Investor Assurance newsletter on 17 July 2026. The update details concrete progress on five Cabinet-agreed changes to New Zealand's Investment Management System.
The Financial Markets Authority will enforce new prohibitions on price manipulation and false or misleading conduct in the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme secondary market for New Zealand Units under the Climate Change Response Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament on 15 July 2026.
The government has committed $57.7 million over four years through Budget 2026 to upgrade Stats NZ's 15-year-old Integrated Data Infrastructure.
The Government will remove nine health and life insurers from New Zealand's mandatory climate-related disclosures regime, reducing the total number of required reporting entities to 67.
The government is considering reinstating a payroll subsidy for small businesses as forecasts show tax debt reaching $10.5 billion. Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand has proposed a two-pronged approach to curb the rise.
The government will expand its AI Advisory Pilot to support 150 small businesses, up from 50, drawing on the initial $765,000 allocation from existing MBIE appropriations, Small Business and Manufacturing Minister Cameron Brewer announced on 15 May 2026.
MBIE began public consultation on 9 June 2026 on a two-layer Winter Energy Reliability Obligation that shifts dry-year back-up responsibility to large electricity buyers and generators, while penalties for serious breaches rise from a $2 million cap to a maximum of $10 million, three times commercial gain or 10 per cent of turnover, whichever is greatest, effective 2027.
Cabinet has agreed to new performance reporting requirements for funds administered by public service departments and other Executive branch entities. The rules aim to lift the quality of information on how public money delivers results.
The Government has finished recommissioning 93 million litres of additional diesel storage capacity at Marsden Point in Northland, using up to $21.6 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund to create a nine-day national diesel buffer.
The Financial Markets Authority will assume regulatory responsibility for the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 from the Commerce Commission on 1 July 2026.
The US Trade Representative has proposed 12.5 percent additional tariffs on all New Zealand goods, layered on the existing 10 percent blanket rate, because New Zealand has failed to ban imports of products made with forced labour.
The Commerce Commission has released a draft decision proposing to cap interchange fees for commercial credit cards at 0.20 per cent for in-person transactions and 0.40 per cent for online transactions.
Pausing, cancelling and delaying infrastructure projects has cost New Zealand an estimated $11.835 billion over the past 25 years, according to a new report by economist Shamubeel Eaqub.
Amanda Malu, who became chief executive of Oranga Tamariki in February 2026, will direct an extra $184 million from Budget 2026 to handle reports of suspected harm and support high-needs children.
Budget 2026 allocates $57.7 million over four years to modernise Stats NZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure after years of capacity shortfalls and outdated systems.
The Government committed $57.7 million over four years in Budget 2026 to upgrade the Integrated Data Infrastructure.
The Social Security (Mandatory Reviews) Amendment Bill received royal assent on 26 May 2025 and took effect immediately, authorising broader use of automated electronic systems for eligibility checks and payment decisions at the Ministry of Social Development.
ANZ Bank New Zealand will appeal a High Court decision that found it breached mortgage variation disclosure rules, exposing the bank to potential liability of up to $125 million across roughly 17,000 customers.
