Christchurch Rebuild: Govt Prioritised Investors over Locals, Residents were Collateral Damage

“Cantabrians became “collateral damage” post-earthquake as the Government focused on telling positive stories to attract investors, an academic has said. Victoria University of Wellington architecture head of school Morten Gjerde wrote a research paper on Government communication after the Canterbury earthquakes for an international conference in China last year. He said in the paper that…

Migrant Tales – Working in Christchurch. ‘She’ll Be Right’ Won’t Do: “Kiwi’s are renowned for being lazy though so it all made sense”

  Welcome to our popular Migrant Tales series, first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand. A reader sent us a link to this migrant tale, first published on reddit/newzealand two months ago (around May 2017). The author migrated to New Zealand to escape the European ‘rat race’ only to find that Christchurch…

Six Months Since Kaikoura Earthquake and Businesses are Desperate for Visitors. Never Fear, Compass is on the Way – Updated

It has been six months since the Kaikoura earthquake but businesses are a long way from recovering in the remote South Island township, and tourism operators are worried because they say that holidaymakers have yet to return. Some Kaikoura businesses are said to be ‘within 6-8 weeks of collapse‘ due to dwindling visitor numbers, according…