Minister of Trade Todd McClay has welcomed the second reading of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Amendment Bill in Parliament today.
“TPP is our biggest trade deal to date, and presents a huge opportunity for our economy, adding an estimated $2.7 billion a year to New Zealand’s GDP once it has been fully phased in,” says Mr McClay.
TPP is designed to create a level, transparent, and predictable playing field for trade within the Asia Pacific region. The TPP Amendment Bill includes changes to New Zealand law that will allow New Zealand to ratify the Agreement.
“TPP sets high standards in many areas. New Zealand is already an open, transparent and trade-friendly country.
“All primary legislative changes that do need to take place prior to TPP’s entry into force are addressed in the Bill currently before Parliament. The Government’s objective in this process has been to ensure New Zealand complies with its TPP obligations in a manner least disruptive to our current policies and regulations,” says Mr McClay.
The select committee received 85 written and oral submissions from the public, and 20 of those submissions contained no comment on the drafting of the Bill.
“The select committee made some important amendments. For example, by making clear that changes to New Zealand law introduced by the TPP Bill will only commence on the date TPP enters into force for New Zealand.”
The Government expects the Bill to be passed this year. Once the Bill has been passed and other regulatory changes are in place, the Government will be ready to formally ratify the agreement. TPP could come into force by late 2017 or early 2018, once countries have completed their own processes for ratifying TPP.
For more information on the TPP Amendment Bill and the legislative changes that are being proposed, please refer to the Second Reading speech delivered earlier today before Parliament
Nelson, 3 Nov 16 - Nelson-based peanut butter manufacturer Pic’s Peanut Butter has won a prestigious 1 star in the 2016 Great Taste Awards. Judged alongside 10,000 blind-tasted products, Pic’s Crunchy Peanut Butter was one of only two New Zealand products to receive an award.
Great Taste, organised and run by the Guild of Fine Food, is globally acknowledged as one of the most respected food accreditation schemes for artisan and speciality food producers and is often referred to as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world. The UK-based awards attract thousands of entries each year from food producers around the world.
Hastings, 3 Nov 16 - New Zealand, Hawke’s Bay: Etel Limited, New Zealand distribution transformer manufacturing business owned by Unison Group, has invested in an Indonesian transformer equivalent, purchasing a 90 per cent shareholding in Lucky Light Globalindo, which supplies the Indonesian market.
While a lot smaller, the Indonesian transformer plant is also seen as a hub for Unison's ambitions into other ASEAN countries, reports New Zealand Herald.
"The lifespan of their transformers is about 10 years and ours is 40 to 50 years, so we can implement technology that can increase the life of the assets from 10 years to 40 years," Unison chairman Kevin Atkinson said.
"The Indonesia government has indicated an investment of $15 billion in distribution networks over the next five years. That is what we are interested in. The distribution transformer requirement for 2015 was 2865 units, the requirement for 2016 was 31,720 and in 2026 they are estimating they will require 60,000 transformers per year," Mr. Atkinson added.
New Zealand’s top researchers have been awarded $65.2 million in Marsden Fund grants in the 2016 funding round, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce announced today.
The $65.2 million allocation is the largest single funding round in the history of the Marsden Fund. 117 successful proposals will be funded over the next three years and they include a diverse range of topics from vaccine delivery, to youth justice, to the marine carbon cycle.
The Marsden Fund supports excellence in science, engineering, maths, social sciences and humanities by providing grants for investigator-initiated research. It is highly sought after by New Zealand scientists.
“A successful science system needs the right balance of investigator-led research, applied research, and business research and development,” Mr Joyce says. “The Marsden is our pre-eminent investigator-led research fund and is a crucial contributor to building an innovation-led economy and society.”
“Marsden Fund grants are awarded to some of our leading researchers. The Fund helps focus our science system on achieving excellence and impact, and it is an important element in promoting New Zealand as a destination for top scientists and R&D investment.
The Government has set aside $66 million over the next four years for growing the Marsden Fund as part of Budget 2016. This will increase the annual amount available for the Marsden Fund by 49 per cent over four years, growing it to $79.8 million in 2019/20.
The overall success rate for applicants is 10.7 per cent this year, compared with 7.7 per cent last year and 8.3 per cent the year before that. This increase reflects the immediate use of the $6 million provided in the 2016-17 financial year resulting from the Budget 2016 announcement.
