Kyanar:Klipspringer:
http://www.dol.govt.nz/workplace/knowledgebase/item/1294
If the op is at the end of his contract period he could be let go straight away. And there is no need even for a notice period by the employer.
If the op signs a new fixed term contract its a new employment agreement, and it may be different to the previous employment agreement. Not sure why u blaming government for this?
Wait a minute... OP is on a fixed term contract, and is being asked to sign another one for the same job? That's not actually legal in NZ. A fixed term contract is only legally allowed to be used for a short term need. If the reason for the fixed term no longer exists, legally they must either lapse the contract and go out to market, or hire the employee full time. You could actually take them to the DOL about that.
That's not how I read the link above:
"Provided that there is a genuine reason for the fixed term agreement, there are no restrictions on how long a fixed term agreement can run for or the number of fixed term agreements to which an employee and employer can agree."
There are other reasons in the link why FTA's might be invalid - but an or many additional contract periods does not look like one of them.