Insurance and emergency management partnership put to test
The insurance industry's new information sharing partnership was put to the test just days after it was signed, with the recent floods in Nelson Tasman. The deal - called the Natural Hazards Resilience Partnership - was announced by NEMA, the Natural Hazards Commission (formerly known as EQC) and the Insurance Council, which represents insurance companies. It sought to improve the practicalities - particularly in the early stages of a large scale event - of making sure the right information was being shared with the right people in order to make the recovery and insurance process as streamlined and as quick as possible. Just days after the agreement was publicised, flooding events in Malborough and Nelson/Tasman put that partnership to the test. The Insurance Council's chief executive is Kris Faafoi.
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RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Enrolments banned while international flight school fixes 'serious shortcomings'
A statutory clampdown requires Whanganui's beleaguered international pilot academy to stop enrolling new students or issuing new offers of place. Photo: Tuakana Te Tana Enrolments of new learners at Whanganui's international pilot academy have been halted until "serious shortcomings" are addressed. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) has placed statutory conditions on the troubled New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy (NZICPA) while an action plan is put in place. The council-owned academy's fleet has been grounded since May 23 because of a safety investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). That probe followed safety concerns raised anonymously. Now the NZQA clampdown requires the academy to stop enrolling new students or issuing new offers of place. The academy must also develop and implement an action plan, to NZQA's satisfaction, to improve governance and management oversight of all training operations. It must improve quality management systems to comply with obligations under private training establishment rules, and ensure training is properly planned for and delivered. The ratio of instructors to learners must improve to 1:5, and individual training plans must be developed for learners, with scheduling to help ensure timely achievement of training milestones. Primary instructors must be assigned to ensure continuity for individual learners. "The statutory actions will be in place until we are satisfied that NZICPA has reduced the ratio of instructors to learners, improved planning and scheduling, and increased governance and management oversight of training operations," said NZQA deputy chief executive of quality assurance, Eve McMahon. "I would like to thank NZICPA's learners for raising their concerns, staff and management for supporting NZQA's investigation, and CAA for their advice and expertise in aircraft training best practice." McMahon said NZQA would stay "actively engaged" with the academy and continue to work closely with the CAA and other agencies. The investigation found that student accommodation and food broadly reflected their contracts with the academy, with NZICPA voluntarily taking action where improvements were needed, McMahon said. "NZQA will now be focusing on monitoring NZICPA's progress against the conditions and ensuring the necessary improvements are made." The flight school is owned by the Whanganui District Council, operating under its commercial arm Whanganui Council Holdings Limited (Holdings). It has been operating since 2017 and has its own board and management team. In 2023, it agreed a deal with Indian airline IndiGo to train 200 cadet pilots through to December 2026. Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe said last month the council was working to ensure the best outcome for students and staff and to ensure the long-term interests of ratepayers were protected. He said the council aimed to minimise financial exposure and retain a safe and effective international flight training facility in Whanganui so that it could continue to provide economic benefits to the region. "The academy, at full strength, is estimated to inject more than $9.5 million annually into our economy," Tripe said. Former chief executive Gerard Glanville resigned in June. NZQA's statutory conditions have been imposed under Section 348 of the Education and Training Act 2020 and take effect today (Tuesday). "This gives NZICPA the opportunity to operate in a limited way, while addressing serious shortcomings in their management, planning and systems," said McMahon. The New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy in Whanganui has been grounded because of a safety investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority. Photo: The Whanganui council is expected to consider selling the flying school "in the next few weeks". A joint statement from the council and academy on Friday said sale negotiations were underway with five interested parties. Holdings chair Carolyn van Leuven said it had received offers from five different parties and was working through them. "Progress is promising at this stage, and we expect to go back to councillors for a decision in the next few weeks. "We are working very hard to ensure the best outcome for Whanganui ratepayers from a difficult situation. "A key focus is on continuation of a flight school in Whanganui, for the benefits it brings to the Whanganui airport and economy." Van Leuven said Holdings was also looking at what would provide the most efficient pathway to get students back on track with their training. Their food and accommodation was being covered by the academy while the fleet was grounded. Weekly costs were being monitored carefully, and the academy was operating from an existing council funding package of $10.3 million signed off in 2023. "Any interim support for students is being funded from this envelope," van Leuven said. NZICPA chair Matthew Doyle said the academy was continuing work to lift the suspension of its Part 141 certificate that enabled it to train aviation students. "Several assurance documents have been sent to CAA, and we await their response." Doyle said ground training was continuing at the school and its first aircraft, ZK-CTQ, had cleared inspection. "This is an important milestone. The supporting documentation will be submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority this week and we expect other aircraft to follow soon after." Academy director Craig Compain has stepped into an executive role to oversee the running of the academy. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
Working from home: 'Flexibility regret' vs long-term arrangements
