Mike Sanford

People affected by February’s flooding event can still make applications to the Mayoral Relief Fund for assistance, although they are being urged to get their requests in soon. Southland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group Controller Angus McKay said the fund will close on 30 June and a decisio

The All of Government COVID-19 National Response will provide an update at 1.00 pm today. Following two days of zero new cases, Ardern and Bloomfield bring the latest update. Yesterday, the country recorded no new cases and no new deaths. Bloomfield said in yesterday’s briefing one of the cases prev

Sales of new vehicles have taken a massive hit with registrations down by 90 percent for April compared to the previous year. That is a loss of revenue of about $450m. In April, just over 1000 new vehicles were sold, compared to nearly 11,000 in April last year. Motor Industry Association chief exec

The Epidemic Response Committee is meeting with the Cancer Society, Funeral Directors Association and representatives of the palliative care sector today. Watch the meeting live here at 10am: Speaking at the meeting will be Cancer Society medical director Dr Chris Jackson, Funeral Directors Associat

The leaders of New Zealand and Australia have agreed to ease travel restrictions between the two countries as soon as it is safe to do so. Ardern yesterday announced she had accepted Australian leader Scott Morrison’s invitation to video call into his ministerial Cabinet meeting today. It was the fi

There will be no red carpet for the ILT 2020 Sports Awards this year. Like anything involving a major gathering, the iconic awards, which were first staged in 1953, will be held online this year. Presented annually by Sport Southland, the awards are owned by the Southland Amateur Sports Trust (SAST)

Invercargill City councillors agreed this week to make the increase minimal because of the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and after advice from council’s finance manager. Rates will only increase by 2% for the year starting July 2020. The council was told year 3 of the long-term plan forecast a 3

Queenstown must be seen to be open for business if it wants to continue to attract tourists to the town, its mayor says. Covid-19 has laid Queenstown’s once thriving economy flat, with a projected unemployment rate of up to 30 percent and a forecast humanitarian crisis of migrant workers. Queenstown