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Customs Minister Maurice Williamson has welcomed the discovery of $72 million of methamphetamine pre-cursor drugs at the Ports of Auckland.

Detectives from the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand, working with Customs Officers, yesterday intercepted 248 kilograms of pseudoephedrine and 16 kilograms of pure ephedrine when a shipping container arrived at the port.

Intelligence gathered from the 18 month long Operation Ghost, which terminated this month and saw $100 million in pre-cursor drugs seized, was critical in identifying the importation.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson announced today that super-yachts, yachts and other small craft visiting New Zealand can now stay for up to two years without paying Customs charges.

All goods coming into New Zealand, including yachts, are subject to duty and GST. Visiting yachts and small craft are granted a temporary entry to exempt owners from paying these charges if they aren’t used commercially or sold, and depart the country within the time period.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson today announced Headlong Peak, in Mount Aspiring National Park, is to be renamed Mount Tewha.

The decision confirms a recommendation made by the New Zealand Geographic Board. The move will see the name Headlong Peak assigned to its true location, an unnamed feature just north-west of the soon-to-be renamed Mount Tewha.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson today announced his decision to assign Lake Te Kōhua, Mount Tūwhakarōria and Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains as official names for three alpine features in Central Otago.

The decision confirms recommendations made by the New Zealand Geographic Board.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of a process that began in 2011, when I rejected the place name proposal Te Kōhua Peak.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson today announced more than two-thirds of the structures part of a review into buildings with non-ductile columns have been cleared or excluded.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment led review seeks to establish if there are any buildings with similar design flaws to the Canterbury Television Building, which collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake and killed 115 people.

Police Minister Anne Tolley and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson have praised their agencies following the largest ever ContacNT precursor drugs bust in New Zealand, in which over 330 kg of the Class B drug has been seized.

Police estimate it would have been used to produce up to 100 kg of methamphetamine, with a street value of $100 million.

$20 million of assets in property, cars and cash were also seized, and 24 arrests made, as 250 Police, OFCANZ and Customs officers today executed 40 search warrants in Auckland and Waikato.

Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson has welcomed today’s release of a large amount of 2013 Census data by Statistics New Zealand.

“The information, which includes national highlights, regional data and information about Māori, will help shape how public money is spent over the next few years, including on health, education and transport. 

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson and Disability Issues Minister Tariana Turia today announced terms of reference and timeframes have been set for a review into building access for disabled people.

The review will look at how the Building Act and Building Code’s provisions relating to access for people with disabilities are being implemented when buildings are first constructed or altered.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson today announced changes will be made to pool safety laws to save more lives.

“Amendments to the Fencing of Swimming Pools Act 1987 are expected to prevent a further six children drowning in home swimming pools every 10 years.  It will build on the success of the 1987 Act, which reduced the number of drownings in home pools from about 100 every decade to about 30 now.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson today announced mariners can now access free online navigational charts in a new, and more widely accessible, format as the government continues to make more publicly held information available for reuse.

Land Information New Zealand today made its Raster Navigational Charts available in an unencrypted format that’s more widely supported by software manufacturers.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson says the passing of the Building Amendment Act 2013 today will lead to a more productive, efficient and effective building industry.

The Act has been amended to introduce several new measures to protect consumers and encourage the building and construction sector to ‘build right first time’, delivering good quality, affordable homes.

The Construction Sector Report launched today highlights the huge wave of work in the years ahead for the construction sector.

Speaking at the launch of the report today Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson says the sector needs to be ready to ride this wave and make sure it has the skilled workforce it needs.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today announced the Customs and Excise Act 1996 will be reviewed.

“The current Act is restrictive and constant changes in the border environment mean that legislative amendments continually have to be made to authorise Customs’ use of new technology and operating methods at the border.

“The review is an opportunity to develop a flexible legislative framework that can adapt to changes at the border and technology, and allows minor changes to be made by regulation rather than legislative amendments

New Zealand has been ranked 4th in the 2013 Global Open Data Barometer, released in London by the World Wide Web Foundation and Open Data Institute.

“This is a real coup for New Zealand.  The Barometer is the first survey of global trends which ranks 77 countries on how they release their public data and the benefits those initiatives have for citizens and the economy,” says Mr English. 

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson today announced Catherine Taylor has been appointed an acting member of the Building Practitioners Board.

Ms Taylor’s appointment, which follows the death of board member Bill Smith in September, is for a term of one year and 10 months.

“Catherine Taylor has held senior management positions in both the private and public sector, including five years as Maritime New Zealand’s chief executive. Her governance experience will be invaluable to the Board,” Mr Williamson says.

Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson says provisional data shows 117 same-sex couples were married in the September quarter.

The first same-sex marriages in New Zealand took place on 19 August and Statistics New Zealand has today released the number of same-sex marriage registrations through to the end of September.

“Marriage registrations of female couples (61) just exceeded those of male couples (56). Forty-seven of the 117 marriages were couples who transferred their civil union to marriage.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson says great progress is being made to improve the health of Lake Wanaka through efforts to rid it of a noxious weed.

Lagarosiphon, also known as South African oxygen weed, chokes waterways, smothers native aquatic plant communities and it establishes quickly if left untreated.

Weed control at Lake Wanaka is carried out by a lagarosiphon management committee, led by Land Information New Zealand.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says four Customs cash detector dogs have found more than $1 million in undeclared or concealed cash during their first three months on the job.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson today announced a project to gather national gravity data and to improve the accuracy of the New Zealand Vertical Datum 2009 has entered a new phase, with initial aerial surveying more than half complete.

Used to reference heights in New Zealand, its offshore islands and the continental shelf, the NZVD2009 was established using historical gravity data that wasn’t collected with the intent of using it for height system definition.

Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson says a new methodology to help decision makers prioritise areas for hydrographic survey will make inroads toward improving maritime safety in the South-West Pacific.

Land Information New Zealand has developed a hydrography risk assessment methodology that will highlight areas of comparative risk.

It was applied in a Vanuatu pilot in 2012. It highlighted areas of concern where expertise and assistance is needed to ensure compliance with international conventions, and to build in-country capability and capacity.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson tonight announced a partnership involving a Christchurch building company and Italian architects and engineers has won the Breathe – New Urban Village design competition. 

The winner, a consortium consisting of Riccarton-based Holloway Builders in partnership with architects Anselmi Attiani Architettura and engineers Cresco, was named at an event at Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson and Disability Issues Minister Tariana Turia today announced a review has begun into building access for disabled people.

The review will look into how New Zealand Standard 4121, which outlines how people with disabilities can access buildings, aligns with the Building Code and how the Code more generally represents the needs of disabled people.

Customs Minister Maurice Williamson says results from a trial of the next generation of SmartGate technology will now be analysed by Customs.

A prototype called SmartGate Plus, which eliminates the need for a ticket kiosk and makes self-processing at the border a one step process, was installed for four months at Auckland International Airport for departures.

“During the four month trial almost 38,000 people used SmartGate Plus and feedback received from travellers was overwhelmingly positive.

Police Minister Anne Tolley and Customs Minister Maurice Williamson today congratulated the Police and Customs for a $2 million drug bust.

Just over two kilograms of methamphetamine, $20,000 and vehicles were seized and five people arrested in the Wellington region yesterday after a joint operation between Police and Customs.

The methamphetamine, which has a street value of $2 million, came from Hong Kong concealed in LED lighting panels.

“There is no place for these despicable drugs in our communities,” says Mrs Tolley.