Fibre broadband expansion to 95% of NZ gets green light – a win for rural connectivity
The Infrastructure Commission has endorsed a plan by Chorus to expand fibre broadband to 95% of New Zealand much to the delight of rural women.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) says it is delighted by the Government’s announcement that it would invest $250,000 in the organisation.
The investment was announced last month as part of Budget 2025 and is intended to help the organisation expand its reach during its centenary year.
RWNZ started out as part of the Farmer’s Union in 1925. Since then, the organisation has gone on to provide support and connection for rural women.
The organisation seeks to empower rural women and girls by encouraging members to develop skills through leadership roles within its branches.
In a statement on the organisation’s Linkedin page, it welcomed the Government’s investment.
“We are delighted with the announcement about funding to help us expand our reach during our centenary year and continue our vital role supporting rural families and communities,” RWNZ says.
Associate Agriculture Minister Nicola Grigg says that by backing RWNZ, the Government is investing in the strength and resilience of the rural sector itself.
“This is about ensuring women have the resources and support they need to lead their communities into the next century,” Grigg says. “If agriculture is the backbone of the New Zealand economy, then rural women are its beating heart,” she says. “Rural women are at the heart of our rural economy – they lead businesses, care for families, and hold community together.”
The funding is part of a package of funding boosts announced in Budget 2025 valued at around $285 million.
Included in that package was $246 million over four years for a new Primary Sector Growth Fund; $2 million for a contestable rural wellbeing fund; $1 million additional funding for Rural Support Trusts; and approximately $36 million in funding for ongoing catchment group support.
Rural supply business PGG Wrightson Ltd has bought animal health products manufacturer Nexan Group for $20 million.
While Donald Trump seems to deliver a new tariff every few days, there seems to be an endless stream of leaders heading to the White House to negotiate reciprocal deals.
The challenges of high-performance sport and farming are not as dissimilar as they may first appear.
HortNZ's CEO, Kate Scott says they are starting to see the substantial cumulative effects on their members of the two disastrous flood events in the Nelson Tasman region.
In an ever-changing world, things never stay completely the same. Tropical jungles can turn into concrete ones criss-crossed by motorways, or shining cities collapse into ghost towns.
Labour's agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton says while New Zealand needs more housing, sacrificing our best farmland to get there is not the answer.
OPINION: Spare a thought for the arable farmer, squeezed on one side by soft global prices and on the other…
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts…