EveningReport.nz’s Selwyn Manning and Australia’s radio FiveAA.com.au’s Peter Godfrey deliver their Across The Ditch bulletin. This week: Final Wrap Before Rugby World Cup Final + Waiheke Island Lonely Planet’s Top 5 Destinations – Recorded live on 29/10/15.
The All Blacks have dominated almost all media this week after securing its position in the Rugby World Cup final.
The Prime Minister John Key has become an unashamed groupie turning up in the dressing room after last weekend’s win over the Spring Boks and almost every game possible since the All Blacks won the 2011 World Cup.
He’s been schmoozing All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, and Key appears to want the man on his team. Key has also offered McCaw a knighthood on numerous occasions. To date, McCaw has turned him down on both counts.
McCaw is a bit of a hero over here, he has played in 147 All Black international games, and is still considered the best open side flanker in the world. To relax, the guy goes flying light aircraft around New Zealand’s Southern Alps!
But legends aside… This final is going to be great. If Australia win, the Wallabies will be the first team to ever win the RWC three times. If the All Blacks win, they will be the first to win the RWC three times. No other team comes close.
Since winning the World Cup in 2011, the All Blacks have won 47 games, drawn two, lost three. The most recent loss was to the Wallabies in Sydney a couple of months ago!
All this theatre makes for a great clash between these two arch rivals.
On Sunday morning, New Zealand will rise before the dawn, the country will grind to a halt as the game plays out. After the game, irrespective of the outcome, the malls will be empty, the roads bereft of vehicles. People may shuffle out for brunch at a cafe.
If the All Blacks win, all will be good and grand throughout the land. Smiles will be exchanged.
If they lose, the country will be in mourning, haunted again by those words muttered by the Wallaby captain George Gregan way back in 2003 when the All Blacks lost to Australia in the World Cup semi final. Back then Gregan said: “Four more years boys, four more years.”
ITEM TWO:Auckland’s Waiheke Island has been awarded Lonely Planet’s fifth place in its top destinations. And we are all thrilled about that! Here’s why. (ref. NZHerald.co.nz)
New Zealand’s most vulnerable native species have a new protector, with the launch this week of the Endangered Species Foundation.
The Foundation aims to create a $30 million endowment fund for front-line conservation projects.
At the Foundation’s launch, Chairman Kerry Prendergast said New Zealand has thousands of incredible native species that are in real danger of extinction.
“There are more than 4000 species currently endangered in New Zealand, and only 250 of them are currently in conservation programmes. There’s a great need for this organisation, if New Zealand is to protect its most vulnerable indigenous species and habitats from extinction.”
Mrs Prendergast said the Foundation would focus on the “rarest of the rare”.
“It’s not just the pretty ones that need protecting,” Mrs Prendergast said. “The Endangered Species Foundation is committed to focusing support where it’s most urgent, rather than on what has the most public appeal.”
Endangered species: ESFNZ Chair Kerry Prendergast and Conservation Minister Maggie Barry with a very special tuatara. Almost invisible to the eye at the top of the Minister’s glove is a Maud Island frog.
Conservation Minister Maggie Barry launched the Foundation at the Zealandia Wildlife Sanctuary, and said that initiatives such as the Endangered Species foundation gave her heart for the future of conservation.
”It is not always just about raising money, raising awareness is at least as important, putting the right people in touch with each other, celebrating and thanking conservation leaders from all walks of life, and providing high-quality information that makes the challenge of managing these highly endangered species easier.
“It gives me hope for the future when we focus our attention on plants and animals, especially those that are the most critically endangered, and, along with DoC, we all combine our efforts and our talents to turn around the tide of threatened extinctions.”
The Foundation was conceived when Dr Mike Thorsen, a botanist and ecologist, and his father Neil Thorsen, an experienced manager of philanthropic trusts, were discussing how a shortage of funds hampered the conservation of endangered species.
“We thought ‘could we raise a million dollars for endangered species conservation?’ and we came to the conclusion it shouldn’t be too hard,” says Dr Thorsen.
In 2012 the pair started to put the idea into motion.
“When we started we just made one ‘small’ change to the original plan. We decided to aim to raise $30 million over five years instead of $1 million,” Dr Thorsen says.
“People and businesses saw the merit of the idea and now there’s a very diverse group who have pitched in to help. Today the public are being given the chance to themselves help to save a unique piece of New Zealand from extinction,” he said.
The foundation has already received more than $1million in donations, and is about to start fundraising in earnest assisted by a network of ambassadors. The work of the foundation is supported by companies and experts donating their time and resources.
“We have just a part-time support officer which ensures that nearly all money raised goes directly to conservation projects, with the fund administered by New Zealand’s most experienced fund managers,” said Dr Thorsen.
Neil Thorsen says that from his experience, the endowment fund will grow significantly over the generations.
As well as officially launching the foundation, the Foundation released a list of the ten most endangered species in New Zealand.
This list is the most comprehensive and up to date in the country.
“ESFNZ’s scientists worked with species experts and used the very latest data to provide what is the most accurate list available. The species in the list will, if nothing is done, become lost forever,” Mrs Prendergast says.
“In some cases it will cost less very little to save a species. Donors have a real opportunity here to leave a legacy of a whole species for generations after you to enjoy.”
This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 8 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 28th October.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle includes changes to funeral practices and customs being proposed by the Law Commission in its review of the Burial and Cremation Act, a new report on Asian migration that shows more people are choosing to live in provincial areas and the a poor environmental rating New Zealand has received from the OECD.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nz
POLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government: McClay attends Pacific Trade Ministers Meeting; New eating and activity guidelines for adults; Minister encouraged by moves toward migratory bird protection with China; $24m redevelopment for Balmoral School, Auckland; Low income earners benefiting from finance partnership; Foss announces grant for veteran support services; $2.7 million for international education in regions and new markets
Greens: New evidence shows charter school experiment not working; New OECD environment report damaging for New Zealand’s reputation
Labour: Unprepared government scrambles to deal with deportees; Govt broadband not keeping up with business needs; Brownlee ignoring EQC allegations; Time to modernise role of Reserve Bank; NZDF stupid to reject Iraqi-born Kiwi; No excuses for building delays
New Zealand First: Pigs Not The TB Culprit Either; Key Can’t Cut EU Deal As TPPA Truth Emerges; Ministers Of Sport And Trade M.I.A. On Wellington Phoenix
NZ National Party: Bishop selects Britnee Tapara for Youth MP role
LINKS OF THE DAY
Links of the day have been a feature of NewsRoom_Digest since we first started production in August 2014 at newsroom-nz.tumblr.com.
COMPUTER SECURITY TEAM: The New Zealand Internet Task Force that it has launched a public funding campaign to build a Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). For more information about CSIRT visit:http://www.csirt.nz/
EATING GUIDELINES: The Ministry of Health has released the Eating and Activity Guidelines for New Zealand Adults, which combines the ministry’s updated nutrition and physical activity advice into one document for the first time. To view the new guidelines document and other information in the series, visit:http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/eating-and-activity-guidelines-new-zealand-adults
ECONOMIES IMPROVE: Developing economies quickened the pace of their business reforms during the last 12 months to make it easier for local businesses to start and operate, says the World Bank Group’s annual ease of doing business measurement. Go here for more: https://www.openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22771
FUNERAL INDUSTRY REFORM: The Law Commission’s review of the 51-year-old Burial and Cremation Act also recommends modernising how deaths are certified, relaxing rules around where some people can be buried and making it easier to open a privately-run crematorium. Read more: http://www.lawcom.govt.nz/our-projects/burial-and-cremation-law
FLAG VOTING: The Electoral Commission is calling on New Zealanders to make sure they are correctly enrolled and ready to vote in the first referendum on the New Zealand flag. People can check that their enrolment details are up to date at http://www.elections.org.nz
LABOUR FORCE SURVEY: Statistics New Zealand conducted a survey of the working-age population estimate of the usually resident, non-institutionalised, civilian population of New Zealand aged 15 years and over. Read more:http://bit.ly/1Mh04jD
As the month of the Mo grows closer, Kiwi men are making last minute preparations to get a clean shave for November 1st, prepping for not just one – but two special occasions.
On November 1st all eyes will be on our men in black in the United Kingdom, but back on local ground, New Zealand men will be preparing for a battle of a different kind.
“It is extremely exciting to be celebrating 10 years of Mo growing in New Zealand this year. We would love for 2015 to be our best year yet so we can continue to support men in this country,” says Robert Dunne, New Zealand Country Manager for the Movember Foundation.
Movember is the opportunity for people all around the globe to commit to making a difference for men to live happier, healthier and longer lives.
This year, 5000 Kiwis have already signed up at Movember.com, many taking on a workplace challenge, or taking part independently. Kiwi men call on friends and family to make a donation at their personal fundraising profile on the Movember website.
This November marks the 10th anniversary of Movember in New Zealand, with more than 100,000 moustaches grown since the campaign’s local launch in 2006.
Fresh after his efforts in the UK, All Black Brodie Retallick, will attempt to be one of New Zealand’s tallest Mos. The 2.04m tall lock has committed to growing his Mo, following in the footsteps of other famous rugby Mo Bros who have gone before him, including All Blacks captain and long time Mo Bro Richie McCaw.
“Our national rugby team has inspired some Kiwis to grow Mos over the years, raising awareness for a worthy cause in the process, and we’re grateful for their endorsement,” says Dunne.
Every bit of support helps in the crusade to stop men from suffering in silence and often dying too young – on average six years earlier than women. “Men are often reluctant to talk about the impact of significant life events and seek help if they don’t feel well. Movember opens up those conversations and aims to encourage men to be more vocal about their wellbeing,” continues Dunne.
Participation can also be in the form of the charity’s MOVE challenge, which encourages men and women to do 30 MOVEs in 30 days. Kiwi Mo Bros and Mo Sistas can take on this challenge together.
Whether it’s a workout one day, a game of ping pong the next, a walk to the shops instead of a drive or a month long bike ride, supporters find new ways to MOVE to support a healthy lifestyle. For Mo Sistas, MOVE is a way to do something tangible in the name of men’s health.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) is sending two instructors to West Africa to teach at a world-class peacekeeping training facility.
Under an initiative led by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Lieutenant Colonel (LT COL) Helen Cooper and strategic analyst Erica Gold will be teaching a module as part of a Gender, Peace and Security Master of Arts programme at the prestigious Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC). They will also lecture on peace operations and conflict prevention at Ghanaian universities and spend a day teaching female officers from the Ghana Armed Forces, which has served in peacekeeping operations globally since the early 1960s.
“This training assistance is a meaningful and tangible peace and security initiative that reinforces New Zealand’s longstanding contribution to United Nations peacekeeping efforts,” said Air Commodore Tony Davies, Assistant Chief Strategic Commitments and Engagements.
“This also marks the first time New Zealand will be contributing to the peacekeeping programme of the Centre, which seeks to address the peacekeeping training requirements not only of Ghana but also of the West African sub-region and the continent,” he added.
LT COL Cooper, currently the Commanding Officer of the NZDF Youth Development Unit, deployed previously to Cambodia and East Timor. In 2011, she deployed to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon as the Chief Military Observer, the first female to hold a command appointment at that level within the mission. Her work during the deployment earned her commendations from the United Nations and the Lebanese government. She is often invited to speak about women in leadership positions and her experiences as a peacekeeper.
Erica Gold, who works at Headquarters NZDF as a strategic analyst focusing on North Africa and the Middle East, has been leading the organisation’s research on the contribution of female military personnel to operational success. A former Regular Force soldier deployed in 2012 to Afghanistan as part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, Ms Gold has provided training in this area to a range of audiences within the NZDF and Australia. Her research has also informed decisions relating to current deployments.
“New Zealand is second only to Sweden in the percentage of women we’ve deployed to operations and overseas. In a way, we are a trailblazer in this area,” Lt COL Cooper said.
She explained that when developing the training module, she and Ms Gold agreed that “we will talk about New Zealand’s experience rather than impose that this is how things should be done”.
An internationally recognised Centre for research on conflict prevention and peace operations, the KAIPTC has run over 230 courses for military, police and civilian personnel from over 88 countries and organisations in Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa since 2003.
NewsroomPlus.com
Contributed by Positively Wellington TourismWellington Zoo’s Kororā Little Blue Penguins will waddle their way into your affections in their new enclosure right in the heart of the coolest little capital in the world.
It is home to a variety of animals including Kunekune pigs, bees, eels, Grand and Otago Skinks, Maud Island Frogs, sheep, as well as Kororā Little Blue Penguins. More than 5,000 visitors interacted with the animals over the opening Labour Day weekend.
Wellington ZooChief Executive Karen Fifield said Meet the Locals He Tuku Aroha was “a celebration of our country, our animals and our people”.
“We’re re-opening a large part of the Zoo that visitors haven’t been able to access for some time, and we’re thrilled that we can do it with Meet the Locals He Tuku Aroha.”
Minutes from the CBD,Zealandiaalso enjoyed a busy Labour Weekend with strong visitor numbers taking advantage of great weather to get in touch with nature.
But it’s their avian icon, the kiwi, which has overcome its shy reputation to become one of the stars of Zealandia Night Tours where visitors are almost guaranteed to see our national bird in the wild.
Peak season for Zealandia’s Night Tours starts in November, with torchlight-lit tours every night of the week. The good news for nature night-lifers is that you’re guaranteed to hear, and have a good chance of seeing one of the flightless birds in the wild.
Lead Ranger for Conservation, Matu Booth, says the impressive kiwi spotting success rate comes down to the skill of Zealandia’s tour guides.
“They know where kiwi like to hang out and what they like to do when they are active at night. The guides have become very adept at locating them, even on the darkest of nights.”
Zealandiais home to the largest population of little spotted kiwi on the mainland. More than 130 of the birds roam free within the safety of Zealandia’s sanctuary valley.
Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency chief executive Chris Whelan says Zealandia and Wellington Zoo are two of the jewels in Wellington’s crown, but the city is also blessed with a glorious harbour, a green town belt and compact size.
“There is a heart of nature on the city’s doorstep which allows locals and visitors easy access to an outdoor lifestyle – whether that’s enjoying the solitude of a bush walk in the green belt, tackling a mountain bike trail, or taking in all that Zealandia and Wellington Zoo has to offer.”
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Small town New Zealand, has never been totally isolated or disconnected from the wider world. Helensville is at the northern end of the western branches of the Auckland Transport bus lines. Taking a trip there from Auckland city, reveals some of the vast rural-urban differences within greater Auckland. I got the bus at Karangahape Road, near the Family Bar, where early twentieth century buildings meet 21st century leisure and commerce.
The bus goes past the massive work in progress that is the Waterview Connection, along the north western motorway, which these days is continually under construction. New lanes are being built at a higher level beside the existing lanes.
The bus stopped at the Westgate Centre in Massey, also undergoing massive construction – then went on through the semi-rural areas of Kumeu and Waimauku. AT bus drivers tend to be very courteous and helpful to passengers. But as we entered the more rural terrain, a different kind of friendliness is indicated by the way the driver stopped to let off a young guy with a small backpack. I think he was headed to Murawai. There were no bus stops there. The driver told him to just wait on the side road and flag down a bus when it came past.
It got more noticeably into farming country as we get closer to Helensville. Then the bus did a circuit of Parakai, past the camp ground and hot springs (Parakai is the reversal of Kaipara, the 2 elements meaning the para fern as food: see Helensville Museum and Pioneer Village website).
Helensville – a river runs through it… and a railway line
Then, we are taken on into Helensville. It is very much a 21st century small NZ town; but one where the past continues to live a very contemporary context. It has the same kind of products as Auckland City on display in shops, one of the same supermarket chains, and the same kind of bus shelters. There are far less cars on the roads than on east coast small towns like Warkworth, giving a sense of a slower pace.
The town sits beside the Kaipara River, the main means of transport until the first few decades of the 20th century. The canoes brought the first inhabitants up the river into the area around the 15th century. Later came the Pakeha and with them the development of the timber and kauri gum industries.
In 1862, timber miller John McLeod and his wife Helen built their home out of kauri and named it “Helen’s Villa”. This was the basis of the town’s name.
