Dec 1, 2017 - Thank you to ANZ for the opportunity to speak today. This morning I want to outline the goals and some of the key policy initiatives in the government’s economic strategy; update you on the steps we will take before Christmas including the release of the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update and Budget Policy Statement, and the implementation of our 100 Day Plan.
It is only just over a month ago that the government was formed, built on a coalition agreement between Labour and New Zealand First, and with the support of our confidence and supply partners, the Green Party. While these are three parties with different traditions and histories, they are bound together by a shared desire to deliver a fairer and better New Zealand.
In both these agreements, there is a common mission statement that reads “Together, we will work to provide New Zealand with a transformational government, committed to resolving the greatest long-term challenges for the country, including sustainable economic development, increased exports and decent jobs paying higher wages, a healthy environment, a fair society and good government. We will reduce inequality and poverty and improve the well-being of all New Zealanders and the environment we live in.”
The parties that make up this government have a shared belief that the status quo and the tired out former government were failing too many New Zealanders.
While the fundamentals of our economy were, and are, strong, the purpose of it had become lost. While some enjoyed the fruits of growth, many did not.
This government will change that and build an economy with the purpose of delivering shared prosperity. We are committed to removing the social and infrastructure deficits that have emerged, and to shifting the focus to improving the wellbeing of all our people.
This will be an economy fit for purpose for the 21st Century. Resilient, Adaptable, Productive and Inclusive.
One of the things that struck me over the last few years as I have moved around the country was that the message I received from workers in smoko rooms was the same one I received from Executives in board rooms – the gaps in our country have grown too large. In this year’s Mood of the Boardroom survey 70% of the CEOs said they were concerned about the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Concerns about child poverty, homelessness, and inequality dominated the election.
It’s not the New Zealand way to see our fellow citizens left out and left behind. The clear message from voters was that we had to do better, to fulfil our country’s egalitarian mission.
And to do better, we have to do things differently. In crafting our plans and agreements we have had this at the forefront of our minds.
On a personal level I have had in my mind a man who last year sent me a copy of a letter he had sent to the then Prime Minister. He and his wife both worked, 60 hours a week in total, but they were not making ends meet. He was struggling to pay the bills and he said his children did not play sport because he could not afford the fees. He ended his letter saying “I am lucky. I have a house to live in and my wife and I both work. But we are poor.”
It is a not a successful economy where people in work feel poor or lucky, simply because they have a roof over their heads. A successful economy must be one where all our people can live a life of dignity, security and hope.
Economic strategy
The goal of our economic strategy is to improve the well-being and living standards of New Zealanders through sustainable and inclusive growth. This means moving beyond narrow economic indicators and measures of success, and instead puts the well-being of our people and the environment at the centre.
Budget Responsibility Rules
Underpinning our strategy are our Budget Responsibility Rules.
We set these out earlier this year to ensure that everyone understood our commitment to responsible fiscal and economic management. In government we will abide by these rules.
To recap, this means that we will deliver a sustainable operating surplus each year unless there is a significant disaster or major economic shock or crisis. We will ensure that government spending as a proportion of the economy won’t rise above the recent historical average of 30% of GDP. We will reduce net core Crown debt to 20% of GDP within five years of taking office.
In order to meet these rules, it will require discipline. We have an ambitious programme and a plan to deliver on. We will grow the economy by making it more productive and we will have greater revenue from rejecting National’s tax cuts and cracking down on multinational tax evasion and speculators in the housing market.
But that will not be enough in itself. We also need to reprioritise and seek out programmes that are good value for money.
I have directed all Ministers to assess their Budgets against the new government’s priorities. If programmes are found that do not match these priorities then Ministers should consider whether this funding can be re-invested in new, higher priority areas which match our strategy. This work is already underway and will contribute to Budget 2018 planning.
The last Labour-led government showed that it is possible to be fiscally disciplined and deliver progressive policies. We will do the same.
I want to mention two other pieces of work that underpin our strategy. We have already begun the work to modernise our monetary policy. While in general our Reserve Bank Act has served New Zealanders well, after 28 years the legislation needs to be updated.
We will continue to ensure that inflation is carefully managed within the target band. But we will expand the objectives of the Reserve Bank Act to provide monetary policy support to our goal of improving the wellbeing of New Zealanders, including focusing on maximising employment. As announced within our first two weeks in office we will review the work of the Bank in two phases, looking at the objectives and decision making first, and then other issues including the macroprudential framework in the second. The independence of the Bank remains paramount.
We have also established the terms of reference for a Tax Working Group to investigate possible changes which would make our tax system fairer and more balanced. At the moment, our system supports the speculative economy over the productive one.
