Author: Press Room

Newly minted Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says his self-funded trip to participate in the Oxford Union is worth doing despite his growing workload back home, because the world can learn from New Zealand’s experience. Seymour has followed in the footsteps of some of the world’s most prominent people, speaking at an Oxford Union event in England. Oxford Union claims to be the “most prestigious debating society in the world”, on its website.Established in 1823 with a commitment to freedom of speech and expression, the union’s members largely remain University of Oxford students.The Deputy Prime Minister has followed in the…

A change of leadership is nearing at TRENDS, the promotional products supplier originally known as Tuapeka Gold Print. Long-serving chief executive Greg Jolly will hand over the top job to chief commercial officer Pat Robertson — son of the company’s founder — on July 1. The company, founded by Jim Robertson in Lawrence 38 years ago, relocated to Fairfield, on the outskirts of Dunedin, in 2014. It now employed nearly 600 people and was the largest supplier of promotional products in Australasia. In a statement, independent chairman Paul Moodie said the board was delighted to be able to transition the…

A safety audit has been ordered for a controversial cycleway that has divided opinions in New Plymouth, with a view to identify improvements that can be made to the design.Contractors began installing 4 kilometres of concrete separators for the dedicated cycleway earlier this year, and most have been in place since April.The $3.8 million NZTA Transport Choices project along Devon Street West and South Road was developed in conjunction with the New Plymouth District Council and fully funded through the Transport Agency.New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom said the cycleway was always going to be controversial, with submissions on the project…

He’s a former University of Otago academic who has developed a business offering coaching in the construction industry around the world. Now Marti Amos is calling for a radical overhaul of New Zealand’s traditional construction model amid what he describes as a growing mental health crisis among Kiwi builders. He talks to business editor Sally Rae. It was the stuff of Boy’s Own lore. Growing up on Stewart Island, business owner and entrepreneur Marti Amos enjoyed a childhood which was “just one big adventure, one after the other”. Fishing, hunting, learning to fire a rifle, bush walks and heading across Foveaux Strait to play schoolboy rugby at Bluff or Waikiwi. One of his earliest…

Francis and Kiaora Tipene on harsh times, the cure for anger, the joy of tamariki, Paris, Tonga and their new series of The Casketeers which premieres Wednesday. The Tipenes were in Paris, just the two of them, on a romantic trip with no work, no camera crew, not one of their seven children present. But by day three, Francis Tipene wanted to leave.“It had been a 36-hour flight to get there,” says his wife, Kaiora. “We hadn’t even been there two nights and he started to pine for our daughter. He said, ‘let’s go back to our kids’. And so…

Hundreds of Rotorua kids have been unable to play rugby on their club’s field after vandals broke in to do burnouts almost two weeks ago.Now, one club member is trying to find the “bloody idiots” responsible.It was one of several recent incidents, with Rotorua councillors told this week that incidents of sportsfield damage and vandalism are on the rise.Community experience group manager Alex Wilson and active and engaged communities manager Rob Pitkethley spoke to a Rotorua Lakes Council meeting on Wednesday about the issue.The topic hit headlines last month when parents attending a rugby training session at Ray Boord Park…

It might be my age, but I am becoming far less tolerant of people not speaking up for what they want or need in order to “keep the peace”. Keeping the peace often means keeping the problem … until the grenade rolls in and no-one knows who pulled the pin. At first glance, a conflict-free workplace might seem like a sign of a healthy culture. Meetings are quick and run smoothly. Teams stay agreeable. There is hardly any tension. But as many business owners eventually discover, silence isn’t always golden — it can result in deferred chaos. The Hidden Cost…

MetService says it’s time to start “digging out those thermals” as a cold front is bringing plunging temperatures to many across the country from today. Disruptions have already begun with “very rough” sea conditions forcing the cancellation of Cook Strait ferry sailings this weekend.MetService meteorologist Heather Keats told Breakfast the cold was going to be “quite a shock to the system”. “So we’ve got this south-easterly flow that’s going to turn southerly. That’s going to spread all over the country today [and] tomorrow, it won’t really start to ease until Sunday,” she said. “When you’ve got the source here being…

ADVERTISEMENTItalians will begin voting on Sunday in a referendum on whether to relax citizenship laws, but there are fears that turnout will be so low that it will invalidate the result.The two-day referendum, ending on Monday, will also ask voters if they agree with reversing a decade-old liberalisation of the labour market.The labour market questions aim to make it more difficult to dismiss some employees and increase compensation for workers who are made redundant by small businesses, reversing a law passed by a Democratic Party (PD) government around a decade ago.But it’s the question about citizenship which has attracted the most…

SkyCity has filed legal proceedings against Fletcher Building and The Fletcher Construction Company, seeking compensation of $330 million for “ongoing delays” to its new convention centre.Intended to open in 2020, the project was delayed after a devastating fire hit the construction site the year before the opening date.In a statement this morning, SkyCity said it had incurred losses due to the delays, including as a result of the fire. Fletcher Building said it would “vigorously defend itself” against the claim. SkyCity said the project was nearly six and a half years behind the contractually agreed delivery date of January 2019.Parliament…