Sport and Recreation Minister Murray McCully says the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup match schedule announced today is an excellent result for New Zealand.
“Given this is a co-hosted event with Australia, I am delighted with the quality of fixtures allocated to New Zealand,” Mr McCully says.
Christchurch’s Hagley Oval has been provisionally awarded the opening match [...]

Senior Citizens Minister Jo Goodhew is delighted that the SuperGold programme has surpassed 10,000 business outlets.
“In the last 18 months the number of SuperGold participating businesses has nearly quadrupled,” says Mrs Goodhew.
“The continued growth and success of this programme means that older people can continue to get real value from the SuperGold programme.
“Reaching 10,000 business [...]

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson announced today the introduction of SmartGate to United States and United Kingdom ePassport holders on departure.
SmartGate is Customs’ automated passenger processing system, which has been used by six million people since its introduction in 2009.
“Building on the success and popularity of SmartGate with New Zealanders and Australians, the system is now [...]

Environment Minister Amy Adams says the release of two environmental water reports paint an encouraging picture of our waterways but also underline the need for the Government’s freshwater reforms.
The Ministry for the Environment has today released indicator reports on river conditions and swimming suitability.
The river condition indicator is based on data that was collected across [...]

Health Minister Tony Ryall has today announced the appointment of Dr Jan White as the crown monitor for Southern District Health Board (DHB), following the retirement of Stuart McLauchlan.
“A medical doctor by training, Dr White has held a number of key posts including six years as Chief Executive of the Waikato District Health Board and [...]

Associate Primary Industries Minister Jo Goodhew has welcomed the announcement of a government and industry research study that could rejuvenate New Zealand’s forestry industry.
The 14-month project will study the feasibility of making biofuel from the waste product of forestry harvesting and processing. Material including sawdust, bark and harvest residue currently has little or no value, [...]

Prime Minister John Key met today for bilateral talks with Korea’s new President Park Geun-hye at the ‘Blue House’ in Seoul.
President Park took office as Korea’s first woman head of state in February 2013.
“I congratulated President Park on a successful start to her administration,” Mr Key says.
“The President is a good friend of New Zealand. [...]

Youth Affairs Minister Nikki Kaye has today announced one-off funding of $21,600 to allow 15 young people from Kawerau to take part in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Award in New Zealand and over that time more than 200,000 young people have registered for the programme.
“The Board [...]

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett today announced funding to strengthen the social sector through the new Capability Investment Resource.
“This is the first round out of a total of $31.65 million in funding, aimed at building a stronger, adaptable and more integrated social sector
The first round of the Capability Investment Resource provides $1.7 million for 233 [...]

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy today welcomed the announcement of Primary Growth Partnership funding of $6.75 million to investigate producing biofuels from forestry waste.
The ‘Stump to Pump’ Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme partners are Norske Skog, Z Energy and the Government. The [...]