Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce has today announced the creation of a new freshwater institute between NIWA and the University of Waikato.
Te Waiora, Joint Institute for Freshwater Management (NIWA and the University of Waikato) will be on the university’s Hamilton campus and involve iwi, national and international partners.
“This is a significant step forward in freshwater management in New Zealand, and will enhance our research capabilities and facilities to address future management of our freshwater resources and environments,” Mr Joyce says.
“The Joint Institute will be a world-leading centre for interdisciplinary freshwater research and teaching. It will build capability and capacity across the sciences, engineering, management, law, economics policy, mātauranga Māori and education, with the aim of delivering greater economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits from and for freshwater.
“This is the first time such an interdisciplinary approach has been taken, and it represents a significant change in how New Zealand’s freshwaters are studied and managed.”
The University of Waikato is New Zealand’s major provider of freshwater research in the tertiary sector and NIWA is New Zealand’s leading environmental science provider and home to The National Centre for Freshwater and Estuaries.
“NIWA and the University of Waikato’s capabilities and facilities are complementary. Combining their resources will enable a substantial lift in the quality of freshwater decision making and outcomes for New Zealand,” says Mr Joyce.
Research programmes will span river environments, lakes and wetlands and urban environments and the interactions between science, human behaviour, economics and policy. The Institute will work on assessing the values of ecosystem services provided by freshwater, plus the impacts of moving to higher quality standards for different water bodies.
“All projects will contribute to helping inform and shape strategies aimed at solving complex challenges in managing freshwater.”
Te Waiora will also identify new insights into Māori traditional rights and responsibilities in relation to water, and enhance public awareness and engagement in freshwater issues. The Institute will have a strong iwi focus, with one of the partners being Waikato-Tainui College for Research and Development.
Waikato Regional Council will fund a Rivers Chair for the Institute and also sit on the advisory board along with other key national and international partners.
The University and NIWA will provide funding over three years as an initial investment and Te Waiora will be housed in a new building within the NIWA complex on the university campus.
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND—Jucy, based here, has opened the first in a multimillion-dollar chain of pod hotels in Christchurch.
The 271-bed micro-accommodation concept was launched to help relieve the chronic room shortage in Christchurch, according to the company. The self-contained accommodation capsules or pods feature beds, storage lockers a power supply and WiFi connectivity. The new short-stay pods offer low-cost accommodations close to the airport.
Jucy CEO Tim Alpe said there has already been strong interest in the hotel with 600 international bookings secured a month before its launch. “We set about challenging the traditional service model of hotels, completely redesigning it to remove the barriers guests commonly encounter. In one example, our research found that hotels were inadvertently causing bottlenecks for their reception staff by forcing guests to leave at the same time,” Alpe said. “Any time when customers need to queue to pay their bill creates the potential for customer satisfaction to be diminished. We wanted the first and last impression our guests have to be one of efficiency and convenience.”
While the Jucy Snooze target market is primarily backpackers, room layouts have also been designed to cater to budget travelers, families and baby boomers.
The Jucy Snooze pod prices start at $39. According to the company, the pricing model is designed to offer flexibility to accommodate tourists wanting to stay overnight, or a reduced rate for those who just want a few hours sleep between connecting flights.
Alpe said construction will begin shortly on a five-story Jucy Snooze in Queenstown with plans underway to roll the concept out in other locations across New Zealand and Australia, as well as other global markets—including the U.S.—in the future.
The new facility marks their 130th year in business, and was officially opened by New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, on Friday 30 September.
Speaking at the event, Methven chairman Phil Lough congratulated the company on achieving this significant milestone. “We are incredibly proud to join a prestigious group of companies around the world that have been in business for more than 130 years. We are proud to distribute award-winning products throughout the world that are designed, engineered and manufactured right here in New Zealand,” he says.
In addition, Methven has incorporated an extensive area to showcase their proprietary technology and designs in The Source, a showroom and innovation zone that customers will also be able to visit. - ArchitectureNow Monday 10 October 2016
The Treasury’s New Zealand Export Credit Office (NZECO) was recognised for excellence in export support at the 2016 AUT Business School Excellence in Business Support Awards.
NZECO won the International Business Export Support category at the Awards, which were celebrated with a gala dinner at the Langham Hotel, Auckland on 5 October, attended by more than 600 business leaders and members of the business community.
NZECO’s operations were measured against a range of criteria which include leadership, strategic planning, workforce and customer focus, and processes for continuous assessment and improvement.
“We’ve worked really hard to listen to our market, and to improve our solutions and processes in support of exporting businesses. It is really satisfying when someone runs the ruler over your operations and confirms that you are the right track,” said Chris Chapman, Head of NZECO.
