Michael Cullen was Deputy Prime Minister for nine years under the Labour government led by Helen Clark. He has announced that he will leave Parliament at the end of April. Like Helen Clark, he has been an MP since 1981. He was Finance Minister during...
Just two weeks ago, the Royal Commission recommended that Auckland should have one City Council for the whole of Auckland instead of eight smaller councils. See March 27th 2009. Today the government agreed that there should be just one council of 20...
Sometimes we hear that the economic problems in New Zealand are not so bad. On the other hand, we heard of more job losses this week. The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) will cut 70 jobs. The TEC is a government business which gives funding and c...
Before the elections, the National Party promised to spend money on a fast broadband network if the Party was elected. Now the government has decided to spend $1.5 billion to make this happen. They hope that private companies would spend another $1.5...
Last night at 8.30pm on 28th March 80 countries took part in Earth Hour by turning off lights and other things which use electricity. The idea began in Sydney in 2007. Last year, Christchurch was the only New Zealand city to observe Earth Hour but th...
Helen Clarks position as Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was announced yesterday. This position is number three in the United Nations. Helen Clark was one of 10 people on a short list. She was chosen because of her excellent q...
Auckland has 1.4 million people and eight councils. Cities the same size in other parts of the world have only one council. A Royal Commission of three people has had the job of deciding what to do about Aucklands seven local councils and one regiona...
The 7th World Potato Conference was held in Christchurch this week. This is the first time it has been held in New Zealand. A large number of scientists from many different countries attended the conference. New Zealand is a good country to host a po...
Yesterday the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) was fined by a court for unsafe practices which caused the death of seven people last year. See January 22nd 2009 Six students and a teacher from Elim Christian College were killed while...
A 30 year old Samoan woman gave birth to a baby on a plane from Samoa to New Zealand. The baby was found by cleaners after the plane landed. It was in the toilet rubbish. The mother was found waiting at immigration because she had lost her passport....