The group, led by Sir Michael Cullen, has a mandate to propose changes that will make our tax system fit for a 21st Century economic plan, including the changing nature of work and commerce, and the enhancement of our environment.
Living Standards Framework
One of the things we will be doing differently is how we decide our priorities and how we measure the success of our economic strategy.
It is true to say that our GDP growth in New Zealand has been relatively impressive on a global scale. But that tells us only a fraction of the story. Firstly, it is a measure of activity, not the quality of that activity. And secondly, on a per capita basis, our performance has been significantly less impressive than many of our OECD counterparts.
Our supply and confidence agreement with the Green Party commits us to working on new sustainable development indicators. Alongside this work I have asked the Treasury to further develop and accelerate the world-leading work they have been doing on the Living Standards Framework. This focuses on measuring our success in developing four capitals – financial, physical, human and social. These give a rounded measure of success and of how government policy is improving our well-being.
This is a far better framework for judging our success. It is easy to say a policy is successful if it grows GDP, but what if that is at the expense of the physical environment? How can we be successful if the skill level of our workforce is not improving at the same time? If we do not have strong communities, any individual success can easily be undermined.
Success for us will mean more than just a strong balance sheet - as important as that is. It will be marked by how we improve the well-being of all our citizens.
This framework is still being developed, but I see this approach of focusing on well-being and lifting living standards as a core element of how we will create our future Budgets and measure the success of our work.
It is too late in the process to make significant changes in this regard for the 2018 Budget, but I will have more to say when I deliver that Budget about how this approach will drive our future work.
We will, however, take the first steps in this direction as part of our 100 Day Plan. We will introduce legislation to set measures of child poverty and a requirement to set reduction targets against them. This will include amending the Public Finance Act to ensure this work is part of our Budget process.
I want to say something about the way we must work if we are to achieve the goal of our economic strategy. This will only be possible when central government partners with local government, businesses, iwi, unions and communities. There are some big challenges in front of us, which I will now turn to, but I want to be clear that we will be coming to you to solve them together.
Delivering the Economic Strategy
To deliver this strategy we will have a number of areas of focus. We will develop detailed plans over the coming months but today I want to highlight several key issues.
Lifting Productivity and Wages
Fundamental to creating a more inclusive and prosperous economy is increasing productivity, so that New Zealanders achieve more with every hour they work and our businesses become more internationally competitive. For the last five years we have had almost no labour productivity growth. Low productivity has been a cloud over the New Zealand economy for decades and previous governments have failed to tackle this issue – this government will not.
Lifting the skills of our people is critical to solving the productivity challenge. We believe that learning for life is core to the further well-being of our people and to promoting our economy. The Future of Work Commission undertaken by the Labour Party in the last two years identified this as one of the most important transitional factors in the changing world of work.
Just as the first Labour Government moved to make a full secondary education the norm for people we need to update that vision for the 21st Century. We are sending a clear signal that post-school education and training will be for all.
Let me be absolutely clear – our first-year fees-free policy will come into force from the 1st of January 2018. This is for all quality post-school training. Only about one-third of school leavers go to University. They will benefit from this policy, but so will the other two thirds - those who will go to Polytechnics, other training programmes, apprenticeships and industry training. This policy is also for those who have not studied or trained before but are in work now.
Also critical for lifting productivity is increased investment in Research, Development and Innovation. The first step in this is the introduction of an R and D Tax Credit. Beyond that we will move to work smarter, adding value to change the mix of our exports and using and creating new technologies.
We also want to see wages rise. The government can and will take action to help this happen, including through lifting the minimum wage, paying core public sector staff the living wage and improving fairness in the workplace. But it is through improving productivity and developing new technologies and approaches to work that we will see long term sustainable improvements.
Just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy
Climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world and has the potential to undermine our primary industries. But our response to it is also an opportunity to develop new high wage jobs. The government’s commitment is to sustainable development that makes the transition to a low carbon economy. Work is already underway, under James Shaw’s leadership as Minister for Climate Change Issues, to develop a Zero Carbon Act and an Independent Climate Commission. Through our $100 million Green Investment Fund we aim to stimulate $1 billion of new investment in low carbon industries by 2020. This will contribute both to New Zealand’s climate targets and to the sustainability of our economy going forward.
Supporting Regions To Thrive
It is essential that the regions of New Zealand thrive again, for the sake of the people who live there and to take the pressure off Auckland. Long-term under-investment and inter-generational poverty are undermining areas of the country that have enormous economic potential.
The cornerstone of this government’s response to this is the $1 billion Regional Development (Provincial Growth) Fund agreed with New Zealand First as part of the coalition agreement.
