The Southland Times

Take it slow

When the weekend rolls around, it’s worth slowing down in the kitchen for something rich and warming, especially as the weather cools. These recipes from Tony Tan’s new cookbook Hong Kong Cult Recipes (out on Tuesday, June 2) are the kind of dishes...

BUDGET 2026

■ Government expecting early surplus: Health, education and defence the big winners ■ Luke Malpass analysis: A modest Budget for straitened times ■ Dangling a fiscal carrot to councils ■ Billions for capital projects ■ Cartoonist’s view: Sharon...

Talks begin on potline restart

Rio Tinto is preparing to open another potline at the New Zealand Aluminium Smelter at Tiwai Point after six years of it being idle. The company and Contact Energy have signed a non-binding letter of intent for a power purchase agreement to support...

Mayors split on amalgamation

The Local Government Commission will move into phase two of its investigation into the reorganisation of Southland’s councils, with the province’s leaders still unable to reach a consensus on how the region could move forward by amalgamation. The...

Cuts ‘huge blow’ to regions

About 8700 jobs are set to be lost from the public service over the next three years, and the impact will likely be felt beyond Wellington. Ahead of Budget 2026, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced the government’s plan to slash the public...

Oysters shine at festival

Hundreds flocked to the 2026 Bluff Oyster and Food Festival on Saturday to enjoy a combination of Bluff oysters, food, beverages and music. In opening the festival, chairperson John Edminstin thanked all those who had come, including those who bought...

Top bio teen ready for world stage

Central Southland College student Alex Brinkworth has earned a place in the premier world competition for high school biology students. He has made the four-member New Zealand team for the International Biology Olympiad in July. The hard-won...

Banking on creativity at city’s newest art corner

Art facilitator Campbell Trewin is hoping the “most visible, accessible corner” of South Invercargill will become a vibrant community art hub. “South Invercargill needs autonomy for its own people to grow its creative projects,” he said, pointing out...

Visa processing times bite

Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) processing times for international student visas is making it “very difficult” for the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) to show financial sustainability, its chief executive says. International student numbers at...

Lumsden leads pub revival

Lumsden has been a town with no beer – but the taps are finally flowing again as the community and visiting tourists raise a glass to the revival of its historic hotels. The change is part of a larger trend across the region where communities are...

Farm plan times extended

Ten days out from the deadline, the Government has extended the time frame for Southland farmers to submit freshwater farm plans so they can benefit from an updated national system later this year. The extension has been welcomed by Federated Farmers,...

Bold sculpture set for Elles Rd

A striking new statue conceived by late Invercargill-raised artist Alan Waters is planned for the site where imposing trees have previously stood, on Elles Rd near the Tay St intersection. It will be the latest donation by the Invercargill Public Art...

$1.5 billion wind farm planned for Hokonuis

A proposed wind farm with up to 83 turbines across 11,000 hectares of farm and forest land in the Hokonui Hills west of Gore has been unveiled. Project founder and director Ross Copland said the Hokonui Wind Farm had successfully completed the...

Subdivision in Manapouri taking shape

Just over half of the 33 sections available at a residential subdivision being built in small-town Manapouri have so far sold. PGG Wrightsons residential and lifestyle salesperson Angela Monteith said the sections had been on sale for two years and...

Park sale option set aside

The testy question of whether up to 37 hectares of Invercargill’s Donovan Park – the fenced-off farmland portion – should be sold for housing development has been thrown into the mix of the city council’s upcoming long-term plan...

Members face conduct probe

The Gore District Council is divided after six councillors filed Code of Conduct complaints against two new councillors who have been outspoken about council spending. But Gore district mayor Ben Bell has said he was not privy to the details of the...

Judge slams man’s drug-fuelled indecent act

A Southland man indecently exposed himself to a tourist and left a trail of blood at three commercial properties during what his lawyer called a “drug-fuelled frenzy”. Hannon Andrew Hollis, 33, was sentenced in the Invercargill District Court last...

Hananui tops growth wave

Ngāi Tahu’s planned Hananui open-ocean salmon farm is heading to be the first cab off the rank amid a major programme of aquaculture initiatives proposed for the south. But it still has a lead-in time of five years. Regional development agency Great...

Athletes prepare for hot conditions

Training in track pants, hoodies, and even jackets has become normal for a group of Southland athletes who will represent New Zealand at the Oceania Championships in Australia. The aim of the extra layers was to prepare Bodhi Trevor-Smith, Connor...

Number plate scanning technology explored

Invercargill parking enforcement could soon include number plate recognition technology, as the city council aims to “move with the times”. The proposed changes follow news last year that Invercargill parking wardens sometimes worked in pairs...

