Mike Sanford

Hospices across New Zealand are getting a $12 million funding boost, with Health Minister Simeon Brown confirming the uplift will take effect for 2026/27. The increase follows a review of hospice services conducted by Health New Zealand alongside Hospice New Zealand, which found wide variation in how much government

Te Anau's lakefront is finally taking shape — and construction could start by August. The Fiordland Community Board says detailed design work on the lakefront development is progressing well, with final design approval and tendering expected to be wrapped up in time for an August construction start. It'

Tuatapere's 110-year-old railway station is open again — this time as a café, bakery and visitor hub. The refurbished station was officially reopened on Saturday, with Southland District Mayor Rob Scott, Tuatapere Te Waewae Community Board chair Anne Horrell and Tuatapere Railway and Heritage Trust member Wayne Edgerton cutting

Hospice South is opening a flagship retail store in the former Hunting & Fishing building. Reloved will consolidate the charity's existing Invercargill shops into one central location, designed to boost efficiency and make donations easier. Chief Executive Pete Thompson said the move was a strategic investment in both

Students with disabilities in Invercargill now have their own supermarket to master real-world skills. Front-Line Training opened a Mini Woolies site on Friday — a fully functional replica supermarket complete with fresh food sections, grocery shelves, working registers and Woolworths uniforms. The programme lets young people with disabilities practice handling money,

Businesses will pay $40 million less each year to accept commercial credit cards under new caps proposed by the Commerce Commission. The regulator wants to limit interchange fees on Mastercard and Visa commercial credit cards, which currently cost New Zealand businesses $125 million annually. "We expect our proposed interchange

SBS Bank has struck a technology partnership that will make it the first New Zealand bank to use a core banking platform powering millions of customers worldwide. The Invercargill-based bank announced a long-term deal with Engine by Starling, the cloud-native platform developed by UK digital bank Starling Bank. The technology

Two Invercargill Lotto players are $60,000 richer after Wednesday night's draw. A player who bought their ticket at New World Elles Road won $43,448 after hitting Lotto Second Division and Powerball Second Division. Another player at the same store won $17,369 with Lotto Second Division.