Police Minister Judith Collins has today joined members of Eastern District Police, local leaders and the community to open the newly built $5.5m Napier Police Station.

“This station represents a significant investment in policing in Napier and will provide a valuable asset for the people of this city for years to come,” says Ms Collins.

“It also represents the Government’s commitment to ensuring Police have the facilities and the resources they need to build on the huge programme of modernisation they have undergone in recent years.

The wage subsidy package for quake-affected businesses in and around Kaikoura will be extended for a further eight weeks, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Social Development Minister Anne Tolley announced today.

Following on from the 14 November earthquake, the Government announced an initial wage subsidy package of eight weeks to help businesses in and around Kaikoura. Ministers committed to reviewing the package before Christmas as more information became available.

Economic Minister Steven Joyce and Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett announced today that $158,000 is being committed to a visitor economy project as part of the Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Action Plan. The Plan has a key action to develop a collaborative regional tourism framework that supports growing the visitor economy to $2.5 billion by 2030.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed news that more people are succeeding in industry training programmes.

The new report New Zealand’s Workplace-Based Learners, released today by the Ministry of Education, shows that the industry trainees grew by 11 per cent in 2015. The credit completion rate rose from 69 per cent to 74 per cent, and qualification completion rates are higher than they have ever been, at 53 per cent.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed news that New Zealand is attracting a higher level of quality international investment in three key areas.

“The first report of the Investment Attraction Taskforce shows international investors and companies have increasing confidence in the New Zealand economy,” Mr Joyce says.

“We are seeing increased foreign direct investment, increased investment in international research and development, and more commitments from migrant investors.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce today launched the Waikato Story, a regionally-led initiative to promote Waikato as a unique place to live, work, study, visit and invest.

Mr Joyce says it’s great to see New Zealand’s regions building off the success of the New Zealand Story.

“The Waikato Story provides a way to communicate the region’s value to potential business investors, workers, visitors, students and families – not just within New Zealand, but also around the world,” Mr Joyce says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has today announced a $440,000 funding package to promote international education and primary sector skill development in Southland.

The funding supports the Southland Regional Development Strategy Action Plan, which contains a number of initiatives aimed at attracting students and building the region’s skill base.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy today announced $950,000 in government support for Southland’s aquaculture industry.

Aquaculture is a key focus of the Southland Regional Development Strategy Action Plan, which aims to diversify Southland’s economy, grow the population and strengthen local business.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy today announced a $520,000 boost for Southland’s primary sector.

The funding supports the Southland Regional Development Strategy Action Plan, which aims to diversify Southland’s economy, grow the population and strengthen local business.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett today announced a $510,000 package to help strengthen Southland’s tourism industry and attract more visitors to the region.

Tourism is a focus of the Southland Regional Development Strategy Action Plan, which aims to diversify Southland’s economy, grow the population and strengthen local business.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy today announced government support for a new regional growth plan to bolster the Southland economy.

The Southland Regional Development Strategy Action Plan was developed by the Southland Regional Development Strategy Governance Group and is supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Programme, which aims to increase jobs, incomes and investment in regional New Zealand.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy are working with the Marlborough wine industry to respond to the challenges of the November 14 earthquake and assist with the 2017 vintage.

“The Marlborough wine industry faces some challenges,” Mr Joyce says. “The key impact has been damage to around 20 per cent of the wine storage tanks in the region, and the potential that a lack of storage will affect the ability of the industry to process the full 2017 harvest, which commences in around 15 weeks.”

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce has today released the 2016 Science and Innovation System Performance Report, the first of an annual series which presents data on the research outputs, impacts, funding, and overall performance of science and innovation in New Zealand.

“This report provides us with a performance benchmark against other OECD countries including the other small advanced economies – Israel, Switzerland, Singapore, Finland, Ireland and Denmark,” Mr Joyce says.

The Government has announced today that the employee support subsidy for quake-affected businesses has been extended to support specific Wellington region businesses prevented from operating for several weeks due to building damage as a result of the November 14 earthquake.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Social Development Minister Anne Tolley say the assistance package will be available to businesses that cannot operate due to cordons put in place, and are unable to move and operate anywhere else.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has congratulated WhereScape Software for winning the coveted Supreme Award at the 50th annual New Zealand International Business Awards last night.

WhereScape is a data warehouse automation software provider with customers in 26 countries, including the United States which is its largest market.

“WhereScape has had a global mindset from day one and an ambition to achieve international success. It is a resilient, flexible and innovative company with excellent growth prospects,” Mr Joyce says. 

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce has today announced a refreshed version of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) research partnership programme will open for applications in December with funding awarded in late-2017.

“After completing a full review of the programme, we expect to invest up to $25.9 million over seven years in the first round of a revised Partnerships Scheme. The refreshed scheme has moved from the previous on-demand mechanism to a more structured annual, but still very open, call for proposals,” Mr Joyce says.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Social Development Minister Anne Tolley have today announced that the wage subsidy package for small businesses in and around Kaikoura will be extended to larger businesses in the district.

“After talking with the Mayor and businesses in the area, it’s clear that we need to include the larger affected businesses as well to achieve our aim of sustaining the district through the tough times still ahead,” Mr Joyce says.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has today welcomed figures showing a growing proportion of domestic graduates are completing qualifications in STEM-related subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths).

“More people are qualified to move into jobs where STEM skills are required,” Mr Joyce says. “The Tertiary Education Strategy 2015-2019 set a target to prioritise getting industries the skills they needed.  This new report shows that the Government is delivering on that.”

The Government has announced a wage subsidy package as an initial step to help small businesses in and around Kaikoura. The package will assist those companies most seriously disrupted by this week's earthquakes to retain their staff while the district recovers.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Social Development Minister Anne Tolley say that the complete closure of State Highway One to the north and south of Kaikoura has stranded the business sectors of Kaikoura and other small towns in the area.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has opened the Growing Entrepreneurs summit in Auckland, by talking of the importance of entrepreneurs to New Zealand’s longer-term prosperity.

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce has today announced that the Centre for Space Science Technology (CSST) has been selected to become New Zealand’s second Regional Research Institute.

“The Centre for Space Science Technology, which will be based in Alexandra, Central Otago, will undertake research to explore the use of space-based measurements and satellite imagery unique to New Zealand to meet the specific needs of our regional industries,” Mr Joyce says.

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce today announced the recipients for this year’s Rutherford Discovery Fellowships.

“This programme provides great opportunities to further develop the skills of our most talented young scientists to be the future leaders of our growing science community,” Mr Joyce says.

The Rutherford Discovery Fellowships receive Government funding of $8 million per annum, and award up to $800,000 over five years to each Research Fellow. There are at least 50 Rutherford Discovery Fellows supported at any one time.

The strong and growing New Zealand job market provides great opportunities to get more Kiwis into life-long careers, say Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Woodhouse.

The Ministers announced the release today of the 2016 update of the ‘Building Skilled and Safe Workplaces’ chapter of the Business Growth Agenda, which contains 55 current and 12 new initiatives to build sustainable careers and grow productivity in New Zealand.

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce has today announced $183 million in funding for work-based training in 2017, as the Government announces a new target to have 50,000 people to be training in  apprenticeships by 2020.