A local resident told me that they like Helensville as it is: non-touristy, and a bit scruffy – a bit hippyish. This 2011 article describes it as “post-hippie”. That article focuses on a lot of the commercial venues: the cafes and craft stores. But there is far more depth of history in the Helensville landscape.
Helensville, history and screen productions: past into the present
Ngati Whatua o Kaipara is a visible presence in the town, as I could see from signage on buildings as I walked up the main street, Commercial Road. Almost opposite the Ngati Whatua o Kaipara community building is the old Post Office Building. This building moonlights as the Brokenwood Police Station in the Brokenwood Mysteries.
Towards the end of the final episode (#8) to season 2 of the TV series, DSS Mike Shepherd drives out of the Brokenwood Police Station and turns right into Commercial Road. In fact, he should have turned left to where he is next seen driving down Garfield Road, past what was once the Regent Picture Theatre. I walked that route. This connects past screen history, with the more recent use of Helensville as a filming location.
The theatre building, now a second hand shop, wears its faded glamour well. There’s posters from movies past on display, such as those for the Titanic. Picture shows came early to Helensville. Mrs Mongomery travelled the Kaipara are with her carbide picture plant (Men Came Voyaging by C.M. Sheffield, 2011: 159). The Montgomeries were touring the Auckland region with the Kinematograph shows as early as 1900, eg showing moving images of bull fighting and the Transvaal War.
Perry’s Pictures showed films in the Helensville Foresters Hall, such as indicated by this 1912 newspaper article, featuring “Billy the Kid”. Later became the Star Picture Theatre, located, I’m told, at 20 Garfield Road, a couple of premises up from the Regent Theatre. Stewarts Hall was built during WWI and later became the Lyric Theatre. It burned down in 1939, and the Regent Theatre was built on the same site in 1941 (Helensville Heritage Study: Volume II The Register: for the Rodney District Council, 1994).
On the opposite side of the road, beyond the wet muddy banks of the Kaipara, the aptly named Grand Hotel can be seen. Beyond that is the Railway Station Museum and the Railway Station, itself a living museum piece. I felt I was in a mid 20th century movie, or a Woody Guthrie song as I watched 2 men walking off down the railway tracks beside the silent railway carriages.
I then walked along the Riverside Walkway, to the Helensville Museum, where I learned that many screen productions had been filmed in the area. Helensville featured as the town of Cobham in the 1980s TV series, Mortimer’s Patch.
Helensville has always been linked to the wider countryside and world, through transport routes and the ever changing technologies of communication. It has a unique character and a rural, small town feel, while being far from isolated. It continues to play a significant role in contemporary media.
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NewsroomPlus.com
If there was a list of publishers that love lists then surely Lonely Planet would be in the Top 10.
Lonely Planet’s latest Best in Travel 2016 – billed as an annual collection of the best trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the upcoming year – does the honour of choosing Auckland’s very own Waiheke Island as number 5 in its list of the world’s Top 10 Regions for next year (putting aside the question, is an island unto itself a region?).
Go Waiheke Island!
New Zealand’s next win is that the Speight’s Coast to Coast gains second place on the list for Best Places to Test Your Survival Skills, with a compliment that the “the iconic 33-year-old event is … achievable for mortals … and the atmosphere is more fun-run than Iron Man” (excepting serious competitors one imagines).
In other top placings Queenstown’s “funky Fergburger” makes it to number 5 on Best Burger Experiences, and in the category of the The World’s Most Extraordinary Sleepovers the Tasman region scores big with the Boot Bed & Breakfast.
The copywriter scores big on that one too, with the commendation that “Looking like something out of a children’s book, the boot sleeps two, with a cosy Hobbit-meets- Beatrix Potter-meets-twee feel”. Feeling the twee?
BACK TO Waiheke Island
Here is Lonely Planet’s Chris Zeiher in full PR mode with Waiheke love: “A mere 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland, New Zealand’s third-most densely populated island is a utopia of secret coves, beautiful beaches, rolling vineyards, luxury lodges and bohemian sensibilities. Affectionately known as the ‘Island of Wine’, Waiheke is home to over 30 wineries and some of the best boutique cellar door experiences New Zealand has to offer.”
But wait, there’s more: “Waiheke’s bohemian and hippie past is not far from the surface and the island continues to have a thriving artistic community where over a hundred working artists ply their trades in disciplines such as sculpture, glass blowing, painting and woodwork. The island is an outdoor enthusiast’s playground, where mountain biking, sea kayaking and sailing can all be indulged”.
And Chris isn’t out of breath quite yet: “Waiheke is an electric, heady mix set against a Buddha Bar soundtrack: fast yet slow all at the same time – there’s nowhere else on earth quite like it.”
We can’t wait to read the testimonials for the regions that beat out Waiheke; namely the number one spot won by Transylvania, Romania, followed by West Iceland, Cuba’s Valle de Viñales, and Italy’s Friuli’s wine regions.
Making up the remainder of the Top 10 regions list were The Auvergne in France, Hawaii, Bavaria, Brazil’s Costa Verde and … St Helena (described, by the New York Times no less, as the ‘Cursed Rock’ of Napoleon’s exile).
How would you rate these lists?
Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Countries to visit in 2016:
Botswana
Japan
USA
Palau
Latvia
Australia
Poland
Uruguay
Greenland
Fiji.
Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Cities to visit in 2016 (bonus points for knowing the country, or region!):
Kotor
Quito
Dublin
George Town
Rotterdam
Mumbai
Fremantle
Manchester
Nashville
Rome.
How are these lists created?
Each year, the recommendations and celebrations in Best in Travel (206pp, full colour, 180mm x 145mm, paperback) are drawn from hundreds of ideas submitted by Lonely Planet’s staff, authors and extended community of travellers, bloggers and tweeters. Their suggestions are then refined by a panel of in-house travel experts, based on topicality, excitement, value and that “special X-factor”.
Turkish delight: This year’s global sponsor for Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2016 is Turkish Airlines, who have provided a competition prize of flights to a Best in Travel destination.
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[caption id="attachment_7828" align="aligncenter" width="968"] Balance of Trade and Balance of Payments.[/caption]
This week’s chart shows New Zealand’s trade and current account balances from 1972 to 2015. (Strictly, because the annual data is for years-ending March, the period covered is April 1971 to March 2015.)
The current account is a measure of international current receipts of New Zealand Inc. (households, government and businesses) minus current payments. Current receipts are exports of goods and services, financial income (mainly interest and profits earned by New Zealand residents), and transfers (essentially gifts).
(Note that NZ Inc. here means New Zealand as a whole as an economic entity. It is not a term infused with either pro-business or anti-business sentiment.)
While the biggest component of the current account balance is the balance of trade on goods and services, the biggest component of imbalance – by far – is the large and persistent deficit on financial income. The New Zealand current account has been in deficit – payments exceeding receipts – every year since the 1974 oil shocks. This deficit has been financed by what is loosely called ‘foreign investment’.
(Deficits are negative balances on the chart, and surpluses are positive balances.)
With the balance of trade averaging about zero over the whole period, New Zealand’s export receipts have been sufficient to pay for New Zealand’s imports. What has not happened, however, is net payments of interest and other financial income. Rather the ‘foreign sector’, which is New Zealand’s creditor, has consistently lent to New Zealand its interest payment obligations. Incoming ‘foreign investment’ approximately matches those interest payments and profits that flow out of New Zealand. New Zealand has not missed out on any enjoyment of imported goods and services on account of its financial obligations.
This implicit arrangement works to the satisfaction of both parties (NZ Inc. and its ‘foreign sector’ creditor). New Zealand maintains its high living standards by avoiding the usual debtor fate of having to produce more goods and services than it enjoys. And the foreign sector, which generally chooses to spend less than it earns, has an attractive outlet in New Zealand for some of its savings.
New Zealanders’ propensity to incur private debt – and to borrow to pay the interest – is a stabilising factor in the world economy. However, it’s only a small stabilising factor, given that New Zealand is only the 55th largest national economy in the world.
New Zealand has played this role because of the willingness of its banks – through monetary policy – to offer higher risk-adjusted interest rates to foreign savers than they could gain from most other savings’ outlets. The irony is that the post-1980s bias towards tight monetary policy in New Zealand is actually the main reason why money flows so easily into New Zealand, enabling an exchange rate that is generally overvalued, and enabling New Zealand to import substantially more than it would otherwise be able to do.
In the absence of these accommodating monetary policies – policies that accommodate high foreign propensities to save – the chart from 1972 would show current account balances averaging around zero, and with large balance of trade surpluses. New Zealand’s general standard of living – measured by average expenditure per person – would have been significantly lower had New Zealand monetary policy not played this unintended accommodating role. The offsetting cost to NZ Inc is the risk of a chronic-debtors’ fate.
New Zealand Report: Selwyn Manning joins Australia’s radio FiveAA breakfast team to deliver New Zealand Report, this week they dig into the form of Rugby World Cup finalists the All Blacks and the Wallabies – Recorded live on 28/10/15.
This has got to be the perfect outcome of the month-long Rugby World Cup tournament, with both the All Blacks and the Wallabies in the final.
Consider this… there have been three major World Cups in 2015. Crick, Netball and Rugby. Australia and New Zealand have been in all the finals. Maybe this is New Zealand’s time to shine 🙂
It’s a statement on how good southern hemisphere Rugby is that all four teams in the semi finals were from below the equator: Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Predictably the All Blacks V Spring Boks game was as they say, a real nail biter with the Spring Boks ahead at half time, and the All Blacks finishing the game with two tries, two conversions, and a drop goal to mount a two point 20-18 lead. The South Africans failed to score a try but booted their way into contention, capitalising on the All Blacks high penalty rate.
And that penalty rate is the biggest problem with this All Black team. No one from the New Zealand team has really explained why the All Blacks have been giving away so many penalty goal opportunities to their opponents. It was a concerning pattern in the pool games, and it nearly lost the All Blacks a shot at the final when the Spring Boks exploited this weakness when in All Blacks territory.
But the All Blacks are on form now, they are fast and probably the finest pack in the World Cup. And they are peaking at the right time. The All Blacks also have shown they do have the ability to shape the game-play and tactics to counter any opposition.
Australia, while having outplayed all opponents so far in the World Cup, showed a few signs of being battle-weary last weekend. But then again, the Wallabies fired up and delivered when they needed to against a passionate Argentina on Monday morning. And you guys have amazing depth.
Both the Wallabies and the All Blacks substitution-bench is arguably as good as the starting players and certainly better than most other opponents in this World Cup.
Now everyone is focussing on Sunday morning’s final.
The pundits this side of the ditch are predicting a fabulous game. It’s Australia and NZ’s opportunity to really show the northern hemisphere how this game should be played. No team in the world can play like our two countries. And both sides always turn it up a notch when that Trans-Tasman rivalry kicks in.
For the record, the NZHerald is ranking the top players as follows: (ref. NZ Herald)
1. Richie McCaw (All Blacks captain, Flanker)
2. Dan Carter (All Blacks first five)
3. David Pocock (Wallabies number 8) – The punters say your guy is unstoppable and will be key to creating a Wallabies win. The ABs will mark him totally.
4. Nigel Owens (the Referee from Wales). He is said to be the best ref in the game.
5. Bernard Foley ( Wallabies first five, solid goal kicker and a real revelation that is seriously concerning for the All Blacks camp)
6. Scott Sio (Wallabies prop. He’s a powerhouse and the All Blacks are watching carefully to see if he is match fit from injury)
7. Ben Smith (All Blacks fullback, this guy is world class under a high ball and in the kick-and-chase phase of the game)
8. Ma’a Nonu and Sunny Bill Williams (All Blacks second five players. These two world class players share the game with Nonu doing the damage in the first half and SBW coming in off the bench, injecting power into the centre-and-backline in the second half)
9. Matt Giteau (Wallabies second five, he has built huge respect on this side of the ditch especially through this World Cup tournament. The punters say he’s got the smarts to really turn the game)
10. Beaded Barrett – All Blacks utility, Barrett has intuition and superb handling skills in a fast passed game, injecting real energy into the phase play.
And then there’s the rivalry. Over here, Kiwis love to see our Aussie counterparts having a go. The NZ Herald has reported how the Aussie tabloid The Daily Telegraph headlined its front page calling the All Black Captain Richie McCaw, “The Richety Grub!” The Daily Telegraph said, this guy has been bugging Australia for years! (ref. NZ Herald)
Over here this man is God, even the Prime Minister wants him on his National Party team and keeps offering him Knighthoods. To date, McCaw says no to both. It’s going to be a great game!
AUCKLAND (Te Waha Nui/Pacific Media Watch): An award-winning student journalism newspaper has condemned growing secrecy about politics and state business, saying it is “increasingly stifling” freedom of information in New Zealand.
Te Waha Nui, whose print edition has won several prizes in the Ossie Awards annual student journalism honours in recent years, condemned the trend in an editorial.
Two front page stories also highlighted Chief Ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem commenting on “tidying up” of government agency practices under the Official Information Act and the success of a four-year defamation case by investigative journalist Jon Stephenson against the NZ Defence Force.
Stephenson condemned the country’s “weakened media watchdog” and government obstruction as undermining New Zealand democracy.
Below in italics is Te Waha Nui editorMatthew Hutching‘s editorial.Hutching is a postgraduate student journalist with AUT University’s Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies paper.
Te Waha Nui editor Matthew Hutching wrote in the editorial:
“Having a distracted public enables these powers [government and public agencies] to conduct more public business behind closed doors, without complaint”. His editorial under the headline “What price information freedom?”:
For student journalists today, our professional horizon appears as a turmoil of doom, gloom, hope and excitement. We are graduating into a media world that offers new ways of telling stories and presenting information.
But journalism is also unsure of itself. Media outlets are hampered by declining revenue from the advertising online exodus, and in the scramble to stay alive they have largely sacrificed quality news on the altar of website clicks.
Society is changing too. People are busied by economic pressures and they don’t have time or energy for civil engagement.
What’s weakening good journalism is that the government and public agencies know this. Having a distracted public enables these powers to conduct more public business behind closed doors, without complaint. And it is increasingly stifling the freedom of information in New Zealand.
Three court cases this year frame the state of freedom of information and the health of journalism. They reveal our increasing reliance on the final pillar of democracy – the justice system – to maintain our right to know.
The front page stories touch on these cases. Investigative journalist Jon Stephenson told an uncomfortable truth about the New Zealand Defence Force’s activities. This government agency tried to silence him by discrediting him. He succeeded however, in winning a settlement and retraction from the state.
The second is Jane Kelsey vs Trade Minister Tim Groser, where a distinguished academic took a government minister to court for his blanket rejection of information requested under the OIA. The judgment found that the minister had disregarded the law.
In the judgment for this case, Justice Collins corrected the chief ombudsman’s decision to allow withholding information which was equally balanced with being in the public interest.
Justice Collins said: “…if a decision-maker is in two minds when undertaking the test required by 9(1) o f the Act, then information should be released unless there is good reason for withholding it.”
The third case is one for which judgment will be revealed very soon.
It is the outcome of a judicial review requested by investigative journalist Nicky Hager after police raided his home last October, confiscating documents, computers and other material. Regardless of the outcome, the judgment will cast light on the legitimacy of our state sector’s behaviour.
The attitudes shown by government agencies in these three cases are chilling. They portray a government which is increasingly flexing its third-term muscle, to the detriment of a free and open society.
This year, AUT University students have encountered it firsthand as they faced persistent stonewalling from a particular government agency in response to official information requests.
We have learned how to ask for information under the Act, what to ask for, and how to complain to the Ombudsman. It has given insight and trained us for a profession where official information is hard to access.
Hopefully we’ll never have to go to the High Court for it.
