Kiwi Inventor Debuts Levicle Bike

October 21, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com Contributed by Levicle The 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. –]]>

Nuclear free: Do you know who this ni-Vanuatu girl is?

By David Robie -

October 21, 2015

Report by David Robie. This article was first published on Café Pacific

THIS GIRL is featured on the front cover of David Robie’s 2014 book – Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific (Little Island Press). It was taken in 1983 at Independence Park, Vanuatu, during the Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific conference.

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 about her identity and where she might be today please email David Robie.

There is now a second edition out of DSMBF linked to the 30th anniversary of the Rainbow Warrior bombing on 10 July 1985.

More information from the publisher.

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Café Pacific: Do you know who this ni-Vanuatu girl is?

By Selwyn Manning -

October 21, 2015

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. –]]>

Keith Rankin’s Chart for this Week: New Zealand Income Shares 2013/14

By Keith Rankin -

October 21, 2015

Analysis by Keith Rankin.

[caption id="attachment_7714" align="aligncenter" width="987"]

Rethinking Income-Share Accounting.[/caption]

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.

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New Zealand Report: National Still Strong In Third Term Polls + PM Key’s Bizarre Hauraki Interview

By Selwyn Manning -

October 21, 2015

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.

New Zealand Report broadcasts live on Wednesdays on Australia’s FiveAA.com and webcasts on EveningReport.nz LiveNews.co.nz and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.

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Maternity Consumers Unsurprised

By Selwyn Manning -

October 20, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com Contributed by AIM Associate 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. –]]>

NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 20, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 20, 2015

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

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/

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

COUNCIL-CONTROLLED ORGANISATIONS : The Office of the Auditor-General’s report on Governance and accountability of council-controlled organisations was presented to the House of Representatives. Council-controlled organisations (CCOs) have been in existence since 2002. Click here for more: http://www.oag.govt.nz/2015/cco-governance?utm_source=CCO-subs&utm_medium=CCO-subs&utm_campaign=CCOs

EL NINO AWARENESS: Farmers and growers are being urged to prepare now for the possible impact of El Nino conditions this summer. A brochure has been prepared and is available at: http://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/responding-to-threats/adverse-events/classifying-adverse-events-/preparing-for-el-nino/

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/

REGENERATION BILL: The Greater Christchurch Regeneration Bill will replace the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act 2011. The Bill will receive its first reading on Thursday. See more:http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2015/0079/10.0/DLM6579202.html

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

WOMEN IN SCIENCE: The representation of women working in life science professions doubled between 1991 and 2013, according to a new report released today by Statistics NZ. Read more:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Women/women-occupation.aspx

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Tuesday 20th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

News values in three Pacific nations

By Selwyn Manning -

October 19, 2015

Pacific Media Centre Research

From the cover of Alex Perrottet’s MCS thesis.

Monday, October 19, 2015

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.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 19, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 19, 2015

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.

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

LINKS OF THE DAY

BANKING OMBUDSMAN: Banks need to improve their online complaints information, the Banking Ombudsman Scheme says in its 2014-15 Annual Report released today. The 2014/2015 Annual Report is available at:https://bankomb.org.nz/ckeditor_assets/attachments/291/annual_report_2014-15.pdf

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:

http://www.health.govt.nz

DATA FUTURES PARTNERSHIP: Government has named the working group responsible for leading the new Data Futures Partnership. Read more: http://www.datafutures.co.nz/

FLAG REFERENDUM POLL: The latest flag referendum poll conducted by UMR Research Limited is available at:http://umr.co.nz/sites/umr/files/umr_flag_referendum_-_october_2015_-_media_release.pdf

LGNZ FUNDING REVIEW: LGNZ’s Local Government Funding Review 10-point plan which recommends a flexible regime to allow innovative ideas and approaches to be trialled in some areas to allow a policy to be tested in a location or region. Read more: http://www.lgnz.co.nz/home/our-work/our-policy-priorities/3.-sustainable-funding/local-government-funding-review/

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:

http://www.ngatapuwae.govt.nz

POLICE CONFERENCE: The Police Association is holding its 80th annual conference this week, from Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 October, at the James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel, The Terrace, Wellington. See more:http://www.policeassn.org.nz/newsroom/publications/media-releases/firing-line-nz-police-association-conference-21-23-oct

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.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Tributes to John Armstrong

By Bryce Edwards -

October 19, 2015

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup.

[caption id="attachment_4808" align="alignleft" width="150"]

Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]

John Armstrong’s retirement from the parliamentary press gallery has brought a flurry of tributes, as well as some useful reflections and debate on how we understand power and politics.

The retirement of New Zealand’s top political journalist is a big deal. The role John Armstrong has played for 30 years, in analysing power and explaining what’s happening in politics, Parliament and government, has been tremendous. He has helped the nation better understand and make sense of the methods and madness of those who run New Zealand. That is what good political analysis is, and for this reason Armstrong has been at the top of any “must-read” lists for those who want to comprehend what’s going on inside politics.

Armstrong announced his retirement in his final regular column for the Herald – see: A Farewell to all that. In this he gives an overview of his three decades covering parliamentary politics, with plenty of interesting observations. As usual it’s very well written and insightful, and therefore it’s an apt conclusion to his time in the parliamentary press gallery.

To see the tributes and reactions on Twitter to his retirement, see my blog post, Top tweets in tribute to John Armstrong. This includes tributes from politicians, colleagues, and other followers of politics.

Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson (‏@rodemmerson) says that Armstrong is “The political writer I’ve most admired”, Matthew Hooton (@MatthewHootonNZ) calls him “NZ’s best political writer”, Guyon Espiner ‏(@GuyonEspiner) says he’s “a hugely influential political journalist, a great writer and a bloody nice guy”, Duncan Garner ‏(@DuncanGarnerNZ) says to Armstrong, “Good luck John, you’re a bloody good man and a brilliant political journalist. I will always look up to you”, Ruth Dyson (‏@ruthdysonmp) says “You have been a courageous and fearless contributor to nz political thinking”, and David Cunliffe ‏(@DavidCunliffeMP) says “Thank you John Armstrong for your insight, thoughtful reflections and your apology today”.

Tributes from the left and right of the blogosphere

It is especially significant that Armstrong is receiving applause and appraisal from across the political spectrum. Of course in the past his analysis has enraged and disappointed all sorts of partisans – and they’ve typically reacted by painting Armstrong as some sort of stooge of either the left or right.

Therefore it’s of particular interest to read Martyn Bradbury’s tribute, in which he argues that “Armstrong understood power and his political columns were a good inside view to that power” – see: John Armstrong bows out on top and with class.

Bradbury, who must be the loudest critic of the New Zealand mainstream media, says that Armstrong was at his strongest when “he was following the true mission of the Fourth Estate by speaking truth to power”. And as an example, Bradbury cites Armstrong’s public support for Nicky Hager’s work: “He didn’t sweep Nicky Hager’s ‘Other People’s War’ aside – he championed it. He demanded accountability in the wake of Dirty Politics and he chastised the powerful more times than he ignored their abuses of power.”

On The Standard blogsite, Lynn Prentice has written a thoughtful post, John Armstrong – a person worth disagreeing with. Prentice’s believes Armstrong wasn’t necessary hostile to the political left, but “I think that John Armstrong just likes government. Strong government. And generally he focused mainly on the people who cause it to happen at any particular point in time. He was extremely unenthusiastic about the things that he thought would disrupt that.”

From the right, David Farrar says “I’ve always regarded his columns as a must read, and I’d be surprised if there has been one in the last 15 years I have not read. The same goes for many around Parliament – the anxious wait to see how Armstrong views the events of the day or the week” – see: Vale John Armstrong.

According to Farrar, it was Armstrong’s shift from being the Herald’s political editor to chief political commentator that meant he was freed up “to be our most regular and astute analyser of Parliament and politics.

Debates about political journalism

Not everyone is joining in the celebrations of Armstrong’s achievements. Danyl Mclauchlan has authored the sole dissenting analysis, in which he makes some interesting arguments about the role of the parliamentary press gallery, and suggests that Armstrong was too close to those in power to be a good political journalist – see: Notes on John Armstrong’s final column.

Here’s Mclauchlan’s main point: “His columns generally defended powerful establishment figures and attacked and mocked their critics, and because he’s a fine writer and deftly articulated elite conventional wisdom this made him very respected in those same establishment circles. It’s not a form of journalism I admire. I think it’s the opposite of everything journalists should aspire to.”

TV3’s Patrick Gower (‏@patrickgowernz) has responded: “This is based on so many lazy and wrong assumptions about John. I think it is disrespectful. But you are entitled to your opinion.”

Of course Mclauchlan is a Green Party activist, and has often expressed his belief that Armstrong is biased against the Greens. And in the comments section of this blog post he elaborates: “One of the reasons I dislike Armstrong is that I’m a Green supporter and he loathed the Greens, but he was never as upfront as Hooton. It was all hidden behind stock weasel phrases: ‘Some say,’ or ‘Voters will think.’”

Seeing John Armstrong as some sort of pro-Establishment figure seems to miss the point. While it’s true that Armstrong is an archetypal insider journalist, this is entirely what the parliamentary press gallery is supposed to be for. It’s about getting close to power, and examining it. The good journalists – such as Armstrong – don’t let this proximity to power blunt their critical faculties. And from my own very close reading of Armstrong’s work over the years I can see he was no stooge at all, and gave critical accounts of every aspect of politics, countering the spin machine of all parts of the Establishment – the Greens and other minor parties included.

Finally, I’ve had my differences with Armstrong too. In 2012 Armstrong reacted angrily to a column I produced about the press gallery’s coverage of TPP negotiations – see: Bloggers don’t let the facts get in the way. I responded with my own roundup and reaction, Blogging backlash.

Armstrong was the victor in the dispute, with this particular column being responsible for him winning the 2013 Canon Media Award for Best Columnist. The judge, Richard Long, was especially taken with Armstrong’s piece. For more on this, and an explanation of Armstrong’s approach to covering politics, see the Herald’s nicely-titled report: Keeping the politicians honest.

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Café Pacific: INFOCORE sets pace on global violent conflict media research project

By Selwyn Manning -

October 18, 2015

Pacific Media Centre

IT was a privilege for the Pacific Media Centre to be among the 27 global stakeholders involved in a progress feedback workshop for the European Union-funded €2.5 million violent conflict research project dubbed INFOCORE in Brussels last weekend.

Other stakeholders included the AFP Foundation, Deutsche Welle news agency, European Broadcasting Union, France 24, Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Internews Europe, Journaliste en Danger, Thomson Reuters Foundation, UNESCO Chair in Communication for Social Change and Media, War and Conflict journal.

The two-day event was hosted by another stakeholder, Press Club Brussels Europe, at its friendly offices in Rue Froissart, Schuman, decorated with a range of political cartoons from Europe’s finest cartoonists.

INFOCORE stands for (In)forming Conflict Prevention, Response and Resolution: The role of the media in violent conflict.

The research mission is to provide a “systematically comparative assessment of various kinds of media, interacting with a wide range of relevant actors and producing diverse kinds of conflict coverage,” as the INFOCORE website describes it.

The focus is on three main conflict regions – the Middle East (Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Syrian civil war), the West Balkans (Kosovo and Macedonia) and the African Great Lakes area (Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Nothing specific on the Pacific, but for the one Pacific stakeholder (PMC) present it was still tremendously interesting with lots of parallels for the region, especially the various roles of social and digital media in conflict.

The research project, spanning a period of about 10 years for some of the conflicts, is the most ambitious research project ever undertaken on media reportage on conflict and the interplay with sources and policy makers, non-government organisations, the general public and social media.

The project team embarked on the work in January 2014 and its findings and selected data will become available to the public by the end of next year. Some working documents are available already on the website.

About 45 people are involved, including 11 leading experts from the social sciences at nine research institutions from seven countries.

Among research leaders are project coordinator Professor Romy Fröhlich of the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich; Dr Chris Meyer of King’s College, London; and Dr Christian Baden of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Dr Georgios Terzis of the Global Governance Institute, Brussels, is project administration and dissemination coordinator.

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INFOCORE sets pace on global violent conflict media research project

By David Robie -

October 17, 2015

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Report by David Robie. This article was first published on Café Pacific IT was a privilege for the Pacific Media Centre to be among the 27 global stakeholders involved in a progress feedback workshop for the European Union-funded €2.7 million violent conflict research project dubbed INFOCORE in Brussels last weekend. Other stakeholders included the AFP Foundation, Deutsche Welle news agency, European Broadcasting Union, France 24, Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Internews Europe, Journaliste en Danger, Thomson Reuters Foundation, UNESCO Chair in Communication for Social Change and Media, War and Conflict journal. The two-day event was hosted by another stakeholder, Press Club Brussels Europe, at its friendly offices in Rue Froissart, Schuman, decorated with a range of political cartoons from Europe’s finest cartoonists. INFOCORE stands for (In)forming Conflict Prevention, Response and Resolution: The role of the media in violent conflict. The research mission is to provide a “systematically comparative assessment of various kinds of media, interacting with a wide range of relevant actors and producing diverse kinds of conflict coverage,” as the INFOCORE website describes it. The focus is on three main conflict regions – the Middle East (Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Syrian civil war), the West Balkans (Kosovo and Macedonia) and the African Great Lakes area (Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Nothing specific on the Pacific, but for the one Pacific stakeholder (PMC) present it was still tremendously interesting with lots of parallels for the region, especially the various roles of social and digital media in conflict. The research project, spanning a period of about 10 years for some of the conflicts, is the most ambitious research project ever undertaken on media reportage on conflict and the interplay with sources and policy makers, non-government organisations, the general public and social media. The project team embarked on the work in January 2014 and its findings and selected data will become available to the public by the end of next year. Some working documents are available already on the website. About 45 people are involved, including 11 leading experts from the social sciences at nine research institutions from seven countries. Among research leaders are project coordinator Professor Romy Fröhlich of the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich; Dr Chris Meyer of King’s College, London; and Dr Christian Baden of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr Georgios Terzis of the Global Governance Institute, Brussels, is project administration and dissemination coordinator. –]]>

Keith Rankin on the State versus the Public

By Keith Rankin -

October 17, 2015

Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on TheDailyBlog.co.nz.

In recent postings, Chris Trotter has raised the spectre of the ‘deep state’ (Securing “Buy-In” For The TPP: The Deep State Takes Over) and of what might be called the ‘terror state’ in Turkey and elsewhere (State-Sponsored Terror? What can New Zealanders learn from Turkey’s tragedy?).

Is ‘the state’ becoming a bogey for the political left as well as for the right? And is it a useful concept, or something that means quite different things to different people?

Interestingly, the Wikipedia page for ‘Deep State’ lists this as a Turkish concept that has spread to other contexts (Egypt and the USA are cited). Trotter however is extending the concept, quite appropriately I think, to the global deep state.

Arguing about whether the ‘deep state’ exists is a bit like arguing about whether God exists; it soon becomes an argument about the meaning of existence. I will simply use the economists’ tricks. We may note that some things make sense if we simply assume that the deep state exists. Or we may claim power in the world unfolds ‘as if’ there was a deep state. Thus the ‘deep state’ is a useful working concept, whether or not you can measure it or photograph it.

There are four words that are sometimes used synonymously, but which have distinct though variable shades of meaning. To make progress towards a better world and better governance, we need to be cognisant of the variations of meaning of these words, and their normative connotations.

The four words are: sovereign, state, government, public.

In the eighteenth century – with the new liberalism of The Enlightenment – the word ‘state’ began to displace ‘sovereign’. Sovereigns – meaning Kings – were getting weaker as the machinery of the wider public sphere was getting stronger. Classical economics came to use the concept of ‘state’ as an increasingly menacing spectre of corrupt tax-funded military power supplemented by the rents of the widening band of privileged plutocrats – landlords and commercial ‘monopolists’ with royal privileges – who conflated the public interest with their own private interests.

