Category: Public Media

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New Zealand gets a seat at Standards Australia

Source: Radio New Zealand

BusinessNZ director of advocacy Catherine Beard. Supplied / Business NZ

Standards New Zealand has been invited by Standards Australia to take a seat at the table following many years of being unable to pay the price to join.

The change follows an agreement by the Australian and New Zealand governments to fund New Zealand’s participation in the development of joint standards, which were essential to trans-Tasman trade.

“Standards Australia has been well resourced over the years, while Standards New Zealand was the poor cousin, and NZ businesses were having to pay to participate in joint standards development,” BusinessNZ director of advocacy Catherine Beard said.

“As a result of the cost barrier, and the 100 percent user pays model operating in New Zealand, there were about 500 joint standards that were de-jointed since 2016.”

She said New Zealand businesses will, however, continue to fund the expenses associated with travel and other expenses incurred by New Zealand’s contributing experts attending the standards meetings.

“Joint standards are needed as Australia and NZ are each other’s biggest market for manufactured exports and given the closeness between the two economies and business sectors.

“This has been particularly challenging for construction and building industries, where safety could be compromised through inadequate standards.

“Industry standards are needed for product safety, regulatory compliance, successful exporting and importing, efficiency, consistency, and many other needs. All manufactured items must be manufactured to recognised standards. All recognised trade training in NZ is linked to Standards,” she said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Investor proposal to return Chateau Tongariro to hotel status should be considered – mayor

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tongariro Mayor Weston Kirton wants the government to consider a proposal to return Chateau Tongariro to its former status as a hotel. Jimmy Ellingham / RNZ

Tongariro’s mayor says the government should consider a proposal from an unnamed investor to return the Chateau Tongariro to its former status as a hotel.

The heritage building has been sitting empty since it was closed in February 2023 due to its earthquake risk, and the government has said it could be demolished or decommissioned.

Mayor Weston Kirton told Nine to Noon the response to a petition he put to the government to preserve the building was encouraging, but there were still many issues to resolve.

“We have an investor – a New Zealander – who has experience in high-end hotels, 5-star hotels, and heritage buildings and has a history around this type of activity.”

The investor was willing to put down about $100 million of private money to refurbish and repair the Chateau, Kirton said.

He was also asking for a 120-year lease, which is significantly more than the government usually allows, he added.

The government preferred to talk in terms of 30-year leases, which would discourage anyone from making such a significant investment into the Chateau, Kirton said.

The building has been in the hands of the Department of Conservation (DOC) since it was closed, as it sits on conservation land.

He pointed out that while the government was making a decision on what to do with the building, it was gradually falling further into disrepair.

“Every year that goes by adds to the expenditure on that particular building.”

Although it was important for DOC to maintain control over conservation land alongside local iwi, it was a pity the government would not consider carving out the land around the Chateau for a potential sale, Kirton said.

“That’s unfortunate,” he said – although he agreed that would set quite a precedent for future concessions.

For a deal to get done that would work for the investor, there would likely need to be changes to the Conservation Act in Parliament, Kirton said.

“That’s not hard for them to do … all they need to do now is put it up to Parliament to actually get it over the line and get on with the job.”

He said they had held talks with local iwi, who were “very interested” by the investor’s proposal.

“They are very passionate about the activities that could take place there, and it’s because they’ve been involved over the last few decades.

“This is not new to iwi – they see the potential for investments themselves.”

Kirton said it was his understanding that DOC and the government had not engaged iwi to the same level as the private investor.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Wuthering Heights is one of the year’s most controversial films

Source: Radio New Zealand

Ever since whispers of casting choices began popping up on social media, Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights has been a lightning rod for controversy. Now days away from the movie’s highly anticipated premiere, fans and critics are still arguing.

Fennell is not the first to attempt a screen adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel; the 1847 story has been thrown onto the silver screen more than a dozen times in multiple different languages.