Amalgamation ‘inevitable’

Amalgamation of Southland’s councils is increasingly likely, with Invercargill mayor Tom Campbell saying the region’s current four-council structure will not last. “I think amalgamation is inevitable,” he said. The comment comes as councils across...

Barnes harvest stops early BLUFF

The main player in the annual Bluff oyster harvest in Foveaux Strait is again ending its season early. Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters manager Graeme Wright said the last day its boats would harvest oysters would be May 22, less than three months into the...

The science to stronger hair

Hair damage is a common struggle. For those of us who love to colour, style, or use heat tools, the battle against split ends, breakage, and dullness can feel endless. That vibrant new colour or perfect blow-dry can sometimes come at a cost, leaving...

South Island title dedicated to champion’s mother

After 20 years in cue sports, Tony McMullien has claimed his biggest achievement on the pool table, dedicating the win to his mother, who is living with cancer. “It’s big for me to win one while she’s still around,” he said. The Invercargill Working...

Insurance declined for old church

A96-year-old former church in Southland has had its insurance claim declined, after it was damaged by gale-force winds in October, so its owners have started fundraising to pay off the repair work. The Waikawa church was blown off its piles by the...

Mates ready for season opening morning

Gore man Brendon Bain will be among the tens of thousands of residents up before dawn tomorrow to kick off the game bird season. He will be heading down to the maimai with three of his mates — something they did six or eight times a year, he...

Man reunited with stolen ‘pride and joy’

A beloved blue Chrysler Valiant, stolen outside a Gore address on Sunday morning, has been recovered. Matt Mowat was a teen when he bought the vehicle 24 years ago. For a large chunk of those 24 years, the car stayed in a shed gathering dust, but in...

ICC prepping for fuel crisis

The Invercargill City Council has set up a team to plan responses to the impact rocketing fuel prices and supply disruptions may have on its operational costs, capital projects and contractor agreements. Dubbed an Incident Management Team, its role is...

Supermarket to carry on legacy under new brand

After 30 years as a SuperValue, Invercargill’s Plaza supermarket is becoming a Fresh Choice. The Yarrow St store is currently one of just six remaining SuperValue stores in New Zealand as Woolworths Group Limited retired the brand. SuperValue Plaza...

Design: It ‘must fit budget’

Invercargill mayor Tom Campbell is hunting for reassurances that priorities and monitoring will control the budget for Te Unua Museum of Southland’s multimedia exhibition space. Councillors have been promised timely updates on actual and anticipated...

Own a Corner of Clyde

Retreat, Retire or Realise Returns in Clyde TITLED SECTIONS READY TO BUILD ON NOW STARTING FROM $395,000

Beyond the game: 125 years of winning

A small, well-loved and tight-knit rural rugby club in Southland is set to celebrate 125 years of existence this week. The Wyndham Rugby Club, located about 35km from Invercargill, will hold its jubilee from today until Sunday. Jubilee president...

Red flags and paper trails

Scott O’Donnell would have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to be on KiwiRail’s board. But he missed large chunks of its meetings and quit after only eight months. When O’Donnell was appointed to KiwiRail’s board in July last year, a substantial...

‘Tears of joy’ as dotterel numbers rebound

1080 aerial drops on Stewart Island have been labelled a “game changer” in the fight to save the endangered Southern NZ dotterel (pukunui) from extinction. Flock counts at Southland beaches revealed the population had grown by 52%, from 105 last year...

Major climate report out

A future of warmer, wetter weather for Southland, carrying the risk of severe weather events that are more intense, frequent, prolonged – perhaps “unprecedented” – has been depicted in a new regional climate assessment. The Earth Sciences NZ study...

Defend the Dotterel

With little more than 100 left in the wild, the pukunui/ Southern New Zealand dotterel is facing the very real threat of extinction. Once widespread across New Zealand, these critically endangered wading birds are now restricted to small flocks on...

150 odd ways to die in Southland

Turns out Southland is a bit of an elephants’ graveyard. Among roughly 150 accounts of mortality and monuments comprising author Lloyd Esler’s latest book Dead and Buried in Southland, it’s not only humans who feature. At least five elephants have at...

Ready for Riversdale’s Field of Fear?

Are you ready to be scared? Creepy creatures, shadows amongst the stalks and creepy encounters will transform the McClintock Contracting Maize Maze into the Riversdale Field of Fear for one night only tomorrow. Set in 1.9km of winding tracks in a...

