New Zealand National Party

Green Ribbon finalists announced

Thu, 17 May 2012 01:19:00 GMT

Hon Amy Adams | Environment

Environment Minister Amy Adams has today announced 35 finalists for the 2012 Green Ribbon Awards, which honour outstanding contributions to protecting New Zealand's environment.

“The awards reflect the broad range of environmental challenges that New Zealand faces and the actions being taken to address them,” Ms Adams says.

“Tackling environmental issues is not easy. It takes initiative and dedication. “The awards pay homage to the incredible efforts being undertaken in homes, schools, communities and workplaces to address the environmental challenges we face.”

There are 12 award categories that recognise individuals, businesses, communities and youth, as well as larger organisations.

For the 2012 awards, 284 nominations were received, which is an increase from last year.

The finalists will now attend an awards ceremony at Parliament Buildings on 5 June. Winners will be announced in each category, and an overall supreme winner will be revealed.

“I am looking forward to meeting the finalists and learning first-hand about the great work they are all doing to improve the environment.”

The following organisations and businesses have been nominated as finalists for the 2012 Green Ribbon Awards:

Protecting our biodiversity:

Moehau Environment Group (Tairua, Northern Coromandel)
Project Crimson (Wellington)
Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park Partnership - Tui 2000 (Hamilton)

Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions

Energy for Industry (Wellington)
J. Friend and Co, NZ Artisan Honey (Christchurch)
carboNZero Holdings (Auckland)

Caring for our water

Waiau Trust (Invercargill)
Mangakotukutuku Stream Care Group (Hamilton)
Hulls Creek Restoration – Forest and Bird (Upper Hutt)

Minimising our waste

Queenstown Top 10 Holiday Park Creeksyde (Queenstown)
Go Bamboo (Gisborne)
Kaibosh Food Rescue (Wellington)

Improving our air quality

Nelson City Council (Nelson)
Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing NZ (Auckland)

Protecting our coasts and oceans

Sustainable Coastlines (Auckland)
Avon Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust (Christchurch)
West Coast Blue Penguin Trust (Hokitika)

Communication and education

The Outlook for Someday sustainability film project for young people (Auckland)
Kauri 2000 Trust (Whitianga)
Hurunui College – Nina Valley Restoration Group (Hawarden, North Canterbury)

Community leadership

Te Ara Kakariki - Greenway Canterbury Trust (Christchurch)
Project Litefoot Trust's "LiteClub" programme (Auckland)
Avon Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust (Christchurch)

Small business leadership

Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track Ltd (Tuatapere, Southland)
Celcius Coffee (Lower Hutt)
Ratanui Development Co Limited (Feilding)

Large business leadership

Honda NZ TreeFund (Nationwide)
New Zealand Steel Limited (Auckland)
Villa Maria Estate (Manukau)

Public sector leadership

Manawatu River Leaders Accord - Horizons Regional Council (Palmerston North)
Nelson City Council (Nelson)
Porirua Harbour and Catchment Strategy (Porirua)

Green economy

TenderRest (Lower Hutt)
Yealands Estate (Blenheim)
Fine Particle Application NZ (Inglewood)

Budget 2012: Recovery of Canterbury on track

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:35:00 GMT

Hon Gerry Brownlee | Earthquake Recovery - Budget 2012

The recovery of Canterbury is on track and is starting to hit its stride, Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says.

In a pre-Budget announcement with Prime Minister John Key in Christchurch today, Mr Brownlee said the Government will have spent $2.45 billion of the $5.5 billion Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund by 30 June this year on important rebuild and recovery initiatives in the wider region.

“We are forecast to spend another $2.17 billion from the Fund in the coming financial year as the repair and replacement of damaged horizontal infrastructure – drinking water, waste water, storm water, and roading – ramps up and we build new infrastructure to support the growth of greater Christchurch,” Mr Brownlee said.

Supporting the rebuild of Christchurch is one of the National-led Government’s four priorities for this term.

Mr Key and Mr Brownlee today visited the Longhurst and Knights Stream Park subdivisions in Halswell, which will comprise of 1400 sections, to view progress of bringing new land to market in greater Christchurch.

“The Government pulled out all the stops to get this subdivision moving, including fast-tracking consent approval and supporting the development of infrastructure to service it, such as the $40 million Western Interceptor sewer upgrade.

“Already 150 sections have been sold and house construction will begin in July.

“With a price tag of some $2.5 billion, the Crown’s share of horizontal infrastructure repair and replacement is the biggest component of the Government’s $5.5 billion Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund, announced in Budget 2011,” Mr Brownlee said.

Undertaking the massive task is an alliance of private companies and central and local government agencies known as the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT), which is employing around 950 people.

“In the next few months, the infrastructure rebuild will ramp up to $40 million work being completed each month and an estimated 120 to 150 work sites underway throughout the city at any one time, involving a workforce of 2500,” Mr Brownlee said.

The SCIRT alliance has three funding partners, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), Christchurch City Council (CCC), and New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), and five delivery members – City Care, Downer, Fulton Hogan, MacDow, and Fletcher Construction.

Mr Brownlee said the SCIRT team had wasted no time identifying what needed to be done and getting on with the job of getting Cantabrians’ lives back to normal.

“Already 59 projects valued at $90 million are being constructed across Christchurch.

“Another 168 projects valued at $65 million are in the process of being handed back to Christchurch City Council, while 121 projects worth $667 million are in the design process,” Mr Brownlee said.

Work already completed has seen 12,000 square metres of road repaired, 12.6km of wastewater pipe installed, and another 9.5km of drinking water pipe installed.

Forum unlocks EPIC economic potential

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:19:00 GMT

Hon Judith Collins | Ethnic Affairs

Minister for Ethnic Affairs Judith Collins says New Zealand’s ethnic businesses have a significant contribution to make to our nation’s economy, ahead of tomorrow’s Ethnic People in Commerce New Zealand (EPIC NZ) Conference.

The Conference is organised by the Office of Ethnic Affairs with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. It will focus on ways to support and tap into the potential of our small and medium sized ethnic businesses.

“EPIC NZ brings like-minded business people together to exchange ideas, build important partnerships and pursue opportunities in both onshore and offshore markets,” Ms Collins says.

“Building on the strengths of our ethnic business people is essential for a more competitive and productive economy and expanding New Zealand’s access to Asia-Pacific markets.”

The Conference will promote www.EPICNZ.co.nz to help ethnic business people connect with each other, and the wider New Zealand SME sector.

“Sixty per cent of our workforce growth comes from migration. Our ethnic and migrant communities are playing a growing role in our economy, helping us export more and creating more real jobs.

“Ethnic New Zealanders have the linguistic and cultural expertise, business acumen and experience to make valuable international connections and take our country forward.

“It makes sense to do all we can to unlock that potential to help create jobs and improve New Zealand’s trade opportunities,” Ms Collins says.

McCully announces embassy closure

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:40:00 GMT

Hon Murray McCully | Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully today announced the closure of the Stockholm embassy in Sweden as part of $10 million of savings in the Ministry’s European posts.

The Stockholm post was opened by the Clark government in 2008 and downsized by the current government in 2009.

“New Zealand enjoys an excellent relationship with Sweden and with its Scandinavian neighbours, but in today’s world it is not always necessary to have a diplomatic presence to maintain such a relationship,” Mr McCully says.

“Sweden does not have an embassy in New Zealand and I am confident that we can manage the relationship through an accreditation.”

The closure will be accompanied by other economies that will save about $10 million per year among New Zealand's European posts, including moving into less expensive accommodation.

“The move is part of a series of decisions that will enable the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet the government’s expectations of a $24 million efficiency dividend and then manage within a flatline budget for the next two years.

“In turn, this has triggered a resource reallocation based upon change to New Zealand’s current and future foreign policy and trade priorities.”

In addition to making a formal decision regarding Stockholm, Cabinet has been briefed on the modified change programme for the Ministry.

“Over the coming days the Chief Executive will formally release a decision document to staff that responds to the feedback he has received on the original change proposal. The proposal has been significantly amended to take into account concerns raised during the consultation process,” Mr McCully says.

“On 21 March I released a letter I wrote to the Chief Executive setting out concerns held by ministers in relation to the original proposal. These concerns have been addressed by the Ministry’s leadership team in the preparation of the final decision document.

“I have made it clear the final package will need to provide a structure capable of attracting and retaining capable staff while modernising and shaping the management tier of the Ministry to meet New Zealand’s current and future needs,” Mr McCully says.

Note: Attached is a summary of background material provided to Cabinet on offshore footprint issues.

Download Attachment: MFAT_strategic_drivers_summary.pdf (pdf 378.52 KB)

Government funding for new housing projects

Wed, 16 May 2012 03:07:00 GMT

Hon Phil Heatley | Housing

People in need will get the most benefit from Government funding for new housing projects, to be developed by non-government providers.

Housing Minister Phil Heatley today announced the successful applicants to the $25.3 million Social Housing Unit (SHU) Growth Fund.

The aim of the Growth Fund is to increase the supply of social and affordable housing through non-government providers developing and providing housing at scale.

Sixteen of the new projects are in Auckland and will result in 153 extra homes in the city.

“These worthwhile new projects will make a lasting contribution to Auckland city’s social housing pool,” Mr Heatley said.

"The successful organisations have demonstrated credentials and plans for ongoing growth of social housing provision. Over time they will complement state housing provision by providing a pathway to greater housing independence and in some cases home ownership," the Minister said.

The SHU, which administers the fund, was set up last year as a key part of a series of recent Government initiatives to transform social housing delivery. It aims to meet the growing need for social and affordable housing by allocating funding and forming partnerships with non-government providers that deliver social and affordable housing.

The largest allocation of $8.86 million goes to the New Zealand Housing Foundation, to build 68 new affordable homes which will provide 205 bedrooms. They will be built in West Auckland (15), Takanini (15), Mt Albert (14), New Lynn (22) and Kaikohe in Northland (2).

The target market for these houses will be low-income households where people are working full-time but haven’t enough income to save for and buy a home without some form of assistance.

A new housing project in the centre of Mangere, South Auckland, has received SHF funding of $4.33 million. The Airedale Property Trust is to build the first stage of 22 homes comprised of 14 three-bedroom homes, three four-bedroom homes and five five-bedroom homes.

This development targets Pacific families who are currently living in crowded, unstable or unsuitable accommodation. As well, Lifewise (the Social and Community services arm of the Methodist Mission Northern) will work with the Tongan Parish to establish a supportive neighbourhood environment for people living in this development.

Clusters of 31 one- and two-bedroom units will be constructed as a result of $3.89 million funding for Community of Refuge Trust, a community housing organisation that provides affordable accommodation for people with social needs. It will build clusters of units in Mt Roskill (5), Glen Innes (6), New Lynn (15) and Royal Oak (5).

An allocation of $8.25 million has also gone to Accessible Properties NZ Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of IHC, for 60 new houses throughout the country that will provide accommodation for people with intellectual disabilities.

These houses will be built in South Auckland (15), West Auckland (12), Hamilton (10), North Shore (7), Wellington (7), Christchurch (4) and Tauranga (5).

The SHU had a total of $37.35 million to distribute in the current financial year. Funding distribution for the Niche, and Māori and Rural segments, was announced last week.

Insulation programme reaches 150,000 houses

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:48:00 GMT

Hon Phil Heatley | Energy and Resources

The Government’s programme to help insulate New Zealand homes has now reached the milestone of 150,000 insulated homes, Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley announced today.

“Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart is making a real difference to the lives of New Zealanders,” Mr Heatley said.

“Each of those 150,000 homes now insulated represents an average of between two and three New Zealanders, so we can be confident that around 450,000 New Zealanders are now better off.

“Insulated homes are easier and cheaper to heat to healthy temperatures. Warmer homes mean fewer visits to the doctor, and greater productivity with less need to take time off work or school.

“The programme is also a key part of our Relationship Accord with the Māori Party and our Memorandum of Understanding with the Green Party, and I thank them for their respective contributions.”

The Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart scheme is run by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). It offers funding to homes built before the year 2000 to help homeowners get their ceiling or underfloor insulated.

“The programme has made New Zealanders aware of the benefits of insulation, and increased demand for it,” Mr Heatley said.

“Many groups and individuals have contributed to the success of the programme. Manufacturers, installers and auditors have helped to deliver a quality product and service, while councils, banks and charitable trusts have assisted in overcoming the cost barrier by offering funding and payment options.

“They can all be proud of the milestone reached today.”

For more information see www.energywise.govt.nz

Budget 2012: Extra $511.9 million for education

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:16:00 GMT

Hon Hekia Parata | Education

Budget 2012 will deliver funding that is firmly focused on raising student achievement, says Education Minister Hekia Parata.

“We are increasing the overall spending on education – for the fourth Budget in a row. This is happening despite tight fiscal times, against a backdrop of a recent global financial crisis, and the Canterbury earthquakes. This reflects the priority National places on education.’’

The Government will invest an extra $511.9 million towards new initiatives over the next four years. This takes the Government’s total investment in early childhood education and schooling to $9.6 billion for 2012/13.

“We have an education system that is amongst the best in the world. Four out of five kids are successfully getting the qualifications they need from school and we must celebrate their success and the professionals in the education system who make that possible every day.

“But our education plan is about getting five out of five.”

Evidence shows the single most important thing we can do to raise achievement is to improve teaching quality.

“In Budget 2012 we are not investing in more teachers we are investing in better teaching,’’ says Ms Parata.

“We will invest an extra $60 million over the next four years to boost new teacher recruitment and training.

“This money is in addition to the $304 million we are spending on professional learning and development for teachers in primary and secondary education over the next four years.

“By making this additional investment in quality teaching, we will ensure that initial teacher education is improved and stronger mentoring and coaching is provided.

“A post-graduate qualification will be introduced as a minimum for all trainee teachers, and schools leadership will be improved through the introduction of a new pre-principalship qualification.

“We want to create a flexible, skilled, culturally intelligent and professional workforce through these initiatives to support the development of teachers and principals.’’

To raise teaching quality we have to identify who is delivering successful practice and make that common practice, says Ms Parata.

“We will collaborate in the development of an appraisal system focusing on driving up quality teaching and quality professional leadership. Performance pay is but one of a basket of options to reward and recognise that.’’

Ms Parata says given the current economic climate in order to invest in quality teaching, the Government has had to make some trade-offs.

“We will be making a small change to teacher/student ratios in the mid-years of a child’s education.

“These ratios are a funding formula – they are how we as a Government fund schools. The actual number of children in a classroom is set by the school.’’

Ratios will remain as they are for new entrants at 1:15, and for students sitting NCEA in years 11-13, will be standardised at 1:17.3

In the middle years, 2-10, there is currently a wide range of ratios, ranging from 1:23 to 1:29. To give schools certainty about how they manage their resources, we will standardise this ratio to 1:27.5.

These changes will free up just over $43 million, on average, in each year over the next four years, which will be reinvested back into education.

“About 90 per cent of schools will either gain, or have a net loss of less than one Full Time Teacher Equivalent (FTTEs) as a result of the combined effect of the ratio changes and projected roll growth. These changes will take effect over the next five years.

“These more consistent ratios will give schools greater certainty over their resourcing from year to year.’’

Education is critical to building both our social and cultural strength and the productivity and growth of our economy, says Ms Parata.

“We want to ensure a world leading system that equips all New Zealanders with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful in the 21st century.

“The actions we have taken to date and the ones we plan for this term in Government will enable us to raise achievement for all our learners.”

Further details of new investments in education will be announced in the Budget.

Speech Notes: Raising achievement for all in Budget 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:16:00 GMT

Hon Hekia Parata | Education

• I’m here today to talk about our education plan. Education is a subject that’s dear to my heart and head - and indeed yours, as future employers and business associates of the generation of young New Zealanders who are coming through our education system today.

• I’ve been around the education sector for many years and as you know I have been the Education Minister for five months. I’m passionate about education and what a good education can do for our young people.

• We have an education system that is among the best in the world. It gives our students a platform to compete here at home and internationally. Four out of five kids are successfully getting the qualifications they need from school and we must celebrate their success and the professionals in our system who make that possible every day.

• But our Government’s education plan is about getting five out of five.

• We want all our kids to be leaving school with the skills they need to reach their potential in the modern economy. That means lifting up those who are being left behind, and encouraging those who are doing well to do even better.

• Too many of the kids falling behind because they are not getting the quality teaching and leadership that all the evidence tells us makes the difference are Māori and Pasifika learners, those who come from low socio-economic homes, or have special needs.

• We can, and must, do better for them. We don’t have a generation to waste.

• New Zealand is a small country that must make up for size with smarts. We must out-think our competitors. We need our investment in 21st century technologies to be matched by new and skilled thinking that reflects the best teaching practices and our natural cultural advantages.

• Education can make a two-fold contribution to our country. It builds our social and cultural strength, and our productivity. That’s important for our economy, and it’s important for New Zealand.

• I’m here today to talk about raising achievement for all New Zealanders, realising the potential of all our learners, creating Kiwis that can fly. We want to ensure a world-leading education system that equips our kids with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful people in the 21st century.

• Today I can confirm that Budget 2012 will increase overall spending on education for the fourth Budget in a row. This has happened despite tight fiscal times, and against a backdrop of a recent global financial crisis and the Canterbury earthquakes.

• That is a track record which reflects the priority the National-led Government places on our plan for education. Education is a winner in Budget 2012.

• We are ambitious to see all our children reach their potential and that’s why we aim to have 85 percent of all 18-year-olds having achieved a minimum of a Level Two qualification, NCEA 2 or equivalent by 2016. This is a passport to a better life – because learning is earning.

• Reaching that target will be challenging. But it is possible. It requires more of what counts and perhaps less of what’s comfortable - and it is vital that we get there.

• So we must ensure our money – your taxes - is being spent to realise the potential of each and every learner. If it’s not raising the achievement of our kids in big or small ways, if we can’t see progress in tiny steps or leaps and bounds, unless we can see positive growth, however we measure it, we should not be doing it. We need to give our learners the best possible education we can. That means making good choices with the money we have.

• Right from the earliest years of a child’s life, we know that quality early childhood education gets kids ready for learning at school. We want kids to go to primary school confident, able to engage, and eager to learn. That is why our plan for education has a target of 98% participation in early childhood education by 2016.

• We have increased spending on ECE by a third since 2008 and we now spend the most ever on this important start to life. The 34 per cent increase since 2008 is spending that complements and reinforces the positive parenting that occurs in the vast majority of homes all over NZ, while also providing for our most vulnerable children.

• We are continuing to target areas of high need in early childhood education and you will see more of that on Budget day.

• After early childhood education, parents then send their most cherished creation - their young child - to school. We entrust schools with our children and with the high expectations we have of and for them.

• The platform for learning is formally built in these critical primary years. All of us want to understand at regular intervals how well the building of that platform is progressing and strengthening.

• With the introduction of National Standards by our Government, data and information is being collected and reported to show if kids are doing well, how their learning is improving, and what needs to change for better learning. Parents are pleased to have this information about how much their child’s learning has progressed as well as where their child’s achievement sits in the classroom and nationwide.

• Ensuring that our Year 8 students arrive from primary school prepared and ready is essential for their success at senior school levels. Our plan for education includes clarifying tertiary and vocational pathways so students can consider early the best options for them.

• The challenge for our secondary schools is to retain all students, especially through those vulnerable years 9-10, and to ensure that they can secure a passport to a better quality of life. At present one in five of our 15-16 year olds is dropping out. We want all 18 year olds to have a minimum of an NCEA Level 2 qualification, or equivalent. Why? Because learning is earning.

• We are also doing a lot to invest in 21st century learning environments. This includes setting aside the first $1 billion from the Future Investment Fund to create modern learning environments, and spending between $300 million and $400 million on the Network for Learning, which will ensure our students can make the most of all the opportunities that are coming from ultra-fast broadband. The classroom your child learns in today is very different to the classroom you and I learnt in. And their learning spaces will continue to evolve and change.

• We are doing a lot to raise student achievement in schools but there is more we can do. There are two main investments we can make to raise achievement – they are in quality teaching, and quality professional leadership. I’d like to talk a bit about these now.

• Our biggest value investment is our education profession -- the approximately 50,000 teachers and 2,500 principals, with 35,000 non-teaching support staff. These numbers have increased by nearly 6,000 teachers over the past 10 years and to be honest at the same time our student achievement results have plateaued.

• We have $3.69 billion invested in teachers’ and principals’ salaries. That’s just under half of the Education Vote for that sector. The salary bill has increased by around 55%, well over inflation, since the year 2000 with only an incremental increase in achievement - and not by all learners.

• Even so, our National-led Government is committed to improving the quality of teaching through an ongoing investment of just over $300m over the next four years in professional learning and development.

• Today I am pleased to announce that in Budget 2012 we will invest a further $511.9m of new money into quality frontline education services.

• Quality teaching is about holding high expectations of, being able to relate to and finding what works for every single child in the classroom. That’s what every one of our teachers needs to be able to do.

• A good example is Oturu School in the Far North, where with great professional leadership and outstanding teaching, students and their whole school community have participated in an engaging cross curriculum programme. It has seen strengthened literacy and numeracy through a number of initiatives such as growing, harvesting, and marketing olive oil, as well as developing effective local remedies for skin and hair conditions. Learning, earning, and having fun!

• Another good example is Amesbury School, here in Wellington, where the students are engaged through art, music, dance, multi-media activities, expressed equally naturally in beautiful English and te reo Māori, and across all age groups.

• We are embarking on a two year work programme to retain and grow, as well as attract, the best talent into the profession. To do that we will:

1. Invest an additional $60 million over four years to boost new teacher- recruitment and training
2. Ensure that student teachers are equipped with the best teaching practices for 21st century learning
3. Shift to a post-graduate qualification for new teachers
4. And give stronger mentoring and coaching for those teachers working towards full registration.

• We will develop better career progression pathways, introduce a new pre-principalship qualification that will strengthen the recruitment and selection of school leaders, and review the Teachers Council to secure a stronger professional body.

• We are investing in better teaching. We need to find ways to recognise and reward our outstanding teachers as well as work with those who have potential. We also need to identify those who are not keeping up, or who are just going through the motions.

• To raise teaching quality, we have to identify who is delivering successful practice and make that common practice.

• To this end we will collaborate in the development of an appraisal system focusing on driving up quality teaching and quality professional leadership. Performance pay is but one of a basket of options to reward and recognise that.

• Teaching is a profession; professions have a number of characteristics of which accountability for performance – good, great, outstanding, unacceptable - is one.

• The reality is that we are in a tight economic environment. In order to make this new investment in quality teaching and leading, we have to make some trade-offs. As I have already outlined we are opting for quality not quantity, better teaching not more teachers.

