Rotorua filmmaker believes Vegas is harmful to minds of rangatahi
4 May, 2021 06:00 PM
7 minutes to read
Vegas premiered on TVNZ 2 on April 19. Photo / Andrew Warner
A local Māori film collective that helped produce the new television series Vegas , filmed in Rotorua, is defending the show after it was criticised for portraying themes of gangs, drugs and crime. The Steambox Collective defended the show s importance, saying it contributed to its dream of building a sustainable Māori screen industry in Rotorua.
The comments come after Rotorua screen producer Hōhepa Tuahine wrote a blog post calling the show harmful and saying it was the reason he and his wife left the collective.
Last July, the Government announced it would spend $2.6 billion on more than 150 infrastructure projects that were so close to being built they were deemed “shovel ready”. The Government claimed the projects would create 20,000 jobs, a number which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern campaigned on at the 2020 election as part of her five point Covid recovery plan. The figure was mentioned in speeches by Ardern, press releases from Robertson and in social media posts from the Labour Party. But less than a year later, Robertson told Upston that the number of jobs created by the shovel-ready scheme would be just 11,704.5 fulltime equivalents.
Source: New Zealand Government
A milestone for jobs, businesses and regional economic development in Bay of Plenty is being marked as construction gets underway on the multi-million dollar Ōpōtiki harbour infrastructure project.
Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash has joined Whakatōhea iwi, local councils and representatives of the aquaculture and marine industry at a ceremony with the Prime Minister to celebrate the beginning of the harbour construction.
“We are today celebrating the growth of a community which is now able to move from strength to strength,” Mr Nash said. “The government is investing more than $112 million in three major infrastructure projects as part of the Ōpōtiki Harbour Development project.
Ōpōtiki was ready : Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits multi-million dollar harbour development project
30 Apr, 2021 04:07 AM
4 minutes to read
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Provincial Growth Fund has been aimed at communities where it will make the biggest difference. Photo / Andrew Warner
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Provincial Growth Fund has been aimed at communities where it will make the biggest difference. Photo / Andrew Warner
There is a buzz around Ōpōtiki.
Increased employment and growing businesses are some of the benefits already being seen through the multi-million dollar project to develop the small Eastern Bay of Plenty district s harbour.