NZ Engine

Category: MIL-OSI

  • Harbour tunnelling gets underway as part of Watercare’s transformational southwest wastewater scheme

    Source: Secondary teachers question rationale for changes to relationship education guidelines

    Next week Watercare will start tunnelling a new harbour outfall at Clarks Beach as part of the southwest wastewater servicing scheme. This will improve the quality of the Manukau Harbour with significant benefits for the community and environment.

    On Monday, May 12 a 1.2-metre-wide tunnel-boring machine (TBM) will get the ground moving on the $22 million Clarks Beach Outfall wastewater pipeline.

    Watercare programme delivery manager Dave Kennerley says the treated wastewater will be discharged approximately 100 metres into the Waiuku Channel – a highly dynamic part of the harbour where it will quickly disperse.

    “The outfall is a crucial part of a wider programme of work that will support the projected population growth of Auckland’s south-west which is expected to grow to around 30,000 people by 2050.

    The tunnel boring machine (TBM) will take about seven weeks to complete its journey.

    “Initially, it will carry highly treated wastewater from the Clarks Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant, which we’re currently upgrading. But it has been designed and sized to support future population growth in the wider area.”

    Watercare project manager Jason Salmon says the outfall installation is expected to take six or seven weeks.

    “To ensure the resilience of the outfall, the pipeline will be double layered. 

    “The carrier pipeline, which is made from high-density polyethylene, will sit inside a steel pipe to prevent any leaks or ground and seawater intrusion.

    “To install the outfall the TBM will cut through the ground and install the exterior steel pipeline at the same time.

    “Once it’s reached its destination, the carrier pipe will be pulled through and plugged until it is brought into service. A 66-metre-long diffuser will then be installed.”

    The diffuser includes 22 rubber nozzles called ‘duck bills’, due to their shape resembling a duck’s bill.

    The nozzle design allows the periodic release of treated effluent to flow out but stops sea water flowing in.

    Salmon says once the TBM finishes its journey it will arrive at a receiving pit 10 to 15 metres under the sea.

    “The TBM will be lifted out by a team of divers who will unbolt it from the carrier pipe in the outfall, attach lift bags to it and winch it out on to a pontoon.

    “Once it’s on the pontoon it will be towed to Onehunga Port and lifted back onto land.”

    Update on Clarks Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant project

    The upgrade to the Clarks Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant introduces sophisticated technology that will allow the plant to produce exceptionally high-quality treated wastewater, which ultimately benefits the Manukau Harbour.

    Watercare programme delievery manager Dave Kennerley and Sophia Chan.

    It also supports population growth in Clarks Beach and Glenbrook Beach in the short term.

    Watercare project manager Sophia Chan says work has progressed well with all the main tanks now on site and the civil construction of the inlet structure nearing completion. A new power supply has also been installed and fit-out has begun.

    “We’ve also built a small temporary wastewater treatment plant, which will be operational in June.

    “This will allow us to treat wastewater to a high standard uninterrupted while we continue to build the main wastewater treatment plant.

    “Both the treatment plant upgrade and the outfall are on track to be completed by June next year.”

    Meanwhile, Watercare has been engaging the community on several short-listed options for the wider programme of work that will support the projected population growth to 30,000 people by 2050. Watercare will continue to share this work with the community as the optioneering process concludes.

    Anyone can sign up to receive updates on Watercare’s website.

  • ‘Govt’s Pay Bill Entrenches Discrimination Against Women’ – Kemp

    Source:

    Te Pāti Māori stands in staunch and emotional opposition to the Government’s so-called Equal Pay Amendment Bill, calling it a calculated attack on working women and a cruel betrayal of the generations who have fought for pay equity in Aotearoa.

    “This bill doesn’t just undermine equal pay — it completely erases it,” said MP for Tāmaki-Makaurau and Workers Rights Spokesperson, Takutai Tarsh Kemp.

    “It will make it impossible for people in female-dominated professions to be paid fairly. It locks in gender discrimination, and it will hit wāhine Māori, Pacific, Asian, and migrant women the hardest. This is not reform — this is repression.”

    The Government’s Equal Pay Amendment Bill cancels 33 live claims under urgency, bans back pay, delays fair pay for years, and blocks new claims for a decade — all while giving bosses unchecked power to shut down claims without reason.

