New Zealand First has announced a package of immigration policies that would double the required residency period for citizenship to 10 years and restrict birthright citizenship.
The proposed changes include extending the permanent residency qualifying period to 5 years, implementing a 10-year welfare stand-down for non-citizens, and restricting social housing to citizens first, the party said in a release, Migrant exploitation NZ reports.
Access to radiology images and patient administration systems across central New Zealand has been restored after an overnight outage, Health NZ said on Thursday.
The disruption affected Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, MidCentral, Wairarapa, Hutt Valley, Wellington and Kāpiti, according to Health NZ, RNZ reports.
New Zealand First has proposed a referendum on capping resident visas at 20,000 per year alongside stricter citizenship requirements ahead of the November general election, RNZ reports.
Party leader Winston Peters said the planned overhaul aims to reduce non-essential migration and restrict automatic birthright citizenship exclusively to the children of citizens. The proposals also include extending the permanent residency qualifying period from two to five years and the citizenship requirement from five to 10 years.
The Department of Migrant Workers and the St. John Neumann Migrants Center signed an agreement on Thursday, Sept. 10, to protect overseas Filipino workers from illegal recruitment and human trafficking, the Filipino Times reports.
DMW Officer-in-Charge Bernard Olalia and shrine rector Rev. Fr. Ricojohn Bilangel led the signing at the department's office in Mandaluyong City, according to the report.
The partnership aims to expand information campaigns, Pre-Employment Orientation Seminars and community awareness programs for aspiring migrant workers, Filipino Times (Gulf) reports.
First-home buyers in New Zealand continue to receive financial support from their parents despite record KiwiSaver withdrawals, according to mortgage industry data.
Financial Markets Authority figures for the year to March show more than 50,000 people withdrew a combined $2.2 billion to purchase a first home, RNZ reports.
New Zealand First has announced plans to double the residency requirement for citizenship to 10 years and impose a 10-year welfare stand-down period for non-citizens under a package of immigration policies released on September 11, 2026.
The party also proposes restricting automatic birthright citizenship to children of citizens, extending the permanent residence qualifying period from two to five years, and barring working-class visa holders from seeking asylum while in the country, according to a party press release.
Police are investigating a cyber incident involving Zenith Technology after a large number of clinical trial files may have been stolen, Stuff reports.
The files reportedly contain sensitive health information, according to the same reporting. Health New Zealand has briefed Health Minister Simeon Brown on the incident, his office confirmed, RNZ Politics reports.
Migrants and academics are criticising a New Zealand First policy pledge to restrict New Zealand Superannuation to citizens from 2029, RNZ reports.
Party leader Winston Peters cited the affordability of the scheme and growing older population when announcing the policy in Hamilton on Sunday, according to RNZ.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology said it is responding to multiple cyber threats that hit several government agency websites on Monday, the Manila Times reported.
The incidents include unauthorized access to the Department of Migrant Workers website, a defacement of the Department of Labor and Employment site and a suspected ransomware attack on the Philippine Ports Authority.
In response to the DMW breach, DICT activated emergency incident protocols and deployed a joint technical team with the agency’s Management Information Technology Service to harden access controls and isolate affected systems while a forensic investigation proceeds.
For the DOLE intrusion, DICT notified the agency’s IT administrators and launched coordinated response measures, and it is also working with PPA officials to assess and contain the alleged ransomware incident.
Auckland police are warning motorists of a scam targeting drivers through fake QR codes placed on parking meters, designed to steal credit card details.
Drivers who scan the fraudulent codes are directed to bogus payment pages that harvest their payment information. Police have advised motorists to check meters for signs of tampering and to report any suspicious QR codes to authorities, Rachel Maher reports for The New Zealand Herald.
Winter pressure on New Zealand's health system has been significantly worse than expected despite extensive preparation, Auckland City Hospital's director of operations said on Tuesday.
Dr Mike Shepherd told RNZ's Morning Report that a very infectious influenza combined with low vaccination rates and illnesses like RSV had driven patient levels above historic winter averages.
A kiwifruit contractor in the Bay of Plenty has been ordered to pay $23,000 after forcing two migrant men to work up to 70 hours a week for little or no pay, Stuff reports.
One of the workers was also forced to hand back $1,500 in cash for tax, according to the publication.
Auckland Transport has warned motorists not to scan QR codes appearing on its parking machines after fraudulent stickers were found on meters in the city centre, Stuff reports. The authority did not immediately specify how many machines were affected, whether any motorists had been defrauded, or what the scam QR codes directed users to.
New Zealand First pledged to restrict New Zealand Superannuation exclusively to citizens starting in 2029 if elected, according to RNZ.
Party leader Winston Peters announced the policy at a public meeting in Hamilton on Sunday, citing growing concerns over the affordability of the retirement scheme for taxpayers, RNZ reports.
Two people were found dead following a shooting at a house on Parkers Road in the Nelson suburb of Tahunanui on Thursday afternoon, according to police.
Police said the man and the woman were known to each other, and an investigation into the circumstances of the deaths is underway following a report of a shotgun being stolen in nearby Annesbrook, RNZ reports.
Thousands of people were jolted awake by a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck near Wellington on Saturday morning, GeoNet reports.
The tremor hit at 6:34 a.m., centred 30km north-west of Paraparaumu at a depth of 26km, according to GeoNet, which described the shaking as moderate.
More than 21,000 people reported feeling the earthquake, with the strongest reports coming from the Kāpiti Coast, Wellington, Wairarapa and the top of the South Island, the Otago Daily Times reports. There was no immediate word of damage.
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