Business commentator Nicholas Pointon
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RNZ News
6 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Will the government's changes bring down building costs?
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the change would have the potential to reduce total building costs by thousands of dollars. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Opposition parties say while the devil will be in the details on the government's latest building products changes, they support in principle what looks like a "sensible" change. But Labour and the Greens are also criticising the coalition's cancellation of hundreds of construction projects, saying that is what has led to a downturn in the industry. They also say delaying changes to the Building Code will mean New Zealand lags behind the rest of the world. The government on Sunday announced it would be releasing a list of overseas certification schemes that would automatically qualify products for use in New Zealand . Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the list would "have the potential to reduce total building costs by thousands of dollars when building a home". "There are thousands of well-made, high performing products that have been tested against rigourous international standards but have faced barriers for uptake here, purely because they have not been specifically tested against our own standards. From tomorrow it will be much easier to use plasterboard manufactured in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Europe and the United States," he said. "This is just the beginning of our work to open the door to more building products, lower the cost of homes and turbo charge the construction sector and there will be more to come." He also announced a pause on "any new major changes to the Building Code system" and shifting instead to a "predictable three-year cycle for Building Code system updates". "This new approach will give businesses the clarity they need to prepare in advance, rather than constantly having to react to unexpected rule changes." The government will be releasing releasing a list of overseas certification schemes that would automatically qualify products for use in New Zealand. Photo: 123RF ACT's Building and Construction spokesperson Cameron Luxton was a builder in 2022 during the plasterboard crisis that saw some builders paying six times the standard price for 'GIB' branded plasterboard. "I had designers trying to get changes to the existing consents so that we could use other types of wall lining ... if we could have recognized overseas plaster boards and the components around their systems, we would have been able to get things built in New Zealand a lot easier and a lot quicker during that time," he said. "Those crazy days of the post-Covid building construction boom with us at the moment but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be focusing on getting the price of all building down." ACT's Building and Construction spokesperson Cameron Luxton Photo: VNP / Phil Smith He said the government's approach was almost exactly the same as what ACT campaigned on. "What we campaigned on was a recognised list of products. The bill came into the house as that, it's been through select committee, we've come out the other side with it being schemes, standards and products. "Minister Penk has done an incredibly good job engaging with the industry and making sure that this bill works - it's so close to ACT's you couldn't find much air between our original policy and this one, it's the same principle, called some different things." Both Labour and the Greens supported the bill through the legislative process. Labour's Building and Construction spokesperson Arena Williams said it was likely to make it easier for building products to get into the New Zealand market, and increase competition - but that doing so was one of the recommendations of the Commerce Commission study launched under Labour. "We think this is an important step, but the government has talked a big game on lowering the cost of building because that's an excuse for absolutely collapsing the building and construction sector and seeing 17,000 jobs lost since the day of the election." She pointed to a range of projects that had been cut - Kāinga Ora public housing, school builds, the downgrading of hospital builds - saying that had directly led to those jobs being lost. Labour's Building and Construction spokesperson Arena Williams. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith The minister was now admitting the solution would not be a silver bullet for the sector, she said. "Now they're saying this will only be part of the solution and it won't do everything that's needed to bring costs down ... they have no answer for a building and construction sector that's on its knees, it's slumped lower than it did in the global financial crisis, and we're seeing thousands of young Kiwi builders going offshore." Announcing the change without releasing the detail until the next day was "an unusual way to do things," she said. Williams said she planed to carefully examine the standards when made public, to ensure they were sensible. Green Party Building and Construction spokesperson Julie Anne Genter took her criticism of the approach further. "We see every week pretty much announcements on a Sunday don't have any substantive new actions or information, and in the last few weeks, it's been related to the building sector or infrastructure, because the government is desperate to turn around the narrative. "This is very much a government that is focused on PR spend more than substance." She said the changes themselves "could be great or it could be terrible, depending on which building products and which licensing schemes they're looking at". "The devil will be in the detail. The detail hasn't yet been released. But I really can say that the government has put the construction sector in a terrible position by cancelling hundreds of projects related to public homes, which we need now more than ever. I saw last month, one third of company liquidations for construction firms, and that was up on last year." She criticised the pause on Building Code changes. "That is a huge lost opportunity. The previous government had a work programme on building for climate change and it was going to address a lot of the issues that we have in terms of energy efficiency, resilience," she said. "The certainty is we're not moving forward with our Building Code, they're providing the certainty that we're going to lag behind most other countries and have a much longer period before we have sustainable, healthy buildings." "Ultimately, this is not enough to help New Zealand with the problems we're facing when they've cancelled so many public home builds." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
36 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Billboard camera footage used by transport agency to spot cars and trucks