To the next layer down – the capitalists proper, the emerging bourgeoisie – the power nexus above them was an interest that included pre-democratic government and the conservative estates of power, the aristocracy and the established church. (The fourth estate, the mainstream media – at its core – has always been a force of the established wealth-power nexus; not really society’s critic and conscience.) Over more recent time, the added components to this nexus were the financial institutions that concentrated and protected financial wealth, and the bureaucracies.

Thus the ‘state’ was always more than the ‘government’, and the government became much more than the elected representatives. The state was always more than the stationary kleptocratic bandit so-much loved by the ‘public-choice’ theorists who in the 1980s both ran ‘the state’ and condemned it.

Left-libertarians like Chris Trotter naturally see the state in these menacing terms, and emphasise the substantial power of its social networks over the relatively inconsequential (and easily won-over) power of its elected representatives. Those economic liberals on the political right however see ‘the state’ much more as some kind of economic vacuum cleaner, sucking up resources that might otherwise be used in the pursuit of great private initiatives. The neoliberal right believes in a powerful but small state, with the protection and enforcement of private property rights as its central raison d’être. The neoliberal state is a state of law enforcement, not a state of service provision.

In the mid-twentieth century we saw the emergence of the ‘Keynesian state’, with its substantially expanded economic role for government, its tendencies towards economic equalisation, and its complementarity with the capitalist market economics. As ‘the state’ became more benign – and saved capitalism – it also seemingly became much bigger. For the left, the state lost its pejorative connotation, while for the economic right, the state – no longer a vehicle for establishment privilege – became a menace to private interests; allegedly because of its growing size, but probably more because of its democratic accountability.

The Keynesian state was overthrown in the 1980s. In its place was the tight monetarist state. The first explicit manifestation of the tight monetarist state was probably in Chile in 1973, where there was a politically easy Marxish target in the form of Salvador Allende. The overthrow of the Whitlam government in Australia in 1975 represented the first stage in the more gradual creation of an Australian power-state that is now quite overtly baring its teeth in a way that is not completely dissimilar to the Turkish situation which Trotter writes about. Chris Trotter has also written recently about the covert revolution that took place in the United Kingdom through the 1970s (Revolution In The UK? Jeremy Corbyn and the Matter of Britain).

Two other manifestations of the overthrow of the Keynesian state were cheered loudly – at the times – by the left. Indeed I am quite fascinated by the similarities between Richard Nixon and Robert Muldoon. Both were committed Keynesians who achieved much, as Keynesians, but who, through their aggressive political personalities, made the neoliberal narrative of the oppressive state receptive to wide democratic audiences. Their personalities facilitated a neoliberal counter-revolution that was quite antithetic to the very public – neither statist nor elitist – values of Nixon and Muldoon.

The Roger-gnomes – the victors of the 1984 revolution – rubbed in their success by using the word ‘state’ as a synonym of ‘public’, as in ‘state-owned’ aka ‘publicly-owned’ aka ‘government-owned’ enterprises such as Telecom and Electricorp. And the hospitals became ‘Crown-owned entities’, run on similar lines to corporations about to be privatised and oligopolised.

This century ‘the state’ everywhere becomes stronger as governments become weaker. And the deep global anti-democratic state is a concept worthy of serious discussion. While it may be said to have commenced with the ‘Washington consensus’ of the 1980s, Karl Marx and his disciples saw it as a significant and growing entity during their lifetimes. An important work about global finance, published in 1910 (just before the unravelling that began with World War 1), was Finance Capital by Rudolph Hilferding.

The way out of the ‘state’ conundrum is for the third and fifth estates (common people, and non-mainstream-media) to develop positive concepts of publicness divorced from ‘the state’; concepts that reinforce the idea that the state is an informal plutocratic rather than a formal democratic institution. In the process, the concept of ‘government’ needs be rescued as a committee of the people rather than as an instrument of intrusion and surveillance. Government should be foremost of ‘demos’, not of ‘polis’.

The ‘public’ is an economic interest (indeed the ‘sovereign’ interest), just as capital and labour represent interests. It is an equity partner embedded within market-based economies. The ‘left’ began when ‘Whig’ capitalists challenged the ‘Tory’ landed establishment. Around the late nineteenth century, following the revolution of industrial capital, the capitalists became the powerful ‘right’ and the emergent force of labour became the left.

Today labourism has become a casualty of its brief twentieth century success. The left needs a new interest to champion. The new dichotomy is ‘the public’ versus ‘the state’ (not ‘the market’ versus ‘the state’). Although the public is inclusive of the powerful as well as the powerless, the state nexus since the 1970s has been largely exclusive of the public interest, while diminishing its delineation of who ‘the public’ is. We only have to look across the Tasman Sea, to witness that process in action.

In New Zealand the adoption of proportional representation (MMP) in the 1990s was a victory for the public. The global trend however, I sense, is still a deepening and narrowing of ‘the state’; the prevalence of an anti-democratic global state with a western bias towards the protestant values of financial accumulation and busy-ness.

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Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Labour’s TPP disaster

By Bryce Edwards -

October 16, 2015

Political Roundup by Dr Bryce Edwards.

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Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]

What does Labour think about the TPP? No one seems to know. The party is hoping to appease both critics and opponents of the deal, but its mixed messages are drawing criticism from all sides.

The National Government was supposed to be the one under scrutiny in the aftermath of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Labour had hoped and expected that the controversial deal would be bad news for a Government that would have trouble selling all the “dead rats” and very limited wins for New Zealand in the agreement. Instead, however, it’s Labour that is bleeding over the TPP.

The charge against Labour is that it’s being weak, divided, or just disingenuous in its TPP stance. The party’s explanation for its mixed messages is that it can’t make any decisions until it has more detail doesn’t seem to be washing with many. And now its supposedly non-negotiable bottom lines over TPP are suddenly appearing to be rather flexible.

Labour’s mixed messages

The strongest criticism of Labour’s ambiguous stance is from TV3’s Patrick Gower, who says “Labour wants to try and trick its base supporters that it is still against the TPP, but let the public think it is for it. It really is untenable for Labour to refuse to say either way” – see his colourfully-worded column, Labour swallowing TPP rats.

Gower explains that “Labour has painted itself into a corner” with its clever attempt to justify its ambiguous position, but suggests that this was always a charade: “Either Labour’s non-negotiable bottom lines were a load of codswallop, or it will not support the TPP”. He predicts “that Labour will continue to play out this silly game for a while before finally giving its support to TPP”.

The Herald’s Audrey Young has a similar forecast: “My prediction is that Labour will spend the next month sounding as though it opposes the TPP, pointing out where it could have been better, condemning the Government for not getting a perfect deal, but end up supporting it. In the process it will be sending mixed messages” – see: Vote on trade deal will test Labour philosophy.

According to Labour supporter Phil Quin, writing in the Herald today, his party’s stance is all about “having, as well as eating, one’s cake” – see: TPP threats cast doubt on Labour’s capacity to govern.

For Quin, Labour’s whole approach to the TPP is based on opportunism rather than principles: “Andrew Little’s Labour has crafted a policy that suffers from being too clever by half, grounded in a hazy matrix of dubious political calculations but utterly devoid of any discernible principle. In a proxy war between those who hate capitalism and those who hate regulation, Labour has, of its own volition, taken up occupancy in a no-man’s land of clumsy opportunism.”

Labour’s position to retain the TPP but flout it

Labour has obviously sought to adopt stances in which it can both support the TPP and oppose elements of it. Its latest technique is to say that it would retain the TPP when it got into government again, but flout some elements of it. This attempt to have it both ways has brought criticism from all sides.

Labour’s stance of “flouting” the agreement was apparent right from the day the agreement was announced, with Jacinda Ardern stating “When we’re in Government we’ll continue to legislate as we would and we’ll face the consequences” – see Benn Bathgate’s Labour to carry on regardless of TPPA – Ardern.

This position was elaborated on by Little this week on Radio New Zealand: “The question now for us is what happens when we are in government… Although any party has the ability on six months’ notice to walk away from the agreement, from New Zealand’s point of view, that’d be a pretty serious call to make… I think it is unlikely: we’ve got what we’ve got, we’re now committed to it because the National Government has made us committed to it, [and] we will deal with that when we are in government” – quoted in the news report: Labour would stick to ban on foreign house buyers despite TPPA.

One Labour Party activist has written a scathing blog post on The Standard accusing the party of both selling out but also lacking credibility in the way it handles international relations – see: Labour’s latest TPP position.

According to the activist, “Labour has shown the entire world that their negotiating “bottom lines” are as weak as tissue paper. And that less than 3 months worth of mild pressure is enough to make Andrew Little fold like a leaf on the party’s publicly stated “bottom lines.”

Furthermore, “although Labour can talk a tough talk now and then, when it boils down to it, Labour is a push over when it comes to its own ‘bottom lines’. Any respect in those circles for Labour as a credible negotiator and reliable independent partner has gone straight down the tubes. What a costly and damaging day it has been for Labour’s reputation.”

An even more damning critique is made by Phil Quin who says if Labour implemented such a policy, it would “constitute the most reckless act by any New Zealand government of the post-Muldoon era”, and that it “called into question Labour’s capacity to govern responsibly” – see: TPP threats cast doubt on Labour’s capacity to govern.

Voices from the right are equally critical of Labour’s intention to flout an agreement. Blogger David Farrar questions Little’s apparent new approach of picking and choosing which elements of international treaties it would honour: “Does he also think NZ should flout all the UN conventions we have signed, if he deems it not in our best interests? Does he think Iran should flout the deal they brokered on not developing nuclear weapons, if the Supreme Leader deems it not in their best interests? Does Little think the other TPP countries should simply ignore provisions of an agreement they don’t like? Does he think Australia should ignore the WTO ruling and ban our apple imports again? This is pathetic sophistry from Labour. You can not have a policy saying we will not withdraw from TPP but will ignore parts we want to” – see: Labour’s latest TPP position.

See also today’s Southland Times editorial, Labour’s weird approach to TPP deal, which says that the party has “has commitment issues”.

Labour’s shift away from globalism

It was only a few years ago that Labour was all in favour of any type of “free trade deals”, and of course in government initiated many, including the China-NZ deal, as well as the TPP negotiations. As Helen Clark has made clear with her strong support of the TPP, Labour’s new stance is a deviation from where the party has been in recent decades.

Audrey Young has explained that Labour quickly shifted last year from being favourable towards such free trade and corporate agreements to a more neutral position – see: Vote on trade deal will test Labour philosophy.

Young’s article also explains how Labour has played a key role in shifting public opinion away from a default position of supporting such deals, and she points to recent opinion poll material: “In the Herald’s DigiPoll survey in August, only 22.9 per cent said they supported it generally on the basis that New Zealand’s economic well-being depended on increased trade with the world; 31.3 per cent opposed it on the basis of investor-state dispute procedures and 45 per cent had no view.”

Labour’s shift has clearly coincided with growing public discontent about economic inequality and corporate dominance in the post-global financial crisis era. In recent years much of the political left has used the TPP and globalisation as a proxy (or lightning rod) for channelling such concerns.

This is outlined in Liam Dann’s very thoughtful column, Backing a trade deal has never been so socially awkward. He says that “Supporting trade deals has become extremely socially awkward. Like a sensible pair of loose fit jeans, it definitely isn’t cool these days. It’s not like it was back in 2008 when Helen Clark was signing the China Free Trade Agreement. Maybe it’s all Facebook’s fault. For the past year my Facebook feed has been a hotbed of anti-TPP posts and memes. Some raise reasonable concerns about the cost of drugs or intellectual property law but others pitch the whole thing as if it is an attempt by the evil empire to secretly build a Death Star… But for the majority of concerned social media clickers, there just seems to be a lot of general ill-feeling about increasing corporate control over our lives. That’s not unreasonable. The global financial crisis destroyed wealth and exaggerated inequalities, the internet is disrupting the workplace and its encroachment on personal privacy worries people.”

Not surprisingly, many on the left of Labour have therefore championed the anti-TPP movement. And as Newstalk ZB’s Felix Marwick points out, when Andrew Little “ran for the party’s leadership after the 2014 election disaster he made a deliberate point of criticising the TPP and making arguments against it” – see: How will Labour respond to TPP? Marwick says that MPs such as “Ruth Dyson, Megan Woods, and Clare Curran, all participated in anti-TPP rallies in August”.

But in the end it appears this concentration on the TPP may have been a mistaken target for both the left and Labour, especially since the end result has proven to be milder than expected. Any on going opposition to the TPP is likely to be from the more nationalistic and protectionist elements in society – ironically exemplified by figures on the right such as US presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Labour’s conundrum over the TPP

For many on the left, Labour’s softness on the TPP is an opportunity missed. Chris Trotter argues that if Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First put forward a united front against the agreement, then they would be well positioned to fight and win the next election as “an anti-TPP coalition” – see: Labour’s TPP choice could swing election.

Trotter says: “The 2017 election, if Labour, the Greens and NZ First box clever, can thus become a contest between competing visions. The TPP’s vision of an economy that’s managed for powerful business interests; and the progressive Opposition’s vision of an economy that works for people.”

When Trotter’s dream of an anti-TPP united front was disrupted this week, he blogged about this missed opportunity – see: Flouting The Rules: Why has Andrew Little rejected a winning TPPA strategy for a guaranteed loser? Trotter suggests that Labour may no longer be “committed to meaningful social and economic change”.

Finally, how divided is Labour over the TPP? Not surprisingly, rightwing pundit Matthew Hooton has a controversial view on this, and suggests a serious problem is developing within the party – see his must-read column, Labour lurches to the extreme left over TPP, which has been temporarily unlocked on the NBR website. And for balance, see Sam Sachdeva’s Labour’s Annette King denies internal rift over TPPA deal.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 15, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 16, 2015

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 17 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Thursday 15th October.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle include more than one million people taking part in the the Shakeout earthquake drill this morning, the Chinese-owned company Shanghai Pengxin taking legal action against the Government’s refusal to let it buy Lochinver Station and the Green Party promising at least half MPs the party has in Cabinet if it was to be part of a new Government will be women.

POLITICS PULSE

Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:

Government: Celebrating 25 years of Ngā Whenua Rāhui; Benefit figures continue downward trend; Wellington ICT Graduate School provider announced; MPs highlight melanoma by getting skin checks; Milestone adds to changing face of red zone; New funding balance for PGP programmes; Regional Economic Activity Report lays out growth opportunities for regions; Christchurch housing response changes gear; English commits to ongoing fiscal restraint; New Zealand earthquake drill leads world again; Speech – New Zealand Economic and Fiscal Outlook; National Health Emergency Plan updated; Largest ever kiwi return to Okarito; NZ invests in expansion of Niue’s Matavai Resort; 10 year passports available in time for Christmas holidays

ACT Party: Surplus shows no excuse for stealth tax hikes

Greens: Greens Will Ensure Gender Balance In Cabinet; Govt plans to melt Antarctica!; Two dollar tax bribe at what cost?; Waikato Regional Council is sitting on its hands while the river continues to be polluted

Labour: Nats sacrifice Kiwis’ health and education for surplus; Kindy teacher lay off after Govt funding cuts; Labour Bill To Stop Stealth Cuts To Radio NZ; Lochinver appeal shows OIO reform needed; Auckland houses skyrocket $300k in 5 years; Warm, dry healthy rental homes a step closer; Government response to families’ pleas arrogant and unreasonable

Māori Party: Time for Māori voters to come back home

New Zealand First: Attempt to bring openness to treaty negotiations shot down; “On/Off surplus” more like a flickering light; Waiting For TPPA Details, But Who Is Writing The Text?; Not Too Late To Put Openness Into TPPA

NZ National Party: New graduate school to boost Hutt ICT sector

United Future Party: Dunne Speaks – Taking Emotion out of the Medicinal Cannabis Debate

LINKS OF THE DAY

AG’S REPORT ON AMETI: The Auditor-General’s report Reviewing aspects of the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative (AMETI) has been presented to the House of Representatives. Go here for the report:http://www.oag.govt.nz/2015/ameti?utm_source=ameti-subs&utm_medium=ameti-subs&utm_campaign=ameti

AUCKLAND PRICES RISE: The average asking price for Auckland properties has risen $300,000 over the past five years according to the latest Trade Me Property Price Index. Read more: http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/price-index/for-sale/

BENEFIT FIGURES DOWN: Latest benefit numbers across all main benefit groups are down on the same period last year and are the lowest September quarter since 2008. The latest benefit data is available athttp://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/index.html.

