Got a Trade Week 2016 is being launched today by Associate Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Louise Upston.
The week-long event is part of the Got a Trade? Got it Made! campaign which aims to raise awareness of on-the-job training and career opportunities in New Zealand’s trades and service industries.
“It’s important that young people see the trades as a first choice when planning their careers. People like parents, teachers and careers advisors should also encourage jobs, especially to Māori, pacific people, and women who are all under-represented in trades.” Ms Upston said.
“Strong employment growth is forecast in the construction, business services, hospitality and retail industries, a career in trades supports a move towards a more skilled and productive economy.”
Budget 2016 provided $24 million for Apprentices and Maori and Pasifika Trades Training. This will support a further 5,500 apprentices, and 2,500 young Māori and Pasifika learners in MPTT programmes this year, and 3,400 next year.
Last year 42,000 people undertook apprenticeships and recently the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO) reported it had 10,000 apprentices for the first time.
“This shows that we’re working hard to get more people into the trades, but there’s always more work that can be done.”
As part of the week’s events, Ms Upston will be meeting 80 apprentices and trainees at the Future Business Leaders Awards in Auckland this Thursday.
“Got a Trade Week 2016 is also a great time to showcase the talents and achievements of young Kiwis making headway in their chosen vocation” said Ms Upston.
Got a Trade? Got it Made! is collectively owned by eight Industry Training Organisations. Launched in November 2014, the campaign to date has encompassed a range of activities from events, exhibitions, workplace tours and school visits.
For more information on Got a Trade visit: http://gotatrade.co.nz/
After global markets swung last week amid changing bets on the odds of a US interest rate hike this year, investors will scrutinise Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s comments at the annual meeting of top central bankers on Friday.
Private equity firm Oriens Capital has received commitments of $30 million for its first fund, which will focus on regional investments.The final target size for the fund is $60 million.
The firm has roped in investors like Sir Stephen Rober Tindall, founder of New Zealand retailer, The Warehouse and The Tindall Foundation, whose K1W1 investment company has put in over $100 million in seed and venture funding.
Other investors include Quayside Holdings, Tauranga Energy Consumer Trust and others from the community.
“The combination of best-practice fund structure, the investor and manager alignment, and a team with great experience in fund management governance and investment execution were all factors in attracting the high calibre of investors on our register,” said John McDonald, chairman of Oriens Capital, according to a report quoting him in the Bay of Plenty Times.
Preparing to hit its first close by September, the fund will focus on mid-market companies in the region, that have a revenue between $2 million and $50 million. They are looking into investing in great management teams in businesses that operate in distribution, logistics, specialist manufacturing, food making, technology, science and agri-tech.
For many business to manage their chemical and hazardous substances compliance to meet the requirements of the 1996 HSNO Act is, many company owners put in the too hard basket.
Now there is a simple and smart way to do this using a multi-functional software program, Hasmate.
Hasmate is a one stop shop that provides you with a easy process to record all the key information about your chemicals for the training of your employees prior to them using them.
Hasmate also provides you with the facility to produce a training procedure as well as allowing you to attach the relevant material safety data sheet, your risk registers, photographs and any other documents to the file for future reference.
In addition, it also allows you to maintain an inventory of the chemicals and the function to alert you if you have a withholding period for the chemical especially if it is used for food production.
How connected products are changing the landscape for manufacturers and why it's going to be critical to your success. This is just one of the topics that will be presented at the CADPRO Systems organised Autodesk Manufacturing Event being held in Auckland next Wednesday the 24th of August and Christchurch the following day.
The era of connection is upon us. Already consumers expect to be connected to their products whenever they want and wherever they are. And over the next decade the expectation is that the number of connected devices is going to significantly increase, enabling companies to provide unique customer experiences, incorporate agile design and implement predictive maintenance.
Together we'll look at how we, as an industry, need to look at the next generation of products we design and services we offer as a means of growing company revenue and possibly implementing Products as a Service.
This session will be very practical looking at genuine applications for manufacturers. Join presenter Matthew McKnight, Autodesk Australia at next week’s events in Auckland or Christchurch.
New Zealand’s wine industry is well on track to reach its target of $2 billion of exports by 2020, according to Chair of New Zealand Winegrowers, Steve Green.
New Zealand Winegrowers’ Annual Report shows exports have risen 10% in the last year, to just under $1.6 billion. This is the 21st consecutive year the industry has experienced significant export growth.
"The on-going progress towards the $2 billion goal is founded on our reputation as a wine exporter of the first rank, known for crafting and marketing distinctively New Zealand, high quality, high value wines," said Mr Green.
"This continued strong performance is testament to underlying market and consumer demand for our wines in key markets."
With demand strong the improved supply from Vintage 2016 is expected to lift export volumes by a further 10% over the next 12 months.
The 2016 Annual Report can be accessed here and is available at: http://www.nzwine.com/media-centre-1/statistics-information/
Mandatory labelling of palm oil is likely to mislead consumers by implying that the world’s most sustainable vegetable oil crop is a toxic ingredient that is best avoided, says Katherine Rich. She was responding to a report that New Zealand's four largest zoos have joined a lobbying effort to force food companies to reveal whether they use palm oil.
The NZ Herald reports that government representatives are expected to decide in November whether its inclusion in any products sold in New Zealand and Australia must be clearly labelled. It reported that there are expectations that FSANZ will vote for mandatory labelling, following the US, Canada and the European Union.
But Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew is quoted as saying the Government would "consider the advice" of the technical report ahead of the meeting with nine Australian Ministers.
Katherine Rich says palm oil is not a toxic ingredient that should be avoided.
“When grown on appropriate farming land, palm oil is the most environmentally sustainable, cost-effective and versatile vegetable oil available in the world today.
“It has the highest yield of any oil seed crop. More oil is produced with less land than any other crop. Other vegetable oils can require up to 10 times the land to produce the same amount of oil.”
Katherine Rich says food labelling is increasingly being used as “an easy battleground for issues as diverse as deforestation, animal welfare, obesity and human rights”.
“As a country we need to be realistic about what can and can’t be solved by a product label. FGC supports the stance of Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority that labelling should be used for issues relating to health and safety. From a health perspective, it’s more important for consumers to know how much saturated fat is contained in a product rather than what that fat might be.
“FGC doesn’t support mandatory labelling of specific vegetable oils.
“It’s an issue of practicality. Palm oil is one of more than 70 vegetable oils used in food production for a variety of reasons. Before regulators make detailed listing compulsory there has to be a good health or safety reason for doing so.
“Calls for palm oil labels haven’t been thought through. Labels will only indicate whether palm oil is used, but will say nothing about where the oil was sourced or whether sustainable production practices were employed.
“The palm oil may be sustainably produced or come from one of over 40 different countries many of which will not face the same environmental concerns. A label which says “contains palm oil” leaves interested shoppers none the wiser.”
In the shadow of a snow-dusted volcano on a corner of New Zealand’s North Island, a sprawling expanse of stainless steel vats, chimneys and giant warehouses stands as a totem of the tiny nation’s dominance in the global dairy trade.
The Whareroa factory was until recently the largest of its kind, churning out enough milk powder, cheese and cream to fill more than three Olympic-sized swimming pools a week.
Begins the story written by Emma O'Brien in BloombergMarkets - Continue to full article
Political classes still hoping for a reversal of fortune.
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