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RNZ News
20 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Future of Right to Repair Bill uncertain
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says she's not giving up on her bill that would give consumers the right to get goods repaired. The Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill would compel manufacturers to make repair parts available locally to consumers to extend the lifetime of products and reduce waste. The legislation was sent to Select Committee after passing its first reading in February with support from Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Maori and New Zealand First. It appeared to have enough support to progress into law, but the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee has now recommended, by majority, that the bill not be passed. What the Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill proposes: Davidson told RNZ New Zealand First appeared to have pulled its support for the legislation. "The reason we got it through first reading is because we had [support from] all of the opposition parties, plus New Zealand First, so we were able to get it to Select Committee, which was fantastic. "We heard from submitters, oral submissions, written submissions, overwhelming support for the bill. At the end of the select committee process, the bill was reported back, and, at least at this stage, the New Zealand First members have voted against progressing the bill." She said she would not give up on the bill, especially when she had adopted changes, like narrowing the goods covered to above $100 in value, at the suggestion of government members. "It's a little rough to have done all that deep work to make the bill better but the positive is we have now got incredible improvements that we know government members were in support of because they helped us make them. "So there is massive mandate there for the public to have what they've asked for, which is the right to repair their own goods. " New Zealand First has not responded to RNZ's requests for comment. The committee's report on the Right To Repair Bill notes opposition parties had "serious concerns" about the way the committee had conducted its work on the bill. "Opposition members participated in this work in the reasonable expectation that such engagement was aimed at building genuine cross-party agreement," the report said. "The result was otherwise. The committee spent significant time, and drew on the resources of Parliamentary Counsel and departmental advisors, to explore and draft changes to resolve the concerns of government members that they then ultimately chose not to support," the report states. "That decision is of course within their rights. But when extensive collaborative work is undertaken with the tacit implication that it might secure support, only for that support to be withheld, the effect is to undermine trust between members. "It also risks the perception that the process was used to keep the committee occupied rather than to improve the bill, at a cost to the public purse." The decision comes as the government rolls back a series of waste-reduction measures. The container-return scheme has been scrapped, plastic bans pared back, and product stewardship rules delayed. In December 2024, the government quietly cancelled several waste minimisation initiatives focused on recycling and kerbside food scraps composting. Four out of five planned policies will no longer go ahead, including mandatory kerbside composting and recycling for all urban areas. A planned national Circular Economy & Bioeconomy Strategy was also put on hold. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
20 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Mysterious Chinese billion-dollar proposed deal in Nauru sparks concern in Canberra
Public information about the company behind the billion-dollar deal is not easily accessible. Photo: Facebook / The Government of the Republic of Nauru By foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic , Iris Zhao and Hugo Hodge , ABC In short: What's next? Australia has pressed Nauru for more detail about a claimed billion-dollar investment agreement that it has signed with a mysterious Chinese company, as federal government officials scramble to ensure the Pacific nation is not breaching a landmark treaty it signed with Australia just nine months ago. Last week, Nauru's government announced that its foreign minister, Lionel Aingimea, had signed a "phase 1 investment project proposal…valued at approximately AU$1 billion" with a Chinese company called the "China Rural Revitalisation and Development Corporation (CRRDC)". But the ABC has not been able to track down any information about the company, and Pacific analysts say that scale of investment doesn't seem plausible for Nauru, which has a population of just 12,000. Late last year, Australia signed a sweeping new treaty with Nauru, promising to provide ongoing budget and security support in return for effective veto power of decisions on national security. The pacific minister, Pat Conroy, said that Australian officials were checking that Nauru wasn't contemplating any investments which might breach the agreement. "(DFAT) is engaging with the government of Nauru about whether (the announcement) activates part of our treaty with Nauru, particularly Article 5 of the treaty," Conroy said. "That is a really important treaty for us that helps position us as the security partner of choice of Nauru." Article 5 of the treaty says Australia needs to "mutually agree" with any security arrangements Nauru makes, including on maritime security, defence, policing, border protection, cyber security, and some critical infrastructure. In its statement, Nauru said that the Phase 1 proposal would focus on "developing key sectors in Nauru", including "renewable energy, the phosphate industry, marine fisheries and sea infrastructure, water resource and environmental system, modern agriculture systems, eco-tourism, green transport system, health and cultural exchange platforms". It also said a "scoping team" from the company would come to Nauru in October to develop a "road up" for the investments. But Nauru's government hasn't provided any information beyond that statement. The ABC contacted Nauru on Tuesday to seek a response to Conroy's comments, but it didn't immediately reply. Nita Green launched the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's new branch in Nauru on Monday. Photo: Facebook / The Government