New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she needs to be able to raise areas of concern with Chinese leader Xi Jinping without the country being on the receiving end of retaliation. The comments come ahead of her expected meeting on Nov. 18 with Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum…

The Christchurch shooter who mass murdered 51 people at two mosques in 2019 has filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence. The Wellington Court of Appeal confirmed the shooter, Brenton Tarrant, filed his appeal. The date of hearing has not been set. Tarrant pleaded guilty to 92 charges in 2020: 51 counts of murder,…

The New Zealand Labour Party’s popularity has fallen to the lowest level since it came into government, according to a new Newshub-Reid research poll. Labour dropped 5.9 percentage points to 32.3 percent, while its opposition, the National party, had edged up 0.2 points to 40 percent. For the minor parties, the right-leaning ACT hit 10…

The New Zealand (NZ) government has granted communities greater powers to set their own rules around alcohol sales, but wider alcohol law reform is expected to take time. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she wasn’t comfortable with the way alcohol was currently marketed in the country. However, given how “embedded” alcohol advertising and sponsorship was…

The New Zealand government has taken on the proposal by the farming sector for a separate pricing system on greenhouse emissions, which includes paying tax on the methane produced by livestock, most notably its cows and sheep. In June, the He Waka Eke Noa, a partnership between agriculture leaders and the government, proposed that farmers…

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for a global ban on nuclear weapons and condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in her statement to the 77th session of the United Nations (U.N.) general assembly. “The only way to guarantee our people that they will be safe from the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons is…

Former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said he does not see the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “the aggressor” and he had opposed pressure to be more outspoken on the regime. “I just don’t see them as the aggressor that everybody else sees,” he told The Australian. “It’s a very business orientated relationships and…

The New Zealand government has announced another crime package aimed at tackling intensifying youth crime by expanding youth engagement and employment programmes, which has been met with renewed accusations of Labour being “soft on crime.” Police Minister Chris Hipkins and Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni revealed that the government would be supporting thousands more participants…

New Zealand government has shelved its proposal to impose the goods and services tax (GST) on KiwiSaver, New Zealand’s pension fund, less than 24 hours after it was put forward, following strong backlash from the public, the opposition party, and the fund sector. Introduced to parliament on Tuesday evening, the tax was intended to “even…

Australian journalist Avi Yemini was denied entry to New Zealand (NZ) by the immigration office while on his way to report on a protest in New Zealand’s capital on Aug. 23. Immigration NZ told 1News that Yemini had failed to meet the “good character” test for immigration requirements due to a past criminal conviction. “The…