This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 7 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Tuesday 27th October.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle include new figures showing the number of deportations of convicted criminals from New Zealand dropping in the last five years, Bowel cancer NZ is warning consumers not to cut meat completely out of their diet despite a World Health Organisation (WHO) report confirming that processed meats raise the risks of cancer and an Australian think-tank saying the NZ military is ill prepared to deal with cyber issues.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nz
POLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government: Options sought for end-of-life tyres; Minister for Land Information to visit Mexico; Bennett to speak at OECD meeting in Europe; Fund boosts sister school ties with China; Tokelau Language Week celebrated;Minister meets with education experts in UK; NZICC triggers $700m building project;Online services save hours of taxpayers’ time
Greens: Greens call for audit, law change to protect labour hire workers; Government should harness some All Blacks pride for the environment; Price on carbon key to a sustainable future
Labour: Medical advice on obesity fails to tip scales; No hiding another tertiary provider going belly up; Baa-d behaviour or a bit of a dag?; Labour for hire not a recipe for exploitation; Patients get sicker on ‘ghost’ waiting lists; Detainees isolated and desperate
LINKS OF THE DAY
Links of the day have been a feature of NewsRoom_Digest since we first started production in August 2014 at newsroom-nz.tumblr.com.
CANCER MEATS: The World Health Organisation says processed meats such as bacon, sausages and ham and all red meats are probably carcinogenic but there is limited evidence. More information available at:http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2015/pdfs/pr240_E.pdf
CHINA IMPORTS REACH $10BN: Annual goods imports from China reached a new high of $10 billion, up $1.6 billion (19 percent), for the year ending September 2015, according to Statistics New Zealand. Read more:http://bit.ly/1GF0GTR
CYBER CRIMES: The report, ‘Cyber maturity in the Asia-Pacific Region 2015’, prepared by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, analyzes the cyber maturity of 20 countries within the Asia-Pacific region. NZ comes sixth in the list for preparedness. The report can be viewed at: https://www.aspi.org.au/publications/cyber-maturity-in-the-asia-pacific-region-2015
END-OF-LIFE TYRES: The Government is seeking innovative ideas on how New Zealand can better use the millions of end-of-life tyres through the Waste Minimisation Fund. Further information on the Waste Minimisation Fund, including on how to apply for the latest round is available from: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/waste/waste-minimisation-fund/index.html
TOKELAU LANGUAGE WEEK: Plant a seed today, for the future generation. That is the theme for Tokelau Language Week which begins today. A list of events marking Tokelau Language Week can be found at: http://www.mpia.govt.nz
TOURISTS SPENDING: Spending by international tourists in New Zealand in the year ended March 2015 climbed to $11.8 billion – an increase of 17.1 percent – according to the Tourism Satellite Account: 2015 by Statistics New Zealand. Read more: http://bit.ly/1GEL9DG
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Tuesday 27th October.
A plan to reduce transport demands in Wellington while boosting the eco-friendly e-commerce marketplace proved a winning formula for a Victoria University of Wellington supported start-up.
PoOol has beaten teams from all over the world to win the international Climathon competition. Team members will now head to Paris in December to present their business plan and participate in a three-day workshop as part of the UN climate action conference.
Organised by Climate-KIC (Europe’s largest climate change-focused public-private innovation partnership), Climathon involved teams from 20 cities around the world and included a 24-hour hackathon-style event aimed at finding practical solutions to climate change.
PoOol, made up of Victoria University of Wellington Bachelor of Commerce student Kang Lin, and Isa Miralles and Kim van Sparrentak (graduates from Wageningen University in the Netherlands) developed an e-commerce business model focusing on small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
It aims to help SMEs make sustainable procurement choices while reducing transport demands through collaborative purchasing.
“SMEs easily make up the majority of businesses in New Zealand and collectively have a big impact on the environment,” says Kim. “By bringing them together using e-commerce we hope to reduce this impact by helping them make more sustainable business choices.”
According to Isa, the initial idea came from an awareness of the need for a strong channel to develop the market for environmentally sustainable goods and services, and to connect and facilitate the transactions of local businesses.
“PoOol provides an e-commerce platform for businesses that sell an environmentally friendly product, service or technology,” says Isa. “As well as promoting the market itself, the platform will benefit urban transport logistics by aggregating the deliveries of multiple companies, thereby reducing CO2 emissions.
“It’s estimated that a reduction of 8.1 tonnes per year in Wellington by just the second year of operation is possible.”
In the final weeks of the project the team received mentoring from Geoff Todd, the Managing Director of Viclink, Victoria University’s commercialisation office.
“It was great to be able to provide a support roll to Isa, Kang and Kim to help them develop their winning model, and it was equally rewarding to be involved in such an important and significant global event,” says Geoff.
PoOol were selected from four Wellington finalists before going on to win the international award.
The Wellington Climathon event was sponsored by Victoria University and Wellington City Council, with supporting partners The New Zealand Centre of Sustainable Cities, The Deep South, and Enspiral Academy.
NZX Limited: NZX’s Hannah Lynch speaks to Shareclarity Managing Director & Founder Daniel Kieser about the benefits of Shareclarity to investors.
Transcript PROVIDED BY NEWSROOM_PLUS
Hannah Lynch, NZX:Daniel, could you kick things off by telling (people) a little bit about what Shareclarity actually is.
DANIEL KIESER, SHARECLARITY:
Sure, Shareclarity is an information platform, that basically provides crowd-based and cloud-based share price valuations. So it’s essentially a place where anybody can go to, to learn about different companies and what their shares could be worth.
We only really went live (this month), but already we’ve got over 65 NZX listed companies on the platform, and each of them has got a detailed description of what they do, a chat forum and a full financial valuation that allows users to explore in as much or as little detail as they’d like.
And how it works is pretty simple. We have a team of financial analysts and they research and initiate coverage on each company based on publicly available information. But then we leave it as much as possible to our users to go and debate, propose changes to, vote on and ultimately inform the underlying assumptions that form those evaluations.
At Shareclarity we do continue to administer the platform, just to ensure the integrity, the timeliness and the accuracy of the information is still maintained.
Hannah:So what are some of the key benefits of having this information, and data and research available to investors?
DANIEL KIESER, SHARECLARITY:
Well one of the founding principles of Shareclarity is that it affords anybody and everybody an equal opportunity to learn and contribute to the understanding of shares. So it hasn’t been built for one purpose, or one person but rather for many people and many different purposes.
By way of example if we start with new investors or students, for example, they can start by finding companies they already know something about – they either shop there, they use their services, or they work in the same industry – and that way they can slowly start to build their knowledge base into accounting principles, finance theory and portfolio management.
For the more active investors they can engage a lot better with their fund managers and their brokers, they can identify new investments and they can even start to think about managing some of their own portfolios.
Hannah: And what can investors expect in terms of the kinds of format this information might come in, or how often the research is updated?
DANIEL KIESER, SHARECLARITY:
I’d probably say three things there.. Firstly all of the information is presented in the same uniform manner. So identifying, finding, comparing different companies is very easy.
The second thing is that Shareclarity is continually adding new companies to the platform. So every week there are new companies on there, and we’ll soon start to cover international companies as well.
Then the third thing I’d describe as having permanent initiation of coverage, or we’re permanently live, which means the turnaround time between a company making an announcement and that then (makes) being translated into a valuation or perspective on valuation that much faster.
So Daniel how does research on Shareclarity differ from other research that is out there for investors?
So Shareclarity, from what we can tell, is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. And so it’s the first platform that provides collaborative company analysis, and what we’re really trying to capture is the wisdom of crowds, industry experts and other market participants.
So from where we sit we don’t see why a dentist, for example, couldn’t contribute to the understanding of a dental practice by discussing margins. They may not know the rest of the business but they can certainly contribute at that layer. Orretail sales assistant could contribute to the understanding of a retail business – because they’re in the market, and they understand the trends that are happening in front of them.
Secondly we will be the first platform that allows users to personalise their own valuations in the cloud by providing interactive, online share price valuations. And thirdly we see ourselves as the first integration of chat, market information and equity research.
So right now those three things act in isolation from each other.
Hannah: Thanks for joining us Daniel, all the best.
“Be breast aware.” “Check your breasts.” Such advice is heard often during October, Breast Cancer Month, but many women say they don’t know how to check their breasts. The result can be that either they don’t check, or they worry they’re doing it wrong.
To make it easy, the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation has produced a new video, believed to be the first online self-check video in Australasia, called TLC (Touch Look Check). It’s a far-from-expert guide for women about how to check their breasts, fronted by NZBCF ambassador and Shortland Street actress Jacqueline Nairn. Nairn encourages viewers not to get hung up on a specific checking technique. Rather, with the help of several women who agreed to be filmed checking their breasts, she explains the basics of where a woman should be feeling, and how to look for changes in the breast.
Jacqueline Nairn said fronting the two-minute video lesson was a chance to have her say on a topic close to her heart. “We women need to take responsibility for our own health, and in particular to get proactive about being breast aware. I hope TLC will give women more confidence about checking their breasts – I certainly learned a lot myself!”
“The gist of TLC is ‘Relax, and check your breasts’,” said Evangelia Henderson, chief executive at the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation. “We know early detection improves survival, and that women whose cancer is more advanced at diagnosis are more likely to die of their disease. When you check your breasts regularly, you get to know what’s normal for you, so you’re more alert to changes that could indicate breast cancer.”
Article by Carolyn Skelton.
The 2 days I spent in September, at the conference (Social Movements, Resistance and Social Change II: Possibilities, Ideas, Demands) at Auckland University of Technology were excellent value. I found all the presentations to be thoroughly engaging and thought provoking. This was the second such conference. It is related to Sue Bradford’s research on left wing think tanks, and the establishment of the Counterfutures journal. These arise out of a need to develop a body of sound research, writing and other forms of communication to strengthen left wing political activities and movements in NZ.
Accessibility and breaking down barriers
One aim of the conference was to be accessible to all, so there were no registration fees, no elaborate lunches and no Wi-Fi connections. The latter was also a good move because the lack of online distractions encouraged more interaction between conference attendees. The only drawback was that the conference was held on weekdays, meaning some workers were unable to attend.
The conference was part of significant first steps towards breaking down the barriers between activists and academics. It will take more time for the aim to be fully achieved. Some papers were highly academic, and probably not directly very useful or relevant for many activists. Others were more likely to engage and stimulate both activists and academics.
There is much research being done in Universities that provides important insights and practical guides for left wing activists. However, too often academic frameworks and their implicit biases take researchers in directions that service the interests of increasingly market-oriented universities: for instance, focus on the theories and methods that are most fashionable at the time; critiquing from a standpoint of existing international approaches to research and theory, with one eye on publications to supporting their university’s international ranking; and prioritising unique academic arguments over the knowledge and practices developed through active political engagement. From conversations with participants, I gathered some of the issues about connecting the two camps were directly addressed on the Thursday – the day I was not able to attend.
Field work: activism in Italy
For me one of the standout papers I did attend, “Social change, resistance and collective action in Italy,” addressed some of the relevant issues. It was a report on the Massimiliana Urbano ‘s field work with such political groups as infoaut and the globalproject network.
Ethnographic research, especially when it pushes boundaries of existing research methods, is an important way to forge links between social research and community activities. Urbano looks to be pushing those boundaries with her PhD research at Otago University.
Urbano recounted some of the political activities she participated in: for instance “making tomato sauce at the recovered factory in Ri-Maflow in Milan” (from her conference abstract).
The buildings of the factory occupied by Italian activists were still very useful, though the activists had to provide their own means of production. Occupying premises abandoned in the face of the cycles of capitalism seems to be alive and well in Italy.
When she returned to NZ after her Italian field work, Urbano found herself blocked and wondering whether to continue. Seemingly stalled, she eventually decided on a way forward, rejecting the most usual approaches to ethnographic research, which tend to give more power to the researchers. She favours being an observant participant, a reversal of the more conventional participant observation. She also rejected the academic approach of trying to represent activists, and/or decide for them better forms of practice.
Urbano argues that the activists know what they are doing. Consequently her approach is one of engagement. Such an approach is considered to prioritise reciprocity: where academics and activists learn from and support each other. This is the cutting edge of development productive relationships between activists and academics.
Urbano’s paper at the conference lent itself to comparisons with activism in NZ.
Squatting as direct political action: Italy, UK, Aussie, NZ
At the conference, there was some mention of how, in Italy, people occupy or squat in empty houses: often ones land-banked by wealthy speculators and investors. I wondered why this isn’t done in New Zealand. Like many Kiwis living in England in the 1970s and 80s, I had experienced being in communities where residential squatting was seen as very acceptable, common and largely legal, possession being regarded as nine tenths of the law. See for instance the discussion on this on Public Address.
In Australia, the women’s refuge movement made its first substantial steps through breaking and entering, and then squatting a property in Sydney in 1974. It became Australia’s first women’s refuge from domestic violence.
Subsequent investigation has pointed to some of the reasons why there is no major movement for occupying the 22,000 empty homes in Auckland, as indicated by the the last census. The laws here against squatting are very strong. In the UK, much squatting had been within the law until David Cameron’s governments tightened up on the relevant legislation to make squatting illegal in 2012.
There seems to be a small amount of squatting going on in NZ. However, the reports on it indicate it’s not being done as a consciously political act, but by those at the precarious and desperate edge of society, unable to find legal affordable housing.
In part two I will respond to some other topics raised at the conference.
A rare and historically significant painting set in Taranaki during New Zealand’s land wars has been acquired by Te Papa.
The 640 x 840mm oil painting, which is in remarkably good condition for its age, will require some conservation treatment. But before that happens, visitors will have the opportunity to see it on display as part of the new Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa season, opening on 6 November.
Picture caption: William Strutt, View of Mt Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand, taken from New Plymouth, with Maoris driving off settlers’ cattle, 1861, oil on canvas. Purchased 2015, Te Papa
The oil painting, View of Mt Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand, taken from New Plymouth, with Maoris driving off settlers’ cattle, was made over 150 years ago in 1861 by English artist, William Strutt.
It depicts an imagined scene based on newspaper reports of the Taranaki wars and sketches Strutt made during his brief residence in New Zealand from 1855 to 1856.
Te Papa was offered first right to buy the painting due to its historical importance to New Zealand, and purchased it for approximately $1.5 million from a family who have owned it since the 1860s.
“This acquisition is a major investment, in a very important piece of work. There are very few paintings that reflect the historical events that were unfolding during this period – it captures a powerful moment in our history,” says Te Papa Chief Executive Rick Ellis
“I expect this dramatic painting will become an icon of the national collection, and we’re delighted New Zealanders will now have the opportunity to see it.”
The work is one of seven known oil paintings Strutt completed based on New Zealand subjects, and is the first to enter a public art gallery in New Zealand. It will complement the collection of drawings and works by Strutt currently held by the Alexander Turnbull Library.
“It’s fantastic that this painting is now coming home to Aotearoa New Zealand,” says Te Papa’s Kaihautū Arapata Hakiwai.
“The period represents a significant part of the nation’s shared history, and historical work like this plays an important role when we look back and reflect on our identity today.”
Te Papa’s Historical New Zealand Art Curator, Dr Rebecca Rice says the new painting will strengthen the national art collection.
“It’s rare to have a painting that allows reference to the disputes between Māori and Pākehā in the 1850s and 60s. Typically painters of that era focussed on New Zealand’s unoccupied and pristine landscape to encourage immigration, or made portrait studies of Māori.”
“Strutt combines these in one painting to create an exotic spectacle. On the plains in front of majestic Mt Taranaki, Māori are driving settlers’ cattle off disputed land, supported by the armed group concealed by scrub in the foreground. Smoke from settlers’ rifles is visible on the left of the painting while a homestead is burning on the right.” says Dr Rice.
“The national art collection doesn’t have any other significant oil paintings from 1850s and 1860s, so this painting is particularly precious.”
English artist William Strutt studied in Paris from 1838-45 at the École des Beaux-Arts and later exhibited with the Royal Academy in London. He emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1850, attracted by the potential of colonial life. He spent a short time in New Zealand, from 1855–56, before returning to Melbourne, and eventually heading home for England in 1862. In both places he made numerous sketches, which were later worked up into finished paintings.
Strutt is a key figure in New Zealand and Australia’s colonial art histories. In Australia, he was a founding member of the Victorian Society of Fine Arts in 1857 along with Eugene von Guerard, Nicholas Chevalier and Conrad Martens. He is currently the subject of a major exhibition at the National Library of Australia ‘Heroes and Villains: Strutt’s Australia’ until 15 November 2015.
New Zealand land wars:
The New Zealand wars of 1845-72 were a series of conflicts between Māori and settlers that extended from Wairau to the Bay of Islands and the East Cape. They were ignited by disputes over land as Māori contested issues of sovereignty following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 and increasingly resisted selling land to the government. Meanwhile there was an increased desire for land for settlement as the Pākehā population grew.