Approved projects include:
The grants are split into two categories. The Fast-Start awards are designed to create research momentum for early-career researchers and are worth up to $300,000 over three years. Standard awards apply to all applicants and can be worth as much as $850,000 over a three-year period.
The Marsden Fund is administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
More information is available here, and in Te Reo Māori here.
Napier, 3 Nov 16 - The installation of an auger conveying system for Hawkes Bay Proteins kept a team fromNapier Engineering busy over this last Labour Weekend.
The manufacture by the NEC engineers was not without its challenges factoring in ease of access for maintenance in the future.
Time down is a major factor and has to be kept to a minimum hence HB Protein’s client being so impressed with the short time frame for installation which resulted in minimal loss of production time for the client - that all important consideration for contract manufacturers when they look at the installation or maintenance of equipment.
Napier, 3 Nov 16 - The installation of an auger conveying system for Hawkes Bay Proteins kept a team fromNapier Engineering busy over this last Labour Weekend.
The manufacture by the NEC engineers was not without its challenges factoring in ease of access for maintenance in the future.
Time down is a major factor and has to be kept to a minimum hence HB Protein’s client being so impressed with the short time frame for installation which resulted in minimal loss of production time for the client - that all important consideration for contract manufacturers when they look at the installation or maintenance of equipment.
Chorus has today encouraged customers to find out as much as possible about the wide range of broadband choices available to them before making decisions about their connections.
Chorus has given this advice in response to Spark’s announcement yesterday that it will trial aggressively moving its customers to either fibre or its own wireless broadband service in the Waikato.
The company says there are many more good choices for customers than just those two options with one provider.
“Of course we encourage as many customers as possible to get onto fibre wherever it is available, as it is unquestionably the superior service,” said Tim Harris, Chief Commercial Officer, Chorus. “The more challenging question for customers is what type of connection to choose if they are not yet ready to move to fibre.
“We strongly encourage customers to check out independent websites such as glimp.co.nz or broadbandcompare.co.nz to review the full range of products and pricing available to them, rather than relying on their service provider to tell them what’s best.
We’ve been saying for some time that many in New Zealand could upgrade their broadband for little or no extra cost and our own website, chorus.co.nz, can help identify if this is case.
Harris also said Spark’s statement yesterday contained several errors that Chorus wished to correct.
“It is Chorus’ view that Spark is selling its customers short by providing them with just two options, at the same time as dangerously misrepresenting the reliability of the copper broadband network.”
“Wireless broadband cannot match copper-based VDSL broadband for consistency of performance, reliability at peak times and the ability to have broadband without data caps.
“More than 50% of broadband connections are now unlimited, as customers come to expect to be able to use broadband without limits, and data use is growing rapidly. The uptake of unlimited plans has grown by 33% in just the last year and no fixed wireless provider is offering uncapped data plans.
Customers can check to see if VDSL is available to them at chorus.co.nz. With certain broadband providers customers can be upgraded from ADSL to VDSL for no extra monthly cost and no technician visit.
Spark’s statement also represented the Chorus copper network as having high levels of faults, due to low levels of investment. Chorus strongly refutes this claim.
- On average, a customer with a copper broadband connection is likely to experience a fault roughly once every five years, with downtime typically being less than a day
- Chorus has continued to invest in and improve the copper network, most recently expanding the VDSL footprint to 80% of lines this year
- Fault volumes have consistently declined year on year for the last 10 years
“We openly acknowledge that for a small proportion of older ADSL broadband customers that wireless broadband is likely to provide a better service, and we will openly tell customers that.
“However, it is confusing for customers to be given misleading information by service providers with their own agenda, which is why we strongly encourage customers to undertake independent research to get the very best broadband available to them. This is not necessarily the product their service provider always wants to sell them.”
A Chorus release
Virtual fencing is a step closer towards becoming a commercial reality courtesy of a new partnership between Melbourne-based agri-tech startup Agersens and international agricultural company Gallagher.
Gallagher has taken an undisclosed stake in Agersens, which is commercialising groundbreaking patented technology developed by the CSIRO that enables farmers to ‘fence’, move, muster and monitor their livestock remotely.
Dairy Australia was recently awarded $2.6 million in Federal Government funding to lead a four-year industry testing program into Agersens’ virtual fencing system, eShepherd.
eShepherd works by enabling farmers to create a virtual fence via an app that communicates with a collar worn by each animal.
