Letter No.128
31 July, 2000

13 July 2000

National Party deputy leader Wyatt Creech says that Jim Anderton's proposal to pay under 20yrs olds to do training is "just dreaming". Creech argues it would cost $200m/yr just to pay the unemployed people, apart from the cost of providing the training. He also fears the scheme would encourage people to leave school early.

Speaking at the Local Government NZ conference in Christchurch, Minister of Social Services and Employment Steve Maharey urges local government to take the same interest in social issues as they are beginning to take in the economic development area. Maharey: "Local government used to be about roads, rats and rates. Now any self-respecting local council sees employment as an issue it needs to take leadership in. The same emphasis needs to apply in social issues..."

A report issued by the Association of University Staff and the Vice-Chancellors' Committee says that tertiary education funding has dropped on average by 2.3% every year since 1980. In real dollars this is a drop of $3,821 per student since 1980, or 36%. The report also says the government's new fee stabilisation scheme will continue to erode away the funding of tertiary institutions.

Australia's registered unemployment rate is now 6.6%, the lowest since May 1990.

14 July 2000

More staff are planned for rural and small schools next year. An extra 160 full time teacher equivalents will be spread across 460 schools that receive Targeted Rural Funding and have rolls of less than 200 children.

15 July 2000

Speculation about who will be the next Minister of Maori Affairs is fueled by a Digipoll poll of Maori voters. Alliance MP Sandra Lee is reportedly the preferred choice for Minister, although only just ahead of the recently-sacked Dover Samuels. Next in the poll is new MP John Tamihere, followed by Parekura Horomia and Tariana Turia.

17 July 2000

Business confidence has fallen to its lowest level in 16 years, according to the latest NZ Institute of Economic Research Business survey.

The Australian government will soon trial tighter work-for-the-dole rules in Sydney. From the first of August, Sydneysiders under 35 who have been on an unemployment benefit for more than two months and are not in a recognised programme will be referred to Job Search training. If after another month the person has not found a job or has refused to take up Job Search training, they will be required to work-for-the-dole. Those who will not work-for-the-dole will lose their benefits.

Green MP Sue Bradford criticises the government for delaying the axing of the work-for-the-dole scheme. She says the government campaigned on the abolition the scheme but that it will have run for a full year and a half before they end it.

18 July 2000

Bryan Philpott 1921 - 2000. Economist.

Steve Maharey receives a report on the Department Work and Income's administration of the student loan scheme. The report says that Winz ignored advice from the institutions that had previously administered the system. Some of the recommendations in the report include reviewing on-campus support, simplifying correspondence to students, reviewing the verification of study process and providing better staff training and information.

The ANZ considers dropping its monthly newspaper job advertisements survey because of the rising and unpredictable impact of internet job sites. ANZ economist Bernard Hodgetts says that many job seekers are now posting their resumes at specialised web sites that employers can go directly to. The ANZ may scrap its survey of newspapers if it finds the information is being distorted by the impact of internet job matching.

The Nelson City Council decides to commission a report on what jobs are available locally and what job skills are required. The City Councillors observe there is a gap between the local jobs available and the people suitable to fill them.

Last year's G7 summit in Cologne was hailed as a great victory for the Jubilee 2000 campaigners who were working for the debt relief of the world's poorest countries. For example, last September, British Chancellor Gordon Brown promised that debt relief would only be a matter of weeks and promised that 25 countries would have all their debts to Britain cancelled by the end of 2000. The accepted belief has been that the developing world's debt crisis has been solved ... but nothing is further from the truth, according to the Guardian Weekly.

The paper reports that only five countries (Uganda, Bolivia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Mauritania) have had any debt relief - but nothing like the amounts they need. Britain has only succeeded in canceling the debts of one country, and the US Congress is holding up its pledge of $600m for debt relief. Guardian Weekly : "There is a real danger of the campaign's momentum fading away and that Jubilee 2000 will close up shop in six months before its goal has been reached in even one country."

19 July 2000

Social Services Minister Steve Maharey gives beneficiaries a 'cast-iron guarantee' that their incomes will not fall under his proposed universal benefit.

Student organisations welcome the recommendations in the report on Winz's handling of the student loans scheme. Student leader Sam Huggard says the only acceptable solution is to provide trained staff at each university and polytech who have full on-line access to records.

Heinz-Watties intends to increase its Hastings workforce by 50 people ... but this planned increase follows the closure of the company's Melbourne plant where 190 people have been made redundant. All Heinz-Watties canned baked beans, spaghetti and soup for NZ and Australia will now be manufactured at the Hastings plant.

Winz is paying two consultants $1,000/day to act as temporary senior managers.

20 July 2000

Twelve Modern Apprenticeship Programme co-ordinator positions are announced, and Steve Maharey says he expects to see co-ordinators put 500 new apprenticeships in place by the end of the year. The twelve co-ordinators are to run pilot programmes across 18 industry sectors. Initially they will be working with training providers to set up training arrangements and then they will develop links with schools and community organisations to create entry points for young people into the programme. The co-ordinators will also work with industry groups to locate employment and training opportunities and they will provide apprentices with one-to-one mentoring support.

21 July 2000

Leaders of the world's Group of Eight industrial countries gather on the Japanese island of Okinawa. The G8 nations include the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia. Top of their agenda is how to bridge the digital divide between rich nations rapidly adopting information technology ... and poor countries where even a basic telephone, let alone the internet, can be a distant dream.

A major internet campaign has been running this week to lobby the G8 leaders to honour their agreements on debt relief for the world's poorest countries. Jubilee 2000, the coalition of NGOs that has turned the debt issue into a global movement, has previously surrounded summit meetings with peaceful human chains. The remote Okinawan hideaway has proven a logistical challenge for the activists, and this time they have tried to create a "virtual human chain" and surround the leaders with an online email campaign for debt cancellation.

22 July 2000

There are currently estimated to be 5,000 nursing vacancies in Australia, and the shortages - as well as higher pay - are luring NZ nurses across the Tasman.

There is a serious shortage of social workers in NZ, according to Mike Doolan of the Department of Child, Youth and Families Services. He says that 800 new social workers are needed every year but only 400 are coming through the institutions.

23 July 2000

The G8 Summit ends in Okinawa. The leaders have taken no new steps to cut debt owed by the world's poorest countries.

24 July 2000

The Southern Institute of Technology's CEO Penny Simmonds details a full-fee scholarship scheme for all its students that is being promoted as an economic development tool for Southland. See report in this issue.

The Employers Federation welcomes the Modern Apprenticeship Programme. Marilyn Davies, training adviser with the Federation, says that her members will respond positively because the MAP co-ordinators will shoulder much of the daunting bureaucracy associated with taking on apprentices.

Ian MacKintosh, CEO of Waipareira Trust, unveils plans to open a multilingual call centre in West Auckland. MacKintosh says the centre will have the potential to employ 300 people and is part of the trust's plan to move away from dependence on government contracts.

25 July 2000

Parekura Horomia, first-term MP and ex-CEO of the Community Employment Group, gains Cabinet approval to become the next Minister of Maori Affairs.

The Palmerston North City Council votes to shift premises. The five story council building is to be sold to a developer and will be turned into a Sheraton Hotel, employing 150 people.

Building consents for housing are down 23% on this time last year. Consents for commercial building are down 9%.

26 July 2000

The growing and marketing of industrial hemp in NZ comes one step closer as Customs Minister Phillida Bunkle gives her officials the go-ahead to begin negotiations with industry representatives. Bunkle: "I am personally convinced that hemp is a wonderful, natural product and it presents us with an excellent opportunity for economic development in many of the regions currently experiencing difficulties..."