Why I've joined people's pay equity committee
I have known Dame Marilyn for several years, although she had left Parliament before I arrived. I first came to understand the significance of her work when I read If Women Counted (also published as Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth).
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10 hours ago
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Cook Islands' 60th Anniversary: ‘Who New Zealand Sends, Sends A Message'
Article – RNZ Aotearoa has an opportunity to 'show maturity' as Cook Islands celebrates six decades of self-governance, a Cook Islands political analyst says. Caleb Fotheringham New Zealand has an opportunity to 'show maturity' as Cook Islands celebrates six decades of self-governance, a Cook Islands political analyst says. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are not going to attend the 60th Constitution Day celebrations in Rarotonga. New Zealand Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro will attend the celebrations instead. The Cook Islands will mark 60 years of being in free association with New Zealand on 4 August. 'Who [New Zealand sends], sends a clear message,' William Numanga, who worked for former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna as a policy analyst, said. 'I think if New Zealand wants to move forward on a lot of things, of course, it should send the Prime Minister.' Last month, New Zealand paused nearly $18.2m in development assistance funding to the Cook Islands, after its government signed several controversial deals with China. Wellington cited a lack of consultation with the Cook Islands as the reason for the pause. Numanga said the two nations relationship troubles had played out publicly, so it is not a shock Luxon is not attending the celebrations. 'I think a lot of people will not be surprised, but a lot of people would want to be able to move forward from where things are at, and hopefully, we can resolve things at the diplomatic level.' In 2015, former Prime Minister Sir John Key attended celebrations marking Cook Islands 50 years anniversary. New Zealand Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono, who is one of two Cook Islands MPs in Parliament, said the coalition government should have representatives at the event. 'It is an important milestone in the relationship with the Cook Islands,' he said. 'John Key went 10 years ago, so it is a bit petty, and it is a missed opportunity for dialogue to sort out the differences between the two governments,' he said. Officials from the Cook Islands and New Zealand have been meeting to try and restore the relationship. 'This comes on the back of the unilateral freeze on funding to the Cook Islands and my concern there is, and like a lot of Cook Islanders, is that the Cook Islands won't be able to fund schools, health care and social services,' Tuiono said. 'We have got New Zealand passports, I think the emphasis here actually should be that government should be focusing on patching things up.' Prime Minister Mark Brown said that his government is honoured to have New Zealand Governor-General representing New Zealand at the event. 'We are excited to welcome Dame Cindy Kiro and Dr Davies as they lead the New Zealand delegation for this significant national occasion,' Brown said. 'I look forward to reconnecting with them, following our last meeting in October at Niue's 50th anniversary of self-governance.' Meanwhile, more than 900 Cook Islanders will head to Rarotonga from the outer islands for the 60 years celebrations. Cook Islands News reports that the government has allocated over NZ$4 million to help transport people across the country so they can join in the celebrations next month. For the Southern Group islands, it will be a mix of air and sea travel. For the Northern Group, ships from Tonga and Tuvalu will take people to Rarotonga.
Scoop
11 hours ago
- Scoop
Cook Islands' 60th Anniversary: 'Who New Zealand Sends, Sends A Message'
New Zealand has an opportunity to "show maturity" as Cook Islands celebrates six decades of self-governance, a Cook Islands political analyst says. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are not going to attend the 60th Constitution Day celebrations in Rarotonga. New Zealand Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro will attend the celebrations instead. The Cook Islands will mark 60 years of being in free association with New Zealand on 4 August. "Who [New Zealand sends], sends a clear message," William Numanga, who worked for former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna as a policy analyst, said. "I think if New Zealand wants to move forward on a lot of things, of course, it should send the Prime Minister." Last month, New Zealand paused nearly $18.2m in development assistance funding to the Cook Islands, after its government signed several controversial deals with China. Wellington cited a lack of consultation with the Cook Islands as the reason for the pause. Numanga said the two nations relationship troubles had played out publicly, so it is not a shock Luxon is not attending the celebrations. "I think a lot of people will not be surprised, but a lot of people would want to be able to move forward from where things are at, and hopefully, we can resolve things at the diplomatic level." In 2015, former Prime Minister Sir John Key attended celebrations marking Cook Islands 50 years anniversary. New Zealand Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono, who is one of two Cook Islands MPs in Parliament, said the coalition government should have representatives at the event. "It is an important milestone in the relationship with the Cook Islands," he said. "John Key went 10 years ago, so it is a bit petty, and it is a missed opportunity for dialogue to sort out the differences between the two governments," he said. Officials from the Cook Islands and New Zealand have been meeting to try and restore the relationship. "This comes on the back of the unilateral freeze on funding to the Cook Islands and my concern there is, and like a lot of Cook Islanders, is that the Cook Islands won't be able to fund schools, health care and social services," Tuiono said. "We have got New Zealand passports, I think the emphasis here actually should be that government should be focusing on patching things up." Prime Minister Mark Brown said that his government is honoured to have New Zealand Governor-General representing New Zealand at the event. "We are excited to welcome Dame Cindy Kiro and Dr Davies as they lead the New Zealand delegation for this significant national occasion," Brown said. "I look forward to reconnecting with them, following our last meeting in October at Niue's 50th anniversary of self-governance." Meanwhile, more than 900 Cook Islanders will head to Rarotonga from the outer islands for the 60 years celebrations. Cook Islands News reports that the government has allocated over NZ$4 million to help transport people across the country so they can join in the celebrations next month. For the Southern Group islands, it will be a mix of air and sea travel. For the Northern Group, ships from Tonga and Tuvalu will take people to Rarotonga.
