Latest news with #MinistryofCultureandHeritage
Otago Daily Times
16-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Erebus captain's daughter says memorial belongs in Auckland
Kathryn Carter's father Jim Collins was the pilot of the Erebus flight. She was 15 when he died. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly The eldest daughter of the Erebus captain says she's grateful to Christchurch for offering to host a memorial, but still believes the national memorial should be in Auckland. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage announced three possible Christchurch locations for an Erebus memorial site have been shared with families. The sites will honour the 257 people who lost their lives in 1979 when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing tour. An earlier plan for the memorial to be built at a park in Auckland city's fringe suburb of Parnell triggered opposition from several groups - including people who feared for the health of a pōhutukawa and others who worried it would change the tone of the park. The plan was abandoned in 2023 after storm damage made it unsafe to build on the site. Photo: Colin Monteith / Antarctica New Zealand Pictorial Collection Kathryn Carter, the eldest daughter of the late Erebus captain Jim Collins, said she wanted to see Auckland "take ownership" for the national memorial, which is long overdue. She said it was generous for Christchurch City to offer to host the memorial, but believed Auckland was most suitable for it - as the home city for a significant number of passengers and crew members on board Erebus. Carter said that sentiment was shared among many of the family members of victims whom she had kept in touch with over the years. Auckland was where the flight departed and the city would be the best place for the memorial to celebrate Erebus passengers' "journey into the unknown" and to celebrate their lives, Carter said. She said Auckland, as the main hub in New Zealand, would also be the most convenient place for the family of the victims across the country and the world to come and pay tribute. Carter said "the whole of NZ is involved in the loss" and added that it was frustrating that there was still no national memorial decades after the disaster.
Otago Daily Times
16-07-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Erebus captain's daughter grateful for Chch offer but says national memorial belongs in Auckland
Kathryn Carter's father Jim Collins was the pilot of the Erebus flight. She was 15 when he died. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly The eldest daughter of the Erebus' captain says she's grateful to Christchurch for offering to host a memorial, but still believes the national memorial should be in Auckland. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage announced three possible Christchurch locations for an Erebus memorial site have been shared with families. The sites will honour the 257 people who lost their lives in 1979 when Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing tour. An earlier plan for the memorial to be built at a park in Auckland city's fringe suburb of Parnell triggered opposition from several groups - including people who feared for the health of a pōhutukawa and others who worried it would change the tone of the park. The plan was abandoned in 2023 after storm damage made it unsafe to build on the site. Photo: Colin Monteith / Antarctica New Zealand Pictorial Collection Kathryn Carter, the eldest daughter of the late Erebus captain Jim Collins, said she wants to see Auckland "take ownership" for the national memorial, which is long overdue. She said it was generous for Christchurch City to offer to host the memorial, but believed Auckland was most suitable for it - as the home city for a significant number of passengers and crew members on board Erebus. Carter said that sentiment was shared among many of the family members of victims whom she had kept in touch with over the years. Auckland was where the flight departed and the city would be the best place for the memorial to celebrate Erebus passengers' "journey into the unknown" and to celebrate their lives, Carter said. She said Auckland, as the main hub in New Zealand, would also be the most convenient place for the family of the victims across the country and the world to come and pay tribute. Carter said "the whole of NZ is involved in the loss" and added that it was frustrating that there was still no national memorial decades after the disaster.
The Spinoff
05-05-2025
- Business
- The Spinoff
‘Lacking in logic': The NZ screen industry reacts to Trump's 100% tariff on non-US films
Following the US president's announcement of a 100% tariff on all films made 'in foreign lands', the local screen industry has been left concerned – if not slightly confused. Only 3.2% of The Spinoff's readership supports us financially. We need to grow that to 4% this year to keep creating the work you love. Please sign up to be a member today. Donald Trump has announced that a 100% tariff will be put in place on all films made outside of the United States of America. 'The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,' he posted on social network TruthSocial. 'Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.' Trump continued by saying that those filmmaking incentives, which would include the New Zealand Screen Production Grant, are 'a national security threat' that also amount to 'messaging and propaganda'. He then authorised the beginning of a process instituting a 100% tariff on 'any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands' concluding with this: 'WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!' The announcement has potentially huge implications for Aotearoa. Our gross screen sector revenue is around $3.5 billion per annum, and a significant portion of that is from overseas productions. Since 2014, the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate has provided up to a 25% rebate to international screen productions shooting in Aotearoa, and has been accessed by such blockbuster American titles as Avatar: The Way of Water, M3GAN and The Meg. A report evaluating the impact of the grant in 2018 found a net economic benefit of $336.1 million in its first three years alone. By 2022, it was found that productions accessing the rebate spent an estimated $5.2 billion in New Zealand, including on local jobs, hospitality, building and construction. 'This represents a significant investment into New Zealand's economy and far outweighs the cost of the rebate,' reads the Ministry of Culture and Heritage website. So where does Trump's announcement leave all those US productions coming to our shores? Anne Murray, CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission, told The Spinoff that conversations were happening off the back of the announcement. 'We're in the process of speaking with our international partners about what the implications could be,' she said. 'We're mindful, however, this is an evolving situation and it's too early to speculate on what this could mean.' Irene Gardiner, president of Screen Producers NZ (SPADA), found the wording of the announcement 'a little confusing'. 'He seems to be worried about US films being 'shot/post produced' in other countries, with the incentives that are offered,' she said. 'But then he talks about movies 'produced' outside of the US being subjected to tariffs.' She offers a local example: 'Does he mean NZ-produced movies like Tinā couldn't be released in the US without a tariff? Or does he mean American-produced movies that are shot here will be targeted?' Regardless of where the tariff is directed, Gardiner says it would be 'a terrible shame' for the industry if implemented. Recent US productions on our shores include Heart of the Beast, a Brad Pitt film in Queenstown, and Florence Pugh's East of Eden in Ōamaru. 'We love having American productions working here – it's great for the economy and it's great for the screen industry. And we love our best NZ movies and stories being seen by American audiences.' Local screen industry veteran John Barnett agrees that while there is concern out there, there's also a lack of clarity about how the tariff process would be carried out. 'Nobody knows whether it includes television content or streaming content, or at what point the tariff is actually going to take place,' he says. 'What is Trump going to do if M3GAN comes here and spends $200 million here? Is he going to charge them $200 million? And who's going to pay it?' Nonetheless, Barnett understands why people would be feeling rattled. 'Right now US productions are the biggest source of of continual production in New Zealand – East of Eden was here for eight months and employed hundreds of people, or Cameron's Avatar films that had hundreds of people working for years,' he says. 'Then there's the post houses like Wētā FX who do a lot of finishing work – everybody will be trying to find out what that 100% means.' At his post-cabinet press conference this afternoon, prime minister Christopher Luxon said that New Zealand was 'the best place to make movies in the world' but it was 'way too soon' to talk about whether the government would consider any changes to the screen rebate as a result of Trump's announcement. Paul Goldsmith, minister for media and communications and minister for arts and heritage, did not reply to The Spinoff's request for comment. According to Trump's social announcement, the process has already begun to implement the 100% tariff. While the screen industry in Aotearoa awaits further detail, Barnett gently adds another point to consider. 'Not unlike everything else Trump has done, it is totally lacking in logic,' he says. 'If there's one thing we've learned in the first 100 days, is that what he says today isn't necessarily what he'll say tomorrow.'