But whether it be the nature of modern internet discourse, or Fennell’s reputation as a provocative filmmaker, Wuthering Heights has been picked apart for everything from its leads to the quotation marks Fennell draped around her title: “Wuthering Heights”.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Labour talking a ‘load of rubbish’ by labelling new liquefied natural gas terminal a tax – PM

Source: Radio New Zealand

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Labour is talking “a load of rubbish” when it claims the government is implementing a new “gas tax” on New Zealanders.

But Labour has fired back with one of National’s own attack lines – “if it looks like a tax and it quacks like a tax, it’s a tax”.

The back-and-forth came on Tuesday morning, the day after the government announced plans to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility, funded by a charge levied on the electricity companies.

Labour was quick to label the levy a “gas tax” which would be passed on to consumers through higher power prices.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins. RNZ

But Luxon told reporters that was not the case.

“What a load of rubbish. It’s all designed to lower power bills for New Zealanders. That’s why we’re doing it, and that’s what it’s all about.

“It’s about increasing supply, so we lower the dry risk year, and therefore lower electricity prices.”

Luxon refused to divulge the size of the levy while the procurement process was underway, but he said the government had received advice that the move would save households $50 per year.

“Let me be clear: without doing this, New Zealanders will pay more.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the government simply could not make that commitment.

“Christopher Luxon is struggling to comprehend basic household economics. Probably not surprising from someone who only spends $60 a week on groceries.

“Ultimately, if the government charges every household in the country a new tax every time they receive their power bill, it’s going to cost households more money.”

Hipkins said it was “farcical” for the government to claim the new levy was not a tax, especially given National had promised New Zealanders “no new taxes” before last election.

“I’ll quote from Nicola Willis directly. It’s a quote you might want to go back and find: ‘if it looks like a tax and it quacks like a tax, it’s a tax’.”

Willis made that statement while in opposition in 2022 after Labour proposed changes to how KiwiSaver fees would be taxed. Labour ultimately dropped the plan after a swift public backlash.

Speaking on Tuesday morning, National’s Willis said Labour was “absolutely wrong” to label the government’s plan a tax, pointing to the official advice that electricity prices would fall.

“This is not us conjuring up numbers … Labour have not engaged with that analysis at all. Don’t let them get away with it,” she said.

“I am not going to tolerate Chris Hipkins claiming that we are taxing people when we are actively reducing their energy bills after the mess left to us by the last government.”

Nicola Willis. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Willis said Labour had made a “clear mistake” in banning gas exploration and had not proposed any new solutions to the energy crisis.

“Their previous plan was to invest $17 billion in Lake Onslow, which wouldn’t have been available until after 2030 and would have resulted in a significant cost impost for New Zealand households.”

Hipkins said Labour would reveal its energy policy later this year and was currently keeping all options on the table.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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NZ First to campaign on ministers getting final say in fast track projects

Source: Radio New Zealand

NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones addressing Fast Track protesters last year. (File photo) RNZ / Peter de Graaf

New Zealand First will campaign on reinstating sweeping ministerial powers in the fast track legislation this election.

The law, set up as a ‘one stop shop’ process for consenting infrastructure, initially proposed three ministers would refer projects and make the final approval decision.

After widespread pushback during the select committee process, the government changed the legislation so an independent expert panel would get the final say.

Speaking at a breakfast with energy sector stakeholders in Wellington, New Zealand First’s deputy leader Shane Jones was asked by Minerals Council CEO Josie Vidal how the government could convince investors that businesses, not just government, could get projects going.

“When the government was formed in 2023, the Prime Minister met with Winston and myself. I kinda got hōhā and went for a holiday to the Gold Coast so if there’s anything wrong with the coalition agreement you might want to blame me,” he told the group as some chuckled.

“But one thing that the Prime Minister embraced, along with Mr Bishop, was the need to substantially improve the fast track legislation that Parker had in place,” Jones said.

“My honest view, and I have to be bound by the collective decision, I always wanted ministers to be making the decisions. I felt that if something was in a regional or national interest the ultimate test is for a politician who goes every three years to renew their warrant to be the proxy for that national interest.”

Jones said he would campaign on a fast track system where politicians “failed or flourished” by making big calls.