     “This Government can afford to give $3 billion in tax breaks to landlords, and $13 billion to the military, but this comes at the expense of paying our wāhine fairly,” said Kemp.

    “I have witnessed this first hand as a Māori woman who put my heart, sweat, blood, and tears into my mahi while a male equivalent was paid more than ten thousand dollars more. I was undervalued, demoralised and taken advantage of.”

    “Māori women are paid 80 cents to every dollar a Pākehā man earns. These aren’t just numbers. This is the intergenerational impact of discrimination that the ACT Party and this government are hellbent on entrenching.

    “Te Pāti Māori will not be supporting this bill. We stand by wāhine. We stand by justice. And we will fight this every step of the way,” said Kemp.

  • Climate – New study reveals climate change is already impacting the Andes – NIWA

    Source: NIWA

    Seven nations sharing world’s longest mountain range already impacted by climate change
    Climate change is already reshaping life and landscapes across the world’s longest mountain range which extends the length of South America’s western side, new research has found. Climate change isn’t just a future threat for the Andes mountain region, but a present reality that is already occurring, found the study, published in the Communications Earth & Environment journal.
    An international team of six scientists from four different countries collaborated to compare predictions from climate models with real-world observations of the Andean climate, natural environment, industries and societies. 
    “We examined evidence that climate change and its impacts are already occurring in the Andes, the world’s longest mountain range, which crosses seven South American nations from Argentina and Chile in the south, through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, to Venezuela in the north,” says hydrologist Dr Ana Ochoa-Sánchez from Ecuador’s University of Azuay.
    “What we found was that human-induced climate change is warming all of the Andes. Climate change is already occurring and noticeably impacting one of the world’s iconic mountain regions. One of the most significant impacts is that climate change is likely causing less precipitation on the eastern side of the mountain range.
    “Mountain regions are predicted to be among the most sensitive and vulnerable to human-induced climate change, with changes causing a cascade of impacts across South America, says climate scientist Dr Dáithí Stone, at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). 
    “Throughout the Andes the climate trends are causing rapid shrinking of glaciers and reduction in the accumulation of snow. This results in reduced water flowing down from the mountains and brings about changes in ecosystems. This in turn, in multiple countries, affects food production, industry, health, culture and societies.”
    The research will improve understanding of future impacts, and the effectiveness of adaptation, says Dr Stone. 
    “In order to understand how climate change might affect us in the future, we need to understand how it is already affecting us. As we implement more measures to adapt to climate change, future updates of this study will also be able to evaluate how effective those adaptation measures have been and how they might be made more effective.”
    The extensive and diverse Andes, which runs from the Caribbean coast to its southern tip in Patagonia, means the study advocates for localised adaptation strategies, informed by scientific research and indigenous knowledge, says Dr Ana Ochoa-Sánchez. 
    “The research also stresses the need for global climate policies to reduce emissions and increase adaptation to support vulnerable mountain regions, such as our iconic Andes. The findings highlight that climate change is not a distant threat but a current crisis already unfolding across one of the world’s most celebrated mountain landscapes.”
    Publication:
    Ana Ochoa-Sánchez, Dáithí Stone, Fabian Drenkhan, Daniel Mendoza, Ronald Guaián, and Christian Huggel. 2025. Detection and attribution of climate change impacts on coupled natural-human systems in the Andes. Communications Earth & Environment, 6, 314, 10.1038/s43247-025-02092-9.

  • EMA – Unemployment numbers still reflect ongoing financial pressures faced by businesses

    Source: EMA

    The EMA says today’s unchanged unemployment rate hopefully underlines the bottoming out of the economic bad news, although member businesses are facing ongoing financial pressures.
    The latest numbers released by Stats NZ show that the unemployment rate has stayed unchanged at 5.1% for the March quarter.
    EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald says “While it’s positive that the unemployment rate has not increased, we’re still seeing pressures on employers, with calls into our AdviceLine service on redundancies and restructures remaining at very high levels. However, last month they did drop off so we’re hoping, like the unemployment number, they may have reached their peak. Those processes usually take another two to three months to work through the system.”
    “Unemployment is usually a lag indicator of the economic bad news and, while it’s too early to say the bad news has stopped, it’s encouraging that the number was stable rather than increasing, as had been widely expected.
    “The other concern is that we are still seeing a high number of NEETs, that is young people not in employment, education or training. This indicates that employers are overlooking that category in favour of people who already have some work experience, which is another symptom of current labour market conditions.
    “In addition, while the high minimum wage doesn’t necessarily stop employers from hiring people, it does change the type of skill set and experience that they are likely to value in potential employees,” he says. 