This fund will (among other things) invest in regional rail, supporting the planting of a billion trees over the next ten years, an investigation of the future of the upper North Island Ports, and investment in other large-scale capital projects.
The criteria for the fund are currently being finalised. But I can say that successful bids will have to have robust business cases that show long-term development potential.
There is also a strong commitment to forestry with the development of a NZ Forest Service to be located in regional New Zealand and the regionalisation of some other government services.
Infrastructure To Support Sustainable Growth
One of the biggest challenges facing the incoming government is the need to update and build the infrastructure for sustainable and inclusive growth.
We will make the necessary investments in our health and education assets to ensure that we do not have hospitals that make people sick, or schools where students cannot learn. This is the core role of any responsible government.
Beyond that, we know that at a local government level, a significant amount of infrastructure is inadequate, aging and vulnerable. Many of our local authorities are either at the limits of what they can borrow, or do not have the revenue to service more debt.
At a central government level, we have an urgent and pressing need to fund the infrastructure that will support the unlocking of growth opportunities.
The fiscal plan that we have used as the starting point for our Budget has room for significantly more capital investment than the previous government. This is as a result of a slightly slower debt repayment track that will allow us to make investments such as the capital injection to kick off KiwiBuild.
But to create the 21st Century infrastructure, New Zealand needs to be innovative. We need to unlock capital and capture the value of investments through the work of urban development agencies and innovative instruments such as infrastructure bonds.
We want to work with those who can be partners in taking forward developments that build and modernise our infrastructure. Ministers have come together to identify and co-ordinate this work.
Growing exports through a Progressive Trade and Investment Agenda
New Zealand will and must remain open to business and the global economy. We welcome foreign investment that adds value to our economy, improves productivity and grows jobs.
This does not mean, however, that anything goes. Where we have drawn the line, is to say that we will not accept that there is value in having offshore speculators buying existing residential property and keeping first home buyers out of the property market. We continue to welcome offshore investment that adds to our housing stock.
We have heard the concerns of New Zealanders that they do not want to be tenants in their own land. To this end, we have already issued a new directive to the Overseas Investment Office and legislative changes will follow, to be introduced as part of the 100 Day Plan. We recognise the importance of an efficient and effective overseas investment regime and will be working to improve the operations of the Office.
When it comes to immigration, we must have people with the right balance of skills coming to New Zealand, with a particular emphasis on closing regional skills gaps. We must ensure that those who come to study are in quality courses and are not exploited or are simply here to gain residence.
Where there are genuine skill gaps that need to be filled to drive sustainable economic growth, we will continue to support entry of the people with those skills.
Labour-led governments have a proud record of delivering high-quality trade agreements that open opportunities for our exporters. The government will build on this record.
We have made progress with the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership. This agreement now balances improved market access with preserving our right to regulate in the public interest and also builds a progressive agenda in areas such as sustainable development, labour rights and gender equality.
We will continue to pursue this style of high-quality, progressive free trade agreement, with the European Union, UK and other nations.
Supporting Maori and Pasifika Aspiration
As we move towards the end of the major Treaty settlements it is timely to reset the dial on how the Crown and Maori work together, and how to focus on maximising the strength of Iwi. Through the work of both Minister Kelvin Davis and Nanaia Mahuta the government will support Maori in this process. At the same time, our economic goals will not be met if we do not improve the outcomes of Maori in employment, education and housing where there is still a significant and ingrained disadvantage.
Next Steps: HYEFU/BPS/100 Day Plan
The first steps in delivering on this government’s new economic strategy are included in our 100-Day Plan.
Just last night the first two significant pieces of legislation were passed - twenty six weeks Paid Parental Leave (at a cost of $325m over the forecast period) and the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill that significantly increases minimum standards for rental housing.
Progress is being made on all the measures in the Plan. These include the introduction of a minimum wage of $16.50 an hour from 1 April 2018, in line with the coalition agreement with New Zealand First to lift that to $20 an hour, with effect in April 2021. Contributions to the New Zealand Super Fund will re-commence within the 100 Days. Student allowances and the living costs component of the student loan scheme will both increase by $50 per week from the 1st of January next year.
I want to highlight one part of the 100 Day Plan that will be one of the most significant policies this government will pass this term. Our Families Package. This is an ambitious programme to give low and middle-income workers a much-needed boost in incomes and address inequality and child poverty.
It is paid for by repealing the previous government’s tax cuts, which gave $400m per annum to the top ten percent of earners. Again, in the election the message on this was clear. New Zealanders knew that now was not the time for tax cuts. And that included more than half the CEOs in the Mood of the Boardroom.