DHB PROFILES: Twenty reports which provide snapshots of Māori health in District Health Board regions all around New Zealand have been released today. The reports are available at:http://www.otago.ac.nz/wellington/departments/publichealth/research/erupomare/research/otago147631.html

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY REPORT: The 2015 Regional Economic Activity Report which highlights economic opportunities for regions across New Zealand was released today. The report and interactive website are available here: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/business/business-growth-agenda/regions

FIBRE AT LIGHT SPEED: New Zealand has over 100,000 fibre-optic broadband connections,this is more than double the number of fibre connections in 2014, according to Statistics New Zealand. Go here for more:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/InternetServiceProviderSurvey_MR2015.aspx

FONTERRA’S 2015/16 MILK PRICE MANUAL: The Commerce Commission released its draft report on its statutory review of Fonterra’s Milk Price Manual for the 2015/16 dairy season. The draft report and related information can be found here: http://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/dairy-industry/review-of-fonterra-s-farm-gate-milk-price-and-manual/statutory-review-of-milk-price-manual/201516-season/

HEALTH EMERGENCY PLAN: The new National Health Emergency Plan will ensure New Zealand is well prepared to respond to future events. The Plan can be found on the Ministry of Health’s website: http://www.health.govt.nz

ICT GRADUATE SCHOOL: Three Wellington tertiary education providers will jointly host the region’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Graduate School. More information about the ICT graduate schools can be found here: http://www.tec.govt.nz/Funding/Fund-finder/ICT-Graduate-School-programme/

LOW BLOOD SUGAR: A new study by the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland shows stabilising blood sugar levels in newborns with hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, appears to prevent brain damage. The research paper can be viewed at: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1504909

MORE ACCIDENTS FOR MEN: According to Statistics New Zealand, men were more prone than women to workplace accidents in 2014, generating 71 percent of all injury claims and 96 percent of fatal injury claims. Read more:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/health/injuries/InjuryStatistics_HOTP14.aspx

PGP PROGRAMMES FUNDING: The Crown’s investment share in new Primary Growth Partnership programmes will shift from 50 percent to 40 percent from 1 December, with overall annual funding remaining the same. More information is available at: http://www.mpi.govt.nz/funding-and-programmes/primary-growth-partnership/

RARE ROWI KIWI: The rare rowi kiwi is reclaiming more valuable territory in Ōkārito forest with the return of 50 young birds by the Department of Conservation and Kiwis for kiwi. The year-old chicks were returned to the forest today, bringing the population to between 400 and 500 rowi. To donate or find out more visithttp://www.kiwisforkiwi.org.nz

RENTING HOUSING PROBLEMS: Renters were almost twice as likely to report a damp house problem as homeowners in 2014, according to data released by Statistics New Zealand. More data available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/housing/perceptions-housing-quality-2014-15.aspx

TRADE & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: As countries become increasingly dependent on world trade, with 40 per cent of resources extracted and used worldwide linked directly or indirectly to trade, new policies are needed to address adverse environmental impacts, according to a new report – International Trade in Resources: A biophysical assessment – produced by the United Nations Environment Programme-hosted International Resource Panel (IRP). To download a summary of the report go to: http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/.

VACANCIES RISE: The number of job vacancies advertised online rose by 0.5 per cent in September, while there was a 1.9 per cent rise across the year, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) latest Jobs Online report. Go here for the report: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/employment-skills/labour-market-reports/jobs-online

WHITE RIBBON CAMPAIGN: The White Ribbon Auckland Central organising committee is calling out Aucklanders, especially Central Auckland businesses, organisations, residents, workers and visitors to join the White Ribbon Day March on 25th November 2015 in the heart of the city. For more information and to sign up go to:http://peace.net.nz/content/white-ribbon-auckland-central-sign-page

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Thursday 15th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

From ‘reality’ TV to the reality of documentary making – the new civic impulse

By David Robie -

October 15, 2015

PJR Special Edition documentary practise — ]]>

Report by David Robie. This article was first published on Café Pacific THE RISE of popular factual television has threatened the key claim on “reality” of documentary practice but there is hope on the horizon in the post-documentary era, says Pacific Journalism Review in the latest edition published this week. The October edition examines the state of documentary practice in the Asia-Pacific region and also profiles the work of many contemporary filmmakers. “Documentary programmes on broadcast television have been progressively replaced by lavish series, formulaic docu-soaps or reality TV,” writes edition co-editor Professor Barry King in his editorial. He adds that a “troubling implication is that post-documentary forms threaten the legitimacy and credibility of the documentary tradition as a whole.” King notes that one symptom of this “tangible appetite can be found in the rise of citizen journalism, which, however evaluated, still answers to civic impulse”. The surveillance of authorities also boosted this eyewitness function. “On the other hand, it can become merely a form of self-promotion, as in the case of the selfie and celebrity-centric Twitter.” But King also observes on the positive side that some documentary makers are welcoming the opportunities by digital media to “significantly reduce production costs and open up new means of distribute their work online”. ‘Views from the field’ Introducing a section on “Views from the field” from filmmakers, co-editor Professor Annie Goldson, herself one of New Zealand’s leading documentary makers, reflectively analyses her own body of work over many years in the context of contemporary filmmaking challenges and developments. She argues positively that “long-form creative documentary has re-emerged on the cinema screen, and, of course, online”. “Filmmakers are able to take more political and formal risks than television traditionally permitted, breaking from notions of balance and objectivity,” she adds. This edition of PJR features the work of Asia-Pacific filmmakers and radio documentary makers such as Anne Keala Kelly (Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai’i), Jim Marbrook (The Dark Horse and Cap Bocage), Tom Morton, Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing), Max Stahl (Bloodshot: The Dreams and Nightmares of East Timor) and Kim Webby (The Price of Peace). The journal also features a series of unthemed articles such as on “the sense of place” in indigenous affairs reporting, death coverage in The New Zealand Herald, and tweeting, friending and reporting for media academics and a large review section coordinated with edition managing editor Professor David Robie and reviews editor Dr Philip Cass. The edition is the second volume in the two-part series based on papers from the PJR2014 conference marking 20 years of publication of Pacific Journalism Review. The journal PJR is published by Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre. The PJR2014 conference at AUT University – a brief video overview. –]]>

Discovery of new shorebird species Hakawai melvillei

By Selwyn Manning -

October 15, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com A new species of shorebird, dating from a time when New Zealand was covered in subtropical forests and crocodiles roamed parts of the South Island, has been found near St Bathans in Central Otago. An international team of New Zealand and Australian-based scientists, including Canterbury Museum researchers, have confirmed that the 19 – 16 million-year-old shorebird fossils belong to a group which had been thought to only comprise the Australian Plains-wanderer and the South American seedsnipes. The new species, Hakawai melvillei, has been named after New Zealand ornithologist David Melville to honour his efforts in the conservation of migratory shorebirds. Lead author and Canterbury Museum researcher, Dr Vanesa De Pietri, says that the team were excited to discover that the fossil shorebird was not a typical wader, but more like an ancestral Plains-wanderer, with some seedsnipe-like features. The Plains-wanderer and seedsnipes are unusual shorebirds as they have adapted well to living on the land. “We’re happy to have found a fossil bird that provides a key morphological link between the two groups. The discovery of Hakawai melvillei has confirmed our thinking that the ancestors of the Plains-wanderer and seedsnipes were wading birds, like most other shorebirds,” she says. “It has also confirmed previous research I’ve undertaken, with colleagues, that the Plains-wanderer and seedsnipes evolved their terrestrial habits independently.” The discovery sheds light on evolutionary processes at work when South America, Antarctica, Australia, and New Zealand were part of the southern supercontinent of Gondwana. Hakawai melvillei, the Australian Plains-wanderer and the South American seedsnipe are all thought to have originated in East Gondwana. Canterbury Museum Senior Curator of Natural History and co-author of the study, Professor Paul Scofield says: “Hakawai melvillei probably became endemic to (only occurring in) New Zealand when “Over millions of years, the Plains-wanderer has efficiently adapted to a changing Australian landscape – from forests to sparse native grasslands. Unfortunately due to the loss of its natural habitat, it is now one of Australia’s most endangered birds”, he adds. Dr Trevor Worthy, a New Zealander working at Flinders University in South Australia who led the study, says “The discovery of Hakawai melvillei adds to an emerging story of New Zealand’s role in the evolution of birds in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately, like crocodiles, turtles, and some tropical birds, which once inhabited New Zealand, the lineage represented by Hakawai melvillei is long gone. We’re not sure what happened, but climatic and geographic changes during that time may have been partly responsible for its demise”.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 14, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 15, 2015

1080 Poison Threat to Milk Products — ]]>

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 10 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 14th October.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle include the Government recording a surplus of $414 million, leading dairy companies saying the 1080 infant formula threat cost New Zealand’s dairy sector millions of dollars in loss of reputation and former MP Hone Harawira challenging all 26 Maori MPs to speak out about the way New Zealanders are being held in Australian detention centres.

POLITICS PULSE

Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:

Government: ECan Bill ensures smooth transition for Canterbury; SPEECH: Simon Bridges – Climate Proofing Energy Infrastructure; In-between travel Bill passes first reading; Government Posts Full Year Operating Surplus; Border Clearance Levy details confirmed; Simulation surgery proves valuable training tool; Māori ICT Development Fund Advisory Group members appointed; Lifting business investment key for growth; New chair for prison’s community forum; Education Minister to speak at international fora

Greens: TPPA will hit farmers in the pocket and funnel it to agribusiness; Surplus good but at what cost?; Green Party Praise For Helen Kelly

Labour: Four year funding freeze for OIO causes delays; Govt must clarify if software patents are in TPP; Woodhouse wrote own worm farm risk list; First surplus a blip on radar screen of debt; Cancer patients deserve help, not threats

New Zealand First: Groser Blind To TPPA Hit On Housing; Chorus of disapproval over education funding plans rising in the North; Manukura another perfect example of why New Zealand doesn’t need charter schools; Grosser on a different planet claiming TPPA is ‘good’ for dairy; Youth Awards sponsors confirmed; Remembering Niue’s sacrifice during language week

NZ National Party: Hutt students recognised with Kupe scholarships; New Zealand achieving surplus

LINKS OF THE DAY

A-G’S REPORT: The Auditor-General’s Annual Report 2014/15 report was released today. The report can be viewed at: http://www.oag.govt.nz/2015/annual-report?utm_source=annual-report-15&utm_medium=annual-report-15&utm_campaign=annual-report-15

BUSINESS INVESTMENT: An update of the Building Investment workstream of the Business Growth Agenda was released today. The Building Investment Chapter, the International Investment for Growth Report, and the Investment Attraction Strategy can be found here: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/business/business-growth-agenda/towards-2025

EDUCATION INDUSTRY SUMMIT: The 2015 Global Education Industry Summit will be held from the 19-20 October in Finland with Ministers of Education from around the world attending. More details on the summit available at:http://www.oecd.org/education-industry-summit/

ENERGY SCENARIOS: The BusinessNZ Energy Council (BEC) today launches a new report – New Zealand Energy Scenarios: Navigating energy futures to 2050 – which outlines two different scenarios of what New Zealand’s energy future could look like over the next 35 years. The full report can be found at: http://www.bec.org.nz/projects/bec2050

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF GOVT: The Financial Statements of the Government of New Zealand for the financial year ended 30 June 2015 were released today by Treasury. Read more athttp://www.treasury.govt.nz/government/financialstatements/yearend/jun15

INTERNET DATA: According to Statistics New Zealand people used more than 84,000 terabytes of data in the month of June 2015, compared with over 34,000 terabytes in June 2013. More details available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/ISPSurvey_HOTP2015.aspx

KPMG UPDATE: The KPMG Funds Management Update reveals New Zealanders are being too passive with their KiwiSaver earnings. More information can be found at:

http://www.kpmg.com/NZ/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Pages/funds-management-update-2015.aspx

OFFICE SUPPORT TALENT MISMATCH: Office support professionals have seen demand for their expertise rise across New Zealand, but a shortage of the right skills is creating a talent mismatch and frustrations on both sides of the employment equation, says recruiting experts Hays. To see a full list of skills in demand and trends, please visithttp://www.hays.net.nz/report

STIMULATION SURGERY: An evaluation report by the University of Auckland shows how surgical teams have benefited from a training centre which simulates operations. The report is available on the Ministry of Health’s website: http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/final-evaluation-report-workforce-innovation-simulation-project-multidisciplinary-operating-room

YOUTH EMPLOYMENT CRISIS: One third of the world’s 1.8 billion young people are currently neither in employment, education or training. Of the one billion more youth that will enter the job market in the next decade, only 40 percent are expected to be able to get jobs that currently exist. Reversing the youth employment crisis is a pressing global priority and the socio-economic cost of inaction is high, says a new report, entitled Toward Solutions for Youth Employment: A 2015 Baseline Report. You can access the report at Solutions for Youth Employment:https://www.s4ye.org

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Wednesday 14th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Climate Change and Adaptation: Preparing the Pacific

By Selwyn Manning -

October 14, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com Contributed by Save the Children No more than 1.5 degrees of warming. This is what governments and leaders across the Pacific Island Nations are calling for in the lead up to the climate summit in Paris later this year. Today marks the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, and there has been no better time to call for action to reduce the risk posed by both the slow on-set of climate change and for as a growing number of emergencies. We have seen recently the capital city of Choiseul Province in the Solomon Islands, planning to relocate its entire population in response to climate change. Predictions that Kiribati, the Maldives, the Marshall Islands could all vanish at 2 degrees of warming along with many other coastal zones across the Pacific – an estimated 150-300 million people could be displaced by 2050 So what will an era of climate refugees look like? Global warming will see an increase in the frequency and intensity of weather events across the Pacific, rising sea levels, ocean acidification, an increase in temperatures, precipitation, and salt inundation which will threaten food production and security. The Pacific will face an ever-higher risk of cyclones, storm surges, drought and floods. The current experience of El Nino is causing severe drought in Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and in northern and western divisions in Fiji. Vanuatu and Samoa are currently under threat of drought. The theme this year for International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is traditional knowledge. In the past, people had ways and means of preparing for disaster through their use of traditional knowledge. This knowledge was passed from one generation to the next by way of story-telling and verbal communication. They knew when to go fishing by observing the stars and their positions, from tides and waves, from wind and from the moon. A bright full moon with and outer circles tells Routuman fishermen what fish to catch. The formation of beehives on soil surface would foretell the coming of a cyclone and warn people to prepare well in advance. Scientists are now acknowledging the importance of traditional knowledge in promoting sustainability and preparing for natural disasters. But they recognise that we cannot solely depend on it. Together, traditional knowledge AND climate science can help us predict and prepare for more natural disasters. Professor Dr Guy McPherson leaves us with a poignant remark “if you really think the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.”

