The Hobbit is slipping away from New Zealand despite the best efforts of its producers, the film's co-writer Philippa Boyens says.

Sir Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's statement on The Hobbit and a release from the Council of Trade Unions in response.

The loss of The Hobbit film overseas is a "potential tragedy for the New Zealand film industry", Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Chris Finlayson said this morning.

The producers of The Hobbit say production is being moved off-shore after industrial action 'undermined Warner Bro's confidence in NZ'.

Weta Workshop's boss Sir Richard Taylor last night said the New Zealand film industry was "at some level of peril".

Two Hobbit films, expected to cost about $669m to make, are in danger of being moved away from NZ because of "the actions of a very limited few", says Weta Workshop's Sir Richard Taylor.

Thousands of workers to protest proposed new laws in 28 towns from Kaitaia to Bluff today.

Two senior ministers have made themselves available to mediate in the industrial dispute surrounding The Hobbit after meeting with Fran Walsh and Sir Peter Jackson today.

Sir Peter Jackson is being cast as Gandalf in a row about payment for actors...

Many central city businesses cannot open until the damage from the earthquake is fully assessed, and some workers are worried about losing pay.

The Govt's decision to extend 90-day new-employee trials was made after a suggestion from the Act Party and went against the recommendation of its own Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson.

The first employment case brought to court under 90-day trial laws has gone in favour of a dismissed pharmacy employee.

Unions are warning of heated collective contract talks on the horizon.

Protesters briefly broke through security cordons at the hotel beside the convention centre where the National Party's annual conference was being held.

Employers are pleased with the 90-day trial period, though workers sometimes feel vulnerable and mistreated, a Department of Labour report shows.

The Labour Party says it will repeal any moves by the Government to widen the 90-day trial scheme under which workers can be fired without comeback.

The Government is planning to allow all businesses to have 90-day trials for new workers and wants to give employers the power to keep unions out of the workplace.