Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Vegetable prices have risen a record 31 per cent in the past year, according to Statistics New Zealand. The unusually wet weather this year has damaged crops and is responsible for most of the price hike.
With vast areas of horticultural production land in the region, under threat from urban development, this means that the region will not be able to supply the horticultural production that the population of the area uses currently, from within the region, and this can only mean severe increases in the prices of fruit and vegetables.
Many people are already finding it difficult to provide good nutritious food for themselves and their families and with the effects of the restrictions on land use this is only going to get much worse, both in relation to supply, availability of types and price of fruit and vegetables.
The restrictions on commercial horticultural use of land, contained within the Plan Change, have been put into effect due to the supposed effects on the environment from the commercial horticultural industries.
So with the land use restrictions already imposed in the Proposed Plan Change, the Waikato Regional Council is now going to export the supposed environmental problems to areas outside of their region.
Source: Voxy || October 18, 2017 |||
Leading economic researcher BERL challenges all businesses to become Living Wage employers to make a real difference to New Zealanders and their communities. On its 60th anniversary celebrations, BERL chief economist Dr Ganesh Nana told invited guests, economists and business people at a gala function in Wellington tonight that BERL had a commitment to the wellbeing of current and future generations. “Corporate visions are great for websites and for glossy marketing collateral. We need to walk the talk. In this light, I am proud to announce that BERL has recently been approved as an Accredited Living Wage employer. “We applied because, yes, it is closely aligned with our vision and yes, because we want to walk the talk against a low-wage, low-skill business model. “And yes, it’s good corporate citizen behaviour but, primarily and most importantly, it is the right thing to do. “I recently stumbled on a Mood of the Boardroom survey that indicated 91 percent of respondents were prepared to pay the Living Wage. I congratulate those already doing so. But tonight, I challenge those 91 percent – and indeed all other businesses – what are they waiting for? Stop waiting for others to take the lead. Walk the talk and commit to a Living Wage business and a high wage economy. “BERL is proud to be a Living Wage employer - in support of moving out of low-wage, low-productivity, low-profitability spiral and towards a high wage, high productivity and high profitability economy.” He says neo-liberal economics is dead so let’s take this opportunity to set a platform for a high wage economy. He remains sceptical and unconvinced of the magnitude of the gains from the experiment of the past three decades. Much of BERL’s work around the regions of Aotearoa provides the evidence in relation to the tradable export sector and the quality of its infrastructure, education and labour market inefficiencies and disconnects, and lagging research and development spending. “Exports are still struggling to breach the 30 percent of GDP threshold, let alone the 40 percent aspirational target and there are many examples of the costs of deferred maintenance as investment in new transformational processes and technologies continue to be in the ‘we can’t afford it’ basket. “Yes, there have been gains from the experiment, but as a true academic researcher I am obliged to weigh up those gains against the costs. I see entrenched disparities in New Zealand, and growing disparities around the globe. These disparities sow the seeds for an unstable future – an instability the consequences of which we in New Zealand will not be able to avoid. “Neo-liberal economics is not dying, rather, it is dead; In the sense of business decisions being driven by market price signals, the neo-liberal economic model is well and truly dead in the water – belly up, being towed by a life-raft known as taxpayer largesse. “In the New Zealand context, the neo-liberal model is an illusion increasingly reliant, not on the market, but on Working for Families supplementing workers’ incomes. “As the welfare net broadens to now capture many that are indeed employed in the market economy, the inability of that market economy to deliver incomes for workers to be able to live (and to provide for their families) becomes ever more stark. This implicit support for a low wage business model does little to encourage a high productivity, high profitability economy. “To break that low wage, low productivity, low profitability spiral requires courage and leadership. Businesses committing to and adopting the Living Wage is a first step,” Dr Nana says. For further information contact Dr Ganesh Nana on 021 1376530 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188. Editors: Please contact us if you wish to receive a copy of Dr Nana’s full speech to the 60th anniversary event tonight. Please contact us if you want any of your newsroom staff to attend the event.
| A MakeLemonade release || October 18, 2017 |||
HRL Holdings will buy New Zealand-based Analytica Laboratories for NZ$30 million (A$27.4m) reports The Australian.
The consideration is comprised of NZ$19m upfront consideration in cash (70%) and scrip (30%), and cash earn-out up to NZ$11m.
Upfront consideration of purchase price and additional growth capital will be funded by an institutional placement of A$15 million.
| A News.com.au. release || October 18, 2017 |||
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
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