New Zealand health officials are expecting legal action when the new End of Life Choice Act comes into force on 7 November this year. Ministry of Health officials have highlighted “complex and sensitive elements” to the End of Life Choice Act and incoming assisted dying regime in a briefing paper to Health Minister Andrew Little. Read more
The Government considered immediately lifting benefits by $50, a benefit boost would have more than doubled the number of children pulled out of impoverished households. This would have also doubled the immediate cost of the benefit increase, pushing it above $1 billion. Ultimately the Government opted to spread the benefit increase over two Budgets, lifting Read more
A Muslim group says the submission process on proposed hate speech laws is dysfunctional. Today is the last day for submissions on the proposed changes to the Human Rights Act which would protect more groups from hate speech. Federation of Islamic Associations spokesperson Abdur Razzaq says the group hasn’t been given enough time to put Read more
New legislation could see parents prosecuted for preventing their children having hormone treatment. It’s understood both criminal and civil offences will be introduced. Although the details are not yet clear, Justice Minister Kris Faafoi has signalled his desire to pass the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill before February next year. The bill responds to Labour’s Read more
On Saturday 31st July, the 27th anniversary of the death of Pā Wiremu Te Awhitu SM was celebrated. Te Awhitu was New New Zealand’s first Māori Catholic priest. The celebration took place at Te Awhitu’s home marae, Whānau Maria, Mary’s Family, at Okahukura, Taumarunui. Bishop Steve Lowe DD, Bishop of the Hamilton Diocese, was main Read more
Research from the University of Otago shows the constantly changing nature of family structure and household composition for young people today. It also describes the life-time family structures, living arrangements, and residential mobility of 612 15-year-old New Zealanders and considers the differences in experiences of children born to younger and older mothers. All the study Read more
A new government project is investigating how to locate empty ‘ghost homes’, find their owners, and encourage them to bring them back to being occupied. Stuff can reveal the Government has allocated $500,000 towards testing initiatives that aim to encourage owners to fill their empty properties. The initiatives are being run under an initiative called Read more
Austrian kidnap survivor Natascha Kampusch says she was treated “like a shaved Nazi victim” during her eight-year captivity in an underground cell and forced into hard labour while being given little food. In a new interview, which appeared on Austrian broadcaster ORF earlier this week, she recounted how her captor Wolfgang Priklopil starved her and Read more
Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is leading a new five year programme – He Oranga Taurikura – A Thriving Life. The programme works with local communities in the Pacific and South East Asia. It aims to continue to reduce the impact of poverty with a focus on girls and women, refugees and migrants, and indigenous peoples. Read more
Skyrocketing spending saw Cabinet Ministers (pictured) thinking of asking churches to help pay for the Royal Commission into historic abuse in care. Official documents reveal the myriad of options the government also considered using artificial intelligence to analyse potentially highly sensitive documents. The aim was to cut staffing costs. Instead of passing on the expenses Read more