This package will deliver increased targeted assistance to families through Working for Families changes, greater support for children in early years of life through Best Start, support for increased cost of living for our seniors and those on low incomes through a Winter Energy Payment and support to deal with soaring cost of rents through the Accommodation Supplement.
It is a major shift to improve families’ well-being, along with other initiatives such as the minimum wage, reducing cost of doctors’ visits and improving the quality of rental accommodation.
In less than a month of being in office, we have worked to develop the details and assess the costs of the plan. All the fiscal costs of the 100 Day Plan, which are currently being finalised, will be incorporated into the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update. This will be released, along with the Budget Policy Statement, on Thursday December the 14th.
You will see when the Half Yearly Update is released that we are meeting our Budget Responsibility Rules, in particular the commitment to reduce net core crown debt as a percentage of GDP to 20% within five years of taking office.
One of the core elements of the 100 Day Plan is the reversal of National’s tax cuts. This provides $8 billion of fiscal headroom over the forecast period. This will more-than meet the costs of the 100 Day Plan and provide further resources to invest in Budget 2018 and beyond.
The Budget Policy Statement will outline our priorities for Budget 2018 and show the level of operating and capital allowances for the next four Budgets. These allowances provide the expenditure necessary to deliver our policy plans, including the coalition and confidence and supply agreements.
All these commitments – outside the 100 Day Plan, which will already be in HYEFU – are now subject to the normal Budget process to finalise details and costings. We will, however be providing the current estimates of the costs of the policies in the coalition and confidence and supply agreements at the time of the release of the Budget Policy Statement.
The HYEFU on 14 December will also include Treasury’s latest forecasts for the economy.
There have been a range of forecasts for economic growth since the new government was formed. Some are more pessimistic than others, with both the Reserve Bank and the OECD Economic Outlook more optimistic than some of the bank economists.
In general these economists agree that over the next year there will be some softening of growth as the housing market remains flat and as net migration tapers off slightly. Then, there is a consensus of a stronger growth track through 2019 and 2020 which is expected to be supported by government policies such as increasing R&D tax credits, increased wages and export growth.
In other words, we’ll be swapping out population growth and the buying and selling houses to each other as our two main growth drivers for much more sustainable ones. That sounds like a good description of our plan.
If that means slightly lower growth for a year while the transition to a productive economy occurs, then that will be a price worth paying.
As one economist put it, we will be passing on the baton of growth.
While I understand a new government and the change that comes with it will inevitability cause some uncertainty I think there is a clear understanding that the government’s policies will ultimately be good for sustainable growth.
Relatedly it is good to note that in the Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Report released this week the Government’s Housing Plan was highlighted as a reason the Governor felt confident to ease LVRs.
Conclusion
It is sometimes easy to forget that it is little over a month since the government was sworn in. We are making good progress to building the better and fairer New Zealand we have been charged with doing by the public.
The foundations on which we are building our economic strategy are disciplined and careful fiscal and economic management, and a clear goal to see the well-being of all New Zealanders improve. We are moving at speed to implement a 100 Day Plan that will lift incomes and well-being. We are putting New Zealand back on a course of fairness, compassion and shared prosperity. It is early days, but the journey is an exciting one. I look forward to working with you all over the coming months and years.
| A Beehive release || December 1 2017 |||
UDC once among world’s biggest finance companies
Dec 1, 2017 - The failure of the ANZ to consummate its sale of UDC Finance to China’s HNA Group is further evidence to the effect that it is one thing to sell an asset into this region. It is another thing to actually get paid for it. There are now strong indications that the UDC sale is now back at the point of its departure, the signing ceremony.
Dec 1, 2017 - Kia ora tatou. Good morning. Thank you to the Salvation Army for giving me the opportunity to be with you here today.
I want to acknowledge the housing NGOs, the activists, campaigners and community organisers, including the Living Wage Movement, for the work you do in our communities fighting for social justice.
This is my first opportunity to set out the direction of our housing policy, since being sworn in as Minister in our new Labour-NZ First Coalition Government supported by the Greens.
I am going to talk about the future of state housing, and the fight against homelessness.
My starting point is the importance of a home.
When people are homeless it strips them of their dignity and hope.
When families move from place to place because they cannot find somewhere to settle, it takes a terrible toll on them, especially the kids.
When people find no alternative to living in cold damp rentals the inevitable sickness shortens their lives.
When housing costs are so high, there isn’t enough to spend on healthy food or pay the power bill.
When home ownership is out of reach people are denied the opportunity build an asset and build themselves up.
The housing crisis is quite unacceptable for any New Zealander.
It offends the sense of fairness and opportunity for all our country was built on.
