The government's plans for a nation-wide amalgamation of polytechnics will create a 'slow-moving, cumbersome bureaucracy'.

That's according to SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds who addressed over 500 graduates and their families in Invercargill on Friday.

People from Southland need to make their voices heard regarding the threat of closure of the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point.

That's what about 100 people were told by Southland Chamber of Commerce president Neil McAra at a Fight for Fairness meeting yesterday.

With less than a month to go before Christmas, towns and cities around Otago and Southland have already started holding their annual Santa parades.

This weekend saw the streets of Oamaru, Dunedin and Invercargill filled with floats, in a celebration of both Christmas and the local communities.

Invercargill's city council consent processes looks likely to undergo an independent review following complaints raised at a regulatory committee meeting on Tuesday.

Invercargill lawyer Liz Henry says she surveyed over 60 people of which almost 80 percent said their dealings with the council had been unsatisfactory.