Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand
Subject: News for the week ended August 22
From: cctr123@csc.canterbury.ac.nz (Alan Murray, CSC Operations, Uni of Canty)
Date: 31 Aug 92 11:23:38 +1200
Organization: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

Well I did say news would be late but I didn't expect it to be this late. We
had enough snow fall in Christchurch last Thursday night to bring down power
lines, close roads and generally cripple the city. Our systems went down
Thursday night and the unpredictable power supply on Friday resulted in us
being down until this morning (Monday). I'll post a full report of last weeks
disaster (well it is for the farmers in Canterbury) in next week's bulletin
which, hopefully, will be posted in a couple of days.

Alan 

News for the week ended Saturday August 22

Stress a killer of rescued animals
Canterbury farmers in areas hardest hit by last month's snow storm fear 
stock losses will be as high as 10 per cent as stress takes its toll on the 
animals. Final tallies will not be known until after the spring muster. 
Farmers confirmed that thousands of sheep died during the heaviest snowfall in 
inland Canterbury for 20 years. All losses would have been higher without the 
massive emergency stock-rescue operation in the week after the storm. The 
initial estimate of losses ranged from 5 to 15 per cent and were based on the 
number of dead sheep found after the thaw. Farmers said they were worried that 
the crunch would come in the next few months. Many ewes would be lambing in 
weak condition after their ordeal.

1400 kindergarten teachers on strike
Kindergartens throughout New Zealand are closed, with teachers striking over a 
breakdown in contract negotiations with their employing associations. About 
1400 kindergarten teachers from Whangarei to Invercargill are taking part in 
protest action, affecting 43,000 children nationally. In Christchurch, about 
100 teachers and parents are expected to take part in a march from Victoria 
Square to Cathedral Square, where a rally will be held, with speeches from 
representatives of early childhood, primary, and secondary unions. In 
Wellington, teachers will hold a rally and march to Parliament for a meeting 
with the Associate Minister of Education, Mr Luxton. The secretary of the 
Combined Early Childhood Union of Aotearoa, Ms Linda Mitchell, said that after 
22 days of negotiations and a two week extension to the expired contract, big 
differences still existed between the union and employing associations. The 
union had dropped all claims to related pay increases, but would not agree to 
selective contracts, with associations able to determine rates of pay. 
Individual contracts for senior teachers were also unacceptable. 

Voluntary  super. tipped 
A modified version of the present voluntary regime for retirement savings is 
the policy most likely to emerge from the Task Force on Private Provision for 
Retirement. It outlined three options for retirement income provision. These 
will be further developed, with opportunity for public submissions before the 
task force recommends its preference. The tax-incentive option suggested 
carries a fiscal cost of up tp $150 million a year, which the Government may 
baulk at given sizeable Budget deficits in the forseeable future. Unions and 
the Labour Party oppose a compulsory option, which would cause an average 
earner to contribute 7.5 per cent of income for 40 years yet receive just $6000
a year more than National Superannuation. The three options detailed by the 
report are:
* Continuation of voluntary savings for retirement, although with better 
regulations and policing of the industry. Tax concessions for "reverse 
mortgages" are advocated. These allow people to borrow against the value of 
their house to raise private pensions.
* Variable tax incentives, at 20 per cent for those putting $2000 or less into 
approved private schemes, including employer contributions. This would drop to 
10 per cent for those able to contribute between $3501 and $7500, and down to 
2 per cent rebates after $10001. An average earner's income, including National
Superannuation, would more than double to $30,112.
* A compulsory scheme would result in all earners beyond $5000 a year paying. 
After a seven-year phase-in the average wage earner would be contributing 7.5 
per cent of his/her income of about $30000. This is calculated to produce an 
income equivalent to single-rate National Superannuation now $11807 a year. 
Recipients would additionally get half of the National Superannuation payment.

Shadbolt multi-candidate
Maverick local body politician Mr Tim Shadbolt is determined to be a local body
politician. He is standing for the mayorality in Dunedin, as well as for the 
city council in Dunedin, Auckland, and North Shore, and perhaps the Canterbury 
Regional Council, he said yesterday. He said he liked Dunedin, having fathered 
a child in the city and been to many conferences there. It was a place of 
"fond memories". The 45-year-old former Mayor of Waitemata, who is now a 
Waitakere city councillor, said there were five major contenders for the 
mayoralty in his area and it did not look as though he had a chance of winning. 
Some other contenders were "high flyers" with camapign budgets of about $150000
while he had about $5000. He was applying for the Burns Fellowship at the 
University of Otago, "so I thought 'oh well, I might move camp'." He said he 
was contesting in several cities to draw attention to "obscene double dipping" 
throughout New Zealand.

Bill 'bad for health services'
The new public health system unveiled in Parliament on Thursday was further 
evidence the Government was aiming to reduce its involvement in public health, 
the Nurses Association said. The Health and Disability Services Bill provides 
the framework for the new health structure that will take effect from July next 
year. The area health board structure will be replaced by a two-tier system. 
The first tier will consist of four regional health authorities and a Public 
Health Commission that will receive funding from the Government to buy health 
services. The RHAs will buy health and disability services, while the 
commission will buy public health services. The second layer of the structure 
will be 20 to 25 Crown health enterprises, which major hospitals will be turned 
into. They will compete for funds to provide health services. The Nurses' 
Association's executive director, Ms Gay Williams, said the bill posed as many 
questions as it answered. The regional health authorities would run without 
any meaningful public input, she said. The legislation would force hospitals 
to make a profit that would go back to the RHA to spend.


Alan Murray
CSC Operations
University of Canterbury
a.murray@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
Newsgroups: soc.culture.new-zealand