The Awards are the only national performance measure for New Zealand organisations that provide business support. Applications are judged by evaluators from the AUT Business School with oversight from the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation.
“AUT Business School takes great pride in these Awards which allow us to recognise and celebrate the best providers of business support in New Zealand. Without business support organisations and individuals, the performance of businesses here would be greatly affected and it’s important that we acknowledge the very important work that they do. From sales and marketing, and helping behind the scenes with everything from compliance and logistics to administration and maintenance, these businesses help keep our New Zealand industries running effectively and efficiently,” said Professor Geoff Perry, Dean of the AUT Faculty of Business, Economics and Law.
For more information about NZECO: www.nzeco.govt.nzFor more information about the Awards: www.aut.ac.nz/business/ebsa
Island State is Running Out of Patience.
Geopolitics penetrated Wellington last night when at the Republic of China’s national day celebrations there was let rip from the podium a scathing condemnation of Beijing’s veto of Taiwan’s right to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organisation conference.
The veto was calculated to hit the island state’s sensitive spot. Beijing’s official reason was that the veto was the response to Taipei’s recent political developments, writes our diplomatic roundsman.
In effect the ICAO veto snub was calculated to hit Taiwan in one of its newest and most important economic areas – tourism. In the line of Beijing’s fire was also cross-strait investment between the two Chinas.
Also conveniently in this line of fire was President Obama’s Asia pivot in which Taipei is the eastern fulcrum.
Even more directly in the cross-hairs of this is the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement signed off by all contributing nations in Auckland this year.
Beijing views many of these nations, Taiwan especially, as being under its own suzerainty and not Washington’s.
The Taiwan national day is off the beaten track for government people such as diplomats and also for the media.
Usually the event includes a brisk reeling off of the nations’ over achievement in defined areas of productivity, foreign exchange, and growth in general along with the way all this has harmonised with Western-style ambitions in multiculturalism and social equity.
But on this occasion the wraps were taken off and Beijing singled out for its obvious obstructionism. Officially the Taiwan representation in New Zealand is known as the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office.
Taiwan’s official embassy which was in Burnell Avenue Thorndon was abruptly closed when under the direction of president Richard Nixon the United States recognised Beijing.
The official broadside at the national day was also a reminder to the West which is currently preoccupied and in various forms by the immigration issue and the problems it has spawned.
The United States tilt toward Asia corresponds and thus conflicts with Beijing’s parallel push into this area and simultaneously also into the MENA area, Middle East North Africa.
The strong and deliberate words delivered at the usually subdued Wellington celebration of Taiwan’s national day indicate that the temperature in all this is rising.
From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Thursday 6 October 2016
United States is looking at a Restoration
“He was the heart, she was the head” confided a former Reagan-era cabinet member in a private conversation about the Clinton presidency. Yet otherwise Americans to any foreigner insist that Hillary Clinton will be new to the job. That she is running in fact as a first timer instead of running for re-election,.
Americans refuse to accept they are facing a Restoration.
The topic is taboo in the United States media all the way from the ultra-liberal East and West coast newspapers and television networks through to their right-leaning counterparts in the hinterland.
There are though several reasons for this code of utter silence writes our European correspondent:- *Americans are secretly ashamed at the re-appearance of exactly the same kind of monarchical political dynasties that their constitution was specifically designed to eliminate. They were reminded of this trend at the outset of this presidential series when Jeb Bush enlisted with a view to following in his own footsteps to the Oval Office those of his brother, and before that, those of his father. * Americans in fact cannot bring themselves to admit that a female, even in the role of a wife, was at least half the brain power in the Oval Office.*That even if the late Nancy Reagan was such a contender her influence was the accepted US apple pie role---that of supporting her husband in his work.
Hillary claims that there is a glass ceiling in regard to the Oval Office and given that for most of its existence half the United States population has been female the data supports her. It does indicate a mental block so reinforced that Americans cannot bring themselves even to think about the female politicians who have already led such nations as Britain, India, and Israel just to quote some examples.
Here is a pointer meanwhile to Hillary's participation in the last Clinton era..
In the run up to the first Clinton era Bill was against the North American Free Trade Agreement. Once installed as president, he actively and successfully sponsored NAFTA.
In the run up now to a second Clinton era Hillary has set herself against the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Few doubt that if successful in her current campaign to restore a Clinton White House she will find good reasons to be positive about the deal once again.
A natural trade liberaliser, Mrs Clinton’s hand is surer when applied to politics in which practical considerations take precedence over ideology.