We have a broad housing reform agenda and we are already taking the first crucial steps towards fixing the crisis.
Central to that agenda is a reassertion of the role of state housing.
We are going to put the state back into state housing.
Our Government rejects the view that state housing is a redundant idea from the 1930s and that modernisation means selling off the houses and getting charities and the private sector to do this work instead.
Given the state of the housing market right now, it should be clear to anyone that state housing – decent, secure, income-related rental housing for the people that need it most – is needed more than ever.
Our Government will not milk Housing NZ for profits. We will reinvest any surpluses back into the building of new homes and upgrading existing ones.
We will stop the mass sell-off of state housing, and as part of our 1st 100 Days, the Prime Minister will have more to say on this shortly.
I want Housing NZ to be a world class public housing landlord:
putting a warm dry and secure roof over the heads of Kiwis who need it Playing a pastoral care role enabling tenants to have access to the support they need to sustain their tenancies and live with dignity
Housing NZ are up for this challenge, and we are working together on how to make it happen.
I have started a conversation with Housing NZ on how we can build back the tenancy management, giving better face to face engagement with tenants based on an ongoing relationship.
There is much to do. One small thing is the policy on tenants owning pets.
Given how important pets can be to people’s quality of life I favour a more accommodating approach that allows tenants to own pets – as long as they are properly looked after, not a nuisance or a danger to neighbours, and not damaging property.
We are also committed to working closely with the Community Housing Providers so they too can do more and do better.
I have never accepted there is a contradiction between a strong government provider and a vibrant and growing community sector.
I want to re-iterate my commitment to sit down with Community Housing Aotearoa and negotiate a multi-year plan for how we can work together to grow the sector in a way that is both ambitious and sustainable.
My vision is not for some quasi-market where community housing organisations are competing for subsidies, but instead a community of housing providers and advocates working in partnership with government, and where we can all benefit from the innovation and diversity the community sector brings.
We are going to build a lot of houses.
And we are going to build whole communities.
I want those communities to benefit from the range of housing types, tenures, price brackets and services that the community housing providers can deliver – and that the Government and private sector often struggle with.
The other big issue I want to address is homelessness.
While there is something deeply unsettling about our country’s current inability to house its own people, I do take courage from what I believe is a widespread view that the current situation is intolerable and has to be fixed.
I am also confident the policy responses are all there on the table. The Cross Party Inquiry on Homelessness run last year by Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party flushed them all out.
The early signs from the agencies working on Housing First are very encouraging, and build on significant evidence from overseas that this is a very good response to chronic homelessness, and is ready to be extended.
We are to looking to complete the roll out of emergency and transitional housing places around the country.
I don’t want to see people living in cars and in campgrounds.
And it not satisfactory for the taxpayer to be shelling out $90,000 a day on motels.
We need immediate solutions.
But I am mindful of advocates who told our cross party inquiry that we shouldn’t just build up the infrastructure of emergency housing.
They told us the best and most enduring solution is simply to build more houses.
Working through those trade-offs, and getting the right mix of targeted services and building more state and community homes is the task at hand.
Finally on homelessness, we remain committed to developing a NZ Strategy to End Homelessness and we will work with the sector on that.
I have talked about public housing, and our response to homelessness.
But we have a much bigger broader reform agenda that is needed to fix the housing market at a systemic level.
Through Kiwibuild we are going to build 100,000 affordable homes for first home buyers, half of them in Auckland.
We are going to set up the Housing Commission, a national urban development authority that will lead large-scale projects to build whole communities, with the jobs, and transport infrastructure and open spaces and amenities that communities need. Along with the housing types that people need at costs they can afford.
These communities will have a mix of state and community housing, affordable Kiwibuild homes for first home buyers, and open market homes.
One of the big differences between our Government and the last is that we are going to build affordable homes, and public housing, wherever we possibly can.
Because if we don’t, who will?
We are closing the door on speculators. We are introducing legislation in our first 100 Days so that only citizens and permanent residents can buy existing homes. We are pushing the bright line test out to five years so if a speculator sells a rental property within five years they will pay income tax on the capital gain.
We will also shut down the negative gearing tax breaks that give speculators an unfair advantage over first home buyers.
And our Tax Working Group is being asked to design tax reforms that will tilt the playing field away from real estate speculation and towards the productive economy that creates jobs and exports.
Yesterday we passed the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill that will set minimum standards to make sure rental properties and warm and dry. Backed up by a beefed up compliance capacity within the Ministry that will see risk-based auditing and investigations.
Next year we are going to review the Residential Tenancies Act to deliver more security of tenure for renters. Because well over a third of us renting these days we cannot continue with the current outdated law.
