Stories by Tess Brunton

Central Otago orchard owners say the push for workers is not over as they prepare for harvest season.

Dreams for turning an old pub in Invercargill into a charity hospital are one step closer to reality with the first strike of a sledgehammer.

Central Otago fruit growers are rubbishing claims they're turning down New Zealanders for local fruit picking work as they would prefer cheap foreign labour.

Immigration New Zealand announced 21 tourism and hospitality roles have been added to the undersupply list for Queenstown Lakes in response to the lack of New Zealanders available to fill jobs.

The tourism industry is warning that tightening rules around how to manage risks could hit the sector hard in the wake of the Whakaari/White Island eruption.

Former Cadbury factory workers have taken a last tour of the building before it is demolished to make way for the new Dunedin Hospital.

A Central Otago community was left scrambling when their power was cut for six hours yesterday without notice during a network upgrade.

Installing a commissioner at the embattled Invercargill City Council is the most sensible option, a local government expert says.

Newly-appointed Tourism Minister Stuart Nash revealed to a sold-out crowd at Tourism Summit Aotearoa in Wellington today he does not want New Zealanders subsidising international visitors.

The tourism industry is facing a multi-billion dollar loss of revenue after borders closed and international travel screeched to a halt.

A Lake Ōhau resident says thousands of dollars worth of native plants and 80 predator traps went up in smoke when the fire tore through the village earlier this month.

Some Lake Ōhau residents are returning to undamaged homes surrounded by flowering lupins and green grass in the wake of last month's devastating fire. Video

Two Lake Ōhau residents have marked a month since a fire tore through their village with their first night sleeping in their own beds.

Debris from the Lake Ōhau fire will need to travel at least two hours away if it is disposed of in Canterbury.

Incoming Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has a huge opportunity to do something 'very special' with the sector, Tourism Industry Aotearoa says.

Lake Ōhau residents say they may have been unnecessarily delayed from moving back into the village due to issues with demolition.

Some Lake Ōhau residents will be able to move back into their undamaged properties just over a month after the devastating fire.

The censuring of a Dunedin councillor for threatening behaviour has been described as a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket.

The estimated construction cost for a new hut along the Milford Track in Fiordland has nearly doubled to more than $3 million since work started on the initial design.

New documents show Southland businesses have serious concerns about the Invercargill City Council being fit to govern.

Like winning the lotto - that's how a Lake Ōhau couple have described discovering their pets alive and well days after they were separated by fire.

The firefighters who raced to the community's rescue have opened up about how the Lake Ōhau fire took hold.

Work will get under way soon on an access road to a popular Fiordland track after it was partly wiped out by floodwaters.

Southern businesses are calling for more certainty ahead of an election finance debate in Queenstown tonight.

A South Island tourism operator says he could have prevented redundancies if wasn't for delays to a nature-based job creation scheme.