This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 7 media release snippets and 3 links for the day of Monday 20th July.
Top stories in the current news cycle include private prison operator Serco being in the eye of a storm over illegal inmate activities at Mt Eden prison, the advent of all-electric commuter trains in Auckland today and Prime Minister John Key appearing to have ruled out stopping foreigners buying residential property even if new statistics show they’re driving up house prices.
Post-Cabinet Press Conference: Most questions put to the Prime Minister today, and the content of his own preamble, focused on the health of the economy with references to the Reserve Bank’s call on the OCR later this week, and the backdrop of the ongoing drop in global dairy prices. Mr Key argued against “needlessly talk(ing) ourselves into a gloomy mindset”. On the matter of management of prisons he said that how high a report on issues like organised fighting had gone would be a “serious issue”. And on the issue of the New Zealand housing market and foreign buyers he stuck to the line that moves to restrict foreign purchases in the likes of Australia had failed spectacularly. A snapshot of the press conference will be published at Newsroom.co.nz tomorrow.
SNIPPETS OF THE DAY
* Politics
National Failing To build Strong Economy: Growing economic pessimism is justified and will be reinforced further by National’s failure to grow the internationally competitive part of our economy, comprising of exports and import competing industries, the Green Party said today.
System Costs $3 Million : New figures obtained by Labour show the Government’s shambolic ACC car registration levy system has cost more than $3 million to implement and the costs are set to escalate, Labour’s ACC spokesperson Sue Moroney says. “That’s $3 million that could have been passed on in levy reductions if ACC Minister Nikki Kaye had not brought in this flawed, confused and unfair new system.
Govt Contract In Question : A botched Government contract has allowed an Auckland charter school to double dip by getting funding for students it has accommodated for free, Labour’s Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins says. “Information received by Labour through written Parliamentary questions show the Ministry of Education failed to check whether the Villa Education Trust had enough room to house the 160 students it is being funded for at the new Middle School West Auckland.
* Business
ServiceNow Guru To Visit NZ: A US expert on enterprise Cloud services will be visiting New Zealand later this month to share his knowledge with local businesses. Boston-based Rick Wright, who is KPMG’s Global Technology Enablement Lead, will provide insights into the growing global success of ServiceNow.
* Primary Industries
Promising Look On Orange Roughy: Scientific surveys of orange roughy stocks off the West Coast of the South Island and south of Fiordland have obtained live video footage of the fish from as deep as one kilometre below the surface.“Live footage enables us to see individual fish behaviours in real time and to focus our attention on areas where the most fish are gathered.”says Deepwater Group Chief Executive, George Clement.
Partnership To Help NZ Beef : A partnership between Beef + Lamb New Zealand and a restaurant chain in Taiwan is helping to open consumers’ eyes to the nutritional benefits of grass-fed New Zealand beef.
NZ Wool Services International : The Commerce Commission is to seek final submissions on Cavalier Wool Holding Limited’s application for authorisation to acquire New Zealand Wool Services International’s wool scouring business.
LINKS OF THE DAY
LOCAL GOVT WANTS MORE INVESTMENT: A report based on the findings of a recent survey, identifies what Mayors and Chairs of local authorities think are the major issues facing their communities. The report is available on the Simpson Grierson website: http://www.simpsongrierson.com/taking-the-pulse-of-local-government-in-new-1/
BUSINESSNZ PSI FOR JUNE 2015: New Zealand’s services sector held its own in June as activity remained at a healthy level of expansion, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI). Click here for more: http://www.businessnz.org.nz/news-and-media/media-releases/2015/humming-along-psi
SPIDERS ARE OUR FRIENDS: Two University of Canterbury (UC) researchers’ insights about two species of spider that feed preferentially on mosquitoes have been published in the Journal of Arachnology in America. View the article on vampire spiders here:http://www.americanarachnology.org/about_AAS/newsletters/AmerArachnol78.pdf
And that’s our sampling of the day that was on Monday 20th July 2015.
Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>