• We will fund the improvement in teaching quality by making a small change to teacher: student ratios. These changes will free up just over $43 million, on average, in each year over the next four years.

• We will continue to emphasise the most critical transition years of new entrants and senior secondary school. The way we will do this is by maintaining or lowering the ratios at new entrant year 1 and years 11-13, and making a small adjustment to achieve consistency of teacher:student ratios in the mid-years of schooling.

• Ratios will remain as they are for new entrant year one at 1:15, and for students sitting NCEA in years 11-13, will be standardised at 1:17.3.

• In the middle years 2-10 there is currently a wide range of ratios, ranging from 1:23 to 1:29. To give schools consistency and certainty about how they manage their resources, we will standardise this ratio at 1:27.5.

• What this means is that 90 per cent of schools will either gain, or have a net loss of less than one Full Time Teacher Equivalent (FTTEs) as a result of the combined effect of the ratio changes and projected roll growth. These changes will take effect over the next five years.

• To be clear, these ratios are a funding formula – they are how we as the Government funds schools. The actual number of children in a classroom is set by the school.

• Every year a school’s roll changes because families move or make different education choices. And every year schools reset class sizes according to those changes in their roll. These more consistent ratios will be fairer and give schools greater certainty over their resourcing from year to year.

• My primary school teacher tells me that my class numbered 42! The important point here is that all the evidence tells us that it is the quality of teaching that makes the difference to learning and achievement, not one or two extra students in a class.

• The money we free up from these small changes will be reinvested into improving teaching quality. It is the single most important thing we can do to raise student achievement.

• In our education plan, success in the compulsory primary and secondary sector means better leadership and better teaching. It means:

1. delivering measurable improvement in learning, and reporting that to parents every six months at primary or intermediate school (years 1-8)
2. Year 8 students transitioning to secondary school able to read and write and do mathematics at a year 9 level
3. Year 9 and 10s participation and engagement keeping them in school and readying them for the NCEA years
4. 85 % of 18 year-olds achieving in NCEA Level 2 (or equivalents) by 2016.

• One of the National-led Government’s key priorities is to deliver better public services to New Zealanders within tight fiscal constraints. Raising educational achievement, while ensuring value for money, is central to this.

• We want to ensure a world leading education system that equips all New Zealand students with the knowledge, skills and values to be successful people in the 21st century.

• We are completely focused on giving children and young people the opportunity to succeed from early childhood learning, though schooling and into vocational and tertiary training and education.

• So I am pleased Budget 2012 invests more in education than ever. Education is a priority for our Government despite the tough economic environment we are in and you will see more of our plan in the Budget on May 24.

• We know the single most important thing we can do to raise achievement is to improve teaching quality so that’s why we are investing in better teaching, not more teachers.

• Education is a passport to a better life. Learning is earning. That’s why our education plan is focused on raising achievement for five out of five of our kids. We want all our learners to realise their potential, and we want to create Kiwis that can fly!

• The actions we have taken to date and those we undertake in this term in Government reflect our education plan to raise education achievement and deliver on building a brighter future for all New Zealanders.

Further details of new investments in education will be announced in the Budget.

2012 IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:32:00 GMT

Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman | State Services

Good evening everyone

I am very pleased to be here tonight as we recognise some of the incredible work and innovation of New Zealand’s public servants.

It’s especially fitting in 2012 that we acknowledge this – as this year marks the centenary of the Public Service in New Zealand, which came in to being in 1912.

For 100 years New Zealanders have benefitted from a professional, unified and impartial Public Service.

Over this time New Zealand’s Public Service has earned a reputation which is envied around the world.

A trusted and high performing State sector is vital for New Zealanders - especially during tough economic times.

I’ve looked through this impressive list finalists and while they each have their own merits, for me two key aspects stand out.
A dedication to excellence, and a focus on innovation.

Innovation is crucial to a high performing Public Service.
If we continue to approach challenges in the same way we will come up with the same old responses.

Christchurch public servants showed us how important innovation is – in good times and in bad.

Following the Canterbury earthquakes, they showed that by:

working in different ways,
sharing information and infrastructure,
collaborating across agency lines, and
by working in partnership with business and community groups, new and innovative solutions are possible.

The Christchurch innovations are demonstrations of the Better Public Services the government is trying to achieve.

The Better Public Services programme is looking now at how those innovations can inform and drive change in other parts of the country, including Wellington.

Let’s be clear. Innovation is not just about coming up with bright ideas. It’s about using innovation methods and disciplines – like service design – to approach problems in a new way.

It requires new skills and capabilities that we will be trying to build across the State Services.

The key to successful innovation is a focus on the recipients of the service.

All the Christchurch innovations were built around the question: “what do people need?” and designing solutions around those needs.

That’s what government should be about. We want to move beyond ‘innovation by necessity’, as was mostly the case in Christchurch, to ‘innovation by design’.

And tonight we recognise ‘innovation by design’ within agencies.

This is the fifth annual programme of Public Sector Excellence Awards initiated by the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ).

This year there was a record number of nominations – 71.

That’s great! – do you think we could get 100 next year?!

Testament to the excellent work from across the sector.

And just as pleasing – there’s a broad range of organisations which have been put forward: Public Service Departments, non-Public Service Departments, Crown Entities, Local Government, District Health Boards and Tertiary Education Institutions.

These awards require an immense amount of work – not just from the nominees, but also from those behind the scenes.

So I’d like to start by thanking Len Cook, President of IPANZ, and Judith Johnson, Chair of the Judging Panel, for their work on this programme.

Thanks are also due to the judges - which this year included Sir Anand Satyanand, our former Governor General – I understand they had a very difficult job in selecting tonight’s finalists.

These awards have been funded by generous sponsorship, and so I’d like to extend a warm thank you to all the sponsors, for their very important support.

In particular, Gen-I, the lead sponsor for the Public Sector Excellence Awards programme, and PWC, the sponsor for the awards functions.

There are eight Award categories this year, which are:

Improving Public Value through Business Transformation
Working Together for Better Services
Crown – Māori Relationships
Networked Government
Public Sector Communications
Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence
Recognising Ethnic Diversity
New Professional of the Year

There is also a Supreme Award, which will be awarded to the overall winner at the Public Sector Excellence Awards function
on 27 June.

It is now my pleasure to announce the finalists in each Award category.

PART 2
Minister Coleman, Jeff Montgomery (Chair), and relevant sponsor representative (one for each award category)

Jeff Montgomery will read out the Award title.
The sponsor representative will step onto the stage with the Certificates, and the Minister will read out each finalist.
After each certificate is presented the Minister, Sponsor and Finalist pause for a photo before announcing the next finalist.

Improving Public Value through Business Transformation

(Sponsor: The Treasury)

FINALISTS:

Redevelopment of Māori LandOnline with Geographical Information System capability

Ministry of Justice

Blood is a Gift

Auckland District Health Board

Pre-charge warnings: Alternative Resolutions, Policing Excellence

New Zealand Police

Reforming Greater Wellington's Water Supply Business

Greater Wellington Regional Council

Working Together for Better Services

(Sponsor: (SOLGM) Society of Local Government Managers)

FINALISTS:

Aoraki/Mount Cook solid waste plant development

Department of Conservation, Mackenzie District Council and Timaru District Council

Operation Suburb

Department of Building and Housing and Christchurch City Council

Rangitoto/Motutapu pest eradication project

Department of Conservation

Resolving historic claims of child abuse and neglect

Ministry of Social Development, Department of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Education

Crown – Māori Relationships

(Sponsor: Te Puni Kokiri)

FINALISTS:

The Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Department of Conservation and Ruapuha Uekaha Hapu Trust

Maori, Pacific and Ethnic Wardens

New Zealand Police

Protecting the Waipoua and Mataraua Forest

Department of Conservation and Te Iwi O Te Roroa

Te Upoko Taiao - a partnership for resource management in the Wellington Region

Greater Wellington Regional Council and Te Ara Tahi (the Greater Wellington iwi leadership forum)

Networked Government

(Sponsor: Microsoft)

FINALISTS:

- A fresh look at our past - the digitising of New Zealand's historic Yearbooks

Statistics New Zealand

- Digitisation - Winning the Paper War

Ministry of Social Development

- Earthquake Employment Support

Ministry of Social Development

Public Sector Communications

(Sponsor: Talent2)

FINALISTS:

Going Digital

Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Police Recruitment Use of Social Media

New Zealand Police

Smokefree Prisons

Department of Corrections

What’s My Number

Electricity Authority and Ministry of Consumer Affairs

Improving Performance through Leadership Excellence

(Sponsors: SSC and the Leadership Development Centre)

FINALISTS:

Leading from where you stand

Statistics New Zealand

Our Place: Making a Great Place

Land Information New Zealand

Cross Government Collective Pacific Senior Public Sector Leadership

Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs

Recognising Ethnic Diversity

(Sponsor: Office of Ethinic Affairs)

FINALISTS:

Enhancing Productivity in Diverse Kiwi Workplaces

Department of Labour

Maori Pacific and Ethnic Services Cultural Response Team

New Zealand Police

Intercultural Learning and Dialogue Programme

Unitec Institute of Technology

New Professional of the Year

(Sponsor: Victoria University School of Government)

FINALISTS:

Jo Pugh

Department of Labour

Ellen MacGregor Reid

Ministry of Social Development

Daria Kwon

Statistics New Zealand

Geoff Cooper

Auckland Council

And that brings us to the end of tonight’s announcements.

Congratulations to all of those who were finalists and congratulations to all groups who also took the time to submit your projects for consideration.

It is pleasing to see that so many of you have found ways to improve the services that you provide to New Zealanders, and as a representative of the government, I wish to thank you for your work.

The final Awards Ceremony is being held on June 27th and I hope to see you all there.

Thank you.

Groser to visit Washington DC

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:36:00 GMT

Hon Tim Groser | Trade

Trade Minister Tim Groser will visit Washington DC this week to deliver a keynote address on food security and meet with his American counterparts.

Mr Groser’s address will focus on food security and trade policy at a conference convened by the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council.

“At the heart of many of our trade negotiating agendas lies the issue of food security. It is always among the most sensitive issues NZ has to confront in these negotiations, both in the WTO and all our FTA negotiations.

“As the emerging economies move up the income ladder they demand more protein, safer, quality and more varied foods. This is NZ's market niche.

“The old model of equating food security with complete self-sufficiency in domestic food production is under challenge around the world. I will be pleased to state our view and meet many influential policy makers in this area,” Mr Groser says.

Mr Groser will meet with counterparts including US Trade Representative Minister Ron Kirk, the two Chairs of the US Congress Ways and Means Committee and its sub-committee on Trade, White House Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economic Affairs Mike Froman, Chief US Climate Change negotiator Todd Stern, Senior US Treasury officials, and a range of other officials in the trade and climate change policy areas.

“The TPP is important to NZ’s trade future and these meetings will provide the opportunity to take political level soundings on its progress with both the US Minister and the key Congressional leaders in the trade area.”

Mr Groser says New Zealand's interests today go well beyond agriculture. "We have had increasing success in recent years ramping up our high-end services exports, known as 'commercial services' (architectural, legal, engineering design, audio-visual, trade merchanting and other technical services).

“At some $4 billion in 2011, they are almost equal to 10% of our total merchandise exports and complement our traditional services exports in education and tourism. Unlike our traditional exports which are focussed more on emerging economies, particularly in Asia, most of these commercial services exports go to Australia, the US and Europe.”