Strutt’s painting makes reference to the first Taranaki war from March 1860 to March 1861. It was ignited by dispute between the government and Māori over the sale of a block of land at Waitara, north of New Plymouth, but conflict quickly spread throughout Taranaki. Troops were brought in from Australia to fight alongside local volunteers and militia. Losses were estimated at 238 Pākehā and 200 Māori, a proportionately higher number.
Is this the most expensive art work purchased by Te Papa?
Acquisition of this painting can be compared to other major acquisitions of iconic art works that Te Papa has made for the national collection in recent years. These include (excluding GST):
Colin McCahon, Walk (series C), 1973, purchased in 2004 for $2.75 million
Colin McCahon, A painting for Uncle Frank, 1980, purchased in 2000 for $2 million
John Webber, Poetua, 1785, purchased in 2010 for $1.97 million
Michael Parekowhai, He Korero Purakau mo Te Awanui o Te Motu: story of a New Zealand river, 2011, purchased in 2012 for $1.3 million
How was the price of the painting settled on?
Te Papa sought a number of independent valuations, and negotiated the final price.
How much does Te Papa spend on art annually?
Te Papa’s budget from Government for acquisitions of any kind is $3 million a year. This is spread across all our collections; including history, science, Māori, Pacific and art.
The amount spent on art works each year is determined by what becomes available in the year, and the two to three year objectives across the museum’s collections.
Art works such as the historic Strutt oil painting do not come up for acquisition routinely, and the painting was purchased after considerable thought, research and the approval of Te Papa’s Board.
Samantha McClung was crowned Miss Universe New Zealand 2015, before a packed crowd at the Skycity Theatre at the weekend, with an international audience watching the live stream at nextmissnz.com.
Photo credit: Bhikhu Bhula
McClung, 20, lives in Christchurch but spent many years of her childhood in the Marlborough Sounds. She is a qualified make-up artist who has worked in both Australia—McClung lived in Perth for 18 months—and New Zealand.
McClung was overjoyed by the crowning but admitted it hadn’t fully sunk in. The title was decided by both an international judging panel and the voting public, with 50 per cent determined by each group.
Special guest judges Ben Chan of Bench, one of the Philippines’ premier fashion labels, and MJ Lastimosa, Miss Universe Philippines 2014, flew in to Auckland to spend several days with the 20 finalists, in interviews and watching them perform live on stage. Both had the advantage of having met the finalists as part of their overseas retreat, which this year took place in the Philippines with the generous support of Bench, the Philippine Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions’ Board.
They joined New Zealanders Megan Alatini, Steve Broad and Evana Patterson on the judging panel, whose scores were tallied alongside those of the voting public, who had been sending their votes since August. A sixth judge, Areena Deshpande, was unable to attend after giving birth last week.
In addition to the crown and spending the night at the Skycity Grand Hotel as part of her prize, McClung drives away with the premier prize of a Honda Jazz RS Sport Limited, which is hers for the duration of her reign, as well as prizes from Bike Barn, New Face Laser and Cosmetic Clinic, Lipidol, Beau Joie champagne, and others.
She beat surf instructor Hannah Henderson from the Bay of Plenty and mental-health nurse Gabrielle Manaloto from Auckland, who came second and third.
Once again, Miss Universe New Zealand partnered with Variety, the Children’s Charity, for which it had raised over NZ$60,000 in the previous two years.
Note: The Miss Universe name, the ‘woman with the stars’ symbol, and Miss Universe New Zealand are registered trade marks of Miss Universe LP, LLLP, and used by the Miss New Zealand Consortium Ltd. under licence.
My most recent chart (New Zealand Income Shares 2013/14, 21 October) in my Chart for this Week series on Evening Report shows the four-way division of income in New Zealand for the year ended March 2014. The data is from the National Accounts of New Zealand has been straightened out by revealing the full extent of the public shares.
The first cut of income shares should be understood to be the division between private and public. Within each of those shares there is a ‘second cut’. In the case of private income, the cut is between labour and capital. In the case of public income, the cut is between the people (‘demos’) and the government (‘polis’).
In the national accounts, as they are officially presented, the majority of the public share is obscured, under the name ‘secondary income’. Secondary government income is essentially income tax, including company tax. In the official presentation of the national accounts, a tiny government ‘primary share’ is acknowledged – essentially GST, excise taxes and customs duties. Otherwise, the impression given is that income distribution is essentially a private affair, despite the general acceptance that public resources and cultures play the critical role in determining the difference between rich economies and poor economies.
If we combine ‘secondary’ government income with primary government income, we see the statistical emergence of a genuine public income sector. In the middle part of my chart, income is split almost exactly in thirds, between the public, labour and capital. Green (public), red (labour) and blue (capital).
A careful analysis shows that this boundary between public and private is quite arbitrary. Tax breaks in particular are presented as private income when in reality they represent allocations of income subject to government caprice.
So the right-hand part of the chart (labelled “rethink”) presents a principled division between public and private income, based on existing reality. This is not a wish-list; it’s recent (2013-14) reality subject to a little re-illumination. The private shares are calculated by deducting a 33 percent tax from the private shares on the left-side of the chart. (The core income tax rate in New Zealand is 33 percent, and has been since 1988. 33 percent if anything understates the contribution of public domain assets to New Zealand’s wealth.)
The ‘rethink’ column of the chart shows private income at just over $134 billion dollars, 58 percent of total income generated in New Zealand in that year. Private income is almost exactly equally split between labour and capital.
The remaining 42 percent of income is now split (green and orange) between government spending (‘polis’, green) and payments returned to the people on an essentially universal basis (‘demos’, orange), as “public equity benefits”.
(The principal mechanism through which these payments are made today is through income tax concessions. The secondary mechanisms are through a social security system that still retains its founding ‘cradle-to-grave’ universal ethos, and through Inland Revenue administered “tax credits” paid to caregivers of children.)
Part of the public share remains ambiguous in the ‘rethink’ column; this is ‘transfer payments’ which are cash payments paid through political discretion rather than as a right of ‘economic residence’. It’s not clear whether they should be classed as polis or demos. While in the chart I have opted for polis (public income essentially retained by government and given out through political criteria), payments paid universally on the basis of age only come especially close to being people payments rather than government outlays.
The power of this chart lies in what it means for the future. Through an open acceptance that there are essentially four grand income divisions of the ‘economic cake’, we can think about which of those divisions could get larger and which will get smaller in a progressive vision of the future.
Right-wing libertarians fear the growth of ‘the state’ which to them is ‘big government’. Left-wing libertarians also fear the growth of ‘the state’, defined more broadly but still containing the spectre of big government controlling and surveilling people’s lives, diminishing personal freedom.
In the conventionally-understood three-way division of income with its emphasis on private over public property rights, the labour share can only be maintained under conditions of rapid economic growth. Under other more sustainable conditions, the labour share necessarily falls as labour loses its negotiating power. The problem is, if the ‘state share’ is to be constrained, that simply means a rising private capital share. Thus the dystopic trichotomy is unsustainable growth versus big brother government versus the plutocracy of capital. None of those features are appealing.
However, once we introduce (reveal) the fourth income share (‘demos’, the people; the non-state component of the public division of income), then everything changes. We can become optimistic again for the future of the planet and its people.
If the fall of the labour share is inevitable – as I think most of us recognise that it is, even if we sometimes pretend otherwise – then the falling labour share can be offset by the rise of the ‘people share’ (demos). The capital and government shares can remain much as they are.
That’s my essential vision of political economy; the gradual emergence of the non-state publicly-derived share of aggregate income. The vision is not anti-anything. It is not anti-capital, as much sentiment on the political left is. And it’s not anti-government, as much sentiment on the political right is.
In my chart, the people’s share is modest, 14 percent of national income (enough to pay three-and-a-half million adults a public equity dividend of $175 per week).
Arguably it should be higher than 14 percent. For the present, it doesn’t much matter. What does matter is that this share – as a growing share – is humanity’s hope for the future. I can see no reason why anybody of any political persuasion should feel threatened by the emergence of a people’s income share within the wider rubric of a public share that needs to grow as the labour share declines.
NewsroomPlus.com Contributed by UNDPThe Mamanuca Islands located just off the West coast of Fiji is home to a variety of marine life including four of the seven species of sea turtles that exist in the world. These are the critically endangered Hawksbill turtles, the endangered Green and Loggerhead turtles and the vulnerable Olive Ridleys as listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.Unfortunately, human impacts have threatened turtles at all life stages. On land, nest sites are degraded and adults and juvenile turtles are hunted. At sea, their foraging grounds are damaged, adults and juveniles drown when they become entangled in marine fishing gear, and they frequently choke on plastics. And being a popular tourist destination, a number of hotel facilities are a built directly on the turtles nesting site for example, seawalls and installation of lights on the beach.
Through the Mamanuca Sea Turtle Conservation Project supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme (SGP), the Mamanuca Environment Society is working to protect the remaining turtle population in the Mamanuca and Malolo Islands.
Project Manager, Marica Vakacola said, “The project targets tourism operators and the local community of four villages, and since its first phase from 2008 to 2011, it has resulted in an active participation of the targeted stakeholders through community and resort education awareness campaigns.
“It has established guidelines to monitor breeding and foraging of marine turtles, integrated biological research components at community and resort level and established standardized turtle conservation guidelines on best practice for resorts.”
The Project is now into its second phase, which is implementing the Best Practices Guidelines and Policy and the Mamanuca Sea Turtle Community Based Management Plans. These guidelines are assisting traditional owners, tourism operators and respective government stakeholders to collectively develop culturally appropriate tourism involving marine turtles. And the management plan will have communities promote successful conservation efforts of turtles.
“We aim to build collaborative work with the village communities and the tourist operators to continue protecting these critically endangered sea turtles by promoting sustainable best practices techniques, reducing harvesting of turtles and conservation of breeding and foraging grounds through a range of demonstration, advocacy and capacity building programme,” said Ms. Vakacola.
Through community resource mapping and resort consultation, 18 nesting sites were identified in the 32 islands that make up the Mamanuca Group. From these 18 sites, 11 were identified as common and significant and these were surveyed during their peak nesting season from January to April. And from these 11 surveyed sites, six are successful nesting sites.
Through the Project, 37 feeding grounds were identified and mapped with 11 surveyed between 2014 and 2015. Also, a total of 37 turtles were rescued and 35 baby turtles or hatchlings came under the protection of the Mamanuca Environment Society; of the 35, four were washed up to shore and 31 were born on Mana Island Resort.
Two juveniles were found injured by Likuliku Lagoon Resort staff and were transported to Mana Island, four were rescued and seven were tagged and released on Vomo Island resort last year, and two juvenile turtles were tagged and released on Mana and Likuliku Island this year.
“With the existing rehabilitation of injured sea turtles on Mana Island Resort, an exemption from the local Fisheries Department was gained in favor of educational programmes for visitors and locals and to breed injured turtles before tagging and releasing them back into the ocean,” said Ms. Vakacola.
She added that a, “Database of tagged and released turtles is shared with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Turtle Research Database System (TREDS).”
The significance of this project impacts the people of Yanuya Island and other communities in the Mamanuca’s see the sea turtles as a part of their traditional totem and food and the project recognizes the significance of traditional knowledge on turtle conservation.
“Capacities were built for fish wardens to monitor, collect data and enforce turtle moratorium under the Fisheries Act, to protect coastal beaches for successful nesting and feeding grounds and increase in migratory turtles returning to nest in the Mamanuca Group,” said Ms. Vakacola.
The GEF Small Grants Programme in Fiji has supported the Mamanuca Environment Society since 2008 with total funding of US$100,000. Support has been in two phases, the first 2008-2012 focused on conserving turtle population and breeding sites in the Mamanuca Islands, while the current project (2013 – 2015) focusses on the implementation of the Best Practice Guidelines and Policies developed in the first phase of the Project.
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This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 6 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Friday 23rd October.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle include Police figures showing the number of people applying for gun licenses increasing by more than 50 percent over the past year, the Serious Fraud Office is investigating a large-scale and highly organised mortgage fraud in the Auckland property market and responses to the coronial inquiry that followed the 2011 death of a security guard who was beaten to death just hours into his first shift guarding an Auckland building site.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nz
POLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government: NZ Minister launches OECD education report; More offenders learning work and living skills; Travel survey goes digital; White kakabeak returns from brink of extinction; PM welcomes Singapore President’s visit to NZ; Film and television co-production agreement signed with Poland; New Zealand opens diplomatic Mission to ASEAN in Jakarta and celebrates business links; Coleman to visit the UK and France; $17.5m Ormiston Primary School, Auckland, officially opened; New recruits join Corrections front line
Greens:Horrific genetic engineering of animals must stop
Labour: Bloated uber-Ministry continues spend up; Disturbing report shows need for EPA Bill; Security guard’s death must lead to change; Labour Day tradition worth preserving; Register urged for those with asbestos concerns
New Zealand First: National’s ‘Dunne’ It Again Blocking El Alamein Motion; Tolley Fumbling And In The Dark Over LSV; Police Association Comments On Guns Sensationalist; World Polio Day A Chance To Shine A Light On Post Polio Syndrome
NZ National Party: Bishop launches free parking campaign for Hutt CBD
ANIMAL SUFFERING: The report, ‘GE Animals in New Zealand’, written by Claire Bleakley from GE Free NZ released tackles the extent of genetic manipulation of New Zealand farm animals. Click here for report:http://www.gefree.org.nz/assets/pdf/GE-Animals-in-New-Zealand.pdf
CORONER FINDINGS: His Honour Coroner JP Ryan has released overnight his findings and recommendations regarding the death of Charanpreet Dhaliwal, the security guard killed on his first day of work on 18 November 2011. The findings of Coroner JP Ryan can be viewed here:http://union.org.nz/sites/union.org.nz/files/Dhaliwal.Cor7_.pdf
NAME PROPOSALS: The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) will next week open public consultation on eight proposals to assign or alter names of geographic features around the country. More information at: http://www.linz.govt.nz/regulatory/place-names
TRAVEL SURVEY: The NZ Household Travel Survey is going digital, meaning more data can be collected faster. More information about the survey is available at: http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/travelsurvey/
VISITOR ARRIVALS: The latest edition of International Visitor Arrivals to New Zealand (IVA) is now available on the Statistics New Zealand website. Read more: http://bit.ly/1Md0Lke
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Friday 23rd October.
NewsroomPlus.com
Christopher Nipo and his young family are slowly rebuilding after having suffered the wrath of Tropical Cyclone Pam in March 2015. They lost all their belongings when their home was blown away during the Cyclone, followed by a fire months later to their bush (outdoor) kitchen, which stored cement and the thatched roof for a new home.
The island of Tanna, home to 32,000 people, was one of the worst affected by Cyclone Pam. Months on, people are still rebuilding. Camp Shining Light, non-governmental organization, in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Department of Local Authorities (DLA), is converting the huge number of fallen trees into much needed timber to rebuild homes, schools and community halls. Areas of focus include Middlebush, White Sands, West Tanna, Lenakel inland and North Tanna. To date, the mill has operated in Lownamilo, Lapaclua, Lowkatai, Lamkail, Lawkatai, Ituga and Lowsula. In addition, Tafea College also received timber to assist with rebuilding the College’s damaged buildings.
The sawmill operations is a component of UNDP’s Waste Management and Livelihood Recovery Initiative under the Cyclone Pam Recovery and Resilience in Vanuatu project. As part of this initiative, UNDP is partnering with the DLA and other line government ministries to strengthen its recovery efforts to rebuild the livelihoods of rural communities affected by the Cyclone. In Tanna, community members are being trained in waste management, how to operate the mill and safety procedures, identifying usable waste and salvage the timber into usable material. The initiative also creates awareness against burning the fallen trees, a common practice in Tanna.
In May, Peter Moran, Team Leader of the Camp Shining Light sawmill operations and his wife, Ali left their home near Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia to join the recovery programme. In partnership with GCBC Australia, they purchased a Warrior 8 inch Auto Swing Blade sawmill and air freighted it to Vanuatu in support of Camp Shining Lights Sawmilling for Recovery Programme. In record time, the mill was set up within a day of arrival on 19 June and ready for operation. Four days later, a smaller push Swing Blade sawmill M6, purchased by Camp Shining Light, was set and ready for milling.
