新西兰英语 425 New Earthquake Recovery Dept

The government has set up a new department called the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority or CERA. The job of CERA is to rebuild Christchurch. CERA will exist for just five years. It will have a staff of 50, mostly from other government departme

新西兰英语 396 Queensland recovering after cyclone

Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone, hit the coast of northern Queensland yesterday. Winds up to 290 km per hour caused damage to houses, yachts in harbours, power lines, trees and crops. Heavy rain caused flooding. High waves washed over the land. Th

新西兰英语 07 Youth Policies

This week, the leaders of both main political parties gave their plans if they win the election later this year. John Key, the leader of the Opposition (the National Party) talked about young people and crime. The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, talked

新西兰英语 02 Food Miles

The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, went to Germany after the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference. In Germany she made a speech about the environment and what New Zealand is doing to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Even though New Zeala

新西兰英语 63 High School Issues

The PPTA is holding their annual conference this week. PPTA means Post-Primary Teachers Association and it is the union for high school teachers. Discussion today was about the Labour governments plan, called Schools Plus, for keeping all young peopl

新西兰英语 06 Southern Institute of Technology

The Tertiary Education Commission (the TEC) announced the funding for polytechs and universities for the next 3 years. The TEC is the government organisation responsible for tertiary institutions like polytechs and universities so this is government

新西兰英语 221 Indoor Dairy Farms

Three companies want to build big dairy farms in the centre of the South Island called the Mackenzie Country. This is a beautiful part of New Zealand with lakes and mountains. It is near Mt Cook, Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau. If you drive t

新西兰英语 93 Anniversary Days

Monday 19th January is Anniversary Day for Wellington and Southland. Each province has an Anniversary Day holiday to remember the day that the first Europeans arrived there to settle and live there. In Southland, the Anniversary is a celebration of w

新西兰英语 393 Auckland Grammar School and NCEA

Auckland Grammar School, which is a state boys high school, has decided that NCEA does not suit their boys. NCEA means National Certificate in Educational Achievement. In Year 11, students do Level 1 NCEA, in Year 12 they do Level 2, and in Year 13 t

新西兰英语 179 Seven New Cycle Tracks

The government said that work on the first seven cycle tracks which were promised earlier this year will start in the summer. This will cost $9 million. Another $41 million will be spent later. Together these cycle tracks will be called The Great Rid

新西兰英语 43 Money Matters

This week, a major finance company, Hanover Finance, announced it is in trouble. They have decided to freeze all investor funds. This means that people who have invested money in their company cannot take it out again at the moment. The company hopes

新西兰英语 64 Small Political Parties

It is not just the American Presidential elections in early November. Four days after the Americans have chosen their new President, we will vote but we cannot choose our leader. We can only vote for one person in our local area, our electorate, and

新西兰英语 23 ANZAC Day (April 25th)

This is ANZAC day, a day that New Zealanders and Australians remember all those soldiers who died in wars in the last century. ANZAC means Australia New Zealand Army Corps and it was the name the Australian and New Zealand soldiers gave to their grou

新西兰英语 35 Living Together

This news item is about co-habitation, couples who live together without being married. Our newspapers reported this week on the National Marriage Project report from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in the United States. Why are we inter

新西兰英语 52 End of the Beijing Olympics

The Beijing Olympics ended on the same high note as it began. The opening and closing ceremonies were amazing, finishing with a large display of fireworks that went on and on. During the Games, everything worked well too. That included the accommodat

新西兰英语 53 Winston Peters

On Friday, Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First Party, announced that he was stepping down from his job as Minister. He said this is a temporary move because the Serious Fraud Office is checking on money that some people said they gave him

新西兰英语 47 The Drug Herceptin

There has been a great deal of discussion and controversy about funding the drug Herceptin for women suffering from breast cancer. It is a very expensive drug made by the Roche company. Pharmac is the organisation which buys drugs and provides them f

新西兰英语 59 Global Financial Problems

Financial problems in the US have been going from bad to worse. Last week the US Government took over the mortgage investment companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On Monday this week, Lehman Brothers, the 4th biggest investment bank, went bankrupt.

新西兰英语 66 Fonterra Donates to Chinese Charity

The New Zealand dairy company, Fonterra, which has a 43% share in the Chinese SanLu dairy factory, is donating $8.4 million to charity in China. SanLu baby milk formula was contaminated with melamine. Other baby milk formula has also been contaminate

新西兰英语 68 Labour Promises Student Allowances

Last Monday, Helen Clark talked to the students at Otago University and promised that the Labour government would pay all university students an allowance in the future. It would happen over the next four years. In the past, students at university re