Latest New Zealand government News
UK hails first post-Brexit trade deals with Australia, New Zealand, but impact likely small
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government hailed an era of cheaper Australian wine and New Zealand kiwi fruit as free-trade agreements with the two Southern Hemisphere nations took effect Wednesday. U.K. Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said that the start of the first all-new...
US signs new security pact with Papua New Guinea amid competition with China
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — The United States signed a new security pact with Papua New Guinea on Monday as it competes with China for influence in the Pacific. Papua New Guinea's location just north of Australia makes it strategically significant. It was the site of...
New Zealand budget plan offers modest financial relief ahead of election
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Months before an election, New Zealand’s government on Thursday offered some modest financial relief to many people by making most prescription medicines free and increasing subsidies for child care and public transportation. But the government’s...
Britain to start free trade with New Zealand and Australia
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Britain's free trade agreements with New Zealand and Australia will come into force by the end of this month, the leaders from the three nations said Friday. The announcement came while the prime ministers from the two Southern Hemisphere nations are...
'Not my king': UK republicans want coronation to be the last
LONDON (AP) — On his way to be crowned this week, King Charles III will travel by gilded coach through streets swathed in red, white and blue Union flags — and past a warning from history. At Trafalgar Square stands a large bronze statue of King Charles I, the 17th-century...
New Zealand leader says he favors nation becoming a republic
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Monday he personally favors his country becoming a republic, but it's not a change he intends to push for as leader. Hipkins made the comments to reporters hours before he was due to depart for this...
New Zealand plants tree to mark coronation of King Charles
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins planted a native totara tree Wednesday in Parliament's grounds to mark the upcoming coronation of Britain's King Charles III. The ceremony was an early start to a campaign to plant 100,000 native trees around...
Ex-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to join Harvard
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who led her country through a devastating mass shooting, will be temporarily joining Harvard University later this year, Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf said Tuesday. Ardern, a global icon of the left...
Indonesia dismisses rebel claim of army deaths in Papua
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s military chief on Tuesday dismissed a separatist group claim that they had killed more than a dozen government soldiers who were searching for a New Zealand pilot taken hostage by the rebels in the restive Papua region. Adm. Yudo Margono and...
In final speech, Ardern reflects on leading New Zealand
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — In her final speech to New Zealand's Parliament on Wednesday, Jacinda Ardern described in emotional terms how she'd navigated a pandemic and a mass-shooting during her tumultuous five-year tenure as prime minister. She also told humorous anecdotes...
