New Housing Agency Opens Doors
The government's newest agency opened its doors to the public for the first time this week. Housing New Zealand Corporation merges Housing NZ Ltd, the Housing Corporation, Community Housing Ltd and the housing policy team from the Ministry of Social Policy into one agency. Bringing all those agencies under one roof in a "one stop shop" will help low income New Zealanders find the most appropriate solutions to their housing problems, Housing Minister Mark Gosche said. The new agency will: provide housing for community organisations offering residential support services; provide assistance and advice to households on low incomes who want to become home owners; and provide advice to the Minister of Housing on housing policy.
E-Learning Advisory Group appointed
An expert panel will advise the government on how the tertiary sector can best use the new learning technologies particularly in the area of e-learning. The E-Learning Advisory Group will report to the government by the end of this year on how to develop e-learning capacity in tertiary education. Shona Butterfield, the Chief Executive of the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand and a member of the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission, will chair the E-Learning Advisory Group.
Sir Peter Blake appointed UN special envoy for the environment
Prime Minister Helen Clark this week announced that Sir Peter Blake has been appointed a special envoy of the United Nations Environment Programme. Sir Peter is the first New Zealander to be chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the UNEP. As a UNEP special envoy, Sir Peter will be at the forefront of global efforts to improve and protect the environment. The government also announced a US$30,000 New Zealand government contribution to the UNEP programme to eradicate persistent organic pollutants, or POPs.
Commerce Commission draft report on airport activity
Submissions have been called for on the Commerce Commission's preliminary report on airfield activities, released this week by Commerce Minister Paul Swain. The Commerce Commission will be making its final recommendations to the government by November 2nd after the submission process. Interested parties should make submissions to the Commerce Commission on the draft report by August 10th.
Sustainable Farming Fund project goes nation-wide
An Opotiki Development Board project, funded by the Sustainable Farming Fund, is to go nation-wide. Agriculture Minister Sutton announced this week that the Maori Land Use Options resource kit project team had been granted more money to develop their kit for other areas of New Zealand. The project was funded in the Sustainable Farming Fund's first round of allocations. The project had produced a user-friendly, step-by-step guide for anybody who had inherited responsibility for land, but who might not have the training or expertise to know exactly what was best to do about it. The Sustainable Farming Fund, set up last year, allocates money to projects that will improve rural communities' economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Just over $5 million was available for allocation in the first year, and 33 projects involving $4 million were funded. A second round of projects is being allocated now, and it is expected that about 100 projects will receive about $10 million in assistance. The next application round will be for projects beginning after July 1 next year. Applications will be called for later this year.
New joint defence headquarters
The Defence Force this week opened its new joint operational headquarters in Trentham. Defence Minister Mark Burton said it recognises the operational requirement to stop thinking in terms of the individual single service contributions, in favour of what is the most effective Defence Force response. The strategic, operational and tactical levels of command are clear and distinct under the new structure. The strategic level, which includes military relations and economic management, remains the responsibility of Headquarters NZDF in Wellington. The tactical levels of command remain embedded within the three services. It is the operational level that is the responsibility of this new joint headquarters. The single services, under their respective Chiefs of Service, will remain responsible for single service organisation and development. They will continue to recruit, train and sustain forces. These forces will be assigned to the new joint force headquarters, as and when required. Trentham was selected as the location for Headquarters Joint Forces New Zealand after an extensive review of all the options. It will be responsible for all Defence Force operational deployments (and the NZDF is currently involved in 15 missions worldwide) as well as all joint and international combined exercises.
Key health contracts devolved to DHBs
Health Minister Annette King this week transferred key health contracts to District Health Boards. Organisations providing health services in the personal health, Maori health, mental health and some Pacific health services areas will negotiate with, be monitored by, and be accountable to DHBs rather than a central agency. King said the devolution marked another development stage in the new public health system, following the merger of the Health Funding Authority and the Ministry of Health, the establishment of DHBs, and launch of the New Zealand Health and Disability strategies which set out the priorities for boards to address.