Photo: RNZ Employees with casual agreements to work from home may still have a case for not coming into the office, despite a recent employment ruling on the issue, but employers are also showing signs of "flexibility regret". The Employment Relations Authority (ERA) recently ruled against a worker who took a constructive dismissal case against their employer where they were ordered back into the office three days a week, when they had been working from home four out of five days. The authority found the worker was not unjustifiably disadvantaged or constructively dismissed because there was no permanent arrangement, so there was no duty to continue it. Meanwhile the PSA is still waiting for an ERA hearing over the government's directive that work from home for public servants is not a right and should not compromise performance. But James Cowan, an employment lawyer at Anderson Lloyd, told Checkpoint that workers with a casual arrangement to work from home should not be particularly worried about the recent ERA ruling. "If it is something they want to get formalised, then I would suggest that they might be wanting to speak to their employers to get it put into writing or at least more formally agreed. "Where it has been discretionary or perhaps more informally agreed, then many times in that situation an employer is just going to be able to say 'actually, we would like you to come back to the office now, and either we're giving you a direction to do so or we're going to talk to you about agreeing how many days you'll be back in the office each week'." He said employers who have had a casual agreement for years could still argue their arrangement had been formalised through custom and practice. "By the time it has become an arrangement, the employee there would have a good argument that this has gone beyond being something informal, it has actually ben formalised by that time period." If it needed to be put in writing, Cowan said it would be safest for employees to be as specific as possible. "If employees and employers sit down and say lets agree a framework, lets agree how many days you'll be in the office, how many days you're at home. "It doesn't necessarily have to be the set days of the week, but you would want to get a level of detail there so that both parties knew what was happening." But Cowan did warn workers that his firm was fielding more inquiries from employers over whether they could direct their employes to work from the office. "I think some of that might be called 'flexibility regret' where some flexibility on working from home has been agreed, particularly post-Covid, and maybe some employers feel the dial has shifted too far." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
8 hours ago
- RNZ News
'We told you' – Residents' warning before popular Nelson road closed after slip
Heavy May rains caused a slip onto Glider Road which has since prompted Nelson City Council to close the road indefinitely. Photo: Supplied/LDR A landslide has indefinitely closed a popular recreational road in Nelson just months after residents raised red flags. Glider Road in Marsden Valley had provided access to the top of the Barnicoat Ranges but heavy rain late in May caused a slip which prompted Nelson City Council to close it. The area around the road had been left bare following the harvesting of pines in the area from 2021. Preliminary investigations show that the land above and below the steep road was unstable. Alec Louverdis, the council's group manager infrastructure, in late June said the situation was "complex" and so the council had closed the road indefinitely. It was now commissioning a geotechnical report to get a better understanding of the challenges and potential way forward. The closure comes just four months after a newly-formed group of Marsden Valley residents publicly raised concerns about deforested hills in the valley increasing the risk of landslides. The reforestation of the area around Glider Road had been a specific priority for the group. Friends of Marsden Valley member Kathryn Richards had seen "significant damage and cracks opening" on the road since the May rains and thought the council made the "right call" closing it. However, she said there was an element of "we told you". "Having said that, trees that were only three years old in the ground - which they would have been, best case scenario - I don't know if they would have stopped this." Kathryn Richards (front left) and the Friends of Marsden Valley had warned that a slip around Glider Road was likely after pines had been harvested. Photo: LDR/Max Frethey Richards said the situation showed the "inevitable" consequences of clear-felling pine on steep slopes. "We've definitely seen an increase of slipping since the trees have been removed. It illustrates the point that, when it's in pine trees it might be fine and dandy, but you've got to think about, when they're taken away, what's going to happen, and we've now got to deal with that." Also a member of the Marsden Valley Trapping Group, Richards said the closure will add more than four hours to some of their trap lines. The closure has also put more walkers on the Involution trail, an advanced downhill mountain biking track, she said. "It'd be great if they could come to a safe solution, in the meantime, for recreational use, for bikes and walkers." Kevin Rooke, president of the Tasman Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club, said the Barnicoat Range was the "jewel in the crown" of regional gliding sites and had been used by gliders "nearly ever fine day" before it was closed, attracting gliders internationally. However, he added that the club had "seen the writing on the wall" after the road was repeatedly damaged after heavy rain and anticipated an eventual closure. The slip has cut off access for gliders to the Barnicoat Range - the "jewel in the crown" of regional gliding sites. Photo: Supplied/Peter Allison The club was negotiating with the council in the hopes of reinstating glider access in some way before the national paragliding championship is hosted in Nelson in January. "We do need Barnicoat access, if possible. We are looking at a few options. Nelson City Council have been pretty helpful in a lot of ways." Louverdis said a decision about the future of the Glider Road would not be made until the council understood the issues, potential works, and associated costs. Planting around Glider Road, as part of the council's transition away from clear-fell pine forestry, is still scheduled to go ahead this winter. Louverdis added that the council is actively engaged with the Friends of Marsden Valley and will continue working alongside the group to support the future of the area. On Thursday, Nelson City Council also agreed to a new track linking Involution to the Jenkins Hill summit. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
