Matthew Littlewood

Staff at the embattled mega-polytechnic Te Pūkenga will find out the fate of the institution this week.

Octagon business owners say the area is in need of an upgrade, but are unsure about the proposed multimillion-dollar price tag.

A shop owner says her trade has been cut in half by George St roadworks and the Dunedin City Council should be doing more to help businesses.

A farming couple caught up in the Lake Onslow pumped hydro proposal is glad the idea has been dumped, and has labelled the communication around the scheme as "terrible".

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti is assuring the public there will be a focus on training Māori and Pasifika doctors amid claims a proposed review of admission schemes was "racist dog whistling".

The government has been accused of sending "very mixed messages" after including progressing a third medical school at Waikato University in its 100-day plan.

The appointment of a new vice-chancellor at the University of Otago could be still several months away, as the institution acknowledges it is still going through the process.

New Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says there was always going to be a cost-benefit analysis for a proposed medical school at the University of Waikato.

Māori student associations are calling on the government to drop its proposal to review special entrance medical school pathways for Māori and Pasifika students, or face society "going backwards".

The University of Otago is pleased government coalition negotiations mean there will now be a "cost-benefit analysis" for any future medical school and wants to be involved in it.

University of Otago students are set to fight any possible move by the new government to limit Māori and Pacific Island special entrance pathways into medical school.

Disestablishing a mega polytechnic and cutting red tape for farmers are on the agenda for the two southern MPs made ministers outside Cabinet.