The sawmill operations in Tanna has not only focused on providing building timber to the communities in need but also cut and distributed two hundred cutting boards, 150 chairs, 35 table tops, 30 washing boards, four fish cleaning tables and a mountain of fire wood.
Tanna has an abundance of soft, medium and hardwoods, which are grown naturally. Trees that have been milled to date were salvaged after being blown down during Cyclone Pam and include (an intermix of Bislamalanguage and common English names): hardwoods red/pink (Nafa, Natufua, Duai, Natuan, Ningat, Nimalben, Cedar); hardwoods white/brown (Nikyaben, Nikpat, Nisiap, Canoe tree) and soft/medium woods (Mango or Namiawul; white wood or Namiawul).
Speaking in the local dialect Bislama, Mr. Nipo said he was grateful to receive enough timber to rebuild the family home that he is building himself.
“We try to have as many in the community involved as possible in an attempt to foster ownership in the programme,” said Mr. Moran. “Numbers of people involved range from a minimum of three for sawmill operation up to eight people if virgin bush track cutting is required. Numbers can and do include women and ratios vary from village to village.”
According to Mr. Moran, all the clearing to date has been by hand using bush knives by the local community and assisted by chainsaws to allow the setup of the sawmill or to access fallen trees. Along with four men, sometimes in a single day, they can cut approximately 400 meters of track through virgin thick scrub, large enough to drive a pickup through.
The task of having to clear and operate in some of the communities has had its own challenges, which has meant that the team is constantly planning ahead. From logistical issues in relation to reliable fuel supplies, food, spare parts and the assistance from the communities, to the unpredictable weather patterns. There are also smaller villages that have been cut off from vehicle access since Cyclone Pam, which the team is clearing by hand and chainsaw during their “spare time”.
To date, over 868 cubic meters of sawn timber, fire wood and bush furniture have been produced in seven locations. This is more than double the original estimate of 400 cubic meters of timber to be cut within three months.
UNDP’s Waste Management and Livelihoods Recovery Initiative in Vanuatu has two components: debris clearance and waste management in urban areas, and livelihood restoration in rural areas. In addition to this collaboration between UNDP and the DLA, the Russian Government has provided additional funding of US$500,000 to the Project to continue its Tropical Cyclone Pam Recovery and Resilience activities in Vanuatu. Part of this funding will be used to expand the sawmilling operations in Vanuatu.
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Pacific Media Centre
Evening Report’s editor Selwyn Manning and Dr Paul Buchanan of 36th Parallel Assessments analyse the successful lawsuit by independent journalist Jon Stephenson against the New Zealand Defence Force and the reporting around his Aghanistan investigations that now need follow-up.EVENING REPORT EDITORIAL: Earlier this month news broke about a defamation settlement in the case of journalist Jon Stephenson v New Zealand Defence Force.
But after a week had passed with statements issued by both Jon Stephenson and NZDF we are none the wiser why the government reacted so aggressively to shut down the claims in Stephenson’s Metro investigation Eyes Wide Shut back in 2011.
When Jon Stephenson’s “Eyes Wide Shut” investigation was published by Metro editor Simon Wilson, the Defence Force and the Prime Minister attacked the journalist’s credibility. They challenged several aspects of the article, including direct quotations and references citing an Afghan commander in Kabul.
The Defence Force and the Prime Minister caused doubt over whether Jon Stephenson had indeed interviewed this person for the investigative article.
Now, after a costly court battle, the Defence Force has accepted that Stephenson did in fact gain entry to the base and had interviewed the CRU commander. It has settled with Jon Stephenson after spending more than $600,000 on court and legal costs.
The Prime Minister however will not be drawn on this issue. Back in 2011, he said: “I’ve got no reason for the NZDF to be lying, and I’ve found [Mr Stephenson] myself personally not to be credible.”
Now that Jon Stephenson’s credibility has been restored, we are left with a long list of unanswered questions – questions that relate to whether New Zealand’s SAS soldiers were in fact ordered to hand over Afghan citizens to US personnel knowing that they would likely be tortured.
At this juncture, we do not know what became of these people. Are they still alive? Have they been repatriated to their homeland? What were their ages and gender? Were they innocent? Were they tortured?
Does the New Zealand government accept that New Zealand’s SAS soldiers did in fact hand over people to those known to use torture?
If so, who issued that order?
Why did the government initiate a shoot-the-messenger stance?
The allegations within “Eyes Wide Shut” and other investigative articles by Jon Stephenson remain hanging in time. If they are true they suggest New Zealand was party to a war crime, party to a breach of the Geneva Convention.
New Zealanders deserve an official investigation, without political interference, into this disturbing issue. Both Labour and National ought to do the right thing and agree to initiate an independent inquiry.
Unanswered questions about the Jon Stephenson v NZ Defence Force Case
ANALYSIS: Although it has been shamefully underreported by major media outlets in NZ, war correspondent Jon Stephenson has won his defamation case against the New Zealand Defence Force by forcing a settlement that involves significant compensation and an admission by the military that its defamatory statements about Stephenson were indeed untrue.
It remains to be seen if the Prime Minister John Key will do the same, since he opined at the time the controversy erupted over Stephenson’s internationally recognised article “Eyes Wide Shut” in Metro Magazine (May 2011) that Stephenson was, to paraphrase closely, “unstable” as well as “unreliable”.
That has been proven to be false. Let us be clear: Jon Stephenson may be driven, but unlike his main accusers when it comes to reporting on the NZDF he is by no means unreliable or a liar.
I wrote the following as a comment over at The Standard but feel that it is worth sharing here:
“I suspect that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the unethical behaviour of the NZDF and political leadership in this affair. Remember that there is a MoD involved and the respective ministers then and now (Coleman and Brownlee). There are more officers involved than retired generals Rhys Jones and Jerry Mateparae, some who currently hold senior positions within the NZDF. There is the behaviour of Crown Law to consider. There is the slander on Jon’s character uttered by the PM. I can only hope that the terms of the settlement do not prevent Jon from publishing more details of his case, including the way in which the legal process unfolded, the obstacles to discovery encountered, and the extra-curriculars surrounding them.Jon-Stephenson – Image courtesy of Metro magazine.
Whatever happens, for once in a long time one of the genuine good guys won. Were it that other members of the press corps (Nicky Hager excepted) had the integrity and courage exhibited by Jon both in the field as well as on the home front.
Kia kaha Jon!”
Beyond what I have written above, there are some other questions that arise from this saga.
For example, in 2013 Nicky Hager revealed that the NZDF electronically spied on Stephenson in 2012 using NSA, GCSB and SIS assets while he was in Afghanistan.
At the same time an internal Defence manual was leaked to the media that identified “certain investigative journalists” as hostile subversion threats requiring counteraction because they might obtain politically sensitive information (one does not have to have much imagination in order to figure out who they are referring to). In parallel, reports emerged that NZDF officials were sharing their views of Mr. Stephenson with Afghan counterparts, referring to him in the same derogatory terms and implying that his work was traitorous or treasonous.
Taken together, both the spying on Stephenson and the characterisation of him passed on to NZDF Afghan allies can be seen as a means of counteracting his reporting.
But if so, what national security threat did he really pose?
Is politically sensitive information necessarily a threat to national security or is merely a threat to the political actors being reported on?
Is intimidation part of what the NZDF considers to be proper counteraction when it comes to journalists plying their trade in a war zone?
And since any counteraction or counter-intelligence operations had to be cleared and authorised by the NZDF and political leadership, were both of the types used against Mr. Stephenson authorised by then NZDF chief Lieutenant-General Richard Rhys Jones and/or John Key?
They deny doing so but if that is true, who did and how was it passed down the chain of command to the field commanders in Afghanistan (because, at a minimum, the order to “counter” Stephenson could be construed as illegal and therefore challengeable–but it never was)?
Leaving aside the legitimate role of independent journalism in a democracy in holding policy makers–including military leaders–to account, what does it say about the NZDF that it sees such work as subversive?
More alarmingly, if the reports are true, what exactly did the NZDF leadership hope to accomplish by telling Afghans, while Mr. Stephenson was in Afghanistan, that he was a threat to them?
Lieutenant General Rhys Jones (left) and Sir Jerry Mateparae (centre). Image: NZ Navy.
Then there is the issue of the lie. General Rhys Jones claimed that, contrary to what was written in his story, Stephenson never visited the base in which the Crisis Response Unit (to which NZ SAS were attached) was located and did not talk to its commander. That was a direct challenge to Stephenson’s journalistic integrity. Stephenson sued for defamation and during the first trial (which bizarrely ended in a hung jury) the NZDF and Rhys Jones himself admitted that Stephenson’s version was true.
So why didn’t the trial stop right there?
The moment the truth of Stephenson’s story was admitted by Rhys Jones, it was supposed to be game, set and match to the journalist.
But instead the Crown spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars continuing to litigate in that trial and then the follow-up court process that was ended by the recently announced settlement. Why so?
The answer to the last questions seems to be that, like in the Zaoui and Urewera 18 case, the Crown prefers to bleed its adversaries emotionally and financially even when it knows that it cannot win. This death by a thousand cuts approach, courtesy of the taxpayers largesse, is as unethical as it is cynical and undermines the belief that justice in New Zealand is blind and universal.
There are many other questions that need to be answered about the treatment of Stephenson:
– Is it true that media outlets were pressured to not accept his work on penalty of getting the cold shoulder from the government?
– Did NZDF officials physically threaten Stephenson in New Zealand?
– Did the intelligence services spy on Stephenson above and beyond what was reported by Hager, both at home and abroad, and are they doing so now, and on what grounds if so?
– Did NZDF and/or MoD and/or PMDC and/or Crown Law officials conspire, either solely or together, to cover up, obstruct, alter, destroy or otherwise impede the release of evidence to Stephenson’s lawyers at any point in the legal proceedings?
My sincere hope is that the settlement agreed to by Stephenson and NZDF does not preclude the former from writing about his experiences with the NZDF, both in Afghanistan and during the trials.
Hopefully he will be able to answer some of the questions I have posed above. I say this because something stinks about the way this affair has been handled at the highest levels of government, which is not only a stain on the individuals involved but a direct affront to basic tenets of liberal democracy.
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Political Roundup by Dr Bryce Edwards.
[caption id="attachment_4808" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]
While the Prime Minister is extremely open about his personal life, his government is increasingly opaque.
John Key is the most open prime minister in New Zealand history. This was surely proven beyond dispute with his recent participation in an interview on Radio Hauraki in which he answered all sorts of crude personal questions not normally put to heads of government – you can watch the two-minute interview here: John Key – Thank You For Your Honesty.
There’s a serious side to the issue of John Key’s accessibility. It really is true that Key is more open to the media, and in particular more open about his personal life, than previous prime ministers. This is well explained by Tracy Watkins: “It is no secret that we press gallery hacks probably have more face time with John Key than most of our international counterparts get with their politicians. We speak to him on his way into Tuesday caucus for about 30 minutes; we grill him most Monday’s at his post Cabinet press conference; we nab him on his way into the debating chamber and if not there we can usually count on catching Key while he’s out and about around the country to throw a few questions his way” – see: John Key – keeping it real is the Prime Minister’s secret weapon.
Similarly, Newstalk ZB’s Barry Soper says: “The one thing that makes John Key stand out from other Prime Ministers in the broadcast era is that he, like no other, is fair game. You can ask him what you like and you’ll usually get an answer” – see: Key makes himself fair game. He compares Key’s responses to of the time Soper himself asked Helen Clark “whether she was a lesbian”.
Is the Government also open about serious issues?
The National Government claims to be open about less trivial matters as well. In April, Key told Patrick Gower, “We’ve been way more transparent than any other Government that’s been around”. This followed on from Bill English responding to the Dirty Politics scandal by claiming “John Key runs the most transparent government that New Zealand’s ever seen” – see Radio NZ’s Govt ‘the most open NZ has had’.
Some media will be feeling less trusting of the Government after their involvement in the PM’s trip to Camp Taji in Iraq. Barry Soper went along and ended up feeling somewhat duped – see his report, Teflon John and the Taji report confusion. This relates to an official US report on problems in the camp that appeared to be withheld from the media, despite the government obviously knowing about it before arriving at Camp Taji. You can listen to a discussion about this on Radio NZ – see: Mediawatch for 18 October 2015.
Official Information Act abuse
So is this the most transparent government ever? Multiple abuses of the Official Information Act (OIA) would suggest otherwise. This mechanism is the most important indicator of open governance, yet it appears to be being weakened by the current government – as was the case with previous governments.
This was a issue highlighted yesterday by Russel Norman in his valedictory speech in Parliament, in which he said the OIA had become “relatively moribund”, which means “we’ve got a problem with accessing information in this country” – see Isaac Davison’s Green Party farewells Russel Norman.
It was allegations in Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics publication last year that seriously started calling into question how the government might be manipulating the OIA. Added to this, John Key admitted that his government deliberately delayed answering requests, stating “sometimes we wait the 20 days because, in the end, Government might take the view that’s in our best interest to do that”.
More recently the Government has been caught out on Murray McCully’s withholding of the Saudi sheep deal documents, and then on Tim Groser’s failure to provide TPP documents. On the latter, see Jane Kelsey’s blog post, My response to the Official Information Act win against the TPPA.
But for the ultimate account of a journalist’s experience of OIA abuse, see David Fisher’s speech from last year: OIA a bizarre arms race.
Failings of the Ombudsman’s Office
It’s the job of the Office of the Ombudsman to deal with complaints about how the OIA is being used. Beverley Wakem, the Chief Ombudsman, appeared on TV3’s The Nation in the weekend to deal with some of these issues, and declared that the Prime Minister’s attitude to the OIA is “cavalier” and shows “a disregard for the law” – see the NBR’s: Key shows ‘disregard for the law’ over the OIA, Chief Ombudsman says.
In this, interviewer Lisa Owen raises allegations that police have also deliberately withheld information from the media investigating crime statistics: “I would like to take some time to just explain an example – one of the most interesting ones I think I’ve seen in recent times – which is a request from a 3D producer, Eugene Bingham, asking for information about serious allegations that South Auckland police were doctoring burglary statistics. Now, the police delayed him for about two years before they responded to him, and then a police job sheet surfaced, and I’ve got the job sheet actually here, and in this, an inspector has written down instructions that he says he received from the then deputy commissioner, who’s Mike Bush, who’s now the top cop. In this job sheet, that person states that he was told to let the request sit, and then he goes on to say that, ‘The direction to me was to not respond to the Official Information Act request.’ Let it sit. Not respond. That’s a really serious allegation, isn’t it?”
A much more critical account can be found on the No Right Turn blogsite – see: The continuing failure of the Ombudsman. According to this analysis, the Office’s failings are being obscured by a change to the way their performance is being recorded, and the public still cannot rely on having a “a well-funded, effective watchdog” to deal with the OIA, despite increases in government funding for the office.
According to analyst Paul Buchanan, “there is a sense that when it comes to the Ombudsman and other oversight agencies, they are more about whitewashing than honest scrutiny” – see: Confronting executive branch excess. He says, “Agencies such as the Ombudsman that are entrusted with overseeing the behaviour of politicians and senior state managers are seemingly subordinate (or at least submissive) to them”.
Andrew Little says that the weaknesses of the Office of the Ombudsman mean that government “can keep information that is potentially embarrassing to them away from members of the Opposition or journalists or members of the public if they really wanted to do so, and they’re doing that”, and he’s proposing reform – see Radiolive’s Labour proposes Freedom of Information Office.
There are signs of progress elsewhere. Earlier this year the New Zealand Herald teamed up with software developer Rowan Crawford to re-launch the FYI.org.nz website which helps the public to make OIA requests and acts as a repository for them – see Caleb Tutty’s OIA requests website relaunched by the Herald.
The New Zealand government prides itself on being one of the most open government regimes in the world. But its current involvement in the global Open Government Partnership (OGP) project suggests that all is not so well. The National Government signed up to this coalition and is supposed to be launching new initiatives to make governance more open, participatory and accountable. But all indications suggest that the Government is merely paying lip service to the exercise, and its processes appear to epitomise the opposite of what is required.
