When Clara Owen first received a debt notice from Inland Revenue in 2018 she wondered if it was a scam The post IRD chases decades-old student debt for woman who never went to university appeared first on Newsroom ..read more

Loading… Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 9 May appeared first on Newsroom ..read more

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Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom ..read more

One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases to trial – the longest it’s been for a while. Lawyer Justin Graham, head of litigation practice at Chapman Tripp Photo: Supplied He says while we don’t have American levels of suing over absolutely everything here, disputes that may in the past have been resolved lawyer-to-lawyer are heading straight to the ..read more

Opinion: A continuation of the previous Labour government’s ‘China-plus’ diversification strategy The post China challenges must be managed if opportunities are to be sustained appeared first on Newsroom ..read more

Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might say, “that’s a radical proposal.” But is it? In pondering this question, the concept of ‘zombie ideas’ came to mind. These are dominant ideas that refuse to die, despite often extensive evidence of their failure – such as prohibition, which has utterly failed in all of its aims.  We’re al ..read more

In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the department’s (DoC) lower North Island region. The 2013-2014 annual report of the Chatham Islands Conservation Board said DoC had 14 permanent staff members at its office in Te One, on main Chatham Island, with another staffer ba ..read more

The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up near the end of the second of two large sewage oxidation ponds on January 29, 2019. Dave McKewen worked as an animal control officer for the Gore District Council dog pound facility at the time, which was located inside the fenced grounds of the oxidation ponds, next to the water treatment plant facility. McKewen told the inquest that between 3.30p ..read more

Despite Sir Russell Coutts vowing SailGP wouldn’t return to Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour, negotiations over 2025 are ongoing The post Coutts’ call prompts urgent board meeting over SailGP appeared first on Newsroom ..read more