In this context, Mr Groser will also be meeting Mr Bob Vastine, President of the Coalition of Services Industries to discuss how to move forward the international services agenda.

McCully to visit Canada and United States

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:35:00 GMT

Hon Murray McCully | Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will travel to North America tomorrow for a number of international meetings.

Mr McCully is leading the New Zealand delegation, including Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman, to the 25th NATO Summit in Chicago.

The summit, hosted by US President Barack Obama, brings together NATO members and contributors to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan.

Mr McCully will also travel to Washington, New York and Montreal, Canada.

In Washington, Mr McCully will meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“The Wellington Declaration, signed in November 2010, proposed regular meetings at Foreign Minister/Secretary of State level to ensure we maintain momentum in the relationship,” Mr McCully says.

Alongside representatives from Pacific Island states, Mr McCully will attend a number of Pacific Day events being held in Washington and deliver a keynote address at the Pacific Day seminar.

In New York, Mr McCully will meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss a range of international issues.

Discussions will also be held with representatives from around the world in support of New Zealand’s campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council in 2015-16.

As Sport and Recreation Minister and representing Oceania, Mr McCully will attend and chair the board meeting of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Montreal.

iPad app for Kiwi businesses goes online

Tue, 15 May 2012 03:37:00 GMT

Hon Steven Joyce | Economic Development

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce today launched two new online products – including an iPad app for business – as part of the Government’s plan for delivering better public services.

The iPad app, available through the business.govt.nz portal, enables small businesses to access tools and tips for growth wherever and whenever they need it. The second product, business calendar B-Cal, provides businesses with technology features to highlight important business requirements.

“The new iPad app and B-Cal calendar are early examples of what we will produce as we build better online Government services for business,” Mr Joyce says.

“The iPad app is cutting-edge technology, allowing small businesses to access tools and advice at a time and place convenient to them. B-Cal is an interactive calendar providing reminders for key government dates for business, making it easier for them to work with government.

“Businesses are used to operating in a hi-tech environment where they can use a range of channels. As part of its commitment to better public service for business, the Government is developing a one-stop online shop where companies can access all government advice and support they need to run and grow their business.

“We will achieve this through closer integration across government, faster and better use of technology, and services designed with business needs in mind.

“Through our plan for delivering better public services, our Business Growth Agenda and establishing the new Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Government is making sure business is at the forefront of building a more competitive and productive economy.”

To access both products visit www.business.govt.nz

New Board to oversee Work and Income performance

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:08:00 GMT

Hon Paula Bennett | Youth Affairs - Social Development

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett today announced the new Work and Income board members to oversee the investment approach to welfare.

This new approach will be embedded at all levels of the welfare system and the Board will be responsible for ensuring accountability and overseeing the delivery of reforms that will see fewer people on welfare for long periods.

“Paula Rebstock will chair the Board with five other members from outside the public service with a wide range of relevant experience and expertise.”

‘They will help make decisions about which interventions work best for individuals and will oversee trials to collect best evidence,” says Mrs Bennett.

The Work and Income Board will:

Advise and support the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development in the implementation of welfare reforms
Report to the Minister for Social Development, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State Services on Work and Income’s performance

The Board members are:

Ms Paula Rebstock (Chair)
Dr Ian McPherson
Professor Kathryn McPherson
Mr Andrew Body
Mr Reg Barrett
Ms Debbie Packer

Members of the Board have experience in the insurance and finance industries which already use investment approaches to reduce future liability.

“The lifetime cost of today’s total number of beneficiaries is estimated at $45 billion. It makes good economic and social sense to provide targeted support up front to get more people into work sooner, ” Mrs Bennett says.

Each year an actuarial valuation will be completed to determine the long-term future spend on the benefit system, taking into account how long clients are likely to remain on benefits and wider economic and demographic trends.

The valuation will provide vital information to the Board and Work and Income on the drivers of cost in the welfare system along with priority areas and groups for investment to reduce long term benefit dependency.

The Government is investing $1.1 million in the six-member board over the next four years. The Board are appointed for 15 months. The Minister will review the operation by June 2013

Work and Income Board members

Ms Paula Rebstock (Chair)
Ms Rebstock was the Chair of the Welfare Working Group which reported to Ministers in February 2011. She is currently Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, Chair of the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman Commission and a member of the Accident Compensation Corporation Board. Ms Rebstock was previously the Chair of the Commerce Commission and has expertise in governance, economic regulation, and labour market policy.

Dr Ian McPherson is the Chief Executive Officer of Southern Cross Healthcare Group. He holds a medical degree from Otago University and started his career in medicine with the Waikato Hospital Board. From 1982 to 1985, he worked for the International Red Cross as Medical Co-ordinator. He has been chief executive officer for New Zealand hospital boards and worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Ministry of Health, advising on New Zealand health reform.

Professor Kathryn McPherson was a member of the Welfare Working Group. She is a Professor of Rehabilitation (Laura Fergusson Chair) at the Auckland University of Technology and is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton as well as at King's College London. Professor McPherson has a PhD from Edinburgh University and a background in nursing, midwifery and psychology. Professor McPherson will bring to the Board expertise in the rehabilitation for people with chronic and disabling conditions including strokes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain or life threatening illness.

Mr Andrew Body is a member of the Crown Fibre Holdings Board, and has more than 20 years experience in business. He was a shareholder and Director of FR Partners until 2001. Mr Body brings strong financial skills to the Board.

Mr Reg Barrett is a Wellington based company director and business consultant involved in both the private and public sector. He held CEO positions spanning 13 years and has over 10 years executive experience in a range of business environments as well as 20 years experience as a member or chairman on a range of Boards. Mr Barrett brings governance and critical information technology skills to the Board.

Ms Debbie Packer (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru) is a South Taranaki based company director and business consultant. She also has experience in both the private and public sector. She is a former Deputy Mayor of the South Taranaki District Council. She is a current member of the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister for Economic Development’s Independent Māori Economic Development Panel.

Minister opens new $10.2 million Police HQ

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:21:00 GMT

Hon Anne Tolley | Police

Police Minister Anne Tolley has today officially opened the new Counties Manukau East police station.

The new $10.2 million headquarters, at Ormiston Road in Botany, provides modern facilities for police staff and members of the community, and has been completed ahead of time and under budget.

“The new station is a real boost to the area,” says Mrs Tolley.

“It provides a better and more efficient workplace for staff, in an area which is at the forefront of policing in New Zealand.

“Counties Manukau police, aided by 300 additional frontline officers provided by the National-led Government, are leading the way in the Policing Excellence programme.

“They are preventing and reducing crime, with Neighbourhood Policing Teams providing visibility and working closely with local people.

“As a result, there are safer communities and fewer victims of crime, and I wish Counties Manukau Police continued success in their new premises.”

Safety key in SH2 Muldoon’s corner completion

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:19:00 GMT

Hon Simon Bridges | Transport

The completion of the SH2 Muldoon’s corner easing project near the summit of Rimutaka Hill in Wellington represents another improvement in the safety and efficiency of the country’s main transport routes, Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges said at the completion celebration event today.

“This project greatly improves the alignment and design speed along the primary route that connects Wellington and the Wairarapa. Vehicles will now be able to travel on a straighter road at an average speed of 55km/hr. This is up from the previous speeds of 25-35km/hr and will make a big difference to daily commuters and tourists,” Mr Bridges says.

The improvements also enable commercial traffic and freight trucks, such as those carrying logs through to the port in Wellington, to navigate the road without encountering the ‘tight right’ Muldoon’s corner where they had to stop in order to pass safely.

Construction on the project started in September 2009. It received funding through the Government’s Jobs and Growth stimulus package and was bought forward 30 months ahead of programme. More than 200 people have worked on the $16.5 million project and as many as 80 were on site at any one time prior to completion, with 230,000 cubic metres of earthworks shifted.

“Road safety is one of the Government’s top transport priorities and projects such as the one we are celebrating today provide significant safety benefits to road-users. I commend all those involved with this easing project.”

Budget 2012: $144m more for disability support

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:17:00 GMT

Hon Tony Ryall | Disability Issues - Health - Budget 2012

Budget 2012 will make available $143.7 million over the next four years to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Speaking at the New Zealand Federation of Disabilities Information Centres’ Conference in Queenstown today, Health Minister Tony Ryall says the $143.7 million is made up of $132.7 million in new investment and $11.0 million in savings.

The disabilities sector receives the largest share of new health funding in the budget, other than DHBs.

The Government is committed to providing disabled people with more support so they can have greater independence and live better lives in their communities, Health Minister Tony Ryall and Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia say.

The $143.7 million investment will fund initiatives including:

•           $54.7 million over the next four years for more home and community support services, such as help with showering, getting dressed, preparing a meal, and house work. This will help people with disabilities to continue living in their community rather than having to enter residential care.

•           $1.3 million one-off funding for additional cochlear implants and follow-up services for adults and children in 2012/13

•           $20.7 million over the next four years for more help with supports like hearing aids, hoists and wheelchair access.

•           $57.6 million over the next four years for the increasing numbers of disabled people using residential support services.

•           $9.4 million over the next four years to give more people greater choice and control of the services they receive.

This adds to the $1.035 billion the Government already spends every year in supporting disabled people including $450 million for residential care. Taxpayers also fund $224 million for disabled people living at home. This includes payments to non-family care givers.

The National led government has been introducing a newer, more individualised approach to disability funding. This has involved giving disabled people much greater say on how their share of the budget is spent. There are now almost 1,300 disabled people who have control of their allocated budget and they can choose how, what and who supports them.

Budget 2012: $101m for surgery, cancer services

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:41:00 GMT

Hon Tony Ryall | Health - Budget 2012

The Budget next week will provide $101 million of extra funding over the next four years for more elective operations and scans, and improved cancer services, Health Minister Tony Ryall says.

In a pre-Budget announcement with Prime Minister John Key, Mr Ryall said the extra Budget funding would invest in four new initiatives.

“This is part of our commitment to deliver more and better frontline health services where they are most needed, while ensuring we responsibly manage the Government’s finances,” Mr Ryall says.

“This increased funding will build on the record success of the National Health Target ‘shorter waits for cancer treatment’. It will also build on the record levels in elective surgery and reduced waiting times achieved by the National-led Government,” he says.

“District Health Boards are now performing 27,000 more elective operations a year – that’s 500 extra operations a week – compared to 2008.

“In Budget 2012, we will invest a further $48.0 million to further increase those record numbers of elective operations by at least 4,000 each year.

“We also want shorter waits for important diagnostic tests, such as MRI scans, CT scans, and colonoscopies. These tests help determine if patients require an operation or other treatment.

“We will invest $16.0 million in IT systems in Budget 2012 to facilitate faster access to these important tests, and $4.0 million for a national register of patients treated for heart conditions, to improve the quality of care across hospitals. This was a key recommendation of the New Zealand Cardiac Network.

Budget 2012 is also delivering an additional $33 million over the next four years for better and faster services for cancer patients.

This includes funding for dedicated nurses who will coordinate care and support for individual patients throughout the course of their cancer treatment. “Being diagnosed with cancer is a difficult time for patients and their families,” Mr Ryall says. “This more personalised service will mean better treatment and a less stressful experience for patients.

“Research shows some cancer patients can come into contact with up to 28 doctors and even more nurses throughout their treatment. The new dedicated cancer nurses will act as a single point of contact and assist patients and their families across different parts of the health service. This expands what is already happening in parts of the country and feedback from patients has been fantastic.

