新西兰英语 28 The Budget

Today, the Minister of Finance, Dr Michael Cullen, announced his budget. Every year, at about the same time of year, the Minister of Finance announces a budget which tells us how the Government plans to spend our tax money in the next year and in the

新西兰英语 36 IVF Sex Selection

A report to the government suggested that New Zealand could allow parents to choose the sex of their children who are born using IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). This is a process where the egg from the woman is fertilised by sperm from the man outside

新西兰英语 50 Olympic Successes for NZ

Saturday was a golden day for New Zealand at the Beijing Olympics. New Zealanders won two gold medals, a silver and two bronze medals. The first medal was won by the rowing twins, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell. This is their second Olympics go

新西兰英语 55 Emissions Trading Scheme

The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) could become law later this week or early next week. This scheme is a plan to cut greenhouse gases by making businesses pay for their carbon dioxide emissions, that is the CO2 which they put into the air. There will

新西兰英语 46 National Party Conference

The National Party held their annual conference this weekend in Wellington. This was an important conference because it was their last one before the elections in November. The National Party had not said very much about their policies before this we

新西兰英语 65 National Party’s Tax Cuts

On Monday, the present government had to open the books before the election to show how much money the country has. Just as we expected, it was bad news. Last year the books showed the government had more money than expected but things are very diffe

新西兰英语 67 The Economy

The economy continues to be a major concern globally but also to New Zealand. We are especially affected by what happens in Australia, partly because our major banks are Australian owned. In the last few days, the US and European countries have moved

新西兰英语 69 Inflation

New Zealand inflation is up by 5% for the year ending September 30th. This is the highest increase for 18 years, but Australia is reporting the same increase. The Governor of the New Zealand Reserve Bank has to keep inflation between 1% and 3% so thi

新西兰英语 71 Forestry

The forestry industry in New Zealand is in trouble. Forestry has always been one of our major export industries but in recent years, it has been declining. Nineteen sawmills closed this year, two in the last month. New plantings of trees reached the

新西兰英语 72 Southerly Blast

A southerly blast swept through the south of New Zealand yesterday, bringing snow, sleet, hail and freezing temperatures. Southland had the worst of the front as it headed north, with up to 30cm of snow in Fiordland, 15cm in inland Southland and up t

新西兰英语 74 National Party Wins

It was not a surprise last night to learn that the National Party won the election. The telephone polls had been telling us for a long time that National would get around 45% of the vote and Labour about 34% and that was exactly right. National has 5

新西兰英语 77 John Key’s New Cabinet

John Key announced five new Cabinet Ministers yesterday from the minor parties. Today, he announced another 23 from the National Party. This makes 28 Ministers. Bill English will be Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Infrastru

新西兰英语 78 Shadow Cabinet

Now that the National government has chosen the Cabinet ministers, Phil Goff, Leader of the Opposition, has chosen his Shadow Cabinet. These are the people who shadow or mark the government Cabinet ministers. For each department, there is a minister

新西兰英语 81 Universities want more money

The Vice-Chancellors Committee which represents the heads of the eight New Zealand universities, is asking the government for more money. They say that funding has not kept up with inflation and they need at least another $230 million on top of the $

新西兰英语 87 New Government

Note that there is no script for this recording. However, these are some of the words and phrases you will hear: swore an oath of allegiance to the Queen, alphabetically, Governor-General, speech from the throne, representative of the Queen, on behal

新西兰英语 80 Official Election Results

The official results for the election were announced on Saturday. 270,000 special votes were counted and all other votes were re-counted. Special votes were votes by people who were not in their own electorate on Election Day. Some of these people we

新西兰英语 368 Miners still trapped

There is still no news about the 29 miners trapped in the Pike River coal mine. The company is still testing the air quality every half hour but it is still not safe to send in a rescue team. They are also drilling a hole 150mm diameter into the tunn

新西兰英语 323 Fishing boat sinks

Early this morning, a fishing boat sank about 700km off the coast of Dunedin. 51 men were on board. 45 men in life rafts were rescued by another fishing boat nearby but three bodies were found. An air force plane searched for three more men today but

新西兰英语 253 Young drivers

The government is planning to change some of the driving rules for young people. This could happen by the end by this month. Some of the changes concern young drivers. The plan is to increase the driving age from 15 to 16. We are probably the only co

新西兰英语 366 MPs to lose travel perks

Now the Speaker of the House, Dr Lockwood Smith, has decided that all MPs and their partners will lose the right to have cheap international holidays. This is called a perk. Most workers do not get perks as part of their job. Most workers do not get