Author: Press Room

It was business magnate Richard Branson who said employees were a company’s biggest asset. And judging by the response to Dunedin-founded startup Givenwell — which has recently launched into Australia — more employers are taking heed of that. Givenwell is a wellbeing platform launched by Jonny Mirkin in August following two years of research and development. The original idea was for employers to give their team wellbeing allowances in the form of digital tokens. Employees then accessed a marketplace, where various offerings — which had been curated and vetted — were available and they could spend their tokens confidentially on…

Much of the upper North Island is under a heavy rain watch for the start of the week, with thunderstorms and localised downpours possible.A trough is expected to bring areas of heavy rain to the upper North on Monday, while a slow-moving front approaches the West Coast of the South Island this evening into Monday.MetService has issued a heavy rain watch for much of the upper North Island, including Northland, Auckland, Great Barrier Island, and the Coromandel Peninsula from 3am on Monday until 6pm.The Bay of Plenty and Rotorua are also under a heavy rain watch from 8am until 6pm.”Periods…

Scott Technology has secured its largest ever appliance automation contract in China, valued at about $20 million. In a statement, the Dunedin company said the contract was with a prominent global Chinese whiteware manufacturer and involved several projects including the automation of top and front-loader production lines. It was a long-standing customer and the partnership had grown since 2000 during which Scott had delivered nine advanced production lines, it said. Scott’s appliance business unit, led out of China and supported by Christchurch, specialises in designing and manufacturing automation systems for global appliance manufacturers. Those systems span a variety of applications,…

There should be “no place for compulsory care” in the new Mental Health Bill, an academic specialising in human rights and legal coercion says.Public submissions on the bill to replace the 1992 Act close on December 20.But Associate Professor Sarah Gordon, a lived experience academic at Waikato University, said the bill as it was currently designed would not deliver the “transformational change” that was its intention.”It is completely inconsistent with expert advice and international law and best practice.”At its core, the new bill still allowed clinicians to over-ride patient decisions, she said.”Community treatment orders have been proven to be not…

One-liners from rugby stars, politicians and a kidnapped cockatoo all feature in the shortlist for Massey University’s Quote of the Year.Speech-writing specialist Dr Heather Kavan and a panel narrowed down more than 70 nominations to 10.Previous winners in the annual competition include a jibe from ACT leader David Seymour about a potential lamington attack from protesters (“I would have thought that Grant Robertson would be a much bigger threat to lamingtons than lamingtons would be a threat to Grant Robertson”) and three Cyclone Gabrielle heroes’ response to being asked if they were in the Navy: “Nah, we’re just three Māori…

One person has been taken into custody and inquiries are ongoing after two people armed with tools threatened staff during a robbery at a Rotorua supermarket yesterday.Police said it responded to reports of a robbery at a supermarket on Kokako St around 3pm.”Two people are reported to have entered armed with tools threatening staff and stealing the till and tobacco products,” a spokesperson said.”They fled the scene in a stolen white Toyota Corolla.”The stolen vehicle was found crashed into a grass reserve on Ariariterangi St in Ohinemotu.”One person was taken into custody on a charge of unlawfully getting into a…

A fire on the Banks Peninsula overnight that put nearby campers’ lives at risk is being treated as “suspicious”. Fire and Emergency NZ said the fire at Taylors Mistake, on the edge of the Port Hills, was reported at 12.25am and crews from Sumner, Christchurch, Lyttleton and Woolston attended.Specialist fire investigator Bruce Irvine said the lives of campers at nearby Godley Head were put at risk by the fire.”Evacuations were only averted thanks to the swift work of firefighters.”There is only one access road to Taylors Mistake, so if anyone in the area saw vehicle movements or has any footage…

Four people have been arrested after an alleged burglary led to a car rolling in Auckland this evening.Police said they were called to a house on Polo Prince Dr in Alfriston around 7.55pm. Officers arrived to find four people allegedly moving items from the house into three vehicles in the driveway.”Police blocked the driveway to prevent the vehicles leaving at which time two people surrendered to police and two others attempted to flee from the property in a vehicle,” a police spokesperson told 1News.”In the process of fleeing, they rolled their vehicle.”One of the car’s occupants was removed from the…

A savvy bank customer has trusted his instincts and recorded a potential scam taking place.The anonymous Westpac customer was initially relieved his bank had alerted him to a fraudulent transaction. However, relief soon turned into suspicion. “There was another transaction for $1230 so we wanted to verify if that was something you made as well?” the person on the other line said. “No, that’s not me. That’s terrible,” the customer replied.The potential scammer said he would be declining the transactions, advising the customer not to give out his credit card information should he receive any suspicious texts.As the call progresses,…

Calls are growing for a change to building regulation to prevent new-build high density housing from overheating in the summer.Danny Rood has been keeping tabs on how hot his Christchurch townhouse has been getting over December. He said it’s not uncommon for temperatures in his bedroom to exceed 50C.”It’s getting dangerously hot – a sauna without the fun,” he told 1News.”We wouldn’t let kids live in these situations. If this was the workplace, we would be sent home – 53C when it’s only 20C outside is frightening.”He said he fears that temperatures inside his home would continue to climb in…