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Keith Rankin’s Chart for this Week: World and New Zealand Economic Growth

By Keith Rankin -

October 14, 2015

Analysis by Keith Rankin.

[caption id="attachment_7661" align="aligncenter" width="987"]

Economic Growth from 1980 to 2014.[/caption]

To most macroeconomists, politicians and business journalists, economic growth is the most important economic performance indicator. While it’s not entirely wrong that this should be so, growth is a heavily nuanced concept. Sustainable economic growth is not an oxymoron. Indeed it’s definitely better than unsustainable growth and unsustainable non-growth, and in many situations is better than sustainable non-growth.

That wider debate is not what this chart is about. Rather it’s about economic performance in a conventional sense. If we discount all the clearly identifiable adverse world economic events we can see a normal global growth rate of around four percent per year in this late 20th early 21st century era. In global terms, contractionary conditions exist when annual growth falls below three percent, meaning that significant unemployment emerges in a number of relatively advanced national economies.

Thus we see the world contractions of the early 1980s, the early 1990s, the early 2000s, and the global financial crisis of 2008-09. We also see dips in world growth with the Asian economic crisis of 1998, the Eurozone crisis from 2012, and the financial crisis of 1987 that hit New Zealand particularly hard.

Looking at New Zealand, the main points to note relate to when New Zealand was ‘performing better’ than the world as a whole, and when it was doing worse.

In the late Muldoon years (1980-84) – the years in which New Zealand was said to have been a complete “basket case”, and which were used to justify the subsequent neoliberal revolution – New Zealand outperformed the world as a whole. The dip in 1983 was smaller than the 1982 dips in other western countries (indeed was a result of the global contraction), and the 1984 recovery was particularly strong.

In the neoliberal (Rogernomics and Ruthenasia) years – 1985 to 1992 – economic performance in New Zealand was way below that of the world as a whole, even allowing for the world contraction and (in some countries) banking crises of the early 1990s. The bounce-back in 1993 took place in an election year, and only after Ruth Richardson had had her wings clipped. (Indeed, and despite this late economic recovery, the 1993 election had arguably the biggest left-wing vote ever in a New Zealand general election; not enough to unseat the National government though!)

Growth in New Zealand in the mid-1990s was fuelled by the huge labour reservoir (mass unemployment and acceptance of low wages) created in the two Ruthenasia years (1991-92); the resumption of growth was not due to any innate benefits of neoliberal reform.

While New Zealand was hit badly by the Asian financial crisis, it recovered very quickly after the 2001 (‘9/11 year’) world crisis, thanks in large part to the growth in international education services and also facilitated by the increasingly sophisticated cinema and related industries. In those years, New Zealand achieved a balance of trade surplus in tradable services. An important driver here was the very low exchange rate of the New Zealand dollar in 2000 and 2001.

In the global (finance-driven) boom of 2004-07, relative New Zealand performance fell away sharply, mainly due to substantial decline in New Zealand’s tradable sector. New Zealand fully shared in the finance-driven economy of the time. The real economy only picked up – briefly – with the 2007 dairy boom.

This decade New Zealand’s comparatively sluggish growth has reflected the fact that the global financial crisis became a largely western-world economic crisis. By 2014 New Zealand was right on the global growth norm. I’m guessing that, as in the second half of previous decades, New Zealand will fall below world growth norms. This prediction is qualified by the possibility of a recovery facilitated by this year’s falling exchange rate. World growth may stay at present levels for another year or two, but the next financial crisis is as inevitable as the previous one.

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New Zealand Report: Key Turnbull Leadership Meeting Could Be Tense + A Australia V NZ RWC Final?

By Selwyn Manning -

October 14, 2015

New Zealand Report: Selwyn Manning joins Australia’s FiveAA breakfast team to deliver New Zealand Report. This week the John Key Malcolm Turnbull leadership meeting, scheduled for this weekend, is likely to be tense + Could a Australia V NZ Rugby World Cup final be shaping up? – Recorded live on 14/10/15.

ITEM ONE – Australia – New Zealand Political Relations Malcolm Turnbull will be in New Zealand late this week for his first prime minister to prime minister meeting with his Kiwi counterpart John Key. John Key is being pressured to seek agreement from Turnbull to stop New Zealanders from being detained in detention centres in Australia and Christmas Island. According to Government figures around 200 Kiwis are currently detained on deportation orders, their special visas revoked because they may have cumulatively served more than 12 months in prison over their lifetimes. John Key raised the issue with Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop in New York early this month. At the time he said his message to Bishop was blunt and that he would raise concerns directly with Turnbull. But now Key appears less focussed. He faced pressure in Parliament on Tuesday with the Labour Party demanding he place… concerns for the detained Kiwis … at the top of his list, of issues to discuss. This issue has descended into a political stoush, with Key calling his rivals Australia’s “lap dogs”. In reply, Key said to Labour: “It is just frankly a little bit rich getting lectured by the leader of the opposition when they were the government that signed New Zealanders up to worse rates, and like a lap dog accepted it for seven years and did nothing about it.” Malcolm Turnbull and his wife will dine with Key and his wife on Friday evening before formal Trans-Tasman leadership talks on Saturday. ITEM TWO: Rugby World Cup New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup pundits are ranking the Wallabies ahead of the All Blacks to win the Rugby World Cup final. And it could yet be a Australia V New Zealand final scheduled to play at Twickenham in London on October 31. For that to happen, Australia needs to beat Scotland in the quarter finals on Sunday, and either Ireland or Argentina in the semis. To get into the finals the All Blacks need to beat France in Cardiff on Saturday, and either South Africa or Wales in the semis. The All Blacks easy pool games have left pundits unconvinced they are in top form, while Australia’s dominating game in the ‘pool of death’ has placed it at the top of the New Zealand Herald’s ranking table. It states it is impossible to drop Australia down from the number one spot even though Australia eased off the peddle in the Wallabies V Wales game (15 – 6) last weekend. It’s getting exciting up there.

New Zealand Report broadcasts live weekly on Wednesdays on Australia’s radio FiveAA.com.au and webcasts on EveningReport.nz, LiveNews.co.nz, and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 13, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 13, 2015

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 10 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Tuesday 13th October.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle include the Wellington High Court’s ruling that Trade Minister Tim Groser acted unlawfully when an OIA request for information about the TPP negotiations was rejected, a special exemption is enabling Paula Rebstock as head of the panel carrying out a review of Child, Youth and Family to be paid $2000 a day and former New Zealand Children’s Commissioner Dr Ian Hassall calling on the Australian Government to release children from immigration detention centres and resolve their cases.

POLITICS PULSE

Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:

Government: 120 redundant laws to be repealed;Speech- Address to the Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association Conference; Two days to go to national earthquake drill; Two days to go to national earthquake drill; Callaghan Innovation board appointment; More post-graduate qualifications for teachers; Good news for community housing charities; Pacific Aeronautical Charting and Procedures Project; Minister praises Police’s efforts in Operation Concord; Government hiding from ECan submissions

Greens:High Court finds Govt in breach of OIA; Government continues to deny Cantabrians democracy; Key and Brownlee cannot get Iraq story straight

Labour: A-G confirms HBL was a shambles; Children’s teams left high and dry; One last chance to stop power grab in Canterbury; Bill English’s first surplus will be his last

Māori Party: Māori Party Commemorates Arrival Of The 1975 Māori Land March To Parliament

New Zealand First: Blue Cod Management Must Be Shared By All; Give Trade A Chance Restart Russia Trade Agreement

LINKS OF THE DAY

120 REDUNDANT LAWS REPEALED: The Statutes Repeal Bill will remove 120 pieces of superfluous legislation, and parts of eight other acts. It is being consulted on before it is introduced to Parliament. The draft bill and information on how to make a submission is available:http://www.pco.parliament.govt.nz/consultation-srb

ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE: The Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) has adopted a climate change strategy focused on strengthening the long-term resilience and sustainability of the Wellington region through action and awareness. The strategy and implementation plan are available at http://www.gw.govt.nz/climatechange

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: University Of Waikato Senior Lecturer Tom Roa Has Translated Alice In Wonderland Into Te Reo Māori. The book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Māori, Ko Ngā Takahanga i Ārihi i Te Ao Mīharo, is available through Amazon at http://www.evertype.com/books/alice-mi.html

ATCA CONFERENCE: The Australasian Therapeutic Communities Association (ATCA) hosts an international conference bringing together professionals working in therapeutic communities, researchers and clinicians in the Alcohol and Drug (AOD) field and affiliated areas. This year the conference is being held in Auckland from the 12-14 October. Read more: http://www.atca.com.au/conferences/

BEEF EXPORTS:The 2014-15 meat export season concluded on 30 September 2015 and analysis by Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Economic Service shows that New Zealand beef export returns reached a record high, exceeding lamb and mutton returns for the first time in 20 years. More information available at:http://www.portal.beeflambnz.com/tools/export-tool

COURT RULINGS ON GROSER:The Wellington High Court has found Trade Minister Tim Groser acted unlawfully when a request for information about the Trans-Pacific trade negotiations was rejected. The judgement can be found at: http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/front-page/cases/kelsey-v-the-minister-of-trade

FOOD PRICES UP: In the year to September 2015, food prices increased 0.7 percent, an increase of 0.4 percent in the year to August according to Statistics New Zealand. More details on the figures are available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/economic_indicators/prices_indexes/FoodPriceIndex_HOTPSep15.aspx

TPP IMPACT: Bell Gully updates on the TPP and the impact on the Overseas Investment Office. Click here to read more: http://www.bellgully.com/resources/resource.04071.asp

RESEARCH LEAD: Plant & Food Research will be leading a new research programme to identify consumer trends in New Zealand’s key export markets in Asia as part of the $10.9 million of research investment announced today by The National Science Challenge High-Value-Nutrition.For more information http://plantandfood.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1b46d14e528ad30bae8b3663c&id=127d34c858&e=45d0b53c1c

WORLD SUMMIT AWARDS: The World Summit Awards showcase the world’s best practice in digital innovation. From a vast 86 countries, this year’s awards had 386 nominations and New Zealand has come up trumps in three categories. For more detail on the awards go to: http://www.wsis-award.org/winners

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Tuesday 13th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Are you getting your ShakeOut on?

By Selwyn Manning -

October 13, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com

The countdown to the ShakeOut earthquake drill is nearing completion !

If you haven’t registered to take part in this national earthquake drill this Thursday 15 October at 9.15am don’t freak out – there is still time to sign up.

What’s it all about?

If you’re new to ShakeOut we recommend a collection of videos on the New Zealand ShakeOut 2015 Youtube page, which includes the list of clips given further below.

BUT first, NewsRoom’s creative writer Rupeni Vatubuli has put together an alternative set of lyrics to Chic’s hit single Le Freak to inject some added soul and a touch of disco for ShakeOut 2015:

Ah, ShakeOut
don’t freak, stay calm
ShakeOut
Ah, ShakeOut
Don’t freak
stay calm
ShakeOut

Have you heard about the new dance craze?
It might save your life, and leave your friends amazed.
Do the shake, in case of an earthquake
It’s really easy, it like eating a piece of cake.
Call your friends and your family too, can join in
And if gets too easy, you can even help us sing

Ah, ShakeOut
Don’t freak, stay calm
ShakeOut

What to do, when an earthquake hits the town?
You just stop…Drop and hit the ground
Next step, is to cover…your head and your neck
Under a table or low furniture that won’t fall back
But if you’re outside and a cover is what you lack
Just find a wall or anything strong that’ll have your back

Ah, ShakeOut
Don’t freak, stay calm
ShakeOut
Don’t freak
I said ShakeOut
Now shake

Don’t run outside, coz you or someone might get hurt
Never trust the doors, you must always be alert
Look around your house and plan your next move
In case of earthquake, you’ll know where to break your groove
This is where our song comes to an end
Thank you friends, till another time again
But for now, I want you to dance and scream:

Ah, ShakeOut
Don’t freak, stay calm
ShakeOut
Don’t freak
I said ShakeOut
Now shake

Official video clips for New Zealand ShakeOut 2015

Background Information

Coordinated by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management and local authorities around New Zealand the drill provides an opportunity to practise the right action to take during an earthquake – Drop, Cover and Hold.

New Zealand ShakeOut 2015 is run in conjunction with MCDEM’s public education campaign Get Ready, Get Thru. The drill is based on the Great Southern California ShakeOut, a proven approach that started in 2008 and now happens globally.

A sampling of messages released from around the country:

As noted just today, Tuesday 13 October, by Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye: “Last night we had a timely reminder that New Zealand isn’t called the shaky isles for no reason, with a 5.8 magnitude quake just east of Pongaroa”.

“On average, we have around one earthquake every half hour in New Zealand, or 20,000 earthquakes a year. Around 250 of these are large and close enough to feel.

“While Thursday is a drill, we never know when we may have to drop, cover and hold for real. That’s why this drill is so important”.

Christchurch City Council – Public Education & Community Resilience Coordinator Alicia Palmer says it’s important Canterbury leads the way, showing we take preparedness seriously. “By participating in NZ ShakeOut we’re showing the rest of the country, new migrants and young children that everyone needs to practise and be prepared for an emergency,” she says.
.
Auckland Council – If you see people diving under their desks this Thursday, be prepared to join them. By doing so, you’ll be among the first people on earth to take part in an international earthquake drill, ShakeOut, at 9.15am on Thursday 15 October. More than 1.1 million New Zealanders – including 380,000 Aucklanders – have signed up to take part, which could make it the biggest (per capita) ShakeOut drill in the world.families to schools, shops, businesses and other organisations.”
.
Dunedin City Council – Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says, “As well as practising the right action to take before, during and after an earthquake, New Zealand ShakeOut is a timely opportunity for us all to think about how prepared we are for the possibility of other types of disasters.” Mr Cull said recent events – such as last week’s fire at Saddle Hill, a national tsunami warning in September, and the June flooding event in Dunedin – had shown emergencies could happen at any time and often without much warning.

Specific Tips for Businesses and Business Continuity:

Courtesy of Dunedin City Council

Making sure staff emergency contact lists are up-to-date
Connect with critical suppliers and customers
Back-up your data and make a plan
Get your staff to test your plan
Plan for the absence of key personnel
Check your insurance
Build your networks.

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Jane Kelsey: Court finds against Trade Minister on TPPA Secrecy; Chief Ombudsman wrongly upheld his unlawful decision

By Selwyn Manning -

October 13, 2015

Source: Professor Jane Kelsey + Courts of New Zealand + Click here for the Full Judgment: Kelsey V The Minister of Trade (pdf)

The High Court today vindicted charges that Trade Minister Tim Groser acted unlawfully in his quest to keep all information about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) secret.

The case involved judicial review of Minister Groser’s refusal to release various categories of documents under the Official Information Act, which the first applicant Professor Jane Kelsey requested in January 2015.

The Minister said ‘no’ without looking at a single document, claiming he knew what they all contained and that releasing them would jeopardise New Zealand’s interests.

[caption id="attachment_6181" align="alignleft" width="150"]

Professor Jane Kelsey.[/caption]

‘The Minister’s approach epitomises the contempt for democratic processes and accountability that has pervaded these negotiations’, said Professor Kelsey.

Justice Collins said: ‘the Act plays a significant role in Nerw Zealand’s constitutional and democratic arrangements. It is essential the Act’s meaning and purpose is fully honoured by those required to consider the release of official information.’[para 156(2)

In ordering the Minister to reconsider his decision His Honour said ‘the orders I have made reinforce to the Minister and other decision-makers the importance of discharging their responsibilities under the Act and promote future compliance’ [para 158(2)].

Because this was a judicial review, the court could not consider the substantive grounds on which the Minister relied, but provided guidance for his interpretation as he reconsiders the request.