“That malaise you talk about was evidenced through the massive march on Queen Street who felt that that was corrupting a process of assessing risk and finding balance and I just can’t get my head around why four individuals…[are] more morally fit to make those calls than politicians and I’m going to campaign on that.”

‘We’re comfortable with the model’ – National

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the fast track law was working “exceptionally well” and he didn’t see any need to reinstate the sweeing ministerial powers.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. (File photo) RNZ/Mark Papalii

“No, we’re comfortable with the model. It’s got to have checks and balances. Fast track is not a rubber stamp. Fast track is designed to say, bring all your information together, make the case for your project but it doesn’t need to take five years if we can do it in 110 days.

Luxon said New Zealand First was entitled to campaign on changes if it wanted.

“They can do whatever but the point is it actually has got checks and balances on it, deliberately so. It doesn’t mean every project is going to get approved.

“As I said, it’s not a rubber stamp. It’s important that there is rigor and robustness in the cases that are presented… but it doesn’t need to take us as long as it’s been taking us.”

National’s campaign chairperson Chris Bishop said the fast track approvals regime was “the law of the land” as government policy and Jones’ view wasn’t new.

National’s Chris Bishop. (File photo) RNZ / Nathan McKinnon

“Shane’s had a view around this for for quite some time and that was how the original fast track proposal started. In the end, Cabinet landed where we’ve got to, which is a pretty robust regime where ministers make the referral decisions.

“They come across my desk at least once a week and I refer process of projects into the process and then they go off to the expert panels for a yay or a nay.”

Bishop said nine projects had been approved through the fast track in the first year and more were in the process of referral or before panels.

“I’m really proud of how it’s working, I think it’s going really well so far.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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WorkSafe to revisit Mt Albert Aquatic Centre after man’s finger torn off, boy’s teeth smashed on hydroslide

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mt Albert Aquatic Centre. Supplied / Community Leisure Management

Worksafe will revist an Auckland aquatic centre after a boy smashed his front teeth while on a hydroslide – the second recent injury involving the same slide.

A man was injured at the Mt Albert Aquatic Centre in late December, losing his finger when a ring caught on a bolt inside the slide, the NZ Herald reported.

Worksafe was notified following the incident.

Less than a week later, the 12-year-old boy was injured.

According to the NZ Herald, the boy was thrown around inside the slide, knocking his front two teeth on its inside joiners on 2 January.

The boy’s mother told the media outlet an emergency dental appointment the next day showed he had hit a nerve on the tooth and it “could be problematic the rest of his life”.

She said the tooth would now be “covered under ACC for life”.

WorkSafe said improvements had been made when its inspector visited the centre two days after the man was injured. But a spokesperson said an inspector would go back to the aquatic centre this month following the boy’s injury.

Auckland Council said the slide had been inspected twice within the last six months.

Head of service partner delivery, Garth Dawson, said the council would continue to work with operator Community Leisure Management and the slide manufacturer to ensure it was safe.

Community Leisure Management’s director Kirsty Knowles said it was improving signs at the hydroslide.

The NZ Herald reported the man’s finger was able to be reattached by a surgeon.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Work safety group says proposed law change likely to increase harm to people

Source: Radio New Zealand

Minister for Workplace Relations Brooke van Velden says she is looking to cut health and safety red tape for low-risk businesses. 123RF

A work safety group says a new bill before Parliament is likely to increase harm to people and cause cost blowouts from accidents.

The amendment bill is the first big change proposed in a decade to health and safety laws brought in after the Pike River disaster.

The bill sets out to cut death and injury rates, and compliance costs, by focusing on the most serious critical risks and reducing confusion.

But the Institute of Safety Management said this ignored the fact most workplace harm was not at the critical end.

“All of the back injuries, the psychological harm, violence and aggression, all of the things that are the most common, the most costly and overall the most harmful, wouldn’t meet the definition of critical risk,” spokesperson Mike Cosman told RNZ on Tuesday.

The bill would increase compliance costs for firms that would need to keep checking if they qualified as “small” enough under the law to avoid managing many risks, he added.

The bill adds a new definition of critical risk and businesses would be responsible for checking if it applied to them.