ICC turns back the clock

The controversial new clock tower planned for Invercargill’s Wachner Place has been ditched, with city councillors agreeing that it would be an expensive ornament, illtimed for hard times. But a new setting should be found for the clock mechanism...

Foveaux Hotel in Bluff goes on the market

The owners of Bluff’s renowned Foveaux Hotel are looking for more than just a bean-counter buyer. The search, real estate agent Darryl Brown said, was for someone interested not only in how the dollar calculations stacked up, but also ready to...

Clock tower design back before ICC

Construction options for Invercargill’s contentious Wachner Place clock tower, ranging from $1.21 million to $1.98m, will go to city councillors today. The council last July budgeted $1.98m for the restoration and repositioning of the clock closer to...

Climbers in ‘remarkable’ survival story

Two climbers were rescued on Friday following three nights stranded on a steep mountainside in unpredictable Fiordland weather. The duo were due to return on Tuesday and survived without food in precarious conditions, sheltering in a bivvy that was...

The ‘very cool’ moment for man tracking a spacecraft’s moon flyby

Invercargill’s Dr Kerry Clapham is riding a high, and no wonder, he’s just tracked a Nasa spacecraft as it disappeared behind the Moon. Clapham is part of a team at Invercargill-based company SpaceOps NZ, which is tracking the crewed Orion spacecraft...

Sharks coach hoping for a sellout crowd BASKETBALL

Jonathan Yim wants to see a sea of orange for the Southland Sharks’ season opener tonight. They host neighbours the Otago Nuggets in the opening round of the New Zealand National Basketball League at Stadium Southland, with tip off at 7pm. With...

Fumes killed man: Coroner

Carbon monoxide poisoning from a petrol generator killed Invercargill businessman Rick Murrell as he slept in his boat on Lake Manapouri, a coroner has found. Murrell, 60, and his friend Scott Allison were on an overnight trip on Murrell’s boat,...

1000 ducks to bob along for Rotary fundraiser

Cash prizes are on the line as 1000 rubber ducks prepare to race at Rotary’s Give Kids a Chance Duck Race fundraiser on Saturday. Jointly held by the Invercargill North and Sunrise Rotary Clubs, only 100 tickets remained available for the event, which...

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Honourable efforts at southern cemeteries

Volunteers have been on their hands and knees in acts of respect for thousands of southern service veterans as Anzac Day approaches. A team of about 20 RSA members, Verdon College students, Fulton Hogan staff and the New Zealand Remembrance Army...

The truth hurts

The Drama (R16, 105 mins) Directed by Kristoffer Borgli Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett The set-up for The Drama is laid out in the trailer, and it goes something like this. Emma and Charlie are a likeable and affluent couple of early 30-somethings. They...

Move over, Yellowstone

The numbers are staggering. There’s 68,000ha of land, ranging in altitude from 300m to 2000m on the tops. There are 36,500 ewes, 10,000 hoggets, 2200 cows, 4400 heifers, and 4500 deer, 110km of graded gravel roads, 22 staff, and 110 working...

Dermody cleared of breach

Invercargill deputy mayor Grant Dermody’s colleagues have cleared him of any material breach of the council’s code of conduct. Following a formal complaint by councillor Ian Pottinger, a $33,000 investigation by lawyer Michael Garbett of Anderson...

Mall owner seeks support

South City Mall owner Sam Lee has had a gutsful: every other weekend there’s more damage to his property, he says, whether it’s a stone thrown through a window or a recycling bin set alight. He’s calling for council and police support to help curb...

Council staffer a ‘dickhead’

An Invercargill city councillor has been found to have breached the council’s code of conduct after allegedly directing an offensive comment at a staff member during a Rugby Park meeting. The complaint, lodged by Cr Ian Pottinger, related to a...

Tech giant defends ‘AI factory’

It started with not one, but two ambitious projects: a 6000km submarine cable connecting New Zealand and Australia, and the country’s biggest data centre. However, Datagrid’s planned data facility at Makarewa, north of Invercargill, has been criticised...

Opposing Sams confident

Can Sam Downing and his Appleby team-mates make it a fifth straight triumph for their club, or will Invercargill Old Boys captain Sam Nicholson and his team ruin the party? The question will be answered when the two Sams lead their sides in the...

Festival promotes food resilience, skills RIVERTON

As the cost of living rises, this year’s Riverton Heritage Harvest Festival offers a chance to learn resilience and self-reliance. On this weekend, the festival includes more than 40 workshops over two days covering everything from making sourdough...