  • Local News – Porirua City Council seeks families of unmarked graves of Porirua Hospital patients – Porirua

    Source: Porirua City Council

    The public’s help is being sought as a project gets underway to memorialise more than 1,800 former Porirua Hospital patients.
    The Porirua Lunatic Asylum, later Porirua Hospital, opened in 1887. At its height, in the 1960s, it had more than 2,000 patients and staff and covered 1,000 acres of land, making it one of the largest hospitals in the country. By the 1980s, many patients were in community-based care and the hospital was closed in the 1990s.
    As part of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care, the Government has set up a fund for headstones for patients buried in unmarked graves throughout the country. Porirua has more than 1,800 unmarked graves at Porirua and Whenua Tapu Cemetery.
    Porirua City Council, as overseers of these cemeteries, want to hear from the public as a list of names of those buried is released.
    The people on this list are known to be, firstly, patients of the hospital and secondly, without a headstone, Porirua Cemeteries Manager Daniel Chrisp says.
    “This project is a significant and meaningful one to the Porirua and Wellington communities,” he says.
    “The hospital was once the biggest asylum in the country and working towards naming every single patient buried with us is a huge step to restoring the mana and dignity of those individuals who died while in the hospital’s care.”

  • PSA – $19,480 and rising: the cost women workers are paying to plug Govt’s Budget holes

    Source: PSA

    The Government’s decision to rewrite pay equity laws to save its Budget means 65,000 mainly female care and support workers will continue to be underpaid by $148.50 a week, new figures calculated and released today by the PSA show.
    Care and support workers have waited more than three years for the Government to fund their pay equity claim, meaning they have missed out on as of today about $19,480 in pay.
    “Despite the Government’s spin, women workers are losing, and will continue to lose, money because of this sexist attack on lower paid, mainly female workers to plug a Budget hole caused by reckless tax cuts and tax breaks for wealthy landlords,” said Assistant Secretary with the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi, Melissa Woolley.
    “Women are subsiding the tax cuts and the failure of the Government to effectively manage its Budget,” said Woolley, a former care and support worker who has played a significant role in pay equity negotiations.
    Yesterday’s announcement will set back the care and support workers’ claim, one of the 33 pay equity claims covering at least 150,000 workers across education, health, funded, tertiary, local government and public service sectors.
    The care and support workers’ claim was a result of the 2017 pay equity legislation that increased the pay of care and support workers to 21 per cent above the minimum wage. This increase was in recognition that care and support workers have been historically underpaid because the sector is female dominated.
    The 2017 legislation had a five-year time limit, which expired in June 2022. Since then, as a result of successive governments’ refusal to fund a new pay equity settlement, about 65,000 mainly female care and support workers are losing $148.50 a week they are entitled to. As of today, that amounts to $19,480 each.
    With no new pay equity settlement being agreed, care and support workers have seen their hard-won pay equity settlement eroded by inflation and the failure to maintain relativity above the minimum wage.
    “These workers are now largely back on the minimum wage, and many have had no wage increase for two years, making a mockery of the pay equity settlement,” Woolley said.
    “The Minister has told the House that the new 10-year review period in the legislation means that the care and support workers will not be able to have their claim revisited until 2027.
    “Pushing the review out to 2027 when it should have been completed in 2022 is blatantly unfair. It makes a mockery of Government claims the 10-year review period will be adequate to ensure ongoing equity for workers.
    “The care and support claim has jumped through every test, survived every change up until now. This is another heartbreaking decision to not give these workers the pay equity they deserve and need.
    “Since 2022, successive governments have been ripping off women workers, effectively using their commitment to the people they support, hard work and lost wages to subsidise the provision of care and support for the vulnerable in our communities.
    “Now by further delaying settlements and making them much harder to achieve, this Government is further exploiting these largely female workers to plug the holes in their Budget. It’s blatant sexism effectively imposing a penalty tax on women workers.”
    PSA analysis of lost wages is based on the 21 per cent margin above the minimum wage that care and support workers received in the 2017 settlement. The settlement rates, or the minimum wage rate, whichever was higher has been compared with what the rate would have been if the 21 per cent margin had been maintained. The comparison is based on a 30-hour work week.

  • Unions launch petition to protect pay equity – CTU

    Source: NZCTU

    Major Aotearoa unions have launched a new petition calling on the Government to reverse their proposed amendments to the Equal Pay Act and restore existing pay equity claims.

    Unions behind the petition are home to tens of thousands of working people who’ve experienced the life-changing impact of pay equity – including hospital administrators, social workers, nurses, and Allied health professionals.

    “For many people who work in underpaid, traditionally female-dominated sectors, pay equity settlements are the difference between families being able to afford dental appointments, tamariki going to school camp, or being able to take the car into a mechanic,” said NZCTU Secretary Melissa Ansell-Bridges.

    “The proposed changes will reverse decades of progress to correct pay rates for women and people of all genders working jobs that have been undervalued due to sexism.

    “This is about equity and justice – but it’s also about dignity and the cost-of-living,” said Ansell-Bridges. 

    The petition calls on the Government to: 

    • Reverse all claim cancellations by restoring existing pay equity claims – including for care and support workers, teachers, and library assistants. 
    • Undo Equal Pay Act changes that make it impossible for people working in female-dominated professions to achieve and keep pay equity.  
    • Deliver pay equity settlements to every worker waiting for their claim. 

    In less than 24 hours after the petition launched, it already has more than 5000 signatures.

    Unions supporting the petition include NZCTU, PSA, E tū, NZEI, NZNO, TEU, New Zealand Writers Guild and Tertiary Institutes Allied Staff Association.

  • Universities – Dame Winnie Laban awarded honorary doctorate recognisingachievements for Pasifika – Vic

    Source:  Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

    The Honourable Luamanuvao Dame Winnie Laban DNZM, will be awarded an honorary doctorate by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington at the graduation ceremonies this May.

    Dame Winnie is a distinguished and transformative leader who has driven profound changes within Aotearoa New Zealand’s political, social, and educational landscapes. From her career in politics as the first Pacific Island woman MP in New Zealand, to her role as the first Assistant Vice-Chancellor Pasifika in New Zealand—at Victoria University of Wellington—she has consistently broken down barriers for Pasifika representation and strongly advocated for the needs of the Pacific Island community.

    Her parents emigrated from Samoa to New Zealand in 1954 and settled in Wainuiomata—where she still lives—raising her and her brother, Fauono Ken Laban there. She grew up in an ‘aiga entwined in public service, which instilled in her the traditional Samoan value of supporting other people. 

    After completing a Diploma in Social Work at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, she worked as a family therapist, probation officer, social worker, and community development worker.

    The closure of the Kenson Industries car part factory in Wainuiomata, where many workers, primarily Pacific Islanders, lost their jobs with no support, motivated her to stand for Parliament in 1999. As an MP from 2002–2010, she worked tirelessly on behalf of Māori, Pasifika, working-class communities, and the elderly. One of her proudest achievements was leading the charge to repeal the Employment Contracts Act and replace it with the Employment Relations Act, to bring good faith negotiations into law. 

    Her dedication to improving the lives of others carried on into tertiary education, and during her tenure as Assistant Vice-Chancellor Pasifika at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington from 2010–2024, the number of Pasifika students enrolled at the University, as a percentage of the student population, increased from 4.7 percent in 2010 to over 6.6 percent in 2024.  

    “Education has always been a passion of mine because it’s very consistent with my commitment to social justice,” Dame Winnie says. “Because I feel if you have an education, you have more choice, and more doors open to you. But secondly, you research, you read—you’re an informed citizen.”

    Dame Winnie believes passionately in making education accessible for all, and spearheaded initiatives such as the annual Pasifika Roadshow, which introduces the university experience to people within their communities, as well as funding a scholarship and promoting Pacific student success in other ways.