The official disclosure about the bill said the law in place since 2016 put too many duties on to businesses, and the “broad nature … has led to confusion and overcompliance” with many finding it difficult to prove to regulators they were complying.

“Focusing the system on critical risks is designed to direct attention and resources towards preventing serious workplace harms and away from more minor issues,” it said.

The government aims for the bill to enable stronger approved codes of practice (ACOPs) within particular high-risk industries to help tamp down on risks. The forestry industry recently launched a new ACOP.

Cosman retorted that the bill should not take an “either-or” approach.

Most businesses wanted to do the right thing but “the clear message is if you’re a small firm, you don’t have to provide instruction, training, supervision, even PPE for your workers … unless it’s in relation to a critical risk”, he said.

“So for those firms who are looking for a way out, this will provide it.”

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has talked about dealing to the “huge culture of fear” around Worksafe by changing it to prioritise education over punishment.

However, a common theme of criticism for years had been that Worksafe was too soft and, for instance, did not go after company directors and executives enough.

Cosman said the bill reflected a dogma that compliance costs were inherently bad, rather than reflecting accurately the submissions to a nationwide roadshow and review that van Velden fronted.

“We see this as a significant missed opportunity to improve New Zealand’s patchy record on health and safety,” he said in a statement.

“These changes are likely to increase harm to workers, families, businesses, communities along with cost blowouts for the Government books in ACC, health and welfare.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Police at scene of Christchurch stabbing

Source: Radio New Zealand

The scene of the stabbing. RNZ / Nathan McKinnon

Police are examining a central Christchurch property where a man was critically injured in a stabbing.

Emergency services were called to the two-storey block of flats in Fitzgerald Avenue at 12:20pm on Monday, where they arrested a person.

A scene guard remained at the units overnight.

RNZ / Nathan McKinnon

Police did not believe there was a threat to public safety.

The property remained cordoned off on Tuesday morning, where blood stains and chalk could be seen on the driveway.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Person falls from Christchurch’s Tūranga library

Source: Radio New Zealand

File photo. Christchurch’s central city library Tūranga. RNZ / Nate McKinnon

A person has been taken to hospital in a critical condition after a fall from Christchurch’s central Tūranga library.

Emergency services were called to the building near Cathedral Square shortly before 11am on Tuesday.

Three fire trucks worked to free the person.

The library is closed for the day.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

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Catherine O’Hara’s cause of death revealed

Source: Radio New Zealand

Emmy-winning actress Catherine O’Hara, who starred in Schitt’s Creek and Home Alone, died from a blood clot in her lungs, her death certificate reveals.

The Canadian-born performer was rushed to the hospital on 30 January after having difficulty breathing at her home in the ritzy Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

The 71-year-old, who starred in Beetlejuice and more recently in Apple TV’s Hollywood satire show The Studio, was declared dead a short time later.

The actress’s death certificate said she had died of a pulmonary embolism and listed rectal cancer as a secondary factor.

O’Hara was born in Toronto in 1954, where she joined the legendary comedy theater Second City, alongside Eugene Levy, with whom she would collaborate throughout her career, including on the smash TV series Schitt’s Creek.

Her break into movies came in 1980 with Double Negative – also alongside Levy, and John Candy.

In 1988, she played Winona Ryder’s stepmother in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. She would later marry the film’s production designer Bo Welch. The couple had two sons, Matthew and Luke.

But it was in 1990 that she became widely known to a global audience, as the mother of Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin in Home Alone.

She would reprise the role in the film’s sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which featured a cameo from Donald Trump, decades before he would become US president.

In 1993 she collaborated again with Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The versatile comedienne also appeared in British filmmaker Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries that revel in silly spectacles of Americana, like zany dog handlers in Best in Show, vain folk singers in A Mighty Wind, and award-hungry actors in For Your Consideration

But she is perhaps best known by modern audiences for her role in Schitt’s Creek, created by Eugene Levy’s son, Dan Levy.

The role brought her an Emmy for best lead actress in 2020. She was also awarded a Golden Globe and a SAG Award.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand