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Winstone Pulp International will close after 45 years today. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER It is the last day for Winstone Pulp International after operating for 45 years in the Ruapehu District, providing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars for the local economy. For many of the mill's workers, the place was more than just a job, they have spent years there - building lifelong friendships and communities, and growing their skills in the industry. As worker Zach Ryan headed into his final shift at the mill, he told RNZ that he first walked in the doors 14 years ago, fresh out of high school. "I've done my apprenticeship here and learned a lot of good things, it's definitely somewhere that I hold a lot of fond memories of," he said. Like many others, he was still processing the loss of...

Photo: Unsplash/ Simon Kadula Renee Joblin runs a small engineering company that has been built up through hard work over the years. Right now, she's waiting for $10,000 in payments that should have come in on the 20th of the month and she has suppliers "breathing down her neck" for $6000. "My family has to go without groceries because I have to pay my rent and staff wages." It's often bigger companies that try to set their own payment terms, she said. "Even though we ask those big companies for deposits on bigger jobs they don't pay them, just wait until the whole invoice is due - which creates a knock-on effect... we have no debt older than 30 days but there is stuff owed to us that is older than 50 days and that's why sometimes we don't pay on time." Accounting platform Xero has relea...

Thousands of levy invoices were sent to to New Zealand tax residents who had declared foreign employment or service income in their tax return. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver ACC is chasing thousands of New Zealanders for levies on income they earned while working overseas. The department said it had sent 4300 levy invoices for the 2023 tax year to New Zealand tax residents who had declared foreign employment or service income in their tax return. These invoices can run into thousands of dollars. It said ACC was generally charged on employment income taxable in New Zealand, which meant people who went overseas to work but retained tax residency might remain liable for ACC levies. To give up tax residency, people generally need to be away from New Zealand for more than 325 days i...

Some people are reportedly putting BNPL payments ahead of everything else. File photo. Photo: 123RF Financial mentors are concerned that buy now pay later loans are snowballing into major debt problems for some borrowers. While Centrix data shows buy now pay later (BNPL) arrears have dropped, mentors say people who are in a cycle of BNPL debt are prioritising its payments over their other obligations. "Financial mentors are getting really stretched by unaffordable buy now pay later loans," said Fincap senior policy adviser Jake Lilley. "They've told me that some whānau are presenting for food support after one initially affordable purchase through a buy now pay later loan snowballed into multiple loans. The apps seem to encourage people to spend more and more through buy now pay later l...

Photo: Unsplash / RNZ When you drive south down State Highway 1 to get to the Cannabis Clinic in Auckland, you can't ignore the exit number: 420. The number - spoken as four-twenty - is cultural slang for weed. But Dr Waseem Alzaher assures me that isn't why he chose the swanky beachside suburb of Takapuna for the location of what would become New Zealand's largest prescriber of medicinal cannabis. Really, it was convenient and Takapuna doesn't scream weed (it gives off more of a sneaky-bit-of-cocaine, $100 bottle of red kinda vibe). "It is part of why the universe ended up putting us here," says Alzaher, who spent time as an emergency room doctor and as a GP before setting up the Cannabis Clinic. "It was all meant to be: exit 420, a big cannabis clinic, big cannabis pharmacy and then we...