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Environment Minister Amy Adams today announced funding of $80,000 for a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council project to develop clear criteria for assessing and identifying outstanding water bodies.

An outstanding water body is one that is exceptional in some way. It may be in relation to one particular feature or it may have a number of outstanding features, such as recreational, ecological or landscape features.

Statistics Minister Nicky Wagner is encouraging community groups to make use of information released today on 143 ethnic groups.

Statistics New Zealand today released detailed statistics on 143 of the 300 ethnic groups recorded in the 2013 Census.

“Ethnic group profiles provide in-depth and valuable information about the groups that make up New Zealand’s population and show us how they are changing over time.

Environment Minister Amy Adams today announced funding of $468,000 for a facility in Napier which turns construction, demolition and industrial waste into compost.

The funding has been awarded to BioRich from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund.

“This money will help BioRich expand its facility to accept waste streams such as bark, wool dust, paper towels, plasterboard and tannery waste,” Ms Adams says.

Calls by Forest & Bird for the Department of Conservation to stop Bathurst Resources' preparatory mining work on the Denniston Plateau because of smoke coming from an old mine shaft are ill-informed, Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith said today.

Plan changes to enable three new salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds were signed off today by Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith at a function at the Marlborough District Council with Mayor Alistair Sowman and representatives from NZ King Salmon.

Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye today welcomed the announcement by Foodstuffs that it will adopt the Health Star Ratings on its Pams and Budget product packaging.

“Having the support of one of the biggest food retailers in the country is a good sign of industry confidence in this new food labelling system,” Ms Kaye says.

Prime Minister John Key has today announced $100 million in new funding will be made available over the next four years to accelerate cycleways in urban centres.

Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee says an Urban Cycleway Investment Panel will investigate opportunities to invest in urban cycleways that would expand and improve the cycling network.

Mr Brownlee says National recognises that commuting by bike has health benefits and takes pressure off other transport networks, but says cycleways in our largest centres are fragmented and offer varied levels of service.

Associate Minister of Tourism Todd McClay has welcomed the announcement that the world's biggest mountain bike event, Crankworx, is coming to Rotorua and said this will be celebrated by the New Zealand tourism sector.

Born in Whistler, British Columbia, Crankworx is a multi-disciplinary mountain bike festival celebrating endurance, supreme flow, monster air and vertical-dropping riding.

More than 750 international riders and competitors will participate in this event in Rotorua over five days in March 2015.

Health Minister Tony Ryall today announced Te Oranganui has been selected to lead a $2 million anti-obesity initiative in Wanganui which will help families improve their health.

Mr Ryall shared with news with locals while out and about in Wanganui this morning with Whanganui MP Chester Borrows.

“Healthy Families NZ is a new $40 million initiative which aims to improve people’s health where they live, learn, work and play in order to prevent obesity,” says Mr Ryall.

Housing Accords in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty have been agreed by Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith and local mayors Ross Patterson and Stuart Crosby today that will provide an additional 1175 new homes and sections over the next two years.

“They key to improving housing affordability in the Bay of Plenty is land supply. These new Accords will enable an additional 1000 homes and sections in Tauranga and 175 homes in the Western Bay of Plenty to be built over the next two years by freeing up the supply of land,” Dr Smith says.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has announced the establishment of a working group to develop a ‘roadmap’ on how to meet the future capability needs of the dairy processing sector.

“This was a recommendation of the independent Government Inquiry into the Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) Contamination Incident last year. It found that our food safety regulatory model for dairy is among the best in the world, but also recommended improving people capability to strengthen the food safety system.

Commerce Minister Craig Foss today welcomed the modernisation of New Zealand patent laws.

The Patent Regulations 2014, under the Patents Act 2013, was today published in the New Zealand Gazette. The legislation comes into force on 13 September and replaces the Patents Act 1953.

“This legislation will bring New Zealand patent law into the 21^st century with a more consistent, high quality patent examination process,” Mr Foss says.

A group of volunteers dedicated to clearing wilding trees around Flock Hill in upper Waimakariri is to receive a major funding boost, Associate Conservation Minister Nicky Wagner announced today.

Waimakariri Ecological and Landscape Restoration Alliance will receive $309,000 over the next three years from the Department of Conservation’s Community Conservation Partnership Fund.

“Wilding trees are now the most significant threat to biodiversity and infrastructure in the 60,000 hectares of public and privately owned lands in the upper Waimakariri Basin.

A programme focused on improving behaviour in schools is having a positive impact in classrooms across New Zealand, Education Minister Hekia Parata says.

The findings, released today, are from an ongoing evaluation into the Positive Behaviour for Learning School-Wide (PB4L) programme. The evaluation is being carried out by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER).

“More than 500 schools around the country are involved in the PB4L programme, which helps schools to improve student wellbeing and increase educational achievement,” Ms Parata says.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says the rebuild programme for Christchurch’s damaged horizontal infrastructure has reached the halfway point.

“The repair and rebuild of the city’s roads, bridges and underground services is essential in the city getting back on its feet, and people having confidence in the services to their homes and businesses,” Mr Brownlee says.

“To be halfway through is great news for everyone, not least for road users having to navigate extensive roadworks every day.

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says more than 5000 Crown-owned properties have now been cleared from the flat land residential red zones in greater Christchurch.

“Insurers and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) have now cleared 5133 of the 7030 properties on the flat land whose former owners have settled with the Crown – just over 73 per cent of the task,” Mr Brownlee says.

Police and Corrections Minister Anne Tolley has announced that the country’s first sex offender register, the Child Protection Offender Register, is to be introduced to help keep communities safe.

A new wharf designed to accommodate growing visitor numbers on Rangitoto Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf/Tikapa Moana was formally opened today by Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has welcomed the announcement today of the remaining members of the Taxpayer’s Simplification Panel.

The Taxpayer’s Simplification Panel membership is:

Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Jo Goodhew has today announced that $502,000 in grants will be given to community groups reliant on volunteers.

The Support for Volunteering Fund is distributed annually to organisations which demonstrate that they are working to promote and support volunteering.

“Over a million New Zealanders are involved in some form of voluntary work in their communities. These volunteers are the backbone of our communities,” says Mrs Goodhew.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce has congratulated Palmerston North City Council and Spearhead Manawatu on successfully securing investment from the Ports of Auckland, the Port of Napier, and IcePak, for a new Inland Port and intermodal freight hub for the city and the region.

"This investment is a strong vote of confidence in the region's vision for Palmerston North to be a freight and logistics hub for the lower North Island,” Mr Joyce says.

Environment Minister Amy Adams today announced a new initiative which identifies and ranks priority sites for clean-up under the Government’s contaminated sites remediation programme.

Ms Adams also announced immediate funding of nearly $2.5 million to remediate two of the contaminated sites identified as a priority.

Identification and management of contaminated sites are the responsibility of local and regional councils, and remediation is generally at the cost of the landowner.

Associate Conservation Minister Nicky Wagner today announced Conservation Volunteers New Zealand and West Coast branch of Forest and Bird have been awarded Community Conservation Partnership Fund grants.

Conservation Volunteers, which is a not for profit charitable entity, has been awarded $195,000 for a coastal amenities engagement programme.  It aims to develop community engagement in projects in Buller and Grey Districts.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett today officially launched a Community Finance pilot scheme that will see StepUP low-interest loans available in Manukau and Waitakere.

“Community Finance will help people with borrowing for assets they need for employment, education and a better quality of life,” says Mrs Bennett.

“This is another way we are helping families to help themselves become financially independent, by offering sustainable borrowing that avoids spiralling debt.”