of the Republic of Nauru The assistant minister for the Pacific, Nita Green, travelled to Nauru this week to open a Commonwealth Bank branch - delivering on an Australian government commitment under the treaty to ensure the Pacific nation wasn't left without a bank in the wake of Bendigo's withdrawal. But it is not clear if she raised the proposed investment in her meeting with Mr Aingimea and Nauru's president, David Adeang. One Australian government source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there were "zero detail" available on the proposed deal, and they doubted it would ever transpire. Graeme Smith from the Australian National University also told the ABC that the proposal was "highly unlikely" to bring in a billion dollars to Nauru because its economy simply wasn't large enough to sustain such an investment. "I think Nauru is having their chain yanked, and I think it would be the height of foolishness for Australia to overreact and assume that this thing is actually going to happen," he said. "I would put it up there with Manly winning the premiership this year." Last week, the Nauru government announced it signed a project proposal of about $1 billion with a Chinese company. Photo: Facebook / The Government of the Republic of Nauru Dr Smith said it was possible that the announcement was "theatre" intended to impress voters ahead of a parliamentary election due next month. "With an election coming up in September, you want to have an impression amongst the electorate - and it's quite a small electorate - that you're getting things done." He said while the company's name echoed an important slogan within China, there "appears to be no record whatsoever of this company" anywhere in public documents. The ABC has also been unable to find any public statement from the CRRDC, or any definitive proof that the company exists. A search for the company's name - China Rural Revitalisation Development Corporation - on China's top commercial inquiry platform, Tianyancha, returned zero results. The company also doesn't seem to exist in other parts of the internet, with no website or any social media accounts immediately identifiable. There are a few companies with very similar names to China Rural Revitalisation and Development Corporation, including the China Rural Revitalisation Development Group Limited, and China Rural Revitalisation Development Centre. The former, China Rural Revitalisation Development Group Limited, was a private company opened in Hong Kong this February by a mainland Chinese national, Ling Rui. Hong Kong Business registration documents show that the ownership was transferred to another Chinese national, Wan Pengcheng, two months later after its establishment. The latter is a major domestic entity under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, mainly dealing with domestic developments in rural China. But the ABC has not been able to verify whether any of these companies are connected at all. Conroy stressed on Tuesday afternoon that Australia wasn't opposed to foreign countries, including China, investing in Pacific. "We call on every country in the world to be an economic partner and development partner in the Pacific, we think other countries should be doing their fair share and investing in the Pacific," he said. "But what we've been very clear (on), is that every country in the world should respect the views of the Pacific Islands Forum, the leaders consensus, which is that security should be provided by countries within the PIF." The ABC has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for more details about the representations it has made to Nauru, or whether it has gleaned more information about the proposal, but it has yet to responded. -ABC
RNZ News
20 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Children's Commissioner says immigration bill fails to reflect lessons of Dawn Raid era
The Dawn Raids, first introduced by Prime Minister Norman Kirk's Labour government, had overwhelmingly targeted Pacific people in the 1970s. Photo: RNZ / Quin Tauetau The Children's Commission (Mana Mokopuna) in New Zealand says the proposed changes to a new immigration bill do not go far enough and fail to fully reflect lessons learnt from the Dawn Raids. The Immigration (Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity) Amendment Bill , in its current form, would require additional checks before out-of-hours immigration visits, including judicial warrant authorisation. Mana Mokopuna commissioner Dr Claire Achmad told the select committee while she welcomed bill's intention, she wanted further provisions. "That, as a matter of principle, children must not be exposed to out-of-hours immigration operations and that these only be undertaken in the presence of children in very exceptional circumstances, such as when there is a threat of public safety or national security," Achmad said. She said the amendments represent a significant step towards acknowledging the traumatic history of the Dawn Raids on Pacific families in New Zealand. "I trust that it is obvious to every single person in this room that an overnight or early morning raid on a child's home without warning, and which results in one or more of their loved ones being taken away and potentially deported, would be and has been, deeply traumatising for children in New Zealand." She said survivors who were children felt fearful and terrified that they would become parentless. The raids also caused deep embarrassment and fear. Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly A submission from Mana Mokopuna said the concerns were echoed by representatives of the Chinese and Indian communities. The Dawn Raids, first introduced by Prime Minister Norman Kirk's Labour government, had overwhelmingly targeted Pacific people in the 1970s, who accounted for 86 percent of related prosecutions despite making up only a third of overstayers. In 2021, the Jacinda Ardern government apologised for the Dawn Raids era. However, two years later, a Tongan man was subjected to a dawn raid. At the time, his lawyer Sione Foliaki described how police and immigration officers showed up at the family's South Auckland home at 5am. "The loud banging was heard first by the children. Of course they didn't know it was police. They were crying and very, very upset and scared," he told RNZ Pacific. The Commission's submission said applications for a judicial warrant to conduct out-of-hours entry and search operations should also show all other reasonable alternatives have been considered.
