Like other MPs, the ACT Party leader David Seymour was surprised at the way his ammendments scrapping safe zones around abortion clinics got over the line last night; and the Opposition Leader, Simon Bridges, is defending his party’s policies unveiled earlier this week, intended to cut red tape.
1.The head of New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Matt Whineray, says its value has dropped by roughly five percent but he’s urging people not to worry. The fund which is worth about $42 billion exists to help pay for future Government superannuation.
2.A public health scientist is warning the Covid-19 outbreak will need to be managed for a couple of years to prevent community spread and the risk to hospital resources.The Ministry of Health maintains the risk of a community outbreak that is still low.
3.A New Zealand couple on a trip of a lifetime to Italy are effectively confined to their hotel in Rome on the first day of an unprecedented, nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. The Government has told all Italians to stay at home and avoid all non-essential travel until 3 April in a bid to slow Europe’s worst outbreak of the coronavirus.
4.The Opposition Leader, Simon Bridges, is defending his party’s policies unveiled earlier this week, intended to cut red tape. Under changes announced on Monday, the National Party would axe plans to limit rent rises to once a year and new heating standards for rental properties.
5.Under-fire charity Quit Group will wind up in June once it has spent the $2.7 million it has squirrelled away, it says. RNZ revealed on Monday the trust’s four board members have continued to receive $18,000 each per year, even though the charity ceased to operate in 2015.
6.Like other MPs, the ACT Party leader David Seymour was surprised at the way his ammendments scrapping safe zones around abortion clinics got over the line last night. MP’s narrowly voted down the first part of Seymour’s proposed change to the Abortion Legislation Bill that would have deleted the definition of a safe area.
7.A specialist in far-right groups is describing a leaked security manual for a white supremacists group is deeply troubling. Paul Spoonley, a Professor of Sociology at the Masser University has reviewed a 12 page document, leaked from someone described as a disgruntled member of the far-right group Action Zealandia.
8.Democrates in another six US states are voting on who they want to take on Donald Trump in November’s Presidential election. The former Vice President, Joe Biden and the left wing Senator Bernie Sanders are the two serious contenders left in the contest.
