Stories by Tess Brunton

Installing a commissioner at the embattled Invercargill City Council is the most sensible option, a local government expert says.

Newly-appointed Tourism Minister Stuart Nash revealed to a sold-out crowd at Tourism Summit Aotearoa in Wellington today he does not want New Zealanders subsidising international visitors.

The tourism industry is facing a multi-billion dollar loss of revenue after borders closed and international travel screeched to a halt.

A Lake Ōhau resident says thousands of dollars worth of native plants and 80 predator traps went up in smoke when the fire tore through the village earlier this month.

Some Lake Ōhau residents are returning to undamaged homes surrounded by flowering lupins and green grass in the wake of last month's devastating fire. Video

Two Lake Ōhau residents have marked a month since a fire tore through their village with their first night sleeping in their own beds.

Debris from the Lake Ōhau fire will need to travel at least two hours away if it is disposed of in Canterbury.

Incoming Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has a huge opportunity to do something 'very special' with the sector, Tourism Industry Aotearoa says.

Lake Ōhau residents say they may have been unnecessarily delayed from moving back into the village due to issues with demolition.

Some Lake Ōhau residents will be able to move back into their undamaged properties just over a month after the devastating fire.

The censuring of a Dunedin councillor for threatening behaviour has been described as a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket.

The estimated construction cost for a new hut along the Milford Track in Fiordland has nearly doubled to more than $3 million since work started on the initial design.

New documents show Southland businesses have serious concerns about the Invercargill City Council being fit to govern.

Like winning the lotto - that's how a Lake Ōhau couple have described discovering their pets alive and well days after they were separated by fire.

The firefighters who raced to the community's rescue have opened up about how the Lake Ōhau fire took hold.

Work will get under way soon on an access road to a popular Fiordland track after it was partly wiped out by floodwaters.

Southern businesses are calling for more certainty ahead of an election finance debate in Queenstown tonight.

A South Island tourism operator says he could have prevented redundancies if wasn't for delays to a nature-based job creation scheme.

Tourism operators want a review of a controversial government fund that new papers show was nearly scrapped before it got off the ground. Video

A 'haunted' Otago hotel has closed for the first time since it was built in 1882 after a business deal went awry.

Invercargill city councillors have spent most of an extraordinary meeting behind closed doors talking about how they plan to restore the public's trust and confidence.

Invercargill City councillors have had a mixed reaction to being subject to a government review with some welcoming the scrutiny and others questioning why it is needed.

South Island ski fields are feeling the loss of Auckland visitors in the wake of the level 3 restrictions.

Queenstown Lakes residents have slammed Aurora Energy plans to hike power prices, calling the power company untrustworthy, unreliable and even incompetent.

The impacts of returning to level 2 will be a "kick in the guts" for South Island businesses which were just getting back on their feet.