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"ACT will restore a public service based on merit, need, neutrality, and results," says ACT Leader David Seymour. "New Zealanders pay for the public service to deliver better education, healthcare, public safety, infrastructure, and essential government services. This Government has gone some way to fixing it with

Southland District Council has about 32,000km of water pipes — and doesn't know where all of them are. Strategic manager water and waste Kevin Johnson made the admission at a council meeting on Wednesday, when he updated elected members on the district's water services network. Asked

Sixteen-year-old Invercargill race car driver, Nieko Scoles, has claimed the 2026 Toyota Winter Series title in his first full foray into a national level motorsport series. Scoles finished first in the Winter Series and second in the Trophy/Rookie series in an impressive campaign fought out over four rounds in

A Southland Girls High School student has taken out the top prize at the 2026 NZAS Southland Science and Technology Fair, beating 328 fellow competitors with a project that could change how we keep food fresh. Aroha Ridzuan won the NZAS Premier Science Award for Beyond the Leaf: Mānuka &

Certain areas of Invercargill such as bus stops, carparks and on the footpaths outside education facilities could all soon be smoke and vape free. The Invercargill City Council is reviewing its Smokefree policy and although the current one includes vaping as well, the wording will change to make it clearer.

Southland is holding up where most of the country isn't. Seven months into 2026, the region has recorded a 3.1% increase in average home values — one of just three regions in positive territory nationally, alongside Canterbury (1.3%) and Otago (2.8%). Invercargill is up 0.1%

Nobody will say how many private investors put their hand up to take over a struggling Fiordland airport — not the council that owns it, and not the agency it paid to run the process. Te Anau Airport Manapouri has cost Southland District Council an extra $2.1 million just to

A new $1 million fund will back community groups, volunteers and landowners fighting wilding pines across the country. Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard made the announcement Tuesday at the national Wilding Pine Conference in Southland. The money, available through the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, will be spread over two years