All this is supported by what I call our Urban Growth Agenda. It is a set of reforms designed to allow our cities to make room for growth, and bring down the high cost of urban land that is at the heart of these problems.
I know this is an ambitious agenda. But the scale of the crisis demands ambition.
I draw my inspiration from the First Labour Government who came to office after Depression and war determined to use the power of the state for good.
To intervene where necessary to make the system work for working people.
They redefined the role of Government. They made things happen by sheer force of will, and they built a lot of bloody houses.
The Sixth Labour Government’s housing reform agenda is also about nation building.
It recognises we have a crisis, and is bold and broad in response. It has the courage to tackle deeply entrenched problems that have been allowed to fester for too long.
It redefines the role of the state, and gets it back into the business of mass home building.
It will tame the out of control speculation that has been so destructive, and modernise rental laws.
In building 100,000 houses, re-inventing state housing, and building dozens of thriving modern communities around New Zealand, it will change the face of our towns and cities.
It will create the conditions for our people to thrive.
Once implemented it will amount to the biggest overhaul of housing policy since the time of the First Labour Government.
Our belief is that it is the role of Government to do the things that we can do together as a country, to ensure people have the basics: affordable secure warm and dry housing, decent work, good health and education systems.
With those things looked after people can then can get ahead in life through their own hard work and talents.
Without that platform, there is no fairness and no equality of opportunity.
Modern governments spend so much time dealing with social problems that are in large part caused or made worse by the poverty and lack of hope and distress associated with insecure housing and insecure work.
If we can restore universal access to secure, warm and dry and affordable housing for all New Zealanders, we will make this country even better than it is.
| A Beehive release || December 1, 2017 |||
Dec 1, 2017 - Phillip Goundar, New Zealand Diploma of Engineering (Civil) student, placed in the top three in an Engineering NZ competition, earning return flights to the November ‘Engineer your Career’ forum. The second year Ara Institute of Canterbury student from Fiji believes it was his creative vision, background and experience that impressed the judges.
In answering why he chose to study engineering Goundar drew upon his own life experiences. “I originate from a rural village in Fiji called Vatukarasa. Growing up we had a very basic house and no [clean] running water. I had to walk with a two-litre bottle to a family friend’s house as they had a borehole and clean water, so I would fill it up and walk back home. I made several trips every afternoon so we had clean water to drink.”
Experiences such as this make Goundar appreciate the value of engineering. “If I don’t do something correctly there are lives at stake, so that builds pride into what I’m doing. I can see how my work is going to serve the community. I can see the importance of my job, especially after going through all of the Christchurch earthquakes and aftershocks.”
Goundar was one of eight engineering students from Ara who beat out competition from tertiary institutes across the country to attend the Wellington forum. Engineering New Zealand, formerly IPENZ, originally offered fifty forum spots for tertiary students. However, due to the high calibre of entries they decided to offer seventy-two spots.
To earn entry to the forum students had to provide winning answers to two questions: what inspired you to study engineering and what does the future of engineering look like to you?
Twenty-one year old Goundar thinks that in the future the engineering industry will place higher value on safety and innovation. Within his own career, Goundar wants to explore the concept of “designing a material which is lighter than concrete but much superior in strength”.
“The highlight of the whole event for me was to hear that grades are important but it’s a fifty-fifty split between grades and experience. For me personally, I made use of all my opportunities at Ara, not just in class. Ara gave me the platform to speak up and share my ideas. The tutors welcome questions and conversation with the students, and they keep learning engaging. It’s clear that they want you to understand.”
From December, Goundar will start working for BECA as a Civil Engineering Technician. However, since attending the forum he is considering his career pathway and exploring the possibilities of further study. “I appreciated the networking opportunities at the forum to talk with new engineers in the field and hear about the difficulties they face. I also gained a better understanding of how I could move up in the ranks within the engineering industry.”
“My goal is to study the Ara Bachelor of Engineering Degree part-time, or a Bachelor of Engineering through University. Once I have achieved that and gained work experience I want to go on to do a taught Masters. I don’t know if I’ll want to work within the industry for my entire career. One day I’d like to be a lecturer.”
| An ARA rerlease || December 1, 2017 |||
Dec 1, 2017 - Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (for itself and on behalf of Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund) has requested an immediate trading halt to be applied to their respective securities on: 1. the ASX;2. NZX Main Board/Debt Market; and3. the Fonterra Shareholders Market. This request has been made to give Fonterra time to consider the outcome of its arbitration with Danone regarding Fonterra’s 2013 whey protein concentrate precautionary recall. Fonterra has been advised that it will receive the arbitration tribunal’s decision today. The decision document is expected to be both lengthy and complex and neither party has been given advance notice of the tribunal’s findings. Fonterra will not be in a position to immediately assess any financial implications and advise the market. Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said the Co-operative expected to make a market announcement in relation to the Danone arbitration decision as soon as possible after the decision is received. “Fonterra remains in a strong financial position and any damages award will not affect our ability to operate. We will share further details with the market, our farmers and staff as soon as practical,” he said.