The most useful report on the Government’s involvement is Pattrick Smellie’s early article, Government transparency consultation period an ‘insult’. He suggests that the public consultation process is somewhat farcical. But he also criticises the wider approach of the Government to openness, saying “What we have is a creeping culture of political mercantilism – deal-making to solve problems in ways that skirt the boundaries of corruption in the otherwise admirable pursuit of improved economic outcomes. That is a slippery slope for our reputation for trustworthiness.”
Lawyer Steven Price has been officially tasked with auditing the New Zealand Government’s recent involvement in the OGP, and his first public statement gives the impression that he is less than impressed – see: Open Government Partnership: Are we on the right track?
The lack of public consultation is particularly worrying. Price reports Geoffrey Palmer as saying “It looks more like a conversation the executive government is having with itself”. In this, other experts on public policy processes, such as Colin James, Cath Wallace and Graham Taylor, express somewhat disparaging reactions to how the Government is handling the process.
Price also relays the feedback “that that the biggest open government problem is the culture of fear that prevents many experts – officials and people dependent on government funding – from speaking out in ways that the government might find uncongenial”.
Public policy expert Murray Petrie has also spoken out on how the Government is performing in the exercise – see: New Zealand and the OGP. His diplomatically worded submission is a scathing assessment of the lack of ambition involved in opening up government.
Do other government agencies lie to us? There will be continued suspicion of the military, especially following investigative journalist Jon Stephenson’s win in his defamation case against the New Zealand military – see Phil Taylor’s Defence Force settle defamation action with journalist.
And suspicions will continue about the intelligence services, which are currently on a mission to convince the public that they are being more open, and are giving very high-profile interviews to the media. In the most recent, the GCSB boss Una Jagose was interviewed by Patrick Gower on TV3’s The Nation, saying that the public would know if their communications with any organisation or company was subject to the GCSB’s Cortex surveillance system because that organisation would let them know in the “terms and conditions” of service. This has been challenged by Graeme Edgeler, who has gone on a search to see if that is actually true – see: Crowdsourcing Project Cortex. He suggests that the GCSB’s promised openness in this regard appears to be a “smokescreen”.
Finally, text messages are the latest Official Information Act battleground. And Key was said to be officially cleared over the deletion of his text exchanges with Cameron Slater – see Andrea Vance’s John Key cleared over deleted Cameron Slater texts. But we’re still waiting on a decision about whether the PM can withhold details of his correspondence with a gossip columnist – see Vance: Ponytailgate correspondence with gossip columnist probed. And now it seems we might never know the details of Key’s texts to Richie McCaw – see David Fisher’s Prime Minister John Key deleted text message to All Black captain Richie McCaw. But the best guess, according to Fisher, is: “Yo Rich m8, its JK 😉 chk out my cool flg vid on the FB. Go ABs!”
[caption id="attachment_7754" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nauru refugees.[/caption]
PARIS (Reporters Without Borders/Pacific Media Watch): Reporters Without Borders condemns Nauru’s decision to impose a media embargo amid growing controversy about alleged human rights abuses in the Australian government refugee detention centre on the island.
Nauru’s authorities must allow journalists to investigate the allegations.
The island’s authorities have not only turned a blind eye to allegations of rape and other abuses in the detention centre, which they host on behalf of the Australian government, but they have also decided to block all media coverage of the alleged abuses.
In an email to Al Jazeera’s Sydney bureau on October 9, the Nauru government said not only that it was refusing the Qatari TV broadcaster’s visa request but also that visa requests from all news media would be refused.
“We urge Nauru’s government to lift the embargo that it has imposed on the foreign media,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk.
“Amid allegations of sexual assault and other forms of mistreatment in the Australian government-funded detention centre, media investigation of these allegations is essential. It is unacceptable that Australia, after moving asylum processing offshore at great expense, should also delegate censorship and discriminatory decisions against the media.”
As there are no independent media on Nauru, a small and remote island in the Central Pacific, it is vital that international media should be able to report on what is happening inside the detention centre, the constitutionality of which is currently being examine by the High Court of Australia.
Previous violations
This blackout is not Nauru’s first violation of freedom of information.
In January 2014, the island’s government hiked the cost of journalism visa applications from 200 to A$8000 Australian dollars (5000 euros) – an increase of nearly 4000 percent.
Although Australia has a good ranking in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index – 25th out of 180 countries – Reporters Without Borders has often criticised its policy of blocking access to information about its treatment of asylum-seekers.
The Border Force Act that took effect on June 30 provides for sentences of up to two years in prison for employees of the refugee detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island who leak information about the conditions and treatment of the refugees.
This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 14 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Thursday 22nd October.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle include documents showing four of the seven Charter schools fell short of their minimum funding-related enrolments this year, the findings from the Waitangi Tribunal’s Whanganui Land Report substantiate that that the Crown has caused local Maori substantial harm over time and Cabinet agreeing to a landmark decision to enact the Maori Language bill in English and Maori.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nz
POLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government: Proposed social housing transfers proceed to next phase; Speech: Hekia Parata – Global Education Industry Summit, Helsinki; Online tax filing results in big savings; Speech: Paula Bennett – Opening Community Housing Aotearoa’s 2015 Conference; Speech: Peter Dunne – New Zealand Self-Medication Industry (NZSMI) association Conference; Minister meets with Finland’s education experts; Simplifying money matters for small businesses; Cabinet approves Māori Language Bill amendments; Transition Recovery Plan released; Construction work starts on biocontainment laboratory; Minister meets with Finland’s education experts; New health facilities for ageing prisoners; ACC law change will help superannuitants after spouse’s death; Disability Action Plan released for feedback; Easter Sunday Shop Trading Bill introduced; Strong uptake of Health Star Ratings continues; Joyce welcomes signing of OECD Science and Innovation Declaration in Korea;Take care and live to see summer; Speech – Opening Community Housing Aotearoa Conference
Greens: Green Party Introduces Amendment To Curb ‘Facilitation Payments’; New Zealanders want rivers we can swim in, not get sick in; Government must say if it supports Australia’s UNHRC bid; Greens Call For Deferral Of SkyCity’s New Pokies Following Problem Gambling Failure; Green Party farewells Russel Norman
Labour: Ozone hole gases on the rise; Minister sacks Ministry for rural broadband; Questions remain over the Christchurch Regeneration Bill; Catastrophe as Coleman’s complacency continues; Bennett resorts to snide attack on the vulnerable; From Rock Star to Risk Watch in a year; 55km Cable to Nowhere serves one customer; Government continues to hide over Canterbury legislation
New Zealand First: Government Not Prepared To Act Against Paedophiles; Immigration Department And Minister Lack Competence
NZ National Party: Members’ bill to make it easier to become a celebrant
LINKS OF THE DAY
Links of the day have been a feature of NewsRoom_Digest since we first started production in August 2014 at newsroom-nz.tumblr.com.
BIOCONTAINMENT LAB: Construction work has started on the new National Biocontainment Laboratory in Upper Hutt. More information is available at http://www.mpi.govt.nz/new-lab
DISABILITY ACTION PLAN: The updated Disability Action Plan 2014-2018 for the second round of public consultation has been released. The updated Disability Action Plan can be found at:http://www.odi.govt.nz/disability-action-plan
MURUROA NUCLEAR RADIATION REPORT: A Government commissioned report has found Defence Force personnel on board frigates during the Labour Government’s protest against French nuclear testing at Mururoa in 1973 were not exposed to harmful levels of radiation. The report is available at: http://www.esr.cri.nz/home/latest-news/operation-pilaster/
OECD DECLARATION: Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce has welcomed the signing of the ‘Daejeon Declaration on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for the Global and Digital Age’ at the OECD Ministers Meeting on Science and Technology hosted by the Korean Government. The OECD Ministerial Declaration on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for the Global and Digital Age is available here: http://www.oecd.org/sti/sti-ministerial-2015.htm
POPULATION RISES: According to Statistics New Zealand,out of New Zealand’s 16 regions, 15 experienced higher population growth in the June 2015 year than the previous year. More details available at: http://bit.ly/1NomAug
RULES FOR HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES: The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has created its first EPA Notice, allowing for the collection of information about those importing and manufacturing hazardous substances. Read more: http://www.epa.govt.nz/hazardous-substances/EPA_Notices/Pages/default.aspx
SPORTING NATION: Almost two-thirds of Kiwis belong to a club or organisation, according to Statistics New Zealand. New analysis from the 2014 New Zealand General Social Survey shows 64 percent of New Zealand adults belonged to a club, and 6 percent of us belonged to four or more clubs. More details available at:http://bit.ly/1W5pyWD
SIMPLIFYING FINANCIAL MATTERS: A new initiative dedicated to helping small businesses better understand tax and finance. The Tax and Finance page is available at: http://www.business.govt.nz/tax-and-finance/
TRANSITION RECOVERY PLAN: The Transition Recovery Plan details the arrangements to be put in place when the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA) ends in April next year. The plan can be viewed at:http://www.cera.govt.nz/transition
WOMEN LIVE LONGER: The lives of women and girls around the world have improved in several areas over the last 20 years but they continue to be victims of gender based discrimination and violence, according to a new report launched today by the United Nations. Read more: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/worldswomen.html
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Thursday 22nd October.
NewsroomPlus.com
It should never be forgotten that in contemporary conflicts the vast majority of casualties are civilians, and most of these are women and children.
A timely reminder of that fact should have arrived loud and clear with the publication and release last week of the New Zealand National Action Plan for the Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, including 1325, on Women, Peace & Security 2015–2019 – see a précis below this article.
It is now 15 years since the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (“UNSCR 1325”) was adopted in 2000 in recognition of the specific protection needs of women in situations of conflict. It set out to affirm the importance of the full participation of women in conflict resolution, at decision-making levels of durable peace processes and the build-up of gender response capability in peacekeeping missions.
With National Action Plans (“NAP”) having emerged some time ago as a best way to implement actions , it is a bit sad that New Zealand has just got its NAP on to the table. Better late, than never.
Australia adopted their first NAP in 2012, have issued a vigorous progress report on it in July 2014, and are well regarded for taking the field of Women, Peace and Security (“WPS”) seriously.
This was further evidenced last week when Australia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations H.E. Gillian Bird, announced a number of funding contributions at an historic High-Level Open Debate reviewing WPS progress in the last 15 years at the UN Security Council. Those commitments included a further AUD $4million over three years to the new Global Acceleration Instrument on women’s engagement in peace and security and humanitarian affairs, a pledge of an additional $7 million in specific funding to address sexual and gender-based violence in response to the Syria crisis (as part of $59 million in humanitarian support to Syria over the past 12 months) and funding to support new research by Monash University (reference Professor Jacqui True) on ‘Women’s empowerment and civil society mobilization in preventing conflict and countering extremism’.
As reported on by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, this financing – “compared with the UK’s additional US$1 million and Spain’s 1 million Euro” – does indeed represent concrete backing by Australia. New Zealand, as a further comparison, isn’t putting any money where its mouth is.
Certainly New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Gerard van Bohemen, made some telling points in the New Zealand statement to the Open Debate.
Gerard van Bohemen: “(T)he landscape continues to change and, sadly, to get much worse. Rising violent extremism, increased numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons, and combatants who take no account of the civilians in their midst, all affect women and girls disproportionately”.
Mr van Bohemen referred to the targeted use of sexual and gender-based violence by terrorist groups such as ISIL and Boko Haram, calling it “part of a deliberate strategy (and) horrendous new development”. He also gave over a key part of his speech to the issue of allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers, calling any such behaviour “a stain on the work of the United Nations and of this (Security) Council”.
He also made the point that:
… words in resolutions and other documents, even in mandate formulations, only take us so far. As we have heard today, we need to focus on practical steps to improve the situation for women and girls on the ground, rather than just the rhetoric.
This week Amnesty International released a media release that welcomed actions in the NAP that would see New Zealand troops and police trained, prior to deployment, on human rights and the protection needs of women and girls, such as in the deployment of troops to Iraq. In Amnesty’s view promoting greater respect for women’s rights is absolutely crucial in the context of the Iraq deployment. While WPS is still completely new to most military leaders there is some confidence that a realisation of just how important and useful it is, will continue to gain traction.
At the same time as welcoming aspects of the NAP, Amnesty’s Advocacy & Research Coordinator, Carsten Bockemuehl, expressed major reservations about its ability to help accelerate that traction, given its lack of “clear and specific targets, commitments and resources to support women in fragile and conflict-affected countries”.
Against the emphasis on ‘internal’ efforts to increase the number of New Zealand women participating at the frontline in international peace efforts and senior levels of decision-making, there was an absence of balancing effort to more directly support women “outside of New Zealand, in countries affected by conflict”.
Carsten Bockemuehl: “Women civil society leaders and human rights defenders across the Pacific conduct crucial work in the struggle for peace. However, it’s a sad reality that they remain largely excluded from formal decision-making and processes to prevent conflict. The Pacific also continues to suffer from the highest rates of sexual and gender-based violence in the world. Let’s use this National Action Plan as a tool to change that.”
In quizzing Carsten about this response he commented that New Zealand is only just starting to systematically address its obligations under UNSCR 1325, and that it remains “still very new to everyone”.
“As outlined in the NAP, there have been initiatives in the past few years that were aimed at advancing women’s rights in conflict-affected countries – such as the community-policing projects in the Pacific – but without specifically referring to them as measures to implement UNSCR 1325”.
It’s fair enough that Amnesty don’t consider making statements at the UN real action. “We’ve had enough rhetoric over the last 15 years – what is needed now is concrete, specific, well-funded and robustly monitored actions to ensure that women are able to have their voices heard and to be protected from serious human rights violations,” said Carsten.
WHAT NEXT?
The NAP now enters an implementation period of five years, with governmental monitoring responsibility again falling to an interagency working group – endorsed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Police, Defence and Women’s Affairs. The working group will review progress on an annual basis – supplemented by consultations such as a parallel caucus with “civil society, including NGOs, intergovernmental organisations such as ICRC and others”.
Given Amnesty International had a key role in the NAP’s public consultation process earlier in the year, along with Women in International Security, and as it successfully recommended there be a parallel consultative caucus it will be keenly awaiting just what that will look like and to ensure a greater public visibility of WPS.
Australia in its term on the UN Security Council in 2013-2014 set a solid benchmark in its strong advocacy of Women, Peace and Security.
Whether New Zealand will come anywhere near to that same level in its UNSC term without having stated this as a priority, is a wide open question.
Recommended further reading:
Even after conflict has ended the impacts of sexual and gender based violence against women and girls persist. Insecurity, impunity and social stigmatisation can then prevent women from accessing education, becoming financially independent and participating in governance and peace-building.
Moreover, women continue to be poorly represented in formal peace processes. In recent peace negotiations women have represented fewer than eight per cent of participants and fewer than three per cent of signatories. No woman has ever been appointed chief or lead mediator for the host-country side in United Nations sponsored peace talks.
This is where a National Action Plan (NAP) is needed to step up to the mark.
Within a UN rubric and alongside complementary strategies, each plan provides a framework based on “conceptualising actions and measuring progress in the women, peace and security agenda” around four thematic areas.
As outlined and initially addressed in the New Zealand NAP those four areas cover the following:
Prevention (of conflict and of violations of rights of women and girls): Incorporation of women’s perspectives into early warning systems, community awareness and prosecution of violators of women’s rights.
Participation: Creating and maintaining political pressure in international fora to ensure women’s involvement in decision making within fragile, conflict and post-conflict situations.
Protection: Increasing the number of New Zealand women deployed in police and military roles in UNSC mandated peacekeeping missions, international assistance missions and other peace keeping operations; improving the capability of peacekeeping and international assistance missions to respond to women’s needs; ensuring gender analysis informs New Zealand’s peace support responses and development assistance to countries affected by conflict; and promoting efforts to combat sexual violence, intimate partner violence and violence against women and girls in conflict affected countries, with special attention where New Zealand supports a development programme or post.