The judge effectively reserved the right for either party to return to the court within six months for further orders if the Minister does not appear to have taken the message of the judgement on board.

‘It’s cold comfort that the Minister will have to revisit the request, using a proper process and interpretation of the rules, after the negotiations have already concluded’, Professor Kelsey said. ‘His unlawful approach in circumventing the Official Information Act appears to have achieved its goal.’

Nevertheless, the Minister should now release at least some documents that can help inform the debate on the TPPA.

The court’s decision also has a longer-term precedent value. ‘It sends a message to this minister and his colleagues in the Executive that their legal obligations under the Act cannot be flouted just because they are politically inconvenient, and that people are prepared to challenge them if they do.’

Professor Kelsey suggests there are equally serious questions about the Chief Ombudsman’s failure to hold the Minister to account.

‘The Chief Ombudsman is meant to be a check on Executive power, not to legitimise its unlawful practices.’

‘That she could uphold such a seriously deficient interpretation of the Act, and delay the possiblity of a legal challenge for nearly five months while she reached that conclusion, shows the Office needs a serious overhaul.’

The Chief Ombudsman has still not reported on two categories of information that were omitted from her review of the Minister’s decision because she had not finalised her deliberations. That means they could not form part of the judicial proceedings.

Professor Kelsey described as ‘practically useless’ the Chief Ombudsman’s suggestions that a report on those matters is imminent, almost three months later, following several reminders and after the negotiations have been concluded.

These aspects of the request, as well as the Minister’s approach to the reconsideration, could form the basis of a supplementary approach to the court within the next six months.

‘I have updated the original request to the Minister dating to this week. Let’s hope the Minister now takes the law seriously and releases the raft of documents – and goes back to the other TPPA parties and asks them to rescind their secrecy memorandum.’

Background note:

The judicial review relates to an Official Information Act request lodged on 25 January 2015 seeking eight categories of documents, drawn from categories recommended by release by the European Ombudsman in parallel negotiations between the US and EU.

The Minister refused to release any of the information on 27 February 2015. The matter was referred to the Chief Ombudsman, who reported on 29 July 2015 upholding the Minister’s decision in relation to six of the categories and continuing her inquiry on two.

The court proceedings were lodged on 5 August 2015 by eight applicants: Consumer New Zealand, Ngati Kahungunu, Oxfam NZ, Greenpeace NZ, the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Tertuary Education Union, and Professor Kelsey. They sought Declarations that the Minister’s decision was unlawful, and Orders for the Minister to reconsider the decision.

The Court made an order quashing the Minister’s decision and directing him to reconsider the request in light of his interpretation of the provisions of the Act. In light of that order he considered it unnecessary to issue the Declarations sought by the Applicants, but reserved the right for the parties to return to the court within six months if supplementary or consequential orders are likely to be required. Costs were awarded to the Applicants.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 12, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 12, 2015

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 14 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Monday 12th October.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle include concerns being raised by the Labour Party about declining levels of community health support for people with mental health issues, the Parole Board postponing the next parole hearing for the country’s longest-serving prisoner – considered a high-risk sexual offender – by three years. and a report from the Auditor-General’s into reasons behind the uneven performance of Health Benefits Limited (HBL) in the health sector.

POLITICS PULSE

Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:

Government: PM welcomes Australian Prime Minister’s visit to NZ; Minister welcomes Niue Language Week; Central Otago and Southland conservation grants announced; Minister opens Cebu’s Red Cross logistics hub; NZ Condemns Terrorist Attack in Turkey; Recruitment for cancer support roles underway; NZ delegation to commemorate WWI in Niue; Roll of Honour for three Niuean First World War soldiers:Consultation begins on pharmacy 5 year plan; PM to visit Marrakech, Brussels and London

Greens: Stronger rules and response needed to protect beaches from oil spills

Labour: Whanau Ora fails Maori; Emergency departments feel mental health stress;Big questions over explosion in subsidies for nannies and au pairs; Secret plans to bring back detainees; Poor regions to miss out on better internet; Generation Rent sees another hefty price rise

New Zealand First: Power outage a huge question mark over infrastructural investment; Sweet Chinese deal for Silver Fern Farms is sour for farmers

LINKS OF THE DAY

AG’S REPORT: The Auditor General has released a report into the performance of of Health Benefits Limited (HBL). The full report is available at: http://www.oag.govt.nz/2015/inquiry-hbl?utm_source=Subs&utm_medium=Subs&utm_campaign=HBL

ANZ INFLATION GAUGE: The ANZ Monthly Inflation Gauge posted a 0.1% increase in September. That’s a touch softer than the typical seasonal increase for this time of year. Go here for more:http://www.anz.co.nz/resources/9/e/9ea6aaa7-a2ef-44e1-ac30-c400bfbb2807/ANZ-MIG-20151012.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=9ea6aaa7-a2ef-44e1-ac30-c400bfbb2807

BEST DESIGN AWARD: Te Oro – a new, leading-edge music and arts facility in Glen Innes, Auckland has taken out a prestigious Purple Pin, the Best Design Award event’s supreme award for Interactive. More details about the awards can be found at http://www.bestawards.co.nz/

CLIMATE ACTION IN NZ: Sixteen of New Zealand’s most prestigious health professional organisations are today calling for New Zealand to take urgent action on climate change and health, a critical health issue. See the full text of the NZ ‘Call for Action’ on Climate Change and Health here: http://www.orataiao.org.nz

EXERCISE TROPIC TWILIGHT: China has joined New Zealand, Britain and the USA in Pacific military disaster training for the first time, joining a 60-strong Exercise Tropic Twilight team of engineers working for six weeks on infrastructure projects in the Cook Islands. Read more: http://www.nzdf.mil.nz/news/media-releases/2015/20151008-nzdfltghoatci.htm

GUEST NIGHTS RISE: Latest data from Statistics New Zealand show that vational guest nights for August 2015 were 4.2 percent higher than in August 2014. More information available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/accommodation/AccommodationSurvey_HOTPAug15.aspxand http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/IntTravelAndMigration_HOTPAug15.aspx

HAYS REPORT: According to the latest Hays Quarterly Report of skills in demand, experienced professionals working in telesales, insurance, facilities management, data science, legal, marketing and trades are also in high demand and are not expected to see demand wane any time soon. To see the full list of skills in demand and trends please visithttp://www.hays.net.nz/report

LIBRARY CHALLENGE: The National Library of New Zealand’s GIF IT UP challenge is back. DigitalNZ and the Digital Public Library of America are calling for the best animated GIFs reusing historical material from libraries and archives from across the world. All information including prizes, rules, content pools and submission form can be found here: http://www.digitalnz.org/gif-it-up

LOCAL BUSINESS eBook: Business Kapiti Horowhenua, who organise and run the hugely successful Electra Kapiti Horowhenua Business Awards, have launched an e-book showcasing some of the outstanding local businesses to have featured in the Awards over the last six years. The (free) e-book is available to download from:https://sites.google.com/site/businesskapitihorowhenua/

NIUE ROLL OF HONOUR: Three Niuean soldiers who served in the First World War will now be included in the New Zealand Roll of Honour and Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. Further information about the Niuean contribution to the NZEF can be found at: http://ww100.govt.nz/niue-joins-the-new-zealand-war-effort

NIUE LANGUAGE WEEK: The theme of this year’s Niue Language Week, which begins today, is “Tau tagata Niue, tau magafaoa Niue, fakaaoga e vagahau Niue – Niue people, Niue families, use vagahau Niue”. A list of events marking Niue Language Week can be found at: http://www.mpia.govt.nz/

PHARMACY CONSULTATION: Consultation on the plan outlining the future of pharmacy services in New Zealand gets underway today. A copy of the draft plan can be downloaded from the Ministry of Health website:http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/draft-pharmacy-action-plan-2015-2020

PROPERTY INVESTORS CONFERENCE: The NZ Property Investors Federation conference will be held from October 16 to 18 in Auckland. More details can be found at: http://www.buildingwealth.co.nz/bw/welcome

WESTPAC COMMENTARY: Westpac NZ Weekly Commentary says that the dairy sector’s sigh of relief has continued, with yet another sharp increase in the GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) auction price last week. Read more:https://wibiq.westpac.com.au/wibiqauthoring/_uploads/file/New_Zealand/2015/October_2015/12.10.2015_NZWC.pdf

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Monday 12th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Zoo Celebrates Release Of 300th Kiwi

By Selwyn Manning -

October 12, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com

Contributed by Auckland Zoo

A noisy little kiwi named Tīhoihoi (Maori for raucous) is today settling in to life on Rotoroa Island, becoming the 300th kiwi chick that Auckland Zoo has successfully incubated, hatched, reared and released to the wild.

A further 287 Northland brown kiwi chicks have been released since 1996. Some chicks have been released directly onto the mainland in the Whangarei Kiwi Sanctuary, but the majority have started life on kiwi crèche, Motuora Island. As adults, these birds have gone on to help re-establish kiwi populations in Whangarei Kiwi Sanctuary, Tawharanui, the Brynderwyns and Mataia predator-controlled areas.

“Conservation efforts are always about team work, and when 95% of kiwi chicks die before they reach breeding age in areas without predator control, team work is vital,” says Auckland Zoo field conservation manager, Ian Fraser.

Auckland Zoo has been involved in Operation Nest Egg since the technique was first developed by Department of Conservation (DOC) scientists, funded by the Kiwis for Kiwi (previously) BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust.

“It’s great that through the careful harvest and delivery of eggs by DOC staff and skilled volunteers, combined with the knowledge and dedication of the Zoo’s keepers, we can achieve a 94% success rate from fertile egg to release,” says Mr Fraser. “In protected areas, an Operation Nest Egg kiwi has a 65% chance of reaching adulthood, compared to a 5% survival for chicks toughing it out in unprotected wild areas.”

Mr Fraser says the more recent initiative between the Zoo, its partners Rotoroa Island Trust (RIT) and Thames Coast Kiwi Care (TCKC) to give Coromandel North Island brown kiwi a head start on Rotoroa, is strongly focused on advocacy for our national bird.

“While we’ll help contribute to growing the Coromandel kiwi population, having kiwi on Rotoroa is primarily about raising awareness about kiwi, demonstrating the value of intensive conservation management and inspiring future generations of New Zealanders to care about kiwi and get involved in helping them.”

More kiwi will be released onto Rotoroa over the coming months, and in March/April 2016, a kiwi muster will see a round-up of the kiwi that were first released on the island in late 2014/early 2015. These sub-adult birds will be returned to the 2,500ha protected area on the Thames Coast cared for by TCKC.

“As expected, these nocturnal birds aren’t showing themselves a lot, but we’re delighted that both Zoo and Rotoroa staff are seeing evidence that kiwi are doing well in the Rotoroa environment,” says RIT chairman Barrie Brown.

Kiwi Fast Facts

There are about 70,000 kiwi left in all of New Zealand, and we are losing 2% of our kiwi every year (27 kiwi each week). Key threats are introduced predators, primarily stoats, dogs, cats and ferrets, and loss of habitat.
North Island brown kiwi can live for 40-65 years. However, in Northland, where uncontrolled dogs remain a big killer of kiwi, the average life expectancy is just 14 years
Help kiwi! Always keep your dogs and cats in at night, don’t allow your dogs to be off-lead in areas where kiwi might live (bush, scrub and farmland) and have your dog undergo kiwi avoidance training. You can also find out about volunteer opportunities to help kiwi and about Save Kiwi Month (October) at: www.kiwisforkiwi.org.nz

About Rotoroa Island

The Rotoroa Island Trust (RIT) and Auckland Zoo formed a partnership in 2012 to create a wildlife reserve on Rotoroa, funded by the Hutton Wilson Charitable Trust ($4m over five years). Visit www.rotoroa.org
Following extensive planting, monitoring and pest eradication, seven wildlife species have now been introduced to the island – saddleback, whitehead, kiwi, moko and shore skinks,takahē, and pateke. The RIT-Auckland Zoo partnership plans to introduce up to 20 species to Rotoroa Island by 2018

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Farce of TPPA secrecy must end, Groser must stop misleading statements – Kelsey

By Selwyn Manning -

October 11, 2015

Source: Professor Jane Kelsey & New Zealand Government.

‘The secrecy of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has become farcical’, says University of Auckland Professor Jane Kelsey. ‘Trade Minister Tim Groser says we just have to trust what he’s telling us. In today’s interview with TVNZ’s The Nation he showed why we cannot.’

Minister Groser gave the tobacco exception to investor-state dispute settlement as an example of why Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations had to be kept secret.

“… to give you an example – practical example – one of the things we’re very pleased about, and it only came together at the last minute, is this whole exception for tobacco control measures from this very controversial ISDS, this disputes settlement form. I can almost guarantee you that if we had made that public, we would not have got it. Big Tobacco in the United States has got hundreds of millions of dollars to campaign. If they had known what was at stake, for sure they would have gone in to senators and to congress offices. I don’t think Froman would have been allowed to do that.”

‘The claim is utter nonsense’, according to Professor Kelsey.

The US’s limited exception to investor-state dispute settlement is a weak alternative to the comprehensive carveout for tobacco that Malaysia had proposed. The USTR had expected to table it earlier, but put off formally doing so until the last minute.

‘The decision to delay its formal presentation was highly political, but it had nothing to do with the US not showing its hand to the lobbyists as the Minister claims’, Professor Kelsey observed. ‘They already knew exactly what was going on.’

The following sample of reports show the US proposal has been known publicly for months and was the subject of intense discussions between the Obama administration and both the US tobacco industry and tobacco control groups:

· Mitch McConnell Fights For Tobacco Interests In Trans-Pacific Trade Deal (8 September 2015) (http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnbrinkley/2015/09/08/with-friends-like-mitch-mcconnell/

· Could Tobacco Carveout Kill TPP? (2 September 2015): [Reuters reported the administration had been considering allowing tobacco to be carved out of the investor-state dispute settlement, which, among other things, would give tobacco companies little protection against stiff regulation by trade partners, like Australia’s ban on branded cigarette packs.]

· http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/could-tobacco-carveout-kill-tpp/

· Will Trans-Pacific trade deal go up in smoke over anti-tobacco proposal?, 12 August 2015, http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/will-trans-pacific-trade-deal-go-up-in-smoke-over-anti-tobacco-proposal-121272.html

· USTR quietly pushing tobacco carve-out in TPP endgame (11 August 2015) http://foodandagpolicy.org/news/story/ustr-quietly-pushing-tobacco-carve-out-tpp-endgame-politico-pro

· Tobacco Opponents, Advocates Fight For USTR’s Favor On TPP Carveout (6 August 2015) Inside US Trade.

‘Nor will the supposed “secrecy” protect the deal from political pressure. Pro-tobacco members of Congress have further opportunities to oppose the exception as the TPPA moves through the US political process, and are already threatening to do so’, according to Professor Kelsey.

‘Significantly the rationale the Minister gave for keeping the details secret is to protect the deal from those who might want to influence the outcome, not the formal explanations he has given about the need to protect negotiating positions from premature disclosure to other parties’.

‘The Minister has been caught out on something we do have the evidence about. If he is spinning this example, we should expect he is spinning lots of other aspects of the deal that we can’t yet disprove. He should publish the text now or stop peddling his version until the text does become available.’

On October 7, the New Zealand Government stated the: (ref. LiveNews.co.nz)

TPP is a very positive agreement for New Zealand. It further improves access to international markets, which supports our exporters to grow and create new jobs, and diversify their businesses overseas. TPP means:

800 million potential customers for New Zealand goods and services.
NZ’s economy is estimated to benefit by at least $2.7 billion a year by 2030.
It will save $259 million a year in tariffs for New Zealand exporters.
It will support more jobs and higher incomes, and allow New Zealand exporters to sell more products and services to the world.
$28 billion of New Zealand goods and services were exported to TPP countries last year – that’s around 40 per cent of New Zealand’s overall exports.
Tariffs will be eliminated on 93 per cent of New Zealand’s exports to the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Peru.

