Dear John --
NIWA - Met Service merger
It makes sense on a number of levels including reducing cost, unnecessary competition and overlaps, for NIWA and Met Service to merge and the Coalition Government has agreed to this in principle.
NIWA is owned by the Crown Research Institute and Met Service is a state-owned-enterprise and I support the merger, subject to the legalities and practical requirements that are being looked into.
I am pleased to have announced that the Government supports the best use of the expertise and the systems in place, for a new weather monitoring and reporting model designed to incorporate the knowledge and expertise of both MetService and Niwa. It will give the opportunity to think afresh about what is needed and how this is focused and organised. New Zealanders need cohesive announcements in relation to weather warnings and they need continuity of services. Bringing together the relevant skills around the common purposes of accuracy and ensuring operational weather forecasting receives sufficient focus and priority, make perfect sense.
While Niwa has not provided any written submission on absorbing Met Service, the outcome will be that New Zealand has more integrated state weather forecasts and the single entity could save the country up to $139 million over the next 50 years.
It is hoped that the new forecasting arrangement will be agreed in March 2025, followed soon after by merger clearance, with Met Service being removed from the State- Owned Enterprises Act and Niwa acquiring its shares.
The new structure should be in place about June 2025 according to the recent report from MBIE which has consulted Treasury and relevant groups in the community on the merger process.
Visit to Brussels underlines our global membership
Just last week I was honoured to be invited to Brussels to attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – NATO - along with my fellow members of the IP4 – the Indo Pacific 4 defence ministers of Australia, Japan and South Korea and myself representing New Zealand.
This was an historic meeting because it was the first time that the IP4 were invited to join NATO members who are a group of European countries plus the USA, Canada and Turkey.
During the discussions and speeches, it became clear that what happens in our IP4 countries matters to these northern hemisphere countries. Similarly, the issues they are involved with affect the Indo-Pacific and our countries’ participation in assisting and supporting NATO countries is greatly valued by them even though it is usually on a small scale.
South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting
The NATO meeting followed my recent hosting of the South Pacific Defence Minister’s meeting at the Devonport Naval Base in Auckland which was also a time of cementing relationships and agreeing on strategies to support, protect and help each other through regional security challenges. We agreed on cooperation aimed at preventing breaches of protected fishing zones, stopping trans-national organised crime and breaches of the exclusive economic zones of our island nations.
The meeting also focussed on co-deploying to help combat the effects of climate change and also to assist each other to recover from natural disasters including cyclones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, bushfire and floods.
Associate Minister of Defence Chris Penk and I hosted representatives of the SPDM member countries of Tonga, Fiji, Australia, Chile, France and Papua New Guinea also the Pacific Island Forum Secretary General, at the productive and well-run SPDM Meeting that Chile will be hosting in 2025.
Best wishes for a relaxing Labour Weekend holiday to all of you,
Judith
Hon Judith Collins KC
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NZ National Party - 41 Pipitea St, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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