“We’re also working to further reduce waiting times throughout a patient’s treatment. We want faster access to a specialist once cancer is suspected and then faster access to treatment once there is a confirmed diagnosis.”

DHBs will start by collecting data at key points along the patient’s clinical journey, as of 1 July 2012.

“The more we know, the better we can identify issues that lead to delays and frustrations for patients. For example, instead of a patient visiting hospital on multiple occasions for different tests, departments should coordinate appointments so they are all completed in one day,” Mr Ryall says.

These new initiatives build on the success of the National Health Target ‘shorter waits for cancer treatment.’

“Under our National Health Targets, waits for radiation treatment have reduced in the last three years from up to 15 weeks to four weeks. Patients no longer have to go to Australia for treatment.”

Budget 2012: Prescription charges help fund Health

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:36:00 GMT

Hon Tony Ryall | Health - Budget 2012

Health Minister Tony Ryall today announced the Government will increase the $3 prescription charge to $5 per item up to a maximum of 20 items from 1 January 2013. The savings will be reinvested in the health sector.

“The National-led Government is committed to protecting and growing public health services,” Mr Ryall said at a pre-Budget announcement with Prime Minister John Key.

“Despite tight financial times and what will be a zero Budget on 24 May, health will receive a big funding boost, which will come from savings within health and across the Government’s accounts.

“This new spending will help meet cost pressures and fund new initiatives in Health, four of which we are announcing today.

“The Government is expecting Health to deliver some savings as it works to target investment where it is most needed, control debt and bring its books back into surplus in 2014/15.

“The savings from these prescription changes amount to $20 million in the first year and $40 million in subsequent years,” Mr Ryall says.

Most New Zealanders now pay $3 per prescription item up to a maximum of 20 items per family per year, after which items are free. This charge will increase to $5 per item on 1 January 2013, up to the 20 item maximum a year.

“The change means no person or family need pay more than an extra $40 per year for their prescription items,” Mr Ryall says.

“This is the first time the prescription charge has been increased in 20 years. Importantly, there will continue to be no charge for under- sixes.

“As is the case now, after 20 prescriptions individuals and families get a safety net card (pharmaceutical subsidy card) that ensures all further prescriptions are at no charge for the rest of that year.

“Currently, because of this safety net, about a third of all prescriptions are at no charge to the patient.

“It’s important that to receive these subsidies, families get a pharmaceutical subsidy card. The simplest way to ensure you receive a card once you’ve reached the threshold, is to work closely with your local pharmacy.”

New Zealand continues to have low prescription charges compared to almost every other developed country.

In Australia, for example, the standard prescription charge is up to NZ$45 and in England it’s around NZ$16. In Australia people on low incomes pay around NZ$7.45 per item. In Finland, there is an annual limit of around NZ$1,107 per patient, after which there is a flat fee of around NZ$2.50 per medicine item.

Improvements to employment law announced

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:31:00 GMT

Hon Kate Wilkinson | Labour

Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson has announced a package of measures that will extend workers’ rights to request flexible working hours and ensure a fair and flexible collective bargaining environment.

The changes were approved by Cabinet today and are expected to go before Parliament this year.

“These improvements are a reflection of National’s election manifesto, and show that we’re keeping our pre-election promises,” Ms Wilkinson says.

“We are extending the right to request flexible working arrangements to all workers, right from their first day on the job. Under the current law this is only available to caregivers, and only then after six months of employment.

“Modern lifestyles are changing, and workplaces need to reflect this reality. Flexible working arrangements will boost productivity and help employees find the work-life balance that works for them and their family.

“Flexible hours are often agreed to informally, and by extending eligibility to all employees, we hope to encourage agreement without having to go through a formal process.”

Ms Wilkinson says that the modest changes to collective bargaining will address the fact that some of the current rules are overly bureaucratic, limit choice and reduce the effectiveness of the bargaining process.

“The changes we are making are about improving efficiencies and making it fairer for both workers and employers.”

The changes include:

• A return to the original position in the Employment Relations Act where the duty of good faith does not require the parties to conclude a collective agreement.
• Allowing employers to opt out of multi-employer bargaining.
• Allowing for partial pay reductions in cases of partial strike action.
• Removing the 30-day rule that forces non-union members to take union terms and conditions.

“In addition to these manifesto policies, parties will be required to provide notice of a strike or lock-out. We will also fix the anomaly where there are different time frames for unions and employers to initiate collective bargaining,” Ms Wilkinson says.

Ms Wilkinson says that the changes reflect a pragmatic approach to improving fairness and flexibility in employment law that will improve work-life balance, increase productivity, and help create higher paying jobs for all New Zealanders.

Government addresses compliance costs for imported goods containing synthetic greenhouse gases

Mon, 14 May 2012 03:29:00 GMT

Hon Tim Groser | Climate Change Issues

The Government is proposing to replace the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) obligations for importers of goods containing synthetic greenhouse gases with a levy, Minister for Climate Change Issues Tim Groser, announced today.

The proposed change does not include bulk importers of synthetic greenhouse gases who continue to have an obligation for emissions under the ETS.

“The ETS Review Panel, set up by the Government in December 2010, found that importers of synthetic greenhouse gases in refrigerators, air conditioning units, and electrical switchgear faced higher compliance costs than others sectors,” says Mr Groser.

“It recommended that the obligations under the ETS be removed for these participants and replaced with a levy.

“The levy would be linked to the price of carbon to maintain an equivalent cost for emissions.

“The proposed changes will help to keep the compliance costs faced by this sector of the industry at a reasonable level, while ensuring it continues to do its fair share in reducing New Zealand’s emissions,” says Mr Groser.

Full details on the proposed changes are available on the Ministry for the Environment’s climate change website www.climatechange.govt.nz

IPONZ hits online registration milestone

Sat, 12 May 2012 15:32:00 GMT

Hon Craig Foss | Commerce

Commerce Minister Craig Foss has congratulated the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) on its world-leading online registration system.

“This new system is the best in the world. It removes the need for paper filing, cuts down on processing times, reduces compliance burdens and introduces much greater capabilities for Kiwi entrepreneurs,” says Mr Foss.

More than 4520 trade mark applications and 365 design applications have been lodged since the site went live three months ago.

“Tasks that previously took days can be done automatically and examination times can be reduced by more than eighty per cent.

“The system has been given the seal of approval by the World Intellectual Property Office, which says it provides comprehensive world-class features rarely seen in other countries,” says Mr Foss.

Further information can be found at www.iponz.govt.nz/cms.

“The new system gives trade-mark examiners more time to consider applications, instead of getting weighed down with administrative tasks,” says Mr Foss.

Mr Foss also congratulated IPONZ for winning the Grafton 2012 Driving Transformational Change Award earlier this week.

Conservation Board Chairperson’s Conference

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:35:00 GMT

Hon Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Boards are an important link between DOC and the community - you are independent and whilst you do not have a formal function to represent or be your community’s voice in conservation management – you are representative of your communities . Your members are drawn from your communities with extensive regional knowledge, varying skills and networks. You bring an understanding of what locals want, what is important to your communities and also how conservation initiatives can help them grow. You are expected to provide advice both to DOC and also to the Conservation Authority. And I expect both the Department and the Authority to listen to that advice.

I would like to thank you for all of the work you are doing, the hours you put in, and your dedication to conservation. But I also want to know from you what you need to be more effective, what particular challenges you may have, and how we can all work together better to champion conservation in New Zealand. What works well – and what is not working so well.

Conservation is not just the responsibility of DOC – it is everyone’s responsibility. Communities, like-minded organisations, iwi, and businesses all have a role to play in helping protect New Zealand’s natural environments for future generations.

Whilst DOC manages almost a third of the country’s land area for the benefit of all New Zealanders the role of Conservation Boards – and your role as chairpersons - is vital. And we must always be on the lookout for good people to be appointed to your Board, to contribute to the work that your Boards do, to provide that geographical, skill, gender and background balance to produce dynamic and effective boards .

We all know it’s tough economic times globally and here nationally – but that gives us the opportunity to think about things differently, to look at ways to be more efficient and effective and to embrace the opportunity for change rather than fear it. There will never be enough money to do all the conservation work we want to. I understand that a few years ago (before my time) the department did a review into the cost of setting up their wish list of biodiversity projects – they stopped counting when they reached the level of the multi-billion dollar health budget!

Technology

Many improvements are being made through the better use of technology.

Creating a greater awareness and getting people involved in conservation is very important to me. The internet is a great tool. DOC’s website gets 4.4 million hits a year. It is being used to promote more comprehensive educational and recreational material. For example, to encourage more people to get out and enjoy our special places, DOC recently posted an extensive list of more than 700 operators who offer approved recreational activities on public conservation land.

And when people do get out there we want them to be safe. A hunting dedicated page on the website and the on-line hunting permit system is making it easier for recreational hunters to get a permit and easily access safety information. Given the recent spate of hunting deaths, sending clear safety messages to hunters is now more important than ever.

Working with the NZ Mountain Safety Council and the Police, among others, DOC is also phasing in a new electronic intentions system - an improved nationwide wide tracking system for people heading into the great outdoors. This replaces the existing paper based system and provides more reliable and detailed information that can be used in a Search and Rescue emergency.

But it is out in the field that new technology is having an even bigger impact.

It used to take a ranger 20 days to gather data on kiwi wearing transmitters in Franz Joseph’s Rowi Kiwi Sanctuary, but thanks to the “Sky Ranger” aerial tracking system that information can now be captured in a two hour flight. This technology is now used to monitor other endangered species including takahe, kakapo and taiko (a rare petrel on the Chatham Islands).

Similarly, DOC has developed small and cheap field recorders that are left in a conservation area where they record sounds for a few hours a day. Once retrieved, a computer searches the recordings for bird calls. This is a very useful way to monitor bird populations in an area and detect any endangered species. For example, recordings have shown rare kiwi populations are thriving in the West Coast. The cost of monitoring by these devices is minute compared to the cost of having staff do it.

Protecting our native species is a difficult job. There are more than 2800 threatened species in New Zealand and DOC actively works with about 200 of them. A major step forward in the past twelve months has been the phasing in of the Natural Heritage Management System (NHMS). This advanced management system allows the Department to prioritise the species and eco-systems being managed at a national level, and the efficiency gains has meant DOC will be able to begin work on new programmes for about 50 more threatened species this year. That is fantastic news and just shows what can be done with new thinking and advanced technologies – and the winner is conservation.

Predator control

As you know controlling predators (our imported possums, stoats, ferrets, rats and mice) is the biggest challenge DOC faces. There are 8.5 million hectares of conservation land and to try and wipe out pests by traps and poison alone would cost well over DOC’s entire budget. To deal with pests effectively and on a realistic budget, smarter thinking is needed.

We recently invested $4 million over four years to trial self-setting gas fired traps for possum, stoats and rats. These traps, which I am proud to say are designed and made here in New Zealand, are able to reset themselves 12 times before needing servicing. And they use non-toxic bait. It is anticipated these will cut trap maintenance by 75 per cent and over the long term have the potential to save millions of dollars. Self-setting traps will not replace aerial control in rugged terrain but they will reduce labour costs on more accessible areas.

In addition, better application of 1080 using targeted aerial drops has seen higher pest kill ratios and less of the poison used. By dropping clean bait, then with the help of GPS navigation, returning to the same spot and dropping poisoned bait a 98 per cent kill rate has been achieved. And this is done using only 2kg of 1080 pellets per hectare – half the amount used a decade ago and a fraction of that used in the 1950s (actually that’s about four baits in an area the size of a tennis court) . And we are looking at reducing that down further to 200grams per hectare.

