Today, the board of the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand made a statement apologising for “failing to respond immediately and robustly” to condemn the “racist vitriol related to [its] recent funding issue”.

The apology follows a flurry of reporting and opinion in October related to not receiving $31,000 from Creative New Zealand’s Kahikatea funding stream, which resulted in comment from the prime minister and intervention so that the funding would be provided instead through the Ministry of Education. Most recently, a piece this past weekend written by James Nokise at E-Tangata highlighted the harm caused to the four new organisations who were funded in that same round and the lack of a proper apology.

The centre had previously “expressed regret” on their Facebook page about hurt caused by an open letter by Terry Sheat, “parts of which had been construed to have negative overtones”. This open letter was covered by the media, specifically naming and targeting the four Māori and Pasifika organisations who received funding from CNZ, and highlighting assessor feedback that called question the place of Shakespeare in Aotearoa.

In today’s statement, former National MP Paul Foster-Bell writes, “By our delay, we contributed to and exacerbated a feeling that SGCNZ supported views which were critical of Kahikatea grant recipients on the grounds of race.  As a Board, we have been alerted to the need to be more responsive thanks to articles by commentators, as well as direct feedback from our own supporters and the broader arts community.”

The statement goes on to express regret that ensuing “media interactions” left very little space for the four organisations to celebrate their well-deserved achievement, and apologises that “our drama eclipsed their success”.

The statement can be read in full here.

The Spinoff is today celebrating the end of 2022 – and that means we’ll be offline for the rest of the afternoon.

However, as we’re all avid news fiends, you can bet we’ll still be checking our emails and social media sporadically. So if any big news breaks, we’ll jump back online as soon as we can.

Otherwise, see you all tomorrow for what will be the final day of regular business for our news team.

GDP has risen by 2% in the September quarter, despite the ongoing bite of the cost of living crisis.

That’s a higher than the predicted increase. Newsroom reported that the Reserve Bank had predicted 0.8% growth for the quarter, while bank economists were estimating somewhere between 0.9% and 1.3%.

Stats NZ reported that the latest rise was driven primarily by the service industry, which was also up by two points. The transport, postal, and warehousing industry was the biggest contributor to growth, up 9.7%.

“With borders opening to all visitors in the September 2022 quarter, we have seen more spending on both international and domestic air travel,” national accounts industry and production senior manager Ruvani Ratnayake said.

“The business services industry also contributed to the result, driven by computer system services, recruitment services, and travel agency and tour arrangement services.”

Exports of goods and services rose 7.8%, driven by higher exports of dairy products, travel services, and meat products.

The offices of several high profile government MPs have been targeted by climate protesters.

Photos shared by media outlets including RNZ and Newshub show the offices of Grant Robertson, Michael Wood, Megan Woods and David Clark doused in red paint. The cause: demanding an increase in the regional rail network.

It’s the same group that recently disrupted morning traffic in Wellington. The group said the government had “blood on their hands” for not doing enough to stop climate change.

We’re still a few months away from the rollout of a second general booster for Covid-19. However, the existing rules remain a source of some confusion – even for our most senior health officials.

Deputy director general of health Andrew Old joined RNZ this morning and was questioned by Kim Hill over the rules and requirements around boosters.

Throughout the interview, Old said that anybody over the age of 65 was able to access a second booster, with Māori and Pacific people able to get it if they were over 50. However, in reality, as Old himself did later clarify, Māori and Pasifika can actually receive the second booster at 40, with antiviral medications available to those over 50.

The discrepancy was pointed out on Twitter by Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, who said the rules were changed a few weeks back.

Pharmac has agreed to fund EpiPens for people at risk of anaphylaxis. Allergy NZ chief executive said it was “the best news for New Zealand’s allergy sufferers in the more than 40 years that Allergy NZ has been representing them”. EpiPens, which last for 12 to 18 months, cost between $120 and $350. Pharmac will fully fund two EpiPens each year for every New Zealander with severe allergies.

Read Sela Jane Hopgood’s report on the tripling of hospitalisations for severe food allergies among Pasifika people, to understand what this announcement will mean for people who do suffer from food allergies and often already pay 35% more for allergy-safe food.

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