Not being in TPP would put the New Zealand economy and our businesses at a competitive disadvantage compared to other countries. TPP, like any free trade agreement, will go through New Zealand’s Parliamentary processes and is expected to come into force within two years.

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People power brings kokako back to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari

By Selwyn Manning -

October 11, 2015

Source: Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, near Cambridge.

The return of the endangered kokako to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari after 30 years shows that people can reverse environmental loss when they put their minds to it, says fundraising expert and environmental author Tony Lindsay.

Kokako have been extinct in the area since the 1980s.

The forest-covered mountain, near Cambridge in Waikato, is now a mainland ecological island, protected by the world’s longest predator-proof fence.

Over the past two weeks, six kokako have been released into the forest, with another 34 to come.

The project is being funded by the $70,000 the Maungatautiri Ecological Island Trust Board has raised with the support of Vega.works, the supporter engagement software platform developed by Mr Lindsay’s company to help clubs and charities raise money.

A social entrepreneur with a long history of raising money for charities, Mr Lindsay had conservation groups like Maungatautiri in mind when he led the creation of the Vega.works platform.

“Vega.works is intensely proud to be associated with the successful reintroduction of kokako to Maungatautari,” he said.

“Conservation, restoration and accepting our responsibilities as kaitiaki of the natural world are issues close to my heart. It’s vital that groups like Maungatautiri can successfully raise money to do the work they need to do. Without sanctuaries like Maungatautari, many New Zealanders and most tourists would never get to see our unique and wonderful flora and fauna.”

Kokako are wattlebirds, and are closely related to the now-extinct huia, and the near-threatened saddleback.

In Maori mythology, kokako were the birds that brought water to the demi-god Maui as he battled the sun.

The songs of the North Island kokako (the South Island kokako if thought extinct), was once common, but their numbers have dwindled in the face of habitat loss and predation from introduced animals, like rats and stoats.

They disappeared from Maungatautari in the early 1980s, but with the 3400-hectare native conifer/broadleaf/podocarps forest now safe behind a 47 kilometre-long predator-proof fence, trustees decided it was time to bring them back.

The birds being relocated to Maungatautari are from Pureora Forest, west of Lake Taupo. Ten will be released this year, with the rest released over the next three years.

“If you are ever in a position to hear the haunting song of the Kokako on a misty morning, you are transported back to an ancient Aotearoa/New Zealand and you will never forget the experience,” Mr Lindsay said.

“This beautiful bird will now sing over the Waikato from the security of Maungatautari. What an achievement for everyone who worked hard to make it happen.”

Mr Lindsay says that more money is needed to support the project, and urges anyone who can spare even a dollar or two to go to the Maungatautiri or Vega websites to make a donation.

“Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust is an extraordinary credit to its founders and to all the people of the Waikato,” Mr Lindsay said.

“It is a globally recognised taonga, and I urge everyone to support it.”

Saddlebacks were reintroduced to Maungatautiri in 2012 from Tiritiri Matangi, in the Hauraki Gulf, and are now breeding well.

*Maungatautari featured in the book Paradise Saved – The Remarkable Story of New Zealand’s Wildlife Sanctuaries and How They Are Stemming the Tide of Extinction, of which Mr Lindsay was a co-author.

For more information on Maungatautari see www.sanctuarymountain.co.nz. For more on Vega see www.vega.works. For more on Paradise Saved see www.randomhouse.co.nz/books/dave-butler/paradise-saved-9781869796860.aspx#sthash.2RcRO5Wc.dpuf

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Keith Rankin on Universal Basic Income versus Guaranteed Minimum Income

By Keith Rankin -

October 10, 2015

Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on TheDailyBlog.co.nz.

I was pleased to watch the half-hour interview with Bernie Sanders – United States Democratic presidential candidate – screened on Three60 on 4 October 2015. The final question asked was whether Sanders could support the introduction of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) in the United States. Sanders’ answer was a qualified ‘yes’, though I was not convinced that he fully appreciated what a UBI was and was not. Of most interest is that the UBI s on the global radar at present, as it never has been in the past.

Language Matters

While I do not claim to be the first person to ever use the term, it was my coining of the name Universal Basic Income in 1991 that led to the worldwide growth of the concept under that particular name. It was after I attended the Basic Income European Network (now ‘Basic Income Earth Network’) conference in Vienna in 1996 that this name permeated to a wider than New Zealand audience, in particular as a result of long-time Basic Income proponents Philippe van Parijs and Guy Standing – intellectual leaders within the BIEN movement – adopting the name subsequent to the Vienna conference.

My paper at that conference – Constructing a Social Wage and a Social Dividend from New Zealand’s tax-benefit system – did not include the name ‘Universal Basic Income’ in its title. But UBI was the central concept which I defined in that paper as: “A full universal basic income (UBI) is an adequate social dividend, equivalent to at least an unemployment benefit”. While my main concern in then was to promote the more general concept of ‘social dividend’ (or, in my more recent writing, ‘public equity dividend’), it is clear that the nuances around the name ‘universal basic income’ resonated with the international audience. One reason, I suggest, is that this name avoids the words ‘minimum’ and ‘guarantee’. Further, the word ‘universal’ has a wider reach than the word ‘unconditional’. “Unconditional’ sounds to too many ears like a freebie that others pay for, whereas ‘universal’ more easily blends with a ‘property rights’ approach.

(Other pre-existing names for a ‘basic income’ included ‘demogrant’ and ‘refundable tax credit’. But they were not sexy, and did not reflect any underlying principle. It was the word ‘universal’ that gave the concept its underlying warmth and dignity.)

In order to move forward with an idea that has potential to break through policy impasses around poverty and inequality, the idea should be based on ‘sharing’ principles (such as those of equity within an organisation) that are widely held across the political spectrum, and should not be built around principles of ‘taking’ or ‘transferring’. That’s not to suggest that all income transfers are bad or wrong; rather it’s that a widely acceptable way forward needs to adopt redistributive transfers on its periphery rather than at its core.

A Universal basic Income is not a Guaranteed Minimum Income.

In December 1987, New Zealand Finance Minister Roger Douglas announced a new income tax system based on a ‘low flat tax’ (intimated to be about 23 cents in the dollar) and a Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI). While the new system was scuppered two months later by David Lange, the compromise worked out still looked much like what Douglas wanted (albeit a 2-step rather than a 1-step tax scale), and it included a pared-down GMI called a GMFI (Guaranteed Minimum Family Income). The GMFI still exists in New Zealand, under the name ‘Minimum Family Tax Credit’.

The GMI was a top-up transfer; it was the antithesis of a universal payment. Only poor workers would receive it. And it came with a 100% ‘effective marginal tax rate’; meaning that nobody receiving a GMI could gain an increase in after-tax income.

The GMI proposal sounds deceptively similar to the Universal Basic Income; indeed both essentially work in conjunction with a flat rate of income tax. The most obvious giveaway is that a GMI is a highly targeted transfer payment that allows for a low single-rate income tax (eg a rate under 30 percent), of the type Roger Douglas wanted and the Act Party still does. A UBI on the other hand comes with a flat rate of income tax in the 33-45 percent tax range (or, as in Gareth Morgan’s version, comes with another form of tax in addition to a flat-rate income tax).

With a UBI, taxes are simple, high by neoliberal standards, and everybody (subject only to age and residency criteria) claims an equal share of that public revenue as a basic income. While a UBI should never be understood as the only form of publicly-sourced cash income (some ‘needs-based’ transfers will always be necessary) – and is a dividend rather than a ‘hand-out’ – for a substantial majority of the resident adult population, it would be their only publicly-sourced income.

A UBI on its own is not a cure for poverty. Rather, it’s a public-property-rights-based payment that incidentally serves as a hand-up rather than as a handout. Of particular importance is the additional bargaining power it gives to the relatively poor. It tides-over people during spells without income – like ‘strike pay’ once did – enabling them to hold out for fair private-sector wages; and it reduces pressure on self-employed people who might otherwise under-tender to get work. Of equal importance is the way it addresses the low-income poverty trap that accompanies all forms of targeted redistribution. The GMI accentuates the low-income trap. The UBI eliminates it.

UBI and SBI

My initial 1991 publication was The Universal Welfare State incorporating proposals for a Universal Basic Income. The paper incorporated a ‘pension’ – conceived in terms of the Australian usage of the term to mean a non-work-tested benefit – which in later papers I called ‘supplementary basic income’ (SBI; refer The Collective Valuation of Unpaid and Underpaid Work) or simply ‘supplementary benefit’ (as in A New Fiscal Contract? Constructing a Universal Basic Income and a Social Wage, Social Policy Journal of New Zealand: 1997).

Any attempt to make a universal basic income the only kind of cash benefit payable falls down because it is either too expensive or too meagre. I addressed the issue through making a ‘pension’ available for particular groups of people (especially retirees, lone parents, and persons with long-term health conditions). This pension would be an alternative higher UBI set at an amount comparable with New Zealand Superannuation, but subject to a higher flat tax than the normal UBI. Retired people, for example, would opt for this option if they had little private income, whereas richer retired people would be better off sticking with the regular UBI that applies to all adults.

My general view today is that supplementary payments should reflect the full range of circumstances of those in special need (and this could include a provision for debt-aid that falls short of bankruptcy), and should be ‘tapered’ or ‘abated’ at a consistent rate. Once a person’s private means are sufficiently high, then their disposable incomes would be simply gross private earnings reduced by a flat-rate tax (eg 35 percent), plus their universal basic income. Increased productivity over time – more outputs produced relative to inputs required – would be the principal cue for an increase in both the rate of income tax and the amount of universal basic income.

What if a country has a UBI with a graduated tax scale?

Consider this example. If New Zealand had a UBI of $10,000 per year and a very simple graduated tax scale (0% on the first $10,000 of income and 40% on remaining income) then that would be the same as having an unemployed person’s UBI of $10,000 alongside an employed person’s UBI of $14,000. (The extra $4,000 is the automatic tax discount that only ‘taxpayers’ can receive.) It cannot be called a universal basic income if poorer people get as of right less publicly-sourced income than richer people.

In New Zealand at present, if you try to introduce a UBI of $10,000 while maintaining or extending progressive income taxation you would just create a super-UBI for the rich. All persons in New Zealand earning over $70,000 per year already receive a UBI (in all but name) of $9,080 per year.

Proportional taxation is at the core of the UBI concept. The central concept – horizontal equity – is well understood by most economists. The peripheral concept – vertical equity – is complementary (an affordable UBI must be accompanied by some needs-based income support). This is less well understood. Gareth Morgan, for example (in The Big Kahuna) sees vertical and horizontal equity as rival concepts.

Summary

It’s great that the concept of Universal Basic Income is being raised with people standing for the world’s highest office: President of the USA. We – the citizens of the world – have to be vigilant however that other similar-sounding proposals are not confused with a universal basic income. We need to be particularly vigilant with respect to names like ‘Guaranteed Minimum Income’.

A UBI is a truly universal distribution of a substantial portion of public revenue – an equal payment to poor and to rich. It is affordable if it coexists with needs-based welfare, rather than being set so high as to cover all conceivable needs. It is funded by a proportional tax system that reflects the importance of tangible and intangible property in the public domain as complementary to private property.

On its own a universal tax-benefit regime cannot end poverty. Rather it creates a power-balance; and a dynamic that confers dignity and puts an end to poverty traps. It enables people to say ‘no’ to exploitation, and ‘yes’ to private initiatives that contribute to social and economic wellbeing; to initiatives that, among other things, raise productivity and thereby raise the future level of universal basic income payable.

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Final TPPA intellectual property chapter leaked, allows analysis to begin

By Selwyn Manning -

October 10, 2015

Wikileaks More Secret Documents Released — ]]>

Source: Professor Jane Kelsey.

“Inevitably, leaks are starting to fill the void of official texts from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA),” says Professor Jane Kelsey, who has been pressing for the release of final texts to allow proper assessment of the government’s claims.

The final intellectual property chapter of 60 pages was posted on Wikileaks today, accompanied by several technical analyses (https://wikileaks.org/tpp-ip3/). It will take time for the New Zealand implications to be fully assessed by intellectual property specialists, although some have already criticised the impact of extending copyright to life plus 70 years, which is in two steps.

Two points stand out as showing the success of public pressure brought to bear on these negotiations.

“We can now see the compromise wording on new generation biologics won by the Australians, on which New Zealand will rely,” Kelsey said. “Under QQ.E.20 Big Pharma’s monopoly is either at least 8 years, or ‘effective market protection’ for at least five years, through other measures, and recognising the contribution of market circumstances to effective market protection, ‘to deliver a comparable outcome in the market.”

There is no guarantee that this exception will survive the backlash already evident within the US Congress, and US moves to rewrite the intention of the vague text by refusing to certify New Zealand’s compliance until we adopt an equivalent of 8 years protection.

While the 8 year threshold is a victory for the international campaign against the orignal proposal of 12 years, health specialists warn the real gain for Big Pharma is to bring biologics within the agreement. It will then build on that precedent. Worryingly, there is an inbuilt review of the biologics provision in 10 years. Biologics is also very broadly defined in a way taht will catch most biologic medicines, when countries were seeking the right to decide their own definition.

Second, Professor Kelsey notes ‘the New Zealand government has scrambled to cover its back in the Waitangi Tribunal claim with an Annex that wasn’t in previous leaked drafts. That gives New Zealand some flexibility in meeting the US demand that we adopt the UPOV 1991 convention on plant variety rights.’ (see http://www.citizen.org/documents/UPOVandNZ.pdf)

The Crown insisted in the Waitangi Tribunal hearing that the Treaty of Waitangi exception used since 2001 would effectively protect Maori rights under the TPPA. Professor Kelsey notes that the new Annex implicitly admits it does not.

“The Annex is an improvement, but still problematic, as will be argued before the Waitangi Tribunal when it reconvenes to consider the TPPA claim. It also doesn’t address potentially similar problems in the requirement that New Zealand adopts the Budapest Treaty on Microrganisms, to which we are also not a party,” Jane Kelsey said.

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Scientists find formula for rate of glacial erosion

By Selwyn Manning -

October 9, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com

Contributed by GNS Science

It’s a truism that mathematical relationships are present nearly everywhere in nature, probably more than we realise. The latest place they have turned up is on the underside of glaciers.

A group of international scientists working on Franz Josef Glacier (Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere) in the South Island has found that the rate of glacial erosion is proportional to the square of the glacier’s speed. They describe this as non-linear behaviour.

In other words, fast moving glaciers, or portions of glaciers, erode much more rock than slow moving glaciers. The finding confirms a theoretical model that was first proposed in the 1970s.

It means that as the Earth gets warmer and glaciers accelerate, the rate of glacial erosion will increase. A result will be more rapid carving of our landscape by glaciers with a corresponding increase in levels of sediment and mud carried in alpine streams and rivers.

The finding applies to faster-moving glaciers in mountainous mid-latitude regions, but may not apply to polar glaciers that move more slowly.

The research is the cover story in this week’s issue of the prestigious journal Science, and involved a collaboration of scientists from Switzerland, France, the United States, and New Zealand.

Co-author on the paper, geologist Simon Cox of GNS Science, said non-linear behaviour explained the wide range of observed glacial erosion rates and also the profound impact of glaciation on mountainous landscapes during the past few millions years.

“The erosive power of glaciers varies considerably, with some of the most rapid glacial erosion happening in mid-latitude climates,” Dr Cox said.

“This research confirms that fast glaciers are more effective at gouging landscapes than slow-moving ones.”