I don’t think anyone likes using poison and 1080 is no exception – but as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment said it is the most effective tool we have and “we should be using more of it”. Needless to say we are always on the lookout for improved trapping techniques and new toxins, etc and indeed spend over $1m each year in pest animal research.

Business and Tourism

What is really exciting is the increasing number of businesses and individuals keen to get involved in conservation and to work with DOC on some fantastic projects and I want to mention a few.

The most recent of course was the partnership between DOC and Air New Zealand -valued at about $1 million a year (for three years). It formalises the arrangement where Air New Zealand flies endangered species to new breeding sites around the country; has our national airline promote our Great Walks to international and domestic tourists through their global marketing network; and invest directly in conservation projects around the Great Walks.

The Great Walks alone return around $3 million dollars to DOC each year – money which is used to maintain the network of huts and tracks and is put back into conservation projects. And as an added bonus Air New Zealand has offered the membership of their 3000-strong “Green Team” to volunteer for conservation work. This is not just a win-win for tourism and conservation – it’s about branding conservation with our national carrier. It is not sponsorship – it is a partnership.

Companies are already working with DOC on the recovery of the kiwi and kakapo and last year Genesis Energy extended its support for the endangered blue duck by investing a further $2.5 over the next five years as part of their Whio National Recovery Project. This will double the number of secure breeding sites throughout the country, significantly boosting pest control, and raising public awareness about the whio’s plight. And it sends the message that if the environment and the rivers are healthy then the whio will thrive.

Thanks to their help, the latest breeding season in the Tongariro Forest has produced 206 whio ducklings – a 10 per cent boost to the national whio population, which is estimated at around 3,000.

This shows how a commitment from business can have real conservation outcomes, and it is just the tip of the iceberg. In the Whanganui River Catchment the Kia Wharite project exemplifies how tourism, conservation and agriculture can mix. This partnership between DOC, the regional council, iwi and farmers covers 180,000 hectares - most of which is under active predator control. One beef farmer has developed a tourist business with café and accommodation; he has an army of “eco warriors” carrying out trapping; and takes tourists goat hunting. And he is providing an improved environment for the whio and also the North Island Brown Kiwi. This farmer even has his own brand of beef called “conservation beef” – it is a fantastic project and a fantastic opportunity for branding. Protecting our native animals and landscapes for future generations is an important aim in itself. What this project has shown is that the benefits go beyond conservation – benefiting our farmers and helping to create tourism opportunities which can revitalise our rural communities.

This year we also had the launch of the Million Dollar Mouse campaign with economist Gareth Morgan offering to match dollar-for-dollar any public contributions, hoping to raise over $1 million to eradicate mice from the sub-Antarctic Antipodes Islands. Pest eradication in the subantarctics was a long term goal for DOC but this private support will help make it a reality much sooner.

And a final example (because I could go on and on) includes a philanthropic family behind the Project Janszoon Trust pledging $5 million over the next five years – and aiming to raise $25 million over the next 25 years – to restore biodiversity values in the Abel Tasman National Park. This national park is one of our most popular, with more than 150,000 visitors a year, but with large parts of the park formerly farmland it is saddled with weeds and pests. As such, the national park struggled to get attention ahead of DOC’s higher priority restoration projects but thanks to this private support real biodiversity restoration work can be done.

Few people seem to realise that DOC is actually one of, if not the biggest tourism activity providers in New Zealand. Around 600,000 people visit the Huka Falls each year, an estimated 400,000 visit the glaciers and more than 50,000 people experience our Great Walks.

New Zealand is world famous for our unique and special landscapes. Each year public conservation areas attract hundreds of thousands of domestic and international visitors - all seeking the 100% Pure New Zealand experience. Around 1.65 million New Zealanders (approximately 37% of the total population) visit at least one public conservation area each year. Around 720,000 international tourists (30% of international arrivals) visited at least one National Park in 2009 alone.

These tourists on DOC conservation land create thousands of jobs and can breathe new life into rural communities. DOC works with over 700 recreational/tourism businesses that provide outdoor activities in public conservation areas. A study back in 2006 showed that Fiordland National Park cost $8.8m to maintain but returned $196m and provided 1600 jobs. That’s not a bad return!

And so I do maintain that conservation is good for business and business is good for conservation.

Volunteers

Finally I would like to say how heartened I am by the number of volunteers involved in conservation nationally. Without their help much of the conservation work done in New Zealand would not happen.

In the 2010/11 financial year DOC worked with 11,923 volunteers who together contributed 195,000 hours of work. That is the equivalent of 130 full-time staff, and is worth more than $6 million.

Efforts by volunteers reached a record 32,795 days last year – an increase of more than 33 per cent over the past 10 years.

Besides mobilising these individual volunteers, DOC also works with around 500 community groups who contribute an estimated 570,000 hours of their time, with an estimated dollar value of $10.6 million.

In 2007 DOC surveyed 200 community partner groups. The dollar value added to conservation by those groups was $15.8 million. This represents a return of 3.14 times the initial government investment over a 12-month period—so for every $1 of government funding provided to the groups, between $3 and $4 of work was delivered.

DOC's work with volunteers brings many benefits to conservation, to the organisation, to the individual volunteer and to society as a whole. For example, volunteers develop a wider understanding of the value of conservation and help tell the core conservation message in the community. They bring new insights, energy and time to the work, and they develop new skills and work experience.

Conclusion

I’ve talked to you today about some of the work DOC, with the help of the community, is doing to develop conservation in New Zealand and some of the fantastic and exciting projects.

To be successful, to slowly restore the rich biodiversity we have lost, to really make New Zealand “clean and green” will take time and commitment from everyone.
So we all have a job to do. We all have to be torchbearers for conservation. We all have to sell the message how important valuable and precious our native animals and landscapes are. And we all have to work together for a better New Zealand.

Korea, Australia and NZ to discuss digital futures

Fri, 11 May 2012 05:57:00 GMT

Hon Amy Adams | Communications and IT

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams tomorrow travels to Seoul for the 2012 Korea Australia and New Zealand (KANZ) Summit, and the World Information and Communications Summit.

The summits, in Seoul from May 14-16, bring together Government, industry, research and policy representatives to share insights into their experiences in broadband and to explore joint ventures and research partnerships.

“With the development of the National Broadband Network in Australia and Korea’s world-leading broadband network, it will be interesting to hear about their experiences,” Ms Adams says.

“The opportunity to discuss New Zealand’s ultra-fast broadband policy and industry issues allows us to make better, more informed decisions when planning for future investment.”

Ms Adams will also attend the Korea Communications Conference in Seoul, and visit the Electronics and Telecommunications Institute in Daejeon.

Topics at the summits and conference also cover areas such as next-generation networks, broadcasting and new media content, smart services such as e-learning, e-health and disaster management, new business opportunities and green ICTs.

Ms Adams will hold bilateral meetings with Australia’s Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, and Korea’s Environment Minister, Yoo Young-sook.

“In addition, the visit to Korea offers an opportunity to leverage business opportunities for New Zealand ICT companies by raising the profile of our country as a supplier of niche technologies to Korean companies and highlighting Korea as an ICT market for New Zealand companies.”

Govt to take stand on cyber-bullying

Fri, 11 May 2012 04:55:00 GMT

Hon Judith Collins | Justice

Justice Minister Judith Collins has asked the Law Commission to fast-track its recommendations for reducing the harm caused by cyber-bullying.

Ms Collins says the Government is extremely concerned about the growing incidence of this abhorrent bullying and the devastating effects it can have on young people.

“Young people’s lives are increasingly enmeshed in social media and they are particularly at risk from the significant harm that can be caused by cyber-bullying.”

As part of its report, The News Media Meets New Media, the Law Commission is investigating potential changes to:

• introduce a new offence of maliciously impersonating another person on the web
• the Harassment Act 1997 to ensure its provisions apply to cyber-bullying and other online intimidation.
• extend the Telecommunications Act 2001 definition of misuse of a ‘telephone device’ to also cover computers and other electronic devices.
• amend the Human Rights Act to make it clear that publications likely to ‘excite hostility or invite contempt’ include digital publications and that cyberspace is a ‘public place’ from which people cannot be excluded as a consequence of significant and harmful sexual or racial harassment by others.
• investigate the need to make ‘incitement to suicide’ a criminal offence, regardless of whether a person actually commits suicide, or attempts to.

“I have written to the Commission and have asked that its work around cyber-bullying is given priority. I look forward to receiving their recommendations as soon as possible.

“I am concerned that we treat this as a priority, and take action to reduce the potential for harm where we can,” Ms Collins says.

International Nurses Day

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:53:00 GMT

Hon Tony Ryall | Health

With International Nurses Day tomorrow, Health Minister Tony Ryall thanks all nurses for the important contribution they make to the health of New Zealanders.

“Nurses are hugely valuable and are part of the backbone of our health service. There are currently just over 49,000 nurses practising in New Zealand.

The theme for International Nurses Day this year is ‘'Closing the Gap: From Evidence to Action.”

“There are many great examples of nurses identifying areas in our health service that need improvement, researching a solution and then changing the way they do things to improve health services for patients.

“For example, Sandy Bryant, a nurse at Wellington Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit looked at their rates of bloodstream infections in babies, looked at the international best practice benchmarks and the unit has changed how they insert a central-line into a baby’s vein.

“Their rates are now below international benchmarks. Not only has this had significant benefit for babies and parents, the reduced infection rate also equates to around $500,000 a year in savings.

“Initiatives like this improve the quality of our services and better utilise our health resources.

District health boards are now employing 2,000 more nurses since November 2008.

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth.

Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation of New Zealand Conference

Fri, 11 May 2012 03:25:00 GMT

Hon Tim Groser | Trade

I would like to begin by thanking the President of Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders, Willie van Heusden, for inviting me to speak at your annual conference. I’m delighted to be here and to be able to speak to a theme of considerable personal and professional interest to me – namely whether or not Intra-Asia is our trading future.

Today I’m going to offer some thoughts on this theme, focusing on where I think we’re headed more broadly as an economy. I’m optimistic about our economic future – I do believe we’re on the right track towards achieving sustained economic growth – but we’re going to need to be fast, smart, and well-coordinated (within the government and between the government and business) to push up our wealth curve.

In particular, we need to ensure that we’re doing the best we can to enhance the international competitiveness of our companies. New Zealand needs more businesses that are able to operate successfully in international markets in order to grow.

I am pleased that notwithstanding a tough global environment, our export volumes in recent years have increased year on year. That said, the rate of volume growth, running at around 1.4 per cent per annum over the 2004 to 2010 period, is considerably down on the annual average rate of 5.4 per cent in the preceding 1990 to 2004 period.

This is simply not good enough. We need to lift our game. An important lever in this respect is trade policy, but it will not deliver the growth we need on its own. We need all parts of the economy to work in sync if we’re to lift the tradable sector of the economy.

So whilst the government is focused on negotiating a raft of FTAs – including with India, Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan, and the Trans Pacific Partnership – we also need to ensure that our domestic policy settings are sound, that our companies are taking full advantage of the trading platform that we establish through these agreements, and that we are moving to integrate New Zealand companies more into global supply chains.

New Zealand’s Economic Story

I’ll return to this later, but let me begin by offering some thoughts on New Zealand’s economic story over the past few decades. As a small, relatively distant country, much of this narrative is bound up in our external trading environment.

