Local Democracy Reporting

“I wouldn’t want to go through this again.” This was the enduring feeling for dairy farmer Laurence Rooney who believes he would have been better off if his farm caught M. bovis after “taking a hit” for the Ashburton town during the May floods.

The respiratory virus putting babies at risk around NZ has made an unwelcome appearance on the West Coast.

The respiratory virus putting babies at risk around NZ has made an unwelcome appearance on the West Coast.

A Canterbury farm owner says he has been forced to pull the plug on a West Coast gold mining exploration venture that was injecting $500,000 a year into the local economy.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has shut down a West Coast goldmining exploration venture that was injecting $500,000 a year into the local economy and according to the miner had the potential to create 12 well-paid jobs.

An Invercargill city councillor says feeling invisible and being told to calm down is part of her experience of being one of the few women in Southland local politics. Only a quarter of Southland's councillors are women.