Once More Around the Track
Driving-man New Zealander Scott Dixon turns twenty-one, old enough to have a drink to celebrate being the youngest-ever winner in major open-wheel racing.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Click Go the Sheilas
Kiwi shearer Kylie Hamilton, “not really a very hefty bird,” but “with a good chassis under her” matches the men in her gang sheep for sheep – one of the first women in enter this very…
Get Up Stand Up – Kiwi Cultural Laboratory
New Zealand doesn’t get the attention it deserves as a “kind of cultural laboratory for issues such as the rights of indigenous inhabitants or the equality of women”.
Dealing to the Queen
It’s only a matter of time before New Zealand becomes a republic says PM Helen Clark, stressing that it’s still not a high priority.
Financial Future Rosy
Finance Minister Michael Cullen optimistic about New Zealand’s economic future despite the global slowdown.
Writing With a Cause
Working for international NGOs appeals to journalists as “an honorable route forward”, including former New Zealand reporter Brendan Parry, now working for Amnesty International, where there is “a huge amount of recognition if you do good work”….
On the Up
A low dollar, good tourism revenues and buoyant international prices for our primary commodities are leading New Zealand towards an unexpectedly strong export-lead recovery, including a $95million current account surplus. Also, “It was a boomer,” says UBS Warburg…
Nearly There
“In principle, we are just about there. I want it and everyone wants it,” says former NZ-PM, WTO head Mike Moore, confirming his work on bringing China into the WTO has nearly reached its conclusion. …
Private Worries
New Zealand’s privacy laws touted as an example for Australia to follow in protecting the rights of its citizens and mesh better with EU legislation.
Compensation Won
International interest raised by Waitangi Tribunal ruling on compensation for Moriori descendents of survivors of the 1835 Chathams massacre.
Boyish Blair
Ex-Labourite, New Zealander Bryan Gould comments on the man who runs Britain: “When I see him on television now, he still seems very young to me – just as he was in 1983, refreshingly boyish, wet…
Don’t Bank on British Security
NZ is light years ahead of Britain for banking security. “I don’t want to sound like a homesick Antipodean”, writes Charlotte Denny, “but ever since I arrived here 10 years ago, the true awfulness of the British…
The Ghost of Rob
“A late but not widely lamented New Zealand prime minister once introduced strict currency controls. When asked if the fixed rate was not out of line with market reality, he responded that the value of the…
Top Dollars Man
The Australian Treasury head-hunted Ken Henry from Canterbury University in 1984: now he’s the head of the outfit.
Sharing the Wealth
Former New Zealand PM now WTO head Mike Moore writes on spreading the gains of free trade to the world’s least-developed countries. Also, Moore warns against bully-boy tactics.
Law Lord Retires
Lord Cooke of Thorndon, the man whose decisions changed the face of race relations in New Zealand, retires from the Privy Council. “Lord Cooke’s achievement in being appointed as a law lord on his retirement as…
Election Aid
New Zealand will provide personnel, technical and funding assistance to ensure Fiji’s up-coming elections run properly.
Global Warning
Kiwi LSE economist Robert Wade, tracks the winners and losers in the big-stakes game of globalisation and stirs debate with new thinking: “Growing inequality is analogous to global warming. Its effects are diffuse and long-term ……
Dollar Getting Burgered
The Economist’s Big Mac index indicates the New Zealand dollar is 40-50% under fair value. Burgernomics in more detail.
Reviewing the Guard
Prime Minister Helen Clark reviews the honor guard as she is welcomed to Beijing.
Oz Needs Women on Top
Australia needs to heed New Zealand’s example on female politicians, roping more talented women into mainstream parties. New Zealand’s current female dominated political scene is “light years away from Australia’s old-fashioned old boys’ game.”
Free Economy
New Zealand has the third freest economy in the world, after Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Economic Freedom in the World 2001 Annual Report.
Get Talking
Foreign Minister Phil Goff will push for a new WTO round during a continental trip, as well encouraging continued European support for East Timor.
Kyoto Controversy
New Zealand will not give up on the Kyoto Protocol states Helen Clark. “New Zealand and Japan worked very hard to get it and we hope to find a way to bring the US back into…
Anti-Terror Laws
New Zealand Parliament looks to pass new anti-terrorist laws, “strengthening New Zealand’s ability to deter and react decisively to international terrorist attacks”.