Beckenridge didn’t fake murder-suicide: Coroner

John Beckenridge was vindictive, desperate and self-obsessed enough to commit murder-suicide, but not intelligent, resourceful or well prepared enough to fake it, coroner Marcus Elliott has decided. More likely than not, on March 20, 2015, a...

Crash leaves one dead, four injured, and trail of damage

Tyre marks, shards of glass, a small amount of car debris and shorn-off street signs were evident along the Kelvin St footpath yesterday after a fatal crash at the weekend. A person was killed in the single-vehicle crash, shortly before 3am on...

Booze pay later services could be cut

Invercargill liquor outlets would be banned from accepting buy now, pay later apps under a change recommended by a city council hearings panel. Government legislation allows for local licensing committees to add rules alongside the nationwide...

Farm smarts get southern AgriKids teams ready to face big-city rivals

A team of Northern Southland College students cannot wait to stick it to their Auckland counterparts at the Young Farmers AgriKids national championships. Lucian Webster, 11, Fletcher Duff, 12, and Slade Thwaites, 12, worked superbly as a team to...

Power agreement secured

Confirmation of a power agreement for the planned AI factory near Invercargill means Southland will have two of the hungriest electricity using plants in the country. Datagrid New Zealand has announced the signing of a 140-megawatt long-term power...

Rāhui in place for lake

A rāhui restriction on fishing and recreational activities has been placed on part of Lake Manapouri in Southland following a tragedy on the lake at the weekend. A 42-year-old Gore man fell off a boat about 6pm on Saturday and has not been seen since....

Pressure on for rates increase below 5.6%

Environment Southland staff have told councillors that with more accurate budgeting than in the past a 5.6% rates rise is achievable for the coming financial year without reducing services. In response, the councillors have told them to report back on...

RACING High hopes Hello Hayley hoofs it for crown

Hello Hayley has been hoofing it lately, so much so that she has a chance to become the second horse in two decades to win the Southern 3YO Guineas Series Triple Crown. Winton-based horse trainer Sophie Price and Hello Hayley have their eyes set on...

Retired couple out of pocket

A retired Invercargill couple say they are thousands of dollars out of pocket after a painter accused of a pattern of poor workmanship left New Zealand. Graham and Raewyn Stiles said they hired Level Up Decorators to paint the outside of their house...

Fresh crop

WEEKEND KITCHEN It felt almost to the day that autumn arrived this year, ushered in by a cold snap from the south. It was quite a shock to the system and almost instantly I noticed the change in light and the leaves turning. I am a fan of autumn,...

Family support after crash

The two people who died in a car crash in rural Southland were a mother and daughter from a Nepalese family making a better life for themselves in New Zealand. Anita Pathak and her daughter Dikshika Pathak, 19, were being driven towards their...

Bluff oyster boost

Bluff oysters might look like “rocks on rocks”, but they’re New Zealand’s only native reef-building shellfish, and they’ve been pushed to the brink, with less than 5% of their population remaining. Now, scientists at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson...

O’Donnell quits early GOVERNANCE

KiwiRail director Scott O’Donnell will step down from the KiwiRail board of directors on March 24, cutting short an appointment more than two years ahead of schedule. Board chairperson Suzanne Tindal said a new venture will require him to spend more...

Vladimir

Having pulled double duty in her last small-screen outing, Rachel Weisz’s latest bid for Emmys glory involves her directly addressing the audience. House of Cards-style soliloquies are a regular feature of Netflix’s eight-episode Vladimir, Weisz’s...

Bullish turnout at A&P show

The 2026 Southland A&P Show was a success, with highlights in the showjumping and sheep sections on Saturday. But as rain poured down on Invercargill’s Donovan Park yesterday, a few events had to be cancelled. Southland A&P Association president...

Hospital theatre idle for 119 days

One of Southland’s four operating theatres has effectively been out of action for 119 days – almost four months – over a sixmonth period. This comes as the hospital is only hiring enough theatre nurses to replace those it is losing with the...

Ruapuke whānau wins case

Ruapuke island group whānau have for a second time persuaded the High Court they remain entitled to customary marine title over the waters surrounding Ruapuke in Foveaux Strait. An initial court decision last August needed to be relitigated after the...

Deer hunter sentenced

Paul William John Stevens nodded silently in the dock of the Invercargill District Court as the bereft family of Jock Davies, the cancer-surviving companion he accidentally shot on Stewart Island, described their anguish. Court officers quietly handed...

Waikaka goldmine gets consent

Waikaka Gold Mines Limited has been granted consent to operate a goldmine near Waikaka in Eastern Southland. The consent comes with more than 100 stringent conditions designed to address concerns raised by the Department of Conservation and Hokonui...