This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 6 media release snippets and 4 links of the day from Wednesday 3rd June.
Top stories in the current news cycle include a meeting between Prime Minister John Key and Amnesty International’s global Secretary-General Salil Shetty today – with the topic of refugee quotas being raised, the latest results from the NZCER National Monitoring Study of National Achievement showing just 41 percent of Year 8 children were performing at or above level 4 of the maths curriculum and comments from the Privacy Commissioner after the Ministry of Social Development received a complaint from an abuse claimant who was sent someone else’s information that such breaches are simply sloppy.
SNIPPETS OF THE DAY
More Funding Will Help NZ Exports : Extra Budget funding will help exporters take full advantage of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and avoid the risk of costly delays at overseas borders, Customs Minister Nicky Wagner says. “Exports to China and ASEAN countries have increased significantly in the past four years. This is good for exporters and good for our economy, but as the volume of exports has increased, so too has the number of administrative issues arising at the border,” Ms Wagner says.
Commodity Price Drop As Dairy Prices Sink:New Zealand commodity prices fell for a second month in May on continued weakness in dairy products and a decline in prices of meat. The ANZ Commodity Price Index for May declined by 4.7 percent, following April’s 7.4 percent decline. The index is now about 18 percent lower than in May 2014.
Labour Party: Treasury Forecast Off Track: National’s rosy predictions of a global dairy price rise to lift the Government books out of the red are off the mark again with the latest fall showing how wrong Treasury’s forecasts were, says Labour’s Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson.
New Consumer Credit Laws: Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Paul Goldsmith welcomes new rules that will better protect borrowers taking effect from Saturday 6 June. “A new era in consumer lending begins this Saturday where all lenders must meet responsible lending obligations and consumers have access to better information to help them make better borrowing choices,” Mr Goldsmith says.
Social Worker To Help New Mums: Health Minister Jonathan Coleman welcomes a new domestic violence social worker role which will be based at Auckland DHB’s National Women’s Hospital. “We’re committed to giving new mums and their babies the best possible care,” says Dr Coleman. “Starting or expanding a family can be a stressful time and we want to ensure that mums and babies are safe and supported.”
Green Party : Are Our Spy Agencies Stopping Asylum Seekers: Prime Minister John Key needs to confirm if our spy agencies were involved in snooping on asylum seekers and potentially breaching our international human rights obligations, Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said today.
LINKS OF THE DAY
DISABILITY SUPPORT CHANGES: Information on progress in implementing the recommendations of a major review of disability support services is available at: www.health.govt.nz/our-work/disability-services/putting-people-first-quality-review
AA NEW ZEALAND’S PETROL WATCH: Fuel prices in many parts of the country rose a total of 2 cents per litre during May, but in other areas the price rise was much higher as the long-running price discount war suddenly came to an end. For more information, go to: www.aa.co.nz/petrolwatch
EXPORT EARNINGS HIGHER THAN IMPORT SPENDING: New analysis released by Statistics New Zealand today shows that New Zealand earned $2.8 billion more from exports than we spent on imports during the year ended March 2015. For more information about these statistics, click here: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/imports_and_exports/GoodsServicesTradeCountry_HOTPYeMar15.aspx
GOVERNMENT FORESTRY GRANTS: Northland farmers and landowners are being encouraged to take full advantage of a Government forestry grant scheme, with the Northland Regional Council advising it also has options to help. For more information on the Government’s Afforestation Grant Scheme, go to: www.mpi.govt.nz/funding-and-programmes/forestry/afforestation-grant-scheme
And that’s our sampling of the day that was on Wednesday 3rd June 2015.
Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>
