This edition of NewsRoom_Digest features 9 resourceful links of the day and the politics pulse from Wednesday 19th August.

NEWSROOM_MONITOR

Top stories in the current news cycle includes some relief for dairy farmers as the price of whole milk powder jumped up by more than 19% at the overnight Global Dairy Trade auction, Government’s Workplace Health and Safety legislation being further debated in Parliament this afternoon and the launch of a review of fisheries management announced at the Seafood New Zealand 2015 conference today.

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: Healthy lifestyle initiative helping more diabetics; PM acknowledges passing of George Gair; Speech to the Seafood New Zealand 2015 conference; Extra ACC hearing loss support well received; Dairy diversification opportunities in SE Asia; Access to medicines continues to improve; One month left for councils to get digital enablement plans sorted

ACT Party: Avoid another Solid Energy – sell Landcorp farms now 

Greens: PM must stand down McCully to protect NZ’s reputation; Greens Urge Government MPs To Support Health And Safety Bill Amendments; Govt must come clean on real cost of Landcorp’s conversions; Green Party Initiates Inquiry Into Education Special Needs

Labour: Parties must drop the politics over Health and Safety; Maori Party should stand up for workers; Prime Minister hiding from his sell-out of New Zealand; Brownlee warned over EQC repairs but ignored them; Saudi tender process reeks of SkyCity approach; National’s backdoor attempt to keep asset sales alive

Māori Party: Poroporoaki – Stuart Panapa QSM; Amendments to the Health and Safety Bill and list of high risk industries anticipated; Poroporoaki for Putiputi O’Brien QSM

New Zealand First: Reducing volume for sale assisted dairy price rise; Groser and Key at war over Russia; Army’s rifle choice positive sign for defence procurement; NZ First MP shares parliamentary knowledge with Tuvalu MPs

NZ National Party: Record international student numbers great news for the Hutt

United Future Party: Health & Safety Bill A Better Bill, Thanks To UnitedFuture

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/

CANTERBURY RESIDENTIAL REPAIRS: The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has released a report into the Building Code compliance of earthquake repairs to Canterbury homes. The Home Inspection Survey Report, and the full list of recommendations, together with FAQs, are available on the MBIE website:http://www.mbie.govt.nz/news-and-media/news-from-around-mbie/report-into-canterbury-residential-repairs-released

CHILD HARDSHIP BILL: Child Poverty Action Group has urged the Social Services Select Committee to remember New Zealand’s obligations under UNCROC to look after the best interests of the child ahead of other objectives like incentivising work. CPAG’s written submission on the Support for Children in Hardship Bill can be found at: htttp://www.cpag.org.nz/assets/Submissions/150629Submissionsupportforchildrenhardship.pdf

DIGITAL PLANS: Local authorities have four more weeks to submit a digital enablement plan outlining how they will take advantage of new investment from the Government’s broadband extension. Further information on digital enablement plans can be found at: www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/technology-communication/fast-broadband/new-initiatives

EMA EMPLOYERS SURVEY: New Zealand’s business outlook is expected to stay the same over the next six months, according to employers surveyed by the EMA (Employers and Manufacturers Association). Click here for the EMA survey: https://www.ema.co.nz/resources/EMA%20Reports%20and%20Documents/Advocacy/Employers-Survey-2015.pdf

MILK PRICES: Producer prices fell in the June 2015 quarter, due to lower farm-gate milk prices says Statistics New Zealand. Business Price Indexes for the June 2015 quarter is available at:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/economic_indicators/prices_indexes/BusinessPriceIndexes_HOTPJun15qtr.aspx

NZ BANKS CONTINUE TO PERFORM: New Zealand’s five major banks have continued to show good growth in the first half of their 2015 financial years according to PwC’s New Zealand Banking Perspectives publication released today. The publication is available at: http://www.pwc.co.nz/banking-capital-markets-industry-sector/publications/nz-banking-perspectives/august-2015/

PATIENTS TO BE SURVEYED: Patients from over 20 general practices across New Zealand will be asked about their care outside of hospital, in a trial of an online survey taking place from July to October by the Health Quality & Safety Commission. See the Commission’s website for more information: http://www.hqsc.govt.nz/our-programmes/health-quality-evaluation/projects/health-quality-and-safety-indicators/patient-experience/primary-care-patient-experience/

SEAFOOD CONFERENCE 2015: Find out what was discussed at the confrence, here:http://www.seafoodconference.org.nz/programme/

TENANTS GET RELIEF: Trade Me property says New Zealand tenants have reason to smile as the pressure on the rental market eases. View the Rent Price Index for Trade Me property here:http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/price-index/for-rent/

And that’s our sampling of “news you can use” for Wednesday 19th August 2015.