| A Fonterra Communications release || December 1, 2017 |||
Dec 1, 2017 - There are fewer than 20 Australians and New Zealanders working now in the California wine industry, the majority as winemakers. Some others migrated to Washington, Oregon and British Columbia from their home country writes Santa Rosa based-wine and spirit This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for The Press Democrat.
Most of those interviewed for this article agree that Grant Taylor, a Kiwi winemaker, was the first to come to California in 1979, to work at Pine Ridge in the Napa Valley. Taylor returned to New Zealand in 1993 and is the owner of Valli Vineyards in Central Otago.
The following is a partial list of Aussies and Kiwis, in chronological order by the date they first came to California and their present position in the California wine industry.
Rex Smith (Australia): 1984, winemaker William Knuttel Winery, Sonoma.
Daryl Groom (Australia): 1989, co-owner Colby Red Wine and Groom Wines
Nick Goldschmidt (New Zealand): 1989, Goldschmidt Vineyards and Nick Goldschmidt Consulting
Chris Loxton (Australia): 1991, owner/winemaker Loxton Cellars
Michael Scholz (Australia): 1991, vice president, Winemaking & Vineyards, St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery
Mick Schroeter (Australia): 1992, director of winemaking, Sonoma Cutrer
Toni Stockhausen (Australia): 1999, Winemaker, Bennett Valley Cellars
Wayne Donaldson (Australia): 2000, vp production, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits
Sean McKenzie (New Zealand): 2001, senior winemaker, The Dreaming Tree
Susan Doyle (Australia), 2003: chief winemaker, Spring Mountain Vineyard
Matt Parish (New Zealand), 2003: managing dir., Matt Parish Wines, sold through Nakedwines and International consulting winemaker.
Matt Johnson (Australia), 2008: chief winemaker Americas, Treasury Wine Estates
Andrew Bilenkiji (Australia), 2012: winemaker, Ledson Winery
Sam Glaetzer (Australia), 2016: senior vice president wine & spirits production, Constellation Brands
- Gerald D. Boyd
When people think of winemakers from other parts of the world who’ve influenced Sonoma County winemaking, they likely think of France or Italy. They don’t think of Australia or New Zealand. But they should.
In 1989, Daryl Groom, an Australian winemaker in his 20s, was one of the first Antipodeans to move to California to make wine. At the time, Groom was working for Penfolds, one of Australia’s largest and most respected wineries.
“Lisa and I never sought to move from our home in Tanunda in the Barossa Valley,” Groom said. “We had just built our house. I had the best winemaking job in Australia as senior red winemaker at Penfolds, and we loved our community and friends.”
At the time, Henry Trione, then the owner of Geyser Peak Winery, was in a partnership with Penfolds and the Australian wine company wanted their top winemaker to learn about making wine in California.
“I was asked by Penfolds if I wanted to go to California and make wine,” Groom said. “I was 29, my wife and I had a new baby, but Penfolds sweetened the pot by offering me my job back after two years in California. It promised to be a great adventure.”
A few years later, Penfolds sent Mick Schroeter, one of three winemakers who reported to Groom at Penfolds, to California on an overseas wine educational trip.
“I needed someone at Geyser Peak who knew Aussie winemaking techniques and who I didn’t have to train, so while he was here, I offered Mick the job,” Groom said. Today, Mick Schroeter is director of winemaking at Sonoma Cutrer.
For the Groomses, anticipating a new adventure in another country was mixed with concern. “Our only thought, now naïve, was all of the USA was full of crime and violence. On Aussie news at that time you only heard the ugliness of America, and in particular, New York at its worse. We were a little scared,” Groom said.
Groom said he and Lisa found life in Sonoma County easier than they expected. “People were overly friendly and so helpful in the community and at work,” said Groom.
Nick Goldschmidt’s move to California took a different path from the Grooms. The same year that Groom departed Australia for California, New Zealand winemaker Goldschmidt, restless with wanderlust and knowing his wife’s desire to live in California, applied to a number of North Coast wineries and landed a job at one of Sonoma’s iconic wineries.
“My wife, Yolyn, and I didn’t have kids back then, and we had been traveling for a year already, so we were capable of living elsewhere,” Goldschmidt said. “I applied by letter to three wineries in California and ended up working the harvest at Carneros Creek in 1989.”
