The Front Page podcast: NZ-China relationship gets frostier as exports delayed, tourism threatened

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo / Getty

Each weekday The Front Page keeps you up to date with the biggest news in New Zealand. Today it's problems for our exports and tourism with China, teachers forced to live with the principal because of the housing crisis, the discovery of a Queensland fruit fly, and exactly what led to the group of unruly tourists being banned from every Burger King in New Zealand. Hosted by Frances Cook.

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New Zealand's biggest seafood exporter Sanford is having issues getting salmon through Chinese ports

It comes as suspicions grow that China is turning up the heat on this country because of the Huawei saga.

Sanford is not attributing its recent administrative issues getting shipments cleared to the deteriorating New Zealand-China relationship, but chief customer officer Andre Gargiulo says no reason has been given for the issues which have impacted several shipments of fresh salmon since the end of last month.

China is the biggest export market for many New Zealand primary products, including dairy, seafood and kiwifruit.

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The tourism industry is also concerned.

Figures out today show Chinese tourism growing at 7.3 per cent - more than twice the rate of the overall market.

But reports of tension between Wellington and Beijing is worrying the industry.

The English version of the People's Daily newspaper says New Zealand has fallen out of favour with some Chinese travellers.

The paper is regarded as the mouthpiece of the Chinese government.

The paper quotes one traveller who saved more than $3200 to come here, but has since abandoned his plans.

The article also suggests New Zealand is no longer ranked in the top 10 preferred destinations for Chinese travellers.

In the year to last September spending by tourists from China was up 14 per cent to more than $1.6 billion.

However, the Tourism Minister is unfazed by claims we've fallen out of favour with the Chinese tourists.

Kelvin Davis says he's not worried about Chinese visitor numbers.

A veteran of the Chinese visitor market to New Zealand and Australia, TravConsult managing director Trevor Lee, says China can turn off the tap of tourists.

He says China doesn't like to lose face, and relationships can be repaired when face is given.

Lee says former prime minister John Key gave the ''highest level of face'' to China, when he stood on the tarmac at Auckland Airport eight years ago to personally welcome China Southern's inaugural flight.

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That's a theme echoed in a fascinating interview on Herald series Economy Hub, which has an exclusive extended interview with Beijing-based Kiwi businessman David Mahon.

He has lived and worked in China since 1984, and has serious concerns that New Zealand's relationship with China has deteriorated to the point where we may now face a political retaliation and our exporters may face border difficulties.

He says we've previously had a "brilliant relationship" with the Chinese Government. But he believes, in the past 12 months, it has gone into reverse.

Mahon says the messaging from the New Zealand Government has not been clear enough.

He says we didn't discuss the Huawei concerns with Beijing before announcing them publicly, and now China feels it cannot trust us.

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The reason all this is a problem is because China is our largest trading partner.

The global powerhouse and New Zealand signed a Free Trade Agreement in 2008 and since then have phased in provisions to increase easy trade.

China is now New Zealand's largest trading partner, followed by Australia. Experts say it's a relationship New Zealand can't afford to lose.

New Zealand exports to China were worth $16.6 billion in the year ended September 2018.

Meanwhile Chinese tourists here spend up large, spending twice what American visitors do.

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Auckland's housing crisis is forcing some teachers to stay with their school principals

Teachers recruited from overseas are apparently struggling to find housing in Auckland's squeezed market.

One in six Auckland schools were still advertising for teachers when school started this year, despite a Government-sponsored global recruitment campaign which brought in 225 teachers from overseas by late January.

Greenmeadows principal Cathy Chalmers says recruitment agencies told her many teachers would have preferred to go somewhere else in New Zealand if they could have.

She says the problems with Auckland's expensive housing is well-known overseas, and many of the recruited teachers struggle.

Some of the teachers have also gone for hostels and AirBnBs.

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It's apparently a different story if you're buying, rather than renting

The latest ASB Housing Confidence Survey shows more people think it's a good time to buy, than bad.

Prices have fallen in Auckland and levelled off in Christchurch.

Forty per cent of those surveyed expect higher prices later in the year.