RNZ News
15 hours ago
- RNZ News
Parliament considering big changes to employment law
A protest seeking higher wages for health technicians, outside Parliament in March 2025. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Parliament has kicked off a three-week sitting block this week, and the first legislative business was initial debates and votes on three new bills. Two are contentious, including a bill to amend current Employment Relations law. Among its measures, it would restrict or even rule out grievance claims, make it harder for contractors to argue they are employees, and remove various rules relating to new employees. The minister in charge of both the bills is ACT MP Brooke van Velden. She described the intent of the Employment Relations Amendment Bill using a variety of common euphemisms (rebalancing, flexible labour markets, greater certainty, competitive business settings), but also described the proposed changes. Below are the major changes, as described by the minister herself, along with comments by opposition MPs. "Currently a contractor can challenge their employment status in law despite being a contractor … To give greater weight to the intention of the contracting parties, the bill establishes a gateway test establishing an exclusion from the definition of 'employee' in the Employment Relations Act." - Brooke van Velden (ACT) "At the moment, there is a test of the real nature of the job … 'is this actually an employment relationship or is it a contracting relationship?' That's what our judges can do at the moment. This bill takes that away. It says if you have the word 'contractor' written in a document, then you're a contractor. Well, this is against all the international examples, this [is] totally different to the common law that applies in many other countries that we compare ourselves to, and is an absolutely disgusting, unprecedented attack on workers' rights." - Camilla Belich (Labour) "I'm introducing a suite of changes to address this imbalance, which are: removing eligibility for any remedies for employees whose behaviour amounts to serious misconduct; removing eligibility for reinstatement into a role and compensation for employees who contribute to the situation that led to the personal grievance; clarifying that the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court have the full spectrum of remedy reductions - up to 100 percent - available to them; requiring the Authority and Court to consider if the employee's behaviour obstructed the employer's ability to meet their obligations to act as fair and reasonable employers; and increasing the threshold for procedural error to shift the focus solely to whether any errors in the employer's process resulted in the employee being treated unfairly." - Brooke van Velden (ACT) "In an employment relationship, often there is a situation where an employee may do something that is not 100 percent perfect; an employer might do something which is not 100 percent perfect. The situation that they're bringing in says if the employee is anything less than perfect, they can't get their remedies." - Camilla Belich (Labour) "It's going to heighten the workers' vulnerability to be unjustifiably dismissed. And it's great if you have employers that are good, but, unfortunately, this opens the doors, as it does for many situations, for those worst-practising businesses and employers. That's why employees' rights were put in place in the first place. …This gives the employers more power. When you're in a climate where there isn't a heck of a lot of work, that then creates an opportunity for employers to exploit the most vulnerable." - Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Te Pāti Māori) "This bill introduces an income threshold of $180,000 per annum, above which a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal cannot be pursued. … By making it easier to remove poorly performing managers and executives while giving new talent a chance, I expect to help improve management capability and thereby lift economic performance across New Zealand." - Brooke van Velden (ACT) "The first thing that they're doing is actually making it so anyone earning over $180,000 in New Zealand can be fired at will." - Camilla Belich (Labour) "Currently, if an employer is party to a collective agreement that covers the work of the new employee, an employee's individual employment agreement terms must reflect the terms of the collective agreement for the first 30 days of their employment. This is known as the '30-day rule'. …The bill removes the requirement that the terms of a new employee's employment agreement should reflect the terms of the applicable collective agreement for the first 30 days of employment. …The employer would still need to inform an employee that a collective agreement exists." - Brooke van Velden (ACT) "The 30-day rule acts as a lifeline. It gives kaimahi time to consider union membership before being pressured into an individual agreement. Without this rule, employers could use the divide and rule tactics, which is real - the peer pressure to keep Māori kaimahi, to keep Pasifika kaimahi, to keep those who are not savvy on what their rights are, on weaker contracts from day one. And that's a really tough position to claw back from. It allows employers to opt out of collective conditions on day one, and it creates a race to the bottom." - Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Te Pāti Māori) The minister in charge of the bill, Brooke van Velden did not mention this aspect of the 30-day rule: that the new law removes any obligation of employers to inform new staff of the option of joining a union, or facilitating that option. "It removes the obligation to provide an active choice in which the employer asks the employee whether they want to join their relevant union and receive that advocacy." - Ginny Andersen (Labour) "We have a regulatory impact statement where all of the information in relation to international obligations is redacted. And why is this? Because we have free-trade agreements with lots of different countries that state that our employment situation should not decrease - and I bet you that that's exactly what it says in this regulatory impact statement. They won't share it with the House." - Camilla Belich (Labour) The Employment Relations Amendment Bill will be considered by the Education and Workforce Committee, which will be asking for public feedback on the bill. *RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk. Enjoy our articles or podcast at RNZ.