Although the process of glaciation is widespread in the landscape, scientists don’t fully understand it, partly because of the great difficulty accessing the ice-bedrock interface underneath glaciers.

In the study of the Franz Josef Glacier, which took place over a five-month period in 2013 and 2014, the scientists used a combination of two techniques to shed light on the glacier’s behaviour.

First they used satellite imagery to measure the speed of the glacier at its surface, which reaches up to 3m-a-day. At the same time, they analysed the crystalline structure of carbon-bearing particles – mostly graphite
– collected from the meltwater river below the glacier.

To do this they used a method called Raman spectroscopy, which involves measuring the way light is scattered when it interacts with carbonaceous particles. They then used the ‘Raman signature’ to track particles back to the bands of Alpine Schist rocks from where each particle was eroded.

This enabled them to quantify erosion rates beneath the glacier. From the results, they have developed a law forglacial erosion that captures the variability seen globally, in different climate zones.

Their work shows erosion is highly sensitive to small variations in topographic slope and rainfall.

Dr Cox said the power demonstrated by the combination of techniques will enable scientists to better understand glacial erosion and how this will change as glaciers respond to global warming.

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Otago researchers sequence kuri dog genomes

By Selwyn Manning -

October 9, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com

Contributed by University of Otago

The genetic heritage of New Zealand’s first dog, the now extinct kurī, is being unravelled by University of Otago scientists using state-of-the-art ancient DNA analysis.

University of Otago PhD student Karen Greig has sequenced the complete, or near complete, mitochondrial genomes of 14 kurī represented by bones recovered from Wairau Bar, one on New Zealand’s earliest and most important archaeological sites.

The findings are newly published in the prestigious international journal PLOS ONE and are part of Ms Greig’s PhD research into dog/human relationships in the ancient Pacific world, which is being supervised by Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith (Anatomy) and Professor Richard Walter (Anthropology and Archaeology).

The 14 mitogenomes, which trace the dogs’ maternal line of descent, were sequenced from ancient DNA samples extracted from teeth excavated from an oven feature at Marlborough’s Wairau Bar site by the archaeology team led by Professor Walter. This oven was used sometime between the early 1320s and 1350 AD. Wairau Bar is the site of New Zealand’s first major Polynesian settlement.

Kurī were smallish dogs about the size of cocker spaniels and were brought to New Zealand from East Polynesia in the colonising canoes that arrived in the early fourteenth century AD. They were the only domesticated animal to be successfully introduced by the Polynesian settlers but died out as a distinct breed after interbreeding with European dogs.

The research team was able to identify five distinct maternal lineages, known as haplotypes, in the 14 dogs.

“This represents quite limited genetic diversity, which either suggests that the founding kurī population may have only been a few dogs or that the arriving dogs were closely related,” Ms Greig says.

In the latter instance, the ancestors of these dogs would have likely passed through a series of genetic bottlenecks at times during their movement across the Pacific, she says.

The researchers also discovered that the Wairau Bar dogs are genetically most similar to modern dogs from Indonesia.

Professor Matisoo-Smith says that advances in DNA sequencing technology that enabled the Wairau Bar kurī study can be used in other research to provide deeper insights into ancient origins of Pacific peoples and animals and their migration routes across Oceania.

“One of the most exciting results was the discovery that by using these latest technologies Karen was able to sequence the entire mitochondrial genome as opposed to only a small portion, as done in previous ancient DNA studies of Pacific dogs. This revealed levels of genetic variation which may allow us to ultimately track down the origin of the New Zealand kurī and its relationship to other dogs found across the Pacific and through Island and Mainland Southeast Asia,” says Professor Matisoo-Smith.

This research is the most recent output from the Wairau Bar Research Group, a collaboration between Otago researchers and Rangitane-ki-Wairau and the Canterbury Museum. The Otago research team is led by archaeologist Professor Richard Walter (Department of Anthropology and Archaeology), and biological anthropologists Associate Professor Hallie Buckley and Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith (Department of Anatomy).

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Editorial: Jon Stephenson’s Eyes Wide Shut Revelations Require Official Investigative Scrutiny

By Selwyn Manning -

October 9, 2015

Editorial by Selwyn Manning.

Selwyn Manning, editor – EveningReport.nz

EYES WIDE SHUT: Last week news broke about a defamation settlement in the case of journalist Jon Stephenson V New Zealand Defence Force.

But now, after a week has 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.

Yesterday (October 8, 2015), I spoke about this issue on Radio New Zealand’s The Panel with Jim Mora and Lisa Scott. You can listen to this by clicking here

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 $600,000.00 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.

New Zealand Report: Maori Concerned Over TPPA Permiting Open Buy-Up of NZ Land

By Selwyn Manning -

October 9, 2015

New Zealand Report: Selwyn Manning delivers NZ Report to Australia’s radio FiveAA.com.au. This week: Maori Concerned Over TPPA permitting foreign buy-up of prime New Zealand land + Sheep Milk boon industry looms – Recorded live on 9/10/15.

ITEM ONE

Maori Concerned Over TPPA Permitting Buy-Up of Land (ref. http://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2015/10/08/tpp-may-affect-maori-land-interests/ )

Senior Labour Party MP and close relative to the Maori King, Nanaia Mahuta, is calling on Maori Party MPs to front up and explain why the Government’s Trans Pacific Partnership negotiators have failed to restrict foreign buyers of New Zealand land.

The Maori Party is part of the National led Government coalition, and, Nanaia Mahuta is largely supported by one of New Zealand’s largest, wealthiest, and strongest tribes, the Tainui Iwi.

Maori are divided over the TPPA, especially since details began to emerge this week revealing how New Zealand’s TPPA negotiators had agreed to permit foreign buyers – or those originating from Trans Pacific Partnership countries – the right to purchase land or housing blocks of up to $200 million each… before having to seek the approval of the Overseas Investment Office.

On Thursday Nanaia Mahuta said Australia’s TPPA negotiators managed to secure Australia’s right to restrict foreign buyers of Australian homes.

Likewise, Malaysian negotiators secured an agreement that permits Malaysia to ban foreign ownership of affordable housing.

Compare this to New Zealand. Before the TPP negotiations, any foreign purchases of housing or land blocks, valued at $100 million, first required the consent of the Overseas Investment Office and the approval of a minister of the Crown.

The Government’s negotiators caved in on that point, and have allowed that cap to rise to $200 million.

Maori groups have already taken the Government to court over the TPPA. It is facing a legal challenge in the Maori rights court, the Waitangi Tribunal. It appears more litigation is coming.

Yesterday, Mahuta said, the Government has negotiated away our rights to protect our land.

For its part, the National -led Government has stated it has got the best TPP deal possible. Prime Minister John Key said: “As a country, we won’t get rich selling things to ourselves. Instead, we need to sell more of our products and services to customers around the world, and TPP helps makes that happen.”

ITEM TWO:

Sheep to the Rescue (ref. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/sheep/72382854/investment-could-turn-sheep-milking-into-nzs-next-billion-dollar-industry )

And while the Government failed to negotiate a good deal for Kiwi dairy farmers, some of New Zealand’s state-owned farms have found solace in the knowledge… that if you look after that special relationship between Kiwis and Sheep, then, great rewards will flow.

This story shows there’s more to sheep than just wool and mutton.

The state owned Spring Sheep farm near Taupo has started milking its 3500 sheep. Apparently, sheep milk could be, according to the Government’s Landcorp spokesperson Nick Gowland, a billion dollar industry in ten years.

So the dairy cow’s loss is the milking ewe’s bonus. There’s happy days ahead.

And that news has certainly got the government and some farmers rubbing their hands together.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 08, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 9, 2015

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 7 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Thursday 8th October.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle include the Ngapuhi runanga defending loans it has made to Tuhoronuku, the group negotiating the iwi’s treaty settlement, Prime Minister John Key’s flying visit to the 105 New Zealand troops at Taji Military Camp in Iraq and plans by Solid Energy to close its underground Huntly East coal mine.

POLITICS PULSE

Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:

Government: Minister welcomes Health Star Ratings on drinks: Funding for Otago forests, birds and wetlands; Ambassador for Counter Terrorism Announced; New road safety billboards for West Coast; Report shows major potential for Waimea dam;40 more youth forensic mental health workers;Make a pre-Christmas date with StudyLink

Greens: Govt needs a plan to support people working in coal industry

Labour: Parata puts brakes on charter school appraisal; Mine closure a blow to Huntly

New Zealand First: Māori Women’s Welfare League deserves Government engagement; Thoughtless Carriage Giveaway Robs Rail Development; Stinging Pentagon Assessment Casts ; Suicide action plan failing farmers; Shadow Over Pm Visit; Very Slow Broadband Limits Rural Users; Suicide action plan failing farmers; Speech-Adult Illiteracy Costs Us, Just As Greater Adult Literacy Enriches Us

NZ National Party:Paying the price for mishandling Solid Energy

United Future Party: Dunne Speaks- Trade is part of our economic DNA

LINKS OF THE DAY

AUCKLAND’S ENVIRONMENT REPORT: ‘The Health of Auckland’s Natural Environment In 2015’ report delivered by Auckland Council’s Research and Evaluation Unit (RIMU) presents a snapshot of the current and potential environmental issues, recent changes, and long term trends.The full report is available here:http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/planspoliciesprojects/reports/Pages/stateofaucklandreportcardshome.aspx?utm_source=shorturl&utm_medium=print&utm_campaign=State_of_Auckland

CAWTHRON INSTITUTE CONTRIBUTION: A report launched today shows the Cawthron’s 200 staff bring in earnings of $1 million a month to the economy and turnover has grown $5 million in the last three years, with about half of its revenue coming from government. The report can be viewed at:http://www.cawthron.org.nz/publication/corporate-documents/impact-cawthron-institute-economic-contribution-nelson-and-new-zealand/

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX: Westpac estimates that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by just 0.1% in the September quarter, bringing annual inflation down to a new cycle low of 0.2%. Go here for more:https://wibiq.westpac.com.au/wibiqauthoring/_uploads/file/New_Zealand/2015/October_2015/Q3_CPI_Preview_October_2015.pdf

DRINKS RATINGS: The New Zealand Beverage Council (NZBC) is to adopt the Health Star Ratings (HSR) on nearly all non-alcoholic beverages. Further information about the HSR can be found on the Food Smart website:http://www.foodsmart.govt.nz/whats-in-our-food/food-labelling/front-pack-labelling/

GETTING HELP FROM FAMILY: A whopping 97 percent of New Zealanders can turn to family for help and support, according to new research from Statistics New Zealand. The reports are available at :http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Well-being/social-connectedness/social-networks/supportive-family.aspx and http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/Well-being/social-connectedness/social-networks/supportive-friends.aspx

NZDF REVIEW: A Ministry of Defence review of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has highlighted positive initial training for recruits. The full report is available here: http://defence.govt.nz/reports-publications/evaluation-report-recruit-training/contents.html

NZ HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CALLED UPON: Today the World Health Organization is calling for health professionals around the world to push for a strong effective climate agreement at the UN Climate Conference in Paris this December. In the WHO’s words, “Health professionals have a duty of care to current and future generations”. More details on the WHO’s call can be found at its webpage dedicated to its global change campaign at:http://www.who.int/globalchange/global-campaign/en/

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Thursday 8th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Jane Kelsey: Renewed Official Information Act requests for TPPA cost benefit and impact analyses

By Selwyn Manning -

October 9, 2015

Source: Professor Jane Kelsey.

[caption id="attachment_6181" align="alignleft" width="150"]

Professor Jane Kelsey.[/caption]

Auckland University law professor Jane Kelsey has made an urgent request to Trade Minister Tim Groser under the Official Information Act for the study on which he bases projected gains to New Zealand’s GDP by 2030, asking that it be released no later than Monday 12 October.

The request notes that ‘Given that the negotiations have concluded New Zealand’s position could not conceivably be jeopardised by its release; it is not information belonging to any other country in the TPPA negotiations; and the government is currently citing these figures in the current debate on the TPPA but not has not publishing the study on which it is based.’

The Minister’s office has acknowledged the request.

She has also repeated an earlier Official Information request made in January 2015 for ‘any cost-benefit study, impact asessment or similar analysis or evaluation of the proposed agreement as a whole, of specific provisions, or impacts on particular sectors or policies that have been conducted by or for the New Zealand government.’

In February the Minister refused to release any such information. It later transpired that this includes an NZIER study on the Labour Market Effects of TPP. The Ministry said its release during the negotiations would prejudice New Zealand’s ability to get the best outcome, a rationale which Professor Kelsey notes no longer applies.

This request was part of a broader request for eight categories of information, which the Minister refused on a blanket basis. The Minister’s decision is currently subject to judicial review in the High Court.

However, the Chief Ombudsman’s review of the Minister’s decision was a pre-requisite to that judicial review, and she did not form a final opinion about this particular category of information. It was therefore not able to include it in the judicial review proceedings.

In her report, the Chief Ombudsman said her investigation of this matter would be ongoing. That was on 27 July. Despite numerous requests, there has been no indication that it has been actively pursued in the ten weeks since then. In light of the conclusion of the negotiations, and the lack of information publicly available, Professor Kelsey has asked the Chief Ombudsman to provide a conclusive response on that category of information by Monday 12 October.

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Keith Rankin: Predicting the World Economy through Financial Balances

By Keith Rankin -

October 8, 2015

Anglo, Eurozone, Japan and BRIC financial shifts — ]]>

Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on Scoop.co.nz.

In my most recent Charts for this Week on Evening Report, I have published charts of average private sector and government financial balances (surpluses/deficits) for a wide range of countries for two decades of financial excess (Spread of Financial Balances by Country, 1995-2014), and of shifts of selected countries from before to after the global financial crisis (Shifts of Country Financial Balances before and after the Global Financial Crisis).

While these long-term averages represent the ‘financial personalities’ of these countries, the chart of shifts shows important changes that have resulted from the 2008-09 world crisis.

[caption id="attachment_7479" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

Spread of Financial Balances by Country, 1995-2014.[/caption]

Country ‘Financial Personalities’

In a highly stable world economy, all balances would be close to zero, on both the private (horizontal) and public (vertical) axes. (If the world economy is growing, then countries should be spread in Quadrant 2 along the line of current account balance, from the 0,0 position to the +4,-4 position. If countries grow at 4% per year, then government annual deficits at 4% of GDP are quite stable.)

The fact that financial personalities show such diversity suggests that the world economy (probably since the 1980s) has a repeated tendency to become financially unbalanced, with crises (‘hard-landing’ corrections) likely to occur five or more times in a person’s lifetime. Soft-landing corrections (controlled ‘deleverage’) can occur if most (preferably all) countries can recognise the danger signs and choose to adopt rebalancing financial behaviours to pre-empt these crises.

Looking at the Spread of Financial Balances by Country, 1995-2014, the most unstable positions are marked by the gold ‘money mountain’ (that represents making and hoarding lots of money, what many people believe constitutes economic success) and the red ‘debt mountain’. For systemic reasons – the zero-sum requirement that at all times as many countries are on the left of the ‘line of current account balance’ as are on the right – when some countries manage to cluster around the money mountain then other countries must be clustered around the debt mountain. The process of repayment of debts by those in the red quadrant to their creditors in the gold quadrant, would mean a switching of position during this deleveraging phase. (A country repaying debts is running financial surpluses, whereas a country being repaid is running deficits.) The problem is that it requires all countries to place themselves outside their financial comfort zones; like requiring a reversal of yang and yin every decade or so.

Evaluating Intent

One key dynamic of intent this decade is governments seeking to raise their financial balances. This is a process known as ‘government austerity’ or ‘fiscal consolidation’. On the chart we can visualise this as governments – through their fiscal policies – seeking to move up the chart. They can only actually achieve this ‘upwards intent’ if other countries accommodate by moving down or moving left.

