Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

• More New Zealanders working, and working smarter
• Kiwirail shortfall the result of its own short-sightedness - RMTU
• Tradies outnumber profs for visas for first time - figures
• Stuff to sell or close 28 community and rural newspapers
• CPTPP gains downgraded after US withdrawal

Feb 22, 2018  -  A leading economist saysNew Zealanders will have to wait until later in the year to see where the needle settles on the government’s ‘superficial change v substantive change’ spectrum. Dr Ganesh Nana, chief economist at BERL, says either way the longer-term case for change, along with external influences, will continue to question the strength of the foundations of New Zealand’s recent charmed economic ride. Dr Nana will give a keynote presentation at a NZ Health IT (NZHIT) event in Auckland next Tuesday, February 27. He says the new government has styled itself as the government of change. But, will it be superficial or substantive? “For businesses in the health sector, the shift beyond GDP (as a measure of prosperity) means access is also important. Suggested measures incorporate a four capitals approach where inclusion is part of social capital. Is there trust and are there institutions enabling communities to enjoy as well as contribute to broader wellbeing? “Are communities able to access services, or are some excluded? Will the much-vaunted technology advances maintain, enable and improve broad access to health services, or improve services for select proportion of the population as others experience depleted services? “The capability and capacity of homecare and aged care workforce prompts similar questions as to whether services are inclusive or exclusive to groups in the community. “In other sectors the overall case for change is clear, though not widely accepted. While New Zealand’s economic growth story has been enviable at the headline level, the sustainability of the drivers - dairy, tourism and immigration - was always questionable. “The side-effects of deteriorating water quality in rivers and streams, strained regional tourism infrastructure, and housing shortages have increased the prominence of these questions. “The affordability of maintaining local infrastructure in the face of static or declining ratepayer base, accentuates long-term sustainability questions. “Workforce numbers and skills continue to dog the economic story, with productivity and per-capita growth noticeably less impressive. The concentration of the distribution of prosperity has strained some social indicators. “Ageing demographics call into question the long-term viability of government finances then there are external influences such as geo-political instability, such as BREXIT, US, China, Korea, Russia, Persian Gulf, trade barriers; climate change, robotics and synthetic foods. “The fundamental economic strategy based on low inflation and low wages, with an increasingly large safety net required by government is not delivering the results desired by many. “The new government has signalled changes in the form of larger transfers to lower income families, higher minimum wage, regional development boost, research and development incentives and house building. These appear more of the same, but perhaps superficial rather than substantive changes in economic framework or strategy.” Dr Nana says changes around monetary and tax policy remain in the wait and see category. Potentially substantive changes lie in the performance indicators associated with the Living Standards Framework to be incorporated in forthcoming Budget announcements. Measuring economic performance via indicators beyond GDP growth have the potential to require more balanced investment and policy actions. Treasury drafts favour a four capitals approach – financial/physical capital, human capital, natural capital and social capital, he says. “While in line with including child poverty targets in the Public Finance Act, the extent of and appetite for incorporating the ‘4 capitals’ approach into the NZ economic and policy framework will determine whether this is substantive or superficial.”

| A MakeLemonade release   ||  February 22, 2018   |||

Feb 22, 2018  -  An influx of Italian Zespri kiwifruit growers this week will finish up their tour of orchards around New Zealand. The 20 visitors are the first in a series of ‘technical tour’ groups that will bring 120 people from Korea, Japan, China, France and Italy to New Zealand orchards this year.

Feb 22, 2018  -  Air New Zealand has today announced it will start operating non-stop flights between Auckland and Taipei from November 2018.  The airline will fly up to five times a week between Auckland and Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport from November, with NZ77 departing Auckland at 10:35am and arriving in Taipei at 4:50pm local time. NZ78 will depart Taipei at 6:30pm local time, arriving in Auckland at 10:20am+1.

Feb 22, 2018  -  Air New Zealand today announced earnings before taxation for the first six months of the 2018 financial year of $323 million, compared to $349 million in the prior period. Net profit after taxation was $232 million.

Inscrutable Identity of her deputy leader

Judith Collins MP is the one who fills the essential and exclusive requirement that the National Party requires from its leader which is to lead it to victory.  But there the succession picture becomes foggy because there is no such clear-cut identi-kit picture of the dream deputy that the party caucus will plump for….. .

Feb 22, 2018  -  Entrepreneur Elon Musk has been given written permission to begin digging a transportation tunnel in Washington DC, which could eventually facilitate a 29-minute journey between the capital and New York City.  Musk's infrastructure firm The Boring Company now has the paperwork to start work on a Hyperloop transport link in the US Northeast, after receiving verbal government approval last summer.

Qatar Airways takes delivery of first Airbus A350-1000.  The official handover ceremony took place on Tuesday (European time) at Airbus’s headquarters in Toulouse, France.  The aircraft, A7-ANA, is the first of 37 A350-1000s Qatar Airways has on order. It is powered by Rolls-Royce engines.