Peacebuilding, Relief and Recovery: Highlighting measures that engage women and address their needs in relief and recovery; redress for injustice; promoting New Zealand women as mediators and negotiators in international forums; and ensuring postconflict processes of national dialogue, transitional justice, reconciliation and post-conflict governance reforms are gender responsive.
The New Zealand NAP highlights a roll call of Selected Contributions that New Zealand is making to the agenda; some overtly gender-based, some not. The overriding emphasis is on New Zealand’s Pacific engagement, with short vignettes of actions taken across the region:
Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Timor-Leste
The Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police (PICP) and PICP Women’s Advisory Network
The Pacific Prevention of Domestic Violence Programme
The Partnership for Pacific Policing Programme
Additional references to activity in Afghanistan and the NZDF’s Regional Engagements are featured, with a number of activities noted as contributions to “the development and advancement of military women throughout the region” specific to 2015.
As a well-worn credential it almost goes without saying that a prominent mention is made in the NAP of New Zealand’s history as “the first self-governing country in the world to grant universal suffrage to women”. In a more contemporary context it was somewhat jarring then that two recent achievements by New Zealand women relevant to the United Nations were rightly lauded, but without either being actually named. One was the woman who served as the Deputy Special Representative and later Chief of Mission for the United Nations operation in Cyprus – namely Ann Hercus – and the “former New Zealand Prime Minister (who) took up the role of Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme” in 2009 – that would be Helen Clark.
A draft of the New Zealand NAP had been made available for public consultation in the first half of this year, with submissions closing on 20 May.
Since its consultation phase the NAP didn’t appear to change significantly but its total set of actions increased slightly from 17 to 20, with three additions for the thematic area of Prevention:
NZDF and NZ Police will include information on violations of women’s and girls’ human rights that occur during participation in UNSC mandated peacekeeping missions, international assistance missions and other peace keeping operations in their periodic reporting, according to mandate. (Action 4; NZDF and NZ Police)
NZDF and NZ Police will be responsive to and investigate any violations of the rights of women and girls that occur during participation in UNSCmandated peacekeeping missions, international assistance missions and other peace keeping operations, in line with relevant international standards. (Action 5; NZDF and NZ Police)
Where a credible allegation of the commission of a crime during a peace keeping operation is raised by the United Nations against a New Zealander, New Zealand will inform the United Nations of the progress of the investigation and prosecution process. (Action 6; NZDF, NZ Police and MFAT)
Finally some important modifiers, as displayed in bold, were added to these actions:
III Protection; 1: New Zealand will advocate at international fora to strengthen and amplify efforts to protect the human rights of women and girls, and ensure their physical and economic well-being, particularly their protection from sexual and gender-based violence in fragile, conflict and post conflict situations, their protection as civilians under international law and recognition of the impact on women and girls when family members go missing as a result of hostilities.
IV Peacebuilding, Relief and Recovery; 1: New Zealand will advocate at international fora for equality of access to resources, justice at the domestic and international level, and basic services for women and girls in peacebuilding, relief and recovery phases in conflicted affected countries. This may include access to gender specific medical, psychological and other assistance required by women and girls affected in armed conflict.
Exciting Australasian exclusives, an avian-inspired light and sound experience in the midst of native bush, 150 international musicians playing a ‘love letter to peace’, and a free junkyard fairground are just some of the experiences on offer during the 2016New Zealand Festivalin Wellington.
Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency chief executive Chris Whelan says the New Zealand Festival has been a much anticipated highlight of Wellington’s cultural calendar for 30 years.
“Once again Wellington will be abuzz with some of the most exciting contemporary art and performance on the planet, and the whole region will feel the festival spirit.”
In true Wellington fashion, the festival programme features something for everyone – with a full schedule of contemporary, classical and family-friendly experiences.
One of Wellington’s most feted musical sons, composer John Psathas, hasgathered together 150 musicians from across the world for his monumental “love letter to peace”,No Man’s Land, while the Royal New Zealand Ballet return to the programme for the first time in 12 years with an explosive mixed bill,Speed of Light.
The free-to-attendContact Festival Playgroundin Frank Kitts Park is also sure to delight, hosting the parent-powered junkyard fairgroundArquitecutra de Feria.The playground features vintage motorbikes seats on a merry-go-round and toilet bowl seats on a Ferris wheel, among many other amazing creations..
The artists behind 2014 festival favouritePower Planetreturn to the city again, this time bringing the Wellington Airport Season ofFor the Birds, which will see an immersive avian-inspired light and sound experience take over Otari Wilton’s Bush reserve from 3-19 March.
Positively Wellington Tourism chief executive David Perks says the city’s collection of year-round attractions would also be turning it on for locals and cultural tourists alike.
“FromGallipoli: the scale of our warandThe Great War Exhibition,toNga ToiatTe Papa,a tribute to an artist who changed the way we think about New Zealand art historyatCity Gallery, and the recently upgraded and visitor favouriteWellington Museum, there will be a phenomenal programme on offer throughout the city.”
Visitors are advised to book early, Mr Perks says.
“With such a fantastic line-up in the midst of peak international visitor season, we’re encouraging arts fans to make their plans and travel bookings nice and early.”
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[caption id="attachment_7729" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Little Yellow Bird R&D: In the two acre cotton farm of Kumar of Malisira Village with his daughter (Kay left, Jones right).[/caption]
University of Canterbury students Samantha Jones and Lina Kay are travelling through India as part of their research and development for their start up company Little Yellow Bird.
Little Yellow Bird is the first company in New Zealand to sell ethically made organic business shirts.
[caption id="attachment_7730" align="alignleft" width="300"] Jones with women from Singpali Village touring the nearby cotton, ginger and banana crops.[/caption]
“We are committed to ensuring our products are created with sustainability and fair trade practices in mind. We also want to be able to share the story behind our products which is why it is so important for us to meet with our suppliers and the communities that enable us to deliver our products,” Kay says.
Jones and Kay have spent the last week visiting remote villages in the Indian State of Odisha visiting small organic cotton farms.
“The farmers we visited rely exclusively on natural farming techniques including soil quality, natural predator populations and crop rotation. Consequently these farmers have created the ideal ecosystem to develop organic cotton” Jones say.
The online store www.littleyellowbird.co.nz sells business shirts to individuals and corporates. The shirts are made from organic cotton, are manufactured in a fair trade fashion house and profits are re-invested back into community development projects.
“One of the most exciting aspects of our trip was meeting Priya, the first lady Little Yellow Bird was able to sponsor. Priya is currently undergoing a 12month training course which was funded through the sale of our first range of women’s shirts” Kay says.
[caption id="attachment_7731" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Women of Pakhanmunda Village (first foreigners to visit this village Jones – centre, Kay – right).[/caption]
Jones will be spending the next three weeks in India working in the fashion house and overseeing the production of the men’s range which is due to be launched before the end of the year.
Across The Ditch: Selwyn Manning and Peter Godfrey deliver their weekly Across The Ditch bulletin. This week: NZ’s Prime Minister John Key says Australia’s Incest deportee should stay in Australia + Rugby World Cup Update – Recorded live on 22/10/15.
ITEM ONE:
Australia Moves To Deport Incest Offender
Prime Minister John Key has challenged Australian immigration law saying a women who is about to be deported to New Zealand should stay in Australia and is Australia’s problem.
The woman is identified as Betty Colt, who allegedly was member of an incest community.
News reports in New Zealand allege Colt was part of a “40-strong group that lived in squalid conditions near Canberra.
In 2012, authorities took away 12 children and testing revealed that only one had parents that were not related”.
The New Zealand Herald reported yesterday (Wednesday) that the children, who were under-fed, hardly went to school and lacked basic skills such as how to shower and clean their teeth”. The children later spoke of suffering sexual abuse.
Key told the New Zealand Herald: “I think there is quite a solid argument to say that while she was born in New Zealand, she has lived her life there, and she has been a product of the Australian system,” Mr Key said. (ref. NZHerald.co.nz)
The outburst came just days after John Key entertained Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Auckland.
During their first bilateral leaders’ meeting, Key failed to pressure Turnbull into addressing the immigration issue where approximately 200 New Zealand citizens are currently detained, some at Christmas Island, pending the outcome of appeals to their deportation orders.
One month ago Key issued a staunch message to Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop while attending the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York.
Then, Key said New Zealand and Australia had a special relationship, founded on our shared war experiences as ANZACs.
He insisted that Kiwis be treated differently to those of other nationalities.
But last weekend, after a week with pressure building for Key to get a result on this issue, his message to Turnbull was watered down and impotent.
Both politicians exited their meeting looking like their friendship had been consummated rather than challenged. And again, Key failed to deliver or broker a resolution to the festering deportation issue.
ITEM TWO:
The Rugby World Cup Update
What the pundits are saying
The form
The games coming up.
Should be fun…
Across The Ditch broadcasts live on Australian radio FiveAA.com.au and webcasts on EveningReport.nzLiveNews.co.nz and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.]]>
This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 14 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 21st October.NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle includes the release of three significant reports: a national environment report titled Environment Aotearoa 2015 that the identifies the country’s worst environmental problems; the Productivity Commission’s final report on the complex issue of land and housing; and a follow-up report by the Office of the Auditor-General showing strong biosecurity progress made by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nzPOLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government: Groser to visit to Indonesia, Hong Kong and Europe; Finance Minister to meet with Australian Treasurer; Bill to streamline coronial processes passes second reading; Speech – The road ahead for transport fuels and fleets; Businesses say paying tax is getting easier; Speech- Opportunities to cut NZ’s road transport emissions; Further contractors sought for Metro Sports Facility; Clinicians Challenge highlights IT innovation; New online tool demystifies cost of EVs; Environment Aotearoa 2015 report welcomed; Arrest in Filipino dairy workers case welcomed; Customs to welcome yachties for summer; ACC partners with Safekids Aotearoa to reduce driveway injuries;Innovation encouraged through tax bill; Speech – ACC’s Injury Prevention Partners’ Conference; Southern Corridor Improvements project gets underway; More women in management and science; Government Welcomes Latest Productivity Commission Report; Consultation on Contract and Commercial Law Bill begins; Follow-up OAG report shows strong biosecurity progress; Citizen Science backed with environment grant; Report reinforces importance of biodiversity; Glen Innes to Tamaki Drive urban cycleway begins
Greens: Report highlights Government’s failure to protect rivers and native species; Govt can create housing options that are good for people and the environment; Detainee rights not raised by Key; Green Co-leader calls for cross-party action on climate change
Labour:Resignation another blow to public trust in EQC; Labour Will Expose Injustice On Christmas Island Visit; Report an indictment of Government’s environmental record; Māori TV decision a victory for common-sense; Per person New Zealand is getting poorer; Govt broadband scheme slammed by regions
New Zealand First: Internet Speed At A Crawl Gets Zero Attention From Government; Northland Rail In Precarious Position; Tolley Continues To Ignore Serious Concerns At Youth Facility
LINKS OF THE DAY
Links of the day have been a feature of NewsRoom_Digest since we first started production in August 2014 at newsroom-nz.tumblr.com.
We are currently building an archive of these at: http://newsroomplus.com/resources/resourceful-links/AG’S REPORT TO BIOSECURITY INCURSIONS: The Auditor-General’s report on the Ministry for Primary Industries: Preparing for and responding to biosecurity incursions – follow-up audit has been presented to the House of Representatives. Click here for more: http://oag.govt.nz/2015/biosecurity?utm_source=subs&utm_medium=subs&utm_campaign=biosecECONOMIC ACTIVITY REPORT: The Regional Economic Activity Report presents economic data on New Zealand’s 16 regions, highlighting the strengths and challenges each region faces. Go here for more:http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/tourism/tourism-research-data/regional-economic-activity-reportELECTRIC VEHICLE COSTS: An online tool aimed at demystifying the cost of running an electric vehicle (EV) has been officially launched. The tool can be accessed here: https://www.eecabusiness.govt.nz/tools/vehicle-total-cost-of-ownership-toolENVIRONMENT FUND: The Government is providing a grant of $130,000 from the Community Environment Fund to support an initiative by the New Zealand Landcare Trust to support citizen participation in scientific research on environment monitoring and restoration. Further information on the Fund is available at:http://www.mfe.govt.nz/more/funding/community-environment-fundENVIRONMENT REPORT: Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry for the Environment today released a landmark national environmental report – Environment Aotearoa 2015 – showing the overall state of the environment. The report is available at : http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/environmental-reporting/environment-aotearoa-2015FISHING RULES: The Ministry for Primary Industries is reminding recreational fishers on the Kaikoura coast of the local rules developed by the community to protect fish stocks in this iconic area. For more information visit:http://mpigovtnz.cwp.govt.nz/travel-and-recreation/fishing/fishing-rules/kaikoura-area-fishing-rules/JOB RISK: Half of all jobs in New Zealand are at risk of being automated over the next two decades, with rural New Zealand being hit the hardest according to a paper produced by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. The paper ‘Disruptive Technologies – Risks, opportunities – Can New Zealand make them most of them?’ is available at:http://www.charteredaccountants.com.au/futureinc/PublicationsLABOUR COSTS RISE: According to Statistics New Zealand, from the June 2014 quarter to the June 2015 quarter labour costs increased 1.5 percent. More information available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/economic_indicators/prices_indexes/LabourCostIndexAllLabourCosts_HOTPJun15qtr.aspxLAW CONSULTATION: The Government is seeking submissions on an exposure draft of the Contract and Commercial Law Bill.Submissions close on 7 December 2015.The exposure draft of the Bill and information about how to make a submission are available at:
http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/consultation-cclb.
MIDWIFERY EXPERIENCE: University of Otago researchers have found strong evidence that levels of midwifery experience in New Zealand are associated with baby mortality. The study has been published today in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Read more: http://www.ijgo.org/article/S0020-7292(15)00585-8/fulltextOVERSEAS TRIPS: New Zealand residents took 235,600 overseas trips in September 2015, up 7 percent from September 2014, according to Statistics New Zealand. Read more:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/IntTravelAndMigration_HOTPSep15/Commentary.aspxPRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION REPORT: The Productivity Commission’s Using Land for Housing final report which sets out a number of recommendations for improving planning and development systems was released today. The report can be downloaded at: http://www.productivity.govt.nz/inquiry-content/2060?stage=4SCIENCETELLER FESTIVAL: The third instalment of ScienceTeller, the popular biennial festival celebrating science communication and storytelling, kicks off on Friday 30 October in Dunedin,hosted by the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago. For more information visit: http://www.scienceteller.comTREASURY’S ANNUAL REPORT: The Treasury’s Annual Report for the fiscal year that ended on 30 June 2015 has been tabled in Parliament and published on its website. Read more: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/media-speeches/media/21oct15
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Wednesday 21st October.
Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest.
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NewsroomPlus.com
Contributed by LevicleThe unique new vehicle combines “the best of both worlds from the scooter and the bicycle”.The introduction of the Levicle bike by Kiwi inventor Tom Mackenzie is just in time for Kiwi parents looking to keep the children happy and active during the upcoming school holidays.
The prolific Auckland-based entrepreneur first conceived the unique vehicle on a trip to the supermarket. “I wanted to find a way to emulate the feeling I got from pushing the trolley along and balancing myself on the handlebar,” says Mackenzie.
After trying different prototypes out he settled on a final design with a seat close to the handlebars, eliminating the need to bend the lower back while providing the ‘trolley effect’ – allowing the rider to feel like they were levitating across the ground.
With a distinctive large front wheel the bike can also ride over stones and other objects the traditional scooter cannot. There’s also no chain and, with very little maintenance, Mackenzie says it’s a bike to “set and forget”.
The first production run now offers two models aimed at both the child and commuter markets. Each model can be easily adjusted, the design allowing children and adults to ride.
The lightweight and compact design allows the commuter to pack the bike for the bus or train. At less than 5kg (11lb) and at 720mm x 356mm x 193mm (8.3in x 14in x 7.6in) it is half the weight and volume of the many popular folding bikes on the market.
The smooth and comfortable ride, what Mackenzie refers to as “the levitating bit”, has strong appeal to the modern commuter also. The speed of acceleration is faster than a bicycle and, with no pedals, the rider can also use the bike on the footpath in most countries.
Working with his small team of “engineers, designers and general enthusiasts” Mackenzie says the journey so far “has been a fantastic experience”.