Most neoclassical economists assume (though usually without supporting evidence) that upwards movements by governments will induce leftward movements of their private sectors. However the global financial crisis itself brought about a sharp rightward movement in the world’s private sectors (increased thrift, debt repayment; decrease in new private sector debts incurred). Further, fiscal consolidation tends to aggravate private-sector caution. Business confidence increases when governments are good customers, and decreases when governments as customers are stingy or unreliable.

In essence any intent anywhere to move one’s own private balances to the right (or one’s government’s balances upward) has a depressive effect on the economy, raising unemployment if enough other people or businesses share that intent. Conversely, any intent on the part of private parties to decrease their financial balances (ie spend and borrow more, move leftward on the chart) has a stimulatory effect on the global economy, as does any attempt by governments to decrease their financial balances (ie to increase their fiscal deficits), downward movement on the chart.

[caption id="attachment_7595" align="aligncenter" width="640"]

Shifts of Country Financial Balances before and after the Global Financial Crisis.[/caption]

The world pattern for this decade is revealed in part by the second chart (Shifts of Country Financial Balances before and after the Global Financial Crisis). We know that the general intent on the part of governments this decade has been to raise their balances (move up the chart). We see that only Germany has achieved that intent. The bigger story has been the private intent to move right, offset by induced (largely unintended) increases in government deficits; ie by government balances that have decreased despite policy intent to raise those balances. The secondary story is that of three of the four BRIC economies (Brazil, India, China) whose private balances have shifted to the left, counter to the global movement post-crisis. It is these countries’ willingness to borrow or spend that ‘saved’ the world capitalist economy in the last half decade. Brazil and China are now experiencing the ‘economic wobbles’ – as are Russia and Canada, two other important accommodators. These countries are now unable to continue offsetting the rest of the world’s miserliness.

A Soft landing?

It is approaching time to action the soft-landing strategy to stabilise the global economy. I don’t see it happening. The way the Eurozone is structured at present means that Germany can hardly discontinue its ‘gold mountain’ quest (see my Germany, the Eurozone and Mercantilism, 29 Sep 2015). The chance that Germans are suddenly going to switch into a spendthrift strategy – which is what the world needs of it – is close to zero. Increased American spending has become the main stabilising factor in the world in 2015, but that is likely to fall away sharply in 2017, with whatever new administration takes over then.

The most likely future for the world economy in the final third of this decade is another hard-landing, with lots of private debt write-offs, another big private sector spending freeze (shift to the right), and ever bigger government deficits required to contain the damage.

Japan got into this financial dynamic first, in the 1990s. Whither the global economy? Watch Japan. The good news is that Japan’s economic situation is not nearly as bad as most western economists and financiers think it ought to be. Government-facilitated spending in Japan is the solution, not the problem.

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NZDF-Led task group hands over tropic twilight aid to Cook Islands

By Selwyn Manning -

October 8, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com

Contributed by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF)

A multinational task group led by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) today handed over a new fuel depot built as part of Exercise Tropic Twilight to Cook Islands officials.

Several schools and hospitals that were repaired by a team comprising of military engineers and skilled tradesmen from China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States were also handed over at an official ceremony in the northern Cook Islands atoll of Penrhyn.

“The past six weeks have been an invaluable opportunity to work alongside and learn from our international peers,” said Captain Andrew Blackburn, Senior National Officer for the New Zealand contingent.

“Tropic Twilight also offered an opportunity to practise the NZDF’s capability to deploy alongside other militaries to provide Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR),” he added.

Major General Tim Gall, Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, said the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) participation in Tropic Twilight for the first time resulted from a decision by China and New Zealand to increase professional cooperation especially in the area of HADR.

“It was agreed that participation by PLA engineers in Tropic Twilight would be a logical next step in developing the relationship,” Major General Gall said.

Exercise Tropic Twilight is a recurring activity conducted this year in the northern Cook Islands’ atoll of Penrhyn and Manihiki from 31 August – 12 October. It is held in partnership with the government of the Cook Islands and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which funded the new fuel depot and the other infrastructure improvements being delivered as part of the exercise. The FAPF (Forces Armees en Polynesie francaise) are also supporting the humanitarian activity.

Nick Hurley, New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the Cook Islands said relocating and upgrading the Penrhyn fuel depot has helped avert a potential oil spill.

“The new fuel depot will refuel the Australian-funded Cook Islands Pacific Patrol Boat Te Kukupa, which conducts long-range maritime patrols against illegal fishing in the northern Cooks,” he said.

Around 40 engineers, plumbers, carpenters, and electricians from the NZDF’s 2^nd Engineer Regiment worked alongside 20 military engineers from the PLA, the Royal Regiment, and the US Army Pacific to build the new fuel depot. Schools and hospitals were refurbished to address potential electrical hazards to ensure they can better withstand the cyclones that regularly affect the Pacific Islands.

The handover ceremony was attended by Cook Islands officials led by Deputy Prime Minister Teariki Heather, Brigadier General Stephen Curda of the US Army’s 9^th Mission Support Command, and Brigadier Antony Hayward from the NZDF.

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Nigel Sharplin one of NZ’s fastest rising cutting edge new world hi-tech designers

By Selwyn Manning -

October 8, 2015

NewsroomPlus.com

Contributed by inFact

He is passionate about his work but can be hard to track down because he is always on the move, one step ahead, looking for new innovation opportunities he can design and development to help New Zealand grow.

He has produced Navman accessories, world-first wheelchair remotes, parking meter systems, world first chip-card devices, a range of tools to find out which pine trees are best for building construction and was a key figure in Fisher & Paykel’s mechanical design team on the hugely successful Smart Drive washing machine.

Sharplin’s Christchurch company inFact is a finalist in three categories at the New Zealand Innovators Awards to be held at the Cloud in Auckland next week (October 15).

Sharplin was born at Leeston in South Canterbury, grew up in Richmond, Nelson, and attended Waimea College. His father was his mentor and motivation for him to receive his Mechanical Engineering degree with honours at the University of Canterbury.

“My father is a very clever engineer who taught me how to solve problems by thinking. I always wanted to be a design engineer and run my own business developing innovative products. Engineering has given me the freedom to express my creativity to make real change in the world for good” Sharplin says.

“After university I loved being a part of the game changing team at Fisher & Paykel which taught me the philosophy and values that drive inFact’s methodology and approach. Fisher & Paykel set out to change the world of appliances by innovating every aspect of the washing machine except that it washes using water. Samsung copied it, everybody but Jack Welsh himself from GE visited Fisher & Paykel during the development when they were doing a licensing deal and the technology has become very much the state of the art globally

“After I set up inFact I was invited by GPC Electronics to a meeting in Wellington with Industrial Research Limited and the Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) subsidiary Fibre-gen to help productionise the Hitman HM200 timber testing product. We did that and it was a great. Fibre-gen then asked us to develop the Hitman ST300 tool which was a complex and expensive development. We ended up taking a 20 percent stake in the business when they asked if we would complete the development at our cost in exchange for shares. When Graham Hart bought CHH, management sold Fibre-gen to inFact and director Peter Carter.

“To date my best achievement has been the formation and growth of the inFact design business. This type of professional practice is essential to the future value of the New Zealand economy. With a thinking approach to the creation of game-changing innovative new products customers want to buy we can build a strong first world economy here.

“As British inventor and Dyson company founder James Dyson said when he was in New Zealand advising our government: ‘without a high tech manufacturing sector New Zealand cannot create enough wealth to sustain growth and maintain parity with other nations’. The German manufacturing sector earned $US5000 per capita in 2014 while New Zealand earned $165 her head so we have a long way to go.

“We are currently working on several large product and system development initiatives that will help New Zealand grow faster. With ZIP Zero Invasive Predators Ltd which is a charity set up by the Department of Conservation, Next and Sam and Gareth Morgan to eradicate rats, stoats and possums, our company inFact has been contracted to; develop new innovative systems for luring these predators to their traps and to support volume production of these for roll out across New Zealand’s native and exotic forests and hinterlands.”

InFact’s designs have been translated into 100’s of millions of dollars of export product for New Zealand. InFact have delivered internationally successful game-changing products for companies such as Carter Holt Harvey, Navman, Dynamic Controls, Integrated Technology Solutions and Provenco.

Sharplin and fellow director Peter Carter have secured 27 patent registrations for the use of acoustics in the grading of green wood involving their Hitman HM200, ST300 hand tools that have become the gold standard internationally for forest wood assessment. Hitman PH330 product is Sharplin and Carters latest invention which measures trees automatically while being harvested and sends them to the right mill for processing. This invention alone will create and estimated $200 million of new value for the forestry sector in New Zealand according to Scion.

The world is waking up to the benefits and opportunity of construction of high rise buildings using engineered wood products such as laminated veneer lumber and cross laminated timber panels which are both manufactured in New Zealand.

“A seven storey timber structure survived the equivalent of nine Kobe earthquakes on a Japanese earthquake simulator platform with no discernible damage. Wood is the ultimate resilient and renewable resource for construction,” Sharplin says.

The Hitman range of products is how the forest owners segregate the timber for these wood processors. We must however make decisions at the point of harvest based on the value of the timber and not just the commodity based volume of it.

“Wood processing and manufacturing is New Zealand’s third largest export sector at $2.5 billion a year and if log exports are added it’s almost on a par with second-placed meat exports. In the central North Island we’ve lost 100,000 hectares of forest land in the last few years to dairy farming.

“This is simply driven by economics as high export log prices drive replanting regimes. By extracting the highest value wood from our forests and processing this in New Zealand for value added export products we can ensure a strong forest industry.

“Scandinavia has proven countries can sustainably fuel an entire first world economy using wood products. They just put their minds to the task as nations and made the decision to create a zero emissions economy. We can do this in New Zealand if we are prepared to make a commitment to achieving this and not be influenced by the traditional concrete, steel and fossil fuel corporations.

“There is a massive 50 percent increase in the volume of plantation wood coming online in 2020. We need to get organised now to ensure that at the time we harvest this wood we can turn it into high value logs and wood products and not simply sell it to the commodity log market. We can lift the value of the forest wood sector from $5billion at our current volume and processing regime to $12billion with the increased volumes and if we take on this challenge of enhancing the value of the harvest,” Sharplin says.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for October 07, 2015

By Selwyn Manning -

October 7, 2015

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 13 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 7th October.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle includes a survey of early childhood teachers raising concerns about under-staffing at childcare centres, ongoing ripples of response to the newly signed TPP deal and the launching of E tū Union, the largest private sector union in the country.

POLITICS PULSE

Media releases issued from Parliament by political parties today included:

Government: New Ambassador to Thailand named; New Ambassador to Timor-Leste announced; Dr Nick Smith – Speech at the Our Oceans Conference; Terms of reference for Creative Sector Study released; 30 per cent drop in crime since 2008; Work starts on new maximum-security facility; New Customs officers on frontline for summer;Simon Bridges to attend APEC ministerial meetings; Minister to focus on future of non-casino gambling; Prime Minister visits NZ troops in Camp Taji, Iraq

Greens:Greens Support E tū Union Launch; Charter schools evaluation reveals next to nothing; KiwiSaver withdrawals highlight growing hardship

Labour:National lengthens the digital lag; New Zealand gave away right to protect houses and land in TPP; Farmers aren’t stupid

New Zealand First: TPPA raising investor threshold proves deal is about corporate influence not trade; Crown setting worrying trend for treaty obligations

LINKS OF THE DAY

ACC REPORT: ACC’s annual report, released today, shows a net surplus of $1.6 billion – $743 million ahead of budget – largely due to stronger investment earnings in international markets. The annual report is available atwww.acc.co.nz/2015ANNUALREPORT

CHARTER SCHOOL REPORT: Innovations in Partnership Schools Kura Hourua report by consultancy Martin Jenkins on behalf of the Ministry of Education, found early evidence the schools are developing innovative solutions for their communities, with schools enjoying the flexibility of the funding model. The report is available at:http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/innovations-in-partnership-schools-kura-hourua

CHILDFORUM SURVEY: A ChildForum survey of Early Childhood teachers has raised issues of understaffing and factory farming of children. Read more: http://www.childforum.com/policy-issues/surveys-and-ece-sector-a-family-data/1323-quality-report-teachers-views.html

CREATIVE SECTOR STUDY: A Creative Sectors Study by the Government will look at how creative industries are using copyright and designs rules in a changing technological environment. For more information on the Terms of Reference, see: http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/business/intellectual-property/copyright/creative-sector-study and for information on the Government’s work in digital convergence see:http://www.convergencediscussion.nz/

COMMISSION CLEARS BEIJER: The Commerce Commission has given clearance for B100 Limited, a newly incorporated subsidiary of the Swedish refrigeration group Beijer Ref AB, to acquire the business and assets of Realcold Limited. A public version of the written reasons for the decision is available on the Clearances Register:http://www.comcom.govt.nz/business-competition/mergers-and-acquisitions/clearances/clearances-register/

DWELLING AND HOUSEHOLD ESTIMATES: Dwelling and Household Estimates provide estimates of all private dwellings in New Zealand at a given date, and estimates of all households usually living in New Zealand at a given date. Go here for more:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/estimates_and_projections/DwellingHouseholdEstimates_HOTPSep15qtr.aspx

ENVIRONMENT MINISTER IN CHILE: Environment Minister Nick Smith delivered a speech to the Our Oceans Conference this week. For more information on the conference go to:http://www.nuestrooceano2015.gob.cl/en/conference/

FISHERIES REVIEW: New Zealand’s fisheries management system is going under the spotlight as part of a review to future-proof our fisheries. Find out more about the review and how to have your say:http://www.mpigovtnz.cwp.govt.nz/law-and-policy/legal-overviews/fisheries/fisheries-management-system-review/

FIZZ CONFERENCE: A conference to discuss the health effects and possible strategies to reduce sugary drink intake, with particular reference to Maori and Pacific communities was held today at Manukau Institute of Technology. More details on the conference are available at: http://www.fizz.org.nz/

GAMBLING CONSULTATION: Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne announced a package of measures on 7 October 2015 affecting non-casino gambling: the Class 4 sector. The Department has been asked to provide advice to the Minister on a possible wider review of the Class 4 sector. Further decisions about whether to proceed with any review will be made in early 2016. The consultation paper can be seen here:http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Casino-and-Non-Casino-Gaming-Gambling-Consultation

GROWING LAND GRABS: New research shows that New Zealand is not the only country where foreign investors buy farmland. The Washington environmental and economic think tank, Worldwatch Institute, says it is part of a worldwide trend. Read more at: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/14725

MANUFACTURING FIRM WARNED: The Commerce Commission has issued a formal warning to manufacturing firm Consolidated Alloys (N.Z.) Limited (CA) over the inclusion of an anti-competitive clause in a negotiated settlement with roofing products competitor Edging Systems (NZ) Limited (ESL). A copy of the investigation report can be found here: http://www.comcom.govt.nz/business-competition/enforcement-response-register-commerce/investigation-reports/

NZ SUPER FUND: The NZ Super Fund’s 2014/2015 report released today shows it had $4.4 billion of its $29.54 billion portfolio invested in New Zealand compared to $3.7 billion a year earlier. The report is available at:http://www.nzsuperfund.cmail19.com/t/d-l-jtoiht-witydiuk-p/

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Wednesday 7th October.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

What’s it all about?

Official video clips for New Zealand ShakeOut 2015

Background Information

A sampling of messages released from around the country:

Specific Tips for Businesses and Business Continuity:

SEE ALSO: Opinion by Dr Paul G. Buchanan. This article was originally published on Kiwipolitico.com.

Jon Stephenson’s Statement on the settlement of this case.