To state the obvious: we cannot, nor will we ever, get rich by selling to ourselves. Our domestic market is simply too small and we require a vibrant export sector to maintain our standard of living. We don’t have the luxury of size when it comes to generating domestic economic activity to fully support our own growth.

This is a challenging space to be in as our economy can be disproportionally affected by developments largely beyond our control - namely the economic performance and policies of our big trading partners. The need to those external risks and uncertainties has necessitated a transformation of our economy over a number of years with a view to building greater economic resilience. In this we have been remarkably successful.

In the 1960/1970s, we were an effective mono-culture in economic terms. Around 70% of our exports went to Europe – the majority of which were agricultural commodities.

This left us exposed. It’s a story that my generation is familiar with but it bears repeating. The UKs entry into the European Economic Community in 1973 was a sharp reality check – we had to diversify our export markets and product base as our preferential access to the UK’s middle class consumers disappeared almost overnight.

Indeed, diversification is exactly what we did over a number of years. We went from being an inward-looking protectionist economy to one of the most open economies in the world.

Since then, the transformation in our trading profile has been quite extraordinary.

Market Diversification

Today, exports to Europe represent just 11 per cent of our total exports - still important, but nowhere near as important as they once were.

At the same time, we began a process of reorienting ourselves towards Australia and Asia, and our exports to the two regions increased significantly. Between 1964 and 2010 Australia’s share of total exports increased from 4 per cent to 22 per cent; Asia’s from 6.6 per cent to 39 per cent.

This sits against the backdrop of a major shift in economic power from the developed to the developing world. In particular, Asia looks set to reclaim a share of world GDP close to what it controlled prior to the Industrial Revolution. Wealth creation is returning to where the bulk of the world’s people live, and in another ten years or so, another billion people will enter the middle class in Asia.
It is clear that much of our trading future lies here, and I believe that we’re well placed to capitalise on this historical shift in economic geography.

We’ve developed strong political relationships in the region – it was no accident that we were the first Western country to sign an FTA with China. In many respects, this agreement was made possible by successive governments that worked hard to build a strong political relationship with China.

This government is working hard to capitalise on this tradition. For example, the Prime Minister and I have just returned from leading a high powered business delegation to Indonesia - my fourth such trade mission in as many weeks. Such visits are an important way of leveraging New Zealand’s political relationships for our business community.

Product Diversification

So, we’ve managed to diversify our export markets, focusing particularly on Asia. At the same time, we’ve also managed to diversify our product base. While agriculture is no less a ‘sunrise’ sector as it was during the boom years of the 1950s – it is certainly less dominant today.

In 1964, agriculture claimed a 93% share of our total exports by value. In 2010, this had reduced to 54%.

However, the sector has also diversified and moved its products up the value chain – important if we are to supply the safe, high quality food and beverages that the growing middle class of Asia is increasingly looking to purchase.

Take sheep meat exports for example. In 1971, 92% of sheep meat exports were frozen carcasses, with just 8% frozen cuts. By 2008, 65% were frozen cuts, with frozen carcasses barely registering at 3%.

Outside of agriculture, sectors such as forestry, high-value manufacturing, and oil have become high earners of foreign exchange for New Zealand.

Services Exports and Global Supply Chains

Although our goods exports have become significantly diversified in recent years, our services exports have been dominated by the tourism and education sectors. We do well in these sectors, but we have historically underperformed in what is known as commercial or business services – the real high-value end of the services trade.

However, indications are that we’re beginning to improve in this area. In the year to June 2011, we earned $4 billion from commercial services exports – an increase from $2.5 billion in 2005. Growth in this specific sector over this period was 8.3 per cent compared with a contraction of 0.9 per cent in our more traditional services sectors – tourism and education.

The top performer in the commercial services sector has been ‘management fees between related parties’ – which is simply another way of referring to the provision of services or the collection of royalties between head office and a subsidiary. Exports of this type have increased a staggering 290 per cent since 2005!

Business models are also changing, which is reflected by the increase in merchanting exports. Merchanting captures the situation where a New Zealand company buys goods abroad and then on-sells them to another overseas party. For example, a New Zealand company might buy garments from an overseas factory and then sell these onto another overseas party at a higher price without the goods entering NZ. Exports of this type have increased by about 50 per cent since 2005.

This is not simply a story about a high performing sector. When we observe this increase in commercial and business services, what we’re also observing is another shift in the nature of New Zealand’s trade – a shift towards greater integration into the global supply chain. And it’s big – the OECD estimates that trade in intermediate goods is close to 60 per cent trade in goods and 73 per cent of trade in services within the OECD.

This is being driven fundamentally by technology. As transportation and communication costs continue to decrease, it becomes increasingly viable for companies to make use of the comparative advantages of other countries to produce their products.

Let’s use China as an example. We simply cannot compete with China’s ability to produce things at a low cost. But what we can do, is combine their strengths with our own comparative advantages, whether it’s in design or high-value manufacturing, to become internationally competitive.

A good example of a company adopting this strategy is Rakon, who design and manufacture crystal oscillators used in smartphones and GPS navigation devices. Their investment in a factory in Chengdu, Western China enables the company to keep costs down and remain internationally competitive in their major market for high-volume simple chips and oscillators. The top-end products continue to be manufactured in New Zealand.

This is how we should begin to position ourselves internationally – as a niche producer of intermediate goods in the global supply chain. However, in order to do so, we simply to have to break out of outmoded twentieth century thinking - the sort that would view this as a threat to New Zealand jobs. The reverse is actually the case – the rise of the global supply chain will create more high-value jobs for New Zealanders provided that we can find our way into this new ‘trade story.’

This, I think, speaks directly to the theme of this conference. As I said before, much of our trading future lies in Asia, but not only in terms of exporting finished products – we’re going to need to export more intermediate goods and services.
One implication of this is that we’re likely to see, given the link between trade and investment in the global supply chain, increased investment from Asia into New Zealand and vice versa. This is something we should welcome if we’re serious about growing the economy. We can’t afford not to.

New Zealand’s trading platform – the WTO and FTAs

So, what is the government doing to enhance New Zealand’s external position in this challenging and fluid environment?

We are focusing on two key challenges. First, we need to secure a world class trading platform, and second, we need to ensure that our companies are taking full advantage of these platforms to enhance New Zealand’s economic growth.
Let me begin by briefly sketching out the development of New Zealand’s trading platform over the past few decades.

Of fundamental importance is that we were able to secure a set of agreed disciplines around agriculture in the WTO Uruguay Round. That was big for us.
Since then the multilateral route has been exceedingly hard going. Unfortunately, few but the most optimistic are under any illusion that we’ll see a successful conclusion to the Doha Round anytime soon. It is in trouble, but we must continue to work towards enhancing a rules-based international trading system. Indeed, the body of pro-liberalisation jurisprudence is probably one of the most important achievements of the multilateral trading system – we saw the value of this during the financial crisis, when a number of countries reactively turned towards protectionism.

Thankfully for New Zealand we’ve also invested in a successful plan B – namely an active FTA agenda – to the extent that about 46 per cent of our exports today are now covered by FTAs.

This process began with CER in 1980 – a truly game changing agreement in New Zealand’s economic history.

Then there was a long gap, but things began to pick up in the 2000s. Between 2000 and 2010 we signed agreements with Singapore, Thailand, what is known as P4 (Singapore, Chile, and Brunei), China, Hong Kong, and (together with the Australians) an agreement with ASEAN.

But we haven’t stopped there. We have a suite of additional FTAs under negotiation with:

Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan
India
Korea
Gulf Cooperation Council
Trans Pacific Partnership – intended to be a building block for trade and investment for the Asia-Pacific region

We have also begun to look into the feasibility of an Economic Cooperation Agreement between New Zealand and Chinese Taipei. This is significant. If we succeed, NZ will be the only country to have secured trade agreements with the three Chinese customs territories (the Mainland, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei).
If we conclude all of these agreements, then 64 per cent of our current exports will be covered by FTAs. To put it another way, 36 per cent of our exports by value are able to enter markets duty free under current FTAs. This will climb to 46 per cent by value if we secure these additional agreements – and a much higher percentage will be able to enter – if not at zero – at a rate lower than for 3rd countries.

This will be a significant achievement, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We have a world class trade policy platform, but these agreements, in and of themselves, don’t create wealth for New Zealand. The economic benefits from an FTA are largely realised when traders utilise the preferential tariff rates available.

Tariff Preference Utilisation

This is the piece of the jigsaw that I’m not entirely happy with yet. Recent research by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has indicated that our exporters are not taking full advantage of our FTAs. What I’m referring to here is tariff preference utilisation under these trade agreements.

Let’s look at our FTA with China for example, which has by most measures, been a tremendous success.

Since the agreement entered into force in 2008, our total trade with China has increased by 50 per cent: New Zealand’s exports to China have tripled over the last five years. At this rate, we look set to achieve the ambitious goal set out in the government’s strategy to double two-way trade with China by 2015.

However, that statistic does not tell the full story. In the 2010 year, use of preferential tariffs under this FTA resulted in duty savings of about $50 million. This is up from around $27 million in 2009.

A good result – a combined duty saving of close to $80m in two years – but a quarter of NZ exports to China in value terms did not make use of available preferences. A further 25 per cent of exports underutilised available preferences.
In dollar terms, this amounts to lost duty savings of up to $94 million.

We know that the bulk of tariff preference uptake is taking place across a narrow number of tariff lines (where the majority of our trade to China takes place). Sectors with high tariff utilisation included fruit and vegetables (91.7 per cent), and agriculture (other animal products - 98.2, per cent, dairy - 73.2 per cent).

What we don’t yet know conclusively, is why there is a long tail of underutilisation taking place in other sectors. One explanation may be that the Chinese have unilaterally reduced or eliminated tariffs on a number of tariff lines, which means that there are no tariff savings to be had under the FTA when exporting these products.

Other potential explanations include:

Lack of information on preferential tariffs. It may be the case that our exporters simply don’t appreciate that their products are eligible for a preferential tariff rate.
In some cases it may be that the tariff preference margin currently available to New Zealand is not sufficiently big to incentivise companies to seek the specific New Zealand rate.
In some cases we suspect it may be due to the additional effort required to supply the correct documentation that is deterring companies from claiming preference.
It’s also possible that in some cases exporters might be passive. Certain businesses may know how to make use of preferences but simply decide not to use the preference unless the importer makes a request.

In a number of these cases I’m sure that preference utilisation uptake might be improved if the critical sector you all represent – that of customs brokers and freight forwarders - is active in understanding our FTAs and is ensuring that your clients are positioning themselves to leverage these FTAs to full effect.

Given that this issue is a “bread and butter” one for your industry, I expect that I might find some of the answers from speaking with people in this room during the morning tea break.

Concluding remarks

To sum up, it is clear that ‘Intra Asia’ is a key component of our trading future. Asia is on the economic rise, and there is significant growth potential for New Zealand companies that can take advantage of global supply chains within Asia.
This requires different ways of thinking and operating. It won’t happen overnight, but the government is absolutely committed to supporting our exporters to get into the right space.

Your industry is also a critical player. You have an important role to play in giving the best advice to your clients to enhance their export position. I’m therefore pleased to see a vibrant customs brokers/freight forwarding community present today.

Thank you.

Report into Stadium Southland collapse released

Fri, 11 May 2012 02:25:00 GMT

Hon Maurice Williamson | Building and Construction

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson has received a report into the reasons for the collapse of the Stadium Southland roof on 18 September 2010.