“We’ve come a long way, and I’m proud of the final design and the fun and effective way you can propel yourself using very little energy.”
Mackenzie’s background in energy efficiency had until 2015 been focused primarily on the technological side. In 2004 he founded Energy Mad, a company specialising in energy efficient lighting. After growing the small start up into a multi-million dollar business and, in 2011, listing on the NZ stock exchange, he left to follow his inspiration for the Levicle bike.
With the Kickstarter campaign already taking orders from buyers in Saudi Arabia, Singapore, London and New York, Mackenzie is now looking forward to the Levicle bike bringing the freedom of travel he first felt in the supermarket to young and old everywhere.
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Pacific Media Centre
This girl is featured on the front cover of my 2014 book – Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face (Little Island Press). It was taken in 1983 at Independence Park, Vanuatu, during the Nuclear -Free and Independent Pacific conference. I noticed that she also appears in a Hawai’an video version of the song Nuclear Free(at 1min08sec). I would love to know who she is and where she is today. If anybody has any information please email David Robie.
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The System of National Accounts was developed to support the Keynesian state that emerged after the 1930s’ global ‘Great Depression’. One of the system’s weaknesses is that it conceals rather than reveals the public shares of national income.
In particular it regards some public income (indirect taxes) as ‘primary’ and other public income as ‘secondary’. Secondary public income is treated in the accounts as transfers from individuals to the government, whereas primary income is treated as the governments as of right. This distinction persevered, even after the introduction of PAYE in New Zealand in 1958, through which the government’s share of income was deducted at source.
The first column of the chart gives a literal interpretation of the provisional 2014 national accounts. The labour and capital shares are accounted before tax, and are almost equal to each other at just over 100 billion dollars each. The remaining share is ‘government primary income’, namely indirect taxes, most of which is GST (goods and services tax).
When we re-attribute income tax, the larger part of the public income share, the official accounts give us the second column of the chart. This is 76 billion dollars in total, almost exactly a one-third share. It is not possible to determine, on this basis, the separate after tax shares to capital and to labour. The second column of the chart gives a total private income share after tax of 154.5 billion dollars. We can now split the government share into a ‘government spending’ component ($43.4b), and a ‘redistribution’ (transfer) component ($32.7b).
The problem remains that tax rates are quite arbitrary. Benefits (eg transfers) can be paid through the tax system (IRD; Inland Revenue) as well as through Work and Income. In particular implicit ‘tax benefits’ are paid by discounting income taxes – in gradations – for lower levels of pre-tax personal income.
The “rethink” approach simply sets a core rate of income tax, noting that in New Zealand that rate is 33 percent (the present trust rate and top personal rate). Thus we calculate the true capital share of income by reducing the gross capital share (about $100b) by 33 percent, leaving a true capital share of 67 billion dollars. We do the same for the labour share, also yielding $67b. This leaves a ‘gross’ public share of $96.5b, 41.8 percent of aggregate income.
The most important accounting innovation in the rethink is that most of the aforementioned ‘tax benefits’ and a good part of the ‘transfer payments’ are re-accounted for as public equity benefits.
The result is that we have three designations of public revenue. First is income required by government to make its purchases and to service public debt. At the other end of the public scale we have universal ‘public equity benefits’ which are distributed as of right to ‘economic residents’. (I prefer the term ‘economic residents’ to ‘citizens’, which as we see in Australia can be a somewhat exclusive concept. And I exclude children, who should not be considered ‘economic’ residents.) The conceptual principle here is ‘horizontal equity’, treating equal economic residents equally.
In the middle of the public scale are ‘redistributive transfers’ which include payments on the basis of need. These are ‘targeted’ cash payments, which tend to focus on the needs of the young, the old, as well as other persons with particular needs. These payments reflect the principle of ‘vertical equity’, treating unequals unequally. With proper rethought accounting in place, the extent of these transfers would be significantly less than the accounts show it to be at present.
In the ‘rethink’ accounting model, all except core government spending represents household (private) disposable income. The transfer component also reflects public policy decisions about who is entitled to what. This would place $64.7b under the control of government agencies directly, and Treasury indirectly.
In the case of the ‘public equity dividend’ component share, the IRD is a mere conduit. Treasury is not involved. No government agency has control. This is publicly-sourced private income. It is neither ‘government income’ nor ‘state income’. It is private income.
If the simplified rethink accounting approach will be adopted, the adjustments around the edges can be ironed out as a matter of ‘common sense’ public policy. Then, the ‘public equity benefits’ would become ‘public equity dividends’, an equal distribution of public equity benefits to all economic residents.
New Zealand Report: Selwyn Manning joins Australia’s radio FiveAA breakfast team to discuss how the National Party is still strong in third term polls + PM Key’s Bizarre Radio Hauraki Interview – Recorded LIVE on 21/10/15.
ITEM ONE: Political Polls
The latest political Colmar Brunton poll was released this week showing the John Key led Government well ahead of its political opponents.
Of those polled, 47 percent would vote for the ruling National Party if a general election was held now. That’s down 2 points since the poll in April.
31 percent said they would vote for the Labour Party. That’s a flat-lining result, the same as in April.
12 percent said thy would vote for the Green Party. That’s up 3 percent since April.
9 percent said they would vote for the centrist nationalistic New Zealand First Party, That’s up 2 percent since April.
The Government’s support parties hardly registered in the poll, with only 1 percent for the Maori Party, and ACT, and, United Future not even making 0.2 percent combined!
And there’s a bit of gloom out there… 45 percent of those polled expect the economy to deteriorate over the next year, while only 33 percent expected the economy to improve.
The poll indicates that the opposition parties have closed the gap on the Nationals. If the poll result matched a general election a Centre-centre-left coalition of Labour, Greens, NZ First would have 62 seats in a 122 seat house.
Despite this, 40 percent of those polled want John Key as their prime minister.
Labour leader Andrew Little only had the support of 8 percent of those polled, which raises the question, why are so many Labour voters opposed to Little being prime minister. He is equal to New Zealand First’s leader Winston Peters who was tipped as the most preferred prime minister by 8 percent of those polled.
ITEM TWO: John Key’s Bizarre Radio Hauraki Interview
So why, after eight years in office, is John Key one of the most popular prime ministers New Zealand has ever had?
Some say it is because he avoids serious debate, refuses to be interviewed by critical journalists, preferring the company of comedy bulletins like this interview this week on Auckland’s Radio Hauraki.
For the interview, the Kiwi Prime Minister joined Matt, Jeremy & Laura on the Hauraki Breakfast to go through the infamous ‘Thank You For Your Honesty’ questions… including his honest answers about whether the Virgin Mary was a virgin, whether he shaves his public hair, and whether he has ever taken a dick pick…
Before we play the clip, note this is actually… really the Prime Minister and that the clip went viral… even ending up on the popular John Oliver show in the USA.
[ http://www.hauraki.co.nz/video/hauraki-tv/john-key-thank-you-for-your-honesty/ ]
Well, perhaps that’s why Kiwis love or hate this guy.
So if Malcolm Turnbull becomes too serious for you all to handle, look across the ditch and let John Key entertain you. Hmmm, or perhaps don’t.
NewsroomPlus.com Contributed by AIMAssociate Professor Beverley Lawton of the University of Otago Women’s Health Research Centre has released a study across more than 230,000 births showing that babies are more likely to die when cared for by newly graduated midwives.
Consumer support network AIM: Action to Improve Maternity spokesperson Jenn Hooper says that she is not surprised by this study given their hundreds of families who have experienced preventable harm from substandard care, some of which was from newly graduated midwives. She is also saddened but not surprised at the defensive New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) reaction to it.
The fact that new midwifery graduates have skill gaps at graduation was acknowledged by NZCOM CEO Karen Guilliland in a statement made in February 2015. In her statement responding to media coverage of coronial findings, she describes the mentorship programme for new midwife graduates as “ an extensive one with considerable emergency skill update and clinical support. It [the Midwifery First Year of Practice (MFYP) programme] is individually planned to ensure any gaps in experience are addressed.” (Statement attributed to Karen Guilliland, Chief executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives 25 February 2015)
“New midwives who are offering their services directly to the public should not have these crucial skill and experience gaps in our view”, says Ms Hooper.
“Instead of continuing the typical NZCOM stance of defend, deflect, deny, AIM would like to see them to take on board the important issues that arise from this research – and the similar concerns of Coroners, the Health and Disability Commissioner and others before it – and have a more constructive viewpoint that focuses less on themselves and more on good, safe outcomes for mothers and babies”.
The release of this particular research is well timed given that AIM’s next petition will be tabled to the House of Representatives next week, with specific focus on concerns about the MFYP and the current training requirements and lack of supervision for newly graduated midwives.
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This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 7 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Tuesday 20th October.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle includes the Justice Minister Amy Adams defending the legal aid system against criticism that the income threshold is a barrier for victims of domestic violence, Ministry of Education figures showing a record 360 early childhood centre complaints in 2014 and employers and unions agreeing to a Government proposal to a Joint Working Group to develop principles for dealing with claims of pay equity under the Equal Pay Act.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nz
POLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government: Farmers and growers urged to prepare for El Nino; New prisoner education programmes launched; Greater Christchurch Regeneration Bill introduced; NZ/Korea joint qualification recognition one step closer; SPEECH: Jonathan Coleman – Health Informatics New Zealand Conference; Better information, less effort on World Stats Day; Government to enter negotiations over pay for care and support workers; Working group to pursue pay equity principles for workplaces; Supporting teen parents into education and training; Scholarships bring young Korean golfers to NZ; New pay equity Working Group welcomed; Christchurch earthquake lessons completed:Government To Enter Negotiations Over Pay For Care And Support Workers
ACT Party: Special economic zones may be needed across NZ
Greens: Government’s new plan same as the old plan; Protection for subcontractors a win for building industry; New Zealand standing in the way of developing countries adapting to climate change; Greens Congratulate Kristine Bartlett And Union Movement On Historic Equal Pay Victory
Labour: Complaints soar as Govt sacrifices quality ECE; Andrew Little to meet Chinese Vice President and attend Rugby World Cup final; Joyce’s MoBIE Empire strikes back; Auckland house prices rising 35% faster than Sydney; Breastfeeding an important tool in obesity battle; Pacific and Maori kids left out of equation
New Zealand First: All Bark No Bite On Obesity; English Says Saving To Back Up NZ Super Fruitless
AVOID TOXIC TRAPS: The Environmental Protection Authority is helping people understand how to stay safe with hazardous substances at home. The EPA has a full suite of information on its website: http://www.epa.govt.nz
IRRIGATION AGM: The future for irrigating farmers in Otago will come under the spotlight at IrrigationNZ’s first-ever AGM in the region on Thursday 5 November. Details on the meetings are available at:http://www.irrigationnz.co.nz/about-us/irrigation-nz/agm/
STATISTICS DAY: Celebrating World Statistics Day, a new (video) infographic explaining how better data leads to better lives for all New Zealanders was launched. The Statistics keep the country ticking infographic is available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/whystats
The term “development journalism” has been used for four decades in Asia, but in the Pacific and even more so in Western countries such as New Zealand and Australia, the term is met with scepticism, particularly from working journalists. There is extensive debate in the Pacific about the role of development journalism, but little consensus on what it actually means. Some have called for a “unique Pacific approach” to the media but many share concerns that such an undefined approach is simply a veiled capitulation to state censorship (Dixit, 2010; Hanitzsch, 2007; Obijiofor & Hanusch, 2011; Papatsouki & Harris, 2008; Romano, 2010; Seward, 1999; Singh & Prasad, 2008; Robie, 2004, 2014). With the evolution of Pacific journalism academia, and the perennial global discussion about how much advocacy there can be in a fair, balanced and accurate journalistic work, this thesis examines whether there is a model of development journalism practised in the Pacific, and whether “development” is a news value for the Pacific, as distinct from developed countries. It also examines what Pacific newsrooms need to do in a development communication context. Through a case study comparing the approach of Fiji, Vanuatu and New Zealand newspapers in their coverage of the 2011 Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Auckland, a content analysis reveals a range of distinct approaches and priorities. What emerges is an argument that greater analysis is required in Pacific reporting and a greater reliance on Pacific authorship of that analysis, in order to realise an effective brand of development journalism.
This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 9 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Monday 19th October.
NEWSROOM_MONITOR
Top stories in the current news cycle include the Prime Minister John Key hoping he will eventually make more progress for New Zealanders living in Australia and those caught up in tough new immigration rules, a proposal by the New Zealand Initiative to create special economic zones for regional economic development and new poll results showing strong support for keeping the existing flag rather than changing it for one of the five options on offer.
Note: As well as providing a precis of leading broadcast bulletins each day, our NewsRoom_Monitor service does a daily paper round with succinct ‘news picks’ from the main metropolitan papers emailed by 9am each morning. If you’re interested in a free trial please email monitor@newsroom.co.nz
POLITICS PULSE
Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:
Government:Appointment of Judge of the High Court; Data Futures group announced; Boring Waterview works complete: now to the fun part; Exciting new installations on the Avon; McCully to UN for Middle East debate; Ngā Tapuwae Western Front trails released; Plan to reduce childhood obesity
Greens: Greens’ Deportation Complaint Stands After PM’s Failure To Get Win For Kiwis; After failure of Turnbull meeting, what’s the plan for NZ detainees?
Labour: Healthy school tuck shops needed; Discretion must be more than empty rhetoric
New Zealand First:Minister’s Claim That ‘Need For Social Houses Reducing’ Is Total Rubbish; No Compassion For Kiwis With Cancer
NZ National Party:Tolley Ignores Serious Concerns At Youth Facility; MP welcomes tree back to Maungakiekie/One Tree Hill
CHILDHOOD OBESITY: A comprehensive plan to reduce childhood obesity was announced today by the Ministry of Health. Further information about the Childhood Obesity Plan can be found at:
DATA FUTURES PARTNERSHIP: Government has named the working group responsible for leading the new Data Futures Partnership. Read more: http://www.datafutures.co.nz/
NZ INITIATIVE REPORT: A report from The New Zealand Initiative, ‘In the Zone: Creating a Toolbox for Regional Prosperity’ proposes the setting up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as a means of tailoring policy reform to regional needs, encouraging regional economic development, while also piloting policy changes before rolling them out to the entire country. The report can be downloaded at:http://nzinitiative.org.nz/site/nzinitiative/files/In%20the%20Zone%20WEB.pdf
NZ’s WW1: A new interactive guide to New Zealand’s First World War history on the Western Front is now available to download. More information about the Ngā Tapuwae New Zealand First World War Trails can be found at:
REGIONAL AIR PLAN: As part of the Proposed Regional Air Plan for Southland, there are a number of rules to help improve air quality as segment of the Government’s health-inspired National Environmental Standards for Air Quality (NES). Further information about the rules, airshed maps and tips on reducing the smoke from chimneys is available on: http://www.BreatheEasySouthland.co.nz.
And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Monday 19th October.
The Foundation aims to create a $30 million endowment fund for front-line conservation projects.
Te Waha Nui editor Matthew Hutching.[/caption]
Carsten Bockemuehl: “Women civil society leaders and human rights defenders across the Pacific conduct crucial work in the struggle for peace. However, it’s a sad reality that they remain largely excluded from formal decision-making and processes to prevent conflict. The Pacific also continues to suffer from the highest rates of sexual and gender-based violence in the world. Let’s use this National Action Plan as a tool to change that.”
In quizzing Carsten about this response he commented that New Zealand is only just starting to systematically address its obligations under UNSCR 1325, and that it remains “still very new to everyone”.
“As outlined in the NAP, there have been initiatives in the past few years that were aimed at advancing women’s rights in conflict-affected countries – such as the community-policing projects in the Pacific – but without specifically referring to them as measures to implement UNSCR 1325”.
It’s fair enough that Amnesty don’t consider making statements at the UN real action. “We’ve had enough rhetoric over the last 15 years – what is needed now is concrete, specific, well-funded and robustly monitored actions to ensure that women are able to have their voices heard and to be protected from serious human rights violations,” said Carsten.
Peter Godfrey and Selwyn Manning.[/caption]
This girl is featured on the front cover of my 2014 book – 
From the cover of Alex Perrottet’s MCS thesis.