    Chancellor Alan Judge says, “Dame Winnie’s contributions to the University, and to all of New Zealand, are immense. During her impressive career she has consistently worked to uplift and celebrate Pacific peoples, and we are pleased to award her this honorary doctorate in recognition of everything she has achieved.”

    Dame Winnie is a founding member of The Fale Malae Trust, a group whose vision is to build an internationally significant, landmark Fale Malae that will be a place to gather, learn and celebrate the contribution that Pasifika arts, cultures, and histories make to our national identity. Her leadership in this space and in Arts and Education will continue to shape the future of Pacific Islanders in both New Zealand and the wider Pacific region. 

    Dame Winnie says, “I am humbled and honoured to receive an honorary doctorate.”

    Dame Winnie has earned numerous accolades, including the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2020 Women of Influence Awards, her Damehood in 2018, and an honorary doctorate from the National University of Samoa in 2023.

    A Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington honorary doctorate reinforces her legacy as a trailblazer and tireless advocate for the value of education. 

    The honorary Doctor of Literature from the University will be awarded to Dame Winnie at the second graduation ceremony at 3 pm, Tuesday 13 May.

  • Unemployment data shows real weakness behind the headline rate – CTU

    Source: NZCTU

    Unemployment data released today by Statistics New Zealand shows ongoing weakness in the labour market, with falling employment, falling hours of work, and nearly half of all workers getting a pay rise less than inflation, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney.

    “While the unemployment rate number stayed at 5.1%, the number of people working full-time fell by 45,000 while the number working part-time increased by 25,000. People can’t find all the work they need to get by,” said Renney.

    “This data demonstrates that there are now 37,000 more unemployed people than at the last election. Māori unemployment is now at 10.5% and Pacific unemployment is at 10.8%. Employment fell in manufacturing, construction, retail, education, and health care. There are now nearly 3 million fewer hours being worked in the economy.

    “The weakness of current economic growth is also being reflected in the wage data. Total weekly gross earnings rose by less than inflation at 2.4% annually. 41% of workers saw no pay rise at all. It’s clear that workers are struggling to get the wage increases they need to keep up with the cost of living.

    “Youth unemployment continues to rise. There are now 70,700 15–24-year-olds unemployed and 96,600 are not in employment, education or training. There is no plan to help these younger workers, and they are bearing the brunt of employment change.

    “Without changes to the Government’s economic approach, things will likely get worse. In 2022 New Zealand was sixth in the OECD rankings for unemployment. We are now 18th.

    “The Budget this month will likely see forecasts of unemployment rising in the future. It’s time to change course and deliver policies that ensure good work and fair pay for all,” said Renney.

  • Greenpeace slams PM’s science pick: “Polluters are running the show”

    Source: Greenpeace

    Greenpeace says the appointment of a former DairyNZ scientist as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s Chief Science Advisor shows the Government is handing power to polluters.
    “For years, DairyNZ has ignored science and lobbied to weaken protections for rivers, drinking water, and the climate,” says Greenpeace campaigner Amanda Larsson.
    “We’re facing a climate and nature crisis. The dairy industry is New Zealand’s worst environmental polluter, and science shows we need strong limits on it to protect the environment and our future. But instead of taking action to restrict intensive dairy’s pollution, Luxon is allowing industry lobbyists to sit at key decision-making tables.”
    “These agri-business-backed tools are based on the flawed premise that current methane emissions are an acceptable baseline. But scientists agree that methane emissions are far too high and we need to reduce them,” says Larsson.
    “Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that heats the planet much faster than carbon dioxide,” Larsson says. “And here in New Zealand, livestock methane makes up most of our climate pollution.”
    “At a time where the need to address the climate crisis is more urgent than ever, we cannot afford for the Luxon-led Government to elevate the voices of those who are causing the problem, because the cost will be the future of life on earth.”
    “We’re now seeing the consequences of polluters running the show,” says Larsson.
    “Weakened freshwater protections are leading to new dairy conversions, especially in Canterbury and Southland.
    “The dairy industry’s pollution is already causing unswimmable rivers, unsafe drinking water, and more climate disasters. This will only get worse as the few protections we have are rolled back.
    “While Luxon wages a war on nature, people across the country are stepping up to protect the places they care about. If the Government won’t stand up to polluters, the people will.”