A petition for a referendum on state asset sales has failed to garner enough signatures after double entries were weeded out and Labour has vowed to try to fill the gap over the next two months. The petition, promoted by Labour, the Greens and Grey Power, required 10 percent of eligible voters, or 308,753 signatures, to force a referendum. It …

Australian payroll provider Talent2 will keep its $105 million 10 year contract to to provide New Zealand’s public education payroll service after the government decided switching to the old provider, Datacom, simply exchanged one set of risks for another. Minister Responsible for Novopay Steven Joyce announced the Talent2 contract will “remain under review”, but the decision effectively leaves Talent2 in …

New Zealand labour costs rose in the first quarter and filled jobs increased, suggesting the household labour force survey on Thursday will show a return to employment growth. Private sector ordinary time wages rose 0.4 percent in the first three months of the year from the fourth quarter of 2012, and gained 1.8 percent from the first quarter last year, …