The detailed technical investigation was written by Hyland and StructureSmith. It explains the roof collapsed because of a combination of factors including heavy snowfall, construction defects and design problems.

“These are serious issues that have been properly investigated. The Department of Building and Housing has accepted the findings and recommendations of the report, which will be communicated to building owners and councils,” Mr Williamson said.

Mr Williamson said New Zealand’s building standards are among the best in the world and are continually refined and updated to reflect international best practice.

The Department has referred the investigation report to the NZ Police and the Department of Labour, and provided a copy to IPENZ – the body responsible for monitoring the competence of engineers.

New SOE board appointments announced

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:48:00 GMT

Hon Tony Ryall | State Owned Enterprises

State Owned Enterprises Minister Tony Ryall today announced new appointments and reappointments across a number of SOEs.

“This is a group of highly capable new directors. I also wish to acknowledge the retirement of Landcorp Farming’s chair Hon Jim Sutton.”

“Mr Sutton has served as Chair of Landcorp Farming since August 2006 and made a significant impact on the company’s performance and management of a large asset base”.

Serving director and chartered accountant, Bill Baylis has taken over as Chair of Landcorp Farming and has served on the board since 2009. He is a director on the boards of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, Helicopters NZ Ltd, Port of Tauranga Ltd and Carisbrook Stadium Trust. His other chair positions are with Blackhead Quarries Ltd, Dairy Holdings Ltd and Real Journeys Ltd. He has extensive governance experience, with previous chair experience on a number of private sector company boards such as Anderson Lloyd Lawyers and Australasian Food Holdings (Australia) Ltd’s subsidiaries including Huttons Kiwi Ltd, Tip Top NZ Ltd and Mainland Products Ltd. He is also the former chair of PGG Wrightson Ltd and United Electricity Ltd.

Mr Ryall confirmed that two deputy chairs will be retiring from their SOE boards in this appointment round: Serving NZ Post director, Murray Gribben, will become Deputy chair, and serving director, Raewyn Lovett, will become Deputy Chair of Quotable Value.

New directors on SOE boards are:

Crown Fibre Holdings: Danelle Dinsdale (former Senior Equity Partner and Head of the IT & Telecoms team at DLA Piper UK)
Electricity Corporation of New Zealand (residual): Jane Meares (Barrister with Clifton Chambers and formerly with Treasury and Partner of Bell Gully)
Kordia: Tony Briscoe (former Managing Director of Telecom New Zealand International)
Landcorp Farming: Chris Day (former CFO of AXA Insurance), Nikki Davies-Colley (cattle and sheep farmer and company director) and Pauline Lockett (chartered accountant and New Plymouth District Councillor)
NZ Post: Carol Campbell (chartered accountant and business advisor, formerly a Partner of Ernst & Young) and Richard Leggat (former banker, and member of the Tourism NZ Board)
Quotable Value: Kim Wallace (CFO of Westland Milk Products)

Mr Ryall thanked all retiring board members for their efforts and service.

Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation annual conference

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:02:00 GMT

Hon Maurice Williamson | Customs

• Good morning everyone, it is a pleasure to be here today.

Background
• We live in a changing world, and there has been an extraordinary shift in relative economic power from the developed world, our traditional trade and investment partners, to the emerging economies - particularly China.

• Many analysts have pointed out that this is simply a reversion to the past. Two hundred and fifty years ago, most of the world’s wealth was generated from economies where most of the world’s people lived.

• China is finding ways to re-establish the kind of pre-eminence it enjoyed in East Asia and beyond around 1800.

• New Zealand is well placed in terms of the direction of the Government’s international trade strategy.

• We are focused on lifting New Zealand's exports, building a faster growing economy with higher incomes and more jobs.

Free Trade Agreements
• Along with Australia, we have negotiated a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the whole of South East Asia – this is the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) that is coming into effect.

• Further, we each have separate but complementary networks of FTAs with other emerging economies particularly in Asia. China is the most important – now our largest source of imports and second largest export market.

• And there is also the TPP or Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiations - a key building block for trade and investment integration for the entire Asia Pacific region.
Government Strategy

• Here at home, the Government has made some important changes to improve the New Zealand Export Credit Office's (NZECO) ability to support our exporters.

• But this is only a small part of what the Government is doing to grow our international trading strength.

• It is critical to the success of our efforts that we get New Zealand’s fiscal house in order.

• The Government has announced a set of four strategic priorities that will drive its policy agenda over the next three years. These priorities are:

- Responsibly managing the Government’s finances;
- Building a more productive and competitive economy;
- Delivering better public services within tight financial constraints; and
- Rebuilding Christchurch.

• Critically, a more productive and competitive economy will make the other priorities substantially easier to achieve. Reducing debt, improving public services and investing in Christchurch in the context of a growing economy will be a quite different proposition from doing so in a flat economy.

• The New Zealand economy now has some significant opportunities that we need to capitalise on.

• Exports have always been critical to our economy. The growth in emerging markets in Asia constitutes a major opportunity for New Zealand exporters.

• And the network of Free Trade Agreements that we now have creates the opportunity to take advantage of these markets.

• We have identified 120 key actions in what we call our Business Growth Agenda. Trade agreements, country strategies, global footprint, in-market support, tourism, international education, and border control are all key parts of this 120 point plan.

NZ Inc and our Free Trade Agreement with China.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs development of “NZ Inc” - or individual country strategies in order to grow our exports to key markets - is an important part of our trade growth effort. China is a prime target for such a strategy.

• The NZ Inc China Strategy was launched earlier this year. The aim of the strategy is to “open doors to China” for NZ businesses, and we have set 5 key strategic goals:

1. Retain and build a strong and resilient political relationship with China
2. Double two-way goods trade with China to $20 billion by 2015
3. Grow services trade with China (education by 20%, tourism by at least 60%, and other services trade) by 2015.
4. Increase bilateral investment to levels that reflect the growing commercial relationship with China
5. Grow high quality science and technology collaborations with China to generate commercial opportunities.

• It’s about trying to use in a more coherent and collaborative way the assets of a small country playing on a big global stage.

• A major part of this strategy is to make sure we take advantage of the FTA, and this is where my role as Customs Minister is important.

• Customs has been involved in the FTA since the beginning, and business has recognised that the FTA has led to improvements in Customs procedures for exports to China. But equally, there are stories of business encountering problems.

• NZ Customs officials have established strong working relationships with China Customs and are quite prepared to take up any customs issues exporters are facing. A working group is meeting regularly, and China Customs is committed to examining some of their procedures that have caused problems – particularly the issue of transhipment which has caused many exporters problems.

• It is important that we continue to focus efforts on harvesting the benefits of free trade agreements, especially the NZ-China FTA. Making sure we get the best return from FTAs will be a focus of the Government as part of the business growth agenda.

• A number of New Zealand exporters are doing very well out of free trade agreements. But there is also a small number – usually small and medium exporters – who are missing out for a variety of reasons.

The role of Customs brokers and freight forwarders
• This is where the role of brokers and freight forwarders is essential. Your knowledge and understanding of customs procedures, tariffs and rules of origin can provide considerable assistance to our exporters.

• Taking advantage of FTAs requires a high level of collaboration between government agencies and private sector players. We need to improve our approach to China in particular if we are to continue to successfully grow our trade with the biggest player in the Asian region.

The New Zealand Government’s China Strategy
• China and the rest of Asia has huge opportunities for New Zealand. No country has a better platform than New Zealand to take advantage of the extraordinary growth in that region.

• This Government has reconfigured the NZ Trade and Enterprise strategy so that now we are working closely with around two thousand NZ companies and about 500 of those in the context of an intensive client management program.

• At the political level, we then help take them to market.

• We are not expecting quick results. We want sustainable progress.

• And we have had significant success in China:

- Since the FTA came into force in late 2008, exports from New Zealand have increased over 150% to just over $6billion. And imports from New Zealand into China have been increasing far faster than the general rate of increase of global imports into China.

- China is now our second most important trading partner and our current account deficit with China has declined by nearly 60% since the FTA was signed.

The role of the New Zealand Customs Service in China relations
• Of course facilitating trade is only part of the job that Customs does and there is a careful balance to be struck between opening up trade channels and maintaining the integrity of our border.

• It has to be acknowledged that China is the source of a great deal of the contraband that Customs works to keep out of New Zealand.

• Having a closer relationship with China and China Customs in particular can only help to improve our ability to fight the smugglers that operate between our two countries.

NZ Inc India Strategy
• A similar NZ Inc strategy has been developed for India, and one is under development for South East Asia. Trade Facilitation, streamlining customs procedures, and support for business to help them take advantage of these markets are key parts of these strategies.

• We are talking about major markets. South East Asia is a market of 600 million people, with a growing middle class. New Zealand exporters have never had the access to this market that we have today.

• We are also negotiating a free trade agreement with India – a market in access of a billion people.

Border control and economic growth
• I want to say a final few words about border control and how that supports export growth. The Government is committed to two major initiatives aimed at streamlining our approach to the border. We are stepping up work to make trade and travel more efficient through better co-ordination of border services.

• This work is about taking a fresh look at the functions of border agencies and how co-ordination of the overall border management system can be improved. It is consistent with the Government’s goal of delivering better public services across the board.

• With $80 billion of exports and imports and 10 million travellers across our border each year, we must ensure that our border is fit for the future. An efficient border management system is critical to New Zealand’s economic growth and prosperity.

• Travel and trade patterns are changing rapidly as New Zealand interacts with more international partners, tourism is increasing and pressure is building for more streamlined travel.

• New technologies are giving us access to information faster and we should be using this to improve our effectiveness at the border.

• We expect to provide recommendation on any improvements in the middle of the year, and we will be looking for input from you on this.

Joint Border Management System
• Many of you will have heard about the Joint Border Management System being dev eloped by Customs and what is now the Ministry of Primary Industry (formerly MAF). That will deliver a single online window (Trade Single Window) through which importers and exporters will be able to complete their dealings with the Government.

• This is a key part of our drive to make compliance easier and more efficient for you people and your clients.

• All of this work at the border is essential if we are to make the most of our economic opportunity. We cannot expect to have export growth unless we have a modern, technology driven border environment that makes it easier for trade and travel to flow.

• So I look forward, with you I hope, to a bright future for New Zealand’s trade with Asia and I wish you well for the remainder of your conference. Thank you for your time today.

One year into Decade of Action for Road Safety

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:21:00 GMT

Hon Simon Bridges | Transport

One year into the Decade of Action for Road Safety, there is still much to be done to reduce the rate of death and injury on our roads says Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges.

“Last year, New Zealand was the first country in the world to mark the United Nations and World Health Organisation’s call on May 11 for a Decade of Action for Road Safety. We have made great strides in reducing deaths on our roads but we still rank below many other developed countries and there is more we can do,” says Mr Bridges.

New Zealand released its Safer Journeys Action Plan 2011/12 on May 11 last year. The plan builds on the government’s Safer Journeys Road Safety Strategy 2010 to 2020 and is an across-the-board approach to road safety, looking at all aspects of the road system.

“Since the Decade of Action was launched, we have continued to take steps through our Safer Journeys strategy. We have changed give way rules, lowered alcohol limits for young drivers, launched targeted education for young drivers on the issues of speed and drink driving, strengthened driver licence tests and progressed work on building safer roads.

“We will continue this progress throughout the decade, with Safer Journeys setting actions to 2020.

“There are also steps all New Zealanders can take, like using common sense and caution on the roads, driving to the conditions and making safety a priority when purchasing a vehicle.”

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