News Desk

ACT wants to cut New Zealand's 43 government departments down to 19 and reduce the number of ministers from 28 to 18. The party unveiled the plan at its 2026 Rally, with leader David Seymour framing it as a structural overhaul rather than the incremental trimming the current

Invercargill was raised to city status on March 1, 1930, not that it occasioned much in the way of fanfare. There were certainly no overbrimming public celebrations, perhaps because the Depression was biting. The public reports were nothing if not sedate: "Having obtained within its narrow borders a population

A big one this week — Cold Nights, Hot Vocals reaches its Grand Final at Newfield on Thursday night, Bieberchella takes over the Kiwi, The Langlands pulls out all the stops with Live in the Lobby both Friday and Saturday plus the Winter Blues Long Lunch, the bars are loaded with

Every school in Gore District will have new variable speed limit signs in place by July 1. The static signs — not electronic flashing ones — remind drivers that lower speed limits apply during school drop-off and pick-up times. They're required under the Land Transport Rule: Setting of Speed Limits

Judy Geary has spent 28 years volunteering at the Wyndham and Districts Community Rest Home. On Saturday, Southland District Council made it official. Mayor Rob Scott presented Geary with a Community Service Award from the council and the Waihōpai Toetoe Community Board, recognising what amounts to roughly 330 board meetings

When Michael Cockroft answers a question, sends a message or orders food, he has to do it a little differently from other Invercargill fathers - entirely with his eyes. Following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease (MND) seven years ago, Cockroft has also set his sights on storytelling and beating

More than 8,600 native plants are in the ground near Waituna Lagoon, part of a long-term push to restore health to one of Southland's most ecologically fragile wetlands. Whakamana te Waituna Charitable Trust planted 8,625 plants at Webster Block on May 8 — a 48-hectare property it

A woman repeatedly told her obstetrician she was worried about her baby's growth. Four days after he dismissed her concerns, her son was stillborn. The Health and Disability Commissioner has found Health New Zealand breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights over the care