Animals are trained to respond to prompts provided by the collar, which can also collect and communicate data to help alert farmers to any health or production issues.
By automating the control of livestock grazing, virtual fencing has the potential to improve animal health and welfare, while increasing productivity and profitability by cutting labour, fencing and other input costs.
The managing director of Agersens Ian Reilly said partnership with Gallagher represented a significant step forward on eShepherd’s journey to market and welcomed Gallagher global marketing manager, Mark Harris, to Agersens board of directors.
“Gallagher’s commitment to Agersens creates new opportunities for both companies as we work together to realise the benefits of this exciting new technology, which has potential export markets in cattle-producing nations worldwide,” he said.
Gallagher, which has its headquarters in New Zealand, is a global leader in the innovation, manufacture and marketing of technology solutions for animal management, security solutions and fuel systems.
The AustralianFarmer
Palmerston North - A Massey University student has redeveloped the humble docking iron aiming to increase function, usability and minimise repetitive strain injuries.
Fourth year industrial design student, Nicole Austin felt there was an opportunity to improve some of the more conventional hand tools used by sheep farmers. “A lot of sheep farming is very traditional. I found that recent innovations in sheep farming tend to be highly technological and involve heavy investment. Little attention has been given to redevelop older tools that are seen commonly from farm to farm,” she says.
Image Docking irons are regarded as being faster and more humane than rubber rings with nearly 60 per cent of farmers using the tool to cut the tails off lambs.
Ms Austin surveyed 300 farmers about their use of docking irons and discovered that while they regarded the existing models as robust and functional, they also found them to be uncomfortable to use for extended periods. Feedback included the irons being too hot, too heavy and “there are bugger all options on the market.”
“The traditional iron is hard to hold, the grip span is huge and there is a high risk for repetitive strain injury,” Ms Austin says.
Design criteria included optimising usability and comfort, being effective in all weather conditions, docking the tail properly and cauterizing the wound effectively.
“The design had to be reliable, robust and familiar. I did a lot of testing and made 15-20 ergonomic prototypes. I aimed to use familiar characteristics of the previous model to provide a practical lamb detailing tool for New Zealand and the international agricultural sector.
"The main body is glass-reinforced injection moulded nylon which has strong impact resistance and will withstand high temperatures,” she says. “The grips are made from a co-injection moulded elastomer, which won’t conduct heat and means the device is much easier to hold over extended periods," she says.
The original docking iron is fuelled by LPG, however farmers reported the flame blows out on windy days and can be difficult to reignite. Ms Austin’s design, which is also LPG, is self-igniting. She has developed a double-chamber dampening shaft - a mechanism designed to shield the internal flame from the wind. The design offers a greater temperature consistency in the copper blade and is about 35 per cent lighter.
Ms Austin will be getting feedback about her design from farmers and would like to see her prototype developed for the market. “There is definitely an opportunity to redevelop this tool. I would love to work with engineers to make refinements and confirm the design. There’s still a bit more work to be done.”
On graduating, Ms Austin will be looking for a job and likes the idea of eventually designing functional, utilitarian products for the agriculture and forestry sector as part of a design team. “Being at Massey has fostered that team approach. I really enjoy it.”
Ms Austin’s docking iron will be on display at the annual Exposure exhibition at Massey’s College of Creative Arts in Wellington alongside more than 300 projects from final year students in a range of disciplines from fine arts and photography to visual communication, fashion, textile, spatial and industrial design.
Open daily from 5 -19 November, between 10 am and 4 pm, the Exposure exhibition is located in Fine Arts Block 2, The Engine Room Gallery and Te Ara Hihiko Block 12 on Massey’s Wellington campus (entrance C off Wallace St or E off Tasman St).
A Massey University release
Napier, Thurs 3 Nov 16 - Scales Corp has agreed to buy Hawke's Bay apple grower, packer and marketer Longview Group Holdings for $20.5 million, adding capacity to sell fruit into the fast-growing Asian market.
The Christchurch-based company's Mr Apple subsidiary will buy 100 percent of the Longview shares and 22 hectares surrounding a coolstore and packhouse, expanding Scales' total planted apple orchard by 85 ha, with a further 30 ha of bare land for development, it said in a statement. The deal will immediately lift earnings per share 4 percent in the 2017 financial year. Scales has previously forecast 2016 net profit to be between $29.6 million, or 21.1 cents per share, and $34.6 million, or 24.8 cents. Continue to full article on ShareChat
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