Her touch is less sure when applied to the abstract. An example remains the United States role in the democracy export business.
This became evident when as president Obama’s secretary of state she oversaw the US-sponsored Arab Spring. This turned out to be an example of the United States’ ability to turn a bad situation into something much worse.
Aside from NAFTA Mrs Clinton’s hand can be identified in a number of social shifts notably in the human rights category that were such a hallmark of the last Clinton era.
The reluctance of Americans to talk about their two-term Clinton co-presidency is however less of a mystery when viewed from a European stand point.
Europe has a history of executive queens. England’s Elizabeth 1 comes to mind. The United States does not.
The United States was founded by stern pilgrims with very definite views about the place of women in their society, and especially so in their government.
The influence of these wrathful religious founders is evident to this day to a European visiting the United States.
Yet it is not so clear cut for the Americans themselves steeped as they are in this un-bending puritan tradition. They still like to think that Bill, a man’s man if ever there was one, was the only decider. That Hillary somehow and for eight long years kept her own opinions, should she have had any, to herself.
From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Monday 19 September 2016
More on the weasel word
Dear Sir,
The term transparent is as your correspondent correctly observed is dangerous in that it conveys the impression of underpinning specialist knowledge. It is as if a person whose medical knowledge was confined to what they had gleaned from popular magazines and television shows went around cocktail parties telling people that they were in the best of health.
In fact even professional auditors sign off their reports with the qualification that their audit report is based only on the data supplied.
Your correspondent correctly blames the word transparent on the false confidence prior to the collapse of New Zealand’s secondary banking industry.
In the event, neither were professional auditors in a position to divine the true circumstances of the submitted balance sheets. This was because of the accounting convention in which liabilities can be safely posted on the assets side of the ledger.
In the run up to the finance sector crash this took the form of unpaid interest which should have been written off appearing on the asset side of the ledger as an unpaid debt and thus as an asset.
The same goes for the original capital sum, by now clearly a bad debt, appearing as an asset.
Yours
James Springhall
As Holmes Group celebrates its 60th birthday, the business has updated its brand to better represent the synergies that exist inside the diverse engineering consultancy group.
With Holmes eyeing further overseas expansion, the breadth of services the group offers certainly opens upmore opportunities. Holmes Chief Executive, John Hare, said that previously each of the five subsidiarycompanies had their own distinct look that did not reflect the collaborative way the group works on behalf ofits clients.
“Now we have a consistent brand identity for all of the subsidiaries, giving us a much more connected lookthat builds on our strong collective Holmes history.”
“We have experienced considerable growth over the last few years and have doubled employee numberssince the turn of the century to more than 350 people. We’ve also expanded in Australia, established offices inSan Francisco and Los Angeles and just opened a new base in the Netherlands,” he said.
“There are plenty of opportunities to showcase our combined Holmes . . . Continue to full release here
As Holmes Group celebrates its 60th birthday, the business has updated its brand to better represent thesynergies that exist inside the diverse engineering consultancy group.
With Holmes eyeing further overseas expansion, the breadth of services the group offers certainly opens upmore opportunities. Holmes Chief Executive, John Hare, said that previously each of the five subsidiarycompanies had their own distinct look that did not reflect the collaborative way the group works on behalf ofits clients.
“Now we have a consistent brand identity for all of the subsidiaries, giving us a much more connected lookthat builds on our strong collective Holmes history.”
“We have experienced considerable growth over the last few years and have doubled employee numberssince the turn of the century to more than 350 people. We’ve also expanded in Australia, established offices inSan Francisco and Los Angeles and just opened a new base in the Netherlands,” he said.
“There are plenty of opportunities to showcase our combined Holmes knowledge and expertise” Harecomments.
The five subsidiaries that make up Holmes Group are Holmes Farsight (building code and regulatory guidance),Holmes Fire (fire engineering), Holmes Solutions (product development and testing), Holmes Structures(structural engineering) and Holmes Consulting (structural and civil engineering).
“The company has come a long way in the 60 years since Lyall Holmes established his engineering consultancyin Christchurch. We’ve kept the same focus on quality and creativity that Lyall brought to his projects, and wehave strong links to our heritage—two of Lyall’s grandchildren now work at Holmes.”
“We have plenty of opportunity to develop—we are actively increasing our international presence, with muchpotential both in the United States and Europe. At the same time, we’re also looking at other areas of theengineering consultancy sector to grow the breadth of our total Holmes offering. We believe in a future ofcollaboration and harnessing technology, and that is where we intend to concentrate”, Hare said.
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242