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State Services Minister Paula Bennett has today welcomed the Better Public Services (BPS) results which have delivered improved outcomes for people, families and businesses across every target. 

“When we set the BPS targets in 2012, we designed them to be challenging. Five years on they’re driving real improvements in the services government provides to New Zealanders to address complex and long-term issues,” Mrs Bennett says.

Police Minister Paula Bennett has announced that some provisions of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 will be amended.

“Since the commencement of the register concerns have been raised that the Act may not provide for the registration of some child sex offenders as was intended,” says Mrs Bennett. “There are 107 offenders who have been taken off the register who were intended to be on it.

Good afternoon, and thank you for coming along today. I’d like to acknowledge Chris Till and the Human Resources Institute for hosting me. 

This is my first major speech as Minister for Women and that seems quite appropriate given that tomorrow is International Women’s Day. 

Women’s Minister Paula Bennett has today expressed disappointment at the findings of new research which shows bias and perceptions about women in the workplace are what’s driving the Gender Pay Gap.

“The Gender Pay Gap has remained static for a decade now at around 12 per cent. This new research shows that the traditional reasons for women lagging behind, including the types of work they carry out, family responsibilities, education and age are not the main reasons,” Mrs Bennett says.

Tourism Minister Paula Bennett today announced $2.49 million in Tourism Growth Partnership funding for new tourist attractions in Rotorua and Southland.

“These initiatives will provide real benefit to their regions, creating new tourism offerings and more local jobs,” Mrs Bennett says.

State Services Minister Paula Bennett has welcomed an agreement with unions which will see the Government’s new pay equity principles applied for the first time.

In November the Government announced it had accepted the recommendations of the Joint Working Group on Pay Equity. The Principles were developed by the Joint Working Group on Pay Equity to make it easier for women to file pay equity claims with their employers, and assist employers in addressing those claims, rather than having to go through the courts.

An $870,000 support package will promote tourism in Kaikoura and other upper South Island districts impacted by last November’s earthquakes.

The funding will help bring in more international visitors for the 2017/18 peak season following a challenging summer, Tourism Minister Paula Bennett says.

“We remain 100 per cent committed to the people of Kaikoura and the top of the South Island following last year’s devastating earthquakes,” says Mrs Bennett.

Tourism spending over the summer high season continued to grow in most regions, providing jobs for regional New Zealand, Tourism Minister Paula Bennett says.

According to the latest Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the fastest growing region in the year to January 2017 was Nelson, which increased 14 per cent to $344 million, followed by the West Coast up 13 per cent to $495 million, and Otago up 11 per cent to $3.5 billion.

Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett says China and New Zealand have experience and expertise to share about responding to climate change.

Mrs Bennett today met with China’s top official for climate change, Mr Zhang Yong, Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, at Premier House in Wellington.

Mrs Bennett and Mr Zhang held the first Ministerial dialogue under the New Zealand-China Climate Change Cooperation Arrangement Memorandum signed by the two countries’ leaders in 2014.

Communities around New Zealand are continuing to benefit from steady growth in international visitor spending, which reached $10.1 billion in the year to December, Tourism Minister Paula Bennett says.

The latest International Visitor Survey results from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) released today shows that visitor spending is up 4 per cent over the same period in 2015.

Emitters are now on their way to paying the full cost of their carbon emissions in New Zealand, says Climate Change Minister Paula Bennett.

“As part of our ongoing work programme to reduce domestic emissions we have started the three-year phase out of the one-for-two emissions trading scheme subsidy,” says Mrs Bennett.

Police Minister Paula Bennett has today announced a new easy-to-remember phone number will be launched for non-urgent police calls.

“It’s important that people can contact the police at all times of the day and night, whether the matter is life-threatening or less serious. We want our police force to be easily accessible and for the entire community to feel connected to them,” Mrs Bennett says. 

A $503 million package which includes increasing police staff and resources across the country will reduce crime and make our communities safer.  

Police Minister Paula Bennett says the Safer Communities package announced today by the Prime Minister will provide an additional 1125 police staff over the next four years, including 880 sworn police officers.

A new marketing campaign starting this week to attract Australians to Northland is an excellent approach to encouraging tourists to visit the region, says Tourism Minister Paula Bennett.

The campaign – ‘Every day a different journey in Northland’ – is part of Tourism New Zealand’s regional dispersal strategy and acts as a test to refine techniques for marketing less visited regions.

Nearly every region across New Zealand experienced strong growth in tourism spending this summer, Tourism Minister Paula Bennett says.

According to the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the fastest growing regions in December were the West Coast and Taranaki.

In the year to December the fastest growing region was Nelson, which increased 15 per cent over the year to $340 million, followed by West Coast, up 13 per cent to $488 million and Otago up 12 per cent to $3.5 billion. 

Tourism spending continued to grow throughout most regions in the year to November 2016, providing a solid base ahead of the high summer season, Tourism Minister Paula Bennett says.

According to the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), tourism expenditure grew in most regions over the year to November 2016. The fastest growing region was Nelson, which increased 15 per cent over the year to $337 million, followed by Otago (up 14 per cent to $3.5 billion) and West Coast (up 11 per cent to $475 million).

Some of New Zealand’s most inspiring women have been recognised in the 2017 New Year’s Honours list released today.

Olympian Valerie Adams, Maori educator Georgina Kingi and former Wellington Mayor Fran Wilde were all made Dames Companion and were among 81 women to receive a New Year Honour. Minister for Women Paula Bennett says all New Zealanders will be celebrating their achievements.

Acting Tourism Minister Paula Bennett today announced $199,500 in funding for public restroom facilities at Springs Junction following the Kaikoura quakes.

“This popular rest stop is facing increased pressure from re-routed traffic,” Mrs Bennett says.

“Following the Kaikoura earthquakes, traffic on State Highway 65 south of Murchison and State Highway 7 between Reefton and Waipara has increased significantly.

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett has welcomed the release of the Ministry of Social Development’s Purchasing Strategy for social housing, saying it gives providers direction and certainty.

The strategy, released today, gives detailed information for providers and outlines the ministry’s plans for extra social housing over the next four years.

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says a new development in Auckland is a fantastic example of community housing providers and agencies working together to house vulnerable families.

The new 15-unit apartment block for transitional housing in Glen Eden is the result of a collaboration between Housing New Zealand and providers VisionWest, Monte Cecilia and Airedale Properties, with support from LifeWise.

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.

Changes to the way community housing providers are funded are paying further dividends as much-needed new supply comes on stream in Auckland, Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says.

More than 50 new social housing places have been created in Papakura and Mangere through funding changes made by the Government in which community housing providers (CHPs) are able to access Income-Related Rent Subsidies.

Compass Housing Services and LinkPeople will lease new one- and two-bedroom properties from private owners for social housing for up to 10 years.

More than 150 households have taken up the offer of financial help to move from Auckland to other regions, improving their own living arrangements and freeing up valuable social housing for others.

In June, the Government introduced the grant of up to $5000 for relocation costs to help people who wanted to move from Auckland but otherwise could not afford to.

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says the uptake of the relocation grant has been so successful that more funds would be allocated to the scheme.

Tourism spending in the regions was again strong in the year to October 2016, reflecting the Government’s commitment to support regional tourism growth.

According to the Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), tourism expenditure grew in all regions over the year to October 2016.