New direction for special education
Education Minister Trevor Mallard and Associate Education Minister Lianne Dalziel announced this week that Specialist Education Services (SES) will be disestablished. Its services will be transferred to a new directorate within the Ministry of Education. The directorate will be set up in 2002 and will establish a Learning Support Network with regional and local resource and support centres. The two ministers said the decision was based on the Wylie Report recommendation that SES be disestablished, and that a new national network of support and resource centres for special education be developed under the aegis of the Ministry of Education. A range of options emerged from the submission process and subsequent consultations.
NZ Post's bank plan welcomed
Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton this week welcomed the government's acceptance of NZ Post's plan to establish a new publicly-owned bank. Jim Anderton said the new bank would be the first major kiwi-owned asset in decades. The bank is forecast to be profitable after three years and will need 100,000 customers. Mr Anderton said the bank would hire about 100 new staff and would have startup capital of $78.2 million, with the government providing about $72 million. The bank will be set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of NZ Post, with its own board. Details of the bank's operations, including its name and branch locations, would be finalised by the independent board. It is expected that the bank will open this year.
Monitoring of quakes and eruptions
Finance Minister Michael Cullen announced on 22 February a multi-million dollar funding package through the Earthquake Commission [EQC] to upgrade the surveillance system for earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other geological hazards. The EQC will contribute $5 million a year for at least 10 years to the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd, which will be responsible for the GeoNet project. Michael Cullen says the investment is much-needed and will provide a stable funding base with the possibility of attracting other contributors. Much of the existing hazard monitoring equipment is decades old and is increasingly difficult to maintain. Dr Cullen said the public welfare demands a more coordinated and certain approach.
Telecommunications papers released
Communications Minister Paul Swain has released Cabinet papers relating to the Ministerial Inquiry into Telecommunications. The papers relate to range of measures announced in December in response to last year's ministerial inquiry. The measures include the establishment of a new Telecommunications Commissioner operating in the Commerce Commission; the regulation of key services including interconnection with Telecom's fixed telephone network and wholesaling of Telecom's fixed network services; and an updated Kiwi Share, including bringing basic Internet access to virtually all New Zealanders by upgrading Telecom's network. Copies of the documents are available from
David King - Manager, Telecommunications and Postal Policy, Ministry of Economic Development, Ph 04 474 2931 or david.king@med.govt.nz
Apprenticeships programme expands
Education (Tertiary Education) Minister Steve Maharey has announced that the Modern Apprenticeships Programme is to expand this year into industries as diverse as aeronautical engineering, outdoor recreation, and sports turf management. The second phase of Modern Apprenticeships begins in June and Skill New Zealand is now seeking co-ordinators to work with employers and apprentices in the new expanded areas of the scheme. The MAP concept was announced last year and has already seen 500 modern apprentices in industry training. The second stage brings the programme into the agriculture, forestry and fisheries; community and social services; food and related products processing; and service industries and expands coverage in the building and construction, and engineering industries.
PM launches Knowledge Wave project
Prime Minister Helen Clark has launched a significant initiative to seek new and widely agreed paths for New Zealand's social and economic development. Helen Clark says the Catching the Knowledge Wave project is an important opportunity to lift our national sights and move beyond familiar debates about the direction that New Zealand is heading in. The highlight of the project will be an international conference in Auckland from 1 to 3 August, co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the Auckland University Vice-Chancellor, Dr John Hood. The conference will be highly interactive and will produce recommendations for improving New Zealanders' quality of life by responding to the "knowledge wave" in ways that will promote prosperity, social equity, and international competitiveness.
Boost for Maori business women
A government initiative designed to support self-employed Maori women was launched this week by Women's Affairs Minister Laila Harre. She said the programme, Te Ara Kaipakihi, aimed to counteract the fragmented service many Maori women receive when seeking business development advice. The initiative is designed to create new pathways and opportunities for business innovation in New Zealand. Te Ara Kaipakihi has been put together by an inter-agency working party led by the Ministry of Women's Affairs. Other agencies involved were Te Puni Kokiri, Community Employment Group, Ministry of Economic Development, Department of Work and Income and Inland Revenue.
Report on 'aviation doctors' finds glaring errors
Transport Minister Mark Gosche has introduced legislation to Parliament to begin rebuilding the aviation medical certification system. The bill follows an independent study which found serious flaws in the current system. The report, by Professor Des Gorman and Professor Sir John Scott, found that aviation doctors made mistakes during 55 per cent of their medical checks on pilots. Mark Gosche says public safety demands urgent changes to the process of determining medical fitness to fly aeroplanes in New Zealand. The report recommends that in future aviation doctors' reports should be assessed by a team of specialists employed by the CAA in a model similar to those of Canada and Australia. The Director of Civil Aviation must be given the legal power over the medical assessment process that he needs to protect public safety, the minister said.
Ministers resign
Prime Minister Helen Clark said on Friday that the sustained pressure coming on Marian Hobbs and Phillida Bunkle from the continuing inquiries into their enrolment status and their eligibility for parliamentary allowances made it impossible for them to do their jobs effectively. Helen Clark announced that she had accepted the requests of Marian Hobbs and Phillida Bunkle to stand down from their ministerial positions, following close discussion with the Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton. Helen Clark said the pair had asked they stand down from the ministry while the inquiries of the Registrar of Electors and the Auditor General into their accommodation allowances and electoral enrolments are completed.