A year later, Goldschmidt signed on at Simi to work with Zelma Long and Paul Hobbes. He stayed at Simi until 2003.
Before the move, Goldschmidt was on the winemaking team at such noted New Zealand wineries as Kumeu River, Coopers Creek and Babich. The Goldschmidts manage Goldschmidt Vineyards and Forefather wines from their home office in Healdsburg.
Even though there was some trepidation, the Goldschmidts found Sonoma County not much different from New Zealand.
“ ‘What an opportunity,’ we thought. Kiwis from little New Zealand moving to a big scary country like the USA,” he said. “But we found Northern California very similar to New Zealand, except we couldn’t swim in the ocean. The people were great and the place wasn’t as intimidating as we thought.”
The inviting and open attitude in California was refreshing for the Goldschmidts. “People in America celebrate success,” he said. “In New Zealand they have the Tall Poppy theory, where you are not expected to stand out above your peers.”
Goldschmidt said that although the pace of life is slower in New Zealand, Kiwis are open and opinionated.
“Americans are very sensitive, compared to the frank and opinionated attitudes of most Kiwis,” he said.
He admits the commonly shared language wasn’t a problem as much as different accents: “One of the first things I picked up on was the difference between rubbish and trash and we say mate to everybody.”
On his outlook on winemaking in California, Goldschmidt was direct.
“There is a lack of a specific wine culture in the U.S. wine industry,” he said. “Americans are trying to make wine for everyone with little consideration for such things as terroir.”
Still Goldschmidt is impressed with the growing diversity in the market and sees merlot as an underrated wine.
Groom also remembers the unknown in winemaking that lay ahead of him in California.
“That first year in Sonoma County was a challenge,” he said. “It was the harvest from hell, but we turned the wines upside down at Geyser Peak in two years, with fresh varietal sauvignon blanc and barrel-fermented chardonnay. It was a turning point in my career.”
Viewing California winemaking from an Australian perspective, Groom had this to say: “Australia deals with more infertile soils than California. And Australia works more with grapes on their own roots, rather than the grafted vines in California. That often means higher yields and dropping fruit which you don’t see in Australia.
“And then there was a language barrier,” he added with a laugh. “It’s the nature of people, I reckon, but Californians are more complex, descriptive than Aussies.”
He soon realized that the biggest confusion was different words for the same thing.
“I asked a lady if I could help her by nursing her baby. Nursing in Australia is simply holding a child,” he said. “My wife asked at the supermarket where the pot plants were. We learned she should have asked about potted plants.”
Looking to the future of wine in Sonoma County, both men like what they see in the growth for rosé wines. “Rosé is an important slot to fill in the expanding market,” Goldschmidt said.
Groom is seeing more lower-alcohol wines, with increased fruit expression, especially in Sonoma County.
Planning for the future in winemaking hit a snag recently with the wildfires in the county. Neither Groom nor Goldschmidt suffered personal or work-related fire damage. However, Groom said that because of a power outage for nine days, cabernet sauvignon he already had in the tank started to ferment, and he will have to downgrade the wine and not use it for his Groom label.
After decades in California winemaking, both men are going off in different directions.
Besides running his own brand, Goldschmidt Vineyards, Goldschmidt consults in Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand while devoting 25 percent of his time to Alpine Engineering, a company developing inventions related to wine, along with his wife.
Groom, on the other hand, has stopped traveling, deciding instead to freely mentor young winemakers. Part of his time, though, is spent with Colby Red Wines, a project he runs with his son, Colby, and wife Lisa that raises money for heart disease research.
“Of course, I still make Groom Wines in Australia,” he said.
Now, 30 years after moving to California, the question is: are Goldschmidt and Groom staying put or returning to their native countries?
Goldschmidt didn’t hesitate, saying that he and Yolyn are here permanently. Their five children are grown: a daughter lives and works in Australia, a son is a winemaker in Napa Valley, their twins are in college and the youngest daughter is a sophomore in high school.
The Grooms have also decided to stay in Sonoma County. Groom said their four children are Americanized. Of the three daughters, one lives and works in Los Angeles, one is in pediatric residency in Arizona and one is in the wine industry. Groom’s son is studying political science and traveling the country as a guest speaker on his journey with heart disease.
While the migration of winemakers from Australia and New Zealand has slowed in recent years, the lure of a new adventure and the opportunity to learn something new remains an attraction.
Groom and Goldschmidt are but two winemakers who made their way to California. A list of others now living and working in California is included in box at left.
Source: Gerald D. Boyd is a Santa Rosa-based wine and spirits writer. Reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. || December 1, 2017 |||
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