NZTA Waka Kotahi has used privately-owned automated number plate recognition cameras to identity number plates. File photo. Photo: 123RF Footage from cameras in billboards at city intersections have been secretly used by the NZ Transport Agency for the first time to spot cars and trucks. NZTA Waka Kotahi's trial started in February, and is designed to combat fraud by illegal garages issuing warrants of fitness to cars, or passing trucks. Two sources close to the vehicle inspection industry say the move is surprising and questioned why the agency would do it, especially with using third-party technology systems. Police already tap into privately-owned automated number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to identity number plates hundreds of times a day. But this is the first known use of that power by another state agency. "The ANPR donor cameras in the trial are not being used 'to spy on mechanics issuing warrants', nor would they be capable of being used for that purpose," NZTA told RNZ. "These cameras are typically located in billboards at urban intersections. "The trial is simply looking at the potential for using images gathered by these cameras to be used as proof of the location of a particular vehicle at a point in time." An inspector who claimed they had checked a car in Auckland at a certain time could be exposed if the car was spotted at a Christchurch intersection at that time, it said. It "could be of benefit in supporting investigations into specific cases where fraudulent or illegal activity is suspected". A well-connected industry source told RNZ: "Yeah, that has been a bit secret." NZTA might not have wanted to tip people off, the source said. "For the purpose the agency is stating, I don't have much issue with that, but the way they have gone about it is what alarms me. Especially because it's third-party [cameras and ANPR system]. "What else might they use them for?" NZTA Waka Kotahi said it was not using the images in any actual fraud investigations, but only as a test for potential future use. The test is separate from how the agency is taking over many speed and red-light-runner cameras from police, and replacing some with higher-tech models, which it will own. A second source active in the industry was appalled by the move. "Oh my god," they said. "It is part of your right to know the audit process you go through. You can't sabotage your process because of a trial." Months of inquiries by RNZ in 2018 showed up mass deficiencies in NZTA's oversight of how truck certificates of fitness were being issued. The systems were reviewed and changed. There have been further reports of inspectors anonymously recounting examples of how they feel they have been subject to unfair targeting by the agency. "You have got layers and layers of issues here," said the second source. "What's the limit [of surveillance]?" They questioned why was the camera sting even needed when fraud would "show up in paperwork. There will be tons of other evidence that can be used against people". Many supermarkets, petrol stations, other businesses and councils have a total of thousands of cameras that link into ANPR software systems run by two Auckland companies - Auror and SaferCities. The new trial uses SaferCities vGrid system , NZTA said. Its system covered electronic billboard operators such as LUMO, which had built-in cameras with ANPR software, and CCTV operators including councils, individual businesses and car park operators, the agency said. Police accessed the vGrid system more than 400,000 times last year. "NZTA only has access to still images from ANPR donor cameras whose owners have specifically agreed to our usage," Waka Kotahi told RNZ in the OIA response. "Currently, this only includes LUMO and more recently, Hamilton City Council." RNZ approached LUMO for comment. As of 2022, the country had at least 1400 digital billboards and screen-posters, many of them with smart technology and ANPR cameras . The police tapped the ANPR systems 700,000 times last year. In October, two district court judges dismissed legal challenges to the police using them so much without a warrant, though it is expected there will be at least one appeal against that finding. The fraud camera trial comes at the same time Waka Kotahi is reviewing the WOF-COF system to reduce how often collectors of old vehicles, and motorhome users, have to get a warrant. The agency has been increasing a lot of the fees it charges motorists since 2023. Another batch of rises is due next January that are expected to push up total fees collected by $10m to $264m . Camera footage could be used where it was suspected that WoFs or CoFs had been issued to vehicles which had not been inspected at the time or place recorded by a vehicle inspector, the transport agency said. It gave a hypothetical scenario to RNZ: "If NZTA was investigating a vehicle inspector suspected of fraud, and if the inspector had issued a WoF to a vehicle which was recorded as having been inspected at a WoF garage in Auckland at 2pm on 1 July, 2025, and we were able to access a still image from a donor camera of the same vehicle driving past a billboard located in Christchurch at 3:30pm on 1 July, 2025, this could potentially be used as evidence to prove that the WoF had been issued fraudulently, because the vehicle was not in Auckland at the time of the recorded inspection." This would not be a part of regular compliance monitoring, it said. Regular compliance monitoring included scheduled reviews where compliance officers visited inspection sites, as well as 'mystery shopper' activity. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
14 hours ago
- RNZ News
Australian Prime Minister says easing of curbs on US beef not prompted by Trump
By Sam McKeith , Reuters The review had been in the works for 10 years, Albanese said (file image). Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says a decision to ease rules on US beef imports was not prompted by US President Donald Trump. This week, Trump said the US would sell "so much" beef to Australia , after Canberra announced the relaxation of restrictions, potentially smoothing trade talks with Washington. In place since 2003, the curbs were due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy - or mad cow disease - which could kill cattle, as well as people who eat infected beef. When asked if the easing had anything to do with Trump, Albanese said: "No, this has been a process that has been there for 10 years, the review process." "This wasn't a political decision," Albanese said to Australian Broadcasting Corp television, adding that Trump had not raised the issue with him in a phone call. The comments come after US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called the easing a win for Trump. In April, Trump singled out the beef trade disparity with Australia, after Australia's beef exports to the US surged last year, reaching AU$4 billion (NZ$4.36b) amid a slump in US beef production. By contrast, Australia's agriculture minister said the rules were relaxed, after a "rigourous science and risk-based assessment" concluded US measures to monitor and control cattle movement were effectively managing biosecurity risks. News of Australia changing its policy was first reported by the Australian Financial Review . The report said Australia would use the easing of rules to argue its case for the US to wind back 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, and Trump's threat to impose a 200 percent tariff on pharmaceuticals. The National Party - part of Australia's conservative opposition coalition - said "biosecurity should not be political" and called for an independent scientific panel to review the decision. A loosening of beef import rules is not expected to boost US shipments significantly, because Australia is a major beef producer and exporter, whose prices are much lower, according to analysts. Last year, Australia shipped almost 400,000 metric tons of beef worth US$2.9b (NZ$4.82b) to the United States, with just 269 tons of US product moving the other way. - Reuters