For more on this story, tune in to Newstalk ZB

Farmers, conservationists, and outdoor reaction groups are at odds on a replacement for tenure review

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday rushed to confirm tenure review in the South Island high country will be scrapped.

It comes in the week after Land Information New Zealand (Linz) published a damning assessment of the process and the Crown's land management.

Tenure review is a voluntary process where Crown pastoral land can be sold to a leaseholder and areas with high ecological and recreational value can be returned to Crown ownership as conservation land.

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says tenure review has produced a "mixed bag", and the taxpayer had not always got value for money.

Although land has been added to the conservation estate, it has also resulted in more intensive farming and subdivision.

Sage says properties already within the process will continue on a case by case basis.

An announcement about the future of Crown pastoral land management is expected on Sunday.

It's started a bit of a fight between various interest groups.

Federated Farmers says a tougher management regime for high country lessees could "cripple" the sector.

But conservation lobby group Forest & Bird says reform is needed to prioritise the protection of native plants and animals over farm development.

Meanwhile, the country's biggest advocate for outdoor recreation Federated Mountain Clubs wants a new process aimed at achieving a better balance between the interests of leaseholders and the public.

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Women have been banned from a Queenstown golf competition, in what's been labelled 'misogyny gone mad'

Arrowtown Golf Club is banning women from a weekly competition.

For at least 20 years, women freely competed with men in the Saturday club competitions.

But last October the men's match committee announced women could only compete among themselves.

The committee says it's had "issues and problems" over women's differential scoring, and acted after a member's written complaint over a woman member's eligibility for an event.

NZ Golf chief executive Dean Murphy says club members have approached his organisation for help.

He says they're keen to promote inclusivity in golf, and their view is that competitions shouldn't have any restrictions.

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Girls as young as 12 are among the victims of a Wellington teacher who filmed house guests through a two-way mirror

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty in Wellington today to filming and photographing 90 people in his bathroom.

The woman who discovered the camera phoned the police, who searched the property and found a digital camera and an external hard drive, which contained intimate videos and photos of 54 different women changing their clothing, showering, and using the toilet.

Six of the videos were of girls aged 12, 13 and 14 years old.

The footage was taken from late 2013 to mid 2018.

The man pleaded guilty to the charges and was remanded to a date in June for sentencing.

Judge Peter Butler has ordered a psychiatric report for the man's next appearance.

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A Queensland fruit fly has been found in a trap in Devonport, sparking a major biosecurity operation for Auckland

Biosecurity New Zealand spokeswoman Dr Catherine Duthie says they're checking if other fruit flies are in the area.

She says it's vital for our horticultural industry to find out if the fly has spread.

Biosecurity is asking Devonport residents to not move any fruit or vegetables from their homes.

However Duthie says the find does not mean New Zealand has a fruit fly outbreak.

She says the Queensland fruit fly has been detected six times before in northern New Zealand.

Of those detections, only one, in Auckland in 2015, turned out to be a part of a wider breeding population. It was successfully eradicated by Biosecurity NZ.

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The Warehouse Group is setting an example for businesses all across the country, announcing it's officially certified carbon neutral

This means they offset any carbon emissions from their hundreds of stores.

It's the first major retailer in New Zealand to achieve it - and only the third in the world.

Warehouse Group's Chief Sustainability Officer David Benattar says the next step is to make plastic a thing of the past.

Other initiatives they're implementing include planting over two million native trees and making their vehicle fleet electric.

For more on this story, tune in to Newstalk ZB

We now know what the unruly tourist family did to get trespassed from all Burger Kings in New Zealand

Information, obtained under the official information act (OIA), has revealed previously unknown details about an incident at a Burger King in Hamilton last month, where both Police and Immigration NZ were called.

The documents note the family even used children "as tools" for getting free food.

A briefing from police details how Burger King staff saw the Doran family take a few bites from ordered food then wait half an hour before returning it, claiming it was cold.

The OIA says they would also spill drinks over the food and demand a new meal.

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That's the Front Page for today, Friday, February 15, making sure you're across the biggest news of the day. For more on these stories, check out The New Zealand Herald, or tune in to Newstalk ZB.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts here, iHeartRadio here, and Stitcher here.

If you like to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.