Young Diplomats
Exchange student are young diplomats, Prime Minister Helen Clark told a high school in Osaka during a speech promoting youth exchanges between New Zealand and Japan.
Peace Memorial Visit
Helen Clark, noted in Japan as the leader of a “declared anti-nuclear country”, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum during her official trip to Japan.
Trade Freed Up
Bi-lateral trade between New Zealand and Singapore grew 35% from January to February, following a free trade pact which kicked off at the beginning of the year.
Small Country with a Big Attitude
“Recent history shows that the New Zealand government, especially with Clark’s own Labour Party at the helm, has not shied away from David and Goliath-like confrontations. The feisty nation arguably made its first proper international splash…
Into Left-field
Labour hits 50%, Helen Clark does a pb of 36%. “The government is the only game in town,” says Clark.
Womanly Example
Japanese society should look to New Zealand for kick-ass high-profile female role-models suggests PM Helen Clark.
Public Interest
Once watched as the world’s greatest free-market experiment, New Zealand is leading the way in getting democracy out from under the corporate thumb says prominent intellectual Noreena Hertz.
Head for Debate
Commonwealth Sec-Gen and former New Zealand 2IC Don McKinnon indicates the next Leader of the Commonwealth might be up for debate after the Queen moves on.
Big Money Beware
The Government seeks to implement a “code of conduct” for foreign investors, leading to “higher standards of investment”.
No Free Trade Free Lunch
“There is no short cut, and we should not fool ourselves that some deal will come down from above. The only round we can launch is one that WTO members across the spectrum can identify with…
Groundbreaker Gov-Gen
“As one of the few female law students of her generation, Cartwright was barred from the Law Students association, denied access to textbooks and told she was only at university to find a husband.”…
Jumping Jackie Flash
Australia’s Sports Minister and Howard political protégé, New Zealand-born Jackie Kelly ducks the limelight after “a huge year”.
Mystified About Money
Don Brash, the world’s second-longest serving central banker, admits he finds current currency fluctuations as baffling as the next guy.
Insiders Out
The New Zealand Government is to tighten rules controlling insider trading on the stock market.
Plenty to Go Around
New Zealand’s trade surplus widens on the back of a 2.2% rise in the value of New Zealand exports.
Economic Outlook
New Zealand’s economy continues on the up; will the edge buck the downward trend of trading partners and major players?
On the Defensive
International interest in the Clark government’s announcement on defence plans to 2010 .
Hat Trick
“I think it has become so normal in New Zealand that there are women in senior positions, that I was taken aback by this attention,” says Dame Silvia Cartwright. The new Gov-Gen completes the female trinity…
Green Edge
The Greens are a presence in parliaments around the world – the revolution started in Wellington.
Canuck Farming Luck
“In 1985, New Zealand stopped bailing out farmers. Today, its rural areas are thriving. It’s a ‘brutal process,’ experts say, but it would work in Canada.”
Peaceful PM
PM Helen Clark sat on the selection committee for the Millennium Peace Prize for Women, alongside writer Alice Walker and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta.
In From the Cold
Former New Zealand PM, now WTO-head Mike Moore plans to see China a WTO member in time for the November meeting in Qatar.
Rating Well
Standard and Poors lifts New Zealand’s long-term foreign currency credit rating to stable on the back of a government surplus and declining debt burden.
Co-operation
The time is right for co-operation between India and New Zealand on food processing, IT and forestry, says Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Phil Goff.
Ambassador Goes Nutty
“I love New Zealand and New Zealand has been a warm and just an extraordinary experience,” says former US ambassador Carol Mosley-Braun, returning to the States to take up pecan farming.
Edge Unity
“There are no two countries in the world that are closer historically, culturally and economically than Australia and New Zealand,” stated Australian PM John Howard on a friendship visit, claiming a “relationship that has substance and durability…
Judgement in Paradise
Retired New Zealand Appeal Court judges Sir Maurice Casey and Sir Ian Barker lead the judicial charge for democracy in Fiji.
